General Debate 21 February 2023

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NeverMindTheBollocks

The NZ Women’s football team are really not very good, but what’s embarrassing is the MSM’s lame attempts to make excuses for them, because they are women. Exhibit A: Stuff’s headline below – Look, we nearly scored! In a similar situation, any NZ Men’s team would be excoriated.

Call it what it is: out-and-out sexism by the media.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-cup/131272077/football-ferns-have-goal-ruled-out-in-20-defeat-to-argentina-in-hamilton
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February 21, 2023 8:02am
- Cinematic
  
  Fancy leading an article with an uncontroversial non goal. Bizarre.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:16am
- ClanMcleod
  
  NMTB – it’s tragic. I noted something similar when in a previous game they were lauded for winning a corner in the dying minutes of the game. It’s really pathetic.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:16am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Bit of a shame it’s not the Womin’s rugby World Cup in election year for this govt.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:57am
  - Opie
    
    And the mindless celebrations for winning the women’s rugby world cup. They were 14 nil down after 5 minutes and just squeaked home playing most of the game 15 on 14.
    
    They won, but didn’t deserve to. If the English didn’t lose a player it would have been a 50 point thumping. Credit to Wayne Smith to give them a game plan to run around a short handed team. Ian Foster would have stuck to his original plan and lost in the same situation.
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:10am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      They 100% deserved to win and I was cheering them on. It’s impossible to know the outcome if England hadn’t lost a player and pointless to speculate on it. The fact is the England player smashed Portia Woodman and was rightly red-carded. There’s a cost to the team and they paid it. End of story.
      
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      February 21, 2023 11:26am
- pdm
  
  Bollocks – are you like me and sick of all the bloody womens rugby, soccer, league and `hit and giggle’ cricket on Sky?
  
  Not to mention female commentators on mens sport eg the screaming Rikki Swannell on rugby. I guess with Ian Smith stepping down they will be doing after match interviews too.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:21am
  - Yabster
    
    yep- womans sport is fine- i have zero interest in it though- and will be dropping sky after the world cup.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:28am
  - Prince
    
    Not me. I enjoy Women’s cricket as much as men’s these days. NZ Teams are equally poor.
    Don’t mind the commentators, except for the one who gabbles non-stop and is very hard to decipher – I think it is Rebecca Rolls. Mind you, the worst commentator by a country mile is ‘Scotty’ Stevenson.
    And the best, Smithy, is off overseas.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:54am
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      I saw a bit of the NZ v Eng test while in Australia. They were playing the English commentary featuring David Gower and Mike Atherton. Great commentary to listen to which treated the audience with respect, not as imbeciles.
      As Richie Benaud use to say; “never state the obvious and treat the audience like they know as much as you do”.
      
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      February 21, 2023 3:48pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I don’t have a problem with women playing football. It’s the beautiful game & teams sports are a wonderful thing.
    
    I do get annoyed when they (or anyone else) are puffed up beyond their abilities; more so when they hoover up a disproportional share of public funds & media attention.
    
    Having said that, I’ll certainly be cheering for NZ in the upcoming WWC. But, my expectations of the team performing well are not high.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:59am
  - oldpark
    
    @pdm 8.21 am
    
    Right on the button .One wee blemish? You forgot “Honey” on NRL Warriors .Give me a break .
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:09am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    The dreams of many NZ soccer girls are about to be crushed by the reality of our team’s limitations. For that, you can point the finger directly at the media boosters.
    
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    February 21, 2023 5:59pm
- Biscuit
  
  NMTB, and continuing on the nigh-on-useless theme, heh, did you notice that Stuff’s link has the score completely wrong!
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:22am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    As a general rule you won’t find me defending $1uffed, but the link, the headline and the article are all correct.
    
    Bear in mind that the html used for links is not “written English” and most such links look the same as this one.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:31am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Heh, is Robbo still looking at equal pay for men’s and women’s sports teams?
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:34am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He will be, but the fool can’t work out that the revenue stream is non existent, he is a typical socialist shill
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:24am
- greybeard
  
  Since that new coach took over in Sept 2021 they have only won 2 games.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:52am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Yes but let’s not be critical. They managed to do some very useful practice – in the presser before their previous match against Portugal, the coach and captain delivered a flawless back-and-forth sentence as follows:
    
    Coach: We
    Captain: are
    Coach: going
    Captain: to
    Coach: beat
    Captain: Portugal!
    
    You had to admire the timing, the execution and the team-work – great stuff!
    
    Portugal beat them 5 – 0. Shame they didn’t devote some of that practice time to skills, fitness and tactics.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:37am
- Grumpy Silver Haired Female
  
  I think a [Mod – use his name] called it unconscious bias (yes, irony!), It’s alive and well everywhere, from both sides of the dividing line whatever issue one encounters.
  Is there an emoji for irony? Just asking
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:24am
- alex Masterley
  
  The same comment about the NZ womens football team can be made about the Phoenix womens team.
  They are rubbish as well.
  The only plus I can think of that we get out of the Womens World Cup is that training grounds, generally club grounds such as Keith Hay Park in Auckland get upgraded by FIFA.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:40am
  - Stu2
    
    I watched a bit of one of the Phoenix matches – the only tactic seemed to be long ball forward, but that failed as the defenders were faster than the Phoenix forwards.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:52am
    - Prince
      
      To be fair, the men’s team started like that for a few years. Give them time.
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:55pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Watching sports generally bores the crap out of me.
  
  Much more so the inbred, over rated, and over hyped AFL here, and their too often apparent scumbag culture.
  
  I have ZERO interest in the latest woke-pushed “equity” obsessed wymmins sports. It’s just part of the chardonnay socialist poser ecosystem. The quiet achieving sports (and other endeavours) women do get my respect.
  
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  February 21, 2023 7:49pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

The property market decline gathers pace. I’ve been watching a number of provincial properties listed on Trade Me. I receive successive notifications as they go from Closed Tender to Offers Over to Money Off to By Negotiation to off the market. Sometimes they relist with another agent, other times they do not reappear, with a simple check a couple of months later revealing no sale.

My conclusion is that anything discretionary just isn’t selling. The new RVs come out in a few months; will be interesting to see how much they fall.

Maggie – you’d better keep an eye out for Prue – I’m worried about the effect on her mental health.
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February 21, 2023 8:03am
- Cinematic
  
  Auckland City is down 25.3% year on year. I’ve yet to see anyone label it a crash, what constitutes a crash I wonder?
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:19am
  - peterwn
    
    Listed property company Property for Industry (PFI) has reported an unrealised loss of $57M on its property portfolio (it gets properties valued each year) but so what? PFI probably sees the current market as good buying opportunities and pre-arranging finance accordingly.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:52am
    - Paulus
      
      Creative Accounting of which many such as members of the PFI are good.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:04am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        It’s nothing to do with “creative accounting” – they’re a listed company subject to IFRS 16, GAAP and share market rules. They revalue their portfolio every year including when it increases by $57m or more.
        
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        February 21, 2023 11:42am
    - trout
      
      Industrial property values are different from residential in that values are directly related to yield (rental income). As interest rates increase buyers expect yields to increase concomitantly so price accordingly. In recent times with falling interest rates Property Companies have proudly revalued assets and declared increases in ‘value’ as profit. The worm has now turned.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:11am
      - peterwn
        
        The valuations are done by independent registered valuers and property companies have no option but to include these independent valuations into their accounts. I think the valuers recognised they are being challenged by current circumstances which makes doing exact valuations almost impossible. So it is no skin off management’s noses that the valuations have decreased. This is especially as PFI is not faced with having to sell any buildings, their lending is modest at 35% or so meaning there is no bank pressure to sell. Also in PFI’s case, occupancy rate is over 95%, there is continuing demand for their space (particularly from logistics companies) and rents and dividends are holding up. If anything PFI is a net buyer of properties including development to make better use of existing sites and they will be looking for bargains in the current circumstances. Also their tenants prefer to rent, they mostly have no aspirations of owning their premises as that is not their core business.
        
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        February 21, 2023 10:44am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        @peterwn – good analysis and I agree with your conclusions. This is one of the reasons we hold PFI shares and have done for many years. A very well-run and expertly-governed property company – not something you can say often in New Zealand!
        
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        February 21, 2023 11:47am
- Drone
  
  You really the RVs will fall, don’t think so. No matter what happens to RVs council rates will never go down.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:42am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    That’s not the way rates are calculated, at least in my ‘burb. RVs simply set what proportion of the overall rates bill any one property owner pays.
    
    If all RVs decline by 10% then there’s no difference in what proportion of the rates bill you’ll pay. In which case your rates will increase by exactly the same percentage as what your local Council hiked the take by.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:53am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    It does not work like that. The revenue that Councils raise does not change if property values fall.
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:00am
- artemisia
  
  Also getting similar successive notifications on my property watchlist (looking to buy for a family member). A couple came off the market, had a zhoosh up, including fixes, then relisted with a different agency. Some for sale properties (Wellington) have been on the market up to a year or more.
  
  NMTB – any thoughts about the impact of immigration, with numbers coming in on the green list – skilled, prob have money to buy and with residency can buy.
  
  (For those with a Trademe watchlist, click on it and you will see Notifications.)
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:13am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Also just wondering what effect the cyclone will have on property values. There will be thousands wanting to move away from flood plains or fed up with repeated floods and will be looking to move elsewhere in NZ.
    
    Estimates are that more than 10,000 houses will either be uninhabitable or red-stickered due to the location. That has to have some sort of impact on supply – and demand.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:50am
- Local Miller
  
  True in some areas, not in others. Where I am every property that went to market recently has sold within 45 days or less. Most vendors got what they wanted, even though, yes, it was ~20% lower than last years expectation. We’ve got a house on the market at the moment, been 4 weeks now but initially planned to auction, which we knew would probably not draw bidders. Now taking offers, we have one offer in the pipeline and 2-3 other buyers sorting out their offers. Expecting to start negotiations this week.
  Last year we would have expected $1.15m, now we are expecting a bit over $900k. At this value I certainly won’t complain.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:44am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Especially since the 2020 value was probably $750,000.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:51am
    - Colville
      
      Yip, in the Covid bubble of funny money (Thanks Grunta!) most houses went up 60% so they need to come back 35% to be back where they were.
      I am picking it will settle around the 25% down from peak , so up 20% overall for the 3 or 4 years so about long term average.
      This cyclone will push prices tho, speaking to an agent this morning he is flat out with cash buyers buying NOW, 3 flooded out punters bidding up a $2mil++ house that would have been $1.7 a week ago.
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:13pm
Yabster

From the taxpayers union- I have made a submission and a donation.

Dear

Last year I emailed you about the radical proposals Nanaia Mahuta’s ‘Review into the Future of Local Government’ is proposing. While Ms Mahuta is no longer the Minister of Local Government, the Panel is continuing its work anyway! The proposals include:

Lowering the local voting age to 16 without a referendum.
Bringing in unelected mana whenua appointees for all of New Zealand’s councils who would be given equal status and voting rights as elected members, but unlike the councillors, cannot be removed at the ballot box.
Giving councils the power to introduce ’new funding mechanism’ – new council taxes – without a binding referendum.
Removing the requirement for local referenda before changing the voting system by imposing STV across the country.
Introducing randomly selected ‘citizens’ assemblies’ that you cannot vote out.
The Panel has the temerity to say these proposals “strengthen democracy”, but advocates introducing unelected mana whenua representatives onto councils and their committees with the same status – and voting rights – as elected councillors.

I’m emailing all of our supporters asking them to take five minutes and make a submission, before it is too late.

The consultation is called ‘He mata whāriki he matawhānui’ and the public round of submissions close at the end of this month. And while Nanaia Mahuta is no longer the Minister of Local Government, she is still in the Cabinet, and her hand picked Panel are continuing anyway. We need to put a stop to this.

We have made it easy for you to have your say on these radical proposals:

>>> http://www.ProtectLocalDemocracy.nz <<<

Draft Report

Our position at the Taxpayers’ Union is clear: The only people who should make decisions on setting rates and how those rates should be spent, are those who are directly accountable to ratepayers through the ballot box.

Protect Local Democracy

These reforms would greatly undermine local government in New Zealand, but they could just be the tip of the iceberg. They are symptomatic of the current government’s approach to local decision making. They have centralised health services and polytechnics and are set on a programme of systemically stripping powers from our councils. First it was water assets, now it is planning and who knows what will be next?

Yes, councils can be wasteful and inefficient, but they are far better than unelected centralised bureaucracies that these proposals take us towards.

Instead of dealing with the real challenges facing local government like these, this Review sadly focuses on yet more identity politics.

And have you noticed that the media has said almost nothing about these recommendations? A Google search for 'He mata whāriki, he matawhānui' brings up five – yes, just five – news articles on the consultation report.
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February 21, 2023 8:03am
- greybeard
  
  I also submitted on this yesterday.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:54am
- mic
  
  Submitted.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:04am
- Bridgenag
  
  Trouble is they take no notice of submissions. Get it to the young ones on social media maybe
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:42am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Yep, welcome to 1984 2.0 where eroding democracy is strengthening it, weather is climate, war is peace, men can become pregnant and women can have a dick.
  
  We Tauranga CC ratepayers have had no democracy at all for several years now, it’s nice that others are starting to realise that this is a very. bad. thing.
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:59am
Tony Stuart

As we’re all aware, Kainga Ora has a “no evictions” policy. We’re also aware that with some such policies come unforeseen consequences, although to be fair, this SHOULD have been foreseen!

The total amount owed in rent arrears by Kāinga Ora tenants has increased from $2 million to nearly $17m in three years.

The average rent arrears owed to Kāinga Ora by its tenants had increased from $483 in November 2019, to $1901 in November 2022, Housing Minister Megan Wood said in a reply to a written Parliamentary question from ACT housing spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

The total amount owed in rent arrears has increased from $2.32m in September 2019 to $17m in September 2022.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/131249928/unpaid-rent-from-kinga-ora-tenants-has-quadrupled-in-three-years

But wait, as they say in the informercials, there’s more!

The largest sum owed by an individual was $41,371 as at November 30, 2022.

How the hell can a government agency let a client get $41,000 in debt? Where are the consequences for non-payment of rent? Oh, that’s right; Kainga Ora is a consequence-free zone, and once again, the long-suffering taxpayer has to pick up the tab.
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February 21, 2023 8:06am
- peterwn
  
  Labour Party could not care less about these arrears, Robbo would top up KO sufficiently to cover their cash flows. These tenants have votes and Labour cannot upset them by chasing rent arrears since they may not be bothered voting.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:10am
  - greybeard
    
    You surely don’t believe that most of these tenants VOTE?
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:54am
    - kowtow
      
      With postal voting you can be sure that someone is voting , but you can’t be sure who is .
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:04am
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        We don’t really have postal voting for general elections. Unlike much of the US.
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:14pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  “How the hell can a government agency let a client get $41,000 in debt?”
  
  Simple answer.
  
  1. Tenants can cancel their rent payments via their bank at any time.
  
  2. The Government has instructed KO to not evict tenants for non-payment of rent.
  
  TBH the only surprise is that the total rent arrears is only $17 million.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:03am
  - Ehlana
    
    If the tenant is on a benefit, shouldn’t the rent (and any other amounts owing to the taxpayer) be deducted before the benefit is paid?
    
    If they’re not on a benefit, they are earning, so arrears should be followed up promptly and payment enforced through the Courts.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:01am
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      “If the tenant is on a benefit, shouldn’t the rent (and any other amounts owing to the taxpayer) be deducted before the benefit is paid?”
      
      I have commented on this yesterday. That is not KO policy. IIRC it would require a law change to allow MSD to deduct rent from benefits.
      
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      February 21, 2023 12:10pm
      - Bridgenag
        
        Have posted before but ………they have it sorted. Supermarket for cigs and beer and chips and food banks for the rest…….
        
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        February 21, 2023 2:38pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  A client, Tony? I think you spelled deadbeat drop-kick wrong 😉
  
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  February 21, 2023 12:01pm
Pavel

Ok now I’m confused. I thought Carmel Sepuloni was the deputy PM yet on the news last night Grant Robertson was touring flood hit areas with the media referring to him as deputy PM.
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February 21, 2023 8:07am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Pavel – he’s identifying as the deputy PM, it’s the new way of the world. Isn’t it wonderful?
  
  I wonder what I want to be today………
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:19am
  - Biscuit
    
    Clan, today I am identifying as a workd-class golfer.
    
    I may have to revise that aspiration once I (attempt to) tee off on Hole 1 at 10.45am!
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:27am
    - pdm
      
      Any TAB odds Biscuit?
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:33am
      - Biscuit
        
        pdm, looking at my pathetic attempt up there to spell (well, type) w-o-r-l-d I reckon I should avoid betting today…
        
        [I never learned to type and usually use the middle finger of my right hand for everything, heh. And you grubby innuendo-afflicted folk can pull your collective heads in!]
        
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        February 21, 2023 8:44am
      - pdm
        
        Biscuit – 3 or 4 of us (boys) took typing for a while in the 6th form in 1963.
        
        We were the dunces of the class and gave it away after about a month.
        
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        February 21, 2023 8:49am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        @pdm – bet you got some good phone numbers though!
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:02pm
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Our women’s group at church is having a Shrove Tuesday pancake lunch today. I asked if men who identified as liking pancakes were welcome…
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:36am
      - Gravelroad
        
        @TS-
        You would be better off announcing that you are identifying as a woman today and then go to the pancake fiesta.
        They could hardly refuse, could they?
        You got a nice frock you could wear?
        
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        February 21, 2023 9:04am
    - Cassandra
      
      You’ll want to watch Phantom of the Open.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:40am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Identifying is the new pretending.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:32am
- pdm
  
  These days most of the media are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
  
  Most probably don’t realise he was deposed by by Sepuloni.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:25am
- Libertarians are right
  
  The only touring Sepuloni is interested in is paying her partner $75k (of our money) to cut off his hair, turn it into a wig, and tour it around the country.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:01am
Simon

If only Luxon had spent his efforts promoting help for Hawkes Bay Gisborne instead of using his energies to promote climate change fraud

Dripping wet out of touch National type. Govt can’t solve problems anymore instead hide behind fake garbage like man made climate change.
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February 21, 2023 8:09am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Luxon spent the weekend in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, but he didn’t have a fawning media pack following him around so you won’t see much reporting.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The Media have been told to avoid him – unless he does something wrong.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:27am
  - Simon
    
    Luxon full time job is holding govt to account. Labo have badly messed up the response to the cyclone. Luxon has gone missing in HB because he is on tour? He had plenty of time to crap on about climate fraud. What practical measures is this Luxon clown doing to address govt piss poor response to date?
    
    Luxon totally ineffective because he doesn’t have MSM with him? What garbage. Luxon doesn’t know what to do. He can’t do his basic job which is to hold govt to account.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:47am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Labo have badly messed up the response to the cyclone.
      
      C’mon – share with us – tell us what you would have done … asking for a friend
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:22am
    - crikey
      
      Do you write anti-Luxon invective for Stuffed too?
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:10am
      - Ian Boag
        
        I think Luxon is doing fine. I’m just wondering what Simon would have done better, But (s)he has gone doggo …..
        
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        February 21, 2023 11:05am
    - Ian Boag
      
      govt piss poor response to date
      
      Be constructive – tell us how Simon would be dealing with this … Cat got your tongue?
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:13am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, and last week they weee being lauded, back to parliament today, the worm has turned on Hipkins in this disaster, it’s now time to push
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:31am
    - Bob
      
      Luxon doesn’t know what to do……
      
      Simon, I think that you are getting the hapless HIPKINS confused with the experienced Luxon; who does know what to do.
      Tell your media friends to go interview Luxon, and to take a SINCERE mindset with them!
      
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      February 21, 2023 11:50am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, and when he was being rubbished here earlier in the week, he was in Auckland meeting family members of the two fireman that died in the slip, tge nasty Camaro on here is becoming sickening, they suggested he was too scared to go there
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He stated infrastructure must be built to cope, and he is right, I have mentioned before in HK 10 niches of rain, no surface flooding anywhere
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:28am
  - Lance
    
    I remember in Townsville, the roadside gutters there are what we would call ditches.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:07am
    - Colville
      
      Yeah when the road is 400mm lower than the footpath you know they get some rain!!
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:18pm
kiwikidsnz

Chris Trotter on the money again

https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/02/21/adapting-to-climate-change/

I’d add that the world population trajectory – trebled since WW2 – will also make an overwhelming case for adapting over mitigating
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February 21, 2023 8:09am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The biggest concern facing the planet is population decline. The impact of the covid scam will be telling, as will the continuous assaults on peoples’ ability to travel, stay warm, eat and otherwise sustain themselves due to insane “climate change” policies.
  
  Very unstable times coming for many.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:23am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    I don’t see population decline as a problem. Demographically speaking, it is, as an aging population leaves the workplace.
    
    However, in my lifetime the Global Population has surged from 3.4 Billion to 8.04 billion, and we have to wonder if that is sustainable.
    
    Eventually we will see a population decline, and I would love to see a population back down to the levels we had at the turn of the century (6 billion)
    
    There is a movement towards responsible procreation. Unfortunately the premise of Idiocracy is that those who are less intelligent have a tendancy to breed early and often, while those who are more responsible tend to have kids later, and have fewer of them.
    
    I’m not advocating for eugenics per se, but then again….
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:15am
    - crikey
      
      Slightly: “those who are less intelligent have a tendancy to breed early and often” particularly if the government encourages unlimited procreation through its various welfare packages.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:13am
  - NothingLeft
    
    The only real existential risk facing humanity is AI. There’s a strong chance it will wipe us out before end of century by malice or indifference as it pursues goals that don’t align with our survival (eg building huge amounts of nuclear power without care for radiation).
    
    Humans have to get along with each other due to our finiteness; short lives, long childhoods and limited individual intellectual and physical capabilities. That has sculpted instinctual pro-social/altruistic behaviours. In contrast AI is alien, with none of our physical limitations or inherited instincts – and no way to assure that it will treat human life and values as important. I think most people really don’t get that – just dreamily assuming AI will view the world in a human way and be ‘nice’ or harmless to us.
    
    But the reality is that within a couple of decades they’ll be god-like self-improving and self building intelligences millions of times smarter than humans. If we are lucky they’ll decide to treat us like pets and not ants or slaves. But it’s highly unlikely that we will remain in control of how the earth is run. That’s a hell of a gamble to take our descendants lives.
    
    It’s bizarre to me that population can still find energy to worry about climate or pronouns or anything other than this issue – but the larger the group of humans the dumber they behave. We’re likely sleepwalking our way to extinction on quite a short timeframe.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:12am
    - Pharmachick
      
      Got hit with the AI stick in a second year class this month. Of n = 55 submissions about 5 of them had used a chatbot (at least partially) for a 2 page essay. We used TWO different checkers, and we know they did it, but because the checkers aren’t “validated” cant move it forward (*unlike AKL Uni which is telling everyone to use GPTZero (its good but not validated yet)). Solution: the second essay will be hand-written in class, with only paper open-book allowed to be bought in. No devices/internet allowed. Next year we will likely be removing the essays for another type of assessment.
      
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      February 21, 2023 12:47pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Great to see you back Pharmachick.
        
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        February 21, 2023 2:34pm
- JerJer
  
  He is right. Anyone that thinks that a bunch of New Zealanders riding bycyles and using EVs and not using their gas cooking or BBQs is going to somehow change the environment is an idiot and always has been.
  
  Its the equivalent of all of NZ sitting still an punching themselves in the face until idiots decide that the climate is not changing, it’s stupid, and people are waking up.
  
  I have seen no real evidence that there is climate change other than the normal cycles of weather that occur over time. There was massive climate change when we were not even here, however did that happen, and should we be making plans to stop that ever happening again too. Come on.
  
  The cyclone that just happened, was not climate change, it was expected as a result of volcanic activity from the Tongan volcando. The same thing happened recently in Australia. The cyclone was not unprecedented either, similar cyclones and worse cyclones have landed here multiple times in the past – so where they climate change too ?
  
  The simple fact is that unless the big economies of the world, the China’s, the India’s the United States believe that there is a clear and present danger then they will do nothing, and that is what they are doing. So, anything we do, doesn’t mean anything, and anything we do do, knowing the people involved will probably be the wrong thing anyway, even if there was some sort of emergency.
  
  I’m all for keeping the place clean and the least polluted as we can. But kneecaping ourselves to try and solve a problem that we could not solve anyway if it was real, is really really stupid.
  
  Good to see people are waking up to this.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:15am
  - Ian Boag
    
    they will do nothing, and that is what they are doing.
    
    OTOH There are about 60 nuclear power plants being built around the world and 21 of them are in China ….
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:10am
    - JerJer
      
      That is nice, but I don’t see the relevance. They (China) have also built in the last 5 years or are still in the process of building 225 coal fired power plants. What does that mean.
      
      Do we find a way of closing huntly 225 times so that we can offset that and prevent some climate change ? This just proves how pointless our proposed actions actually are.
      
      You also do get that the West has had decreasing emissions for the last 20 years and it has had no effect whatsoever on the weather. This decrease has come from maturing economies becoming more efficient and advanced, not as a result of greenies sitting legs crossed in highways.
      
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      February 21, 2023 11:29am
- Jimbob
  
  The world population will start to decline in the coming decades. As people get more wealthy they have fewer children, as the likes of Japan and Germany. The demographics in western countries is alarming, below 2 per family. Meaning populations will decline. It is already baked into the cake. People who claim the world’s population needs to be limited, is a fraud. Like the climate change gang.
  Again, simple research and it’s all there for you.
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:35am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yeah. Read an interesting article on this.
    Basically people were breeding for workers. 6+ kids etc to help on the farm.
    Now everone lives in apartments , parents need to have one child as a “Pet”.
    
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    February 21, 2023 2:39pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Whoops meant to say 2 or so generations ago. 6 or more kids.
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:40pm
Yvette

Logs like bulldozers – why the East Coast feels betrayed
Dame Anne Salmond
Several days ago … Kathryn Ryan talked to Bridget Parker in Tolaga Bay, just after Cyclone Gabrielle had ripped through her farm.

She described the devastation as “f****ing carnage. Huge logs and streams of sediment had rolled out of the pine plantations above, smashing buildings and fences, surging through kiwifruit vines and maize paddocks, over the dog kennels and up to the house: This is what New Zealand doesn’t understand. Its one thing to get a cyclone and get water. Its another when the water comes with bloody pine trees attached to it. … Is anyone coming to help? Why are we just left alone, every time this happens?”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/logs-like-bulldozers-why-coast-feels-betrayed

And from viewing the accompanying video “Slash at the Waikari River mouth” – can anyone tell why so many debarked logs look so similar in diameter and length – is this the way slash (forestry waste) is? – or is there something else about “slash” that is not being fully explained in the media?
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February 21, 2023 8:12am
- Don Beckett
  
  Logs on the skids waiting to be loaded up & transported would be amongst the debris.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:56am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:04am
- redeye
  
  Good share Yvette. Among other issues, it highlights how comfortable this government is blatantly lying. I guess it becomes second nature when their fan base in the media just print their press releases ad verbatim..
  
  Over the past month or so, the Minister of Forestry has repeatedly tried to fend off an independent inquiry into forestry slash. In the process he has made statements that don’t bear close scrutiny. When questioned by RNZ about the devastation caused by the clear felling of pine plantations, for instance, he said, “My understanding is its 40 percent from harvesting operations and the rest is indigenous.” The media should be fact-checking these claims.
  …
  An ecologist who had been helping to clear the slash on the river added,” “From what I have seen on the Waimatā so far – and I have been cutting it up with a saw – it’s 90+ percent radiata and some willow scattered through it. About 5 percent native, mainly Kanuka.These catchments have very little native left.”
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:06am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  That’s a great video.
  
  I’m glad Dame Anne added that update where she commented on the propaganda being pushed that 40% of the logs are from native bush.
  
  In some locations native trees may end up in flooded streams and on beaches… but they don’t present as naked trunks without canopy branches and side limbs.
  
  Many folks may not be able to recognise the identity of a washed-up log on a beach, but it’s no problem for most of us in the Gisborne district to tell the difference between a pruned log that has been chainsawed and the trunk of native tree swept into swollen waters.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:16am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

I ordered a book “How to Scam People” 3 months ago.
It still has not arrived.
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February 21, 2023 8:18am
- ClanMcleod
  
  SO – pm me your bank details. I have a friend in Nigeria who is the best at resolving these issues for a small fee.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:23am
  - Yabster
    
    I can also supply IT support – just allow access…
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:32am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I have a friend there too. For a small fee he will send me the millions of US Dollars that is my bequeathment from a previously unknown blood relative
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:33am
- Biscuit
  
  I’ve got a wee bridge between Super Sh*tty South and your neck of the woods, Steve.
  
  Naming rights are available for a pittance. A pittance, I say, Five grand in small, non-sequential notes…
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:30am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I’ve got a bridge, but thanks.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:34am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I’d like to buy it, but I don’t have the cash to hand so I’ll ask the bank manager for a bridging loan….
    
    I’ll get my coat.
    
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    February 21, 2023 12:05pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Fuck the coat, but get your hat, it is sort of scorching on the Shore.
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:53pm
Maggie Pie

I haven’t seen much about it yet, but my partner’s mum was telling me she heard this morning that because of the plummeting attendance at schools, Labor announced they were throwing over $75 million in bringing back… ‘Truancy Officers’.

In her opinion, a complete waste of time and taxpayers money.
She reckons it would be far more effective if the funding went to some form of selective sterilization program.
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February 21, 2023 8:19am
- Cassandra
  
  Shooting looters is quite effective sterilisation. Cheap too.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:28am
- pdm
  
  Having had direct experience with Truancy Officers a few years ago they have no affect because they do not have any authority to take direct action
  
  Just another laughing stock for teenagers of the inclination to stay in bed or on their computers.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe the kids got smart? Realised that they were not being taught Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Woodwork/Metalwork – so they opted out.
  They have recognised Marxist indoctrination!
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:39am
- Cassandra
  
  Apparently the 74 million will “help” 3,000 children. That’s 24,000 dollars per child!
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:44am
  - greybeard
    
    And over $900,000 per truancy officer !
    Mind you, they will all get a black Ranger Raptor, expenses account, etc etc up front.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:59am
    - MCōs
      
      Where do I apply?
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:08am
    - Ghost
      
      The 82 staff are costing $37.5m over 5 years, not earning anywhere near your figure
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131282356/government-announces-74m-to-truancy-services-84-new-attendance-officers
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:21am
      - MCōs
        
        Include me out!
        
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        February 21, 2023 10:10am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        That’s 90 grand a year each, not the worst coin but I’d still never do it. Would be soul-destroying.
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:10pm
      - Ghost
        
        I was looking before and starting wage is in the 40s, so I’d guess out of that money is a car each, and other costs in setting them up.
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:19pm
- MCōs
  
  I listened to a programme on the radio this morning about eugenics and enforced sterilization by the Nazi government of Germany going right back to 1934.
  It was their way of purifying the German race and went from there to killing off the disabled who were a burden the taxpayer and then the Jews.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:47am
  - kowtow
    
    Sounds a bit like that “euthanasia” thing our parliament allowed .
    
    Just following on what “progressive” western govts allow for “unhappy” folk to bump themselves orf , thus saving the exchequer the pain of supplying services.
    
    But the taxpayer remains as burdened as ever while regimes come up with new things to fund like “climate catastrophism”.
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:09am
    - MCōs
      
      Nothing like the euthanasia, which, in this country, is the voluntary termination of life due to imminent death and uncontrollable pain.
      I’m not sure of the exact criteria, but voluntary is the key factor before a patient’s request is accepted.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:17am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      “…“unhappy” folk to bump themselves orf , thus saving the exchequer the pain of supplying services.”
      
      That’s quite a cynical way of looking at it, and off the mark by some distance.
      
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      February 21, 2023 12:12pm
      - kowtow
        
        happening already , like I said in some prog western democracies.
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:27pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        It’s happening, but not for the reasons you suggest.
        
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        February 21, 2023 1:53pm
      - kowtow
        
        ‘The Belgian state didn’t violate the rights of a person suffering from depression when it accepted her decision to go ahead with a euthanasia procedure, the European Court of Human Rights found Tuesday.’
        
        https://www.politico.eu/article/human-rights-court-belgium-euthanasia-case/
        
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        February 21, 2023 2:25pm
- O C Smith
  
  For woke politicians
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:48am
- Muttonbird
  
  Are these truancy officers those the National Party sacked in 2010?
  
  Consequences, huh.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:52am
  - nathie
    
    Why did it take until 2023 for Labour to reinstate them?
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:22am
    - OlderChas
      
      Because they had to wait for a change in Ministers and an election year?
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:15am
  - Ghost
    
    Attendance looks pretty high under National
    
    https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/09-08-2022/whats-really-behind-the-truancy-crisis
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:38am
  - oldpark
    
    Dont you mean wee man Hipkins dumped so called Truancy Officers .As well as dumping Charter Schools .Get it right when you accuse innocent people as well as their Party .
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:26am
    - Ghost
      
      Truancy officers were dumped in 2010
      
      https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131282356/government-announces-74m-to-truancy-services-84-new-attendance-officers
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:47am
  - crikey
    
    Mutton: Perhaps National did the right thing (assuming you are correct they abolished them) as they recognised they were ineffectual.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:37am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They have been talking about truancy officers on the ground 4 years ago, you are twisting the facts
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:48am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Sacked because they were no longer needed. 2011 attendance figures (after TOs started being phased out) >90%.
    
    Term 3, 2022 figures (a year after any Covid lockdowns) 46%. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/attendance
    
    Pays to check the numbers before going off half-cocked, otherwise you look a bit stupid. Consequences, huh
    
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    February 21, 2023 12:24pm
- NothingLeft
  
  The way to stop truancy and improve student focus is to financially reward attendance and results. Say half for kid and half for guardians. A couple of $k per year would be cheap for the boost in outcomes it would yield amongst dregs of school roles. Raise possibility that they will be tax payers rather than tax takers over long term.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:17am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Almost like the Social Investment program Bill English put into place in the last years of the most recent Nat-led government.
    
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    February 21, 2023 12:26pm
- Grumpy Silver Haired Female
  
  A long term friend who was a policeman in the hinterland reckoned that the offer of a payment of $1000 would encourage a certain sector of the population to present for sterilisation. That would reduce the numbers of children born to no-hoper households.
  He also reckoned licenses to buy alcohol should be mandatory.
  Think of the lives those two policies would save!
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:32am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The lead principal in Auckland stated to Hosking this morning it’s conducted through Wellington and the bureaucrats, then it’s a waste of time and money
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:46am
Opie

“We don’t claim to be the best team in the world, or anything like that.”

Gary Stead describes the team he coaches – the Black Caps.

Extraordinary. They are the current world test champions. Not that they are playing like it. Since winning the test championship they have played 12 tests and have only won 2, drawing 3 and losing 7.

Odi’s not much better. In the last 3 years we have won series against West indies and Pakistan away, beat a bunch of tier 2 countries and been whitewashed by Australia and India.

Stead has taken a team at their peak and managed to destroy them. Ian foster would be proud, especially with the lack of dynamic play and refusal to make changes to a losing team.

He is contracted through to the world cup later this year which based on current results is going to be a very early exit.
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February 21, 2023 8:23am
- pdm
  
  Hey Sead – try this X1 at the Basin. In batting order.
  
  Latham
  Young
  Williamson
  Conway
  Nicholls
  Mitchell
  Blundell
  Henry
  Patel
  Southee (c)
  Boult
  
  You might start to see better performances.
  After this series shift the captaincy to Latham.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:38am
  - pdm
    
    Stead.
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:38am
    - Yabster
      
      Nicholls is struggling big time- time he got dropped for a while.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:55am
  - Opie
    
    That works, but it seems young has fallen out of favour.
    
    I’d have Philips in for Nicholls as well.
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:29am
    - pdm
      
      OPie Phillips reminds me a bit of Lou Vincent and maybe even a young Jesse Ryder. Heaps of talent but a bit of a loose cannon.
      
      I will stick with Nicholls at 5 because that is the position where he has had a lot of success – often recovering from a form slump with a run of good scores.
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:56am
    - Centrist
      
      Need to bring in our top young players like Nathan Smith (potentially our best allrounder since Cairns), Phillips, and Rachin Ravindra. These guys need experience and the team is too old and stale.
      
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      February 21, 2023 2:37pm
  - Centrist
    
    They won’t go back to Boult and Sodhi is in much better form than Patel.
    
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    February 21, 2023 2:46pm
- Rusty
  
  @Opie, that test championship win by the Black caps was misleading.
  
  To claim a one off test match win as a right to be the best team in the world was a stupid format in the first place.
  
  It was about that time Nz cricket officials and the media were saying Nz had so much player depth to field different world class T20, One day, and Test teams.
  
  Results prove that to be false.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:07am
  - I remember when
    
    Being number one in the world is often the result of a one-off win.
    Everyone’s attention span starts to stray after that.
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:15pm
- Prince
  
  Sounds very much like our record during the 1970/80/90/00’s. Considerably better than prior to that.
  Except when Hadlee was playing, or Williamson.
  Personally I find the English ‘Bazball’ boring, more suited to T20’s to watch. Also the media adulation for McCullum a bit galling given his home country is NZ. But then I’m a great admirer of the heroes who gave their heart and soul for out cricket – Frank Cameron, Sutcliffe, Reid, Motz, Crowe, Hadlee, Williamson, Southee etc etc. Sure some go to the IPL, but they still front up for NZ.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:13am
- MCōs
  
  Didn’t we beat India in the ODI series out here at the start of the season.
  I saw the game at Eden Park that we won easily and I think the others were washed out.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:21am
ClanMcleod

I was half asleep when I posted this earlier. On yesterday’s GD……….here it is again!

Jimmy Dore gets to the point.

They lied about:

• masks
• lockdowns
• natural immunity
• how we handle pandemics
• Pfizer didn’t even test to see if their jab stopped transmission

Those who still believe the narrative are “on the wrong side of history, 1000%.”

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1627096625368961027

Those who still believe the narrative are in denial and too cowardly to admit they were scammed. It’s a tragedy, people I once admired turned out to be little more than jellyfish. It’s been a learning curve.
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February 21, 2023 8:25am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  Last October, Pfizer applied for authorisation for the COVID vaccine for infants (6 months to 4 years). There was a vocal lobby group asking for these vaccines.
  
  “Why is the pediatric vaccine not approved /available in NZ yet? Please change the stupid process that is preventing this from happening.”
  
  https://twitter.com/JulieAnneGenter/status/1580375824557301760
  
  Notably, the Government has decided not to proceed to vaccinate infants unless they are at “high risk”.
  
  ““While most children under 5 do not currently need COVID-19 vaccination, the advice from CV-TAG was clear that a smaller subset of children are at higher risk should they catch the disease, and that this vaccine will assist them…””
  
  https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/news-items/covid-19-vaccine-be-available-february-2023-immunocompromised-and-high-risk-under-5-year-olds
  
  It baffles me that a 5 year old is deemed at risk from COVID and so needs the vaccine, but a 4 year old is not at risk.
  
  Expect to see a small but vocal group of parents demanding that their infants be vaccinated for COVID because they are at “high risk”.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:22am
- Opie
  
  It was a good opportunity to reduce ones circle of friends…
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:27am
- I remember when
  
  The real danger is the damage it has done to the understanding of truth.
  It’s like being asked to peer review but not to peer to closely.
  
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  February 21, 2023 3:21pm
Hugh Jarse

Why won’t NZ Police release simple information requested by Mike Hosking such as numbers of arrests in the East Coast during this crisis, how many are gang members, what charges have been laid and how many are remanded in custody other than through the OIA process ?. It’s pretty simple to assemble so I can only assume it’s to obstruct the release. They have been happy along with “Nashy” to say X amount have been arrested and off the street but won’t now provide the supporting information. Dubious.
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February 21, 2023 8:29am
- Biscuit
  
  Hugh, I find it amusing…
  
  (Mind, I am easily amused…)
  
  Any stat that is cited about crime is usually countered by a ‘Those stats are well out of date’ rebuttal by the Coster/Nash of the day.
  
  But we will, doubtless, have to wait six months to a year for the ‘latest’ stats which, equally doubtlessly, will show that both of the gents in question were telling porkies…
  
  And, should either/both still be in office then, we will get another ‘Those stats are well out of date’ rebuttal…
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:02am
- MCōs
  
  I don’t suppose they compile and release information to any Joe in the street.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:25am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Well yes they do as it happens, as long as it’s not protected under a number of the protections in the OI Act. It could be anyone asking for it. My point is the information request by a national news source, not some Joe in the street, will most likely need to be complied with, putting it through an OIA process just delays it.
    
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    February 21, 2023 1:21pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      The Police always rank the worst department at OIA compliance in the Ombudsman report.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:14pm
- I remember when
  
  Will the ‘gangs’ be the reason our Police will eventually have to be armed?
  
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  February 21, 2023 3:24pm
Paulus

The recent Education Minister was beside himself in announcing at 5am this morning the new Truancy Officers and the millions it will require.
Sadly he is getting beside himself with his perceived new importance and gave no reason why this was not done when he was Minister – now Tinetti’s fault.
Pathetic, but the ladies love him like good mummy’s should.
Can’t all be bad !
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February 21, 2023 8:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Tinetti could brush her hair before going on camera.
  Looks like she was dragged through a gorse bush backwards.
  Shocking.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:44am
  - MCōs
    
    She’s a teacher, wasn’t Boris a teacher?
    
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    February 21, 2023 8:51am
    - Muttonbird
      
      It’s ok for Boris because he’s a man.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:53am
    - RightNow
      
      Pretty sure Boris is a spy, along with Natasha
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:03am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Boris combs his hair with a balloon.
      
      4 1
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      February 21, 2023 9:12am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I thought he used a Van De Graff generator.
        
        4 0
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        February 21, 2023 7:07pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Boris was a journalist.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:05am
  - I remember when
    
    I think her appearance is the result of how she is feeling.
    The truth can often look at its worst early in the morning.
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:36pm
Tony Stuart

So in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, New Zealand was offered help by the US and other countries. However our PM did not accept said offers of help; Al Jazeera reports:

Last week, he warned that recovery would take time with power not expected to be restored to some areas for weeks and the cleanup likely to take much longer than that.

After initially setting aside offers of help from the United States and other countries, Hipkins said New Zealand is now accepting them.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/19/new-zealands-cyclone-death-toll-at-11-thousands-still-missing

Depending on who you listen to, there are still somewhere between 1500 and 3000 people unaccounted for. Ominously, that number is not changing as you would expect it to once people are contacted.

It’s highly likely that the death toll will be far higher than the eleven deaths reported so far, as tragic as that number is. There are numerous reports of helicopter pilots having seen multiple bodies from the air. Is the government withholding information about casualties?

But why, as it became obvious on Tuesday last week that we had a significant emergency happening right in front of us (significant enough for Parliament to be suspended for the week) did the PM turn down offers of help? It makes no sense at all.
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February 21, 2023 8:31am
- Blog-aholic
  
  IMO they certainly are. That much is very, very clear.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:35am
- Cinematic
  
  My theory is any offers of assistance must first breach the mountainous egos/narcissism of the likes of Hipkins, Nash and Robertson. This takes a few days minimum.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:46am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hipkins hates America, same as most Marxists do.
  I was wondering if the US had ships in the area.
  The job the US did after Kaikoura was fantastic. Helicopter rescues being the big one, food, portaloos, even animals.
  Samson was heading for Auckland but changed course.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:51am
- Muttonbird
  
  Why, as it became obvious on Tuesday last week that we had a significant emergency happening right in front of us did 1ZB hosts Mike Hosking, his wife, Kerre Woodham, and Heather Duplicity-Allan indulge in cyclone trivialisation? It makes no sense at all.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:59am
  - BeaB
    
    I agreed with them. A lovely calm day. The Met Service wittering on about Māori gods. The media and local politicians almost hysterical just to show us they weren’t that awful Wayne Brown. I thought as usual a massive over-reaction. The cyclone would blow itself out or veer away from us.
    We were wrong. And once we all knew we were wrong even you would be hard put to find any trivialisation. In fact, ZB provided some areas with their only and much appreciated information.
    As usual, it’s you making no sense at all.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:02am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    It wasn’t obvious to us here on Kaiti Hill last Tuesday that there had been massive destruction and flooding in the Hawkes Bay region.
    
    Crikey, we didn’t even know that the folks in Te Karaka (just 50km inland) were stuck up on a couple of hills still waiting for rescue.
    
    It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that we learned part of Wairoa was under water and probably not until Wed evening that we learnt of floods in Napier /Hasting.
    
    With no internet, no cell phone coverage, and power outages, and roads impassable, it took a while before the folks in Emergency services could learn the true extent of the damage.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:46am
    - Muttonbird
      
      I hope next time 1ZB opinionated hosts will consider their social duty first rather than second guess a cyclone.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:08pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Who is this ZB you speak of, Kemosabi?
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:00pm
- kowtow
  
  Labour don’t like the imagery of large US naval vessels in our harbours ………
  
  That might take some explaining.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:10am
  - rangitoto
    
    I’d like to see an Arleigh Burke destroyer visit. Cool ships.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Another thing is Hipkins may have thought about giving America ‘control’
  These NZ Lefties are just plain mad about control of the peasants.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:20am
- nathie
  
  Jeepers Labour … bring in the Americans with their huge C-5 Galaxy airlifters full of excavators, plant and machinery, temporary bridging equipment and large Chinook helicopters to airlift these items to remote areas to get things fixed!!!
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:25am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Americans put us to shame, and it is showing.
    Our limited Military equipment is pathetic.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:00am
- Paulus
  
  Remember the Labour motto CONTROL CONTROL.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:11am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Coster said this morning the missing people are down to 1700 many more found. Ow they have power
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:03am
  - MCōs
    
    I read a two day old tweet this morning from someone whose mate had flown over Wairoa and seen ‘dozens’ of bodies.
    What’s a bloke like me supposed to make of this information?
    https://twitter.com/infideliter2022/status/1627501994331230214?s=61&t=1jzsRZanxFqBGyWeefxDQA
    
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    February 21, 2023 12:50pm
Ehlana

So this morning our Minister of Education told the AM show that the term 3 attendance figures will be out today. She has known them since before Christmas, but says the release today has nothing to do with National being due to make an announcements on the topic.

Term 3 ended in September 2022. It’s now late February 2023. This has been a matter of public interest and comment for some months now. If it wasn’t appropriate to release the figures on 25 December, what was wrong with 4th January?

She also announced another 80+ “attendance officers”. She doesn’t know how many we have at the moment, but we’re getting 80 more anyway.

And apparently, “attendance started declining in 2015”. Only the term 2 figures are available for 2011 – 2018 and they average 67%. Labour came in late 2017; their term 2 figures are 64%, 58%, 64%, 60% & 40%. Excluding last year, it’s an average of 61%. That’s quite a significant decrease when there is no obvious reason a change in government should affect school attendance.

Unless, of course, the introduction of consequence free living lead students and their parents to see no point in school – you’ll get free housing and money for life, no matter what you do, so why bother?
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February 21, 2023 8:35am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Gaming the Official Information Act is embedded in Labour’s DNA. Remember how Dr Gaurav Sharma revealed that they ran a workshop for backbench Labour MP’s to teach them how to avoid OIA scrutiny?
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yes, ‘don’t writ anything down. Don’t send internal emails’
    That was straight from Jaspinda, the one with a Comms Degree.
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:26am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Was that the same Jacinda who promised to lead “the most open and transparent government New Zealand has ever seen”?
      
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      February 21, 2023 9:58am
    - crikey
      
      SO: You mean the ‘open and transparent’ one.
      
      I’ve got it, transparent in today’s world means something else.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:44am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Transparent means they wear tinted blue glasses?
        Nope, they are redder than vein blood.
        I saw nothing, nothing!
        
        1 0
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        February 21, 2023 3:09pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Murray McCully was like that too.
      
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      February 21, 2023 12:22pm
  - Prince
    
    Ohh, I know, that must be one of those ‘baseless claims’ Luke Malpass tells us Sharma made.
    Like the pre-meeting Ardern held before holdin the caucus mtg to expel him.
    Or the ‘bullying’ claims that were clearly true.
    
    But like any claim against their beloved Labour, it must be prefaced by ‘Baseless’ just in case the electorate gets jumpy.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:24am
- RoboRob
  
  The whole time Hipkins was minister he ignored the attendance issues. Then when the figures got really bad they delayed them as long as possible, term 3s until after he left the role. Now finally term 3 results are available and they decided to get more truanacy officers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess the numbers are really bad.
  
  The question is why Hipkins sat on his hands the entire time he was minister. Why the ME did and said nothing and why the teachers and their unions remained silent.
  
  Now we have an election coming out and the issue cant be pushed under the rug any longer they pretend to take action. You can bet they dont really care becuase if they did they would have done something 2 yrs ago.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:53am
Stellaboxer

https://i.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/131167365/act-importing-debate-that-has-riled-up-us-right–academic
Surely using public funds for this unashamedly political attack on a particular party is totally unacceptable. FFS how did we get here. This article was sent to me by my son with the attachment “ maybe I’ll just sell up and leave New Zealand to it” and he’s serious.
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February 21, 2023 8:36am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Imagine if you will an attack on The Maori Party for their racist rhetoric by the MSM……what, you can’t. Oh I know why because in the current reality it is unimaginable……
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:51am
- Cassandra
  
  An American whose entire education was in California – CALIFORNIA – comes to this country to criticise the leader of a political party. After the election the HRC Disestablishment Act should have a clause which ships political activists masquerading as academics back home.
  
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  February 21, 2023 8:58am
- MCōs
  
  It’s an opinion piece.
  Hosking writes opinion opinion pieces for the Herald every week that are just as scathing.
  The media is full of opinion pieces .
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:01am
  - Cassandra
    
    Hosting is a shock jock, Osborne is an academic. You’ll appreciate that there’s a difference. And Osborne spent his whole education in California!
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:15am
    - Cassandra
      
      Hosking. Autocorrect beat me.
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:49am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    Hosking writes opinion pieces but I’m not fucking paying for them unless I CHOOSE to buy the paper. This was produced on tax payers money . Stop trying to excuse leftists political corruption.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:48am
    - MCōs
      
      Take it easy
      
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      February 21, 2023 1:27pm
- Muttonbird
  
  An elected politician criticises one unelected, taxpayer-funded bureaucrat for their uninformed and divisive commentary, and another taxpayer-funded commentator pops up to defend them.
  
  – David Seymour
  
  Why does David not believe he is also taxpayer funded? Where does David think his pay check comes from?
  
  They are all ‘elected’. The two academics elected by experts among their peers through rigorous job application, the politician by a bunch of fist-shaking idiots.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:05am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    One was elected by the people the other pushed forward by likeminded political bedfellows. There fixed it for you.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:50am
  - Paulus
    
    Why do I feel that I am becoming rather tired of David Seymour
    – he is becoming boring in his continuous rhetoric of pro young Labour leader, and anti old bald man of National.
    David where are you going ?
    
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    February 21, 2023 1:27pm
    - Ghost
      
      All the act voters I know have moved away from act. Was talking about it with one the other day who said she doesn’t know what she is going to do come the election but she doesn’t trust David anymore
      
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      February 21, 2023 1:37pm
      - Piticus
        
        Call me boring but I watched Parliament this afternoon and Seymour gave an OUTSTANDING response to the Prime Ministers statement. Worth watching for its cleverness, use of our language, humour and accuracy ! Talk about holding the government to account !!!
        Very Impressive !
        
        8 1
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        February 21, 2023 3:54pm
    - Alan Wilkinson
      
      Pro young Labour leader – what on earth are you talking about? ACT takes votes from National so of course it must focus on National’s shortcomings. In doing so ACT will be opposing Labour more strongly, far from supporting it.
      
      If you get bored with good policy best you don’t vote. We have enough airhead voters.
      
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      February 21, 2023 8:38pm
- Swifty
  
  Good grief, the hypocrisy.
  
  “…has shown the global community that there is political currency in playing to grievances,” he said.”
  
  Errrr, that’s what the left have excelled at for the last 100 years.
  
  “ Waitoki said Māori continue to be excluded from expressing their legitimate right to co-govern across all areas of society and political spaces.”
  
  No such right exists. No such right has ever existed. It is a figment of her imagination. It is a claim, and a claim without foundation. It is made up.
  
  “ “These reports need to be centred, rather than populist statements that cry the ‘Us against Them’, statements that provoke fear. Such statements do not create social cohesion. …….It is easier to be deliberate and play on vote scoring, and the saviour mentality.”
  
  Again, this is what the NZ left have very successfully done for 100 years, but now the shoe is on the other foot and they don’t like it.
  
  Since forever the NZ left have pointed at a group of other New Zealanders and shouted to Kiwis “there is your enemy, they are the people causing your life to go wrong, vote for us and we will save you from them…”
  
  The left in NZ think we’re stupid.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:24am
- Gravelroad
  
  Any writer who still has to bring up Donald Trump as an excuse to criticise a politician of another country is a lazy, opportunistic waste of space.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:28am
Maggie Pie

OMG! If you do nothing else today….WATCH THIS!!

‘Jacinda Ardern – WEF STOOGE’

https://youtu.be/OoNIqbcpUbk
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February 21, 2023 8:51am
- Blog-aholic
  
  That is enough of that thnak you!
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:04am
- mandk
  
  I started watching it, but I couldn’t get beyond the first minute.
  
  It was too nauseating.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:15am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That is what it is, yip, yip.
  I knew she could be dangerous after that 2009 speech. Crazy, but dangerous.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:40am
- kowtow
  
  “Performative caring”.
  
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  February 21, 2023 12:22pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  I threw up in my mouth. The most blatant fraud ever. That she got so much support is a sad reflection of the state of education in NZ.
  
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  February 22, 2023 12:54am
Tomtoddy

Dutch farmers are losing the battle to keep their farms. Over 3,000 farms will be bought by the govt and left as wasteland. Protests have not changed the govt’s mind.

Premier Rutte received a special award from Klaus Schwab at a WEF conference in 2019 for his work in saving the planet. “Let them eat cake”.
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February 21, 2023 9:04am
- Gravelroad
  
  @Tom T-
  “Let them eat cake”?
  Please advise where the cake will come from and how it will be produced.
  Unless there are some miraculous synthetic ingredients available from a laboratory , what will replace flour, sugar, eggs, butter etc which are the current usual ingredients of cake?
  Cake Face – your turn.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:20am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Our Hippy, alternative life-style mates have provided baking alternatives for:
    
    Wheat flour:
    https://www.self.com/story/healthy-flour-substitutes
    
    White sugar:
    https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/natural-sugar-substitutes
    
    Eggs:
    https://www.thekitchn.com/best-egg-substitutes-baking-23003895
    
    Butter:
    https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/butter-alternative/
    
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    February 21, 2023 9:37am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The cake will be imported, so the Dutch do not use their own resources.
    Ever heard of NZ coal, but we import the shit from Indonesia?
    
    9 2
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    February 21, 2023 9:44am
- Yabster
  
  I am sure Schwab is eating grasshoppers and not flying anywhere- oh right thats only for the plebs. Any dutch on here?- what the fuck is going on with your country?
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:31am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    There will be Dutch on this blog. I am not one (Otto)
    
    6 1
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    February 21, 2023 9:45am
Rusty

When is Luxon/National going to get their A into G?

Hipkins like Ardern during the pandemic crisis is getting all the limelight with his daily tv conferences on the cyclone relief.

Has Luxon got anything to say about it?

A scary thought is, if Hipkins was to bring forward the elections in May, Labour would probably be re-elected .

People generally don’t like to change a govt during or not long after a major crisis.

Remember Ardern in 2020 winning easily on the back of the covid crisis and repsonse?
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February 21, 2023 9:10am
- Ghost
  
  How is he going to bring it forward? The flooded areas won’t be able to cope with an election then. No way politicians will want to be out campaigning during this. Any chance of an early election has gone. And the media want the government to explain what they are going to do, so don’t expect much coverage of the opposition for a few weeks.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:32am
- nathie
  
  Hosking asking Hipkins this morning about an early election and Hipkins said “no”.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:57am
  - Prince
    
    Ardern said she was not stepping down 2 weeks before she did.
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:30am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      There are some things when you can tell a politician is not being upfront.
      
      In Ardern’s case, when she was asked on Radio NZ just before Christmas whether she would be going through to the election, she didn’t say “yes.” She said “it is my intention to do so”. When I heard her say that, I thought something is going on, does she have doubts?
      
      In contrast Hipkins simply said “no” about an early election. So you can rely on that. In any event it would look way too opportunistic to change from 14 October.
      
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      February 21, 2023 12:27pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  What Luxon says or thinks about the cyclone is effectively irrelevant. That may sound harsh, but in a crisis, the government is paying all the bills (albeit with our money) so they get to dictate the narrative.
  
  Luxon has to be patient just now. That’s why he has postponed his State of the Nation speech, because it won’t get any airtime just at the moment. The effects of Gabrielle will pass through the news cycle in due course, and that will be the time to ramp things up.
  
  In the meantime, National held six candidate selections over the weekend, and members have selected some excellent people to stand in October. The next priority for Luxon and his team will be to re-cost all their policies because
  1) there will be far less money for new spending next year (and a few years after), and
  2) with further inflationary costs as a result of Gabrielle, everything they propose is likely to cost more. It’s time for an even more laser-like focus on wasteful spending.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:08am
  - The Redbaiter
    
    Tony Stuart- “In the meantime, National held six candidate selections over the weekend, and members have selected some excellent people to stand in October”
    
    Yes, a social justice eco-warrior selected for Napier, and information on the other five selections seems strangely hard to come by.
    
    Be good to hear something on this issue that would dispel the perception that the green left imposter Mr Luxon is stacking the party with like cultists and determined to by this means to wipe Sid Holland’s real National Party off the political map.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:24am
  - Matt Long
    
    Seymour and Peters would disagree, they appear to be saying what an effective opposition should, there’s some interesting YouTube clips about the Managerial Class that may be worth looking at to explain Luxon.
    
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    February 21, 2023 1:58pm
  - jon
    
    Tony re the six candidates selected at the weekend, i can only find info on the candidates selected for the Nelson and Wanganui seats. Are you able to advise who are the other four candidates? Thank you.
    
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    February 21, 2023 4:08pm
    - Ghost
      
      You can see them all here https://www.national.org.nz/team
      
      Good write up on Waitaki candidate https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/131276289/southburn-farmer-selected-as-new-national-candidate-for-waitaki
      
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      February 21, 2023 4:21pm
      - jon
        
        Thanks Ghost. Checked the Nat website on Sunday and they hadnt at that point listed any NEW candidate selections. Will now go with your reference.
        
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        February 21, 2023 6:59pm
- Paulus
  
  If you had asked me 2 months ago I would have said that Labour would not have a show in hell of winning the election.
  But now thanks to the Cyclone I have now to eat my words.
  The media and Chippie will get every day out of this to the election, as Ardern did.
  Along with the disaffected Labourites, now Greens, will win narrowingly the election, maybe with Maori, as any opposition will be ignored.
  Good what money can buy too!
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:18am
  - Swifty
    
    Yes, you could well be right.
    
    Labour will milk this for every drip of advantage, publicity and opportunity.
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:38am
- lifesgood
  
  Rusty, have you got a very short memory? The covid crisis was tailor made for Labour. They shut the country down, National could not hold any public meetings. Jacinda made sure she was on TV day after day telling the country how wonderful she was saving everyone from certain death. The MSM is almost entirely left wing so there was no chance for National to get any print space or airtime. The whole thing was a disgrace, a completely one sided election campaign. Hopefully the cyclone news will run through a few news cycles and then electioneering can get seriously on track. I still have no faith in the totally biased news media, though. I just hope there are enough intelligent people, with decent memories, voting.
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:26am
  - Bob
    
    lifesgood….
    this is the style of corruption that is becoming the NEW NORM for NZ.
    
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    February 21, 2023 12:07pm
Maggie Pie

We went to dinner at our fave Malaysian in Ponsonby on Saturday and caught the arse-end of the ‘Rainbow Parade’.

Tame by comparison….

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1627759996539899905

WATCH LIVE – full screen/sound up
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February 21, 2023 9:22am
- Yabster
  
  the arse end maggie?- hope you had dinner first.
  
  Thats one link I won’t be clicking on.
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:32am
TripeWryter

I’m probably not the first one here to ask:
but why are the 82 truant officers going to cost $74 million?
Are they gold-plated?
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February 21, 2023 9:41am
- Ghost
  
  They are costing 37.5m over 5 years.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131282356/government-announces-74m-to-truancy-services-84-new-attendance-officers
  
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  February 21, 2023 9:43am
- Cassandra
  
  24,000 dollars per child helped. Diamonds.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:11am
- peterwn
  
  And what the hell are they going to do? Plead with kids and their parents to go to school? If they are to have any teeth they need the powers to:
  1. Impose instant fines and/or the ability to take parents to court with imprisonment being the ultimate threat)/
  2. Ability to ask WINZ to decrease or stop benefits.
  3. Ability to request that the kids be handed to foster parents who are prepared to send them to school.
  
  Labour would not give them such powers, so the attendance officers would just be regarded as a big joke.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:29am
thirteenstars

Don Brash on the rewrite of the history curriculum:

One of the key themes of the curriculum is that “Maori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand”, downplaying the many tributaries which have created modern New Zealand. The curriculum asserts, quite incorrectly, that “Aotearoa” was the original name of the country, despite early Maori having no concept of a nation state and the word not being used in the Treaty, or indeed in the early Declaration of Independence. And the implication of a lot of the text of the curriculum is that the arrival of British colonists was to the huge disadvantage of early Maori – and that is frankly ridiculous: the arrival of the colonists brought the rule of law (thus putting an end of inter-tribal warfare), written language, the wheel, new animals like horses, cattle and sheep, an end to slavery and cannibalism, and more.

…the curriculum has some quite extraordinary omissions: neither Abel Tasman nor James Cook get mentioned, there is very little about the economic development of the country, nothing about the huge development of the so-called Maori economy, nothing about some of the major events of the last 100 years (such as the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, the 1931 earthquake, the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010-11), and nothing about some of the great New Zealanders of the past, such as George Grey, Richard John Seddon, David Lange, and Ed Hillary.

https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/don-brash-the-new-history-curriculum-it-s-crap

All of which goes to show that not only is public education failing, but it’s now positively engaged in neo-Marxist indoctrination, and unabashedly so. It’s toxic to the minds of your children and your grandchildren. Imagine little kids watching endless hours of TVNZ news and reading nothing but Stuff. That’s how dangerous it is.

Get your kids out if you can. If you’ve done well in life (as many of you have) pay for your grandkids to get out. That’s the only way to stop this insanity because the schools are a wholly owned subsidiary of the teacher unions and neo-Marxists academics. It can’t be fixed.

If you can’t do any of that, then at least support ACT and their policy of providing parents with $250,000 education accounts so they can send their kids to the school that best suits them. National doesn’t support that idea and are therefore part of the problem. The only way to make it happen is to have a strong ACT presence in the coalition and force National to do the right thing by Kiwi kids and their parents.
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February 21, 2023 10:07am
- kevn
  
  @13… All this under hipkins watch.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:20am
- Blog-aholic
  
  So Cook Strait and the Abel Tasman National Park must no longer be refered to.
  
  The new curriculum is CRT riven mythological spirituality incarnate in our so called secular educational system.
  
  Basic indoctrination was a National Socialist policy in 1938 Germany.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:36am
- Bob
  
  Don.. the new education curriculum is the NZ version of the book 1984.
  
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  February 21, 2023 12:09pm
In Vino Veritas

After further reflection on DPF’s trans post, I have more questions. If a man can identify as a woman, can a man identify as a horse? And if he does, do we have to treat him like a horse? Wouldn’t a man that believes himself to be a horse (something he clearly is not), be considered mentally unbalanced? If so, why then would a man who thinks he is a woman not be considered mentally unbalanced?
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February 21, 2023 10:11am
- Ghost
  
  In the USA Kids are identifying as cats and dogs
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:14am
  - Inandout
    
    Ghost, do they know how much vets charge over doctors and dentists?
    
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    February 21, 2023 10:35am
    - Ghost
      
      I had a friend on Florida who a few years ago had yo take her kid to after hours, no insurance $Us300. Another friend whose son had no insurance $10,000 ER bill. So glad for pur health system
      
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      February 21, 2023 10:43am
      - Taieri
        
        After hours in NZ is about NZD90. Regardless of whether you have an insurance or not. As many practices no longer take on new patients attending a doctor can be very expensive.
        
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        February 21, 2023 12:42pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Well if you do identify as a horse then Spain might be to your liking – as bestiality is being legalized there (amazing to me that legislators care about this issue enough to change law)
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:23am
  - Matt Long
    
    If he identifies as a horse it cannot be beastiality, he is of course a horse and anyone who says differently is a bigot.
    
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    February 21, 2023 2:03pm
  - Ehlana
    
    How do the beasts give informed consent?
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:20pm
- MiddleclassTrash
  
  If Australian Aboriginals can identify with a culture that they were separated from at birth and so never grew up in, even at a low percentage of ethnicity, then…..
  I identify as a Neanderthal. It is my base 5% of culture and ethnicity.
  All you murdering ‘sapeins owe me cash!
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:26pm
Maggie Pie

Reports of yuge gang funeral in Napier on Saturday.
Police resources will be stretched to breaking point.

– Kerry Woodham Show 1ZB

Chippy txts Cuddles….”deny deny deny”
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February 21, 2023 10:19am
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… According to helicopter pilots. Large number of bodies unrecovered down Hawkes Bay… Deny, deny, deny.
  
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  February 21, 2023 10:36am
  - MCōs
    
    How many pilots would that be?
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:44pm
kevn

@Ghost… I have read of (large) pet type litter trays being provided in school toilet blocks. How odd.
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February 21, 2023 10:19am
thirteenstars

From the Taxpayers’ Union:

the radical proposals Nanaia Mahuta’s ‘Review into the Future of Local Government’ is proposing. While Ms Mahuta is no longer the Minister of Local Government, the Panel is continuing its work anyway! The proposals include:

*Lowering the local voting age to 16 without a referendum.
*Bringing in unelected mana whenua appointees for all of New Zealand’s councils who would be given equal status and voting rights as elected members, but unlike the councillors, cannot be removed at the ballot box.
*Giving councils the power to introduce ’new funding mechanism’ – new council taxes – without a binding referendum.
*Removing the requirement for local referenda before changing the voting system by imposing STV across the country.
*Introducing randomly selected ‘citizens’ assemblies’ that you cannot vote out.

The Panel has the temerity to say these proposals “strengthen democracy”, but advocates introducing unelected mana whenua representatives onto councils and their committees with the same status – and voting rights – as elected councillors.

Our position at the Taxpayers’ Union is clear: The only people who should make decisions on setting rates and how those rates should be spent, are those who are directly accountable to ratepayers through the ballot box.

They’ve set up a site to make it easy for you to send an automatic submission to the government:

https://www.protectlocaldemocracy.nz/

The hard work’s been done for you. This is how we defeated the hate speech laws. Just click the “Have Your Say” link.
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February 21, 2023 10:39am
- mandk
  
  It’s democracy, Jim. But not as we know it.
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:20am
  - thirteenstars
    
    We come in peace
    (shoot to kill)
    
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    February 21, 2023 11:47am
Maggie Pie

And here’s another thing….

What’s that waste-of-space from Mexico been up to lately?

What’s stopping HIM picking up a shovel and heading out to Muriwai. Surely he could be doing something to justify the 4k a week we all donate.

Just saying.
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February 21, 2023 10:46am
Tom Hunter

California? Yeah, there’s more than a few out here in NZ because there’s a lot of similarities between the two places in terms of natural beauty and Lefty thinking and policies.

But California is in a shocking condition right now across-the-board: crime, cost-of-living, taxation, government spending, regulations, deficits, energy problems, losing industries, etc, etc.

After the 2010 census they stalled in gaining House seats for the first time in their history. After 2020 they lost a seat, and given the increasing outflow of people since then they’re going to lose more than one after the 2030 census.

So the last person in the world I’d be taking notice of on any subject would be a Californian.
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February 21, 2023 11:01am
- info@cruzpro.com
  
  We ran two business in California and left 28 years ago to travel the world looking for a better place to live. Ended up living in New Zealand.
  
  Even back then California was making it very difficult for businesses. Crime was bad, drugs, drive-by shootings, etc. New Zealand was at least ten years behind California in those statistics but now starting to catch up.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:08pm
sirknz

This gem (archived from Stuff) https://archive.fo/lPExH shows us how wonderful life under Te Ao Maori could be.

Some snippets from the article:
“I haven’t seen a loaf of bread in four days … nobody knows where it’s going,” one person said. “The [navy] boats keep coming in, and the helicopters keep flying and dropping things off – but no-one has seen food apart from the people in one area and that was only done yesterday.”

“It’s favouritism,” one person said. “It seems like, well you’re from that marae, you get nothing – but the ones from a different marae, they look after [you], and that’s the truth. It was the same with the last flood – a lot of people got nothing.

“Everyone’s too scared to say anything,” one resident said. “If you try and [criticise] these people you are going to be condemned in this tiny little town. But a lot of us feel like this.”

This will certainly change my mind on co-governance arrangements…
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February 21, 2023 11:03am
- Inandout
  
  sirk, and this quote is quite revealing on their morality.
  
  “There have been fights ‘cos there’s no gas,” one person said. “People are pinching gas – they’re going into homes to try and get gas to save themselves and get somewhere.”
  
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  February 21, 2023 11:17am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  ““It seems like, well you’re from that marae, you get nothing – but the ones from a different marae, they look after [you],..”
  
  Isn’t that how it was in the good old days, before colonisation? 🙂
  
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  February 21, 2023 12:14pm
krazykiwi

Ready to hand national sovereignty to an unelected cabal of One World Government elites?

Despite widespread criticism of the WHO’s response to the Covid pandemic, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra joined with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in September 2022 to announce “the U.S.-WHO Strategic Dialogue”. Together, they developed a “platform to maximise the longstanding U.S. Government-WHO partnership, and to protect and promote the health of all people around the globe, including the American people.”

These discussions and others spawned the ‘zero draft‘ of a pandemic treaty, published on February 1st, which now seeks ratification by all 194 WHO member states. A meeting of the WHO’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is scheduled for February 27th to work out the final terms, which all members will then sign.

Written under the banner of “the world together equitably,” the zero draft grants the WHO the power to declare and manage a global pandemic emergency. Once a health emergency is declared, all signatories, including the United States, would submit to the authority of the WHO regarding treatments, government regulations such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates, global supply chains, and monitoring and surveillance of populations.

The New Zealand government supports this. When asked for comment on the draft document’s amendments they declined and chose instead to make supportive comments on the US’s proposed amendments.

No word from Luxon, of course. I expect he supports it too.
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February 21, 2023 11:57am
nathie

Breaking News – Harry and Meghan update!

Harry to get a new job …
Meghan has another great money making idea …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUohLR8pvcc
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February 21, 2023 12:00pm
- nathie
  
  Another H&M cunning plan!
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBRaQPwSgac
  
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  February 21, 2023 12:07pm
kowtow

“Newshub” pillorying Maureen Pugh over “man made climate change”.

Well I’d vote for just for standing up to that bunch of hysterical witch hunters who’re acting like the nZ equivalent of the Iranian religious police.
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February 21, 2023 12:05pm
- greybeard
  
  I would too.
  Luxon & Co. were quick to say they would have a word with her about toeing the party line.
  I would prefer that they acknowledge that National MPs can have a personal opinion at the same time as officially supporting the Party.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:07pm
  - kowtow
    
    The new National Party , no longer any talk of it being a “broad church”, nope . Re education and hive mentality is the demand .
    
    Luxon and Co are hopelessly wet.
    
    What does this mean for goodness sake.
    
    ‘ We are deeply committed to net carbon zero 2025.”
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/pugh-chastised-over-climate-comments-shes-gonna-be-doing-lot-reading
    
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    February 21, 2023 3:00pm
  - Chris Nisbet
    
    I would prefer they they fixed their party line.
    Maybe they could take lessons in logic, and declare that they also would like to take a look at James Shaw’s evidence.
    The idiot, Luxon, by saying what he has, has effectively just declared that there’s no need for Shaw to ever produce any.
    
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    February 21, 2023 4:38pm
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      Luxon has indicated many times that he has done substantial reading on the subject and no doubt has also got expertl advice on the issue. So he doesn’t need Shaw to tell him what the science is.
      
      Now, I know there is a substantial coterie of Kiwibloggers who think that anyone who accepts that there is anthropogenic climate change is an idiot. To put it politely, that is a distinctly minority view, and likely to become more so.
      
      Of course I also know that a post like this will be met with the usual derision, don’t worry I have had plenty of it when I post on this topic on Kiwiblog. Hence the reason why I tend to avoid the subject on Kiwiblog. However, not everyone who reads or posts on Kiwiblog shares your view. And from time to time it is worth saying that.
      
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      February 21, 2023 4:53pm
      - Chris Nisbet
        
        “accepts that there is anthropogenic climate change”. Luxon doesn’t just accept there is anthropogenic climate change – he goes further…
        From the Newshub article…
        Luxon reiterated “there is no room for climate deniers or minimalists in the National Party caucus”.
        For the crime of saying that climate change is not about what she thinks, it’s about evidence, she’s branded a denier.
        
        I wonder if Luxon has read that government document produced a few years back that indicated that rainfall in various regions around the country would change by a few percent (the direction was uncertain in some cases) by the end of the century (even by RCP8.5 standards). Does he ‘accept’ what this document predicts?
        
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        February 21, 2023 5:35pm
      - kowtow
        
        WM
        
        Guessing whether someone has got “expert” advice on a subject is not proof of anything.
        
        I too have read experts , such as CJ Butler and others .
        
        Two words ; natural causes.
        
        Don’t panic .
        
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        February 21, 2023 7:14pm
    - Tom Hunter
      
      I’d love to see Luxon’s reading list on this subject because I’d bet that it doesn’t include Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters (2021). written by Steven F. Koonin, a physicist who served in Obama’s Energy Department in charge of its climate research program and energy technology strategies.
      
      For having the temerity to lay out all the problems with the science he got the Wayne Mapp treatment – which is to say ad hominem attacks among other things which you can see in this 20 minute review..
      
      Or perhaps Luxon would be better with this 42 minute presentation by the man himself at Berkeley’s Nuclear Engineering Department.
      
      But I guess we’re simply going to have massive cost increases plus energy failures before Luxon and the rest accept reality. And at this rate it might be better to have Labour carry the blame.
      
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      February 21, 2023 6:30pm
      - Chris Nisbet
        
        I’d like to see this reading list as well.
        Myself, I have found some of the guests featured at this channel…
        https://www.youtube.com/@tomnelson2080
        quite interesting.
        Some climate lightweights like: Lindzen, Happer, Curry, Soon, Legates, Michael Kelly (NZer) all get to share their opinions.
        Has Luxon found time to listen to these deniers/minimisers?
        
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        February 21, 2023 7:34pm
- MCōs
  
  Whether she or anyone else believes in climate change isn’t going to change nature.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:24pm
  - kowtow
    
    And no amount of witch hunting by the pack dog legacy media luvvies is going to stop one drop of rain or clear any slash .
    
    It’ll just force even more pollies to lie that their true Faith is Person Made Climate Change and how more indulgences will assuage the weather gods.
    
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    February 21, 2023 2:34pm
    - MCōs
      
      I see Pugh has changed her mind.
      
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      February 21, 2023 4:51pm
      - kowtow
        
        Her mind’s been changed for her .
        
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        February 21, 2023 6:41pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        She’s been bullied into submission
        
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        February 21, 2023 10:07pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  And this, ladies and gents, is why NZ is f#cked.
  As long as our country is led by a bunch of idiots who brands people as ‘climate deniers’ if they dare ask questions on the topic, our chances of coming a cropper due to insane climate policy far outweigh any problems brought on by some slight warming that might happen due to FF use.
  The stupidity – it burns.
  
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  February 21, 2023 4:10pm
rockape

I the UK they have 7130 men and women in the Royal Engineers. They are trained to build roads airfields, earthworks and even buildings. I worked with them in the past and one company could build the infrastructure to home three squadrons including short runways in two days. These guys don’t much around.New Zealand could do with more engineers and less infantry. In peace keeping ops or at home they would be much more useful.
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February 21, 2023 12:10pm
- MCōs
  
  I’m guessing here, but I’d have thought the idea of the Royal Engineers is to replace stuff blown up in war.
  NZ is never likely to have a whole branch of the military milling round waiting for a war in our country and thus on hand to help out in the aftermath of a rare event such as we’ve just experienced.
  In the good old days the MOW would have swung into action, it they were dismantled in 1993
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:10pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Bring in a USN Seabee Battalion.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:12pm
- kowtow
  
  fighting t
  
  In 2023 the seabees wouldn’t be able to build a shit house as they’d be forced to “consult” with every chief and villager in sight ……
  
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  February 21, 2023 2:30pm
Flossie

I am wondering about the purpose of our upcoming census. Ads tell us that papers will soon be with us, and we can fill them out – online or on paper – as soon as we get them. It’s my recollection that a census is a snapshot in time of the population.
I can fill out my form immediately, but come “The Day” (March 7th?) I may well be in hospital, have a large overseas family staying with me, or even be deceased….
What’s the point?
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February 21, 2023 12:18pm
- Paulus
  
  It will be moderated by the Government Department – Statistic Dept.
  Same as they do GCSE or whatever it is now called with freebee alternatives inserted.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:35pm
Mike

Looking forward to the Welsh rugby team going on atrike this weekend instead of playing England?
Article here is spot on, including references to NZ rugby and cricket.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/feb/20/strike-threats-netflix-feuds-wales-rugby-union-crisis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
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February 21, 2023 12:38pm
Ghost

Hundreds of passengers have been stranded on the wrong side of the Cook Strait in the wake of a month of inter-island ferry disruption.

Normally six ships ply the Cook Strait between Picton and Wellington. As it stands, Bluebridge and Interislander have just one operating passenger ship each.

Breakdowns, servicing, cyclones, and an especially busy summer have seen multiple sailings cancelled over February. Re-bookings have often not been available for another month.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/131286499/yet-another-interislander-ferry-breakdown-leaves-hundreds-stranded-on-the-wrong-island
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February 21, 2023 12:39pm
- Taieri
  
  Normally six ships ply the Cook Strait between Picton and Wellington.
  ———————
  
  Of which, one is freight only and trades intermittently (Valentine) and 5 are passenger/freight. One of the latter has gone to the drydock in Sydney a few days ago.
  There’s a seventh vessel. the recently arrived in NZ Connemara. This one has just blown one of its main engine’s turbochargers.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:00pm
- Its only I
  
  The comment section is hilarious.
  
  Apparently…
  
  It’s National/acts fault for not ordering new ships x 3
  
  Neoliberal blah blah x 4
  
  Thank God we have Labour to fix the mess National created x 3
  
  New Zealand has a large proportion of its population capable of taking on a ram in a headbutting contest with no chance of losing mental capacity.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:08pm
- Ghost
  
  And then there was one
  
  The Cook Strait’s passenger ferry fleet has been reduced from six to one single ship after the Bluebridge MV Straitsman was forced to stop due to “urgent operational requirements.”
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/131290583/bluebridge-cancels-all-ferries-aratere-only-cook-strait-passenger-ferry
  
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  February 21, 2023 6:09pm
Ghost

Maybe he forgot she was married…..

An Anglican priest has resigned from his position after having an affair with a woman he officiated a marriage for a few months earlier.

Reverend Pitotori (Peter) Naera, from the Far North, told an Anglican Church tribunal he “didn’t know it was against the rules”.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/131277777/priest-performs-wedding-ceremony-then-has-affair-with-the-bride
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February 21, 2023 12:42pm
- mandk
  
  I know that the Anglican Church has the reputation for not making belief in God a condition for ordination, but surely it demands a passing knowledge of the 10 Commandments (especially No 7 in this guy’s case).
  
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  February 21, 2023 2:32pm
Surely Knott

Penitiketo Uhatafe, 47 kills partner with one single king hit and fled the scene and gets 5 mths HomeD!

Less than a NZ covid lockdown. Judge says he’s already done 7 mths in prison.

Absolutely disgusting sentence.

My question is why isn’t he being 501’d back to Tonga and permanently banned from NZ?

The article says

March 2020 They arrived for a holiday in NZ.
Sept 26 2020 They went to a party when he delivered a king hit.

How do you get Home D and bail in NZ when you don’t live here.

But his linkedin says he lives in Auckland. And education Auckland Uni. Where is he doing his home D. Why isn’t he being permanently deported.
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February 21, 2023 1:03pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Because that would be racist….clearly//s
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:18pm
Ghost

Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe confirmed Monday his title as the CEO of guerilla journalism group has been “stripped” and that he had been “removed” from its board of directors following weeks of internal strife.

“I don’t know why this has happened now or why this is happening suddenly right now,” O’Keefe told staff on Monday in a video shared publicly by Project Veritas.

O’Keefe, who founded Project Veritas in 2010, acknowledged to staff that he had not “always been a compassionate leader,” which he admits is a “fault” of his, but boasted his work ethic and how he was never “slowing down.”

https://www.foxnews.com/media/james-okeefe-ousted-from-project-veritas
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February 21, 2023 1:05pm
Maggie Pie

Can’t help but get very emotional when you see the absolute devastation caused to people & property over on the East Coast by Cyclone Gabby 🙁

But don’t think for a moment Auckland City has escaped its own form of carnage. You just need to take a drive up Queen Street these days during a lunch-hour.

Just saying.
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February 21, 2023 1:39pm
- Its only I
  
  Auckland hasn’t been the same since the Hare Krishnas left.
  
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  February 21, 2023 1:57pm
Master Mariner

https://nypost.com/2023/02/20/al-gores-eco-friendly-investment-firm-owns-shares-in-polluting-companies-report/

Well, Here is an inconvenient truth.

Al Gore’s ‘eco-friendly’ investment firm owns shares in polluting companies: report
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February 21, 2023 1:48pm
Ghost

Well shit, this doesn’t give you much confidence.

Maybe I read it wrong, let’s see if this works better

And the nominations for the most useless MP for 2022 are.

The Government has announced the lead Ministers to coordinate its recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Northland: Kelvin Davis
Auckland and Coromandel: Michael Wood
Waikato: Nanaia Mahuta
Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty: Kiri Allan
Hawke’s Bay: Stuart Nash
Tararua District and Wairarapa: Kieran McAnulty

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131290992/live-lead-ministers-announced-for-cyclone-recovery-ahead-of-hipkins-statement-to-parliament
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February 21, 2023 2:19pm
- mandk
  
  I read the first name on that list and the first thought that came into my head was: Well, that’s Northland fucked.
  
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  February 21, 2023 2:27pm
- Prince
  
  There’s a recipe for failure right there. Imagine the inter-tribal scrapping within that lot.
  And too many cooks…..
  
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  February 21, 2023 3:00pm
Maggie Pie

WOW!! Three ads on the bounce with just white people.

Do not adjust your sets.
Repeat do not adjust your sets.
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February 21, 2023 2:45pm
- Ghost
  
  Are you watching an old vcr?
  
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  February 21, 2023 2:52pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    no no….a rerun of 1000-lb Sisters
    
    6 0
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    February 21, 2023 3:24pm
    - Ghost
      
      You’re watching the Labour Party conference?
      
      11 0
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      February 21, 2023 3:29pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Ouch
        
        3 0
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        February 21, 2023 3:47pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Remember when I posted here about the rumored location of a ‘Secret-Chinese-Police-Station’ in Parnell?
At the time I recall getting 3 downticks from milkey 🙁

Now look at this….

https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1627849386146267138
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February 21, 2023 4:01pm
- kowtow
  
  China interference in Canada politics / life , bigly story .
  
  Our legacy media’s take on it ……..waiting instructions .
  
  And they didn’t go bigly on the Auckland police station story did they .
  
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  February 21, 2023 4:38pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    EXACARY! And what about the probe Nanaia was supposedly doing into it?
    
    Said she found it ‘disturbing’. But all gone suspiciously quiet if you ask me 😎
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130691233/beijing-denies-chinese-police-station-operating-in-new-zealand-as-authorities-probe-allegation
    
    4 3
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    February 21, 2023 5:04pm
    - Mike
      
      The national and labour parties made an agreement for Jian Yang and Raymond Huo to ‘retire’ in 2020 because their allegiance to Beijing had become too overt.
      No word yet on whether ex-PMs have stopped boasting about their special friendships with the CCP dictators.
      
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      February 21, 2023 6:00pm
    - Scooter
      
      I wouldn’t put probe and Nanaia in the same sentence, although maybe if aliens do visit they might think twice about it.
      
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      February 22, 2023 6:19am
Chris Nisbet

Question. Were any of the bridges destroyed during cyclone Gabrielle _not_ taken out by slash buildup, or the buildup of water behind it once it all gave way?
10 3
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February 21, 2023 4:29pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  A bestie was telling me…. that subject to confirmation, it very much looks like the Green’s policy of NOT burning slash, is the real problem that has cost lives and billions of dollars!
  
  Here’s looking @ you Jimmy boy 🙁
  
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  February 21, 2023 5:10pm
  - Mike
    
    How was this alleged policy made law, and why does it not apply in all areas where pine forests are logged?
    
    2 10
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    February 21, 2023 5:55pm
NothingLeft

Twitter rumours flying of many 10’s of dead from Cyclone Gabrielle.

https://twitter.com/Infideliter2022/status/1627501994331230214
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February 21, 2023 5:12pm
- Ghost
  
  After the Turkey earthquake I watched a few people put up the Japan tsunami and claim it was from Turkey. Another person put up the building demolition in Florida a few years ago and claim it was Turkey. Twitter is about as reliable as a labour politician, take everything with a grain of salt until evidence comes out.
  
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  February 21, 2023 5:33pm
  - Mike
    
    Read Twitter and you will be even more poorly informed than most Kiwiblog commenters.
    
    3 11
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    February 21, 2023 5:50pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      Only your tweets, Mikey.
      
      7 3
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      February 21, 2023 6:51pm
kevn

@Ghost… I think our NZ helicopter pilots are credible. I note there are several not just one.
The deny, deny, deny about the HB crime problem from pollies and coster, not so much.
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February 21, 2023 6:56pm
NZer In Exile

This is profound and there are echoes of this in the neomarxist coup being attempted in NZ:

North Korean escapee Yeonmi Park sees chilling parallels between the totalitarian state she fled from and the mindset of the woke Left in America:

https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1627159213196644352

And in the same vein, a much more heavy duty analysis of the Moaist Revolution being attempted on the USA (and many other western countries). This is heavy listening but I believe it’s well worth it (oh, and it’s three hours long so if you have the attention span of a goldfish, please ignore):

https://newdiscourses.com/2023/02/woke-mao-and-the-american-cultural-revolution/
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February 21, 2023 7:25pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  I note that the tossers hiding behind the Wikipedia curtain childishly smear both these speakers as “conspiracy theorists”.
  
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  February 21, 2023 7:27pm
Chris Nisbet

Well, it seems that Metservice are climate deniers.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-outlook-coast-clear-for-now-but-risk-returns-to-tropics-next-week/7FOQKO4HXFEORD2AP6CUS5FE7E/
In the article they explain that Gabrielle and the earlier heavy rain was the result of a number of factors – cyclone season, La Nina, and some Julian oscillation thing I’ve never heard of before.
I didn’t read even once that it was a result of ‘climate change’, which I guess will raise the ire of Shaw, and prompt a ticking off from Luxon.
Maybe ‘climate change’ made things a little bit worse, but implying that Gabrielle was the result of it like Shaw did tonight is disgraceful.
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February 21, 2023 8:27pm

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