General Debate 4 September 2016

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Manolo

The communist Chinese play hard ball with the piss-weak Obama administration.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-china-hangzhou-usa-idUSKCN1190AT

A Chinese official confronted U.S. President Barack Obama’s national security adviser on the tarmac on Saturday prompting the Secret Service to intervene, an unusual altercation as China implements strict controls ahead of a big summit.
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September 4, 2016 8:02am
- mikenmild
  
  A real president would have retaliated immediately, Manolo, probably violently.
  It’s almost as if Obama doesn’t want war.
  
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  September 4, 2016 8:05am
  - Manolo
    
    No, mikenmild, this is not a matter for retaliation.
    
    The Chinese are only showing the little respect they have for Obama & co.
    
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    September 4, 2016 8:18am
    - mikenmild
      
      But they wouldn’t dare disrespect a strong leader liek Trump.
      
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      September 4, 2016 8:32am
      - virtualmark
        
        mikenmild,
        
        Trump is their kind of guy. After all, they’ve already built a wall.
        
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        September 4, 2016 4:50pm
  - Icarus
    
    Obama is the biggest war monger in recent history. He should be tried for war crimes and treated in the same way as Gaddafi & Saddam were, with his backing.
    
    He is a violent savage.
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:12am
    - tom hunter
      
      Love the tag – but it should be noted that if you insist on holding your neurons together with wax it’s not a good idea to fly too close to facts and reasoned debate.
      
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      September 4, 2016 11:18am
    - mikenmild
      
      What did Obama do to Saddam Hussein to get you so upset?
      
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      September 4, 2016 11:22am
      - Icarus
        
        More worried about the millions who’s lives and countries he has destroyed. The USA was not attacking this many countries in world war two.
        
        Do you think we should shove a knife up his arse and drag him through the street, as Obama’s thugs did to Gaddafi ?
        
        Libya was one of the most successful countries in Africa, until Obama backed thugs turned it into a humanitarian disaster.
        
        Obama should be taken to Gitmo, tortured, and hung. The same way he has treated many others. It is only fair.
        
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        September 4, 2016 11:28am
      - Griff
        
        ^^^Troll
        
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        September 4, 2016 11:29am
      - Icarus
        
        Maybe Griff would like to tell us how : Libya, Syria, Egypt etc are better off after Obama’s help ?
        
        Or is he just trolling ?
        
        He probably is just reacting that way because of Obama’s skin tone and Bush blah blah blah. Pathetic.
        
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        September 4, 2016 11:33am
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Griff
        
        ^^^Troll
        
        Another of the Shawn Herles/Witness/LegioXII/KrissX “provocative personas”? Must have been a particularly inspiring Sunday morning service at the Charismatic Anglican church…
        
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        September 4, 2016 11:49am
      - Icarus
        
        Maybe Kimbo can put aside the personal attacks and have a crack at the question ?
        
        Is it because he does not like the honest answer ?
        
        Is he a bigot or a troll ? Or just a bad person ?
        
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        September 4, 2016 12:56pm
- Jack5
  
  And Obama got a “bruising reception”, too, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
  No stairs provided for Air Force One.
  
  The second link is to other foreign coverage of the Obama arrival – from the Stephie teams’ favourite Western newspaper.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/world/no-stairs-for-air-force-one-after-barack-obama-lands-in-china-20160903-gr87cy.html
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3772139/This-country-says-Chinese-official-Obama-lands.html
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:35am
  - Kimbo
    
    Nixon did better! 😉
    
    Archie Bunker: “What’ld dey teach you in dat school of yours? What, dat Marco Polo discovered China?! He. Marco Polo, he didn’t discover no China. Now, Richard Nixon – he done discovered dat dere China!”
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:32am
Griff

1. “It’s like an Internet comment troll ran for president.”–Jon Stewart

2. “The good news is, President Obama was born in America. The bad news is, so was Donald Trump.” —Jay Leno

3. “Donald Trump is the kind of person who goes to the Super Bowl and thinks the people in the huddle are talking about him.”―Eric Schneiderman

4. “Donald Trump announces this morning that he will run for president. His hair will announce on Friday.”—Albert Brooks

5. “’Yeah! OK! That sounds good!’ So now the obvious question is, will he ever not win? Yes, Trump is unstoppable. He’s like Godzilla with less foreign policy experience.” –Stephen Colbert

6. “Donald has attacked every person of color – except John Boehner.”–Joe Biden

7. “Donald Trump has come out in favor of shutting down Planned Parenthood. However, experts say, if he really wants Planned Parenthood to go under he should turn it into a Trump property.”–Conan O”Brien

8. “Donald Trump may be running for president. He said he’s sick and tired of the rest of the world laughing at the United States. Well, President Trump will certainly put an end to that!”―David Letterman

9. “Maybe he should ease into this … by running for a lower office first, like President of the Hair Club for Men.”―Jimmy Kimmel

10. “Donald Trump is the weak man’s vision of a strong man.”—Charles Cooke

11. “This guy has an ego. When Trump bangs a supermodel, he closes his eyes and imagines he’s jerking off.”–Seth McFarlane

12. “Here’s the thing about Donald Trump: he never apologizes; he’s never wrong no matter what crazy thing he says. He’s the white Kanye.”―Bill Maher

13. “He was even forced into the ultimate act of degradation– starring in his own reality show. And soon the top-rated TV show in the nation starred a total asshole torturing people who were stupid enough to work with him.”–Seth McFarlane

14. “But folks, on a serious point, Trump said he likes ‘people who don’t get captured. What a terrible thing to say about my friend and a genuine war hero, John McCain. So tonight I call on Donald Trump to be a man of his word – and release Chris Christie right now.”—Joe Biden

15. “Say what you will about Trump, he is not stupid. He is a smart man with a deep understanding of what stupid people want.”―Andy Borowitz

16. “Donald Trump showed his birth certificate to reporters. Who cares about his birth certificate? I want to know if that thing on his head has had its vaccinations.”―Craig Ferguson

17. “Trump says– he says he’s gonna run for president in 2012. But if his plan for America is to fire everyone, he’s about two years too late.”–Seth McFarlane

18. “Americans have been mishearing The Donald: what he actually said is that he will make America grate again, after which many of them will migrate again.”―Michael R. Burch

19. “I say that knowing every time his name is said out loud, he has a shattering orgasm… Donald Trump is America’s back mole. It may have seemed harmless a year ago, but now that it’s become frighteningly bigger, it’s no longer wise to ignore it.”–John Oliver

20. “Donald Trump has had several foreign wives. It turns out that there are really are jobs Americans won’t do.”–Mitt Romney

More http://ijr.com/2016/03/568896-120-most-insulting-donald-trump-jokes/
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September 4, 2016 8:04am
- Hajji
  
  Good grief, Griff!
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:48am
  - Icarus
    
    Griff, so who is your preferred candidate ?
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:15am
    - Griff
      
      https://www.johnsonweld.com/
      
      Trump is a loon. The party he stands for is the party of loons .
      Clinton is establishment. The wife of a former president is some how the best American has out of 350 million?
      Until the USA gets the hidden money out of its political system it will continue to have a corrupt and undemocratic system of governance.
      
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      September 4, 2016 11:22am
- holysheet
  
  “Say what you will about Trump, he is not stupid. He is a smart man with a deep understanding of what stupid people want.”―Andy Borowitz
  
  This one sums up what these liberal fuckwits think about the average American voter. And they still wonder why Trump will win come November. Look in the mirror you stupid people.
  The more they denigrate Trump, the more votes he will get. It’s like Katy Bradford at the last election here, “no matter what we do or say , the voters ignore it and us”
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:23am
  - DJP6-25
    
    Yes, let’s hope the ‘liberals’ don’t wake up.
    
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    September 4, 2016 12:19pm
duggledog

I don’t like this ‘have and have-nots’ we keep hearing about. According to my Chinese friend, New Zealanders are best summed up as ‘Dids’ and ‘Did Nots’

I think it’s more accurate.
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September 4, 2016 8:06am
- Paulus
  
  No – for years New Zealand man have been called “Gunners”…….Gunna do this and Gunna do that.
  In the end of course they do nuthing.
  
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  September 4, 2016 8:48am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  We are a nation of have and have mores – Sean Plunkett
  
  With all the agencies and systems available, I believe we do not have ‘have nots’ in New Zealand
  
  We do have a lot of people who make piss poor decisions, rinse and then repeat, who then go on to expect there to be no consequence of their actions and do not recognise their responsibilities
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:06am
- kowtow
  
  In the old days Chinese immigrants were famous for cloths laundering, today it’s money laundering and as a result New Zealanders can’t buy houses.
  The housing crisis is really an immigration crisis and is govt policy.
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:35am
Chuck Bird

Happy Father’s Day to all the good fathers who are the vast majority.
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September 4, 2016 8:09am
- dad4justice
  
  Indeed Chuck enjoy the day all you credible dads.
  
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  September 4, 2016 8:50am
Happychappy

So again in education we have the union and the Labour spokesperson on Education riding shotgun over the Education system.Cris Hipkins would have been better advised in his youth to attend a girls high school to improve his girlish tactics of whinging and crying instead pushing the union narrative.So now we actually know that the union in installing Andrew Little as Labour leader have also purchased the Labour spokesperson and we are about to see many more as the year unfolds
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September 4, 2016 8:20am
wiseowl

It is important enough ,even on a Sunday, to mention again the issue the Local Government select committee has been hearing over changes to the LGA.
It would be good to know who is behind this anti democratic move because it appears it is primarily a change to allow big business to get their hands on ratepayer assets and take control of considerable cash flows.
It is totally unacceptable for CCO’s to, in effect, have backdoor control of ratepayers and has the added effect of removing accountability so that the LG Commission and Minister control everything.
Appalling and must be canned.
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September 4, 2016 8:25am
Viking2

If you go hunting then read this. apparently looking like a hunter and having a gun is sufficient to have you fined $100.000

In March, Central Otago prevention officer Toni Velenski told a community paper, The News, police now had a better understanding of their powers under the Wild Animal Control Act.

“If someone is found in an area where wild animals are present, and the person has something they could hunt with, they are presumed to be hunting unless the opposite can be proved.”

( so that’s all of NZ including Auckland city).

A change to the Act in 2013 means poachers now face fines of up to $100,000 and a year in prison.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83782682/Police-officer-won-t-be-charged-despite-claim-he-was-poaching-on-private-land

Auckland city of course has possums and rabbits as do all area’s in NZ. If yougo hunting in the area’s like the Laimai’s which have always been an open hunting place then you can get banged up if some neighbour doesn’t like you. and of course with the installation of townie nimbies that’s exactly what will happen.
Sad and just another example of your National Govt. passing Law that is stuffed inside some other bill without consulting the electorate.

Still want to vote them in?
And yes the other lot are no better.
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September 4, 2016 8:46am
- kowtow
  
  Viking
  
  You’ll enjoy this….. if it doesn’t make you mad first!
  There’s some very dodgy shit going on.
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/justice-done-after-police-complaints
  
  “Mrs Stevens felt the conduct of Mr Bullot and Det Const O’Connell was ”pretty outrageous behaviour”, but her client’s faith in justice had been restored by the findings of the authority.”
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:11am
- Icarus
  
  The story was actually about police corruption and how an armed offender was not charged, because the armed offender (who was breaking multiple firearms laws, not just poaching laws) was a cop.
  
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  September 4, 2016 11:18am
Captain Mainwaring

So some Indian students have fallen foul of Immigration because they were ripped off by a dodgy consultant back in India.
How does that become our problem?
And why is the drunken dwarf going into bat for them when until now he’s been all for cutting back on the numbers of foreign students?
Must be an opportunity for him to grandstand, eh?
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September 4, 2016 8:47am
- Viking2
  
  I would have thought it is because we have a slack immigration and Visa policy that needs fixing. The Students were simply conned by a third partly who knew it was unlikely they would be found out. If the students were here as genuine students and paying their way then it is reasonable that they is allowed to continue provided they leave at the end without any expectation that they can return.
  
  seems a simple principle to me.
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:33am
Stars And Stripes

Foreign road rage killer who escaped deportation back before the courts for threatening to kill
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83753063/foreign-road-rage-killer-who-escaped-deportation-back-before-the-courts-for-threatening-to-kill

“O’Brien argued that his deportation would adversely affect his family, who would remain in New Zealand, and he would be unable to find employment or familial support. ”

The limp wristed judiciary lapped up this sob story and let this angel stay now we are reaping the benefits.
Should be back in his Pacific shithole where he belongs.
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September 4, 2016 8:54am
Happychappy

@KS
What are the chances of Winston Peters taking the seat of Whanganui or is this the start of the Peters deception
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September 4, 2016 8:59am
- G152
  
  If he takes it the Police will make him put it back and go tut tut.
  Attending all burglaries don’t cha know
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:06am
- Keeping Stock
  
  Slim to none, unless he has developed the art of cloning himself. That’s the problem a party which is a cult to the ego of its leader faces.
  
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  September 4, 2016 3:00pm
tom hunter

Time for some good news for the poor and screwed over – India’s Untouchables, the Dalit.

Some of the history of this lowest-of-the-low caste is pretty tough to read:

There is Thomas Barnabas who was born into a family of bonded laborers, all eight of whom lived in a one-room house. Thomas recalls being thrown out of an upper caste friend’s home as a child after eating and drinking there because he was “untouchable.” They then proceeded to purify and wash the floor where he sat and threw away the dishes from which he ate.

I can’t imagine what that could do to the soul of a young boy, but it’s very much in keeping with the history of the Dalit:

The Indian caste system is an ancient and complex social order that divides society into groups based on a somewhat rough division of labor. The Dalits belong to the lowest group, below the four-tiered hierarchy of priests, warriors, merchants and artisans. Traditionally, Dalits were relegated to a life of doing “dirty” jobs such as cleaning floors and toilets or handling garbage: hence gaining the name “untouchable” as others would refuse to come into contact with them.

And because you’re born into the caste you never get to escape via social connections such as marriage – and your kids are condemned to it as well. Decades of Ghandi-style economic and social reform did almost nothing to change this.

The good news starts here…

This year marks the 25th anniversary of liberal reforms in India that led to the dismantling of many socialist economic policies and the end of the draconian License Raj. Liberalization has changed life for many in India over the past couple of decades, although much more remains to be done. Just the middle class alone has exploded from 30 million people in 1991 to 300 million in 2014.

There are still socialist believers in India of course, and although they have lost a steady succession of battles against neo-liberal reforms, they keep banging the usual drums – such as the claim that this sort of stuff only benefits the rich and (maybe), the middle class.

Turns out that’s not true either:

A visit to the Dalit Chamber of Commerce website (see also the Facebook page) reveals slogans such as “Fight Caste with Capital” and “Be Job givers, not Job seekers” as well as a spokesperson who favorably cites the invisible hand, a la Adam Smith! This voluntary Chamber of Commerce, set up in 2003 to bring Dalit entrepreneurs together, currently has 5,000 members whose enterprises jointly boast over half a billion dollars in sales revenue. The actual number of entrepreneurs in the population is much higher.

And growing fast. So what changed?

For as long as all industry was state-controlled and subject to extensive licensing, the state effectively made all production decisions and awarded licenses to a few chosen oligarchs. This meant that opportunities for entrepreneurship and business were slim to none, and affirmative action programs only served to redistribute pieces of a fixed pie from one to another.

Under socialism the politically connected get rich.

Fascinating new qualitative research that tracks the life stories of several of these Dalit entrepreneurs reveals a common thread. The opening up of production processes to market forces created new opportunities like never before. Starting small and scraping together resources and capital, many of these Dalits now run business empires that actually provide employment to upper caste members.

Heh – I love that part. But the key is here:

They lead us to an interesting question: how is it exactly that markets fight social discrimination? Markets work in very different ways than the obvious and visible hand of state-driven policies. While the state seeks to outlaw and abolish caste identity by making discrimination illegal, markets work in quiet and invisible ways by making caste identity irrelevant.

Including the above mentioned Thomas Barnabas…

…who now owns an industrial waste recycling and disposal business that has an annual sales revenue of $2.3 million and employs 200 people (including many upper caste members) outside the city of Chennai. He strove to fulfill an unmet demand for the processing of industrial waste generated by large corporations like Samsung, Dell, and Mercedes that set up manufacturing facilities in India after liberalization.

Yay free markets and capitalism: helping poor people since forever.
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September 4, 2016 9:03am
- Jack5
  
  About three-quarters of Indian Christians are Dalits, but apparently the caste system survives within Christian churches.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_among_Indian_Christians
  
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  September 4, 2016 12:24pm
- Inandout
  
  Luxury!
  We lived in a shoe box in middle ‘t road.
  
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  September 4, 2016 3:42pm
EAD

Trump back in front:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-03/trump-leads-clinton-latest-reuters-poll-were-gonna-need-another-tweak

Good news for American Patriots
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September 4, 2016 9:26am
tom hunter

Oh god. Looks like people still don’t get how the US Presidential election works. So – fuck it – a flat-out repeat from the last Trump thread…

A more interesting debate would be one around the actual mechanics of Trump trying to win – because it amazes me that people are still yammering about nation-wide polls.

They.
Don’t.
Matter.

Each side has a solid bunch of states they can take for granted. Hillary has Obama’s “Blue Wall”: a bloc of 18 states, that has voted Democratic in each of the past six presidential elections. That’s 242 EVs, meaning she only needs to win another 28 from any combination of battleground states.

By contrast, Trump has to protect the 206 EV’s that Mitt Romney got and then win another 64 EV’s – and that must include at least one victory in a state that Democrats haven’t lost in decades.

Is this really so hard to understand?

Trump shows no signs of having made a dent in that “Blue Wall”, while by contrast, Hillary is competitive in several so-called “Red” states.
– North Carolina
– Georgie
– Arizona
– Utah.
But she actually does not need to win any of those to win the presidency.

Trump has three paths to victory if he can hold Romney’s 206 EV’s. The first runs through the classic battleground states: Florida (29 EVs), Pennsylvania (20), and Ohio (18). The second runs through the Mid-West, where all those badly hurt, white Democrat Blue-Collar votes supposedly are: Pennsylvania (20 EVs), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), and Wisconsin (10).

Florida is still knife-edge stuff: Trump could win – if he has a good ground game and spend money in a traditionally very expensive media market.

Ohio is the same.

But Pennsylvania is gone: multiple polls over a couple of months now, show Hillary with double-digit leads, while Michigan last went Republican in 1988 and Wisconsin in Ronald Reagan’s landslide 49-state win of 1984. In four Michigan polls taken since the convention, Trump trails by nine, ten, ten, and seven points – and perhaps more importantly he did not get above 40% in any of them.

In the case of Wisconsin, Trump actually lost to Cruz – a Texan – by 13 points? You think he’ll do better in the General?

And in almost all of these states, he’s actually not doing as well among white voters in those polls as Romney did.

Does any Trumpist want to talk about any of this? Is it too factually depressing? Better to scream about national polls showing him down by only 3-4 points?

Or now one poll showing him with a slight lead?

There’s still SMOD of course – an event so huge and out-of-the-blue that it changes everything. We’ll see what the polls say in these states after the visit with the Mexican president, but as good a piece of political theatre as that was it does not look a game-changer to me. He’d need a few more like that to really force Hillary out of her safety-first-steady–as-she-goes march to victory.
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September 4, 2016 9:33am
- EAD
  
  The lying, frail & wounded Hillary is down and out for the count outside of MSM talking heads.
  
  Result – election fraud is on the way:
  
  http://www.infowars.com/insider-warns-of-election-fraud-hillary-is-wounded/
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:45am
- mikenmild
  
  tom
  I realise you won’t expect that analysis to have any more effect on our Trumpistas than any other reasoned assessment.
  These people ‘know’ what’s going to happen.
  There are any number of game changers in their world:
  1. Hillary will be indicted/jailed
  2. Hillary will die/lapse into a coma
  3. Hillary will collapse during a debate
  4. Hillary will be unable to match Trump in an open debate
  5. The polls are wrong
  6. The polls are right, but the big swing is just a few days away
  7. “Nyah, nyah, nyah, we’re gonna win and it’ll be yuuuge”…
  8. (for EAD) The election will be stolen by voter fraud (letting too many blacks vote)
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:45am
  - SGA
    
    9. Hillary Clinton was really born in Latvia (if you squint your eyes the right way it is clear that her birth certificate has been photoshopped).
    
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    September 4, 2016 10:05am
- All_on_Red
  
  Pennsylvania has been a Dem State since 1992 so pretty solid Blue support.
  538 currently has Hillary 5 points ahead based on analysis of 29 polls. The gap has dropped. Have to say he is closing the gap now in quite a few States but whether it’s enough to close and then overtake remains to be seen.
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:46am
  - tom hunter
    
    Well this is one of the many aspects of his campaign that pisses me off. You expect the polls to tighten a bit after Labour Day, which is the traditional point where people start paying attention to the race.
    
    And given the fantastic amount of shit clinging to Hillary, and the steady drip of information about her emails, Trump could close those polls further.
    
    But even assuming he can fake the Presidential persona for longer periods of time – close state polls are where ground games and TV advertising start to really count as you work to winkle out your voters. He can’t and won’t do this – he’s said as much.’
    
    It should also be pointed out that a ground operation counts for advance voting, and something like 30% of the total votes are cast before election day. I saw the other day, a fact that is not generally well known; the useless McCain in 2008 actually got more votes than Obama on election day itself. But of course it did not matter, because Obama’s organisation had worked the advance voting so well.
    
    And many states start that process in the next couple of weeks. Trump does not have 60 days or whatever it is; he has about twenty or less in many cases.
    
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    September 4, 2016 10:02am
    - mikenmild
      
      the useless McCain
      
      Those were the days. And Trump’s performance looks like it will make McCain’s (and Romney’s) efforts look like political dynamite.
      
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      September 4, 2016 10:36am
  - holysheet
    
    This colour thing has finally some reason. Goofy has changed his colours from red to blue because he has had the nod from Helun that Crooked Hillary and the blues in the states are going to win. Goofy has decided to ride to victory on her coat tails
    
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    September 4, 2016 10:32am
    - mikenmild
      
      You should include a smiley to make sure everyone gets the joke.
      
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      September 4, 2016 10:37am
    - tom hunter
      
      This!
      
      This sort of coherent thinking from Trump fans is why Trump will win in the end.
      
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      September 4, 2016 10:39am
      - holysheet
        
        And don’t you just hate it Tom
        
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        September 4, 2016 12:30pm
- Milhous
  
  It’s sad ,as a number of the other GOP candidates could have taken those states (as reflected in pre convention polls), hell they would have smashed Hilary. Unfortunately the reality TV generation went for the inane choice of probably the biggest political con of the century and in doing so have guaranteed another 4 years of a Democrat president.
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:47am
  - stephieboy
    
    Milhous , they call this the Trumpists blame game . If Trump falls short blame it on electorate fraud , the Reality TV generation , Geroge Soros, and the elites
    Clinton Network News MSM media etc, etc
    
    Now who else ?
    
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    September 4, 2016 10:36am
Dave Mann

I’ve just read an excellent article on ISIS and its European strategy in which the author points out why France and Turkey particularly are being targeted by ISIS. In the article he urges France and Turkey to cooperate as the best way to fight back against them. He also points out several foreign policy areas over the years where France has intervened to help Muslim countries such as Mali and their opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

All in all an excellent piece…. but the interesting thing is that it was on al Jazeera.

Have a read of this and then ask yourself is al Jazeera nothing but an Arab/Muslim propaganda tool?

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/09/isil-european-strategy-160903125358203.html
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September 4, 2016 10:17am
- mikenmild
  
  al Jazeera is an important news source to consider when wanting to know what is happening in the world, especially from the Middle East perspective.
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:29am
  - Jack5
    
    Al Jazeera doesn’t so much give a Middle East perspective as the perspective of the Qatar Government, which owns it.
    
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    September 4, 2016 12:30pm
  - marleybob
    
    Trouble with AJ is, someone in Israel farted and it’s front page news, as against be headings of hundreds hardly get a mention.
    
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    September 4, 2016 4:19pm
Viking2

A spokesman for NZTA said they continued to take action, as some Uber drivers are operating outside of the law by not having a P endorsement and as of last Friday had sent 2407 warning letters, issued 106 official warnings, 23 prohibition notices and 93 infringements.

“We have been escalating our actions, particularly focusing on repeat offenders, as well as looking at extending prosecution to third parties, which includes Uber.”

Uber sting
• Failed to carry agency acknowledgement of private hire service – 5
• Failed to produce logbook on demand – 9
• Driver ID Card not displayed – 6
• Logbook containing 1 to 5 omissions – 9
• Logbook containing 6-10 omissions – 2
• Drove without appropriate driver licence – 4
• No certificate of fitness (Warrant of fitness only) – 11
• Operated vehicle with smooth tyre – 1
• Not up to certificate of fitness standard – 2
• Carried on an unlicensed service – 4
• Forbid to operate – 18
• Failed to comply with prohibition – 2
• Impounds unlicensed service – 2
• Impounds for another offence – 1
• Failed to carry documents identifying licence holder – 2
• Used mobile phone while driving – 1
• Failed to display information – 2
• Failed to stop red light (Non PSV) – 1
• Drove vehicle disqualified (Non PSV) – 1
• Small PSV not displaying approved child safety lock signs – 1
• Taxi failed to correctly display information on both front doors – 1
• Failed to correctly display transport service licence card on a taxi – 1
• Drove with excess breath alcohol (Licence suspended) non PSV – 1
———————————————-
So Simple Simon and his cohorts still haven’t got the message. Still trying to hold back the use of better systems and technology.
If he tossed all the regs out and allowed the industry to operate like the rest of us do then we wouldn’t need to import so many taxi drivers with degree’s.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11703290
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September 4, 2016 10:39am
mikenmild

Little tip for today. Manawatu paying $3.60 to lift the Ranfurly Shield from Waikato. Not the worst gamble on offer.
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September 4, 2016 10:46am
- kowtow
  
  Reminds me of that stupid ad on tv, don’t gamble. Maori host , white middle aged guy the family wrecker…….yeah right. You have to wonder at how the editors etc put this shit together, do they consult Dame Devoid?
  
  It’s that kind of casual every day racism that grips my shit!
  
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  September 4, 2016 11:31am
- Keeping Stock
  
  I was in the stands at Eden Park when the Green and Whites won the Log in August 1976 mikenmild, thanks to a wobbly drop-goal from Doug Rollerson. A large supporters group travelled up on the train on Friday night, when to de Brett’s Hotel for breakfast, walked to Eden Park, watched the game, got drunk at the Auckland Supporters Club, then back to the train. By the time we arrived in Palmerston North early Sunday morning I had had no sleep for two nights, my voice was completely gone, and I had the mother of all hangovers. But I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything.
  
  There’s something magical about the Ranfurly Shield, and I wish Manawatu all the best for this afternoon.
  
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  September 4, 2016 3:05pm
  - mikenmild
    
    There is a still something a little special about it – probably because it is so hard to win. I recall listening on the radio to a very tense attempt from Wellington to lift the Shield from Manawatu in that era.
    Manawatu is not the worst team at all this year, and Waikato have not impressed in the first two rounds – but would naturally lift to defend the Shield.
    
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    September 4, 2016 3:18pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Were you there when they lost it mid-week in 1978 to North Auckland and the allegedly extra 10 minutes of stoppage time referee Bill Adlam added on before Chippie Semenoff kicked the winning penalty? 😉
    
    Actually, a very good reign that 1976-78 Manawatu team, but always dubious how they didn’t reciprocate the favour and grant Auckland a challenge in 1977. Was the bad old days when challenge rules had not been updated and you could avoid putting the Shield on the line if you so chose even though you had a an already-scheduled home match.
    
    And hence Manawatu was not granted a challenge again by Auckland in 1980 despite the NPC fixture being played at Eden Park.
    
    Also, North Auckland dodged putting the log on the line in their already-scheduled matches against both Southland and Otago after they won it from Manawatu in 1978.
    
    Lots of that dubious off-the-field sort of stuff in Ranfurly Shield history.
    
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    September 4, 2016 3:19pm
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I was indeed Kimbo, and I was probably very vocal in my disapproval of Mr Adlam. It was only seven extra minutes he played, but enough for North Auckland (as they were then) to secure a very lucky win via Semenoff’s penalty grazing the inside of the upright.
      
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      September 4, 2016 4:00pm
  - Kimbo
    
    There’s something magical about the Ranfurly Shield…
    
    Yep, despite the national championship it is still the premiere domestic rugby trophy – or any New Zealand sport for that matter. And that magic is especially evident if you are in a provincial union, rather than Auckland. I was living in Hamilton when Waikato won it from Auckland in 1980 – the only second division team to ever do so. Tim Twigden threw the pass, and Arthur Stone intercepted and ran 45 metres to glory.
    
    Then they just pulled down Bryan Williams inches from the line when he did that move of coming into the backline from the blindside wing and carving through the middle. Beegee wasn’t as quick as in his youth but he was still powerful and took a ton of stopping. Waikato 7, Auckland 3
    
    I think I could still name the Waikato team…
    
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    September 4, 2016 3:27pm
    - mikenmild
      
      I’m pretty sure I can name all fifteen of the team Waikato lost it to the next year.
      
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      September 4, 2016 3:32pm
    - tom hunter
      
      Wow – I’d forgotten that but the moment I saw the name Arthur Stone the whole intercept scene flashed up from memory.
      
      Fantastic game, but even we Mooloo fans strongly suspected we’d lose it the following year. A mate of mine who is a life-long BOP supporter was enraged by his team’s failure to win it from Waikato and end their Shield boogeyman, as he thought it was the best chance they’d had in years to do so, given the weaknesses of the Waikato side.
      
      But BOP got there in the end.
      
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      September 4, 2016 3:37pm
      - Kimbo
        
        given the weaknesses of the Waikato side.
        
        Hmm. maybe because they were newly up from Div II, but that was probably a mistake. Waikato were a good team that year.
        
        My family moved to Auckland at the end of 1980 but I still identified as a Mooloo supporter so followed their next season including their Shield reign with interest. Was obviously mightily pissed off the Springbok game was cancelled (but was still in rugby heaven the tour went ahead), but Waikato did ok – beat BOP, Otago (admittedly shit at that time), Canterbury (admittedly they were shit that year – remember Rod Latham dropping a goal for them?), and in their best result drew with Counties? Lost last challenge of the season to a very classy NPC champion Welluington team. Score blew out when Paul Koteka was sent off.
        
        But seeing Waikato had been finding ways to stay in division II for years (like, in 1979 having beaten France they lost to King Country and drew with Thames Valley!) their players shone and played an excellent brand of football on the big stage in 1981. Gary Major and Bruce Smith scored tries galore, Smith, John Boe, Arthur Stone, Brian Morrissey, Hud Rickett, Geoff Hines (in 1980), and Paul Koteka became All Blacks, and Miah Melsom was…bloody scary and a deserved NZ Maori rep, even though, like Koteka, he wasn’t actually Maori (Lebanese-Tongan, while Koteka was a Cookie)
        
        Funny, I can remember bugger all rugby from the last two years except the World Cup, but the 1980 and 1981 seasons were like yesterday.
        
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        September 4, 2016 3:48pm
      - wikiriwhis business
        
        Counties are simply the fact of life in NPC now
        
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        September 4, 2016 4:02pm
- mikenmild
  
  19-10
  Well, I didn’t say it was a sure thing. Manawatu leading at half-time got me a little excited.
  Not a good weekend for my TAB account though.
  
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  September 4, 2016 6:39pm
Viking2

An analysis by Homes.co.nz found almost half the new builds in Auckland over the past five years were sold for more than $1.2 million.

The one and two-bedroom homes with 80-120sq m floor plans that first-home buyers want are only rarely built.

PrefabNZ CEO Pamela Bell said the size and cost of new houses is driven by developers looking to maximise profits at the lowest risk from their sections, which means building for the top end of the market on expensive sections.

Along with often restrictive covenants requiring large floor plans, the market has moved to big houses with almost as many bathrooms as bedrooms, she said.

Praise the Lord.
Finally despite me saying this about a hundred times, someone else has figured out what is wrong with the house building market.
I can only add that covenants stop this sort of development as well.

This is why your kids can’t afford a house.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=117034
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September 4, 2016 10:53am
Viking2

CNN NEWS LIVE UPDATE – The Famous Actor Sylvester Stallone Is Found Dead… As It Emerges ‘Prescription Pills Were Found At Scene’

http://new-alltimebuzz.site/4-testing-man-tatta-a-rabii-nagrigat-chamba-domain-a-dakkel-pasok-na-huhuhu/

Thats is what the headline sayys. BUT in fact it is his son Sage.
good reporting, not.
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September 4, 2016 11:09am
Liberty

“Trump will win come November”
You are dreaming.
Trump imitating Archie bunker will be a fail.
The world has moved on from the 1950s.
then again looking at Trumps isolated support.
There are areas in the usa who live in a time warp.
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September 4, 2016 11:16am
- Icarus
  
  “Trumps isolated support.” seems to have the lefty scum of the earth pretty worried. The propaganda campaign is relentless and hysterical.
  
  Decent intelligent people are not fooled though. They don’t do as the media elite demand. They think for themselves.
  
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  September 4, 2016 11:35am
  - Kimbo
    
    Yeah, worked for Barry Goldwater…
    
    And George Wallace.
    
    But until Trump can do this:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loBe0WXtts8
    
    …it ain’t happening.
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:38am
  - mikenmild
    
    Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
    – John Adams
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:40am
  - Liberty
    
    “Decent intelligent people are not fooled though”
    
    History has proved you wrong. Peters the charlatan is a good example.
    Are you suggesting NZF supporters are a little thick an just vote by blind obedience.
    
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    September 4, 2016 12:44pm
mikenmild

I think our new friend Icarus shows considerable potential.
Don’t soar too boldly, Icarus. As tom said:

if you insist on holding your neurons together with wax it’s not a good idea to fly too close to facts
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September 4, 2016 11:33am
- Icarus
  
  How about you support what is right and benefits people, instead of all this PC posturing ?
  
  People will respect you more. Just because someones skin is a nice coffee colour, does not make them good people.
  
  Sincere lefties are harshly critical of Obama and hate his guts.
  
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  September 4, 2016 11:38am
  - mikenmild
    
    How about I carry on just speaking my mind without worrying about whether some wingnut gets upset?
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:48am
    - Icarus
      
      Your “mind” ? You mean repeating what the media told you to say ?
      
      What is a “wingnut” ? Is it like a “nigger” ?
      
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      September 4, 2016 11:50am
      - mikenmild
        
        http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Wingnut
        
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        September 4, 2016 11:53am
  - Kimbo
    
    Yeah, Nah. For one of the few times I hit “Report”. And that’ll be the last time I engage with Icarus. Suggest others on KB do the same…
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:52am
    - Icarus
      
      Yeah I hit it too. Cyberbullying is serious.
      
      Still waiting to hear what a “Wingnut” is. Everyone seems to have gone all funny and won’t answer. It must be pretty ugly. Should I report it ?
      
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      September 4, 2016 11:53am
  - stephieboy
    
    “Sincere lefties are harshly critical of Obama and hate his guts.”
    
    Like, Julian Assange ?
    
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    September 4, 2016 12:01pm
    - Icarus
      
      Like John Pilger
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXL998q7skI
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX4-5JM4IG4
      
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      September 4, 2016 12:06pm
Griff

I think our newly renamed friend Icarus shows considerable potential.
To get yet another ban in record time to go with her other ten .
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September 4, 2016 11:46am
- mikenmild
  
  Too early to call it a Kea sock-puppet. Let’s see the opinions about Jews, etc, first…
  
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  September 4, 2016 11:49am
  - Icarus
    
    Oh shit its starting on the Jews now ! Wait I will put some popcorn on …. :)
    
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    September 4, 2016 11:51am
Griff

What is that like trolling Christians by pretending to be one mike ?

“I think a lot of psychopaths are just geniuses who drove so fast that they lost control.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

Kimbo hitting report does little unless every one else does it.
A quick e mail will get results .
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September 4, 2016 12:01pm
- Icarus
  
  Griff, you seem to know your way around. Should I email about the name calling: Troll, Wingnut etc ?
  
  What names are okay and which are not ? I am new here and people seemed very confused and inconsistent.
  
  Thanks 🙂
  
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  September 4, 2016 12:03pm
Griff

Icarus/kea /kriss x
Don’t bother trying to engage with me .
Ever.
I am of the firm opinion that to engage in any way with you would be only reinforcing your illness and as such would make me partly responsible for your deteriorating mental condition.
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September 4, 2016 1:11pm
- Icarus
  
  I am of the firm opinion you are as ignorant as you are nasty. Dishonest too.
  
  You post all sorts of rubbish littered with personal attacks. When questioned on your statements, you avoid the question and double-down on the personal attacks.
  
  I think you do not really believe the things you say. I think you are virtue signalling and using it as a platform to be nasty.
  
  I think you are a deeply troubled person.
  
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  September 4, 2016 1:36pm
  - itstricky
    
    That’s a strange thing to say for someone who supposedly only just turned up. You make it sound like you’ve been here for years.
    
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    September 4, 2016 1:38pm
    - Icarus
      
      Yes I have been here before. I cleaned up my email accounts and deleted the one associated with a former identity.
      
      Would you like to write a guest post about me, since you do not seem to have much else on ?
      
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      September 4, 2016 1:40pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Which statement is correct: “I am new here” or “I … deleted the [account] associated with a former identity”? Maybe you could tell us in a guest post if you have nothing better to do?
        
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        September 4, 2016 1:53pm
- Jack5
  
  Griff:
  
  I don’t think Icarus or kriss x are Kea. Not as sharp.
  
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  September 4, 2016 2:37pm
Griff

New Zealanders appear to have experienced a groundswell of republicanism as a new poll shows nearly sixty per cent want a Kiwi head of state.

The poll shows 59 per cent of New Zealanders wanted to change the centuries-old system of Government, compared to 34 per cent who favoured the next British Monarch becoming King of New Zealand.

Undecided voters remained unchanged on seven per cent over the last three polls.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83864989/nearly-60-per-cent-of-kiwis-want-the-british-monarchy-out–poll
Big ears coronation will be the swan song of the monarchy in NZ
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September 4, 2016 1:29pm
- Jack5
  
  That might be just in time for Helen Clark to be first President. Thank goodness Bolger will be too old.
  
  Perhaps John Key would care to make it an election issue, a chance to make up for losing on the flag change.
  
  We are already a de facto republic – a constitutional monarchy light (it costs us very little indeed, and the governor-general has even less power – quite a lot less – than a constitutional monarch).
  
  The link that follows is to an American view of why NZ’s present constitutional monarchy light is the best political system in the world. (Once we have a republic, we effectively get an extra layer of government, and probably a rotation between non-Maori and Maori presidents).
  
  http://www.vox.com/2014/9/23/6831777/new-zealand-electoral-system-constitution-mixed-member-unicameral
  
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  September 4, 2016 2:30pm
  - Griff
    
    I dont see why a republic would have to result in any change in power structure from what we have now.
    The Governor general is mostly a ceremonial position that has very little actual power .
    The Queen of NZ has none at all.
    The only real power either have is to call for the dissolution of parliament.
    Something that could be handled by a non political presidential position as the Governor generals presently is .
    The ClarkenFührer and Bolger talk is kiddy’s telling them self’s scare story’s about the boogie man or harpy .
    
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    September 4, 2016 2:41pm
    - Jack5
      
      So we have a de facto republic then.
      
      What’s the point of change if we have a “a non political presidential position as the Governor generals presently is .”
      
      I can see differences from a president:
      1. Perhaps a different method of appointment – for example being voted in by citizens.
      2. A President would surely have to have some powers beyond that of a Governor -General.
      3. A Presdident would surely cost more than a Governor-General.
      4. We would have endless b ullshit discussion about whose face to put on the obverse sideof or coins
      
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      September 4, 2016 2:50pm
      - Griff
        
        We are all equal.
        The monarchy is a hold over from a time when we thought some had a right to rule given by god .
        As both of these concepts are against my core belief structure I seek to change them.
        DPF is also strongly supportive of a republic.
        When big ears is king it will happen as his support is considerably less than that of QEII NZ .
        The conversation should be held to the forefront over the next few years so we can thrash out a suitable structure.
        .
        
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        September 4, 2016 3:03pm
  - Viking2
    
    God forbid either get a go.
    Keys latest choice is piss poor. He could have had William and Kate, That would have been ever so popular.
    Instead just another fucking Lawyer of no consequence.
    
    Which will play right into the first peoples hands.
    
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    September 4, 2016 5:15pm
Manolo

Progressive Turnbull confirms his uselessness:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-37241888

Australia’s prime minister has said he “read the riot act” to three ministers after they went home early, meaning his government lost a series of votes.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s conservative coalition holds a majority of one seat in the parliament.
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September 4, 2016 2:14pm
Manolo

Chinese courtesy:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/04/barack-obama-deliberately-snubbed-by-chinese-in-chaotic-arrival-at-g20

Chinese authorities have rolled out the red carpet for leaders including India’s prime pinister Narendra Modi, Russian president Vladimir Putin, South Korean president Park Geun-hye, Brazil’s president Michel Temer and British prime minister Theresa May, who touched down on Sunday morning.

But the leader of the world’s largest economy, who is on his final tour of Asia, was forced to disembark from Air Force One through a little-used exit in the plane’s belly after no rolling staircase was provided when he landed in the eastern Chinese city on Saturday afternoon.
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September 4, 2016 2:22pm
- stephieboy
  
  Manolo, doubtlessly Trump will be rolled out the carpet with scattered flower petals and honoured as Mr Me too !
  
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  September 4, 2016 2:44pm
- Inandout
  
  Asian disregard for negroes – not unusual.
  
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  September 4, 2016 3:44pm
  - Jack5
    
    Yes, there are prejudices among Chinese as in other races.
    
    For example, southern Chinese had (and may still have) a nasty description for people from India, and called (and probably still call) a Westerner “gwailo”, Cantonese for foreign devil, or ghost person.
    
    Fuck, there’s a lot of work ahead for Dame Devoid. So many countries, so many people, so many prejudices.
    
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    September 4, 2016 4:02pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Um, I didn’t know anyone in the 21st Century still used the word “negroes”. Not virtue-signalling, more…amused.
    
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    September 4, 2016 4:04pm
    - Inandout
      
      Sorry, negroid,
      relating to the division of humankind represented by the indigenous peoples of central and southern Africa.
      
      Can’t win ’em all.
      
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      September 4, 2016 7:19pm
wikiriwhis business

First They Jailed the Bankers, Now Every Icelander to Get Paid in Bank Sale

First, Iceland jailed its crooked bankers for their direct involvement in the financial crisis of 2008. Now, every Icelander will receive a payout for the sale of one of its three largest banks, Íslandsbanki.

If Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has his way — and he likely will — Icelanders will be paid kr 30,000 after the government takes over ownership of the bank. Íslandsbanki would be second of the three largest banks under State proprietorship.

“I am saying that the government take [sic] some decided portion, 5%, and simply hand it over to the people of this country,” he stated.

Because Icelanders took control of their government, they effectively own the banks. Benediktsson believes this will bring foreign capital into the country and ultimately fuel the economy — which, incidentally, remains the only European nation to recover fully from the 2008 crisis. Iceland even managed to pay its outstanding debt to the IMF in full — in advance of the due date.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/09/general_debate_4_september_2016.html
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September 4, 2016 3:10pm
- Jack5
  
  Icelanders are arseholes. (Read the link below to see why). As for their recovery, it stands in contrast to the gutless NZ reaction to our finance-companies collapse (all bail-out and no equity stakes taken).
  
  Here, from Der Spiegel, is economist Paul Kruger’s recipe on how to “do an Iceland”:
  
  Allow your ailing banks to collapse; devalue your currency if you have one of your own; introduce capital controls; and try to avoid paying back foreign debts.
  
  Our Treasury and Reserve Bank should study this in case an Australasian bank shakes when the Auckland property bubble pops.
  
  http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/financial-recovery-of-iceland-a-case-worth-studying-a-942387.html
  
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  September 4, 2016 3:19pm
  - wikiriwhis business
    
    Very good
    
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    September 4, 2016 3:59pm
  - Viking2
    
    The Aussie banks are about to rob us blind. you watch.
    Our Aussie bank branches are required to remit to their head office around 6 billion by 2020. ((Required to meet the new ratio’s impossed under Bassel 4 and enforced by Apra.)
    That’s over and above their dividends and low capitalization interest payments.
    That’s enough to keep our interest rates well up for the next 5 years so don’t expect to see our rates follow the rest of the world.
    As well their head office may well ask for more.
    What is worrying is that our RBNZ seems to be oblivious of this drain on the local banks and hasn’t said or done anything to counter it seemingly relying on the Aussie regulator to look after our interests.
    The consequnces are already affecting housing inauckland with reports that developers are having problems getting finance for projects.
    
    More to come.
    
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    September 4, 2016 5:25pm
Jack5

New Zealand’s Dame Lowell Goddard, the judge who was heading a British child abuse inquiry, won’t meet a British Parliamentary select committee, but will give it a written report.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3772689/Child-abuse-judge-dramatically-quit-100-million-inquiry-snubs-showdown-MPs.html
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September 4, 2016 3:52pm
wikiriwhis business

It’s time for John Key. The same scam is being repeated. Auckland, and New Zealand have fallen victim to global organized crime, they have infiltrated and ruined our government. The system was designed to be corrupted, and as such it happened, and happens over and over.
John van Zeist

Three former bankers were in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin last night after receiving jail sentences for their roles in a €7 billion fraud committed at the height of the banking crisis in 2008.

Judge Martin Nolan said the senior executives had taken part in a “dishonest, deceitful and corrupt” scheme to make Anglo Irish Bank’s finances look stronger than they were.

Former Anglo executive Willie McAteer (65) was sentenced to 3½ years while his ex-colleague John Bowe (52) received a two-year term. Denis Casey (56), the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent, was jailed for two years and nine months.
Longest trial
After the longest criminal trial in the history of the State, the three were convicted by a jury in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month of conspiring together and with others to mislead investors, depositors and lenders by setting up a €7.2 billion circular transaction scheme between March and September 2008 to bolster Anglo’s balance sheet.

The scheme, described by the judge as a series of “sham transactions”, involved Anglo placing massive sums with Irish Life and Permanent and receiving the money back, via a non-banking subsidiary, as customer deposits.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/former-bankers-sentenced-to-jail-over-anglo-fraud-scheme-1.2739699
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September 4, 2016 4:49pm
wikiriwhis business

SkyCity centre steel jobs go to Thailand

Phil Pennington – phil.pennington@radionz.co.nz

Half of the work on the steel frames for the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland has gone to a foreign contractor, despite New Zealand factories having prepared for it.

from RNZ Radio…Sky City as a place for jobs was a Con….This should be raised as an Urgent Debate in The House as the history of a one seat majority that saw this Bill passed was done on the grounds of big hob growth, especially in construction and its manufacturing / services sector. The ‘official’ comment is that is the way of the Market. United’s Peter Dunne should shudder at his Coalition Partner’s lack of integrity and support Opposition calls . DLANZ hold that Co Leadership requires Co-responsibility and the Laissez-faire..We don’t care attitude is pitting our Society at risk…John Key, Stephen Joyce and all need to be held account for this ‘Systemic Indifference’ of failed economic models.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/305837/skycity-centre-steel-jobs-go-to-thailand
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September 4, 2016 4:57pm
wikiriwhis business

Environment Minister accused of GMO beat-up

Benedict Collins Political Reporter @rnzbenedict benedict.collins@radionz.co.nz

Environment Minister Nick Smith has been accused of blatant scaremongering as he moves to stop local councils from controlling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their districts.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/312414/environment-minister-accused-of-gmo-beat-up
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September 4, 2016 5:10pm
Manolo

Hiding all the way:
http://theweek.com/speedreads/646898/here-are-bunch-ways-hillary-clinton-avoided-talking-journalists
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September 4, 2016 5:13pm
wikiriwhis business

Scientific Study: Towers Collapsed Due To Controlled Demolition

A European scientific study has concluded that on September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers were brought down by a controlled demolition.

The study, conducted by four physicists and published in Europhysics Magazine, says that “the evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by controlled demolition.”

Wnd.com reports:

“Given the far-reaching implications, it is morally imperative that this hypothesis be the subject of a truly scientific and impartial investigation by responsible authorities,” the four physicists conclude.

The study is the work of Steven Jones, former full professor of physics at Brigham Young University, Robert Korol, a professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, Anthony Szamboti, a mechanical design engineer with over 25 years of structural design experience in the aerospace and communications industries, and Ted Walter, the director of strategy and development for Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a nonprofit organization that today represents more than 2,500 architects and engineers.
http://yournewswire.com/scientific-study-towers-collapsed-due-to-controlled-demolition/
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September 4, 2016 5:14pm
- stephieboy
  
  wiki, one of your researchers Steven Jones formally of Brigham Young University has some dubious credentials in various kings of “ scientific quackery including the Burrows Cave Hoax . The Burrows Cave was an alleged archaeological find that points to the presence of a pre white civilisation predating the Meso-American Indians .Familiar ?
  
  He is more famous or rather infamous in regard to his controlled demolition theories papers of which he has publicised but neither properly peer reviewed nor accepted by any reputable Engineering or Scientific journal .He claims he has dust particles from WTC 1 & 2 that convincingly demonstrate they were consistent with thermate / thermite signature elements found in explosives used in controlled demolition . He has not submitted these dust parcels for independent analysis nor is he clear about how and when he sourced them . Nor is he willing to consider other alternative explanations for their presence
  
  http://www.politicalforum.com/9-11/379337-steven-jones-revisionist-quack-involved-archeology-hoax.html
  
  http://www.911myths.com/html/traces_of_thermate_at_the_wtc.html
  
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  September 4, 2016 6:30pm
wikiriwhis business

Yes. I’m a real Maori

I guess you could say things have changed since that day, back in 1961, when a teacher hit me across the head whilst proclaiming, for all to hear, “You’re not on the pa now, hori!” I was 11 years old and had just arrived at boarding school from a small rural village on the East Coast of the North Island.

But, all these years later, that memory re-surfaces every time I hear, or read, that Maori need to climb down off that Treaty bandwagon of theirs and listen to “middle New Zealand” because in middle New Zealand we are all equal.

What exactly “middle New Zealand” is has always eluded me but, growing up as a Maori kid in the ’50s and ’60s, I became accustomed to receiving the most back-handed of compliments from well-meaning “middle” New Zealanders.

On discovering that this Pakeha-looking kid who went to a largely white Catholic boarding school and did pretty well academically was actually part Maori, the Pakeha reaction was almost universally, “Ah, but you’re not really Maori!”

How was I meant to take that?

I’m OK because I’m one of you?

I’m OK because I have taken on your values and, to my shame these days, left mine behind.

Nothing could be more patronising than being told “you’re OK now because you’re like us”.

This year, I had the privilege of introducing the inaugural Maori Innovation Award at the NZ Hi Tech Awards.

Why, I hear you ask, should Maori have their own category?

Surely if they’re good enough they could enter the main awards?

Well, here’s how I explained it to an audience of 900, largely Pakeha, leaders of our hi-tech economy.

“Going to school in the 1950s and ’60s I learned about Captain Cook and how he discovered this land occupied by a race of head-hunting cannibals.

“No-one told me about the amazing feats of design, engineering and navigation that must have been needed to build that great fleet that sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaiki to Aotearoa.

“No-one told me about the innovation in agriculture and horticulture that must have been needed for our ancestors to adapt to a land that was nothing like the one they had left.

“No-one told me about the fur seal trade routes these same ancestors opened with China long before that free trade agreement we are all so proud of.

“So we Maori kids grew up with no role models to look up to in the world of science innovation and technology, and you wonder why we languish at the bottom of the education stats. Well, tonight, with these inaugural Maori Innovation Awards, we start the journey to change that!”

The entries were stunning and all carried something uniquely Maori.

And one of the finalists entered the main award last year and won.

This year, they were runner-up to the eventual winner of this, the Maori Innovation category.

When our Maori ancestors designed vessels and navigation systems that saw them navigate, conquer and settle the biggest ocean on the planet – 1000 years before any other humans even dared: I’m pretty sure no one would ever have said to them.

“Aaah but you’re not really Maori!”

My wish for the future is summed up in a video we made for the America’s Cup in San Francisco. We called it “From a Nation Born of Sailors” and it celebrated a lineage of design, innovation, engineering and risk taking that stretched from those ancestors who sailed across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa from Hawaiki through to the design of, arguably, one of the most technologically advanced sail boats ever built.

The video was created by a group of young pakeha from Dunedin. They tell this story stunningly, because they see it as their story as well.

Therein lies our future.
http://www.thatsus.co.nz/ian-taylor#.V8ui3FpxnuY.facebook
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September 4, 2016 5:22pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  Was a single word of that post yours wikiriwhi, or is it all simply a copy and paste job?
  
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  September 4, 2016 5:31pm
- Reid
  
  One of the issues raised which you can see coming through is Maori’s insistence on proclaiming something is Maori when in fact it’s nothing of the sort.
  
  Obviously we all know why they do that, well, except stephie, but the point is, I’m a patriot, and if I build something and it’s really useful and it brings huge success in whatever terms you want to name both nationally and internationally, if that happened and even though I’m a patriot, I’m not in the least interested in proclaiming it’s a New Zealand invention with a special NZ flavour that makes it oh-so-unique and special in just every little way. In fact if I did that I would not only think that was really stuuuuuuupid, I’d suspect most people looking at me as I triumphantly proclaimed such would also think.
  
  And that’s the thing.
  
  As I said, yes, all of us except stephie understand precisely why Maori really really feel they need to do this at every single opportunity, yes we get that.
  
  But it doesn’t change that axiom I just exampled.
  
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  September 4, 2016 6:50pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  wikiriwankbusiness (In Receivership):
  Is that your list of conspiracy theory jollies for the night?
  Hope so, so goodnight then.
  
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  September 4, 2016 7:48pm
- Jack5
  
  Re “Wikiriwhis business” (5.22pm post):
  
  Polynesians – including of course, Maori – were great sailors, but you make exaggerated claims with:
  
  …When our Maori ancestors designed vessels and navigation systems that saw them navigate, conquer and settle the biggest ocean on the planet – 1000 years before any other humans even dared …
  
  Maori had no written language, and without that you couldn’t do a helluva lot of maths needed for advanced navigation.
  
  The movement of the progenitors of Polynesians from what is now Taiwan was island by island and followed currents and trade winds, suggesting gradual settlement rather than any vast two-way voyaging requiring sophisticated navigation. If Polynesians had had a “great navigation system” they would surely have colonised Australia and parts of North America, as the Europeans did.
  
  It was the Chinese who invented the compass at least a thousand years before Maori reached NZ, and there is no record of Polynesians using compasses by the time European explorers arrived. What did Maori know of longitude? What equivalent did they have of the sextant? Nothing.
  
  You say, “Wikiriwhis business”:
  
  No-one told me about the fur seal trade routes these same ancestors opened with China long before that free trade agreement we are all so proud of.
  
  The reason is “the ancestors did not open up such trade routes. Maori sold some seal skins in Australia from the 1780s, after that country had been colonised, and long after Westerners had opened trade routes between China and Australia. White sealing gangs, often made up largely of convicts or ticket-of-leave ex-convicts, killed more seals in NZ than Maori did.
  
  “Wikiriwhis business”, you seem sceptical of the fact that Maori were cannibals? Are you? They did eat slaves. They did sell heads to foreigners. Even killed to supply them on demand. No problem, shortly before, and less frequently at the same time, Europeans were breaking people on racks and inflicting other cruelties, while Chinese had torture down to a fine art (such as the death of a thousand cuts).
  
  As for being a white-looking Maori – there are heaps of “white” New Zealanders with some Maori genes who regard themselves as “white” and why not – it’s only skin pigment. You would be surprised by some who have some Maori genes and are quite happy to be thought of as white New Zealanders. Their choice.
  
  As for the Maori innovation awards – good on you. However, without taking anything away from the idea of the awards and the encouragement they offer , from the look of the entrants mentioned on the web site, the entrants are at this stage pretty straight forward as far as technology goes. I know of Maori with more sophisticated technology than these entrants.
  
  For example, one entrant offers tuition and web design in some pretty basic and well known coding languages, and another specialises in digital books, a field long and well catered for by Amazon and its competitors. I guess it’s worth a try, but I don’t think digital books in Maori can save the Maori language any more than Maori TV can. Maori digital books are a few drops in an ocean compared with the vast sea of titles coming out in print and digital form in English, Chinese, and other languages.
  
  The international translation service looks promising, but this is a very competitive field and I note it is listed in the “world’s top 100” so has stiff competition and is far from unique.
  
  You mention Ian Taylor, who has a Maori Mum and a white Dad. He is an outstanding example of a technologist, and I am surprised you don’t use him as the key role model for young Maori.
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:22pm
  - mikenmild
    
    I think you underestimate the skills of the Polynesian navigators. You seem to imply that they drifted helplessly, whereas their seafaring methods often involved voyaging against the wind, to make a return safer and swifter.
    It seems likely that they reached the Americas (acquiring kumara) but getting there would be a lot easier than conquering the Incas, Maya or Aztecs, don’t you think?
    I’d have to check, but I seem to recall that the traditional navigators in Micronesia had versions of maps.
    
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    September 4, 2016 9:27pm
    - Jack5
      
      Milky, it’s wrong to say I suggested they drifted helplessly. They were brave sailors, but strong two-way traffic was not established.
      
      The theory about traditional navigators in Micronesia, relates to stick charts, and you can read about them and see a model at the link below. There is no evidence Maori used or knew of stick charts.
      
      Here’s a description from the National Geographic Society:
      
      Stick charts were not used for navigation in the way we use maps or charts today. In fact, the Marshallese probably did not consult stick charts on their long journeys throughout Micronesia. Navigators memorized the chart before the journey was made.
      
      Charts were highly individualized. Sometimes, a stick chart could only be read by the person who made it! Still, there are some standard features used to interpret ocean features.
      
      Stick chart picture:
      
      http://nationalgeographic.org/media/micronesian-stick-chart/
      
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      September 4, 2016 9:37pm
      - cha
        
        Stick chart picture:
        
        More examples.
        
        https://web.archive.org/web/20131205055701/http://www.janesoceania.com/micronesian_stick_chart/
        
        http://thenonist.com/index.php/thenonist/permalink/stick_charts/
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:05pm
    - Griff
      
      They used shell maps of wind and swell along with other natural accruing indicators to allow them to navigate from island to island well out or the sight of land .
      They did successfully voyage from Hawaii all the way to Easter island and maybe further.
      The colonization of nz happened over a period of time by a number of canoe loads this suggest they were heading for a known destination. Evidence of return voyaging at lest as far as the kermadecs exists in mayor island volcanic glass tools found there .
      
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      September 4, 2016 9:45pm
      - Jack5
        
        Griff, New Zealand and Easter Island were the two southern points of the “Polynesian triangle”.
        
        Saying canoes ventured out for a known destination, does not establish whether the destination was specific or just some vague “out there”.
        
        No-one knows how many canoes of would-be settlers vanished without trace or ended up by accident in hostile places such as PNG, with the explorers either being slaughtered or absorbed. However, I haven’t heard of any Polynesian DNA evidence among Australia’s indigenous people or among the peoples of PNG.
        
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        September 4, 2016 9:52pm
      - cha
        
        They did successfully voyage from Hawaii all the way to Easter island and maybe further.
        
        Likely to the Americas, too.
        
        In recent years, modern techniques have revealed the staggering geographic extent of this trade, which included a visit to South America for some takeout sweet potatoes, which were later grown on islands throughout the Pacific. But the temporal extent of the trade remained the subject of debate, with some arguing for a brief burst of exchange and others suggesting extended trade networks persisted for a while. Now, a paper published in PNAS using another modern form of analysis argues for at least four centuries of trade.
        
        http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/07/polynesian-trade-networks-may-have-persisted-for-centuries/
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:02pm
      - Jack5
        
        Polynesian navigation skills remain a contentious subject, and nowadays the discussion is affected by political correctness about how skilful Polynesian navigation was.
        
        It is complicated: celestial (star) navigation that is possible on the Equator, wave and current patterns come into the debate. I find the following a theory hard intersting:
        
        Harold Gatty suggested that long-distance Polynesian voyaging followed the seasonal paths of bird migrations. In “The Raft Book,”[33] a survival guide he wrote for the U.S. military during World War II, Gatty outlined various Polynesian navigation techniques Allied sailors or aviators wrecked at sea could use to find their way to land. There are some references in their oral traditions to the flight of birds and some say that there were range marks onshore pointing to distant islands in line with the West Pacific Flyway. A voyage from Tahiti, the Tuamotus or the Cook Islands to New Zealand might have followed the migration of the long-tailed cuckoo (Eudynamys taitensis) just as the voyage from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi would coincide with the track of the Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) and the bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis). It is also believed that Polynesians employed shore-sighting birds as did many seafaring peoples. One theory is that they would have taken a frigatebird (Fregata) with them. These birds refuse to land on the water as their feathers will become waterlogged making it impossible to fly. When the voyagers thought they were close to land they may have released the bird, which would either fly towards land or else return to the canoe.
        
        However, why were Maori unable to tell Europeans about their navigation skills? Had they been lost or did they never really exist?
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:08pm
      - cha
        
        (missed the edit)
        
        This too.
        
        http://nautil.us/blog/dragons-memory–navigating-the-globe-using-only-your-wits
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:10pm
      - Jack5
        
        Cha’s link refers to apparent evidence of trade in stone tools between the Cook Islands and the Marquesas.
        
        Trade started prior to 1300 AD, when the earliest tools were discovered. That would be about the time Maori settled in NZ, wouldn’t it? Ars Technica notes:
        
        And, while the most distant location in the Marquesas drops off within 200 years, trade with Samoa appears to continue through nearly to the time of discovery by Europeans.
        
        If that’s so it’s surprising Cook Islanders weren’t able to tell Westerners about their navigation systems.
        
        Cha, where is the evidence of two-way trade with North America? And you can’t use the sweet potato (in NZ. kumera). The Japanese have been eating them for a long time. Perhaps the Americans got them from Japan, or vice-versa.
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:14pm
      - Jack5
        
        Cha, the nub of the whole thing to me is if there were sophisticated navigation systems, why were they lost?
        
        You can theorise and come up with supposed “hand methods” of calculating longitude etc, but if these were used why had they been forgotten, apart from the Marshall Islands stick charts? It’s unconvincing.
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:22pm
      - cha
        
        Cha, where is the evidence of two-way trade with North America?
        
        I doubt they ever made it to North America but I reckon the circumstantial evidence, accomplished blue water navigators/mariners, proximity to Easter Island, coupled with more recent research says odds on they did voyage to the Southern Americas.
        
        Using short DNA sequences from the plants’ cell nuclei and chloroplasts, Roullier and her co-authors found that the vegetables not only carry the genetic heritage of their South American origin, but exist in different types in Polynesia and the western Pacific. The sweet potatoes in Polynesia were part of a distinct lineage that was already present in the area when European voyagers introduced different lines elsewhere. Each lineage may even have been introduced several times, further complicating the pattern of dispersal and exchange. “The present sample of herbarium accessions does not allow us to rule out multiple prehistoric introductions,” Roullier says.
        
        http://www.nature.com/news/dna-shows-how-the-sweet-potato-crossed-the-sea-1.12257
        
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        September 4, 2016 10:32pm
- RF
  
  Cry me a river
  
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  September 4, 2016 9:51pm
Happychappy

So Winston and NZ First think they have found the way to unlocking the missing million voters and maybe persuading them to cast their vote for NZ First. He also suggested that they will be going it at the alone next election, so the bullshit has already started and his ego has just got larger.
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September 4, 2016 6:48pm
mikenmild

Here’s something to get the moonbats excited. A self-styled international tribunal is going to meet in The Hague to ‘try’ Monsanto for supposed crimes including violating various rights, complicity in war crimes and ‘ecocide’.
http://www.monsanto-tribunal.org/main.php?obj_id=281601562
You can even donate via the website. No word yet on whether this will fund Monsanto’s defence as well as the prosecution.
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September 4, 2016 6:53pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  With such a non partisan group of people involved it will be interesting to see what the verdict is…
  Tough call but guilty by a whisker maybe.
  
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  September 4, 2016 7:07pm
  - mikenmild
    
    When the tribunal website gives a potted history of Monsanto’s crimes, I’m reminded of the Queen to Alice: “Sentence first; verdict afterwards”.
    
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    September 4, 2016 7:10pm
Griff

Ok mike to show we are equal opportunity here on kb one for the wingnuts.

The chairman of the House Science Committee has announced a hearing next month into the refusal by two state attorneys general to comply with subpoenas seeking information on their investigations into ExxonMobil.

Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican from Texas, said on Tuesday the inquiry will focus on whether Congress has authority to issue subpoenas to the New York and Massachusetts attorneys general investigating the oil giant for misleading investors on climate change. It will also discuss what recourse the committee has if the the two AGs choose not to comply.

Among the Republican majority witnesses to testify at the Sept. 14 hearing will be two law professors with connections to think tanks funded by the fossil fuel industry and who have been critical of the attorneys general. The third is a liberal law scholar and professor who has frequently testified before Congress. The Democrats on the committee have yet to name a minority witness.

The hearing signals further escalation in the hostilities between Smith and the two attorneys generals, Eric Schneiderman of New York and Maura Healey of Massachusetts. Smith has called the investigations politically motivated, while the Texas congressman has been criticized for trying to shield Exxon from scrutiny about its knowledge of climate science decades ago and subsequent embrace of climate denial.

Eric Soufer, a spokesman for Schneiderman, said the hearing is nothing more Smith’s attempt to derail the investigations.

“[It is] very telling that Chairman Smith believes he needs to trot out handpicked professors to validate his radical views on why congress should be allowed to trample on states rights and interfere with a state law enforcement investigation,” Soufer said. “We hope the Chairman will hear from more than his handpicked experts and not try to silence dissenting views.”

Chloe Gotsis, a spokeswoman for Healey, also decried the hearing.

“This is yet another attempt by Congressman Lamar Smith and his colleagues to interfere with our lawful and ongoing investigation into whether Exxon Mobil misled Massachusetts consumers and investors about the impacts of climate change,” she said. “Congressman Smith’s committee has no jurisdiction over the regular work of state attorneys general and we will continue to fight every attempt to impede our investigation.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31082016/lamar-smith-calls-science-committee-hearings-discuss-exxon-subpoenas-maura-healey-eric-schneiderman?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=c72c8ed1ef-InsideClimate_News12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-c72c8ed1ef-326462105
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September 4, 2016 7:07pm
- mikenmild
  
  Lamar Smith – one of my favourite GOP loons.
  http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/06/02/congressperson_lamar_smith_continues_his_attacks_on_science.html
  
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  September 4, 2016 7:33pm
Stars And Stripes

South Auckland solo mum wins fight to move away from sex offender living next door
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/83884394/south-auckland-solo-mum-wins-fight-to-move-away-from-sex-offender-living-next-
“A south Auckland single mum will be moved to a different state house after saying she felt unsafe living next door to a sex offender.”
“”I feel unsafe for my children, like, even hanging our washing out in the backyard is quite hard.”

On one hand this story seemed genuine to me as the place has long grass and looks like a dump which is typical of a state house but then I had my doubts when she mentioned about hanging out washing as I am pretty sure state house tenants don’t do washing.
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September 4, 2016 7:23pm
- Gabby
  
  She should be grateful for a house next to a paedo, shouldn’t she? She chose to have the kid after all.
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:55pm
nasska

Just got kicked out of an ISIS training camp.

Apparently when asked, “Who are you going to target?”

“Paedophiles & rapists”, wasn’t the right answer.
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September 4, 2016 7:39pm
- mikenmild
  
  Paedophiles? Surely not:
  http://www.jesusandmo.net/2008/09/16/nine/
  
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  September 4, 2016 7:44pm
  - Don the Kiwi
    
    Where’s JB when you need him…….
    
    One who fishes for a living we call them fishermen, one who builds houses for a living we call them carpenters but you SCREW one SHEEP…….
    
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    September 4, 2016 8:11pm
sam green

Jesus – I see another one of the X-Men has appeared. Icarus has successfully mutated. Hahaha. What a cock.
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September 4, 2016 9:06pm
mikenmild

Who said this?
…called for a “civil rights agenda of our time,” well aware that black Americans have “suffered from discrimination and there are many wrongs that should be made right”…“Our nation is too divided. We talk past each other, not to each other, and those who seek office do not do enough to step into the community and learn what is going on.”
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September 4, 2016 9:12pm
- cha
  
  Some bloke wearing a tallit in a half empty black church?.
  
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  September 4, 2016 10:42pm
Manolo

The end is near for Mamma Merkel:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/defiant-merkel-says-refugees-not-taking-away-benefits-112730370.html
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September 4, 2016 9:42pm
Manolo

Merkel’s fall:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3773361/Merkel-smashed-home-state-polls-far-Right-year-let-hundreds-thousands-migrants-Germany.html
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September 5, 2016 6:46am
Scott Chris

Herald headline this morning which I suspect will be corrected shortly:

Hurricane Hermine: Causing hanoc from Florida to Virgina

Sounds serious.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11703655
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September 5, 2016 7:09am

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Our immunisation disaster

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A who's who of New Zealand's dodgiest companies
No Right Turn
"Under a better Resource Management system [sic], there would be no need for fast-track approval processes."
Not PC
Marxist Economics Is Dumb
Utopia
Can taxpayers be confident PIJF cash was spent wisely?
Point of Order
Daily review 19/04/2024
The Standard
Word of the day
Hompaddock
Scottish Skullduggery
No Minister
Again, hate crimes are not necessarily terrorism.
Kiwipolitico
Te Papa gutlessly cower to Chief Culture Censor Paul Goldsmith
The Daily Blog
Despair - construction consenting edition
Offsetting Behaviour
RACIST ADVERTISING
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Is the state coming for churches?
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
Super Rugby Predictions for Week 9
Stats Chat
Coalition Promises
NZCPR
Tougher than that
Croaking Cassandra
ABs stripped of 2011 title after try disallowed
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz