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August 9, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 August 2022

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YesMinister

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Stop defending Uffindel. He’s a brute, and a psychopath. Beating up a 13 year old old when you are 16 is psychotic, not a ‘youthful indiscretion.’ You know damn well that a 16 year old is usually double the size and strength of a 13 year old. To have multiple 16 year olds on a 13 year old represents a void of character and predatory nature that is not going to ever truly be mended. It’s not normal. It’s not excusable. It’s a warning sign you ignore at your own peril.

You can guarantee this man has many other skeletons in his closet waiting to emerge. [Deleted – Mod] The gut tendency to hit someone smaller than you is a kind of soul staining wrong that doesn’t go away. At the very least, even if you lack the ability to recognize the cold dead soul of a chronic bully, realize he’s a liability.

National, may I remind you, is supposed to be the party of backbone and character. Rushing to defend this stain on humanity who still thinks it was all a bit of a joke only goes to show everybody that it’s actually the party of bullies and predators.

Labour’s sex pest should have been removed and charged. Uffindel should have been charged with battery and assault, not shifted to another private school like a fiddling priest so he could later on come back with the old boy’s network and have power over others.

If you still don’t think it’s an issue, maybe imagine what it would be like if you were asleep in bed tonight and multiple people twice your size burst in and beat the shit out of you. Would you be ready for any of them to be in charge of the country in 20 years time? I’m going to say no.

[Mod – do not make potentially defamatory comments based on pure speculation. It is DPF who is liable.]
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December 9, 2021 8:32am
- Harry Knuts
  
  what did you do in your youth that you want society to continually judge you on even though you aren’t that person still?
  Have a think then share.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:55am
  - Spoff
    
    One can only hope that society will continue to judge these individuals:
    https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/opinion/cringefest-videos-remind-us-of-covid-stupiditys-dizzying-heights/
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:51am
  - Rodion Raskolnikov
    
    Not only should National stay firm in the face of their enemies and not budge an inch on this, they should have a full time team of people digging through the past of Labour ministers. You can guarantee they will all have pasts that they would like to keep in the past. Ultimately, this issue has nothing to do with right and wrong, it is about using an incident as an instrument in a power struggle. Labour couldn’t give a shit about what Uffindell did as a 16 year old, they are using it for political advantage. To think otherwise is deluded.
    
    If National think that trying to stay “above it all” is a good option, they obviously are not familiar with the saying “nice guys finish last.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: National are playing a different game to Labour, which is why they are always on the back foot. National seek accord and consensus, while Labour just want to bury National.
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:04pm
    - kiwikidsnz
      
      The hands of Peter Goodfellow are all over National candidate selection & where the buck stops with many years of multiple bad choices. Yet he continues even now to manipulate the party…which says a lot about Nationals ongoing inability to resolve its own housekeeping issues before they will be trusted to run the country again.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:37pm
- kevn
  
  @yes… It has become a wet dream scenario for labour and the msm.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:08am
  - kevn
    
    Funny the other 3 lads have kept quiet. If it was such a solid thrashing they would remember. Wouldn’t they?
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:40pm
    - rockape
      
      Surely too they should be named by the victim. Goodness knows ,some of them may be lawyers or Judges by now !
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:51pm
- Nickc2
  
  You’ve obviously never been to an all-boys boarding school.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:12am
- alloytoo
  
  Ironically if Uffindel had been charged with battery and assault the state controlled media would not have been able to perform their hit job.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:12am
  - Philview
    
    The reason this hit the news yesterday was because of that opinion poll. This story has been saved for a rainy day. The fact that the media act in partnership with the Government is the really disturbing story. I would like to see a future National/ACT Government hold an Inquiry into the relationship between this current Labour Government and the media.
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:27pm
    - Nickc2
      
      There are a couple of Royal Commissions I would like to see take place when the Govt changes:
      
      1. All aspects of the Covid series of Pandemics, and
      2. All aspects of Govt funding for Media Entities.
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:59pm
    - Ehlana
      
      Yes, I noticed the coincidence of timing.
      
      Which means those now raising the issues really don’t have a problem with the behaviour – if they did, they would have acted immediately.
      
      So why was what he did okay with them, say, three weeks or months ago, but isn’t today?
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:19pm
- iMP
  
  So what you’re saying Minister, is he’s like many many 16 year old Kiwi males? Especially in the pressure cooker of a Boarding School? OK, got that.
  
  Trevor Mallard as a much older men, anyone?
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:14am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Bugger off, he was a school kid, and he had been on the receiving end his self, you find it fine for Labour to have a minister that bashed a staff member who then lost their job over a missed meeting, but is still a minister, get outta here
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:23am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “you find it fine for Labour to have a minister that bashed a staff member who then lost their job…”
    
    No that is not fine. However you are engaging in “Look over there, a squirrel.”
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:01am
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Totally wrong. In what is framed as a moral issue, no double standards are possible. If Labour is to condemn physical violence and demand censure for it (for an act done as a 16 year old 20 years before becoming an MP), then it cannot be the case that Labour themselves have not censured a minister for violent behaviour that occurred while a minister.
      
      The two situations are not at all equivalent, with Labour’s being by far the worst. The double standards do not allow Labour any ground to stand on with regard to Uffindell. Whataboutism is at the heart of all moral accusations.
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:17pm
- Black with a Vengeance
  
  Hear hear !!!
  
  Surely National can do better than that guy ?
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:26am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Sorry you have no credibility.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:02am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      It’s not about me. It’s about Uffindel, Luxon and the National party’s credibility.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:43am
- wisteria
  
  Why not look at what he has done since that time. No one is defending his actions but the ongoing effect is that he learned from that. Others, like Trevor Mallard learned to be a bully in his youth and has never stopped. He bullied anyone who worked near him in parliament, he fisticuffs another MP and now he is an absolute bully in his actions as speaker of the house and his government defends him.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:26am
- lastmanstanding
  
  I predict Election 23 will be the nastiest NZ has ever seen. The LEFT will do anything and everything to try and win. They will continue to sabotage the economy like they always do remember Cullen in 2008 (We have spent the lot).
  The LEFT are a bunch of venal feral haters and wreckers. The MSM will support them up to the point when they see the LEFT will lose and then as always switch sides and dump on them adding to their loss.
  The MSM like the LEFT are venal feral haters and wreckers.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:33am
  - I remember when
    
    lastmanstanding: “will do anything….”
    
    Has been and will continue to do so rather than depending on their stewardship of the country.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:46am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Have they got some second hand Dominion vote counting machines coming?
    Nothing would surprise me, the Labour Party today is not the Labour Party of yesteryear
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:16am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Yes. And National will be completely blindsighted. They are still, even now, under Te Reo Luxon, utterly clueless and inept. They will mount their high horse and take the high road to defeat rather than hit back twice as fast, twice as hard.
    
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    August 9, 2022 12:11pm
- surfing
  
  I imagine there would not be so much support for him here if he were a labour man.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:48am
- Rodney Hide
  
  I have been in rough places. I know what it is to be young.
  
  But four 16 year olds punching a 13 year old who is in bed after lights out with Mr Ufindell unable to rule out using a wooden bed leg is beyond the pale.
  
  That is not an indiscretion. It’s character. And 16 years old is not a two year old having a tantrum.
  
  I also think National have a problem with this: it feds every negative sterotype National have had to work on for years to overcome.
  
  It is very damaging in my respectful view. And i would hesitate to offer a way out: the damage is done.
  
  Time works in politics. A story can’t run forever. Memories dim. Meantime, Mr Ufindell needs to work. Very hard.
  
  I find myself looking at him thinking monster. That’s the reality.
  
  Rodney Hide
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:11am
  - kevn
    
    @Rodney… I could imagine Ufindell as being a much larger than normal, spotty 5th-6th former delivering.
    So, now we have a wet dream happening for labour and the msm.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:16am
  - bartman
    
    Respectfully disagree, we don’t allow 16 year olds to vote because they are part-formed adults. Most men will have some historical event where they broke rules, usually involving physical assault or the like when younger and less mature.
    Think you over egged this one Rodney.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:21am
    - Rodney Hide
      
      Hi Bartman
      
      I appreciate your view. And know it to be true and sincere. You are not wrong. But I thought over night over my reaction. And discussed it with others.
      
      I don’t know how many feel as I do.
      
      Rodney
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:58am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “Most men will have some historical event where they broke rules, usually involving physical assault…”
      
      Most men as teenagers have engaged in assault? Really? Again, maybe this is a cultural barrier, but I find that astounding.
      
      I agree with Rodney. A 16 year old participating in a gang assault on a 13 year old, leaving him physically and mentally injured is a sign of character. Sure, he may have changed. But the clincher for me is that he waited 20 years to apologise.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:58am
      - MCōs
        
        I went to boarding school for four years in the sixties.
        Nobody was assaulted in this manner while I was there. Not by a long shot. Either our school was tame or that school was brutal if that was the usual rough & tumble.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:18am
      - blue collar
        
        Our school was way worse . And it was the best one in town . Big deal . Meh .
        No hospitalisation so gimme a break .
        
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        August 9, 2022 6:59pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      bartman
      
      A 16 year old with “a wooden bed leg” is on par with a 16 year old with a baseball bat.
      
      It was a premeditated conscious attack on a defenseless younger person. Defenseless in that the victim was outnumbered, laying down in bed, not in a self defense position, and perps were armed with weapons.
      
      A situation more fitting of an episode of the “The Sopranos” than an episode of “The 70’s show”.
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:44pm
  - barnacle bill
    
    Good on you Rodney.
    
    I think that Mr Lanky may not be long in Parliament.
    
    This will no go away in a hurry.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:44am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      The simple test was to tell the electorate, no one should need that advice, now it will become a convoluted mess.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:17am
      - Warren
        
        Brian I went to Nelson Boys College as a day student but I know many that were borders and the sixth formers used to call third formers turds and bully them on a daily basis and the ones they didn’t like they belittled by hanging them on the coat hooks . If they fought back they were usually the ones that ended up being blamed and the head Prefect at the school had the right to cane them if they were found to be wrong.
        So in my day the school enabled bulling by letting the head prefect cane other students. And these guys weren’t small I could name a couple but it wouldn’t be right and most were very good sportsmen.
        
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        August 9, 2022 6:46pm
  - Black with a Vengeance
    
    I find myself looking at him thinking monster. That’s the reality.
    ________________
    
    It’s not his fault he’s tall, white and blonde…
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:45am
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      I can’t believe all the apologists making excuses for this guy and wonder if y’all would feel the same if he were Pasifika/Maori.
      
      No, of course not…
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:57am
      - Ehlana
        
        Do you wonder if those on the left would react the same if he were?
        
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        August 9, 2022 2:21pm
      - Libertarians are right
        
        No one is being an apologist. He did what he did and it was horrendous.
        The point is, should what he did when he was 16 (and was punished for) disqualify him from public office now? Is it even relevant?
        
        His race is also obviously irrelevant.
        
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        August 9, 2022 2:34pm
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        Do you wonder if those on the left would react the same if he were?
        _________________
        
        I don’t do left/right wonderings. Can’t even tell the difference between them.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:30pm
      - blue collar
        
        I don’t know anyone who didn’t get assaulted or assaulted someone growing up .
        Usually both
        What world did you guys live in ?
        I hate bullies , I hate groups on individuals .it happens though . Hopefully a one off .
        It’s the repeat offenders that are monsters . The group of guys that ambush solo guys every weekend , bullies repeatedly beating up weak dudes .
        This is bugger all , political hit job .
        
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        August 9, 2022 7:09pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      Lots of “white” commenters here want this prick to resign [deleted by Mod, abuse. You can make the point without that language – Mod]
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:14pm
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      Hey Ernst . He’s no William Bell or Jules Mikus…
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:07pm
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      The point is, should what he did when he was 16 (and was punished for) disqualify him from public office now? Is it even relevant?
      ____________
      
      That’s a question Turanga voters should have decided beforehand.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:42pm
  - slightlyrighty
    
    You find yourself looking at him and thinking monster?
    
    Mission accomplished by the MSM then?
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:53am
  - wisteria
    
    Look in the mirror, Rodney and say out loud what you have written.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:59am
  - Cassandra
    
    He’s my MP and I’m not impressed. If he’d contacted the victim years ago maybe but there was nothing like this when I was at school. He’s not up to much full stop actually so why give Labour a target? And then bring back Simon!
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:05am
    - Don Beckett
      
      I would suggest Simon is much happier & better off in his new job.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:58pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    I didnt vote for him at the BiElection, because even then I thought he looked and acted like a Prat….
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:24am
  - Philip Hart
    
    If he’d done that to my kid there’s no way he would have got as far as he did. I would have been to the media the day his name went public. It seems a lot of Kiwibloggers are quite happy for their kids, grandkids to be viciously assaulted at school in the name of growing up tough. Of course these days naming them Sue isn’t going to do the job.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:49am
  - coolas
    
    ‘It’s character.’ Well said Mr Hide.
    
    So serious was the assault he was expelled from Kings.
    
    Twenty years later when he decided to enter politics he ‘reaches out’ to his victim.
    
    He didn’t confide in Caucus. Willis found out yesterday.
    
    And his maiden speech was a born to rule beat up on criminals lesser than himself.
    
    National do not deserve this twat.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:56am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Another selection disaster from the Goodfellow empire?
      
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      August 9, 2022 6:16pm
  - Media hater
    
    I agree Rodney. In my opinion this is beyond mere youthful indiscretion. Personally I would never vote for someone involved in conduct of this nature, whatever age they were at the time, nor how long ago the attack happened.
    
    The ‘what-about-ism’ I am reading on here also leaves me cold.
    In any case, Act has my party vote and (probably) the National candidate in my marginal electorate has the local vote.
    
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    August 9, 2022 12:39pm
  - Jim
    
    Hi Rodney, I respect your viewpoint but believe it to be overly harsh.
    This media washed story is a pure deliberate distraction, based upon a historical event 22 years ago when Uffindell was a minor ffs.
    
    Furthermore if the media is so concerned with the circumstances, I believe there was a greater responsibility for the private boarding school leadership to set the culture and control the behaviour of its charges. The media have let them off without a single question.
    
    But that is the point, the story isn’t aimed at the school masters or even Uffindell, it’s aimed indirectly at Hawaii Luxon, with the intention to discredit the National Party.
    
    However I do agree with you in that Uffindell had now better get his head down and bloody well prove himself. But I believed that anyway, as he’s a new MP (elected and paid by tax payers) and as such has always had much to prove.
    
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    August 9, 2022 6:32pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

So here’s the thing.

In NZ, you are Maori if you are of Maori descent & consider yourself a Maori. Blood quantum doesn’t come into it.

If the self same Maori rocks up at the relevant iwi, blood quantum absolutely comes into it. Your share of the iwi assets is directly proportional to your ancestry percentage.

Ironic much?
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August 9, 2022 8:01am
- Nukuleka
  
  Is this true? Could someone explain how this ‘blood quantum’ works in terms of iwi assets? I’ve never heard of this before?
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:35am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    If your grandfather was 100% Ngai Tahu then you’re 25% Ngai Tahu. If it’s your great grandfather then it’s down to 12.5%.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:14am
- Black with a Vengeance
  
  Feel it in the one drop…
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:29am
  - Jack5
    
    Do I recall correctly, 🌴BWAV, that you once told us you were by descent part-European?
    
    Is that the “one drop” you’re feeling? If so, perhaps you might change the pseudonym to Beige With a Vengeance. 🙃
    
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    August 9, 2022 12:06pm
    - Black with a Vengeance
      
      Nah Jack, that’s not the one drop I’m feeling.
      
      The one drop rule was a measure of white racial purity whereby all it took was one drop of non white in your bloodline and you’re The Other.
      
      We in Pasifika aren’t so discerning.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:27pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You mean like ‘Pocahontas’ being a Cherokee Indian?
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:20am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    You spelled Faux-cahontas wrong 🙂
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:33am
Captain Mainwaring

Sam Ufindell gets ripped to shreds after admitting a youthful indiscretion.
Meanwhile back to the Labour youth camp…………crickets.
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August 9, 2022 8:03am
- Tricati
  
  Not to mention assaults by Meka Whitiri and Mallard on Tau Henare, and then they give Mallard a diplomatic posting. The polls must be bad.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:11am
  - mandk
    
    And they both have the title of Honourable.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:44am
    - Alwynn
      
      Trevor is actually another step up the ladder.
      He is a Right Honourable gentleman.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:00pm
    - Jim
      
      War is Peace
      Freedom is Slavery etc
      
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      August 9, 2022 6:34pm
  - peterwn
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Trevor’s ‘assault’ was utterly trivial. Tau did not want to make an issue of it. The judge should have refused to approve the private prosecution unless the ‘prosecutor’ could show that Tau wanted a prosecution.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:49am
    - pdm
      
      Pw – surely the place of the assault was mor important than the impact on Tau Henare?
      
      Thuggery is not something that should be countenanced in New Zealands Parliamentary precincts no matter who the perpetrator is.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:05am
      - peterwn
        
        That was a matter for the Privileges Committee to deal with, not some busybody who saw the incident on TV.
        
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        August 9, 2022 9:58am
      - coge
        
        Thuggery was practiced in full public view. In and around Parliament grounds. Against New Zealanders with the courage to oppose and stand up. For their rights and the rights of others. This violence meted out, was fully sanctioned by the currently elected political classes.
        
        When the State begins to allow this type of behavior, it’s a huge step backwards. Thus due to that acceptance, I expect nothing will be done to address this latest revelation.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:10am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Mallard’s indiscretions goes into his adulthood yet Labour still love him and protects him. His rap sheet would make gang member proud.
  
  this is a piss-poor petty politics attempt by Labour to distract the people in NZ from their massive failure of literally achieving nothing in 5 years.
  So that’s Labour’s strategy now – deflect, deflect, confuse the voter and stop them from seeing NZ has gone to the dogs under Labour.
  Labour = higher crime, higher unemployment, failed health system, failed education reforms just to name a few biggies.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:11am
  - redeye
    
    I’ve been wondering who broke this story and why now? According to Uffindell he disclosed this to the selection committee so a lot of people must have known prior to the Tauranga election.
    Labour has a history of going looking for any dirt they can get. Didn’t they send some union thug to Aussie to search for dirt on Sir John? If they provided this story about an error an MP made when he was 16 then that surely is a story in itself. Cause it’s hardly fitting for a government that’s fraudulently selling itself as caring to be still running their taxpayer funded dirty politics team.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:46am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Kirsty Johnston from Stuff is the answer to that question, but I can only speculate as to why. Ms Johnston formerly worked for the NZ Herald , and her main claim to “fame” up until now was drunkenly abusing Don Brash at a Waikato Press Club function, and bragging about it afterwards.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:41am
    - Jimbo666
      
      They actually sent Mike Williams, president of the labour party, to Australia to dig up dirt. He couldn’t find any. Says it all!
      They’ll continue trying though aand the media will continue to be their shills!
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:55am
    - Nickc2
      
      That Union Thug was Mike Williams, President of the Labour Party AFIK.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:05pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I agree with the double standards. But that is no surprise.
  
  However, there are two factors that will make it hard for him.
  
  Firstly the apology to the boy came 20 years after the event. Why so long?
  
  Secondly, there was a moderate level of vilonence involved.
  
  I cannot help comparing this case with that of David Garret. IMO that was youthful foolishness. Yet he was thrown to the wolves. In contrast, this latest case does not sit right with me.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:12am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    The apology came later because Sam was living overseas.
    
    Was there Violence? Yes. Was Sam a 16 year old with a pre frontal cortex that wasn’t fully developed? Yes. Have none of us done stupid things as a teenager? Nope.
    
    I remember being accosted by 3 blokes in my late teens over silly incident, and one of them punched me in the head, hard.
    
    That was 35 years ago.
    
    All three of these young men are now respected in their communities. I’ve met up with all three since then, and there is no bad blood. I refuse to judge them for who they were then, as the men they are now don’t deserve it.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:23am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      This will be my last comment, because I do not want to labour the issue, and I can see both sides of the argument.
      
      “Was there Violence? Yes. Was Sam a 16 year old with a pre frontal cortex that wasn’t fully developed? ”
      
      There is a risk with that defence. You fall into line with the folk that tell us that we need to ‘understand’ the teenage perpetrators of ram raids and car theft.
      
      I accept that there may be a cultural thing here that makes me uncomfortable. In Taiwan, a student being attacked by other students would be extraordinarily rare and would bring immense shame on the offenders and their families.
      
      Ironically, the stunt that David Garrett pulled with the passport application would be thought of by many as quite clever. 🙂
      
      My final word – there had better not be other ‘victims’ of this guy out there. If someone else comes out with credible evidence of being a victim of violent bullying, that will be the end.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:11am
      - wisteria
        
        Have you not read the book The One Minute Manager. His boss did not fire him because he said the learning would suffice.
        
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        August 9, 2022 9:30am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        I bet there is another jacked up complaint, but Uffindell said he was only part of this carry on once, he also stated he was on the receiving end more than once
        
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        August 9, 2022 9:33am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        The fact he was a 16-year old (in high spirits, in the company of others, in an environment where this type of thing happens) with an undeveloped pre-frontal cortex is not being used as a defence, BY.
        
        Uffindell doesn’t seek to defend what he did, or minimise it, and he’s apologised fully and unreservedly. The key issue is this – do we judge the man he is now, and what he has achieved, by the actions of the callow youth he was then?
        
        All I’ll say is that if we were all held to account now for all of the stupid things we did as teenagers, the streets would be a lot emptier than they are.
        
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        August 9, 2022 10:40am
      - slightlyrighty
        
        The difference between the actions of Uffindel and the Ram Raiders is simple.
        
        Uffindel was held accountable for his actions, and effectively expelled.
        
        I don’t understand either action, but I do understand accountability. There is also a difference between the sort of institutionalised school bullying of the past (I remember my days as a Turd Former!) and breaking the law.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:01am
      - Bullion
        
        I don’t think being ‘effectively expelled’ is really being held accountable for his actions, as he wasn’t actually expelled there is no record of the misdemeanour.
        
        That he decides to only try amend his wrong doings decades later, with what looks like any eye into entering public life (given the timing of Todd Muller’s announcement), and the apparent willingness to try and keep this under the rug during the by-election campaign (when given the opportunity to front foot this issues) shows anything but being held accountable, to himself or others.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:55am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        @Bullion: I’m not aware of Todd Muller, the current MP for Bay of Plenty, making any announcement. Perhaps you’re confused.
        
        You can make an argument either way about the merits of disclosing this. Is it relevant to who he is as a near-40 year old man? I think very little – if anything it has made him a better person and one determined not to repeat the mistakes of his youth.
        
        Ever strayed off the beaten path yourself? Comfortable with every single one of your actions as a teenager or young man coming to light and being examined? Didn’t think so.
        
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        August 9, 2022 2:54pm
      - Bullion
        
        @Loddenthinks
        
        Todd Muller announced his retirement in June ’21, one month before Uffindell attempts to make up with the person he bashed.
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300339973/todd-muller-resignation-followed-admission-about-anonymous-article
        
        I would be totally ok with my past being scrutinised.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:01pm
  - Scott
    
    I think that what you did at age 16 is not particularly relevant. Here’s the thing. If you do something wrong, like bullying a kid when you’re 16,should that be held against you forever? Is there no forgiveness?
    
    Most people would not like their worst indiscretion as a teenager publicised 20 years later. There should be forgiveness.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:27am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    BTW if you read this David, I would value your thoughts.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:32am
  - Philview
    
    I can think of schoolboy behaviour that I regret. One in particular I thought I would offer an apology years later but have not been able to find the person.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:40am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      I remember a kid who was picked on by all because he was a bit of an oddball – neuro atypical in today’s parlance, not that I was one of those picking on him, but I passively watched it when I could have interceded. Tried to track him down a few years ago to say I was sorry for the shit he had endured, but he was dead (in his 30’s). Breaks my heart the life he must have lived.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:26am
      - MCōs
        
        I went to intermediate school with a kid who I realize now had epilepsy.
        Occasionally he’d have minor, but noticeable, seizures. Stand there in a sort of daze for a few seconds. Some kids used to give him shit. Kids can be cruel at that age; maybe 11-12yo
        I don’t know what became of him. There were 45-50 kids in our classes back then . . .
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:37am
    - Stellaboxer
      
      I did find a boy who at school I was often unkind to, no physical stuff and reasonably mild. He was sitting at a bar in a pub maybe five to six years after we had left school . I apologised for being a dick at school. He told me to F off so I did . It was the least I could do and I felt I had done I all I could to apologise. That was 40 years ago and it still bothers me so maybe he had the last laugh lol.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:50am
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        I was 13, bullied and racially taunted by a 16 yr old at school. I did nothing…
        
        When I was 18 I found the guy at a party, confronted him and asked him to step outside so I could beat the shit out of him.
        
        He naturally apologized as by then i was biggerthen him. I still don’t know whether the apology was sincere.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:49am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        Hey Black with a Vengeance,
        
        See, this is a perfect example. You acted like a violent thug when you were 18 (justifiable but still thuggery). Should that disqualify you from jobs now?
        
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        August 9, 2022 2:43pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “When I was 18 I found the guy at a party, confronted him and asked him to step outside so I could beat the shit out of him.”
        
        That simply reinforces the impression I have formed about you. To repeat, you have zero credibility in any views you submit on this issue. You have just admitted that you intended to engage in a high level violence when you were 18. Do you still think that would be OK?
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:50pm
      - Black with a Vengeance
        
        See, this is a perfect example. You acted like a violent thug when you were 18 (justifiable but still thuggery). Should that disqualify you from jobs now?
        _____________
        
        I didn’t act like a violent thug though. I challenged the guy to a fair fight outside which I planned to win.
        
        I didn’t beat up on him with some mates using weapons and he was still 3 or 4 years older than me.
        
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        August 9, 2022 9:03pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Uffindell was overseas for much of that period and apparently apologised upon returning. I understand he had apologised before Bridges resigned – ie before Tauranga seat was vacated.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:50am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      He apologised 9 months ago, he didn’t know he was going to stand until he heard Bridges was resigning
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:35am
      - Jack5
        
        National in effect dumped Bridges for Uffindell?
        
        Did someone spike a National Party conference’s drinks with LSD?
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:23am
      - Don Beckett
        
        National didn’t dump Bridges – he resigned, because he had a better deal lined up.
        
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        August 9, 2022 1:04pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Constructive dismissal.
        
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        August 9, 2022 1:50pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      That is correct. Nothing to say he wasn’t considering an entry into politics anyway, but that’s speculation and it doesn’t really matter. The apology was genuine and heart-felt, and the victim accepted it as such. Only later, when the (possibly left-leaning, which may explain more than one thing) victim realised Uffindell was standing for election, did he decide that he didn’t like the apology after all.
      
      Apparently he thinks Uffindell should have given him a heads up he was entering politics, which may not even have been in his thinking at the time, and doesn’t change anything anyway.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:44am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        They said they wouldn’t name the guy because of his young family. It had nothing to do with his political associations. Nothing I tell you.
        
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        August 9, 2022 2:45pm
  - Tomtoddy
    
    I couldnt give a stuff about what happened at school. Much worse has occurred and by many in responsible situations in later life. It was silly and should not have happened but it does not deserve lifelong condemnation.
    
    What is questionable is apologising. If he was planning on a career in politics and that was the motivation he is culpable. Who knows what was in his mind?
    
    He is now a lame duck. It is a cross to carry and the Nats do not need a safe seat held by underperformer. It is a difficult matter to resolve especially given a baying media earning their keep from the ninth floor.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:16am
    - I remember when
      
      Tomtoddy:
      The old political conundrum.
      
      Is it better to know that someone has behaved improperly – or is it better not to know.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:54am
    - Sacha
      
      The child is not necessarily the man. I would be more interested in how he lived his life AFTER the event if I were a voter. A male teenager with surging tidal waves of testosterone usually learns to control himself as he matures, and it sounds as if this man has done so, and built a creditable life since.
      There will be many men walking around with similar black spots in their pasts, that only they know about and put down to youthful impulsiveness or stupidity if they ever think about it.
      And there are others who never learn, and carry on assaulting their spouses and kids, and random strangers, but never attract the attention of the media.
      This is a media/Labour beat-up, pure and simple. I hope the man and his party have the persistence to put up with endless repetitions of the pot calling the kettle black.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:03am
- Nickc2
  
  I was somewhat disappointed with Hosking this morning when he stated there was no link between the MSM and the Labour Govt relating to the Ufindell fiasco. Clearly, there is. This Labour Govt pays the MSM to promulgate information favourable to the Govt and suppress information that is unfavourable.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:20am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The orchestrated second complaint will be vile and filthy, the attempt to suggest that he used wooden bed legs has been ruled out by Uffindell, both from him or other people, funny how he also says he was on the receiving end more than once , but that doesn’t count
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:41am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    It has been widely reported in the past that the PM’s office holds a briefing with the political editors of various media every Monday morning to brief them on what the issues for the week are.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:45am
    - Philview
      
      I have seen footage of Jacinda Ardern in Eastern Europe singing the Internationale at a time when she was most likely a Labour MP. That song contains lyrics like ‘death to Capitalist Pigs’. Does that sound like kindness? Would you want someone running your country who endorses such ideology.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:52pm
- Inandout
  
  FGS how far back can an MP’s past be sifted through? I am sure most Members have at some stage done deeds they would not like publicised, including female ones. This incident of course smells of an MSM hit job.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:22am
  - mawm
    
    However this gives us an insight into the “character” of the person which is made up of a number of inter-related concepts such as morals, values and prejudices, and which is largely part of the product of one’s childhood environment and relationships.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:09am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      And is not set in stone. People learn, and grow – trust me on this one.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:46am
  - pdm
    
    Inandout
    
    Nothing to see here if it is a Labour or Green MP.
    
    No limits for a National or ACT MP. Didn’t Mike Williams go back to John Keys kindergarten records to see what he had in his kindy lunches prior to the 2008 election. (sarc)
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:10am
    - Colville
      
      a Green MP??…can you imagine Shaw trying to bunch a fist? If he hit you…would you notice?
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:35am
      - Jimbo666
        
        Didn’t someone whack him while he was out running one day?
        
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        August 9, 2022 12:00pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        No he was walking to work in Parliament. IIRC he used to live in Kelburn and was walking through the Botanical Gardens.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:53pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Inandout – there is no doubt in my mind that is reason why many excellent people will not run for a political position. They know that if they ever make any headway they, and their close families’ every action through their lives will be put under a microscope by a team dedicated to the task.
    Any minor indiscretion will be identified and multiplied to absurdity.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:14am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yes indeed,
      “there is no doubt in my mind that is reason why many excellent people will not run for a political position”.
      Ok, Turn it on its head.
      Pyschometric test every candidate and release finding to the general Public. This gives them “substance” to vote on.
      This is a great tool for forming Groups, Teams and any Organisational structure for that matter.
      The best thing about this you understand your Weakness as well as your strengths. Fit the correct people in the right team to get results.
      This is common practise in Multi National Companies to deliver the best results.
      A fantastic tool for understanding not only your own personality but of others and how to deal with individuals.
      Thoughts?
      
      11 2
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      August 9, 2022 10:37am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Psychometric tests (other than IQ) can be gamed by smart people who study up on them
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:41am
- peterwn
  
  The National Party Board approves all prospective candidates and the bar for declining a prospective candidate is high. The process is not used to influence local selection processes but to exclude prospective candidates where there are serious issues. This has been in place for many decades.
  Seems the Board was aware of the incident but considered that was an insufficient impediment to vetoing his candidacy. Hopefully he laid it out fully to the Party and not glossed over it. Based on what is currently in the media, I would not have been happy with his prospective candidacy if I was on the Board – the baggage is excessive. I consider his judgment was poor in thinking he could get away with standing given this background. If I was a Tauranga voter I would be strongly inclined to give my vote to the ACT candidate in 2023.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:30am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    In which case your vote would be wasted as the ACT candidate won’t get in.
    You might as well give it to Labour.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:00am
    - peterwn
      
      Agreed, but it is the party vote that counts.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:27am
    - kowtow
      
      Yep ,
      
      Every vote counts and we have to think of the future of the country .
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:27am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Chris Luxon has stood by Uffindell today, but says he has work to do to win the confidence of the people of the Tauranga electorate. If Sam gets his head down, his arse up, and works hard for the people of Tauranga, I suspect this will be quickly forgotten.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:49am
    - Don Beckett
      
      I’m in Tauranga, and it’s a no-brainer to me – the guy’s track record in business & finance and with a good family life demonstrates to me that he is a very good replacement for Simon.
      Most of us – males mainly, but also females – have had/done things when young that are regretful. I was at a boys’ boarding school in the 1950’s. I recall having a game of tennis (doubles) and I mis-hit a ball into the scrub, and we couldn’t find it. The owner of the ball (a bit of a dick) accused me of deliberately losing his ball – so I decked him with a good left & right, and left him bleeding from the nose on the court – obviously the game never continued. A few days later I regretted my action, and apologised to him.
      Just a part of life in a boys’ boarding school. I also had a couple of older guys bully me – but that’s a different story. 🙂
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:16pm
      - blue collar
        
        Bang on don and CMON GUYS. !!
        
        YOUVE ALL BEEN SUCKERED !!
        
        Here ya all are talking about ufindall …. And you should be going …..
        
        FUCK YEAH !! National and act can form a govt outright !!
        And it’s only going to get better …. this is such a hitjob and it’s working isn’t it ? .
        You’re all talking bad Nat , bad Nat …
        Get a grip
        
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        August 9, 2022 7:27pm
- cmm
  
  You don’t understand.
  
  It isn’t fair, but so what? It isn’t supposed to be.
  
  Selecting high quality people, honesty, competence, responsibility and good behaviour are part of the National rand/image. When they fail on these matters it hurts.
  
  These are not part of the Labour brand/image so it does not matter for them.
  
  If the rumour mill is to be believed, the adult who was supposed to be supervising when Fingergate happened, but instead went to bed and let the youth get out of control, is a current Labour MP.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Wonder who wood know?
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:21am
  - Cassandra
    
    Trés sharp, Steve.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:10am
- Black with a Vengeance
  
  A 16 yr old and his mates use wooden bed legs to batter a 13 yr old in his bed is a youthful indiscretion in your books.
  
  Like seriously WTF ???
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:59am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Keep repeating a lie often enough…………
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:18pm
Colville

I think Luxon should make a statement supporting Uffindel.. ” boys make mistakes.. Its what they do as adults that makes a difference ”

And come on 2023 election!
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August 9, 2022 8:05am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I am not a political strategist. Maybe that will work. But it could result in taunts for the next year that Luxon condones violence.
  
  If the guy had apologised and made amends to the victim years ago, this would be survivable. But that is not the case.
  
  IMO this is not survivable.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:30am
  - nathie
    
    Nah don’t think so, why judge someone of today with the past? Otherwise Labour MP’s such as Mallard would have been shown the door decades ago!
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:31am
    - Sacha
      
      We’re talking about the media here. Not mature adults.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:06am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Under the current Labour-Led media, I tend to agree that Mr Uffendell will be ruthlessly targeted from now on.
    (See the $tuff “cartoon” today again featuring Mr Luxon’s holiday in Hawaii.)
    I don’t know the time-line of events around the making of this apology – but here is how it looks to the Labour generals and their foot soldiers:
    Uffendell decides his future could be in parliament – as a “Nasty Nat”.
    He scrolls back to identify any possible problems.
    He identifies what happened one night at school 20 plus years ago.
    Thinks: I’ll contact that guy to apologise – just in case.
    But instead of disclosing that he is intending to stand for high office and asking the guy how he would feel about that given what happened, he keeps that off limits.
    That is his mistake.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:42am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Simon Bridges was the long-time sitting MP and had not announced his resignation – that was some months off. Kinda blows their argument out of the water, but they’ll keep running it anyway.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:49am
  - Phronesis
    
    If I was a political strategist I would have advised Sam to keep his gob shut. The media probably wouldn’t have touched a story of “new MP beat me up once at boarding school 25 years ago”. If they had it would not be unreasonable for Sam to admit that boarding school was a bit rough and that was why he left. Not necessarily the moral thing to do but you have to play the game. He’s no great loss, and this far out from the election I think Luxon could show some leadership and find someone else.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:37am
    - The Housekeeper
      
      Sorry reported by mistake
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:29am
  - Harry Knuts
    
    I don’t agree either and it would set a very sad standard going forward on the way we judge people. If he had done this in his adult years then i would argue it’s a different story as he should know better. But a 16yr hardly makes for an age to make good life decisions for most of this age. Mallard on the other hand.. need i say more..?!
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:55am
- Harry Knuts
  
  agreed. What you do in your youth does not define you in your character now for most of us.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:45am
- surfing
  
  Uffindel needs to be dumped. Immediately.
  
  Although I didn’t like him before this. I voted for the national electorate seat, not him.
  
  I will vote for the Act candidate next time, even if it is a wasted vote.
  
  The violence is what irritates me. And, it was cowardly violence.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:00am
  - peterwn
    
    I would rank it worse than David Garrett’s indiscretion when he obtained a false passport. That incident finished him off politically even though he never attempted to use that passport.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:36am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Under the Law, he could never have entered parliament with that conviction. As a Lawyer, he knew that and I recall one of his excuses here was that “he had told” Garth and Rodney in what seemed to be an effort to shift the blame for his silence.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:56am
      - peterwn
        
        Not quite correct. He was discharged without conviction and had his name suppressed over the passport incident (2005). This on its own would not have disqualified him standing for Parliament. Admittedly there was more to it than that as outlined in Wikipedia.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:31am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “he could never have entered parliament with that conviction.”
        
        God you lead with your chin.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:55pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Why on earth should a criminal comviction bar standing for Parliament having served your sentence? Eligibility is for the voters to determine, not the courts.
        
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        August 9, 2022 6:25pm
  - glowworm
    
    Yes. Cowardly violence by bullies, much like the acts used by our very own police force – against peaceful protesters, earlier this year…
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:23am
  - Lance
    
    Quite right, all MPS who have ever been involved in violence should be dumped, that should make a big hole in Labour’s ranks
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:26am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He is meeting Uffindell today, Willis on her daily interview said they will be standing by him, end of
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:44am
- peterwn
  
  Chris needs to bide his time on this one. Feelings are running in all directions on this one.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:03am
Maggy Wassilieff

This Government is committed to transparency and openness

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129508472/nz-ministers-failing-to-meet-cabinet-paper-public-release-deadlines
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August 9, 2022 8:08am
- mandk
  
  Yes.
  
  “The most open and transparent government ever”.
  
  Who was it that said that?
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:15am
  - Nickc2
    
    The Wide Mouth Frog that ate all the pies.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:26am
- Harry Knuts
  
  ohh another fail – what a surprise.
  Will they blame this on Covid too? wouldn’t be surprised.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:46am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    HK – no they’ll blame it on Russia. Or have they moved on to Taiwan now? I lose track easily.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:18am
Maggy Wassilieff

John Ryan, the Controller and Auditor-General, wrote to Parliament saying the legislation “could have an adverse effect on public accountability, transparency, and organisational performance”.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129513710/auditorgeneral-raises-concerns-about-accountability-in-three-waters-plan
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August 9, 2022 8:09am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Jacinda will refude it.
  
  Mahuta will call him racist.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:14am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    OMG!
    
    Look at the diversity stats for the Office of the Controller and Auditor General
    
    https://oag.parliament.nz/about-us/our-people/staff-profile
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:19am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Something wrong, they only have 2 genders. The Greens will fix that next year no doubt.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:21am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      For moderately talented executives there is a degree of luck as to whether you ever get into the C-suite, right place right time matters, and if you do luck out then it can lift your income by multiples for no more work.
      
      But with current state of play in civil service there is a fantastic financial opportunity to cash in on all this trans-gender malarky. By feigning transgenderism, (ie makeup, bad haircut and a frock) for which there is more demand than supply in top level woke organisations, a decent exec could catapult themselves into a top job, and progress their career and earn more in a couple of years than they will in a decade of grind. Admiral Rachel Levine in US Navy demonstrates how it can pay off.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:55am
  - Raphael
    
    The new phrase is “you’re looking at it too simply, it’s a complex issue.”
    The inference is you’re not intelligent enough to really understand that being kicked repeatedly in the saddlery regions is good for you.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:41am
    - kowtow
      
      A bit like the bail house in today’s Ferald .
      
      A veritable armoury , drug and money clearing house . In the centre of Auckland.
      
      It’s complex. yeah right.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:31am
  - Harry Knuts
    
    Mahuta calls everyone racist. You just need to disagree with her and your a racist even if it has nothing to do with race!.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:46am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    And Mega Fightery will remain silent
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:45am
- artemisia
  
  Those concerns look like serious underlying governance and accountability issues. The Minister for Infrastructure says the Bill may need some tweaks. Presumably has mentioned to the Minister for Local Govt after getting the weasel words from the spin team.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:43am
- cas
  
  Useful comments for those of us appearing before the Select Cttee. I managed to get a Zoom hearing instead of having to go to the Tron. And Grunter is just plain lying when he suggests the new entities will still be accountable. Yeah nah.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:56am
  - Nickc2
    
    There are degrees of accountability cas. Labour’s is to turn a blind eye.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:55am
Surely Knott

Nat MP Sam U. is under attack by the media and may lose his career for beating a kid at school when he was 16. It was a terrible thing to do.

But where is the consistency. We have a spate of serious armed burglary youth offenses at the moment and not a single one has been named by the media. The current law prohibits the details of youth court being made public. The law believes that these people deserve to go through the rest of their lives with a clean record and a second chance. That you should not be judged later in life for the crimes you commit in your youth. That it would be wrong and an injustice to name these young offenders or hold them publicly accountable as it could affect the direction of their entire lives.

Yet with Sam U. they are revelling in the details and hunting him down. I have utmost sympathy for the victim. But where is the consistency. Is it wrong to name and hunt youth offenders, or not?. And if it’s wrong as the current law asserts then should Sam’s crimes be publicised and used against him.

And a further glitch of the law does it only applies if it goes to court? If my child gets a beating at boarding school today am i better off not pressing charges, but getting the school to deal with it, so i can publicly shame the offender later in life if they become famous, something i would not be able to do if it went to youth court.
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August 9, 2022 8:15am
- peterwn
  
  “And a further glitch of the law does it only applies if it goes to court?” How would you remedy that glitch? If it went to Youth Court and he was convicted and got name suppression, this still does not mean total suppression of the incident.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:57am
- Paulus
  
  And when a young sexual offender man (18) at a Young Labour Party could become known, the judge ensures that his name and political connection is not released.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:10am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Not forgetting the person in the PM’s office a term back who was accused of sexual assaults’ by (if I remember correctly) several complainants, that all went quiet amid suggestions that they had been paid off in a quid quo pro to purchase their silence and protect the queen. This govt have no morals or ethics, only a will to power.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:48pm
- Jack5
  
  Imagine the boarding school incident happened today, and that the school bully or bullies were charged in court.
  
  Would the name of the bully or bullies be suppressed for ever? Even if they became MPs?
  
  Now, many or even most of our judges, seem to have more sympathy for offenders’ life experiences than for what the victims suffered.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:27pm
  - peterwn
    
    The Youth Court could have discharged without conviction (70% probability in this case) and most probably would have granted permanent name suppression. That would apply unless a (say) journalist applies to have it lifted arguing public interest etc. It did not go to court so Sam remained exposed to being named. The media has rightfully not named the 13 year old victim. It is most likely that the victim had and continues to have automatic name suppression in law even though the matter never went to court.
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:56pm
Frank the tank

The Uffindell saga is dirty politics 101.

I wonder is Dave Fisher will run an investigation in regards to the sources. I won’t hold me breath.

Beltway Willis true to form – thoughts with the victim. The same who would have leaked the story and probably got a cash payment.

All the while New Zimbabwe burns…..
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August 9, 2022 8:17am
- nathie
  
  Actually just caught some of Nicola Willis on Morning Report, she answered well (despite being interrupted and talked over by the RNZ interviewer) and noted that the Sam U. of 16 is not the same Sam U. of today, he is a better person.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:29am
- kowtow
  
  I reckon the release of this story by the paid media was timed .
  
  It was done straight after what was a succesful Nat conference.
  
  They were holding onto it for an opportune moment .
  
  That’s the real stroy here .
  
  Our democracy is being actively manipulated .
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:43am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    They will have been planning this hit for months – the person apologised to will have provided ammo for some political operative, and the party will have sat on it until what they thought was a most opportune time.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:29am
  - surfing
    
    Timing was poor.
    
    If they’d released it just before the nat conference then noone would have cared about the conference.
    
    They’d all be asking about Uffindell, not national policy.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:55am
    - kowtow
      
      No . They did this now cos it was a successful conference , everyone was talking benny reform till this came up .
      
      They have once again managed to control the narrative,
      
      Had the conference been a dog , they’d have run with that and saved this ambush for another occassion .
      
      The real story is how long have they had this and why released now.
      
      Who needs a foreign interference in our democracy when our paid media activists do it .
      
      Speaking of which , where’s all the coverage of the ongoing donations trial ?
      
      Now that’s a really big story , not a school boy bust up in a dorm 20 years ago.
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:58am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    You are probably right, this has been known about since before the by election, several FB comments about being expelled from Kings over assault on his FB page when electioneering, timing to lessen the poor poll last night, just before 6 note One News did not run the story on the 6 pm news?
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:02am
    - riffer
      
      They did run the story on One News last night. It ran third, after the Kantar poll and the Commonwealth Games.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:14am
    - I remember when
      
      Yes G I recall being aware of the fact there was an incident, and it involved violence, before the by-election.
      * So if you hit/bully someone when you were 16 you should never stand for parliament.
      * He subsequently attended another school who must have been aware there was a problem.
      * He was a ‘juvenile.’
      
      Does this mean that the media think that not telling the truth is preferable to not mentioning something.
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:55pm
- Colville
  
  Yes the timing was perfect.
  Jacinda’s support drops to a level where you can hear the death rattle in her voice and Nats/ACT have a clear lead…
  and the Uffindel story drops the same hour…
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:44am
  - riffer
    
    Try this thought experiment…
    
    National are slipping in the latest poll and the results are due out. It’s not a good look. They’ve got some information on a Labour MP… something a bit sordid, and distasteful. Goes to character. That MP has just laid out a speech in Parliament decrying the state of youth today, and how Labour would crack down on bad behaviour.
    The information was about something that the MP did years ago. Stupid youthful behaviour, which should be read in the context of the times and location. But, the public would go for it like dogs to raw meat. This MP is nothing like that person now. Obviously grown up and not that stupid young person.
    
    But you have this information. And it will take a whole lot of heat off the National party.
    
    But no, Christopher Luxon is a man of integrity and dignity. He would never release that information. The National party never have resorted to the dirty politics of Labour. Never have, never will.
    
    Hmmm… do you really think so?
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:21am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      So, a guy who acted like a scumbag thug at high school, got held accountable for those actions, then turned his life around is calling for scummy youth to be held accountable for their actions? Makes sense.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:56pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Don’t talk rubbish, Willis said what she should have said another victim, as Uffindell did yesterday
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:47am
Tony Stuart

Will Jacinda Ardern and Nanaia Mahuta take heed of a scathing report on the Water Services Entities Bill from the Auditor-General?

The Auditor-General says the Government’s legislation for Three Waters reform risks removing important checks and balances, allowing the new water entities to operate without proper public accountability.

John Ryan, the Controller and Auditor-General, wrote to Parliament saying the legislation “could have an adverse effect on public accountability, transparency, and organisational performance”.

The Auditor-General, which is an independent office of Parliament that monitors the government, published its submission on the Water Services Entities Bill on Monday. The submission raised concerns about how the entities would be held to account for delivering drinking water and managing the storm and waste water systems.

National Party local government spokesperson Simon Watts said the report was “scathing”, and should encourage the Government to halt its reforms.

National has been rallying against the Three Waters reform, promising to remove the entire system if it’s elected next year.

Watts said the Auditor-General’s report revealed clear shortcomings in the Government’s legislation, which he said should have been abundantly clear to the Government given it took four years to get this far.

“This legislation has been poorly thought through, poorly drafted and not well-thought-out. It raises significant issues in regard to performance reporting, accountability and transparency,” he said.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129513710/auditorgeneral-raises-concerns-about-accountability-in-three-waters-plan

88,324 written submissions on the bill were lodged with the Finance and Expenditure select committee. The Labour-majority committee’s response is to allocate just FOUR DAYS for hearing submissions, with visits to Hawke’s Bay, Nelson, Hamilton, Christchurch, Auckland and Dunedin, between August 15 and 18. The overwhelming majority of submissions will not be heard in person, and I suspect most will not even be read.

The pressure is continuing to ramp up on the Labour government over Three Waters. National reaffirmed at the weekend that it will repeal and replace Three Waters if elected next year, and that the party opposes all co-governance of public services.

Has Labour decided that Three Waters is a hill the Party is ultimately prepared to die on?
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August 9, 2022 8:17am
- Drone
  
  Hi Tony, the basic structure for the Three Waters organisation is already in place. Staff are being recruited and systems established within DIA, it will be too far gone for National to repeal and the cry of racist will be heard throughout the land if they try. What is missing from the 3-waters story are details of how it will all be funded. What will it cost the ratepayers to run this behemoth. I think that many people think/hope that 3-Waters will put in place a plan to review and renew aging water assets across the country with a business case and costings but it’s not going to do that in fact it’s sort of hard to understand what exactly it will do beyond what each council is doing currently. Except 3-Waters will have a much higher management overhead.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:31am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Yes, I’m well aware of that. You have to question why Labour is rushing appointments, when the legislation that empowers Three Waters, the Water Services Entities Bill, is still months away from passing through the Parliament.
    
    As far as repeal goes, Three Waters is not scheduled to take effect until 2024, so there is time for legislation to be repealed, and new legislation introduced, provided National is ready to do this shortly after taking office. I am optimistic that will be the case.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:04am
    - pdm
      
      `You have to question why Labour is rushing appointments………………………….’
      
      Mahuta still has a few family members to go before they are all fully employed in the rort.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:16am
      - riffer
        
        Notwithstanding that the Ministry of Environment review of the process by which Gannin Ormsby, Tamoko Ormsby and Waimirirangi Ormsby were appointed to the Māori advisory rōpū on waste management is ongoing and we have not had a report on this yet (to my knowledge), is it your contention that no relatives of any member of Parliament should ever be able to work in any capacity for any public service role?
        
        Or is it your opinion that the former Minister for Local Government and Maori Affairs unduly and corruptly influenced the hiring of Gannin Ormsby, Tamoko Ormsby and Waimirirangi Ormsby to the Māori advisory rōpū on waste management?
        
        I am just interested to know whether you have any actual evidence or if you’re just trying to sneakily suggest impropriety without getting done for libel.
        
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        August 9, 2022 11:32am
    - artemisia
      
      Like to see some costings if appointments are cancelled and platinum parachutes are deployed. Cancelled incumbents might get a payout but they will be on the ‘no-fly’ list for vacancies.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:16am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Agree with most of what you say, but it can and should be repealed by a determined government prepared too make radical changes such as those made by Roger Douglas.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:10am
  - Ehlana
    
    Good governance is usually to make the decisions as close as possible to the affected group. There’s no way Three Waters can do that.
    
    What the government could have useful legislated was to force Councils to actually continually focus on their infrastructure, raise issues early with communities and let them figure out their way forward, based on what the community itself can afford. It doesn’t make sense to charge people in Invercargill to cover a water scheme in Wellington or vice versa.
    
    On the other hand, its a great way to set up an unearned income stream for an unelected, unaccountable group selected by birth rather than ability.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:11am
    - Don Beckett
      
      “Good governance is usually to make the decisions as close as possible to the affected group.”
      
      Yes indeed – it’s called ‘Subsidiarity’.
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:24pm
  - Cassandra
    
    It is repealable, no problem. Just after lunch and all the staff will get big payouts. Thanks, Cindy. I’d like her to be refuded.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:15am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Short answer – no.
  Jacinda is pretending has buried her head in the sand on this one as she prepares to exit NZ within the next 12mths. Not my problem attitude.
  Meanwhile Mahuta and the Maori caucus are running riot with whatever they dream up and if you disagree you will be called a racist.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:50am
  - riffer
    
    I disagree. I don’t think you’re a racist. I just don’t think your interepretation gels with reality.
    
    This whole racism thing is irritating. It lets people inappropriately play the victim card.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:35am
- surfing
  
  No, because it is being rammed through.
  
  Government & councils are already hiring staff for three waters.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:55am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I think it’s too late for them to can it now, to fo so would show 100s of millions of wasted money
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:04am
- I remember when
  
  Tony:
  Not just “removing important checks and balances.”
  To all intents and purposes, removing virtually all checks and balances.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:02pm
iMP

MSM internal email…

“could colleagues please supply all photos they have of Sam Uff and Chris Lux standing together to the political promotions and social media office, ASAP. This is a directive from the top…”
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August 9, 2022 8:18am
- nathie
  
  You mean Labour Party Zoom call to the MSM Editors!
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:30am
- Tony Stuart
  
  That might be the Labour Party way John. However Luxon has risen in my estimation by publicly supporting Sam Uffindell whilst reminding him the onus is on him to rebuild trust with the voters.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:54am
Paulus

In confusion do I understand that Mahuta met with Chinese Senior man Wang Yi very recently but she says she did not cover Taiwan.
Is that why we are getting a cold shoulder from China and that Cindy is still trying to get a photoshoot in Beijing with President Xi Jinping.
Am not sure that we are a favoured country currently unlike when Key was PM.
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August 9, 2022 8:21am
- kowtow
  
  At some point we’re going to have to be unequivably on one side or the other .
  
  I know which side I’m on .
  
  Our economy needs to seriously divest , and not from carbon ( which is ridiculous) .
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:35am
Maggie Pie

THEY’RE AT IT AGAIN 🙁

Remember when this Goof led Auckland City Council blew thousands of ratepayers dollars on funding the Auckland-Pride-Event ‘KIWIFIST 2018’?

It was billed as…. “A full-on, five hour gathering of gay and bi-men into fisting and arse-play big-time. Open to all arse-playing men from beginners to the extremely experienced. BYO toys & lubes”

This time, ratepayers are now funding…. ‘DRAG QUEENS’ reading stories to Toddlers ! First session will be at the New-Lynn-War-Memorial-Library, Friday 19 August.

https://twitter.com/dazzatron/status/1556147762898513920

My great-grandad was a WW2 Returned Soldier….I have his medals.
God knows what he’d be thinking. I despair for our kids.
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August 9, 2022 8:24am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It’s a trend…
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_Queen_Story_Hour#:~:text=The%20events%2C%20usually%20geared%20for,associated%20with%20bars%20and%20nightlife.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:32am
  - Nickc2
    
    Agree, Breitbart has been full of it for the last few days.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:40am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It really is worrying times Maggz.
    
    How long before we see toddlers presenting with Council sponsored Monkeypox? 🙁
    
    https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2022/08/drag-story-times/
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:41am
  - alex Masterley
    
    Adverts with drag queens are popping up on Ewe tube as well.
    Annoying.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:31am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Drag queens are full of double entendres and sexual innuendo. Can’t see how toddlers and drag queens ever fit together in the same setting. Drag should be kept in the club for adult entertainment.
  They may as well have Porn Stars next on the billing at the libraries.
  Geez Goof has got this so wrong in so many ways.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:54am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    DRAG PEDAGOGY…..
    
    ‘Schooling Children, Scripting Childhood’.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:24am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      In the UK Column item, a private investigator presents a volume of evidence to police about the “drag” artist who is performing live to children only metres away. It is disturbing stuff. But it needs to be exposed.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:31am
  - mogg
    
    Next it will be taxi drivers reading stories to underage girls in Bradford Library.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:10am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Maggie – something along the same lines was the first item on the UK Column episode which aired overnight. I’d recommend watching it. This excellent source of news has been covering child sexual abuse for a number of years now.
  
  https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-8th-august-2022
  
  They are an excellent source of rational debate about many current topics.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  What kind of lunatic would take their kid along to that? 🙁
  
  BTW I thought you were kidding about the funded fisting thing. I should have known better :-(.
  
  https://2018.aucklandpride.org.nz/events/kiwifist-2018/
  
  “Touch-up douche facilities and clothes check-in, if required.:
  
  🙁 🙁
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:42am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I doubt even Ross could have made that shit up, Bene. LOL!!
    
    https://ratepayers.nz/kiwifist
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:55am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    BY – I linked above to last night’s UK Column, they did a short piece on this trend in the UK.
    I said it was first item, but it is 20 minutes in. The first 20 minutes is relevant, but this excerpt is astonishing. A private citizen presents nauseatingly disturbing evidence to police regarding a drag artist who is less than 10m away. The police look totally disinterested.
    
    Go to 20: 00
    
    https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-8th-august-2022
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:09am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Thing is Clan… everyone knows the UK has gone to the dogs.
      
      https://twitter.com/prwhittle/status/1556634894394167296
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:23am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Where they go we seem to follow. This is the biggest madhouse the world has been in my whole life.
        
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        August 9, 2022 1:01pm
  - Nickc2
    
    An open question to all Akld Mayoral Candidates:
    Will you shut this depravity down?
    IMO, a vote for a Labour endorsed candidate is a vote for more of the same.
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:24am
  - graham
    
    When somebody expresses any reservations or doubts about the whole “Pride” movement, they are shouted down, pilloried, accused of having horrific views and not supporting inclusiveness.
    
    The supporters of such “Pride” festivals and the “Pride” movement would have us believe that it is SOLELY about supporting inclusiveness and accepting people of different sexual persuasions. But events such as “Kiwifist” …
    
    New Zealand’s biggest arse-play event is back! A full-on, five-hour-plus, gathering of gay and bi men into fisting and arse-play big-time!
    
    … are never mentioned. Strange, that.
    
    I think more people would support “Pride” if it was just about “inclusiveness”. But it’s not. Events such as “Kiwifist” and other sexual perversions seem to be inexorably linked to “Pride“, and that is what makes many people uncomfortable.
    
    Why would a Christian NRL player want to wear a shirt promoting a movement that is linked to “fisting and arse-play big-time”? For that matter, why would ANYBODY want to wear that shirt?
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:03am
- slightlyrighty
  
  In My opinion, Drag Acts are to women what Minstrel Shows were to People of Colour. An over-exaggeration of stereotypical traits for the purposes of entertainment.
  
  However, Minstrel Shows are banned as being offensive, so, why not Drag Shows?
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:42am
- Paulus
  
  Goff was thinking thank goodness I have got the job in Washington tied up, as I know too much,
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:46pm
Rusty

Olivia Newton John has died. Kinda of liked her pop songs in the 70s and 80s.

Even liked the Grease movie where she played a 18 year old teenager even though she was 30 at the time.
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August 9, 2022 8:47am
- Harry Knuts
  
  ohh no.. too sad. One of the few Australians i actually liked.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:56am
  - Rusty
    
    I thought Olivia Newton John was more iconic than Judith Durham of the Seekers who died last week. Didn’t get into their music.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:55am
    - Harry Knuts
      
      me neither. A bit too kumbayaa round the camp fire hippy for me.
      
      4 3
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      August 9, 2022 11:08am
      - MCōs
        
        Whatever else the Seekers might have been there’s no way in the wide world they remotely resembled hippies.
        
        “One cuddly girl-next-door type (complete with nose-crinkling smile) and three sober cats who looked like bank tellers.”
        
        http://www.milesago.com/artists/seekers.htm
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:01pm
- Prince
  
  To be fair she was built like an 18 year old at the time.
  I immediately withdraw and apologise to all vulnerable teenagers, 30 year olds, and Australians.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:08am
Littletramp

This is bad news heading straight toward us. Ignore the boy gets hit by 16 year old boy at boarding school story – pay attention what these morons are really up to and resist this at all cost.
https://www.digital.govt.nz/digital-government/programmes-and-projects/digital-identity-programme/digital-identity-system/

Think this is a “conspiracy theory” – the guy in charge is the CEO of Internal Affairs.
They are running out of money (and borrowing capacity) to run the ever expanding public service, and are coming after everything you have got or will ever have!
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August 9, 2022 8:49am
- Harry Knuts
  
  another reason to not give the govt any info as possible about yourself.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:57am
- mawm
  
  Tramp – from your link; the Tui ad – “Information will not be held in a central database and using the system will not be compulsory.” – Yeah, right!
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:47am
- Ghost
  
  I read last month the vaccine passport is being connected to drivers licenses to carry your photo from the license in your Vax passport.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:03am
Captain Mainwaring

Yet another hit job on Luxon by $tuff’s bought and paid for cartoonist.
One could be excused for thinking that Labour isn’t producing anything worthy of a cartoon.
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August 9, 2022 8:52am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Gosh we are judging people by working hard and then having a holiday. Jeff Bell is showing that mighty big chip on his shoulder today.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:00am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Thank God we have Garrick Tremain to redress the imbalance:
  
  https://twitter.com/Ewenr/status/1556468084671918080/photo/1
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:10am
  - kowtow
    
    Problem is he’s been unpersoned by the paid media .Which is what the majority see.
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:39am
    - gravedodger
      
      Surely you jest kt, a very large Majority do not even buy it for kitty litter, they ask for yesterdays at the help desk with the mast head removed for the refund?
      
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      August 9, 2022 10:51am
  - riffer
    
    LOL. A cartoon that makes Luxon look bad is a hit job. A cartoon that makes Ardern look bad is redressing imbalance.
    
    It’s political cartoonery. It’s supposed to take the piss. There is no conspiracy. FFS.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:38am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      A cartoon that makes Ardern look bad is redressing imbalance.
      Does such a thing exist in NZ MSM in last year or two? If you were to tally up NZ MSM cartoons that make fun of Nations figures or Labour figures over last year do you think it would be below 9:1? Labour has failed at essentially everything, health, economy, education, housing, inflation (pumped by Robertson) all a shambles, all measures of govt performance have been woefully bad/sliding into the shitter over last 5 years. But team of 55million cartoonists just won’t touch them. NZ MSM are Labour propagandists.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:08pm
    - Jack5
      
      Riffer of the subsidised newspapers’ cartoons: ….It’s supposed to take the piss .
      
      Cartoons traditionally have meant to contain at least an element of humour.
      
      This is nearly always missing from the newspapers’ cartoonists such as Murdoch.
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:21pm
      - riffer
        
        Humour is a matter of individual taste, obviously.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:29pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Go through the last 5 years of Stuff cartoons and count the number that are explicitly hard on Labour (the Government) and then count the number that are hard on National.
      
      It’s not even a little bit close. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just bias.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:02pm
    - Hugh Jarse
      
      The MSM has a left bias. It may not be a conspiracy but if the cartoonist was fair and balanced, both side would be lampooned, when the cartoonist only finds opportunities to lampoon one side in a target rich environment such we have then it looks like bias or obsession. Tremains cartoons show what can be done when the other eye is open to opportunity.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:59pm
    - leoj
      
      Riffer – you’re wearing your mask incorrectly.
      Instead of covering your eyes and ears, it is supposed to cover your nose and mouth.
      
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      August 9, 2022 9:01pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTxhvBRzkY
Globalist Organisations WHO, UN, WEF Explainer.

I take a look at these 3 large globalist organisations – who they are, how they are funded, what they are doing and does it affect NZ? By all means get the conversation going below – keep it respectful. [28:18]
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August 9, 2022 9:01am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U48Bs2c-x4

Why is BIDEN the most UNPOPULAR president in HISTORY? – VisualPolitik EN.

As of mid-July 2022 some polls suggested that 71% of voters did not want him to run again, including 54% of Democrats. That latter percentage rises to 94% among young Democrats between the ages of 18 and 29. How on earth is this possible? What on earth could explain why the president’s popularity has plummeted in such a way? [15:03]
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August 9, 2022 9:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Biden is a crook and so are the whole family. Nobody dares prosecute them. He carries just as much clout as Killary.
  There is one hell of a lot going on that the Media will never dare to report.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:03am
  - Harry Knuts
    
    makes you wonder why they voted in a near-corpse. reminds me of Mr Burns.
    
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    August 9, 2022 12:29pm
    - MCōs
      
      Look at the alternative
      
      2 2
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      August 9, 2022 3:04pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Yeah, the alternative is pretty goo isn’t it Mac?
        I often wonder how the World would be now if the Dems did not cheat in 2020.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:35pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Good good good, not goo Steve ffs.
        As Lee says, it is not a good comment unless I made a typo!
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:37pm
  - curry4me
    
    Yeah, I agree. I just thought I’d include an item from reasonable leftists on the subject.
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:57pm
Yvette

■ “3 Waters” – yet again

• Has anyone – media or open, transparent Government – yet explained where ratepayers will pay for water and water infrastructure.
• If centralised will we all pay the same
• Will local city councils reduce rates by the amount we pay to whatever 3 Waters entity?
____________

!st Tipa Mahuta – Chair of
2nd Maori Advisory Board to
3rd Taumata Arowai, Water Regulator, controlling
4th “3 Waters” Four Entities, with token “co-governance”
_____________

Above, 1st to 3rd are in place, legislation on 4th is currently started in Parliament
so where is Jacinda’s promised “conversation” on “co-governance”?
Where is outraged National Opposition”

Not that it matters much because Tipa Mahuta’s Maori Advisory Board trumps Taumata Arowai, trumps “3 Waters” Four Entities, with token “co-governance”.
Checkmate
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August 9, 2022 9:03am
Opie

We know it cost $330k to open transmission gully, but now i know what made up those costs.

Marquees and temp fencing etc: $49,363.48
Printed material: $1626
Photography: $2852.64
Catering: $17,511.50 (that’s a lot of sausage rolls)
Audiovisual equipment and stage: $38,628
Planning and organising: $221,545.67!!!!!

You could wear the first 5 as standard government overspending and not being respectful of money. But $220k to organize a 2 hour event?

This absolutely stinks.

The planning and organising was done by a company called the He Waka Eke Noa Charitable Trust.

My initial look into this company shows them to be linked to the Te puna ora o mataatua charitable trust who received $2.9 million from the provincial growth fund and whose publicly available accounts show them to have over $3 million in cash at end of fy21. Literally awash with taxpayers money.

Maybe someone who doesn’t work 50 hours a week could do some digging on these entities? It would be superb if there are any links back to a minister…

These companies seem to be nothing more than a way to launder taxpayer money to Maori elite.
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August 9, 2022 9:14am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You know where the trail will end. Read between the lines.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:05am
  - Opie
    
    I hope so. I would like nothing more than to see her jailed for corruption
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:38pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Never happen, Daddy is an ex Cop
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:38pm
- DimChappie
  
  A link to your source of these numbers please? Outrageous if true.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:34pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

With ‘criminal ramraiders’ now having reached Remuera jewelery and liquor stores….there’s a lesson to be learned from this.

https://twitter.com/JosephMicheli14/status/1556519195579482112
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August 9, 2022 9:19am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. They deserve medals.
  
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  August 9, 2022 9:39am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yeah wait until a ram raider is shot by an owner. They won’t get a medal. (Which is, literally, what happens in parts of the USA.)
    
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    August 9, 2022 9:44am
    - riffer
      
      I would wager that, in that event, despite some idiot news reporter writing a story with quotes from relatives of the dead ram raider telling us how they were just a misguided kid, the majority of us would quietly think “good bloody job”.
      
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      August 9, 2022 11:40am
      - Harry Knuts
        
        for one riffer i agree with you… LOL..
        
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        August 9, 2022 12:30pm
- kowtow
  
  Country wide now.
  
  ‘A Gore business was allegedly targeted in a ram raid by a group of teens — one only 13 — at the weekend.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/fish%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99chip-shop-ram-raid-target
  
  At least they got the alleged scrotes.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:08am
  - riffer
    
    Jesus. Only in Gore would munters ram raid a fish ‘n chippery.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:41am
    - septic skeptic
      
      Flashest shop in town?
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:18pm
- Jimbo666
  
  Down south they have ram raided a sewing machine and wool shop in Dunedin and a fish and chip shop in Gore!!
  What is happening?
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:18pm
  - kowtow
    
    No , those weren’t ram raids.
    
    Sounds more like one of those sad buggers who’s desperate to get back into prison.
    
    It’s damn cold here at the moment.
    
    Or could have been a protest at the ute tax //
    
    ‘ It was the same man arrested on Saturday morning for smashing the windows of five businesses in the area and at an electric vehicle charging station at Pak N’ Save South Dunedin, Snr Sgt Bond said.’
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/man-tasered-more-sth-dunedin-windows-smashed
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:36pm
  - riffer
    
    Bored teenagers, doing stupid stuff seems to be the line being run today.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:30pm
- MCōs
  
  Those women in the video fired multiple ineffectual shots at the villain and were lucky he didn’t kill them.
  As it happened he was caught, but realistically they would have been better off to let him bugger off.
  If they want to engage in a shoot out they should do a bit of practice first.
  
  Somebody might shoot one of these young ram raiders in NZ one of these days.
  
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  August 9, 2022 3:30pm
- curry4me
  
  Well done them.
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:01pm
thirteenstars

“Gideons Now Smuggling Thomas Sowell Books Into Public Schools”

The Gideons International, a charitable organization famous for placing Bibles in hotel drawers around the world, has announced a brand new ministry: placing Thomas Sowell books in public school desks in hopes of saving children from a lifetime of economic illiteracy.

But a warning:

“If you get caught by one of these teachers, your life could be in danger,” said one member, “especially if the teacher has blue or pink hair. Those crazies will straight up murder you.”

https://babylonbee.com/news/gideons-now-smuggling-thomas-sowell-books-into-public-schools
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August 9, 2022 9:20am
ClanMcleod

Recorded phone call when a father rings the pharmacist who jabbed his 7 year old son who developed myocarditis. The pharmacist admits that informed consent wasn’t given because “they didn’t want to put them off getting the jab”.

https://thevigilantfox.substack.com/p/father-whose-son-developed-myocarditis

That is malfeasance. There should be criminal charges. As there should in NZ for those injured and who have died as a result of the jabs here. I have asked many of my jabbed friends were they given informed consent. A couple said they were given a pamphlet which basically said the vaccines were “safe and effective”
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August 9, 2022 9:43am
- mandk
  
  The father said he lives in NZ, so presumably the child was jabbed in NZ.
  
  Why has this story not been covered in Stuff, Newshub, NZH etc?
  
  Could it be because the Gov’t blood money buys a lot of silence?
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:02am
  - Ghost
    
    Part of the Google funding that our media took, and likely the government as well, but I know the Google funding was to not report negative stories on the jab
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:55am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yesterdays video on those affected also needs spreading far and wide. That poor woman right at the start is disturbing. I feel so sorry for her.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:15am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      For those who missed it:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPDDgi7oKNI
      
      8 1
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      August 9, 2022 11:18am
      - glowworm
        
        If you feel like a cry, watch this.
        
        https://odysee.com/@LizGunnNZ:b/CaseyShorts-Casey%27s-message-to-the-PM-and-doctors-of-NZ:0
        
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        August 9, 2022 12:10pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Jesus Christ glowworm. I did not know she was in a wheelchair. Poor Woman. Is there a fundraiser for her and all the others affected?
        No cry, I have thick skin and am mentally strong.
        Thankyou, I will put that out on email and on Facebook. This experiment has to be stopped.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:53pm
  - riffer
    
    I’m no medical expert, so I defer to the medical experts on this one. According to a study published in The Lancet, the rate varies between vaccine types, but seems to be between 1 and 17 people in every 100,000. Not a lot, but still, if the whole world got vaccinated, that’s a lot of people.
    
    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)00842-X/fulltext
    
    I personally have one friend who developed myocarditis after her 1st injection, and couldn’t have any more. Unfortunately, she wasn’t given dispensation for that, and lost her job as a result. Tough breaks eh?
    
    And just to make things even worse, the myocarditis rate for people who don’t get the vaccine is six times higher than for people who do have the vaccine. Sheesh.
    
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34341797/#:~:text=Conclusions%3A%20Myocarditis%20(or%20pericarditis%20or,who%20have%20received%20the%20vaccine.
    
    Seems to me that myocarditis is an immune system thing. People are different, and their immune systems have different reactions to all sorts of things.
    
    Best scenario is to not get vaccinated and not get the virus at all, but that’s hardly likely to happen. Almost everyone I know has had it now.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:44am
    - glowworm
      
      Geez Riffer, I’ve been unusually upticking your comments this morning… Get out of bed on the right side for a change?
      
      Very unfortunate for your friend. I also know a young man who had a similar reaction. Why on earth were there no dispensations given, eh?
      
      And yes people are all different, obviously! Which is why a one size fits all vaccine mandate is truly distopian and appalling.
      
      Unfortunately, when it comes to research on COVID you can pick and choose which science fits your narrative these days… Stats have unfortunately been used in the most egregious of manners to fool us all. I highly doubt the 6 times claim. 100% that I will be able to find many counter claims…to that number.
      
      Of all the scientists I follow, Geert Vanden Bossche, I think, is by far and away the most highly qualified/skilled. And unlike our so called “experts”, he is actually a real independent subject matter expert and this is now proven as he, unlike our Baker et. al. has been correct up to this point.
      
      I try to read and understand Geerts papers but they are complex and I’m lacking in basic cell biology. His prognosis for highly vaccinated countries like NZ is unfortunately not good. I hope his current predictions are wrong but he’s been pretty much bang on the money up to this point…
      
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      August 9, 2022 12:51pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      I’m not vaccinated & haven’t had the Wuflu. There are a good number of people I know the same as myself. I also know many vaccinated people who have had the Wuflu – and a number who have had adverse reactions.
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:31pm
      - glowworm
        
        Our family is a blended vax family.
        
        Only the vaxxed have had COVID and been sick. We isolated for 7 days together in the same small house and we didn’t isolate from each other at all in those 7 days…
        
        None of the unvaxxed got COVID or even any minor signs of illness. I think this is characteristic of the BA.5 variant, essentially which has evolved around the vaccines as an escape variant. BA5 is the viruses solution to mass mandated vaccination…
        
        Now, on riffers comment above. Simple logic would imply that if the unvaxxed can’t even catch the disease, how on earth can they be at 6 times the risk of heart damage?! I suspect the papers riffer sited use old data from pre Omicron era… And like many, BS statistics.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:22pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @glowworm, how do you know that you have not had Covid? Did you just have the normal tests and RAT tests.
        Soon NZ must get the natural antibody tests for Covid. I suspect you are like me – had Covid and not even known, then had the Covid tests to comply with Socialist nonsense.
        I think my two vaccines have expired now, I am on my own – no boosters, get stuffed. The psycho control is now out the window
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:40pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      2000 more kiwis died (mostly of cardiac issues in elderly) during the 2021 vaccination program compared to 2020. Both years had almost no Flu or Colds or other respiratory viruses circulation (including covid). It amounted to an extra 1 in 500 elderly NZers dying, about 10 per day extra for 6 months (more than usual daily 90-100), a number that is low enough that vaccine safety studies were not large enough to unambiguously detect it, though there were more cardiac deaths in the control group than the vaccinated group.
      
      That said it was probably still the right thing to do to minimise death amongst elderly (above some age limit) in the world of Delta. But not in the world of Omicron, particularly not for younger lower risk people.
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:58pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        OOps I meant to say vore cardiac deaths in the vaccinated group than control group.
        
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        August 9, 2022 4:19pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Dunno why you are getting downticks for that comment riffer.
      Best scenario is for people to get Covid, and get ‘natural’ antibodies. I am sure I have had it.
      Remember this Labour Socialist Government stopped antibody testing from day one – the kits were banned.
      Are you sure you are OK riffer? Stop making sense.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:58pm
herb1

I wonder if Labour’s encouragement of attacks on a 16 year olds indiscretions will come back to bite them.
They will have a lot of youth indiscretions in their camp that may or may not come out and they now need to go hard on youthful criminals.
Can’t have them accused of hypocrisy can we
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August 9, 2022 9:46am
Benedict Yu

In the USA, infants under 5 years old (but older than 6 months) became eligible for the COVID vaccine on 18 June. The vaccination rate for this group has reached 2.8 percent and has pretty much flat lined.

https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/covid-19-vaccination-rates-among-children-under-5-have-peaked-and-are-decreasing-just-weeks-into-their-eligibility/
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August 9, 2022 9:49am
- ClanMcleod
  
  BY – that’s good to hear. Parents are starting to understand that their children are at statistically zero risk from covid while the potential harms from the jab are being exposed.
  The news about these experimental vaccines doesn’t get any better as time goes on. I’ve posted the latest from El gato malo in the thread. Some of the data is outside my scope of understanding, but it is damning.
  
  As per my usual proviso, I’m not an expert, if anyone has evidence that what I have posted is inaccurate let me know and I will apologise and retract.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:02am
ClanMcleod

Further to previous posts about the failures of medical professionals to grow a spine and speak up about the obvious problems with the covid jabs. El gato malo’s latest post provides more real analysis supported by quality data.

“the higher quality data has long been showing that covid vaccines increase the likelihood of contracting covid for ages and the fact that new variants make this MUCH worse has been obvious as well.

even using the rigged definitions of only counting as vaxxed those already 2 weeks past second dose (or booster) this danish study was (in dec 2021) already showing massively negative VE vs omi.”

This narrative is unraveling rapidly. More so overseas, but NZ will follow. We have been lied to. Worse, many of our lives have been destroyed or irreparably damaged by politicians and “experts” who are apparently immune from consequences of their destructive actions.

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

Thomas Sowell

Sam Uffindel’s transgressions are microscopic in comparison to those of Ardern, Baker, Wiles, Hendy, Jackson and others. Yet he gets the headlines.
The media in this country are worse than embarrassing. They are complicit in the worst crimes and disastrous policies in the history of the country.
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August 9, 2022 9:54am
- surfing
  
  “The media in this country are worse than embarrassing. ”
  
  Here we can agree.
  
  https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52aca146e4b06d986ca82df3/1657571491690-J2XUQQ74RI0X6DNPKUHE/watchdogs.jpg
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:05am
  - septic skeptic
    
    The lower pic should have shown them lying on their backs waiting for the red witch to rub their tummies!
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:14pm
- mandk
  
  Did you forget to include the link to the Danish study you mentioned?
  
  It would be interesting to read it.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:13am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Apologies, I did forget. Here’s a link to the full blog post.
    
    https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/staying-apart-keeps-us-together-is
    
    The link to the Danish study is in the first half.
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:09pm
    - mandk
      
      thanks
      
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      August 9, 2022 1:51pm
Prince

There comes a stage where political bias becomes so obvious that it is counter productive. People just think ‘bugger them, I’m backing the other guys.’
I think today’s Stuff Cartoon reached that point.
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August 9, 2022 10:01am
I remember when

“Another loss for the All Blacks but Ian Foster is half-right: Ben Smith. Rugby Pass.
Despite the end score, the All Blacks did show marked improvements in many areas of their game.
It was a promising defensive performance up front from the pack as a unit.
The All Blacks ball carriers were technically much better.
This didn’t pay off in any major way but it was a massive step in the right direction.”

To get a mighty oak tree you have to start with an acorn.
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August 9, 2022 10:05am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Sack the hairdresser
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:24am
  - MCōs
    
    Jordie Barrett has the sort of hair cut old curmudgeons like you love.
    Didn’t do him much good. He ran into one of his own blokes and bust his ankle.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:43pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Mac, I have long hair atm. I have a haircut twice a year. People comment and partner moans, but hey, I don’t have to look at it except while having a shave (every day)
      
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      August 9, 2022 4:02pm
I remember when

Kia ora.
Begins the announcement that, the government now consider you once again qualify to be part of the healthy population.
It comes, of course, with a number of important provisos just in case you think you are in charge of your own destiny.
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August 9, 2022 10:10am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

In the horrid yesterday Jaspinda gave a reply to the continous robberies.
“It is fair to say though that if someone is particularly young … efforts are often made to use consequences and punishment that don’t for instance necessarily lead to that individual being in facilities that result in their continuing [to offend] … that is not to say that there are no consequences.”

Can any laureates here decipher what the fuck she said and what it means?
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August 9, 2022 10:12am
- alex Masterley
  
  Best described as meaningless word soup.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:19am
- greybeard
  
  It is easier to learn Klingon than to understand that garbage.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:10am
- Benedict Yu
  
  That is not unusual. If there were transcripts available, most of what she says would be along those lines.
  
  That’s why I like David Seymour. Even if you don’t agree with him he is almost always crystal clear in what he is saying.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:18am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    We’re back to the importance of clear, unambiguous communication again. Something Ardern certainly can’t be accused of.
    Her specialty is mangling it to fit her lies. Comma degree? 😂
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:12pm
- riffer
  
  It means that we are trying hard not to ruin young people’s lives by putting them into prisons where they can learn to be better criminals.
  
  Unfortunately, some people don’t take the second chances they are given because the punishment isn’t severe enough and as a result end up becoming more criminal as a result.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:47am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No, it doesn’t mean that.
    
    The PM is saying that there are consequences for young criminals….but she failed to produce a scrap of evidence as to what the consequences were.
    
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    August 9, 2022 12:37pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  say consequences and punishment enough times and everyone will believe your doing something even if you aren’t.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:33pm
kevn

@SteveO… ‘Word soup’ we call it.
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August 9, 2022 10:17am
pdm

What do Aucklanders think of `Penis Lolly’ Woods instructions to NZ Transport Agency to open a lane on the Harbour Bridge for cyclists?

I also heard that his instructions include `hiring specialists’ to handle the investigation.

FFS NZ Transport Agency have already increased staff to a cast of thousands – what do all of these hangers on do?
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August 9, 2022 10:21am
- Harry Knuts
  
  The question should be what MAMIL is in Wood’s ear? This is a ridiculous idea that only a fool would pursue.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:31am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I had to use the google machine for that.
    You are correct.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:27am
    - Harry Knuts
      
      SEAL = Senior Exercising in Active Lycra
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:05pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    I suspect it was the Ministers wife who whispered in his ear. She is the brains of the opperation.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:24pm
- kowtow
  
  Why Penis lolly ?
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:06pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Because he called for a ban on penis-shaped lollies during an election campaign some years ago. The name stuck, with some. Now I believe the entire Beehive knows him as “Napoleon”.
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:49pm
    - kowtow
      
      Ah so , thank you.
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:31pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  It would be cheaper to create a free bike shuttle service to operate over the bridge continuously 16 hours a day, costing a few hundred 1000’s a year – minimally disruptive, and could be funded in perpetuity with what they have wasted on their endless pointless studies.
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:05pm
mawm

“Zero Covid has cost New Zealand dearly”- an opinion piece in Spiked by Professor Jay Bhattacharya, epidemiologist, health economist, and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.
” Ultimately, New Zealand’s Zero Covid strategy was immoral, incoherent and a grand failure.”

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/08/07/zero-covid-has-cost-new-zealand-dearly/
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August 9, 2022 10:23am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Young teens doing stupid things:
I once shot a guy in the leg with a slug gun because he pissed me off, then spent 10 minutes helping him to dog the slug out. 55 years later we are still friends.
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August 9, 2022 10:31am
- Jack5
  
  Either it was a poor air gun or you were at distance from the boy, Steve.
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    6 to 8 meters away, can’t remember. It was not point blank.
    
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    August 9, 2022 11:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  We talk about it now and then. He still calls me a bad name even though we are mates.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Another typo JFC.
  DUG the slug out ffs
  
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  August 9, 2022 4:14pm
  - blue collar
    
    Jesus Christ steveo !! Sort ya bloody typos out !! 😅
    
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    August 9, 2022 7:44pm
ClanMcleod

Alex Jones under questioning in his recent legal case. This was on Kim Iversen’s new channel. Brilliant piece of editing. Go to 17:41

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EsWsaqs99I
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August 9, 2022 10:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Alex Jones needs some bodyguards, if he hasn’t already got them
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:25pm
  - MCōs
    
    So do his victims.
    
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    August 9, 2022 5:28pm
Swifty

The infantilisation of New Zealanders continues apace.

“Māori and Pacific students made to feel ‘insignificant’, uni survey shows”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300655905/mori-and-pacific-students-made-to-feel-insignificant-uni-survey-shows

No, nobody can ‘make’ you ‘feel’ anything. You choose how you feel about things.

It is your choice.

Some people want other people to ‘feel’ being victims – it is up to those people whether they choose to do so.
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August 9, 2022 10:49am
- surfing
  
  Maori get preferential entry into degrees with higher earning potential. They’re queue jumpers, and their peers don’t like that and it is natural to mock Maori as being undeserving of their degrees.
  
  Until Maori compete on an equal basis, this will always be the case. It is human nature. Socialists think they can change human nature, well, they can’t.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:35pm
- Ehlana
  
  OK, so they surveyed 43 people. What response rate is this?
  
  Respondents reported that other students thought they were there only to fill diversity quotas, or would get advantages from being Maori or Pacific Islanders. They object to be used as tokens, pictured in posters, trotted out to say karakia, misidentified as Maori when they’re not and added to funding applications for research they’re not part of to increase the chances of success.
  
  Sounds like all the things people predicted would happen as a result of tokenism, virtue signalling and forcing the Treaty onto everything.
  
  It seems at least one expects the space to change to suit them, complaining about lecturers sitting on tables and pronunciation of Maori words now used in English. Perhaps it has not occurred to that one that Universities are actually a European institution, which should have an international staff and student body. So if no-one else has a problem with it, maybe they need to get used to it?
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:00pm
Loddenthinks

Here’s what Luxon should ask the Speaker at the next Parliament sitting:

“Mr Speaker, is it your position that a single incidence of violent behaviour towards a schoolmate, or parliamentary colleague, should disqualify a member from holding office?”
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August 9, 2022 10:51am
- Ghost
  
  Can’t ask the speaker questions. It also doesn’t matter what any politican thinks, what matters is the public perception
  
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  August 9, 2022 10:59am
Libertarians are right

The Sam Uffindel issue for me is a weird one.
I was violently assaulted regularly at school and still hold a grudge against the pieces of crap that did it.
I was also aware that some of the kids that boarded had it worse than me – assaults on them by the older kids was part of the boarding culture.

Uffindel’s victim has a couple things most victims of school assaults never had:

Uffindel was actually held accountable. This almost never happens.

Uffindel also apologised when he got back into the country. Again, this almost never happens – I have had plenty of interactions with some of my assaulters and they just treat it like it never happened.

I realise that the timing looks suspect, that he apologised in December 2021 because he was hoping to run for parliament in late 2023, but it was also realistically the first chance he had, coming back to New Zealand from overseas.

Personally, I would be happy if my assaulters admitted their fault, even if it were for selfish reasons but again, Uffindel’s situation was different because unlike my assaulters, he was actually held accountable at the time.

I would never vote for one of the people that assaulted me, but I would not expect them to be disqualified because of it. As much as it hurts to admit, what they did back then isn’t actually relevant to who they are now, barring any evidence of their carrying on with that behaviour.
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August 9, 2022 11:14am
- Loddenthinks
  
  It may be a weird one, but you’ve articulated it beautifully.
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:45pm
oldfella

Change of subject: as a boomer, I’ve been trying to figure out what we Kiwi kids got in the way of jabs back in the 50’s. I seem to recall the polio vaccine. And TB. Did we also get a smallpox jab back then? Anything I’ve forgotten? And how many of those 50’s vaccines were for life?
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August 9, 2022 11:23am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  In the UK I had
  
  Polio, Smallpox, BCG ( cannot remember what that was for)
  
  Going to sea added Typhoid and various others as required
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:48am
  - Ehlana
    
    BCG is the vaccine against TB.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:01pm
- Nickc2
  
  tetanus vaccine.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:03pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Folks only got smallpox vax (by skin incision) if they were travelling overseas.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:42pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Had the usual, like polio, TB, tetanus. We lived in the sticks, so just took the others on the chin. I had mumps, chickenpox, measles x 2, can’t remember what else. Must be others, but way out the back of Te Kowhai there were no doctors or hospitals to run to just because I got a sniff. I can remember stitching up a cut with some sort of string.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:00pm
Prince

RNZ – ‘Sam Uffindel is making a statement over his involvement in a high school attack’.
Mate, no statement will bring this to a close. The more you, Luxon et al speak about it, the longer the headlines will continue. Bring it to a close.
You know the media will follow you and your family everywhere. Either shut up now or leave the building.
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August 9, 2022 11:31am
- Prince
  
  And sure enough the guy has floundered around. Headlines will now be ‘Uffindel can’t put a number on the people he punched and bullied at school.’
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:52am
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  If National are going to fall into line whenever action is demanded of them by their opponents, then all is lost. To accept your opposition’s preferred framing of an issue as if it were absolute is simply unbelievable. You’ve already lost if you adopt your opponent’s framing. Instead, frame the issue how it best suits yourself, which in this case, is to remind Labour of all of the unpunished behaviour of their own side.
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:26pm
Maggie Pie

The other day, me and a few of the girls from Tennis were playing ‘You-show-me-yours-and-I’ll-show-you-mine’ with our latest rates bills.

One question that came up I thort was quite interesting….
“Where could we find out what the government collects by way of total GST each year on Residential Rates”

Would that figure be available I wonder?
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August 9, 2022 11:42am
- Libertarians are right
  
  You can add into that the GST on smoke and fuel taxes as well.
  
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  August 9, 2022 11:50am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes, it’s astronomical when you think about it Libby….the Rates thing alone could well be in the Billions. And it’s a tax-on-a-tax!
    Just from the 5 of us sitting there and comparing our acconts, (and none of us are economists) adding it all up we reckon they will collect something like 11k in gst alone this year 🙁
    
    And what do we get for it??
    
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    August 9, 2022 1:53pm
    - mogg
      
      When you consider rate payers have payed IR PAYE
      and ACC on their earnings before paying their rates, it has to be tax on tax on tax on tax. Very soon there will also be the unemployment insurance to be added into that mix. Also a business owner has to pay ACC twice on the same $ earnings.
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:27pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Yep it’s a tax on a tax which is not permitted, so they don’t call it a tax, they call it a rate.
      
      In the US they call it what it really is – property tax.
      
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      August 9, 2022 5:47pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  We call that double dipping – tax on a tax.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:35pm
- kowtow
  
  How many MP’s would pass the ‘did you ever play you show me ‘ test in pre selection ?
  
  Mind you by the sounds of it a lot of them are still playing it . But the Media Pardy have agreed to a code of silence .
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:10pm
- mogg
  
  Maggie should be writing one liners for Luxon, that’s up there with Key’s ‘show me the money’ comment, which had Clark squirming in her size 10’s.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:34pm
  - jgw739
    
    Twas Phil Goff on the receiving end of that one and boy did it hit the mark.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:00pm
Tony Stuart

I doubt that Willie Jackson will be joining the pile-on against Sam Uffindell, if the quotation on his Labour Party website is anything to go by; it reads:

“If there is one thing that I am most proud of, it is that we never give up on people and everyone deserves another opportunity.”

This must be the only thing with which I agree with Willie Jackson on! Second chances are great, but if you waste them and stuff up again, coming back is that much harder.
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August 9, 2022 12:08pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  That’s gold Tony
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:09pm
- surfing
  
  I believe in second chances, but I also believe in disclosure and honesty.
  
  If he’d disclosed this earlier, I’d be inclined to believe he’d learned from his mistakes. As it is, he just appears sorry that he got caught out.
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:24pm
- Daphne Whitethigh
  
  Regardless, I do wonder why the Tauranga Selection Committee basically chose Harry Flashman…
  
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  August 9, 2022 12:34pm
- kowtow
  
  yeah , for those going on about how criminal the behaviour was I wonder how many could pass a did you inhale test .
  
  Among many other indiscretions.
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:11pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Silly Willy would say that, if be stunned of he hasn’t got a few skeletons tucked away.
  
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  August 9, 2022 1:16pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Willy realised he would have to apologise for his Roast Busters episode…. where he verbally bullied and made light of the sexual abuse of young girls…and along with John Tamihere erected a large smoke screen around the young men who had committed the crimes.
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/willie-jackson-apologises-again-for-roast-busters-interview/2S4EMRVC736CMJCYDWEUENN734/
    
    but somehow Labour forgave him and the “me too” women shut their gobs over the matter.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:05pm
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      What does this tell us? It tells us that the many contemporary pseudo-moral witch hunts are not expressions of absolute moral standards, but are selectively applied for political ends. If they don’t serve political ends, they are not applied. A great example is the Pakistani grooming gangs throughout the UK. I don’t recall MeToo speaking out at all about these horrific abuses of young girls, because no political advantage was to be gained, and in fact doing so would lend support to their political opponents. For the same reasons, a group like BLM totally ignores incidents that only feature Blacks, because theirs is not an absolute moral standard. It is intrinsically relativistic.
      
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      August 9, 2022 2:24pm
Bobba Fret

Even Olivia Newton John passing away cannot take away the top article from Sam Uffindell on either Stuff or Herald.
Just shows how the media outlets are simply the propaganda arm of the communist party.
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August 9, 2022 12:08pm
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  If we recall that her biggest hit was “Let’s Get Physical,” in a way the Uffindell coverage gives an indirect nod to Olivia Newton John.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:11pm
- mogg
  
  They are not Communist it ‘s Capitalism, they are doing it for the money.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:40pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Well, you’ve seen the polls so I assume they have too…..
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:49pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Whenever there’s a big story in the media, look for the story they are trying to distract you from.

What are Labour really up to?
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August 9, 2022 1:24pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  My pick is there is a takeover looming in Labour leadership. when the likes of Willie and Robber start saying “we support our dear leader” then you know there is a coup on the way. getting the popcorn ready.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:06pm
  - kowtow
    
    If that happens watch them fall to the mid teens.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:29pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Get a fucking cleansack full!
    It will be delicious
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:17pm
    - blue collar
      
      I’m getting a wool sack full ! 🥳👌
      
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      August 9, 2022 7:49pm
  - artemisia
    
    Maybe an abdication. Ms Ardern is looking less and less able to refude and more and more able to deflect unconvincingly. Polls are noticing, trajectory is no fun. Just need a really good reason to hand a hospital pass to Mr Robertson. He’d love to be the PM for a good time even though unlikely to be a long time.
    
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    August 9, 2022 5:28pm
fredonas

From the ACT email newsletter: “Wowserism today comes in the form of Chloe Swarbrick’s Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill, a bill that would, among other things, ban alcohol advertising from sport. This is not evidence based, it is just old fashioned wowserism that’s been with us since the Treaty.
[…]
One final twist, that hasn’t got nearly enough attention. The Swarbrick Bill bans sports sponsorship, but not all of it. There’s a special clause that says the ban does ‘not apply to the display, on any craft, of any alcohol product trade mark or the company name of any alcohol product manufacturer, where that craft is participating in an international race.’
Swarbrick is the MP for Auckland Central, where the America’s Cup is held.”
Of course she is, LOLs 🙂
The bill is at the first reading stage, then on to Select Committee.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_125378/sale-and-supply-of-alcohol-harm-minimisation-amendment
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August 9, 2022 1:57pm
- Harry Knuts
  
  Wowserism – great word!
  Swarbrick = achieved sweet FA
  Can anyone tell me what this MP has achieved to date on her time in parliament?
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:13pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    @H. Knuts-
    She has achieved about the same amount as J. Ardern had before she was appointed Prime Minister by Mr Peters.
    Look out for Chloe a towards the end of next year…..
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:04pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  Excessive alcohol use causes much harm. However as I have commented previously, you could limit alcohol sales to concrete bunkers on the outskirts of cities on only Tuesday afternoons. Those addicted to alcohol would get all they need for the week ahead.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:31pm
  - fredonas
    
    Agreed re. harm, but mostly in people who are susceptible to addictive behaviour. Consuming excessive amounts of high calorie fast food and sugary soft drinks also causes long-term harm. Good public policy draws the line between public safety and “nanny state” overreach. I doubt it is advertising that is driving people’s behaviour in these areas.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:43pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  The America’s Cup is not held in Auckland – that foiling boat has sailed off to Barcelona.
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:55pm
emmess

Corrupt FBI raid President Trump’s home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGZm4S1_lQ

If anybody wants to defends this
Please explain in one sentence what he is supposed to have done, and how it there is evidence amounting to even 1% of what Hunter and Joe have done.
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August 9, 2022 2:01pm
- Batman
  
  It’s a national security investigation into classified documents known to be held by Trump at his residence, illegally.
  
  It will have been approved by an independent judge and the head of the FBI, whom Trump appointed.
  
  It’s very clear cut. It’s also not related to Jan 6, though he may get a second visit for that in the future I imagine.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:12pm
  - herb1
    
    “Known to be held”?
    How do you know this . Who the hell do you think you are. You know nothing you just made that up.
    The FBI may suspect he holds documents. That’s why they e done the raid.
    Perhaps they could have saved a shit load of grief by just ringing Batman who forever seems to think he knows it all
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:30pm
    - Batman
      
      Shesh Herb that’s a bit personal when I’m trying to provide straight info. Anyway, here is my evidence base for stating the rationale for the search warrant:
      
      https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1556808335348809729?t=6iKw9lt5yHnKWbKFaEu4lg&s=19
      
      https://twitter.com/vermontgmg/status/1556788136507805697?t=2DAH4EjaLnTgjUTp9mn6yQ&s=19
      
      And the core of it is this: the National Archives referred this matter to the Justice Department in February, and now it has been acted upon under the law.
      
      https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-national-security-9c1f6dca7e3e8073ee029604c8253a5c
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:21pm
  - fredonas
    
    Contrast this to Hillary’s personal email server which the FBI weren’t allowed to even look at and only knew that classified emails were involved by analysing wikileaks document releases.
    Same for the hacked Democrat Party servers that were given instead to private company Crowdstrike for analysis (!!).
    Tells you everything you need to know about how the FBI has become a weaponised tool of the Democrats to go after their political enemies.
    
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    August 9, 2022 2:33pm
    - Batman
      
      Neither of those come close to being the same.
      
      That’s not how the server story worked. You should check what actually happened in that case.
      
      The FBI looked at the materials in Hillary’s emails in two tranches and found no crime was committed. No fancy story or theory required.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:05pm
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        How many times do you need to be on the wrong side of the “Trump v Institutional Power” contest of the last several years to accept that at a very basic level you just don’t understand the game that is being played, which is naked power politics?
        
        For 5 or so years, every time you and other rabid Trump-haters have condemned Trump as being imminently cooked, every time you are wrong. Then you pick up the next bone thrown at you and the process starts afresh. When do you accept that you simply have no idea what you are talking about?
        
        The obvious fault in all of your “reasoning” is that, as a first principle, you assume that Trump’s antagonists are good faith actors on a noble pursuit of truth and justice. Why would you believe this? They are ruthlessly protecting their power by trying to burying a serious challenger to their power, and they control the bullhorns that are used to dupe shallow and uncritical thinkers into believing that their motives are pure.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:21pm
      - Batman
        
        Hahaha mate give it up, I am being proven right, albeit very slowly.
        
        Trump is and always has been a crook who will always do what he wants to benefit himself financially and say whatever his ego demands.
        
        You are nothing more than a supplicant for his authoritarian tendencies and the fetish for mandating the white straight family as the only acceptable existence.
        
        Haven’t you got a Russian war crime to justify? It’s a day ending in Y after all.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:37pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I seem to recall the FBI doing the exact same thing to hold Hillary Clinton to account for using her personal email server for 10s of thousands of classified emails in a blatant breach of national security.
    
    Hahahahahahaha – just kidding. Nothing to see here, move along , whaddabout that Bad Orange Man, eh?
    
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    August 9, 2022 6:05pm
  - Ghost
    
    The president owns and controls these documents and typically hands them over to his presidential library. Trump has done with these documents what every other president has done when leaving office.
    
    Perhaps you can also argue why Obama shouldn’t of been allowed to take classified documents when leaving office for his library, clinton, bush, etc etc.
    
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    August 9, 2022 6:55pm
- virtualmark
  
  It’s said to be connected to Trump illegally having classified documents stored at Mar-A-Lago.
  
  The threshold to get a “no knock” search warrant for the house of a former President must be insanely high. For sure:
  – They would have to be very sure that what they were looking for was there (because the consequences of a failed search would be so high)
  – They would have to be very sure about where in the house the documents were (apparently in the safe)
  – That would all have to be based on very fresh, non-stale knowledge
  – They would have to be very sure that if subpoena’d the target (Trump) would have spoiled the evidence not handed it over
  – They would have to convince the head of the FBI (a Trump appointee) to file for a warrant, a Federal judge to sign off on the warrant, and the head of the DOJ to agree to the horrible precedent of investigating a former POTUS.
  
  Interesting though that the “Lock her up!” people are so upset.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:26pm
  - Batman
    
    Law and order but only for certain kinds of people. As always.
    
    But the rest of your comment is bang on, a lot of legal nerds providing good analysis on this topic currently. You’ve done a good job of condensing it here!
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:02pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Hard to believe that “I wish my generals were more like Hitler’s” isn’t the biggest Trump story of the day.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:10pm
      - Batman
        
        Having read the piece over lunch, I actually thought that was not the most interesting part of it. But if course it is catnip to the twitter classes and the media.
        
        It’s well worth a read.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:39pm
      - virtualmark
        
        General Milley’s resignation letter is mind-blowing.
        
        That letter alone should morally disqualify Trump from public office for evermore.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:43pm
      - Batman
        
        That was a stunning letter. And by the guy who Trump picked because he was an outsider too.
        
        Very much enjoyed him telling the Trump henchmen, Patel and Miller, he’d be happy to see them in jail if they tried anything illegal.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:47pm
      - fredonas
        
        Ha, ha, what that they plotted to blow him up then were forced to commit suicide? 🙂
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:02pm
      - virtualmark
        
        fredonas,
        
        Well worth a read. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals
        
        Kelly had to explain to Trump that yes Hitler’s generals schemed to kill him several times, and nearly succeeded.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:19pm
- kowtow
  
  The Dems better gird their loins .
  
  Aftder the mid terms the Republicans will hold both Houses and later they’ll have the Presidency .
  
  All this politicising /weaponising law enforcement is going to come back to bite ’em.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:28pm
  - Batman
    
    That’s 3rd world dictatorship stuff you’re suggesting, in response to a legally obtained warrant for a specific set of documents.
    
    And who are the dangerous authoritarians again?
    
    No guarantee the GOP will hold either chamber given the warning signs from their weak candidates and extremist positions on abortion.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:00pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      “legally obtained warrant”
      That doesn’t really mean what it used to mean though.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:05pm
      - Batman
        
        Again, like kowtow, that isn’t a substantive argument.
        
        It is pretty clear cut. The referral has led to a search warrant.
        
        https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-national-security-9c1f6dca7e3e8073ee029604c8253a5c
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:40pm
      - Libertarians are right
        
        Sorry Batman, tried to down vote, didn’t mean to report you to yourself 🙂
        
        From what you linked to, the warrant seems to be based on “he had stuff he wasn’t supposed to have that he gave back to us so we want to do a no knock warrant to see if he has any more”.
        
        If that’s the case it’s absolutely a fishing expedition and shouldn’t have gotten a warrant. I’ll also suggest there’s a very high chance the “classified documents” that the National Archives found will turn out to be documents that had been de-classified.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:53pm
      - Batman
        
        Haha thanks, though reports go elsewhere I think.
        
        I would counter your comment by saying that neither of us know what has happened between February and today. The tweet threads from legalheads I posted elsewhere also indicate that an extremely high standard would need to be met to get this warrant approved by a judge etc.
        
        There is every chance that whatever was reviewed previously was found to be incomplete, or further information was found to have been copied and taken. We just don’t know yet. It could be something like the Kim letters or intelligence/defence docs.
        
        Re declass: yes I see that’s a popular counter narrative being used online by Trump’s fans. I think it would struggle to be proved without evidence of a document trail showing they were declassified. I don’t think a Helen Clark style “if the PM leaks it, it’s not a leak” argument would stand up in court.
        
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        August 9, 2022 4:38pm
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        Exactly. Show trials in the Soviet Union were all conducted under the relevant Soviet laws, but does anyone seriously suggest that this accordance with the law makes Soviet show trials valid exercises of legal process in themselves? Laws are just written statements; it is how people apply those laws that counts.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:57pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Libertarians,
        
        I doubt very very much whether that would be sufficient grounds to get any sort of “no knock” warrant, let alone one for the house of a former President.
        
        I *strongly* suspect they knew exactly what documents he had and where he was storing them, and that that information was very fresh. Just on the basis that that’s the level of grounds you would need to get that warrant.
        
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        August 9, 2022 4:28pm
      - Batman
        
        You and the guy I linked to earlier.
        
        Absolutely no doubt that getting that warrant across the line would have required an ungodly amount of checking and approvals and assurance.
        
        Weirdly, Trump did a Tele-rally for Sarah Palin this afternoon and was apparently bemused about it, chuckled when he mentioned it.
        
        As usual, his supporters are far more angry and emotional thanks to stewing in years of fear porn.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:06pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        From Batty: “I would counter your comment by saying that neither of us know what has happened between February and today.”
        
        Apart from the grammatical error, which was not unexpected, the admission that he doesn’t know everything to an absolute certainty floored me. After a cup of tea and a lie-down I regained some equilibrium and managed to get through The Chase ok.
        
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        August 9, 2022 6:10pm
    - kowtow
      
      Legally obtained.
      
      Bwahahahaha.
      
      Snowden blew the gaff on all that “legal” malarkey years ago.
      
      Bwahahahaha.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:20pm
      - Batman
        
        Again, no substance to your argument, only whataboutism and faux-mockery.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:38pm
      - MCōs
        
        Snowden’s in Russia where he’s been for nine years, out of circulation.
        I doubt he knows anything about this little ruction.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:26pm
- Rodion Raskolnikov
  
  They’re trying anything they can to prevent Trump running for president again in 2024 because they know that if he does, he’ll win. “Of the people, by the people, for the people”? America is none of these things any longer. It’s basically an irredeemably corrupted failed state run and being looted by oligarchs, where the institutions are arrayed and weaponised against anyone who threatens the status quo. Sad.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:39pm
  - Batman
    
    Projection is a helluva drug.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:30pm
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      Projection is a helluva drug, but not as good as offering an argument of some sort: that shit’s wild, man! I’ll hook a brother up.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:52pm
      - Batman
        
        Well that would be novel for you since it’s usually a ramble about how everything actually all the fault of liberals and the godless 😉
        
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        August 9, 2022 4:40pm
  - virtualmark
    
    In 4 years Trump lost the House, the Senate and then the Presidency.
    
    Since then his standing has diminished not risen. And while the Jan 6 committee hearings will never penetrate the Trump cult, polls show it is having a material effect on swing voters.
    
    And the GOP is facing more headwinds from having to defend policy positions on abortion etc.
    
    So if Trump runs again in 2024 then I wouldn’t be so certain that he would win.
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:34pm
    - Batman
      
      To those in the cult, he will always ‘win’ but it’s just the pesky fact that it keeps being ‘stolen’, thus the winning never needs to end! And the victim mentality can sustain it all.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:43pm
      - Rodion Raskolnikov
        
        Lol. Could you be any more Reddit-tier?
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:48pm
    - Rodion Raskolnikov
      
      That’s your opinion and that’s fine. But it’s pretty low-level analysis. I’ll take the fact of the FBI raiding Trump’s house as a far better indication of who they think is likely to win should Trump run in 2024.
      
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      August 9, 2022 3:47pm
      - virtualmark
        
        I’ll take the fact of the FBI raiding Trump’s house as a far better indication that Trump is a crook.
        
        Personally I suspect the Dems would love to run against Trump again, because his presence would motivate their base to get out and vote.
        
        I suspect De Santis (“Diet Trump”) will be the GOP nominee for President in 2024.
        
        And that’s not a good thing. De Santis is the American Orban.
        
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        August 9, 2022 3:59pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        What about the list of fabricated hoaxes against Trump over last 6 years – Fake Russia collusion hoax, Pee pee tapes, various manufactured testimony (tried to take wheel, impugning war dead etc) mostly manufactured by Media/Democrats, often with complicity of various embedded elements of Govt (CIA, FBI, NSA, DOJ…) 2 attempts at indicting Trump. 6 years worth of near continuous investigations, ultimately nothing stuck, because it was all horeshit.
        
        But this fishing trip is different now because? It is clearly a political move by democrat aligned interests to use lawfare to try and take out a foe that threatens their extremely financially rewarding power structure. But in the process they are terminally destroying trust in Rule of Law in USA for half the population.
        
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        August 9, 2022 4:56pm
      - Batman
        
        Yeah so why would I bother to yet again debate that with you? There’s no way you’ll suddenly believe it and I’m not going to suddenly accept you are correct and dive into conspiracy lagoon with you.
        
        I will give you the pee tape though, as fun as it was, it always seemed highly unlikely to exist.
        
        Otherwise, the fact you don’t like the trail of evidence regarding who Trump is, doesn’t mean it isn’t true or at the very least based on facts, unlike the claims you make about ‘complicit agencies’ (a convenient shield against any and all information which shatters the reality bubble).
        
        The investigations found plenty, as we are now seeing with this search, multiple criminal investigations at the state level, and the largest single investigation ever undertaken by the DoJ.
        
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        August 9, 2022 5:12pm
  - fredonas
    
    Wait until they start on DeSantis when and if he gets the Republican nomination. He will have the same problem as Trump if he wins in 2024: “Draining the swamp” is difficult if not impossible as there are many layers of the corrupt “deep state” onion. He should start by clearing out the FISA court and appointing new judges.
    
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    August 9, 2022 5:07pm
- emmess
  
  Please explain in one sentence what he is supposed to have done, and how it there is evidence amounting to even 1% of what Hunter and Joe have done.
  
  As I thought, nobody could answer my question
  
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  August 9, 2022 4:50pm
  - Batman
    
    I did but you didn’t like it.
    
    Hunter is currently under investigation, whether there is actually any smoke to any of the tampered hard drives is another question.
    
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    August 9, 2022 5:14pm
    - emmess
      
      Hunter is currently under investigation, whether there is actually any smoke to any of the tampered hard drives is another question.
      
      LOL
      
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      August 9, 2022 5:53pm
      - virtualmark
        
        emmess,
        
        I suspect Alex Jones’ phone will turn out to be what all you Trumpers fervently wish Hunter’s laptop could be.
        
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        August 9, 2022 8:48pm
      - Batman
        
        Unlike the political fantasy community, I don’t think we expect it to include child abuse, just that Jones is a ginormous shitbag of a human being.
        
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        August 9, 2022 8:54pm
  - virtualmark
    
    emmess, in one sentence:
    
    Trump stole highly confidential documents related to national security and was keeping them at Mar-A-Lago.
    
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    August 9, 2022 8:50pm
    - Batman
      
      so sensitive that some cannot be described in public, including Top Secret (according to the clip of the journo I’ve seen today)
      
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/25/trump-oversight-records/
      
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      August 9, 2022 8:53pm
      - fredonas
        
        Ooh, “thousands of unsealed indictments” sensitive? LOLs 🙂
        
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        August 9, 2022 9:21pm
Hugh Jarse

This type of hit job by the media is going to blow back big time on them and their enablers, Labour. The widely held public perception is that the media are paid lapdogs of Labour and that these types of hit jobs are set up by Labour. Labour can’t distance themselves from it because no one believes them and the public believe the media are biased and both labour and the media go further down the credibility stakes. Once the media took their tainted money they and labour became irretrievably entangled like two drowning swimmers.
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August 9, 2022 2:10pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Dear..

NZAF Hercules has broken down… Our Defence Minister is stranded in the Solomons.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/472518/hercules-breakdown-leaves-peeni-henare-stranded-in-solomon-islands
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August 9, 2022 2:21pm
- mandk
  
  Oh Dear indeed.
  
  completely wrecks our capacity to wage war against China in defence of Taiwan.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:38pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  tragic, for her, though every day the job-shy part time PM is out of the country/on holiday is better for NZ.
  
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  August 9, 2022 3:01pm
- Ghost
  
  Got to give it to our airforce, they can still get a piece of shit to work every now and then. Disgraceful they weren’t replaced a long time ago.
  
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  August 9, 2022 3:08pm
nathie

For better or worse this has got me thinking of other indiscretions committed by politicians but before they became an MP.

Take for instance Metiria Turei, who later on in life when she was as a MP admitted she committed benefit fraud in the 1990’s when she was aged in her twenties.

When she admitted to it in 2017, it became “news” because it was the first the MSM and the public knew about it!

But the differences (compared to the Sam Uffindell situation) are Metiria Turei “doubled-down” by saying her situation (having a young daughter to support) justified her fraud (rather than outright apologising and saying it was wrong, like Sam Uffindel has, in fact her not taking responsibility saw two other Green Party MP’s resign in protest).

Also did she disclose her benefit fraud to the Green Party when first being selected to become a MP?

Now of course physically beating up someone is very different to committing benefit fraud, and like Sam Uffindell Metiria Turei changed her life around as she matured and got older (eg she didn’t carry on life as a fraudster), so should the likes of Metiria Turei (and Sam Uffindell) always be judged by the actions of her past?

(But if so, how does that explain the “Mallard”)!!
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August 9, 2022 2:44pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Metiria Turei gave a very loose account of her circumstances that led to her fraud.
  
  She implied she was a poor solo mum…
  
  but she never fronted with the information that she & her child were supported by the father’s family.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/95624422/metiria-turei-says-support-from-her-childs-grandparents-wasnt-financial
  
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  August 9, 2022 6:07pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    And committed electoral fraud too – gaming the system so she could vote in the electorate she wanted to, which was not the electorate she lived in.
    
    But that’s completely fine because she was a responsible adult at the time, whereas the despicable Sam Uffindell was a 16 year old youth so should be crucified. At least I think that’s the outraged MSM’s position, as dictated by the 9th floor and Fraser House.
    
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    August 9, 2022 7:07pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Statement issued by ’45’ following illegal raid on his beautiful home Mar-a-Lago by Biden’s FBI henchmen…..

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1556776386450407429

Melania tweets…. they never even took off their shoes at the door.
Absolutely disgraceful!!
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August 9, 2022 2:49pm
- virtualmark
  
  (Shrug) Man under criminal investigation is angry at Police.
  
  Next at 7, dog bites man.
  
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  August 9, 2022 2:57pm
- RichardX
  
  How do you know the raid was illegal?
  
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  August 9, 2022 3:10pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Have you not read “All-The-Presidents-Men”, Dick?
    
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    August 9, 2022 3:56pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Read it? He was the main character!
      
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      August 9, 2022 7:08pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        LOL!!
        
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        August 9, 2022 8:38pm
kowtow

Maggy W

They got the statue back.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/129511884/thief-claims-he-was-unaware-stolen-statue-was-of-our-most-famous-scientist
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August 9, 2022 3:18pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes,
  But it looks like it is time we started teaching our school kids about our own home-grown “pakeha” history.
  
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  August 9, 2022 3:50pm
  - kowtow
    
    The memorial itself and the info thereon is very inspiring .
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:37pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    @MW-
    But Rutherford was just an old male, white, coloniser, surely?
    The fact that he won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908 and developed technology for splitting the atom in 1911 is of no consequence in today’s natural scientific “by the stars” conditions.
    I am surprised that his statue wasn’t tipped over and cancelled before now.
    Money trumps achievement for today’s idiots.
    
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    August 9, 2022 4:50pm
- Ghost
  
  Surely it will be replaced with a statue of Jacinda
  
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  August 9, 2022 6:14pm
Surely Knott

Received my Akd Rates Bill. Avg house – Rates for year approx $3500. Next to the payment details they say “Your local area” and list 3 outcomes 1. A local iwi trust was given $75,000 for a marae 2. Climate action plan begins. 3. Parks accessibility principles have been adopted .

So that’s it folks. $3500 per household in our biggest city, massive new high density housing going in, and their top three things doesn’t name a single piece of infrastructure, or any major outcome for public use. – We have: A plan is to begin. An ethnic trust chucked some money. And some principles adopted. Some transparency about where the money went would be good. This should describe the top three projects and name the expenditure. Clearly it doesn’t.
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August 9, 2022 3:24pm
- [email protected]
  
  Rates suposidly pays for new roads, stormwater systems, libraries, water pipes, parks and reserves and so on. When did ratepayers agree with councils that their rates money also pays for anything else?
  
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  August 9, 2022 7:02pm
LB

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington-woman-absolutely-terrified-by-biker-gang-surrounding-her-vehicle-breaking-wing-mirror/LZSFRO6PHKIK2SDBGXC47QAA5U/
Strange that this benevolent community group accidentally broke this lady’s wing mirror in their confusion
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August 9, 2022 3:33pm
Maggie Pie

My partner’s mum retweets…

“Silly old cnut” 😀

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1556768857729208321
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August 9, 2022 3:38pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I think he was going into the jacket inside pocket, to refer to the notes.
  ‘Get off helicopter’
  ‘Follow Jill to the press people’
  Say “There is no recession – we changed the meaning” Then say “Sit down and wait for Jill”
  
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  August 9, 2022 4:23pm
  - kowtow
    
    Repeat the last line.
    
    3 1
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    August 9, 2022 4:35pm
Suze Wainwright

I’m sure there might be a few illustrious All Blacks over the years who would prefer it if their school bullying and conduct records weren’t made public.

I mean, what’s a school – good, bad, rich or poor – to do, if one of its best rugby players flattened a teacher one day, but the year’s most important First XV rugby fixture was coming up that weekend…?
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August 9, 2022 4:40pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  It has been pointed out elsewhere that William Gannin Ormsby, husband (and first cousin – does that make him a Cusband?) of Nanaia Mahuta, was convicted of assaulted a female some years ago.
  
  Doesn’t seem to have affected his prospects of being on several well-paid cushy jobs-for-the-bros, unless you mean positively affecting. Neither has it affected his cousin/wife’s career prospects. I could be wrong, but perhaps it’s different when the left do it?
  
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  August 9, 2022 7:41pm
wilderbeast

I see we are to remain at “orange” because of imagined, overblown and unavoidable risks associated with real life. My prediction is that should Labour win the next election we will continue to live under “levels” and “traffic lights” for other reasons including the “climate emergency” and seasonal flu etc.
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August 9, 2022 4:42pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  You need to read this blog post from the always excellent CJ Hopkins. The man is a genius.
  
  https://t.me/offguardian/1288
  
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  August 9, 2022 6:20pm
  - kevn
    
    @Clan… Now, the link within the Telegram says it all.
    Unbelievable.
    
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    August 9, 2022 7:47pm
mogg

https://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/117103/auditor-general-skewers-three-waters-lack-accountability-locals-exposing-plan-solve

Hickey. on three waters,-the devious bastards!!!
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August 9, 2022 4:49pm
- mandk
  
  This is remarkable, coming as it does from a Labour fan boy.
  
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  August 9, 2022 5:25pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Indeed; Hickey is certainly no friend of the Right. For him to be criticising the Government is noteworthy.
    
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    August 9, 2022 6:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  From Hickey’s article:
  
  Standard and Poor’s would never approve the debt issuance required if actual revenues and assets were to be actually controlled by Iwi groups.
  
  Hmmmmm…. I wonder if anyone else could comment on this point…..especially if co-governance becomes our future.
  
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  August 9, 2022 6:37pm
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    As long as everything is Te Tiriti centric, Rawiri will be happy.
    
    Financial institutions are for the white globalist hierarchy elite anyway. Rawiri’s people have been waiting 180 years for this.
    
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    August 9, 2022 7:17pm
  - DimChappie
    
    Yes Hickey is dead wrong about this; 3 Waters is Co-Governance/iwi enrichment dressed up as fixing a problem. It is a convoluted octopus in terms of governance. If it was all about tax and funding, why are iwi involved at all?
    
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    August 9, 2022 10:26pm
- [email protected]
  
  Wow! It’s about time that the AG got up and said something about this wreck of a government.
  
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  August 9, 2022 6:43pm
CAKE FACE1

In the past couple months, the three biggest issues according to the media have been:

1. Roe vs Wade
2. Te Puke and Hawaii holiday
3. Uffindell

Meanwhile, the health system looks close to breaking point. The education system has already collapsed. Zero Covid nutjobs burnt the economy to the ground. Don’t even think about mentioning three waters…

I can only hope that National / ACT have (secret) plans in store for the media, should they win the next election.

My advice – privatise all State media. Defund propaganda such as NZ on Air. Stop all taxpayer propaganda campaigns.

Thus spake CAKE.
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August 9, 2022 6:20pm
Maggie Pie

Had to larf!

One of the commentators on with HDPA tonite described Willie Jackson…. “As someone who acts & sounds like a big kid and likely to disappear up his own orifice when Labor loses the election next year”

LOL
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August 9, 2022 6:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Three Strikes Law has been repealed.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2208/S00088/three-strikes-legislation-repeal-bill-passes-third-reading.htm

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2208/S00091/labour-turns-its-back-on-victims-of-serious-crime.htm
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August 9, 2022 7:14pm
- ex-golfer
  
  In her speech Ginny Anderson was all about the various courts saying three-strikes was in contravention of the BORA.
  
  Ironic that they are saying the BORA is important now given Labour didn’t seem to mind treading all over the BORA in the last couple of years as they systematically destroyed peoples rights.
  
  Hypocrites.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:37pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Bastards. Let them rot in Hell after next year’s election.
  
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  August 9, 2022 8:45pm
Batman

Just tying off the detail on the records held by Trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/25/trump-oversight-records/

“Some of the presidential records recovered from former president Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago are so sensitive they may not be able to be described in forthcoming inventory reports in an unclassified way, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.”

“There are records at the very highest levels of classification, including some that can be viewed by only a small number of government officials, the two people said.

“There are records that only a very few have clearances” to review, one of the people told The Post. The documents are so sensitive that they may not be able to describe them in an unclassified way, and, therefore, such documents might be described broadly in a classified addendum to the inventory, according to the two people.”

This was February. So possible that the material is indeed highly sensitive.
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August 9, 2022 8:51pm

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