About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

January 10, 2017 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 10 January 2017

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment333

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (333)

Login to comment or vote

BeeSting

Wake Up
1 10
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:01am
- RJA
  
  It has just occurred to me that an issue with blogs going forward, may be sensorship. In the old media, that had been well covered with third party protection of free speech etc, but in this new Blog world, the blogger can cut you off without any protest for whatever that may mean, to promote their particular bias.
  
  Example is I have been chopped from Whaleoil for some undeclared reason. My assumption is that I dared challenge the actions of NZ in supporting a UN resolution against Israel land occupation. I would have thought my comments were mild, polite and thought out, but clearly they were not in step with the ideals of the Slater team and my arguments were blocked and I have been banned. Fare enough, except Whaleoil is writing to our Government stating the massive objection their supporters have for the actions of McCully. They are clearly excluding me and how many others?
  
  This type of sensorship has dangerous prospects which I would have thought Jewish people would be averse to than any others.
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:52pm
Longknives

Meryl Streep needs to suck it up and get over herself… Yeah we get it Meryl- You are sulking because your preferred Candidate got thrashed in the Election… But Christ give it a break!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOH9trJLedk
56 8
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:04am
- mikenmild
  
  I enjoy very much Trump’s Twitter reactions to these incidents – always labelling so-and-so as ‘overrated’.
  
  29 11
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:08am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Great to see you praising Trump, milkey. Keep on enjoying him because the 4 years of presidency haven’t even started yet. Who knows, with the support of enthusiastic folk like you he might even have 8 years ahead of him. Welcome to the fold of enthusiastic Trumpettes.
    
    31 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:11am
    - Jazz-Hands Mc Feels
      
      If the Limousine Liberals continue their pre menopausal like hysterics, Trump will easily win again.
      
      19 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 9:16am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        pre menopausal
        
        She’s 67, fgs.
        
        25 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 9:31am
    - Liberty
      
      I will be very surprised it Trump last 4 years.
      Grassy knolls will be the least of his problems.
      An I don’t want to hear any crap that Clinton would have been worse.
      We all know that.
      It is unbelievable the county the size of America can produce such an appalling result .
      The reality is Trump is out of his depth. Sure he was elected by the majority
      But democracy isn’t perfect and it is not the first time it has failed.
      Examples being UK Blair NZ Clark and Germany stuffed up big time.
      
      5 11
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:50am
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘Out of his depth’- uh huh.
        Of course we all know that the best people to run a multi $trillion economy are school teachers, second rate Lawyers and ex unionists/ sarc
        
        20 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:22am
      - Fletch
        
        The difference is that Trump has people around him who do know what they are doing – generals, ex-generals and whatnot. Obama surrounded himself with liberal yes-men (his so-called ‘Czars’) who, in many cases, didn’t have a clue. People like Van Jones, who only lasted six months.
        
        13 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:26am
      - Liberty
        
        All_on_Red
        Like I said. Clark was a fail.
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:38am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Yep, I’m old enough to remember the misery when Reagan was elected. He was supposedly out of his depth as well. Turned out he wasn’t.
        
        12 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:02pm
  - jonar
    
    Tweeting every time you are criticised by someone seems to be what a snowflake would do. I’d love to see the reactions around here if Obama had been so thin-skinned that he had done the same.
    
    18 24
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:29am
    - Nukuleka
      
      Obama has been quite happy to have the MSM lauding and applauding his every move and statement, so has had no reason to speak directly to the people. The MSM has done it for him. Haven’t you noticed that the same MSM distort and falsify most things that Trump says or does. I suggest you start reading Stuff and NZ Herald. The MSM today do not comment on Meryl Streep’s rude and inappropriately partisan ‘preaching to the choir’ diatribe but on Trump’s tweeted response. ‘nuf said.
      
      20 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:16am
      - Disaster Area
        
        Yes, because over the last 8 years Obama hasn’t had people saying untrue things about him, for instance that his birth certificate wasn’t real, he’s a Muslim or he didn’t get good grades in college or he’s the worst President ever.
        How many times did Obama go on Twitter to insult those people?
        
        Is it too much to expect Trump to act a bit more like a President and a bit less like a sulky child who can’t get his own way all the time?
        
        1 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:21pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Mikenmild, love it how you suck up to over-rated “celebrities” whose prime attribute is the ability to pretend to be someone else. Opinions vary, but I’ve always regarded Streep as a mediocre actress at best – but a wealthy one.
    
    Loved the audience she’s preaching her diversity and tolerance message to, 1 black/brown face amongst a hundred or so white ones and an average net worth of a few mill at least. Perhaps the most privileged and over entitled group you could readily assemble in the US. As usual, preaching “diversity to thee but not for me”.
    
    15 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:42am
    - mikenmild
      
      That’s hilarious. Meryl Streep will be wounded by your critical opinion of her acting talents. I’d love to hear to elaborate on that theme, and perhaps contrast her skills with actresses you approve of.
      
      4 8
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:18pm
    - itstricky
      
      Talking about sucking up
      
      President-elect Donald Trump had nothing but fine words and praise for Meryl Streep, the multiple award-winning actress, in an August 2015 interview with the Hollywood Reporter.
      
      When asked about which actresses he loved, the then contender for the Republican presidential nomination named Streep and Julia Roberts.
      
      “Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too,” Trump told THR.
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 5:17pm
      - Viking2
        
        The truth always prevails.
        
        She was till she opened her mouth about things she knows nothing about.
        
        Mind you to praise Trump he also said Hillary was/is a fine woman.
        
        Very diplomatic he is and he doesn’t attack them as a person but their idea’s and attitudes.
        
        2 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 8:10pm
- VicParking
  
  American “actors”, it seems Actress is now a NoNo, are a butch of over rated PR driven blowhards and don’t deserve evan the 30 odd words I have given them here.
  
  28 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:15am
  - mikenmild
    
    All actors are overrated?
    
    8 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:21am
  - itstricky
    
    American “actors”, it seems Actress is now a NoNo, are a butch of over rated PR driven blowhards
    
    So you obviously listened very hard to what Hugh Laurie had to say, being an Englishman and all.
    
    2 14
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:06am
    - James Stephenson
      
      Well Hugh was at least a comedian and satirist before he started serious acting and managed to be brief and, crucially, funny in his acceptance speech.
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:24am
- MCos
  
  It’s funny how the world goes round.
  The very people who spent eight years carping about Obama now want Trump to have a free ride.
  (Not including you Longknives; I wouldn’t have a clue what you thought of Obama)
  But that’s not the most interesting point to come out of this. Trump just can’t resist an attack, even from an ‘overrated’ actor.
  Mind you he’s a smart old trickster. While everyone is concentrating on his superficial nonsense he’s likely to be slipping some serious shit passed with nobody paying attention. For example Mexico not paying for his wall.
  
  15 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:52am
- LisaGinNZ
  
  Streep stood up and applauded child molester Roman Polanski when he won an award a few years back. He’s not allowed back into USA or he’d be arrested.
  
  Did Streep speak out about the white disabled teen tortured for hours by 4 blacks in Chicago this week?
  
  Even Piers M at Daily mail called out Meryl.
  
  Put her out to pasture….. she is done and alienated at least 1/2 her ‘fans’. Rich elitists award shows – – -why even watch?!!
  
  41 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:10am
  - itstricky
    
    Rich elitists
    
    Another leftie snowflake SJW jealous of successful people!
    
    5 27
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:15am
  - lifesgood
    
    I’ve always admired her acting but have gone right off her now. Who cares about her opinions? She should stick to her knitting.
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:19am
  - Ed Snack
    
    This ! Streep approves of people who sodomize 13 year olds because “art”. Disapproves of Trump because someone told her he’s bad and made up a meme about mocking the disabled.
    
    19 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:45am
    - waikatosinger
      
      They are doubling down on the thing about mocking the disabled. According to Red Radio this morning that is a definite fact fact fact. If they repeat it often enough then … we’ll probably all turn off the radio.
      
      12 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:20am
    - itstricky
      
      Disapproves of Trump because someone told her he’s bad
      
      That’s a bizzare thing to think of.
      
      I would suggest that one only needs to read his tweets to suddenly step back and exclaim “really? and this guy is The President-elect?”
      
      3 8
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:37am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Refreshing isn’t it. No massaged focus group approved messaging.
        It’s going to be an entertaining eight years.
        
        9 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:45am
      - itstricky
        
        So many people love the “refreshing” nature of the rumor and just plain fantastical bullshit, esp. when he causes stock drops.
        
        Airplane manufacturer Boeing lost $1bn off its share value shortly after Mr Trump tweeted that the company’s government contract costs were “out of control” at $4 billion. A Boeing spokesman quickly refuted the claim, saying the contract to build the new Air Force One planes was only worth $170 million.
        
        Mr Trump has been criticised within the last month for taking sole credit for “saving jobs” at air conditioner manufacturing firm Carrier, when he only saved around half the jobs from moving to Mexico. Chuck Jones, the trade union boss that represents the plant, said Mr Trump “lied his a** off” about saving 1,100 jobs.
        
        He also claimed he had saved workers at car maker Ford from moving to Mexico, but Ford CEO Mark Fields said the firm had only planned to move one manufacturing line and the decision had to do with market conditions.
        
        Mr Trump also targeted General Motors in January, tweeting that they would pay a “border tax” if they continued to import cars to the US from Mexico. General Motors only imports hatchback versions of the Cruze car from Mexico and makes the majority of its vehicles in Ohio.
        
        1 8
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:03pm
      - itstricky
        
        BTW AoR, Mr. Washington’s boat is registered in the Caymans. Do you think he uses offshore tax havens?
        
        1 8
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:04pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Yes, he is, and what a pleasant prospect compared to the current complete fuckwit idiot; who is, just by the way, acting like an extremely spoilt and over-indulged 6 year old.
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:38pm
      - itstricky
        
        acting like an extremely spoilt and over-indulged 6 year old
        
        Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got “swamped” (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary
        
        — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017
        
        1 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:52pm
      - jonar
        
        It’s so bad there’s now a parody twitter account to show what a grown-up Trump would sound like.
        
        https://www.good.is/articles/non-infantile-trump-twitter
        
        1 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:52pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Itstricky, how is the Dow again? Past 20,000 yet? Idiot.
        Oh yes, Mr Washington, that Billionaire who was an ordinary joe from Montana. You really burn when you get shown up to be foolish huh.
        Btw, it’s only the boat but not his businesses although I never claimed he didn’t use Tax Havens. And so what if he did.
        Of course, you pay more Tax than you have to eh?
        No? Oh what a hypocrite – lol
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:10pm
      - itstricky
        
        how is the Dow again?
        
        I’m not referring to indicies. I’m wondering if the chiefs of Boeing, Ford and GM are happy with the value wiped off their stocks from random half-truth Trump tweets.
        
        Idiot
        
        Shall we be civil?
        
        Btw, it’s only the boat
        
        I think we can infer things from the boat.
        
        I never claimed he didn’t use Tax Havens. And so what if he did.
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/01/general_debate_4_january_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1848572
        
        0 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:08pm
  - itstricky
    
    Rich elitists award shows – – -why even watch?
    
    Let us not forget this:
    
    http://time.com/4537809/donald-trump-emmy-awards-debate/
    
    From 2004 to 2006, The Apprentice went up against rival reality show The Amazing Race for four Emmy awards, losing each time. Two awards were for “outstanding reality competition program” and two were for technical categories.
    
    Several years later, Trump tweeted criticism of The Amazing Race and the Emmys, saying that the awards show had “no credibility” and the “same shows” win “over and over again” due to politics.
    
    “The Emmys are all politics, that’s why, despite nominations, The Apprentice never won—even though it should have won many times over,” he tweeted.
    
    Clearly, the illustrious leader cares about rich elitist award shows…
    
    3 7
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:43am
  - stephieboy
    
    Meryl Shreep was applauding Roman Polankisi for winning the Academy award for Best Director for his fine Holocaust Film “The Pianist ” based on the book of the same name by Wladyslaw Szpilman.
    
    A remarkable and harrowing account of a talented piano player who survived the Warsaw Ghetto against all odds
    
    Having read the book and watched the film truly both outstanding accomplishments ( and despite Polanski’s shortcomings )
    
    http://www.szpilman.net/framemovie.html
    
    0 16
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:06pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Stephie supports a creepy rapist- go figure
      
      5 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 3:11pm
- Rich Prick
  
  It brings me much joy to hear the famous actors express the discomfort their bunched up knickers bring them.
  
  24 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:22am
holysheet

After the last few days discussion about the Tangatafenua, casual racists and other things, Mrs Holy and I were discussing it’s outcome.
She reminded me that it was that esteemed Maori clergyman, Sir Paul Reeves who said, that if you feel like a Maori, then you are a Maori. This led her to say that she is a virgin, as she feels like one. I said you are a casual virgin. If it suits you to be one, then you are one. I received another slap when I said I wouldn’t mind a virgin as well!

She then went on to say that she was tangatafenua as her family traces it’s roots here in NZ, back to before the signing of the treaty. I couldn’t help but agree with her.
Her iwi is Ngati Whitey, her hapu is Ngati Kiwi, and her whanau is Holy.
39 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:05am
- PhilBest
  
  “… if you feel like a Maori, then you are a Maori…”
  
  That would be all well and good if there were not State-provided advantage to be had in taking that position.
  
  As I said the other day, if the Pommie government decided to pay compensation to all “Irish” because of past injustices, and anyone who “felt Irish” was allowed to apply, then no doubt half the population of the entire English-speaking world could give it a go. Including me. My love of tearjerker Celtic folk songs makes me obviously someone who “feels Irish”.
  
  25 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:26am
  - PhilBest
    
    And it was a disgrace to western civilisation and its heritage that Andrew Bolt was prosecuted and sentenced for “offending” self-selected “Aboriginal” White troughers in Aussie.
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:27am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Compensation is a side issue. Arguably, the government has breached the terms of a deal it made with Maori tribes and should pay compensation. Most Maoris don’t see a cent of it anyway.
    
    The bigger issue is entrenched racial preferences and people typically try to justify those based on ‘indigeneity’, i.e. their ancestors were here before other people’s ancestors.
    
    The problem with this is that most of us have ancestors who were in a number of countries before anyone else: the UK, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany and maybe more. And if we attempted to claim special indigenous rights in those countries we would just be laughed at.
    
    Because the real (but never admitted) reason for the special treatment is that they’re brown and poor.
    
    19 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:58am
  - kowtow
    
    Och Eye Laddieeeeee,
    
    An dinna ferget the evil Hi’Lan clearances ……
    
    Mumble mumble.
    
    Tis a wonder there’s any money left to pay out to anyone?
    
    “Last year, the Foreign Office agreed to pay £19.9 million in an out-of-court settlement after secret Colonial Office files revealed that the Mau Mau had been systematically tortured.”
    
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/11171624/British-law-firm-inflated-Mau-Mau-compensation-costs-to-taxpayer.html
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:02am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Don’t forget that it was the Scottish Lords/Ladies and Clan Chiefs who were behind the Clearances.
      Sometimes they may have hid behind an English factor.
      But Patrick Sellar was a Scottish Lawyer.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 9:46am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  This whole thing of “being Maori” is unclear.
  
  What kind of ancestral documentation would you need to prove Maori ancestry?
  – Do historical birth certificates have a field for Maori ethnicity?
  – Is a “Maori-sounding” name on an ancestral birth certificate sufficient?
  – How about old photos of grandparents?
  – Historical written testimony?
  – Present-day sworn testimony from several independent citizens of good character? (Local marae leaders, etc.)
  – Genetic testing?
  
  And then, at what level of dilution does one cease to be “Maori”? For example, you are 1/64th Maori and claim full Maori identity. Or is there no limit?
  
  How is ones “Maori” identity recorded in New Zealand today? On your driver’s licence? On a government register?
  
  I am curious to know.
  
  In Japan, there is the family register system (the Koseki) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koseki
  (Japanese do not have stand-alone birth certificates in Japan; just entries of their details in the family register.)
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:02am
  - cmm
    
    It is my understanding that there is a family register and anyone who can legitimately show even one of those as an ancestor can legally be a Maori.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:33am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      cmm,
      
      Let’s say you are not currently on the “Maori family register'” because, say, an ancestor/ancestors lost touch with their iwi during the urbanization of Maori.
      
      I found the form you need to fill out for Ngai Tahu registration (these guys are organized!)
      http://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/WhakapapaRegistrationForm.pdf
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:19am
      - cmm
        
        Well if you can’t connect the dots you’re stuffed.
        
        As an anecdote: I know a bloke who claims Maori heritage because his white mother was knocked up one boozy night by a Maori bloke.
        
        This guy wanted to play in one of those Maori-only sports tournaments for which you have to be able to prove Maori lineage. Unfortunately the father would not acknowledge being the father so no play.
        
        Every year they tried to get the father to acknowledge being the father so the boy could play, but no deal.
        
        Once he turned 18 the dad was no longer on the hook for child support so was happy to acknowledge being the father – the bloke got his Maori paperwork in order and he was then Ok to play.
        
        19 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 10:45am
  - Kimbo
    
    And then, at what level of dilution does one cease to be “Maori”? For example, you are 1/64th Maori and claim full Maori identity. Or is there no limit?
    
    No. The idea of “part-Maori” is not…Maori. If you have Maori whakapapa (ancestry) you are fully Maori – no matter how many of your other 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128th…forebears were non-Maori.
    
    The emphasis is on ancestry, not race, as the primary identifiers of Maori are whanau extended family), hapu (sub-tribe), iwi (tribe)…and the rohe (area) in which they dwelt. Indeed, Maori did not even consider themselves a “race”, and it was only the arrival of a group of “different/others” (literally: Pakeha) that caused them to adopt ‘Maori” (literally: normal) as a self-description.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:11am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      Kimbo,
      
      “Ancestry” has the advantage over “Race” in that the former cannot be diluted.
      However, over generations, “ancestry” becomes more and more a political act, i.e., I “choose” to be Maori because I can claim Maori ancestry.
      
      In Japan, race is everything. Moreover, your purity (your commitment) depends on your living in Japan. Reside for several years as an ex-pat in New York and it might not be helpful to tell people of this fact after you return to Tokyo.
      
      (ps. This comment went to “moderation,” so I must have said something I shouldn’t?)
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:27am
      - Kimbo
        
        (ps. This comment went to “moderation,” so I must have said something I shouldn’t?)
        
        No, just an occasional bug in the system.
        
        However, over generations, “ancestry” becomes more and more a political act, i.e., I “choose” to be Maori because I can claim Maori ancestry.
        
        Now you are getting closer, but you are missing the primary Maori concern, and misapplying the pressure-point. For Maori, whakapapa is important as it is a differentiator from the primary and historic competitors – other Maori. So it is important for an iwi to establish your credentials. Hence pan-Maori movements, like Kingitanga/the King MovementRatana Church, the Women’s Maori Welfare League, the Maori Council, the Maori Party, remain secondary. Or at least that is what the traditional guardians of Maori assert. Hence, the government does not negotiate directly with all Maori over Treaty of Waitangi settlements, but with the signatriries – the chiefs (rangatira) of the tribes (iwi). And why, if you are Maori and want to access, say, scholarship funds, you must verify, establish and maintain your relationship with your iwi. Mind you, there are those who would say that, just as the parish-based Anglican Church is dying, or at least losing relevance due to modernity, so too are traditional Maori governance structures such as iwi.
        
        But if non-Maori want to fuss over “how do you administer this?” that is a problem for them, not Maori. Anymore than members of our royal family, the Windsors has to “prove” its lineage. It does so on its own terms, not that of outsiders. The last time it was a political and/or constitutional issue was…1688.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart
        
        4 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:47am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        Kimbo,
        
        Thank you for your insight into iwi motivations. It certainly shows the ignorance that underscores the use of the term “Maori.” It would be much more informative to refer to an individual by their iwi.
        It’s a bit like saying “Asian driver!” when you really mean “Mainland Chinese driver!”
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:08pm
      - Kimbo
        
        It would be much more informative to refer to an individual by their iwi.
        
        Whenever you are introduced on a marae, it is customary to recite one’s whakapapa for precisely that purpose. Indeed, even the term “individual” is an alien concept. As with Asian family culture, no one exists outside of others, and the “rugged individualism” of the European Enlightenment (that the likes of Don Brash, for example, assumes is a self-evident truth) is rejected.
        
        Also, have a look next time someone is featured on Maori TV, or the TVNZ Maori programmes. Along with their name, their iwi is usually captioned. Hence “Wayne Shelford (Te Arawa)”. In the world of Maori, things important to Maori are revealed.
        
        3 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:51pm
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        Kimbo,
        
        In Japan today (as in a hypothetical advanced Maori society in some parallel universe)
        – No individual birth certificates (an individual’s birth details are recorded on the koseki (the family register)
        – No individual graves (one’s ashes are placed in a small urn which is then placed alongside other urns within the family tomb vault)
        
        2 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:06pm
  - Dave Mann
    
    Recently I had the embarrassing misfortune to host two separate family groups, each of which had 1/16 Maori ancestry (on only one side). Both of these groups happily described how they are rorting the system for everything they can get out of this invented indigenous bullshit (‘scholarships’. grants etc) as they kept wanking on about fucking powhiris, whakapapa etc.
    
    I wanted to be sick. These pretentious fake tangatawhenua have become the new aristocracy of this once-egalitarian country. They will lever their racist way into every local body and every educational facility and wherever else they can get a toe-hold.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:56pm
- jcuk
  
  I understand my Great-Great Grand-mother was Danish but the rest are English … does that mean I can claim to be Danish? particularly if the Danish Govt were handing out lollies.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:20am
  - Gabby
    
    Why don’t you ask them? You may have a ‘right of return’ if you’re one of The Chosen.
    
    2 13
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:14am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Na.
    One of your parents had to hold a Danish Passport at some time.
    You’d have to go through the normal naturalisation pathway.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:30am
  - cmm
    
    It’s different for different countries so you will have to find out.
    
    Some require full citizenship lineage (ie. one of your parents must be a citizen) and some will require that your grand parents or great grand parents were citizens.
    
    Why don’t you just yell Alloo Lunchbar a few times and they’ll take you with no paperwork and probably pay all your relocation expenses too!
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:50am
Chuck Bird

If the police were genuinely to busy to attend this call we do not need tax cuts until we have enough police. Protecting the public is a core function of the state.

Burglary victim spotted thieves with stolen mountain bikes but police too busy to act

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11778705
29 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:05am
- Keeping Stock
  
  I suggest it might be prudent to wait until both sides of this story are told Chuck. As we have seen time and time again, there is always more to the story than meets the eye at first reading.
  
  20 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:24am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    KS, are you being serious?
    
    6 11
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:32am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I’m being absolutely serious Chuck. Time and time again we read complaints about the police, about Housing NZ, about WINZ in the Herald. At first glance, there seems to be a problem. But then the layers of the story get stripped away, and the REAL story emerges.
      
      I’m not for one moment suggesting that there may not be a grain of truth to this particular tale. But given the Herald’s history of anti-police activism, there may also be a perfectly legitimate explanation which the Herald has chosen not to publish. There’s a clue in the last three paragraphs of the Herald story you linked to (emphasis is mine):
      
      In March, the Herald’s Hitting Home series revealed that 164 burglaries went unsolved each day in the year to December 3, 2015 – a resolution rate of just 9.3 per cent.
      
      Hitting Home used exclusive data to reveal that police logged 97,707 burglaries in the 18 months after a new recording system was introduced on July 1, 2014.
      
      At a territorial authority level, Auckland had 34,555 burglaries, followed by Christchurch and Hamilton, which had 8824 and 5232 respectively. Next were Rotorua, Whangarei, Hastings and Wellington.
      
      A cynic might ask the question “From whom did the Herald get its “exclusive data”? This story has all the characteristics of a Labour Party hit-job on the Police being seeded with the Herald.
      
      20 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 9:33am
      - Gabby
        
        Are you smugly suggesting they were Labour Party Bicycles?
        
        1 18
        Report
        January 10, 2017 10:16am
      - alloytoo
        
        @ Gabby
        
        Nonsense, a bicycle is far too working class for the current Labour party.
        
        19 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:18am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        You’ve made me laugh KS. The only political stories that the Herald writes (that they don’t just plain make up) come straight from the Labour Party!
        
        6 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:58am
      - Disaster Area
        
        But it obviously hit home enough for Judith Collins to make burglaries a priority: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83690873/police-will-now-attend-all-house-breakins
        
        1 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:29pm
  - Happychappy
    
    Funny that KS this is virtually the same answer Chuck posted to me when the 13yearold that was driving the vehicle that their was a fatality in that hit a tree in his home town.
    
    16 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:36am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  In the story the police say there was not enough evidence to execute a search warrant.
  
  If the police cannot get a valid search warrant based on the evidence of the victim who saw people riding the bikes and knows where they live, that is not a problem with the police. It is a problem created by the courts that should be fixed by Parliament.
  
  14 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:44am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Nigel, did you read the article? When the woman’s husband threatened to go around with a gun they finally went around and picked up one bike.
    
    This sort of thing is not an isolated case where crime victims have located property and the police are too busy to come around. If that is the case and they are snowed under with murders and raped then we need more police before tax cuts.
    
    10 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:02am
oldpark

At least thirty people have frozen to death in Europe. Seems they are having the coldest weather since 1898. That nasty nasty 32,000 thousand scientists fuelled “gloaming warming” propagandists forecast ,has struck again. Some of the scientist pests ,aided and abetted by NZs potential economy wreckers such as greenpeace,and Liebour/Green news channel TVNZ are hell bent on spreading the myth of “global warming”,and ignoring the opposite of “global warming”,with the signs of another ice age developing in Europe,and parts of USA.
25 5
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:12am
- dai
  
  Simple. Hot air rises, nature abhors a vacuum.
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:21am
- mikenmild
  
  ‘Signs of another ice age’ = Not Even Wrong.
  
  4 14
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:22am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Actually, that’s correct, but it needs to be applied both ways !
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:48am
- cmm
  
  But there’s no gravy in the trough for scientists to study either “global cooling” or “the climate just changes naturally regardless of what we do”. Scientists respond to incentives just like anyone else.
  
  The real tragedy in all this is that it is taking funds, effort and attention from stuff that really matters.
  
  21 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:24am
- VicParking
  
  Dont run down the Green party. When they get in power we will all be able to get “Social Services” on the national health.
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4101376/Sex-prostitutes-paid-Government-needs-sexual-assistance-afford-hooker-German-Green-Party-plans.html
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:27am
  - cmm
    
    Why prostitutes though?
    
    Marx: “From each accordion to their ability, to each according to their need”
    
    Taxpayers are forced to hand over a large % of their income to support beneficiaries and single mothers.
    
    Surely those beneficiaries and single mothers should be forced to provide sexual services?
    
    18 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:39am
    - holysheet
      
      They do, but it’s called an imaginary boyfriend with visiting rights so as not to loose the benne.
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:10am
- PhilBest
  
  I am not sure where the “32,000” figure for alarmist scientists comes from. There is an “OISM petition” that is from the skeptical side, with that many signatories….!
  
  The whole CAGW thing is an illustration of “the big lie” potentially being easier to sell to the gullible public, than a small one. All the alarmist claims, such as that skeptics are “just a few fringe cranks”, and there are “no properly published papers supporting skeptical positions” are classic “big lies”.
  
  There are actually thousands of papers, thousands of scientists, and even a substantial majority of IPCC Report contributors and reviewers, who are at the very least not “alarmist” in the full-on sense that the IPCC Summary for Policy Makers and the political / activism / media are.
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:36am
  - kowtow
    
    Problem is our day to day bodies and the MSM all play the game.
    
    ps All figures are adjusted.( But that’s either not in the story or hidden in the small print somewhere else)
    
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/province-basks-figures-prove-it
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:50am
  - mikenmild
    
    Ahhhh, the Oregon Petition. Complete bullshit.
    
    3 15
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:05am
    - PhilBest
      
      Lying lefty ad hominem.
      
      10 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:59am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Watched a fascinating programme on Nat Geo called ‘Down to the Earth’s Core’. It is being repeated on Thursday morning at 10.30am, SKY channel 72.
    
    The earth has it’s own huge recycling system. Perhaps we should have faith in the planet to be large enough to cope with a few pesky humans!
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:34am
G152

NZ snowflakes declare Helun to be the best PM the country has ever seen..
I added … the back of.
29 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:13am
- VicParking
  
  You will eat those words when she returns to become Governor General. The Tower for you.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:29am
- holysheet
  
  Thats her best looking side too.
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:11am
Paulus

I saw an article this morning in the so called media from a retired politician expounding amongst other things his many University degrees and qualifications over many years.
He expressed in effect the wish that all young people should go to University as he being the first in his family to do so and that was the way to success.
I considered the comments and then looked at the writer – himself a dismal failure as a Labour Politician in the UK and having been found a well paid job at one of our second rate Universities by Helen Clark.
If his is what numerous academic qualifications can get you then note well.
Who, Bryan Gould – who ?
26 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:19am
- cmm
  
  The main reason people have (or at lead used to have) better outcomes if they went to university was because the university acts as a filter – If you can pass university then you probably have a pretty high IQ and have reasonable competence in arranging your life (eg. can knuckle down to studies and show up to tests and exams on the right days).
  
  Sure, you can also learn stuff too, but nowadays there is more material online and it is more accessible.
  
  But the thinking that sending less capable people to university to magically make them capable is broken. As Stephan Moleneux says, it is like putting short people in the basketball team and expecting them to grow.
  
  21 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:30am
  - PhilBest
    
    Charles Murray has been writing some good stuff over the years about how Uni has been morphing more and more into a waste of resources for more and more of the people going there.
    
    One of the biggest problems is the proliferation of useless and even destructive (eg cultural-marxist brainwashing) courses of “study” and qualification, and young people selecting them when they are still very young and very silly.
    
    Then there are no jobs available for them other than ones in taxpayer-funded troughs. The whole “environmental science” field is a classic example. As we were discussing the other day, you can’t even trust “science” organisations like CSIRO or NIWA or GISS anymore.
    
    18 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:43am
    - kowtow
      
      It’s also the proliferation of stupid thinking by the idiots in charge.
      
      “Universities will be forced to pander to the demands of “snowflake” students if controversial changes to the ranking system are approved, education leaders have warned.”
      
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/08/universities-warned-snowflake-student-demands/
      
      15 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 8:47am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      You know the sniff-test.
      
      If a course title says “XYZ Science” then it is probably not a science.
      
      11 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:26am
      - itstricky
        
        Like ‘Computer Science’?
        Like ‘Biological Sciences’?
        Like ‘Chemical Sciences’?
        Like ‘Marine Science’?
        
        http://www.science.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-faculty-3/departments-and-schools.html
        
        3 12
        Report
        January 10, 2017 10:50am
      - SGA
        
        And, of course, the first-year programme for medical wannabes at Otago is called Health Sciences.
        
        7 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:10am
      - cmm
        
        tricky:
        
        Marine Science is not a science. It is an umbrella over various actual sciences: marine biology, oceanography,…
        
        Likewise “biological sciences” and “chemical sciences” are not sciences either. They are groupings of true sciences called biology, embryology, organic chemistry, bio-chemistry,…
        
        Even Computer Science (which I studied) is not actually really a science. It is more of an engineering discipline.
        
        You also chose to miss the “then it is probably not a science” bit. Didn’t say all of them. Political science, social science, economic science, etc etc… none of those are science.
        
        12 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 11:15am
      - PhilBest
        
        Deleted and reposted below as a reply to stephieboy
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:02pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ cmm
        
        Political science, social science, economic science, etc etc… none of those are science.
        
        Hmm. Aquinas said that “theology is the queen of sciences”…and that was the subject that European universities were originally established to study. Scientia (Latin) = “knowledge”. Hence theology, and law and medicine and hair-dressing and cooking, whatever are all sciences. The unity of all knowledge is also reflected in the other ancient language from which derive our academic and/or scientific study vocabulary: From Greek, logos = “word/study about”, hence Biology, Sociology, Psychology, etc.
        
        However, I’d suggest your problem is that you have not…adequately defined your terms. What you mean is that there is a difference between the (hard) sciences such as chemistry, physics, engineering, etc., and the (social) sciences, usually referred to as “the humanities” and/or “liberal arts”, such as literature, history, law, etc. Some are tricky as they straddle both disciplines, e.g., political science and economics utilise mathematics to a large degree, just as archaeology calls upon physics, chemistry and biology. Also, is town planning a hard or soft science?
        
        There – sometimes maybe we “soft science/arts/humanities” graduates can provide some useful insight. Always define your terms.
        
        2 2
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:20pm
      - itstricky
        
        You also chose to miss
        
        Nope, I simply replied to “then it is probably not a science” with some sciences.
        
        1 2
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:39pm
      - rangitoto
        
        The only real science mentioned there is “Physics”
        
        1 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:16pm
      - SGA
        
        @cmm
        
        Likewise “biological sciences” and “chemical sciences” are not sciences either. They are groupings of true sciences called biology, embryology, organic chemistry, bio-chemistry,…
        
        hmmm – by that logic the “natural sciences” aren’t sciences either because they consist of chemistry, physics, and biology.
        
        Science has various meanings depending on the context. As Kimbo notes, it’s about knowledge – typically building knowledge about the natural world in terms of natural processes. Nowadays it’s also used to describe a methodological approach toward acquiring knowledge and the application of that knowledge (e.g., medicine).
        
        1 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:49pm
    - stephieboy
      
      PhilBest , your academic training in environmental sciences that include ” snow flake ” subjects like Geo Physics , Atmospheric science ( more or less physics and meteorology ), Biology, Zoology , Ecology etc,etc ?
      
      1 15
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 11:09am
      - PhilBest
        
        Watch the lefties try and change the subject.
        
        Of course there are disciplines in the field of science that predate the neo-marxist long march through the institutions, but to say that they are untainted by that long march, would be like saying the Anglican clergy is also untainted by that long march.
        
        10 2
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:03pm
      - PhilBest
        
        In general, “science” subjects that used to turn out small figures annually of usefully-educated sincere, impartial graduates, but now churn out hordes of little Quislings, unemployable anywhere but in troughing sectors funded by the taxpayer, are 100% “a problem”, not anything of benefit to civilisation.
        
        10 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:08pm
Stars And Stripes

Is this Auckland’s noisiest residential street? Coombe Ave, Otara, takes title for most noise control complaints this year
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11771790.

Good old Otara taking out the first prize for another shit statistic.
Any of our KB South Auckland admirers who have described this area as vibrant and interesting at various times planning their move here yet to embrace the fun?.
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:41am
- PhilBest
  
  I have to share an anecdote about a friend of mine and his favourite tactic when rowdy neighbours are partying late into the night.
  
  Early the next morning he opens his ranch-sliders, points his substantial soundsystem speakers outwards, and puts on at full volume, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. He reckons future late-night parties are not as rowdy after that.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:46am
  - stephieboy
    
    PhilBest , fellow neighbours from hell ?
    
    0 12
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:12am
    - PhilBest
      
      I do find it very interesting that experiments with piped music in public places, seem to show that hoodie-wearing public nuisances are repelled by heavenly-sounding music. Bach’s “Jesu bleibet meine Freude” being possibly the most effective. But even Frederick Delius’s explicitly non-religious music seems to work well. It seems to be the “sound” that does it, rather than religious content as such.
      
      The Hallelujah Chorus is partly a case of in-your-face bombast, very appropriate to early-morning revenge on late-partying neighbours. Probably some Prokofiev or Stravinsky selections would work just as well for this purpose.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:15pm
      - Manolo
        
        Not to mention that stephieboy believes Prokofiev and Stravinsky are famous hockey players. By the way, he graduated from Waikato Univesity with a degree in Women’s Studies.
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:02pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  It’s vibrant enough. So much so that your windows shake.
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:07am
  - PhilBest
    
    So THAT’s what nurbies are talking about when they talk about how “vibrant” their favourite high-density cities are!
    
    Having neighbours sending out vibes from just through the walls, floors and ceilings is much more vibrant than just having it from a neighbouring suburban house!
    
    11 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:31am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      I remember how my triplex 2-story apartment in Japan used to sway in the wee small hours after the randy neighbor bought his nurse girlfriend home on a Saturday night.
      
      “Feel the love.”
      
      (Good times…Good vibes…)
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 10:29am
      - PhilBest
        
        “Couple in the next room.
        Bound to win a prize.
        They’ve been going at it all night long.
        Well, I’m trying to get some sleep.
        But these motel walls are cheap…”
        
        Paul Simon: “Duncan”
        
        7 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:18pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Meh, years ago we held a party in Wanganui ave in Herne Bay. The police Sergeant who turned up with six men in two cars and a paddy wagon said they had had 246 complaints and that we could be heard in Ponsonby Road.
  Mind you we had a Band playing on the back veranda ( Ted Brown and the Italians) to 100 people so in hindsight were probably a tad optimistic we would get away with it.
  He was pretty cool when he saw we were no trouble. And yes we turned it down. Good party
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 11:37am
  - PhilBest
    
    When KISS played at Athletic Park in 1980, it was heard in Upper Hutt!
    
    It made sleep impossible everywhere from Miramar to Johnsonville.
    
    Why anyone bothered to actually pay for a ticket….?
    
    Those were the days, eh?
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:20pm
    - Longknives
      
      You wanted the Best- You got the Best!
      
      2 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 1:16pm
Simon

Barack Obama: Brexit would put UK ‘back of the queue’ for trade talks

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-brexit-uk-back-of-queue-for-trade-talks

Brexit: UK will be ‘front of line’ for US trade deal, Donald Trump’s team reassures Boris Johnson

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-us-uk-trade-deal-donald-trump-boris-johnson-reassurance-front-of-line-a7518131.html

Change you can believe.
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:48am
- Disaster Area
  
  By the time the UK has sorted out Brexit, Trump will have been and gone. After all, he can only serve a maximum of 8 years.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:35pm
BeaB

A lot more kids have to go to university now that so many qualifications for careers like nursing and primary teaching are university degrees.
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:50am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Nurses and teachers always did tertiary study in the past. Calling a diploma a degree, and a polytech a university, is just semantics and doesn’t cost society anything.
  
  What does cost society a lot is a huge number of medicore people wasting years of their life and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars getting a silly degree instead of going straight into work and learning on the job.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:20am
  - Dave Stringer
    
    Historically nursing qualifications were earned through an “apprenticeship” approach to learning, that included a portion of classroom study. As a result, nurses who were qualified knew all the basics of care as practical skills, rather than academic insights. Today’s nurses are qualified by a full time degree course, and begin their professional duties without the basic skills. As a result there are now “nurses aides/assistants” doing the things nurses used to do (http://www.allalliedhealthschools.com/duties-of-certified-nursing-assistant/ ). What doctors’ duties are now performed by “nurses” is not clear, though many excellent “old” nurses are in “managerial” roles as the only way to attain a reasonable income.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:35pm
  - SPC
    
    Once employers could get immigrants if there was no one skilled/trained up locally – then locals had to pre train to get into a job rather than be trained on the job.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:26pm
Manolo

The Muslim barbarians are winning the new battle for France:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-5-000-jews-quit-france-israel-agency-162800032.html

Another 5,000 French Jews emigrated to Israel last year, figures showed Monday, continuing a trend that has seen tens of thousands quit the country after a series of attacks targeting the community.
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:51am
- Inandout
  
  France’s brain pool is further diminished, being replaced by mentally challenged migrants. If nearly 10% of French Jews have left since 2006 then France faces a bleak future in the science and medical fields. She will still be able to buy the cutting edge Israeli technology for their armaments and motor vehicle factories, but what if Israel decides to curtail the supply? I can see Europe becoming a second rate area in world trade as their internal problems escalate. Russia and the US will be the winners.
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:18am
Simon

America dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016. What a bloody end to Obama’s reign

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/america-dropped-26171-bombs-2016-obama-legacy

Trump will end the carnage with Russian allies. Sick of all the Obama deaths.
12 5
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:52am
- mikenmild
  
  “I’m the most militaristic person there is” – Donald Trump
  
  4 13
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:10am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Peace through strength, not weakness, that is the key! Obama= weak=26,171 bombs.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:09am
    - PhilBest
      
      Definitely something in that. Although the whole point of the original peacenik movement was that the enemies would beat and enslave (“liberate”) us. (Or perhaps more our hapless “allies”).
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:22pm
- stephieboy
  
  Simon, and what a bloody end to Nixon’s reign ,
  
  http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/sep/11/henry-kissinger/kissinger-drones-have-killed-more-civilians-bombin/
  
  And a bloody end to GWB’ reign,
  
  https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
  
  0 16
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:28am
Rich Prick

Welcome to Germany, pardon our Muslims.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KLd7idPF5c4&time_continue=278&ebc=ANyPxKpuGYvB3QgTdhVn1DUmdCH5igp9fZjNKNnlOmz5UCK62pDHmWNPce4Nfm9wWoHc6KGVTYkZk9YSWsAMvZCBzc0HRgW32g
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:53am
Simon

Barack Obama started with a Nobel Peace Prize and is ending his presidency with the Pentagon’s Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Sounds about right for a president who bombed 7 nations and became the first in U.S. history to be at war every single day of his eight year administration.

Ron Paul
22 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:58am
- cmm
  
  stephie doesn’t seem to be up yet, so I’ll try help him out….
  
  How can you say Obama has been at war for every day of his administration? He still has ten days to go!
  
  Naah, the truth in this is that the Pentagon love Obama because he backed off and didn’t ask any hard questions like: What the fuck are you idiots doing with programs like F35?
  
  F35 has so far cost well over a trillion dollars and delivered nothing. It is supposed to replace a whole bunch of existing aircraft across services from A10s through to F16s and Harriers. In trying to be all things to all people it ends up being incapable of filling any of those roles – especially the close support role currently filled by A10.
  
  The Pentagon is now more aligned with the military supply industry than with the military themselves.
  
  It is worth noting that all the aircraft that form the backbone of the US military were all designed when engineers had slide rules on their desks.
  
  A10 was first deployed in 1977, F16 in 1978, Harrier in 1969 and C130 in 1956.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:59am
- stephieboy
  
  Simon, at war with which 7 nations ?
  
  ISIS included or does the deluded Ron Paul thinks US led battle against them at Mosul is fake ?
  
  http://www.salon.com/2015/01/16/ron_paul_defends_insane_charlie_hebdo_conspiracy_theory_im_just_trying_to_get_the_truth_out/
  
  0 16
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:08am
- Fletch
  
  As Maximus said to Commodus in the movie Gladiator – “The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end. “
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 11:36am
  - stephieboy
    
    Fletch , and continiung with “bombing the shit out of ISIS ” and the Middle East etc ?
    
    0 9
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:19pm
Manolo

Triumphant socialism in Venezuela:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/09/news/economy/venezuela-minimum-wage-increase-hyperinflation/

President Nicolas Maduro hiked the minimum wage another 50% on Sunday, the fifth increase in the past year. That sounds like a big raise, but it pales in comparison with the dizzying increases in prices that have made food too expensive for many Venezuelans.

Inflation is expected to surge to 1,660% this year and 2,880% next year, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:05am
Stars And Stripes

Pornhub reveals New Zealand lands 5th place on top porn watching list
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11779286.
“Women, who make up 26 per cent of Pornhub’s visitors, were keen searchers for the lesbian genre, ‘lesbian scissoring’ and ‘lesbian seduces straight’ made it into the top searches. Men on the other hand were more interested in family.
“‘MILF’ is the number one searched term by dudes visiting Pornhub,” the report stated.
“Followed very closely by everything and anything step-family related- namely ‘step mom’, ‘step sister’, ‘mom’, ‘step mom and son’.”

Be interesting to get a breakdown of most popular searches in Mt Roskill.
I suspect camel and underage would rate highly.
21 4
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:15am
- cmm
  
  I wonder how they decide it’s a woman that’s watching.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:23am
- Longknives
  
  Because only Women would want to watch ‘lesbian scissoring’ and ‘lesbian seduces straight’ movies….*Ahem*
  
  17 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:33am
- stephieboy
  
  Stars And Stripes , yours ? Gramnies ,goats ,dogs and chooks ,Aunties etc ?
  
  1 21
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:03am
  - kowtow
    
    As opposed to Migrant Swimming Pool Emergency Rape?
    
    15 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:51am
  - Stars And Stripes
    
    Actually I have just visited pornhub and entered “Muslims” in the search field and an interesting array of clips came up.
    One in particular caught my eye though.
    It is a rather grainy clip filmed in a shopping centre where the camera keeps zooming in on this Muslim womens breasts and there is this kind of panting sound coming from near the camera.
    Did you post this from St Lukes?
    
    17 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:10pm
Jazz-Hands Mc Feels

Progressive CEO attacks “middle America” aka Trump voters:

“No educated person wants to live in a shithole with stupid people.”

I thought that was the reason inner city ghettos had such low property values.

http://heatst.com/culture-wars/liberal-ceo-slams-middle-america-no-educated-person-wants-to-live-in-a-shthole-with-stupid-people/?link=TD_heatst_articles.47942
2 5
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:21am
- PhilBest
  
  Yeah, and that is nothing to do with “race”, too. In the classic “To Sir, With Love”, you have an educated black gentleman trying to enlighten the children of urban-ghetto white trash.
  
  You still get migrants of colour from some cultures who move in to some parts of UK cities, working their butts off to buy their way out from among the white trash, as fast as possible. Certain other migrants cultures don’t do this, but contribute a certain “vibrant multiculturalism” to the ghetto, so that the white-trash women end up being roughed up if they don’t “cover up”, on the one hand, and exploited by rape pimp networks on the other.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:29pm
publicwatchdog

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
‘Out-sourcing’ = ‘contracting out’ = PRIVATISATION.

‘Inefficient’ is corporate speak for we haven’t yet got our filthy hands on it.

‘Inefficient’ was the unsubstantiated, unproven corporate mantra behind the ‘commercialise, corporatise’ PRIVATISE Neo-Liberal Rogernomics agenda.

Remind me what was ‘broken’ with the Ministry of Works / Council Works Department model?

Oh – that’s right.

Private companies couldn’t make a fortune out of public services that were provided ‘in house’ by directly employed staff.

Private consultants couldn’t make a fortune out of ‘project managing’ works contracts.

What a CROCK!

In my considered opinion as an anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner – the only ones who have benefited from running public services in a more ‘business-like’ way – are those businesses which have been awarded the contracts.

And how much corruption has been involved in the awarding of contracts across central and local government?

Locally, nationally and internationally?

Penny Bright
Independent candidate
Mt Albert by-Election

#PennyBrightNZ
0 45
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:22am
- Rich Prick
  
  Penny Bright
  Seeing my name on a ballot makes me come over all tingly
  Mt Albert by-Election
  
  24 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:27am
  - publicwatchdog
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Got your vote have I ‘Rich Prick’?
    
    🙂
    
    0 32
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:57am
    - Rich Prick
      
      Err, no, I don’t live there. Now pay your rates.
      
      13 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:01pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Penny, each time you come on here with your anti-privatisation crusade you sound even madder than the previous time.
  Just pay your bloody rates and leave us alone.
  
  31 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:36am
  - publicwatchdog
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Crikey Captain!
    
    Silly me – I thought Kiwiblog was David Farrar’s – not yours?
    
    You’re not a contractor / consultant perchance?
    
    Just asking – nicely.
    
    Have a lovely day 🙂
    
    Kind regards
    
    Penny Bright
    
    2017 Independent candidate Mt Albert by-election.
    
    0 37
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:56am
  - Manolo
    
    Maybe the rate bludger should ask for an interest-free loan from the obese German criminal?
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 11:05am
- cmm
  
  Penny sweetie, you do realise that you practice “privatisation” every time you buy something from the shops.
  
  Unionised public services means pay us and we will give you what we want. To continue the shopping analogy that’s like going to the shops, paying them $20 and they just stuff random shit into your shopping bags: coffee (except you’re a tea drinker), tampons (though you’re post-menopause) and two rotten lettuces.
  
  Privatisation works because the councils can demand service levels they cannot demand of unionised workers.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:07am
  - All_on_Red
    
    She’s going to experience some ‘privatisation’ when Barfoot and Thompson sell her house!
    
    20 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 10:38am
- Garbageman
  
  Sigh 2 days back at work I didn’t really want to log in but your mad rants really need to be hidden from the vulnerable people out there, wont someone think of the children but since you are the all knowing publicwatchpooch why don’t you tell us why should we bother guessing or are you not quite as informed as you would have us all believe – “And how much corruption has been involved in the awarding of contracts across central and local government?” will await your all encompassing breaking news with baited breath
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:16am
- VicParking
  
  Ten down ticks to go
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:46am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Perhaps you should pay your rates Penny. And stop wasting other ratepayers money trying to get you to pay your rates.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 11:39am
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  See?
  I Spray and Walk Away
  Rubbish stays
  I walk away
  
  Steve N/S
  Not anIndependent candidate
  Mt Albert by-Election
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 5:24pm
Keeping Stock

If ever proof was needed that Granny Herald is now tabloid in content as well as size, check out the John Key in Hawaii story

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11779217

The series of papparazi photos accompanying the story is proof of just how far Granny has descended. She used to be New Zealand’s foremost newspaper, and those her made her that must be turning in their graves at the crap Granny serves up today masquerading as news.
34 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:39am
waikatogirl

I don’t remember the Herald chasing any other ex NZ PM into their private life with tabloid photos and innuendo of very ordinary daily living.
Call themselves journalists, NO!
Shame on them for their petty small mindedness !!!!
33 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:50am
- mikenmild
  
  What innuendo. Seems a harmless enough story.
  But I look forward to your protest next time Kiwiblog comments feature innuendo about another ex-PM.
  
  4 26
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:15am
- Gabby
  
  Is he opening a Fondle Club?
  
  1 19
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:26am
- cmm
  
  Basic economics…
  People click, therefore they produce the click bait.
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:34am
EAD

Fascinating article over on Stormer on the Alt right and its poisition vs. the political Left who long ago threw its core constituency (White Working Class) under the bus and are now finding their natural home in the Alt right.

Ordinary whites now understand that the Left has zero interest in them, and regards them as an expendable joke.

http://www.dailystormer.com/the-perdition-of-the-judeo-left/

All modern Leftist ideas are predicated on the racial hatred of white people, the penis-envy of men, and the demonization of natural families. Separate hate from politics, and the po-mo left literally has no position on anything. That is precisely why our worldview, Western civilization and protecting the people that bear its torch, can wrestle power out of their hands easily – even though they have all of the cultural institutions, big businesses, education system, and media locked down for themselves.

Enlightening the public is the first step. All it took in the Chicongo case to begin mobilizing the white masses was to upload and spread the video of Negroes kidnapping and torturing a young white man while racially abusing him.

National revolutionaries are now forcing the mass media to cover what is actually going on in America – even if with transparent spin – and even indirectly forcing Chicongo’s police department to take a brief break from eating at Rahm Emanuel’s trough and call it a “hate crime.” This would’ve never happened even 10 years ago.

The mistake some on the right make in approaching the public is the assumption of apathy rather than ignorance. The average white person isn’t a racialist because they don’t know the extent of what’s going on in their country, and if they do, they don’t know how many other people there are out there who feel the same that they do and they can work with to fight back.

Indeed – the whole fake “left vs. right” facade is becoming impossible to maintain with all of its contradictions.
8 12
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:12am
- PhilBest
  
  It is a tragedy that the left and its cultural-marxism attempted takeover has ultimately risked a race-based blowback. Divide and conquer, of course, is a classic tactic of subversion; it has probably been deliberate all along, in the minds of its originators. Lotta ignorant and brainwashed useful idiots done their bit meanwhile without being aware of the true objective.
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:35pm
- SPC
  
  When in fact the GOP has used religion and nationalism to influence lower paid whites to vote for tax cuts for the rich for decades.
  
  This time there was an anti-free trade tougher border security American first line to achieve the same goal – one of the largest tax cuts for the rich in US history and keep the MW as low as possible.
  
  Wanna know why none of the liberals are leaving, a really large increase in their net annual income is coming there way.
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:08pm
stephieboy

EAD, I take it the fact the founders of the left ( socialism ) Marx , Engels , Proudon etc were all white is a contradiction ?

And this rape allegation is fake ,

http://heavy.com/news/2016/05/john-r-k-howard-white-idaho-football-players-rape-black-teammate-tanner-ward-notorious-kkk/
2 17
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:16am
Manolo

Crook alert:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/09/harry-reid-paid-former-staffer-7000-from-campaign-funds-to-paint-capitol-portrait.html

Former Senate minority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used campaign funds to pay a former staffer $7,000 to paint a portrait that is displayed in the U.S. Capitol.
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:29am
- stephieboy
  
  Manolo, crooks alert continued ,
  
  Corrupt Republicans
  
  “The Republican party is no stranger to corruption, as this list of corrupt Republicans (with photos where possible) proves. These are Republican politicians with criminal records; they have been found guilty in a court of law. Since the United States is based on the rule of law, it’s crucially important that it’s political leaders uphold the laws of the land. But some of our trusted leads went from beloved figures to crooked politicians in no time. Some even became actual Republican criminals! Fortunately for these politicians, most of them seem to have dodged the political graveyard, and many disgraced politicians have managed to rebound.
  
  Criminal politics is nothing new, and fortunately some of these politicians may have committed crimes that had nothing to do with their political careers. That said, our lawmakers should support the law more-so than any of us. Some of these politicians have been in prison. Who are the most corrupt Republicans? This list takes a look at those members of the GOP who disgraced the party.
  Collection Photo: user uploaded image
  more..”
  
  http://www.ranker.com/list/corrupt-republicans/lstone
  
  1 18
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 11:20am
  - stephieboy
    
    5 downtickers who deny and defy reality and the truth ?
    
    0 17
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:22pm
  - Gabby
    
    They’re not corrupt, they’re fine upstanding patriots making big gumming smaller. Not like those nasty Clintons who pay taxes.
    
    0 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:58pm
- Gabby
  
  Is it a portrait of Lil Fingers?
  
  0 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:00pm
Manolo

HMS Labour is sinking fast:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4102260/Jeremy-Corbyn-WON-T-heavy-curbs-immigration-Brexit-relaunch-speech-aimed-turning-dire-ratings.html

Jeremy Corbyn will reject tough new curbs on immigration in a major relaunch tomorrow. The Labour leader will use a speech in Peterborough to back tighter regulations on employment that would stop foreign workers undercutting wages and reduce numbers.

But Mr Corbyn will resist calls from some Labour MPs to go much further in backing wholesale immigration reform.
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:32am
cmm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/88258337/police-favour-idea-of-gun-amnesty-amid-fears-criminal-access-to-firearms-is-increasing

Cops are just posturing again. Do they really think people are going to hand over illegal weapons?

If a gang member (or other person likely to cause nuisance with a firearm) no longer wants the guns they have then they’ll swap them for a dope at the tinny house or such.

The generally law abiding person who has an illegal firearm (but doesn’t cause trouble with it) really don’t matter since they are not using those guns to commit crimes.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:32am
- kowtow
  
  cmm
  
  Plod management and the police trade union are gearing up to make life very hard for licenced firearms holders.
  
  Meanwhile they aren’t going hell for leather after the real problem , criminals with guns.
  
  Just like “speeding”, ping the mums and Dads going a couple of ks over while the loons will always be loons.
  
  Same with booze, stop everyone,no suspicion , randomly, lower the limits , but ignore the small hardcore of known re offenders.
  
  The law abiding public are a very easy target.
  
  Back to guns . I can picture it now, all those hardened crims and gang members queuing up to hand in their illegally obtained weapons……
  
  ……real crims don’t do that. It’s only honest people who may have come by Uncle Berties’ war time souvenir or widows with undisposed weapons who hand shit in.
  
  If they’re so clever , why haven’t they learned from other jurisdictions that have had similar amnesties , the UK and Oz , how’s that worked for them.
  
  The cops need to have a long hard look at themselves to see what they are not doing to prevent armed crime as opposed to making life hard for the honest and pissing off their natural support base…..honest , law abiding citizens.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:12pm
  - PhilBest
    
    Ross Clark
    3 September 2008
    
    “Labour’s punishment freaks are hounding honest citizens”
    
    Ross Clark says that far from keeping our streets safer or cleaner, the government’s new force of amateur policemen are ignoring the worst offenders and pursuing law-abiding innocents instead
    
    http://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/09/labours-punishment-freaks-are-hounding-honest-citizens/
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:41pm
    - PhilBest
      
      Unfortunately, Ross Clark’s prediction that this would come back to bite Labour in the UK, has been proven wrong, thanks to Tory Vichy government, same as here in NZ.
      
      4 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:42pm
    - kowtow
      
      PB
      
      Good article , scary what Britain has become.
      
      0 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 6:50pm
Southern Raider

Yesterday four young Israeli soldiers (not just Jews) where murdered by a Palestinian terrorist while waiting at a bus stop

Hamas has held a public rally praising the murderer and calling for more blood shed.

Who claims Hamas as changed, they are a partner for peace and that their charter calling for the destruction of Israel is a historical document?
28 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:38am
Manolo

On par with some EAD’s predictions:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/09/dollar-to-hit-parity-with-euro-during-2017-says-goldman-sachs-chief-economist.html

The dollar is likely to hit parity with the euro during 2017 driven by diverging paths for interest rates, according to Goldman Sachs’ chief economist.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to hike interest rates three times in 2017, pushing it even further from the rate positioning stance of Europe during the course of the year, Jan Hatzius told CNBC at the Goldman Sachs Strategy Conference in London on Monday.
5 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:38am
Maggy Wassilieff

26° C in the shade… heading for 30 today.
Nothing under 25° predicted for the next 10 days.
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:39am
- PhilBest
  
  Never happened before!!! We’re all doomed!!!
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:43pm
- wiseowl
  
  About 32 here so have retreated inside for a rest.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:33pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Martin McGuiness resigns
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38561507

In protest over some dozy renewable energy scheme whereby a farmer could be paid megabucks for heating an empty shed.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 10:45am
- kowtow
  
  There’ll always be a lot more to anything involving the Provos than meets the eye.
  
  The RUC and Army should have taken out every last one of those terrorists.
  
  Thank you Tony Bliar , putting murderers into govt. And now just a few years down the road , HM’s gummint is going after the good guys.
  
  Disgusting.
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4015474/SAS-hero-Andy-McNab-says-latest-target-witch-hunt-probe-Northern-Ireland-killings-involved-deaths-five-IRA-men.html
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:00pm
Fletch

Did Donald Trump really mock a disabled man as Meryl Streep likes to make out? Most likely not. Trump uses that gesture whenever he is making fun of someone – it’s like a mannerism. Mark Dice goes back through videos of Trump and points out at least five times he has used the gesture before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m7iA7QZBi4

It is just unfortunate that he used it when talking about a reporter who happened to be disabled. Streep was very disingenuous in her speech.
11 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 11:39am
Ed Snack

Trump scores another, not that you’d know from the MSM.

Remember when Trump tweeted about GM importing Cruze sedans from Mexico to sell in the USA ? So GM released a statement that sure put Trump in his place:

“General Motors manufacturers the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio,” a General Motos spokesman told U.S. News & World Report in a statement Tuesday. “All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.”

Sadly for GM, someone fact checked this and went to a number of dealerships that sell Cruzes and looked at the VIN numbers. They found VIN’s from Mexican assembly in all dealerships and in large numbers, including, it should be noted, in the Dealership in Lordstown itself.

To put it bluntly, GM lied, and did so deliberately. Where is the Media on this ?
13 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 11:43am
- billr
  
  as in all things, ‘not quite’
  
  here’s a link to an investigation by politifact on this matter.
  
  http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/04/donald-trump/mostly-true-trump-tweet-about-gm-chevy-cruze-manuf/
  
  it seems that the Cruze models made in Mexico are hatchbacks, not terribly popular in the states. there’s about 4500 of those sold in the US.
  
  The cruze models made in the US are sedans, which are more popular and they are sold in the US.
  
  the mostly true rating is due to the additional comments about tax breaks etc.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 11:59am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Ahaha Politifact, that well known Democratic Party organization. Are they the ones that rated “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” as “mostly true” up to six times ?
    
    Unfortunately for Politifact, the investigator covered that, he found a whole selection of Cruze models with Mexican VIN’s. GM is simply lying.
    
    Try this: Look at the last photo at the link. Note that this is a Cruze Sedan, and it is made in Mexico.
    
    http://www.lonestarchevrolet.com/new/Chevrolet/2017-Chevrolet-Cruze-bfa70df40a0e0a1701d2b54a2e09a297.htm
    
    So sorry, but “Not quite your not quite”. My advice too, is don’t rely on totally partisan “fact checkers” who don’t actually check facts but simply spin the desired narrative.
    
    6 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 2:59pm
    - billr
      
      as I said, it’s not that simple.
      
      taken from:
      
      http://blog.caranddriver.com/trump-was-right-there-are-mexico-built-chevrolet-cruzes-on-u-s-dealer-lots-although-its-not-exactly-that-simple/
      
      When reached by Car and Driver for comment, GM’s Morrissey confirmed that the automaker had indeed imported some Cruze sedans from Mexico: about 8400 units from September through November, which, he said, was done to satisfy demand during the fall launch of the 2017 model. GM announced this launch strategy back in June. “We were very clear about that, very transparent about it,” Morrissey said. One of our editors visited a Chevrolet dealer near his home in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday and noted some Mexico-made Cruze sedans on that lot, where a sales manager confirmed that those examples had been sitting unsold for quite some time.
      
      Morrissey added that GM’s January 3 statement was addressing vehicles that are being built at present. He said the automaker currently is assembling all Cruze sedans in the United States for sale here. “The fact that there are vehicles on dealer lots—those were vehicles supportive of the launch in the fall,” he said. Mexican leftovers, essentially.
      
      1 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 3:43pm
- stephieboy
  
  Ed Snack , look forward to the time when you advocate a tariff on Jap imports and revive the local car assembly industry !
  
  http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22838/trekka
  
  0 14
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:26pm
  - Manolo
    
    Like this, stephieboy?
    Toyota Motor will spend $10 billion in U.S. capital investments over the next five years, matching the Japanese automaker’s investments over the prior five years, North America chief executive Jim Lentz said on Monday.
    
    http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/09/toyota-to-invest-10-billion-in-us-over-five-years.html
    
    It is called President Trump-effect.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:33pm
    - PhilBest
      
      Yeah, partly. The untold story about auto manufacturing in the USA, is that all the while that libbewwal-state, unionised factories were closing down, new factories were opening in the states with business-friendly laws and low local costs. So this latest is just a continuation of a trajectory already in place; as the article points out.
      
      Southern USA has for years had Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes and probably others I can’t remember off the top of my head. They also recently got an Airbus factory and a Boeing one (Boeing hedging its bets due to Seattle libbewwal slippery slope being evident).
      
      But this trajectory that was in place was “in spite of” the O administration, which if it could, would have forced Texas and the other business-friendly, resource-use-friendly states to join the general economic suicide already in place in the libbewwal states.
      
      I recommend “Texanomics” blog and also the writings of Joel Kotkin and Tory Gattis on “Opportunity Urbanism”.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:51pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Hmm.
        
        As the primary cost to business is wages, and that is the reason industrial jobs such as those in the auto-industry are heading to the third world, is it possible that the reason Texas is so business-friendly is…they don’t have to pay as much to the many illegal Mexican workers?
        
        Which would make illegal immigration good business. For Texas, anyway.
        
        3 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:57pm
      - PhilBest
        
        But TX is one of the States that is anti-illegal-immigration, along with some other border States.
        
        Possibly the biggest contributing factor to TX’s competitiveness, is that housing costs are so low, people can have better actual quality of life even on lower incomes. But the overall effect is so productive that Houston in particular is now even closing the income gap on some of the “superstar” but high-cost cities. The resulting real discretionary income is outta sight.
        
        Another factor is that a lot of the local fossil fuel extraction is feeding directly into low-cost local gas supplies.
        
        2 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:28pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Manolo and coy , it will be fascinating when the Trump effect sees all hell break loose and he declares a trade war with China and sundry and Trump declares a Trade War with China and sundry and hits those Ohio , Michigan etc voters in the pocket
      
      http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-12-22/trumps-floated-tariff-going-to-be-perceived-as-a-trade-
      
      0 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 5:55pm
      - Rich Prick
        
        Jesus, Trump’s election has really affected you. Write “President Trump” 100 times, it may help.
        
        3 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:27pm
In Vino Veritas

I have had the misfortune to read an opinion piece on Stuff by Serena Moran (a member of the Wellington Palestine Group). Serena purports to give a history of “Palestine” and the wrongdoings and omissions of Israel. Of course she comes up with some facts, but also of course, she omits some terribly salient other facts. She writes:
“To end the British Mandate over Palestine in 1947, the General Assembly recommended that the Jewish immigrant minority in Palestine could establish a state of Israel over 56 per cent of Palestine. The indigenous Palestinian Arab majority could set up their state in the land which remained.
Only the first part of the formula was realised. Through the Arab-Israel War of 1948, Israel expanded, half as large again as the UN had originally provided for. The Palestinians were denied their state. Egypt occupied Gaza and Jordan took over the West Bank”.
Where to start? Selena writes that Jews were allowed to form a country comprising 56% of the Palestine. This of course is factually incorrect, since 1. there never was a “Palestine”. There was a British Mandate of Palestine, which was a nomenclature given to parts of the dissolved Ottoman Empire and 2. 80% of the British Mandate became part of Jordan. So Israel was never given 56% of the British Mandate.
Selena writes that only the first part was realised. This is correct. But she omits that the Arabs REJECTED this solution. There were not DENIED a state. And so came the Arab War. When laughably, Jordan (mostly made up of 80% of the former Mandate) occupied the West Bank.
Selena also claims “900,000” were expelled. This is palpable nonsense. Most sources report up to 700,000, but these include those who were not expelled, but who fled. And 175,000 fled BEFORE the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
It is disturbing that Stuff do no fact checking of their contributors Opinion pieces. I’ve only posted on the first couple of paragraphs and they are mostly wrong, or at best disingenuous.
14 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 11:54am
- mikenmild
  
  Your facts are incorrect. Palestine and Trans-Jordan were separate. Trans-Jordan was established as a British protectorate while Palestine remained a mandated territory until the UK relinquished that mandate to the UN.
  
  2 8
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:34pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Yep. The Kingdom of (Trans) Jordan was granted independence from Britain in…1946. Gotta love the moving goal posts
    
    1. An Arab state in Palestine never existed.
    
    2. Even though Jordan illegally attacked Israel and occupied the territories West of the Jordan River from 1948 to 1967…that still made it the Arab state in Palestine.
    
    Make up your mind!
    
    Oh, I forgot. Even though New Zealand voted in 1947 for the two-state partition agreement, and that gave the green-light for the formation of the modern state of Israel a year later…it is none of our business. So why, when it suits them, does Israel look for diplomatic support from the international community?!
    
    3 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:40pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Kimbo, I’m not entirely sure what your comments are getting at. Particularly “make up your mind”.
      You seem to be trying to put words in my mouth.
      1. No country called Palestine has ever existed.
      2. The laughable thing about Jordan taking the west Bank, is that a huge part of Jordan is from the original British Mandate. No so called “Palestinian” has ever bombed Jordan, or attacked them to get their land back and call it Palestine (in fact, they live there and . The hypocrisy is real.
      Of course New Zealand voted for a two state partition. Israel AGREED to a two state partition. And the Arabs REJECTED it (and started the Arab War because of it). And have continued to reject it. I’m sure you get the picture.
      
      7 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 1:18pm
      - Kimbo
        
        You seem to be trying to put words in my mouth.
        
        No, just summarising the various contradictory “factoids” that disparate apologists for Israel regurgitate in forums of information and debate.
        
        1. No country called Palestine has ever existed.
        
        Correct. But it was voted for. But when it suits some Zionist apologists, Jordan’s governing of the West Bank/occupied territories was the Arab government in Palestine.
        
        2. The laughable thing about Jordan taking the west Bank, is that a huge part of Jordan is from the original British Mandate. No so called “Palestinian” has ever bombed Jordan, or attacked them to get their land back and call it Palestine (in fact, they live there and . The hypocrisy is real.
        
        The issue for Palestinian, including those in exile, is self-government of their territories from which they left and/or were evicted in 1947. As per the 1947 UN partition plan, that is the “kick off” point where a line was drawn which sought to move on from all other events of the past (including the original British mandate, and even the Balfour Declaration before it)…and re-set. And UNSC2334 is faithful to that. We have not altered our stance.
        
        Of course New Zealand voted for a two state partition. Israel AGREED to a two state partition. And the Arabs REJECTED it (and started the Arab War because of it). And have continued to reject it. I’m sure you get the picture.
        
        No, not all Arabs have rejected it. Egypt declared war in 1948, as did Jordan, and they both now accept Israel’s right to exist. So it is a non-sequitur to imply that
        
        1 Current Palestinian rejection of the two state solution means they always will.
        
        2. As they have done so since 1947…they have therefore forfeited the possibility of being a state in future.
        
        1 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:27pm
      - Paulus
        
        I believe that a quarter of the voting population of Israel are of Arab ethnicity.
        They work, live and enjoy the full rights of Israel.
        
        2 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:32pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    No Mike, my facts are not incorrect. Of the British Mandate of Palestine, 80% became part of modern Jordan. That is fact.
    
    9 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:10pm
    - mikenmild
      
      Simply wrong. You could equally claim that as Brtain was ruling large swathes of the globe at the time she could have sent the Palestinian Arabs to Africa or India to give the Israel a clear run of Palestine.
      
      1 7
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 1:39pm
      - PhilBest
        
        Could have sent the Palestinian Arabs 1 to 12km away from where they currently lived, you mean. Which is pretty much what happened, and what all the geopolitically opportunistic fuss is about.
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:30pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        I wouldn’t claim anything of the sort mike. I am stating an absolute fact that 80% of the British Mandate of Palestine became part of modern day Jordan. It’s a short, simple, factual statement. The original area of the Jewish National Home was far larger than it ended up being. On Sept 16, 1922 the League of Nations approved a British Memorandum that excluded Eastern Palestine from the articles related to the Jewish National Home. This excluded area became “Trans-Jordan”, latterly modern day Jordan. That Mike, is fact. You just saying it is wrong, does not make it so.
        
        0 0
        Report
        January 11, 2017 9:56am
- Don the Kiwi
  
  Actually, in their preparation to oust Israel and “drive them into the sea”, the bordering Arab nations advised all Arabs/non Jews to get out of the area because they could die, and they would have all the land returned to them once they had defeated Israel.
  
  The rest is history. 🙂
  
  12 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:44pm
  - Kimbo
    
    And no ethnic cleansing from within from ruthless well-practiced terrorist groups like the Lehi/Stern Gang and Irgun?
    
    Like you said, “The rest is history. ?”
    
    Then again, as the likes of Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin are now viewed as ~~terrorists~~, ~~freedom fighters~~ statesmen, even history changes. Including changing murder and terrorism into…collateral damage
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folke_Bernadotte
    
    2 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 12:49pm
    - PhilBest
      
      Yeah, “the Jews” will never be forgiven a bit of armed paranoia on the fringes of their society after the Holocaust topping off centuries of persecution and pogroms, including from the Muslim Ummah, and in an atmosphere of explicit threats from the Arabs, to finish the Final Solution.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 12:54pm
      - PhilBest
        
        In contrast, the poor dear offended Muzzies can be excused decades of terror globally with the death toll annually in the thousands, because of “the injustice of the Palestinians”: a few hundred thousand Muslim Arabs indistinguishable from those with millions of square kms of territory to themselves, being displaced 1 to 20 kms.
        
        10 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 12:57pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No, forgiveness is not the problem. It is “history”, or at least a selected version – and if you look carefully at the thread, you’ll see I’m not the one who first raised it. I was responding to Don the Kiwi.
        
        But just to be clear, terrorism is wrong? Always wrong? Right?
        
        Like I said, moving goal posts. As I’ve counseled before, everyone in the Middle East conflict plays the victim. Best to ignore it, and concentrate on what are the best options to facilitate peace, no matter how unlikely that may seem at the present time.
        
        4 4
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:01pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Oh, yeah, and I didn’t say “the Jews”. I gave no description other than terrorist/freedom fighter/statesman to describe Shamir, Begin and the Lehi/Stern Gang and Irgun.
        
        But just to clarify, “Zionists” would be the preferable, accurate and non-pejorative descriptor. Agreed?
        
        Also, it is inaccurate to describe the Arab community that exists in Palestine as “Muzzies”. There is also a sizeable Christian population. Such as
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Habash
        
        2 3
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:09pm
      - PhilBest
        
        And are the Arab Christians contributing much to the demands for Palestinian Statehood, or are they justifiably more concerned with the tolerability of their existence under all conceivable “Palestinian nation” forms of governance? Including such self-governance as has already been experimented with?
        
        EDIT: BTW my use of the term “Muslim Arab” was not meant to mean the two were synonymous, quite the opposite. The Arabs who aren’t Muslims are not a noticeable part of the problem. Even a “secular” government in an Arab-Muslim majority country, tends to have to express some angst in the “right” direction.
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:33pm
      - Kimbo
        
        And are the Arab Christians contributing much to the demands for Palestinian Statehood, or are they justifiably more concerned with the tolerability of their existence under all conceivable “Palestinian nation” forms of governance? Including such self-governance as has already been experimented with?
        
        I think, as with most over-simplistic attempts at framing a false dichotomy, the answer is “both/and”, not “either/or”.
        
        EDIT: BTW my use of the term “Muslim Arab” was not meant to mean the two were synonymous, quite the opposite. The Arabs who aren’t Muslims are not a noticeable part of the problem. Even a “secular” government in an Arab-Muslim majority country, tends to have to express some angst in the “right” direction
        
        Well, at least that seems to mean we agree this is not, in the first instance a religious conflict but rather, religion has been subsequently dragged in, or was always incidental.
        
        (nb: Zionism is a secular ideology, concerned more with Jewish ethnic rather than religious concerns. hence the modern state of Israel is secular. Others can debate if Judaism is a religion or ethnicity, but as per Jewish self-description and identity, and as per Exodus 19:5, “a holy nation, a kingdom of priests”, it is both)
        
        0 3
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:37pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Correction: Exodus 19:6
        
        0 3
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:43pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Kimbo, you need to revise your ideas about the Arab Christians. Their numbers are falling rapidly and they are being religiously cleansed (as opposed to ethnically cleansed) from Muslim controlled territories. Only in Lebanon and Egypt do largish minority Christian groups remain now.
        
        The original population of the entire area was Christian in a variety of sects (plus some Jewish inhabitants and no doubt some pagans in remote areas), until the Islamic conquest; a long time ago. That remnant christian population is following the smaller Jewish one into oblivion, and by the same people.
        
        The one exception is of course the only democratic state in the whole area, Israel.
        
        7 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:48pm
      - mikenmild
        
        The original population of the entire area was Christian
        
        Bold claim. What area? When?
        
        0 6
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:51pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ Ed Snack
        
        Kimbo, you need to revise your ideas about the Arab Christians. Their numbers are falling rapidly and they are being religiously cleansed (as opposed to ethnically cleansed) from Muslim controlled territories. Only in Lebanon and Egypt do largish minority Christian groups remain now…That remnant christian population is following the smaller Jewish one into oblivion, and by the same people.
        
        Yes, Jewish settlement in the lands of the Middle East was tolerated for centuries, until, as then-US Secretary of State General George Marshall warned President Harry Truman before the latter recognised the modern state of Israel in 1948, the region was radicalised. The founders of the Jewish state also knew that was the likely outcome, but proceeded anyway.
        
        So to repeat, the “history” is a pointless dead end. Israel has a right to exist and defend herself – but not settle the occupied terrritories. The era of Settlement-by-Conquest ended with two world wars. Better for outsiders to do what they can to facilitate peace between the two parties.
        
        Yes, Israel provides better human rights to Arabs of all religions, just as apartheid-era South Africa did the same for her black population compared to monsters like Idi Amin. Nonetheless, just as with white South Africa’s policies, that does not make the international condemnation of Israeli annexation by increment and stealth via settlement go away.
        
        There are also many Palestinian Christians who are descendants of Palestinian refugees from the post-1948 era who fled to Christian-majority countries and formed large diasporan Christian communities.[8][9] Worldwide, there are nearly one million Palestinian Christians in these territories as well as in the Palestinian diaspora, comprising over 10% of the world’s total Palestinian population.[citation needed] Palestinian Christians live primarily in Arab states surrounding historic Palestine and in the diaspora, particularly in Latin America, Europe and North America.
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Christians
        
        0 2
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:03pm
  - SPC
    
    And once Arabs left the battle zone where the Arab armies and IDF would meet, they were refused any right to return to
    
    1. their property (buildings destroyed and the land given to Jewish settlement).
    2. their right to citizenship in the state of Israel was denied.
    
    Meanwhile on the other side of the equation, Arab armies cleared the West Bank of Jewish settlers – but these are returning during the occupation – but again involving land owned by Arabs not limited to land formerly settled by Jews pre 1948.
    
    2 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:46pm
Fletch

Unbelievable. The Obama admin and its allies just secretly gifted Iran with 116 metric tons of uranium to keep them in the nuclear deal.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11779335

Are they trying to get us all killed? It’s like getting a murderer free from jail, letting him build a gun and giving him the bullets. A murderer who has always wished you personal harm.
12 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:19pm
- stephieboy
  
  Fletch , well if it is actually true as such you’ll know doubt be warmly anticipating when mates Putin and Trump have their first fall out over the Iran Nuclear deal ?
  
  0 7
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 2:53pm
Manolo

The MSM hacks farewell their God, welcome their Satan:
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2017/01/09/farewell-decade-media-drooling-over-barack-obama

From the moment then-state senator Barack Obama showed up on the national stage to address the Democratic convention in 2004, the news media were in love. “Obama is a rock star,” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell exclaimed during MSNBC’s live convention coverage back on July 27, 2004. The next morning, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos echoed Mitchell’s enthusiasm: “He’s the Tiger Woods of the Democratic Party right now.”

When Obama ran for President four years later, news reporters led the cheers. “It’s almost hard to remain objective because it’s infectious, the energy, I think,” then-NBC reporter Lee Cowan confessed in an MSNBC.com video posted January 7, 2008. On CNN a few days later, Politico editor John Harris admitted: “A couple years ago, you would send a reporter out with Obama, and it was like they needed to go through detox when they came back — ‘Oh, he’s so impressive, he’s so charismatic,’ and we’re kind of like, ‘Down, boy.’”
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:20pm
waikatosinger

New Zealand is in store for more record warm years unless cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are strictly imposed, says a climate expert.

So we either face up to the serious hardship and pain of cutting greenhouse gas emissions or we might have more years with nice mild weather like this one. Hmmm. Choices choices. I think I’ll go for the really nice weather thanks.
16 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:20pm
mikenmild

Do anyone else hope that we get a few more DPF posts and a few less from John Stringer?
5 13
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:27pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  Here is another idea MM.
  When you get your three months leave from the public service this year(or is it four now) why don’t you go somewhere that is special to you like East Timor or West Papua for instance and get DPF to publish your travel log.
  Post plenty of pictures of your cultural experiences like dancing around a fire in a loin cloth with a bone through your nose while roasting a witch and I’m sure it would be a winner probably getting 400+ comments daily.☺
  
  15 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 1:25pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Stars and Stripes:
    
    I’m sure it would be a winner probably getting 400+ comments daily
    
    350 of those will be Mikenmild’s comments, as he power-walks his way to 50,000 comments, even while on holiday!
    
    13 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:28pm
- pentwig
  
  no milky
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 2:41pm
  - mikenmild
    
    Perhaps you will skip away to Stringer’s blog and make your contribution there.
    
    2 10
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 2:43pm
Southern Raider

Fuck the National Party

English has finally made a statement about the UN resolution and backed McCullys position
12 9
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:29pm
- Kimbo
  
  Well, there goes the “Murray wandered off the Reservation” meme.
  
  And a good illustration of why English did well not to interrupt his well-earned holiday to answer agenda-setting demands from the likes of Whale Oil. Just as with the decision to dis-enagage from Waitangi, there is not much point dealing with people who want a one-way dialogue, and who end up saying “Fuck the National Party” when they don’t get it.
  
  12 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:34pm
  - PhilBest
    
    It has long been a mystery to me why some other party like ACT hasn’t gained from National voters getting sick of National outdoing Labour in PC virtue-signalling, as if Hulun was still PM anyway. And why are there so many National stalwarts who don’t seem to care about actual principles, culture, and historical trajectory, just as long as “our” stuffed shirts are on the treasury benches for a significant amount of time instead of the other lot?
    
    11 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:01pm
    - Kimbo
      
      It has long been a mystery to me why some other party like ACT hasn’t gained from National voters getting sick of National outdoing Labour in PC virtue-signalling…
      
      How about, for the same reason Labour, an ideological party, is the natural party of opposition, so too a purist-right wing alternative is equally repugnant to the majority of Kiwis? National is the natural party of government as it is pragmatic, just as Clark was when she attained office…and governed from the centre.
      
      I realise that does not equate with your perspective and version of the facts. Fair enough. But as much as you think your views are reasonable and/or self-evident, they place you at the extremities of New Zealand political and social thought. Any support you get here is…an echo-chamber from a similar small minority.
      
      3 9
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 1:17pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Its always disturbing when someone thinks that a party promoting taking personal responsibility is a “purist-right wing alternative” Kimbo.
        
        11 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:22pm
      - Kimbo
        
        I’m reflecting the pragmatic views of the NZ electorate, at least as it installs governments.
        
        In the main, it is now mainstream thought and teh political consensus that we rely on supply and demand to earn our way in the world. Hence we dismantled the “fortress economy” from 1984 onwards. And we seek free trade.
        
        However, we do not accept wholesale privatisation of, or abolition of the welfare state, especially in education, health and social welfare. Despite over 30 years of attempts to make the case, ACT and its fore-runners have failed to make the case. And that is unlikely to change. If that “disturbs” you. then I predict that will be indefinite and on-going. Has been the case ever since R J Seddon and the Liberals established old age pensions back in the 1890s, so you are swimming against 120 years of cultural, political and social momentum.
        
        2 2
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:40pm
      - PhilBest
        
        What concerns me is something called “the ratchet effect”. It always seems to be mastered by the Left, and the “natural pragmatic centre right” parties don’t have a clue because generally they are made up of people doing useful things with their lives before getting tapped to become an MP, in contrast to the left’s red-diaper babies.
        
        6 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 2:39pm
    - Southern Raider
      
      Exactly. People like Kimbo have taken the liberal media headline view and don’t see an issue.
      
      Unlike what McCully publically states the resolution puts all major Christian and Jewish religious sites in PA control, 200,000 Israelis (not settlements) in PA areas and there is not a single mention of PA incitement to violence and support of terrorism.
      
      Does NZ support and respect other like minded countries or have we jumped on board with the rest of the anti-west liberal elite?
      
      12 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 1:22pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Lies.
        
        The resolution condemns terrorism and violence, confirms Israel’s current right to occupy the territories, and maintains that future settlement and access to holy sites should be a matter of negotiation and agreement between the two parties.
        
        http://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/SRES2334-2016.pdf
        
        4 6
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:35pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Like you, most of the critics of the SC resolution have not read it.
        
        2 7
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:51pm
      - Southern Raider
        
        Kimbo where does it equate PA involvement and violence? It doesn’t. It is completely silent on PA role in orchestrating and funding murder and terrorism
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:54pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Bloody hell. So Maggy isn’t the only one teaching remedial reading around here!
        
        Top of page two (italics my emphasis):
        
        Condemning all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction…
        
        Next time, don’t rely on Bibi Netanyahu and his embedded NZ journalist, Whale Oil to tell you what others say.
        
        5 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 1:59pm
      - Harriet
        
        “….The resolution condemns terrorism and violence, …”
        
        With respect Kimbo…..you don’t say?
        
        How about on the ground stuff ‘for a change’ like serious sanctions against the PA.
        
        Muzza simply continued in the UN tradition of feeding the crocodile. 😎
        
        5 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:29pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Context, Harriet, and let’s stop moving the goal posts.
        
        Southern Raider stated, “the resolution puts all major Christian and Jewish religious sites in PA control”, and I clarified it didn’t and that it condemns terrorism. Southern Raider then asked “Kimbo where does it equate PA involvement and violence? It doesn’t.”
        
        Yet, as per the link and quote I posted, it does. And now you ask
        
        How about on the ground stuff ‘for a change’ like serious sanctions against the PA.
        
        …and I would counsel you, and any other apologists for Israeli settlements…be careful what you wish for. Once the UN establishes a precedent in this conflict of physical sanctions, be they military, economic, whatever, then they can be applied against both sides. As the NZ government has no desire to see that happen to Israel, and as we want to remain practical, fair and even-handed in what is a complex on-going dispute, we resist that option of sanctions.
        
        1 4
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:59pm
      - Harriet
        
        I ticked the report button by mistake.
        
        Anyway, fair enough view – forward thinking is the way to go Kimbo —- I just get sick of the violence — and Israel for the most part is always trying to avoid that.
        
        I don’t try to move the goal posts either – I’m not that smart – I just say things a I see it. As you know. 😎
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 4:24pm
    - stephieboy
      
      PhilBest , thought of puting your name forward for a John Stinger revival of a Conservative Party ?
      
      1 15
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 2:55pm
      - Harriet
        
        There are quite a few who are more than willing to take Bill on over John — that’s what I’ve heard Stephie! 😎
        
        0 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:31pm
      - stephieboy
        
        Harriet, you another likley contender and Shadow minster for what ?
        
        Secular and Relgious affairs or thats it – Security Intelligence !
        
        0 8
        Report
        January 10, 2017 3:33pm
Stars And Stripes

Kiwi won’t quit Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/322080/kiwi-teacher-won't-quit-gaza.
“Ms Webb Pullman went to Gaza with an aid convoy in 2010 and now lived there, teaching English and media skills to Gazan residents.
Now in her sixties, she was a long time anti apartheid activist and an ardent supporter of the Castro Government in Cuba.”

A supporter of Castro’s government, in other words another useful idiot who has now found another calling in the world to busy themselves with.
I am sure your solidarity will be the tipping point which solves this issue once and for all lady.
20 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 12:43pm
- Manolo
  
  If she were to return to Auckland, she would refuse to pay her rates. Guaranteed. 🙂
  
  16 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 12:45pm
cha

Oh dear….

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/09/caitlyn-jenner-reportedly-planning-nude-photo-shoot-in-2017/
8 4
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 1:01pm
- Fletch
  
  Gag…
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 1:09pm
  - cha
    
    You’d go along to the photo shoot in support of a fellow Trumpanzee, surely.
    
    1 12
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 1:27pm
- PhilBest
  
  Hmmm, Milo’s take on this will be fun, if he does one….
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 2:40pm
- Harriet
  
  Caitloon.
  
  There fixed. 😎
  
  2 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:19pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Interesting thing about Transgendered male=>female; they have average IQ’s in the genius range (couple of published papers back this up – I went looking because all three I have known were genuine geniuses). The genetic quirks that create them seems to have some huge cognitive advantages.
  
  So if they don’t have their lives fucked up and made miserable by difficulties of fitting in as children and adults they can potentially make huge positive contributions to the world (geniuses are the ones who mostly drive advances in technology etc to improve everyone’s lives). Theirs lives are pretty tough with more than their fair share of unhappiness and it costs us nothing as a society to make it easier for them to thrive with our friendly acceptance.
  
  That said I don’t think changing infrastructure or language to suit such a tiny minority makes sense and I am getting really bored with media harping on about transgendered issues and individuals.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 4:58pm
SPC

Hottest year in New Zealand since records began.

Worlds hottest year for the third straight year. 2014, 2015, then 2016.
Fact is – it is warming.

Given virtue signalling on a right wing blog is to stick your head in the sand – go on mimic an ostrich.
3 23
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 1:26pm
- kowtow
  
  We have just come out of an ice age , of course the planet’s warming. Not that long ago half the South Island was under ice.
  
  Meanwhile those figures will all have been “adjusted” .
  
  16 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 2:10pm
  - jonar
    
    What’s the typical warming rate when coming out of an ice age? Sounds like you’re “adjusting” facts and logic here.
    
    3 8
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 2:56pm
  - SPC
    
    The ice age that ended 10,000 years ago?
    
    Not really relevant to human activity generated climate change … and measurment of it.
    
    More relevant is the sun spot cycle, and various current cycles that impact on the global weather systems. But the upward trend is clear enough and occasional El Nino peak years do not explain this and as for the prospect of another Maunder minimum – such a cycle is forecast within a few decades, its impact is only enough to slow warming, not stop it.
    
    On the positive side a Maunder minimum would have been a cooling period but for AGW and we will not be facing it because of AGW.
    
    0 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:55pm
- All_on_Red
  
  i don’t think anyone denies its warming. I’d observe most KBers are Lukewarmers.
  I reckon 1.5c for every doubling of CO2 (ESC) and that we’ve been warming for over 100 years.
  We just not catastrophists who go on about 3-6C by 2100. Or sea levels rising a metre by then too.
  Oh and we are also realistic about the issues about how accurate the data really is due to Metrology, siting issues and fiddling.
  
  8 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:44pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hottest year in NZ – 2016
  Not according to NIWA’s site here
  https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/summaries/annual/annual-climate-summary-2010
  
  They report 1998 as being 0.9°C above the average = 13.5°C.
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:50pm
  - SPC
    
    Maggy – do you know the difference between the average temperature 1971-2000 and 1981-2010?
    
    Those doing the annual summary for 2016, not 2010 do and they said 2016 was warmer than 1998.
    
    Check it out, that is if you were not taking the piss …
    
    0 9
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 4:03pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yes, I do….
      
      The average was the same ….
      
      go and check it out.
      I have.
      
      Here’s what I posted on Pete George’s site yesterday
      
      “Yep, definitely something peculiar going on with the information on the NIWA site about their 7 site series.
      
      If you check out the Annual Climate summary for 2010, you learn that the av. temp is 12.6 (same as the 1981-2010 ann av); and that av temp for 1998 was 13.5 deg C, and for 1999 13.4 deg C.
      
      But check out the graph presented by NIWA in their presentation today and the anomaly for 1998 is no longer 0.9deg C…. it has dropped down to about 0.81-0.82.
      https://www.niwa.co.nz/
      
      Honestly, was 2016 really warmer than 1998?”
      
      10 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 4:38pm
      - SPC
        
        And I thought you knew maths.
        
        0 6
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:02pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Did Niwa ever publish the raw data and methodology for their temperature series adjustments? Or do they continue to be evasive/unscientific?
        
        5 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:03pm
      - SPC
        
        In 1998 they were using the average for 1961-1990 which was 12.5 – so 13.4 was .9 above that average. See the 2000 annual summary to confirm this detail. And .8 above the average for the 1971-2000 figure that came in next, which was 12.6.
        
        Thus the 13.4 for 2016 either exactly matched this or was marginally higher, thus the hottest year yet recorded.
        
        0 4
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:21pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @SPC
        
        No, according to what is written on their site for the 2010 Climate summary, they were using 1971-2000 average. (12.6°)
        Here’s what they wrote:
        “Mean annual temperatures were near average elsewhere (within 0.5°C of the long-term average). The national average temperature for 2010 based on a 7-station series was 13.1 °C, 0.5 °C above the 1971–2000 annual average. 2010 was the 5th warmest year since 1900, based on this 7-station series. The four warmer years were 1971 (+0.6 °C), 1998 (+0.9 °C), 1999 (+0.8 °C), and 2005 (+0.6 °C).”
        
        @UrbanNeocolonist
        
        No NIWA have never carried out the publication of the methodology and schedule of adjustments as Dr Mapp said they would. (in a peer-reviewed Scientific journal).
        
        6 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:33pm
      - SPC
        
        But the temperature for 1998 was only 13.4 – so it was only .9 more than the 12.5 average of 1961-1990 period. It was never at 13.4 .9 higher than the average for 1971-2000 (12.6). Therefore the 2010 report was either referring to it being .9 higher than the then average of that earlier time or was incorrect.
        
        0 6
        Report
        January 10, 2017 5:53pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @SPC
      
      yep, it’s a puzzle, isn’t it?
      
      But hey, what would a dummy like me know, eh?
      
      3 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 5:57pm
      - SPC
        
        Oh let’s guess, you knew it was only 13.4 in 1998 and the 2016 temperature was equal to or just a little above it.
        
        But decided to use the wording in the 2010 report to infer 12.6 + .9 was 13.5 for 1998, thus pleasure the little darlings on the blog by seeminlgy refuting the fact of the matter.
        
        Which says more about the way you (and others) operate on blogs than anything else.
        
        And more specifically the way that partisanship on blogs makes the MSM bias seem like pre school.
        
        1 4
        Report
        January 10, 2017 6:20pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @SPC
        
        You have given one explanation for my behaviour.
        An alternative one is that there is contradictory information on the NIWA website, and I can’t see any clear explanation for why the 1998 temperature is now considered lower than it was in 2010.
        
        5 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 6:35pm
      - SPC
        
        You have no actual source for your claim that the average temperature in 1998 was 13.5 degrees
        
        More interesting is that the average temperature was also 13.4 for 2013 pre the El Nino high in 2015-2016. But just below the 1998 figure whereas the 13.4 last year was just above the 1998 figure.
        
        0 6
        Report
        January 10, 2017 6:40pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @SPC
        You have no actual source for your claim that the average temperature in 1998 was 13.5 degrees
        
        That information is given in NIWA’s 2010 climate summary which I gave in my 4:38 pm posting.
        
        Here’s the maths
        
        Av 2010 temp is 13.1 and that’s 0.5 above the 1971-2000 average. Therefore the average is 12.6.
        
        (and 12.6 is also the av for the 1981-2010 ann av – used for yesterday’s announcement)
        
        In the 2010 climate summary NIWA states that 1998 was +0.9 above the average.
        12.6 + 0.9 = 13.5.
        
        So my source is the NIWA 2010 Climate Summary
        
        3 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:08pm
      - SPC
        
        So you go down in my book as a person who deliberately misrepresents something.
        
        As Phil the sceptic puts it on whaleoil
        
        Niwa give the figure of 13.4C, 0.8C above the 1981 -2010 average of the seven-station series. (only given to one decimal place but we can assume larger that the previous record of 13.41 and no more than13.45 (anything over 13.45 would have been rounded up to 13.5)).
        Previous hot years in the seven-stationseries include
        1998 13.41
        1999 13.35
        
        http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2017/01/niwa-2016-climate-warmest-year-ever/
        
        0 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:26pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Wow SPC
        
        a whaleoil posting….
        
        his time of posting was 4:30pm
        
        My first comment on this topic on KB in relation to your comment was at 3:50pm.
        
        Some quick researchers over there, don’t you think?
        
        2 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:38pm
      - SPC
        
        In his name, not his own work – off sick.
        
        What I do know is that logic and set theory inform mathematics, and your supposition based on one bit of information that could not possibly be accurate (given the figure being lower than the one in 2016), was not the basis upon which anyone informed about mathemetatics would make a sincere conclusion about the temerature that year.
        
        Quoting the 2010 report and sticking with this, was as clueless in mathematics terms as some assert about the written comprehension of others.
        
        1 5
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:49pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Well SPC,
        it may be illogical and clueless for me to stick with the information provided on NIWA’s own site designed to inform the public.
        
        But that’s all we have.
        
        We do not have a published, peer-reviewed account of the methodology and schedule of adjustments that NIWA make to construct the 7 station series.
        
        We all must assume that they are now doing it correctly ( & presumably using the same method as other countries?? ).
        
        4 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 8:31pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        The joke is arguing about .01 -.02 odd of difference to claim the ‘hottest’ year.
        The margin of error in the instruments is greater than that. At least .5C ( check out the science of Metrology)
        I suspect SPC is more interested in the political aspects than the actual science. I note SPC omitted this data from Phil the Sceptics research of NIWAs data.
        1998 13.41
        1999 13.35
        2013 13.33
        2005 13.11
        1971 13.10
        2010 13.07
        1990 12.99
        1916 12.99
        
        All within the margin of error. Perhaps SPC might provide to us all how the warming is apportioned between natural variability and man made…
        Not that on NIWAs figures it’s really a problem anyway. I mean really , less that .5C in 90 years!
        Sounds good to me.
        
        3 0
        Report
        January 10, 2017 9:28pm
      - SPC
        
        All n Red, no my interest in this is how people dispute facts or dissemble ignorance of them. When it involves someone who claims expertise in mathematics the agenda in this one is elsewhere.
        
        I will add Maggy’s impersonation of an ostrich has been impressive.
        
        0 3
        Report
        January 10, 2017 9:52pm
      - SPC
        
        PS Variation within trends is to mathematics what weather is to AGW climate change.
        
        1 1
        Report
        January 10, 2017 9:58pm
SPC

The UK is set on leaving the common market – which means it will be reduced to WTO rules in future trade with the EU – what this means for the city of London one can only guess but the German bankwer vultures will be flying above.

And there is no chance of a free trade treaty with the EU – not when every nation has to agree and so many will try and build in terms that the UK will not meet.

It is one thing not to get TPP over the line, quite another for an existing trade agreement to go down.
0 9
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 1:33pm
- PhilBest
  
  Mind you, I doubt one could be “virtuous” by taking the side of one particular lot of bankers against another, including the London ones against the German ones.
  
  Currently, the German economy is like a reverse image of the Pommy one; the Germans actually make stuff and sell it to the rest of the world, to earn their “primary income”; in the Pommy economy on the other hand, “financial services” and media, nearly weightless “industries”, fill the same role.
  
  No German city is a singular embodiment of the whole “globalisation, elites versus the rest”, racket like London is. In fact Germany is unusual in that its hierarchy of cities is so gradual. They don’t have a London / Paris / Auckland. There is a lot that can be learned from German economic and planning policy.
  
  For example, it is an indictment that housing is now so much more expensive in Dorkland, than it is in such a truly economically advanced nation right in the middle of one of the world’s most economically advanced economic continental blocs.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 2:50pm
  - SPC
    
    Fact is the UK economy will decline sans membership of the common market, just as ours would if we lost the China FTA and CER (equivalent). But the city of London’s importance to the UK economy is such that loss of its European business would magnify the impact on their economy even further. They face a bleak economic future going down this path.
    
    PS Germany’s continued success exporting abroad is in part down to exploituing the weakness of other European economies – as it means they can terde using the weak euro, which maintains trade competitiveness on price regardless of how strong their economy is. It is the most successful currency manipulation strategy in history. But it means keeping the rest of the EU weak (thus a hardline on budgets and bail outs to keep the rest in recession) to remain successful.
    
    1 6
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:19pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      The UK will do fine out of the EU.
      
      9 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 3:50pm
SPC

Commonality.

The territory not recognised as being part of the state of Israel, yet once part of historic eretz Israel is disputed. First the areas west of the Jordan in the so called PA realm awarded for an Arab majority area in Palestine, then areas over the river within Jordan.

The eficicacy of global warming model and measurement is disputed, the rate of warming and the risk this poses is disputed, the worth of mitigating any warming is disputed.

We have really clean waterways, and really responsible dairy farmers so claims of pollution by the dairy industry are disputed. (the Government’s own figures show 62 per cent of New Zealand’s monitored rivers are already unsafe for swimming. Which explains the “ambition” to keep waterways to a wadable standard).
5 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 1:46pm
- rangitoto
  
  Were they ever safe for swimming?
  
  1 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:17pm
SPC

In 2008 a Saudi Arabian student came here – he studied here for 5 years and was one of the best and brightest of the 5000 or so here. He spent time helping other students. He became radicalised in 2012-2013 (after a student he knew went to Syria and died there, probably pondering the meaning of life and what one does with ones life) and left to go to Syria (a Moslems reaction to the suicide of someone he knew sort of thing).

So called experts (including Paul Buchanan an ex academic at Auckland university) have said we need to better screen students coming here to block extremists – when it is clear that after so many years here not focused on being Islamist but just a student, that he did not arrive with any intention of becoming a radicalised.

The fact is Saudi Arabia makes an effort to ensure that its students abroad do not get secularised, that they remain Moslem nation loyalists – and this is the base to any radicalisation when in the West. They also sponsor mosques aborad and send clerics out into the world to ensure that Moslems in other nations become more Wahhabi. This makes them ripe pickings for groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda.
10 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 2:40pm
Manolo

With a bit of luck the nutter Morgan will steal a few votes from the crazier Greens:
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/gareth-morgan-registers-political-party/ar-BBy5YZm?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout

Millionaire economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan has moved up registration of his political party citing the prospect of an early election.

The Opportunities Party wasn’t expected to be registered until March, after seven policy priorities were announced. But Mr Morgan revealed on Tuesday that he wouldn’t wait that long.

“With John Key resigning and Labour seeming to be calling by-elections at will, there is a possibility that National will get sick of that tactic and just go early,” he said.
11 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 3:08pm
Harriet

Do you lot in NZ not know that Michael Chamberlin [lindy’s ex husband] has died? Leukaemia. He was 72, a noted academic. Born in Christchurch.

I haven’t read it anywhere here.
2 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 3:10pm
- mikenmild
  
  Was on Stuff.
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 3:19pm
  - thedavincimode
    
    Yikes. Another tough crowd.
    
    3 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:34pm
  - stephieboy
    
    And a dingo took Azaria away.Frankly still struggle with that one .
    
    1 10
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 3:36pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      That’s possibly because you don’t know much about the biology of dingoes.
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-42438/Nine-year-old-boy-killed-dingoes-holiday-island-beach.html
      
      also:
      In 2001, a 9-year old boy was attacked and killed by two dingoes on Fraser Island. In 2007, a 4-year old girl was also attacked, and survived, on Fraser Island. In 1998, a 13-month old old girl was grabbed by a dingo, which began to drag her away until her father intervened.This also was reported to have occurred at a camping area on Fraser Island.
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 4:25pm
Harriet

Cheers Milky — who would down tick that post?

The poor bloke had a pretty hard life — his second wife had a stroke in 2011 and he has cared for her full time since.

He lost his daughter to a dingo — then lost his wife and family due to almost everyone not believing him – an SDA pastor.
6 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 3:41pm
EAD

Russian Consul In Athens Found Dead:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-09/russian-consul-athens-found-dead

They are so desperate to kick off this war with Russia its pathetic. Its like a petulant child causing as much commotion as possible but this time its global Armageddon rather than getting its bum spanked. I dont know how many attacks they have committed against the Russians: diplomats killed in mafia style shootings, putting full scale armies on its border, ludicrous stories of hacking emails with no proof and Russian planes coming down mysteriously but they still blatantly want this war and everyone sees the cunts for what they are.
4 9
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 4:14pm
- SPC
  
  So you see the action of angry Islamists against soft Russian targets as part of some Democrat action to subvert American-Russian relations before Trump becomes President?
  
  Or just testing that line in one of your bosses test markets?
  
  5 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 4:20pm
- SPC
  
  It’s the paranoid who are the most likely to start any violence – such as Moslems stopped by Russia from getting their way in Syria.
  
  4 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 4:44pm
  - SPC
    
    Natural causes … why the hysteria?
    
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201701091049415131-russia-embassy-consular-athens/
    
    5 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 4:59pm
- Reid
  
  Yes I quite agree EAD. It’s easy to see how Hitler turned the Germans against the Jews isn’t it, watching these idiots falling hook, line and sinker for the childishly simplistic propaganda.
  
  To connect the dots for the morons, what’s happened is that when Soros started funding the Dems in 2002, they stopped fund raising in their working class heartlands, ever since they haven’t done so. Between then and now therefore the people they need to keep happy have changed and they’ve become the urban liberal snowflakes. The plan was for Killary to get in and as everyone knows she has powerful and evil vested interests backing her. But the working class deserted them and they didn’t calculate on that but the neocons are in bed with Killary and they’re the ones that have always pushed for Russia, not least because mad old Brez is a cold, cold warrior. So this Russian meme which we didn’t hear a lot of till last year or two did we, emerges, and its reached a crescendo because its the neocon’s last gasp plus the snowflakes need an excuse. Seems lefties worldwide have trouble admitting they’ve lost. That’s part one.
  
  Part two is the military-security complex and its shareholders have always had a strong Repub constituency. GOP congressman often have big plants they want to keep humming. So they’ve always been amenable. However the military-security complex knows that rag heads in the desert don’t justify the trillions they require. They need a real threat, and Russia fits nicely, not least because the public is pre-warmed from decades of Cold War conditioning.
  
  Soros and many Dems own and control 93% of the media, thus the idiot sheeple think its true not because its reasonable but because its all the idiots hear 24/7/365 so like particularly stupid pavlovian animals they start salivating on queue, just like they’re supposed to.
  
  Fuck they’re dumb.
  
  But that’s what’s happened sheeple, and think about. They’re inciting a nuclear power. Risking nuclear war. That’s what the neocons, Soros et al and the snowflakes are all doing, and there’s billions of morons round the world going along with it.
  
  3 9
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 5:41pm
  - stephieboy
    
    Reid,
    
    “Yes I quite agree EAD. It’s easy to see how Hitler turned the Germans against the Jews isn’t it, watching these idiots falling hook, line and sinker for the childishly simplistic propaganda.”
    
    Err I dont think EAD would agree on that . Give him a tinkle please !
    
    2 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 6:02pm
    - Reid
      
      stephie I don’t really much care what you think, about anything, let alone what you think EAD might think.
      
      There’s something about the sanctimonious mindset lefties have that prevents them from seeing the actual points EAD is making vs the hysteria they’re hearing inside their own tiny heads and this makes them all confused when someone raises the kind of points EAD makes.
      
      This is of course on top of your natural baseline confusion stephie.
      
      4 8
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 6:11pm
- SPC
  
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38560439
  
  0 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 5:48pm
  - SPC
    
    For the reason andrei is angry and needed to lash out
    
    2 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 7:30pm
CharlieBrown

Captain Mainwaring

Regarding those predictions I made earlier this year that you said wouldn’t happen:

Sugar taxes will increase in media coverage and some big media outlet will back it the same way the herald did with the drink limit

http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/88116657/no-evidence-sugarfree-soft-drinks-will-help-with-weight-loss

The article says it is “widely accepted” that fizzy drinks contribute to childhood obesity. I get that feeling that the official campaign to tax fizzy drinks will start soon. And once that happens it’s only a matter of time before national adopt it policy.

Although… Maybe English won’t be a spineless vote whore like john key.
0 3
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 5:14pm
JasonJohns

H-o-m-o Islamopithecus Paleostinus, a virally invasive Muhominid subspecies that upsets the socio-political balance of Judea-Samaria’s native flora and fauna. The Paleostinian strain is noted for a number of antisocial behaviors such as lithic outbursts of throwing stones at adulterous females, and Israeli automobiles and tanks for the express purpose of injesting the paint chips that result. Other noted behaviors include hoarding lithic projectiles in areas of high Paleostinian population densities, hospitals and schools. More recent adaptive behaviors have included upgrading lithic technology to fashion stone bladed knives used to attack native populations.
3 7
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 5:18pm
Reid

Excellent. Trump’s endorsed Rand Paul’s Audit the Fed bill.

Another thing the moronic sheeple will be puzzled over.

“Why on earth would you want to audit a govt agency they bleat to themselves. Isn’t it already audited?”

Aren’t sheeple stoooooooooooooopid.

http://wearechange.org/donald-trump-endorses-rand-paul-audit-the-fed-bill/
3 6
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 6:01pm
- mikenmild
  
  It is already audited.
  The ‘audit the Fed’ crowd are cranks who don’t like central bank autonomy in making monrtary policy adjustments.
  
  5 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 6:10pm
  - Reid
    
    No it’s not. If it was, a Senator is most unlikely to introduce a bill to do so, is he.
    
    2 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 6:14pm
    - mikenmild
      
      Sure, Ben Bernanke wouldn’t know anything about it:
      https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ben-bernanke/2016/01/11/audit-the-fed-is-not-about-auditing-the-fed/
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 6:29pm
      - Reid
        
        Ben wouldn’t have a vested interest would he?
        
        3 4
        Report
        January 10, 2017 6:35pm
- stephieboy
  
  Reid , oh no not on another one hopping aboard the Fed Conspiracy gravy train ?
  
  http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/flaherty/Federal_Reserve.html
  
  Son like father ?
  
  4 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 6:13pm
  - Reid
    
    What sort of moronic question is that, stupidboy?
    
    In other words dumbo, what are you asking? What do your words mean, cos it ain’t English.
    
    Next time try to get it right first time, can ya do that?
    
    4 4
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 6:59pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Reid , well give this a try from my link ,
      
      Myth #6: The Federal Reserve has never been audited.
      
      “An often repeated Federal Reserve conspiracy theory is that the Fed has never been audited. “Every year Congress introduces legislation to audit the FED,” wrote Thomas Schauf, “and every year it is defeated.”7 Why? Conspiracy theorists such as Schauf, Gary Kah (1991), and Pat Robertson (1994) say the reason is that the Fed is involved in an international plot to subvert U.S. sovereignty and create a one-world government. Naturally, the Fed will not permit Congress to audit its activities, lest it discover this treasonous plan and shut it down.
      How much truth is there to this claim? Has the Fed ever been audited by Congress or anyone else? The Fed controls U.S. monetary policy and can act with a great deal of independence from Congress and the executive branch. Clearly, such awesome power requires some sort of regular public oversight at the very least to insure that the Fed is doing its job efficiently and effectively, and to detect any abuses of power or fraud. This essay explores the claim that the Fed has never been audited and finds that it is completely false. ”
      
      http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/flaherty/flaherty6.html
      
      It should give your grey matter a ” refresh ” or is it rinse ?
      
      2 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      January 10, 2017 7:21pm
      - Reid
        
        So perhaps stupidboy and your collective morons who uptick you should explain that not only to Senator Paul but President-elect Trump as well.
        
        No doubt if your stupid link is correct (which I haven’t read but take your word for what it idiotically says), we’ll awake to gales of laughter from the US MSM as they absorb and report the “fact” that Trump’s just endorsed something that (chortle) already happens!
        
        [insert fake news here]
        
        Seriously stupidboy, given the extremely serious person Trump is, to have blown away not just the political opposition but all of his political “friends” and, without experience and with the entire MSM uniformly and unprecedentedly against him, get himself elected to the highest office in the land, do you seriously think he’d endorse this if what you say is true?
        
        Of course Trump doesn’t type his own tweets, it has to pass through layers and layers, all of them getting it completely and utterly wrong on such a profoundly basic thing every step of the way.
        
        And you think…
        
        ???
        
        4 3
        Report
        January 10, 2017 7:58pm
nasska

The Bible says we will pay for our sins.

Many of us already do….. prostitutes, drugs & alcohol don’t come free.
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:21pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Just make sure you spend all your dough and drink all that booze…if you want to get through the Pearly gates
  
  “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:15pm
Viking2

Did you ever live in a Transit Camp?
By the end of WWII 30,000 people were on the waiting list for a State house. To help alleviate the struggles of these people, the Government set up Transit Camps as an interim measure to accommodate families waiting for housing to be built.

Children at the transit camp at Trentham 30 November 1951
http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22323375

Clearly its time to set up a few more.
1 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:40pm
- nasska
  
  They were the WW2 Army training barracks V2. Later they were used to accommodate Police, Traffic Dept, PO & other Govt trainee cadets.
  
  I know where you’re coming from but with the quality of people currently waiting for the rest of us to house them you’d need the army back to keep the peace!
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:54pm
RF

Dan Carter and his sidekick Rokococo’s dream of fame and fortune might not be working out.

The French sports anti doping agency is not happy with their clearance for using banned drugs and have apparently re-opened the investigation.

We might just see Dan playing for Southbridge later this year.
0 2
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:40pm
RJA

It has just occurred to me that an issue with blogs going forward, may be sensorship. In the old media, that had been well covered with third party protection of free speech etc, but in this new Blog world, the blogger can cut you off without any protest for whatever that may mean, to promote their particular bias.

Example is I have been chopped from Whaleoil for some undeclared reason. My assumption is that I dared challenge the actions of NZ in supporting a UN resolution against Israel land occupation. I would have thought my comments were mild, polite and thought out, but clearly they were not in step with the ideals of the Slater team and my arguments were blocked and I have been banned. Fare enough, except Whaleoil is writing to our Government stating the massive objection their supporters have for the actions of McCully. They are clearly excluding me and how many others?

This type of sensorship has dangerous prospects which I would have thought Jewish people would be averse to than any others.
6 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 8:42pm
- Viking2
  
  As bad a the standard they used to belittle,(rightly of course).
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:52pm
- Stars And Stripes
  
  I still read Whaleoil from time to time as he still has some good material but when it comes to anything to do with Israel and the Palestinians you are wasting your time offering any other view apart from his as he does not want to hear it.
  He is basically just a mouthpiece of the Israeli government which is his right as it is his blog but all these notions he espouses about bias in the media start to sound a bit hollow coming from him.
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 8:54pm
  - Reid
    
    Yes he got an all-expenses trip to Israel which they do world over for media people they deem “helpful” and he swallowed the kool-aid. After that he hasn’t been the same.
    
    2 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 8:57pm
- nasska
  
  It wasn’t a bad blog when Whale was running it himself RJA. It went to pieces after Petal & a few other fruitcakes decided to impose their crap on cyberspace.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 9:01pm
  - Reid
    
    I think he got led into fantasy land by his 15 mins of fame nasska.
    
    Fair enough too, because it was a full on 12-24 months of national fame.
    
    But he’s failed to deliver. That’s fatal, especially in public. There was a moment of opportunity but he didn’t take it. It may not have been his fault in that raising the kind of capital he would have needed would not have been easy. But if he couldn’t do it he should have known that before he started talking about it.
    
    And on the mods: extraordinarily prissy. He should have known his personality was based on rebellion, so what does he do? Shut down even the most mildly rebellious commenters.
    
    Dumb.
    
    He should have fought. Stood in the wind, ripped his shirt off, thrust out his chest, and yelled into the prissy lefty Hagar hurricane. But he retreated. That’s how it was read, regardless of his intent.
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 10, 2017 9:27pm
Jack5

South Park on TVNZ tonight had an amusing slant on the PC (politically correct) mob.

They labelled PC folk Pussy Crushers – members of the Pussy Crushers Association.

Instead of “don’t be so PC”, folk could say “don’t be such a Pussy Crusher”.
3 1
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:09pm
- Reid
  
  I’ll be sure to try that on the next lesbian couple I hold the door open for Jack.
  
  Thanks for the tip.
  
  1 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  January 10, 2017 10:32pm
  - Jack5
    
    Do reckon the Human Rorts Commission would be up for corporate membership of the PCA, Reid?
    
    But I take my hat off to you. It takes a bold man to hold open a door for a lesbian couple.
    
    “I/we can open the door myself/ourselves is at the lighter end of likely responses.”
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    January 11, 2017 12:32am
stigie

Has Johnboy taken his Mrs on an extensive holiday or should i say expensive holiday on his goldcard..?
1 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:14pm
nasska

Have you checked on poor old Lewis Stanton stigie? I haven’t heard much about him lately.

Probably the Nelson Businessmens Assn & the Council have him in a bath of ice waiting to harvest his kidneys. 🙂
1 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:29pm
stigie

He’s still cluttering up the footpath outside Farmers Nasska with his washing hanging up where the public have to bend down to get under. The only difference between Penny Bright and Lewis is the fact that one of them steals !~
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:39pm
nasska

It’s good to hear that Lewis hasn’t let his personal cleanliness slip even when faced with persecution stigie.

There are few men more worthy to adopt “illegitimi non carborundum” as their motto. 🙂
2 0
Log in to Reply
Report
January 10, 2017 9:49pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« English to skip Waitangi

Argy Bargy Part 2: Doing Nacion Argentina 2017 »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 37.4K other subscribers

Highlights

Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments
Health Target 3 – Emergency Dept Waiting Times
Health Target 2 – Immunisations

Links

Word of the day
Hompaddock
Schadenfreudeliciousness V: Not Getting It.
No Minister
Pamela Paul on politics and transgender issues
Utopia
Blowout in costs of Roads of National Significance
The Standard
Te Huinga Poti – Waatea Sunday Morning Political Podcast with Treaty Lawyer Natalie Coates, Jodi Ihaka + Bomber
The Daily Blog
A great grift against taxpayers
Point of Order
More lawlessness from National
No Right Turn
Shock & Surprise: Lawyers oppose removal of lawyers' gravy train
Not PC
Thankfully we said nope to dope
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
A NEW DEGREE COURSE FOR MASSEY
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
A Day of Reckoning
NZCPR
Media Link: “A View from Afar” on the US elections.
Kiwipolitico
This will not end well
Offsetting Behaviour
Top 14 Predictions for Round 10
Stats Chat
Pretty (il)legal
Croaking Cassandra
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker
Angie Warren-Clark: Meet the Newbies
Dan Moskovitz

editor@kiwiblog.co.nz

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d