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September 30, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 30 September 2021

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General Debate

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Warren

Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins are great at making announcements to the opposition parties that they already do that or that’s already in the pipeline, but really they only have Covid – 19 to fall back because it the only thing their voter is scared of and gives power to Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister to hold the public to ransom with her scaremongering of how many people will die.
So really the only plan this Goverment has is lockdown because they know that’s the only way of retaining the majority vote.
Just look at a couple of announcements by Labour Ministers and a great example is Kris Faafoi the Immigration Minister that way out of his depth and the Immigration Policy he has just released there are some that say it’s not fit for purpose, and it’s alright making these promises but if it’s going to take another three to five years to deliver most people won’t have the patience for it.
For the most in demand Migrants the policy might have come to late to make a difference. That’s nearly 165,000 eligible migrants for fast tracked residency.
All the trust is gone and I blame that completely 100%, at the feet of Kris Faafoi for his lack of communication.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/126535059/nearly-165000-migrants-eligible-for-fasttracked-residency
So again what happened in Parliament yesterday with what has been labeled grumpy voting to amend 17 pieces of obviously poor legislation needed urgently to make it easier to Gamble, hold local elections, conduct climate change policy, consent developments and assess RV’s for houses under Covid conditions, again if these had been done properly in the first place there would be no reason to have to revisit poor legislation made under urgency.
These Policy’s with the edition of the Three Waters Project are just a great example of how out of their depth this Government are.
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September 30, 2021 8:00am
- ecco
  
  I heard an immigration consultant on du Plessis Allan’s drive show last night saying she was dealing with immigration dept bureaucrats over some of her cases and was told they were working from home and three of them had dealt with 7 cases since the covid crisis began. Obviously lots of productivity in that department… Ardern will need to go and hire another couple of thousand staff in Wellington to process their new immigration policy.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:15am
- Paulus
  
  Mahuta has said again that the Three Waters Project will go ahead.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:15am
  - Yvette
    
    Timaru secedes from NZ councils in Three Waters fight against Government
    Mayor Nigel Bowen concedes the council will probably be smashed after voting to reject the water reforms and – in a surprise decision – to walk away from New Zealand’s 66 other local authorities.
    
    The reason why Government (Mahuta) claims reform is required –
    “Every year, around 34,000 people across New Zealand become ill from their drinking water and many thousands of households in different regions must boil their water to drink it safely.”
    – Nanaia Mahuta, Local Government Minister
    
    Mahuta says “status quo was no longer an option”, but sheets buck back to her boss –
    She told Parliament that she had hoped for a partnership with local councils, but indicated that had now broken down. Asked whether councils would still be allowed to opt out of the reforms, she would say only that the status quo was no longer an option.
    “Minister Mahuta says it’s a decision now for Cabinet, which is a clear signal that the opt in/opt out is no longer on the table. She’s really, to my mind, passing the buck now to the Prime Minister. So in my view the Prime Minister needs to start fronting this.”
    – Nigel Bowen, Timaru mayor
    
    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/timaru-secedes-from-nz-councils
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:26am
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Cindy wouldn’t know the difference between single water and three water.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:08am
      - Paulus
        
        But she does know the difference between Piss and Wind as she is an expert.
        
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        September 30, 2021 1:22pm
    - bennerg
      
      “Every year, around 34,000 people across New Zealand become ill from their drinking water and many thousands of households in different regions must boil their water to drink it safely.”
      
      This is a continuation of the fear based levers this government is employing to control the public mindset:
      
      1. Covid-19 (80,000 will die)
      2. Climate Emergency (sea will rise ~100cm)
      3. Water (34,000 ill)
      
      What on earth will be next?
      
      n. Education (one third truant) – expect police to become truant officers
      n+1. Justice (too many in prison) – no one goes to prison
      n+2. Mental Health (too may suicides) – everyone has to take mandatory meds
      n+3. Cultural Crisis (indigneous uprising) – all land returned to government ownership to enable fair distribution.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:42am
    - thirteenstars
      
      From the Newsroom article:
      
      On Tuesday, Parliament passed a law to make new regulator Taumata Arowai responsible for water quality…
      
      The Taumata Arowai website: https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz/
      
      Though it’s a government department, note it only has a Maori name. Note also Maori leads every label and statement with the English underneath. Note further that Aotearoa is used exclusively. New Zealand is missing completely even in the English translation of the Maori.
      
      This is the future, folks. Most government departments are heavily invested in this approach, relegating English to an afterthought.
      
      For years in the IT industry, when designing websites that need multi-language support, there are best practices that don’t involve mixing languages on the same page. Instead a translation option is offered allowing users to view the website in the language of their choice.
      
      Here’s an example: https://moodle.com/
      
      Notice the default language is English. But at top right there’s a language selector. Try choosing another language. Quick as a flash the site reloads in the chosen language.
      
      That’s how it should be done. It’s obviously not done with NZ government websites in order to force a certain language choice on non-Maori speakers. That’s an affront to the majority of English speakers, and is a pretty transparent Marxist tactic to create cognitive dissonance and conflict.
      
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      September 30, 2021 11:09am
      - JohnnyOverton
        
        Fight back against the not so secret Maori takeover of NZ agenda now folks, or become brainwashed slaves in your own nation. Fuckin Maori caucus led labour must be brought to it’s knees & overthrown.
        
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        September 30, 2021 11:31am
    - JohnnyOverton
      
      Well done Timaru. Great to see the Mainland leading the charge to resist to the draconian Maori led water grab. Mahuta’s hidden, Maori ownership of water agenda must be stopped in it’s tracks before it’s to late.
      
      It’s obvious that Nania Mahuta is the despotic power behind Ardern’s throne. The appointment of her sister to the co-chair role of the new Maori health authourity is blatant, dynasty building nepotism;
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/452106/government-announces-team-leading-new-health-nz-and-maori-health-authority
      
      Nania Mahuta will, in dictatorial fashion, ram through any legislation that will advance the ethno-nationalistic Maori takeover over of our nation.
      
      We must take to the streets to show Ardern’s mob that we, the people, do not want a bar of all this dictatorial, race based nonsense that’s being foisted upon us.
      
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      September 30, 2021 11:23am
      - crikey
        
        Insurrection and civil war has been initiated against such dictatorial measures in times gone by – not that it is likely to happen here in New Zealand with an ultimately compliant population.
        There is, nevertheless, widespread anger at the manner in which this government is ramming through a raft of legislation without consultation or mandate. Just where that is going to lead remains to be seen.
        
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        September 30, 2021 12:43pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Time for our leaders to do their job.
        
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        September 30, 2021 3:51pm
      - kevn
        
        @JO… mahuta has been sitting there for years like a carved Trojan Horse.
        Must feel her time has come.
        Sorry, NZ says ‘NO”.
        
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        September 30, 2021 5:17pm
    - thirteenstars
      
      I sent an email to Timaru mayor, Nigel Bowen, congratulating him on the council’s decision and for his leadership, especially regards leaving Local Government NZ.
      
      I urge all of you to do the same. When a good thing happens we need to express solidarity with those who are at the coal face doing the right thing and taking the heat. It’s a wonderful thing to get support from strangers.
      
      Here’s the address I used: [email protected]
      
      I made sure to ask for my email to forwarded to the mayor.
      
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      September 30, 2021 12:05pm
      - JohnnyOverton
        
        For those in the Waimakariri district, Matt Doocey has organised a 3 waters public meeting in Kaipaoi for 12/10/21.
        
        Anyone wishing to attend will need to RSVP (bloody level 2 still in the Mainland). To register email; [email protected]
        
        https://www.facebook.com/MattDoocey.Waimakariri/
        
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        September 30, 2021 1:42pm
  - lastmanstanding
    
    Three Waters is a massive transfer of wealth from ratepayers over many decades to the Maori Elites. It is part of UTU for colonisation.
    
    Same as He Puapua. A massive transfer of wealth.
    
    And the vast majority of Maori wont see a cent just like they havent seen a cent from the Billion Dollars plus of the so called Treaty Settlements the next generation of which will start. Some tribes have had multiple ‘full and final settlements” with each generation coming back and saying I didnt benefit and wanting an inflation adjustment.
    
    The ToW is a scam.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:40am
  - colina
    
    Govt could have a ‘revolution on its hands’ if it pursues proposed water reforms says CCC councilors
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/126502037/govt-could-have-a-revolution-on-its-hands-if-it-pursues-proposed-water-reforms
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:03am
    - JohnnyOverton
      
      The revolution has been simmering away among us, the silent majority for a long time now, so batten down the hatches, as we’ve had a gutsful of Ardern’s, fascistic, Maori led mob.
      
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      September 30, 2021 11:39am
  - oldfella
    
    @paulus
    TV3’s Paddy Gower did a story the other night about 3 Waters. He acknowledged pushback from some councils, talked to a couple of locals who knew bugger all about what 3 Waters actually was, and as with the TV1 story from a week or so back, managed to leave out any reference to handing control to (unelected) Maori interests.
    Wonder how both stories managed to miss that key information. Hmm. /s
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:39am
    - Nickc2
      
      Remind me again how much money the Govt has paid these Cretins in the MSM for their continuing support.
      
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      September 30, 2021 4:45pm
  - Sacha
    
    She’s calling the shots. The Maoris will get stroppy if the Government don’t support them, and then where will their majority be? And where the Opposition be?
    I wonder when New Zealanders who have any interest in how their future is being controlled, will start to move?
    What will it take to get to the breaking point?
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:15pm
- Maxx
  
  And let’s face it. This is another rushed policy to fix a hole of their own making because immigration=bad unless you’re a refugee. A rushed policy that came about because of pressure. A rushed policy that they can point to as a solution so the media will move on. A policy that will be disconnected from the wider immigration policy and now create its own new issues.
  
  All in all – par for the course when it it comes to Labour.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:18am
- Ra Henare
  
  If I was a cynic(actually I am when it comes to government)
  
  The governments reaction to the 10am release of Nationals Covid policy was
  
  Same time
  Briefing on the Children’s review (surprise all members Maori) all about the poor children
  
  45 cases advised(return the fear factor)
  
  Oh dear, the games they play.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:34am
  - oldfella
    
    @Ra
    Talking of political games, you might enjoy this Aussie gem, ‘Utopia’ (Netflix).
    Set inside the offices of the “Nation Building Authority”, a newly created government organization responsible for overseeing major infrastructure projects, Utopia explores that moment when bureaucracy and grand dreams collide. It’s a tribute to those political leaders who have somehow managed to take a long-term vision and use it for short-term gain.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSQsc47oDQ&ab_channel=ABCTV%26iview
    FWIW, Mrs Oldfella and I were watching last night when she turned to me and said, ‘this is how the Labour Govt operates’.
    Smart lady. 😉
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:46am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Once upon a time immigration was considered as a great mover of demand. It was increased to stimulate the economy. Not carefully controlled it creates havoc. The extra demand will require local authorities to provide more housing and infrastructure. Prices will be pushed up further…
  Isn’t there a single economist among this govt?
  
  Their “mistakes” are NZ”s disaster.
  I see all the good that previous govt’s have done over my lifetime being undone by a wannabe commie chick and her band of amateur political hooligans.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:49am
- KevO'Brien
  
  There is going to have to be severe accounting for this economic mess these amateurs are making.
  
  It needs to be stopped now before the damage is irrecoverable.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:55am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Who is going to stop it, Kev?
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:00am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      YOU SHOULD.
      
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      September 30, 2021 3:57pm
  - crikey
    
    Calling all severe accountants ?.
    
    Signing petitions is not going to do anything. The only legitimate protest seems to be through the ballot box which requires a potential centre-right government (i.e. National + Act + NZ First) to put a stake in the ground that they will immediately reverse Three Waters and He Puapua legislation.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:57pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Are we past the ballot box stage? Further urgent reforms appear needed before we can trust present leadership.
      
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      September 30, 2021 3:59pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        What do you propose as an alternative?
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:17pm
    - Clownworld
      
      NZFirst…time for a new party. The Great Reset?
      National should split into Globalist Central and Rural First perhaps?
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:10pm
- pdm
  
  Warren Faa’foi may be bad with immigration but he is starting to look a bloody sight worse with the Justice Portfolio.
  
  The train wreck could be interesting to watch between now and Christmas.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:59am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  At this rate we could be in lock down untill next year.
  
  Sorry what’s the plan again?
  
  There is no plan.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:08am
  - sooty
    
    We won’t be locked down, there is a royal wedding at christmas!
    She needs the border open for guests to come from far and wide. Can you see them in MIQ for 14 days!
    After the wedding guest have gone home, well that’s another story!
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:22am
    - Sacha
      
      Frankly, being locked up would be a sight more worth it if I could avoid the ghastly syncophancy of an Ardern wedding.
      Even better would be if she decided not to do the deed at all – or if it has already been consummated at a local register office.
      
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      September 30, 2021 12:22pm
    - burt
      
      She doesn’t need the border open for that and only the service staff will be social distancing and wearing masks.
      
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      September 30, 2021 12:50pm
    - Paulus
      
      No, I expect a November wedding because that is when she, and her gang, are going overseas – it is still a secret actually and I have not yet heard the dates.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:26pm
- Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
  
  the AM show had a viewer poll re Govt handling of the covid pandemic – great, good, poor or awful were options. Last I saw it 56% Awful, 36% poor…..funny enough I cant find that poll anywhere…..guess mediaworks worried about getting next payment from Cindy.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:23am
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Rā koa o te whakamaoritanga o te ao!
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September 30, 2021 8:00am
- Jibber NO Jabber
  
  What have the Romans ever done for us! …? ? ?
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:14am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Romani ite domum!
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:01am
    - JibberJabber
      
      teh roman he go the house?
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:47am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Set an example for future conquest and subjugation of the Celtic peoples of the British Isles?
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:24am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  博学之，审问之，慎思之，明辨之，笃行之。
  -《礼记·中庸》
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:24am
  - Frank the tank
    
    At least more than 5% of NZ’s population will be able to understand what you said Maggy…..
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:31am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    That makes a lot more sense.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:33am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      It should – it was written by a grandson of Confucius.
      
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      September 30, 2021 8:44am
  - Ehlana
    
    If that is the answer Maggy, the question must have been: What is unknown to this government?
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:38am
    - sooty
      
      Every bloody thing!
      
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      September 30, 2021 11:27am
- graham
  
  Nope, you’ve both lost me completely …
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:26am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It’s in honour of Saint Jerome, translator of a version of the bible, and patron of translators.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:31am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, today is St. Jerome’s feast day. (340 – 420)
    He did much more than “translate a version of the bible”.
    He collected all the writings, Old testament & New Testament in all the varied languages – about 20 at that time – he studied & learnt all the languages that he did not know, and translated them all into Latin – the commoin Latin, not classical Latin – and the translation was called the Vulgate. All translations since that time have derived from the Vulgate – and if some translator was uncertain about his own translation, they referred back to the Vulgate.
    
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    September 30, 2021 1:29pm
    - Okahu
      
      Thanks for that Don. It’s always good to remind ourselves how the Word of God (the early monotheistic version of a god that developed in the Middle East some 2-3000 years ago, not one of the 2000 odd other gods employed, worshiped and revered elsewhere on the planet) arrived. If was apparently passed on as oral history before scribes of various cultures and languages assembled their stories which over a period of many centuries were passed around, modified, edited before as the power of one economically successful wing of the faith took it upon itself to authorise a version. That vulgate version has since been edited, updated, translated, and more in order that now we can really know what god murmured into the ears of often cave dwelling illiterate men thousands of years ago.
      
      That’s how I like to get information to set my life by. And that’s how I know god approves of slavery. Coz the bible is his word!
      
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      September 30, 2021 2:16pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s just lucky that there is a pope who can tell everyone what is the correct version of the scripture
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:20pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  ~~Rā koa o te whakamaoritanga o te ao!~~
  Maori spirituality is unacceptable to Christians.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:33am
  - Simon
    
    Colonisation process and Christianity was the best thing to happen to Maori. The maori brutal take over of the Chatham Islands during the 1830s was the rule not the exception.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:01am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      A takeover that would, ironically, have been impossible without the willing assistance of Europeans.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:22am
      - amospicton
        
        Surely you jest mm – a civilisation capable of reaching Antarctica could surely have reached the Chathams?
        
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        September 30, 2021 9:38am
      - Clyde
        
        Willing? Better go back to reading mikenmild. I’d suggest as a starter, The Musket Wars.
        
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        September 30, 2021 9:49am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Untrue Mikey, or at least, unknown. The ships were quite likely hijacked and the captains given no real option but to comply or die. However there are inconsistencies in the accounts and we cannot be sure of the degree of cooperation.
        
        No doubt at all though that the scheme was conceived by and implemented by Maori without European involvement, and the slaughter and cannibalization of the population was entirely carried out by Maori. And it was, after all, entirely in keeping with Maori custom and “justice” as it then existed.
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:05am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I might be wrong, but Te Ara is usually based on good sources:
      
      Sealers and whalers were a familiar sight on the Chatham Islands from the early 1800s. They brought with them diseases to which Moriori had no immunity. Some of their boats had Māori crew members, and news of the islands reached Māori on mainland New Zealand.
      Before 1835 some Māori came to Rēkohu (Chatham Island) with sealers, and several became residents. One man of Ngāti Toa settled at Wharekauri. Lacking knowledge of the Moriori language, he failed to distinguish between the name for the settlement and the name for the island. On his return to the mainland of New Zealand he spoke of Rēkohu as Wharekauri. It has been called that by Māori ever since.
      In 1835, 24 generations after the Moriori chief Nunuku had forbidden war, Moriori welcomed about 900 people from two Māori tribes, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama. Originally from Taranaki on New Zealand’s North Island, they had voyaged from Wellington on an overcrowded European vessel, the Rodney. They arrived severely weakened, but were nursed back to health by their Moriori hosts. They soon revealed hostile intentions and embarked on a reign of terror.
      Stunned, Moriori called a council of 1,000 men at Te Awapātiki to debate their response. The younger men were keen to repel the invaders and argued that even though they had not fought for many centuries, they outnumbered the newcomers two to one and were a strong people. But the elders argued that Nunuku’s Law was a sacred covenant with their gods and could not be broken. The consequences for Moriori were devastating.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:42am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Christian spirituality is unacceptable to rationalists.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:03am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      And Muslim…
      
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      September 30, 2021 4:36pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Correct – the branding on your mumbo jumbo means nothing.
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:21pm
- softail 1450
  
  MMA, thanks for that but I’ve already got the phone number for the Angels GentleMens club.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:37am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  My hovercraft is full of eels.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:42am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I seem to recall that on a state visit to Poland, President’s Carter’s translator rendered “I have warm feelings towards the Poles” as “I desire the Poles carnally”.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:06am
    - Ed Snack
      
      There are lots of opportunities for mistranslation, for example when JFK famously thought he was declaring himself, in effect, to be a citizen of Berlin, the phrase he used was commonly understood to mean that he thought he was a small but delectable local pastry.
      
      And one of my favourites was when an American airline tried to gain extra passengers in its flights to no from Spain, so fitted leather seats to some aircraft and ran a campaign based on that – basically saying fly sitting on leather seats. But the literal translation they used in their Spanish ads was “sitting on skin (ie leather, in literal Spanish) was in fact how the Spanish would say “flying naked”.
      
      This did attract some extra passengers but not really the sort the airline was after…
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:10am
    - oldfella
      
      @mma
      President John F. Kennedy, speaking to a crowd of 400,000 people in West Berlin in 1963, said “ich bin ein Berliner,”. He meant to say, “I am a Berliner.” But he really said, “I am a jelly doughnut”.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:55am
- Spenditb4theytaxit
  
  turakina to kaihe
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:19pm
peterwn

So the issue of ‘light rail’ versus ‘road trains’ is gaining some prominence and is putting light rail fanatics in a tizz. The main argument against ‘road trains’ with a current ‘road train’ (2 units with ‘bendy’ coupling carrying 100 to 120 pax compared with 120 – 300 for two light rail cars. Hence light rail fanatics are writing off ‘road trains’ as excessively short sighted and only light rail would be sufficiently future proofed. I do not think that this is an appropriate comparison since while ‘road trains’ currently in use (in China) are smaller and have lower capacities (for good reason) scaling up ‘road trains’ to light rail size is quite feasible.
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September 30, 2021 8:00am
- zulumonster
  
  And of course the trams are limited to one route (any more than that would bankrupt the city!) But road trains (bendy-buses) can be deployed to multiple routes and are much cheaper and more flexible. It really is a no-brainer – so our overlords will choose the obvious – trams!
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:15am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Road trains? That’s what they have in outback Aus.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:58am
    - peterwn
      
      That is right! Same principle except that public transport road trains would be guided by electronic control systems to support the driver since operating clearances would be much tighter than on the Stuart Highway. Apparently a painted line on the road sets the route.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:22am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Also tighter than the Sturt Highway ! Odd how there’s two highways in Aus called Sturt and Stuart.
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:13am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Captain Sturt was the Surveyor-General of South Australia (and famous explorer of Inland Oz)
        
        McDouall Stuart worked for Sturt (surveyor) for a time, before leading 6 expeditions into central Oz.
        
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        September 30, 2021 1:53pm
- peterwn
  
  The big advantage of ‘road trains’ is the system can be installed at a tiny fraction of the cost of light rail. Moreover the investment can be spread over time. The cars would be smaller but that would be to minimise roadway and associated improvements to get the service running. As capacity saturates then further investment can be made in roadways and other infrastructure to accommodate cars with similar capacity to light rail.
  
  There are two big issues with light rail as well illustrated by the Circular Quay to Randwick/ Kingsford system in Sydney. The amount of disruption to people and businesses (especially in George Street) was frightful. Then the system could not even be used until works were complete for the Randwick leg.
  
  Businesses in the Albert Street area in Auckland have been severely disrupted by the city rail extension and construction of the Aotea station. They now face another round of disruption with light rail proposals. Many cities got rid of trams 50 to 70 years ago because they were becoming more trouble than they were worth. There are lessons that can be learned from this which would be applicable to light rail.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:18am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I have been looking at ewetoob which has videos of the Circular Quay – Randwick/kingsford system.
    And others that Tram nerd post.
    Just to get a handle on what could happen in Auckland.
    The CQ to RK line is 8 kilometers long with about 14 stations. The trip takes about 38 minutes.
    That means the 20 k trip CBD to Mangere/Airport will need about 20 stations and will take 55 minutes plus. It will not be fast.
    Then as Peterwn notes there is the disruption. the route in Auckland is not yet decided. Neither are the location of the terminus in the cbd or the airport. There is a suggestion of a route towards the University and instead of Dominion Road, where the council has been buying up properties for such a project and setbacks exist, Sandringham road is posited as the route south. Why? HOusing Corp are redeveloping the Wesley area and have poked their nose in.
    This sort of stuff will make the cost absolutley horrendous. Not only for the poor bastards who live work or play along the route (wherever it goes) but in terms of construction cost.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:54am
- PhilBest
  
  Light Rail is a kind of quasi-religious madness. The late Michael Cullen was absolutely correct: it is an idea whose time has passed.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:26am
  - RockyJ
    
    But, but, but it fits entirely into the vision the Labour/Green luvvies have for our future society.
    You know, steaming horses pulling carts of tofu patties, cloth capped illiterate industrial workers with huge forearms singing the Internationale striding into belching factories running on solar power, rosy cheeked milk maids in head scarfs and long dresses each with 1.5 runny nosed children speaking Te Reo.
    It is a bold transformational vision and gosh, aren’t we lucky our intellectual superiors have this future in store for us?
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:13am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I chuckle about it. Wellington dumped trams for trolley buses and they were also too constraining with their requirements for overhead lines.
    
    Simple buses proved best. They don’t care much where they go.
    Light rail gummed up Sydney. It was fun riding on it what seemed like 20m up among the buildings. Sydney had a greater excuse with a population approaching that of NZ. However even then it was not sustainable. Its fixed nature and costs interfered with the city’s functioning. Further it could not be adapted to user demand.
    
    NZ doesn’t need to think beyond buses in their different forms. Fuel is not likely to be an issue in the future as new green power plants are in development.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:17am
- cmm
  
  In NZ we need flexibility due to high earthquake risks and low population. Anything on rails is stuffed after an EQ until the rails can be fixed. This can take years. Things on wheels can be redeployed around obstacles etc.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:34am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    If one car hits one tram the whole line has to stop.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:51am
    - peterwn
      
      Yes. A light truck ran a red light and succeeded in derailing a tram in George Street. There may be crossovers to bypass such accident sites but schedules would still severely be disrupted.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:28am
- 7kiwi11
  
  I would think smaller road trains would have an advantage over larger ones. Less obtrusive and they could operate at greater frequency meaning less waiting time. If people don’t have wait so long then people are more likely to use them. Hey lets go down to a one carriage system, and call it something short and punchy like… Bus!
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:36am
  - peterwn
    
    The objective is to remove bottlenecks and saturation points. This would be done by roadway improvements and higher capacity vehicles as needed. This would provide significant public transport improvements while retaining the ordinary bus. At some stage higher capacity vehicles would be needed and this is where bendy buses then ‘road trains’ would come into their own. Interestingly a constraint in Wellington is the Karori Tunnel. No one foresaw that 110 years ago that the tunnel should have been high enough for double decker trams or buses, so it has become a public transport pinch point. Bendy buses are not feasible on the route because bus stop lengths are limited. Some investment is needed here but would be a tiny fraction of the cost of light rail and could be as simple as lowering the roadway through the tunnel (as the railways have done to increase the height of trains through tunnels on the Johnsonville line and north of Pukerua Bay).
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:40am
  - PhilBest
    
    One counter-intuitive reality is that the most cost-effective “public transport” systems in the world are the “Jitney” van-sized vehicles that are ubiquitous in Manila and Mexico City. This is a question of complex analysis of “whole systems”. It is perfectly possible for smaller vehicles with more flexibility, to end up more cost effective than larger vehicles with less flexibility.
    
    If you wanted to sum up the evolutionary direction for urban economies and their transport systems over the last century, it would be that word: flexibility.
    
    Centralization and inflexibility is attractive to the totalitarian mind, they can’t get their heads around reality any more than the former USSR’s Central Planners could beat “the free market”.
    
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    September 30, 2021 2:07pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Double decker bendy bus?
  
  I note Sydney also has double decker trains.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:11am
Scott

In another episode of Biden watch we note that Joe Biden, having presided over the Afghanistan withdrawal, the biggest American debacle in living memory, has told American journalists that no general gave him advice not to withdraw all the troops. I thought it would have been obvious that first you evacuate the civilians, then the military equipment and then and only then the rearguard of soldiers. Joe decided to do it in the exact opposite order. He withdrew all the troops, left hundreds of civilians and billions of dollars of military equipment behind.

Fortunately there is an enquiry into the situation and under questioning the generals concerned maintained that their opinion was that a rearguard of troops, around 2500, needed to be left behind to guard the withdrawal. It seems that was the opinion they gave to the president.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/09/did-he-lie-or-did-it-slip-his-mind.php

However the president says that he can’t recall whether he was given that advice. Now he could be lying? Or it could have slipped his mind? When you are 78 years old then things slip your mind. When you are organising the Friday night happy hour at your rest home and things slip your mind, well it can be forgiven. It’s not that consequential. However when you are in charge of a military operation involving the lives of hundreds of civilians and thousands of troops and billions of dollars of military equipment, then it does matter. Having a functioning memory when you are president of the United States does matter.

Sadly it may be that Joe Biden just can’t remember what the generals told him? How long can the American people be expected to put up with a 78-year-old who literally doesn’t know what day it is? Who doesn’t know whether the generals told him to leave troops behind? And to this day there are many American civilians trying to get home from Afghanistan. At the same time the Taliban are doing a victory parade flying American Black Hawk helicopters. If that’s not shameful I don’t know what is?
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September 30, 2021 8:01am
- mikenmildagain
  
  So, you didn’t watch the testimony from the Secretary of Defence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:14am
  - softail 1450
    
    MMA ,you obviously didn’t.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:38am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Maybe, so perhaps you could summarise for me the witness testimonies and the best questions from the senators.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:27am
      - ISeeRed
        
        Or, “Show me evidence that backs my point.” No, that’s your job. Or just don’t bother posting your exceedingly lame tepid posts.
        
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        September 30, 2021 2:30pm
- Inandout
  
  Scott, you know there is immense buyer’s remorse on the Biden placement and even the compliant media are being pushed to the edge of tolerance. The man is a shambles and needs to be urgently stood down.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:22am
- Okahu
  
  You must be young, or have a munted brain if you believe the withdrawal from Afghanistan was “the biggest American debacle in living memory”
  
  The complete rejection of science and sanity by the Republican Party in the US, the appalling implications of which may be discovered as soon as this weekend with a manufactured sovereign debt crisis…
  
  The gift of a global financial crisis, this time built on the ‘right’ of American banks to bundle and export their worst risk as triple A rated securities to unsuspecting investors …
  
  The decision to re-invade Iraq on behalf of the despicable mullahs of Saudi Arabia and involve the western world’s military in a flesh and treasure devouring exercise that gave rise to more and worse religious extremism…
  
  Any and each of which are of massively greater historical and strategic significance suggest you just grabbed that witless attack on President Biden out of your arse.
  
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  September 30, 2021 1:31pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  A victory parade is only to be expected. Any occupying power has difficulty sustaining that state
  .
  I’m pleased the Afghanis are now their own masters once again. I don’t care for their religion or lifestyle but they have to learn to manage their own people. Saudi Sheiks have ceased to be roving Bedouin, others can learn too.
  
  Now we can extend a hand of friendship and welcome them back into the international brotherhood. Respect among nations is a precursor of peace. The events of 20 years ago are of dubious relevance now.
  
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  September 30, 2021 4:53pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Perhaps you could volunteer for some missionary work in Afghanistan.
    
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    September 30, 2021 6:24pm
plc

So the Government has announced that 165,000 people have been fasttracked for residency visas.

5000 – Aged & Health Care Workers
9000 – Primary Industry Workers
800 – Teachers

That only leaves 150,000 “Others”

Nice little voting block for the next election
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September 30, 2021 8:03am
- kowtow
  
  Not so sure ’bout that .
  
  They’ve been left hanging in the air for quite some time , lives in limbo , not able to make important decisions or get mortgages to buy homes , stressed to the max ( mental health is a prioridy for this regime) about their childrens’ and their own futures , not sure whether to re emigrate etc
  
  They’ll be very relieved but I think they’ll have seen through the “kindness”.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:20am
  - oldfella
    
    @kowtow
    And, of course, while waiting to be allowed to buy a house, prices have risen. Who’d thunk!?
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:02am
- ecco
  
  Would be interesting to know what the worker to extended family visa ratio is for this (buy vote) deal.
  Hope they all come to Auckland to live as I have property here…
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:32am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I don’t think so.
  
  These people have been stuffed around by Faafoi and the Government for months, and many of them haven’t seen their families for 600-plus days. They have had fantastic support from Erica Stanford, National’s Immigration spokeswoman, who has been on Faafoi’s case for months. That he has finally caved in is due in good measure to her advocacy.
  
  Even then, it’s too late for some. Yesterday, she posted on FB about a bloke named Jaco, a highly skilled migrant in the construction sector who is leaving New Zealand after a 600-day- long separation from his wife and child. Jaco simply couldn’t remain here any longer, whilst his residence application went nowhere, so made the decision to depart. And there are plenty more like Jaco, who have given up their New Zealand dream because of Faafoi’s apathy and indifference. He’s done the right thing, at last, but it’s too little too late. I don’t think he will have too many followers for himself and Labour.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:35am
  - plc
    
    But Jacinda came through for them…..they owe her a debt of gratitude.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:37am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      That ain’t gonna happen!
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:33am
  - ecco
    
    I’m not against the bonafide cases of skilled workers that want to stay here. I’m just wanting to see the justification from Faafoi of the number. ie 165k new NZ passports to be handed out. We were running at about 50k net migrants a year before covid hit. Now he’s enacted 3x that. Please don’t tell me immigration doesn’t drive property prices.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:29am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      There’ll be no NZ passports handed out for at least five years ecco, only residence permits. But the Government, and Faafoi in particular, have stuffed these people around so badly that giving them residence is the least they can do by way of recompence. They will still have to apply, and wait for up to a year, but I suspect many may not bother.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:02am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Plus the immediate family offshore who will also qualify for residence. 200,000+, I’m guessing.
      
      That’s adding 4% to NZ’s population, just like that.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:25pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  They have announced the Visas total, but is there work yet to be done to support this?
  
  I presume there is administration required, so there is a lifeline here for stressed people, but I wouldn’t rule out the Labour reverse-Midas touch in application.
  i.e. Any time Labour announces a figure for delivery, it doesn’t end well.
  Only thing with numbers they seem to be able to do successfully is announce a lump for spending.
  Let’s see how they deliver in application.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:44am
zulumonster

So Judge Callinicos gets thrown under the bus – it was almost inevitable. The senior judges who injected themselves into the “Moana” case while it was ongoing have apparently done no wrong – “it was clear they were not seeking to influence Judge Judge Callinicos.”
What a load of tosh – of course they were! And the article spends most of its time addressing concerns about Callinicos’s bullying, and excessive and partisan interventions in this case, and others. The poor sod is in their sights and he can’t escape …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/126524973/judges-involvement-in-moana-case-not-inappropriate-commissioner-says
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September 30, 2021 8:03am
- Frank the tank
  
  Wokeborg wins all the time. They are inevitable.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:30am
- kowtow
  
  Another example of our constitutional arrangements being subordinated to race pandering aka neo marxism.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:15am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Play school TV1 Campbell interviewing himself again. Rude prick. Seymour had to interrupt to get a word in
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September 30, 2021 8:03am
- all true
  
  He has gone with a learjet thru his childhood
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:07am
- Tricati
  
  Unfortunately Campbell is a narcissistic arse that likes the sound of his own voice, so it’s not an interview, but rather a telling off for not agreeing with him.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:09am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Steve, you really shouldn’t watch TV news if it upsets you so much.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:10am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I agree with you. And I don’t. But the redhead I am seeing has it on at her house 🙁
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:46am
    - Dairy Flat
      
      Benedict, ancient Western philosopher once said “play with ginger hair and you will live in interesting times”. Good luck!
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:32am
    - Okahu
      
      Christ almighty man! Turn the tv off when you’re ‘seeing’ her! A bucket of blue pills isn’t going to overcome the buzzkill of the tv news!
      
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      September 30, 2021 2:51pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Genuine LOL, man
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:25pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not the news Mike, it’s the fucking idiot that reads it to himself
    
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    September 30, 2021 2:45pm
- westernScientest
  
  next time seymour should quietly get up, go make a coffee and come back and sit down, like nothing happened at all and just let campbell talk to himself.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:23am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    pull out phone and thumb through it. Would play well on TV.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:46am
- softail 1450
  
  Steve Otto,, Anyone that wears shoes, soxs and rolled up jeans like Campbell does should be in a different type of institution.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:43am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Classy trendsetter
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:08am
- ecco
  
  Haven’t watched TV1 for several years. The AM show is quite palatable, apart from the Gillies woman who makes me gag every time she utters a word.
  
  Quite liking Bridge and his line of questioning of government ministers. Interesting that Ardern warned Bridge the other day not to interrupt her before he had even started the interview. That in itself speaks volumes. Maybe another show she will refuse to go on to?
  
  I’m guessing Mediaworks will sub in Toxic Tova, their odious little political reporter, for Gillies when they change their AM show team. Will miss Richardson immensely when he goes.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:52am
  - Lance
    
    Also TV1 news has jumped the shark as far as I am concerned. There is the endless National / Act attacks but letting Maori party MPs talk utter shit unchallenged did it for me.
    Apparently everyone who doesn’t vote for the left is a racist… yes, I shit you not, that was broadcast unchallenged on TV1 news, followed the next night by 95% of NZers HATE Judith Collins.
    Fuck me, beyond woke and into a new dimension all together.
    TV3 news is still barely tolerable.
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:13am
    - Nickc2
      
      I e-mailed the Maori TV Channel and asked when they were going to intermingle English words with their News but it’s now week three and I still haven’t had a reply.
      Maybe it’s because I didn’t translate the question into that newly found language called Te Reo.
      
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      September 30, 2021 4:23pm
    - Mark
      
      Tsk tsk.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:49pm
- coge
  
  I haven’t watched NZ TV news since Campbell became a regular fixture. This is going back three decades now!
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:51am
kevn

I believe there are people who actually watch TV1/3 and get their ‘news’ from that same source.
Like an IQ test. Same folk who drive around with masks on.
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September 30, 2021 8:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The speaker of the house insists on this channel in the morning, I just put up with it
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:29am
  - emmess
    
    Do not comply
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:34am
  - marcw
    
    You need to apologise and withdraw Steve.
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:26am
- Surely Knott
  
  More media bias. RNZ facebook page has turned off comments for Nationals’ policy idea. “National Party leader Judith Collins says life is full of risks and the country can’t keep going into lockdown to keep Covid-19 at bay.” All Comments Turned Off.
  
  “There is a possibility Auckland’s alert level could drop next week but with travel to and from the city remaining restricted.
  Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins told Checkpoint the decision would be made on the most up-to-date information available but agreed the city could face a phased transition to level 2, involving more freedoms within Auckland, but border restrictions remaining.” Comments Turned On.
  
  What is their policy in regards to allowing comments. Looks like the Judith comment could have provoked some reactions they didn’t want to hear.
  
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  September 30, 2021 1:29pm
ecco

Ardern just bought 165k more voters for herself with that blanket granting of residency to people who were in NZ since covid struck? Is this actually going to sort the health worker shortage that it’s supposed to be addressing or is this just going to add to the more than adequate number of Uber drivers we already have here? Isn’t it ICU workers overseas that we are trying to attract? How is this going to solve that?

How many extended family are we getting for every worker they are granting visas to? How is this going to affect MIQ as well?

What is the breakdown of the occupations of these people? I don’t mind if it’s farm workers, fruit pickers and GPs like the one in Otaki who was going to have to leave. But is it just a whole lot of back packers/overstayers and people who didn’t leave last year when they were asked to return to their homes outside of NZ? And all of their extended families as well.

It’s the usual blunt instrument policy you expect from Labour. Low hanging fruit type thing Ardern goes for. Anything that requires a nuanced approach to actually solve problems is not in her playbook.

Will certainly be good for a sugar rush to GDP that Ardern will be looking for towards the next election. It will also be good for anyone with property in the Auckland area and just add to the housing shortage here and boost property prices more.

BTW what credentials does Faafoi have to be running NZ’s immigration and other important areas like commercial lease contract law? Is he just another Labour career politician who was in the right place at the right time?
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September 30, 2021 8:07am
- mikenmildagain
  
  If cabinet ministers were required to have specific formal qualifications relevant to their ministerial portfolios, political parties would have to rethink, radically, their candidate selection. Each party that expected to become a major part of government would need at least:
  one medical doctor
  one economist
  one solicitor
  one constitutional lawyer
  one criminologist
  one military officer
  one social worker
  one teacher
  one police officer
  one logistician
  one scientist
  one farmer
  one fisher.
  At least two of these would have to be experienced chairperson and major organisations, to provide a prime minister and a back-up.
  That’s at least 13 outstanding people, already too large to form an effective committee (see Parkinson’s Law).
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:24am
  - ecco
    
    So what did Faafoi do before politics? Was he a TV reporter?
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:56am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yes, he was.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:35am
    - Paulus
      
      Yes, a reporter and “was” good at it but is totally out of his depth in Labour politics.
      Bye, as soon as he can get out.
      Sad as a nice guy otherwise
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:15am
    - Lance
      
      He was Doctor Who. He time travelled and witnessed many great historical events first hand.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:15am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Walter Mitty, more like!
        
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        September 30, 2021 9:28pm
  - cmm
    
    Relevance to their ministerial portfolios does not necessarily mean having the technical skills in the field.
    
    For example the health sector really needs a minister who understands how to overcome problems in hospital management rather than how to chop up a patient. Most surgeons couldn’t run a hospital either.
    
    Almost all problems at a ministerial level fall into two categories:
    * Excellent problem solving and figuring out the best compromises: Engineers are good at that. So are farmers, factory managers etc etc.
    * Logistics. Ensuring the correct flow of resources and skills to meet requirements. Factory managers are good at that, as are farmers etc etc.
    
    For example, the whole vaccine delivery fiasco was a logistical cock up: not securing a supply of vaccines, wrong needles, complicated and dithering roll out that wastes staff and resources.
    
    PhDs is basket weaving live in rarified artificial world and have never solved real-world problems. They bring nothing useful to the table.
    
    We do have a surplus of “communications experts” who are good at spinning a cockup to present it as a success. A spun success is, however, not a real success.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:05am
    - Ian Boag
      
      PhDs is basket weaving live in rarified artificial world and have never solved real-world problems.
      
      Spoken like an ignoramus who doesn’t have one ….
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:19am
      - kowtow
        
        There are PhDs and PhDs.
        
        20 2
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        September 30, 2021 9:47am
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        kowtow _ Ian knows that – suspect he’s just being a little selective on this occasion.
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:18am
      - Ed Snack
        
        As any fule knowe, PhD stands for “Piled Higher and Deeper”.
        
        There most certainly are “PhD’s and PhD’s”, some of which are difficult to get and involve serious long term study. Then there are those that only require a certain mindset and the ability to parrot fashionable nonsense…
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:21am
      - Spoff
        
        The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue.
        Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness…….
        – Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet.
        https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960696-1.pdf
        
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        September 30, 2021 12:16pm
    - ecco
      
      Unfortunately a lot of Ardern sycophants are still drinking the Ardern koolaid. I guess that’s also an intended consequence of the media bribe fund.
      
      We all know someone who’s still spouting, aren’t we lucky to have had 169 covid free days, look at NSW, look at our vaccine rate now, and on and on.
      
      15 1
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      September 30, 2021 9:35am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I was simply taking ecco’s admittedly silly statement at face value for a bit of fun.
      My approach would be to randomly select citizens from the community to serve as MPs or local authority councillors, as we do for jury service. People actively seeking political office should perhaps be the first to be disqualified, together with any convicted criminal, of course.
      
      12 5
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      September 30, 2021 9:39am
      - Ed Snack
        
        What, a sensible solution from Mikey ! Well done that man.
        
        9 1
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        September 30, 2021 10:22am
      - oldfella
        
        @mma
        We’re doing that now, selecting people from the community to run things. Except it’s the Labour Govt doing the selecting, and mostly along racial lines. Which has never worked out well for any society which has ventured down that road.
        
        9 1
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        September 30, 2021 11:14am
      - Spoff
        
        I sometimes wonder if abolishing Political Parties might be a worthwhile reform to our system of government.
        
        4 1
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        September 30, 2021 12:22pm
      - MCos
        
        Putin abolishes political parties on a regular basis.
        Works well for him.
        
        3 0
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        September 30, 2021 1:42pm
    - Taieri
      
      Most of all they should have an extensive experience of life outside of the politics.
      
      9 1
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      September 30, 2021 9:44am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Spin doctors are only required to excuse failure.
      
      By definition, if you’re successful, you don’t need Comms people.
      
      1 0
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      September 30, 2021 9:30pm
  - JibberJabber
    
    Yeah nah, just keep electing trust fund babies, low IQ academics like Woods and Russell and assorted life-long unionists while they still know everything and we’ll be sweet.
    
    16 2
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    September 30, 2021 9:18am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Some People can multitask..
    
    I note that Judith Collins not only has Legal Qualifications, but also a Masters in Taxation Studies and a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety.
    
    Dr Shane Reti not only has medical Qualifications, plays in Rock bands , is a bit of an IT whiz, and a Chartered accountant.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:19am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yes, it can work. A government only really needs a core of four or five fully competent people. Most ministers are there for ceremonial purposes only, or as a reward for picking the winner of the latest leadership ballot.
      
      14 4
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      September 30, 2021 9:41am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        “Most Labour ministers are there for ceremonial purposes only”
        
        8 3
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        September 30, 2021 10:38am
      - RalphT
        
        Ah, so that’s Labour’s problem, finding four or five competent people! I mean, they’ve got…um…whatshisname, then there’s old um whatsit. Sorry, can’t think of any others.
        
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        September 30, 2021 11:15am
      - oldfella
        
        @mma
        There’s the problem right there, Mike.
        A govt needs four or five fully competent people.
        Where are Labour going to find them.
        
        8 1
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        September 30, 2021 11:17am
      - Okahu
        
        It was some years back when a journo got a wee scoop. The jokes from an afterparty from a National party conference had accidentally been released. From memory there were half a dozen wicked zingers, such as John Luxton, just like cream, rich and thick”! And of another cabinet minister, “not afraid to work into the wee small hours…of the afternoon”. Lets not assume there is some party divide in intellect or competence.
        
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        September 30, 2021 3:04pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Ministers all become members of HM Executive Council.
        All Ministers need to have the ability of executives. Then they will not have to rely on sycophants feeding them on what they want to hear–a recipe for indiscriminate action or none at all.
        
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        September 30, 2021 5:05pm
    - JibberJabber
      
      In this day and age Qualifications like those tend to disqualify anyone from holding any type of office, only low IQs and a lifetime of knowing nothing and telling people what they want to hear is what 1/2 the populace seem to want in their politicians.
      
      4 1
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      September 30, 2021 12:13pm
      - miltonF
        
        Yes, half of the population wants a leader which is just like them!
        
        4 1
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        September 30, 2021 2:32pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Well that’s just stupid.
    A minister needs to be a manger of people and systems.
    A passing knowledge of the subject is very helpful.
    The more the better
    They need to recognize and choose the correct people to do the actual work, on merit.
    This govt. chooses people on their political purity (adherence to Labour doctrine), not their competence.
    The Ministers are continually interfering in procedural matters, then when questioned claim they are not answering because “it is a procedural matter”. Denial of responsibility for the screw ups they made.
    
    14 3
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    September 30, 2021 9:36am
    - MCos
      
      Not an awful lot of people are going to get leadership roles in politics if they’re card carrying members of another party, I wouldn’t have thought.
      
      1 1
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      September 30, 2021 1:53pm
  - backster
    
    How many Trade Union Activists would you need Mikey.
    
    7 1
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    September 30, 2021 10:14am
- cmm
  
  I wonder what the small print is. Do Kim Dotcom and Sroubek now get to stay?
  
  36 3
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  September 30, 2021 8:29am
- Frank the tank
  
  Too little, too late.
  
  10 0
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  September 30, 2021 8:32am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    As the actress said to the bishop.
    
    4 6
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    September 30, 2021 9:42am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Faafoi is one of their more able!
  
  2 13
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  September 30, 2021 9:23am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Frightening thought.
    
    11 2
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    September 30, 2021 9:37am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Downtickers: it’s true. Most are hopeless.
    
    1 2
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    September 30, 2021 5:07pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Ardern just bought 165k more voters for herself […]?
  
  Not true. Only citizens and permanent residents can vote in our elections. The new 2021 Resident Visa is not a Permanent Resident Visa.
  
  See section 70(a) of the Immigration Act 2009 here https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0051/latest/DLM1440684.html#DLM1440684, the new policy here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/already-have-a-visa/one-off-residence-visa, and subsection 1(a) of section 74 of the Electoral Act 1993 here https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0087/latest/DLM308827.html.
  
  I doubt that any of the people who receive the 2021 Resident Visa during 2022 (and perhaps into 2023) will have been granted a Permanent Resident Visa by the time of the next general election.
  
  Anecdotally, I believe it takes something like two years before a Resident Visa holder is eligible to apply for a Permanent Resident Visa. And let’s not overlook the fact that many of these 165,000 people, should they become permanent residents (and later, citizens), will not vote Labour (or Green) in 2026, or beyond.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:28am
- Nickc2
  
  IMO, Cindy’s discovered the Biden/Pelosi trick where all illegal immigrants to the US are granted US Citizenship and will vote for the Democrats because . . . . .
  Now, apply that to what Cindy has just done (vote-buying).
  The cost to both countries is vast. But who cares, it’s only taxpayer’s money.
  
  4 2
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  September 30, 2021 3:37pm
- Mark
  
  How many voters did Key import.And for the 10th time how many houses did he build.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:52pm
- Aurelia
  
  The fast tracking only applies to the Critical Skills visa category. Not to be confused with the low skill min wage Essential Skilks temp visa class which does not have a parthway to residency. It’s quite hard to get a Critical Slills visa fortunately. You have to have a qualification and real experience in fields like health, education, large scale infrastructure, high skilled construction, engineering, top I.T etc.
  
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  October 1, 2021 12:31am
BR

Someone sent me this:

“From an NRHCC spokesperson:
We are aware of an incident which took place at a site where one of our mobile vaccination buses was operating in Maraetai Bay, Port Waikato on Tuesday morning (September 21). Police were called. The well-being of our partners who are now running the buses in this area, remains a priority and we are continuing to support them.”

Is any of this true? Does anyone know anything about it?

Bill.
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September 30, 2021 8:08am
- Frank the tank
  
  More context please.
  
  3 1
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  September 30, 2021 8:26am
  - BR
    
    I was told by someone who knows a Port Waikato resident who witnessed the incident that a vaccine bus was attacked by some local Maoris. I understand that this is hearsay, that’s why I’m asking.
    
    Bill.
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:11am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Was it some heath zelot running around demanding that people get vaccinated?
  
  Then getting upset when told to fcuk off?
  
  11 2
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  September 30, 2021 8:44am
  - BR
    
    When I was told about this I went looking online to find out if it was true. I saw some video recording of a separate incident where someone was heckling a vaccine bus in Tuakau and urging people not to get vaccinated.
    
    Bill.
    
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    September 30, 2021 3:11pm
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Maraetai? I understand that Maraetai is on the east coast whereas Port Waikato is on the west coast. There is a Maraetai on the Waikato River, near Whakamaru. And, Maraetai Bay is in the Tory Channel.
  Confused? Well, I am.
  
  2 0
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  September 30, 2021 9:41am
  - BR
    
    There is a Maraetai Bay Rd in Port Waikato.
    
    Bill.
    
    3 0
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    September 30, 2021 10:13am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      And there is a Lumsden Road at Ohinewai. I accept that the Tory Channel is an awful sight closer to Port Waikato, than Lumsden is to Ohinewai.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:26pm
- MCos
  
  That’s a good way to get a rumour under way, Bill.
  
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  September 30, 2021 1:56pm
Kiwi_in_Paris

Those naughty Project Veritas boys are at it again. Isn’t the Johnson and Johnson jibby jab the one being rolled out in New Zealand under a new name?

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/project-veritas-covid-vaccine-investigative-series-johnson-johnson-kids/
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September 30, 2021 8:08am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  No…It’s not the same as the Pfizer vaccine .
  
  The j&J vaccine is a single shot
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:33am
Tony Stuart

Check out this outstanding speech from Dr Shane Reti yesterday during the First Reading of the COVID-19 Response (Management Measures) Legislation Bill. His comments about the Government’s lack of pandemic preparedness were absolutely on point:

https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=220984

Dr Reti’s knowledge of the health system is second to none in the Parliament. He will be an outstanding Health Minister at some point in the future.
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September 30, 2021 8:10am
- mikenmildagain
  
  He probably would do a good job, but I really can’t see the two centrist parties forming a coalition government anytime soon.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:12am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    I dunno mike, they’ve done it before. The a Nats and Act are a good blend to take on the hard left (many say Communist) Labour Party. They’ll need to take a strong position on law and order though, as we all know, the left has no qualms about reacting violently to things they don’t like.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:01am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I was thinking more about how NZ political parties changed in the 1910s and 1920s.
      
      4 10
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      September 30, 2021 9:43am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Ah, yes. All explained in Michael Bassett’s 1982 booklet, “Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911—1931”. A good, informative, read.
        
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        September 30, 2021 11:12am
- pdm
  
  Heard Seymour on a replay of the Covid debate – outstanding – he excells in the house.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:09am
- Simon
  
  “lack of pandemic preparedness were absolutely on point:”
  
  I doubt it. He seems like standard Wellington hot garbage.
  
  There was a pandemic plan it involved isolating the vulnerable until herd immunity could be reached in the wider population. One important reason for this was to consider all public health outcomes not just a narrow focus on a particular virus. Like for example the obvious increase of children suicides as a result of an insane zero covid lockdown.
  
  There was the plan. Did Dr. Hot Garbage go over the real plan?
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:15am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    “There was a pandemic plan it involved isolating the vulnerable……”
    Did the current government use that? No.
    Where did the majority of NZ’s deaths originate from? – a couple of specialised care institutions that the virus leaked into from the community.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:32am
    - Surely Knott
      
      The latest tranche of Aussie Mortality Statistics is out til June 2021. But Jan til June 21 was significantly higher death rate (even though covid was suppressed) than the August ’20 largest australian covid outbreak.
      
      Highest Death Peak
      2020 Week: 16 August = 3066 deaths. following 3,399 covid cases.
      
      2021 Week: 13 June = 3094 deaths , 60 covid cases. No covid outbreak.
      
      Death is higher in June 2021 that during their 3000 case outbreak in 20. Death doesn’t correlate with covid outbreaks.
      
      There were 71,503 deaths that occurred in the six months between January and June 2021 and were registered by 31 August.
      https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/causes-death/provisional-mortality-statistics/latest-release
      
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      September 30, 2021 4:46pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    “……standard Wellington hot garbage.”
    
    Born in Hamilton in 1963, Reti is of Māori descent, and has tribal affiliations to Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Kura
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Reti
    
    Where does you Wellys come from Simon? – his outstanding logic implies exactly the opposite. Suspect you mis-typed “Labour” hot garbage.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:40am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Gave you a tick, but only for the ‘original plan’ point- but Shane Reti has barely set a foot wrong IMO, and has real potential. No point even trying to sell the original plan nearly 2 years on.
    So not liking or understanding the ‘hot garbage’ bit.
    All political parties face the reality that it is far too late to enact the original (sensible, and likely to be proven right) plan.
    The public fear levels and the mental pictures of Maori and Pacifica corpses blocking our roadways means that there has to be some talk of MIQ, borders, Alert Levels etc.
    I don’t like it, but I understand it.
    
    Can’t just rip the security blanket out of the Covid-babies hands in one violent action.
    
    But Seymour is even more on point than National: Just set a date, and once everyone has had a chance to vaccinate, then we open up and live with this new background disease.
    % vaccinated is not a national target, it is a personal responsibility or choice issue.
    No more excuses for those that supposedly ‘needed’ a vaccine, but supposedly ‘couldn’t’.
    All we are left with by that date is those that ‘didn’t’.
    Open up, life goes on. The world keeps turning.
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:09am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  His electorate successor is virtually the invisible MP. Despite the load he’s carrying in the opposition caucus you hear/see more electorate related items in the local MSM by Shane than her ( can’t even remember her name she’s that visible).
  
  His exposure of the timing difference between the prior disclosure of the lock down to the local Labour MP’s and the much more relevant local body officials won’t go down well here, particularly given her involvement in the planning/placement of the initial border checkpoints which created havoc for the health and other emergency services based out of Whangarei.
  “He will be an outstanding Health Minister….” – I think he could further than that – in time – he’s got a far better brain/experience range than most others in that caucus.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:25am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Dead right on all counts. Dr Shane has also got a well developed sense of humour. He asks written questions of various Ministers about electorate issues like roading and housing, and asks questions like “Has the Labour MP for Whangarei made representations to you about….”. When the Minister replies “No”, Reti scans the reply, then posts it on social media, along with details of the representations HE has made.
    
    I have a lot of time and plenty of respect for Dr Reti. Next week, whilst Parliament is in recess, he will mix up his electorate work with time spent at his medical practice, seeing patients. As well as fulfilling the requirements to keep his medical registration current, it keeps him in touch with people, and now doubt he gets fed lots of information. He is a first class bloke.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:43am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      Pretty sure he’ll be back as electorate MP come 2023 ( assuming there is a 2023 event). 2020 margin only 421 after specials.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:36am
    - Tarquin North
      
      The real tragedy is Shane is currently a list M.P and my local M.P in Whangarei is now Emily Henderson. I have emailed her on several occasions and have been at several functions she has attended. I think I can honestly say you could not find a more useless person for her job. We might as well have a Labour programmed robot picking up 160k plus a year. She has no idea what’s going on and no interest in her constituents issues. I think even she realises she’s in the wrong job. Shane will be back with a landslide next election and hopefully so will Matt King who got taken out by another waste of space Willow Jean Prime the M.P for Maoris only. We used to make joke about how National did bugger all for Northland. Compared to this lot they were fantastic.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:41am
      - Simon
        
        Sorry ladies you cant out policy a fucking virus. You can mitigate its worst effects. The virus will virus.
        
        Dr. Hot Garbage from Wellington thinks National’s covid policy is better than labour’s. Just garbage. Saw that yesterday with Nats covid policy.
        
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        September 30, 2021 12:01pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Emily does engage, which does not appear to be something the Far North MP does.
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:06pm
- Mark
  
  AS I am labour and you are National ,I agree with you.I think the chap is solid ,I have met and spoken with him in our cafe,I cannot help but think he is playing for the wrong team.Heres the other thing why is he not a contender for leader?I think he would be a bloody good leader,compared to what else is on offer.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:58pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Now what was the reason NZ has been put into lockdown?

Something about keeping folks safe?

“This lockdown is a lot worse than previous experiences, and our homicide statistics tell this story. In seven weeks, we have seen eight family violence homicides,” chair Fiona Cram said. “We know the experience of family violence fuels the risks of death by suicide. It is unclear how many more we have lost over this time.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300418992/four-women-killed-in-a-fortnight–family-violence-advocates-fear-further-deaths
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September 30, 2021 8:10am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Jesus that’s tragic. So much unaccounted for collateral damage from lockdowns. Such superficial thinking from Labour in their assessment of lockdown cost-benefits.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:18am
- cmm
  
  The P in PTSD is also an important factor to watch.
  
  The suicidal/violence stresses do not end when lockdown ends. Many people struggle equally, if not worse, with attempting to adjust back to the “new normal”.
  
  Thus, expect consequences for a long period AFTER the lockdown too.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:26am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  The art of a good illusion is distraction and misdirection.
  
  You can’t get up on the podium of truth and start talking about other numbers like murders, suicides, deaths caused by not getting treated in tme, influenza deaths, cancers, average total death numbers etc.
  
  The would distract from and bury the all number important the covid number.
  
  It is vital that the sheeple know that dear leader saint jacinda has saved them.
  
  “The only truth is the truth we tell you” everything else is dissinformation.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:42am
- kowtow
  
  Herald running a story about 7 deaths related to Auckland City Hospital Maternity in March /April last year ( 4 mothers 3 babies) .
  
  A review blames all manner of things including toxic work , bullying , racism, wealth , race ; but then it says such deaths are rare , only 1 in the previous 3 years , so those causes are not the cause they are an excuse and just more neo Marxism .
  
  This was down to lockdown and its consequences.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:46am
  - Liberal Cliche
    
    Interesting everyone here blaming the lockdown for all this weird behavior by people that never happened last lockdown, so what made this one different…..
    
    Did all these people take the vax?
    
    Serious question, the mother that killed her 3 kids took the jab a week before.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:03pm
    - Liberal Cliche
      
      Ill add to this do research on mRNA behavior in mice.
      
      These data suggest that, in male mice, after 4 weeks of Si, the expression of 5alpha-RI mRNA, which is the rate-limiting-step enzyme of ALLO biosynthesis, is specifically down-regulated in glutamatergic pyramidal neurons that converge on the amygdala from cortical and hippocampal regions. In socially isolated mice, this down-regulation may account for the appearance of behavioral disorders such as anxiety, aggression, and cognitive dysfunction.
      
      https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18003893/
      
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      September 30, 2021 2:02pm
ecco

Be interesting to see if Ardern has the balls to lock down those South Auckland suburbs where covid is blowing up and let the other 1.7m Aucklanders get on with their lives.

I saw one of the Pacifica MPs from South Auckland on the news basically threatening Ardern not to exclusively lockdown South Auckland. Interesting to see her next move here or whether she’s going to sacrifice all the Auckland small businesses going bust to protect her little enclave of voters in South Auckland.
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September 30, 2021 8:16am
- kowtow
  
  Diversity , inclusion , equity are the huge catchphrases in our brave new neo marxist world and with their useful idiots .
  
  Funny though when the chips are down how much those concepts hold the rest of society back .
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:55am
- Simon
  
  All this Auckland on knife edge bull shit. The only concern is what these zero covid nutjobs will do next.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:55am
ecco

You know what. I don’t believe the daily covid cases that are being announced by Ardern and co. Who knows if these figures are being fudged to suit the narrative. They aren’t audited.

They could slice and dice these numbers whichever way they want if it means Labour don’t have to admit they were wrong on the elimination approach. They can always justify it in their minds. We’ve seen enough of this behaviour and spin to know their modus operandi.

We all know they can’t afford to keep Auckland in level 3 lockdown beyond next week. Will be interesting to see how they justify the move down of Auckland to level 2 next week. It’s pretty predictable isn’t it.
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September 30, 2021 8:19am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Yeah I don’t buy that. These numbers are compiled by public servants. They can’t be directed to lie every day. That would come out.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:49am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    You’re too trusting.
    
    9 3
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    September 30, 2021 9:30am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      There’s always OIA’s, and I think the current Ombudsman seems to be staying above the politics if genuine complaints concerning the outputs.
      
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      September 30, 2021 11:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Little testing/Lab work is carried out in the weekends… so low numbers for Monday, Tuesday, mean bugger all….
  
  The real position of whether or not the virus is spreading is revealed when the positive cases for an entire week are considered.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:23am
- Clownworld
  
  Ecco no doubt the move to level 2 if it happens, will be a new level 2, think of it as the old level 3 with added restrictions.
  
  So any move down to level 2 will be preannounced via media ( has already started) as ” we are following the science ….and changing for the tricksy virus…while you just need to get vaxxd…”
  
  Otherwise it will be Level 3 for Akld except new level 3 plus for those lowly vaxxd suburbs. Not enough percentage then you will stay home no level 3 for you.
  
  Hope I’m wrong and we simply give up elimination and go to Level 0 but neither the govt or the opposition or the general populace could cope with the cognitive dissonance involved. Mass psychosis under communist sustained propaganda will do that to people.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:15pm
Andrei

Another day of bumper Delta cases will mean the level 3 restrictions aren’t stopping Covid-19 from spreading, a leading epidemiologist says, as officials warn the virus has “seeded itself” in the homeless and gang communities.

We have bumper crops of apples, grapes and kiwi fruit and this is a cause for celebration

The epidemiologist, unnamed in my extract but named further down in the story can barely conceal his glee at yesterdays “grim total” in his choice of words

More lockdowns, for longer, along with masks has been his prescription for the long suffering kiwi citizen for the longest time ever

He is reveling in the misery he is seeing inflicted upon us

I’ll stop here because what would come here would doubtless be replaced by moderator annotations
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September 30, 2021 8:21am
- Taieri
  
  a leading epidemiologist says
  —————
  
  This implies that there’re also lagging epidemiologists; I wonder who they are and what they would say?
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:48am
cmm

As a bit of a numbers wonk, I have found the use, and more importantly the abuse, of numerical methods and statistics quite interesting in the last 18 months.

One of the measures that was throw around a lot was the excess mortality rate. So how reliable is that metric?

Excess mortality is defined as the excess of deaths in a crisis compared with the deaths under normal conditions (ie. the average death rate). The simplistic answer is then to attribute all those excesses to the crisis.

The biggest problem with this is that the average death rate moves due to both the harvesting effect and the generation effect.

First off, let’s consider the easier one: harvesting effect. The Grim Reaper’s scythe isn’t always cutting at the same height. If there is a mild winter (eg. less severe flu) then there less people harvested. That means if it is followed by an average minter there are also a bunch of left overs to harvest, so the average year’s harvest is going to be higher. If the second year happens to be a “crisis year” then the crisis will get a whole lot of bonus bodies attributed to it.

The flip side is also true: If a severe winter is followed by a normal year, then the normal year will show negative excess mortality because the previous year had cut deeper. If the second year is a “crisis year”, this will be masked.

Ok, so clearly the harvesting effect throws huge problems in the way of using excess mortality as a tool. Any others? Yup.

Our population is not uniform due to various historical impacts (wars, immigration policies etc).

Let’s consider just WW2. During WW2, 140,000 men (the majority of breeding age men) went off to war with the majority of them returning. During the war a lot less baby making happened (even with the randy Yanks trying to help). When they came back, young couples were keen to make up for lost time and 1946 is highest birth rate since the 1890s – kicking off a demographic wave that has rippled through the pond of history.

As the kids in the WW2 slump then wave hit school there was a wave of demand for schooling. 20 years later there would also have been a wave of demand for wedding dresses and houses and so on. Ultimately that wave hits the death zone and will add less then more deaths to the Grim Reaper’s toll – thus sending a wave through the excess mortality numbers in the 2020s.

Of course there are many such factors: the Great Depression (less kids), influx of European immigrants in the 50s and 60s, etc etc.

One just needs to look at the population pyramid to see the bumps. In the 2015 census the WW2 wave is particularly obvious at about 72 years (the census was 6 years ago, so that wave is now 78).

https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Reports/How-is-our-Maori-population-changing-2015/Maori-and-non-Maori-ethnic-populations.gif
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September 30, 2021 8:22am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  No no no the only number that counts is the covid number from the podium of truth.
  
  Nothing else is allowed to be talked about.
  
  All other numbers will do is detract from the only number that is allowed to be talked about.
  
  The distraction or illusion is to get the sheeple to concentrate on the number.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:33am
- PhilBest
  
  It should be obvious to all that demographic trends that cause a fiscal crisis in superannuation will also become “increased death rates” at SOME stage.
  
  Superannuitants being 1 in 4 of the population is clearly going to result in higher death rates in the mid term future, than at the time when superannuitants were 1 in 15 of the population.
  
  This is part of what 2020 was truly about. But the public has never been given any context of any kind. I like to think that even David Lange could have called for calm in around March 2020 and succeeded. Let alone Margaret Thatcher. The decline in quality of leadership in the western world since those times is shocking.
  
  Diss Lange all you like, he was clearer about most of the important issues than any key National person is today, read Lange on “The Treaty”, for example. The things Lange was wrong about, most likely as a sop to the hard Left of his party – nuclear for example – National has long since “me-too’d” on anyway.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:35am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Yes, there are many reasons not to jump to amateur epidemiological conclusions about the overall effect of a pandemic (and the pandemic response) until properly informed studies can be done. The full assessment might not even be possible before the next pandemic.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:35am
  - cmm
    
    “Yes, there are many reasons not to jump to amateur epidemiological conclusions ”
    Nor “expert” ones either. The “experts” just use more buzzwords and get paid a fortune to tweak the numbers to get the results they want.
    
    Notice how early on, the excess mortality was a big thing and now it isn’t (because it does not bolster their position)? It’s like talking about sea level rise while the tide is coming in, then keeping quiet while the tide goes out.
    
    “The full assessment might not even be possible before the next pandemic.” Oooh, lots of lovely government jobs for decades!
    
    No. A full assessment is really possible because there are so many variables and “what ifs”. This will not stop them securing millions of dollars in funding to make the pictures and models that are required to keep the funding spigots open.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:48am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      It’s lucky we have ‘numbers wonks’ on blog threads who know so much more than than all the expert advice.
      
      A full assessment is really possible because there are so many variables and “what ifs”.
      
      Did you mean ‘not’ possible’?
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:48am
      - cmm
        
        Yes, an error on my part – it is not possible.
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:20am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Difference is Mikey, that cmm is not able to access the $$$ that the experts can which, of course, has no impact on their findings, no, none at all, would never cross their minds, nope, nope, nope….
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:31am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Does that mean that governments cannot act on any problem if there are too many assumptions and variables? If so, it might be impossible to wage war, or defend against armed attack, or decide what to do in response to changing climates, let alone solving comparatively simple social and economic problems such as poverty and poor health.
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:51am
      - cmm
        
        “Does that mean that governments cannot act on any problem if there are too many assumptions and variables? ”
        
        Oh what a silly strawman. Nowhere do I say not to act on something?
        
        What I said is that the excess mortality number is a dopey measure and that accurate modelling of excess mortality is broken because there are too many variables and we don’t understand what those variables are.
        
        War can of course be conducted, as can many other enterprises without creating numerical fictions in models and such.
        
        “Science” that relies on dodgy modelling, statistics or other numerical methods is not really science.
        
        Unfortunately far too few researchers have an adequate grasp of statistics to use the tool effectively and understand when their data is not suitable for statistical techniques.
        
        For example, most statistical methods assume that data samples are independent and are a fair representation of the population. This is often not the case. Many also assume a normal distribution when the data set is extremely skewed (eg. when looking at risk loading for CV19). Comparing one year of mortalities to the next is broken because of the harvesting effect.
        
        Yet researchers will often still use these tools blindly because that is all they have and they have insufficient understanding to know better.
        
        I studied statistics for 2 years at uni. The more I learned the more I realised how difficult it is to use statistical tools properly and how easy it is to be mislead and use the tools improperly.
        
        I’d wager that most people using statistics in generating medical papers do not have a good enough grasp of what they are doing and are using the tools incorrectly (eg. applying tools for normal distributions on highly skewed data).
        
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        September 30, 2021 1:07pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Mikey: I actually said this on another thread but it is directly relevant to your little argument with CMM:
        
        The lessons from all this need to be the subject of a serious legislative agenda sometime in the future, as soon as we can get a sane government elected.
        
        One of the things I have been saying all along is that a crisis must NOT result in some narrow cabal of officials becoming dictators. Officials on any field are NOT automatically the best in their fields, they might just be good at paper shuffling, desk driving and political brown-nosing. Meanwhile the really good experts are engaged in frontline work, research, academia etc.
        
        It is a travesty that the work of charlatans like Hendy is completely uncontestable in the eyes of the government, there needs to be laws to make advice contestable especially in a crisis. In a crisis we should act on the principle that the best people will be found somewhere OUTSIDE the ranks of those who coincidentally were the “officials” at the time.
        
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        September 30, 2021 2:14pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Some of us on this blog were damn sure that a pandemic had developed long before that Idiot in charge of WHO declared a pandemic.
        
        Some of us on this blog were discussing aerosols whilst our DG of Health was investigating mysteries on frozen foods.
        https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/08/new-zealand-baffled-by-new-covid-19-cases-eyes-frozen-food-packaging/
        
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        September 30, 2021 5:19pm
Justitia

I see Ardern last night gave herself the power to appoint race-based vigilantes to enforce her edicts, and to postpone local government elections until 2023. Is there anyone out there who still thinks this is all about combating what is at worst a virulent form of the flu? Will the “postponement” of national elections be next?
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September 30, 2021 8:23am
- KevO'Brien
  
  No elections will be required in the foreseeable future as the UN/WEF has determined the planet must be saved by keeping humans under control. You saw how birds and beasties came back to the cities when people were kept indoors. The superfluous humans can always be re-vaccinated to assist in the elitist agenda.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:39am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You forgot to mention the Jesuits, Freemasons and Illuminati as well.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:49am
    - Ed Snack
      
      That’s so last century Mikey, should be the Lizard people, George Soros, and Bill Gates now !
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:33am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      They haven’t published recently nor have arrangements with the UN.
      
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      September 30, 2021 6:18pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Yeah, that you know of…
        
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        September 30, 2021 7:05pm
- [email protected]
  
  I would hope that the 70 odd or so councils tell her to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine and proceed with their elections. What is Ardern going to do if councils ignore her and have elections as normal?
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:41pm
- Mark
  
  I suggest you read the 7 stages of covid on google ,I then expect you back here with a grovelling apology for being such an ill informed fuckwit.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:07pm
Frank the tank

Observations for day 40-odd in East Germany by the Sea:

1). What a delicious irony that gangs and temporary accommodation destroyed the smug hermit nation’s façade.

2). John Key’s ‘hit-and-run’ game is still generating KDS amongst team left. The Fisherman now decides to have a rant. I’m sure Key is pissing himself with laughter that these clowns are still trying to justify their actions when the damage had already been done.

3). So gang members are co-operating with contract tracers are they. There’s a Tui add there if ever I saw one. I’m sure they are actively providing details of their drug manufacture and distribution networks. Sure Chippie…….sure

4). Anyone else see the hissy-fit by the PM yesterday in the house. Even Trev couldn’t save her when she petulantly asked if she had to answer a question. The facial expressions were hilarious as well. Perhaps someone can get a slow mo of them.

5). What’s the bet the wedding gets called off if Auckland is still in L3. No point in having Women’s Day filming a wedding of 10 people.
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September 30, 2021 8:25am
- kowtow
  
  Miriam Burrel has a piece in today’s Herald on the Fisherman’s Rant but only selectively quotes , one being his asking why key didn’t get in behind the vax push . Well duh that was his No 1 suggestion .
  
  She also failed to mention the bit about Mum missing the 3 year old , why would she not include that ? Cos it might perk the interest of all the parents of this smug hermit nation who are also missing their children ?
  
  And in the article the author allows a quote from St Jax “hope and luck” had not got us to where we are.
  
  I disagree , they’ve been very lucky behind the biggest moat in the world and I think her luck has just run out. It was already a near run thing with the vax fiasco.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:09am
- Tony Stuart
  
  The wedding’s going to be in Gisborne, where they can, at the moment, have up to 100 people.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:48am
  - Frank the tank
    
    How are Gav and Siouxie gunna make it Tony?
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:57am
  - Flossie
    
    But will they be allowed to leave Auckland to get there?
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:16am
  - oldfella
    
    @TS, maybe they can be wed in one of the houses to be featured on Fisherboy’s new TV show?
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/126507263/clarke-gayford-is-moving-houses-in-new-local-series
    And the wedding venue/house could be moved to its new location on the back of Jethro’s climate-killing diesel ute.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:05pm
- Taieri
  
  Observations for day 40-odd in East Germany by the Sea:
  ——————–
  
  The other East Germany never subjected its inmates to prohibition from leaving their houses or burying their dearly departed…
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:51am
- Bill Felt
  
  Frank
  Ardern’s hissy fit at 9.48
  https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=220954
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:30am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Watch the facial expressions prior to that – clearly yesterday’s KungFlu numbers rattled her.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:22pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Yeah, I caught the comment about ‘ gangs are now cooperating with contact tracing’ or some such….Yeah, right.
  Scan in at the meth lab, drop off a pound of cannabis to a tinny house, load up in a car with the bros, each and every colleague and affiliate they visit returned with an XY geopositioned date and time stamp.
  Yeah, right.
  
  Hosking seemed to stun Chippie this morning a couple of times. Awkward pauses while considering the best deflection.
  Especially the comparisons with overseas that Chippie made, e.g Singapore, which Hosking called out as false with specific details in error, and Chippie just moved on.
  Almost like he was just throwing things out and hoping they stuck.
  Busted!
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:42am
  - MCos
    
    I read that Hosking reckons NZ should wave the white flag.
    Can anyone expand on that?
    
    What are we supposed to do? Come to some sort of an agreement with the bug!
    
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    September 30, 2021 2:11pm
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      That was a poor choice of words, as that means submission, or even cowardice.
      
      Clearly in the context: What he meant was give up on elimination (like we are slowly going to do), and open up, with is arguably the moral opposite of hiding indoors with teddy bears in the windows.
      What he was arguing for is to be more like some overseas countries, who are moving into a new normal, akin to a Level 0, and not even Level 1.
      
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      September 30, 2021 3:30pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      What are we supposed to do?
      
      The same as we’ve done in all other epidemics/pandemics.
      
      Isolate the sick and vulnerable; treat the sick/infected.
      
      The healthy carry on life as best they can.
      
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      September 30, 2021 5:42pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Get out the Ivermectin too.
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:21pm
- Mark
  
  Do not get your panties in a bunch.The wedding will happen ,thousands upon 10000 thousands will get a buzz from it and then the caravan will move on .Look on the bright side it will
  take hip and thigh diets ,Brangellinas drama ,and royal twattery off the front page for a week.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:12pm
JibberJabber

Who was that shrieking bedwetter on the
@TheAMShowNZ
this morning?
Wailing hysterics about vaxxing and how we are all gonna die. ? ☠️
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September 30, 2021 8:27am
Nukuleka

Dr Elizabeth Kerekere Green MP has shown herself to be a bigoted bully at the Governance and Administration Select Committee hearing into self sex identification. Not content with harassing and intimidating the representative of the Speak Up For Women organisation who was presenting a submission she then went onto Facebook to publicly abuse the organisation and their spokesperson for, as she puts it ‘disseminating misinformation’ and labeling them as ‘haters’ and ‘TERFs’. Kerekere breaks various rules governing the behaviour of MPs in Select Committee hearings where members of the public have the democratic right to express their views on proposed changes to legislation without intimidation, harassment or bullying. This MP should be removed from the Select Committee immediately. She is a disgrace.
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September 30, 2021 8:30am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What is a TERF?
  
  Yes agree bad behaviour.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:53am
  - pdm
    
    I can tell you – I had one on 31 August. All good until I got an infection and a 2 day Hospital stay became 7 days.
    
    Bloody uncomfortable but they assured me infections are rare.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:12am
  - plc
    
    Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist
    
    Effectively a feminist who doesn’t want their place at the top of the woke pyramid taken by “chicks with dicks”
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:17am
    - oldfella
      
      @plc, or ‘cocks in frocks’.
      FWIW, J.K. Rowling has been labelled a TERF for defending the biological definition of ‘woman’. And refusing to back down.
      
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      September 30, 2021 12:13pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist.
    It’s a slur aimed specifically at women who want women’s rights and safe areas protected.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:19am
    - kowtow
      
      Calling someone a TERF is by the lefties own definition, hate speech .
      
      But when it suits them the left are the biggest nastiest haters of all.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:44am
  - Nukuleka
    
    TERF: trans exclusionary radical feminist. In other words women who believe that the definition of WOMAN is ‘adult female’.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Not that I care much but who would downtick that? Members of Select Committees are supposed to listen to submissions and ask questions. Not go full retard and shame people on Facebook.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:02am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    There are some trolls and tribal left who occasionally comment, and probably lurkers.
    
    I may have asked this before, but didn’t catch the reply.
    Whatever became of our beloved village idiot, Stephieboy/SB2?
    ….Now there was a village idiot you could love!
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:45am
I remember when

“High covid cases not that devastating, says Bloomfield:
“Jump in Covid cases no unexpected – Hipkins.
True or false.
Less put it into sports betting terms.
What sort of odds would you have been given to bet on going from 8 cases to 43 the next day.
How many people would have accepted odds of even fifty to one – only bettors who could afford to lose their money.
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September 30, 2021 8:31am
- kowtow
  
  Blofeld said swimming isn’t swimming , you can’t trust anything he says . Hopelessly compromised.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:00am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Even Siouxsie Wiles says her bubble mate was swimming.
    
    Wiles said she did accept her friend had broken the rules by swimming.
    
    “It is clear my bubble mate did break the rules by going for a swim. She shouldn’t have done it, and I should have stopped her, but I am not her mum. It is, though, important people do stick to the rules.”
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-dr-siouxsie-wiles-hits-back-at-accusations-she-broke-lockdown-rules/2T7OGKYA3X3IPTRZX45DVJTWQU/
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:41pm
    - kowtow
      
      As I’ve said before I’m also of the view that Wiles broke the rules too.
      
      Sitting on a beach having a chat and then having a paddle , while your pal has an actual swim , is not exercise , it is an outing to the beach .
      
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      September 30, 2021 2:48pm
In Vino Veritas

Where do the left get their news from in the US? It sure isn’t CNN. Last quarter numbers are out for prime time and CNN is down by half on last year. Fox holds 14 of the top 20 prime time slots, with MSNBC the remaining 6. Fox has more prime time viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined.
Twitter. Where every leftist get’s their news from….
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September 30, 2021 8:32am
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION…..

Does John Campbell wear a mask while having sex?

Asking for a friend.
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September 30, 2021 8:34am
- Frank the tank
  
  Probably but it’s likely not the type of mask you put on to ward off Kung Flu…….
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:39am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Maggie
  Do you imagine that one day you might be able to ask a deliberate pertinent question?
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:40am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    When I dip a gingernut in my tea I think of you mikey.
    I hold them under until the bubbles stop 😀
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:10am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Too soggy. Like a tennis lady after too much coaching from the club pro.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:52am
      - Maggie Pie
        
        😛
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:09am
      - Ed Snack
        
        That’s the second time I’ve seen you try to have a “go” at our Maggie Pie Mikey, and you getting your nuts handed to you on a plate !
        
        Will the third time play out any differently ?
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:41am
      - Frank the tank
        
        Call it a draw.
        
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        September 30, 2021 12:24pm
    - Joely Doe
      
      I say you take off and nuke the entire thing from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:54am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  But how could he admire his face in the mirror with a mask on?
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:53am
- Jimbo666
  
  Do you know for sure he has sex?
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:56am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  It’s a trick question Maggie, he talks too much to have sex.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:07am
  - The Boss
    
    Yes, his personality serves as contraceptive
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:06am
Fletch

Stats update.

We still have a total of 27 deaths in New Zealand attributed to the Covid-19 virus. And according to the latest update on the Medsafe website there are 60 deaths attributed to adverse effects of the vaccine.

https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-28.asp
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September 30, 2021 8:35am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Fletch, 60 deaths? Or even 27? That’s just not true from the link you posted. There is 1 that is “likely”. 27 are “unlikely”, 22 under investigation and 10 that have insufficient evidence.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:14am
  - septic skeptic
    
    And even if the figures said what he says they say, they still wouldn’t mean what he thinks they mean. We have a thousand times more jabs than infections.
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:22am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Way too much vested interest getting in the way of a decent analysis of the issue, there’s no way they would admit to any significant number of deaths from the vaccine regardless of what caused the deaths.
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:44am
  - Fletch
    
    That stuff is the ‘caveats’ – (govt name: excuses). Reasons they rationalize their way out of having to admit the obvious. So, no, I’m not buying the “this is probably not vaccine related because blah, blah” line.
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:24am
    - Liberal Cliche
      
      I get where you’re coming from but you have to understand to the max vax’d people they are baptized into the belief, they need the vax to be safe and effective because once they’ve had it that’s it there’s no going back, like god to Christians you will it into reality.
      
      This was how it was sold to the masses through media and “expert” modern day prophet’s, it’s a simple concept that has worked on humanity for thousands of years they just exchanged 1 religion for another.
      
      As with all religions you have extremists the “my vaccine wont work until you take yours” like the un-baptized in the middle ages we have crusades against the unholy (un-vaccinated).
      
      You will not get through to them, just make sure those close to you do not fall down the same path.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:39pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Admins. I would have thought by now that you would have flagged this as mis information.
  
  They are NOT attributed to Covid. They have been registered(by any Tom Dick and Harry).
  Sheesh, I could go on there and pump up the number to 100, 200? whatever I had time to waste doing.
  
  This is a public register of adverse effects after Vax.
  
  From the site.
  
  Summary of reported deaths
  Up to and including 11 September 2021, a total of 60 deaths were reported to CARM after the administration of the Comirnaty vaccine. Following medical assessments by CARM and Medsafe it has been determined that:
  
  27 of these deaths are unlikely related to the COVID-19 vaccine
  10 deaths could not be assessed due to insufficient information
  22 cases are still under investigation.
  1 death was likely due to vaccine induced myocarditis (awaiting Coroner’s determination)
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:52am
  - Liberal Cliche
    
    “misinformation”
    
    Step 1: Ban the opposition
    Step 2: Claim nobody opposes your ideas
    
    People like you RA are insufferable, how about letting people make up their own mind?
    
    Not everybody wants to join your vax religion mate.
    
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    September 30, 2021 1:43pm
KevO'Brien

The great future planner:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/09/29/bill-gates-harrowing-vision-for-the-world.aspx?ui=86f8f5d259f8d9624324098fcc73f6e8083c940b6c0efebe9ddb465cebd157b4&sd=20210904&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art3ReadMore&cid=20210929&mid=DM997159&rid=1277776542

Gates sure knows how to make money.
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September 30, 2021 8:36am
ecco

That self isolation trial is just an total insult to the NZ business community that Ardern has absolutely bought to its knees with her extended lockdown of Auckland. Firstly charging them $1000 for the privilege of winning a lottery ticket to their trial. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? They pay particpants. Apparently there are so many ifs, buts and maybes to participation that it’s not really workable for a lot of businesses. And the miniscule number is another overkill. Surely a few hundred would not have hurt anyone.

Then why wait until next year to implement any self isolation system? That’s THREE months away. They need to move a bit faster. There are 30k NZers trying to get back to NZ for various reasons. I doubt they are going to be happy to hear that the home isolation system won’t even start till next year.
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September 30, 2021 8:38am
- cmm
  
  I think the thousand bucks serves a purpose, but not the one you are thinking of.
  
  If Cindy didn’t charge the $1000, then the Great Unwashed would grumble and be envious that Cindy is looking after her Big Biz mates and being mean to her bread-and-butter voters – the little people: Why can’t we also MIQ at home? Don’t they trust us? Why can’t we also have that?
  
  Envy and resentment are very powerful influences and last a long time.
  
  By charging the $1000, the balance is somewhat restored.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:18am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Jacinda Ardern doesn’t trust most of us in team 5M.
  
  Only her special mates get privileges.
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:36pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Andrew Geddis asks a pertinent question

“Why was the English netball team allowed to come into New Zealand to play tests in front of 100 people and take up spots which New Zealand citizens, who have a right to return to their country, were rejected?”

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/09/coronavirus-law-professor-calls-for-miq-priority-queue.html
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September 30, 2021 8:39am
- plc
  
  Because women in the 20-40 year old bracket like netball and like Ardern
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:28am
- kowtow
  
  Bread and circus .
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:40am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Let them eat cake.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:25pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  When their trip to New Zealand was first approved, there were no Covid restrictions, and they would have had three good crowds watching the games, producing an economic benefit. Like many things, Covid stuffed it up. I see now the organisers of Cup Week in Christchurch have put a deadline of being in Level One by 19 October in order to have crowds at Addington on Cup Day.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:08am
Fletch

A very important summary of pharmacokinetics animal studies* on the COVID mRNA vaccine which Pfizer submitted to the Japanese authorities.

https://doctors4covidethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pfizer-pharmacokinetics-and-toxicity.pdf

It’s best to read it slowly when you have the time, but it details how the mRNA vaccines work, and how they enter the human bloodstream and can end up in the ovaries and liver in particular – based on studies with rats etc. Very interesting how they tested the transport of the lipids which contain the vaccine, but substituted the chemical which makes fireflies glow so they can see where they end up.

* the translated Japanese animal studies themselves –

https://archive.org/details/pfizer-confidential-translated

In truth, I don’t know how anyone can say these mRNA vaccines are safe. It’s obvious from this that they hadn’t had enough trials and that these were rushed out into emergency use in humans.
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September 30, 2021 8:45am
- Okahu
  
  And they say it’s Ardern and her backers that play the fear porn card! You do know that there have been billions of vaccines shots employed and we have the best monitored and largest dataset in history backing their efficacy and safety?
  
  Does someone pay you and krazy to run Operation Fear or are you just a natural fearmongers?
  
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  September 30, 2021 3:37pm
Master Mariner

Singapore’s NHS saying Border Restrictions need to go Globally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtRXYRekRGE

About a Minute in.
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September 30, 2021 8:45am
- Master Mariner
  
  Good article that is relevent to NZ Covid Response.
  
  “Mastering data is only half the battle. A major reason hospitals were getting overwhelmed is because people were scared, and the government missed an opportunity to send the right message.”
  
  https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-09-28/singapore-forgot-about-managing-fear-when-it-battled-covid-by-the-numbers
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:56am
Maggy Wassilieff

Grant Robertson tries to be cute by attacking National’s plan for opening up the Country:

on the first day of Christmas, National gave to me: COVID.

https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20210929_20210929_20

He seems to be unaware that 4000+ NZers haven’t had to wait for this Christmas to catch Covid… his Government has been drip-feeding it to us for the last 19 months.
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September 30, 2021 8:48am
- Benedict Yu
  
  At the start of the L4 lockdown 7 weeks ago, I said that I hoped that they can’t bring it under control again. I have not changed my mind. We are soon going to hit peak vaccination at about 78 percent. It will then go up very slowly after that.
  
  If the borders are not reopened at that point, surely the only conclusion is that they will never be reopened? What am I missing?
  
  I did not agree with all the points in National’s plan but at least it is a plan with a beginning, middle and end.
  
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  September 30, 2021 8:57am
  - Inandout
    
    BY, I ‘crashed’ a local vaccine centre (I loathe appointments) and though the entrance line was meant for about 100 people, I was alone. The staff were very polite but the vaccinator asked me ‘do you consent to this?’. I have had many vaccines in my life but have never been asked that. If I had said ‘no’ then I guess she couldn’t proceed.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:08am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      You need to sign a consent form for the flu vaccine.
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:27am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Correct, or that was correct the last few times I had one. I doubt it has changed.
        
        However once signed, I wasn’t asked again if I consented, so perhaps that is a difference with the Covid vax ?
        
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        September 30, 2021 10:48am
      - Inandout
        
        BY, my doctor’s nurse maybe assumed, as a patient, I consented.
        
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        September 30, 2021 3:47pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is that why Labour/Greens/Maori MP’s attend Parliament: drip feeding?
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:44am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Robertson’s got it wrong. Labour may not have given us Covid, but on 17th August they gave us a Level Four lockdown, which for most of us was worse than Covid. If you’re in Auckland, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, now into its seventh week.
  
  It’s been an especially unpleasant gift if you’re a business owner unable to trade, or if you’ve lost your job because your employer can’t trade, of if you’re one of the 30,000 overseas Kiwis who missed out in the Hunger Games Lottery on Tuesday night. In contrast, National’s plan to get Kiwis home for Christmas, subject to vaccinations and negative tests really does look like a gift!
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:55am
Fletch

Musical break – Santana covers the classic A Whiter Shade of Pale. It shouldn’t really work as well as it does, but the guest vocals by Steve Winwood really make the song. I don’t like the computerized drum track though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7EOgtKcPQo
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September 30, 2021 8:49am
softail 1450

MMA, thanks for that but I’ve already got the phone number for the Angels GentleMens club.
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September 30, 2021 8:52am
harvey wilson

Has this been covered? Owners of commercial buildings just got shafted
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/law-regulation/epidemic-lease-clause-a-kick-in-the-teeth
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September 30, 2021 9:01am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  What next? Prevent Banks from collecting their loan repayments? Then stop banks from paying interest to depositors? Way to not understand basic economic concepts. But then, it’s Labour. A bunch of MP’s who collectively, don’t understand anything about anything. Saying they are vacuous insults those with very low IQ’s.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:21am
  - harvey wilson
    
    Not paywalled https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/09/surprise-tenancy-changes-level-4-terminations-banned-mandatory-commercial-rent-compromise.html
    
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    September 30, 2021 10:07am
I remember when

Dr Siouxsie Wiles. 26 Sep. Re John Key. Twitter:
“Funnily it wasn’t offered to the pesky whippersnappers more comfortable with a response that doesn’t kill our children and most vulnerable.”
Australia: 0-9 years old = 0 Deaths; 10-19 = 1 death.
It is difficult to understand how anyone claiming to present an expert view on covid could include “children and the most vulnerable” in the same sentence.
United States (as at 22/9/21)
0-17 yrs. Cases 4,727,531: Deaths 464.
Number of cases to deaths – 1 in 10,188 cases.
Deaths for 50 plus age group = 633,784.
Divide 633,784 by 464 = 1366 deaths to 1.
So one 0-17 death for every 1,366 deaths in the 50 age group.
When people claiming to be presenting an “expert” view resort to sensationalist ‘scare mongering’ they lose any credibility they may have had.
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September 30, 2021 9:06am
- dime
  
  Susan Wiles blocked me on twitter…
  
  She didnt like it when i pointed out shes a RICH WHITE STRAIGHT WOMAN of PRIVILEGE whos come here from ENGLAND to tell people of colour how to live..
  
  Thats and I bet 10 grand her house smells like cat piss.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:04am
- cmm
  
  It is emotion – not logic. Tell people that their kids are at risk and they do anything.
  
  See the puff-peice about Helen Clarke’s 99 yo dad getting vaccinated – no not for himself, but to protect his great grand children who are too young to be vaccinated!
  
  There is no logic in that. The 99 year old might benefit (by a few months) by getting vaccinated. The great grand kids – nothing.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126535458/covid19-helen-clarks-99yearold-dad-fully-vaccinated-for-his-tamariki
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:06am
dime

Even though covid is in the gangs, i dont see a problem.

Sure, they live outside society. They ignore laws around guns, drugs, violence, hitting kids etc etc but they know at times like this, they need to “be kind” and follow jacinda.

This is what happened in sydney – once it hits the shit bag community, youre fucked.

Homeless people and gangs LMAO now thats a bad day for princess.

Open up and let this thing rip yo!
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September 30, 2021 9:06am
Nickc2

Exposing the real Jacinda Ardern, or who’s who in the Zoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcsZ8Oaf7pI
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September 30, 2021 9:18am
I remember when

Another area for the National Party to concentrate their attention on.
Keith Woodford’s article in this week’s Farmers Weekly highlights some pitfalls in the ETS and for forestry/farming.
* “We are in the cusp of the greatest rural land-use changes that New Zealand has seen in the last 100 years.
*The price of farms is being driven by forestry and the ETS.
* Carbon farming involves no delivery of any physical product.
*On current sheep and beef land the ETS is the driver and carbon is the new gold.
*With the carbon price rising rapidly, carbon farming without harvesting may be the best financial return.
* If the carbon price reached $100 a tonne, the non-harvested forestry is the best financial option on a considerable proportion of current dairy land.
* According to MPI figures, 83% of New Zealand’s physical exports are from primary industries.
* The Climate CHange Commission has advocated for the upper limits on the carbon price to be raised to $110.15 by 2026.
* Carbon farming, as currently set up, does not earn foreign exchange.
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September 30, 2021 9:24am
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s an area that National is very aware of, and focused on.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:27am
  - dime
    
    Tony, National need to focus on growing a spine.
    
    To me, they act the same as Labour in opposition.
    
    Just negative. So so negative.
    
    WHen was the last time we have someone attempt to be inspiring?
    
    Im over being told how shit we are.
    
    I prefer the – yes, we have problems, but we kick ass overall. here’s our vision.
    
    People give trump shit for the make america great again – but at least he tried to be inspirational and talk about their achievements. (calm down trump haters, we know your feelings on the guy).
    
    National were dead to me at the last election.. but now i outright cant stand them.
    
    They are the wimp party.
    
    Luckily we have ACT! The ones who care about the long term, property rights, freedom of speech etc
    
    National are going to go extinct unless they change.
    
    Maybe take less notice of the focus groups. Maybe just do whats right.
    
    People dont know what they want, until you show them
    
    Basically – fucking lead for once ya spineless hacks.
    
    Not directed at you Tony, youre a good bastard. Just a frustrated Dime.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:50am
- KevO'Brien
  
  We don’t feed anyone with carbon farming.
  
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  September 30, 2021 9:47am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Interestingly, the Paris Agreement specified that steps taken to reduce carbon emissions should not be done in a way that threatens food production. Yet that’s exactly what the afforestation of productive pastoral land is doing.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:57am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Well, is New Zealand food production increasing or decreasing?
      
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      September 30, 2021 10:54am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep Agricultural and Horticultural land should never have been brought into our C accounting….but few NZers were ever going to read the Paris Accord and realise our sneaky Government intent on dismantling Dairying had pulled a swifty.
      
      https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1910/S00153/paris-agreement-on-climate-change-threats-to-food-security.htm
      
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      September 30, 2021 12:17pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Carbon farming is just more monetary speculation.
      
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      September 30, 2021 6:31pm
- cmm
  
  Growing food is already carbon harvesting and all food that farmers produces should be recognised for carbon harvesting under the ETS.
  
  Fat is about 80% carbon. Milk is about 3.5% fat, so, adding a bit for the carbon in proteins etc, milk is approx 4% carbon. At $100/T, the farmers should be getting $4 per T for the carbon they are harvesting in milk.
  
  Beef is around 25% fat, add more for the protein, so that’s about 25% carbon. Farmers should be getting $25 per T for the carbon they are harvesting in meat.
  
  More for all their other outputs (grains, bones, skins, etc etc).
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:17am
NeverMindTheBollocks

There’s a Masters thesis waiting to be written that NZ’s responses to Covid would have been materially different if our PM was not a new, first-time mother.

Those with children recognise the symptoms of first time mothers (and this is definitely a female thing) over protective, jumping at shadows etc. By contrast, mothers with a number of children are more pragmatic; they just have to be with multiple demands on their time & attention.

I contend that Jacinda’s lock-it-out approach to Covid parallels the new mother experience.
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September 30, 2021 9:33am
Maggie Pie

And once again I see where ‘Mt Roskill’ is making headlines for all the WRONG reasons… 🙁

https://neighbourly.co.nz/public/auckland/st-heliers/message/67015539
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September 30, 2021 9:35am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Presume it is a crossbow bolt.
  Not a hunters tip on it, so someone playing with a dangerous toy rather than hunting.
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:32pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes, they pretty much start teaching them that sort of stuff from birth.
    
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    September 30, 2021 1:39pm
slightlyrighty

https://www.facebook.com/337418942718/posts/10159378087807719/

I don’t say this often but. Kudos to John Campbell.

Hipkins, Ardern and Robertson like to attack the questioner when challenged, and at 9 minutes and 29 seconds, Chippie gets slammed!
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September 30, 2021 9:39am
- dcrane
  
  It was satisfying to see Campbelli pick up on that implied dismissal by Hipkins of the many Kiwis who want to home come as just people who want to experience a covid-free “Kiwi summer” on the beach.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:11am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  I dont see anything good here, aside from him using the words ‘the government has failed’.
  Well, newsflash John, but it only failed in this instance against he social justice equity garbage.
  
  He is still taking for granted that all the issues he listed out/poor outcomes from Maori, are systemic problems for others to solve.
  
  Yet this morning, Mike Hosking was pointing out that Asian NZers lead the way on vaccination rates, and we need to look to them.
  
  You cant have a white supremacist system “favouring pakeha” narrative, when people born overseas and with English as a real 2nd language, often outperform all the ‘born here’ people.
  ….And not just on this, but in work ethics and education achievements.
  Perhaps the problem is a lack of self responsibility or aspiration?
  
  Racism of low expectations? Keep reinforcing the eternal victim and ‘its not your fault’ mantra?
  John Campbell is doing harm to Maori IMO, by pushing this crap, as are many Maori leaders at the trough.
  Here’s a thought:
  Get an education – its free! Eat healthy – Its cheaper! Don’t do crime – its the right thing to do!
  And get a vaccine, if you want it – no excuses!
  Then we might see a closing of the gaps.
  John Campbell can STFU.
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:41pm
cmm

Stuff has an interesting article from 2019 on flu.

They’re quoting Prof Baker (a lesser being back then before his PR crew bought him a pink shirt, got him a decent haircut and found a more salubrious background for his photo-ops).

According to the prof:
* One quarter of NZ are infected with flu every year (ie. well over a million cases a year) although only a small number develop flu to the extent that they are diagnosed (20,000 or so).
* 10,000 people die each year from flu (500 are recorded as flu, but he says 20x that are really killed by complications caused by flu). That’s about 30% of all deaths.

Those are AVERAGES.

If we take this expert at his word, then over a two year period:
* If flu was being tested for like CV19 with sensitive PCR tests, we’d have seen over 2 million flu cases.
* If flu was counted as a cause of death the way CV19 is, we’d have seen 17,000 flu deaths in NZ so far.

Yet somehow we should lose our minds and stuff the economy over CV19 and believe that CV19 is way worse!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/112942493/kiwis-underestimate-the-seriousness-of-the-flu-says-public-health-professor
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September 30, 2021 9:41am
- Cinematic
  
  Baker and Co executed a mutiny of sorts in the very early days of covid. They convinced Ardern and her feeble minded leadership group the well considered pandemic plan wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
  
  Since then NZ has embarked on one of the most extreme public health responses the world has ever seen.
  
  Having been top of the leaderboard NZ now finds itself at No. 38 in the world and is dropping like a stone.
  
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  September 30, 2021 10:17am
- graham
  
  The whole “if you don’t obey lockdown you’re going to kill Granny” guilt-trip was so overdone when you put it side-by-side with this story.
  
  Can you imagine a media campaign each year when flu season starts, sombrely telling people to stay at home if you have flu and make sure you get the flu jab; Jacinda and Ashley calling a media conference to virtually cry over the fact that we have a case of flu detected in Auckland so from midnight tonight the whole place is going into lockdown for two weeks … ALL BECAUSE WE CAN’T LET GRANNY DIE FROM THE FLU.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:03am
Nickc2

Whilst this Govt is throwing taxpayer money at businesses affected by Covid lockdowns, why don’t they also compensate businesses who have been disrupted in Akld by the ongoing Lite Rail build?
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September 30, 2021 10:04am
Cinematic

National’s covid plan has buried this ‘not ready to govern’ nonsense once and for all. Whilst I don’t agree with all of the content it’s an impressive body of work.
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September 30, 2021 10:12am
- DeepBlue
  
  JA’s Covid Plan has been exposed by National for what it is and the only thing she knows: a high level comms plan.
  
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  September 30, 2021 1:10pm
curry4me

ASTERISK RESIDENCY: Episode 37.
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, both Talibans, the Extinction Rebellion and Cuba.
Last week on Asterisk Residency, Kabul Joe was still eating ice cream. Does dementia make him immune from brain freezes? Does that also work for cream freezes?

Should General Milley have a plaque next to Benamin Arnold’s at West Point? Is Eggs Benedict his favorite breakfast dish? Did all the top generals oppose the pull out from Afghanistan?

Is Kabul Joes Build Back Better just ‘blah, blah, blah’ like the Climate Troll says? Do hyenas always seek the weakest prey? What about China, and India? Is she invisible in China? Is China invisible to her? Is this like the Star Trek episode where kids said the same to Captain Kirk? Can the NYT beam Kabul Joe up? Does he care if she’s too old to sniff? Is the Climate Troll a future cat lady? Is the ‘environmental movement’ a Gaia focused megachurch? Will the 1% ditch their huge homes, jet setting, and limos to ‘save the planet’?

Is voting Democrat the worst thing about dying? The AZ audit has sparked calls for arrests, and decertification. Will it start a trend? Will ballot audits have real consequences? Will Kari Lake be the next governor of AZ? Will she ditch machines for paper ballots? Will Americans elsewhere go back to paper ballots? Will Glen Youngkin win in Virginia? Will Dems demand an audit? Is the narrative collapsing when the British media begin accusing Dems of election fraud?

Will more airline employees face termination for resisting vaccine mandates? Will more healthcare workers sue over vaccine mandates? Will another court rule in their favour? Will it end up before SCOTUS? Will BLM support them? They think vaccination passports are racist. Will they endorse Donald Trump in 2024?
Is ‘build back better’ popular with Dems in swing states? Will they go red in 2022?

Is ‘racist’ graffiti still ‘racist’ if it was done by a non white student? Will there be BLM protests?

Was Matt Dowd always a Democrat? Will the Lt Governor’s job pay better than political commentary? Will Jebra, or W endorse him?

Chicago has a plan for bleeding kits to ameliorate the death toll from shootings. Will NY, St Louis,and East LA copy it? Who will win the shooting stakes this week? Will Ladbrooks be running a book?
California schools have asked students to pray to Aztec gods. Will they ask for prayers to Molech this week? Stay Tuned folks!
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September 30, 2021 10:16am
- All_on_Red
  
  ‘Is voting Democrat the worst thing about dying?’
  hahahahahahaha
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:41pm
  - curry4me
    
    All_on_Red: Glad you liked it.
    
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    September 30, 2021 6:09pm
MrTips

Fun thought for the day:

4x as many woman have been killed in the last 2 weeks related to lockdown stress, as have been killed by COVID this year.

Shaun Hendy, Michael Plank, Michael Baker, Nick Wilson, Rod Jackson and Jin Russell could not be reached for comment.
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September 30, 2021 10:19am
- kowtow
  
  Where’s Ali Mau and the hash tag mob .
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:29pm
- Liberal Cliche
  
  “related to lockdown stress”
  
  Nice conspiracy theory by the media there with 0 evidence to back it up. Laying the blame of the usual suspects on their meme flu.
  
  Everything that ever happens from now on is “because of covid”
  
  The cope is real.
  
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  September 30, 2021 2:36pm
oldfella

Might be a good time to rename the ‘Shot Bro’ and ‘Shot Cuzz’ buses.
A person has been shot by police after a pursuit in Auckland. Police shot the person – who was in possession of a firearm – and have taken another person into custody following a fleeing driver incident that spanned across Otahuhu and Hillsborough this morning.
The person shot by police is in a serious condition.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-swarm-on-auckland-suburb-of-hillsborough-ambulance-also-at-scene/ECOOJKAHR4IMWFYIIW7F7ZOXWE/
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September 30, 2021 10:30am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

After have shots fired at them, Police have shot a man in West Auckland’s….. Lilac Grove.
ZB reports he has been taken to hospital in a ‘serious condition’

(Not as serious a condition as Constable Matthew Hunt was in.)
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September 30, 2021 10:41am
- Frank the tank
  
  20+ cop cars. I’m guessing a Kung-Flu infected flea bag trying to avoid quarantine.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:00am
- James Stephenson
  
  West Auckland starts a long way East these days (Hillsborough is plumb due South of the city).
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:07am
  - peterwn
    
    The old Great South Road is probably the dividing line between West and East Auckland.
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:31am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    On the odd occasion we’ve played interclub with a few girls from over Hillsborough way. When you ask them where they’re from, they always say….”Lilac Grove”
    LOL!!
    
    They Are Us. (NOT)
    
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    September 30, 2021 11:50am
- peterwn
  
  These people who do not know their geography. You do not go down a cul-de-sac when being chased by the cops. Years ago a speeding motorcyclist pursued by a traffic officer turned into Point Chev Road from Great North Road. He told the officer that the officer would not have caught up with him if he had not taken that turn.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:34am
dime

Is NZ heading towards stagflation?

Cause that will not be a good thing. Judging by the war stories I hear from the 70’s..
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September 30, 2021 11:04am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  You missed an interesting period in our history dime. Technically the current unemployment profile measure doesn’t fit stagflation – then again that measure doesn’t currently count all the chronic paid bums on the couch because they’re not ready and looking for work, so I think it’s understated comparative to that time..
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:31am
  - cmm
    
    What happens if you focus on productive employment rather than full employment?
    
    There are so many jobs around these days that are just make-work (especially in government) that serve no productive purpose but significantly reduce the unemployment numbers.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:05pm
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      True – which makes it worse as most of those in/managed by GD’s are Government funded. ‘Spose the funding turns up in the GDP side which would then create an artificial overstatement so double whammies.
      
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      September 30, 2021 5:34pm
  - dime
    
    70andstilllearning – i was around.. from 1976 onwards ha
    
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    September 30, 2021 2:13pm
bennerg

Stuff reports on Dover Samuels:

Former Labour Minister Dover Samuels can remember being beaten for speaking Te Reo in school as early as five years old.

He is now calling for the Crown to apologise to all Ngapuhi children caned for speaking Te Reo at school.

Samuels is in his eighties now but the trauma of being beaten for speaking te reo Māori at school still fills him with anger and pain.

Sadly this is without any context, and is another sad chapter in the “Stuff” having an inability to provide balanced journalism.

My father remarked on this situation, as a “white kid”. All students were punished with both the strap, on the hand, and caning across the bottom. Strapping was preferred for girls, from aged five years and above. And was meted out “quite a lot”.

This method of discipline was universal for what was considered, ill discipline, breaking rules, and I’m sure was meted out for both good and bad reasons.

I doubt Maori were singled out for this treatment, certainly not as my father recalled it, and his frequent receipt of the treatment.

As to the speaking of the Maori language in schools, Samuels completely misses out the reason why this rule was imposed – to bring the Maori children into the 20th century and give them opportunities they would not have, if they were only able to speak Maori.

From The Teara website:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-education-matauranga/page-3

the insistence on English was generally accepted by Māori communities, who were secure in their Māoritanga and wished their children to be prepared for success in the Pākehā world.

So to conflate two different matters and make them sound like an injustice is just vexatious on the part of Samuels.

School discipline has evolved (some may argue with that), and our school curriculum has evolved (some may also argue with that), but it is evolution away from harsher days, that were still considered enlightened at the time.

Asking for apologies is disingenuous when not accompanied by heartfelt thanks for all the good teachers who gave their all to educate all their students, with their individual challenges, whether that be from their cultural background, or due to mental ill health (perhaps at home), or financial hardship.

In asking for an apology Samuels is showing himself as simply a charlatan, looking for yet another handout, for as we all know, apologies come with “koha”.
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September 30, 2021 11:06am
Unity

With regard to Dover Samuels “In asking for an apology Samuels is showing himself as simply a charlatan, looking for yet another handout, for as we all know, apologies come with “koha”.”

He is being disingenuous and knows full well that what he is asking is ridiculous. Children from all walks of life were strapped/caned for wrong-doing. He is just looking for another cringy apology by people who had nothing to do with anything back in those times and the money that goes with it.

Surely the time has long passed when we should be apologising for things we had nothing to do with whether right or wrong in today’s eyes. Let’s have no more apologies for things we didn’t do. In fact let’s have an end to all mention of race. Everyone has mixed ancestry and we should all be progressing on into the future as people and nothing to do with race. If part-Maori can’t progress by elevating their Maori side then they should elevate their ‘other’ side and perhaps things might improve for them as it has for many I personally know of some of whom I’m even related to.
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September 30, 2021 11:26am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I hear that the pot plant in an Auckland hotel corridor which Dover Samuels relieved himself on a few years ago when caught short is also asking for an apology…
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:30am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    And Ma was telling us last night she vaguely recalls that Helen Clarke actually SACKED Dover from the Party, over some sort of allegations that were swirling around about him.
    She said she couldn’t remember the exact details of what happened, but understands Helen even wrote to the then Police Commissioner about it.
    Dover was absolutely furious apparently.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:04pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I think Mr Samuels had some undisclosed criminal conviction that provided a convenient excuse to shift him.
      
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      September 30, 2021 7:11pm
- graham
  
  Rather than have Prince William apologise (which I believe Dover was keen on) for something that happened half a world away, decades before he was even born, maybe Mr Samuels should demand that apology from the current Minister for Maori Development, Willie Jackson, who just a few months ago stated that Maori TV needed to have more content in English – in other words, implying that there’s too much Te Reo!
  
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/mori-media-in-for-a-big-shake-up
  
  According to Minister for Māori Development, Willie Jackson, Māori TV’s ratings have fallen away because it lacks good programming – in English.
  
  “In the past it has all been about the language (te Reo), a huge focus on the language, but we need our own news in English and we need our own programmes in English; it’s not so much about the language, it’s about the stories. Most of our people don’t speak te Reo and we shouldn’t do it at the expense of our people.
  
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  September 30, 2021 11:54am
  - kowtow
    
    I’d expect them to hire some English staff to deliver that news and those shows , for authenticity’s sake.
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:27pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    So the billions spent on Maori Language Nests, Maori Programmes have been a waste of money
    
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    September 30, 2021 12:33pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I like Maori TV. It has some great films & fewer adverts than the other Govt channels.
    
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    September 30, 2021 9:58pm
- Gravelroad
  
  @Unity-
  I can recall whilst in the fourth form at College, the science teacher biffed a blackboard duster at me and my friend for talking to each other rather than listening.
  The duster landed on my desk, not me, which caused quite a bit of mirth all round ( apart from the teacher).
  I’m pretty sure I had to apologise to him………..
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:47pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    You should demand an apology from Chris Hipkins, for facing brutality in schools.
    
    The government needs to set up Apology Buses, to get out into the community.
    The buses could be called “SOZ BRO!”
    Hundreds of apologies a week, until everyone in NZ has had one – or perhaps 2?
    
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    September 30, 2021 3:36pm
Fletch

Yet more new music today. John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen team up on a new song, Wasted Days, realizing that perhaps they don’t have too many left themselves…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHLGZxlBpLA
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September 30, 2021 11:38am
thirteenstars

Victoria, currently suffering an endless lockdown and violent police confrontations with protestors, yesterday announced that 78% of those hospitalised were fully vaccinated.

https://youtu.be/ICnflzCW2GU?t=3080

With figures like that, this shit is never going to end because the elimination/lockdown strategy being pursued by both Australia and New Zealand can’t tolerate the level of hospitalisations among the *vaccinated* let alone the unvaccinated.

Insanity.
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September 30, 2021 12:31pm
- Fletch
  
  Wow. I did a search after reading this, and you can see the Health Minister himself saying it –
  
  https://youtu.be/yVF03WTeyj8?t=164
  
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  September 30, 2021 12:43pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    The Crowder video I linked to has the video.
    
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    September 30, 2021 1:07pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      BTW this:
      
      “98 per cent of people who went into ICU were unvaccinated”
      
      ….exactly mirrors what you see in the UK and the USA – hardly anyone who is vaccinated ends up in the ICU. Those vaccinated people who ARE in the ICUs are very elderly and frail. Instead what you is the ICUs being packed with unvaccinated people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. And that is excatly what you will see in New Zealand.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:30pm
      - Cinematic
        
        Maybe but for the most part those in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s will be mainly unwell for other reasons. Delta is a harvesting virus not an outright killer.
        
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        September 30, 2021 1:51pm
      - Inandout
        
        BY, I am pretty sure that Jacinda will not let you (or I) travel overseas, despite being fully jabbed. We have been led down the garden path, as were those first vaccinated, that this will be ‘your passport to travel’. Bullshit, a thousand times bullshit. Then we have that local body election legislation, pushed through quicker than a diarrhoea squirt.
        
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        September 30, 2021 3:07pm
    - Fletch
      
      Ah right, I didn’t watch the Crowder all the way. Just listened for the names, etc and went searching.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:52pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I think the Health Minister badly mispoke.
    
    The Victorian Chief Health Officer said this yesterday:
    
    “88 per cent of [COVID] hospitalisations were unvaccinated and 98 per cent of people who went into ICU were unvaccinated.”
    
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-29/victoria-records-new-covid-cases-and-vaccine-progress/100499188
    
    They can’t both be correct!
    
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    September 30, 2021 1:27pm
    - The Boss
      
      Why not?
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:48pm
    - Cinematic
      
      I think they can both be correct but what I would say is the percentages are probably meaningless. What is the actual number of people admitted to hospital and the actual number admitted to ICU? 98% of SFA is still SFA.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:49pm
    - Fletch
      
      Yeh, I dunno. We’ve already had an instance of a stat being walked back in Australia because “vaccinated” and “unvaccinated” were switched by mistake. Not sure what to believe now. He seemed pretty sure in his speaking.
      
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      September 30, 2021 1:56pm
    - waripori
      
      They can both be correct. 88% of covid admissions were unvaccinated so 12% were vaccinated.
      
      98% of those who progressed to ICU were unvaccinated so 2% vaccinated. If vaccinated there is a chance you might be admitted but a much smaller chance you will get seriously ill.
      
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      September 30, 2021 2:11pm
    - Okahu
      
      It’s pretty despicable that Kiwiblog, an organ that our host himself has put under the watch of the press council because of its reach has become a home for Project Fear. The effort to besmirch the vaccine rollout by sowing fear and doubt and mistrust in sane public health policy.
      
      It’s bad enough that the amateur Epidemiologists imagine they are qualified to second guess the efforts and wisdom of actual practitioners at every turn but it is worse than that. Most, appear to be at least as convinced our science based and expert guided approach is wrong not because they are qualified to assess as much but because the resulting decisions of government are made by somebody they don’t like for tribal reasons.
      
      Here we have an example of what is either a doctored video or a misprint or misread. No other official publication supports the allegation posted here that 78% of those hospitalised in Victoria are fully vaccinated. And we’re it to be the case that a hospice or rest home we’re to be infected and a surge of frail but vaccinated be admitted it still wouldn’t support Project Fear and their efforts to undermine public welfare.
      
      Quite the contrary. Here… https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/unvaccinated-patients-dominate-covid-deaths-and-ic
      
      Cherry picking bullshit and pretending you make a case against all evidence is despicable. So is publishing it knowing it stokes the fears of the feeble minded and supports the white anting of public health measures we all rely on.
      
      Mr Farrar, you can’t pretend to support our public health system and our society and simultaneously allow its white anting by the dangerous buffoons you give room to here.
      
      You are generous but your generosity is becoming dangerous to the health and welfare of very real people. There is no tyranny in vaccinations. You have said as much yourself. So why do you run Kiwiblog as a 5th column disinformation service?
      
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      September 30, 2021 5:30pm
      - Sponge
        
        “a home for Project Fear”
        
        “So why do you run Kiwiblog as a 5th column disinformation service?”
        
        Jesus, talk about over egging the pudding!
        
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        December 30, 2019 7:10pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Have you considered that people are not classed as vaccinated until 14 days have elapsed from their jab?
        
        https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-09-29-attorney-thomas-renz-nearly-50k-medicare-patients-died-soon-after-getting-covid-shot.html
        
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        September 30, 2021 6:48pm
      - ByGolly
        
        Plenty of “vaccine besmirching” happening on Jacindas FB page.
        
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        September 30, 2021 7:40pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        You are a bit late to the party, Okahu..
        
        We had clowns like SB2 telling us all not to be hysterical or paranoid about Covid and not to worry if one of your kids is asthmatic.
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/03/coronavirus_impact.html#comment-2654546
        
        Do you really think the rubbish SB2 posted on KB had any influence on anyone’s behaviour?
        
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        September 30, 2021 8:07pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Surely no one suffers from the delusion that Kiwiblog comments provide any useful information. It is an entertainment only.
        
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        September 30, 2021 8:13pm
Maggie Pie

Something I’ve really noticed, is the growth of what I’d call ‘GRIEF PORN’ on nearly all social media platforms.

That, coupled with a general ‘break-down’ of society, and an obvious disrespect for law & order, I believe, can be sheeted directly back to the appointment of Jacinda as Prime Minister.

Maybe it’s just moi?
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September 30, 2021 1:01pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Goes deeper. Subliminal comments about mental health help is available.
  IMHO I think this is another Labour tool. They want you to feel sad and seek help. Where does the help come from?????? Govt controlled departments. We are being played from everywhere by these control freaks.
  No disrespect to those who do have mental health issues
  
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  September 30, 2021 4:35pm
Stu2

– first doses hit 3.28m yesterday
– there are about 4.20m people eligible so 90% vaccination is approx 3.78m people
– first dose bookings have dropped every day, from 124k to 101k over the last four days
– gap of 400k
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September 30, 2021 1:22pm
JibberJabber

https://twitter.com/brenthatley/status/1442910969923993604

Pfizer who makes one of the Covid vaccines is developing an oral therapeutic based on…..Ivermectin.

https://twitter.com/MarkHubbard33/status/1443138979495251969

Looky here. Rebranding a practically free solution to Covid into a form Pfizer can charge monopoly profit.
#Ivermectin Banned in NZ under @nzlabour’s secret deal with … than Pfizer.

If you try and bring this in on your own volition, NZ Customs will intercept & destroy.

Starting to get the picture now?
Just another example of the corruption that infects every facet of this govt.
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September 30, 2021 1:49pm
- dcrane
  
  From that tweet it looks like it’s not that it’s based on ivermectin, but based on a chemical effect that is also demonstrated by ivermectin. The conclusion is similar but it would be better not to overstate the point.
  
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  September 30, 2021 3:13pm
Maggie Pie

And just as we’d never again book a suite for the night at Stamford Plaza…..you wont ever catch us getting into a ‘Blue Bubble Taxi’ either 🙁
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September 30, 2021 1:50pm
Libertarians are right

So, apparently 37% of people that have had Covid suffer from Long Covid (according to a UK study).

Given that more than a third of people with Covid are A-symptomatic (probably much more), this is an astounding figure.

Looking through it, apparently the most common symptom of Long Covid is anxiety and depression. Apparently there’s no other reason to have these issues and it’s because of having Covid.

I know a lot of people that are very anxious right now and none of them have had Covid so I guess they have Pre-Covid Long Covid?
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September 30, 2021 2:03pm
- kowtow
  
  And UK studies showed being anxious predisposed one to covid .
  
  Anxious before ,during and after.
  
  Maybe they should call it “Perpetual Covid”
  
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  September 30, 2021 2:39pm
Liberal Cliche

Sick of the Herald “an unvaccinated died today” articles?

“Former Notre Dame Professor Who Said, “Damn the Unvaccinated” Dies Two Weeks After Receiving 3rd Covid Shot”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/former-notre-dame-professor-said-damn-unvaccinated-dies-two-weeks-receiving-3rd-covid-shot/

[Mod. Note: From her obituary – “Karen Croake Heisler, 67, a longtime former South Bend resident, passed away Sunday, September 19, 2021, at Orlando (Florida) Regional Medical Center due to cancer-related complications.”
It appears the lack of medical attention she sought contributed to her death, and was due to the hospitals being overrun with unvaccinated Covid cases. ]
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September 30, 2021 2:16pm
- Liberal Cliche
  
  [Liberal Cliche note It was her cardiologist that tried to get her admitted.
  
  I’m old enough to remember when dying of cancer whilst having covid was counted as a covid death.
  
  Almost every NZ “covid death” the people had other complications, including cancer.]
  
  Lets keep it consistent folks.
  
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  September 30, 2021 2:50pm
- Fletch
  
  It appears the lack of medical attention she sought contributed to her death, and was due to the hospitals being overrun with unvaccinated Covid cases.
  
  Don’t know whether I believe that. Rolling Stone tried to do a similar story recently and it was picked up by other media. Only thing was, it turned out to be not true.
  
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  September 30, 2021 3:01pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Mods here are not as truthful as Kiwibloggers would like them to be?
    Right Mike??
    
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    September 30, 2021 4:55pm
Chuck Bird

This should be of great concern.

What Really Happened In Wuhan

https://odysee.com/SkyNews_WRHAW:8
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September 30, 2021 2:42pm
- dcrane
  
  The doco brings the hypothesised timeline of evidence for the virus’ release back to 12 September, 2019 – when a major virus database was deleted by the Wuhan virus institute, the Wuhan lab security was beefed up, and they began seeking to replace their air-handling system. One month later the institute went into what the author describes as a two-week communications blackout.
  
  I would add this aside – on the 16th of September, 2019, the American interbank overnight lending system called the repo market suddenly and inexplicably locked up, requiring unprecedented tens-to-hunded-billion dollar bailouts by the Federal Reserve that continued through the next several months and into 2020. This was never adequately explained.
  
  I keep waiting for someone who knows more to connect these dots to show that information was circulating globally at high levels. Imagine the world’s top bankers reacting internally to foreknowledge that a suspected bioweapon had gotten loose.
  
  Anyway, Mike Pompeo states at one point that he has seen evidence suggesting the virus was out even in July and August, 2019. I have seen suggestions of this as well – an eastern USA nursing home experiencing a rash of unexplained deaths (can’t recall where unf.).
  
  In science you try to falsify every plausible hypothesis, not just your main one. One alternative hardly ever mentioned is the idea that the Wuhan lab might have been framed. While I still have enough faith in humanity to doubt that anyone beyond a lone madman would deliberately release a bioweapon that could kill billions, what would happen if an engineered bio-weapon got loose accidentally in one country and those with knowledge believed there was no chance to stop it? Would they be capable of quickly arranging a second release associated with another believable source? If the military lab at Ft. Detrick in the US lost control of covid-19, would the CIA be able to justify further spreading the virus to China to obscure its origins and accomplish strategic disarray in its rival? I don’t see why not, given their history. The US had access to that lab through its own collaborating agents (I assume). I’ve never seen any evidence to specifically affirm this alternative, but it makes sense to keep the idea in mind.
  
  [I’m only halfway through the vid….maybe the idea comes up later.]
  
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  September 30, 2021 4:06pm
  - dcrane
    
    Finished it. The show puts a fair bit of interesting and maybe even largely correct info together in one place, but suffers from overblown hype (soundtrack, visuals) and a plodding pace. Much more info that’s out there could have been included.
    
    Whoever ran this show got access to the likes of Trump, Pompeo, Dearlove for interviews….very high-level neocon types, who end up adding little to the info provided. Show criticizes the UN and some scientists but mostly avoids the major western failures to stop the spread, and ends by focusing on implications for the Chinese leadership – overall it has the feel of a Five Eyes-sponsored propaganda piece. (And I say that despite my best guess being that the virus did get out of the Wuhan lab.)
    
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    September 30, 2021 6:17pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Sharri Markson is a regular on Sky Oz. She is very competent.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:03pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Words of Wisdom. Apply to anyone in NZ??

“One of the fundamental principles of leadership is to not blame others, particularly subordinates, for mistakes that are one’s own responsibility. In the vernacular, a good leader does not throw his subordinates “under the bus” to cover his own behind. There is a practical reason for this: It is essential to a well-functioning unit or any organization. Loyalty from the top down will be reciprocated by loyalty from the bottom up. Without both, you will not have a cohesive organization that is able to operate successfully under stress.” – John Lucas
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September 30, 2021 2:54pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  For counter argument; see every despot ever = most of human history. Mortal fear works too in the absence of any other safe alternative for the underlings, though the deathly fear of failure it creates is slightly less optimal than organizations that have some tolerance for screwups.
  
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  September 30, 2021 3:07pm
NoFax

Checked the daily vaccine figures today and the same trend continues – about 40k vaccines more 2nd than 1st. However, the curious part is the second dose either completed or booked has sat at 80% for a while now.

There are plenty of spaces and one can get a vaccine today if one was so inclined. But are they saying no one in the last week or so has booked a vaccine? I don’t believe it. 65+ are 82.2% vaccinated – there is no reason to have any restrictions now. The most vulnerable are protected and those who don’t want a vaccine won’t get one now.
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September 30, 2021 3:03pm
- WaveyDavey
  
  To answer your question…
  
  (and trust me they don’t make it straightforward to get to the figures)
  
  A week ago
  3,330,118 were jabbed or booked (79% of the eligible population)
  3,146,149 had been jabbed
  That left 183,969 booked
  
  As of today
  3,381,948 have been jabbed or are booked (80% of the eligible population)
  3,281,176 have been jabbed
  That leaves 100,772 booked
  
  Currently we need another 744,715 registrations to get 100% registration – that ain’t happening – and if we’re only increasing at 1% per week we have a minimum of 10 weeks to get to 90% or 20 weeks to get to 100% and that’s before the 5-12yo cohort gets added to the mix
  
  TL:DR We’ve hit the wall, anything from now will be a slow grind
  
  BTW a month ago we had 592,000 booked but unvaxxed
  
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  September 30, 2021 4:16pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    In fact to further compare today with a month ago
    
    A month ago there were 1.6m eligible but unvaccinated with 592k bookings (37% booked of those eligible)
    
    Today there are 850k eligible but unvaccinated but only 100k booked (12% booked of those eligible)
    
    Oh and daily bookings are down to about 6,000 a day
    
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    September 30, 2021 4:55pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Run out of medication for Covid??
    It is not a vaccination if it does not work – it is a placebo to make you comply.
    Rufude that Jaspinda
    
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    September 30, 2021 4:59pm
  - NoFax
    
    Yes, it is clear now that we have hit the wall and it will be very slow indeed.
    I think the only thing we can do is set an opening date (1 December to be generous) and then stick to it. Those that are dragging their heels will either do it or not.
    
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    September 30, 2021 5:09pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    The only things that will increase numbers now are:
    1/ Announcing an opening date a month or two from now. Push those who are hanging back and waiting to see when they are actually threatened to get the vax.
    2/ Compulsion (eg withholding benefits or TV or phone or internet axis from unvaxxed).
    
    Pretty sure they won’t do 2/ so 1/ is their only option if they genuinely want to increase rates. BUT I think they don’t actually care about increasing rates all that much, and due to their failure at increasing hospital capacity really just want to hold onto lockdown lite to ‘squash the curve’ for the next 6 months to a year and ignore the economic damage. If that is the case then they will just hold the status quo and never announce an opening date.
    
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    September 30, 2021 5:18pm
    - WaveyDavey
      
      Pretty much my thinking.
      
      “While the Great New Zealand Public is “not doing its part” we can’t possibly open up and you’ve only got yourselves to blame”
      
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      September 30, 2021 6:01pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Oh dear,
        
        is our Captain losing the support of her team?
        
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        September 30, 2021 7:24pm
Maggie Pie

Getting dinner and just caught the headlines on BBC (Sky89)…

Why do they think everyone in the Army can drive a Truck?
Don’t none of them know how to fly Planes.
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September 30, 2021 5:10pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  At one stage, it was said that every man in the NZ Army had a rifle and a truck. A little before my time, but the idea was to buy enough Unimogs to transport an infantry brigade.
  
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  September 30, 2021 7:16pm
Maggie Pie

I must say, Hillary Barry really ‘p*sses-us-off” sometimes.

We were just enjoying our pre-dinner tipple and watching 7 Sharp.
Hills opens the show with….. “Everyone in New Zealand was captivated with the news that the Phillips family had been found in Marokopa”

To be honest, we couldn’t have given a stuff!
And nor could anyone else we know.
Whose going to pay for all the time and money wasted on looking for this clown?

SHEESH!!
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September 30, 2021 7:36pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, watching Hillary on 7 Sharp before dining is like drinking a laxative before a live show. We watch a recording of ‘The Chase’ whilst dining, after tippling on the deck.
  
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  September 30, 2021 7:51pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    One method is to check the headlines for TVNZ news, and switch to the +1 channel on Freeview for The Chase if no interesting news is mentioned. You will learn more interesting things from an episode of The Chase than most TV news hours.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:32pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Oh come on mike!
      You don’t honestly think those fat ‘Chasers’ aren’t briefed on the answers before the show, surely?
      It’s the biggest ‘have’ out….they only let through a few contestants each month to keep it interesting.
      I far prefer Eddy on ‘Who want’s to be a millionaire’. At least that’s a legit game-show.
      
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      September 30, 2021 9:09pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Easier to cheat on ‘Millionaire’:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ingram#Who_Wants_to_Be_a_Millionaire?_scandal
        
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        October 1, 2021 5:30am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    A bit cold out on the deck tonite.
    Luckily, we’ve got a 1000 bottle Vintec Espace and full bar adjoining our HT.
    
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    September 30, 2021 8:33pm
kevn

@Maggie, A great painkiller as well. Ban the C word.
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September 30, 2021 8:43pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Hey Grant, here’s a new slogan for you:

Go to Middlemore and catch Covid

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-two-covid-exposures-at-middlemore-66-patients-are-close-contacts/5ITUC23EO3FU6Z7RXYLILLWXGA/
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September 30, 2021 9:46pm
Clownworld

Ecco no doubt the move to level 2 if it happens, will be a new level 2, think of it as the old level 3 with added restrictions.

So any move down to level 2 will be preannounced via media ( has already started) as ” we are following the science ….and changing for the tricksy virus…while you just need to get vaxxd…”

Otherwise it will be Level 3 for Akld except new level 3 plus for those lowly vaxxd suburbs. Not enough percentage then you will stay home nk level 3 for you.

Hope I’m wrong and we simply give up elimination and go to Level 0 but neither the govt or the opposition or the general populace could cope with the cognitive dissonance involved. Mass psychosis under communist sustained propaganda will do that to people.
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September 30, 2021 10:21pm
Fuzzysnuggleduck

Sorry if it was posted, as this is from 27th Sept, but I just saw this – LOL!
In private, without filters. I do note several voices in the media calling BS on Hendy, and the podium rolling him out = despicable.

…..{he post was intended to be sent via private message to Rodney Jones, another modeller. Jones last week described modelling by Hendy, which suggested 7000 Kiwis could die a year if New Zealand’s vaccination rollout stalled at 80 percent, as “rushed” and “overcooked”.

“Thanks for your well-timed article,” O’Sullivan said. “The inexplicable refusal to apply math to decision-making and rely on bogus modellers like Hendy is extraordinary.”}….

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/09/nz-herald-journalist-fran-o-sullivan-sorry-for-calling-covid-19-expert-shaun-hendy-a-bogus-modeller-in-accidental-tweet.html
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October 1, 2021 11:35am

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