BalpeenHammer

Our contribution has mostly been assisting in military training, humanitarian aid and giving them some ageing equipment.

OK I don't see the relevance in the conversation though. It's still money we are spending one way or another.

Last I checked our per capita contribution to Ukraine was lower than even Russian allies like China.

Again I don't care.

We can and should do more.

We should do less if not nothing. We have dire need in this country. Waiting lists are huge. Many areas are missing key specialists like cardiologists and people are waiting almost a year for assessments. People are probably dying waiting to be seen.

I agree we should be supporting the Palestinians, but these two stances aren’t mutually exclusive.

They are. We have no money to spend but if we are forced to spend money on foreign aid it should go to the most needy. There are plenty of countries helping Ukraine and nobody is helping Gaza.

We have more than enough to look after our own people AND support democracies fighting for their freedom.

no we don't. We are fucking broke. We can't afford to pay our teachers and nurses and doctors and they are fleeing the country in order to make a living.

Defending a democracy being invaded by their autocratic neighbour is something I fully support. We should be doing everything in our (limited) power to help.

I disagree that we should do EVERYTHING in our power to help. I think we should do everything in our power to help our own aging population and our children. I think that's where our money and efforts should go.

People of Ukraine are getting plenty of help from Europe and the USA we aren't really contributing anything of importance. Hell I would rather we spent that money helping helping the Palestinians who are being genocided by an invading and occupying army. Nobody is helping them out and if anything the EU and the US are helping the genocide by providing tens billions of dollars in cash and even more in weapons and ammunition to make sure Israel doesn't leave even one school, hospital, mosque, or a public building standing.

First go after the press, then the courts, then the academia, then the military. That's how you usher in an autocracy. See Putin, Erdogan, Netanyau, Orban and Trump.

Can you imagine the perverts who will line up to volunteer for this job.

Looking at genitals of children all day long.

What about other bathrooms though? You know at the mall or supermarket or petrol station?

No money for hospitals, doctors, teachers, nurses, etc but I guess the military budget comes from a different ledger entry so.....

Ok two serious questions.

1. Whose job is it going to be to inspect the genitals of the women using the bathroom to make sure they are not trans.
2. Whose job is it going be the inspect the genitals of the men using the bathroom to make sure they are not trans.

Yea that does seem super expensive. In all honesty though the way to go is multi story multi residence buildings AKA apartments. Best bang for the buck and better for the environment.

Robot development isn't going to end today. Last year this race couldn't be run at all, next year I bet one will run autonomously. Ten years from now they will be running obstacle courses.

Also why did they make one of them a dwarf 😂

It's probably a flex. Look how small we can make our motors and circuits. Also I am sure there are tons of industrial uses for short robots such as working underneath cars and such.

The difference is that murder is and should be illegal. Biased reporting is not and should not be illegal.

Think about it this way.

Trump is Putin's butt boy so eventually both Luxon and Seymour are going to make a U turn on Russia. When that happens do you want reporters that write sympathetic headlines towards Ukraine investigated by the secret police?

As for genocide well in the last few weeks Israel has bombed a christian hospital killing doctors, nurses, patients etc, bombed tents at a refugee camp killing dozens of children shut off all food and medical supplies into gaza, bombed Lebanon and Syria, killed and kidnapped palestinians in the west bank, targeted journalists, bombed a UN facility and generally continued their genodical campaign.

How many headlines have you read in the press? How many times has any of this been mentioned on TV or radio?

The press here is pro genocide and that's because the owners of the press are oligarchs who are also pro genocide.

Alas the secret police isn't investigating any reporters or editors over this issue.

Sure but not that relevant.

The point is that the secret police is intimidating journalists in order to prevent them from publishing politically incorrect articles and headlines.

Prefab housing has been a thing for a very long time all across the world. There are massive economies of scale and automation when you build panels in a factory and just assemble them on location.

I don't know why they never caught on NZ but I suspect it's a combination of regulations and lack of will from the public.

Having said that even 335,000 seems like an insane amount of money for the house alone. Given you can't buy land for under 500K in most places that still puts the total value at about a million dollars or above.

I would not be surprised at all. The GCSB is presumably investigating various people all day every day as the core part of their job.

This is so dishonest. You know this isn't happening. If you actually believe that GCSB is investigating reporters and editors for publishing pro US or pro Israel content I have lost all respect for you.

I’m really struggling with your argument.

I thought I was very clear. The press should remain free. It should not be pressured by the government whatsoever. Reporters should not live in fear that they are going to be investigated by the secret police for publishing articles.

You are saying that the foreign owned press is manipulating the public through media and that in your opinion we should not do anything about that?

Yes exactly. The government should not be messing with the press.

This is different from your position which is that the we should only do something about this when it involves publishing articles which are politically incorrect and against government policies and positions.