eljay 1,719 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 Has anyone been to check on the health of the thousands of overstayers in South Auckland? meomy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shodsie 208 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 https://www.msn.com/en-nz/lifestyle/lifestyleroyals/meghan-markle-and-jacinda-arderns-friendship-detailed-in-new-book/ar-BB17TjZx?li=BBqdk7Q at least the media are covering the big stories Gruff 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,719 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 That's a relief! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruff 2,790 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 63% of 3,000 odd border staff never tested Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Lady 67 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 On 8/11/2020 at 10:32 PM, 100 1 said: Fear porn at it's finest Billy is the only one calling out the Covid Scam...he had information from the Military that this was all planned from the beginning. NZPublic Party https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandPublicParty Read the comments after Jacinda's statement The people are waking up The people aren't waking up you dick-head , 'the last time i looked over 60% of NZ were still hanging their hat on Jacinda's labour team and climbing !!!! meomy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
100 1 1,386 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 7 minutes ago, Proud Magpie said: The people aren't waking up you dick-head , 'the last time i looked over 60% of NZ were still hanging their hat on Jacinda's labour team and climbing !!!! The fake news are lying to you dick- head How come the poll that the people actually clicked the mouse on themselves had Collins ahead by 6%? About 40points different from your fake news poll.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idolmite 2,531 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 28 minutes ago, 100 1 said: The fake news are lying to you dick- head How come the poll that the people actually clicked the mouse on themselves had Collins ahead by 6%? About 40points different from your fake news poll.. So you're tipping Billy TK to make it in? And Collins for PM? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
100 1 1,386 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 7 minutes ago, Idolmite said: So you're tipping Billy TK to make it in? And Collins for PM? A lot of information/truth will drop between now and the election and Billy will gain massive momentum as he is the only one talking the truth. He will ride on the back of Trumps campaign as people are exposed. The longer the election is delayed the more momentum for Billy' He is drawing more people online and at meetings than any other politician. The comments on the FB page often have around a 1000 comments. Silent majority Unless he is shut down by the deep state/media for the crime of telling the truth. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meomy 971 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 6 hours ago, shodsie said: https://www.msn.com/en-nz/lifestyle/lifestyleroyals/meghan-markle-and-jacinda-arderns-friendship-detailed-in-new-book/ar-BB17TjZx?li=BBqdk7Q at least the media are covering the big stories @shodsie find the one about the Scientists telling Politicians not to scaremonger, newshub have brought it to the fore... It was originally published in the NZ Medical Journal. We'll worth a read. A good investigative journalist would delve into the backgrounds of the 50 Scientists who signed it at the time. Bound to be a few who are now thinking in hindsight they were pressured to sign something they are now questioning. Will any of them spill the beans who has been pushing their own financial greed & narcissism? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruff 2,790 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 Authoritarianism in Auckland – AIER www.aier.org/article/authoritarianism-in-auckland meomy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meomy 971 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 Why has Prime Minister Ardern & Director of Health Ashley Bloomfield been giving their latest lockdown announcements at 9.15pm in the evening which is outside standard business operating hours & 5.30pm at the end of standard business operating hours & after Government Department hours are CLOSED for the day? There are laws in place in respect of receiving mail / communications that involve legal matters under the Postal Act amongst other Acts There has always been a 2-3 day time frame for arrival of & receipt of communications . There's also inclusion since the official recognition of email as a mail delivery service. Are we really still in a state of Civil Emergency? Or are these announcements coming under the Public Health Act? I don't recall any mention of what jurisdiction they are speaking under, do you? Is the timing of these Official Government announcements that impact on ALL New Zealand people's lives "reasonable" or been provided at a "reasonable" hour of the day? Wake up people, exercise your legal rights Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idolmite 2,531 Report post Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, meomy said: Why has Prime Minister Ardern & Director of Health Ashley Bloomfield been giving their latest lockdown announcements at 9.15pm in the evening which is outside standard business operating hours & 5.30pm at the end of standard business operating hours & after Government Department hours are CLOSED for the day? There are laws in place in respect of receiving mail / communications that involve legal matters under the Postal Act amongst other Acts There has always been a 2-3 day time frame for arrival of & receipt of communications . There's also inclusion since the official recognition of email as a mail delivery service. Are we really still in a state of Civil Emergency? Or are these announcements coming under the Public Health Act? I don't recall any mention of what jurisdiction they are speaking under, do you? Is the timing of these Official Government announcements that impact on ALL New Zealand people's lives "reasonable" or been provided at a "reasonable" hour of the day? Wake up people, exercise your legal rights Do you every read back some of the self-serving shite you type and think to yourself "I really am a twat and should have my internet privileges removed before I make a complete arse of myself?" Tell you what; it's too late already. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
100 1 1,386 Report post Posted August 14, 2020 So the fake news who gave us the Trump Russia collusion conspiracy theory bullshit for 2 years are now going after the NZ Public Party for asking the tough Covid questions that their bought and paid for reporters won't. The reality is the NZPP will gain unprecedented momentum as the truth unfolds. Best campaign advertising ever. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122435979/coronavirus-dangerous-covid19-conspiracy-theories-on-the-rise As the truth gets exposed you will see the words CONSPIRACY THEORIST being bandied about like never before and that means you are BAD. The reality is the CIA invented the term after the JFK murder to silence the doubters. The public has been brainwashed since....try' investigating corruption' instead Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idolmite 2,531 Report post Posted August 14, 2020 2 hours ago, 100 1 said: So the fake news who gave us the Trump Russia collusion conspiracy theory bullshit for 2 years are now going after the NZ Public Party for asking the tough Covid questions that their bought and paid for reporters won't. The reality is the NZPP will gain unprecedented momentum as the truth unfolds. Best campaign advertising ever. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122435979/coronavirus-dangerous-covid19-conspiracy-theories-on-the-rise As the truth gets exposed you will see the words CONSPIRACY THEORIST being bandied about like never before and that means you are BAD. The reality is the CIA invented the term after the JFK murder to silence the doubters. The public has been brainwashed since....try' investigating corruption' instead You should change your logon to Miss Information Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 14, 2020 Know Us By Our Deeds – Bungling the Borders By CS The Prime Minister has exclaimed that we should know them by their deeds. We’ve covered their deeds with housing, their deeds with flu vaccinations and the Prime Minister‘s lying. Now, with the community transmission outbreak sweeping Auckland, we should know them by their deeds at the border: Newshub can reveal that just one week before our current community outbreak, 63.5 percent of all border and hotel isolation workers in Auckland had never been tested for COVID-19. The Prime Minister says all staff will now face compulsory tests, but a public health expert says it beggars belief this wasn’t already happening. They’re part of our most high-risk group: airport staff like Customs and Immigration, hotel workers like security. All work in the vicinity of recent returnees, yet only a fraction had been tested prior to this outbreak. Remember when they told us they were bringing in the Army to sort out the border after their last fiascos? Digby Webb was going to sort it all. What’s the bet Digby Webb looks more than both ways now when he crosses the road. Well, the Government hasn’t sorted it, and that’s entirely on the Prime Minister. She’s failed in the most catastrophic way. It is beyond belief that those working in and around the border and isolation facilities haven’t been tested at all. This is negligence in the extreme. I’ll just bet the bus drivers that carted them around likewise have never been tested. What is the government going to say when it is revealed that people in isolation were flown around the country in planes with healthy people who were just going about their business as normal? What are they going to say about people in isolation shopping at Greenlane Countdown and visiting local cafes because they were vegan? The Government, far from being competent, are in fact an omnishambles, and as more information comes to light, the wisdom of fighting an election campaign on COVID will seem rather rash. The “Covid Queen”, it appears, has no clothes. Know them by their deeds she told us. Know them by their deeds, indeed! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 14, 2020 Covid Disruptions By Dr Muriel Newman The news that Auckland was being ordered into an Alert level 3 lockdown for three days, and the rest of New Zealand into Alert Level 2, came as a blow to a country that is still struggling to recover from a lockdown assessed as “the most stringent in the world”. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had justified her hard-line approach on the basis that the virus would be “eliminated”. But the new outbreak shows how unrealistic that was. The re-emergence of the virus confirms the warnings of health experts who said from the beginning that influenza viruses like Covid-19 are too infectious to eradicate. The original four COVID-19 cases were discovered in a South Auckland family, with no known connection to overseas travel or to anyone who works in isolation facilities or at the border. A woman in her 50s had a fever and cough for five days before being confirmed positive, and the Mt Eden finance company where she works has been shut down with 130 employees now being tested. Her husband, who had been on sick leave for nine days with flu-like symptoms, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, after first being sent for a test the previous Thursday. All 26 employees at the cold storage facility for imported goods in Mount Wellington where he worked had been sent home and were being tested. One of the couple’s daughters – a woman in her twenties – and her pre-schooler tested positive, while her partner and a second daughter of primary school age, were negative. Meanwhile, the infected mother had visited her brother and his teenage daughter who attends Mt Albert Grammar School, while the infected elder daughter and her pre-schooler had travelled to Rotorua and Taupo for a holiday and to visit relatives. To date, thirteen more cases were identified yesterday – mostly work colleagues and family members – and thirteen more today. All except one, which is still undergoing investigation, can be related back to the original cluster. The outbreak has raised questions about who knew what and when. Doubts have arisen because the Government, which had “eliminated” Covid-19 for over three months, had suddenly begun issuing warnings about the potential for community transmission and lockdowns. They also did a U-turn on facemasks, changing from vehemently opposing them to recommending that everyone get one – “just in case it’s needed”. There must have been a trigger event to cause such a significant shift in the Government’s PR messaging. Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking asks, “Just why, when we were celebrating 100 days of no community transmission, is the government launching ‘yes to the test’, and telling us to buy masks? There was suspicion, that proved correct. Did they know something was wrong and didn’t tell us?” As a result of his investigations, veteran political journalist Richard Harman reports: “The Director-General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, confirmed that he was made aware there was a potential case in South Auckland just before 3 pm on Monday. “That person was swabbed yesterday (Monday) when they presented to their general practitioner with symptoms,” he said. “That test was processed twice and returned positive.” “So on Monday, Bloomfield had a positive test result for one person in South Auckland. However, the Prime Minister said the first she learned of the case was late yesterday afternoon [Tuesday]… ‘roughly 4 pm’.” So, is it feasible that the Director General of Health would deliberately withhold the information about a new case in the community from the Prime Minister on Monday, only informing her 24 hours later on the Tuesday? Richard Harman believes there were earlier indications that something was amiss: “There are other signs that the Government was expecting something like what has happened. On Friday, the Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Coordination held an unscheduled meeting. No one knows what that was about but COVID would be highly likely to be on its agenda. The same day, Bloomfield, began a campaign to show how to wear masks and suggested people should wear them one day a week to get used to them. If there are further outbreaks of COVID-19, masks will be another important component for the Government’s strategy, he said.” There have also been four unexplained cases of travellers from New Zealand arriving in their home countries and testing positive for COVID-19 – one arriving in South Korea, two in Australia, and the latest arriving in Japan this week. With the Director General now belatedly admitting that the virus may have been circulating within the community for weeks, questions are now being raised about the truthfulness of the messages that have been coming out of the Beehive. Certainly, concerns that front-line health workers were chronically short of protective equipment were consistently raised during the pandemic only to be brushed off and denied. Later investigations, however, not only revealed the shortages existed, but that they also contributed to some of the COVID-19 deaths. It was the same story with the flu vaccine – with the public being urged to get vaccinated, doctors complained of shortages, which were denied by Ministers and the Director-General. However, a TVNZ investigation confirms that the public was being misled. And this week we have seen a repeat of the same story over testing swabs – GPs say they do not have enough while the Director General says there are plenty. These are not the only examples of an inconsistency between what the Director General and Government politicians are saying, and what is actually happening. Alarmingly, it now appears the regular testing, that had been announced was being put in place for all staff coming into contact with high risk travellers, was never introduced. Back in June, following the release of two infected and untested sisters from managed isolation, who travelled from Auckland to Wellington, the then Minister of Health David Clark announced the new procedures. Not only were quarantined passengers to be tested on day 3 and day 12 of their 14 day stay – and not allowed to leave unless they returned a negative result – but all staff involved in the airport and isolation facilities, were to also be regularly tested. In his press release, the Minister said, “Under our enhanced strategy, priority for testing will be given to those who are most likely to have been exposed to COVID-19 which is our border and airline staff… These workers include: Border workers in customs, biosecurity, immigration and aviation security at airports, and the people who clean at international airports or maritime ports; Staff who work in managed isolation and quarantine facilities, including those who drive people entering the country from the airport to the facilities; International air and maritime crew.” But this week frontline Air NZ workers have revealed that’s not happening. With managed isolation facilities in Auckland reaching capacity, returning Kiwis are being flown from Auckland to Wellington to undertake quarantine. One such flight operated last week without proper safeguards, sparking concerns that it will “only be a matter of time” before a flight attendant catches COVID-19 from one of the passengers and becomes a source of community transmission. The crew on those special flights have been refused full personal protective equipment for the duration of the journey, and nor are there any requirements for the crew to isolate after the flight. Instead, they are free to operate regular scheduled flights immediately afterwards. Reports have also emerged that bus drivers ferrying returning passengers from Auckland Airport to hotels in Hamilton and Rotorua are not being tested even though they are in close proximity to infected passengers for hours on end. Some drivers say they have never been tested – not even once. There have even been reports about people working in isolation facilities not wearing face-masks – as Newstalk ZB’s Kate Hawkesby explains: “And speaking of masks, I was sent a photo yesterday, of someone staying in managed isolation at one of the Auckland quarantine Hotels. They were surprised with all this mask talk going on, how few people inside the actual hotel were wearing them. Inside the lobby, where the photo was taken, there was a barista standing at a coffee machine, with a security guard in front of him waiting for a coffee, alongside a guest waiting for a coffee too. None of them were wearing masks. If ever there was going to be a risk of community transmission, I would’ve thought surely that’s it?” These types of risks were identified in a Health Ministry report, Minimising the risk of a Covid-19 outbreak from border arrivals, that was leaked to the media last week. It says that frontline workers caring for travellers – including airline crew, customs officers, caterers, hotel staff, security, cleaners and bus drivers – posed a greater risk of spreading COVID-19 into the community than returnees breaking isolation rules. And with a new report from Newshub confirming that almost two-thirds of Auckland’s 3,000 border and quarantine workforce has never been tested, it is clear that the Government’s promise of regular testing of all workers involved in keeping our borders safe has not been fulfilled. Is this how COVID-19 has leaked into our community? It is certainly thought to be what happened in Victoria in Australia – that the virus was spread to the community from a quarantine facility worker. Given the lackadaisical approach by the Government to border management that has been reported by workers, it certainly looks as if their failure to keep our borders secure may have led to this community outbreak that has closed down Auckland and put the rest of the country at risk. The Deputy Prime Minister certainly thinks so, revealing to Australian television that the new COVID-19 cluster is linked to a breach in New Zealand’s quarantine system. The Leader of the Opposition says she is extremely disappointed in the Government: “I am, like I’m sure the rest of the country is, extremely disappointed that this [COVID-19] has been allowed in through our borders.” With all election campaigning on hold, and Auckland in a partial lockdown, Judith Collins is now calling on the Government to postpone the election until later this year or early next year: “We just can’t go through a full general election based on postal ballots and things like that, it’s untenable.” While the Electoral Commission has planned for the election to go ahead under level 2 restrictions, having some regions of the country at level 3 or higher would make it virtually impossible to run. Accordingly, the Government decided to delay Wednesday’s scheduled dissolution of Parliament to give it time to properly assess whether a September 19 election day is still feasible. This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, Otago University Law Professor Andrew Geddis, explains how an election date can be changed: “Up until the issuing of the election ‘writ’, which is the official instruction to go ahead and hold an election, the prime minister alone gets to decide when the election will be. Although the governor-general formally issues this writ, she does so purely on the prime minister’s advice. “However, that writ has not yet been issued and is not planned to be until August 16. As such, there is not yet any legal requirement that September 19 be our polling day. Should the prime minister conclude the planned election date is no longer tenable, she can simply nominate another Saturday instead. She is free to pick any date until early December, by which point the law says an election must be held as parliament’s three-year term elapses.” Professor Geddes also explains that under new amendments to the Electoral Act, the election could be delayed until next year if there are concerns that 2020 will not be safe enough to vote. The Prime Minister has said a decision on the election will be made on Monday. Whatever the result, having a free and fair election is paramount. If Auckland is required to remain under a partial lockdown, it is difficult to see how that can occur. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 14, 2020 The team of five million is splintering Tim Murphy 4 hrs ago Broadcaster Ryan Bridge will write a weekly column for Newsroom during the election campaign. Today, is the Prime Minister's lockdown strategy worth the price? The team of five million is splintering and there are early signs Jacinda Ardern’s campaign that wasn’t a campaign for re-election is wobbling. It’s becoming abundantly clear the Prime Minister’s sworn mission of stamping Covid-19 out of New Zealand is neither sustainable nor the right thing, morally, to do. I’ve had business owners call me this week in tears at the fact their enterprise is again on skid row. Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult told me businesses there will fold because the resort town’s largest source of domestic tourists, Aucklanders, can’t leave the house let alone attempt a day’s skiing. A call from Kaikoura confirmed people were chanting “f**k the lockdown” in unison and spontaneously while queuing in a local store following Ardern’s Tuesday press conference. The evidence has been just as damning. Level Four was a body blow for business. The Productivity Commission found the extra five days we spent at Level Four the first time came with a net cost of around $750 million, which translates to 22,500, quality-adjusted, life years. That was just five days’ worth. Even at Level Three in Auckland, ASB says Ardern’s approach is costing us half a billion bucks a week. That’s $100 per week per household. Worse still is the uncertainty it creates for business. Uncertainty is like cancer to free enterprise and it can spread rapidly. Firms stop investing, stop hiring, stop planning and start acting with caution to preserve their arteries. Those small and medium sized businesses able to hang on with the help of government subsidies for the first round are now asking themselves how long this can go on. It’s not just commerce that takes a whack, either. Some 30,000 elective surgeries were delayed because of the first lockdown and some have still not caught up. The Southern District Health Board estimated it would take up to six months to clear, and require the help of the private sector. The economic and social costs are too high. Her supporters argue Ardern’s approach doesn’t necessarily need endless lockdowns… in theory we can keep our borders secure, contact trace and test, remember? Reality Check We need look no further than our own backyard to see that Covid will regularly slip through our precarious border controls again and again. We have 18 isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland with thousands of staff marching in each day to work and marching out each night to a city of 1.5 million. It’s just a matter of time before there’s another slip up and, no matter how competent our dear leaders have been in ordering a lockdown, we can’t trust them to keep Covid out. Despite being lauded for her fine communication skills, somehow the Prime Minister forgot to tell the boffins that regular testing of all border and quarantine staff should have been happening. Not until Newshub’s Michael Morrah informed the nation on Thursday night that just a third of those working the borders had been tested at all did we realise just how loose this goose had been flying. There have also been question marks over our so-called gold standard contact tracing abilities. As recently as July 7, five days into his new job, the health minister told me he was yet to be convinced we had the gold standard the Director General of Health said we had, and there was particular concern about our surge capacity. Overseas, Vietnam and Australia should serve as warnings that no country can keep Covid out. The dream of a vaccine arriving soon is just that. The World Health Organisation has changed its tune on the timing of a vaccine. It’s now telling countries they need to learn to live with Covid in their communities and for a long time yet. The world record in terms of vaccine development is four years for the mumps vaccine and most take about 10 years. Dr Simon Thornley, a senior lecturer of epidemiology at the University of Auckland, puts it this way: “In New Zealand we’ve talked ourselves into a corner that we’re going to be able to do this. A long-term strategy that is predicated on a vaccine coming and seeing New Zealand isolated from the rest of the world is unrealistic and detrimental to the health of our population.” What about the death toll? Every option comes with a cost. But it seems the cost to lives was initially overstated by the Prime Minister. Death tolls of between 8,500 and 27,600 were predicted and used as justification for the harsh measures imposed. The then Health Minister David Clark told me he didn’t even know where some of those modeled numbers had come from and was unsure of others the Prime Minister had stated publicly. Whatever the case, they need revisiting. I spoke to a Swedish journalist a few weeks back to get a sense of how our two, polar-opposite approaches are working and learned their death rate is far lower than had been predicted. And that’s without any lockdowns (although there are low-level restrictions) and children still able to attend school. Most interesting is recent news that Sweden's percentage change in new cases over the past fortnight has dropped by a third. This, as neighbouring lockdown countries endure the rise of second waves. Moreover, the WHO says the death rate is now estimated at between 0.5 and 1 percent. So the cost to life is not what it was but the burden on our businesses, workers and families is all too real. The political problem "Stay home, Save lives. We will take a health first approach. We will follow the health advice from officials. We believe in science, not conspiracy. We can beat this again. We are the envy of the world in the way we’re handling Covid." Ardern has made very clear how she will deal with Covid and it involves a lot of pain for kiwis. It’s an entrenched position and a change of course risks undermining her decision in the first instance. But she must ask herself whether the health risks of perpetual lockdowns are worth the economic price. Ardern’s ability to clearly communicate decisions has never been in doubt, but increasingly her ability to make them is. We can’t insulate ourselves from Covid’s impact on the global economy, but can make sure we don’t exacerbate the problem by shooting our own in the foot. meomy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack 429 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 meomy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meomy 971 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 @rdytdy There was never ever a Team of 5 million, that was PR Spin driven & made up by who? To add to the mix, the lastest cases are supposedly a "new strain of Covid 19". Isn't it a new type of Coronavirus where KOCH's Postulates haven't been established & the "source" of a disease is found? The left hand Advisors we are ALL paying considerably with our "public health" don't appear to know what the right hand is doing or saying, nor the legal obligations they have nor abiding by their own Code of Ethics. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meomy 971 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 Are there others here who have written to the Gvt & not been listened to or considered who are part of Associations? We reliably heard The Dental Assn who are trying to operate as businesses & provide a service have been ignored by Gvt. They are unhappy there legal rights have been run roughshod to. Maybe it's time to gather together as a "cluster" on places like Change.org & join forces with others in similar situations, including having input through The LAW SOCIETY & submissions to Gvt. Who is this current Gvt's Legal Team? we know Victoria Casey & Aaron Martin, David Parker are 3 of them, paid for with "public funds" One has to question if they are Fit & Proper persons to be legally representing New Zealand Society. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meomy 971 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 Who signed off documents & on what "facts" to obtain loans from The World Bank to bankroll this Coronavirus? Some data belonging to those people must be placed in the public arena as it's ultimately the people of New Zealand paying for this unfortunate situation. Gvts are supposed to act with Integrity & Transparency. What is our current Standards & Poor rating? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 COVID Coincidence or Dishonesty? By Danny The Prime Minister, the Government and the Director-General of Health would have us believe that last week’s announcement about masks and the Director General’s very public COVID test were just a coincidence and had nothing at all to do with the outbreak in South Auckland. To quote the NZ Herald at 10:56 on Tuesday night: “Bloomfield said he was advised just before 3pm today and Ardern said she was told about 4pm.” Which has since been repeated several times. Many of us wondered at this remarkable coincidence, but being part of the trusting team of five million, we were willing to take them at their word. But what if they weren’t telling us the whole story? To quote the superstar of climate change: How dare they!” The BFD. How dare they! A little bird told me today that mid-last week, there were security guards outside the address in question. The same little bird told me that they wondered why at the time. After all, they thought to themselves, why would anybody want to keep people away from their house. It seemed a little odd. Later, through another little bird friend, they found out that it was for health reasons (meaning a suspected COVID infection), and that means health authorities knew there was a problem brewing at that address. That being the case, it’s a long stretch to expect the long suffering public to accept this remarkable series of events linking last week and this week as a coincidence. There are two possibilities: The two top dogs were telling the truth and didn’t know, in which case they should resign and look for new jobs because the level of ineptitude in their management of this whole thing is beyond belief, or, they simply didn’t tell the truth. Neither is acceptable. If my little bird and his little bird friend are correct, Gerry Brownlee is completely vindicated for saying we’re not being told the whole story and so are those of us who have been saying so from the beginning including Opposition Leader Judith Collins. This government has already proved itself to be about as transparent as a 2 metre thick solid concrete wall, and some might argue, about as bright. Several little birds tell me they’re on very thin ice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 The Danger Is Not the Virus – It Is Ardern By JC We now find out there is every chance we have been locked down again because Ardern didn’t act hard and early with regard to testing of those working at the border. According to Michael Morrah from Newshub, as of a week ago, nearly two-thirds of Auckland’s COVID-19 border and isolation staff had never been tested. This woman is incompetent beyond belief. The problem she had wrapping fish and chips is obviously a true story. A public health expert says it beggars belief that testing wasn’t already happening. Professor Des Gorman says that, in an environment where your border is your major protection against a second wave, you should be exhausting every possible opportunity to mitigate risk. Professor Michael Baker, Otago University Epidemiologist agrees. He says we need regular testing of the staff working at the border and in managed isolation who have contact with infected people arriving in New Zealand because that is how future outbreaks start and probably how the most recent one started. Professor Baker believes an official inquiry is needed into the entire outbreak response. Ardern says all staff will now be tested. “We are working through getting testing of all our border staff as we speak. We are giving us a period of time to make sure we do that.” she said. This should have been happening in February! We are now in August. Six months on, and the border situation is still a mess. Anyone with half a brain could work out the necessity to test these people. Her pal Bloomfield is equally to blame. He is running a department that is also in a shambles. Vaccine shortages. Swab shortages. This is surely the most basic of strategies to have had in place. These are the people most likely to be at risk. There are 2,980 of them. As of last week, 63.5% had never had a test. This is outrageous. Ardern, Woods and Robertson can prattle all they like but I wouldn’t believe a word of what comes out of their mouths. They might sound better than Davis, Twyford and Jackson but they are proving to be equally as useless. That a bunch of blundering idiots can be riding so high in the polls is a joke. It is unbelievable that yet another crisis has been brought about due to the Government’s incompetence. This lot has been proven to be rank amateurs with everything they touch. Hugs, kisses and kindness just don’t cut it in the real world. We have a woman in charge who is way out of her depth. This whole fiasco has been brought about by a Government which is nothing better than a collective of con artists. They are all spin and no substance. The circumstances the country finds itself in is entirely due to their lacking the mental capacity to have in place the most basic of requirements both at the border and in the places where people are quarantined. This is costing the country in lost revenue, lost wages, lost jobs and ultimately businesses having to close. The Government is having to borrow solely due to its own incompetence. They have been exposed by the only decent investigative journalist we have – Michael Morrah. Well done to him and shame on Ardern and her useless band of fellow cohorts. Not one person in this Government can be trusted to speak the truth. It’s a mix of spin, obfuscation or downright lies. The danger is not the virus – it is Ardern. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdytdy 5,341 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 Wild Goose Chases and the Blame Game Used to Hide the True Picture By CS Have a care for Chris Hipkins. He’s in the hot seat at the moment because the ‘COVID Queen’ Jacinda Ardern can’t ever be seen to deliver bad news, so it’s up to poor old ‘Chippy’. And there has been plenty of bad news of late. The virus has got loose in the community and the genome sequencing suggests it hasn’t been here before. That’s what they keep saying. But what they won’t say out loud is that the only way it could have got here is via what is increasingly seen as a lax and porous border system. Which is why we are now seeing a blame game in play. While poor old Chris Hipkins takes the flak as he stands in for Jacinda Ardern, he is seeking to distract from the obvious by blaming it all on frozen chooks or some other product bringing it in; rather than the bleeding obvious, that it transited with people arriving from Australia. The Australian New Zealand Food Standards organisation says that’s rubbish that the virus could catch a lift in a chill-tainer on a slow boat from whereever. Even the owner of the cool store says it’s rubbish: The managing director of Americold international says he can “completely rule out” any suggestion that Auckland’s Covid-19 cluster was caused by freight from his Melbourne factory. Americold managing director Richard Winnall said the company’s Melbourne site – which had two workers test positive for Covid-19 last month – has not shipped anything to Auckland for “months and months”. The government needs someone to blame, because if it isn’t via freight then that means it’s through the border with people, and they’ve been at great pains to tell us all they’ve done a grand job at the border. We now know that they haven’t of course. Which is why Chris Hipkins is throwing shade at his officials for the lack of testing. Health Minister Chris Hipkins says he is frustrated and disappointed the Government was misled about the level of Covid-19 testing of frontline border staff. But he says he is working quickly to mitigate the issue and yesterday signed an order making it compulsory for all staff working at the border to be tested. This comes after Hipkins admitted that just 60 per cent of all frontline border working at the Jet Park hotel – the country’s main Covid-19 quarantine centre – are being tested at least once a week. “Obviously I’m very disappointed by that,” he told the Nation this morning. “It has been frustrating – things have not moved as quickly as I would like.” He’s frustrated and disappointed? What about the third of the population now under lockdown and travel controls who are the ones actually suffering for a failure of the very people who told us that they had this under control. Little wonder there is a seething sentiment of anger bubbling away under the surface. Hipkins himself was issuing press statements about how grand it all was at the border just a few weeks earlier: Hipkins said this morning testing at the border had not been happening at the rate the Government had been asking for, or at the level the Government was told was happening. “We were told several weeks ago that testing of all staff at the Jet Park were being tested every week.” So sure of that advice was Hipkins that he put it in a June 23 press release, headlined: “New Covid-19 testing strategy to keep New Zealand safe”. Clearly the ‘one source of truth’ wasn’t telling anything like the truth back then. I’m not sure why we should believe anything he or Jacinda Ardern has to say on the matter, quite frankly. Clearly the ‘one source of truth’ wasn’t telling anything like the truth back then. I’m not sure why we should believe anything he or Jacinda Ardern has to say on the matter, quite frankly. So we have freight being blamed, and officials being blamed, while Aucklanders pay the price for utter failure at the border, of which the government is in sole control. This is why they need these distractions from what Occam’s Razor tells us must be the case. That the breach of our border protection from the virus has come as a result of human to human contact – the most likely vector for this virus. Further, that it can only have have happened as a result of a failed strategy that Jacinda Ardern led. That’s why Fran O’Sullivan is pointing the finger at the real problem: But if Covid is to be the defining issue for the September 19 election as the Prime Minister has intimated, Ardern’s management of the response to ensure her elimination strategy works must be tested. The Prime Minister’s superb communication skills have oft papered over the major weakness of her Government — the ability to execute. The failed “Year of Delivery” proved that. She is an acknowledged master of political spin. We see that at the 1pm daily press conferences where, ever alert to Ashley Bloomfield saying a word out of line, she steps across him with an explanation, checks him with a direct look, and even proffers her own advice on issues like personal protection when the health chief ventures into tricky political territory. He should be doing that himself. But while she is vested in the day-to-day fray, she has been caught short when it comes to ensuring that what she promotes at the press conferences is actually delivered. That was obvious with the inept failures at the border earlier this year. Ardern relied on the bureaucrats’ words. But until Cabinet Minister Megan Woods was parachuted in as the Prime Minister’s point person, the checking was woeful. It was Woods who got out and inspected isolation facilities to see if potentially infected people were being appropriately monitored. Ardern is trusting. But this is basic. And the Government still dropped the ball. Until this week there was no compulsion to virus test those working at the border or in managed isolation facilities. Nor has there been comprehensive batch testing to check for community transmission. Even when Auckland went into alert level 3 lockdown this week, there was no compulsion on citizens to wear masks when out and about. But the timing could not be more fortuitous for the purposes of holding an election which does canvass the important issues. What it has done is to create the environment for a deep debate on New Zealand’s approach to dealing with the coronavirus. Jacinda Ardern wanted an election based on her response to the Chinese plague. Well, she’s got one now, and the evidence being presented is one of abject failure on her part. Far from ‘saving us’, she’s actually let the virus back in and they are spinning like a top to blame anyone but themselves. Which is why we’ve seen the language change from claiming to be world beaters and eliminating the virus, complete with a happy dance, to now saying that it was inevitable that the virus would come back in. Clearly the gains weren’t locked in and, contrary to her claims that we’d avoid yo-yoing in and out of levels, that is exactly what we have now got. Whenever a politician says “We have always said…” what you are about to hear next is a lie. They haven’t always said that; in fact, they said the opposite. So, tell me again why we should trust anything these spinners say? Could we please have some honesty from the podium, rather than the spin we are being fed. TurnyTom 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
100 1 1,386 Report post Posted August 15, 2020 When Tom Hanks is one of the first people on the planet to test postive you know it immediadiatly you are watching a deep state scamdemic. The chances of that are more than 500m to 1 The good thing is these people are going to pay the ultimate price for their crimes against humanity. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...