General Debate 09 November 2020

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PhilBest

One-liner of the week on the US Presidential election…
Former Illinois Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich when asked whether the Democrat machine might be stealing votes:
“Is the Pope Catholic?”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/11/06/former-dem-governor-admits-democratic-voter-fraud-is-widespread-and-real-n2579632
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November 9, 2020 8:00am
- PhilBest
  
  “…It’s a time-honored tradition in big, Democrat-controlled cities like Chicago and my hometown, Philadelphia, to do precisely what they’re doing.”
  
  According to Blagojevich, voter fraud is likely happening in other Democrat-controlled cities too, such as Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Las Vegas.
  
  Blagojevich explained how the Democratic apparatus allegedly operates to steal votes.
  
  “They control polling places, they stop votes when their candidate’s behind, and then in wee hours of the morning, in the dark of night, the stealing starts…”
  
  The reason the mainstream media is looking the other way, according to the former governor, is because the most important thing to them is defeating Donald Trump. As I have been saying, this applies to even a lot of Vichy centre-right people too – you can’t trust them when they say, no this isn’t happening, it’s just a crank conspiracy theory from the wingnuts – when what they are really thinking, is “good on ya to the people who rose to the occasion and did whatever it takes to keep the rubes from electing Bad Orange Man again”.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:04am
  - Simon
    
    Fake news declares for Biden. The election aint over. Not by a long shot. Fake news selling a narrative pushed by the Biden campaign. The election aint over until the electoral college meets 14 Dec. There will be a Supreme Court judgement before then.
    
    Great history lesson. See all the people who believed this fake shit and got all emotional or promoted knowing it was fake. Then properly sold and in incremental parts then there is nothing they wouldn’t support or believe.
    
    The first gulags and concentration camps were sold as re-education camps for those with wrong think. If you fell for the fake Biden news you will believe anything if it was packaged in the right way.
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:14am
    - Inandout
      
      Simon, I am over the Biden/Harris hype which seems to have turned our MSM into Kardasian-chaser types. For the first time in years I have the radio on music stations, not Hosking in the morning. On streaming Newsmax seems to have become a leader over Fox.
      
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      November 9, 2020 8:24am
      - Simon
        
        Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory in the United States. New Zealand has an enduring relationship with the US which I want to see get even stronger. Let’s get a free trade agreement done!@NZNationalParty
        
        https://twitter.com/JudithCollinsMP/status/1325183995500400641
        
        Lamo.
        
        Sorry for National party types.
        
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        November 9, 2020 8:48am
      - Fletch
        
        I listened to Hosking’s monologue this morning. He said it would have been better if Trump hadn’t been “a little mad” and if he’d let the position of president sink down on him a little more. The thing is, the Dems have never accepted Trump from the moment he won. The day after he won there was a Pussy Hat protest in the street. They dogged him for years with the Russia inquiry, then the fake impeachment. It’s hypocrisy to have the media reporting on Biden calling for unity, etc, when he was calling Trump a Nazi and Hitler during his campaign.
        
        And then the media saying it is divisive of Trump not to concede, when just before the election we had Hillary Clinton advising Biden not to concede under any circumstances. And if Trump had won on the face of it, you can bet Biden would have had his lawyers out there fighting. No way he would have conceded.
        
        As Matt Walsh says –
        
        In 2000, Gore refused to concede the presidential election until a Supreme Court decision forced his hand in mid-December of that year.
        
        As it happens, there are actually valid reasons in this case to get the courts involved and take a second look at the counting process in some of these states. This election has what no other election in American history has ever had: tens of millions of people mailing in ballots over the course of months, coupled with tens of millions more showing up to the polling place the old fashioned way on Election Day. At best, the last minute rule changes to allow this overwhelming influx of mail-in votes have caused confusion. At worst, it has provided a forum and cover for fraud. Whatever the case, there is grounds for litigation. But even if you disagree, if you are a Democrat who has been screaming that Trump is “not your president” over these past four years, you are in no position to criticize what he’s doing now.
        
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        November 9, 2020 9:30am
      - lastmanstanding
        
        I wonder if China will use soft diplomacy or hard diplomacy to get the trade restrictions rolled back.
        
        More likely they will just offer Hunter some Board seats at US$50K a meeting.
        
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        November 9, 2020 9:46am
      - lifesgood
        
        Good on you. I turned Newstalk off when Kate Hawkesby started raving on and on and on about how wonderful the Biden victory is and how happy Americans were. I get the impression her getting an hour long spot was part of a deal Mike insisted on, she adds nothing to the station. She seems to forget that close to half the votes were for Trump so what she should have said was “Half the Americans are happy”
        
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        November 9, 2020 9:58am
      - alloytoo
        
        “For the first time in years I have the radio on music stations”
        
        Me too
        
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        November 9, 2020 10:00am
  - John Joseph
    
    Come on Joe Biden
    is a schooled Communist like
    Joe Stalin
    
    He does not care who votes
    
    he cares about who
    
    COUNTS THE VOTES
    
    He will do what the British do
    Disarm the population and set
    their armed communist police to shoot
    innocent police British Communist Style
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:18am
  - surfing
    
    You’ve been conned by youtube/twitter/google algorithms.
    
    Go watch Social Dilemma, or listen to Joe Rogans latest podcast on the mechanisms behind search engines .
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:20am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Their Labour equivalent here believes in opportunism too. Scrutineering was tightened up so we have a reasonably honest election.
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:36am
  - Mike
    
    Speaking as an expert on corruption, was he?
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:57am
  - Ian Boag
    
    voter fraud is likely happening in other Democrat-controlled cities too, such as Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Las Vegas.
    
    I assume this is a criminal matter (?). If so, it seems odd that there is no sign of law enforcement agencies showing any interest.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:06am
    - Mike
      
      You might recall Trump established a presidential commission to investigate voter fraud. It collapsed, as their was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
      If Trump’s partisan hacks could not come up with anything, it seems unlikely that any law enforcement agency will investigate.
      
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      November 9, 2020 9:25am
      - TWEEDSE
        
        Given the closeness of the voting in some states, voter fraud would not need to be “wide spread” to change the outcome. Just a small amount would do it.
        
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        November 9, 2020 11:44am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Odd how you know that when the only living ex-Republican President not only congratulated Biden and Harris on their victories but also said, “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.”
    To be fair he also said that the losing Republican contender had “fought a hard-fought campaign” and that he was entitled to request recounts or make legal challenges.
    Bad news for conspirators of course.
    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/politics/george-w-bush-congratulates-biden-and-harris-on-election-victory/ar-BB1aOqrw?ocid=msedgntp
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:30am
    - Fletch
      
      Bush has made his dislike for Trump known in the past. So I am not surprised. What is hypocritical is that he won against Gore in 2000 by appealing to the Supreme Court to stop counting in Florida. Using the legal and constitutional means at his disposal just like Trump wants to. And it took over a month to be settled.
      
      As I said, hypocrite.
      
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      November 9, 2020 9:36am
      - Ian Boag
        
        appealing to the Supreme Court to stop counting in Florida
        
        IIRC it wasn’t quite like that. The issue was mechanical defects in the voting machines that didn’t punch out the holes properly in the vote cards and whether these “defective” cards should be counted.
        
        Wasn’t anything to do with fraud. And FWIW I gather that “permitting” these could have actually gone either way….
        
        Go figure.
        
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        November 9, 2020 9:48am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        I separated this part in the post for a reason. Something else you don’t get, Bush said of Trump:
        “that he was entitled to request recounts or make legal challenges.”
        
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        November 9, 2020 10:53am
  - BeeJay
    
    So, to accept your “reliable “source Blagojevich and therefore your logic, it’s tradition that Democrats have always cheated when they win an election?
    So they haven’t cheated if they lose?
    They cheated when JFK and LBJ won?
    But didn’t cheat when Nixon & Ford won?
    Then cheated again when Carter won, but not when Reagan & George HW won, then cheated again when Clinton won, but almost cheated when George W won but didn’t do a very good job of cheating in Florida?
    But they came back strongly with the cheating when Obama won?
    They didn’t cheat enough when Trump won, but now they’ve done a great job of cheating for Biden to win?
    FFS you losers need to get a life or come up with believable conspiracies if you want to try to sell your argument!
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:31am
    - Fletch
      
      They cheat all the time. Sometimes it works in their favour, sometimes not. But they always do it.
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:01am
      - BeeJay
        
        Fletch, Your comment doesn’t even make any sense!
        
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        November 9, 2020 1:03pm
    - Chris R
      
      You need to read your history books a little longer. Gerald Ford was “appointed” Vice-President when Spiro Agnew resigned, Gerald Ford was “appointed” President when Richard Nixon resigned. Gerald Ford was a safe pair of hands when he was the President. I surmise that the Democrats may well have cheated during campaigns when they failed to win…but how would you know? I don’t for certain but I suspect that cheating has been endemic in the Democrat Party since Joe Kennedy bought the Presidency for JFK back in 1960.
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:03am
      - BeeJay
        
        Chris R, your response is nonsense as well! What has Gerald Ford got anything to do with the allegation that Democrats cheat all the time?? And you “suspect” that Democrats cheating started when Joe Kennedy “bought” the presidency for JFK! You’re another one who’s just making things up to try and support your nonsense theories!
        
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        November 9, 2020 1:11pm
    - PhilBest
      
      The point is that they stop the counting and get up to stuff in the dead of night WHEN THEY REALISE there is an election victory at stake. They don’t do it when they don’t need to because they are winning fairly, or when the margin of loss is so drastic that no amount of fraud could claw it back.
      
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      November 9, 2020 5:58pm
- surfing
  
  In your opinion. To be a great one liner, I’d at least expect originality.
  
  “Is the pope catholic” has been used so many times it is defacto language for ‘yes’.
  
  Regardless, sure, there is voter fraud. Trump just thinks that it is massive fraud but he is a narcissist and cannot comprehend loss. If Trump thought there would be fraud he could have done something about it. He has been predicting it for a long time.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:28am
  - Mike
    
    Ah, he was powerless against the deep state…
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:58am
  - tf78
    
    This Pope is actually a Jesuit – does that help.
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:00am
- Mrs_Right
  
  Long time reader, first time poster.
  
  I’m not a conspiracy theorist but despite the MSM wanting us to look the other way, the evidence that something fishy was happening on election day is there and should be investigated for the American people. The hypocrisy from the MSN is astounding. This is from the same people who relentlessly promoted the Russia lie to delegitimise Trump for 3 years remain silent. Not to mention their willingness to turn a blind eye to some serious corruption allegations involving Biden.
  
  I’m a firm believer that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Why should anyone be surprise that the Democrats planned to rig the election all along when they have stooped so low in the past when it comes to Trump?
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:43am
  - The Proper Ghandi
    
    Welcome. However, you needn’t preface your comment “I’m not a conspiracy theorist” because this schmozzle is the very definition of a conspiracy. Calling someone a conspiracy theorist is just a description, it is not a rebuttal. FFS, conspiracies are how shit gets done in the world, good or bad.
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:32am
  - The Housekeeper
    
    It’s only ever a conspiracy theory till it’s not Mrs Right.
    
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    November 9, 2020 12:45pm
Captain Mainwaring

How does one become ‘African-American’ by being half Jamaican and half (South Asian) Indian?
Asking for a friend.
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November 9, 2020 8:00am
- Tempist
  
  No idea, guess it’s how you identify…. I understand from the media though that the right old white man won and people can now go about raising their children properly or something…
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:04am
- PhilBest
  
  The implications are major, that you have people of color who did NOT grow up suffering “racism” and disadvantage in the USA, their entire career as upwardly mobile immigrants would make them a role model for the American Dream – and they self-select as representatives of the race-baiting industry.
  
  Mark Steyn makes a hilarious point in his podcasts, about both Obama and Kamala exemplifying “British subject privilege”
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:08am
- Inandout
  
  CM, read ‘woman of colour’, which apparently covers the field.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:25am
  - sooty
    
    Colour good, just not white!
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:33am
- MCos
  
  I think you’ll find that black Jamaicans are 90+% ethically African.
  From memory they are descendants of slaves brought over by the Brits hundreds of years ago.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:33am
  - SGA
    
    Yes, and from the little I’ve read that part of the Africa-Americas slave trade was tougher than what went on in the USA.
    
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    November 9, 2020 8:43am
  - Charmaine Hawke
    
    They are also descendants of slave owners, like Ms Harris which long term could be a little awkward for her.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:35am
    - SGA
      
      lol – because the slave owners in the USA were so good about “keeping it in their pants”? Even the celebrated Thomas Jefferson had sexual relations with at least one of his slaves. I don’t see why it would be “a little awkward for her”.
      
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      November 9, 2020 9:48am
- SGA
  
  @Cat’n M
  I suppose it depends on how you chose to define the term “America” – narrowly (i.e., USA) or broadly (e.g., Nth America/Sth America)? You could argue it either way depending on your perspective, I suppose.
  
  At the end of the day, there were slaves taken in Africa and transported to the Americas – some of her ancestors were among them.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:34am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Last Wednesday, when I saw that Trump had won Tennessee and might be re-elected I celebrated with some stuff from Lynchburg.
  Last night when I found that Kamala had been elected president in waiting I consoled myself with some Jamaican rum to go with my takeaway Vindaloo.
  That makes me a drunk with a little knowledge of geography.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:47am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Fear not, the decision has nothing to do with you and you’re perfectly entitled to mind your own business. Feel confident that no one in the world is concerned, as are not their friends, how a TV character’s name is used by someone that only exists in their own mind.
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Because that was how she was defined by the US education system…..
  
  Bussed to previously segregated schools
  Attended Howard University – a Black Ivy-League uni…
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:46am
- tf78
  
  Kamala has a very olive complexion, so she can choose whatever race she wants I guess. I must get out in the sun this year, then who knows how I could identify myself – it could be very handy these days.
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:03am
pdm

Capt – the new phrase is:

`Person of Colour’

Encompasses all skin pigments and contingencies.
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November 9, 2020 8:06am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  In physics White and Black do not have specific wavelengths. White is not defined as a color because it is the sum of all possible colors. Black is not defined as a color because it is the absence of light, and therefore color.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:27am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Mixing light, Red, Blue, Green (these have defined wavelengths too) WHITE is 255, 255, 255 i.e an equal quantity of each. BLACK is 0,0,0–none of any. The darkest red would be 1,0,0.
    Printing has problems as inks don’t give out light and pigments don’t mix to black which is frequently printed as an extra. The same trick is used in photo prints to use pigments which subtract from the viewing light so that light reflected is RBG. Transparent cyan (blue-green) proportionally lets red through, yellow dye subtracts blue and magenta subtracts green. (if only there was a Magenta Political Party.)
    
    If you want a visual puzzle look at the yellow on your computer or TV screen: It’s made up from Red and Green.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:11am
  - krazykiwi
    
    It is somewhat ironic that ‘black’ is a complete absence of any colour.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:15am
    - Mike
      
      Perhaps you would prefer racial classification to be put on a more scientific basis.
      
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      November 9, 2020 9:36am
    - SGA
      
      It is somewhat ironic that ‘black’ is a complete absence of any colour.
      
      Not really – I think it would be more accurate to say that “black” is the colour name given to the absence of any wavelengths of visible light. Colour is more about our perception.
      
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      November 9, 2020 10:01am
- KevO'Brien
  
  I’m a person of colour too. I could describe the colours quite precisely using RGB. No white (#FFFFFF) anywhere. The RGB 255 230 150 dilute red is a good approximation of palm colour. Strangely, considering current human colour descriptions, my colour varies inch by inch, I’m even spotted. A nuisance really when doing retouching although Red Eye is worse.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:49am
  - crikey
    
    It will disappoint a lot of people to know that the ‘white’ person’s skin pigmentation is closer to an orange hue than pink; definitely not white.
    
    Those experienced in digital photography will understand.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:49am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Don’t say orange!
      
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      November 10, 2020 7:30am
Lee C

https://www.facebook.com/eiemfm/videos/357951891976236
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November 9, 2020 8:07am
Maggie Pie

FOX…

In final bid for victory, Trump mulls over Rudi’s advice that he changes name to Joe Biden.
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November 9, 2020 8:08am
- Lance
  
  “I’m the real Joe Biden… damn it!”
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:01am
Nukuleka

Given the immense enthusiasm and size of his rallies I can understand how Donald Trump’s popular vote increased by 8 million between the 2016 and 2020 elections. I am somehow stumped, however, to explain the nearly 9.5 million increase in the vote for the geriatric, listless and undistinguished codger Joe Biden over that gained by the person ‘most qualified’ to be president in 2016 Hilary Clinton. All very strange in my very humble view.
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November 9, 2020 8:10am
- Vory v zakone
  
  Exactly. The same mainstream media that hid Epstein Island now wants you to believe that an incoherent senile child sniffer got the most presidential votes of all time.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:23am
- MCos
  
  Trump’s popularity may have increased by 8mill, but his unpopularity has increased by substantially more.
  BTW
  Once the California count is finished expect Biden’s lead to increase by well over a million.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:47am
  - frankflintstone
    
    I think you’ve underestimated the number of dead people
    
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    November 9, 2020 12:32pm
- SGA
  
  I am somehow stumped, however, to explain the nearly 9.5 million increase in the vote for the geriatric, listless and undistinguished codger Joe Biden
  
  It’s almost as though there were a sizable number of US citizens who just wanted Trump out of the White House, period. Might that have contributed?
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:10am
- tf78
  
  Definitely doesn’t pass the pub test!
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:06am
- Brian McDonald
  
  PhilBest has the same jokes on replay and laughs each time. It can go on for hours after which sometimes he gets a little raggedly and imagines he’s work for the FBI
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:12am
Yvette

Golriz Ghahraman, in the Guardian, on Nanaia Mahuta’s appointment as Foreign Minister –
It’s important to also celebrate this appointment as a leap in representation. It is, unbelievably, the first time a woman is entrusted to formulate and front our nation’s foreign policy.
That this historic achievement was made by a strong wāhine Māori with deep connection with her whakapapa (genealogy), also shines as an example of how we continue to decolonise our institutions in every policy area.
– which may say more about Ghahraman’s agenda than Mahuta’s, but all these puff pieces on the new Foreign Minister read as if there is to be no other input to the minister’s thinking, than their own.

It is, unbelievably, the first time a woman is entrusted to formulate and front our nation’s foreign policy.
Really? Has not each female Prime Minister (Shipley, Clark, Ardern) had some input, and the rest of their Cabinets, to foreign policy?

Did not Winston Peter’s insist a special item be included in the Labour / New Zealand Coalition Agreement admonishing the lack of process followed prior to the National-led government’s sponsorship of UNSC2334 – that McCully took the already rejected and withdrawn Egyptian draft resolution (worded with assistance from the UK and approved by the Palestinians) and added 13 paragraph numbers to the Egyptian original and re-tabled it near verbatim, and with the collusion of the US abstaining, passed it – without the New Zealand Government Cabinet first passing it.
(Winston, Ardern and Shaw of course forgot all this when it came to banning oil and gas exploration and an initial Cabinet examination and approval of that)

But regarding the realism of the show-woman-ship, slogans and current PR bullshit surrounding Mahutu, is she actually going to act alone, or carry out Cabinet approved policy?
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November 9, 2020 8:14am
- pdm
  
  Yvette – maybe not Ardern.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:24am
  - Yvette
    
    Announcing oil exploration ban to Macron (although France imports 95% of its methanol and wouldn’t appreciate the virtual signalling) and again Macron with the Christchurch Call, which is yet to bite her in the derriere
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:08am
    - Paulus
      
      Nothing can Cindy her in her rear – she is totally impervious to any adverse reaction – now she has a total majority she will be much worse in her own omnipotence.
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:19am
- Inandout
  
  Yvette, isn’t it nice to return to politic-speak after that terrible Trump coming out with straight talking stuff?
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:29am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  I have written here about how I thought Mahuta’s appointment was a shocking decision.
  So imagine my surprise when Chris Trotter on his Bowalley Road site agrees whole heartedly.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:40am
  - krazykiwi
    
    25 years ago I disagreed with pretty much everything Trotter wrote. However over the past 5 years he seems to have found a few sensible things to say.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:13am
    - sooty
      
      He’s changed his prescription from rose tinted specs!
      
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      November 9, 2020 9:40am
      - The Housekeeper
        
        Like my old Labour stalwart Dad, Trotter doesn’t recognise his party anymore.
        
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        November 9, 2020 12:50pm
    - artemisia
      
      It would not be a surprise to learn that the left taking on identity politics does not sit well with old school worker-oriented views.
      
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      November 9, 2020 12:35pm
- surfing
  
  Is Mahutu some kind of brilliant negotiator?
  
  Does she have the charisma and IQ and sharp wits required of a good foreign minister?
  
  I just have a feeling that she earned the job because she was brave enough to get a chin tattoo.
  
  Incidentally, on the marae she would be treated as second class due to being a woman.
  
  I wonder how long maori culture will be allowed to treat women as lower status people?
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:51am
  - The Housekeeper
    
    A few years ago I flew to the far north with my pakeha aunt and her 3 daughters to attend the tangi of their husband and father. We all live in the South Island and none of us had ever attended that marae although we have attended others for various family occasions. Had we known what we would encounter this time, we wouldn’t have bothered. Women were not allowed to speak. Neither my Uncle’s wife of 35 years nor his adult daughters. They were beyond pissed off and very upset.
    
    Instead, we were subjected to days of male “orators” who had only known my Uncle as a child. Didn’t matter though because they were thrilled by sound of their own relentless nonsense. Most of them were unemployed with large families so their mana was obvious. It was hell. I had to take them to the Rawene pub to calm them down.
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:17am
    - Mark
      
      Alas my local pub the Rawene Masonic is closed after 120 years or so of trading.A lot of iconic pubs have shut up here in the Hokianga ,the Horeke is very part time ,the The Taheke long gone ,the Herekino hanging on by a thread ,Mangamuka long gone .The Kohukohu pub has been for sale for along time ,it is really tragic on account of the hostelries being the social hub of the communities.Part of the problem is the very high margins the publicans seek ,and the drink drive laws,which is a bit sad because we all tend to keep a close eye on the drivers sobriety.None of us want to lose friends.The problem cascades down abit so then there is nowhere to eat latish for travellers and no accomodation with out a lot of notice .
      
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      November 9, 2020 7:06pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    She’s second only to the Maori King in Waikato.
    
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    November 9, 2020 12:05pm
- Swifty
  
  “….also shines as an example of how we continue to decolonise our institutions in every policy area.”
  
  Can someone tell me what that actually means?
  
  What, if a Maori person is appointed to a particular role that area suddenly becomes decolonised (whatever that means)? Forever?
  
  And if a Pakeha is subsequently appointed to that area it is re-colonised?
  
  What is the definition of decolonisation? If a Maori person is appointed but continues with the exact actions, policies and strategies etc that existed previously is an area now decolonised or is it still colonised?
  
  Happy to be guided by those closer to this stuff than I.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:51am
  - mark15
    
    I think the correct (woke) term is ‘settled’
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:29am
  - Tall Man
    
    Learn to speak nonsence and comprehend nonsense and you’ll be part of the way there.
    
    The next step is a lobotomy but that may be a step too far 😉
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:34am
  - sooty
    
    A piss poor preformance is exceptable in these areas after change over!
    
    3 0
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    November 9, 2020 9:43am
- John Joseph
  
  … [Deleted – make your point succinctly without the incomprehensible rhetoric and punctuation bs. Mod.]
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:59am
  - Tall Man
    
    So questioning the reasons of moderation are to be deleted and ignored.
    
    When did angry andy join?
    
    4 2
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    November 9, 2020 12:44pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yesterday Foreign Affairs Minister Mahuta called a press conference in which she congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden.
  
  It was the first time I had seen her walking and she appears to have quite limited mobility.
  (I haven’t been able to locate the video clip on the TV One site)
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:05am
  - Mike
    
    I have seen her walking. She didn’t seem to have a problem. She is overweight, so mobility could be becoming an issue.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:12am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    I saw that and I agree
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:26am
  - sealegs
    
    There was 2 different scenes of her walking and I almost spat out my merlot the first time I saw. It was not a good look for our foreign affairs position. I suspect she will not be held in high regard by foreign dignitaries.
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:24am
    - Paulus
      
      Mahuta is only Foreign Affairs for Pacifica visits.
      You really do not believe that Cindy will allow anybody to usurp her role as Queen and Empress and her brilliant ability to be the only one to really handle Foreign Affairs.
      Mahuta is name only and will do as she is told.
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:23am
- Jack5
  
  With Golriz’s comment on Mahuta in the Guardian is one from Simon Bridges, in which he addresses Mahuta:”You’ll be great.”
  
  The Mahuta material appears in the Guardian only when you access it from New Zealand. Go to the site by VPN so the newspaper doesn’t know where you’re logging in from and there’s no Mahuta material.
  
  This applies to most material from New Zealand in the Guardian. It doesn’t have an official NZ edition but seems to run a phantom one for reades logging on from NZ.
  
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  November 9, 2020 4:09pm
Tony Stuart

Is anyone else concerned that, with the final make-up of Parliament confirmed, MP’s will not be sworn in until 25th November, and that the 53rd Parliament will sit for just four days before taking an extended Christmas break?

I mean, it’s not as if there isn’t a global pandemic, an economic recession and rising unemployment or anything serious to deal with.
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November 9, 2020 8:19am
- sooty
  
  Nah, nothing importart happening!
  But the feels are amzeballs and the perks.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:26am
  - Tricati
    
    They have the annual Labour Youth Camp to arrange, so their little minds are elsewhere.
    
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    November 9, 2020 12:31pm
- Inandout
  
  TS, covid elections are different.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:30am
  - Paulus
    
    OBiden is going to concentrate full time initially in setting up a Commission, which already exists, on Covid recovery.
    Seems Cindy has been on to him.
    Sod the economy and welfare.
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:26am
- DeepBlue
  
  Are you sure? I read somewhere(?) it sits for three weeks.
  
  But agree there doesn’t seem to be any urgency. Of course Parliament and select committees have become just a distraction now as what Jacinda says, goes.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:32am
  - ex-golfer
    
    Stuffs story (obviously written by a junior inexperienced political journalist) said “just under three full sitting weeks”.
    A sitting week is made up of three days (Tues – Thurs) – unfortunately the toddler journalist can’t count past their fingers.
    State opening of Parliament on 25 Nov.
    It then has its first sitting day on Tuesday 1 December. It rises for the year on Wednesday 9 December. Aside from 9 December that gives only 4 full sitting days.
    I guess Ardern thinks everyone needs a rest after such an exhausting year of delivery *sarc
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:44am
- ronsegal
  
  Your right, but perhaps selfishly Tony, it’s a welcome break before being confronted again by a continuing storm of Labour failures, race and climate wokeness.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:34am
  - Nickc2
    
    Add un-necessary lockdowns to that.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:34am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  What’s the problem Tony?
  Princess,Robbo,Hippy,Singer,Angry Man & DP + cabinet OK ( oh & Ash in wings if health order required). Why do you need “Parliament”?
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:37am
  - sooty
    
    Who’s Singer?
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:40am
    - 70andstilllearning
      
      when the f.. l… sings – trying to be a tiny bit pc
      
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      November 9, 2020 2:37pm
- Janabelle
  
  What I can’t understand is why Labour has 65 MP’s with 50.7% of the vote, I would have thought that would have given them 61 MP’s – can someone please explain why that’s not right
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:41am
  - Ian Boag
    
    50.7% of the “raw” count is more than 50.7% of the “valid” count after NZF/JLR and the rest are taken out.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:00am
  - Mike
    
    The number of seats is in proportion to the votes cast for parties over the 5% threshold or with an electorate seat, not the total votes cast.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:03am
    - Paulus
      
      Mike
      F’ing MMP that’s why !
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:27am
      - JackRabbit
        
        And MMP is called ‘Mixed-Member’ proportional representation.
        
        Which is why it attracts fluid gender types and people that cannot think. They thought it meant ‘Mixed-up-Member’ proportional representation.
        
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        November 9, 2020 3:37pm
  - gump
    
    The Party Votes for parties that fail to meet the 5% threshold or fail to elect an electorate MP are ignored for the purposes of calculating the proportionality of Parliament.
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:52am
  - Steve Todd
    
    Janabelle, the commenters above have answered your question. However, just so you know, a total of 2,886,427 valid Party votes were cast, but only 2,663,237 (92.27%) of them were effective, for seat allocation purposes. So, Labour (with 1,443,546 Party votes) received 54.20% of the effective Party votes cast, and 54.17% of the 120 seats (being 65 seats) in the House.
    
    For the record, this is what our newly-elected Parliament would hypothetically look like if there was no 5% Party vote / 1-Electorate seat threshold: https://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/election-20-the-no-threshold-hypothetical/.
    
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    November 9, 2020 2:01pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Corrections. Effective Party votes numbered 2,661,237, being 92.20% of all Party votes cast. Labour received 54.24% of them.
      
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      November 9, 2020 3:29pm
- Isobar
  
  To be fair if the election was on its original date, there would be a whole month of extra sitting days.
  
  It does seem crazy that it takes so long to get underway though, given the official results are now out.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:42am
- NewInoffensiveName
  
  Nothing is happening until the USA election is resolved.
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:48am
  - Paulus
    
    That is by dates laid down by statute in USA.
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:28am
- Jimmy White
  
  Wedding to plan, … [Deleted – please keep personal stuff out of it. Mod.], CV to rewrite
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:20am
- TWEEDSE
  
  Labour campaigned on a no policy platform. So not much point conveening parliament if you don’t have any plans to do anything.
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:58am
artemisia

First Union’s hostile press release on Warehouse staff striking today is not going to win them any friends in the company. Seems the main issue is the company using labour-hire workers and not providing a path for them to permanent jobs. (Read a new pool of potential union members.)

In the current employment environment of increasing worker rights and benefits, not too surprising if companies look to protect their profitability. Small companies have been doing this for quite a while – so much easier to hire on a per job invoice basis as work and skill requirements fluctuate.

Our small tradie firm has no permanent staff but does have excellent relationships with suppliers, many of whom are sole traders or small enterprises.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2011/S00135/the-warehouse-walkout-distribution-centre-staff-to-strike-on-monday-for-24-hours.htm
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November 9, 2020 8:20am
Maggy Wassilieff

Our Solicitor-General fails to impress

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/430160/abuse-in-care-inquiry-survivors-disappointed-no-apology-from-solicitor-general
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November 9, 2020 8:25am
- Bea Rossini
  
  “The Solicitor-General was grateful for the opportunity to speak about these matters to the Royal Commission when she gave evidence in public for three days this week. She will not be making any further public comment in the media while the Royal Commission is considering these matters.”
  
  I would have thought that it was prudent not to make media comment while the Commission was still going through its process.
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:45pm
I remember when

Testing. Testing. One, two, three.
Another MiQ Covid-19 case used to test our virus response system.
The risk is, of course, very (very, very, very) low.
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November 9, 2020 8:28am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Indeed. The risk of transmission is so low, that all 1300 staff who work at Defence HQ have been asked to work from home for a few days!
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:31am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The risk seems to be real if you don’t have decent PPE.
  
  https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/face-mask-issues-quarantine-staff-among-concerns-nz-nurses-organisation-want-urgent-resolution
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:49am
Paulus

I am sad to realise that I am one of hundreds of millions who do not vehemently hate Trump.
I know that in New Zealand I would not dare say that I would not have voted for Obiden, same as Cindy our Queen whom can do nothing but brilliantly wonders (with our money).
Our media appear still to be besotted with shameful hate and that we are expected to believe that nearly 49% of those so called eligible US votes were not cast for Trump.
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November 9, 2020 8:31am
- calendar girl
  
  Paulus, you state succinctly the views of many of us here who cannot understand why Trump should not be welcomed as a strong leader of the free world.
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:05pm
Maggie Pie

I’ve come to the conclusion the only NORMAL these days is a setting on the washing machine.

Just saying
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November 9, 2020 8:34am
- Ehlana
  
  In the first 100 days of this new administration Maggie, changes will be made to require the replacement of dangerously outdated washing machines like yours with models which are more inclusive of the diversity of Aotearoa. To come into effect 1 April 2021.
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:01am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    My washing machine is working on it’s diversity at present. It’s now refusing to accept white sheets without prior bleaching.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:15am
I remember when

The Great Barrington Declaration:
“Fortunately our understanding of the virus is growing.
We know that the vulnerability to death of covid-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.
Indeed, for children, Covid-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.”
But still we read frequently about the dangers, not the education ones, of children attending school in countries with covid outbreaks.
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November 9, 2020 8:34am
- krazykiwi
  
  Statistically, and in the context of normal pre-Covid mortality risk, this virus isn’t dangerous. What is dangerous – critically so – is the fear that has been deliberately manufactured resulting in damage to civil liberties, and to democracy itself.
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:10am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    We are being treated as though we are lab specimens by people in white coats. Appropriate in their labs but not in a civilised world outside their closed environment. Political controls have to be tempered by many other considerations. Lockdowns have killed off businesses and created immense psych trauma which is ongoing. Lab decisions don’t have those parameters. My family may be affected for years.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:20am
    - backster
      
      In a normal; year it has been reported 500 people die of the flu in NZ. As most of the most vulnerable get the flu vacine due to previous non fatal flu episodes it seems likely that without the vaccine the death rate may be double nor even treble the current rate. There has been almost no flu this year due to handwashing,and isolation imposed to deal with Covid. Like others I think this is a contrived pandemic, more like an epidemic of a nasty contagious flu with a 97% survival rate for the over 80s and a 99% survival rate for those under 80 without consideration of co mordalities just like the flu.
      
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      November 9, 2020 11:15am
  - Nickc2
    
    Agree. COVID-19 has become the new Global Warming. The UN never run out of ideas to make themselves indispensable.
    
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    November 9, 2020 9:58am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The new President is going to shove Global warming back into the limelight… so Covid-19 might take a back seat soon.
      
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      November 9, 2020 10:55am
      - Nickc2
        
        Yea, another woke bastard!
        
        11 3
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        November 9, 2020 11:31am
Critical Thinker

Angry Former First Lady Michelle Obama Trashes Trump Voters as Supporters of “Hate” and “Chaos” — After Trump Smashes Barack’s Vote Haul Record

“Let’s remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it meant supporting lies, hate, chaos, and division. We’ve got a lot of work to do to reach out to these folks in the years ahead and connect with them on what unites us.” – Michelle Obama ?

In 2008 Barack Obama won with 69,498,516 votes.

In 2020 President Donald Trump has received 70,803,881 so far.
The most ever for a sitting president ?

That is an improvement on his 2016 number in 2020 by 12%.
Successfully Expanding his and the Republicans votes in all demographics, except for white men.

“This was a stolen election. Best pollster in Britain wrote this morning that this clearly was a stolen election, that it’s impossible to imagine that Biden outran Obama in some of these states. Where it mattered, they stole what they had to steal.” – President Donald Trump
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1357379/us-election-2020-donald-trump-joe-biden-pollster-fail
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November 9, 2020 8:39am
- Critical Thinker
  
  “Stalin said it’s not important who votes but how they are counted.
  
  If you count the ballot fraud, most pollsters clearly failed. If you don’t include the fraudulent ballots, most pollsters failed on a spectacular scale.
  
  The accurate pollsters were also the most accurate in 2016. Along with Big Data Poll and Trafalgar Group swing state surveys, our Democracy Institute Sunday Express polling pretty much nailed the 2020 election.
  
  Why were other pollsters wrong?
  
  They refused to accept the Shy Trump voter was real in 2016. So, they didn’t look for them in 2020. We knew they were real, and we found far more of them this year.
  
  This time, Shy Trump voters were disproportionately Black males in urban areas and suburban White women. This data confirmed the significant movement of Black voters towards Trump – and the movement of a segment of suburban White women back to Trump. As a result, we predicted his higher Black vote to the actual percentage point. We also identified, due to Trump’s pro-law and order stance, that he’d suffer only minor, rather than seismic, losses among suburban women.
  
  Other correct calls include Trump’s precise national popular vote percentage and identifying the economy as the crucial issue. We forecast the large proportion of Hispanics voting for Trump, especially in Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. Jewish voters also chose Trump in higher than expected numbers; we forecast this exactly. Ditto for Trump’s spectacular evangelical vote.
  
  Biden did poorly in Florida, Texas, and Ohio, lacked a get-out-the-vote campaign, suffered lower student and minority turnout, and marshalled the most apathetic supporters in memory. Trump’s party held the Senate, gained numerous House seats, and didn’t lose a state legislature.
  
  It therefore defies logic Biden secured more votes than Barack Obama. Already, there is a mountain of evidence, direct and circumstantial, of widespread ballot fraud.
  
  Trump won the largest non-white vote share for a Republican presidential candidate in 60 years.
  
  Biden underperformed Hillary Clinton in every major metro area around the country, save for Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Trump’s victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin were on target until, in the middle of the night, counting was arbitrarily halted. Miraculously, several hundred thousand votes – all for Biden – were mysteriously ‘found’; Trump’s real leads subsequently vanished.
  
  The protracted, eventual outcome will determine the contemporary relevance of Stalin’s observation. No matter who wins, most pollsters already have lost their credibility and influence.”
  
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  November 9, 2020 8:54am
Surely Knott

The democrats and the ny times campaign was almost exclusively on coronavirus and mask wearing. But once again, Americans are protesting in densely packed groups of strangers in their thousands and many wearing a mask, but with no social distancing, no contact tracing, not staying at home. It’s like climate change warriors with private jets. You don’t have to be a scientist to observe that the people pushing the message don’t really believe their own fear mongering or they would be at home or social distance. Second if they did social distance the advice of the WHO is 1 metre. In NZ we say 2 metres. Where is the science?
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November 9, 2020 8:40am
I remember when

The Solicitor-General being portrayed in an unfavourable light. Sure not?
So soon after the newspaper stories about women being in the top jobs, as well as being suitably diverse.
Never mind, like buses there will be another one coming along shortly.
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November 9, 2020 8:40am
Isobar

Question for the room, does Worksafe have any capacity to investigate staff members catching COVID-19 working at MIQ facilities?
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November 9, 2020 8:44am
- sooty
  
  No way will they be caught near any of them places as they might catch something and clipboard is no defence!
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:46am
Kiwi_in_Paris

Must watch video on the common law versus statutory law. You will be shocked!

https://www.bitchute.com/video/NqgZI23IWbUD/
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November 9, 2020 8:59am
- MCos
  
  Every day I ignore a multitude of items with tag lines ‘You will be shocked’, ‘Try not to gasp’, ‘You will gasp’ or ‘Try not to be shocked’
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:06am
  - Ehlana
    
    Also the ones that say “You’ve been doing it wrong”. No, I don’t eat my bananas the way monkeys do. Maybe the monkeys are doing it wrong…
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:35am
RRM

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/world/australia/qatar-airways-women-strip-search-baby.html

I can’t believe how little outrage there has been about this.

Women are well down the hierarchy of causes these days.
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November 9, 2020 9:04am
- marcw
  
  It’s pretty obvious really:
  1. Middle eastern country.
  2. MSM looks the other way.
  3. Ask Macron.
  
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  November 9, 2020 9:26am
- NoFax
  
  It was a big deal in Australia – you will note that most stories don’t get to NZ.
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:28am
  - sooty
    
    You would think the sisters sould be up in arms!
    Even permanently offended, motor mouth Mau was quite!
    
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    November 9, 2020 11:49am
artemisia

“Heavy-hitter academics” the oxymoron of the day? Especially when the article is accompanied by a pic of a bright pink cycleway.

(‘Oxymoron’ derived from ‘sharp and ‘blunt / dull’.)

New report by heavy-hitter academics and economists says in order to create a knowledge hub in Auckland it will be necessary to have affordable housing for people moving from the regions; land tax mooted again

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/107825/new-report-heavy-hitter-academics-and-economists-says-order-create-knowledge-hub
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November 9, 2020 9:17am
Catgurl13

Funny how Prince Philip was able to make all these negative assumptions during a short visit here back in 1954?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/revealed-prince-philips-1954-letter-maori-treated-like-museum-pieces-and-domestic-pets/DYH7I5AKFKMCWY2KTO24CUM2XY/
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November 9, 2020 9:22am
- sooty
  
  He was good, wasn’t he. A national treasure!
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:51am
I remember when

Forestry in New Zealand.
New Zealand contributes 1.1% of the world’s industrial wood and 1.3% of the world’s trade in forest products.
Forestry Contributes:
An annual export revenue of about $6.8 billion
1.6% of NZ’s GDP
Employment for around 35,000 in production, processing and commercialisation.
Managed exotic plantation forests cover 1.69 million hectares – 7% of our land area.
Radiata pine makes up 90% , Douglas fir 6% and eucalypts and other species the balance.
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November 9, 2020 9:23am
- sooty
  
  Declining export if the nephs don’t get their arse of the couch!
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:52am
Maggie Pie

My partner was reading where Vladimir Putin has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He thought maybe that’s why Russia missed this one.
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November 9, 2020 9:34am
bruceavon

Been watching a lot of Fox. They seem to accept Biden is going to be the next President and the court cases will not work out. Surely with Fox acknowledging the inevitable Trump must know the games up. Numerous legal experts on there say he has no chance.
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November 9, 2020 9:39am
- Maggie Pie
  
  As Rupert Murdoch told Trumpy and Jarrod when the phoned him to complain, “It’s about Arithmetic, not Politics”
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:03am
  - MCos
    
    It’s a bit like that horse in the Melbourne Cup, which was a favourite until the home straight and wound up humanely written off.
    
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    November 9, 2020 10:15am
Liberty

The idyllic life under Dear Leaders kind and caring Government. Is only a pipe dream.

“This is a company with a horrendous track record for exploiting labour-hire workers en masse to avoid their responsibility as an employer,” said Courtney.
“For these workers, who’ve been under the gun and overworked since The Warehouse ramped up its online and mail-order operations during Covid-19, it’s supremely offensive to be milked for all they are worth and then dismissed without notice or reason so the company can avoid legal obligations to employ them directly.”
Insideretail.co.nz
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November 9, 2020 9:45am
- The Housekeeper
  
  But this can’t be true. The Warehouse workers must be very greedy. Sir Stephen Tindall has generously insisted NZ workers would be better off if rich people like him paid more tax. Workers are essential so he would never cheat a worker out of a few pennies. Obviously he would pay his much beloved workers more if he could afford to but other NZ’ers need his money more. They are more deserving of his money than his moaning, ungrateful workers.
  
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  November 9, 2020 1:43pm
Mrs_Right

The CNN crew must live in an altered reality… 😀

https://twitter.com/donlemon/status/1325131446785363968
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November 9, 2020 9:55am
- graham
  
  Didn’t go down terribly well with some …
  
  https://www.foxnews.com/media/don-lemon-panned-to-saying-how-difficult-its-been-as-a-journalist-to-cover-this-dark-part-of-our-history
  
  Lemon’s tweet didn’t exactly earn much sympathy from critics on social media.
  
  “Oh you poor thing. Let me forward your tweet to some of my buddies overseas so they can send you some flowers,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, reacted.
  
  “Don’t worry, you’re not a journalist,” National Review senior writer David Harsanyi told Lemon.
  
  “You put on make up and read glass on TV for a living, dude. And you are very well paid to do it. Your job is not remotely difficult. Never has been. Never will be. No matter who the president is,” Outkick founder and radio host Clay Travis said.
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:59am
- graham
  
  It never ceases to amaze me how journalists and reporters seem to think it’s all about them.
  
  And the irony is, they’re the ones calling Donald Trump “narcissistic”.
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:07am
I remember when

Is colonisation simply the use of punctuation marks?
Colons have been used less frequently but perhaps Parliament is taking steps to reverse this trend.
Are we about to see more diverse use of language?
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November 9, 2020 9:56am
- Ehlana
  
  The colon (aka large bowel or intestine) is part of the digestive system. De-colonisation is best not imagined.
  
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  November 9, 2020 10:38am
- Jack5
  
  Don’t rule out semi-colons. They’re really diverse.
  
  Given that many New Zealanders carry genes both of Maori and of British settlers, we should acknowledge the semi-colonisation of our islands.
  
  Apparently, the semi-colon began as a type of question mark in Ancient Greek, fell out of use for many centuries and was re-instituted in its present grammatical role in 1494 by the Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder.
  
  In Maori, the colon is kopirua. Let’s call the semi-colon in that language haurua kopirua.
  
  There’s a even rap music piece about the semi-colon: a “comma and a fucking dot”:
  
  https://youtu.be/M94ii6MVilw
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:21pm
Stu2

There was an interesting aside during the US election coverage – ex-Trump staffers have been struggling in the job market
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November 9, 2020 10:00am
NoFax

A couple of things to note: the media do not get to declare or decide who is the President of the US. The College of Electors will meet in December and that is when it is official.
There have been allegations of fraud. These matters will be decided in court and perhaps as high as the Supreme Court. The allegations will be tested – let’s not be prejudice to the outcome.

However, what I fine interesting is that the same people who have told me that there was Russian interference in the elections now say that it isn’t possible to affect the election. The same people who told me that if I didn’t wear a mask, I was anti-science and killing people are now on the streets celebrating. Crazy times.
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November 9, 2020 10:36am
Stu2

The closest margin is 10k, so recounts won’t change the outcome. It is down to the court cases.

Nevada 22k
Arizona 20k
Georgia 10k
Pennsylvania 43k

These will continue to change as provisional and damaged ballots are processed in some states.

Georgia has a republican govenor and secretary of state so you wouldn’t expect their process to have done the dems any favours.
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November 9, 2020 11:03am
Jack5

Tony Alexander, a former bank economist, makes good points in Stuff today about what’s driving the housing bubble.

Tony Alexander’s optimism has accompanied the slide of New Zealand down the ladder of comparative wealth of developed countries.

Tony, was it inevitable that our GDP per capita would fall far behind Australia’s and is now behind the UK’s? According to the CIA World Factbook, we are now close to 50th in the world in GDP per capita.

Is it inevitable that people will keep flowing into NZ to feed the property bubble – will all of our Governments be able to allow this?

When will the in-rush stop, Tony, or will it continue from ever poorer source countries as NZ’s comparative standard of living falls?

I’m puzzled why NZ’s nearly half-century of poor and declining balance of payments is irrelevant. Can our banksters indefinitely keep balancing capital flowing in with “NZ has a rock star economy” hype?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300150916/heres-why-neither-firsthome-buyers-nor-investors-to-blame-for-prices
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November 9, 2020 11:12am
- sooty
  
  Never been right before, what makes you think he nailed it now?
  
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  November 9, 2020 11:57am
Maggy Wassilieff

Remember the furore when Israel Folau posted a tweet about Gays going to Hell?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/05/israel-folau-explain-comments-gay-people-go-to-hell

Anyone expecting a similar reaction to Mustafa Farouk’s assertion that folks who undertake assisted dying will go to Hell?

If anybody takes their own life, they will dwell in Hell forever.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/11/euthanasia-referendum-catholic-clergy-say-assisted-dying-runs-against-core-values-islamic-leader-threatens-muslims-who-choose-it-with-hell.html
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November 9, 2020 11:12am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  But Maggy, Israel Folau is a Christian. If you point out the observations of this Mustafa fellow you’re just an Islamaphobe. (You must be racist and propagating hate speech too…).
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:18pm
- Mike
  
  Mustafa Farouk should be dropped from the Wallabies then.
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:39pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  If my memory is correct I seem to recall that the gay CEO of Rugby Australia’s main sponsor was pretty t’d off at Folau’s tweet and made his point clear to Castle as to what might happen if something wasn’t done to Folau – so no, don’t expect same reaction – not a $ issue.
  
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  November 9, 2020 12:50pm
Suze Wainwright

One of the answers to our recent work newspaper quiz questions was Czech long distance runner Emil Zátopek (winner of three long-distance running gold medals at the Helsinki Olympics).

I became interested in him, so I read a bit more about his life and it turns out that he didn’t fare too well under communism. While initially being a willing member of the Party and happy to do his bit in the nation’s comradely solidarity, unfortunately he supported the Party’s more democratic wing during the Prague Spring in 1968. Oh dear, this resulted in him becoming a bit of an un-favoured citizen in his country – leading to considerable underutilisation of his definite talents (although not losing the appreciation of his fellow citizens) and ultimately to him becoming a broken man.

So I’m filled with joy that aotearoa’s Parliament is now welcoming Senor Menendez-March as an MP. Menendez-March would be ably assisted and mentored by fellow Auckland Action Against Poverty activist John Minto—the man who fervently believes communism would work, if only it were implemented ‘properly.’ Minto must be overjoyed at finally establishing a toehold in the House…

A requirement for eternal vigilance…?
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November 9, 2020 11:23am
- Ehlana
  
  “communism would work, if only it were implemented ‘properly'”. So what is stopping him getting together with like-minded souls and setting up their own commune? Success would have people flocking to join them.
  
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  November 9, 2020 2:07pm
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Minto might not yet be confident about creating sufficient access to his own wi-fi, broadband, etc…
    
    Also, the commune might need to learn a bit about Chardonnay making before progressing in earnest
    
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    November 9, 2020 2:35pm
The Housekeeper

In 1983 I was shopping for keepsakes in the GUM department store in Moscow. Having made my selections I was directed to the queue to order and pay. Turned out nothing was actually available to take immediately. I could pick up my purchases in 3 months time, or so. Kind of like trying to buy anything in NZ at the moment.
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November 9, 2020 3:12pm
Jack5

Does Trish Shershon, Radio NZ’s new allegedly right wing choice in the Monday political talks, in any way represent the views of ACT?

RNZ advertises Shershon as a former ACT press secretary. Does Shershon in any way represent the views of a Right wing party like ACT, or is the blurb on the RNZ web site just camouflage of Red Radio bias?

Shershon and the commenter, Neale Jones, a former chief of staff to Jacinderella, between them present an analysis that’s weighted to the Left.

For example, Jones today talked of National now being a party of the pale and stale, and Shershon reinforced this view, saying 23 of National’s members now are “stereotypical National male”.

No mention that, based on its election candidates, National was racially diversified. It was the vote collapse that trimmed the racial diversification. The RNZ pair didn’t get round to gender diversity.

The Woke have tiers of diversity. Race, culture, language, biological sex, chosen gender. Coming up en route to their prison-less Utopia will be diversity of age, body build, and left-handedness. Religious diversity is a problem for the Woke: for example, Muslims okay, Christians not.

It’s 99 years since the first radio station was set up in NZ. Radio stations are relatively cheap to set up and run. There’s plenty of spectrum. Get the State out of radio broadcasting!
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November 9, 2020 3:12pm
Tall Man

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2020/11/cook-island-travel-bubble-officials-to-visit-with-goal-of-confirming-quarantine-free-travel-jacinda-ardern.html

Why do officials need to visit?

Did Australian officials visit here?

More troughing.
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November 9, 2020 9:12pm

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