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December 18, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 18 December 2020

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General Debate

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Steve Todd

Kiwibloggers might recall I posted an article at General Debate last Thursday morning, the 10th, which discussed the decline of the religious Right in America, and how that decline contributed to Trump’s defeat.

Here is Part 2, setting out America’s post-Christian future:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2020/12/americas-post-christian-future-part-2/? .

I put it up without comment, except to say, the changes described are dramatic.
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December 18, 2020 8:00am
- BAM
  
  Really started to change around 2007 about the same time social media really started to take off.
  
  Guess being exposed to different viewpoints hasn’t been good for Christianity.
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:12am
  - Don Beckett
    
    I read this in the first paragraph and stopped there:
    
    ” They love this greedy, racist adulterer as they’ve never loved any politician before;”
    
    Obviously a very slanted article, even if their conclusion may have some truth – but I never read it to find out.
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:18am
    - lilman
      
      Yep,read first paragraph and clicked out.
      
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      December 18, 2020 10:50am
      - Batman
        
        Then you two should be made of slightly more stern stuff.
        
        If you can’t read through something critical, you’ll simply stew in a bubble of positive happy news about topics you agree with.
        
        And yes there is a huge blindspot where the christian right has cynically adopted an utterly faithless and immoral man to advance their pet causes of descriminating against gay folks and controlling women.
        
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        December 18, 2020 11:23am
    - curry4me
      
      Don Beckett: So did I.
      
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      December 18, 2020 2:25pm
    - cha
      
      Well, tRump is a greedy, racist adulterer.
      /
      
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/12/23/best-stories-of-the-decade-how-donald-trump-shifted-kids-cancer-charity-money-into-his-business/
      
      https://www.npr.org/2016/09/29/495955920/donald-trump-plagued-by-decades-old-housing-discrimination-case
      
      https://www.newsweek.com/how-many-times-trump-cheated-wives-780550
      
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      December 18, 2020 7:59pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        These links should probably be reposted every time one of the resident Trumpkins blathers on about the wonderful qualities of their orange idol.
        Born rich, this draft dodger, serial business failure, sex pest, thrice married, serial adulterer, racist, swindler, and compulsive liar is a hero to millions.
        
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        December 19, 2020 7:34am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Christianity has been around for two thousand years, so quite a few ‘viewpoints’ over that time. Not sure it will be killed off by Facebook.
    
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    December 18, 2020 1:42pm
- Brian McDonald
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  “aging and greying” sounds like KB.
  The most popular term here is “woke.” An image of little old people sheltering under an umbrella wishing for the old days and not wanting to be “woke.”
  Bumbling out of the darkness with one prediction failing after the other must be tough, hating a 14% increase in GDP because you predicted doom and gloom must be sickening.
  Finding out that being “mooned” by Donald isn’t all that is made out to be must feel terrible, knowing that being in a herd is pretty stupid and calling other people sheeple for not being in a herd really doesn’t make sense.
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:47am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    I’m not woke Brian, I just have an awakened state of consciousness
    
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    December 18, 2020 8:56am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      Woke is a silly word Suze Wainwright, the “locals” don’t know when a word is done to death or even an idea. It’s all rituals to fit into the herd. When in a tight corner with an argument use the rallying call “lefties” or “Marxists” so that the herd will open its ranks once more. All jolly stupid.
      Then again there are some very insightful posters here who don’t need mantras.
      
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      December 18, 2020 10:07am
      - Jack5
        
        Brian McDonald, you’re on a hopeless one-man campaign to de-fang the descriptive word “Woke”.
        
        That’s just pissing into the wind. Go with the flow and be happy and Woke.
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:19am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Jeez Brian, you’re amazing! Never ageing like everyone else in the world. Always right when everyone else on KB is so wrong, proudly (very, very proudly) forging your own path – the right path – while everyone else falls into obvious traps that someone of your towering intellect sidesteps nimbly.
        
        It must be awesome to be you.
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:21am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        I get your point Loddenthinks, it sucks being wrong all the time so off load it with insults.
        I’ve never claimed to not be ageing. Just decided I don’t want to join the knitting circle.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:24pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Jack5 cliche’s end up choking to death, even the anti wokers will get that, eventually.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:26pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        “…it sucks being wrong all the time so off load it with insults.”
        
        Yep, that’s your MO, how’s it working out? Maybe time for a change.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:31pm
  - Simon
    
    “hating a 14% increase in GDP because you predicted doom and gloom must be sickening.”
    
    Lol – debt growth has far out paced GDP growth. It is a mathematical certainty it ends very badly.
    
    Go woke go broke.
    
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    December 18, 2020 8:57am
    - The Housekeeper
      
      Not to mention the $21 billion in NZ mortgage payments deferred since the March lockdown that will be due in March 2021.
      
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      December 18, 2020 9:31am
      - The Housekeeper
        
        https://www.mortgage-express.co.nz/blog/mortgage-holidays-what-you-need-to-know
        
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        December 18, 2020 9:33am
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        Is this $21 billion as the total principal amount of the loans affected, or is it $21 billion of actual payments deferred?
        
        I suspect the former since $21 billion is about 7% of GDP.
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:17am
      - The Housekeeper
        
        Since 26 March, when New Zealand first went into lockdown, banks have deferred all repayments on consumer loans totalling around $21 billion for over 61,000 customers. That represents 7% of total consumer lending. Nearly a quarter of those customers have restarted their loan repayments. Banks have also deferred business loans totalling over $1.2 billion for over 3000 customers. That represents 0.6% of total business lending. Over half of those customers have resumed normal loan repayments.
        https://www.nzba.org.nz/2020/08/17/next-steps-for-loan-repayment-deferrals/
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:31am
    - Milhous
      
      How has Trump done with respect to Government debt? How has have his trade policies addressed the trade deficit?
      
      Trump has been worse than the worst of lefties with regards to fiscal responsibility, yet the useful idiots and swivel eyed loons still lap it up….funny that.
      
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      December 18, 2020 9:40am
      - Gravelroad
        
        What’s a “swivel eyed loon”?
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:28am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Trade Deficit stayed pretty flat at about 3% of GDP through Trump’s first 3 years. About the same as Obama’s second term.
        
        Until covid Trump had increased govt debt/GDP by about 1% per year. About the same as Obama’s second term, or Bush.
        
        Big difference is Trump had reduced unemployment to lowest levels in 50 years – helping out the poorest parts of USA, probably why he increased Republican share of votes amongst blacks and hispanics so much.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:56pm
      - Isobar
        
        Actually there is a large gap in the story you have missed when talking about Trumps unemployment rate – he will however now be forever noted in history of have the great of having the highest rate on record (since 1948) of 14.7% (April 2020) now its sitting at 6.7% above its pre-covid all time average of 5.77.
        
        It actually was looking alright before COVID – but then he took his eye completely off the ball and failed the people right at the moment they needed leadership and to be kept in work.
        
        Pretty spectacular fail and its no wonder why he was turfed out. Ironically if he did manage to get the virus under control way back in March he probably would have won the election in a landslide.
        
        https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate
        
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        December 18, 2020 3:22pm
    - Bob
      
      not an increase, but nearly recovered to where it was at the beginning of the year; no mention of the ‘lost opportunity capital cost’ of the mismanaged election bribes debt which my grandchildren will have to fund.
      
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      December 18, 2020 11:20am
      - Brian McDonald
        
        Bob that’s become a comfortable notion. The alternative is also a possibility that NZ lifts its game and makes inroads into that debt. I wish someone would put that to Robertson for his thoughts on that.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:31pm
    - IC5000
      
      What the debt as a percentage of GDP compared with other developed countries like Australia?
      
      That would be an interesting question that you probably won’t answer because they are ruled by conservative govnts which will pop your I hate Cindy bubble
      
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      December 18, 2020 12:10pm
      - Frank the tank
        
        Comparing apples with pineapples and melons. What is sustainable for some nations is not for some others depending on the nature, size and composition of their economy.
        
        Also you need to factor in private debt. Public debt is only half the equation. When you add the 2 together you’ll see the precarious position little Aotearoa is in. Not that the sheeple care they are too busy buying their spa pools while on a mortgage holiday.
        
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        December 18, 2020 7:42pm
  - kowtow
    
    Blogs like this do the work the Media pardy refuses to do.
    
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    December 18, 2020 9:15am
  - Crisplion
    
    A typically derisive comment from Brian. I’m sure it makes him feel very superior, hanging around here with all the old fogies he seems to despise so much. It’s no doubt true that KBers tends toward the older demographic. That Brian seems to feel that their views are thereby worthy of contempt says more about him than them.
    
    I can only speak for myself when I say that I expect young people to be ‘woke’: They’re full of good intentions for the world and arrogance born of thinking that they know far more than they do. I was the same when I was 20. What disturbs me is how authoritarian they are compared with the social justice warriors of earlier generations, in their appeals to ban things and ‘cancel’ people they don’t like. The fact that governments, corporations and public institutions seem to want to pander to their well-meaning but misguided ideas is actually a failing of older generations, not of theirs.
    
    I can also only speak for myself when I say that I’m relieved by the economic recovery, although the 14% rise in the September quarter obviously has to be interpreted in light of the 11% and 1.6% decreases in the June and March quarters respectively, and the fact that the annualised GDP growth is still negative. Still, things are better than I feared they’d be and I’m very glad. I’m still worried about what’s to come though – not for myself – I’m fine – but for young people who are really struggling to get a start.
    
    I’ll refrain from commenting on Brain’s final paragraph because I have no idea what he means.
    
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    December 18, 2020 9:37am
    - tf78
      
      Crisplion, what makes me kind of chuckle is that it’s the wokey wokies that will have to pay all this debt off. They haven’t had a taste of the real world yet and can’t see the fact that people and generations basically don’t ever change. I do hope they have accomplished good University degrees to help them along.
      
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      December 18, 2020 10:43am
    - Brian McDonald
      
      You’ve missed the boat again Crisplion. I’m past retirement age but ever since I recall I have had older friends who I value and often miss now that they are gone.
      I spent around 5 years visiting Ian Middleton before he died and his fresh thinking was always a marvel.
      High on my list now is an ex Te Kuiti retired self-taught engineer. In typical fashion there’s no political talk but a little laughter how engineering problems were solved without the help of hotshots out of university.
      And it may surprise you that I am aware the GDP was the result of a V shape recovery. And like you I am happy. More for the reason that Robertson stuck his neck out with a big call and got the ball over the line.
      
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      December 18, 2020 12:50pm
      - Crisplion
        
        Perhaps it’s only people with whom you disagree that are the targets of your contempt Brian. My problem with you isn’t your views, it’s your smug and sanctimonious manner.
        
        I learned physics at school from a self-taught engineer. He was one of the best teachers I ever had and I remember him with respect and gratitude. I also have respect and gratitude for the ‘hotshots’ you deride. They are grappling with new engineering problems far beyond the capabilities of the self taught. Technology has moved on somewhat since the heyday of your old friend and a little humility wouldn’t go astray. Those ‘hotshots’, with all of their highfalutin book learning, just might invent things that prolong your lifespan and relieve your dotage of undue suffering.
        
        As for Robertson, he’ll be long gone from his role by the time his debt pigeons come home to roost. My young children and their peers will be the ones who will have to foot the bill for that.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:27pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Brian there, not actually understanding the way GDP works…
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:56am
    - chukar
      
      They are going to inflate the debt to no consequence
      The process has already started.
      Council rates ,property revaluation , used and new vehicles, wages and salaries, bonuses, food .pretty much every thing is going up!
      Council rates as usual ,a leader of the charge
      Yet the RB claims inflation is not happening ?
      Sorry I don’t believe them!
      Don’t worry this a tried and true method taken from the very successful economies like Venezuela.
      
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      December 18, 2020 1:02pm
  - Frank the tank
    
    I’ve read your post 3 times and still have little idea what your point is.
    
    Each to their own
    
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    December 18, 2020 12:15pm
  - Liberty
    
    “hating a 14% increase in GDP because you predicted doom and gloom must be sickening.”
    
    The so called 14% increase in GDP is an illusion.
    Labour and its minions pumped millions into dubious projects and slush funds
    To win the election.
    The economy might look rosy in reality it’s a fools paradise.
    
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    December 18, 2020 12:47pm
    - Batman
      
      It’s like crashing a car, having to fix 50% of it, then claiming the car is 50% better than before.
      
      No, it’s the same.
      
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      December 18, 2020 1:02pm
    - Crisplion
      
      Indeed Liberty, except that it was billions, not millions. Interesting times ahead I suspect.
      
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      December 18, 2020 1:31pm
- Jack5
  
  It’s not that the West is giving up on religion, it’s just giving up on Christianity and swinging to the new religion of Environmentalism.
  
  It, too has sects, with varying degrees of Wokeness.
  
  Meanwhile, formerly Communist Russia has a Christian revival, and Christianity is growing rapidly in still-Communist China. this report from two years ago forecasts China will have more Christians than any other country by 2030. That may occur before then.
  
  https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/China-officially-atheist-could-have-more-12633079.php
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:31am
  - SB2
    
    Jack 5 , and Christian revival Russia has Vlad,
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/heres-a-list-of-all-the-putin-critics-who-wound-up-murdered/2KEHMXWYNSKZDVTPK2UU5SYN4A/
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:20am
  - tf78
    
    Jack, my brother was in Russia last year and said exactly that.
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:44am
- Bullion
  
  Interesting. A decade or so ago I remember seeing a poll that showed Americans would rather have a muslim president than an atheist one. They had a deeper mistrust of someone that wasn’t religious over someone who had a religion that was (still is) demonised in some media and by some politicians.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:47am
  - kloyd0306
    
    They have already had one.
    Also one of the knowall smug set.
    
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    December 18, 2020 2:42pm
Maggie Pie

Here’s a word you might like to slip into a conversation…..

“CALLIPYGIAN”

😛
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December 18, 2020 8:02am
- Random T Person
  
  My favourite related word is steatopygia.
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:21am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Try golliwog . . .
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:36am
  - sooty
    
    That word is going upset the woke!
    I made sure the daughter and now the granddaughter have one each!
    
    13 1
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    December 18, 2020 10:06am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      I’ve actually still got my mums ‘Jolly Nigger Boy’ Money Box. Original black and red paint.
      It’s quite heavy and still works well. Funnily enough its stamped ‘Made in Christchurch’.
      I tried selling it on Trade Me recently but they withdrew the listing for some reason.
      
      21 7
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      December 18, 2020 10:31am
    - Jack5
      
      Sooty, to give due respect to Brian McDonald and other posters of that ilk, we should capitalise Woke, just as we do other religions, quasi-religions, and pseudo-religions.
      
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      December 18, 2020 10:33am
      - Jack5
        
        Maggy Pie slips in a grown-up word …
        
        Just looked up Maggie P’s word “callipygian”. It means shapely buttocks, or in Kiwi Pidgin, “nice arse”.
        
        This is from Wikipedia:
        
        The Venus Callipyge, also known as the Aphrodite Kallipygos or the Callipygian Venus, all literally meaning “Venus of the beautiful buttocks”, is an Ancient Roman marble statue, thought to be a copy of an older Greek original.
        
        Maggie, can you elaborate on your word further? Is a callipygian solely a homosexual attraction, or does it relate also to attraction for alternative positions for coitus by heterosexuals?
        
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        December 18, 2020 5:25pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        TBH Jacko, I’d never heard of it myself until last nite.
        
        Went up to get a takeout Pizza from an Italian restaurant in Parnell. As I was heading out with a somewhat greasy box, one of the Waiters ran up behind me to open the door. As I breezed past and whispered good night, he whispered back, “Callipygian”.
        
        I only just found out this morning that that’s the way most Dagos refer to a girl with a ‘Venus’ shaped bum.
        
        To be honest the Pizza was a bit soggy, but I’ll probably go back 😛
        
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        December 18, 2020 7:22pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        he whispered back, “Callipygian”
        
        No, he didn’t.
        
        He said Kill a pigeon
        
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        December 18, 2020 7:31pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        😀
        
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        December 18, 2020 7:45pm
mikenmildagain

Happy International Migrants Day!
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December 18, 2020 8:02am
- Simon
  
  The left wing Berlin Wall.
  
  Well over 100,000 citizens of the GDR tried to escape across the inner-German border or the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1988. More than 600 of them were shot and killed by GDR border guards or died in other ways during their escape attempt. They drowned, suffered fatal accidents, or killed themselves when they were caught.
  
  At the Berlin Wall alone, at least 140 people were killed or died in other ways directly connected to the GDR border regime between 1961 and 1989, including 100 people who were shot, accidentally killed, or killed themselves when they were caught trying to make it over the Wall; 30 people from both East and West who were not trying to flee but were shot or died in an accident; 8 GDR border guards who were killed on duty either by deserters, fellow border guards, a fugitive, someone helping fugitives, or a West Berlin police officer; and at least 251 travelers from East and West who died before, during, or after inspections at checkpoints in Berlin. These figures do not include the people who died of grief and despair over the Wall’s impact on their personal lives.
  
  https://www.berlin.de/mauer/en/history/victims-of-the-wall/
  
  Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. . . . Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. . . . As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. . . .
  General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.
  Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!
  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
  
  https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/berlin.html
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:47am
- mark15
  
  Why thanks mnm.
  Ironic how my chosen country is turning into the same shitshow as my birth one,but it was good while it lasted.
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:22am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that you were connected to both….
    
    13 5
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    December 18, 2020 10:24am
    - mark15
      
      If only I was so important.
      
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      December 18, 2020 10:49am
      - Batman
        
        Feel free to take your views and fuck off back to your former country.
        
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        December 18, 2020 11:26am
      - Jack5
        
        Batman, you had seemed to be a tolerant multiculturist.
        
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        December 18, 2020 5:58pm
I remember when

Just while we look at the Covid-19 totals for the Asian population.
The death rate per million in the United States is 952.
For the US Asian population it is 510 per million.
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December 18, 2020 8:09am
- fernglas
  
  Because they’re younger and less obese?
  
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  December 18, 2020 8:46am
  - Aunty
    
    Nah, because they wear masks, whereas dumb Americans won’t.
    
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    December 18, 2020 9:30am
    - kowtow
      
      Why the second / third waves in mask wearing HK and Korea ?
      
      11 5
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      December 18, 2020 9:46am
      - Aunty
        
        What’s that got to do with the price of fish? We’re not talking about 2nd and 3rd waves of infections in Asia but about the overall lower Covid death rate among Asian Americans in America.
        
        You do know that mask-wearing is not foolproof, right? Wearing masks do not prevent all infections. But it’s still a hell of a lot better than not wearing one. And mask-wearing can also lessen the severity of the illness in those who do become infected because they are exposed to a lower dose of viral particles at the time of infection than those who are not wearing a mask.
        
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        December 18, 2020 5:42pm
    - cmm
      
      By that logic you’re saying that American blacks must be really, really stupid since they have a death rate something like 5x what everyone else does.
      
      Now I won’t make a statement like that, but I would say that they have much higher obesity rates and also have lower Vit D levels and, due to various factors, use more public transport.
      
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      December 18, 2020 9:59am
      - sooty
        
        [Mod: deleted by Mod for the racially motivated undertone]
        
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        December 18, 2019 10:08am
      - SB2
        
        “Darwin always wins?”
        
        Not if he is poperely understood,
        
        “ While the phrase “survival of the fittest” is often used to mean “natural selection”, it is avoided by modern biologists, because the phrase can be misleading. For example, survival is only one aspect of selection, and not always the most important. Another problem is that the word “fit” is frequently confused with a state of physical fitness. In the evolutionary meaning “fitness” is the rate of reproductive output among a class of genetic variants.[1”
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest
        
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        December 18, 2020 10:32am
      - cmm
        
        Survival of the fittest is only misunderstood by people who don’t understand what it means and there should be zero biologists in that category.
        
        Unfortunately almost none of the people giving an opinion on what Darwin meant have never read any Darwin and instead spout third-hand nonsense that they have read.
        
        All fitness means in this context is “best adapted to the environment”. Those that are better adapted to the environment thrive more.
        
        As the environment changes, the fitness function changes too.
        
        For example, for millennia the fitness function was essentially driven by who was able to gain sufficient resources to feed their kids. Those that did the right thing got to feed their kids and thrive; those that did not died.
        
        Now we have welfare in many forms (government welfare, universal cheap food, foreign aid etc) and the fitness function has changed. All that matters is your ability and desire to generate babies.
        
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        December 18, 2020 2:31pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @cmm
        
        and of course anyone who understands Darwin will know that he never wrote the phrase “survival of the fittest”.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer
        
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        December 18, 2020 3:46pm
      - Aunty
        
        Logic and you, on this matter at least, cmm, are strangers.
        
        And no I am not saying that American blacks are really really stupid at all. That’s the workings of your sad mind, not mine.
        
        African-Americans have higher rates of comorbidities such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, asthma all of which are known to put Covid patients at risk of having a more severe disease and poorer outcomes. Their overall higher rates of low-income and poverty also mean that for many of them access to health care is not as good as it is for other Americans.
        
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        December 18, 2020 5:48pm
    - lilman
      
      Aunty did you not take your lead from cindy, masks don’t work, that’s what she said.
      
      13 2
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      December 18, 2020 10:52am
WaynelSexton

Even the media is starting to figure out that Trump will be President.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-threatened-not-to-leave-the-white-house-on-inauguration-day-report-says/ar-BB1c0vGb

This appears to mark an important shift in the narrative. Now the media is no longer focused on trying to legitimize the Biden charade, but is attempting to preemptively delegitimize President Trump’s metaphorical crossing of the Rubicon, which would be marked by the president’s invocation of the Insurrection Act and Executive Order 13848.
25 17
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December 18, 2020 8:10am
- peterwn
  
  “Make my day” says Joe as the Secret Service agents perp walk Donald Trump out of the White House and down Pennsylvania Avenue to his hotel.
  
  17 15
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  December 18, 2020 8:40am
  - Batman
    
    His hotel will be a nice stop before Rikers Island ??
    
    14 37
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    December 18, 2020 9:01am
    - Don Beckett
      
      I wouldn’t put too much credence on the article, Wayne. It quotes CNN – fake news & liars.
      
      14 7
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      December 18, 2020 10:29am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      He owns Riker’s Island?
      
      6 6
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      December 18, 2020 10:53am
      - Batman
        
        The New York State penitentiary system does.
        
        I see the snowflakes are very sensitive to prison jokes. Must have touched a nerve or two!
        
        10 14
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        December 18, 2020 11:34am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I know what Santa should get you Batman – a sense of humour!
        
        14 7
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        December 18, 2020 11:37am
    - peterwn
      
      Then later he will be sent up the river.
      
      5 1
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      December 18, 2020 11:08am
- BAM
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Trump is an unhinged man child.
  The huge problem is that this pathetic deluded individual holds the nuclear football.
  I reckon there’s a real chance he’s going do something really really bad, “If I can’t be president non-one will be president.
  
  10 52
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  December 18, 2020 8:43am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    If you seriously think Trump will take the (literal) nuclear option then the unhinged man-child is you.
    
    30 8
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    December 18, 2020 10:26am
    - Batman
      
      No he just let the Russians hack the nuclear stockpile agency and hasn’t said a word about it.
      
      Weakest President ever.
      
      9 18
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      December 18, 2020 11:35am
      - Frank the tank
        
        LOL you ain’t seen nothing yet!
        
        7 4
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        December 18, 2020 12:17pm
      - Batman
        
        Yeah I’m sure it’ll get much worse with the President MIA due to a tantrum.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:04pm
      - rangitoto
        
        The hack was an interesting one where a vendor (Solarwinds) Orion product build server was compromised. Any organisation that uses the Orion network management software will have potentially been compromised.
        
        8 0
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        December 18, 2020 12:32pm
      - Batman
        
        They used multiple tools and methods too. It’s an absolute nightmare for the US government and yet the President is MIA because his ego is having a tantrum.
        
        9 12
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        December 18, 2020 1:03pm
      - Juliet2554
        
        China…. seriously where’s your source of news?
        
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        December 19, 2020 10:23pm
  - The Housekeeper
    
    BAM your algorithms are shot. Trump has brokered more peace deals as POTUS than any other. Your world is a safer place thanks to him. This for example today,
    
    https://www.businessinsider.com/uae-israelis-flock-to-dubai-for-hannukah-getaway-from-covid-19-2020-12?r=AU&IR=T
    
    23 7
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    December 18, 2020 10:45am
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    Is that your alter ego, BM?
    
    7 3
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    December 18, 2020 11:30am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Nothing in the article constitutes acknowledgement that Trump “will be President”. It says that the President continues to try any and every means, fair or foul, to avoid leaving office, but we already knew that.
  
  14 7
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  December 18, 2020 8:57am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Please let him refuse to leave the white house. A pay-per-view broadcast of the secret service dragging his fat carcass out and dumping him on the street should be worthwhile for reducing the US national debt.
  
  14 40
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  December 18, 2020 8:58am
  - Aunty
    
    The White House and residency therein doesn’t confer the Presidency on anybody. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court does that when he administers the Oath of Office, and that can be done anywhere. Even in the dunny.
    
    16 3
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    December 18, 2020 9:35am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      LBJ was sworn in on an aeroplane, I believe.
      
      17 2
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      December 18, 2020 10:12am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Were you there?
        
        5 17
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        December 18, 2020 10:27am
      - Sacha
        
        Yes, you are correct regarding LBJ. That’s because there must be no ‘gap’ in the elected Presidency, and why there is a vice-president who must swear the Oath of Office, unlike Royalty where there is automatic succession by dint of birth.
        
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        December 18, 2020 11:12am
      - MCos
        
        No he wasn’t. Neither was LBJ’s predecessor, but his wife was still wearing the clothes stained with her husband’s blood.
        
        3 8
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        December 18, 2020 11:19am
      - Batman
        
        it is a historical fact that LBJ was sworn in on the plane, in case anyone was wondering…
        
        “First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson – Wikipedia” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Lyndon_B._Johnson
        
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        December 18, 2020 11:38am
      - MCos
        
        My comment was a reply to Kev who wondered, rather sarcastically, if Mister M was there . . .
        Well, I’m hoping he was sarcastic.
        
        1 1
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        December 18, 2020 2:03pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    “fat carcass” – that’s a bit sizeist of you isn’t it milky?
    
    16 5
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    December 18, 2020 10:28am
  - tf78
    
    It would be like trying to get someone out of Premier House.
    
    9 2
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    December 18, 2020 10:48am
    - Paulus
      
      She says that Premier House is rodent infested which is why it needs an upgrade
      – yes we know that.
      
      12 1
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      December 18, 2020 1:16pm
  - NewInoffensiveName
    
    Trump will be inaugurated for a second consecutive term. Deal with it.
    
    8 13
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    December 18, 2020 11:17am
    - Batman
      
      You and Wayne are so delusional it is almost a worry for the safety of others around you.
      
      No he will not. No insurrection Act fantasies will change that.
      
      As time goes on, the hoax fraud claims are being exposed and in some cases (Fox, OAN, Newsmax), sued for spreading disinformation…
      
      An audit of Antrim County election results gave President Donald Trump a net gain of 12 votes from the certified results in the northern Michigan county.
      https://t.co/8mblzfVwOQ
      
      13 9
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      December 18, 2020 11:41am
  - C J Southern
    
    #CountMeIn
    #ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney
    
    6 6
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    December 18, 2020 11:41am
  - Okahu
    
    I’d pay to see him lassoed then dragged out by a horse. Regrettably I probably won’t get my wish. A second and more likely option is that his presidential motorcade pulls over as soon as it makes Pennsylvania Ave, the driver says get the hell out of my ride loser, you’re stinking the place up. Then as the hapless ex pres wanders disconsolately off a patrol car pulls alongside. ‘Hey you, put your hands behind your head, spread your legs and put your forehead on the trunk of my vehicle…I’ve got a warrant for your arrest’…
    
    4 8
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    December 18, 2020 2:39pm
  - Isobar
    
    I would definitely pay to see that!
    
    2 2
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    December 18, 2020 3:26pm
- MCos
  
  From the article
  
  “ President Donald Trump is said to be in denial about his election loss and has told some of his advisors he won’t leave the White House on Inauguration Day, according to CNN.
  Few believe Trump would actually follow through on threats to squat at the White House, according to CNN’s report, published Wednesday.
  “He’s throwing a f—ing temper tantrum,” one advisor told CNN. “He’s going to leave. He’s just lashing out.” “
  
  So basically a whole lot of gossip extrapolated into gospel by the same people who think Jill Biden is ‘borderline illiterate’.
  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tucker-carlson-jill-biden-fox-news-b1775767.html
  
  14 15
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  December 18, 2020 9:09am
- flash2846
  
  As soon as I read “CNN Reports…..” I know it’s a lie and read no further.
  
  41 9
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  December 18, 2020 9:11am
  - C J Southern
    
    With you lot it’s pretty much a case of “as soon as you read, see, or hear ANYTHING that documents the absurdity of your position – including outcomes of numerous court cases – you stick your fingers in your ears and go la la la la lies lies lies lies can’t hear you can’t hear you can’t hear you”.
    
    6 5
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    December 18, 2020 2:41pm
- SB2
  
  This is the likely scenario,
  
  https://vimeo.com/476433325
  
  LOL
  
  4 20
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  December 18, 2020 10:39am
Maggie Pie

You will recall earlier this week, I declared New Zealand to be in a state of WOKE EMERGENCY.

While the rest of the world is focusing on fighting the Corona-Virus, saving lives and jobs, I hear Chris Hipkins on ZB saying “…..we are focusing on the ethnicity of those who will administer the vaccine”.

SHEESH!!
79 11
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December 18, 2020 8:12am
- JackRabbit
  
  So racist!
  
  44 5
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  December 18, 2020 8:20am
- Harriet
  
  Morning Phil. 😎
  
  I just remembered Magpie’s name – Phil Ure.
  
  9 23
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  December 18, 2020 8:28am
  - Jade Warrior
    
    … harriet …
    … you should not be so critical …
    … of our former colleague philu …
    … and his incredible command of the english language …
    … in fact he would have made a great editor for kiwiblog …
    … eh ..?
    
    24 1
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    December 18, 2020 8:51am
    - sooty
      
      I thought he was here already as moderater!
      
      12 1
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      December 18, 2020 10:10am
  - BAM
    
    Don’t know if it’s Phil, it’s definitely some guy though.
    
    I’m not too bothered by the catfish routine he’s got going if someone wants to pretend to be a woman, who cares.
    
    The constant racism pisses me off though.
    
    12 18
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    December 18, 2020 8:51am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Get a life BAMBI. Talk about constantly TRIGGERED!
      
      As one of the few women who actually comment here, it’s lucky I can bring a bit of gender balance to the blog.
      
      SHEESH
      
      21 12
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      December 18, 2020 10:02am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Keep it up Maggie. I, for one, enjoy your sense of humour, even if it is a bit risque at times. 🙂
        
        20 9
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        December 18, 2020 10:33am
  - Jack5
    
    Phil Ure, the full-stop mad poster famed for having been in the slammer for armed robbery!
    
    Nope, Maggie is nowhere near as dotty ………….
    
    15 1
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    December 18, 2020 10:24am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    …whoar…
    
    10 2
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    December 18, 2020 10:57am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    OKAY – I give up! Harriet got me 😛
    
    6 5
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    December 18, 2020 10:58am
- Doctor Sigmund Freud
  
  [Mod: cut the crap or some Xmas holidays will be handed out.]
  
  0 7
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  December 18, 2020 8:40am
- tf78
  
  Maggie, I’m sure there’s a few junkies out there who could help administer the vaccines.
  
  10 2
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  December 18, 2020 9:00am
- Frank the tank
  
  What’s wrong with that – we now live in the People’s Republic of (little) Aotearoa.
  
  The Blairite has already pointed out that the virus is racist and targets black and brown people more. I fully expect the WuFlu jab will be given out to ethnic minorities before the great unwashed. Like the sheep they are the sheeple will accept this unquestionably.
  
  26 5
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  December 18, 2020 9:02am
  - Batman
    
    I thought it was all a hoax anyway?
    
    In which case, let them give it to poor people and those with subpar health as they need it first
    
    13 18
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    December 18, 2020 9:06am
    - sooty
      
      Yer, we’ll standback and see if they fall over first!
      
      13 2
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      December 18, 2020 10:13am
      - Frank the tank
        
        Lol Racist!!!!
        
        7 3
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        December 18, 2020 10:45am
    - Frank the tank
      
      I love how it’s nowhere near as bad as made out in the media suddenly turns into a “hoax”.
      
      Secondly – you then agree vaccines should be distributed based on race then?
      
      8 4
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      December 18, 2020 10:48am
  - tf78
    
    Frank, I would like to see some studies into the various blood types of those affected. A friend of mine with type A said she produces less anti-bodies. It would be interesting to know as surely it must be relevant.
    
    5 1
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    December 18, 2020 10:52am
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      Some combos of blood type and Rh factor prove more ‘resistant’ in vitro to the XiVirus’ depredations, than others. One of the explanations, and to my mind the most convincing one, for the differences in morbidity and mortality in different ethnicities and ‘diversity-enhanced’ countries.
      
      4 2
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      December 18, 2020 11:36am
      - Pharmachick
        
        There’s a gene cluster on Chromosome 3 that is associated with COVID infection and severity, adjacent are the the ABO exons. There are differences in these genes in South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern and those of European origin.
        
        N Engl J Med 2020; 383:1522-1534
        DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2020283
        
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        December 18, 2020 2:15pm
      - curry4me
        
        Engelbert Humperdink: You mean like Rh negative?
        
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        December 18, 2020 2:37pm
James Stephenson

Had to share this one…no surrender 😉

https://www.facebook.com/morethanablueflagstar/photos/a.1174152915928631/4060477700629457/?type=3
11 1
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December 18, 2020 8:12am
BeeJay

Interesting article in Granny Herald today

Matthew Hooton: Call time on politicians’ four-year quest
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12408990
6 3
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December 18, 2020 8:20am
- Luke Piewalker
  
  Lost me at Matthew Hooten
  
  39 3
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  December 18, 2020 8:45am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Lost me at the paywall
    
    21 3
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    December 18, 2020 10:39am
- KevO'Brien
  
  All it has is a sign using borrowed Maori lingo–neither English nor Maori.
  
  11 5
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  December 18, 2020 8:48am
- kowtow
  
  Matthew Who.
  
  22 2
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  December 18, 2020 9:04am
  - sooty
    
    Toddy who’s lefthand man.
    
    9 2
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    December 18, 2020 10:15am
I remember when

The wheels of justice move very, very slowly.
Roger Pikia has been charged with fraud, finally, by the SFO.
Maanu Paul has been on a crusade to have Roger’s activities investigated for at least four years now.
Mihirangi Forbes was reported by RNZ on the 2nd June, 2016, as investigating his conflicts of interest for the Hui. The programme when aired was damning.
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December 18, 2020 8:20am
Jimmy White

I wonder for home many years Simon Marks (RNZ’s man in the USA) will be blaming Trump for all the Covid Deaths and the decline in the US economy.
He’s already praising Biden the Vaccine distribution.
36 2
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December 18, 2020 8:21am
Jack5

Matthew Hooton’s right in the Hooerald today opposing the move to extend the Parliamentary term from three years to four.

Faafoi, the Minister of Justice is working to put the question to voters at the 2023 election.

Hooton says politicians argue a three-year term doesn’t allow bold, long-term policies, since benefits don’t come before the next election.

Hooton lists such bold, long-term policies successfully introduced by politicians including Muldoon, Lange, Douglas, Clark, Richardson, and Key. All done in three-year terms.
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December 18, 2020 8:36am
- krazykiwi
  
  If Labour got an extra year their ‘bold, long-term policies’ could extend to an extra set of swings installed in the Beehive kids playground.
  
  (Oh that and the destruction of private property rights, criminalizing free speech, locking NZers in a island gulag, killing off private businesses, ushering in the most severe recession in living memory etc)
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:16am
- PeeJay
  
  While 3 years may not be quite long enough for a good government, 3 years, is way too long for a bad one. This goes for Labour or National governments, although more often Labour than National I would argue.
  
  I believe the current argument for a 4 year term is the thin edge of the wedge – how long before you’ve got 4 years becoming 5 years or even a 6 year ‘el presidente’ style farce? Extreme maybe, but certainly not totally fanciful to think so.
  
  Generally if the politicians and their supporters in the media are for something (Auckland supercity!), it’s probably a really bad idea.
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:50am
  - tf78
    
    PeeJay, three months has been too long for this second term government.
    
    17 1
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    December 18, 2020 10:55am
    - Flossie
      
      Agree, except they’ve only been in since 17 Oct so it’s only two months. Seems longer though for sure.
      
      3 0
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      December 18, 2020 3:20pm
  - James Stephenson
    
    While 3 years may not be quite long enough for a good government, 3 years, is way too long for a bad one.
    
    I think that’s actually an argument in favour of 4-year terms. IMO 3 years is too short a time for the shine of a new government to wear off, and as a result single term governments are the exception, which means that in effect we have a first term of 6 years.
    
    Shall we check in on the popularity of this shower at the end of their fourth year?
    
    6 4
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    December 18, 2020 11:07am
    - PeeJay
      
      Appreciate your point but don’t necessarily agree. The current crowd were probably struggling prior to Covid & the media push, if the polls were correct, but it’s all hypothetical now.
      
      My concern is that voters should always beware of well intended governance changes – at a local or national level – as the one thing politicians of all hues are guilty of, with the odd honorable exception, is being ‘economical’ with the truth. I well remember the push for the Auckland Supercity – savings featured very strongly in the ‘marketing’ for this and were relentlessly pimped as all but guaranteed. Now that savings have failed to materialise (shock horror), savings were apparently never the real reason.
      
      What’s to stop four years becoming five and so on? Lots of promises of benefits will be made but we all know either nothing will really change or it’ll actually get worse.
      
      6 1
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      December 18, 2020 12:29pm
- Sacha
  
  Faafoi is the advance guard.
  Watch for the manipulation of public opinion (as we saw with Covid) to convince the voting public that a 4 year term is preferable, and that the Labour Government will be able to bring all its pipe dreams to reality . . . . . .
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:19am
- curry4me
  
  Jack5: I’ll definitely be voting no to that one. I think there was a referendum on the subect in 1990 too.
  
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  December 18, 2020 2:42pm
kowtow

Here’s one for the Climate Porn pollies , the screeching children and their Media pardy enablers.

Met boffins admit they know shit when it comes to weather a week out……..

“As illustrated, the uncertainty of forecasting 10 days out is very real.”

And

“It would be wizardry if we could do that.”

Wizardry indeed.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/christmas-forecasts-not-set-stone
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December 18, 2020 8:41am
- Albert_Ross
  
  It’s not logical to conclude from the fact that short-term weather forecasting is difficult and unreliable, that long-term climate forecasting is even more difficult and unreliable.
  
  Consider whether you would rather bet that a single tossed coin will fall heads-up, or that of a thousand tossed coins, about half of them will fall heads-up.
  
  Similarly, would you feel more confident in a bet that tomorrow’s temperature at noon will be higher than last Saturday’s – or that the average temperature May – July 2021 in NZ will be lower than the average January – March 2021?
  
  Events in the short term are harder to predict than trends over the long term.
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:41am
  - Jack5
    
    Albert, a reasonable point.
    
    But how do you look at weather probability over hundreds of thousands of years?
    
    Detailed records go back only a century or two, and records from ice cores and the like only a few thousand years at most.
    
    Considering that the age of Earth is in millions of years, but we have only a smidgen of a speck of a tiny slice of what that weather was, aren’t we basing all weather forecasting on the short term?
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:44am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Strange enough Albert, Both Tomorrows temp and avg temp Jan – March are both relatively easy to predict.
    1. Is done by basic Barometric charts (tomorrow Temp for example compared to Last staurday), ie Wind strength and direction,
    Avg Temp March 20 be lower March 21.( far better example) apples for apples
    Another relatively easy forcast. Depends on the weakening of La Nina. ie hot surface water of the Ntn Oz coast weakening, ie less moisture rising, Less rain for NZ ( Ntn coast, temperate zone).
    Prediction for this summer 21 jan – Feb. Lots of rain and shitty summer.
    
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    December 18, 2020 12:38pm
I remember when

While looking at Covid-19 deaths in the United States the rate for white citizens is 757 per million.
That would place them at 25th in the world rankings.
Perhaps Donald knew what was going to happen when he tried to build that Wall.
Latino/Hispanic nations seem to have suffered high numbers of deaths.
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December 18, 2020 8:43am
burt

Who bought Fletchers shares 6 months ago when they were at $3.50?

They are now @ $5.71 – so if you did, say a big thanks to Labour for transferring tax payers money directly into your back pocket.
47 3
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December 18, 2020 8:48am
- krazykiwi
  
  I’d like to see conflict of interest disclosures from government ministers.
  
  34 3
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  December 18, 2020 8:50am
  - burt
    
    For sure, but only the National & ACT party ministers – it’s different when the left do it.
    
    30 3
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    December 18, 2020 8:51am
Maggie Pie

‘JESUS LOVES YOU’ can often mean something completely different in Mexico 😛

https://twitter.com/NewhubNZ/status/1339633961664872448
10 15
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December 18, 2020 8:52am
- Tony Stuart
  
  That NewhubNZ Twitter account is a very good parody of Newshub. It caught me out a couple of weeks ago…
  
  10 0
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  December 18, 2020 9:06am
  - mark15
    
    It was.Not any more…
    
    3 0
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    December 18, 2020 10:50am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  What good investigative journalism looks like. Pity the Horrid and Stuffed dont try to emulate, then Id happily pay to support them.
  
  12 4
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  December 18, 2020 9:35am
- RalphT
  
  Ah, that must be the origin of the saying “as honest as a Green MP’s cv”…
  
  18 0
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  December 18, 2020 9:51am
- kowtow
  
  I’m surprised El Woko Locco has so many gillipolas here.
  
  13 1
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  December 18, 2020 9:52am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  just another spoilt rich boy pretending that he “understands” poverty.
  
  https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/12/16/why-is-it-green-mps-seem-to-embellish-their-cvs/
  
  Anyone who has grown up on the wrong side of the tracks can see through their B.S.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:06am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    7 trips to Mexico. How’s that for a carbon footprint?
    Typical Green hypocrite
    
    26 3
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    December 18, 2020 11:06am
  - Yabster
    
    Lying piece of sh… shows how crap/left wing msm are that this has not been looked into.
    
    13 0
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    December 18, 2020 12:52pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    I’m wondering if he dropped out of uni and then went on to low skilled jobs on what basis was he granted nz citizenship.
    
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    December 18, 2020 1:14pm
    - curry4me
      
      Surely Knott: Yes, I keep thinking a few pointed enquiries about his imigration status might be in order.
      
      8 1
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      December 18, 2020 2:52pm
I remember when

Maggie Pie @ 8.12am
What Chris Hipkins means is that a new category of short-term worker visa will be added.
13 3
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December 18, 2020 8:56am
- MCos
  
  Why not play fast & loose with the truth if it suits your agenda.
  
  4 10
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  December 18, 2020 9:44am
- Frank the tank
  
  So what we risk contacting WuFlu from an overseas nurse administering the WuFlu jab? Oh the irony…….
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:59am
oldfella

Rosemary McLeod in Stuffed today rushes to defend ‘Dr’ Jill Biden who, she claims, is entitled to use the term Doctor as she has a PhD.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/123734145/men-behaving-badly-are-being-called-out

Seems Rosemary might have gone off a bit half-cocked (can one say that about a female?).
Seems Biden doesn’t have a PhD, but a lesser qualification earned with a dubious dissertation, described by someone who read it as ‘sloppy, poorly written, non-academic, and barely fit for a middle-school Social Studies classroom…’
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/12/jill-bidens-doctorate-is-garbage-because-her-dissertation-is-garbage/
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December 18, 2020 9:19am
- kowtow
  
  Half baked .
  
  10 4
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  December 18, 2020 9:42am
- MCos
  
  Jill Biden doesn’t have a PhD. She has a Doctorate on Education along with all sorts of other qualifications.
  This means she can call herself Dr Jill Biden.
  I would, but I’ve left it a bit late.
  
  A lot of jealous people ain’t got shit.
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:52am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Yes she *can* but it’s generally considered a bit try-hard and showy to do so outside of your field of expertise.
    
    It’s like people who put “Joe Bloggs BSc (Hons)” on their business cards. F- off, nobody cares.
    
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    December 18, 2020 11:03am
- Jack5
  
  The “Dr” honorific for academics has been debased.
  
  Leave aside GPs, whose “Dr” in status is a step below the “Mr” of medical specialists.
  
  Apart from the honorary doctorates some poseurs flaunt, mainstream academic doctorates increasingly come in the social sciences and even lighter-weight subjects.
  
  For example, at AUT, the former Auckland polytechnic, it seems you can study for a Ph.D. in communications studies. Canterbury University appears to offer the same in “cinema studies”.
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:56am
  - Batman
    
    Awwww the snowflakes are so upset that a woman is better qualified than they are.
    
    A doctorate is a doctorate.
    
    10 27
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    December 18, 2020 10:05am
    - kowtow
      
      Dime a dozen these days.
      
      15 5
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      December 18, 2020 10:26am
      - SB2
        
        kowtow, you make it seem easy. Why not give it a try?
        
        eg The life and loves of Ian Paisley
        
        5 20
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        December 18, 2020 10:46am
      - James Stephenson
        
        I miss Dime. 🙁
        
        8 4
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        December 18, 2020 11:03am
      - Batman
        
        @James, he’s on Twitter if you are interested.
        
        Though he’s not nearly as good anymore ?
        
        6 5
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        December 18, 2020 11:45am
      - Don Beckett
        
        “Though he’s not nearly as good anymore ”
        
        Remember, Batman – he got married 😉
        
        5 2
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        December 18, 2020 12:01pm
    - NoFax
      
      “A doctorate is a doctorate” – only someone who has no idea what they are talking about would say that.
      
      Jill Biden can call herself Dr. if she wants – won’t keep me up at night. But not doctorates are created equally.
      
      16 4
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      December 18, 2020 10:37am
      - Batman
        
        Actually I do, having worked around that area.
        
        My point is that anyone with a doctorate has worked far harder, longer, and knows more about the topic than anyone with a chip on their shoulder who buys into the elitist arguments around title use.
        
        I say this as someone who also dislikes people who get really uppity about using their titles on things like airline tickets and hotel bookings… Stupid wankers that they are.
        
        15 4
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        December 18, 2020 11:48am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Batman
        
        Heck, I always use my title when booking flights and hotels and when corresponding with pricks.
        
        14 2
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        December 18, 2020 12:03pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      A doctorate is a doctorate
      
      Actually, it is quite a complicated business..
      
      There are academic doctorates (basically PhDs) and now there are professional Doctorates (Ed. D)
      https://www.ncu.edu/student-experience/online-education-guide/doctoral-education/differences-between-a-phd-and-professional-doctorate#gref
      
      The NZ PhD system when Hubby & I went through it nly required an original piece of research (3-4 years )presented in a thesis form. (an honours or a Masters degree was a prerequisite)
      
      The American system at that time required PhD students to undertake 1 or 2 years of study and sit exams and present a dissertation (usually based on 1 years’ research).
      
      My mother-in-law, in contrast, was entitled to use the title Dr (Dottore/Dottoressa) based on her 4 year undergraduate degree & dissertation (Laurea) from University of Venice in 1950.
      (at that time the Laurea was the only degree given by Italian Universities and all Graduates were called Dr).
      
      16 1
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      December 18, 2020 11:13am
    - Engelbert Humperdink
      
      And a bat is a bat.
      
      9 1
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      December 18, 2020 11:38am
      - Pharmachick
        
        But is a spade also a shovel?
        
        7 0
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        December 18, 2020 11:59am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Don’t ask an Irishman.
        Put two shovels up against the wall, and tell him to take his pick. 🙂
        
        10 2
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        December 18, 2020 12:04pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        But is a spade also a shovel?
        
        You can use a spade to shovel things (but not very well).
        
        You’d find a shovel useless for cutting into & digging compacted earth.
        
        2 different tools for different jobs.
        
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        December 18, 2020 12:12pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    Indeed. Perhaps you’re aware that for Physicians graduating from the NZ system, “Dr” is a courtesy title, because they do not hold doctorates… the hold a Master of Biology and Bachelor of Chirurgie (MBChB). In the US and Canadian system they are granted “Medical Doctor” (MD) so they do hold a “doctorate”. Jill Biden holds an Ed.D. (Education Doctorate). FYI in the Westminster system of tertiary education (NZ, Aus, UK) there is a higher degree than Ph.D. in Science, it’s called a D.Sc. Involves writing a second thesis once one has made a major enough contribution to their field, summarizing said contributions. Its all a bit archaic, but the nomenclature holds… Jill Biden has a right to call herself “Dr.”. Some 84 year old twit in the WSJ attempting to obscure blatant sexism and classism as “satire” is getting way too much airtime IMO.
    
    17 2
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    December 18, 2020 11:30am
    - C J Southern
      
      Oh Pharmachick – you can’t just go around spouting facts, logic, and reason like that. Precidents have already been set around here! 😉
      
      15 4
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      December 18, 2020 11:45am
- curry4me
  
  oldfella: “That’s Dr Einstein to you my good sir”; said Albert Einstein, never.
  
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  December 18, 2020 2:54pm
Jack5

New Zealand’s immigration policy is notable in its contrast with that of smart countries that focus on admitting the highly skilled.

An example of its softness seems to be demonstrated in the case of a nine-year-old Samoan boy who has been allowed to stay at least temporarily, though he may have come in on a false paternity claim.

Woke Stuff angles the account as the “family’s plight”.

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal decision includes:

“Immigration New Zealand declined the application because it was not satisfied that the evidence produced by his father (as he will be called in this decision), namely the appellant’s birth certificate, was sufficient to establish that the appellant was indeed the biological son of his father.

… the Tribunal finds that Immigration New Zealand’s decision was correct.”

The tribunal adds:

Immigration New Zealand should recognise that the best interests of the appellant are highly unlikely to be served by his having to return to Samoa without further investigation. With the decline of his residence application, the best way for the appellant’s best interests to be protected is with the grant of further student visas to him, so that he can remain lawfully in New Zealand while his care arrangements and permanent residence status are resolved.

The decision, straight from the horse’s mouth (rather than from Stuff’s):

http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZIPT/2020/205785.html
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December 18, 2020 9:19am
- kowtow
  
  ‘Woke Stuff angles the account as the “family’s plight”.’
  
  Wouldn’t it be nice if the Media Pardy could ever consider the “taxpayers’ plight”…….especially now we’re keeping them afloat ?
  
  18 1
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  December 18, 2020 9:40am
Yvette

Memorandum of Understanding (He Pūmautagna) Ihumātao
1.1
(e) Kia Pono – we will act honestly and fairly
(f) Kia Tika – we will conduct ourselves with integrity
(g) Kia Maarama – we will operate with understanding, ensuring clarity and transparency

4.1 A Roopu Whakahaere is to be established, which shall operate during the Interregnum Period to give effect to the Parties shared vision for the Whenua. The Parties acknowledge that the current intention is for the Roopu Whakahaere to complete its role within a five year period.

So, it may take a little while before there is any decision as to who actually pays for any houses built.
22 0
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December 18, 2020 9:19am
- Benedict Yu
  
  OMG. When I read this I think “What rubbish”. This “Roopu Whakahaere” seems like a working group. The members will be getting paid a daily fee and their airfares paid for monthly meetings.
  
  Willie Jackson admitted yesterday that he had been working on this for 12 months. So why did Labour fail to include this in their election policies?
  
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  December 18, 2020 9:37am
- Bobba Fret
  
  No rush, it’s not like Labour are rushing to build Kiwi build houses.
  
  25 0
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  December 18, 2020 9:42am
- Paulie_
  
  Got to reward the protesters with jobs for the next 5 + years
  
  20 0
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  December 18, 2020 9:44am
  - mark15
    
    All Roopu Whakahaere, no do-ee.
    
    15 0
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    December 18, 2020 10:54am
- PeeJay
  
  What’s the odds that in those five years there will be lots of extremely expensive talk-fests, working groups (with plumb appointments for old political hacks naturally), and so on.
  
  23 0
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  December 18, 2020 9:56am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The Gobblement has converted Fletcher’s land and heavied them to agree to agree to a transfer of title–psuedo theft.
  Further the land is being held for informal hidden extra-Waitangi-Treaty negotiations. Weren’t those full and final?
  
  Who is getting paid off now with Taxpayers’s Money? Is Ardern going to set the NZ Maori Tribes up against each other again? Many are itching for it and it’s very whakaMaori. Some long for their old cultural customs of land seizure, trickery an utu.
  
  No Executive Government in NZ has any authority for such behaviour. Ardern has surpassed her previous regal assumption into Despot and Gangster.
  
  14 4
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  December 18, 2020 10:44am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And who will audit what happens to the Ihumatao settlement and the Land which now appears to be owned by NZ taxpayers?
    
    14 0
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    December 18, 2020 12:16pm
    - PeeJay
      
      I sincerely doubt the land will be ‘owned’ by the NZ taxpayer once the dust has settled! And as for an audit? Well there probably will be one but it certainly won’t be independent, and it certainly won’t be transparent! These audit guys know not to bite the hand that feeds!
      
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      December 18, 2020 12:38pm
  - greybeard
    
    Maori + Money = Corruption
    Corruption = Maori + Money
    Money = Maori + Corruption
    
    This is one of the underlying rules for life in NZ in the 21st century.
    
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    December 18, 2020 6:52pm
Maggie Pie

A Twitter Bestie retweets…

“Everyone thought Joe was going to appoint a woman”

https://twitter.com/AngelWarrior321/status/1339349680405229571

(…the replies are an absolute HOOT! 😀 )
12 12
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December 18, 2020 9:28am
- Benedict Yu
  
  You seem to have new energy following the Bob Jones swipe at you.
  
  17 2
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  December 18, 2020 9:43am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    It’s a great feeling knowing you’ve actually upset somebody.
    Imagine how boring it would be if you had to put up with sad asses like ‘BAM’ all day 😀
    
    16 10
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    December 18, 2020 10:10am
    - RJ
      
      You’d think the poor old codger would put his glasses on next time and actually quote what you wrote, instead of changing it to try any make himself look right.
      
      9 10
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      December 18, 2020 10:14am
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Well that exactly right RJ.
        He’s well known for that of course. Never let the facts ruin a good story 😀
        
        11 9
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        December 18, 2020 10:20am
- Libertarians are right
  
  The scary thing is that the real choice is just as bad.
  Lily Eskelsen García is basically the Teacher’s Union top dog in the US. She’s in it for her Union, not the kids.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:08am
Fletch

These are some of the cases Trump is losing. It’s easy to look at the numbers and say, “haha he lost another one”, but the testimony is compelling and the cases are far from frivolous, with so much (yes) actual evidence that it’s hard to see how it was dismissed. Another case of courts not doing their jobs.

James Troupis yesterday at Wisconsin fraud hearing –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8rFijEwY3w

– Over 3000 incomplete or altered Ballot Certificates (illegal in WI)
– Over 2000 ballots with missing Clerk initials on envelopes (illegal in WI)
– 17,271 ballots that came in before election day (illegal in WI)
– 28,395 voters who may have illegally claimed “disabled indefinitely” status to avoid voter ID requirements (illegal in WI)
– 170,000 ballots submitted without an application (illegal in WI)
– 3,000,000 votes were legal in WI
– 200,000 votes were illegal (according to the recount)

Frankly, it’s SHOCKING.
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December 18, 2020 9:33am
- fernglas
  
  Perhaps the reason he keeps losing cases is because Judges can distinguish between evidence and wishful thinking.
  
  10 16
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  December 18, 2020 10:12am
- Libertarians are right
  
  The problem Trump has is that the Judges across the board have decided that illegality is not enough to deny people their right to vote.
  
  If only they had whoever it was that denied Obama’s Democrat competition the first time he ran for Senate nomination (he got all of his opposition thrown out over minor issues like names being printed instead of written in cursive).
  
  13 6
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  December 18, 2020 10:12am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  So blatant, and the Dems don’t give a shit
  
  10 5
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  December 18, 2020 11:13am
- C J Southern
  
  Please point me to just one example of evidence of widespread fraud that was accepted by a court.
  
  4th request.
  
  9 8
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  December 18, 2020 11:47am
  - Batman
    
    They’ve yet to explain how their evidence is legitimate yet been rejected so many times.. aside from crying that the courts are mean.
    
    9 9
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    December 18, 2020 11:51am
    - C J Southern
      
      Oh – haven’t you heard … the latest is “the courts are scared” …
      
      I keep hoping that they’re just trolling, but as the weeks turn into months I’m forced to face the inevitable conclusion that they just really are that stupid.
      
      8 7
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      December 18, 2020 12:11pm
Fletch

More election fraud in Nevada. Attorney Jesse Binnell Senate Testimony –

https://www.air.tv/watch?v=iC3nS253QNWz13oiV77CYg

While the media and Democrats accuse us of making it all up our team began chasing down every lead. Our evidence came both from data scientists and from brave whistleblowers. Here is what we found. Over 42,000, 42,000 people voted more than once. Our experts were able to make this determination by reviewing the list of actual voters and comparing it to other voters with the same name, address, and date of birth. This method was also able to catch people using different variations of their first name such as William and Bill and individuals who registered both under a married name and the maiden name. At least 1,500 dead people are recorded as voting as shown by comparing the list of mail voters with the Social Security death records. More than 19,000 people voted even though they didn’t live in Nevada. This does not include military voters or students. These voters were identified by comparing the list of voters with a U.S. postal services national change of address database among other sources.

About 8,000 people voted from non-existent addresses. Here we cross referenced voters with the coding accuracy support system which allowed our experts to identify undeliverable addresses. Over 15,000 votes were cast from commercial or vacant addresses. Our experts found these voters by analyzing official U.S. postal service records that flag non-residential address and addresses vacant for more than 90 days. Incredibly, almost 4,000 non-citizens also voted as determined by comparing official DMV records of non-citizens to the list of actual voters in the 2020 election. The list goes on. All in all, our experts identified 130,000 unique instances of voter fraud in Nevada. But the actual number is almost certainly higher. Our data scientists made these calculations not by estimations or statistical sampling, but by analyzing and comparing the list of actual voters with other lists, most of which are publicly available. To put it simply, they explain their methods so others could check their work. Our evidence has never been refuted, only ignored.

Tell me again there is no evidence….
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December 18, 2020 9:38am
- Wayne Mapp
  
  I am calling bulldust on this “evidence”. There are about 1.822 million active voters in Nevada, with 1.407 million votes cast. 130,000 fraudulent votes is nearly 10% of all votes cast. It is simply not possible for the official authorities to miss so many fraudulent votes. Their checks over the following weeks would have easily shown this.
  
  10 20
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  December 18, 2020 10:30am
  - RJ
    
    You should see the error rate of the dominion machines that were audited.
    
    13 5
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    December 18, 2020 10:48am
    - Batman
      
      You mean like this audit of Dominion machines which have Trump TWELVE votes extra?
      
      An audit of Antrim County election results gave President Donald Trump a net gain of 12 votes from the certified results in the northern Michigan county. https://t.co/8mblzfVwOQ
      
      The #AntrimAudit confirmed the truth & affirmed the facts: Dominion’s voting machines accurately tabulated votes cast for President.
      
      Now it’s time for the disinformation campaigns to end, and for all leaders to unequivocally affirm the Nov election was secure, accurate & fair.
      https://twitter.com/JocelynBenson/status/1339684332718440448?s=19
      
      8 10
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      December 18, 2020 11:53am
      - RJ
        
        Here is the report, have a read, an error rate of 68.05%
        
        11 4
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        December 18, 2020 12:58pm
      - Batman
        
        Yeah, nah.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:01pm
      - RJ
        
        Yeah didn’t think you were interested in facts, the report even says that data was erased from the machines. But facts don’t interest you, at least they interested the judge who ordered the report to to be released.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:20pm
      - C J Southern
        
        FFS it referred to errors in event logs due to not running the correct version of software to communicate with the local server – necessitating the manual transfer of the voting totals. They do NOT document that the machines “switched votes”.
        
        Also – the machines print out a bit of paper showing who you voted for; are you seriously trying to assert that millions of people used the machines to vote for their selected candidate – the machines put the wrong name on the bit of paper 68% of the time – and not one of over 100 million people noticed? – and the hand recounts OF THE BITS OF PAPER use happened to have exactly the same error rate so that the number just happened to agree?
        
        This is the absurdity of your arguments; it’s REALLY easy to get some group to come up with something that they’re paid to come up with (incidentally it’s the same group that made absolute fools of themselves with a previous “analysis”); your problem is that in court (unlike in the media) the other side gets a fair right of reply and at that point the ridiculous assertions are again blown clear out of the water and the case gets quite rightly thrown out.
        
        Trying to use “reports” like this as “evidence” is just pathetic.
        
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        December 18, 2020 2:53pm
  - Fletch
    
    And yet, they actually went through and checked all of this. It’s not a hypothesis and it’s not by estimation. And watch the first part – it’s not just fraud. The law was changed by Nevada as well which aided in fraud.
    
    On August 3rd, 2020 after a rushed special session Nevada legislators made drastic changes to the state’s election law by adopting a bill known as AB4. The vulnerabilities of this statute were obvious. It provided for universal mail voting without sufficient safeguards to authenticate voters or insure the fundamental requirement that only one ballot was sent to each legally qualified voter. This was aggravated by election officials failure to clean known deficiencies in their voter rolls. Because of AB4 the number of mail ballots rocketed from about 70,000 in 2016 to over 690,000 this year. The election was inevitably riddled with fraud and our hotline never stopped ringing.
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:54am
    - Don Beckett
      
      “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final and most essential command”. George Orwell. 1984.
      
      Orwell was a prophet – that time is now.
      
      17 5
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      December 18, 2020 11:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Roughly 153M registered voters in the US.
    Trump 78M votes.
    Biden 81M votes.
    What is wrong with this picture??
    
    10 5
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    December 18, 2020 11:15am
    - chukar
      
      Done the math and no ,won’t be buying a US car any time soon!
      
      3 2
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      December 18, 2020 1:24pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Your figures are grossly inaccurate – deliberately so, I wonder?
      
      There are about 239.2M people in the US who are eligible to vote. Your figure of 153.0M people registered to vote is as at November 2018.
      
      As at right now, 158,537,765 people voted in the presidential election, of whom 81,284,778 voted for Biden-Harris, and 74,224,501 voted for Trump-Pence. See https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.
      
      Many, many, people, who would not ordinarily bother to register to vote (let alone actually vote), have obviously done so over the last two years, no doubt because of the divisive, if not obscene, nature of Trump’s presidency.
      
      See this article, which corrects the outdated voter registration numbers for 15 states that were being put about before Election Day: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-voter-registrations-idUSKBN27M2GF.
      
      6 5
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      December 18, 2020 1:55pm
      - C J Southern
        
        Yep. Steve Otto caught deliberately spreading false information AGAIN.
        
        4 5
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        December 18, 2020 2:55pm
  - bruceavon
    
    Yes. In all cases, some 50 + the judges have looked at the so called evidence and thrown them out. The judges comments in some cases have been scathing. Many of the judges republicans. The simple fact is there is no evidence. What holds up in a YouTube video doesn’t hold up in court.
    
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    December 18, 2020 11:40am
    - Fletch
      
      The case above lost 4-3. The cases are being dismissed by cowardly courts. Cases in which there is more than enough evidence. Look at the first video and tell me there is not sufficient evidence.
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8rFijEwY3w (4:46 min long)
      
      They have the envelopes and everything. No, it’s not for lack of evidence. It’s purely political.
      
      9 6
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      December 18, 2020 12:04pm
      - RJ
        
        Fletch there are some lawyers who are saying that the judges and their families are quietly telling them they have had death threats made against them by those who want Biden to win.
        
        Also it looks likes a certain governors daughter’s boyfriend’s death is not an accident, he’ll even the investigator has now committed suicide.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:04pm
      - Batman
        
        More rumour and misinformation. The founding principle of Trumpism.
        
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        December 18, 2020 1:10pm
      - C J Southern
        
        No. The cases are being lost because there is no credible evidence of fraud and the courts are following the law.
        
        It’s interesting to note that courts don’t just issue a “cowardly denial” after a trial; they issue detailed reasonings that often run into dozens of pages. They’re ALL available online for you to see for yourself.
        
        So there’s another of your pathetic arguments shot down in flames.
        
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        December 18, 2020 2:59pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Leftist judges looking after their own arses. Even the right leaning are RINOs.
      Drain the Swamp
      
      10 6
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      December 18, 2020 12:19pm
      - Okahu
        
        Just for the record, what does kool-aid taste like?
        
        5 1
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        December 18, 2020 2:58pm
      - C J Southern
        
        Great news; the swamp IS being drained.
        
        The operation will be complete by 20 Jan 2021 @ 12 noon to be precise.
        
        4 2
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        December 18, 2020 5:32pm
  - flash2846
    
    They would have to be looking or even caring first to do that Wayne. That’s the whole point.
    
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    December 18, 2020 1:26pm
- fernglas
  
  Binnall was the Trump campaign attorney in the Nevada lawsuit. This “evidence” was given to the Courts, which chucked the case out. Binnall has merely repeated discredited assertions. That is not evidence. Show me some.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:52am
  - Fletch
    
    They didn’t “chuck the case out” for lack of evidence. In fact, they lost 4-3. And there is plenty of evidence. It’s been thrown out only due to politics. Not for lack of evidence.
    
    8 5
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    December 18, 2020 12:16pm
    - Batman
      
      “politics” aka your politics are so toxic and unhinged that you guys have lost grip on reality.
      
      So yes, politics.
      
      5 8
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      December 18, 2020 1:05pm
- SB2
  
  Fletch, you’re pushing a barrow load of concrete up hill.
  
  I posted this yesterday,
  
  A look at what several state supreme courts said about rejecting attempts to overturn Biden’s election win
  
  Savannah Behrmann
  
  USA TODAY
  
  Nevada
  
  The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday night rejected Trump’s appeal to overturn the state’s election results.
  The rejection came about a week after a district court in Nevada ruled that the Trump campaign had not proven claims of malfunctions in voting devices and that the election had been manipulated.
  
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/11/supreme-courts-arizona-michigan-nevada-rejected-claims-voter-fraud/3869239001/
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:53am
- C J Southern
  
  Please point me to just one example of evidence of widespread fraud that was accepted by a court.
  
  5th request.
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:48am
Benedict Yu

So I was looking forward to the Christchurch northern motorway opening yesterday. But I was dismayed that the surface is still appalling with stone chips flying all over the place. I found out that the bitumen surface is not going to be applied until “late 2021”.

I am sure there are reasons for this to do with the nature of the ground. It does seem very odd though. Brand new motorway and it is a total mess. If you had a shiny new car you would best avoid it entirely.
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December 18, 2020 9:42am
- RJ
  
  No surprise, the quality of work on roads now days seems to be cheap and nasty that last a few months before repairs are needed.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:12am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    You would think there would be hundreds of complaints. But apparently it is just me.
    
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    December 18, 2020 10:43am
    - Surely Knott
      
      No it’s me also. I hate the change to rough chip. It’s also really loud compared to smooth tar seal. Extraordinary that in areas of Auckland we’ve always had smooth tar seal but now we can’t afford it in the rural areas apparently despite 10s of thousands more ratepayers. https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/6053435/Distance-driving-and-the-risks-to-hearing
      
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      December 18, 2020 1:21pm
      - chukar
        
        There is a substantial difference in the cost .From memory about 8 times less chip vs bitumen.
        So who pays says!
        
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        December 18, 2020 6:47pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Been to Warkworth have you?
    
    7 3
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    December 18, 2020 11:16am
- JackRabbit
  
  That is so they can say they finished it “on time” (well the last of multiple finish date extensions).
  
  Your Christmas Ham is “finished”, We just have to let the Pig grow another 12 months, kill it, bone it out, cure and cook it. So Christmas 2021.
  
  The road is “finished”. We just have to let cars roll over it, fill it in where it sinks (it’s built on Marshland, and has sunk already), re-stone it, and when it is stable, then apply bitumen. So Christmas 2021.
  
  Otherwise it is another epic Labour failure.
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:00am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘fill it in where it sinks (it’s built on Marshland, and has sunk already)’
    
    That’s where the “waka” in kotaki might come in useful .
    
    5 1
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    December 18, 2020 1:10pm
Maggie Pie

My partner’s mum Txts…..

‘What do a nearsighted gynecologist and a puppy have in common? A wet nose.’

LOL!!
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December 18, 2020 9:46am
- Sacha
  
  Yuk.
  
  7 3
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  December 18, 2020 11:35am
Benedict Yu

Jacinda is having barbeque on Christmas Day.

Lead story on TVNZ news.
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December 18, 2020 10:26am
- RJ
  
  Lot of porkies for her to chuck on the bbq
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:47am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That wins the Internet today
    
    10 5
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    December 18, 2020 11:18am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Which doll is being barbecued this time? I hope she has some teroriki to go with it.
  
  7 4
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  December 18, 2020 10:55am
- Frank the tank
  
  Little Aotearoa is in full swing with the MSM.
  
  Look at Dallow. I used to have respect for him – now he just dribbles out left leaning garbage day in day out. If this was going to be the case I would have rather had the former lingerie model presenting.
  
  Then of course there is “Grimace”
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:05am
- gorse
  
  How many people really give a toss what she is doing on Christmas day? The recently unemployed will be struggling, or going to the City Mission for a meal. I wonder if she lies awake squirming about the damage she is causing to so many people?
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:27am
- Paulus
  
  My Postie is very late as I have yet to receive my invitation to my close friend Cindy’s special barbeque.
  Am thinking of it with all the free drinks and excellent food for which my taxes are to be used.
  Awesome do with all my special Labour Party friends and their hangers on too !
  Have you got your invite yet ?
  
  8 2
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  December 18, 2020 1:33pm
- emmess
  
  Oh wow I really needed to know that world changing information. I must return to the 20th century and return to stop what I am doing at 6pm to make sure I don’t miss out.
  
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  December 18, 2020 1:58pm
Maggie Pie

And something else that is really pissing me off.
A few months ago, I started feeding the beautiful wild birds around here with Parrot Seed and Vogels.
Unfortunately, we’re now inundated with somebody’s bloody Homing Pigeons!
They’ve literally taken over the place. The poor little birdies don’t even get a look in now. The cheeky buggers are even coming inside the Pool House and shitting all over the tiles.

Anyone know how to get rid of them?
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December 18, 2020 10:47am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Do what Ken Livingstone did to get rid of the “Rats of the air” in Trafalgar Square.
  
  Get a Falconer with a Sparrow Hawk.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:52am
- Jack5
  
  The New Zealand falcon (aka as the sparrow hawk or karearea) is dynamite on pigeons. Can you borrow one from a reserve, Maggie? If you create a nice nest for it above ground it might make a good pet.
  
  When the Marlborough vineyards began to use the falcons to scare birds away from their vineyards, pigeon-racing folk were up in arms because of the threat to races between the South Island and the North Island.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:52am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Cheers Jack. Funnily enough, I’ve only just bought a very realistic plastic Magpie off TradeMe. They’re also supposed to do the trick at scaring everything.
    My partners going to erect a pole on the lawn to stand him on. Will let you know how he goes.
    
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    December 18, 2020 1:02pm
- mark15
  
  Slug gun.o
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:56am
- SB2
  
  Silver Porsche?
  
  Is this the actual reality,
  
  https://www.rodauthority.com/news/top-50-tv-cars-of-all-time-no-16-the-beverly-hillbillies-truck/
  
  LOL
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:58am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    My partner got rid of the silver one to a good plum.
    Got the Navy over Cream at the moment.
    
    You should keep an eye out for me tomorrow – I’m heading to St Lukes Mall to buy a new Microwave from Farmers. Feel free to introduce yourself if you want.
    
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    December 18, 2020 11:50am
    - The Housekeeper
      
      Maggie, might pay to call first, to check they actually have one in stock. Good luck.
      
      7 0
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      December 18, 2020 12:36pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  “Anyone know how to get rid of them?”
  
  You could buy air rifle with scope. No firearms licence needed.
  
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  December 18, 2020 10:58am
- Don Beckett
  
  scattergun. 😉
  
  5 1
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  December 18, 2020 11:02am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  12G
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:19am
  - Batman
    
    I think Maggie wants to get rid of them without creating an even worse mess, lads.
    
    Bloody gun enthusiasts ?
    
    6 5
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    December 18, 2020 12:04pm
- kowtow
  
  ‘Unfortunately, we’re now inundated with somebody’s bloody Homing Pigeons!’
  
  Could be the SIS.
  
  ‘Between 1941 and 1944, around 16,000 avian agents, hidden in canisters with little parachutes attached, fell to the ground in rural France, Belgium and the Netherlands.’
  
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-23/operation-columba-a-secret-pigeon-network-in-world-war-ii/9885188
  
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  December 18, 2020 4:53pm
  - chukar
    
    Yes they must be at least 80 years old ,or their offspring have heard the storys
    And they have got to be a bit chewy in a pigeon pie.
    
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    December 18, 2020 7:08pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Sounds like they pulled off a real coup 😀
    
    3 2
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    December 18, 2020 7:36pm
- tf78
  
  Try “white” bread for a day or two – that drives most things away doesn’t it. BTW we have wild doves – just tell the pigeons to PO that worked for me.
  
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  December 18, 2020 7:40pm
Libertarians are right

There was an article on Stuff (from WashPo) the other day about how Trump’s neighbours in Palm Beach hate him and them and the local council are trying to make it impossible for him to move in after his presidency.

Of course they ignored the fact that this animosity was created because he sued the Council over their No Blacks policy.
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December 18, 2020 11:13am
- C J Southern
  
  The FACTS are that:
  
  1. Ex presidents have comprehensive security – which impacts all those in surrounding districts.
  
  2. Trump agreed – in writing – that he wouldn’t stay there at the time he was allowed to convert the premesis to a country club.
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:53am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    That doesn’t change the fact that the animosity was created because of his stance on the rights of black people to enter the town. Your facts, while true, simply aren’t the only facts that are relevant to the argument.
    
    I’m not saying he should be allowed to live there, simply that the facts in the article were missing one very important fact.
    
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    December 18, 2020 12:01pm
    - C J Southern
      
      If you sign a bit of paper saying you won’t live there (because that was to his advantage at the time) you don’t get to subsequently live there without being in breach of the agreement you signed.
      
      As usual Trump wants to have his cake and eat it to.
      
      4 4
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      December 18, 2020 3:02pm
  - Batman
    
    He will be a ‘guest’ staying there for ‘free’ at the discretion of the manager.
    
    Meanwhile, other members are limited to 21 days per year apparently.
    
    4 9
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    December 18, 2020 12:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Might have something to do with that flagpole on a man made hill. Fact checkers say partly false, but I am not so sure.
  
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  December 18, 2020 12:27pm
Fletch

The Kraaken case is on the SCOTUS docket.

Some Trump supporters have little hope that the Supreme Court will act based on the last two cases. But Sidney Powell’s case is 100% different. Unlike the last two, this case has hard evidence of Dominion Voting Systems fraud.

https://noqreport.com/2020/12/17/why-sidney-powells-case-before-the-scotus-is-a-gamechanger/
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December 18, 2020 11:19am
- C J Southern
  
  Please point me to just one example of evidence of widespread fraud that was accepted by a court.
  
  6th request.
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:49am
  - Fletch
    
    Go watch the videos in my posts above…
    
    9 7
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    December 18, 2020 12:12pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      No doubt they will play the videos to the SC justices, who will than HAVE to vote 9-0 to reverse the election result.
      
      4 6
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      December 18, 2020 12:15pm
    - C J Southern
      
      I have. As expected they contained no examples of evidence of widespread fraud that was accepted by a court.
      
      So please be so kind as to point me to some. With “so much fraud” and “so many court cases” surely this must be trivially easy for you to do?
      
      7th request.
      
      4 2
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      December 18, 2020 3:06pm
  - emmess
    
    That’s is because all the cases have been rejected on procedural grounds not because of a lack of evidence.
    
    3 4
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    December 18, 2020 2:08pm
    - Batman
      
      Yes procedural grounds of lacking any merit and evidence.
      
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      December 18, 2020 2:38pm
    - C J Southern
      
      No. It’s not. If you follow the court cases (as I have) you’ll find that:
      
      (a) In the vast majority of cases they’re not even alleging fraud (why would that be?)
      
      (b) In several cases the lawyers (including Guiliani) have expressly either signed a statement or stated to the judge that they were not alleging fraud.
      
      (c) In the few fringe cases (Powell’s being one) where fraud was alleged they have to date failed to produce ANY credible evidence of fraud that satisfies a court.
      
      So with “so much fraud” – “so many of the best lawyers that money can buy” – and “so many cases” – you really have to ask yourself (a) why fraud isn’t being alleged in court and (b) why they’re not getting ANY recognition from ANY court.
      
      I mean seriously – nobody loses 60 cases in a row with such high-powered legal teams if there’s been so much illegal manipulation occurring and so much evidence that documents it.
      
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      December 18, 2020 3:14pm
- C J Southern
  
  At this point it’s pretty clear that Sidney Powell is either delusional or is milking the suckers for every dollar she can get.
  
  Either way all of her assertions have no credible evidence to back them up and will continue to be rejected by the courts.
  
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  December 18, 2020 12:16pm
  - BAM
    
    Of course, she’s milking it, she’s probably making serious bank here.
    Doesn’t matter if she’s shovelling shit, she’s making money and building a media presence.
    
    That’s the American way.
    
    5 12
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    December 18, 2020 12:54pm
    - The Housekeeper
      
      You could be describing Bill Gates.
      
      5 5
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      December 18, 2020 2:18pm
      - C J Southern
        
        I know right? Like how dare the guy give away billions to fund sensible programs that help people in developing countries.
        
        The nerve of the guy.
        
        4 4
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        December 18, 2020 3:16pm
Jack5

A week to Christmas – it’s next Friday – and no Christmas talk on Kiwiblog.

Well here’s a bit of Christmas to give you a smile:

https://youtu.be/iIdnYAkqSes
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December 18, 2020 11:22am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

FINALLY SOMEONE POSTED Biden’s 47 years of accomplishments …It’s a good – quick read.
Joe Biden’s Political Career. By year.
1973 Biden enters politics…
1974
1975
1976
1977 ***Biden fights to keep schools segregated because in his own words, “allowing blacks to integrate would create a racial jungle”… fact check me….
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983 **BIDEN TAXES SS**
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988 ***ran for president but had to end his campaign after getting busted for plagiarism…
1989
1990 Hang on almost there…
1991
1992
1993 **BIDEN TAXES SS=AGAIN**
1994 ***Biden writes the “Stop and Frisk” law which is what blacks blame for “systemic racism” today. This law took millions of black men from their homes and transplanted them into prison. Way to go Joe. This was Biden’s biggest accomplishment in 47 years of elected office. Factcheck me…it’s true.
1995
1996
1997 Almost, not yet…
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008 calls Obama the first “articulate” and “clean” mainstream African-American
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020: NOW HE SAYS HE’S READY TO FIX THE COUNTRY
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December 18, 2020 11:24am
- SB2
  
  He pales in comparsion to Trump.
  
  https://labor411.org/411-blog/here-are-all-of-trump-s-bankruptcies-and-failed-businesses/
  
  Not forgetting Trump’s disastrous handling of Covid Pandemic that cost him bigly
  
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  December 18, 2020 1:42pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9t_KDGqOmE
    
    3 5
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    December 18, 2020 2:48pm
- BeeJay
  
  Great to see you back, SO(NS), did you get stuck on the North Shore after the Bridge accident? Or it’s taken you quite a while to work out the Biden timeline?
  Still waiting for you to pay up for being wrong or are you waiting for the moron to try to convince Congress that he’s the winner , the loser!
  
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  December 18, 2020 2:51pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The men in white coats will be there soon
    
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    December 18, 2020 5:22pm
surfing

Group of girls have been causing mayhem in the Bayfair area of mt Maunganui.

They are assaulting and robbing kids and old people alike. Victims are ending up in hospital with head injuries due to being stomped on.

Mall security ignore the assaults on mall property, but call police to sort it out. Mall security deter the public from assisting victims during attacks.

Police do nothing, apart from returning the girls back to their homes. Apparently because the girls are young and we don’t want to drive them out of society completely.

This is bonkers, these girls have now injured and robbed from so many people in recent weeks and no-one can stop them. Police are almost aiding and abetting these crimes by returning the girls into the community after each assault.

https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/258229-police-to-attend-public-meeting-arataki.html
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December 18, 2020 11:32am
- Shendy
  
  Ahem-Kindness…..
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:58am
- C J Southern
  
  Here’s why security guards can’t act:
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/123193622/he-is-on-my-throat-mall-security-guard-under-fire-over-claims-of-excessive-force
  
  Legally, the police’s hands are probably tied too.
  
  And the loony left want to RAISE the age for criminal accountability.
  
  Go figure.
  
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  December 18, 2020 11:59am
- Fletch
  
  One of them are going to be seriously injured when a member of the public reacts the wrong way and it will be their own fault.
  
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  December 18, 2020 12:14pm
  - Pharmachick
    
    And then claim self-defence, and elect Jury trial if (when) the NZ plod/Crown prosecution service are stupid enough to try them for it.
    
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    December 18, 2020 2:27pm
Philview

Grace Millane’s killer has managed to get further name suppression from the NZ Supreme Court despite. He lost his appeal on the case but is now seeking a 2nd appeal. Over the years we have seen many different murder trials but hard to recall one where this level of name suppression has been maintained.
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December 18, 2020 11:51am
- C J Southern
  
  I really don’t care to be honest;
  
  1. Anyone using a VPN can find out his name in less than 30 seconds, and
  
  2. Odds are that the name will be meaningless to them when they read it anyway.
  
  So I’m not really sure why so many are so upset by something they can so easily work around if they want to; it’s akin to complaining about a road being blocked off when the device doing the “blocking” is a spider web.
  
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  December 18, 2020 12:20pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    It is on the Google machine if you use the right search terms
    
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    December 18, 2020 12:33pm
  - surfing
    
    There is a principle at stake though.
    
    There are other cases out there where it is not so easy to find the name of the defendant.
    
    I read that name suppression is used extensively in New Zealand, far more than in overseas jurisdictions.
    
    I don’t know if that is true or not, but, if so, why?
    
    I’m against name suppression except where there are very good reasons.
    
    I’ve read about this guy, I don’t see good reasons. Some theorise that he is facing other charges — so what!
    
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    December 18, 2020 3:49pm
    - C J Southern
      
      If he is facing other charges then the “so what” could be that he may end up getting aquitted on appeal on the basis of the jury pool being contaminated by virtue of their knowledge of his prior crimes.
      
      It’s normal practice in court cases for any prior convictions to be kept from a jury so that they judge each case on it’s merits – and not assume he’s guilty just because he has previous convictions.
      
      Just because we’re not aware of reasons for suppression doesn’t mean that the courts don’t have good reasons. At this point we just have to trust the courts.
      
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      December 18, 2020 5:40pm
Maggie Pie

My partner reckons the only reason the Supreme Court is continuing with name suppression for Grace Millane’s killer, is to keep pissing off Leo Molloy.
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December 18, 2020 11:55am
- C J Southern
  
  A far more likely reason is that there are/were other charges pending and that naming him would give his lawyers ammunition to get him off said/same charges on the basis of him not being given a fair trial.
  
  If so then all these attempts to illegally name him probably do nothing more than increase the chances that he won’t be held accountable for other crimes.
  
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  December 18, 2020 3:20pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    What nonsense – firstly his name is widely known already – the suppression only impacts New Zealand. I don’t wish to fall foul of any laws but here’s a clue: G_0g_e is y_ur fr_end.
    
    Secondly, whatever charges he’s on couldn’t possibly be as serious as what he’s already been convicted of, and are unlikely to affect the amount of time he spends behind bars.
    
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    December 18, 2020 3:29pm
    - C J Southern
      
      For heavens sake use some common sense for once.
      
      His name is readily available to those who want to use a VPN to discover it. The odds of a mistrial from a juror having used a VPN to discover his name – researched his history – and not declared that prior to a trial are astonomically small; to imply that so many would have done that that it would be impossible to form an untainted jury is – frankly – ludicrous.
      
      In contrast – if his name is plastered all over the country by the NZ press – and he is convicted of other charges – then that immediately opens up an avenue for defense lawyers to argue for a mistrial (or aquittal) on the grounds that members of the jury were biased by virtue of knowing about his previous criminal history.
      
      I’ll spell it out to you; “it’s extremely UNLIKELY that a potential juror would have used a VPN and discovered his prior offending – and not declare as such – before taking a position on a jury”. It’s extremely LIKELY that potential jurors would know his name if it had previously been published via every media outlet in the country.
      
      Why do you think it’s standard practice for previous criminal history to be kept from a jury? Releasing the name of such a high profile case has significant potential to compromise that.
      
      You’re 2nd paragraph is even more bizarre. Let’s say he’d raped your daughter – would you be quite happy for him to escape charges because the jury was tainted just because he was already serving time behind bars for a more serious crime? Didn’t think so.
      
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      December 18, 2020 5:56pm
lifesgood

So Grace Mullame’s killer continues name suppression. Why?
7 1
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December 18, 2020 11:55am
- Maggie Pie
  
  see above
  
  4 6
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  December 18, 2020 12:14pm
- RJ
  
  Wasn’t there a case still pending against him?
  
  7 2
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  December 18, 2020 12:38pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Just checked with my partner and he said Leo pleaded guilty to the suppression breach and will be sentenced later apperantly.
    How bloody ridiculous!!
    
    7 6
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    December 18, 2020 1:14pm
- burt
  
  He must be a Labour Party member.
  
  6 6
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  December 18, 2020 1:35pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I reckon he’s in court for another case as well.
  
  10 0
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  December 18, 2020 1:44pm
  - burt
    
    There goes my theory he got name suppression because he’s a Labour party member.
    
    6 5
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    December 18, 2020 2:08pm
    - SB2
      
      My understanding is that at the time of the trial the unnamed accused was facing other charges for a similar offences and therefore naming him would prejudice a fair trial.
      
      4 4
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      December 18, 2020 4:31pm
  - C J Southern
    
    BINGO.
    
    People shouldn’t assume that the suppression was for his benefit. It could well have been for the benefit of other victims.
    
    7 0
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    December 18, 2020 3:22pm
Maggy Wassilieff

So now we know why Hipkins wouldn’t reveal what was in the Simpson-Roche report before the elections.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/433132/govt-to-pump-almost-3-billion-into-its-covid-19-response-after-report-identified-failings

It’s been good luck not good management that NZers have been experiencing during this pandemic.
19 1
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December 18, 2020 1:56pm
Fletch

Reports that SCOTUS didn’t take up the case because justices were afraid of riots.

https://redstate.com/streiff/2020/12/17/did-chief-justice-john-roberts-really-scream-at-conservative-justices-over-the-texas-challenge-to-the-2020-elections-n296273

If so, that isn’t good enough. Justice can’t be cowed because of violence instigated by Democrat foot soldiers.
10 7
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December 18, 2020 1:59pm
- Ian Boag
  
  Sigh
  
  redstate.com. One of the more impartial sites on the web.
  
  If you read the link, there is a comment at the bottom that the justices have not all been in one room since forever so hearing Roberts doing a scream to all of them is a bit hard …
  
  7 9
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  December 18, 2020 2:17pm
- C J Southern
  
  Wow.
  
  You really have created a complete alternate-“reality”.
  
  Always an excuse. With each one getting more absurd than the last one.
  
  5 4
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  December 18, 2020 3:24pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear…
Not the brightest cookie in the jar

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20201218/drug-importer-used-helen-clarks-name/
12 2
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December 18, 2020 2:03pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  In a similar vein, Maggy, I was reminded of the genius who turned up at Christchurch Airport from Australia, carrying a box marked “Dope and Seeds”. When customs asked him what was in the box, he laughed and suggested they have a look. They had a look. It contained cannabis and cannabis seeds. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to jail.
  
  11 2
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  December 18, 2020 3:24pm
grumpy

No sign of this being reported by our MSM, what a surprise
https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/12/17/china-scolds-new-zealand-meddling-conflict-australia/
10 5
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December 18, 2020 2:53pm
- C J Southern
  
  Probably because – as usual – it’s selectively edited by Brietbart to be misleading. No surprises there.
  
  Have a read of what Global Times actually said – in it’s full and complete context; you’ll discover that:
  
  1. There are sound reasons why NZ wouldn’t be neutral as a mediator.
  
  2. The rest of GT position essentially being “political Ra Ra”.
  
  What’s the point of MSM giving attention to Chinese propaganda?
  
  https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210247.shtml
  
  4 10
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  December 18, 2020 3:35pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Newshub is on to it..
  
  “New Zealand is not in a position to blame China or to mediate – as Wellington is fundamentally in the same boat with Canberra on this issue,” Qian says.
  
  “Moreover, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has publicly voiced support for Australia over the cartoon controversy, showing Western-style arrogance and duplicity.”
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/12/china-state-media-takes-aim-at-nanaia-mahuta-s-suggestion-new-zealand-could-mediate-beijing-canberra-talks.html
  
  Looks like China is side-stepping our Foreign Minister
  
  10 3
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  December 18, 2020 3:53pm
  - Jack5
    
    The comment by Mahuta alluding to Maori originating in Taiwan cut no ice with Beijing. Here’s part of the RNZ report on Wednesday:
    
    Mahuta highlighted New Zealand’s “whakapapa” or kinship connections that go back to the Asia region.
    
    “That enables us to navigate our relations with China perhaps a little differently than other countries,” she said.
    
    Chinese in Taiwan are the equivalent of Pakeha in New Zealand. Maori DNA links are to the remote, indigenous hill tribes of the island of Taiwan.
    
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    December 18, 2020 4:57pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep, Maori don’t (immediately*) whakapapa to the prevailing (powerful) Han Chinese.
      
      (* Humans share a common ancestry somewhere back in time)
      
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      December 18, 2020 5:53pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      The comment by Mahuta alluding to Maori originating in Taiwan cut no ice with Beijing.
      
      And it’s incredibly racist and reveals Mahuta as being ignorant. She is lumping all of “Maori” into one race, in the same way left Maori radicals lump “whiteman” into one race.
      
      Yes, Maori may have come from Taiwan, but by no means all of Maori. She is trying to lump all those with brown skin as Maori. So racist. “There’s us brown fellas, and dem white fellas.” What racist horse shyte.
      
      There have been settlers of multiple nationalities, and skin colours here, going back 7000 years from China, Taiwan, Hawaii, Persia, Easter Island, Tahiti and so on, and they all arrived at different time periods in different places. You have 7ft types, 4ft types, blonde hair types, red haired types, stone carving types, farming types, blood thirsty cannibal types and so on.
      
      The most recent settlers, in the time period most associated with the current “Maori” , were the blood thirsty Tahitian cannibals.
      
      Oral history is important to many pacific island cultures, and is not just some idle passing on stories, but a discipline that is taught in order to preserve the tribal history. The oral history of the Ngapuhi and the Waitaha, go back far beyond the accepted arrival date of Maori.
      
      Yes, some early settlers may have come from Taiwan, but not the tribes that are very vocal in land claims.
      
      Maori DNA links vary according to tribe and branches of tribes, and inter marrying between different settlers in NZ over a very long time. Taiwan is just one of many DNA links.
      
      The Maori land claims in many places are a crock of shyte, because many tribes had stolen the land off other tribes that in some cases were retained as slaves. Truth is many tribes have been paid out for land several times over they never owned in the first place.
      
      Mahuta is a disgrace and an international embarrassment, and epitomises the racist fraud that is rolled out again and again.
      
      3 1
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      December 18, 2020 6:25pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Ardern could kill NZ /China trade relations. She thinks she’s running the show? Others much bigger believe they have a bigger chance.
    
    Dancing with an Asian tiger has never been smart.
    
    1 5
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    December 18, 2020 5:55pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lej7psREHk
NY Attorney General Announces Lawsuit Against Facebook.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announces major lawsuit against Facebook over antitrust and anti-competitive business practices. I hope it’s successful.
3 3
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December 18, 2020 3:18pm
- SB2
  
  Like this deluded tweeter ( and most others)
  
  Matthew Castillo
  
  Yep. Apparently they found a lot of stuff on his lap top. Stuff that makes Bush and the Clintons look like sainthoo
  
  2 6
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  December 18, 2020 4:24pm
- C J Southern
  
  But if the likes of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (etc) end up getting closed down because of legal action like this where are people going to get most of their misinformation?
  
  6 0
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  December 18, 2020 6:00pm
curry4me

https://trendingpolitics.com/aoc-rips-biden-appointees-as-corporate-revolving-door/

Ha ha. AOC Rips Biden Appointees As Corporate ‘Revolving Door.
By now it has to be dawning on the socialist wing of the Democratic party that former vice president Joe Biden was only paying lip service to them on appointing a diverse array of leftists to his cabinet.
Team Biden has raised the ire of Bernie Sanders supporters who bought the lies again and lined up behind him just as they did with Hillary in 2016 with expectations that their loyalty would be rewarded. Trouble in Demville.
5 4
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December 18, 2020 3:19pm
- burt
  
  Now they are in charge and not fighting with the republicans they will all turn on each other. The left ideology is all about division and they will divide themselves as soon as they don’t have a common enemy to unite against.
  
  4 3
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  December 18, 2020 3:54pm
  - curry4me
    
    burt: Yes, like the the JPF v the PFJ from The Life of Brian.
    
    2 3
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    December 18, 2020 5:20pm
igm

PM’s preferred peeople at it again. Why does she grovel to them?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300188273/queensland-police-treating-murders-of-elderly-couple-as-terror-event
6 3
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December 18, 2020 4:47pm
dave_c_

What a hoot – have just seen a picture of an electric vehicle being charged, and the charge is being produced by a diesel generator (as part of the whole apparatus)
9 1
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December 18, 2020 4:56pm
Tauhei Notts

The Court of Appeal ruled that Families First was a charitable institution advocating for family life. The Court of Appeal was critical of the Charities Commission bringing the case.
The government, with a bottomless trough of taxpayer funds, are appealing that decision to the Supreme Court.
There is an underlying ugliness about this Labour Party regime that no amount of caring head tilting and “be kind” words can mask.
6 3
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December 18, 2020 5:12pm
- Mike
  
  You appear to think the charities commission is directly controlled by the labour party.
  
  2 3
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  December 18, 2020 6:51pm

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