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March 3, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 03 March 2022

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General Debate

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nathie

Why did the Police feel it was necessary to use firearms (with sponge bullets?) against unarmed protesters last night?

Were any of the protesters armed? Unlikey because if they were then the armed offenders squad woud have taken over the response, but they didn’t.

What happened to the person that appeared to be shot and was lying down on the street? There was brief coveage on social media but did something else happen to the protester (eg accidendently fell down perhaps?) because there doesn’t seem to be coverage in the MSM about it.

But back to the Police firing sponge bullets at unarmed protesters, since when has this been acceptable?

The politicans, the Police and MSM don’t seem to think it is an issue because none of them are commenting on it.

Is it because sponge bullets are deemed “safe” by the Police so therefore the MSM and politicians don’t think it is worth commenting on?

Well if so, that is at total odds with previous MSM reporting on sponge bullets, the MSM back then highlighted the harm and injuries (and potential for accidental death occurring) and oppositon views on Polic using sponge bullets.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/418704/sponge-bullets-suggested-by-police-commissioner-incredibly-dangerous-lobby-group

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125811536/more-transparency-on-sponge-bullet-use-needed-from-police-criminologist-says

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2006/S00080/on-allowing-the-police-to-use-sponge-bullets.htm

Will the Police Minister Poto Williams be “held to account” (questioned) by today’s MSM? Or the Prime Minister? Or will they be allowed to disapear into Witless Protection (or visit kindygartens) so they can’t be questioned?

Should the Police Minister (or Prime Minister) resign because of their sanctioning of Police firing upon unarmed protesters? Will the MSM even bother to pose the question to gauge the political response?
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March 3, 2022 8:00am
- Nick R
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  What a disgraceful comment. The “protestors” literally dug up paving stones and threw them at the Police. They are all over the streets this morning. One of them drove a car at the Police. They were not unarmed. They were not peaceful. They burned a playground. They tried to burn Victoria University Law School.
  
  We all owe a debt of gratitude for the restraint and professionalism showed by the Police. A job well done.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:27am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Do you have any evidence of that law school allegation Nick? I saw a FB post from the Antifa munters advocating that, but I’m not aware of any actual attempt to commit arson on that historic building.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      So where did all the paving stones go then ?
      
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      March 3, 2022 9:31am
    - Bullion
      
      Did you really, or did you see an image of that? It hasn’t posted anything for years.
      
      And did you bother to see that the page named Antifa New Zealand is a joke account with posts like “WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL ALL SANTAS ACROSS NZ ARE WEARING WOMXNS CLOTHES!!!” and “We find it disgusting that Trump is getting Cozy with Russia! That makes trouble for Antifa NZ because Russia is not Germany and it makes it hard for us to label everybody a Nazi!
      For the record, we are in no way associated with Russia and this page is run directly from Auckland CBD.”
      
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      March 3, 2022 9:55am
    - 3-coil
      
      thanks Tony – so that’s where Nick R gets his info from: Antifa!
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:25am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Just watched the lunchtime news, and yes you could see several fools throwing bricks which are the cobblestones at the police
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:19pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Are these the same police I saw destroying private property on TV1?
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45am
  - amospicton
    
    It didn’t take a genius to work out the the police’s provocations over the last few days were going to end like this. They deliberately inflamed the situation which seems at odds with Coster’s earlier comments about the consequences of doing so. This smacks of pressure having been applied by our kind, for all NZers government. That’s the story here and it’s ugly.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:47am
    - Liberty
      
      A few months ago we had crocodile tears with love and kindness over the dawn raids some 40 yrs ago.
      Yesterday the kindness disappeared when Dear Leader’s commissioner
      Sent hundreds of police in riot gear into a sleeping camp.
      Dear Leader makes Muldoon look like a saint.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:57am
      - Jack5
        
        The Woke go on and on about dawn raids on illegal immigrants.
        
        I have knowledge of a Kiwi subjected to a dawn raid in the UK because immigration officials thought (wrongly) that a hostel was full of illegal immigrants.
        
        The explanation for the early morning raid was rational. If people have jobs and you need to raid them at home you either do it early in the morning or in the evening. You could, of course, raid the workplace, but that would be more humiliating for the suspects.
        
        The Woke story basically is that New Zealand has no right to decide who can come into the country and work.
        
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        March 3, 2022 12:51pm
      - leoj
        
        The dawn raids started in 1974.
        Rob wasn’t PM until Nov 1975.
        The dawn raids started under Wallace Rowling.
        
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        March 3, 2022 1:16pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        I see Leoji down below says it was Rowling in 74 that started the dawn raids, my memory was that it was started by big Norm further back than 74, i think it was even mentioned when the silly Marxist apologies for the dawn raids when she tried to suggest it was aNat government , but it was quickly pointed out it was Kirk that started them
        
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        March 3, 2022 6:52pm
    - mawm
      
      As at 1235h there are 28 people on KB who think it was ok for the police to fire potentially lethal bullets into the protestors who by and large have been a happy peaceful crowd.
      
      Just who are these police that are happy to fire into a crowd of women and children? Just like Andrews set the police thugs onto the Victorians, Morrison on those in ACT and Justin his thugs on to Canadians, Jacinda has joined an infamous group of Schwab’s young leaders who have become dictators who violently suppress dissent. This will not end well!
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:46pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Correct. These snowflake crim-huggers need to take a hard look at the kinds of lawless behaviours they support.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:49am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      It is ironic, because with so many Māori, woman and young plus hippies, they are mostly leftie fools
      
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      March 3, 2022 1:15pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    The question is – “did they fire first or only after being attacked and did they only fire at those attacking them?”
    
    The protesters that attacked Police should definitely be accountable as should any cop that used violence when they had no right to or against those they had no right to use it against.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:50am
  - surfing
    
    These were not unarmed protestors singing Kumbaya…they were full on screaming FTP , calling them pigs, charging at them, throwing projectiles with potential to kill or seriously maim. The only reason there were no police deaths is because of their protective gear. People can die from just falling over, let alone being smashed in the head with a long length of 4×2 or a chunk of concrete (and yes, I saw protestors trying to do this to cops).
    
    I find your attitude disgusting, these were not peaceful protestors.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:54am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      I think there is a point where dutifully respecting those who are upholding and enforcing a tyranny (i.e. the unjust abuse of self-assigned powers) should be met with opposing force, to the extent that it is commensurate to the police aggression. If police in riot gear come in to physically break up an expression of political dissent, then they should expect to be met with countervailing measures, even if crude measures.
      
      While not quite on the same level, the Founding Fathers of the US were, at the time, considered violent radicals acting in opposition to the existing powers, yet with time, they were shown to be completely in the right and have been vindicated. Should they have sat back and meekly accepted the fate dished out by “the authorities.” I don’t think so.
      
      “They are the police, thus they must be treated with respect” is no argument. This proposition is not absolutely applicable (it normally is, but it is a relative notion). These are very abnormal times, so normal behaviours and standards need to be similarly reconsidered and recalibrated. In counties which (even more so) brutally enforce the will of their political masters, do you think the brutalised citizens should just accept their treatment? At some point, that obligation is removed by events, and shit starts to get real.
      
      If the police are enforcing state overreach, then they should fully expect pushback from those subjected to the overreach.
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:39pm
    - I remember when
      
      “Screaming FTP, calling them pigs”
      Well that it then, out with the pepper spray, teargas, rubber bullets, give them a bit of a tickle up.
      Get the Government to set up emergency legislation for instant hanging – after a ‘mock’ trial, of course.
      
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      March 3, 2022 1:11pm
    - Taieri
      
      calling them pigs,
      ———————
      
      And being called Rivers of Filth…
      
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      March 3, 2022 1:12pm
  - Dead Earnest
    
    Fully Agree Nick.
    Good to have a voice of sanity on this blog.
    We rightly condemn BLM rioters and illegal Maori occupations on this blog, but many seem to think the the illegal occupation of our parliament and the use of violence to resist legitimate law enforcement is alright because the “cause” was something that many of us have some sympathy with.
    No. The “cause” has just been trashed by a gang of “once were warriors” who have more in common with Hamas stone throwers rather than Mahatma Gandhi.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:02am
    - Ra Henare
      
      The moot point of course will be your posit illegit occupation of our parliament.
      
      I am sure it will end up in the Supreme Court some time in the future.
      https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-protest/page-1
      
      Ie was the protest legit under the bill of rights.
      Did the Speaker have an authority to give a blanket trespass notice on public property
      Did the Police use excessive force on peaceful protestors.
      
      Note: I am not talking about the mongrels hurling bricks? whatever at police. They can be identified and charged. An talking about other police actions.
      
      There is obviously blame on both sides.
      
      Have been amused at the stream of Propoganda coming from the Beehive. Especially the illegal protest meme from the beginning.
      
      As Goebbels is alleged to have said a lie repeated enough becomes truth. An Ms Ardern has studied propaganda as part of her communications degree, I am not at all surprised at her stance re things she doesn’t like. eg Protestors.
      She would follow as part of her degree curriculum Edward Bernays. The father of PR and propaganda.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
      
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      March 3, 2022 5:12pm
  - Viva Christo Rey
    
    If you harass and persecute somebody and finally they lose it and punch you in the face then I guess we can say they are violent. That is what this government and their disgusting cronies in the media have been engaged in – persecution. And it is not showing any sign of stopping yet.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:38am
  - Matt Long
    
    Schadenfreude: noun, the happy warm glowing feeling Batman and Mike have now that police have done what they wanted and violently dispersed the protesters destroying their possessions.
    Confirmation Bias: mental gymnastics by which yesterday’s events serve to confirm and strengthen each person’s point of view.
    Violent idiots: People who added fuel to the fires originally set off by police and should be prosecuted.
    Radicalisation: noun, the process by which people are moved from a moderate position by marginalisation, isolation, and victimisation and dogma to another more dangerous place. This can be avoided by opening dialogue with people and applying the principals of good open and kind government.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:45am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Nothing “radicalises” people like the progressive liberal orthodoxy that we have shoved down our throats at every turn. Most of the “unacceptable outbursts of irrationalism” we are seeing more and more of are simply predictable reactions brought on by the people who repudiate them, in the same way that “insanity” is often just a way of categorising someone who cannot adjust to a profoundly perverse world. Stalin placed dissenters in mental institutions on the logic that, the system is perfect, thus maladjustment indicates mental illness. No Joe, it was your oppressive system that was at fault.
      
      Wonder why there’s a crowd camped out on the lawn at Parliament? Some form of madness? Or just an inevitable reaction to the anti-human policies of our enlightened leaders? The latter. They want to confine themselves to the effects, and never consider the causes of these effects, because identifying the cause could implicate themselves.
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:48pm
    - Jack5
      
      Matt Long’s he happy warm glowing feeling Batman and Mike have…
      
      ?Batman doesn’t leave the cave and fly to Kiwiblog until mid-afternoon.
      
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      March 3, 2022 2:48pm
- SJ Actual
  
  Police showed admirable restraint.
  Describing the protesters (rioters) as unarmed is ridiculous.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:43am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    The police actively created the situation. They have increased the psychological and physical pressure for a couple of weeks. Everything they did was designed to create a situation that would give them a pretense of validity for a violent crackdown.
    They agitated for this on behalf of Ardern. Do not try and paint it as anything other than state induced violence to give Ardern a political escape route.
    It has backfired though.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:43am
  - I remember when
    
    No I have inspected the footage and all of the protestors have arms, a left and a right.
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:16pm
- kowtow
  
  Anyone throwing paving blocks at coppers , many who were ill equipped and didn’t even have head protection , should count themselves lucky they only faced a sponge or some such .
  
  Those drongoes attacking the Cops didn’t look like they had anything to do with what was a legitimate protest, they were there for trouble and disgraced the anti mandate protest.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:43am
  - rouppe
    
    100%.
    
    The violence yesterday was from anti establishment people. Not the anti mandate folk.
    
    Reports this morning that many of the rioters last night had returned to Shelley Bay.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:26am
    - Okahu
      
      “The violence yesterday was from anti establishment people. Not the anti mandate folk.”
      
      Care to explain the difference?
      
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      March 3, 2022 2:09pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        If you don’t know by now then I diagnose that you have a cognitive disorder
        
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        March 3, 2022 7:51pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    They disgraced themselves, their actions were nothing to do with those majority of peaceful protesters who handled themselves with dignity and respect throughout the period they were there. Unlike the police and politicians who are an abject disgrace and totally responsible for every aspect of what evolved.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:45am
- ex-golfer
  
  Unarmed protestors?
  I guess you’re OK with having paving stones flung at you then.
  Next time a bunch of ferals decide to riot in the street, why don’t you head down there and quell them with your cup of tea approach.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:45am
  - Don Beckett
    
    It was quite obvious to anyone with ‘eyes to see’ that a fringe violent element came to the protest when most of the moderate anti-mandate protesters had decided to depart earlier. Those Maori guys throwing bricks at the police IMO were not part of the original protest group, and merely went there to ‘have a go at the cops’, which was deplorable the way they threw paving stones at them.
    Despite that, that does not negate the validity and the proper intentions of the main protest group, who were peaceful and had the one object of getting rid of the mandates. There is no doubt that the actions of the police also inflamed the situation, which arguably made it inevitable that the more belligerent would aid & abet the confrontation which led to violence by the aforementioned violent fringe.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:28am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Speaking of getting rid of mandates, in the UK…
      
      Mandatory vaccination for health and social care workers will be scrapped in a fortnight following a Government U-turn
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:50pm
  - nathie
    
    @ ex-golfer. Dude, I’ll reply to you rather than a couple of others here, thanks to your ad-hominem comments.
    
    For the record I support the Police (and their duty to protect Parliament during the protests).
    
    I support the Police prosecuting the militant protesters including those yesterday throwing objects at them (and I am sure those militant fools will be identified and brought to justice as they were caught on camera).
    
    And to clear up OlderChas’ comments – I am referring to last evening when the Police were encircling the last few remaining protesters on a nearby street and they were shooting at them. This was on the tv news and I didn’t at that stage see the protesters “throwing bricks” (but I wasn’t there so I don’t know that for sure).
    
    So just to clear up your thinking, if the Police are attacked by brick throwing militants, is it ok to open fire on them?
    
    Just checking if we are all living in NZ or some other totalitarian state?
    
    PS – if the Police are allowed to open fire on brick throwing protesters …. well then let’s have the Police Minister or Prime Minister clear that aspect up for everyone, so future violent protesters know what will be in store for them (and apply that equally). All I want is consistency.
    
    What’s the bet no-one will front up to explain whether the Police can shoot violent protesters, so we will continue to see these inconsistencies?
    
    @ G the Giant and others – “unarmed” as in protesters not carrying guns. As despicable as throwing bricks and pipes and chairs and fire extinguishers are (and I hope those turkeys get prosecuted) is not considered “armed” in the true sense of the word (guns related).
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:43am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They were armed with bricks, get over your self, also the police confirmed some of the charges are for carrying illegal weapons, perhaps the police should not be firing on them with rubber buckets, but the protesters were armed, you can say what ever you like to ridicule, but the police that went to hospital with injuries did not trip and hit their head
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:23pm
      - Jack5
        
        Is it reasonable to assume that if some thugs were evident at the end of the Parliament House protest, they would probably be those emptied from prisons by the Ardern government?
        
        Prison rolls have been falling, as Arden lets thugs out and liberal judges stop putting them in.
        
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        March 3, 2022 2:45pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Nathie – bro. Calm down. Point #1 – Nothing will happen to Poto. She will be reelected with a huge margin in 2023 elections by the great sheeple of CHC. Point #2 – Part time PM will not resign for anything.
  
  So start worrying about petrol prices which in few days will hit $4.00 mark, rather than Labour gummit which is as strong as a Russian tank crushing Ukranian cars.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:24am
  - tf78
    
    US$111/barrel today.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:28am
    - Jack5
      
      Yep, the Covid protests have diverted attention from the inflation that is about to engulf us, and remember what can happen to democracy in high inflation.
      
      Ardern will blame the inflation on oil prices and the supermarket duopoly, when it has been caused by the blow-out in Government spending in Covid subsidies (and general squandering), financed by “printing” money through Treasury-Reserve Bank debt transactions.
      
      Ominously, as Friedman pointed out:
      
      “There is no way of slowing down inflation that will not involve a transitory increase in unemployment, and a transitory reduction in the rate of growth of output.”
      
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      March 3, 2022 1:06pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    No problemo. Let’s fire up the V12
    
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    March 3, 2022 7:54pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Unarmed?
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:30am
- OlderChas
  
  Agree with Nick below. Did you see the injured police officers being carried from the scene? Did the thugs injure them with ‘peaceful protest’? It was reported this morning that a thug throwing a pole or similar in an attempt to deliberately injure a police officer lost his aim and his weapon struck a woman protester in the head instead. I suspect that was the woman seen lying on the ground.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:31am
  - Frederick
    
    No that wasn’t the case. She was hit by a sponge bullet. I was right beside her when she was being treated and observed her being carried to a car to be taken to hospital. Nice try though!
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:15am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      If the protesters did not throw bricks, the sponge bullets would not have been fired, in saying that, the PM straight out lied on TV saying the police did not use tear gas or rubber billets, even though it has been well documented
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:26pm
Warren

This shows you what a immature unforgiving Government we have that will eat there own that dare to hold them to the standards that should be in place.
Sir Ian Taylor was there to help Labour with a creditable home isolation program but because he found faults and spoke against them they send him a bill of $800 to cover three test he had in which he never got the results for.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/i-owe-how-much-sir-ian-taylor-chased-by-debt-collector-for-an-miq-bill/F2P2SSTL4HLYFG6CSARJJGTV3Q/
Fancy sending the debt collectors after one of your most loyal helpers spoke out against you.
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March 3, 2022 8:00am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Indeed Warren. Sir Ian has said in several interviews that he was a lifetime Labour voter, with the exception of one election where he voted for a John Key-led National, because he believed they had better policies. I doubt he’ll vote Labour again any time soon after the manner in which they have made him a pariah.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:47am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Since Ian Taylor is a life time Labour voter, he deserves everything that is coming to him. No sympathy here. Take it on the chin Ian bro. You deserve it. I am sure he will vote Labour again in 2023 because Labour is going to solve the housing crisis by building 10,000 houses.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:26am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      He ain’t voting Labour again, another one
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:16am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Thats what sickens me when people say all Nats fault, can’t vote them, there will be no new party in parliament, don’t waste the opportunity to get rid of the Marxist fool
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:34am
    - Matt Long
      
      We’re not saying it’s National’s fault, merely that all National is offering is the same agenda with better management.
      Happy to be shown that’s not correct.
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:55am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        No they are bloody not, they are anti three waters, anti separatist agenda, they do not want one law for a few, they don’t want higher taxes, and I even heard Luxon telling Ardern to grow a spine and send home Russias ambassador, snd he said don’t be dictated to by the UN, doesn’t sound like Labour lite to me
        
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        March 3, 2022 11:19am
      - Jack5
        
        Luxon seems more Woke than Judith Collins. An example, from a meeting in Nelson, Luxon speaking:
        
        “I personally call New Zealand ‘New Zealand’. Inside New Zealand I tend to call it ‘Aotearoa New Zealand’. I think for us out in the world it makes sense to be branded as ‘New Zealand’, not as something else because it’s very confusing for our marketers and people selling our products. ”
        
        Aotearoa New Zealand is step one towards changing the country’s name.
        
        The meeting:
        
        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/01/national-leader-christopher-luxon-responds-to-man-at-public-meeting-who-got-round-of-applause-for-denouncing-use-of-te-reo-m-ori.html
        
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        March 3, 2022 1:17pm
  - Matt Long
    
    I often make the wry comment, “well you keep voting for them” to people I know would never vote Labour, but in this case Sir Taylor deserves everything he gets for voting for them for real.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:45am
    - Matt Long
      
      Anyone remember the Owen Glenn, big Labour donations saga? Traver acting as the bouncer keeping Glenn away from Aunty Helen?
      
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      March 3, 2022 9:51am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Owen Glenn’s also donated more than 100 k to Peters, that corruption was what got Peters kicked out in 2011, he did not declare the money
        
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        March 3, 2022 12:29pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      He won’t be next time will he?
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:27pm
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Thanks for the excellent comment Matt. I have no sympathy for this Ian bloke once I knew he was a long time Labour voter. Serves him right.
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:37pm
- Mags
  
  I think the bigger issue in that story too is the $60 million spent on saliva tests, I have not seen or heard of any saliva tests coming into the country.will this be followed up? I really despair for the poor coverage we have with our media.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:53am
- artemisia
  
  Reported today that government systems are buckling and vulnerable are falling through cracks.
  
  Not new then, though possibly some falling through the buckling cracks are a wee bit less vulnerable.
  
  Two years of neglect.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:57am
- Nickc2
  
  Has Lockdown_Cindy’s mob set Debt Collectors on people who went through lockdown without paying their invoices?
  It certainly hasn’t been mentioned if they have and if they have, what’s the recovery ratio vs cost to recover?
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Lordy..
  
  What will the Government do if one of those missing saliva tests turns out to be positive… Will the Government insist that Sir Ian self-isolates retrospectively for 10 days?
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:26am
Benedict Yu

One lesson of politics is that it is often small things that erode the the reputations of politicians. Think David Clark and his mischief during the first lockdown. ?

The Foreign Minister was recently in MIQ in Christchurch. Apparantly.

It turns out that she was not satisfied with the three meals per day and snacks that were delivered to her door each day. So she had some “snacks” delivered to her by the New World in Durham Street. Good choice. Far and away the best supermarket in Christchurch.

https://asianinvasion2019.blogspot.com/2022/02/mahuta-loves-herself-bit-of-white.html

It would have been so easy for her to pay for this herself. But instead, she used her government credit card, exposing her snack preferences to the world. I am not suggesting this is against the rules, but it is not great judgement. If you get paid that much, surely you can pay for your own snacks?

HAT TIP Cactus Kate
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March 3, 2022 8:00am
- pdm
  
  `If you get paid that much, surely you can pay for your own snacks?’
  
  And deodorant!!!!
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:05am
  - Pavel
    
    Men’s deodorant lol.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:18am
  - oldfella
    
    BY: After seeing Mahuta on TV the other night, I remarked to Mrs oldfella that she (Mahuta) looked as though she’d actually lost some weight in recent months. Which was confirmed by checking out some recent pictures.
    Has she had the Paula Bennett stomach op, but kept it a secret?
    If not, she should market her weight loss secrets. ‘Eat Crap and Lose Weight’. Always a market for that kind of thing.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:28am
- yossarian
  
  Haha. Outstanding.
  
  Given that obesity is one of the critical co-morbilities in dealing with Covid, you’d think she’d lay off the potatoes chips and chocolate.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:14am
  - Simon
    
    “Given that obesity is one of the critical co-morbilities in dealing with Covid, you’d think she’d lay off the potatoes chips and chocolate”
    
    Yep they mandated the jaxx for everyone to cover for the obese.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:40am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Remember that time John Key stood Phil Heatley down as a Minister because he bought a bottle of wine in his ministerial credit card?
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:49am
  - David Garrett
    
    Tony S: I remember that very well. Key had zero tolerance for even very minor misdeeds. And for the more serious ones they were quite literally “gone by lunchtime”.
    
    When Richard Worth flew his mistress to Welly – and then lied to Key about it – all trace of him having ever been a Minister was gone within hours
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:07am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I was thinking about that Minister – can’t remember who – a couple of weeks ago hung up on a journalist because she could not answer any of his (totally reasonable) questions. In the Key Government, such behaviour would have been fatal. Now it is just normal. 🙁
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:21am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Carmel Sepuloni
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300520836/questions-left-hanging-as-minister-for-social-development-carmel-sepuloni-hangs-up
        
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        March 3, 2022 10:27am
- Nickc2
  
  I was taught at Bording School that eating between meals makes you fat. Nobody, including School Masters were ever seen eating between meals even on visitors’ days. On such days, kids and staff were told to gracefully decline any food offered by visitors.
  Obviously, Mahuta didn’t attend a reputable Bording School.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:33am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    She boarded at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.
    
    17 1
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    March 3, 2022 10:29am
    - Nickc2
      
      Normall, I’d let that one fly on its own. However, my emphasis was on ‘reputable’.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:35am
  - tf78
    
    I went to a convent school and thought the nuns just didn’t eat.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:32am
- thetiedarch
  
  I’m more annoyed about her purchase of 6x 1.5L bottles of spring water.
  
  Totally unnecessary. Christchurch has some of the purest tap water in the world.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:51am
  - cmm
    
    Wait for 3 waters to kick in…
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:38am
  - Jack5
    
    The tiedarch at 9.51: …Christchurch has some of the purest tap water in the world.
    
    Hasn’t had for a long time. People go to, and often queue at, natural water springs in Christchurch to get pure water.
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:38pm
krazykiwi

Dear Mr Coster,

What a day! You must be exhausted. Sadly, there’s likely to be little time to gather your breath, and the questions about how the New Zealand Police managed themselves will already be starting to form. I thought, as a public service, I might ask a few of these questions here to allow you to get ahead of the curve.

I note that you are a Christian, as am I. We’re probably in agreement that God got a pretty good look at happenings yesterday, but even if you felt that unimportant there will be 100s of hours of video recorded, some of which I’ve seen. Also, as an Elder of your central-city church (inspirational preaching there, btw) you’ll be well versed in the 10 Commandments, the 9th being abbreviated as “Do not lie”, a useful reminder as you consider these questions.

1. At any time, did your officers hold someone on the ground while another officer beat that person?

2. Did one or more of your police officers overturn a generator resulting in a fire?

3. How many trespass notices did your team issue yesterday?

4. Did any of your team kick any individual who was lying on the ground?

5. At any time yesterday or prior, were you made aware of the presence or likely presence of non-resident agitators?

6. Did your officers pepper spray individuals while they were standing peacefully?

7. Did your officers block access to toilets at the site?

8. Did you read the riot act to protestors prior to drawing batons and deploying petter spray?

9. Did you receive any communications from the Prime Minister’s office in the 4 days leading up to the event?

There is more video to go through which I expect will result in further questions.

I do hope you’re able to answer ‘no’ to all of these questions. But if you cannot, would you consider resigning?

Have a good day.

Regards,
kk
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March 3, 2022 8:00am
- pdm
  
  A further two questions for Coster The Imposter.
  
  Did the Police yesterday have their Identification Numbers covered so they could not be identified?
  
  Are you now going to move the Shelley Bay Protesters on immediately and in the same manner?
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:08am
  - G152
    
    And will the criminal gangs be treated with the same cop mobbing technique
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45am
    - MCōs
      
      You mean do nothing for three weeks when faced with some gang that is likely armed?
      
      2 6
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      March 3, 2022 1:17pm
- R
  
  Probably needs to be an OIA, which you can do here:
  
  http://www.fyi.org.nz
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:12am
- alex Masterley
  
  Another question:
  Did any of your staff use rubber or foam bullets in yesterday’s opperation, and if so how much training had those officers received in their use?
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:13am
  - peterwn
    
    1. Did the protesters throw paving stones at the Police (which could cause more serious injury than sponge bullets)?
    2. How much training did the protesters have in the deployment of paving stones, plywood shields, scorched earth practices etc.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45am
    - peterwn
      
      To the four down-tickers – I see that the Auckland Domain protesters are packing up and going away like lambs. So the Police tactics in Wellington have clearly shown the Police are not a bunch of pussy-cats as the protesters thought they were.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:21am
      - krazykiwi
        
        I am reliably informed that if the Stasi showed up to ones picnic then ham sandwiches were abandoned as those enjoying the sun went away like lambs. Gutless, those GDR losers.
        
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        March 3, 2022 12:31pm
      - peterwn
        
        Looks the Picton ones also cleared off rather than have a confrontation with the Police.
        The biggest show of defiance against the protesters would be for WRC, WCC, and the Police to get the bus interchange operational and get buses back on their normal routes as soon as possible.
        
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        March 3, 2022 1:09pm
      - I remember when
        
        Might be an idea for them to visit a few gang pads while they are in the mood.
        
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        March 3, 2022 1:36pm
- rouppe
  
  I was in support of the intital purpose of that protest.
  
  However at the end, it wasn’t anti-mandate protesters that were engaged with. It was the radical indigenous cohort.
  
  The great missed opportunity is that now, that whole protest will be defined by that last day. You can hear Ardern doing it almost immediately. The whole point of that protest is going to be lost because the indigenous whenua can’t restrain themselves from violence.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:15am
  - Its only I
    
    The MSM were doing nothing but painting every person one colour. The Vacuous head of marketing is just sticking to the plan developed by the non elected policy makers surrounding the PM.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:17am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  An anonymous letter to the police how far the mighty frightened have fallen.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:18am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    I get it Brian, evil people who are Lefties can feel safe using their own names online but ordinary, decent Kiwis who are on the Right can’t. Surely any decent person would see this as a bad thing right?
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:59am
  - Yabster
    
    Brave – huh anybody that has done what he has done is a coward.
    
    20 1
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    March 3, 2022 9:00am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Accidentally, he wasn’t even competent enough to shoot the right person. Incompetent and evil – what a combination to be proud of!
    
    23 1
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    March 3, 2022 10:05am
  - David Garrett
    
    Cmm: Oh that’s good Sir, very good indeed
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:19am
- Scott
  
  Krazy kiwi –I don’t blame Andrew Coster for what happened yesterday at Parliament. The police had acted in a restrained manner but the decision obviously was made in the beehive that three weeks was long enough and the protesters were going to be removed. I don’t blame the protesters for fighting back because they are at the end of their tether, having lost their jobs and their ability to participate in civil society. I think some violence was inevitable when you have a police action to remove desperate protesters.
  
  The problem is the vaccine mandates which mean that ordinary Kiwis lose their jobs, can’t go to motels, can’t go into a café, can’t even borrow a library book. That’s the problem right there.
  Unfortunately we have a young Socialist leader who would not negotiate or even meet with her new class enemies, the wicked unvaccinated. Why could she not meet with them? Why could she not even send out negotiators to talk with them?
  Given that covid is now endemic and over 90% of the population are double jabbed, what purpose do the mandates now serve?
  
  Reading a biography of Stalin recently I am struck that these radical socialist leaders needed an enemy. They were at war with the peasants and their traditions as they bought in radical change in pursuit of a new socialist utopia. Jacinda needs an enemy as well. The enemy are those wicked Unvaxed who do not listen to the science, who are unclean and a danger to us all.
  
  So I don’t blame the police for the violence. I don’t blame the protesters for the violence. I blame the Prime Minister. Violence and disorder and division is not a bug of socialist rule, it is a feature.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:30am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Ardern is 41, definitely middle aged.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:49am
  - RockyJ
    
    I agree. Closing down an occupation is like a game of rugby. It has to be physical. In the words of Tana Umaga “we are not playing tiddlywinks, ref”.
    I put the blame on government ministers for insulting the protesters, turning on the sprinklers and refusing to negotiate.
    This government talks to the Mongrel Mob and the Taliban but refuses to talk to its own citizens
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:52am
  - Rodney Hide
    
    Hi Scott
    
    I do blame the Police. As I understand operational matters are solely the responsibility of the police. They made the decision to go in. Of course, Coster was under politicsl pressure but he can’t be directed by the govt.
    
    The tactics deployed were disgraceful and probably unlawful. Also, amongst the police, there clearly were some thugs who should not be in the police.
    
    Rodney Hide
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:14am
    - Frederick
      
      Yep.
      I note Luke Malpass on Stuff today said that the police were “professional, restrained”. That is right out of a Pravda like media arm of a totalitarian Govt. I am sure he watched from his media office at parliament buildings. If he had been on the ground like a proper journalist he would have seen gratuitous, unprovoked, unnecessary violence.
      I notice all media outlets kept on banging on about police injuries. No mention that many protestors were badly hurt. No images of persons racked in pain with pepper spray. No attempt to show the other side of the story.
      Going back to Malpass – he said most of the protestors were alt right. How would he know. I bet you he never interviewed anyone. Unlike him I took the trouble to talk to a lot of people and hear their stories – didn’t meet many Alt rights.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:35am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  “Did you receive any communications from the Prime Minister’s office in the 4 days leading up to the event?”
  
  Coster had a session with Bridge on the am show this morning. He was at pains to reiterate the “rapid” change in the make up of the protest groups composition as justification for yesterday’s actions.
  The PM’s office had faced a slowly morphing peaceful protest group composition for around two weeks following the first police attempt to break the protest, a stalemate if you like. A rapid change requires a degree of organisation, so to be quite frank I’m somewhat dubious of the notion that such a sudden change to a group “spoiling for a fight” over a couple of days, as Coster suggests, was coincidental – convenient more like.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:43am
  - Matt Long
    
    Coster spoke to Ardern the day before,letting her know what his intentions were. News cameras went out with the police in the morning, it was a carefully organized and coordinated campaign between police, the Prime Minister’s office and the team of 55 million with all the messaging prepared in advance.
    Including the start of a campaign for government control of social media content.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:00am
    - Nickc2
      
      Yes Matt, AFIK, no MSM outlet has commented on this Govt’s drive to censor the internet/media in Lil-Olde-NZ.
      
      8 1
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      March 3, 2022 12:36pm
    - Akarak
      
      But Jacinda told us that she had no knowledge of what the police were intending to do and our Prime Minister DOESN’T TELL LIES!
      
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      March 3, 2022 7:36pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Team of 55 million:- +10
      
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      March 3, 2022 8:04pm
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Sorry from what I saw and heard each day there was no change at all in the protesters and things would have remained peaceful despite the actions of the police over the shower block.
    At 6 am yesterday we had the usual breakfast run planned and were working on the days meals, hardly the actions of people who were worried about the behaviour of some in camp.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:39am
    - Frederick
      
      Absolutely. I was there the last 2 days and the vibe was just the same as from day 1. Unless you were on the ground observing for yourself, any comments about the make up of the crowd gleaned from reading Stuff or watching Newshub ,are ill informed and irrelevant.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:40am
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        Fair comments – so CoP’s statements on Newshub simply a POS!
        
        10 1
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        March 3, 2022 1:17pm
- kowtow
  
  I see they’re doing the usual Enzed thingy and patting self on back claiming “world leading”.
  
  Another question for him then is ;
  
  Did you send personnel into a riot without head protection .
  
  World leading.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:51am
- surfing
  
  The only thing the police did wrong is to wait so long.
  
  Your attitude is appalling.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:03am
- Aunty
  
  I am delighted to see that the Police have finally cleared the rat-scum protestors from the grounds of our Parliament. They are to be commended for doing a fine job under difficult circumstances and after considerable provocation from these illegitimate protestors. If the odd protestor took a kick or two to the guts or a punch to the face in the process, so be it.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:40am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Aunty some of those “rat scum” were former teachers, nurses, midwives and associated health professionals but I am pleased you have outed yourself for the jackboot authoritarian you are. When we reach your line in the sand and you say enough you better hope some of those scum decide to march for you lest you protest on your own.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:41am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Up speaks our resident ‘Karen’ who pours bile on the protesters, just like her lying idol Stalinda, who onbce again, last evening, spouted lies and misinformation and conspiracy theories on the 6 pm. news.
      
      21 3
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      March 3, 2022 11:46am
- Bullion
  
  Evidence is coming out that fires were not started by police:
  
  https://twitter.com/NoBrodyKares/status/1499179362427740161
  
  Interesting to see how this misinformation is planted and spread:
  https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/03-03-2022/when-misinformation-spreads-like-fire
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:39pm
Benedict Yu

The “experts” are now encouraging tyranny.

Lindsey McDonald is a lecturer in politics and indigenous studies. He wants to regulate Facebook so that people are not misinformed about COVID vaccines.

“University of Canterbury expert Lindsey MacDonald agreed that much hard work remained.”

‘This is the start of a long journey to confront the disinformation and misinformation that we’ve enabled via the corporations of the Internet,’ he said, adding that New Zealand would need to consider whether it started regulating Facebook and Google.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/127940075/cleanup-begins-for-parliament-and-wellington-after-protesters-evicted

“Disinformation” is Jacinda’s latest buzzword. And the ‘experts’ are now piling in. The protestors were all misinformed. Or disinformed.

Guess which country “regulates Facebook and Google”? China.

IMO Jacinda’s “disinformation” mantra seriously makes her sound like a relic of the Soviet Union or East Germany. It is very concerning. Even more so when she is on record for being seriously misinformed on hundreds of issues.

I strongly believe that the vaccine passes and mandates are based on “misinformation”. A person who was double vaccinated 6 months ago is, literally, equally likely to catch and transmit COVID as an unvaccinated person. Therefore the vaccine passes are useless. Yet Jacinda tells us “they have kept us alive”. ?

All Jacinda had to do last week is this. Go out and address the protestors. Say….

“I understand why you are angry. Things have changed since we introduced vaccine passes and mandates. The vaccinated and unvaccinated will be infected with Omicron. As a result of your protest, we have decided that the vaccine passes and mandates will be abolished from 1 April. The Government will also be taking steps to encourage employers to 0reinstate those workers who have lost their jobs. Now could you please go home. ”
_____

Such a speech would have ended the protest. And ending the passes and mandates would not pose harm to others.

This sorry episode is not about disinformation. It is about a leader who refuses to change course because she will not, or cannot, process evidence.
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March 3, 2022 8:01am
- Frank the tank
  
  Ben,
  
  The elite are losing the battle. Ergo their new narrative is ‘disinformation’ on anything that they don’t agree with.
  
  Sadly our relative small size means we don’t have any opposing views in the mainstream media as opposed to the USA that have Fox; the UK Daily Mail; and Australia – Sky News. The same problem is evident in Canada.
  
  And then reflect on how the 5 countries are navigating their exits from Covid………
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:12am
  - emmess
    
    Putin use the same sort of rhetoric that our globalist elites use
    Calling everyone he doesn’t like Nazis and whining about disinformation.
    Two sides of the same coin.
    
    23 2
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    March 3, 2022 8:39am
- R
  
  And Trevor Mallard tweeted that we should build a wall around Parliament. He’s clearly not thought this through – what happens when the Left want to protest about a right-wing Government? They’ll be barred from entering Parliament grounds lol
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-wellington-protest-trevor-mallard-believes-wall-around-parliament-may-be-needed/KOFUUE5LCMFNUF646QTIH6KY5E/
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:16am
  - R
    
    Ironically, I tweeted this to Trevor and he blocked me. Who knew he was such a sensitive soul. 🙂
    
    49 2
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    March 3, 2022 8:25am
    - pdm
      
      R – he banned me for a week or a month a few times when he and Claire Curran were running the Red Alert blog. All one had to do to get a month off was put forward an alternative opinion.
      
      Bit like Stuff today really – perhaps Trev moonlights as a moderator over there.
      
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      March 3, 2022 8:41am
    - oldfella
      
      Not sure why, but every time I use my DuckDuckGo search engine, I think of Trev and go ‘Yes!’
      
      17 1
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      March 3, 2022 11:08am
  - westernScientest
    
    there will never be a right wing government comrade, that is what the wall is for.
    
    17 3
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    March 3, 2022 8:35am
  - G152
    
    I hear Berlin has relics of a wall Cindy and Trev would agree with
    
    13 1
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    March 3, 2022 8:49am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    On a change to a right – wing government the first protest from the left will be one to have the wall torn down – probably use the same violent crew as yesterday to do the job.
    
    20 1
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    March 3, 2022 8:55am
  - I remember when
    
    Will Trevor’s Wall have a ‘Check Point Charlie’?
    
    20 2
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    March 3, 2022 9:46am
  - Nickc2
    
    “Mr Mallard, tear down this fucking wall!” (spoken with a Ronald Reagan accent).
    
    14 2
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    March 3, 2022 10:15am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    Don’t be silly R.
    I that case they’ll knock the walls down and throw the bricks at the Police and it will be just fine because the left did it.
    Anyone remember the TPPA protestors who chained themselves to the railway line in Christchurch and created mayhem?
    Nah, thought not. They were the good guys n gals.
    
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    March 3, 2022 4:36pm
- Paulus
  
  The Police did well yesterday but at least two weeks too late.
  Now the question must be asked – who is responsible for the whole fiasco ?
  I know who will not have anything to answer that, as she never answers questions which have not been prepared for her.
  Ardern, the Buck stops with you – now Go, along with Mallard.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:21am
- kevn
  
  @BY… The flea treatment we give our cat, lasts as long as the Pfizer jabs.
  
  21 1
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  March 3, 2022 9:13am
- namron
  
  Well said, Benedict.
  Do you have political ambitions?
  I’m sitting here waiting to give you your first vote!!!
  
  13 1
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  March 3, 2022 9:17am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I am a member of ACT, but not really active. I think there are probably ACT members who would make better MPs.
    
    17 1
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    March 3, 2022 10:23am
- oldfella
  
  I suspect the days of Ardern walking among her adoring fans (as happened before the last election) have long gone. From now on she will be met wherever she goes by a bunch of really pissed-off Kiwis. Which will not make for good optics in the international media.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:06am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep,
    She’s ending up just like Muldoon and Helen Clark – a polarising bully
    
    29 1
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    March 3, 2022 10:35am
    - Liberty
      
      Maggy
      Muldoon might have been a polarising bully.
      But he also had the balls to hold a public meeting.
      Even in seats, he was never going to win.
      
      14 2
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      March 3, 2022 12:56pm
- tavita
  
  Misinformation is not the same thing as factually incorrect although it is used to imply that. Misinformation is information that the speaker accepts as correct but that does not support the narrative.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:07am
- Viva Christo Rey
  
  The plan is for all the world to be China.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:42am
NeverMindTheBollocks

An animal, when cornered, will fight back.

The point of politicians is to use words to unite our society and resolve issues. When these are not used, force becomes inevitable.
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March 3, 2022 8:05am
Tricati

I saw a small piece of Ardern’s ‘Patsy Conference’ yesterday, and what a pantomime it was. Her comments on the protesters desecrating parliament and anti-democratic behaviour, I found grossly insulting and hypocritical.
Her government, using urgency, removed rate-payers rights to vote on Māori Wards in their communities, reneged on 3 waters being voluntary to local bodies, running a separatist agenda in Health though He Puapua – None of which was part of their pre-election presentations and is totally undemocratic.
In regard to the protest being illegal, what was legal about Ihumato protest on private land, and those ensconced at Shelly Bay. The precedent has been set for ‘supposed’ illegal protests so expecting Police to now move on those in Shelly Bay.
And as for Matthew Tukaki saying there needs to be an investigation into ‘extreme right-wing elements’ leading the protest seems a bit rich. Or maybe he saw the protesters from his whanau throwing rocks or/like at the police under the Māori separatist flag, and is trying to deflect attention from where a number of the agitators came from.
Those that have commented NZ is not becoming divided, only need to look at the number of social issues facing NZ, and the underlying anger that it is generating to see we are heading in a problematic direction. That direction is undemocratically based and government driven.
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March 3, 2022 8:06am
- Philview
  
  I also add the Public Service Journalism Fund which Jacinda has commented as being a necessary step to protect democracy from being corrupted by right wing voices. Her comments speak volumes for her whole agenda.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:31am
  - Ehlana
    
    “a necessary step to protect democracy from being corrupted by right wing voices”.
    
    So how come MediaBias rate 13 of the top 15 media sources in New Zealand as left leaning? (https://mediabias.co.nz/)
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:15am
- Vory v zakone
  
  Tricati it was hilarious listening to Tukaki rant on HDPA ‘s show about Far Right Wing White Supremists amongst the protesters. The other guy he was commenting with, dead pan replied that those White Supremists just performed a great Haka!
  Mic drop ?
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:35am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Exactly, most people were either Māori, Woman young or hippy, I was surprised how many alt right white supremacist Māori were there
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:44am
- pdm
  
  Tri – shame `Barely Sober’ is on maternity leave.
  
  He would have livened things up – given the chance of course.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:43am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Did you see the photo of Barry holding his baby son at the weekend pdm? He looked absolutely besotted. I wish him, Heather and their son nothing but the best.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:52am
    - curry4me
      
      Yeah, so do I. They’re proper journalists.
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:13am
    - Muttonbird
      
      I did. Barry looked like a very proud Grandad.
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:35am
      - Muttonbird
        
        Not sure people read this properly…
        
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        March 3, 2022 6:57pm
  - kowtow
    
    Soper blew the gaff on how Mallard controlled the Press Gallery on this protest .
    
    That’s a huge story , the gallery complied , but other than barry we hear nthing about how this regime happily manipulates the media , and how they seem happy to go along.
    
    One of the first questions to Ardern yesterday was how did u feel seeing the slide on fire . They’re a shocker .
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:20am
- Liberty
  
  Labour was in bed with the Ihumato protesters.
  Ardern is a hypocrite in claiming she doesn’t communicate with protesters.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:04pm
  - Nickc2
    
    We can but hope the voters remember such behavior come the next election (if we are allowed to have one).
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:33pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

I thought that vaccination was mandatory for tertiary students in hostels. What then explains the massive covid outbreaks at Vic & Otago?
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March 3, 2022 8:07am
- ex-golfer
  
  They probably are vaccinated.
  We all know that the vaccine doesn’t prevent getting the ‘Rona.
  
  No surprise there’s a big breakout.
  They only moved in 10 days ago.
  10 days of rooting each others hearts out.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:49am
  - Don Beckett
    
    They are definitely all vaccinated. My grand-daughter is in her 2nd year at Otago and is flatting with 4 other girls – all vaccinated, and 3 have Covid. 4 of them have boyfriends who pop around all the time, and 3 of them have covid – none of them have bad symptoms – only mild.
    Demonstrates that mandates are a joke and a totalitarian tool – being used by a totalitarian fool.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:58am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Seems that reality trumps unsupported political assertions and pointlessly divisive and punitive policy.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:52am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  What then explains the massive covid outbreaks at Vic & Otago?
  
  The Pfizer covid vaccine is ineffective at preventing infection.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:05am
  - Paulus
    
    Pfizer vaccination never was intended to prevent the virus.
    It was given to everybody who wanted it in order that if they get the virus it will assist in the recovery.
    Totally misleading TV averts as it does NOT prevent the virus – nothing does.
    Government misinformation again.
    
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    March 3, 2022 12:36pm
  - leoj
    
    The results of the original testing is locked away for 70 years plus Pfizer’s sale to the govt was conditional upon being indemnified against lawsuits.
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:26pm
    - leoj
      
      Must be Batman’s shift……..
      
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      March 3, 2022 2:36pm
    - curry4me
      
      It was, but there was a court case, or protest. Now they’re being drip fed over a shorter period.
      
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      March 3, 2022 6:47pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I hope you are being sarcastic. As Maggy says, the vaccine is useless at preventing infection, certainly within 4 months. I think everyone knows that except you know who.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:41am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Ironic, Benedict, never sarcastic, I hope.
    
    But – if the vaccine doesn’t work, vid the student hostel outbreaks, what is the point of the mandate; and by extension the Police response to the protesters?
    
    It’s simply staggering that the MSM can’t or won’t join up the dots.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:15pm
wisteria

The shame of all this is that the PM or her deputised MP could have met the protesters on the first or second day and listened to their gripes. There did not need to be an answer , just listened. Not something that is evident in this government. They were the real protestors, the latter ones were just opportunists. The Police were the real heroes and we have enormous respect for them – going to work each day knowing that the ferals of New Zealand were awaiting them. As was shown on this blogsite recently a large proportion were not Wellingtonians.
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March 3, 2022 8:07am
Maggy Wassilieff

I wonder if in 30 years’ time the Government will apologise for their state-sanctioned vaccine mandates and their use of state power against weak citizens.

Why does yesterday’s melee and Our Dear PM’s Justification speech remind me so much of the brutal regimes some of our poor and disenfranchised youth suffered in state-run institutions?

Is it because we were all told the young folk were mad, bad, violent, and weren’t to be believed?
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March 3, 2022 8:07am
- wisteria
  
  You mean the PMs faux anger.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:14am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Ghez she was so full of it telling us how angry she was FFS, she is only angry because the protests showed her as a failure yet again
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:48am
- yossarian
  
  Well we know our current govt won’t. Jacinda only apologises for things that happened before she was born…with the obligatory tilted head, frowny face look.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:17am
Simon

That court eunuch Luxon. Luxon creeping around on the side lines hoping no one will notice him. After the recent High Court judgement giving further legitimacy to the protestors they are cleared out by armoured cops. Ardern constant smearing and lies to cover for her government’s shameful behaviour. Where is Luxon and National? Who refused to met with protestors. Shame on Luxon.
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March 3, 2022 8:08am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Shock post of the day; Simon blames Christopher Luxon for the entire fiasco. I never saw that coming…
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:35am
  - pdm
    
    Inv – Luxondid miss an opportunity early in the protest I feel by siding with Ardern. He should have got out among the protesters and talked to them.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45am
  - Simon
    
    “Simon blames Christopher Luxon for the entire fiasco.”
    
    Dont lie. You sound like the left. No surprise really. Why to you have to lie? Is it because of your feelings?
    
    Ardern’s divisiveness not countered by Luxon or National in any form. National are part of the problem.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:47am
  - peterwn
    
    Yes, if Chris Luxon had met with the protesters, found out their concerns and had a quiet chat with Jacinda, then all would have been well eh? You would have to be kidding.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:50am
  - Warren
    
    Yes Tony if he had a brain it would be lonely .
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:51am
  - Lee C
    
    No Tony Simon wasn’t blaming Luxon for the fiasco.
    
    He was pointing out that Luxon has been a ‘court eunach’ on this issue.
    
    I’d go further and suggest he’s been a Court Jester on the whole covid issue.
    
    Saw his ‘statemanlike’ speech about ‘healing divisons’ on facebook yesterday. All that was missing was canned laughter.
    
    Seriously, if Luxon is truly the calibre of your political leadership, we are in for parlous times.
    
    Medieval monarchs all had people with bells and funny walks to entertain them. And they had lepers to despise too. Sometime hard to tell the difference I know, but bittom line, looks like Ardern is our own Queen Bess.
    
    And Parliament (and several others) are a court of well-dressed and baubled sychophants.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:25am
    - curry4me
      
      That’s why some of us call National Labour lite. Who can name three Labour acts they have repealed?
      
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      March 3, 2022 10:17am
- Dead Earnest
  
  I think Luxon has played this whole thing very well.
  To remove Jacinda the Nats have got to win back the middle ground (and the many women) they lost due to Covid Paranoia. There is no way that supporting the protestors would have achieved this. He now needs to articulate that with Omicron -and RAT tests available – mandates are no longer necessary except in aged care facilities. My guess is within a week Jacinda would announce the same.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:22am
  - peterwn
    
    And Chris has to go after the Labor Lite vote no matter how much that sticks in the craw of those who think National should return to its ‘founding principles’ etc.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:18am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Who are you going to vote for them? Because there will not be any new party, enjoy your Ci day for 4 more years
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:51am
  - Matt Long
    
    I saw a video of Cindy from 2-3 days ago, she was full of tics and barely coherent, if she can barely hold it together for the cameras how do you think she’s doing in private?
    Transitioning from the great white messiah to having angry Polynesian ladies harassing her every time she is in public is going hurt. I know there is an army of Karen’s they can deploy around her for protection but will she want to?
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:11am
- leoj
  
  Luxon’s first priority is to learn te reo.
  Weak, woke and a disgrace to the Nats’ fast-fading traditional ideology.
  He is further left than Key ever was.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:29pm
Vory v zakone

So who caught the #StateOfTheUkraine from the US ‘Resident’ yesterday?

Here’s Cap’n Mumblefuck referring to the hearts and souls of the “Iranian” people ?
(And that was just after he managed to correctly pronounce
U-K-R-A-I-N-E at least 3 or 4 times)

Next, will it be…
Kev… in Ukranium ?

https://fb.watch/bvseZ0N-Qe/
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March 3, 2022 8:09am
- All_on_Red
  
  “We’ve sent 475 Million vaccine doses to 112 countries, more than any other nation. And we won’t stop,” Biden said. “Because you can’t build a wall high enough to keep out…a, a, a, uhh, a vaccine—the vaccine can stop the spread of these diseases.”
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:32am
Tricati

Doesn’t this really sum up this government’s incompetence. I was surprised to see it in the Herald!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/i-owe-how-much-sir-ian-taylor-chased-by-debt-collector-for-an-miq-bill/F2P2SSTL4HLYFG6CSARJJGTV3Q/
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March 3, 2022 8:10am
- alex Masterley
  
  The summary of Sir Ian’s letter is gold.
  If Sir Ian’s experience is anything to go by MBIE and MOH really are truely incompetent. Which candidly is not a surprise.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:45am
Yvette

PM saddened to see Parliament ‘desecrated’ by protest violence
■ “There has been foreign influence in what we have seen. In terms of disinformation sourced out of other countries.” [1]

In our “post”-colonial reality, racism still determines who “we” are and who “they” must be. It is what produces statements like “this is not us” that seek to absolve and reject responsibility and shame, and replace them with fragile innocence and even pride. [2] – The hypocrisy of New Zealand’s ‘this is not us’ claim – Sahar Ghumkhor, researcher focusing on political violence, psychoanalysis, law and the politics of difference – commenting after the Christchurch shootings

The entire vaccination scheme is international knowledge which Ardern accepts and has mandated in some circumstances, leading initially to the protests that ends with international knowledge that others accept, but should not define “Us” although it has defined them. “They”, although a minority, are a factor of New Zealand life. The irony may bemuse, but it should also teach “Us” something about Ardern’s “instincts” that throw some issues “out of the cot”.

■ “I hope we remember one thing. Together thousands more lives were saved over the last two years … than were on that front lawn today.
“That is what will define us. No protest, no fire no placards will define that.” [1]

Covid has not yet swept New Zealand as it has other nations.
It is about to – now
See if Ardern can say in a few months time, “Together thousands more lives were saved”
I do hope she can.
Mine might be one of them.
But then Jacinda has been incredibly lucky so far – and it has surely to run out some time soon.

I ask you to ask of us what we have done. Ask us how we have given dignity back to your whānau, ask us what we have done to improve poverty for tamariki, ask us what we have done to give rangatahi opportunities and jobs. Ask us, hold us to account. Because … only you can tell me when I have done that. – Jacinda Ardern

“Only you can tell me” – I hope those who are still alive will tell you – at the next Election

[1] https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/02/pm-saddened-to-see-parliament-desecrated-by-protest-violence/
[2] https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/3/20/the-hypocrisy-of-new-zealands-this-is-not-us-claim
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March 3, 2022 8:11am
Tony Stuart

From the NZ Herald’s Twitter feed:

nzherald
@nzherald
#LATEST Watch live: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’ says Mallard – Protest site in ruins, objects being thrown

Trevor Mallard needs to shut himself away in his office today, and do some serious reflection on his own role in yesterday’s events. His bizarre decision to order Parliament’s sprinklers being turned on (whilst there was a water ban in Wellington), and then taking to Twitter to take requests from the echo chamber of followers he has for annoying music to play built resolve amongst the protesters to stay. It was foolish behaviour, which brought the Office of the Speaker into further disrepute.

Mallard’s hot-headed temperament makes him totally unsuited to the role of Speaker. After his period of self-reflection, he needs to write a letter of resignation, to be read to Parliament by his Deputy, Adrian Rurawhe. Parliament can then elect a new Speaker, who can begin the process of rehabilitating the reputation of the role.

Failing that, Parliament, having elected Mallard as Speaker, needs to allow National’s Notice of Motion expressing no confidence in Trevor Mallard to be debated and put to the vote.
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March 3, 2022 8:19am
- Paulus
  
  Mallard hasn’t the guts to apologies for his behaviour.
  He would as a one time Teacher probably not know the word Resign, and Ardern could not do without him.
  Come the next Election – cannot wait.
  Once a Bully always a Bully.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:24am
- kowtow
  
  Cuppla thoughts ;
  
  Mallard probably wouldn’t be able to get a job in the police due to his arrest history and yet he appears to be able , in his role of Speaker ,to direct their actions on parliament grounds .
  
  His arrest , conviction and acquittal for protest on that very lawn ( SIS protest 1977) forms the basis for at least some of the case law that gave the right for the protesters to be there .
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:59am
  - Nickc2
    
    How ironic? Then again, perhaps it’s moronic (as in a description of Mallard)!
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:17pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Time to rename the Beehive as the Kremlin. They are incompetent and bigoted enough.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:13pm
  - Clownworld
    
    That would be unfair to the Kremlin. NZ has multiple political parties but all sing from same songsheet. The appearance of democracy is not the same as a robust democracy.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:12pm
I remember when

It’s not like the Springbok tour they said.
Except that really it is exactly like the Springbok tour.
You are either ‘For’ or ‘Against’.
You are ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong.’
It’s ‘Them’ or ‘Us.”
The police become heavily involved.
Families, friends and communities take sides.
There is a heavy political influence.
Control is lost.
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March 3, 2022 8:20am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yesterday WILL define Ardern and her regime.
  
  Every time the left bring up Muldoon, the Red Squad and the Springbok Tour of 1981.. this generation of NZers will think of Ardern, Coster’s Cops and the Covid Camp fires 2022.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:12am
Ehlana

So this morning Politik offered a view on yesterday’s events at Parliament. Their home page proudly advertises that they are ““New Zealand’s second least biased political news source”, with a link to the MediaBias site who did the research.

In the article, writer Richard Harman refers to “The extreme right-wing dirty tricks New Zealand site, “BFD” (formerly Whaleoil)”. (https://www.politik.co.nz/it-was-always-going-to-come-to-this/).

I had a look at that MediaBias site that rates Politik second least biased in New Zealand. In case you are wondering, the New Zealand Herald ranks first, Interest ranks third and there at number 4 is The BFD. It’s the highest ranked site described as right leaning media. It scores +6.8 on bias. Politik scores -6.

So MediaBias says The BFD is a shade more right leaning than Politik is left leaning. Would Mr Harman describe Politik as “extreme left-wing”?

And if sites scoring less than +/- 7 are extreme, how are we to describe TVNZ and RNZ (both -10.1) Ultra-extreme left wing? (Kiwiblog scores +12.1, if you’re wondering.)
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March 3, 2022 8:28am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I could stand to know a bit more about MediaBias. Its approach seems a bit mechanical:
  https://www.1of200.nz/articles/measuring-media-bias
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:38pm
MCōs

“As a result of your protest, we have decided that the vaccine passes and mandates will be abolished from 1 April.”

“Such a speech would have ended the protest.”

You know as well as I do that no NZ PM would ever make a speech like that.
There are protests at parliament and elsewhere on a regular basis. Some of them far bigger than that one. They all think they have right on their side. Should the government cave in to all of them?

Furthermore

What would happen if the crowd didn’t disperse? Not all those people were anti mandate. There was a plethora of causes.
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March 3, 2022 8:30am
- Tony Stuart
  
  The PM caved in to the protest calling for an end to oil and gas exploration in New Zealand. She even bailed from a meeting with a visiting dignitary to receive a petition from the protesters.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:38am
  - peterwn
    
    And now this is potentially going to backfire on NZ as oil and gas supplies around the world become more uncertain. There have been calls to keep the Marsden oil refinery going because of potential fuel shortages. However where would the crude oil to feed the refinery come from?
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:56am
    - MCōs
      
      Not NZ. Our stuff doesn’t work in that refinery.
      Furthermore
      As far as I’m aware the refinery and the oil around NZ is in private hands.
      No doubt there is some legal obligation for the oil companies to keep up an uninterrupted flow of fuel, but at the end of the day they’re in it for themselves.
      
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      March 3, 2022 1:31pm
      - peterwn
        
        Exactly. Also if you follow this fairly closely the government does intervene to the extent of persuading and strong-arming the oil companies to keep specified minimum reserves stocks of fuel products on hand.
        Also if NZ does find more oil and gas reserves, the oil can readily be exported (AFAIK NZ produced oil is of high quality and potentially sought after even if unsuited for the Marsden refinery). NZ should aim to become a net exporter of oil/gas or its products.
        
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        March 3, 2022 2:45pm
  - MCōs
    
    As I recall the oil & gas cancellation was an election promise by the Greens.
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:06am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Irrelevant because that’s not how it was cancelled. It was done by declaration by Jacinda because of the petition from 35,000 people. The Green’s position was irrelevant.
      
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      March 3, 2022 11:08am
- Frank the tank
  
  Pleeeease. A shabby bit of land in South Auckland says hi.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:20am
- Libertarians are right
  
  I hope there is never again a need for people to protest against a Government that has arbitrarily and illegally removed their rights.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:10am
  - peterwn
    
    And now Robbo is talking about removal of rights by censorship of media and internet so Kiwis hear the ‘right’ message (ie according to Jacinda and Robbo). This stance would be a complete about face for Robbo compared with his stance as a student activist.
    
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    March 3, 2022 2:48pm
    - curry4me
      
      Don’t worry. Chris from marketing would repeal it by lunchtime. Lunchtime on the 12th of never that is.
      
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      March 3, 2022 6:51pm
Benedict Yu

25 April 2005

Climate expert says Sydney’s water supply dams “may never be full again”.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/running-out-of-water-and-time-20050425-gdl6xe.html

3 March 2022

Sydney receives record rainfall. All water supply dams at 100 percent capacity and spilling for the second time in 2 years.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw-queensland-floods-live-updates-death-toll-rises-as-ses-continue-rescues-in-lismore-ballina-and-brisbane-sydney-prepares-for-torrential-downpours-across-city-20220302-p5a15z.html
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March 3, 2022 8:32am
- I remember when
  
  Manawatu Standard: 11/2/22: Janine Rankin:
  Stormwater matters- in the rain:
  Intensive and infill subdivision covering more of Palmerston North’s land area with roofs and concrete driveways creating problems with stormwater run-off and flooding and pollution.
  Former Councillor Chris Teo-Shirley said while there are controls on new subdivisions, problems are being compounded in established urban areas when new buildings went up.
  Sealed driveways, concrete patios and deck areas all reduce area left to absorb rainwater.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:48am
  - Jack5
    
    So the housing intensification announced by the Government, and foolishly supported and agreed to by Judith Collins as then chief of National, will increase flooding problems in our cities?
    
    To be blamed on climate change ….
    
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    March 3, 2022 12:05pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  What model was this “climate expert” using? Or what it just based on his opinion (or politics)?
  
  11 1
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  March 3, 2022 8:52am
- Dead Earnest
  
  Next a climate expert will be saying Sydney floods are a result of global warming!
  
  12 1
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  March 3, 2022 9:26am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Yu bro – Had the NSW gummit imposed a “Water Tax”, the dams would not have overflown….Just sayin….That is what James Frog Shaw wants to do to combat climate change. Tax everything.
  
  12 1
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  March 3, 2022 9:36am
- kowtow
  
  I recall perhaps 20 years and more ago the profits of doom ( cos someone’s making big money outta climate ) said Perth was going to be the first city in modern history to be abandoned cos no water .
  
  And now it’s booming due to dirty filthy mining .
  
  16 2
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  March 3, 2022 10:00am
- Max Mansplain
  
  Where would be without experts?
  
  Some experts build things which we can all see that work…and then there are the experts that make predictions….oh dear
  
  12 1
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  March 3, 2022 10:24am
Maggie Pie

Had to fill the Porsche again on the way home this morning….$191.58 !!

Honestly, I don’t know how some of the girls at work can even afford to eat 🙁
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March 3, 2022 8:36am
- Frank the tank
  
  Credit cards Mags…….credit cards.
  
  Party like it’s 1986; hangover like 1992…….
  
  12 2
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  March 3, 2022 8:57am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Isn’t it time to trade in your imaginary Porsche for an imaginary Maserati? That’d make a better statement mid-week at the Otahuhu Tennis Club.
  
  7 21
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  March 3, 2022 8:58am
- peterwn
  
  I was about to reply but what I wrote may have upset the mods. However it would pay not to brag about your Porche.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:02am
- MCōs
  
  Pay for your own petrol.
  
  6 8
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  March 3, 2022 9:07am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Can I suggest a luxury car tax Maggie Pie? You will be happy to pay a little bit more extra tax to restore social justice right??
  
  14 2
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  March 3, 2022 9:37am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Can’t have been very empty Mags, if you can get away for less than $200 in Auckland.
  
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  March 3, 2022 8:26pm
I remember when

Does it prove that if you suggest often enough that there will be serious rioting it will happen.
Would it have been a lot cheaper to have talked (and talked) to the protestors.
How has trying to insist that everyone gets vaccinated worked out.
Is it proof that dividing the community works.
Was it an expensive way to get protestors to leave.
Might and Awe – should it have been OR.
Have you looked at your Vaccination Passport and wondered if it was ‘worth’ it.
23 2
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March 3, 2022 8:36am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Have you looked at your Vaccination Passport and wondered if it was ‘worth’ it.
  
  All I know is that I’m double vaxxed, currently uninfected but likely to catch Covid-19 sometime in the future…..pretty much the same position I was in in February 2020 when I first learnt of this virus.
  
  My elderly friends are double vaxxed and boosted and are in the same wobbly state of worrying about catching Covid-19, just as they were in March 2020.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:18am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  “Does it prove that if you suggest often enough that there will be serious rioting it will happen.”
  
  There was always going to be a riot. The first attempt to engineer one backfired, too much un-planned for negative MSM video showed up which disturbed the general population. It took a good two weeks working out how to sort out the desired comms and put the “active” pawns in place – but keep the potential in the public’s mind in the meantime.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:28am
Rusty

I supported the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Wellington which 95% of people where there for — not the anti-social and anti-police behaviour which 5% of the people were there for.

I am sure the majority of genuine protesters would have condemned throwing bricks and other objects at police, destroying public property, and starting fires etc, by this minority and are in full support that they are charged by police.

On the other hand, I did see footage of a minority of police officers exceeding their duties by using brutal force on some protesters which was unnecessary and I hope an inquiry is conducted over this as well.
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March 3, 2022 8:36am
- surfing
  
  You meant to say….
  “I supported the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Wellington which 5% of people where there for — not the anti-social and anti-police behaviour which 95% of the people were there for.”
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:49am
slightlyrighty

If you wanted an illustration of the futility of the Anti-Mandate protest, you only need to look at the court judgement removing the Mandate for Police and NZDF.

This achieved more to that goal than 3 weeks of behavior that went from annoying to despicable.
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March 3, 2022 8:39am
- kowtow
  
  And what of the court case that declared the initial days of the lockdown were illegal , or some such .
  
  No one cares , there’s a block of Ardinistas who think she saved theirs and thousands of others lives.
  
  The freedom camp achieved something the media refused to do , they got the front pages for 3 weeks . They got the Ardernist media talking about the very things they didn’t want to talk about .
  
  It ‘s also highlighted the uneven application of the law . Throughout lockdowns there were many displays of naked power by the gangs , and the cops did nuttin.
  
  There were illegal roadblocks and the police assisted . Not only that, parliament actually changed the law to allow such illegal activity .
  
  There are protests all over the country ,but the media is largely ignoring them and if they’re not ignoring they are villifying .
  
  The protest has also highlighted the bullying and hypocritcal behaviour of the Speaker . Arrested , convicted and acquitted for protesting there , but not prepared to allow the same consideration for others. his control of the Gallery and their supine surrender.
  
  If nothing else the protests have highlighted media control by the regime and hypocrisy of the highest order.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:33am
artemisia

This time it will be different.

There will be books, research papers and surveys for years about the protest in Parliament grounds. And elsewhere as well, but the Wellington one will always be top of the pops.

This time the authors will have to be seriously careful not to show bias. Because this time there are thousands of hours of video. Any interpretation considered to be partisan will be held up to scrutiny and potential ridicule in a nanosecond. Names will be very public. The internet never forgets.(OK some does if wrongthink is detected, but ways and means ….)
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March 3, 2022 8:46am
CAKE FACE1

On the subject of the protest, I’d really just have one point. You can quote CAKE on it:

“Cindy will be defined by this.”

The societal schisms have never been worse. Not even in 1981. Cindy will be remembered as the great divider.

By winter, I think New Zealand will sink into deep economic depression, on top of our societal woes. I will be very surprised if her electoral support holds up.
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March 3, 2022 9:00am
- Clownworld
  
  Be handy for her if there were some effective and safe democracy dominion voting machines.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:36pm
Albert_Ross

I got RATted yesterday morning (and came up negative) not because I’ve got symptoms and not because I live with somebody who has – neither is the case for me – but because my job was taking me into an old folks’ home.

The approach of RATting everybody who is about to come into contact with people who are likely to be in real and serious danger from the virus, strikes me as a far better use of (disgracefully) scarce resources than inviting only those who already have the symptoms, and have therefore already done most of the damage they’re going to do, and their housemates, who probably aren’t likely to suffer serious illness anyway, to wander around town looking for somewhere to get tested and then stand for hours in close proximity to others, endangering those others and probably making themselves worse.
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March 3, 2022 9:08am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Indeed..
  
  If we are not needing to check whether we are likely to infect the vulnerable, then there is no need to be tested – just self isolate and take care if you are sick or showing symptoms.
  
  But for 2 years the Government bleated out at us…. GET TESTED!!!!!
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:40am
I remember when

Australian Dept of Health: 1/3/22:
Covid deaths by Age Group show that the 70 group were 82.8% of total deaths.
The Australian Bureau of Stats show that in the 2019 year for the 70 age group there were 132,590 deaths – 78.3% of total deaths.
Interestingly in the 2020 year total Australian deaths dropped by 8000, even with 909 covid deaths.
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March 3, 2022 9:08am
Maggie Pie

And how bad is this?

My partner was just showing me a leaked intelligence report, that indicates China actually KNEW about Putin’s war plans well before hand, and requested Russia to delay the invasion of Ukraine until the Olympics were finished!!
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March 3, 2022 9:15am
- Frank the tank
  
  Of course they knew. They were using as a test for the appetite to invade Taiwan.
  
  12 1
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  March 3, 2022 9:18am
- Clownworld
  
  The US asked China to dissuade Russia. All a cover for great reset 2. Crash the world economy stupid.
  
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  March 4, 2022 12:05am
Lee C

$2.5 million can buy a lot of thugs.
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March 3, 2022 9:15am
- mikenmildagain
  
  A nice house in Seatoun?
  
  4 2
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  March 3, 2022 9:21am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Certainly crossed my mind – and of course you don’t have to turn up in uniform as was evident back then when the CEO was interviewed WRT to his fortuitous (exorbitantly profitable) supply agreement and affiliations!
  
  8 1
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  March 3, 2022 10:03am
Frank the tank

I think we all can see a government rapidly losing control whether it be the riots, or the Ukraine response, or Omnishambles; or cost of living; or anything…..

Winter is coming and there’s no Jon Snow to save us.
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March 3, 2022 9:16am
- Prince
  
  I think I know where the ‘Snow’ went.
  
  7 1
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  March 3, 2022 11:02am
CAKE FACE1

Another thought.

Mr Putin has justified the Ukrainian invasion as a response to the alleged Neo-Nazism of Ukraine.

Cindy and the extreme left wing media have justified the crackdown on the protestors in exactly the same terms – that they are Neo-Nazis.

It is interesting that Mr Putin and Cindy are reading from exactly the same script.

They both make simply preposterous allegations.

Of course, Cindy was the President of International Union of Socialist Youth.

Peas in a pod.
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March 3, 2022 9:19am
- mawm
  
  Have you heard of the Azov Battalion? They have been used extensively against the Russian aligned separatists with many reports of their violence toward non combatants.
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:19pm
- Clownworld
  
  Difference is Putin is correct around the corrupt lying Ukraine and it’s appalling treatment of Russians and support for Nazis.
  
  Putin don’t get me wrong is no better.
  
  The worst is people are suckers for what the globalists want.
  
  The irony is both Putin and Zekensky work for the same masters.
  
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  March 4, 2022 12:09am
Maggy Wassilieff

The down-ticker is on duty….

I noticed a couple of my comments were down-ticked and thought Great, my pearls of wisdom have upset someone..but then I figured with so many comments single-down ticked, the poor chap wasn’t reading the comments, but just down-ticking for the sake of it.
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March 3, 2022 9:33am
- Lee C
  
  Yup been watching this with interest for along time now. I also noted a recent boom of ‘first-time commentators’ – all interestingly enough agreeing with teh Government line.
  
  36 3
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  March 3, 2022 9:43am
  - westernScientest
    
    Fraser house must have gotten a budget boost
    
    26 2
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    March 3, 2022 9:47am
  - Nickc2
    
    Yep, Frazer House has been on a recruiting drive for Spin Merchants or existing ones have changed their non-deplumes.
    
    26 3
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    March 3, 2022 9:50am
    - RichardX
      
      Any chance of some evidence for your claim?
      
      4 26
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      March 3, 2022 10:27am
      - Nickc2
        
        BTW, what’s the weather like in Wgtn today?
        
        14 3
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        March 3, 2022 11:37am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Wow – you appeared as if summoned at the right time. 😆
        
        13 3
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        March 3, 2022 12:20pm
      - RichardX
        
        Nickc2, Any evidence that I am in Wellington?
        
        I have seen it claimed here many times that employees of either NZ Labour or the current government are paid to comment here.
        I have asked for evidence and none has been provided.
        Given the lack of evidence, I can assume you are just making shit up.
        Just Like Lee C has with his 1st time commenters statement.
        
        3 13
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        March 3, 2022 1:20pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Evidence-free assertions have always been popular in Kiwiblog comments.
        
        3 18
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        March 3, 2022 1:25pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    Yes, just another part of this government’s propaganda war against the deplorables.
    
    20 3
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    March 3, 2022 10:02am
  - RichardX
    
    Lee C, …and you have been proven to be 100% wrong on some you labelled as 1st timers
    
    3 17
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    March 3, 2022 10:10am
    - Clownworld
      
      X marks the spot?
      
      0 0
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      March 4, 2022 12:11am
  - peterwn
    
    Yup. Same with Facebook. A whole lot of people have come out of the woodwork to try and smack down Chris Bishop, Chris Luxon etc.
    
    5 0
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    March 3, 2022 4:05pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  But don’t you love it when just your presence pisses someone off 😀
  
  Honestly, if I can’t upset at least ONE person every day, life would hardly be worth living.
  
  24 5
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  March 3, 2022 9:48am
  - mawm
    
    You’ve just caught 3 tiddlers.
    
    7 0
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    March 3, 2022 2:22pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  On the BFD web site it shows the names of who up ticks and who down ticks. I think it would be good on this site too.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:09am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I use the karma ticks as a handy way to tick off comments as read, if I am scrolling through a whole thread.
    This habit is even more useful now that the side bars with recent comments, blogroll, etc, have mysteriously vanished.
    
    5 3
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    March 3, 2022 1:27pm
Maggie Pie

HOLY TOLEDO!

Watch before it disappears.

Russian Oligarch puts bounty on Putin’s head…..

https://youtu.be/yn_eRKB5gNA
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March 3, 2022 9:38am
- Dougal10
  
  This is what the freezing of russian nationals funds overseas was supposed to achieve. Other governments promoting assasinations of leaders they dont agree with. Its a slippery slope.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:03am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    The convention against assassination’s makes sense when you are dealing with rational leaders – who largely all behave the same. Little point in killing one to be replaced by someone who makes similar choices. But the Ukranian war seems largely the result of Putin, and would be unlikely to be continued if he were to suddenly turn up dead. Assassinating Xi or Kim probably wouldn’t change things for the better, but it likely would in Putins case.
    
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    March 3, 2022 10:54am
    - oldfella
      
      Yes, we need to be careful what we wish for. This list of possible candidates to replace Vlad is not encouraging.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10564101/Who-replace-Putin-toppled-coup-rogues-gallery-replace-Vlad.html
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:08pm
      - peterwn
        
        The KGB runs the selection panel. Just like Robbo controls the selection of Labour candidates – he wanted his stooge to replace Louisa Wall in Manurewa and succeeded.
        
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        March 3, 2022 4:12pm
    - Clownworld
      
      Putin not rational? Based on presumptions spread by the trustworthy media? Sounds like presumptions about the state of someone’s mind like they did for Trump?
      
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      March 4, 2022 8:36am
  - mawm
    
    Dougal – it’s not as if the CIA has refrained from doing it before. Even their own.
    
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    March 3, 2022 2:25pm
Its only I

I don’t think there was any chance the childlike minds of Labour would allow a move toward abolishing the vaccine fascism while the protest was active.

The 75 newly trained little police yearlings were released from the yards and directed by a bunch of cops who just found out their boss lied about having to be vaxxed and were a bit pissed off and punchy.

I can’t see the opposition doing anything more than whimpering at the sidelines the MSM have fitted the castration rings making sure both pills were in the purse.
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March 3, 2022 9:39am
rouppe

If Russia’s use of cluster munitions and now deployment of vacuum bombs doesn’t motivate NATO to intervene, nothing will
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March 3, 2022 9:40am
- PeeJay
  
  NATO will do everything it can to avoid a war with Russia. NATO countries will supply arms and support to Ukraine, but there will be no ‘boots on ground’ and no air support, satellite interference or such.
  
  Very simply, Russia has nukes and will use them – they are not just a last line of deterrent but I believe Russian military strategy is that their nukes are tactical weapons and can be used on a first strike basis. If NATO fired up the tanks, Ukraine could go from really bad to unimaginably bad very quickly.
  
  Ukraine will be another country on the long list of insurgency wars and will take years to resolve. Heck, the closest proxy for Europe is the balkans wars after the fall of Yugoslavia – Bosnia is still on a knifes edge almost 30 years later and that could easily kick off again.
  
  Nobody will win this war. Russia might win the immediate war, but will lose the insurgency – they have form for this as has every other ‘occupier’. Europe will have a humanitarian crisis on it’s doorstep. The economic impact of higher oil and gas prices will be massive. But the real losers will be the Ukrainian people. They might eventually win the inevitable insurgency to follow, but their country will be rubble and the lives lost will be massive.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:58am
  - Clownworld
    
    The target is the world economy. It all needs to crash so we can build back better. Stick to the script. Comply or else.
    
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    March 4, 2022 12:13am
- Stu2
  
  Correct. Nothing will
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:05am
Warren

How can Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister restore peace to Wellington when she is actually the cause of it .
All it would have taken was for our gutless Prime Minister was to stand on the podium of facts as she continually spouts and tell the truth but no even though a percentage of the protesters were there for violence most were there to get a solution.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300530925/jacinda-ardern-promises-peace-will-return-to-wellington?rm=a
Labours policy has been the biggest factor because they won’t listen and make excuses of misinformation, but forget the bullshit she and her Party spin.
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March 3, 2022 9:50am
Yvette

Shutdown –
9:50am – Newhub’s political editor Jenna Lynch says question time at Parliament today will be cancelled.
She says that leaders will make statements on Wednesday’s events and the house will be adjourned.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/covid-19-latest-on-parliament-protest-covid-19-community-outbreak-thursday-march-3.html
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March 3, 2022 9:53am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Democracy?
  
  19 2
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  March 3, 2022 10:34am
- Muttonbird
  
  Can’t wait for David Seymour’s statement. He didn’t manage to condemn the riot yesterday like everyone else.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:46am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And that, Dear Folks, is how Democracy disappears… drip by drip…. Not by some great Revolution, but with the consent of the populace.
  
  27 3
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  March 3, 2022 11:43am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The slide to illiberalism in some countries like Hungary and Brazil is, of course, cheered on by many commenters here.
    
    2 12
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    March 3, 2022 1:29pm
- Nickc2
  
  A great video. Ardern’s Legacy: produced and directed by Cindy Ardern PM in consultation with NZ Police Commissioner Cuddles Coster. //
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:14pm
- peterwn
  
  Jacinda is usually not in the House on Thursdays AFAIK. There is always some kindergarten to visit.
  
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  March 3, 2022 4:14pm
artemisia

Court cases coming up will be widely watched. Not just mandate-related like the teachers / doctors this week, but the arrested protesters. Some of them will insist on their day in court. Will cases that look viable from the defendant’s POV be quietly dropped. There will be plenty that police and politicians will not want to see aired in public.
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March 3, 2022 9:55am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfcFSOXk4JM

Parliament Votes to Remove Health Restriction Powers From Government

The UK Parliament does something right.
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March 3, 2022 9:59am
- kowtow
  
  Amazing what a drop in the polls can achieve.
  
  10 3
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  March 3, 2022 12:01pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3SviXZxho0

Brandon Humiliated As Majority Believe He Is Mentally Unfit!

Bumblin’ Biden’s State of the Union gets overshadowed by a new poll showing the majority of voters believe he is mentally unfit for office! In this video, we’re going to look at Biden’s State of the Union in light of the poll, we’re going to see how a number of pundits saw Biden’s speech as a total flop, and stick with me to the very end of this video when we’re going to see some of the best heckles of the night!
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March 3, 2022 10:00am
- Clownworld
  
  Most popular best candidate and president ever.
  
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  March 4, 2022 12:17am
Maggie Pie

And anyone else like me that’s sick & tired of hearing about…. Manu Vatuvei ?

SHEESH!!
18 7
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March 3, 2022 10:00am
- Jack5
  
  Maggie, a web search finds that Vatuvei, a league player, fought for name suppression when facing jail on a drugs charge, on the ground that he was ‘one of the biggest names in New Zealand sport.’
  
  Perhaps he’s a family hero of one of the multicultural team at RNZ hired under Ardern’s great buy-off of the media.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:09am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I think you will find that he was a very big name indeed for the not inconsiderable number of Warriors’ fans.
    But you push your peculiar barrow.
    
    3 12
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    March 3, 2022 12:54pm
    - Jack5
      
      Not as peculiar as thinking of Milky as a league fan ?.
      
      6 0
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      March 3, 2022 2:31pm
- kowtow
  
  OK try this for a change .
  
  ‘Two women responsible for large-scale drug trafficking in Central Otago have dodged a jail sentence.
  Wendy Ruiha Prudence Matthews (50) was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention when she appeared before the Dunedin District Court in July last year.
  
  Facing 15 methamphetamine and cannabis charges, she narrowly avoided a prison term by undertaking a 15-week Destiny Church rehabilitation programme.’
  
  Here was me thinking Destiny were evil foreign influenced malign force here in happy New Cindyland .
  
  But no the govt has outsourced its wet bus tickets to them , so they can’t be all bad .
  
  Meanwhile the gangs must be larfing all the way to the bank .
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/no-jail-central-otago-women-who-trafficked-drugs
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:01pm
  - peterwn
    
    Don’t mind Home Detention as long as law is changed to allow Corrections to use old technology – ball and chain.
    
    5 0
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    March 3, 2022 4:16pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9lGNGdicqE

Police Raid & Destruction of Freedom Village, Wellington New Zealand, 2 March, 2022

*I did not make this video*, This video is from: New Zealand and The World is waking up. Freedom rights (Rumble)
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March 3, 2022 10:00am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Thank you for bringing that chilling and frightening video to our attention.
  Covid Omicron is nothing. We have a much more serious illness in our country, as shown in that video.
  It will take a statesman, as distinct from a political leader, to cure our country of that vile illness.
  
  18 1
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  March 3, 2022 11:11am
  - Jack5
    
    Can’t be true. Wasn’t as portrayed on State TV.
    
    The TVNZ reporter: …. “any sign of peace and rationality on the protester side is increasingly hard to maintain …”
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:28am
- coolas
  
  All those images of beautiful peace loving white folk … then suddenly like a Zombie invasion of their souls they change colour and attack the police and start fires … brilliant propaganda.
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:56pm
I remember when

There is certainly a lot of news about how the Parliamentary Protest was illegal and action should have been taken immediately.
That the local inhabitants were being inconvenienced, threatened and worried/scared.
People were having to go out of their way when travelling through the area.
It was not right.
Every weekend, or after every weekend, when travelling I find these strange wiggling black marks on the road.
In both rural and urban localities.
While travelling along, an ever increasing number of streets, I have to negotiate, an ever increasing number of, wide raised obstacles.
Many streets have two, three, etc.
People who don’t have these features in their streets, seem to be constantly requesting that they be installed.
One can but wonder what the total cost to the rate/tax payer might be.
Apparently the reason for the obstacles is illegal behaviour.
People are often threatened, bullied and assaulted by those who participate.
What would happen if it all took place at Parliament.
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March 3, 2022 10:27am
- mikenmildagain
  
  If you feel threatened by ‘traffic calming’ street improvements, perhaps you could consider standing for election to your local council. A specific agenda for a prospective councillor would make a refreshing change from the mindless platitudes the conscientious voter is forced to wade through in the candidate statements so helpfully collated and sent to every household.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:43am
Muttonbird

Guess the term, “Cuddles Coster” can be put to bed.
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March 3, 2022 10:32am
- Prince
  
  Coster the Cosh ?
  
  13 1
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  March 3, 2022 10:54am
- oldfella
  
  FWIW, a costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words costard (a medieval variety of apple) and monger (seller), and later came to be used to describe hawkers in general.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costermonger#:~:text=A%20costermonger%2C%20coster%2C%20or%20costard,to%20describe%20hawkers%20in%20general.
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:14pm
I remember when

Who knew that PR meant Police Raid.
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March 3, 2022 10:36am
Benedict Yu

My partner has COVID like symptoms.

Can you get a RAT kit from any Christchurch retailer? NO. Thanks Government.
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March 3, 2022 10:38am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  I can rip you off by selling you a RAT kit (5 pack) for $500
  
  6 2
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  March 3, 2022 10:43am
- Muttonbird
  
  Go to this website:
  
  https://requestrats.covid19.health.nz
  
  Fill in your details and select a pick up point. It’s free.
  
  3 8
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  March 3, 2022 10:43am
- cmm
  
  BY: What’s the point of getting tested? How would it change what you/she are doing?
  
  If you/she feel ill with some symptoms, then you’re probably going to take a bit of time off until the symptoms go away regardless of if it is Omicron or a cold/flu.
  
  Unless you’re actually going to act on the information it doesn’t really matter, but still, I guess it would be interesting to know.
  
  My wife and I had some mild cold/scratchy throat symptoms for two days this week. Finished now. Was it a cold? Was it Omicron? Who knows, who cares!
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:52am
  - [email protected]
    
    I would want to know and do care. If it was a cold then life goes on and I would continue being a hermit. If Omicron and I was over it I would be overjoyed with the natural immunity I now have and stop being a hermit.
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:12am
    - alloytoo
      
      At this point in the UK wave Omicron had effectively displaced the flu. I imagine the same is true for NZ
      
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      March 3, 2022 12:51pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “BY: What’s the point of getting tested?”
    
    The Tall Redhead does what she wants 🙂
    
    10 1
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    March 3, 2022 1:35pm
    - cmm
      
      From one tall red head to another: please give her my best wishes.
      
      8 1
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      March 3, 2022 2:00pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Sounds like a real woman 😆
      
      6 1
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      March 3, 2022 4:44pm
    - Clownworld
      
      BY Here in a European country , once I contracted omnicron simply tested and recovered very quickly. Must be I didn’t take NZ’s mediocre Pfizer vaccine? Now have 6months digital certificate for many countries to travel freely. Ironically am already free in country am in.
      
      If I wished to return to NZ ( if I wanted the 7 days and 3 lots of testsvand get double vaccinated etc) however my 6mth certificate of recovery is apparently not good enough?
      
      Curiously though NZ recognises just about all vaccines to enter NZ but begrudingly only offered Pfizer when I was there. I hear Novavax finally approved.
      
      So on one hand Pfizer the best? On other hand all diff vaccines are equal…but allare different tech , dosages, etc etc.
      
      Was it really ever about vacs?
      
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      March 4, 2022 1:58am
- Prince
  
  Don’t fret. Robertson says it is not a supply issue, just a distribution problem.
  No need to answer any questions then.
  
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  March 3, 2022 10:53am
BeaB

Our news media need some language training. If a minor police action yesterday was ‘absolute chaos’ how do we describe Kiev?

Now RNZ tells us the sight of the clean-up is ‘pretty surreal’? What on earth does that mean?
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March 3, 2022 10:40am
- Jack5
  
  Surreal … that’s a surprise from Red Radio’s reporteresses. They missed a chance to poke in a bit of their NZ Pidgin.
  
  Surreal is in the online Maori dictionaries as ao moemoea. The Te Aka Maori Dictionary says this means “… surrealism, dream world, and is sometimes used for Australia.”
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:17am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Nice to see you swotting up on your te reo, Jack. Kia kaha!
    
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    March 3, 2022 11:35am
  - graham
    
    Maybe they still retain enough sense of the real world to understand that the vast majority of people in New Zealand – including most Maori – wouldn’t have a clue what that means.
    
    Because the vast majority of people in New Zealand can probably understand maybe ten words in Maori, and no more. And that is extremely unlikely to change, no matter how much the woke brigade wish it to be otherwise, and no matter how many millions of dollars the Government waste in their pursuit of trying to get one million New Zealanders able to speak basic Maori by 2040. Nanaia Mahuta may well dream of “hearing tamariki (children) … talking Maori to each other as they play, hearing it in the shopping malls, sitting down at any restaurant in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and ordering my meal in te reo Maori” but the simple truth is that for most New Zealanders, they couldn’t care less. Learning how to speak Maori simply isn’t high on the list of priorities for us.
    
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    March 3, 2022 2:11pm
    - Clownworld
      
      Prehistoric pre-written oral only language.
      
      Oral language by all means keep it. Perhaps even call it Maori Rua as in modern Maori language or better still call it English-Maori a hybrid pidgin language if you consider the latin letters used to make it a written language.
      
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      March 4, 2022 2:07am
- graham
  
  Yesterday, dropping my father off at his home and he turned the TV on around 4:45 or so. The TV One live report was on, and Simon Dallow was saying something along the lines of, “Can’t believe we are seeing this in our capital city.”
  
  I just walked out of the room, as I couldn’t listen to such emotive nonsense. The totally OTT reporting from the media has meant I just haven’t watched or read anything in the last week around the protests. SWMBO insists on watching One News, I’ve been excusing myself from the room when these reports come on.
  
  The media have really jumped the shark these last three weeks, and come out of it looking very poor.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:42am
  - Gravelroad
    
    “Save Our Jacinda” Graham “Save Our Jacinda”
    On repeat.
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:34pm
BeaB

When did Parliament become sacred ground?

What a delicious irony if Ardern, the resolute defender of democracy, is the PM when a security fence goes up around the grounds.

Surely it’s time for everyone to just calm down.
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March 3, 2022 10:42am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It would indeed be a shame if the previously free access to the beautiful grounds were to be restricted because of the actions of a crowd that was determined to go well beyond the bounds of lawful protest.
  It was bad enough when the ‘war on terror’ restricted public access to be buildings themselves – forcing everyone to be treated as though they were a potential terrorist boarding a plane.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:39am
  - Taieri
    
    actions of a crowd that was determined to go well beyond the bounds of lawful protest.
    ——————–
    
    Could you kindly define “the bounds of lawful protest”. Thank you.
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:46pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      You might find this resource a good starting point:
      https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/chapter-4-activism/activism/
      
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      March 3, 2022 2:28pm
  - Clownworld
    
    The real question is what does it say about a govt who doesn’t listen building walls to drown the dissent. Sounds like trumpsters. When the globalists do it, it is ok.
    
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    March 4, 2022 2:11am
- Jack5
  
  As I recall, BeaB, Ardern used the word “desecrated” for Parliament with the protesters outside.
  
  Now even the gods are selected by MMP.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:40am
  - BeaB
    
    It was her faux Churchill moment, rabbiting on about values and democracy and desecration and how this wasn’t us.
    I hope she is keeping a list of who she has decided is us and isn’t us.
    Perhaps she could publish it, in the interests of her erstwhile favourite value – transparency.
    I’d love to know who’s in and who’s out.
    
    15 1
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    March 3, 2022 12:29pm
    - Clownworld
      
      Divide and conquer.
      Stalin would be proud although am thinking more draconian laws and tougher enforcement will be needed to become a better woke globalist communist.
      
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      March 4, 2022 2:13am
- graham
  
  “You know what we’re gonna do … we’re gonna build a fence!”
  
  I think I’ve heard those words before, somewhere …
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:05pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Yeah, The don’s fence was never intended for his own citizens.
    
    Only socialists regimes put in fences to restrict their own citizens
    
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    March 3, 2022 1:06pm
- MCōs
  
  Didn’t Trump build a wall around the White House?
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:36pm
rangitoto

I see Ukrainians have slightly used Russian T72’s for sale on EBAY..
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March 3, 2022 10:50am
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

Whakatne businesses are hurting…..oh…so sorry folks…Talk to the gummit you voted for…she will save ya!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/127931773/whakatne-hospitality-businesses-tell-mp–mandates-are-killing-us
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March 3, 2022 10:51am
Maggie Pie

“Earth to Todd….. come in Todd. Are you receiving me? Over.”

https://twitter.com/toddmullerBoP/status/1499110054414667776

😀 😀 😀
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March 3, 2022 11:50am
- septic skeptic
  
  Having achieved that milestone, perhaps now would be a good time to hang up his boots and enjoy retirement.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:59am
- Nickc2
  
  Hey Todd, how about lifting your game and concentrating on getting rid of this Govt for the good of your country. You’re slipping further down the ladder of credibility in my estimation.
  The whole bloody country’s gone to hell in a hand-basket and you want to seek glory in the passing of a bill about effin sun-screen.
  Get real, get some mongrel.
  
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  March 3, 2022 11:59am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Good to see that he has at last managed to make one useful contribution. Although some might well think his stint as leader of the national party was a useful contribution for the labour party.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:00pm
Maggy Wassilieff

What Changed?

Coster said today “negotiation and de-escalation” was the only safe way to resolve the protest.

“In the current circumstances, enforcement action taken by police runs the real risk of injury to the public, escalation in numbers of people, and a transition away from a largely peaceful protest to violence.”

“The majority of the people involved are peaceful and are behaving reasonably, not withstanding that’s an unlawful protest,

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/461801/enforcement-action-against-parliament-protesters-could-lead-to-violence-coster
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March 3, 2022 11:52am
- rangitoto
  
  Orders from Cindy.
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:06pm
- Its only I
  
  We are probably getting closer to all the mandates being withdrawn. Cindy can’t have the freedom protest getting more/any attention for claiming a “win”
  
  Statues will be erected in honour of the greatest neo fascist result ever achieved by a Labour Leader.
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:23pm
- Muttonbird
  
  That toilet block being installed on Molesworth St. Nothing enrages middle New Zealand like some DIY plumber doing work without consent.
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:39pm
  - kevn
    
    @mut… Wrong, innovative short term solution.
    NZ is full of it.
    
    5 0
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    March 3, 2022 6:37pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Winston on the riot

It was easy for the Prime Minister to instead justify her inaction by blaming the remaining few hundred violent rioters for the entire past three weeks. But the problem is that is simply not true.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2203/S00023/the-riot-should-never-have-happened.htm
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March 3, 2022 11:57am
- Muttonbird
  
  No surprise Peters is trying to put as much distance between himself and the people he was shaking hands with last week.
  
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  March 3, 2022 12:41pm
- MCōs
  
  He would say that wouldn’t he.
  The mob that was there at the end couldn’t possibly have been the band of angels he talked to just the other day.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:42pm
cmm

The MSM bullshit machine really doesn’t get it yet and asks will everyone catch covid?

They still seem to believe the quaint old myth that getting vaccinated will stop you getting infected.

A lot will come down to what you mean by “getting covid” and the terms “disease” and “infected”.

Technically speaking, the virus is called SARS-COV-2 and Covid19 is the disease caused by the virus.

Disease is broadly defined as “A disease is an abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism”.

Thus getting infected with no negative impact on your system is not getting the disease.

The vast majority of people getting infected are/will be asymptomatic and thus will not experience negative impacts and thus not develop a disease.

And what does “infected” really mean? Everyone in NZ has encountered the virus (ie. has been contaminated by it), but for the vast majority the levels have been so low that the immune system has killed it off quickly before it establishes. Does that count as infected or does it really only count as infected when the virus gets a toe hold and establishes itself (symptomatic/asymptotic being a separate issue).

The lines are blurry and are largely confused by this being the first pandemic to have sensitive testing such as PCRs etc which often provides data, but not information.

That is why we really now have new medical definitions for words that have existed for a long time. “case” no longer means what it used to.

This makes comparisons with other pandemics problematic.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/explained/127931401/omicron-nz-will-everyone-catch-covid-in-the-current-wave
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March 3, 2022 12:05pm
- surfing
  
  “They still seem to believe the quaint old myth that getting vaccinated will stop you getting infected.”
  
  Can you provide a link where the MSM says the vaccine stops infection?
  
  You’ve distorted the science (from “vaccines reduce transmissibility” into “vaccines stop transmissibility”) , then attacked your own version of the distorted science.
  
  It is called a strawman argument, and typically used by conspiracy theorists who don’t have facts on their side.
  
  I’m not holding my breath for you to provide a link though. Truth is not on your side, case closed.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:36pm
  - Its only I
    
    I guess you haven’t seen the adverts on youtube then? Apparently the booster is best for omicron two were best for delta..after the one that was late. All stop the spread.
    
    Interesting that british medical journal has been flagged as a conspiracy seeding rag after writing an article about the flawed testing and possible altered data by our one and only vaccine supplier. Fact
    
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    March 3, 2022 5:24pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Oh, we were fed some choice berley…remember:
    
    Will the vaccines be as good as they need to be?
    A vaccine that’s 90% effective sounds really good, doesn’t it? But what does a vaccine being effective actually mean?
    
    To me, a really effective Covid-19 vaccine needs to do three things: stop people being infectious, stop people getting infected, and stop people getting really sick and dying.
    https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2020/11/11/vaccine-news-great-but-heres-the-catch.html
    
    Then we were assured that getting a 2nd dose would give us great protection against infection… remember?
    
    Clinical trials showed the Pfizer vaccine (Comirnaty) had a higher efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 infection after receiving the second dose. This is supported by recent real-world data.
    https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-vaccine-effectiveness-and-protection
    
    etc….
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:45pm
Benedict Yu

I got an email today asking me to “reply by 10 Maehe”.

What? ?

It means 10 March. ??
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March 3, 2022 12:08pm
- oldfella
  
  BY: Sheesh, they can’t even get it right. Should have been ‘tekau’ Maehe.
  ’10’ is so… colonial. /s
  
  10 1
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  March 3, 2022 12:22pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  I wouldn’t reply until they repeat the email in English.
  
  16 2
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  March 3, 2022 12:41pm
- greybeard
  
  It means Pidgin English for March
  
  12 1
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  March 3, 2022 1:42pm
- cmm
  
  It’s funny how these foreign concepts get mangled names.
  
  Pirhimana, Maehe, whatever… why not say them properly?
  
  9 2
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  March 3, 2022 2:03pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    I’d like to know the rules for which words get pidgined, the important words? Every third noun? Or is it totally random? Who decides? You can’t have a language without syntax.
    
    12 1
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    March 3, 2022 2:22pm
    - Ehlana
      
      It used to be that we imported words into English only if we didn’t already have a word for it. Like amok, verandah or boomerang.
      
      The real answer to your question is either 1) whenever the writer feels like it, or 2) the writer only knows a dozen or so currently trendy Maori words, so only when one of those can be used.
      Would anyone actually fluent in both languages write such a mish-mash?
      
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      March 3, 2022 3:09pm
I remember when

TV1 News at Noon:
Cleanup begins at Parliament.
Including a massive whitewash of their responsiblity by the Labour government.
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March 3, 2022 12:09pm
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  I hope the protesters are catching up on their sleep as there is much more to do.
  Think what has been achieved:
  Two hikoi to parliament and a mobilisation (Convoy) of historic proportion.
  The awakening of every New Zealander who stood on the side of the road or bridge overpass with flags and signs.
  The mobilisation of a huge support following who cooked, donated, transported and thousands of New Zealanders who watched and cheered.
  A 23-day occupation of parliament grounds and surrounds, peaceful everyday the cops didn’t kick off.
  And today: question time in parliament has been cancelled so the Prime Minister cannot be called to account.
  That is not the action of a government taking no notice. That is the action of a government scared of the people. That is how it should be.
  That is New Zealand’s victory. That is our victory. Don’t give up. EVER. ??
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:01pm
  - Bridgenag
    
    100 ticks
    
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    March 3, 2022 2:50pm
  - greybeard
    
    “And today: question time in parliament has been cancelled so the Prime Minister cannot be called to account.”
    And THAT is the most important point of all.
    Thanks.
    
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    March 3, 2022 7:21pm
BeaB

Ardern blathers on about foreign interference misinforming gullible Kiwis but happily abets the media’s embarrassingly breathless talk of insurrection, storming Parliament etc etc. Now where would they have borrowed this hysterical tosh from?

Of course they were safely tucked up by Trev on the balcony. Charlotte Bellis might be able to give them a bit of training so they too can be intrepid reporters.

Even stopping that jerky-Jessica delivery with accompanying jerky gestures would be a good start.
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March 3, 2022 12:24pm
Littletramp

Simple logic says that as more of us get covid and/or recover, more people who die of any cause in the future will test positive and can be said to have died “with covid”.
Message is: watch out for the parsed language & don’t fall for the current scary covid deaths narrative being used to keep this farce going.
Don’t forget she has offices full of well educated “bull shit artists” and marketing contractors that we taxpayers pay for, using the state paid for media, making all this stuff up.
It is all intended to distract from what they have really done to this country.
The part that really sucks, is that she regularly stands up and accuses joe public of dispersing misinformation.
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March 3, 2022 12:31pm
- Clownworld
  
  Call it..
  It is either the truth or a lie.
  
  Anything else is propaganda.
  
  Word melding like mis and dis are simply slogans to hide behind or get shouty at others who may be sharing the truth ( or a lie).
  
  If you believe it is a lie, call it a lie. Why doesn’t Ardern use that word? Probably as she is a compulsive liar and the truth hurts so she avoids saying it. Guilty conscience perhaps?
  
  The truth will out.
  
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  March 4, 2022 2:25am
oldfella

Martin Devlin writes about the current sporting bans on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and why those bans won’t last.
https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/russia-has-been-shown-the-red-card-but-for-how-long
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March 3, 2022 12:33pm
Surely Knott

Journalists think they are celebrities and increasingly interview themselves or others like them.

I don’t think we’ve seen any in depth interviews from the protestors or their point of view – either during the protest or in response to yesterdays events.

What we increasingly see is journalists self indulging in using media for their own personal problems;

Today – Kate Hawkesby is caught in an internet scam and facebook won’t help! (OMG?!)

Hillary Barry repeatedly uses the Herald to amplify what she thinks are her best tweets:

“Hillary Barry calls out sexist comments on social media” (dec 19)

“Hillary Barry roasts Antivaxxers Petition to get her fired” (8 Oct)

“Musician Jason Kerrison slammed by Hilary Barry after tweet” (20 Feb)

The media class needs a good shake up. It is insular, arrogant, lacks diversity and perspective. Often married to each other, or related to other famous journalists, they use it as a platform to push the perspectives to the exclusion of all else. They rarely advocate for someone else unless it’s another journalist like themselves, eg the pregnant journo overseas who can’t get into miq , in which case they go hard.
The media class needs a shake up.
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March 3, 2022 12:57pm
- kowtow
  
  Last night the NZME stand in for Soper was pouring forth and very emotional ; let the cat out of the bag .
  
  My brother’s a Copper down there .
  
  Today he’s goin’ on about the “disgusting” bedhaviour of the “rioters”
  
  Rioter repeated over and over .
  
  No distinguishing between the general populace of the protest and the Johnny Come Lately trouble makers.
  
  He wasalso one of the gallery asking patsy question of Ardern.
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:36pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Is Hillary Barry actually a journalist?
  I thought the best that could be said of her is that she is a celebrity influencer.
  That is not the same as being a professional writer.
  
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  March 3, 2022 5:44pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    She was a radio journalist.
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:13pm
dave_c_

Talk about NZ being 3rd world – What an understatement.
I am retiring from work in a couple of weeks time, and currently receive a reduced Superannuation payment every 2 weeks, due to my current income.
Wanted to speak with someone, but the wait time is estimated at 72 minutes. !!
There is no option to submit mail, it’s phone or zilch. Aaaargh
Is this others experience ?
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March 3, 2022 1:01pm
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Yes, that’s quite normal.
  Most government departments are the same.
  The 105 police number for non-emergencies covers absolutely everything everywhere and experience leads me to suspect it is a single line answered by only one person.
  You can’t get through to Oranga Tamariki social workers, they don’t return messages and no one clears their phone or email message service when they go on leave either. When they all isolate/work from home the office runs itself because they don’t divert the phones.
  Our government services have exploded in numbers during the term of this government while service delivery that wasn’t too flash to start with is now appalling.
  Don’t ya just love being a taxpayer!
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:59pm
- Biscuit
  
  Dunno where you are (location-wise), dave, but when I hit Superannuation-eligibility I, too, had a few questions.
  
  I’m in a city with a WINZ Ofice so I toddled in there and made an appointment with (as it turned out) the most helpful public servant I think I have ever been given advice by.
  
  Is that – face-to-face – sort of contact a viable option for you?
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:30pm
Surely Knott

Despicable radicals, or everyday kiwis just wanting to be heard. Visuals from the protest https://youtu.be/zJFFy5SA6DE
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March 3, 2022 1:02pm
herb1

I seem to recall Arderns and her physcophants rage at Trump proposing a wall to keep illegal immigrants out of America.
Seems odd that she now seems to support building a wall to keep her fellow citizens out
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March 3, 2022 1:09pm
- MCōs
  
  I don’t recall Ardern ever ranting about Trump, let alone his wretched wall.
  It’s Mallard that may be in favour of a wall around parliament.
  BTW
  I remember walking up the stairs and through the front doors and in to watch proceedings with only a cursory glance from some aging security.
  Far different from the last time I went there.
  
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  March 3, 2022 5:42pm
Maggie Pie

This is getting exciting…..German authorities have seized Russian Oligarch’s ‘Superyacht’ worth more than USD500mil.

https://trib.al/6QyV9Ug

My partner was saying there was one moored at the Viaduct during the AmCup. Wonder if Jacinda would have moved on that if it was still here?
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March 3, 2022 1:09pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I recall the impressive lineup of super yachts down there for the RWC final ten years ago. Amazing things to see. Such sights must be awe-inspiring opening for anyone boasting of the latest valuation of their residential property.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:33pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  There we go! Mike & Milkey have just logged in twice.
  Both been sitting there with a sock over their dicks waiting for me to post something again 😛
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:44pm
- MCōs
  
  Why would she move on that?
  She’s got a perfectly adequate home in Sandringham.
  
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  March 3, 2022 1:45pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    😀
    
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    March 3, 2022 2:12pm
I remember when

Police Commisioner doesn’t think the term ‘white supremacists’ rightly describes them -the largely brown group of hard-core protesters at the end.
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March 3, 2022 1:51pm
- Nickc2
  
  Someone commented yesterday that for a bunch of White Supremacists, they did magnificent Haka on cue. Go figure . . . .
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:20pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  there’s a dreadful shortage of white supremacist and Nazi bogey men in NZ – makes it terribly hard for lefty propagandists to practice their trade
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:52pm
surfing

I’m a little conflicted about the whole Ukrainian situation.

I abhor Putin and what he has done, however, how is the situation so much different from when the USSR tried to station nuclear weapons in Cuba?

USA almost started WW3, Russia are now threatening the same. There is a non-zero chance of this turning nuclear.
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March 3, 2022 1:52pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Beware of overly simplistic comparisons.
  Most of the US military and politicians wanted to bomb Cuba and destroy the missile sites, even if it took a full invasion. Kennedy held out for a graduated response with the naval quarantine, and then negotiated a settlement that saw the Russian missiles removed and in return the US (secretly) withdrew missiles from Cuba.
  Following the end of the cold war and break up of the USSR, several former soviet republics achieved independence and the former satellite states were also free to choose their own destinies. Many of these countries continued to fear Russian domination and, not unreasonably, sought EU and/or NATO membership. Ukraine has sought the same, but does not meet the membership criteria. At the same time, Russian efforts to convert Ukraine into a puppet dependency are resisted by the Ukrainians, who have natural allies in this in the other eastern European countries determined not to be subjected again to Russia.
  
  Had Russia continued its proxy war in the eastern Ukraine, then it perhaps would have been tolerated indefinitely, in much the same way as the US did not seriously aim to topple the Cuban regime through force. Launching a full-scale ground war for no reasonable cause is different.
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:48pm
  - nathie
    
    More of this interesting, well informed and balanced historical take on things mma!
    
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    March 3, 2022 8:23pm
  - Jack5
    
    Milky, wasn’t withdrawal of US Jupiter missiles from Turkey at first the quid pro quo for the Soviet Union taking missiles out of Cuba? The Russians seemto believe that America then welched on that side of the deal.
    
    https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/moment.htm
    
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    March 3, 2022 9:02pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Sorry Jack, I don’t know. It’s many years since I read much about it.
      
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      March 4, 2022 7:44am
- Cinematic
  
  Judging by the inept lacklustre performance of the Russian military I’d say the only thing being threatened (aside from millions of innocent lives in Ukraine) is Putin’s dictatorship.
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:14pm
- rangitoto
  
  Ukraine has been living with nukes on their border since they became a country, so would that entitle them to invade Russia? Also no one was stationing or planning to station nuclear weapons in Ukraine. That is just a nonsense excuse invented by Putin.
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:43pm
mandk

Excellent statement from Winston Peters (copied in full from Newshub):

“The violence and disorder on parliament grounds yesterday is something that we should never have witnessed in New Zealand – a country we pride ourselves on as being one of the best democracies in the world.

The fact of the matter is the terminal rioting we saw was as predictable as it was avoidable. It was equal parts arrogance and inaction that allowed these rioters to take advantage on the national stage. That fateful die was cast by the Prime Minister and every other politician when they refused to engage with the initially peaceful protest on day one – to expect any other outcome after that pact was signed is just plain ignorance. The simple fact is they all got it badly wrong.

The question that not one journalist thought to ask the Prime Minister during her press conference was “wouldn’t this violence have been avoided if you had just engaged with the legitimate protesters on day one?”

It was easy for the Prime Minister to instead justify her inaction by blaming the remaining few hundred violent rioters for the entire past three weeks. But the problem is that is simply not true.

Last week I said that this would inevitably turn into something akin to the Springbok Tour if the government continued their refusal to engage – and it’s exactly what happened. One doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to have seen this coming, so either the government is totally incompetent or they knew this was going to happen and still did nothing.

It was their refusal to engage that allowed the nefarious violent groups time to begin seeping in from around the country in the first place and eventually take over the protest. In fact, the Police Commissioner stated in his address that in the last week he ‘had seen a changing mix and make-up of the crowd. In particular, those with good intentions were now outnumbered by those with the willingness to use violence to affect their means.’

Let’s be clear, those few hundred rioters need to be held to account and no one should try to defend their violent actions. But the mistake the Prime Minister is making is attempting to label the entirety of the protest, the thousands that turned up at parliament, and the hundreds of thousands around the country who supported it, all as a bunch of violent conspiracy theorist deplorables. That mistake has been made before.

Perhaps if she or one of her cabinet colleagues had the courage and sense to listen to the original legitimate protester’s concerns, not only could this violence have been avoided, but they would also know that the vast majority who travelled from around the country are actually ordinary kiwis who just wanted the government to listen.

Unfortunately, the ultimate outcome could be that the actions of these few hundred rioters may well have caused the wider public to lose both sympathy and sight of what the original legitimate protest was all about.”
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March 3, 2022 1:57pm
- cmm
  
  It’s a sad day when one of very few politicians sounding sensible is Winston First.
  
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  March 3, 2022 2:06pm
  - mandk
    
    True.
    
    It has been unimaginable until now, but I might even consider voting for him if he maintains his position.
    
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    March 3, 2022 3:04pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Short memory.
      
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      March 3, 2022 8:44pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Agreed, cmm…
    
    492 words in that statement and I’d struggle to find even one I’d disagree with.
    
    Well done, Winston…
    
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    March 3, 2022 3:25pm
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Peters nailed it, except at the end. The scenes depicting state violence being turned on a legitimate protest, now shared at home and around the world, will have woken more people up than turned them off.
  
  Like in Canada, when the government’s position is so indefensible and precarious that they resort to sending in the goons rather than even once showing a willingness or ability to engage, then they’ve lost, regardless of whether the scene has been cleared in the short term.
  
  The combined political class can claim a moral high ground by mischaracterisation and deflection, but there is now a crisis of confidence growing in the competency and integrity of our elected politicians. We cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube now.
  
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  March 3, 2022 3:16pm
- nathie
  
  Unfortunately, the ultimate outcome could be that the actions of these few hundred rioters may well have caused the wider public to lose both sympathy and sight of what the original legitimate protest was all about.”
  
  Yep, now watch Ardern and Labour (and their flunkies on SM) continue with her disinformation tactics (with the MSM uncritically parroting Labour’s planned and prepared lines), always highlighting and only talking about the bad people and their bad actions as being indicative of the whole protest.
  
  As Winston said (good grief), and many people here and elsewhere too, there were the good (anti-mandaters) and the bad in the crowd (conspiracy theorists, anti-authority types and stirrers).
  
  Labour will continue to “revise” history to place them in the best light, never admitting they made mistakes (refusing to meet the actual anti-mandaters, Speaker Mallard’s antics etc).
  
  Frankly I did wonder if the best thing would be for the original anti-mandate groups to call to their supporters to leave the protest (as the inconvenience against Wellingtonians living and working nearby was building up against the protest action) … leaving the bad apples behind to face the Police.
  
  But Mallard and the Police forced the issue yesterday so the rest is history now as they say.
  
  But one very important thing. You can bet if this had happened when National (and say John Key) were in power, we would have seen more balanced media reporting, more criticism against National and its PM for not engaging with the protesters (one can picture the likes of John Campbell demanding that “National must listen to the genuine people with grievances” etc) and more criticism of the Speakers’ pathetic antics. Oh and Police brutality.
  
  Labour and Ardern may be “winning” the PR war against the protesters (with the MSM largely on-side) …. but sadly their tactics are simply increasing the “divide” that Kiwi’s are witnessing in real life.
  
  Labour and Ardern will run into trouble though when the IPCA and courts start their investigations (and prosecutions) and report their findings. That’s when the damage to Labour will stick.
  
  Whilst Ardern and Labour may manipulate the situation now, history may very well judge them differently and a lot more harshly. And well deserved too.
  
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  March 3, 2022 4:24pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Officially 92000 infected in Auckland region now. That’s more than 5% of population, and true number probably several x that.

500 now in hospital is probably about half the likely peak in 2 weeks (if aussie omicron wave is a guide). 7 in ICU is really low, Australia had about 7x as many in ICU at this stage (delta hangover?)

Zero deaths for yet another day is also weird. Would expect 3 dead per day of unrelated issues in 146000 currently infected.
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March 3, 2022 2:48pm
mandk

Chantelle Baker has just posted on FB that her Dad, Leighton, has been released from custody.

But one of his bail conditions is that he does not speak out about the COVID response bill.

Coming soon to a county near you – political prisoners.

Words cannot express the loathing I feel towards Stalinda and her increasingly authoritarian rule.
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March 3, 2022 3:08pm
- kevn
  
  @mandk… The two most reasonable folk there at the rally. The last 24 hours mayhem just overwhelmed them. Lost crowd control and lots of ‘tailwind’ support they had, unfortunately.
  We are seeing ardens true colours now anyway.
  
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  March 3, 2022 9:37pm
Maggie Pie

My partner was just telling me there’s a few friends of Leo’s down at the Viaduct, who have concerns that Matt McCarten may be a ‘double-agent’

Just saying.
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March 3, 2022 3:31pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Would you buy a used car from McCarten? That is the acid test and the answer is NO.
  
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  March 3, 2022 6:31pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Are vaccine mandates going to disappear?
Are vaccine passes going to disappear?
Are our covid restrictions going to disappear?

Seems the answer to each of the above is NO.

They will CHANGE.

Where we are in the pandemic right now feels hard because it is. But things will change. Our people are coming home. Soon, tourists will return. Vaccine passes, mandates, restrictions – they will all change.
– Jacinda Ardern, 3:3: 2022
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20220303_20220303_16/tab/video
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March 3, 2022 3:44pm
- Cinematic
  
  There should be an immediate end to this emergency nonsense that grants so much power to so few. No reason to have it anymore, hasn’t been for months now.
  
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  March 3, 2022 4:13pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Thick people are slow or unable to change their thinking and response when confronted with new information. Their mental sclerosis makes them unsuitable for effective leadership
8 1
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March 3, 2022 4:42pm
Maggie Pie

Our cleaning lady has just tweeted….

“huge explosion in Kyiv what have ukrainian peoples done to deserve this?
Putin is murdering us”

https://twitter.com/redmanjustine/status/1499180156325445640

What do you say to her….Good God 🙁
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March 3, 2022 4:53pm
nathie

Wow, just wow, on ZB’s political chat just now Bazza sub Jason Walls said that Parliament (Speaker Trev) doesn’t enforce Covid vaccine passes (unlike every other business in NZ, at their cost and detriment) so at his Excellencies discretion, important non-vacc’ed people can visit Parliament!

Now one may say, as ZB’s Dickens and Jason Walls agreed upon, it is Parliament after all and they need to function … even needing to interact with the unvacc’ed.

Sure, I can understand that position, who wouldn’t?

But why always the Labour Hypocrisy !

This is exactly the problem that all other NZ businesses and community groups (and kids sports after school eg when playing for community teams, not school teams) had to deal with!

Excluding people (including children – definitely Not Kind).

Excluding adults from the work force, meaning people lost their jobs (doctors, nurses, teachers, Police, Defence, builders and tradies, shop workers and front of house staff etc etc bloody etc! And some of them even lost their houses.

And …. this is why the (good) people were protesting the anti-mandates! (The same people Jacinda Ardern is denigrating)!

Backed up a High Court win last week for the NZ Police and Defence Force (excellent outcome)!

So everyone else had to cope including loss of jobs and income to ensure companies met Labour’s official mandates …. when Labour allows Parliament to function by issuing their own passes! (Would it be worth the MSM asking as to whom they are)?

No wonder people are distrusting the Labout govt! (Then they get called names by the PM and the MSM parrot them)!

So who’s really being divisive … why good old hypocritical Labour, as usual!
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March 3, 2022 5:12pm

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