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December 9, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 December 2021

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General Debate

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mikenmildagain

Happy International Anti-Corruption Day!
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December 9, 2021 8:00am
- Tony
  
  Is that a day we should celebrate or reminisce about in New Zealand?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:34am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    The covid corruption is certainly out in the open.
    
    The lie is that we have freedom, welcome to freedom day.
    
    How is that new freedom feeling now.
    
    Looks to me like more covid tyranny.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:43am
    - mawm
      
      The tyranny is all over the place. In South Australia if you are not vaxxed and you want to visit someone in hospital you have to wear full PPE. In Queensland you cannot get an organ transplant unless you are vaxxed. Boris, after saying he wouldn’t has introduced vaxx passports for a range of things that bear no resemblance to anything to do with preventing the spread.
      
      Our own lovely Jacinda has said that there is no end to vaccines and that she will pursue all who are not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czr_53FTuDc
      
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      December 9, 2021 1:43pm
  - pdm
    
    Or just tear our hair out in despair.
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:30pm
    - Thumelicus
      
      You aren’t getting a hair cut anyway..
      
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      December 9, 2021 1:24pm
- peterwn
  
  Yes, take note Labour Party, especially Ginny Anderson.
  Labour considered the last National Government was corrupt (eg the Sky conference centre deal in Auckland), but Labour in the last four years has left National well behind in the corruption stakes!
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:36am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    No surprises that national and labour sycophants would leap to accuse the other party of corruption while they both employ the same kinds of ruses and suck up as much Chinese cash as they can.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:23am
  - alloytoo
    
    Labour always accuses everyone of the things they want to do, and do, once they get into power.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:40am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You will notice that ‘corruption’ is not in the Labour user manual, or dictionary.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:02am
  - sooty
    
    Maybe not. But it’s in the things to do list!
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:04am
- less than wise
  
  Lol, in the current climate:)
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:03pm
- lazza
  
  Tell that to the Labour cabinet … and their incestuous conflicted cohort of fellow troughers.
  
  Err “corrupt”?
  
  You say OK?
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:26pm
- Ra Henare
  
  I wonder if corruption covers the gotcha for buying travel Insurance for overseas travel.
  
  They are happy to sell you insurance but of course the small print tells you you wont be covered if the government advise against travel.
  Of course the MFAT says..
  advise that all New Zealanders do not travel overseas at this time.
  
  You would only find out this gotcha if you got sick while overseas. Corruption? taking your money knowing they wont pay out?
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:39pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    That’s certainly something new – insurance companies putting in tricky little clauses to deny claims!
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:19pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    A sensible consumer would ask about, and confirm, what was covered and excluded in the contract before signing it and paying the premium – caveat emptor and all that.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:10pm
Benedict Yu

“The Waitangi Tribunal is holding an urgent inquiry into whether the Government breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi in its handling of the Covid-19 response.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300473119/

Why is the Tribunal holding such an Inquiry? The absurdity of the premise of the complaint will bring the Tribunal into disrepute.

And what happens if the Tribunal upholds the complaint? There will be demands for compensation.

Any person in New Zealand, however remote geographically, who is unvaccinated, has made that decision. Maori in the most remote parts of East Cape have phones. If one of them phoned the 0800 number today and said “My family wants to be vaccinated but we have no transport”, would they be ignored? With the vast amounts of money thrown at this thing, someone would turn up with a nurse within a few days. (And if I am wrong about that, what the hell happened to the money?)

Back to the Tribunal. National won’t stop this nonsense. But I would like to see ACT commit to curtailing the ability of the Tribunal to conduct such nonsense inquiries. Nobody would have anticipated this nonsenseq1 when the Tribunal was set up in 1975. But more importantly, the acceptance of this complainant makes Maori%% look like infants who %can’t make their own decisions about vaccination. Which I am sure many Maori would find insulting. It also divides society by making many other people resentful at the sheer stupidity and costs of such nonsense.
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December 9, 2021 8:01am
- Scott
  
  Benedict – the treaty of waitangi in 1840 conferred on Maori the rights and protection of British subjects. They didn’t get special rights compared to everyone else.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:04am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    For all the academic & political self serving revisionism, the fact is that ToW does not include any “Principles” (these are a contemporary opinion starting with Justice Cooke & developed in the Royal Commission on Social Policy in the 1980’s & included by Palmer into the SOE Act without democratic reference to the NZ electorate) Nor does the ToW require co-governance: Article one of the Māori text grants governance rights to the Crown while the English text cedes “all rights and powers of sovereignty” to the Crown who cannot enter into a partnership with it’s subjects – and who are all equal in their “rights and privileges” under the ToW.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:27am
    - Paulus
      
      So What !
      
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      December 9, 2021 11:21am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      I sincerely doubt there was a direct Maori translation from, or equivalent words to describe, the Western concept of governance.
      
      The problem when attempting to find a direct translation – especially from a language barely in its infancy, in the written form at least – is that there are often a number of different meanings of words, or parts of words.
      
      This difficulty allows interested activists to stake claims – small at first, barely inconveniencing anyone, and being claimed in the name of redressing “historic inequities” of one form or another. People now claim to have memories of events that happened more than 250 years ago.
      
      Side note: I was in France on 14 July, 1989, the bicentennaire of the prise de la Bastille, and an incredible explosive celebration of liberte, eqalite, fraternite. Bands, parades, amazing fireworks, singing, instant friendships, wine, great food, better wine, more wine, more singing and well into the night.
      
      Contrast that with the embarrassing, half-baked, flaccid, apology of a “celebration” 2 years ago. Only thing in the media was about protests.
      
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      December 9, 2021 10:31pm
  - stewmar
    
    How do I apply for the $2,000 mental health assistance that was mentioned on the news last week?
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:02am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Registering onto the maori roll would be a good starting point imo
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:25am
- Rich Prick
  
  Yes, I thought the radio-waves claim was peak stupidity, but the Tribunal is the gift that keeps on giving.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:06am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Well, we keep paying for it…
    This whole Maori Wonderfulness (*) is just one big grift and make work scheme.
    Is there any Politician who will stop it?
    
    * H/T Bob Jones
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:10am
    - bravefart
      
      Not in National it would seem:
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-leader-chris-luxon-backs-violence-prevention-strategy-net-migration-50k/5BTM3YAGZPS7FTZZLFQK4VNJ74/?c_id=1&objectid=12491688
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:00am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        I read the article very carefully and I do not understand what the point is that you think it makes about this conversation. It says nothing about Waitangi, the Tribunal or vaccination.
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:28am
      - Nigel Kearney
        
        He can hardly object to a goal of reducing family and sexual violence. Labour may call it a strategy but it is not one as there is no plan whatsoever at this stage. It’s purely wishful thinking.
        
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        December 9, 2021 11:30am
- Jade Warrior
  
  What I find particularly interesting about this specific Tribunal inquiry is that although it is ostensibly about whether the Crown failed Maori in the Covid-19 response, it is already throwing up some intriguing information about how the government really acted in the fight against Covid-19.
  
  We have seen this already in Dr Bloomfield’s affidavit where he recommended to the government that border restrictions should end, but his advice was not taken. Given how Dr Bloomfield was puffed up as the big expert by the government, the content of his affidavit is nothing short of extraordinary. I wonder how many blood vessels Chris Hipkins burst while reading it?
  
  And what else is going to be revealed about the government’s actions as the hearings progress? I’m no particular fan of the Tribunal, but this specific hearing may be as close as we’re going to get to a Commission of Inquiry on the government’s response to the pandemic.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:11am
  - pdm
    
    Would the final nail in Ardern’s Prime Minstership be if Saint Ashley resigned saying he could no longer work with this government because they ignored his (expert?) advice in favour of a bunch of (witch doctor) epidemiologists.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:27am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      There’s only so many times that Dr Bloomfield will tolerate being thrown under the bus by the PM and Chris Hipkins. This government has made his and numerous other departmental heads’ jobs overtly political.
      
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      December 9, 2021 8:45am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Sorry Tony, if the man had any nads, he would have walked after the first couple of times. He has principles until they are not principles until next time it happens. Follow and following the science he says. Then Ardern and Co ignore what he tells them. And he’s still there? Therefore, the only thing he’s following is the money.
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:21am
      - Charmaine Hawke
        
        Tony I wonder if Ashley is dusting off his CV and seeing if the WHO will take him back in the New Year?
        Am I right in remembering he threatened to walk of the Christchurch commemoration went ahead in 2020?
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:31am
      - EssenX
        
        In reply to In Vino Veritas, there are murmurs in health circles that he has threatened to walk at least once. I also know personally some Māori and Pasifika doctors who were recruited to provide advice and stopped in early 2021 because their practical suggestions were ignored and they felt they were just there to provide rubber stamp consultation.
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:02am
      - Alwynn
        
        @Charmaine
        You would be right if you said that you remembered hearing a story that he had threatened to walk.
        There is, at least as far as I know, no evidence that he had actually done that. I very much doubt that he would put such a thing in writing so I think it is just going to remain an, unsupported by evidence, rumour.
        
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        December 9, 2021 12:08pm
      - pdm
        
        In Vino – apologies I thought I hit reply but obviously report by mistake.
        
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        December 9, 2021 12:33pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        reply to EssenX. Threatening to walk once. You either have principles, or you don’t. Either Bloomfield is OK with the way he is being treated, or he wants the money. Either way, absolutely fine. That’s his call, and his bad. It will come back to bite him, probably quite hard. If it’s the money, don’t go having a sook later on though. Shut mouth and move on.
        
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        December 9, 2021 3:20pm
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      He may well be thinking about how history will look on his participation on the omnishambles that is the covid overreaction.
      
      And the totalitarian grab for power.
      
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      December 9, 2021 8:50am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      What epidemiologists? Hendy is a physics teacher, Plank is a mathematician, Baker is a qualified doctor who never practiced in his life, Wiles is an idiot.
      These are the shill “experts”. Bloomfield at least has some real world experience.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:37am
      - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
        
        Clan bro – If you dare to criticise the pink haired one, you are doomed. Her legion of worshippers will come after you.
        
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        December 9, 2021 5:38pm
  - artemisia
    
    So Dr B recommended most of the country go green because, one can assume, the green requirements were met.
    
    The only reasons given so far by the government are ‘an abundance of caution’. So they should be changing the traffic light rules then so we, the people, actually have some idea what’s happening now. And next.
    
    Otherwise – moral hazard.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:33am
    - alloytoo
      
      The government created the fear porn, fronted by Ardern. Unwinding that without letting the punters know that you were playing them is going to prove to be difficult.
      
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      December 9, 2021 8:54am
      - Sacha
        
        The fear that vaccinated people are more at risk from the un-vaccinated than vice versa, demonstrates the ignorance of the general public. The government has deliberately avoided educating the populace with the result that it has become fearful and angry – Mass Formation, anyone?
        
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        December 9, 2021 4:08pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Green is always met, that is the default without which the bill of Rights is a nullity. Currently NZ is in breach of the international Nuremberg Convention.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:18am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      “Go Green?” No way!
      
      Wait, you meant Traffic Lights? Whoops, too late!
      
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      December 9, 2021 7:11pm
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Jade, Hipkins is telling anyone who’ll listen that the govt also seeks alternative health advice.
    
    Didn’t the MSM go into a lather when the Trump Administration talked about looking at alternative facts…?
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:43am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Yeah Suze, but that was Trump. And he couldn’t possibly be getting anything right. After all, he stole the election and colluded with the Russians, was a sop to the Chinese and handed Afghanistan to the Taliban. His son the family made millions from his political power and ability to reframe laws that advantaged, say, China, Russia.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:25am
      - mawm
        
        You spelled Biden incorrectly.
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:54pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      Be interesting to see who provides said alternative health advice.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:30am
      - sooty
        
        You can bet your balls they have a labour sycophant just waiting in the wings!
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:38am
      - lifesgood
        
        He couldn’t, or wouldn’t name them. I have strong suspicions it is the totally unqualified Souxiexiexie Wiles and the idiot Hendry who said 7000 NZers would die from covid. Obviously the govt seeks alternative advice from useful idiots.
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:39am
      - Paulus
        
        Naturally the correct advice would come from Maori Tohunga !
        For a price.
        
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        December 9, 2021 11:25am
    - Ruawai
      
      Hipkins is saying they were being overly cautious by not opening the Auckland border when Bloomfield said they should on the one hand, then in the same breath he is saying they started the traffic light system early. So overly cautious and starting traffic light early all at the same time. So they pick and choose what suits them and their Maori caucus.
      
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      December 9, 2021 10:02am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Alternative advice. Hipkins asks Bloomfield, who asks Wiles, who asks Hendy, who asks Plank, who asks Baker, who asks Ardern, who asks Hipkins.
      That is ‘alternative advice’ in action.
      
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      December 9, 2021 1:25pm
  - EssenX
    
    I agree, it’s becoming a de facto royal commission. It could be very damaging to the Government’s narrative.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:06am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    At $528K he will not walk. Paid more than the PM so he is importanter
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:07am
    - pdm
      
      Ah ha – that is why she will not take his advice.
      
      No minion, whatever his position, should be paid more than Jacinda.
      
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      December 9, 2021 12:36pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I believe there are some state sector employees paid $800K+
        https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:28pm
      - mawm
        
        Steve – I know one paid more than $1M.
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:56pm
  - cmm
    
    Bloomfield might have a Dr in front of his name but he’s also a politician – having served some time with WHO.
    
    There’s probably a nice posting at the WHO waiting for him if he plays the game properly.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:17am
  - Paulus
    
    How much more has the Government ignored advice from our top Public Servants that has been covered up.
    Its OK for the so called media to ignore too , for a price.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:23am
  - virtualmark
    
    This “most transparent Government ever seen” should be pro-actively releasing all of the official advice it receives re Covid-19.
    
    Ideally they should be publishing every official paper, cabinet paper etc say 3 months after it was finalised. With the usual redactions, as per the OIA. But given the impact on the country, on individual rights and on the economy all of the advice should be being pro-actively released.
    
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    December 9, 2021 2:56pm
- cas
  
  Just look at the MOH Covid stats up to 1 Dec. Cape Runaway which is a shit load of the western part of the East Coast has 83.5% fully vaxxed and 11.4 with 1 dose. And the people there, predominantly Maori and rural, have just got off their chuffs and done something about getting the people vaccinated. Don’t tell me it can’t be done.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:13am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Are there Maori who feel embarrassed about this nonsense? They are being treated like kids. I would feel utterly insulted if I were Maori.
  
  Further the state passed laws protecting people’s privacy because thats what the elitists demanded. When asked to hand over names of unvaccinated Maori the state said “no” because the privacy act. So the elite changed their minds and sued for access to the names. What a crazy drama.
  
  What is it about a Maori that they need all this taxpayer cash thrown at them to get them to get a jab?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:16am
  - RiP NZ
    
    ‘What is it about a Maori that they need all this taxpayer cash thrown at them to’………do anything at all
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:04am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Redistributing wealth by the socialists. We work and pay Tax so the non workers can no work and not pay Tax.
      Trouble with the elite leftists is they tend to distribute much more to themselves
      
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      December 9, 2021 1:31pm
  - amospicton
    
    I’m absolutely no fan of this government but this is absurd. The initial priority for vaccination was higher risk people – the elderly and those with existing vulnerabilities. If Maori met those criteria then they got vaccinated early. The issue seems to be that Maori are younger and therefore, on average, didn’t get the opportunity as early as the rest of the population. But again, the process was prioritised according to risk. Skin colour has nothing to do with that, surely? For those with diabetes and other conditions they already qualified for early jabs so that issue doesn’t stand up either.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:51am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Polynesians seem to be more susceptible to bad outcomes from coronavirus, most likely for evolutionary reasons (only been exposed to them for a few hundred rather than 1000’s of years), though their awful rates of obesity etc don’t help, During spanish flu they died at 10x rate of Europeans in the Islands, Maori are probably better protected due to high degree of interbreeding.
      
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      December 9, 2021 2:31pm
  - cmm
    
    I suspect that many do. I expect most of that money doesn’t get past the first few rows of suits either.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:18am
- The Other Enoch
  
  Glad that you brought this up BY. I intended to but you beat me to it. Anyone have any idea on what’s dr8this inherent than the usual mendacious money grab?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:16am
- Nickc2
  
  IMO, once Maori had their initial payouts for perceived injustices, the Tribunal should have been disbanded. Now, it has become a growth industry and will continue to be until such time as a Govt in the future is prepared to declare Game Over.
  That Govt is not yet on the horizon.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:17am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The Game Over will never be applied – otherwise you are racist
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:33pm
- Scott
  
  The other part of the equation is the thinking that if Maori people have unequal outcomes, that is less Maori people are vaccinated, it must be due to a racist health system.
  
  In reality many Maori people don’t want the vaccination. They have chosen for themselves not to get vaccinated. This is where centre-right thinking is much better. We believe that Maori people have their own agency and can decide for themselves what is best for them. Rather than being helpless pawns of a health system, they have chosen for themselves not to get vaccinated. As many other people have done. And are prepared to accept the consequences.
  
  The fact of the matter is that all Maori people have had the opportunity to get vaccinated. All Maori people have been treated equally compared to all other citizens of New Zealand. They have the same rights as everybody else. Which is how it should be. And that is what the Treaty of Waitangi gave them. Nothing less and nothing more.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:34am
  - sooty
    
    More money! You silly!
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:40am
- colina
  
  Further Maori victimhood nonsense
  
  “We need to address the intergenerational impacts of colonisation and racism in order for us to eliminate violence. Violence that impacts whānau is rooted in the marginalisation of tangata whenua and societal changes enforced during the colonisation of Aotearoa. There are solutions within the promotion and strengthening of whānau ora that require a focus on healing, restoration, redress and a return to a state of noa – being without limitations.”
  
  There is plenty more
  https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2021/12/07/regenerative-agriculture-will-get-funding-for-research-by-scientists-dealing-with-family-violence-brings-maori-lore-into-play/#more-13606
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:42am
  - EssenX
    
    The interesting thing is that Indians, Chinese, Koreans etc have all suffered from colonialism or imperialism in similar, if not worse, ways than Māori from the British, Japanese, etc. Some have suffered twice, once with the colonising power and then later from the local population post-independence. How come they’re all keen to get vaccinated even though their histories are filled with colonial violence?
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:13am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    If those particular Maori pointing every which way expect at the perpetrators think violence and trauma is a recent thing, and anything bad in this life can be blamed on other races- Cuzzie-Bro!!; don’t look at what life was like at the time of Captain Cooks arrival, or what missionaries and early arrivals recorded witnessing in the 1820s in particular……
    (i.e. before the Treaty was signed).
    
    The way these almost hysterical statements are made, you would think the arrival of Europeans, and their goods and technologies, was an unredeemable disaster for Maori.
    
    Problem is, the speech making at the time of the signing of the Treaty, and the highly literate chiefs who recorded their words just before and after this time, are often at COMPLETE ODDS with what the modern Maori-ethno-nationalists are claiming.
    
    The Maori voices from the 19th century seem to be broad and diverse in their opinions, (and diverse in reasoning for those who were sceptics or dissatisfied) but the always strike me as far more intelligent and far more insightful than most who today would claim them as ‘tupuna’.
    
    I don’t actually sense a great deal of understanding of nuance or facts of the past or present from the likes of Marama.
    It all comes down to ‘Blame whitey’.
    Are those that hold themselves up as leaders of Maori actually getting stupider with the passage of time?
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:13am
  - Paulus
    
    Wish I could understand this foreign language diatribe !
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:27am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  “will bring the Tribunal into disrepute”
  Any good repute there ever was disappeared decades ago.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:44am
- Justitia
  
  Why does the “tribunal” still exist? After all, they have declared Maori did not cede sovereignty, in which case the 1975 Act under which they were established is null and void: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/63196127/maori-did-not-give-up-sovereignty-waitangi-tribunal.
  Time they were told to bugger off.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:52am
- graham
  
  Any person in New Zealand, however remote geographically, who is unvaccinated, has made that decision.
  
  Agreed. If someone is living remotely, I would assume they have made that decision while taking into account that at some stage they WILL need to access health services for whatever reason, and make the appropriate arrangements.
  
  And if they still say it’s just too hard, point them to the story of “New Zealand’s most isolated man” who lives at Gorge River, a two-day walk from Haast on the South Island’s West Coast. At 66 years old, Robert Long and his wife Catherine chose to fly inland before driving to Wanaka to get vaccinated. It’s the first time in almost six months Robert has left his home on the coast. Traditionally, he only makes trips “into town” twice a year.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-new-zealands-most-isolated-man-gets-vaccinated/HG3HDVCXCTB44JOBXYPPETZRNI/
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:55am
  - bronny1
    
    who did he think he was going to catch it off?
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:45pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      It’s in the air man, in the air !
      
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      December 9, 2021 6:31pm
- Jack5
  
  Will National under its new leadership speak up for 80 per cent of New Zealand and attack this misuse of the Waitangi Treaty?
  
  It’s part of the international Woke’s BLM, indigenous, “de-colonisation” crap.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:01am
  - Southtop2
    
    National will not for two reasons:
    1. they have been taken over by wokesters, climate change religious fanatics (hopefully they will temper these views a little in future) and the likes of Findlayson for Iwi issues and additional settlements and
    2. they need to get the middle group of voters to have a chance of removing Princess Poo Fingers and the Watermelons.
    This second point is most important. The suburban mums cannot see the millions of dollars handed to the supermarkets with the plastic bag ban, the damage they are doing internationally driving EVs and Hybrids (children mining cobalt for batteries etc), for them its about feelz.
    Therefore ACT is left with this fertile ground and if National can get the Feelz team over to them, then there might be a chance of saving us from becoming Venezuela/New Zimbabwe.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:30am
- Its only I
  
  I know the tribunal isn’t the best way to do it but anything that’s helping to drive a wedge between the “covid savior party” and official medical advise is a good thing.
  Labour have presented themselves as the only viable solution to the covid pandemic and have been able to make any opposition look like dangerous right wing conspiracy nuts who would have killed tens of thousands through incompetence, ignorance and greed…….people more important than money….etc.
  Anything that damages that carefully crafted parental caring image and makes the security blanket Labour offers look like its deliberately infected has to be a good thing.
  Especially if its not the “scary, dangerous, nasty, incapable, rich prick” opposition.
  
  The next wedge should be the poorly crafted veneer of openness, honesty and gov. for all BS and the ever present culture of deep seated dishonesty, refusal to disclose information with the resulting public manipulation being exposed but swept aside. Way to many “clerical errors”
  
  Even though some short lived stories are written they seem to be by a sycophantic media not sure how to handle the situation, the situation that its their own political preference doing it to them.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:02am
- Taieri
  
  Nobody would have anticipated this nonsenseq1 when the Tribunal was set up in 1975.
  —————-
  
  It was set up to investigate historical grievances. And then it evolved into a vehicle for perpetually victimized. Mostly self-victimized should I add…
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:57am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Please tell me if I’m out of line here, Benedict, but as a relatively recent immigrant what do you actually know about the Treaty of Waitangi, specifically, or New Zealand history in general? Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you any more expert in those subjects than, for example, the average New Zealander might be in the history of Taiwan, especially the status of the Taiwanese indigenous peoples, or indeed of the local Han Chinese after the Kuomintang takeover?
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:26pm
  - Taieri
    
    And what’s there to know about Te Tiriti that a relatively recent immigrant like Benedict is not an expert on? Perhaps its (in)famous principles that nobody has been able to define yet?
    
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    December 9, 2021 5:23pm
    - Mike
      
      I’m just always interested in the views of foreigners who think New Zealand would be so much better if we were more like the country those foreigners abandoned.
      
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      December 9, 2021 6:41pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        What makes you think Benedict has abandoned Taiwan?
        
        Has he told us that he has given up his right to live there?
        As far as I am aware it is perfectly acceptable for Taiwanese to hold dual citizenships.
        
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        December 9, 2021 6:59pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    One presumes Mikey that he is capable of reading, and unlike you displays a certain independence of mind and an ability to think. Likely he understands it better than you do.
    
    And if he thinks it has turned into a scam specifically designed to enrich a small group of already wealthy and powerful Maori, then you couldn’t say he was wrong in thinking so.
    
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    December 9, 2021 6:34pm
    - Mike
      
      I think it would be dollars to doughnuts that his main supply of information abot the treaty would be Kiwiblog comments – a notably unreliable source. The sheer nonsense written here about all aspects of NZ takes quite sone beating.
      
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      December 9, 2021 7:22pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    How long are you proposing you need to be here to understand the treaty and understand nz issues given Genter arrived 2006 and has already become an mp. Menendez -March often talking about the treaty.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:36pm
All_on_Red

Narcissist and hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett took the Witness stand in his Trial.
Big mistake.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/12/08/jussie-smolletts-testimony-was-unparalleled-disaster-experts-say-n1539869
He could get 3 years. He wont though.

Here is Comedian Dave Chapelle’s take on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZXoErL2124
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December 9, 2021 8:07am
- Inandout
  
  All, then that Lemon guy on CNN provided Smollett with info that the police were investigating his so called ‘mugging’. Just because the citrus guy had inside info on Jussie and was also gay doesn’t excuse breaching the law.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:16am
  - coge
    
    It’s called obstruction of justice.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:13am
    - cmm
      
      It’s also called learn from your mistakes and don’t share info with CNN.
      
      Journalists live or die by their contacts. When CNN’s sources start drying up it will make their current problems much, much worse.
      
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      December 9, 2021 11:21am
      - All_on_Red
        
        CNN doesn’t have sources.
        What it has are Corporates and Politicians who feed them a narrative to push.
        They are sock puppets.
        
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        December 9, 2021 11:36am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Yup! ‘Don’t share info with CNN’
        “You are Fake News” Who said that?
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:40pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        Yep CNN is coming apart at the seams…
        https://www.dailywire.com/news/should-be-next-to-get-tanked-politicos-call-for-cnn-to-fire-don-lemon-after-smollett-revelation?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=benshapiro
        
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        December 9, 2021 5:11pm
- John
  
  Love it. Look at the black audience loving it too.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:08am
- Ed Snack
  
  Smollet will be unlucky if he is found to be guilty, irrespective of the strength of the case against him. He has multiple special privilege cards and he has played them quite well.
  
  You can’t seriously expect a Black person to be found guilty of a hate crime these days in the US, only whites can be convicted of that. Plus he is gay, a “celebrity”, and a Democrat. Rather surprising he was even charged.
  
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  December 9, 2021 6:37pm
  - Mike
    
    Getting the excuses in early there Ed?
    
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    December 9, 2021 7:24pm
Yvette

The decision to keep Auckland’s boundary closed for two weeks after the traffic light system began was not justified from a public health perspective, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has told a select committee.
An affidavit presented by Bloomfield to the Waitangi Tribunal, which is investigating the Covid-19 response, shows the ministry’s advice was initially that Auckland’s hard, managed boundary should come down at the same time as the traffic light system kicked in.

And last evening’s 1–News bulletin also reported that Ardern’s covid team ignored too their own advisor who recommended prioritising Māori vaccination very much earlier, although if the Maori claim is that their greater numbers of younger people were left until September, and the Māori portion of population is 16.5 percent, their younger “cohort” is an even smaller minority compared to the remainder of the population of New Zealand at their equivalent age, who must have also become able to get their vaccinations from September.

So it is a little unclear as to how often Jacinda’s team has ignored advice to the detriment of Maori, or acted to the disadvantage of everyone. If younger Maori had access to vaccination later than suitable, so did all younger non-Maori.

■ So another question: Will the Waitangi Tribunal only look at complaints in respect (or actually, a lack of respect) to Maori, as one has the be Maori to take a complaint to the Tribunal, and not the remainder of the Treaty non-partnership?

■ Although, if the Tribunal finds the “Crown” has disposed younger Maori, will that be grounds to take whatever legal avenue is open to younger non-Māori ?

■ And (Benedict Yu’s question, above, 8.01am) What happens if the Tribunal upholds the complaint? There will be demands for compensation.
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December 9, 2021 8:08am
- Yvette
  
  Sorry, after –
  ■ And (Benedict Yu’s question, above, 8.01am) What happens if the Tribunal upholds the complaint? There will be demands for compensation.
  
  – I meant to add:
  And will that compensation, if any, on-flow to younger non-Maori?
  Or will those older than 18 have to wait until September or so, 2023? – and bugger those 17 down to 12.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:18am
- Inandout
  
  Yvette, Hipkins was all over the place when questioned by Hosking this morning, especially on the Maori connection. Bloomfield I suspect will be replaced very soon by ‘a range of other expert opinions’.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:20am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Bloomfield obviously missed the “single source of truth” press release.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:32am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      If I was Bloomfield I would be worried about being scapegoated and how history would view me.
      
      Useful idiots at best.
      
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      December 9, 2021 8:56am
      - mawm
        
        For his sake I hope he has been documenting all his discussions with and advice given to the PM.
        
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        December 9, 2021 2:04pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Bloomfield is the top NZ Medical Officer. Until recently his word was required for any lockdown.
    Our amateur govt has taken that call to themselves without knowledge or responsibility. That is close to fraud. They do not have the know how to justify usurping legitimate medical advice from the nations appointed adviser.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:28am
    - Littletramp
      
      KevO’Brien above re amateur govt – Said every thinking NZ’er from day one.
      They should have put our best and brightest in a room to sort the covid thing out, but instead they used the covid cover to simply defraud the NZ taxpayer.
      They have financially stocked every aspect of Labour support in preparation for the future. Disgraceful, and the co-opted media has been their strike weapon.
      If they are not voted out next election, we deserve whatever that future would hold.
      
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      December 9, 2021 10:06am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        ‘Best and brightest’ are also words not in the Labour user manual or dictionary. There are no best and brightest in their lot
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:44pm
    - renderer
      
      It wasn’t that long ago that all Aderns moves were made on the advice of Doctor Bloofield
      
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      December 9, 2021 12:32pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Maybe she know where the bodies are, and may throw Blofeld under the bus? Someone is pulling the strings
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:45pm
Maggie Pie

Sean Plunket’s new media start-up ‘The Platform’ seems to be attracting both some new and old talent.

He’s confirmed that Judith Collin’s ex Press Secretary and well known feminist, the fab Ani O’Brien has signed up, along with the aging Michael Laws.

GO Sean – we need you back!!
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December 9, 2021 8:11am
- emmess
  
  Any more info, Maggie?
  I can’t really tell what it is, a radio station, a website or what?
  
  I found this old article
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/126414149/sean-plunket-putting-the-unfashionable-back-on-air
  
  This is all you need to know that it is a shite story though
  
  *Andrea Vance has worked on projects funded by NZ on Air.
  ….
  What you’ve just read was written by a fiercely independent reporter (LOL)
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:23am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    The only other thing we’ve seen about it, was Sean telling BusinessDesk last month….
    
    “I’m not building a FOX NEWS”
    
    Watch this space I guess.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:45am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, I recall Sean had a full meltdown on his previous show over his dog’s demise. He also sounded like a very mentally troubled chap when he opened up about his chain smoking, marriage disasters and drinking.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:25am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I always felt he had the hots for Chloe Swarbrick.
    Often found myself yelling at the trannie….”Wasting your time there SeanO !”
    😛 !
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:08am
    - oldfella
      
      Maggie, which ‘trannie’ were you shouting at? One of your Remmers tennis buddies?
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:47am
    - emmess
      
      Send him this
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5OA1bo1h9g
      Problem solved
      
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      December 9, 2021 11:47am
  - bronny1
    
    what person with a heart wouldn’t melt down over their dog’s demise? Often the most consistent companion in ones life.
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:49pm
- pdm
  
  When does he start and on what frequency MP?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:30am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Online Talkback.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:03am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  I’m not sure everyones on this blog’s friend, Andrea Vance will be listening in. After all, her description of Plunket was “Plunket’s dalliances with controversy make it easy to paint him as a two-dimensional character: a right-wing, shock-jock with outdated views on privilege and race.”
  
  Vance calling Plunket two dimensional. With outdated views on privilege and race. Beautiful. A hack who believes she is a “journalist” rather than a purveyor of her opinion trying to run with the 20 year olds. It’s actually funny. Good luck with that as a raggedy, ageing bint.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:44am
I remember when

Newshub: The unusual symptom linked to children infected with Omicron in UK:
DermNet NZ: May 2020: Submit your photo of Covid-19 related skin conditions.
healthline.com>health>skin-disorders: 17/6/2021:
Generally, most covid-19 rashes go away in about a week.
American Academy of Dermatology Assn: Covid toes: Sign of a coronavirus infection:
Occasionally, this rash develops on fingers instead of toes. Whether toes or fingers, or both, the area can start out red and then turn purple.

So NOT so unusual then.
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December 9, 2021 8:13am
- emmess
  
  Remember, it should always be referred to as the moronic variant
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:24am
- ClanMcleod
  
  “More evidence of omicron mildness”
  
  Excellent reading.
  
  https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/more-evidence-of-omicron-mildness
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:35am
  - amospicton
    
    Yes, the absence of horror stories re the deadly omicron in recent days suggests that there’s simply no story to tell. Which means it’s much less dangerous than delta, which in turn means that this virus is playing out according to script. It evolves into something more contagious but more mild. So open the borders to it while we’re at peak vaccine effectiveness, let it run wild and then it’s game over. No more covid. I wonder how our kind PM feels about that?
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:03am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Inappropriate humour of the day. Apparently Alec Baldwin has killed more people than Omicron.
      
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      December 10, 2021 8:44am
  - Fletch
    
    I see that Hosking quoted from a news report that Pfizer is now saying that their vaccine is effective against Omicron, and “isn’t that good news.” I call BS on that. They just want to sell even more vaccines.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:48am
Tony Stuart

Kudos to Business New Zealand for pulling out of negotiations with the Government over Labour’s proposed Fair Pay Agreements legislation:

Labour’s flagship industrial relations policy has been dealt a significant blow, with BusinessNZ announcing it will refuse to take part in the creation of fair pay agreements (FPAs).

On Wednesday Kirk Hope, BusinessNZ’s chief executive, wrote to Workplace Relations Minister Michael Wood saying BusinessNZ would not act on behalf of employers to implement what he said was “unlawful compulsory national pay agreements”.

As well as seemingly breaking the tripartite agreement with the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the Government, the move also sees BusinessNZ refuse to take hundreds of thousands in taxpayer funding to help build capability to negotiate the agreements.

Hope said BusinessNZ had been written into the proposed system as a default bargaining party without its consent.

After carefully considering a proposal from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the organisation had decided it would not take part.

“Compulsory FPAs are unlawful under both current domestic and international employment laws and are totally out of step with how we need to work in 2021,” Hope told the Herald.

“They aren’t needed, they remove the flexibility and autonomy of modern workplaces and won’t improve pay and conditions for hardworking Kiwis.”

Employment experts said it was unclear how the Government would push ahead without the involvement of BusinessNZ meaning the reforms, which have already faced a series of hold-ups, could be further delayed.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fair-pay-disagreement-businessnz-rejects-its-role-in-key-labour-industrial-relations-law/LBSPZ7GB6A4JEFRHC2TWACZFH4/

I’d long wondered why Business NZ was involved in this process in the first place. The proposed law is clearly going to be negative for business, and especially for smaller businesses, given it was union-driven.

It’s another slap in the face for Michael Wood, tipped by some to be a future Labour Party leader. Having suffered an embarrassing backdown over the Billion Dollar Bike Bridge, Wood now sees Labour’s attempt to tip the balance in the employment field completely in favour of Labour’s beloved trade unions teetering on the brink of collapse.

As a small business owner and employer, not being able to negotiate directly with staff and reward those who add the most value to the business would be a major disincentive. Having conditions of employment and wages imposed on us by a central body which knows nothing about the way we operate and the absolute respect we have for our staff would be a regrettable step back to the 1960’s and 1970’s, when unions flexed their muscles over insignificant issues. Let’s not go back there!
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December 9, 2021 8:15am
- Warren
  
  I have wondered for a while now who was Kirk Hope working for because he sure as hell hasn’t been pushing Business concerns like he should have been up until now.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:22am
- artemisia
  
  Our small tradie business has no employees. Because costs (and risks) significantly outweigh the benefits.
  
  What we do have is good relationships with other small businesses who provide or request expertise as needed on a per job invoice basis. There is a lot of it about. Expect more.
  
  The approach does mean keeping it small. Perfick!
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:23am
- Tomtoddy
  
  There is no one in Parliament, certainly not in Labour who would remember the sad and tragic era of union control – Cook Strait ferries, Mangere Bridge, wharves, etc. Surely Labour are not that stupid to restore those conditions?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:27am
  - pdm
    
    BNZ Head Office building in Wellington is another TT.
    
    Boilermakers mainly as I recall.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:33am
    - trout
      
      In the latter part of the BNZ contract the Boilermakers had extracted payments of around $250 per hour (big money in the seventies) to complete the work. Some background:
      ‘The Boilermaker’s Union was a small union, but it wielded power far beyond its size because it effectively controlled some of the country’s biggest construction jobs. And in the 1970s, under Con Devitt’s leadership, the Boilermakers’ Union was synonymous with militancy and disruption.
      Most notoriously, the union was blamed for endless delays in the building of Wellington’s showpiece BNZ Centre. Begun in 1973 and intended for completion in 1977, the 31-storey building wasn’t finished until 1984. The final cost was four times greater than the original estimate.’
      Because of the risk of being held to ransom again Engineers specified that reinforced concrete replace steel as the main structural component on big buildings. Steel has now made a comeback in the 20’s because of lower cost (Chinese) but the Boilermakers Union has disappeared (priced themselves out of work).
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:11am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Trout, you can add the Mangere Bridge and Marsden Point to the list of projects these turds took militant action over.
        The complete prick and communist twat Con Devitt ran the show.
        Also a laugh, Ken Douglas, another well known Union leader, used to get savaged by anti-unionists. When Unions were getting smacked in the late 80’s:early 90’s, he was eviscerated by Unionists! It was bloody hilarious. Gave a lifetime to the Unions and was hated by everyone! I call it Karma.
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:52am
      - I remember when
        
        pdm:
        Similar for wharfies who could slow down the loading of a vessel just enough to mean overtime to finish.
        Fifteen minutes, or half an hour, to get paid whatever the minimum overtime period stipulated.
        Or some bribe to finish on time.
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:29am
      - Ehlana
        
        $250 per hour is still huge today trout. That’s over $500,000 per annum.
        
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        December 9, 2021 12:21pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Surely Labour are not that stupid to restore those conditions?
    
    NEWS FLASH
    
    They are!
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:35am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Bullies never change their style.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:33am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    “Surely Labour are not that stupid to restore those conditions?”
    
    I’m sure they are. It’s the communist way.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:46am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Surely Labour are not that stupid to restore those conditions?
    
    Please – let’s take a look at labour’s kitchen Cabinet shall we – Gordon Brown Junior, the Chipster, Angry, Pie Chucker Megs, Special ‘K’, Steamboat Willy and Peewee Wood. All lead ably by “Let’s go Brenda”
    
    As such I’m assuming your question was rhetorical
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:57am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Yes, a line up of names that will sell a pantomime anywhere . . .
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:56am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Trevor Mallard would. He was first elected in 1984.
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:32am
- Benedict Yu
  
  The thing is that based on the past, if there is a return to 1970s labour rules, when National gets in they will likely only partially roll it back. Or have they committed to scrapping the whole nonsense ?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:28am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yes Benedict, I want National and ACT to announce what Labour Socialist/Communist Laws, Acts and Decrees they will rescind and when, prior to the next election.
    If they fail to do so, I can only conclude that things will remain the way they are until such time as Labour assumes power again and that’s something I dread.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:33am
- DeepBlue
  
  1. Business has it’s mojo back. Now that Luxon has arrived they can start publically backing National again.
  
  2. Local Govn NZ showed how not to do it with 3Waters… take the money and be forever dammed by your actual supporters.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:45am
I remember when

I would think seriously about not wearing a mask but –
so many people put both hands in the air and hand me their money.
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December 9, 2021 8:15am
- artemisia
  
  Make sure to factor in the new firearm regs and timetable (aka delays).
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:35am
Warren

Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister said when first coming to Parliament she here to make a difference , well she has actually got one thing right ,she has made a difference because in my lifetime I have never seen a Prime Minister continually lie to get out of embarrassingly situations , not once but just about on a dailly occurrence.
Just go back at look at what happened to John Key over the pony tail
event that lead to the media going all out to have him resign, has this happened here not once and she has lied and blamed the public for poor performance over COVID-19, there no excuse the media can use for not exposing her lies no mater what excuse they use this is political corruption and sooner or later someone will have to pay for allowing the Prime Ministers lies.
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December 9, 2021 8:16am
- Fletch
  
  “I reject that!” – Her favorite phrase.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:43am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I refude that //
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:53pm
  - Bridgenag
    
    Maybe a new signal for sarcasm for the new chums…. ………….. maybe s//c
    
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    December 9, 2021 2:25pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      They will work it out. It is a learning curve.
      Otherwise I bracket (sarcasim) Spoils it
      
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      December 9, 2021 3:06pm
Simon

K Fry, in the celebration of health which is the Corona double vaxx shot, announces the K Fry Vaxx Health Bucket.

Vaxx Health bucket! 50 pieces of fried chicken like substance cooked with the Colonel’s secret recipe of industrial seed oils, washed down with 8 litres of Coke and 6 kgs of ice cream.

Show your Covid Vax pass for the Health Bucket for all the fam!

For a limited time – next 3 months.
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December 9, 2021 8:24am
ClanMcleod

The narrative controllers in the mainstream media around the world are going into overdrive, coming up with ever more ludicrous excuses for the upsurge in heart attacks and diseases in fit and health young athletes.
Every possible scenario is pushed including climate change as the reason behind this recent phenomenon! Everything except the vaccination rollout of course. Don’t ever think about comparing the charts showing the two lines of vax uptake and increase in heart disease in the young rising in unison. “Correlation is not causation!” – It’s like a line out of the last chapter of 1984.

“A New Theory on Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes”

“the genes that make some people vulnerable to a fatal heart stoppage may be the same ones that give them an athletic edge, researchers suggest.”

The reek of desperation permeates the mainstream media.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-past-was-erased-the-erasure-was/comments
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December 9, 2021 8:27am
- Jim
  
  This should be a concern to the 90% vaccinated in NZ (myself included).
  Despite Medsafe’s own stats showing typically 95 annual cases of myocarditis, their weekly adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) reports show an incredible 252 myocarditis cases in NZ since 07 August 21 (when vaccine rollout accelerated due to emergence of Delta). Yet Medsafe’s own safety report continues to downplay myocarditis and also cites a study of case rate of 1 (yes one) myocarditis case per million of mRNA vaccinated people.
  
  https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-36.asp#analysis
  
  Helloooooo Medsafe……..the current NZ total (since Feb 21) of 270+ cases, but notably 252 of which were reported since 07 August 21 (4 months). So if you graph the cases against each reported week, you’ll see a significant increase in reported cases every week, that correlates with gov vaccination data.
  To our pharmaceutical regulator (or cardiologist) I would have thought this to be a significant SAFETY SIGNAL, which considering our small population is up to x50 higher than the cited study case rate (when corrected for 12 months).
  
  Furthermore heart complaints linked to mRNA vaccines are starting to emerge (despite corporate censorship) like this recent expert cardiologist report in the UK media. A compelling (short) interview for anyone who has had both jabs and is being told the third is due in 6 months!
  https://youtu.be/gJ8t0qQ5R4I
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:35am
  - oldfella
    
    The good news, Jim, is that no matter how ‘dodgy’ the vaccine is (and I’ve had two jabs), Pfizer says protection against the Omicron coronavirus variant improves with three vaccine doses.
    Phew, that’s a relief.
    However, Pfizer and BioNTech also said Wednesday they are continuing to develop a variant-specific vaccine for Omicron and it will be available by March, if it’s needed.
    A company official added, “I’m not sure that we’ll need it because it’s one very likely scenario that the current booster will be enough to maintain protection, but if we need one, I’m sure we can make one and the good news is that we will have it by March,”
    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/08/health/pfizer-omicron-vaccine-data/index.html
    FWIW, I’m booked for my booster in January, by which time we should know if an Omicron vaccine tweak is necessary. If it is, I’d probably cancel the planned booster and wait for the revised vaccine to come on stream.
    It’s so hard to keep up these days. 😉
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:27am
    - Jim
      
      That’s a relief that Pfizer are stating that only two weeks after the variant was discovered. Coincidentally my local kebab seller says his kebab is better than anyone else’s and the chilli sauce will likely protect against serious Omicron infection.
      
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      December 9, 2021 6:18pm
  - mawm
    
    They are trying to silence him. The statement that the extra cardiac events were due to stress was released because of that interview.
    
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    December 9, 2021 2:34pm
- virtualmark
  
  Or … if you “push” your system to have more red blood cells then your blood gets thicker and harder to pump, and you have a higher risk of a fatal heart stoppage.
  
  It would be interesting to see the haemoglobin concentrations of these athletes who have sudden cardiac deaths.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:04pm
BAM

The reason businesses with public-facing staff are so pro-vaccine passport.

Covid now comes under the health and safety act.
That means business needs to take every practicable step possible to ensure their staff and visitors, contractors do not get Covid.

If someone does and they can prove they caught it in their workplace, the directors or CEO of that business can get sued to the back teeth.

Thanks for introducing that piece of legalisation National who would have thought it could be abused. 🙄
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December 9, 2021 8:28am
- Ehlana
  
  This is part of the fear-driven control nonsense. Businesses have not been held responsible in the past for stopping staff or customers from contracting other airborne viruses while on their premises, such as rhino virus or influenza virus. It should be the same with this corona virus.
  
  It would make sense to take this opportunity to think about ventilation though, both the quality of air inside our buildings and the rate of exchange of that air. Measuring and improving standards of both would have been a good use of their millions of printed money. A “clean air, fresh air” rating for a building would be a good way to attract tenants, employees and customers.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:03am
  - BAM
    
    What a good idea, a clean air standard for business, I bet they’d be 100’s of bureaucrats chomping at the bit to introduce that.
    You don’t happen to work in the clean air business?
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:37am
- Jim
  
  IMHO, just an unprecedented and deliberate misuse of the H&S Act, expecting businesses to take all practicable steps to minimise ‘potential virus transmission on their premises’…..really, yes REALLY this smells a little like the corrupt meth detection industry.
  So I would suggest that means hotels, motels and restaurants need to hire a consultant to check suitability of building ventilation air conditioning systems. Commercial property owners beware!
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:26am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yup. Force businesses to make employers comply or else. Doing the Govt propaganda for them.
  Sly and cunning as shithouse rats
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:58pm
- Surely Knott
  
  And similarly if the businesses mandate the vaccine for their workers, which is only provisionally approved, and has a known list of side effects, and the staff member has a vaccine injury or worse. Then under health and safety can the business be sued to the back teeth for mandating it? Still to be tested in court but some think so.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

So when Our Dear PM’s ignorance of our current rate of inflation was exposed, she tried to play smart by arguing that she had been referring to inflation 5 months previously.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2112/S00061/jacinda-does-verbal-gymnastics-over-inflation.htm

So not only doesn’t she know a damn thing about the state of NZ’s economy, she couldn’t understand a simple question from David Seymour who was referring to the current situation (based on ANZ’s comment last week that real wages are now falling).
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December 9, 2021 8:29am
- SoloView
  
  Maggy – I watched that session with David Seymour referring to the “simple question”.
  The initial figures quoted were from months ago when that was the situation.
  It’s the same sort of rubbish as me asking David if he still believes in no minimum wage, benefit cuts and a flat rate tax. These things have quietly disappeared a while ago from Act news releases.
  But I can still say that’s what David said.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:17pm
Yvette

Rave – can be avoided by scrolling down

A media “feeding frenzy”, a communications “picnic in the park” – where (like Tamaki), one displays one intent but have another agenda –

The new National Party leader went head-to-head with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday afternoon for the first time, questioning her over the criteria used to decide which traffic light level each region should be at and also around ICU capacity in New Zealand.

Early on in the exchange, he stumbled while asking a supplementary question, unable to find his notes. Speaking to The AM Show on Wednesday, Luxon said he would get better with practice.

“But what happened there was, yes, I made a stumble. I had a number of questions. The Prime Minister answered the question in the way that I wanted and I couldn’t find the question that I had thought I wanted to follow that up with. But it was my first go. I’ll get better.
under the headline –
Christopher Luxon expects to ‘get better’ in House after ‘stumble’ while questioning Prime Minister, won’t say who won clash

But is a stumble in a question delivery not better than delivering (one time that Ardern has) a downright fucking lie, for random example – one for the entire world to hear – being:
We aim to plant one billion trees by 2028 – 150 million are already in the ground.
– Opening address to United Nations Climate Action Summit [1], 24 September, 2019 – when 149,399,000 trees were in the ground, but the majority were commercial forestry replants to replace trees they had walked down to send to China, and 24,681,000 trees were directly funded by Government, to sequester carbon until its possible release 28 years hence (the real “nuclear moment” that Ardern also lies about)

Or, current (so right now) the daily mis-representation from the “Pulpit of 1PM^ Truth” that the Government acts on health expert advice – but only, apparently, when it choses. Revealed: Govt ignored advice to lift Auckland border, start more regions in orange [2]

Personally I would not mind (well, yes – really, I would) if Christopher Luxon developed a combination of Tourette Syndrome and oral Parkinson disease (sad as that would be for him personally) – as long as he (eventually) asks the right fucking questions.

Like –
“Why did her Government spend more than $50 billion from its COVID fund before announcing any funding for extra ICU beds?”
National leader Christopher Luxon’s first interrogation of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sparks brouhaha• in Parliament
– although no one revealed “ICU beds were reduced 358 to 284, so down 74 and, presumably, releasing 370 ICU nurses (5 per bed), but now “not only have we got 300 ICU or high dependency unit beds” so up 16 from the low of 284 about three months ago, with “the ability to surge to 500” – whatever that means …” [admittedly quoting myself – ere I tell a lie]

And, for more mis-truths or mis-steps – and more succinct questions: if Ardern has to reverse her present stance of “no more lockdowns ever” –
Coronavirus: Restrictions coming back in England as Omicron poses threat
– watch …

[1] https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/opening-address-united-nations-climate-action-summit
[2] https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/covid-19-delta-outbreak-revealed-the-public-health-advice-to-have-auckland-unshackled-by-now-and-why-jacinda-ardern-rejected-it/
[3] https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/12/general_debate_08_december_2021.html/comment-page-1#comment-3081520 and https://www.newsroom.co.nz/govt-needs-a-new-story-on-covid
[^] ever wonder why it is at “1PM” – subtle, does it register in the unconscious?
[•] English –ˈbro͞ohäˌhä (beat that for a macron!) : Maori – ruruhaha, fucking marvellous (take my meds now)
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December 9, 2021 8:30am
- Yvette
  
  Damn, second correction today –
  “… commercial forestry replants to replace trees they had walked down to send to China”
  should have been “whacked down”
  – dye, spelling checker, die!
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:41am
Maggy Wassilieff

Talking about Labour politicians who won’t answer simple questions….

Chris Hipkins is developing into a master obscurantist:

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2112/S00063/which-regions-could-be-at-green.htm
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December 9, 2021 8:33am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  And why was Bishop viciously shut down by the duck yesterday when he had Hipkins on the ropes?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:51am
  - DeepBlue
    
    The Bish was so on point, boring right into Hipkins without even blinking. Hipkins had started to pause and mumble just as Mallard stepped in.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:30am
  - Weinerpoop
    
    Because the Duck hates Bishop for taking Hutt South off him a few elections ago
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:35am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      It was two elections ago and it wasn’t quite like that. The duck knew that Bish was going to slaughter him so he pulled out for a safe position on the list.
      It’s the coward’s way.
      
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      December 9, 2021 10:11am
  - lifesgood
    
    Capn, BECAUSE he had Hipkins on the ropes,
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:43am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    I think you answered your own question there. Bishop was viciously shut down because he had Hipkins on the ropes.
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:08pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Mike Hosking tied Hipkins in knots this morning. I almost felt sorry for the bloke, then I remembered the impact his policies are having on our business!
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:03am
  - Southtop2
    
    and education the new mega poly is and will be a cluster
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:35am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Which will be meat and drink for National’s new Tertiary Education spokeswoman Penny Simmonds. Before she came to Parliament last year, she was the CEO at Invercargill’s very successful polytechnic.
      
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      December 9, 2021 10:45am
  - sooty
    
    Poor chippy doesn’t have the duck to rescue his arse on the radio!
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:54am
- Bobba Fret
  
  It was funny listening to him on Heather DPA Newstalk Zb last night. When she asked him if we may see other road blocks pop up where there are lower vax rates eg. East Coast, his response was “What do you mean by East Coast?”
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:03pm
  - Frank the tank
    
    Who was that the Chipster or Hone?
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:05pm
    - Bobba Fret
      
      Hipkins
      
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      December 10, 2021 12:48am
I remember when

So the idea of the “Traffic Light” system is that it means everyone knows what the rules are – the same for all.
Remind me again – how does the Auckland boundary fit into that system.
Isn’t it another level.
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December 9, 2021 8:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Auckland must have a different Traffic Light System that we don’t know about yet (still in design stage to keep us locked down) Wear your fucking mask!
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:03pm
Benedict Yu

I overheard a conversation last night between two 30 something women. It was at the New Brighton Hot Pools.

One said “That Christopher Luxon looks just like Robert Muldoon”. The other one said, “And Nicola Willis looks just like Ruth Richardson”. And they laughed hysterically. Then there was more. “Luxon is all hot air. Not like Jacinda. What a legend. She gets things done and cares about everyone.” I changed pools.

It kind of explains the stark gender gap in the polls. The funny thing is that these two would not have been alive when Richardson and Muldoon were around.

Just to finish the day… When you exit the pools through reception you need to wear a mask. I somehow lost mine. On the way out I said, “Sorry I lost my mask”. I figured they would not care. But the receptionist said very loudly “NAUGHTY!”. The world is going mad ☹
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December 9, 2021 8:35am
- 7kiwi11
  
  Good idea to change pools! I’m pretty sure stupidity is contagious these days and those two are clearly showing symptoms.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:10am
- Inandout
  
  BY, the MSM has done a magnificent job on their followers by excluding any criticism of Jacinda or any mention of pushback on her policies. Even the Maori roadblocks must be OK because Jacinda is protecting us from dying of covid. Of course even the master of jabbing Mike Hosking has had enough of Jacinda’s promises of a wonderful summer and the freedoms waiting for us. Mao’s Great Leap Forward was an unmitigated disaster with the loss of 20 million people. Jacinda’s 80,000 death prediction is an insult to those of us who retain a brain. Those two women you reference are unquestioning of the horrors Jacinda has inflicted on NZ’s population with her covid response madness. History will not look kindly on this Fraser House insanity.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:29am
- thirteenstars
  
  It really doesn’t pay to overhear women at all, let alone when they’re discussing politics.
  
  Stay out of that pool. It might be infectious, and I doubt there’s a vaccine.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:40am
- Jim
  
  Next time perhaps consider using your shorts or budgie smugglers as a temporary face mask, no doubt in this clown world it likely to be more socially acceptable!
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:30am
- Fletch
  
  You shoulda said, yeh, I think the mask is clogging one of the filters at the deep end…. And watch them rush out to check…
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:15am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Wet women’s wonderland for airheads.
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:34pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You changed pools? Should demand the water be changed too – contaminated
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:05pm
bythesea

Care to chip in with some links to interesting substack, rumble or other independent content as a way of promoting alt-media (any good NZ ones?)

For example.
https://greenwald.substack.com (free newsletter)
lefty, anti-corruption, anti-cancel (he’s gay), ex NYT, writes longform like journalism used to be.
US focus

https://rumble.com/c/russellbrand (on youtube too)
Lefty, new age?, anti-establishment. Russell does long form video. After his recovery from addiction he is quite the changed man.

Bad Cattitude substack
https://boriquagato.substack.com/ (free newsletter)
medical background, covid dogma skeptic, cutting and funny

I am checking in on the https://dailytelegraph.co.nz (news site)
with mix of NZ/world news
– the opinion articles were good

Locals is like a video form of substack (subscriptions) but some content is free
eg https://www.locals.com/member/DrSuneelDhand
MD (US) – covid focus – neutral doctor view
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December 9, 2021 8:36am
- ClanMcleod
  
  To add to your list.
  
  This site is excellent.
  https://eugyppius.substack.com/
  
  As is this.
  https://www.ukcolumn.org/
  
  And this.
  https://off-guardian.org/
  
  And this,
  https://swprs.org/contact/
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:15am
- bythesea
  
  unherd.com (opinion articles + youtube interviews)
  UK/Euro focused, anti cancel, mix of writers from left and right
  Freddie Sayers is an excellent interviewer.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:56am
Maggie Pie

There’s 3 things I look for in a man…..
Personality, Sense of Humor, and the size of his Wallet.
Christopher Luxon has them all. In Spades!

In a recent interview, when asked for his thoughts on ‘MATARIKI’ being designated a Public Holiday from nek year, Chris responded…
“Ever since JK sold his beach house up there, I couldn’t care either way”

Needless to say, when the video appeared, it sent all the ‘Panty-Wetters’ on Twitter into overdrive.
LOL!!

https://twitter.com/Rachelgpeters/status/1468343574940946439
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December 9, 2021 8:37am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Matariki is already a celebrated holiday not only for Māori but also NZ children.”
  
  Since when?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:47am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Ben – you obviously haven’t been into one of our primary schools for a while. Indoctrination starts early nowadays.
    
    By 11yr old tells me all about it every day. Like being one of 3 kids in her class not raising her hand when asked pointedly by her teacher “raise your hand if you think beneficiaries deserve more”
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:02am
    - Jack5
      
      Woke propaganda, too, in our ratepayer-funded local libraries.
      
      Often, instead of “Christmas” in notifications to borrowers and readers, it’s “Kirihimete”. And that’s promoted far less than winter’s “Matariki”.
      
      In white Christchurch, the Woke council’s given most suburban libraries Maori names. However, those who still borrow books talk about going to “the library” rather than to “whare pukapuka”.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:29am
      - lifesgood
        
        Ironic, eh? Maori wasn’t a written language so they never had books.
        
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        December 9, 2021 9:47am
      - Ehlana
        
        puka – sounds a lot like book. So whare (building) pukapuka – book book, presumably the plural of book?
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:08am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      You should complain to the principal about that teacher. Why on earth would they be asking 11 year olds if beneficiaries deserve more?
      
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      December 9, 2021 12:12pm
      - Frank the tank
        
        No point – they all think that way. It’s better to educate your children to think for themselves and intellectually challenge flawed ideas. That way – when they become adults they won’t be beholden to corporate/institutional Mcjob career choices.
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:04pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Because the 11 year olds will be beneficiaries in 4 years?
        
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        December 9, 2021 2:10pm
ClanMcleod

I may have posted this yesterday, if so apologies but it is worth looking at if anyone hasn’t already watched it.
When trying to get your head around how Ardern managed to strip out democracy in 18 months with barely a whimper of significant pushback.

“encroach right to the point where they protest. then stop. wait. allow acculturation.

then do it again. and again. and again.”

Jordan Peterson nails it in this response to Joe Rogan on the question.

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/world-domination-by-increments/comments
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December 9, 2021 8:43am
- Jim
  
  Yep we’re stepping backwards alright…..just some people don’t realise it. Let’s recap from memory :
  2 weeks to flatten the curve
  short sharp lockdown
  vaccinate the vulnerable
  double jab everyone 12 years and up
  jab healthy 5-11 year olds (next)
  jab infants 1-4 years (Pfizer is doing trials now)
  booster jabs for ? (Note the vaccine pass expiry)
  
  Yet MoH stats today: 6463 confirmed cases and 44 deaths of which only 5 ( yes five) in Auckland ?
  
  https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-current-cases
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:43am
Aunty

Any Medical Practitioner’s thinking who is as egregious as this one evidently is should be struck off in my view. They do not belong in the profession.

A GP undermining an effective medical treatment to their patients in the face of a public health emergency that is based on sound science and clinical trial needs to go from the profession. As for any possible criminality involved, well no doubt the Police will deal with that.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-gp-caught-issuing-medical-certificates-as-vaccine-exemptions-health-officials-investigating/X4TJDIAD6CRWQGOEDTCYH5ZRV4/
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December 9, 2021 8:47am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Only a “single source of truth” permitted eh Aunty? Cindy loves Karens like you, stormtroopers out there doing the hard yards for her.
  
  The “vaccines” are proven to be neither effective nor tested properly. That was a lie. As is almost everything that comes out of the daily pulpit of bs.
  This doctor is a hero, now a victim of the shills in the mainstream media who will publicly shred her without a chance of reply.
  Sick, despicable people.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:23am
  - Aunty
    
    I think the only Karen here, ClonMclead, is Dr. Karen referred to in the story above.
    
    And like any good Karen, she feels absolutely entitled to benefit financially from her alleged malfeasance. Was that her motivation? Who knows?
    
    And yet you seem entirely supportive of her actions!!?
    
    Extraordinary.
    
    Clearly, your thinking and values have dropped into a very deep and dark pit.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:36am
    - Don Beckett
      
      No Aunty – you are the Super Karen of Kiwiblog; and of course you love Jabcinda.
      
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      December 9, 2021 11:53am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Quite
        Karen, I mean Aunty seems quite happy with signs saying “Ungeimpfte unerwunscht”.
        Which is sad.
        Perhaps she longs for the days when those signs used to say “Juden unerwunscht”?
        Good times eh Karen
        //
        
        https://notthebee.com/article/german-stores-now-have-signs-saying-unvaccinated-unwelcome-and-im-reaaally-starting-to-think-we-should-pay-attention-to-history
        
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        December 9, 2021 1:33pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        And the Nazis also had a phrase which covered all abuses by the State: “Für Ihre Sicherheit”
        
        “It’s for your safety”
        
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        December 9, 2021 4:43pm
  - artemisia
    
    Remains to be seen if the doc broke the law. Like if the letter purported to be an official medical exemption. As reported, the letter said the person had been assessed and it was not appropriate for them to receive the current vaccine. That does not sound like an official exemption.
    
    But already there are allegations flying in from multiple directions.
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:03pm
- Nukuleka
  
  Yes, Aunty, burn the woman at the stake. How dare she deviate from the message preached from the podium of truth. And hats off to our national crusader Patrick Gower for going undercover to expose this woman’s sinfulness. No dissenting in NZ 2021.
  
  To this our once tolerant nation has sunk. You, Aunty, and Lizard Gower are of a type. Reprehensible.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:57am
- Taieri
  
  A GP undermining an effective medical treatment to their patients in the face of a public health emergency that is based on sound science and clinical trial needs to go from the profession
  —————
  
  Perhaps the following doesn’t apply to this particular doctor, but…once upon a time there’s a widely prescribed medicine, which was developed in scientific laboratory and approved after exhausting, no doubt, clinical trials. Its name was Thalidomide…
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:11am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Much more clinical trials than this quackery. Thalidomide was years in the making. And it stayed on the market for a decade after the first problems arose. Pharma companies have deep pockets and a great ability to control the narrative. A lot like Ardern, although it’s our pockets she’s picking to maintain her bs narrative.
    
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    December 10, 2021 8:55am
- Jim
  
  Hi Aunty,
  I recommend you take a read of the following Medsafe NZ document (focus on Table 1)
  
  https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/Comirnaty-RMP.pdf
  
  and then reconsider if it’s with the professional scope for a GP to consider the individual risks and benefits of their patient.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:57am
- Fletch
  
  What is this “effective medical treatment” you speak of?
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:08am
- Pavel
  
  “A medical GP undermining a effective medical treatment”? These people didn’t want the treatment and if they did I’m sure she would of pointed them in the right direction. This is tyranny, go against the government and your looking at justice Chinese style. Theres no debate, the government knows best now. If this is the how its going to be then we need to shut down all the alternative medical options. No more traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, no more vitamins in the shops, no more seeking anything other than government approved medical procedures. Say what you want but in the free world, denying others of an opinion is not how the free world works. Let’s hope this experimental nMRA vaccine works because if it doesn’t there’s going to be some serious blowback. Time will tell but it’s far to early to say it’s 100% safe.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:16am
- mandk
  
  ” … an effective medical treatment to their patients in the face of a public health emergency that is based on sound science and clinical trial …”
  
  In the words of the great John McEnroe: YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!
  
  If it were effective, why doesn’t it stop you getting infected? Why do you need a booster, barely weeks after your second jab?
  
  The science is not sound, it’s experimental and the longer-term adverse effects are not known.
  
  Nor has the jab been fully trialled. Clinical trials generally take up to 10 years to complete, precisely so any longer-term adverse effects can become apparent. The jab was given provisional approval by Medsafe in not much more than a year.
  
  Nor are people enabled to give informed consent before they are jabbed because they are given misleading information.
  
  Go ahead if you want, but please allow other people not to be bullied or misled into getting vaxxed.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:44am
- bronny1
  
  A doctor has made a hypocratic oath do “first do no harm”. She is one of the few GPs in NZ living that oath by giving her honest and informed opinion of the vaccine.
  My dad’s doc also suggested he avoid it, but he kept to a one word answer, probably to keep his job.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:02pm
- mawm
  
  Your view is worthless if you believe that the proscribed treatment is effective, based on science and on clinical trials that meet an accepted standard.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:56pm
- Aunty
  
  I see this woman is a foreign import. I do hope the news media will be doing a thorough background check on her, and her professional qualifications and background. Are they and is she in fact bone fide? It wouldn’t be the first time that we have had a foreign doctor practicing here when they were nothing of the sort, and their qualifications turned out to be fraudulent. Furthermore, what was her standing among her colleagues back in the country where she was practicing before she came to New Zealand? Any concerns by her previous employer, professional colleagues and the medical authorities there? A clean bill of health?? Enquiring minds want to know!
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:40pm
  - Jim
    
    Wow, you are really determined to discredit this professional person, now with a xenophobic angle. Perhaps you think guilty until proven innocent ehh? I believe we should all be more appreciative of the significant contribution by our immigrant health care workforce; without which the NZ health system would likely collapse within a few short days.
    
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    December 9, 2021 6:40pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    Jesus fuck. The perfect example of a human utterly unhinged by a single factoid.
    
    Vote National in 2023, Aunty. You’ll help depose this current shower but I won’t have to associate with you even mentally.
    
    BTW: a pair of jackboots and double lightning bolt chevrons are on the way to you.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:20pm
ClanMcleod

De Blasio in New York is pushing for a vaccine mandate on private employers. If someone had suggested two years ago that this could happen in the USA we would have collapsed in hysterical laughter. It isn’t funny now is it?
Toby Young is all over it.

https://dailysceptic.org/2021/12/07/bill-de-blasios-new-vaccine-mandate-is-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-this-bloviating-buffoon/
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December 9, 2021 8:49am
- Frank the tank
  
  Brandon and his surrogates know they have less than 12 months to get these through before the house, senate and SCOTUS gang up on them following the 2022 midterms.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:03am
Frank the tank

Random Thursday thoughts:

1). Anyone that lives in Tauriko, Gate Pa or Wairoa in Tauranga better sell up in the next couple of years before New Zimbabwe’s first great slum gets created.
2). Anyone keen on getting Hone’s sticker put on their car if they go up north? Is this going to be a ‘green light’ for the local criminals in regards to whose car and stuff to steal?
3). I’ll give Luxon this – he presents well outside of his baldness. He always appears smartly attired relative to his predecessors, Brenda and her motley crew. His front bench should pay attention. I’ll stay my observations of our own Gordon Brown’s presentation save for deletion from moderators.
4). My sources tell me truckloads of ‘brothers’ are making a trip up north to help Hone. They are all ready for a fight. How are bright eyed, new police recruits (probably ethnic females) going to control these individuals?
5). Has the 3-way love affair between Brenda, St Ash and the Chipster hit a few ‘bumps’ in the road? Was St Ash not enough Kungflu ‘hard’ for Brenda?
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December 9, 2021 8:49am
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Is this going to be a ‘green light’ for the local criminals in regards to whose car and stuff to steal?”
  
  No sane person would leave that sticker on their car.
  
  I agree with David Garrett. There will be episodes of violent confrontation at these checkpoints.
  
  And why Northland? The Bay of Plenty has lower Maori vaccination rates than Northland. This has nothing to do with public health. It is a cave in to thugs. And I guarantee that this will establish a precedent fore these Maori in Northland to establish checkpoints in the future on the slightest excuse.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:15am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Can’t disagree with any word of the above.
    
    Care to put yourself on Act’s list for 2023 Ben?
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:18am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I am a member of ACT but I think there are better candidates. I don’t think I am cut out to be a politician.
      
      I do hope to find time to be more active in making suggestions on ACT policies.
      
      Just think 4 years ago 1 in 100 people voted ACT. Now the polls say 1 in 6 people. That is pretty darn impressive.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:38am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        I know an ACT list member BY
        
        Two short planks would be a compliment.
        
        There is an opportunity there for you.
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:14am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        If they can grow the nuts to actually address the covid circus from a rational perspective instead of copying Labour they’ll get me as another supporter. If you’d told me I would be considering that 2 years ago I would have bet money it would never happen.
        Strange times.
        
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        December 10, 2021 9:02am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Why Northland BY? – because some current day egocentric activist idiots think that they can replicate that effectiveness of the informal “borders” set up to keep the Spanish Flu out of South Hokianga just over a century ago!
    
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    December 9, 2021 10:13am
  - Leofric
    
    I grew up in Northland. I’ve always harboured a quiet desire to return there upon retirement. It seems less likely as time goes by. It’s turning into a basket case.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:19am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  “4). My sources tell me truckloads of ‘brothers’ are making a trip up north to help Hone” – along with their viral loading.
  
  Would like to think your source is wrong but the “…..we’re looking forward to everyone coming home”
  bit in TTBC’s Taipari’s ego driven wan? off RNZ statement yesterday pretty well set that up as a certainty in their plan.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:53am
  - Bridgenag
    
    Is there going to be a set of guardians of the South to check those crossing the border to come South?
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:37am
- Fletch
  
  This whole stupid mandate thing is going to end up dividing NZ along racial lines even more. Terrible govt. Terrible laws.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:06am
- alloytoo
  
  4. One wonders if the police could issue a police clearance for all the “Brothers.”
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:58am
ClanMcleod

A wonderful article in the Daily Sceptic. Features writing by Clive James.

“Great Climate Conspirators of Our Time”

https://dailysceptic.org/2021/12/07/great-climate-conspirators-of-our-time/
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December 9, 2021 8:52am
- KevO'Brien
  
  We need more uncontrollable minds like the late Clive James.
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:48am
dime

The World Rugby awards has beauden barrett at 10.

Ardie @ 8 (the dude is a 7).

Will Jordan on the wing. The only 3 to make it.

If Richie Mo’unga was from wellington, would we still be pretending he is “world class”. Turning a blind eye to all of his non-performances in big test matches? or do performances behind the crusaders pack against kiwi and aussie teams only count.

I like Richie and hope he turns into something great, but i find it horse shit when people say he is our clear number 1 ahead of barrett.

especially now little brother slots goals from anywhere.

also, im picking we go out in the quarters next world cup. we are not a great side at all.
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December 9, 2021 8:54am
- Biscuit
  
  Could be, dime.
  
  The All Blacks, until now, have never lost a Pool Game at a Rugby World Cup.
  
  But their first Pool Game at RWC 2023 is against France who, as you know, just shellacked our boys in Paris.
  
  The RWC 2023 draw is tough.
  
  For the All Blacks.
  
  Win their Pool – no ‘given’ anymore – and they will likely play Ireland in the Quarterfinals.
  Come second in that Pool and they will likely play South Africa.
  
  And after that, of course, lies a Semifinal/Final against any of Ireland, England, the Boks and the French…
  
  My money will be on the French to take the title…
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:52am
- virtualmark
  
  I’ve always thought Beauden to be a better fullback than first-five. But he’s got so much talent he is world-class at either position.
  
  Agree that Mounga (and other Crusaders backs, like Havili) look good because they’re behind a dominant pack. But props to the Crusaders for assembling that dominant pack … as a Hurricanes supporter I despair every year that we can’t sort out a competitive tight 5.
  
  And agree that this is just not a great All Black side. Not as talented a group as the 2015 World Cup team, and not as well coached.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:10pm
Maggy Wassilieff

I wonder if Our Dear PM has overplayed her hand by keeping Auckland closed up.

Up until now she has always had the “best Scientific/Health advice” blanket to hide under when matters got roasty, but now we clearly know that she is in the habit of ignoring her health advisors when it so suits.

Sometime soon the public may realise her decisions are not being undertaken to keep them safe.
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December 9, 2021 9:03am
- Frank the tank
  
  I’d dare say they know Auckland north of Otahuhu is gone and likely out West. They are trying to offset it by retaining the provinces.
  
  Unfortunately for Brenda Gav’s model of death is proving to be as accurate as an Idaho fair fortune teller and otherwise the son of Megatron strain appears an absolute fizzer.
  
  Grab the popcorn
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:08am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Let me tell you something for nothing Frank. Labour will not be “retaining the provinces”. Those seats that briefly flipped to Labour will return to National, and depending on just how bad things get next year, possibly with larger majorities than National enjoyed in 2017.
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:16pm
- Debsta
  
  I’ve given up on the bulk of the public actually thinking and coming to sane realisations any time soon ?
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:26am
- Biscuit
  
  Agreed, Maggie.
  You can just imagine her at a meeting of her advisers.
  ‘So, Dr Bloomfield, you think (x), right?
  Does anyone have a contrary opinion?
  Hmmm…
  Leave it with me, I will rustle up a different group of advisors.
  Maybe then well get a consensus that is 100% in line with MY sainted opinion.’
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:39am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The PM is becoming personally liable for the demonstrated lack of failing to carry out her duty of care. That is not satisfied by political beliefs but rational thought and conduct. Personal sovereignty is not protection against being called to account.
  
  29 3
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  December 9, 2021 9:51am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Hey don’t be too hard on her. The inflation rate is only 2% according to her. LOL
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:24pm
- Taieri
  
  Sometime soon the public may realise her decisions are not being undertaken to keep them safe.
  —————
  
  Sometimes I wonder about what precisely motivates her decisions? But only sometimes. Most of the time I try not to think too much of her and her decisions…
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:15am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Most of her decisions make my head hurt
    
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    December 9, 2021 2:27pm
Jack5

Australia has prosecuted a mother over forced marriage of her daughter, who was then murdered by her new husband.

Will New Zealand provide escape routes for women forced into marriages here? And surely even our widely a-Woke Immigration and Protection Panel wouldn’t allow the spouse of a person coerced into marriage to bring into the company a replacement bride or husband.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/shepparton-woman-faces-court-over-alleged-forced-marriage-of-slain-daughter-20211208-p59fpa.html
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December 9, 2021 9:05am
- surfing
  
  I don’t believe the woke are much interested in non-western culture issues.
  
  As far as I can tell, woke are only interest in matters of a sexual nature, maori/pacific islanders, and african americans.
  
  Am I wrong? Have the woke ever stuck up for a chinese person or a mexican, for example.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:43am
  - Jack5
    
    Surfing, when you talk of Woke and Mexico, don’t forget NZ’s own Green MP for Tijuana, Ricardo Menendez March.
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:00pm
70andstilllearning

Good example of the governments stupidity in trying to make businesses their surrogate enforcers with no legal backing for that enforcement.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-air-nz-flight-delayed-after-pair-refused-to-wear-masks/MX6FR3HXWLM3F5KR6NOG7YBEWY/

“Air New Zealand would not confirm how the two people proved they were exempt from having to wear a mask, but the Herald understands they did not have an official Covid exemption card.”
and
“Air New Zealand’s current Covid-19 policy states that face masks or coverings are required on all flights in all traffic light levels.

However official Government guidelines said passengers don’t need to show proof of an exemption to not wear a mask on a flight, but it is highly recommended.”

PS: while I’ve no issue with mask use in confined spaces don’t think I’m supporting our now pathetically subservient national carrier!
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December 9, 2021 9:11am
- lifesgood
  
  In the heat we are having in Auckland masks are absolutely stifling. They really make it hard to breathe. I have learnt to pull it out slightly from the bottom of my chin and that lets some air in. With this heat mask wearing should be totally unnecessary. Viruses do not thrive in hot conditions.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:10am
- Ed Snack
  
  Aircraft ventilation is essentially personal, comes from overhead and exhausts below the seat with no recycling, so far better ventilated than most indoors spaces.
  
  Given that masks are completely ineffective (masks as worn by 99% or more of people that is, there are partially effective masks but not generally available) in preventing Covid, ANY mask mandates are an exercise in control and theatre rather than in infection control.
  
  They are part of the way people are being manipulated over this whole affair.
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:48pm
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Ventilation and mask use protocols both fair points Ed – I tend to treat other mask users the same way I treat other road users – I assume they’re complete bloody idiots.
    
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    December 10, 2021 7:44am
Maggy Wassilieff

Well, this is interesting…
Has the Maori Party detected a change in the wind?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/457532/te-pati-maori-won-t-rule-out-working-with-national-but-needs-move-towards-tiriti-centric-aotearoa
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December 9, 2021 9:11am
- Jack5
  
  Maori politicians may see an ally in Labour Lite, Maggy.
  
  But National can never be Woke enough.
  
  In the link below Tau Henare criticises Luxon for taking “far too long to make a decision over a staff member whose tā moko breached the company’s tattoo policy.”
  
  Luxon allowed face tattoos on cabin staff. Air NZ was probably the first international airline to allow cabin staff to have visible tattoos.
  
  An internet rumour had it that Singapore Airlines did swim-suit checks of potential staff for tattoos.
  
  Luxon was liberal and at the front on this issue. But being first was not enough for Henare:
  
  https://waateanews.com/2021/12/01/luxon-blank-slate-on-maori-policy/
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:46am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Treaty centred means they will have to agree to all are NZ citizens with equal rights under law and British Crown subjects. (That includes Maori who want to revert to Right is Might and utu.)
  
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  December 9, 2021 9:55am
  - virtualmark
    
    If you really want to “honour the Treaty” then Maori should only be allowed to sell their houses and land to the Crown.
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:12pm
- I remember when
  
  The Maori Party could be the one deciding who the next government is if they can maintain their 2.5% of the vote.
  What makes it interesting is that they probably won’t want to be in the government.
  They are a protest against the perceived wrongs of the system and their vote gets decimated if they support the governing party.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:14am
  - Jack5
    
    MMP’s a great system when 2.5 per cent of the voters can get to choose the government.
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:12pm
    - jgw739
      
      Or 1 person. Cheers Winston //
      
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      December 9, 2021 8:32pm
  - Nickc2
    
    If Maori choose to side with a Nat/ACT Govt next election, it will only be to preserve the Apartheid gains they achieved under a Lab/Green Govt apropos Michael Bassett.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:29pm
- All_on_Red
  
  No
  They are like that Peanuts cartoon where Lucy always pulls the football out from Charlie Brown.
  They hint and they hint but they are Labour to the core.
  Why? Because they know there is more money that way.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:36am
  - MCōs
    
    The Maori Party have never been in partnership with a Labour government.
    They have, however, had ministers in three National governments.
    The only way these minor parties will get a bit of leverage is to play the the two main parties off against each other. That’s never going to happen with ACT, the Greens could if they stuck to ‘green’ issues. In the meantime Labour take them for granted.
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:09am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Todays Maori Party is very different from the last version.
      They seem to very much like that Labour throws money at them.
      And looking at their MPs, they are to the left- extreme left too.
      
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      December 9, 2021 3:42pm
- Leofric
  
  What they actually mean by “tiriti-centric” is maori-centric.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:21am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Read between the lines. Maori Party are priming National up for a deal if the situation arises.
  We can do a Winstone trick, but it will cost you shitloads if you want to be the Govt. Much more than Winstone style, otherwise you are racist
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:31pm
k1w1

I read this morning of plans to have “mini-MIQ” locations at holiday spots around the country over summer, and what you should do if tested positive. LOL. All it does is discourage anyone from coming forward to be tested (unless seriously unwell).
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December 9, 2021 9:11am
- Ruawai
  
  Depends if it is a nicer hotel than the one you are staying in you could consider it an upgrade!
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:28pm
- bronny1
  
  who in their right mind would go for a test. FFS.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:06pm
graham

One of the 133 New Zealand women estimated to not know they have breast cancer due to the delays in screening disrupted by Covid:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/breast-cancer-delays-act-deputy-leader-pushes-govt-for-answers-woman-with-lump-who-lost-both-parents-to-cancer-left-waiting/RVFSLKWOTZBPRIJVMCTB6PQTHA/

Kim Anderson, who lost both her parents to cancer, only discovered a potentially life-threatening lump in her breast after going in for a CT scan due to a bad reaction to a Covid jab (you couldn’t make this up). She didn’t get her first routine mammogram in Christchurch back in August, because due to lockdowns her appointment was cancelled.

ACT’s Brooke van Velden has been pushing Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall for answers about how she intends to fix the backlog. Seems that Minister Verrall can’t be bothered answering, as according to the Herald “answers to van Velden’s parliamentary questions was due yesterday but were yet to be given.” Seems that breast cancer isn’t considered as important by this Government as Covid …

The Breast Cancer Foundation warned back in October that more than 133 women could die of a breast cancer they don’t yet know they have unless the Government takes urgent action. (Remind me again how many people have died of Covid?)

“Quite literally Covid has set us back 10 years, which is tragic, absolutely tragic,” Breast Cancer Foundation chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner told the Herald.

People have been ringing up to book in a mammogram and being told to wait until next year, Rayner said.

I beg to disagree on one minor point – it isn’t Covid that has set us back 10 years, it’s the decisions made by this Government who were absolutely determined to save EVERY SINGLE LIFE THEY POSSIBLY COULD from Covid … even if hundreds or maybe even thousands of people die from other causes.
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December 9, 2021 9:22am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  100 kiwis die a day, about half of cancer and half of heart and vascular issues. Without treatment the deaths go up by about 15% (1960 life expectancy 70 vs 2020 life expectancy 80), so about 5000 a year. Would be very unsurprising to learn that the interrupted treatments due to covid are killing 10% of that – but we won’t know for another year or two (and Labour will be working as always to hide the data on their poor health KPIs)
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:23pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Do not forget prostate cancer as well. Same thing applies. I have it low level.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:40pm
Maggie Pie

As they have done every Christmas for many years, friends of my partner are heading up to Russell in their boat for the holidays.

Biggest concern now, is being met out by ‘The Hole in the Rock’ by a fully laden Waka Taua.
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December 9, 2021 9:24am
- Frank the tank
  
  If the waka started sinking Mags would your partners friends help them?
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:01am
- sooty
  
  Pretty shit boat if it can’t out run a waka!
  Carry a few buckets of KFC to use as mines and chuck in the water. You’ll soon out run them, as they stop for a feed!
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:07am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Let’s not forget though Soots, according to legend, Kupe made it here from Hawaiki in just 11 days!
    
    It’s been estimated by academics from Massey University, that in order to have achieved that feat, Kupe would have had to average at least 34 knots.
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:29pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Top science that, when you consider that no one actually knows where Hawaiki is. Well done Massey!
      
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      December 9, 2021 7:43pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, there will be shifts of 74 cops and no doubt some will be on the water with a bro onboard.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:17am
WaveyDavey

Kate’s on to it

Where’s our media in all this?

https://asianinvasion2019.blogspot.com/2021/12/will-iwi-representatives-on-roadblocks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
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December 9, 2021 9:28am
- oldfella
  
  I assume Hone and co will nominate the people they want to see ‘helping’ the cops. Regarding which Kate asks the obvious question…
  Will these people be given complete character and Police checks such that gang associates and wider family, gang members and those not of “fit and proper” status go nowhere near members of the public passing through borders?
  I’m sure the argument will be that there are too many helpers to check in time. And that Hone will ensure only their best the brightest will be on the front line. And anyway, having ‘Whitey’ Coster run background checks would be … racist. (Isn’t everything?)
  Don Brash has raised much the the same points as Kate, and I’d like to hear Luxon raise them in Parliament.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:14am
- graham
  
  Will these people (Iwi representatives on roadblocks) be given complete character and Police checks such that gang associates and wider family, gang members and those not of “fit and proper”status go nowhere near members of the public passing through borders?
  
  I think we all know the answer to that one …
  
  Honestly, every day it seems like more people are coming up with very valid concerns around the roadblocks. There are now so many very worried and anxious people, that SURELY any sane Government or police commissioner would realise that they’ve got this one horribly wrong and walk it back.
  
  But they won’t. Because Hone’s Merry Band of Thugs have intimidated them too much. The same way they will intimidate every Aucklander passing through “their” checkpoints.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:25am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Skoda pursues Fairmont thru Christchurch streets….

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1468675677478170640
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December 9, 2021 10:04am
- Frank the tank
  
  https://www.driven.co.nz/news/uk-police-get-new-hybrid-three-wheeled-scooter-for-first-responders/?utm_source=nzh&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=topbox
  
  Imagine having an out-of-control party next door and the police arrive on one of these!
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:46am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Who was that jerk several decades ago who described his opponents as Skoda drivers who wear crimplene suits? He was some sort of sore loser.
  Skoda’s improvement over the past 30 years has been spectacular.
  
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  December 9, 2021 11:27am
  - Taieri
    
    Wasn’t that Sir Robert by any chance?
    
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    December 9, 2021 11:36am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    They’re made by Volkswagen now.
    
    My partner can provide ‘AUDI’ emblems for anyone that wants to re-badge their Skoda.
    Sold hundreds over the last few years.
    
    Not sure what you could do for someone in a crimplene suit though 🙁
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:10pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Need a new grille as well to look convincing as Skoda’s have different front and rear mouldings. But still the cheapest entry to the VAG lineup, just a pity that the V6 in the top end wagon isn’t the 221 Kw unit out of the old VW R36.
      
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      December 9, 2021 12:52pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    The rumour back in the 70’s that those who wore crimplene suits and drove Skodas also voted for Social Credit. In the 1978 election campaign there was a bumper sticker doing the rounds that read “If Social Credit is the answer, it must have been a stupid question”.
    
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    December 9, 2021 12:19pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Don’t you recall the outburst from Pat Hunt when he lost the Pakuranga seat in 1984 to Neil Morrison ? Pat used that same phrase. He went on a little rant that included “…you’ve given it away to the crimplene suit and Skoda brigade…”
      
      Watched it live myself and nearly choked laughing so much. Best losing MP comment of all time in NZ, just IMHO.
      
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      December 9, 2021 12:57pm
      - curry4me
        
        Ed Snack: That’s the MP I was thinking of. It made me laugh too.
        
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        December 9, 2021 10:25pm
  - curry4me
    
    Tauhei Notts: A National MP who lost his seat to a Social Credit MP.
    
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    December 9, 2021 1:04pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    You must be young. Pre the VW purchase, Skoda were indeed crappy cars. At least since the war.
    
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    December 9, 2021 7:46pm
I remember when

If lockdown means you have been saved and now have five more years to live.
You have now used up 40% of that five years.
How has it been so far?
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December 9, 2021 10:04am
Bluegrass

The Maori seem to get a bit of a bad rap on this blog – having to be paid for Covid vaxes, biker gangs etc.

As an American I am in no position to be able to comment yea or nay, but just as a matter of interest (noting that many Maori appear to have emigrated to Australia over the years) – do the Australians have the same issues with them as citizens/residents there, compared to NZ?
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December 9, 2021 10:14am
- All_on_Red
  
  Not really
  Some do join gangs which is an issue
  But migrating to Oz is a way of seeing those who want to achieve. I reckon Maori, like everyone else, do pretty well in OZ.
  Its all about attitude.
  I reckon the worst thing ‘colonisation’ in NZ has done for Maori is trapping them in welfare- which does seem to be a universal problem.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:00pm
- curry4me
  
  Bluegrass: No, they don’t.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:05pm
- bronny1
  
  They don’t have “entitlement” to anything in Australia, so they help themselves or get out. In NZ they have so many entitlements that even many of those that would have achieved don’t.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:12pm
- virtualmark
  
  Maori in Australia are free of the tribal structures you find here.
  
  Most of the racial tension we see is driven by the Maori leaderships rather than the regular Maori in the street. Both formal Maori leaderships (Maori Party etc) and informal Maori leadership (the Harawiras etc). Those leaderships have incentives to keep “their people” disadvantaged, because that drives the money and power that flows to the leadership.
  
  Basically Maori in Australia get out from under that and are no longer being farmed by their leaders.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:16pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Exactly. Also those willing to work hard are not being milked by their whanau.
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:32pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Those with get up & go, get up & leave
  
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  December 9, 2021 7:48pm
Frank Hematuria

I haven’t quite mastered how to post this as a clickable link but if you cut and paste it, and ignore the reference to seat belts, you will find a piece on Covid 19 management by a Shawn Means (googling him suggests he knows a fair bit of what he’s talking about) that seems likely to have him deplatformed before too long.
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December 9, 2021 10:15am
Littletramp

It has taken a while, but the Maori party has finally figured out that they are quite likely to be in the “Winston Peters” position after the next election.
If they can retain the one seat on election night, there is a high possibility they take much leverage away from David Seymour, and will themselves then hold the balance of power.
Watch the majors start sucking up to them now.
The wonders of MMP.
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December 9, 2021 10:27am
Observer of Life

I apologise now if this has already been posted.
Can I suggest you go to the NZTA website and revoke access to your personal details via your vehicle number plate(s). It means once you pass through those roadblocks this summer and receive your Iwi “legal to travel sticker” others won’t be able to go online and look up your number plate to find out your address to swing by for a “personal viewing”.
https://transact.nzta.govt.nz/transactions/PersonalInfoAccess/entry
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December 9, 2021 10:27am
- k1w1
  
  Thank you for that. Done!
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:54pm
Yvette

Regarding Northland check points
It is simple: Under current law, it is apparently legal for any Government agency (Police or those delegated) to check people leaving Auckland only, not anywhere else
– as pointed out by Police Association president Chris Cahill

“Police have been forced to establish these checkpoints. They had little choice given iwi’s wish for them – and that they were probably going to do them anyway. I just challenge iwi to prove the value of such checkpoints,” he said.

And if it goes ahead –
■ Will unvaccinated people from Waipu going to the nearest supermarket or doctor beyond the check point, like Ruakaka, be allowed back inside the check-point.

■ If a car “from Auckland” has three vaccinated people in it and one unvaccinated person, will the unvaccinated person be turned back (with no vehicle, most likely) and the three (majority has the car), obviously now possible close-contacts, travel on?

And regarding legality of other Government actions, should the Waitangi Tribunal also examine whether fundamentally can the Government, ignoring the highest local medical advice (Bloomfield and his medical advisors), can act under the COVID-19: Epidemic notice and Orders in ways that are not related to medical measures, but politically considered matters – like the medically unrelated and so unneeded constraints in the South Island, until covid did emerge there.
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December 9, 2021 10:30am
graham

I work for a large corporate, and sadly they have gone completely woke. This has been happening for some time now.

Their latest email exhorts me to support their “important kaupapa” because “there’s still more mahi to be done”. I’m tempted to reply and say that I’m very sorry, I can’t support this “important kaupapa” because I have no idea what on earth a kaupapa is. If they would care to explain it to me – in English – then I’ll reconsider.

It also talks about something using a “by Maori, for Maori and with Maori approach”. Again, I’m tempted to reply and politely inquire if there is also a corresponding “by Pakeha, for Pakeha and with Pakeha approach” to the same issue.
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December 9, 2021 10:34am
graham

I see that Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall has launched “Auahi Kore Aotearoa Mahere Rautaki 2025” this morning.
.
.
.
The WHAT?!

Apparently it means the Smokefree 2025 Action Plan.

* shaking my head *
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December 9, 2021 10:40am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It’s made international news:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10290201/New-Zealand-BANS-smoking-Young-people-NEVER-buy-cigarettes-nation-goes-smoke-free.html
  
  The real stupidity is the vape trade has ramped up to take over. What’s the PM smoke?
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:28pm
Fletch

The media try to blame vaccine skin rashes on – La Niña.

https://www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/health/la-nias-strong-winds-widespread-rain-and-extreme-humidity-triggers-skin-flareups/news-story/f834c5498ef1425399d29d8e8ba79c16

Really? Come on.. ?
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December 9, 2021 11:03am
Inandout

There is a madness that has descended on Dem run cities in the US. The Mayor of Chicago has laid the blame on retail shops for being looted. FFS.
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December 9, 2021 11:21am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Brandon and Putin.
LGBFJB.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-jFIEEPAy8
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December 9, 2021 11:34am
- virtualmark
  
  Or … you could take the Ukrainian read-out of this meeting https://www.kyivpost.com/world/biden-stood-up-to-the-putin-bully.html Keeping in mind that the Ukrainians need to have a clear-eyed assessment of this call.
  
  Putin led Trump around on a leash. The Helsinki summit was a complete embarrassment for the US. Even a cursory glance at the photos from that summit (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/18/opinions/these-pictures-tell-story-of-trump-and-putin-ben-ghiat/index.html) shows you who is the dominant leader of the two.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:23pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Nice CNN ‘opinion’
    Cnn. pffttt
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:46pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Luckily Steve can access the ‘truth’ about the Ukraine situation by following RT.
      
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      December 9, 2021 4:04pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Why go to RT? Fox News, Reuters and NewsMax all push the Russian line. And Politico is heading that way too now under its new owners.
        
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        December 9, 2021 4:25pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        RT? right Mike. You know I get my facts from play school TV1 news //
        
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        December 9, 2021 5:26pm
    - virtualmark
      
      #1 … just look at the photos. The pictures speak for themselves.
      
      #2 … it’s a piece by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, not by a CNN journalist. She’s a Professor at NYU who specialises in studying fascism and authoritarianism. I strongly recommend her book “Strongmen: Mussolini to the present”.
      
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      December 9, 2021 4:23pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Hahahahahahaahh
        Look at her Wiki entry.
        She writes for CNN, The Atlantic and Huffington Post!!
        Thats hilarious
        
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        December 10, 2021 10:26am
  - Ed Snack
    
    What a load of old cobblers. Putin has got h just about everything he needs out of Biden, probably because he has the complete details of the Burisma deals and holds that over Biden, who of course rolls over but “sounds” tough so the propaganda media can run with that narrative.
    
    What Russia really wanted from the USA was first for them to stop opposing the Nordstream 2 pipeline to Germany and Europe, that’s done, by Biden. They also wanted the US to reduce its oil output and to stop fracking so that oil private’s would rise – Russia’s economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas sales, that’s. Been done by Biden. Then they want the US to stop opposing Russias main Mid East ally Iran, job done, and finally they want the US military undermined by a focus on political correctness plus a fracture with NATO – also job done via the Afghanistan debacle withdrawal process (the UK parliament actually formally censured Biden over that and how the UK was treated).
    
    So if Trump was so beholden to Putin, how come it is Creepy Joe who has done everything that Putin actually wanted for nothing in exchange for the USA ? Trump kept Putin and Russia in straightened circumstances, exactly the opposite of what someone in debt to them would do. On the evidence, it is Biden who is in Putin’s pocket, and we can guess why.
    
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    December 9, 2021 6:57pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yep, Biden backing off means Western Europe will now be tethered to Putins Gas for their comfort and security.
      
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      December 10, 2021 10:27am
Russ the Muss

I see the world is getting all excited about Putin invading Ukraine, which he will. Just as China will Taiwan. And everyone point to the US. Screw them. The US needs to stand up for its kids and ignore this rubbish from the Europeans and the two faced world. Why should predominantly young males and recent migrants from the South give there lives for Eastern Europeans? Same with Taiwan and China. The US should look after its own and let the world go about their business of their own version of game of thrones. As to us.
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December 9, 2021 11:36am
- Jack5
  
  Russ the Muss’s: “Why should predominantly young males and recent migrants from the South give their lives for Eastern Europeans?”
  
  Can you elaborate on what you mean by “from the South”?
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:50pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/127205387/taken-for-a-ride–kiwirail-to-probe-doubledip-claim-on-wage-subsidy?

Huia is an extinct NZ native bird – fitting.
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December 9, 2021 11:40am
- gravedodger
  
  Huia hunted to extinction for the distinctive black and white (ironic eh) feathers that were a part of ceremonial adornment worn by senior leaders of a people who we are now to accept as guardians of the land and its fauna and flora to a greater degree than the colonising bastards who stopped much of the inter tribal killing and apparently ended the eating of each other by providing alternative protein.
  Actually dripping in irony when you think about it??
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:50pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    When do you think the huia were ‘hunted to extinction’?
    I think you might find that they were among the species that survived the onslaught of Polynesian settlement quite well, only to succumb to the European clearance of most of the remaining forest cover.
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:38pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      ‘Remaining forest’ for dairy – for cow milk.
      I will not go further about your milk as a baby – we already know Mike, …….
      
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      December 9, 2021 5:31pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No, they didn’t survive the Polynesian settlement very well at all. They were well into the zombie zone by the time European settlers got here.
      
      The huia was in trouble 750 years ago, the moment the first human beings arrived in Aotearoa. Fossils reveal it was found over the entire North Island, but overhunting and the introduced Polynesian rat had eradicated it from the most of the island by 1840. Brian Gill of Auckland Museum suggests that if Europeans had never arrived in New Zealand the huia would still have continued its slow decline to extinction.
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/conservation-comment-what-became-of-the-huia/WGIUEVV7RN5K3FFHKOVCDBWSPY/
      
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      December 9, 2021 5:37pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

No Covid passport? No rest for disabled man.
Heaven forbid a gang robs the place.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037804153265240/posts/1601781886867461/
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December 9, 2021 11:47am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I trust Our Dear PM and the Minister of Police are proud of this.
  
  Where’s the Minister for the Disabled?
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:13pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Disabled Minister is as much use as a trapdoor on a kayak
    
    8 2
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    December 9, 2021 2:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Govt banging on about smokefree NZ. Where will the Taxes come from now? Oh right, NEW Taxes.
Remember no more new taxes?
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December 9, 2021 12:05pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Not taxes this time Steve – just good old population control legislation – the thing this government is good at. And of course will help the gangs grow the segment size of their tobacco black market.
  
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  December 9, 2021 12:31pm
- [email protected]
  
  The government has figured out how to get more taxes. They are reducing the amount of nicotine allowed in cigarettes so people have to buy more packages. Brilliant!
  
  12 1
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  December 9, 2021 1:02pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Like two stroke beer? Try and get pissed on 2%. Spew first
    
    9 2
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    December 9, 2021 3:48pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Steve, are you drinking immoderately again? I’m already concerned about your health.
      
      3 7
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      December 9, 2021 4:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I have nice Stellas, then whiskey/whisky.
        Come see me as a Doctor Mike, otherwise fuck off with your teenage comments.
        Sad boy you are – sorry
        
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        December 9, 2021 5:35pm
- Fletch
  
  And have you seen this?
  
  Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall confirmed the Government would also set a cut-off date, making it an offence to sell or supply smoking tobacco products to people born after a certain date.
  
  The change could see, for example, a child who is 10 now never being able to buy cigarettes in their lifetime.
  
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/12/08/govt-to-ban-young-people-buying-tobacco-in-their-lifetime/
  
  Are they kidding?? Prohibiting selling to someone under a certain age is one thing, but I’ve never heard of something so ridiculous.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:36pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    They will all be microchipped for easy shopping.
    How else will retailers be able to process them readily?
    
    5 1
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    December 9, 2021 5:32pm
  - alloytoo
    
    This is effectively discriminating against people on the basis of age.
    
    It sets a chilling precedent in that my youngest child will have fewer rights than me, indeed fewer rights than his brother once he reaches the age of majority.
    
    The goal and subject matter of this edict is immaterial. I object to this and will support any effort to have to overturned.
    
    Want to get rid of cigarettes? Ban them outright, do not seek to inhibit my children’s rights into the future.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:01pm
- MCōs
  
  Tobacco excise tax pulls in about $1.8bil p.a. which is about 5% of the healthcare budget.
  You’d have to think smokers do ok out of that investment.
  As smoking decreases so does the burden on the healthcare system.
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:31pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Excise Tax on Tobacco pays for much more than smoking illnesses, and always has. Let’s see some facts on your claim MCos.
    You are talking like a Covid death number when the guy dies with Covid, but got fucking shot – lead poisoning.
    The healthcare system relies on Taxes, but mostly the overtaxed (tobacco, alcohol, fuel – all plus GST)
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:21pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKfWe0WNtAA

Musk Torches Resident Brandon.

Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks about Elon Musk laying waste to Biden’s Build Back Better plan, Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s obliviousness to court’s halting the Biden vaccine mandate, the fate of Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue, and an ominous warning from Jordan Peterson. First, Dave shares a clip of Tesla founder Elon Musk slamming not only Joe Biden’s Build Back Better infrastructure bill, but any government social spending plan. [38:40. Brandon torched from 6:15 to 6:54 10:35 to 10:56.]
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December 9, 2021 12:16pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QttrDz3B2tQ

Welsh Minister Says He’s Too Important To Take The Train.

All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others. [3:38]
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December 9, 2021 12:17pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Anyone who says “all men are created equal” have never been sent a dik-pik
  
  😀
  
  18 4
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  December 9, 2021 1:35pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Without those pictures to share, what would the ladies have to talk about at the Otahuhu Tennis Club?
    
    5 6
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    December 9, 2021 3:41pm
Maggy Wassilieff

How many vaxxes is too many?

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/12/coronavirus-booster-shot-of-pfizer-offers-10-times-protection-against-infection-18-against-severe-illness-study.html
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December 9, 2021 12:19pm
- Fletch
  
  I just don’t buy it. How do they quantify those numbers? Sounds pulled out of thin air.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:31pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    yep, it’s a worry….
    
    but looks like our Leaders will swallow the bait..
    
    The government’s Covid-19 technical advisory group is considering whether to shorten the time between the second and third dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
    
    The RNZ report talks of a “just released study” but doesn’t link to it…
    It also mentions that having a 3rd booster shot for omicron is the opinion of Özlem Türeci, BioNTech’s chief medical officer,….
    but Türeci has been preaching booster shots all year, as far as I can see.
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/457538/more-advice-needed-before-accelerating-vaccine-booster-rollout-hipkins
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:08pm
Maggie Pie

Thort i might share this with the group 😀

Twitter bestie Karen just sent her Xmas e-Card…

https://twitter.com/Kar_Ren18/status/1468624515542495232
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December 9, 2021 12:42pm
DeepBlue

For the record – from Jacinda’s Facebook Live last night. I thought young people over 12yo are still children. But hey, including them in the 90% target and having teachers ask about vaccination status in school isn’t mandating, is it? //s :

“One of the things that I have picked up is this idea that we would mandate children being vaccinated, absolutely not. That has never been a position of ours.

“It’s actually not been a position in New Zealand that we have seen. We have not had vaccine mandates for children. It is just not something that we do.”
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December 9, 2021 12:45pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Let’s see what happens next year when vaxxed Samantha is in the same class as unvaxxed Pierre.
  
  How are the schools going to handle the anxious mummies who don’t want their precious children EXPOSED to unvaxxed children who we all know will be HUNTED down by the virus?
  
  but it’s also because the virus is literally finding unvaccinated people,” she says.
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/10/coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-urges-new-zealanders-to-get-vaccinated-to-avoid-lockdowns.html
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:16pm
Rusty

What a snitch Paddy Gower is — getting someone to go under cover with a camera into the office of a lady doctor issuing fake covid passes to people.

Even if this lady was in the wrong — shouldn’t the police have been notified first and not Paddy Gower to get a headline story on 3News?

Expect more snitching ,dobbing in, and spying of Nzers by rat bag Nzers who think they are the covid police.
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December 9, 2021 12:56pm
- Jack5
  
  Gower Power …
  
  (Click on the arrow: automatic play disabled).
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzZ02BtGmHg
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:33pm
  - Russ the Muss
    
    The military rank and file is disproportionately inate made up of kids from the southern states. The red stats, which are the poorest. Similar to the British army which has kids from the north and Scotland. Long story short. The areas of low social economic standing are the furtile recruiting grounds of the military. And of course the decision makers in Washington or London, are not! Rich powerful people send poor young people to fight there wars. Ain’t it great.
    
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    December 9, 2021 5:24pm
- solarsailer
  
  It says more about Gower’s integrity than the Doctors. Bringing the weight of the media down on one dissenter, what a hero, hard hitting investigative journalism. And these clowns get offended when they’re labelled ‘Fake News’.
  
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  December 9, 2021 7:03pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  I guarantee you that everybody who loves what Gower did will piss and moan about the undercover video stunts that Project Veritas has pulled off over the years, even though there is a strong journalist tradition about them.
  
  5 1
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  December 9, 2021 9:25pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I guarantee you that Tom Hunter will only ever consider journalistic ethics from the perspective of whether he agrees with the politics of the journalist in question.
    
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    December 10, 2021 6:49am
Maggie Pie

And what a nasty b*tch she’s becoming 🙁

Cindy tells FB follower…
“You don’t have to stay on my Facebook if I bother you. Find other things to do with your life if you find me irritating”

https://facebook.com/jacindaardern/videos/its-been-a-while-a-quick-facebook-live-to-check-in/4697699001234148
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December 9, 2021 1:05pm
- burt
  
  She looked like she was going to burst into tears at the reality some people don’t fawn over her. The stress really is getting to her.
  
  24 5
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  December 9, 2021 1:24pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Her post has been deleted. Funny that.
    
    23 1
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    December 9, 2021 2:32pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      But it has made the MSM…
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-shuts-down-facebook-commenter-during-live-video/BUITGNVMMOCGJJ3JYFNRNMH6Y4/
      
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      December 9, 2021 4:18pm
- Nickc2
  
  She’s getting rattled Maggie. They have released another report about Maori being given a commanding position over Local Govt. You can read a criticism of it here.
  https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/another-maori-power-grab-this-time-local-government?postId=6cee2d29-a64b-4cce-9827-75577dfc6470
  Is it to divert attention away from her Govt’s lies and incompetence in Covid Management, or is it Mahuta’s attempt to advance Maori Governance of all aspects of NZ life before they are out on their arses that’s gotten up Cindy’s nose?
  IMO, she’s finally realised she’s nothing more than a puppet controlled by her Maori Caucus.
  
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  December 9, 2021 1:33pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    What power have they got over her? Are there concerning matters from the past?
    
    5 2
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    December 9, 2021 5:37pm
    - Nickc2
      
      Without their block vote, there is no her. They can destroy her at will and she knows it IMO. They know where the bodies are and a Willie Jackson wink to his media mates can and will release the cats amongst the pigeons. IMO, Willie’s only loyalty is unto himself.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:43pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Her post has been re cindared
  
  11 2
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  December 9, 2021 2:52pm
- Ehlana
  
  “This content isn’t available at the moment
  When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people or changed who can see it, or it’s been deleted.”
  
  Oh dear!
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:59pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    99% deleted
    
    7 1
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    December 9, 2021 5:36pm
surfing

I thought vaccination would be more useful at preventing serious illness, but, it appears incredibly successful at limiting spread.

At least numbers seem contained for now, but it is inevitable the virus will breach iwi roadblocks.
7 1
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December 9, 2021 1:15pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Woke. The word you’re looking for is woke, applied to yourself.
  
  5 2
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  December 9, 2021 9:28pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Ouch, That’s got to hurt.
    
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    December 10, 2021 6:51am
Libertarians are right

Woke Grandchildren of deceased famous authors should not be allowed anywhere near their work.

They are rewriting 1984 from a feminist woman’s perspective (the girlfriend). They don’t even get the irony.
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December 9, 2021 1:17pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  It seems a little ironic to me that a self-professed ‘libertarian’ wants to make up rules restricting literary endeavours.
  
  5 10
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  December 9, 2021 4:02pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    For the record, I would argue against rules restricting literary endeavours but still believe those people are tarnishing the works and their own ethics should be (but clearly aren’t) enough to stop them from doing it. I wasn’t advocating any rules, just the application of common sense. They have a right to destroy their forebear’s works, they just shouldn’t.
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:49pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    If the they had any talent, they’d write something original
    
    6 1
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    December 9, 2021 7:59pm
- Ed Snack
  
  Probably be written to the same exacting standard as internet published fan fiction. But be lionised by the critics as “stunning and brave”.
  
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  December 9, 2021 7:06pm
burt

Stuff: Covid-19: 70 people in hospital with virus, 5 in ICU

A staff member at David Lange Carehome in Māngere East has tested positive for Covid-19.

The vaccine: Effective enough to be mandated for rest home workers – not effective enough to protect rest home workers.
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December 9, 2021 1:27pm
Maggie Pie

Oral question #2 in ‘The House’ today is…..
Nicola Willis to the Minister-of-Housing

But I know there’s a lot of girls at Tennis who think Nicola should just STFU about it.
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December 9, 2021 1:42pm
- bronny1
  
  ?
  
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  December 9, 2021 2:13pm
- mandk
  
  I think you might find that Nicola Willis was concerned about first home buyers and lower income families.
  
  I doubt whether many of the girls at tennis fall into either of those categories.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:17pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The ‘girls at tennis’ is actually a well known euphemism for women in Otahuhu who have relatively lucrative home-based jobs during school hours.
    
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    December 9, 2021 3:44pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    That’s where National are losing their way mandk.
    Let’s get real, first home buyers and low income families are never going to vote for them!
    
    Time they started being more concerned about their voter base. People that actually drive this economy and pay all the taxes.
    
    FFS!!
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:12pm
    - k1w1
      
      Yeah, but they’re becoming outnumbered!
      
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      December 9, 2021 5:02pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        That’s the prob K1w1…
        we spend our lives these days “Working for Families’.
        All OTHER f**ing peoples!
        
        8 1
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        December 9, 2021 5:38pm
dime

Another disgusting piece of human garbage avoids life without parole.

the judge didnt want to take away hope awww

and bless, it may be damaging for the prison population awww

ACT need to relook at this law next time the are in
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December 9, 2021 2:01pm
Bridgenag

Sent to me from Bassett Brash Hide

ANOTHER MAORI POWER GRAB: THIS TIME LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Recently we saw how the government’s proposed health structural reforms have little to do with improving health care for all New Zealanders. They are essentially a power grab by Maori who will control their own health authority and effectively be given veto rights over the health structure for everyone else. Seventeen percent of the population will ultimately control the health of the other 83% of us. The recent interim report into the Future of Local Government: Arewa ake te Kaupapa comes out of the same mould. Fifty-nine pages of flatulent phrases, portentous utterances, and false assertions about the Treaty, lead the reader eventually to the real purpose of the report: more power for Maori. This time local government is to be restructured to “create conditions for shared prosperity and wellbeing” for Maori. Once more it is Nanaia Mahuta, Jacinda Ardern’s in-house Rasputin, who is driving the power grab.

Why a need for local government change right now? You might well ask. In 1989 the Fourth Labour Government reduced 817 small units of local and special purpose government to a more realistic set numbering 78 today. In 2002 the Fifth Labour Government fine-tuned some of the legislative details and requirements. One struggles through this interim report to discover why the Sixth Labour Government needs more changes. In thirty pages of platitudes, interspersed with the occasional untranslated Maori word, the authors argue that current local authorities aren’t contributing enough towards the “wellbeing of their communities” and that prosperity isn’t being “shared equitably among New Zealand communities”, that is, Maori. We are told that major – but as yet largely unspecified – changes are needed to our local authorities’ structures and powers.

It’s not until page 33 that more is revealed. Bulls’ wool about the Treaty of Waitangi being a “partnership” is wheeled out yet again. As usual these days, the report fails to acknowledge Article 1 of the Treaty where the chiefs gave “absolutely to the Queen for ever the complete government over their land”. These days the Treaty is said to contain obligations that were never in the document. Disconcertingly, the hapless writers of this “interim report” tell us that in recent years Maori have been doing well under existing legislation, settling historical claims and increasing their representation in local government. Which immediately raises the question: why fix it if it ain’t broke? Because, we are told, “current statutory and institutional arrangements do not provide for adequate Maori representation or input into decision-making, or for sufficient protection of Maori rights, interests, and wellbeing”. The same could be said of course about Pacific Islanders’ interests, and those of Asians who now number as many amongst the Kiwi population as Maori. But Mahuta and her carefully chosen review panel of Jim Palmer, Penny Hulse, Gael Surgenor, Antoine Coffin and Brendan Boyle seem not to care a fig about any of them.

The problem with the current local government scene, we are told on page 37, is that Iwi representatives and Maori are unable to form “effective partnerships” with councils because councillors and staff “lack the necessary cultural competence, or lack understanding of Te Tiriti and New Zealand history”. As one who sat for a decade on the Waitangi Tribunal and who knows a bit about New Zealand history, I certainly have a better handle on both the Treaty and our country’s history than the average Maori, many of whom, sadly, are prone to make up the Treaty and claims about it as they go along. This report is just another example, and it suggests a lamentable lack of knowledge by its authors.

The underlying problem with this report is that if one believes in democracy, a key element of which is one person, one vote, Maori with only 17% of the population can’t conjure up a majority to run every aspect of New Zealand life. And even if they could, they can never produce equal outcomes in life for everyone. People behave differently; some are careful with their bodies, others are careless. Some smoke and drink too much, or engage with drugs or other risky behaviour. Luck doesn’t favour everyone; besides, DNA in our make-up can vary enormously. No change to the health or local government systems can guarantee equal outcomes for Maori, or for anyone else. Changes to personal behaviour, on the other hand, could assist. The authors of this report would have more success improving outcomes for Maori if they could engineer that!

Why is the Ardern government rushing ill thought-through, racially-charged legislation? Rasputin understands this better than most. With both the Labour caucus and the cabinet currently over-represented with Maori, plus Labour’s unprecedented MMP parliamentary majority that the polls tell us isn’t going to last, Nanaia has convinced her colleagues to bring forward all their racist legislation while there is still time. She and they know enough about politics to realise that a National Party in government has nearly always been wet, and is unlikely to wind anything back. Nanaia is urging her colleagues to legislate as soon as possible. Try to give 17% of Kiwis the powers of 51% because of their ancestry, and they will run the country for ever. The pitifully weak Labour caucus will be driven like blind sheep into the lobbies to vote for this pernicious nonsense.

Why are the rest of us so slow to understand this deliberate racism? This is where the Ardern Government’s most cunning sleight of hand assists them. The so-called Public Interest Journalism Fund that channels taxpayer money to newspapers up until the 2023 election so long as the recipients play ball means that the racist health legislation, and now the proposed local government reform, don’t get a public airing. The New Zealand Herald has become the next best thing to a mouthpiece for this Labour ministry, ignoring difficult, racially-charged issues that might embarrass its paymasters.

By 2023 we could be living in a New Zealand with a permanent racial divide embedded in its governance. Meanwhile, the Maori Party seems to be lining up to cut a deal with Luxon’s National Party in the way that it did with John Key’s government, hoping this time to lock the racial divide into New Zealanders’ lives.
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December 9, 2021 2:02pm
- Ed Snack
  
  That was always on the cards. Why do you think the “Three Waters” set up had an ostensible 50/50 split ? Because of cause within 5 years if this government stays in power, all local government will be mandated to have 50% Maori councillors with at least some of them appointed by local iii and not elected at all, and so they will have absolute control over the three waters infrastructure with 75% of the power.
  
  Would have seemed like a sick joke just a few short years ago, now, this is the reality we are facing. Apartheid here we come.
  
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  December 9, 2021 7:12pm
Bobba Fret

Mallard being an absolute dick in question time today.
21 2
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December 9, 2021 2:25pm
- mandk
  
  Question Time is a bit of a joke.
  
  The questioners are required to ask questions simply and straightforwardly, and they are not permitted to deviate from the wording.
  
  Yet Ministers are allowed to more-or-less ignore the question and grandstand instead.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:12pm
  - Prince
    
    In the past Speakers at least reprimanded ministers when they refused to even address the question.
    Not now.
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:03pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  “Mallard being an absolute dick in question time today.”
  
  It comes naturally to him.
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:11pm
- dime
  
  that usually mean the opposition is getting to them.
  
  he is trash.
  
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  December 9, 2021 4:49pm
BananaLlama

Labour and the Greens really fucked up firearm reform in this country. Everyone disarmed except the gangs. These rubbish laws need to be thrown out when National and ACT win the next election and return the right of ownership to lawful citizens.
Give Labour a good smack across the ass.
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December 9, 2021 2:31pm
- Ehlana
  
  Please do not smack the ass. It is, so far, the best performing member of the Labour government.
  
  8 0
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  December 9, 2021 5:03pm
- MCōs
  
  As I recall ACT was the only dissenting vote.
  
  8 0
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  December 9, 2021 5:53pm
  - BananaLlama
    
    You are correct, Mrs Collins threw law abiding owners under the bus.
    
    4 0
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    December 9, 2021 7:06pm
- Ed Snack
  
  No way that Labour Lite is going to do anything of the sort. They voted for the changes, and under Luzon there is zero chance that they would restore those rights.
  
  5 0
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  December 9, 2021 7:14pm
  - BananaLlama
    
    He may not have a choice with ACT so high in the polls.
    
    3 0
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    December 9, 2021 8:33pm
- MCōs
  
  “Everyone disarmed except the gangs.”
  
  That’s a gross distortion of the law passed 119-1.
  Certain types of automatic & semi automatic arms were banned.
  Most arms in NZ weren’t banned by a long shot.
  
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  December 9, 2021 10:24pm
Yabster

From bassetbrashandhide: Part of an article on Local body reform (I note the “wet National party” comment- I will only support them if they repeal ALL the racist nonsense that Labour is trying to rush through- I hope they come out and clearly state what legislation they will repeal before the next election!)

why is the Ardern government rushing ill thought-through, racially-charged legislation? Rasputin understands this better than most. With both the Labour caucus and the cabinet currently over-represented with Maori, plus Labour’s unprecedented MMP parliamentary majority that the polls tell us isn’t going to last, Nanaia has convinced her colleagues to bring forward all their racist legislation while there is still time. She and they know enough about politics to realise that a National Party in government has nearly always been wet, and is unlikely to wind anything back. Nanaia is urging her colleagues to legislate as soon as possible. Try to give 17% of Kiwis the powers of 51% because of their ancestry, and they will run the country for ever. The pitifully weak Labour caucus will be driven like blind sheep into the lobbies to vote for this pernicious nonsense.

Why are the rest of us so slow to understand this deliberate racism? This is where the Ardern Government’s most cunning sleight of hand assists them. The so-called Public Interest Journalism Fund that channels taxpayer money to newspapers up until the 2023 election so long as the recipients play ball means that the racist health legislation, and now the proposed local government reform, don’t get a public airing. The New Zealand Herald has become the next best thing to a mouthpiece for this Labour ministry, ignoring difficult, racially-charged issues that might embarrass its paymasters.

By 2023 we could be living in a New Zealand with a permanent racial divide embedded in its governance. Meanwhile, the Maori Party seems to be lining up to cut a deal with Luxon’s National Party in the way that it did with John Key’s government, hoping this time to lock the racial divide into New Zealanders’ lives.
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December 9, 2021 2:37pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like we can thank the Meth-users in our midst for the end of this Government’s “Elimination Strategy”.

and who is ending up in Hospital with bad covid symptoms?

Anecdotally, Baker said he had heard that drug users were overrepresented in the number of Covid hospitalisations.

Heavy meth use damages the body by inflaming lungs and worsening blood circulation, making the virus more dangerous.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300473848/covid19-vaccine-rollout-to-drug-users-contributed-to-elimination-failure–expert

It might be time for our politicians to start fronting up about who is really at risk with Covid-19 and stop frightening the rest of us.
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December 9, 2021 2:41pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Sorry to read you are so frightened, Maggy. I should expect that most people who observe reasonable precautions have a very good chance of surviving the pandemic.
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:46pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Geez, I thought I was taking reasonable precautions 40 years ago… but at least I got a brilliant kid out of that venture…
    
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    December 9, 2021 4:24pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Don’t let him worry you Maggs.
      
      ‘mikenmildagain’ is a well known euphemism for an old queen living in a damp bedsit somewhere in the industrial area of Lower Hutt. Crapping himself that his Indian landlord might come door-knocking for the overdue rent before bene day.
      😀
      
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      December 9, 2021 4:48pm
      - Gravelroad
        
        Yes. He is bitchy which often adds nothing of value to a discussion and tends to undermine his credibility.
        Comes across here as rather a bitter person.
        
        10 3
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        December 9, 2021 7:36pm
      - Mike
        
        Thanks for that advice, Gravelroad. It means all the world to me to strive to improve my credibility on Kiwiblog.
        
        2 7
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        December 9, 2021 8:11pm
    - Tom Hunter
      
      One of the recent developments of Kiwiblog that has cracked me up is the way that long-time commentator mikenmild (60,000 comments surely) has developed such a serious case of hemorrhoids about serial comedic shit-stirrer “Maggie Pie”, when he’s claimed so many times that he’s merely here on KB for “entertainment”.
      
      Not pro-Labour/Green, just anti-anti-Labour-Green.
      
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      December 9, 2021 9:38pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I feel sorry for you, Tom. I used to think you had a sense of humour, until it became clear that you only appreciated humourists who were politically correct.
        I find Maggie Pie very amusing. In the same way that the Topp Twins or John Clarke caricatured farmers, Maggie does a very good job of imitating the faux classiness of the mid-isthmian nouveau riche, with their obsessions about property values, tennis clubs and holiday homes, combined with the contempt for those who have not shared the random trappings of imagined success. She is very droll, and I look forward her her submissions every day.
        Yours, not some much. When not link whoring to something no one will ever read, you seem to rely on Kiwiblog to proclaim your superiority (“I have a science degree, so know that global warming is a hoax”, “I have retired early, so must be smarter than anyone else”, etc, etc). At the same time, you want modern democracy to destroy itself, in the hope that something better will be built on the ashes. Your bitter nihilism is perfectly in tune with the Kiwiblog hive mind.
        
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        December 10, 2021 7:05am
artemisia

So an important person in Reefton is unhappy. People are leaving their jobs or being laid off. The two backbone ambulance service volunteers have stepped down.

He hopes and prays that sense will prevail and that these ‘anti-vaxxers’ will get the jab.

How about if the town had planned ahead and made alternative arrangements. Because most of those Coasters have almost certainly made up their minds. As is their right. No surprises there.

Anti-vaxxers creating an ‘appalling state of affairs’ in Reefton, community board chair says

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-democracy-reporting/300474317/antivaxxers-creating-an-appalling-state-of-affairs-in-reefton-community-board-chair-says
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December 9, 2021 3:20pm
- graham
  
  How about if the town had planned ahead and made alternative arrangements. Because most of those Coasters have almost certainly made up their minds. As is their right.
  
  Yep. Do we need to remind everybody of what our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said just over a year ago?
  
  On Tuesday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern went a step further, saying not only will there be no forced vaccinations, but those who choose to opt-out won’t face any penalties at all.
  
  “No, and we haven’t for any vaccination in New Zealand applied penalties in that way,” Ardern told The AM Show, after being asked if there might be tax penalties or other sanctions for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.
  
  “I see no reason to [have penalties].”
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/coronavirus-jacinda-ardern-confident-enough-kiwis-will-get-covid-19-vaccine-for-herd-immunity-without-being-forced-to.html
  
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  December 9, 2021 3:37pm
Jack5

National’s Bridges and Bayly have been in action at Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee, on the Reserve Bank’s Large Scale Asset Purchase Programme.

Michael Reddell says the scheme has so far run up staggering losses for taxpayers. Losses in the billions.

https://croakingcassandra.com/2021/12/09/lsap-losses/
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December 9, 2021 3:21pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Gambling at the top of the tree. Small changes in RB rates can have massive effects of inflation and house prices.
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:51pm
surfing

Grrrrr government… how are people supposed to plan their lives when the information they give is a jumble of conflicting advice depending on where you read it.

I just received the traffic light ‘brochure’ in the mailbox….this is a high level dumbed down overview of the rules…but, the brochure has some information that differs completely from the website. In fact, depending on which version of the rules you read, you may or may not be in breach of the law!!!!
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December 9, 2021 3:32pm
Bluegrass

Re the comments here on the Ukraine thing:

1. Russia has often had around up to 70,000 troops near the Ukraine border, for various reasons. The current build-up is currently greater, but not unprecedented (subject to, inter alia, Russian incoming electronic jamming equipment, where the Russians are way ahead of Ukraine and also arguably the USA – see Syria; Black Sea).
2. Ukraine has cut the water supply to Crimea. That is provocative.
3. Putin, if he invades, will likely stop at the Ukranian regional areas which have Russian ethnics, and/or which control the water supply.
4. Most unlikely Putin will engage Ukraine any further.
5. The US fomented a coup in Ukraine some years ago, and wants Ukraine to join NATO. That was and is provocative. Like Russia asking Mexico to join the Warsaw Pact as it then was.
6. There are other issues, but not for this blog.
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December 9, 2021 3:43pm
- Ed Snack
  
  How do we even know that there really are that many Russian troops anywhere near the border ?
  
  Only because it is reported to be so by the state propaganda organs that constitute the US media. There are some so foolish as to actually want a hot war with Russia, which would probably lift the value of their investments in arms manufacturers, but unlikely to be good for the citizens of the US or Europe, or Russia or the Ukraine for that matter.
  
  This is the sort of problems you get when the US administration is run by a bunch of the least competent idiots that they could find in the whole of Washington DC, and nominally headed up by a senile old corruptocrat who has been a lifelong grifter.
  
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  December 9, 2021 7:25pm
  - Mike
    
    Brought to you by the ‘better Russian than a Democrat’ school of contemporary lunacy.
    
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    December 9, 2021 8:07pm
  - Bluegrass
    
    Your first sentence – seriously?
    
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    December 10, 2021 7:18am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

3 waters seems to have died. WTF is Mahuta up to, and why is the media silent?
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December 9, 2021 3:51pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Silence = gone underground–will re-appear on urgency for 3rd Reading.
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:53pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

A little bit embarrassing for her Madge
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1468685656302002187/photo/1
Though certainly not the worst people to have stayed at Balmoral
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December 9, 2021 4:13pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This is where Labour is heading. Be aware Labour has fork tongue.
https://thepoliticalinsider.com/think-youll-be-safe-from-wealth-taxes-think-again/?
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December 9, 2021 4:36pm
surfing

I’m so angry about this I would love to leave the country. Problem is the kids, should have gone 10 years ago but things have considerably worsened since.

Richard Dawkin’s letter to the Royal Society…

https://richarddawkins.net/2021/12/myths-do-not-belong-in-science-classes-letter-to-the-royal-society-of-new-zealand/

Dr Roger Ridley
Royal Society of New Zealand

Dear Dr Ridley

I have read Jerry Coyne’s long, detailed and fair-minded critique of the ludicrous move to incorporate Maori “ways of knowing” into science curricula in New Zealand, and the frankly appalling failure of the Royal Society of New Zealand to stand up for science – which is, after all, what your Society exists to do.

The world is full of thousands of creation myths and other colourful legends, any of which might be taught alongside Maori myths. Why choose Maori myths? For no better reason than that Maoris arrived in New Zealand a few centuries before Europeans. That would be a good reason to teach Maori mythology in anthropology classes. Arguably there’s even better reason for Australian schools to teach the myths of their indigenous peoples, who arrived tens of thousands of years before Europeans. Or for British schools to teach Celtic myths. Or Anglo-Saxon myths. But no indigenous myths from anywhere in the world, no matter how poetic or hauntingly beautiful, belong in science classes. Science classes are emphatically not the right place to teach scientific falsehoods alongside true science. Creationism is still bollocks even it is indigenous bollocks.

The Royal Society of New Zealand, like the Royal Society of which I have the honour to be a Fellow, is supposed to stand for science. Not “Western” science, not “European” science, not “White” science, not “Colonialist” science. Just science. Science is science is science, and it doesn’t matter who does it, or where, or what “tradition” they may have been brought up in. True science is evidence-based not tradition-based; it incorporates safeguards such as peer review, repeated experimental testing of hypotheses, double-blind trials, instruments to supplement and validate fallible senses etc. True science works: lands spacecraft on comets, develops vaccines against plagues, predicts eclipses to the nearest second, reconstructs the lives of extinct species such as the tragically destroyed Moas.

If New Zealand’s Royal Society won’t stand up for true science in your country who will? What else is the Society for? What else is the rationale for its existence?

Yours very sincerely

Richard Dawkins FRS
Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Science
University of Oxford
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December 9, 2021 4:46pm
- Anthony Coates
  
  Did he really write that? Doesn’t quite sound like him. It is awesome though.
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:24pm
- fernglas
  
  “I’m so angry about this I would love to leave the country. Problem is the kids, should have gone 10 years ago but things have considerably worsened since.”
  Wouldn’t you prefer the kids to grow up somewhere civilised?
  
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  December 9, 2021 8:31pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/127233453/land-for-new-christchurch-stadium-to-be-named-te-kaharoa
Well.
Whoop-de-doo.
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December 9, 2021 5:07pm
- lifesgood
  
  Idiots! Who’s going to bother saying that…Christchurch Stadium it is.
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:30pm
  - graham
    
    Yep, in the same way that, as Jack5 pointed out earlier, those people who still borrow books talk about going to “the library” rather than to “whare pukapuka”.
    
    And nobody (apart from newsreaders on TV1) talks about visiting “Tamaki Makaurau”, or more likely trying to escape from “Tamaki Makaurau” for the holidays – it’s ALWAYS Auckland.
    
    And for that matter, people talk about visiting Great Barrier rather than “Aotea”.
    
    Actually, I do think the TV1 newsreaders could do themselves a favour, get away from the cosy little media bubble, and go visit some REAL people – then they might learn that when ordinary folk chat to one another, they talk about Parliament instead of “Paremata”, Wellington instead of “Te Whanganui-a-Tara”, Hamilton (or The Tron) instead of “Kirikiriroa”, Christchurch instead of “Otautahi” …
    
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    December 9, 2021 6:03pm
  - surfing
    
    “Who’s going to bother saying that”
    
    Every sky commentator or at risk of their job.
    
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    December 9, 2021 7:46pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Building on an imaginary Island we don’t know about?
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:40pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  What is a kaharoa? Long pork?
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:56pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    kaha roa = long rope.
    
    Kaharoa – Large seine fishing net.
    The large nets or seines we have been discussing are called kaharoa,
    
    (end of p.21: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesFish-t1-body-d2.html)
    
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    December 9, 2021 6:38pm
- Jack5
  
  Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel said Te Kaharoa reflected Canterbury’s determination and fierce spirit
  
  No. It reflects the Woke council and its Leftist Mayor, Lianne Dalziel, a former Labour Cabinet Minister who resigned her Governmet post under a cloud:
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dalziel-forced-to-quit/YKHNS6566R2NAYWK7ELZ7O63FU/
  
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  December 9, 2021 6:26pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Local government elections next year.
    
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    December 9, 2021 9:04pm
Bridgenag

If we are having double barrelled names……..what will be the second names for Taupo, Rotorua etc
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December 9, 2021 5:19pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Taupo and Rotorua.
  
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  December 9, 2021 5:44pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  For Remuera use its English Translation
  
  Burnt Bum
  
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  December 9, 2021 6:29pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Also known as ‘Perineum Sunning’ without a 50 SPF sunscreen.
    
    😛
    
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    December 9, 2021 7:05pm
- PeeJay
  
  Love it. Might I humbly suggest something representative of the area? Perhaps something like Taupo – bloody big lake, Rotorua – bloody smelly lake? This could be funny!
  
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  December 9, 2021 6:37pm
Sparrow

The Covid-19 website will be different from the brochure. I have an example. Yesterday the information regarding travel under red outside of Auckland was very detailed. When I pointed out to Ministet Hipkins that these rules were not being followed they simply changed those rules overnight. So the detailed explanation for red outside of Auckland had simply disappeared and Northland had been lumped in with Auckland. Fortunately the questions I had asked two Ministers and the Police Commissioner which were never acknowledged or answered. Were finally answered by the Northland police today. It appears that rules about Covid-19 are in a continuous state of flux thats being kind.
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December 9, 2021 5:40pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

Just how many more Indian dairy-owners lives is this gubmint prepared to put on the line?

Asking for a friend up the road 🙁
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December 9, 2021 6:06pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Partner of Auckland law firm admits ‘sexually inappropriate behaviour’.

Maybe it’s just me, but for some reason I’m not surprised 🙁

https://twitter.com/NZStuff/status/1468810160734830597
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December 9, 2021 7:37pm
Anthony Coates

If this doesn’t absolutely terrify you, I don’t know what will. The only people who can grant exemptions to the vaccine mandate are the MOH? Stop this ride… I want to get off!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/127229742/police-investigate-as-concerns-about-doctor-filmed-giving-vaccine-exemptions-escalate
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December 9, 2021 8:22pm
Rich Prick

Does anyone else feel chronically fatigued after being double teabagged by the Government? I’m getting to 3.00pm and needing to go home.
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December 9, 2021 10:58pm

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