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July 16, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 16 July 2024

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General Debate

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artemisia

Something rotten in MBIE Immigration? 8 staff placed on leave. Yes, 8. There have been rumours ….. Is the Minister’s statement giving a hint?

In a statement, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said …. “Any allegations of inappropriate behaviour need to be thoroughly investigated. MBIE advises me it has no place for offensive and discriminatory behaviour and I am confident they will appropriately address this issue.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/522196/immigration-staff-stood-down-over-inappropriate-messages
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July 16, 2024 8:01am
- pdm
  
  If the services of all 8 were dispensed with that could be a saving of about $800,000 to the country.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Just say it to them – DCM!
    
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    July 16, 2024 8:27am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      May be a bit more involved in that, inappropriate behaviour on a chat site, but some may just have been replying to that behaviour, I guess they have to look at this in case innocent people are getting shafted
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:43pm
  - peterwn
    
    But the trouble is applicants for permits, visas etc could face longer delays. This is particularly where applicants have a right to (say) a residency permit because they are married to a NZ citizen and therefore the NZ citizen spouse would expect the application to be treated in a timely manner. The Previous Labour Government cynically allowed such applications to be delayed in its quest to reduce the number of immigrants.
    
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    July 16, 2024 8:56am
    - Jack5
      
      Peterwn’s …The Previous Labour Government cynically allowed such applications to be delayed in its quest to reduce the number of immigrants.
      
      Perhaps it did this in panic.
      
      Under the Labour Government, NZ net immigration in 2022-2023 reached its highest ever, and proportionately was the highest of any developed country.
      
      That’s why there’s been such pressure on infrastructure and why GDP per capita, already just 41st highest in the world, is falling.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:50am
      - ISeeRed
        
        41st according to whom?
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:01pm
      - Jack5
        
        ISeeRed’s query re …. NZ is 41st in world in GDP per capita, based on 2022 comparisons of real (i.e. inflation adjusted) GDP.
        
        The source is the CIA World Factbook. This reference manual is produced by America’s Central Intelligence Agency. I’m not aware of anyone, of substance or not, challenging its accuracy.
        
        Incidentally the CIA World Factbook ranks NZ 142nd in the world in real GDP growth rate.
        
        You could have found that yourself, ISeeRed.
        
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        July 16, 2024 8:33pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Why dont we know what the inappropriate messages are?
  
  If we don’t then that restricts the freedom of speech of the other employees who may fear saying what they think in case it breaches the “inappropriate” rule.
  Whatever that is.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:11am
  - jkt
    
    Employment matters and privacy!
    
    Employees will get the message loud and clear. The grapevine and all that.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:18pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Jkt,
      How can they cite privacy if they are public servants and the transgressions took place on public property.
      Running a behavioral standards policy through a “grapevine” is a good reason to sack the ceo.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:34pm
      - jkt
        
        Apparently the crime was inappropriate use of messaging.
        
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        July 17, 2024 6:37am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    You want to see the vulgar leftie media, Vance is now Hitler going by them, yet they say he is all for the working man and has always been they are supposed to live to high moral standards. If it’s sexual bullshittery then that unacceptable, if it’s hatred to the government then that’s untenable, nothing to do with free speech when we are talking diplomacy
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:49pm
    - jkt
      
      G:
      He, Vance, called out Donald Trump for acting like Hitler!
      
      They have clearly made up since, alternatively, Donald saw that characterisation as an endorsement.
      
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      July 17, 2024 6:40am
- Damocles11
  
  Maybe they had been saying how much they hated forced Maorification, so of course they had to be fired.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:43am
- all true
  
  New Zealand is corrupt as any other country.
  
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  July 16, 2024 11:47am
All_on_Red

Trump has chosen Senator JD Vance as his pick for VP
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July 16, 2024 8:05am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Goodness!
  
  The author of Hillbilly Elegy?
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy_(film)
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:56am
  - greybeard
    
    From the Wikipedia article:
    “Comparatively, he feels that economic insecurity plays a much lesser role. To lend credence to his argument, Vance regularly relies on personal experience. As a grocery store checkout cashier, he watched welfare recipients talk on cell phones, although the working Vance could not afford one.”
    Just imagine what he would think of NZ’s welfare system !
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:27am
    - jkt
      
      Invest in energy stocks.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:20pm
- Grunter
  
  A very good pick IMO
  
  Vance seems a very principled person. Strong on family values.
  
  Very critical of US foreign policy and the aid and support for the Ukraine war.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:34am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  You want to see the vulgar leftie media, Vance is now Hitler going by them, yet they say he is all for the working man and has always been
  
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  July 16, 2024 12:45pm
- Jake Dee
  
  This is my take on picking JD Vance for VP (and I’ve followed him for a few years, read his book didn’t see the movie).
  This is Trump making peace with the Deep State.
  Vance (and I quite like the guy) is a deep state asset. read his biography, it’s all very unusual. Being sponsored by super spooky technocrat Peter Theil (a NZ citizen!) is only part of it.
  Too many details to lay out here but this is one fascinating tidbit. If Vance is elected VP (seems likely) then he will be the FOURTH (!) US Department of Defense, Defense Information School (DINFOS) graduate to have achieved that position after,
  Walter Mondale VP 1977 – 1981
  Dan Quayle VP 1989-1993
  Al Gore VP 1993-2001
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Information_School
  
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  July 16, 2024 4:57pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Al Gore? Dan Quayle? That school must have very low academic entry standards!
    
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    July 16, 2024 6:39pm
Matt Long

The Trump Classified Document case has been tossed because of how the special counsel was appointed. Momentum is definitely with Trump at present.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/classified-docs-case-dismissal-means-greatest-legal-threat-trump-gone-experts
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July 16, 2024 8:08am
- slightlyrighty
  
  The Judge, Aileen Cannon, has been seen as obstructing the case. Her rationale for tossing the case is that the AG, Garland, improperly appointed the Special Counsel.
  
  It is worth noting the Bill Barr, the AG under Trump, also appointed a special counsel in the same manner.
  
  I think what we are seeing here is a return fire in the Lawfare battle
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:15am
  - NothingLeft
    
    As a matter of law Cannon’s ruling is entirely correct.
    
    That all the other lawfare against Trump has managed to progress as far as it has is evidence of nothing more than that there is a strong partisan corruption of normal judicial process in the jurisdictions in which those cases have been bought against him. It needs some sort of law change to stop or impose balance in these hyper partisan times – perhaps requiring agreement from both parties on a list of judges selected from a national pool, and allowing politically contentious defendants to choose use of a jury pool from outside of a highly partisan jurisdiction.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:00pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Explained why in depth here;
      https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-dodges-another-bullet-jack-smith/
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:22pm
      - jkt
        
        Dumb argument.
        
        Good strategy. Lawfare in action.
        
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        July 17, 2024 6:48am
    - jkt
      
      Her decision will be appealed, forthwith.
      As a “Matter of Law” the use of special prosecutors is well entrenched in Law in America.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:27pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        You didn’t read the article did you
        Smith was a private citizen when appointed
        They can’t do that
        So your point is, um, pointless
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:53pm
      - jkt
        
        Allred
        Did you think that through?
        Appointment, changes the status of prior appointment. CannonSpeak.
        
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        July 17, 2024 6:44am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The fact that the FBI brought in a lot of boxes of documents might have had something to do with it. Yes, they were planted.
  There was a secure storeroom that the FBI wanted an extra lock put on, and it was done. Yet we find half opened boxes on a stage? Please!
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:32am
  - Raphael
    
    yep, the FBI has admitted that the infamous photos ther released of documents with “Top Secret” plastered all over them were infact planted there for the photos. then also never existed as separate document in folders, and the actual individual pieces of paper never had the information about which boxes and where they were found preserved by the FBI.
    
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    July 16, 2024 9:43am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Unreal!
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:29am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They said this will probably happen yesterday on Fox, Biden illegally got papers he as VP was not entitled to have, Trump was entitled to stuff he had, and he was in a process of handing back what should not have been there, that whole thing was a hit job, too late, canning their crimes will still be seen as oh Trump was right
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:52am
krazykiwi

DPF, genuine question: If you were a US voter now, who would you vote for? Or would you decline to vote?
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July 16, 2024 8:12am
- Matt Long
  
  Not to vote is to vote.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:14am
  - James Stephenson
    
    In the words of the late, great, Neil Peart “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”
    
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    July 16, 2024 11:33am
    - Matt Long
      
      I got it from the protagonist in a Ludlum book. Not to decide is to decide.
      Also; You know more than you know. Pretty deep, huh?
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:47am
- Scott
  
  There’s something about Trump that I really like. He’s got guts. He’s got courage.
  Yes he did some mean tweets and he lacks prudence. Absolutely.
  But his policies were great. He says it like it is and he’s got something some people will never have. The greatest of all virtues according to Churchill, courage.
  
  A young woman sums it up brilliantly on twitter X –
  https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/07/more-like-this-please.php
  
  If I was an American I would vote for this guy. Absolutely. 😎
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:31am
- kevn
  
  kk… I always hoped Trump would pick RFK as a running mate. Good foil or yin/yang.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I think you know my answer.
  Even our host families in Alaska say I was born in the wrong Country.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:34am
  - MCōs
    
    I second that emotion
    
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    July 16, 2024 8:55am
    - Biscuit
      
      Catty, MCōs, catty!
      
      I’ve never yet failed to vote in any Election I have been eligible for.
      
      I only wish, mind, that I might one day find a ballot paper that ran:
      
      Candidate A
      Candidate B
      Candidate C
      None Of The Above
      
      And, if, the last named option ‘won’, at least the declared ‘winner’ would know he/she wasn’t as popular as he/she fondly imagined.
      
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      July 16, 2024 9:11am
      - Omni Consumer Products
        
        I like this.
        if None of the Above prevails, every single one of them gets the arse card and we start from scratch.
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:45pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      We all know why you went to Thailand.
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:30am
      - MCōs
        
        Someone on Facebook who didn’t agree with an opinion I expressed once, looked up my profile, saw that I was in Thailand and for no other reason accused me of being a pedophile.
        What do you know that I don’t know?
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:08pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Thankyou, thankyou very much.
      Elvis P.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:17pm
- peterwn
  
  If I was in that position I would almost certainly vote for Amtrak Joe or any successor Democrat nomination. That would be a protest vote as I would otherwise consider that Joe is past due for retirement.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:59am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Well, only one of the candidates has a pulse, so …
  
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  July 16, 2024 11:08am
- Jake Dee
  
  I don’t think those counterfactuals are legitimate questions. If DPF was entitled to vote he would be a different person with different experiences.
  
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  July 16, 2024 3:20pm
iMP

THE APPRENTICE. It’s 39 year old (a Millennial) JD Vance. An obvious tip to American blue collar workers in 3 swing states and a tip to the future. Also, a solid reliable #2 for president if the President is unable to govern. A savvy pick, a former Trump critic (puts to bed so many lies about Trump, he picks on merit, doesn’t hold grudges). Vance is well-liked, Ohio senator, was a hero to liberals formerly. 0hio is solid to Trump already, but Vance can Hoover up voters in Pennsylvania where the attempted assassination took place, Michigan and Wisconsin. Vance is young and politically new, so he is mouldable to Trump as mentor. Also wins the military vote. Ex Marine.
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July 16, 2024 8:13am
- slightlyrighty
  
  Vance’s appointment is a wise move, and should increase the pressure on the Dems to change the ticket, and look seriously at changing both names on the ticket.
  
  To do so would change the narrative, however, I doubt that the required pragmatism exists in the Democratic Party.
  
  What is it about the political left that compells them to hang on to a candidate far past the ‘sell by’ date.
  
  It’s like watching the Jeremy Corbyn saga in the UK again, except Corbyn is far more of a ideologue nutter than Biden.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:20am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Good term you use, and very fitting.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:35am
- kevn
  
  iMP… I bought Vances book, Hillbilly Elegy, a couple of years ago. He certainly had a grassroots beginning and should make for a grounded individual.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:36am
  - Mike
    
    Oh, is he a hillbilly?
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:33pm
    - Mike
      
      Done me some research now. He’s a card-carrying member of the Ivy League elite pretending to care about the peons who can’t afford to live in his leafy suburb. And he hated Trump right up till realising public worship of the orange idol is needed for an allegedly conservative political career.
      
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      July 16, 2024 5:20pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        By that logic Trump is FAR more Ivy league than Vance. Vance is Appalachian white trash who got to the Ivy league through a stint in the Marine Corp.
        Donald Trump was the son of a multimillionaire property developer, private school all the way and that’s how he got to the Ivy league.
        
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        July 16, 2024 6:25pm
      - Mike
        
        Yes, and morons support them when they rages against the ‘elites’, and pretend to side with the working man.
        
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        July 17, 2024 7:21am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They say that the Jew vote is now completely Trumps also.
  
  Yesterday they said in Californian states had a huge amount of people wearing red Maga hats after the shooting
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:59am
Matt Long

Trump’s VP picked, JD Vance.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-announces-ohio-senator-j-d-vance-his-2024-running-mate
This was on X well before the announcement, with video of a motorcade leaving Vance’s establishment, showing that at present X is a better news source and more reliable than the legacy media. (Not trustworthy, just better than the MSM.)
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July 16, 2024 8:13am
- Tarquin North
  
  Tea leaves are more reliable than the legacy media.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:23am
Maggie Pie

JUST WOW!!

Ali Mau hasn’t aged well…. her Tweet I’m referring to 🙁

https://x.com/shouldveknown11/status/1812745004898775324
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July 16, 2024 8:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  mamaJ. There truly are some nasty bastards around.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:37am
- graham
  
  Twenty or more YEARS ago everyone was urging caution on what you post to the Internet. Parents were telling their children to stop and think, because once you post it, IT’S ALWAYS THERE. You can’t change your mind five minutes later, because it’s too late.
  
  And even if you delete it, there’s often a copy somewhere. The Wayback Machine. Someone who grabbed a screenshot. And the higher your profile, the more likely it is that this will come back to bite you.
  
  And still people just don’t learn.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:06am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Unnecessary qualification, Maggie
  
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  July 16, 2024 6:44pm
kevn

Maggie… Charmer isn’t she? Or is that more like just plain nasty?
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July 16, 2024 8:31am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Judging by all the ‘comments’ kev, you’re correct on both counts.
  
  People are saying it’s a ‘lesbian’ thang.
  
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  July 16, 2024 8:37am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    You think lesbians are inherently nastier than heterosexual women?
    
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    July 16, 2024 8:44am
    - Tarquin North
      
      Plenty of gay bars out there, you never see a lesbian one. Question answered.
      
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      July 16, 2024 8:51am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Yes, especially the bull dykes.
      
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      July 16, 2024 8:54am
      - David Garrett
        
        Chuck: that whole “bull dyke” thing has always puzzled me – what I mean is why on earth do ‘feminine” lezzies fancy them?
        
        If you want something in dungarees, with gym built muscles and a crew cut, why not get an actual man?
        
        Perhaps some anonymous femme lesbian lurking here might be able to explain it to me.
        
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        July 16, 2024 9:22am
      - krazykiwi
        
        DG, H1 and H2 are a little busy at the minute. I expect one of them will chime in soon 🙂
        
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        July 16, 2024 9:57am
    - Raphael
      
      well, the per capita DV stats between lesbian couples are higher than any other demographic combination you choose.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:03am
    - sirknz
      
      Highest instances of domestic violence are in lesbian relationships.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:07am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Lesbian divorce/breakup rates are about double those of heterosexual couples, and vastly more than male homosexual couples. Trite but true that women are on average governed far more by emotions than men who tend to be far more stoically committed to their relationships (particularly when kids are involved). According to one US study; 70% of divorces are filed by women, this increases to 90% if we only focus on college educated women
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:11pm
  - kevn
    
    Maggie… Well, Trumps more courageous than her. Just been shot and he’s right back to work.
    
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    July 16, 2024 9:07am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I suggest that you cease posting comments about my family. For reasons that I should not need to explain to you.
    
    [Mod – is there another comment or the one already deleted?]
    
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    July 16, 2024 2:01pm
slightlyrighty

https://youtu.be/iEy-xTbcr2A?si=gK6cWeMOJAXTZA38

Vance on the Forgotten Working Class. He has lived a life that is the opposite of Trump.
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July 16, 2024 8:32am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

From the attempted and failed assassination I found this.
Dallas Alexander opens a huge can of worms. He says a 7th grader could work it out.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/veteran-holding-sniper-world-record-speaks-on-trump-shooting/ss-BB1q0mi7?

Lots of dodgy stuff going on surrounding this. SS for Trump had asked for more people. Some DEO flake at the head of Security refused it. Denied of course.
Then there is Jill Biden giving a speech/lecture nearby so some of Trumps Security diverted to her. Coincidence or plan?
Member of the public pointing out the shooter to the Police or Security and he was ignored.
These Democrats are nasty, nasty people. It is 113 days until the Election. Anything could happen.
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July 16, 2024 8:46am
- imalwaysright
  
  A geek who literally couldn’t hit the side of a bus can outwit police and secret service to enter a controlled area with a rifle and a tripod and set up a sniper position and hit his target.
  In broad daylight!
  And is then killed by a government sniper. (wouldn’t that require line of sight?)
  
  https://thebfd.co.nz/2024/07/16/face-of-the-day-1003/
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:18am
  - Andrew Worth
    
    A bullied loner?
    
    What we know about the Trump rally gunman so far
    
    [Mod – link cleaned up]
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:05am
    - Jack5
      
      Andrew, a tip I’m passing on. When you have a very long address in a cross-link …
      
      Usually you can delete everything after the question market and it still works.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:58am
      - Keith White
        
        Thank you J5 I did not know that, will remember it.
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:16pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Thanks!
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:42pm
  - Ghost
    
    The geek had the perfect headshot. If trump didn’t turn his head just before being hit he would be dead
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:09am
    - mawm
      
      I have my doubts that someone who could not make a high school shooting team is capable of a very professional head shot especially after he had just been disturbed by a policeman. That bullet would have hit Trump in the temporal area which would have destroyed his brain if he had not rotated his head. I’d be looking for the grassy knoll.
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:25pm
      - Ghost
        
        He finished high school in 2022, since then he has been a member at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:38pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        If the target is stationery, with a properly sighted rifle, telescopic sights and little wind a head shot at 130m doesn’t require much skill, it does require steady nerves.
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:57pm
      - mawm
        
        Unfortunately when in the military I have been on the range with people who just can’t shoot. They never improve.
        
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        July 16, 2024 7:59pm
      - jkt
        
        I was not a particularly good shot in my army days.
        But at 150m I would hit the target the size of a head 9 times out of 10.
        
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        July 17, 2024 7:19am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He would have blown his head off if he had not slightly turned his head at the time of the shot, they put up an exert type photo of Trumps brain and skull, one was with his head turned, the other was with the trajectory of the bullet and where Trumps brain would have been if he did not turn his head, he would have been dead, you can hardly say the shooter couldn’t hit a barn
    
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    July 16, 2024 11:08am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Suspects ability is questioned in the attatched link.
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:18am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Well he was not to know Trump would move his head when he usually always faces the crowd, his shot was on target
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:08pm
      - Ghost
        
        Suspect was a member of a shooting club, so no, saying he wasn’t a good shot in high school a few years prior is not valid. People practise, people get better
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:24pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      There was something I read about Crooks at a Rifle Club as part of his schooling. After I think what was the first lesson he was turned away and told not to come back. They mentioned the word ‘dangerous.’ He was missing targets 100 meters away by 6 meters.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:35pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Suspects ability is questioned in the attatched link
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:42pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes true, but he could have brushed up his skills over the following years.
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:14pm
      - Grunter
        
        The innocent spectator killed by the shooter wasn’t behind Trump but was several metres to Trump’s right on the back grandstand. A very poor shot if it was meant for Trump.
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:44pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Missing a target at 100m by 6m is nonsense, unless the shooter is literally blind.
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:59pm
- Andrew Worth
  
  If he’d had any help they would have gotten him to use a decently powerful rifle.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:35am
  - imalwaysright
    
    It was unfortunately powerful enough to kill the fire fighter.
    
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    July 16, 2024 9:49am
    - Andrew Worth
      
      Even a .22 will kill someone at that range, a more decent sniper rifle improves the odds, means aiming for and hitting the larger target of the chest, will most likely be fatal, even if the target is wearing a protective vest.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:23am
      - Don Beckett
        
        The rifle used was an AR 15, .223 calibre. The .223 calibre has a small projectile, but a powerful charge, which makes the AR 15 a high velocity & reasonably accurate weapon. It is often favoured by hunters.
        
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        July 16, 2024 11:13am
      - Jack5
        
        Americans own more than 20 million AR rifles, though they are banned in these states: Illinois, New York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Hawaii. They’re also banned in the Washington D.C. federal district.
        
        Kiwibloggers seem keen to discuss the rifle today, so here are some facts …
        
        The AR15 rifle was conceived in 1959, sparked by the rise of the AK-47 assault rifle in the Soviet bloc. Designer Kalashnikov developed the Russian rifle in 1945, after the success of Germany’s pioneer assault rifle, the Sturmgewehr 44.
        
        That German weapon’s origins go back to the end of World War 1.
        
        More details than most of us need or want to know, in chronological order:
        
        German origins:
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StG_44
        
        AND
        
        Development of the AR15:
        
        https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-complete-history-of-the-ar-15-rifle
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:13pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Jack5, that was a good read on the AR 15. Thanks.
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:46pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        “Former President Donald Trump may only be alive due to the shooter’s bad wind estimate, according to Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and the founder of private military company Blackwater”
        
        A heavier round would be less affected by a crosswind, if he wasn’t a very competent shooter, that could have made the difference.
        
        But I guess this topic is getting a bit tired.
        
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        July 16, 2024 3:07pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        In modern terms the AR 15 is the civilian version of the AR 10 and the M16/M4.
        Today its just a Semi Automatic hunting rifle- which happens to look like a M16, and is not classed as an ‘Assault Weapon’
        Assault weapons, by their very usage, have to be fully automatic as their purpose is to suppress fire whilst charging a defensive position.
        Like the AK47 and STG44
        As as aside the ‘Tommy’ gun came about from similar principles but for clearing trenches.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:51pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Often it only requires the removal of a pin which restricts multiple automatic loading of the breach to turn a semi-automatic into a fully automatic. To wit, the SLR military rifle used by the NZ Army for many years, and then used extensively as a hunting rifle and avery good one – .762 calibre , good trajectory, very similar to the .308 calibre rifles.
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:17pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yep. An AR15 not known for accuracy thats for sure regardless how well sighted in.
    Deranged Lone Wolf attack is my pick.
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:01am
    - cmm
      
      For under 200m an AR15 is plently accurate enough.
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:34am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yes and no.
        Assuming a standard “original” version, Which was poorly constructed when new, A short barrel. Possibly ok.
        But that would of been 30 to 40 yrs ago?
        Worn out barrel, and in a condition of who knows what?
        Im surprised he even got close.
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:21pm
  - cmm
    
    “a decently powerful rifle.”
    I believe he used a 223.
    The 223 is perfect for this purpose (ie. short rage).
    It is very low recoil, so easy for a poorly trained shooter to use confidently and easy/quick to do follow up shots.
    
    A more traditional sniper calibre (308 or above) is really only needed at longer ranges (500m+).
    
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    July 16, 2024 11:33am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Ar15 223 or 5.56mm,
      Ar 10 308, 7.62mm
      Regardless a poor choice of semi auto.
      Fwiw i have a Brno 223 Bolt action
      And a 6.5mm mauser m12 that both would of fitted inside a matchbox at that distance over a rest with no wind.
      
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      July 16, 2024 2:25pm
    - Colville
      
      cmm.
      
      People happily shoot 600 yards with 223 for sport.
      2 inch groups.
      
      It is very very accurate.
      
      Its all about the optics and training!!
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:50pm
  - grumpy
    
    This was a very high spec AR15 (around $US12,000). It would have been very accurate. the 5.56 (.223) cartridge is very destructive. I have used it on deer very effectively.
    Before the attempt on Trump he had spent the day visiting a shooting range (he and his father were members), purchased a box of sporting ammo (likely to be soft nose so very destructive) and bought a 5 ft ladder.
    The rifle is only the means of delivery and he had a very good one. .223 soft nose ammunition would have instantly killed Trump, a hit would be unsurviveable.
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:46pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      Thanks for update. Not sure what a high spec AR 15 is though.
      A replica?
      
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      July 16, 2024 2:34pm
      - Colville
        
        An AR is a civilian variant of the military M16 made by Colt.
        AR = Armalite Rifle.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:58pm
    - mawm
      
      Grumpy – the photo of the ladder against the wall looks much longer than 5′.
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:35pm
    - Colville
      
      grumpy.
      We dont know the twist rate of the barrel so we dont know what he could have used.
      75 grn boattails FMJ kill deer and would destroy a man. Lighter ballistic tips would too.
      Head ,neck, upper torso and he would now be laying in state instead of addressing the States!
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:54pm
- Grunter
  
  Steve – the more I read and watch actual video footage, the more obvious it is that this was NOT an incompetent SS & Police force. Too many ‘rookie mistakes’ and ‘coincidences’ that allowed this to happen.
  
  Just like JFK, we will probably never know who actually pulled the strings on this one – but it sure as hell wasn’t the geek 20-year-old ‘Patsy’ with three names.
  
  The Deep State want Trump dead. If he survives he wins the election (no question now). If he wins the election he will this time drain ‘The Swamp’. The Deep State will not let that happen.
  
  And today’s appointment of Vance as VP, who is staunchly against funding the war in Ukraine, just makes the Deep State even angrier.
  
  This siht show isn’t over yet I’m afraid.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:03am
  - Andrew Worth
    
    The weapon used was his dad’s AR15.
    There’s nothing the shooter did that is inconsistent with the lone killer scenario – though for conspiracy theorists, that consistency with the loner gunman scenario will be irrefutable proof of a complex conspiracy.
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:33am
    - Matt Long
      
      Things that point to a conspiracy;
      For the left, it’s helped the Trump campaign so must be a false flag.
      For the right, it’s a natural progression from the Russian Collusion Hoax, The Laptop disinformation campaign and rhetoric from leftist media and politicians.
      Generic:
      Incompetence from protection squad, https://x.com/dbongino/status/1812961956099170629
      FBI ID shooter in minutes from “DNA”
      FBI “cannot” get into shooters phone.
      Timing, just before Vance is announced as VP, which supposedly throws the nomination open for military industrial complex candidate Haley.
      Lots more stuff from people who have really good imagination.
      
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      July 16, 2024 11:21am
      - Andrew Worth
        
        Shooter was IDed through the serial number on his dad’s rifle.
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:09pm
      - Andrew Worth
        
        My understanding from what I’ve read: There were police teams with rifles on two roofs, covering different arcs. Those on the roof nearer to the gun had their view of him obscured by trees, so it was actually the more distant team that took him out.
        
        The big mistake was not reacting, apparently for a few minutes, when members of the crowd started warning about the gunman. Trump should have been gotten off the stage, even if just temporarily.
        Thing is, if security bustles him off, and it turns out there’s no threat, there’s the fear they could be blamed for overreacting.
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:49pm
      - Inandout
        
        ML, in that Bondigo tweet there is a video of the SS staff creeping around the stage seconds before the shot. Why were they ducking?
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:01pm
      - Ghost
        
        No, that’s further bullshit. What the video shows is the agent is sitting in his chair, two people ask him something, one looks like they have a camera over their shoulder, he walks with them talking to them, and ducks down when the shot is fired
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrvrei_2ek
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:17pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      So, regardless of what may have actually happened, if something fits the “scenario” then there is no conspiracy?
      Sounds like a good way of getting away with a crime.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:14pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      There are media conflicts. Some say his Dad’s gun, when some say the shooter purchased it himself. Then some media say the shooter bought 50 rounds of ammo just hours before the shooting.
      Strange Laws. He is 20 so he can purchase a rifle and ammo. But he can’t purchase a hand gun or ammo for that until aged 21. Strange.
      Then again who knows with the media bullshit.
      
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      July 16, 2024 12:58pm
    - Grunter
      
      One of the Police snipers that was locked onto the shooter has just come out saying he was asking “the top brass” for 3 minutes for permission to take out the shooter. The Secret Service top brass denied that permission – until after Trump was shot.
      
      It’s always a conspiracy – until it is proven correct.
      
      So they knew they had a gunman on a nearby roof. But they didn’t get Trump off the stage. And they denied the Police sniper permission to kill.
      
      But hey – they were just incompetent – Yeah Right!
      
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      July 16, 2024 1:02pm
      - Ghost
        
        Nope. What has happened is that someone has posted that on 4chan, there is zero evidence this person is legit.
        
        https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/false-claim-about-fake-secret-service-agent-contributes-to-rally-conspiracy-theories/ar-BB1q2lgM?ocid=BingNewsSerp
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:20pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    @Grunter,
    Well Trump will have a dam good go at the Swamp. He underestimated the size of it in 2016, as well as the extent of the corruption. More and more people are realising why the Democrat hierarchy are behaving as they do today. Trump is going to take away their “Binky!” The binky they have been sucking on for decades.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:53pm
Yvette

from Co-leader on Manurewa Marae, 20 years of Te Pāti Māori | Q+A 2024

What message is this sending to youth, Maori and non-Maori?
I get there are issues to resolve but inflammatory language and false usage of terms such as “genocide” or “extermination” are insulting, inciteful, and dangerous
– all this will do is drive racists on both sides, emboldening radicals to go further in their already extreme ideology. What does this mean for our future and the tone of society? It worries me that such division will only worsen without open communication channels. It must be civil. tactful and mutually respectful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtVmlFF8WO4

This is first of the comments, below the item, and its suggestion “division will only worsen without open communication channels” I think refers to any public “conversation” (that term may remain with us for an Ardernity) and says “It must be civil, tactful and mutually respectful”.

But what of the non-public communication that occurs within families and groups? – at “home” versus “public”
Every Maori child is born with a mind that is a clean slate and it is the parents and family who first write on it, and it must be largely those people who mentally colonise their own children to enslave them with views of race division and privilege (or non-privilege) and supremacy or not, and potential violence – while the exceptionalism rhetoric may not even relate to reality. With there usually being two sides to any division, as well.
If you get the drift
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July 16, 2024 8:50am
- Damocles11
  
  I commented on this yesterday. We are all grappling with the modern world, a white person battling a serious disease has no more advantage over a Maori person, the drugs and procedures cause the same pain and side effects regardless of race, colour, or creed. Describing modern medicine as ‘white mans medicine’ or something inherently ‘Pakeha’ is ridiculous and offensive. How many white New Zealanders have had a hand in formulating the drugs and medical procedures of today, and what difference does it make anyway? The institutions found here are the same as you’ll find in every continent on the globe: schools, hospitals, police forces, judiciary, universities….these are not ‘Pakeha’ or ‘coloniser’ institutions, they are *human* institutions. Maori have not been teleported from the 1800’s into some strange and alien future, we have all grown up together into this modern world.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:52am
  - Yvette
    
    From a couple of years ago –
    
    Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says, as a wahine Maori, her chance of surviving her stage three cervical cancer is just 13.3 per cent. …
    Speaking to The Hui on Monday, she said there is a disparity in survival rates for Māori women.
    “When I got told I have cervical cancer, they said for somebody with Stage 3C, you have a 40 per cent chance of survival. As a wahine Māori, I have about a 13.3 per cent chance of survival,” she said.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300291623/kiri-allan-says-as-wahine-mori-she-has-just-13pc-chance-of-surviving-cervical-cancer
    
    Are Maori human cells in some physiological way different, or are all influences determining different ethnic outcomes of serious disease, from outside the body rather than from within it.
    When Kiri Allen believed “as a wahine Māori, I have about a 13.3 per cent chance of survival,” was that a mental disadvantage or a molecular reality?
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:34pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Dan Bongino exposed the Secret Service scandal that nearly got Donald Trump killed.
Dan Bongino is an ex Secret Service agent. He was stationed in the Whitehouse during Obama’s term. He knows his stuff. He says Joe Biden denied extra protection for Trump. As I said, nasty, nasty people.

https://patriotpulse.net/dan-bongino-exposed-the-secret-service-scandal-that-nearly-got-donald-trump-killed/?
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July 16, 2024 8:50am
- imalwaysright
  
  No protection for RFK either.
  But Obama got Secret Service
  protection from before he was even a candidate.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:23am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    All previous Presidents have Security Details.
    Even Bush and Carter, Clinton etc.
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:00am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Before Obama was a candidate. Unclear on my part.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:32am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Unclear for me as well. I guess Obama could afford it.
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:01pm
      - Ghost
        
        It’s because of Obama alll former presidents get secret service protection
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:16pm
    - Paulus
      
      And Dame Jacinda had full time Diplomatic Protection People Squad (16 people I understand)
      In case somebody did not like her.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:43am
      - imalwaysright
        
        What about deploying the 16 dps members randomly to dairies daily to protect people who work hard and contribute to our society
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:19pm
      - Keith White
        
        And so did the Green clothes-snatcher – allegedly due to horrible threats – and yet that same taxpayer-funded security did not stop or report serial clothes-snatching. How much of anything that’s reported these days can we believe?
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:19pm
      - MCōs
        
        Depends where it’s reported doesn’t it
        With regards to any security that Golriz may have had they’re hardly going to have crowded into the changing rooms where she stuffed the clothes into her bag are they?
        They would have been there keeping their beady eyes on potential attackers not on her, one would have thought
        
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        July 16, 2024 12:56pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        And still does apparently
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:12pm
      - kevn
        
        Paulus… Only when she visits NZ.
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:32pm
- MCōs
  
  Judging by the pitiful effort the security provided for Mr Trump the other day one wonders who organized what?
  I expect we’re going to find out.
  Whose responsibility was it keep an eye those buildings from which young Crooks so easily gained access?
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Jill Biden took some of Trump’s Security.
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:01am
    - MCōs
      
      You’re saying that Mr Trump and his team, which has vast amounts of money at their disposal leave his personal security entirely up to the government?
      He makes a career out of lambasting the public service and rabbiting on about the ‘deep state’ and this happens.
      He’s going to make a meal out of this.
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:28am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Trump is a previous President – or did you not know? He is entitled to have Govt Security for the rest of his life.
        See my comment above at 10.00
        
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        July 16, 2024 1:05pm
      - mawm
        
        Trump had his own security before and even during his Presidency, mixed with the SS, as he did not trust the SS. I always wondered about the legality of one of his private security taking out a potential threat.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:42pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Corruption?
Conflict of Interest?

Not in NZ, surely

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-transport-chief-executive-dean-kimpton-director-of-company-awarded-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-worth-of-at-contracts/CSG4KCHQUFHAFJZBCYSMTADDWE/
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July 16, 2024 9:20am
- imalwaysright
  
  He will plead the Mahuta defense.
  New Zealand is corrupt, its just that they don’t see it as corruption until they get caught. Otherwise its seen as just helping out a mate.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:27am
- greybeard
  
  According to Hosking’s summary this morning, Kimpton was a director but had no financial interest in the company.
  Would that company still have been awarded the contracts if Kimpton had never been involved? Impossible to say.
  It would be useful to know what proportion these successful contracts formed of the total AT contracts let. i.e 40 contracts out of 50? Out of 300 ?
  At the very least there seems to be a conflict of interest, or some sort of favouritism.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:39am
- Damocles11
  
  This will be swept under the carpet, no corruption will be established. If we don’t acknowledge corruption then surely it doesn’t exist, and we can keep our cherished position on the ‘global corruption index’. This country is collectively excellent at playing ostrich about the many problems we face.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:55am
- Blog-aholic
  
  The once upon a time City Clerk of Christchurch (ex Hamilton), (just pre EQ) was a director of the Insurance company that underwrote the entire citys infrastructure……go figure……
  
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  July 16, 2024 11:06am
- PeeJay
  
  Now contrast with the reaction over in Australia to the growing construction union (CFMEU) corruption scandal. Sackings, investigations. politicians looking into it, government investigating, police investigating and so on. Serious allegations but seems like they are being taken seriously.
  
  One of my Aussie mates once said that there is definitely corruption in Aus, much like he knew there was corruption in NZ. But he said that the key difference seems to be that in Aus, they look out for it and when it’s found, they seem to do something about it. Not always enough and not perfect sure, but they don’t pretend everything is perfect. He noted that in NZ, there seemed to be a desire to invoke the three monkeys’ approach to corruption – ignore it, refuse to see it, refuse to talk about it and refuse to listen – say everything is great, and carry on as before.
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:42pm
Maggie Pie

I relented last nite. Went back and watched the Tana/Maiki interview on +One.
Total set up if you ask me. Patsy questions in advance.
Darlene said she dindu nuffin anyway.

And actually, having read the bio of that horrible greenie ‘Benjamin Doyle’, I’m really really hoping Darl hangs in there. Unlike the moron next on the list, at least she’s got a background in managing a business.
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July 16, 2024 9:21am
- Gravelroad
  
  I watched the interview.
  Was surprised that Ms Sherman acted mostly like a real reporter and asked Ms Tana some hard questions in a calm and professional manner.
  Didn’t seem like the same shrill spinner who was so embarrassingly partisan and over the top a few weeks ago when reporting on a poll that showed a small dip in support for the dreaded coalition government.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:38am
  - mogg
    
    She gave her an opportunity to come up with a list of shallow and dishonest excuses, without pushing the matter any further, eg ‘how can we believe that you were not involved in the business when you were
    following the employee in question and trying to stop him speaking out. Accepting everything that is said at face value is not interviewing, it was more like PR opportunity for Tana.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:33pm
- graham
  
  A setup, you say? What. A. Surprise.
  
  Golriz Gharaman did better, if I recall … John Campbell himself interviewed her. Didn’t watch that either.
  
  I don’t quite know why TV One seems so eager to peddle the ‘poor hard done-by woman of colour’ motif and – I admit I’m guessing here, as I won’t be watching such garbage – presumably try to stir some sympathy for their ‘unfortunate fall from grace through no fault of their own, honest’.
  
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  July 16, 2024 9:44am
  - MCōs
    
    That’s like a Virgin giving his opinion on the joys of sex
    
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    July 16, 2024 10:01am
    - graham
      
      LOL, that’s not too bad for you MCos 🙂
      
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      July 16, 2024 10:28am
- Paulus
  
  Typical Maori TV NZ, so why bother to watch ?
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:44am
Ipanema69

Paradoxically the attempt on Donald Trumps life will mean that Joe Biden will be the democratic nominee.

The narrative has now shifted away from the Biden competency issue.

My pick is for Trump to take at least 40 states.
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July 16, 2024 9:39am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yep, that landslide just got yuger.
  Where are all of those from 12 months ago saying I was talking rubbish?
  Batman, remember him?
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:06am
BarryB

The Police are moaning about the pay offer.
The trouble is that the commissioner has effectively defunded the police over the last 6 years and in a majority of cases where people called on them, the police were pretty useless. There are plenty of examples where the police stood by as crimes were committed – the cases of the UK woman being abused in Auckland being the most obvious one.

I dont think there is a lot of sympathy for the police at the moment. Maybe if they actually did the job police are supposed to do they would have more public support.
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July 16, 2024 9:44am
Chuck Bird

WATCH: J.D. Vance declared Republican nominee for vice president | 2024 RNC Day 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbeYCJ02aM
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July 16, 2024 10:03am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This is the nonsense coming from the Democrat Party to take the heat off what really happened:

https://discernreport.com/trump-may-have-staged-own-shooting-dem-adviser-tells-reporters/?

Seriously deranged!
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July 16, 2024 10:08am
- Andrew Worth
  
  Similar to the level of derangement in the theory that the Democrats did it.
  
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  July 16, 2024 10:59am
  - gravedodger
    
    Jimmy Carter has relinquished his I hope.
    
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    July 16, 2024 11:39am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Please provide a link for your assertion, Andrew Worth.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:34pm
- rouppe
  
  Talking to a guy at work today, who actually thought it was staged, and that if Trump won, that was the end of democracy because he wouldn’t leave.
  
  I was gobsmacked.
  
  I asked “you honestly believe he set up a shooter to clip his ear as he was moving, and damn the potentially three other people who might die from this?”.
  Yep, he’d do anything.
  
  “Given he already left office once after the 2020 election you think he would establish a dictatorship this time?”
  Yep.
  
  Couldn’t believe it.
  
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  July 16, 2024 12:36pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350343464/council-reinvestigating-plucky-pensioners-dog-barking-claims

The ADC staff and CEO seem like a useless lot. Not much common sense being employed here.
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July 16, 2024 10:12am
kevn

Mrs Trumps open letter to US citizens…
https://x.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/1812492817068945437/photo/1
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July 16, 2024 10:38am
Damocles11

Posting so much US politics is a great way to distract from the very real and pressing issues impacting on us here in *New Zealand*. We seem to get immense amounts of c-rap regarding what is going on in the US but virtually nothing on the political situation in Romania, Ireland, Uganda, and Malaysia.
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July 16, 2024 10:58am
- Cassandra
  
  What happens in America affects NZ; Uganda and Romania not so much………………….
  
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  July 16, 2024 12:06pm
  - newview
    
    Agree Cassandra. IMO those who believe Trump to be good for the US seem not to worry about the consequences for NZ. His protectionist trade policies could cost us plenty. He might win popularity with that for a while until the US trading partners feel they may as well put trade barriers up also. Bad for everyone. Don’t get the down tick. Churlish.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:55pm
    - Zero Kindness
      
      I think the likelihood of Trump bringing Ukraine and Israel wars to an end preventing escalation to WW3 is more important than any trade risk assumed or otherwise.
      
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      July 16, 2024 2:38pm
  - Taieri
    
    What happens in America affects NZ; Uganda and Romania not so much
    ————
    
    Just like what happened in Sarajevo in 1914 didn’t affect anyone much?
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:59pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Has the Crown Prince of the Austro Hungarian Empire been assassinated in Kampala?
      
      You’re right, the MSM is crap at reporting news.
      
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      July 16, 2024 6:59pm
G the giant from Dunedin

Shock horror, media has an article up about what labour and Robertson were up too over the funding of the ferries, sounded like the ferries weee not funded anyway, god that article will take the arrogant smirk of Hipkins face
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July 16, 2024 11:16am
- Matt Long
  
  Hipkins is the perfect example of, we know that they lie, they know that we know that they lie, and still they lie.
  
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  July 16, 2024 11:49am
  - Master Mariner
    
    But hes still a “Good Comrade”//
    
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    July 16, 2024 2:41pm
Ghost

Norm Hewitt dies: Former All Black, Dancing with the Stars winner loses battle with motor neurone disease
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July 16, 2024 11:50am
- krazykiwi
  
  That’s a nasty disease that everyone loses to. My condolences to his family.
  
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  July 16, 2024 11:55am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Yes, have had 3 friends die of it – definitely not nice.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:20pm
  - David Garrett
    
    krazy: It is a truly horrible disease with only one result…which is one of the reasons I dislike seeing death notices which refer to “a long/courageous battle with MND/Cancer/MS”
    
    Such a wording suggests as a sub-text that if only the person had “battled” harder they might still be with us. MND is a death sentence which no amount of “battling” will overcome, as are many cancers. At least most cancers are treatable, if caught early enough. There is no treatment for MND
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:27pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  My favourite memory of Norm was when he won the NPC Championship for Wellington with a fractured arm, only to be subsequently admonished in public by then Labour ACC minister, Ruth Dyson, for staying on and setting a bad example to young players by not seeking treatment.
  
  Less than 2 weeks later she had to resign from Cabinet after being caught Drinking and Driving.
  
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  July 16, 2024 12:09pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Ruth [Mod – just use her name] Dyson…..
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:24pm
  - David Garrett
    
    slightly: Ruth Dyson was one of the nastier Labour members during my short time…the female equivalent of Clayton Cosgrove.
    
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    July 16, 2024 12:28pm
- MCōs
  
  MND can be triggered by repeated head knocks as Norm Hewitt, & any number of others, would have experienced playing rugby
  Otherwise it’s a rare coincidence, particularly at his age (55)
  
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  July 16, 2024 12:16pm
  - David Garrett
    
    MCos: I am not a doctor, but are you sure about that?? My understanding is that developing MND is just pure bad luck…I stand to be corrected…Perhaps you could post a link?
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:19pm
    - MCōs
      
      I’m not a medical person either so I did a quick look
      I refer you to this article
      https://www.mndassociation.org/about-mnd/mnd-explained/what-causes-mnd/is-there-link-between-sport-and-mnd#:~:text=The%20paper%20concluded%20that%20former,compared%20to%20the%20general%20population.
      
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      July 16, 2024 3:32pm
  - Keith White
    
    With respect, there is an association with inflammation but not with trauma. Common associations are with previous (viral) encephalitis, other toxins and chemicals causing immune (over)reaction, age, and of course genetic factors.
    A history of repeated head injuries is associated but in close to the same incidence as a history of repeated emotional trauma (if you’re referring to that problematic 2013-2106 NZ study published in 2022).
    
    It’s not IMO helpful to have people worry about an association when there is no cause and effect relationship – although repeated episodes of concussion need to be avoided for lots of sound reasons, MND is not proven to be one of them.
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:22pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Another one with neurological problems
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:13pm
Ghost

30 minutes….

Trump gunman Thomas Crooks was spotted by on the roof a building with a clear sightline to the former president nearly 30 minutes before he opened fire — but they failed to confront him, according to a report.

Article
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July 16, 2024 1:09pm
- Keith White
  
  They weren’t sure of his pronouns and calling him out could have caused offence…
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:23pm
- David Garrett
  
  Ghost: There sure as hell are a lot of very odd things about this business – starting with why there were no shooters on a building roof well within range of the podium.
  
  But suggestions that this was all somehow “faked” are truly ludicrous. I suppose it’s possible for an expert marksman to hit a man’s ear from 120 metres, but although Trump is rampant narcissist, I can’t see him trusting anyone William Tell like to only hit his ear.
  
  We live in times where conspiracies – running from ridiculous to somewhat plausible – are everywhere one looks.
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:35pm
  - Ghost
    
    Yeah.
    
    The reason it only hit his ear is because he turned his head just before the bullet hit him. If he hadn’t it would be a kill shot. But sadly so much rubbish out there and so many people pushing it.
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:42pm
    - Chris Nisbet
      
      The shooter waited for him to turn his head so his ear would be exposed. Don’t you get it!?
      /s
      
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      July 16, 2024 1:53pm
  - Grunter
    
    DG – definitely not faked, but certainly not incompetent on the part of Police and SS – it is just too obvious that the perfect shooting spot was left wide open. That must have been deliberate, saying “Oh we forgot about the nearest roof with a direct line to Trump” is just not plausible.
    
    Who pulled the strings? We will probably never know. “They” want Trump dead. And it’s not as if this type of thing hasn’t happened before in the USA.
    
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    July 16, 2024 3:13pm
- grumpy
  
  Apparently the officer was standing on the back of another cop and when the shooter saw him and aimed his gun, the officer lost his balance.
  
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  July 16, 2024 2:01pm
- MCōs
  
  Until an explanation is forthcoming conspiracy theorists love to fill the vacuum
  
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  July 16, 2024 3:46pm
Benedict Yu

Some interesting vaccination data from the USA (I’m talking regular childhood vaccines – not COVID.)

There is disquiet in the USA that vaccination coverage for 2 year olds has dropped from 95 percent to 93 percent (2022-23 – latest data).

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7245a2.htm?s_cid=mm7245a2_w

If only we could achieve 93 percent in New Zealand. It is 78 perent for 2 year olds and 74 percent for 5 year olds. What a disaster. 🙁

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7245a2.htm?s_cid=mm7245a2_w

In the USA conservative influencers like Candice Owens are a menace on vaccination issues. In New Zealand I have thought that it is COVID vaccine scare mongering spilling over into irrational fear of all vaccines. However maybe the irrational hesitancy goes beyond the impact of COVID vaccine hysteria.

Hopefully the Government has a plan to deal with this. Probably the most effective penalty would be to prohibit all unvaccinated children from attending school.
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July 16, 2024 1:33pm
- Keith White
  
  “Probably the most effective penalty would be to prohibit all unvaccinated children from attending school.”
  
  Wow. Just, wow.
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:39pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    OK what do you suggest? Fines for the parents are just going to disadvantage the children. The children can be home schooled.
    
    The other alternative is to pay parents to have their children vaccinated. That is likely to work for some low income parents. However, many antivaxxers are from higher income groups. Women predominate. A school ban is likely to be most effective. This policy applies in France and Italy.
    
    My point is that the status quo in New Zealand is untenable.
    
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    July 16, 2024 1:48pm
    - Grunter
      
      The only alternative is freedom of choice!
      
      Go live in France if this type of policy is so appealing.
      
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      July 16, 2024 3:04pm
- Taieri
  
  Probably the most effective penalty would be to prohibit all unvaccinated children from attending school.
  —————
  
  A good number of children already don’t attend school. Vaccinated or otherwise…
  
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  July 16, 2024 2:02pm
- Grunter
  
  Maybe your plan would work in communist China where the people have bugger all choice.
  
  What right have you got to mandate, or coerce parents and children into taking a jab that they don’t want for whatever reason? It is not your body, in fact it is none of your business at all.
  
  Time to wake up to the COVID Jab scam Bene….. Just go and check the latest monthly excess death data and come back with a rational argument why it is still averaging +15% – or about 2,000 additional deaths in NZ pa.
  
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  July 16, 2024 3:01pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “What right have you got to mandate, or coerce parents and children into taking a jab that they don’t want for whatever reason?”
    
    Parents can be idiots and not be vaccinated. They have no right to endanger the lives of children. I would make failing to vaccinate children a criminal offence for the parents.
    
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    July 16, 2024 5:30pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    As for excess deaths, you are totally wrong. New Zealand had the highest vaccination rate of any country. Throughout 2021 and 2022 New Zealand had “negative” excess deaths. The subsequent excess deaths were caused by COVID and displaced mortality from the border closure.
    
    Which countries had the highest excess deaths? Those with the lowest covid vaccination rates.
    
    I am not posting the data again because I can’t be bothered.
    
    Trying to reason with antivaxxers is like arguing with a Jehovahs Witness.
    
    Anyway knock yourself out. Don’t get vaccinated. I don’t care. Children are another matter. Parents who do not have their children vaccinated are criminally negligent. They should face appropriate penalties.
    
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    July 16, 2024 5:40pm
- MCōs
  
  I agree the dip in vaccination rates is problem, but it’s not fixed with silver bullet solutions
  (Probably not a good time to mention silver bullets)
  The answer, as always, is education otherwise we’re heading to fatal measles epidemics as experienced in Samoa a few years ago
  
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  July 16, 2024 3:55pm
  - Mike
    
    Constant ridicule of the anti-vaxxers has its place too.
    
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    July 16, 2024 5:02pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes but it does not seem to have much of an effect. Take Candice Owens. I agree with her on many issues. However I switched her off because her anti vax views were so alarming. She also opposes birth control. Well, hormonal birth control specifically.
      
      Brett Cooper from the Daily Wire also spouts rubbish about birth control. As she is 22 and has just got married, I am not sure what her plan is to avoid multiple pregnancies.
      
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      July 16, 2024 5:27pm
      - Mike
        
        It’s fairly well-known that engaging seriously with cranks (anti-vaxxers, creationists, 9/11 truthers, etc) by providing reputable information has the contrary effect of hardening their crazy beliefs.
        
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        July 16, 2024 6:27pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes I am aware. I think that there is a considerable overlap betwen folk who think that climate change is a hoax and those who believe that the covid vaccines killed millions. Reasoning with them is impossible.
      
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      July 16, 2024 6:52pm
- mawm
  
  Bene – I suggest you read this paper from the NEJM where Dr Stanley Plotkin, the architect of the US vaccination program and “godfather” of vaccinology, is one of the authors.
  “Funding Postauthorization Vaccine-Saftey Science
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38973739/
  
  To put in into context, in 2018 Dr Plotkin was deposed in a family lawsuit (https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/the-deposition-of-stanley-plotkin/ – it is 9 hours long) where he made a number of admissions regarding vaccine clinical trials and gaps in safety data related to vaccines.
  
  Safe and effective! Yeah, Right!
  
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  July 16, 2024 5:39pm
- Ghost
  
  I do not think mandating it and punishing parents is the way. It has to come down to education from the gp, from plunket to the parents on the need of the different vaccines.
  
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  July 16, 2024 7:11pm
Ghost

Finally a decent sentence for killing a baby

As well as his life term, Topp must serve a minimum period of 17 years’ imprisonment before he is eligible to seek release on parole.

Article
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July 16, 2024 1:35pm
- Keith White
  
  Yes. About time.
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:40pm
- imalwaysright
  
  A decent sentence would be execution
  
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  July 16, 2024 2:03pm
  - MCōs
    
    We no longer have capital punishment in NZ
    It’s one thing to execute obvious criminals, but what about the controversial cases such as Arthur Thomas, David Blain, Laura Dickason
    
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    July 16, 2024 4:07pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Definitely Dickason.
      The other two hopefully wouldn’t be convicted by a jury under a death penalty system. As Garrett said before, there would be a tendency to pass a manslaughter verdict in most cases. Human nature, we won’t have the perfect system .
      
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      July 16, 2024 5:00pm
    - cmm
      
      You don’t have to always execute all murderers.
      
      South Africa had the death penalty until 1995, but the mandatory death penalty for murder was abolished in 1935. Even before then less than 25% of death penalties were actually carried out and most were commuted to life imprisonment.
      
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      July 16, 2024 5:14pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Read an interesting article in the Economist a while back about murderers in Japan. Death sentence a bit unusual, but they take “life imprisonment” pretty seriously.
        
        Which raises an interesting question about what to do with long-term prisoners with dementia …. ?
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:21pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        We have enough trouble finding judges willing to sentence crims to soft jails.
        
        Finding one that would order an execution doesn’t strike me as likely .
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:42pm
Maggie Pie

O.M.G. the ‘X’ memes are coming in thick & fast!!

My FAVE so far 😀

https://x.com/LibertyCappy/status/1812999915116896663
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July 16, 2024 1:41pm
- Don Beckett
  
  Only problem – the bullet nicked the top of his ear. 😆
  Imagine having the ring where the bullet hit.
  
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  July 16, 2024 5:36pm
David Garrett

Ghost: You have misunderstood the sentence…it is the standard “life” with a minimum non parole period (NPP) of 17 years.

Just FYI, we have three levels of sentencing for murder in NZ: 1) “standard” murder with no aggravating features, life with a minimum NPP of 10 years; 2) murder with aggravating features – such as this one, where the victim was particularly vulnerable due to her being a baby, life with a minimum of 17 years; and 3) LWOP, which has been sought by Crown solicitors several times, but only ever been imposed once, on Tarrant.
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July 16, 2024 1:42pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  So DG… even someone like Tarrant doesn’t change your thinking on CP?
  
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  July 16, 2024 1:49pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Maggie: No it doesn’t, and since you may not have read my reasons for now opposing something I once strongly advocated – I wrote a book on it in 1999 – I will repeat my reasons for my change of mind here.
    
    I first came to Tonga in 1999. Hanging was then – and still is – a discretionary sentence for murder in Tonga. The last executions were in 1982, when three guys were hanged for literally cutting a guy up in bits when they were pissed.
    
    From 1982 until 2000, there were NO murder convictions here in Tonga. I didn’t say no murders – there were plenty of them – but in each case, no matter how serious, the jury’s verdict was manslaughter.
    
    The reason? Their clergymen had told the Tongans what if they convicted a man of murder he would hang – which was a blatant lie, since the sentence is discretionary – and more importantly for many Tongans, if they brought back a verdict of guilty of murder they would go to hell.
    
    In other words, for almost 20 years, people who were clearly guilty of murder – and some of them were pretty nasty – instead got convicted of manslaughter.
    
    I believe exactly the same thing would happen in NZ if we brought it back – but of course for different reasons. Can you imagine a tattooed and multi-pierced 20 year old member of the Green Party voting for a guilty verdict, even if the case was heinous? I cannot.
    
    But for your own interest, ask “the girls at tennis” if they could vote guilty, even if hanging was only a possibility and not mandatory, as it used to be. If they are taking the question seriously, I very much doubt all your many “besties” would say they would.
    
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    July 16, 2024 2:09pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      You obviously have noo idea how any of us think DG!
      But I can tell you, there would be at least 3o scums in prison today
      who I know every one of us would willingly pull the lever on.
      
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      July 16, 2024 2:27pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Have you ever seen the movie “Pierrepoint”, based on the career of Britain’s most prolific hangman? If not I urge you to track it down;
        
        Here’s a minor spoiler: the most enthusiastic student in a group of prospective executioners couldn’t do it when faced with hanging a live man instead of a sand bag.
        
        And saying you all could do it over a martini in an Auckland bar is a very different thing from actually doing it. The superintendent of Mt Eden, where they did all the hangings from the 1930’s on, had a major nervous breakdown in 1955, which was a busy year for the hangman’s rope.
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:44pm
      - Ghost
        
        I Don’t support the death sentence because of two reasons. One is the amount of innocent people in the usa that have been on death row. The other is it’s an easy way out. Let them rot in jail
        
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        July 16, 2024 2:44pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        I don’t need to see any movies DG… I’ve seen the Play.
        Ever since Jo Pert (one of our bestest friends) was stabbed to death while out jogging close to where a lot us reside, it gave all of us a new outlook on life… and those who deserve to die for their actions.
        A more deserving case for the rope would be hard to find.
        Yet there are literally dozens of them who will be all out walking amongst us again in the near future.
        
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        July 16, 2024 3:04pm
      - lifesgood
        
        My understanding, Maggie, is that what you are espousing goes right against Catholic teaching. I have long thought you are not a Catholic, now it’s obvious.
        
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        July 16, 2024 3:29pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I thought that you were a Catholic?
        
        https://www.americanbar.org/groups/committees/death_penalty_representation/publications/project_blog/pope-francis-encyclical-death-penalty-opposition/
        
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        July 16, 2024 3:41pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth, Wound for Wound, Stripe for Stripe.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:00pm
      - fightingtemeraire
        
        Many many years ago there was a report in te Listener about this.
        
        One of the things that stuck out in the report was the stress and strain on the staff that had to look after the prisoner and the visiting family and relatives.
        
        The stress and strain on the Prison Govenor who had to arrange and supervise the event and many of the other staff on the periphery.
        
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        July 16, 2024 4:30pm
      - Taieri
        
        Sorry for clicking “report” by mistake David.
        
        Have you ever seen the movie “Pierrepoint”, based on the career of Britain’s most prolific hangman? If not I urge you to track it down
        ———–
        
        There’s an oldish (1988) movie, “A Short Film About Killing” by the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski. It certainly changed my views on the capital punishment. Highly recommended.
        
        https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095468/
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:51pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      Interesting stuff David. What was the name of your book? I might be able to get a copy.
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:33pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        There is nothing in Catholic teaching that forbids the death penalty.
        
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        July 16, 2024 5:40pm
      - Mike
        
        Your pope commands otherwise, Don.
        
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        July 16, 2024 6:14pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Jake: My book was entitled “A life for a life: A case for capital punishment”…There should be a copy at your local library…
        
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        July 16, 2024 6:28pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Jake: My book was called: “A Life for a life – a case for capital punishment”
        
        Your local library should have a copy
        
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        July 17, 2024 7:15am
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      A friend of my father was on the Prison Board in a Crown Dependency, and he had to witness the execution of a murderer.
      
      The hangman was bought in from the UK, not Pierrepoint, as was the gallows. They didn’t have one!!!
      
      He told my father that the calmest person there was the condemned man!!!
      
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      July 16, 2024 4:34pm
    - MCōs
      
      LWOP could be viewed as a kind of death penalty
      It’s also a penalty for whoever puts up the money to keep the person incarcerated particularly as they get old and their health deteriorates
      There’s a guy I often see sleeping in shop front on Coronation Rd, Mangere Bridge. He’s sung out to me occasionally and it’s obvious he’s lost a few marbles. At least he’s got his freedom. He can walk up the street. He can walk down the street. He might lie outside the library if there’s a southerlie blowing.
      Tarrant has a better life than that.
      
      6 0
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      July 16, 2024 4:47pm
      - greybeard
        
        LWOP is actually a life sentence for the hundreds of people who have to care for these ferals for the rest of the ferals’ life !
        
        Hundreds and hundreds of ordinary people have to feed, clothe, give medical and dental assistance, provide spiritual and psychological assistance, spend time educating them, do everything apart from wiping their arses.
        For years and years. Wasting their OWN lives.
        
        I honestly believe that a bullet would save a lot of problems for a lot of people.
        
        8 1
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        July 16, 2024 5:43pm
    - cmm
      
      DG: I am sure that not many people are equipped to be hangmen and, as you say, many more would say they’d do it than would actually do it.
      
      There are very few hangmen in the world (well Westerners anyway). Probably the closest to hangmen that are reasonably common are military snipers who will often be leaving little to chance and are effectively executing someone.
      
      I do think that people have become a lot more squeamish about death. How many people could kill a chook for the Sunday roast? Yet 100 years ago it was as much part of domestic life as hanging washing on the line.
      
      Same deal with executing a person: it was just seen as something someone had to do for the good of society. Probably far fewer people see it that way any more.
      
      Do I think the girls at tennis could convict a murderer – effectively ordering an execution? Possibly.
      Again using the chook analogy – far more could order a chicken salad (which requires a killing of a chook) than could actually wring the bird’s necks.
      
      I think far more people would be prepared to find a person guilty so long as someone else does the deed.
      
      6 0
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      July 16, 2024 5:05pm
Chris Nisbet

So, tell me, who else thinks the coolest SS agent in the world right now is the guy in dark glasses and tight little haircut standing next to Trump after the assassination attempt?
6 2
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July 16, 2024 1:50pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Ya mean this guy?
  
  https://x.com/LordHiver/status/1813002512607096965
  
  12 3
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  July 16, 2024 2:12pm
  - Chris Nisbet
    
    Lol
    
    5 2
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    July 16, 2024 2:17pm
  - cmm
    
    Between Donut Barbie and the three tiny pig-tailed blonde chearleaders, the female component of the SS is very much lacking.
    
    I suppose that’s what you can expect. The SS head has said she wants 50% females.
    
    Now, quite rightly, the secret service A team will be with the actual president. Trump has to make do with the B or C team.
    
    Guess which team is going to have all the DEIs?
    
    10 3
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    July 16, 2024 4:50pm
    - MCōs
      
      30% by 2030 according to her biography in Wikipedia, which you can believe or not
      
      3 0
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      July 16, 2024 5:32pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Sniffing Joe or Grabbing Don?
      
      Decisions, decisions
      
      1 0
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      July 16, 2024 7:13pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    I still haven’t found out if someone yelled, “Donald, duck!”
    
    8 1
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    July 16, 2024 6:37pm
Maggie Pie

And putting his money where his mouth is….

See where MSNBC is reporting that Elon has pledged *$45 million* a month
to back Trumpy between now and the election.
9 2
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July 16, 2024 2:03pm
Benedict Yu

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) is no more. It is now “Natural Hazards Commission – Toka Tū Ake”.

I do not understand the reasons for scrapping a name with 80 years of brand recognition.
16 1
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July 16, 2024 2:05pm
- Ghost
  
  Rebranding established names is stupid
  
  Recently Kelloggs rebranded to Kellanova
  
  10 1
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  July 16, 2024 2:11pm
  - lifesgood
    
    WTF! Why?
    
    6 1
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    July 16, 2024 3:26pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  When ‘Aunt Jemima’ Syrup rebranded to Pearl-Milling I stopped buying it.
  
  Go woke – Go broke
  
  7 2
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  July 16, 2024 2:16pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Website looks OK.
  https://www.naturalhazards.govt.nz/be-prepared/natural-hazards-where-you-live
  It would appear that the people who made it received the memo about using a language that people can understand rather than trying to give us all a lesson in Te Reo (whether we want it or not).
  
  As for the name change, it kinda makes sense to me. Earthquake Commission leaves one with the impression that it deals with just earthquakes. Natural Hazards Commision, not so much.
  
  7 1
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  July 16, 2024 3:11pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    [email protected]
    They apparently adhere to the ‘Plain Language Act 2022.
    Email them with a question on how they are complying.
    
    2 1
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    July 16, 2024 4:09pm
Sparrow

Have always believed in the cock up theory and not conspiracy theories. The most interesting comment I have heard so far is that there was a breakdown in communication between the likes of the Secret Service and the local police. In other words whose job it was to patrol, search buildings outside of the perimeter. Believe it was a small town so maybe local police not use to security arrangements for such an event.
4 1
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July 16, 2024 4:10pm
Maggie Pie

Got a bit of goss earlier from the trolley guy at NW.
He was saying another customer who’s right in the know (they’ve got a holiday-home on Waiheke) had been telling him….”Darlene has absolutely NO intention of standing down”.
And that Chloe is beside herself with worry about how to handle it.
Apparently, the calls and txts between her and James Shaw have been running hot,
with Chloe seeking advice on what she should do next.
10 4
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July 16, 2024 4:16pm
- Ghost
  
  Hopefully she stands by her decision to not stop entertaining people. Oh I mean not resign. It’s very wrong the entertainment we are getting in watching the greens struggle to get rid of another problem mp. I mean what could be next, kick Julie Anne out of the party for her abuse towards people and mp’s. got to admit though the greens strategy of a complete party refresh by the next election is smart…..
  
  10 1
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  July 16, 2024 4:46pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    JAG’s predilection for bullying and abusing people will show its ugly face again.
    
    A leopard can’t change its spots no matter how hard.
    
    She is at the end of her capacity to control it and it shows…..a little more nudging and she will tip over again.
    
    12 1
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    July 16, 2024 4:52pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    That’s very brave of Darleen. I admire a woman who won’t be dictated to by wokes and wonks. Tell ’em to get stuffed, Darl!
    
    But what’s she going to do to earn all that lovely money of ours over the next 2.5 years?
    
    7 0
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    July 16, 2024 6:34pm
    - MCōs
      
      Rip off more immigrants
      
      6 0
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      July 16, 2024 6:58pm
- kowtow
  
  From Dana to Shaw , Chloe’s very unsure .
  
  Much simpler just screeching genocide at public gatherings for the media and the mob .
  
  Come to real politics , totally incompetent.
  
  8 1
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  July 16, 2024 4:55pm
- AitchW
  
  Constructively dismissing Shaw was a real master stroke huh?
  
  7 1
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  July 16, 2024 5:59pm
kiwikidsnz

Cat, meet pigeons.

Treaty of Waitangi is inappropriate, Seymour tells Pharmac

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/522294/watch-considering-treaty-of-waitangi-is-inappropriate-seymour-tells-pharmac
12 1
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July 16, 2024 5:02pm
- Mike
  
  But Seymour loves the Treaty. He’s even made up his own list of what he thinks it means.
  
  2 16
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  July 16, 2024 5:12pm
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    As have many other unelected compromised & conflicted people over the last 50 years, the main difference being Seymour’s an elected representative of democratic elections whose made draft proposals for Parliament to consider & is willing to allow all NZ people to decide with him.
    
    8 1
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    July 16, 2024 5:35pm
    - Mike
      
      You might be referring to the role of the tribunal and the courts, who have exercised the role aet for them by the parliament, which can always make better, or worse, legislatuon. Anyway, Seymour’s faux principles have been nobbled by the PM.
      
      0 11
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      July 16, 2024 6:19pm
Ghost

Hmmm, let’s see, how could I seriously damage my career.

Maybe saying

‘Don’t miss Trump next time.’

Article

Not sure celebrities are that smart to release when to “zip it, sweetie”.

Tenacious D’s latest show in Australia has been ‘postponed’ at the last minute after Jack Black’s bandmate made a divisive comment about Donald Trump.
3 1
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July 16, 2024 6:08pm
- Mike
  
  I don’t know why people listen to the political opinions of celebrities (Trump included).
  
  2 5
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  July 16, 2024 6:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

[Mod – then post it in the morning. One link is enough. Also stop spamming the links onto other peoples post]
3 1
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July 16, 2024 6:18pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  No Mod, I will send it to DPF
  
  [ Other Mod : go for it ]
  
  1 1
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  July 16, 2024 6:33pm
Pope Punctilious II

Go that man Seymour
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/pharmac-told-by-minister-to-ditch-treaty-of-waitangi-consideration-and-improve-trust/2FBRP3ZFDZCABPAHNBK57ABXFI/
6 1
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July 16, 2024 7:24pm
Maggie Pie

Someone stole my partners Camo jacket and Jandals from the shed at the farm.

Like he said…. they can hide but they can’t run.
9 1
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July 16, 2024 7:31pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Well, episode 2 of the Darleen Tana saga was pretty boring….

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/07/16/tana-mulls-parliament-return-may-work-near-ex-green-colleagues/
6 0
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July 16, 2024 7:41pm
- Ghost
  
  I think we should support her. Imagine the party that is strongly opposed to the waka jumping law having to use the waka jumping law. I need more popcorn if it comes to that.
  
  3 0
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  July 16, 2024 7:46pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Count me out…
    
    Spoilt shits having their public tantrums don’t appeal to me at all.
    
    6 1
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    July 16, 2024 7:53pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      A lame duck moeally bankrupt independent MP is less damaging than another deranged Green MP. And there’s all that delicious schadenfreude and ongoing embarrassment for Greens.
      
      4 1
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      July 16, 2024 9:26pm
sungsamning

https://dailycaller.com/2024/07/12/federal-judge-americans-constitutional-right-distill-moonshine-bathtub/
Federal Judge Finds Americans Have Constitutional Right To Distill Moonshine In Their Bathtub.
Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee, found that a federal law making it a felony to distill spirits at home exceeded Congress’ power, holding that neither Congress’ tax power nor its ability to regulate interstate commerce justify the ban. Pittman permanently blocked the government from enforcing the ban, which threatens violators with up to $10,000 in fines or 5 years in prison, against the plaintiffs it found to have standing.
0 0
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July 17, 2024 8:45am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDsQylqdBAU
Could Finland actually suspend asylum?
They got an 84% majority in parliament to stop asylum seekers. They claimed Putin was sending them.
0 0
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July 17, 2024 8:45am

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