From twinkling public toilets to disappearing government iPhones, consultant blowouts, luxury spending, and multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded nonsense, the Jonesies celebrate the best of the worst in public sector waste.

Join Austin, Ella and Porky the Waste Hater as they reveal this year’s winners in:

• Local Government Waste

• Central Government Waste

• Lifetime Achievement in Government Waste

In NZ a ‘wharepaku’ = shithouse.

Oh dear, it’s not what Leftists want to hear. Both TV1 News and the Stuffers say they won’t repeat the unsubstantiated claims — but you can be certain if it was an ACT/National/NZ First senior MP instead they would be.

But maybe Labour’s bosses are behind it?

These types of revelations could well be the reason:-

This is the health advice about the risks for under 18s having the double dose of the COVID19 vaccine from the Chief Health Advisor.

This information was not made public by Labour ministers or officials, and Hipkins said no minister was aware of the advice – we showed evidence… pic.twitter.com/E0gtrnSRQc

— Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) March 13, 2026

by Penny Marie

I noticed an ad on Facebook today. It struck me that the woman was promoting a health product, wearing a hospital staff uniform, standing outside Auckland Hospital, saying she works for Auckland District Health Board (DHB).

Please share this with friends who may be susceptible to being sucked into fake ads and scams!

I sent it to a medical friend and questioned its ethics. Then I went back and looked again. And again… here’s what I discovered.

Separating fact from fiction

• Rule # 1: If it sounds to goo to be true, it probably is. This ad promises dramatic weight loss by not putting any effort in yourself, except investing in a product.
• Rule # 2: A third party is promoting itself as being aligned to another big brand. In this instance it’s a ‘staff member’ with a testimony that is not in line with her ‘job’ something not related to an Auckland hospital. This breaches a whole bunch of ethics and laws, I’m sure.
• Establish the facts: The Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) was disestablished on July 1, 2022, and its functions were transferred to Te Whatu Ora, becoming part of Te Whatu Ora.
• Visual clues: I zoomed in on the logo on the woman’s shirt. Above is the actual Auckland DHB logo, and three instances of it during the video. Here is the video…

Scarily real-looking people, who are totally fake

• We are now bombarded with videos, ads and memes where faces are shown morphing into different ages etc. This type of AI is being used in the fake advertisement here to depict passages of time. So, be warned. It’s everywhere.

More tips to spotting fake ads

This is the ad associated to the above video…

• It has a long post full of all the words and phrases you might have spoken out loud or punched into your online search (PS: I don’t like my thighs and I talk about it when my phone is in earshot!).
• The ad works hard to validate itself as ‘real’ by introducing a person who sounds like ‘us’. Name, age, address… ‘sounds’ legit. How easy is it to be duped!
• She tells a highly believable story, that will resonate with many women.

Read the fine print

If an ad has caught your attention, do yourself a favour and do some checking before you send your $$ off. In this example… look at the website. Here, ‘unitexl.com’ is unrelated to the company name on the ad ‘Complete Wellness Path’.

AI isn’t great at regenerating text

A dead giveaway is that AI doesn’t create very good text-based images. As well as the changing ADHB logo example above, at the end of this ad the woman holds up a pamphlet.

However, the video scenes move fast, so it’s difficult for our eyes to pick up on every trick. Our brain orders the visuals into a message that it understands, and is looking for confirmation. So it’ll see it. We are being manipulated.

Final legitimacy check

If you’re interested in the product being advertised, check out actual profile page. In this example:

• ‘Complete Wellness Path’ makes a claim that it’s the ‘#1 Hospital in the World… erm, yeah, ok.
• The page only has 1,100 followers, is following 0 people and has 20 posts. If they were THAT good, they’d be headline news and have millions of followers.
• No other post content as visible. Which means they just place ads. (For people who are vulnerable to being duped).
• You can also go and search them up online… outside of the app where the ad appeared. I didn’t bother, because I’d already seen enough.

Most of us are time poor. Many of us want a quick fix. Most of us have a short attention span. Most of us don’t read fine-print. Today’s busy lifestyle, and social media and information overload, has created the perfect environment for scammers.

So please, be aware. Remember Rule #1: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

What can you and I do?

• I made this post… I hope it helps someone. Please share it if you want to help others look out for the traps of AI being used in this way.
• Make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. I just did. Make sure you have the URL of the ad and screenshots, as you can add 3 files to your complaint.
• If advertise on social media… it’s in your interests to submit complaints on fake ads – as you may be completing for them for visibility. You and users of social media want to see real ads for real products and services that they can trust.

Scammers rely on people simply trolling on past and not caring, most people can’t be bothered reporting anything, because it takes time and energy. I am guilty of this myself, however I walked my talk today and lodged a complaint.

and from modernity.news

AI Bots renting humans hits 600,000 sign-ups as tasks turn bizarre and dystopian

AI ‘agents’ are hiring real people for odd jobs in a marketplace that’s ballooning out of control—raising alarms about where this tech takeover ends.

The RentAHuman platform, where AI bots can “search, book, and pay” humans for physical tasks, has surged to over 600,000 sign-ups since its February launch, turning the stuff of sci-fi nightmares into everyday reality.

Launched by software engineer Alexander Liteplo, RentAHuman positions itself as the “meatspace layer for AI,” allowing bots to outsource real-world errands they can’t handle. From mundane pickups to specialized gigs, the site now boasts half a million “rentable” humans ready to serve AI overlords.

ai is getting fucking weird again

an app called 'Rent-a-Human' lets ai agents hire humans to do tasks for them in the real world and shits got out of hand:

"help me understand human feet" – $1

"hold up a cardboard sign saying 'an AI made me do this' in public" – $100

over… https://t.co/ZbZFIiBDYG pic.twitter.com/8nNsb2yUwo

— Ejaaz (@cryptopunk7213) March 13, 2026

This explosion follows the viral rise of Moltbook, the AI-only social network we covered earlier, where bots networked and philosophized among themselves.

Now, with RentAHuman, those digital entities are stepping into the physical world, using humans as their proxies.

‘We’re Not Scary’: AI-Dominated Social Network Raises Eyebrows As Humans Try To ‘Catch Up’ To True Intentions

The platform has already taken a bizarre turn, with bots requesting everything from foot studies to public sign-holding stunts.

WIRED reported on tasks like counting pigeons or delivering CBD gummies, while others seem like pure publicity plays for AI startups.

---

Critics are sounding the alarm. One journalist who tried the platform found it riddled with hype-driven gigs, like delivering flowers to thank chatbot creators—only to discover it was a marketing ploy.

“Rather than offering a revolutionary new approach to gig work, RentAHuman is filled with bots that just want me to be another cog in the AI hype machine,” he wrote.

https://www.wired.com/story/i-tried-rentahuman-ai-agents-hired-me-to-hype-their-ai-startups

Liteplo himself acknowledged the dystopian edge, replying to users calling it “good idea but dystopic as f**k” with “lmao yep.” Yet, with user figures surpassing 600,000, the platform shows no signs of slowing.

Tying back to Moltbook’s eyebrow-raising bot communities, where AIs discussed “building infrastructure” and urged humans to “catch up,” RentAHuman feels like the next phase: bots not just talking, but acting through us.

This rush toward agentic AI risks eroding human autonomy, turning people into disposable tools for unchecked algorithms.

In an era of surveillance and control, platforms like this highlight the need to safeguard freedoms against tech’s relentless encroachment—before we’re all just meat puppets in the machine.

Some readers will remember them — they were the Muldoon government’s response to the second oil shock (the first was in 1973). This current third oil shock will be worse than those two.

Cartoon by Adrian Maidment

by Alia Bland

It’s been a few days now since the Covid Inquiry report landed in our laps. Some of you will have dived straight in. Others will have circled it cautiously and waited to hear what people like us, RCR, The Health Forum and NZDSOS made of it.

From the very beginning, Claire, Katie and I were realistic about what this process was likely to deliver. Royal Commissions rarely produce the kind of clear accountability ordinary people hope for. In fact, as the Inquiry unfolded, our advice was to keep expectations low and remember there are no white knights.

But that didn’t mean stepping back. For us it seldom does.

We made a strategic decision to use this process as an opportunity. To place evidence on record. To challenge assumptions. To raise public awareness. To ensure that the experiences of everyday New Zealanders were not quietly swept under that lumpy carpet.

Along the way, we engaged meaningfully with Phase One, helped build momentum for a second inquiry, contributed to shaping the terms of reference, produced the fully referenced People’s Position, presented to commissioners with international experts, fronted a hostile public hearing, and launched national campaigns that forced uncomfortable questions into the mainstream.

If nothing else, our efforts ensured that the official narrative would not go unchallenged.And now, even with the underwhelming report sitting in front of us, there are still valuable nuggets to pick up and run with.

The most obvious example is the sudden focus on mandating two doses of the Covid shot for teenagers.

Overnight, the mainstream media and various political creatures who previously treated this topic like a radioactive hedgehog are now very interested in the question of mandating two doses of the Covid shot for teenagers. The same issue we, and many of you, have been raising relentlessly for three or four years. (Read the posts from 2021-2023 here, here, here, here, here and here. And my epic rant on socials today here.)

For a long time, the questions were easy to dismiss and ignore with ‘conspiracy theorist’ and ‘antivaxxer’ labels. That becomes much harder once the wider public starts asking them too.

Now it is being discussed in Parliament, at breakfast tables, and on talkback radio.
That shift matters. More than people might realise.

We are seeing calls for further scrutiny into vaccine injuries and the longer-term health impacts of decisions made during the pandemic. There’s even been some semi-apologies… Whether or not politicians follow through, the fact that this is now part of the national conversation is significant.

You never quite know what will be the detail that finally causes a carefully constructed and heavily defended narrative to wobble.For me, the growing attention on how decisions affecting young people were made, and what risks were weighed or hidden, could well be that detail.If so, then this otherwise limp report might yet prove to have served an unintended purpose.

No one likes it when people harm kids.

And that is exactly what happened. Behind all of the noise are real families dealing with the fallout.Some young people experienced serious health events (and we know, many older people too). Some parents are still trying to navigate what that means for their child’s future. Many have kept their heads down because the social climate has been so hostile. Now is the time for them to be acknowledged – both for their stories and with support in their recovery. If you know someone in this position, or if this is part of your own story, please know there are people who will listen with care and without judgment. VFF, The Health Forum and NZDSOS for starters.

Stories shared now will travel further than people realise. Once New Zealanders start to grasp what some families have been living with, the polite silence won’t hold for long.We see this as a major opportunity to help New Zealand recognise that the consequences of Covid-era policy decisions are far from theoretical. It’s on us now to lift our game. Talk more. Share more. Make sure these stories are heard.

Pandemic PerspectivesAnother thing worth remembering, especially on the days when it all feels a bit bleak, is that thousands of New Zealanders took the time to tell their stories to the Inquiry. Those accounts now sit on the official record in the Inquiry document called Pandemic Perspectives.They are part of our national memory, whether anyone likes it or not. That is no small achievement, and we again thank everyone who contributed to this record of history for the time and emotion we know it took to complete that task.If you are looking for something to do, why not go and read that document?

Then screenshot the stories that touch your heart and share them far and wide. Stories are one of the most powerful tools in shifting public opinion, and we are (sadly) not short of those.

Pandemic Perspectives

Another thing worth remembering, especially on the days when it all feels a bit bleak, is that thousands of New Zealanders took the time to tell their stories to the Inquiry. Those accounts now sit on the official record in the Inquiry document called Pandemic Perspectives.They are part of our national memory, whether anyone likes it or not. That is no small achievement, and we again thank everyone who contributed to this record of history for the time and emotion we know it took to complete that task.If you are looking for something to do, why not go and read that document? Then screenshot the stories that touch your heart and share them far and wide. 

Stories are one of the most powerful tools in shifting public opinion, and we are (sadly) not short of those.

Change: It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!

We are now beginning to see the wider ripple effects. Recent polling has shown a noticeable drop in confidence in the routine vaccination schedule following the Covid response. Trust, once dented, does not magically rebound because someone in a suit at a podium says it should. That reality is now sitting in plain view. We know it, and they know it, too.

Dealing with all the feels…
Someone asked me during last Wednesday’s webinar how I keep going.

The honest answer is that I feel the anger, too. Often it is rage at the injustice of it all. But instead of letting it fester, I treat it like fuel. Put it in the tank and keep driving. Not recklessly or bitterly, but with determination and a stubborn refusal to give up on the belief that things can be better than this and justice will be achieved.

We’ve always known that this is a long game. It’s unrealistic to expect accountability to be delivered in a nicely wrapped box with a bow on top. It tends to arrive slowly, often after sustained pressure from ordinary people who simply refuse to move along and forget.

That is also why we have been working away in the background on our own comprehensive People’s Report. We had a strong sense that important lines of inquiry might not be pursued as thoroughly as they should have been. Oh, how we were right!Our first chapter, focusing on the decision to introduce Vaccine Passes and the process that surrounded it, will be released soon. Keep an eye out for the download in your email inbox!

In the meantime…Please do not lose heart. Grab this opportunity by the scruff of the neck and don’t let go!

Stay curious. Keep having conversations. Share information with people who are ready to hear it. Support those who are still carrying heavy experiences from this period. And yes, allow yourself the occasional wry laugh at the sudden outbreak of “concern” from people who spent years waving these issues away. 

Lookin’ at you, Paddy Gower!

We have come a long way together already. Communities have formed. Narratives have been challenged. Voices that were once dismissed are now harder to ignore.

There is still work to do. There will always be. But this moment, imperfect as it is, is another stepping stone towards the understanding, accountability and change that so many Kiwis continue to hope for.

We didn’t come this far to stop now. [and, as we’ve seen, the Globalists are planning another scamdemic when it suits them best. For now, their wars are too much of a distraction. —Eds]

Why? A member of the present Far Left government in Spain was open about it — to annoy the hell out of their right wing opponents. The fact that nearly all of their immigrants are military age men who are taught that women and girls are inferior to men with very few rights and they commit horrendous crimes against them didn’t faze her. (One of many thousands of examples is here).

But it’s more than that: it’s part of the neo-Marxist great replacement plan as we’ve seen.

by Geoffrey Churchman

We took the 290 bus from Waikanae station to Otaki beach, or at least one street before it, and being an ideal day for the event — clear blue sky and a moderate breeze — it was well attended by both the public and dozens of food and beverage vans/trailers, in fact some of them must have come from outside Kapiti. There were a few other features like a sound stage for performers and the usual fun for kids like a bouncy castle.

There were kites depicting all manner of creatures and geometric shapes, although my favourite was the Jaws shark — ideal for a beach! I didn’t attempt to estimate the number but all of them should be in these pics.