General Debate 26 January 2017

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Andrei

Hmmm
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January 26, 2017 8:01am
calendar girl

Here’s one for Ms Penny Bright: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/88770772/New-Zealand-and-Denmark-deemed-the-least-corrupt-countries-in-the-world

In relative terms, her life’s work is now done in this country, and we should all be magnanimous in congratulating her on her outstanding achievement. (“Dame Penny”, perhaps, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List?)

New Zealanders can feel relieved that her attention can move, at last, to countries with a more urgent need for her ‘services’. I’m happy to nominate for her urgent attention the four most corrupt countries on this list of international ignominy:

#173 Syria
#174 North Korea
# 175 South Sudan
# 176 Somalia
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January 26, 2017 8:02am
- RalphT
  
  Sorry, but these rankings have little credibility, as I’m sure Penny will tell us shortly. Any assessment of our corruption status should only be believed once she has put her official seal on it. I fear we might be waiting a long time.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:08am
- mandk
  
  # 177 The Bright People’s Republic of Bludgistan
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:10am
- marquess
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Presumably this report came out after news broke of our ministers doling citizenship to silicon valley billionaires.
  
  Which in legislation requires such extraordinary circumstances that are in the public interest, yet nathan guy can’t remember it.
  
  Least corrupt. Hah. I’ve got a completely uncorrupted bridge to sell you.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:13am
  - G152
    
    Remind me as to the Chinese gentleman who ‘bought’ his citizenship from liebor and has recently returned to China.
    Different when the left do it
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:23am
    - Paulus
      
      But Mr Liu has recently returned to New Zealand I understand.
      Who has he bought off in China ?
      
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      January 26, 2017 1:40pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Your partisan bullshit is appalling. Theil should be rejected because he’s not a leftie? He will make a huge contribution to NZ (which is the sensible test for accepting immigrants). But a loopy green James Cameron is welcomed without a murmer? They are both good additions to NZ.
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:31am
    - marquess
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      He’s more than welcome to apply for Permanent Residency, and wait like everyone else. We should be welcoming immigrants who want to come here and respect our procedures and rule of law.
      
      That the nats sold him a flag of convenience passport is absolutely appalling, and I’m a little saddened that until a change of government, this is the last time we’ll be seen as a well governed, uncorrupt country.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:01am
      - James Stephenson
        
        We allow Permanent Residents who demonstrate a commitment to the country to become Citizens. The only way most of us can demostrate that commitment is by living here for a certain amount of time.
        
        If a billionaire, like Thiel, is able to demonstrate that commitment by investment in and support of, our tech industry over a number of years then I’m more than happy to see the rules applied differently for him.
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:17am
      - pentwig
        
        marquess
        “That the nats sold him a flag of convenience passport”
        
        You have proof of the sale of course?
        
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        January 26, 2017 12:38pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    You must have missed the memo from Labour HQ/RNZ. Theil is to be referred to as “controversial” in all pressers.
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:48am
    - B.L.Zeebub
      
      Controversial and ~~Nazi~~ alt-right.
      
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      January 26, 2017 8:51am
  - Gabby
    
    He might have delegated to Munter McMutton. That would explain the memory hole.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:01am
  - Flash
    
    And who set the ball rolling in 2006 with a residency permit, hmmm?
    
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    January 26, 2017 2:00pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  ‘Pay the piper – call the tune’?
  
  http://www.transparency.org.nz/Partners-and-Sponsors
  
  Partners and Sponsors
  
  Cornerstone Platinum
  
  The Office of the Auditor General
  
  NIS Gold
  
  School of Government, VUW
  Ministry for Justice
  Statistics New Zealand
  The Human Rights Commission
  Ministry of Social Development
  The Treasury
  Inland Revenue
  Department of Internal Affairs
  Corrections
  Department of Conservation
  Ministry of Transport
  Civil Aviation Authority
  New Zealand Transport Authority
  Maritime New Zealand
  Te Puni Kokiri
  The Ombudsman
  Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs
  The New Zealand Defence Force
  
  NIS Silver
  
  Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
  The Serious Fraud Office
  Crown Law
  
  NIS Bronze
  
  NZ Public Service Association
  Sponsors
  The Gama Foundation
  
  In Kind Donations
  
  Bell Gully
  VUW School of Government
  PwC
  Deloitte
  KPMG
  Human Rights Commission Launch Day
  School of Government Institute for Governance and Policy Studies Wellington
  Wellington Girls College
  Thorndon New World
  NZTE
  Institute of Directors
  BDO Spicers
  Russell McVeagh
  Chapman Tripp
  Gibson Sheat
  Susan Gluck-Hornsby
  Chen Palmer
  Juliet McKee
  Claudia Orange
  Te Papa
  ____________________
  
  Penny Bright
  
  ‘Anti- privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
  
  Future Independent MP for Mt Albert?
  
  🙂
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:52am
  - pdm
    
    You forgot Auckland City Council for not suing people with unpaid rates!!
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:54am
    - stigie
      
      And Watercare for the tampering of their meters !~
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:01am
  - Rich Prick
    
    Please, make it stop.
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:55am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    “Future Independent MP for Mt Albert?”
    
    I see you’ve added a question mark. That is very wise.
    
    Captain Mainwaring
    Future King of the Universe
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:07am
  - simpleton1
    
    “‘Pay the piper – call the tune’?”
    Follow the money ! ! !
    
    In another brilliant showing of respect for democracy, Penny completely ignored the G.A. rules that it must approve all funds before they are released (over $100) by usurping the last $200+ in the bank account, without G.A. approval, ostensibly with the help of “Chris Glen” who was on the finance committee and was also a bank signatory.
    https://occupysavvy.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/penny-bright-fails-to-co-opt-occupy-auckland-again/
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:11am
    - ross411
      
      That’s some Winston Peters level shit. Thousands or dollars or hundreds, taking money you’re not entitled to is corrupt either way.
      
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      January 26, 2017 12:08pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      I wouldn’t take too much notice of what the, in my considered opinion, phony Suzette Maree Dawson has published on her own private website?
      
      Penny Bright
      
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      January 26, 2017 2:34pm
      - Rich Prick
        
        Is Ms Dawson right or wrong Penny? A yes/no answer will do. Transperancy an’ all that.
        
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        January 26, 2017 3:13pm
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Penny; I’m normally not blunt like this, but fuck off. You have outstayed your welcome, you display utter hypocrisy, and your credibility is zilch.
    
    (Parts of the above are “political satire”, and other parts are honest opinion.)
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:44am
    - publicwatchdog
      
      Gosh Keeping Stock!
      
      Obviously I missed the news where Kiwiblog ownership was transferred from David Farrar to yourself?
      
      (Whoever you are? 🙂
      
      Kind regards
      
      Penny Bright
      
      Future Independent MP for Mt Albert?
      
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      January 26, 2017 2:38pm
  - fernglas
    
    So is Wellington Girls College up to its elbows in corruption, then, Penny? And Dame Claudia Orange? Be careful who you defame; they will get your house a lot quicker than the Council.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:52am
- Sir Leslie Bottocks
  
  hardly a surprise. I suspect the authorities had a quiet word with TINZ, just to let them know that for continued govt funding it would be beneficial if NZ were to return to their rightful #1 position.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:05am
- publicwatchdog
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, in my view, isn’t worth the paper upon which it is written.
  
  Seriously.
  
  It’s not based upon measurable / objective yardsticks – but essentially the subjective opinions of anonymous businesspeople
  
  How many people know that for the ten previous occasions that NZ was perceived to be ‘the least corrupt’ country in the world (sometimes 1st equal) – NZ hadn’t even ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)?
  
  I’ve now attended five International Anti-Corruption Conferences, listened to and met experts, read voluminous material and ‘put my mind’ to the NZ corruption reality, and my opinion is considered.
  
  In my view, New Zealand is a corrupt, polluted tax haven that needs a massive ‘clean up’!
  
  Penny Bright
  
  2017 Independent candidate
  Mt Albert by-election
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:06am
  - Rich Prick
    
    In my view, Penny Bright is a loon.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:12am
    - sooty
      
      Sadly, she is missing the tune!
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:28am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I concur, by virtue of a mix of “political satire” (Penny’s justification for resorting to personal abuse) and honestly held opinion.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:46am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    @ Penny
    
    Well that’s just like your opinion man…
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:12am
  - fernglas
    
    Penny, weren’t you banging on last year about being part of some survey on the rule of law where findings were based on the subjective opinions of anonymous lawyers and academics? And didn’t you applaud its findings? Just remind us. Hypocrisy is corruption too, you know.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:56am
  - lifesgood
    
    And who in their right mind would think “your view” was of any value?
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:42am
EAD

Trump refuses to drop his allegation that 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 illegal voters gave Hillary the popular vote, thereby goading the MSM into demanding that he conduct an inquiry into alleged illegal voting. A demand he immediately accedes to.

No doubt much stricter voter registration rules will follow.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/88775987/us-president-donald-trump-announces-major-voter-fraud-investigation

The MSM have been played like fiddles – the man is a genius, and the MSM are total retards. It’s like watching Joseph Parker fight a blind cripple with both hands tied behind their back!
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January 26, 2017 8:04am
- Scott
  
  There may be massive voter fraud so an investigation makes sense. It’s very easy apparently for illegals to get enough documentation so they can vote. And let’s not forget that a reason why Democrats favour open borders is because for every 100 immigrants, legal or illegal, 80 if them will vote Democrat.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:15am
- fernglas
  
  Sadly, the enormous subtlety with which Trump has conducted himself since coming into office will be lost on those in the MSM who seem to think that his obsession with the popular vote is simply yet another manifestation of a narcissistic personality. Not just the media have been played either. He has now committed a number of his enemies in both parties to saying that the allegations of widespread voter fraud are untrue, thereby destroying their credibility when the inquiry inevitably proves him to be correct.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:16am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Here’s info on the states that do and do not require voter id to vote
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_laws_in_the_United_States
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:25am
  - gravedodger
    
    No prize for knowing where the two states where Ms Clintons plurality was very heavily weighted, stand, hint, one is on the west coast and has a secessionist movement the other on the east coast houses the Useless Nations footprint.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:54am
- SPC
  
  I think it is great that Trump is investing taxpayer money to confirm that he lost the popular vote, fair and square.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:24am
- Ross12
  
  I think Trump should make his end game on this issue a complete overhaul of the federal VOTING system. Clean up the roll ( get rid of the supposed 2 mill dead people’s names off the roll) ,overhaul the way the roll is kept up to date, have a uniform system , either all paper or all machines ( if machines they should be Govt. owned and operated), compulsory voter ID etc.
  NB. I highlight voting to show I don’t mean changing the electoral college system.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:35am
  - SPC
    
    I agree. A uniform system, better roll oversight and ID etc under federal oversight and judges is what a modern democracy should have.
    
    Keep the partisan nonsense to the local level, leave it behind as the embarrassment it (and the federal system too for now) is.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:51am
  - Gabby
    
    Won’t happen. States rats. Cold dead fingers.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:39am
Southern Raider

Another day and once again all the top stories in the NZ MSM are related to Trump

Peter Theil must be wondering why he ever bothered investing in our country with the left wing shit he has been confronted with this week
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January 26, 2017 8:12am
- Scott
  
  That’s because Trump is going like a boss. He’s signing orders today to build a wall as promised and crack down on sanctuary cities as promised. He’s cracking down on immigration from high risk countries like Yemen with an exception for religious minorities like Christian and Yazidi.
  Thus guy is doing awesome things. Every day is like Christmas ??
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:29am
  - pdm
    
    He has the work ethic of a successful person which means he doesn’t make his golf tee time the first entry in his daily diary.
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:34am
    - itstricky
      
      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-first-weekend-off-us-president-inauguration-ceremony-celebration-michael-gove-interview-a7531576.html
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:03am
      - Scott
        
        He didn’t play golf. More leftist fake news.
        
        The left never seemed to worry about how much golf Obama actually was playing???
        
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        January 26, 2017 9:15am
      - itstricky
        
        That statement was made & that article was published before the inauguration.
        
        I couldn’t give two hoots about golf, I’m mearly commenting on his work ethic as above.
        
        Yeah – I just scored the biggest, most demanding job in the world and promised 300 mil people I’d get to work right away – but I’ll take a couple of days off before I start cause I’ll need to get over the celebration.
        
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        January 26, 2017 9:24am
  - Southern Raider
    
    And the left won’t promote those things as they are too busy trying to turn the general public globally against him because they are crapping themselves over how much conservative change he has been able to make in one week.
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:57am
- Gabby
  
  Cheapest Publicity Evverr is what he’s thinking.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:04am
- MCos
  
  I somehow doubt he’s much interested in what’s on the front page of the NZ Herald.
  If, on the other hand he was to dial up today’s general debate on Kiwiblog he could read about someone’s advice for Penny Bright plus copious comments agreeing with anything his mate Trump says.
  By the way his name is Thiel.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:16am
Paulus Gnome

The Auckland tabloid actually presents something worth looking at, most likely as it is a visual fact that even their best resident opinion(ated) writers would have trouble blaming the Government for although I do not doubt it would not stop them would give it a go!

‘What $90 buys you in 2017: Cost of trolley full of groceries vs roll-your-own smokes is the same’
‘In one photo, a 50 gram pouch of roll-your-own tobacco, papers and filters. Total cost: around $90.
In the other, a trolley-full of groceries, from meat packs and veges to bread, milk, bananas and cheese, and a giant sack of spuds. Total cost: $90.31’

It reinforces my view that there is no reason to claim there is poverty in New Zealand, only poor choices made by people not recognising their responsibilities (to their families and to the society that supports them and their ilk as a whole)

Worth noting though: ‘A Reddit user posted the image onto the New Zealand sub-reddit yesterday.’ So no real effort by the tabloid at all, quelle surprise!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11788734
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January 26, 2017 8:15am
- holysheet
  
  Had to go to the district court the other day. Entering the building was a struggle, getting between the ferals lounging at the front door smoking their cancer sticks. Not a white skinned person amongst them.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:29am
  - fernglas
    
    Jury service or an appearance, Holy?
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:30am
    - holysheet
      
      neither, it was a civil matter.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:08am
  - publicwatchdog
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Because few ‘white collar criminals’ get charged?
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:54am
    - holysheet
      
      Nah just that they have more brains than smoke their way to an early death.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:07am
    - sooty
      
      How times have you been charged? Penny dearest.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:31am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      When are you back in the High Court Penny?
      
      Surely you must have exhausted all avenues of appeal by now, and must be getting close to joining Colin Craig in being declared a vexatious litigant.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:48am
      - sooty
        
        Who paid for all your trips? Darling Penny.
        
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        January 26, 2017 6:03pm
EAD

If you thought the “fake news” the MSM feeds us is bad, it’s nothing compared to “fake history”

Case in point is the the full on MSM blitz of the movie “Hidden Figures” being released today at Reading Cinemas that tells the story of 3 black women who worked at NASA at the time they put the man on the moon?

To read the coverage in the MSM, you’d think these 3 women single handly performed the mathematics that put man on the moon. Here is an example of the gushing MSM praise (highlights mine):

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/film-reviews/88476190/movie-review-hidden-figures–smart-entertaining-illuminating-and-timely

Over the course of a decade, Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson crashed through two formidable social and political barriers, did a lot of the maths that enabled John Glenn to orbit the Earth – and get home in one uncharred piece – and eventually played a big role in the success of Apollo 11 and the salvation of Apollo 13.

Hidden Figures compresses the action to what feels like a couple of years at most, and takes a few other minor liberties to succeed as a film. But it is pretty broadly agreed that this is a more accurate look inside the NASA of the era than movie makers usually manage

So despite taking what they describe as “minor” liberties, the conclusion of the movie is that they played a “big” role in the NASA successes….

As this is supposed to be a true account rather than a comedy, and in the interest of historical accuracy, several so called “fake news” outlets have examined the true role of these women within NASA. As expected, the MSM has taken rather “LARGE” liberties with historical accuracy taking a back seat to the more important causes of rewriting of history and social engineering.

http://www.vdare.com/articles/why-not-a-movie-about-jack-crenshaw-the-white-man-who-actually-did-what-hidden-figures-credits-to-black-women

In other words, the perceived racism these black women supposedly faced was mostly made up by Hollywood, with racist white characters invented so the screenwriters could have villains.

What’s more, as black author Shetterly admits in the History vs. Hollywood article above, the women lionized in the movie worked in huge teams double-checking each other’s work. The premise that a few black women got us to the moon is laughable.

The true pioneers and heroes of the Space Race are being ignored simply because they were white males. After my earlier VDARE.com piece debunking the entire premise behind Hidden Figures, an anonymous reader who says he worked for NASA emailed me: “Research the name Dr. Jack Crenshaw.”

So I did. And it turns out that Crenshaw, a white graduate of Alabama’s Auburn University, is basically responsible for the bulk of what Katherine G. Johnson etc. is credited with in Hidden Figures:

Below is the link to his earlier takedown of the MSM fantasy but I really enjoyed Savant’s views of Hollywoods rewriting of history and that it will just further emphasise the gaping chasm

http://www.vdare.com/articles/hyped-figures-john-glenn-and-the-pc-myth-of-katherine-johnson-unsung-black-women-were-not-what-got-us-to-the-moon

http://irishsavant.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/astrofizzisists-to-da-rescue.html?m=0

Now you might ask why I’m writing about this. After all it’s just another example of the Great Brainwashing Project that’s been in progress for more than fifty years. But it’s also an example of how our globalist overlords are losing touch. Because even the most brainwashed deluded White liberal (DWL) watching this is going to be struck by the jarring cognitive dissonance. The reality of their personal interactions with black women and their depiction in the film as astrophysical geeks will be enough to wreck their heads.

And I suggest that many Blue Pillers will start to laugh at the movie’s premise. They’ll mock. And mockery is the one weapon which PC gauleiters are powerless to counter.

SO. DAMN. TRUE
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January 26, 2017 8:17am
- Lucia Maria
  
  EAD,
  
  So, there’s a movie out about black women who were mathematicians in NASA at the same time as intense racial discrimination in the United States, and you throw a complete spaz.
  
  Are you an American, by any chance? That this bothers you so much? Or are you German? Or English? You haven’t said.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:52am
  - itstricky
    
    The snowflake needs a safe space.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:06am
  - Lance
    
    @Lucia
    EAD is a Nazi
    He hates Jews and he hates blacks as exampled on numerous previous bilious posts.
    Don’t feed the troll, just accept that he speaks crap most of the time
    Nuff said
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:18am
    - Lucia Maria
      
      Lance,
      
      We differ on how we think we should deal with EAD. I think he needs to be confronted on his bullshit. If he isn’t, then the less observant minds will drink in what he’s saying uncritically.
      
      Ignoring Nazis doesn’t make them go away, it just lets them grow undisturbed.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:29am
- CrazyIvan
  
  So, you’re just discovering that movies aren’t true now?
  
  Where were you when Braveheart (IMO the most historically inaccurate movie of all time) came out? Or is that different because the white people are the good guys in that one?
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:56am
  - Lucia Maria
    
    There was Kingdom of Heaven as well. That was really bad.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:05am
    - fernglas
      
      I was almost destroyed by the historical inaccuracy of “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves” but the worst was the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Those costumes! Those accents!
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:11am
      - CrazyIvan
        
        ‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights’ was even more inaccurate.
        
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        January 26, 2017 9:27am
  - SPC
    
    You mean William was not as short as Mel and the director only added the scenes where he consorted with Sophie coz he fancied her?
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:09am
    - CrazyIvan
      
      Those, and:
      – the Battle of Stirling Bridge actually, you know, involved a bridge,
      – Edward I never threw Phillip de Mowbray out a window,
      – Wallace and Isabella of France never met (at the time of Wallace she was only four years old)
      – Robert the Bruce never betrayed Wallace
      – the Battle of Falkirk was not interrupted by a chat and cup of tea between the Irish and Scots
      – Scots didn’t paint their faces blue in battle.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:31am
- Gabby
  
  It’s a crying shame that there’s never been a movie about white men astronauts, ass fissure.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:08am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    “Apollo 69” had 2 black men astronauts and a woman too.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:19am
  - CrazyIvan
    
    ‘Apollo 18’ was historically accurate wasn’t it?
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:32am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      Yes.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:40am
      - sooty
        
        But they never went to the moon. It was all done on a Hollywood back lot.
        
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        January 26, 2017 6:06pm
- SPC
  
  It’s just as “jarring” to note that there are intelligent people in the USA when you come across loud fat Americans who have more in common with Homer.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:12am
- Kiwi Dave
  
  Given the repeated distortions of previous Hollywood based-on-fact movies, our default expectation should be 5-10% fact and the rest invention reflecting the director’s artistic imagination and the producer’s hopes for ticket sales. These are not documentaries.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:20am
Manolo

Cleaning the stables:
http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/24/days-into-trump-admin-corrupt-employees-are-already-being-fired-at-the-va/
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January 26, 2017 8:20am
G152

And all those videos of the US election crowds protesting with some of the most morbidly obese people I have ever seen screaming obscenities at any-one who dares have a differing opinion.
Democrats dont do democracy
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January 26, 2017 8:29am
kowtow

Trump’s great , now he’s got the Dutch to pay for third world abortions.
Labour voters must be as thick as pig shit. Electing pollies who happily spend their taxes abroad.

“The Netherlands has called for an international fund to support health centres offering abortion services in developing countries, after US President Donald Trump ordered a halt to US government financing.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/170125130754131.html
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January 26, 2017 8:37am
- lifesgood
  
  Is this the Dutch way of killing off Islamists at source?
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:42am
  - itstricky
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5wq9kEFsd8
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:10am
  - Inandout
    
    Islamists don’t believe in abortion, but the pro abortionists never mention the ‘M’ word. Funny that.
    But weird as ever:’Islam does not permit abortion where an unwanted pregnancy is the result of unforced adultery’.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:04am
Padriv Ustoev

I’m in Turkey today with my wife 4b, attending the Touring Camel Grand Prix.

Check it. You can also see me behind my wife in the 4th photo.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4156722/Lindsay-Lohan-sports-headscarf-conversion-claims.html

Allah be praised.
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January 26, 2017 8:51am
- Manolo
  
  I am a devout follower of your saintly words, Imam Padriv. Allahu akbar.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:52am
slightlyrighty

So Trump is actually building the wall. You know the one. The one Mexico was going to pay for.

Well guess what. Mexico ain’t paying for it.

Now cue the Trump supporters claiming the Mexico will be paying for it by the US clawing back the aid that it gives Mexico.

OK. Lets look at that. How much aid does the US give Mexico. In 2013, the US gave 51.5 million in Aid to Mexico.

Now how much will the wall cost. If we were to look at something similar, such as a road, this costs between 4 and 6 million dollars per mile, and this is something that is only laid across the top.

A secure wall would have to go deep. So more earthworks would be required, and there would be an extra cost in getting materials to the site, but for the sake of arguement, we will assume $6million per mile.

The border is 1900 miles.

51.5 million will cover the cost of 8.5 miles of border wall.

Who pays for the rest? Well, if the plan is to use cumulative savings from reclaimed aid to cover the cost, that will take 200 years.

If we take our estimate of 6 million per mile, the cost will be 11.5 billion to get this wall built, and the 51.5 million will not even cover the cost of maintaining the wall for a year once it has been built.

It’s worth remembering that Trump’s inaugural speech spoke about the Crumbling infrastructure in the US, and a 1900 mile wall will use a great deal of raw materials which could have been used to repair that infrastructure.
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January 26, 2017 8:52am
- CrazyIvan
  
  It’s worse than that when you consider the existing 600 miles of fence cost $7 billion to build and maintain. Factoring costs including taking land off private landowners, the Washington Post estimated it would cost $25bn to build.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:00am
- Inandout
  
  Will the threat of a wall greatly reduce the illegal traffic across the border? Yes, because the Mexican government doesn’t want to be on a ‘Trump Punish List’ and will therefore do anything to keep their citizens from bailing.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:04am
  - SPC
    
    You should check out the US-Mexican immigration statistics.
    
    https://www.google.co.nz/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=hts&oq=&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGHP_en-GBNZ423NZ423&q=US-Mexican+immigration+statistics
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:17am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      Yes, I know that there are a number of illegal mexican immigrants in the US, but that number has been dropping for some time, and in fact, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal, in 2015, more hispanics left the US for Mexico than the other way around.
      
      Don’t build the wall. Increase technical surveillance with drones, increase manpower, and get the job done using smarts. Save the raw material and money for the infrastructure that is needed elsewhere.
      
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      January 26, 2017 9:53am
      - Inandout
        
        ‘Smarts’ could include a ‘vapourising zone’.
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:09am
- Scott
  
  Building the wall? Check
  Cutting off federal funding to sanctuary cities? Check.
  And it’s only his first week!
  
  Mexico paying for the wall? I reckon they will. Also I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard from some seemingly knowledgeable person that Trump will not be able to do something.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:23am
- BarryB
  
  Well better they spend this sort of money making a wall then spend it on trying to force ‘democracy’ onto societies that dont want it – like afganstan and iraq and , and,…… most of the middle east.
  Totally wasted money and lives.
  
  And you never know – it might even lead to reduction in drugs let alone illegals – who should stay in their own country and throw their government out and get in some who will give the existing political system a good kicking.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:39am
  - Scott
    
    Barry B – totally agree. George Bush was under the impression that if you gave a middle eastern country democracy then all would be good. The trouble is that in the Middle East the guiding principle is Islam. So they would happily hold an election and in that election 97% of the people would vote for an Islamic government and that government would bring about the end of democratic elections for the foreseeable future.
    
    Let’s face it. Muslims don’t believe in democracy, they believe in theocracy.
    
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    January 26, 2017 11:29am
Happychappy

I see the not so Squeaky clean Investigative Journalist and friend of the I use criminals stolen data to write books Nicky Hager was the one that broke the story of the Billionaire that has been given NZ Citizenship. This so called Journalist has been one of a team that has gone after National ever since they lost their creditability over their support for the fat German and the linkup with criminals in NZ.
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January 26, 2017 8:53am
- Gabby
  
  That bastard. It was spossta be a secret. Crappy little chappy. Nothing Guy can’t remember a fucking thing though. Phew.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:15am
peterwn

Article in MSM that non-casino pokie turnover has significantly increased despite there being fewer machines and wondering if the machines are being used for money laundering. Now pokies are required to return 78% to 92% of money inserted (say 80%), so they could theoretically be used for money laundering since a 20% ‘commission’ is not too bad and the launderer can claim he hit the ‘big one’ to explain things away. Actually I doubt pokies provides an avenue of money laundering which is superior to other methods.
What surprised me is the payout percentage is so high – I thought it was more like 66% with a hefty gambling duty (current rate is 20% of profit and a 1.3% turnover levy to finance the lifestyles of former left wing politicians who run problem gambling outfits).
If turnover is going up, then surely there should be a sharp increase in gambling duty (20% of turnover instead of 20% of profit) and the payout reduced to 66% thus providing more money for community organisations. This would render pokie use for money laundering uneconomic unless the launderer is desperate.
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January 26, 2017 8:57am
- fernglas
  
  The advantage of the pokies and the casino for money laundering is that it is virtually impossible to work out how much money has gone in and how much has come out. Even with the VIPs in Auckland who use cards, the best they can do is tell you the turnover and then approximate what the amount invested is. If you put in $20 then in theory you get $16 back, but that is only the case if there is a single input of funds (no reinvestment of wins) and the machine works to the precise percentage, which of course they don’t. So it’s really difficult to prove the amount introduced into the system and therefore really hard to prove laundering
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:19am
  - peterwn
    
    But the launderer starts with a heap of cash and ends up with a heap of cash. The only benefit of laundering it through pokies or a casino as far as I can see is the launderer can claim a big win (regardless of whether he won or not) to explain the heap of cash he has or has banked. Possibly the casino wants to see ID before a very big payout and is subject to usual money laundering disclosure rules. This leaves the pokies as a possible means of money laundering and the launderer would have to argue a succession of modest payouts which will not wash when probability theory is applied (AFAIK venue staff are involved with large pokie payouts and would need to meet disclosure rules – Internal Affairs would be aware of large payouts via the pokie monitoring system). Security cameras would also be a problem for the launderer.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:47am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Pokie taxes are calculated on the gross winnings.
  So if a punter loses $230 on the pokies, $30 goes in GST (being 3/23 of the gross takeout), $46 goes in Gaming Duty being 20% of the gross payout, inclusive of GST. Of the $154 left about $52 goes to the site operator (often a pub), about $52 goes to operating expenses of the pokie charitable organisation, and the balance goes to charitable recipients.
  I understand that gaming duty on pokie gross income for casinos is much less that the 20% cited above.
  Bill English loves that $76, of the $230 margin, that his outfit gets. Note how the gaming duty is levied on the GST inclusive sum. It is like the government crowing about a $184 per week wages subsidy, then the harassed accountant has to tell the employer that it is actually $160. The $184 is the figure quoted by the government’s spin doctors.
  I hope this beancounter stuff does not bore the shit out of you.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:19am
  - Elaycee
    
    @Tauhei Notts: Don’t forget that all operators of machines (charitable organisations and casinos) also pay a ‘levy’ for ‘problem gambling’ services. [In the near future that will be used for intended purpose rather than propaganda, when the provision shifts to the Salvation Army].
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:47am
  - holysheet
    
    Don’t forget the 17.5% tax on employer contributions for Kiwisaver.
    Of every $100 employer kiwisaver the govt takes $17.50. Leaving the employee $77.50 from the employer.
    I guess they have to get the $500 annual taxpayer contribution from somewhere.
    
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    January 26, 2017 11:18am
- Elaycee
  
  Maybe the reason turnover is up, can be attributed to all the ‘subliminal messages’ that ‘Judith’ (or whatever she called herself that week) assured us was in machine software. 😛
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:58am
Stars And Stripes

$90,000 revamp wanted to give Hawke’s Bay Regional Council offices more mana
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/88743697/90000-revamp-wanted-to-give-hawkes-bay-regional-council-offices-more-mana.
“”I do want to see it project some mana of the role,” Rex Graham said of the proposal, which would include adding Maori carvings and portraits of tribal ancestors to the debating chamber, and creating a “chairman’s room” in what is currently a councillors’ lounge and meeting room.”

Love this sort of shit.
Some old white guy with a Maori carving round his neck getting all cultural at rate payers expense.
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January 26, 2017 9:24am
- BarryB
  
  As long as he pays then it could possibly be ok. Otherwise its just a “spend someone elses money” project.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:34am
  - Kabull
    
    Its not OK. Nine portraits of ‘tribal ancestors’?? Will there be any portraits of significant European ancestors who were instrumental in making the Bay what it is today?
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:38am
- wiseowl
  
  He is thick with Moori and with Barker there , a trougher who has earned about $300,000 as a treaty negotiator, along with the yank Bellford who worked for peanut farmer Carter , the people of Hawkes Bay have shown how stupid they are voting in these appalling representatives.
  
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  January 26, 2017 10:28am
BarryB

Some self proclaimed expert ex teacher has come out wanting more special teacher training for maori and pacifica.

Two things here. I know a teacher (2ndry level scence) and maori especially come to her classes with the sure and certain knowledge that the world of science is made up of air, water, fire and earth. And thats it. Concepts of what life is and the difference between mammals and birds and fish etc are beyond most of them. Teacher training wont fix this (as for example they believe that clouds are alive – they can reproduce – they say – nd as proof all you need to do is look at them and you will see things like 2 clouds forming from one – so they must be ‘alive’).

The other mush bigger problem are the PPTA and the NZEI. These two organisations are only interested in politics – they dont give a flying fuck about things like teacher workload. Over the years more and more new demands get loaded onto teachers. IF the unions really cared they would be demanding that for each new bit of work loaded onto teachers that something be taken off – but they dont do anything about it.
Mind you I think they governments (both of them) have taken advantage of this. eg: when they released a plan to bring in bulk funding they knew the unions would go ballistic – and they did. But at the same time they changed the marking system from external to internal (which saved millions and increased workload by about 15%). And then they ‘backed down’ on bulk funding – which they intended to from day 1. The unions totally missed the change in marking and thought they had a victory over the govt. Idiots.
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January 26, 2017 9:25am
- itstricky
  
  Funny how you demean an ex-teacher as if they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on but then go on to use a second hand account from “some teacher I know” as if it is the Bible given truth.
  
  PS. If you want to write on education you should probably get that whole grammar and punctuation thing sorted. You know, missing apostrophes, incorrectly spelt words, capital letters and silly short hands like ‘2ndry’ – I mean anyone would think you were taught by some self proclaimed expert ex teacher at a public school.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:50am
  - BarryB
    
    I left in the errors because I knew some nit-picker (probably a PPTA or NZEI area rep) would fret about the small things and correct them for me. Its the big things that matter – honestly.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:51am
  - calendar girl
    
    itstricky: Shouldn’t four of your own expressions – “incorrectly spelt”, “short hands” (used as a nominal phrase), “self proclaimed” and “ex teacher” – each be hyphenated to meet the grammatical / punctuation standards that you expect of BarryB?
    
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    January 26, 2017 5:25pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      incorrectly spelt…… 2 separate words, no hyphenation
      
      shorthands…… one word
      
      self-proclaimed….. hyphen required
      
      ex-teacher….. hyphen required
      
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      January 26, 2017 5:32pm
      - calendar girl
        
        Thanks, Maggy. I defer readily to your greater expertise in these matters. But I thought poor BarryB needed a bit of support against his ‘nit-picker’.
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:33pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Seems that teacher workload (record keeping and other out-of-class stuff) has gone up hugely over last decade, but academic standards have not risen noticeably.
  
  Does that mean that the extra work is a waste of time? Would be be better off reverting to older exam based systems rather than high workload internally assessed? or are the newer systems in place to manage poor performing bottom end of the teaching pool with frequent feedback (to detriment of the better ones)?
  
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  January 26, 2017 10:18am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Saw that on last nights ‘news’. The school principals complaining about the increased workload.
    
    Two thoughts came to mind. Teachers and principals have had 6 weeks summer holiday, and it is election year!
    
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    January 26, 2017 2:30pm
Manolo

Bloomberg on Trump and NAFTA:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-24/trump-s-nafta-revamp-may-hinge-on-partners-willingness-to-talk
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January 26, 2017 9:30am
- SPC
  
  There is a chance Mexico will refuse demands for NAFTA changes and thus the USA withdraws. And with impact on the US Canada trade – many US states have positive trade with Canada (some swung the election to Trump).
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:45am
  - holysheet
    
    Gotta get the mexicans to pay for the wall. How better but redraft the NAFTA and make it a condition that they pay for the wall. If they don’t accept this then no trade deal.
    Make America great again should really be Make the USA great again.
    
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    January 26, 2017 11:23am
Lucia Maria

A new John Schindler opinion piece

President Trump’s First Foreign Policy Crisis: Balkan War Drums Beat Again

Vladimir Putin views Western intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo as an affront to the Slavic Orthodox world—and he plans on revenge
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January 26, 2017 9:44am
- Andrei
  
  Oh fie Lucia Maria
  
  NATO annexed much of the Balkans in the 1990s just like Hitler did in the 1940s
  
  And Austria Hungary tried to do in the early 1900s eventually triggering WW1
  
  A slight majority of the Balkan population is Orthodox Christian with large Catholic and Muslim minorities.
  
  Melania Trump was born in Yugoslavia though today she is attributed as a Slovene which is what she is, a Catholic Slovene.
  
  How the Balkan map will be redrawn remains to be seen – Slovenia could be independant but most of the new states are not viable as “independent nations” which is why NATO ripped Yugoslavia apart so that they could dominate the Balkans
  
  Bosnia Herzegovina is militarily occupied by NATO and the locals do not like it and never have
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:58am
  - SPC
    
    Slovenia is independent. And is viable. So is Croatia. And Montenegro.
    
    The issue is the economic viability of Bosnia and Kosovo and the south, and related security concerns due to Serbian ambition.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:12am
    - Andrei
      
      And Montenegro
      
      Montenegro is half the size of Southland with a population about the same as Dunedin
      
      It exists as a sovereign state only because ripping it from Yugoslavia blocked Serbia’s last access to the sea and makes it a landlocked country
      
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      January 26, 2017 10:21am
      - SPC
        
        The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918. From 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of an independence referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year.
        
        Classified by the World Bank as an upper middle-income country, Montenegro is a member of the UN, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the Central European Free Trade Agreement and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union[12] and NATO.[13] On 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start final accession talks.[14]
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montenegro
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:28am
  - Lucia Maria
    
    NATO annexed much of the Balkans in the 1990s just like Hitler did in the 1940s
    
    Totally ridiculous. The troops would go home tomorrow if they could be sure that in leaving, the locals wouldn’t start killing each other again.
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:16am
    - Andrei
      
      That is what you have been indoctrinated to believe
      
      It is no accident the Orthodox Serbs were cast in the role of the villains in this – it predisposes people such as yourself to willingly swallow the propaganda
      
      Yugoslavia was NATO’s first war and it came at a time when it looked like NATO had outlived its purpose with the dissolving of the Warsaw pact
      
      BTW Lucia Maria why do you think it was called the Warsaw Pact?
      
      It is because the prime mover in the formation of this alliance was Poland along with Czechoslovakia who were greatly dismayed when the already existing NATO included West Germany into the pact and rearmed the West German army
      
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      January 26, 2017 10:35am
      - Lucia Maria
        
        Andrei,
        
        Yugoslavia was NATO’s first war and it came at a time when it looked like NATO had outlived its purpose with the dissolving of the Warsaw pact
        
        Implying that NATO only went to war to justify their existence. Right. They took their sweet time about it then.
        
        BTW Lucia Maria why do you think it was called the Warsaw Pact?
        
        It is because the prime mover in the formation of this alliance was Poland along with Czechoslovakia who were greatly dismayed when the already existing NATO included West Germany into the pact and rearmed the West German army
        
        That was Poland under the control of Russia. Don’t forget that. I certainly haven’t. And Czechoslovakia, who was invaded by the Warsaw Pact nations. NATO is just such a breath of fresh air to those countries who never want to be controlled by Russia again.
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:48am
      - Andrei
        
        And now Poland is under the thumb of Washington, London and Brussels
        
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        January 26, 2017 11:21am
      - Lucia Maria
        
        And now Poland is under the thumb of Washington, London and Brussels
        
        As New Zealand is, to a certain extent.
        
        And in a much, much, much better position than at any time over the last couple of hundred years.
        
        That’s what grates, isn’t it – that Poland is not able to be turned pro-Russian. Too much experience.
        
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        January 26, 2017 11:23am
      - Andrei
        
        Poland can do what it likes Lucia Maria
        
        I think it is dumb to allow foreign troops to be permanently stationed on your territory though and there are more foreign troops in Poland today than since the end of the second world war
        
        Poland has sold its sovereignty for a mess of potage
        
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        January 26, 2017 11:28am
      - Lucia Maria
        
        ..and there are more foreign troops in Poland today than since the end of the second world war..
        
        Rubbish.
        
        Northern Group of Forces
        
        The Northern Group of Forces was the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. Although officially considered Polish allies under the Warsaw Pact treaty, they were seen by most Poles as a Soviet occupation force.
        
        Take a look at the numbers. If only there were anywhere near that many NATO troops in Poland today.
        
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        January 26, 2017 1:25pm
- Andrei
  
  To add to that Russia is not in a position to invade the Balkans though there is a great affinity between Russia and much of the local population both in religion and language
  
  And it was Russia that helped free the Balkans from the Turkish yoke in the 19th century
  
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  January 26, 2017 10:01am
  - Lucia Maria
    
    Of course Russia won’t invade, they’ll just give Serbia the support to dominate the region instead. Such as (from the piece I linked to above):
    
    Most important, Moscow recently gifted Belgrade modern weaponry, including 60 armored vehicles (half of them T-72 tanks) plus six MiG-29 jet fighters. That doesn’t sound like much, and the MiG-29s are Russian air force surplus, but they’re a game-changer in the region. The arrival of the Russian aircraft, expected this spring, will make Serbia the only ex-Yugoslav country to possess modern jet fighters. Croatia, a NATO member, has a dozen dilapidated MiG-21s, which are generations older than the MiG-29, and thanks to years of neglect no more than a handful of them can get airborne. Without Atlantic Alliance aid to Zagreb, Serbia’s new jets will dominate the region.
    
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    January 26, 2017 11:21am
    - Andrei
      
      The biggest military facility in the Balkans is the American military base Camp Bondsteel, Lucia Maria and its purpose is to threaten not only Serbia but Bulgaria, Greece and Romania as well as the smaller republics and make sure they toe the line
      
      Eventually the peoples of the Balkans will throw their Godless imperial masters out and regain control of their own lands
      
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      January 26, 2017 11:33am
    - SPC
      
      https://inserbia.info/today/2016/03/camp-bondsteel-inside-look/
      
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      January 26, 2017 12:31pm
- SPC
  
  Serbia is certainly excited by the Trump win. Their greater Serbia dream is much like Russia’s greater Russian dream.
  
  Each feels the break up of “their” federal states has left them short changed on borders.
  
  The proper resolution in each case was/is plebiscites in border areas and border adjustments based on the results. However this also requires debt transfers with land and population (which did not occur in the instance of Crimea).
  
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  January 26, 2017 10:04am
  - Andrei
    
    When Yugoslavia was broken up there were plebiscites for Slovenia an Croatia
    
    With Slovenia there was no problem and the majority voted to secede
    
    This wouldn’t happen in Croatia though because the Orthodox Serb population though a minority was too large and they didn’t want to secede so they were ethnically cleansed to make the results come out the way the puppet masters wanted
    
    But in Bosnia Herzegovina there was no way a majority could be achieved in a vote for secession and that resulted in war and the Dayton accords being imposed
    
    And since the population was intermingled the movement of people from their homes into new entities eg Republika Srpska the area set aside for the Serbs
    
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    January 26, 2017 10:17am
    - SPC
      
      Sure Croatia decided to go with its borders within Yugoslavia and that was not entirely consistent with the idea of local choice. But then did Serbia allow a process whereby it might concede areas with Croat population?
      
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      January 26, 2017 10:33am
      - Andrei
        
        It was dictated by the UN that the existing federal borders could not be changed
        
        The same thing happened with those nations that seceded from the USSR
        
        Kosovo was not a federal republic within Yugoslavia though it was part of Serbia before NATO annexed it
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:42am
      - SPC
        
        Andrei, Croatia and Serbia were perfectly free to do a deal whereby they agreed to adjust borders to reflect ethnic community. They do not need UN permission to do this. In the absence of both parties agreeing the UN recognises existing borders.
        
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        January 26, 2017 10:46am
      - SPC
        
        Sure Kosovo is a bit different to the others.
        
        It was won to Serbia via a 1913 settlement with the Ottoman Turks.
        
        In terms of community, it should probably be divided between Albania and Serbia.
        
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        January 26, 2017 11:08am
jonar

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/explain-american-people-why-president-donald-j-trump-such-needy-little-bitch

Apparently it has a “glitch” so it’s not showing how many have voted.
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January 26, 2017 9:45am
Ross12

No wonder politicians aren’t taken seriously by many

http://m.sfgate.com/education/article/Bill-would-require-teaching-of-California-10863903.php#photo-12206642
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January 26, 2017 10:08am
- Inandout
  
  This is just a question, there is nothing sinister about it. Why are so many Jewish journalists, broadcasters and academics anti Trump when the radical Left (in collusion with Islam) distrust them? I know the history of Jewish people behind the 1960’s civil rights movement, and that (given their history) is understandable. To me though, their alignment with those who hate their guts is perplexing.
  
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  January 26, 2017 10:26am
Manolo

Stopping potential undesirables:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-trump-expected-sign-executive-orders-immigration-001530555.html

Trump, who tweeted that a “big day” was planned on national security on Wednesday, is expected to ban for several months the entry of refugees into the United States, except for religious minorities escaping persecution, until more aggressive vetting is in place.

Another order will block visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, said the aides and experts.
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January 26, 2017 10:27am
BeeSting

Can someone on the Left More informed than me
clarify this

Was Rewi Alley the pioneer of:
NUDE SHEEP FARMING? ? ?

I just want to know, I have gathered he did like running around butt naked (very much so) and there are photos to prove that – but when he had a sheep farm in NZ before he went to china to help them industrialise so they could invade New Zealand.

Did he chase his sheep in the nuddy?

http://nzchinasociety.org.nz/27139/projects-receiving-rewi-alley-friendship-exchange-funds-2016/

There is an quite a bit of money being thrown at his legacy and we even have the mass murderer maos maori cloak at Tepapa.

I just want to make sure credit is give when due.

Did Rewi Alley Pioneer “Nude Sheep Farming”
I mean they have done little for the “industrialisation” of NZ over the years and so much for Communist China.

At least we can thank him for being the first
“Nudist NZ Sheep Farmer”.
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January 26, 2017 10:43am
- holysheet
  
  It’s simple. All sheep are nude once they have been shorn. Not a pretty sight but some humans are bloody ugly without their clothes.
  Ask Johnboy he knows more about naked sheep than anyone else on KB.
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:00pm
Manolo

What will comrade Hulun have to say? I reckon she’ll be shouting and cursing for days.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/united-nations-trump-administration.html

The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the United States’ role in the UN and other international organisations, as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties, officials said.
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January 26, 2017 10:51am
- holysheet
  
  Once again we see Trump doing what he said he would do. No more, no less.
  As he has no political baggage, he has no need to kowtow to any constituency. Just getting on with doing what everyone has talked about needed doing for years. If he has the occasional fuck up so what. You don’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.
  
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  January 26, 2017 11:34am
- Rich Prick
  
  Strangely, we may have the answer. I’d like to ascribe her buggering off to the Trump effect, but we shall see.
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:39pm
BananaLlama

If any of you like to bet on politics i would suggest taking a punt on Le Pen.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-fillon-idUSKBN1582SU
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January 26, 2017 10:58am
Fletch

It looks like it is going to be fairly easy for Trump to enact legislation to build the wall, as Democrats (including Hillary, Obama, and Biden) already voted in favour of it – back in 2006.

President Donald Trump will be able to order the construction of a wall on the Mexico border Wednesday with the stroke of a pen, because of a 2006 law passed with the help of Democrats including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

The 2006 law authorized the construction of 700 miles of fencing along the southern border, as well as additional lights, cameras and sensors to enhance security. Although former President George W. Bush signed the measure into law, the Democrat-controlled Congress that took over a few months later ensured it would never be completed by means of an amendment to a 2008 spending bill.

The amendment removed an explicit requirement the wall be made of double-layer fencing, and gave the Department of Homeland Security authority to put in place less effective barriers, such as simple vehicle barriers that do not keep pedestrians out. As a result, Democrats were able to avoid a politically unpopular vote against the wall, and then turn around and quietly gut its construction. But Trump and Republicans in the new Congress now plan to use that law to ensure a proper wall is constructed.

Since the law was never actually repealed, the federal government is still authorized to build a substantial wall on the southern border. Congress doesn’t have to pass a new law to begin construction, and can instead package the funds necessary into a massive spending bill Democrats would have a politically hard time opposing. Trump may get a head start on the process by diverting other funds congressional leaders have indicated are available for the project, ensuring a snafu over the spending bill doesn’t hinder prompt construction of the wall.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/25/top-democrats-voted-for-the-border-wall-trump-is-building/
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January 26, 2017 11:01am
- SPC
  
  So the Mexicans will pay for it becomes the people who fund the American budget deficit will pay for it.
  
  And some of them are foreigners, thing is, Americans pay for the cost of the debt.
  
  And saying the Mexicans will be made to pay – will they get an invoice for past or present or future work on the wall? Or will Trump tariff Mexican exports to the USA and claim that money is for the wall? Thing is the American consumer then pays a higher price, so those who buy these goods pay for the wall.
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:42pm
Manolo

What will fan number one Gareth Morgan do?
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/days-of-n-koreas-kim-are-numbered-defector/ar-AAmenog?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout

The North Korean regime is on an inexorable decline towards collapse, with its people increasingly disillusioned but its nuclear ambitions undimmed, a top defector said Wednesday.

“I’m sure and I can say that Kim Jong-Un’s days are numbered,” said Thae Yong-Ho, who fled his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain in August.
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January 26, 2017 11:10am
- holysheet
  
  I don’t think he will offer his substantial financial acumen or funds to help his utopia survive.//
  
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  January 26, 2017 11:38am
dime

clearly those who oppose peter thiels citizenship are homophobes.

disgusting in this day an age.
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January 26, 2017 11:40am
holysheet

This is what Trump would call a bigly computer

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/1/25/14390182/d-wave-q2000-quantum-computer-price-release-date

The actual chip itself roughly the size of a thumbnail, with most of the massive 700 ft3 structure taken up by cryogenic refrigerators and shielding to create the proper environment for the quantum computer to function properly and without outside interference. Specifically, the chip itself is kept at a frigid 15 millikelvins, or -459.6 degrees Fahrenheit through use of a liquid helium cooling system.
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January 26, 2017 11:47am
- itstricky
  
  This is what Trump would call a bigly computer
  
  Would he? Given he is anti-science, ‘n’ all:
  
  http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/24/14372940/trump-gag-order-epa-environmental-protection-agency-health-agriculture
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:01pm
  - Inandout
    
    This guy is ‘scared’ so needs a safe room so he can share with ‘good-hearted people’.
    
    ‘I have to say, this is frightening news. This should be scary news to anyone-left, right, or middle-as this can cause serious problems over the next four years. If aggressive oil or fracking regimes begin under this new administration, you’ll know that the EPA is now in a position where, even if good-hearted people are working there, they will be forced to cover up whatever bad effects come from it. A fracking regime could have serious consequences to folks living in affected areas, and the EPA cannot talk about it due to the gag rule’.
    
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    January 26, 2017 12:51pm
Manolo

Do-gooders, useful idiots and hand-wringers will not be pleased:
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/trump-orders-weekly-list-crimes-committed-illegals-sanctuary-cities/

In order to better inform Americans about the impact illegal aliens are having on crime rates in sanctuary cities, President Donald Trump today ordered the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to publish a weekly list of crimes committed by illegals.

“To better inform the public regarding the public safety threats associated with sanctuary jurisdictions, the Secretary shall utilise the Declined Detainer Outcome Report or its equivalent and, on a weekly basis, make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens and any jurisdiction that ignored or otherwise failed to honor any detainers with respect to such aliens,” the order reads.
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January 26, 2017 11:49am
- Inandout
  
  This is good news, and could spread to Europe. Imagine German migrant crime numbers for starters.
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:54pm
Stars And Stripes

West Papuans not yet a minority in homeland
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/323120/west-papuans-not-yet-a-minority-in-homeland.
“New statistics on the ethnic composition of Indonesia’s Papua region indicate that the indigenous West Papuans are not yet the minority there”.

Cannibalistic savages have not yet been outnumbered by medieval Islamists.
Definitely something to celebrate.
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January 26, 2017 11:50am
- SPC
  
  The three regional issues of Indonesia were East Timor and Aceh and this area.
  
  There was foreign support for East Timor independence and an expectation that otherwise Indonesia could retain territorial integrity – albeit with some self government in the other two areas, as this would enable a share of the local resource wealth with the local population. To date this has been more successful in Aceh than in West Papua.
  
  One reason may be the attitude of the (Oz) foreign corporates involved in West Papua and their continued environmental disregard (then again Oz is also trying to muscle in on East Timor’s offshore resources, total bastards).
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:53pm
  - SPC
    
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/303417/international-surge-on-west-papua-amid-mass-demos
    
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    January 26, 2017 1:32pm
holysheet

Look Griff, better book you flight and tell all those nutters you constantly refer to that this is their chance to be seen on TV.

Scientists prepare their own march against Trump
It’s a protest against an attempt to censor facts in the name of policy.

The Women’s March on Washington might not be the only big protest against Donald Trump’s policies in the near future. Coordination is underway for a Scientists’ March on Washington that, as the name implies, would rally support from anyone who believes that scientific facts should play a role in government policy, regardless of their political leanings. Don’t like that Trump wants to censor climate change data or otherwise attempt to prevent scientific knowledge from reaching the public? This might be your chance to make your voice heard.

The finer points of when and where the protest will take place have yet to be hashed out (organizers are meeting this week), but this is definitely more than a well-meaning petition given the tens of thousands of people registering their support. The question is, just how big will it actually get? It’s doubtful that it’ll compare to the Women’s March (estimated to have been three times the size of Trump’s inauguration in Washington alone), but a large-enough contingent could draw attention to the issue and prevent it from flying under the radar.
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January 26, 2017 11:52am
Hugh Pavletich

‘Denials of a housing crisis are now simply lies’ … comment … Shamubeel Eaqub | Radio New Zealand News

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/323140/'denials-of-a-housing-crisis-are-now-simply-lies‘

Opinion – Every government policy to make housing affordable since the early 1990s has been a failure, and it’s time the political classes actually delivered on their responsibilities, writes Shamubeel Eaqub.

Housing in Auckland is extremely unaffordable.

The latest Demographia International Housing Survey confirmed what we know – house prices in Auckland have risen much faster than incomes. So much so, that Auckland is the fourth least affordable city in a survey of 92 cities around the world. … read more via hyperlink above …

Demographia in the news …

https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=ssl#q=demographia&tbm=nws
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January 26, 2017 12:04pm
- wiseowl
  
  Housing in Dorkland is extremely unaffordable because National don’t realise that their policy of letting 1000 immigrants a week to arrive in this once great country is a stupid stupid policy that is having major flow on effects throughout the country and there is no need for a survey to tell us what is so obvious that a five year old could work it out.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:55pm
john1234

LOL at Whale Oil today:

http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2017/01/clickbait-merchant-fairfax-rooted/

Slater’s calling Fairfax a clickbait merchant? This is from the blog that brings us the Proverb/Word/Face/Cartoon/Photo/Cat Video of the day every day in addition to its current and sole issue, UN Resolution 2334 and its little army of sock puppets writing letters to the PM.

Hilarious lack of self perception there!
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January 26, 2017 12:43pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  A great example in my opinion of how to ruin a once top blog.
  Force out any serious dissenters leaving only sycophants who will hang on your every word and follow the narrative as prescribed.
  
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  January 26, 2017 1:34pm
- Happychappy
  
  It won’t be long and he will have burn’t all his bridges and there will only be David Seymour left to feed him who is doing what in Parliament. know one in their right mind would want their name mentioned with his around Parliament.
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:02pm
virtualmark

So after spending a year (legitimately) railing against Hilary for having her own private poorly-secured email server … the Don is still using his old unsecured Android phone.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/post-inauguration-president-trump-still-uses-his-old-android-phone/

Hey Kettle, it’s Pot here, just called to say …
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January 26, 2017 12:50pm
- Inandout
  
  Well when this is taken into account perhaps we have a non story here.
  
  ‘It’s not clear exactly what kind of Android phone Trump uses—he has previously indicated that it’s a Samsung Galaxy device—or whether it has also been encrypted or otherwise hardened or what kinds of things he uses it for. Samsung’s Knox software is approved for “sensitive but unclassified use” by the US Department of Defense, so these phones are cleared for at least some kinds of government work when configured correctly’.
  
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  January 26, 2017 12:59pm
  - virtualmark
    
    Um … http://www.androidcentral.com/which-android-phone-does-donald-trump-use
    
    So there you go. Trump’s personal Android phone is more than likely a Samsung Galaxy S3, released in 2012, and which last received a software update in mid-2015, with firmware based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.
    (…)
    it’s safe to say it’s a good three years out of step with the latest Android security updates. Many Android security scares have come and gone since the GS3 got its last update in August of 2015.
    
    If Trump is using a Galaxy S3 you’d have to expect it could be easily hacked. Just like Hilary’s email servers …
    
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    January 26, 2017 3:56pm
- rangitoto
  
  Twitter is a State secret now?
  
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  January 26, 2017 1:02pm
- Fletch
  
  What, you expect him to be issued a new phone on his first day? They’ll get around to it.
  
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  January 26, 2017 1:02pm
  - Paulus
    
    I have read that they did issue him with a new phone after inauguration.
    
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    January 26, 2017 1:55pm
- Brigitte
  
  Nah, not a worry. He most likely cc’s Vlad every e-mail so hacking isn’t an issue.
  
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  January 26, 2017 1:40pm
Fletch

A new interview with “Big Joe”…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOG8l_XMXGI

He was the guy who took on the protesters at the march the other day.

https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/videos/828052167332680/
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January 26, 2017 1:23pm
- mandk
  
  I’ve not had the chance to watch the follow up video, but I watched the original and it’s clear that Big Joe is a top bloke.
  
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  January 26, 2017 1:56pm
Padriv Ustoev

Helen Clark stepping down from her UN role. I will now attempt to do a Herald style headline if she was a National or some sort of non lefty politician.

“Clark throws in the towel at the UN amid rumors of incompetency.”

“UN role too tough for Klarcular.”

“Misconduct may or may not be at the heart of Clark resignation”

“Clark unable to continue at UN due to unsuitability.”

“New Year sees Clark run from UN role.”

“Clark leave UN role half finished.”
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January 26, 2017 2:03pm
- Fletch
  
  She is probably coming back to mentor Jacinda in the ways of the dark side – “Always two there are – a master and an apprentice”.
  
  http://oi66.tinypic.com/34e6jy0.jpg
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:26pm
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Damn!!
    I knocked over my hookah pipe from shock when I saw that one.
    
    But I like how Helen has embraced Islam and is covering her head now.
    
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    January 26, 2017 2:40pm
    - Fletch
      
      😆
      
      I think I made it back in 2008 or so, when Helen ran against Key.
      
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      January 26, 2017 2:40pm
Captain Mainwaring

Man the battlements. The beast will be back for a second coming.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88794507/helen-clark-resigns-from-undp-according-to-reports
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January 26, 2017 2:05pm
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Oh man. There will be so much rich material for satire. I might have to start another account, just for Clark comedy.
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:09pm
- RalphT
  
  No, I think we’re safe, after all DPF has predicted that she is coming back to become Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland, so it’s the staff and students who have to worry.
  I wonder if anyone has told the current Vice-Chancellor that he will soon be out of a job?
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:34pm
  - mikenmild
    
    I think the word was that it was the Chancellor role, which is more of an honorary position, rather than Vice-Chancellor, which is the university CE.
    
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    January 26, 2017 6:38pm
- Jack5
  
  Perhaps she wants to be the last governor-general of New Zealand and the first president of the Republic of Aotearoa.
  
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  January 26, 2017 2:43pm
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    We must inform the Jedi council immediately of this sinister development.
    
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    January 26, 2017 2:46pm
  - reid2
    
    I don’t think the Queen would accept her after the trouser incident Jack.
    
    But I think you’re right on the second.
    
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    January 26, 2017 6:21pm
Jack5

Mongrel Mob on the “racism” bandwaggon, with a Treaty claim alleging racism over P addiction.

Will Dame Devoid make a statement in support of the gangsters’ claim?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11789259
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January 26, 2017 2:42pm
Manolo

Foiling the Messiah:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-administration-frozen-obamas-payment-to-palestine-2017-1?r=US&IR=T

The State Department is reviewing a last-minute decision by former Secretary of State John Kerry to send $221 million dollars to the Palestinians late last week over the objections of congressional Republicans.
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January 26, 2017 2:48pm
publicwatchdog

Here you go my Kiwiblogger fan club!

Something for you to REALLY get your gums into 🙂

Seen this?
__________________________

26 January 2017

Press Release: Penny Bright Independent candidate Mt Albert
by-election

“The 2016 Corruption Perception Index isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

” Seriously – in my considered opinion – the 2016 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, (which has just placed New Zealand as first equal with Denmark, as ‘the least corrupt country in the world’), in my view, isn’t worth the paper upon which it is written”, says ‘anti-corruption campaigner, and Independent Mt Albert by-election candidate Penny Bright.

http://www.transparency.org.nz/images/2017/CPI2016_map%20and%20country%20results_flyout.jpg

“This ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is not based upon measurable, objective yardsticks – but essentially the subjective opinions of anonymous business people.”

“How many people know that for the ten previous occasions that NZ was perceived to be ‘the least corrupt’ country in the world (sometimes 1st equal) – NZ hadn’t even ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)?

(New Zealand didn’t ratify UNCAC until 1 December 2015.)

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/signatories.html

“I’ve now attended five International Anti-Corruption Conferences, listened to and met experts, read voluminous material and ‘put my mind’ to the NZ corruption reality, and my opinion is considered.”

“In my view, New Zealand is a corrupt, polluted tax haven that needs a massive ‘clean up’!”

“How ‘independent’ is Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ)?

In my considered opinion, Transparency International New Zealand is effectively a New Zealand Government funded, ‘mouthpiece’.

‘Pay the piper – call the tune’? Look at who ‘sponsors’ / ‘partners’ TINZ:

http://www.transparency.org.nz/Partners-and-Sponsors

“If New Zealand was truly ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ – shouldn’t we arguably be the most transparent?

So – why isn’t the Public Records Act 2005, being properly and lawfully implemented and enforced?

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345729.html

“17 Requirement to create and maintain records

(1) Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.

…”

“So, how come we don’t know exactly where billion$ of taxpayer and ratepayer public monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors at NZ central and government level?”

“What has anyone from Transparency International New Zealand had to say about the endemic and entrenched bribery and corruption revealed in the unprecedented bribery and corruption conviction of just ONE corrupt ‘public official’ and just ONE corrupt contractor – where the bribes totalled $1.2 million over 7 years?

“Reasons for the Verdict of Fitzgerald J”
CRI-2015-044-001286
[2016]NZHC2970

THE QUEEN v STEPHEN JAMES BORLASE (&) MURRAY JOHN NOONE

https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/r-v-borlase-reasons/@@images/fileDecision

“How many thousands of ‘public officials’ and private contractors are there across NZ central and local government?”

“As a genuinely (politically fiercely) independent, self-funded proven
‘anti-corruption campaigner’ and Independent candidate for the 2017 Mt Albert by-election here is my ACTION PLAN:

“ACTION PLAN TO ENSURE ‘OPEN, TRANSPARENT AND DEMOCRATICALLY ACCOUNTABLE’ NZ GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY”:

1) Make ALL ‘facilitation payments’ illegal.

2) Legislate to create an NZ independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.

3) Legislate for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the laws for everyone else) to have a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.

4) Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ local government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.

5) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

6) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

7) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO)) Directors and staff, staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

8) Fully implement and enforce the Public Records Act 2005, to ensure public records are available for public scrutiny.

9) Make it a lawful requirement that that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government and Local Government must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the majority of taxpayers and ratepayers.

10) Legislate for a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.

11) Legislate to provide a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.

12) Ensure ALL Court proceedings are recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.

13) Legislate for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ and ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.

14) Legislate for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’) quarantine period from the time public officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.

15) Legislate to make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public-Private-Partnerships.

16) Legislate to make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.

17. Legislate to protect individuals, NGOs, and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.

18) Legislate to prevent ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.
____________________________________________________

Any of the other Mt Albert by-election candidates got such an ‘Action Plan’ for transparency and accountability?

Penny Bright
………

Proven ‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.

2017 Independent candidate, Mt Albert by-election.

Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference.
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference.
Attendee: 2015 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.
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January 26, 2017 2:49pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Mad, barking mad.
  
  11 1
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  January 26, 2017 2:58pm
  - Manolo
    
    Maybe we could ask the fat German crook to donate a straight jacket?
    
    7 1
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    January 26, 2017 3:04pm
  - stigie
    
    Christ, wonder what hat she’s wearing today..?
    
    5 1
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    January 26, 2017 5:01pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Penny,
  
  I know you don’t want my brilliant free PR advice…
  but here it is anyway….
  
  No-one of any great importance is going to read a press-release located 7/8ths of the way down a Kiwiblog General Debate thread.
  
  If you can’t post a crisp wee message by 8:03am… – don’t bother.
  
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  January 26, 2017 3:05pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Can I have the electrons I just wasted back please?
  
  Attendee: The Fox & Brewer happy hour.
  
  5 0
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  January 26, 2017 4:06pm
- sooty
  
  Who paid for your travel. Penny.
  
  3 0
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  January 26, 2017 6:19pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  See?
  I Spray and Walk Away
  Rubbish Stays
  I walk away
  
  Steve N/S
  Attendee: Glenfied Trolley Derby 1986
  Fuck I got trolleyed
  
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  January 26, 2017 6:47pm
chiz

Bright bart News
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January 26, 2017 3:30pm
chiz

Trump creates millions of new jobs:

In less than a week as President, Donald J. Trump has created ten million jobs for fact checkers, the Department of Labor has confirmed.
[…]
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January 26, 2017 3:34pm
Longknives

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11789259

Jared Savage- I used to be a Journo so I’m pretty forgiving of the Profession..But you have lost the plot mate!
*Reporting a Mongrel Mobber’s word as Gospel? Seriously??..
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January 26, 2017 3:47pm
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Don’t be racist cuz.
  
  5 0
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  January 26, 2017 3:55pm
- kowtow
  
  Shoking and beyond parody , that honest hardworking taxpayer / ratepayers money is handed over to organised mobsters.
  
  Only in Aotearoa.
  
  “Mr Epere was convicted, during the contract period, of dangerous driving, relating to an incident on December 13 in which he overtook vehicles without indicating and reached speeds estimated to be more than 150kmh between Oamaru and Dunedin; of allowing a vehicle registered to the Mauri Kohatu Trust, the trust contracted to the council, to transport marijuana, an incident which came to police attention on November 17; and of using insulting language during an exchange with a Work and Income New Zealand employee on June 15.
  
  Council acting group parks and recreation manager Tom Dyer said, despite the convictions, the council was willing to continue working with Mr Epere “given the nature of the charge and the fact it was unrelated to the contract work”.
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/epere%E2%80%99s-council-contracts-continue
  
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  January 26, 2017 5:03pm
dad4justice

I wish the mongrel mob were all issued with cyanide pills. The country would benefit from their eradication.
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January 26, 2017 3:52pm
simo

The NZD has hit 0.73 cents against the USD today, up 4 cents since October last year. WTC Crude is 52.25USD a barrel today, why are our petrol/diesel prices over the top? The current range of 91 unleaded prices are anything up to $2.15-$2.20 per litre. These prices were when crude oil was topping $90.00USD per barrel plus. Is this the “benefit” of the Shell monopoly in play?
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January 26, 2017 4:17pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  One thing I can tell you is that there is a lot of price gouging going on.
  In Taranaki where I live the difference in the price of gas in New Plymouth and Hawera which are only about 70kms apart is about 25 cents a litre.
  The difference is one has a Gull and the other does not.
  As for Z Energy being NZ owned and all that crap, they are as bad for gouging as the other players.
  
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  January 26, 2017 4:41pm
- Jack5
  
  Shell monopoly, Simo? I thought Z Energy took over Shell retail in NZ.
  
  Z Energy now sells almost half of NZ’s transport fule and owns 15.4 per cent of NZ Refining, which runs the country’s refinery at Marsden Point.
  
  However, we are in the hands of the moguls. Roll on electric cars.
  
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  January 26, 2017 4:41pm
- Gabby
  
  Refining costs always increase when material costs drop. Oil execs don’t even bother explaining it as it’s basic physics or sutin.
  
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  January 26, 2017 6:21pm
- Manolo
  
  The oil cartel is creaming us beautifully.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:29pm
rangitoto

“The current range of 91 unleaded prices are anything up to $2.15-$2.20”

Eh? I paid 1.89 when I filled up yesterday but still I agree even 1.89 is a rip off.
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January 26, 2017 4:35pm
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Who runs their cars on 91 these days anyway? That’s like feeding your favorite camel second rate grain.
  
  My cousin always say to me. Premium for family car – 91 for rental.
  
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  January 26, 2017 4:51pm
- simo
  
  North Shore seems to be 10-15c more than out west or east. The Shell Station on the hill as you come onto Upper Harbour Drive heading West has diesel the other day at 2.13 per litre. Never seems to vary at that station always seems to have highest price we see. The cheapest we have seen – Mobil at the top of Te Rakau Drive, East Tamaki Road Mobil. Some of the Mobil Stations are privately owned and undercut the Mobil NZ owned stations. Gull Stations are always around 4-6c cheaper that the others.
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:23pm
Viking2

Outgoing United Nations boss Helen Clark will have “bigger fish to fry than little old New Zealand” when she chooses her next role, Labour leader Andrew Little says.

Clark announced on Thursday that she would leave the United Nations Development Programme when her second four-year term as administrator finished in April.

The decision has sparked speculation about where the ambitious Clark will head next, after losing out on the UN secretary-general position last October.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/88809090/helen-clark-has-bigger-fish-to-fry-than-nz-return-after-leaving-un-andrew-little-says

New list MP perhaps?
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January 26, 2017 6:04pm
- sooty
  
  Andys job.
  
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  January 26, 2017 6:20pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Angry is hosing down a big threat to his credibility.
  
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  January 26, 2017 7:33pm
Lucia Maria

From Foreign Policy …

America’s New President Is Not a Rational Actor

Whether by accident or design, Donald Trump is isolating himself and erratically unraveling the world order.
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January 26, 2017 6:12pm
AgentBallSack

It gets better and better folks!

Although Hillary Clinton has been keeping a low profile since her lost fight for the White House, it seems she plans to return to the limelight in 2017.

A source close to Hillary Clinton has reportedly told New York Times best selling author Ed Klein that Clinton informed a group of her close confidants of her plans to return to the public eye as the host of her own talk show.

The show would have a political focus and prospectively pave the way for Clinton’s next presidential bid in 2020.

Clinton apparently introduced the idea to her circle of friends at a dinner at Whitehaven, her home in Washington DC, beginning the announcement with the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger line: “I’ll be back.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/88811017/hillary-clinton-rumoured-to-be-planning-her-own-talk-show
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January 26, 2017 6:21pm
- AgentBallSack
  
  If a reality star can be President, maybe she can too!!! Perhaps even the first one with a VAGINA!!!!!
  
  She thinks being the host of a popular TV show would energise the Democratic Party base and her tens of millions of fans. It’s a way to make a comeback and position herself for another run at the White House starting in a year or so,” the source is quoted as saying.
  
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  January 26, 2017 6:25pm
Lucia Maria

Well, tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day!

Except EAD’s head to spin backwards, and if he manages to post anything, for it to be some sort of incoherent rant. Black female mathematicians working at NASA have nothing on The Holocaust for him.

From the NZ Herald – Holocaust has lessons we must never forget
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January 26, 2017 6:27pm
- BeeSting
  
  What Holocaust are we talking about the Russian the Ukrainian the recent Holocaust in East Timor
  
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  January 26, 2017 6:51pm
  - Lucia Maria
    
    It marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
    
    To me, that Holocaust represents all holocausts.
    
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    January 26, 2017 7:35pm
- mikenmild
  
  I missed EAD’s crybaby antics about that one, Lucia. What a snowflake!
  
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  January 26, 2017 7:07pm
  - Lucia Maria
    
    Well, if he MIA tomorrow, you’ll know why!
    
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    January 26, 2017 7:37pm
BeeSting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genrikh_Yagoda

He also supervised[citation needed] the deportations, confiscations, mass arrests and executions that accompanied the forced collectivisation, which he reputedly opposed at the outset. The death toll is estimated to have been as high as seven million.[citation needed] In Ukraine, this catastrophe is known as Holodomor. In March 1934, he was rewarded by being made a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
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January 26, 2017 6:54pm
BeeSting

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html

Mao’s Great Leap Forward ‘killed 45 million in four years’

If you are going to profess to learn anything about
HOLOCAUSTs you might want to stop worshiping
communist psychopaths and remove his Maori Cloak from Te Papa.
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January 26, 2017 6:57pm
BeeSting

Stalin ?

http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789

Although not everyone who was swept up in the aforementioned events died from unnatural causes, Medvedev’s 20 million non-combatant deaths estimate is likely a conservative guess.

Indeed, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the literary giant who wrote harrowingly about the Soviet gulag system, claimed the true number of Stalin’s victims might have been as high as 60 million.

Most other estimates from reputed scholars and historians tend to range from between 20 and 60 million.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent time in the Gulags
his estimate would be the most accurate I would imagine
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January 26, 2017 7:02pm
reid2

Lest we forget:

Of course you all know of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Who doesn’t? Legendary Russian dissident during the Soviet era, prisoner in the gulags, starved, tortured, ostracised. But never broken. He spoke truth to power like few have ever done. His novels such as The Gulag Archipelago, The First Circle and Cancer Ward were not only brilliant literature but offered the rarest of insights into the life of a dissident in the USSR. He came to be regarded as one of the most eminent writers and philosophers of his age. Which contributed to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature”.

Feted wherever he went, his books became international best sellers, translated into dozens of languages, the world was at his feet. Then almost overnight it all stopped. He became a non-person. The transformation was virtually unprecedented in the field of literature. Why did this happen? Because Alex stepped on the Third Rail. Well he didn’t so much step on it, rather dived on it full length. You see he wrote a book called 200 Years Together that traced the Jews’ colourful relationship with the Russian people and especially their role in the Bolshevik Revolution and its ensuing murderous tyranny.

He didn’t pull his punches. He placed Soviet Jews centre place in perpetrating the worst mass murders of the 20th century. While acknowledging that some Jews also suffered under this tyranny he clarified that it was not as Jews per se, rather that they were in the wrong faction at the wrong time. Solzhenitsyn’s own estimate for the number of Christians (his word) who died was 60 million.

He documented all of this in meticulous detail…. names, dates, times. But he did something else, something more insidious and dangerous. Something that had strategic international consequences for the Tribe. For a start he shone a light on the extraordinary Jewish capacity to magic themselves into the position of victimhood irrespective of their actual accountability. This in turn depended on – as he pointedly noted – their uncanny ability to seize control of media outlets. “There are pages of this history which one does not open without trembling. And these are the pages that are systematically and purposefully eradicated from the consciousness of the Jews.”

Other observations that cut to the bone included their practice of manipulating the legal framework to reflect Jewish interests. (Think “hate” legislation.) “Russian people are now confronted by a Jew both as their judge and hangman. Why was it that anyone who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Cheka could count with high probability on standing before a Jewish investigator or being shot by a Jew?” He meticulously debunked Jewish writers who sought to portray Soviet Jews as having no choice in what they did. ‘Just following orders’ How ironic is that? He carefully traces the ways in which Jews, both within the USSR and internationally, favoured and supported Jewish interests under the cloak of universalistic altruism.

Sound familiar?

http://irishsavant.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/the-incredible-disappearing-man.html

Amazing how often the same people are involved, Russia, Germany, Armenia. Not many people know for instance the extensive involvement of high placed zionist leaders in what some call The Holocaust who were throwing their fellow Jews into the ovens because they needed to populate zion. That’s why they did that one.

Bastards, aren’t they. They don’t even give a fuck about their own people. How would you like it if we had leaders who did that to us every now and then?
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January 26, 2017 7:08pm
- mikenmild
  
  Are you still pretending not to know anything about the Holocaust, Reid?
  Shouldn’t you be concentrating on sorting out your ban with DPF?
  
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  January 26, 2017 7:12pm
  - reid2
    
    mm, if I wanted to affect a disguise to “escape my ban,” I’d hardly call myself reid2, would I.
    
    I told you what happened above, it really did happen. If you don’t believe that, I give as much of a shit as I do about anything else you’ve ever said.
    
    So do you have a comment about the post or are you just typing whatever random thought happens to arrive?
    
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    January 26, 2017 7:19pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You could have called yourself stephiegirl.
      
      That would have got the tongues wagging.
      
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      January 26, 2017 7:23pm
      - Andrei
        
        Is Reid banned?
        
        And Stephiebot?
        
        2 0
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        January 26, 2017 7:36pm
      - chiz
        
        There is a list of who’s been hit with what and why here. Stephieboy got a third strike and a one week ban for the fake nude Ivanka link, and Reid got a fourth strike and a two week ban for abusive language.
        
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        January 26, 2017 7:52pm
    - reid2
      
      Not as far as I know Andrei and since I’ve talked to DPF about what happened (see above), I think he’d probably know if I was or not.
      
      stephie is for his porn episode. You’d think someone would automatically know that’s inappropriate wouldn’t you, but evidently, not all of us do.
      
      It’s probably that batch of faulty wurzenflugels DARPA ordered from China before Trump closed the door and told them to buy American.
      
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      January 26, 2017 7:50pm
      - reid2
        
        sorry it was this one where I explained
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/01/unusual_to_have_the_winner_declare_an_election_was_fraudulant.html/comment-page-1#comment-1861695
        
        3 1
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        January 26, 2017 7:58pm
      - nasska
        
        Sometime you must tell us just how to do it Reid. I may follow suit if I can get rid of the baggage of a 17K comment count! 🙂
        
        6 0
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        January 26, 2017 8:07pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @ Reid 2
        Did you report the hacking to the police?
        
        You may be a victim of identity theft.
        
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        January 26, 2017 9:22pm
- reid2
  
  Evidently some people don’t think some Holocausts should be discussed.
  
  Aren’t some people stoooooooooooooooooooopid.
  
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  January 26, 2017 7:55pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    They are sheeeeeeeeeeple.
    
    (How long have you been stalking poor Reid?)
    
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    January 26, 2017 8:38pm
- BeeSting
  
  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his book
  200 years together lays blame on everyone
  for what happened in Russia
  
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  January 26, 2017 8:45pm
Happychappy

It doesn’t take long for Laila Harre to do what she does best in Politics and that’s cause trouble and controversy to what never party she is involved with. Why would any party want to have her as a member let alone a candidate to stand for them in the 2017 Her first interview and the discrepancies over why she left the Greens has caused a Green to MP dispute what Harre has alleged, and as you can gather this not so loyal ex MP has c0ntinued her usual controversy.
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January 26, 2017 7:27pm
- reid2
  
  You recall in Asterix and the Roman Agent the guy called Convolvulus, that who she reminds me of, same with Winnie, Hone and Finlayson.
  
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  January 26, 2017 7:33pm
Lucia Maria

Driverless car hits the tarmac

With the above headline (and the blurb on Google News), I thought the driverless car had an accident on it’s first day. But no, some one was just being clever. Hits the tarmac, har har.

I hope the company that unleashed this thing is monitoring it and has some way to override the controls from a distance if it gets confused, which happens more often that you’d think with computer programs. They tend to be very dumb, despite all the hype about AI.
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January 26, 2017 7:51pm
EAD

Welcome back Reid – this blog is much the poorer for you absence.

If you’ve got 10 mins free, take the time to read this excellent essay

http://thermidormag.com/the-liberty-of-the-slaves/

I suspect the ideas discussed in here will go over most peoples heads, indeed many violently shout down when I bring up this line of thinking up on General Debate (see below)
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/09/general_debate_24_september_2016.html#comment-1787762

This line of thinking of course being the notion that the promise of liberty for all has given way to the reality of a form of mass enslavement, but that most of the enslaved have no conception of their lowly status and blithely go on with their debased lives of consumption and attendant anxieties believing that they are more free than any other people in history. They are blue-pilled normies. The question for the likes of you & I is how to get them to take the red-pill?

…..the “blue pill”: the account that Modern society gives of itself to itself, which account has the status of self-evident truth, because it is forbidden to question it

For those with short attention spans, the essay is not an easy or brief read, it’s a serious and considered attempt to explicate the disparity between what our liberal democracies claim to be and what they actually are. In so doing it gives us some good intellectual ammunition for our continuing efforts of political dissent.

In what follows I will essay an alternative interpretation of the meaning and significance of the phenomenon of Liberty; a counter-interpretation that some academic postmodernist might call a “deconstructive reading,” but is less pretentiously called a “red pilled” view

Hope you appreciate it and let me know your thoughts
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January 26, 2017 8:21pm
- reid2
  
  The question for the likes of you & I is how to get them to take the red-pill?
  
  I’m finding calling them stooooooooooopid sheeple helps a lot EAD. It makes me feel a lot better, anyway.
  
  Seriously, let me read it tomorrow and I’ll get back then, I’m home all day so will post something in the morning.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:17pm
- wiseowl
  
  The piece you highlight is exactly what I have been trying to explain to many in recent times to no avail.
  Blind to what is happening and deaf to those who dare to try and expose.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:36pm
  - reid2
    
    You can show them the truth but you can’t make them see it.
    
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    January 26, 2017 9:52pm
Manolo

These two will meet soon:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-25/u-k-s-may-gets-first-crack-at-coaxing-trump-to-engage-abroad
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January 26, 2017 8:34pm
BeeSting

The Gulag Archipelago

Is an important document recording the Communist Death Camps.

As Society in General slowly becomes a High Tech
Technocratic Gulag.

As New Zealanders absolve themselves of responsibility and hand the country to a communist state.

It is essential reading.

Free to Down Load

The Gulag Archipelago
https://holodomorinfo.com/documents/free-ebooks/
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January 26, 2017 8:52pm
nasska

The South Auckland resident was inconsolable after his State house burnt to the ground.

“Everything,” he sobbed, “everything I ever stole was in that house.”
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January 26, 2017 9:05pm
- mikenmild
  
  Concerned readers are asked for donations of Warehouse vouchers and a replacement wrecked car for the front lawn.
  
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  January 26, 2017 9:13pm
Captain Mainwaring

You couldn’t make this shit up.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11789546

‘Keystone Cops’. We seem to have our share of them
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January 26, 2017 9:33pm
starboard

Funny you mention that Captain..I was just laughing my tits off reading it myself here in Phuket!
I see the specials are still running feral over there. Oh I know they will be specials alright. Wait for the sentencing..it will be lol.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/88813096/stolen-police-car-set-alight-after-pursuit-in-waikato
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January 27, 2017 3:41am
starboard

This is how scum are sorted over here…

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Professional-pickpockets-beaten-Phuket-locals/66187
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January 27, 2017 3:42am
Manolo

With friends like him:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/26/dems-to-david-brock-stop-helping-you-are-killing-us.html
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January 27, 2017 6:27am
Manolo

Mexico says no, thanks.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-mexico-cancel-meeting-wont-pay-wall-140843415.html
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January 27, 2017 6:29am