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May 2, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 02 May 2025

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General Debate

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Anthony Melchett

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/dr-stuart-jones-respiratory-physician-on-the-new-study-showing-vaping-causes-incurable-lung-disease/

Oops.

I guess it won’t come as a suprise to many [Mod – unnecessary] that vaping is in fact bad for you.

Steam and chemicals into your lungs? Yea that will be fine. Not.

I mean, it’s a free world and I don’t care how you choose to damage your lungs, but maybe think about it before you vape in your house or car with kids in it.

And don’t give me the vaping is way better than smoking nonsense. That’s like saying it’s way better to lose an arm than a leg, when you don’t have to lose either.

But it’s a stop smoking tool. Na, it’s just replacing one addiction with another and this one appeals to kids because they come in cool colours and smell nice.

Vaping does cost less than smoking though – so you get to destroy your lungs for less outlay, while also contributing less tax towards the Healthcare you will require…
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May 2, 2025 8:03am
- john1234
  
  For smoking cessation it’s a slam dunk. No carcinogenic combustion products, the ability to gradually wind down the nicotine level and far cheaper.
  The issue is uptake by young people who may never have started smoking in the first place.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:18am
  - Positan
    
    The only thing, vaping is very addictive and incredibly hard to kick. It’s no sort of choice when it comes to benefitting over smoking as both addictions are very deleterious.
    
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    May 2, 2025 10:16am
    - pdm
      
      Some of those vaping things seem to produce more vapour and gunk than the old time railway steam engines of days gone by.
      
      Yuk.
      
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      May 2, 2025 12:57pm
- cmm
  
  There is a naivety that smoking is bad, so anything else must be better.
  
  There are numerous instances of acute issues (ie. immediate issues) caused by vaping with people having to be admitted into emergency for collapsed lungs etc.
  
  Yes, smoking causes chronic (ie. long term) problems but it seldom puts someone who has just been smoking for a short time in emergency.
  
  Vapes are typically loaded with nicotine to make them highly addictive (yes, even the “nicotine free” vapes are often found to have addictive levels of nicotine in them).
  
  Bad stuff.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:25am
  - nova
    
    I think that most of the acute cases are due to poorly formulated vape liquids made in backrooms. Vaping is a convenient way to inhale illegal drugs, and this results in less oversight of the manufacturing process.
    
    But there is also no doubt that properly manufactured vape liquids also cause a lot of harm. In addition, there are toxic by-products from the vape devices themselves, especially disposable ones. The metal coils that heat the liquid also vaporize themselves in the process, and can leech into the liquid as well.
    
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    May 2, 2025 11:49am
    - cmm
      
      Everyone has different reactions to different chemicals. Some people have allergic reactions to everyday food chemicals. For example I get shortness of breath from drinking fake orange drink preserved with sodium benzoate.
      
      Vaping liquids are completely uncontrolled chemical cocktails. Worse yet, they are delivered directly to the lungs which:
      1) have an immediate transfer into the blood supply.
      2) is some of the most fragile tissue in the human body.
      
      If someone has an allergic reaction to a vape-delivered chemical then they are likely to react really quickly.
      
      Vapes might be less bad than smoking in many ways, but they are far from being the health option,
      
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      May 2, 2025 1:18pm
- Colville
  
  All is fine and dandy and no one should ever vape except for the small problem that humans love nicotine. I mean they LOVE it. Low grade speed that picks you up and keeps you going, stops you being hungry and keeps you thin. So yeah no one should ever vape except for the problem that it’s the delivery system for the most popular drug in the world.
  
  Thankfully I never started on that shit 😁
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:29am
  - alex Masterley
    
    My oldest vapes.
    I am drawing his attention to this study. Hopefully he will be smart enough to realise vaping is bad for him.
    
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    May 2, 2025 10:00am
    - David Garrett
      
      Alex: I just did the same…but I suspect I will be no more successful than you in convincing our know-it-all sons that vaping is a bad idea. Probably less bad than cigarettes, but certainly not harmless.
      
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      May 2, 2025 10:58am
  - cmm
    
    Unfortunately some of the most influential studies on smoking were cherry-picked.
    
    There is a lot of evidence that moderate smoking in your 20s and 30s is not too bad – so long as you give up by age 35.
    
    So long as you give up before 35, the increase in lung cancer risks etc are extremely low.
    
    Unfortunately many people are sold the idea that any smoking will give them cancer, so if they’re smoking at 30 they’ve done the damage and may as well keep going. Not so.
    
    This is causing society to turn a blind eye to younger people vaping instead. And, unfortunately vaping is extremely poorly controlled and nicotine levels are often far higher than cigarettes.
    
    It younger people really must choose to vape or smoke, it could actually be better to smoke (moderately) to age 35 then give up – rather than vape.
    
    “People who stop smoking by age 35 reduce almost 100% of the extra risk they had of dying from cancer or any other cause.”
    
    If you quit between 35 and 44 then you still reduce the risk by 90%.
    
    https://www.cancer.org/research/acs-research-highlights/lung-cancer-research-highlights/stopping-smoking-earlier-in-life-reduces-more-risks.html
    
    NB: I am not suggesting people should smoke, but we at least have solid history to draw on for stats with smoking. I am however saying that giving people a thumbs up for vaping is entirely the wrong approach.
    
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    May 2, 2025 1:29pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      To be fair to public health, that’s a tough message to sell. Have a daily ciggie or 3 until you’re 35, and then stop – and back when the Just Don’t message was formulated, vaping wasn’t a thing.
      
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      May 2, 2025 1:56pm
- Philview
  
  NZ was typically slow with regulation and has allowed an explosion of vape stores. I recall John Key’s Government shutting down the legal high stores so I assume this related more to Ardern’s Government. There have been reports that the vape stores in part are used by gangs to launder drug cash but not something I have first hand knowledge about.
  
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  May 2, 2025 10:29am
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    Perfect cash business as secret vapists pay by cash to stop it showing up on the bank account…
    
    Nice vape juice display you have there. Would be a shame if something happened to it
    
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    May 2, 2025 10:56am
    - Taieri
      
      Perfect cash business as secret vapists pay by cash to stop it showing up on the bank account
      ————
      
      Vapourium in Dunedin does NOT accept cash payments for its products.
      
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      May 2, 2025 12:29pm
      - Anthony Melchett
        
        It’s literally legal tender.
        
        But I also beleive in being able to choose your own customers…
        
        Ah my head
        
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        May 2, 2025 4:17pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Vaping gets a lot of publicity because of those who want to ban it.
  Maybe this is why some are attracted to it.
  Does it exist because people want it to not exist?
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:35am
  - Colville
    
    The market exists because of massive demand for a product with massive profit margins.
    
    One litre of pure nicotine is circa $200 via legal means. A lot cheaper imported from China or India.
    
    That litre makes 1000 refills at $20 each retail.
    
    So $200 for juice, $2/each for package X 1000 that is $17,800 mark up.
    
    That is why every dairy has a vape store.
    
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    May 2, 2025 12:04pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Plus vape stores are a pathway to migrants from Asia.
      
      Ridiculous, when you think about it. We import people to fill a gap in the market that involves selling addictive drugs to our kids.
      
      The next generation will ask what we were thinking, and rightly so.
      
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      May 2, 2025 2:00pm
  - cmm
    
    Vaping exists because it is an extremely lucrative and highly addictive product that is mainly targeted at easily lead young people.
    
    Think for a moment why products like Blackberry Mint or Strawberry Kiwifruit vape juice exist.
    
    https://www.vapo.co.nz/products/alt-nu-pods-blackberry-mint
    
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    May 2, 2025 1:40pm
Mike

Why can’t our prime minister hold cabinet meetings live on TV? Wouldd we be treated to spectacles like that provided by US attorney-general Pam Bondi:

“Mr. President,” she said, “your first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in the country, ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it.”

She then proceeded to double down on her earlier claim that fentanyl seizures this year had saved 119 million American lives:

“Since you have been in office, President Trump, your DOJ agencies have seized more than 22 million fentanyl pills, 3,400 kilos of fentanyl, which saved—are you ready for this, media?—258 million lives.”

So, three quarters of Americans owe their very lives to this remarkable administration.
I’d like to think that this was peak idiocy, but they’re only 100 days in – over 1,000 days to go.
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May 2, 2025 8:10am
- Dougal10
  
  He’s just using lefty math so the media can understand him , your not supposed to pick holes in lefty math.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:09am
- Northshoredoc
  
  I have watched the video of yesterday’s meeting of Trump’s cabinet.
  
  I doubt someone trying to parody it would be able to make it more unbelievable or humourous.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:12am
- rouppe
  
  Has there been any information at how they arrived at that number?
  
  I note that the DEA says 2mg can be lethal, so…
  
  0.002g x 258,000,000 = 516,000g, or 516kg which is less than the 3,400kg stated as seized.
  
  That article also states One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people so if they sized 3400kg then
  
  3400 x 500,000 = 1,700,000,000 potential deaths, many more lives than that claimed as saved.
  
  Perhaps that’s the basis of the claim, in the absence of anything else.
  
  Just some alternative facts… 😉
  
  Love to hear yours though Mike
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:20am
  - I remember when
    
    Saved up to 1.7 billion lives!
    
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    May 2, 2025 9:41am
  - Mike
    
    By the end of the year then. Mr Trump will have saved the lives of everyone on Earth!
    
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    May 2, 2025 11:06am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Won’t anyone think of the Martians?
      
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      May 2, 2025 3:39pm
    - rouppe
      
      So you’ve got nothing, then…
      
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      May 2, 2025 4:12pm
- john1234
  
  That’s about as believable as the lives saved by COVID lockdown. Neil Fergusson should be in jail.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:22am
- imalwaysright
  
  I would like to see a televised mid term leaders debate between the three coalition leaders.
  Luxon, especially, needs to answer some questions about his not agreeing with anything in Seymour’s bill.
  
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  May 2, 2025 10:21am
- R
  
  Not sure how Trumps 100 days would have exceeded any others 100 days. Same deadbeat politicians as we have in NZ
  
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  May 2, 2025 10:38am
- Frank the tank
  
  I would have paid A LOT OF MONEY to listen to the Ardern Cabinet meetings (ala the Good Ship Lollypop) especially at the height of CovidCult.
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:17am
  - AitchW
    
    Ew, an endless chorus telling Ardern how wonderful and kind and clever she is.
    
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    May 2, 2025 1:37pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  What’s the matter, Mike? Missing the Podium of Strewth?
  
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  May 2, 2025 2:02pm
Bridgenag

No matter how severe the TDS these achievements are amazing and can’t be ignored

Immigration
-99.995% DECREASE IN CATCH-AND-RELEASE: Released just 9 illegal aliens into the US between January 20, 2025 and April 1, 2025, a 99.995% decrease from the184,241 released by Biden in the same period last year.
20,000 ILLEGALS ARRESTED IN ONE MONTH: Arrested over 20,000 illegal immigrants in a single month – a 627% increase in monthly arrests compared to Biden.
5,000 SELF-DEPORTS: Pushed over 5,000 illegal migrants to self-deport using the CBP One app.
5,000 REUNITED CHILDREN: Reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a safe relative or guardian after more than 300,000 children went missing under Biden.
-99% CROSSINGS: Just 194 US-bound migrants crossed the Darien Gap in March, down more than 99% from the 37,000 who crossed in March of last year.

The Economy
$8 TRILLION IN INVESTMENTS: President Trump has secured over $8 trillion in investment, with the projects expected to create more than 450,000 jobs.
$5 BILLION IN REVENUE: Unveiled the new “Gold Card” program, which has already attracted a 250,000-person waitlist and generated $5 billion in revenue in a single day.
459,000 JOBS: The US economy added a whopping 459,000 full-time jobs in March, and exceeded economists’ total job creation estimates by nearly100,000.
-6.3% GAS PRICES: Gas prices fell by a whopping 6.3% in March, with energy prices dropping 2.4%.
-0.4% WHOLESALE PRICES: Wholesale prices fell 0.4% month-over-month in the March – the largest drop since October 2023.
-56% WHOLESALE EGGS: Wholesale egg prices are down over 56% from their peak.
$11,000 SAVED: Deregulatory actions will save nearly $11,000 per family off our over the next several years.
-$12/BARREL: Crude oil prices have fallen by roughly $12/barrel, compared to an $8/barrel increase under Obama and an$11/barrel increase under Biden.
130 COUNTRIES: Since Liberation Day, at least 130 countries have begun engaging

America is back
139 EXECUTIVE ORDERS: Signed 139 executive orders, the most of any president in United States history.
26 RELEASED HOSTAGES: Secured the release of at least 26 American hostages, including Pennsylvania school teacher Marc Fogel, ballerina Ksenia Karelina, and missionary Robert Vieira.
74 TERRORISTS KILLED: Approved strikes that have killed over 74 terrorists seeking toattack the US homeland, including the head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
1,009 QUESTIONS: Took 1,009 questions in his first month, 7-times more than Biden.
20X QUESTIONS: Answered 20-times more press questions in his first three Cabinet meetings than Biden did at Cabinet meetings during his entire four years in office.
11 HEADS OF STATE: Hosted 11 heads of state at the White House in the first 100 days, compared with 1 for Biden and 5 for Obama.
$1 BILLION: Secured nearly $1 billion in pro bono legal services for causes such as assisting veterans, combatting antisemitism, and ensuring fairness in the justice system.
80.7 MILLION VIEWERS: Set an Inauguration viewership record with 80.7 million viewers.
2,200 OFFERS: Broke modern presidential staffing records, making over 2,200 offers, all accepted, to exceptionally qualified candidates.

[Mod – when you uplift a post from elsewhere include a link and only a paragraph, not the entire post]
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May 2, 2025 8:12am
- peterwn
  
  Immigration – lots of legal visitors with visas or ESTA’s held in immigration cells for hours, had their computers and phones searched then chucked out of the country. They either looked like gays or had allegedly made disparaging comments about Trump.
  NZ authorities have drafted a travel advisory about travel to USA but are too chicken to release even the draft. It should read – “Keep right away from USA even if transiting”.
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:25am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Oh, what utter bullshit, so you say it’s not safe to travel to the states now. mind you, you could be set on fire just trying to get off a train by an illegal, or your wife or daughter could be raped or murdered for walking in public by an illegal, yes, I think I will stare well clear.
    
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    May 2, 2025 8:30am
    - peterwn
      
      I am deadly serious about this, so is my missus. I am going to Europe soon and I will NOT be going via USA. That will be my attitude until Trump calms down and starts seeing common sense.
      
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      May 2, 2025 11:19am
      - James Stephenson
        
        That’s my policy too, but nothing to do with Trump. American airports are sh1t and it’s a much better experience all around to transit through Asia or Dubai.
        
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        May 2, 2025 12:19pm
      - Northshoredoc
        
        Last few times I’ve flown into SF it’s been excellent.
        
        Same with Dulles and Newark.
        
        If you’re going through LA or Texas airports, I do commiserate with you, they are awful.
        
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        May 2, 2025 3:42pm
  - Simon
    
    Zzzzzzzz. That American that was butchered sitting in a bus stop in Meadowbank. Forgotten about that already?
    
    No govt commentary or fake social narrative from MSM about that one. Just put to bed. Let’s all keep quiet.
    
    Where is the travel alert for NZ.
    
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    May 2, 2025 8:32am
    - igm
      
      Obviously offenders are of the preferred ethnicity, hence MSM closing ranks.
      
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      May 2, 2025 9:02am
    - Ghost
      
      And what do you expect them to say. He’s been arrested and charged. Are you asking for the government to interfere with the process ?
      
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      May 2, 2025 9:21am
      - pdm
        
        If it had been a couple of white skinheads we would have known their errant history chapter and verse by now.
        
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        May 2, 2025 10:08am
      - Ghost
        
        No, he’s a 16 year old, because of his age automatic suppression orders.
        
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        May 2, 2025 10:12am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Something strange about that one, there is something more to that, apparently another attempt on someone doing the very same paper at the uni was attacked for no reason as well a couple of years ago
      
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      May 2, 2025 11:33am
    - kowtow
      
      Juliana Herrera.
      
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      May 2, 2025 11:57am
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    That New Zealand authority that drafted a travel advisory about travel to the USA; was that authority headed by Benjamin Doyle?
    
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    May 2, 2025 8:34am
  - john1234
    
    I’d take these news reports with a mine of salt. Mostly seeing anecdotes or incomplete reporting. Case in point the local rag runs a story about two German backpacker girls who were detained and kicked out. The article danced around the fact they turned up in the USA with no work visa and no return ticket out. That was always a red flag but one that became ignored under the previous administration. A NZ tourist with an ESTA, a return ticket and not wearing a HAMAS tee shirt is unlikely to notice anything.
    
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    May 2, 2025 8:45am
    - Lance
      
      Fact free propaganda there.
      The German tourists had a visa and an exit flight ticket. Their unforgivable sin was to only book a few nights in a hotel in Hawaii while they scoped out where to best to stay for remainder of their time.
      Just like they did in NZ
      
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      May 2, 2025 9:10am
      - john1234
        
        Cite?
        
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        May 2, 2025 9:23am
      - john1234
        
        “While they’re back home, Pohl and Lepere told Ostee Zeitung, they won’t let the US get in the way of their globetrotting and are already making plans for a trip to Mexico and a five-week stint in Costa Rica — where they intend to find work at a surf camp”
        Hawaii is very expensive. I can’t afford to go there at the moment and by common measures I’d be considered a “rich prick”. These two youngsters had very vague plans and intended to float around for weeks on end without working? Give me a break.
        Genuine tourists turning up in the USA have nothing to fear. News reports to the contrary are pure TDS.
        
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        May 2, 2025 9:42am
      - Lance
        
        @john1234
        
        Try Googling, there are lots of sources. No evidence against them except a ‘suspicion’ they might want to work in the US.
        This behaviour by the border security IN HAWAII (not the Mexican border) towards first world tourists was FUCKING MORONIC and will have major tourism implications for many years to come.
        
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        May 2, 2025 10:04am
      - Lance
        
        @john1234
        So in your entire life, you have never travelled to another country without every single nights accommodation booked?
        So organised, so proper, so rigid and so predictable, just what youngsters enjoy… yeah right.
        Because in my younger days, that’s how I travelled half the world, book a night or two on arrival, and then explore. The USA now deems this to be evil and nefarious
        
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        May 2, 2025 10:09am
      - peterwn
        
        So the workaround with this is to book a hotel for the whole time you are there then cancel when you are through immigration (Accor will let you cancel 48 hours ahead without charge if you choose the flexible option). similar with air travel. Book a refundable business class seat (although credit card limit could be a problem).
        
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        May 2, 2025 11:31am
      - nova
        
        Undoubtedly we are not getting the full story here. Only booking a few nights accomodation in advance was probably not the main issue, it is more likely that they couldn’t demonstrate that they had enough funds to support themselves for the length of time they intended to stay in Hawaii. And so the border officials formed the view that they planned to work. Which may well have been the case, given that they plan to work at a surf club in Mexico / Costa Rica.
        
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        May 2, 2025 12:00pm
      - Colville
        
        Lance.
        They have put it out on social media they were looking for cash work and got they caught.
        Boo fucking hoo.
        
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        May 2, 2025 12:09pm
      - Lance
        
        @ Nova
        So OK, the US border guards were suspicious. But why the fuck jail, strip search and degrade them.
        If you deny them entry, stick them on the next plane out like a civilised country would. There would have been little blow back by most observers.
        News of this sort of treatment gets out and causes damage to the USA’s reputation.
        Just ham-fisted authoritarian crap.
        But hey, if the US wants to send that sort of message to ALL tourists that this might happen to you, based on a hunch, then by all means, advertise to tourists you might be subjected to a nightmare based on somebodies whim.
        
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        May 2, 2025 1:24pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        What amazes me about that story is that nobody seems to notice that 2 young women arriving without hotel bookings or an itinerary lights up a lot of red flags for prostitution, freelance or otherwise.
        And also that self reporting cannot be relied on as the stone cold truth of all the relevant details.
        Immigration and border control is under no obligation to explain why they made their particular decisions, in fact there are very good reasons why they shouldn’t.
        Criminals, terrorists, drug runners, smugglers, hookers and pimps should not be given advanced warning of the tripwires that have been set up to catch them.
        
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        May 2, 2025 10:08pm
    - David Garrett
      
      What is an ESTA please?
      
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      May 2, 2025 11:02am
      - peterwn
        
        A soft visa that USA requires if you are going to or transiting through USA. You apply on the internet and have your credit card ready. But it still does not guarantee entry into USA. New Zealand also requires a similar thing from all but Australians and uses it to collect a stiff tax allegedly to promote tourism. Schengen countries require similar (but free to oldies) and UK is about to require it.
        
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        May 2, 2025 11:17am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        It’s an Eletronic visa type thing that the travel agent will do for you, it cost $25 last time I went, it is a check on your record and behaviour, you don’t get in unless you get one, but when we went to the travel agent started it and it was returned before we had finished.
        
        The ESTA last for 2 years and can be used multi times.
        
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        May 2, 2025 11:41am
  - CJames
    
    The fact that they haven’t released an advisory says it all. As Tauhei alluded to, is this just some staff member doing it on his own initiative and boasting about it? If so, then that would be good example of why the Public Service needs real reform.
    
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    May 2, 2025 8:47am
    - All_on_Red
      
      You’re assuming the ‘Advisory’ actually exists
      
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      May 2, 2025 9:09am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Have recently entered USA at JFK Airport. Absolutely no problems whatsoever. Very pleasant officials. All efficient.
    
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    May 2, 2025 10:47am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly, went through JFK in 2003 not long after 9/11, they were tough but if you followed instructions, there was no problem. you never needed an ESTA in 2003, if you did the travel agent did it and I didn’t know, needed an ESTA in 2018 to go to Hawaii. the ESTA lasts for 2 years, I think.
      
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      May 2, 2025 11:45am
    - Taieri
      
      Very pleasant officials.
      ———-
      
      My American daughter in law would disagree. And she’s a registered Republican voter.
      
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      May 2, 2025 12:33pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Peterwn
    
    A reference to support your allegations would be nice
    
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    May 2, 2025 11:23pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Careful, the Dems and woke left are going to rage that all these extra jobs will not have any illegals to fill these rolls anymore, it’s just tragic. (sarc)
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:27am
  - David George
    
    “not have any illegals to fill these rolls”
    There’s all those government employees that have been DOGEd; they can clean the toilets and pick the cotton.
    The new Mexicans?
    
    7 2
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    May 2, 2025 10:01am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      SARC
      
      3 3
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      May 2, 2025 11:46am
    - AitchW
      
      We have 150 thousand unemployed and orchardists still need to import pickers. They provide accommodation, why can’t our unemployed do it?
      For god’s sake it’s a few weeks away from home and while the work is physical it’s not difficult.
      WINZ could even offer a top up, who knows some of them might even find they enjoy working for a living!
      
      5 1
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      May 2, 2025 1:45pm
- Scott
  
  If I could just add that the crash of the share market in America lasted a short time and is now back to its March 31st level.
  
  https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/05/day-101.php
  
  According to Rasmussen Trump’s approval ratings are at 50%.
  
  But still despite all the achievements Bridgenag listed above the mainstream media gives Trump over 90% negative coverage. For poor old Pete Hegseth it’s even worse, he’s got 100% negative coverage.
  
  I think Trump’s doing well. When you add in executive orders such as there are only two genders then I think he’s doing great. He’s doing everything that a centre right person could possibly want and I hope the day comes when more people on this blog acknowledge that.
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:32am
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘According to Rasmussen Trump’s approval ratings are at 50%.’
    No doubt some moron will quote an obscure Poll but Rasmussen (and Atlas Intel) were the most accurate in 2024
    They are also the only Pollster who polls daily on Presidential approval.
    
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    May 2, 2025 9:03am
  - I remember when
    
    Scott:
    So it wasn’t Trump that caused to the Sharemarket slump it was the investors.
    
    11 5
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    May 2, 2025 9:46am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Well, it was the investors, they took off and ran, but they will be back and the share market will be a record highs by Christmas
      
      9 2
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      May 2, 2025 11:48am
  - MCōs
    
    The Dow Jones is down about 9% since the middle of January
    
    9 8
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    May 2, 2025 10:06am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      It was down almost 20% at the end of March
      
      7 4
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      May 2, 2025 11:49am
      - MCōs
        
        Looking at a bigger picture
        
        3 0
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        May 2, 2025 1:57pm
  - Philview
    
    I just wish the media would dial down the coverage. We don’t need in depth analysis and mocking of everything Trump says. These same journalists didn’t notice that Biden had signs of dementia or weren’t perturbed by Joe’s unusual habit of sniffing the hair of young women and girls.
    
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    May 2, 2025 10:43am
- Lance
  
  And the downturn in the US economy is…………. Bidens fault……….. FFS?
  The good thing for our business anyway is with the US dollar tanking, our component costs are lower.
  
  So if there are all these new jobs… why has the uS unemployment rate gone up? Pesky facts and all that.
  
  And I call total bullshit on 130 countries engaging after “liberation day”.
  
  9 18
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  May 2, 2025 8:36am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Go check the March non farm payrolls, 450000 new jobs, well ahead of projections, what bloody down turn
    
    8 5
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    May 2, 2025 11:50am
    - Hard Cheese
      
      March! “Liberation Day” was in April. The shipping volumes coming into west coast ports will tell you what you need to know.
      
      6 1
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      May 2, 2025 1:06pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Just starting to hit now. LA Port volumnes are looking at 20% compared to this time last year.
        
        2 0
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        May 2, 2025 4:41pm
    - Lance
      
      Ummm… unemployment is up, according to … facts.
      
      https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate
      
      4 2
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      May 2, 2025 1:35pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Look past the MSM emotion in that report
        
        The number of unemployed individuals increased by 31,000 to 7.08 million,
        
        while employment grew by 201,000 to reach 163.51 million.
        
        The labor force participation rate also edged up to 62.5% from 62.4%, and the employment-population ratio remained steady at 59.9%.
        
        [When your post is copied from another website at least have the decency to link back to it and let people know you have copied it from elsewhere https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate. ]
        
        1 0
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        May 2, 2025 11:28pm
- Cassandra
  
  Trump has been very active and much of it has been good. However he has not folllowed the law eg international trade is not an emergency, and the trade war has been far too broad. Why damage your friends? Ukraine has been all over the place. Pity that he hasn’t been more thoughtful. NB that his voters are not happy, approvals down. You can’t win in the US if hip pocket is damaged. Or in any democracy. He needs to think this through.
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:47am
  - Lance
    
    I doubt there will be much in the way of sane corrections, as this time around Trump has made sure he is surrounded by nothing but sycophants.
    Good grief, the cabinet meetings where they sing Trumps praises to his face are fucking nauseating and embarrassing to watch.
    
    10 17
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    May 2, 2025 8:52am
    - I remember when
      
      Is the reason that Trump appeals to many the fact that his news is almost totally ‘good’ news about how thing are, and are going to be.
      
      8 5
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      May 2, 2025 9:59am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Look at the losers that Biden was surrounded by FFS, his wife and sone did his final cabinet meeting, if that doesn’t worry you as that is the place where the strongest man in the world has his domain, then your TDS is extreme
      
      10 5
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      May 2, 2025 11:53am
      - Lance
        
        Sooooooooooooooooooooo
        It is OK that Trump is surrounded by sycophants because of…. Biden?
        
        6 7
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        May 2, 2025 1:30pm
  - kowtow
    
    Much bigger picture .
    
    How much will it cost ( all of us) to lose the war when Chyna decides to go full on?
    
    4 9
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    May 2, 2025 8:53am
    - Dougal10
      
      China needs a strong US , the americans buy their cheap knockoff shit by the boat load. The rest of the world would keep them going for a few weeks and then what.
      
      9 2
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      May 2, 2025 9:18am
      - Colville
        
        China needs the world to buy its products at all levels from iphones thru to plastic $2 shop shit. Trump knows this is their weakness and is going to exploit it.
        China’s population is ageing out fast with the one child policy having bit them in the arse they dont have the young adults to support the economy.
        IIRC they have as many over 52 years old as under it so soon they are going to have a population that is mostly retired and not have the workers to support their aged care.
        The above is why some punters have said China will “cease to exist” soon. It will basically eat itself from the inside.
        
        7 1
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        May 2, 2025 12:25pm
- Paulus
  
  Is this known as MAGA ?
  
  4 1
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  May 2, 2025 8:55am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Yes, your TDS appears to be quite severe.
  
  11 10
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  May 2, 2025 8:59am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360673250/hair-raising-hair-clipper-invention-getting-closer-launch-thanks-latest-tech

This is old hat: back in the 1960s I saw a TV program about inventions, and one was a vacuum-cleaner-operated haircutter.
The cutting blades were attached to the end of the hose and the vacuum acted as a turbine, not only cutting the hair but sucking the cut hair away !

A bit cumbersome but simple, and it worked.

“there is nothing new under the sun behold all is vanity”……
13 2
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May 2, 2025 8:15am
- Mike
  
  As memorably portrayed in Wayne’s World:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AioVDsXidh0
  
  4 8
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  May 2, 2025 8:18am
- cmm
  
  Ah, yes, the flowbee. It was one of those TV “but wait there’s more” style products back in the 1990s.
  
  Still going strong: https://www.flowbee.com/
  
  8 0
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  May 2, 2025 8:27am
  - john1234
    
    LV Martin!
    “If it’s not right we’ll put it right”
    
    5 3
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    May 2, 2025 8:46am
    - Mike
      
      “It’s the putting right that counts”
      
      9 3
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      May 2, 2025 9:11am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        One of the worst slogans ever. It’s the not screwing up in the first place that counts.
        
        0 0
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        May 3, 2025 5:19am
- pdm
  
  I am surprised my late father in law, a tonsorial artist of some fame in Waipawa in those days, was not chosen to trial it.
  
  In the field as it were.
  
  8 1
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  May 2, 2025 8:40am
- sirknz
  
  As someone with curly hair, that’s a no from me dawg.
  
  3 0
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  May 2, 2025 11:48am
Yvette

What happened to Benjamin Doyle and Winston’s call that Police should investigate?
“ALL QUIET ON THE WINSTON FRONT”
19 4
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May 2, 2025 8:15am
- Mike
  
  Perhaps there was nothing to investigate.
  
  4 24
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  May 2, 2025 9:12am
  - I remember when
    
    Perhaps the Police have investigated and found that Green Party candidates are often removed from reality.
    
    12 3
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    May 2, 2025 10:01am
  - Yvette
    
    There a possibility that Winston does not all that often ask a question that he does not already know the answer to.
    
    7 1
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    May 2, 2025 11:43am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Apparently, he is making a ministerial statement on the issue on the 6th, not sure if it’s true, but I have heard it in more than one place
  
  5 2
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  May 2, 2025 11:54am
  - Ghost
    
    Or not. Winston is the minister of rail, foreign affairs and racing. Under which portfolio is he to make a ministerial statement?
    
    4 0
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    May 2, 2025 12:02pm
- kowtow
  
  Maybe someone’s being very bussy , behind the scenes .
  
  6 3
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  May 2, 2025 12:17pm
hookerphil

Seen a great comment regarding the outcome of the Canadian election and the continuation of the Liberals.
“We were so worried about being the 51st state of the US, we voted to become the 29th state of India.”
19 5
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May 2, 2025 8:30am
peterwn

The Herald occasionally has Facebook items drawing attention to certain articles. I went to comment on one and it said only certain people could comment. I could not comment despite being a paying subscriber (I have one newspaper paid subscription – the Herald – being on balance the least of the evils). What a kick in the teeth for loyal subscribers.
20 4
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May 2, 2025 8:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Only open to the left and woksters.
  
  11 3
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  May 2, 2025 8:31am
- Simon
  
  How can you not know that MSM controls what is allowable or not when it comes to social commentary on events??
  
  Say a major terrible crime and the allowed “reported” local commentary is “goddess that’s no good in such a nice neighbourhood”. MSM never lets comments like “whoever did this should face the death penalty” get out.
  
  Social commentary is very controlled in NZ.
  
  14 2
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  May 2, 2025 8:39am
- G152
  
  Facebook has become a bit of a ‘Dont Go There’ as subscribers get shut down for no discernible reason losing photos and friend lists.
  Stay away
  
  12 1
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  May 2, 2025 8:50am
- Bridgenag
  
  Well hey….. you get warned enough on this site….
  
  9 3
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  May 2, 2025 9:05am
- All_on_Red
  
  ‘Old man shouts at Clouds’
  https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?
  
  1 7
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  May 2, 2025 9:10am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.30am, null bikes today. Yesterday’s hero has not returned.

A cool, dry-ish morning in the Capital, some wind but not too bad for cycling – nothing that would keep an enthusiast off his or her bike.
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May 2, 2025 8:32am
- pdm
  
  `Yesterday’s hero has not returned.’
  
  Bollocks perhaps he/she/it, being said cyclist could not find their bike today.
  
  Especially if Wellington winds were as bad as portrayed on last nights TVNZ news the bike could be in Masterton or Levin now.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:11am
- mogg
  
  Your weather report leaves a lot to be desired. It would take a very competent cyclist to survive the wind gusts where I am.
  
  7 0
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  May 2, 2025 11:56am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    The Terrace et environs were not too bad this am. I couldn’t speak for the south coast.
    
    3 1
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    May 2, 2025 1:51pm
peterwn

If New Zealand teachers etc think NZ has problems with school lunches, then how about this:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/over-100-children-fall-ill-after-snake-found-in-school-lunch-in-india/A5E4ZOQ4CJE6LB6KCRRVCHOYSY/
Wish the kids a speedy recovery OK with no lasting ill effects.
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May 2, 2025 8:37am
Cassandra

Auckland’s mayor wants a bed tax and says Aucklanders support it. Is it just for foreigners or will it be on every hotel, motel or b&b?

“Visitors should pay for using civic facilities” is the mantra.

So will it be a national tax, applied to all hotels, motels and b&bs throughout NZ or just visitors to Auckland? And will it, in fairness, apply to visitors staying with family, friends or at a marae? And if not why not? They are all visitors using civic facilities. I’d support a bed tax, possibly, for foreigners – they’re pretty common overseas – but for NZ residents absolutely not. Everyone is paying something in their home town. To tax locals again is unfair.
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May 2, 2025 8:37am
- Dougal10
  
  Brown should be making his ceo work within a budget and not be supplying him with more money . If the civic facilities are too expensive to run with our current wage rates and productivity, shut some of them down. They are only nice to have’s not necessaries.
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:49am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Well, he said exactly that this morning
    
    1 0
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    May 2, 2025 11:56am
- john1234
  
  Queenstown wants this bad and I can see why. A resident population of 52,000 but requires infrastructure to support a population of 120,000 including the visitors. Do the ratepayers somehow fund this all?
  
  10 3
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  May 2, 2025 8:49am
  - RoboRob
    
    Tricky though as the tourists also probably provide 90% of the jobs in residents incomes too.
    
    13 1
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    May 2, 2025 9:30am
  - [email protected]
    
    Those 70,000 visitors spend a lot of money. Why deter them from coming? Also, if enacted will the locals pay less in taxes or is the city just going to cream it?
    
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    May 2, 2025 9:49am
    - MCōs
      
      Does the money the tourists spend pay the contractors who fix the potholes?
      
      4 0
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      May 2, 2025 10:17am
      - RoboRob
        
        Yes. As a small example, they pay for builders to build houses to rent to them. Those houses pay rates (and infrastructure fees) to the council, which then pays to fix thr roads.
        
        8 1
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        May 2, 2025 10:38am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Tell me about it, went there last week, ever beer had 15% surcharge on it on Anzac day, $18.90 for a pint at pub on the park.
      
      Pig & Whistle was &18.68 but dropped to $13 for Happy hour so i had 2
      
      4 0
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      May 2, 2025 11:58am
      - I remember when
        
        Remember the 6d for a 5oz days?
        
        1 0
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        May 2, 2025 3:48pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        $13 for a beer!!!!!! Ferk
        
        I get excited when I get to pay $2.50 NZD for a beer in an upmarket air-conditioned nice seats bar)
        
        0 0
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        May 3, 2025 12:00am
- CJames
  
  The counter would be a border tax at the bottom of the Bombay Hills taxing everyone who left Auckland at Xmas and Easter. Other towns have to support the influx of Jafas that clog their places up.
  
  21 1
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  May 2, 2025 8:50am
- Ra Henare
  
  The mayor wants to add a bed tax to already outrageous hotel/bed costs.
  
  In March I stayed at the Ibis BUDGET Hotel at Auckland airport. $240 NZD for one night (Today I see one night quote $382!!!
  
  When it was Formulae 1 (budget hotel) it was reasonable. If memory serves 2011 around $29.
  
  NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!!!
  
  Rooms exactly the same.
  To be fair the lobby area is a bit larger.
  
  Perhaps socking tourists(extra $100 from Central government) and a bed tax is not very smart thinking???
  
  In 2023, the total number of people employed in the tourism sector in New Zealand amounted to approximately 317,000 people.
  
  This BS about tourists overloading the system is BS.
  
  The numbers from stats show about the same number of tourists Feb this year as Feb 2015!!
  
  https://www.stats.govt.nz/topics/tourism/
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:55pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/health-tax-whangarei-man-paying-25000-in-gst-alone-on-cancer-treatment/2RHHSFDZU5AENAVJ6AILT6CT7I/

This is the one aspect where someone should not pay gst… government is supposed to cover healthcare costs, and when they fail to do that, at least people shouldn’t have to cough up GST.

If we don’t want to change GST rules, at the very least, pharmac should pay the GST costs back to people who are forced to fund their own treatment and where that treatment is not covered by insurance.
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May 2, 2025 8:38am
- Colville
  
  Agree
  Also private education where kid boards etc, total rip that parents are paying gst on top of fees while taking pressure off state system.
  
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  May 2, 2025 9:44am
  - nova
    
    I currently lose about 100K of my salary paying for private education (for two children). Of that 100K, 39K goes to the government as income tax. I give the remaining 61K to the school. Of that, the school gives about 8K to the government in GST. And then the government generously gives about 2.5K back as a contribution to the school. That contribution hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years (or more), even though there has been a lot of inflation. Unlike the cancer situation, this is all my choice . But I would prefer if the government used some of my tax dollars to provide a slightly less broken state education. If they wound the clock back 40 years, we would have a cheaper and more effective system than we do today.
    
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    May 2, 2025 12:22pm
Swifty

Blessed are the Cheesemakers!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/food/the-best-cheese-in-new-zealand-has-been-crowned

In a country awash in awards of dubious value, here are some awards that actually mean something.
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May 2, 2025 8:56am
- Mike
  
  At about $100/kg, hopefully it’s pretty good.
  
  6 6
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  May 2, 2025 9:19am
- James Stephenson
  
  I do find it interesting how, in a country where the world ends if someone overseas uses some vaguely New Zealand or Maori word, our own industries appropriate names from overseas with nary a thought. At least have the decency to add -style to your alleged “Gouda”, “Cheddar”or “Maasdam”.
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:23pm
Ghost

Took long enough

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is leaving the administration just weeks after it was revealed he added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans, according to two people familiar with the matter Thursday, marking the first major staff shake-up of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Article
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May 2, 2025 9:28am
Ghost

Another one bites the dust……

Australia’s coalition could be on track for an historic electoral wipeout as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton denies he’s resorted to sandbagging his own seat.

A dire YouGov analysis released two days before Saturday’s vote predicted the worst coalition result in nearly 80 years and an expanded Labor majority.

Article
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May 2, 2025 9:33am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Labor wins and Labor Lite loses.
  
  5 4
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  May 2, 2025 11:22am
  - Skippytony
    
    Australian politics has just got worse and worse. Pretty sad when Pauline Hansen’s party are looking like the sane, smart operators.
    
    4 2
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    May 2, 2025 2:13pm
Rusty

Like or loathe Trump but at least he speaks coherently on something you agree or disagree on.

Compared to 4 years of Bidens mumbling, bumbling, and incoherent rants.
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May 2, 2025 9:33am
- Northshoredoc
  
  I find them both largely incoherent but in different ways.
  
  To be fair, the US has had many excellent presidential orators who, in hindsight, didn’t achieve much.
  
  7 9
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  May 2, 2025 9:52am
  - Colville
    
    Agree.
    
    Trump has a lot that is interesting to say but cant help congratulating himself every second sentence.
    
    I cant listen to it and I think he would win a lot over to his side if he calmed it down.
    
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    May 2, 2025 12:29pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Yeah, I’ve never been able to stand him – going back to the ‘reality’ TV days, has rambling stream-of-consciousness self aggrandizing bullshit was always super cringey to anyone possessed of actual competence. He’s clearly an intellectual lightweight, and very superficial in his comprehension of almost everything – he gets caught out a lot, makes shit up etc. But he does have rhetorical flair.
      
      His anti-woke more conservative politics – formulated and delivered by more competent and focused hires – have been a much needed, perhaps civilization saving return to norms, but his bull-in-a-china-shop approach to foreign policy is very damaging, even if I am sympathetic to some of his goals.
      
      6 1
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      May 2, 2025 1:19pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Colville: Trump is a rampant narcissist…He simply can’t stop congratulating himself for literally every thing he does.
      
      7 2
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      May 2, 2025 1:29pm
sungsamning

https://amgreatness.com/2025/05/01/the-trump-counterrevolution-and-the-moral-ledger/
The Trump Counterrevolution and the Moral Ledger.
Despite the media hysteria, Trump’s counterrevolution remains on course.

Its ultimate fate will probably rest with the state of the economy by the November 2026 midterm elections. But its success also hinges on accomplishing what is right and long overdue—and then making such reforms quietly, compassionately, and methodically.

No country can long endure without sovereignty and security—or with 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants crossing the border and half a million criminal foreign nationals roaming freely.
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May 2, 2025 9:39am
sungsamning

https://nypost.com/2025/05/01/world-news/heres-how-trump-made-ukraine-pay-for-military-aid-with-long-awaited-minerals-deal/

Here’s how Trump spared US taxpayers from paying for Ukraine military aid with long-awaited minerals deal.
WASHINGTON — President Trump followed through on a promise to make Ukraine pay for its military aid with the new mineral rights agreement between Washington and Kyiv, which creates a new path for the US to send weapons to the eastern European nation — without spending a single taxpayer dollar.

The agreement, inked on Wednesday after months of negotiations, created a shared investment fund to which both nations will contribute — including through oil, gas and mineral rights licenses sold in Ukraine — with the profits split 50/50.

Instead of investing money into the fund, the United States reserves the option to earn credit toward their total contribution equal to the cost of any military equipment, technology or training it sends across the Atlantic, according to the deal.
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May 2, 2025 9:40am
- [email protected]
  
  Very smart. Hopefully retroactive to the first day the US sent aid.
  
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  May 2, 2025 10:34am
  - sungsamning
    
    I hope so. And if peace comes; they’ll be a trip wire if there are any shenanigans by Putin.
    
    2 3
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    May 2, 2025 1:23pm
- MCōs
  
  Just a reminder of how nothing stays the same
  https://x.com/rpsagainsttrump/status/1915205352976507220?s=46&t=XZLqGbhN-xeYzprhTaktsg
  
  2 2
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  May 2, 2025 11:35am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Who sets the value of the US military equipment? Easy to manipulate, I’d say.
  
  1 0
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  May 2, 2025 7:55pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Bob Brockie has died.

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2025/05/01/bob-brockie-a-remarkably-rich-life-which-he-documented-in-a-memoir-in-words-cartoons-and-sketches/

Whilst many on KB may have known of him as a political cartoonist, he was one of our country’s leading ecologists and was much admired by all who wandered into his polymath sphere.

https://www.mscnewswire.co.nz/disclaimer/item/10956-dr-bob-brockie-national-business-review-cartoonist-fired-after-43-years.html
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May 2, 2025 9:47am
- MCōs
  
  That’s an ever topical cartoon from seven years ago chosen to illustrate the articulate.
  The article was seven years ago; the cartoon don’t know
  
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  May 2, 2025 10:42am
- Jack5
  
  A great article on Brockie, Maggy. Thank you.
  
  Fascinating points include that he noted NZ’s Australia-origin magpies have an inherited fear of snakes. This despite having been in NZ for a century and a half.
  
  Many humans who haven’t been out of these snake-free islands also have an instinctual fear of snakes.
  
  I wonder if this also applies to Maori, who have been snake-free for a thousand or so years compared with up to a century or so for the rest of us.
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:13pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Here’s Bob Jones on Bob Brockie from a couple of years ago
    
    https://nopunchespulled.com/2022/07/26/dr-bob-brockie/
    
    (They were brother-in-laws at one time)
    
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    May 2, 2025 4:20pm
imalwaysright

Here’s a good article about the National Party and their intentions around co-governance.
They don’t seem to be much different from the Labour régime.
Are Potaka and Luxon in the wrong party?

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/04/fiona-mackenzie-is-national-red-under.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawKAZAFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgIa4H20F45WlRURvH4SD2J98u-KX477JeuAkWcfJHk2_bgqXlXIuiWGv_GP_aem_9FCvvh1l2-4UWMOjoTDfIg&m=1&sfnsn=wa
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May 2, 2025 10:14am
- Chuck Bird
  
  “Are Potaka and Luxon in the wrong party?”
  
  YES!
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:19am
  - Mod88
    
    Add Goldsmith to that too. Coastal Claims are going Full Speed Ahead and Damn The Torpedoes. Methinks NZ has been hornswaggled…….yet again. Note the NZ1st about face on the Treaty Principles in Legislation.
    
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    May 2, 2025 11:40am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Coastal claims are going back to where they were before Labour hyped them up, what are you talking about?
      
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      May 2, 2025 12:00pm
  - pdm
    
    Chuck I raised the following similar questions at No Minister in the last week or 10 days.
    https://nominister.wordpress.com/2025/04/29/are-christopher-luxon-and-tama-potaka-activists-for-the-maorification-of-new-zealand/
    https://nominister.wordpress.com/2025/05/01/is-tama-potaka-a-wolf-in-national-party-clothing/
    
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    May 2, 2025 1:21pm
    - Ghost
      
      Sadly the problem with some of these blogs is they just publish any old rubbish to get a few clicks and don’t confirm what is being said
      
      Tama wasn’t a member of the Māori party.
      
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      May 2, 2025 1:34pm
Biscuit

Hasn’t our weather been SUPERB since Liverpool clinched the EPL Championship earlier this week?
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May 2, 2025 10:29am
- Libertarians are right
  
  It’s been VARy good.
  (you asked for that)
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:11am
- MCōs
  
  A couple of my sisters from Wellington & Ashburton are visiting family in that neck of the woods right now
  Hot and sunny.
  Looking forward to getting back home says neither of them
  
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  May 2, 2025 11:28am
- James Stephenson
  
  Nearly as much blue sky as the blue smoke from the flares that the Everton fans sold them.
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:17pm
Jack5

Surprised that the numerous engineers who follow Kiwiblog haven’t posted more on the electricity-supply crash in Spain and Portugal.

Need for generation inertia, which comes from conventional gas and coal-type thermal power plants, but not from solar-energy “farms” and wind, is being blamed by some for the crash. Spain and Portugal have been moving into “Green” generation enthusiastically.

Engineers might tell us whether hydro and geothermal generation, as in NZ, can supply this inertia, which solar and wind generation apparently do not?

Given our declining thermal generation and our Green phobia about coal and gas, are we getting into the same power boat as Spain and Portugal?

Here’s a quote from the Wall Street Journal that might open Kiwiblog Generation Inertia 101:

The stability of an electrical grid depends on a balance maintained through synchronous generation using turbines that store energy in their rotating generators. These generators provide inertia that can stabilize the grid if the network load exceeds the capacity of connected power plants—or in the opposite case, if there’s excess generation.

The greater the share of renewables vis-à-vis conventional power plants with synchronous turbines, the less inertia there is to cushion instantaneous load fluctuations in the grid. The system becomes increasingly fragile, with higher risk of failure.
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May 2, 2025 12:26pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Meh, it was fairly predictable this would be a big issue given huge fraction of solar+wind, but it was assumed that their engineers would have monte-carlo-ed the system impacts of the ‘unreliables’ and would be mandating sufficient spinning reserve (or battery equivalent) to stop brown outs. Obviously they cocked up. It will be fixed, greater spinning reserves or pre-planned load shedding mitigations will be specified and it’s unlikely to happen again. Tesla and others will get a whole lot more orders for Megapack batteries
  
  Grids are hard to re-start once they crash due to AC synchronisation issues and rapidly changing loads, has to be incrementally turned on, a long slow process.
  
  The Iberian blackout significantly depressed Europe grid frequency through their grid connections – to the point that they were about 1/3rd of way to causing a continent wide blackout.
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:06pm
- Jack5
  
  Green power grid flaw …
  
  Another source — this time from an engineering site six and a half years ago — warning of instability in power networks without inertia. This is an innate threat to networks dominated by solar and wind generation:
  
  “In an electric system, the energy contained in generators and motors at power stations and industrial facilities provides inertia as they rotate at the same frequency as the electricity grid. This effectively acts as a buffer against rapid change. If demand for power spikes, the frequency of the grid tends to decrease. Having a lot of rotating mass on the grid acts like a shock absorber and slows the rate of change.
  
  “Solar, on the other hand, is connected to the grid without rotating mass. Even massive wind turbines fail to provide the necessary stability as they are not directly connected to the grid. Instead, a frequency converter between the wind turbine and electricity grid prevents the kinetic energy of the wind turbine’s rotating mass from providing inertia during periods of frequency change.”
  
  https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/grid-inertia-why-it-matters-in-a-renewable-world/
  
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  May 2, 2025 2:15pm
- pb
  
  There are engineers and there are virtue signalling engineers. Most are virtue signalling, as that is the incentive in our government dominated quango. They feed the pyres as modern clergymen running the child sacrifices. The old is new. We are stuck in mimesis of the bad.
  
  https://grahamcturner.substack.com/p/6-rene-girards-scapegoat-mechanism
  
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  May 2, 2025 3:49pm
Tom Hunter

Good to see that this case against a South Dakota farming has been dropped but when you read the details it’s frightening what the government can do. After doing a survey of a boundary fence that had been in place since 1910 the US Federal government found that 20 acres of the couple’s farm actually belonged to the government via some “grasslands” reserve.

All very ordinary but what happened next was not:

Special agent Travis Lunders arrived unannounced at the Maudes’ home on June 24, 2024, armed and in tactical gear, to serve the couple with separate federal indictments. The indictments were for the alleged theft of government property stemming from the placement of a fence built at least 75 years before. The Maudes each faced 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines over the 50 acres in question and were ordered not to speak to one another about the case.

They’d already been dealing with him on the issue since somebody made the original complaint about their “No trespassing” sign (which they took down).

I just hope Lunders has been fired as well. The guy should not be in law enforcement if his judgement is that bad.
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May 2, 2025 12:34pm
- Allan
  
  I’m sure [Mod – that mod is getting tired of asking you to debate the topics and stop with the constant personal rubbish]
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:17pm
- Allan
  
  Brooke Rollins is a lawyer and policy professional with extensive experience in public policy and political engagement. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law and previously served as president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She has also worked as a lawyer in Dallas and as an advisor and general counsel for Texas Governor Rick Perry.
  
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  May 2, 2025 1:22pm
Tauhei Notts

Sir Robert E. Jones
What a loss.
A mate’s wife cleaning company did a lot of work for Bob’s outfit. They were invited to the Christmas Party and he called to see what was the dress code. The office lady suggested that he wear a dark pin striped suit with a conservative tie and grey zip up shoes and get a pair of sunglasses from the $2 shop to wear “on the top of your head”. The only tragedy about it all was that the office lady wet herself with laughter when Bob had his usual bad comments about such appalling dress.
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May 2, 2025 2:18pm
mogg

Interesting result from UK by election, Reform look to have overturned Labours 15 thousand vote majority in Runcorn, one of their safest seats, it has been Labour held for many decades.. Recount underway, if it stands this is a disaster for Starmer who has destroyed their support in only 10 months from the last election.
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May 2, 2025 4:07pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Recount as the Majority for Reform is 4 votes.
  
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  May 2, 2025 4:47pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  By elections often throw up anti government results. It’s a way of signalling discontent without materially damaging the ruling party’s majority.
  
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  May 2, 2025 8:01pm
Jack5

Reform going ahead in UK local-body elections:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c39jedewxp8t
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May 2, 2025 8:33pm

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