General Debate 4 March 2018

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PhilBest

Re women being “exploited by men in positions of power” – we see “Aid workers” using their power over food rations, to obtain favours from 3rd-world girls. Pretty clear cut. Not a lot of attention from virtue-signalling SJW’s in the first world, though.
But young women, the “power” over whom is based on their own wish to be made superstars and become filthy rich – is this quite the same?
I am reminded of an anecdote ascribed to Winston Churchill, where he asked a woman “would you sleep with me for a million pounds”? And she thought for a bit and said she supposed she would. Then he asked whether she would sleep with him for ten pounds, and she said “of course not, what do you think I am, a prostitute”? he responded: “we have already established that, now we are just working out what your price is”.
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March 4, 2018 8:01am
- DifferentPerspective
  
  You forget – it’s OK when the left do bad things!
  
  None of the screaming, crying Democrats were clamouring and campaigning for gun control when a registered Democrat tried to murder Republican politician Steve Scalise.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:07am
  - SGA
    
    well… that might be something of an exaggeration.
    http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-a-high-profile-shooting-occurs-and-1497463853-htmlstory.html
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:02am
- KevOB
  
  What’s omitted is the natural desire for people to enhance their situations. Aid workers and others appear very wealthy by comparison to those they are assisting. This makes them an economic target too. Marriage to one would help the family beyond measure. Where’s the power? I encountered this frequently during my life in the Pacific.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:23am
- Rachael Membery
  
  And would that be sexual harassment if true?
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:45am
  - KevOB
    
    In it’s context it’s not.
    
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    March 4, 2018 7:30pm
- GazzaW
  
  Whilst not in any way defending the reprehensible actions of senior staff at some of our large law firms I’m not entirely convinced that it is all a one way street in the corporate world. There seems to be a sufficient presence of trophy brides in our more affluent suburbs to prove my point – in many cases leaving a middle-aged ex-wife and teenage family in the wake. The predator is not necessarily the ageing male.
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:46pm
- cha
  
  Not a lot of attention from virtue-signalling SJW’s in the first world, though.
  
  You’ve not paid attention, have you.
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:42pm
sooty

Hughie. Even Titsford Labour do not listern to you.
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March 4, 2018 8:02am
- pdm
  
  Sooty – Twyford does not listen to anyone.
  
  He is Labour.
  
  He already knows everything.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:07am
  - PhilBest
    
    In fairness to Twyford, I have heard from more than one international academic or expert in urban economics, that Twyford is the only politician from anywhere in the world who has engaged in correspondence with them because he is keen to know stuff. Paul Cheshire from the LSE, or Alain Bertaud from NYU Stern.
    
    Not saying I am a Labour supporter, I go by principles. I supported Roger Douglas. I appreciated the Bolger-Richardson years. I did not support Muldoon, Clark or Key.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:21am
DifferentPerspective

Jacinda couldn’t afford a home – Tui ad

Funny how leftist politicians make so much money so quickly after pleading poverty – WOBH has picked up on something else the lying, cheating, whoring MSM just ignore.
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March 4, 2018 8:04am
- Paulus
  
  Capitalism does not Work – ask Helen Clark who I understand has seven houses, mini capitalist ? eh.
  Assume Cinderella will keep her current house too to build her property empire.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:08am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    No she will let the Manus Island criminals have it rent free.
    
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    March 4, 2018 8:14am
    - Humble Capitalist
      
      Rehabilitation centre in the East Wing of her residence for all those poor old violent crims that 23% Andy wants out of jail ASAP
      
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      March 4, 2018 8:20am
    - Paulus
      
      Thought I just heard that there is a suggestion that the house next door to Cinderellas new house could be suitable to house the Diplomatic Protection Squad.
      It is more expensive than Cinderellas but what does that matter – it would make a good Government Capital Gain once sold when she is finished, probably not too long.
      And subject to Capital Gains Tax.
      
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      March 4, 2018 1:28pm
      - RF
        
        Christ this like the NYPD & Secret Service guarding Trump Tower. Expense is no problem.
        
        Who would have thought a socialist brat relies on being guarded by in their eyes Capitalist pigs.
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:19pm
  - Harkman
    
    The scam that was going on under Hulun Cluck was her little weasel hubby would somehow be granted a several hundred thousand dollar grants by the Marsden fund every two years for obviously frivolous research. That is how they amassed so many houses. Yet somehow every year some idiot international organisation voted us least corrupt. Just ridiculous.
    
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    March 4, 2018 8:59am
    - Swifty
      
      I’d be surprised if research grants could be used for personal expenses.
      
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      March 4, 2018 9:11am
      - Callum
        
        It wasn’t used for personal expenses, it enabled a significant salary to be earned for very little if any value add to NZ.
        
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        March 4, 2018 9:37am
      - Swifty
        
        This is not an area I know well – but I thought Davis was on a salary from the Uni.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:36am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @swifty
        
        Universities are looking for staff that can bring in big grant money for their graduate students.
        It is much cheaper to resource social scientists in the medical field than it is to fund staff/researchers that are carrying out lab research or long-term trials of treatments/medical procedures.
        
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        March 4, 2018 11:13am
      - Swifty
        
        Thanks Maggy – understood.
        
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        March 4, 2018 11:28am
    - doggone7
      
      Explain how Clark’s husband got funding and what it was used for. What frivolous research was it and who decided it wasn’t frivolous? Explain how it was scam.
      
      You talk about some “idiot international organisation” finding NZ not corrupt.
      
      If you can’t back up your claims those claims are idiotic, and you’re an idiot making corrupt calls.
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:47pm
      - RF
        
        I understand the Otago Uni in Christchurch was “told” to create a job for Clark’s husband.
        
        Apparently he was bloody useless what ever it was…..
        
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        March 4, 2018 2:33pm
  - GazzaW
    
    I commented late last night that maybe Clark should be classified by Twitford as an absentee land owner growing her property portfolio at the expense of her tenants. God forbid if she had a chinky sounding name. Who but an exploitative capitalist needs seven houses? Mickey Savage would be pinning in his grave.
    
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    March 4, 2018 12:56pm
  - Gabby
    
    So Labour aren’t a bunch of commies then Puller, good to know.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:31pm
- Viking2
  
  Perhaps the purchase is helped along by the taxpayer.
  As we do.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/101854679/private-super-schemes-are-mps-bridges-to-wealth
  
  An MP’s accommodation allowance – currently $28,000 a year – can be legally paid to the super scheme as their landlord.
  
  In addition, MPs can ask for their superannuation contributions to be paid into the private super scheme.
  
  MPs get a contribution of 20 per cent of their salary, and only have to put in $1 of their own money for each $2.50 contribution from the taxpayer.
  
  Created under the Superannuation Schemes Act 1989 with everyone in mind, they’ve become almost entirely the preserve of financially-savvy members of Parliament, seeking to maximise their personal wealth from their years in office.
  
  MPs generally use these super-exclusive super schemes to buy a property they can then rent to Parliamentary Services as their Wellington residence, said Prosser,
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:33am
- igm
  
  Why have Fairfax Filth left the unmarried crockery-faced prospective mother’s 1.8 million home purchase alone, but gone after Bridges for having a personal super scheme. Is it because left-wing scum don’t worry about retirement, and just go on leeching off unionists, taxpayers, or in many cases ratepayers?
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:41pm
sooty

ACC, the spinster from Schoolhouse rd is running rings around you. you are all tits useless.
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March 4, 2018 8:04am
- stigie
  
  “Bright said the $207,133 legal bill was a disgraceful waste of public money after she had made an offer to drop the defamation case if Town apologised, retracted the statement and paid $10,000, later raised to $20,000.”
  
  Penny Bright…..The most righteous non ratepaying bludger in Auckland !~
  
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12005774
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:33am
  - fernglas
    
    She also omitted to mention that she didn’t even bother to turn up to a number of the hearings, thereby putting the Council to unnecessary expense. Why they haven’t pursued costs against her is beyond me. She clearly has the means.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:39am
    - stigie
      
      “Why they haven’t pursued costs against her is beyond me.”
      
      That’s because the Auckland Council has had no testicles over the last 10 years.
      The rates payers deserve better than this, sell the fucking hovel now !~
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:32am
  - peterwn
    
    Two issues here:
    1. Possibly if the CEO had been a bit more careful with choice of words, the defamation claim may not have happened or been disposed of much more cheaply.
    2. I hope the Council’s lawyers were not creaming it.
    Presumably the Council is not chasing for costs at this stage because it does no want another war of words with her.
    
    In retrospect the Council should have just let the rate arrears pile up. She would effectively being paying 20% interest whereas the Council can borrow at 5% or so. When the property is ultimately sold the buyer’s lawyer would just meet the outstanding rates and penalties from the purchase price.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:54am
    - ztev
      
      Akel for a trivial case like this ?
      
      This could have been handled by a junior solicitor as there was no hope of it proceeding
      
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      March 4, 2018 11:28am
Paulus

How wonderful it is that our Princess can fly in the clapped out Air force 757 to tell Turnbull that he is a bully.
Well all her plane load of sycophants and hangers on were there too.
Nobody knew in Australia a) who she was and b) cared, as Footy was more important.
What did we get – well whilst it is not decided yet we may not have to fill in a departure card at the airport.
Otherwise Sweet FA. – Par for the course.
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March 4, 2018 8:05am
- KiWombat
  
  Australia has already done away with the departure card, so we would only be catching up with the times if we did away with it also.
  
  The arrival card of course is a different matter, and no doubt will remain !
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:16am
  - Chris R
    
    I suspect the CoL see the removal of the departure card as another way to make it easier for NZ’ers to escape the country out of disgust for their inability to run things…this may be Twyford’s brilliant plant to ease the mythical “housing crisis?”
    
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    March 4, 2018 8:28am
    - Viking2
      
      Here is another view of the reason for the cards.
      
      https://croakingcassandra.com/2018/03/03/please-improve-immigration-data-not-undermine-it/
      
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      March 4, 2018 8:35am
- G152
  
  Air New Zealand could cut her a deal and drop her and various minions off from a commercial flight when needed
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:45am
  - ztev
    
    From Wellington to Sydney with about 30 others ?
    
    last flight was at 4PM, and with checkins meant at airport before 3Pm.
    Ardern One left after 5pm? without going through security !
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:34am
    - sooty
      
      What was she smuggling?
      
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      March 4, 2018 11:52am
      - GazzaW
        
        A medium sized bun.
        
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        March 4, 2018 12:59pm
- VicParking
  
  Why does Gayford walk around with one hand in his pocket. In every photo he has at least one hand in a pocket. Has the tap been turned off.
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:53pm
  - Paulus
    
    Gay bloke is checking to see if he still had his balls.
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:30pm
  - AgentBallSack
    
    Thats where he keeps his meth.
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:10pm
    - RF
      
      Our own Jethro from the Beverley Hillbillies.
      
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      March 4, 2018 2:38pm
- peterwn
  
  I hope Malcolm Turnbull told her ever so politely to jump into Lake Burley Griffin.
  
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  March 4, 2018 1:06pm
- Gabby
  
  What did she call Turdbully Puller?
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:35pm
- Piniwi
  
  But Paulus she is now off soon on a Pacific tour which is likely to be very costly on taxpayers.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:08pm
holysheet

Here’s a couple of curly questions for Cindy to ponder while she awaits the birth of the child of the nation.
Does labor cause hemorrhoids?
~Labor (National) causes anything you want to blame it for.

What does it mean when a baby is born with teeth?
~Given her larger than normal features, she may want to rethink any plans to breast feed.
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March 4, 2018 8:12am
- Harriet
  
  The only guarantee of constant fatherhood is wedlock.
  Single motherhood which used to be a source of shame has instead been transformed over the last few decades until it has become an endowment of virtue. That matters if you are easily seduced by the instant victim credentials that being a single mother gets you.
  The boyfriend comes across in media reports as her ‘handbag’. Gayboy should man up and propose – and send the feminists at Stuff and Co. into a frenzy of spite and spittle. 😎
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:52am
  - Harkman
    
    “Gayboy should man up and propose”
    
    But that has already been sorted. The “were pregnant” came a day after we learnt that the tax cuts that were cancelled to reduce poverty, will in fact not be reducing poverty. As for the proposal that has been earmarked for the day after we learn the economy is in the shit. The wedding will be the day after the election, just so we feel bad if we try to vote her out.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:06am
  - SGA
    
    Harriet
    
    The only guarantee of constant fatherhood is wedlock.
    
    Since when has wedlock guaranteed constant fatherhood?
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:05am
    - ztev
      
      Ask ‘Kiwi’ Joyce about that one ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 11:35am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  holysheet, is that all the alright have to offer in terms of weak and feeble comedy !
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:55am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    is that all the alright have to offer..
    So, that’s what stephieboy has been meaning, all along.
    
    We folks on Kiwiblog are alright!
    The alternative is not right.
    Cheers.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:39am
- Daphne Whitethigh
  
  Your disgusting and utterly offensive comment adds nothing to this blog.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:15am
  - mikenmild
    
    Is Keeping Stock not policing the offensive comments this morning?
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:31am
Humble Capitalist

Please don’t ever bang on about capitalism being a blatant failure again when you can go and spend a couple of mill on a house
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March 4, 2018 8:12am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Hey, be fair. She can afford it because she’s the ‘chosen one’, not because she loves capitalism.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:16am
  - sooty
    
    How’s she going to pay for it? She would have to stay in parliament as a backbencher.
    
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    March 4, 2018 8:28am
    - Humble Capitalist
      
      She will knock it off for a tidy capitalist profit before the introduction of capital gains tax
      
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      March 4, 2018 8:30am
      - Chris R
        
        If Cindy’s partner was Chinese and was going on to the title as an owner; wouldn’t that send Twyford into a quandary ending in the complete breakdown of his mental health?
        
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        March 4, 2018 9:25am
      - Viking2
        
        wonder who is the owner and who is the tenant?
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:24am
    - stephieboy
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      sooty , most likely wise , prudent budgeting and spending ,
      
      Does it really matter ? Who out there in the real world actually cares ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 9:01am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Captain Mainwaring , but she seems to enjoy the purchase of “private property “ the hallmark of capitalism .
    
    But do you think she seriously cares about your kind of rants ?
    
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    March 4, 2018 8:59am
    - Swifty
      
      Judging by the unprecedented scale of the downticks you have collected for years now, it seems nobody here cares for your rants either.
      
      Doesn’t seem to stop you though.
      
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      March 4, 2018 9:31am
Gravelroad

From this morning’s stuff political propaganda department there is a beat-up about S. Bridges having a “super exclusive” private superannuation scheme allegedly supplemented with taxpayer coin.
Writer Rob Stock, aided by comments from ex-Winstone 1st MP Richard Prosser, has highlighted that Bridges’ portfolio even has an elitist title – St Catherine’s, named after St Catherine’s College, Oxford.
Apparently there are 33 capitalist MP’s who have these accounts including – shock horror, several from the Labour Party!
Give me strength.
The politics of envy and grievance is still on the growth path in NZ where saving for your own future is considered just plain dodgy.
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March 4, 2018 8:12am
- Jack5
  
  Yep, the Stuff article about MP’s private superannuation schemes is skewed into a hit job on Simon Bridges by burying this way down the article:
  
  “Some Labour MPs have private schemes, but they are at the more senior end like Chris Hipkins, Stuart Nash and David Parker.”
  
  This report seems to be as much about trying to paint Bridges as a “rich prick” as about this legitimate type of super. scheme.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/101854679/private-super-schemes-are-mps-bridges-to-wealth
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:11am
  - Jack5
    
    And over at the Hooerald, we have an article about the new Government’s interaction with senior public servants branded under the heading:
    
    Liam Dann: Why National’s new leader is irrelevant
    
    Canonising Jacinderella ain’t enough for the MSM.
    
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12004128
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:15am
    - big bruv
      
      “Liam Dann: Why National’s new leader is irrelevant”
      
      He is irrelevant. Useless, and irrelevant.
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:05pm
  - Viking2
    
    Simon is topical and I didn’t see it as a hit job as much as a way of showing up others like Jacinda.
    why don’t you research her new house and its means of ownership.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:26am
  - KevOB
    
    MMP and list membership may have skewed things. MP’s facing voters can have a rough time planning their futures–look at the Maori Part last time. The super payments were intended to compensate for those risks. Members are now expected to contribute too.
    
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    March 4, 2018 4:26pm
Captain Mainwaring

Once again Williamson proved his class, but of his teammates there are a few who must be worried about their place in the team.
Will Nicholls or Chapman get another game?
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March 4, 2018 8:13am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Nicholls seems to be a “protected species” in the same way Hamish Marshall was when Bracewell was coach. Surely they look at the stats?
  Williamson was terrific although probably timed his run a bit late at the end; when you’re a NZ cricketer and get big wraps from Nasser Hussain you must be good!
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:19am
  - VicParking
    
    He was a dick. On the second to last ball he turned down a single even though the batsman at the other end was in the 40’s so he could hit a six and win it.
    The single would have ment 6 to win or 4 to draw.
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:02pm
- DifferentPerspective
  
  So true. But once again back to T20. Williamson is in a class of his own in the one day and test format – but he just looks hopeless in T20.
  
  If he would do the decent thing, he might even become more indomitable in the longer forms of the game.
  
  Still you can’t fault the entertainment value of the one day series, last two games go right down to the wire in total cliff-hangers.
  
  As entertainment, cricket puts test rugby in the shade.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:21am
flipper

Great game.
We played.
They won.
We lost.
But you have to play to know how to win …………. well, next time.
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March 4, 2018 8:24am
DifferentPerspective

Tesla fined for pollution

After $18 billion in Obama-era US taxpayers funding for Green technology – Tesla gets fined for polluting the environment.

No one does hypocrisy like the left!
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March 4, 2018 8:26am
- MCos
  
  Elon Musk is hardly left wing.
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:49am
  - DifferentPerspective
    
    Lol – he ticks all the boxes for a US left winger:
    – buys into the Chicken Little AGW view
    – anti-Trump
    – troughs it up big time on the taxpayers dollars through subsidies
    – donated to the Clinton campaign
    – dates actresses
    – virtue-signals for all he’s worth
    
    If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck….
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:29am
    - MCos
      
      Being anti Trump does not make a person left wing. I would suggest there are plenty of US conservative ‘friends’ of Trump who will cheerfully stick a knife in his back if it will sustain their careers.
      Read this article regarding Musk’s political donations
      https://www.recode.net/2017/7/6/15929402/elon-musk-eric-schmidt-sheryl-sandberg-tech-election-republicans-trump
      
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      March 4, 2018 3:02pm
    - Gabby
      
      Doesn’t he own a business and shit on his workers dippy pisspot? Doesn’t sound too lefty to me.
      
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      March 4, 2018 9:47pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  Could this be Elongate?
  
  That’ll be drawn out……..
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:08am
Viking2

Australia’s mining companies are shelling out more to find copper and other materials used in electric vehicles as demand for the next-generation automobiles grows.

Anglo-Australian mining group BHP Billiton looks to invest $6.9 billion in plants and exploration in the year through June, up 32% from the previous fiscal year’s $5.22 billion. The aim is to improve productivity at the company’s core coal and iron ore operations, and to develop its copper business. BHP in February completed a $350 million facilities upgrade at the Olympic Dam copper mine, where it plans to raise output 25-35% on the year.

“Growing our copper business [is the] best way of benefiting” from the growing market for electric vehicles in China and elsewhere, CEO Andrew Mackenzie told investors on Tuesday. A single electric car uses around 80kg of copper, according to BHP, four times as much as a gasoline-powered

Yet the longer-term success of these investments depends heavily on the extent to which governments promote electric vehicles. China, for example, recently cut subsidies for many electric and hybrid vehicles by around 30%. India’s transport minister revealed on Thursday that the government had scrapped plans for policies to promote electrics. While these countries and many in Europe remain bullish on the technology, it is unclear how much official support electrics automobiles will ultimately receive.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Australian-miners-ramp-up-investment-in-electric-vehicle-metals
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March 4, 2018 8:37am
- Harriet
  
  When you look at petrol and diesel over the decades you find that the private sector, or capitalism, provided the public with the ability to drive cars as a means to get to work.
  When you look at electricity over the same period you find a lot of government involvement, providing homeowners with provisions.
  
  With cars now being powered by electricity, that situation can easily become a matter of state provision, and I don’t see the communists wanting to go down that path as they don’t seem to be too involved in the business sector, as over the last two decades they have lifted restrictions and regulations. India would be thinking much the same I’d guess.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:23am
  - DigNap15
    
    What?
    Can you repeat that in one short English sentence?
    
    8 4
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    March 4, 2018 9:40am
    - mikenmild
      
      Electricity = communism
      Oil = capitalism
      
      9 3
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      March 4, 2018 10:35am
  - stephieboy
    
    Harriet , “communist “ ?
    
    Get a life and get off Planet Nibiru before the big cataclysm !
    
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    March 4, 2018 12:33pm
Manolo

A seer, a corrupt seer:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/eric-holder-predicts-robert-mueller-charges-trump-with-obstruction-of-justice/article/2650624

President Trump will face an obstruction of justice charge from special counsel Robert Mueller, former Attorney General Eric Holder predicted.
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March 4, 2018 8:41am
- virtualmark
  
  Not a difficult prediction to make.
  
  If you read the Articles of Impeachment for Nixon and for Clinton, and see what they were charged with, and then dispassionately look at what Mueller’s investigation has covered then it’s basically inevitable Mueller will recommend obstruction of justice charges against Trump.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:44am
  - KevOB
    
    There is a prima facie case to be made that Mueller, Clinton,DNC officials, and a host of others are corrupt themselves and should all be committed for trial.
    
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    March 4, 2018 4:29pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Well if that’s the case then the simple action to take is to appoint another Special Counsel to investigate that and report to Congress. Given Trump has the Presidency and the Republicans both houses of Congress that appointment could be done within 24 hours.
      
      They could work alongside the Special Counsel looking at the uranium deal …
      
      Or you could try and get your news from someone other than Hannity and Alex Jones …
      
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      March 4, 2018 9:03pm
- Scott
  
  I would have thought obstruction of justice can only happen when there is an actual crime? What crime did Trump actually commit? And what crime did he stop from being punished? How has he obstructed justice for a non crime?
  
  Remember he is the chief executive, he has the power to fire the head of the FBI, he has the power to direct Department of justice officials to investigate this or that.
  
  The special counsel is a man in search of a crime. So far the only evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is a meeting between Trump Jr and the Russians that went nowhere.
  
  But actual collusion with the Russians has been found to be done by the Clinton campaign and the democrats who hired Christopher Steele who did collude with the Russians to dig up dirt on Trump. So the very people who accused Trump of colluding with Russia were actually colluding themselves!
  
  Robert Meuller should investigate that!
  
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  March 4, 2018 1:55pm
  - virtualmark
    
    No,
    
    There are three Federal statutes that cover obstruction of justice. They are very clear and well defined. The language in the three statutes is all about “corruptly endeavoring” or “corruptly attempting”.
    
    Part 1 = “endeavour” and “attempt” do not require “succeed”. Obstruction of justice is an intent based crime, not an outcome based crime.
    
    Part 2 = “corruptly” means even though Trump has the power to, for example, sack the Director of the FBI if he does that for a corrupt purpose (such as to preserve his own skin) then that is obstruction of justice.
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:28pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘preserve his own skin’
      Uhuh, so what precisely is he covering up that he needs to preserve his own skin from?
      You see, that’s the point. He’s done nothing that he actually has to commit obstruction to hide.
      Therefore, there is no obstruction.
      Comey was rightly sacked.
      
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      March 4, 2018 2:39pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Well, you know we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.
        
        I’ll take the bet that Mueller returns a recommendation that Trump has (a) conspired with various Russian political entities dating back to at least 2013, (b) obstructed justice in attempting to cover up that conspiracy and (c) has for many years been laundering money for oligarchs and the Russian mafia.
        
        You can take the other side of that bet.
        
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        March 4, 2018 9:06pm
  - virtualmark
    
    Note too that “collusion” is not a legal term. No one will be charged with collusion because there is no such legal charge.
    
    The likely legal charge is “conspiracy”. In US legal terms a conspiracy means two or more parties *coordinate* for an *illegal purpose* and there is an *act in furtherance*. The act of furtherance can be anything, even if small, and can be before or after the coordination (the meeting of minds).
    
    For example, if the Trump campaign and the Russians were shown to have *coordinated* to release stolen information with the intent of harming an electoral candidate (*an act of furtherance*) with the *illegal purpose* of winning the election so as to then reverse or stymie sanctions on Russia then that is a laydown misere conspiracy charge.
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:39pm
DifferentPerspective

Evolution of socialist doctrine – mapped out

Hilarious and brilliant, yet deeply disturbing!
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March 4, 2018 8:41am
- kevn
  
  @DP… But, they keep voting for them. With a little help from gang-green and nasty winnie they got over the line.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:08am
  - DifferentPerspective
    
    yup – that’s why I said it’s disturbing
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:30am
Stars And Stripes

Homeless in Hamilton: Shelter reports soaring demand
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/351723/homeless-in-hamilton-shelter-reports-soaring-demand
“Hamilton’s homeless population is continuing to rise steadily according to the Hamilton Christian Night Shelter”.

Calling Captain Jacinda, where are you?
Thought you promised to fix this problem?.
Oh that’s right you are shopping for new houses and now swanning off to the Pacific Islands.
So it seems like your promises were just all hot air.
How surprising.
43 2
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March 4, 2018 8:45am
- G152
  
  She’s going to lend them one of her houses.
  That’s why she’s got two now
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:48am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Stars and Stripes , not in a few months unless you can offer your magic as a keyboard “warrior ! “
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:51am
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    Morning Stephieboy. Maybe the government could just sieze private property to redistribute as they see fit? Would that be okay?
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:33am
  - Stars And Stripes
    
    Oh yes of course, the old give her a chance excuse.
    How long does that one last for, years, consecutive terms or maybe decades.
    You are being an apologist Stephieboy.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:35am
- kowtow
  
  Same in Dunedin
  
  ‘ “If we want to reduce homelessness, we must build more state houses. If more state houses had been built in the past decade, we would not have the levels of homelessness we do today,” Mr Twyford said.
  
  The announcement comes as the social housing register, which is managed by the Ministry of Social Development was at 87 as of the end of December. It is the highest it has been since 2014, which is as far back as the ministry’s records go.
  
  As of the end of December, 218 people were on the Dunedin City Council’s community housing waiting list, up from 160 in May.” ‘
  
  Dunedin , and all parties were involved, has taken hundreds of Syrians and put them in state housing .
  
  Surely we can’t afford to take foreigners and give them housing if there are internally displaced and homeless New Zealanders.
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/new-state-houses-dunedin
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:39am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Does Mr. Twyford draw a line between the willfully homeless and the people who want a roof over their head?
    
    Is it moral to provide for refugees when your own citizens are desperate for shelter? A civil servant’s first duty is to the public; not to himself to virtual-signal to further his own career.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:00am
  - Viking2
    
    kowtow
    
    Same in Dunedin
    
    ‘ “If we want to reduce homelessness, we must build more state houses. If more state houses had been built in the past decade, we would not have the levels of homelessness we do today,” Mr Twyford said.
    
    Pity he didn’t spout that nonsence ten years ago when thousands were leaving NZ every year.
    
    5 Years ago there was not a shortage of houses and indeed there still isn’t but there is a shortage of good tenants and people who want and can own a house.
    
    Interest rates at 4.39% and still they can’t afford to buy the house.
    Wonder why. Perhaps they just wasted all their incomes.
    
    As they all do.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:32am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Again for the slow learners; With Labour now in power these are no longer homeless people, they are ruggedly individualistic rough sleepers choosing a virtuous low-carbon alternative lifestyle (as advocated by Greens) that we should celebrate!
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:55am
- Gabby
  
  David Binert’s onto it StarBubba.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:59pm
stephieboy

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
DP , the solution is sensible centrist social , political and economic polices that eschew the extremes of the far left and the horrid alt right !
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March 4, 2018 8:48am
DigNap15

Its good that Jacinda and her partner have bougth a new house.
Who would not on her new salary.

But when it comes to reducing poverdy she should be saying to the poor, “look I got educated and got a good job (did not have six ferals) and now I have two houses.”
Not here is some more tax payer money, just keep breeding, its OK we will look after you.
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March 4, 2018 8:51am
- Harriet
  
  “look I got educated and got a good job …..”
  
  She’s not an example of education, work, diplomacy, leadership – or anything else for that matter.
  She is where she is because she was selected by Winston Peters, she wasn’t elected due to her qualities – or lack there of.
  
  BA’s are still not a good educational investment. 😎
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:03am
  - holysheet
    
    Nah she got there because she is similar in looks to that other dentists dream, Helen.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:09am
  - kevn
    
    @ Harriet… Must have a BA in bullsh*t.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:15am
  - fernglas
    
    Much as I don’t like the way she got to be PM, you have to concede that to be in a position to benefit from Winnie’s largesse she must have done something.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:48am
- kevn
  
  @DigN… clarke must have put a big chunk of cash in to help pay as well. Well paid media legend dude. Isn’t he?
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:13am
  - Viking2
    
    Plenty of well healed Labour supporters who would have fronted the loans for her.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:34am
  - RF
    
    Don’t forget Jethro struck oil when he hooked up with the commie chick and got her pregnant. He will be a kept man hanging onto her skirt.
    
    In my day Lincoln students were known to seek out farmers daughters so they could “f**k” their way into a farm as it was the only way they would get one.
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:55pm
Manolo

Italy goes to the polls:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-03/italy-s-election-reaches-endgame-as-berlusconi-battles-five-star

Chi sara’ il vincitore?
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March 4, 2018 8:53am
- Harriet
  
  “…The good news is that the right continues to rise both in electoral relevance and in the public consciousness. When Berlusconi was last in a position to form a government, parties of the right such as the Lega Nord had to hold onto his coattails and beg for scraps. Not anymore. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of the negotiations to form government (the most likely outcome being paralysis) the Italians look certain to send a clear and very loud anti-European and anti-Invasion message to the world….”
  
  https://www.xyz.net.au/communists-fascists-complete-chaos-xyz-guide-italian-election/
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:07am
  - DigNap15
    
    I really hope the right coalition get in and stop those boats.
    Tow them back.
    And yes start deporting 400, 000 a year.
    
    Long live Myanmar, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Golden Dawn.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:20am
    - MCos
      
      Comments like that make you sound like you’re as thick as pig shit sometime. You haven’t got a clue what’s going on in Myanmar.
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:14am
      - DigNap15
        
        Please don’t resort to personal attacks.
        What is going on in Myanmar?
        
        3 1
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        March 4, 2018 1:36pm
      - Kimbo
        
        You didn’t ask me, but “ethnic cleansing”. Which is a thick as pig shit idea, let alone a policy to publicly endorse (nb: that’s a criticism of your thinking and statement, not an ad hominem of you personally).
        
        4 1
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        March 4, 2018 1:46pm
    - DigNap15
      
      Huh
      23 upticks and 3 down ticks and my post goes red?
      
      But McCos and Kimbo looks like you are the minority.
      
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      March 4, 2018 5:46pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Gosh, I feel so alone and abandoned! ?
        
        0 0
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        March 4, 2018 8:20pm
    - Gabby
      
      You’ll be orf beck to Sethefrikka then bignipis?
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:03pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Viva Italia… Great video of commies getting one.. Say what you like but Italian police don’t fuck around…. and they are not bad looking either!
    
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    March 4, 2018 6:23pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Il truffatore fiscale.
  
  4 1
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  March 4, 2018 9:51am
  - Manolo
    
    Sempre! Italy is, and always be, a chaotic country.
    But what a place to visit (let alone buy shoes)!
    
    9 1
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    March 4, 2018 9:54am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      He is so scary… like a walking corpse.
      https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/silvio-berlusconi-debuts-new-face-20171130-gzvr3p.html
      
      10 1
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      March 4, 2018 10:00am
      - kowtow
        
        It’s great though innit , with all the “scandal” surrounding the randy old goat with the Bunga Bunga business and they’ll still back him …….meanwhile in the rest of the west the hashtag brigade have their knickers all a twist about any and everything.
        Viva Italia.
        
        11 2
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        March 4, 2018 10:09am
      - rightoverlabour
        
        sorry Kowtow reported instead of reply. However, I don’t think the #metoo thing got much traction in Italy. Italians still believe in romance and a little flirting….
        
        https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/01/18/578562334/in-italy-metoo-falters-amid-public-scorn
        
        4 1
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        March 4, 2018 12:54pm
      - DigNap15
        
        Yes I used to not like him.
        But you do have to hand it to him
        
        1 1
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        March 4, 2018 7:58pm
    - VicParking
      
      And to eat
      
      3 1
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      March 4, 2018 1:09pm
- Jack5
  
  An interesting aspect is that Italy has an MMP electoral system.
  
  (And meanwhile, MMP hasn’t yet delivered a conclusion to the German elections.)
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:34am
  - DigNap15
    
    And they have had more prime ministers since 1945 than there are homeless people in Auckland.
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:37pm
slightlyrighty

Last night on One News.

“Staying with political news, The Prime Minister has bought a house!!”

FFS. Give Me Strength….
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March 4, 2018 8:54am
- MCos
  
  Quit right. It’s a storm in a teacup, but you wouldn’t think so reading the comments on this forum.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:18am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    It’s symptomatic of our MSM’s sycophantic attitude towards Jacinda. Why are we having a constant barrage of good news stories about our PM that have no relevance to her performance or policies.
    
    In the last month, we have had more pregnancy related stories, her Vogue Photoshoot, her interview in Australia and now the fact that she has bought a house.
    
    One wonders what the MSM might have made of this had a similar situation arisen for a National PM, and the MSM are showing themselves to have even more of a double standard when it comes to holding those in power to account.
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:33am
    - AgentBallSack
      
      One doesnt have to wonder, one can merely search Google for the history of their disgusting attacks on Key, when he bought a house, how much that house was, where he holidays, who he plays golf with, where he eats, his son Max, his son Max’s girlfriend, his son Max’s holidays, his son Max’s music, his daughter, his daughters naked pictures, his daughters private school, the list goes on and on. The one person they didnt attack that I noticed was Bronagh.
      
      That’s our so called neutral MSM
      
      11 1
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      March 4, 2018 2:05pm
      - Gabby
        
        Why he made love to that employment Ancient Ballbag, couldn’t wait to get the piccies out there.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:07pm
AgentBallSack

So Jacinda is swanning off on yet another overseas jaunt this time to the Pacific Islands. Hope she lets Gaylord do all the talking, those guys respect women even less than the Aussies. Unless it’s their mother.
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March 4, 2018 8:59am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  ABS, is that all ?
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:03am
  - AgentBallSack
    
    Yes, you very stupid boy. That’s why I ended my post with a full stop. Now close your eyes, choke and swallow.
    
    33 4
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    March 4, 2018 9:12am
    - stigie
      
      Shit ABS, the mind boggles on that adventurous one..?
      
      11 1
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      March 4, 2018 9:59am
    - Gabby
      
      Bit pervy there Aged Bollocks.
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:08pm
AgentBallSack

Julie Genter, mother to be, Minister for Women, and full time feminist!
This is the level head that wants a register of “sexual allegations”. Be very fucking afraid,
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March 4, 2018 9:03am
- DigNap15
  
  So can we also have a register of women that tease men?
  
  25 2
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  March 4, 2018 9:18am
  - Kimbo
    
    Or use gratuitous sarcasm? ?
    
    15 1
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    March 4, 2018 10:10am
  - Harkman
    
    So investing in a strip club might be a no no.
    
    9 1
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    March 4, 2018 11:09am
    - DigNap15
      
      I hear that the women at those clubs actually want men to touch them! (for a fee)
      
      1 2
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      March 4, 2018 1:38pm
- cha
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Be very fucking afraid,
  
  Do you have reason to be very fucking afraid?.
  /
  
  3 34
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  March 4, 2018 9:28am
  - AgentBallSack
    
    No I don’t, thanks for giving me the chance to clear that up. Because yours, like her list is another spurious unproven allegation. See how it works now you stupid cock?
    Her list requires the onus of proving something upon the accused. Completely the opposite of our justice system.
    Fuck you’re thick. And I am not even qualifying that statement with so-called sarc remarks.
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:54am
- freethinker
  
  Julie should be careful she doesn’t get an unexpected surprise, one allegation against her can be dismissed 2 or 3 more of a problem 20,000 and she’s dog tucker, only allegations of course!!!
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:14am
Manolo

Who will be the challenger?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/01/2020-vision-huge-field-democrats-forming-for-contest-to-take-on-trump.html

The absence of a clear front-runner, in turn, has dozens of Democrats from across the ideological spectrum weighing their options, creating the possibility that the primary season could see upwards of 20-plus candidates vying to take on President Trump two years from now.
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March 4, 2018 9:05am
- AgentBallSack
  
  IT WAS HER TURN!
  
  16 3
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  March 4, 2018 9:14am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Shortly to be clad in a fetching orange onesie in a tumbril
    
    12 2
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    March 4, 2018 9:34am
- fernglas
  
  You have an ugly white Republican male reality TV star as the incumbent, so following the National party’s logic the Democrat nomination should go to an ugly black female reality TV star. That should limit the options.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:51am
  - Gabby
    
    You’re no star fernglarse.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:13pm
Manolo

Mamma Merkel’s latest enemy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/world/europe/germany-kevin-kuhnert-spd.html

Mr. Kühnert, who at 28 runs the youth wing of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party, has been touring the country to convince fellow party members to vote down a coalition deal that would keep Ms. Merkel in power for another four years — and his own party in place as the junior partner to her Christian Democrats.
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March 4, 2018 9:40am
Komata

ABC: Whose? Jacinda’s?
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March 4, 2018 9:48am
Inandout

I see Haimona Bridges is still going on about his Maori heritage. This will put voters off Simple Simon.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101908681/debating-simon-bridges-moriness-hurts-mori
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March 4, 2018 9:48am
- DigNap15
  
  Yes he should stop banging on about it.
  He’s only 3/16th and he hardly spends every weekend down at the Marae doing kapa haka etc.
  
  Maori’s will call him a plastic maori and never vote for him in droves.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:15am
  - Kimbo
    
    Just as conservative voters will complain about the “RINO/Labour lite” National Party, but will still vote for them, because they have nowhere else to go. Except for the really confused ones like Chuck Bird. ?
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:19am
  - VicParking
    
    If you followed the news you will find he only talks about it when asked by the MSM. If he says he proud to be a Maori he’s not Maori enough to do that. If he shrugs if off he is a “Waka Blond”. [From my younger days in Rotorua]
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:15pm
- big bruv
  
  “I see Haimona Bridges is still going on about his Maori heritage. This will put voters off Simple Simon.”
  
  Don’t worry, he has dragged some more of his core support over from the left with talk of no more tax cuts.
  The longer Simon Milliband stays as leader the longer Jacinda Palin will run the country, it really is as simple as that.
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:37pm
- Piniwi
  
  Well Inandout they can have him as he is too much native for the majority of National supporters as he has started out to take the blunder a day title old Clownliffe had.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:25pm
kowtow

And we play cricket with them ?

“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty for anyone found guilty of “defiling the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad”.

Recent years have seen increasing violence associated with the laws, with at least 74 people killed in attacks motivated by blasphemy accusations since 1990, according to an Al Jazeera tally.
Christians and other minorities, who make up about two percent of Pakistan’s 207 million population, are disproportionately targeted by the laws, prosecution data shows.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/suspect-lahore-blasphemy-case-fighting-life-180303085358736.html
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March 4, 2018 10:01am
- Manolo
  
  If not savages, what are these Pakistanis?
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:05am
  - DigNap15
    
    Yes I have come to the conclusion over the last few months that islam is not so much a religion as a law.
    
    They can do what they like in their own countries, but keep out of western civilisations!
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:18am
    - fernglas
      
      Pakistanis comprise over 1.1 million of the British population, with 140,000 living in Birmingham, 13.5% of that city’s population. Bit late to keep them out?
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:22am
      - Swifty
        
        Agreed and also there are many, many Pakistanis who have embraced western culture and ideals and who you’d be proud to call friends. We need to hold these people close and never lump them in with the mad men.
        
        The mad men however should be treated very, shall I say, firmly.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:54am
      - kowtow
        
        If they’re Pakistanis then they should go back to Pakistan.
        
        If they are integrated British of Pakistani descent , that would be different , but they’re not are they?
        
        They should never have been let in in the first place.
        
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        March 4, 2018 2:34pm
  - VicParking
    
    Bloody savages
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:16pm
    - DigNap15
      
      @ Swifty
      What, like Dev on Coronation Street.
      
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      March 4, 2018 1:40pm
    - DigNap15
      
      It can be done.
      Israel is doing it.
      Myanmar is doing it.
      They did it in India in 1946
      And Turkey/Greece in the 1920’s
      
      One of the leading parties in the Italian election plans to deport 400,000 a year for a few years!
      
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      March 4, 2018 1:42pm
      - Gabby
        
        Sethefrikka’s gonna be doing it too bignipis. That’s okay by you isn’t it.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:18pm
- Jack5
  
  Kowtow, do you mean: where, on behalf of slaughtered Christians, are: NZ’s demonstrators, marchers, and even some wild-eyed amateur pilot threatening to suicide crash a plane into a cricket match?
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:31am
  - AgentBallSack
    
    I refused to go watch Pakistan play cricket here, the chance of a crowd bombing is too high. Also I don’t condone their human rights policies.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:55am
    - stephieboy
      
      ABS, yeah and was their crowd bombs ?
      
      An email to the White House condemning US diplomatic and military ties to the teams Homeland ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:29pm
      - Salacious Crumb
        
        Yet again you espouse your ignorance. Where do Pakistan play their home matches and why?
        
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        March 4, 2018 12:43pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Wasim and Waqar are still the most exciting and effective new ball attack I’ve ever seen. And with the old ball too! And Javed Miandad, yes, cheating, sledging and umpire-intimidation and all, was always worth the price of admission! ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 2:32pm
waikatogirl

Winnie on Q+A actually answering questions and having a coherent conversation re China in the Pacific.

Winston actually can behave in an interview, but then he has his eye on the golden prize to become PM in a few months.
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March 4, 2018 10:12am
- ztev
  
  Its called ‘ being briefed on the issues’
  
  Key used to play the same trick, with officials telling him what to say, otherwise it was his famous word salads
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:16am
- backster
  
  No questions about Sth Africa then?
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:41am
  - Gabby
    
    bignipis wants to know when they’re going to kick out the foreigners.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:19pm
- Salacious Crumb
  
  People suffering diseases of cognitive decline do have windows of complete lucidity; it’s the frequency and duration of these respites that reduce.
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:45pm
Keeping Stock

What a nasty, cynical hit piece. It reeks of jealousy from Richard Prosser, who was given the arse card from NZF by Winston Peters before he could properly sup from the trough.

Interestingly, the article talks about Hipkins being “at the more senior end” of the Labour Party, when he in fact entered Parliament in 1978, at the same time as Simon Bridges.
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March 4, 2018 10:26am
- Viking2
  
  Not at all. People are allowed opinions and although it doesn’t accord with you unreality it is a side swipe at Jacinda who has just done the same,even though her name is not mentioned. Not a stand alone piece and we are entitled to know how our leaders operate. There was no mallace in that piece.
  
  No doubt Peters and others are in that list which is publicly available.
  Sensitve wee soul.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:42am
- freethinker
  
  Check the date unless they were both in Parliament whilst at kindergarten.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:18am
Ross12

Will this headline give Simon Bridges motivation ?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12004128
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March 4, 2018 10:37am
- Gravelroad
  
  Having read this article it is almost exclusively about Labour and Winstone 1st policies.
  The only mention of Bridges is at the start – so, that says the writer has used Bridges as click bait and and a cynical opportunity to put the boot in for good measure. Classy.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:57am
cha

The Economist rings the bell.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West welcomed the next big communist country into the global economic order. Western leaders believed that giving China a stake in institutions such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would bind it into the rules-based system set up after the second world war (see Briefing). They hoped that economic integration would encourage China to evolve into a market economy and that, as they grew wealthier, its people would come to yearn for democratic freedoms, rights and the rule of law.

It was a worthy vision, which this newspaper shared, and better than shutting China out. China has grown rich beyond anybody’s imagining. Under the leadership of Hu Jintao, you could still picture the bet paying off. When Mr Xi took power five years ago China was rife with speculation that he would move towards constitutional rule. Today the illusion has been shattered. In reality, Mr Xi has steered politics and economics towards repression, state control and confrontation

[…]

To counter China’s sharp power, Western societies should seek to shed light on links between independent foundations, even student groups, and the Chinese state. To counter China’s misuse of economic power, the West should scrutinise investments by state-owned companies and, with sensitive technologies, by Chinese companies of any kind. It should bolster institutions that defend the order it is trying to preserve. For months America has blocked the appointment of officials at the WTO. Mr Trump should demonstrate his commitment to America’s allies by reconsidering membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as he has hinted. To counter China’s hard power, America needs to invest in new weapons systems and, most of all, ensure that it draws closer to its allies—who, witnessing China’s resolve, will naturally look to America.

https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21737517-it-bet-china-would-head-towards-democracy-and-market-economy-gamble-has-failed-how

(private browser to bypass paywall)
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March 4, 2018 10:49am
- Ross12
  
  Thanks cha.
  But this bit is rubbish
  ” Today the illusion has been shattered. In reality, Mr Xi has steered politics and economics towards repression, state control and confrontation”
  If there is one thing the Chinese leadership will do is that everything will be done to avoid confrontation (ie. upsetting the masses).
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:18am
  - cha
    
    Xi’s China has detained and disappeared an unknown number of dissidents and political opponents, routinely blocks social media, uses riot police to brutally repress the like of Falun Gong, pro-Tibet activists and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and pretty much anybody else who fails to toe the party line.
    
    If that ain’t confrontation, I don’t know what you’d call it.
    
    Despite the relatively low number of detentions last year, the CECC, as well as activists in China and abroad, worry Chinese President Xi Jinping is consolidating power, eliminating rival ideologies and waging a crackdown on dissent. In its 2016 annual report, the CECC said moderate progress on human rights was “overshadowed by the apparent distrust and sometimes hostility with which the Chinese government continues to view its citizens.” Before that, in March, for the first time in its history, the U.N. Human Rights Council released a statement that specifically targeted China, expressing concern about, among other things, “the increasing number of individuals whose confession[s] have been aired on state media prior to any indictment or judicial process.”
    
    Meanwhile, many people who were targeted in previous years remain in detention. In mid-2015, hundreds of human rights lawyers were rounded up in a sweeping crackdown. Several remain missing. One, Xie Yang, told his lawyers that he was shackled to a chair in a secret prison, beaten and interrogated for hours. “I’m going to torment you until you go insane,” a guard reportedly told him. “You’re going to be a cripple.” In January, the European Union issued a rare statement expressing concern about Yang and several other detained human rights lawyers: “If verified, this mistreatment would amount to torture.”
    
    Another of the lawyers rounded up in 2015, a 25-year-old legal assistant named Zhao Wei ― whose alleged crime was “picking quarrels and causing trouble” ― was supposedly released last July, a year after being detained. She gave a strange interview to the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper now owned by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, that struck many activists in China and abroad as a set-up. Neither her husband nor her lawyer had seen her after her supposed release and were blindsided by the interview with the SCMP. Her husband traveled to her parents’ home in central China, looking for her. The house was empty.
    
    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/political-prisoners-china-database_us_589a1d83e4b09bd304be3300
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:42am
    - Ross12
      
      Cha , I put this “(ie. upsetting the masses)” in my comment for a reason, which was because the way the Economist has written that bit they make it out to be referring to the Chinese population as a whole –which is not correct.
      The activities you refer to re the Falun Gong , dissidents disappearing etc. have been happening for a long time –well before Xi became Head of State. ( I don’t condone them, but they are not new in Xi’s era)
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:47pm
      - cha
        
        When Mr Xi took power five years ago China was rife with speculation that he would move towards constitutional rule. Today the illusion has been shattered. In reality, Mr Xi has steered politics and economics towards repression, state control and confrontation.
        
        The author refers to the optimism when Xi came to power but Xi got his Mao on and steered politics and economics towards repression, state control and confrontation.
        
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        March 4, 2018 1:12pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  It’s very depressing to see a superpower sliding into oppressive totalitarianism like this.
  
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  March 4, 2018 5:36pm
waikatogirl

Comrades, comrades, comrades, I hear your concern about it looking like I have a foot in the capitalism camp by owning not just one but 2 expensive houses in the best areas of Auckland. I promise you all it was not me, your trusted and relentlessly positive leader, but the mother of the nation’s baby felt it was necessary to buy a $1.7m home before the impending birth.

We had a conversation and agreed the positivity would make my socialist following use this as a beacon of light to follow and agree.

Let’s do this!
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March 4, 2018 11:04am
- Paulus
  
  CV was $1,700,000 but houses ell for well above their CVs.
  Probably about $2,400,000.
  Socialist peanuts for the elite.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:30am
  - sooty
    
    Has Secret Cindy been caught by Titsford Chinky homes bullshit?
    I believe you have to hang on to your house five yrs now. It use to be two years, before you could sell.
    Looks like she is now got her foot on the capitalist ladder as a Landlord.
    Cheap rent for the Manus islanders. Should fit a dozen in there.
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:41am
    - sooty
      
      Where is it any way? I heard she paid 2mill.
      
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      March 4, 2018 11:42am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        In Sandringham, near Eden Park
        
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        March 4, 2018 11:45am
      - VicParking
        
        Which makes the larger house next door that Twitford is going to buy for her security detail $3m at least.
        
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        March 4, 2018 1:22pm
    - Viking2
      
      Is currently 2 years but have signaled it going to 5.
      she will not sell it. Read all the stuff about the MP’s Super funds.
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:20pm
    - stephieboy
      
      KS , Sandringhim near Eden Park ?
      
      Walking distance Say 2ks
      
      Your point ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:50pm
  - AgentBallSack
    
    She probably had union thugs standing around threatening to give people the bash if they bid against her
    
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    March 4, 2018 12:05pm
    - stephieboy
      
      ABS , silly , childish and surly !
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:51pm
  - jonno1
    
    Not if it’s the 2017 CV; these are surprisingly accurate overall (generally a little below market). However, the ‘value’ is in the land. I recently sold a house where the land value was 73% of the CV, but to rebuild the house would have cost at least twice its nominated value. I got 7% above CV. It would appear that Council estimates both the land value and the market value, with the ‘value of improvements’ simply being the difference.
    
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    March 4, 2018 10:35pm
ztev

Bubbles Bridges stuffs up again.
Not sure prisoners should be allowed to vote ?

In spite of him voting with legislation which stripped all sentenced prisoners from voting

“Mr Bridges was asked on Saturday by host Lisa Owen whether prisoners should be able to vote.

“It depends on the level. I think the answer that we came to in Government was under, is it two or three years? Yes. Where they’re in for really serious lags and really serious offences, no.”

Ms Owen told him in fact, at the moment no prisoners can vote, and asked if Mr Bridges was proposing a change.

Well I thought that was the Bill we had put in place,” he replied.

Asked if he supported prisoners with sentences under three years being able to vote, he said: “Well no, I support the position we had. I thought I had that right.”

So he thought shorter term prisoners should vote until he realised that was contrary to what he had voted for.
hello . This guy was a prosecutor, surely he remembers party policy in his specialist area
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March 4, 2018 11:12am
- ztev
  
  This was one of his lines from the debate
  ““Labour members are soft on crime. They want criminals to vote.”
  
  Bridges wanted (some) criminals to vote too, until ~~he remembered~~ was told he didnt.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:25am
  - KevOB
    
    What are Labour going to empty out the prisons into?
    
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    March 4, 2018 4:41pm
- KevOB
  
  The nit picking has started. It’s years since SB denied Winston the Tauranga seat. He doesn’t need to read speeches from his tablet either.
  
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  March 4, 2018 4:39pm
howitis

It looks like it was the Irish who caused the explosion in the Leicester shop last week!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5458311/Three-charged-Leicester-explosion.html#ixzz58iy1OyTU

…Three men have been charged with manslaughter and arson over a supermarket explosion in Leicester, which left five people dead and a number of people injured, Leicestershire Police have said.
Aram Kurd, 33, of Leicester, Hawkar Hassan, 32, of Coventry and Arkan Ali, 37, of Oldham, have all been charged with five counts of manslaughter and with arson with intent to endanger life.
They will be held in custody during the weekend and will appear before Leicester Magistrates on Monday….

Oh Wait, they could be French, or Spanish!
You decide!

The guess is at this stage the explosion was caused by an illegal still.
So clearly these were not mat-munching moozlems.
No Sir!
Probably stick with the Irishmen theory.
..or something more sinister that causes explosions?
If the latter is the case the truth will probably never come out.
Under Taqiyya they don’t even have to tell the truth in court!

Interesting to see the picture of the explosion in the article where both houses either side sharing a common brick wall are intact with no visible damage.
This shows a standard of workmanship that we certainly do not see in NZ.
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March 4, 2018 11:25am
- ztev
  
  Thats how they build ammo bunkers too- let the explosion go one way
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:38am
  - Harriet
    
    It’s also how they build houses etc. that *may* have a tonne or two of snow on the roof in winter. That is generally a reason for better building standards in the UK, as opposed to Aussie/NZ.
    
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    March 4, 2018 12:11pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Harriet ,.
      
      “That is generally a reason for better building standards in the UK, as opposed to Aussie/NZ.”
      
      Without a “commie” based regulatory framework ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 12:38pm
- stephieboy
  
  The three accused look like body building fitness freaks and ordinary crim types
  
  Are they actually practising and devout Muslims ?
  
  Not tell the truth in court under so called” ”?
  
  Even if true they can still be caught out by committing perjury !
  
  “This practice is emphasized in Shia Islam whereby adherents are permitted to conceal their religion when under threat of persecution or compulsion.[3][8] However, it is also permitted in Sunni Islam under certain circumstance..”
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiya
  
  I’m sure there e.g many Jews in Nazi Germany whose lives depended on committing the equivalent of “Taqiyya”
  
  Of course spies and double agents all the time ! Business people too !
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:44pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I’m sure there e.g many Jews in Nazi Germany whose lives depended on committing the equivalent of “Taqiyya”
    
    Telling fibs about your ancestry didn’t work too well if you or your male relatives were missing their foreskins.
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:37pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Speaking of religion, Stephieboy, did you have a good time at St Albans this morning? Was it nice not to have to do “a reading” or serve tea and scones?
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:00pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  The charges are interesting. The owner Aram Kurd (one of those charged) was in the shop at the time of explosion, but survived. Most bombs leave residues of reagents and products that can be isolated and identified.
  
  No terrorism charge, so perhaps no bombs. Could this have been an insurance arson gone-wrong, or (more likely and reflective of charges) they were working on a gas system without a license.
  
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  March 4, 2018 1:46pm
AgentBallSack

#HerToo, #SheToo, #WeToo
#MeToo

Comments are eviscerating Mau

Nobody else launched a rigorous #metoo investigation – so I thought, bugger it, let’s go
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March 4, 2018 11:56am
- Kimbo
  
  Cynical attempt to relaunch her marooned media career, I reckon. Usually I’d give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but Alison Mau was prepared to sell stories of her personal life to the Women’s Mags when it suited, then, having made it a matter of public and commercial interest, complained about paparazzi intrusion into her family. Well, Ali, you invited ‘em in in the first place, so you know how the media game – including astroturfed outrage – works.
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:46pm
  - AgentBallSack
    
    Already commentators are saying if you don’t agree with Mau, you must have something to hide. I would guess that the majority of these people would scream blue murder if the GCSB started monitoring them based on anonymous unproven reports.
    
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    March 4, 2018 1:54pm
- Harriet
  
  As if leaving your husband for a woman isn’t sexual harassment.
  If he’d left her for another woman she’d be crying harassment over every associated matter with regards to child custody and other divorce matters. Patriarchal harassment she would call it.
  
  #MeWhingingAndMoaningToo
  
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  March 4, 2018 12:48pm
Pete George

Check your privilege

Privilege: Unearned access to social power based on membership in a dominant social group

_ Able-bodied physically and mentally

_ Access to education

_ Christian

_ Cisgender

_ Heterosexual

_ Male

_ Native English speaker

_ New Zealand Citizen (at birth)

_ White

Becoming Aware of Privilege should not be viewed as a burden or source of guilt, but rather an opportunity to learn and be responsible so that we may work toward a more just and inclusive world.

(Adapted from OUIT)
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March 4, 2018 12:52pm
- Swifty
  
  PG – what is ‘social power’?
  
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  March 4, 2018 2:38pm
- kowtow
  
  Pete
  
  Did you leave out the sarc symbol or are you seriously suggesting one checks out one’s privelige.?
  
  ps Where do white middle class wimmin (who may or may not be carpet munchers) and who have or had very senior positions in gummint and law sit on the unearned privelige continuum?
  
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  March 4, 2018 2:47pm
- simpleton1
  
  Being aware:- seems like calling it out.
  Does that mean to stop being “judgy” even though noting other peoples gender, race, religion, etc. rather than the content of their character .
  To see and note that list seems to make it into ID politics of bigotry and hypocrisy .
  Like making able bodied or straight to be a bad thing in a sly way.
  
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  March 4, 2018 2:49pm
- Longknives
  
  Utter Horseshit Pete.
  
  You actually believe that??
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:07pm
- Pete George
  
  “An actual official checklist, so you can “check your privilege”, with some explanation, from the University of Ontario”
  
  https://twitter.com/bryce_edwards/status/970061974372405248
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:49pm
  - Don the Kiwi
    
    ” University of Ontario”
    
    Explains it all – Canada has gone nutjob liberal/PC.
    
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    March 4, 2018 4:31pm
- KevOB
  
  membership in a dominant social group
  Undefined and meaningless.
  
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  March 4, 2018 4:44pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Labour to establish ministry of ~~propaganda~~ truth?

https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018634411/how-far-off-is-the-government-s-media-funding-fix
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March 4, 2018 12:59pm
- DigNap15
  
  Great so will their news readers look like the ones of North Korean tv?
  
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  March 4, 2018 1:44pm
waikatogirl

The Ministry of Truth according to the CoL, or another way to spend taxpayers money on yet another pre-determined “conversation”.

The Ministry of Truth Sounds like a government ministry out of the Harry Potter series. Next the CoL will be setting up a Ministry of Magic, to be known as MOM. ?
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March 4, 2018 1:28pm
- peterwn
  
  It was originally created in George Orwell’s 1984 novel where the major Ministries had names which were opposite to their actual functions. They were the Ministry of Love (law and order), Peace (war), Plenty (rationing) and Truth (propaganda). Winston Smith the main character in 1984 worked for the Ministry of Truth his main task being to retrospectively alter news items to reflect current government thinking.
  
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  March 4, 2018 2:09pm
  - AgentBallSack
    
    I actually went and read the article simply because I thought even labour arent that fucking dumb enough to label it MiniTrue
    
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    March 4, 2018 2:16pm
Manolo

Obama’s hatchet man speaks:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376547-ex-cia-chief-trump-unstable-inept-inexperienced-and-also-unethical

Former CIA chief John Brennan on Friday predicted “rough waters ahead,” particularly on international issues, saying President Trump is “unstable, inept, inexperienced, and also unethical.”
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March 4, 2018 1:57pm
- MCos
  
  Didn’t need Brennan to tell us that.
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:54pm
Nostradamus

Andrew Geddis has written an interesting article about a secret High Court hearing:

A High Court hearing was this week shut off to everyone, including media – something even the judge calls ‘anathema to the fundamental concepts of fairness’.
…
Sometimes a judge clears the public from the courtroom for part of a hearing, for instance where a complainant gives evidence in cases of a sexual nature. But even in such cases, members of the media have a right to stay and listen, although they may not then be allowed to report publicly on the details.
…
So, here’s what is happening in the High Court in Wellington. A woman is asking to get her passport back after the government took it off her. She is doing so without knowing the evidence the government has for deciding she represents a security risk, without being able to be in the court to watch the case being argued, and without being able to have her own lawyer present to argue for her (although some unnamed “advocates” have been appointed to “assist with issues that have to be dealt with” in her absence). And none of us can go in and watch the case. Nor can the media go in to watch it on our behalf.

There was a preliminary hearing for this matter last year: A v Minister of Internal Affairs. And Justice Dobson had some interesting things to say:

[A]t Ms A’s request, I heard the parties by way of telephone conference on 11 April 2017. … Ms A confirmed that she attended the telephone conference from her residence in Melbourne, Australia. She said that she had not been helped by any lawyer preparing her submissions, but did have present with her, as a McKenzie Friend, her brother Mr A, who had also attended in her absence at the first call of the judicial review on 13 February 2017. … The submissions were of a high quality for a non-legally qualified litigant, and were equivalent to the standard likely to be produced by a practitioner specialising in this area of the law.

How fascinating…
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March 4, 2018 2:32pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  She is considered to be a threat to a country other than NZ.
  http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/melbourne-woman-loses-nz-passport-due-to-security-threat/news-story/436624b83cb81c3709a3ee42efae1ae5
  
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  March 4, 2018 5:02pm
kowtow

Thanks for posting.

This story was covered in the in brief section on pge 3 of the ODT. A matter of such grave importance , buried . When I saw it my first thought was Muslim terrorist but there was no indication of that in the ODT story.

But the fact she’s living in Melbourne and this line from the RNZ link says it all

“It involves an appeal by a Melbourne-based New Zealand woman against a decision to cancel her passport on the grounds that she represents a national security threat to some other, unspecified country. By removing her passport, the New Zealand government says it can neutralise that threat by stopping her from being able to travel there.”

Is she a “kiwi” ? Is she a Muslim?

Is this part of the diversity dividend we are being paid and the cultural enrichment we’re all meant to be embracing?
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March 4, 2018 3:05pm
- Kimbo
  
  What does it mean if the answer to your three questions is, respectively, “yes”, “no”, and “no”? ?
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:18pm
  - kowtow
    
    What does it mean when our justice system is completely hidden from the public?
    
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    March 4, 2018 3:32pm
    - Kimbo
      
      So you were in favour of Ahmed Zaoui being allowed to stay in NZ, at least until such time as he knew what the accusations against him were, and he had the opportunity to defend himself? Who woulda thought! ?
      
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      March 4, 2018 3:37pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        My recollection of the Ahmed Zaoui matter is fuzzy. On one view, there’s a relevant distinction between a person who has her NZ passport cancelled and who (due to legislation) has an up-hill battle getting it reinstated, and a person who isn’t a NZer and arrives seeking refugee status.
        
        It’s worth noting what Justice Dobson said in the “A” case:
        
        A statutory provision that material and potentially decisive evidence in a court proceeding is to be presented to the Court and considered in the absence of the party adversely affected is as flagrant a breach of the fundamental right recognised in s 27 of NZBORA as could be contemplated. There is therefore a compelling case for applying an interpretation consistent with NZBORA to limit provisions that conflict with that right, unless the limitation on the right is a reasonable one prescribed by law that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
        …
        I am satisfied that no such different interpretation could be achieved. The legislative intention in enacting these provisions is clear. Any interpretation that would benefit Ms A would require reading down s 29AA(5)(a)(ii) in such a way that would frustrate that intention contrary to the correct NZBORA approach. I am satisfied that that intention has been accurately reflected in the provisions and that there can be no exception for Ms A’s case that could justify the exclusion of the procedure under s 29AB.
        
        I can’t think of any other statutory provision like this one.
        
        And this recent Kiwiblog post indicates that Labour may be looking to make changes in this area.
        
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        March 4, 2018 3:47pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Joking aside, no I don’t think there is a difference, irrespective of whether it is a NZ passport holder, or someone applying for refugee status.
        
        Is a real tricky one. Open justice, including the right to face one’s accusers, is an important principle, as also is public scrutiny. But you can anticipate that at times, that would compromise intelligence gathering, and state security.
        
        And where it gets even more tricky is that – as per the takeaway from Peter Wright’s “Spycatcher” – the spooks are often just another inefficient bumbling government department, who use their secrecy to keep their stuff ups and job-protection hidden from both the public, and the politicians who are meant to hold them accountable.
        
        Not saying it happened in this instance, but boy, the spooks not knowing Kim Dot Com was even a NZ resident sure gave a lot of ammo to the tin foil hat brigade. Plus in the Zaoui case I’m not convinced he wasn’t just on the wrong side of a political coup, where the French decided, on the basis of expediency, to back the new Algerian regime, which entailed labelling the guys they overthrew “terrorists”. As we had to follow suit or be frozen out of intell sharing, Zaoui got thrown under the bus with the automatic issuing of the security alert. Put it this way, despite it all being classified, and something they couldn’t divulge to Zaoui’s legal team, a hell of a lot of details got leaked by the SIS, and ended up on the front page of the NZ Herald! ?
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:02pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        Open justice, including the right to face one’s accusers, is an important principle, as also is public scrutiny. But you can anticipate that at times, that would compromise intelligence gathering, and state security.
        
        Yes, but the court system seems to manage evidential difficulties in other contexts, and (at least at the moment) I can’t see any insurmountable difficulties in this context. Open justice allows an affected person to challenge the case against them, and also allows NZers (through media reporting) to understand what’s happening.
        
        And where it gets even more tricky is that – as per the takeaway from Peter Wright’s “Spycatcher” – the spooks are often just another inefficient bumbling government department, who use their secrecy to keep their stuff ups and job-protection hidden from both the public, and the politicians who are meant to hold them accountable.
        
        In my professional legal career, I can think of several times when I had to counsel a team of subject-matter experts (eg investigators) against rushing into something. When I asked a few basic questions, it turned out some important preliminary matters hadn’t been established. I’m sure that “spooks” (to use your description) are susceptible to getting caught up in the thrill of the hunt.
        
        Plus in the Zaoui case I’m not convinced he wasn’t just on the wrong side of a Political coup, where the French decided to back the new regime, which entailed labelling the guys they overthrew “terrorists”, and we had to follow suit or be frozen out of intell sharing.
        
        Is there a Kimbo’s law against double-negatives? 🙂
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:11pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No. And I did think about. Not sure if there was a way I could have stated it succinctly, and with the emphasis and caveat I was after without the double negative. Plus avoiding double negatives is a rule of thumb, rather than a law, is it not? But I salute your quest for clarity and nuance. I dread the day I’m caught out inadvertently dropping an emphatic adverb into a post. ?
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:16pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        I dread the day I’m caught out inadvertently dropping an emphatic adverb into a post.
        
        What would you accept as a suitable punishment for your crime against adverbs? An evening with Chuck Bird so both of you can discuss your many differences of opinion?
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:19pm
      - nasska
        
        …..”I dread the day I’m caught out inadvertently dropping an emphatic adverb into a post”…..
        
        I’m watching & waiting! 🙂
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:20pm
      - kowtow
        
        He had been charged and convicted often enough before he came here, so he was well aware of his own criminal history before he arrived here.
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:56pm
      - kowtow
        
        Nos
        
        SIS summary on Zaoui
        
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3550415
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:01pm
      - AgentBallSack
        
        succinctly
        adverb
        in a brief and clearly expressed manner.
        “one word succinctly describes the economy’s performance: unbalanced”
        
        That’s okay Kimbo old mate. Godwins law is unjustly invoked daily.
        
        unjustly
        Crap, I did it too
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:20pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No, no, AgentBallSack. Neither “succinctly”, nor “unjustly” are emphatic adverbs, such as “surely”, “absolutely”, “undoubtedly”, or “definitely”.
        
        Nonetheless, along with your reference in that amusing “Paveletich’s dog” post yesterday, I thank you for doing your bit to turn Kimbo’s law* into an Internet meme.
        
        * in blog world the validity of an argument is in inverse proportion to the use of emphatic adverbs.
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:40pm
      - Awww C-mon
        
        too much pot, complete dis-interest in school and a bad attitude in my formative years and I have no idea what y’all are on about.
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:48pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        AgentBallSack:
        
        I have no idea what y’all are on about
        
        I don’t think Cha knew what he was getting himself into when he took you on the other night. Then, this morning, Cha got, er, Cha(r)-grilled again…
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:53pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Kimbo
        Nonetheless,………..
        
        Please justify why you have employed that adverb in your sentence about Pav’s dog.
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:54pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ kowtow
        
        None of which changes the possibility that if there was another regime change in Algeria, and Zaoui, even if only for a season, could now be found to be a good guy. Or if a son of a bitch, he would be the French’s son of a bitch, and therefore kosher for the purposes of the international intelligence community.
        
        “Yesterday’s terrorist is today’s freedom fighter, is tomorrow’s statesman. Just ask Eamon de Valera, Menachem Begin and Nelson Mandela. ?
        
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        March 4, 2018 5:57pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Maggy Wassilieff
        
        1. “Nonetheless” is not an emphatic adverb, so it is not a shill, sprinkling rhetorical glitter on an unpolishable turd of a poor idea.
        
        2. Furthermore, it adds necessary nuance and precision, as good and well-chosen adverb should, by introducing a juxtaposition of ideas.
        
        3. One should not begin a sentence, in good English at any rate, with the only other available alternative, “But…”. Also, it is more succinct than “Despite this…”.
        
        QED
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:08pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Well, Kimbo,
        I would argue that your use of the comma after employing the conjunctive adverb nonetheless builds an emphasis into your sentence.
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:25pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo and Maggy:
        
        Take as much time as you need to decide whether “Nonetheless” (with or without a comma) is an emphatic adverb. Just be sure to tell the rest of us once you’ve made a decision!
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:31pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Maggy Wassileiff
        
        Indeed, (comma), but one can argue anything. However, (comma) it does not follow it is a good argument. Commas are used to distinguish clauses, which are defined as ideas that make sense, but not necessarily complete sense. In context, (comma) the subordinate clause, “Nonetheless, (comma)…” juxtaposed the idea in the preceding sentence with the idea in the following main clause. Therefore, (comma) the comma was necessary.
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:41pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Nostradamus
        
        No, “Nonetheless (with or sans comma)…” is an adverb of contrast, not emphasis.
        
        Also, (comma as that was a subordinate clause), in context it was necessary to give the required nuance and precision. On the one hand I was rejecting ABS’ assertion that we had both breached Kimbo’s law*, yet I also commended his referencing of it. So those are two ideas that are in contrasting juxtaposition.
        
        To demonstrate this is so, take out the necessary qualifier, “Nonetheless, (comma)…” that joined the two contrasting ideas together, and the transition would have been too sharp and the two ideas entirely (justified adverb!) unrelated.
        
        Hence the adverb of contrast added value, rather than acting as a rhetorical shill as too many emphatic adverbs do.
        
        * in blogworld the validity of an argument in in inverse proportion to the use of emphatic adverbs.
        
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        March 4, 2018 6:59pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        … the two ideas entirely (justified adverb!) unrelated …
        
        Oh, now you’re teasing us! Just for entertainment value, I’d like to dial up the pressure a notch, and point out that you’re just one step away from a misplaced emphatic adverb!
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:07pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Nostradamus
        
        Close, but no cigar. “Entirely”, in context was a deliberate over-emphasis, to highlight the juxtaposition of contrast that was intended in the original use of “Nonetheless”. Hence I was using hyperbole to counter your equally-exaggerated interrogation. And both hyperbole and irony are valid uses of emphatic adverbs, exceptions that do not breach Kimbo’s law.
        
        Also, due to the need to counter your feigned obtuseness concerning my juxtaposition of contrast, “entirely” functioned not just as an emphatic adverb, but also one qualifying genuine extent. The two ideas could have been contrasting in only part, not in whole. Hence an alternative (non-emphatic) adverb “partially” could have been used. However, the use of “entirely” removed any ambiguity.
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:24pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        your equally-exaggerated interrogation
        
        Oh dear – I must have crossed a line. I thought Chuck Bird had the floor to himself when it comes to interrogating you!
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:29pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Nostradamus
        
        Unlike Chuck Bird, the interrogations of both you and Maggy are polite invitations, which add value to the inexorable rise of Kimbo’s law to internet meme status. Neither are they an attempt to threadjack. Nor do either of you resort to “spray and walk away” once the discussion you initiated develops into a reciprocating interrogation.
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:35pm
    - waikatogirl
      
      So she is a kiwi living in Melbourne who can’t fly internationally. Was she intending to go to Syria?
      
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      March 4, 2018 4:36pm
RF

Interesting that the looney left had a real hatred of John Key when he was PM. Death threats were even hinted. This was judging by the comments put out by the media and the intensity increased over the 9 odd years

Now when you read about our new commie chick PM in various blogs etc the intense dislike of her far exceeds what was spoken about John Key. Hell she has only been in for a few months and the tar & feathers are being prepared. She is very thin skinned and does not like criticism so she will be protected from the numerous adverse blog comments.

There is one difference, the media are giving her an easy ride. Plonkers like Soper support this.
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March 4, 2018 3:14pm
- nasska
  
  Not just NZ & it has spread further than blogs though your point about the scum MSM shielding her is well made. From the Urban Dictionary:
  
  “jacinda effect
  
  To completely bullshit your way into the hearts and minds of gullible and lazy, uneducated simpletons.
  
  By smiling like a horse and promising to fuck a country, the retarded succumbed to the jacinda effect.”
  
  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jacinda+effect&defid=11975319
  
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  March 4, 2018 3:54pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Nasska:
    
    By smiling like a horse
    
    Ardern says new $10m all-weather horse racing track will protect from ‘significant’ losses
    
    It’d be great if someone with artistic talent could create a cartoon with a horse (Jacinda) and a rider (Winston) – and a pile of taxpayer money morphing into a shiny new horse racing track!
    
    15 2
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    March 4, 2018 3:57pm
    - nasska
      
      Hope would be a fine thing. Even the cartoonists have blunted their harpoons to save the lying incompetent from distress.
      
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      March 4, 2018 4:01pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Nasska:
        
        Even the cartoonists have blunted their harpoons
        
        As distinct from sharpening their teeth?
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:01pm
      - nasska
        
        For a “cartoonist and caricature artist ” Bell’s effort makes her look better than a portrait artist could.
        
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        March 4, 2018 4:07pm
      - RalphT
        
        Nasska, I certainly wouldn’t want to meet those teeth on a dark night; give me Dracula any time.
        
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        March 4, 2018 9:21pm
  - Gabby
    
    Did you make that entry nutsack? First entry you’ve made for a while.
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:35pm
- MCos
  
  I would suggest that anyone who has ever been a PM, president or whatever attracts extreme odium from a percentage of the public because they are jealous their favourite doesn’t hold the position.
  Someone doesn’t even need to be a politician to attract this odium, merely a prominent person who expresses a political point of view.
  
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  March 4, 2018 4:39pm
- Manolo
  
  MSM plonkers and hacks like Mr Soper have been propping Labour for many, many years.
  
  11 1
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  March 4, 2018 5:51pm
- Gabby
  
  Well you’re way more vicious and foam flecked than any lefties, rf rf, and I daresay your handlers are even more vindictive.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:34pm
Nostradamus

Does anyone know if Stigie (who I believe lives in Nelson) participated in the Golden Bay World Naked Bike Ride?

Nude cyclists bared all in Golden Bay this weekend to promote freedom and body awareness. The World Naked Bike Ride on Saturday attracted about 30 naked cyclists from all over New Zealand and the world.

Have you pumped up your bike tyres lately, Stigie? 🙂
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March 4, 2018 5:25pm
- nasska
  
  That was him at the 51 second mark Nostra. The one on the left with the tattoos on his arse & a brown bike seat! 🙂
  
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  March 4, 2018 5:36pm
  - stigie
    
    Nah Nasska, im the one with the saggy breasts and hairy armpits.
    They are trying to get Penny and Johnboy down for next years ride !~
    
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    March 4, 2018 7:14pm
- stigie
  
  Sorry Nostra the Raleigh with a basket on the front is down in the basement with flat tyres !~
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:05pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    That’s a pity Stigie. I thought you’d enjoy the scenery and perhaps the company of a few nudists. But you were let down by flat tyres! Maybe next year?
    
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    March 4, 2018 7:11pm
cha

Health and safety, apparently, because some of the podium girls complained about growing mustaches and chest hair after kissing the riders.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/cycling/5702666/tour-de-france-to-drop-podium-girls-formula-one-darts/?
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March 4, 2018 5:53pm
- nasska
  
  The Wairarapa has become a cyclists’ Mecca of late cha. After giving the lycra clad poseurs & fools careful observation (from a safe distance bearing in mind the possibility of HIV transmission) I state with confidence that they wouldn’t worry about the lack of girls waiting to kiss them.
  
  Boys……now that’s different. 🙂
  
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  March 4, 2018 6:02pm
  - Gabby
    
    You’re waiting to kiss them nutsack?
    
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    March 4, 2018 11:37pm
- Nostradamus
  
  From Cha’s linked article:
  
  [R]ace officials have held extensive talks about ditching the use of the ladies, who flank the winner on the podium each day. They are as much a recognised part of the Tour as the cycling itself – but bosses believe the time has come to end the practice.
  
  The time has come to end the practice – and replace it with hairy-chested men with fully-grown beards! Imagine being kissed by, say, Conchita Wurst when you’re dripping in sweat after a high-stakes bike ride!
  
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  March 4, 2018 6:06pm
Stars And Stripes

National party leader Simon Bridges introduces his newborn daughter
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/lifestyle/familyandrelationships/national-party-leader-simon-bridges-introduces-his-newborn-daughter/ar-BBJPrcc?li=AAaeXZz&ocid=spartandhp
“This week the long-serving politician introduces Woman’s Day to his beautiful whanau, including gorgeous newborn daughter Jemima, in an exclusive at-home shoot at the family’s home in Tauranga”.

Oh FFS how much more of this puerile crap does the long suffering taxpayer have to put up with before politicians start actually doing something tangible in this country.
No much easier to appear in bimbo mags and do soft interviews on TV than do the job you were elected for as people might then see how low on ability you really are.
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March 4, 2018 6:02pm
cha

Meanwhile, in news from the land of steers and queers….

A candidate in the race for a South Texas state House seat has reportedly received $87,500 in campaign donations — more than half of which is made up of deer semen.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/376483-donations-of-deer-semen-make-up-majority-of-donations-in-texas-state
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March 4, 2018 6:15pm
Longknives

Glad I’m not the only person who struggles to get excited about ‘Extreme Sports’ at the Olympics…
(I feel the same way over Sarah Walker and her BMX racing- I grew out of BMX when I was 11)

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/101815552/head-to-head-should-nz-take-winter-olympics-more-seriously

“The fact that some children from New Zealand won medals in childish-looking events doesn’t change that.”

“It merely underlined how Mickey Mouse the Olympics have become. What next? Medals for video games?”
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March 4, 2018 6:28pm
- nasska
  
  ….”What next? Medals for video games?”…..
  
  Probably participation certificates instead of medals to prevent the losers from having hurt ‘feelz’.
  
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  March 4, 2018 6:32pm
  - Longknives
    
    Just think- When the People’s Republic of Aotearoa hosts the Olympics in 2032 our ‘Dear Leader and President for Life’ Jacinda will be able to hand out participation medals to every competitor!
    (There won’t be any athletes from Evil Capitalist Countries though- No invites to anyone who doesn’t embrace Dear Leader’s Socialism!…)
    
    * Winston will be pickled in a glass coffin and on display by then- Just like Chairman Mao…
    
    11 2
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    March 4, 2018 7:14pm
    - Awww C-mon
      
      Host the olympics? In 2032??
      
      14 yrs from now?
      14 yrs of Grunter the beam counter?
      14 yrs old Twitford the builder?
      14 yrs of chippie in high schools?
      14 yrs of Curren and Mahuta? Gloriz and JAG?
      14 yrs of Willie J and Shane J?
      
      People’s republic of fuck all by then!
      
      13 2
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      March 4, 2018 7:20pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Awww C-mon:
        
        A lot will happen between now and 2032. Mikenmild will chalk up 125,000 Kiwiblog comments. Stephieboy will have a full harem of girls. And, as for our Olympic team, we’ll probably have Gobby the Troll as the flag-bearer.
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:24pm
      - Longknives
        
        Nah it’s all good Awww Cmon – Jacinda has a plan to print shitloads more money when they run out…(and when there is nothing more to be squeezed out of the Taxpayer)
        What could possibly go wrong?
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:28pm
      - Awww C-mon
        
        1 and 3 are possible. #3… nah not even an alternative universe can the great Nostra predict that!
        
        Poor ole Stephie-perv would know what to do with it all anyway.
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:30pm
      - Awww C-mon
        
        Longknives, what could go wrong?
        
        Are you trying to make me drink??? More???????
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:33pm
Nostradamus

Has Penny replaced her John Key suit with a Justin Trudeau one?
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March 4, 2018 6:51pm
- Awww C-mon
  
  Or her Shonkey claims? actions? Behaviour? justifications?
  
  Cray cray that one
  
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  March 4, 2018 6:57pm
- Awww C-mon
  
  Hey! Edits aren’t fair Nostradamus ??
  
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  March 4, 2018 6:58pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Awww C-mon:
    
    I decided, on reflection, to refer to our greatest living prime minister by his proper name rather than by Penny’s smear-name. By the way, did you know that he owns Bank of America shares? 🙂
    
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    March 4, 2018 7:00pm
    - Awww C-mon
      
      Fair call, no I hadn’t heard about him having shares in any banks… someone once mentioned trading money but I thought they meant getting Aussie dollars at the bank for a big weekend on the GC
      
      6 3
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      March 4, 2018 7:07pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Awww C-mon:
      
      I was being flippant – and now I’m intrigued that you somehow managed to miss all of Penny’s posts about John Key and his Bank of America shares. Her obsession with that topic became a running joke on Kiwiblog!
      
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      March 4, 2018 7:10pm
    - Awww C-mon
      
      Hahaha nah I got you Nostra!
      
      6 1
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      March 4, 2018 7:12pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        I should have done some due diligence on you, Awww C-mon. I won’t make that mistake next time!
        
        7 1
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        March 4, 2018 7:15pm
      - Awww C-mon
        
        How do you do that!!!!
        
        #mindblown #jedinostra #iamnotworthy
        
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        March 4, 2018 7:22pm
- Longknives
  
  I love that you are so full of self-importance Penny that you seem to think only a Police Inspector can arrest you!
  I’m fairly sure Trespass is Trespass and smelly ‘Rent a Mob’ Professional Protesters don’t get an exemption…
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:07pm
- Harriet
  
  “…..Has Penny replaced her John Key suit with a Justin Trudeau one?…..”
  
  Speaking of Trudeau – Mankind VS Peoplekind.
  
  https://www.xyz.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_5054.jpg 😎
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:57pm
RF

Longknives.

As you know a hairy arsed cop fresh out of the Police College has the powers to lock up this POS.

Tell her she’s dreaming.
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March 4, 2018 7:15pm
waikatogirl

I understand Cindy and Winnie both left for a tour of the Pacific Island this afternoon.

Who is the acting PM? Have the CoL brought Kelvin in from the cold for the position, or is someone else got the hot seat while they are out of the country? Is James Shaw in charge? ?
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March 4, 2018 7:24pm
- KevOB
  
  Are they off to lecture the PM of Samoa on how bad the Chinese are for financing the new government buildings?
  
  NZ may be 10 years too late. We can’t be friends one week and not the next. Other countries have their sovereignty too.
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:36pm
- Awww C-mon
  
  They need a pinch hitter, a solid performer with a track record of getting it done in the house.
  
  Curren is the best they have ??
  
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  March 4, 2018 7:36pm
  - Longknives
    
    Team Mahuta!!!
    Wouldn’t Prime Minister Scribble Face be the best comedy ever?
    
    13 1
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    March 4, 2018 7:38pm
    - sooty
      
      She back all ready? That did not take long to tell them bloody ockers off. Now she’s on another duty free run.
      
      11 1
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      March 4, 2018 8:26pm
    - RF
      
      Nah… scribble face is still in witness protection rubbing her chops with bleach.
      
      Trying to fit in with the other 99.9% of New Zealanders.
      
      6 2
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      March 4, 2018 8:50pm
Harriet

WELLINGTON, NZ —In order to aid the news station in preparing stories for consumption, popular news media organization Stuff.co.nz purchased an industrial-sized washing machine to help its journalists and news anchors spin the news before publication.
The custom-made device allows Stuff.co.nz reporters to load just the facts of a given issue, turn a dial to “spin cycle,” and within five minutes, receive a nearly unrecognizable version of the story that’s been spun to fit with the news station’s agenda.
One reporter was seen inserting the facts of a recent news story early Thursday morning.
“Okay, so we just slip in the location, the people involved, the facts of the story, and there we go,” she muttered as she fiddled with the buttons and dials on the machine. “Spin for five minutes on high, and we’ll have ourselves a news story.”
Minutes later, she removed the story and found it had turned into a perfect piece to push unfettered free education, common-sense gun control, poverty alleviation and the removal of President Trump from office.
“Perfect!” she screeched, taking the story straight to her computer in order to upload it to Stuff.co.nz website.
At publishing time, Stuff.co.nz had also purchased an industrial-sized rubbish compactor in order to help compress and distort facts to fit into its preconceived narrative; accomplishments of journalistic kiwi women at Stuff.co.nz. 😎
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March 4, 2018 7:40pm
- RichardX
  
  It is dishonest to omit the source even if you edit the copy & paste
  
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  March 5, 2018 12:44am
Viking2

Barnaby Joyce doesn’t know if the baby his partner is carrying is his and he doesn’t care.

Mr Joyce says he and Vikki Campion, his former media adviser, were not together during the time when she is estimated to have conceived.

Having previously asked for privacy and an end to scrutiny of his private life, Mr Joyce has now told Fairfax media the baby’s paternity is “a grey area” and claims no one asked if it was his child – but he won’t be getting a paternity test, he told Fairfax Media.

“It’s mine, on the record, there it is,” he said. ”

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/joyce-unsure-baby-is-his-but-doesnt-care/news-story/8d5f28836a0a26d03c80b0831354f57b
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March 4, 2018 8:18pm
Viking2

Looks like the Tasmanian Greens are no longer.and the Tassy Labour are just another nasty party.

http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/hodgman-government-returned-after-tasmanian-state-election/news-story/18cbd12036f5bc5ad43d114316a9b0bc
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March 4, 2018 8:30pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Fucking good news.
  
  4 1
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  March 4, 2018 9:21pm
- Jack5
  
  Tasmania’s own “political Pocahontas,” Jacqui Lambie, who did not stand, conceded defeat for her 12 candidates.
  
  Lambie has been challenged n her claims to be “related to if not a descendant” of Mannalargenna, an Aboriginal Tasmanian leader. Here’s a response as reported by the ABC:
  
  Clyde Mansell, a community elder and acknowledged direct descendant of Mannalargenna, said it was news to him.
  
  “That’s my family. And she’s not part of it,” he said.
  
  Mr Mansell, who is also chair of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, branded Senator Lambie’s claims as “absolutely outrageous and scandalous”.
  
  Lambie stood down from Australia’s Federal Senate in November after revelation she had UK citizenship by descent. Her father came to Australia from Scotland as a child.
  
  Lambie in her maiden speech to the Senate made the claims about her connections to Mannalargenna, and was for a time described in the Australian media as an “indigenous senator”.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:22pm
nasska

A man is walking round the zoo when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion’s cage .

Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket & tries to pull her inside to slaughter her before the eyes of her screaming parents. The man runs to the cage & hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl & the man brings her to her terrified parents who thank him profusely.

A Herald newspaper reporter has watched the whole event. The reporter, addressing the man says, “Sir, this was the most gallant & brave thing I saw a man do in my whole life.

“The man replies, “why, it was nothing really…..the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger & acted as I felt right.”

The reporter says, “well, I”ll make sure this won’t go unnoticed. I’m a journalist from The Herald you know & tomorrow’s paper will have this story on the front page. So….. what do you do for a living & what political affiliation do you have? The man replies, “I’m a foreign exchange dealer & more of a National voter I guess.”

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the man buys a copy of The Herald to see if it indeed brings news of his actions & reads on the front page: MONEY TRADER ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH
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March 4, 2018 8:31pm
Longknives

Holy Shit!
Will heads roll for this???

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/101938891/murderer-sainey-marong-arrived-in-new-zealand-on-a-fake-passport
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March 4, 2018 8:44pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh dear, oh dear
  
  An illegal immigrant.
  Why the hell was he allowed in after destroying his passport at the airport?
  Why should some illegal with a sob-story get precedence over genuine refugees?
  
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  March 4, 2018 8:55pm
  - nasska
    
    We must be the easiest marks left on the planet for bullshit criminal refugees .
    
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    March 4, 2018 9:01pm
    - Jack5
      
      Marong “had been issued a deportation notice”.
      
      The Girl Guides could run the Immigration Department better and keep our borders safer than the present softies.
      
      Marong’s statement to the court indicates what international gatecrashers think of NZ (this is from Stuff:
      
      “When asked by Crown Prosecutor Pip Currie during his two-week trial if it was OK for him to travel to New Zealand on a fake passport, he said “yes”.
      
      “So many hundreds of thousands are living in the community that arrive as Mr Marong arrived in New Zealand,” said Marong, who often spoke in third person.
      
      NZ’s border and its immigration department are both shambles. Several successive governments can be blamed.
      
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      March 4, 2018 10:09pm
      - Jack5
        
        And let’s not forget the case has never been cleared up of the ethnic Tamil Sri Lankan who died with three family members in an Auckland house fire whose cause has never been determined.
        
        Was Kailesh Thanabalasingham the same as the man of the same name, age, and ethnicity, deported earlier from Canada after participation in ethnic gang war?
        
        Thanabalasingham, who had become secretary of the NZ Refugee Council, likely left gang enemies behind him in Toronto.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:42pm
      - Jack5
        
        EDIT: I said – “Thanabalasingham, who had become secretary of the NZ Refugee Council, likely left gang enemies behind him in Toronto.”
        
        I should have said: “Thanabalasingham, if the same person as the Canadian deportee, likely left gang enemies behind him in Toronto. Thanabalasingham was secretary of the NZ Refugee Council when he died from burns suffered in the fire.”
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:50pm
      - simpleton1
        
        Jack5
        
        Just a bit further down I put another version of another ethnic gang with ritualistic habits.
        
        Black Axe with link.
        
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        March 4, 2018 10:56pm
      - Jack5
        
        This refers to the gang leader Kailesh Thanabalasingham:
        
        http://www.canadaka.net/forums/improve-canada-f19/liberal-party-of-canada-contributor-deported-t13199.html
        
        AND:
        
        http://moderntribalist.blogspot.co.nz/2006/03/tamil-gang-boss-deported-to-sri-lanka.html
        
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        March 5, 2018 1:11am
      - simpleton1
        
        I do recall you mentioning that a while ago.
        
        At least Australia is starting to deal with these gangs, like Apex in Melbourne.
        The real issue is that these gangs are based on Mohammad, who figured how to grow his own criminals, that eventually criminalized a people.
        
        I think the point is that NZ authorities, justice systems, immigration, etc. are remaining blind to islamic doctrines, and then the gangs that follow on, that can allow others to become hidden in those ethnic enclaves.
        
        It all seems too little too late.,
        we need to prioritize and consider our peoples problems, like homeless, drug addictions, like “P”, alcohol , mental health.
        That is more than enough cost to bear, but still important to win.
        
        Any one else, automatic deportation.
        
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        March 5, 2018 1:26am
- simpleton1
  
  This also taps into another reason when halal kill was talked about last night, and Sainey Marong was an halal butcher.
  
  Immigration was necessary to ensure adequate staffing of halal slaughterers, the MIA said in its 2017 annual report.
  
  While only a “relatively small number” of halal slaughtermen were needed – 240 – insufficient New Zealanders were able and willing to do the work. So, each year the MIA (Meat Industry Association) applied for its members to employ about 130 overseas-based halal slaughterers.
  
  Funny that slaughterman is not a skilled job.
  Has to be of a proven piety of a certain religion, so one can not train up NZ’ers as the requirement is to be muslim, first and foremost.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:18pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  “Will heads roll for this?”
  Of course not.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:23pm
- simpleton1
  
  A topic and people to be kept hidden, camouflaged, disguised etc. as it is really a war of invasion and control.
  
  The whole immigration issue is hidden in so many differing ways, comparing squirrels, others do the same, etc..
  
  This is swept under the carpet by authorities, gives the authorities all the power.
  Was it part of a ritual leaving the “sheep tongue” alongside the body?
  
  Black Axe
  https://news.vice.com/article/the-notorious-black-axe-has-put-down-roots-in-canada
  University of Benin, the Black Axe started out as a benign group with “high-minded,” progressive ideals, like blackism and pan-African unity……
  …..the NBM is a non-profit charitable community organization that started in the university system…..
  “They were pure nationalists, pan Africans,” he said of the founders. “They also had a worldview that someday this organization, it will go from being just a campus organization to something that deals with contemporary world issues.”…..
  the NBM is involved in community organizing and volunteer work, adding that the group worked with Doctors Without Borders during the Ebola crisis and donated cash and toys to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children two or three times……
  
  Read it and weep you apologists.
  Another cult.
  He killed a sheep for a mate of his, and took the tongue.
  He had another friend clean his car.
  Such vipers in our midst, and careless apologists.
  
  The problem is in Canada.
  The problem is in Italy, dividing up the spoils with mafia systems.
  Blind eyes will not stop the spread into Europe.
  
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  March 4, 2018 9:40pm
- simpleton1
  
  It seems that this lad was under great care of islamic leaders.
  
  The report also revealed that Alou had been in trouble with the law as a teenager, for drug use, robbery and armed robbery.
  
  The judge criticised a January 2015 report by the Department of Juvenile Justice which praised Alou for ‘getting more involved in his religion, stopping his cannabis use and disassociating himself from his negative peer group’.
  
  Justice Peter Johnson wrote: ‘It seems clear that the change that the Offender was undertaking at that time, based upon his religious views, was a process of increasing radicalisation which saw him becoming involved in the commission of a shocking terrorist act on 2 October 2015.
  Justice Peter Johnson said that Alou’s outburst in court on Thursday proved that the chances of him being rehabilitated from his radicalisation were ‘almost hopeless’.
  
  Crown prosecutor Paul McGuire SC earlier this year told the NSW Supreme Court of Alou’s lack of remorse, his extremist views and poor prospects of rehabilitation.
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5448587/Chilling-texts-terrorist-armed-Curtis-Chengs-killer.html
  
  I hope our Christchurch lad that had murderous intent is doing much better.
  Nor pulling the wool over the blind officials (that have not read koran chronologically understanding abrogating verses and the hadiths), if he does not straighten up, and forgoes the hadith and medina verses in the koran.
  
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  March 4, 2018 10:47pm
- Rodney Randall
  
  The sister of the deceased posted some revealing info on facebook that was asked to be taken down by a detective.
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:09pm
MrTips

LOL. The hawty-tawty get all po faced
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/law-faculty-cuts-ties-russell-mcveagh

and then pull the rug out from under themselves:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/otago-law-smorgasbord-young-women

Universities have the worst perpetrators of this behaviour. I have watched this for years from ground zero. The behaviour of the law firms is awful, but they do it on their own coin at least.

“Conscience and critic” my arse.
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March 4, 2018 10:08pm
- Gabby
  
  Self-funding arseholes are they missedertits?
  
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  March 4, 2018 11:47pm
- Longknives
  
  Just wait until the Femnazis get hold of Orientation week!
  Toga Parties will be next for the chop…
  
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  March 5, 2018 1:41pm
Rodney Randall

https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/92306/eric-crampton-argues-fixing-problems-constraining-infrastructure-financing-and-local

Short and sweet article from Eric Crampton.

The link is also up on the Making Nz facebook page
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March 4, 2018 11:04pm
- Jack5
  
  Interesting article, but it ignores the surge in population – it’s attributing all of the housing problem to supply rather than partly to demand.
  
  Population growth has pretty much outrun economic growth, as GDP per capita shows.
  
  Zoning’s been part of the problem, but not all of it.
  
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  March 5, 2018 12:58am
Jack5

Merkel the Mad gets a fourth term!

It took MMP over five months from the election to give Germany a Government.

A great system. Watch what is happening in Italy.
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March 5, 2018 12:53am
Jack5

And to round the night off…

Trump praises Xi Jingping’s power grab.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/04/donald-trump-praises-xi-jinping-power-grab-give-that-a-shot-china
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March 5, 2018 1:25am
- simpleton1
  
  He can really make me smile now and again. 😉
  It is the media pundits creating all the news.
  Now something more for them to yap at.
  
  2 1
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  March 5, 2018 1:32am

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