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May 4, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 04 May 2022

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General Debate

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mikenmildagain

Happy Star Wars Day!
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May 4, 2022 8:02am
- Ehlana
  
  May the Fourth be with you!
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:19am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I sense a great disturbance on the fourth.
    
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    May 4, 2022 8:38am
- I remember when
  
  Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Day!
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:22am
- Simon
  
  Then I began to be uneasy at the influence it might be having. The first bad penny dropped in San Francisco when a sweet-faced boy of twelve told me proudly that he had seen Star Wars over a hundred times. His elegant mother nodded with approval. Looking into the boy’s eyes I thought I detected little star-shells of madness beginning to form and I guessed that one day they would explode.
  
  ‘I would love you to do something for me,’ I said.
  
  ‘Anything! Anything!’ the boy said rapturously.
  
  ‘You won’t like what I’m going to ask you to do,’ I said.
  
  ‘Anything, sir, anything!’
  
  ‘Well,’ I said, ‘do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?’
  
  He burst into tears. His mother drew herself up to an immense height. ‘What a dreadful thing to say to a child!’ she barked, and dragged the poor kid away. Maybe she was right but I just hope the lad, now in his thirties, is not living in a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities.”
  
  Alec Guinness, A Positively Final Appearance
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:43am
- Batman
  
  As of 8:54am, 11 hardcore Trekkers have logged on and downticked this 🤣
  
  Sad!
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:54am
  - alloytoo
    
    Did not.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:11am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  And happy fire fighters day to you
  
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  May 4, 2022 7:56pm
Matt Long

The “innocent helpless victims” of toture in Piopio were so innocent after all.
From the Herald, Shaun Burr then arrived, and the teen admitted in questioning with Morgan, that he tried to get up but then was punched to the ground by Burr jnr.

He was then asked repeatedly to put both his hands out in front of him – as he was laying on his left hand holding a knife.

When questioned why he held the knife under his body, the teen replied, “to stab them”.

“And when you were going to get to your feet were you going to stab them,” Morgan asked him?
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May 4, 2022 8:02am
- rouppe
  
  Yeah it seems like he’s quite openly saying I went there for the third time to steal from him, went into his bedroom with weapons and attacked him, threatened to kill him, and were then stupid enough to leave him alone to get his keys.
  
  Being presented with a shotgun he then admits he gets up in order to stab him.
  
  Wish I were on the jury, I’d be napping cause I already know my verdict
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:13am
  - peterwn
    
    The jurors will be taking their responsibilities most seriously. The key issue would be whether the ‘self defence’ response was reasonable in the circumstances. Regardless of what happened previously the reported evidence seems to indicate that the response went well beyond what was reasonable especially as the original offenders appeared to be under control at the time. The Defence would need to show that the response was reasonable and that for example the original offender losing a finger was an accident rather than a deliberate act.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:45am
    - Matt Long
      
      If someone is holding a knife under their body with the view to killing you with it and refusing to put their hand with the knife in it out in plain sight it takes a special kind of logic to suggest the offender is under control.
      I feel deeply sorry for the victims of this young man, apart from the damage he has done to this particular family he is likely to go on to commit violent crimes for the rest of his life when not in prison.
      He will probably cost the taxpayer in the region of 50 million dollars before he is done.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:21am
    - David Garrett
      
      Peterwn: Under our present law that is pretty well right. If the Castle Doctrine applied here the defendants wouldn’t have even been charged.
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:09am
      - peterwn
        
        What ‘Castle Doctrine’ allows the victims of a crime to declare ‘open season’ on the offenders?
        It goes right back to Robson v Hallett. The occupier (Robson senior) asked the two police officers to leave which they did in fulfillment of their duties. They did not deserve to be given ‘summary justice’ (including a kick in the ‘privates’) on the way out by the two Robson sons. Hallett was the Chief Constable who was acting on behalf of the Crown in taking the prosecutions and the brothers appealed unsuccessfully against their 6 month prison sentences.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:56am
      - David Garrett
        
        I suggest you Google “castle doctrine”…there are various forms of it – some allow the invaded householder to do more than others.
        
        And you do realise that the defendants in this case are the owner of his house and his son, right?
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:28pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      When the law repeatedly fails to deter an offender citizens adopt their own measures. The law should be in the dock.
      
      18 2
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      May 4, 2022 12:21pm
    - Aquataur
      
      The tragedy for the farmer is that he didn’t shoot the POS once he had his shotgun. Would have been his word vs the word of the scum’s co-offender as to the circumstances in which he did so.
      I beleive no jury would have convicted him having been bashed twice over the head with a bottle.
      
      I am reminded of the advice I got once from a former Dep Police Commissioner – if you shoot someone, always fire a warning shot afterwards. It’s almost impossible for forensics to tell which was fired first
      
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      May 4, 2022 3:26pm
      - [email protected]
        
        I absolutely can’t resist.
        
        My wife started a “Neighborhood Watch” in the USA where neighbors would help watch your home when you went out for the evening or went shopping during the day.
        
        A police officer came over to tell the group what we could, and could not do to offenders that broke into our homes.
        
        We were told that if you shoot someone outside your house, drag their body inside before you call us.
        
        Obviously the offender had managed to to escape before you found your weapon.
        
        When I went on travel for business I would always call my wife to tell her I was coming home early because she kept her gun loaded when I was gone.
        
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        May 4, 2022 6:52pm
    - LB
      
      Sect 55 Crimes Act 1961 Defence of dwellinghouse
      Every one in peaceable possession of a dwellinghouse, and every one lawfully assisting him or her or acting by his or her authority, is justified in using such force as is necessary to prevent the forcible breaking and entering of the dwellinghouse by any person if he or she believes, on reasonable and probable grounds, that there is no lawful justification for the breaking and entering.
      
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      May 4, 2022 6:24pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden..
He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was.
Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes.
Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground.
He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention.
He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating.
‘Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?’ she asked.
‘They’re mating,’ her father replied.
‘What do you call the spider on top?’ she asked.
A Daddy Longlegs,’ her father answered.
‘So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?’ the little girl asked.
As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question.
He replied, ‘No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.’
‘The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment,
then lifted her foot and stomped them flat.
‘Well”, she said, “that may be OK in Australia,
but we’re not having any of that shit in New Zealand.”
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May 4, 2022 8:04am
- edhunter
  
  Homophobic slurs at 8.04, disappointed thought we’d all moved on from that type of shit.
  And it’s not even a new joke.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Memories folder on FB
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:18am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

May the 4th be with you
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May 4, 2022 8:05am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I wish I had thought of that.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:39am
Maggy Wassilieff

Anyone still signing in or using their QR codes when out & about?

the Government is still spending $10.2 million a month on contact tracing, despite contact tracers being unable to reach enough potential contacts or fast enough to ever be of any use in light of Omicron’s higher transmissibility.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2205/S00028/10m-a-month-wasted-on-redundant-contact-tracing.htm
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May 4, 2022 8:06am
- rouppe
  
  Nope
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:15am
- Matt Long
  
  Who knows what the government may wish to trace people for in future, what a shame it would be to lose that capability for the sake of only a hundred millions or so a year of tax payer funding.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:17am
- Gravelroad
  
  @MW:
  It’s only money.
  Godda keep those wonderful (aka manipulated) low unemployment stats down for as long as possible.
  You never know, there might be a new outbreak of a virus in which case all these people will again be needed to monitor our every move for our saviour. Best to have them handy,
  It’s only money.
  Just print some more.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:19am
  - Paulus
    
    In addition to the declared Unemployment figures there are still 189,000 people on Work Seeking money but staistically not unemplyed because the theory is that they are looking !
    Real numbers getting money for doing sweet fa is more like 9%.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:16am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      more working age people on benefits now than any other time in NZ history, including great depression.
      
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      May 4, 2022 9:53am
- Ehlana
  
  I thought they let the contact tracers go? It was when I heard that, some while back, that I stopped scanning in.
  
  Most places have now removed their QR codes, so tracing is going to be even less likely.
  
  36 1
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  May 4, 2022 8:21am
- cmm
  
  It’s all theatre – window dressing for the people who think this does something. They believe that scanning saves lives with religious zeal. Cindy supporters to the core.
  
  Imagine how worried this bunch of people are going to be when the QR code thing is stopped.
  
  No, from Cindy’s perspective it is much better to keep spending the $10M. After all, it’s just taxpayers’ money and Robbo can just print more.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:23am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    One of the saddest and funniest things I’ve witnessed during this circus involved the QR codes. Someone “modified” the pattern on the QR sign scan in at the entrance to an establishment so it would not function. An experiment to see how long before someone informed the managers there was a problem. After 30 minutes around 20 people had come up, variously waved their phones around a couple of times and proceeded to carry on as if it was all normal. Interesting and sad that they were all happy to play along with the charade. A pity more didn’t just stand up and refuse to play the stupid game to begin with.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:47am
    - mawm
      
      Just a small corner of the QR code (the bottom right) carries the information. The rest of the code has backup data. One has to alter a huge number of the little squares to get any noticeable effect.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:38am
- Benedict Yu
  
  As I said on the poll thread from last night – put Seymour in charge of MBIE in a new government. It would be such fun to watch.
  
  Some of you may have seen a BBC show from the early 80s – “Yes Minister” – there was a hospital, fully staffed with no patients. It won an aware for the most efficient hospital or some such.
  
  Here we are 40 years later and instead of comedy this is reality in New Zealand.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:26am
  - Clownworld
    
    Yes Minister was a future documentary production.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:12am
  - oldfella
    
    Benedict, plenty of old ‘Yes Minister’ (and the later ‘Yes Prime Minister’) clips on YouTube. Still funny after all these years.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:41am
  - rockape
    
    I would rather see Collins in that roll.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:42am
- mandk
  
  Meh, it’s only taxpayers’ money.
  
  And, besides, during their nine wasted years in power, National was totally negligent in not having a task force of contact tracers ready to save New Zealanders from a horrible death.
  
  Seriously, though, to be spending that much money a month, I calculate that (based on about $75,000 a year) there must be about 1,600 contact tracers twiddling their thumbs.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:28am
- john1234
  
  Yes, so?
  
  We have a government comprised of student politicians and unionists, led by a former shark ‘n taties operator.
  
  What did you expect?
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:31am
- I remember when
  
  Nobody has enough confidence in the Labour government to remove them yet.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:31am
- cmm
  
  Spare a thought for South Africa in its 22nd day of load shedding so far this year.
  
  At the moment they’re in “level 2” which is an average of about 3 hours a day with no power. They’re expecting at least a solid week of that.
  
  Winter is now kicking in so it is very likely that:
  * There’s going to be record numbers of load shedding days this year (the record so far is 60 days of the year).
  * They are also likely to hit record “levels” with up to 12 hours a day with no power.
  
  Bear in mind this is just the load shedding when they are deliberately turning off power. Power also fails for other reasons: transformers blowing up, cable theft etc. Some areas have been denied power for 2 weeks or more because the corrupt municipalities have not paid the bills.
  
  Apart from the corruption there’s a common theme: There’s no Zulu word for maintenance.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:34am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    There is another reason.
    
    Post apartheid, or should I say, Post Mandela, we saw a number of people being appointed on the basis of race and not ability.
    
    Just remember this when we start to discuss 3 waters and other Ethnocratic measures that are being proposed by this government.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:07am
    - cmm
      
      I’ll put that in the corruption bucket: those people who saw the position as a way to feather their own nests.
      
      Just as with the “Maori Jobs” in NZ, you can guarantee that the most desirable Black Jobs in South Africa are not going to anyone with the right racial credentials. Nope, you’ve also got to be in with the right crowd.
      
      I worked for Eskom (SA power utility) in the early and mid 1980s. I worked with many competent people of all races: white, Indian, coloured and black. They all deserved to be there and were all doing a good job.
      
      I bet it is not just the whites that have left, but the competent people of all races.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:46am
    - Raphael
      
      I know atleast one Council has signed up with these chaps.
      https://amotai.nz/
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:32am
      - Hebe123
        
        I’ll checked that the businesses I use are NOT on that register. I’m not supporting racists.
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:39pm
  - mawm
    
    cmm – eishkom?
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:44am
    - cmm
      
      Eish, eish, yo, yo, yo!
      
      Have you been around Xhosa/Zulu people much?
      
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      May 4, 2022 4:34pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Never did it. When asked to sign in, it is ‘Donald Duck – Hollywood’ Once was asked for my phone number – “don’t be silly, ducks don’t have phones”
  The Govt does not need to know where I am. Are they data gathering for the future?
  Funny to watch others scanning, you can tell they are going to, the same blank expression on their faces, all brainwashed by Jaspinda
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:55am
  - cmm
    
    In theory all those forms got destroyed as soon as they no longer served a purpose (eg. maybe a week after no positive cases were linked to that place).
    
    In practice there would have been a lot of illegal data mining.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:10am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Got destroyed by known liars?
      
      12 2
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      May 4, 2022 10:30am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The data mining I have seen. Signed in at a cafe, someone else pretended to sign in but took a photo and left. I followed him back to his office. A fucking Real Estate agent, what a lowlife. I made him delete it or get exposed.
      
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      May 4, 2022 12:02pm
- pdm
  
  Never really have – only when asked by the shopkeeper.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:02am
- ClanMcleod
  
  What’s a QR code?
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:40am
  - Clownworld
    
    In the last 2 countries I have been in Europe, no QR codes were ever used. People refer to Australia and NZ as nazistates here.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:14am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    ClanMcleod – It is a secret code to take money off your pay by the Robber(tson).
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:42am
- Prince
  
  Jack Tame says not worth the memo to call it off.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:46am
- curry4me
  
  I never downloaded the app so no. No doubt some of the sheeple are though. And wearing masks in the park, or at the beach.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:47am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Seems to me, that we could do Auckland traffic a massive favour by taking the car keys away from anyone wearing a mask whilst driving a car as the sole occupant.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:04am
  - pdm
    
    A pleasure to walk into a dairy in a provincial Hawkes Bay Village yesterday to buy lunch. No sign in and even better no masks.
    
    There were about 10 customers seen fromwhen we pulled up down the road a bit and walked back and not a mask to be seen – including behind the counter.
    
    Police station is two doors away so obviously the local constable prefers to keep things calm in the village and not razz the locals about something as trivial as mask wearing.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:32am
- Thought Criminal
  
  Labour = waste.
  
  Asleep at the wheel doing things that no one wants and doing nothing useful.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:38am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  This is why this useless gummit needs more of your tax.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:41am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Don’t get too excited about a tax cut. It’s a bit like a mugger giving you back a few bucks for a taxi fare.
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May 4, 2022 8:06am
- westernScientist
  
  haha reminds me of an internet story from one of the american leftists in san fran. He is asked how he thinks the level of crime is acceptable and goes on about leftist colonialism or whatever. Then says, its ok, I have had my car robbed 3 times in two years, but you know, they need to do it, and one time they left a cool knife on my passenger seat, so you know sometimes you get cool stuff out of it.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:16am
- Simon
  
  Its it a set up to increase taxes to a stupid level such as 39% or talk about wealth taxes then National come along stop these. But National continue without rolling back the insanely high general level of tax.
  
  If Labo put the taxes up to 39% then National should drop them to 25%. But they are essentially the same party just playing games.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:50am
  - Ehlana
    
    AM show this morning trying to get Luxon to promise a repeal of 39%.
    The reality is, National needs to roll these back every time it gets into government, because Labour will always want to add a new “tax to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share” every time it gets in. If National leave 39% in place, Labour will add a new 45% rate when they are next in power.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:10am
    - Clownworld
      
      You will own nothing and be happy.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:20am
Southern Raider

When you realise the lunatics run the asylum. These councillors like Darby need to be held account for their blind ideology at the local body elections.

Even the simple things of
– Auckland is bloody hilly in most parts so not perfect city for easy cycling
– teachers are in short supply, come from all other the city to different schools, but we expect they will catch the bus or cycle while being on time and being available for after school activities

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/aucklands-2-billion-cycle-plan-compulsory-bike-training-in-schools-and-bike-subsidies/BPPM22OTKGQPC7ZOCEKJG6HYAI/
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May 4, 2022 8:12am
- Frank the tank
  
  Darby – runs in the North Shore ward (Devonport/Takapuna/Milford etc). As such it is staggering that he keeps on getting re-elected
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:26am
- Ehlana
  
  Yes, the bit about the teachers parking seemed ludicrous. Unlike many commuters, who carry only themselves and a backpack or briefcase, I believe teachers still have a thing called marking. Schools are much less likely to be located on frequent public transport routes than other workplaces, and staff often can’t afford to live within walking or biking distance of schools anyway.
  
  How about we start with Auckland City giving up its Councillor and staff parking. All of them having to use public transport, walking or cycling for all their travel would certainly help focus their minds on providing good alternative active transport solutions.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:27am
  - Sacha
    
    That’s what my Old Mum used to call Setting a Good Example, by doing what you want others to do!
    
    But what we have is: Don’t Do What I Do, Do As I Say!
    
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    May 4, 2022 8:46am
  - GazzaW
    
    And let’s complement that initiative by selling off all company cars owned by Auckland Transport and replacing them with bicycles and HOP cards.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:06am
  - James Stephenson
    
    If my boys’ school is anything to go by, there’s hardly any parking for teachers anyway, since the Min of Ed has been so incompetent at keeping up with roll-growth and building new classrooms, that the car parks are covered in pre-fabs.
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:01am
- graham
  
  In 2018, Auckland Council owned 790 vehicles. I have no idea how many vehicles AT owns.
  
  Let’s see these people put their money where their mouth is, and ditch their own cars.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:52am
Maggie Pie

Many a true word is spoken in cest…..

https://twitter.com/kehetauhauaga/status/1520948214282678272
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May 4, 2022 8:14am
- rouppe
  
  Isn’t it because they are all members of Ngai Petoism?
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:19am
- Gravelroad
  
  Nania Mahuta’s sister must be a super woman.
  To be the chair or co-chair of so many high level boards and authorities would indicate that she has unusual powers of document reading and understanding- just for a start.
  For many well educated and experienced directors and decision makers, such a time consuming and technical work load would be challenging.
  Not for Ms Mahuta apparently.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:33am
  - oldfella
    
    Gravelroad, what exactly does this ‘extraordinary’ Maori wahine bring to the table apart from the family name, Mahuta, and a sisterly protector in high places.
    Anyone know her qualifications? Maybe a degree in Maori science?
    
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    May 4, 2022 8:43am
    - Gravelroad
      
      If you look at the post above by Maggie Pie, you can see on the tweet.
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:12pm
  - Sacha
    
    Think of the pay checks –
    
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    May 4, 2022 8:48am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Nose deep in many troughs, past, present and future.
    Tough jobs, someone has to do them
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:10am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Well the good news is they must be employing at least 3 normally unemployed people translating everything into terreo for her…….
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:52am
I remember when

Green Party leaders ‘proud’ of constitution changes: RNZ:
If they are so good, it makes you wonder why they wouldn’t have happened without changing the constitution.
Like because they are the best two people for the job.
In fact, why have two at all.
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May 4, 2022 8:15am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The Greens used to be quirky but at least had some morals, the current bunch of woke clowns are an utter embarrassment. There isn’t one of them I would consider employing, not even in a fish and chip shop.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:53am
Nickc2

Greens change their Constitution
Leadership: One Woman, One Person of any sex, and One of them must be Maori.
Is James on the way out? What if any parameter(s) is/are applicable to the any sex person?
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May 4, 2022 8:17am
- kowtow
  
  Wonder how “woman” would stand up if a so called “trans woman” ( aka a cock in a frock) ran for the person who was born as a female position.
  
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  May 4, 2022 8:35am
  - Nickc2
    
    IMO, they are expecting an influx of Sexual Alphabet List candidates when a NAT/ACT Coalition threatens to shut down TVNZ as we currently know it during election campaigning.
    
    7 2
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    May 4, 2022 9:51am
- alloytoo
  
  So Maori get 50% representation irrespective of their actual percentage of the population.
  
  Aotearoa Apartheid as you like it.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:17am
- double d
  
  The policy is sexist. 50% of the population are men but no guarantee of representation from this party.
  It discriminates against men.
  
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  May 4, 2022 3:13pm
G152

Shut off Parliament. No-one {Mallard} and nothing in or out.
Leave him to lord it over nothing.
Elections coming
17 4
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May 4, 2022 8:19am
surfing

Brendan Bisley should get together with Russ Rimmington… they’d make a great pair. Destroying cities and wasting taxpayer money …

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/mount-maunganui-links-ave-trial-residents-tourists-fume-over-150-bus-lane-fines/XX6WQKXTMJOQ2IQTOYISTFJWAM/

I can’t wait for Brendan Bisley to quit or be fired… he is single handedly destroying Tauranga.

The lycra brigade and greenies are behind all of this.
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May 4, 2022 8:21am
Andrei

Imran Khan, who broke Kiwi cricket fans hearts way back in 1992, has a very good question for the Biden administration

https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1521085880823431170
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May 4, 2022 8:24am
- MCōs
  
  Imran Khan, former PM of Pakistan, lost a vote of no confidence in parliament and is looking elsewhere for someone to blame.
  It’s worth noting that his country is ranked poorly when it comes to corruption.
  He’s probably passed his “best by” date in certain quarters.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:03am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Speaking of corruption, the Ukraine is one of the most corrupt of the lot, and Zelenzky has thrown media snd journalist in jail as well, that boy is not squeaky clean either
    
    13 6
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    May 4, 2022 10:09am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Zelensky is another US owned puppet.
      
      9 9
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      May 4, 2022 10:32am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        He is his own man, and he gets rid of people who speak out against him, don’t really know what the states has to do with it
        
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        May 4, 2022 12:17pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Biden will piss in Zelensky’s pocket all the way to the bank in order to get all documentation relevant to Hunter’s corruption in Ukraine destroyed.
        Remember this little quip “well, if you don’t sack the SOB, you’re not getting the $XBn.” This was Joe Biden in reference to the Ukrainian Prosecutor who was to investigate corruption in Burisma Holdings. The Ukrainians subsequently sacked the prosecutor and got the $XBn and Hunter and Joe lived happily ever after until Hunter’s Lap Top PC broke down.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:02pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    It’s another US interference in a sovereign country, I’ve lost count of how many this is. They are turning into a malign force. Sad, it was once a beacon of freedom. No longer.
    
    12 13
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    May 4, 2022 10:29am
    - Batman
      
      Quick, best to sign up with those beacons of truth, Russia and China.
      
      12 12
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      May 4, 2022 10:43am
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        Nice dodge, but nobody attributes any high political values to the Russians or the Chinese. However, when the Americans are constantly going around claiming the world’s moral high ground and denouncing the actions of other regimes from on high, they’d better first make sure their own house is in order, unless they don’t want their awesome hypocrisy exposed. The US regime has what may be called very adaptable principles, both at home and abroad. Their so-called liberal democratic values are very contingent indeed when it comes to supporting despots or subverting the rule of sovereign leaders when it suits their interests.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:04am
      - Batman
        
        You do a great job of sounding like a left wing moral high horse type, while simping for morally bankrupt authoritarian regimes.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:18am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Quick, better ditch liberal democracy because liberal democratic countries are not perfect.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:10pm
- pdm
  
  Andrei – it was more Javed Miandad and Inzamam ul Haq who broke New Zealanders hearts that day. New Zealand were heading for a win that those two took away from them.
  
  Tactically NZ also let themselves down in the latter stages but it still took good batting to win.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:07am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    That’s 30 years ago.
    I recall that placard;
    MIANDAD
    Mum and the kids.
    
    10 1
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    May 4, 2022 9:44am
    - Prince
      
      Still too soon.
      
      5 1
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      May 4, 2022 9:48am
  - Andrei
    
    The allusion to the cricket world cup in 1992 was an aside PDM, a literary device to remind readers who Imran Khan is and how he first achieved prominence.
    
    The finer details of a cricket match played forty years ago are not particularly important in these times of momentous events – the machinations that led to the deposal of Imran Khan as Pakistans PM are the salient feature to focus upon
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:44am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      I know the cricket reference above was throwaway, but see how the “bread and circuses” so easily distract from what is really important?
      
      4 5
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      May 4, 2022 11:07am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s a shame you can’t stand any digression from your serious, Kremlin-supporting commentary.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:12pm
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        I make no apologies for being a generally serious commenter, notwithstanding my periodic comedic eviscerations of your attempts at humour through borrowed stale dad jokes. In 2022, we no longer have the luxury of being unserious lightweights like you.
        
        4 4
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        May 4, 2022 2:04pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Sorry Rodion, I should have realised that you are a Very Serious Person:
        https://crookedtimber.org/2015/07/22/a-brief-theory-of-very-serious-people/
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:31pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Says you.
      You’re just jealous because Russkies are no good at cricket.
      
      3 6
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      May 4, 2022 1:11pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Khan was the captain
    
    6 2
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    May 4, 2022 10:09am
SmokerGuy

I think National is in for a rough ride on removing the top tax rate. Luxon is all at sea when asked about it, they better come up with a strategy to deal with this because they are gonna be chewed over it more and more (by Labour and the media) as the election gets closer and they don’t seem to have a good answer on it. My faith in Luxon is fading a bit as he starts getting asked tough questions, he struggles to answer them and comes across as a bit weak.
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May 4, 2022 8:30am
- Ian Boag
  
  A mere 18 months to the election. National has not released much in the way of detailed policy. Surprise. This is not uncommon for oppositions.
  
  Luxon must sometimes look enviously at ACT. Policy is whatever Seymour thinks today without any obvious reference to the invisible MPs behind him. Looks like half of them will be out of a job too. He also has the benefit that he won’t have to implement any of it.
  
  Detailed policies usually don’t emerge much earlier than 6 months or so pre-election. Broad brush stuff – if it comes out earlier – usually has plenty of wiggle factor. Politics …
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:48am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Luxon has stated on more than one occasion that there will be no policy released till the end of this year, as any other election cycle, the tax bracket adjustments is not the full tax policy, we may well be surprised, Labour are up to something on tax, Parker mumbled something about GST effecting the bottom feeders, I bet they dream up a tax and cut GST to say it’s like Key altering GST and tax cuts, anything yo do with tax will be very worrying for Labour, main thing is the threshold and the 39 cent is giving back what Labour stole after saying no new tax
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:16am
    - blue collar
      
      Agree g the giant … the labour mongrels are up to something
      
      I know for a fact labour hoovered up a lot of working class votes in the last election by promising 10 sick days ( we got 5 prior ) , all the average worker heard was “I get another paid week off “ ….
      
      Clever .
      
      Now , if labour came out and promised low income workers a tax break …. And went after the wealthy …… how many votes will that get ?
      
      Luzon is right about giving tax cuts to wealthy , he needs to ensure the average joe has a carrot to vote aswell .
      
      Way more average joes , a wealthy vote is the same as a blue collar vote .
      
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      May 4, 2022 4:43pm
  - gravedodger
    
    Modern success relies on zero policy, zero campaigning, just be sure you have your team counting the votes?
    
    9 1
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    May 4, 2022 10:27am
    - Ra Henare
      
      True.
      Look at the President of Ukraine.
      No policy until 3 days before the election.
      No debates.
      
      Just the invisible hand of the USA and his TV personality.
      
      Now everyone feeds his ego as him being a great Hero(albiet a US sock puppet). I call bullshit. He is in the same class as Jacinda. All mouth no trousers.
      
      Very simply if he was a true leader he could have prevented the Russian invasion by stopping shelling the Donbass etc and carrying out the Minsk agreement
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:43am
      - Batman
        
        You prepping for your debut as a presenter for TASS or something, Henare? 😉
        
        Never mind that Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform, and overwhelmingly so. Sometimes one issue is what people care about.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:51am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    “usually has plenty of wiggle factor. Politics”
    
    That is precisely what many people are sick of: politicians who have no idea what they stand for and even less idea what people want. Trump was calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers, decrying globalism and putting America first about 18 months out from his first victory. In fact, he was saying the latter two in about 1985.
    
    7 4
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    May 4, 2022 11:14am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yes, I think most people realise that Trump was an ideal US president, from the Russian perspective.
      
      4 13
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      May 4, 2022 1:15pm
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        While I’m not surprised that you continue to add nothing insightful, interesting or original, I am surprised that your rampant Russophobia makes it through moderation.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:52pm
      - Batman
        
        We let your comments through so I’d be careful about wondering out loud about others personal views and biases 🤣 particularly regarding Russia. You’re on a thin moral ice sheet there buddy!
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:00pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Who cares, when asks decent questions he is a breath of fresh air compared to the utterly inept Cindy
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:11am
  - oldfella
    
    Watching Cindy answer media questions last night on the TV news, I wondered aloud why anyone who looked so incredibly stressed – and generally unwell – didn’t look for another job. This one is obviously taking it’s toll. Big time.
    
    19 1
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    May 4, 2022 10:48am
    - Paulus
      
      Shush – she is off to New York very shortly I would expect her to desperately try and get a UN job.
      I do not expect her to be here by the end of this year as the polls are beginning to humiliate her and she cannot continue to blame anybody else (excpet Robertson).
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:16pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        A Doctor when she comes back
        
        6 1
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        May 4, 2022 4:17pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    There is very little word soup waffle, he answers the question
    
    8 2
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    May 4, 2022 10:58am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly
      
      6 3
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      May 4, 2022 12:19pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Answers when he is allowed to. Play school TV1 this morning – Matty tried hard to deflect him.
        Previously John Campbell would have all over Luxon, but Campbell interviews himself
        
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        May 4, 2022 4:21pm
- H. Upmann
  
  Luxon needs to get this thoroughly sorted and nailed down quickly.
  The media will be Labour’s feral attack dogs on taxation and right now they are dripping at the mouth waiting for that ball to be dropped. They will be vicious.
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:17am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    When the media realise it’s all over, they will have no choice but protect their patch
    
    9 2
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    May 4, 2022 12:20pm
  - chukar
    
    To those above re Luxon /Ardern answering questions!
    Neither of them do!!
    
    They appear to think they don’t have to!
    Oh for a real leader!
    
    11 1
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    May 4, 2022 12:57pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Luxon answers most the questions in have heard him asked , and in fact goes on in detail about the problem being asked about , but why he has to even answer pathetic things like will you have maori mPs, or gays, or women, why is that even asked in a country when we all have the opportunity to better our selves
      
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      May 4, 2022 8:01pm
dave_c_

Talk about making ‘apartheid’ like determinations –
Some woman on the telly this morning, demanding that ‘National Party’ needs to be communicating how their policy will/would/should ‘treat Maori’.
Bollocks to all who think this way – after all aren’t we all ‘one’ ?
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May 4, 2022 8:34am
- Ehlana
  
  How about, our policies recognise that all humans share 99% of their DNA and have the same needs?
  That Maori are not a monolithic block and have a range of cultural engagement and opinions, only a small fraction of which are represented by the Maori Party. Or even more radically – we will treat Maoris as if they are grown-ups who can think for themselves.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:15am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You could make a start by replying to Rodion Raskolnikov’s where he make claims that Maori want ‘more, more and then some more’.
    
    4 10
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    May 4, 2022 1:18pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  I thought Cindy said we were a “team of 5 million”, apparently we’re two teams now. Who would have guessed.
  
  22 3
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  May 4, 2022 10:46am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  Yeah, yeah. We already know what Maori want: more, more and then some more again. I think we’ve got that one. How about what everyone else wants and what National will do for them?
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:16am
- Nickc2
  
  Don’t tell those media bastards anything! They’ll deliberately misrepresent what was said in favour of their masters, the Labour Govt. Don’t even be seen in their company.
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:50am
oldfella

Maggie, I wonder how much koha Tipa Mahuta (Nanaia’s sister) is making from the public purse to co-chair the Maori Advisory Group of Taumata Arowai, the Waikato River Authority, and the newly formed Maori Health Authority.
I can only assume there are not enough qualified Maori wahine named Mahuta to go around.
Nepotism, anyone?
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May 4, 2022 8:37am
- virtualmark
  
  That’s how tribal cultures roll.
  
  The very few “royalty” at the top of the tribal structure get all the benefits, and the ones at the bottom are basically serfs and labourers.
  
  There is no tribal culture that has delivered first-world outcomes for its people. The challenge for Maori is/will be whether they want to (a) stay wedded to “authentic” Maori culture and structure but have many of their people living shortened lives in poverty or (b) adopt more Western cultural values, like the value of each individual on merit, which deliver better outcomes for all but are less Maori.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:19am
  - virtualmark
    
    Basically Maori need to decide if they want to have their Magna Carta moment.
    
    Or maybe it’s their Oliver Cromwell moment. Not sure which is the best historical analogy.
    
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    May 4, 2022 3:26pm
kowtow

I’m surprised that in all the furore over Mallard’s trespassing various folk , that no mention is made of the fact that he was himself arrested and convicted then acquitted for protesting there .
That case being part of the right to protest there .

His , and actually by extension , the regime’s hypocrisy is astounding.

As is the Media’s for singing off the PM’s song sheet.
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May 4, 2022 8:38am
Maggie Pie

*CATHOLICS-4-CHOICE*

Roe V Wade:
70% of people believe women should be able to decide abortion with their Doctor. (abc news)

“We are not going back! Never, Ever!!”

https://twitter.com/Catholic4Choice/status/1521518385275801604

(Full screen/Sound up)
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May 4, 2022 8:40am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I see all this as a diversion to take the heat off Brandon
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:13am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Maggie.
    Catholics for Choice is a heretical organisation – they promote the murder of babies in the womb.
    But its all a vacuous carry-on. The decisions re abortion rights will be given back to the states. So Red states will limit or eliminate abortion, Blue states will make it easier – up to murdering the baby hours after it is actually born.
    Satan rules the Democrats.
    
    6 3
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    May 4, 2022 5:15pm
- Frank the tank
  
  What I don’t get in this is there are Red States and Blue States. If Roe v Wade gets overturned then Red States will ban it and Blue States will enshrine the right. And that will align with the wishes of that State’s population.
  
  If you want an abortion go live in a blue state or catch a plane/bus out of the state.
  
  It’s not hard really – it’s not hard.
  
  12 7
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  May 4, 2022 9:17am
  - MCōs
    
    So you support abortion or more specifically the woman’s right to choose.
    
    5 6
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    May 4, 2022 10:11am
    - westernScientist
      
      Or he supports localisum and producing laws at a (closer to) local community level, so that the laws are more representative of what the community (in this case an individual state) wants.
      
      9 6
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      May 4, 2022 10:29am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Since children my views have hardened. I previously didn’t give too shits. There should be an option for abortion but it should be a last case solution especially late in the term.
      
      We shouldn’t go down the route of McAbortions in my view.
      
      10 4
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      May 4, 2022 10:30am
      - Batman
        
        If late term it is inevitably because of medical reasons.
        
        Absolutely nobody is carrying a baby for five months then deciding they want a termination.
        
        The claims otherwise are basically smears designed to suit the desired outcome.
        
        Meanwhile, it could mostly be avoided entirely by making birth control cheap and freely available, along with quality sex ed for those puberty age and above. Prevent the problem rather than try to pretend it can be wished away by legislation.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:12am
      - Sean OConnor
        
        @Batman, not so.
        There’s very little published quantitative research on the reasons for late term abortion. The last big number study is 40 years old and was by the Guttmacher Institute (basically, PP’s research arm) in their own journal.
        It found that the reasons for late term abortion are basically the same as reasons for early abortions and are primarily economic.
        
        There’s also other indirect evidence that refutes what you’re saying; late term abortions correlate negatively with age (but medical causes correlate positively), and in NZ, in the one year after the recent abortion liberalisation, late term abortions went up 40%. (Too many questions got asked; the statistics collection was promptly shelved after those figures were commented on).
        
        Would you like a link to the Guttmacher study? Are there any large number studies that back up what you say?
        Or is yours basically a faith position?
        
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        May 4, 2022 5:42pm
      - Sean OConnor
        
        @Batman, here’s a modern (medium size) study from Guttmacher:
        https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2013/11/who-seeks-abortions-or-after-20-weeks
        
        “Women aged 20–24 were more likely than those aged 25–34 to have a later abortion (odds ratio, 2.7), and women who discovered their pregnancy before eight weeks’ gestation were less likely than others to do so (0.1). Later abortion recipients experienced logistical delays (e.g., difficulty finding a provider and raising funds for the procedure and travel costs), which compounded other delays in receiving care. Most women seeking later abortion fit at least one of five profiles: They were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous.”
        
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        May 4, 2022 5:49pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, and back to going to s as mother state to get what you want
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:18am
  - Batman
    
    Except Frank, some states are exploring how they can prevent their citizens obtaining abortions in another state by criminalising the patient and the provider.
    
    Whatever happened to personal freedom? It’s all about control of the masses under a particular religious worldview.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:45am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Indeed, and you could modify that second statement to apply to Ardern’s NZ in the last 2 years.
      
      “Whatever happened to personal freedom? It’s all about control of the masses under a particular medical worldview.”
      
      Each statement a glaring example of the abuse of personal freedom by tyrants.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:52am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        And still have to wear a mask so they can recognise each other, even alone in a car ffs. Keep away from him, he has no mask!
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:09am
    - westernScientist
      
      Agreed, although I dont really think that will happen, but if it did then it would be challenged and probably declared a violation of states rights. Similar to currently someone from one state where they are not legally able to carry a firearm, can travel to another where it is legal and do it, and not be hunted down by their state of residence for carrying a firearm while in the other state.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:57am
      - Batman
        
        Yes, quite. A good comparison.
        
        But the fact that states are attempting to do it, whether for political grandstanding or virtue signalling reasons, is malpractice.
        
        Same goes for the various ‘six week’ laws being signed which effectively undermine current precedent and stand only because removing them takes time.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:20am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s more likely another device to deter women from seeking healthcare of their choice: the potential to punish someone who does this will be enough, for now. I say for now, because the folks behind these laws firmly believe Jesus wants them to take their moral crusade nationwide.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:23pm
    - Frank the tank
      
      If that is the case I don’t support that. I’d argue that would have a very low rate of being able to stand through a federal legal system however.
      
      Possibly more so liberal scaremongering.
      
      4 4
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      May 4, 2022 11:20am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Do you really need to be religious to see that killing an unborn child is wrong? Only if you are a disgusting human being.
      
      Choice? Women have all the choice in the world: choose to have sex, or choose to not have sex. Women determine whether intercourse will occur, not the male, so they should choose wisely, given the chance of pregnancy.
      
      Coming in halfway through the argument and saying that women have a right to choice when it comes to convenience abortions after the fact is to obfuscate the fact that they’ve already made their choice at that point. The argument seems to be “we have a right to be promiscuous and to avoid the consequences.” Half of that is true. Once they are pregnant, it is no longer a matter of “their body” because they now have another life within them.
      
      13 12
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      May 4, 2022 11:27am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Many if not most abortions follow contraceptive failure. It’s still their body not yours.
        
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        May 4, 2022 12:31pm
      - graham
        
        “Many if not most abortions follow contraceptive failure.”
        
        Nope. According to this report, 55 percent of women who had abortions were using no contraception.
        
        http://alranz.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/factsfigures_2015.pdf
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:04pm
      - Ross Campbell
        
        RR – your religious moralising about the evils of killing unborn children is amusing to say the least.
        When it suits your own prejudice you are more than happy to sit back and watch with satisfaction as your idol Putin lays waste to whole populations of people and thinks job well done.
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:17pm
      - Hebe123
        
        Spoken like a man.
        Most women I know have had contraceptive failure at some point. I’m sure most of us have had other instances of this that we don’t know about.
        I never wanted kids. Could have happened though.
        Would have been a miserable life for a kid with me as it’s mother (and sole parent) frankly.
        
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        May 4, 2022 4:05pm
      - Ehlana
        
        Women should have “all the choice” about whether or not to have sex Rodion, but you are no doubt aware that too often they have no choice.
        
        It also, of course, takes two to tango. Our society doesn’t seem to have pushed the message that men have a responsibility here too – to choose whether or not to have sex based on the knowledge that a baby may be created and consideration of whether they want to raise one with this mother, or have the knowledge, resources and skills to do a good job of it.
        
        Then there is the sad fact that not all humans are equally capable of seeing consequences from choices – it’s one of the last capacities our minds develop and some people never get there. So there will always be pregnancies to parents who couldn’t or didn’t think it through.
        
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        May 4, 2022 4:56pm
    - Sean OConnor
      
      Personal freedom doesn’t extend to killing others. There are plenty of secular pro-lifers, BTW.
      
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      May 4, 2022 5:50pm
  - tf78
    
    Sounds like the Irish going to England.
    
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    May 4, 2022 6:24pm
- Rich Prick
  
  What is it with leftie women and their wild hand gestures? Pelosi is the worst, but that mad Native American gives Nancy a run for her money.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:20am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Pocahontas must have been inhaling the smoke signals
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:34am
- MCōs
  
  If, as seems likely, the various states are free to wind back the clock on abortion rights it won’t stop there, that’s for sure.
  Single sex marriages will be next to go, civil unions . . . . . . .
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:24am
  - Opie
    
    Good.
    
    What is the point of two men getting married?
    
    Rembering of course that the only reason to be married was a religious requirement to allow children between a man and a woman.
    
    I bet those that want a single sex marriage ain’t religious so why bother?
    
    Go do whatever you want but accept that the choices you make may cause consequences.
    
    14 6
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    May 4, 2022 11:45am
    - Batman
      
      Nonsense. Marriage is a wildly successful institution which humans have adopted far outside of the narrow religious reasons which created it.
      
      Marriage itself is now a mainly secular activity, rather than a religious one.
      
      It is a ringing endorsement of the concept that marriage equality has become much more widespread in recent years.
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:50am
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        “Marriage is a wildly successful institution which humans have adopted far outside of the narrow religious reasons which created it.”
        
        Successful at doing what? Reproducing and raising children in a stable environment. It is sanctified by religious doctrine, but monogamous marriage and the production of offspring brings stability and benefit to the whole society. Like abortion, it’s fundamentally about respect for biological processes and the best approaches with regard to them, and religion just happens to affirm the right approach.
        
        A male and a female get married principally to produce and raise children. Why do two men get married? Who knows. What possible purpose could it serve? The purpose is ideological and about subverting and devaluing the institution of heterosexual marriage.
        
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        May 4, 2022 2:25pm
      - Batman
        
        A gay couple are perfectly capable of providing children with a stable and monogamous environment in which they are loved and supported.
        
        The purpose is providing humans with the ability to live their lives as they wish, including raising children.
        
        You might even call it freedom.
        
        Though that is a foreign concept to those like you with a very small square box which constitutes freedom of the type you approve of. You still don’t have any right to dictate to others however.
        
        Your ideological purposes are simply design to devalue other humans.
        
        Go and advocate for strict heterosexual religious marriage, separate from the state, to those who are interested. You are free to do so!
        
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        May 4, 2022 2:56pm
- Matt Long
  
  Democrats aghast that it might get harder to kill their babies.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:33am
- Scott
  
  Thanks for posting that Maggie. I did watch a few seconds of it but I have to confess that watching an hysterical Elizabeth Warren shouting makes me lose the will to live.
  The overturning of Roe versus Wade will return the issue to the states where it can be decided by the people’s representatives. Which is as it should be.
  
  Roe versus Wade was a bad decision because the Supreme Court took upon themselves the role of a super legislature. They invented a right out of whole cloth which does not exist in the Constitution. This led to other egregious rulings by the Supreme Court where they have simply invented rights according to liberal whims.
  
  The Democrats have done this because they could not get there legislation through so they relied on the Supreme Court to do their dirty work for them.
  The Supreme Court is supposed to interpret law and interpret the Constitution. They are not supposed to make law.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:48am
  - Sean OConnor
    
    Roe vs Wade is just a clump of letters.
    
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    May 4, 2022 5:52pm
  - gump
    
    >”The Democrats have done this because they could not get there legislation through so they relied on the Supreme Court to do their dirty work for them.”
    
    Roe v. Wade was decided 7-2 by a Supreme Court that had a majority of Republican appointments.
    
    Four Republican appointees and three Democrat appointees formed the majority opinion.
    
    One Republican appointee and one Democrat appointee dissented.
    
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    May 4, 2022 7:17pm
- kowtow
  
  Funny innit .
  
  When it comes to killing a baby . it’s “My body my choice”
  
  When it comes to bat flu they legislate “your body , our choice”.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:55am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Exactly, well spotted.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:53am
  - westernScientist
    
    not really, just authoritarian. It entirely consistent with their world view of socialists who think they will be in the elite class: “I know what is best for everyone now do what I say of off to the gulags”
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:01am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The bit that gets me is the rabid left (don’t want drugs in my body) use abortion as a contraceptive, even to the extent of post birth abortion.
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:14am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Yawn. This topic has been done to death.
      
      The opposing positions are well-understood (they have been stated enough times …) and totally irreconcilable. There is no way that one side can persuade the other to change views.
      
      There is not a majority of NZ politicians who want to stop all abortions. Perhaps they could be lobbied to change their views. I doubt that a polly pays much notice to anonymous correspondence – for all she knows it might be coming from a troll farm.
      
      But do keep telling us by all means …..
      
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      May 4, 2022 6:02pm
  - virtualmark
    
    But kowtow, that applies in reverse too.
    
    Lots of right-wing politicians in the States saying “no masks, individual rights” but then saying “your body, our choice”.
    
    Plenty of hypocrisy to go around everyone.
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:19pm
- Ehlana
  
  Haven’t they had decades to actually legislate on this issue? You know, that thing where you elect representatives and they make the laws, which the Courts then only have to interpret?
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:17am
  - westernScientist
    
    The supreme court is there to interpret the constitution. Roe v Wade was an argument about whether states had the right under the constitution to restrict access, and the supreme court ruled they did not (or they did not in specific circumstances). The argument now is whether the ruling was wrong, i.e. if the judgement was incorrect and it is in fact not a violation of the constitution for states to locally have restrictions in excess of what the old ruling aloud.
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:12am
    - Batman
      
      The SC is to rule on cases. It just so happens that due to its nature many are constitutional in nature.
      
      Its role is not to “interpret the constitution”.
      
      In this case, it pertains to the 14th amendment and the overreach of the state into the personal lives of individuals.
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:15am
      - westernScientist
        
        Your right, it rules on cases, usually with respect to the constitution, but not always, and has roles past the constitution. But it is partly their role to interpenetrate the constitution.
        
        This directly from the about page of the courts website:
        “The Court is the highest tribunal in the Nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States.”
        
        If thats not making them responsible for interpreting the constitution, who is?
        
        https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/about.aspx#:~:text=As%20the%20final%20arbiter%20of,and%20interpreter%20of%20the%20Constitution.
        
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        May 4, 2022 12:24pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Essentially, it does interpret the constitution by its rulings on specific cases.
        But the majority (liberal or conservative or in-between) often pretends that it is simply applying the constitution to specific facts.
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:30pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    It’s Political, control of the masses. Wind them up and divide them
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:15am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Roe/Wade is only 50 years old. Could have been overturned any time. Wasn’t. Go figure …
    
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    May 4, 2022 6:03pm
- bco90
  
  You mean Catholics-Going-Against-Catholicism.
  
  Catholic teaching is clear about this. You can’t support killing your children.
  
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  May 4, 2022 6:48pm
  - gump
    
    Catholics can believe whatever they want to.
    
    One of the core elements of their faith is that God has given mankind the gift of free will.
    
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    May 4, 2022 7:09pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

AGW activists have noticed that the Southern Hemisphere is cooling rapidly & has identified the phenomenon as “Climate Change” or Autumn as the rest of us prefer to call it.
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May 4, 2022 8:57am
- Pavel
  
  They have to call it climate change now. Ever since they started on about warming a month ago it has been getting cooler and cooler every day, got the fire burning all night and half the morning now. Give it five months and it will change from climate change back to warming again.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:12am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ̶G̶l̶o̶b̶a̶l̶ ̶W̶a̶r̶m̶i̶n̶g̶, ̶C̶l̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶, ̶G̶l̶o̶b̶a̶l̶ ̶C̶l̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶D̶i̶s̶r̶u̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶.
  Climate Challenges.
  New name coming soon.
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:26am
Batman

Oh what a nice gift for Star Wars Day, thanks to the US Department of Homeland Security Inspector General!

“New DHS IG report finds that the DHS’ intel division modified a report on Russian interference in the 2020 election to blunt the impact of its finding that Russia was aiding Trump, and that acting Sec Chad Wolf ordered it frozen b/c it would “hurt POTUS.”

Report: https://t.co/kQ7w5zeGzC
Source: https://t.co/foomBHLGOG
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May 4, 2022 8:59am
- Frank the tank
  
  Morning Bat.
  
  Counting the days till Jim Jordan is let loose on the “Feltch” and Hunter Biden.
  
  Happy Days
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:20am
  - Batman
    
    Haha I have no problem with watching Gym try to prove the fantasies from online and get any outcomes in the real world. Nice immature nickname though, but it doesn’t beat having the real last name of Santorum (barf)
    
    I notice you immediately went for a squirrel distraction because you really really don’t want to talk about the topic at hand eh? 😉
    
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    December 4, 2021 10:48am
    - Frank the tank
      
      Lol Bat.
      
      There is also Hunter’s laptop from hell.
      
      As regards to Russia it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that there was no collusion between the interests of Trump and Putin and the whole saga was a made-up narrative by Hillary Clinton.
      
      Did Russia try to ‘interfere’ online with the election – probably. If some posts on social media influenced the result of an election you really need to question the strength of that country’s democracy.
      
      Therefore:
      i) Did it effect the outcome – no.
      ii) Is it any different from say international leaders involving themselves recently in the French Presidential election – no.
      iii) Any different to US efforts in former Soviet Union states – probably not.
      iv) Outside of tribal democrats does anyone care anymore – no
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:31am
      - Batman
        
        Ahhh, those hairs are split so finely!
        
        So you are clinging to the specific collision narrative, which was muddied by Bill Barr’s interference and very questionable written responses to questions from Trump’s lawyers.
        
        Good to see you confirm that the Russian interference campaign was in fact real. Very much not a hoax.
        
        Care to comment on Paul Manafort handing the Kilimnick polling data? Or is that a bit too collusiony for you?
        
        If social media posts don’t matter, why is the far right screaming about censorship and free speech on said platforms? You really have to question the strength of its principles and arguments if that is the case.
        
        Lots of dodges but no substantive engagement. But that’s consistent for the last 4-5 years on this topic.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:59am
- ClanMcleod
  
  It’s over. Let it go.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:55am
cmm

The Countdown stabber raises that interesting point yet again: why should murder or attempted murder be treated any differently?

Consider the following two scenarios:

Joe stabs Fred and runs away. Someone sees Fred falling to the ground. An ambulance is called but it is stuck in traffic. By the time Fred arrives in the hospital he’s very weak. The surgeon on duty is not the world’s best and Fred dies on the operating table. Joe gets charged with murder.

Joe stabs Fred and runs away. A trained paramedic with a backpack full of first aid toys sees Fred fall to the ground and immediately starts treating him. An ambulance is called and gets Fred to the hospital in minutes. By the time Fred arrives in the hospital he’s in shock, but still conscious and reasonably stabilised. The surgeon on duty just immigrated from South Africa where he had been dealing with 5 stabbings a day. Fred survives and Joe gets charged with attempted murder.

In both those scenarios Joe’s actions are identical. The rest is all down to luck and other people. What Joe gets charged with should depend on his actions, not those of others.

Therefore I say that there is no moral distinction between murder and attempted murder and the courts should treat them exactly the same.
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May 4, 2022 9:02am
- bennerg
  
  Well out cmm – it is all about their intent. Knifing someone is about causing harm – and anything that could cause death (gun, knife, injection) has that intent, and should be treated equally.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:39am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Even a cellphone. Just tape a bit of C4 to it
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:29am
- thirteenstars
  
  You’re doing what the woke do, playing around with semantics to distort reality, and badly.
  
  An attempt is an act that does not succeed in its intent. It is not the same, in *reality*, as an act that does succeed in its attempt.
  
  You might as well say an attempt to stab is the same as an actual stabbing since the attempt was to stab, and the fact that the stab did not happen–because perhaps a South African surgeon deflected the knife–is neither here nor there.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:42am
  - westernScientist
    
    That depends on what you think the justice system fundamentally for though.
    
    Is it to give victims revenge/closure?
    Is it to change the behaviour of offenders?
    Or is it just to keep offenders away from society so the rest of us dont have to deal with them?
    
    In the first case, your correct it should be treated differently – the focus is on the local effect of the crime alone. Iin the second and third cases, it should be treated the same – The focus is on risk mitigation for wider society.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:25am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      It’s a mixture of those three things and a few more. a fuller list is in the Sentencing Act:
      
      hold the offender accountable for harm done to the victim and the community by the offending; or
      promote in the offender a sense of responsibility for, and an acknowledgment of, that harm; or
      provide for the interests of the victim of the offence; or
      provide reparation for harm done by the offending; or
      denounce the conduct in which the offender was involved; or
      deter the offender or other persons from committing the same or a similar offence; or
      protect the community from the offender; or
      assist in the offender’s rehabilitation and reintegration; or
      a combination of 2 or more of the purposes in paragraphs (a) to (h).
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:37pm
  - cmm
    
    thirteen: Isn’t the reality that Joe is a crazy bastard that needs the same level of “correction” regardless of the death (or not) of his victim?
    
    And I would agree that taking a swing at someone should be treated as assault whether it hits or misses. What matters is the intent and the moral brokenness of the perpetrator – the outcome not so much.
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:24am
    - thirteenstars
      
      If you equate a non-violent act (swinging a fist) with a violent act (actually smashing your fist into someone’s face), then you are not arguing the law or justice, you are arguing the use of mindreading in the justice system. A man exposing himself to a woman is not guilty of indecent exposure in your world, he is an actual rapist and should be punished as such. Why would he get his penis out if he didn’t intend to rape her? The fact that he didn’t rape her means nothing to you, only the possibility that rape might have been his intent. This is no different than the perversion by radical feminists that sexist jokes or even lecherous looks are the same as actual sexual violation. You’re in bad company.
      
      And it’s the same misguided path that the modern woke take with things like free speech in which they equate certain types of speech with violence even though no actual violence is involved. They too equate mere “intent” with action, and they want it punished as such. Many will recall the recently proposed hate speech laws which set punishments at $50,000 or 3 years prison for uttering “hateful” words, punishments exceeding many violent crimes. Their logic was the same as yours: one act can be construed as morally equivalent to the other even though they are not. It’s all about social constructs, and screw reality.
      
      If you can rely upon a chain of intent to mean the same as action to mean the same as actual outcome, then you’re throwing the concept of justice right out the window. The presumption of innocence and the punishment fitting the crime become wholly corrupted. You make whole categories of offences equivalent to each other differentiated by nothing more than subjective feelings, suppositions, bias and the range of the moment rough justice of a lynch mob.
      
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      May 4, 2022 12:29pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Good point. Well said.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:44am
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  There is a sameness at least in NZ.
  Cultural reports on the offender, discounts on the sentence, and a sentence of 3 months home detention in both instances!
  
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  May 4, 2022 1:22pm
nathie

Did anyone hear HDPA interviewing Stephen Franks yesterday about the Mallard/trespass issue?

It shows up Speaker Mallard as being a vindictive individual and exposes his “mistruth” that Parliamentary staff were responsible for trespassing former MP’s.

Apparently as far back as 1 April when Franks came across Mallard at a restaurant and as Franks approached Mallard, Mallard called out to Franks “you’re going to get a trespass notice from me.”

Franks thought he was joking but then realised that Mallard was actually “hostile”, and was “bristling” with anger.

Also apparently with Mallard was a Labour (party?) woman who was “sour” towards Franks (what is it with sour Labour people, some of their MP’s are incredibly sour once they realise you are not a supporter of theirs – seems to be a leftie/Labour/Greens trait)!

Well worth a listen, the interview with Franks starts half way through the audio recording.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/winston-peters-and-stephen-franks-trespassed-from-parliament/

Lucky Mallard didn’t deck Franks I suppose (thinking back to when he attacked Tau Henare in Parliament).

It seems as though power has gone to Mallard’s head and is “out of control”. When is the PM going to show some leadership and express no confidence in Speaker Mallard? Or will he continue to be the albatross around her neck?
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May 4, 2022 9:08am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Also puts a lie to Mallard’s claim that he isn’t involved with the Trespass notices.
  
  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/mallard-delegates-parliament-trespasses
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:59am
  - nathie
    
    Thanks for the link, yes Stephen Franks’ “you’re going to get a trespass notice from me” is rather clear cut – there is no wiggle room for any doubt!
    
    As for that Newsroom article, perhaps it is just me but the author appears incredibly naive when he wrote “However, Newsroom understands that none of the high-profile trespasses were presented to Mallard and he has neither proposed any specific individuals be trespassed or prevented notices from being issued to anyone”.
    
    Seriously? I hope Newsroom follow that up (as they seem to have been played by Mallard or his office staff), especially as the PM said last night in news reports that basically the buck stops with Mallard!
    
    Also I just caught ZB’s The Country with Jamie Mackay who interviewed the PM a few minutes ago, and again she stated that in essence that the responsibility lies with Mallard (and then quickly moved onto something else)!
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:30pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Yes heard it, she also ronde red who the ex woman Labour Mp was, never heard if she found out, but Franks said it was April Fools day, I remember some Māori signing in parliament a few weeks ago, an elderly looking Annette King was in the gallery, I bet ya bottom dollar it was that bitter old bag of wind
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:22am
- MCōs
  
  Franks, Mallard, Peters
  They’re like old codgers arguing about hip replacements
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:35am
- Paulus
  
  Mallard was always considered a bully when he was aTeacher at Onslow College in Wellington particularly to the boys (but never the girls of course).
  The boys just took him intheir strides.
  
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  May 4, 2022 1:23pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Teachers are supposed to stay out our their pupils’ strides.
    
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    May 4, 2022 3:35pm
Lee C

In an inner city school, a young girl of Muslim background annaounced

‘I have two mummies now’.

The staff were ecstatic. Many of them, (leaning left of the political spectrum, but who kept that to themselves) were animated. here was the prospect of exploring progressive notions such as transgenderism, and gender fluidity. This was a real step forward and a chancce to educate the youngsters about tolerance, and respect.

And think of it! a family, who, regardless of so many decrying their religion as a reactionary one, who were willing to embrace the diverse and fluid nature of modern woke awareness about gendder issues.

More than one or two covert tears were quietly dabbed, i don’t mind telling you.

They organised a special assembly with guest speakers to praise the child and her family.

Anyway.. it turned out that her dad, in his fifties, just had two wives and the new one was barely a legal adult, not that you could tell becasue they were both covered from head to foot and forbidden to speak in public..
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May 4, 2022 9:21am
- MCōs
  
  It’s alright for you to make fun of such situations.
  I’m picking you don’t know anyone who’s father has two ‘wives’ or a woman who knows her husband has a number of other minor wives?
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:46am
  - Lee C
    
    Gosh, Mcos,.
    
    I’m picking that you do, and need to deal with it rather than flailing at total strangers.
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:29pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING…

Elon’s @ it again 😀

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1521202951230046210
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May 4, 2022 9:22am
Biscuit

Polls, pdm’s best friend Trevor Mallard, Climate Change, Amber H, yawn…

Cut to the chase, peeps:

Champions Cup Semifinal Second Leg:

Villarreal (2-0 up at halftime and threatening to seriously dirty my undies) 2
Liverpool 3

Pool win 5-2 on aggregate

A TENTH Champions Cup Final awaits in just over 3 weeks…

Now, how loudly to blast ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ across the neighbourhood? And for how long?

Downtick away, you sad Pool-deniers out there!
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May 4, 2022 9:22am
Frank the tank

For some mild amusement go across to the standard to see how they are explaining the Reid Research poll.

I’m sure Greg Presland was an Iraqi Information Minister under Saddam Hussein in a previous life….
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May 4, 2022 9:29am
Maggy Wassilieff

This Opinion Piece by Ian Taylor about covid test balls-ups was on The Herald website last night… but no sign of it there this morning.

I’ve learnt to save articles that have a habit of disappearing rapidly – invariably they deal with the incompetence of our Labour Government .

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/sir-ian-taylor-governments-we-know-best-approach-strikes-again/IEOPBNAPQ7IAPYW4OGJIHC25BM/
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May 4, 2022 9:32am
- Blog-aholic
  
  this is on https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2022/05/sir-ian-taylor-govts-we-know-best.html too.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:40am
- SoloView
  
  @ Maggie W.
  The opinion piece was posted at 1659hrs 3/05/22.
  If being moved to the archive is part of a conspiracy to ensure the Government only gets good press exposure, why would it be published in the first place?
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:59am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They do take things that look bad for Labour or good for Nats down very quick, Last week, an article about Luxon press conference in Rotarua was up at lunch time, when I went to watch it at 2 pm it was gone, not only that, when I found it on social media it was saying the article had gone
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:26am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    why would it be published in the first place?
    
    So our fair-minded MSM can tell us that they are not just Government mouth-pieces.
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:40am
    - Batman
      
      Maggie you’ve got the link for it?
      
      The extremely poor design of the Herald website is a cock up rather than a conspiracy. Which is the case in 99.999% of occurrences.
      
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      May 4, 2022 10:54am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Thanks for putting me right.
        
        After 60+ years of reading between the lines and deciphering media spin, it is so refreshing to learn that I have totally misunderstood the duplicitous MSM.
        
        I will now view their offerings with new eyes.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:26am
      - H. Upmann
        
        Yes it really is a pig of a website, even on a good day. Trying to find something archived is impossible. MSM transparency no.
        
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        May 4, 2022 11:29am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Some people seem to expect the stories which they deem important should have a permanent place on the newspaper’s home page.
        News stories date very quickly – most even quicker than blog posts here. Very little interest in most Kiwiblog posts after a few hours.
        
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        May 4, 2022 3:39pm
  - Nickc2
    
    So as they can say they did publish it (no-matter how briefly). It’s a ruse to hide their Govt bias.
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:00pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Ah Great..

a committee to sort out Hospital delays.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/466399/health-minister-andrew-little-announces-hospital-waiting-list-response

But don’t expect any action before Xmas.
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May 4, 2022 9:41am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  So will he do anything or just talk about it? Electioneering.
  I am waiting for rotor cuff surgery and Ulnar nerve surgery (cubital tunnel syndrome) in both elbows. Looks like I will be waiting some time with do-nothing Labour running the show.
  Can’t even go out fishing.
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:51am
  - mawm
    
    They’ll just do their usual trick of making it harder to get onto a waiting list, and those that under the new rules no longer qualify to be on the list get removed. It worked last time to shorten the waiting lists.
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:43am
- mandk
  
  Xmas what year?
  
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  May 4, 2022 9:51am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Exactly. Christmas 2023 – Election bribe
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:13am
- slightlyrighty
  
  It’s not enough that they do nothing, they must be seen to be doing something that is actually nothing.
  
  This is a government of smoke and mirrors.
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:09am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  At what cost? More wasted millions
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:27am
- Taieri
  
  But don’t expect any action before Xmas
  ———-
  
  What year?
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:55am
- oldfella
  
  Maggy, I think Little’s committee should be chaired by Tipa Mahuta.
  She’s chair of just about everything else at the moment. /s
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:10am
redeye

Waiting Times;-

Sounds like another working group;-

To avoid that, Little has brought in a “high power taskforce” led by “health fix it man” Andrew Connolly.

And does anyone else see a problem with this?

Little said wait lists had grown significantly since the pandemic started. The wait list for people waiting to see a specialist for more than four months had doubled since pre-pandemic days.

He said in March, 36,000 people had been waiting for more than four months and 27,000 people had been on a wait list for four months to get treatment – up from 8000 people in February 2020.

He says the Government’s health sector reforms, which include bringing the DHBs together under a new entity, Health New Zealand, and forming the Māori Health Authority, is important work to reduce the backlog.

Because more bureaucracy always makes thing work better. Right?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300579504/andrew-little-lays-out-plan-for-how-government-will-clear-health-backlog
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May 4, 2022 9:42am
curry4me

https://www.bitchute.com/video/StDP4aNF0ko/

Baby Killers Slightly Miffed over Roe v Wade Reversal

Yes, cue the song: It’s the end of the world as we know it! And it certainly is for the woke left! The meltdown over the overturning of Roe v Wade is already utterly epic! We’re going to look at some highlights from that meltdown, we’re going to see what some Democrat stalwarts are tweeting out, and stick with me to the very end of this video when I’ll reveal why they’re absolutely right: the woke leftist world is indeed crumbling right before our very eyes. [Kids 1 Baby Killers 0. 11:05]
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May 4, 2022 9:43am
- MCōs
  
  Not everyone shares your extremist point of view.
  https://twitter.com/theradr/status/1125877688877625347?s=21&t=Kj7x1YKRXlx1U71c69r7og
  
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  May 4, 2022 2:04pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0OeF3LYhY0

And Putin to Kickstart Germany’s Impending Energy Crisis.

Putin is using divide and rule to lessen the impact of the Fourth Reich’s ban on importing Russian oil, and gas. [4:19]
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May 4, 2022 9:44am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Pro life or Pro choice – I don’t care.
Here a a few words from Candace Owens.
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=715465806376216
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May 4, 2022 9:45am
Maggie Pie

Had to larf…one of the girls at tennis was wondering if she ever gets fat, can she identify as skinny and be trans-slender ?

LOL!!
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May 4, 2022 10:10am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Behahahahahaha
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:28am
- Gravelroad
  
  I think your friend would be better off contacting Kim Khardashion about losing weight.
  Poor Kim had to shed 16 pounds in three weeks so she could fit into Marilyn Monroe’s famous gold dress to wear to the Met gala yesterday.
  THE gold dress, not a replica.
  You know the one.
  The one Marilyn wore to President Kennedy’s birthday party.
  Thank goodness President Kennedy wasn’t a shifty womaniser like Trump, eh.
  3,2,1, Batman………
  
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  May 4, 2022 12:36pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Here she is Gravs….pout n’ all 😀
    
    https://twitter.com/tryliebrasil/status/1521543901756207106
    
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    May 4, 2022 1:05pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      Wowser –
      I like Marilyn’s floating dress above pavement air duct thing better than the gold model.
      Have seen no record of what President Kennedy thought of it, though.
      Maybe Pres Trump had a view…..
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:19pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Trumpy may not have had a ‘view’…
        but he sure had a way with words 😛
        
        https://vox.com/2016/10/7/13205842/trump-secret-recording-women
        
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        May 4, 2022 1:53pm
    - Nickc2
      
      There’s a few bucket loads of synthetic hyaluronic acid (HA Lip Filler) there Maggie.
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:31pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Bait is no good, strayline with a fresh one ……
    
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    May 4, 2022 1:33pm
- Scooter
  
  Maggie, I thought you would’ve heard of trans fat😋
  
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  May 5, 2022 12:43am
Maggy Wassilieff

Another Great announcement..

The Cops are going to target Gangs….but not for a couple of months

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/128530534/police-plan-major-nationwide-crackdown-on-gangs

Read the article…and discover how it is all those naughty Ozzie-rejects that are responsible for bad things in our community.

Nothing to do with our misunderstood home-grown Mongrel Mobsters, it seems
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May 4, 2022 10:13am
- Gravelroad
  
  Preparing for electioneering perhaps.
  “Look what we did – spent $Xm on sorting the gangs.
  Vote for us.”
  
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  May 4, 2022 10:20am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I do hope the Min of Police learns to count properly before she reports back about how many gangsters the cops have caught.
    
    Hon POTO WILLIAMS: In response to question No. 10 on 9 February, I answered that “60,000 military-style weapons, also known as E category firearms, had been removed from circulation as part of the firearms buyback.” It was actually 60,000 prohibited firearms that were removed, of which 15,037 were classified as E category firearms.
    
    https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20220503_20220503_16
    
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    May 4, 2022 10:46am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Where would we nitpickers be, without nits to pick?
      
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      May 4, 2022 3:42pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Nitpicking… or an MP completely out of her depth.
        
        https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2205/S00023/correction-from-police-minister-a-start.htm
        
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        May 4, 2022 5:51pm
Maggie Pie

Labour-Research-Unit discover ‘Holy Grail’…..
believe this will be the path to election victory

https://twitter.com/PumaharaC/status/1521229723795603456
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May 4, 2022 10:59am
Master Mariner

Well , Who would of thought with NIWA contracting to councils the threat of rising sea levels and the expected out comes from insurers.

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/115618/seas-rising-and-storms-surging-who-will-pay-new-zealand%E2%80%99s-most-vulnerable

Ok, Here’s the thing. If this is correct then sea level rise will be on a Linear scale and hence measurable rise calculated for every year. Where is the measurement increases? Say in 10 years it will rise x mm etc ?

The next thing is if this is not the case ( sea Level rise) then they should be liable for the extra increases on Insurance etc ?

The Insurance Industry must be rubbing there hands with Glee due extra “Premiums” from not only Houses built but also councils as well in extra Money.

As CMM will know , We can now accurately measure Sea Level rise very accurately with Satelite Data .
Thoughts?
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May 4, 2022 11:04am
- Master Mariner
  
  Further digging and its expected to rise 3.5mm year.
  How they get this I dont know,
  “The sea-level projection and mapping tool was developed by Takiwā, a Māori-owned data management and analytics platform. ”
  
  https://www.searise.nz/
  It really looks like theft through stealth by making coastal properties uninsurable and hence un sellable in the near future.
  
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  May 4, 2022 11:12am
  - oldfella
    
    MM, maybe Maori want ‘their’ shoreline – and sea beds – back? /s
    
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    May 4, 2022 11:22am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      When they find out it is impossible, they will blame Ngati-Pakeha and want reparations. Seems to be the way things work these days.
      
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      May 4, 2022 11:51am
  - Nickc2
    
    Don’t Maori claims for Foreshore and Seabed have something to do with the High Water Mark? What better than to have a movable mark eh?
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:10pm
    - cmm
      
      Fine, so long as they lost a whole lot with Kaikoura rising up and, quite likely, on the next big shake in Wellington.
      
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      May 4, 2022 1:01pm
  - Taieri
    
    Here is the observational record of sea level increase in NZ:
    
    https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/628
    
    No acceleration noted.
    
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    May 4, 2022 12:27pm
    - cmm
      
      Yup, the one liner version of that thesis is:
      
      “What the hell are we actually measuring here?”
      
      If the land is moving up and down and the air pressure is forcing the sea level up /down then what does a tidal gauge really measure?
      
      It is a pity this was done in 2010 just before the Chch and Kaikoura EQs. It would be interesting to repeat it with that data. That really would show that there are external effects going on.
      
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      May 4, 2022 3:18pm
    - Trev
      
      There is very little or no mention of that part of the report which reveals that in some parts of NZ the land is rising (uplifting) and counteracting any sea level rise. Sea levels have changed remarkably little in NZ since recording began but changes are far from uniform. I don’t see any need for the alarmism generated by media or those researchers hopeful of more funding. The change is slow and not always adverse for humans.
      
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      May 4, 2022 3:38pm
- Inandout
  
  MM, insurance is a very competitive industry and sooner or later some company will buck the trend and cover seaside properties. Actuaries provide data to their bosses and that data is based on risk.
  
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  May 4, 2022 12:43pm
- cmm
  
  Measuring very accurately with satellites is only part of the answer.
  
  Even if you have perfectly accurate data until you have 30+ years of it because there is no accurate data from 30 years ago.
  
  To keep the hype afloat, the rise needs to speed up. Every year that goes by there’s less time to do the required sea level rise.
  
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  May 4, 2022 12:59pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  We can measure ground level changes to mm accuracies over long term using GPS. Tide gauges can be similarly accurate with sea level. But satellites are not able to accurately measure sea levels directly (via radar etc) due to impacts of waves whose height makes the error bars too large to be useful, thermageddonists pretend that they are far more accurate than they really are.
  
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  May 4, 2022 1:09pm
  - Mike
    
    Sea level changes with the tides so it is impossible to measure, ever.//
    
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    May 4, 2022 2:48pm
- cmm
  
  And further, NIWA’s data handling is a bit suspect and, in my experience is activist-driven rather than science-driven.
  
  For example, in 2005 or so I asked NIWA for tide data. They refused to release it until it had been “corrected”. They said they did not keep the raw data but destroyed it. Nor would they release the details on their correction process.
  
  This is extremely poor science and is unacceptable – especially from a state-funded entity.
  
  Perhaps they have changed their ways, but I doubt it.
  
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  May 4, 2022 1:10pm
  - ex-golfer
    
    But, but, but Clint “I used to work for KiwiBuild but don’t tell anyone” Smith keeps telling us that average weekly earnings was up 6.5% in the past year and total weekly earnings was up 10.9% in the year.
    AND households weekly earnings are up 34% under Labour vs 14% inflation.
    So clearly there’s no cost of living crisis in Clint’s head. Its all being made up and Stats must just be wrong.
    
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    May 4, 2022 5:26pm
- wilderbeast
  
  The insurance industry has by far the best sea rise data. Climate change / sea level rise can be effectively regulated by the market and those who have skin in the game and will evaluate the risk accordingly. Bureaucrat wannabes who want to socially engineer the future should retreat to the basement where they belong.
  
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  May 4, 2022 7:08pm
mandk

Stats NZ reports today that wage inflation increased to 3.0% in the March quarter, from 2.6% in the December quarter.

But taking CPI inflation into account, this means that the fall in real wages jumped to 3.9% in March, from 3.3% in December.

Labour – the party of the workers. Lol!
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May 4, 2022 11:08am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  The party of turkeys keenly awaiting the exciting christmas thing that everyone’s been talking about on facebook
  
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  May 4, 2022 1:01pm
kevn

@Maggie… Some deep digging by ‘her’ PR team needed to find this.
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May 4, 2022 11:14am
MCōs

Fifty two years ago on 4-May four students were shot dead at Kent State University.
https://twitter.com/will_bunch/status/1521541066150797312?s=21&t=iK-9BN8dW9vMT4gYOUbLfg
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May 4, 2022 11:33am
oldfella

Garrick Tremain once again shows local political cartoonists how it should be done. (Guess Garrick is not taking Labour party bribes like most of his peers.)
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/cartoon-of-the-day-103
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May 4, 2022 11:35am
Jack5

Is the whole health system destined to fragment on race lines?

In the far south of the country, ethnic Pacific Islanders seek a say in the health system (link bel0w).

There are apparently about 12,000 ethnic Pacific Islanders in Southland-Otago, a region which has just under 300,000 people.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/128528661/sdhb-commits-to-supporting-pasifika-healthcare-providers
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May 4, 2022 12:02pm
Benedict Yu

Eric Crampton skewers the ‘wellbeing’ industry and Wellington City Council.

Brilliant stuff 🙂

http://offsettingbehaviour.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-wellness-regime.html
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May 4, 2022 12:11pm
rouppe

Sonia Gray gets voted off DWTS and nothing to see here, no voting glitch, just is what it is.

Eli Matthewson gets voted off and its homophobia.

Riiiight…
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May 4, 2022 1:10pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Your first mistake is watching or reading about DWTS
  
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  May 4, 2022 2:49pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    wtf is that?
    Oh, here comes the speaker of the house to inform me of shit I do not watch!
    Sad they/we watch. Bring me the big white telephone
    
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    May 4, 2022 4:42pm
westernScientist

I know its propaganda, but this seems like an escalation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4eJvwtQJu4

Russian tv broadcast threatens uk with nuke
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May 4, 2022 1:26pm
- cmm
  
  Given the level of lying in our media about things impacting us, and easily verified as false/misinformation, I take everything I read about Russia/Ukraine from both sides with a hefty shovel of salt.
  
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  May 4, 2022 2:42pm
  - Mike
    
    Leaving you free to believe whatever you wish to be true.
    
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    May 4, 2022 2:50pm
Over Taxed Worker

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/us-state-department-advises-american-travellers-to-reconsider-travel-to-new-zealand/ACAMBKBFP5BDZRFKTWL46QPWIE/
NZ at level 3/4 risk rating. Meanwhile Australia travel risk is marked at lowest level. Labour continues to screw over NZ tourism with the COVID policy madness.
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May 4, 2022 2:09pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Trevor tries to waft his brain fart away.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300580057/parliament-trespass-trevor-mallard-withdraws-five-trespass-notices-after-winston-peters-threatens-legal-action

Classic bully boy tactics.
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May 4, 2022 2:17pm
- Cinematic
  
  Haha Mallard is so lame.
  
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  May 4, 2022 2:35pm
- mandk
  
  Yes, the best way to stop a bully is to stand up to him.
  
  It shows what a scumbag coward Mallard is.
  
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  May 4, 2022 2:55pm
- nathie
  
  Sooooo despite Labour/the PM saying they have no ‘control’ over Speaker Mallard (who could not see the problem with issuing trespass notices in the first place), they now expect the public to believe that Mallard has had a change of heart?
  
  No way! This is Labour/the PM telling Mallard to do this, which proves Labour/the PM does have ‘control’ over him!
  
  And what’s the bet that Mallard (behind the scenes) is unrepentant and not happy at all that he has to do this!
  
  After all as they say … a ‘leopard doesn’t change its spots’ or more appropriately ‘once a bully, always a bully’!
  
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  May 4, 2022 3:09pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Ducking for cover?
  
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  May 4, 2022 4:31pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  And who pays?
  This prick is a Govt financed BULLY
  
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  May 4, 2022 4:45pm
Maggie Pie

I can tell you one thing….
this would never have made it past Vijaya until Elon arrived on the scene 😀

https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1521547366356197376
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May 4, 2022 2:34pm
Lee C

This from Winston Peters on SUe Grey’s site:
“MALLARD’S WRONGFUL ACTIONS MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT
After being contacted by the media, and checking my emails, not the doorstep, I have learnt that the trespass notice issued to me has been withdrawn as at 1:39pm today.
It should not have taken the threat of a judicial review for the speaker to come to his senses and an understanding of the law that he wanted to enforce.
This whole issue from the start to finish has been an absolute shambles, and has caused a number of people unnecessary anguish and expense.
Given that the number of trespass notices that were issued was a total of 151 people, of which 144 were arrested, and five of the seven remaining were former MPs, this means that this was always political.
This is not, and should not, be a matter of special treatment for former Members of Parliament. This is a matter of fairness and standing up for freedoms and democracy.
So where is the accountability for this action?
We will continue with an Official Information Act request as to who, what, when, how, and why this happened.”
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May 4, 2022 3:14pm
- Prince
  
  Accountability ? Well in true Mallard style, he has blamed Parliamentary Services, ‘who he had delegated responsibility to’.
  So the Speaker delegated responsibility for deciding who to issue trespass notices to !
  And when it blows up in his face, does he take responsibility, as any decent, mature manager would ? Hell no, throw ’em under the bus Trev.
  Meanwhile, Ardern flounces, visibly bobs and weaves on camera, stammers something about ‘not my role’, suggests the other parties need to get involved, and heads for the hills.
  What a bunch of clowns this lot are, aided by a media unwilling to hold them to account for any of their circus act shambles.
  
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  May 4, 2022 3:24pm
  - [email protected]
    
    If you delegate someone to do the work for you that doesn’t automatically relieve you of responsibility if they screw up. It means that you delegated responsibility to a person not qualified to do the job correctly. YOU are responsible. Mr. Millard, YOU are responsible. Own it!
    
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    May 4, 2022 6:09pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Why would the media hold the bastards to account?
    They’ve been paid to protect them.
    
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    May 4, 2022 9:06pm
- greybeard
  
  Peters owes money to NZ and owes explanations for his activities.
  In this Mallard case he is right but that does not excuse him from numerous dodgy and unresolved historical activities.
  He is a short-arsed showman: he must be the centre of attention.
  
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  May 4, 2022 6:27pm
Maggie Pie

Couldn’t resist! 😀

He’s baaaaack…..

https://twitter.com/RealDonaldJT_/status/1521642568295010304
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May 4, 2022 3:16pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I have similar on the way. Is free, just pay shipping
  
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  May 4, 2022 4:48pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Nah, see the trailing underscore on the name. There are a lot of these fake accounts springing up at the moment as Twitter is a little more relaxed in its censorship
  
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  May 4, 2022 6:01pm
Stellaboxer

Surely Mallard has to go?
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May 4, 2022 4:05pm
Bobba Fret

In accounting terms:
Mallard is a liability for Labour and an asset for National.
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May 4, 2022 4:30pm
Maggie Pie

Scrawled on shop-facade in Parnell…..

‘Bill Burr for Police Commissioner’

LOL!!
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May 4, 2022 5:49pm
- blue collar
  
  Bill is a legend !!
  He can be anything in my books
  
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  May 4, 2022 5:54pm
Prince

Why are NZ women Rugby players so potty-mouthed ?
Every TV interview is ‘Shit this, Fudge that’.
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May 4, 2022 6:47pm
Maggie Pie

Had to larf to myself 😀
One of the girls from Tennis phoned. Now must say Holly is not a known swearer. Her opening remark….
“God that Trevor Mallards a nasty c- – t isn’t he”

lol!!
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May 4, 2022 7:07pm

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