General Debate 18 July 2019

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krazykiwi

So the new head of the European Commission is Ursula von der Leyen. She’s the former German defence minister, has strongly pushed for the formation of a European Army, and has said wayward countries like Poland need to be brought back into line. Ringing any bells, folks? Would a moustache help?

She’s also has a ‘gender equity’ bee in her bonnet:

“I will ensure full gender equality” in [my] team of 28 commissioners. “I want to see as many men as women around the college table,” she said. Pointing out that since its inception in 1958, less than 20% of commissioners had been women, she said: “We represent half of our population. We want our fair share.”

We? Good leaders never polarise, never create us vs them. Dangerous leaders do it from the outset of their reign. What is it with authoritarian socialists and their identity politics crowbars?

She got to the top by typical socialist means, ie not be being democratically elected:

Officials in the von der Leyen camp had long acknowledged that the vote would be a cliffhanger. She was set to get the majority of votes from her EPP Christian Democrats, the S&D socialists and the RE liberals. They were part of a grand coalition sharing out the top jobs.

Winston must feel all warm and cosy reading that. And what of the big things for her to focus on? Economic stability? Debt crises in Greece, Italy, Spain or France? Or perhaps the looming energy crisis, just in time for winter? Well, no. A new army aside, the biggest thing to sort out is, apparently, climate change.

“I want Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050,”

she said, adding she would work out “a green deal for Europe in the first 100 days” of her office. So an army for her to play with, while the little people deal with decaying national sovereignty, economic stress and energy shortages.

von der Leyen is the best thing to happen for Brexit supporters, but a socialist disaster for millions of trapped Europeans.
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July 18, 2019 8:00am
- freethinker
  
  This is why I left the Evil Union area 20+ years ago moving to NZ as being as far away as possible from the place without leaving the planet. I saw the European Union of Soviet Socialist States led by Germany (again) this time using money which appears to part one and the EU Army the means of enforcement . What a good decision but now I face [deleted by Mod] ardern and her evil slime of accolites following the same path and fear that once again bullets will solve the EU mess and hope NZ does not follow that path which clearly these clowns fear hence the thin edge of the wedge in banning firearms.
  
  [Mod: lightly edited as you don’t get to call the PM a Nazi SS Major, the rest is fine.]
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:00am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    “Sturmbannführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, and the NSFK.”
    
    And we get moderated for calling her Silly Little Cindy! LOVE IT.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:33am
    - Batman
      
      Fair. The rest of the comment is fine but calling the PM a Nazi SS Major is not.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:06pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Is stating that she behaves like an SS Captain permitted as she makes stupid “captain’s calls”?
        
        “Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a captain “
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:24pm
      - Batman
        
        I think generally, Nazi comparisons are a no.
        
        Unless someone is rounding up people and sending them to camps, then murdering them, or starting a global war.
        
        Captain’s calls don’t really qualify sorry!
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:30pm
      - Batman
        
        I’d probably defer to DPF on that.
        
        Grey area.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:48pm
  - mark15
    
    Whoops.History following you around?
    
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    July 18, 2019 3:59pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  For people who seek “equality of outcome,” the ends always justify the means.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:03am
  - artemisia
    
    Very good column by Rodney Hide on equality of outcome, NBR last week. Paywalled, can’t see it online, unfortunately, but worth a read if you get the chance.
    
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    July 18, 2019 3:16pm
- alloytoo
  
  “Climate Neutral
  
  A nul statement if ever I saw one.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:28am
- James Stephenson
  
  Merkel appears to have pushed her into the top job to escape the fact she’s under investigation for corruption at home. In doing so, Merkel has conceded a massive dead rat to Macron, giving Finance to his pick, so the German middle class will continue to be squeezed.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:24am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Quite so:
    
    The Bundestag, the German parliament, is currently holding hearings into the affair, including accusations that von der Leyen’s office circumvented public procurement rules in granting contracts worth millions of euros to [Accenture and McKinsey]. Those hearings have taken a dramatic turn in recent days as testimony from key witnesses appeared to confirm suspicions of systematic corruption at the ministry.
    
    .. and ..
    
    “Von der Leyen is our weakest minister. That’s apparently enough to become Commission president,” former European Parliament President Martin Schulz seethed in a tweet Tuesday evening.
    
    Sounds a lot like our PM. Inexperienced and rushed into the limelight to ‘lead’ … with other players writing the script.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:32am
    - hullkiwi
      
      A corrupt head of the EU, nothing new there! Freethinker above will remember Jacques Delores and Neil Kinnock refusing to sign off the EU Auditor General’s reports for 2 consecutive years because the reports highlighted orchestrated fraud inside the EU!
      
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      July 18, 2019 12:47pm
- Kiwi Dave
  
  The battery pack on the 62 tonne, carbon-neutral, electric-drive Leopard tank in the new European army will be a technological wonder.
  
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  July 18, 2019 3:27pm
sooty

Hughie Paveloa drops by last night and link whores his own sites so he looks good with no downticks after everybody has had their say and goes to bed. Talk about vanity!
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July 18, 2019 8:04am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Hughie is like the Chicken Littel Climate Alarmists . won’t face facts… https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/18/686320/our-armour-plated-housing-bubble
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:35am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Look on the bright side. The only way his post would get few downticks is if few people are reading it.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:39am
  - pdm
    
    I never read Hugh’s stuff – on auto downtick.
    
    Ditto for Stevieboy franchisees and mikenmild.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:57pm
- Cobolt24
  
  …See 3:01 AM post on 3 November 2017:
  .
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/11/general_debate_3_november_2017.html#comment-2067819
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:38am
- MickMac
  
  Is he mates with DPF?
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:08am
  - Swifty
    
    I wonder if DPF knows that Hugh posts here under multiple handles.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:53am
Happychappy

Jacinda’s bullshit at what she has achieved in well being to the UN.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114321259/nz-turns-in-development-report-card-to-un-emphasising-wellbeing-framework.
Obviously to scared that to turn up in person to deliver her poor achievements in case her facial expression gave away
her lies.
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July 18, 2019 8:12am
- alloytoo
  
  They haven’t actually asked me about my wellbeing.
  
  Anyone else?
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:29am
- krazykiwi
  
  Wellbeing framework? Pffft. Lies constructed by the deceitful/naive being lapped up by a corrupt, un-elected world government in waiting. And Orwell thought he was writing fiction.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:56am
- hullkiwi
  
  I take it Jacinda doesn’t read Mahurangi Matters then (a local free paper, that is a better paper than Stuffed’s Rodney Times). Anyhow, on the front page of Mahurangi Matters the local Christain Food Charity is reporting a significant increase in locals seeking food parcels. This is despite all Jacjnda has done to fight poverdeeeee in NZ, and despite the article being from Warkworth in Rodney, a National seat with a massive majority.
  
  Question to Jacinda, are you really measring peoples’ wellbeing? Or do you have to on benefits? Live in South Auckland? Be a Maori or be a muslim?
  
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  July 18, 2019 12:58pm
- Twinkletoes
  
  The coments (which are now closed) make for very interesting reading. Surprised Stuff let them through.
  
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  July 18, 2019 5:35pm
  - alloytoo
    
    A year ago half those comments wouldn’t have existed
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:48pm
Maggie Pie

OneEwes showed transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard’s gold medal winning Snatch last night. As a regular ‘gym-bunny’ myself, I’d have to say it wasn’t all that pretty.
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July 18, 2019 8:12am
- emmess
  
  I saw that BS on YouTube
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGnTtoB6dBw
  Heavy negatively ratioed. No comments allowed as usual.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:50am
  - srylands
    
    The problem is that advocates for trans women in sport either ignore or are ignorant of the average performance gap between men and women in elite adult sport. All female track and field records (with the exception of the East German records from the 80s freak show) could be beaten by tens of thousands of men, right down to high performing 16 year old boys. I posted some data on GD a couple of weeks back.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:08am
    - Brian Marshall
      
      The world champion woman’s soccer team from the United States lost to either an under 14 or under 15 boys team earlier this year……
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:47am
      - MrLovebucket
        
        Got thrashed
        
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        July 18, 2019 11:26am
    - Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
      
      Point well made. I managed to watch the wimbleton finals last weekend, and a number of things occurred to me. The value for money between the 1 hour womens final vs the 5 hour mens final was obvious – men & women do not play the same game but are rewared the same. I’m not advocating for women to play 5 sets, that would be dreadful. I also recall that the womens winner had major breast reduction surgery a few years ago. That has helped her game. I also remembered when the Williams sisters were both so much better than the rest, they played one of the Bryan brothers 2 vs 1 on a back court at the US open – he was ranked above 200 from memory in singles. He stuffed them like an Xmas trukey. So, if I was I mens player ranked in the 300’s, no chance of becoming an elite mens player (and why try now, given the top players today) why not identify as female, play 60% of the game and receive same money as top men ? Chances are that this trans-gender woman would be World number 1. And what would it take ? A coupel of face book posts and at a crying press conferences claiming to be a woman…….Compare that to Hubbard, who has selected a new gender and spent years training as a weightlifter. Whats the difference ?
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:50am
    - lastmanstanding
      
      I say we should have Gender Neutral Sports.
      
      So there are no Women and Mens competition just one competition to pick the best.
      
      Heh. The screeching sisterhood is always banging on about equality.
      
      Well thats equality.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:29pm
      - Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
        
        Thats equality of opportunity, not outcome. And,m to be clear, equality of opportunity should be the goal
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:50pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Why do they all have such dreadful hair?
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:15am
    - Sarkozygroupie
      
      You can tell a Wella Woman by the way she wears her hair, you can tell a Wella Woman anywhere!
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:38am
    - Tall Man
      
      Because they still have “male pattern baldness”…..
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:53am
      - alloytoo
        
        The Hormone’s apparently fix that, if you’re serious about becoming a woman that is.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:03pm
      - Tall Man
        
        I don’t think there’s enough hormone for some of them……
        
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        July 18, 2019 7:24pm
  - sooty
    
    You girls really need to stand up and say enough is enough or they will be in every locker room and every sport! No cocks in frocks. Cereally with them in your sport I think you are going to lose sponership. I am not interested in watching them compete in any sport!
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:16am
  - Tall Man
    
    What a load of crap. What world are we leaving our descendants?
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:17am
    - Twinkletoes
      
      According to Extinction Rebellion, our school students and leftie politicians – there will be no world by 2050!
      
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      July 18, 2019 5:39pm
- srylands
  
  Imagine you are the best female weightlifter always on the podium next to this person. And you always have the silver medal. Dark thoughts.
  
  Meanwhile good old science cuts through politics and unicorn dust wishes denialism social justice stuff.
  
  https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago714861.html
  
  Science demonstrates that high adult levels of testosterone, as well as permanent testosterone effects on male physiology during in utero and early development, provides a performance advantage in sport and that much of this male physiology is not mitigated by the transition to a transwoman,” she says”
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:56am
  - MickMac
    
    What do their genes say?
    Male or female?
    It’s simple isn’t it?
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:10am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Not quite, there are naturally occurring “trans” females, the most common being those with AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome). Caster Semenya is thought to have this.
      
      Such people have XY genes but because they have an insensitivity to testosterone they develop as female. There’s a spectrum depending on how severe the insensitivity is, those with complete AIS (CAIS) usually presents and develop entirely as female until puberty. They may have a performance advantage if they have some sensitivity to testosterone but still develop presenting as female.
      
      Where do they get categorised, or do we simply ban them ? They can’t compete fairly as male.
      
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      July 18, 2019 3:40pm
      - sooty
        
        If you are on the podium with it, you can’t just give it a kick in the nuts, because it has none!
        
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        July 18, 2019 6:35pm
- srylands
  
  Meanwhile good old science cuts through politics and unicorn dust wishes denialism social justice stuff.
  
  https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago714861.html
  
  “Science demonstrates that high adult levels of testosterone, as well as permanent testosterone effects on male physiology during in utero and early development, provides a performance advantage in sport and that much of this male physiology is not mitigated by the transition to a transwoman,” she says”
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:01am
  - Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes
    
    science not helpful with any sort of virtue signalling
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:09am
    - mark15
      
      B.S baffles brains
      
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      July 18, 2019 12:02pm
- igm
  
  Another display of disgusting proportions!
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:05am
- mandk
  
  My sympathy is with the two Samoan women weightlifters Hubbard (faux female) beat.
  
  And I’m confident that the overwhelming majority of the population would agree. The Newshub poll currently shows that 96% of people do not agree that trans women should be allowed to compete in the same category as cis-gendered women.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:16am
  - Sarkozygroupie
    
    As a woman, I dont actually like having the label of “cis-gender” being attached to me. It’s redundant.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:53am
    - mark15
      
      I think it’s newspeak for ‘normal’.
      
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      July 18, 2019 12:03pm
      - Brian Marshall
        
        It is, but cis-woman or cis-man should be written and read as woman or man. The cis part is redundant. If you read something that starts trans-woman or trans-man, just imagine that trans=Pretend or fake.
        
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        July 18, 2019 2:24pm
- G152
  
  There should be a class for these parasites where they can pretend to be females and leave the real female athletes to compete with each other
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:26am
  - 453mm
    
    There is.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:52pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    And there also is. It’s called the special olympics, where mentally ill people who believe they are the opposite gender can happily compete away…
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:49pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  People watch sport for many reasons, not just seeing who is fastest or strongest. In many sports, such as football, I want to see great tactics and elegant manoeuvres. And in many of the sports that are very much about strength, men have to be categorized too because otherwise no smallish guy would have a chance however hard he works.
  
  To me it’s a non debate. Stations will show high level women’s sport and if the ratings are good then they will keep showing it.
  
  But if any sport doesn’t generate enough advertising, as a taxpayer I don’t want to fund it. Including men’s sports.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:28am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Re transwomen, perhaps the top female athletes should be making the decision. Will they put PC ‘inclusiveness’ above hard facts and let transwomen compete? Up to them, not our problem.
    
    And back to ratings: would ratings go down, because nobody wants to see such unfairness, or up, because people want to see it?
    
    Either way, don’t make me pay for any of it!
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:32am
- rightoverlabour
  
  I don’t ever want to see Lauerl Hubbard’s Snatch, ever… Gold Winning or Not!
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:36am
  - John Warren
    
    I think that’s the catch – he doesn’t have one.
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:41pm
  - projectman
    
    Clean and Jerk is off-putting too.
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:49pm
    - RightFirstTime
      
      So is Lauren still able to Jerk and Clean…I mean Clean and Jerk?
      
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      July 18, 2019 3:15pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Interesting, so if a really focused aspiring professional athlete girl used a shit-load of testosterone and androgenic hormones through adolescence and stopped prior to going pro she would have a life long advantage? Or more likely girls selected by the govt of various totalitarian states are given a shit load of drugs though adolescence to give them an enduring athletic advantage in adulthood.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:44am
- MickMac
  
  Hubbard is a cheat.
  A man in a woman’s sport.
  What does Hubbards genes say, male or female?
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:09am
- MrLovebucket
  
  Hubbard should only be allowed to complete in the Special Olympics.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:28am
Scott

Watching CNN this morning. I do this so you don’t have to. They are interviewing Democrats who are frustrated with the squad of Ocasio Cortez and Omar and Tlib who are so radical and making them defend ideas and policies they don’t agree with.

So the bottom line is that Trump’s tweets are working. He is shining the light on these radical democrat women and their radical views and their anti American statements. Moderates among the Democrats are upset.

CNN is worried about this issue. The squad has even lost CNN!

The Democrats are in trouble in 2020. They are not likely to win the presidency and at this rate they are likely to lose the house.
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July 18, 2019 8:13am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s a great tactic, isn’t it? The racist birther movement against the previous president worked so well, so maybe have another crack at pretending brown politicians can’t be real Americans.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:28am
  - mandk
    
    The real racists in America are the Democrats.
    
    Always have been. Always will be.
    
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    July 18, 2019 8:37am
    - Rich Prick
      
      That’s the trouble with identity politics, race, gender and all the other hot-buttons define everything. “I’m brown, so you can’t say that!”
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:00am
      - Sarkozygroupie
        
        And to add to that, “I’m brown, so I can say any racist thing I like, and you can’t touch me!”
        
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        July 18, 2019 9:32am
      - tf78
        
        I had an Island girl say to me “I’m black”, I said no you’re not you’re me with a suntan and I look quite good with a suntan – she was stunned, her friends gave me a high five.
        
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        July 18, 2019 10:28am
      - mark15
        
        ‘Racism is like ketchup,you can put it on anything’
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:05pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      mandk , Democrats racists?
      
      Bollux!
      
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      July 18, 2019 10:06am
      - mandk
        
        Leaving aside the fact that the Democrats fought to keep slavery and passed the Jim Crow laws, they are racists in the same way that socialists don’t actually want to help poor people. They just want to keep them in their place as vote fodder.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:01pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Sorry to have to break this to you Stephieboy, but today as it was in the past, the Democrats are the ones who believe that your destiny is determined by your skin colour. See the recent quote by Congresswoman Presley.
        
        That’s textbook racism.
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:48pm
  - Tall Man
    
    No mikey, people that openly despise their country and the people in it aren’t fit to be real citizens.
    
    People who actively campaign by denigrating “incumbents” by ageist and anti white sentiments deserve little more than contempt.
    
    Probably how a great many on this blog feel about they way you behave most of the time.
    
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    July 18, 2019 8:38am
  - freethinker
    
    Being born in the US and having citizenship does not make you an American irrespective of your skin colour, its following the accepted culture & traditions that make you American as they do in every other culture. If you don’t like & accept the culture of your country of birth or choice, the western world still allows you to move to a country with a culture you do like.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:05am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      ‘Accepted traditions?
      Like electing a foul-mouthed, pussy-grabbing, white supremacist as president.
      That’s a tradition real Americans can get behind.
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:27am
      - 3-coil
        
        Why are you dragging Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton into this debate MandM? Bit of an own-goal!
        
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        July 18, 2019 2:05pm
      - Alex13
        
        No, it was electing a man who, unlike many delusional liberals, can clearly see that the world is in the midst of a war between civilization and islamic barbarians, and who is willing to do something about it.
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:13pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You should not put down slick willie, Mike. He is still getting more than you ever will
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:38pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Are you so deluded as to think that Trump is a “white supremacist”, or simply trotting out lies to satisfy your inner racist persona mike ?
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:46pm
    - SGA
      
      Being born in the US and having citizenship does not make you an American irrespective of your skin colour, its following the accepted culture & traditions that make you American as they do in every other culture
      
      I don’t see that. The people who protested the Vietnam war were as American as those who were for it. Healthy democracies allow people to challenge standing conventions, orthodoxies, or political views without demanding some sort of self-imposed exile.
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:41am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Well, the ‘accepted culture’ in all countries does change with time and influence from immigrants, including the English, Chinese, various Pacific Islanders here. Much of it good. Some not so good. We need to feel free to debate about it.
      
      Is socialism to become part of US culture? Voters can decide whether they want AOC’s socialist policies. Here is an article outlining some: https://townhall.com/columnists/elaineparker/2019/03/08/aocs-policies-are-an-indictment-of-american-economic-education-n2542776
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:48am
      - Batman
        
        Given she is one noisy newbie from Queens, is not running for President and is not part of the House leadership, I think America is pretty safe.
        
        Bernie on the other hand….. Then again, I don’t see him getting to the final two primary contenders this time around.
        
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        July 18, 2019 2:02pm
  - Vory v zakone
    
    Of course it worked. Eventually you will need a microscope to find Barry the Kenyan’s legacy.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:06am
  - srylands
    
    I am sure that Ocasio Cortez is a real American. But she is weapons grade stupid. Unfortunately that will cause many of her opponents to ask her to please leave. Go anywhere but here.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:14am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    The most racist thing I’ve heard recently: “We don’t need any more black faces that don’t want to be a black voice.”
    
    From a black politician, Ayanna Pressley. Come on, Milky, defend that.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:17am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Why would I defend that?
      Is saying ‘what about her a defence of the president?
      How about you defend the idea that ‘go home’, etc is not a racist theme?
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:31am
      - White Anglo Saxon Protestant
        
        Well, AoC dose bang the “Proud Puerto Rican” drum pretty hard you’know… Like its the most defining characteristic of who she is.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:12pm
      - Batman
        
        “Hey Siri, is Puerto Rico part of the United States?”
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:25pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Well, Milky, we can agree that telling people to ‘go home’ just because of the colour of their skin would be racist. But he didn’t. He wasn’t telling all people of their ancestry to ‘go home’. He was drawing attention to those Congresswomen’s socialist aims and antisemitism.
        
        I have often heard the ‘go home’ theme aimed by Maori activists at *all* white people in NZ, including those with a long ancestry here. Is that racist?
        
        I’ve also heard it aimed by other white people at ‘whiny poms’. Is that Xenophobic?
        
        When I lived in Europe it was clear that I didn’t really ‘belong’, however well I learned the language and tried to fit in. I dealt with it. If I had become a huge whiner, telling the Europeans that their politics were all wrong and that NZ was much better, guess what they would have said to me…
        
        This would have applied even if I was second generation there – my surname, family traditions and two languages would have still made me a bit different and more likely to be told to ‘go home’ if I pushed the Europeans in ways they didn’t like.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:47pm
      - David George
        
        There’s nothing to suggest Trump is racist (or anti immigrant come to that – he’s even married to one); criticising someones attitude or opinion doesn’t indicate your criticism is founded in any difference of ethnicity. It’s an absurd connection.
        The Democrats have got a serious problem, and not just with this bunch, if the recent presidential hopefuls “debate” is any indication. The American people won’t be voting for full citizenship rights and free health, education and welfare for the 6.5 billion “undocumented Americans” worldwide. That’s for sure.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:53pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Well mikey last time we had a few drinks at my place you got a bit pissed so I told you to “go home”.
        
        When your children come to my place and start pissing me off I just tell them to “go home”.
        
        Is that enough defense?
        
        When you come to my country or clearly identify yourself as being of a particular group of people not of my country then I feel fully entitled to “go home”.
        
        When you emigrate to my country then start condemning both the culture and the government of my country and then expect my support and money, I feel fully entitled to tell to “go home”.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:04pm
      - hullkiwi
        
        CL in response to your comment about your time in Europe. I’m a born and bred Kiwi (with dual British nationality). I lived in the UK and Europe for over20 years. As a Kiwi there were often things that frustrated me, but then again they frustrated the locals too.
        
        However, in my time in London, I met a few Kiwis who never fitted, never made the effort to fit in and whined worse than a jet engine.
        
        My repost was always.
        
        ….you have a credit card, you know where Heathrow is, there is a plane leaving for Auckland tomorrow, be on it and don’t come back.
        
        Such people are an embarrassment regardless of where they are, and would be no different back here telling those who are silly enough to listen how good it was for them in Europe.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:31pm
      - SGA
        
        Well mikey last time we had a few drinks at my place you got a bit pissed so I told you to “go home”.
        
        And you can do that because it is “your place”, not mm’s or his kids.
        The USA is as much most of those women’s “place” as it is Trump’s. They were born there. Is it less “their place” than his because they hold different political views than Trump? Well… so does Bernie Saunders but I can’t remember Trump telling him to go back to where he came from. Why isn’t it their place then?
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:53pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Well SGA, if I was the Pres and you showed a total lack of respect for my office, my country and my people, I’d happily tell you to go home and probably suggest fuck yourself as well but obviously Donald is more polite than I……..
        
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        July 18, 2019 7:32pm
      - White Anglo Saxon Protestant
        
        “Hey Siri, is Puerto Rico part of the United States?”
        
        Maybe thats a question AoC should ask. I don’t think it can be argued that she doesn’t style herself as having an immigrant background, as opposed a dual citizenship.
        
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        July 19, 2019 8:35am
    - SGA
      
      Is it really?
      The Oxford dictionary defines racism as “Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.”
      https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/racism
      Cambridge – “the belief that people’s qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of other races are not as good as the members of your own, or the resulting unfair treatment of members of other races:”
      https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/racism
      I’m struggling to see how that comment is racist, sorry.
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:34am
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      Yes. Trump is being accused of racism by people who think blacks have to be Democrats, jewish money controls Congress, and it is disloyal for Americans to support Israel.
      
      Trump is disgusting of course, but if the Democrats didn’t have bigots and racists on their team then they wouldn’t be in the embarrassing position of having to defend them.
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:53am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      One more point: he didn’t tell them to go permanently. His words were “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. *Then come back* and show us how it is done.” My emphasis.
      
      So the only possible ‘racism’ there is any assumption he might have made that they weren’t born in the US.
      
      Regardless of colour, socialists should have a good go at helping out in Venezuela. Islamist women should enjoy a while in Saudi Arabia. Pommy whingers should spend a bit of time in London. Etc.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:07pm
      - Batman
        
        Still playing linguistic gymnastics with it.
        
        His original tweet didn’t mean that. The “show us how it’s done” part refers to fixing the country they apparently came from. There is no reference or inference of returning to the US afterwards. Your part about coming back has been added by his comms team to try and mitigate the damage.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:10pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        I see them all posted at 5.27 AM, and clearly part of one post spread over three tweets because of Twitter’s short message limit.
        
        Whatever, people who think he’s a racist have always thought that. People who think he’s a strategist think he’s just pushing buttons.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:40pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        And Batman, what you call ‘linguistic gymnastics’ is simply reading something and analysing what it means. Something the media no longer seem to do.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:46pm
      - Batman
        
        Yes, analysing. Analysing to parse a different meaning that suits, rather than the obvious one.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:53pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘CNN’s Van Jones commended Donald Trump on a “Christmas miracle” after the First Step Act was overwhelmingly passed in the Senate Tuesday night’
        “A Christmas miracle just happened tonight… 87 senators, both political parties came together to do something to try to begin to reduce the number of people behind bars for too long, and what this bill does is unbelievable,” Jones told CNN host Don Lemon.
        ‘“The New York Times calls this the biggest breakthrough in criminal justice in a generation’
        ‘Jones said, “This is like the 1959 civil rights act. ‘
        ‘Donald Trump has got to get the credit. He stood up.”
        
        Gee, Trump drove a Bi Partisan Bill through allowing better conditions in Prisons and rehabilitation reform.
        Prisons overwhelmingly full of Blacks. If he’s a racist, he’s pretty shit at it.
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:21pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        https://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-van-jones-praises-trump-for-criminal-justice-reform-passing-senate-he-has-to-get-the-credit/
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:22pm
  - Brian Marshall
    
    So you think you can’t criticise a woman or a minority cause that’s sexist or racist?
    No, mike, not criticising women or minorities because they are women or minorities is sexist and racist. Shame on you for your disgusting thoughts.
    Shame shame shame ?
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:51am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Hmm, so the fact that the Clinton campaign started the Obama birther rumours means that the Clinton’s and the Democrats who supported her are racists too ?
    
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    July 18, 2019 3:42pm
- coge
  
  PredictIt has Hillary up on 4 cents. That’s an increase of 300% for her. Her odds are now higher than Beto and Gillibrand. If she tries a comeback, it will be spun as her being pressed into service “For the good of the nation” Or some such BS. As she did indicate she wouldn’t run back in March. If the Democrats fail to get proper traction she’ll have a go I reckon.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:41am
  - Batman
    
    I bet you 500 dollars that she won’t.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:20am
  - MrLovebucket
    
    But will she release the emails?
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:31am
    - Tall Man
      
      Heavily encrusted with anthrax.
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:36pm
- alloytoo
  
  What I find fascinating is that Trump tweets something vague and offensive and all these people immediately “self Identify” and take offense.
  
  It’s genius. They shame themselves.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:43am
- Scott
  
  As we speak the Republican National committee is doing their absolute best to make the squad the face of the Democrats. And the fact is that the squad is gaining most of the media coverage and pulling the Democrat party to the far far left.
  
  Evidence emerges that the man who tried to bomb an Ice detention centre was inspired by the squad who likened ice detention centres to concentration camps.
  
  Watch the video. The squad appears to be anti-American and pro-violence. Trump and the RNC are saying this is the Democrat party of today. And to be honest I don’t think they are wrong?
  
  https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/07/anarchy.php
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:46am
  - Rich Prick
    
    It can’t be much fun having to own the Jihadi Squad and its hatred of America and Americans.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:59am
- MickMac
  
  Scott,
  I sure hope so.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:11am
- Ian Hawthorn
  
  CNN is also in trouble. Their ratings are in the toilet. They are getting desperate.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:46am
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Happy Nelson Mandela Day!
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July 18, 2019 8:20am
- SGA
  
  ahhh. The Specials…
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgcTvoWjZJU
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:26am
- secondcumming
  
  WTF? This is the same guy that *pleaded guilty* to mobilizing terrorist bombing campaigns, like the one at the Joberg railway station, *killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children*.
  
  Even Amnesty International refused to take on Mandela’s case because of his violent crimes.
  
  Yep….have a ‘Happy Day.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:33am
  - Random T Person
    
    I upticked MM and I also upticked you. Former Safa here, yes NM is a terrorist and presided over a party which has led to the ruin of a beautiful country rich with promise. But that doesn’t mean we can ignore his position in history or even the public consciousness.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:13am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Terrorist or freedom fighter?
      Menachim Begin – terrorist or freedom fighter?
      etc, etc.
      
      3 19
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      July 18, 2019 9:34am
      - Random T Person
        
        Mate you had to be there with the limpet mine posters on our walls at school and the drills of what to do should you find one or be attacked.
        
        Terrorist.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:14pm
      - Batman
        
        And that situation didn’t cause any reflection on the part of the white community as to whether the disgraceful apartheid system was in fact not ideal?
        
        I mean, it’s not like it was a religious war, as we associate terrorism with now, it was based around a horrifically racist system of discrimination.
        
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        July 18, 2019 12:24pm
      - Alex13
        
        Fire fighters fight fire. Crime fighters fight criminals. What do freedom fighters fight?
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:34pm
    - rightoverlabour
      
      Yup, although I have used the label “terrorist” with him, I would argue that he was mostly against violence. And his post-prison life was exemplary. Unfortunately most non Saffas have no clue, and unfortunately the country is spiraling into genocidal violence as we speak. Cry the Beloved Country has never rung so true….
      
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      July 18, 2019 9:39am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Triggered
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:32am
  - stephieboy
    
    “Even Amnesty International refused to take on Mandela’s case because of his violent crimes.”
    
    ????
    
    The Joberg Rail station bomb nothing like the Sharpeville massacrehttps://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/john-harris-and-johannesburg-station-bomb ,
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:08am
    - Random T Person
      
      You need to understand the context of Sharpeville. Here’s a clue: Start with what happened at Cato Manor a few weeks prior.
      
      17 0
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      July 18, 2019 12:15pm
- Jack5
  
  ?Whew! That’s okay, Milky.
  
  I feared you were going to post that today, July 18, is the 94th anniversary of Hitler publishing Mein Kampf. That was in 1925.
  
  Left the world in tatters.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:19am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    That book is a great reminder of how objectively terrible ideas can be used to mobilise an ostensibly civilized community
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:52am
    - Alex13
      
      Exactly. Like the ideas of “multiculturalism”, “gender equality”, “diversity”, and “tolerance”.
      
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      July 18, 2019 3:38pm
  - tf78
    
    Ah! Mein Kampf the manifesto that we are allowed to read.
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:31am
- kloyd0306
  
  Didn’t he do a fabulous job of ruining South Africa.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:39am
  - kowtow
    
    Army deployed in a Cape Town suburb due to uncontrollable crime ……..
    
    Happy whatever day , so while the international bubble dwellers celebrate, the peasants as usual, have to put up with the conditions their betters have imposed on them.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:28am
    - Random T Person
      
      That can only increase the crime. SANDF probably the next most corrupted and useless bunch of uniformed criminals after…the SAPS itself.
      
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      July 18, 2019 12:51pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Perhaps the South Africans of European descent could go home to where they came from?
      
      2 18
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      July 18, 2019 1:02pm
      - Random T Person
        
        A lot of us wound up coming here and revelling in once again voting for the National Party.
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:41pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Perhaps the original inhabitants of the Cape region should be allowed to assert ownership. That region was peopled by San people when the Europeans first arrived. Only later did the Xhosa and other Bantu speaking peoples arrive. On history alone, the Xhosa and others should leave first, but I doubt that there’s much support for that.
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:54pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        How many generations have to pass before one can call oneself indigenous?. Whites have been in South Africa since 1619. A lot would have no connection at all with their “home where they came from”. So they can’t just effing go back. If you are going to comment on South Africa, at least learn the basics. There are plenty of Saffas on this blog that will help you along the way….
        
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        July 18, 2019 4:09pm
      - David George
        
        If they were born there they have no other home.
        
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        July 18, 2019 4:17pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Where did you come from mikey?
        
        Any chance you will be going back?
        
        Asking for a friend……..
        
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        July 18, 2019 7:39pm
SGA

Watching CNN this morning. I do this so you don’t have to.

Gee, thanks Scott, you’re such a trooper. Just so you know it’s not one-way traffic, I committed several sins last night on your behalf 🙂
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July 18, 2019 8:24am
- Tall Man
  
  Just a couple?
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:39am
  - SGA
    
    Yep, no threesomes last night.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:31am
    - Tall Man
      
      No black eyes this morning then.
      
      Saw a case a while ago where the french wife got a little upset and banged a six inch nail into hubby’s head while he was sleeping.
      
      Didn’t kill him but he did wake with a headache.
      
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      July 18, 2019 2:54pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  I do the same for Pornhub as a service to Kiwibloggers….
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:41am
  - Random T Person
    
    Service yourself! Ah, hang on…
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:52pm
    - Rob2
      
      He was!!!
      
      2 0
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      July 18, 2019 6:57pm
Gravelroad

Stuff in full election propaganda mode today.
Yet another story about hard-done-by beneficiaries wanting more and more cash.
And, of course, back covering and heart string pulling about the Prime Minister – who is supposed to be a top level governance practitioner.
Yet our leader still feels the need to “escape Key’s shadow.”
Not to mention the obligatory lectures about climate change.
The whole demeanour of this country is rapidly changing from successful endeavour to a “poor, poor me” negative, boring vibe.
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July 18, 2019 8:31am
- backster
  
  Not to mention those poor starving teachers again wanting to clutter up the court system.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:50am
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Actually I hope this turns into a clusterfuck for Hipkins…. Some teachers might stop voting Labour because of this fiasco. Long may it last, preferably until the next election.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:42am
  - Batman
    
    Multiple teachers I know have been paying photos from their overseas holidays during the school holidays.
    
    Then again, they’re not union members and actually very smart young women who are good at their jobs…
    
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    July 18, 2019 2:14pm
    - Tall Man
      
      They’re still happy to whinge about their “hard life” and “long working hours”……
      
      Obviously not very competent are they?
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:42pm
Tarquin North

Haven’t heard much about Pike River lately. I assume everything is going swimmingly – it should be it’s costing a fortune.
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July 18, 2019 8:36am
- G152
  
  Maybe if they keep quiet they’ll be able to spin it out to retirement.
  Name for them…. PIKERS
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:30am
Paulus

Made my Day and I hope for all of us.
This evening in Melbourne our Princess is giving a talk (lecture of course) and the subject is ……………..
“Good Governance”.
It was due to be given when she thought that Shorten was a shoe in for Prime Minister but middle Australia said – “No way”.
What the hell does she know about Governance being the quasi leader of the worse and most incompetent Government in New Zealand’s recent history.
Hope she doesn’t invoke her speeches about the virtues of Che Guevara.
I await my rellies comments from Canberra afterwards. Politely I hope they do not laugh at her.
But No the media who already have the speech will laud it ignoring what many in New Zealand think, until the silent majority vote next year.
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July 18, 2019 8:37am
- LTA1955
  
  Bring back Bill……Rowling, the PM that Labour couldn’t bury fast enough is better than this infestation of asylum graduates.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:50am
  - projectman
    
    Bill Rowling was a thoroughly decent man, undone by the spitefulness and nasty invective from that thoroughly undecent man Muldoon.
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:14am
    - Tall Man
      
      He reputedly ran a very tight cabinet which is one of the things the party hated….
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:44pm
- emmess
  
  What not to do
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:52am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  They must think Jacinda is absolutely marvellous overseas once she’s given them some of her PR feel good no substance 2 minute spin.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:00am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Well said, All the stars are aligned, lecturing in the Melbourne Town Hall in the great socialist state of Victoria.
  Jacinda is an absolute clone of Joan Kirner.
  If you were around in her time, you have no doubt in your mind these two have exactly the same mindset.
  Things didn’t end well for Joan as Premier, Jacinda will be identical, people anger will replace media infatuation.
  If Jacinda wins a term in her own right, she will be able channel her full Kirner “mother Russia” without Winston putting his foot on her throat.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:14am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    ‘mother Russia’
    Ardern is buddies with Putin?
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:23am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Not sure about that, but she sure has a definite socialist leaning. Ardern would be way to the left of Putin. They do have common ground.
      Censorship of population most common.
      Putin is also far smarter and politically astute.
      They have very different agenda’s but at the end of the day, censorship of the public is a true socialist trait.
      Now tell me NZ is not moving to being censored to the left big time.
      
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      July 18, 2019 11:41am
  - Hacked-Off
    
    Agreed with everything you said right up to the last sentence – hence the down tick. Mr 7% is Jacinda’s enabler not her break. Without that drunken sot we would not even be having this conversation about her as she would have been relegated to the Opposition Benches.
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:44am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Have to disagree, Winston not only gave her a platform, the infatuated media could now well push her over the line to rule without her minder.
      Not sure NZ is that stupid, Australians were told for years Shorten would win, he didn’t.
      He had fairly crazy taxing policies, Jacinda’s taxing ideals are on steroids compared with Bill.
      Agreed Winston is a bitter twisted conservative, but he is like a cunning fox, from the moment he won control of NZ parliament, Jacinda was never going to opposition bench in a million years.
      Could you see Winston controlling Bill English?
      The rest is history.
      
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      July 18, 2019 11:52am
  - srylands
    
    Joan Kirner, the Premier of Victoria, was known as Mother Russia because she was fat. Jim Bolger called he the “fat lady”. That was in the context of her telling voters that if they got rid of her, the new government would cut public spending just like the Bolger Government in New Zealand.
    
    She and her predecessor brought Vitcoria to its knees. That was the last Australian recession in 91/92. It was amplified in Victoria.
    
    Of course she was turfed out (she was such a trougher that she delayed the election until the very last date allowed by the law) and the incoming Government took an axe to public sector spending but it paid off. Melbourne went from basket case to one of the best cities in the world in which to live.
    
    Kirner spent the rest of her life begging for government appointments. She faded out with cancer of the esophegus, a common ailment in obese women. She has been harshly judged by history as a destructive, stupid person who did great damage, and rightly so.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:44am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Isn’t it such a shame people just forgive and forget.
      When she lost to Jeff Kennett in a landslide she was still more popular than Jeff in polls.
      The other thing I guess she picked up a poison chalice from Cain, and just made worse.
      Jacinda picked up cash in the bank on arrival, but that’s now well and truly gone.
      Disagree she was named regarding weight. From a NZ perspective, Bolger immortalised this.
      She was a left wing Socialist through and through, fat or skinny.
      “The conservative-leaning Melbourne newspaper, the Herald Sun, reacted unfavorably to a Premier from the Socialist Left, dubbing her “Mother Russia”.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:16pm
Ruawai

“we don’t want cars that are going to destroy the planet on the road.” JAG
Looks like Julie Ann Genter has found what is going to destroy the planet and it is not humans.
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July 18, 2019 8:39am
Jack5

It’s always different this time …

Economics scribbler Bernard Hickey nails his flag to the mast in Stuff> He labels New Zealand’s housing bubble “armour plated,” and says:

“First-home buyers may be hoping for some sort of Exocet missile to burst the bubble. They will wait in vain in the absence of a global financial armageddon.”

Let’s hope they don’t feel a need to engrave this on Bernard’s gravestone.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114321627/new-zealands-armourplated-housing-bubble
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July 18, 2019 8:40am
- peterwn
  
  He nearly gets to the guts of the matter but did not quite make it. While the population keeps increasing there is a demand for more houses and therefore the price of new houses will follow the cost of building new houses. Bernard has nailed ‘infrastructure’ as being an issue indicating that more money needs to be put into infrastructure.
  What he did not properly say, was that an all out attack is needed on the cost of providing new houses. It is no use blaming the cost of undeveloped bare land as is common since as far as I can see this is a minor part of the cost of a house. The two areas that need to be attacked are compliance costs and ‘gold plating’. Deal with these and the whole market will ease.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:30am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I think it is pretty much ingrained in the Kiwi psyche that real estate values can only go up.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:55am
  - Tall Man
    
    Rubbish mikey, most of us have been through the ups and the downs.
    
    The millenials may be a little late to the game but even they seem to be aware that things that go up can certainly come down.
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:49pm
- Local Miller
  
  Does he not understand that in the event of such a GFA, not only do the house prices crash, so does everything around it, and the “poor” first time home buyer won’t be able to buy a crash valued house with his crash valued income and savings.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:08am
  - Tall Man
    
    Maybe not but we will……..
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:50pm
- Rob2
  
  Nope it will say;
  I waited in vain. It never came.
  or I waited in vain and missed it when it came.
  either will do.
  
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  July 18, 2019 7:02pm
Poppa

Well what a couple of days it will be for Princess Cindy. Off to Melbourne aboard Cindy1 to preach the importance of good governance.

One thing is for sure, it won’t be based on her experience, so I guess she will rely on her speech writer to google it and just add in some umms & ahhs
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July 18, 2019 8:42am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Good governance is based upon no consultation or rushed through dictatorial captain’s calls. Everyone knows that.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:05am
  - Tall Man
    
    Inchewishin………..
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:54am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Don’t forget covering up the incompetence and misconduct of those around you. That’s key. Otherwise there will be nobody to whisper the answer when you get asked a tricky question.
    
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    July 18, 2019 9:58am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    “..rushed through dictatorial captain’s calls..”
    
    ???
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:14am
    - Humble Capitalist
      
      ‘???’
      ???
      
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      July 18, 2019 11:34am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        He can’t remember that far back…
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:19pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Neither can she………
        
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        July 18, 2019 2:55pm
- krazykiwi
  
  I my living memory, we have never had a PM who knew so little about good governance, or about good leadership.
  
  I’m sure she’s a pleasant enough human in a social context – I’ve met her a couple of times – but in terms of leadership integrity she is flat-lining.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:09am
  - Tall Man
    
    She knows little about most subjects.
    
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    July 18, 2019 2:56pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Tall Man, now your telling porkies.
      
      Yes, she knows Little.
      
      But Little only knows marginally more than she does on most things!
      
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      July 18, 2019 6:07pm
      - sooty
        
        But she can wrap fish an chips!
        
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        July 18, 2019 6:55pm
- Local Miller
  
  At leas the umms and ahhs will be her own original contribution
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:21am
  - calendar girl
    
    …. as well as banishing the letter “t’ from the alphabet and replacing it with “d”.
    
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    July 18, 2019 4:21pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    And her speech/lecture will be a toadddely……
    Open;
    Honest; and
    Transparent
    Appraisal of good governance.
    
    Yeah right, pass me a Tuis and I’ll sell you some harborside real estate.
    
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    July 18, 2019 6:10pm
tf78

Is there any connection with Christchurch City Council’s employment of Dawn Baxendale as their CE and Dalziel’s recent meeting with Khan in London. Birming ham’s (name change coming I’m sure) Mayor is a Mohammed Azim. Is she escaping or a plant.
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July 18, 2019 8:51am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Perhaps she is a secret Muslim.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:56am
  - Tall Man
    
    Nah mikey, just like yourself, pommy smartarse.
    
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    July 18, 2019 5:16pm
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  f=tf78, more garbled rubbish!
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:15am
- herb1
  
  local councillor told me Dalziel is worried that Labour will lose their majority at the election and Baxendale will allow her to continue her policies regardless of council makeup.
  its pretty clear in Chch that none of the Labour councillors exercise an individual opinion , they simply adopt Dalziels desires.
  I hope Phil Mauger gets in , as he will vote on what he thinks is right not what is good for him ,as he dosent need the job for the money.
  Unfortunately their are none from Labour who can say that
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:18am
  - Tall Man
    
    They feel at their best when they are dictating to others.
    
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    July 18, 2019 5:17pm
- Twinkletoes
  
  Most of Birmingham’s City Councillors are muslim, won’t be long till the Adnan is broadcast five times a day. A twenty mile sound radius from the planned new mid city Islamic Centre is their ambition when this eventuates. The residents of Edgbaston and the other really expensive suburbs will probably not be too overcome with happiness.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:36pm
Yvette

1 Billion Trees
Warning – Further down this comment, some figures are mentioned that have appeared on kiwiblog before – I apologise in advance, or suggest some people skip this whole comment.

Students who organised school climate action planning nationwide general strike as part of “Earth Strike” – a general strike of the population demanding for immediate climate action from governments and corporations – in September.

So the question of whether the New Zealand Government is actually planting the promised billion trees is more pertinent. There may actually be one billion trees under ten years old in the ground by 2028, but unless there is a moratorium on Forestry felling mature trees anywhere in the meantime there may only be a 5% advance on what is standing now.

Does the 1 Billion Trees policy betray the students, sucker the voters, and cheat on the Earth ?

Exotic trees being planted instead of natives– Dame Anne Salmond
Two thirds of the trees funded through the $240 million grants programme are supposed to be natives.
But anthropologist and environmentalist Dame Anne Salmond said foresters were overwhelmingly using this fund to plant exotic pine trees. [1]

In a Cabinet paper presented last August, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said the rate of commercial replanting over the next 10 years would have a ‘‘significant impact’’ on the 1 billion total …‘‘For example, if the recent 95% replanting rate was maintained over the next decade, this would equate to 770 million trees.’’ [2]

Since Forestry normally plants pinus radiata, it would seem their 770 million trees would mean at least 75%, or over three quarters of a billion trees, will be exotics, even if Shane plants no pine at all.
So, Dame Anne Salmond, natives may be less than a quarter and certainly unlikely to be two thirds of a billion trees.

Further –
If we want to absorb carbon rapidly, nothing can beat pine. Not only does it capture it faster, it would need at least four times the area of native forest compared to radiata pine forest to get the same rate of absorption.
It’s also much cheaper to plant than natives, unless the native forest is a hands-off, regenerating one. Canterbury University forestry Professor Euan Mason says he has seen figures of $14 a tree for native forest, five to 10 times the cost of establishing radiata pine. [3]

However –
Forestry’s 95% replanting rate will actually means in “re-planting” 770 million trees, they will have elsewhere felled 731.5 million trees.
So that leaves Shane with only 38.5 million Forestry trees net, and those added to the 230 million trees that Shane actually needs to plant, will total 268.5 million left standing after ten years.

So if Shane plants 179 million natives, he can still met the promise of two thirds natives that Dame Anne Salmond claims he has made.

However at the Canterbury University professor’s reported figure of $14 a native tree, Shane will need $2.5 billion for just 179 million native trees – not the $240 million (above) – and another $71.4 million for his one third radiata pine ($1.40 each)
And that’s plant costs, not the cost of sticking them in the ground, or purchasing the ground to stick them in.

Where is a complete registry of what Shane is planting – natives and exotics – and their locations, the same for commercial Forestry, and a registry of what is been harvested or felled?

[1] https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018704571/exotic-trees-being-planted-instead-of-natives-dame-anne-salmond
[2] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200823
[3] https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/114167973/forests-are-fastest-way-to-soak-up-carbon-dioxide-but-not-all-trees-are-equal
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July 18, 2019 8:51am
- Brian Marshall
  
  And let’s not forget, the billion trees was supposed to be on top of the existing tree planting.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:58am
- Sofia
  
  That may be what Shane Jones needs:
  The nation’s students asking him to explain simply and transparently how counting Forestry re-plantings, in with his efforts, will ever add up to one billion trees, unless Forestry stops felling 95% of their trees as they mature.
  
  And Shane Jones isn’t out of the woods yet:
  One billion tree plan flawed, says climate scientist.
  Dr Salinger said that ideally 90 percent of the trees planted would be native species as they store more carbon.
  
  “The ratio of storage to carbon between natural forests and plantations like pine trees is 40:1 – so there’s a huge difference. The reason being is with plantation forests, if you’re going to grow radiata pine, they’ll capture carbon for the first cropping cycle but then it gets harvested and it ends up as pulp and paper and ends up back in the atmosphere.
  
  “So I’m afraid Shane Jones’ idea of planting a billion trees, well, it might be good for three decades but then the carbon gets back into the atmosphere.”
  
  Pine forests also absorb hydroxyl radicals, or methane busters, which have the side effect of prolonging the lifetime of methane in the atmosphere, Dr Salinger said.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/393832/one-billion-tree-plan-flawed-says-climate-scientist
  
  Jones’ answer: ” I just think that Jim has been unnecessarily alarmist and he needs to bear in mind if you want to take Kiwis with you on the climate change journey, you can’t rely on shrill voices …
  The vast majority of the trees that are pine plantations are being replanted … sure there is a point where you do cut down the trees but they are immediately replanted.”
  
  What Jones is not admitting is that Forestry have started before he has, and are decades ahead of him..
  They are currently cutting down mature trees that number 95% of what seedlings they re-place, so the margin basically is 5% replacements, plus what Shane plants.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:46am
  - Yvette
    
    The One Billion Tree scheme has faced criticism after Forestry New Zealand figures showed that in the first year, of about 91 million trees planted, only 12 percent were native.
    The figures are estimates based on the sale and distribution of exotic and native tree seedlings.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/393869/one-billion-trees-injects-422k-for-research-in-native-seedling-production
    
    As of January this year, nearly 61m trees have been planted – surpassing the 55m goal.
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200823
    
    Both totals of course include commercial Forestry – the bulk of each.
    
    Just emphasising the need for an authoritative registry.
    The two figures above of course vary by 30 million trees – just a margin of error that is a mere 33% of one total, and 50% of the second.
    
    This policy suffers from as many differing statements, updates and oratorial obfuscations as did the Coalition’s other major flagship: Titanic Kiwibuild
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:59am
  - Tall Man
    
    shane jones needs a kick up the arse.
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:53pm
kevn

@Rua…. genter sounds like a righteous electric car owner.
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July 18, 2019 8:59am
Humble Capitalist

Ive just purchased my tickets for the Springboks test at the `Brush your teeth twice a day Wellington Regional Stadium’. Not sure if Im going to attend the match at `Support High Rise Window Cleaners Eden Park’
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July 18, 2019 9:10am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It makes one wonder what actual value is gained from naming rights.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:58am
  - Biscuit
    
    You are dead right, mike.
    
    Wellington’s stadium is ‘Westpac Stadium’.
    I may once have walked into a Westpax bank. I don’t recall. But, if I have, I would’ve smacked my head and said ‘You fool. This isn’t the bank you are looking for.’
    
    I see Christchurch’s stadium is now Orangetheory Stadium. I had to Google to find out what Orangetheory WAS. Presumably, some marketing boffin will say ‘Yay, made you look! Brand recognition’. But am I likely to buy anything Orangetheory produces? Nope.
    
    And similarly for Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin…
    
    And what makes ‘naming rights’ so asisine is that, as for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Organising Committee requires ‘clean’ stadiums … and so, in Wellington, games weren’t played at Westpac Stdaium but at Wellington Regional Stadium.
    
    So the outfits forking out the dosh don’t even get any benefit on the biggest stages ‘their’ stadiums host!
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:30am
    - Gravelroad
      
      Biscuit- from a marketing point of view, the fact that you looked up, now know and remember the names of the companies who have naming rights, makes their investment a success.
      
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      July 18, 2019 3:06pm
      - Biscuit
        
        I’m sceptical, Gravelroad.
        
        Number of eyeballs on our site: One more than just before
        Number of news sales generated: Zero
        
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        July 18, 2019 3:43pm
- Biscuit
  
  Am going to that next week, HC.
  
  Let’s hope we don’t take each other’s eyes out with the suize of the bit of paper needed to carry the stadium’s ‘new’ name!
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:22am
- alwyn
  
  You have the name of Eden Park wrong. The naming rights are going to a well known Pizza company. The are going to use them to honour the current Government and the changes they have brought to New Zealand.
  It will become Hells (Pizza) Park to reflect the way the CoL have turned New Zealand’s Garden of Eden into Hell under the control of Winston Lucifer Peters.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:23am
- namron
  
  10 points out of 10, H.C.
  Great names!! I’m hope others can come up with other SILLY names like your contribution.
  I reckon that this is the best way to ridicule this ridiculous naming and hopefully stop any others continue in this asinine way.
  Shaming by ridicule is a very effective way to stop any further stupidity. [Also it gives lots of laughs!]
  Are there any others who can come up with “10 pointers”?
  
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  July 18, 2019 5:19pm
Maggie Pie

We went out to dinner last night with a couple of friends who then suggested we should all go to the Casino. To be honest, I haven’t been there before.
I love how all the SkyCity adverts show people in suits and cocktail dresses, but when you go there, its more like late-night shopping at Mangere Pak n’ Save.
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July 18, 2019 9:12am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Are you saying that your pilot survey revealed a higher-than-expected proportion of casino guests as possibly being from low-income segments of Auckland society?
  
  If so, then that can’t be good for child “poverty.”
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:55am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It’s the exact opposite of a glamorous place. Just any suburban pokies room pretending to be a pub, but magnified by 500.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:00am
- Sarkozygroupie
  
  So they are all in their pyjamas?
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:04am
- Biscuit
  
  Maggy, I am agreeing with you so often people will think we are clones of each other!
  
  I went to the Mebourne Cup of 1973 and, before coming back, spent a week in Tasmania … largely because Australia’s first casino had just opened in Hobart.
  
  They tried to instil some sorts of standards.
  
  You could wear ‘presentable attire’ throughout the day but, after a certain hour (I forget what: 7pm?) you could only get into the main gaming hall if you definitely weren’t wearing, say, sneakers, no matter how brand-new and high-priced they were, ha.
  
  I had a room in the Hotel tower and had to go upstairs (well, upLIFT) to change.
  
  Last time I was in SkyCity I was joined at a Blackjack table by two young chaps who, whilst perfectly fine in other aspects of behaviour, ha, were in club rugby shirts that looked like they’d seen 747141461 rucks and less than 2 washes in their time.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:30am
  - tf78
    
    Christchurch Casino used to have quite a high dress standard, in fact quite a nice casino – don’t know if it’s still that way.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:45am
    - Sponge
      
      Its not… The drop in dress standard let all the riff raff in.
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:09pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  LOL, I remember that from the once I went there. Full of slobby addicts at machines.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:56am
- mark15
  
  Bananas in pyjamas?
  Our Pak n Save had a warning notice saying due to the cold weather customers were asked to wear 2 pairs of PJs in store.
  
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  July 18, 2019 12:16pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Suits and cocktail dresses is upstairs. You need to be ‘known’
  
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  July 18, 2019 4:08pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Oh, did you notice the queues by the ATM’ when it is benefit payment time? Sad really
    
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    July 18, 2019 4:10pm
Fletch

Lucky, lucky, lucky….

Some lucky Amazon customers noticed that camera gear was being seriously discounted for Prime day – eg, a $5,500 Sony a600 and lens, and a $13,000 Canon lens – each for $94.50. Yes, it was a mistake, but Amazon let it go through! It was advertised on a deal site and many people took advantage.

https://petapixel.com/2019/07/17/amazon-accidentally-sold-13000-camera-gear-for-100-on-prime-day/

As I said, lucky bastards….
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July 18, 2019 9:16am
- kevn
  
  @Fletch… Cheapest ever marketing for Amazon. You can bet the click rate to their site has rocketed.
  
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  July 18, 2019 12:53pm
The Feed

This idea is….dare I say it….arse:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/114307675/new-name-for-basin-reserve-suggested-support-womens-sport-basin-reserve
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July 18, 2019 9:18am
- Fletch
  
  The lunatics well and truly taken over the asylum….
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:31am
- Ruahine
  
  ‘Laurel Hubbard Stadium’ perhaps.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:55am
- Brian Marshall
  
  Crowd funding. As long as no public funds are spent on it, I have no problems with it.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:00am
- Rich Prick
  
  Fucking TERFs, always excluding the trannys.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:10am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  The idiot Lester thinks it’s a great idea so that proves it’s a really stupid one.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:22am
  - MickMac
    
    yep anything Justin’s for we should oppose…
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:17am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    But I do like the alternative suggestion – “Crickety McCricketface”.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:43am
- srylands
  
  “”I look forward to the day when our daughters can achieve the same level of personal and financial success in their chosen sport as our sons,” he said. “I look forward to them achieving equal pay and recognition, and the support they deserve.”
  ______
  Socialism. Pay of athletes is driven by markets. Viewer interest = sponsors = pay. There is no “discrimination”. So is Lester proposing that the Government should pay?
  
  I remember hearing him a few months back wailing about insurers withdrawing from (or hiking premiums) the Wellington market due to seismic risk. He was proposing that the Government set up a state owned insurer to provide “affordable” insurance cover. What could possibly go wrong?
  
  Anything this guy says – do the exact opposite and you will be sweet.
  
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  July 18, 2019 4:26pm
AgainstTheFlow

Has Stuff’s Tracey Watkins openly declared her love for Jacinda Ardern yet?https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114312213/jacinda-ardern-on-juggling-life-as-a-first-time-leader-prime-minister-and-mum
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July 18, 2019 9:19am
- Tall Man
  
  Pathetic isn’t it.
  
  Woman’s weekly crap is the best we can get.
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:26am
- igm
  
  I think she is angling for a PR job with the incompetent loser’s party.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:48am
- hullkiwi
  
  What’s Jacinda got in store for us now? When we get these off pieces about “I’m not Superwoman” she and her spinmeisters are wanting us to look the other way.
  
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  July 18, 2019 6:25pm
Odakyu-sen

After 21 days in Tokyo where there has been less than 3 hours of sunlight per day (the rainy season has been miserable this year, and the gloomiest since 1961), the typhoon season is kicking off.
Typhoon No. 5 (the 5th one this season) is limbering up off the southeast coast of Taiwan. It is forecast to whip north, graze Kyushu, and then smack into the Korean peninsula.
The American media, if they report this typhoon, will name it “Typhoon ______ (insert name of choice)” whereas the Japanese media will simply report on “Typhoon No. 5.”
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July 18, 2019 9:21am
- G152
  
  Betcha all those people with Solar powered houses in Tokyo are reconsidering their choices 🙂
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:33am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    I remember a number of wealthier professional associates installing solar panels on their roofs in suburbia in Kanagawa Prefecture in the early 1990s. I cost them a small fortune, and I don’t think they ever saw much benefit–although it was a wonderful talking point at parties, and went down well with some of their green-leaning clients back in those days.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:20pm
- alloytoo
  
  Apparently “Green Energy” doesn’t work during these severe weather events.
  
  Windmills need to be shut down least they run riot, and of course the sun isn’t shining.
  
  If, as we are led to believe, climate change is going to lead to more severe weather events then why is the world considering these power generation options?
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:53am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Actually, i thought of you last night Sensei 🙂
  We were out to dinner with some friends and one of them told us this little joke –
  ‘what do Japanese men do when they have an erection?’ VOTE.
  
  LOL!!!!!
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:11am
  - greybeard
    
    The version of that joke which I first heard about 60 years ago was:
    
    “I asked my Japanese friend when he last had an Election, and he replied “Just before blekfast”.
    
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    July 18, 2019 11:38am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Careful, Maggie.
    
    The Japanese Upper House hard-on is just around the corner.
    Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Japanese_House_of_Councillors_election
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:03pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Sounds complicated, although i guess there wont be too many blonde gurls voting. Does the chap on the Chrysanthenum Throne weild any power these days?
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:08pm
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        No. The Royal Household is the People’s pet family. The Emperor is simply a figurehead.
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:21pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Hard to get a comment past the mods at times…..
        
        We have our own “pet” family and they are also about as much use as tits on a bull….
        
        Or lipstick and the pig.
        
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        July 18, 2019 8:03pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Wouldn’t that be the start of the next cooling period? “The IPCC Got IT Wrong Colder Period” a period of cooling like the “Little Ice Age” that suddenly bore down on the Northern Hemisphere, confounding the 97% of experts that had decreed by consensus that it was going to be so much warmer….
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:34am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    There are no 97%. An Aussie academic abused research procedures and conjured up that number. He has been soundly debunked.
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:18pm
    - Batman
      
      Debunking reference required, mainly because I’d be interested in seeing that.
      
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      July 18, 2019 12:21pm
      - David George
        
        Here you go Batman.
        https://towerofreason.blogspot.com/2018/03/97-of-scientists-do-not-agree-with.html
        This one explains CO2 as a greenhouse gas and it’s affect on earths climate.
        https://towerofreason.blogspot.com/2018/04/co2-is-not-driving-global-warming.html
        
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        July 18, 2019 1:06pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        I think you should be able to find them yourself Batman, it was a ludicrous piece of research without any merit – so of course it has been widely quoted by all and sundry.
        
        You may have to get past the fawning articles on how clever it was first though.
        
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        July 18, 2019 5:10pm
      - MCos
        
        So
        Which set of experts is correct?
        
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        July 18, 2019 5:54pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        I know the 97% number is bullshit. Anyway, virtually 99.99999% of scientists during the time of Galileo thought the earth was the centre of the universe….
        
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        July 18, 2019 8:27pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        Look here too
        
        https://notrickszone.com/?s=97%25
        
        Worst bit of academic work done by a journalist….
        
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        July 18, 2019 8:35pm
- rangitoto
  
  Must have been lots of cow flatulence in 1961.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:03am
stoptheboats

from stuffed this morning – tick up or down if you agree with this statement about our PM !!!

”But the purpose of her trip is to deliver a keynote speech on why good governance matters, at an Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) event in Melbourne Town Hall. The long standing ANZSOG invitation was deferred after the Christchurch Massacre on March 15.

The event on Thursday night will be hosted by Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp, who told Australian media she was looking forward to hearing from one of the world’s “most respected and inspiring leaders”.
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July 18, 2019 9:26am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  So inspiring that 36% of the electorate backed her.
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:48am
  - Tall Man
    
    Her greatest achievement…. being the lipstick on the pig.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:13pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is Ardern to go on next as an adjunct Professor at the Harvard Business School?
  
  Is NZ featured on Comedy Hour of the World?
  
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  July 18, 2019 12:15pm
All_on_Red

Hey, weren’t some here saying ‘just you wait, that SDNY investigation is going to bring Trump down, down down. You’ll see! So there!’

‘A federal judge Wednesday confirmed federal prosecutors in New York City ended their investigation into Trump campaign finance violations, which focused on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization.
The end of the investigation indicates that no additional Trump Organization executives — a group that includes Donald Trump Jr. — will be charged in the investigation, which was led by attorneys in U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).’
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July 18, 2019 9:32am
- G152
  
  Now hopefully Trump will take those claimants to court and relieve them of their assets
  
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  July 18, 2019 9:35am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s a yuuge victory when some of the allegations against the Trump crime family don’t lead to criminal charges.
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:03am
  - Tall Man
    
    Enjoying the taste of sour grapes mikey. You must be as you are continuing the meal way past a reasonable finish date.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:12pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Wait until after 2024 Mike. Trump will be suing a lot of arseholes. Why? Because he can, and he thinks it will be fun
    
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    July 18, 2019 4:18pm
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  All on Red,
  
  Not all over yet,
  
  “..However, Nick Akerman, a former SDNY prosecutor, said the judge’s disclosure about the hush money probe’s end doesn’t mean all the matters related to Cohen are also finished. He said there could still be federal investigations into violations at the Trump Organization dealing with tax laws, foreign bribery statutes or other matters…?
  
  https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/17/trump-hush-money-payments-probe-over-1418074
  
  So funny!
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:27am
  - Swifty
    
    I ask again, who outside of your ctrl-left Dominion Road bubble actually cares?
    
    Duh!
    
    Lol!
    
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    July 18, 2019 12:29pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Pretty sure steffy girl is in a one dipshit bubble.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:10pm
      - Swifty
        
        A dipshit bubble of one?
        
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        July 18, 2019 2:03pm
The Proper Ghandi

Has the UK actually ALREADY left the EU on March 29th, on account of the legislation enacting Article 50? The law has not been repealed by the House of Commons, so it is arguable that delaying Brexit is unlawful.
Haven’t seen this on the Lame Stream Media yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_pUXKaUm4&lc=Ugz_Z-c6WIpN5snQC294AaABAg
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July 18, 2019 9:49am
kloyd0306

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “Google and Censorship through Search Engines,” Dr. Robert Epstein, who researches the impact of Google, informed the hearing that the monopoly uses techniques such as the search engine manipulation, search suggestion, the answer bot effect, and a number of others. They control these and no one can counteract them. These are not competitive. These are tools that they have at their disposal exclusively.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet were the largest single donor to Hillary Clinton – $1.6 million.

Collusion anyone?
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July 18, 2019 11:14am
- Batman
  
  And yet Donald Trump won. How odd….
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:25am
  - Tall Man
    
    Not odd at all. The polls were being “influenced” and social media was also pushing the left wing line however… in the privacy of the ballot box sanity often returns.
    
    While Trump did win it was an electoral miracle if you were a supporter and a “travesty” if you were a clinton supporter.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:09pm
    - Batman
      
      You mean influenced by Michael Cohen paying to have online polls spammed to favour Trump?
      
      The national polls were broadly accurate. They survey 1000 voters and ask who they’d vote for. That’s the popular vote.
      
      If they wanted to they could poll 1000 people in each state and then figure out who gets what EC votes and then figure out a winner. Unfortunately that would take too long and cost too much.
      
      Social media pushed the left wing line, because the left wing won the popular vote by 3% or whatever it was. Plus older and more conservative voters are on there less obviously.
      
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      July 18, 2019 1:16pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Sort of right but biased. Most pollsters in the US do in fact run state level polls to calculate the electoral college votes, and even the most conservative one estimated a 70%+ likelihood of Clinton winning in 2016. Most of them seem to fall back on the popular vote as they were less wrong on that, but their odds calculation was based on the pectoral college results and the state polls – nothing else would make sense as the EC can be quite different from the popular vote. Back in 2004 Bush won the PV by a larger amount than Clinton did in 2016, yet he only just scraped in via the EC.
        
        You can find plenty of state level poll results on line.
        
        Online polls would have zero effect, nobody trusts them as they have zero controls and are open to distortion by anyone. Cohen may have done that, but a pretty pointless exercise, the only people you might fool are probably partisans anyway.
        
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        July 18, 2019 5:26pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    “No puppet, you’re the puppet”
    Pure projection.
    And now it’s pretty much “no racist, you’re the racist”.
    
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    July 18, 2019 1:09pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Hahaha, projection though Mikey is pretty much the preserve of the left. If you want to know what their “sins” are, look at what they accuse others of.
      
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      July 18, 2019 5:28pm
  - kloyd0306
    
    Tall man is correct. It was a miracle, sanity prevailed and we (and the world) dodged a huge bullet.
    
    It won’t be too long before Barr and Durham will expose the “true” collusion between the DNC/Hillary and Russia. It is not going to be pretty but it will definitely be fun to watch the Dems turn themselves inside out trying to explain it away.
    
    The despicable Dems thoroughly deserve what is coming their way.
    
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    July 18, 2019 4:46pm
- MCos
  
  Alphabet doesn’t even appear on this list of top donors. Hardly surprising if they only donated a puny $1.6mil. Gareth Morgan donated more to TOP
  
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  July 18, 2019 5:44pm
Happychappy

Who will win between Little and Peter’s over crime Wellbeing.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/18/687201/labour-and-nz-first-send-mixed-messages-on-crime-funds.
This could get interesting leading up to the 2020 General Election as Peter’s won’t want to lose anymore support at the voting box and Labour won’t want to be seen backing down before the Election.
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July 18, 2019 11:52am
- Prince
  
  Interesting. Makes sense not to bother fighting Meth addiction any more, given the general legalisation process and ‘look the other way’ attitude.
  Again, it’s all about the messaging and marketing. No focus on what actually works, monitoring progress etc.
  We are witnessing the biggest waste of taxpayer money by a Govt ever.
  
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  July 18, 2019 12:47pm
Hugh Pavletich

China’s State-Driven Growth Model Is Running Out of Gas – WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-state-driven-growth-model-is-running-out-of-gas-11563372006

Latest data suggest China may not match the trajectory of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan … read more via hyperlink above …
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July 18, 2019 12:36pm
hullkiwi

The mixed signals of Genter would be laughable if they were not so serious.

This is a woman who puts her dogma and ideology before good governance and good public policy.

Yesterday, was the release of the policy programme, The Road to Zero . Effectively, a cherry pick of the Swedish Vision Zero. Any deal comparison with the Swedish programme begins and ends with the comparison of the aim (a reduced road toll) and the acceptance that people make mistakes.

But let’s take a look at the examples of why she is a danger to transport policy development and implementation in NZ.

1. Buried in the document released yesterday was a call for greater road side drug testing, but we know Genter is against such testing. She is on record as saying so in the media and in government report published in May. She is cited as saying “Road side drug testing is against the government health policy of informed drug use”. So, given 79 people (or 20% of the road toll) died on NZ roads last year with drugs in their system, which is it to be getting drugged drivers off the road or a policy that encourages recreational drug use?

2. Training skills of drivers.
Despite the policy confirming people make mistakes, and that skill levels are not what they should be, the policy shyed away from mandatory driver training and re-testeing after x number of years driving. This is a matter of penny pinching ahead of all else. For example when I was growing up, over the age of 70 drivers were tested annually, this was done away with a number of years ago. Up until 3 years ago my father was still driving legally, yet he had on set demmentia when the doctor told my sister she had to take his keys away from him. In fact, I had urged my siblings to do this two years prior when I experienced his driving. The system was allowing him to continue driving, despite the danger to himself and everyone else on the road.

3. RONS.
Depending who is talking the Ron’s are canned, or if we get Phil Tywford telling us nothing has been canned. They will just take longer to deliver. Instead if RoNS the minister is directing funds to other priorities (more cycling, walking and Public Transport) which is not much help if you live in rural and isolated NZ.

On the matter of the RoNS and in particular the highway between Warkworth and Whangarei, 2 bits of news:
1. Showing that life in NZTA is dysfunctional. As far as has been said, most of us believe the Warkworth to TeHana extension of the northern motorway is cancelled, but apparently not. On Tuesday, in association with Auckland Transport, NZTA published transport plans for Auckland for the period 2020 to 2030 called Supporting Growth. These plans can be viewed at http://www.supportinggrowth.govt.nz

Now what is interesting under the plans for Warkworth are the plans for extension of the motorway to TeHana. It is a case of WTF! Given that work started a month ago to make the Dome Valley safe as per Genter’s plans. What is going on? Are NZTA betting against the CoL?

Then there is the matter of a retaining wall and the Brenderwyns. It seems the North has had too much rain in recent years and a wooden retaining wall used to support a bank is rotting! Traffic past the point is to be reduced to one way each way on part of the hill that is already dangerous. Given this is the major communication link between Auckland and Whangarei, what does Genter propose to do?
Do the Northern mayors want to go to Wellington and tell Genter, Winston, Shane and Phil a big “we told you so!”

New Zealand needs better than this!
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July 18, 2019 12:41pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  I’m sceptical that many of these serious accidents are caused by the sort of lack of skill that can be detected through mandatory testing.
  
  Elderly people need to be re-tested at some age but 70 is too soon and maybe there is a way to test reflexes and cognition on licence renewal without an on-road test.
  
  But making everyone resit the practical test every ten years or something similar, sounds inefficient and I’m pretty sure it would be unpopular as well.
  
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  July 18, 2019 1:32pm
  - G152
    
    Most vehicle accidents are caused by and or affect people under 30.
    The elderly have a great deal of experience at avoiding accident situations
    
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    July 18, 2019 2:35pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      G152, many of the accidents and fatalities involving elderly drivers are because they are medically unfit to drive or have a medical incident (usually a heart attack) while driving. I cited my father because he was medically unfit to drive. He was a danger to himself and others on the road (he was in his late 80s at the time).
      
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      July 18, 2019 4:01pm
      - Sacha
        
        Over 80s have to renew their licences every 2 years and provide medical certificates, complete with eye tests.
        
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        July 18, 2019 7:32pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yep, if you are over 60, the do 60 (mph)
      It takes a lot of skill to figure out what the average young moron is going to do.
      I am 67
      
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      July 18, 2019 4:30pm
- Happychappy
  
  But as long as you have the media not prepared to take any of the Coalition Parties to task and print the facts you will have no chance of changing the Government. The mindset of a Journalist nowadays is what they can get not what they give and how to bend the truth to suit their narrative so get to go on trips with Jacinda.
  
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  July 18, 2019 1:33pm
- Psycho Milt
  
  Buried in the document released yesterday was a call for greater road side drug testing, but we know Genter is against such testing.
  
  Good. The existing roadside drug tests would see NZ citizens falsely accused and convicted of a criminal offence. What I’d like to know is why National is promoting that.
  
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  July 18, 2019 4:28pm
  - herb1
    
    What I’d like to know is why do you place the right of people to drive drugged over the rights of innocent families , to arrive at their destinations alive ?
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:05pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    PM, what you do in the privacy of your own home is your business. I don’t care what you do to your brain cells. My only exception to your choice of recreational inebriation, is if, and when, you decide to drive and potentially endanger the lives of anybody on or near a road way while stoned/smashed or under the influence of drugs. It is then, that I take exception and have no problem with what the law does with you.
    
    I can’t condemn you if you are a pot head, but the death of a friend in 1990 (he put his vehicle into a power pole in Auckland) was enough to change my perspective of even smoking dope.
    
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    July 18, 2019 10:39pm
- igm
  
  Maybe she could get a job back home with US Dems — she would fit in well with the current mob.
  
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  July 18, 2019 5:19pm
  - alloytoo
    
    Perhaps Trumps’s tweet refers to her?
    
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    July 18, 2019 7:33pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      If she went back to the US, she would improve the average IQ of NZ, but probably harm the US.
      
      Besides if there was something to fix, she would be the last person I’d think of or call for help.
      
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      July 19, 2019 7:57am
Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
AUSTRALIA: Now paying the price for electing a ‘housing fake’ Conservative government …

Housing Minister: Do buy now! – MacroBusiness Australia

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/07/housing-minister-buy-now/

By Houses and Holes in Australian Property

For a long time MB campaigned for a national Housing Minister to address affordability. Careful what you wish for, via The Australian:

Housing Minister Michael Sukkar has urged first-home buyers to try to snap up a property now, ahead of the government’s signature loan deposit scheme starting next year, warning that housing prices are likely to increase.

Mr Sukkar’s bold comments come as the government puts the finishing touches on the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, which Scott Morrison announced as a major pre-election promise. From January 1, it will enable some first-time buyers to purchase a house with as little as a 5 per cent deposit.

“If you’ve got an opportunity to get a foot in the market before then you should take it, given I think the market is starting to improve,” Mr Sukkar told The Australian. “People who buy now I don’t think will regret it at all.

“A re-elected Morrison government has put a lot more confidence into the market. We’re seeing green shoots in Melbourne and Sydney in the last quarter and I think with low interest rates, with APRA reducing serviceability buffers, all those factors combine to confirm that optimism.”

And he is not finished. A resumption of mortgage fraud is his next policy initiative, formerly from the AFR: … read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
… Pavletich comment on thread …

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/07/housing-minister-buy-now/#comment-3393377

Affordability at the centre of government’s thinking, Housing Minister Michael Sukkar says … Domain

https://www.domain.com.au/news/affordability-at-the-centre-of-governments-thinking-housing-minister-michael-sukkar-says-860089/

What a pity Australian Labor hasn’t been as ‘enlightened’ on housing / urban land use issues as New Zealand Labour … check the 2019 and 2017 election sections at http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org in particular.

H&H’s concluding comment above is very appropriate … ‘John Howard’s politico-housing complex is back with a vengeance’.

The Tories will always be ‘housing fakes’ as they will NEVER deal head on with the protectionists within their ranks.

The Australian Labor Party let the country down badly … not learning a thing from its New Zealand counterpart.
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July 18, 2019 1:22pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  God Hugh, you’re doing my head in.
  
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  July 18, 2019 3:11pm
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Captain Mainwaring … When Housing Minister Woods and Urban Development Minister Twyford make their important public announcements in the next few days, I suspect your mind will be much like the alligators in the Battle of New Orleans …
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSTKE85yXl4
    
    In the meantime you may ‘enjoy’ reading Minister Twyfords late March speech …
    
    New Zealaned Housing (now Urban Development) Minister Phil Twyfords speech to the New Zealand Initiative Members Retreat … New Zealand Government / Beehive
    
    https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-nz-initiative-members%E2%80%99-retreat
    
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    July 18, 2019 3:46pm
    - Ross12
      
      Hugh
      What exactly should Aussie Labor have learnt from NZ Labour ? What exactly has this NZ Govt. done other than a few speeches?
      
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      July 18, 2019 4:13pm
    - Happychappy
      
      Talking about it doesn’t build houses Hugh and you have done plenty of that in the last 5 years.
      
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      July 18, 2019 4:47pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        … UPDATE …NEW ZEALAND …
        
        Kiwibank economists say despite the residential construction boom the country is still falling short of what it needs to build; further short term weakness seen in Auckland house prices, however … David Hargreaves … Interest Co NZ
        
        https://www.interest.co.nz/property/100767/kiwibank-economists-says-despite-residential-construction-boom-country-still-falling
        
        Kiwibank economists say the shortage of houses in New Zealand may reach as much as 150,000 by this time next year despite the residential house building boom going on.
        
        Despite the shortage, however, they see further short term weakness (prices down another 3-5% into next year) in Auckland house prices, with the regions continuing to show short-term strength before slowing too.
        
        In a Property Insights publication Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr and senior economist Jeremy Couchman said their estimates showed that at this time last year there was a shortage of 100,000 homes across New Zealand.
        
        As of right now, they now estimate the shortage has grown to 130,000. … read more via hyperlink above …
        .
        .
        … We are awaiting the New Zealand governments major housing and urban land use announcements. Note Urban Development Minister Phil Twyfords late March speech …
        
        New Zealaned Housing Minister Phil Twyfords speech to the New Zealand Initiative Members Retreat … New Zealand Government / Beehive
        
        https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-nz-initiative-members%E2%80%99-retreat
        
        … extract …
        
        … In our view there are three big challenges that have to be addressed:
        
        1. A broken system for financing infrastructure
        
        2. A planning system based on urban containment
        
        3. The failure of governments until now, both local and central, to actively work with the private sector to enable urban growth and expansion. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        July 18, 2019 5:59pm
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Why do you keep quoting Phil Twyford as an authority on housing Hugh? Did you miss the news that he did such a shit job that he got sacked from the portfolio?
        
        You’re boring man. You post the same links every day, and all you can do is shill for the discredited Twyford. For everyone’s sake, give it a rest!
        
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        July 18, 2019 6:20pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Responding to the points made above …
        
        Ross … I walked through the issue with Mike Yardley on NewstalkZB at the time of the release of the Dem Survey 21 Jan. I hope the points made are helpful …
        
        Government needs to act quickly to fix housing market … Hugh Pavletich with Mike Yardley … NewstalkZB
        
        https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/hugh-pavletich-kiwibuild-needs-a-revamp-to-fix-the-housing-market/
        .
        .
        Happychappy … Not 5 closer to 30 years, since I got the South Island Division of the Property Council underway as President back in 1991. I learned enormous ;political reality; lessons through that time … which helped in getting the Demographia Housing Survey underway in 2004.
        
        As I make clear on the front page of http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org New Zealand is the global leader in getting these structural reforms in place.
        .
        .
        Tony Stuart … Yes I hold Phil Twyford in high regard … and too earlier ones such as Bill English and former Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler. And many others too. This has been a very long journey. Note what Jenee Tibshraeny of Interest Co NZ had to say recently …
        
        With Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford set to continue leading key housing-related law changes, Jenée Tibshraeny argues he shouldn’t be written off as an architect of the Government’s broader housing policy … Interest Co NZ
        
        https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/100460/urban-development-minister-phil-twyford-set-continue-leading-key-housing-related-law
        
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        July 18, 2019 6:57pm
All_on_Red

Interesting thread on Twitter from CNNs Jake Tapper
‘House Democrats appeared unified in their votes this week but I’ve spent the day talking to a bunch of them and many are extremely frustrated. ‘
The president won this one,” said House Dem 1 of the Trump v Squad (AOC, Tlaib, Omar & Pressley) showdown. “What the president has done is politically brilliant. Pelosi was trying to marginalize these folks and the president has now identified the entire party with them.”
Another issue: what are Dems focused on? Is it what will help the class of 2018 (largely more moderate than the Squad) get reelected?
Other House Democrats are conflicted about having to defend the Squad given things they’ve said and done. House Dems cited: talk of supporting challengers to incumbent Dems in primaries, AOC’s use of the term “concentration camps,” anti-Semitic comments by Tlaib & Omar.
This perceived selective outrage rankled some Dems.
“Everybody was completely outraged by what the president said,” said House Dem 3, “and everybody thought it was appropriate to criticize him.
but this was the *first* time the House has taken action to criticize him in any way, We couldn’t even bring ourselves to have a resolution exclusively condemning anti-Semitism uttered by one of those members” — Omar — “but we leapt to their defense here.”
House Dem 4 also brought up that bill coming “from someone with a history of anti-Semitism” — Omar — “So yeah it’s challenging.”
House Dem 4 recalls that “less than 2 weeks ago when members of our caucus were trying to support funds for children at the border,” the Squad was arguing that “we’re pro-putting kids in cages, we’re against human rights. So there’s frustration.”
Others noted that this week the House Democratic Caucus stood by a group that is not perceived as standing by them.

“I can’t tell you the number of Members who are angry and annoyed about them criticizing us,” said House Dem 3.
AOC, in particular “gives her chief of staff license to get candidates to run against her colleagues and to go after them on social media. It makes people’s skin crawl,” said House Dem 3.

House Dem 4 summed it up: “We were there for them; they should stop attacking us.”

Not a happy family eh
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July 18, 2019 4:03pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Squad referring to those 4. They are the new ones. Two more should be included, racist Maxine Waters (old school), and horizontal Kamala Harris
  
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  July 18, 2019 4:35pm
kevn

The Demos’ I call them.
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July 18, 2019 4:16pm
BeaB

Schoolgirl goes to Youth Parliament to learn about how it works. Speaker Anne Tolley treats them seriously like actual parliamentarians and lays out the debating rules several times. Girl reads her earnest (and banal) speech about youth suicide. Tolley lets her go on and on and then asks her to give her views on what should be done. The girl does so and then reads her finishing paragraph. She looks quite composed. Later her mother said she was humiliated and in tears. Tolley apologises. Mental health advocates weigh in and say this is why kids can’t speak up about mental health issues.
The world has gone mad.
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July 18, 2019 4:25pm
- The Feed
  
  Tolley saved the girl from a serious mistake in terms of career choice.
  
  If you’re that sensitive, do not go into politics.
  
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  July 18, 2019 8:33pm
- hullkiwi
  
  She wants to be a parliamentary, but the rules are too tough and it makes the young snowflake cry.
  
  FFS, what is wrong with this country?
  
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  July 18, 2019 10:47pm
Ross12

Who built and started putting illegal immigrants in “cages” ? Can’t the sjw’s do some research?
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/16-07-2019/what-a-horrified-new-zealander-can-do-about-kids-in-cages/
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July 18, 2019 4:53pm
Captain Mainwaring

Woods and Twyford – dumb and dumber.
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July 18, 2019 5:11pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Mork and Mindy
  
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  July 18, 2019 5:14pm
Tall Man

https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2019/07/clayton-mitchell–government-firmly-focused-on-boosting-producti.html

He’s a funny guy… unless he means boosting the production of more beneficiaries and bludgers.
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July 18, 2019 5:23pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Clayton Mitchell – Minister for Dwarf-Tossing…
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107688809/dwarf-tossing-underage-gambling-concerns-at-mps-pub
  
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  July 18, 2019 6:12pm
- MCos
  
  Looking through some of the other articles on the Magic home page maybe they should stick to old timers concert tour announcements
  https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2019/07/duncan-garner–the-black-caps-don-t-look-like-a-champion-side.html
  
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  July 18, 2019 11:18pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Now that you State Sector Employees have gone home:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r2i7yhauq73c7bm/JA%20Porn%20hub.jpg?dl=0
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July 18, 2019 5:29pm
rangitoto

Donald nails it:

“In America, if you hate our Country, you are free to leave. The simple fact of the matter is, the four Congresswomen think that America is wicked in its origins, they think that America is even more wicked now, that we are all racist and evil. They’re entitled to their opinion, they’re Americans. Now I’m entitled to my opinion, & I just think they’re left wing cranks. They’re the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle, & we should ignore them.”

LoL
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July 18, 2019 5:38pm
- All_on_Red
  
  @colinsage7
  ‘When Helen Clarke was PM she once said “if they dont like it here they can go live in Australia” in regards to complainants over the nz economy v’s the booming Australian one at the time.
  There was no controversy!’
  
  Is Hulun a racist? Who knew!
  
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  July 18, 2019 6:06pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    “Who knew racism could be so complicated?”
    
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    July 18, 2019 6:49pm
    - Tall Man
      
      But, no surprises, we all know how stupid you choose to be.
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:03pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Well, that’s Smarmy Mikey
      
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      July 18, 2019 7:44pm
Tony Stuart

Business confidence down, and now One News leads with the story that unemployment is up. Let’s see the government jawbone their way out of that conundrum.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/new-zealanders-can-t-afford-government-kiwis-jobseeker-benefits-jumps-11-per-cent-in-year
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July 18, 2019 6:11pm
- igm
  
  To think the unwanted unelected PM wants to distance herself from Sir John . . . one would need to be a halfwit seeing any resemblance, especially fiscally, in all spheres.
  
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  July 18, 2019 6:27pm
MCos

You can squawk about Trump, grizzle about AOC or Jacinda and wail that the world’s a mess.
It’s all a sideshow.
For me the item on TV1 News about the wee twins separated after being born joined at the head, and similar stories, are the real news.
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July 18, 2019 7:03pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  I’d happily agree with you MCos, but just this once! Modern medicine can do some amazing things.
  
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  July 18, 2019 7:08pm
- All_on_Red
  
  That is nice news
  But KB is a blog about politics
  Maybe Facebook is more for you?
  
  [Mod: This is a GENERAL Debate}
  
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  July 18, 2019 7:47pm
  - Tall Man
    
    The Standard?
    
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    July 18, 2019 8:04pm
Happychappy

So it was 100,000 houses that were needed in October 2017 and it was all Nationals Fault but now in July 2019 it has increased to 130,000 houses needed and know one including Hugh Pavlovich is calling it a disgrace and blaming Jacinda and Winston for their fraudulent policy that they promised after the Election.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12250724
130,000 houses needed and Labours Kiwibuild that was going to save NZ produced just over 350 in nearly two years of being the Government.
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July 18, 2019 7:42pm
Hugh Pavletich

China’s debt tops 300% of GDP, now 15% of global total: IIF … Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-debt/chinas-debt-tops-300-of-gdp-now-15-of-global-total-iif-idUSKCN1UD0KD

China and Russia vow to ‘deepen trade in soybeans’ after tariff war kills US crop exports … SCMP

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3019187/china-and-russia-vow-deepen-trade-soybeans-after-tariff-war

Google NZ News Search ‘Russia Agricultural Exports’ …

https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+agricultural+exports&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQtMfOwb7jAhXVT30KHQ_WDUEQ_AUIEigC&biw=853&bih=386&dpr=2.25
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July 19, 2019 1:02am
RdM

Captain Mainwaring
God Hugh, you’re doing my head in.

Too much text for you perhaps, like
https://www.theonion.com/nation-shudders-at-large-block-of-uninterrupted-text-1819571366

Read it or don’t read it; it’s on offer, but why moan about it?

I prefer his offerings to complaints about them!
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July 20, 2019 1:05am

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