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April 10, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 10 April 2026

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NeverMindTheBollocks

What are these people like? A woman left her newborn in neonates (which means it’s a crack baby), plus another child also in hospital, to with her partner smash her way into a home and assault a wheelchair bound inhabitant. Drugs are the root of it, of course.

At least she has been sentenced to prison, as has been her partner (who is not described as the father of any of her children).

Her mother, who has cancer, is looking after her other children.

Words fail me.

God only knows how much this family of ferals is costing the taxpayer.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/591937/mum-brooke-knight-left-newborn-in-waikato-hospital-to-help-her-partner-with-a-robbery
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April 10, 2026 8:01am
- David Garrett
  
  Nevermind: Yes…these people literally inhabit a different universe – which our bullshit justice system actively enables.
  
  And for those not familiar with the Sentencing Act, a sentence of 22 months means she serves 11 – and then only if she doesn’t get Home D, which she probably will.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:22am
  - imalwaysright
    
    DG
    
    I watched a documentary where a US scumbag assaulted a bus driver.
    
    Because he had a previous conviction he got the mandatory full 10 years in prison followed by 10 years parole.
    If we had that we would become relatively crime free very quickly.
    It may be a better scheme than 3 strikes.
    
    In NZ the Judiciary don’t stop at a second chance, they don’t even stop at 200 ‘second’ chances.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:40am
    - septic skeptic
      
      I’m not excusing our pathetic sentencing, but the flaw in your argument is that the US does have that, and isn’t relatively crime free.
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:05pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        It is relatively crime free relative to the crime rate that would occur if people like this were put back into the US society rather than prison.
        
        I think that 95% of crimes in NZ are committed by 5% of criminals, that’s a very high rate of recidivism, if they were in jail then our crime rate would plummet.
        
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        April 10, 2026 12:42pm
      - David Garrett
        
        septic: Sadly you are right about the US – despite 26 states still having capital punishment, their homicide rate overall is about three times ours – much more than that in some cities.
        
        What long sentences do do very well is keep the ferals away from decent law abiding people for longer.
        
        When we were pushing three strikes, our constant mantra was that it would deter those persons capable of being deterred – and in fact it did that much better than we expected – and keep those who could not or would not be deterred away from the rest of us for much longer.
        
        At the end of the day there will always be recidivism – it was so in the days of hard labour, and it will always remain so.
        
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        April 10, 2026 12:50pm
      - Graeme Hall
        
        Many of the larger cities in the US are controlled by Democrats who declare their cities as sanctuary cities, which means criminals get set free after committing terrible acts. They also cut funds to the police and got District Attorneys elected who refused to charge criminals. You can have the most draconian prison system and sentences in the world but the US has shown these will be ineffective when undermined by activist politicans & judges.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:33pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      There are some in NZ who just want a 20 year holiday at the taxpayer’s expense.
      Drugs are an easy way to get this done.
      Dropkicks!
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:44pm
- Paulus
  
  Are costs important as these people inhabit as part of out Society and continues to get worse.
  Our Mental Health facilities and costs are exponential – why and by whom ?
  Angry spent $2.9 billion and did not achieve one new Mental Health bed !
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:27am
  - Taieri
    
    The current government’s record on this score is not exactly all that shining either.
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:59am
    - Jack5
      
      Mental Health Minister Doocey says the State trained 514 new mental health and addiction professionals over the last year, up from 457 “when we first started reporting on this data”.
      
      Doocey has targeted 25 per cent of mental health and addiction funding to be invested in prevention and early intervention.
      
      The Minister’s background includes similar work, some of it at the controversial Tavistock medical centre in England.
      
      Cynics might say that by trying to prevent mental illness, Doocey’s swung the emphasis to the chronically unhappy away fom truly ill people such as schizophrenics and the severely depressed.
      
      Our psych nurses, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are under severe pressure, and must find it hard to fit in training recruits.
      
      Regardless, it’s not Doocey’s fault that some sick people who once would have been cared for in mental hospitals now beg in our streets.
      
      That’s the result of populist opposition to mental hospitals. This was partly fired up by the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” but was more the result of fear of electric-shock treatment (ECT) in earlier days.
      
      Then it was applied without anaesthesia, and apparently was used as punishment in some rogue institutions.
      
      ECT, applied nowadays with anaethestics, works in many cases of severe depression and mania, and according to the second link below, is sometimes used to avoid danger from some medical drugs.
      
      Minister Doocey on training mental-health staff:
      
      https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/mental-health-workforce-target-exceeded
      
      A case for ECT use:
      
      https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/electroconvulsive-therapy/about/pac-20393894
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:07am
      - David Garrett
        
        Jack: Well said – particularly regarding ECT. Much of the hysteria about it is down to ignorance – and as you say, movies like” One flew over…”
        
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        April 10, 2026 12:54pm
    - R
      
      Unfortunately, when a govt changes post election; the same deadwood activists remain in the public service providing research to the Ministers. Election eve should be a time to begin a clean out of incompetence, as determined by the incoming govt.
      
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      April 10, 2026 4:23pm
  - KH
    
    Paulus: Andrew Little spent big in mental health and achieved a lot.
    Did you not know about the Access and Choice he set up in General Practice. Health Coaches and Health Improvement Practitioners everywhere around the country. A wonderful move.
    Before you make the smart remarks, look it up.
    (And just so you know I don’t vote Labour)
    
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    April 10, 2026 11:17am
    - Ghost
      
      Wasting your time. I’ve linked to where that money went, he’s just interested in the ever lame 1.9 billion, he’s increased it by a billion, and not a single bed. I agree that spending went to where it was needed and did a lot if help.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:27am
      - Jack5
        
        Has anyone around the blog had experience with these folk?
        
        There seem to be two types of health workers in this “wellness” scheme. It would be interesting to know the value to GP’s, who seem to provide bases.
        
        “Health coaches” don’t seem to need a formal qualification. Who selects them and who monitors them?
        
        “Health improvement professionals” seem to be trained and approved by Te Pou, as far as I can tell from the Internet. State-funded Te Pou Ltd is a Waikato-based registered charity and is one of a group of charities called the Wise Group.
        
        One obvious question is professional standards and who polices them?
        
        For example, both types of workers will deal with confidential information from patients. Is there any professional oversight in this?
        
        What they do:
        
        https://www.thedoctors.co.nz/healthcare-team/health-improvement-practitioners-and-health-coaches
        
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        April 10, 2026 12:49pm
    - Paulus
      
      I had for very many years and still do first class Health treatment by my Doctor, and the local great Hospital in Tauranga – well before Angry Andy for whom I would never vote.
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:50pm
  - KH
    
    Jack5: Yes. Our family has experience of these people.
    My report is they are “Marvellous”
    Well trained, available, and working with the right clients.
    The Access and Choice Programme is a great step forward. Andrew Little went over the heads of the establishment to set it up and what a great result.
    (and just so you know, I don’t vote Labour.)
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:03pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  There’s a large portion of NZ society that lives beyond the gaze of middle-class NZ unless a crime is prosecuted.
  
  One of the best recent documentaries (2 episodes) I’ve seen is Motuhaketanga – which looks at the lives and disfunction of 3 women as they leave prison.
  
  https://www.maoriplus.co.nz/show/motuhaketanga
  
  Each of the women have fine qualities and talents, but their addictions, poor education and family messes are ever present, waiting to trap them and a younger generation into a cycle of addiction and offending.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:29am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Everyone knows that illegal drugs are addictive and cost a lot of money, which has to be found from somewhere.
    That money is always found.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:18am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Drugs, booze, gambling, toxic relationships…..and an inability to walk away from them when times get tough.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:29am
- NothingLeft
  
  Female drug addicts should be on forced contraception. With rigorous enforcement. Failure to maintain it adequately getting pregnant should see termination and tubal ligation.
  
  It’s just evil to doom kids to enter the world drug-fucked.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:41am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Do you know any doctors? How many of them would be ready and willing to forcibly perform invasive surgery on a woman who’d had to be dragged screaming and struggling the the operating table?
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:38pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      When Doctors are willing for payment to mutilate children during gender reassignment procedures then anything is possible. And, I assume any patient would be sedated well beforehand so no struggling involved.
      
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      April 10, 2026 5:46pm
  - lifesgood
    
    But, but, but, you can get money from the government for an extra kid.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:07pm
Simon

MARCO RUBIO: “We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years because there will be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the Dollar that we won’t have the ability to sanction them.”

Former President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

“The world no longer accepts a single nation dictating the fate of all others from across the ocean. The system based on the dollar and military pressure is exhausted. If Washington wants to avoid its own downfall, it must learn the word ‘respect.’ We are not a colony—we are a civilization thousands of years old. Every attack they launch against Iranian soil only hastens the end of their influence on this side of the world.”

You need to know what the other side are saying. He is right. Iran has got this. Especially in view of what the US side is saying. Both sides agree

Also note the big role China played in reining in the wanted war criminals currently running Israel. Surprisingly also even covered by RNZ. Look it up. China learned Israel real good.

Which of course is related to what the former Iranian prez is saying.

It’s a fast changing world. Get some new educations.
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April 10, 2026 8:02am
- lastmanstanding
  
  It seems to me the best asset the US has is Kharg Island. They can either take control of it (risky) or destory it (less risky). Either way it would collapse the Iranian economy. This would be the best chancw for regime change. A moderate regime that agreed to give up its Nuke programme and missiles etc would see international funding flow in to rebuild the economy.
  The alternative I see is a long protracted war of attrition.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:24am
  - rouppe
    
    Do you not think that crashing the Iranian economy would cause overwhelming anger by the public against the USA?
    
    A regime change really needs to happen without destroying everyone
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:48am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Yes, and ice-cream and ponies for everyone would be nice too.
      
      Politics is the art of the possible. How exactly does US effect regime change in Iran without incurring huge military losses?
      
      Interdiction of oil might work and is cheap and low risk
      
      Ground invasion would be horrendously costly and protracted, but US could pull it off if they had the will and a trillion bucks to throw at the problem.
      
      Supplying small arms to Iranians opposed to Mullahs might work, but would take a long time.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:45am
      - rouppe
        
        None of what you talked about has anything to do with destroying power infrastructure, which would devastate the civilian population. Devastating the civilian population would entrench the regime, not end it.
        
        Destroying power infrastructure would essentially be throwing a hissy fit and pissing in the sandpit before leaving it. It would be counter productive.
        
        Ground invasion would be submitting to sunk fallacy thinking that got them into trouble in Vietnam.
        
        Regarding the Strait, I’m still curious why Oman is so quiet. Oman is 90% Ibadis and Sunni, Iran is Shia. Why can’t shipping run on the Oman side of the Strait? Is it too shallow?
        
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        April 10, 2026 12:56pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        Well, the US could decide that regime change in Iran is unrealistic and none of its damn business anyway, instead recruiting and working constructively with allies to share information, technology and plans to constrain Iran’s ability to export harm.
        
        Or it could recruit and work constructively with allies to share information and develop well-informed plans entailing propaganda, targeted aid,and funding and resourcing for opposition groups within Iran, possibly around the leadership of the Shah in exile or perhaps identifying and supporting another candidate.
        
        Or it could explore possibilities around what would persuade Iran to desist from work aimed towards acquisition of nuclear weapons and subject themselves to independent verification, acknowledging that Iran’s going to expect something in return. It appears that this approach was under way and going reasonably well when it was rudely interrupted by the murder of dozens of schoolgirls, followed shortly afterwards by the murder of those who went to their rescue.
        
        What’s definitely not going to work, however, is several years of actively pissing off everybody who might otherwise have been persuadable, with a well-thought-out case backed with solid evidence and analysis, to help.
        
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        April 10, 2026 1:01pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “How exactly does US effect regime change in Iran without incurring huge military losses?”
        
        How about they just don’t effect regime change, as if they have some duty or right to do so?
        
        I’m sure the staggering irony of a policy of regime change on selected “undemocratic” nations effected by military force or other subversive means is not lost on any thinking person.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:12pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      But how else will the American taxpayer be able to give their hundreds of billions of hard earned cash to pay for the zero bid reconstruction contracts…?
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:57am
    - Paulus
      
      The people of Iran have been dogmatised for over 40 years with crap coming from the Ayotollah who set up a vicious mental and physical environments , controlled by mentally substandard men.
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:54pm
- Paulus
  
  Ahmadenajad should wake up and consider why his country has become a pariah in the last say 50 years.
  Calling it a civilisation of thousands of years in itself a misnomer as we all can see, even the people of Iran, who dare not say, that you have become very cruel and uncivilised.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:32am
  - Taieri
    
    Civilisation is a word of many meanings. Up to about 150 years ago, there’s quite a few European countries (including the US) where some forms of slavery were still common. Were they “uncivilised”?
    The Mesopotamia, which, apart from Iraq, also includes parts of present day Turkey, Kuwait, Iran and Syria, is a cradle of the oldest known civilisation, yet hardly any of these countries were not “very cruel” in the past, or today for that matter.
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:52am
    - rockape
      
      But most outgrew that barbarism. Sadly the IRGC wants to remain in the 7th century but nuclear armed so they can deliver even more death and destruction.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:35am
      - Paulus
        
        As said yesterday Israel has Nuclear weapons as defensive, whereas Iran’s would be entirely offensive.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:57pm
    - Paulus
      
      How does in New Zealand the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840 compromise that ?
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:55pm
  - Wandering Star
    
    Particularly since the post-7 October actions it has taken, Israel is considered more of a pariah than Iran is. After all, Israel is in fact the sort of illegally nuclear-armed rogue state that Iran allegedly is, but only in the delusional and/or deceitful minds of Israeli propagandists.
    
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    April 10, 2026 2:17pm
- Swifty
  
  God you write some rubbish.
  
  Almost without exception the countries of the Middle East would welcome the end of the Iranian terrorist regime – the major cause of instability throughout the region.
  
  They not only applaud recent US and Israeli efforts the are actively supporting them.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:34am
  - kowtow
    
    It’s a crazy world .
    
    The leaders of the Muslim Arab countries support Trump and Israel in order to survive in the face of religious extremism from Iran.
    
    Western European leaders oppose Israel/ Trump in order to survive their own religious extremists who’ve migrated there by the multi millions.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:11am
    - Swifty
      
      Indeed.
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:29am
    - Notsofast
      
      Exactly true.
      Appeasement to their imported barbarians by denying air space to people who care about the 40,000 murdered in cold blood.
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:41am
      - Wandering Star
        
        “The 40,000 murdered …. ”
        
        What? Bari Weiss initially pulled a figure of “30,000” out of her posterior without evidence, and now it’s somehow morphed to 40K?
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:23pm
    - KH
      
      Lots of folk here have fallen for the propaganda about this war.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:19am
    - Drone
      
      Many of the people Middle Eastern people who have “migrated” to Europe have been displaced in their countries of origin by the actions of America attempting regime change in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and now Iran. Lives and countries have been destroyed by America and its allies resulting in, at times floods of refugees fleeing to Europe.
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:31pm
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        THe USA has now lef tthose places and they reverted to the way they were.
        
        Why aren’t these people going back home?
        
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        April 10, 2026 1:47pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        The mass influx of middle eastern migrants every time another war for Israel kicks off should alone be reason enough to repudiate completely Israel. Ultimately, Israel’s fortunes are inversely related to the West’s fortunes.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:26pm
  - Simon
    
    “God you write some rubbish.”
    
    Sorry you sound like the National party. Not operating in the real world. Trump insiders, the sane ones like Rubio, are dealing with reality.
    
    Whatever claims people make against Iran the reality is Iran now has a powerful ally, China and US influence is declining, both dollar as Rubio states. And militarily as anyone can see. Hormuz shipping for eg. US. Navy could not get close.
    
    Iran for their own dismantled US military installations in Gulf Arab states. There was wide spread retreat by US military. That is the IS military could no longer safe guard its Arab gulf vassals.
    
    Iran has got this.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:28am
    - rockape
      
      Exactly what damage did Iran do to the US Navy . Compare to the damage the US Navy did to the Iran Navy, airforce missile systems and leadership.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:53am
      - Wandering Star
        
        The US may have destroyed Iran’s navy, but that’s irrelevant when the US has now been humiliated due to the economic pressure Iran has been able to exert just by controlling shipping lanes.
        
        The crude tactic of dropping thousands of bombs on the Iranians hasn’t had the effect the Judeo-Americans expected it to have, which has enabled a strategic victory by the Iranians.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:29pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Here is the link to Tousi tv. where I get much of my info from. He does a live stream in the morning (our time) then posts it. The first 10 or 12 minutes is very interesting in this case – the article is about 1 hr. long.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaDArwWqVhw
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:32pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

There has been much comment on Nancy Pelousi’s success in her stock market investments, along with insinuations that insider knowledge may have informed her picks.

It’s only fair to note that some of Donald’s chums seem to have made a killing by placing Polymarket bets ahead of the Iran ceasefire announcement.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nancy-pelosi-beat-market-581-162100416.html

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Suspicious-Oil-Bets-Before-Trumps-Iran-Announcement-Under-Scrutiny.html
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April 10, 2026 8:04am
- RoboRob
  
  Yup, they are all at it. Aside from going on speaking tours, trading on insider knowledge seems to be the ‘reward’ for public service.
  
  It is interesting how people with little money go into US politics and come out very wealthy.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:26am
  - Paulus
    
    You do not mean Obama do you ?
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:33am
    - RoboRob
      
      Exactly who I was thinking of 🙂
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:38am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Don’t forget Hillary who managed to sell 20% of the US yellowcake uranium stockpile to Russia.
      Imagine the finders fee she got for that one.
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:50am
      - NothingLeft
        
        Her corruption netted a good fraction of a $Billion into her tax-proof trust
        
        Biden took at least $10’s of millions from similar Sec-of-state corruption. After a lifetime of smaller profiteering as a senator.
        
        Trump looks to have them both beat with all the deals being done by his family. Looks like they will come out of this presidency with many many billions in gains from Daddy’s influence.
        
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        April 10, 2026 11:52am
  - Taieri
    
    It is interesting how people with little money go into US politics and come out very wealthy
    ————
    
    It’s not just an American phenomenon. It happens in virtually every country. Including NZ of course…
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:35am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      J.A. Yep she has done well from NZ
      THAT is why she comes back – money – TV programs———-
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:54pm
  - R
    
    Some people understand investing and the geopolitics relationship; and don’t what for someone to tell them what to do! It is part of being aware.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:21am
- virtualmark
  
  I can’t help thinking that a future Democrat-led administration will investigate this, and presumably there’ll be prosecutions.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:34am
  - Don Beckett
    
    You’re joking. The Dems are up to their necks in it.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:34am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Sure the Dems are dirty as fuck, but they bar no holds going after the other team when they get the chance – and have more success as they own the judiciary and jury pools in most big metropolitan areas, especially DC and New York, and lawyers tend to be afraid of going against them lest it hurt them professionally.
      
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      April 10, 2026 3:42pm
  - RoboRob
    
    It is well known. They need to vote in laws to ban share trading but the people who would vote those laws in a busy making bucks by share trading.
    
    There are a number of senators that talk about banning trading but its just words for votes. Hell Pelosi even proposed a ban at one point, the irony being she had the power and numbers to put it in and chose not to.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:43am
- Dougal10
  
  The difference is nancy pretends not to be like that , but donald embraces making profits from everything he does .
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:22am
- Graeme Hall
  
  Nancy Pelosi posted a staggering 16,930% return on investment, and beat the market by 581%.
  
  She, and her real-estate investor husband Paul, beat all the professional fund managers hands down with the power of inside knowledge. Yet like many Democrats she constantly lectures people on the need for equity, diversity and inclusion.
  
  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nancy-pelosi-beat-market-581-162100416.html
  
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  April 10, 2026 2:47pm
Damocles11

‘Iran’s new supreme leader has released a statement demanding ‘blood money’ from the US and Israel after denouncing them as ‘criminal aggressors’.
In a message attributed to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, he told the Iranian people: “By the grace of God, we will certainly not let go of the criminal aggressors who attacked our country.”
“We will undoubtedly demand compensation for every single damage inflicted, the blood money of the martyrs, and the diyah of the war-wounded.”
He was also quoting as saying that Iran will take management of the strait of Hormuz into ‘a new phase’, but did not elaborate on what that would be.’
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April 10, 2026 8:05am
- virtualmark
  
  He sounds as disconnected from reality as Mad King Donald.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:35am
- Swifty
  
  Well, he would say that wouldn’t he?
  
  He would hardly say “We’ve been utterly destroyed, our navy, Air Force, ballistic missile capability, command and control, bases and weapons storage, weapons manufacturing, our leadership – all gone.
  
  We’ve been utterly humiliated in front of the whole world.”
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:39am
  - kowtow
    
    They resort to 21st C piracy , something their Houthi proxies are also doing and the west, which once would have landed marines and blown them to bits are clutching pearls and getting their panties in a twist.
    
    While cheerleading the actual Mad Mullah crazies.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:14am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    And the US has nothing to show for it, except the mistrust and contempt of the entire world
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:17pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Too much CNN>
      
      6 3
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      April 10, 2026 1:45pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Nothing to show?
      [Mod – debate the topics or get a ban]
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:57pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        What has changed for the better as a result of the US military action? Which of the US’ objectives, insofar as any of them has ever been clear, is any closer to being achieved?
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:41pm
- Gary Benner
  
  This reminds me of the scene out of Monty Python The Holy Grail. Full script of the scene here …
  
  https://thingsthatmadeanimpression.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/dialogue-from-film-monty-python-the-holy-grail/
  
  A taste:
  
  Arthur:
  You stupid bastard. You haven’t got any arms left.
  
  Black Knight:
  Course I have.
  
  Arthur:
  Look!
  
  Black Knight:
  What! Just a flesh wound. (kicks Arthur)
  
  Black Knight:
  I’m invincible!
  
  Arthur:
  You’re a looney.
  
  Black Knight:
  The Black Knight always triumphs. Have at you!
  
  Arthur takes his last leg off.
  The Black Knight’s body lands upright.
  
  Black Knight:
  All right, we’ll call it a draw.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:39am
- R
  
  Seems that the Iranian government bureaucrats don’t yet understand why they are at war with the western world
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:23am
  - Wandering Star
    
    They aren’t at war with the Western world though: Israel and the US Executive are at war with Iran, and Israel isn’t even a Western nation.
    
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    April 10, 2026 2:38pm
- Paulus
  
  Is that why the new Leader, son of, when he can be found has property in Knightsbridge we have been told valued at Stg 48 million ?
  
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  April 10, 2026 3:01pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Despots and their financial dependents prefer the safe free ‘decadent’ lifestyles of the rich countries they rail against.
    
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    April 10, 2026 3:47pm
    - artemisia
      
      It is being reported that the niece of late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and her daughter have had permanent ‌resident status revoked and are to be deported. There are photos posted of the daughter (I think from her Instagram account) that show her dressed, let us say, about a million miles from how women in Iran are permitted to be seen.
      
      Also reported that the niece has publicly supported the current Iranian regime.
      
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      April 11, 2026 5:50am
Nikola Donatello

Stupid media.

Headline : “Faster than Gabriel”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/591893/upwards-of-200mm-of-rain-could-fall-when-cyclone-vaianu-hits-north-island

This is designed to scare people. The reality is the opposite. Yes the storm is moving south unusually quickly. That has nothing to do with wind speed. It means that it will arrive and be gone quickly. By Monday it will be east of Dunedin.

Best advice for obtaining information about weather. Avoid all New Zealand media.
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April 10, 2026 8:11am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Think MSM stands for Main Scare Mongers. Only way they can get clicks or readers these days.
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:21am
  - mandk
    
    Not a bad label, but I think Mendacious Scare Mongers works better.
    
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    April 10, 2026 8:41am
  - David George
    
    Try https://www.windy.com/ for weather, anywhere in the world with multiple layers of current and future conditions – including sea waves, rain, snow, wind and much more.
    The standard version is free.
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:09am
    - Taieri
      
      It’s reasonably accurate – far more so than the MetService.
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:01am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      Not actually click bait susceptible David 🙂 – windy has the advantage of also offering multiple model options which gives one some handle on range of uncertainty
      
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      April 10, 2026 10:39am
  - PurplePen
    
    There was nothing in their report that said how fast the wind would be nor how much rain, the two most useful things to know Only that it’s a big scary wind or something.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:21pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Pisses off us boatie types.
    Oh—- Isn’t there an Election soon??? Watch for more loony bullshit!
    
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    April 10, 2026 3:02pm
- CJames
  
  How long before we get from the media that it is totally unprecedented and fueled by climate boiling? Ramping up the rhetoric.
  People need to remember today is Waiohine Day. That is why old people become so cynical about the sensationalist media. We have seen it before and realise it is all hype.
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:30am
  - MCōs
    
    Maybe the Wahine wouldn’t have made that sailing if the ‘sensationalist media’ had warned of an impending storm
    
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    April 10, 2026 8:57am
    - Albie
      
      More to the point if the forecasters had the satellite tech we have today the sailing may have been cancelled.
      
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      April 10, 2026 9:03am
    - David George
      
      I don’t think mariners rely on media fearmongering for their weather forecasts.
      If they did they would never put to sea.
      
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      April 10, 2026 9:03am
      - MCōs
        
        Quite right of course
        At that time the forecasting service was inadequate to predict the deadly storm that the Wahine encountered
        That sort of situation wouldn’t happen these days and the ship would not have attempted the crossing.
        
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        April 10, 2026 9:22am
      - Taieri
        
        That sort of situation wouldn’t happen these days
        ————
        
        Depends.
        Not that long ago, a livestock carrier sailing from Napier to China was lost in typhoon Maysak.
        Was it due to the inferior forecasting or perhaps a “young captain/commercial pressures” syndrome?
        
        At the end of 2008 I was on a ship supporting pipelaying operetions in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf when cyclone Billy struck. A client we were working for completely ignored all weather warnings and remained on station until the cyclone struck. At the time it was only category 3, but it soon increased to cat 5. Fortunately, there’s no loss of life just some damage and costly delays.
        
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        April 10, 2026 10:08am
    - I remember when
      
      Was the Wahine disaster cause by the weather or mechanical failure?
      
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      April 10, 2026 9:21am
      - rouppe
        
        Both? Or did the weather cause the mechanical failure, and then the tides wind and waves cause the foundering…
        
        Or was the mechanical failure unrelated to the ship bashing through the storm
        
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        April 10, 2026 9:53am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Pretty clear that Wellington experienced an extraordinary weather system
        
        In the early morning of Wednesday, 10 April, two violent storms merged over Wellington, creating a single extratropical cyclone that was the worst recorded in New Zealand’s history.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEV_Wahine#:~:text=On%2010%20April%201968%2C%20near,the%20mouth%20of%20Wellington%20Harbour.
        
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        April 10, 2026 10:21am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Someone on the Platform made the point that if they stayed on board there would have been few or no deaths.
        The ship was grounded, it didn’t sink.
        
        That would have been an act of faith, or 20/20 foresight, though, especially in the conditions.
        
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        April 10, 2026 11:36am
- imalwaysright
  
  On tv1 breakfast, the weather lady from the Met Service seemed almost disappointed that the cyclone was downgraded to category 2.
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:34am
- MCōs
  
  The headline must have changed in the last 23min
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:35am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Sorry I did attach the wrong link.
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360962518/cyclone-vaianu-live-weather
    
    The “Faster than Gabriel” heading has gone.
    
    It was about the speed that the weather system was travelling. Nothing to do with wind speed.
    
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    April 10, 2026 8:50am
- Master Mariner
  
  Could not agree more.
  Any system ( Inter Tropical low now) , Always speeds up once it reaches its Vetex ( Most Westerly Point), This system is coming a More Southerly approach and hence its speed.
  Simple Meteorology.
  Something out of the ordinary to Climate appocalysts.
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:37am
- Ra Henare
  
  The headline on that link actually says.
  
  Upwards of 200mm of rain could fall when Cyclone Vaianu hits North Island
  
  When I looked at 9:44am
  
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  April 10, 2026 8:46am
- Mod88
  
  The NZ mainstream Media outlets are a dead loss. It is why they shill for the NZ Labour Party. They are desperate to get that Party back in Govt. Willie Jackson as Broadcasting Minister is why, free money for them (remember the PIJF) and Interweb censorship full steam ahead along with co-governance although Minister Watts has got that one covered admirably.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:24am
- Notsofast
  
  The local weather forecast has had no wind above 40km predicted for days, and that was Sunday 1pm with 95% rain.
  I have reason to take it seriously, and regard it as an excellent weather event on that basis, as one who buys water if it doesn’t fall.
  However, flooding looks certain in parts, and for some people a catastrophe.
  It is an ill wind that blows nobody good I am bound to cliche.
  
  As an update I see 39km and 90% now.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:46am
- Don Beckett
  
  In my younger vibrant days I was a roofing contractor for a number of years – both here, and in Australia. I found that more often than not, the forecast for the specific area I was to replace a roof or fix a new one were unreliable at certain times of the year, so I learnt to read the signs in the sky myself – & of course wind direction is always a factor.
  I had a much higher accuracy record than the weatherman, and still have today.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:20am
  - MCōs
    
    There are graveyards full of trampers who read the signs in the sky themselves
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:31pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Maybe so – but I wasn’t tramping in dangerous terrain foe a week or two – I was working on a roof in a town or suburb for 1 or 2 days, with ready access to a ladder & a regular cuppa, & a beer at the end of the day, when I went home to my family.
      But you knew that, & had to be a contrarian.
      
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      April 10, 2026 1:48pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Shell Lane (The Terrace) bike rack report:

At 8.19am, just the three bikes today.

A beautiful cool, calm, dry morning in the Capital with not a cloud in the sky, ideal for cycling. Round here, it does not get better for the velocopedists than this.

To be fair, all forms of traffic are very low today, by weekday standards. Perhaps they’re all at home, tying down their trampolines.
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April 10, 2026 8:19am
- imalwaysright
  
  Wellington are still on Easter break.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:21am
- RoboRob
  
  It is Friday, a very popular day for ‘working’ from home.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:28am
- Groggy
  
  It’s school holidays
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:06am
Yvette

Predicted sea level rise
“We also know with a cyclone or ex-tropical cyclone, you’ll get the impact on the likes of the coast. We’re likely to see anywhere between 6m to 8m swells,” – [NEMA’s Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management John Price outlined some of the “critical” impacts, and urged people not to be complacent.]
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/04/10/cyclone-vainau-could-be-red-level-event-as-path-firms-up/

Sea levels in New Zealand are projected to rise by an average of 0.2 to 0.3 metres (20–30 cm) by 2050. This acceleration is expected regardless of emission scenarios, with some regions experiencing faster relative rises due to land subsidence (sinking). – Google AI

With possible 8m swells will the incoming storm not allow people to see what a maximum climate change will look like with up to about 26 times the predicted sea level rise?
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April 10, 2026 8:24am
- NothingLeft
  
  “Sea levels in New Zealand are projected to rise by an average of 0.2 to 0.3 metres (20–30 cm) by 2050”
  
  Who’s peddling that bullshit?
  
  Subsidence correct tide gauge in wellington has averaged 1.9mm/year over last 60 years with scant acceleration in evidence. So most likely 50mm rise in next 25 years.
  
  https://www.sonel.org/-Sea-level-trends-.html?lang=en
  
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  April 10, 2026 3:51pm
Master Mariner

Well its now official, The SOH have been Mined or at
least the threat of it. That is enough whether it has or has not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9rslGBcEZQ

Iran Mines Strait of Hormuz, Forces Ships Through the ‘Tehran Toll Booth’ in Its Waters

This is going to go on for a long time, Incidently the new “Traffic Route ” by Iran appears to be in Shallow water, Which “may” not allow ULCC, VLCC ( Ultra large and very Large) Tankers to safely transit, At least in the “New Proposed Route ”
https://www.fuelclock.nz/
Its not looking good for NZ.
I will say again, NZ has been let down by the DEI, ESG Ruling elite form all parties.
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April 10, 2026 8:43am
- Taieri
  
  The SOH have been Mined or at
  least the threat of it.
  ————
  
  That’s what the foreign minister Aragchi implied when he stated that safe passage through Hormuz will be subject to the “due consideration of technical limitations”. The message was very clear, I think.
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:28am
- David Garrett
  
  MM: The SOH have been Mined or at
  least the threat of it. That is enough whether it has or has not.
  
  Yes. I saw an interview on the BBC with a retired US Admiral. He asked the interviewer how many mines did she think it would take to close the strait. She made some wild guess – 50 IIRC. The Admiral smiled and said “actually just one…if you don’t know where that mine is, the strait is effectively closed”
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:32am
  - David George
    
    The mines have been claimed to be activated by remote control so more uncertainty.
    One of the first things the allied forces did at the start of the war was to sink all the Regime’s mine laying vessels and intensely surveil the straits since; what mines there are would have been laid prior to hostilities. Perhaps it’s been mined for decades in anticipation of any excuse to blow up merchant shipping.
    The Islamic Regime’s attempts to close the straits in the 80’s were only partially successful but they are now better equipped and the West then wasn’t run by such a bunch of pathetic fools.
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:04pm
Swifty

Great to see that Tiger Woods was able to turn up at the Masters:

https://x.com/bet_105/status/2042253293066363280?s=46
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April 10, 2026 8:47am
CJames

The Met Service themselves are responsible for hyping up the conditions. According to RNZ, their person uses the word “exreme”. However, it is not in the severe weather criteria
https://www.metservice.com/warnings/home#weather-criteria
Even their outlook doesn’t talk that way: https://www.metservice.com/warnings/severe-weather-outlook
Note their high confidence is >60% so only just more likely than not.
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April 10, 2026 8:52am
Ra Henare

The hilarirty re Trump and the Iran war continue.
Trump squirming to stay releavant?

“”US officials were aware that a statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the US-Iran ceasefire that was issued on Tuesday included a truce in Lebanon as part of the deal, according to media reports.””

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/04/09/the-us-knew-iran-ceasefire-deal-included-lebanon/

But Israel didnt like it so Trump, about turned, to side with Israel.
Shock Horror.
So Iran says stuff your ceasefire.

Some reports suggest the 2 week ceasefire, is primarily to allow more US Troops to be send to Middle east.

What to believe??

Especially after the F15 Rescue Mission which was apparently part of a Special Ops action that went horribly wrong. 100+ Special Opps bodies, 2 C130 Special Opp transport aircraft, 4 Special Ops Little Bird Helicopters. etc etc
All to retrive 1 downed airman. Yea right!! Belive that you can believe anything.

Am thinking Fawlty Towers episodes are being overtaken by Trumps folliesas as must watch comedies.

More popcorn ordered to see how this farce plays out.
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April 10, 2026 9:02am
- Charlotte Wells
  
  So what was the SpecOps all about? That apparenlty went horribly wrong.
  
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  April 10, 2026 2:07pm
Im Right

NZ public it seems have always been fascinated by weather stories, or is it the MSM believe this to be so?
Snow falling in areas that do not normally get winter snow….cue the front page stories of pictures of kids playing in it, heavy rain storm, cue the swollen river pictures.
And of course the left love it…CLIMATE CHANGE doomsday rhetoric.
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April 10, 2026 9:07am
- imalwaysright
  
  Don’t forget the Desert Road closing every single year.
  
  (That there is an Army base at one end of it that allows its main route north to become unuseable is the real disgrace.
  
  Why don’t they make some snowblades for a couple of LAVs and plough the road? Maybe help out the public who pay them?)
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:45am
rouppe

Further to yesterday’s conversation about the national ticketing system…

I hear on the radio that Metlink (Wellington) is now offering contactless payment for bus and train services. Great!

Except there is a 1.5% surcharge on every transaction. 🙄

Something that doesn’t happen in any other country that I’ve traveled to despite using the same card organisations – visa and mastercard – and despite them being issued by the same nz bank.

Someone has GOT to be taking the piss.
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April 10, 2026 9:08am
- Taieri
  
  there is a 1.5% surcharge on every transaction
  ————-
  
  I visited several European countries last year. No paywave surcharges in any of them. It looks like it’s just another way of rorting us in our little Paradise at the End of the World…
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:33am
  - artemisia
    
    Baby steps? A voluntary option based on current rules is a start. There will be flexibility to change if rules change, or if the parties decide to offer more options. A year is a long time these days.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:32pm
  - sungsamning
    
    I understand that the banks are due to axe the surcharge.
    
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    April 10, 2026 5:39pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Why does it cost 1.5 cents for a $1 transaction, and 15 cents for a $10 transaction?
  
  Shouldn’t all transactions cost 1.5 cents?
  
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  April 10, 2026 9:48am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Monopoly.
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:04pm
  - PurplePen
    
    I’ve always thought that. Same with any financial transaction. They’re never a fixed price. Always a percentage. Yet out of all services provided across all industries, it’s one of the few where the actual cost of the work (transaction) remains the same irrespective of the size of the transaction.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:25pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Variable arithmetic.
    
    2 1
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    April 10, 2026 3:15pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      SO
      It would be a fair bet that there are plenty who think 1.5% and 1.5 cents are the same thing…!
      
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      April 10, 2026 4:01pm
- Interested Party
  
  There’s a new law coming that will outlaw such surcharges
  
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  April 10, 2026 12:17pm
  - rouppe
    
    I believe that’s being walked back…?
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:59pm
  - RoboRob
    
    I think, after much lobbying, they decided to can that change.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:12pm
  - MCōs
    
    Except it’s been blocked by Act at the committee stage
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:23pm
Scott

Another very revealing email from Elliot Ikilei of Hobsons Pledge about the spread of cogovernance into local politics:

“another councillor has spoken up about undemocratic iwi takeovers in council.
This issue is not simply in the Far North but is also happening in Hastings.
It is clear that this is not an isolated incident. It is a nationwide problem.
Hastings Councillor, Steve Gibson, has come forward to warn that the exact same anti-democratic arrangements are taking hold in his council. Speaking with Duncan Garner, he described a situation where the public’s voice is being systematically sidelined in favour of unelected representatives.
In Hastings, unelected representatives are being embedded directly into council structures. They aren’t just there to provide advice; they are actively making decisions and influencing the direction of the region.
These individuals aren’t accountable to you, they aren’t accountable to ratepayers, and they cannot be removed democratically – yet they are shaping the decisions that affect your rates, your infrastructure, and your local priorities.
This is exactly what I was worried about, and warned would happen. When activists know they can get away with it in one region, co-governance spreads like a wildfire.”

Although the govt needs to do something about this, especially Minister for Local Government Simon Watts, the problem is far deeper.
We need to push back at all levels on the spread of cogovernance, biculturalism, essentially cultural Marxism, wherever we find ourselves. At our workplace, at the schools and churches and local organisations that make up the fabric of our community.

Cogovernance is an anti-democratic terrible idea that if implemented will lead us into 3rd world tribalism. We can’t let that happen, we all need to push back against cogovernance at every level of our community and our nation.
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April 10, 2026 9:17am
- Philview
  
  I came across this website recently discussing the level of Iwi consultancy in the building of the hospital in Dunedin. Easy to imagine this sort of thing going on around the country leading to considerable cost increases on building projects. I don’t knock the people in the Iwi organisation doing their jobs but the wider issue at a Government level bringing in all sorts of extra costs at taxpayer expense.
  
  https://aukaha.co.nz/story/whakatuputupu-the-dunedin-hospital/
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:23am
- Notsofast
  
  Maoriism, Islamism, communism.
  These are totalitarian ideologies that guarantee a drop in living standards and cultural misery for the majority.
  It is incredible how everyone is allowing this to happen.
  It is a tiny sliver of geography and history that has allowed the flourishing of great art and freedom, and the indoctrination of youth appears complete, when colliding with younger generations and hearing their parroting of anti colonialism and anti civilisation.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:50am
  - NothingLeft
    
    All caused by (mostly) women voting their feelings after a several year-stint in left wing indoctrination facilities called universities and lives increasingly decoupled from daily exposure to male opinions – living entirely in left wing echo chambers created by social media. No consideration of inevitable consequences and downsides.
    
    “You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place.” – Jonathan Swift
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:08pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  The thing is it is not even ‘co’ – anything. When the unelected dominate, that is a totalitarian hierarchy and zero ‘governance’ or anything that even looks like democracy.
  NZ is a frog being slowly, but now quite rapidly being boiled.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:32am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    “co-governance” is a euphemism for a Maori ethnostate.
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:24pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Co-governance is the Governments policy.
  Unfortunately, it is also the Oppositions policy.
  
  One is Centre Left and the other Centre Right, therefore co-governance must now be a Centrist policy.
  
  It seems the only ones who don’t want it are the pesky public.
  
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  April 10, 2026 12:10pm
I remember when

If Israel had been allowed to exist in peace with its neighbouring countries might the Middle East now be the powerhouse of the world.
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April 10, 2026 9:29am
- Swifty
  
  Absolutely right.
  
  12 3
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  April 10, 2026 9:58am
- Notsofast
  
  Yes
  The Nobel prize capital of the universe and the barbarians have fomented hatred, somehow.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:52am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Thinking about Irans strategy in the current war.
    Maybe they have better military/Political “”chess”” abilities.
    
    So for information.
    Iran has more chess players (110,000) than Israel(77,000)
    
    Overall position in International ratings Iranian players outnumber Israel players 2 to 1!
    
    Interesting.
    
    I did read a comment(sorry cant find reference) by a US Military analayst That USA is fighting a 20th Century war. ie Aircraft Carriers, mass bombing, verses Iran fighting a 21st Century war with Drones and hypersonic missiles.
    
    Interesting.
    
    The popcorn is still ready for the next move from supposedly Super Grandmaster Trump.
    
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    April 10, 2026 2:49pm
- pb
  
  Upon announcement of a ceasefire, Israel slaughtered 250 Lebanese, bombing a civilian apartment area with 100 sorties in Beirut, the capital. The worst one-day death event for Lebanese, ever. Might have something to do with the angry neighbours.
  
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  April 10, 2026 12:50pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Being used by Hezbollah to set up new HQ.
    And despite what Iran says, it was not part of the ceasefire agreement that Trump accepted.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:50pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      SUPPOSEDLY being used by Hezbollah!!
      As proved multiple times Israel has not always been truthful in its press releases. Think back to all the bS re Gaza and West Bank
      
      You need to get some facts straight Don.
      
      It WAS part of the agreed ceasefire agreement accepted by Trump.
      
      “”US officials were aware that a statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the US-Iran ceasefire that was issued on Tuesday included a truce in Lebanon as part of the deal, according to media reports.””
      
      Trump agrees 2-week ceasefire, says Iran has proposed a ‘workable’ 10-point peace plan.
      
      The 10 points.
      
      Strait of Hormuz to be reopened “under the co-ordination of the armed forces of Iran”
      Establishment of a “secure transit protocol” in the Strait of Hormuz
      The war against “all components” of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance to end(That includes Lebanon)
      US forces to withdraw from “all bases and points of deployment within the region”
      Full payment of compensation to Iran
      Lifting of all primary sanctions
      Lifting of all secondary sanctions
      Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
      Termination of all IAEA resolutions on Iran’s nuclear programme
      Release of all frozen Iranian assets and properties abroad
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:57pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        I’m happy with my facts thank you. It depends which list of demands (Iran) or the list of discussion points (USA) you are referring to and consider which is valid
        
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        April 10, 2026 7:35pm
      - Ghost
        
        Actually it depends who you believe, the Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif who is responsible for the cease fire, or the liar in the White House whose own maga celebrities are turning on him.
        
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        April 10, 2026 7:49pm
Bobba Fret

The entitlement is strong with this one.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360962168/man-loses-legal-fight-keep-dead-mothers-1m-kainga-ora-home
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April 10, 2026 9:44am
I remember when

Who knew that deliberately destroying bridges, buildings people live in or blowing up power stations was against the Geneva Convention.
As the media have shown us it doesn’t apply to Russia.
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April 10, 2026 9:51am
- Ghost
  
  MS have run many stories on russia’s war crimes, here is 5 seconds searching nz
  
  Russia-Ukraine war: ICC issues Putin arrest warrant over war crimes
  International court issues war crimes warrant for Putin
  Russia committed ‘crimes against humanity’ in deporting Ukrainian children: UN inquiry
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:10am
  - I remember when
    
    And what action has this resulted in?
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:20pm
    - Ghost
      
      what action do you think the MSM are able to take? Actually what action do you think anyone can do if Putin doesn’t travel to a place where he can be arrested?
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:26pm
- Taieri
  
  As the media have shown us it doesn’t apply to Russia
  —————
  
  There’s widespread condemnation of the Russia’s conduct of war in Ukraine in the Western media.
  
  A few random examples:
  
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russias-assault-on-ukrainian-civilians-raises-war-crimes-concerns-60-minutes/
  
  https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-missile-strike-sumy-kills-civilians-ukraine-missiles/33383716.html
  
  https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/13/europe/russian-strike-sumy-ukraine-intl
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:25am
- virtualmark
  
  The Geneva Convention has been updated since the end of WWII to cover things like attacks on civilian infrastructure that have no direct and proportionate military value.
  
  Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure almost certainly contravene the Geneva Convention. AFAIK no charges have been laid in The Hague about that but there is no statute of limitations so they could be laid at any time.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:41am
  - Taieri
    
    AFAIK no charges have been laid in The Hague
    ————-
    
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/03/18/international-court-issues-war-crimes-warrant-for-putin/
    
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    April 10, 2026 11:47am
Swifty

Interesting to see the numbers of comments supportive of the blokes who stole thousands of litres of diesel from a Martin business overnight:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DY1LJyv8a

They are ‘legends’ apparently.

One also claims that such thefts will result in lower fuel prices.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
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April 10, 2026 9:58am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Cry, laughter has left with the common sense and decency.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:33am
Damocles11

Trump is now demonstrating an uncompromising and ruthless streak as regards Iran, with a powerfully ominous ‘better not be’ post on Truth Social in response to Iran charging tolls on vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.

‘There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now! President DONALD J. TRUMP’
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April 10, 2026 10:12am
- Hard Cheese
  
  Trump doesn’t know if he’s Arthur or Martha, two days ago he said he wanted to set up a joint venture with Iran to toll the Strait. I assume the orange con man is angry now because he can’t get a piece of the action
  
  WASHINGTON, April 8 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is considering setting up a “joint venture” with Iran to charge tolls from vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
  “We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture,” Trump told ABC News. “It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.
  On Tuesday night, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “big money” could be made by the United States “helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz.”
  “We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will,” he said.
  Trump suggested on Monday that Washington should charge tolls on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that reopening the waterway must be part of any deal to end the war with Iran.
  “What about us charging tolls?” Trump told a White House press conference on Monday. “I’d rather do that than let them (Iranians) have them.”
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:38am
  - Notsofast
    
    It is interesting that a great swathe of people seem to want Iran to have nuclear weapons.
    
    The Ayatollahs looked like the most likely to use them, of Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, and Iran.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:55am
    - Taieri
      
      It is interesting that a great swathe of people seem to want Iran to have nuclear weapons.
      ————-
      
      It’s not a black/white situation; the criticism of Trump’s actions over the last 6 weeks doesn’t equal support for Iran’s nuclear programme. Strategically, so far, apart from a great damage to the world’s (and NZ) economy, he’s achieved precisely fuck all for all his efforts.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:52am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yep. The Fatwa against chemical and Nuclear weapons has died with him.
        Of course they are going gangbusters to get one.
        What everyone forgets is they can fly one in from say Pakistan ready to go.
        Im surprised how the narrative is about enriching Uranium.
        Are we that dumbed down?
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:40pm
    - SGA
      
      That’s an intriguing question, actually. Of those four, you might make a case for Israel. They are most likely to think that they could drop a nuke and get away with the consequences. 🙂
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:01pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      As a sovereign nation and at some unquantifiable risk of being attacked by Israel, I can’t see why they’re not entitled to have nuclear weapons as a deterrent like any other country. But if the international community believes that’s too much of a risk, compensate them for it – lift all sanctions, and provide them some security guarantees.
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:59pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        You obviously haven’t been hearing what the Mad Mullahs have bee saying for the last 47 years.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:28pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        @Don Beckett – you obviously think that strangling the Strait of Hormuz is something we can laugh off and continue on like life is normal. Things are going to get a lot worse. It’s all very well to say “Iran can’t have nukes” but you need a plan to achieve that, and bombing them in the vague hope of “regime change” clearly hasn’t worked. Maybe your hero Trump has a plan B LOL
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:02pm
Inandout

Quite an eye opener when Hosking interviewed John Bolton this morning. As he was sacked by Trump I expected a full on tirade against the President but it was far from, Anyway a very important bit of inside info is that Iran has been planning for years to take control of the Strait by levying every ship passing through. Strategic islands would be occupied and if the West complained about the levies well they would have the nuclear threat. A nice little earner would eventuate.
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April 10, 2026 10:13am
- Ghost
  
  its been known for 40 years, every president has been briefed that Iran would shut the strait down.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:20am
  - Notsofast
    
    So a reason to do nothing and let the nuclear weapons be acquired? I am really interested how people connect dots in this history we are witnessing.
    
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    April 10, 2026 10:59am
    - Ghost
      
      What it means…. is that for 4 decades presidents, and war exercises have known that protecting the strait was essential with any conflict involving Iran.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:41am
    - Hard Cheese
      
      Clearly bombing them was not going to work – lo and behold, it didn’t. They would have been far better off continuing negotiations and giving Iran incentives *not* to develop nuclear weapons. Trump’s brilliant “Art of the Deal” negotiation skills have put them in a worse position than when they started, they’ve literally gone backwards LOL
      
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      April 10, 2026 3:10pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Let’s wait & see how the final negotiations end up & make our judgements then.
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:42pm
  - Inandout
    
    Yes but as the years rolled on and Iran got closer to becoming a nuclear power there would be a point reached where they would become untouchable. Nuclear capability in the hands of an insane death cult regime is untenable. Kim in Korea for all his bluster is a mouse in comparison because he has no oil reserves or any wealth for that matter. Bolt conceded that Iran’s regime has been severely impacted by the last few weeks of bombings and sanity may eventually prevail if the Clerics are sidelined.
    
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    April 10, 2026 11:10am
    - Taieri
      
      It’s very doubtful that the Clerics are having the final word in the Iranian politics. By all accounts, the political power there is very complicated and quite dispersed at there.
      
      “Iran’s parliament, known as the Majlis, or ICA, is a single-chamber legislature of 290 members elected to four-year terms through direct national elections. Since the first parliamentary session in 1980, the composition of the Majlis has changed dramatically. While clerics once held more than half the seats, they made up just 5.5% of lawmakers in 2020.”
      
      https://www.dw.com/en/irans-complex-political-and-military-power-structure/a-72976165
      
      The personalites might have changed over the last few weeks but the system is still very much intact.
      
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      April 10, 2026 11:56am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Do remmeber that the council of clerics get to decide who is allowed to run for election.
        
        Rather tilts the playing field I suggest.
        
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        April 10, 2026 2:14pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      <1% casually homicidal/suicidal zealots can easily dominate a country using force-multiplying effects of modern armaments, especially when civilians lack weapons. Iranians can't extract themselves from the Mullahs bondage without outside intervention even under military pressure like this. It will take an on on-the-ground army to overthrow them.
      
      Probably best would be to establish a limited area of Iran – a city or two – for a resistance to use as a base, cleansed of IRGC support and thereby create a rallying sanctuary. Then supply the hell out of them with superior weapons and let civil war do the rest of the job.
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:21pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Having a nuclear bomb is pointless.
      
      You can’t use it because everyone else will kill you if you do, therefore you are better off without it and stick to terrorism.
      
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      April 10, 2026 12:50pm
      - SGA
        
        Most countries have nukes because it means others will be less likely to f**k with them.
        
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        April 10, 2026 1:15pm
      - David George
        
        It’s called MAD, mutually assured destruction.
        It doesn’t work so well when one party is an apocalyptic death cult wanting an apocalypse to usher in the return of the Hidden Imam and the creation of a global Islamic Caliphate. Seriously.
        MAD is not a consideration for the mad.
        
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        April 10, 2026 1:42pm
      - SGA
        
        @David George – yes and no, that’s a bit of a caricature, David. Although their teachings say that the Imam will arise from chaos and disorder, there is no obligation or incentive to create that disorder – if anything the opposite (patience and moral order until the Imam’s return). And I think Caliphate is a Sunni concept, not a Shi’a one? I am not a expert on this topic, so feel free to check.
        
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        April 10, 2026 1:55pm
      - David George
        
        Yes this was all written down by Imam al-Mahdi 1100 years ago and therefore inviolable as far as that “religion” is concerned.
        Here’s some widely sourced information.
        Intro:
        “Yes, Twelver Shi’ites (the largest branch of Shia Islam) explicitly foresee the reappearance of the Hidden Imam (Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam) as part of an eschatological, end-times framework that includes apocalyptic elements.
        
        en.wikipedia.org
        
        In Twelver doctrine, the Hidden Imam has been in occultation (ghayba) since the late 9th century CE and remains alive by divine will. His return (known as the zuhur or reappearance) is prophesied to occur at the “end of time” (ākhir al-zamān), shortly before the Day of Judgment. It is not a quiet or isolated event but is preceded and accompanied by widespread chaos, moral collapse, tyranny, wars, natural disasters, and supernatural signs—often described in hadiths and theological texts as a period of global upheaval where the earth is filled with injustice before the Imam leads the forces of righteousness in an apocalyptic struggle to establish universal justice, peace, and true Islamic rule.
        https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=2042442708808319030
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:29pm
      - SGA
        
        Yeah, David – and you can see the parallels with Revelations. Nowhere, however, are Shi’a told to create the global chaos (just as Xtians aren’t with their similar story). As I understand it patience and morality are stressed.
        
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        April 10, 2026 3:52pm
      - David George
        
        Thanks IAR,
        while that may well be true for most Shi’ite adherents, a significantly more proactive interpretation is common amongst Iranian theocrats.
        Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi Mirbagheri (senior cleric, Assembly of Experts member, and associate of hardline networks): Explicitly stated that “we will never reach the age of the reappearance [of the Hidden Imam] unless we go into widespread fighting—a comprehensive clash that will escalate into fighting.” He described fighting “in the cause of Allah” as “inherently moral” and mandatory to establish a “new Islamic civilization” preceding the Mahdi. This was in a 2019 televised interview framing confrontation with the West as a prerequisite.
        
        memri.org +1
        
        Other clerics close to the regime (e.g., Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Mousavi Jazayeri or Ayatollah Golpayegani) have linked events like regional wars, ISIS chaos, or even the Ukraine invasion and COVID-19 to “signs” or “preludes” of the Mahdi’s emergence.
        
        mei.edu
        
        The IRGC (under Khamenei’s oversight) indoctrinates with Mahdism, portraying itself as the “Mahdi’s army-in-waiting” and regional proxy wars/anti-Israel actions as “paving the way” for his return. Figures like Hojatoleslam Ali Saeedi (Khamenei’s IRGC representative) called the IRGC a tool for “paving the way for the emergence of the Imam of the Age.”
        
        mei.edu
        
        This hardline strand—rooted in Khomeini’s revolutionary ideology but amplified under Ahmadinejad (whose spiritual mentor was the late Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi) and in IRGC circles—interprets geopolitical resistance as eschatological preparation. Critics (often in Western, Israeli, or Sunni analyses) argue it drives Iran’s foreign policy as “apocalyptic politics.”
        
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        April 11, 2026 7:49am
- Damocles11
  
  Bolton has always been an enthusiastic fan of war, whereas others either feel negatively or ‘meh’ about it.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:49am
- cas
  
  I thought it was a very balanced and intelligent commentary.
  
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  April 10, 2026 10:54am
Maggy Wassilieff

Mayor of Northland tells Duncan Garner to Fuck off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYw8W9g6aps&t=301s
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April 10, 2026 10:30am
- RoboRob
  
  Duncan is trying to get Simon Watts on to discuss the co-governance issues in Northland. Watts is too busy today.
  
  I will gaurantee that he NEVER appears on Duncans podcast. There is no way National want to discuss it.
  
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  April 10, 2026 1:18pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Is Rachel Smalley mongrel enough to coach Luxon on handling NZ’s media?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider/media-insider-national-calls-in-rachel-smalley-to-help-pm-mps-with-comms-govts-stern-letter-to-rnz-over-costs-john-campbell-on-new-morning-report-role/premium/DTPXRVBD55G4LF3M3MYUEAI2OQ/
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April 10, 2026 11:11am
- Philview
  
  It probably messes with his head to be interviewed by an attractive younger woman whose purpose is to take him down.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:21am
  - Flossie
    
    Which attractive woman is that?
    
    14 3
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    April 10, 2026 12:06pm
    - Jack5
      
      Rachel Smalley was likely recommended to Chris Luxon by John Key.
      
      Way back in the day Ms Smalley as a radio jockette went to Europe and broadcast to NZ about the beginning of the refugee invasion from the Middle East to Europe.
      
      She oozed sympathy for the refugees and criticised mean Europeans who were trying to keep them out.
      
      Then back home she starred at a charity function John Key attended. Seemingly in sympathy with Ms Smalley, John Key raised (as I recall, actually doubled) NZ’s intake of refugees.
      
      Who does Chris Luxon need to get behind him: the voters or the media?
      
      It’s not disaster for a politician to be disliked by the media.
      
      The trick seems to be: turn the voters against the media. Kiwiblog philosophers might describe the choice as an exclusive disjunction: the voters or the media but not both.
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:27pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  It beggars belief that someone who’s been PM for over two years, and National leader for about 4 years, needs media coaching at this stage. As I see it he has two serious defects – he’s afraid of offending people, and he’s a poor communicator. A good communicator knows s/he has to SHOW people who he is, rather than trying to tell them.
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:28am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    Refer back to the link in yesterdays GD as to why National is a bunch of weak, milksops.
    
    They manage, the don’t govern.
    
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    April 10, 2026 2:16pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    A leader SHOWS who he is.
    A manager playing boss is David Brent stuff.
    Luxo
    
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    April 10, 2026 9:02pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  It is not rocket science. It is a simple case of you fight fire with a bigger fire. If the ebodied forehead asks racially based questions, the answer is a question straight back as to why is race so much more important than competency?
  
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  April 10, 2026 11:35am
- kowtow
  
  Yesterday on HDPA she talked of some leak , involving Cam Slater , and comms advice to the Nats , to “talk like real NZers” , part of that advise was to pepper ones comms with Maori words !
  
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  April 10, 2026 12:15pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    part of that advise was to pepper ones comms with Maori words !
    
    Foolish advice..
    
    Don’t use technical jargon, or words/languages you are unfamiliar with when communicating with Joe & Jane public.
    
    (Fluent/competent te Reo speakers can recognise tokenism as well as anyone else; non-te reo speakers will just be confused if they don’t immediately recognise the word).
    
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    April 10, 2026 12:48pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Unfortunately the use of sporadic Maori words tends to be perceived as an attempt at obfuscation.
    
    The listener is obliged to a) know the Maori word, and b) either interpret the word based on the context, or allow that the user is using it as a prompt from which the listener will develop their own interpretation of the user’s intention.
    
    This gives the user plenty of excuses for being ‘misinterpreted’.
    
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    April 10, 2026 1:05pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Or it’s intended to give the speaker an air of superiority over the ones being spoken to.
      
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      April 10, 2026 2:30pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        …c) Or it’s intended to give the speaker an air of superiority over the ones being spoken to.
        
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        April 10, 2026 4:07pm
pb

Current US admin threatens the Pope with violence, sperging on an Avignon Papacy, and US bomb power. Crazy. Trying to bully the Pope now. Killing is all they know.
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April 10, 2026 12:45pm
- MCōs
  
  The pope can’t fool Netanyahu
  https://x.com/thebabylonbibi/status/2042264082724577586?s=61
  
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  April 10, 2026 1:09pm
- kowtow
  
  Amazing , the power of this Trump administration, after what a hundred years or so of secularisation in the west, it can after less than two years turn so many atheists , progressives , educated middle classes etc into such avid supporters of religious institutions ( be it Popery or Ayatollahism) which only two short years ago were the very public target of their sneering hatred and ire .
  
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  April 10, 2026 1:23pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  PB, WTF are you on about?
  
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  April 10, 2026 2:18pm
Ghost

A primary school teacher told an 11-year-old pupil “you should come, like, see me” during a series of persistent late-night TikTok messages that left two children feeling “sick to the stomach”.

The New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal has censured Hamilton teacher Grant Daniel Spicer for serious misconduct and ordered that his register entry be annotated for two years.

Article

How about we get rid of the “New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal”, and let the police and the courts deal with the likes of Grant Daniel Spicer
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April 10, 2026 2:19pm
- ObligatoryMarxist
  
  Wait why are you mad? Do you think the Disciplinary Tribunal can send people to prison? Do you think the cops don’t arrest teachers because its the Disciplinary Tribunal’s job? They can’t remove his practicing certificate because it’s expired, putting a note in so he can’t get it back is literally the worst they can do. If the cops aren’t arresting him its probably because the only way to do so would be for a restraining order to be imposed and then broken.
  
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  April 10, 2026 2:37pm
  - Ghost
    
    oh, does suggesting police deal with adults who try to contact underage children mean I’m mad. that’s a new one……
    
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    April 10, 2026 3:16pm
    - ObligatoryMarxist
      
      Ok but why are you mad at the Tribunal? Why do you want them to be abolished for doing the one thing they can do? It’s like seeing someone punch a flight attendant, get kicked off the plane, and then want to abolish airport security and leave it to the cops? I am genuinely confused as to your argument.
      
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      April 10, 2026 4:10pm
      - Ghost
        
        awww, you still want to pretend I’m mad, how strange. Actually, I think the only mad person is the one who thinks that child grooming is ok and not a matter for the police, that child grooming should be covered up by the school and not referred to the police as happened in this case. child grooming is not ok. child grooming is not something that the teachers disciplinary Tribunal should be dealing with without the involvement of the police, it is a police matter.
        
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        April 10, 2026 11:53pm
- RoboRob
  
  Yup. Also, it appears that its only going to show on his record for two years? So that he can then resume teaching and do it again?
  
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  April 10, 2026 2:45pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Yep, Police matter.
  
  A friend works at a secondary school. Now and then pupils turn up on drugs.
  The Dean takes them to a room to ‘sober up’.
  But the question is how does the Dean know how much they’ve taken , or what they have taken?
  They could be on their way to an overdose.
  The protocol should be to call an ambulance and the Police, but the school seems to have decided that they know best.
  
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  April 10, 2026 4:14pm
Ghost

Good on them, I fully support leaving them up there until the storm has passed. Staff shouldn’t put their safety at risk feeding or watering them.

A group of youths are on the roof of the Korowai Manaaki youth justice facility in Auckland.

Police were called to Kiwi Tamaki Rd in Wiri around 11.05am on Friday following reports of “several youths” having climbed onto the roof, a spokesperson said. Efforts to get them down were ongoing.

Article
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April 10, 2026 2:25pm
ObligatoryMarxist

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/592015/judge-ema-aitken-accused-of-yelling-at-winston-peters-won-t-be-removed-from-job-panel-rules

Disappointing decision. It doesn’t appear that they’ve disputed what happened, but that one drunken screaming session isn’t serious enough for a breach? Doesn’t exactly set a great precedent.
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April 10, 2026 2:27pm
MCōs

NZ is subjected to some turbulent weather at the best of times and occasionally it’s pretty wild.
Woe betide the government forecasting service if they err on the side of caution or media outlet that reports their predictions and a predicted cyclone fades away to a mere zephyr.
And vice versa.
So as yet another cyclone/storm/whatever hoves into view sharpen your pencil that whatever happens you were right all along
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April 10, 2026 2:42pm
rouppe

As expected, Judge Ema Aitken has had a finger wagged at her in a very severe fashion //

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/judge-ema-aitken-to-keep-top-job-after-high-profile-fracas-at-northern-club-involving-winston-peters/72DZN5WXCNBHXJF36D447JM6YU/
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April 10, 2026 2:46pm
- RoboRob
  
  The only good thing is that she is only on the job until Jan 2027 anyway.
  
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  April 10, 2026 4:00pm
Swifty

I grow fig trees in pots.

Some varieties produce two crops annually. An early crop (the ‘breba’ crop) on last year’s wood and a main crop on this year’s new growth.

For my black mission figs, for example, my early crop is late Feb with my main crop from the end of March. Ripening is determined by warmth and sunlight hours.

This year has been very late, I didn’t pick my first breba black mission until March 20 and I haven’t had a main crop fig as yet – so we’re a good three weeks later than normal, perhaps longer.

Swapping notes with other growers here and in Aussie, most folk seem to be experiencing the same delay with some now giving up hope that their main crops will have enough good weather remaining in order to ripen.

I haven’t quite given up hope yet but as the days shorten and temps drop even further here in Auckland, a big fat haul of fresh glorious main croppers seems less likely.

I’d love to hear what the ‘global boiling’ guys have to say about it.
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April 10, 2026 3:53pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360962935/whanganui-council-accused-downplaying-rebrand-cost-more-55k
When will there be an end to this maori language shit ?
It is all made up day by day:
everyone is too scared to ask questions.
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April 10, 2026 4:40pm
Graeme Hall

New Zealander gets his organic matter ear-rings removed at the border by a Customs officer and goes crying to the media like a big sook. Lucky for us he doesn’t treasure fruit flies.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/591994/shamed-and-embarrassed-taonga-taken-at-border-sparks-calls-for-awareness
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April 10, 2026 5:50pm

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