General Debate 17 April 2017

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fernglas

Turkey’s reforms seem to have passed with a slim majority, just like Brexit and Trump’s presidency. Why do humans split almost equally on every major issue where there is a yes/no choice?
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April 17, 2017 8:06am
- cmm
  
  Survival of the fittest of the choices.
  
  Choices that only attract 10% don’t get to see the light of day.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:15am
- All_on_Red
  
  I was going to say Turkeys vote for Christmas but given they’ve all just voted for a Muslim Dictatorship I guess that doesn’t work!
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:50am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Erdogan isn’t a Muslim dictator. He’s a dictator who has manipulated Muslim majority sub-populations to subvert Turkey’s democracy.
    
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    April 17, 2017 5:15pm
nasska

That’s the Easter religious rites over for another year. What will the Godaddled do for excitement between now & Xmas? 🙂
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April 17, 2017 8:07am
- Souvlaki
  
  ….still got to negotiate Ramadan & Eid al Fitr …?
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:12am
  - artemisia
    
    Friend recently spent a year in Jordan with MSF. Noted that all local staff took full advantage of short working hours for Ramadan, even though they were not practising Muslims. Or even Muslim at all.
    
    And that was by no means the worst of advantage taking (and corruption) among local staff. Definitely entitlement attitude, it is OK to rip off a global charity.
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:00am
- Nukuleka
  
  The ‘Goddadled’ will continue to live lives full of optimism and joy in the sure knowledge that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the remission of man’s sins, and try hard not to be the bitter and cynical sorts of people who scoff so readily at the beliefs or non-beliefs of others.
  
  ‘A new commandment I give you: love one another.’
  
  Try it, nasska, even for just a day, and see if it transforms your life.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:25am
  - nasska
    
    …..”Try it, nasska, even for just a day, and see if it transforms your life”…..
    
    I was going to & then I remembered that I had today scheduled for plucking my nose hair.
    
    Some other time maybe. 🙂
    
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    April 17, 2017 8:30am
    - GoVege
      
      Jesus, you got a lot of flak for that one nasska!
      Considering all the Christians I know who who have been seriously depressed over this enforced religious break, I don’t know what they’re so bitchy about.
      They got what they seem to want…the whole place closed down for days in the name of compulsory Christianity.
      Thank God it’s over for another year!!
      
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      April 17, 2017 1:39pm
      - BeeSting
        
        If you don’t like Living in a Christian Country
        There are plenty of Islamic Countries
        that will take you
        
        AFTER you Convert
        
        Do read stephie s detail on FGM
        before you decide to Convert
        
        Bit more painful than removing nasal hair
        
        But I don’t think they give you a choice
        
        Christians believe in Free Will and the Right To choose and “Get it Wrong”
        
        There are also Communist Countries
        without Christianity that you would not doubt be much Happier in
        
        I think you should give it a go and leave NZ
        
        They have not developed a retrospective
        Abortion Pill but that is coming
        
        IF THAT is YOUR THING
        
        That will give SO MANY HERE
        
        The opportunity
        
        TO PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
        
        AND YOU PREACH AND PREACH AND PREACH
        AND PREACH
        
        it all begins to sound like this
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM0Cx4q4QPQ
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:21pm
  - Swifty
    
    Spare us.
    
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    April 17, 2017 8:54am
- mandk
  
  Don’t worry about us, nasska.
  We’ll be busy praying for you 🙂
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:37am
  - SGA
    
    For nasska? That seems a terrible waste of your resources 🙂
    
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    April 17, 2017 8:41am
    - GazzaW
      
      And what are you doing next up for a bit of excitement nasska? Something profound like Matariki? Or maybe you’ll be content with taking the piss out of others’ beliefs. And I say that as a non-practising Christian.
      
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      April 17, 2017 8:49am
      - Nostradamus
        
        GazzaW:
        
        Nasska is our roving reporter with a special interest in the election (mis)fortunes of the Conservative Party. The position became vacant when Deadrightkev flounced off in a huff just before Christmas.
        
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        April 17, 2017 8:54am
      - GazzaW
        
        On that basis he needs all the help he can get.
        
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        April 17, 2017 8:57am
    - mandk
      
      Not really.
      I’m working on the theory that, like strident anti-homosexuals who sometimes turn out to be gay, nasska might really be a closet Christian.
      I’ll pray for him to come out 🙂
      
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      April 17, 2017 8:54am
      - SGA
        
        Oh well, like they say, hope springs eternal.
        
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        April 17, 2017 8:57am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Na,
      just imagine nasska’s horror if he finds his soul ascending to heaven because some folks on KB were praying for him.
      
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      April 17, 2017 9:27am
      - SGA
        
        Transcended only by the consternation of those who realised how unnecessary much of what they’d done had been to make the same trip.
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:39am
      - stigie
        
        Did you know i have pixie’s way down back in my garden..?
        I need something to believe in folks !~
        
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        April 17, 2017 10:16am
- mikenmild
  
  I heard a particularly addled member of the faith on the wireless yesterday. Claimed that before Christianity there were no concepts of generosity, mercy or kindness in the ancient world. Also claimed to be a theologian!
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:05am
  - Swifty
    
    It’s amazing what delusions some of them harbour MM.
    
    Sad really.
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:24am
  - Longknives
    
    They are addled aren’t they Mikenmild?
    They also believe that if you slaughter innocent children from other religions you get 72 Virgins! How crazy is that? No wait…That’s the other bunch isn’t it? The ones you won’t hear a bad word about..
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:36am
    - mikenmild
      
      They’re all addled, Longknives. We just don’t get Muslims, Buddhists or Hindu annoying the rational here on Kiwiblog with their fairy tales.
      
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      April 17, 2017 9:40am
      - MrTips
        
        Lol. That’s probably because they see the atheists and left wing radicals on here and think “insane beyond hope” and choose to converse with the rational Christians elsewhere.
        
        Seriously, atheism and communism are fucking pathetic ideologies that deserve all the mocking and scorn they get. Fedora lovers, all of em.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:40am
      - Kimbo
        
        3…2…1
        
        ATHEISM ISN’T AN IDEOLOGY!!!!! 😉
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:56am
      - SGA
        
        Is atheism systematic enough to be called an ideology, Kimbo? For example, is not believing in reincarnation (or a spirit realm, or astrology) also an ideology? Honest question.
        
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        April 17, 2017 12:22pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Joking aside, no I don’t think atheism as such, the belief that God does not, or is unlikely (justified adverb!) to exist is an ideology.
        
        But some of the ways it is argued by some of its proponents, and their demand for “proof” for the existence of God…is ideological. For example, on GD two days ago nasska was demanding “proof” of the “supernatural” via natural (i.e.scientific through the five senses) means. From the perspective of good research, that is “incongruous” (subject for study doesn’t correspond to methodology or methods). He also issuing a blanket denial of the “metaphysical”.
        
        …..”Do you think there is such a thing as a non-material/meta-physical realm?”….
        
        No.
        (April 15, 2017 7:13pm)
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/04/general_debate_15_april_2017.html
        
        What, including logic, calculus, algrebra…?
        
        One is also forced to presume that nasska is a material determinist…yet he is also fiercely anti-Marxist and/or left wing. OK, so what is volition? Nothing more than a chemical response corresponding to external stimuli as the Marxists imply? How then can we have ‘accountability”…yet nasska seems to think we do.
        
        So many loose ends that are not explained in the (it looks like) logical positivist ideology he has uncritically imbibed and assumes is obvious and self-evident when…it ain’t necessarily so, or at least it does not explain all phenomena and our understanding and interaction with it. And nasska’s refusal to clarify, negotiate or even engage in an examination of his own world-view and its assumptions, while also issuing demands that other’s should “prove” the existence of God on the basis of his (unexamined) epistemology are the actions of…an ideologue.
        
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        April 17, 2017 12:42pm
      - Kimbo
        
        However, I do not think it is ideological to oppose the encroachment of religion into the secular realm wheer it does not belong, e.g., sharia imposed on those who don’t want it, or, say, the Book of Genesis being taught as science in a reputable curriculum. But then you don’t have to be an atheist to oppose those things.
        
        But on the other hand, while there should be a healthy separation between church and state, that does not mean religious people don’t and shouldn’t have the right to engage with the state, or shape public policy. But that should occur via the “market place of ideas”.
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:00pm
  - Fletch
    
    Claimed that before Christianity there were no concepts of generosity, mercy or kindness in the ancient world.
    
    Actually, it’s pretty much true. People didn’t do things for others unless they had something to gain from it themselves.
    
    Just as important as the sheer volume of Catholic charity was the qualitative difference that separated the Church’s charity from what had preceded it. It would be foolish to deny that some noble sentiments were voiced by the great ancient philosophers when it came to philanthropy, or that men of wealth made impressive and substantial voluntary contributions to their communities. munities.
    
    The wealthy were expected to finance baths, public buildings, and all manner of public entertainment. Pliny the Younger, for example, was far from alone in endowing his hometown town with a school and a library. Yet for all the benefactions thus offered, the spirit of giving in the ancient world was in a certain sense deficient when set against that of the Church. Most ancient giving was self-interested rather than purely gratuitous. The buildings financed by the wealthy prominently displayed their names. Donors gave what they did either to put the recipients in their debt or to call attention to themselves and their great liberality.
    
    That those in need were to be served with a cheerful heart and provided for without thought of reward or reciprocity was certainly not the governing principle. Stoicism, an ancient school of thought dating back to around 300 B.C. and still alive and well in the early centuries of the Christian era, is sometimes cited as a pre-Christian line of thought that recommended doing good to one’s fellow man without out expecting anything in return.
    
    To be sure, the Stoics did teach that the good man was a citizen of the world who enjoyed a spirit of fraternity with all men, and for that reason they may appear to have been messengers of charity, but they also taught the suppression pression of feeling and emotion as things unbecoming of a man. Man should be utterly unperturbed by outside events, even of the most tragic kind. He must possess a self-mastery so strong as to be able to face the worst catastrophe in a spirit of absolute indifference. ference. That was also the spirit in which the wise man should assist the less fortunate: not one of sharing the grief and sorrow of those he helps or of making an emotional connection with them, but in the disinterested and emotionless spirit of one who is simply discharging his duty.
    
    Rodney Stark describes classical philosophy ophy as having “regarded mercy and pity as pathological emotions-defects of character to be avoided by all rational men. Since mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it was contrary to justice.”3 Thus the Roman philosopher Seneca could write:
    
    The sage will console those who weep, but without weeping with them; he will succor the shipwrecked, give hospitality to the proscribed, and alms to the poor… restore the son to the mother’s tears, save the captive from the arena, and even bury the criminal; but in all his mind and his countenance will be alike untroubled. He will feel no pity. He will succor, he will do good, for he is born to assist his fellows, to labor for the welfare of mankind, and to offer each one his part…. His countenance and his soul will betray no emotion as he looks upon the withered ered legs, the tattered rags, the bent and emaciated frame of the beggar. But he will help those who are worthy, and, like the gods, his leaning will be towards the wretched…. It is only diseased eyes that grow moist in beholding tears in other eyes.’
    
    According to W. E. H. Lecky, frequently a harsh critic of the Church, there can be “no question that neither in practice nor in theory, neither in the institutions that were founded nor in the place that was assigned to it in the scale of duties, did charity in antiquity occupy a position at all comparable to that which it has obtained by Christianity. Nearly all relief was a State measure, ure, dictated much more by policy than by benevolence, and the habit of selling young children, the innumerable expositions, the readiness of the poor to enroll themselves as gladiators, and the frequent famines, show how large was the measure of unrelieved distress.”‘
    
    Thomas E. Woods. How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (Kindle Locations 1683-1687). Kindle Edition.
    
    Read more – https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=MzhcAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA171#v=onepage&q&f=false
    
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    April 17, 2017 11:56am
    - SGA
      
      Fletch
      
      Claimed that before Christianity there were no concepts of generosity, mercy or kindness in the ancient world.
      
      Actually, it’s pretty much true. People didn’t do things for others unless they had something to gain from it themselves.
      
      On the other hand, Confucious says…
      “To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue…[They are] gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.”
      
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      April 17, 2017 12:06pm
      - GoVege
        
        And I’ll bet he was a vegetarian too!
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:44pm
      - SGA
        
        Well… nobody is perfect 🙂
        
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        April 17, 2017 2:07pm
      - Fletch
        
        But Buddism was not part of the ancient world we are talking about.
        
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        April 17, 2017 2:43pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Buddhism arose 2500 years ago, how is that not ancient?
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:11pm
      - Fletch
        
        I’m talking about the ancient middle east and Europe. I don’t remember the Romans ever talking about it.
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:31pm
      - SGA
        
        Fletch
        
        But Buddism was not part of the ancient world we are talking about.
        
        I don’t see that restriction in MM’s comment – just mention of the ancient world.
        I am not knocking Christianity, but I do find the idea (that crops up here from time to time) that concepts such as kindness and reciprocity have existed only in the Christian world a bit tiresome (and conceited, to be honest).
        Perhaps you could look at the teachings of other cultures a little more yourself (btw, Confucius and Gautama Buddha are separate, roughly contemporaneous, figures).
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:40pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Buddhism was known through the middle east BC, through travellers and books and a Buddhist enclave in Alexandria where a lot of early Christians lived (although theologians hate anything that makes their religions appear less divinely inspired, a lot of Christian mythos ala Resurrection, Virgin birth etc has obvious connection to earlier religious mythology like Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Isis etc).
        
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        April 17, 2017 5:46pm
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Fletch,
      Downticked purely on length. This is a blogsite, not an essay-writing competition.
      
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      April 17, 2017 4:11pm
- Keeping Stock
  
  If you like nasska, I’ll keep praying that the scales fall from your eyes. And like Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of Christians, you will have an epiphany of similar proportions. If it happened to me, there’s no reason why it can’t happen to you 😀
  
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  April 17, 2017 11:50am
  - Swifty
    
    We hope the same for you KS.
    
    🙂
    
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    April 17, 2017 1:57pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Good on you KS!
    
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    April 17, 2017 5:19pm
Monique Watson

Keeping you all informed:
http://www.enlightenedhousewife.com/2017/04/nuclear-attack-on-north-korea-narrowly-averted-by-china/
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April 17, 2017 8:10am
Monique Watson

BTW. That missile NK launched and exploded after takeoff. Act of self detonation by NK after they were leaned on by China. US making noises about how aggressive an act it is but just bluster.

Bring on the French elections.
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April 17, 2017 8:15am
- GazzaW
  
  China will never allow North Korea to launch a nuclear strike on the USA. They have way too much investment in mainland America and they also want their US$30 trillion (and counting) back at some stage.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:36am
  - mikenmild
    
    NK does not have the capability to strike the USA.
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:07am
    - mikenmild
      
      Downticking statements of fact seems to becoming more prevalent.
      
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      April 17, 2017 9:14am
      - Biscuit
        
        It weren’t me that downticked you there, mikenmild!
        
        Honest!
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:22am
      - mikenmild
        
        It’s not that I care, obviously, but sometimes it is a little puzzling.
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:24am
      - Notsofast
        
        It is always puzzling and demeaning to the board and its owner.
        However it does serve to illuminate the means by which misinformation is being spread on the internet, and why the term false facts is current.
        Far more helpful would be a response with information, such as it is almost certainly a matter of time before they can hit the states.
        I don’t know if this is true, but it seems probable to certain to me.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:23am
      - GoVege
        
        Not yet they do, milky.
        (But it ain’t me downticking you…you must have upset some KB’ers yonks ago.)
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:30pm
      - GoVege
        
        You do care, milky, admit it.
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:31pm
    - Ross12
      
      MM you forgot to add the word “yet” at the end of your correct statement about NK’s capability. All the military “experts” think they will have that ability in 12-18 months, hence the major worries now.
      
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      April 17, 2017 9:28am
      - mikenmild
        
        Source please.
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:34am
      - Ross12
        
        MM
        I was not criticising you. I said your statement was correct.
        I saw a couple of military guys/analysts discussing it on the box last night.
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:57am
      - mikenmild
        
        That’s cool. I just can’t find such a prediction anywhere. And that’s even discounting what the US can do (cyberwarfare, etc) to disrupt the programme.
        
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        April 17, 2017 9:59am
      - calendar girl
        
        Here’s a BBC item of several days ago analysing the North Koreans’ progress and prospects with their inter-continental missile programme.
        
        Ross12’s warning (i.e. “yet”) is probably a fair summation, time-frame still unknown.
        
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        April 17, 2017 12:17pm
    - starboard
      
      Sorry mm, I upticked u by mistake.
      
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      April 17, 2017 1:36pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      The real threat is from NK subs, small electric subs are extremely difficult to track and can travel internationally (used by drug traffikers). NK has used kamikaze torpedo/subs in past.
      
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      April 17, 2017 3:14pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        But they do have a habit of getting caught in fishing nets
        http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/27/news/9-north-koreans-dead-in-submarine.html
        or running aground
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Gangneung_submarine_infiltration_incident
        or just sinking
        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-13/north-korean-submarine-goes-missing-reports/7242340
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:43pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    D’ya reckon China will get it’s $60billion back from Venezuela?
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/opinion/exit-the-dragon-why-china-should-stop-supporting-venezuela.html
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:31am
    - GazzaW
      
      I’m not sure that they’re overly worried Maggy. It’s giving China a foothold in South America for virtually petty cash just as they have already in Africa with the financial colonisation of Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and next up South Africa. Not that it concerns me, anything is an improvement on the current lot of the populace.
      
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      April 17, 2017 9:43am
  - Dave Mann
    
    Yes Gazza, that’s a very good point. I hadn’t thought of it quite like that, but I think you might be on the mark with your comment.
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:48am
- KevinH
  
  The Americans have told the Chinese no worries we can handle it, they have the Navy parked off shore ready to move at a moment’s notice.
  No missile will make it off the ground if it is a nuke, it will be blasted to bits with a real nuke.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:50am
cmm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/91452998/former-prisoner-simon-kerr-reinvents-himself-as-an-artist

We start with a bloke who is deluded and feels entitled to take others stuff.

We send him away to prison where he learns “art” and becomes an “artist”.

This is not a rehabilitated person. All he has done is find a different way to channel his delusions and entitlement.

And, Peter Jackson, he has also written a screenplay for a movie featuring himself. Snap it up before some other studio gets in first!

Mate, that’s not art. It is shit.

But you, like many “starving artists” will no doubt claim that your art is misunderstood and that is a defect in the observers not the art.
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April 17, 2017 8:24am
- stephieboy
  
  cmm, are not former crims allowed to make attempts and rehabilitate themselves ? Surely a life of burglary and stealing ATM machines replaced instead by painting has to be a good thing ?
  
  “By their fruits ye shall know them” as the good book tells us
  
  His artwork will stand or fall on its merits with some help from the market place.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:39am
  - cmm
    
    Let’s stop pretending this is rehabilitation.
    
    A truly rehabilitated person would realise they owe a great debt to society and would be working damn hard at being productive and not just indulging their narcissism.
    
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    April 17, 2017 10:12am
    - mikenmild
      
      There is no way being an artist can be considered productive…
      
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      April 17, 2017 10:25am
      - cmm
        
        This is shit. Not art.
        
        An artist can be productive, but then you actually have to be damn good – to the extent that most people in society appreciate it, not just a few poser art critics trying to be edgy.
        
        You just have to read the interview quotes to see he is not rehabilitated. He just blames others for being criminal and blames corrections for being mean to him.
        
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        April 17, 2017 10:57am
      - mikenmild
        
        How is it not art? Do you have a ready definition of ‘good art’? It is a notoriously subjective area. For example, everyone can agree that Colin Craig’s poetry or John Stringer’s cartoons do not qualify a good art, to the extent that they are even art as well.
        But at some point, one’s feeling that a piece of art is ‘not good’ will conflict with another’s opinion that is radically different.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:15am
      - Kimbo
        
        The New Zealand artist, Toss Woollaston allegedly wanted to decline a knighthood when it was offered to him. However, when it was explained, “you don’t understand, Toss. They are determined to give a gong to a New Zealand painter this year, and if not you, then it will be Colin McCahon”. “I’ll take it!” was Woollaston’s immediate reply.
        
        Nonetheless, your implication is right, mikenmild. Like it or not, Kerr’s efforts qualify as “art”. Whether it is good art? I’m not qualified to say other than we are talking about it, and one of the functions of art is to stimulate debate. Or maybe it is more the artist we are talking about, which, like “artists” such as Katy Perry or Taylor Swift, is not the same thing…
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:22am
      - cmm
        
        It is true that there is no objective measure for art. It isn’t like engineering or science where something can be tested by reality.
        
        If the art is only for his own benefit then he can do whatever he likes and call it art.
        
        One can look at skills and use those as a semi-objective measure – no skills here. Most 10 year olds could produce better skill levels.
        
        If, as he claims, he is giving back to society then society gets to say whether it it good art or not.
        
        Except for a few poser art critics I’m sure the majority of people would peg this as shit.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:23am
      - Kimbo
        
        @ cmm
        
        Using the “most 10 year olds could produce better skill levels” test, is this “art”?:
        
        https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/79/91479-004-B545078C.jpg
        
        And isn’t one of the tests of art…do others want to pay for it? Not necessarily “good” art, but at least “popular/desired by some/a few/anyone else”?
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:31am
      - Stars And Stripes
        
        I remember a few years back there was a guy up in court in NZ for taking nude pictures of kids and he claimed it was “art”.
        Judge did not see any artistic merit in it however and sent him to the can but probably the guy at a minimum deserved a sentence reduction because at least he didn’t apply for public funding for his creativity?.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:43am
      - cmm
        
        Kimbo: “And isn’t one of the tests of art…do others want to pay for it? ”
        
        Sure, if they are prepared to pay with it with their own money.
        
        However much of this crap art is bought for public galleries using tax/ratepayer money.
        
        Meanwhile, while this bloke pretends to himself that he’s an artist, we’re paying him dole to have his little hobby.
        
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        April 17, 2017 11:44am
      - mikenmild
        
        Historically, most art has been funded by the state or other wealthy patrons.
        
        5 6
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        April 17, 2017 12:43pm
      - cmm
        
        The state is not a wealthy patron.
        
        9 4
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        April 17, 2017 1:10pm
      - GoVege
        
        I read an interview with Picasso once where he said he didn’t know if he was an artist or not.
        Apparently millions of people disagreed.
        Van Gogh only managed to sell one painting.
        His kind brother Theo bought it secretly to try and encourage him not to give up.
        He still killed himself, like quite a few artists.
        What a pity there are so many critics out there.
        
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        April 17, 2017 2:34pm
      - Steve (North Shore)
        
        Well Mike, how about that silly bitch in New York selling ‘virtual art’? You could not buy this art – she had to install it for you.
        That was productive – for her bank account – and people had her art installed – true man
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:48pm
    - GoVege
      
      I know worse thieves and narcissists than this swanning around in our plutey suburbs.
      The only difference is their methods.
      Tax evasion and bullying frail old octogenarians to sign off their will the way you want it are much easier ways to steal a fortune.
      
      4 4
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      April 17, 2017 2:17pm
  - cmm
    
    “By their fruits ye shall know them”
    
    I think we can see his fruits. This bloke has a mile long rap sheet.
    
    It’s going to take more than a few swishes of paint to counterbalance that.
    
    5 1
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    April 17, 2017 1:28pm
- mikenmild
  
  I saw him on telly the other night with his series of paintings documenting the Paremoremo prison escape. It looked interesting, and I would go and see it.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:43am
  - cmm
    
    Please give him a hug for me.
    
    17 3
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    April 17, 2017 10:10am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    So would I, and the ‘dole’ if it suffices to keep the family fed and supplemented by his ‘art’ works, is far cheaper than keeping him in prison.
    It just goes to show that we can all have an epiphany, I say good luck to him and more men should want to stay out for their children.
    The fact that he was a bit notorious and stood up for prisoners rights probably makes him a good candidate for ‘folk hero’.
    
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    April 17, 2017 12:33pm
    - cmm
      
      This bloke has been ripping off society pretty much his whole life.
      
      Now he will continue to be a parasite on society while he lives out his delusions of being an artist.
      
      I would have far more respect if this bloke did something useful for society. If he picked up rubbish on the beach he’d get my thumbs up. Nope, it’s still all about him and what he wants.
      
      7 2
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      April 17, 2017 1:33pm
      - GoVege
        
        No hope of redemption, cmm?
        Where’s your Christian compassion….gone with the easter eggs?
        
        2 6
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        April 17, 2017 2:23pm
      - cmm
        
        Govege
        
        There is always hope of redemption, but it does not come through just writing a movie script about yourself and taking up painting.
        
        If you want to talk about the Christian route then consider how redemption was obtained in the Old Days.
        
        You might, for instance go on a pilgrimage walk from England to Spain. Walking a few hundred miles begging alms along the way. If you were truly repentant you might wear a hair shirt (always scratchy, designed to continue reminding you of your sins).
        
        In a more modern secular setting you might consider that you’ve wronged society badly and need to put things right by doing things for society. Maybe voluntarily cleaning up litter would be a good thing to do.
        
        Just painting and sucking up the dole is hardly making amends.
        
        2 1
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        April 17, 2017 4:23pm
  - starboard
    
    He’s only 2 cells along from you mm, you wouldnt even need to change out of your slippers.
    
    8 1
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    April 17, 2017 2:40pm
- Fletch
  
  Paul Joseph Watson on why modern art is absolute sh*t –
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRWJcrRO0GM
  
  10 5
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  April 17, 2017 12:03pm
  - Don the Kiwi
    
    A couple of poor deluded souls think Watson is wrong.
    Ding-a-lings.
    
    7 4
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    April 17, 2017 1:31pm
Paulus Gnome

Off to the supermarket me to see what is in the easter egg $1.00 bin! 🙂
20 1
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April 17, 2017 8:24am
- Nostradamus
  
  Paulus Gnome:
  
  Watch out – people will do all sorts of tricky stuff to offload their copy of Nicky Hager’s Hit and Run. $1 seems about market value – give or take a dollar or so due to rounding error!
  
  26 1
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  April 17, 2017 8:32am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I may be fooled especially if they wrap it in colourful super thin foil, write the word easter on it and mention chocolate somewhere!
    
    14 1
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    April 17, 2017 8:40am
  - artemisia
    
    Might be right. It was top of Unity Books Welly list until last week. Fell right off the bottom.
    
    15 0
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    April 17, 2017 9:04am
    - mikenmild
      
      Sold out.
      
      1 21
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      April 17, 2017 9:08am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        What is his mother going to do with those 2,000 copies when the space under the stairs is already full and the garage cannot be opened for all the other ‘best selling’ novella’s?
        
        23 1
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        April 17, 2017 9:23am
      - jonar
        
        Mm, did you buy copies for all the kiwibloggers?
        
        6 2
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        April 17, 2017 9:27am
      - G152
        
        Him and his book
        
        4 0
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        April 17, 2017 9:52am
      - GazzaW
        
        $15 on Trade Me and no bids.
        
        10 0
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        April 17, 2017 9:53am
    - mikenmild
      
      I see now that it is still on the Auckland Unitry top 10 list. Must take those up north a bit longer to catch on. The target market in Wellington probably all have copies by now.
      
      2 8
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      April 17, 2017 9:57am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Both of them
        
        9 1
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        April 17, 2017 10:31am
      - mikenmild
        
        While I’m sure you would like that to be true, the book’s appearance on the best seller lists make that a little bit unlikely. My guess would be that it has sold around 12,000 copies. Any non-fiction title in NZ that sells about 5,000 copies has done pretty well.
        
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        April 17, 2017 10:37am
      - GazzaW
        
        On what basis do you classify the book as non-fiction MM? It belongs in the fiction section.
        
        13 1
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        April 17, 2017 11:42am
- Biscuit
  
  What an ingenious plan, Paulus!
  
  We do the same thing with our littlies at Christmas.
  
  Who cares if the presents get bought before Christmas Day or not?
  
  We give our lot cold hard cash on the day – when all the stores are shut, natch – and their purchasing power increases dramatically overnight.
  
  Boxing Day is also the only day of the year I buy shoes.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:25am
GazzaW

I heard on Prime News last night that the Herald has been forced to put away the begging bowl for the alleged Mexican drug smuggler on Give a Little. How f*****g stupid could the Herald have been to put it up in the first place and how naive were the few individuals that donated.

I was amazed that he’s obviously out on bail and working and astounded that he’s entitled to legal aid. This bloke should be remanded in custody and if found guilty given a life sentence with a hefty minimum period and then deported. NZ needs to become a most unattractive destination for drug smugglers. Instead he’ll get eight years, serve three years and go through a lengthy appeal process against deportation and we’ll be stuck with him for life. The Indonesians have got it right but of course the SJWs will never allow the reintroduction of capital punishment for drug offences.
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April 17, 2017 8:30am
- Happychappy
  
  GazzaW
  I don’t want to see criminals using give a little to fight the Law but can you tell what the difference is when Hagar gets $70000.00 to pay his Legal bill when he received stolen data and profited from it. Why should there be a Law for Hagar and not for others.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:07am
- Biscuit
  
  GazzaW, anything that wants my money would do VERY well to NOT include the word ‘Little’ in its spiel!
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:27am
oldpark

Then there is the rugby player ,standing up for what his Mullah master believes in,starting with allegedly young 6-8 year old girls, being forced to submit to female genital mutilation.
24 9
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April 17, 2017 8:34am
- SGA
  
  You really, really, really* hate this guy, don’t you. Have you been betting a lot of money on the Blues? You’ve only yourself to blame for that, you know.
  
  *deliberate excessive use of adverb for literary effect.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:45am
  - Kimbo
    
    And deliberate/hyperbolic over-use of adverbs is not a breach of Kimbo’s law*.
    
    And anyone who has bet on the Blues since 2004 gets what they deserve. The problem: Not enough Ponsonby players. And the perennial Auckland cultural belief that having the “best players” wins a comp. Nope. it is team culture.
    
    * “in blogworld the validity of an argument is in inverse proportion to the excessive and unnecessary use of adverbs”
    
    3 5
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    April 17, 2017 10:42am
    - calendar girl
      
      Is your use of the words “excessive and unnecessary” in this context an example of tautology?
      
      Are you about to launch a “Kimbo’s law #2”?
      
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      April 17, 2017 12:29pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No. An adverb can be unnecessary, but one, buy definition is not excessive. Throw in another, and maybe more…and you have excess.
        
        And no, there is no “Kimbo’s law #2”. Astroturfing one meme ~~at every possible inappropriate moment~~ is difficult enough, and a “Mk II” would dissipate from the effect of “Kimbo’s law”. Nonetheless I thank you for your engagement and name-dropping. You will be blessed.
        
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        April 17, 2017 12:52pm
- stephieboy
  
  oldpark, FGM is an old African tribal custom that still persists in both Christian and Muslim African nations.
  
  Efforts are continually been made to eradicate the practice.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/06/what-is-female-genital-mutilation-where-happen
  
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  April 17, 2017 12:42pm
  - pentwig
    
    You appear to be obsessed by FGM steffie.
    Nothing to do with Mt Roskill cafes I hope.
    
    4 1
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    April 17, 2017 8:18pm
lastmanstanding

Monique Tin Foil Hat Time. Read one report that USA had detonated the missile by remote control.

Wonder how many of those involved in the project have been subjected to a RPG at close quarters.

Also read Seal team that took out Osama are in South Korea. Maybe planning regime decapitation.
Problem is who to replace Fat Boy with. All around him are brain washed and brain dead.
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April 17, 2017 8:41am
- GazzaW
  
  I wonder which of the blokes in silly hats and wall to wall medals at the parade got the chop after the missile launch fizzer.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:44am
  - KevinH
    
    Kim Jung un , the merciful one, the leader of all leaders, would have most likely wiped out his missile research team as punishment for his spectacular failure. Someone would of got the anti aircraft gun treatment.
    
    4 0
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    April 17, 2017 2:05pm
- All_on_Red
  
  ‘Problem is who to replace Fat Boy with’
  China will move in and make it a province.
  
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  April 17, 2017 8:53am
  - stephieboy
    
    China will not !
    
    3 20
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    April 17, 2017 9:08am
  - GazzaW
    
    China no doubt wants a buffer between themselves and South Korea so more likely to orchestrate a coup and install a leader aligned to Beijing’s policies.
    
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    April 17, 2017 1:52pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Most likely long term result is China taking over (when they become a little more powerful no one will oppose). South Korea mostly doesn’t want to rejoin North – would cost Trillions to bring them up to western standards.
    
    China really wants a sea port in Sea of Japan for better access to Jilin province. Big commercial and military strategic value.
    
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    April 17, 2017 3:23pm
Monique Watson

As I deduced the paraded missiles were made of shit and string
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4416256/Are-Kim-Jong-s-missiles-FAKE.html
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April 17, 2017 8:48am
- RF
  
  Apparently the suspension on the launch trailers carrying the missiles were not under load supporting that they were carrying light objects.
  
  Smoke and mirrors.
  
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  April 17, 2017 10:21am
  - Paulus
    
    Russia used to do this years ago.
    Giant hollow rockets but no stress on the carrier wheels. Looked good to those like the media and sycophants.
    Was well known in Western Security circles – gave them a giggle.
    
    7 0
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    April 17, 2017 2:36pm
- krazykiwi
  
  It was the USSR’s Khrushchev who pioneered this:
  
  Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bragged that his country’s factories “were turning out missiles like sausages” and greatly exaggerated the size and operational capabilities of the Soviet ICBM force. Asked at the time by his son why he was doing so, he explained that “the number of missiles we had wasn’t so important.… The important thing was that Americans believed in our power.”
  
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  April 17, 2017 5:26pm
Manolo

The new sultan is on his way to total control. Each country gets the government it deserves.
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April 17, 2017 8:55am
- mikenmild
  
  What did New Zealanders do that was so bad then?
  
  4 26
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  April 17, 2017 9:11am
  - Longknives
    
    Mikey I don’t wish to suggest your comments are predictable- But there are as-of-yet undiscovered tribes in the heart of the Peruvian jungle who knew you were going to say that!
    
    22 1
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    April 17, 2017 9:39am
    - sparkhole
      
      Bottom?
      
      4 0
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      April 17, 2017 10:08am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        Top!!!!
        
        2 0
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        April 17, 2017 2:33pm
    - Viking2
      
      He is right as well.
      With the current suck up and cuddle that the Nats. have with Maori it won’t be long before Tuku Morgan becomes supreme leader just like his mate in North Korea.
      
      9 3
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      April 17, 2017 10:39am
      - Happychappy
        
        I thought the coallision had offered that title to Winston as his last wish.
        
        10 0
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        April 17, 2017 10:52am
Monique Watson

Easter Bunny came for the kids and the Drinkster Bunny for the adults. All is good in the world.
17 3
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April 17, 2017 9:12am
- Biscuit
  
  We were visited by the Pork Spit Roast Fairy, Monique.
  
  Leftovers galore!
  
  Burp!
  
  14 1
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  April 17, 2017 9:29am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Sliders for lunch! Make sure you use KFC Cole Slaw.
    Mmmm.
    We had slow cooked Leg of Lamb. 6.5 hours- just fell apart. Yum.
    
    10 2
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    April 17, 2017 9:45am
    - mikenmild
      
      What were you drinking that made you fall apart?
      
      7 6
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      April 17, 2017 9:47am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Pinot Noir
        More fall over than apart.
        
        13 1
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        April 17, 2017 9:51am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Sound unpc 😉
    
    3 1
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    April 17, 2017 12:42pm
- RF
  
  A few years ago there was a popular film called Watership Down. There was also a catchy song that went with it.
  
  A butcher in the U.K. displayed a sign in his shop window along side rabbit carcasses.
  
  The sign read.. you have seen the film, you have heard the song… now try the meat.
  
  Poor bugger got tired of replacing his shop window as angry people kept breaking it
  
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  April 17, 2017 10:42am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I’ve heard a similar tale, but the phrase was:
    
    “You’ve seen the movie
    Now eat the cast!”
    
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    April 17, 2017 11:56am
  - GoVege
    
    Serves the bast**d right.
    
    0 1
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    April 17, 2017 9:18pm
stephieboy

I just wonder when the POTUS will he get off the golfcourse and his curret internatiional shennigans and diversions ?
Instead ,a much needed focus on his and his election campaign team’s treachery ,dalliancing with the Russians over attempts to sobotage Hillary Clinton and the DNC
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April 17, 2017 9:28am
- All_on_Red
  
  Happy Easter
  http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Basic-English-Grammar-for-Dummies
  
  15 2
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  April 17, 2017 9:49am
  - stephieboy
    
    The same to you ,
    
    THINKING SMART: UNDERSTANDING INTELLIGENCE
    
    http://www.dummies.com/education/psychology/thinking-smart-understanding-intelligence/
    
    Heh, heh, heh….
    
    1 18
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    April 17, 2017 10:12am
    - All_on_Red
      
      So, you can’t spell, you can’t string a sentence together and you are known as Kiwiblog’s Dumbest Commentator (TM).
      And you expect us to think you are intelligent?
      You’re funny.
      
      12 1
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      April 17, 2017 2:28pm
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I think that’s proof positive that English isn’t Stephie’s first language…
    
    16 1
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    April 17, 2017 11:57am
    - stephieboy
      
      KS , nor intelligence one of yours.
      
      1 16
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      April 17, 2017 12:49pm
      - Keeping Stock
        
        “his curret internatiional shennigans and diversions ?”
        
        A direct copy and paste, with no embellishment Stephie. I rest my case.
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:02pm
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9t_KDGqOmE
        
        6 0
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        April 17, 2017 3:35pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Don’t you think we should award stephieboy some pixie-points for inventing new verbs to dalliance, to sobotage?
      
      9 0
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      April 17, 2017 1:48pm
VicParking

Allah is groving at our knees – ok lets feel sorry
Allah is knealing in front of us – ok lets give food
Allah is standing before us – ok lets give him laws
Allah is poised above us with an axe – woops to late
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April 17, 2017 9:28am
- Fletch
  
  Reminds me of this quote from a speech by Archbishop Chaput –
  
  Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak. When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it. So it always has been. So it always will be. And America has no special immunity to becoming an enemy of its own founding beliefs about human freedom, human dignity, the limited power of the state, and the sovereignty of God.
  
  http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaput/statements/threadforweavingjoyl.php
  
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  April 17, 2017 2:40pm
  - cha
    
    Archbishop Chaput –
    
    A staunch defender of kiddy fucking priests.
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/17/pennsylvania-catholic-church-sexual-abuse-bill-mafia-tactics
    
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    April 17, 2017 7:17pm
    - mikenmild
      
      So he’d know a fair bit about evil.
      
      1 0
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      April 17, 2017 7:38pm
      - cha
        
        Him, and the 136 kiddy fucker priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
        
        http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbydiocese.html#PA
        
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        April 17, 2017 7:49pm
Monique Watson

@Biscuit Sounds awesome. We had homemade curry last night and maybe lamb today. Nothing like New Zealand pork and lamb and they have the lamb in our supermarket.
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April 17, 2017 9:48am
- VicParking
  
  Bacon butties should be compulsory eating for school lunches.
  
  7 3
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  April 17, 2017 12:05pm
  - mikenmild
    
    You really have it in for Jews, don’t you?
    
    3 13
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    April 17, 2017 12:45pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      No, it is a pure expression of love to wish for the religiously benighted of the world to experience the delight that is bacon. The bacon sandwich is strongly negatively correlated with Religious oppression, misogyny and violence.
      
      5 0
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      April 17, 2017 3:28pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Does that mean if we sent enough bacon sarnies to Israel they would settle their differences with the Palestinians?
        
        1 3
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        April 17, 2017 5:32pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Yep, if you can get them to all start eating bacon sandwiches then I can guarantee that conflict will abate.
        
        2 0
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        April 17, 2017 6:28pm
      - mikenmild
        
        I think we should start a new charity, Bacon Sans Frontieres, to push this approach.
        
        3 3
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        April 17, 2017 6:30pm
Stars And Stripes

Health Ministry told to prioritise pregnant Māori smokers
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/328914/health-ministry-told-to-prioritise-pregnant-maori-smokers
“Despite our cultural differences, the indigenous people in each country experience similar marginalisation and social disadvantage,” she said. “This stems partly from the common way in which we were colonised by Western nation states.
That colonization process resulted in indigenous people receiving proportionately less of society’s benefits, whether that’s education, healthcare or employment.
Our women are disproportionately exposed to environmental risks to health, discrimination and disproportionate incarceration.
We are over-represented among the lower paid and unemployed and are more likely to live in deprived areas. The cumulative stress of all this is driving our higher smoking rates and undermining our women’s ability to abstain from smoking, even when they are pregnant,” Dr Glover said.”

Think I have heard it all now when it comes to pathetic excuses.
Colonization is to blame for Māori women not quitting smoking during pregnancy!.
Nothing to do with the fact they just don’t actually care enough about their unborn baby I suppose.
Nah that’s racist.
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April 17, 2017 9:50am
- Kimbo
  
  Yet colonisation of indigenous peoples that reduced them to minority status in their own land, be it in New Zealand, Australia, Canada or the USA has resulted some 150-200 years later in the same pattern of negative disproportionate social statistics, indicating it is a “cause” for:
  
  crime and imprisonment rates, educational failure, suicide, domestic violence, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, alcohol and drug abuse…and smoking.
  
  No, you can’t undo the past. No, the intent and also the actions of some/much colonisalism was not all bad (I’ll take NZ over Australia and the USA in that regard!), no, pre-colonial people did not live in an idyllic paradise free of war, disease and death…
  
  Sure, people are responsible for their own actions. Nonetheless, addressing some of the legacy and abiding patterns of colonialism is a factor in improving Maori health. Is not either/or. It is both/and.
  
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  April 17, 2017 10:58am
  - cmm
    
    “Yet colonisation of indigenous peoples that reduced them to minority status in their own land”
    
    So if 90% of the whites left NZ then Maori women would stop smoking?
    
    Yeah right!
    
    16 4
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    April 17, 2017 11:17am
    - Kimbo
      
      Now, do you see what you did there? You ignored the overall data I listed and the point I was making, and then cherry-picked a statement out of context and extrapolated it to a never-gonna-happen extreme, and emotionally indulged your self-satisfied thought process (I’m being kind) with a cliched beer ad slogan.
      
      Would you care to try again? And a bit harder, starting with, if Maori are exclusively to “blame” for negative smoking (and other stats)…how come it is a pattern that is repeated where similar patterns of colonisation (Anglo-Saxon Protestant colonisers out-numbering original inhabitants) occurred at approximately the same time?
      
      But if you wanna indulge your prejudices and/or assumptions rather than challenge them, then by all means pull up a chair, flick the top off another stubbie, and go for it. I prefer DB Export 33 these days rather than a Tui. Allows me to justify to the wife why, when I have a have a dozen as a reward after a gym session, I’m not putting it all back on. 😉
      
      So, any more clever rejoinders?
      
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      April 17, 2017 11:45am
      - cmm
        
        Smoking is quite big in Africa where colonialists never outnumbered the indigenous inhabitants. Same too in Hong Kong,
        
        The “reduction to minority status” argument is bullshit.
        
        Nor am I blaming all smoking on Maori.
        
        I am saying that smoking is an individual choice. The Maori women that smoke are individually responsible for their own choices, just as are white men or anyone else.
        
        It is bullshit to say that a Maori woman smokes because of White Male patriarchy or some such bullshit. That is as insane as saying that Maori blokes put in the bash because white girls play cricket.
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:24pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Smoking is quite big in Africa where colonialists never outnumbered the indigenous inhabitants. Same too in Hong Kong,
        
        The “reduction to minority status” argument is bullshit.
        
        No, I was aware of the African example, and in other parts of the previously-colonised third world. However, for the sake of a meaningful comparison, nothing more, I looked at examples similar to the New Zealand colonisation experience because we are discussing Maori women. Hence “Australia, Canada, the USA” (but not, say, South Africa or India, irrespective of the fact smoking rates are high there too).
        
        Nor am I blaming all smoking on Maori.
        
        OK, fair enough. I’ll pick this up below…
        
        I am saying that smoking is an individual choice. The Maori women that smoke are individually responsible for their own choices, just as are white men or anyone else.
        
        Yes, I believe I said the same thing too: “Sure, people are responsible for their own actions.”
        
        It is bullshit to say that a Maori woman smokes because of White Male patriarchy or some such bullshit. That is as insane as saying that Maori blokes put in the bash because white girls play cricket
        
        OK, so that seems to indicate you are discarding “colonialism” altogether as an explanation, What then are the things you had in mind when you said “Nor am I blaming all smoking on Maori”?
        
        Also, as per my original post (and this is a question you’ve ignored yet again)
        
        …why is the experience of indigenous people under the sort of colonisation I have described – “(Anglo-Saxon Protestant colonisers out-numbering original inhabitants)” – so similar with respect to smoking and other negative statistics? Coincidence?!
        
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        April 17, 2017 1:46pm
      - cmm
        
        Kimbo: For your “meaningful comparason” you chose Australia, Canada and USA. Interesting.
        
        Do you realise that the Native Americans (aka American Indians) of USA and Canada introduced the white man to tobacco?
        
        You can’t blame Native American smoking on the colonialists.
        
        Now I don’t know enough about Australian Aboriginal smoking to make any comments, but you really have it wrong with Canada and USA.
        
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        April 17, 2017 4:29pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Yes, I was aware of it, but I wasn’t aware it was spread throughout the entire North American continent. Also, I didnt say colonialism was in and of itself to blame. I said it was indeed a factor. Or have you, yet again overlooked that I said “both/and”, not “either/or”? And I note rather than addressing that issue and accepting the clarification I gave regarding my choice of a comparison between NZ, Australia and Nth America, you still seek to avoid the questions I put. Enjoying your Tui? Must be a South African thing and how you guys were so good at running distractions and obfuscations for apartheid so you could still play rugby with us. Your sidestepping and dummies would do Sid Nomis and Gerrie Germishuys proud! ?
        
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        April 17, 2017 4:44pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up 3.0% of the Australian population.1 Tobacco use is widespread among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.1 Forty two per cent of the combined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are current daily smokers, which is more than double the prevalence among the Australian population as a whole.
        
        http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-1-prevalence/1-9-prevalence-of-tobacco-use-among-aboriginal-peo
        
        So how come the experience with another colonised people on the other side of the Tasman is similar? Again, I repeat I am not saying colonisation is the sole sole, or even necessarily the primary reason/factor/cause. Rather it is not absent, as evidenced by these two disparate people groups.
        
        Here’s what I reckon is a powerful factor: Indigenous people are more tribal/collective, drawing identity and meaning from their group. So when they are young, and if their friends smoke, irrespective of the monetary and health costs -which will be dismissed by the young – the need to belong to the group is all powerful and drowns out everything else. is the reason kids join gangs. Nothing else matters but the imperative of…fitting in. And through the pushing of tobacco during the process of colonialism a sub-culture of tobacco use was created, and the “collective” culture means it thrives…
        
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        April 17, 2017 5:01pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      They would stop smoking for sure as the wallet went with the 90%, no more ‘wages’
      
      Back to beating each other with sticks and stones for another 1000 years when the last Imprezza has run out of gas and there are no service stations or dairies to rob and shopper keepers to bash!
      
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      April 17, 2017 11:58am
    - SPC
      
      Colonisation leading dispossessed indigenous peoples dispossessed and depressed (loss of pride/self worth associated with their identity) is worldwide.
      
      And this comes with a whole raft of social statistics from vulnerability to underclass behaviours, vulnerability to addiction and crime.
      
      And then there is coping with the negative reaction to their standing and related “special treatment” of focused attempts to restore their mana and pride. Little wonder that many move to higher paying jobs over in Oz.
      
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      April 17, 2017 2:51pm
      - starboard
        
        Cry me a fucking river.
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:21pm
      - SPC
        
        There is a certain sort.
        
        They lament the way Moslem majorities exercise power over minorities, yet enjoy the white majority privilege over indigenous peoples themselves.
        
        The colonialist/neo-colonialist simply enjoys the power of wealth and privilege wherever they choose to live.
        
        And the same people if born Moslem in Turkey would be voting for Erdogan and supporting the subjugation of critics and Kurds.
        
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        April 17, 2017 3:39pm
  - GoVege
    
    Kimbo: I don’t believe these bad stats like smoking ARE caused by colonization.
    Go to any 3rd world country and you see the same problems as in “colonized ” countries.
    (They’re just not usually as honest about it and have no colonizers to blame.)
    All 3rd world countries/cultures have the same problem: rampant sexism.
    When women and children live in fear for their safety or even lives in their own homes, are denied freedom and opportunities that males take for granted, then 50% of the people of those cultures are effectively disabled.
    
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    April 17, 2017 9:34pm
- VicParking
  
  Smoking only kills of the european DNA.
  
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  April 17, 2017 12:07pm
- SPC
  
  Need to “prioritise” the largest group of smokers in the country.
  
  Is this what the MP required to support the RMA change?
  
  So they are also going to tell the police they have to prioritise the largest group of offenders to reduce crime to reduce crime or does their coalition partner not want to exchange their votes for this policy as well?
  
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  April 17, 2017 2:44pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Prior to the arrival of Europeans the life expectancy for Māori was 28-30 years. I guess the appalling increase in that figure is also the ‘fault’ of colonisation.
  
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  April 17, 2017 5:31pm
  - mikenmild
    
    No colonisation only reduced the overall numbers of Maori massively, but those who were left began to benefits from the blessings of colonisation. Bit of a mixed bag, really.
    
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    April 17, 2017 5:34pm
- BeeSting
  
  Stars and Stripes you really need to talk to your Local Maori about this face to face.
  
  Do you not have any Maori Friends or relatives
  in New Zealand?
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:12pm
RF

Now that H1 was handed her arse by the UN will angry be
looking over his shoulder for the “Boss” to appear. His worse nightmare.

It’s no secret that her staff did not like the way she micro managed their work and were pleased she has gone.

I understand H2 was the hatchet person for those that did not grovel enough.
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April 17, 2017 10:06am
Ross12

It is a shame that PM of the UK has to use her Easter message/speech to defend the rights of Christians in the UK ( presumably seen by most to still be basically a Christian based country).
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/16/theresa-may-defends-right-christians-express-faith/
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April 17, 2017 10:13am
Southern Raider

What’s going on with the Easter Roads death stats? Surely they can only be for the purpose of the Police trying to get more money for “road safety”.

As of yesterday there was only two causalities. One was during an organised and legal motorbike street race and another a pedestrian in a hit and run.

How can either of these be claimed as road deaths?
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April 17, 2017 10:27am
- mikenmild
  
  It doesn’t matter whether you personally feel that some deaths should or should not be counted as part of the road toll. The relevant consideration is to have a definition that is applied consistently, so that comparison over time may be made.
  
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  April 17, 2017 10:30am
  - Southern Raider
    
    No. The detail gets lost and just the figure remains which is then used for political purposes and controlling us.
    
    Would a hardline on speed limit enforcement stopped the racer in Methven from being killed? No it have just meant the rest of us good drivers get penalised
    
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    April 17, 2017 10:58am
  - cmm
    
    Sure use a consistent definition, but then use a definition which is in line with the laws and policies they implement.
    
    For example, kids getting run over in driveways are considered road toll, yet road law does not apply there. For example, you can drive an unwarranted car without a license and pissed up and down your driveway as much as you want. You might get done for endangering kids or such, but not for drink driving.
    
    Road laws also do not apply at road races either.
    
    The reason for tracking the road toll is to gather stats for improving road laws and policies. It is rather stupid to include events where those laws do not apply.
    
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    April 17, 2017 11:13am
    - sooty
      
      The legal road stops at the property boundry.
      
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      April 17, 2017 11:58am
- cmm
  
  The organised motorbike race should not count as road toll.
  
  Nor should squashing toddlers in driveways.
  
  The road roll should only count deaths resulting from driving on public roads.
  
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  April 17, 2017 11:06am
  - mikenmild
    
    There may be good reasons to adopt definitions that are internationally consistent, too. I’m not arguing that these particular cases should be counted, just that reasonably objective and consistent definitions are helpful.
    
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    April 17, 2017 11:17am
    - cmm
      
      Doing dumb stuff because other people do it is not a valid reason.
      
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      April 17, 2017 11:39am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    A driveway, if the gate is open, is a public road cmm. A public road is anything to which people can gain access, illegally or legally.
    
    I agree about the motorcycle race; if the circuit access was restricted, then it is not a public road, rather a very unfortunate motorsport accident.
    
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    April 17, 2017 12:00pm
Stars And Stripes

Neighbour gets family of six out of burning house in Otara.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/91624358/suspicious-fire-engulfs-housing-new-zealand-unit-in-south-auckland.
“Neighbours saved a young family of six from a house fire in Otara, south Auckland, that killed the family’s new dog”.

Either way the dog was destined for a roasting so in this case it just happened a bit earlier than planned.
Another state house destroyed which the good old taxpayer will foot the bill to repair and looking at the photos will have to pay to remove a pile of about 35 car tires from the front lawn as well.
What a bloody disgrace.
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April 17, 2017 1:02pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Why would anyone have 35 car tyres? Where had the rims gone?
  
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  April 17, 2017 3:33pm
  - sooty
    
    Maybe a boy racer, who does burnouts. Hence the tyres.
    
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    April 17, 2017 4:28pm
- GoVege
  
  Stripes: only a small number of Pacifica people sometimes eat dogs.
  They prefer pigs (which is bad enough…both are of high intelligence. )
  I agree it is a shame to see so many statehouses damaged or destroyed.
  If the men weren’t such chauvinists, their wives would have fewer children and there wouldn’t be so many kids left unattended starting fires.
  Also, back in the islands, there is too much emphasis on religion and virtually none on practical things like safety around the home.
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:50pm
Longknives

Awful Story..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/16/geography-teacher-cleared-raping-pupil-says-men-should-stay/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3707840/The-outstanding-geography-teacher-dreamed-headmaster-career-lies-ruins-accused-rape-millionaire-s-girl-flew-New-York-week-therapy.html
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April 17, 2017 2:01pm
- Kimbo
  
  BTW, LK, I posted a later clarification to DifferentPerspective after our exchange on Friday. No, I don’t think, in answer to your rhetorical question, “You are a rotten human being”. Didn’t want to leave that hanging.
  
  http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/04/protecting_teens_from_forced_marriage.html
  
  Anyway, as you were…
  
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  April 17, 2017 2:06pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  I am sure all the feminist\lesbian groups in Britain will be fawning over the girl and championing her as the victim in all this.
  Must be a misogynistic all male jury or a sexist police force who never properly investigated it as the girl would never have lied end of story.
  
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  April 17, 2017 2:20pm
- mandk
  
  Thanks LK,
  
  It’s an utterly appaling story, and you have to feel profoundly sorry for that poor man.
  
  But you also have to wonder at the institutional hysteria that seems to have taken a grip in the UK, especially in the CPS.
  
  It wasn’t so long ago that the CPS devastated another poor bloke’s life by prosecuting him for allegedly carrying out a penetrative sexual assault on the concourse of Waterloo station during the rush hour, when it was obvious from the CCTV footage that this simply could not have been possible.
  
  As should be the case here, there should be anonymity for the defendant in cases of sexual assault until such time as a conviction has been decided.
  
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  April 17, 2017 10:05pm
SPC

Having read a fairly large number of articles on the Super Rugby competition format of late, I lament the inability of any of the writers to identify the most significant fact.

It was the decisions of the SARU and ARU to seek more teams in the competition and yet also allow players to play offshore and still be eligible for their national team which diluted the strength of their super rugby teams.

Talk about an inability to note the obvious.

So while they have been forced to backtrack on their expansions, they have still not addressed the core problem, allowing their international players to play for northern clubs has weakened the standard of Super Rugby.
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April 17, 2017 2:36pm
SPC

North Korea on the path to acquiring the capacity to target the American continent with nuclear weapons.

The Americans have been trying to stop Iran acquiring the capacity to do the same to Israel, resulting in sanctions and then the accord with Iran. The GOP has said that agreement with Iran is not strong enough – so little wonder POTUS 44 Obama told POTUS 45 that North Korea would be his biggest problem.
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April 17, 2017 3:14pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Try and get that past the liberal snowflakes mate
  
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  April 17, 2017 5:10pm
Stars And Stripes

This time they’re real – Sir Peter Snell’s memorabilia ready to go on display in Te Papa
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11839755
“Sir Peter, his wife, two daughters, and two granddaughters will all arrive at Te Papa tomorrow morning for a welcome powhiri, ahead of the display being opened”.

So he is getting a powhiri, wonder if he requested this or was just told it was mandatory so suck it up?.
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April 17, 2017 6:01pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Tomorrow morning is Tuesday – it is a WORK day. No wonder this Country is broke
  
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  April 17, 2017 6:06pm
  - mikenmild
    
    Write to your MP and ask for a law closing Te Papa any day that you happen to be working.
    
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    April 17, 2017 6:12pm
    - Longknives
      
      I’d rather stick a rusty fork through my nuts than sit through another fucking ‘Powhiri’!
      A genuinely painful experience..
      
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      April 17, 2017 6:54pm
  - nasska
    
    Most of the workshy buggers wouldn’t function in a iron lung Steve. A couple of days on a farm & they’d come apart at the seams. 🙂
    
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    April 17, 2017 6:17pm
    - dad4justice
      
      Working on your funny farm would blow the seams of any sane person.
      
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      April 17, 2017 6:44pm
      - stigie
        
        Working near Hagley Park would be a blow regardless Dad..?
        
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        April 17, 2017 6:48pm
      - nasska
        
        It’d make a man of you Dad! 🙂
        
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        April 17, 2017 7:15pm
      - mikenmild
        
        D4J knows all about funny farms.
        
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        April 17, 2017 7:36pm
- BeeSting
  
  Write them a Letter
  
  You can deliver some Maccas instead
  
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  April 17, 2017 9:06pm
stigie

Nasska:-

You got pilloried early on this morning by the goddadled and they said that they would pray for you throughout the day ?
Have you noticed any difference in your wellbeing from the masses or did your eyes water from the plucking of the nose hair ole chap..?
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April 17, 2017 6:45pm
- nasska
  
  I don’t think the prayer really helped much stigie. Next time I’ll cut my nose hairs rather than pluck them. 🙂
  
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  April 17, 2017 7:13pm
  - Longknives
    
    You’ll be eternally plucking your nosehairs in a Lake of Fire at this rate Nasska!..
    
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    April 17, 2017 7:20pm
    - nasska
      
      No sweat Longknives. Whenever I’m in trouble, I think…..what would Jesus do?
      
      Then I pretend to be dead & disappear for three days.
      
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      April 17, 2017 7:25pm
    - MT_Tinman
      
      But in damned sight more interesting company than the god-botherers.
      
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      April 17, 2017 7:28pm
Manolo

Turkey welcomes its new sultan:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_REFERENDUM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-16-16-39-16
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April 18, 2017 12:37am