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January 1, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 01 January 2022

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General Debate

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mikenmildagain

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Happy Public Domain Day!
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January 1, 2022 8:00am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wear your mask Mike
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:35am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Wear 2 just in case the first falls off.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:45am
    - Inandout
      
      Mr B, I read there are 26,000 discarded masks floating in some ocean, maybe Pacific. Bloody good earner though for the mask manufacturers.
      
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      January 1, 2022 11:52am
- Jack5
  
  While we’re on copyright …
  
  Hooray for Open Source software and the idealists who work for all of us for nothing.
  
  Linux and its variations, Open Office, Libre, Mozilla, VLC, Audacity, Chromium, Opera, Firefox, Gimp, Shotcut, Kdenlive, Scribus, and scores more.
  
  Thank you, folk!
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:28am
  - oc35
    
    Agreed. I use 4 of the above.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:41am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    I try to donate to the developers of useful platforms like these where they allow anonymous donations. Strangely most, including even Signal and Tor Browser don’t!
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:38pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Darktable is my favourite.
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:53pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Amazing free software.
    Add Brave browser with Qwant search engine.
    
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    January 1, 2022 5:58pm
- Truman lodge
  
  Mike what is your purpose of commenting here? To try and debate ideas in hope most of us vote Labour?
  
  Or to antagonise? Serious question.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:33pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Rabbits
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January 1, 2022 8:01am
- Jack5
  
  Some of the old folk used to say “white rabbits” on the first day of the year, even on the first day of a month.
  
  Apparently this is very old superstition in the Anglo world. Apart from Steve’s “rabbits”, this source says others would say “rabbits, rabbits, rabbits.”
  
  Might have lost force in NZ because of the rabbit plagues early in European settlement.
  
  Then there’s the rabbit foot, carried by servicemen and apparently rubbed on Welsh babies for their luck.
  
  The rabbit superstition in detail:
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit_rabbit
  
  The rabbit’s foot:
  https://symbolsage.com/lucky-rabbits-foot-history-and-symbolism/
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:59am
kevn

Happy days for the locals in Tairua?
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January 1, 2022 8:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Not if you live in a certain street – or is that fake news?
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:59am
Lee C

Sheep?
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January 1, 2022 8:03am
Yvette

Willie Jackson unleashes on Māori MPs
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson has taken a swing at National’s Simon Bridges and ACT’s David Seymour, saying they’re a “total waste of bloody time’’ when it comes to advocating for their own Māori people
Willie Jackson’s remarks also included –
“If you get up and talk like Simon Bridges you get on council … because no one would know he has a drop of Māori blood in him,’’ he says.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/jackson-unleashes-on-maori-mps

OK, I passed a negative comment about Jackson yesterday morning, but as well as being “reverse racism” or whatever Jackson’s “hate speech” is (still using the definition that “I know it when I see it – and I do) what was apparently pissing him off was –
On Wednesday night legislation passed under urgency that will undo the current local government laws, which allow just five percent of voters to force a public referendum and ultimately overturn a council decision to have allocated Māori representation.

So Jackson demeans “just five percent of voters” when apparently Last Election the turnout in the Māori electorates was 69.1 percent or Maori electorate total votes were 276,013 – in fact about 5.52 percent of the “Team of Five Million”, so in Jackson’s view – rather one-eyed as it is – five percent is contemptible in one case, but only slightly above that, around five and a half percent, is obviously fine.
What a aerosol.
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January 1, 2022 8:04am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  On thos figure 400,728 on the Maori Roll and they get 7 seats 57,246 people per seat so they are over represented in Parliament!!!
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:23am
  - Yvette
    
    Or, as Fightingtemeraire alludes to the Seven Special Māori Parliamentary Seats, those seats are 7 0ver 120 total seats, so 5.83 percent of Parliament’s Seats guaranteed to Māori.
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:54am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    You can blame the South Island Quota for that
    
    https://fyi.org.nz/request/12056-is-the-number-of-maori-representation-seats-determined-by-the-maori-population-or-those-on-the-maori-electoral-roll
    
    But they shouldn’t exist anyway
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:05am
- curry4me
  
  Yvette: Joe Bloggs; (National List) unleashes on Labours Anglo-Saxon MPs for not doing enough about Anglo-Saon problems. “They’re a total waste of time when advocating for their people”. But, of course, that’d be ‘raycist’. //sarc
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:10pm
iMP

OMICRON. Rellies in uk report widespread (“rampant”) omicron but it’s not bad enough to hospitalise. They are accepting it as the new normal and moving on. That spells an end to the pandemic effectively, except for the unpacking of all the social reaction to it which is a man-made reactive disaster.

Photo ODT this morn. Several thousand at Wanaka outdoor festival. No masks, no social distancing. The mitigations have failed. Boris was right 18 months ago… let it run its course.
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January 1, 2022 8:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Let’s go Brenda
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:09am
  - Ruahine
    
    It is interesting that of the three strains of Covid 19 that we have had here in NZ two of them have been introduced by the Gov’t and I say it looks as if that is what the intention was all along except for the first arrival which just flew in because the border was not closed early enough due to having months to prepare but nothing being done.
    Then there was the woman from Fiji who brought us the Delta which was strongly denied of course and just when the fear seemed to be flagging; My Goodness Me up pops one of the Gov’ts special friends with the ‘new improved version’ to spread around and keep the media happy writing more ‘we are all going to die’ articles. I think there is a pattern emerging here. Let us just keep the Rule by Mandate and the Rule by Convenience going as long as we can.
    
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    January 1, 2022 8:57am
    - blue collar
      
      Bang on ruahine, was bad enough with her overnight captains calls within the law , now they are rampaging around outside the normal laws, using emergency powers to do whatever the hell they like …. why stop ?
      Keep the fear going in the false pandemic .
      
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      January 1, 2022 10:57am
    - jgw739
      
      Similar to cases or positive wastewater results popping up out the blue in low vaccination rate areas a few months back. Then no further spread or news. Did these cases actually exist?
      
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      January 1, 2022 1:56pm
- NK
  
  But Boris addressed the Nation a week or so ago pleading with them all to get booster shots!!
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:35am
  - ISeeRed
    
    He seems one very confused individual. Thank God he’s not PM.
    
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    January 1, 2022 2:26pm
- Scooter
  
  Well the rest of Europe are pushing through even harsher measures so I don’t hold out much hope that things will go back to normal anytime this year. Now govt’s have imposed Green Passes ie need at least 2 or 3 doses to do the most basic things. They (in Italy) now have the “Super” Green Pass which only allows for vaccination or recovery but not testing negative, so slowly the screws are being tightened. I really don’t see boosters being widely accepted by most past the third dose so what govt’s have planned to keep the vacc pass going is anyone’s guess.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:16am
- Ed Snack
  
  Outdoors though, is pretty safe. There’s very little data suggesting that Covid spreads in an outdoor setting. Seems that a person needs a certain concentration of virus laden air in order to inhale it deep enough so that the upper respiratory tract defences don’t stop it, and that is really hard to achieve in an outdoor setting.
  
  Would also explain why “Omicron” is more infectious, it apparently infects higher up the respiratory system rather than right in the lungs, so needs lower concentrations to do so; but this also reduces the damage to critical lung tissue that drives the most serious symptoms and also the deaths.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:58am
- krazykiwi
  
  “The CDC says it’s not omicron unless it comes from the Omicrônne region of France, otherwise it’s just sparkling covid”
  
  🙂
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:53pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

FB meme, “Don’t worry guys, 2022 will be better”
Factcheckers flagged it as false
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January 1, 2022 8:08am
- cmm
  
  Let’s hope is is 2022 and not 2020 too.
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:46am
artemisia

Covid-19: Market stall holders start new event ‘ignoring’ safety rules

AKA voting with their tents. Seems to be confusion about what the stall holders can and cannot do but so far so good.

”Motueka Sunday Market manager Judy Roper said she was “devastated”.” All about safety apparently and nothing about losing a huge chunk of her business. Yeah right.

Complaints were made about ‘safety’ at Nelson Free Marketeers site and a last ditch attempt to get publicity onto the front page. Which might backfire, because it is Stuff after all.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127399025/covid19-market-stall-holders-start-new-event-ignoring-safety-rules
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January 1, 2022 8:11am
- emmess
  
  Good, this is how we get out of this.
  By ignoring their ridiculous rules.
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:27am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Yep, time to practice some ‘Irish Democracy’
    https://nypost.com/2021/10/14/covid-regime-is-driving-americans-to-a-healthy-noncompliance/
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:43am
  - mawm
    
    Heh! The “Karen” is complaining that everybody left her to her stupid rules.
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:58am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  It’s just nuts requiring people in open tents to wear masks. And handwashing out in the sun is equally pointless for Covid.
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:41am
  - Other_Andy
    
    The use of common sense based on facts, decades of research and hundreds of years of knowledge was abandoned a while ago in favour of fear and senseless measures supported by culturally appropriate. manufactured consensus science.
    
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    January 1, 2022 8:58am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Don’t forget to thank Mr Baker, Ms Wiles, Mr Hendy and Mr Plank. They were the prime tools used by the princess to do this to the country, you and your friends and families. All hail Jacinda.
      
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      January 1, 2022 9:57am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        A thicker bunch of loud-mouthed f wits you couldn’t ask for. Supposed experts who never call out the obvious crap going on.
        
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        January 1, 2022 10:48am
      - smttc
        
        You forgot Rod “NZ should never go to green” Jackson.
        
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        January 1, 2022 12:23pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Even stupider to force punters at the Farmers Market, such as the one in Tauranga that’s entirely in the open air, to wear masks as they have been doing for some months now.
    
    I believe (and happy to be corrected if wrong) that there has been no case of Covid transmission in the open air in New Zealand. Not one.
    
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    January 1, 2022 2:46pm
- Surely Knott
  
  As usual they try and blur the lines in the article. “She said her market was operating within the Covid-19 framework, requiring public-facing stallholders to wear masks, regardless of face covering exemptions, display QR Codes and a hold vaccine pass.” And the Freedom market is not.
  
  But the markets are not required to scan vaccine passes they are retail. Just like you can go to the mall without a vax pass. And the fact the government doesn’t distinguish between indoor and outdoor spaces in the legislation is ludicrous.
  
  Correction: At the bottom of the article they say a community fair is an event. So with events you need a vax pass. But retail you don’t. Is a market an event or retail. And why should you need a pass at a distanced outdoor event.
  
  I hope people vote with their feet. This isn’t about health it’s about coercion
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:21am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Coercion… aka punishment for those who assert their inalienable right to bodily autonomy. Our resolve is a threat to the rapidly metastasising totalitarian urges within leadership.
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:12am
  - Nickc2
    
    and personal power.
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:45am
  - artemisia
    
    Outdoor markets are all good at red and orange, with 1m social distancing available at the venue but does not need to be adhered to. Face coverings required except if exempt though the official site refers to required ‘inside a retail business’. Anyway retailers are only allowed to ask if a person is exempt, not check further.
    
    Is being at an outdoor market counted as being inside a retail business?
    
    Stupid games, stupid prizes.
    
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    January 1, 2022 3:04pm
  - Sacha
    
    And aren’t they take-away businesses anyway?
    
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    January 1, 2022 6:17pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    I watched in disbelief as two of our “enthusiastic” boys in blue harassed a local cafe doing takeaway. They decided they couldn’t do the discrimination and asking for papers and are getting a lot of support.
    The police were pushing hard to find a breach of rules. The owner knew his stuff and was very polite in explaining that he was complying with all the instructions and if he was breaking any rules could they let them know what it was.
    I listened in disbelief as one of these mini brown shirts twice said “yeah but your pushing the boundaries aren’t you”. What a fucking asshole. If he was breaking the rules tell him. If he wasn’t then he wasn’t. There’s no such thing as “pushing the boundaries”. I’m guessing some Karen out there got upset because the business was getting good support. Probably a competitor doing the princesses bidding.
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:57pm
- Rich Prick
  
  They are not “safety” rules, they are just rules. The use of adjectives in politics usually indicates spin.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:27am
  - jgw739
    
    Where is Kimbo these days?
    
    He had a thing about adjectives.
    
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    January 1, 2022 2:01pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  What a Nation of narks we have become.
  
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  January 2, 2022 10:39pm
krazykiwi

Happy New Year all.
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January 1, 2022 8:12am
- Lee C
  
  Backatcha krazy…
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:36am
- chukar
  
  KK,
  And a PROSPEROUS New Year
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:20pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Time to restart the 2024 campaign.
https://www.facebook.com/boatersfortrump/videos/1372019519669706/
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January 1, 2022 8:17am
curry4me

CAPE TOWN, Dec 30 (Reuters) – South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, a government statement said on Thursday.
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January 1, 2022 8:30am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsIp0JCaw9w

This is the state of New Zealand and NZ Police.

Home to a burglary, smashed up office, personal stuff gone through, firearms and ammo were taken from me as an NZ Gun Owner and licence holder. Called 111 Emergency, made a report. Checked calls. Guess who did it? A message was left – It was the NZ Police! [5:26]
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January 1, 2022 8:30am
- RiP NZ
  
  Meanwhile,
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dangerous-bikers-swarm-central-auckland-damage-police-patrol-car/F2YZLBIHCVL6XPUR57CDKVRQ4M/
  
  ‘The spokesman said that with a group this size it was not practical for police to intervene as it would cause significant risk to other road users and police staff’
  
  Words fail me.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:28am
  - blue collar
    
    50 officers with road spikes , ambush em , confiscate bikes n a good old fashioned errr let’s just say they all fell over n walked into doors in the cells ; ) .
    End of
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:02am
  - Surely Knott
    
    A group of black balaclava wearing dirt bikers was reported via social media to be hooning around the Totara Park running cycle tracks a week ago. I assume it is the same ones. It never made the news.
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:00pm
  - Jim
    
    So the message to criminals is clear…be audacious and do crime in large numbers. We’ve seen this with the gangs intimidating the public whilst impotent NZP look on with binoculars. Perhaps I can see why many American’s defend their second amendment rights so fiercely.
    
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    January 1, 2022 6:45pm
- kevn
  
  @curry… I recall this guy being hassled outside his church. Ugly scene this time around.
  cindys NZ.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:29am
  - curry4me
    
    kevn: Yeah, I saw that video too.
    
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    January 1, 2022 3:16pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Lawyer up. Email the vid to woke Coster, Minister of Police Williams.
  Let’s get a finance fund going to sort this shit out.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:52am
  - curry4me
    
    Steve Otto(North Shore) Certainly. I’d kick in some dosh.
    
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    January 1, 2022 3:17pm
- Sacha
  
  That is really disturbing.
  What a betrayal!
  I have never had much to do with the police and have always had respect for the work that they do, but this incident tells me that they are adopting a new role and it’s not to their credit.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:54am
- RockyJ
  
  That is alarming at face value. Are you a member of a gang?
  Maybe the white law abiding male gang?
  The most dangerous animal is a white man in a suit. I read that.
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:05am
- krazykiwi
  
  That is pretty disgusting. Shameful behaviour from the Police.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:03am
- mandk
  
  Well, the unit that the cops set up to carry out surveillance on people who are critical of the government has to do something to justify its existence.
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:15pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Shocking……….sigh
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:14pm
curry4me

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

Study Says Omicron Could end the CCP virus Pandemic, Antibodies Protect against Other Variants.

A new study suggests that catching Omicron PROTECTS against other variants like Delta. Experts say this could help usher in an endemic stage of the virus which could lead to herd immunity. This could be good news for those hoping for a return to normal life. However, according to experts it will likely get worse before it gets better. [7:55]
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January 1, 2022 8:31am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Not all doom and gloom out there.
https://thepoliticalinsider.com/chick-fil-a-owner-surprises-employees-with-big-gifts-at-christmas-party/?
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January 1, 2022 8:31am
Tony Stuart

Happy New Year to all.

It’s also the start of the test cricket season at home, and I will be camped in front of the television for much of today. At last I can do my replica World Test Championship Final Blackcaps shirt, which I will wear proudly on the first day of each home test match this summer. I have one wish for the Bangladesh series, that Ross Taylor adds to his tally of 21 test centuries before he retires from the game.
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January 1, 2022 8:31am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Re Taylor, he timed his announcement nicely. Better to retire with dignity before being dropped.
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:34am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Absolutely. I gather his decision not to play the tests against South Africa was because New Zealand will have seperate squads for the ODI’s and tests later in the season. This will make it easier to manage COVID bubbles. I see Australian batsman Travis Head has been ruled out of the New Year test at Sydney after a positive test result.
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:21am
    - Opie
      
      Of course travis head was so sick he didnt even know he had it until he had a pcr test (asymptomatic)…
      
      I wish we had a decent opposition for the start of the home cricket season (and a good coverage provider after spark ruined cricket on television) but equally it’s a great opportunity for Taylor to take a well deserved “victory lap”
      
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      January 1, 2022 9:45am
- amospicton
  
  Hope he gets to finish with an average over 45 – has dipped just under that level.
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:42am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Indeed. His average currently sits at 44.87. He’s also 312 runs ahead of Kane Williamson in test runs, so at the very least will retire as New Zealand’s highest run-scorer in the test match game.
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:18am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Yep, great player and always a pleasure to watch.
      
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      January 1, 2022 10:20am
Other_Andy

The Wiggles, Ru Paul, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Lorde, the UN worker from Fiji and now the British DJ, Dimension who managed to ‘win’ the MIQ lottery three times.
It looks like it pays to be in Clarke’s and Jacinda’s good book. But of course they have no influence on the the MIQ process.
And now, for the next Tui ad…..
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January 1, 2022 8:34am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Corrupt and cunning as shithouse rats
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:56am
  - mawm
    
    She reminds me of that nasty little girl in junior school who lies all the time and blames everything on someone else. She just hasn’t grown up.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:18am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Then the teach holds the whole class back, collective punishment because one shitstirrer won’t own up
      
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      January 1, 2022 10:51am
- krazykiwi
  
  Grounded Kiwis are suing the government. Wellington high court, 26-27 Jan.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:13am
Scooter

Gee Cindy’s been busy over the break posting on FB, last few years she is never heard from not even a Happy New Year, maybe she knows the deep discontent felt by NZers.
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January 1, 2022 8:45am
Alan Wilkinson

I see Wellington ICU hasn’t had to treat a single Covid patient and the doc is thanking Jacinda’s slaves. He probably should be thanking Wellington wind and Auckland’s prisoners..
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January 1, 2022 8:45am
- NK
  
  Or maybe because the virus isn’t very potent?
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:50am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    More that the virus never seriously got established in Wellington.
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:22am
    - rouppe
      
      C&CDHB is at 95% vaccination. Why aren’t we in green?
      
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      January 1, 2022 5:06pm
Lee C

My first 2022 prediction is:

2022 will be the year of the pushback against the covid-inspired tyrants and their brainwashed minions.

And it will succeed.
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January 1, 2022 8:46am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I think Jaspinda may be waking up. She does hate Auckland so there may be another lockdown to try and regain control. Auckland just has to ignore her commie shit.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:02am
  - Sacha
    
    She has a private property in Auckland, and is an elected MP.
    Why does she hate Auckland?
    
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    January 1, 2022 9:58am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Evil Capitalism, defeats the socialist control narrative
      
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      January 1, 2022 10:53am
    - Bea Rossini
      
      She doesn’t – Steve’s making shit up.
      
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      January 1, 2022 11:13am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Because Auckland now hates her.
      
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      January 1, 2022 12:23pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I sure as hell do. At 69 I don’t need her shit. Man can’t even enjoy semi retirement for fuck’s sake
        
        16 2
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        January 1, 2022 1:33pm
- Fletch
  
  We need this govt to immediately cease all hostility to New Zealanders starting today. I call for an end to the so called traffic light system and the discrimination against kiwis.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:40pm
wineman

Betty White dead just days away from her 100th. Many memories of her on TV.
RIP.
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January 1, 2022 8:46am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Not the start we wanted to 2022 here,but of course in the USA, it’s still 2021!
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:23am
TT500

Does anyone know when this years series of
The Podium of Truth starts ?
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January 1, 2022 8:56am
- Rich Prick
  
  1.00pm today, and this year they will be compulsory viewing, comrade.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:35am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    No podium of truth announcement today, we are blessed with a written statement stating there is no truth to promulgate on the first day of the New Year.
    
    Tomorrow, there will still be no new truth either but the podium will be in full noise with Billy bullshit . . .
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:25am
  - pdm
    
    I will be on trackside – bloody sure it will not show there.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:34am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The podium maybe, but the truth: never.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:56am
  - gravedodger
    
    Odium is correct spelling? Someone took the “P”—
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:31am
    - dubya
      
      Clarke took it, I think.
      
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      January 1, 2022 3:48pm
Odakyu-sen

If you are vaccinated then get Omicron and recover, will you still have to get booster shots to retain your “freedoms”?

Sooner or later, people will tire of all this.
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January 1, 2022 9:00am
- Other_Andy
  
  Sooner or later….
  I tired of this in April 2020.
  Still waiting for the psychosis to pass.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:26am
- Benedict Yu
  
  My vaccine pass expires in May. In fact they all expire then. I won’t be having a booster in January which is when my 4 months is up.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:39am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Summer is the best time for Om to enter NZ. The boosters are well underway for those that want them, and the bulk of Group 3 and 4 and SupaSaturday vaxinated are very well protected.
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:46am
  - Opie
    
    Benedict, I watch your changing position with great interest. You show sound character to change as information comes to light.
    
    What will you do come May when your pass expires and the government decrees a booster to renew it?
    
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    January 1, 2022 12:52pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Benedict Yu what is your rationale for not getting a booster?
    
    I’m not knocking your decision. I’m just interested to know your line of thinking on that.
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:50pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Anyone making New Year’s Resolutions this year?

(One of the advantages of old age…I’ve already forgotten if I made one).
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January 1, 2022 9:06am
- Jack5
  
  A humorous take on resolutions …
  
  https://www.cbc.ca/comedy/5-famous-new-year-s-resolutions-from-history-1.4460283
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:33am
- Lee C
  
  Somewhere out there there is someone resolving to get into someone else’s knickers this year.
  
  Is all I know, Maggy.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:34am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  I gave up when I found I could hold my breath longer that I could stick to any resolution . . .
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:27am
- Jim
  
  Yep to maintain fitness and not to have the boostersssss
  
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  January 1, 2022 7:04pm
lifesgood

Where did this “Happy New Years” nonsense come from. Is it a wish that every year henceforth be happy? I thought we were just going into one New Year.
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January 1, 2022 9:26am
I remember when

Did the TV1 welcome of 2022 reach the pinnacle of plumbing the depths.
What a sad, sorry, disappointing so called celebration.
Seemed to have elements of the ‘Lost Underworld’.
Fortunately I ventured outside during it and the usual fireworks hoarders managed to provide some festive sparkle.
A triumph of private enterprise over government control.
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January 1, 2022 9:32am
- Inandout
  
  IRW, we tuned into TV1 a few minutes before midnight and there was a hologram standing at a podium and two actors in cop’s uniforms gave a pathetically amateur display. Well in fact it was cringe material, one moustached male cop and one butch looking female cop creeping around the podium, then when Queen Jacinda appeared they attempted to hide behind the podium. For the two hours previous we were watching ‘Would I lie to You’ on YouTube, a thoroughly funny and clever show; oh the contrast to our shit.
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:05pm
- RiP NZ
  
  You watch the effort put into Matariki.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:07pm
TripeWryter

I was at the bottom of Albert St in Auckland yesterday afternoon catching up with an old school friend.
The peace and calm by the water was shattered by the noise and clatter of at least 100 boys on their mountain bikes – and a quad bike – ramming their way along Quay St west in a long, aggressive, and engine-revving convoy.
It was brute-force intimidation especially when three of them revved over to where my mate and I were seated and they just kept going round and round.
They were high on it.
Where were the police, we all asked.
Two police cars turned up about four minutes after these hoons had left. The cars were driven with great purpose by thems who were late to the show.
Later, on reading the NZ Herald site, we learn that these ‘bikers’ had started off earlier in the morning down in south Auckland.
They had made their way all the way up to the CBD – and that the police had been following and ‘monitoring’ their progress.
No-one was arrested.
I’m in Auckland having Christmas-New Year with my family.
One of the things you pick up is that people are sick of the police and their perceived gutlessness when it comes to dealing with gangs.
Commissioner Coster: people up here are not happy with you or the organisation you command. People do not feel safe.
My old mate, who’s in his 70s and has lived in Auckland for over 40 years, does not feel safe anymore.
All yesterday did was highlight the perceived ineffectiveness of the police.
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January 1, 2022 9:34am
- Pharmachick
  
  There is this: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300489125/arrests-made-motorbikes-impounded-after-reckless-new-years-eve-auckland-ride
  
  Its a start…
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:55pm
Benedict Yu

I have a friend who is unvaccinated. Only person I know who is unvaccinated.

Anyway, she is on holiday in Queenstown and surrounding districts. She posts to Facebook daily of her experiences in restaurants, accompanied by photos. All these restaurants require vaccine passes.

If she is indicative, my prediction about the usefulness of the vaccine pass has proved accurate.
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January 1, 2022 9:34am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Air New Zealand is giving snacks at the end of flights. Good to know that was a lead story yesterday.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:36am
  - Paulus
    
    Years ago Lufthansa has a small bar at the start point of every flight from which you helped yourself to a coffee or, and sandwich/cake or whatever.
    No service anywhere on the aircraft.
    Was good and made sense.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:38am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Snacks at the end of the flight, so the mask theatre can not be interrupted. Is my guess.
    
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    January 1, 2022 11:56am
    - rouppe
      
      That is the reason given. What a joke.
      
      Bloody pathetic. Made worse by the fact you can still ask for water and not wear a mask while sipping it
      
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      January 1, 2022 5:13pm
  - Fletch
    
    Seems a bit pointless then. The whole point of a meal midway is so you don’t get hungry, being without food that long on the plane. Once you’re at your destination you can go get a real meal.
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:48pm
- Roona
  
  I’m in Akaroa, have been to 9 different restaurants/ cafes/ pubs and not been asked for passport once.
  In Queenstown last week , was asked once, that included several stops on way down from Christchurch.
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:01pm
I remember when

“The Economist” has drawn attention to the fact that India is no longer reporducing at replacement rate.
That will make Africa an ever more important provider of the world’s workforce.
It is going to be great watching the Left discuss population growth control, while trying not to sound racist.
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January 1, 2022 9:38am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  Yeah, “get a career before you think about kids” and “excess population and human consumption is the cause of climate change”, while at the same time, “we have an aging population, so we need more Africans.” Oh dear.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:39am
- Jack5
  
  The article I link to belowsuggests only that India’s population of 1.2 billion may be at its peak.
  
  It also highlights gender balance in India: there are now more women than men.
  
  Educated, smart women, declining population pressure: these should mean India is close to economic take-off.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/25/india-has-more-women-than-men-for-first-time-survey-finds
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:58pm
Chuck Bird

Do others think the picture in the photo is definitely DJ Dimension?

https://twitter.com/Suitandtie9999/status/1476489296886468609
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January 1, 2022 9:39am
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s definitely Robert Etheridge, aka DJ Dimension, and was taken at an earlier Rhythm and Vines festival. There’s another one where Ardern and Etheridge are joined by Clarke Gayford and Hamish Pinkham, the R&V founder and head honcho.
  
  Gayford has been a supporter of R&V since its inception, and will be a close contact of Pinkham. That may explain why the PM was quoted late last year as pulling out all stops to let summer festivals go ahead.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-pm-vows-to-find-a-way-for-summer-festivals-to-go-ahead/I5U2XZX3WVV3YIZRFSQ2AOG3RE/
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:56am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Thanks Tony. I will let the media know.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:32am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Hi Tony,
    
    Would you email me, please?
    
    chuckbirdnz@gmail.com
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:45am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Hi Tony,
    
    Would you email me, please?
    
    chuckbirdnz@gmail.com
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:47am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    It is also the reason certain festivals got an insurance guarantee from this Government if their event was cancelled.
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/455274/government-announces-insurance-scheme-for-large-summer-events
    
    How many other events/ventures have been left out of pocket and Our Dear PM didn’t give a stuffy poo.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:50am
    - kowtow
      
      And the law change to allow illegal narcotics testing?
      
      Wheels within wheels.
      
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      January 1, 2022 12:47pm
- ecco
  
  Yes looks like the bloke. Of course he’s a mate of Cindy’s. How else could you queue jump MIQ over 30k expat kiwis. For some good holiday reading go over to Grounded Kiwi fb page. They are very angry about this guy getting three exemptions to come in.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:39am
- DeepBlue
  
  Not sure, others are saying this guy is the R&As organiser. You need to check.
  
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  January 1, 2022 12:10pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Had a look at this Twitter link and someone out of the PM’s politburo of spin and deflection called Clint Smith commented that the DJ was able to get a MIQ spot because there were seven free spaces/rooms at the time and that no kiwi wanting to come home was disadvantaged.
  Is this true?
  It doesn’t seem reconcilable to the stories on here and even in $tuff about the deprivations families and workers have been experiencing.
  Admittedly, I am no expert on the MIQ system. – but a lot of the Labour Party sycophants will be only too happy to believe the Clint Smith spin.
  Happy New Year
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:12pm
  - Nickc2
    
    There were no NZers waiting to come home under the Covid MHQ online draw on three occasions this clown waltzed in? Gimme a break FFS. If that’s the best her spin doctors can do, there must be shades of guilt abound.
    
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    January 1, 2022 1:27pm
  - Hollyfield
    
    I think it’s spin – because even if true that these were last minute spaces that became available, out of all the New Zealanders stuck overseas there would have been someone willing to take it at short notice. Probably not mum, dad and 4 kids as they would likely need some time to organise themselves, but a person travelling on their own would have leapt at the opportunity.
    I believe the lottery has a waiting list – someone with a media presence (Mike Hosking I think?) said his daughter had been unsuccessful several times, then finally she made it to the waitlist and gradually crept up higher and higher until something like 4th place before it cut off. So there should have been people on that waitlist – especially just before Christmas.
    Is this the same Clint Smith of “Hey Clint” fame from a few years ago? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaOMGLINdpw
    
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    January 1, 2022 2:32pm
  - Squeek
    
    This guy Clint Smith seems to be an integral part of the Jacinda machine.
    
    He has a strategy and communications consultancy. So not sure why he would know exactly how many MIQ places are free, as (in my ignorance) I would have thought that was confidential Government information.
    
    Apart from that, Clint claims to have come up with the idea of stopping interest tax deductions on residential investment property. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/30-11-2020/one-simple-idea-to-fix-new-zealands-dysfunctional-housing-market
    
    So I am assuming he must be some sort of economics guru.
    
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    January 1, 2022 3:40pm
  - tavita
    
    My immediate thought was, with many people desparate to get home, how come spaces were vacant. Just missmanagement
    
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    January 1, 2022 6:25pm
- Scooter
  
  This link has a photo of Robert Etheridge aka Dj Dimension. Doesn’t look like the one in tge photo wit Cindy.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/458797/new-zealand-s-first-omicron-community-case-dj-dimension-devastated-by-news
  
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  January 2, 2022 12:05am
Lee C

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsIp0JCaw9w
Carl Bromley, sn outspoken pastor and critic of the Government was out enjoying New Year’s Eve.
While out, teh NZ police entered his property and ransacked it, ripping out his gun from its locked cabinet, going through drawers and confiscating ammunition. Because a ‘concerned citizen’ raised ‘concerns about him being a gun-owner’.

Welcome to 2022, when under the cover of night, unannounced your police force can enter your home and do this in your absence.

Because you criticised your Government.
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January 1, 2022 9:47am
- Rich Prick
  
  I predict 2022 will be the year of the Koncerned Karens.
  
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  January 1, 2022 9:58am
  - Yvette
    
    World reacts to Jacinda Ardern ‘Karen’ comment about Judith Collins
    In Parliament, Ardern said she disagreed with Collins’ statement that it could become “illegal to call someone a ‘Karen’. That is absolutely incorrect, and I apologise that means these laws will not protect the member from such a claim.”
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/07/world-reacts-to-jacinda-ardern-karen-comment-about-judith-collins.html
    
    Ardern seems to be unaware of the New Zealand Karen Association, and that derogatory reference to “Karens” is denigrating an ethnic minority in New Zealand, which one would think may be part of the very “hate laws” which Ardern at the time was arguing over.
    No wonder she can’t seem to fucking define what she is talking about.
    
    reference for Ardern –
    https://www.facebook.com/NZKarenAssociation/?fref=nf
    and example – https://www.facebook.com/crk.france
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:31am
- Tony Stuart
  
  If this is being reported accurately, it is outrageous behaviour by the New Zealand Police against a licensed firearms owner.
  
  And yet multiple Police stood by yesterday and allowed young punks on trailbikes to ride like hoons through the Auckland CBD, putting the public at risk. I am not criticising those frontline Police. My concern is towards those who gave the orders not to intervene.
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:00am
  - pdm
    
    Inv – spit it out.
    
    You mean Poto Williams and Coster the Imposter.
    
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    January 1, 2022 10:37am
- Diogenes
  
  If the police did indeed target Carl in this manner, it is a most alarming, and vile, incident. You wonder who on earth you can complain to? The one concern I have, though, is that Carl has not actually shown any evidence that it was the police. He talks about a message, but it would be very helpful to see some documentation, or a recording of any phone call, if possible. I don’t doubt his sincerity, but it is not outside the realms of possibility that he has been targeted by someone else, using the police as a scapegoat. At the very least, an affidavit is called for. If the police were behind this, a high level enquiry is vital.
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:54pm
Cassandra

On the face of it, this is an appalling abuse of power. Does the Police do this to gangs?
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January 1, 2022 10:01am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  The gangs don’t criticise the government, on the contrary, they seem to advance the government’s agenda. Think about that for a minute.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:41am
- Nickc2
  
  Of course not, they have been told to negotiate.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:32pm
- mawm
  
  Are the police a gang?
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:01pm
- chukar
  
  All,
  Do police not need search warrants anymore?
  And can they enter private property without contacting the owners thereof?
  I know Council Environmental officers can enter private land but have to advise of their entry either by leaving notification or contacting the owner,
  Their authority does not include dwellings.
  
  It seems their needs to be an urgent review of these powers!
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:47pm
Maggie Pie

A PINCH AND A PUNCH 😀

The thing I’d say about Fleur and her partner…they sure know how to throw a NY’s party. Just a pity a few of the guests don’t know how to behave!
Honestly, who throws asparagus-rolls into someone’s swimming pool?
And that wasn’t the worst of it 🙁
I could see Fleur would have liked a hand to clean up, so we quietly snuck off home during the fireworks display.
I’ll txt her soon and say thx for a fab nite.

One of the guys we met was telling us he knew man about town and one time party boy, Brooke Howard-Smith. Long time bestie of the ‘First Fisherman’ he reckons. And rumored to be MC at the Royal Wedding on the 15th. Sounds like he might have been given a ‘third-strike-warning’ from ClarkE not to drop anything into the speech that might upset the bride’s parents.
Everyone’s got butterflies apparently. LOL!!
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January 1, 2022 10:05am
- Biscuit
  
  I have an alibi, Maggie…
  Something to do with your pals inexplicably NOT inviting me to their party…
  
  But I have to confess that if someone offered me an asparagus roll at any party I did get invited to I’d have been looking about for some place … ‘Ooh, lookety, a pool!’ … into which to bin it…
  
  [Strange how my three main pet food hates – asparagus, avocado, mushy peas – are all similarly coloured…
  
  We have a neat market here that I get all my fresh produce from.
  There’s a guy there who sells avocados there and he chuckles as I walk past his stall with my hands over my eyes.
  My name for the avocado’s main by-product – Guacashit – should clue you in there, ha.]
  
  Still, if we all liked the same thing, life would be a tad boring, eh?
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:43am
- blue collar
  
  Hey Maggie pie … I’m nominating you to organise n host the first Kiwibloggers ball …. be great to put faces to names n get on it …. I’m a qualified asparagus roll retriever , includes water n land
  Might hv to hire a suit but
  Unless jeans , shirt , n R.M Williams boots are acceptable
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:25am
- nathie
  
  Who the heck is Brooke Howard-Smith?
  
  Thanks to Google we find he has a rather “inflated” sense of superiority and looks down on people …. he seems to be in the “right” in-crowd then!
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/91bbb/brooke_howard_smith_is_a_dick/
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:38am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  “Everyone’s got butterflies apparently.” Probably due to the questionable stimulants.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:43am
ClanMcleod

The circus is heading out of town,,,,,,

“Watch phony baloney tony having to back off on the pediatric patient inflation grift.”

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/sanity-spreads-and-the-circus-slinks/comments
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January 1, 2022 10:10am
ecco

HNY all. Have enjoyed this blog this year. Well done to the team.

Has anyone noticed that there are a lot of advertorials pumping Hipkins and trying to improve his image on $tuffed & Ferald at the moment. Family man, had to go and get his suit, working over holidays, his mother looking out for him etc etc etc. Clearly paid for by Cindy and co.

Unfortunately for him my estimation of him has not gone up one iota with these paid ads. At the same time all discussion of the DJ has disappeared completely. Where is he? What’s happening with the investigation as to how he got omicron?? $tuffed and Ferald total bought out mouthpieces of the Labour government.
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January 1, 2022 10:12am
- Paulus
  
  Of course I understand his Mother is a teacher with strong Union affiliations, so he only has to ask her re Education Dept anything, as he only has time to tell the nation re lockdowns and other lies.
  
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  January 1, 2022 10:42am
- Hollyfield
  
  Two takeaways from the last few days.
  
  1. Chris Hipkins’s mother has more manners than anyone in Government. Those press conferences always, always start late. Except I think once the day after there had been some comment in the media about every conference starting late. And they almost never apologise for starting late – although I do remember one occasion when they were about 20 minutes late and Jacinda acknowledged this, saying it was IT related and mentioned a printer jam. It is unheard of for a meeting in my workplace to start late. The expectation is set, and we therefore all meet it. If the person hosting the meeting was late, they would be spoken to, and they would ensure it didn’t happen again. It is basic courtesy and respect to the other people to start your meeting on time.
  
  2. The Government still hasn’t learned about basic forward planning. The ministers are on holiday for about a month. Even the tiniest amount of thought should have indicated the possibility of a press conference being needed at some point during that month. We’ve had Delta for months, and Omicron at the border since 16 December – so it’s likely something would have happened before the ministers return on (I think) 17 January. If it was important to Chris Hipkins that he wear a suit for the press conference, a little forethought would have ensured he had one while staying at his mother’s house. Or factoring in the time needed to get his suit before announcing the time of the press conference. Personally, unless his holidays clothes are really scruffy, I think he would have been better starting the press conference on time and acknowledging/apologising for his lack of business suit to journalists. In casual NZ, in the casual setting of a park, in the holidays between Christmas and New Year, I don’t think anyone would have been bothered by more casual clothing.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:28pm
- Nickc2
  
  Nothing on TV News last night either (or I missed it). Amazing the degrees of loyalty a cool $110m can buy and we’re not even in election mode yet.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:38pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Apropos of DJ Dimension & the arrival of Omicron, I see that its incubation period is being assessed as just three days. DJD had three negative tests over nine days.

So how & where did he catch Omicron?
39 0
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January 1, 2022 10:13am
- alloytoo
  
  Well, yesterday Souxie Wiles was claiming the incubation period was much longer for Omicron…..
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:59am
- Hollyfield
  
  Chris Hipkins says not in MIQ. Also interesting that according to Chris Hipkins:
  * the DJ had had several negative tests before the positive one
  * the 3-4 housemates of the DJ in Waiheke had ONE negative test since he had tested positive, and because of that negative result they are considered very low risk.
  Bit of a disconnect between those two statements.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:38pm
- rouppe
  
  Unbelievably Stuff reckons he might have still been incubating the virus after 10 days and 4 negative tests (including his pre-departure test)
  
  Perhaps he did not test positive until the fifth time of checking because the virus was still incubating.
  
  And pink hair says the incubation period could be longer. Against all the evidence from all over the world.
  
  Up is down, and short is long. I just don’t know what to say
  
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  January 1, 2022 5:30pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

I was thinking overnight about the New Years Honours list, and that none of the six Dame / Knighthoods really seemed worthy of that level of honour. All meritorious people, but perhaps an OMNZ would have been more appropriate?

To me the criteria should be an outstanding contribution in more than one field, especially if someone uses fame in one area to achieve great things elsewhere. The poster boy would be John Kirwan, who used his fame as an unsmiling All Black to confront the silence around mental health problems.

Another use case might be Don Bradman, whose record as a Test batsman is half as good again as the next best Test batsman (to date).

In recent years it seems that we have been handing out senior honours in ever greater numbers, mirroring the grade inflation trend in academia.

If there’s no one who meets the criteria in a given year, then don’t award any.
24 2
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January 1, 2022 10:23am
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  Fair point. What does it say about a country when those deemed “excellent” enough to be awarded a NY honour are so ho hum? It dilutes and diminishes the prestige.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:47am
- Spring Bank Westie
  
  To be fair, I would rather young people today look up to the likes of Lisa Carrington and Sophie Pascoe than the turgid swamp of influencers and so-called celebrities that are forming our future generation’s ideas of self worth.
  
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  January 1, 2022 3:08pm
Liberty

Stuff is stuffed.
It’s an appalling news web site.
International news and Local news are lacking.
It’s all covid, wedding, covid, Dear Leader, Covid, *Jethro. And more covid
It takes forever to load on the phone.
The banner advertising is nauseating.
It sucks of the media slush fund.
Hardly any articles allow comments
And if they do. It is time limited to the extreme. Robust criticism of Dear Leader Is a no go.
The good thing about the internet is
We can get the Uk Daily mail granted it is
A bit left.
No crappy banner advert
It’s Free
Full of international. News
You can comment on most articles
No censorship
It loads on the phone every time.
If Stuff wants the reader to pay.
It needs to get rid of the banner.
Pissing off possible customers is not a winner.
Fix your web site so it loads
Tell Dear leader to stick her slush fund where the sun doesn’t shine.
Allow uncensored comments
Most important fill with news.
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January 1, 2022 10:40am
- kowtow
  
  Liberty .
  
  Like all Media , you can be sure the DM comments are heavily censored. The whole thing’s a game.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:00pm
- Its only I
  
  The Stuff news site is just sounding a tool Labour. So many of Labour’s social media team members pose at independant commenters and flood the comment sections with synchronised pre planned comments at a ratio of at least three of theirs to one of anyone else.
  
  Often articles with open comments will be linked to something Labour are trying to test the waters for.
  
  Two Stuff staff went to work for Labours massive media team so I’m sure those useful links are not broken.
  
  Any “independent” news site whose reporters frequently declare their devotion to Labour half way through an article or is able to write a piece that says “yes, sexualy predatary behavour is bad in political parties but this is why Nationals is worse than Labours” should be taken as nothing more than a site devoted to the click counter and the advertising revenue that generates…..news? nah.
  
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  January 1, 2022 4:37pm
blue collar

Happy new year Kiwibloggers !!
My first year here , has been a pleasure .
This is the year it all comes undone , the big turn around , combo of inflation , interest rates , n Luxon .
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January 1, 2022 11:09am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

From my…. ‘You couldn’t make this sh*t up’ file 😀

“Wealthy fragrance heiress, Ms. Middel Fart, denies ever having affair the Jeffery Epstein. Also denies fling with Donald Trump”

https://mol.im/a/10356037
18 1
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January 1, 2022 11:11am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  You had me at the first line, Maggie
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:30am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  She denies it so maybe they did make it up? The name is outstanding though.
  
  14 0
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  January 1, 2022 11:41am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    You must admit tho Al, name aside, she oozes raunchiness laying in the pool on her paddle-board 😛
    Wish I’d brung mine home from the beach now.
    
    12 2
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    January 1, 2022 12:04pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      You made me check the photo again and it isn’t a paddle-board but some kind of pool structure, Maggie. As for Ms Raunchiness – a bit spare for my taste but no doubt fun for some.
      
      11 1
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      January 1, 2022 12:20pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Swimming lane divider – there is another to the left
        
        7 1
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        January 1, 2022 1:30pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I see you just got out of Omaha in time, Maggie. A teenager got run over and killed there.
    
    7 0
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    January 1, 2022 12:13pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Yes, we saw that earlier Al. Absolutely devastating.
      Not surprised tho…it was an accident waiting to happen.
      As I mentioned yesterday, Omaha is awash with hoons on jet skis, or they’re roaring around in old jap imports.
      Certainly not the sort of place where we’d want a holiday residence.
      Even JK saw the writing on the wall and cashed up.
      
      11 1
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      January 1, 2022 1:26pm
      - Close Hen Counters
        
        Same in pauanui Maggie – it is paradise to many but you have to wonder what some kids are thinking wandering all over the roads in the pitch dark (there is no street lighting in paua) … too many drunk idiots compromising everyone, virtually no one wearing bike helmets, morons roaring around in cars and plenty of rage in the car park and Supervalue … people need to chill a little
        
        RIP Omaha teenager … devastating for the families involved ?
        
        3 0
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        January 1, 2022 2:13pm
- Man Among the Ruins
  
  48? She’s about four decades too old for Epstein.
  
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  January 1, 2022 11:50am
blue collar

I can’t work out if Brenda is ;
A sheltered limited life experience moron
A mouthpiece while others run their agendas through her
A cunning commie running her agenda n using those around her ( Maori ) to ram it home
Or plain evidence that you can’t hv a baby n run a country efficiently as there just isn’t enough hours in the day to do it proper justice ( vacant to any unprepared question , ie no time to be briefed on much )
4 0
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January 1, 2022 11:16am
Reid

Summary of current state of play for Moronic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI5E8z89c9U
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January 1, 2022 11:30am
Ed Snack

Time for a New Year reminder, the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh is still flatlining in Covid cases and hospitalisations, and has since about October when their outbreak was apparently quashed very rapidly.

Uttar Pradesh has a vaccination rate not much over 5%, and has a population of over 240 Million. They have a secret, but apparently aren’t “allowed” to share that secret, too dangerous it seems.
The secret appears to be I*e*m*c*i* which they dispensed in bulk along with other prophylactics like Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, and low dose doxycycline (an antibiotic used with lung infections).

If such an effective treatment exists, and it is being withheld from most of the world, what is the appropriate charges and sentences for those responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries that have resulted from the conspiracy to withhold ?

And why doesn’t a responsible Health Minister send a small team to validate these apparently exceptional results ?

Hey, it may be an illusion, but the data we have is surely worth investigating ?
4 0
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January 1, 2022 12:14pm
Jack5

Feeling a bit old? Shake it off with this …

Rod Stewart, who will be be 77 on January 10, sings in this video put up for view just eight weeks ago:

https://youtu.be/VyhWxp8dDl0

Or, if you like Country and Western, Romanian band leader Petre Geambasu, in his 70’s, sings a number long popular in Latin America, Celoso. This is based on Tex Ritter’s Jealous Heart, from the 1940s.

It’s better when you don’t know the words!

https://youtu.be/ACoDK2gOKIA
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January 1, 2022 12:17pm
Rusty

My experiences so far is that cafes and eateries aren’t asking for covid passes — I haven’t been asked — just go in — order and sit outside.

Though maybe I don’t go to busy and gossipy cafes which could be the reason.

Dairies, petrol stations, and supermarkets — not noticing a lot of contact tracing going on.

Bottom line — businesses need customers — who can blame them?
5 0
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January 1, 2022 12:33pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Grief…

I remember similar episodes during life in Wellington over Xmas-NYear and Easter breaks.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/127401370/bad-smells-for-christmas-as-rubbish-goes-uncollected-bins-sit-overflowing-for-weeks

I’ve never had any problems with rubbish collection in 7+ years in Gisborne.
14 0
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January 1, 2022 12:33pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  This problem will be related to Hutt City’s recent introduction of wheelie bins. No problem with stand-alone houses (except then it’s windy) but big issues with multiple-unit properties.
  
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  January 1, 2022 2:29pm
Nickc2

Who’s pulling this clown’s strings? WHO Chief says ending inequity will end the pandemic.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/politics/who-chief-gives-new-year-speech-if-we-end-inequity-we-end-the-pandemic/ar-AASjLMg?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
What a load of crap! If this clown and the rest of his UN lefty mates got of their shiny arses and did something about inequity in Africa, perhaps there wouldn’t be widespread Covid-19.
He’s attempting to redistribute wealth from those who do something for their money to those who do nothing and expect to be given money. If this sounds like parts of NZ, it’s purely coincidental.
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January 1, 2022 12:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Brandon is going downhill.
Guy buys a “Let’s go Brandon bumper sticker and puts it over his Biden sticker. The writing is on the wall for the Dems.

https://steadfastandloyal.com/news-for-you/the-popularity-of-lets-go-brandon-is-climbing-as-fast-as-bidens-poll-numbers-drop/
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January 1, 2022 12:50pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300489129/police-seize-1kg-of-methamphetamine-in-wairoa-amid-rising-gang-tensions
A kg of meth?
In some countries that would mean a death penalty, and well-deserved.
26 0
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January 1, 2022 12:52pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That $2.75M gift really sorted things out didn’t it Jaspinda?
  
  28 1
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  January 1, 2022 12:58pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Might be time to establish some of those Meth Rehabilitation programs in Wairoa…..
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125721619/pm-one-of-the-ministers-who-approved-275-million-funding-for-mongrel-mobled-rehab-programme
    
    (Though that might just shift the problem up country)
    
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    January 1, 2022 3:53pm
- Nickc2
  
  However, in Lil-Olde-NZ, there’s room for negotiation, a sympathetic justice system and a love at all costs Govt. Take your pick.
  Oh, and then there are the favoured people vs the rest dichotomy.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:19pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This works in NZ ///
https://rumble.com/vrpj4n-irs-reminds-criminals-to-report-income-from-illegal-activities-thefts.html?
7 1
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January 1, 2022 1:25pm
- artemisia
  
  In the US thieves have to report and pay income tax on the market value of stuff they stole unless it is returned to the owner in the same tax year. If that’s a Maserati or the Hope Diamond, the thief is in big trouble.
  
  Here IRD requires tax to be paid on all income of course, nothing new there and tax evasion is a serious business. As Al Capone found out. There would be some interesting cases if, as seems likely, the black / grey economy here is around $20 bill pa.
  
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  January 1, 2022 2:03pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    ‘Hope Diamond’ I have a blue glass replica LOL
    
    1 1
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    January 2, 2022 7:58am
Yvette

Track to treasured ancient ngahere reopens – RNZ
The nation will now learn the Maori te reo word “ngahere”.

This was heralded about three days ago – not in the herald, but on Kiwiblog – Guest Post:
Sayers Challenges Mayors Targeted Rate
A guest release by Greg Sayers:
quoting – • $13.3 million for urban ngahere, māra kai (food gardens) and tiny forests

– which, when you know the meaning of “ngahere”, is indeed probably a silly sentence.
As is this comment for also not giving the meaning of “ngahere”

Clue: Ardern is going to concentrate on Climate Change this year – so that is screwed – and James Shaw is going to help Ardern screw it by getting other countries involved in “nga ngahere” on our behalf.
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January 1, 2022 1:27pm
Pharmachick

This is Colleen M Flood, she specializes in health policy. If we could get her back [*and if the govt. would listen] she might fix the disaster zone that is Pharmac. I don’t know Dr. Flood, came across her work in the context of some stuff I was doing for the federal government (of Canada).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_M._Flood

http://colleenmflood.ca/pdf/CM_Flood_CV_2015.pdf

Hope you all had a good new year, its NYE here.
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January 1, 2022 1:29pm
- rangitoto
  
  Not a chance unless she changes career and becomes a DJ.
  
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  January 1, 2022 1:44pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Happy New Year to you A
  
  11 1
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  January 1, 2022 2:01pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  My ex Prof first at Canterbury then at UVic BC where he eventually became the VC. Some familiar names in the publication list especially my old labmate Dave Leonard who brought his PhD back to NZ and then did medicine and became a GP in Blenheim married to Marie also a GP. Heard a lot of Leonard Cohen while Dave was working there.
  
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  January 1, 2022 2:30pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Oops, link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alfred-Fischer – a very smart good West Coaster.
    
    8 0
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    January 1, 2022 2:31pm
    - Pharmachick
      
      OMG – my [recently graduated] MSc student did a senior undergrad project with one of his former Grad students (now a Prof) at UVic before signing on for grad school with me…
      
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      January 1, 2022 2:50pm
Truman lodge

Can someone explain why omicron must be kept out and stamped out in nz?

The rest of the planet is getting omicron in huge numbers, yet our govt wants to keep delta as the variant of choice in nz.

If the world eventually only has omicron and we only have delta doesn’t that mean never opening up? Unless you have a 4th booster.
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January 1, 2022 1:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Delta gives much more fear porn control
  
  2 1
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  January 2, 2022 8:00am
Hollyfield

I love this comment in the Herald, about a 9 year old girl who was bitten on the big toe by a small shark:

Siblings Lilly, Latesha and Taymin are nonplussed when Cordelia tells them, “You’re not as tough as me, I survived a shark attack.”

I can just see a 9 year old holding that over her siblings for as long as she possibly can. I don’t know the family at all, but from that one comment I like this plucky kid.

Hopefully she can still use the story when returns to school.
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January 1, 2022 1:46pm
I remember when

Watched the compilation by the British DJ, Dimension – didn’t do anything for me.

Then I realised I was (a) sober and (b) don’t use drugs.
6 1
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January 1, 2022 2:01pm
TT500

I wonder if Winston has still got that bus he
drove round in 2017.

You know the one that had HAD ENOUGH
painted on the side.
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January 1, 2022 2:10pm
Yvette

In what has been a rare occurrence over the past two years, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will not be providing its 1pm written statement today on the Covid-19 cases registered over the last 24 hours.
There will also be no daily Covid-19 update on Saturday, January 8.

Those ir-responsible got out the wrong side of the bed this morning – the side against the wall – and are likely to do the same again in seven days time.
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January 1, 2022 2:28pm
fredonas

Happy New Year everyone 🙂

I saw this link in a tweet by Prof. Jordan Peterson and think it is worth a read. Post modern neo-Marxist types at NZ universities e.g. Massey should take note of the effects of the law of unintended consequences involved. https://hxstem.substack.com/p/faculty-wake-up-to-the-woke-agenda
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January 1, 2022 2:30pm
Fletch

This is what is has come to in the UK where thought police can turn up at your house to “check your thinking.” A former police officer has just won a victory there.

A former police officer from Lincolnshire was charged with a hate incident over alleged transphobic tweets he wrote in 2019. It took a two-year-long legal battle, but he’s finally just been vindicated.

[…] During an interview with Christian Concern, Miller explained that when police came to question him about the tweets, an officer told him, “I’m here to check your thinking.”

“After I got over the shock of there being a thing called the ‘Twitter police’,” he recalls, he then told officers, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” […]

He also argued that offensiveness toward someone is not a crime, “only when speech turns to malicious communication or targeted harassment against an individual should it be a problem.” Miller’s lawyers told the Court of Appeal that the current police guidance unlawfully violates citizens’ right to speak freely.

Dame Victoria Sharp agreed, ruling that, “The recording of non-crime hate incidents is plainly an interference with freedom of expression and knowledge that such matters are being recorded and stored in a police database is likely to have a serious ‘chilling effect’ on public debate.”

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2021/december/im-here-to-check-your-thinking-uk-officer-fought-the-twitter-police-in-battle-over-lgbt-ideology
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January 1, 2022 3:37pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127420491/police-investigating-serious-injuries-to-christchurch-baby-on-new-years-eve

3 months old.
Dear God, what sort of filthy shit would harm such a baby?
I have 5 grand children aged about 2 to 9 . The thought of anyone harming them would turn me into something else.
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January 1, 2022 4:18pm
- Megatron
  
  3 months old?, what on earth could a 3 month-old baby do that would have them receive “serious injuries”? Take ’em all out back and stop the punishment when one starts squealing. scum.
  
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  January 1, 2022 5:38pm
- David Garrett
  
  Greybeard: quite so…and reading between the lines the “caregivers” are members of the Special People…again
  
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  January 1, 2022 8:38pm

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