General Debate 11 December 2023

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mikenmildagain

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Happy International Mountain Day!
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December 11, 2023 8:01am
- RalphT
  
  Wow. Don’t know how to get over that…
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:07am
  - Don Beckett
    
    So what are you mountin’ ?
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:14am
- imalwaysright
  
  Mike,
  Can you do a Happy MDS day?
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:07am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    ?
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:48am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Mike Derangement Syndrome Day.
      Give all those down tickers a dilemma to start the day with!
      Keep it up.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:58am
- Ehlana
  
  I know we’re an island nation, but what have so many people got against mountains?
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:21am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Molehills really.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:25am
  - RRM
    
    I don’t think people are downvoting international mountain day.
    
    I suspect they may be downvoting international sarcastic burn day.
    
    But I’ll admit, I don’t have a peer-reviewed study to back this up.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:37am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Marilyns (England) or Munros (Scotland)?
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:40am
    - Trev
      
      Wales for Marilyns. I’ve walked up a few of them.
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:17am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Sometimes Mike’s international x day posts have the potential to start a conversation about x, but not today; I am afraid I’ve got nothing by way of a thought-provoking, insightful comment about mountains and nor can I make a case that anything particularly mountain-related is down to Labour’s incompetence or Winston’s dishonesty.
    
    I suppose Mike enjoys all the downticks or he wouldn’t keep doing it, which is just as well since there is a real value to having him as a member of the KB community. He’s one of very few that keeps KB from being any more than a right-wing echo chamber
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:00am
    - Neebone
      
      There’s always the mountain of debt
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:37am
    - kevn
      
      Dudley… Not much else to do in Petone.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:40am
      - Jethrod
        
        NO, its Pito-one! KEEP UP!
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:06am
    - Dave
      
      And for those of a certain age, there’s the great Johnny Rivers and Mountain of Love:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8nolWWMpO4
      
      Or, for those who inexplicably prefer country music, Wolverton Mountain by Hank Williams and Connie Francis:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUcPmLqxo-I
      
      Also, ditto to Dudley.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:03pm
  - MCōs
    
    In the case of Auckland they’re all volcanoes. Supposedly inert.
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:17am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Aren’t they all mounts rather than mountains? Discuss.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:50am
      - MCōs
        
        The one half an inch from my house is called Mangere Mountain
        My grandchildren call it a maunga
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:44am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That’s every day on KB when certain visitors are here.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:24am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Not shown on my calendar, I’m afraid. Is it a holiday personal to you?
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:02am
- oldfella
  
  You’ve peaked early today, Mike.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:24am
- redeye
  
  I’m not a mountain man, but I do love mountain woman.
  
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  December 11, 2023 12:16pm
  - zulumonster
    
    I’m going to Kill birnie after I Mount Victoria …
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:42pm
Chuck Bird

This is almost 2 hr long but very interesting.

AI: Grappling with a New Kind of Intelligence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGDG3hgPNp8
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December 11, 2023 8:03am
- NothingLeft
  
  One way or another (benignly or malevolently) AI is the end of humans, whether it be in 20 years or 2000.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:40am
Maggie Pie

Something smells at Maori TV…

“The so called ‘Voice-of-Maori’ has been rejected at the polls by long suffering New Zealanders who were bludgeoned into silence by Ardern and her cohorts. Karma has gone full circle”

– Norm @tikotirau

https://twitter.com/2ETEKA/status/1733293133201584272
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December 11, 2023 8:14am
- Clyde
  
  Maggie, I hope that indeed there is a very widespread investigation into Tamihere’s Trust, his finances, those of the East Polynesian Racist Party, the shennigans around the polling booth on a marae where the candidate was employed. Of course it should include the links with that detestable little willie Jackson. Where there is a smell of rotting fish, there is to be found rotting fish.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:21am
  - Cassandra
    
    “In October 2020, the Government committed $370,730 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Turangawaewae marae.” Why are taxpayers supporting a privately owned property? Actually one of many. Add that the list of rorts.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:34am
  - John Loveridge
    
    The Maori world is riddled with corruption. Something like this is only the tiny tip of a giant, taxpayer-funded iceberg.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:22pm
- Jethrod
  
  Oh I luv that 2ETEKA…… tells it like it is… rips a new one for everyone he ta.ks about!!!!
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:30am
- All_on_Red
  
  There are rumours of some dodgy behaviour at that Marae around whether some voters were actually eligible to vote and some being paid to Register and then Vote.
  Needs an Audit.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    As long as dead people were not voting. Can’t have that.//
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:49am
  - MCōs
    
    Rumours, eh
    You need to do better than that.
    The country is rife with shocking rumours coming at us from all sides that never seem to amount to anything
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:54am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yes MCos, I heard a rumour that the Vaccine was ‘safe and effective’.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:12am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Waititi got 21,500 votes out of 28,958 .
      Hands up who believes all those votes are genuine.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:23am
      - NothingLeft
        
        feeding victim narratives ‘it’s someone else’s fault you’re a failure’ is a very effective schtick for getting losers to vote for you.
        
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        December 11, 2023 9:50am
      - Steve Todd
        
        Hmm, funny you didn’t mention there were only three candidates, one of whom was an Independent (see https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2023/electorate-details-72.html).
        
        The votes for Waititi, and his margin of victory, don’t surprise me in the least. What does bemuse me, though, is that he received 21,500 votes, and Te Pāti Māori received 11,300 votes. What are the odds that both numbers would end in double-0?
        
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        December 11, 2023 5:40pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        S.T
        The number of candidates is irrelevant.
        Your propensity to define humour may have clouded your appreciation of the point of my post.
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:52pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @imalwaysright @ 6:52PM
        
        The number of candidates is irrelevant.
        
        As was your response to MCōs (8:54AM).
        
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        December 11, 2023 8:07pm
    - Libertarians are right
      
      As I’ve said before (as someone who’s actually investigated fraud), weak controls means rumours are actually all you get unless you are extremely lucky which is why you need effective controls.
      We don’t have effective controls.
      The only appropriate response to these rumours is to ensure that the controls are effective. This should obviously be done.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:31am
    - Surely Knott
      
      I guess rumours flow when you don’t have a functioning media , or a media that is beholden to the state, you are left to speculate.
      
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      December 11, 2023 10:03am
    - MiddleclassTrash
      
      We have had some appalling rumours confirmed.
      We also know that they have conspired in the past, so…
      
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      December 11, 2023 1:21pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    What’s a hypothetical example of somebody who might have voted there without being eligible to?
    
    They didn’t actually live locally? They weren’t over 18? They weren’t NZ citizens?
    
    If any of those applied, they wouldn’t be on the local electoral roll, and if they weren’t on the local electoral roll they’d have had to cast a special vote. All of those criteria would have been examined in the special vote counting process and if any of them didn’t check out, the vote would not have been counted.
    
    How do we think a voter might have been able to circumvent that?
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:29am
    - Littletramp
      
      Dudley, the problem with this is the peer pressure to turn up in the first instance and it would be known if you did not, and then vote “the right way”. It opens the door to subtle or not so subtle bullying.
      The other opportunity is for votes to be made for the 6 cuzzies who are out fishing, because they told me that’s what they wanted to do, and we all know each other so she’ll be right bro.
      
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      December 11, 2023 10:52am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        Indeed. But voter coercion is a different issue from voter ineligibility.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:39am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        Actually Dudley, voters aren’t eligible to vote for anyone but themselves. If people were showing up to vote for people that were eligible but not enrolled/not voting there aren’t actually any controls in place other than one or two workers and the off chance that the person actually shows up.
        This would be a case of fraud that is pretty much unprovable but surprisingly easy to do.
        
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        December 11, 2023 2:28pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      No system is perfect. Maybe whether they were still alive & functional at the time, or whether someone voted under another’s identity, or whether someone cast a special vote in another electorate & cancelled a legitimate vote, or whether in, e.g. a retirement home, their vote was marked as intended or their voting papers got harvested & directed to another party.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:57pm
kevn

Chuck… Even google are tricking folk.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/bloomberg-journo-reveals-google-ai-demo-was-nothing-more-quackery
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December 11, 2023 8:14am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Kev, If you have time view the video I posted the link to.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:11am
BarryB

After listening to the diatribe from the maori party I thought “well if they think that King Charles is such a lowlife – I think they even included the word genocide in there somewhere – then maybe since the King is the representative of the other party to the Treaty – then maybe we should go all the way and declare the treaty a nullity ”
That would clear the field a bit.
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December 11, 2023 8:18am
- peterwn
  
  So said Chief Justice Prendergast in 1877. He and the Bishop of Wellington then probably had drinkies at the Wellington Club later that day.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:33am
- Unity
  
  Chief Justice Prendergast declared the Treaty ‘a simple nullity’ way back in the 1880’s, so why on earth is it even being mentioned getting on for nearly 150 years later?!! It is NOT our founding document. What did it found? Also, we were being administered from NSW when it was signed. We are being ruled by a great big lie and the sooner we go back to our true history the better this country will be.
  
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  December 11, 2023 12:22pm
Chuck Bird

This is premium. Leyland has a lot of good ideas but fails to recommend nuclear. How many here think nuclear is a major part of the answer if AGW is a real problem?

Bryan Leyland: Our power system is in a parlous state

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bryan-leyland-our-power-system-is-in-a-parlous-state/GWGJ7DJBRBB23NVQOUKAFEWFHA/
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December 11, 2023 8:21am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nuclear is a zero-emission clean energy source.
  Anyone unsure is free to ask a Greenie.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:33am
- krazykiwi
  
  “How many here think nuclear is a major part of the answer if AGW is a real problem?”
  
  I think nuclear is a good way forward regardless, and have recently tipped a few £s into Rolls Royce who are active in this industry.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:36am
- NothingLeft
  
  Nuclear barges on jack-up legs off the coast. Built and decommissioned in special shipyards (far cheaper), infinite cooling water and vast dilution if ever an accident. And no danger of millenia long radioactivity contaminated sites if civilisation fails.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:46am
  - Pavel
    
    The Chinese had plans for that but have been put off the idea after the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.
    https://tass.com/world/1625885?utm_referrer=duckduckgo.com
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:00am
  - Colville
    
    NothingLeft.
    Genuine question.
    Why would you want to put a tricky bit of kit on a boat instead of on a nice stable bit of dirt?
    Tsunami? Cyclone? tides? everything is harder and more expensive and boats are temporary. What is the upside??
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:53am
    - NothingLeft
      
      If something does go terribly wrong it is far easier to maneuver in a huge floating crane to haul the problem away (and it can be design to make that easy). And melt-downs can be made impossible in the presence of endless emergency cooling water (seawater) plus if there ever is a leak the radiation gets washed away and diluted to non-dangerous levels without intervention. Chernobyls just can’t happen offshore, the diluting power of the sea is effectively endless.
      
      But the biggest win is being able to build and decommission in a specialised facility, and siting far from peoples homes, rather than having to get highly specialised construction workers to shift to build site (generally shitty locations) for years. And deal with angry ignorant Nimbys. These present the biggest cost impediments to nuclear power.
      
      A jack-up rig a few km offshore is far less susceptible to tsunamis and cyclones waves than the shore because you are outside of the huge wave energy-dissipating shore zone. Breaking waves mostly only occur when sea bed is getting shallower. Building a super-tough jack up barge/rig is relatively trivial to accomplish Ship hulls and oil rigs last many decades in service with minor maintenance.
      
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      December 11, 2023 1:03pm
      - Taieri
        
        Ship hulls and oil rigs last many decades in service with minor maintenance.
        ——————
        
        Not so minor. And extremely expensive.
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:21pm
  - Paul
    
    4 Turkish Gas powered powerships would supply Auckland’s energy needs.
    In LNG-to-power projects, a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) is connected to power ships to provide fuel. Separate LNG carriers refill the FSRU when needed.
    “The 400 MW that the four vessels could supply would power up to 1.2 million homes at full output.”
    https://www.marineinsight.com/types-of-ships/what-is-karadeniz-powership/
    
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    December 11, 2023 6:07pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  My issue is, until it is unequivocally proven that:
  
  a) there is a climate problem
  
  and
  
  b) there is anything we can do about it
  
  …..it’s a moot point. Why invest in nuclear if we have the systems and the resources to produce the energy we need already?
  If we need to increase our energy resources then yes, go for it. But a full cost/benefit analysis to be done first.
  
  First thing first, prove there is a problem before coming up with ‘solutions’.
  Something that wasn’t done during the covid ‘crisis’, which has caused so much harm to every aspect of NZ life.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:48am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    We need something to handle the baseload. Solar and wind turbines will not do it even with batteries. Pumped hydro has proved to be a waste of money. So for baseload we have coal, gas or nuclear.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:58am
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      Hydro in the short to medium term, and eventually tidal when the technical problems have been solved. We need to build more dams.
      
      Voters are too irrational to make nuclear in NZ a realistic option.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:20am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Turn the power off for two days then ask for a vote on who wants nuclear generation .
        
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        December 11, 2023 9:37am
      - bennerg
        
        Where are the likely options for more Hydro in New Zealand?
        
        Also are there more geothermal options? Rotorua anyone?
        
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        December 11, 2023 9:38am
      - wsk12345
        
        Bennerg – lots of options but the greenies put out their protesters and they don’t make it past that hurdle.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:40am
      - peterwn
        
        Iamalwaysright – I suggested having an energy conservation day and shutting down the grid for 24 hours. My bosses were not impressed. Mind you, that was 50 years ago.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:40am
      - peterwn
        
        Meridian put up ‘Project Aqua’ some years ago to extract more electricity from the lower Waitaki river (downstream of Aviemore). It became apparent that it would face insurmountable objections so Meridian dropped the proposal. Interestingly the Lake Onslow scheme did not seem to draw too much objection but then it had the blessing of a left wing government. Apart from Onslow, any other significant hydro power proposal would be the subject of some objection or other – eg disturbing the habitate of some rare species.
        
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        December 11, 2023 12:22pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Chuck – indeed, I’m not disagreeing with you.
      
      I know we have substantial quantities of clean, good quality coal and we have power stations that use it.
      If the science debunks the climate scam then just use what we have before investing in nuclear?
      
      No point fixing a problem that has been artificially created.
      Best we keep demand down by not importing the exploding EVs!!
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:37am
      - Paulus
        
        EV market around the world is drying up suddenly.
        China has hundreds of millions of EVs which nobody will buy,
        The USA have virtually NO EVs at all and do not support what they have.
        Our EV snob value come end of the month will soar in price as the taxpayer free bonus stops (Labour stopped it ).
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:18am
    - wsk12345
      
      I’m happy with any of those. But until the modular reactors are available it’s not really a goer for NZ. Plant is just too large for the system- you’d need multiple of them to back each other up which destroys the economics.
      
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      December 11, 2023 10:39am
  - Local Miller
    
    There is a problem, but it’s not AGW, it’s under investment in reliable base load power generation. We are on the cusp of running out of base load power supply and could need load shedding in the next few years. The Greens won’t let us build any more dams, we’re running out of places to build new Geo-Thermals, and wind & solar don’t give base load. This means either coal, gas or nuclear, of which nuclear is the lowest emission and cleanest option. And by now most honest people should know that the “millions of tons of nuclear waste bs” is just that, BS.
    We keep hearing about earthquake and tsunami risks, but there are a lot of areas in NZ that are low risk, and where a nuclear power plant could be built.
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:15am
    - Ian Boag
      
      most honest people should know that the “millions of tons of nuclear waste bs” is just that, BS.
      
      Most of the spent fuel in the world is sitting in cooling ponds next to the reactors for want of anything better to do with it. So long as we keep it cool it won’t pop and release nasty slugs of radioactivity. We only need to keep it cool for a few hundred years to let the worst of the radioactivity to expire. Easy peasy …..
      
      There is a lot of talk about burying the stuff in deep and stable underground formations. Very little of that has been done anywhere and there are no real signs of progress ….
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:31am
      - Paulus
        
        Japan is slowly releasing the product of Fukushima currently.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:19am
      - thirteenstars
        
        That’s a lot of misinformation.
        
        Spent nuclear fuel only needs to be kept in cooling pools for a few years until it is packed into dry storage casks that don’t require cooling.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_cask_storage
        
        Finland is about to complete the first permanent underground storage facility:
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repository
        
        Sweden has a similar facility under construction.
        
        Regardless, the amount of waste produced each year is quite small. For instance, the US produces enough to half-fill a standard swimming pool, and that small amount is stored at 70 sites.
        
        That amount of spent fuel provides enough power for 70 million homes. If NZ built a reactor that powered a mere 1 million homes (half of NZ’s total homes) it would produce half a swimming pool divided by 70 of spent waste which is about the size of a cube 2m on a side.
        
        Even without vast centralised underground facilities the storage of fuel is easy and safe.
        
        https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-fast-facts-about-spent-nuclear-fuel
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:40am
      - Sparrow
        
        Not sure if I should mention this especially around green’s but it was nearly 60 years ago. In the late 60’s loaded many many drums of I later learned was nuclear waste Forgot what UK port we loaded them in. Chippy built special ramps on the decks. Instructed to dump them in the Bay of Biscay in the deepest part. Subsequently stopped in the Bay and rolled the drums into the sea. A ships lifeboat had been lowered and any floaters and there were a few we put an axe into them as instructed. Ignorance was certainly bliss and no occupational and health regs in those days. I was 2nd Mate on deck dumping the drums always wondered what happened to the 1st Mate who was in the lifeboat using the axe. Another world.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:03am
      - Ian Boag
        
        High level liquid reprocessing waste is another problem that amounts to rather more than your half swimming pool … it lives in (cooled) stainless steel tanks that only have to last a few hundred years …
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:30am
      - Local Miller
        
        Citation needed please.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:44am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        Genuine question, why not send nuclear waste into space ? I’m sure cost is prohibitive at present but working on it could come up with cheaper solutions. Got to be better than plastering places like the South Wairarapa with hundreds of hectares of 4.5 meter high solar panels and hoping people want to come and enjoy them rather than the present rural scenery. Not as virtuous though and kiwi won’t get a pat from overseas folk.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:54am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      There is one setup where the generator and condenser is built in the ground with the nuclear heat source removable. The idea is when spent the heat source is replace and the used on sent for refining. About 12 would power Auckland.
      Nuclear power does not have to be those huge concrete steam chimneys cluttering the landscape.
      
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      December 11, 2023 10:02am
      - Ian Boag
        
        the used on sent for refining
        
        I think you mean “reprocessing” which generates significant long-life (half-life measured in centuries) nasties that noone quite knows how to handle. There has been talk of turning it into glass and burying it but the talk has been going for years and it hasn’t happened yet.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:34am
    - artemisia
      
      Ask Elon. He’s good at left field.
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:41am
      - Don Beckett
        
        His rockets could be used to load the waste nuclear fuel into & send the rocket into the sun – a permanent nuclear heat source.
        
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        December 11, 2023 12:40pm
      - Local Miller
        
        If you study the physics, sending ANYTHING “into the sun” is not realistic. Despite the apparent contradiction, you actually need to do a lot of work (expend energy) to get something to crash into the sun. Most people don’t realise it, but to re-enter earth’s atmosphere a spacecraft (like the shuttle) actually has to decelerate to break out of orbit. Similarly a space barge would be accelerated by the sun’s gravity as it moved towards the sun, and would need to “break” it’s fall otherwise it would shoot past or enter an elliptical orbit. But the sun’s massive gravity would require an inordinate amount of fuel to slow the barge down, something that is not at all realistic.
        Here’s a good article on this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/09/20/this-is-why-we-dont-shoot-earths-garbage-into-the-sun
        
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        December 11, 2023 2:33pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Those points are never going to be provable to your satisfaction, but what is uncontrovertably clear is that every government in the world, including ours, does believe them and therefore will be taking action of some sort.
    
    It is in everybody’s interest that that action should be as effective and cost-efficient as possible. There’s a live and consequential discussion going on about that. You can take part in it, or you can sit and squawk unheard and unanswered in the dust of a caravan that’s long, and definitively, moved on.
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:16am
- Burtland
  
  we should stop importing people – we wouldnt need the additional power
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:15am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Idiot box this morning they are rabbiting on about $5 prescription charges.
At Chemist Warehouse they are free, but not everyone lives near one. Community Services and Gold Card holders get prescriptions free.
The noise is coming from the usual whingers. I have an idea – how about having one less latte per week?
While on things medical I have had a rotor cuff tear for over two years which requires constant painkillers such as Tramadol. Someone in the last Govt had a brain fart and had Tramadol reduced to one months supply at a time with no repeats. Now that means I have to either visit the Doctor or order a prescription EVERY month. It is $19.50 seeing as I am on Super, but what used to cost me $78 per year now costs$234.
I know it is to restrict supplies to the drug bakers, but some do need this medication. Not very well thought through Labour. Hopeless.
Dr Shane Reti has an email but I doubt much will come of it.Over two years waiting for surgery so I asked the Doc to check it. Hello, I have been booted off the waiting list. Thanks again Labour. Thank fuck you are gone.
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December 11, 2023 8:22am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Steve, was there not a $100 max per year? I just checked on Chemist Warehouse store. There are now 48.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:25am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yes, after the $100 you get given a “frequent flier” type card and future prescriptions are free.
    
    The card is for the whole family, so covers all scripts.
    
    Of course if you get blister packs you have mostly to pay for that service
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:40am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Yes, first 20 prescriptions are $5 each then free.
    My bitch is having to pay $19.50 every month, payable to the Doctor. So 12 prescriptions per year when before it was 4 per year with repeats.
    When you are retired on a fixed income you start to notice all of these charges being thrown at you.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:41am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      It annoys me that the doctor charges $37 to send a prescription renewal through to the chemist (that is two doors along in the same mall).
      At least the prescription was free.
      
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      December 11, 2023 8:54am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        If I want a renewal for a drug I have been taking for years I do not have to see my doctor. I just pay $10 at the counter and get my renewal and pick it up at the Chemist Warehouse when I next go the the Base, Hamilton.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:18am
      - Paulus
        
        That is just part of the Doctor’s costs – you do not have to email it but take it yourself.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:21am
      - rouppe
        
        @Chuck depends on the doctor
        
        I re-up most of my repeats online through Manage My Health. Still costs $22 I think every time I have to do that.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:28am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @ rouppe,
        Manage My Health. I am forced to use it. What a dog of a website. It looks like it was done as a class project by 20 ten year old kids!
        I wanted two medications added for repeat scripts. The Med center did their bit 5 times, I kid you not, 5 times. I could not sent an online message because the medications I wanted were not on this list – so dead end. No phones either. Finally I was somehow able to send an email and tore a strip right off them. It was changed within 4 hours. Don’t fuck with Steve.
        
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        December 11, 2023 3:23pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      S.O
      There is no reason the surgery can’t program a monthly prescription email to the chemist.
      Costs them nothing .
      
      8 1
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      December 11, 2023 8:58am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Prescription nurse told ne no. Says the Doctor would be audited for possible fraudulent supply – such is the thinking of the Labour wonks who thought this ban up.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:05am
      - imalwaysright
        
        S.O
        If you wanted the jab you would wouldn’t need to put your hand in your pocket.
        
        Tell the nurse that it is extremely unlikely that any doctor would be punished for being the retail arm of big pharma.
        In fact they would probably give him a bonus.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:15am
      - Ghost
        
        Wouldn’t they?
        
        https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/122036755/nelson-doctor-fined-for-misconduct-failing-to-adequately-to-document-prescription-records
        
        Or how about the gp who was caught prescribing for himself?
        
        https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/09/13/doctor-fined-after-self-prescribing-opioid-tramadol/#:~:text=A%20New%20Zealand%20doctor%20has,defended%20hearing%20in%20August%202021.
        
        You also have the doctor with the adhd meds
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-doctor-accused-of-prescribing-adhd-medication-without-specialist-approval/4FHDWX4ZDJUHW7EQUZFIDEWXAQ/
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:25am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Ghost,
        Have there been any doctors punished for not charging repeat fees to pensioners who paid enough tax to put three or four doctors through medical school?
        I didn’t bother reading your daft articles.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:44am
      - Ghost
        
        No, daft is thinking a doctor shouldn’t get paid for doing their job, daft is also making a stupid statement that no Dr would be charged.
        
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        December 11, 2023 11:59am
      - Local Miller
        
        Those “e-mail” prescriptions to your chemist don’t go to you chemist 🙂 The go via the NZ electronic Prescription System run by Whanau Tahi (I’ll discover their English name one day), and then onto your chemist, so it’s not as simple as just sending one on every month.
        
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        December 11, 2023 2:38pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Sorry, the Law for restricted medications such as Tramadol changed Oct 1st.
        I have tried all avenues.
        I would like to line up each Minister of Health in the last 6 years and give them all a smack in the chops. It is not as if they don’t deserve it.
        Mods, notice I did not say “will.” I said “would like.”
        
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        December 11, 2023 3:27pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        S.O
        You would think that a doctor trusted with prescribing drugs could be trusted to write an instruction to administer them according to the need of the patient.
        We have professionals so that we don’t need to depend on bureaucratic algorithms .
        
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        December 11, 2023 4:56pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      You could always bite the bullet, liberate some of your capital and pay the $20k or so it would cost to fix your shoulder in the private sector. Rainy day and all that.
      
      You will have been removed from the waiting list because some group in the system has decided others have greater need than you …. I can’t see Reti interfering with this sort of decision ….
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:42am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Pig’s arse. I was removed to get the waiting list numbers down, to make whoever was the current Health Minister (we had 4/6) look good.
        If others have a greater need than me then they will be in extreme pain.
        It all proves the system is fucked and not working.
        
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        December 11, 2023 10:11am
      - Ian Boag
        
        Good luck with Reti. 🙂
        
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        December 11, 2023 2:47pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      The Good news SO is that you are a self confessed millionaire(Mortgage free house).
      Well done, you can support a few bucks a year.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:31pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I could reverse mortgage the house to get some cash, but I’m not going to. Not pulling in any investments either.
        After all of the Tax I have paid in the last 58 years I expect something in return.
        Wouldn’t you? Or just keep on handing out money?
        71 now and not clocking out for 20 years. I will need more than Super to live.
        
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        December 11, 2023 3:32pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Plenty of time to wait for free shoulder surgery …. the pain will be manageable for a while yet. Reti will no doubt move you up the list when you explain why he should …. 🙂
        
        After all of the Tax I have paid in the last 58 years …
        It was used to fund the gummint costs at the time – none went into a savings account for your old age.
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:38pm
      - Ghost
        
        So many people needing surgery that Steve might have to come to terms with not actually getting the procedure done
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:44pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Or paying for it. One needs to understand that “going private” does not mean it will happen this month. It’s the same surgeons …..
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:53pm
- pdm
  
  Careful with that Tramadol Steve – it can send you to la la land.
  
  A few years ago our neighbour became addicted to it – took ages for him to get off it and back to normal.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:41am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The reason I take Tramadol is because Codeine has a bad effect. Romanian Gypsies kidnap me and leave me in a yurt on the cold Eastern Siberia with no escape. Same dream every time!
    With my injuries over the years Tramadol is effective with no problems. Neck surgeries, skin grafts, ulnar nerve re-alignment, smashed foot.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:47am
    - Local Miller
      
      Got to love Codeine. Several years ago on New Year’s Eve, it left me walking shirtless around Tauranga like a drunk, with my arm and stomach bandaged up due to steam burns and a brown paper bag of meds that could have been a bottle.
      I eventually found a Warehouse and went in to buy a shirt. To the teller’s normal “Do you want a bag for that?” my response was “No, thanks I’ll ware it now”. I mean what did she think, a shirtless guy was buying the a shirt to take home for the wife?
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:26am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I wear a medic alert tag. Codeine and Suxamethonium Anaphylaxis.
        Not going there again.
        
        8 1
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        December 11, 2023 10:15am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Have you tried Celebrex ? I was on it for a number of years for spinal pain after a ladder collapsed on me & sent me 3 metres down, landing on stones & timber offcuts. Gashed my arm, and damaged my Sacra-Iliac joint (where the spine sits on the pelvis).
        I have actually weaned myself off it over 12 months & put up with the residual pain. The only option was spinal surgery, which even the doctor advised me against.
        My son had a torn rotocuff – paid for it to get fixed.
        
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        December 11, 2023 12:49pm
    - Lance
      
      Interesting
      I am the exact opposite, Codeine is a nice effective pain reliever for me. I am allergic to Tramadol, causes me to have a dangerously fast heart rate.
      
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      December 11, 2023 9:27am
- NothingLeft
  
  Aside from anti-pathogen drugs that can create resistance if over used (antibiotics etc) there are a lot of drugs for chronic conditions that should be made easy to buy over-the-counter. Asthma medications for one. Going to doctor to get repeat prescription for the same safe cheap generic drug that you’ve been using for 30 years for the same allergic issue is just ridiculously wasteful.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:47am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “ridiculously wasteful.” Something that Labour excel at.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:18am
  - wsk12345
    
    Thyroid meds – about 5% of women take thyroxine. I have to get a script from my doc every 3 months ($25) and he has to see me at least twice a year ($60 a visit). For a medication I’ve been on for 20 years and will be on for another 30 or so.
    Just a money making racket.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:02am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Well, going by my mother same situation, as you age the thyroid readings will change, they have to alter the pill you take to counter act, it will eventually start going up and down as the meds alter
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:49am
    - Local Miller
      
      Disclaimer: This is not medical advice!
      Interesting. My wife had half her Thyroid removed 35 years ago because of a lump (that wasn’t malignant). She now just takes a daily Iodine supplement, either a solution (one drop a day) when she can get it, or a tablet. No prescription needed and cost per day is negligible. There’s a missive difference between with/without the Iodine supplement. Our thyroid problems are not so much in the thyroid but in the lack of Iodine in our diets. At the time of the operation the doc told her the body can cope with half a thyroid as long as it has the Iodine it needs.
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:56am
  - MCōs
    
    I have epilepsy that was diagnosed in Bangkok
    I could either get the medication from the hospital or buy it over the counter at a drug store next to the office for a third the price
    From memory I paid about $150/mth
    Same stuff in NZ $10/3 mth plus doctor
    I’m not grizzling
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:05am
    - NothingLeft
      
      but why ‘plus doctor’? Is that adding anything to the process? It you have a change in symptoms or other stuff going on then book an appointment, but otherwise why waste that money and doctor time? We have a doctor shortage in NZ – a lot of places you can’t get a non-urgent appointment in less than a few weeks.
      
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      December 11, 2023 12:47pm
      - Ghost
        
        I was sitting in the waiting room of my gp last week listening to a conversation between reception and a man sitting there. Apparently he had come over from the West Coast, told them there were no GP’s there. Long bloody drive, but he’s signed up with the practice. Hopefully the new government puts a lot of effort into fixing this.
        
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        December 11, 2023 12:55pm
      - MCōs
        
        I’ll clarify
        When I came back to NZ I saw my GP who prescribed the same medication i.e two pills twice a day which was $10 for three months supply plus ~$18 for the doctor
        I could order every second script without seeing the GP for a couple of bucks less, but he still has to sign it off so I go and see the guy, which was how he picked up I might have cancer, which I did.
        
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        December 11, 2023 3:24pm
  - miltonF
    
    I think you can add common, weak topical steroids like hydrocortisone to that list. I feel making as many meds prescriptions as possible is a bit of a back-door way to rip off the public and taxpayer. I get psoriasis and this prescription nonsense drives me crazy.
    
    It’s a $5 tube of cream sold over the counter in nearly every other country in the world. In NZ, you have to get a doctors appointment, a script, and let pharmac buy whatever overpriced creams from whichever big pharma company. Then there’s all the admin and staff costs to these systems.
    
    What was a simple safe $5 cream turns into close to $100 spread across the patient and taxpayer and a huge unnecessary rigmarole! It’s a joke and a scam!
    
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    December 11, 2023 4:53pm
- Ghost
  
  I don’t even want to see what my yearly spend at the chemist will be this year. Special thanks to labour for increasing the prices of meds.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:28am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Labour thank you for allowing them to force you to pay!
    Then there is GST. Every little tiny amount of GST adds up to millions.
    Say every person in NZ gets charged an extra $1 per month in just GST.
    There is $5M a month in the coffers thankyou!
    
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    December 11, 2023 3:45pm
BeaB

Does anyone at RNZ monitor the inane comments made by Ingrid Hipkiss on Morning Report? She has no place on a serious news programme , even one whose standards have slipped enormously during their years of Ardern worship.
But this woman undermines even her own interviews with lame and juvenile comments.
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December 11, 2023 8:34am
- Paulus
  
  As long a she does not use the words New Zealand as that is not now allowed as part of the so called media hate Government campaign.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:25am
- NoFax
  
  As long as you and others continue to listen then she won’t go anywhere and it doesn’t matter what she says. The only way for her to go is to stop listening – you will be better off.
  
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  December 11, 2023 1:08pm
Maggie Pie

“OK I’m prepared to admit Covid vaccines have caused major health side effects’

– Sean Plunket (10 Dec. 2023)

https://twitter.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/status/1733701447936557139
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December 11, 2023 8:34am
- krazykiwi
  
  Oh really? Will he apologise for publicly mocking people like me? Will he quit with the ‘anti-vax’ pejoratives?
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:43am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Never. Not until the data is released and it is unequivocally proven that there there was negative net benefit from the experimental jabs.
    
    Even then he’ll do what many people I know are doing right now, refuse to even talk about it.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:55am
- ClanMcleod
  
  If you follow the thread you’ll see is Plunket baiting us terrible ‘cookers’ yet again. Not what it sounds like, in fact it’s the opposite.
  
  Plunket has some good moments, but on all things covid he’s willfully tone deaf to the point of being obnoxious.
  I think he’s terrified that his recent heart problems might be connected to his jabs and is too narcissistic to admit he might have made a mistake.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:53am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Yes it is kind of ironic!
    
    But look at the man’s risk factors. Fat, middle aged, smokes and drinks too much, and anger issues.
    
    He’s a walking heart attack.
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:07am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  About bloody time. Now let him try constitutional over-reach, the Labour Police State, and the enthusiastic stasi that is our “public service”.
  
  Happy to forcibly imprison people for wanting to come home, sic the Police on a lawyer and his boyfriend and gin up hate against a teenager in South Auckland, but not to enforce the law against gang intimidation. Priorities!
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:54am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, yet confused people are still getting boosters, some over five. Talk about Russian roulette.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:14am
- NothingLeft
  
  Don’t punish behaviour in people that you want to see replicated. People who are willing to publicly admit to misjudgements should always be applauded. It helps our society root out and fix problems more quickly and serves as a useful reminder as to institutional fallibility (a valuable life-lesson).
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:40am
  - mawm
    
    If they want to admit to their “misjudgements” then they need to be clear and unequivocal in doing so. There is no place for “weasel” language.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:23am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Any penalties you put on contrition will only ensure that you get less of it – and so inevitably worse bureaucratic intransigence as a result.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:54pm
surfing

Commissioners need to be bought in to replace Wellington elected Mayor and councillors.

Then, unnecessary spending can be cut, rates increased, and council can start to address the major underspending on water and sanitation.

It is reprehensible for Wellingtonians to be wasting hundreds of millions on vanity projects and then go crying to government that they don’t have money to spend on water and sewage infrastructure! This is stealing from other cities!
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December 11, 2023 8:40am
- Paulus
  
  No, No, No, do not get Commissioners as Tauranga did as appointed by Mahuta.
  Even they are now conceding that they stuffed Tauranga thoroughly, and I expect that they cannot wait to get lost after June next.
  None of the Commissioners live in Tauranga (one is in South Canterbury and flies in and out for meetings).
  It is sad for the many small businesses who have gone bust or just closed down for the sake of bicycle lanes and similar.
  The Chair Commissioner (ex National MP) last week gave her apologies for the stuff up.
  To f….ng late of course.
  And only phase one is almost finished with no real comment to complete the stuff up.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:35am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Umm
    None of the Commissioners live in Tauranga
    
    where did you get this mis information from??
    
    Bill Wasley, long time resident with Property in the Avenues?
    Shadrach Rolleston, well respected local Maori with Property in Otumoetai.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:44pm
kevn

Maggie… I’m convinced Plunkett was just playing some sort of odd ratings game.
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December 11, 2023 8:42am
- MCōs
  
  Never
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:58am
- Lee C
  
  Well it’s working. I for one don’t go there.
  
  Whats the point if he’s just an echo-chamber for similarly uninformed, wilfully selective outlets?
  
  This issue seriously damages his credentials and neutralises any observations he makes about ‘bias’ in the MSM.
  
  I think he’s just too lazy to do his job.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:16am
  - imalwaysright
    
    After his unhinged rants he usually gets a call from one or two of his sycophantic keyboard worriers.
    They tell him how right he is and how horrible everyone else is. It is like sitting in on a psychiatric session with a group of schizophrenics.
    
    And in the next breath he has the cheek to criticise Lynch and co.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:24am
    - Paul
      
      God that takes me back to Tamihere and Jackson on Latenight talkback where they rubbished all and sundry, the only callers whackjobs at 2am. As an all night driver, the Tag Team were pure comedy.
      
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      December 11, 2023 6:29pm
herb1

“Opinion” piece in Stuff this morning has headline that guarantees the lack of objectivity in the article and it’s non readability . “ Government seeks to humiliate Maori” by K Gurunathan.
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December 11, 2023 8:44am
- surfing
  
  Maori are already humiliated through government affirmative action policies.
  
  Time to accept that maori can be responsible for their lives and are just as intelligent as anyone else.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:41am
- jedmo
  
  More and more of Stuff’s articles seem to be paywalled; which suits me as I have strong animosity to their biased, corrupt, PIJF bribed, stories, but still go there for news. Thanks Stuff, for helping me to avoid utilising your product.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:06am
  - Paulus
    
    Easy like me – do not read any Stuff – expect they will go bust very soon as I understand.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:36am
    - sungsamning
      
      Yes, I’ll be surprised if they are still around at King’s Birthday weekend.
      
      4 1
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      December 11, 2023 4:05pm
Flossie

We went to a kids Try-athlon at the weekend. It was wonderful seeing so many kids doing their very best, some had to try so hard just to finish the course. Everyone got a medal.
It did concern me that of the hundreds participating there was such a dearth of Polynesian entrants. Mostly white with a fair sprinkling of Asian, both Oriental and Indian looking.
Is this where the bad health stats for PI people starts?
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December 11, 2023 8:46am
- Local Miller
  
  Is this a rhetorical question?
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:38am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Yes.
    
    9 3
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    December 11, 2023 9:48am
- Ehlana
  
  I visited Westfield Manukau at the weekend, and it occurred to me as I left that I had not seen a Whitcoulls or a Paperplus store in there. Just checked online and that mall has no bookstores.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:20am
  - mawm
    
    Good outcomes start in the family – reading to one’s kids, ensuring they attend school, do their homework and aim to achieve good results. No amount of legislation fix that.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:30am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Goodness, wonder why that would be?
    We’ve got three bookshops here in the Strip, plus Remuera Library
    which has been here for nearly a century.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:31am
- Paulus
  
  At our local weekends playing fields every Saturday in both Summer and Winter many hundreds of children from say 5 years to 15 years play sports along with Mums, Dads, Grandies and Dogs.
  It is a wonderful noise to hear children at play in Football (round) and Cricket.
  But I do not appear to see any Maori or PIs playing at all.
  Is it because they are not violent thug sports such as Rugby or League ?
  
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  December 11, 2023 2:03pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Guess you live in Matua 🙂
    Try going out to TePuna Park
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:47pm
Bridgenag

testosterone
men’s levels have been dropping for decades. some thoughts on why.

testosterone is a critical hormone for men and women. reducing it reduces muscle mass and increases fat (a spiral as high fat, low muscle also reduces T). it also reduces confidence, sex drive, sex function, and general sense of well being. low T causes irritability, anxiety, depression, poor emotional regulation, fatigue, mental fog, and a veritable laundry list of other bad outcomes. testosterone is good stuff. you do not want to lose it.

but we are. sharply.

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/testosterone?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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December 11, 2023 8:46am
- Local Miller
  
  We’ve become a far to sedentary bunch of males (not men note). Since the advent of the computer era, more men have moved out of jobs with a lot of physical activity into jobs sitting behind computers. This is starting at pre-school level, where little boys sit with tablets and screens rather than climbing frames and slides. The daily dose of Tag and Bullrush are being replaced with on line games, where kids sit for hours moving little more than their fingers.
  I think computer based games are great, but they are having a massive impact on our health because they have so significantly replaced normal physical activity.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:51am
- rouppe
  
  I managed to coerce my gp to prescribing T-patches because of many of the symptoms you described.
  
  Applied consistently for a month, no noticeable effect on the symptoms. Never actually had a test to see whether the T-levels had increased…
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:33am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Medical advice from the Internet huh. 🙂
    
    Guess your GP knew a thing or two about effectiveness of T Patches.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:49pm
    - Paul
      
      Doctors at Onehunga Medical Centre look at the Internet to research and prescribe Drugs to me, most recently a week ago to look for an antibiotic that can be used orally. While I am there in the room.
      I have heard of these people who dismiss the Internet. As if it learned knowledge online is different from some sort of other, more reliable, knowledge.
      Where is your more reliable source?
      
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      December 11, 2023 6:38pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        I suspect they look on real medical websites not social media
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:59pm
      - Ghost
        
        My GP was listening to a podcast which made him research what the lady was talking about before diagnosing me with it.
        
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        December 11, 2023 8:24pm
    - rouppe
      
      Actually, gp’s do fuck all problem solving. Same with “specialists” at the hospital.
      
      I see the GP, he orders blood tests, they show nothing, and the process ends. I have to then go “what’s next”? Different blood tests, nothing. Process ends.
      
      The symptoms don’t. I struggle to concentrate and do decent work all day, go to bed tired. Wake up tired. Repeat.
      
      No one in the health system is actually engaged with trying to diagnose the problem.
      
      So sometimes you have to try stuff.
      
      Not apologising for looking out for myself if the people charged with that duty don’t.
      
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      December 12, 2023 7:12am
Bridgenag

Sunday Strip: “And So This is Christmas:
What have you done?”
[ The little video about the octopus is good.]

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/sunday-strip-and-so-this-is-christmas?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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December 11, 2023 8:48am
hmmokrightitis

For the groups consideration:

Had the pleasure of attending a Christmas do for a group of midwives late last week. Chat turned a little serious as they discussed what they have been seeing for the last 18 months – a significant spike in first pregnancy still births and miscarriages. Apparently the flag has been raised at numerous DHB’s but…tumbleweed.

A 30 year veteran of the service told me she had never seen as many as she has in the last year. Ever.

I wonder what could have happened?

In other news. Ms Pinky declares she wont work with the new government. Sigh of relief. But then she also told us that “stuff” was “safe and effective”.

Does she stand by that?
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December 11, 2023 8:57am
- ClanMcleod
  
  The evidence of jab harm is coming increasingly rapidly, no matter the best efforts of the media and those responsible for the nightmare we’ve endured the last 4 years.
  
  No wonder they are refusing to release the data which we now know for a fact they have. Because it is almost certainly data that will prove this was a net harm to the vast majority of people.
  
  If it showed otherwise it would have been released a long time ago and would have been headline news around the world.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:47am
Skippytony

Had an electrician round to do some work last week and he is planning his first holiday in three years – why? Work is drying up in construction.
Talking to a retailer in ChCh CBD on Saturday, numbers looking very poor for Christmas trade.
Six months ago every retailer in town had signs in the window advertising for staff – now basically none.
Went to the pictures Saturday afternoon (Napolean) OK it was a beautiful day, but six people in the cinema.
We are in a recession – the numbers may not be showing up yet, but all the signs are there.
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December 11, 2023 8:58am
- surfing
  
  My son has had difficulties finding employment over the university holidays. Applied for a hundred jobs or so. He’s got one part time job, but not enough hours.
  
  It’s definitely not easy out there for job seekers. It hasn’t helped that his motorbike has been stolen twice in the last 18 months!!
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:10am
- Ehlana
  
  Went to a popular local cafe for lunch on Saturday. It was almost empty.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:42am
  - wsk12345
    
    I ate out last week for first time in many many months. Restaurant was quite big and was full. The bar part was empty though when we went to pay around 830pm.
    
    Given what it cost I was amazed so many people are still eating out. Passed on a glass of wine as they started at $14 and no it wasn’t a flash place.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:08am
- goNZ1
  
  yes, my circle report same – 2024 is where Adrian Orrs massive over-reaction by way of the world -leading OCR hikes causes carnage due to the 12-month lag effect.
  Meanwhile the poor fools locked into KiwiSlaver schemes are being forced to crawl over broken glass and on the brink of bankruptcy before being allowed to withdraw their own money just to survive!
  
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  December 11, 2023 1:42pm
  - Paulus
    
    As an term deposit Investor of my pensions that we worked for I expect that rates will rise from current 7.1% upwards still despite RBNZ, the Banks override them likewise.
    When wage rises are as high as they are so interest rates will continue to rise as inflation does not reduce.
    There still appears to be bags of cash around from what we see daily in at least many new expensive Cars alone, the $80 billion incompetent Robertson put into the market takes time to be reabsorbed
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:09pm
- Paul
  
  The recession is real and worsening, next year the big bite comes. Fuel prices are dropping, but Retail sales are going over a cliff, Chinese drop shippers are attacking Bunnings and Mitre 10 with imports across the range of smaller products, Bunnings just dropped 50% of Head office staff, Mitre 10 are panicking and are radically making staff cuts.
  
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  December 11, 2023 6:47pm
slightlyrighty

I am honestly struggling to get my head around the logic of the left.

The same people who are now complaining about the cost to returning Government Department names to English as the Primary title, and decrying the politics of it all, seem blissfully unaware of the cost of renaming them in Te Reo an the first pplace, and the blatent politics at play at the time.

Those who decry James Meagher for being a successful Maori and a conservative only want Maori to be successful if they agree with their own politics. Only celebrating success if it’s the right sort of success, and calling out those who succeed as class traitors says a lot. Those on the left, quite simply want Maori to wallow in victimhood.
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December 11, 2023 9:06am
- ClanMcleod
  
  They have no argument which is why their attempts at it are so hysterical, incoherent and easily demolished with simple, rational responses.
  
  It’s like trying to reason with a 4 year old throwing a tantrum.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:43am
  - Paul
    
    What the left engage in is bullying. It is psychopathic.
    
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    December 11, 2023 6:50pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Return the Govt Dept names to English is simple.
  Just get a large tip vivid marker pen and cross out the unwanted bit.
  My consultation fee for that gem is $20,000 + GST thankyou very much.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:34am
- Paulus
  
  Who told them to stop European names and use Maori Only ?
  Can’t find – can anybody else !
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:38am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You are being programed to only comprehend Maori.
    You did not know that? Really? Really?
    
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    December 11, 2023 3:48pm
- Ehlana
  
  Out of concern for your head, let me explain.
  
  There is no logic.
  
  It may be difficult to accept, but accepting it is a lot less damaging to your poor brain than repeated attempts to make sense from nonsense will be, so please try.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:45am
  - Colinxy
    
    It is fundamentally true that the Left do not use logic. Their operating mode is known as the unity of opposites (an invention of pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus). That is combine a thesis with its contradiction and create through struggle synthesis (modern parlance).
    
    As Aristotle pointed out millennia ago the unity of opposites violates the law of non-contradiction. It is baked into Marxism through Hegel. Hegel loved Heraclitus. Karl Marx loved Hegel. Ergo, Leftism does not do logic since it fundamentally violates logic – for example it is at odds with the square of opposition.
    
    It neatly explains why Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals works against, for example, Conservatives but fails against Leftists. Non-Leftists try not to be hypocrites. Leftists embrace hypocrisy.
    
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    December 11, 2023 12:36pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Peronism has the same mind-set. That’s why Argentina is a cot case. Can the new guy sort it ?
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:19pm
    - Paul
      
      I think that you have distilled and refined Religion of Belief. Looks like you understand the power of persuasion. This now is evident as Tribalism.
      
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      December 11, 2023 6:55pm
Tauhei Notts

I have not seen the USA election odds for some time. So I looked this morning.
Trump $2.46, Biden $3.15, Haley $14, Newsom $15.50.
So Trump is not odds on but that is still a handy lead over Biden. There are really only four in the race at present.
I thought Fox were exaggerating Trump’s popularity, but it is there for all to see.
I hope Trump wins because I so love watching the luvvies have a melt down.
The odds are from Betfair which I have found to be an accurate odds setter.
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December 11, 2023 9:08am
- Inandout
  
  TN. Vivek Ramaswamy will wait his turn but meantime he cruelly demolished Nikki Haley in the last debate. Haley was literally dumbfounded.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:19am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Ramaswamy is at $70.
    A roughie.
    
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    December 11, 2023 9:33am
    - mawm
      
      He sounds like the only intelligent candidate in the bits of debate I have seen.
      
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      December 11, 2023 10:39am
- NothingLeft
  
  Doubtful Biden makes it to the election. Also likely that Trump gets taken out judicially or extra judicially. Or maybe there will be enough stink about clear Biden corruption and Democrats elites + ‘deep state’ (DOJ+FBI+CIA) covering for him that there will be a sweeping ‘red wave’ electoral revolt.
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:35am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Trump will win easily. The Dems can not cheat when all eyes are on them. Meltdown will be delicious.
  Biden quitting at the last moment? Probably. Something about a sitting POTUS can not be indicted I think.
  His replacement/s are not being talked about. Mike Obama, so Barry can keep the puppet strings going, and one other. Crooked Hillary. Hanging around like a bad smell.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:41am
  - Philview
    
    I read an article yesterday that there is a way he can drop out at the last minute and he or the Party can effectively choose his successor without risking a democratic nomination and getting the ‘wrong’ person.
    
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    December 11, 2023 1:37pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I would be interested. Have a link?
      A democratic nomination could be easily cheated – just ask Hillary how to cheat. Don’t use your real name and address or phone number, or email.
      Ah, maybe just don’t ask the most dangerous woman on the planet.
      Steve Otto(North Shore) is not my real name.
      
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      December 11, 2023 3:54pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Possibly Newsom. Cackles will still be VP, as they can’t easily fire a diversity hire.
    
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    December 11, 2023 4:12pm
Grunter

The Biden Govt continues to snort free money. The month of November he spewed out another US$240 billion deficit. At this rate, he will have a US$3 Trillion annualised deficit before too long. And US government debt about to crack US$34 Trillion.

No sign of a balanced budget ever again. And their biggest creditor (China) is now a seller of US Bonds, not a buyer.

Hmmm – does anyone not think this is a massive problem (apart from Biden and his crooks)?
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December 11, 2023 9:09am
- cmm
  
  US debt has been out of control for a long time. It would be fair to say that the whole US economy is debt fueled.
  
  1 trillion a year is almost $3000 per person. That’s a new car for every family every second year.
  
  Everyone has got very used to this easy living. Any belt tightening will be extremely painful.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:43am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe the Dems are doing exactly what Labour does every time in NZ?
  Leave the balance in such a mess then walk away.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:44am
- Paul
  
  WEF likes it, it is their Modus Operandi.
  
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  December 11, 2023 7:24pm
imalwaysright

Plunket thinks that he is the arbiter of truth.
Unfortunately he isn’t particularly bright so it might be a while until he catches up with what is becoming apparent to anyone who cares to look.
Obnoxious is an accurate description.
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December 11, 2023 9:11am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Hillary Starts Talking about a “Climate Body Count” and Everyone Gets Nervous.
Thing is, cold kills 9 times more people than hot temperatures.

“Hillary Clinton isn’t worried about a climate body count any more than she’s worried about… that other body count. Which we’re totally not mentioning!”

https://buzzbombmedia.com/2023/12/08/hillary-starts-talking-about-a-climate-body-count-and-everyone-gets-nervous/?ocxfa_tag=political
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December 11, 2023 9:15am
Maggie Pie

If you watch no other vid today – watch this one. It is sooo on the mark.

And let’s hope a few of those degenerates from the Greens and TPM who were part of the ‘PRO-HAMAS’ rally in Auckland yesterday get to see it as well….

https://tiktok.com/@theisraeliminister/video/7311008847358053678
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December 11, 2023 9:16am
- mawm
  
  Botox and lip “plumping” have reached Iran.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:44am
  - Paul
    
    The Ayatollah is the BMW importer, one of his many businesses.
    Iran’s Khamenei ‘controls mysterious $95bn business’
    https://www.france24.com/en/20131112-iran-ayatollah-khamenei-95-billion-business-empire-reuters
    
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    December 11, 2023 7:27pm
NothingLeft

Bret Weinstein on the battle for humanities’ future as various rent seeking elites attempt to establish control over the west (inevitably driving regression from cooperative global order to more conflict riven world). He sees it as a truly existential risk. Worth a watch.

https://youtu.be/yKWM76weXBc?t=89
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December 11, 2023 9:30am
- Paul
  
  It may be over. And guns will be the only answer. Who has one? These days, nobody with coherent thought, and Law-abiding sensibilities.
  We are defenseless against Governments’ Tyranny.
  
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  December 11, 2023 7:31pm
Maggie Pie

“The top 20% of taxpayers in this country, those earning above $180k per year…. pay 68% of the Tax”.

– Kerry Woodham ZB

So how on God’s Earth is that fair?
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December 11, 2023 9:55am
- gravedodger
  
  Simple Maggie, demonising one fifth of the people will be entirely supported by enough of the remaining four fifths to gain power, it will not change, maybe become greater from every angle.
  Just as fair in political terms as any wealth tax.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:13am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  A vital piece of information is missing there. How much of the country’s total wealth do those 20% hold? Because if it’s 98%, then paying 68% of the tax is far too little. If it’s 38%, then they’re being grossly overcharged. Without that information, it’s impossible to conclude whether 20% paying 68% is fair or not. Even with it, it’s still not really enough for a sound conclusion.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:37am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Nonsense.
    
    Wealth is what I create with my private property (income) after the government has already taxed it. They should keep their thieving hands of my wealth, as they should yours.
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:51am
    - krazykiwi
      
      ^^ off my wealth. Bad edit day.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:16pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Tax the interest on your wealth investments, but ‘wealth’ is not income.
      
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      December 11, 2023 4:00pm
  - cmm
    
    Why should people be taxed on wealth?
    
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    December 11, 2023 10:55am
    - krazykiwi
      
      I can answer that: Because to the Marxists, you and I belong to the state meaning every atomic item of value you or I create belongs to the state. Anything the state deigns to not take via taxation is to be seen as evidence of the state’s magnanimousness.
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:32am
    - NoFax
      
      Wealth taxes (and consumption tax) are economically more efficient than income. By taxing wealth and consumption the market isn’t distorted and leads to better outcomes. Unfortunately, the problem for wealth taxes, is that wealth can be on “paper” only and there isn’t any cash. While every economist would prefer wealth tax over income tax, governments prefer what’s easier to get there hands on.
      
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      December 11, 2023 1:21pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You are that crazy Democrat AOC, aren’t you?
        
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        December 11, 2023 4:02pm
    - Tom Hunter
      
      Moore v United States is a SCOTUS case worth keeping an eye on, because it’s all about Taxing unrealised income.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:34pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I’m sure that has been mentioned in NZ.
        A Tax on earnings that you have not earned yet, and a Tax on your assets before you die. Oh wait, that is a Tax on your wealth – in advance thankyou.
        Bit like a credit card – pay now with that, and pay back later. We will just look after it for you. No you fucking won’t, you will piss it against the wall!
        
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        December 11, 2023 4:06pm
  - Yabster
    
    fuck that sums up the left- wealth does not equate to income!!- i.e. someone may be on $100k but is a multi-millionaire as they have made good decisions with money -i.e. invested- not pissed it away on assets that depreciate. So, earnings vs tax paid is very relevant for paye payers -those that don’t pay paye -well that’s another story.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:02am
  - Swifty
    
    I’d greatly welcome you Dudley spelling out exactly what your views are on appropriate taxation levels and the reasons for them – including why wealth should be taxed, at what levels and the pros and cons of doing so – should you care to.
    
    To me, the reasons for taxing wealth are not clear at all – and, conversely, there are some very strong arguments against it.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:30am
  - cmm
    
    The Great Unwashed think that rich people have a pile of gold in the basement like some king from a fairy tale.
    
    Every night the rich people go into the basement and look at the gold and feel smug about it. Or maybe they have a garage with a row of expensive cars that just sits there rotting.
    
    That is not how it works in reality.
    
    In reality, most rich people invest their money in productive assets (eg. businesses). This means they put that money back into society where it is being used by everyone. They are generally getting some interest (or profit), but they are putting their assets at risk.
    
    They are creating jobs for others, or lending them money to start other productive businesses.
    
    Until you understand this you will forever have the wrong mindset to be either wealthy or a productive member of society.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:44am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    I’m happy to substitute “income” for “wealth” in my carelessly-worded earlier post. The point stands. I cannot expect you to agree that it’s unfair that I pay twice as much tax as my brother without telling you whether I earn five times, or half, as much as he does.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:49am
    - cmm
      
      “I’m happy to substitute “income” for “wealth””
      
      Since wealth and income are entirely different things that makes no sense at all.
      
      High (for NZ) income people pay much, much, more tax than low income people (both in absolute terms and and a %).
      
      People earning below $50k or so pay effectively negative tax (ie. negative net tax) because they consume more tax than they pay.
      
      People earning over $150 or so pay pretty much all the net tax (ie. pay more than they consume and pay for other people).
      
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      December 11, 2023 12:05pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Childless working people working in the private sector pay much of the net tax. No WFF, free schooling, etc. I resent the hundreds of dollars in PAYE deducted when I work a 55 or 60-hour week to support bludgers who haven’t worked a day in their lives.
        
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        December 11, 2023 1:14pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        You used an incomplete, out-of-context quote. Of course it doesn’t make sense.
        
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        December 11, 2023 1:19pm
    - Local Miller
      
      No, you don’t get away with it that easily. The article specifically stated “$180k” INCOME per year, and you then substitute WEALTH. Now you want to go back to income, and talk about earning “five times, or half, as much as…”. The reality is that 80% of the population only pay 32% of tax, and in this group are a bunch of bludgers who want to pay even less.
      Now, why should wealth be taxed?
      
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      December 11, 2023 12:12pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        You are trying to take me into a different argument – and I’ve already declined that one. I’ve no doubt you will find others happy to discuss the pros and cons of differing splits between wealth and income as the basis of taxation with you, and I hope you find that stimulating and educational.
        
        All I intended to say is that the fact that a small proportion of the population pays a large proportion of the tax, is not sufficient reason in itself to conclude that something isn’t right. Unless you enforce perfect equality in pre-tax income, which would be obviously and monstrously unfair, some people paying more tax than others is exactly the outcome you’d expect.
        
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        December 11, 2023 1:16pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        “.. the fact that a small proportion of the population pays a large proportion of the tax, is not sufficient reason in itself to conclude that something isn’t right.”
        
        Incorrect. That is precisely the reason to reach such a conclusion.
        
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        December 11, 2023 2:15pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      As my partner sez…
      
      “Taxation is the price you pay for living in an uncivilised society’
      
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      December 11, 2023 12:46pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Quite so.
        
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        December 11, 2023 1:52pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    As always the questions are:
    -How much of my stuff I have gained through hard work do you feel you are you entitled to?
    -Why do I, as a high earner working unreasonably long hours (sacrificing lifestyle) have to labour 25 hours a week for others benefit while vast majority of relatively lazier NZers are only working 10 hours or less for others benefit?
    
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    December 11, 2023 1:17pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Her numbers are wrong. According to IRD there are 2,833,000 taxpayers and 83,180 (2.93%) of them earn more than $180k.
  
  That 2.93% pay 68% of the tax is ghastly, but not unexpected. Our march to the socialist gulag has seen this get progressively less fair.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:47am
  - MCōs
    
    There are a lot more taxpayers than that inasmuch as virtually everyone pays GST and a lot of the population excise tax, petrol tax.
    Everyone over 65yo pays income tax on the pension
    Property owners pay tax aka rates and renters pay indirectly
    GST accounts for as much of government revenue as income tax and its 15% for all, rich or poor.
    
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    December 11, 2023 1:30pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      NET taxpayers. If you “pay tax” on your taxpayer-funded pension you are just taking a little less out of other people’s pockets.
      
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      December 11, 2023 1:42pm
    - Paulus
      
      Flatten the Income Tax brackets and increase the GST.
      It worked before despite Labour and the Greens.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:13pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    That 2.93% pay 68% of the tax is ghastly, but not unexpected. Our march to the socialist gulag has seen this get progressively less fair.
    
    I can see what Quaffquaff is getting at above in what was a poorly worded point.
    
    The question is whether that 2.93% are earning 68% of the income, which you could then argue makes 68% of the income tax revenue a fair thing.
    
    But as in the USA, I’d bet that 2.93% don’t actually earn 68% of the nation’s total income and probably a lot less.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:39pm
- cmm
  
  If we pay 68% of the tax, then it means we pay over 90% of the net tax.
  
  Most of the other tax payers will be using far more services than they are paying tax.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:51am
- artemisia
  
  Those with assets, businesses and marketable skills can take them to where they will be valued. Because they can. That includes tradies that could be quite useful if infrastructure projects pick up. Quite likely business owners will take as many of their best employees with them as they can.
  
  Recent surveys show a significant majority thought the country was heading down the wrong track/s. I wonder what led people to think that?
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:11am
- NothingLeft
  
  Democracy i’n’it.
  
  “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.”
  
  But of course if you take too many feathers from the most productive geese then they leave. That’s the fine line that democracies try to walk – and is why when envious left wing losers gain power and over tax wealthy it wrecks their countries – the risk taking hard working high earners drive essentially all prosperity in a country through trickle down from the businesses and industries they create.
  
  Myriad historical examples, going as far back as Spain’s establishment of the inquisition as a tool for stripping wealthy merchants (many Jews) of their wealth to hand it to unproductive rent-seeking church and aristocracy. The merchants were mobile and left and Spain faded to become a poor country.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:30am
  - kowtow
    
    So poor they had some of the best naval ships in the world , ’til Nelson had at them in 1805 .
    
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    December 11, 2023 1:09pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      The pursuit of war is one of the fastest ways to bankrupt a country. As is fiat money. As is fiat money used to fund wars.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:19pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        As is happening to the USA funding Ukraine.
        
        5 3
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        December 11, 2023 2:32pm
      - Burtland
        
        US spent less than 6% of its Military budget on military aid to Ukraine
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:14pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        And that mostly spent in the US on replacements for stored obsolete weapons gifted to Ukraine (excepting missiles and ammunition)
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:15pm
      - Burtland
        
        correction, its actually half this – around 3%
        
        the spend has been $43B over 2 years – the US military budget is $800B PA
        
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        December 11, 2023 7:25pm
- G152
  
  With the cost of rent how are these people ever going to get anywhere
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:32am
  - Paulus
    
    I wonder why and who put up Rents by destroying the Rental Market people.
    Couldn’t be Ardern and Roberson eh !
    I cannot see any real reduction in the future either for the same reason – any thing will take a long time to change as owners have left the market.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:16pm
    - Paul
      
      Ringfencing Auckland drives all rents higher, supply versus demand. Drive out to Whitford, Horses, could be another extension of the City, but Council baulks, and the Councilors are lifetime naysayers.
      
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      December 11, 2023 8:02pm
- virtualmark
  
  IRD publish detailed statistics on income tax. The latest data is for 2022 and it’s available at https://www.ird.govt.nz/about-us/tax-statistics/revenue-refunds/income-distribution/tax-on-taxable-income-datasets
  
  Top 1% of income tax payers are those earning above $252,600 and they pay 14.5% of all income tax collected. Odds are they pay a similar percentage of the GST collected too.
  
  Top 10% of income tax payers are those earning above $103,000 and they pay 46.7% of all income tax collected.
  
  Not sure if there’s easily accessible info on net tax paid after things like Working For Families. But for sure there are a lot of people who are net recipients not net contributors.
  
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  December 11, 2023 1:41pm
Surely Knott

A man has been charged, who rammed into a crowded bus stop in half moon bay yesterday injuring 6 people some seriously.

7 charges have been laid says the headline. “Charges include wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and injuries with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.” Weird so not reckless driving?

So it wasn’t an accident? He intended to harm them? I wonder what the other 6 charges are that the media hasn’t told us about? Motive?
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December 11, 2023 10:10am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  If there is to be any chance of a fair and proper trial, such details cannot and should not be publicised beforehand.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:39am
  - cmm
    
    How does that work? There are almost always many details available before a trial.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:34am
- krazykiwi
  
  Is there one charge per injured person?
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:58am
  - cmm
    
    Maybe.
    
    I wonder whether there is attempted murder in there too. Should be for using a motor vehicle as a weapon.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:36am
- Ghost
  
  Wait until he appears in court and you will know all the charges. The media have simply reported what was in the police press release
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:04am
  - Surely Knott
    
    “The media have simply reported what was in the police press release”…what is the point of the media then?
    
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    December 11, 2023 1:08pm
  - Paul
    
    No you will not know anything. All suppressed, Brownwashing.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:05pm
- MCōs
  
  When my wife was called up for jury service I went along to help out because she’d never heard of trial by jury.
  All the charges were read out before jury selection.
  Fortunately for her her name didn’t come up
  In one case the guy was charged with a string of sexual offences as long as your arm. I felt sorry for the jurors who had to listen to the details. The demeanor of the alleged perpetrator suggested it wasn’t his first rodeo.
  
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  December 11, 2023 1:47pm
  - Paulus
    
    Some years ago I sat on a Jury with an obvious conclusion but two Maori were jurors who at word go said Not Guilty, and shut up completely, when It was an obviously violent offence. He got off.
    
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    December 11, 2023 2:19pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      So why didn’t the rest of you hang in there, and your foreperson inform the judge the jury couldn’t reach a verdict?
      
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      December 11, 2023 3:05pm
Swifty

This gentleman, an education academic, asserts that our primary and secondary education system should ‘teach’ our kids all sorts of certain skills and behaviours and there should be less focus on those sorts of skills (reading, writing, maths etc) able to be assessed by the PISA tests:

https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/nz-news/350127894/all-gets-lost-our-conversation-around-pisa-results?utm_source=stuff_website&utm_medium=stuff_referral&utm_campaign=mh_stuff&utm_id=mh_stuff

I wonder how aligned his views are with those of New Zealand parents?

I wonder at times too whether in determining what is taught in our schools we give far too much regard to the views of academics, bureaucrats and teachers, in place of the views of parents.

I think it quite reasonable that we listen to education specialists as to HOW things are best taught, but as to WHAT is taught that seems to be to be a preserve of parents only and for reasons I would have thought are blindingly obvious.
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December 11, 2023 10:15am
- cmm
  
  “I wonder how aligned his views are with those of New Zealand parents?”
  
  Probably reasonably well aligned.
  
  Any parents that care can supplement their kid’s education with extra reading and maths etc at home. This is extremely easily done with books available for “free” from libraries or for a few $ at Whitcouls etc.
  
  Few do, so one can only conclude that few care.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:33am
- NothingLeft
  
  It does seem that much of academia has stopped being a source of wisdom and become actively destructive in the peddling belief systems that do more harm than good.
  
  Shut down humanities depts and stop funding these fifth columnists.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:35am
ClanMcleod

Letter to the Amnesty-Demanders

This is a superb read.

In response to Michael P Senger, NYU Professor on the Bill Maher show, asking for a covid ‘amnesty’. El gato malo responded:

“mistakes were made”

pro tip: calling yourselves “the experts” and demanding that everyone follow your diktat as you go against 100 years of evidence based guidelines and then saying “oops, sorry, how could we have known?” after running the world into a ditch and inflicting the greatest set of needless iatrogenic death and economic disruption in human history is not a terribly compelling position.

what on earth would entitle you to grace or forgiveness? did you offer such to those whose lives and livelihoods you were running roughshod over in your pseudoscientific moral crusade? (because i sure don’t seem to remember that…)

I’m all for forgiving and moving on, but up to now I’ve yet to hear even one person in NZ admit that what happened in the last 4 years was wrong on every level. Particularly among the media and those responsible for inflicting it on us.

The longer it takes for some form of mea culpa to be forthcoming, the more difficult it’s going to be to forgive and forget.

The full Substack is wonderful.

https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-amnesty-demanders
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December 11, 2023 10:17am
- imalwaysright
  
  Clan
  Maybe an Accountability Protest on Parliament grounds is in order.
  
  An analogy of what is presently happening is every country in the western world has had tens or hundreds or thousands of people killed every week in a new type of jumbo jet, but , not only are the crashes deliberately not investigated and the jumbo jets grounded , but they are still selling tickets.
  
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  December 11, 2023 12:16pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  A Pandemic Amnesty? As The Atlantic magazine called for just over a year ago!
  
  As I said at the time of that cringing article: NO! I want justice, apologies – and a measure of revenge
  
  I also want some solid rules put in place via legislation that will mean our society will never, ever again pull this shit. But that’s probably being too hopeful since the future can only be mildly influenced and in any case I thought we already did have barriers in place via our now-laughable Bill of Rights.
  
  No, I think some measure of punishment in the form of a loss of power and job prospects for the likes of Baker, Wiles and the other “scientific” fanatics who pushed the lockdowns, the masks and the vaccine mandates, will likely have a more powerful effect than rules, for it will instruct future little fanatics that there will be a price to pay personally if they go too far in their fanaticism. That’s what I mean by “revenge”.
  
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  December 11, 2023 2:46pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

One person has indirectly admitted that the last 4 years was wrong on every level.
But she ran. She will run for the rest of her life, the coward.
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December 11, 2023 10:51am
Benedict Yu

Oh no 🙁

“Preventing the Next Pandemic”

“New Zealand’s former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern joins the world’s leading infectious disease scientists and experts at BU [Boston University] to discuss how to prepare for future outbreaks”

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2023/preventing-the-next-pandemic/

““We need to do a better job in between crises to build public trust, so we can be prepared when [a] crisis hits,” Ardern said during the keynote panel, where she was joined by two scientists who helped create New Zealand’s pandemic strategy, Sir Ashley Bloomfield and Dame Juliet Gerrard, both University of Auckland professors.”

Jacinda is giving a lecture on the importance of “building public trust”. 🙁

‘Yep yep that’s what it is, two classes of citizens.’

‘Nobody will be forced to have the vaccine.’

🙁
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December 11, 2023 11:04am
- krazykiwi
  
  She is a failed trainee tyrant who has done more damage to New Zealand that all previous PMs combined. Such an travesty that she gets a platform to showcase her reality-adjacent narcissism.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:14am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I think it will be years before she returns. Her daughter will be school age by now. I guess she goes to school in Boston.
    
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    December 11, 2023 11:21am
    - cmm
      
      What? Denying her a quality NZ education!
      
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      December 11, 2023 11:29am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Probably the only decent thing Ardern has ever done in her life.
        
        13 3
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        December 11, 2023 11:38am
    - Steve Todd
      
      Benedict: I think American kids start school at age 6. Neve will be 6 in June(?), so, if Ardern is still in the US then, she probably won’t start school until September next year.
      
      Having said that, surely Ardern doesn’t have a Green Card, so I imagine her visa will run out soon, meaning her return to New Zealand is imminent.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:42pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Just let us know when the return date is so we can organise a welcome party at the airport. Ardern the narcissist will be looking forward to it.
        Hey TVNZ get the cameras out there.
        
        4 1
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        December 11, 2023 4:13pm
      - sungsamning
        
        Kindergarten from 5-7. First grade at 8.
        
        3 1
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        December 11, 2023 4:29pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        She can go on a family trip to Mexico for the day and then doggy paddle back over the river. Instant access to America and all the benefits.
        
        5 2
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        December 11, 2023 5:08pm
      - cmm
        
        “surely Ardern doesn’t have a Green Card,”
        
        She’s employed there so she probably does have a Green Card.
        
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        December 11, 2023 5:24pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @cmm @ 5:24PM
        
        Hmm, I dunno, cmm.
        
        If you have a Green Card, you can live in the US permanently. It’s not a biggie, and I have no wish to argue with you – I couldn’t care less what her status is – but have a look at this: https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-employment-based-immigrants.
        
        It’s hard to see how she qualifies. Sure, she could get a one-off specific employment-type temporary work visa, but a Green Card?
        
        I guess time will tell.
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:08pm
      - krazykiwi
        
        Steve T, I’d suggest that despite the published guidance, Green Cards will be carefully managed in the same way Ardern managed MIQ slots: The hoi palloi get the letter of the law, while the favoured ones get special treatment. Ardern is probably still a protected elite. She won’t survive there of course, not smart enough, but for now she’s one of ‘them’
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:19pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @krazykiwi @ 6:19PM
        
        A useful perspective, krazykiwi. I don’t disagree with you: I just can’t see how she can parlay her supposed cachet much beyond her current employment, ‘protected elite’ or not.
        
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        December 11, 2023 6:38pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Kraz,
    It could be argued that she is one of the most effective public faces of tyranny the world has ever seen. ( per capita!)
    
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    December 11, 2023 12:24pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Judging by a recent ODT interview, that [Mod – unnecessary] , Baker, is already gearing up to re-write the MOH Flu Pandemic Plan to conform with his advice and how we dealt with C-19.
  
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  December 11, 2023 2:50pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    How unusual to get an epidemiologist to write a pandemic plan.
    
    3 16
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    December 11, 2023 3:08pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Best get one that does not tell lies.
      How about the pink terror? Oh wait, her job is advising swimmers when to swim and when not to swim.
      
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      December 11, 2023 4:20pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    I would rather Baker was organising the shower cleaning roster at Rimutaka prison.
    
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    December 11, 2023 5:11pm
- Paul
  
  Thank you for that. She is fully onboard. I have always known that her Socialist persona slotted neatly into her Mormon mind program, something that cannot be erased.
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:24pm
cas

Just come back from shopping. There was a funeral of a gang member/associate at the funeral parlour. While it had obviously concluded, there were loads of members wearing gang patches everywhere and as I drove by, one gang member walked across the street very very slowly, staring at me all the time and willing me I suspect to speed up. I have to say it was all very intimidating.
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December 11, 2023 11:25am
- NothingLeft
  
  patches to be banned soon according to coalition agreement. Gang membership to become an aggravating factor in sentencing.
  
  Good
  
  18 1
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  December 11, 2023 11:37am
- kevn
  
  cas… Feel tempted?
  
  6 2
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  December 11, 2023 12:07pm
  - cas
    
    Yes but as I wasn’t driving a stolen car, they would have tracked me down through my number plates and torched my house. Just thought it instead.
    
    11 1
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    December 11, 2023 12:23pm
    - rouppe
      
      That’s a little more difficult than it once was.
      
      Had a confrontation with a person down the street of a house I was selling. Went to NZTA to get registered owner details from their car. Gave as justification that I wanted to issue a proper written trespass order which I did want to do, and thought was in line with their “maintenance of law and order” provision.
      
      They refused.
      
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      December 11, 2023 2:51pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Ah! So that’s why you left your gun under the seat?
      
      3 3
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      December 11, 2023 4:22pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Cas,
  That would have been a real life, actual, maori warrior hiding behind the protection of the law and your unwillingness to subject yourself to the legal and penal system for the pleasure of wiping his sorry fucking arse off the face of the planet.
  
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  December 11, 2023 12:29pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/margaret-mutu-illustrates-perfectly-in-one-article-all-15-strategies-activists-are-using-to-take-over-the-country/
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December 11, 2023 11:27am
cmm

This bloke blamed deportation from Australia for his terminal cancer.

How about this: If you are going to depend on society to keep you healthy then behave. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133429073/deportee-who-blamed-australian-govt-for-his-terminal-cancer-has-died
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December 11, 2023 11:28am
- MCōs
  
  The guy had done his time.
  He was then sent to the facility on Christmas Island awaiting deportation where, according to him, he was denied treatment.
  By the time he arrived back in NZ it was too late.
  I don’t know how things work over there, but I’d have thought prisoners with cancer would normally get the appropriate treatment.
  Incidentally
  I’ve read this is a problem in America where life without parole means there’s a lot of old prisoners costing a lot in healthcare
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:52am
  - MCōs
    
    https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/nothing-but-time-elderly-americans-serving-life-without-parole/
    
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    December 11, 2023 12:10pm
  - Paul
    
    What about the recently deceased Dennis Hines, who pulled fingernails out with pliers, who necessitated a specific dialysis machine in jail, when the whole kingdom of Tonga could not afford a single $2,000,000 machine , thus causing needless suffering in Tonga?
    We the Taxpayer funded a criminal over the whole nation of Tonga.
    
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    December 11, 2023 8:39pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Imagine what life will be like for him now 🙁
  Bet he’s wishing he led a more God-fearing existense while on earth.
  Good job.
  
  9 6
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  December 11, 2023 12:06pm
  - MCōs
    
    He doesn’t have a life anymore
    He’s dead
    
    Reveling in this person’s death would go against that which we were led to believe were Catholic values.
    
    5 6
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    December 11, 2023 12:21pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Cafeteria Catholic
      
      4 6
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      December 11, 2023 1:48pm
    - Paul
      
      Do you care about strangers? Because nobody does.
      
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      December 11, 2023 8:47pm
Maggie Pie

And apologies for not posting about this sooner… but things have been quite hectic
here for the last week or so.

After the release of Omid Scobie’s book ‘ENDGAME’, it’s hard to see any chance now
of a reconciliation between Prince Harry and the rest of the Royal Family.
It appears to be the final nail in the coffin for Hazza and Megs 🙁

https://twitter.com/queenofmemes80/status/1733932754486579590
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December 11, 2023 11:39am
- MCōs
  
  You should be apologizing for posting it at all.
  
  5 13
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  December 11, 2023 12:02pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    LOL!! Wouldn’t expect you to undersrand Cossie.
    You guys have got your OWN royal family in Thailand haven’t you?
    
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    December 11, 2023 12:12pm
    - MCōs
      
      I certainly don’t undersrand
      
      4 0
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      December 11, 2023 12:29pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Vaguely recall watching a vid during lockdown about ‘The last king of Thailand’.
        Murdered his political opponents and kept their heads in his freezer.
        You guys must be pleased you’re outta there 😀
        
        11 3
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        December 11, 2023 12:42pm
      - Ghost
        
        Damn, wouldn’t you hate to open the freezer and find the head smiling at you
        
        7 2
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        December 11, 2023 12:50pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        ~~Thailand~~ Scotland Idi Amin, 1970’s Ugandan dictator who (like most evil despots) died peacefully in his sleep at the ripe old age of 78 in Saudi Arabia with a harem of young wives around him.
        
        8 1
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        December 11, 2023 1:59pm
      - Paul
        
        Bhumibol killed his Brother. You don’t know?
        Bhumibol ascended the throne following the death by gunshot wound of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, on 9 June 1946, under circumstances that remain unclear. While an initial government statement stated that Ananda had accidentally shot himself, an investigation committee ruled this was virtually impossible.
        
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        December 11, 2023 8:51pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Maggie was in Thailand last week. I can assure you that there is a current King of Thailand.
      
      Dont know what your vague memory was but it certainly wasnt about the last King of Thailand.
      
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      December 11, 2023 3:07pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        As NothingLeft suggests, it was about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_(film).
        
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        December 11, 2023 5:09pm
      - Paul
        
        You sit, you pontificate, but you NEVER have a point.
        Other than Naysayer. You criticize others, But you never make a statement.
        Besides cool third world living, what is the reason for knowing all?
        
        2 1
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        December 11, 2023 8:57pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  6K copies sold in the US
  
  3 1
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  December 11, 2023 3:10pm
Swifty

Union bovver boys and their willing dupes are angry that their Labour Party-sponsored standover tactics have been halted by the Coalition – and, laughingly, whinge that they should have been ‘consulted’ beforehand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/504434/union-members-protest-over-plans-to-scrap-fair-pay-agreements

New Zealand families of course are greatly relieved at this very welcome development.
16 1
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December 11, 2023 12:04pm
- Paulus
  
  They were consulted during the Election Run up with what the new MMP Government was going to do.
  So what are they driveling about – consultation – they were.
  
  6 1
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  December 11, 2023 2:23pm
- Philview
  
  Are there any fair pay agreements to reverse?
  
  1 0
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  December 11, 2023 5:57pm
  - Swifty
    
    No, while some groups have kicked off proceedings, no FPAs have been finalised.
    
    3 0
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    December 11, 2023 6:48pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTp3T1GWAUo
Is it just me or are we looking at three years of leftwing political-social terror-ism?
Is it just me or are we looking at three years of leftwing political-social terror-ism in the wrapper of divisive race fueling? [I think it’ll peter out eventually. That level of opposition can’t be sustained for ever. And, the silly season is coming up.] [21:51]
9 2
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December 11, 2023 12:36pm
Maggie Pie

And what about this then?

Long time Cindy sychophant, left-leaning ZB host Andrew Dickinsin, now tells listeners
he voted for NATIONAL in this election!

Wish those ‘Tui Billboard’ competitions were still a thing.
I’ve got a winning entry to submit 😀 😀 😀
21 3
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December 11, 2023 1:25pm
- sungsamning
  
  That’s brave of him. I hope he still has a job.
  
  6 1
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  December 11, 2023 4:35pm
I remember when

Bus service ‘designed for people who don’t use buses’: Manawatu Standard.

The good news is that they will be more frequent.

A fifty percent pass rate!!
5 1
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December 11, 2023 1:38pm
goNZ1

some comforting advice from the MoH website for our anti-vaxx colleagues-
”Many of us are nervous about needles – you are not alone. There are things you can do to help. Bring someone to your appointment who can hold your hand or distract you, and make sure to tell your vaccinator. They will understand and can help make you comfortable.”
7 0
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December 11, 2023 1:53pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Couldn’t care less about the needle , its what they pump out of the fucking thing that frightens me.
  
  5 0
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  December 11, 2023 5:18pm
- miltonF
  
  I really wish they’d stop trying to misinform the public. People are not hesitant to get their boosters due to syringe fear. More so, what the syringe contains. They should know. They issued 11,000 exemptions to themselves.
  
  What an utter disgrace.
  
  4 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:35pm
I remember when

Forgot to mention, that some people will no longer have parking outside their houses.
However, they will have prompt access to buses.

I understand the problem is terminal!!
8 1
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December 11, 2023 2:00pm
Bobba Fret

Here’s another dickhead that needs to feel the full force of the law and receive a maximum sentence to deter others.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/protesters-abseil-inside-te-papa-deface-the-treaty-of-waitangi-exhibition/HL65OE45IFEJVITTCQBHQ6A43I/
11 1
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December 11, 2023 2:05pm
- rouppe
  
  Seems they only defaced the English version.
  
  Odds on these people being Maori Party supporters?
  
  15 1
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  December 11, 2023 2:22pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Bound to be. They want the English version of the Treaty taken off display because “the translation of the Treaty [says] “our tupuna ceded sovereignty to the Crown”.”
    
    I thought the Treaty was written in English, then translated into Maori. So, the English version is not a translation, nor is it, as they also claim, a lie.
    
    The museum, meanwhile, points out that “the display shows English and … Māori versions of the Treaty and the information panels highlighted the differences.”
    
    Perhaps the protestors could be sentenced to remedial English?
    
    12 1
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    December 11, 2023 3:13pm
    - cmm
      
      “the translation of the Treaty ”
      
      No, this IS the treaty.
      
      Call it the English version if you will, but not a translation.
      
      The treaty was translated into Maori, not the other way around.
      
      Like most/all unwritten languages, Maori is not capable of conveying complex legal concepts and keeping the intent stable over many years. Thus the English version needs to be taken as the real version and the Maori version is the closest approximation that could be achieved at the time.
      
      9 0
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      December 11, 2023 5:13pm
    - surfing
      
      The maori don’t agree with the english version of the treaty so they want it removed from history.
      
      Nor do they agree with the election result, so they are trying to override it.
      
      9 0
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      December 11, 2023 6:30pm
- Southern Raider
  
  When I looked at the media photos it looked to me like some woke white people who were doing the abseiling and vandalism?
  
  Bet they get let off and back at Te Papa tomorrow doing it again
  
  8 1
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  December 11, 2023 3:29pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  So these people turn up with Hi Viz, Helmets, ropes, Harnesses, Carabiners, Power Tools, Paint, and cameras….and the staff at Te Papa just go, “Yeah, that’s ok, off you go……..”
  
  7 2
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  December 11, 2023 4:52pm
- cmm
  
  My question is how long it took them to do this. Were they allowed enough time before they were asked nicely to come down?
  
  If there was an intention to prevent this vandalism, then I am sure they could have got a cop and have him taser the prick off the wall within a few seconds.
  
  The cop shop is only 600 metres away. Could have had a cop sorting this out in under a minute.
  
  It would take much longer for someone to set up climbing kit and abseil into place.
  
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  December 11, 2023 5:20pm
- rouppe
  
  So what I’m thinking now, is that if someone did the same thing but defaced the Maori version, would we not be hearing words like “extremist”, “racist”, even “terrorist”?
  
  So if those acts would cause a reaction similar to those I describe, would it not be equitable to consider, label and treat these people as extremists, Racists and perhaps even terrorists?
  
  7 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:16pm
  - miltonF
    
    That was exactly my thinking too. If they were not Māori this would be considered terrorism. Defacing our national founding document.
    
    3 0
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    December 11, 2023 6:39pm
- Ghost
  
  Now that’s different, not a climate activist defacing “art”
  
  2 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:19pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

Does anyone know if National intends reversing Cindy’s ban on single-use-pastic-bags
in the next 100 days?

After the best part of 4 years, our strategic-reverse is getting low and we’re unsure
wether to top up again or not.
11 3
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December 11, 2023 2:57pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Not a chance. Nor the more recent banning of plastic produce bags, straws and cutlery.
  
  The ban was made using an Order in Council under a 2008 act, so if the coalition wanted to reverse it a simple OiC would suffice.
  
  https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2018/0270/6.0/whole.html
  
  But they won’t. Net Zero is far too important to National.
  
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  December 11, 2023 3:27pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    But it would be more than a little interesting, if the ban were reversed, to see what the big corporate players would do since they are generally so woke with all their ESG virtue signalling.
    
    With Seymour as Minister of Regulation it just might get looked at but I don’t see it getting past National.
    
    5 2
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    December 11, 2023 3:48pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Plastic bags have negligible greenhouse emissions. They were banned because they pollute the environment.
    
    0 0
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    December 12, 2023 1:46am
- rouppe
  
  Although I was against the ban, of the opinion people would just buy plastic bags anyway, as I do, the lack of plastic bags blowing around and being stuck in trees is noticeable.
  
  4 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:20pm
  - Matt Long
    
    Instead it was masks littering the roadsides, but the floods appear to have washed all of them into the sea now, untill the next mandatory Tom Foolery
    
    0 0
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    December 12, 2023 6:13am
- Benedict Yu
  
  No.
  
  0 0
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  December 12, 2023 1:42am
kujira

Wow, a union leech – who derives his income by taking directly from the pockets of workers – calls a Govt minister a vampire.
13 3
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December 11, 2023 3:43pm
- Gravelroad
  
  That Union guy was just one of several appearing on Te News this evening who just cannot accept that we have a change of government because people voted for a change of government.
  It’s like we don’t live in a democracy at all.
  What an angry, entitled bunch of selfish activists we now have seeking to have their own way in order to protect their cosy little lives.
  What about the voters who wanted change?
  Do their lives matter?
  
  9 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:49pm
Jack5

Where the $2 billion Labour promised the mental health system went features at the Radio NZ site.

What a disaster Labour has left behind in mental health.

You have to suspect a propaganda smoke screen is going up to shield Labour from the mess.

The article put up today at the RNZ site shows of the $2 billion:

– only $1.1 billion went to the health system

– of that $1.1 billion nearly half went to providing more than one thousand mental health “advisers” at GP practices.

– $800 million was spent outside Health.

The article includes the Mental Health Foundation talking about spending money on “well being” rather than hospital beds, and former Health Minister Andrew Little responding to criticism.

As a layman I’m puzzled by spending on “well being” and thousands of advisers when hospitals and medical staff are struggling to care for really mentally ill people.

Is “well being” Woke smoke that allows the creation of a new work force of adviser-level listeners?

A spend X now to save on Y expenditure in future argument can be proved only in decades’ time.

The urgent problem is now in packed, crumbling, understaffed psychiatric hospitals.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018918734/what-ever-happened-to-the-dollar2-billion-that-was-poured-into-mental-healthcare
7 1
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December 11, 2023 4:03pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Here we go again.
“The best vaccine is the one you can get” siad some egg.
Piss off! If they try it again, there is no Jaspinda to lock down Auckland over one positive case.
Refuse, rebel!!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/health/other/new-covid-19-vaccines-available-in-australia-millions-urged-to-get-a-booster-as-cases-rise/ar-AA1lhZXf?
9 2
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December 11, 2023 5:18pm
Maggie Pie

Why do we allow people like Russell Norman to think he can dictate to this country?

Name ONE THING he has ever done for the benefit of New Zealand?

Deport the pr*ck back to Aussie. And let him to take his Tibetan flag with him.
13 1
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December 11, 2023 5:35pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Wussel is the reason that we have so many Commies in the Greens. He was a member of the Aus Communist Party.
  
  10 0
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  December 11, 2023 5:42pm
- Ghost
  
  Name ONE THING he has ever done for the benefit of New Zealand?
  
  Resigned from parliament
  
  14 0
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  December 11, 2023 6:12pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  He is a New Zealand citizen so he cannot be deported.
  
  0 0
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  December 12, 2023 1:50am
Albie

Forever remembered for screeching “ give me back my flag!” Dweeb!
7 2
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December 11, 2023 6:52pm
Ra Henare

A separate thread to address Steve Ottos comment/Rant. ergo.
////
I could reverse mortgage the house to get some cash, but I’m not going to. Not pulling in any investments either.
After all of the Tax I have paid in the last 58 years I expect something in return.
Wouldn’t you? Or just keep on handing out money?
71 now and not clocking out for 20 years. I will need more than Super to live.
/////
My Responses.
ONE.
///
After all of the Tax I have paid in the last 58 years I expect something in return.
/////
So you never went to school. Or your children ?Paid for by taxes
Had any medical support, you or your children?? oh yes, You have had..
Paid for by the tax payer.
Got paid superannuation, paid for by taxpayers.
Had any discounts via your Goldcard, paid for by the tax payer.
Ever had to call the police? Firefighters? Ambulance? Been to court?
Driven on a non toll road.

All paid for by taxpayers

I am guessing that if you added all the income tax that you have paid in 58 years(so you started work at 13? well done). It would be miniscule in comparison to cost of the benefits you have received and will continue to receive.

Your bleating appears very beneficiary like.
/////
Two

71 now and not clocking out for 20 years. I will need more than Super to live.

///
So you want a cushy retirement fully funded by the government. No thoughts of contributing to your own wellbeing? In my day it was called personal responsibility.

You don’t need to take out a reverse mortgage. If you are as educated as you allude to in your numerous posts. You will know that you can use your Million plus equity(house) in other forms of finance.

///
I am 78 and living well on the Single blokes Superannuation.
Its simple. If you get really sick, you die.
I am a fan of the eskimo attitude.

When you are too old to chew leather. Go sit in an icehole and releave your dependants and community of wasting their money(taxes) on a lost cause.
/////
Maybe you should consider changing your attitude to life as being one of positivity and graciousness and thankful for the rich and productive life you have had so far??

Just a thought on a sunny day.
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December 11, 2023 7:10pm
Ghost

Bye

Another One Bites The Dust

One of New Zealand’s most prominent Pacific health leaders says he has “no confidence” in the government after stepping down from almost every advisory role.

Article
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December 11, 2023 7:48pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  I do not know how much he was being paid, but I’m sure it could fund a few procedures with the money saved!
  
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  December 11, 2023 8:48pm
Swifty

RNZ’s piece tonight on the FPA repeal with audio of a number of protestors and the points they make;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018919058

My god, every single point made you can drive a bloody truck through. Just emotional grasping garbage with typical particularly nasty stuff from the racist liar Davidson and the KiwiBuild czar Twyford (snigger).
8 0
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December 11, 2023 7:48pm
- James Stephenson
  
  How much airtime did those objecting to the canning of Charter Schools get? How many times did our own DG get asked to criticise the removal of 3S?
  
  Our media don’t even try to pretend to hide their bias.
  
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  December 11, 2023 10:07pm
Maggie Pie

MONDAT NIGHT POLL….

Should the Government revoke Sir Collin’s knighthood?

https://twitter.com/1NewsNZ/status/1734094413482152311

Uptick: YES
Downtic: NO

(In the interests of fairnwss, do not let the current comments sway your vote. Result will be revealed @ 8am tomorrow on GD)
11 2
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December 11, 2023 7:54pm
- Ghost
  
  But who shall we give it to? Sir Maggie Pie?
  
  1 0
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  December 11, 2023 8:37pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  His knighthood was in relation to his dedicated work for the health of pacific islanders.
  
  You cannot revoke his knighthood just because he engaged in some political grandstanding. Frankly it would look petty and vindictive, and set a dreadful precedent.
  
  (One thing that bemused me was Sir Collin saying he has no confidence in the new government. That reveals what a high opinion that many public servants now have of themselves. It used to be that public servants hoped the government would retain confidence in them.)
  
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  December 11, 2023 9:26pm
  - Burtland
    
    all these gonged labour nomenklatura need to be rooted out
    
    0 0
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    December 12, 2023 7:39am
- Ra Henare
  
  At least we can say he has integrity!!!!
  No need for emotive cancel culture here
  
  0 0
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  December 11, 2023 11:57pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I assume you are joking. You want to remove his knighthood because he does not like the Government? What kind of precedent would that set?
  
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  December 12, 2023 1:56am
SmokerGuy

So all MSM news sites the headline is some guy having a cry because he doesn’t like the government. Maybe he should be more critical of his own people! There are many, many ways to stop smoking, but everyone just automatically think it’s the government’s job to do everything for people now days. No such thing as personal responsibility anymore obviously!
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December 11, 2023 8:42pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  As if any of them would be taking government policies into account one way or the other when they’re buying their cigarettes at the dairy. Collin needs to give himself an uppercut and his people need to take Yul Brynner’s advice – don’t smoke, whatever you do, just don’t smoke.
  
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  December 11, 2023 11:46pm

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