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January 9, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 January 2024

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Ghost

Nice branding here by the herald to push national as much as it can in the article

A former National Party government minister has been interviewed by police after a family feud turned violent as the coffin of his late mother was being carried into her Pacific Island home.

The incident happened in the Cook Islands and local police have told the Herald five people allegedly involved are set to be re-interviewed and are likely to face charges.

Ex-MP Alfred Ngaro’s mum Toko Kirianu died in an Auckland rest home and the whānau had taken her body back to her native Cook Islands to be buried.

Article

I see the article is funded by the Labour attack journalist fund
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January 9, 2024 8:00am
- pdm
  
  Exactly how I saw it too Ghost.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:05am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    I honestly don’t even know why this is being reported whether or not any ex politician of any stripe is involved. It’s a sad family situation that should be left with them to try and resolve at a difficult time.
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:07am
    - kowtow
      
      And yet there it is in all its alliterated glory , on the front page ,”Ex MP’s family funeral furore” .
      
      Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air .
      
      Your tax dollars working very hard for the left.
      
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      January 9, 2024 9:26am
      - Vinicius
        
        Perhaps Nicola Willis or David Seymour should check that the PIJF is winding down as it is supposed to?
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:42am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  How is that article a political attack?
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:06am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    How is it not?
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:25am
    - Lee C
      
      I’m coming to the conclusion that KB is becoming dull.
      Increasingly I scroll down where once I would be intrigued.
      Unfortunately, some characters have hastened this process.
      
      I would howaver, still recommend just scrolling down when you see posts by certain people who are only her to get some kind of perverse delight by being irritating.
      
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      January 9, 2024 10:29am
      - Lee C
        
        Ps, here’s one for those that some people describe as ‘morons’:
        A Lawsuit in the UK about vaccine related early deathsfrom blood-clotting.
        https://youtu.be/0tJK02fXpl4
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:57pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Lee,
        
        Narcism is a hard problem to overcome when it seems that seeing their name in print is the highlight of the day.
        Hence the 20 or more comments on any particular day by those who think their opinion matters.
        
        Flackjacket on.
        
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        January 9, 2024 2:40pm
  - Paulus
    
    Don’t be so simple Mike !
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:37am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Are you suggesting the headline Former National MP Alfred Ngaro interviewed by police after family fight next to mother’s coffin isn’t in any way political mikenmild?
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:45am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Purely descriptive. Would you prefer ‘former prominent individual Alfred Ngaro’?
      
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      January 9, 2024 8:48am
      - Ghost
        
        Gee. Mike, let’s compare the above article with a former labour minister who was arrested and facing charges. Even with a magical marker I can’t find labour mentioned once in the article
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/kiri-allan-car-crash-former-justice-minister-explains-why-shes-pleading-not-guilty-to-car-crash-charges/QVKEJEBHJJCRDEBOWWDY4KDJ7E/
        
        Alfred hasn’t been a national mp since the 2020 election, the above labour minister hasn’t been a labour mp for a few months
        
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        January 9, 2024 8:56am
      - Ghost
        
        Strange, gone through a few articles now on kiri Allan, doesn’t anyone know what party she was in, none of the articles say
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/503637/former-justice-minister-kiri-allan-gives-reasons-for-pleading-not-guilty-to-charge
        
        Let’s try an article from 2023 on someone who hasn’t been in politics since 2011
        
        https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/finance/former-national-mp-aaron-gilmores-entity-owes-1m-liquidator-says
        
        https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/131817835/bankruptcy-proceedings-against-aaron-gilmore-are-withdrawn
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:13am
      - Jack5
        
        Without following cross-links the reader will not notice the reason why Alfred Ngaro left the National Party and set up his own party, New Zeal.
        
        It contains this:
        
        In an interview on Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, Ngaro indicated National’s failure to oppose law changes on gay conversion therapy and gender identity was a departure “from the values I held in there and that I believed the party was about”.
        
        Ngaro explains his resignation from the party was based on his Christian beliefs (link below).
        
        Alfred Ngaro’s back was a huge target for the Woke Left, and his traditional Christian beliefs were the bull’s-eye.
        
        The Leftist Herald, however, chooses to use his time as a National MP as the target centre.
        
        A family bust-up at a funeral isn’t rare.
        
        This is among the cross-links in the Herald story, but many or most will have overlooked it, and it includes another link to the radio interview in which Ngaro spells out where his views diverged from those of National:
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/real-life-alfred-ngaro-explains-why-he-turned-his-back-on-national-party-to-launch-new-zeal/5ML6ZNUOAZD4HOF2MC36LOJP34/
        
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        January 9, 2024 10:27am
      - Right of way is Way of Right
        
        To be perfectly blunt, I don’t know why this was newsworthy at all, let alone worthy of being the first article on the NZ Herald Website.
        
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        January 9, 2024 11:22am
  - SoloView
    
    @ MMA
    It’s an attack because in a approx 600 word article they mention the word National twice!
    I see NewZeal were also attacked with a naming in the last sentence.//
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:45am
    - Jack5
      
      But the headline reads: “Former National MP Alfred Ngaro ….”
      
      At the link below is an analysis of the impact of headlines. It includes:
      
      In some ways, headlines have always been used as clickbait and the news ecology has always been driven by the economics of attention.
      
      https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/headlines-journalism/
      
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      January 9, 2024 10:34am
  - JimBobJoe
    
    Lol Mike. You know exactly how throwing shade works and how association with troubling or bad happenings lowers reputations.
    
    Ex: I am not saying Mike is a troll, but I understand there was an incident where he was much aggrieved and reacted badly when the Petone RFC team crossed the Ewen bridge on the way to the Bellevue and woke him from his afternoon nap below the bridge….
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:53am
- Souvlaki
  
  I for one do not regret cancelling my subscription for their ” premium content”….pfffft!…since the election…citing their rabid anti coalition hit pieces and their anti-semitism.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:16am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    It’s funny how an article such as this one is NOT paywalled whereas today’s article on Prostate Cancer Screening, which affects 4000 pplus men in NZ every year, is paywalled….
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:20am
- Im Right
  
  GHOST…..you are going to be mightily busy posting over the next 3yrs, it’s obvious that the current Govt are going to have more critical posts than favourable ones, the MSM has nailed it’s political allegiance to the mast a number of years ago.
  For example:
  How many front page pieces or opinions penned calling out the last 6yrs of failure, almost all stats were worse in 2023 than when they took power in 2017.
  The usual go to excuse was COVID, that’s wearing so thin now it needs a darning needle.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:18am
  - artemisia
    
    Does anyone still know how to darn any more? And what a darning needles looks like? Or why a darning mushroom is essential for holes in sock heels?
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:18am
    - Local Miller
      
      Yes, though modern socks don’t get darned. The old knitted socks could be darned, and as a young boy my mother taught me how to do it. Haven’t darned socks in about 50 years. My mom kept a large smooth sea shell in her darning kit which she used as a darning mushroom.
      Weird the things one remembers.
      
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      January 9, 2024 10:10am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Visible darning is just the thing for your holey jerseys. (especially if you don’t give a stuff what you wear)
      
      https://www.collingwoodnorrisdesign.com/knitwearblog/mending-advice
      
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      January 9, 2024 10:26am
- nova
  
  Fairly disgraceful hit job by the NZ herald. Not sure why this is funded by the Public Interest Journalism Fund, doesn’t seem to be a significant news story that is in the public interest to be reported.
  But even worse, if you go to the NZ Herald website right now, it is the lead story, with a double height image with the heading: ” ‘I did not strike her’: Former Nats minister investigated over family funeral fight “. The use of the quote along with the word investigated gives a very negative connotation to what seems like a fairly mundane incident.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Same with some problem with Magee Barry, turned out it was only over her cell phone strapped around her neck, and always being allowed to wear it around her neck, of course she was an ex Nat MP, but she was gone well before the 2020 election I thought
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:47am
  - Ian Boag
    
    On the face of things it does look like she might have got pretty grumpy about it seeing that the police got involved.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:58am
- Bobba Fret
  
  It seems to be open season on ex-National MP’s what with Maggie Barry the other day.
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:53am
- Rusty
  
  @ Ghost,
  Why should a family feud/scuffle be front page news in the herald and on the radio this morning?
  
  Could there also be some anti-christian bashing by the msm considering Alfred’s new party “New Zeal” is christian based?
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:58am
- Close Hen Counters
  
  It’s an appalling article – next page a shark is found in the waters around Papamoa for goodness sake. Who would have thought??? Thank god the shark, apparently named Glen, doesn’t vote national 😜
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Close,
    The people who name wild animals are irritating.
    
    They, generally, show symptoms of infantilism and seem prone to wanting to pet or hug said creatures.
    
    This should be strongly encouraged.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:06am
    - Don Beckett
      
      There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of sharks off the coast at Papamoa – including the Mount along to Maketu. I have seen bronze whalers, grey nurse, hammerheads, mako, white pointers, small blue sharks – there may be also the odd tiger shark, but I haven’t seen one of them yet in those waters.
      Why on earth that is news – again – useless journalism.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:02pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Yeah, but how many of them are called Glen, eh.
        
        Interesting that no one gifted Glen a Maori name. Perhaps they’re worried that Glen might turn out to be a bad boy & bite someone.
        
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        January 9, 2024 2:29pm
      - JohnRidd
        
        I went kayak fishing off Tapu today. Caught my limit of snapper in a couple of hours, but during that time I caught and threw back 5 small hammerhead sharks. Their teeth are razor sharp even at that age. They breed in the Firth of Thames and at this time of year there are zillions of them. If people knew how many there are they would never go near the water.
        
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        January 9, 2024 4:50pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Thanks for the link, my phantom friend. it took me to the Horrid, a place I haven’t ventured for years but in this case I was pleased to do so.
  
  In addition to the hit-job on someone not even part of the national party now, I clicked on a link to learn that some tattooed person described as a “Maramataka Māori practitioner and expert” is upset that NASA is sending the remains of 66 people to be buried on the moon.
  
  She evidently believes that this is both ignorant and arrogant – two words that in fact very accurately describe her own response to something that has nothing to do with her – and says “The moon is sacred and we do not dig on it. It will upset the mauri [lifeforce] of the moon.” I know what you’re thinking – I am not making this up.
  
  Despite the “backlash”, it’s understood the uncrewed spacecraft successfully launched on Monday evening New Zealand time. Well, that’s a relief!
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/ignorant-and-arrogant-maramataka-expert-heeni-hoterene-wants-maori-to-oppose-moon-burials/KS7I2BN4W5F57NFOLQ4RJZG7MY/
  
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  January 9, 2024 5:32pm
  - Ghost
    
    Oh I will have to read that article. I had to zoom in to the photo, that third guy looked a bit like bill clinton….. that would be a nice place to have your ashes
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:37pm
  - artemisia
    
    Ms Hoterene is probably seeing her decent income stream slip sliding away if traditional Maori health funding and its outcomes are being scrutinised by the new government. So time to get the profile out there, and the maramataka online shop (yes there is one).
    
    Have to say though, such practitioners have been encouraged and funded a whole lot in the last few years, so an expectation has developed.. Also have to say the moon influences on earth and earthlings may not be zero. But telling the world what they can and cannot do there is a few thousand steps too far.
    
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    January 9, 2024 7:27pm
Chuck Bird

About time.

Prostate cancer and early detection – backward-looking views harm NZ men: Danny Bedingfield

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/prostate-cancer-and-early-detection-backward-looking-views-harm-nz-men-danny-bedingfield/UIEOAYY5WZG4PF7VHF5VWFUHKM/
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January 9, 2024 8:02am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Paywalled. Dam, I wanted to read that.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:37am
  - kevn
    
    SteveO… One dollar a week to The Horrid for the occasional good article, Prebble, Joyce etc.
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:48am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Get tested. The article could save men’s lives.
      
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      January 9, 2024 8:53am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I have low level prostate cancer.
        On a program called “Active Surveillance” MRI now 2 yearly, Biopsy (under anesthetic) 2 yearly, and PSA 3 monthly.
        Prostate cancer is just not advertised like breast cancer.
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:10am
      - cmm
        
        “The article could save men’s lives.”
        
        I will bet that there is nothing new in the article. Nothing that people have not heard a hundred times already.
        
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        January 9, 2024 10:08am
      - mawm
        
        cmm – that is true for most men but there are still those who do not know or do not want a digital rectal examination. Hopefully articles like this help get them to go and get examined and tested. Shame on the Herald for putting this behind a paywall.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:25pm
      - rouppe
        
        It’s taken me about 2 years to get put on a list (maybe) for an angiogram.
        
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        January 9, 2024 8:21pm
    - kowtow
      
      Why give them direct financial support at all ?
      
      If you’re a library patron you can get it through pressreader ( you pay for it throgh your exhorbitant rates)
      
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      January 9, 2024 8:54am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Not sure about that. In Wgtn your WCC Library Card number gets you access to all of the papers & mags except the Post. Presumably it’s a carve out to avoid cannibalising local sales.
        
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        January 9, 2024 2:32pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Pert of it is below. I cannot copy much more due to copywrit.
    
    Members of the Prostate Cancer Foundation are calling out officials clinging to a superannuated mindset that’s holding back something pretty important – a reduction in 750 deaths a year from prostate cancer. On behalf of the hundreds of fathers, sons and husbands who don’t yet know they have prostate cancer, the foundation is pushing back on Ministry of Health advice unwrapped by the Official Information Act (NZ Herald, December 11).
    
    These backward-looking views are holding back progress on launching a pilot of prostate cancer screening that would save lives and return more than $100 million to the health system, plus generate over half a billion dollars in health gains – and that’s just in two regions of Aotearoa.
    
    The comments in official advice to the Minister of Health showed thinking hadn’t progressed since the 1990s. Broadly, the advice said that screening men’s blood for an indicator of prostate problems can lead to negative outcomes, such as overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and unnecessarily invasive procedures.
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:52am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      All screening programmes carry the risk of false positive leading to unnecessary, sometime harmful, treatment. That’s something to be balanced against the wider benefits.
      
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      January 9, 2024 9:00am
      - Jack5
        
        Milky, there’s a step between screening and treatment.
        
        Typicallly: PSA blood test –> biopsy procedure –> treatment if needed.
        
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        January 9, 2024 11:10am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Mike,
        
        Are you referring to the PCR covid test?
        The kiwi health services ran the tests at 45+ repetitions, disregarding the developers instruction not to exceed 23 repetitions in order to avoid high false positive rates that would render the test meaningless.
        
        False positives were inevitable. It is surprising that there were any negative results but,seeing now what the health system is doing with inconvenient data, how would we know.
        That’s why they made up the term “asymptomatic covid sufferer”.
        
        Otherwise the sheep might have thought something was up!
        
        Remember the smug halfwits:
        “I’m covid positive but I’m asymptomatic”
        
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        January 9, 2024 11:18am
      - mawm
        
        mike – any urologist should know about that and do further assessment. Their understanding of the disease over the last decade has become far better, however the uninformed keep on trumpeting this nonsense about unnecessary and harmful treatment.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:29pm
      - AitchW
        
        So what do you suggest? Stop all screening in case there’s a false positive? Just bury our heads in the sand? Really stupid post Mikey.
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:13pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Oh, bugger! It only applies to somewhere called Aotearoa. I live in New Zealand; I hope the program eventually gets rolled out here.
      
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      January 9, 2024 5:35pm
  - Matt Long
    
    Basically Steve the Prostate Foundation is pushing for early detection by making blood screening widely available, including to people who cannot afford GP fees and the MOH is saying too many false positives and unnecessary invasive procedures. (Code for costly. )
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:07am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I am already in that screening. Not understanding the false positive bit. MRI and 35 point Biopsy results are positive.
      
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      January 9, 2024 9:13am
      - newview
        
        Agree Steve. I have been treated for PC and feel that over diagnosis, being incorrect, would only come about if blood tests were acted upon without the additional manual examination showing a swollen prostate which IMO then justifies sample tests of the prostate. In my situation the prostate showed some cancer which was then scraped. The PSA blood test then showed a drop to normal levels. It would be a brave, know it all doctor, who would deny a patient a follow up prostate sampling after finding high PSA levels along with a manual finger up the bum check which showed a swollen prostate. I wouldn’t recommend sampling without the other two procedures. Most doctors routinely check their patients manually and with blood tests as they should. Sampling then follows if required.
        
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        January 9, 2024 11:11am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @newview,
        difference for me is my prostate is small, but PSA was far too high. First biopsy showed 2 out of 12 samples positive. Next was MRI 6 months later to confirm.
        Then the bad experience 6 months later. Biopsy under anesthetic showed 35 samples cancer free. The original 2 are still there.
        The bad bit under anesthetic was getting a breathing tube into my lungs. Suxamethonium, and hello, anaphylaxis attack. Could have killed me. I now have a Medic Alert tag.
        So yeah, as long as the surveillance is there. No medications needed yet.
        Trouble is there are a lot of guys who don’t know they have prostate cancer until it is too late. Once it migrates it will go to the spine and hips – gone burger. All because guys don’t want a finger test. Harden up guys, you could die!
        
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        January 9, 2024 11:41am
      - Ian Boag
        
        The problem with the digital (finger) check is that lots of older men have enlarged prostates without having cancer. PSA blood tests are sort-of-indicative – as I understand it the clinician looks for a trend in the values as much as an absolute level. So both of these can give false positives. The most definitive test (as I understand it) is a biopsy – which is not a trivial procedure.
        
        Go figure.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:08pm
      - newview
        
        That is some experience Steve. I wish for you to have a better future with follow ups. As Ian says below there are many variables and the only real truth is the sample however that procedure doesn’t come cheap so can’t see it being there for everyone straight off. I believe they give pain relief with it now. I didn’t have that and was ready to do a runner after eight. Not pleasant.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:35pm
      - mawm
        
        Ian – I think you’ll find that the digital examination is to find lumps or areas of differing tissue density. Anybody with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) should be tested and examined regularly.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:35pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @newview 12.35, and Ian.
        The first 12 point test there was just a sedative, then shoot needles through the bowel wall, guided by untrasound
        The second 35 sample biopsy was general anesthetic, feet up in the stirrups like birthing, and groin entry with an endoscope.
        Yeah, anaphylaxis. What was a 40 minute procedure turned into 7 1/2 hours.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:51pm
  - Burtland
    
    use firefoxes “save to pocket” – gets through the pw
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:19am
- david in Aus
  
  Amended post, please delete my previous one.
  
  Don’t follow the advice of these advocacy groups. As much as we think it is unfair that women have breast cancer screening programs and men don’t have dedicated screening, the evidence for population screening of prostate cancer is not clear cut. The tools for screening are not precise enough and the interventions can cause significant complications.
  There have been randomised controlled trials and they haven’t shown a definite benefit of population-based screening. People use individual stories to make the case for screening, which can be problematic. If you have had prostate cancer surgery and become incontinent and impotent you are more likely to say the surgery saved your life, even if from a statistical point of view it may not have.
  Screening for prostate cancer may save the lives of 1.3 men per 1000 screened over 13 years. But with the cost of overdiagnosis of an extra 23-42% of cases by screening.
  
  Most men die with prostate cancer and not because of it. However, see your doctor for individual advice. For some men, screening is definitely worthwhile; especially if you have risk factors.
  
  https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcp2209151
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:47am
  - Right of way is Way of Right
    
    There has not yet been a screening program, randomised or not, that has taken advantage of the full suite of screening options available to completely diagnose the presence and extent of prostate cancer.
    
    The trial proposed by the PCFNZ, would ideally be based in two regions, Auckland (specifically the Waitemata region) and Taraiwhiti/Gisborne.
    
    PSA blood screening would be applied to those over 45, and over 40 with a family history of prostate or breast cancer (both can indicate the presence of the BRCA gene known to produce higher incidences of cancer.
    
    A positive indicator would put the candidate on to the next level of screening, being a MRI scan to determine if there is anything to be concerned about.
    
    An adverse result of the MRI should lead to a trans perineal biopsy under a local (as is currently undertaken in the UK). This greatly reduces the risk of an infection found in a trans rectal biopsy, and provides a greater level of access to the prostate and better options for sampling.
    
    A positive biopsy should require the patient to undergo a PSMA PET Scan to determine extent/spread, and determine what the best treatment options are to provide the best outcome to the patient.
    
    It’s clear that your response is closely linked to the outdated thinking that Danny has referred to extensively in his article.
    
    Prostate cancer screening will not increase the number of men who have prostate cancer, but it will ensure that they are diagnosed early, and have access to treatment options that will ensure a higher chance of survival, and a much better quality of life.
    
    I have spoken to far too many prostate cancer patients who would have had a much brighter future had their cancer been detected sooner. The diagnosis process for prostate cancer has been unchanged since the early 1990’s despite the astonishing advances in medical imaging. We are just trying to make sure that the men of New Zealand can take full advantage of that.
    
    Yes, we are an advocacy group, and some of the people we advocate for are dying needlessly. We’re trying to stop that.
    
    What are you trying to do here, exactly??
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:40am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Quality of life is the big thing. Nobody wants the news that they are so far advanced they are going to die. Best is early diagnosis and adopt the monitoring – which is where I am at. Being mentally strong is a big help, although I was a bit on edge after learning 2 out of 12 positives.
      Life is good now.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:11pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        2 positive cancer results out of 12 samples.
        Badly worded, my fault.
        
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        January 9, 2024 2:45pm
    - david in Aus
      
      It sounds like a need for a randomised controlled trial.
      
      I am always wary of surgeons drumming up business.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:25pm
      - mawm
        
        David – the urologists I know are far too busy to need to “drum up business”.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:44pm
      - Right of way is Way of Right
        
        That’s the beauty of the screening proposal, it takes the doctors and surgeons out of the equation.
        
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        January 9, 2024 6:46pm
    - mawm
      
      Right of way – 100% correct.
      David in Australia is just repeating the mantra used to stop men from demanding a proper screening program because of cost. This kind of misinformation needs to be attacked by providing the correct information as you have done.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:43pm
      - david in Aus
        
        They are suggesting PSMA PET scan which is only available in limited areas run by private companies. These cost $3000-4000 per scan.
        
        I am not keen on public monies to be spent on these. There are better uses of money. I am not for a bloated health budget. NZ is now longer a rich country. We should not be doing expensive unproven screening programs that richer countries are not doing.
        
        By the way, I am also not keen for publically funded IVF. That should be paid from private funds. These fall under the same category for me: unnecessary for a public health system.
        
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        January 9, 2024 1:08pm
      - mawm
        
        David – nobody is suggesting a pet scan on everyone.
        
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        January 9, 2024 3:14pm
      - david in Aus
        
        I am sure they not advocating for prostate surgery for everyone either. But it seems they use this after prostate biopsy which may people would get.
        
        Note to lay people on why blood tests are not great in diagnosing prostate cancer. Doctors use a blood test called PSA. But elevated PSA levels are common. It is usually caused by another condition, BPH, which very common as men age, 50% of those over 60 years of age have this, and 90% had this condition over the age of 80. Doctors use change in these levels over time and a thing call Free PSA ratio. But these biochemical tests are less than perfect. Someone mentioned digital rectal exam, this is less sensitive than the blood test for asymptomatic patients.
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:31pm
      - Right of way is Way of Right
        
        A PSMA-PET scan costs about $2000 to $2500.
        
        This can indicate if surgery is or is not required, or if a wider treatment is required using hormones and radiation, which is what I had to endure.
        
        However, a one off $2000 expenditure could negate the need for a surgeon, anesthetist, surgical nurses, the use of an operating theatre, pre care, post care, and all the associated costs that a surgical intervention requires, not to mention the often sub optimal outcomes, E.D., incontinence and all the other side effects.
        
        Believe it or not, the use of PSMA-PET scans as part of a graduated screening process, would actually cost LESS money than not using it.
        
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        January 9, 2024 6:52pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        MRIs on the other hand only cost about $2k.
        
        Biopsies are enough of a mission that if they were part of a widespread screening process the sums (and the demand on OR/doctor resource) would get a bit hard. Given that most would come out zilch …
        
        I had the rectal biopsy thing which came up with enough rotten stuff that I went the next step to privately-funded robotic procedure as advised by my urologist. He was a bit of a hard case – after I had the surgery he offered a last rectal finger for old times sake 🙂
        
        Go figure.
        
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        January 9, 2024 6:53pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        a surgeon, anesthetist, surgical nurses, the use of an operating theatre, pre care, post care, and all the associated costs that a surgical intervention requires
        
        Think 30k ….
        
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        January 9, 2024 7:01pm
      - david in Aus
        
        For context PET/CT scan is very useful, expensive, and limited. It is very useful in those with established tumours. Also, it is very inaccessible for those with lung, adrenal tumours/cancers etc.
        This advocacy group is recommending PET scanning in prostate cancer screening when there is little evidence of benefit of its use in screening. It is while lung cancers/adrenal cancers etc can’t get a look in.
        
        By the way, Mercy Radiology’s price for PSMA PET scan is $3470.
        
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        January 9, 2024 8:45pm
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  I have worked with Danny for some time as a prostate cancer survivor, and board member of the prostate cancer foundation of New Zealand. Danny and I have both had the misfortune of a cancer diagnosis at a much younger age than is considered typical in NZ. Danny was diagnosed at the age of 37, I was diagnosed at age 47. We are all working very hard to start a funded trial in two regions in NZ, one urban, one rural, to demonstrate the financial and clinical gains that we believe can be realised in regard to the treatment of prostate cancer. Following on from a very successful trial in the EU, specifically Belgium, we are keen to continue from there. We have funded economic research, validated through MBIE, to confirm that there is a clear economic benefit to NZ (Conservatively calculated to be over $100 million in economic benefits in terms of productivity and contribution of cancer survivors still able to work, and the reduced treatment costs).
  
  Meanwhile, the only response from officials at Te Whatu Ora has been a continued referral to a treatment and diagnosis modality that is decades out of date. While it is agreed by the PCFNZ that a PSA blood test on its own is not always the most accurate diagnostic tool, we see it as a pathway to the next stage of diagnostic screening, using MRI scans, and PSMA-PET scans to determine if cancer is present, the extent of the cancer, and the optimal treatment options for the best clinical outcomes.
  
  It should be a no brainer.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:34am
  - ISeeRed
    
    You don’t understand. This is a men’s health issue. But men don’t have problems because patriarchy. Therefore, shut up, sexist.
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:04pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Thank you for your efforts
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:10pm
    - mawm
      
      I agree. Thank you.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:48pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      I also agree. Thank you.
      
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      January 9, 2024 1:09pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I am a prostate cancer survivor. I was diagnosed this time last year after a high(ish) PSA reading from a blood test that I self-ordered. I do this annually, and have previously checked for a range of indicators… but never PSA. In mid-2022 I decided to add PSA to the set of tests and this came up way too high. Then …
  
  Digital exam -> no palpable cancer
  MIR -> no visible cancer
  Biospy -> Got ’em! Gleason score 6
  PSMA PET scan -> localised (image looks like torch rather the Christmas tree meaning no metastatic disease)
  
  Robotic surgery went remarkable well with no loss of anything other than my prostate and a grape-sized tumor within.
  
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  January 9, 2024 1:18pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    Robotic surgery went remarkable well
    
    Not available in the public system of course …. my insurer (SC) even short changed me because it was “more expensive” than their guidelines.
    
    As they lie you down on the flypaper you see the big screen and hand gripper things – and just hope it isn’t running Windows XP 🙂
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:03pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Really? Mine was approved by SC. They must like my KB posts 😉
      
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      January 9, 2024 2:13pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Mine was about 15 years ago ….
        
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        January 9, 2024 2:17pm
artemisia

Yet another misstep from Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. A person in her position should not be taking an overt position on a highly controversial global issue. IMO.

Juliet Moses (@JulietMosesNZ on X) has posted a provocative Free Palestime graphic from Mayor Whanau’s Instagram, and pointed out that the image features a gun, along with raised fists.
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January 9, 2024 8:03am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Imagine if someone posted a pic of the flag of Mozambique.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:15am
  - 3-coil
    
    Milky: …or an Israeli flag?
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:34am
- kowtow
  
  Today we have a hagiographic 2 page spread on her by Georgina Campbell in the continuing down the path of irrelevance Whoreald .
  
  No mention of her support for rapist , murdering , hostage taking terrorists.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:27am
  - John Loveridge
    
    I saw that and was intrigued by the statement that she is still apparently settling into Wellington’s mayoralty.
    
    Dear Jesus. She’s 14 months into a 36 month term! How long, exactly, does settling in take? What would it take for her to describe herself as “settled in”? When might Wellingtonians expect to get some proper mayoring out of her?
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:42am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I think Wellington’s mayor has an interesting concept of time/age.
      
      ” I’m still a young, single, professional”
      
      ““I feel proud of what I have accomplished for a 40-year-old. I’m growing up, I’m getting older, and that’s okay.”
      
      However, Whanau hoped she could still refer to herself as being young.
      
      Someone needs to inform her that she’s middle-aged..or in meat parlance.. she’s not a lamb or a hogget; She’s mutton; no longer a chicken or a pullet, but well on her way to being an old boiler.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:36pm
      - kowtow
        
        Dressed as lamb .
        
        From the article ;
        “Whanau keeps an eye on fashion trends on Tik tok and brought in a personal stylist because “when you change your style, you can do it horrbly wrong”………..so Whanau ended up spending a fair bit of money on the NZ designer’s clothes …..
        Whanau is a frequent visitor at Flo and Frankie but her idol is Maori fashion designer Kiri Nathan.”
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:59pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Heading for dog tucker
        
        8 1
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        January 9, 2024 2:40pm
- Che Guava
  
  “A person in her position should not be taking an overt position on a highly controversial global issue.”
  
  I can’t imagine that you’d have any problem at all if the flag in question was an Israeli flag instead.
  
  It’s not “an overt position” that displeases you, it is that it’s a position you disagree with.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:15am
  - All_on_Red
    
    I couldn’t care less about what flag she waves.
    But the symbols of violence like fists and guns is inappropriate.
    If someone on the ‘right’ did that they would be accused of inciting violence.
    Check out how the idiot Sarah Palin got dragged when she used a ‘target’ symbol in promotional material
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:41am
    - Che Guava
      
      “I couldn’t care less about what flag she waves.
      But the symbols of violence like fists and guns is inappropriate.”
      
      What are the Palestinians supposed to use to combat the Israeli violence? Feather dusters and kebabs?
      
      Like the flag, it’s not the symbols you have a problem with as such, it’s that the people using them is not the side you agree with.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:07pm
      - Jennycraigsfailure
        
        I actually hope Isreal keep hammering those terrorists for as long as it takes to eliminate all of them.
        
        13 4
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        January 9, 2024 2:48pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Che, more like the people using them in Aotearoa are morons. Tory is the Mayor and should stay above the fray. She is supposed to represent all Wellingtonians, not just the ones on HER side.
        
        And your comment about what are Palestinians supposed to use is irrelevant to my point.
        Its clear you have an issue with Israel so lets just call you a hypocrite.
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:46pm
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    I thought her highly controversial global issue today was joining a gym ugh
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:53am
zulumonster

Brace yourself – the useless HRC has decided that because Maori are the disproportionate recipients of “painful force” from police something needs to be urgently changed.
I agree that something needs to change – it is time people woke up and realise that the only way to lower this damning statistic is for Maori themselves to stop resisting police with violence.
The HRC has jumped to a mighty conclusion based on a raw statistic and should be ashamed of their knee jerk reaction. The reality is that this news item will result in a pile on from the usual suspects with many too scared to provide a the rational counter argument. This sort of cr@p should not even see the light of day but it suits the MSM current view of the world.
It is just the latest hatchet job on the integrity of the police, with no balance.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-more-likely-to-use-painful-force-on-maori-during-arrest-human-rights-commission-calls-for-urgent-change/NEMHVQY5HNBXTLM2JPV7PTLPSI/
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January 9, 2024 8:05am
- mandk
  
  What the article fails to mention is that, as well as being more likely than the general population to indulge in the hazardous use of alcohol, Māori are several times more likely to use methamphetamine (source: NZ Health Survey).
  
  Meth use is, as is well known, likely to make users to behave unpredictably and violently.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:25am
  - rockape
    
    Who needs the warrior gene when you have an ample supply of meth ?
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:49am
    - artemisia
      
      A few years back it was reported that some child soldiers in a west African country were sent into conflict after their arms were cut open and the wound packed with cocaine or meth. Actions in conflict unlikely to have been measured and civil.
      
      I did wonder if similar happened 7 October. If so, there will be evidence in time.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:50pm
  - greybeard
    
    Not only the “meth” factor.
    Maori and PI are on the whole a lot larger than Europeans and Asians.
    https://figure.nz/chart/PbZherLUmKh8NphP
    
    So the physical differences between maori offenders and non-maori officers may come into the officers’ decision making.
    
    Combine these various factors and this why you get this:
    https://thefacts.nz/crime/violent-crime-feb-2023/
    Maori males: 50% of violent crime, 17% of population.
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:41pm
  - rouppe
    
    What they also don’t mention is that “pakeha” are second most prominent, and that pacifika, Asian and African are well down the list.
    
    So if there was racism per se, you’d expect to see those races further up the list.
    
    The fact is that applying pain techniques is hard work. They’d much rather someone accompany them without force. So the levels of action are in response to levels of action. Predominately from Maori, it appears
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:31pm
- Cassandra
  
  The HRC serves no useful purpose and should be disestablished. We have an ombudsman and that’s sufficient.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:26am
- thirteenstars
  
  Well, ACT wanted to abolish the HRC. I guess they couldn’t get it past the Nats in the coalition negotiations.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:43am
- Swifty
  
  This has been extensively studied in the States and for decades.
  
  By far and away the single factor which dwarfs all others in determining police behaviour at the time of arrest is detainee/offender behaviour.
  
  Not gender. Not race. Not age. Not time of day. Not geography. Not what the officers have had for lunch.
  
  No. It’s the behaviour of the arrested/detained person immediately before any police use of force. People who are calm, do as lawfully instructed, do not violently resist etc are almost never on the receiving end of police force.
  
  Those who scream and curse, do not follow lawful instructions, resist, offer violence themselves etc sometimes/often find themselves receiving push back from police.
  
  I bet the situation is exactly the same here.
  
  Karanina Sumeo and Alf Filipaina are just embarrassing themselves. If they are genuinely concerned then their advice should be to those who come in contact with the police to remain calm and do as instructed. They will almost always walk away completely unharmed and can carry on with their day.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:54am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Alf has clearly forgotten his times policing in auckland, I am sure a few of his ex colleagues will be rolling their eyes at his comments.
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:12am
  - Raphael
    
    Indeed.
    
    I watch a fair bit of content on “Lawtube”. I’ve seen SovCit’s talking themselves into an arrest from what would have been just a warning. I’ve also seen defendants, about to get exactly what they want destroy it completely with a “Your Honor can I say something” and then completely undo all the hard work their lawyer had done.
    (and we won’t talk about the pro-se defendants.)
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:57am
  - Ehlana
    
    I believe there is also a connection with not committing crimes in the first place. It’s worked for me, anyway.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:22am
    - pdm
      
      I heard that the period covered was from 2016 until I assume some time in 2023.
      
      What was not covered that I have seen or heard was total number of arrests in that period. Knowing that may put a better perspective on those resisting arrest and therefore being dealt to.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:29pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Another con for Cambodia.
    Police.
    Expect to receive “appropriate force”” if you are stupid enough to resist.
    
    I love the story of a Chinese Gang fight/Riot(with swords) in the Seaside town.
    Police arrived Chinese continued to wave swords. Police pulled out guns and shot a handful.
    Riot over, peace restored.
    
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    January 9, 2024 3:05pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Good the police don’t tread on eggshells with violent ferals, however the gangs of ferals with swords seems concerning.
      
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      January 10, 2024 7:48pm
- artemisia
  
  This news item might result in a pile on from the usual suspects. It is likely also to result in more than a few new eyerolls from the rest of us.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:58am
- backster
  
  The Human Rights Commission aligns itself alongside the Coney agitator as determined to foment racial division in our country.
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:35am
mikenmildagain

Happy 80th birthday to Jimmy Page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q18-Bt6zImg
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January 9, 2024 8:05am
- Exclamation Mark
  
  I hear he’s going to celebrate by remastering Led Zeppelin’s entire back catalogue again.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:24am
- mandk
  
  A rare thumbs up from me on this occasion. Thanks mma.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:26am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  God of guitarists
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:44am
- MCōs
  
  Birthday wishes from M² is the kiss of death for poor old Jimmy Page!
  I paid a pound to see him and the boys at Alexandra Palace in 1973. They played Stairway to Heaven twice because the first time was a bit rough.
  So young James would have been about twenty nine
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:39am
- newview
  
  Well said. Jimmy paying “the rain song “ on acoustic with Robert plant one of my favourites. Worth a listen.
  
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  January 9, 2024 1:28pm
kevn

NZ medical data goes international, in a bad way…
https://colleenhuber.substack.com/p/nz-fudged-the-data-on-how-the-kidneys?utm_source=cross-post&publication_id=380654&post_id=140256712&utm_campaign=583200&isFreemail=true&r=15bbs6&utm_medium=email
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January 9, 2024 8:06am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Naturopaths are cranks pretending to be medical professionals.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:09am
  - herb1
    
    She’s a qualified Medical Doctor.
    What are your qualifications Mike
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:15am
    - MCōs
      
      I think you’ll find Colleen Huber is not a qualified doctor
      https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/quackery/naturopath-sues-whistleblower-denouncing-quack-treatments
      
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      January 9, 2024 9:17am
      - herb1
        
        She’s a Medical Doctor specialising in Naturopathy according to numerous google references
        
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        January 9, 2024 10:59am
    - EssenX
      
      While I have time for alternative medicine and therapy, she is not a doctor – full stop. Put her next to a med grad and ask them both basic anatomy questions, you will be surprised at how poor her knowledge is. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a place to provide a service to the community – she does – but masquerading as a medical doctor is very misleading.
      
      As an aside, chiropractors need to stop titling themselves Dr too.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:16pm
      - bennerg
        
        The Dr title I believe can be used by anyone with a PhD. Dentists, Vets, and Chiropractors can also use the term. When they do they usually clarify it with their speciality.
        
        The term “Medical Doctor” applies to someone with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) or better.
        
        Here’s a good explanation:
        
        https://www.dcscience.net/nzmj-Roughan-reply.pdf
        
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        January 9, 2024 10:30pm
    - mawm
      
      Herb – she does not advertise her qualifications anywhere other than to say she is a naturopathic medical doctor. Lots of allied professions call themselves “doctor” with neither a medical degree nor a PhD, eg Chiropractors. Until such time as I see her qualifications I’d treat her as not being trained as a doctor.
      
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      January 9, 2024 1:11pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    We aren’t getting much truth from the medical professionals, in fact it looks like they are altering and hiding medical data from the public.
    If that doesn’t deserve jail time then we have a systemic problem with the government.
    
    I don’t care where the truth comes from, as long as it gets here.
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:29am
  - Cassandra
    
    Free country. A fool and his/her money are soon parted. As long as they do not commit fraud they serve a useful purpose ie stop idiots wasting my GP’s time.
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:29am
  - stewmar
    
    Naturopaths are cranks pretending to be medical professionals
    
    MM, where is your evidence to support that deluded assertion?
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:40am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Naturopaths, unlike actual doctors, are not constrained by the need to use evidence-based practices, and typically rely on a range if pseudoscientific ‘treatments’.
      See also, chiropractors, osteopaths and homeopaths.
      
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      January 9, 2024 8:54am
      - Taieri
        
        See also, chiropractors, osteopaths and homeopaths.
        ———–
        
        You don’t know what you are talking about. A good osteopath is worth his (‘his’ as I’m too big to be treated by ‘her’) in gold. Helped me many times, when all that a GP could offer was Ibuprofen.
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:23am
      - Ghost
        
        Thank God you’re just a nutter on a blog and not a doctor. If not for my chiropractor, who my GP sent me to I’d just commit suicide because before her the pain was unbearable
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:29am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “unlike actual doctors, are not constrained by the need to use evidence-based practices,”
        
        Would these actual doctors be the ones who knowingly
        pumped their trusting patients full of an experimental drug of unknown ingredients and unknown side effects?
        
        The doctors who refused and spoke out and lost their careers are the only ones that deserve the title.
        
        The rest are charlatans.
        
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        January 9, 2024 9:59am
      - Arthur Fleck
        
        I’ve had mixed results from visiting many osteopaths and chiropractors over the years. A couple of them were absolute miracle-workers, so I would never write off the field completely. GPs on the other hand, I’m completely done with – a complete waste of money.
        
        14 3
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        January 9, 2024 11:25am
      - rouppe
        
        You mean like Te Ao Maori practices?
        
        3 0
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        January 9, 2024 8:36pm
  - kevn
    
    mma… The data. Can you not absorb the data?
    
    12 5
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    January 9, 2024 8:50am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      If naturopaths had any regard for data they wouldn’t be naturopaths.
      
      7 25
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      January 9, 2024 8:55am
      - crikey
        
        Naturopath: someone, if attempting suicide, takes an underdose.
        
        12 2
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        January 9, 2024 9:12am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        crikey
        Interesting question: what would a homeopath prescribe for euthanasia?
        
        4 12
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        January 9, 2024 10:41am
      - Ghost
        
        Interesting question: what would a homeopath prescribe for euthanasia?
        
        An hour listening to you would do anyone in
        
        20 2
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        January 9, 2024 11:34am
      - Local Miller
        
        Crikey: Naturopath: someone, if attempting suicide, takes an underdose
        
        No, that would be a homeopath.
        
        A Naturopath would use hemlock. Or a hell of a lot of almonds.
        
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        January 9, 2024 10:43am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Interesting question: what would a homeopath prescribe for euthanasia?
        
        White arsenic would be the obvious choice…
        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14705842/
        
        But there’s so many to choose from…Belladonna, aconitum, digitalis, strychnine, etc.
        
        But looking at some of the fees for homeopaths, I suspect the cost of treatment is likely to kill you off.
        
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        January 9, 2024 12:48pm
      - mawm
        
        Maggie – I think he’s taking the Mickey. Homeopaths believe that serial dilution of a drug increases its efficacy.
        
        8 0
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        January 9, 2024 1:16pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @mawm,
        I disposed of thousands of dollars of homeopathic pills and concotions (as well as dozens of unopened prescription vials) when I cleared out the M-in-law’s cupboards and drawers .
        Goodness only knows how much she had spent over the years on consulting homeopaths/naturopaths/psychic psychobabblers etc…
        
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        January 9, 2024 3:48pm
  - Peter Lane
    
    So what’s your view on acupuncture?
    
    I think I already know the answer.
    
    11 3
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    January 9, 2024 9:19am
    - Inandout
      
      PL, or those bone crackers who often do more damage than remedy.
      
      4 2
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      January 9, 2024 10:02am
      - bennerg
        
        Personally I choose the best profession for the job.
        
        If I have an infection I cannot resolve (not had one for years – but if I did), or an issue with my heart etc I visit my GP. Who may refer me to a specialist. If I break a bone I present to A&E.
        
        If I have an issue with my back, I have a great Osteopath who works every time.
        
        I also have access to an Ayurvedic Doctor (also an MD), a Chinese physician / accupuncturist, and a great Naturopath for advice where required, and I read up on research and general health matters to give context to all that advice.
        
        Most importantly I take responsibility for my own health.
        
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        January 9, 2024 1:00pm
    - Ghost
      
      I used to have a great Chinese GP in Auckland who used to do acupuncture. My current Dr down here does as well.
      
      You have good doctors who use a lot of different tools depending on the condition. You have Mike’s idea of gp that just use drugs and Dr Google.
      
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      January 9, 2024 10:03am
  - bennerg
    
    Mike, just so you know, qualified Naturopaths are required to have a Bachelor Degree in Natural medicine. eg
    https://www.spcnm.ac.nz/bachelor-of-natural-medicine/
    
    .. and they have a professional body to ensure the “cranks” are not part of the profession. And if you look at their curriculum, it is very comprehensive. They use the same medical texts and knowledge base as for medical schools. But it is focused on health from a natural perspective, not as the pharmaceutical industry demands, not do they each how to mend broken legs etc.
    
    Sadly the “medical profession” has become an arm of the pharmaceutical business industry, and while we all agree this has achieved so much to improve the quality of life, it has aspects that are downright dangerous. The mRNA gene therapy masqueraded as a “vaccine” comes right to mind. And don’t ever forget Thalidomide.
    
    Medical centres nowadays are designed to pump people through. Doctor’s visits these says are limited to a 13 minute (very precisely timed btw) “consultation”, and if you have more than 1 or 2 issues, you need to pay for an extra time block. It is a sausage machine mentality. Their protocols are driven not just by their individual experience and knowledge, but Medical Centre policies, but as we have seen, edicts from the “puplit(s) of truth”. Doctors are now afraid to speak out – the systems will clobber them.
    
    A naturopath on the other hand spends time with you, and are trained to look beyond the obvious, and will not just hand you a prescription for a pill. They tend to look at health more the ways doctors used to when I was young (50’s and 60s), when I clearly remember the doctor telling my mother to use comfrey from the garden, and using poultices. These days they press some buttons on their computers mostly to generate a script that gives you a bottle of pills or other product from the pharmacy. That’s after using google to help diagnose your ailment. Haha, in most cases I already did that at home and already know what they just told me.
    
    That’s not to deny the amazing advances in medical technology. Having had specialist surgery at Greenlane, I’m all too aware of the good parts. But their hold on how to attain and maintain good health is not exclusive.
    
    The “exclusivity” is driven by the business propaganda coming from the pharmaceutical industry that has a had a grip on “doctoring” for the last 60 – 70 years.
    
    Mike, if you want to talk about “cranks”, here’s my top list: Michael Baker, Souixie Wiles, Rod Jackson …. these are people who should be “public health” advocates, but are nothing more than paid for hacks.
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:31am
    - MCōs
      
      She’s no more entitled to call herself Dr than the late Mac Rebennack aka Dr John
      
      7 5
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      January 9, 2024 10:21am
  - Local Miller
    
    Why don’t you argue the facts of the article rather than shoot the messenger.
    1) There was a report published that showed significant kidney injury post C-19 jab 1, and jab 2.
    2) The original report was withdrawn without any specific reason.
    3) A replacement article was released with data changes that don’t appear to be explained in the article.
    
    Typically if articles are withdrawn and replaced one expects a comment or basic explanation.
    
    Her conclusion is that we are being lied to. This has nothing to do with whether she’s a qualified medical doctor or not.
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:40am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    There are unfortunately nurses and doctors who also tout practices that involve various degrees of woo.
    
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    January 10, 2024 7:50pm
Bridgenag

NZ Fudged the Data on How the Kidneys Fare After the COVID Vaccines
The New Zealand govt chopped nearly in half the number of reported kidney injuries, post-mRNA vaccine, from Jan to Aug 2023. Here also are 50 different types of injuries to the kidneys seen post-vax.

This is an important and poorly covered area of the lipid nanoparticle toxicology. It is not surprising that kidneys are impacted, as they filter all of the circulating blood and so will get hit with any circulating mod-mRNA lipid nanoparticles. – Robert W Malone MD, MS

https://open.substack.com/pub/colleenhuber/p/nz-fudged-the-data-on-how-the-kidneys?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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January 9, 2024 8:08am
- kevn
  
  Bridge… Good to see plenty of links for s.t.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:51am
  - Steve Todd
    
    Yes, it is good to see, kevn, but the question is, have you accepted yesterday’s criticism? The jury is out on that one.
    
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    January 9, 2024 9:48am
Bridgenag

LOVE THIS POST>>>> The big chance to weed out the frauds and wokesters

auditing academia
what have the professors been professing? the real fun is about to begin

“it’s coming.
and when the world gets a look at what has been passing for academia, it’s going to get very, very interesting for the academics because these people are so corrupt, so self-absorbed, so out of step, and so detached from reality that they have not only destroyed but actually inverted the whole system of “higher education” and turned the university into a self-serving fallacy factory for deranged doctrine.
and enough is enough.
occult academia has thrived and festered in obscurity.
it’s going to be amazing what a little sunshine can disinfect.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/auditing-academia?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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January 9, 2024 8:10am
- artemisia
  
  This X post contains a chart of liberals to conservatives ratio in academia. It rests Bridgenag’s case nicely.
  
  The post also has a link to the research paper.
  
  twitter.com/SteveStuWill/status/1743419528615432333
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:26am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Reality tends to have a liberal bias.
    
    3 37
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    January 9, 2024 8:56am
    - Colinxy
      
      So you agree with Ryan Thorneycroft? The author of the paper Cripping Incest Discourse(s)?
      
      That incest should be permitted and that it is eugenics to disapprove of any notion of children borne of incest? That retardation of any such unions is a social construct?
      
      Plus trying to help people out of their disabilities is genocide?
      
      He has plenty of other “ideas” but that is just a sample for you to agree with and defend.
      
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      January 9, 2024 11:31am
    - Lenticular
      
      Weird how it’s acquired a Marxist bias, and even weirder how that happened in the decades since 1990.
      
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      January 9, 2024 12:21pm
    - JimBobJoe
      
      Maybe the reality you live in Mike, aka imaginary.
      
      11 4
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      January 9, 2024 12:52pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      A meaningless slogan for the lefty gullible if ever there was one Milky!
      
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      January 10, 2024 7:52pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  ‘Occult academia’ – chortle!
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:45am
  - kowtow
    
    Like this.
    
    ‘The University of Otago’s secrecy about the cost of its pou whenua shows disrespect for taxpayers money, the Taxpayers’ Union says.
    The comments come after the conclusion of an investigation by the Ombudsman into the university’s conduct when questioned about the sculpture’s cost.’
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/secrecy-shows-%E2%80%98lack-respect%E2%80%99-taxpayers
    
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    January 9, 2024 8:57am
  - Colinxy
    
    Idea laundering is also used in academia. It is akin to money laundering, but for bad ideas; if you cannot get your stupid paper published, create a new journal. Create new awards etc., all to give the illusion of credibility. Eventually such stupidity may get into reputable organisations, academic journals or recognised awards. One only has to look at Harvard to see how idea laundering works.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:52am
- Inandout
  
  Bridge, I heard a teachers’ union chap on ZB this morning moaning about their members not being told exactly what the Coalition wants with regards to gender stuff. Teach you blighters, not coerce.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:50am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Announcement:
  
  I will be plagiarising the phrase:
  “a self-serving fallacy factory for deranged doctrine” as often as I can.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:45am
Toes on the nose

Full cans thrown from the VVIP by the MMM at Wellington Juicy HipHop, ear partly bitten off in Auckland Juicy Hiphop…. FFS I thought Mitchell said Coster said “we got this”. How do I get Juicy tickets for nek year?/
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January 9, 2024 8:17am
- kevn
  
  Toes… Look at the ‘artists’ then imagine who might attend.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:53am
amospicton

Curious observation watching One News last night (yes, I know). Daniel Faitawa was presenting and he did not utter a single word in Te Reo. I assume it’s voluntary in which case the pakeha presenters’ virtue signaling is worse than I thought, and Daniel’s refusal to speak in a language other than his own is to be applauded.
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January 9, 2024 8:35am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  He was a v good Europe Correspondent, and he speaks v well.
  
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  January 9, 2024 8:55am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Spending time as One’s Euro correspondent means he missed peak Jaxxie woke madness
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:49pm
- graham
  
  I do enjoy it when thoroughly professional newsreaders such as Daniel Faitaua and Jenny Suo present the news. Easy to listen to and understand, we need more of this.
  
  I used to like Simon Dallow, but I feel he is now desperately trying to prove he is still relevant, and mistakenly believes that rattling off some Maori phrases demonstrates this. It doesn’t. All it does is frustrate the viewers who simply want to watch the news and be able to understand it without having to google what’s just been said.
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:05am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Totally agree.
    
    Jenny is a smart cookie. She and a school friend did a science project on Vitamin C in Ribena and I believe ended in a court case.
    
    Daniel was a v good Europe correspondent.
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:19am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Daniel is of Samoan heritage.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:20am
NeverMindTheBollocks

More Maori wonderfulness. NZ government pays to buy Maori photos but not pakeha photos. From this one must assume that images of Maoris are more important than images of the rest of us.

No word on why Maoris wouldn’t put their hands in their settlement pocket & pay themselves.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506289/historic-photos-should-never-have-left-nz-whina-cooper-s-daughter-says

A wider perspective:

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/506252/national-library-saves-fairfax-photo-archive-from-us-landfill
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January 9, 2024 8:51am
- Inandout
  
  NM, I have a feeling this Coalition will water down many of the election pledges, especially when Maori are involved. But I don’t blame them for withholding comments because that is what annoys the MSM intensely.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:10am
- Cantabrian
  
  There are apparently around 1.4 million photos, so the 5300 images of Maori is a very small portion. Yet from the media coverage it is getting one could be let to believe that Maori alone were iumportant to the history and development of New Zealand during the 19th century. Of course not overlooking that the photos only exist because of technology developed off-shore!
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:41am
Observant Octagenarian

You have to feel for poor old Mike McRoberts on TV3 last night – having to read all the six o’clock news himself with no partner to share this onerous task.
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January 9, 2024 8:54am
- imalwaysright
  
  Mike likes the sound of his own voice.
  As I have said before, he is the Neil Degrease Tyson of tv3.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:07am
  - Flossie
    
    I find he comes across as very smug. Don’t care for him, and his news reading is just ‘okay’ but he could be replaced by anyone who can read an autocue.
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:24pm
- marcw
  
  McRoberts colluded with his co-presenter to accuse Posy Parker of making a surreptitious Nazi salute, the lead ‘news’ item of that day. It included pixelating the image to hide the actual hand movement, which was of course totally innocuous and trivial.
  
  I don’t care if I never hear or see McRoberts ever again – as far as I know he and his co-presenter and TV3 have never apologised for this disgusting bullying behavior.
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:26am
  - kowtow
    
    Great point .Thanks for the reminder. These incidents of media manipulation need to be kept to the fore .
    
    Never forget , never forgive.
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:16pm
- Paulus
  
  Understand that Mike, even as a Maori, is having Maori lessons for his new solo role.
  
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  January 9, 2024 1:25pm
Matt Long

Great news for the myriad of cyclists and walkers mired in congestion at Levin, Waka Koha has picked partners for the new cycle and walkway extension.
There’s even talk of cars being allowed.
It’s particularly encouraging that Iwi are involved in funding this project. (I assume that’s why they’re involved rather than say bodies representing RUC and petrol levy payers.)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/horowhenua-chronicle/news/nzta-waka-kotahi-picks-partners-for-o2nl-work/D5OVLWZUZZC3FMBDIUHYYQ35XE/
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January 9, 2024 8:54am
- Cantabrian
  
  Since when was it practice to use macrons in abbreviations?
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:44am
  - kowtow
    
    There’s an abbreviated Macron in France.
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:17pm
- ISeeRed
  
  ““From employment, business opportunities, training, cultural expression, and visual representation of our partnership and 1000-year association with this area, there will be many touchpoints for our community. It is particularly important our tamariki and rangatahi are able to engage in this project. We look forward to working with the alliances to create outcomes and benefits for our whānau, hapū, iwi and local community.”
  
  Vomit.
  
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  January 9, 2024 12:30pm
artemisia

Graham Adams on the state funded media’s lack of balance. Actually, he says, “naked bias”. Taking over No Punches Pulled?

http://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/graham-adams-tvnz-s-naked-bias-on-display
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January 9, 2024 9:10am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Adams always hits hit target. He is a sniper when it comes to truth.
  
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  January 9, 2024 9:19am
- Cantabrian
  
  Did anyone notice the insidious insertion of Maori into the recent cricket commentary during the Bangladesh tour? Similarly I’m watching a TVNZ+ series ‘Country House Hunters NZ’, which is not a bad watch – except that the host keeps injecting ‘Aotearoa’ into his narrative. In both these examples we have programmes being broadcast off-shore that will have content that is unitelligible to foreign viewers. I regard this as the height of arrogance by the self-rightous broadcaster. They are, of course, not isolated examples.
  Melissa Lee needs to sort out the TVNZ Board – and RNZ’s, which is just as bad.
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:50am
  - Flossie
    
    The very same host of Country House Hunters who pronounced a house to be “the smaller of the three” very recently.
    
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    January 9, 2024 12:26pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Oh Flossie, do you really think comparatives and superlatives are taught/learnt these days?
      
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      January 9, 2024 1:08pm
    - lifesgood
      
      The same idiot who doesn’t know the name of his own country. It is not Aotearoa!!
      
      10 2
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      January 9, 2024 1:46pm
    - lifesgood
      
      RoMAN whatshisname on Newstalk has two daughters, he always refers to his eldest daughter. Another blithering idiot.
      
      9 2
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      January 9, 2024 1:47pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
It costs nothing to read the book “The Psychology of Takeover.”

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/why-we-must-start-saying-these-eleven-words-the-goal-of-maori-activists-is-to-take-over-new-zealand/
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January 9, 2024 9:32am
slightlyrighty

So it now seems that the MSM operates under an interesting set of rules.

National = Bad
Former National = Bad
Labour = Good
Former Labour = Good
Bad Behaviour from Former Labour = Do not mention Party Affiliation

Winston’s tirade on media bias may have a bit more substance….
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January 9, 2024 9:34am
NeverMindTheBollocks

From the UK; same as here. Thanks Grant & Adrian. Nicola: you know what to do.

‘GDP per capita is clicking into reverse, taxes are on track to reach 70-year highs and productivity has flatlined. But it is the UK’s spiralling debt which ought to keep us up at night. The outgoing head of the UK’s Debt Management Office has this week warned that a borrowing binge would risk a market backlash – an intervention rooted in concerns that political parties may make grand pledges as voters head to the polls, ones which are divorced from our harsh economic reality.

Not during a single year of his two decades as the DMO CEO has the UK balanced the books. In his first year in the job, the entire value of the gilt portfolio was £300 billion. By last year, it had swelled to roughly £2.5 trillion.

Government debt is now equivalent to roughly 97.8 per cent of GDP, with the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasting it will rise further this year. Servicing this debt costs more than the Government spends on education, with recent warnings the interest bill could soon grow faster than the economy.

The size of the public sector is a significant problem. Government spending was 45 per cent of GDP in 2022-23, and there is no sign of it easing. Tens of billions of pounds were spent subsidising bills through the Energy Price Guarantee when targeted welfare and tax cuts would have been far more appropriate mechanisms to cushion the poorest from the impact of the cost of living crisis. At the heart of Labour’s “securonomics” agenda is a wincingly expensive “Green Prosperity Plan”. Our healthcare service has more funding and staff than pre-pandemic, yet this has not been reflected in the number of patients it is able to treat. There is little appetite for reform, but plenty for increasing headcount further: by the mid-2030s, one in 11 workers could be on the NHS payroll. There are few areas of public life in which the state will not now interfere, funded by taxes imposed either on this generation or future ones.”

Extract from The Telegraph Editorial, Sat 6 Jan
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January 9, 2024 9:49am
- MCōs
  
  There’s been a Conservative government in power there for the last umpteen years.
  They probably started off with the same good intentions as the current government here.
  Along the way they have tripped up by Brexit of course
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:04am
  - kowtow
    
    Big “C” conservative there . Nothing small “c” about them.
    
    Thus the rise of the Reform Party .
    
    11 3
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    January 9, 2024 10:55am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  I believe that the NHS is the largest employer in the world after Indian Railways.
  
  10 2
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  January 9, 2024 11:27am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers
    
    4 3
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    January 9, 2024 2:08pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I see Irish company Accenture comes in at #13.
      
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      January 9, 2024 2:54pm
- Grunter
  
  Just another socialist country that is on the pathway to complete failure. What happens when the government spending gravy train stops? What happens when they run out of the next generation’s money?
  
  The crash is coming folks – it’s only a question of when (not if) and who is first to fall……
  
  And, if I am wrong, then this will be the first time in human history that a massive debt-funded/money-printing bubble has not popped.
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:34am
  - Paulus
    
    Labour will win the next election in the UK we are told, as they and the Media use the Royal Family and all their “goodness” to denigrate the UK.
    How long the UK will have a Royal Family after her majesty has passed has always been contentious.
    Labour are beset now by so called well educated middle class women who are showing enormous influence in all things.
    
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    January 9, 2024 1:33pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  Loved this comment from a Brit on the Samizdata blogsite:
  
  It’s going to be an interesting election: the party that deserves to lose versus the party that doesn’t deserve to win.
  
  Although this other post was more blunt: Why the Tories need to burn to ash
  
  Almost half the Conservative Party’s backbench MPs in the British Parliament belong to a Caucus promoting extreme Net Zero ideas that is funded by a small group of green billionaire foundations. The Conservative Environment Network (CEN), which acts mostly as a lobby group, receives over 80% of its funding from the European Climate Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers, Oak Foundation, WWF-UK and Clean Air Fund. As regular readers will recall, these paymasters crop up regularly whenever anyone of influence, be they journalists, academics or politicians, requires help and guidance in promoting the insanity of removing hydrocarbon energy from industrial societies within less than 30 years.
  
  We could be saying the same thing about this government by 2029.
  
  Also this… woke and anti-woke
  
  Too often the culture war is misconceived as a conflict between Left and Right, with “woke” aligned with the former and “anti-woke” with the latter, but “wokeness” carries with it the kind of clout that transcends the political binary. In their 13 years of government, the Conservatives have presided over the worst excesses of this identity-obsessed ideology and the havoc it has wrought on society. Far from fighting a “war on woke”, they have been actively enabling it.
  
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  January 9, 2024 1:41pm
Yvette

Emmanuel Macron [the friend de Jacinda Ardern] has been accused of betraying the French Republic after he took part in a Jewish ceremony inside his official residence, the Elysée Palace.
In a country where the separation of religion is itself a religion, the lighting of a Hanukkah candle inside the historic Salle des Fêtes on Thursday was immediately denounced by politicians of both right and left.
The president had invited France’s Chief Rabbi Haïm Korsia to light the first of eight candles on a Hanukkiah, or candelabra, marking the start of the Jewish festival of lights. The occasion was the award to President Macron of a prize for his efforts against antisemitism.
But when video of the ceremony appeared shortly afterwards on social media, there was furore.
For French opinion-formers of all stripes, the president had committed an enormous faux-pas by allowing religion into the secular hallows of the presidency.
“As far as I know this is the first time this has ever happened. It is a breach of secularism,” said David Lisnard, a prominent right-wing opposition figure who is also mayor of Cannes.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/504361/france-s-emmanuel-macron-buffeted-from-all-sides-in-row-over-secularism

“In a country where the separation of religion is itself a religion …”
Le Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Zélande is secular, thank God …
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January 9, 2024 9:53am
- MCōs
  
  “the friend de Jacinda Ardern”
  Amusing mish mash of languages
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:10am
  - MCōs
    
    I’ami de Mlle Ardern
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:17am
    - Paulus
      
      En anglais, elle est revenue.
      She is back !
      
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      January 9, 2024 1:37pm
    - Flossie
      
      What’s French for “Dame”?
      
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      January 9, 2024 3:07pm
      - MCōs
        
        Dame is French
        For example Notre Dame means Our Lady
        
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        January 9, 2024 3:49pm
- Matt Long
  
  Here comes Che to inform us this is proof positive joos have taken over the french government.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:17am
  - Che Guava
    
    Attempt to rebut my claims about the US before you move on to France, please.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:00am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Havent followed that thread but to add grist to the mill (my smile for the day)
      Saw this the other day.
      
      Jews are “severely over-represented in the Biden cabinet,” adding a chart showing that while Jews make up only 1% of the US population, they hold more than 50% of Biden’s cabinet positions.
      
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      January 9, 2024 3:38pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Indeed. They punch well above their weight, and this is just in official capacities.
        
        https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-in-the-biden-administration
        
        [Mod – please just links and a little copy and paste, not the entire list]
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:31pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Jews are smart so probably a good thing
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:39pm
      - Che Guava
        
        Jews are indeed frequently smart, but not to the extent they tell us. Chinese tend to be the group with the highest average IQ, so you’d expect them to dominate disproportionately if intelligence was the only, or even the main, reason.
        
        What is more significant than IQ is that Jews tend to play a team game. They are highly nepotistic and have pronounced in-group loyalty, and therefore they collectivise frequently (hence all the many local, national, and international Jewish organisations, e.g. the World Jewish Congress, AIPAC and the ZOA in the US, or the New Zealand Jewish Council).
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:55pm
      - waikatosinger
        
        Che – your obsession with Jews is nasty and more than a little creepy.
        
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        January 9, 2024 7:33pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Yvette, that story has to be at least a month, maybe two, old. I remember reading it in Le Monde. Lisnard is an interesting guy. He’s campaigning against, among other things, “woke tyranny”.
  
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  January 9, 2024 10:24am
  - Yvette
    
    In Vino Veritas, yes, it is about a month old to the day, but does it lead you to ponder at all how ape the French would go over Te Ao Maori (Maori ‘religious’ world view) and ethnic exceptualism, just un petit peu ?
    
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    January 9, 2024 10:47am
- Taieri
  
  Le Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Zélande is secular, thank God …
  ———-
  
  Not quite. All the ‘waiatas’, ‘karakias’ and such like performed on every possible occasion seem to somewhat contradict this view…
  
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  January 9, 2024 11:00am
  - sungsamning
    
    Wokesters can’t be secular if karakias, and waiatas are involved. That’d be ‘raycist’.
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:34pm
Philview

Someone has done some interesting analysis on the UK’s Conservativehome website about the NZ repeal of the smoking ban. I don’t know how to link using a phone but perhaps David should load as an article on here.
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January 9, 2024 11:21am
- Yvette
  
  Philview, the link below may be to the article you mention –
  Meanwhile the aggressive shuttering of tobacco retailers accounted for 19 percent, whilst 97 percent of gains could come from de-nicontinisation alone (forcing manufacturers to slash nicotine levels in cigarettes, a practice with precedence in the UK and EU).
  https://conservativehome.com/2024/01/08/alexander-bowen-new-zealand-is-rowing-back-on-its-plan-to-end-smoking-why-wont-the-prime-minister-do-the-same-with-his/
  
  But in the quote from that article, I may reveal my ignorance of cigarette manufacture, but if the industry can raise or lower the nicotine level in their product, does that suggest nicotine is an additive beyond what may occur naturally in burning tobacco, and were the same additive be injected into bananas to addict buyers to have a banana habit, would that be legal under Commerce law?
  
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  January 9, 2024 12:09pm
  - kevn
    
    Yvette… Main aim is to push people into vaping and legalize cannibis.
    Smoking seems just a tool to do it.
    no link for s.t.
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:22pm
Grunter

On Monday a high-ranking Hezbollah commander was killed by an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, the paramilitary group backed by Iran confirmed in a statement.

The slain commander, Wissam Hassan Al-Tawil, was reportedly deputy head of the group’s Radwan elite forces, which is a special operations unit with the mission of infiltrating Israeli territory. His car was reportedly hit in an airstrike as it was traveling in the village of Majdal Selm, Reuters details based on statements.

Israel is now sounding keener than ever in expanding the Gaza war into a wider regional war.

The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, said that its forces were determined to keep pressure on Hezbollah and that if those efforts fall short, Israel was ready to fight “another war.”

“We will create a completely different reality, or we will get to another war,” he said on Sunday.

Escalation it is then???
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January 9, 2024 11:52am
- Che Guava
  
  Indeed. It’s very clear that Israel intend to take the pretext given them by Oct 7 and use it to escalate the conflict to include their perennial goals, which is taking out Lebanon, Syria and, most importantly, Iran. Of course, the US will be brought in to do the lion’s share of the actual fighting/bombing if it comes to that, but they will do it for the benefit of Israel.
  
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  January 9, 2024 12:16pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    More likely Israel will bomb the Nuke centre in Iran and in Lebanon bomb them heavily- like they did last time and from which they still haven’t recovered.
    Whilst there’s been a lot of bombing, the bombing is targeted. That will continue as you rightly point out Israel needs to conserve its supply of weapons.
    If there is an incursion in Lebanon it will only be to push them back to the River to create a buffer zone.
    Attacking Syria, a Russian vassal state, is not going to happen. There is no point.
    Thats my view anyway.
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:22pm
    - Che Guava
      
      I disagree. I think it’s clear that they want the entire region under their control one way or another, whether by war or by “aid.” Effective control of the region has been the goal since at least 1948, probably earlier. This is why it’s do implausible for people to deny that Israel is an aggressor, who nonetheless goes to great lengths to make the opposite seem the case.
      
      Whether they get what they want is another thing, though, because Russia and China have interests in the region too, re: Iran and Syria. That’s where things start to get a bit dicey.
      
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      January 9, 2024 6:04pm
- kowtow
  
  You left out the bit where Hezbollah ( Iran) has been “escalating” the conflict since Oct 7 constantly barraging Israel with rockets.
  
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  January 9, 2024 12:27pm
  - Grunter
    
    Yes, agree. No one is looking at de-escalation. They all hate each other so much. Oct 7th and then the 23,000+ Gaza deaths just deepened that hatred on both sides.
    
    Another unwinnable situation where the carnage of civilians is the outcome.
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:01pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Exactly right.
      
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      January 9, 2024 2:16pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘23,000+ Gaza deaths’
      Citation needed
      
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      January 9, 2024 5:30pm
      - Che Guava
        
        https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67764664
        
        “At least 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been reported killed since Israel began bombing the territory in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attacks. BBC Verify examines what Gaza’s death toll reveals about the conflict.
        
        On average, nearly 300 people have been killed each day since the start of the conflict, excluding the seven-day ceasefire, data from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry indicates. The World Health Organization’s regional emergency director Richard Brennan says he considers these casualty figures trustworthy.
        
        Counting the dead is a challenge in any war zone, and doctors in Gaza say the death toll is likely to be significantly higher as it does not include bodies buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings or those not taken to hospitals.”
        
        https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-many-palestinians-have-died-gaza-war-how-will-counting-continue-2023-12-06/
        
        “Israeli forces unleashed an aerial and ground blitz against Hamas in Gaza after a cross-border rampage by the enclave’s ruling Islamist group on Oct. 7. At least 17,487 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures, while 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas incursion into Israel, according to Israeli tallies.”
        
        “”Our monitoring suggests that the numbers provided by the Ministry of Health may be under-reporting as they do not include fatalities who did not reach hospitals or may be lost under the rubble,” the U.N. human rights office spokesperson said.
        
        “It is a logical assumption that the numbers being reported are underestimated, are low,” said Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, who has worked on death counts in armed conflict and natural disasters for more than 20 years.”
        
        “Oona Campbell, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said Palestinian health authorities have longstanding credibility with their methods of maintaining baseline statistics and tracking deaths in general, not just during times of war. U.N. agencies rely on them.
        
        “Palestinian data collection capabilities are professional and many ministry staff have been trained in the United States. They work hard to ensure statistical fidelity,” said Yale University’s Raymond.
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:42pm
  - Che Guava
    
    The common starting point to any argument justifying Israel’s military engagement against someone else is that “they are just responding to X.” Always responding, never instigating.
    
    Well, we need to ask why does “X” occur to begin with and thus need responding to? Usually, X is itself a response to some earlier act by the IDF. In this case Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire for months, years and decades.
    
    Ultimately, there is, and can be, one and one only initial violent exchange between the Muslims and Jews. It isn’t that relevant “who started it” because since that impetus, they have both been consciously responding to each other ever since.
    
    They are equally responsible for the years of violence in the area, despite Israel’s spurious claims to a unique moral high ground.
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:59pm
    - Lenticular
      
      Lets tease this out.
      
      1) Do you believe that if the positions of Hamas and Israel were reversed, that Hamas would not engage in a full scale genocide of the Israelis?
      2) If not, why not?
      3) If so, why is the asymmetry irrelevant?
      4) And is Hezbollah much different?
      
      Would appreciate direct responses, as these aren’t loaded questions, albeit obviously yes they are set up to test the coherence of your position.
      
      I’m far from starry eyed about how lovely and peace loving the Israelis are, but I submit that you do this thing where you transfer the guilt of the various Islamist groups misdeeds to the Israelis while (with some justification) decrying your opponents doing the same thing but in the opposite direction.
      
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      January 9, 2024 6:54pm
- Ra Henare
  
  The Israeli politicians(and political level military) seem to be suffering the Ukraine syndrome. We can win easily if only the USA keeps sending arms and money.
  
  Independent military analysis suggest that Israel cannot “”win”” a war with Hezbollah.
  
  Simple mathematics.
  Hezbollah over 150,000 trained troops.
  Lost of military equipment including thousands of drones and missiles.
  
  Israel had to evacuate 70,000 civilians a month or so back when they/IDF started bombing Gaza and Hezbollah started rocket attacks at the northern border.
  
  Israel, conscripted 300,000 reservists to handle the Gaza problem. Many of them with very limited training put straight in to combat. So where will all the troops for a war with Hezbollah come from?
  
  Reduced amount of military equipment available as much has been used in the Gaza conflict.
  
  Some say that the Iranians dont want an all out conflict at the moment as they are focusing on getting world opinion behind Gaza Palestinians.
  
  As I repeatedly say. Geopolitics is a 5 dimensional game that most of us with limited input (ie reliant on medias version of events) can not imagine.
  
  Oh dear. Now I expect the rants how I am anti semitic, pro Palestinian, will rain down from the heavens.
  
  For the record. I am pro peace and a shill for calm and common sense.
  
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  January 9, 2024 3:54pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Israel has almost cleared out above the Northern Line and are about to withdraw 7000 soldiers.
    They have blown up hundreds of kms of tunnels.
    They have been defending the Lebanon border quite easily using drones, jets and artillery.
    The soldiers defend the ‘forts’ on the border and have repelled numerous assaults.
    Without air power Hezbollah are getting hammered- again.
    
    Most of this info is from the IDF who make this publicly available
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:35pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      haha Red. You shoot yourself in the foot by quoting the IDF propaganda..
      
      IDF to withdraw 7,000 soldiers from Lebanon border???
      
      Without air power Hezbollah…..
      You do know that missiles and rockets dont need air power to operate….
      
      But hey. If dreaming is your passion. Go for it.
      
      I am presuming you are Jewish. So I have sympathy with your plight.
      
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      January 9, 2024 7:10pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Good points Ra,
    
    I think the criminal Nettanyahu has overestimated his support.
    
    You could cut the imminent backlash with a knife.
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:38pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      I found this video regarding the conflict very interesting and without the emotional hyperbole.
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VvEDHpuq7s
      
      A good overall perspective.
      
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      January 9, 2024 7:21pm
Ghost

Another leader gone

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned Monday (local time) following recent political tensions over immigration, and President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he would appoint a new government in coming days.

Borne’s resignation follows the passage of contentious immigration legislation backed by Macron aimed at strengthening the government’s ability to deport some foreigners, among other measures.

Article
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January 9, 2024 12:49pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsvfHUGJDh0
My Interview with Vivek Ramaswamy! Viva Frei.
Vivek is financing most of his own campaign. He won’t win this time. He might be the front runner in 2028. He wants to get rid of the FBI, and publish all the Epstein info. The Biden Crime Family, and Ukraine aid. The right answer is always to stand for truth. The donor class want to eliminate Donald Trump, and place their puppet, Neocon Nikki there. [52:23]
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January 9, 2024 1:13pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Aside from all that bullshit, he does want to legalize dope.
  
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  January 9, 2024 2:11pm
  - kevn
    
    mma… s.t. wants links.
    
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    January 9, 2024 2:47pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Now you’re just being puerile. Take the justified criticism, and move on, there’s a good boy.
      
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      January 9, 2024 3:47pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkmmUfK9W4M
This Scandal is Breaking the Democrats!
The Harvard presidents resignation, antisemitism, and plagarisim problems are not doing the Dems a lot of good. They’re split between the pro-Israel, and pro-Fakestinian factions.
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January 9, 2024 1:13pm
M.Solvent

Headline in the Herald today: “Dozens of scouts catch COVID 19 at jamboree”. Big story.

A few suggested scoops for the journalist to help bolster the news over January:
– Children catch cold at daycare
– Uber eats meal “cold” on delivery
– Hundreds of lambs separated from their mothers at weaning
– Car drives through orange light
– Flies spotted eating shit
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January 9, 2024 1:22pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  For the herald tomorrow: The flies.
  How many flies and how much shit? We need to know this because you can’t just leave shit laying all over the place. Want you lovely R.T.Rower to turn into California?
  
  Oh, EV Ubers should have onboard microwaves.
  
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  January 9, 2024 2:59pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    They have them, they are under the back seat.
    
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    January 9, 2024 11:47pm
mogg

For all those of ‘ three score years and ten’, JPR Williams is no more, dead and gone this morning.
Watch the vid, this is before the rule to protect the player taking the high ball, he was absolutely fearless.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/rugby/jpr-williams-welsh-rugby-legend-and-star-of-1970s-dies-at-74/UKDDMAXBYBEOBOASMFWRKQMISM/#
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January 9, 2024 2:26pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  JPR was a brilliant player. Taken by my dad for first time at an international game was Canterbury v British Lions, Lancaster Park, 1971 (there was a stoush or two) and second, All Blacks v British Lions at Lancaster Park. His tackling was brutal.
  
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  January 9, 2024 5:11pm
Jethrod

Yesterday the Horrid had an article on Rheumatic fever in NZ.
The Premium just had the article “Dr Loh’s quest for a vaccine for Rheumatic fever…..”.
But the paper hardcopy leads with the headline….
“NATIONAL SHAME”, having hilighted two words from a 500 odd word article.
This to me screams that the sub-editor or the person who assembles the printed format of the Horrid, is probably a fully paid up member of the Labour party; looking to generate an instability in the publics thinking.
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January 9, 2024 2:37pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  national
  adjective
  of, relating to, or maintained by a nation as an organized whole or independent political unit
  
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  January 9, 2024 3:07pm
  - cmm
    
    We also have a LABOUR CRISIS in NZ due to the lack of labourers, but you would never see that as a headline.
    
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    January 9, 2024 3:32pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      We don’t have a lack of labourers – over 100,00 were imported in the last year.
      
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      January 9, 2024 3:38pm
      - marcw
        
        We have a lack of SKILLED LABOURERS; applying that to NZ Labour would be an oxymoron.
        
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        January 9, 2024 4:05pm
      - John Loveridge
        
        Well, Mike, as an employer I’d like to know where all these labourers are hiding. I could use one or two. Whatever those 100,000 immigrants are doing, they’re not answering my job advertisements.
        
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        January 9, 2024 4:27pm
    - Blog-aholic
      
      The Labour crisis was from 2017-2023
      
      16 2
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      January 9, 2024 3:52pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        2023 less since forever with Labour.
        Six times a crisis! Let’s have another one in 2026?
        I don’t think so. Fuck!!!
        
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        January 9, 2024 5:11pm
    - Inandout
      
      cmm, their are many thousands sitting at home on the benefit waiting to be called so they can ‘job seek’.
      
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      January 9, 2024 5:32pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Is this just you covering the arse of a deceptive lying employee(Labour lackey)of the Horrid or are you really trying to make us believe an ongoing problem with a once august publication wouldn’t do such a thing?
    
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    January 9, 2024 4:30pm
- artemisia
  
  Some research was done by Dunedin company BLIS Technologies that showed one of their throat probiotics reduced strep throat, hence rheumatic fever incidence. It was a while ago, be good if it was included as part of the vaccine research. Because it is already here.
  
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  January 9, 2024 3:25pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Idiot headline alert.

“Sam Kerr the latest victim of an injury that discriminates against women footballers”

‘Discriminates’???

From the article:

Female athletes are more susceptible to ACL injuries, said Fallon, but the reason why is still largely unknown.

There are some anatomical factors which could make women more prone to the injury, said Fallon, but there’s not enough research into what those factors could be.

Now, researchers, including Fallon, are looking into potential social and environmental factors that could influence the likelihood of injury, such as education available to female players, the number of strength and conditioning trainers compared to men’s sports teams and the facilities available to female athletes.’

My money’s still on anatomical differences.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/133536729/sam-kerr-the-latest-victim-of-an-injury-that-discriminates-against-women-footballers
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January 9, 2024 3:13pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  
  We are built differently from men.
  
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805849/
  
  https://drsterett.com/sports-medicine-blog/female-acl-tears-risk-factors
  
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  January 9, 2024 4:54pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Yep Maggy, that is why women are considerably slower runners, cannot lift as much as men and cannot throw as far.
    
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    January 9, 2024 5:02pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    That is an interesting second article…. lays it out pretty straight forwardly about the biomechanical differences between the sexes as it pertains to knees and their tendons…
    
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    January 9, 2024 7:48pm
Ghost

And again another herald article against national, and still strange they don’t mention what party Kiri Allan is from

Former politician Maggie Barry has denied abusing an Air New Zealand staff member, despite police boarding the plane to speak to her about her behaviour.

The former Conservation Minister and National Party MP was on an Air NZ flight to Queenstown from Auckland last week when she said there was a “misunderstanding” about the phone she was wearing on a lanyard around her neck.

Article

They go on to mention the bullying allegations against her when a national minister, strange, they don’t mention the bully allegations against Kiri in articles about her.

Will future articles on Trevor mallard mention his assault of another mp, his rape claims against someone? Na, our biased media never bring things up with past mp’s unless they are national
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January 9, 2024 3:49pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Like this?https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/12/sir-trevor-mallard-s-knighthood-a-look-back-at-his-colourful-career-in-politics.html
  
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  January 9, 2024 4:21pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Two things….
    1 a punch up with Tau Henare
    2 the instigator of Novopay, a failed pay system that Stephen Joyce carried the can for when it it became impossible to fix.
    Probably many other “successes “//
    
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    January 9, 2024 4:35pm
    - MCōs
      
      The Australian company Talent2 were awarded the contract to provide a payroll system for the Education Department by the Labour government in 2008. The contract was renegotiated by the subsequent National government and introduced prematurely in 2012 while there were still bugs in software
      Stephen Joyce aka Mr Fixit was given the job of sorting out the mess the following year. He must have done the business because it’s still being used today, apparently
      
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      January 9, 2024 7:57pm
sht1971

I see Newshub, with little to do, have focused on two bleating groups who feel hard done by. It’s not even news but then, how are we surprised by this? A little due diligence would have gone a long way and then goodness knows what they would ‘report’ on.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2024/01/new-zealand-visitors-feeling-ripped-off-after-paying-extra-for-entry-visas.html

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/01/some-taxi-passengers-charged-twice-what-normal-fare-should-be-by-unmetered-cars.html
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January 9, 2024 7:47pm
JimBobJoe

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/chinese-court-accepts-wealth-manager-zhongzhis-bankruptcy-application-2024-01-05/

Link is a story Chinas secondary market for funding real estate companies is starting to go to the wall, specifically a wealth manager called Zhongzhi.

Think about this as Strategic Finance and Bridgecorp type lending with the funding from small investors except its CHina so magnitudes bigger

Three implications of this in my view:

1/ Chinas economy is in danger of imploding
given the reliance on Real Estate as a domestic market driver of economic activity

2/ Default by these types of lenders to the real estate market will cause massive social unrest due to two factors – firstly not being able to repay small domestic investors in these finance companies and secondly the small retail chinese investor has prepaid for a lot of real estate (small apartments mostly) and they will lose their money if the Real Estate companies fail, which they are doing as funding sources dry up – see Evergrande etc

3/ Massive social unrest is a direct threat to President Xi and the 100 million members of the CCP. To address that Xi will probably do a few things: Firstly crack down hard on business people involved to make an example of them – the give the mob a carcass approach, secondly ramp up internal security control of the populace including hitting any unhappy small investor hard if they take to the streets and thirdly, invent an external threat or an external challenge to unify the country – so the rhetoric directed at the US, Taiwan and India will ramp up to the extent military adventures in the next 12 – 18 months must become more likely….

We are destined to live in interesting times it seems and I think rebalancing the NZ export sector away from China is even more urgent and required than it was 5 years ago…
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