General Debate 25 February 2022

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CJames

I see the police are very concerned with an anti-mandate march across Auckland Harbour Bridge. They plan to stop it – looks like by arresting people. Funny I can’t remember this happening for when the cyclists did it, or for various Maori protests. Is it because this one isn’t done by the right sort of people?
Of course if they had the cycle bridge, they could use that//
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February 25, 2022 8:00am
- peterwn
  
  Looks like Police are going to be thinly stretched this weekend – many Auckland Police Officers would be in Wellington at the moment.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:03am
  - pdm
    
    ………………`many Auckland Police Officers would be in Wellington at the moment.
    
    Are they the ones move the long term protesters from Shelley Bay?
    
    Thought not.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:28am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      And the same ones removing protestors from Kennedy Point marina development on Waiheke?
      
      Side note: in an unparalleled display of “activist journalism” $1uffed has renamed Kennedy Point “Putiki Bay” and decided these noble protestors are not in fact “protestors”.
      
      No, now they are “protectors” – couldn’t make it up!
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:35pm
      - Nickc2
        
        When will this gross stupidity stop?
        FFS, don’t say next election because I’m not so sure there is any Political Will to change anything remaining after NZ’s Great Reset which will occur before this crowd of imbeciles are turfed off the Treasury Benches.
        
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        February 25, 2022 12:44pm
      - Gravelroad
        
        @lodden:
        “Couldn’t make it up”.
        But $tuff can …… and get paid for it…..
        
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        February 25, 2022 6:37pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I think these protests are happening all over the country, da bros will love it.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:38am
- Lee C
  
  … or say they are protesting for
  
  ‘Black Lives Matter’?
  
  Or ‘Impeach Trump’?
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:05am
  - 7kiwi11
    
    or Climate change protests?
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:39am
- cjn
  
  This is terrible news! They could bring Auckland commercial life to a stop! If I had the power I would suggest a pincer movement from the North Shore and from Ponsonby meeting in the middle for a party or should we say a jam! Why is this happening? It is because of the failure of the National Party and ACT in the House to represent sceptical voices. They should be ashamed.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:10am
  - 7kiwi11
    
    Are you joking? There is now commercial lie in the CBD.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:40am
    - cjn
      
      Yes, I was joking. I thought the exclamation mark would convey that. The government has destroyed business in Auckland’s CBD . As I understand it Auckland CBD is like a Democrat city in the USA.
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:35pm
      - kowtow
        
        How many other city and town centres crippled by their own coouncil work from home mandates .
        
        That’s a story not told by the msm .
        
        But they’ll have a go at the protesters .
        
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        February 25, 2022 5:12pm
  - Michael Johnston
    
    Seymour is admittedly late to the party but he’s now saying that the mandates should go and the borders should open forthwith.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:03am
    - curry4me
      
      Not late, too late.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:15am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    CJN I believe you’re correct in your condemnation of Act and National . It appears to me that they believed that Labour had a majority so that’s who they had to pander to. This completely missed as more and more Jacinda remorse set in and both parties realised they were ignoring their base support and centre right principles. Many of us having witnessed this poll driven panic have now serious doubts over either parties sincerity and integrity. The manner in which both immediately condemned the protesters especially Luxon left them literally supporting Ardern. That is of course when belatedly reading the room they both tried back peddling as fast as they could. Unfortunately damage done.
    
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    February 25, 2022 12:41pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Will the Labour-supporting bike riders seize the opportunity to swamp the anti mandate march over the bridge?
  
  What to do, what to do …
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:35am
  - pdm
    
    Bollocks – Julie Ann Genter will know.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:12am
    - Tricati
      
      Is she still around – Haven’t heard the ‘crazy’ for some time or is she still on maternity leave at my expense.
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:21am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      A bit risky doing a maternity run on Auckland harbour bridge, didn’t a car get blown off there not do long ago?
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:41am
  - alex Masterley
    
    People on foot bad, people on bikes good. Or something like that.
    
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    February 25, 2022 4:54pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Exactly, they stood back and said we are unable to stop people protest peacefully, even though people driving on the bridge were furious and asking for the bridge to be cleared, this is a good pointer to the fact we are living in a dictatorship .
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:37am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Give it a break compulsory down voter, it’s the day of the commenter you know.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:11am
- kowtow
  
  Will Chloe S write an opinion piece in support like she did for the Lyrca Loons.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:41am
  - bronny1
    
    is she still around? i assumed she had left the country as its been blissfully chloe-free for so long.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:43am
- Fishing in the dark
  
  For the protesters, just go for broke and hopefully these clowns in BS Tower starting to slowly change their tune otherwise we can see a small civil unrest for years to come.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:44am
- Surely Knott
  
  I’m surprised. Their last march from the Domain they had organised with police support who had closed the road. At the bottom of the article police said they would talk to the organisers and work on it.
  I’m wondering if it was more public relations tactics to scare people away from the protest.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:54am
peterwn

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
So there is an investigation following a bus driver ejecting two protesters not wearing masks (he pushed one out then closed the door). The Karori bus was pretty full and the driver’s actions were applauded by the other passengers. They tried to get on at the stop near the Cenotaph. I just hope the authorities lay off the poor bus driver and if NZ Bus tries to discipline him I hope the Union takes a firm line and call an all out strike if need be. Kudos to all the bus drivers for keeping services going the best they can. Passengers really appreciate it.

I was similarly annoyed last Monday when Police were arguing with a no. 14 bus driver at the barricades in Hill Street and Molesworth Street. They let the bus through although later buses were further diverted away from the protest area. The no. 14 route is a difficult one at the best of times made more difficult by buses having to go through busy Thorndon village and bus drivers should not have to put up with this nonsense. If Police want bus diversions they should contact Metlink and the bus companies, not the drivers directly.

Also the Police should have taken strong action early on to keep the Lambton bus interchange open. Having it closed is a terrible inconvenience (especially for those with poor mobility) as the bus stops still in operation are a long way from the train station.
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February 25, 2022 8:00am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Bollocks! Heading up Molesworth St is the easiest part of the no. 14 route.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:37am
- All_on_Red
  
  The driver should have just ignored them rather than resort to violence.
  I’ve noticed mask wearing has decreased considerably on buses and trains.
  Also its around 50/50 in the Lifts.
  They are still strict on the Ferry though.
  At this point in the Pandemic, Masks are probably moot anyway.
  Mind you, those Public servants do seem to be trained little seals with their pronouns, prayers and sing songs before meetings
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:41am
  - Ehlana
    
    I wonder who they are praying to? And if they know the answer themselves?
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:09am
  - WellingtonBFF
    
    Isn’t it odd that police are catching covid at the protest? I mean, they are wearing N95 masks and are vaccinated, so surely it must be fake news?? Unless………
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:39am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      While you can possibly say Police who are at the protest have caught Covid, you cannot possibly say that Police are “catching Covid at the protest”. Without genome sequencing of course, which they stopped a few weeks ago when they realised how futile it was – like virtually all other public ~~health~~ control measures.
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:44pm
      - WellingtonBFF
        
        As I thought: fake news!!
        
        Or mask mandates are as useful as a chocolate teapot.
        
        Not mutually exclusive of course!!
        
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        February 25, 2022 1:28pm
  - Caine9
    
    Resorting to violence? Sounds like a bit of an over reactive, woke response to me!
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:43am
  - peterwn
    
    Of course he should have. However we all have our human frailties so one cannot expect the driver to be superhuman in the face of adversity. The drivers are wanting to give their customers good service under difficult conditions.
    A driver missed a stop and a passenger yelled out and the driver stopped as soon as he safely could. The passenger then started arguing with the driver. I told her loudly to stop arguing and to hurry up and get off the bus. She gave me a dirty look and got off.
    
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    February 25, 2022 12:22pm
- leoj
  
  Boo hoo.
  Maybe Wellingtonians now have a better idea of the inconveniences suffered by Auckland for 107 days.
  Where is their compassion?
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:44am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Good news. The second Test starts today.
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February 25, 2022 8:01am
- Matt Long
  
  Have you asked the bookies who will win this one yet?
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:24am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Think they got burnt on the 1st one. More of them are publishing pieces showing the forwards weakness in the ruck and predicting a home team loss. Too many penalty infringements being picked up on video and keep getting sent back10 metres.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:07am
  - Matt Long
    
    https://www.gambling.com/news/the-hansie-cronje-match-fixing-scandal-the-complete-story-2241300 A history of match fixing with a focus on SA cricket.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:14am
- Other_Andy
  
  Haven’t watched them since they ‘took a knee’ to support BLM (The Marxist Critical Race Theory).
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:23am
  - Jack5
    
    Did the Australian cricket team “take a knee?
    The Indian team was criticised for this obeisance.
    
    https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/sports/team-india-took-the-knee-before-pakistan-game/story
    
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    February 25, 2022 1:07pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Brace yourselves for the screams of outrage from the usual suspects when NZ offers to accept (white) refugees from Ukraine
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February 25, 2022 8:01am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They will be coming here by winter
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:40am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  You make funny! I like!
  NZ accepting white refugees. Such laugh!
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:57am
- Frank the tank
  
  They won’t – not the ‘right’ type of refugees.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:04am
Biscuit

The Right Honourable (or is that the Left Disgraceful?) Trevor Mallard must be SO proud.

His ‘Sprinkler the bastards!’ tactic on Wellington’s Parliament protestors was copied at Stamford Bridge in London earlier this week when Chel$ski paraded their freshly-won World Club Championship trophy and ran into at least one groundstaffer who clearly wanted to just get home:

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/ay92qXb_460svvp9.webm
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February 25, 2022 8:01am
- graham
  
  I am still perplexed as to why Jacinda “telling kids to be kind, but leaders to be staunch and aggressive just doesn’t sit well with me“Ardern has not publicly chastised Trevor Mallard over what was quite clearly outright bullying.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:14am
  - kowtow
    
    Technically spraying people with water is common assault.
    
    Trivial , yes ,but assault none the less.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:20am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Water boarding
      
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      February 25, 2022 8:49am
    - Nickc2
      
      In that case, I hope the protestors charge the bastard!
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:34am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      So is throwing dildos and crap at politicians but you forget rule number one: It’s ok when the Left do it!
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:42am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      Is it.
      
      We now have a very public precedent.
      
      From the speaker of the house of Representatives no less.
      
      Police can expect to have the garden hose turned on themselves, very hard to prosecute one and not the other.
      
      It will now take and act of parliament to change it, the garden hose act.
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:30pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    She has never ever done the right thing, why start now? She should have pulled Mallard into line well before this with his bullying, the rape allegations, the Meka Fightery bashing, [deleted by Mod – a series of unsubstantiated claims which put DPF at legal risk. Start your own blog if you wish to make those claims.]
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:48am
    - Nickc2
      
      [we have addressed the claims made in that comment, thanks – Mod]
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:40am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      Mod a simple explanation of why you have moderated a comment should suffice the “start your own blog blah blah “ just seems a little rude and unnecessary.
      
      [We appreciate the sentiment. G knows what they said. It was serious and irresponsible of them to put DPF in that position – Mod]
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:53pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        And what I said was fact, Labour had an enquiry into what I mentioned, last week twice I had post taken down for abuse which I never abused anyone, might be time to call it a day
        
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        February 25, 2022 10:13pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Excuse me, those are not unsubstantiated claims at all FFS, they were well and truly traversed by the media, complaints were made, but no result of the Labour Party enquiry, have you got a short memory?
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:11pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Labour (UK) proposes confiscating Chelsea
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60506563
  
  But what would they do with John Terry?
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:33am
  - Biscuit
    
    NMTB, if they’re short of ideas, I have a few on the back-burner!
    
    (And, remember, I spent an afternoon once at the London Dungeon, where they display the gruesome punishments that used to be perped on such low-lifes as Mr Terry!)
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:47am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      I think John Terry would get on really well with David Parker from NZ Labour though.
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:44am
- pdm
  
  Biscuit – most disgraceful, utterly disgraceful, abominaly disgraceful are all very apt and suitable to describe The Despicable Mallard.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:34am
- Loddenthinks
  
  That’s far too good for them
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:35am
Yabster

From the Taxpayers union- I have contributed.

Background: Stopping Three Waters
Since we launched our campaign to Stop Three Waters, I have received hundreds of messages asking if there is a plan to stop Nanaia Mahuta’s asset grab using the courts.

Thanks to supporters like you, we’ve successfully piled on the political pressure and demonstrated to the Government how unpopular Nanaia Mahuta’s reforms are.

But we need to deconstruct Ms Mahuta’s justifications for the supposed “reforms”. She’s managed to convince her Cabinet colleagues that Three Waters ‘Co-governance’ is required for the Government to comply with the Treaty of Waitangi.

Just before Christmas a group of water users and ratepayer groups filed an action with the High Court on the basis that the Three Waters scheme is based on flawed advice Nanaia Mahuta presented to Cabinet.

The proceedings ask the Court to declare that Mahuta’s claims, allegedly based on official legal advice (though we think that is unlikely), that the Treaty of Waitangi obliges the Government to introduce co-governance are wrong in law.

In short, the case asks the Court to declare that the claims being made based on a radical interpretation of the Treaty are based on an error in law.

link to more about the legal fight and how to donate:

https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/donate_judicial_review?utm_campaign=220224_3w_lit_ask2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=taxpayers
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February 25, 2022 8:04am
- kowtow
  
  The best the Green mayor od Dunedin has is nasty name calling .
  
  ‘In a statement yesterday, he said he was appalled by the racist and misogynistic attitudes of some of the opposition to the Three Waters reform programme.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/mayor-repeats-racism-concerns-about-water-group
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:23am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The only part of it that is racist is giving a certain race rate payers assets
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:51am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Misogynistic?
    I get the accusation of waaaacism for 3 Waters sceptics, ironically due to the race privileges it embeds, but misogyny behind opposition too?
    LOL.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:29am
  - Mobile Michael
    
    The first clause of the Treaty (in both the English and Maori versions) give the Crown the exclusive right to govern in New Zealand. Someone should teach Minister Mahuta, et al to read.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:31am
  - krazykiwi
    
    “racist and misogynistic”
    
    This Trudeau-like wailing has become cartoonish. The mayor missed a trick though. I could have added “white-supremacist and Trump supporter” to complete his woke tirade. Festering liberals will not forgive this oversight.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:32am
    - Yabster
      
      just throw any negative wording out there- thats the socilaist ideology -it doesn’t have to make sense, say it enough it sticks.
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:50am
    - Nickc2
      
      Another fucking woke Greenie! They’re like vermin.
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:58am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      [Deleted – Suggest if you want to keep posting here, you quit the personal attacks. mod.]
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:05am
      - krazykiwi
        
        Mod, I’m generally ok with Brian unleashing his slobbering, freshly sharpened gums on me. It makes for amusing literary self immolation, adding colour to the thread. And to be fair to Brain he reserves his very best slobbering and gumming for me thereby sparing others. Which is a little bit noble.
        
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        February 25, 2022 5:48pm
      - Doc Holliday
        
        Yes, Brian, hurl abuse and vile comments at those who can take it!
        
        Ardern has faced formidable challenges with an intelligence, honesty, courage, compassion, commitment and perseverance that has not gone unnoticed — philosopher and Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari wrote in a recent Economist, “the Merkels and Arderns of the world… “.
        
        https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2022/02/09/yuval-noah-harari-argues-that-whats-at-stake-in-ukraine-is-the-direction-of-human-history
        
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        February 25, 2022 9:45pm
- Pheobe
  
  I have also donated to the cause.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:58am
- RockyJ
  
  I donated too. I hope we win
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:43am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  I would love to donate, except the courts have proven to be ineffective at holding the government to account.
  
  When they do the government just retrospectively changes the law.
  
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  February 25, 2022 12:35pm
Simon

The Abolition of Man, Lewis contends that certain approaches in education and training leave students clearly lacking depth of understanding. This deficit then allows the mind and heart to content itself with the anchoring of beliefs around feelings. Once feelings become the standard measurement of judgment it destroys life’s ultimate search for truth. Lewis points out that the product of such methodologies is merely a “trousered ape,” a man he describes as so shallow in soul and mind and beneath any real sensibility that he can look at the ocean and conclude it is nothing more than, “so many million tons of cold salt water.” …….. . Further Lewis posits that the eventuality of the dumbing down of man is the abolition of man. Wrong teaching leads to wrong values, wrong philosophical foundations, wrong purposes, wrong doctrine, and so forth.

https://ibcperspectives.com/the-trousered-ape/

NZ is run by trousered apes. Feelings not the search for truth.

empathy
/ˈɛmpəθi/

noun
1. the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Ardern in her own words: “It takes courage and strength to be empathetic, and I’m very proudly an empathetic and compassionate leader. I am trying to chart a different path, and that will attract criticism but I can only be true to myself and the form of leadership I believe in.”

A shallow soul and mind. A major problem facing NZ are the trousered apes in Wellington – which is across all party lines.

Kiwibuild was a feeling. Two shots for summer, the golden ticket out of the pandemic, was a feeling. Etc etc. So many examples.
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February 25, 2022 8:04am
Lee C

Meanwhile:

https://www.facebook.com/652352937/videos/320645456769202

The ‘Rivers of Filth’ continue to flow..
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February 25, 2022 8:06am
- Nickc2
  
  Link is deleted/blocked.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:42am
  - bronny1
    
    works fine for me? maybe you’ve been blocked 🙂
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:48am
  - mawm
    
    Just the alumni of the Schwab school for young leaders helping each other out.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:42am
Yvette

Often I am a little miffed that “journalists” can write quite long articles about an issue, but never ask what seems a most obvious question in relation to what they are writing about.
Like, ‘Dunkirk-style’ Cook Strait crossing planned to bolster anti-mandate protest this weekend.

Why do these intending protesters not just take the ferry?
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February 25, 2022 8:07am
- 7kiwi11
  
  Because you need to be vaxxed to get on the ferry.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:42am
  - bronny1
    
    vaxxed or a negative test actually. But many of the protesters won’t get tested as its all about government control. And frankly, why should they, they are no more likely to be carrying covid than a vaxxed person.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:49am
    - Nickc2
      
      they are no more likely to be carrying covid than a vaxxed person
      Very true Bronny. Even Cindy intimated that. However, in hindsight, it must have been written down for her to read.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:04am
- zulumonster
  
  They are not allowed on the ferries if they are not vaccinated …
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:10am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    I thought freedom of movement is a international human right? Oh of course this is Aotearoa.
    
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    February 25, 2022 2:04pm
- graham
  
  Join the club, Yvette. I find myself wondering more and more frequently nowadays, on reading/hearing/watching some news story, “But what about …”.
  
  They seem to have little or no interest in providing context or background. I am honestly beginning to think more and more that the news and reporting standards in this country are dropping to almost childish levels. I despair …
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:14am
- virtualmark
  
  It’s quite hard to get a booking on the inter-island ferries at the moment. I think they’re running with reduced capacity because of the Covid restrictions.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:25am
  - bronny1
    
    I believe they are a ferry or two down – was one out for repairs and another broke down. I think the latter is back in service.
    
    I think the schedules are based on freight too as there isn’t enough money in passengers to put on sailings where freight doesn’t pay the bulk of the costs.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:50am
- G152
  
  And the scare tactics about crossing the Straits put about by fake news.
  Why lie?
  The Straits are ‘crossable’ maybe 300 days a year in a ‘P’ Class….
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:21am
cmm

~~Levels~~
~~Traffic lights~~
Phases

So we’re now in Phase 3. Now what?

We are only now really in the criteria matching Level 3 of the first system: when the virus is spreading freely in the community. Yet they panicked and went straight to Level 4 for no valid reason two years ago.

Level 4 was supposed to be for when hospitals were swamped and overrun. We never got anywhere near that. Indeed we only belonged at Level 3 for less than a week (most places in NZ never justified more than L2).

We are supposed to believe they have a plan that can cope, yet we’re already maxxed out at phase 3 of a 3 phase “plan”.

What next? Panic and make a new system?

These people couldn’t run a sausage sizzle, but we’re supposed to depend on them to run a pandemic.

It really is lucky that Omicron is hardly more than a cold. If it was anything severe we’d be screwed.

I suppose we should look at the bright side though – Cindy’s friends in advertising have been kept in gravy by having lots of signs to design.
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February 25, 2022 8:08am
- Rich Prick
  
  I’ve given up trying to follow Cindy’s nonsense. I just get on with life and comply to the minimum.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:17am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I am in the same boat.
    At the moment I am keeping my head down and working to keep the family housed and fed.
    Everything else is background noise.
    
    54 0
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    February 25, 2022 8:56am
    - Bridgenag
      
      Still miss the old RNZ and TV1 Think I am in grief mode……. now The Listener is not worth buying………sigh
      
      18 1
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      February 25, 2022 9:32am
      - artemisia
        
        I was a Listener subscriber for years. Until one day I realised I’d read most of it before with just the names and locations changed. OK probably not literally but almost.
        
        It was a wake up call about opinion v fact.
        
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        February 25, 2022 12:50pm
- Simon
  
  Yep the only people who have time for this useless shit are obsolete gubermint departments and those forced to deal with this because their business face ruin or heavily fined.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:20am
  - Paulus
    
    Guberment Departments only do what the Guberment tells them.
    
    11 1
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    February 25, 2022 9:14am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  On the subject of panic, now that the pressure is on the protest you flee once again cmm? No more bragging about funding? Where’s the feathered hero, gone back to eaves dropping?
  I understand you’re as thick as 2 short planks but unlike 2 years ago the world has vaccination and your nonsense about comparisons to the flu is not borne out by the number of deaths in America from omicron compared to Delta.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:21am
  - cmm
    
    It is always interesting to get the perspective of the criminal class.
    
    Without your input we productive and honest Kiwibloggers would have no insight into the thoughts of a sector of our society that we do not relate to. Thank you for helping us out.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:32am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      It’s not always interesting to get the opinions of someone who hides away and funds others to do the dirty work. Your history is of running and hiding, I’m as large as life and never used another name. Thank you for being a chicken.
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:34am
      - cmm
        
        Brian, its an asymmetrical situation.
        
        The people that loathe your type are decent, law abiding citizens. If they knew where you lived they’d be very unlikely to firebomb your house or shoot you.
        
        The people that loathe decent people are the criminal class who are far more likely to do so. After all, you do have a history so people should be cautious.
        
        43 2
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        February 25, 2022 9:47am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        cmm don’t blame your need to hide on me. Try growing a pair.
        
        3 29
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        February 25, 2022 10:41am
  - Yabster
    
    Go back on the Meds Brian- Labour has let you down with the lack of mental health funding…
    
    51 5
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    February 25, 2022 8:39am
    - westernScientest
      
      sorry, wrong button, should be an uptick
      
      9 1
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      February 25, 2022 9:00am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      I don’t want to become an anonymous troll Yabster so I’ll stay off the meds.
      
      4 34
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      February 25, 2022 9:37am
      - Fuzzysnuggleduck
        
        It is so awesome how you post under your own name.
        Or rather, consider you have no reputation to maintain or salvage, and no career to protect.
        
        You don’t get extra points in any conversation or debate based on your user ID.
        Perhaps if it was witty. Maybe. But yours is not.
        Nor should pointing out that other people use nick names be a constant attack (feeble and pointless as it is).
        
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        February 25, 2022 10:16am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    [Point noted – thanks. mod.]
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:13am
- Viva Christo Rey
  
  You first mistake is looking for logic here. For example my unvaxxed child cannot play sport with the same kids that he sits in a classroom with.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:45am
- Raphael
  
  We’re in Red Phase 3. Will there be a Red Phase 4? Or will we go to Orange Phase 1? Or Red Phase 3 Level A?
  
  Or with the coming Flu season will we be going back to Red Phase 1 where if you have not had your Flu shot you will not be allowed to participate in society (I have not had a flu shot in years, every time I’ve had one I ended up sicker than the times I didn’t have it)
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:01am
  - Biscuit
    
    Raphael, I have it on good authority that Jacinda’s trips to schools of late have been so she can scout of the littlies’ views of what colours are best for her next phase(s).
    
    The possibilities are endless, of course.
    
    The song ‘Joseph’s Coat’ from ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ lists Joseph’s coat’s colours as red, yellow, green, brown, scarlet, black, ochre, peach, ruby, olive, violet, fawn, lilac, gold, chocolate, mauve, cream, crimson, silver, rose, azure, lemon, russet, grey, purple, white, pink, orange and blue.
    
    Imagine the possibilities this winter:
    
    … [Deleted]
    
    ‘Today, on ‘Breakfast’, John and Mattie show off their coloured-in Joseph templates. Don’t be nasty re John’s effort: it’s HARD to stay inside the lines when you wave your arms about as much as he does’
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:35am
Maggie Pie

Foreign Minister Manaia Mahuta’s first big chance to appear alongside Simon Bridges on ‘TV3 Breakfast’ to discuss Russian sanctions, but they send a disheveled half-asleep David Parker to front.

WTF?? 😀
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February 25, 2022 8:10am
- Tricati
  
  Parker’s supercilious smirking during the interview just hi-lighted the arrogance of these pricks.
  They really are a nasty bunch.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:14am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Was he smirking at Bridges, or about the commies attacking a far inferior country?
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:53am
  - virtualmark
    
    Parker is one of the most unpleasant and arrogant people I have ever met in my life.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:26am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    I thought he looked as if he had been up all night on the piss
    
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    February 25, 2022 2:13pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, we are not sending troops. Thank goodness for that because Putin must be worried sick we might.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:27am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    We would have them stuffed, he would not be able to find Aoteraroa on the map, he may worry it’s been found by China on the dark side of the moon.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:55am
    - Yabster
      
      lol yeah I see our Foreign Affairs Minister used Aoter..rible NZ as the name of the country denoucing Putins invasion- Vlad will be very confused as to whose denoucing him.
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:58am
      - curry4me
        
        Funnily enough, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, Hitlers advisors had trouble finding it on the map.
        
        7 1
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        February 25, 2022 11:25am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Putin speaks fluent English, but he would have no clue of Ah tea rower.
        Putin’s English is good enough to correct his interpreters. He would be thinking (in English) wtf did she just say??
        
        11 1
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        February 25, 2022 2:07pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Clad won’t know what struck him if an old tree Tane Mahuta with scribbles had a word
        
        4 1
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        February 25, 2022 5:18pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        It’s quite funny, because they called Parker the temporary foreign minister, Mahutata may be over seas, but why can’t she answer questions like any other minister over seas, or was she sent to be buried over 3 waters
        
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        February 25, 2022 10:19pm
  - Tricati
    
    What a decision, troops to the Ukraine, or to MIQ – It must be such a headache for our illustrious PM (sarc)
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:26am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      MIQ is far more important for the fear porn control.
      Once you have them by the short and curly, never let go until they conform
      
      9 1
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      February 25, 2022 2:11pm
- pdm
  
  Isn’t Mahuta overseas somewhere with the objective of again achieving nothing?
  
  Perhaps she has changed her itinerary and is heading for the Kremlin to scare Putin into recalling his troops from Ukraine.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Hope she has her taiaha and mere
    
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    February 25, 2022 2:12pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    We have fought the Chechens, battled the Abkhazians, oppressed our own people but never have we confronted anything like THAT! – pointing to Mahuta
    
    3 0
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    February 25, 2022 6:31pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Nania Mahuta is in Europe.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/461876/foreign-minister-nanaia-mahuta-set-for-11-day-europe-mission
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:40am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Well ok then…..but the least Parker could have done is buy comb.
    
    30 2
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    February 25, 2022 8:43am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Bridges may have roughed him up beforehand
      
      17 1
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      February 25, 2022 8:56am
      - Colville
        
        I would pay to see that!
        
        8 0
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        February 25, 2022 10:04am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Maggie, your typo got me thinking: Ha. A variation might be…Mania Mahuta?
  She really is within government working obsessively towards a single aim….
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:19am
Cassandra

The world (and NZ) faces a huge economic dislocation from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The West hasn’t even got its sanctions arranged eg a Russian TV channel, RT, is still broadcasting in the UK! Western leaders merely wring their hands, and as for Mahuta’s “diplomacy” that had the effect of a damp bus ticket. Ukraine is not a member of NATO so gets no military help. Except that the UK is sending non-lethal supplies such as helmets. Putin and Xi and all the other tyrants simply laugh. Time we all got a grip.
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February 25, 2022 8:13am
- kowtow
  
  The “west” has spent the lastat least 30 years undermining itself .
  All sorts of touchy feely projects spending a run down military with our economies dependant on these tin pot dictatorships for key commodities .
  And Russia ain’t the only one.
  
  The ‘risk to the planet’ is not the weather , it is regimes that don’t play by the rule of law and civil society .
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:29am
  - bravefart
    
    Indeed. From Spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/24/how-our-weak-elites-emboldened-putin/
    
    Good to see the UK’s spy agencies have been focussed on the important stuff during Putin’s prelude to war /s
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:06am
  - Nickc2
    
    it is regimes that don’t play by the rule of law and civil society
    That sounds pretty much like Lil-Olde-NZ. Thanks Cindy.
    
    13 2
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    February 25, 2022 9:14am
  - mawm
    
    Has the West ever before been blessed with such weak leaders? I’m sure the US will waltz in with their transgender military and put Putin in his place, and keep the corrupt Ukranian regime in power so that they can continue to launder US taxpayer money for corrupt American politicians.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:58am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    ‘I do believe it is possible to be in Politics without lying’ or something.
    Tin pot dictatorship at it’s best
    
    6 1
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    February 25, 2022 2:16pm
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Germany sent sent the helmets, the UK sent anti-tank missiles.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:35am
  - Cassandra
    
    According to The Times this morning the UK sent helmets and “non-lethal” material. Whatever they’re sending and doing it is totally inadequate.
    
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    February 25, 2022 8:51am
    - rangitoto
      
      UK sent around 2000 NLAW light anti armour weapons. They are of limited use against main battle tanks but highly effective against other armoured vehicles and trucks. The main advantage of them is that they require little training compared to the US Javelin system.
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:15am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    And Aoteraroa sent a dribble face war dancer. ?
    
    38 3
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    February 25, 2022 8:57am
    - wisteria
      
      I thought it was a barcode, so they could read it and send her home.
      
      12 0
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      February 25, 2022 9:44am
      - Spring Bank Westie
        
        Don’t be mean, I thought it was a very clever way of displaying her Covid QR code for all to see.
        
        9 0
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        February 25, 2022 11:39am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        She would cover the Russian front
        
        3 1
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        February 25, 2022 5:19pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Germany would have sent all those helmets discarded by their army when the Allies moved into Berlin during WWII.
    
    11 0
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    February 25, 2022 9:24am
    - Jack5
      
      … when the Allies moved into Berlin …
      
      You mean when the Red Army stormed Berlin. According to this sourced it lost 360,000 dead or missing.
      
      https://5bloodiestbattlesofwwii.weebly.com/battle-of-berlin.html
      
      3 0
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      February 25, 2022 12:59pm
      - Batman
        
        And it is estimated they raped 2 million women.
        
        So forgive many of us for not having too much sympathy for the war dead.
        
        5 2
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        February 25, 2022 1:20pm
      - Nickc2
        
        The Russians were an Allie in those days.
        
        3 0
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        February 25, 2022 1:33pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    The US are sending 1000 Javelin Missiles- but to Poland…
    
    7 0
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    February 25, 2022 12:16pm
    - bjools
      
      Have they increased the range of those things?
      To 600 miles?
      
      3 0
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      February 25, 2022 12:49pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Germany remember what happened last time were unruly
    
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    February 25, 2022 2:18pm
- hullkiwi
  
  Last night on Magic, a Putin apologist claimed it was helmets from Germany.
  
  The UK in fact sent anti-tank missiles. This morning I’ve seen coverage from two sources showing a column of destroyed Russian tanks in Southern Ukraine.
  
  Yes, the world needs to get a grip. Although Russia attacked Ukraine, it would be illegal for NATO or any of its member nations to attack Russia. Given Russia has a veto vote at the UN, how will it be possible to get authority from the UN?
  
  Finally, this situation has not been caused by Biden, but by Putin. Trump would not have stopped what has happened, he indeed famously said Putin “is a businessman, who I can do a deal with”. Really, given that any deal with Putin, has been proven not to be worth the paper it was written on.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:44am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Please name one deal Putin re-negged on?
    
    3 9
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    February 25, 2022 9:37am
    - Batman
      
      The Russian Federation has reneged on the signed agreement to guarantee Ukrainian sovereignty.
      
      Oh, and broken its conditions of membership of the UN.
      
      17 6
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      February 25, 2022 10:18am
      - bjools
        
        Did you ever think, that they were going to?
        Think they care?
        Russia is a PERMANENT member of the UN Security council.
        
        9 0
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        February 25, 2022 10:22am
      - NoCash
        
        But it’s OK for the US installed far right Ukrainian govt to refuse rectifying the Minsk 2 agreements, and Zelenskyy vowing to develop nuclear weapons.
        
        Also, it’s OK for the US to invade and occupy the sovereign state of Afghanistan some 20 years ago.
        
        As Padriv Ustoev said…
        Putin is bad, West is good.
        History and context is bad.
        
        8 6
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        February 25, 2022 11:11am
      - Batman
        
        Made up horseshit and a straw man?
        
        Come on, at least try to sound vaguely serious. The simping for Putin and Russian propaganda will not age well.
        
        4 11
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        February 25, 2022 11:53am
      - Padriv Ustoev
        
        No it has not.
        Because there was never such an agreement.
        Russia never agreed to it.
        
        9 1
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        February 25, 2022 12:05pm
      - Batman
        
        Jog on mate, the Budapest agreement did just that
        
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances#:~:text=The%20Budapest%20Memorandum%20on%20Security,on%20the%20Non%2DProliferation%20of
        
        You’re believing the little man’s lies.
        
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        February 25, 2022 12:17pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Batman answered it for me. Then there have been the public promises he has made in the past month. None of which meant anything.
      
      4 1
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      February 25, 2022 12:23pm
      - Batman
        
        Two days ago he said he would not enter Ukraine.
        
        That was a big fat lie, as anyone not drinking the KoolAid saw at the time.
        
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        February 25, 2022 12:29pm
      - Padriv Ustoev
        
        The Budapest memorandum is about nuclear non proliferation. Nothing to do with the price of fish.
        
        6 1
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        February 25, 2022 2:53pm
      - Batman
        
        Padriv, maybe you should read it. It’s available in Russian if you need.
        
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        February 25, 2022 3:07pm
  - mawm
    
    I thought it was Nato that reneged.
    
    Putin has taken his opportunity under an exceptionally weak leader to do what he wants knowing that anything Biden does will be toothless.
    
    8 2
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    February 25, 2022 11:02am
    - NoCash
      
      TBH, Putin has factored in the expected sanctions and more, and knows no matter who is the POTUS, NATO and EU are not going to risk WW3 for Ukraine.
      
      4 0
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      February 25, 2022 3:57pm
- Philview
  
  Per Geoffrey Miller’s article in Stuff, Jacinda Ardern’s Government blocked a Bill that would have allowed sanctions to be imposed on Russia. Interesting decision!
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:53am
  - Inandout
    
    Phil, a question arises here in how much of our borrowed money is Russian sourced? In any case this article was from 5/2020 so probably before the Labour funding of the MSM started to take effect and sort of explains how we borrow.
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/debt-for-dummies-how-the-government-borrows-money.html
    
    6 1
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    February 25, 2022 10:22am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Putin bad! West good!
  Context or historical knowledge bad!
  
  15 18
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  February 25, 2022 9:02am
  - Cassandra
    
    So the invasion is OK by you, Padriv?
    
    9 6
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    February 25, 2022 9:36am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Putin showing yet again what happens when a population submits to a dictator. That’s why the Wellington protest is so important.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:47am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      No doubt we have to get rid of this dictator, but everyone wants to punish Nats again, so burrow down, becaCindy will squeak in again thanks to stupidity
      
      6 3
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      February 25, 2022 10:00am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        While I share you zeal to see Jac and her rabble ousted, we are all waiting for the opposition parties to show some spine. The fact they can’t counter her spin at a time when so many people are seeing through it and looking for alternatives is weak. That they rounded on the protesters who are the real people with gumption doing the hard work to expose the tyrants, is unforgivable.
        
        So at the moment we have the choice between a despotic, arrogant, incompetent government Or a group of PC, poll driven, spineless, wishy washys, who we can’t trust at our backs in a bar fight.
        
        Put your energy into Nat HQ – they need to get down on the ground and listen to people and stand up for what is right for our country – badgering us to vote for them cos they are better than the evil red queen isn’t working.
        
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        February 25, 2022 9:06pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    The Ukraine is not the West.
    More to the point, is a war of aggression across state lines good?
    Don’t pretend you are looking at this with a neutral or balanced perspective.
    
    7 0
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    February 25, 2022 10:25am
  - kowtow
    
    You are quite right when you say “context”.
    
    There are atleast two and possibly 3 expansionist empires at play here .
    
    The EU has been aggressively expanding into the former Soviet Union , while the former Soviet Union was very weak .
    
    Call me a cynic but that too is a power play , with echoes of imperialist ambition.
    
    And if you’re gonna try take things off someone you betta be prepared for the consequences , esp if the weaker guy went off , bought a bullworker and is now prepared to duke it out.
    
    ps I don’t like any of this shit , which is as old as the hills .
    
    There was a saying from the medieaval days ; ” When the nobles fight , the poor man’s thatch goes up in flames”
    
    Plus ca change and all that.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:28am
    - Ehlana
      
      kowtow, how is it “aggressive expansion”? I haven’t heard of EU tanks rolling into any former Soviet Union country, just of countries that used to be in the Soviet Union deciding they want to join the EU.
      
      Where does this assumption come from that because they “used to be” in the Soviet Union, these nations can’t ever decide to join a different group? Surely what matters is what their populations want, not what people in Russia would prefer.
      
      Perhaps the Krelim could ask itself why all these countries, after so many years of membership of the club it lead, are now so keen to join another?
      
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      February 25, 2022 3:35pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Soft power, my friend.
        
        2 0
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        February 25, 2022 6:36pm
      - mawm
        
        Putin’s beef with NATO is that they have relentlessly expanded eastwards, despite promises not to, and that Russia is becoming more vulnerable without a buffer of non-aligned states. He has a point, and he has previously drawn a red line which NATO has overstepped. He’s now using an opportunity when the US is at its weakest (and NATO is pretty useless without the US), to settle it.
        
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        February 25, 2022 8:51pm
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    You’re right, Padriv. Most commenters here believe what is “good” and “bad” in geopolitics solely on the basis of what they are told to believe. And naturally, what they are told to believe suits the interests of those who are telling them. “pUtIN is basically hITLer” just makes my head hurt.
    
    The invasion of Ukraine is really about Russia showing how weak the US has become, and the latter obviously doesn’t like that. I don’t think that Russia has any real emnity towards the Ukrainian people. They simply can’t allow Ukraine to be under the auspices of the US, and this is a perfectly rational strategic posture.
    
    A mature analysis leads to the conclusion that who is “good” and who is “bad” depends solely upon the relative interests at any moment in time. For instance, Saddam was “good” right up until the interests changed and he thus became “bad.” The cartoonish good guys v bad guys perspective is just propaganda and doesn’t help in the quest for truth.
    
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    February 25, 2022 11:08am
- bjools
  
  Wonder what would have happened if NATO had sent (before this) 100 000 men to Ukraine to say…serve tea to the elderly. But prepared to defend themselves if invasion comes?
  Biden: We don’t want war with Russia.
  No…we don’t BUT you could have made it clear that Russia doesn’t want war with us.
  Instead……everything you have done, has lead to this.
  Now that you are focused on Ukraine, if I were living in Taiwan…I’d be very worried right now.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:22am
  - bjools
    
    I see, on the news (not here), that China has had a 9 jet over flight of Taiwan, causing them to scramble their defenses.
    
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    February 25, 2022 12:45pm
    - Nickc2
      
      That’s been a pretty common occurrence in recent times.
      
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      February 25, 2022 1:35pm
- coge
  
  The Western democracies have hobbled themselves. Too much climate change hysteria, covid segregation practices and Orange man bad etc.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:28am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    The orange man thinks Putin is a genius.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:45am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      .. in comparison to Biden. And he is
      
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      February 25, 2022 9:48am
      - kowtow
        
        Yer the Soviet intelligence will have told putin , don’t try it on with Trump there’s no knowing where it will end .
        
        With Biden they’ll have been reading all the codes , afterall Hillary etc , and they’ll have said the Old Fool will talk but do nuttin’ , betta grab wot you can before Trump wins again , next time round.
        
        Taiwan betta watch out too.
        
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        February 25, 2022 10:32am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      He thinks he played the weakest president like a book, he probably has got his way because of genius, Idiit Biden did a Cindy and had a captain’s call on banning oil and gas. The yanks weee self sufficient, the price of oil was low, and not expected to lift again, Biden banned their own pipe line from Canada, while signing off on Germanys pipeline from Russia, the price of oil has created far more wealth to Russia thanks to Biden, Putin knew he could please himself from that point on, they say most wars are over oil, so he probably is a genius, that does not excuse Putin, but I heard Trump on Fox last night, he said this would not have happened if he was still prez, he said his pressure including not signing of on the Russia German pipeline kept Russia quiet
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:07am
    - bjools
      
      Smarter than the average western leader.
      More vicious too.
      Trump right again!
      You are mistaking character for intellect.
      Just because he is a nasty bastard, doesn’t make him stupid.
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:10am
    - rangitoto
      
      Trump warned the European members of NATO about becoming dependent on Russian Energy and defence spending below the NATO requirements. Trump was often right on foreign policy.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:17am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      He did just waltz into Ukraine and annex part of it with Biden watching, again.
      
      Unlike some unintelligent people, Putin does actually manage to hit his intended targets.
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:00pm
- Master Mariner
  
  Its interesting they have’nt targeted the energy sector?
  They have individually targeted the Oilgarchs which is a drop in the bucket.
  https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/UK-Targets-Russian-Oligarchs-With-Heavy-Hitting-Sanctions.html
  Meanwhile Russia massive Energy sector left untouched.
  Could they have targeted this with sanctions? Not if Europe wants to freeze and Oil and Gas Prices sky rocket.
  The invasion was already priced in to the market to be honest as Oil briefly touched 100 $bbl and now back to mid 95$bbl otherwise Oil will be 120-170 bbl which would cripple the worlds economy had they targeted the Energy sector. Russia has never been affected by sanctions.
  Putin knows this and the Europeans as well.
  Like i say Oil and gas prices has never been about supply and demand but geopolitical tensions.
  https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/2/24/russia-ukraine-crisis-whats-next-for-global-energy-prices
  So what’s next?
  As far as Oil prices are concerned, Everyone is Hoping for an Iran Nuclear deal so they can lift sanctions there to ease oil prices. Might be a lot closer than you think.
  The question to ask yourself is “How will this effect you in NZ ” ?
  
  Time to batten down the hatches as we may be in for a stormy ride and no sunlight breaking through the storm clouds in the near future.
  
  Time to put Covid to bed and any climate ( feel good ) policies . Focus on the immediate threats as inflation looks like its here to stay and worsen.
  
  My 2 bobs
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:29am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Yes, if we had a sane Government instead of our bunch of posturing prats.
    
    Sadly politics is too important to be left to politicians.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:51am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I think it’s because NATO have an agreement over European oil and gas supply, that’s why Trump refused to sign the pipeline to Germany, he said we could supply you that without any threats, Biden comes in, and one year and little ticket man is firing tickets, Putin has started what could become WW lll , and Iran has almost got a nuke
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:11am
  - hullkiwi
    
    The problem is sanctions are always a lot of noise. I have never seen any sanctions that have hurt the business interests based in the countries imposing the sanctions when they trade with the state intended for the sanctions.
    
    For instance despite various sanctions that targeted South Africa between 1976 and 1990, European & US companies continued to trade with South Africa irrespective of the sanctions!
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:12am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Lack of action from the West, due to concerns around disrupted fuel supplies in some cases, makes me concerned that China is watching.
    
    China plays a long game, and if China had an excuse to ‘enter’ Taiwan to bring social order or support some cause – would the West sit by while an independent modern democracy was snuffed out?
    On principle, we need to be able to stop wars of conquest. Because we otherwise will see more bites taken by authoritarian regimes from weaker neighbours.
    
    Being that the capital of the Ukraine is threatened, I have to wonder if NATO could not have at least enacted/announced a no-fly zone over regions of the Ukraine, at Ukrainian invitation – and at least prevent air strikes and ground forces being supported?
    Sending an angry letter and not selling them butter or something is not going to cut it.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:35am
  - Jack5
    
    Sanctions problems …
    
    There is talk that the big hammer on Putin will be freezing Russia out of supplies of semiconductors and other high-tech products.
    
    However, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard warns in the Telegraph that Russia is the source of raw materials for technology industries, including:
    
    – Titanium. The world’s biggest producer is VSMPO-AVISMA, in Western Siberia. Russia and Ukraine together account for 30 per cent of global titanium supplies, including 35 per cent of Boeing’s.
    
    The US Bureau of Industry and Security in a report last October warned the United States is down to one plant capable of producing titanium, and it is ageing.
    
    – Ninety per cent of neon, used as laser gas for chip lithography, comes from Russia and Ukraine. Two-thirds is purified by one company in Odessa.
    
    – Russian C4F6 gas is used for etching node logic devices.
    
    – Russian palladium is used for sensors, plating material and computer memory (MRAM).
    
    Ambrose-Pritchard says that, in effect, Russia has been doing what China did earlier with rare earth metals: selling below cost and knocking out the Western supply chain.
    
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    February 25, 2022 11:09am
    - Jack5
      
      Edit: ~~Ambrose~~-Pritchard for Evans-Pritchard. His first name is Ambrose. That’s frequently the name of upper-class Englishmen in Waugh and Wodehouse books.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:43am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    If only we hadn’t spent $100B on crap Covid spending
    
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    February 25, 2022 6:40pm
Lee C

Stop this madness! Just stop it!
https://www.facebook.com/100052541841795/videos/320990493193299
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February 25, 2022 8:13am
- mandk
  
  That 8(?) year old girl is far more clear and articulate than Stalinda.
  
  Four minutes without a moment of the drivel that usually emanates from the PM.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:39am
  - bjools
    
    +1000
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Well it was not Jaspinda’s waffle waffle waffle
    
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    February 25, 2022 3:04pm
- tf78
  
  Such a wholesome and healthy young girl. There is a future for New Zealand after all.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:34am
- curry4me
  
  That’s an excellent video. Thanks for sharing it. I’m sure it’ll be the lead item on Fake NewsHub /sarc
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    May be a bit on play school TV1, but it will be severely edited
    
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    February 25, 2022 3:06pm
- vt
  
  Amazing young lady!
  
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  February 25, 2022 2:06pm
Warren

1 in 10 Kiwi kids still living without basics essentials like food clothes heating and housing and Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister is spouting how good she and her Government are for achieving the rigged percentages they put in place in 2018.
In 2018 the Government set itself three targets to reduce child poverty, first to reduce the percentage of children living in child poverty after the cost of housing is paid for – the target was 18.8%.
The statistics released on Thursday show that has been achieved and was 16 .3% in June 2021.
The Government missed the target before housing costs, however that goal was 10.5% – and still is at 13.6%.
The key target though is the number of children suffering material hardship or going without essentials, the goal is 10.3% but we still haven’t hit that – it’s still at 11.%.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/02/1-in-10-kiwi-kids-still-living-without-basic-essentials-like-food-clothes-heating-and-housing.html
Jacinda Ardern thinks missing targets means you have achieved what you believe and thinks the public should be proud of this poor achievement.
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February 25, 2022 8:14am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Statistics Department admitted yesterday on RNZ that it doesn’t take into account the details of the families in emergency housing … seems this highly mobile sector of our population is always under the radar.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:43am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Ardern needs a ticket got even taking praise for lowering poverty, when she is pouring people into rat infested motels
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:02am
  - Jack5
    
    ….1 in 10 Kiwi kids still living without basics essentials like food clothes heating and housing …
    
    But where are these underfed kids? In the photos and videos they all seem to be at least, well, chubby.
    
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    February 25, 2022 1:01pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Last night when they started rubbishing the government on no action on poverty, I am sure they said there were 11000 more kids living in poverty, then we find out they now don’t count the 10s of 1000s living in emergency housing, as if giving them a motel for life somehow takes them out of poverty
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:01am
- Maxx
  
  This is what you get when goals are slogans.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:18am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I am proud of her doing nothing except total bullshit and lies.
  The sky is falling Jaspinda
  
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  February 25, 2022 3:08pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The good thing is, the more she tries to say she has fixed poverty, the more people will know she is full of shit and hate her even more
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:25pm
Opie

Based on the info released yesterday by RNZ, daily (7 day average I believe) covid cases are 40 per 100,000 vaccinated people, whereas they are only 21 per 100,000 unvaccinated.

So… does this mean that you are twice as likely to catch covid if you are vaccinated?

Or just that the vaccine is completely useless and the vaccinated are allowed to be on close contact settings eg pubs etc?

Incredible that these numbers were exactly the same overseas. Its almost like we had an early warning and could have predicted this…

Oh and get ready for the traffic light system to continue through winter for the flu. They are signalling that now.

Just fuck off.

They got away with control for a disease less dangerous than the flu, so it stands to reason that they will exercise their self appointed power now whenever they feel the need.

What’s next, compulsory flu vaccination?
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February 25, 2022 8:15am
- Opie
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/450874/covid-19-data-visualisations-nz-in-numbers
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:23am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  She has mentioned she will mandate flu jabs
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:03am
  - tf78
    
    I think the new Flu vaccines will be MRNA as well. What is in this MRNA that they are so determined to stick into all of us.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:44am
    - mawm
      
      Nothing yet.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:10am
    - marcw
      
      Any evidence? The traditional inactivated influenza vaccines (either trivalent or quadrivalent) will be available for distribution starting at the end of March in NZ.
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:19am
      - tf78
        
        I googled it so I guess you can too.
        
        5 1
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        February 25, 2022 11:36am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        There’s a few mRNA flu vaccines undergoing trials at the moment
        
        mRNA flu shots move into trials
        https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-021-00176-7
        
        I can’t see our Government using them this year.
        
        What is in this MRNA that they are so determined to stick into all of us.
        
        mRNA vaccine is relatively easy to manufacture synthetically.
        
        Conventional vaccine manufacture is a longer and more complex process … involving the replication of viruses in living cells
        
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        February 25, 2022 11:49am
      - virtualmark
        
        Maggy, not quite on the production angle.
        
        mRNA vaccines are quite hard to manufacture. Lots of complex steps, spread across multiple sites. Pfizer in particular have done some incredible work to crack the manufacturing problems.
        
        There are now lots of other pharmas looking to bring out mRNA vaccines, after the success of the Covid ones. I suspect that many of them will struggle to replicate Pfizer’s manufacturing success.
        
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        February 25, 2022 1:27pm
  - bronny1
    
    well i have nothing more to lose so i’ll say no thanks. you can stick your jabs where the sun don’t shine.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:57am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Anything to hold control
    
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    February 25, 2022 3:16pm
  - Jim
    
    Hmmm I wonder if that might be Pfizer product?
    Something smells around here.
    
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    February 26, 2022 4:03pm
- mandk
  
  As you hint, the rate of infections among the unvaxxed might be lower because they are less able to circulate socially.
  
  But one thing is absolutely clear, and it is that the vax is useless in terms of stopping infections.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:26am
  - bronny1
    
    that’s theoretical, that the unvaxxed can’t circulate socially. Nothing stops them going to parties, protests, or to restaurants that don’t discriminate. If you want to go out there are plenty of options and i believe lots of people take them.
    I was never big on people (and the events of the last year certainly haven’t changed that), so I’d rather just hang with my family and dogs.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:58am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Many of these students in Dunedin are un-vaxed, but I bet they are not in the stats as they are simply isolating after the sniffles Roth our entire getting tested
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Tell Blofeld
    
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    February 25, 2022 3:17pm
- coolas
  
  Opie, you overlook that c. 90% are vaccinated, 10% are not.
  
  With nine times as many vaccinated than not the ratio for unvaccinated with Covid is much greater.
  
  I’m no mathematician but think its 189/100,000.
  
  If wrong I’m sure cmm or kk will correct me.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:44am
  - RightNow
    
    You’re wrong but who cares, it’s you so nobody expected you to be right.
    
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    February 25, 2022 12:56pm
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  I suggest that the vaccinated are more likely to catch the Covid19 virus because they are participating in more activities likely to expose them (eating out, libraries, sports, etc). The unvaccinated are prohibited from such activities and also more likely to take protective measures because they know it could be more harmful to them if they catch the virus.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:06am
- Rusty
  
  Opie- Its a con job from Jacinda, Ashley Bloomfield, and the rest of them.
  
  Now they can mix the common flu infections and death rates with covid and make it a bigger problem requiring more emergency health measures and more pain for Nzers.
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:29am
Maggy Wassilieff

If parents and teachers are upset by protests outside their school when the Prime Minister visits, then it might be time to consider why Our Dear PM and the Labour Party think it is OK using youngsters for the PM’s TV shoots.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/02/24/protesters-chase-arderns-vehicle-down-driveway-after-school-visit/
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February 25, 2022 8:22am
- Inandout
  
  Maggy, and the head lady says, with much translation:
  
  ‘The school’s principal Melanie Taite-Pitama said the protest did not represent the views of their kura, community.
  
  “If there were tamariki that did see parts of it, it would have been distressing. But my kaiako (teachers) are able to support them through that,” she said’.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:31am
  - Yabster
    
    ffs -that sentence sums up the state of our schools/teacher – parents with school age kids should be very concerned.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:12am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yes indeed.
      The parent / Teacher interview should never be about the child but rather the teacher.
      At least that’s how I treated it.
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:12am
  - oc35
    
    We now seem to need English sub titles for our TV news.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:14am
  - I remember when
    
    Inandout
    Health and Safety responsibilities should have prevented the meeting occuring.
    It is difficult to see how this can be justified, when it takes a week to plan and fill in the forms for a class to cross the road.
    
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    February 25, 2022 11:20am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    5 words that I don’t know, can you please translate to English?
    
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    February 25, 2022 3:21pm
- 7kiwi11
  
  Like many a communist, she is playing the long game and ensuring she will have their votes when they come of voting age at the the 2032 election. (if she hasn’t declared herself Supreme Leader for life by that stage.)
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:54am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I semi agree with that woman, she agreed they had the right to protest, but her only problem was with upsetting the kids, you could see her kids very upset, but Ardern never gave a shit, she got away with kindy politics in Rotarua, she thought kindy was her safe haven, behahahaha, shit she is hated everywhere
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:06am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    shit she is hated everywhere
    
    I reckon meet the public/walkabouts are things of the past for Our Dear PM.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:06am
    - bjools
      
      are they digging a bunker in Parliament?
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:18am
      - Max Howler
        
        no, but they are trying their best to make Parliament look like a bunker, with all the concrete blocks around it!
        
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        February 25, 2022 12:07pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      When is the last time you seen her do a walk about? Apart from directly going to a vax centre or a kindy, you never see her in the street, I know yesterday was anti vax, but the people of Northland that roughed her up were not, also anothangry lot I remember were shouting her down about stifling business and the economy in general, I really tho she is in trouble, the protesters are rubbishing Luxon, yet he has never been heckled or jeered at, and he has been meeting people openly this week, and getting crowds, he has been to super blue events this week with large crowds, this crap he is not doing anything is bullshit, he has the peoples imagination, and he may well be giving policy latter this year which will lift him past a very unpopular PM
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:21am
    - Inandout
      
      Maggy, meet the public/walkabouts have been replaced by meet the protestors. No more selfies in front of an adoring crowd of youngies (during covid I may add) and which now would be called ‘super spreading’, or some such inane term.
      
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      February 25, 2022 10:31am
artemisia

Those mandates. There are compulsory and there are voluntary. There will of course be government discussions about the compulsory mandates as they are getting the attention atm. Pity the reasoning is so opaque and vague but it is at least happening.

About those voluntary mandates for local authorities, sports clubs and many more – their impact is huge. Their initial reasoning was usually said to keep the public and staff safe, especially the unvaxxed visiting littlies. It was pretty clear it was to keep terrified staff from being, well terrified. Wellington CC consulted staff before their decision and it is obvious what staff thought.

Anyway, what are the processes, if any, for voluntary mandates to be lifted? Will they follow the so far completely unclear government processes, full or partial? Or something else.
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February 25, 2022 8:23am
Bill Felt

RIP Inga
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February 25, 2022 8:28am
- 7kiwi11
  
  He was certainly an exciting player to watch. He had such a great impact on the sport considering he only played 19 games for the AB’s
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:56am
- Yabster
  
  yes Legend and a gentleman.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:13am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    A legend Yabster? Not at rugby, that’s for sure. He was a decent player, one of the first super massive wingers, but aside from that, he was very good at best. Which is what you expect to get in the All Blacks.
    
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    February 25, 2022 11:13am
- Rusty
  
  Ditto: met Inga years ago, a nice guy and a real gentleman.
  
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  February 25, 2022 2:06pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Seems so. It’s a shame he couldn’t keep the weight off. Just 52. Poor bugger. Gotta feel for his family.
    
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    February 25, 2022 6:51pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  And Joeli
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:27pm
Rusty

A timely reminder to all Nzers who cherish their democratic freedoms in regards to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.

Russia like China hate democracy and it is their goal to destroy it.

They have their “useful fools” in the West and in this country who think socialism/collectivism is the only fair system — its all lies.

Socialism leads to communism and an elite group of people oppressing their citizens through fear and control —does the covid response ring a bell?

Some may say who cares about the Ukraine who aren’t a democratic nation and probably have a corrupt govt?

True, but they are still a sovereign and independent nation who have been invaded by an aggressor.
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February 25, 2022 8:30am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  I like how you Comment off the cuff, never having been to Russia, or speaking the language.
  Putin bad, West good! Clever nuanced commenting.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:04am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I wouldn’t call Putin’s bombs nuanced but in your strange mind perhaps they are.
    
    15 5
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    February 25, 2022 9:54am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      What? That doesn’t even make sense [deleted by Mod, personal abuse]
      
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      February 25, 2022 12:10pm
- virtualmark
  
  Russia isn’t truly socialist any more (if it ever really was). Politically it’s now a kind of a merger of fascism and organised crime.
  
  And definitely authoritarian, verging on totalitarian. But that aspect is the way Russia has been for hundreds of years.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:29am
  - kowtow
    
    “a merger of fascism and organised crime.’
    
    Always was . The, ahem, polite middle class Russian bolshies didn’t like the thug , bank robber Georgian aka Stalin but they were happy enuff to take the funds he provided them in order to fund terrorising the rest of the Russian Empire till they were able to set up their own criminal regime.
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:47am
  - mawm
    
    Did you mean a bit like NZ ?
    
    5 1
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    February 25, 2022 11:19am
    - Nickc2
      
      Not just a bit!
      
      5 3
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      February 25, 2022 12:35pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Which bit of NZ is fascist? Note that I’m not asking you “Which bit of NZ do you not like?”, but which bit is *fascist*.
      
      And which bit of NZ is *governed* by organised crime? Sure, we have “organised” criminals, but they are not in political or commercial power.
      
      Too many people here who need to get a better grasp of what these words actually mean.
      
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      February 25, 2022 1:21pm
      - mawm
        
        It really depends on what your definition of fascism is. An autocratic government with a dictatorial leader, and coercion of the private sector to the will of the government? – ie using private sector to punish the unvaxed by getting them to enforce the segregation introduced by Jacinda. It looks to me we are there already.
        I make no reference to being governed by organised crime, merely responding to the “merger of fascism and organised crime” – I could probably link to the government payout to gangs (organised crime) as being some kind of working relationship between the two. The money was given to them for a reason.
        
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        February 25, 2022 9:16pm
DRHILL

Do they really think Putin will take any notice of what NZ says?
This was the same guy who sent agents with poison on 2 separate occasions!
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February 25, 2022 8:38am
- hullkiwi
  
  Yes, and those poisonings that occurred in the UK could be traced all the way back to the Kremlin. The man is Hitler MarkII. The next country on his hit list will be Georgia (another non-NATO country), where Putin backed a war in Abkhazia.
  
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  February 25, 2022 8:51am
- 7kiwi11
  
  Of course not! It is just saying something for the sake of saying something. A few days ago JA said she might introduce travel restrictions for Russia. It obviously didn’t have the desired effect hand Russia invaded anyway!
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:00am
  - MCōs
    
    It’s like anything else. NZ on its own has little influence in the world, but a number of countries acting together builds up momentum.
    China understands that. They help out countries here & there until they build up a critical mass.
    Why do you think our FM just happened to be over there at this particular time?
    
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    February 25, 2022 10:22am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Why do you think our FM just happened to be over there at this particular time?
      
      Nothing to do with Russia and the Ukraine.
      
      Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for Europe this weekend to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the Indo-Pacific Forum in Paris, to undertake a bilateral visit to the United Kingdom, and to participate in the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
      
      https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/foreign-affairs-minister-nanaia-mahuta-visit-europe-key-regional-and-un-engagements
      
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      February 25, 2022 11:53am
      - Jack5
        
        In Geneva, race-based ownership of water resources will surely be on the table.
        
        This is from the 2017 NZ reports of the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination:
        
        The Committee urges the State party ensure full respect for the rights of Maori communities to freshwater and geothermal resources, as protected by the Treaty of Waitangi and in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.
        
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        February 25, 2022 1:25pm
      - Yabster
        
        yep- Mcos- wrong again- she is there for the corrupt UN part-thats the agenda.
        
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        February 25, 2022 1:33pm
Maggie Pie

When my partner showed me this earlier I was horrified 🙁
He dubbed it….. “Auschwitz on Wheels”

The Russians have fleets of ‘Mobile Crematoria’ that they send in behind their soldiers to dispose of dead bodies and cover up evidence of killings.

https://youtu.be/mVPTqHZqdz0
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February 25, 2022 8:39am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  I thought the US had a drone so clever that it could find its way into Putin’s bedroom.
  If so, why not use it?
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:14am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Double glazing?
    
    24 1
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    February 25, 2022 9:18am
  - virtualmark
    
    Sure, if you want to start World War III.
    
    But I think it’s best that we don’t do that.
    
    8 2
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    February 25, 2022 9:31am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Oh noes
      https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/nyregion/trump-ny-fraud-investigation.html?smid=url-share
      
      3 3
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      February 25, 2022 12:10pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Apropos Russia and Ukraine???
        
        Red, I responded to your post yesterday. Go look there.
        
        4 1
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        February 25, 2022 1:24pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I agree and that should have been made clear to Putin as a threat from the start. As Trump did to Iran.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:57am
- Jack5
  
  The mobile crematoria (crematoriums) are most likely an outcome of Russia’s wars in Chechnya in 1994-1996.
  
  About 6,500 Russian soldiers, nearly all teenage conscripts, were killed.
  
  Russian mothers came to the battlefields, searching among corpses for their sons.
  
  This is from an account of the aftermath of the Chechen war, which had a similar effect on Russians as the Vietnam War did on Americans:
  
  One of the gruesome symbols of that war was a train-mounted facility with unidentified remains of the victims of the conflict: mostly civilians and some Russian soldiers. A team of Russian military forensic pathologists was working on the remains until, in July 1999, two junior team members were kidnapped for ransom. The rest of the experts left Chechnya. In 2000, when Russian troops re-entered Grozny, the train was still parked where it had been left, with a total of 154 decomposed bodies.
  
  A Russian account of the war:
  
  https://www.rt.com/russia/547209-russia-lost-first-chechen-war/
  
  And an American account:
  
  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-13-mn-31574-story.html
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:30am
Yvette

Ardern repeatedly emphasises that children are among the protesters outside Parliament.
And then unwittingly (to give her the benefit of the doubt) she turns schools into protest venues, with children watching and crying.
The Police protection squad whisk Jacinda away.

The squad’s numbers were boosted (increased in number) – so trouble was anticipated.
But I guess it may be a vague consultation that the squad just protect her, rather than advise that the visit is in fact ill-advised. I guess that is one good thing – that the Police do not interfere in Jacinda’s “operational duties” … as she sees them.
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February 25, 2022 8:46am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  (to give her the benefit of the doubt)
  
  Ardern and the Labour Party have always used children as political pawns.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:12am
  - bjools
    
    Including her own baby.
    
    12 1
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    February 25, 2022 3:27pm
Marty McFly

I may have missed it, but has anyone heard from Winston Peters on the [illegal] Russian invasion of The Ukraine yet?
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February 25, 2022 8:50am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  No points for him there, he won’t care, he is a Russian Luvvie if I remember rightly
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:23am
Padriv Ustoev

I’ve also have information on good authority that russians have dogs with bees in their mouths so when the dogs bark, bees come out and sting you. And they have been deploying these dogs exclusively near school and kindergartens.
True story.
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February 25, 2022 9:06am
- Libertarians are right
  
  And sharks with lasers on their heads.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:56am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  More likely their dogs are busy posting on Western blogs.
  
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  February 25, 2022 9:58am
Frank the tank

So rumor is that Mainfreight is about to shut down for a few weeks as they sort their omnishambles shit out.

Anyone want to guess the effects of our largest freight and logistics business closing the bulk of their operations down…….
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February 25, 2022 9:13am
- kevn
  
  @Frank… Scrap all mandates, that will sort it for Mainfreight.
  
  21 2
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  February 25, 2022 9:50am
  - bronny1
    
    Yup, i have a friend owns a huge trucking company. She is pro vax but anti mandate, but said they had to impose a mandate on staff as its required by all the parties they deliver to (supermarkets etc). Its a nasty messy situation.
    
    16 1
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    February 25, 2022 10:02am
  - Matt Long
    
    Yes, I note no one is allowed on site without a vax pass.
    That alone should ensure an omnishambles.
    
    17 3
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    February 25, 2022 10:36am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It could be bad, or not do bad, thanks to government taking their day tests, you will find they will out source essential supplies, they will be obliged to
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:25am
- curry4me
  
  More unintended conseuences for Stalindas ‘government’. I guess nobody saw that coming.
  
  6 1
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  February 25, 2022 11:51am
  - Nickc2
    
    More empty Supermarket shelves.
    The consequences of having a strictly amateur Govt whose Ministers’ only claim to fame could possibly be School Debating teams if any.
    
    7 2
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    February 25, 2022 12:31pm
cmm

According to Baker and Little the true number is expected “cases” is maybe x5 what has been captured by testing because so few are getting tested. So that would mean around 30,000 known “cases” becomes 150,000 infected people.

But one place where people can’t dodge the testing is in hospital. Hospital numbers will be solid because nobody escapes testing there and we have just over 200 cases in hospital. We can also assume that people needing to be in hospital are actually in hospital and are not hiding under their beds.

We can also assume that at least 50% of the people in hospital with CV19 are there for other reasons and that less than 50% are there because of CV19. But let’s be generous and say 50%, so 100 people are in hospital FOR CV19.

So of the 150,000 people infected with the virus, only 100 are in hospital FOR CV19. ie. 1 in 1500. Or, 0.66 per 1000.

NZ has a hospital bed capacity of around 2.5 per 1000, of which most are in use. Let’s say 2 per 1000 are in use.

That means general life is putting 2 per 1000 in hospital.

Here we have a disease that is only putting 0.66 per 1000 in hospital. ie the average probability of ending up in hospital with CV19 is only a third of that if you don’t have CV19.

Even if we take the full hospitalised number of 200, that is 1.3 per 1000. Still way lower than general hospitalisation.

What these numbers say is that hospitalisation, for all causes is lower in people infected with Omicron than in people not infected with Omicron.

On the face of it, that means Omicron keeps people out of hospital. Of course, there will be other factors in play here, but still this is clearly nothing to be alarmed about.

And they call this a pandemic? It sounds more like a health plan!
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February 25, 2022 9:16am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Possibly correct, yesterday was the first large day of rat testing results, yesterdays figure may well be the truer figure hence the spike
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:27am
- Cinematic
  
  We are well and truly into scamdemic territory.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:30am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Yep cmm, my oldest daughter has half a dozen friends who have tested positive, but have no symptoms. Crazy shit.
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:16am
Maggie Pie

The world is on the brink of War…..where’s OUR Prime Minister?

https://twitter.com/mrs_wiggley/status/1496681464481529862
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February 25, 2022 9:16am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Gee, our Dear PM is giving parents one less thing to worry about.
  
  How difficult has it been for generations of mums & dads to smear vegemite on a couple of slices of buttered bread and wrap a few sandwiches in paper each morning?
  
  34 1
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  February 25, 2022 9:27am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Or just pop into the local deli for a pork-belly and apple sauce on Ciabatta?
    
    18 3
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    February 25, 2022 9:31am
  - cmm
    
    Anything and everything to make people more dependent on the state.
    
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    February 25, 2022 9:34am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Actually Maggy, I went to a private school and got luncheon sausage in my sandwiches…
    
    9 0
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    February 25, 2022 10:10am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Not Kadimah then 😀
      
      4 1
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      February 25, 2022 12:14pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… More importantly, where is Clarke? The wannabe media enthusiast.
  
  26 0
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  February 25, 2022 9:52am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Didn’t Jacinda say the other day that he was tied up at the moment?
    
    13 0
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    February 25, 2022 11:22am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Chained up
      
      1 0
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      February 25, 2022 10:29pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I think he has been told to stay home.
    Worst kept secret in NZ atm
    
    9 1
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    February 25, 2022 3:43pm
- Frank the tank
  
  Under pressure = photo ops with school kids.
  
  Rinse, Repeat.
  
  13 0
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  February 25, 2022 10:12am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  She doesn’t even do Anzac Day or 100 year D day celebrations, did you expect to be strong on war words, more weasel words from her
  
  14 1
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  February 25, 2022 10:28am
Suze Wainwright

Good to hear Mike Hosking opine this morning about aotearoa’s msm suddenly publishing random (and rare) Omicron ‘horror’ stories.

Keep the populace on their toes and in a state of perpetual panic…
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February 25, 2022 9:28am
- Frank the tank
  
  Gotta keep the scare porn going as long as they can.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:12am
Loddenthinks

Weapons-grade trolling at the Canadian trucker protest as the stormtroopers march in.

Any trumpeters in Wellington?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOrohNGo8sk
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February 25, 2022 9:49am
Maggie Pie

Heather in labor….Barry tweets pic of water breaking.

CONGRATS GUYS!

https://twitter.com/barrysoper/status/1496928439789506573
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February 25, 2022 9:57am
- Frank the tank
  
  Isn’t it depressing when Shit hole countries have better infrastructure than New Zimbabwe
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:10am
- cmm
  
  It explains how the cop got dangerous dihyrogen monoxide, aka the acid (and base) hydrogen hydroxide, on his face.
  
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  February 25, 2022 10:37am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    That stuff can kill you..
    https://www.healthline.com/health/how-much-water-can-kill-you
    
    9 1
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    February 25, 2022 10:50am
Frank the tank

https://www.foxnews.com/media/john-kerry-excoriated-putin-focus-climate-change-ukraine-invasion

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/russia-ukraine-omar-bush-inhumane-sanctions

Good to see Bat’s mates have a good grapple on the Ukrainian War.
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February 25, 2022 10:03am
- bjools
  
  Sarcasm soon to a taxable commodity.
  
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  February 25, 2022 11:38am
I remember when

RNZ: Covid-19: Shipment of 10 Million rapid antigen test due over weekend:
So that’s two each.
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February 25, 2022 10:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  As other countries have decided to live with the virus, there’s now tonnes of RATs and face masks going cheap.
  
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  February 25, 2022 1:04pm
- cmm
  
  Is that part of the bribe that was paid by big biz to the government to allow RAT testing at all?
  
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  February 25, 2022 1:09pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  10 million to be ordered yet???
  
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  February 25, 2022 3:46pm
G the giant from Dunedin

I remember someone the other day say Hooten has de platforms from Twitter, he did the same when he took a job with Muller, I am suspiciously thinking he may have got the job helping Matt King start his new party? It’s mighty suspicious he has disappeared again
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February 25, 2022 10:51am
bythesea

omg – the latest “please explain” cartoon
The nightmare joke of a labour/green coalition (OZ perspective) but we are living it here in NZ!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdYBpW8BHFU

Gotta laugh, but also might have a little cry…
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February 25, 2022 10:55am
- curry4me
  
  Yeah, those cartoons are cool. I was going to post it tomorrow. You saved me a job. -;)
  
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  February 25, 2022 12:02pm
kowtow

Strange old world really .

Constant wars in Africa and the Middle East , ho hum.

War in Europe ! Totally unacceptable .

That’s racist.
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February 25, 2022 11:01am
I remember when

There was ‘at least two’ positive cases among Wellington protestors.
Obviously they had been careless in the extreme and are suffering the consequences of being unvaccinated.
The cases were discovered in day 15/16 of the protest.
So obviously there weren’t brought to Wellington by the original protestors.
They have been infected by visitors to the site who may have been Wellingtonians, or have left the site and become infected, or caught it from interactions with the police.
The media will portray it as ‘karma’ which is about the level of expertise many expect.
Is the ‘karma’ Wellingtonian or Protestor directed?
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February 25, 2022 11:03am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  What other Global Pandemic could see a large crowd of predominantly unvaccinated people living in close proximity for more than two weeks, with people coming and going constantly, and only a small handful of people contract the so-called deadly pathogen, let alone succumbing to the dreaded illness that has acted as the pretext for the stripping of our liberties? The very sustained existence of the protest shows us how ludicrous the official narrative is.
  
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  February 25, 2022 12:15pm
  - Batman
    
    Yes, a crowd of people who believe that vaccine is a bioweapon and the tests are DNA harvesting are of course very likely to willingly go and get tested right?
    
    Or, they claim there’s a secret directed energy weapon to blame for their covid symptoms and sun burn ?
    
    5 25
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    February 25, 2022 12:22pm
    - Its only I
      
      Your left alone to write these by yourself today aren’t you?
      Has the rest of the troll farm gone off to the protest for some free kai?
      
      16 4
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      February 25, 2022 1:00pm
      - Batman
        
        Yeah sure, troll farm. Whatever you say buddy.
        
        A group who don’t trust the government, not getting government supplied tests for a virus is not exactly conspiratorial logic.
        
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        February 25, 2022 1:18pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Too true
      Now do Public Servants who say Prayers and have a sing song before meetings.
      They are just the same.
      What a bunch of morons.
      
      8 3
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      February 25, 2022 1:21pm
    - cmm
      
      Is that an accurate reflection of the people involved?
      
      I would think that the people worried about energy weapons and magnetic interactions are very few.
      
      There are at least as many people, if not more, that look at the statistics and see that they don’t stack up.
      
      6 2
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      February 25, 2022 1:23pm
    - I remember when
      
      Batman:
      Great to see you batting for the underdog.
      In 2018 the US, the biggest pharmaceutical market in the world, generated about $484.8 billion, representing 40.4% of the $1.2 trillion generated worldwide.
      Doubt they would have any reason to belittle the anti vaccination crowd.
      
      10 2
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      February 25, 2022 2:09pm
      - Batman
        
        This logic is the same shitty one as used by the left for decades. It’s bullshit and has been the entire time.
        
        It is, however, a reflection of the lack of a real argument.
        
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        February 25, 2022 2:57pm
    - Its only I
      
      What’s the problem with the protesting against govs illegal mandates?
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/127835207/covid19-judge-overturns-police-and-defence-force-vaccine-mandate
      
      Oh deary me. Let’s hope some compensation is paid to those folks.
      
      How long will the story stay listed on Labours media outlet stuff?
      
      3 1
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      February 25, 2022 6:06pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It’s more than possible that a bunch of infected cops spread it into the protest camp
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/462089/officers-working-at-wellington-protest-have-caught-covid-19-police-commissioner-says
  
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  February 25, 2022 1:07pm
  - Inandout
    
    Maggy, Cuddles rarely lies…does he?
    
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    February 25, 2022 1:40pm
- mandk
  
  It now transpires from the MoH that there have been NO cases linked to the protest.
  
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  February 25, 2022 1:50pm
- bjools
  
  Infected by visitors…or….the close proximity of the Police?
  
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  February 25, 2022 3:26pm
curry4me

https://media.scribblelive.com/2022/2/24/a0261597-7e4b-4fcb-9199-463d66c18119.mp4

Stalinda gets a warm welcome at Tuahiwi.
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February 25, 2022 11:08am
curry4me

https://www.facebook.com/groups/6333851749990369/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=7173864455989090

[Private Group]

Camp Cranmer. It isn’t getting smaller. I took some bananas and milk on Wed. Someone else arrived with petrol for the generators while I was there. There was a notice board with a list of things they need. [Milk cutlery, conventional oven. container frodge, fridge locks, food coverings, aprons,hair nets, XL gloves, table cloths, grill cleaner, mince, food storage containers, meat temp checker, chopping boards, solar lights, solar power, gas for generators Butane/LPG blankets pillows old towels, shelves,tables, and a3000W generator.]
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February 25, 2022 11:12am
graham

* sigh *

It seems that nowadays, if you do ANYTHING that doesn’t follow the mainstream thinking, if you deviate from what is considered “normal”, if you do something “different” … then you are looked at with suspicion, and will probably at some point be labelled a conspiracy theorist (a far-right conspiracy theorist, no less).

And this includes using a different search engine from Google; specifically, DuckDuckGo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/technology/duckduckgo-conspiracy-theories.html

So much for embracing diversity …

I’m beginning to think that those people who love to talk about “right-wing conspiracy theorists” are themselves increasingly getting drawn into their own alternative left-wing conspiracy theories about conspiracy theorists. It would be funny if they weren’t so serious.
17 2
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February 25, 2022 11:55am
Surely Knott

Daily hospitalisation data doesn’t add up.
Feb 24 govt. press release. 205 hospitalisations across nz. They only give hospitalisation by vax breakdown for northern region.

Vaccination status of current hospitalisations : Unvaccinated or not eligible (23 cases / 14.5%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (2 cases / 1.3%);
fully vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (73 cases / 45.9%%);
unknown (21 cases / 13.2%)

But the health.govt.nz data doesn't have a category for unknown cases. When you take the data from the 24 feb – the data from 23 Feb to find how many new hospitalisations it is:
No dose = 4 (7%)
Partial vax = 1 (1%)
2 dose = 38 (69%)
booster = 3 (5%)
Child = 9 (16%)
Total new hospitalistations. = 55

There is no category for unknown status. And the media don't report the number of boosted in hosp. The numbers also don't add up. But I guess if someone is in the hospital a long time they just stay on the hospitalisation statistics – as opposed to people newly hospitalised.
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February 25, 2022 12:01pm
Maggie Pie

Texting our Cleaning Lady all morning to see whether she can still come or not.

Honestly, how long does it take to call your sister in Ukraine ffs?
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February 25, 2022 12:19pm
- Cinematic
  
  Funny. Not.
  
  20 2
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  February 25, 2022 12:33pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Well she’s called back anyway. Coming tomorrow now.
  
  And talking about ‘funny’…..Tatiana was just telling me that Volo Zelensky was in fact a ‘stand-up comedian’ before being voted in as President. I actually didn’t know that.
  Apparently he became quite Ukraine’s darling for his somewhat ‘off-color’ gay jokes about Putin.
  
  LOL!!
  
  10 9
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  February 25, 2022 1:44pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    And something else I’ve just come across…
    
    Ukraine President Zelensky used to play the piano live on telly with his dick!!
    
    😀 😀 😀
    
    https://youtu.be/2-UiadUOrfk
    
    Of course leftards wouldn’t find that funny either
    
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    February 25, 2022 2:56pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      If only our PM was so talented – with allowances, of course
      
      4 0
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      February 25, 2022 6:59pm
surfing

Hospitals are now filling with covid patients… hospitalisations and deaths will be the new way of measuring covid … daily reported cases are too numerous and likely too low.
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February 25, 2022 1:28pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

12011 new cases today. 5 deaths, 237 in hospital and 3 in ICU. Aussie data (assuming NZ will track same trajectory) suggests we are about a week from reaching peak and about 3 weeks from peak in deaths (up to about 20 per day). Aussies cases in decline and they have so far seen equivalent of about 500 deaths for NZ.
https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2022-01-07..latest&uniformYAxis=0&pickerSort=asc&pickerMetric=location&Metric=Cases+and+deaths&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Color+by+test+positivity=false&country=NZL~AUS
8 2
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February 25, 2022 1:36pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  NZ twitter lefties (but I repeat myself) clutching pearls about 5 deaths in a day from Omicron, not realising that there are about 10
  respiratory disease deaths a day during normal flu season (as proved by lower death toll in 2020) and about 100 a day that die from all causes.
  
  17 4
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  February 25, 2022 2:04pm
  - westernScientest
    
    and they are deaths with, not necessarily from
    
    13 2
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    February 25, 2022 3:05pm
    - kowtow
      
      The devil is in the detail.
      
      How old , how sick , how many co morbidities
      
      Context is everything.
      
      7 1
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      February 25, 2022 5:17pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    @urban-
    NZ registers 500 deaths per annum from asthma.
    No outcry about that.
    
    12 0
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    February 25, 2022 6:44pm
I remember when

It’s great to have leaders you can guarantee will give the right answer.
Newshub: Putin ‘just like the protesters in front of Parliament’ needs to go home – Helen Clark
8 1
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February 25, 2022 1:48pm
Nickc2

Australia’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2022/02/australias-statement-on-russias-military-advance-on-the-west.html
Where’s ours? Oh, that’s right, Nania Mahuta’s in Europe and she’ll scare the Russians on our behalf.
Perhaps Marise Payne (Aust Foreign Minister) should [deleted, racist – Mod]. Collectively, they could scare the shit out of the Russian Army.
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February 25, 2022 1:55pm
Nickc2

Mahuta abdicates responsibility for White Island. Who would have guessed?
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/government-terminates-agreement-relating-to-whakaari-white-island/ar-AAUe8FK?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
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February 25, 2022 2:09pm
Nickc2

US Secretary of State caught with his foot in his mouth wrt Russian Oil imports:
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/02/24/blinken-were-not-halting-gas-and-oil-purchases-from-russia-because-were-trying-to-minimize-pain-to-us/
Tell me again who terminated US’s dependence on foreign Oil & Gas (a Trump initiative)?
Isn’t now a good time for China to make a move on Taiwan?
11 2
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February 25, 2022 2:18pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Something to keep in mind as fearmongering politicians and media pummel the population with stories of calamitous deaths over the next 2 months:

There are now officially 40k people with Omicron in NZ, but in reality probably several times that many infected. On any given day 1 in 50000 kiwis dies. So even if Omicron was nothing more than a pen mark on your hand there would be a couple of people with pen-mark-on-hand dying daily. That will increase a lot over the coming month as number of infected increases hugely, but perhaps as many as half of Omicron ‘deaths’ will in reality be coincidentally infected people dying (mostly) of other causes. If you have it for a week and everyone in NZ gets it then given 100 kiwis a day die anyway then 700 people in NZ will die with pen-on-hand Omicron. We will only know in the aftermath when excess deaths can be assessed.

AFR estimates 120 per million dying with or of Omicron in Australia, for NZ that means about 600 total, assuming we are similar (likely given similar climate, populace and levels of obesity).
10 1
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February 25, 2022 3:02pm
bjools

https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/099/777/342/small/08bd99ee383d3583.png
What are the chances?
7 1
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February 25, 2022 3:02pm
bjools

Who’d have known, that the anti oil exploration “captains call”. Might have caused us a problem down the track….
Well….we are now “down the track”,,,
and I’ll put my hand up and yell….
MMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEE
16 1
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February 25, 2022 3:13pm
- kowtow
  
  No exploration and no refining .
  
  Very smart.
  
  8 1
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  February 25, 2022 5:16pm
bjools

Something I just read.
Similarly, Ukraine exported US$2.9 billion worth of agricultural products to the African continent in 2020. About 48% of this was wheat, 31% maize, and the rest included sunflower oil, barley, and soybeans. Russia and Ukraine are substantial players in the global commodities market.
Are we going to have to have another “Live aid”?
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February 25, 2022 3:17pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

So what is best western response to Putin?
1/ Do Nothing
2/ Sanctions
3/ Age-old War-by-proxy supplying Ukrainians with all the weapons they can eat training to guerilla the hell out of Russians Mujahadeen style.
4/ Western militaries targeting Russian military within Ukraine
5/ Western militaries striking military targets within Russia as well.
6/ ????

2 3 seems only sensible choice to me given Russian nuclear arsenal
8 1
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February 25, 2022 4:00pm
- MCōs
  
  Supplying weapons would be a waste of time.
  Ukraine isn’t going to win on the battlefield.
  
  3 1
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  February 25, 2022 4:49pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  One thing that history is pretty clear on is that you don’t put off fighting aggressive hegemonic powers unless it is to buy time to strengthen your ability to fight, appeasement just delays but magnifies the eventual conflict as the aggressor also grows their military in preparation for the fight they know is coming. The west needs to stop Russia in Ukraine ASAP (and demonstrate in that resolve that China does not want to invade Taiwan as seems to be the likely sequelae to Putin’s move)
  
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  February 25, 2022 5:00pm
- virtualmark
  
  2. The announced economic sanctions on Russian economy (banks, key imports etc)
  2a. Seize assets of Russian oligarchs (properties, super yachts etc … if necessary pass stronger legislation under urgency … for example NZ could/should seize Abramov’s property in Helena Bay)
  2b. Cancel all visas for Russian oligarchs & their families, mistresses etc. Send them home. No more pony lessons for Maria in the Cotswolds, no more private schools in London, no more going to top-tier Western universities.
  2c. Fines on Western businesses that continue to sell products into Russia. Apple, Mercedes etc etc. Exemptions for medical supplies & a few other similar categories.
  
  3. Support Ukrainian resistance with weapons, intelligence, training etc. Basically a repeat of the support the CIA gave to the Mujahideen.
  
  6. Force the closure of every Russian embassy in the West, except for say Switzerland. You want to talk to us we’ll do it in Zurich. Hugely crimp their intelligence services.
  
  7. Cut off all internet connections between Russia and the West. Simple … just physically unplug the fibre at the Internet exchange points. They will still be able to access the global internet via proxies like China, Iran etc. But it will mess with them.
  
  8. Ramp up support for Russian opposition groups.
  
  That’s a *start*.
  
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  February 25, 2022 5:09pm
  - virtualmark
    
    9. Bring Finland and Sweden into NATO.
    
    6 2
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    February 25, 2022 5:16pm
- virtualmark
  
  If you *really* want to mess with Russia right now …
  
  Commit that any Russian serviceman who surrenders to Ukrainian forces will be given immediate asylum and an EU work permit.
  
  Within 24 hours Putin wouldn’t have an army.
  
  7 2
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  February 25, 2022 5:12pm
- Mike
  
  I would suggest there are more options, and also many possible combinations of specific actions within and across those options.
  As a veteran of the 101st Chairborne Division, my preference is for a small special forces team to assault the Kremlin and arrest Putin.
  
  2 6
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  February 25, 2022 5:34pm
- Its only I
  
  No nothing seems to be the flavor of the month.
  Sanctions won’t hurt Russia.
  China will see an opportunity if tech components are held back.
  
  5 2
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  February 25, 2022 5:54pm
- westernScientest
  
  2 wont do much, 3 maybe, but I bet the Ukrainians wont like it, a lot of blood shed and will burn the country to the ground. Either deal with it or ignore it, probably 2 just to feel like we are doing something.
  
  From our perspective I say ignore it, or sanctions (which from us is basically meaningless to Russia) as horrible as it sounds, committing NATO troops to Eastern Europe will just open the door for china to invade Taiwan, and then onto the pacific opening up two major conflicts and a whole shitload more trouble to deal with.
  
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  February 25, 2022 7:21pm
TT500

I have heard a couple of commentators lately say
that whether or not you like the Prime Minister
she is still the Prime Minister,and should not be abused.

Perhaps if the Prime Minister did not abuse the office of the Prime Minister it might not happen.
11 1
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February 25, 2022 4:37pm
Bridgenag

Good article in the Daily Telegraph
” Today, Police threatened protest leaders with blocking service vehicles from emptying portaloos. Taking a leaf out of Trevor Mallard’s widely mocked playbook, Police threatened denying toileting to get protestors to meet their demands to move cars within the agreed protest area. This was in full knowledge the action would create a public health issue. Police know approximately 20 percent of people on site are young children and those aged 60 plus. 55 percent are women.
On Tuesday, Police told media that protestors had sprayed an ‘unknown substance’ into the faces of three officers. Media bought the line, jumping to the conclusion it was acid. Footage taken by people in the crowd now reveals it was instead ‘friendly-fire’, with a video showing an officer indiscriminately using pepper spray that blew back on his colleagues. However, both mainstream and social media widely reported that a protestor performed this harm. Worse still, the Prime Minister capitalised further and said she is not engaging with the protestors because of their behaviour. Both Police and the Prime Minister should now apologise to the protestors for this deliberate defamation. The area is currently the most surveilled part of New Zealand, and they would have known within an hour who sprayed who. There is simply no excuse for perpetuating misinformation. The Police stayed silent because the situation suited the government narrative.
Despite regular contact with Police daily via a dedicated communications channel, today, the Police failed to mention that they would carry out somewhat of a spectacle on Lambton Quay by sending hundreds of officers running up and down the Capital’s streets. This was an area unconnected with the protestors, resulting in significant disruption to Wellingtonians, for a handful of additional concrete bollards.
On Tuesday, Police told media there was the potential for sexual assaults occurring on-site, without actual reports of any occurring or even alerting us. This showed they were more concerned with media headlines than public safety. The allegations were later retracted, but this was barely reported.
Requests by protesters for the Police to provide surveillance images of the offender who squirted faecal matter at the Police continue to be refused, leading protestors to be concerned he might still be on site and at risk of committing similar offences. The Police say their reason for not providing surveillance images of the offender is to protect the offender’s privacy.
Assertions that protestors’ actions have made harbour water unsafe for swimming were dismissed today, with Wellington Water confirming that harbour water quality was within normal range.
Police have claimed high-risk sex offenders are on-site. Given that these individuals are known to the Police and are permanently supervised by at least two officers, the Police are obliged to remove these known offenders as they breach their release conditions. But why waste another sensationalist headline? This intentional, consistent dishonest pattern of behaviour by Police has left us shocked and disappointed. We will not be manipulated.
The Police are more concerned with mounting a smear campaign against the protestors than honest policing.
It also suits both the Police and government for this misleading and deceptive conduct to remain on public record. Now they have been comprehensively exposed, they should front up and tell the media to correct all the negative news coverage relating to the protestors……”
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February 25, 2022 5:19pm
greybeard

“There were two deaths in Auckland, two in Waikato and one in Tauranga. The Ministry of Health has not released any further information.”
Why not?
Why not say how old they were, or how obese they were, or what underlying health problems they had?
Do we not deserve to know the circumstances of so-called “Covid-19 deaths” so that maybe we can take actions to avert them?
This is just bullshit. They know it and we know it.
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February 25, 2022 6:43pm
alloytoo

Another day another Covid update.

If you can get to sleep it would appear to be the best medicine for Covid.

I had an ok night but woke early, luckily I was able catch a few quality hours in the around dawn hours and was able wake refreshed and put in almost a full days work with only minor fatigue

Stock up your pantry, your Vit C, D & Zinc and Panadol and hopefully everyone will have it as mild or milder than us.
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February 25, 2022 8:03pm

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