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December 13, 2022 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 13 December 2022

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General Debate

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krazykiwi

Kiwiblog regulars will know that I’m no economist, so I invite – and indeed hope for – some solid critique from those more qualified.

The Bank of International Settlements is a bit like the central bank of centrals banks. They are enthusiastic promoters of Central Bank Digital Currencies, and given that these portent mass enslavement of humanity (“My wage tokens expired – WTF?”, “Your social credit score does not permit travel”), I keep a wary eye on BIS’s latest pronouncements. In doing so I read this: Dollar debt in FX swaps and forwards: huge, missing and growing. I think you’d agree that this is unusually bearish language from any central bank.

FX swaps, forwards and currency swaps create forward dollar payment obligations that do not appear on balance sheets and are missing in standard debt statistics. Non-banks outside the United States owe as much as $25 trillion in such missing debt, up from $17 trillion in 2016. Non-US banks owe upwards of $35 trillion. Much of this debt is very short-term and the resulting rollover needs make for dollar funding squeezes. Policy responses to such squeezes include central bank swap lines that are set in a fog, with little information about the geographic distribution of the missing debt

Emphasis mine.

Apparently, accountancy principles do not require derivatives to appear on balance sheets, even if they are effectively loans. This should scare the shit out of investors, and as a value-creator I regard myself as an investor in our Reserve Bank.

Some take outs from the BIS text and video:
There is $97 trillion in outstanding FX swaps, $85 trillion of these are denominated in USD. By comparison global GDP in 2021 was $96 trillion
Swaps have short maturity dates, and approximately 80% of all swaps will mature in the next 12 months
Unlike loans which can be refinanced, swaps require capital repayment at maturity.
US interest rates have risen from 1.47% on 1st Jan 2022 to 4.0% on 12th December 2022. Independent of FX losses/gains, this would lead to a 272% increase in debt servicing costs for any non-US party refinancing their USD denominated FX swaps. And given the fact that capital repayment is required, this will drive the USD higher while making exiting or refinancing more expensive fort those that mature later.

Again, I’m very much a layman here… but this looks alarmingly like GFC x1000 as outlined in this FX Swaps for dummies vid.

Armed with this info, should I:
a) Do nothing. There is nothing to see here.
b) Read every annual report for non-US banks, and short those with FX swaps mentioned in the footnotes
c) Buy large armfuls of USD
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December 13, 2022 8:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Send it to Donald Trump. Believe it or not, the man understands big money.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:20am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    7 downticks. That means that Trump and I are smarter than those 7 LOL!
    
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    December 13, 2022 2:26pm
- Vory v zakone
  
  Meanwhile another great sign of the beginning of the end of the 👿Rothschild [central banking system] “Russia and India ditch dollar in trade. The two countries will be testing a new payment mechanism using rupee settlements, New Delhi has said”
  
  https://www.rt.com/business/568097-india-russia-rupee-trade/
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:38am
- Master Mariner
  
  Iam in the same boat by not understanding economics.
  So i try and understand what i know a little better.
  USD being a petro dollar and energy is priced in USD/bbl.
  Euro zone is trying to cap oil ar 60$ Us a bbl.
  So what would happen if Russia says oil a bbl will be grams of Gold?
  What central banks have been accumulating Gold for the last decade?.
  And who has the largest reserves of oil/gas.
  BRICS countries.
  My limited knowledge says the West is on a slippery slope with the Euro/ US $.
  There is a reason why Putin and Xi are welcomed in KSA ( Saudi).
  What will be the winner ?
  US$ backed by debt ( and trust) or a currency backed by Gold,oil and hard commodities?
  Just look at the extra debt produced by the West in last 3 years and theres your answer.
  Trust (belief is erroding fast) regarding unknown derivatives debt?
  Then there is War. History always repeats.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:51am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Watching Youtube again MM 🙂
    Ie Payments in Gold.
    
    Na, impractical at best.
    So I buy xx barrels of Oil and I have to ship a tonne of gold to pay for it!
    
    But maybe thats the plan of private jet companies now? Special gold delivering Jets with armored cars at each end-big enough to handle gold which is effing heavy.
    
    I think there will be an easier solution found.
    
    Lets call it crypto currency.
    
    As it has been said for centuries, dont believe anything you read(or see on video) and only half of what you hear (direct from a commetators mouth)
    
    So joinn all the so called experts saying the world economy is crashing will crash has crashed.
    
    NZ has crashed! If food price inflation is to be believed.
    Has anybody published why food prices are so high.
    Wouldnt have been government decisions by any chance.
    
    Just went to my local market in Cambodia. Prices pretty much the same as last year. But then the Government here didnt try and control the economy by PRINTING money and handing it out willy nilly. Oh and maybe not restricting the supply of workers also helped.
    
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    December 13, 2022 2:13pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yep, youre on to it.
      Still does not get away from the fact that a lot of country central banks have been buying gold.
      Putin pegged the ruble to gold and gas.
      Hence the rubles stable performance.
      Lou Reed song.
      “Believe nothing what you hear and half of what you see.”.
      Yep and yep.
      
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      December 13, 2022 4:46pm
- Michael J Baker
  
  Depends how much debt you have and where your assets are. If you’re nearer the end of your mortgage and have a bit of savings I’d get 5-10% of your savings in Bitcoin (and don’t leave it on an exchange), and then another 5% is USD to hold for the next 3 years or so. The latter is a hedge against the US’s current play to export their inflation, and the former is a hedge against the USD which is also, inevitably, going to inflate. Re: FX swaps and potential non-accounting, I don’t know either, but debt is debt. Even if some people are clever enough to de-risk their debt with financial devices, there’s still too much debt out there. My simplified view is this (and there’s no moral judgement intended here), the boomers didn’t have as many kids and were promised too many entitlements, so future governments can’t afford stuff (and instead of investing in tech for productivity improvements they invested in voter bribes). And the demographics and the debt are, in a way, like forces of physics that can’t be avoided. All this will come home to roost. The problem is, will so many people get screwed that it creates an environment for revolution (communist/nationalist/WEFist)? Or will the wealth transfer from Boomers and Xers, to Xers and Millennials, head this off? I’m optimistic in the long run but worried about the next 20 years, so am teaching my kids self reliance and the importance of family, friends, and strong communities. And not voting for collectivists (or de facto collectivists like the National Party who don’t seem to want to change anything really).
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:19am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Helpful comment. Thanks.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:37am
- lastmanstanding
  
  So just how representative is the House of Representatives the Parliament. Well its over represented in the LBG alphabet over represented in the union teacher and lawyer classes very unpresented in the business sector and every other sector.
  In fact the HoR is made of very small minority sectors.
  This is why it lacks the capacity and capability to govern effectively.
  The Parties especially those on the Right need to get out more often away from the beltway and get in citizens who have had a normal life and understand what normal life looks like.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:37am
  - Bob
    
    Right need to get out more…..
    the National MP’s and potential MP’s are very much out and about; BUT it is not in the interests of the media to report such activities, and certainly is not a directive from the monday morning weekly propoganda brief from the government.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:53am
  - tavita
    
    What MMP did was change the meaning of representative. With FPP we voted for someone to represent us. Very often this was a lawyer, a retired accountant – someone we could trust to represent our views in the debating chamber. They in turn knew their role was to represent all the views in their electorate (well at least most took this role seriously). Diligent MPs spent a lot of time in their electorate so they could understand the issues faced. Now instead parties use the list to ensure that the make-up of their caucus is representative- it has the right number of lesbians and axe murderers. These people don’t have to represent the views of an electorate – they have been nominated by their party to advocate on behalf of those voters who the party think you represent. The MPs are selected to be representative of all views. If you want to know what Maori think on an issue just ask Willy Jackson.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:15pm
- Jimbob
  
  The bulk of USD reserves are tied up in China, as soon as they re-open dollars will come flooding back. But Powell can already see this and will end rate hikes next year. He is going to have to inject more dollars into the system, hence I believe this USD strength cycle is over. We will see what he has to say on Thursday 8:30am NZT?????
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:05am
- plc
  
  With an FX swap you hold both an asset and a liability. It does not increase your overall net debt rather just changes its functional currency.
  
  HOWEVER – and this is why the BIS is so important – back in the day there was concern that overzealous regulators could treat them as two independent transactions (effectively doubling your debt quantum). Banks therefore use what is/was known as ISDA agreements to ensure that the transactions are considered as effectively a single entity and that all transactions between them are netted off. That explains why they are off balance sheet.
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:02am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Wouldn’t suggest that I’m an “economist” kk, albeit I’ve done a few economics papers along the way. I’ve also “dabbled” in fx ( theoretical or real for some 1/4 century) – so maybe some thoughts.
  One thing to understand about fx contracts (forward or spot) is that they are highly leveraged i.e. margin trades. The retail market commonly has leverages of up to 500:1, although various jurisdictions have in recent years capped retail client margins ( protect the small guy’s stupidity type logic).
  The second point is, are those that are active in the market gamblers, or intelligent risk assessment investors using technical and/or fundamental analysis? – Maybe there’s no difference really as every trading transaction is a guess of what will happen in the future based on what’s happened in the past, which in a way leads to your GFC x 1ooo question. My question would be – is it significant? $97 trillion vs “The worldwide 2022 forex market is worth $2,409,000,000 ($2.409 quadrillion). $6.6 trillion on average every day is traded on foreign exchange markets.”
  https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/forex-trading/statistics/#:~:text=The%20worldwide%202022%20forex%20market,traded%20on%20foreign%20exchange%20markets. ( haven’t really checked the veracity ).
  And perhaps another thought -it’s a zero base market, someone gains, someone losses, it’s an electronic market (~ 280 millisec (slow) lag between decision initiation/completion in my case) and accounts have stop-outs ( which doesn’t mean of course your guaranteed against losing your deposit /house) 🙂 – so to your questions – sorry I’m not a registered financial advisor – so can’t help with a recommendation really.
  PS: Thanks for the jog along kk – been thinking it was about time to start disassembling the last dabble and seeing if the next one might make those millions 🙂 🙂
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:07am
mikenmildagain

Happy St Lucy’s Day. She was executed during the persecutions of Diocletian, when accused by a rejected suitor of being a Christian. Her gruesome death is a typical account of Christian martyrdom. Lucy is the patron saint for the blind, martyrs, epidemics, salesmen, throat infections and writers. So, if you are a blind salesman planning to write, at risk of persecution, about an epidemic of throat infections, her magic might be the most powerful you could invoke.
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December 13, 2022 8:01am
- krazykiwi
  
  “So, if you are a blind salesman planning to write, at risk of persecution, about an epidemic of throat infections”
  
  That’s almost funny. Have a +1. You’re welcome.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:35am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Always good to receive favourable feedback from one of the humourless.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:35am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Gee Milky, I also gave you an uptick, then you crap on one of your uptickers. That’s bad form, but expected I suppose, but have a good day.
      Oh and thanks for the narrative on St.Lucy. 🙂
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:43am
    - krazykiwi
      
      You reminded me to dig out some of earlier ‘humourless’ comments. I enjoyed writing this one: Thanks for calling the Labour government helpline. Or this one about a dog. Again, you’re welcome.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:53am
      - Bridgenag
        
        Love you KK
        Wish I had known about this site then…..would have saved alot of anx. The blokes at bowls are getting too old to get their heads around comment, log in etc and rely on me to pass everything on. Most of them have trouble with their daughters love of Cindy…….as discussed many times
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:11pm
- Cassandra
  
  These automatic downticks are a bit silly. Playing the ball rather than the man, good comment, mike.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:05am
- ClanMcleod
  
  “a blind salesman planning to write, at risk of persecution, about an epidemic of throat infections”
  
  Apart from the “risk of persecution” I thought you were referring to the sage, Michael Baker there. The rest of the description is perfect.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:32am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    But you didn’t think really, did you?
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:36am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      There were 9 words after the word “thought.” I suggest you read them to get the full context, I do understand that comprehension is something you struggle with but give it a go.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:43am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Saw this on the web today:
        
        The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:13pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
        
        Sounds a lot like the climate change zealots with their constant refrain that “the science is settled” (even though their failed predictions are legion).
        
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        December 13, 2022 6:22pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I believe his point was a bit wider than that. Found the quote:
        
        Many matters, however, are less easily brought to the test of experience. If, like most of mankind, you have passionate convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own bias. If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.
        
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        December 13, 2022 8:51pm
Warren

How thick is the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Immigration Minister Micheal Wood, as if they are not telling lies its everyone else that is at fault for problems that could have been fixed a year ago.
Jacinda Ardern and Micheal Wood acknowledging in this announcement ”
“that Labour shortages are the biggest issue facing New Zealand Businesses, and are contributing to the cost of living pressures too.”
We’ve said we are prepared to make changes when the evidence supports the need to, and will continue to monitor our settings to ensure they remain fit for purpose Woods says.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/national-says-immigration-changes-for-nurses-teachers-should-have-happened-a-year-ago.html
The opposition, unions, nurses , Doctors and many other enterprise and organizations have been screaming about this problem for over a year but the two biggest idiots that are part of the Government’s top dogs have not listened and have created this problem, but for Jacinda Ardern and Micheal Wood that should have been making the right decisions for New Zealander’s it’s better to blame others than taking the responsibility themselves shows how out of touch they are with the population of New Zealand.
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December 13, 2022 8:01am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “I am never wrong. Anyone who blames me or deflects blame to me will be fired on the spot. Actually, every one of you can write and sign your resignation and put it in the top drawer of my desk”
  JA.//
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:25am
- G152
  
  Didnt they fire medical staff who didnt get the covid shot?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:29am
  - Keith White
    
    Some of us did not get fired. We were denied renewal of practicing certificates so it became literally illegal for any employer to employ us to treat patients. Very cheap way to do it – for the employers. Until now…
    
    “Roost, come in!”
    “Roost here, reading you five by five.”
    “Roost, FlockWatch Actual; Chickens inbound, I repeat, Chickens inbound; in Fleet Strength.”
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:15am
- I remember when
  
  The government always listen, it is one of their policy strengths.
  Unfortunately, they realise that you are wrong and must reject your information.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:32am
- EssenX
  
  They are morons. Even Corrin Dann this morning on Red Radio was making Wood squirm about the u-turn they have made, which industry groups have been asking for, for some time. 2023 will be the year of the u-turn.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:34am
- mogg
  
  At yesterday’s announcement on new immigration rules we were hearing ‘Jacinda’s truth’.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:50am
- Harry Knuts
  
  Considering we are less that 12months to the 2023 elections I would consider this an election bribe and a small consideration to the constant requests for more health staff from the health sector. The shortages in the health sector have been glaringly obvious for over 12months now. Timing is Labour’s objective in this announcement.
  However, this does not fix the current pay packet for the existing nurses in our hospitals. All is it suggesting it’s going to look after just the new incoming nurses and other health staff.
  Also, is Wood still worried a heap of them will hop over the ditch once they get their residency here as the working conditions and the pay in Aus is way better than NZ?
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:06am
- Paulus
  
  Am not convinced from listening to the Nurses Union Representative that they really like the changes to encourage overseas Nurses.
  What she said intimated to me that that would take some time (like 2 years) to be fully integrated – presumably by being socially conversant with what Aotearoa wanted.
  She also said that they wanted locally trained nurses preferably as they would be familiar in what the Union wanted.
  I heard a while ago that trainee Nurses here required special classes, once accepted, to become familiar with our Languages in spoken and written ways before setting out the training.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:10am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Gutfeld Exposes Why Pedos And Leftists Are Suddenly Panicking.
https://libertyonenews.com/gutfeld-congratulates-musk-for-a-major-little-known-fight-against-pedophiles/
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December 13, 2022 8:02am
- Inandout
  
  SO, a very popular show is Gutfeld and is widely viewed. I suspect the pedo tentacles dwell in CNN, MSNBC and the odious ‘The View’ which is why Musk is seen as the enemy.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Wait until the contents of Jeffery Epstein’s contact book come out (if they ever do)
    I suspect it will be lost one day. Too many Judges and Lawyers names. Not forgetting the grubby Celebrities.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:29am
    - Keith White
      
      “Epstein did not vaccinate himself.”
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:19am
    - Paulus
      
      Ghislaine Maxwell’s black book is now quite readily available.
      She has not commited suicide yet with a handkerchief.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:13am
      - Keith White
        
        …and not one of the passengers on the disgustingly named ‘Lolita Express’ has been charged.
        
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        December 13, 2022 11:19am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Has she been fully vaccinated? If not, Hillary can arrange it.
        
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        December 13, 2022 12:50pm
      - Harry Knuts
        
        Watching the recent doco about Maxwell it seems she was known as a deviant long before Epstein days.
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:41pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “The View” LOL. Those rabid leftie bimbos are not worth a tin of shit.
    
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    December 13, 2022 2:28pm
Tomtoddy

New Zealand is held up as a :success” story over its handling of Covid. Early on we could claim that we had fewer deaths than most countries. We had been “saved” by a “kind” Prime Minister. She used the stats to write her name in lights internationally.

However, the most recent numbers show an increasingly sad situation. From being among the top handful we are sliding south rapidly.

There are now 86 countries with a better record per 100,000 population than we have.

Some of those are ‘minnows’ that one might dismiss but it includes, Singapore, India, Japan, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia to name a few. Reality is we are in the middle of the pack and sliding. Will anybody ask the Prime Minister to comment? Not likely. Too many journalists want to maintain the fairy story.
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December 13, 2022 8:03am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Let the sliding south continue – and accelerate.
  I am willing to suffer more inflation, lies etc, to make sure Labour and Jaspinda are out for at least 12 years.
  The thermonuclear meltdown will be delicious.
  Cruel? Maybe, but nothing compared to what NZ has suffered for the last 5 years.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:14am
  - Paulus
    
    Ardern will never come back New Zealand politics after, or before the Election.
    Lazarus did, but she is not, he because God returned him -she is now a nonbeliever except in herself.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:16am
- alloytoo
  
  It’s pretty obvious that despite propaganda to the contrary NZ’s responses have been slow.
  
  Primary, slow to close borders and slow to roll out vaccines.
  
  What’s worse is that our government’s complete inability to respond to changing circumstances.
  
  This inability has seen us quickly squander any advantages we may have had.
  
  Our slowness on the vaccine front could have been an advantage if the government had paid attention to data out of Israel and later Europe. We could have avoided the vaccine mandate and mask debacles. We could also have prepared for the omicron wave by beefing up ICU capacity and pushing preventative vitamin and nutrition, even used the fear of Covid to push a national fitness narrative.
  
  Instead they appear to have followed a vaccine narrative prepared by Pfizer.
  
  In short our government failed to think independently, failed to execute the “Plan” timeously and further failed to take advantage of opportunities arising out of that.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:26am
  - Clownworld
    
    Well said alloytoo , to be fair though the puppets had to carry out their great experiment in NZ , so claim we just did as the WEF and the UN told us to do.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:09am
  - Sir Henry Morgan
    
    Completely agree about pushing vitamins, nutrition, and exercise. I could not understand why there was not a bit of get fit messaging to accompany the first lock down. Instead you actually had a journalist writing for the Herald telling people not to use the lockdown to get fit, but instead to sit on the couch at home. It was like government and media wanted people to become useless, fearful, dependent blobs.
    
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    December 13, 2022 4:32pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Tomtoddy – As a small island who’s closest neighbour is over 2000km away, closing the doors was an easy option to prevent a virus getting here.
  
  For a while.
  
  But it means no travel at all, no ships, no planes. Not without an insanely expensive and inefficient (as proven) system of testing and tracing etc etc.
  Then we move on to the lifeblood of an island nation at the bottom of the world. Imports and exports. Everything coming in and going out needing to be checked and tested etc etc.
  
  The closure of the country during a pandemic was Baker’s wet dream. He wrote a paper on the topic in 2017. How prescient.//
  
  Protecting an island nation from extreme pandemic threats: Proof-of-concept around border closure as an intervention
  
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5473559/
  
  Baker’s wet dream has turned out to be a disaster on a scale never seen before.
  
  Anyway, NZ appeared to do well initially. But it was NEVER a sensible thing to do. It was insanity. The virus was always going to get here, and no, delaying it for a few months was meaningless.
  
  IF they had used the time to improve the hospitals, increase ICU beds, educate the population around health measures that would improve outcomes, like vitamin C and D, zinc, exercise, diet etc etc. then just maybe a closing of borders might have made sense.
  They did none of these things which makes them the most incompetent bunch of morons in the history of this country. I include they opposition in this, because all they ever said was they would do the same only more efficiently.
  
  We had a tried and proven pandemic preparedness plan. It was dumped when covid came along and the lunacy we have witnessed since has been beyond belief.
  Protect the vulnerable. Stay home if unwell. Otherwise go about life as normal. Herd immunity WILL arrive. That’s how it works. That is how it has always worked.
  
  Yes, people will die. They die every day. Or is this another of Ardern’s “aspirations”?
  Like the lunacy around zero carbon, zero road deaths – maybe get really aspirational – aim for the stars – zero deaths from anything!
  
  Final point, I didn’t understand much about viruses and “pandemics” prior to early 2020, I’ve learned much since then. The one thing that probably resonates strongest with me was the evidence that vaccinating during a pandemic is the worst thing possible to do due to forcing viral escape leading to more and more variants. That was with traditional sterilising vaccines. Introducing a rushed, experimental mRNA concoction that in 20 years of trying, had never managed to be allowed to market? That is negligence on an incredible scale.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:23am
- virtualmark
  
  Pragmatic but politically incorrect observation … one of the major complications that aggravates Covid is obesity.
  
  New Zealand ranks poorly for obesity (I gather we’re in the worst 10 countries globally).
  
  Not so much obesity in Singapore, India, Japan, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia to name a few.
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:39pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    virtualmark – that’s a fair point. Obesity is a problem, though not just for covid, for all health issues. I know it’s partly genetic for some, but improving diet, cutting out processed crap, exercise etc. These all go a long way in improving your potential outcomes when faced with serious health issues. Isn’t it why diabetes is such a major problem here?
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:48pm
slightlyrighty

Highlight of my day yesterday.

Heather DPA lambasting Michael Wood on ZB at 5:30 pm.

HDPA: “Why did it take you 7 months to change the immigration settings? Are you Stubborn or Stupid?”

MW: “We’re NOT Stubborn!”
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December 13, 2022 8:03am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Haha! How good was Wood to rule out the less damaging of the two options, leading to the conclusion that he and Labour are indeed stupid!
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:13am
  - Clownworld
    
    Still he lied, he knows they are both stupid and stubborn.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:05am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That’s a beauty!
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:15am
- Gravelroad
  
  The Parliamentary Labour Party are power crazed incompetents.
  A dangerous combination.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:30am
- Ehlana
  
  Thumbs up from two in my office – that might be the nearest to truth from this government ever!
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:33am
- krazykiwi
  
  Her protestation reminds me of this billboard 🙂
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:48am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I have that stored away in the bowels of this computer.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:57am
- Mummy
  
  It must be a deliberate policy. So many examples recently of the government having to be perceived as either deceitful liars or just plain stupid, and they have opted for stupid.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:55am
- Scooter
  
  It’s a shame it seemed to have gone over her head and she didn’t confirm they are indeed stupid. Still Labour provide so much evidence of it on a daily basis I don’t blame HDPA not picking up on it. She couldn’t wait for the interview to end.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:30am
artemisia

Building industry downturn could cost 45,000 jobs as construction halves – expert

“Nearly a quarter of all liquidations last month were businesses from the building and construction sector ….. The downturn in the industry is likely caused by high-interest rates, a lack of supplies and a drop in immigration.”

Well I wonder who made / supported those decisions.

Closer to home, to coin a phrase. The number of unsold residential properties continues to rise each month (Trademe so that’s not all those for sale). Most of those are existing homes, for which the investor buying pool has dried up due mainly to removal of interest deductibility. March 2023 – the first rentals start exiting from the 5 year bright-line tax regime, so chances are we will see for sale more rentals that are financial albatrosses. With owners waiting out the 5 years to avoid paying 39% of capital gain to the government. (Why wouldn’t they wait?)

Possibly even more concerning, and bearing out this article, the number of new builds for sale is also increasing each month. January 2022 – 2,400, December 2022 so far – 6,250.

Politicians and journalists – do any of you have your arms around these numbers and their multiple implications for sectors and households? Including renting households. And sorry, announcements of announcements won’t cut it. Though the barista shortage could be solved, and planes to Oz will be full. So there’s that good news.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2022/12/building-industry-downturn-could-cost-45-000-jobs-as-construction-halves-expert.html
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December 13, 2022 8:04am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Supplies. Everything that is alternative must be tested.
  Example plasterboard from Thailand. Here and ready to go, but nope, samples sent for tensile testing. We can’t have low lifes making holes in stronger walls and hurting themselves.
  I don’t know who tested it, or where, or test results given. I just read about it.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:37am
  - kevn
    
    @SteveO…. Imagine the horror if the Thai plaster board was superior to the local stuff.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:51am
    - MCōs
      
      Alternatively imagine if it was rushed into use and turned out to be shite.
      BTW
      The Gib shortage seems to have resolved itself.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:06am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        I thought you were talking about the Pfizer “vaccine” for a moment, but no, it was something far more important…….//
        
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        December 13, 2022 9:38am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Thai plasterboard was imported & used here in the past – it was marketed as ‘Elephant board’, and was superior to Gib. board. So Fletcher Winstone’s lodged a court case with the – I think – Fair Trading Act, claiming that it was being dumped on the NZ market a lower prices; And they won in court, so they continued with their monopoly at prices around 30% higher than previously.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:58am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “So Fletcher Winstone’s lodged a court case with the – I think – Fair Trading Act, claiming that it was being dumped on the NZ market a lower prices. ”
        
        Hmmm. Sounds kind of like the shenanigans that stopped Aldi from setting up competition in the Supermarket arena in NZ. Perhaps a party with a clue (come in ACT) could sort this crap out so NZers can experience the benefits of capitalism.
        
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        December 13, 2022 6:34pm
  - artemisia
    
    The gib shortage here was due to the Auckland factory being forced to lock down for months.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:59am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Same person is to blame, but not having a bar of it.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:59am
  - Ian Boag
    
    There are NZ Standards that apply to most building materials. Removal of them all would lead to something of a wild-West with unforeseeable consequences. Look at what happened with treated/non treated timber …
    
    I take the point about plasterboard though. Two bits of cardboard with plaster in the middle. How complicated is that? The tensile strngth bit is about walls being a structural part of earthquake resistance AFAIK.
    
    Part of the answer of course is to automatically approve stuff that has approval in places like Australia, USA, Singapore, UK, European countries …..
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:00am
    - Cassandra
      
      We do it for doctors so plasterboard would surely be a no brainer (which would appear to be the problem – this government is incompetent but it is obviously much more than that, blind stupidity). Accompanied by a political death wish.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:12am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Your last sentence is something that would be totally ignored by the Govt.
      We are going to do it ‘our’ way.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:02am
    - cmm
      
      Plasterboard is non-structural so the risk is far lower.
      If plasterboard does fail it is cosmetic.
      
      But, hey, it’s a housing emergency, so surely something as innocent as plasterboard should get less vetting than the Pfizer vax?
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:11am
      - septic skeptic
        
        Plasterboard is counted towards the bracing requirements for structural integrity as far as I know.
        
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        December 13, 2022 11:16am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        There are plasterboards rated for bracing.
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:35pm
    - Ehlana
      
      A two-step process suggests itself.
      
      1. Check out which countries, having similar climatic & seismic circumstances to ours, have standards at least as high as ours and testing procedures at least as good as ours. We should be able to import products from these places without need for further testing. Something about not re-inventing the wheel, if that is not too colonial a concept.
      
      2. If conditions, standards and testing in the country of origin do not match ours, then allow importation only if the product can be demonstrated to meet our standards. Cost of that should probably fall mainly on the importer (who could then have an exclusive license to import that product for a time) or could be split with the taxpayer (on the basis of the benefit of competition and security of supply).
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:23am
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Building regs should be restricted to health and safety. Quality and durability is an owner’s choice. That’s where the problem begins and ends.
      
      The silly argument about leaky homes is ridiculous. As soon as the problem became known they became unsaleable. If the Clark control freaks had stayed out of it or preferably legislated to remove Council liability the market would have sorted the problem itself.
      
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      December 13, 2022 1:42pm
  - Colville
    
    BRANZ.
    They are the reason that a screw with the BRANZ mark is five times the price of a no name screw.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:10am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Some sense in that. The no name screw is usually shit. Phillips drive just breaks out, not made for electric power tools.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:05am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Markets sort that out, not bureaucrats. You don’t ask them what driver to buy, why ask them what screw?
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:45pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Steve Otto – maybe it’s like the Medsafe testing of the Pfizer “vaccine” – non existent?
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:37am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Yep. But a useful tool to delay approving it till it was actually in the country//
      Useful idiots spring too mind.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:09am
    - cmm
      
      Maybe we can get plasterboard the same way.
      
      Ask Spain if there is any plasterboard they’re throwing out and take that off them at exorbitant prices. Commies helping commies and all that!
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:14am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes, see the Dutch guy Roos asking a Pfizer rep about testing.
      Here he is:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJO5DBe7x0
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:14am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yes indeed, However ( i believe) it was actually reported by Pfzier on there reports?
        The real question in my mind is why was this not picked up by worlds media at the time and why was there a concerted blanket ban on reporting this ?
        A truly coordinated ban by media?
        
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        December 13, 2022 10:52am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @MM. The NZ media would never expose that. They and the Govt would block all they could. I am surprised that YouTube has not pulled it down.
        
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        December 13, 2022 2:36pm
Yvette

Health leaders call for kaupapa Māori-led initiative across agencies to help fix inequities

One of their collective aims was to deliver better health outcomes for Māori and address longstanding inequities. But Māori health leaders now say that while the creation of the Māori Health Authority will help them achieve that goal, it isn’t enough on its own – they need more say across the entire health system.
“The status quo does not work,” Dr Lynne Russell, a senior research fellow at Victoria University, said. “It has not only not worked, it has damaged our people, it kills our people. And here is an opportunity right now to make a difference, but it is going to take bravery.”
Primary health care is overseen by Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, but now 27 Māori health leaders said the Māori Health Authority needs more say in primary health care or what goes on in hospitals and doctor’s clinics. [1]

■ Will there be a point soon when I am able to declare I am a non-Maori? [2]
Having usually Googled what is wrong with me – with my doctor’s encouragement I might say – I only want my diagnosis confirmed and prescribed for, or an alternative suggested, or a referral to the appropriate hospital clinic, again non-Maori.
And some streamlining would not go amiss.

___________

Psychiatrist Diana Kopua said the system is racist on both a one-to-one level and a system-to-one level. … She and her tohunga husband Mark Kopua have developed their own mental health treatment programme using Māori creation stories as a form of healing.
So far they’ve trained almost 500 practitioners across Aotearoa and are moving away from the labels of Western medicine and the stigma of them. [1]

■ Just as an aside, Will all medical staff undergo this sort of training or only those dealing with the Maori stream of the river of health, in a Waikato sort of way?

___________
[1] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/12/health-leaders-call-for-kaupapa-m-ori-led-initiative-across-agencies-to-help-fix-inequities.html
[2] or will there be a new blood test for that?
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December 13, 2022 8:05am
- artemisia
  
  Couple of weeks back I had a look at services offered by providers under the Māori Health Authority. Almost none included a basic GP service. Most were ‘soft’ services that don’t require usual health practitioner qualifications.
  
  This is the link for North Island providers – check out your area.
  
  Maybe more still coming. My (large) DHB area – so far no providers. (Thought of signing up with the proviso of no maramataka thanks.)
  
  http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/maori-health-provider-directory/north-island-maori-health-providers
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:57am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

New Details Emerge About Where The Biden’s Are Hiding Their Stolen Money.
https://libertyonenews.com/peter-schweizer-demands-the-gop-probe-bidens-offshore-bank-accounts/
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December 13, 2022 8:05am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Ombudsman says there needs to be apologies for the MIQ Lottery.
What?? Jaspinda apologise? Do you know who you are talking about?
The Queen of disinformation/misinformation.
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December 13, 2022 8:07am
- artemisia
  
  The thing about mis/dis is that those who know what it is must also have the facts. So let’s hear them.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:16am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Nope. Nobody dares expose the boss as a liar who covers things up.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:40am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Great point.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “Facts” Redacted from the Labour Operating Manual.
    
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    December 13, 2022 2:38pm
- Nickc2
  
  An apology will bring countless Court Cases, each demanding financial retribution with costs awarded against the Govt. Who’s going to pay for this? No, not Cindy, but the bloody taxpayer once again.
  We’re broke, and more money will need to be printed/borrowed. I don’t think Ardian Orr will be too pleased with all this new money sloshing around.
  All this is because Winston anointed a petulant child as our PM.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:22am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/jacinda-ardern-doesn-t-apologise-over-miq-lottery-system-as-documents-reveal-govt-considered-imprisoning-kiwis-who-used-loophole.html
  
  “A few Kiwis who couldn’t get a spot did find another way to get in, a wide-open backdoor. They would get to Auckland on a transit flight, but not get on the last leg.
  
  Newshub can reveal the Government considered locking up those Kiwis after the loophole was uncovered.
  
  Documents obtained under the Official Information Act show officials thought about making it an offence punishable by up to six months in jail or a $12,000 fine.
  
  “Not a single person in any of the emails raised an ethical problem with putting New Zealand citizens in jail for coming back to their own country,” said lawyer Tudor Clee.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:53am
- Clownworld
  
  Jacinda pronouns are mis/dis
  
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  December 13, 2022 2:57pm
Tony Stuart

Cabinet yesterday made a decision as to whether or not or will extend the “temporary” fuel excise discount when it expires at the end of January. But did the PM announce the decision yesterday?

Of course not! She’s going to announce it “later in the week”, presumably once the dust has settled from Labour’s by-election loss, the immigration flip-flop yesterday, and the “resignation” of a number of Labour’s old-timers. Could it be that there’ll be no extension, and the PM is waiting until after Parliament rises for the summer recess later in the week so she avoids parliamentary scrutiny?
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December 13, 2022 8:09am
- alex Masterley
  
  Looks like the exodus has started from Labour.
  That Strange chap from Hamilton is not standing again.
  Who will be next?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:17am
  - Gravelroad
    
    If the “”fuel excise discount” is extended, it will be for one reason only: a bribe to the voters disguised as “empathy and support for the most vulnerable during these challenging times.”
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:35am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Too far from the election to be a bribe.
      
      My pick is some formula whereby 5c tax is added to pump price petrol whenever the price falls below say $2.70. Diesel user chargers get hit all at once.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:30am
    - Paulus
      
      Remember it is not a reduction in the price of Oil but a tax that has been reduced temporarily as a bribe.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:20am
- Albert_Ross
  
  So do we think they should or shouldn’t extend it?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:18am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    You can probably make arguments either way. But the big question should be this; can we afford to extend it?
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:25am
    - pdm
      
      Or can we afford not to extend it given the state of New Zealands roads?
      
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      December 13, 2022 8:32am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yes we can.
      There are plenty of places money could be saved to cover it.
      
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      December 13, 2022 8:33am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Yes but in principle, users should pay for roads. My preference is for all users to pay for roads via road user charges, no exemptions like the absurd EV exemption.
        
        Petrol prices have fallen 70 cents from the peak. If they extend the 25 cents cut now it will be permanent.
        
        Drivers would be much more amenable to relatively high fuel excise or road user charges if ALL of it was devoted to building and maintaining high quality roads.
        
        I think this decision could go either way. If they extend the cut, it will just be another headache for the next government.
        
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        December 13, 2022 9:37am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Sorry Benedict, I hit report thinking it was reply.
        The EV exemption is obviously to encourage purchase. The fact that NZ will not have enough electricity to charge the dam things is irrelevant.
        Another perfect example of no forward thinking. The Govt just do not have enough brainpower to comprehend this.
        
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        December 13, 2022 10:36am
    - Warren
      
      Well they are finding money to pay the nurses the money they deserve and thats another bribe to counter the position they find themselves in the polls. Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister seems to think she can backflip as much as she likes and the public will come running to vote for her, but I think she is due one hell of a surprise come election night 2023 when the public push back and vote her out for her arrogance.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:39am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        A thermonuclear meltdown?
        Yes please.
        
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        December 13, 2022 10:37am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        They don’t seem to loose any sleep over using yet more truckloads of other people’s (IE taxpayers) money to pile onto the their bonfire of dumb and wasteful initiatives.
        
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        December 13, 2022 6:45pm
      - AitchW
        
        If the voting public is sufficiently gaslit and greedy to elect Labour next year it will bankrupt us. Make no mistake Jacinda et al will promise lollies for everyone with no hope of paying for them. This government will set the election date as late as possible and in the meantime effectively destroy the economy and large parts of society. I’m deeply pessimistic about next year.
        
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        December 13, 2022 8:10pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Lets face facts, it is not being used for what is designed for. Ie Roading , instead its is squandered on idealogical ideas.
      Scrap the lot.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:20am
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        If they got rid of half the bureaucracy and idiot regulations they could afford proper roads without any more money.
        
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        December 13, 2022 10:40am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Rainbow pedestrian crossing in Wellywood.
        
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        December 13, 2022 2:40pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Fuel price is trailing downward, this is as good a time as any to reintroduce it.
    
    Suspending it was an incredibly stupid short term policy which was always going to be painful to unwind.
    
    As were the cost of living payments, politically they turned into a double edged sword and are all but forgotten.
    
    A tax rebate would have been far more efficient but that’s against Labour’s religion.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:32am
    - Nickc2
      
      Will they reintroduce the fuel tax in an election year? Doubt it. They’ll probably campaign along the lines that a Nat+Act Govt will do it.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:03am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        They would look stupid. IIRC the billion dollar hole the cut caused in transport funding was filled by topping up the land transport fund from the covid fund. It was always an absurd thing to do.
        
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        December 13, 2022 9:39am
  - cmm
    
    “So do we think they should or shouldn’t extend it?”
    
    Wrong question.
    
    No, they should not extend it, but they should ring fence the spending better. If they did, then the tax would decrease.
    
    This money does not just fund roads. It also gets syphoned off into bike paths, taniwha food and general poi-waving.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:34am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      IIRC the fuel excise is also used to pay for policing the roads.
      
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      December 13, 2022 9:41am
      - Nickc2
        
        Speaking of policing the roads, yesterday I was driving up Wairau Rd on Akld’s North and spotted three plods huddled together in a covered Bus Shelter and two of them had Speed Cameras pointing in my direction. I was in a line of traffic doing not much over 50 Klm/h in a 50 Klm/h zone. I’ll have to wait and see if I get another fine.
        However, getting back to the point, wouldn’t these three coppers be better employed fighting the Ram-raid and Gang-related shooting phenomenons that Akld is famous for?
        Oh, silly me, there’s no money in catching ram-raiders and patched shooters is there? Cindy, Grant, and Co are more interested in filling the Black Holes that are our Coffers.
        
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        December 13, 2022 10:08am
- artemisia
  
  Jamie Strange leaving politics at the next election. Says the election is too close to call, but doesn’t like the idea of not being in government. OK then, we completely get it.
  
  Meanwhile one of his stated accomplishments is the Te Huia train. Still losing money Jamie?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:19am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She hates being in the House. Shown by the number of days she was ‘overseas’ at the time. Vietnam – why?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:43am
- Colville
  
  the fuel tax will add half a percent to inflation as a one off.. they are a bit screwed as that inflation number will be the one everyone is looking at going into the election…
  
  Bwahahahaha good f88king job.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:13am
Captain Mainwaring

So immigrant nurses now get immediate residency and Spindy’s taking all the credit.
I wonder if the Brylcreem Kid went under the bus.
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December 13, 2022 8:21am
- cmm
  
  That was the policy 30 years ago. When did it stop becoming the policy?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Brylcreem Kid. Dumb me has not picked up who that refers to.
  I am guessing Wood?
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:45am
- kevn
  
  @Captn… ‘wood for brains’ seems more apt. Just look at his track record. Just knocks me out how smug and useless he is.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:56am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Ah, nobody does smug like Robbo.
    
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    December 13, 2022 11:42am
Kiwiguy

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/immigration-changes-needed-as-international-labour-shortage-extremely-severe-michael-wood-says.html

No shit, Sherlock.
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December 13, 2022 8:28am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Might be a few Ukrainian, Iranian and Sth African profs looking for a less fkd up place to live???
  
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  December 13, 2022 6:48pm
cmm

As everyone with more than half a brain predicted, 3W is just the foot in the door.

The Chch Red Zone is now going to fall under 3W. I wonder what else? Maybe add anything that is close to water. How about the Auckland water front? How about all ports and harbours?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/130736177/three-waters-entity-expected-to-take-control-of-swath-of-christchurch-red-zone
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December 13, 2022 8:29am
- Master Mariner
  
  Dont forget all the soon too be uninsurable properties in the rising sea level flood zones.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:11am
  - Paulus
    
    In California, House Insurance is amost non existance but those who try carry a large % of the policy themselves – it will happen hear when an iInsurance Company says you hold 40% of the risk.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:24am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Why don’t they just come out and say it? – 192 Waters will cover any part of NZ that happens to get wet when it rains, and any other place that happens to be below or above a place that gets wet. Anywhere else is not covered (for now).
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:13am
Maggy Wassilieff

What more will we learn this week about Ms Mahuta?

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/thomas-cranmer-pressure-mounts-on-embattled-minister-mahuta
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December 13, 2022 8:31am
- pdm
  
  I notice Stuff has no mention of the NZ Herald NewstalkZB story about the discussions between Mahuta and Sage from late October.
  
  Heads in the sand.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:36am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Jaspinda must have known about that, 1 month before.
    Not going to discuss what went on in Caucus. Copout.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:58am
- Tony Stuart
  
  It’s all over the Herald website, and significantly, it’s NOT hidden behind a paywall:
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/three-waters-mistake-nanaia-mahuta-received-advice-on-entrenchment-one-month-before-vote/47WGYV7VBJDLFNFH5747G6CBBQ/
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:38am
- cmm
  
  It is clear to even the most one-eyed lefty journalists and the Cindy’s Spin Department that the bus wheels are going to need to be fed.
  
  And this time it’s going to have to be a very large offering.
  And, Rule #1, Cindy doesn’t go under the bus.
  
  So the bus suspension is going to have to cope with Mahuta.
  
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  December 13, 2022 8:46am
Paulus

Today Ardern will announnce which Labour MPs have not been reselected for the next Election.
It has been suggested that of course all this has been done and new Labour candidates have been selected by thee Party and this job having been done by the outgoiing Labour Party President Claire Szabo.
It was suggested that she quit so she can be selected for one of the top Labour seats (albeit she headed the selections) – even Mt Albert, but it will be interesting to see what emerges today.
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December 13, 2022 8:37am
Ross Campbell

Now that all the dust has settled over Gaurav Sharma I thought I might as well just point out that despite him being a KB favourite a few lone voices including myself said he was a fantasist who made big claims but produced very little.
He claimed he had” hundreds of pages of evidence” and when I pointed out the bleeding obvious that we still had not seen it people on here told me he was “playing a long game” and “keeping his powder dry” blah blah.
Really a great example of how tribal blinkered thinking clouds any sense of reason individuals may have.
Probably some lessons to be learnt for the anti vax mob here as well and their fantastical claims of millions of vaccine induced deaths to occur in the near future.
More big statements which we will wait and wait and wait for but never actually happen…..
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December 13, 2022 8:37am
- cmm
  
  Or, maybe there’s a third option: he is STILL keeping ammo in reserve/keeping his power dry.
  
  Only fire the ammo you need to.
  
  Sharma has a history of multiple well documented disputes, so it is quite likely he has also documented his interactions here too.
  
  Is “hundreds” really unreasonable? Let’s say he kept highly detailed notes (two or three pages per interaction, more for more complex interactions). If he only documented 80 interactions, that would be hundreds of pages.
  
  Add a few email chains and there’s a hundred or two pages right there.
  
  Or, allowing him some slight hyperbole, maybe he only has 100 pages. I would be astounded if he has less than 100 pages.
  
  He’s a medic. If you’ve ever had medical student friends you will know that they can generate copious notes very, very quickly and write pretty much everything down. 20 pages of notes a day is nothing remarkable.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:56am
  - Ross Campbell
    
    Ladies and gentlemen I present Exhibit A.
    A commenter still living in denial and cannot accept the fact the man he cheered on is a fake.
    Even if I accept what you say as true the fact remains that there is zero advantage to not release any of this information given he is now a nobody ex MP who is out in the wilderness looking for another job so the obvious conclusion is he does not have it.
    Keep up the wishful thinking though if it makes you feel better.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:13am
    - septic skeptic
      
      I upticked because your central point is valid. Chipping at the “anti-vaxxers” is just trolling.
      I reckon he has hundreds of pages of wadding, but no gunpowder or bullets!
      
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      December 13, 2022 11:48am
    - cmm
      
      You dumb shit. I never cheered him on. I really don’t care for him one way or the other.
      
      But I don’t think he is fake in this regard. He is a medic. They keep notes. Gathering up hundreds of pages of documentation does not take long.
      
      Do you know any medics? Ask them what their bookshelves look like.
      
      There is some very clear evidence that he is the sort of person that keeps notes on his interactions. If he has done so a few times in the past, then it is likely he has this time too.
      
      IIRC, DPF wrote that he had documented 66 interactions with one person alone (which DPF called obsessive or such). Let’s assume that each of those documented interactions was 2 pages. That’s 132 pages just dealing with ONE person. That’s clearly well on his way to 200 – the minimum to claim “hundreds”.
      
      For whatever reason, he has not (yet) chosen to share that with the world. Perhaps it does not exist. But his history shows that it quite likely does exist.
      
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      December 13, 2022 7:49pm
  - Paulus
    
    Like my Doctor Sharma keeps notes of everything, as trained to do, in case sombody else entitled to do wants an update.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:27am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Ross – Interesting that you conflate the Sharma Drama with the claims of the so-called anti-vaxxers. According to MHRA in the UK (the equivalent of our Medsafe Adverse Events) the total vaccine-related fatalities to date in the UK are 2,362. Do you consider this acceptable? Do you consider the lack of any discussion about the very real victims of vaccine harm to be acceptable?
  
  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:01am
  - Ross Campbell
    
    Well it really comes down to how many people you think would have died from Covid if nobody was given the vaccine?
    Nobody knows the real number but everyone has their own guess but my intuition would tell me that out of a UK population of about 68 million far more would have died from Covid without the vaccine than the 2362 who died from vaccine related complications themself.
    So common sense would say that while it is unfortunate that anybody died the overall effect was life saving so yes it was acceptable.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:21am
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      That’s an interesting response – on one hand you are saying we don’t know how many would have died from covid when we know the IFR has remained a constant 0.02% throughout the pandemic both pre and post vaccine introduction according to the literature. Despite that, the reported 3000+ deaths in the UK (AE reporting is only ever estimated at 20% of total events) is acceptable in your eyes. Other products like the original polio vaccine were pulled after 50 deaths in the US and we are still only finding out the long term effects of mRNA vaccines. Thalidomide was in the market for 5 years before it was withdrawn following 30,000 adverse events typically being those of birth defects. The number of serious AE’s due to mRNA vaccines in the USA alone numbers in the 100’s of thousands. Serious questions need to be asked regarding this.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:40am
    - Matt Long
      
      As your messiah pointed out, the vaccinated would neither spread nor die of covid, so there must be many hundreds of millions saved worldwide.
      Except as usual she lied, the actual numbers for vaccine harm versus help will probably never come out.
      The overall covid response in New Zealand including vaccine mandates will almost certainly be shown to have caused considerably more harm than good.
      
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      December 13, 2022 12:27pm
      - Matt Long
        
        Incidentally there are young people in Australia who aren’t eligible for boosters but want them. Should they have them available by request? They say they understand the risks, if the boosters were effective isn’t it a no brainer?
        If?
        
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        December 13, 2022 12:31pm
      - Ross Campbell
        
        “As your messiah pointed out”
        Don’t be a partisan hack all your life Matt.
        It is possible to disagree with the majority on here and not be a Jacinda follower.
        
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        December 13, 2022 12:56pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  A bit like the Trump/Russiagate circus then Ross?
  
  As for the vaccine induced deaths, there is already a 20% increase in all cause mortality in NZ as well as many other countries around the world. They are not covid deaths. Some will be inability to access timely diagnosis and/or treatment for serious illnesses due to moronic lockdowns and social distancing etc. Mental health issues caused by the same policies potentially leading to suicide. Some will be from vaccine injury, fact. It is ony the numbers that we don’t know.
  These deaths are rarely being investigated. Presumably because they will present some very inconvenient truths.
  Here’s a couple of examples of empirical evidence and the machinations of authorities to hide the truth.
  
  https://metatron.substack.com/p/issues-with-mortality-analyses-when?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=579085&post_id=89209813&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
  
  https://metatron.substack.com/p/iatrogenesis-in-england-and-wales?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=579085&post_id=87550747&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
  
  Usual disclaimer, don’t smear the source. If there are issues with the data and the conclusions, point them out and explain why.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:13am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    After you’ve digested that, go to the bottom of the thread and read KrazyKiwi’s post regarding new evidence regarding a 3x increase in all cause mortality since the “vaccines” were rolled out.
    
    Here’s the link they posted in case you miss it.
    
    https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/sudden-death-from-unknown-cause?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=323914&post_id=90200352&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
    
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    December 13, 2022 11:41am
Nickc2

Did anyone else notice in yesterday’s TV coverage that all MPs involved in the immigration flip-flop were heads down reading prepared speeches?
The backdown was obvious for all to see.
IMO, this charade was due to losing the bi-election.
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December 13, 2022 8:41am
Tomtoddy

One of the unsurprising results of the poll of journalists was their average age. Remove a few oldies who have been around for decades and you have mainly wet-behind-the-ears kids, raw out of a school of journalism. What they lack in experience and common sense they make up with arrogance and bravado.

Our democracy is heavily dependent on informal checks and balances. One of the most critical of those is a neutral, well informed and capable media. Sadly, that is a distant memory. We have swapped solid, well-researched and unbiased writing for idealistic, light-weight socialist twaddle.

This is very apparent in the coverage of the Reserve Bank’s operations. How much serious writing has been done to challenge the Governer and Chairman on the corruption around Roger Findlay’s appointment, for example? Where have you read that the bank’s mishandling has now cost over $9 billion and growing? Who has consistently written about Orr’s staff handling and gross overstaffing?

Some of this makes west Africa look lily white. But ask a cocky young 20 year old journo, full of their own importance to handle such matters and you know other than some borrowed lines nothing will displace a Harry and Meghan story.
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December 13, 2022 8:43am
- Matt Long
  
  These same journalists seem to feel obligated to write articles with their opinions preceded by the words “when in fact.”
  Never have arbiters of truth had so little qualification or self awareness.
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:35pm
- Aquarius
  
  Jenny Ruth’s reporting on this in Business desk has been exemplary…….not MSM of course despite being owned by the parent of the dreadful Herald
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:38pm
  - Paulus
    
    Ruth is a considered excellent writer, with well thought out articles.
    
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    December 13, 2022 2:11pm
Vory v zakone

Elon Musk tweets…

‘Under pressure from hundreds of activist employees, Twitter deplatforms Trump, a sitting US President, even though they themselves acknowledge that he didn’t violate the rules’

https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1602364197194432515?t=8pDORwab34Z3Zt8PPEBFnQ&s=19
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December 13, 2022 8:53am
- virtualmark
  
  It’s almost like Twitter should have foreseen that the sitting President would launch an insurrection, try to get his Vice-President killed, and suspend the Constitution, and so they should have prepared a specific policy in advance to address that …
  
  But instead, seeing an unprecedented coup attempt being actively stoked using their site, Twitter execs scrambled, debated, and settled on an ad hoc response. Can you believe it? What idiots!
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:46pm
  - Ghost
    
    Coup? A peaceful protest where the cops who were latter suspended let people inside
    
    Now compare that with what the so called peaceful riots with the blm and antifa burning down business, shooting people, assaults.
    
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    December 13, 2022 12:50pm
    - virtualmark
      
      You’ve really drunk the Kool-Aid haven’t you.
      
      So far more than 960 people have been charged with offences from that peaceful event and more than 450 have pled guilty. The most serious guilty verdicts have been for seditious conspiracy, which the legal system ranks equal to treason.
      
      But hey, you do you.
      
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      December 13, 2022 1:03pm
      - Ghost
        
        This was a protest, unlike the campaign of assault, murder and destruction that blm and Antifa carried out.
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:13pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Sure. And the biggest victim of 6 January was Donald Trump, because he lost his Twitter account.
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:54pm
      - Ghost
        
        I really couldn’t care about trump, just the stupidity of people who call a peaceful protest anything more than it was while Antifa and blm destroyed cities, lives, and businesses.
        
        But then again you likely think the protests in Wellington were trying to overthrow the government as well.
        
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        December 13, 2022 2:14pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    My my Virtual………you’ve really drunk the koolaid – the CNN MSNBC narrative down to a ‘T’. 🙂
    
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    December 13, 2022 1:20pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Nothing like trotting out the Democrat lie – I mean line.
      
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      December 13, 2022 1:21pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Don, if you can’t watch the video of 6 January and recognise that it was an attempt to suspend the US Government and Constitution then you are well lost.
      
      [Mod – don’t make it personal]
      
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      December 13, 2022 1:56pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yes watch the video of all those peaceful people, no cars on fire, no buildings burnt down, no shooting at police, no murdering people, no rampaging a city, not looting, no cities burning, oh wait that’s because it wasn’t a blm or Antifa peaceful protest.
        
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        December 13, 2022 2:10pm
krazykiwi

Yesterday MBIE claimed that MIQ was important because it “prevented 5000 infections”.

Think about that in the context of run rate, currently 40,000 reported infections last week. The real number is likely to be many, many times that.

MIQ prevented NOTHING.

But it caused untold harm and misery for New Zealanders.

And MBIE are looking at ways to “improve” MIQ if its needed again.

It should NEVER be invoked again.
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December 13, 2022 8:53am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  MBIE caused infections…
  
  Locking folks inside rooms where they were exposed to recirculating virus-laden air.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-covid-transmitted-via-open-doors-at-jet-park-auckland-miq-facility/CTWTCGWGOGBB4PLKYCHCCYM7E4/
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:06am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    They even put seasonal workers from Tonga into MIQ. There was at the time no covid in Tonga. Nuts.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:45am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    But surely they were wearing masks and staying 2m apart??? They would have been totally safe??? Jacinda said so???//
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:34am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hands up all of those in the 80,000 were saved.
  I will check back later.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:09am
  - septic skeptic
    
    👋
    
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    December 13, 2022 11:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Only 0.08%. Well done Jaspinda.
    
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    December 13, 2022 12:56pm
- Master Mariner
  
  At sea and on phone.
  5000 infecrions and not deaths.
  When did this narrative change?
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:16am
- mogg
  
  According to tv3 news, the Labour government considered locking up the ‘back door returnees’ for six months (in prison) These people were NZ citizens returning home to their own country after being overseas. That was when Jacinda was wearing jackboots and proud of it.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:52am
- ClanMcleod
  
  All of the interventions by Ardern and co exacerbated all of the worst aspects of the covid clown show. They did nothing to improve the situation.
  One of the simplest acts and least costly, advice around vitamin D and C, zinc, diet, exercise, the common sense stuff that strengthens your immune system and therefore your ability to deal with disease. None of this was done. It was possibly the weirdest part of all of this.
  It is apparent they had a single focus. Elimination via a “vaccine” strategy with an experimental product. Complete lunacy.
  Those responsible for this policy need held to account.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:32am
  - Matt Long
    
    What return do vitamins, exercise and sunshine offer to big pharma?
    Who then would spend (b)millions promoting their effect?
    
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    December 13, 2022 12:40pm
kevn

Who else has dropped the word ‘kind/ness’ from their vocabulary? The word is banned in our house. The whole original meaning has been trashed.
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December 13, 2022 9:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Dear…
  
  You wont be wanting to read “The Virtue of Kindness” By Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
  Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then.
  
  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2005/04/the-virtue-of-kindness?lang=eng
  
  In it, he states:
  There is no substitute for kindness in the home. This lesson I learned from my father. He always listened to my mother’s advice. As a result, he was a better, wiser, and kinder man.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:15am
  - Swifty
    
    What if your wife is a lunatic?
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:20am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      https://bestwishesandquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Funny-Husband-4.jpg
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:55am
      - Swifty
        
        🙂
        
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        December 13, 2022 1:11pm
    - septic skeptic
      
      Is there another sort?
      
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      December 13, 2022 11:57am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    I always listen to my wife’s advice. Sometimes I even take it.
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:44am
    - Paulus
      
      With my wife, after nearly 60 years, I take every bit of advice I am given – wouldn’t you !
      
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      December 13, 2022 2:13pm
- MCōs
  
  I don’t mind discussing politics online with complete strangers, but when the family is around we talk about family stuff and holidays and summer sport
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:17am
- Random T Person
  
  I’m not Christian but I like their take on kindness…where sometimes harshness is the best kindness. Not this milquetoast sop we’ve been fed for years.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:21am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Only used in a statement of dripping sarcasm around here.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:37am
Jack5

The down side of moving from the old system of relying heavily on in-hospital care of the mentally ill surfaces in court cases.

For most recovering mentally ill, or for irretrievably mentally ill, community care is better, but still for many, and for their families and for the community, it is not.

Besides, the psychiatric hospitals we have left are pretty much overwhelmed, under-staffed, and under-resourced. They cannot care for all.

Didn’t Labour promise a billion or two for mental health resources, then the money vanished?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/130698570/two-homeless-people-a-killing-in-a-car-park-and-what-went-wrong
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December 13, 2022 9:00am
- Blog-aholic
  
  It is called being cared for in the community.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:53am
zubrick

MP’s pecuniary interest
someone suggested yesterday that the PM owned a 17 million dollar farm down south..nothing here?

https://www.parliament.nz/media/9105/register-of-pecuniary-and-other-specified-interests-of-members-of-parlia-2022.pdf
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December 13, 2022 9:22am
Clownworld

Ross fair comments on Sharma, well said.
However linking it to anti Vax mob ( I’m pro effective and safe ) seems a stretch?

Using your argument the lesson of Sharma could be linked to the 95% effectiveness against transmission by Pfizer too?
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December 13, 2022 9:23am
- Ross Campbell
  
  The only reason I linked it to the anti vax mob is I keep hearing the same arguments as was put up for Sharma.
  A particular commenter on here keeps telling us all these deaths are a fact but when challenged for evidence then says all will be revealed in time and we have to be patient.
  Sound familiar….
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:59am
Ghost

Cabinet Ministers Poto Williams, David Clark, and Aupito William Sio will retire from politics at the 2023 election.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the resignations on Tuesday morning. Stuff reported last week Clark was expected to resign, and Ardern had forecast other ministers would be headed out the door in the coming year.

MPs Jamie Strange, Marja Lubeck, and Paul Eagle would also resign at the 2023 election.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130743697/cabinet-minister-poto-williams-david-clark-and-aupito-william-sio-retiring-from-parliament-at-2023-election
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December 13, 2022 9:37am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Poto Williams and David Clark will go down in history as terrible Ministers.
  
  Along with Twyford they spent years in opposition screeching but once they got the chance to do stuff they failed on epic scales.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:48am
  - Ehlana
    
    Will any Ministers in this government not go down in history as terrible?
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:30am
  - kevn
    
    @BY… Who will be left to mock? Such is the high level of incompetence. They are all just… useless.
    
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    December 13, 2022 11:15am
- Bill Felt
  
  They will be dearly missed //s
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:22am
Maggie Pie

Listening to 1ZB earlier and apparently despite the tightening economic conditions, Kiwis are gambling like never before!

According to just released data from the MoIA, Pokey-Machine profits have risen to $276 million by the third quarter of this year!!

In our opinion, the guy from the ‘Problem Gambling Foundation’ needs to just butt-out.
Where else are the unemployed able to sit on their arse all day and be given have the chance to maybe double their benefits?
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December 13, 2022 9:38am
- septic skeptic
  
  Not despite economic conditions, because of economic conditions. Gambling has always been a counter-cyclical investment.
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:02pm
Ghost

Government officials tendered advice on a controversial plan to entrench part of the Three Waters legislation nearly a month before the provision was voted on by Parliament and passed.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta received advice from officials on October 25 on a proposal to make it more difficult to privatise Three Waters assets.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/three-waters-mistake-nanaia-mahuta-received-advice-on-entrenchment-one-month-before-vote/47WGYV7VBJDLFNFH5747G6CBBQ/
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December 13, 2022 9:38am
DeepBlue

So Ngai Tahu are about to control far more of Christchurch. The Avon River flood management areas are to be handed over as part of 5W. Could even extend to considerable amounts of the Red Zone in the flood plains.

Chair of the RedZone co-governance committee is happy about this :
‘Dalziel said it “doesn’t matter” who owns the land and infrastructure if the river is cleaned up and the council operates the recreation and amenities.

There was also a chance the new entity would fund more stormwater and recreational developments, she said.” Stuff

Nationally applied questions for the stormwater leg of 5Ws.
1. Will 5W bill citizens for maintaining all this land to the new standard? (They can’t be unelected as the costs go up and up)
2. Will Council’s pay fees to 5W for their cycleways and other infrastructure on this land?
3. Will public access continue?
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December 13, 2022 9:42am
- Master Mariner
  
  And so it begins.
  Joining the dots prior could not of been easier.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:31am
- Ehlana
  
  “‘Dalziel said it “doesn’t matter” who owns the land and infrastructure if”
  
  Excellent. So new Labour policy is that it doesn’t matter who owns the water infrastructure, as long as it delivers? Councils are free to sell then.
  It doesn’t matter who owns the schools, or the hospitals, as long as they deliver? Alwyn Poole (and many others) will be delighted.
  
  I look forward to this much more sensible take on the importance of public ownership.
  
  Who knew they had it in them?
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:12am
Maggie Pie

And see where ‘wolf-whistling’ is now considered a hate crime in the UK and carries a 2 year term in prison.

If Labor were to bring the same insanity to this country, I bet we’d end up with real a shortage of LBP’s in no time 😀
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December 13, 2022 9:53am
- cmm
  
  It astounds me.
  If you wolf whistle a chick, or “show us yer tits” or whatever, then you’re not saying you hate her.
  Exactly the opposite in fact.
  
  So how can that be hate speech? No hate was expressed.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:06am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I get it all the time when I’m out walking Gladys.
    There’s even been the odd occasion when I’ve bent over and feigned picking up her poo just to give the boys something to think about 😛
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:16am
    - mogg
      
      In this weather you can go commando or tackle out.
      
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      December 13, 2022 10:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Think of it from a rabid leftie Karens point of view.
    Some are out there just looking to be ‘offended’
    
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    December 13, 2022 10:56am
  - Ehlana
    
    What astounds me is that you cannot see this from your targets point of view. She may not feel appreciated, indeed, many women have been very clear that they feel more intimidated, judged as if all that mattered about them is their appearance, tits, or whatever.
    It may not be an expression of hate, but if you really want to show your appreciation, perhaps listen to what so many women are saying and keep your thoughts to yourself?
    
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    December 13, 2022 11:20am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      It’s definitely disgusting behaviour, but that doesn’t make it hate speech.
      
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      December 13, 2022 1:20pm
Rusty

Does anyone know what happened to Tova O”Brien?

Wasn’t there big fanfare that she would challenge Mike Hosking’s morning show ratings on Magic talk– not that I have ever listened to her or even know if shes still on it.
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December 13, 2022 10:14am
- Ghost
  
  He ratings were crap last I saw.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:22am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Still a billboard in Parnell portraying her and that useless Mark Dye.
  
  He did a short stint on ZB once with Kerry Woodham.
  Until she realised he’d single-handedly f*cked her ratings.
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:36am
- Paulus
  
  Some where somehow somebody wanted Tova out.
  Saw this years ago in Wellington where a senior Public Service Official blocked a certain “Banker’s aspiration” – big name overseas now.
  So serruptitiously slyly they enginerred through friend that approach to this Pubic Servant was made too big to refuse with super assistant, title and social position too.
  He took the job and was given little to do, but entertain and position was phased out after two years.
  QED Tova
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:38am
- Matt Long
  
  Article on the BFD recently, her ratings are less than a tenth of Newstalk ZB
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:45pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
A retired Lawyer over thinking the flow diagram of the Coup.
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/an-classic-example-of-getting-caught-up-in-the-detail-and-missing-the-big-picture/
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Understanding-the-big-picture.pdf
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December 13, 2022 10:19am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Here is that flow diagram.
  https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/How-Maori-get-eternal-cash-flow-from-3-waters-2-2.pdf
  
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  December 13, 2022 10:23am
DeepBlue

Too far from the election to be a bribe.

My pick is some formula whereby 5c tax is added to pump price petrol whenever the price falls below say $2.70. Diesel user chargers get hit all at once.
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December 13, 2022 10:54am
Alan Wilkinson

Anyone who thinks x-Waters is going to do anything but escalate costs interminably is an idiot. Unfortunately there are lots of idiots.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/three-waters-officials-warn-water-bills-could-increase-significantly-without-regulation/X6DMKCH7KNCZNBJLNJBCVJKYYI/

Of course these particular morons don’t state the blindingly obvious that the costs are increasing because of regulation.
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December 13, 2022 11:01am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Wait, what? Jacinda literally told us that we had to get on board with 3 5 Waters, or else or water bills would go up.
  
  Now that 3 5 Waters is in place, they’re now telling us that our water bills will go up by more?
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:09pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    No, she told us our local council water rates would go up. She never spoke about how much the gratuities paid to the Maori organisations were going to cost us under X Waters.
    
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    December 13, 2022 1:18pm
ClanMcleod

Anyone who has paid attention over the last couple of years will be aware of the “conspiracy theory” around Event 201. The WEF and Bill Gates funded “pandemic” simulation held October 2019.

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/exercises/event201/

Amazing! These people are like clairvoyants! We should let them run all aspects of our lives!//

Well heads up people, Mr Gates and co have summoned their crystal balls and are kindly sharing the future with us. Get 2025 into your diary. Don’t say you didn’t get enough warning!

Catastrophic Contagion 2025

This new pandemic simulation called ’Catastrophic Contagion’ involved the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security working with health officials from multiple countries including Senegal, Rwanda, Nigeria, Angola, Liberia, Singapore, India and Germany.

The framing of the simulation projects a much more widespread and lethal Enterovirus ’with a higher fatality rate than covid-19 and disproportionately affecting children and young people’.

The main call to action of the simulation aims to push an international professional ’Pandemic corps’, a group of unelected health officials to offer ’consensus views’ to political leaders on response policies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_41PQ9_Y9Q&t=185s

I think we should close the borders, lockdown everyone, wear 4 masks and wait for Pfizer to invent a new mRNA vaccine. We can get Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab to advise our administrators how to deal with the inevitable idiot “anti vaxxers.”

Well it all worked so well this time didn’t it!!

Clownworld doesn’t begin to describe this.
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December 13, 2022 11:11am
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Dear..

It might be luncheon Sausage fritters for Xmas dinner this year.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130743285/food-prices-up-107-in-november-compared-to-same-time-last-year
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December 13, 2022 11:13am
- Maggie Pie
  
  YIP….Things are definitely ALOT more expensive than even last year. I’d say easily 30%!!
  
  We’ve got 2 TURDUCKEN’s on order from Farros. Picking them up next week. Hopefully they’ll be a lot moister than last time. I made the mistake of not making any gravy. Won’t fall into the same trap this year. Ended up getting nothing but complaints!
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:36am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Ended up getting nothing but complaints!
    
    Just grab a couple of Rotisserie chooks from P&S and a packet of Pam’s Gravy…
    Ya folks will thank you….
    
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    December 13, 2022 12:59pm
mandk

Food price inflation the highest since Sept 2008: https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/118846/despite-seasonal-falls-fruit-and-vegetable-prices-annual-rate-food-price

Sept 2008 was just before John Key become PM.

Lower income families around the country will be suffering.

Let’s hope they realise that socialism is most harmful to the very people it purports to help.
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December 13, 2022 11:15am
- krazykiwi
  
  “Let’s hope they realise that socialism is most harmful”
  
  Unlikely. Sadly for most humans, when faced with an option of being ‘rescued’ or solving a problem themselves the majority choose the former. This is why socialism appeals to politicians. It is an easy sell to secure them power.
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:40am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  They are too thick to comprehend that.
  Socialism – it’s those nasty Capitalists, my friend’s wife told me.
  
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  December 13, 2022 2:57pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Add. At least 25% of NZ’s population are as thick as two short planks.
    I know of people who say “Not interested in Politics – nothing will change”
    “Sometimes I look at the voting form, don’t know any of them, so I bin it”
    
    Then they wonder why NZ is not as good as it was post 2008.
    Those are the people who need to answer as well.
    
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    December 13, 2022 3:03pm
krazykiwi

Here’s a vexing chart for the vaxxing enthusiasts:

New German data reveals that, sudden deaths with unknown cause have increased by 3x since the start of vaccination in 2021!

Two things:
1. Correlation is not causation. But hell, this chart is a 10,000w klaxon at full volume in a Buddhist monetary.

2. “Just move on, I’m tired of this” shouldn’t be an option for anyone who values humanity and the sanctity of life. This stuff didn’t happen by accident. People pursuing their own enrichment and/or empowerment have done this. And they’ll do it again.
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December 13, 2022 11:26am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Looks like they’re giving us another early warning.
  
  https://www.vaken.se/catastrophic-contagion-pandemic-simulation-led-by-john-hopkins-center-for-health-security/
  
  Let’s pay attention this time!
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:34am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  KK, it is Climate Change.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:11pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    That was the Russians who did the climate damage wasn’t it? I’m sure that’s what the conclusions were from the investigation into Trump. Well, they couldn’t find anything on Donald, they had to find something to blame those damn Russkies on!
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:53pm
Ghost

Two ministries failed to manage perceived conflicts over Nanaia Mahuta’s husband’s consulting

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130746029/two-ministries-failed-to-manage-perceived-conflicts-over-nanaia-mahutas-husbands-consulting
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December 13, 2022 11:27am
- Nickc2
  
  The review found no evidence of favouritism, bias, or undue influence over agency decisions
  That can mean one of two things:
  1. They didn’t see/notice any when investigating, or
  2. They didn’t go looking for these things.
  My pick is there was pressure not to look too hard eh?
  I won’t suggest where the pressure came from but she has a dubious background and has been around Parliament forever.
  
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  December 13, 2022 11:46am
Swifty

Hey, remember when Her Warship, Penny Bright used to argue for the return of all council-outsourced functions back to permanent council staff? You know, to smash the corrupt $corporatist councils and save money for ratepayers by eliminating profit-taking by the $Capitalist Running Dogs?

Well lookee here:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/130716005/phil-maugers-1m-roving-footpath-fixit-crew-backed-by-council-staff?cx_testId=7&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

CHC Council’s own staff reckon in-housing a roving footpath maintenance crew would cost ratepayers FOUR TIMES the cost of outsourcing it.

I wonder how Penny would spin that one?
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December 13, 2022 11:27am
- Loddenthinks
  
  What that calculation shows is not how much more efficient the private sector is, thought they undoubtedly are. It shows how incredibly useless council staff are, both with their calculations and their work ethic. Dead wood and cruisers to a man/woman/whatever.
  
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  December 13, 2022 12:17pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I enjoyed exchanges with Penny Bright. I just went “Spray and Walk Away” after most of her comments. That is what she did – dropped a bomb and watched Kiwiblogers comments.
  Really sad the dreaded lurgie ovary cancer got her. She was a fighter.
  I have a short vid clip of Penny wearing a John Key cardboard mask at Pasifika Festival.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:20pm
Chris Nisbet

If National/ACT do vote this useless bunch of vandals out of power next year, will the police start paying visits to people who start putting the boot into them or who say that capitalism is dead, you know, to check their thinking?
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December 13, 2022 11:28am
CAKE FACE1

HPDA with the “Rivers of filth” goober was magical:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/211-heather-du-plessis-allan-24837940/episode/michael-wood-immigration-minister-on-the-105852377/?cmp=ios_share&sc=ios_social_share&pr=false

Her strategy was a great one. Ask the a question, and when he waffles an idiotic answer, ask it again.

Trapping him to implicitly agree that he is stupid was funny.

Hanging up on him was the final cherry on top.

What a giggle.
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December 13, 2022 11:47am
- Swifty
  
  More journalists should adopt that tone with government MPs.
  
  Wood and his mates may think his evasive answers clever – for me, they just leave me cold at the arrogance of it all. That we don’t deserve straight answers.
  
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  December 13, 2022 1:43pm
- kevn
  
  @CAKE… wood for brains.
  
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  December 13, 2022 5:48pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Is it racist to use the term WHITEWASH these days?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130746029/two-ministries-failed-to-manage-perceived-conflicts-over-nanaia-mahutas-husbands-consulting
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December 13, 2022 1:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  What beats me is every time someone is in front of the camera, lots of others are walking around. Is this normal? Walking the corridors to get your dial in front of the camera? Do these useless bastards do any work or all text each other “TV1 in that corridor, RNZ are over there with a camera?
  It is a bit overbearing. Let’s face it, they are not going to a smoko break.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:33pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

7 years ago. How do we stop this shit?

Big celebrations in Paris, the bludgers have adopted the climate change accord.
So then, the world has been saved. The ice will stop melting, the sea will stop rising, the sun will cool and nature will be restored to pre global warming status. So sadly my investment in the low-lying atolls of the Pacific has been scuttled. No more dreams of creating the “Venice” of the South Pacific.
You see, in fifty years time when everything remains the same, there will be celebrations by the next generation at the foresight of their ancestors for fixing something that was never broken. This has to be the most elaborate scam every devised to ensure that the global wealth of developed countries found its way into the pockets of third world dictators, lay-a-abouts, and bludgers.
Earn billions by creating the problem, earn billions by researching a solution to the problem, earn billions by finding a solution to the problem, earn billions monitoring the solution to the problem and then eventually claiming it was money well spent because everything was restored to pre-problem status. That, in a nut shell, is a summary of the life of a global warming research academic.
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December 13, 2022 1:13pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Paris COP21.
  The real story is that 32,000 unemployed scientists looking for a reason to be employed have finally convinced the naïve that if a lie is told long enough,it will become the truth. Even though the biggest con job called “global warming” will just be that, a myth and a perennial con job.
  
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  December 13, 2022 1:14pm
info@cruzpro.com

There have been suggestions that New Zealand would not have enough electrical supply if everyone switched from petrol (ICE) cars to battery electrical (EV’s).

According to the EECA:

“If all light vehicles in New Zealand were electric, our current total electricity demand would increase by around 20%, EECA estimates. This could be accommodated within New Zealand’s current electricity grid, even allowing for the uncertainties of renewable generation, provided the majority of EVs are charged during off-peak periods.”

In 2014 there were fewer than 1,000 EV’s. As of March 2022 there are still only 38,117 EV’s compared to 3.3 million light vehicles total.

Even with the increased uptake of EV’s due to the low emissions credits it is going to take a very long time before the number of EV’s get to even 1 million. Probably more than ten years.

I would think that the electric grid could more than keep up with the modest extra electrical requirements.
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December 13, 2022 1:18pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  My understanding is long before we ran out of electricity they would run out of stuff to make batteries to put it in?
  
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  December 13, 2022 1:29pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    That would certainly solve the “will New Zealand have enough electricity to run all the EV’s” question. 🙂
    
    There is some debate about whether there is enough Lithium to supply all the future EV’s. A few answers and more questions can be found here:
    
    https://energyx.com/blog/will-we-run-out-of-lithium/
    
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    December 13, 2022 3:11pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Kaiaua on the west of the firth of Thames has Lithium in the clay. How good it is or how to extract it, I have no idea.
      Then the Greens say ‘no digging’
      
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      December 13, 2022 3:52pm
Maggie Pie

My partner just txt to say they’ve arrested Sam Bankman-Fries in the Bahamas.

Like he said….they gave Bernie Madoff 150 years.
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December 13, 2022 1:20pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  So he should, Bernie made-off with a lot of other peoples money….
  
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  December 13, 2022 2:00pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Now now Mags. Poor wee Sam would like to get back into business if he can. He thinks he has unfinished business. Wonder how much more he is contemplating swiping from idiots?
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:12pm
Alan Wilkinson

Herald’s John McDonald calling for Mahuta to go. “Worst Foreign Minister and worst Local Government Minister.” “Can’t believe a word she says.”

The bus is coming for her. Will Willie go under it too?
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December 13, 2022 2:07pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  How long will it be before our ultra thick MSM realize that if the entrenchment clause was crap the rest of it probably is too?
  
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  December 13, 2022 2:15pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Tuku will stand up for Willie.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:55pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This is from The Taxpayer’s Union in my emails.
3 Waters = higher water costs. I suggest others here to get on The Taxpayer’s Union mailing list.
https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/taxpayer_update_new_poll_act_wrong_on_indexation_kiwis_back_lobbying_cooling_off_period
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December 13, 2022 2:23pm
- Ehlana
  
  No part of what they dreamed up here makes sense.
  
  Entities with boundaries that have no connection to water catchments. Assets removed from the control of those who own them. Unaccountable, unelected, unrepresentative, unqualified persons being effectively put in charge. How could it possibly go wrong?
  
  And who on earth (as in, planet-wide) would lend money to an entity knowing that a previously undocumented group could emerge at any time and make demands the entity is supposed to accommodate – which might well include not paying back the loan?
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:04pm
Warren

Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister gets on her high horse when Barry Soper tackles her on the Cabinet Manuel over Naiana Muhuta. What a arrogant bitch she can be.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/video/focus-pm-ardern-defends-mp-nanaia-mahuta/7F63LGFFPLMPNMKKJBHYUNQUAM/
A Prime Minister that won’t listen and can’t be told.
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December 13, 2022 2:23pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Her Tirrany lasts for less than 12 months now.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:58pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Warren, was “arrogant bitch” an intentional reference to the PMs performance in the house today – or just serendipidy?
  
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  December 13, 2022 6:00pm
Alan Wilkinson

Even Stuff luvvies are starting to feel really unsafe and don’t know what to do:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130736453/the-fear-thats-descended-on-aucklands-cbd
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December 13, 2022 2:35pm
Ghost

Someone’s feeling the pressure

The PM apparently just got caught on a hot mic calling David Seymour an “arrogant prick” in the house

https://twitter.com/JennaLynchNZ/status/1602482692733382657?cxt=HHwWgsCtsZnhlL0sAAAA
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December 13, 2022 3:02pm
- greybeard
  
  Nothing on Stuff as at 3:17pm !
  Plenty on the radio , however.
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:17pm
  - Ghost
    
    Up now https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300764061/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-calls-act-leader-david-seymour-an-arrogant-prick
    
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    December 13, 2022 3:27pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Seems to have been messed with. I heard nothing about Seymore.
      This must be the ‘free speech’ that Jaspinda talks of.
      
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      December 13, 2022 4:05pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      Well she should know. Ms Ardern is surrounded by arrogant pricks.
      
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      December 13, 2022 4:06pm
      - Piticus
        
        This doesn’t seem like ‘kindness’ – just saying!!
        
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        December 13, 2022 8:55pm
- nathie
  
  Heh everyone following that Newshub Twitter feed is a “leftie” (and agrees with Ardern judging by the replies)!
  
  Perhaps “righties” have been blocked?
  
  Surely not //
  
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  December 13, 2022 3:36pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Don’t call Ghost “Shirley”
    
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    December 13, 2022 4:06pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Did you notice how all the Leftie Trolls on Talkback Radio were called to action in Cindy’s defence once the shit hit the airwaves?
    
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    December 13, 2022 7:33pm
  - Nickc2
    
    I bet she’s hoping the UN, Black Rock, and the WEF missed her tirade eh?
    
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    December 13, 2022 7:36pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Her mask is slipping….
  
  or is this just the first time that the MSM has bothered to reveal the real persona behind Ardern’s carefully cultivated kind image?
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:03pm
  - nathie
    
    Imagine if the MSM busted her years ago … when she used to angrily crash backwards on her seat whenever Simon Bridges questioned and got the better of her during Question Time in Parliament!
    
    Wonder if the seat had to replaced at the end of every term? 😉
    
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    December 13, 2022 4:11pm
    - Swifty
      
      Flounce is the word you’re looking for my dear nathie.
      
      Ardern is a very seasoned flouncer.
      
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      December 13, 2022 6:30pm
  - Ghost
    
    Have you noticed recently the media are using photos of her online that aren’t nice photos. I think the media are turning against her
    
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    December 13, 2022 4:11pm
  - Yvette
    
    Maggie
    
    Seymour later petitioned Speaker Adrian Rurawhe to have Ardern withdraw the remark and apologise.
    Rurawhe did not immediately allow that, noting the remark was not reported in Hansard.
    
    No, it doesn’t seem to have been reported so far, So –
    
    1 – is Hansard therefore not an accurate record of the proceedings of the House?
    2 – under what control or lack of oder do Hansard recorders not record what goes on?
    
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    December 13, 2022 4:24pm
    - slightlyrighty
      
      The remark is now in the Hansard for the day.
      
      Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: ” There’s been a number of occasions where we acknowledge that we will not have perfect responses. We’ve openly said that, for instance, managed isolation and quarantine was something that was very difficult at the time and that there were people affected by it and that we would do things differently if we were ever confronted with that again. But I stand by the work that we’ve done as a Government over this last year and over this past term—we’ve always made decisions that we believe to be in the best interests of New Zealand at the time. [Prime Minister resumes seat] He’s such an arrogant prick.”
      
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      December 13, 2022 5:15pm
      - Alan Wilkinson
        
        Sliding from saint to martyr. Criticism of the virtuous is beastly.
        
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        December 13, 2022 7:24pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I was on a package tour a few years ago. One of the other tour group participants was then a member of Ardern’s office. This person cited Arderns propensity for shrieking and yelling at her staff on a semi-regular basis. That was when the fairy dust was still in play. Anyone care to imagine climate in her office over the past few days?
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:21pm
  - slightlyrighty
    
    We have seen the first public crack in the Armour.
    
    It will not be the last…..
    
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    December 13, 2022 5:16pm
  - kevn
    
    @kk… Toxic comes to mind.
    
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    December 13, 2022 5:30pm
DeepBlue

Move over Angry Andrew, we now have Angry Ardern in her last hours.
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December 13, 2022 3:07pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Look out! Not pretty when no mics or cameras.
  Seriously – I know of this.
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:09pm
Ghost

Another teenage rapist gets home detention

A teenage party where a girl was raped involved a dangerous mix of large quantities of alcohol and a lack of adult supervision, a judge has noted.

Judge Andrew Becroft made the comments in the Whanganui District Court on Monday during his sentencing of Jack Arthur Prenter on one charge of sexual violation by rape.

The 19-year-old, who was aged 17 at the time of his offending, was found guilty in August of raping a 16-year-old girl two years ago….

Judge Becroft began with a sentence of five-and-a-half-years imprisonment before allowing reductions that focused on the particular circumstances of the case.

He gave Prenter a total of 65 per cent reduction, including 35 per cent for his youth and 15 per cent for the steps he had already taken to address his offending and positive prospects of rehabilitation, which reduced the sentence to 23 months imprisonment.

The sentence was then commuted to 12 months’ home detention and 300 hours community work.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/schoolboy-raped-sleepy-intoxicated-classmate-at-alcohol-fuelled-birthday-party/UOQGJCND7FDQLC2VSDSXM2NNWI/
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December 13, 2022 3:16pm
- Inandout
  
  That school should not have gone co-ed.
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:34pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Lack of consequences for youth offenders is already CLEARLY resulting in increased crime rates, just look at the ram raids. Now they are extending this to rape???
  
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  December 13, 2022 5:42pm
- Prince
  
  Is this the Becroft who was Children’s Commissioner ?
  No surprises there. Pity about the victim though.
  
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  December 13, 2022 7:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Home detention. How much do these bracelets cost?
Who is sitting on their arse and monitoring the geofence?
“Ah Sir, I need to go out of the zone to buy my Mum a Birthday Present.
That just means his bitch is in trouble.
I have a drone, I know how geofences work – even in Alaska LOL!
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December 13, 2022 4:14pm
- cmm
  
  The geofence should be self-monitoring.
  It should detect movement and then turn on the GPS occasionally. If it detects it is out of the geofence then it reports in.
  
  The geofence algorithm (ie. check whether you are inside a polygon) is less than 100 lines of C code.
  
  GPS geofences can be defeated using GPS spoofers costing less than $200.
  
  Of course, why bother. Plod probably only pursue the people if they fail to report in for more than48 hours.
  
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  December 13, 2022 5:50pm
Maggie Pie

See where Sky News AU has revealed the men shot dead by police, Nathaniel Train and his brother Gareth, following their murderous rampage in the Queensland town of Wieambilla in which they ambushed and killed two police officers, are described as being of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance.
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December 13, 2022 4:23pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, Jacinda has arranged a similar type come here from an island north of Oz.
  
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  December 13, 2022 4:36pm
CAKE FACE1

It’s super funny watching Cindy turning shouty and feral lately.

Poor old Cindy has sabotaged her own “Be Kind” brand beyond repair.

What a hoot!
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December 13, 2022 4:42pm
- cmm
  
  That brand has been a bit sketchy since she rode roughshod over the KFC worker.
  
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  December 13, 2022 5:45pm
krazykiwi

Steve Kirsch challenged Sean Plunket to $US1m debate.

Plunket accepted and specified escrow arrangements, but then declared that he was only proposing to take the million of Kirsch if he proved him wrong.
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December 13, 2022 4:49pm
- Mike
  
  Two bald men fighting over a comb?
  
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  December 13, 2022 6:24pm
kevn

@kk… Sounds like a moment of madness from plunket. Watch him back-pedal.
So long as there is plenty of on-going coverage to keep it above board.
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December 13, 2022 6:09pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Yes, Plunket has bailed. Not unexpected. He’d need to be pretty sure of his evidence to risk the $1m. I expect he knows he’d end up paying out,
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:06pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Plunket is being eviscerated on Twitter and on Facebook, as he deserves to be. His pathetic hit job on Kirsch backfired really badly. I can’t see The Platform lasting very long. The only way you can run a successful talkback is by having genuinely open debate. Plunket and Laws both refuse to do that.
    Leighton Smith was a good example of how it should be done.
    
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    December 13, 2022 9:20pm
Maggy Wassilieff

So what is he?

Speaking to media after parliament, Seymour said “some days I am a useless Māori, others days I am an arrogant prick.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/13/jacinda-arden-caught-on-hot-mic-calling-minor-opposition-party-leader-an-arrogant-prick
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December 13, 2022 7:07pm
- Ghost
  
  I’m sure what he is, is another percentage point or more drop for Jacinda in the polls after that comment
  
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  December 13, 2022 7:24pm
  - MCōs
    
    Only from the people who don’t like her anyway.
    
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    December 13, 2022 8:21pm
Nickc2

[Mod – sorry, this blog has rules it follows]
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December 13, 2022 7:18pm
MCōs

Two people who it seems refuse to have their child immunized against anything are taking their toddler to India for it’s next operation because they don’t want blood from a vaccinated donor.
Im no expert, but I’d have thought there’s more danger going to India unvaccinated against anything than whatever risk is presented by blood from a vaccinated donor.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/second-anti-vax-couple-want-unvaccinated-blood-for-seriously-ill-toddler/JCLJYZDG2BHJ7OIAPOJZTZBLQ4/
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December 13, 2022 8:37pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  I’m no expert either, but I would do the same thing rather than risk the potential downside of giving a child vaccinated blood. NOBODY has any idea what the potential problems might be.
  We were misled regarding the vaccines. They did none of the things we were told they would do. The spike protein does NOT stay at the injection site. The spike protein is toxic. It is causing blood clots. It is killing people.
  It is all downside risk. I might prefer the US where directed blood donations are possible in most states, but India is getting a very good reputation for dental work and other surgery. I am sure the parents have done their research.
  
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  December 13, 2022 9:17pm
  - Keith White
    
    CM: A peer-reviewed Stanford University Department of Pathology study published in Cell and funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other institutions noted that people given the Pfizer(BioNTech) vaccine have at least as much spike protein in their blood as unvaccinated people who were infected by the virus. This has never been debunked, but has certainly been kept quiet…
    
    Published online 2022 Jan 25. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.01.018
    
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    December 14, 2022 3:04am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    A lot of people say: “Do your own research”, whether it’s health or vaccines or whatever else. If you have no specific qualifications in a field, it’s really hard, right? You really don’t know what you are doing and will probably fuck it up. Sane people use the internet for finding shoes, clothes and food, and for having fun,
    
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    December 14, 2022 5:18am
- Keith White
  
  mCos: Actually, no. The better hospitals in the main metro centers in India have good standards (and many UK and US trained specialists with quality resumes and skills). I have had professional occasion to look at the quality of their blood collection and transfusion services; I can also attest (yes, this is anecdote) that unlike people leaving NZ A&Es unseen to die at home – this year in NZ – if you can afford somewhere like the Nanavati a.k.a. ‘Max’ “super specialty” hospital in Mumbai, you will see what NZ has lost in hospital services and skillsets over recent years, which we will probably never get back.
  
  Disclaimer: I have no family, commercial, financial relationship with the hospital; I have retrieved patients from there to take them home after treatment.
  
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  December 14, 2022 2:58am
  - MCōs
    
    Probably very similarly to Bangkok where I had a hip replacement twenty plus years ago.
    The good hospitals are all privately run and out of the reach of most of the locals.
    However that’s not what I’m referring to, but rather the chance of picking something up such as dengue fever. Unless the family is going to live in some sort of bubble.
    
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    December 14, 2022 9:54am

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