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March 17, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 March 2022

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Warren

Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Nurses offered $500 bonus for every Xtra night shift they do.
I wonder if this would be deemed as safe for nurses and patients and is this what Andrew Little our Health Minister and the Ministry meant when they said weeks ago every thing is in place and we are ready for every problem that awaits us from the Omicron Variant outbreak.
One nurse told the Herald there was concern amongst staff that the extra shifts they were picking up was leaving them exhausted and potentially jeopardizing ‘Patients ‘ care.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-nurses-offered-500-bonus-for-every-night-shift/VWJX3ZPMTABHXHAXD3E5SL2ZX4/
So I have to ask was this one of our Prime Minister’s plans to fight Omicron,
put nurses lives in danger as well as patients, it’s beyond belief and just plan callous.
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March 17, 2022 8:00am
- a3catlady
  
  OMG and meanwhile the Aged Care nurses pay is highjacked by the amount the DHB is paying their facility, which is less than 25% of the price of a public hospital bed.
  Stand by for even more nurses to leave Aged Care – who the hell is going to look after these old and frail residents.
  Perhaps we should all shut our doors and send the residents back to the hospitals!! FYI that’s some 35,000 bed the public hospitals would have to find.
  “You can judge a society by the way its looks after its most vulnerable”
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:43am
  - surfing
    
    My partner (nurse) worked in aged care for a bit. One of the big ‘high profile’ businesses in this industry where the CEO often appears in the news smiling away about how great they are. They should put him to work in one of his places for a night!
    
    The home was grossly understaffed (one nurse for 40 residents overnight, try writing 40 sets of patient notes in a half hour) , grossly underpaid (was on around 20’ish/hour, no holiday pay, no sick pay, zero hour contract). If just one patient got sick (frequently), all the other patients better hope they don’t need attention.
    
    It was the worst job in her life, she quit, and left it to the foreign nurses. Zero hour contracts are gone now, that is a positive . So she’d probably get holiday and sick pay now, but only because the government made it so.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:22am
- ecco
  
  The election bribes coming out now. Targetted at the nurses this time. They appear to be trying to slip these under the radar. Their messengers NZH aren’t cooperating here obviously with this article.
  
  Listen to business slot this morning on Mike’s show (can listen on the Newstalkzb on demand option, via the Week on Demand functionality, Kelliher is on the 6.15am slot).
  
  He is talking about how the debt to GDP has risen from .8% in 2020 to 5.8%, and climbing. Or NZ debt to GDP is $22b. ie NZ living beyond it’s means under JA and Robertson.
  
  Why are none of the little MSM reporters highlighting this? Liam Dann, senior business reporter, even, from NZH is shutting up on this. Oh yes that’s right, covid media relief slush fund mechanism.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:50am
  - ecco
    
    What about bribes for the teachers and police – oh they will be next for ‘special’ payments no doubt.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:54am
    - surfing
      
      The entire middle class is being severely squeezed.
      
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      March 17, 2022 11:24am
      - Harriet
        
        Not really — Helen increased the public service by 48% and govt spending via the private sector has increased far more than that.
        Then you have workplace ATTENDANCE welfare – WFF and childcare – where you don’t EARN increases THROUGH your work but because of your attendance AT work!
        Nearly everyone in the middle class is reliant on government taxes being collected and spent on them.
        
        In other words, given all the compliance to receive government spending most of your middle class are essentially a “civilian arm of government beneficiary class”.
        
        The Westminster System of Government in reality has become the Westminster System of Welfare.
        
        That’s what Putin and Xi see. Rot everywhere. 😎
        
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        March 17, 2022 12:36pm
  - Paulus
    
    I have heard that the covid media relief fund is not what it appears to be and that it is intended and used to ensure that the media do not adversly comment on anything to do with the Treaty of Waitangi or the Tribunal.
    I could be wrong but can anybody confirm the real intention of this slush fund.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:36am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Talking of Nanny Herald, like I warned yesterday, hit pieces on Luxon have started to come thick and fast. Today Shane Ta Pau, the perennial Labour lapdog has written a puff piece. Fortunately it is behind paywall so only the clowns who pay to read Herald crap can read it.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:19am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      That Te Pou has the hide of an elephant, he was a Labour candidate for one of the Maori seats, he lost that candidacy because of a corrupt attempt had having free Labour election meetings at tax payer owned facilities, rotten to the core is he.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:14pm
    - kevn
      
      I pay my $1 a week to access the ‘premium’ content. Worth it to read, Steven Joyce, Richard Prebble, Sir Ian Taylor and a few others.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:58pm
      - ecco
        
        Totally kevn. The premium content is the only material worth employing your eyeballs on in the Ferald. Most of the comments on the premium articles are just brilliant ?.
        
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        March 17, 2022 5:26pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  This is a clear breach of the H&S Act. Every work place has to have a standard in place for “safe” working conditions. Hospitals should have one that says a Nurse can only work X hours and then stand down for Y hours.
  This applies to truck drivers who can only drive X hours and then must take Y hours break.
  Where is Work Safe? Oh I know chasing down a private employer on some nick picking unimportant matter.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:19am
  - kevn
    
    Checking on QR sign ins. That was a big worksafe caper.
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:59pm
- kowtow
  
  Great pay if you can get it . No wonder they want to flood the system with low paid imported labour.
  
  So whose side is the Labour pardy on , NZ workers or employers ?
  
  Strange times.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:21am
- Nickc2
  
  There are two points you should never forget Warren:
  * Winston Peters put these people in office in 2017, and
  * Without Covid-19 in 2020, these same people would never have been re-elected.
  NB: Peters may be contesting the by-election in Tauranga.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:38am
- Mr_Blobby
  
  Vaccinated nurses only need apply.
  
  Strange for the first 2 years it did not matter.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:06am
- rockape
  
  This is only in Auckland, not throughout the country.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:53am
- Jim
  
  Good plan, by the same token if Air NZ run out of pilots they could do the same! Because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a professional’s judgement when they’ve been on shift for 18 hours, much safer than a fresh staff member with mild cold symptoms?
  Despite multiple studies showing typical human cognitive impairment after 12 hours at work is similar to operating at the drink driving limit.
  Remember, it’s all about keeping us safe!
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:00pm
mikenmildagain

How good is the cricket world cup so far?
It’s been wonderful, of course.
Halfway through the round-robin, close games, and with only one team definitely eliminated so far.
England picked themselves up after their disastrous start to the tournament to beat India yesterday.
Another key match today as NZ face the unbeaten South Africa.
The only real downside is that Australia do actually look unbeatable.
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March 17, 2022 8:00am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Spot on mikenmild. In the field yesterday England was superb, but they did their best to screw up a modest chase.
  
  Three wins for the White Ferns over South Africa today, England on Sunday and Pakistan will almost certainly place them in second place in the group stage, meaning they would avoid Australia until the final. Two wins will probably get them through, but they would not want to finish fourth and end up facing the Ockers in a semi-final.
  
  I’ve also really enjoyed the Australia vs Pakistan series. The batting of Babar Azam, Shafique and Rizwan was nothing short of heroic as they held out the Australian attack for almost two days.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:31am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Sorry Tony, I’ve tried a couple of times to watch and be pleased with what I see. Watched a bit of NZ v India. Had the misfortune to watch an India lass bowling left arm “spin”. What it actually amounted to was a succession of left arm lobs which the NZ batter could barely hit off the square.
    Even the Aus|Pak series is being killed off by dead pitches, and on that note, I’m watching Eng v WI, and the pitch is slow and dead as a door nail. No surprises that Root has a 100, but Dan Lawrence looks a fine young player.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:04am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Jacinda was lauded as the poster-girl that proved that women can be pregnant, have babies and be a new mother while holding down the role of Prime Minister.

On the evidence of the last few years, I contend that she has proved the opposite.

Cheap political point scoring to one side, I can’t understand how she can give of her best to both the job and her young child. It’s not fair on the country and it’s not fair on Neve.
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March 17, 2022 8:00am
- Scott
  
  Reading this morning the official organ of the Labour Party, stuff, we read this from Luke Malpass –
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/128074246/covid19-with-open-borders-the-last-blocks-of-the-elimination-edifice-come-down
  
  Apparently Kiwis can now resume normal life now that the borders are opening up, contact tracing is gone and the end of vaccine mandates will be announced next week?
  
  Is it just me, did anyone else feel really angry when Jacinda smiled and beamed and let Kiwis know that the borders are opening up and international tourism can resume? What I object to is the tone and the body language of – aren’t you lucky that I am so kind and so wonderful and I am giving you tourism again out of the goodness of my heart. She really thinks that we are lucky to be getting our basic freedoms back. She really thinks she is a wonderful person giving us our basic rights back.
  
  For me I would have liked a more apologetic tone, a more diffident tone. A more – “we have gone through some hardships and finally we can move on from this Covid nightmare”. But she really believes that it’s perfectly within her rights to take away all of our freedoms and then when she deems fit, graciously give them back to us. I feel really angry about this.
  
  Can we please, for the love of God, stop electing these control freaks into the highest office of the land?
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:20am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Let me know when the vax passes are gone. I’m looking forward to being asked why I don’t go to the club any longer.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:28am
    - Sideoiler
      
      @ Clan, yes I am looking forward to the vax passes going.
      My local club is nearly on its knees and has not yet come to the realisation that many of us will not be back.
      The thing I am looking forward to even more is all the KARENS being reined in and put back in their box.
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:20am
      - Unity
        
        As a side, I really do object to the name ‘Karen’ being used in snide terms. I have a lovely niece called Karen and I do not like seeing her name denigrated. Just saying ….
        
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        March 17, 2022 1:26pm
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    Are you absolutely sure.
    
    Or have just had another announcement that there will be an announcement,
    
    I wouldn’t go making to many plans or booking tickets.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:34am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Yes, fickle is a good description of Brenda.
      
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      March 17, 2022 8:54am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    “…did anyone else feel really angry when Jacinda smiled and beamed…….”
    Er “angry” – no given up on that emotion as bad for the blood pressure – but did rush to the toilet bowl.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:48am
    - Fisherman
      
      I couldn’t agree with you more, I usually do not watch the CH1 or 3 news as it is so biased. I did see the PM announcing the easing of restrictions and I just could not believe how conceited she is. Smiles and giggles all around. If only she realized how many people dislike her intensely
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:14pm
  - kowtow
    
    In terms of this regime their Media pardy presents everything not as “news” but as a “victory” , a victory for her personally and if not her , then her party.
    
    As you say that was one example , two others from yesterday were the glorious presentation of the girl who got the named birth certificate and the so called safe zones at abortion clinics .
    
    All these victory presentations have the whiff of a North Korean party broadcast , not “news”.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:50am
  - Harry Knuts
    
    this exact reason you give i object to also and from the beginning of the jacinda show. her body language is patronising at the very least.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:06am
  - curry4me
    
    One solution would be to give people who work 20 plus hours a week two sets of ballot papers.
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:08pm
    - Keith White
      
      Heck yeah.
      
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      March 17, 2022 7:09pm
- G152
  
  Neve who ????
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:21am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Meh, I am sure that Neve gets more adult attention than most kids, she’ll be fine. But Cindy was, is and alway will be a shit PM and NZ is suffering for it.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:24am
- amospicton
  
  Ok so I’m about to be highly politically incorrect. I believe the ‘abundance of caution’ approach to covid was a predictable response from a relatively new mother. In my experience women become much more risk averse after having their first child in particular. That’s not a criticism of Ardern – it’s a logical evolutionary response but it’s lead to a dreadful overkill in our covid response.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:36am
  - bennerg
    
    amospicton:
    
    The fact that the same response was enacted elsewhere amongst her mates (Trudeau etc) suggests another causal factor, common to them all.
    
    WEF anyone?
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:55am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  She was hardly the most dynamic, competent politician before she had a child.
  
  Becoming a mum hasn’t changed the fact that she really has never had the ability or work ethic to be a decent Prime Minister.
  
  It is hard being a working mum, but hundreds of thousands of NZ women manage it every day, and thank goodness they do.
  
  Just because Jacinda Ardern is making a dog’s breakfast of running our country, there’s no reason to assume other fertile young women would perform just as poorly.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:38am
  - PeeJay
    
    100% agree Maggy.
    
    Anyone, party bias aside, that actually had met or dealt with her during her time as an MP knew she was a bit thick, put in next to no effort and would make a bloody awful PM. I’ve met a few politicians in my time and I couldn’t even believe she was an MP when I met her!
    
    This had nothing to do with her being a woman, or a mother. Many women I have had the pleasure of working with in my career have regularly outperformed their male counterparts – the old adage that a woman had to work twice as hard to be considered half as good is still, in my opinion, a reality in a lot of workplaces.
    
    Ardern is a shit PM not because she is a woman and a mother – there is simply no reason a great many other women couldn’t excel at the job whilst being a mother. Ardern is a shit PM because she is a talentless idiot who simply doesn’t have the drive, mental capacity or is willing to put in the hard yards required.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:01am
    - mogg
      
      She was smart enough to realise that lockdowns, paying people to stay at home, rocketing house price inflation, ever increasing govt debt was buying her great political popularity ratings at the tax payer’s expense. They were spending money like a drunken sailor with barely a word of complaint from opposition or Media. It’s only now that she/we are having to face up to the morning after the night before.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:02pm
      - Keith White
        
        Having partied with drunken sailors when ‘Nervous in the Service’, I can confirm that analogy is unfair to intoxicated seafarers. When we’d spent nearly our money we either walked back to accommodation or pooled what we had left for communal fares. If only NZ had the fiscal discipline of inebriated swabbies we would not be in the dire financial straits we are currently navigating… while holed below the waterline by medical and financial apartheid policies.
        
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        March 17, 2022 7:12pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Ouch
      
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      March 17, 2022 5:47pm
  - artemisia
    
    Not only working mums, but working solo parents (any gender), plenty not on the I-can-afford-a-nanny payscale.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:04am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Yep Maggy, my info is that Ardern works significantly less hours than Key used to, and for that matter Helen Clark. That’s why she is not across issues in any depth, and why she has to be given the questions before she appears in media, or just refuses to answer.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:07am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      Prime example was yesterday in QT, where she has to read out her answers from a swathe of prepared stuff, and then reacts badly when gets a specific secondary Question from Luxon and constantly needs Mallard to run cover for her by telling MPs they can’t ask those questions.
      
      https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20220316_20220316_20/tab/video?page=6&mode=form
      
      Pathetic.
      
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      March 17, 2022 11:24am
- Benedict Yu
  
  IMO it is not appropriate to comment on her role as a parent. It is none of my business. The fact that she has a child is not a plausible determinant of her effectiveness as a PM. Are you saying the counter factual is that she would be an effective PM if she was not also a mother? I don’t buy that.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:39am
  - Scott
    
    Have to disagree with you a little bit there Benedict. After consulting with my wife, there is such a thing as “baby brain”. So having a baby and trying to be prime minister is a Herculean task.
    
    I think the idea that you can have a baby in office and still do the demanding job of being a prime minister is a little bit ridiculous. I’m sorry if that upsets the feminists. But it’s true. Isn’t it time we addressed reality?
    
    Somehow the discussion we are having reminds me of the new Apple emoji “the pregnant man”. We just think we can set aside all biology and it doesn’t affect our work. I think it does.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:03am
    - Charmaine Hawke
      
      Yes for the first year after having my child I couldn’t be trusted to run a bath let alone a country.
      
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      March 17, 2022 10:00am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Baby Brain..
      
      I wrote my PhD thesis with baby brain.
      
      My GP delivered loads of babies, worked as a senior in a medical practice, and chaired a national professional organisation with baby brains.
      
      My dentist ran a successful dental practice with baby brains
      etc, etc
      
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      March 17, 2022 10:07am
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        So? I don’t think that it’s controversial that all of those things could have been done much better without the person involved having “baby brain.” A functioning alcoholic can still get a lot of things done, but it’s ludicrous to suggest that they wouldn’t have performed even better without the hindrance of booze.
        
        In general, it is self-evident that where a woman has to spend less time raising her children due to her career, her children will suffer accordingly. In fact, her career will suffer proportionately as well. Feminism has told women they can have it all, but they cannot. Ideology has displaced reality, and society suffers as a consequence.
        
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        March 17, 2022 11:22am
  - CAKE FACE1
    
    Agree.
    
    A clever socialist trick is to say that all people who despise Cindy are sexist.
    
    CAKE truly despises Cindy, but not because she is a woman. I can’t abide her, because she is a socialist.
    
    Mrs Thatcher (RIP) is one of my heroes. The socialists are vile about her. Are they being sexist? How could I support a woman (back in the day)? The answer is, she was competent.
    
    I quite liked Ms Collins, and certainly thought she would do a better job than Cindy. The socialist mainstream media bullied her remorselessly, often in a sexist manner. How could I have supported Judith, if I am sexist?
    
    The reason I don’t respect Cindy isn’t because she is a women. The reason I detest her is she is completely useless. If she does this amazing gender transformation trick that is all the rage at the moment, and magically becomes a man, she will no doubt continue to be completely and utterly useless. This is because her incompetence and stupidity is not gender based.
    
    The sexist allegation is all the rage in the mainstream media at the moment. It’s very effective – like screaming “RACIST!” at someone.
    
    I suppose when Labour started to fall in the polls, the centre-right were likely to see every trick in the book unleashed at us.
    
    So be it…
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:03am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Yet Ruth Richardson was min of finance, we never heard a word about the babyeee, she was back at work the next week snd that was it
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:57am
  - Alwynn
    
    I’m afraid your memories of Ruth Richardson are wrong.
    Yes she had a child while an MP. At the time (1983) she was a back-bencher. She was not a Minister until about 7 years later.
    She wasn’t, by choice, back at work the next week. She had wanted, but was refused, an extended period of maternity leave.
    The MP who did have children while she was an MP, and simply got on with her job was Whetu Tirakatene-Sullivan. She had 3 children as an MP with the third being born while she was a Minister. She didn’t look for any special treatment.
    https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/features/parliament-becoming-more-family-friendly/
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:37am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      That is not the timeline I am thinking about, it was the 90s and she was non of finance, I never took any notice in 83
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:20pm
  - curry4me
    
    From memory, a creche was established in parliament for her child; and maybe others too.
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:14pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, and there has been a creche ever since
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:17pm
- MCōs
  
  Are you suggesting fathers make better politicians than mothers because there’re more easily able to detach themselves from the responsibilities of parenthood?
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:35am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    It’s not about distancing themselves from parenthood, but about politicising their parenthood to gain votes that is the issue.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:57am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    “Are you suggesting fathers make better politicians than mothers because there’re more easily able to detach themselves from the responsibilities of parenthood?”
    
    Yes, of course. I don’t care if it offends women, but societies are only sound and open to advancement when the complimentary gender roles are respected. When confusion sets in, societies retreat.
    
    Feminism (i.e. the adoption by women of masculine traits) has been a disaster for those societies who embrace it, which was of course, the intention. If we want to trace the roots of our current malaise, rather than just complain about the fruits, we have to look back to the “socially progressive” revolutions, the principle characteristic of which was substituting a set of ideological constructions for thousands of years of adaptive behaviour.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:31am
    - MCōs
      
      Your definition of feminism is not only wrong, but it’s based on the misconception that women who are feminists consider men to be superior to women.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:10pm
- Bullion
  
  So any parent is not suitable to be PM?
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:36am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    Not if they are a woman with young children: both the country and the child(ren) cannot receive optimal attention, so both inevitably suffer. This is pretty incontrovertible, purely based on the simple maths of having two jobs to do in a day versus only one.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:38am
    - Bullion
      
      What if their partner is a women? Huh, gotcha.
      
      In all seriousness I think men are totally capable of being a parent.
      
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      March 17, 2022 1:20pm
- oldfella
  
  you’ve got the terminology wrong. The idea that only women can get pregnant is so … yesterday.
  I know this because I heard Ashley Bloomfield talking this morning on TV talking about ‘pregnant people’. FFS! /s
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:58am
  - alex Masterley
    
    Indeed, Stuff this morning refers to “pregnant people” in a piece.
    Once again demsonstrating they are fully on board the woke train.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:00am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      It’s the same PC twit who was on One News last night with a bunch of pregnant people of unknown sex. I think she earns the honorary title of Dickhead.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:55pm
  - tf78
    
    Guess what Dr Bloomfield – “skeletons don’t lie”, unlike members of your government.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:11am
- Ehlana
  
  Doesn’t Neve have a father to look after her ?
  
  The reality of the job of PM will always be that care of children in the family will fall largely on the “other parent”. Fortunately, PM’s are paid enough for a stay-at-home parent and any other childcare resources they need.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:51am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Apparently he has gone missing
    
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    March 17, 2022 12:22pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Our Dear PM told us he was folding the laundry yesterday morning.
      
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2022/03/where-is-clarke-gayford-jacinda-ardern-laughs-off-conspiracy-theories-reveals-the-answer.html
      
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      March 17, 2022 1:05pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Yes i am sure he was , but never a pic of them out together, they put up a pic of him surf foiling yesterday, but i know for a fact that is an old photo, i have seen it produced more than once. why did we not see warm and fuzzy pics of them walking the streets at Christmas?, we seen pics of them in Aussie for two years on holiday, and last year at Gisborne, but not a word this year at all, its bizarre, if its not true, where the hell is he?
        
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        March 17, 2022 2:27pm
  - oldfella
    
    Ehlana, isn’t Clarke a full time stay-at-home father at the moment? Never seen or photographed out and about these days. Or have I missed something?
    
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    March 17, 2022 12:36pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      [Deleted – leave personal lives out. mod.]
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:28pm
Matt Long

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-funding-environmental-groups-europe-united-state
Green groups accused of funding from Russia to kill off the West’s energy independence.
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March 17, 2022 8:05am
- Matt Long
  
  Makes you wonder who might benefit from multinational organisation Greenpeace’s attacks on NZ food production.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:07am
- emmess
  
  I am sure it is not just Green groups but Green parties as well
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:46am
  - curry4me
    
    And the thing is, most of them do it for free. No briefcases full of used bills reuired.
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:22pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Likewise, this, going after directors personally:
  
  https://connectedworld.clydeco.com/post/102hkqz/shells-directors-in-frame-for-failure-to-properly-manage-exposure-to-climate-ris
  
  It would be interesting to find out who funds ClientEarth.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:05am
  - alex Masterley
    
    Had a look on the UK charities register.
    ClientEarth is a UK based charity.
    It’s last report of income for the year ended 2020 was $20mil!
    The income appears to be derived from Charitable activities.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:20am
Tauhei Notts

I saw a most informative interview on You Tube with a former top Pentagon adviser, Colonel Douglas Macgregor. Unfortunately I do not know how to provide a link.
I warmly recommend the piece to Kiwiblog readers, and hope you can find it.
Over the past 50 years I have been critical of American armed forces and their actions; think Cambodia, Viet Nam, Panama etc; but in this instance Macgregor is brilliant.
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March 17, 2022 8:05am
- Tomtoddy
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFngc_8RiVc This could be the interview you refer to, TN. I listened to Oliver Stone for 90 mins last night and was left feeling that Europe and the US have handled Ukraine badly. Simply bagging Putin as a warmonger is not the whole story. No war is ever justified and Putin deserves condemnation but NATO has a lot to answer for.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:23am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Well done for looking for the other side of the story. In war there inevitably is one.
    Whatever you do don’t bring up the US illegal occupation of Syria, their support for jihadis there or their ongoing support of the head choppers war crimes in Yemen. They don’t count.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:31am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Putin deserves far more than condemnation for the low hundred thousand ish he has killed in this and other wars he has started. Sure the West and Nato could’ve done things to reduce the likelihood of this conflict, like spiking Putin’s vodka with a little polonium any time since he invaded Crimea, then again hindsight is 20/20 and few though this was going to happen a month before it did.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:32am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      He wouldn’t have invaded if the US had the sense to negotiate. He has been explicit for at least 8 years, so they cannot claim to have been taken by surprise. Now he is going to get exactly what he wanted to begin with, only with the addition of thousands of dead Ukrainians.
      
      I’m not sure if this is the Oliver Stone item Tomtoddy refers to above, but if you want some context on Ukraine and its relationship to the US, this provides some good insight (banned by YouTube I believe, naturally).
      
      https://tv.gab.com/channel/starcrest/view/oliver-stones-ukraine-on-fire-62269679f271e96c4dd8ee76
      
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      March 17, 2022 11:43am
      - virtualmark
        
        Just because someone is “explicit” doesn’t mean that what they have to say is right, or that you have to give them what they want.
        
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        March 17, 2022 2:21pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Hey, Tomtoddy,
    Thank you for doing the link. One day I will learn how to do that sort of thing.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:46am
    - Kiwi Dave
      
      On an iPad, which I use for 98% of my surfing, hold your finger on the address at the top of the screen and a Copy dialogue bubble appears, click on it and then paste into the KB comment box, thus – this link compares missile and gun effectiveness against tanks:
      
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OqkPdJgGFfE
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:34pm
      - Tauhei Notts
        
        I use an i pad when I am suffering from conjunctivitis. Your instructions are as useful as a Grant Robertson speech.
        
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        March 17, 2022 9:56pm
Charmaine Hawke

I wonder how the newly unvaccinated are feeling after Sty Ashley has proclaimed that you need 3 doses of fizzer to be fully vaccinated? Personally I am looking forward to recovering my untermention status.
Seriously Ashley rest of the world is sunbathing by the pool and you are still trying to win lets see who can hold their breath underwater. Time to declare victory and move out of the limelight if you are capable.
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March 17, 2022 8:07am
- krazykiwi
  
  The vaccine injury rate compounds with each additional ‘treatment’. We already have a significant number of third jabs so the excess mortality data will already be visible to select people inside, and proximal to the health system. How Bloomfield can sleep straight in his bed at night is beyond me.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:32am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Apparently more cases of myocarditis reported to the USA VAERS system in the first 2 months of 2022 as in whole of 2021. Risk does appear to increase geometrically with each successive shot (was a paper published a few months back).
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:35am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    Yes had a friend tell me yesterday her partner has heart damage due to his recent bout of covid, I can’t convince her it may be his booster jab that had some contribution to this though as that thought is too hard to bear.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:38am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      There was reports of heart damage in patients well before the vax was even in circulation, its easy to say these things , but there is no exact science of what you say.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:31pm
  - Jim
    
    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:23pm
- Matt Long
  
  The Pfizer CEO has announced that in fact you need 4. Expect to hear that from St Ash in winter when poor ventilation and low D3 kicks off another peak with maybe a new more exciting covid varient.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:37am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, the third dose was just a stock clearing exercise to make room on the shelves for the new Omicron-recipe 4th dose.
    
    Now there’s a new Omicron in the wings. That will need a 5th dose, then a new recipe yet again and a 6th dose…
    
    Has any company made so much money out of not solving a problem (that wasn’t really a problem in the first place)?
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:49am
    - oldfella
      
      what new Covid variant are you talking ab0ut? If it’s Omicron ba2, then that’s already the dominant strain in NZ.
      
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      March 17, 2022 10:04am
      - cmm
        
        The question is whether the new recipe was made for BA2.
        Even if it has not, the BA2 is probably quite close to the original Omicron, so the spike protein fit is still pretty good.
        But what viruses do is mutate. There are going to be more variants and with each variant the fit will be worse, until a new recipe is required.
        So the goal is to keep the fear going to keep the huge business opportunity alive.
        
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        March 17, 2022 11:33am
  - Rich Prick
    
    Pfizer boosters are sounding more like Microsoft patches. Is there any word on dumping vaccine passes? I’m extremely reluctant to be forced into having more of Cindy’s potion.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:57am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Just say ‘NO!’, RP.
      
      No more lab rat.
      
      No more experimental jab hamster wheel.
      
      No more acceptance of lies.
      
      Just say ‘NO!’
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:03am
      - rouppe
        
        Some of us have employers… I was planning on being free of mine this year but Jacinda had buggered housing as well so no buyers in the market
        
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        March 17, 2022 10:08am
      - alloytoo
        
        I did, I may have been a trifle forceful on the phone, poor lass was only doing a job.
        
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        March 17, 2022 11:24am
      - krazykiwi
        
        Yes, I understand rouppe. There are plenty of jobs, but you only have one healthy body. Roll the dice, I guess.
        
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        March 17, 2022 1:15pm
    - Matt Long
      
      https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/15/how-nzs-covid-restrictions-might-change-after-omicron-peak/
      Maybe the end of vaccine passes in sight.
      
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      March 17, 2022 10:04am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        [Deleted – OTT verbal aspergers. mod.]
        
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        March 17, 2022 5:00pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      My v-pass auto-dumps on 17 May 2022 when it expires.
      I ain’t getting another one.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:54pm
  - Jim
    
    Good just in time to emigrate to somewhere warmer and where citizens are respected, Florida is looking good with Gov Ron DeSantis ordering no mandate for healthy children, no lockdowns, no masks……even better if I can get a British Airways flight there, with no mask mandates since yesterday.
    
    yippee back to the future, and no new (dystopian) normal
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:27pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      I hope Sleepy Joe does not shit on ya from a great height.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:37pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Something is nuts here..
  
  If we are opening up the country to Aussies in a couple of weeks, how will our Vax pass work, then?
  
  Will thousands of Aussies be refused entry because they lack evidence that they are boosted?
  
  Will all incoming arrivals be issued with a visitor vax pass?
  
  I suspect we are heading for the end-times of Ardern’s mandated vaxxess.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:46am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Expect a variation announcement to this shortly. There are opinion polls out there.
    
    “It will expire 6 months from the date of issue, or on 1 June 2022, whichever comes sooner. We have set an expiry date to allow flexibility in how we respond to the changing nature of the pandemic. ”
    
    https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-vaccination-certificates/my-vaccine-pass/
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:04am
  - artemisia
    
    It’s not just the passes, it is also red traffic light. Predict that will be gone before the border opens, but orange also relies heavily on ‘papers please’. That is not going to work for visitors unless they get issued with a visitor pass as you suggest Maggy.
    
    What happens when jabbed visitors test positive? Some will of course.
    
    Interesting times. Best plan is to follow many other countries and can the rules. Full stop. Better not hold our breath.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:16am
  - oldfella
    
    so many questions, so few answers from Cindy and co, who I suspect are still making it up as they go along.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:05am
  - cmm
    
    If you want a masterclass in discrimination then take a leaf out of the South African Apartheid playbook.
    
    How do you exclude black people from facilities you want to reserve for whites (eg. nice hotels), but still make it so that visiting West Indies cricketers can stay at a 5 star hotel and not have to stay in some squalid dive in Soweto?
    
    Solution: If they show their foreign passport then they are treated like whites (small print: does not apply from passports from Lesotho, Swaziland, Transkei etc).
    
    Same here. Any Aussie showing their passport with an entry stamp will be treated as a holder of a MyVaxPass!
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:43am
    - oldfella
      
      cmm, of course back in the day, Sth Africa labelled any ‘coloured’ All Blacks on tour as ‘honorary whites’. Not our proudest moment.
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300105582/all-blacks-1970-tour-to-south-africa-50-years-on-honorary-whites-craven-antics-and-bok-battles
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:43pm
      - mawm
        
        When you start off with a bad policy you end up looking like a pretzel with all the twisting and turning needed to justify things.
        
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        March 17, 2022 3:18pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Vaxes and mandates will be gone, i bet that’s why the wait till travelers are allowed, because there would be an outcry, with NZers having to isolate if a household contact, how the hell do you prove Aussies coming here did not leave from a household contact from Aussie?
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:40pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Yes Maggy, somethings is nuts. The government is.
    
    Unfortunately, they’re not the kind of nuts you can eat, so if you do happen to bury any of them, don’t go digging them up when you get hungry in winter…
    
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    March 17, 2022 4:38pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Ardern will never forgive those who didn’t bend the knee to her demands. She’s a vindictive, nasty pos.
    
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    March 17, 2022 5:02pm
- Mr_Blobby
  
  What is wrong with people.
  
  As an unvaccinated covid survivor, covid is officially over for me.
  
  All I need is for the apartheid to be gone so I can get on with life.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:53am
  - RightNow
    
    I’m also unjabbed and have recovered from covid, so have natural immunity for the near future, but still
    I can’t get a haircut, can’t go to a restaurant etc.
    
    I am however one of the lucky (and smarter) ones. I got to keep the mRNA experiment out of my body and as it happens I’m financially better off, not only from not being able to spend money at barbers, bars and restaurants, but (as a contractor) I’ve worked almost every billable day since March 2020. I took one day off sick when I got Covid.
    I’ll probably take the Novavax when I’m ready to leave the country, but I’m happy that I’ve already had the virus as that will give me overall better protection than someone with even 4 jabs of the mRNA, without the accompanying risks.
    Am looking forward to Bali in June 🙂
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:36am
    - Mr_Blobby
      
      To be fair I was not prepared to be treated as some infectious untouchable so I made my views very clear on the apartheid and carried on as normal.
      
      I have had some interesting conversations with family, employers, ex friends etc.
      
      Covid will eventually be assigned to the history books along with jacinda and her government.
      
      But I won’t be forgetting or forgiving anything for a long time.
      
      Especially the little wannabe nazi’s.
      
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      March 17, 2022 1:16pm
    - MCōs
      
      “I’m also unjabbed and have recovered from covid, so have natural immunity for the near future”
      The natural immunity period can be as little as a few days.
      This morning on Twitter some people recounted their experiences of being infected three times in close succession. That’s what they said and I’m just putting it out there.
      Similarly we must take what you say at your word including taking one day off. One presumes you were working from home.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:34pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Happy days!! Good on you. You deserve all the happiness your choices are worthy of.
      
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      March 17, 2022 5:03pm
  - Jim
    
    What are you claiming Blobby? Surely not that mystical thing that biologists used to call………drum roll……natural immunity!?
    Such crazy talk, didn’t you know that government and big pharma have resigned such loopy notions to the memory hole alongside flat earth theories.
    
    Ohh no what is this from Dr John Campbell….superior natural immunity?
    https://youtu.be/kkjBi7dOTAg
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:34pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Don’t be silly, of course “experts” can do better in the laboratory than natural evolution! WTF would the evolutionary process know? It’s only been around for a couple of million years and it hasn’t had a cent of funding from pharmaceutical companies, how could it possibly compete with Bill Gates and all his money??!!!!
      No, follow the “science”. Fuck nature, clueless hippy shit. I’d much rather trust for profit corporations.
      
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      March 17, 2022 5:07pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    There is an article out today, that says the human rights commissioner told Ardern the mandates and passes would be divisive, but she knew better .
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:42pm
- alloytoo
  
  I’ll be keen to hold the PM to account for the poor vaccine rollout stats.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:21am
krazykiwi

Germany. Another country where all cause excess mortality data shows strong correlation with mRNA vaccine rollouts.

Listen for choruses of “No correlation! No causation! Conspiracy theory! Fake science!”

No matter. The truth will out.
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March 17, 2022 8:08am
- kowtow
  
  Yer but Blofeld ‘s just been on with Hosk and it sounds like he’s going to recommend to the Jab princess that “fully vaxxed” will mean boosted.
  
  That’ll amount to another mandate and forced medication by stealth .
  
  This when the whole damn thing is just about over .
  
  The only hope is that her polling is so shit , she won’t do it.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:16am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Is that booster one or two? There are murmurs that a 4th shot requirement isn’t that far away.
    Oh to be a pin cushion.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:32am
    - KKKKatee
      
      Lucky for many that Robertson has said the country can’t afford to buy the 4th shot. Only a fool would believe that.
      
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      March 17, 2022 1:27pm
  - westernScientest
    
    They have already mandated the booster in a number of sectors, including health care and education. It seems likely that after the high court ruling for the cops and DF though that they will struggle to implement it in most places outside of healthcare.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:46am
  - oldfella
    
    Cindy is backpedalling so fast on so many things, I suspect her internal polling is in the crapper.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:07am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Well , she was adamant that there was no cost of living crisis, and that no way fuel tax is going down, the poll was on Monday, but that id not budge her, and i know their internal polls are out on a Wednesday, and they look at them on a Thursday, something has happened in the interim, i would say the internal poll was far worse than Monday nights poll, more in the Morgan range with Labour at 32%
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:45pm
- Simon
  
  Yep but apparently the heart attacks are how you know the vaccination is working.
  
  Who will be the first polling company in NZ to carry out a poll on jaxx injury? MSM will not do this. The poll companies themselves too compromised.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:22am
  - Mr_Blobby
    
    There was jacindas Facebook.
    
    Thousands of negative feedback comments deleted.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:43am
    - kowtow
      
      Colour me surprised , how very open and transparent is that .
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:25am
  - bennerg
    
    DPF – Is Curia brave enough to do this?
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:59am
    - bennerg
      
      I can just hear the phone person asking:
      
      “Have your experienced any of the following symptoms within 30 days of getting the jab:
      …
      oh, excuse me while it takes me 15 minutes to read the 9 pages listing the actual adverse effects reported by Pfizer…. “.
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:03am
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        Wonder if the TPU might ask such a question in one of their forthcoming polls?
        More a simple question choice based around seriousness of adverse event following vaxxing per Medsafe definitions.
        
        “Adverse event following immunisation (AEFI)
        An AEFI is an untoward medical event which follows immunisation and does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the administration of the vaccine. The adverse event may be an unfavourable or unintended sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease.
        
        Serious adverse event following immunisation
        An AEFI is considered serious if it:
        – is a medically important event or reaction
        – requires hospitalisation or prolongs an existing hospitalisation
        – causes persistent or significant disability or incapacity
        – is life threatening
        – causes a congenital anomaly/birth defect
        results in death.”
        https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-41.asp
        
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        March 17, 2022 10:16am
  - KKKKatee
    
    Also, death for some.
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:28pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Yes, and it’s challenging surveying dead people. They don’t pick up the phone, which is more than a little inconvenient.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:43pm
- Aunty
  
  If it’s coming from someone who sees the world as queerly and wrongly as you do, krazy, it will indeed be Fake science!
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:57am
  - RightNow
    
    Phew, I thought I might have missed my morning belly laugh therapy but you came through.
    Thanks 🙂
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:51am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Aunty, your imperviousness to facts never ceases to amaze me. Seriously. So I’ve taken the liberty of linking directly to Prof. Christof Kuhbandner’s paper. If the stats are a bit heavy – and they were for me btw – then jump to Figure 1 on page 6. You’re welcome.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:25am
    - glowworm
      
      Thanks kk, interesting, if not somewhat concerning paper… my first observation is that the paper is properly typeset using the typesetting language LaTeX!
      
      For the geek in me, this instantly ups my estimate of the likely quality of the math/contents…
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:31pm
    - Aunty
      
      What Journal has it been published in? Has it been through peer review? I can find no reference to it having been published in any reputable journal anywhere. Have the authors even submitted it to a journal for publication? And if not, why not? Or have they, in fact, submitted it for publication but it has been rejected as not up to the standard expected for a published piece of peer-reviewed science, or that it is somehow fatally flawed? Rejected from every journal they have tried. Hmmm???
      
      3 10
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      March 17, 2022 1:43pm
      - RightNow
        
        I’m getting a clearer picture of your abilities now. They’re predicated on other people doing the reading for you.
        
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        March 17, 2022 2:22pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Seems to me you have two choices, Aunty:
        
        1. Do some research yourself [recommended]; or,
        
        2. Keep your head in the sand, removing it periodically to yell “Fake Science!!!!!!” before putting it back in the sand [default modus operandi]
        
        Choose wisely.
        
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        March 17, 2022 2:47pm
      - ClanMcleod
        
        No Aunty, it hasn’t been in The Herald. Well spotted.
        We’re lucky to have you “fact checking” for us. Thank you.
        
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        March 17, 2022 5:10pm
- mawm
  
  This from Jessica Rose, a highly qualified woman ( https://www.jessicasuniverse.com/cv-1 ), on the increased excess mortality in the 25 – 44 years age group. Frightening stuff. https://jessicar.substack.com/p/what-is-killing-the-millenials?s=r
  
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  March 17, 2022 3:31pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    I recommend her Substack. She has more degrees than I’ve had hot meals, but she still makes analysis approachable and rational.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:24pm
Yvette

Full nation vaccination
Remember when, to achieve some status for a Level change or something, a vaccination goal (spin: milestone) was set, and a figure was finally screwed out of Jacinda as to be 90 percent for the nation to be “safe” , well – at 90 percent, well –

From the same Newshub article –
■ Two COVID-19 vaccine doses no longer means you’re fully vaccinated against Omicron and getting the booster dose now means you’re up to date, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.

■ A total 72.8 percent of eligible New Zealanders – or just over 2.5 million people – have had their booster so far.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/coronavirus-three-doses-now-considered-up-to-date-with-vaccinations-not-two-dr-ashley-bloomfield.html

So now only about 50 percent (“just over 2.5 million people” of the “Team of 5 Million”) of the New Zealand population is fully vaccinated.
And the borders are being opened? Ripper!
But it seems Te Pāti Māori hasn’t worked this out yet
And where is any journalist that has worked it out either?
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March 17, 2022 8:11am
- westernScientest
  
  I wonder if that means to get though the boarder now, people will have to be ‘boostered’
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:48am
Drone

The Wellington water supply has had no flouride added for over a month, and for the last four years the addition of fluoride has been intermittant. Now I will recognise that there are probably a number of KBers that are anti fluoride in water but this failure by the water supplier in Wellington makes/supports the case for the THREE WATERS restructure. These sorts of issues won’t be allowed to happen again.. /sarc
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March 17, 2022 8:12am
- Yvette
  
  Drone
  You may not be aware of the new Government entity TAUMATA AROWAI https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz established mid-November last year, which removes some of the argument for ‘3 Waters” so is why the entity was not heralded with great spin and stardust as something the Ardern Government had actually delivered. Think about it.
  But it should solve the fluoride problem, if it in turn delivers anything /more sarc
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:33am
- slightlyrighty
  
  Is anyone else bemused that the MSM seem to run some timely stories that can help the Government Cause, right when they need it?
  
  Where’s Clarke? Why here he is on One News breakfast!
  
  Three Waters in strife? Look at what’s happening in Wellington with Flouride?
  
  We do know, from Andrea Vance, that the PM’s Office does meet with Political Editors from Major Media on a weekly basis to set out the weekly agenda, and I have been wondering how hand in glove they actually are…
  
  To be a fly on the wall!
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:03am
Simon

The Greens had a covid response MP? You didn’t need to hear from this particular crackpot because Labo, supported by bed wetter National, were carrying out everything the Marxists nutjobs supported anyway.
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March 17, 2022 8:15am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Actually, I was starting to think the Greens had no MPs. I haven’t heard a word of any substance from a single one of them for at least 6 months. Head down, bum up, obviously the cheques are automatic payments. Parasitical assholes every last one of them.
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:13pm
Lee C

I have no skin in this game. But I would just like to share this footage by a traveller in teh Ukraine.

Draw your own conclusions.

I have no agenda other than to invite you do so.

https://www.facebook.com/catherine.smith.9847867/videos/473591647526567
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March 17, 2022 8:17am
- CAKE FACE1
  
  KGB
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:31am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Some people think Covid is caused by 5G, the Earth is flat and the night sky is a hologram, so some people will think the attacks in the Ukraine & danger to Kiev as staged managed ‘Hollywood sets’.
  
  That is not to say that the Ukraine is not using propaganda, but that bombed out buildings, a Russian assault which is still unfolding, and deaths, are plainly very real.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:59am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Are we refering to the “hospital” in Mariupol with the crisis actor which has been empty of patients for months? Let’s have an exercise in providing context to claims. Let’s do something mainstream media doesn’t do. Let’s not quote the BBC, RT, NYT etc etc.
    Unless there is clear evidence that can be confirmed, stop repeating propaganda. All war reporting is propaganda. That’s how it works.
    
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    March 17, 2022 5:16pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  I have no skin the game either Lee, but one of my Rotary friends has been in contact with a Rotarian from Ukraine, who reports very different conclusions, supported by video. I invite you to watch this one as well:
  
  https://www.facebook.com/danylkiv/videos/1012251236314421
  
  Since that video was filmed Serhii has taken his children to Poland, and returned to his medical work in Kyiv, Ukraine.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:57am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Interesting video. What does it actually tell us? No offence intended, I lived in Northern Ireland for 28 years, 16 of them through the worst of “The Troubles”. I saw many videos of bombs and shootings. I experienced bombs and shootings. I had family members killed and injured in bombs and shootings. I still couldn’t put together a w minute video that would give you a definitive truth that would explain wtf was actually going on on the ground.
    No offence intended, we live in a multimedia era. It is easily manipulated by those with the money and influence to do so. The Wellington protest is a prime example. Truth isn’t what you see on TV.
    
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    March 17, 2022 5:26pm
RockyJ

Newshub reports Lady Tureiti Moxon saying “within ACC there is structural racism towards disabled people”.
Yeah, what? So disabled people are a race?
This world is getting so crazy someone someday is going to announce there is structural racism towards white people.
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March 17, 2022 8:17am
- Blog-aholic
  
  I almost lost it last night listening to that outrageous rubbish. This is however, what you get when you allow the inmates to run the asylum.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:36am
- Exclamation Mark
  
  LMFAO! They actually made a joke about being “racist against disableds” on Come Fly with Me (the now canceled Little Britain spinoff. I remember thinking it was hilarious at the time and, lo, NZ listens someone in a position of great influence who spouts this shit with a straight face. I was going to say “unbelievable”, but really it is to be expected these days.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:01am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Funny show. My fav character was Precious, the coffee cart operator. Incredible makeup & acting from those two.
    
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    March 17, 2022 3:08pm
- kowtow
  
  In the UK the folk with the worse , various, “outcomes” are boys from the white working classes .
  
  But you’d never think that, given so much time and attention is given by their seeming endless battalions of woke warriors who want to cancel everything from Nelson to Thomas the Tank Engine.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:03am
- graham
  
  “… racism towards disabled people”
  
  Do these people think before they (a) say these things, or (b) publish them?
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:20am
  - RockyJ
    
    Agree completely. What is “structural racism” anyway.
    Before you reply here is the answer. In reality it is a sly way of saying all the staff are racist.
    The only example of structural racism I could imagine would be a sign in a hospital “whites only”. Or a SOP saying “in case of cardiac arrest do not revive black people”. South Africa and the US Deep South had structural racism.
    Organisations are not racist. Why not come out and say what she means ie the staff at ACC are racist.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:39am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I believe the PC term she is searching for is ableism
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableism
    
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    March 17, 2022 4:50pm
- oldfella
  
  I think there is structural racism towards pregnant men. And that’s scandalous. /s
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:11am
- cmm
  
  Yup, the system undeniably has structural racism against white people. That is exactly what affirmative action is.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:47am
Maggy Wassilieff

Why has Our Dear PM been so quiet about all the co-governance moves her Government is instigating?

“Co-governance” in practice is a mechanism for stealing resources that belong to all of us, irrespective of race, in order to satisfy some primeval tribal goal that rackets through the minds of the undemocratically-selected Maori partner. The message is that whenever “co-governance” is proposed, it should be met with fierce resistance. There is no desirable alternative to democracy, majority rule, unless we all want to set off down the road towards an authoritarian, unaccountable tribal world.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/the-sinister-thing-about-co-governance
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March 17, 2022 8:18am
- Philview
  
  The NZ media is getting very defensive about accusations it has been paid off but I still don’t see a lot of mention of Co-Governance. If I ever put a comment on Stuff and mention Co-Governance it doesn’t get past the moderator. I see this as the most corrupt piece of politics I have lived through.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:58am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  Equally important & disappointing is the lack of robust debate from the Opposition (except ACT & NZF). The silence from the MSM PIJF echochamber remains their ongoing shame.
  
  Labours secret & undeclared implementation of their racist undemocratic disenfranchisement of NZdrs electoral mandate is obvious to anyone with a will to look.
  
  The next election should be decided on the single issue of co governance which will determine the future of our country: all the rest is irrelevant noise.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:17am
  - Nickc2
    
    Well, there’s nothing stopping opposition parties from making it an election issue and a major one at that. There’s sufficient evidence out there with He Puapua, 3 Waters, Maori Health Agency, Maori Justice, Maori Gang support, and Two-Tier Governance. Even our MSM can’t deny these things are an election issue.
    IMO, such issues will most definitely banish this Govt to the dungeons of history.
    PS: I would love to see Cindy argue these issues during a televised leaders debate before the election.
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:12am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Judith Collins tackled He Puapua head on.
    
    have you forgotten the “Demand the Debate” campaign?
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/he-puapua-report-judith-collins-calls-on-government-to-lay-out-its-implementation-plan-for-report.html
    
    That’s when I knew she’d be top of the hit list of the MSM.
    They didn’t take long before they started the nasty tricks against her “Demand the Debate” campaign
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300355706/leaked-document-suggests-judith-collins-briefed-don-brash-on-new-campaign-against-he-puapua
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:04am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Luxon has ruled out laws for a few, and separatist agenda, something will surface soon, leaving the door open for an attack
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:27pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Have you watched the debates? or just listened to biased media?
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:47pm
Maggie Pie

Heeeeere’s NANCY! 😀 😀 😛

https://twitter.com/andyhofmann7/status/1503512688600702978
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March 17, 2022 8:21am
- Frank the tank
  
  Sounds like she’s caught what the old coot has.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:25am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, the woman is clearly unstable and can you believe that pharmacist who says he supplies Alzheimers medicine to members of Congress?
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:32am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Nancy and Joe, the new Fred and Ginger………
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:35am
- Matt Long
  
  The Bee has had stories about her issues with the bottle for years.
  
  10 2
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  March 17, 2022 8:44am
- Rich Prick
  
  What’s with the flailing arms? Cindy suffers from the same affliction, just not as bad.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:04am
Yvette

Just four free ICU beds on Tuesday morning
Intensive care specialists say the Ministry of Health is vastly overestimating ICU capacity and figures obtained by Newsroom appear to back them up, Marc Daalder reports
As of 9.05am on Tuesday morning, there were 152 staffed intensive care beds across New Zealand (excluding Christchurch). All but four of them were full.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/just-four-free-icu-beds-on-tuesday-morning

See? – information like this might spur a few more on the get vaccinated and / or boosted, but it would mean Ardern and Bloomfield and Little (preoccupied in demolishing all 20 DHBs and establishing a Maori Health Authority, while some Maori die) admitting they have screwed up a little elsewhere: like in ICU beds

While (see above) only about 50% of the nation is now fully vaccinated
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March 17, 2022 8:23am
- westernScientest
  
  How far out of normal is that though? given we have lost about 25% of them over the last couple years, it may well just be the normal usage rate ignoring omicron.
  
  That chart sure makes a compelling case get rid of public health care though. Only 25% occupancy in the private sector.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:55am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Only 21 omicron patients in ICU at the moment, but it got as high as NZ equivalent of 80 (16 per million) in Australia. NZ had about 330 ICU beds at start of pandemic and apparently up to 180+ could be staffed in 2019 (most western countries around 500), but their appalling mismanagement through 2 years of a pandemic where it should have been an obvious priority to increase has led us to this place where we only have 150. Their incompetence is beyond belief.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:05am
- krazykiwi
  
  From 27th Jan 2022: “Last year [Andrew] Little said there were 289 ICU or High Dependency Unit beds available, insisting that could be increased to up to 550 under surge capacity if needed.”
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:21am
- MCōs
  
  Does that mean the taxpayer is forking out to maintain four empty icu beds?
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:40am
- fisho
  
  I’m concerned that St Ash refuses to admit the cause and effect of the govts self-isolation rules for household contacts. They are pulling thousands of otherwise healthy people, including medical professionals, out of the system for prolonged periods.
  So we are experiencing less ICU beds available (due to staffing shortages) as a result of heavy-handed controls attempting to protect the ICU beds we do have from filling up.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:24am
- Graham Sharpe
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2022/feb/22/two-years-have-passed-since-the-covid-pandemic-began-but-new-zealand-icus-still-arent-ready
  
  This letter from an ICU colleague calls out the government, ministry and DG on ICU capacity. If it were fully and properly covered by the MSM with appropriate accountability the Minister would have to resign, but don’t hold your breath!
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:34am
Frank the tank

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/128077662/partys-over-says-anz-chief-economist-sharon-zollner

One for the poor man’s Gordon Brown.

It’s going to be one crazy hangover.
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March 17, 2022 8:23am
Clownworld

Currently in one of the top 10 Wu Han Flu deaths per capita countries in Europe and yet getting on with life much more easier here.

No check at border on entry. Majority population either naturally immune or vaccinated etc. Masks still around but only enforceable by police. No QR codes never had them. Talk all reatrictions i.e. masks and indfor venue numbers to go in next few weeks.

Meanwhile my family and friends in NZ sound like Stockholm syndrome prisioners.

Open up already.

Ps despite deatgs high here, average age higher than life expectancy….
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March 17, 2022 8:23am
Frank the tank

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/greens-co-leader-james-shaw-doesn-t-rule-out-working-with-national-says-relationship-with-christopher-luxon-is-good.html

Surprise, surprise Jimmy doesn’t want to let go of his BMWs. If only he could convince the dirty hippies that make up the rest of the Greens.
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March 17, 2022 8:27am
- Matt Long
  
  As I said yesterday on the new of Willis to Finance, it’s entirely possible Luxon will do a confidence and supply deal with the Greens, keeping Shaw in Climate Change, in order to neutralise Act and push through National’s Climate Change and Environment agenda.
  Hint, it’s the same as Labour’s but better managed.
  
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  March 17, 2022 8:51am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    Will never happen. The Green Party membership would never allow it being the socialists they are.
    
    The reality is that there are two groupings in parliament. Labour and the Greens, National and Act.
    
    The Maori Party is the unknown quantity. After all they were in a National led coalition, but there is no doubt it was a very different Maori party back.
    
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    March 17, 2022 9:04am
    - Philview
      
      I plan to vote National at the next election but any hint of a tilt towards Co-Governance to get the Maori Party onside and I will be gone.
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:12am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        Gone to where? Shall you vote ACT, not vote at all or vote for somebody else?
        
        6 1
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        March 17, 2022 10:19am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Luxon has already ruled out the possibility of being seperate laws for a few, and ruled out separatist systems.
        
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        March 17, 2022 10:48am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The current Māori Party has made it very clear that they will side with Labour.
      
      Che Wilson, President, stated that they lost party support when they went with National
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/409006/maori-party-president-wary-of-national-partnership-it-kicked-us-out
      
      and remember Rawiri Waititi was a Labour party candidate before he changed parties.
      
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/02/former-labour-candidate-rawiri-waititi-to-stand-for-m-ori-party-in-waiariki-electorate.html
      
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      March 17, 2022 9:20am
      - MCōs
        
        Very small parties such as Maori, NZF, Social Credit and ACT invariably lose support when they go into coalition as part of a Government.
        Nobody ever really wants the Greens except outside cabinet and they remain around the same.
        If National wins the next election and Seymour is Deputy PM, watch his support fade away as happened to Winston because ACT can’t get their way, they can only veto, nor can they criticize the Government decisions. Shaw can because he’s outside cabinet.
        
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        March 17, 2022 9:56am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Wilson is full of it, the MP were in government with Nats for 9 years, and they lost support cause a silly little girl
        
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        March 17, 2022 10:49am
      - MCōs
        
        The Maori Party were never a good fit with the Nats, or with Labour for that matter.
        The former give them some stuff for their vote in the house and the latter go behind their backs and take their seats.
        
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        March 17, 2022 7:40pm
- Ruahine
  
  Tell him, (Luxon). He’s dreaming.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:01am
- curry4me
  
  All he has to do now is come up with some actual ‘green’ policies. / sarc
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:53pm
G the giant from Dunedin

Good morning to all my friends and foe at Kiwiblog. Just back from a well deserved holiday for arguing with the mods.

I am someone who lives in South Dunedin, I was the usual vote for Labour cause parents did, for quite a few elections, however one day I woke up to what voting for Labour in a Labour city is, it’s a fraud, you’re vote is expected, yet your city is taken for granted as thanks for giving that vote. One day I decided never again, when you have misplaced you’re vote for years it can build to anger and disappointment when you see one of the poorest governments we have seen in history.

I would just like to put a couple of things straight, I do realise we all have our opinions, and I do respect everyone of them, but because of my wasted vote when young I do get very emotional when I see an opinion I don’t like, it does not mean I hate or belittle the poster, it’s just my dominant style.

I thing most of us here want to see the back Marxist regime, I realise some here do not, but I will say my bit if I see someone with a differing view, it does not mean I am in anyway belittling the poster, finally, I realise I have posted without editing my post at times, as I am often working and do leave it too long to edit, I will try hard to edit my posts, but can’t guarantee a few might sneak in.

Have a great week fellow posters, and enjoy your day
Cheers you good poster mate G the Giant from Dunedin ???
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March 17, 2022 8:27am
- Lee C
  
  Hey G, I’m kinda local,
  
  But isolating at the mo, I might give you a shout when I’m heading south next.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:03am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    If you would like
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:50am
- Harry Knuts
  
  have a great day G and just remember opinions are like arseh*les, everyones got one 🙂
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:18am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, but I wanted to state my situation, I might come on strong at times, but it’s nothing personal when I reply to a post I disagree with, one thing that works me is people not wanting to vote Nats cause of some reason, but the person wants rid of this government, I just can’t understand that ethos, they’re will not be a new direction, there will not be a new party to break 5%, snd Peters put these fools in place
    
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    March 17, 2022 10:54am
- glowworm
  
  Welcome back G
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:55pm
- curry4me
  
  As far as I know, my cousins in Dunedin are ‘dyed in the wool’ Labour voters. One was definitely not a fan of John A Lee.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:55pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    That’s what we did, but i woke up, and that’s why i get shifty when people suggest wasting their vote, or saying the alternative is no good.
    
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    March 17, 2022 3:35pm
Matt Long

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/128066204/2-billion-sale-of-z-energy-cleared-by-commerce-commission
Ampol cleared to buy Z energy which owns Caltex, after selling Gull.
It’s going to be interesting what happens to Petrol quality as Marden Point closes down, small engine shops will be gearing up for a lot more work.
Those who participated in the Z IPO are going to be wishing they put their money into real estate.
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March 17, 2022 8:31am
I remember when

Transmission tangle leaves Coromandel region without power: RNZ:
Paradoxically, one of the regions most strongly against plastic wrapping is a victim of it.
If not quite in the expected way.
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March 17, 2022 8:32am
Warren

I need to ask what does vege and fruit growers need to do if increased costs in fertilizers transport costs wage increases are effecting there ability to survive, Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister can’t and won’t reduce the price of vegetables and fruit because she can’t and because it was the Government that increased the wage bill.
It is great to continually blame the supermarkets but it’s the Government that has stirred inflation and the rising costs but seem to want to blame everyone else bar themselves.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/16/vegetables-could-soon-be-priced-off-the-table-horticulture-nz/
Labour and our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern are as much of the fault as Supermarkets and really don’t know how to fix the mess that has eventualted from there poor policy’s.
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March 17, 2022 8:34am
- westernScientest
  
  It is band aids over bullet holes because of the money printing, but there are a bunch of things they could do.
  
  Reduce the compliance costs of running small businesses, especially land based ones. Get rid of the fresh water regulations, get rid of the compulsory farm plans and audits, get rid of the resource consents to do anything and everything.
  
  Get rid of the ETS for food production. It is already paid for in fuel, but more importantly for veg growers, glass houses are big users of coal to heat them.
  
  Reduce the complexity of the tax system so it is simple enough small businesses dont need accountants and reudce the tax burden on small buisnesses.
  
  Cut taxes on fuel, it permutes though everything.
  
  Reduce the regulation on chemical companies to get their new products approved for sale in NZ. We miss out on a lot of new technology because we have a high cost of registration, with a lot of bureaucracy involved to register new chemicals. This means often companies dont bother with NZ registration, and the ones that do charge a premium to cover their costs, and because there is not a lot of competition prices stay high.
  
  Plenty more, but you get the point. Agriculture and horticulture face massive burdens from the government putting their dirty little fingers into every little detail of their businesses. Reduce the government interference and costs will go down.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:27am
- artemisia
  
  New Zealand has significant permitted phosphate deposits, low cadmium and low leachate too unlike most. Not allowed to access it due to the EPA decision.
  
  Not to worry, the company now has permits to access phosphate elsewhere, including in the Pacific, and will no doubt happily sell it. Not necessarily to New Zealand.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:27am
Lee C

Here is some footage of the end of teh Wellington Protest. It appears to differ from teh media and Party Line.

And by ‘Party’ I mean every so called body of so-called political representatives across the mainstream political spectrum.

https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1758119884395536
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March 17, 2022 8:36am
- nathie
  
  Riot scenes – when art imitates life?
  
  https://youtu.be/f1xajf5OmJQ?t=9
  
  Is the root cause of the Parliament riot, all because Ardern, Mallard and Robertson refused to meet or send a nominated delegation to listen to the concerns of the original protestors in those vital first few days?
  
  Seems to support the views of the former Police negotiator Lance Burdett (and the owner of the Back Benches pub) when their voices were the only voices of sanity at the time. (Mallard had “lost it” at that stage, Ardern went missing again and Robertson was as usual plotting hidden behind the scenes).
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/lance-burdett-former-police-negotiator-says-a-different-intervention-is-needed-for-parliament-protestors/
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:31am
- kowtow
  
  All’s good in front of parliament .
  
  Ferald reports that yesterday ” a Te Whakapiki Mouri – a ceremony about re awakening the life force of the tupuna whenua ( ancestral lands) of the iwi……” was held.
  
  And the Media Pardy , directed by the govt, who no doubt paid for said ceremony ( no details of that in story) want us to larf at the protesters for their alleged whacky worldview.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:32am
- MCōs
  
  What are we supposed to be looking at?
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:04am
Frank the tank

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/128074534/tourism-revival-a-task-to-be-embraced

Aspirational destination. bhahahahahahahahaha. Wait till Dutch and German tourists see the new ‘attractions’ on Fenton Street.
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March 17, 2022 8:41am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Listening to 1ZB in the car on WED and they were discussing this.
  
  They all said that they needed staff and had to up the ante to get better service.
  
  The main thing though was to sort out the CBDs that have degenerated in to cess pits. Also the Gang Problems would not look good to visitors
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:34am
- kowtow
  
  or spend a night in a motel housing msd/winz “clients”
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:34am
I remember when

Northern Advocate: 11 March:
‘Ghost town Whangarei: business owners keen on any incentive for more shoppers:
Business owners welcomecouncil’s free parking after taking hit.
The pandemic saw spending in retail drop by 7.8% last month.

Does what is happening to retail at present demonstrate why ‘personal responsibility’ may have been preferable.
We would have reacted to each wave in an appropriate way instead of ‘herd’ lockdown.
How much of the present situation is mental exhaustion.
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March 17, 2022 8:44am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How much of the present situation is mental exhaustion.
  
  An observation from the wops:
  
  I have a neighbour, mid-70s, who has been very, very covid-focused and very pro-Jacinda throughout the last two years, but now that her grandchildren have been infected, and our neighbouring household is isolating with covid, and the kids up the road are covid-positive, and the virus is rampaging through Gisborne, she is completely unconcerned.
  
  The covid fear factor has disappeared from her life.
  
  I suspect Our Dear PM’s popularity will continue to slide as others lose their fear of the pox.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:49am
  - MCōs
    
    Everyone knows the current strain of covid-19 is not as brutal as previous varieties, generally speaking.
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:55pm
- kowtow
  
  I blame the govt and media pardy for using scare tactics over two years to achieve the total compliance they wanted .
  
  Note how even though this thing is basically over they give headline coverage to “long covid” and a short while ago it was a brain eating bug .
  
  Lots of people have literally allowed themselves to be scared witless by the regime ( which was the intention) and their paid agents , the Media Pardy .
  
  They must never be forgiven for this . Never forget what they’ve done . Deliberately . Callously . Calculatedly.
  
  And that includes any present and future harm from the so called ‘vaccine’ rollout , mandates .Etc.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:51am
Maggie Pie

Went for a hit-up at the wall last night with my Doubles partner.
I thort Fleur made a very good point….if the government can just print money any time it needs it, why do we have to pay tax?
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March 17, 2022 8:54am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  because inflation is tax by stealth.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:08am
- Matt Long
  
  That’s exactly what Social Credit say.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:14am
- Frank the tank
  
  That was Bob Mugabe and Hugh Chavez’ argument. Didn’t work out too well for those economic geniuses.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:18am
Maggy Wassilieff

Ashley says there isn’t a crisis..
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/omicron-outbreak-ashley-bloomfield-says-there-s-no-crisis-in-health-system-admits-staff-are-under-pressure-and-some-care-being-deferred.html

Let’s hope he doesn’t do an Ardern flip-flop and tell us next week there IS a crisis in our Health system.
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March 17, 2022 9:00am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Ashley and Ardern were separated at birth. he will flip flop when the doctors and nurses of NZ continue to prove him wrong as they are at the coalface and he isn’t.
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:19am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  If there is no great pressure on health system (which is at odds with headlines around ICU capacity already nearly exhausted) then I have to wonder why we are at Red?
  They initially published the criteria for Red traffic lights, and we have never met it.
  Overabundance of caution, in violation on their own models.
  Solution from our leaders was to hide away the scenario to levels, as I searched for it unsuccessfully at a subsequent date.
  
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  March 17, 2022 4:12pm
Fisiani2

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
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March 17, 2022 9:16am
I remember when

Bad News: Batya Unger-Sargon:
Batya is a Deputy Opinion Editor with Newsweek.
She was promoting her new book and suggested a reason that the press is no longer representative of the people.
Her argument was that the media are now made up of members with varsity degrees.
In the past they would have gone straight from school and learned on the job.
They were working class and not particularly well paid.
To this I think you can add that they were more cyncial, largely male and better understood the poorer members of society.
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March 17, 2022 9:16am
I remember when

Increased police presence in Kaikohe after gang violence: RNZ:
Police have arrested a number of gang members after man assaulted on Kaihohe main street in broad daylight.
A shooting on Tuesday involved the Tribesmen and Killer Beez.
Four reported incidents are being investigated, three involving firearms, around Kaikohe since the 13 March.
“We know the community will be as appalled as the police are.”
“The offenders have shown they have no regard for others’ safety, as the attack was vicious and cowardly.”

I just hope that learning what the police, and the rest of the community, think of their behaviour will get them to ‘pull their socks up.’
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March 17, 2022 9:25am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  More here: https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2022/03/general_debate_17_march_2022.html/comment-page-1#comment-3146029
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:31pm
Lee C

Anyone who reads what I post here will know I am not a supporter of mandates.
I am record as stating in my opinion covid has been exploited ruthlessly by our politicians for personal gain.
That ‘covid’ is not the new bubonic plague.
That vaccinations don’t work.

So anyway, I took two vaxxes, becasue I did not wish to jeopardise continuing in my business. I felt coerced. I will never forgive our political insitutions for this shameful abuse of personal autonomy.

But my point here, is I caught covid.

I am a reasonably healthy 59 year-old, who probably drinks too much wine., and who can get hot under the collar at his teenage son.

Here is what I experienced.

day 1: A bit snotty.
Day two a mild constant headache that I could deal with with hydration and aspirin (when I could be bothered).
Day three Tested negative. Bit of aheadache.
Day four Headache still there, went to bed after tea, slept soundly for 16 hours.
Day five tested positive – reported it.
Day six, a bit snotty, mild sore throat – got enough motivation to post this.

At no time was I ‘incapacitated’
At no time did I think my life was in danger.
At no time did I think this was ‘the worst’ (even flu) I’d ever had.
The only real concern I really had, was whether my immune-system had been compromised by the vaccines.

I’m reporting to you that this was not a big deal.

Hand on heart, I would have to have some serious anxiety issues or actual ‘knocking on heaven’s door’ co-morbities for this virus to have caused me any fear of fatality.

The care people are recieving in hospital might contitute keep warm, saline, for hydration, aspirin, decongetants and oxygen available, but probably not that necessary.

I’m not saying it was ‘nothing’. But I am saying, if my situation is any guideline, our health system is currently being challenged by a large number of people who are either:
very compromised
very hypocondriac
very needy.

Those who genuinely need medical assistance for this ailment, in my opinion, wuld genuinely need it anyway, this virus (as someone here eloquently put it) represents a potential off-ramp for someone who is already indicating left…

Some might claim if I hadn’t been double vaxxed it might have killed me.

But let’s face it, they are talking horse-pooky, and deep deep down inside, they know it,

My sympathies go to all those otherwise healthy people who have been taken from us by adverse side efects, having been forced to take a treatemnt for a mild virus.
All those suicides from broken business, all those who encountered relationship breakdown.
All thos kids denied education.
Protesters brutally suppressed by the police.
People denied political representation.
All those frightened into bankrolling Big Pharma, The Media and the Political Classes.
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March 17, 2022 9:30am
- kowtow
  
  Recall the other day a poster , sorry can’t remeber name, said he was at hospital cos family member very sick , not covid, said the Doc said ” as so many people turning up with covid are already very old or very sick , they’re bascically being admitted for observation”
  
  In other words any strain on hospitals is a self fulfilling ( and unnecessary) prophesy.
  
  Indeed , a brief scan of the average punter in a Pak N Sav or Warehouse carpark will tell you how very health compromised a significant minority of our population is .
  
  The whole of society has been punished because increasing numbers of people refuse to take responsibility for their own health .
  
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  March 17, 2022 9:44am
- Harry Knuts
  
  i completely agree with you LeeC. I’ve had the mindset right from the beginning that this virus is nothing new to the human race. We’ve had virus’ for thousands of years and will continue to. We are being held to freedom-ransom for the sake of the “vunerable” which is what .001% of the population? meanwhile businesses are struggling unnecessarily and people’s mental wellbeing is taking a hammering cause they are so restricted in their everyday movement. Daughter and myself got the rona last week – no big deal – she and i have had worse of the years as far a bugs go and i am immune comprised. Jacinda constant mantra about protecting the vunerable is not sustainable and filled with holes in that argument – if that argument had weight then we may as well lock down NZ for eternity.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:19am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Snap Lee.
  61yo.
  Day 1: a funny dry cough
  Day 2: bit wheezy, dry cough
  Day 3: Felt quite tired (bit like after the booster jab), dry cough. Tested – positive.
  Day 4: Quite tired, dry cough, blocked nose.
  Day 5: Same, bit of a sore throat at night. Spent day in garden, digging shit and cutting trees.
  Day 6: Same.
  Day 7: feeling peachy bar for a blocked nose and a bit of a cough. Spent day in garden, yep, digging shit and cutting trees.
  Day 8: Same, bar for gardening.
  Day 9: Same – tested positive. Dug tree roots out.
  Day 10: Same
  
  If I was still working, I would have been able to work without any bother.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:21am
- Tom Hunter
  
  Heh. Roughly similar for me, General Xi’s Lung Rot virus comes visiting.
  I’ve had worse flu. Hell, I’ve had worse colds. Exactly as I expected given my age and excellent health.
  
  Oh, and unvaccinated. 🙂
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:39am
- krazykiwi
  
  Glad you’re well again, Lee.
  
  Your experience is similar to my own, including the enjoyment of a vino or two.
  
  I’d say that 95% of the colds I’ve had in the last 20 years have had worse and/or longer lasting symptoms than this sniffle.
  
  I can also report that ZERO percent of the people I know who have had Covid report it being worse than they had been led to believe it would be.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:42pm
  - Lee C
    
    My wife suffered more than I did.
    
    But she’s with Team Jacinda,
    
    I almost got the impression she was hamming it up a bit.
    
    She’ll no doubt be back to making snippy comments about ‘man-flu’ when the Nats return to power.
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:19pm
    - RichardF
      
      it’s bizarre how this thing effects some people more than others. Our 5 year old son tested + recently and had very mild sysmptons, we weren’t worried at all. He’s had 1 jab.
      
      We have just completed our isolation period. My wife and I (38 & 42) didn’t get it, as far as we know, and we passed two tests. We were both boosted exactly two weeks before our son’s positive test. We also take Vit D & zinc and a bunch of other vitamins. We are both healthy and not overweight. Our daughter tested – on day 7. I suspect they both had it a week prior, with hindsight, based on some mild symptoms we ignored. There was no social distancing in our house, just lived normally.
      
      Colleagues who are sick have one thing in common – not boosted. Small sample size (3) but maybe there’s something to it. I feel the booster plus our vitamin intake and overall health did the job. Or maybe it’s just luck of the draw.
      
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      March 17, 2022 3:00pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

US military doctor says that their detailed D-Med database shows more service personnel died from vaccines than Covid (note that doesn’t mean that the vaccines aren’t safer than covid, eg this would be consistent with them preventing 900 out of 1000 deaths that would have occurred with no vaccines – reducing covid deaths to 100, but causing 150 deaths as a side effect):
https://amgreatness.com/2022/03/15/military-doctor-testifies-in-court-that-a-superior-ordered-her-not-to-discuss-data-showing-massive-spikes-in-illness-after-vaccine-mandate/
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March 17, 2022 9:32am
- krazykiwi
  
  There are a few significant things about that DMED data:
  1. The whistleblowers are protected under federal law
  2. 100% of reports are filed by Military trained medical specialists. There is no ‘self reporting’ permitted
  3. The military hastily, and without even half-baked justification, applied retrospective adjustments to the earlier years which just happened to hide the huge increase in adverse events post vaccination
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:46pm
Lee C

ps, if covid ‘rallies’ and takes me out before next Tuesday I promise I’ll crawl over to my laptop and inform you all with my dying breath…

If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny.
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March 17, 2022 9:36am
Lee C

“The Gates Foundations has put 2.4 Billion into the WHO since 2000”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKnGxdb4Nf0
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March 17, 2022 9:43am
Inandout

FMA has lists of warnings about certain companies in the investment field. Buyer beware.
https://www.fma.govt.nz/news-and-resources/warnings-and-alerts
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March 17, 2022 9:44am
Master Mariner

Some thing I have been suspicious about and too be honest I know very little about.

This alone concerns me.

“New Zealand is the sponsor government for this
project. A number of initiatives in New Zealand –
such as the government’s Algorithm Assessment
Report,13 the Centre for AI and Public Policy,
Otago University report, Government Use of
AI in New Zealand,14 and the AI Forum of New
Zealand’s work on AI in the economy and society15”

https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Reimagining_Regulation_Age_AI_2020.pdf

Can anyone shed some constructive conversation on this ?
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March 17, 2022 9:44am
- Lee C
  
  I don’t know how ‘constructive’ my views are, but it does seem to me that deliberately stoking the fear of a ‘pandemic’ would be a great way to kick-start digital passports.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:45am
Alan Wilkinson

Watched TV1 news last night first time for months. Aka Ministry of Propaganda. Spitting tacks as they reeled out grateful peasants to say how wonderful our Great Leader is to allow some tourists to come in some time in the future. No better than Russian state tv.
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March 17, 2022 9:48am
- Lee C
  
  So, a breakdown in law and order and civil unrest in the streets?
  
  Have the police tried pepper spray yet?
  
  That’s got a prven track record in clearing out society’s scum, apparently.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:17am
ds

From the standard.
National has proposed to cut taxes which will result in:

1.1 million taxpayers on incomes under $14,000 would get nothing;
1.7 million taxpayers on incomes between $14,000 and $48,000 would get up to $2 a week;
700,000 taxpayers on $48,000 to $70,000 would get up to $15 a week;
700,000 taxpayers on $70,000 to $180,000 would get up to $20 a week;
90,000 taxpayers on more than $180,000 would get an average of $180 a week.

Roughly half the tax cuts would go to the top 10 per cent of earners, while the bottom quarter get nothing.
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March 17, 2022 9:51am
- westernScientest
  
  Where did those numbers come from?
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:45am
- RightNow
  
  Time to trot out the parable I see…
  
  Every night, 10 men met at a restaurant for dinner. At the end of the meal, the bill would arrive. They owed $100 for the food that they shared.
  
  Every night they lined up in the same order at the cash register. The first four men paid nothing at all. The fifth, grumbling about the unfairness of the situation, paid $1. The sixth man, feeling very generous, paid $3. The next three men paid $7, $12 and $18, respectively.
  
  The last man was required to pay the remaining balance, $59. He realized that he was forced to pay for not only his own meal but the unpaid balance left by the first five men.
  
  The 10 men were quite settled into their routine when the restaurant threw them into chaos by announcing that it was cutting its prices.
  
  Now dinner for the 10 men would only cost $80. This clearly would not affect the first four men. They still ate for free. The fifth and sixth men both claimed their piece of the $20 right away. The fifth decided to forgo his $1 contribution. The sixth pitched in $2. The seventh man deducted $2 from his usual payment and paid $5. The eighth man paid $9. The ninth man paid $12, leaving the last man with a bill of $52.
  
  Outside of the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings, and angry outbursts began to erupt.
  
  The sixth man yelled, “I only got $1 out of the $20, and he got $7,” pointing at the last man.
  
  The fifth man joined in. “Yeah! I only got $1 too. It is unfair that he got seven times more than me.”
  
  The seventh man cried, “Why should he get $7 back when I only got $2?”
  
  The nine men formed an outraged mob, surrounding the 10th man.
  
  The first four men followed the lead of the others: “We didn’t get any of the $20. Where is our share?”
  
  The nine angry men carried the 10th man up to the top of a hill and lynched him.
  
  The next night, the nine remaining men met at the restaurant for dinner.
  
  But when the bill came, there was no one to pay it.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:59am
- Rich Prick
  
  Well, yes. The top 10% pay pretty much all the income tax. The bottom quarter (on a net basis) don’t pay anything. Perfectly equitable if you ask me.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:46am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Why just focus on income tax? Wasn’t the reason GST was introduced, and successively increased, so that people on lower incomes could pay more tax and income tax on higher incomes could be reduced?
    
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    March 17, 2022 12:15pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Here was me thinking Mike, that the reduction in the top rate was just to stop the Government stealing money and wasting it. I look at it is giving back to me what is mine. And lets hope Luxon and co trash the top rate as well as take a knife to the outrageous increase in spending that this Government has saddled tax payers with. Governments should live within their means.
      
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      March 17, 2022 1:27pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      It was mainly because they didn’t have enough people on higher incomes to pay more tax and because it is hard to avoid and easy to collect.
      
      But stick to your illusions.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:15pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I guess not everyone lives in a shared reality. But I’m always interested to note that no one mentions GST when they are talking about some people paying too much tax and some people too little.
        
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        March 17, 2022 3:31pm
    - RightNow
      
      I understood GST would take more tax from those with higher incomes due to them spending more.
      Case in point is the GST on private school fees.
      
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      March 17, 2022 4:47pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  No doubt it comes as a surprise to the Left to discover tax cuts don’t go to those who don’t earn anything. It is equally unknown that the more the government takes in tax the fewer useful jobs are available. But don’t worry about that economics stuff, just hand out free money.
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:07pm
Alan Wilkinson

Been talking to a friend in Kaikohe this morning. They are locked in at work to protect them from the gang warfare going on in town for the fourth day. They were sent home at 3:30 yesterday because of this. The police are going around rescuing families from their homes. Nothing in the media.
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March 17, 2022 9:54am
- ds
  
  Inequality. National proposes to make it worse with their tax policy.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:00am
  - RightNow
    
    I also heard that about $1 trillion was transferred from poor to rich NZers in the last 2 years alone.
    How do you defend Labour on that front ds?
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:34am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Utter b.s. Drugs and stupidity are the cause of inequality not the result. Much of the stupidity is sown in Wellington.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:44am
    - Swifty
      
      Have you seen the inequality in the gangs?
      
      Top dogs swimming in Harleys and suitcases of dough.
      
      The foot soldiers? Yeah nah.
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:34pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Reminds me of:
        https://freakonomics-review.weebly.com/why-do-drug-dealers-still-live-with-their-moms.html
        
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        March 17, 2022 1:46pm
- kowtow
  
  The gangs are literally colonising our towns , the Media Pardy ignore that colonisation and the police who can put on huge show of force to bash peaceful protesters are running scared .
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:39am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  It’s finally hit the media:
  https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300543618/real-fear-inside-the-violent-gang-battle-for-a-far-north-town
  
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  March 17, 2022 7:43pm
Craig Hallen

Top of the mornin’ to you, happy St Patricks Day.
I wonder if there are many functions/celebrations going ahead locally, or whether it has all been dulled down in the current climate. It seems to me that it’s all aboard the booster train at present, and again so sad that someone fit and healthy like myself cannot take my music out to the people who need it the most at the moment. THAT is what is criminal.
Still, the show must go on, so I am sending out a link to my rendition of a traditional Irish favourite of mine – ‘The Irish Rover’; I am determined to make this a good day: https://youtu.be/SGJPZdODUPo
Cheers and good health.
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March 17, 2022 10:01am
- kowtow
  
  ‘An ODT reporter in North Dunedin said by 9am there were already hundreds of drunk students wandering from party to party celebrating St Patrick’s Day.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/partying-students-high-spirits
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:44am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  Worth watching the Dubliners and The Pogues doing the Irish Rover live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZXnJ4UYh40
  The Dropkick Murphys have a version too.
  
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  March 17, 2022 4:19pm
Rusty

Dumb question from me —is it compulsory to scan/contact trace when entering a business?

I’m seeing a lot of people not bothering to do that when going into petrol stations, dairy’s, and supermarkets.

These covid messages from the govt don’t seem to mention it or emphasis it.
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March 17, 2022 10:04am
- Inandout
  
  Rusty, the scan monitor team have been sacked so that pretty much sums up the situation.
  
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  March 17, 2022 10:37am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  I gave up scanning a couple of weeks ago when it became obvious that they abandoned tracing.
  
  14 2
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  March 17, 2022 10:49am
  - curry4me
    
    I never took it up in the first place.
    
    7 2
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    March 17, 2022 2:14pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Gave up months ago. The govt sacked 550 tracers last month. I guess if you’re still doing it, you’re doing it from habit because the regime no longer gives a toss.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:11am
- cmm
  
  If a business demands it well that is their right, as misguided as it is.
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:57pm
graham

Watching the news last night, there was a piece on expectant mothers turning up to hospital with Covid. They interviewed two people – Deborah Pittam, ADHB Midwifery Director, and Dr Michelle Wise from the University of Auckland.

Dr Michelle Wise, right at the beginning, referred to pregnant women. But from then on she used the phrase “pregnant people“, or talked about how they see people with pregnancy-related medical conditions.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/16/maternity-wards-stretched-as-pregnant-patients-arrive-with-covid/

I couldn’t help wondering … just how many “pregnant people” do they see who aren’t actually women?
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March 17, 2022 10:09am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  I saw that idiocy too and spat another tack. Here’s a clue for its woke idiots – what identifies a woman is in the name. TV1 News is just unwatchable now.
  
  16 2
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  March 17, 2022 11:37am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Pregnant children?
  
  6 2
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  March 17, 2022 12:07pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    None without a functional womb. Even those children holding high office and those who voted for them.
    
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    March 17, 2022 1:34pm
Captain Mainwaring

A warning to anyone thinking of dealing with Vodafone. They are worse than useless.
They used to supply my broadband and seemed OK. In May 2021 the time came to switch to fibre and they made it so difficult I fired them, delivered all their hardware to their retail store, and moved to 2 Degrees. No regrets.
Vodafone didn’t seem to get the message and to this day they have been sending me a monthly invoice which says they owe me $32.95.
Try to ring them and you end up with some twit in India who knows nothing.
Try contacting them through the website and you go round and round in circles getting nowhere.
As soon as the Covid panic is over I plan to go back to their retail store and let them and all their customers know what I think of them.
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March 17, 2022 10:11am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Can you let me know when you do that? I get a somewhat sick fascination from observing elderly Karens berating helpless service staff. It is a bit cringeworthy, but I have noticed that some of the old so-and-sos moderate their behaviour if they notice I am filming them.
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:06pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Sorry Mike, but filming them? That says more about you than it does about the elderly demanding better than shit service.
    
    16 4
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    March 17, 2022 1:30pm
  - Yabster
    
    like to film people in public huh milk- not surprised.
    
    12 2
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    March 17, 2022 1:33pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Sorry? You prefer to film secretly?
      
      2 6
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      March 17, 2022 3:28pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Caught a guy filming us in the showers at the tennis club once….sick b*stard!
    He had his behaviour moderated as well.
    
    12 4
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    March 17, 2022 1:58pm
    - Yabster
      
      you still dropped the soap though – right Maggie? lol
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:30pm
    - rangitoto
      
      I think I saw that on the interwebs.
      
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      March 17, 2022 4:45pm
  - Bridgenag
    
    Anybody noticed that no one apologises anymore?
    
    3 1
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    March 17, 2022 2:45pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  It would be more effective to mail their CEO. By snail mail if no other option.
  
  Reportedly Rod Duke made Briscoes successful by ensuring all customer complaints came direct to him.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:44pm
I remember when

The Wairoa District Council is proposing to change its Cemeteries Bylaw to ban headstones with gang or other ‘offensive’ insignia.
Wairoa locals will soon be able to make submissions on the proposal.
Mayor Craig Little said he would remove the three existing headstones featuring Mongrel Mob insignia if he had his way.
All three headstones are double-sided, offensive and upsetting for families of those buried nearby.
Mongrel Mob lifetime member Johnny Nepe Apatu criticised the proposal saying, “An insignia on a headstone is an honour, an acknowledgement, what’s wrong with that?”
“Let the dead rest, they belong where they are buried – let them rest in peace,” he said.
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March 17, 2022 10:18am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Perhaps one of Kiwoblog’s lawyers will have an opinion on whether this is likely to be more successful than, say, Whanganui’s attempt to ban gang regalia.
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:02pm
Maggie Pie

Just received an email from the idiot Council acknowledging receipt of our OBJECTION to the latest CV which came out last week.

How they arrive at their new valuations is ridiculous.
Apparently, they take the average increase in sale price for the area, then just apply that across the board.
On that basis, our CV had only increased $3.24 million since 2017…..that was 4 years ago!!
I pointed out in our objection, that last year we had a REA approach us on two separate occasions, with written offers in excess of $1.2million dollars ABOVE their latest CV estimate (which we turned down), so have asked they review the matter in line with the market.

They have now said that either they will ring to discuss, or may even send their own Registered Valuer to do an inspection.
Well I hope they do.
They would have no idea as to the extent of the renovations undertaken in the last 5 years….Pool landscaping, Home Theatre, 1000 bottle Wine Cellar, new Leadlights, Kitchen & Bathroom reno’s etc etc.
Anyway, here’s hoping they see reason and agree to the increase.
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March 17, 2022 10:26am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Why would you be wanting to pay higher rates or are you planning to sell?
  
  20 2
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  March 17, 2022 10:30am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Oh God no Cap…we’ve got our ‘you-show-me-yours-I’ll-show-you-mine’ girls lunch coming up just after Easter, and I already know what Fleur’s is.
    
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    March 17, 2022 11:26am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Rather than go through the cumbersome process with the council, why doesn’t your ladies’ circle just hire a valuer to do the job for all of you? You could probably get the valuer to do a live ‘reveal’ for you all at the Otahuhu Tennis Club while you enjoy your Lindauer and sausage rolls.
      
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      March 17, 2022 11:59am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      The thing I like about ‘milkey’…. is he always reads all my posts and can’t help himself jumping on my thread.
      
      Yet I’ve never once sent him a tit-pic 😀
      
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      March 17, 2022 12:38pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Baaahaaaa! That’s a bloody gem Maggie!
        
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        March 17, 2022 1:34pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Bloody fine show Maggie. Can’t imagine why you are being downticked. You got my uptick not just for the post, but particularly for the 1000 bottle cellar. A fine effort. You have a tasting table in there?
  
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  March 17, 2022 2:27pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Just done a subdivision and had to agree to less that the currant law allows to get it through…. sigh!
  
  4 2
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  March 17, 2022 2:47pm
  - MCōs
    
    Should have used the raisin law.
    
    2 0
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    March 17, 2022 7:48pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Some people are just prune to spelling mistakes, that’s all.
      
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      March 18, 2022 6:52am
Surely Knott

Auckland went into lockdown while the rest of the country stayed open. We were judged individually.

Now RNZ reports re the mandates and restrictions: “The prime minister has said the government would ease these restrictions once the country was past the peak of Omicron, which has already occurred in Auckland”

So why haven’t Auckland’s restrictions been removed? If Auckland is post peak then why are Auckland still mandated and restricted?
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March 17, 2022 10:43am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Control freak Spindy is in charge.
  
  20 3
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  March 17, 2022 10:51am
- Inandout
  
  because Aucklanders have proved themselves pussy cats, a sort of roll over population.
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:40am
  - Bridgenag
    
    The city is as dead a maggot All the ones not at their beach house hiding under the bed during the day and hiding under the bed because of the gangs and 501 taking over. ……….sigh
    
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    March 17, 2022 2:49pm
- Biscuit
  
  Surely Knott, I can think of a number of reasons…
  
  1. The Spin Doctors are quibbling over the exact wording of the address from the Podium of Truth we will eventually be told to drool over
  2. It hasn’t yet been decided who will be copped with the blame for whatever goes wrong with that address
  3. Putting together the ensembles for the Royal Harvard visit is a big priority right now
  4. There is a nagging fear that power-maddened Trevor might inadvertently set the sprinklers off in the Beehive theatrette at an unfortunate moment
  5. The Government is waiting for a favourable poll result before going in front of cameras…
  6. Jass has ‘umpteen’ visits planned to places where people won’t be nasty to me oops kindergartens
  
  Take yer pick!
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:50am
- Ehlana
  
  Because no one ever lost votes hating on Auckland?
  
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  March 17, 2022 11:55am
surfing

The new school history curriculum was written by young people for young people?

Sounds dodgy.

Meanwhile, maths and science goes down the tubes.

Time to leave NZ everyone, especially if you don’t want your kids to be indoctrinated about maori wonderfulness!
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March 17, 2022 11:29am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Where are you moving to?
  
  8 20
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  March 17, 2022 11:54am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Thats code surfing. For the new school history curriculum was written by people who are still stupid for people who are currently stupid.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:35pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Whenever was it appropriate for a PM to announce a history curriculum?
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:49pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I can’t wait for her to announce the maddemadixs crickulim.
    
    11 2
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    March 17, 2022 2:20pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Sure it will be traditional earns, weed and p calculations.
      
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      March 17, 2022 2:44pm
Lee C

Meanwhile the media an Perth are onto it:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5383630038335640&set=a.106042006094496

[Content n/a @ 11.54 mod.]
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March 17, 2022 11:34am
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  That didn’t last long.
  
  6 2
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  March 17, 2022 11:39am
- Inandout
  
  pays to add some info because controversial stuff is wiped almost immediately.
  
  6 4
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  March 17, 2022 11:42am
- Bobba Fret
  
  what was it?
  
  3 3
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  March 17, 2022 2:13pm
Surely Knott

There was much news about our mortality rate in 2020 being very low. But NZ’s 2021 mortality rate is the highest ever and i don’t think it’s been reported in the news? Why is 2021 so high. Why didn’t vaccines or mandates improve the death rate? We have quarantine at the border, and vaccines and mandates and yet our death rate is higher than ever. With only 38 deaths caused by covid. This doesn’t explain it.

2015 31,608
2016 31,179
2017 33,339
2018 33,225
2019 34,260 (terrible flu season)
2020 32,613 (CovidAlpha/Delta,MIQ,lockdowns)
2021 34, 578 (Covid (Delta/Omicron), MIQ, Vaccines, Lockdowns, Scanning QR’s, Masking and Mandates.)
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March 17, 2022 11:45am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And remember no Influenza outbreak in 2021.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:28pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Baby Boomers starting to die off?
  
  5 2
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  March 17, 2022 1:38pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    Yes there’s definitely an upward trend due to population growth and older population. But if you believe 2020 is low because of our great response and covid interventions then why isn’t 2021 similar or better given 2021 we had vaccination, a weaker variant And more knowledge on treatment and better protocols in our nursing homes. It would be good to see it broken down by type of death like they do in oz.
    
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    March 17, 2022 4:59pm
- kevn
  
  Accidental deaths, a new category to railroad actual suicide figures.
  Sadly so.
  
  7 1
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  March 17, 2022 4:04pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  This data analyst gets into it using published mortality data. It’s not flu which is tracked. There was an RSV outbreak in 2021 but it only kills a couple of hundred per year, not 2000. A very strong thesis that fits the data is that vaccines resulted in a lot of extra deaths primarily in old and infirm given temporal correlation with vaccination programs for those groups.
  https://www.bitchute.com/video/dASUoQ92PTbD/
  
  There will be enormous establishment reluctance in medical fraternity + a ton of political pressure backed by Big Tech censorship to prevent this from being looked at or published in medical literature (which Big Pharma money gives them has effective veto on anyway). Vaccines certainly saved lives (net), particularly in days of Delta, but not seemingly without themselves causing a large number of deaths. They were perhaps mis-applied to low risk groups given the dangers they now appear to present (and which seem to be increasing with subsequent boosters).
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:26pm
- MCōs
  
  I personally know 500 people who died directly from scanning QR codes.
  
  1 1
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  March 17, 2022 7:56pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I assumed they died before scanning the codes and it was just a feature of their rigor mortis. My phone has been sublimely free of any desire to record my comings and goings.
    
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    March 18, 2022 9:38am
marcw

Any one with ambition and wanting to do well for their family, suggest you make firm plans to make your life in another country. This just out from NZ On Air in relation to the Public Interest Journalism Funding : Te Tiriti Framework for News Media

“NZ On Air has commissioned research that provides a resource for those wanting to develop their own Te Tiriti strategy in ways that suit their contexts. Expert group Kupu Taea have developed a framework of questions applicants may use to help focus a Te Tiriti response.”

Short version

https://govt.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=defea490d12b73c4ed8504b5b&id=66b4528b99&e=248ad16651

Long version (with “rationale”)

https://govt.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=defea490d12b73c4ed8504b5b&id=c03985e2aa&e=248ad16651
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March 17, 2022 11:46am
- graham
  
  I just glanced through the short version. As expected, it’s all about racism inherent in the system, the need for decolonisation, and the need for NZ Media to concentrate on the really important things in today’s world – “te Tiriti o Waitangi history and interpretation, te reo Māori pronunciation, tikanga and understanding colonial history”.
  
  I reckon Benedict Yu has the right idea. If I remember correctly, Benedict has stated that most Chinese bypass all the NZ media offerings, preferring to source their news from other places. Presumably referring to countries where they do proper, adult reporting, with real journalists.
  
  I think until NZ Media actually grow up and stop pandering to this nonsense, I’ll continue to look offshore for the grown-up news.
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:01pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I gave up on NZ journalism a year or two ago and subscribed to UK media that employ journalists with brains and have readers to match. No regrets about that.
    
    The only stuff worth reading here is almost never written by professional journalists whose commentary is uniformly dire banal herd drivel.
    
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    March 17, 2022 12:16pm
marcw

The post re PIJF is from the latest newsletter update from NZ On Air. The whole letter can be found here:

https://mailchi.mp/nzonair/quick-updates-from-nz-on-air-o1a4d0jmir-13767653?e=248ad16651
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March 17, 2022 11:49am
Jack5

The great nickel short …

Trading in nickel had a bumpy resumption on the London Metals Exchange, suspended last week because of the huge “short” gamble by Xiang Guangda’s Tsingshan Holding Group, a leading producer of nickel and stainless steel.

Xiang, gambling that nickel’s price would fall, was trapped with potential losses of several billion dollars as the price soared last Monday to more than $US100,000 a tonne in chaotic trading that led the exchange to suspend trading in the metal.

Today (NZ time), the exchange again had to halt trading and within a minute of opening, but this time because of a glitch in its electronic system. When trading resumed in the London afternoon there were few trades. The exchange runs parallel, hand-signal trading by brokers, and trading in both systems resumed in the afternoon.

The exchange introduced limits of 5 per cent above or below an adjusted closing price of $US47,986, but technical issues allowed some trades to go through under the lower limit of $US45,590.

The three-month nickel contract traded just 249 lots, or 1494 tonnes, the slowest day for more than 15 years. On Monday of last week, 26,150 lots, or 156,900 tonnes, changed hands.

LME nickel prices are used as a reference for deals between end users of the metal and producers.

Reuters reports Michael Widmer, head of commodities research at Bank of America, saying: “If you are pricing off the LME contract but you don’t have a reference price, if you are buying your raw materials on an LME price, if you have to manage your cash flows, it’s difficult.”
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March 17, 2022 12:03pm
greybeard

Apparently Transmission Gully will open by the end of March.
But they don’t say which year.
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March 17, 2022 12:15pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  So no transmission? Can’t we wave some Maori science at it?
  
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  March 17, 2022 12:18pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Gully will open when Jaspinda has time to do a Camera and talk waffle. It will open when she says so. End of March – and next day is April 1st.
  Cunning as a shithouse rat
  
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  March 17, 2022 6:02pm
70andstilllearning

Well I guess it didn’t take Robbo long to start crowing!!
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-economy-rebounds-december-quarter

But it seems that NZ MSM are a bit slow on picking it up even if cousins across the ditch aren’t.

https://7news.com.au/business/nz-gdp-up-three-per-cent-in-q4-2021-c-6088289
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March 17, 2022 12:27pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  GDP includes government borrowing and money printing and should be ignored as a measure of anything positive when the government is indulging in once-in-a-generation splurges as Labour is.
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:34pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=midoUX5Bolk

A New World is Rising from the Ashes of Ukraine!

Ever since the invasion three weeks ago, I’ve been arguing on this channel that the rise of a New Russia, together with a New China and a New India all in the form of what scholars are calling new civilization states is in fact creating a whole new world right before our very eyes! Now, if we don’t manage to blow that world up by starting World War III like our neocons are advocating, the question before us is simply: what precisely IS this new world that’s rising from the ashes of Ukraine? What is this Phoenix going to look like? And that’s what I want to explore a bit with you on today’s video! [9:15]
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March 17, 2022 12:34pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Here is an article from Michael Matt owner of the Remnant Newspaper in Mineapolis. I have put up on occasions his take on things, and he has very astute analysis on Russia & Ukraine, plus matters that we discuss. He is a traditional Catholic, but you can bypass that if you wish – the rest is really worthwhile. Comment, then [36 min video]
  https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/5891-crisis-in-ukraine-what-s-really-going-on
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:19pm
  - MCōs
    
    As soon as I saw the reference to Soros I remembered all the chequers that never arrived.
    
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    March 17, 2022 8:05pm
curry4me

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/03/16/green-germany-weighs-reopening-coal-power-plants-amid-energy-crisis/

Germany Considers Reopening Coal Power Plants.

Germany is considering reopening some of its decommissioned coal power plants in the hopes of getting a handle on its ongoing energy crisis.
The reopening of shuttered plants is seen as an option as the country struggles to wean itself off of its addiction to Russian fossil fuels.
While authorities have already rejected plans of delaying the decommissioning of the remainder of its nuclear power stations, a new plan involving either delaying the shut down of coal fire plants that are still in operation, or the re-opening of plants that have previously been terminated, is now on the cards. [So I guess Grata and Al
Gore won’t be addressing the Bundestag any time soon?]
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March 17, 2022 12:34pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCzaU9uJyhE

Canada is banking too much on NATO against a foe who simply detests NATO
No other G7 country has a military force as small as Canada’s. Even Japan, a much smaller country with a Pacifist Constitution, has a bigger military force than Canada’s military. [5:15]
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March 17, 2022 12:35pm
westernScientest

Panic in the polls:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300543472/covid19-nz-pm-jacinda-ardern-says-traffic-light-settings-and-vaccine-passes-to-be-reviewed-next-week
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March 17, 2022 12:44pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Labor to re-write History….

https://twitter.com/NewshubPolitics/status/1504241612926296067
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March 17, 2022 12:53pm
- Yabster
  
  Glad I don’t have school aged kids- what a load of crap that is – another thing for National to repel.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:28pm
Nickc2

How about having two different streams for learning our History:

Stream A: Study the history of Aotearoa from a Maori perspective.
Stream B: Study the history of New Zealand from a non-Maori perspective.

This concept is not new to those involved in education because in days past when it came time for religious studies, students were permitted to embark on a Religious Stream of their own or their parent’s choosing.
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March 17, 2022 1:10pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Fauci is in the crosshairs – get your popcorn.
Karma will be sweet.
https://www.mainstpress.com/heres-why-dr-fauci-is-shaking-as-midterms-approach/?
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March 17, 2022 1:17pm
Maggie Pie

I just overheard my partner telling his Forex broker he’s not focusing on Russia or Ukraine at the moment.
He’s more concerned about the actions of our own shady-arse government.
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March 17, 2022 1:24pm
- Nickc2
  
  Yea Maggie. Cindy won’t make an announcement about an announcement when she’s going to confiscate people’s Bank Accounts and Share Portfolios.
  She’s going to have a trial run on confiscating other people’s stuff with Mahuta’s 3 Waters and if that works, who knows what’ll be next and subsequent.
  
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  March 17, 2022 1:33pm
rockape

Inflation and cost of living seems to be a popular topic these days. Was Skyping my son and got the following.
OST of renting average per colander month $ Nz 1600
Cost of a pint $8
Cost of 3 course meal $60
iCloud add more!
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March 17, 2022 1:38pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Long, but a good read. We are being played by the Greens and flaky Govts. Green New Deal?
Bruce Kendall
15 March at 16:24 ·
I just read this excellent breakdown.
Batteries, they do not make electricity – they store electricity produced elsewhere, primarily by coal, uranium, natural gas-powered plants, or diesel-fueled generators. So, to say an EV is a zero-emission vehicle is not at all valid.
Also, since forty percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. is from coal-fired plants, it follows that forty percent of the EVs on the road are coal-powered, do you see?”
Einstein’s formula, E=MC2, tells us it takes the same amount of energy to move a five-thousand-pound gasoline-driven automobile a mile as it does an electric one. The only question again is what produces the power? To reiterate, it does not come from the battery; the battery is only the storage device, like a gas tank in a car.
There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single-use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals.
Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills. California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them.
All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery’s metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill.
In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle single-use ones properly.
But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive production costs.
A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just – one – battery.”
Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?”
I’d like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being ‘green,’ but it is not. This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why.
The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicon dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.
Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades.
There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions.
“Going Green” may sound like the Utopian ideal but when you look at the hidden and embedded costs realistically with an open mind, you can see that Going Green is more destructive to the Earth’s environment than meets the eye, for sure.
Obviously copied/pasted. I encourage you to pass it along too.
May be an image of outdoors
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March 17, 2022 2:02pm
pjams

Why is Otago being spelt with macron’s? Otago is not a Maori word. It is an anglicized version of a Maori word Otakau (which does have macrons). We don’t use macrons on English words. Is this going to be new trend we are expected to adhere to?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/nz-travel-7-reasons-to-visit-otago-from-dunedin-to-queenstown/UAEVAMMK4I6VWRCV7G6ZZQW77E/
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March 17, 2022 2:27pm
- greybeard
  
  Maori ? Macrons? Written language? What have I missed here ?
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:55pm
- kowtow
  
  Macrons on Maori words is itself an innovation.
  
  All virtue signalling.
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:56pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Just another example of colonial borrowings.
    
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    March 17, 2022 7:52pm
Maggie Pie

Ma just txt to say she’d been watching the start of QT.
.
Two things caught her attention…..
David Parker still hasn’t found his comb and Nicola Willis certainly managed to rattle Robbo’s dags.

LOL!!
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March 17, 2022 2:42pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Robbo wouldn’t have seen a female coming, Maggie.
  
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  March 17, 2022 2:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Wow! Judge Jeanine comes out fighting.
https://rumble.com/vxib5t-judge-jeanine-steamrolls-geraldo-on-biden-i-dont-give-a-damn.html?
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March 17, 2022 2:48pm
Warren

It looks like Ashly Bloomfield the Direct of Health has got himself in striff with Senior Doctors working in hospitals on the Covid19 strain Omicron.
We’re consistently overwhelmed: top Docters lash back at Doctor Bloomfield after his claim the Health System isn’t in crisis.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) says Senior Hospital Doctors strongly refute Bloomfields claims.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Daltonsays those working on the ground would begin to differ, saying it’s a crisis by any other name.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/senior-hospital-doctors-reject-dr-ashley-bloomfield-s-claim-new-zealand-s-health-system-isn-t-in-crisis.html
It looks like the Health Director Ashley Bloomfield has continued where Jacinda Ardern left off with talking for others without telling the truth.
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March 17, 2022 4:02pm
bjools

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128086762/labour-mps-block-justice-select-committee-hearing-on-parliament-riot
Why would Labour block this?
Hands not so clean on this?
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March 17, 2022 4:19pm
Maggie Pie

>>>Billboard spotted in The Strand for….. ‘TODAY FM’

Pic: TOVA with set of cans on sitting behind a microphone.

Slogan: ‘A MORE BALANCED MIC’
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March 17, 2022 4:29pm
- Andrew S
  
  Well, to be fair Maggie, it is St Paddies day afterall and “A MORE BALANCED MIC” is surely taking the mickey.
  
  Was the ‘billboard’ on her forehead?
  
  I love your work Maggie ?
  
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  March 17, 2022 4:43pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Wow…
Test your Covid-19 immunity levels….

Coming to you Soon!
only $100/prick!!!!!

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/coronavirus-covid-19-immunity-level-tests-to-go-on-sale-at-pharmacies.html

You can get a covid antibody test in South Africa for 150 ZAR = $NZ 15.
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March 17, 2022 4:33pm
Maggie Pie

Anybody else find it just a tad ironic that a Nurse has to work an additional 8 hour nightshift to collect a $500 bonus……yet the MP-for-Tijuana picks that up every day of the week for sitting on his arse doing nothing 🙁

Just saying.
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March 17, 2022 4:45pm
- Mike
  
  Must make you grind your teeth during the night-fill shift at Fresh Choice, Maggie.
  
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  March 17, 2022 5:32pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Maggie, Mike sits on his arse all day, 24/7
    
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    March 17, 2022 6:09pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Still hoping for a pic, sadly. What has Maggie done to him?
      
      6 3
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      March 17, 2022 6:28pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Let’s hope Mike/Mikenmild doesn’t require Maggie Pie’s expertise when she’s on nightshift duty
        
        https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR_zKeS-M3UzBIMnabM1VoJcLCHzh2j9YUNUg&usqp=CAU
        
        7 3
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        March 17, 2022 6:33pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        If he does, I hope Maggie doesn’t score a bulls-eye.
        
        5 3
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        March 17, 2022 6:43pm
    - Mike
      
      I certainly find that to be the most comfortable sitting position, yes. But not 24/7. Lying down for at least ten hours of the 24 is essential.
      
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      March 17, 2022 6:31pm
Alan Wilkinson

The Kaikohe gangster terrorism I reported this morning has finally hit the media:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300543618/real-fear-inside-the-violent-gang-battle-for-a-far-north-town
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March 17, 2022 7:46pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Let’s hope Kaikohe doesn’t turn into another Wairoa
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/wairoa-deserves-better-town-over-it-as-police-arm-up-after-gang-shootings/PNBLP4DLKNBXE47YNC6MI2KH4Q/
  
  It seems too damn easy for little towns and poor suburbs to be overrun by thugs, these days.
  
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  March 17, 2022 7:55pm
Lee C

Tremain nails it again.

He’s good.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=424278239455246&set=a.107444697805270
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March 18, 2022 11:09am

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