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December 31, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 31 December 2023

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General Debate

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CJames

I see the chickens have come home to roost (or perhaps more appropriately poo) with Aucland not able to swim because of sewage in the water. Something farmers would be proscecuted for. And 3 Waters in its original format wasn’t going to address. Lucky Wellington never gets warm enough to want to swim there.
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December 31, 2023 8:01am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The only thing that makes the hellhole that is Auckland bearable is going to the beach.
  
  And now you can’t even do that.
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/12/nicola-willis-says-councils-responsible-for-sewerage-management-as-most-auckland-beaches-unsafe-to-swim-on-27c-day.html
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:02am
  - Matt Long
    
    If you want city beaches safe to swim you need to change the regulatory environment so that there are consequences for elected officers, management and staff when the beaches have more floaters than people swimming in them.
    Otherwise they will only deteriorate further.
    As it stands Council’s get the best kudos for white elephant vanity projects and have no incentive to up their game on sewage or storm water.
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:04am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Getting any sense out of Watercare is impossible.
      
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      December 31, 2023 9:17am
      - imalwaysright
        
        New Zealand is in a coma.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:15am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Been in a coma for 6 years!
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:50am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Beach Ranger.
    See the size of my bone carving e hoa?
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:15am
- 3-coil
  
  CJ: …but as Pinky proved, you don’t actually swim at Auckland beaches – (now it’s official) you just go through the motions
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:17am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Very good. 😆
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:23am
  - Souvlaki
    
    Quip du jour!
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:37am
  - Nickc2
    
    No wonder they’re phasing out the Ferry to Waiheke eh?
    I’m picking that at the current rate of Akld’s Sewage System discharge to sea, we’ll be able to walk to Waiheke by the end of 2024.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:02pm
- sirknz
  
  It’s based on computer modelling and the media runs this story every time it rains for more than 5 minutes.
  
  Apparently this is also supporting evidence for the necessity of 3 Waters.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:20am
  - Frank the tank
    
    And it is about as accurate as a Shaun Hendy covid deaths calculation. Whenever ‘red’ has been actually tested it comes back green.
    
    It is a gigantic have
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:00am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Shaun of the Dead
      
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      December 31, 2023 12:32pm
- thetiedarch
  
  This happens multiple times every year and has so for a long time.
  
  It was never about water quality. Only ever about persecuting farmers.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:42am
- Cinematic
  
  Based on modeling not actual water testing. We all know where modeling has got us over the last few years.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:48am
- NothingLeft
  
  The true chance of getting sick from a swim in Auckland will be near zero. Certainly the water quality will be better than it was for 95% of last 100 years. This is just more regulatory excess from the safety Karenocracy.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:25am
- JackRabbit
  
  I disagree.
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/12/nicola-willis-says-councils-responsible-for-sewerage-management-as-most-auckland-beaches-unsafe-to-swim-on-27c-day.html
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/375941/private-pipes-blamed-for-leaking-human-waste-onto-auckland-beaches
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:37am
- thirteenstars
  
  Reminds me of the same scandalous situation at Caroline Bay, Timaru in the 70s when it coincided with a prolonged jellyfish invasion. You never quite knew what you were stepping on, either possibility being very disagreeable.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:47am
- Stellaboxer
  
  The water around Wellington is fine because we have a left wing major. Auckland on the other hand has a right wing major so that every time it rains or there are holidays the beaches are declared unfit to use. The prols are supposed to sit at home seething with resentment. It’s like how the rivers and waterways were running open sewers of cow shit when John Key was the PM but amazingly must of become health spars when Ardern came to power because the whole thing stopped being “ news” along with homelessness of course. The media is irrelevant in this country, it has done it to itself, it isn’t that it’s biased its that is totally captured acting in the large part wholly on behalf of the radical left whilst public servants push the political interests of the captured universities. Wake up and start defunding media and university courses other than STEM or continue to fund the cultural revolution.
  
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  December 31, 2023 2:22pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Struth that’s the truth.
    
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    December 31, 2023 6:49pm
Bridgenag

JUST LIKE NZ
This Year the Pandemic Ended: A Retrospective
In 2023, the Covid Circus finally packed up its tents in the Federal Republic of Germany. Nobody regrets their departure and all efforts to revive the performance have fallen flat.

The only difference was that the bureaucracy gave up on caring about the virus, and the press stopped boosting certain meaningless stories and stopped repressing other meaningful ones. …

https://open.substack.com/pub/eugyppius/p/this-year-the-pandemic-ended-a-retrospective?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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December 31, 2023 8:24am
- mawm
  
  The Germans are probably more concerned with heating their homes and the loss of their industries to China.
  
  Isn’t it wonderful to be an ally of the US of A. //sarc
  
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  December 31, 2023 1:47pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    But but but they keep telling us wind and solar are the cheapest forms of electricity!
    
    So who is lying?
    
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    January 1, 2024 2:08pm
kevn

All those ‘initiatives’ like cheescutters, 80/70/50/50/30kmph restrictions don’t seem to have done much.
Check the graph within the story…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/two-dead-in-christchurch-tunnel-rd-crash-one-dead-at-te-puru-holiday-road-toll-rises-to-15/JR35OAWKOBEVBBQPSEY42WGZ3M/
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December 31, 2023 8:30am
- CJames
  
  The problem with road deaths isn’t speed per se, especially if it is just over the limit which is most of the fines (they are just revenue gathering) . Almost all road fatalities have at least one of the drivers having a number of the following factors: young, male, drugs/ alcohol, Maori, unlicensed/ unregistered vehicle, driving outside the terms of their license (if they have one). Speed and failure to drive to conditions aren’t the initiators, just the consequences of the factors.
  However, rather than address the factors, the nanny state wants to make the roads “safe” by just lowering speeds and building the ridiculous crash barriers using money which would be better spent on fixing potholes. Until the factors are addressed, the road toll won’t go down.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:43am
  - kowtow
    
    Nanny state punishes everyone for the faults of the few.
    
    That applies almost across the board these days .
    
    “Drink” driving , was so ‘evil’ we lost our civil liberties to be stopped anywhere , anytime .
    The state knows who the problem drivers are , target them , not the law abiding.
    
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    December 31, 2023 8:48am
  - Cinematic
    
    Based in the serious accident that occurred directly in front of my on Leigh Rd 4 days ago I’d say old age and consequent incompetence should be added to that list.
    
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    December 31, 2023 8:54am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Get a life! I am 71 and have a Class 5 License.
      Incompetence yes, but age has nothing to do with it as long as you pass the eye test.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:33am
      - Matt Long
        
        You’re 71, not in your old age Steve, wait your turn.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:44am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Matt, I’m in no hurry really. My years of hard physical work have kept me fit and healthy, so I’m not clocking out for 20 years.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:55am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Steve,
        The comment was about COMPETENCE, not about passing an eye test.
        
        It is well known that reaction times are severely impaired by age. Yes there are safe 75 year old Class 5 drivers. But they are professional drivers who have decades of experience, which in a small way offsets reaction times as their experience detects problems before they arise.
        
        I passed my 75 yo licence renewal eye test. But T 76 stopped exercising my licence (Class 4) PRIVELEGES when I realised my reaction time etc was not up to standard.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:04pm
  - pdm
    
    CJ – those reduced speed limits on good (are there any in NZ at present) open roads create impatient drivers.
    
    An impatient driver is a dangerous driver.
    
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    December 31, 2023 8:55am
    - CJames
      
      Napier Taupo from Matea Rd to Eskdale. Designed as 100km corners almost all the way (only one tight corner near Tarawera) and a lot of it three laned yet 80km/h.
      Lots of logging trucks when Panpac was open but near impossible to pass and stay under 80km/h and those straights are where the speed cameras sit.
      
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      December 31, 2023 9:02am
      - pdm
        
        CJ last time I drove through there (early November) the 80k speed limit was largely ignored with average speed through the `restricted zone’ in the mid to high 90 kph.
        
        Traffic flow was excellent and the idiot drivers were taken out of play. That applied travelling both ways – to Taupo Saturday and home to Hastings Sunday.
        
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        December 31, 2023 10:48am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Impatience on the open road, as wrong as it is, is caused by:
      
      [1] Drivers unaware of how fast or slow they are traveling – Many speedos reading +10% (imports) and as low as -5%. If you are going to travel on the open road, it is imperative you know how fast you are traveling.
      
      [2] Drivers traveling slow, not pulling over to let faster traffic pass (even on motorways); hogging the white line so as to make legitimate passing almost impossible (not keeping left); traveling slow and then speeding up on passing lanes.
      
      “If you’re traveling slower than the speed limit and there are vehicles following you, you must: keep as close to the left side of the road as possible. Pull over as soon as it’s safe to let following vehicles pass.”
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I have a radar detector. That is not a license to speed, and I generally do not do so. However, it can be very helpful when I am about to overtake a (say) truck doing 90 kmh in a passing lane. Because I will inevitably hit at least 120 kmh in passing. I can recall two occasions that the alarm has gone off as I was about to pass. Quick change of plans. 🙂
        
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        December 31, 2023 5:44pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        This is while driving an SUV BY? I find SUV drivers disproportionately drive like they think they have a special pass to break the law. Manufacturers feed them this marketing and entitled dummies lap it up.
        
        Do tell us how human caused catastrophic climate change is real again.
        
        Hopefully someone or something will take you off the road before you get a chance to maim or kill people just trying to get from A to B in economical fashion.
        
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        January 1, 2024 2:21pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Being “Maori” is a significant cause of road accidents? I’d like to see the evidence for that claim. I’ve been overtaken in high risk manoeuvres by plenty of drivers who didn’t look very Maori to me.
    
    Missing from your list: cell phone usage, especially texting.
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:00am
    - NothingLeft
      
      I bet there is high correlation with criminality. (Stupid risk taking)
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:28am
    - CJames
      
      It was Maori ethnicity – talk to the cops and the emergency works who have the unenviable task of clearing up the mess. And here is the most recent data I can find in a quick search. https://www.ehinz.ac.nz/assets/Factsheets/Released_2020/Road-traffic-injury-mortality.pdf
      Probably a correlation with all the other factors rather than one in itself, but it didn’t include PIs. I believe the factor is still there if one goes by the names released after fatals.
      
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      December 31, 2023 12:44pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    It would be helpful if the police honestly analysed the causes of fatal crashes. Last time I looked at the database the cause of the crash was frequently listed as “excessive speed” when the actual cause is “extreme stupidity”.
    
    Let’s say someone attempts to overtake a slow moving truck. There is not enough clear road and stupid person collides with an oncoming vehicle. Everyone dead. The police estimate that the vehicle was overtaking at 125 kmh. The cause of the accident is therefore “excessive speed”.
    
    Of course that is wrong. The cause of the accident was a reckless driver who could not judge the clear road necessary to overtake. There is nothing inherently unsafe about overtaking at 120 kmh.
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:08am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Friend is a vineyard machinery operator who sometimes has to drive big tractors, sprayers, cultivators etc along public roads to get the machines to the next job or to the repair depots.
      Friend knows it is not ideal to be driving these on roads used by others, but that’s the way of the system and not illegal.
      At this time of year the worst culprits for taking huge risks by overtaking on blind corners and impatience generally (tooting horn, rude gestures out the window etc) are those in camper vans and car drivers towing boats/caravans.
      In a hurry to get on with their holidays.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:11am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Some drivers are nuts. I frequently get caught behind tractors/harvesters. Sit behind and wait until it is safe to pass. It takes as long as it takes.
        
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        December 31, 2023 10:58am
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Benedict Yu
        
        The law in this country states that if you are traveling slow that you pull over and let other cars behind you pass. The police are able to write tickets for drivers of tractors/harvesters/campervans that impede traffic.
        
        But as you say you have to sit behind and wait until it is safe to pass. Once followed a tractor / harvester trailer for 15km on the road to Hanmer Springs before the Waipara turnoff, on a very busy public holiday.
        
        There would have been 50+ cars in the queue, but driver refused to pull over. Kinda stupid as the trailer had the company name on it.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:18am
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Benedict Yu @ 10:58AM
        
        Hmm, easy for you to say now, Benedict; you’re 60. I know you weren’t living in New Zealand 30+ years ago, but are you certain your 20- to 30-year-old self would have taken your advice, on all occasions?
        
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        December 31, 2023 1:37pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        Heh. When I was helping out an ag contractor in 2020 because of their staff shortages caused by the lockdowns, it was explained to me that if I didn’t pull over the tractor/trailer unit to let cars pass the cops would do me over.
        
        All good but in one Friday afternoon trip in the short distance between Rukuhia and Te Awamutu I had to pull over five bloody times, such was the traffic. I’d let a dozen or more cars go, pull out back on the road and seemingly within a few minutes I’d have the same backlog.
        
        I was asking myself when TA turned into a suburb for Hamilton’s day workers? What was this, the I-95 at rush hour?
        
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        December 31, 2023 4:15pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Hmm, easy for you to say now, Benedict; you’re 60. I know you weren’t living in New Zealand 30+ years ago, but are you certain your 20- to 30-year-old self would have taken your advice, on all occasions?”
        
        Yes, and vastly more so. I had young children for whom I was responsible.
        
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        December 31, 2023 5:47pm
      - GJM
        
        As a campervan driver…
        One of the problems of NZ roads is there is no where ot pull over, and if ther eis, often you don’t e\have enough warning to plan and indiate the manouver.
        The camper is 2.4m (8′) wide, top heavy and is a basically a truck. NZ roads have narrow or non existant verges and deep ditches beside them, so pulling over isnot an option
        
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        December 31, 2023 5:56pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Benedict Yu @ 5:47PM
        
        Okay. Thanks, Benedict. I happily take your word for that.
        
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        December 31, 2023 6:01pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      There is nothing inherently unsafe about overtaking at 120 kmh.
      
      I did two defensive driving courses with the old MOT. Said instructor, a traffic cop, said that if you are going to pass, do NOT do it slowly. Get it over and done with as quickly as possible, because teh longer you are on the wrong side of the road, the more danger you are in.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:48am
      - MCōs
        
        Without breaking the law . . . . .
        
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        December 31, 2023 12:34pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @MCōs
        
        No, he advocated putting the foot down. Otherwise there was no point trying to pass.
        
        At a speed differential of 10km/hr, if you are observing the 2 second rule at all times, requires approx 1.3km of clear road. And that does not include the obligatory 100m of clear road at the end, so you don’t force the car on the left into the weeds.
        
        At a speed differential of 5km/hr, if you are observing the 2 second rule at all time, requires 2.60km of road.
        
        On trips I have tried passing lanes staying under 100km and it is impossible as the car you are passing usually speeds up, even if unconsciously.
        
        Even today most passing lanes are under 1.2km making it nigh on impossible to get one car past at a 10km differential, let alone 3 or 4. 5km differential you can forget.
        
        The cops know this, and turn a blind eye. A retired cop mate of mine, said that unofficially cops were not supposed to set up speed cameras within the locality of a passing lane. He said occasionally it was done by mistake by rookies and a********s trying to get their stats up.
        
        But generally it was frowned on by mature cops as the insufficient passing lane lengths require exceeding the speed limit, so clocking a car on a passing lane was considered entrapment, and too easily challenged in court.
        
        “I was halfway past the car on the left and he sped up, and I had 2 cars on my bumper and there was no space to pull back into the left lane.”
        
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        December 31, 2023 2:24pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        I’ll just add that the last ticket I got was for 116. Issued by an actual cop traveling in the other direction. While overtaking, in a passing lane, with a few other cars following me also needing to pass. The car we had been following had been driving at 85, slowing to much less when he was braking on the bends. Now doing 105 in the passing lane.
        They should re-brand the cars from Police to IRD. It’s about meeting targets and quotas, not road safety.
        
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        December 31, 2023 3:27pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “No, he advocated putting the foot down. Otherwise there was no point trying to pass.”
        
        Indeed. It is impossible to pass a vehicle travelling at 90 kmh and not exceed 120 kmh in most passing lanes. It is actually dangerous, because you will have three or four cars up your arse with drivers losing their minds.
        
        Common sense would see a law change that allows drivers to pass vehicles in a passing lane at up to 120 kmh, provided that drivers return to 100 kmh as soon as practicable after passing. Of course that will never happen because police are not capable of thinking beyond platitudes and mindlessness.
        
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        December 31, 2023 5:53pm
  - MCōs
    
    We were driving with a Thai friend one day and she didn’t come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I said you didn’t stop. She said ’Bloody Asian driver’
    We were driving along the Puhoi motorway on Christmas Day with my bloody Asian wife at the wheel and we passed a bloody pakeha texting while he was driving. At least he wasn’t a bloody boomer!
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:18am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Our Thai friend in Alaska is a bit of a laugh. First time there she picks us up at the Anchorage Airport. Driving out and onto the road she says “Look out, Asian driver!”
      Next minute we are doing 45 mph. I’m saying “slow down.” “I’m not speeding, it is 45 mph around the town.”
      She is a very confident driver. Never drove in Bangkok and learnt in just over 1 year in Anchorage.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:40am
    - fredonas
      
      LOLs 🙁
      “What’s Google talking about? There’s been driverless cars for years: 80 year old chinese women.” – [US comedian] Nick Di Paolo
      
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      December 31, 2023 3:19pm
  - Paulus
    
    I got done the other day at 10kms over the limit (60kms in 50kms) and have not been done for well over 25 years (Desert Road 8am).
    $30 paid, as did not see camera anywhere and do the road very regularly.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:06am
    - GJM
      
      got a ticket a few weeks ago for 111km in a 100 by a cop car, just out of Waiuru, on a long straight road on a fine day wiht little traffic. H said they were focussing on the people doing 110+. Noce enough guy, but don’t expect me to go out of my way to help if you need it. I don’t support the IRD.
      
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      December 31, 2023 6:01pm
    - rouppe
      
      My last was 57 in a 50, southbound at pukerua bay. Quite what problem they think they’re solving I don’t know
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:30pm
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    I would be interested to hear your plan for how the government should address factors such as drivers being young, male, or Maori.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:17am
  - G152
    
    I put accidents down to inattention to detail by one or more drivers/passengers.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:33am
  - David Garrett
    
    CJames: Spot on. As I have noted here before, one summer holiday perhaps 5-8 years ago the coppers announced with great fanfare that “in the interests of road safety” the usual 4-5kph “tolerance” would be suspended, i.e. if caught doing 52 in a 50 kph area, you would get a ticket.
    
    That summer the road toll increased from
    that of the previous summer holiday. Silence from on high.
    
    The cops are obsessed with speed as the principal cause of road crashes. In reality the factors you cite – particularly youth and alcohol combined – are all collectively much more of a factor than speed alone.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:22am
  - Ghost
    
    It was a speeding white guy that killed my brother. Out off all the accidents I’ve known speeding was the cause of all except one that involved alcohol.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:33am
    - David Garrett
      
      Ghost: You have my sympathy…but you are intelligent enough to know that a sample of one proves absolutely nothing.
      
      I also agree that my example of one summer in which removing the tolerance made no material difference – it may well have been coincidence that the summer toll that summer was higher – doesn’t necessarily prove anything.
      
      Perhaps they could alternate: one summer with the 5kph tolerance, one without, for – say – ten summers and see what the difference is, if any. I am prepared to bet that averaged out, there would be no difference at all.
      
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      December 31, 2023 12:34pm
      - Ghost
        
        David, I’d rather they take a serious look at the laws. Repeated drunk drivers repeating their behaviour. Take their license off them, sell their car, and when their allotted time without a license is over, make them start from a learners license. Neighbour was hit by an Aucklander failing to stop at a stop sign, going through the intersection straight into the side of her car. Driver basically got a slap with a wet bus ticket. Problem in this country is we don’t take crimes committed by drivers and their passengers seriously.
        
        I will give you an example, this guy has destroyed this couples life. 4 months community detention.
        
        https://www.odt.co.nz/southland/couple-say-crash-took-their-freedom#:~:text=An%20elderly%20couple%20say%20they%20will%20never%20get,to%20two%20charges%20of%20dangerous%20driving%20causing%20injury.
        
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        December 31, 2023 1:05pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  If by “cheese cutters” “you mean wire rope median barriers, they are effective at preventing serious head on collisions. They are not ideal of course.
  
  These barriers were installed on the coastal highway north of Paekākāriki (now a local road with Transmission Gully open). The road was famous for serious and fatal crashes. After the barrier was installed there were no further serious crashes, despite the barrier being hit multiple times.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:49am
  - CJames
    
    Benedict. Yes, those barriers do prevent fata head-ons. However, they are installed on roads which are too narrow when they could widen. Often only just a single lane each way with next to no hard shoulder. That means cars hit them if drivers drift just a little off the line – never a risk of a head on. Then the road gets blocked because traffic can’t get past, nor can emergency services respond. People can’t pass slow vehicles, even when road is clear because of them.
    SH1 in the central North Island shows this mania. The number of road closures there has gone up. They install the barriers right next to unfixed potholes, which shows their priorities.
    
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    December 31, 2023 8:57am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes I agree. That costal road on the Kapiti coast was a special case. Before TG it was high volume traffic and it could not be widened. The wire rope barrier was a last resort, which did work as intended. Thankfully no longer an issue with the new motorway.
      
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      December 31, 2023 9:00am
      - CJames
        
        Benedict. That road could easily have been widened – same way as they originally built it. Put a retaining wall on the seaward side and fill the space behind it with rocks. Not that expensive either as they had plenty of material nearby.
        The reasons why they didn’t are lost in the bureaucracy. Why waste money when Transmission Gully was going to be built? That was the excuse for about 50 years.
        
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        December 31, 2023 9:06am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Perhaps Centennial Highway should be cleared of the cheese cutters, now that Transmission Gully is open.
        
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        December 31, 2023 10:06am
      - CJames
        
        Never Mind – For Centennial Highway, I think the barriers should stay even with less traffic. You just get people going faster, especially motorcyclists with a death wish, so the risk would invariably be higher now without them.
        Look at Rimutaka Saddle. Lots of motorbike crashes as they raced on that. They lowered the speed limit but did the bike crash rate go down?
        
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        December 31, 2023 1:14pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        CJ – all the more reason to remove the cheese cutters. Motorcyclists are the cheese in question …
        
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        December 31, 2023 1:38pm
    - pdm
      
      CJ – try the Hawkes Bay expressway.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:54am
  - newview
    
    Cheese cutters are ok on the right roads. The Hawkes Bay expressway which was supposed to be four lanes but is only two courtesy of the Labour government, is an abomination. The two lanes are divided by cheese cutters that keep the traffic apart but slow the traffic to the speed of the slowest vehicle and leave no room for emergency services to get through.
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:05am
    - septic skeptic
      
      The single lane divided highway seems to be a unique New Zealand experience, at least from my travels. Everywhere else seems to go for two lanes each way on a divided road.
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:01am
      - David Garrett
        
        septic: Clearly you haven’t traveled much in the southern rural states of the US, particularly Alabama Georgia and Louisiana.
        
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        December 31, 2023 12:36pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        DG. Never driven there. But have done an extensive roadtrip from Vegas through Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and San Fran. Good roads throughout. Same in British Colombia, France, Italy (including Sardinia), Germany, Austria, UK and East coast Australia.
        
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        December 31, 2023 3:35pm
    - Tom Hunter
      
      I assume it was the local National MP that got the money, but somehow, someway, in the 1970’s a significant part of the Hamilton-Te Awamutu highway was built as a four lane road and stayed liked that for decades. Great stuff, especially when you consider what was then a low-traffic density.
      
      However by the time I returned from the States in the 2000’s it had already been converted into the thing you describe – and it’s a pain in the ass, especially with all the extra traffic nowadays.
      
      Thanks MOT!!
      
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      December 31, 2023 4:20pm
  - kevn
    
    BY… The median application makes sense but the wires are also on the sides of the road. To avoid a drain and push one back into the traffic flow. Rural contractors can’t turn around or move off the road.
    Ask any motorcyclist as well.
    BUT, let’s talk about POTHOLES and the driving needed to avoid them, swerving and looking for the next pothole rather than noting on-coming traffic.
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:06am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Fully agree, A motorcyclists worst night mare and Im pretty sure a decade or so in the UK they installed “cheese graters” and then removed most if not all.
      On a question yesterday,
      Regarding shipping in the Arctic, Mainly the NSR ( Russian).
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_shipping_routes
      
      As you can see the Northern Sea Route will take off 1000’s nm getting goods to Europe . It was originaly proposed to get Russian Oil/Gas via Sakhalin Island to Europe with bigger Ice Breakers ( Nuclear Powered) and open routes during Summer/Autumn.
      
      However the Chinese are looking at it to help with the shorter routes for Chinese exports.
      
      This would entail building better Ice Class, Tankers, Cargo ships and more secure supply chains ( Look at Red Sea and Suez issues and other issues with Panama Canal and reduced shipping).
      
      They really are ahead of the curve in securing supply chains.
      
      It is not so much the fact that Sea Ice is reducing but by sailing in convoy with a large Nuclear Powered Ice Breaker the Sea Route will stay open (Till Ice is too thick ).
      
      Hence the Chinese starting to Build Ice Breakers capable,
      https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-china-building-nuclear-powered-icebreaker-31257
      
      And this from ABC which is misleading but still gets a few factual truths.
      
      “If Russia’s gamble pays off, within the next decade there are plans for 200 million tonnes of cargo per year to be moving through these waters, adding more than $500 million to Russia’s GDP.”
      
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-11/russias-northern-sea-route-gamble-vladimir-putin/102020368
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:20am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Not nice to motorcyclists.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:42am
  - GJM
    
    Letah to motorcyclists however. Mind you, government consider motorcylists to be expendable anyway
    
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    December 31, 2023 6:03pm
- dubya
  
  Compulsory insurance would be a helpful start to getting some of the worse drivers off the road. Not that it stops many of then from driving unwarranted and unregistered. I have a junior colleague who is well paid enough but drives around, in a BMW of all things, with none of the above and didn’t even realise his failure to pay rego now means his car is deregistered and likely worthless.
  
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  December 31, 2023 8:59am
  - peterwn
    
    The idea of compulsory third party property damage insurance has been around for decades. It was a hardy annual remit at Electric Power Boards conferences (vehicles hitting power poles). Insurance companies do not want the business. If very high premiums are set for what are deemed to be highest risk drivers, it will cause backlash as for non urban dwellers a car is generally a necessity, it is racist, etc, etc. So that means premiums have to be capped and those on lower premiums subsidising those on potentially higher premiums or subsidising those who do not take out the insurance. The only people wanting it are those who grizzle because they have to pay an excess and/or lose no claims bonus because the other driver caused the accident and was not insured.
    If compulsory insurance has still not been introduced after 70+ years, it seems unlikely it will be introduced any time soon.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:35pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      They have compulsory 3rd party insurance (at minimum) in the UK & the sky hasn’t fallen in.
      
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      December 31, 2023 6:16pm
      - GJM
        
        The third party compulsory insurance in the UK and Oz is medical cover, equivalent to ACC in nz
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:47pm
Hollyfield

A very moving piece from 1000 Israeli musicians calling for the return of the hostages. Some of the musicians have family members still held hostage in Gaza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aIyZnFbOu0
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December 31, 2023 8:31am
- Paulus
  
  The last thing that Hamas will want is to be seen to backdown – it will not happen.
  They remain still mentally unstable as the result of their actions.
  
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  December 31, 2023 1:38pm
Bridgenag

From bad cattitude

…….in all seriousness, what else are we going to call the monomaniacal pursuit of impossible viral mitigation/elimination without regard to lives and livelihoods this pseudoscientific pantomime of “doing something” amounted to if not sociopathy?

…….how does one simply ignore the fact that there is an entire society, an entire economy, 100’s of millions of people, workers, children, business owners, people just wanting to live their lives attached to this misbegotten public health crusade?

….it was not science.

it was not public health.

it was known and knowably false.

lockdowns don’t work. neither do masks, travel bans, school closures, or “social distancing.” 100 years of hard learned pandemic guidelines said so.

it was, frankly, absurd.

it was malpractice of the highest order by people who knew better.

there has never been a pandemic that was materially dangerous to a modern society except in the rare instances that the societies in question lost their minds in over-reaction. that is always the prime danger, not a virus, respiratory or otherwise.

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/mistakes-were-made-collins-edition?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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December 31, 2023 8:33am
Chuck Bird

Activists attack US Consulate in Melbourne

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/activists-attack-us-consulate-in-melbourne/clqrq3klu00210jphii37fqzc
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December 31, 2023 8:38am
- Che Guava
  
  Is it any wonder pro-Palestinian activists (or who really knows – certainly people dressed up as pro-Palestinian activists) have vandalised the US consulate? Without the unquestioned backing of the US, Israel could have never survived for the last 50 years. US backing is necessary for Israel’s continuance, and when the US is acting as guarantor for Israel’s latest violence, it’s no wonder the activists target a US consulate.
  
  PS And where was Dvir Abramovitch of the Anti-Defamation Commission (who knew Oz had an ADL equivalent?) when Russian political and private properties were being vandalised and anti-Russian sentiment ran high re: Ukraine?
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:30am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The “protestors” must have a watertight communication system .
    Even the koster keystone kops managed to monitor the farmers protests, Batchelor, and the brave Parliament protestors on antisocial media and telecoms.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:37am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    “US is acting as guarantor for Israel’s latest violence”. Israel’s “latest violence”. Tell the parents of the young women raped and mutilated by those representing the elected Legislative Council of Gaza. Tell the families of those burned alive by those representing the elected Legislative Council of Gaza. Israel is at war with Hamas, the Legislative Council of Gaza. In response to the vile actions of that Government. There is NO defence for what those sick, psychopathic nutters did. And just by the by, Hamas is an acronym of the Islamic Resistance Movement in case you didn’t know. Hamas doesn’t give a turd about land. They care about the religion of the people living in the land.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:28pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I have viewed this. I started to see there was a different point of view. However, when he claimed that the scum who committed atrocities on 7 October were resistance fighters I discounted most of his claims.
    
    As I said elsewhere Israeli settlers did some pretty bad things in the West Bank but that in no way justified he atrosities committed by human scum.
    
    Why This Son of an Israeli General is Pro-Palestine | JHS Ep. 927
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_cTJDqM0E
    
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    December 31, 2023 3:35pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Oh to be so biased and woke.
      Resistance fighters? terrorists.
      
      Nelson Mandela was jailed for being a Terrorist.
      Le Kwan Yew was labeled a terrorist.
      
      A label is used as another propaganda tool..
      Enemies are terrorists
      Friends are Freedom/resistance fighters
      
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      December 31, 2023 7:07pm
Sparrow

There is genuine anger out in the real world regarding the awarding of a knighthood to Mallard.
I have no idea how you start a petition and organise one. Believe there should be one to remove that knighthood from him.
Anybody interested?
I know there is zilch chance of having it removed but let the people speak.
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December 31, 2023 8:39am
- Che Guava
  
  Aren’t there far bigger things to get yourself worked up about? The practice of rewarding one’s political friends with underserved honours is nothing new, and is more of a symptom than a fundamental issue. I doubt most people are even aware of it.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:24am
  - Steve Todd
    
    Quite right, Che. Comments over the last day or so about Mallard have made me laugh.
    
    Over the next six or more years, will Kiwiblog commenters react adversely to any knight- dame-hoods? Answer: no.
    
    What happens when, in the fullness of time, Gerry gets his knighthood? Will Kiwiblog commenters make mention of the time, at the Wellington Town Hall(?), during a National Party conference, when he “assaulted” a protester by attempting to push him back down the stairs, or, will they make mention of his attempt to slip out through a side door at Wellington Airport during the height of the Covid business? Answer: no.
    
    It’s all so ridiculously subjective.
    
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    December 31, 2023 3:51pm
    - peterwn
      
      And Winston when he gets his. Only thing that would stop it if he unexpectedly dies before he decides to retire.
      
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      December 31, 2023 5:40pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Oh, c’mon, peterwn, we’ve been here before (see https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/10/why_national_should_do_a_deal_with_winston.html/comment-page-1#comment-3454482).
        
        You could have at least acknowledged that I have stropped you up on this point before. I must say, I’m rather disappointed in you.
        
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        December 31, 2023 6:27pm
    - peterwn
      
      If Young Nats sneaked into a Green Party Annual Conference and spied or protested, the Greens, civil rights people and others would be screaming in protest. Indeed until fairly recent times security at National Party (and possible other party conferences) was weak or non existent because people respected the right of political parties to hold their conferences in peace and without interference. So is it any wonder that delegates such as Gerry get upset when people gatecrash the conference and make a nuisance of themselves?
      At Labour Party conferences even putting unauthorised leaflets on delegates’ seats is enough to get delegates ‘trespassed’ from the conference.
      
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      December 31, 2023 5:56pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        peterwn: regardless, he’s still going to get his knighthood, and Kiwibloggers will say, in unison, “good job”. I say, in advance, hipocrasy.
        
        ps: what about slipping out the side door during a pandemic, because he was “too important to be subject to that nonsense”?
        
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        December 31, 2023 6:46pm
    - Che Guava
      
      We don’t usually agree Steve, but I am with you on this.
      
      Is a headline like “Labour Stalwart Rewarded by Labour in New Years Honours Following Decades of Milking the Public Purse” either any surprise or anything that a National government wouldn’t do itself for some of its own long-serving-but-mostly-unexceptional identities? The answer is “no” in both cases.
      
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      December 31, 2023 6:33pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Thanks, Che. Totally agree with that.
        
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        December 31, 2023 6:59pm
- gorse
  
  I emailed Seymour yesterday, reminding him he said on TV that if he got into power Mallard would be recalled. I said you are, is he? Got an automatic reply acknowledging the email. I guess that will be that.
  
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  December 31, 2023 5:38pm
  - Che Guava
    
    Welcome to reality. Seymour’s in power now, he doesn’t need to live up to anything he promised to do beforehand, particularly throwaway promises like recalling Mallard.
    
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    December 31, 2023 6:36pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    I guess that will be that.
    
    Well, yeah, if you let it be.
    
    E-mail him back, even write a letter, asking him when you can expect a reply from him.
    
    Clearly, this matter is important to you. Force him to respond. Ring his office, if necessary. Don’t let it just slide away.
    
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    December 31, 2023 7:16pm
- Ghost
  
  Anybody interested?
  
  Nope, don’t care. Also your petition if you ever start one up will accomplish nothing, it wont be taken off him.
  
  Get on with your life and forget this shit
  
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  December 31, 2023 7:21pm
- julesnzuk
  
  How about a petition to abolish knighthoods altogether? As Helen Clarke’s government did before they were inexplicably brought back. I’m a constitutional monarchist and a big believer in tradition but knighthoods – and the fact that the wrong people get them – are embarrassing. Why these Labour muppets accept them is beyond me – aren’t most of them supposed to be republicans? I was nearly sick when Ardern’s was announced – no principles, no honour, no class.
  
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  January 1, 2024 1:19am
Yvette

It has been over six months [article dated 8 July 2021] since the deadlock on the disputed land at Ihumātao was broken, with the government purchasing it for just under $30 million.

As part of He Pūmautanga – the agreement – a rōpu whakahaere will be set up – but first the Kingitanga must go through a process of determining who is ahi ka – or those who look after the land.

The agreement – He Pūmautanga – said the whenua may include housing for mana whenua families, papakainga housing, or some community housing.
While the agreement does not provide a commitment to housing, the government insists homes will be built, as Henare reasserted.
“It is important to note that parties have committed to housing on this site and we are continuing to work through this process.”
Save Our Unique Landscape has opposed the building of any houses on the land because of its historical, cultural and archaeological significance.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/446419/ihumatao-government-keen-to-see-some-decisions

How swiftly would any form of “co-governance” rid Auckland beaches of sewerage?

Asking for an elderly friend, who may die anytime soon
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December 31, 2023 8:45am
- Paulus
  
  Nothing will happen in Ihumateo until we, the actual taxpayers pay up whatever Maori, want plus Koha!
  Some local tribes (Tainui) have the money but they will not pay even if their earnings remain tax free.
  
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  December 31, 2023 1:42pm
thetiedarch

I think it’s no coincidence that almost 80 years on from the end of WW2, as most of the remaining Veterans have passed, we’re seeing a rise in youth that support things like the cause in Palestine, look away from the persecution and slaughter of Jews.

Amongst other things, it says a lot about how history is taught in this country as well as the critical thinking abilities of many of our countrymen.
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December 31, 2023 8:47am
- greybeard
  
  Your last sentence sums up the problem perfectly.
  How our young people view and understand history is in the hands of teachers, and those teachers are ideologically programmed to see things in a certain light. A light which comes from their Left.
  History is what the teacher says it is.
  Most parents no longer have the ability or the inclination to advise and instruct their children independently of the schools, many homes have no books, life is just a lot of sensory overload from phones, computers, games, movies, crap TV etc.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:26am
  - Che Guava
    
    “Most parents no longer have the ability or the inclination to advise and instruct their children independently of the schools, many homes have no books, life is just a lot of sensory overload from phones, computers, games, movies, crap TV etc.”
    
    You’re correct. Parents have to shoulder a great deal of the blame here. Cultural transmission is, or should be, something the parents do, and with that, instruction on history. Parents cannot abdicate everything to “Marxist” teachers, and then complain about the teachers indoctrinating kids.
    
    “History is what the teacher says it is.”
    
    This wouldn’t be the default if parents weren’t so passive. The best place to start changing things is at home at the level of the individual child, not expecting something from above like “the Nats rolling-back the Marxist indoctrination” which will never happen.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:39am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      In a land of high immigration, relying on parents to transmit culture is problematic. Whose culture? The Holocaust means nothing to the average Asian or African immigrant, culturally speaking. Ditto Gallipoli. Therefore, to achieve any sort of common view of our history, we do need to rely on teachers and the curriculum.
      
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      December 31, 2023 1:46pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    I think parents are generally more involved and spending more direct hours raising kids than they were 30 years ago. Particularly fathers.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:38pm
    - peterwn
      
      Seems the only historic role of fathers was the dire threat of what would happen when dad gets home from work.
      
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      December 31, 2023 5:43pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    …life is just a lot of sensory overload from phones, computers, games, movies, crap TV etc
    
    Dr Who Cybermen being indoctrinated through the media.
    
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    December 31, 2023 2:32pm
- emmess
  
  The problem is Tik Tok
  Ban it
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:32am
  - MCōs
    
    When I was young the problem was the devil’s music, as I recall
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:42pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    The problem is stupid parents breeding stupider kids.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:47pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    The problem is also Stuff, Herald, NewsHub, Newsroom, TV1, TV2, TV3 – should we ban those as well?
    
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    December 31, 2023 2:33pm
slightlyrighty

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/133504711/im-expressing-a-personal-truth-awardwinning-poet-tusiata-avia-responds-to-act-mps-race-baiting-claim

This is an interesting one, especially for us who stand for freedom of speech.

Avia claims to be expressing a personal truth. Well, at what point does a personal truth become a racist rant?
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December 31, 2023 9:14am
- Dave
  
  As others have noted, she is expressing her personal truths on taxpayer dollars.
  
  And when your ‘personal truth’ includes one-sided, contestable social and historical claims, don’t be surprised if there’s pushback – ‘personal truth’ and ‘racist rant’ are not mutually exclusive categories.
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:15am
- Joely Doe
  
  Doesn’t matter
  
  Yep, she appears to be a typical leftie racist
  
  That’s her perogative and Free Speech allows the rest of us to see it as such
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:29am
- nathie
  
  She calls for violence against white people – she is perpetuating racism, as well as racist stereotyping and over stepping free speech boundaries.
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:48am
- Matt Long
  
  Her personal truth, is that another way of say “My Struggle.”
  
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  December 31, 2023 12:31pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Now, there’s a catchy title.
    
    Not sure how the German translation rights will go, though.
    
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    December 31, 2023 1:48pm
- Jake Dee
  
  It is an interesting and this is exactly the battlefield the current culture war is being fought on, poets, writers and journalists are lieutenants, bigger bloggers sergeants, commenters merely foot soldiers. These poets are wordsmiths, classic foxy tricksters and slippery eels.
  Notice how it’s “My personal TRUTH”, not “my personal OPINION”. And it’s a Prime Minister’s “award” not “payment”.
  Also later on we read
  “She said she was writing from her own point of view, in a personal way, and the Prime Minister’s Award was a recognition that her words and her poems carried meaning for a broader audience and were of national importance.”
  
  So that’s of “national importance” but not “political”. You can’t avoid the conclusion that this is a payment from the highest level of NZ government for publicly stating your personal political opinions, but that looks bad, so it’s very important to cover everything in a thick layer of poetical guff.
  
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  December 31, 2023 6:13pm
Opie

I never used to like Ricky Gervais, but he has just grown on me…

From his latest release:

“We are on a precipice. The Earth is in a terrible mess.”

For sixty minutes, Ricky explores a long list of possibilities including climate change, open borders, critical race theory, population collapse, gender confusion, artificial intelligence, colour blindness, antisemitism, working from home, the woke mind virus, nuclear war, and human stupidity

“God created man. Gave it the best brain in the animal kingdom. This brain can create weaponry, it will make clothing to survive the ice age, it will survive world wars, and go through famine. But, it will eventually start getting scared of words, and destroy itself.”

“What’s gonna kills us is, words. We have become scared of words and have changed the meaning of many words that has left the world in such a mess.”

And this has now attracted the attention of the uk prime minister:

“It seems Ricky is claiming the world will end because of the English Language, and on behalf of the Crown, my Government strongly refutes that. Investigating Ricky’s use of the English language is a possibility” Said Rishi Sunak,

Ricky fired back: “What will save the world is speaking up in English words in their true meaning. If anyone cancels you, you are allowed to say F*** off you C***.”

You think nz is a woke shitshow, try being in Britain
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December 31, 2023 9:16am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I don’t suppose Ricky features in this year’s NY Honours List
  
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  December 31, 2023 6:21pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/more-on-the-removal-of-new-zealands-oldest-memorial-wanganui/
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December 31, 2023 9:56am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I somewhat agree. I’d prefer such memorials to be either relocated or have additional context added so that the viewer might understand why the builders of the memorial thought it necessary to refer to the ‘defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism.’ As Mark Twain remarked on seeing the memorial: ‘Patriotism is Patriotism. Calling it fanaticism cannot degrade it’.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:05am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Fanaticism seem to be a common feature of religious cults that extol “Peace”.
    
    Hauhauism seems to be a clear example of fanaticism.
    
    https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/hauhauism
    
    https://teara.govt.nz/en/whanganui-tribes/page-2
    
    Pai Mārire currently seems to be in revivalist mode.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:28am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Why give in Mike?
    These Maori radicals just keep pushing their bullshit.
    Give them an inch and they take a mile. Is there nobody left in NZ who can not stand up and say “No, fuck off!”
    
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    December 31, 2023 2:25pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Nah Milky we don’t wan’t woke history revisionism a la wikipedia added to monuments. Cheers.
    
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    January 1, 2024 2:33pm
- Wayne Mapp
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Steve,
  Are you not able to understand why the inscription on the memorial would offend Whanganui Maori?
  Yes, it is historical but the sentiment of the memorial is not going to be acceptable today. In the same way that many of the Civil War memorials for the confederates during the Jim Crow era are now seen as offensive.
  So changing the context of the memorial to a museum piece is appropriate rather than having it as a continuing Land Wars memorial.
  
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  December 31, 2023 10:06am
  - Paulus
    
    Was not the Wanganui memorial about Maori versus Maori ?
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:07am
    - Che Guava
      
      The removal of statues commemorating dead White people, here or abroad, has got nothing to do with history. It has everything to do with politics in the here and now. It is highly symbolic. It is about capitulating and cucking to people who will never be satisfied and who want the (remaining) power possessed by White people.
      
      Then you’ve got people on here like Wayne Mapp who apparently think these “offended minorities” are acting in good faith. We should really erect more monuments to our “problematic” forebears, not remove them.
      
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      December 31, 2023 11:02am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    It’s not going to offend all Wanganui Maoris, Wayne, just those from up-river.
    
    Unless you think that the down-river Maoris are embarrassed by their forebears siding with the colonials?
    
    Come to think of it, Tariana Turia is from that neck of the woods, isn’t she? I don’t think I’ve seen anything from her on the subject.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:08am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Tariana Turia is NOT from the Whanganui River…
      
      She’s from the Whangaehu area… just south of Whanganui, in the Rangitikei. She’s Ngāti Apa…a Rangitikei tribe.
      
      https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4256/tariana-turia
      
      Tariana Turia was one of the folk who petitioned the Reserve Board to remove the Statue.
      
      The petition to the Reserve Board was made by Dame Tariana Turia, kuia Retihiamatikei Cribb and Nancy Tuaine, the kaihautū/CEO of Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui.
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/505406/fanaticism-and-barbarism-offensive-whanganui-war-memorial-to-be-removed
      
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      December 31, 2023 10:51am
  - Gravelroad
    
    So it’s ok to rewrite history today then if you don’t like what your ancestors did back in different times?
    Cool.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:16am
    - Matt Long
      
      It’s not that we didn’t like what they did, more that we understand they were noble people with noble aims unlike the evil white colonialists.
      
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      December 31, 2023 12:42pm
  - Jack5
    
    That’s rough, comparing monuments to NZ colonial soldiers to Confederate statues erected in the “Jim Crow” era.
    
    As emerged in Kiwiblog discussion earlier, there were two statues to the fighting: one for colonial soldiers killed, and another for casualties of Maori who fought on the Government side.
    
    Mark Twain after a visit to Wanganui commented harshly on the latter statue. What happened to it? Does it still stand?
    
    Once again, Milky distorts the substance of the Twain report, which I posted in full.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:17am
  - Taieri
    
    Yes, it is historical but the sentiment of the memorial is not going to be acceptable today.
    ———
    
    It is a historical memorial. Erected in the era gone by to commemorate events long in the past. Much that has happened in the past is not acceptable today. That doesn’t negate that it happened.
    Is rewriting of history acceptable?
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:41am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      The memorial has not upset anyone for the last 159 years, why now?
      
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      December 31, 2023 11:00am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      History is continually rewritten, and always has been. In many respects, the writing of history tells us more about the writer than the past as any kind of objective reality.
      
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      December 31, 2023 11:06am
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      I am not suggesting that the memorial be destroyed but rather that it is put in the Museum, of which Whanganui has a truly excellent one.
      
      The reason for it being in a museum is provide the context. That is not done by keeping it as a memorial.
      
      Interpretation of history does change. The view of the land wars is vastly different today compared to 100 years ago. The iwi settlements are sufficient testament to that.
      
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      December 31, 2023 11:37am
      - Nukuleka
        
        Wayne Mapp, the deeply troubling woke side of the National Party. It’s attitudes like this that have lead to organisations like the BBC placing warnings on 70s comedy shows, Universities canceling speakers with whom they don’t agree and activists revising historical facts.
        
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        December 31, 2023 11:44am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nah Wayne. Put it in Archives NZ where it can be lost forever.
        “Sorry, we can’t find it now”
        
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        December 31, 2023 3:08pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    If you visit Argentina you will find many statues. They seem crazy about them.
    
    This debate about removing “offensive” statues – i.e those celebrating founding fathers and historical figures who did, by today’s standards, bad things goes on in Argentina.
    
    https://equestrianstatue.org/roca-julio-argentino/
    
    However, to date authorities have resisted calls to demolish offending statues.
    
    If you remove “offensive” New Zealand monuments, where will it end? There will be some Maori who would be pleased for all memorials to anything resembling “colonisation” to be erased. Conversely how about we hunt down and erase any memorials of Maori chiefs who engaged in conquest or cannibalism? Such behaviour is highly offensive by today’s standards.
    
    That memorial should stay, because if the authorities cave it will never end.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:53am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I’m certainly offended by the Porirua public baths being named after the genocidal Te Rauparaha.
      
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      December 31, 2023 1:28pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      There is a similar statue of Roca on a horse on Bariloche – “Queenstown in Spanish” – in the town Square. The plaque basically says how he roamed the plains of Patagonia shooting anything that looked vaguely Indian. I was a bit taken aback at the time ….
      
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      January 1, 2024 7:37am
  - Che Guava
    
    “Yes, it is historical but the sentiment of the memorial is not going to be acceptable today. In the same way that many of the Civil War memorials for the confederates during the Jim Crow era are now seen as offensive.”
    
    Imagine thinking you had to remove a statue commemorating the history of your people just because some minority found it “offensive” or “unacceptable.” I find plenty of aspects of the actions of “minority” communities offensive and unacceptable, but I am willing to overlook them.
    
    If a “minority” are offended by the past or the present of a majority of which I am a part, then they can go somewhere else if they are so offended. Start their own thing wherein they are the majority, if they want.
    
    Whether it’s “racism” “anti-semitism” or any other -ism some vocal minority is constantly moaning about, they should be told to get stuffed and leave if they aren’t happy.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:53am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      The US was so generous with its memorials that it allowed statues glorifying rebels to be erected in national cemeteries dedicated to those who lost their lives preserving the union.
      
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      December 31, 2023 11:08am
      - Che Guava
        
        They were all Americans, though. Families feud all the time, doesn’t mean we should disown the family members we disagree with. I think there is a much better case for all Americans respecting the legacy of both Northern and Southern figures regardless, regardless of how “racist” or otherwise “problematic” they may have been, than respecting the views of the illegal immigrants and militant blacks who want to tear down the monuments. In fact, when you look at some of the behaviour of the latter, it’s much easier to see why our forebears were racist.
        
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        December 31, 2023 3:09pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Guava you mentioned a while back that your wisdom on this stuff doesn’t come from bitchute but instead it comes from books. Can you list your top 5 book recommendations on the Israel situation and also the racial politics situation?
        
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        January 1, 2024 2:42pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Words have hurt the feelings of agitators and activists. People such as Tariana Turia and Ken Mair. Both ratbags at the best of times.
    Many in Wanganui are ancestors of those who fought to defend against upriver tribes.
    So we just delete their history? Cancel Culture brigade.
    
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    December 31, 2023 10:57am
  - lifesgood
    
    Oh dear, Wayne Mapp again. Yawn.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:48am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Some Maori seem to dislike their trace maori bloodline.
    
    Some may possibly be many.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:52am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      “What did Pakeha meat taste like to your ancestors?”
      “Different from Maori meat?”
      Watch the eyes roll then!
      Mods might be on to this and delete, but it is a fair question that should be answered.
      
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      December 31, 2023 3:11pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Wayne, people take offence. Offence isn’t given. Maori can choose not to be offended and no one would care about a memorial from another age. Maori have enough problems of their own without taking faux offence at something from generations ago when none of them were around.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:35pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Got a bit burnt there Wayne – I wonder why?
    
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    December 31, 2023 2:26pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Wayne, on that basis you would advocate not teaching about NAZI Germany because it could offend NAZI skinheads; or perhaps ban the history of Germany after WW1 because any talk of rampant inflation caused by printing of money could offend Robertson and reduce him to tears.
    
    Harden up man.
    
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    December 31, 2023 2:39pm
    - Che Guava
      
      I think we’d all benefit from a proper examination of Nazism and Nazi Germany and the circumstances that gave rise to the phenomena, rather than the woefully insufficient caricature most people accept as accurate.
      
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      December 31, 2023 3:04pm
oldpark

[Note to poster: If you are going to copy and paste long screeds of other peoples’ work, at least have the courtesy of making an attribution to the source. mod.]

Captured member of the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad confessed that his unit raped and murdered Israeli women during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre of over 1,200 Israelis and the abduction of 240 hostages on Oct. 7.

Other captured Gazan terrorists previously admitted that sexual violence was a central component in spreading fear, death, and destruction among the civilian population in southern Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip border.

A growing number of Israeli civilians who survived the Hamas-led terror attack have testified to the police about the atrocities that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists committed on Oct. 7.

“I understand that he raped her, then they gave her to someone else. She was alive and finally he shot her,” said the female survivor, who asked to remain anonymous.

Raz, who participated at the Nova Music Festival at Kibbutz Re’im, witnessed five Gazan terrorists rape and murder an Israeli woman.

“A white car arrived and five terrorists exited out of it. They stood in a semi-circle around her, grabbing her by force so she wouldn’t move. It happened 30 or 40 meters from us,” Raz said.

“There was a lot of movement … he raped her. I look and see that the girl is no longer moving, but the terrorist still continues to rape her. It was impossible to help her. I couldn’t do anything. I wish I had a weapon and I could help.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence of severe war crimes committed by Gazan terrorists against Israeli civilian communities, the response from the United Nations and other international organizations has been weak and slow.

In early December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the U.N. and international women’s organizations for their silence concerning the crimes committed against Israeli Jewish women.

“I didn’t hear the human rights organizations, or the women’s organizations, or the women’s organizations of the U.N. … and I ask them: Where are you? Were you quiet because we were talking about Jewish women? I want to say this in a language that everybody understands,” Netanyahu said.

On Oct. 24, U.N. Sec. Gen. António Guterres appeared to justify the Hamas-led massacres.

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” Guterres said, arguing that Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to “56 years of suffocating occupation.”

While much of the international community has been silent, Israeli investigators are currently building war crimes cases against Gazan terrorists through documentation of sexual violence committed against Israeli women. Due to the scope of the war crimes and the severe condition of many Israeli victims, it is expected that the documentation could take several months to complete.

The New York Times recently published evidence showing how Gazan terrorists weaponized sexual violence during the Oct. 7 invasion and massacres.

One of the cases involves Gal Abdush, who was initially presented as “the woman in the black dress.” Gal was one of many Israeli women who were raped and murdered by Hamas terrorists.

Her family eventually identified her in a grainy video showing her dress torn, her vagina exposed and her face burned beyond recognition.
Cant’help but wonder why NZs Green and Maori Parties have said nothing about such proven atrocities, say nothing and continue to support the Terrorist Murderers and gang Rapists known as Hamas .What an indictment of where NZs so called Democratic vote went to such blatant extremists.
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December 31, 2023 10:20am
- Che Guava
  
  “Despite the overwhelming evidence of severe war crimes committed by Gazan terrorists against Israeli civilian communities, the response from the United Nations and other international organizations has been weak and slow.”
  
  I realise asking for evidence for Israeli claims is considered hateful, but what “overwhelming evidence” are you referring to? Perhaps, like me, “the United Nations and other international organizations” will act (or in my case, believe) when some evidence for Israeli claims is forthcoming.
  
  “The New York Times recently published evidence showing how Gazan terrorists weaponized sexual violence during the Oct. 7 invasion and massacres.”
  
  This was a topic yesterday. As I pointed out yesterday, that NYT article featured all of 2 paragraphs wherein claims were made but no evidence whatsoever was presented.
  
  ““I didn’t hear the human rights organizations, or the women’s organizations, or the women’s organizations of the U.N. … and I ask them: Where are you? Were you quiet because we were talking about Jewish women? I want to say this in a language that everybody understands,” Netanyahu said.”
  
  This is very typical stuff: Netanyahu alleges the reason for inaction is, not absence of substantive evidence, but because “we are talking about Jewish women.”
  
  In other words, it’s that people hate Jews, not that the Israelis cannot substantiate their claims. The chutzpah of this guy. He’d fit right in on KB, though.
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:20am
  - imalwaysright
    
    And where was the IDF while this was going on?
    Seven hours to deploy on your own soil while cellphones and social media were screaming for help in the most defended and electronically monitored piece of land on the planet.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:02pm
    - Che Guava
      
      Good questions. Why did they not see it coming, and when they did realise, why did they wait several hours before reacting? I’d like to know the rational explanation for these facts. What’s the alternative: complete incompetence and dereliction of duty. At the very least, they should all be sacked for gross negligence, shouldn’t they?
      
      It seems people don’t want to answer these questions, and instead they’d rather spend their time being disgusted by allegations made by Israel against Hamas backed by little or no evidence.
      
      As I’ve argued before, letting it happen and then watching it play out provided an excellent pretext for what the Israelis are doing in Gaza now, something that has been implicit, and sometimes explicit, in Israel’s policies since the state began.
      
      Imagine an alternative where either the attack never happened due to a functioning intelligence system, or it did happen but Hamas could only inflict very minor Israeli casualties. How could Israel justify annexing Gaza in this case? It would be incredibly difficult. By contrast, the worse it was on 7 October, the better the justification for the “reaction” that followed.
      
      Moreover, everyone can now get in behind and support Israel’s military actions in good conscience on the basis of how purportedly horrible Hamas are.
      
      The problem with this theory, completely logical and grounded in the principles of realpolitik as it is, is that accepting it would destroy so many worldviews that it’s better to just pretend otherwise. They cannot conceive how power really works.
      
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      December 31, 2023 2:49pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      In addition, It was the 50th anniversary to the start of Yom Kipper War.
      This fact alone raises questions and why this date was selected.
      
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      December 31, 2023 3:36pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Here’s a question Che, do you believe the holocaust occurred? Do you believe Mao Ze Dong had 10’s of millions killed? Do you believe Stalin allowed huge numbers of Ukranians to starve to death? And that Stalin, during his purges, killed millions? Do you believe that Pol Pot’s killing fields occurred? If so, were you there to see it? And also, if so, what evidence do you have that any of that occurred? By the way, most of the rest of the world believes these things happened. I say most, because there are a few whack jobs that don’t. You see what I am saying?
    
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    December 31, 2023 9:08pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Heres the link
  https://allisrael.com/gazan-terrorist-confesses-that-his-team-raped-israeli-women-during-oct-7-invasion-of-israel
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:23am
  - Che Guava
    
    I read those articles and watched the footage, but I didn’t see any confession by any Gazan terrorist. What I did see was an Israeli wearing a yamulke assuring viewers that there had been a confession, though.
    
    Imagine a combatant in a conflict assuring the world that their adversary had committed a crime which the former was using to justify its own actions against said adversary. Even worse, imagine thinking this was evidence of anything (like you seem to think).
    
    You’re trying very hard, for which I commend you, but you’re failing to convince the sceptics.
    
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    December 31, 2023 11:37am
  - Jake Dee
    
    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
    A report of a thing is not the thing itself.
    The report of a report of a thing is not a report of the thing itself.
    So, I’ve read the linked articles and seen the video and here we don’t even have a report of a report of a thing. This is a report of a report of a report from an anonymous entity about a thing.
    Allowing yourself to slip directly from a report of a report of a thing to believing that the thing must be true is a very common error, but it’s also a very dangerous and stupid one. It is a trick used by propagandists, but it’s also a mistake made by people being stupid and lazy.
    Israel is not entitled to a free pass on this, no one is, and you can call me a Jew Hater for saying that if you like but it’s true.
    You can let your standards relax when its kids talking about kids’ stories but when the thing at hand is terror and sexual violence standards must be tight, very tight.
    We can’t allow ourselves to believe things on faith alone.
    Let the down ticking commence.
    
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    December 31, 2023 6:51pm
- mawm
  
  I’m still waiting for Whoopi Goldberg (where did she get that surname!) to come out with “It wasn’t rape-rape”. Repulsive woman!
  
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  December 31, 2023 2:23pm
Vinicius

The NY Times reports that former Donald Trump associate Michael Cohen has been outed for using Artificial Intelligence (Google Bard) to feed his lawyer bogus cases.

“The fictitious citations were used by the lawyer in a motion submitted to a federal judge, Jesse M. Furman. Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and served time in prison, had asked the judge for an early end to the court’s supervision of his case now that he is out of prison and has complied with the conditions of his release.”

Furthermore, the article states:
On Friday, Mr. Trump’s lawyers immediately seized on the Google Bard revelation. Susan R. Necheles, a lawyer representing Mr. Trump in the coming Manhattan trial, said it was “typical Michael Cohen.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/29/nyregion/michael-cohen-ai-fake-cases.html [Paywalled]
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December 31, 2023 10:27am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Same item, no paywall. Video 3.53.
  Alvin Bragg is out to get Trump – he will fail.
  
  https://www.rvmnews.com/2023/12/alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-damaged-by-his-own-star-witnesss-fabrications-video/?
  
  Came by email.
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:07am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It always seems to turn out that Trump’s lawyers are themselves dodgy or, if not, quit when they don’t get paid. Why is that?
  As someone remarked a while ago, Trump’s lawyers’ lawyers need to get lawyers.
  
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  December 31, 2023 11:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Stormy Daniels Lawyer?
    Oh wait, that is different.
    
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    December 31, 2023 3:18pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Right Milky and the dem vexatious lawfare machine is clean?
    
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    January 1, 2024 2:47pm
Gravelroad

Perhaps the feminist and communist apologists here and at the UN can justify their silence (on this particular aspect of the Hamas human rights abuse crimes) by the following:
1. They probably didn’t happen- made up.
2. Must support a greater cause
3. Selective justice
4. The ends always justify the means.
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December 31, 2023 10:55am
- imalwaysright
  
  G
  Maybe you could help the feminists and communists by posting something comprehensible.
  
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  December 31, 2023 12:14pm
  - Matt Long
    
    Should have been posted as a reply to Oldpark, but comprehensible nonetheless to anyone except the most obtuse.
    
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    December 31, 2023 12:59pm
Scooter

What is going on with these dysfunctional Maori families, now it’s women that are killing mob members, what hope is there for the children?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hamilton-homicide-victim-identified-as-te-reo-wickliffe-heta-woman-charged/RQ77XG5BQFDWFAFBU5MODHJ7BM/
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December 31, 2023 11:59am
Ghost

Sorry, the airline policy isn’t discriminatory. I also do not think Obesity Should be classified as a disability

Plus-size travellers blast ‘discriminatory’ airline seat policy
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December 31, 2023 12:10pm
- Inandout
  
  Ghost, obesity is an illness of the mind over body. Junk food is cheaper than the healthy variety and can be eaten anywhere. When I travel by air by myself I would find it most uncomfortable sitting beside an overweight mortal.
  
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  December 31, 2023 1:50pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Obesity means the input hole is bigger than the output hole.
    
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    December 31, 2023 3:26pm
    - RichardX
      
      Normal people have a bigger mouth (input hole) than arsehole (output hole). I did not want to know that it is the opposite for you.
      
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      December 31, 2023 8:26pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Is junk food cheaper than healthy food?
    
    Carrots were $3 per kilo, the last time I looked.
    
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    December 31, 2023 6:26pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Junk food cheaper than healthy food should be dropped in the dis information bin.
      
      Its a crock.
      Junk food of itself does not cause obesity.
      I eat probably more junk food than the average adult male.
      BUT not a large volume. My weight has not varied in 50 years. An office type worker. Not labour physically demanding
      
      As pointed out previously. Its the seafood epidemic generated by prosperity.
      See Food, eat food.
      
      As previously noted I have an adult morbidly obese son. Intelligent but suffers the seefood problem has above average income.
      
      Tried many options to address obesity.
      ie lose weight to get a substantial final reward>
      Serious health issue causing hospitalization>
      
      However when ever a slight hunger pain is felt. Feed the stomach!
      
      One step forward would be to ban food advertising……like banning tobacco…PLus plenty of health warnings to kids, eating too much is not healthy.
      
      I would bet london to a brick that the cost of obesity related healthcare far exceeds the costs of tobacco related healthcare.
      
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      December 31, 2023 7:35pm
      - julesnzuk
        
        100%. Food is much more available now and in abundance – and people think they should be eating whenever they “feel like it”. Mealtimes used to be much more performative and it was considered uncouth to eat between them – especially in public (which was just never done). These sort of social norms need to somehow be re-introduced (and yes, a degree of shaming when they are transgressed). It also doesn’t help when people can’t cook from scratch properly and don’t eat enough protein so they’re not sated. I’d go so far as to suggest that home economics (or whatever the current re-brand is) should be compulsory in all schools up to school leaving age. Obesity, not smoking, is where we do need some hard hitting nanny state action, unfortunately.
        
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        January 1, 2024 1:35am
- Che Guava
  
  Of course it’s a discriminatory policy: it discriminates between fat people and people who aren’t. That said, there is nothing at all wrong with discrimination and it is something we all do every day of our lives. It is particularly fine in this case, because a fat person is only fat due to their own behaviour.
  
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  December 31, 2023 1:52pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Kat Pause thought otherwise.
    
    3 2
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    December 31, 2023 3:27pm
- Colinxy
  
  Fat studies is quite possibly the weakest of all Critical Theory disciplines. Amusingly enough, it grew out of (Marxist) Feminist studies.
  
  Still, it does place on the oppression olympics/victim hierarchy – if there are two entities with the same oppression narratives, the fatter one will be placed higher on the podium.
  
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  December 31, 2023 2:54pm
  - Inandout
    
    Colin, Kim Jung Ill is reaching the point of obesity and he sits atop the podium.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67563543
    
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    December 31, 2023 3:17pm
    - kevn
      
      In… Western food/diet no doubt.
      
      4 0
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      December 31, 2023 4:38pm
  - Che Guava
    
    Tell a woman her appearance reminds you Lizzo and see how quickly she drops the “fat is beautiful” delusion.
    
    9 1
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    December 31, 2023 3:17pm
    - kevn
      
      Che… Model Ashley Graham could be described as large/chubby, but very attractively so.
      
      4 0
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      December 31, 2023 4:40pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Don’t know her. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be less-than-trim but still attractive, just that if you say to your wife “your ass is looking particularly fat today, love” she’s not going to thank you for it.
        
        3 1
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        December 31, 2023 6:39pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Airline charging for two seats is an incentive to trim your fat arse – and body.
  
  8 1
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  December 31, 2023 5:01pm
  - kevn
    
    che… google is your friend.
    
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    December 31, 2023 8:16pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Typical victimhood thinking. Apparently if you are a she-mountain the world discriminates. No, you are just a she-mountain, get used to the idea or lose 50kg.
  
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  January 1, 2024 6:23am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

EV car owners should take note. You will be second on the charging list. Domestic consumers WILL have rationing in the future. No lights, no cooking – gas BBQs banned.
Now who is going to provide electricity without going NUCLEAR??
Look at them, all the Greens rolling on the floor making stupid noises and having anxiety attacks!!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/travel/news/auckland-s-first-electric-ferries-take-shape/ar-AA1mbkVB?
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December 31, 2023 4:00pm
kevn

SteveO… Ask about the Auckland electric busses that can only charge off peak, otherwise the whole local grid (Symonds St area) blacks out.
Never mind, the electric ferries will have on-shore diesel generators. Like the electric tug boat in Auckland.
Awesome…
19 1
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December 31, 2023 4:34pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  There are some serious thinkers at Auckland Transport.
  Man do they get paid well!!
  
  9 2
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  December 31, 2023 5:35pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/301033916/black-caps-beat-bangladesh-on-dls-at-bay-oval-to-level-t20-series-11
NZ were extremely lucky not to lose this T20 series to Bangladesh.
As I posted yesterday on “Stuff” about the supposed “2nd-rate” South African team to visit and play a test series against the Black Caps: I think that South Africa will win that series.
Unfortunately that comment on “Stuff” was for some reason not published: I can only assume that I had offended someone by holding a non-Aotearoan view of things ! God , those “Stuff” people are unbelievable; terrified of others who have a different ( and may I say “normal” ) view of life.
5 1
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December 31, 2023 6:16pm
- MCōs
  
  Don’t be so gloomy
  They would’ve scored the runs with easy today if not for the rain
  Last time RSA was here with their #1 the tests were shared. I think the Blackcaps clean them up
  
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  December 31, 2023 9:33pm
Ghost

Imagine a white only dorm at university

https://youtube.com/shorts/7gDTCZ9ToVI?si=HYO6x6pLds73vaVI

https://www.ccity.mit.edu/
6 1
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December 31, 2023 7:18pm
AndyW

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lifeguards-deal-with-foul-mouthed-swimmers-we-were-told-they-know-better/DFE65XWZXNDRXHFNEAGXU3FWB4/
I posted a comment last week about idiots ignoring life guards and suggested that such swimmers should not be helped. Another commentator took objection to that…look at the ongoing abuse of life guards. What’s it going to take to teach people to be respectful?? We’re Golding’s Lord of the Flies; some people are just aholes.
4 5
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December 31, 2023 7:19pm
- Ghost
  
  Last weeks swimmers didn’t abuse the life guards, they ignored them, and your answer was to let them die if they got into trouble. You want to talk about respect, it isn’t sitting back and letting someone die because they ignored advice, and thankfully lifeguard have more respect for their job than someone that calls for people to be left to die.
  
  And here is a good article for you to take your stupid idea of letting people die and just see how the death of swimmers takes its tolls on those rescuers you want to sit back and let people die
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300487062/auckland-lifeguard-frustrated-as-swimmers-ignore-water-safety-messages
  
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  December 31, 2023 7:31pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Letting stupid people die from their own stupid mistakes before they produce more stupid people…trying hard to see the downside.
    
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    January 1, 2024 12:43am
    - Ghost
      
      Most people in their lives do stupid things at some point, those that claim other wise are liars. We don’t have a death policy in NZ for people that do stupid things, and those that want people to die for doing stupid things are pathetic.
      
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      January 1, 2024 9:17am
Jack5

State Television keeps up its bias.

In TVNZ news at six tonight on momentous events of 2023 …

Gushing John Campbell took priority over the Prime Minister, and the minority player, Te Parti Maori, was given precedence in coverage over the Coalition’s remarkable, nation-saving rejection of Labour.
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December 31, 2023 7:30pm
Tauhei Notts

2024 without that execrable Hipkins in power. It will be a great year.
6 0
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January 1, 2024 12:38am
igm

How about this Greens/Labour/TPM?
https://nypost.com/2023/12/30/news/nigeria-christmas-massacre-sees-over-100-christians-dead-killed-for-sport/
Also the troll that ridicules Christians!
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January 1, 2024 3:00am

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