General Debate 10 February 2017

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Manolo

Merkel’s desperation:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4207986/Germany-readies-speed-deportations-people-denied-refugee-status-controversy-flares-sending-asylum-seekers-Afghanistan.html

Germany is set to speed up its processes for removing failed asylum seekers – but controversy has flared up over deporting people to war-torn Afghanistan.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hopes to be re-elected in September, is set to discuss a series of measures with leaders of Germany’s 16 state governments.

She faces a backlash from voters over the influx of migrants into the country, but will also have to fight state leaders reluctant to send people to Afghanistan.
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February 10, 2017 8:04am
PhilBest

Is anyone asking those who accuse Donald Trump of being a racist, misogynist, and all the rest of it, how come such a person held down a mainstream TV show for years without being hounded out by SJW’s? Mainstream TV is a pretty difficult institution for those with non-PC views to survive in.
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February 10, 2017 8:07am
- oldpark
  
  Yet out of the blue,in NZ . six pointy heads from MFAT are part of a task force,to monitor the democratically elected President of USA Donald Trump,and report every time he says or does anything. They will be on twenty four hours round the clock reporting. Seems Sixty million people who voted for him,according to our goody two shoes ratbags in MFAT, they got it wrong. Wonder why Bill English allows such type of snooping and interfering by our MFAT into the policies of a another sovereign nation. Do they monitor Chinese President, who was not democratically elected, 24/7 bet they dont.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:45am
  - pdm
    
    Is this another unsanctioned McCully move so that he can report back to his `yesterdays’ mates – Obama and Kerry?
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:05am
    - howitis
      
      Surely McCully is just trying to throw around more taxpayers money that dildo Joyce.
      Both are pretty good at chucking money around – at taxpayers expense.
      
      Q. How many MFAT staff does it take to read 140 Character tweets?
      A. a Hell of a lot if they are in the Wellington beltway Rackets
      
      May the flees of 1000 camels infest McCully’s armpits
      – preferably flees from his camel jockey mates.
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:23am
  - peterwn
    
    This is bread and butter work for any Foreign Affairs Ministry. Just as there are three types of people – those who make things happen, those who see things happen and those who wondered what has happened, there are three types of nations. The Government would not be properly protecting NZ’s economic and other positions if it does not properly keep its ear to the ground in the international scene using legitimate means. And the target nations expect NZ to be properly informed about their features, characteristics, political issues etc. I doubt that Donald Trump and his government could care less that NZ is keeping its very well informed of USA domestic affairs – they know perfectly well NZ has an embassy in Washington DC which is keeping the NZ Government well informed on USA matters.
    Also prospective tourists often seek assurance from their own governments that (say) New Zealand is a safe place to visit and positive comments can only help tourism (anyone can look up what USA thinks about NZ as a safe destination for travellers).
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:40am
    - howitis
      
      If the filth media around the world did their job then President Trump would not need to direct message people via Twitter.
      
      Media reporting has been full on disgusting. I was in Australia recently and it seems there is a ringmaster co-ordinating the attacks or they just read each other’s bile. One day in and I preferred the beach and vineyard tours.
      
      The bile production line has been effective. The people I met almost universally were vigorously anti-Trump. It seems Aussies are more easily lead. They really are taking the ‘easy’ way out and not doing any investigation of their own.
      
      After trying to educate I just started poking the borax – four more years, feckers.
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:40am
    - howitis
      
      peterwn
      NZ does not advance it’s position by appointing a Mooslem Ambassador to the US.
      Mooslem’s allegiance is to Mohammed and his 7th century view of the world.
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:45am
    - waikatosinger
      
      This is bread and butter work for any Foreign Affairs Ministry. [ … ] The Government would not be properly protecting NZ’s economic and other positions if it does not properly keep its ear to the ground
      
      It is not unusual to watch what is going on. It is very unusual to announce that you have set up a special task force to do so.
      
      I doubt that Donald Trump and his government could care less that NZ is keeping its very well informed of USA domestic affairs
      
      Donald Trump will not care that we are keeping well informed. But he will care a great deal about the announcement of a special task force to keep an eye specifically on him. That is a direct attack on his reputation. After all we didn’t announce a special task force to keep an eye on Obama.
      
      In PR terms the announcement itself is an attack on Trump. If McCully can’t see that then he should be sacked for incompetence. If he does then he should be sacked for deliberately damaging our relationship with the US president.
      
      Actually McCully should just be sacked period. He has now racked up four strikes as far as I am concerned – the stupid Saudi sheep deal – the UN vote on Israel – the money given to the Clinton foundation and now a completely pointless PR hit on Trump. Get him out of there fast before he can do even more damage.
      
      NZ has an embassy in Washington DC which is keeping the NZ Government well informed on USA matters.
      
      Indeed, so why the need to announce a special task force to keep an eye on Trump.
      
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      February 10, 2017 2:51pm
- jonar
  
  Really? In an edited show? How long was Jeremy Clarkson in Top Gear for?
  
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  February 10, 2017 1:47pm
- gump
  
  What are you talking about?
  
  He didn’t start making grossly offensive public statements until he announced his candidacy for the Presidency.
  
  And he was dropped from presenting his TV show as an immediate consequence for making those remarks:
  
  http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/nbc-donald-trump-immigrants-1201530568/
  
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  February 10, 2017 4:01pm
Manolo

Europe’s gradual loss of freedom and liberty:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-09/paris-to-build-barrier-around-eiffel-tower-to-counter-terrorism

Paris is spending 20 million euros to build a protective barrier around the Eiffel Tower to replace temporary structures that were put up after a series of terror attacks.

“Sadly, the risk of terrorism hasn’t gone away,” deputy mayor Jean-François Martins said at a Paris press conference. “It’s not a wall, it’s an aesthetic perimeter.”
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February 10, 2017 8:07am
- PhilBest
  
  Love that term. Now I will be seeing “aesthetic perimeters” all over the place (eg around suburban houses) instead of “walls” or fences.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:09am
- Longknives
  
  Wouldn’t it be easier (and cheaper) to build ‘aesthetic perimeters’ around every bloody Mosque in Paris?
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:20am
  - G152
    
    Cheaper just to pull them all down and send their adherents back to their respective hellholes
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:23am
  - kowtow
    
    France ? Finished. Any excuse to burn and wreck , very common but not reported too widely. As usual the media will seek to down play the diversity dividend .
    
    “Authorities are wary of unrest in France’s poor towns, remembering the fiery 2005 riots that spread through France – beginning in the Paris suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois, near Aulnay, and hopscotching through social housing around the country.
    
    The previous night police fired warning shots with live bullets to push back protesters in the unrest. Lefebrve said it was because they had neither rubber bullets nor tear gas, and were trapped between two gangs.”
    
    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-riots-black-teen-allegedly-sodomized-police-officer-baton/
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:28am
Lucia Maria

When comedy meets reality and become almost indistinguishable.

Sorry, Donald, But ‘SNL’ Is Having Its Biggest Season In Two Decades

The apparent ratings “Trump bump” isn’t specific to “SNL.” Other political shows and channels have also experienced heightened interest as a result of the near-constant news generated by the president. Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” beat out the apolitical “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in viewership numbers for the week ending Feb. 3, the first time it’s done so with original episodes since the show’s first week in 2015. CNN and Fox News have both benefited massively as a result of current events, as well.

But “SNL,” in particular, seems to really, really bother the president. Unfortunately for him, it’s the opposite of “unwatchable” right now.

In fact, people just can’t seem to get enough.
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February 10, 2017 8:09am
- ross411
  
  SNL has been shit for years. A biggest season is meaningless, it just means that they’ve started pandering to liberals because they can’t make the funny work. The glory days of SNL were a raft of comedians who went onto movies, like Bill Murray and the fat guy who died. Who are the modern people who graduate from SNL to real success? No-one.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:45am
  - Fletch
    
    Mhmm. Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Chevy Chase, John Belushi – we’ll never see their like again.
    
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    February 10, 2017 11:47am
virtualmark

The third in a series of great quotes from US Presidents.

Ike again, this time with his farewell speech as President on the 17th of January 1961, in the last few days of his presidency. This speech is mainly remembered for Ike’s warning of the rise of the military-industrial complex, but he also laid out these passages about America’s role in the world:

“America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America’s leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

Throughout America’s adventure in free government our basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.”

Note that despite Ike presiding over the rise of the Cold War and a massive investment in the US military, at the end of his Presidency the US government was posting an annual surplus.

For my money Ike was the greatest US President in the last 150 years.
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February 10, 2017 8:13am
- cha
  
  Lincoln writing to his friend Joshua Speed, describing the rise of the bigoted anti-immigration Know-Nothing party.
  
  I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor or degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic].
  
  https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/speed.htm
  
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  February 10, 2017 1:04pm
  - Gabby
    
    Andrei agrees with Lin Kon. Is good man. Liberty butters no borscht.
    
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    February 10, 2017 7:29pm
Maggy Wassilieff

416 pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit….
Most are dead.
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February 10, 2017 8:16am
- Happychappy
  
  Will it be government policy the Greens will use to account for this beaching.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:28am
- cmm
  
  Blame Maui. He shouldn’t have parked his boat there.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:44am
- Dave Mann
  
  Farewell…
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:13am
- stigie
  
  This is Bill English’s fault, he seems to be blamed for every other god damn thing !~
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:47am
- tf78
  
  Apparently 1000 whales beached themselves in a location near Golden Bay in 1918 – nearly 100 years ago – nothing to do with human activity it would seem.
  
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  February 10, 2017 11:21am
  - rangitoto
    
    It’s been happnening for millions of years. The intervention is pointless.
    
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    February 10, 2017 4:05pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  waste of yummy meat.
  
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  February 10, 2017 2:54pm
  - stephieboy
    
    UN , would never taken you to be of Inuit descent !
    
    https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-08-11/successful-whale-hunt-northern-canada-revives-ancient-inuit-tradition
    
    Tell us more ?
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:10pm
  - gump
    
    I’ve eaten whale meat in Japan. I don’t feel the need to ever eat it again.
    
    It’s pretty awful stuff. The Japanese only eat it for reasons of nostalgia (not for pleasure).
    
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    February 10, 2017 4:06pm
tf78

I saw Julie Anne Genter in parliament yesterday talking about “climate pollution ” – does anyone know what that is or is it just a new angle on the fraudulent climate change rip-off.
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February 10, 2017 8:19am
- kowtow
  
  Every time she exhales.
  
  “The average human exhales about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide on an average day. (The exact quantity depends on your activity level—a person engaged in vigorous exercise produces up to eight times as much CO2 as his sedentary brethren.)”
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:24am
  - Dave Mann
    
    I know your comment was meant as a joke (and it was a very funny rejoinder actually) but I assume the actual ‘statistic’ came from some eco/AGW site somewhere.
    
    That ‘ststistic’ is utter bullshit. Is someone seriously trying to pretend that a human being creates ONE KILO of CO2 – a gas that weighs almost nothing – every day? Obviously CO2 is not a cause of climate change anyway, but that’s not the point. My point is that this idiotic statistic is pure invented nonsense (or fake news/alternative fact).
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:58am
    - kowtow
      
      It was from a google search , just popped up , good enough for me. But here’s another, keep it under your hat though cos at this rate we’ll all have to bump ourselves off to save the planet.Or at the very least put ourselves into a very high tax bracket.
      
      “Q:
      How much CO2 does a human exhale?
      A:
      QUICK ANSWER
      An average human exhales around 2.3 pounds of CO2 in a day. That rate increases by up to a factor of eight during heavy physical exertion and falls somewhat during periods of relaxation, such as during sleep.”
      
      https://www.reference.com/science/much-co2-human-exhale-3f8cfdd9076c129?qo=contentSimilarQuestions
      
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      February 10, 2017 9:35am
    - gump
      
      Be careful. You might learn something.
      
      An average adult human generates around 450 to 500 litres of CO2 through respiration each day. This weighs around a kilogram.
      
      It’s always good to read responses like yours because it underscores just how poorly educated most climate skeptics really are.
      
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      February 10, 2017 4:17pm
  - mandk
    
    Thanks kowtow
    
    You’ve just reassured me that there is virtue in being a lazy bastard.
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:58am
- G152
  
  A possible future rip off.
  The global warming and climate change stories are fading so that will be the next ‘threat’
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:25am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Islamic Aliens,
    
    I think it’s pretty obvious.
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:27am
    - mandk
      
      You mean the Prophet didn’t ascend into heaven, but got transported to a distant planet, where he prosletysed the inhabitants?
      
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      February 10, 2017 9:04am
      - Don the Kiwi
        
        Nah – that’s what the Mormons do. 🙂
        
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        February 10, 2017 9:20am
- PhilBest
  
  The US Supreme Court a couple of years ago, ruled that CO2 is a “pollutant” and therefore the EPA is authorised to regulate it.
  
  Classic example (among several) of that Court’s judicial activism, Democrat-appointed judges pursuing a politically motivated agenda.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:29am
  - JIV
    
    How can CO2 be a pollutant when its essential to life on earth. Also, how can it be a pollutant when we produce it every time we breathe out. I’ve heard we breathe in 400 ppm and breathe out 40,000ppm. Does that mean we all need masks to capture this pollutant. Ridiculous.
    
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    February 10, 2017 9:49am
    - Fletch
      
      And also when it is food for the trees which then convert it to the oxygen we need. It’s part of the ecosystem.
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:50am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep, President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency ruled CO2 to be a dangerous pollutant gas in 2009.
    http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/04/epa-carbon-dioxide-danger-human-health
    
    The mere fact that it is coursing through your bloodstream at this vey moment should WORRY you.
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:06am
    - Manolo
      
      Dear Maggy, how do you dare to challenge the Messiah’s findings? He has never erred, according to our beloved stephieboy.
      
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      February 10, 2017 10:09am
    - howitis
      
      To be fair MW the Manchurian candidate, Obama, was generally clueless and completely lost without a teleprompter.
      You can’t blame him for what others made him do.
      
      Note however that what came out of the Hawaiian half-white boy’s mouth was severe pollution.
      
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      February 10, 2017 1:14pm
- B.L.Zeebub
  
  JAG, doesn`t understand that parliament does not do upticks, she needs to put that gibberish on her facebook page where it`s relevant and she gets her instant gratification fix.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:44am
- cmm
  
  The real damage in all the climate change bullshit is that it has taken attention off real environmental issues.
  
  Unless some issue can be linked to climate change and/or blamed on the Evil West then it just gets ignored.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:54am
Dave Mann

So how’s the Trump thing working out so far?

Survey: uptick for ‘Enthusiastic or guarded approval’ of Trump’s performance to date – downtick for ‘disapproval or serious reservations’ about his performance.
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February 10, 2017 8:23am
- Dave Mann
  
  Cute addition to survey: uptick for ‘don’t know/couldn’t care less/irrelevant to me’
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:28am
- AgentBallSack
  
  Dave Mann
  
  So how’s the Trump thing working out so far?
  
  Survey: uptick for ‘Enthusiastic or guarded approval’ of Trump’s performance to date – downtick for ‘disapproval or serious reservations’ about his performance.
  Thumb up 35 Thumb down 7 8:23AM
  
  12 hours later we see the ‘shy tory’ effect.
  
  35 to 7 = 78% approval rating for Trump.
  
  I thought he was the most unpopular President ever though?
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:12pm
  - Dave Mann
    
    Its actually higher than 78% (83% see my comment below) and that’s interesting. Note that this was an informal survey of only 42 self-selecting interested Kiwiblog readers and as such we cannot in any way interpolate what Trump’s support is over the general American population.
    
    I’m not trying to argue that Trump is (or is not) an unpopular president…. I’m simply getting a feel for Kiwiblog readers’ opinions and as I suspected, support for him here is pretty high 😀
    
    (p.s. I’ve had a career in market research)
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:56pm
- Dave Mann
  
  Okaayyyy…. so that’s actually a 83% approval rating (35 out of 42) from those Kiwiblog readers today who were interested enough to take part in my informal survey. On a previous thread I estimated that 70% of Kiwiblog readers support Trump, but it seems that was a slight underestimation – although well within the ballpark.
  
  Not a huge sample, but pretty clear all the same. Thank you to those 42 people who took part.
  
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  February 10, 2017 10:44pm
Happychappy

Have the Media admitted that the broad church they have been following might have sustained major damage or is it just a minor glitch.
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February 10, 2017 8:24am
- Gabby
  
  Speaking of broad, do you reckon you’ll lose the lard faster or slower than Gerry The Malignant Tub Browneye? First under two pick handles wins, right?
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:38am
- mandk
  
  Even the sad folk over at The Standard acknowledge that Labour now have no chance, come September.
  
  The idea that Little can lead an alliance with the Greens and NZF is risible, when he can’t lead his own party.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:09am
  - sooty
    
    How about if the Greens lead Little in the alliance after the election. Because Labour are going to be lucky to be at 7%.
    
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    February 10, 2017 11:19am
Padriv Ustoev

Sad news Kiwi blog:

Over 300 camels of the sea have been stranded on Farewell Spit.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/marine/news/article.cfm?c_id=61&objectid=11798056

Why does this keep happening? One of natures sad mysteries.
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February 10, 2017 8:25am
- Liberty
  
  It is sad. but has been happening since the beginning.
  There is a fossilized whale on the Farewell Spit headland.
  not far from where whales do there Darwin.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:17am
- Manolo
  
  Dear Imam Padriv, don’t you think some koha in the form of nubile virgins is required to appease Allah?
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:18am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    I’m no Teriti expert.
    But it clear to me that at the very least Farewell Spit needs to have segregated swimming hours for Male and Female whales to protect the female whale’s modesty.
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:23am
wiseowl

Chuck.

You sure copped it last night and have to say I was surprised at Hays’ attack on you.
She sure showed up as a progressive and trucked out all those words like bigot because they have no ability to see others opinions.
Only the left are right.
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February 10, 2017 8:27am
- Chuck Bird
  
  I get a laugh out of feminists and homosexuals who see no problem with a increase in the the number of Muslims in NZ or other western countries. I would like to see her walk though Muslim areas in Sydney. Let the Muslim percentage increase in NZ and it will be the same her. The do not mix.
  
  I walk thorough town and pass a woman and we usually smile and greet each other. Fortunately we do not have any Muslims in Ngaruawahia. It is too small for them to get a foothold like in Hamilton.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:27am
  - wiseowl
    
    I recommend you watch the Bolt report on Sky News 9pm.
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:11am
  - stephieboy
    
    Chuck Bird , a remarkable account of Isalaphobia and Muslim bashing from dear old Ngaruawahia now a bit of a ghost own with the expressway by pass?
    
    BtW Any “Muuri” conversions to Islam there ?
    
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    February 10, 2017 10:39am
    - GoVege
      
      WTF is “islamophobic” about mentioning the fact it is dangerous for a gay male or unchaperoned female to walk through a Muslim neighourhood?
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:18am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Not in Ngaruawahia but there are some conversions of gang members in jail.
      
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      February 10, 2017 12:07pm
Nostalgia-NZ

Has longknives apologised to the All Black lock he was criticising yet?
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February 10, 2017 8:30am
- Longknives
  
  Have your beloved All Blacks admitted the ‘Bug’ was a pathetic publicity stunt yet?
  Egg all over their arrogant faces..
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/89201833/peter-fitzsimons-why-all-blacks-fans-owe-australia-an-apology-over-hotel-bug
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:45am
kowtow

More of that diversity dividend.

“The claim that Islam merely protects women’s modesty is debunked by this poster for the Australian Islamic Peace Conference.

The real agenda – at least of these preachers – is to blot out women’s identities. But where are the feminists to protest?”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/islam-on-show-women-blotted-out/news-story/639cead48535e9d490ea466f090bc465
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February 10, 2017 8:31am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Don’t show your face in court, don’t stand for the judge….. and hey presto, your case gets thrown out of court.
  http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/moutia-elzahed-to-be-charged-for-refusing-to-stand-for-a-district-court-judge-20170209-gu9e93.html
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:41am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    It’s an Infidel Judge so she is well within her rights to not stand.
    
    And to collect the benefits and child support too.
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:46am
  - Ashley Schaeffer
    
    At a hearing, her barrister said she would not stand for the judge because she doesn’t stand “for anyone except Allah”.
    
    But I bet she jumps to when her husband is around.
    
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    February 10, 2017 8:55am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      Well they don’t call him Hamdi the Love Hammer for nothing.
      
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      February 10, 2017 9:04am
  - RalphT
    
    Maggy, if I read the article right it was a case she was bringing so she lost twice over – her case thrown out and a charge laid against her.
    
    And isn’t it a bit insensitive of The Age to have an ad about bringing home the bacon in the middle of a piece about our peaceful migrants? Padriv will be most upset.
    
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    February 10, 2017 12:59pm
- Garbageman
  
  you made my day with that link kowtow now that I know there is “shaykh shady” white and a ginge as well not sure if that is a character reference or a hat tip to Eminem
  
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  February 10, 2017 12:04pm
B.L.Zeebub

Finally, something I can agree with from Rachel Smalley,

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11789831

The sheer cowardice from the cops and Govt. on dealing with this cancer on society beggars belief.
But unfortunately, I don`t have much faith that Labour would have the spine for it either.
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February 10, 2017 8:40am
- fernglas
  
  It’s a many-layered problem. The Police investigative resources are not what they should be, but that’s only part of it.
  There is a lot of concern over the policing of ethnic (read Maori) gangs because of the inevitability that it would be portrayed as racially selective. The Mob and the Blacks have wide ranging support or at least acceptance throughout Maoridom.
  The only tool the Police have for dealing with gangs is the criminal process. And the piece of the Crimes Act designed to be used to attack gangs as criminal groups has been diluted by the Court of Appeal to a point where it is unusable. In other words, all the Police can do is to prosecute gang members on a case by case basis for being criminals, but they cannot prosecute the gangs themselves for being criminal organisations. I think it’s time the Government got the balls to realise that gangs are criminal organisations per se, and made membership of them a crime. The Bill of Rights Act preserves the right to freedom of association, it is true, but that freedom does not override legislation passed to prevent that association from harming others.
  More cops, by itself, is not the answer.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:06am
  - B.L.Zeebub
    
    Of course, the Govt could take a similar approach that that Yanks took against Al Capone and sic the Inland Revenue on them, `cept here the IRD only have the balls to go after tradies doing $50 cashies.
    Basically, us honest law-abiding citizens are fucked if the gangs decide to come after us.
    
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    February 10, 2017 9:14am
  - GoVege
    
    So long as we fools keep paying Maori girls to drag up 10 or more kids on the DPB, we will continue to have a gang problem.
    How many statehouses are big enough to accommodate 8, 10 or more kids, even if you stash some in the garage?
    After a childhood of neglect, they are usually turfed out by 14 or 15 and need a home.
    Enter the gangs….
    
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    February 10, 2017 11:12am
    - howitis
      
      But ….but …but…..the $$$$$Billions in TOW settlements are helping this.
      Surely!!
      
      N’est-ce pas?
      Ask Finlayson, QC .
      
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      February 10, 2017 1:33pm
      - Gabby
        
        That money is for Finkyson’s future clients.
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:37pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    The Mob and the Blacks have wide ranging support or at least acceptance throughout Maoridom.
    
    fernglas, what do you base that view on? I do not expect a link as I doubt if there is one. I know when Jamie Pink, leader of the Huks was in the news there was a public meeting in Ngaruawahia. He was in jail or hospital at time but a small number of his supporters were and spoke. However, there were a lot more citizens of Ngaruawahia present Maori and non Maori. They all condemned the gangs and their behaviour. That is also the view of the mature Maori in the town.
    
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    February 10, 2017 12:06pm
- MCos
  
  Prior to the 1972 election Norm Kirk said he was going to “take the bikes off the bikies” and every election year ever since we are subjected to the same sort of rhetoric.
  Well, the gangs are still here, folks.
  By the way wasn’t Judith Collins going to crush the boy racer cars too? They’re still here too.
  It’s what’s known as populist politics.
  Here’s an interesting article from a couple of years ago.
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11520398
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:16am
Keeping Stock

Cross-posted from the Rebellion thread;

Little has to remember that there is an element in the Labour Party which never sleeps; remember the infamous Tamihere interview?

TAMIHERE: They don’t have families. They’ve got nothing but the ability to plot. I’ve gotta take my kid to soccer on Saturday, they don’t. So they just go and have a parlez vous francais somewhere and a latte, whereas we don’t get to plot, we’re just trying to get our kids to synchronise their left and right feet. They don’t even think about that.

I’ve got a fifteen year old whose testosterone’s jumping and he’s scrapping around at school. Now they don’t have that, and because they don’t have that they’re just totally focused. You’ve also got a fully paid organization called the union movement, who can co-opt fully paid coordinators. These people just never sleep.

http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/13143/tamihere-interview-edited/

Poto Williams may have apologised yesterday, but that’s like putting a sticking plaster over a major surgical wound. The division in Labour is there for everyone to see, and Little is going to face consequences. The information from Newshub yesterday that Little has promised Jackson the Maori Development portfolio ahead of all other Labour Maori MP’s in unlikely to calm things down, and Little has started election year in the worst possible way.

Labour’s theme in the debate on the PM’s statement is that Bill English may be PM, but he isn’t a leader has backfired spectacularly. Little may be leader of the Labour Party in name, but he has lost control of both his caucus and the party membership. This time, the unions might not be able to save him.
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February 10, 2017 8:45am
- ross411
  
  Let’s hope this continues the forward movement we’ve seen for the Labour party over the last couple of years. All this hard work by Cunliffe and Little has paid off so well, so far.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:57am
- thedavincimode
  
  Labour’s theme in the debate on the PM’s statement is that Bill English may be PM, but he isn’t a leader has backfired spectacularly.
  
  I couldn’t be bothered watching it KS but if that is what he was saying, then it was certainly vintage angry – ie spectacularly stupid – even without the recent jackson debacle.
  
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  February 10, 2017 10:01am
Captain Mainwaring

“This time, the unions might not be able to save him.”

I hope they can, as he’s the gift that keeps on giving.
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February 10, 2017 8:51am
Manolo

The MSM hacks will not be happy:
An Emerson College poll found that 49% of U.S. voters believe that the Trump administration is “truthful,” while only 39% feel that way about the news media. Worse, for the so-called “opposition party,” 53% of those surveyed described the media as “untruthful.”
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February 10, 2017 8:54am
- stephieboy
  
  Manolo, the solution is for Trump and Bannon is to ban and suppress MSM ?
  
  Trump and fomer Breitbart Editor always Truthful , huh ?
  
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  February 10, 2017 10:45am
Lucia Maria

The facepalms just keep on coming and they are getting more and more dangerous for everyone …

Exclusive: In call with Putin, Trump denounced Obama-era nuclear arms treaty – sources

In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.

When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.

Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.

…

The phone call with Putin has added to concerns that Trump is not adequately prepared for discussions with foreign leaders.

Typically, before a telephone call with a foreign leader, a president receives a written in-depth briefing paper drafted by National Security Council staff after consultations with the relevant agencies, including the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies, two former senior officials said.

Just before the call, the president also usually receives an oral “pre-briefing” from his national security adviser and top subject-matter aide, they said.

Trump did not receive a briefing from Russia experts with the NSC and intelligence agencies before the Putin call, two of the sources said. Reuters was unable to determine if Trump received a briefing from his national security adviser Michael Flynn.

No wonder people are turning to comedy to make sense of it all.
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February 10, 2017 9:05am
Manolo

What a difference the Democrats’ obstructionism makes:
http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/09/the-numbers-dont-lie-comparing-the-number-of-trumps-cabinet-confirmations-with-obamas/

Donald Trump began his presidency with fewer Cabinet nominations confirmed than any other president in almost 30 years.
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February 10, 2017 9:10am
- MCos
  
  You may recall that a number of Trump’s nominations had their hearings delayed because they had not completed the necessary paperwork.
  These people are extraordinarily wealthy and that complicated matters somewhat.
  Not just a matter of a house, car, Kiwisaver account & funeral insurance recommended by Keith Quinn
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:46am
  - ross411
    
    Vague report that sounds like fake news.
    
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    February 10, 2017 9:59am
    - MCos
      
      Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.
      
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      February 10, 2017 11:18am
Igotta Numbum

With the petrol price enquiry about to be undertaken, I hope they don’t just focus on the overall bottom line that oil companies show, with regards to profits etc., for the petrol part of the business.

They key area that needs to be looked at, is comparisons on profits at a regional and/or city level.

I’d make a prediction that at a national level, the overall profit margin on the petrol would be considered as normal.

But at a regional/city level, you would probably find that pricing methodologies are such that the higher priced areas are set high to subsidise price wars in other areas.

To me, it’s that aspect that should be jumped on, and smashed accordingly.
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February 10, 2017 9:23am
- Don the Kiwi
  
  I wonder if the Govt. will look at it’s own part being played in the high price of fuel.
  The get the biggest share of anyone by far – about 73c. per litre excise duty, plus GST.
  Shades of hypocrisy.
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:30am
  - Igotta Numbum
    
    Not really, as the excise duty amount is basically consistent nationally. Even if you zero’d that out of the equation, there’s still the issue of disparate pricing… and the oil company profits don’t include the excise duty in their reporting.
    
    Excise duty is an issue, buut not relevant to the enquiry.
    
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    February 10, 2017 9:41am
  - rangitoto
    
    I have no problem with the excise duty and GST being spent on roads. I am however concerned about value for money. The cost and tardiness road construction in this country needs investigating. Appears to be way out of line with comparable countries.
    
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    February 10, 2017 11:34am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Vast armadas of cone monkeys and other ‘safety’ workers increase the headcount, cost and duration of roadworks massively.
      
      I imagine it would be more efficient to focus on getting works completed at each site faster with more people involved (and so less safety overhead) than having long-duration roadworks in many locations over a region at one time. Would also disrupt traffic less.
      
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      February 10, 2017 3:26pm
  - Paulus
    
    I bet no comment will be made about the price of 95 & 98 Octane being up to 30 cents dearer than 91.
    You do not see 95 or 98 advertised by any Petrol station.
    What are they afraid of –
    I have asked the AA with no reply either.
    
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    February 10, 2017 1:18pm
  - howitis
    
    Central Govt receives 15c for every $1.00 the Council raises rates.
    It can get extra revenue and let council be the bad guys.
    
    The same applies here where there is also tax on tax. The Oil companies get the spotlight shone on them but Govt gets addicted to tax or even tax-on-tax so they don’t want prices going down.
    It is virtue signalling.
    
    Despite erection promises every three years Govt have no intention of cutting Govt spending.
    They need to fuel expenditure from somewhere and putting the spotlight on others without ever doing anything is a cute solution.
    
    Classic Impression Management-from a person who never really crushed cars.
    
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    February 10, 2017 1:48pm
- G152
  
  Reduce the bloody taxes on petrol.
  Then start carping on about price
  
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  February 10, 2017 9:40am
  - Igotta Numbum
    
    While it’s an issue, the enquiry shouldn’t be muddied with the excise duty stuff… or all that happens is that the oil companies will push that back at us and continue on their merry way.
    
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    February 10, 2017 9:44am
- howitis
  
  I was in Australia recently and stayed in 4 different cities.
  Petrol prices varied significantly and I found on rural drives the lower prices were at the edge of town eg $1.26 for 91 vs $1.42 a kilometre or so further into town.
  I also found that milk prices were lower than NZ.
  
  The petrol price thing is an erection year bluff to pretend the Gnats care about you. The Oil Coys won’t do anything different. But Govt will have ‘seemed to care’.
  
  Z Energy (the old Shell), since it purchased the Caltex brand last year, has about 50% market share. This is in part owned by Accident Compensation /Govt Super so the Govt will not challenge its earnings. Duh.
  
  Gull is not really independent and is currently subject to OIC approval to be taken over by Caltex Australia. The WA family behind it have sold out of the business.
  
  What Govt could do is a genuine research into MILK prices. This went up about 6 years ago because we ‘had to pay world prices’ Then world prices collapsed 2+ years ago yet retail milk prices have remained high.
  This is something the Govt COULD DO something about but in line with the last 8 years nothing will happen.
  
  PS. the milk tasted better in Oz and the milk based coffee eg flat white- in various cities- was far better as a result.
  NZ Milk is expensive crap.
  Is this why Fonterra renders it to milk powder in brown paper bags instead of pushing for value added items like chocolate and gourmet cheese?
  
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  February 10, 2017 2:19pm
Lucia Maria

Really, really cool – The Entire Field Of Mathematics, Summarised In One Map
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February 10, 2017 9:38am
Manolo

What to do with such savage?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/isis-wannabe-20-years-new-year-eve-machete-plot-article-1.2956664

An ex-convict who plotted a foiled New Year’s Eve machete attack at an upstate New York restaurant in the name of the Islamic State group was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison, provoking a courtroom outburst in which he shouted “there’s going to be more of us.”
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February 10, 2017 9:47am
Manolo

Another lone wolf strikes:
http://www.jta.org/2017/02/09/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/6-wounded-in-attack-in-petach-tikvah

Six people were wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in the central Israeli city of Petach Tikvah.

Israeli police said a 19-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank opened fire Thursday afternoon near an outdoor market. One person reportedly was stabbed in the commotion.
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February 10, 2017 10:14am
Lucia Maria

Drama queens – Russia calls NATO moves in Baltics, Poland and Germany a threat: RIA

“This deployment is of course a threat for us,” RIA cited Meshkov as saying. “And who said that it will end with this? We do not have such information. For the first time since World War Two we see German soldiers along our borders.”

Something to do with Russian soldiers spilling out of their borders …
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February 10, 2017 10:20am
Manolo

The enemy within, the barbarians at the gates:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/02/radical-muslim-immigrant-now-canadian-parliament-pushing-anti-islamophobia-law/

The former president of a student association that handed out books which condoned wife beating is now pushing for anti-Islamophobia laws as a member of the Canadian parliament.

Her name is Iqra Khalid. She was born in Pakistan and then moved to Canada in the 1990’s. Now she is a member of the Canadian Parliament where she is pushing for anti-Islamophobia laws.
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February 10, 2017 10:28am
Rodney Randall

Christchurch City Council refuses to release salary details (even to the nearest 10k band) for two full time Maori Race Relations Advisors, appointed mid 2016.

“Given the two roles are specific to only two employees, the Council has decided to withhold this information under the following grounds of the LGOIMA – 7(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons. However the Council can confirm that both roles fall into the same salary bands as similar specialist advisory positions throughout the Council.”

Principal Advisor, Ngai Tahu Relationship – Gabrielle Huria; Senior Advisor, Ngai Tahu and Maori Relationships – Te-Kaharoa Manihera. Both roles began in late June/early July 2016 following a recruitment process that involved both internal and external interview panel members.

i.e not democratically elected positions but paid for by the rate payer.

The council also appointed a six Papatipu Rūnanga council who receive “KOHA” every time they appear.

Council Comment:

The appointment of the Ngai Tahu and Maori Relationship advisers and the formation of the Te Hononga Council- Papatipu Rūnanga Committee are seen as key steps toward the Council recognising section 4 of the Local Government Act 2002 –
In order to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to take appropriate account of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and to maintain and improve opportunities for Māori to contribute to local government decision-making processes, Parts 2 and 6 provide principles and requirements for local authorities that are intended to facilitate participation by Māori in local authority decision-making processes.

The Christchurch City Council also refuses to release the salary bands for Rockefeller appointed Chief Resilience Officer (aka Rockefeller appointed planning shill) Mike Gillooly

The Christchurch City Council repeatedly hides behind “protect natural persons” clauses to avoid scrutiny and transparency.

What are they hiding from? Accountabililty? Surely it is in the public’s interest to know their salaries so we can decide if we are getting value for money?

In my humble opinion this nonsense needs to stop.

These councils are a law unto themselves.
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February 10, 2017 10:36am
- wiseowl
  
  It’s not the councils fault really.
  It is the legislation that allows this appalling situation to develop and the Government has encouraged this separate development.
  Maori have every opportunity to participate along with all New Zealanders but they do not want that or understand that.
  They believe consulting or participating means one has to do what they say.
  An unacceptable situation.
  
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  February 10, 2017 12:49pm
  - Rodney Randall
    
    Thank you for your considered comments.
    
    “the Government has encouraged this separate development.” Agree
    
    This however is no excuse for local government legal teams to deny public access to salary band information, especially when the rate payers are coughing up for their salaries.
    
    To hide behind “protect natural persons” clauses is a cop out and nothing more than local government giving rate payers the middle finger.
    
    Can you please enlighten me as to what a Maori Race Relations adviser in local government does all day or a Chief Resilience Officer for that matter?
    
    The Council apparently pay the 6 person Maori committee a Koha for each attendance. According to Council Koha protocol, this is a monetry payment. According to the C.C.C. committee “members don’t get paid.” The Co Chair also receives a “Koha” cash again, but according to council, “doesn’t recieve any pay.
    
    BS all round but nothing surprises me with the bunch of inept corrupt muppets inside that 3500+ staffed shit box.
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:07pm
earlyfknsettler

They hate you.

Leftists don’t merely disagree with you. They don’t merely feel you are misguided. They don’t think you are merely wrong. They hate you. They want you enslaved and obedient, if not dead. Once you get that, everything that is happening now will make sense. And you will understand what you need to be ready to do.

You are normal, and therefore a heretic. You refuse to bow to their idols, to subscribe to their twisted catechisms, to praise their false gods. This is unforgivable. You must burn.

Crazy talk? Just ask them. Go ahead. Go on social media. Find a leftist – it’s easy. Just say something positive about America or Jesus and they’ll come swarming like locusts. Engage them and very quickly they will drop their masks and tell you what they really think. I know. I keep a rapidly expanding file of Twitter leftist death wish screenshots.

They will tell you that Christians are idiots and vets are scum.

That normals are subhumans whose role is to labor as serfs to subsidize the progressive elite and its clients.

That you should die to make way for the New Progressive Man/Woman/Other.

Understand that when they call Donald Trump “illegitimate,” what they are really saying is that our desire to govern ourselves is illegitimate. Their beef isn’t with him – it’s with us, the normal people who dared rise up and demand their right to participate in the rule of this country and this culture.

http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/02/06/the-left-hates-you-act-accordingly
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February 10, 2017 10:49am
- stigie
  
  Good grief, that’s how they are over at the Stranded. Funny that !~
  
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  February 10, 2017 11:29am
- AgentBallSack
  
  Good article. I said something similar the other day regarding how the left don’t even care that we know what they think of us. And it’s obvious that they’re prepared to use hate speech and violence against anyone who doesn’t buy into their mental illness.
  
  But we’re the (alt-right) Nazis.
  They should really look up the Bolsheviks and see why the Nazi party gathered a huge following before the war. (Other than the Treaty of Versailles)
  
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  February 10, 2017 11:38am
  - stephieboy
    
    ABS, not of course forgetting the great depression and high unemployment of nearly 30%.
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:16pm
    - AgentBallSack
      
      Yes stephie, 2 factors also in play in the current day. The unofficial Employment Rate in the USA is 10%. People are still suffering from the GFC. The question is, who has learned and applied the lessons from the past?
      
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      February 10, 2017 5:19pm
- jonar
  
  Yeah, never see any signs of hate from the right-wingers here…
  
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  February 10, 2017 1:39pm
- Gabby
  
  That’s what Satan wants you reallyfkedmunters to think.
  
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  February 10, 2017 7:51pm
Hugh Pavletich

MIAMI PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES ‘HORRIFIED’ HOUSING IS NOW 6.1 TIMES ANNUAL INCOMES … MIAMI HERALD

… An outstanding article …

Buying a home in Miami-Dade is so expensive it could hurt the economy | Nicholas Nehamas | Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article131543514.html

… extracts …

By Nicholas Nehamas
nnehamas@miamiherald.com

Jason and Yadira Lopez both have good jobs and college degrees — but they can’t find a nice home in a good neighborhood they can afford. …

… Mid-market crunch

Miami isn’t another middle-of-the-road American city like St. Louis or Minneapolis anymore. (No offense, friends.) It’s become a metropolis with a global brand, attracting out-of-town companies and enjoying a cultural renaissance. But its success has also made it one of the least affordable cities in the United States — and one of the least affordable in the English-speaking world, according to the 2016 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. … read more via hyperlink above …

Demographia & Hugh Pavletich in the news …

https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=ssl#q=demographia&tbm=nws

https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hugh+pavletich&tbm=nws
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February 10, 2017 11:30am
- AgentBallSack
  
  Quelle Surprise.
  More people trying to use limited resources cause price rises. Thanks Hugh. I guess.
  
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  February 10, 2017 11:40am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    AgentBallsack … ‘limited’ resources … really ?
    
    Bureaucrats and politicians who negligently impede the production of affordable housing are in fact committing a serious breach of basic human rights.
    
    It is that serious.
    
    Sir Roger Douglas once described the housing inflation racket as ‘fiscal child abuse.’
    
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    February 10, 2017 6:40pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  This is Kiwiblog Hugh, not Floridablog, or Miamiblog, or even The Land of the Freeblog.
  
  Still, you must feel cock-a-hoop at Phil Twyford (of the Chinese-sounding names debacle) quoting Demographia in Parliament as experts on house prices. You must have had some productive meetings with him, and I’m sure you both enjoyed sticking pins into his John Key voodoo doll. But that won’t work anymore.
  
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  February 10, 2017 11:59am
- Happychappy
  
  Did things not go right for you after the Christchurch earthquakes Hugh, or was it you tried to tell the Government how the rebuild should be done and they told you they did not need your help.
  
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  February 10, 2017 2:19pm
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Happychappie …
    
    If housing is the Governments political trash heap … Christchurch is its sewer.
    
    The whole thing stinks to high hell.
    
    What should have cost about $25 billion will now likely cost about $50 billion.
    
    Here is some weekend reading for you …
    
    Christchurch Failure – The Long History | Hugh Pavletich | Scoop News
    
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1404/S00200/christchurch-failure-the-long-history-hugh-pavletich.htm
    
    Christchurch: The Way Forward | Scoop News
    
    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1206/S00251/christchurch-the-way-forward.htm
    
    OPINION: Hugh Pavletich accuses Christchurch City Council of blindness, blunders and chain dragging; calls for effective leadership, ‘open land’ policy and bendy zoning. Your view? | interest.co.nz
    
    http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/53947/opinion-hugh-pavletich-accuses-christchurch-city-council-blindness-blunders-and-chain
    
    No wonder compound employment growth (MBIE Nov 2016 Regional Report) over the past ten years for the CCC area has been a ‘stinking’ 0.3%; Waimak 5.6% and Selwyn 9.8% … national average 1.4%. So the CCC area just a quarter the national average with Waimak about 4 times and Selwyn a staggering 7 times.
    
    Check out this years Demographia Housingh Survey Page 26 Fig 10 for the consenting performances of Christchurch on the one hand … combined Selwyn and Waimak on the other. If it wasn’t for the two smaller lg units, Christchurch housing would have hyperinflated like Aucklands … out to 10 Multiple instead of 5.9.
    
    Clearly people and businesses are fleeing the dysfunctional CCC area for the functional smaller adjoining jurisdictions of Waimak and Selwyn.
    
    As a pragmatic centre-right guy myself, it really infuriates me knowing what a bunch of blundering incompetents this crowd has been.
    
    Can Kiwiblog readers explain why these guys have been SO incompetent ?
    
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    February 10, 2017 5:17pm
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  The gross incompetence and blundering of this Government with housing will destroy it 23 September … as it did its former leader John Key last year … something I stated publicly August 2016 …
  
  Housing campaigner predicts spiralling house prices will be Key’s ‘Waterloo’ | Stuff.co.nz
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/83627043/Housing-campaigner-predicts-spiralling-house-prices-will-be-Keys-Waterloo
  
  Mr 22% of 2002 is hardly going to save it.
  
  It reminds one of Stonewall Jacksons song …
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-QQI6lb_Hg
  
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  February 10, 2017 4:35pm
  - Happychappy
    
    Hugh you go back and defeat your argument with hate by continually reposting your load of Political hate about Keys waterloo. You lose more creditability every time you post.
    
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    February 10, 2017 6:24pm
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Happychappy … that is just silly talk. I covered it (hopefully) succinctly within a very short article (hyperlinks omitted) on the date the Demographia Housing Survey was released this year … 23 January …
      
      New Zealand’s housing consensus:
      Where is the political leadership ?
      
      The 1st Annual Demographia International Housing Affordabilty Survey was released early 2005.
      
      These annual surveys, as Oliver Hartwich of The New Zealand Initiative within the Introduction to this year’s edition makes clear, have proven to be an essential foundation for constructive public discussion of these issues.
      
      By early 2007, the then New Zealand Opposition National Party, under the leadership of the young John Key, started to ‘use’ the housing issue to pressure the then Labour Government in the lead-up to the late 2008 election.
      
      The Key led (centre – right) National Party won.
      
      Mr Key was extremely clear from 2007 through to the election late 2008, as this interview and speeches at the time illustrate.
      
      Sadly … post- election …the ambitious action man became the can kicker.
      
      In advocacy terms however, the ‘tipping point’ was the October 2012 Government response to housing affordability report ( video – media presentation ), led by then Finance Minister (now Prime Minister) Bill English … with the focus on –
      
      * land supply,
      * infrastructure financing,
      * process and
      * construction costs.
      
      The performance since that time … now over four years ago … could most charitably be described as woeful.
      
      The incompetence of a supposedly centre-right government has been extremely disappointing.
      
      Mr Key had long been disruptive to progress on these issues … again, as this writer made clear soon after the major October 2012 announcement with … Housing: Mr Key – Get on the Programme .
      
      Since the October 2012 announcement, for example, Auckland housing has further inflated from about 6.7 times household income to 10.
      
      Auckland’s median house price was $427,500 when Mr Key’s Government came to office late 2008 ( refer 2009 5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey ).
      
      If prices had even been held at this level … with a sound mix of land releases and progressive bond financing of infrastructure … and with Auckland’s current median household income of $83,000, Auckland’s median multiple today would be 5.1 not the current 10.
      
      Median house prices are currently way out of control at around $830,000.
      
      Better still … if prices had been allowed to gently ease since late 2008 (as polling has illustrated most New Zealanders prefer … and currently getting underway in Greater Christchurch, led by easing rentals), then Auckland today would be well on the road to restoring housing affordability.
      
      Auckland’s house prices would now be around 4 times household incomes.
      
      The median house price would be about $330,000 … not the current stratospheric and grossly irresponsible $830,000 !
      
      Political failure of epic proportions !
      
      Thankfully however … there is now a very broad consensus across the political spectrum.
      
      This is thanks to New Zealand being a dynamic democracy with an engaged and responsible media … as illustrated within the extensive postings within ‘Three Years On … The Great Consensus Emerges’ and the ‘2016’ sections of this writers archival website Performance Urban Planning .
      
      This broad consensus is remarkable. A world first.
      
      By May 2016, polling by Newshub / Reid Research found an unprecedented 76% of the public dissatisfied with the Governments management of the housing crisis.
      
      What had been a housing crisis worsened to become a political crisis as well.
      
      I predicted late August housing would be Mr Key’s Waterloo .
      
      Also during late August, Mr Key had an unfortunate interview with Mark Sainsbury at Newshub .
      
      Labours Housing Spokesperson Phil Twyford followed, speaking competently with conviction.
      
      Mr Twyford’s comments reminded one of Labour’s proud history on housing … Restoring the housing that Jack (and Norm) built … Oliver Chan … Spinoff .
      
      Late November, the Labour Party leader Andrew Little spoke to the Property Council .
      
      Housing concerns featured very prominently within the September New Zealand Herald’s Mood of the Boardroom 2016 .
      
      Business leaders had lost confidence in Mr Key. And even more so, his Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith.
      
      Mid 2016 Nick Smith welcomed the Labour Party’s call to abolish city limits .
      
      Astonishingly, he has made no attempt whatsoever to reach out to other political parties to form a broad coalition on these issues.
      
      The broad consensus is there. The only obstacle are political incompetence and inertia.
      
      In contrast, Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Phil Twyford, with his colleague David Parker, are reaching out to other political parties, as happened with the Housing Accords Extension legislation earlier September … and on other occasions.
      
      In private during September and with an election required by the end of 2017, Mr Key made the decision he was going to exit politics.
      
      He had no intention of facing the music in 2017.
      
      Within the meandering Media Conference on the date of his resignation … Monday 5 December … no mention was made of the housing crisis.
      
      Remarkably, the journalists present failed to ask Mr Key … why ?
      
      2017 is election year … with housing the Number One issue … again … as this pre – Christmas poll result made clear … ROY MORGAN: Bill English must find solution to housing crisis
      
      Voters will decide who is capable of getting the essential changes in place … an exercise in sorting out the performers from the pretenders .
      
      ENDS
      
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      February 10, 2017 7:10pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hong Kong housing now so unaffordable, that “coffin homes” are the new trend | Property News
        
        http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/news-Hong_Kong_housing_now_so_unaffordable_that_coffin_homes_are_the_new_trend-3072
        
        Hong Kong apartments are being subdivided into many tiny spaces to accommodate those otherwise priced out of the city’s spiralling housing market. The term ‘coffin homes’ has been coined for these spaces, which can be as tiny as 20 square feet. Nearly 200,000 Hong Kong residents now live in such coffin homes, according to government data, but experts say the real number is much higher…. read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:36pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        ‘Denials of a housing crisis are now simply lies’ | 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. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        February 10, 2017 9:00pm
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      … and from Vancouver Canada … are they waking up ? …
      
      Future of Housing Summit doesn’t sugarcoat situation | The Columbian
      
      http://www.columbian.com/news/2017/feb/09/future-of-housing-summit-doesnt-sugarcoat-situation/
      
      Clark County has big housing problems. Housing has become too expensive and ill-suited for an aging population, and the industry faces barriers to building the housing that’s most needed.
      
      Those are some of the takeaways from the Future of Housing Summit, a half-day event held Thursday at the old Red Cross building on the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site that drew about 100 people from the housing industry as well as a smattering of elected officials to hear about the county’s daunting challenges and potential solutions. … read more via hyperlink above …
      
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      February 10, 2017 10:14pm
Manolo

A hack feels offended. What a surprise!
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/chris-cuomo-cnn-fake-news-n-word-2017-2?r=US&IR=T

CNN host Chris Cuomo said on Thursday that he believes hurling the “fake news” insult at journalists is similar to when individuals use racial slurs against minorities.
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February 10, 2017 11:37am
- Lance
  
  The hack is way out of touch….
  It’s only OK if it’s ‘alternative facts’
  
  Then he can bullshit away to his hearts content without any criticism
  
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  February 10, 2017 12:31pm
- Lucia Maria
  
  Manolo,
  
  You missed out this bit from the article:
  
  “It’s an ugly insult and you better be right if you’re going to charge a journalist with lying on purpose.”
  
  Are you accusing Chris Cuomo of lying on purpose and then getting offended because he’s been caught out on it?
  
  Or are you just spreading the idea that journos like him lie on purpose when they report news you don’t like?
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:30pm
Manolo

Another day in Brussels:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/eu-capital-brussels-plunged-darkness-9789580

Brussels has been plunged into darkness after a massive power cut. The loss of electricity across the Belgian capital has reportedly sparked terror attack fears, although the cause of the outage has not been confirmed.

Belgium and other European countries are on high alert following several devastating terror attacks over the past 12 months.
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February 10, 2017 11:48am
Fletch

A guy goes undercover to the LAX airport, where there is currently an anti-Trump, pro-immigrant protest happening. He pretends he is part of an organization authorized to find homes for immigrants and asks the protesters if they would be willing to take immigrants into their homes. Guess what they say?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSvXCVoeMjQ
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February 10, 2017 11:58am
- stephieboy
  
  Fletch , Joey Salads exposed for the faker and fraudster he is ,
  
  http://us.blastingnews.com/showbiz-tv/2016/10/joey-salads-exposed-for-fake-prank-and-outed-as-racist-fraud-001196303.html
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:25pm
  - Fletch
    
    Play the ball, not the man, stephie…
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:37pm
- Gabby
  
  Fake.
  
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  February 10, 2017 7:56pm
- jonar
  
  You could both support refugees coming to the country, and not be able to have them in your home due to lack of space etc. It’s not a hypocritical position.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:07pm
Fletch

There’s an article in today’s NZ Herald about an HIV-positive woman saying that “discrimination is the biggest killer” when it comes to the disease. Then, halfway down the story we get this statistic –

Eight in 10 of the 109 infected with HIV in New Zealand in 2015 were either gay or bisexual.

The sexual lifestyle of that group obviously plays a huge part in their being infected. Is it unjust discrimination to say that we should look at that lifestyle?

In the news recently, we’ve had reporting on the fact that historical convictions for homosexual conduct have been quashed in New Zealand. Although I don’t agree with anyone being arrested because of what they did, I can kind of see the past reasoning for making illegal the conduct that is obviously causing so much sickness for so many in the community.

The article says –

The theme for Sunday’s NZ Aids Foundation-organised Big Gay Out at Coyle Park is “Ending HIV”.

I’m really not sure how celebrating the lifestyle that is making you sick is going to help.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11797587
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February 10, 2017 12:30pm
- earlyfknsettler
  
  Exactly, as per usual these groups find a way to “project” (one of their modus operand-ii) , onto white heterosexual westerners, in particular males with families. Pretty big leap tp blame us for the results of their own lifestyle, but it hasn’t stopped them yet…they’re just getting started!
  
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  February 10, 2017 2:26pm
earlyfknsettler

Hollywood Chooses Sides in 24: Legacy, and Chooses Poorly…

Here’s a crazy idea – I know it seems kind of nuts, but if you are trying to make me watch your show or see your movie, perhaps it might be better not to disrespect patriotic Americans like me.

Wacky, huh?

Sure, it’s hard to believe that the industry that brought us virile superhunk Michael Cera and sexy ultrahottie Lena Dunham could make bad decisions. The geniuses in Hollywood clearly have their fingers on Americans’ collective pulse, if you define “Americans” as everyone in a coastal megalopolis who lives within 50 yards of a cruelty-free organic coffee shop.

Take 24: Legacy, the new Jack Bauer-free sequel to the famed post-9/11 terrorist killing show. Now, the original itself eventually went off the rails as it devolved from being a show about Americans killing evil foreigners to being about evil Americans being evil. And that evil usually took the form of some enormous and inexplicable conspiracy that somehow led to Kiefer Sutherland’s TV daughter being menaced by a mountain lion for some reason.

Like Law & Order, 24 succumbed to the Liberal Preferred Villain Error. In any L&E episode where you have a punk dressed like a gangbanger, you know the killer is actually going to be the suave businessman with the nice Mercedes. Always – just like in real life. And in 24, the evil radical Muslim psycho was always the unwitting catspaw for some shadowy cabal of American capitalists. It got to the point that you watched and muttered “Hey, that guy looks pro-American. He’s in on it.” And he always was – because in Hollywood, the real threat to America isn’t Islamic freaks trying to kill us but guys who seem patriotic….

http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/02/09/hollywood-chooses-sides-in-24-legacy-and-chooses-poorly-n2283160
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February 10, 2017 1:12pm
- Gabby
  
  Where in yankerland did you settle early, munter?
  
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  February 10, 2017 7:58pm
Fletch

This video was mentioned in a local magazine here recently. Am watching some of it again. It’s about the Clintons and starts off with Bill’s drug running and money laundering days in Arkansas. Larry Nichols is interviewed. He was working there, copied documents, and explains how the money laundering worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX8m_Q1mzHA

Truly eye-opening. You don’t hear too much about this stuff nowadays.
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February 10, 2017 1:26pm
- Fentex
  
  You don’t hear too much about this stuff nowadays.
  
  I wonder why, boy, were those Republicans silly for focusing on blow jobs and affairs when they could have absolutely killed him with drug running!
  
  Imagine how much more they could have crushed Hillary by with it in the news!
  
  How could they possibly, what reason could there be, for such ardent opponents to ignore such claims?
  
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  February 10, 2017 2:05pm
- stephieboy
  
  Fletch , you should try and stop linking to whacko conspiracy sites,
  
  From The Insomnia Team
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUHDN8BJTWQ
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:30pm
  - Fletch
    
    Have you actually watched the video? If even a part of it is true, it’s still staggering. And it was made in 1994 when this stuff was still fresh in everyone’s minds – the killing of those two boys on the railway tracks etc, to cover for the fact they’d seen a plane at a drug drop point. Apparently, everyone knew about this stuff back then but no one seems to have done anything about it.
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:35pm
    - cha
      
      Yeah, and back in ’94 everyone knew about you, your tennis racquet and that damn gibbon, Fletch, but no one seems to have done anything about it.
      
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      February 10, 2017 3:49pm
      - Fletch
        
        Shhh, i thought we agreed to keep that stuff between us 😉
        
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        February 10, 2017 3:54pm
      - cha
        
        I was the tennis racquet and it’ll be that damned gibbon that spills the beans.
        
        Oops, I said beans….
        
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        February 10, 2017 3:59pm
- Lucia Maria
  
  Is that the same local magazine that mentioned Paul Joseph Watson (of Info Wars)? What’s the name of this local magazine? It wasn’t Franklin eLocal by any chance?
  
  (I just looked up the post from several years ago where you posted an article from them on Maori being here first – that was the one I had to put a disclaimer on. Boy, was I indulgent eight years ago. I have learned.)
  
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  February 10, 2017 5:49pm
- Gabby
  
  Fake.
  
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  February 10, 2017 7:58pm
Manolo

Do-gooderism knows no bounds:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/calle-houston/article/Sylvester-Turner-on-Houston-and-the-attack-on-10918281.php?t=b679052047438d9cbb
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February 10, 2017 2:34pm
- Lucia Maria
  
  “Do-gooderism” is part of Western tradition.
  
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  February 10, 2017 5:43pm
JasonJohns

Something has to give in the US. The traitor Robart’s suspension of Trump’s border control powers has been upheld by a panel of cuck judges. Do judges run the country or the man who represents the will of the people? Time for Trump to say enough is enough and suspend all the judges who have intervened in politics.
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February 10, 2017 2:48pm
- stephieboy
  
  JasonJohns , while Trump and his supporters are at it suspend the pesky Constitution and the Rule of law.
  
  Among other things Trump is demonstating his conspicuous lack of political experience and acumen.
  
  A rank amateur compared to his predeccsors .
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:34pm
- Gabby
  
  Cuck soccer, JizzyJocks.
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:01pm
Fletch

Paul Joseph Watson makes the case that conservatism is the new counter-culture.

“For teenagers and 20-somethings, all they’ve ever known is having dominant culture fed to them by the Left. So it comes down to this: you can’t be the dominant culture and the counter-culture. That’s why conservatism, or a particular brand of it, is becoming the new counter-culture”.

The Tsunami of positive messages I get from teenagers every single day telling me about how it was my videos that turned them from being a social justice warrior, a Black Lives Matter supporter, to becoming a Conservative is staggering. They’re sick to the back teeth of being forced to sit in classes about gender studies ….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avb8cwOgVQ8
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February 10, 2017 3:32pm
- stephieboy
  
  The deluded and paranoid Watson and his associate Alex Jones go mainstream with the alt right !
  
  Or were they always there with the Tea Party , WND etc ?
  
  Sheesh !
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:37pm
  - Fletch
    
    He is right though. The Left used to enjoy being the counter-culture, with Woodstock, free love, hippies, dropping out, rebelling against your parents, etc. Now all of that stuff is the dominant culture. It’s no longer rebellious to get a tattoo. And it’s the Left who are the new Puritans – being outraged and offended by what someone might say or do, creating safe spaces and trigger warnings.
    
    So yes, being conservative is the new punk rock – the new counter-culture.
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:45pm
    - Gabby
      
      What a fucking rotter.
      
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      February 10, 2017 8:06pm
- Lucia Maria
  
  Fletch, how did you hear about the video?
  
  Paul Joseph Watson is a regular at a number of the Russian disinformation sites – InfoWars, Russian Insider, Zero Hedge and Alex Jones, Prison Planet.
  
  And that video is currently being promoted on InfoWars and Prison Planet.
  
  Have you jumped over to Reid and EAD’s side of things but are keeping it quiet?
  
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  February 10, 2017 3:43pm
  - Fletch
    
    I think I’d seen it before, but it was mentioned in an article in a magazine my folks were reading. I like to think that I can spot conspiracy videos now, and this one just seems to be more informative. It mentions the names of people involved, shows financial documents, actual newspaper headlines, interviews people that were there (Larry Nichols, Sharline Wilson – who worked with the Clintons handing cocaine out at parties etc) and investigators.
    
    I don’t like Infowars or Alex Jones and Prison Planet. I like to keep as central as possible, but this video smells authentic to my radar. Was made before the advent of the internet by an actual film company.
    
    ps, better quality 4 part version here on the youtube site of the film company that made it –
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHB6eyWqES8
    
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    February 10, 2017 3:51pm
    - Lucia Maria
      
      And Paul Joseph Watson being Editor at large at Info Wars doesn’t set your radar off in the slightest???
      
      Also, you’re just going further down the rabbit hole by following his leads, to the point where everything will look plausible and you won’t know truth from lie anymore.
      
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      February 10, 2017 4:07pm
      - Fletch
        
        I’ve seen a lot of Watson’s videos and agree with a large part of what he says. Very entertaining. He is not like Alex Jones. Most of his videos involve examining current events (like protests, the so-called Muslim Ban or the current culture, etc) and he compares what the left say with what they actually do.
        
        https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCittVh8imKanO_5KohzDbpg
        
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        February 10, 2017 4:12pm
      - Lucia Maria
        
        Fletch,
        
        …and he compares what the left say with what they actually do.
        
        And here I am comparing what you say to what you do. You don’t like Info Wars, but you do like one of the editors of Info Wars who has helped make Info Wars what it is. By promoting this video, you help promote Info Wars and help promote what they promote, a big part of which is disinformation. The two positions cannot be reconciled.
        
        It may be that a lot of what they say you agree with. They wouldn’t be any good at what they do if this wasn’t the case. However, engagement of the grey matter is crucial. This is not conservatism as such that is being promoted. That is just the hook to reel you in.
        
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        February 10, 2017 5:40pm
rangitoto

‘Some of Syrian refugees in the West are ‘DEFINITELY’ terrorists, President Assad claims’

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/765505/President-Assad-some-Syria-refugees-West-EU-definitely-terrorists-Trump-travel-ban

Not that it wasn’t already well known.
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February 10, 2017 4:20pm
- fernglas
  
  One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Assad’s regime designates everyone who opposes him as a terrorist, so by that definition, there are inevitably many of them amongst the refugees. There are in fact several sitting with me having a Friday wine at this very moment.
  
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  February 10, 2017 4:41pm
  - rangitoto
    
    You are drinking wine with Daesh and Al Qaeda supporters? Interesting, they are usually teetotallers.
    
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    February 10, 2017 5:20pm
    - fernglas
      
      Are they Assad’s only opponents? Gosh.
      
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      February 10, 2017 5:44pm
      - AgentBallSack
        
        You have the Obamas over for canapes and wine?
        
        I am impressed.
        
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        February 10, 2017 8:03pm
Jack5

Dame Devoid’s campaigning again about the need for speech police. This time while she’s on a visit down south.

She tries to distinguish “hate speech” from “free speech”, but that’s what tyrants do. Devoid’s a totalitarian but doesn’t know it.

In singling out Muslims and Jews, Devoid would in effect make it illegal, for example, to criticise ISIL and Israel foreign policy. I bet she’d reckon Trumpists were fair game for anything people wanted to call them.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/89278160/dame-susan-devoy-preaches-free-speech-not-hate-speech-on-race-relations
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February 10, 2017 5:01pm
- starboard
  
  Devoid just happened to be in Queenstown to blow her hot air. Sure, paid for by us no doubt. I bet her family are with her. Holiday paradise. Throw in 5 minutes of race waffle then fuck off back to the Sofitel for cocktail hour and canapes. All on the taxpayer. Fuck you Devoid and all you stand for.
  
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  February 10, 2017 5:43pm
wreck1080

“Bike Barn fined $800k over ‘misleading’ ads”

I would never buy from them, their sales techniques are quite well publicized
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February 10, 2017 5:36pm
Harriet

Trump did get a lot of unfit and fat women out walking so that’s a good thing. 😎
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February 10, 2017 6:39pm
- Lucia Maria
  
  Now he just has to do something for the men! Maybe, get out and about in your bathrobe to show that bathrobes are cool? 😛
  
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  February 10, 2017 6:55pm
  - nasska
    
    The bathrobes will have to wait Lucia Maria. We’re still waiting for you to show Johnboy your thigh length leather boots.
    
    The poor old sod has never been the same since you teased him. 🙂
    
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    February 10, 2017 7:03pm
    - Lucia Maria
      
      Nasska,
      
      You know, the length of the boots grew with every retelling of the comments I made. Obviously they had to stop at the thighs, otherwise, they’d be metres over my head by now.
      
      I was actually trying to scare him off (I’m a female geek, I get things like this wrong sometimes). Boy, did that backfire!
      
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      February 10, 2017 7:10pm
      - nasska
        
        You weren’t to know that he has a fetish for dominant women Lucia Maria. 🙂
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:13pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Is it true that Johnboy has named two of his favourite sheep ‘Lucia’ and ‘Maria’?
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:20pm
      - Lucia Maria
        
        That’s right, Nasska. I thought he was into sheep!
        
        Mike, surely not!!
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:29pm
      - stigie
        
        Can’t go past Flossie Milky…. his go to ewe !~
        
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        February 10, 2017 7:53pm
Lucia Maria

Well, looks like this is all too much for Harriet.

I’m also disappointed that Manolo hasn’t come back to defend his position on “the hack” being offended over being accused of fake news.

Fletch too, has had enough,.

Oh well, I suppose it’s Friday night…
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February 10, 2017 7:47pm
nasska

How’s our friend Lewis stigie? Still giving Farmers free live in security? 🙂
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February 10, 2017 7:59pm
- stigie
  
  He looked happy enough the other day Nasska dressed up in his robe complete with wizard hat with all his shit cluttering the footpath.
  I still think he would be happier up in Eke with the likes of you retiring this year and seeing to his needs ole chap..?
  
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  February 10, 2017 8:54pm
Manolo

They keep coming in while the gates are open:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/9/refugees-entering-us-doubled-rate-ruling-trump-tra/

The State Department has more than doubled the rate of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other suspect countries in the week since a federal judge’s reprieve, in what analysts said appears to be a push to admit as many people as possible before another court puts the program back on ice.
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February 10, 2017 8:44pm
nasska

I went on one of those open mosque visits the other day…..the ones they use to try to show the Muslim faith to Westerners. Just inside there was a headbanger boasting that he had the whole of the Koran on a DVD.

The misunderstanding occurred when I asked him to burn me a copy.
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February 10, 2017 9:18pm
Manolo

The crazy mullahs have trained the population well:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hundreds-thousands-rally-iran-against-trump-chant-death-081038000.html
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February 11, 2017 6:33am
Manolo

The Swiss got it right:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-muslim-poster-clouds-swiss-citizenship-vote-100959897.html

The woman’s shadowed eyes stare out from a black niqab with the poster’s tagline urging Swiss voters to reject “uncontrolled naturalisation.”

But critics of the campaign image distributed across the country ahead of Sunday’s referendum say the poster is really just a brazen appeal to those worried about more Muslims becoming Swiss.
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February 11, 2017 6:36am
Manolo

Unionists and thugs unite:
Black Lives Matter protesters blocked Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from entering a Washington, D.C. public school Friday.

According to WJLA, DeVos attempted to enter the Jefferson Academy but Black Lives Matter protesters, organized by the Washington Teacher’s Union blocked the entry way while heckling her, she turned around and returned to her car.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/10/black-lives-matter-protesters-block-education-sec-devos-from-entering-d-c-public-school-video/
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February 11, 2017 6:53am

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