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January 26, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 26 January 2026

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Scott

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey on the shooting of Alex Pretti by ICE agents:
“I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death.
How many more residents, how many more Americans, need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?
How many more lives need to be lost before this administration realizes that a political and partisan narrative is not as important as American values?
How many times must local and national leaders plead with you, Donald Trump, to end this operation and recognize that this is not creating safety in our city. We have seen these kinds of operations in other places, in other countries, but not here in America, not in a way where a great American city is being invaded by its own federal government.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/24/jacob-frey-full-statement

That’s the problem. It’s not an invasion. It’s federal agents enforcing federal law. If Frey thinks it’s an invasion then he mistakenly thinks he is running another country. It’s a police action not an invading army.

Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz are perilously close to inciting an insurrection. If local police helped ICE agents then illegals could be transferred to ICE while in custody. If local police kept order then Pretti would not have died. If Frey and Walz stopped inciting the people then the capture and deportation of illegal aliens could be done smoothly with no loss of life.

Frey and Walz are the the ones who have caused this tragedy. They need to stop inflaming the situation.

Update – Minnesota officials have activated the National Guard. Hopefully order can be restored and ICE can do its job.
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January 26, 2026 8:02am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Scott just like clockwork….
  
  Meanwhile real christians … “At Calvary Baptist Church, the doors keep opening and closing – but it’s not because parishioners are coming to a service.
  The church is just blocks from where Alex Pretti was shot and killed by immigration agents, and it’s become what locals describe as a safe haven for local residents.
  On Sunday morning, there’s no service here. Instead, volunteers and church staff are handing out coffee and offering neighbours a refuge from the cold and sadness.
  Ann Hotz, who works at the church’s daycare, was helping move cases of water outside for people when we met her.
  “Yesterday, I fell apart,” she said. “Today I’m here to stand with my community and help our neighbours as they remember Alex and mourn him.”
  “But I do have to say the helpers are getting really tired, and this is exhausting, and so we need there to be a change.”
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:08am
  - Scott
    
    Look if you don’t want to be shot by ICE officials then don’t interfere with their operations and especially don’t scuffle violently while carrying a gun and two clips of ammunition. It’s sad this man was shot. But his death wouldn’t have happened if he had acted differently and if local officials and police cooperated with ICE.
    
    These shootings are not happening in other states. The way Minnesota officials are behaving is causing these dangerous situations.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:46am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      In neither of the two incidents where US citizens were killed in Minnesota (alledged manslaughter/murder by some commenters) were the two deceased acting in a manner not protected under the US constitution and local laws no matter how much you and your heroes spin the incidents.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:19pm
      - cmm
        
        Absolute nonsense.
        
        The woman that was shot was accelerating her vehicle towards a policeman. A vehicle is a deadly weapon. Deadly force is authorised.
        
        She was also failing to comply with arresting officers. That has never been protected by the constitution.
        
        You really have to be deliberately blind to the truth to not see this.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:36pm
      - Northshoredoc
        
        ‘You really have to be deliberately blind to the truth to not see this.’
        
        Indeed.
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:44pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        It is a Federal crime to interfere with Federal officers.
        
        Both folks were doing exactly that and both were being arrested for those acts.
        
        You seem to be uninformed about the applicable law.
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:17pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        18 US Code S111
        
        Whoever assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with ‘Federal Officers’.
        
        That is what you see being done by Pretti and Goode.
        
        Both were offending against Federal Law and being arrested.
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:26pm
      - RichardX
        
        Christopher Thomson
        ….You seem to be uninformed about the applicable law.
        
        January 26, 2026 4:17pm
        
        You mean like arguing that the US constitution and particularly the 1st amendment regulates the actions of individuals rather than the government?
        
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        January 26, 2026 7:20pm
    - Philview
      
      This issue of Sanctuary Cities has been going on for many years. The policies of these Democrats are absolute extremism.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_city
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:30pm
    - NK
      
      Scott, you need to look out of your good eye. Your blind parochialism to Trump and his administration is blinding you. I supported Trump’s attack against the Deep State. I enjoyed what DOGE did and uncovered. But now, Trump has become one of them. His defence of this execution is diabolical. It’s now him parroting fake news. I’m objective. You and the blind loyalists are not.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:42pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        ‘execution’
        
        No, clearly just a fuckup. Looks like cop who grabbed the gun off the dead man accidentally fired it as he was stepping away (the gun model is notoriously light-triggered with many many accidental discharge incidents). This startled the agent who was aiming the gun at the back of the dead man and he dumped his mag thinking the ‘threat’ had a gun in a position he couldn’t see and was shooting at his buddies.
        
        Sad outcome, but just a sequence of unfortunate events. Wouldn’t have happened if Democrat leadership wasn’t ginning up the crazies to try and take attention away from the massive welfare fraud schemes they have been running. And the dead man chose to put himself into physical conflict with stressed agents while carrying a concealed gun. A pretty fucking stupid choice.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:12pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      At no point did Pretti brandish a gun, he was holding a phone. Why not just handcuff the guy if they thought he was interfering with their work? There were at least half a dozen of them, they could have done it easily. Instead they pepper sprayed him, beat him, took the gun that he was legally entitled to concealed carry, then pushed him to the ground and shot him in the back multiple times. It’s indefensible, yet here you are pinning the blame on everyone but the murderers. You need to take a good long look at yourself.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:17pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        I can tell you have no real experience or working knowledge of policing.
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:28pm
  - kowtow
    
    The officers arrested the criminals are also very likely to be Christians . By removing illegal immigrants they are helping to protect the weak and vulnerable of society , upon whom the worst effects of criminality often falls.
    
    Oh and the Democrats who are using inflamatory language are far from the “peacemakers” they pretend to be .
    
    How’s this , from Christ himself ;
    
    “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
    
    ICE and MAGA doing the same , fulfilling the law.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:17pm
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Fulfilling the law by killing US citizens ?
      
      What an extraordinary point of view.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:21pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        Remember, the cult and their leader can never be wrong. Always back your fellow cult member, you’re a Christian and you’re shooting in the name of the Lord. Amen.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:31pm
      - cmm
        
        Killing (or not) citizens is not the issue.
        
        Every day plenty US citizens are killed by law enforcement. Almost all of those are for exactly the same reason – endangering the lives of the police officers or others and the killing is performed to overcome a deadly threat.
        
        Citizen or not is nothing to do with it.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:39pm
- Handyman
  
  On which side is the National Guard?
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:10am
  - Scott
    
    Handyman – that remains to be seen. But what they should do is keep order and allow federal ICE officials to do their job.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:43am
  - Scott
    
    The excellent Powerline has a good update of the situation around the shooting and who is to blame –
    
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/what-we-know-so-far.php
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:51am
    - Christopher Thomson
      
      That blog is a accurate enough description of the events.
      
      What also needs consideration is that once Pretti had been identified as being armed it changes the dynamic of a physical struggle into an armed confrontation.
      
      Those officers were entitled to be prepared to defend themselves, nobody knows how many guns he may have been carrying.
      
      A shot is heard, the officers are quite right in not wating to see if they are being shot, nor should they wait until there are more shot.
      
      Self-defence entitles them to react as they did.
      
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      January 26, 2026 5:29pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        The shooter had his gun drawn before the other agent took the gun. For the terminally slow: at no point did Pretti brandish a weapon in sight of the agents. You’re doing Olympic level mental gymnastics to defend your brown shirt heroes. Either you don’t know how ridiculous your post sounds or you’ll say anything to defend being a signed on member of a cult of morons.
        
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        January 27, 2026 1:25am
  - Northshoredoc
    
    Looks like the National guard is doing a good job trying to take some of the heat out of the situation.
    
    What a difference the lack of a mask and a pleasant demeanour makes.
    
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/minnesota-guard-hands-out-coffee-to-anti-ice-protesters-after-deadly-federal-shooting/articleshow/127519819.cms
    
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    January 26, 2026 4:33pm
- Handyman
  
  I see the Democrat response to the fraud investigations is to present a bill in congress to ban Federal inspectors from auditing any Federal money given to the states.
  Think what mindset allows that to be a popular proposal for members of Congress.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:17am
  - kowtow
    
    Sounds rather secessionist , again.
    
    But the rule of law , a basic fundamental principle of democracy is actually concerned about accountability .
    
    Here we see the Democrats trying to literally avoid a democratic fundamental , accountability.
    
    They are the fascists they accuse others of being.
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:04pm
- RichardX
  
  What exactly did Pretti do to deserve being shot and killed?
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:22am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Well he was a member of antifa, a terrorist organisation, he was coordinating an anti government attack, and he was armed and not carrying ID (a breach of his license conditions). At some point he drew or exposed his gun. He had also wiped his social media profile before “mobilising”. He was not an innocent bystander, he was participating in an insurrection.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:33pm
    - CJames
      
      At some time during the leadup, his gun discharged. It is not known if he had his hand on the trigger, but that model of gun has a history of sometimes firing without a trigger pull.
      Of course, once his gun went off = I gather it was concealed carry – then all the dynamics changed.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:48pm
      - kowtow
        
        To be fair , turning up to a near riot and getting up close and personal with the Feds , while armed , was never going to be a good idea. FAFO , as they say.
        
        btw , relatively the left and media never had any sympathy for Robert LaVoy Finicum , I’d warrant few of the “progressives” here even know his name …….without google .Again FAFO.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:09pm
    - Lance
      
      Congratulations on 100% lies, well done, fact free Fox regurgitation.
      After all, what are you going to believe, your lying eyes or the font of truth Pam Bondi?
      //
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:01pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        50% at best.
        
        Can’t find anything about ANTIFA membership.
        
        I don’t think he had a second firearm to draw or expose.
        
        All the other stuff is correct.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:32pm
    - NK
      
      Nigel, you’re a fantasist and are part of the problem.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:44pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      At no point did he draw his gun. These are bald faced lies and you’re propagating them.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:38pm
    - RichardX
      
      Nigel, you had better hope there is some strong evidence of Pretti drawing or exposing his gun as the rest of your list does not allow Federal agents to shoot & kill anybody.
      
      What evidence have you seen to support your version of the shooting?
      
      Maybe CJames has evidence of his claim of Pretti’s weapon being discharged as I have seen footage of an agent disarming Pretti prior to any shots being fired.
      
      If Pretti had been disarmed prior to the first shot being fired, both Nigel’s & CJames’ narratives fall apart.
      
      Hopefully the truth will come out but given the ongoing disagreements over the videos of Good being shot, I think it unlikely there will be any consensus.
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:20pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        If Pretti only had the one gun then there will be plenty of consesus.
        
        It all comes down to what fired the first shot that triggered the agents shooting.
        
        Until I get other information I am going with the accidental discharge by the agent that disarmed Pretti that triggered the actions in self-defence to a known armed threat.
        
        The video also shows Pretti reaching around to his back where his gun had been holstered. However that may be where he was first shot. That detail still needs clarification.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:42pm
    - slightlyrighty
      
      Nigel. Just piss off will you.
      
      I bet you had no problems with Rittenhouse.
      
      Pretti was helping a woman who had just been shoved to the ground, for which he was hit with a chemical agent, surrounded, beaten, disarmed and then shot. 10 times.
      
      If you need to invent scenarios to justify this action in your own stupid self declared deity of a brain, then you need serious help.
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:57pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        The jury had no problem with Rittenhouse either.
        
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        January 26, 2026 7:28pm
    - AitchW
      
      I’m really curious as to why a nurse would carry a pistol with 2 full magazines. Yes, he was legally entitled to do so, but to turn up to an anti ICE rally, where he knew ICE would be present and would not step back ,with a loaded and apparently cocked semi automatic pistol does seem, at the very least, counter intuitive.
      Was he seriously expecting a shootout with ICE, and was he expecting to emerge alive?
      
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      January 26, 2026 4:19pm
      - Mike
        
        Such questions to raise. It’s almost as if no private citizen should be permitted to carry a semi-automatic pistol.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:53pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        It must be noted that the licence to carry a firearm is nullified if the person carrying is then invovled in committing a crime.
        
        Refer back to interfering with a Federal office.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:33pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        @Christopher Thomson
        
        You do spout a load of rubbish, mate. A permit to carry is issued by the state, it can only be nullified by the state *after conviction* of a state or Federal crime. The permit is protected by the 14th Amendment until a court says otherwise.
        
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        January 27, 2026 1:44am
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        “In the U.S., possessing a concealed carry permit does not exempt an individual from criminal liability if they commit an offense while carrying. Committing a crime while in possession of a concealed weapon often leads to enhanced penalties, mandatory minimum sentences, or the immediate revocation of the permit
        .
        
        Criminal Penalties: If a crime of violence is committed while carrying a weapon, it can result in enhanced penalties, such as a minimum 5-year prison sentence in the District of Columbia.”
        
        Who’s spouting rubbish now?
        
        You really should brush up on your legal knowledge.
        
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        January 27, 2026 11:09am
  - NK
    
    Richard, according to the Powerline blog, he was a member of an organisation. In the greatest democracy in the world, that’s a felony worthy of summary execution.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:46pm
- SGA
  
  Scott,
  Federal law also gives people the right to peaceful protest.
  When I watch the videos, the evidence of my own eyes does not correspond with the claims of a domestic terrorist about to massacre federal agents put forward by representatives of the administration (e.g., Miller). I suspect that many of Kiwiblog’s regulars, even those supportive of ICE’s aims, feel at least disquiet not only about ICE’s actions, but the Orwellian treatment of what’s there for all to see. In fact, the latter is at least as disturbing as the shooting itself.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:58am
  - Scott
    
    They are highly organised groups disrupting ICE operations and interfering with federal law enforcement. To go into that highly volatile situation, violently resist arrest, while carrying a gun and 42 rounds of ammunition is to place yourself in harms way. Pretti was part of such a group.
    
    Again this is a sad situation. However you are playing with fire if you act this way.
    
    It’s not peaceful protest. It’s armed people interfering with law enforcement and then violently resisting arrest. You just can’t do it.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:43pm
    - SGA
      
      No Scott – simply put, that is not what I see in the videos – I don’t see a domestic terrorist about the massacre federal agents. For the life of me, I can’t see how you do. What I see is a man filming somewhat detached from the situation then offering some protection to a woman – at which point he himself became the focus of the officers’ attention. You might say he was trying to act in a way that a person with your supposed Christian values might applaud.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:34pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Except he was already committing an offence at that point and was liable for 8 years prison.
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:01pm
      - RichardF
        
        Do you think being armed in that situation is wise? Would YOU take a firearm to a protest?
        
        These people are unhinged. They’re deliberately obstructing law enforcement operations and looking for confrontation. Its a powder keg and more people will lose their life if the democrat leaders don’t turn down the rhetoric.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:22pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Get your eyes checked. “Peaceful protest” isn’t what’s happening here.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:33pm
    - SGA
      
      Sorry, the videos I see don’t show *this man* acting in a way consistent with a domestic terrorist about the massacre federal agents as claimed. I don’t see him doing anything that deserved him being beaten with some sort of metal canister, nor having 8 to 10 bullets shot into him. I trust what I see more than people telling me what I should see.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:27pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Your eyes are lying to you.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:44pm
  - rouppe
    
    Interfering with immigration officers is not peaceful protest.
    
    He may well have interfered so much that they decided to arrest him. At which point he fought them.
    
    How the gun he had on him, (legally, I believe), got involved I don’t know, but if Minnesotans just recorded the activity instead of creating conflict by interfering, this is unlikely to have happened.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:41pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      He owned the gun legally, but he was breaking the law by not carrying his license with him, and by resisting arrest. The gun went off – apparently that model of weapon has a history of firing without the trigger being pulled, but the federal agents could not have know that.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:28pm
      - SGA
        
        “but he was breaking the law by not carrying his license with him” – and how did the officers know that? Even if they did, is that a shooting offense? Really, this is all hand waving after the fact. The videos are pretty clear about what happened.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:37pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        Firstly, they shot him long before they determined he wasn’t carrying his permit or ID card
        
        Secondly, ICE agents are not considered peace officers under Minnesota law and do not have the authority to ask to see his permit to carry anyway
        
        Thirdly, not having your permit card and ID card on you when asked is a petty misdemeanour and carries a penalty of $25 for the first offence. Not getting shot in the fucking back 10 times.
        
        Repeating misinformation from a cretinous blog site like Powerline does not make it true. I’m sure you don’t want to be like Goebbels, Don.
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:13pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Looked like Pretti did insert himself trying to support a women that the agents were tussling with. She grabbed his arm as he tried to pull away, so he perhaps unwittingly got drawn into ‘interfering’ with her arrest. Also would be pretty hard not to react strongly to pain of getting pepper sprayed – struggling would be natural, it would be extremely hard not to squirm and try to rub face. So I’m equivocal on the ‘resisting’
      
      So I don’t see him as particularly culpable with regard to fighting etc. Problem was he had a concealed gun that meant an agent drew his weapon when it was spotted with yell of ‘gun gun’, and then Prettis gun seems to have fired accidentally when another agent was taking it away. That accidental shot startled the agent aiming at the Pretti from behind, who started firing thinking Pretti was firing another unsighted weapon.
      
      Bad luck, downstream of some poor choices by Pretti.
      
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      January 26, 2026 5:28pm
- rouppe
  
  I’m not sure that Minnesota activating the national guard is in order to keep order so that ice can do it’s job.
  
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  January 26, 2026 1:37pm
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    If they do interfere with Federal operations then it will be the Insurrection Act.
    
    However, I just don’t see the National Guard as being foolish enough to do that. It’s members must know the consequences of opposing Federal Law.
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:59pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    There are something like 2-3000 ICE/DHS etc agents on the ground in Minnesota. ChatGPT tells me the best estimate of illegals in Minnesota is about 130,000 – although various sources put it at more like 100,000. Whatever. Numbers are all a bit vague.
    
    The same query got me estimated illegal numbers in Florida in Florida (1.6 million) and Texas (2.1 million). Go figure.
    
    If the aim of all this is mass deportations then these two (Republican) states are target rich. Weather is better too. ICE/DHS will no doubt be descend on them in force one day 🙂
    
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    January 26, 2026 5:50pm
    - Christopher Thomson
      
      The better measure is where are all the serious ciminals. They are the ones being targeted.
      
      These anti-ICE rioters are protecting rapists, murderers and other assorted crininal scum.
      
      My question is why? Why would you want those types living in your community?
      
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      January 26, 2026 7:31pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        rapists, murderers and other assorted crininal scum.
        
        Laudable stuff. But isn’t that what the local cops should be doing? ICE are all about immigration. With 100,000 undocumented folk in Minnesota and over 2 million in Texas we might not be surprised to find that ICE could pick up a whole lot more people there ….
        
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        January 26, 2026 8:26pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Yes it is what the local law enforcement should be doing, but they aren’t. There is a policy on non-compliance.
        
        25 percent of deportations are from Texas.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:40pm
- Christopher Thomson
  
  “Frey and Walz are the the ones who have caused this tragedy. They need to stop inflaming the situation.”
  
  Stochastic terrorism; “Stochastic terrorism is the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.”
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:59pm
Cassandra

The argument for capitalism: a GP in the 1930s had about ten or so drugs to prescribe – much of medicine in those days was diagnosis and breaking bad news to patient and family. Opium derivatives, barbiturates, digitalis, quinine, aspirin, chloroform, insulin. One or two others. Almost nothing for infections.

Within a few years the drugs number had blossomed. It’s now in the thousands (although Pharmac keeps it manageable for NZ medics).

That came about because drug companies and investors saw the potential unleashed by sulphonamides, cortisone and penicillin – all discovered serendipitously – and recruited thousands of scientists, mainly chemists, to comb through a seemingly endless list of compounds and substances. It cost a fortune but it could make an even bigger one.

It was survival of the fittest (or perhaps luckiest). You could lose your shirt or end up a zillionaire. Could any system except capitalism have done that?

Can you imagine how well off we’ll be when Craig Renney becomes Hipkins’ Minister of Finance? (Perish the thought). In his new book this son of coal miner from northern England argues for a huge increase in the minimum wage and the nationalisation of energy and other things. An endless list of freebies funded by taxing everyone paid above the minimum wage aka the rich. Can’t wait //.
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January 26, 2026 8:13am
- Northshoredoc
  
  I realise the point you are trying to make and it is largely correct. However, very large parts of drug discovery are funded via government even in the USA. Late stage trials and commercialisation are almost always privately funded.
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:34am
  - slijmbal
    
    @Northshoredoc
    
    that doesn’t match the figures I have seen. While government funded research is substantial it is < 30% with the rest privately funded.
    
    Government funded entities typically do the more fundamental research where a chances of a breakthrough tend to be low, ability to turn the breakthrough to a commercial product are also low and even large chunks of that are done by private funds into universities.
    
    The costs to take drugs to a fully tested and approved product stage are ginormous. Also many promising drugs either have unacceptable side effects or don't fulfill their promises. Failure rates are high. Costs to get FDA approval can easily be hundreds of millions and break the 1 billion mark because of the greater testing and monitoring they do nowadays. Initial Covid vaccines notwithstanding :).
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:38am
  - cmm
    
    Northshore.
    
    You seem to fail to understand the difference between discovering a drug and developing said drug so that it can be made in industrial quantities at reasonable prices.
    
    Far too much emphasis is placed on the discovery and far too little on the development.
    
    For example, most people know that Fleming discovered penicillin. Very few would know the names of the people who developed the methods to mass produce it (Florey, Chain et al).
    
    Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. It took about 12 years to figure out how to make any reasonable quantity of the stuff stuff. It then took a further 2 years to really make it usable.
    
    Even though penicillin was discovered in 1928 the first person was treated in 1941, he still died after exhausting Florey and Chain’s entire “mass produced” amount.
    
    It was only in 1942 when the chemical industries got involved that they really got enough going and penicillin was a viable cure. By the end of 1942 they were making over 100 million doses a month.
    
    That is what industry did here. It took an idea that was stuck and useless and turned it into something useful.
    
    The same can be said for the transistor. The basic first transistor was made in a lab in 1947. It was interesting, but useless. It took industry another 4 years or so to figure out processes to make transistors that were commercially viable.
    
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    January 26, 2026 3:01pm
    - Northshoredoc
      
      CMM – I would wager I know a great deal more about drug discovery and development than you do.
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:49pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Inevitably there will be a Greens Labour government. That is why I am disappointed that the current government has been timid. Not on all policy but overall I think that is a fair assessment.
  
  On medicine in the 1930s yes you are correct and few folk today realise how basic was medicine and prior to about 1950. Look at maternal deaths, deaths in childbirth. I just checked the numbers. In 2023 there were 57,000 births and 4 maternal deaths in New Zealand.
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:42am
  - cmm
    
    Yup, this is why the “At least National are not as bad as Labour” argument is so broken.
    
    We need to see the whole left/right/left/right cycle as a whole.
    Left act like children and break stuff. That is what they are supposed to do.
    Right is supposed to act like adults and fix stuff.
    
    If the Right don’t fix stuff that Left broke, then that is not a failing of Left, it is a failing of Right.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:05am
    - R
      
      If the ‘fence sitting voters’ want broken things fixed by a Right government; then they should get of the fence and vote for a competent Right government. Not hedge their bets by voting for handbrakes and egos.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:52pm
- cmm
  
  Yup, far too many people ascribe medical breakthroughs to just the science of developing the new treatment (eg. Fleming and penicillin in 1928).
  
  However what is far less understood is that it then required a massive effort by industry (especially chemical engineers etc) to turn that into a product that is available to everyone.
  In the case of penicillin, a lot of that research was carried out at Oxford university, but then industry industrialised the process to the point where penicillin is cents per dose rather than hundreds of dollars.
  
  The first human treatment with penicillin used over 50% of the world’s penicillin supply. Now it is virtually free.
  
  Much the same can be said for the transistor which is the underpinnings of our modern digital world. Government organisations and research gave us things like modems the size of a fridge. Industry then turned them into things that fit in your pocket.
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:53am
  - Gary Benner
    
    And in terms of public health, way more was achieved from better hygiene from running water, toilets etc. The vaccine industry has often promoted itself solving whooping cough, measles, diptheria etc, and shows graphs from around 1942 when they started introducing vaccines – except if you get to see the graph extended back to the late 1800’s, you see far more benefits gained during that period when there were no vaccines, and the introduction of vaccines did not significantly alter the trend already established. So in effect they became freeloaders on an already established trend.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:27am
    - Cassandra
      
      I think it’s two seperate sources of improvement. Hygiene had pretty much happened before the drugs arrived. Both are vital.
      
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      January 26, 2026 11:09am
    - rangitoto
      
      We owe a lot to plumbers like Thomas Crapper.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:47pm
      - Paulus
        
        Doctor Crapper I believe !
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:24pm
- Jack5
  
  Elaborating on Cassandra’s 8.13 post:
  
  Craig Renney is down to be the Labour Party candidate for Wellington Bays in this year’s general election.
  
  He came to NZ in 2012, and, according to my web searcher, Renney has worked at Treasury, the MBIE, and the Reserve Bank.
  
  Apparently he wants taxes on electricity generators and “high profit” supermarkets.
  
  Sounds to be Old Left.
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:10pm
  - R
    
    Renny was a ‘died in the wool’ SOCIALIST, long before he arrived in NZ.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:54pm
  - AitchW
    
    I wonder if Costco entering the Auckland market will disrupt the former duopoly?
    The second Costco being built at Drury is less than an hour from Hamilton and minutes from much of south Auckland.
    The west Auckland one is easily accessible to folks from Orewa to much of east and south Auckland.
    
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    January 26, 2026 4:24pm
cmm

For the people interested in languages…

Human and honey guide interactions are found to be regionally distinct.

Of course that might not be surprising to people who have seen regional variations in all sorts of languages and communications. Heck, even commands to sheep dogs are regionally distinct.

https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2026-01-22-humans-and-honeyguides-speak-in-local-dialects
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January 26, 2026 8:24am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  We are well on the way to developing a New Zealand version of pidgin English.
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:43am
  - AitchW
    
    Ka pai, bro. Chur.
    
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    January 26, 2026 8:55am
  - Grumpy Silver Top
    
    Well said Nikola. Trouble is predictive text apps don’t understand English either.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:16am
  - graham
    
    Hadn’t thought about that until you mentioned it, but listening to One News each night … damn, you’re spot on. That’s depressing. 😕
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:49am
  - Jack5
    
    Talking of regional language, is the “rrrr” Southland accent alive and well?
    
    National TV and radio has hammered dialects in some older countries.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:14pm
- kowtow
  
  Even in sign language !
  
  from AI
  
  ‘there are significant regional differences in British Sign Language (BSL), with distinct regional dialects and signs for the same meaning occurring across the UK. These variations are particularly common for colours, numbers, and regional place names, often originating from historical, regional deaf schools. While older, more localized signs exist, younger generations are increasingly using more standardized, national signs.
  Key facts about regional differences in BSL:
  Examples of Variation: The sign for “green” or “toilet” can differ significantly between cities like Glasgow, Cardiff, or Bristol.’
  
  Imagine the confusion for someone looking for directions to the village green and being sent to the khazi ..
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:03am
- Im Right
  
  I have watched Tic Toc or you tube vids CMM that have blacks in USA being dickheads and being arrested and I struggle to understand what they say, I know it’s English but I can only seem to grasp a few recognisable words and then I’m lost.
  Seems the blacks in the US have developed their own bastardisation of the English language.
  (I know there was a thing in the 70s that they had indecipherable wording/words, but you could generally still understand)
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:46am
  - slijmbal
    
    @ I’m right.
    
    It’s not that new. As a scouser in the late 70s I couldn’t be understood when I went down south to uni until I softened my accent and stopped using northern words such as kecks for trousers.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:42am
R

Two excellent comments, one quite long from Harrow104, and this one from Cassandra. NZ has become a country where initiative and application (hardwork) are NOT rewarded. We have a TAX system, and legislation, which impedes any improvement in our economy; and consequently our standard of living.
We are in election year, and there is a significant mood of re electing the FAILED MARXIST government of the 2017 -2020 era. No wonder, my soon to graduate grandson is looking overseas for rewarding employment. Employment that is not going to exist until we grow out of this WELFAR PRIORITY mindset.
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January 26, 2026 8:27am
- ISeeRed
  
  Sadly, the majority of voters are comfortable with the status quo. Labour, National, Labour, National. An endless loop.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:59am
Chuck Bird

This is a good judge. Hopefully, more will follow her example.

Child sex abuser Thomas Fisher jailed for 19 years for targeting two girls in Auckland

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/child-sex-abuser-thomas-fisher-jailed-for-19-years-for-targeting-two-girls-in-auckland/IIPVCKFPS5ESBKRYL3GAKNIFHU/
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January 26, 2026 8:43am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  It is behind a pay wall.
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:45am
- imalwaysright
  
  Good that the scumbag will be out of society.
  However the judiciary seem to abhor a vacuum and will soon oversee the release of his replacement in a few weeks:
  
  Rotorua daycare toddler snatcher: Offender jailed for two years to be freed in weeks – NZ Herald https://share.google/nnfYxiRCUDNqQ9BTi
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:13am
Chuck Bird

This is not a good judge.

Court grants suppression to company director caught at Auckland Airport with child sexual exploitation files

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/court-grants-suppression-to-company-director-caught-at-auckland-airport-with-child-sexual-exploitation-files/CSXKF6KHRJB6VH7AA55L6SHQBI/
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January 26, 2026 8:54am
- cmm
  
  Here’s something for DG to get his teeth into:
  
  “The psychologist found that the defendant’s son had recently engaged in suicidal ideation”
  
  How about suicidal thoughts or suicidal thinking?
  Does using ideation make it sound more scientific?
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:05am
  - David Garrett
    
    cmm: medics love jargon.. aetiology instead of plain, understandable CAUSE
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:14am
    - MCōs
      
      I was in an A & E bed the other day waiting to see the doctor so I could go home
      I heard him ask an elderly Pasifika guy in a nearby cubicle if he’d evacuated his bowels.
      Maybe if he’d asked if he’d had a poo recently the guy might’ve pulled him up for his inappropriate language.
      Btw
      There were people all over the place, but no raised voices. They clearly could have done with more medical staff where I was to push the patients through and make room for those coming along behind.
      I had a number of x-rays, tests and a scan, but the doctor ran out of time to process the results so I was stuck there overnight taking up space until things kicked off in the morning.
      
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      January 26, 2026 9:44am
      - AitchW
        
        Nothing new there MC, I had exactly the same experience while visiting in Middlemore on a ward some 40 years ago! One of the young fellows staying the ward translated for his room mate, asking if he’d “had a dump” that morning. The nurse asking the question seemed quite amused…..
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:28pm
    - Northshoredoc
      
      David is 100% correct, although he would know that the legal profession is just as bad.
      
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      January 26, 2026 9:45am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      I disagree. Etiology encompasses all causes of a disease and typically covers the weighting of causes. The noun “cause” typically assumes one agent the plural “causes” is additive and does not encompass the causative mechanisms of a disease.
      
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      January 26, 2026 9:51am
      - David Garrett
        
        Are you a doctor? Probably not, since you use the American spelling of aetiology
        
        (I’m not a doctor either, but I had a hypochondriac mother who worked for one for some time, and thus great enlarged her knowledge)
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:13am
      - imalwaysright
        
        I think we will stick with Garret’s post.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:14am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        No David I am not a doctor. However my doctor is American. Last week she emailed me referring to the possible “etiology” of my symptoms I knew what she meant even with the American spelling.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:51am
    - cmm
      
      Let’s be fair. All professions love jargon. Lawyers and engineers love jargon.
      
      It is one of the ways of excluding others from our fields.
      
      Sometimes jargon is warranted (eg. giving a very specific name to a very specific idea), but often it is just puffery.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:01am
      - David Garrett
        
        cmm: Lawyers’ use of jargon is very much discouraged these days…even the Latin maxims such as res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) are expected to be translated in letters to lay persons.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:17am
      - kowtow
        
        DG
        
        These day?
        
        The rot set in with Edward III and his 1362 Pleading in English Act.
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:29pm
      - CJames
        
        Don’t be too hard on jargon, especially when professionals or trades are speaking. They use words that have precise meanings. Think of all the building terms rather than just saying that bit of wood.
        What is not right is those who aren’t in those professions using the word without knowing the context because it makes them sound more knowledgeable than they really are.
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:56pm
  - sirknz
    
    General rule of thumb, if the person speaking uses primarily Latin or Greek based words to communicate where base English words would have done, they are probably talking a load of dingos kidneys.
    
    Simply put, the Latin/Greek based words are generally used to confuse or hide things from the ‘uneducated common folk’, with Latin/Greek based words being the language of the upper class and academics.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:29am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Suicidal ideation is a well understood term
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:46am
    - cmm
      
      Yes it is, but it is no different than suicidal thoughts.
      
      Just more buzzwords to sound more scientific.
      
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      January 26, 2026 9:55am
    - imalwaysright
      
      If you are inferring by “well understood” that it is ‘widely understood’ then you are clearly wrong.
      
      Anything can be well understood by someone, but if the someone is the only person, or one of a minority, to understand it, then it is not well understood by society which is what you seem to be saying.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:37am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        OK it is widely understood.
        
        6 2
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        January 26, 2026 10:52am
      - imalwaysright
        
        No, its not.
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:57am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    It is behind a pay wall.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:51am
- imalwaysright
  
  The judge sentenced him to 22 months in prison but changed it to 11 months at home.
  Is home D twice as harsh as prison?
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:27am
  - Paulus
    
    Depends = like the Home Sentence to ex Top Policeman assuming that he will be home for 24hours, every day, and so will his wife – which sentence could be worse,
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:31pm
Crafty

This article is interesting:

https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/01/26/maori-pushed-into-a-corner-by-govt-seek-new-way-out/

So because the government refuses to bow to their every demand and hand out money left, right and centre they are looking at becoming more self sufficient and take matters into their own hands. This is a very good thing and it is a mindset change that is required for Maori to really improve their terrible statistics. Relying on government has done nothing to help Maori.
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January 26, 2026 9:03am
- Notsofast
  
  For every nzer claiming a drop or more of maori there is more than 100k in the “maori economy”.
  
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  January 26, 2026 2:56pm
David Garrett

Chuck I won’t pay money to read stories on the Horrid
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January 26, 2026 9:04am
greybeard

Are there any English players in the EPL ?
7 4
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January 26, 2026 9:05am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Yes
  
  3 1
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  January 26, 2026 9:37am
- Christopher Thomson
  
  I watched the start of the Man City v Man U game last week (it came on after the BBL game and I hadn’t finished my pint) and there were 22 players on the field and a total of 4 or 5 were UK born.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:06am
G the giant from Dunedin

Is it just me or is the left completely ignoring the flooding and tragedy around the country, I can not remember Hipkins saying anything of the dead at the Mt, or the people who died at Welcome bay, and I think 2 people were killed up north, I see there was a Vigil at Blake park yesterday, PM who had been to 5 districts on Friday, and up to the north on Saturday, back to Tauranga last night, and he is on site with families this morning, where is the wannabe PM?
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January 26, 2026 9:07am
- Ghost
  
  No it’s just you. Instead of using these deaths to try political point score, learn to bloody read
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584640/weather-live-several-people-missing-as-slip-hits-mt-maunganui-holiday-park
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:47am
  - imalwaysright
    
    G asked a fair question about the whereabouts of Hipkins and you have brought up the deaths to try to denigrate G while claiming the moral highground for yourself.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:58am
    - Ghost
      
      G has once again decided to use these deaths to attack another politician, it is disgusting behaviour, he did this the other day as well. If he learnt to read the news he would know Hipkins released a statement passing on his condolences to the families. It is also up to the government to decide if they take along members of the opposition to a tragedy like this, they have decided to keep politics and politicians out of it
      
      And perhaps learn to read yourself as it was G that raised their deaths
      
      I can not remember Hipkins saying anything of the dead at the Mt, or the people who died at Welcome bay, and I think 2 people were killed up north,
      
      3 16
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      January 26, 2026 12:20pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        I am outraged at the filthy left rubbishing the government over this bloody tragedy.
        My mate is the head coach at the Mt Maunganui surf life saving club, do thanks for rubbishing me again.
        
        I simply expect to see anyone who thinks they want to be PM and expects us to vote for him where he was, he never once turned up from what I seen, while Luxon that every one hates had been to 5 regions on Friday, Northland on Saturday, then found out there was a vigil at Tauranga on Sunday and went there as well, where the genus Mr popular the wannabe pm, yes I will a question this weasel, and I will not be rubbished for asking where he is, he treated Hakes Bay like shit when he was PM.
        
        Don’t bother bloody speaking for me or making words that I never said up.
        
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        January 26, 2026 8:15pm
      - Ghost
        
        Grow up g. You are the one using this tragedy for political point scoring. Before you claim your outraged at the left look in the mirror at yourself and the disgusting posts you’ve made trying to use this to attack Hipkins since it happened.
        
        Learn to read, everything I claimed you said, you said, unlike you I don’t make things up as you’ve done here, first claiming hipkins was campaigning during this tragedy, then claiming he hadn’t said anything about those who died. You are a disgrace to the right
        
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        January 26, 2026 11:05pm
- CJames
  
  Hipkins is now effectively saying the landslip happened because National didn’t put enough money into climate change
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/live-updates-mount-maunganui-recovery-operation-resumes/GPMYXW2CVVBTJBQRMGV6DU7JVQ/
  So now we know, he is politicising tragedy.
  
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  January 26, 2026 4:56pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes I seen his vulgar smear on tv tonight, how the he’ll can you stop the bloody rain
    
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    January 26, 2026 8:16pm
RoboRob

WTF is wrong with the muppets at TVNZ. The breakfast show resumed today, without the terrible Jenny May. However in the small amount I saw they had Luxon on and were implying that his governments inaction on climate change was behind the slip. Thats just retarded logic. Then, instead of putting them in their place, Luxon foolishly tries to flex the governments Green policies and 2050 target. I had heard the Stuff were gunning for Luxon, clearly that extended to TVNZ as well. Luxon isn’t helping himself though, you would think by now he would know the media are hostile and take a stronger approach with them. Like Winston and Seymour do.

Then they follow it with a lady who went overseas for some sort of weight loss surgery. She comes back to NZ and has to have SIX opperations to fix the botch up. The punch line is that it is in fact all health NZs fault and she is angry that they are blaming her. To provide fair balance they have some woman on who craps on about obesity disease (she must have said it 10 times).

I guess my break from the show over christmas has worn down my tolerence for this crap. Just terrible rubbish pushing a narrative, that our tax payers are paying for.
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January 26, 2026 9:11am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  ” Then, instead of putting them in their place, Luxon foolishly tries to flex the governments Green policies and 2050 target”
  
  He is is his own worse enemy. He should have explained slowly that New Zealand could be evacuated and returned to nature. Impact on New Zealand weather events. Zero.
  
  I would not put it past those tv folk to think that New Zealand emissions somehow determine New Zealand weather, as absurd as that is.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:56am
  - RoboRob
    
    My thoughts exactly. Nothing we do will have any effect on the worlds climate, yet Luxon is too scared to say it. Either that or he really believes our 2050 target will fix our climate.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:00pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Its well past time that TVNZs, and RNZs ‘news, and current affairs’ programs were deleted. They’re just the broadcast arm of the Labour party.
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:51pm
  - kowtow
    
    He’s the guy who made a very public play of putting Maureen Pugh ,in her place , as it were over climate hysteria .
    
    Luxon and the Wets , or “centrists” , call them what you will are a huge part of the problem.
    
    And recall there’s a strong constituency in the Nats proudly calling themselves Blue Greens . FFS!
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:35pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, that particular event by Luxon put me off him & my view has not changed since.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:50pm
    - R
      
      The MSM were the ones who made the ‘public play’. They saw a political activist opportunity to denigrate Christopher Luxon
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:15pm
    - Paulus
      
      Wrong – was it not Simon Bridges who said that ?
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:35pm
      - MCōs
        
        Yes and it was a private conversation and for all I know he may have been correct
        Big mistake telling J-L Ross. Now they’re gone and Pugh sails on
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350595392/simon-bridges-mocks-useless-national-mps-in-just-released-audio
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:52pm
      - kowtow
        
        Wrong
        
        Simon was extremely rude about her on the secretly recorded discussion over money /donations and ethnicities.
        
        Luxon was extremely publicly rude about her about climate hysteria .
        
        Google is your friend.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:31pm
  - R
    
    ‘his own worse..’ Nikola, how much more time, do you want PM Luxon to spend, explaining the obvious to those who don’t want to understand, of have an ideological point to express?. The PM isn’t the one with the comprehension problem.
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:11pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  How do taxpayers pay for TVNZ? TVNZ pays a dividend to the government.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:57am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Here is AI’s version of TVNZ’s past & future dividends. It should have been sold/given away decades ago.
    
    TVNZ has recently paid a dividend of $3.1 million to the government for the first time in four years, despite facing challenging trading conditions. This payment comes as the broadcaster invests in digital services while anticipating losses in the next two financial years.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:19am
    - Jack5
      
      In TVNZ’s 2025 annual accounts – cash flow statement: “receipt of programme funding, $7,863,000.”
      
      Presumably that’s from the Government, and compares with the $3.1 million dividend to the Government, as mentioned by poster Graeme Hall.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:47pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Only in the years it makes a profit 🙂 Certainly, going forward the flow of cash will more and more go the other way. A lot of content on TVNZ is funded by NZ On air, so a back door subsidy in a way.
    
    I should have said, tax payer owned I guess.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:58am
- Ghost
  
  she isn’t attacking nz health, she is attacking the overseas provider and doctor. Went on to say that they only supplied her details to acc when she went to the media. Nz health never blamed her, she never said that, she said the Turkish company blamed her, the Turkish company are suing her. Not once did she attack the nz health system
  
  https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/26/i-could-have-died-kiwi-womans-overseas-weight-loss-surgery-nightmare/
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:21pm
lastmanstanding

In all seriousness I wonder if Trump is suffering from a neurological condition. I have defended some of his statements as being what you do when negoiating a deal but the recent statement as regards Afghanistan was so far off the planet even he had to walk it back. It seems to me he has no filter so opens mouth before engaging brain as in this case. This is not to excuse him but to pose a question.
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January 26, 2026 9:17am
- Cassandra
  
  He’s an 80 year old who has always shot first. It was probably late and he was irritated. It was a silly thing to write and perhaps he might now get a staff member to check his posts. I’m pleased he’s walked it back. Let’s move on.
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:21am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    He has only walked back the comments in regard to the UK, not the rest of the countries involved in supporting the US as far as I can tell.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:26am
  - Lance
    
    I note he never apologised, it wasn’t a standard idiotic late night tweet, it was in an interview.
    He is incapable of saying sorry.
    
    Good grief, if a previous democratic president had ever said such a thing, can you honestly say Fox et al would just “let it go”… be honest now.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:27am
  - David Garrett
    
    Cass: It wasn’t “post” – or at least not only one; the clip I saw was spoken, and he didn’t appear at all tired or “irritated”. He just told a blatant outrageously insulting lie; that the Brits had “stayed a way back from the front lines” in Afghantisan.
    
    I used to think quite highly of your comments here.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:51am
    - Ghost
      
      some people will bend over backwards to excuse his behaviour.
      
      The senile old git is doing more damage to the USA than the previous senile old git. Oh well, someone will be along soon to have a trump wank off and make the USA sound so amazing right now, shame it is not.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:17am
      - Notsofast
        
        Some people will do the same to avoid praising him for pulling Islamists and communists into line (Hamas, Ayatollahs, Madori)
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:13pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Nah, he is far less damaging than Biden. But still foolish in a lot of what he says, and chronically unaware of important facts.
        
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        January 26, 2026 5:36pm
    - Cassandra
      
      Act in haste, repent at leisure. I misspoke. But DG earlier on didn’t you mean greatly?
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:31am
      - Cassandra
        
        “To err is human, to forgive divine”. Will that do?
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:44am
  - MCōs
    
    Come on
    The guy’s an utter embarrassment to America
    He’s extremely reluctant to give any other country credit for anything America has been involved in.
    Starmer, who’s not noted for rocking the boat, was livid with Trump, but not a peep from our fawning Foreign Minister or PM
    New Zealand First indeed.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:01am
    - RoboRob
      
      We are a minnow. We don’t need to pick fights with people like Trump when its not necessary. Other countries had already taken him to task on this. Picking fights with Trump, like JA did, is stupid and cost NZ. Winston is wise to stay out of it.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:12am
    - David Garrett
      
      MCos: Well said Sir…especially since we also lost men in the Afghan mess.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:18am
    - Philview
      
      Starmer has a motivation to rock the boat as he pushing an agenda to get the UK back into the EU. They are talking about rejoining the EU’s Customs Union and ripping up recently signed FTAs with the likes of New Zealand.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:32am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        Who is “talking about” that? Where did you hear, see or read about it?
        
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        January 26, 2026 10:52am
    - Ghost
      
      His attack was on NATO, best we leave it up to the NATO countries. This isn’t a normal, sane, reasonable president. This is an unstable, hostile, vindictive president that punishes countries for not being part of his circle jerk off.
      
      His latest rant, 100% tarrif if Canada signs a free trade with China.
      
      Either his junk food lifestyle will kill him, or a bullet. If it’s a bullet no one will know if it was one of their Allies or not
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:41am
      - MCōs
        
        The word ‘fragging’ comes to mind as used during the Vietnam war when an obnoxious senior officer was disposed of by those under him.
        Something similar happened to Julius Caesar when it was felt he would declare himself king.
        Maybe closer than one thinks, although America has non lethal ways of approaching this problem
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:28pm
      - Ghost
        
        Non lethal, keep feeding him his coke and junk food. His health isn’t as good as the White House want to admit, but the people who knew the White House were lying about the health of the president seem to believe this White House is telling the truth. There same people who if this was a democrat acting like this would be speaking against it. He’s got about a year left if he is lucky
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:45pm
      - kowtow
        
        I’ve recently finished Max Hastings “Sword”.
        
        One of the British D Day beaches .
        
        Warts and all ,some might call it revisionist . But no one could accuse Hastings of being anti British , or anti the military .
        
        He , unusually names battalions .Not the done thing . History is still reluctant to even mention if and which battalion , in square , “broke” on that bloody ridge at Waterloo .
        
        Anyway Hastings kind of ranks the forwardness as it were of units that first night and day at Sword .
        
        The commandos , paras near the top.Beachmasters.
        
        But here’s the PBI of the Suffolks ;
        
        ‘In the Suffolks’ advance on Hillman ( a German strongpoint) several officers and NCOs displayed notable courage.This was matched by a few of their men , of whom more below. But much of A company stuck. Some of the Suffolks were ‘old sweats’- long servicemen who had not seen action since 1940, if at all.It seems fair to surmise that , after surviving so long in the King’s uniform , such men flinched from accepting suicidal risks, such as their officers were willing to take . The Suffolks’ other ranks on 6 June did not accept heavy casualties . Their leaders suffered severely , however,as they attempted to overcome the enemy , with embarassingly little support”.
        
        I don’t buy the rather disgusting epithet , of “obnoxious senior officer” used so freely by lefties particularly against the US officer cadre of Vietnam.
        
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        January 26, 2026 1:14pm
      - AitchW
        
        Kowtow, to be fair, I suspect it was more likely to be an inexperienced junior officer who was “fragged” in Vietnam than a senior officer. Senior officers are not often in the thick of battle to afford an opportunity for their murder.
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:35pm
    - Dougal10
      
      You do realise that most americans don’t give a toss who is in the white house , therefore can’t be embarrassed by whomever the current politician living there is.
      
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      January 26, 2026 7:17pm
  - artemisia
    
    Don’t listen to what people say. Watch what they do.
    
    Good rule of thumb to assess character.
    
    And a corollary from me. Don’t listen to people who only talk about what people say but never mention what they do.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:11pm
- Philview
  
  He has always tended to voice inaccurate statements so I don’t think this was any different. Unfortunately we live in a time when the media leave out half the facts to suit their own agenda. We often later find out through other means that the media have created a misleading report about Trump. None of us have time to fact check every Trump story so now tend to write off every media story as having an agenda. Most of the US Presidents in my lifetime used a level of hyperbole that made me cringe.
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:30am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    By “inaccurate statements” do you mean lies? Stop blaming the media for stupid things that Trump says. He said he was going to bring the prices of drugs down by 1,000%-1,500%. That’s not some media conspiracy and it doesn’t need fact checking. Trump is as thick as pig manure.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:48am
    - ISeeRed
      
      You can NOT be a billionaire and “thick as pig manure”. It simply does not compute.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:04pm
      - Mike
        
        He is the son of a billionaire. Is business acumen inherited along with the cash?
        
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        January 26, 2026 6:01pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  He was talking about nuking hurricanes and injecting bleach in his last term and you expect to him to suddenly have a filter on his nonsense as he’s approaching eighty?
  
  I think you’re going to be dissapointed.
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:44am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    He did not talk about injecting bleach.
    
    It was Biden who said that Trump said to inject bleach.
    
    As for inaccurate media, remember the firing squad story for Liz Chaney?
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:11am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Standing off to the side, Trump clasped his hands in front of his stomach, nodded and looked out into the room of gathered reporters. When Bryan was done, he strode slowly back to the lectern.
      “A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world,” Trump began, clearly thinking the question himself, “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too. It sounds interesting. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:56pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        He’s asking a question – not making a statement.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:33pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        This smear has been discredited many times
        He was referring to Research about using UV Light in veins to heal infection. (‘like bleaching’ and ‘disinfecting’)
        It showed potential against Covid
        https://www.puracath.com/puracath-medical-demonstrates-significant-reduction-of-clabsi-associated-microorganisms-in-needleless-connectors-using-novel-uv-disinfection-system
        ‘Presently, there are no studies exploring the internal application of UVA light for bacterial or viral infections. Here, under specific conditions including distance, wavelength, intensity and time, we assess UVA efficacy against bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens, including group B coxsackievirus and coronavirus-229E. We also evaluate the effects of therapeutic and supratherapeutic UVA exposure in vitro on three human cell types. Furthermore, we assess the effects of intraluminal UVA exposure in vivo in the first animal model of internal UVA therapy.’
        https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7365468/
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:57pm
      - MCōs
        
        Just asking questions.
        A well known conspiracy theorist tactic as I’m sure you’re aware.
        If not I don’t know where you’ve been
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:02pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Hery Doc, was it a missile or an aeroplane that hit the Pentagon?
        
        Because a witness said “it came in like a missile’.
        
        If you beleive that it was a missile then you have confirmed for me your are a conspiracy nutjob.
        
        If you can understand that it was just the witness using a metaphore then how can you not see that Trump was doing the same.
        
        You could also go fact-check my claim and see that I am correct. Particularly about Biden.
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:09pm
- David Garrett
  
  lastman: You are only NOW realising he has something seriously wrong with him??
  
  And note that while he is now saying very different things about how Britons performed in Afghanistan, not once has he apologised for his earlier outrageous insults about NATO allies.
  
  But to be clear, the complete inability to EVER apologise is not down to some “neurological condition” or even mental illness….just a massive character flaw.
  
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  January 26, 2026 9:47am
  - RoboRob
    
    Nobody has ever said Trump doesn’t have character flaws. These were / are widely known. One of the reasons he was initially successful was that he wasn’t a standard slimy two faced politician who would tell you what you want to hear and then stab you in the back. Trump will stab you in the front and tell you why, even if it doesn’t really make sense.
    
    Trump may waffle on, be a narcsist and get things factually wrong but there is no doubt he is America first and thinks it’s the greatest country in the world. Unlike most of his Democrat competitors who seem to think America is to blame for most of the worlds problems. You can see why he would be voted for over Kamala and Hillary. Gavin Newsom is a great example of a politician that will tell you what you want to hear and stock a knife in you. So is our very own Winston Peters.
    
    You might not like Trumps personality but you can see why some people like his ‘what you see is what you get’ persona.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:22am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Trump is perhaps the first time many have been exposed to a strong personality.
      Its interesting reading their opinions of him.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:47am
    - Flossie
      
      But what you see and get today could very well be exactly the opposite tomorrow.
      
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      January 26, 2026 10:54am
      - RoboRob
        
        Yup, one of his flaws.
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:03pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Yes. That’s why America’s competitors and enemies fear him. Keep them guessing and on edge, unlike Sleepy Joe.
        
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        January 26, 2026 12:06pm
      - artemisia
        
        ‘Events dear boy, events.’ Time passes. Things change.
        
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        January 26, 2026 1:13pm
      - kowtow
        
        How many U turns has Starmer made , something like 13 or 14.
        
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        January 26, 2026 1:23pm
    - Paulus
      
      With Peters though it is what you see is not what we get – time has proven that.
      Never again Winston.
      
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      January 26, 2026 2:39pm
    - MCōs
      
      You’re the ultimate apologist, aren’t you, R²
      
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      January 26, 2026 5:01pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Not only did Trump not apologise, even his backdown on the British ended up as an insult – he said they were very brave fighters, but number 2 to the USA. Even a compliment has to be a competition, with his side “winning”
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:54am
    - slijmbal
      
      @Hard Cheese
      
      years ago went through a stint of reading books around WWII. Came away with the belief that without the US, Germany would have won WWII.
      
      However, it was their ability to massively outmanfacture Germany from the safe zone of the US while Germany’s ability to manufacture was being destroyed by the war. That and the ~ 15 million armed forces personnel they had by the end of the war.
      
      As they had no experience of war they generally had their backsides handed to them for quite some time but sheer numbers made up for that. Draft dodging, conscientious objectors and unwillingness to fight were also significant problems. Not unsurprising as they were fighting for other people’s countries.
      
      While there were plenty of brave US fighters they would rank below Poles, Poms etc. At least they were better than the cheese eating surrender monkeys 🙂
      
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      January 26, 2026 11:57am
      - MCōs
        
        Ranking the courage of various ethnicities from the different armies involved in WWII is process fraught with pitfalls
        
        Note that in Europe it was total war and many people threw their compatriots under the bus in a not always successful bid to save their own skin
        
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        January 26, 2026 3:28pm
    - slijmbal
      
      @Hard Cheese
      
      oops forgot the Russians. They also received enormous amounts of fuel and military vehicles from the US.
      
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      January 26, 2026 12:09pm
  - newview
    
    It’s narcissism and moral depravity with a dose of megalomania David.
    
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    January 26, 2026 4:36pm
- Graeme Hall
  
  I would guess Trump is trying to point out in his own inimitable manner that Europeans collectively or by nation have not stood up for their own defence since WW2 and need to do so now. The USA doesn’t trust them to act. For instance, Poland is armed to the teeth but sits back watching Ukraine get ground down. Why not open another front and collapse the Russians by knocking out all the bridges, roads & utilities over a 100kms inside the Russian border? Instead the Russians fly over European airspace & launch drones knowing the Europeans will do nothing without the USA leading the way & taking the risk for them.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:28am
  - Taieri
    
    For instance, Poland is armed to the teeth but sits back watching Ukraine get ground down. Why not open another front
    —————–
    
    If you read a bit about the Polish-Ukrainian relations in not so distant history you will know why.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:21pm
    - Christopher Thomson
      
      To suggest Poland should go on the offensive is a very foolish statement to make. Imagine the consequences if they did.
      
      Poland is rearming in anticipation of the attack from Russia. Something they have said they intend to do.
      
      Poland and Ukraine have kissed and made up.
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:13pm
      - Taieri
        
        Poland and Ukraine have kissed and made up
        ———
        
        Not quite.
        There’s still a lot of resentment in Poland over the mass killings of Polish civilians by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1943-45.
        In some ways this was one of the consequences of the historical antagonisms between Poland and Ukraine, arising mainly from the colonial politics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as far back as XVII century.
        
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        January 26, 2026 6:01pm
sungsamning

Keir Starmers future looks bleak. In Minnesota, the usual suspects are trying unsucessfully to replay the ‘summer of love’. Trump put the Davosian caviar munchers in their place. The Greenland bluff worked. The Mulllahs are in hiding. and the WHO [not the band] lost a member.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/01/playing_taps_for_the_new_world_order.html

Playing Taps for the New World Order.
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January 26, 2026 9:21am
sungsamning

New guidelines mean news programs from the alphabet broadcasters have to comply with political equal opportunities requirements. No more DNC TV. This was supposed to have been a thing since 1934. Cue wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2026/01/21/exclusive-end-of-left-wing-bias-on-network-tv-fcc-issues-guidance-on-political-equal-opportunities-for-broadcast-stations/

Exclusive — ‘Left-Wing Bias’ on Television Takes Another Hit: FCC Issues Guidance on Political Equal Opportunities for Broadcast Stations.
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January 26, 2026 9:21am
Hugh Jarse

He is like Jacinda, he opens his mouth and words just fall out without any form of control or filter. The difference is that hers are just inane meaningless dribble while his are vindictive ignorant dribble.
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January 26, 2026 9:23am
- RoboRob
  
  Interesting comparison. However for all her comments about being kind, JA was a pretty nasty piece of work at times too if you didnt agree with her.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:25am
imalwaysright

Campbell starting soon on RNZ and Tova starting soon on TVNZ.

Is it election year perhaps ?

Are these two the best that the Government subsidised Labour Party Propaganda Bureaux can come up with…
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January 26, 2026 9:33am
- RoboRob
  
  TV One breakfast show started this morning, sans Tova, and they are already locked in against National. We are in for another year of biased reporting.
  
  National, and goldsmith, could have done something about TVNZ/RNZ but choose not to. So really, you reap what you sow.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:27am
- Jethrod
  
  I don’t know….. there are a couple on this blog who seem under control or in employment of said party.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:46am
  - MCōs
    
    Who did you have in mind?
    While you’re at it, who else do you think is controlled by one or other of the various party machines?
    
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    January 26, 2026 5:09pm
Tom Barker

Is America Great Again yet? Or will ICE have to kill a few more nurses first?
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January 26, 2026 9:35am
- All_on_Red
  
  Dunno Tom
  Will ‘Nurses’ ,aka paid activists from Ice Watch, continue to bring Sig Sauer 320s’ with two loaded 21 bullet magazines to protests without ID or a CCW Permit?
  Why are there problems in Minnesota for ICE when other States don’t have any issues?
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:05pm
  - Mike
    
    I knew that one day you would bring yourself to condemn the lax firearms laws in the US.
    
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    January 26, 2026 6:07pm
- NothingLeft
  
  The DNC’s mafia-style thug’s veto over application of immigration law via the riotous blue-haired Karen brown-shirts – clearly signaled and voted on in 2024 election, is no longer working in USA as it did in 2020 when DNC operated to use extra-legal means during the ‘summer of love’ protests to try and swing election against Trump.
  
  Left only care about deaths when they are useful to advertise the aims of the revolution, giving no shits about the tens of thousands who die as a result of their destructive policies (open borders, lack of drug policing, not locking up criminals etc). They are ethically and morally bankrupt.
  
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  January 26, 2026 5:49pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Colinxy (who used to comment here) has posted an interesting piece on the history & benefits Colonialism have brought to mankind.

https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/the-case-for-colonisation/
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January 26, 2026 9:50am
- pdm
  
  Thank you for the promotion of No Minister with the link Maggy.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:07am
- David Garrett
  
  Maggy: Thanks for that link…an excellent piece
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:21am
- Blog-aholic
  
  It is a good read, primarily because it uses facts not feelings.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:25am
- Colinxy
  
  I’d happily continue commenting here, but for whatever reason, I don’t seem able to. My comments just disappear into the ether.
  
  I doubt this one will get through.
  
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  January 26, 2026 4:06pm
  - artemisia
    
    Likely to be moderation delay Colinxy. Please contact DPF and request a moderation bypass. Please!
    
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    January 27, 2026 9:49am
- Mike
  
  It’s a facile version of the answer to the Monty Python question: “what did the Romans ever do for us?”
  
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  January 26, 2026 6:11pm
Jethrod

I was reading on Facebook this morning , probably the most enlightening thing about the happening at Mount Maunganui, which I now place a link to . It is by one Peter Mcdonald and is recommended.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14NQcLy5uRw/
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January 26, 2026 10:00am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  That is an excellent analysis by Peter MacDonald, as are some of the follow-up comments.
  
  Especially noteworthy:
  It was not record rainfall for the region.
  
  https://centrist.nz/ian-wishart-are-climate-activists-ignoring-the-evidence-at-mt-maunganui/
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:36am
- Don Beckett
  
  This confirms my thoughts which I commented yesterday. It appears that if the tradesmen had been allowed to complete their effort, it is possible that lives could have been saved.
  Health & Safety – disgusting.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:36am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  Well he’s a racist according to Luxon and Mitchell reading stuff or the herald..
  Now the wet Nats are openly batting for the co governance mob.
  
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  January 26, 2026 2:04pm
Yvette

While it may have been a surprise to hear Kīngitanga spokesperson, Tainui leader and frequent Government critic Tuku Morgan speak of “the beauty of this Government”, what came next made it all make sense. …
“The beauty about this Government, as tough as they are, it has enabled us to rally together, to find creative ways like building our own investment fund, being able to work with multi-billion-dollar companies,” he said. [1]

This hints at a topic I have wondered about: Maori health.
Disregard for a moment two things: that Labour was establishing descent-based Maori Health – and National Coalition now in removing it has received a back-lash – but second disregard all your possible reservations about covid except that at one point the French and Italians, and Pacific Island / Hawaiian communities of Los Angeles showed crowded intergenerational living were high at risk factors, so Maori here, why did the Ardern Government (Hipkins as Minister) not say “This dramatically threatens your lives, here is the vaccine, COME AND GET IT – it may be life or death to your elders”, instead of spending millions to reach Maori so isolated that the virus would likely have not found them?

Same with education? Maori – once were warriors.
__________
[1] https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/01/26/maori-pushed-into-a-corner-by-govt-seek-new-way-out/
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January 26, 2026 10:02am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Is that Morgans way of say that their own investment fund exists because of the taxpayer?
  Surely just a thnak you would suffice?
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:27am
BananaLlama

Oh look what i found.
A 2011 Geotech report for Mount Maunganui commissioned by Tauranga council after Cyclone Wilma.

https://www.cgs.ca/docs/geohazards/kingston2014/Geo2014/pdfs/geoHaz6Paper104.pdf
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January 26, 2026 10:17am
- greybeard
  
  Maggy W. posted this a couple of days ago.
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:49am
  - BananaLlama
    
    haha totally not surprised by that , she is the smartest one here.
    
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    January 26, 2026 11:00am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Na…
      
      But being a nosy old bird, I have been fossicking around in aspects of NZ landscape/NZ natural history for over 60 years.
      
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      January 26, 2026 11:41am
imalwaysright

Why would any council allow a campground hard up against the base of a 760 foot high pile of dirt and trees…?
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January 26, 2026 10:23am
- Damocles11
  
  Or people to walk around a track ‘at the base of a 760 foot high pile of dirt and trees’(?)
  But lets go further: any house built on the side of a hill or mountain must now be abandoned as unsafe. 👍
  
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  January 26, 2026 10:46am
  - imalwaysright
    
    If you continue with that extrapolation you’re going to need a bigger spirit level.
    
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    January 26, 2026 10:56am
  - cas
    
    Look at the hillsides at Ohope.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:52pm
- BananaLlama
  
  Here’s another question.
  How did those permanent structures on the campground, the ablutions block and the pool area, get building consent when the council knew the area was prone to slips.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:25am
  - Paulus
    
    Council still own the Campsite and the Hot Pools.
    Maori own the Mountain !
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:53pm
  - CJames
    
    Were they prone to slips before the trees were cut down? Appears the trees were planted about 1980 to stabilise a previous slip.
    
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    January 26, 2026 4:59pm
    - BananaLlama
      
      The Renovations done to the facilities after that.
      
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      January 26, 2026 5:17pm
Gary Benner

An interesting photographic essay on the removal of the trees at The Mount, their location, and possible contribution to the slip.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1167834315430969
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January 26, 2026 10:29am
- Yvette
  
  Thank you Gary Benner.
  Not only does this link show what trees have been removed, but looking at the present Google map of the slip area
  https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.632374,176.1748481,165m/data=!3m1!1e3?authuser=0&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDEyMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
  shows what appears to be at least four tree stumps and scattered debris where the link indicates trees were.
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:33am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  OMG!!!!!
  
  The removed trees appear to be ones that were planted on the previous (1977) slip site.
  
  You can determine the outline of the much older slip on some of those clips… (if you know what you are looking at)
  
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  January 26, 2026 11:54am
  - BananaLlama
    
    Video footage here @ 7:53 of the trees being removed.
    
    https://youtu.be/heshrKUHXgk?t=473
    
    and for others, please don’t harass these guys.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:41pm
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      It has been noted that pohutakawa trees were removed from exactly this position in the least several years because of fears of Myrtle rust.
      At whose behest was this?
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:16pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  You are all racists for noticing the truth, according to Luxon and Mitchell.
  Do not vote for them.
  
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  January 26, 2026 2:08pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He was Ponting to the bloody fact it’s time to come together and not dive, the enquiry will take care of that , it go help Labour get back in if you like
    
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    January 26, 2026 8:24pm
- Gary Benner
  
  Further to the above, I can’t help but feel that the Council is going to be in the firing line on this one.
  
  This research paper, “Spatio-temporal distribution of mass movements on Mount Maunganui, New Zealand” by Marc-André Brideau and Zach Martin (2014), was presented at the 2014 Canadian Geohazards Conference in Ontario. It was authored by Marc-André Brideau and Zach Martin from the University of Auckland. The paper documents historical landslides on Mount Maunganui since 1943, including the significant 1977 slip behind the campground and hot pools area.
  
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263090746
  
  So we had a “significant” slip in the very area of the latest one. And it seems that Pine, Oak and Macrocarpa trees were planted in an attempt to mitigate erosion and further slippage. As to their suitability, I asked AI about this and got the reply:
  
  “Radiata pine is widely used for erosion control due to its fast growth, deep and wide-spreading root system, and ability to stabilize soils on steep slopes. It is commonly planted in New Zealand and other regions to reduce landslide risk, control runoff, and rehabilitate disturbed sites.
  Both species are recommended in forestry and conservation practices for protecting erosion-prone land.”
  
  So around 2022 the Council authorised the removal of the trees on that very spot (and elsewhere, a total of 18 trees at huge expense – as it involved a Black Hawk helicopter)
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heshrKUHXgk
  
  From that video, the Council representative Josh Clark spoke (somewhat of a word salad)
  
  So essentially what we are doing is – this has been looked at for a long time – big pines and macrocarpa – and essentially they were planted in a terrible place – they were planted right smack bang on an archaeological terrace. So this is an old living place, or where storage pits or things like that would be. What we are really concerned about, on top of just … limbs coming out from ageing and stuff and damaging the archaeology. Ummm, what we really need to avoid the potential of them coming over themself and ripping that root plate up, that will completely destroy the site. And something that must be avoided. So when we approached this project that was always top of mind. It was always methodology first.
  
  Since there was a major slip in the same location back in 1977 I suspect there may not have been any archaeological matter left at that spot anyway, and no consideration of erosion and slip prevention – it was all about “this is a living place …”.
  
  We will always have a conflict where science meet religion, and sadly this is one was done under the rule of the Commissioners, Anne Tolley (Chair), Shadrach Rolleston, Stephen Selwood, and Bill Wasley.
  
  This one is going to be difficult for all concerned, but hopefully a reminder to those in power to exercise some critical thinking when presented with any proposal, whether it be religious (iwi) or ideologically (debunked climate models) based.
  
  I hope the Council records from after the 1977 slip are still accessible.
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:45pm
Damocles11

New Zealand is sleepwalking to disaster in the next election when a far left government will be elected. A mantra of “we’ve cut ‘wasteful’ spending” does not cut it when spending (and debt) is demonstrably up & Labours baked-in spending trajectory has been in no way addressed. The heavy lifting on addressing inflation was almost solely done by the Reserve Bank through a series of OCR cuts which seem to have gone ‘too far, too soon’ and now we have inflation outside its target band. This presents a credibility issue for the government which claimed credit for curbing inflation and are now on the hook in the public mind for the current worrying situation.
This National led government will be remembered for its timidity, weakness, and capitulation. Timidity, weakness, and capitulation in the face of Maori interests and Maorification, despite the best and almost lone efforts of ACT. Timidity, weakness, and capitulation to banking interests, oligopolies, and local Councils….there have been far too many words and far too little concrete action. Many of the increasing costs imposed on New Zealanders are coming from the same narrow set of vested interests, and Labour Lite lack the spine to do anything *today*….action is always coming at some stage in the future. By the time the election rolls around it will all be too late. The centre-right is fractured, fragmented, and largely now resigned and apathetic. Where people had had hopes for change we’ve had more of the things that made Labour so repugnant. We see huge dollops of money being forked out to maraes by Potaka and Jones. The pillaging continues unabated. $10 million here and $10 million there etc soon adds up to serious money. Now I turn on the TV to be told about a place called PaaaaaaPaaaaaaaMoer that I’ve never heard of….how can a language seemingly evolve almost by the day, constantly transfogrifying into something different from what went before? We are certainly being led around by the nose but nobody does anything to arrest the ongoing farce.
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January 26, 2026 10:43am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  what is “PaaaaaaPaaaaaaaMoer “?
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:25pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Papamoa. The latest way of pronouncing it – has only just happened in the last week or so.
    More bullshit from the media.
    I have lived in the local area most of my life,( 80+ years)& this is the first time I have ever heard the area pronounced Par-par-more -a.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:58pm
    - RoboRob
      
      The people of O-Omarroooo are all to well aware (Thats Omaru for those not in the know).
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:32pm
      - Cassandra
        
        Oamaru?
        
        3 0
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        January 26, 2026 2:56pm
      - RoboRob
        
        Was trying to do the local pronounciation 🙂
        Omm-aru
        as opposed to
        O-Om-r-ooh used in TV
        
        4 1
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        January 26, 2026 4:25pm
      - Christopher Thomson
        
        Yup, how the name of my old hometown has been butchered is saddening.
        
        2 0
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        January 26, 2026 5:52pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      The term ‘mama’ has also been appropriated and bastardised into ‘maaamaaa’
      We should be insisting on proper spelling and pronunciation should these words be appropriated.
      
      6 1
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      January 26, 2026 1:47pm
  - Paulus
    
    Actually I believe now
    PapaaMoa – a true language finally.
    
    1 3
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    January 26, 2026 2:56pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  The language thing is a lost battle within the “elite” as they see themselves – TVNZ, RNZ, and the public service. High competency in te reo is now effectively a requirement to be a public servant, as I have reported several times with detailed examples of what happens to you if you do not have that competency.
  
  This trend has greatly accelerated under this government.
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:28pm
  - Damocles11
    
    High competency in Te Reo must be hard to achieve when the language is constantly changing. When we were taught the Maori vowel sounds at primary school we were never taught about an ‘aaaaaaaaaa’ sound that goes on interminably such as we see on TVNZ news programmes.
    
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    January 26, 2026 12:53pm
  - kowtow
    
    ‘High competency’
    
    Surely not , just the usual virtue signal of a maori greeting , a sprinkle or two of the mahi/motu/whanau/whenua , followed by a closing nga mihi , all served up from behind a bone or jade carving conspicuously displayed at chest height.
    
    And the jobs yours with promotion to follow.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:34pm
    - Paulus
      
      As long as you faithfully attend the Screaming and Wailing every morning by overweight middle aged well paid Maori women, as it is their jobs to do so, as often as they can.
      What work ?
      
      5 2
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      January 26, 2026 2:58pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Clearly the PSA are in lockstep with the Marxists undermining our culture.
    
    Imagine a union with genuine concern for their members’ rights allowing the employer to indoctrinate them under implied penalty of their career being threatened.
    
    Surely the PSA are a willing party to the breach of their members’ human rights?
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:57pm
- mogg
  
  You will notice that the trees being removed were deeply rooted Pines which were used to stabilise hillsides. The trees shown coming down in this slip are shallow rooted Pohutakawas which just about sit on the surface offering no stability.
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:18pm
- mogg
  
  Chris Trotter writing on Labour in checkmate, it’s at Interest.co.nz. He makes a very good point.
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:23pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I am so sick of this crap that spending items up, that is total bollicks, snd the TOU need a kick up the arse for suggesting do, fact is, if they keep spending these figures will be that figure by 2030, not what they have spent till now
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:26pm
Dudley Quaffquaff

The King is our King too. How would we go about adding a New Zealand voice to those in the UK asking for his proposed visit to the US to be called off? Formally, would such a request go through the Governor General at the behest of Parliament?

I mean, there is simply no point engaging with somebody who repeatedly chickens out of his threats and weasels out of his promises. There is literally nothing to be gained by putting the King through yet another meeting.
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January 26, 2026 10:57am
- kowtow
  
  ‘There is literally nothing to be gained by putting the King through yet another meeting’
  
  What tosh. There’s a state visit by Saxe Coburg Gotha to the US in April.
  
  It appears the UK Establishment have , according to reports, already highly ‘leveraged’ the one thing that Orange Man Bad really does admire about the UK , the royalty, and they’ll be desperate to keep up the effort.
  
  The things monarchs have been forced to do must be stomach turning ; including shaking hands and smiling with the very people who were involved in attempting to murder and actually murder their close friends and relations.
  
  This will be no different .
  
  Politics is a very very dirty game.And most ‘successful’ politicians very very low characters.
  
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  January 26, 2026 1:45pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    But Trump doesn’t honour agreements. He takes no account at all of commitments previously entered into under his own Presidency, let alone commitments entered into under other Presidents that the US is still bound by and other countries are still relying on. Nothing he agrees to is worth used toilet paper.
    
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    January 26, 2026 5:20pm
imalwaysright

Michael Laws said he received an email from NZ First asking if he is interested in being a candidate.
Laws is a smart straight shooter, he would be a good MP.
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January 26, 2026 12:04pm
- Ghost
  
  He wasn’t that great last time.
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:14pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Fortunately people change.
    
    4 1
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    January 26, 2026 1:59pm
  - AitchW
    
    He entered parliament making a great fanfare about how he was there to make a difference, and said that if an MP didn’t make a difference there was no point in being there.
    As with most ambitious young MPs the system chewed him up, broke his spirit and spat him out a few years later.
    
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    January 26, 2026 4:44pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He’s been there before and was seen as nutter before leaving parliament
  
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  January 26, 2026 8:27pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Remember Global Warming?

https://edition.cnn.com/weather/live-news/winter-storm-forecast-snow-ice-01-25-26-climate

No wonder folks want to disremember the term…..
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January 26, 2026 12:07pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  weather does not equal climate.
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:23pm
  - CJames
    
    No it doesn’t Nikola but why when we have any adverse weather event, do the alarmists scream climate change/ global boiling or whatever. It is even worse when history shows that the current situation isn’t as bad as previous historical events that the media don’t mention. Case in point the Esk Rive. The floods in the valley were worse in the thirties than that during Gabrielle.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:09pm
Nikola Donatello

From Stuff:

“WorkSafe looking into those responsible for holiday park duty of care

WorkSafe has reportedly said it will look into the organisations that had a duty of care for everyone at the holiday park, and ‘whether or not they were meeting their health and safety responsibilities’.

In a statement sent to Stuff, a WorkSafe spokesperson said they were bringing together a team of inspectors and would be working closely with New Zealand Police to determine next steps.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360926209/mount-maunganui-landslide

Will set a precedent if the campground owners are prosecuted 🙁
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January 26, 2026 12:23pm
- KKNZ2025
  
  The White island case precedent suggests the owners probably will avoid prosecution.
  
  …& Luxon says its racist to blame them
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584983/prime-minister-luxon-decries-racist-rhetoric-over-role-of-iwi-after-mt-maunganui-slip
  
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  January 26, 2026 12:35pm
  - BananaLlama
    
    add another 5% to NZF
    
    8 1
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    January 26, 2026 12:56pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Bullshit, and anyone boti g them risks another kick in the guts by Peters, if Hipkins is dumped he will go with Labour greens
      
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      January 26, 2026 8:28pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    The owners are the Tauranga City Council, and they are certainly responsible for the cause of the slip.
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:00pm
    - Taieri
      
      they are certainly responsible for the cause of the slip
      ————-
      
      No. The immediate cause of the slip was the weather and the underlaying cause was the site geology.. No council can be responsible for the weather. What they are responsible for, is the consent for the location of the camp.
      
      4 6
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      January 26, 2026 1:26pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        The cause that the slip happened was because – primarily – the trees that were removed were retaining the ground, as stated in Ian Wishart’s report. They have had much heavier rain in the past & things remained stable.
        
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        January 26, 2026 2:44pm
      - Taieri
        
        as stated in Ian Wishart’s report
        ———–
        
        Is Ian Wishart a geologist as well?
        
        The camp should have never been located in that place. The council knew that the land was unstable, yet it issued the consent. Trees or no trees…
        
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        January 26, 2026 6:05pm
    - KKNZ2025
      
      Thanks for correcting my misunderstanding
      
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      January 26, 2026 1:40pm
  - Wayne L Sexton
    
    White Island changed worksafe framework and will likely change it again . They are likely to move to a zero-tolerance model where Red Weather Warnings act as a legal mandate to evacuate. No more waiting to see if the rain hits a certain limit, businesses must close or face massive negligence charges
    
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    January 26, 2026 1:06pm
  - SpencerArnold
    
    I have read the article, no-where is any quote directly attributable to Luxon referring to race or racism. This is ‘extra context’ inserted by journalists to mis-represent his position. I expected better from Kiwi Blog readers than to be captured by these media manipulation games. Go ahead, check the article again.
    
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    January 26, 2026 6:14pm
Ghost

Well said, people need to stop pretending they are the experts, let the facts come out and let the experts do their job. There is a time and a place for this, and it isn’t right now.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is aware of “misinformation” being spread following the Mount Maunganui landslide and is calling on people to “keep it to themselves”.

“There will be plenty of time for us to have a proper process and proper questions about a bunch of things but right here, right now, we need to stay together and support each other,” Luxon said.

“The people on the margins with their rhetoric, they just need to, frankly, keep it to themselves.”

Article
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January 26, 2026 12:39pm
- BananaLlama
  
  Yesterday you were telling commentators only eight trees were removed from Mount.
  
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  January 26, 2026 1:00pm
  - Ghost
    
    Actually, yesterday I was linking to the councils announcement of the removal of the trees. Do try to be honest
    
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    January 26, 2026 3:29pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It looks like information/location of previous slips, recent tree removal, track construction and maintenance is all on public record and it will be clear to one and all if the Government/TCC try to sweep some contributing factors under a mat.
  
  It isn’t racist to point out that the whole-scale removal of mature trees stabilising unstable slopes is a known contributory factor to landslips during periods of wet weather.
  
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  January 26, 2026 1:09pm
- RoboRob
  
  ‘Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says those sharing racist rhetoric about the role of iwi in caring for the maunga where six people remain missing after a landslide should keep it to themselves’
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584983/prime-minister-luxon-decries-racist-rhetoric-over-role-of-iwi-after-mt-maunganui-slip
  
  This post isn’t about the slip, this is about politics / culture.
  
  One this site we routinely complain that Maori organisations do not get questioned or even looked at becuase to even mention there might be an issue makes you a racist. Here we have the PM, the leader of the political right, perpetuating this crap. It is NOT racist to question if an organisation has done something wrong. The fact that Luxon, whoms parties members are routinely labeled as racist, thinks this way is a sad state of affairs.
  
  I am sure that there are people having a crack at the iwi because they are Maori, but to imply that everyone who is asking questions is a racist as a way of shutting questions down is so wrong.
  
  Oh and WTF is a maunga? Yes I can work it out based on context but this last week is the first time I ever even heard this term. I feel pity for English as a second language speakers trying to understand this stuff.
  
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  January 26, 2026 1:43pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    When some politician is invoking the racist meme to control the narrative, you can be damn sure that something stinks to high heaven!
    
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    January 26, 2026 2:52pm
    - Ghost
      
      Actually the prime minister is right when he said
      
      “There will be plenty of time for us to have a proper process and proper questions about a bunch of things but right here, right now, we need to stay together and support each other,” Luxon said.
      
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      January 26, 2026 3:40pm
      - RoboRob
        
        Strange becuase he also said…
        
        Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report he supported Tauranga City Council’s decision to conduct a full, independent review into the landslide.
        
        “There’s lots of concerns that people have about why they weren’t evacuated sooner. I think they are very legitimate, very good questions that need answers.”
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584999/fenz-warned-of-slip-near-mt-maunganui-camp-almost-4-hours-before-landslide
        
        So he is happy to investigate the council. Just not the IWI
        
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        January 26, 2026 4:28pm
      - Ghost
        
        the council is responsible for the
        
        Track maintenance
        Conservation work
        Visitor facilities
        Safety and hazard management
        Track upgrades and closures (e.g., after slips or storms)
        Pest control and native planting
        Visitor safety and signage
        Coordination with emergency services during events such as landslides
        
        The council are responsible for the management of Mount Maunganui
        
        Perhaps we can just wait for everything to come out, I know not something kiwiblog get experts like to do, but typically end up being wrong when things do come out
        
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        January 26, 2026 6:32pm
  - Paulus
    
    I am sure the previous Maori Plans for the redelopment of what is now a mess will be revived now.
    From Records available, whereby Maori as Mountain Owners will develop their Heritage Museum and all other Maori wants for a Tourist Price.
    It was said if I remember correctly that the possibility of a new Marae would be considered at the time when it was put forward a few years ago all paid for by Taxpayers and Ratepayers of course.
    
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    January 26, 2026 3:09pm
  - cmm
    
    … and I got downvotes when I suggested that the best coalition partners, in terms of having the most aligned politics, would be Labour and National…
    
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    January 26, 2026 3:11pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “There is a time and a place for this, and it isn’t right now.”
  
  Do we wait for you to give us the okay to discuss this?
  
  How about we write and respond to each other as we see fit.
  People here are sharing opinions and information, some are experts in the relative facets of this disaster and their input is valuable.
  
  We can all learn from this.
  
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  January 26, 2026 2:23pm
  - Ghost
    
    Pull your head and stop trying to make this personal.
    
    Do you think it is the right time to comment on this when they are still in recovery? Do you think it is the right time for people to be having their usual climate change caused this, the government caused this, while people still are waiting for their loved ones to be removed.
    
    There is a time and a place for this to take place, and that is after the families have grieved and buried their loved ones.
    
    There is a time and a place, and a time for people to wait for the facts and the experts to determine what happened, instead of climate change, government, or Māori.
    
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    January 26, 2026 3:33pm
    - RoboRob
      
      ‘An independent review, led by Tauranga City Council, has been opened into the events leading up to the landslide. Meanwhile, WorkSafe has announced it will be looking into the organisations that had a duty of care for everyone at the Mt Maunganui holiday park.’
      
      AND
      
      It has been revealed Fire and Emergency received a 111 call about a slip near the mount nearly four hours before the landslide.
      
      Mark Mitchell told Checkpoint he has been briefed on the call but would would not comment on it.
      
      Mitchell says a cabinet paper addressing the slip at Mount Maunganui and other weather related events will be discussed tomorrow.
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584942/live-fenz-told-of-slip-near-mount-maunganui-camp-hours-before-deadly-landslide-recovery-resumes
      
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      January 26, 2026 4:34pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You seem to be totally unaware that the MSM and Labour -Greens have already been shaping the narrative.
      
      How much media time have our MSM and politicians given over to geomorphologists and soil engineering experts who can explain how landslips develop and how to recognise sites of historical and incipient soil mass movement?
      
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      January 26, 2026 7:22pm
- Swifty
  
  I see the NZ Greens are quick to make multiple posts on social media blaming the deaths in Tauranga on climate change and attacking National for their climate change efforts.
  
  https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DY39HjL1z
  
  Has Luxon called out the Greens for politicising these events? And so soon?
  
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  January 26, 2026 4:02pm
Damocles11

It’s apparently ‘racist’ to criticise Maori decision makers & power brokers but Maori can say whatever they like about Pakeha and what they label as ‘colonist institutions’.
Unfortunately the PM doesn’t criticise so-called misinformation, instead he pathetically has to inject this term ‘racist’ into the discussion. This is why he is thought of as the embodiment of Labour Lite, a person who represents corporate wokeism more than anything else.
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January 26, 2026 1:01pm
Yvette

Despite “Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is aware of “misinformation” being spread” …

Recent news coverage of the January 2026 landslide at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park includes a graphic showing the locations of past landslides on Mauao. That graphic clearly marks a major slip from 1977 in the same general area above the campground and hot pools.

That graphic is here – Figure 4: Spatial distribution of the landslide on Mount Maunganui between 1943 and 2011.
https://cgs.ca/docs/geohazards/kingston2014/Geo2014/pdfs/geoHaz6Paper104.pdf
• indicates the area of the present slip experienced a “massive slip” in 1977

The 1977 slip is described as the largest in width of the dozens of past movements recorded on the mountain’s slopes, highlighting that landslides have significantly shaped the hillside over time.

That older landslide serves as part of the historical record of slope behaviour on the Mount, and is used in current risk assessments and discussion about the stability of the hill above the campground.

New high-resolution mapping now allows scientists to see this in unprecedented detail. A 2024 LiDAR-derived digital elevation model, which effectively strips away vegetation to reveal the bare land surface, shows numerous landslide features across the slopes.

Many cluster along the coastal cliffs, but two particularly large ancient landslides can be seen directly above the holiday park.

These older slips left behind prominent head scarps – steep, crescent-shaped breaks in the hillside – indicating where large volumes of material once detached and flowed downslope onto flatter ground below.

Subsurface evidence reinforces this picture. A geotechnical investigation carried out in 2000, near the northern end of the campground’s toilet block, found a 0.7 metre layer of colluvium – loose debris deposited by earlier landslides and erosion – buried beneath the surface.

In other words, the site itself sits atop the remnants of past slope failures.

The January 22 landslide appears to have initiated in the narrow zone between the two earlier slips. This is a particularly vulnerable position: when neighbouring landslides occur, the remaining wedge of land between them can lose lateral support, becoming unstable, like a rocky headland jutting out from a cliff face.

Over long timescales, this kind of progressive slope collapse is a normal part of landscape evolution. But when it unfolds in populated areas, it can turn an ancient geological process into a human disaster.
https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/the-mount-maunganui-tragedy-reminds-us-landslides-are-nz-s-deadliest-natural-hazard/?
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January 26, 2026 1:15pm
Yvette

In a “Conversation” article there are two images –
https://theconversation.com/the-mount-maunganui-tragedy-reminds-us-landslides-are-nzs-deadliest-natural-hazard-274201#
– showing landslides “clustered along the coastal cliffs, but two particularly large ancient landslides can be seen directly above the holiday park”. Marked L1 and L2, –
these older slips left behind prominent head scarps – steep, crescent-shaped breaks in the hillside – indicating where large volumes of material once detached and flowed downslope onto flatter ground below …

The January 22 landslide appears to have initiated in the narrow zone between the two earlier slips. This is a particularly vulnerable position: when neighbouring landslides occur, the remaining wedge of land between them can lose lateral support, becoming unstable

This may make the removal of trees relevant, or not, and could shift ownership, if any, for this tragedy
… OK, Mr Luxon?
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January 26, 2026 3:20pm
cmm

Time to start fining, or even imprisoning, people who:
1) do not wear lifejackets
2) fail to carry some sort of device to assist search (flare, PLBs, marker float etc).

There really is no excuse to put other people’s lives in danger searching for you.

A new lifejacket can be had for $60. A flare $20. A marker float $10.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360929652/my-body-was-beginning-shut-down-naked-man-middle-otago-harbour
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January 26, 2026 3:23pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  Agreed – I’de suggest.
  1. Warning
  2. Fine
  3. Impounding of vessel for x months
  4. Seizure and sale of vessel.
  
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  January 26, 2026 3:58pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Should you have to wear the lifejacket when you are sleeping? How about when at anchor?
  
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  January 26, 2026 5:13pm
  - AitchW
    
    Only when underway. But you know that.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:15pm
Swifty

Electoral goings on:

https://x.com/churpanic/status/2015563579781783786?s=46

Is this kosher? Is this funded by public money?
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January 26, 2026 3:54pm
Jack5

Radio NZ is promoting Phil Goff as though he, and not the State, owned the outfit.

Today, Red Radio has Goff blasting Prime Minister Luxon as “gutless,” and accusing Winston Peters of wanting to be a “mini-Trump.”

Goff was Labour Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011. He had to resign as NZ High Commissioner in London after Foreign Minister Winston Peters said remarks Goff had made about President Trump left Goff’s position untenable.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/584958/former-foreign-minister-says-nz-must-stand-up-to-trump-defends-who-work
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January 26, 2026 4:03pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  I believe that Labour was in power when the Rainbow Warrior was bombed by the French. They let the French off and released the bombers, and allowed the French to walk over NZ with trade threats by the French.
  
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  January 26, 2026 5:56pm
  - MCōs
    
    You’re probably getting on in years and suffering from selective memory loss these days, there’s a bit more background to that decision than you remember.
    Nobody took NZs side in the whole tawdry affair and France were threatened to block access to European markets
    Furthermore
    We were suddenly required to obtain visas to enter France, which effected myself at the time. As it happened the buggers at border control didn’t even look at my passport. The requirement came in when Dad was on a train between Italy and France. The last time he was in the country was 1945 at which time they were please to see him.
    
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    January 26, 2026 7:19pm
  - AitchW
    
    Lange oversaw the whole fiasco. France threatened us with all sorts of trade sanctions. We were extorted. By the cheese eating surrender monkeys.
    
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    January 26, 2026 9:14pm
Chuck Bird

I saw Hipkins live on the Herald, trying to blame National and climate change.
7 4
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January 26, 2026 4:42pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Luxon and the Nats are on a hiding to nothing if they keep accusing “trolls” of misinformation, yet leave themselves open to hit jobs from the MSM.
  
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  January 26, 2026 7:25pm
Hugh Jarse

If there is one bad thing this administration will be remembered for it’s the abysmal media management which has let the side down time and time again. It must be like shooting ducks in a barrel for the media.
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January 26, 2026 10:12pm

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