General Debate 17 January 2017

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Manolo

Will it happen?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WORLD_ECONOMY_IMF?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-16-09-09-48

The International Monetary Fund on Monday raised its forecast for the U.S. economy over the next two years, saying President-elect Donald Trump’s policies should boost economic growth, particularly in 2018. But officials warned that if Trump’s protectionist trade proposals set off a trade war, that could be “quite destructive” for the global economy.
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January 17, 2017 8:05am
- holysheet
  
  Good to see. Trump was elected by the USA to fix the US economy. If it has an adverse effect on the worlds economy, so be it. For years the rest of the world, especially europe, has been sponging off them. Payback time is here
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:22am
  - cmm
    
    Sure some of the world has been sponging off USA.
    
    But let’s be fair: USA has often forced its help onto people too under the guise of doing its duty as “leader of the Free World”.
    
    If you look at somewhere like Germany where USA still has bases since WW2 – or South Korea. If those countries want USA’s protection services then they should be prepared to pay for them. However no longer want USA there then the USA should pack up and move out.
    
    They cannot force themselves onto Germany, South Korea etc and demand to be paid.
    
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    January 17, 2017 8:41am
    - virtualmark
      
      There’s slightly more too it though. A large reason for the US being the security guarantor for South Korea or Germany was to avoid or dampen down a nuclear arms race.
      
      If Germany & South Korea weren’t under the American security guarantee then the first thing they’d be doing is building their own nukes. And for the last 50 years that sort of proliferation has been seen as a bad thing. Including by the USA.
      
      Case in point … without the US backing Japan’s security what do you think the Japanese would do with these … http://arstechnica.com/science/2017/01/japan-just-tried-to-launch-the-worlds-smallest-orbital-rocket/
      As it says in the comments to that article:
      
      Of course, the other advantage to Japan of systems like this or the much larger Epsilon rocket is that it allows them to test and prove ballistic missile technology without the political fallout of performing missile tests. Epsilon in particular has a design that’s much closer to the likes of the LGM-118 Peacekeeper than a typical orbital launch system. Three solid stages plus a liquid fuelled warhead bus orbital insertion module looks much more like a modern ICBM than a typical civilian launcher like Atlas or Falcon 9. The fact that it’s designed to be operated with a ground crew of just 8 people further cements its usefulness in a military context.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:17am
      - cmm
        
        That’s all good in theory, but the practice is different.
        
        So due to USA occupation Germany, Japan and South Korea don’t have nukes – not a big deal.
        
        If NATO falls apart and the NATO countries develop nukes that does not worry me either.
        
        Much more concerning is that the more erratic/unstable countries India, Pakisatan and North Korea do have nukes.
        
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        January 17, 2017 9:53am
      - virtualmark
        
        cmm,
        
        You’re the one confusing ideas with practice. In practice if Japan, South Korea and Germany (to name 3 examples) were to develop nukes then the immediate response would be that China would build a LOT more nukes than it currently has, and a lot more sophisticated delivery systems. And Russia would abandon the SALT limitations on IRBMs and deploy a lot of Iskander like missiles on its borders with Poland and the Baltic states. Seeing this countries like Poland and Sweden would then rethink whether they too shouldn’t have nukes … and so it spirals quickly onwards.
        
        A lot of our present peace has been based on having only a small number of nuclear states, with relatively stable and sensible governance. The more states you add to that mix the bigger the chance of a mouth breather making a stupid decision with global consequences
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:34am
  - virtualmark
    
    Ummm, holysheet, do you live in the US? Or do you live in New Zealand?
    
    If you live in New Zealand then can you explain to me why Trump triggering a global trade war would be good for us here?
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:05am
    - holysheet
      
      Why does everything have to be about us. All I am saying is that Trump is going to be looking after his electors, as you would expect him to do. This is possibly a new concept to us. We have for years elected politicians who say anything to get elected. Once they get into govt they ignore the very people and the policies that got them there.
      Once again Trump is not a career politician so all bets are off.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:14am
      - stephieboy
        
        holysheet, can’t see how that will happen with the billionaire elites he has stacked in his cabinet and benefactors like billionaire Robert Mercer ,
        
        http://europe.newsweek.com/meet-anti-government-recluse-who-bankrolls-trump-507338?rm=eu
        
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        January 17, 2017 9:23am
      - virtualmark
        
        Oh righto then. Please withdraw all the cash from your bank account and forward it to the Inland Revenue Service. The address is 1111 Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC, 20224.
        
        Because clearly it’s not about us then right, and you are prepared to do everything you can to help Trump make America great again?
        
        Look, all power to Trump if he can grow the US economy. Although I doubt he’ll prove any better at honouring his campaign promises as any other politician has been.
        
        But I don’t see how or why I, as a New Zealander, should cheer for things that would hurt us as a nation. If that were happening in America then Trump would call it “economic sabotage” or “economic terrorism” or straight-out “treason”. But if Trump does it to you then you just eat it up? The Russians have a term for people like you … “useful idiots”.
        
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        January 17, 2017 9:32am
    - cmm
      
      I think the point he was making is that as US Prez, Trump’s first responsibility is to Americans – not to others.
      
      When we go about our dairy trade deals with China we don’t lose any sleep about the negative impact that might have on a Wisconsin dairy framer. So why should Trump worry about us?
      
      If Trump does start a trade barrier war between USA and elsewhere that need not be a bad thing for us. USA is not a huge % player in our trade. In fact they compete with us in many ways. It might just make other countries want to trade with us more.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:22am
      - virtualmark
        
        cmm,
        
        I understand what he’s saying. I just think it’s cutting off your nose to spite your face.
        
        If Trump does start a trade barrier war then I guarantee it will have big negative effects on our economy. That won’t worry Trump one bit. But I don’t see why any New Zealanders should support it.
        
        (Although, on second thought, the New Zealanders I think would support it are the likes of Jane Kelsey. Good fellow travellers to have eh?)
        
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        January 17, 2017 9:38am
      - holysheet
        
        Exactly right cmm, why would the yanks give a toss about some small nation in the south pacific. Remember Lange told them to get stuffed years ago. How did that affect our trade ? SFA
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:04am
      - virtualmark
        
        Holysheet,
        
        The no-nukes in the 1980s was a political disagreement, and so not surprisingly it had no effect on trade.
        
        But a (global) trade disagreement is a very different situation, and would have an effect on our trade.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:29am
      - holysheet
        
        Bullshit VM. If you as a large importing country were told to fuck off by a very small insignificant exporting country, then trade would become an issue. What else can they do but put the squeeze on our trade.There is nothing else that would have any effect.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:40am
      - virtualmark
        
        holysheet,
        
        Really? So the US Department of Defence (which was the really aggrieved party in the no-nukes decision) spread the word around all the US corporates that they couldn’t do business with New Zealand? Then they blockaded NZ imports from arriving at US ports? I must have missed that bit.
        
        A political dispute about nuclear policy had no spillover into the corporate and economic worlds.
        
        But a trade war will definitely have spillover into the corporate and economic worlds.
        
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        January 17, 2017 12:50pm
- MCos
  
  NZ used to have a good deal of protectionism prior to Rogernomics. A number of people did rather well under those policies. For example those who owned and worked in the TV assembly industry were on a pigs back. Unfortunately the consumers paid eye watering prices for their K9s to watch a couple of channels.
  I understand the US is considering a levy on imported European cars. I don’t know how serious this suggestion is or how many cars are actually imported, but protectionist policies will mean higher cost not only of the imported cars, obviously, but also the locally manufactured units, which is the end point of the import restrictions.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:27am
  - fernglas
    
    Trump has specifically told German carmakers to expect a 35% import tariff on cars made outside the US. The German riposte was that the Yanks should build better cars, then they wouldn’t need to buy German. Of course, everyone agrees that even though Trump has said 35%, that has little to do with reality. The uncertainty about US policy is what will see markets slide back for the next few months.
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:06am
    - virtualmark
      
      Yep, great response from Sigmar Gabriel about people not buying American cars … “Build better cars”.
      
      The funny is because we all know it’s true …
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:15am
    - cmm
      
      “has said 35%, that has little to do with reality.”
      
      Quite.
      
      Trump is a businessman. He’s a deal maker. Just read his playbook “The art of the deal”. That’s pretty much all you need to read to understand Trump.
      
      You don’t go into a discussion with the final deal you want. You go in asking for more than what you want then haggle to get a deal which ends up being what you want.
      
      He starts off talking about 35% tariffs, but might end up at 10% or a different deal completely (eg. BMW/Merc move some manufacturing into USA).
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:28am
      - virtualmark
        
        Or before you read his book “The Art of the Deal” why not read what the true author of that book has to say … http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
        
        Honestly, you guys have drunk a simply heroic amount of Kool-Aid.
        
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        January 17, 2017 9:40am
      - cmm
        
        virtualmark: You’re picking on the red herring.
        I do expect it was ghost written (I thought that when I read it), but that is immaterial.
        
        Trump put his name on it which means he endorses what is said there and is a valid approximation of what he would have said himself and how he thinks.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:00am
      - virtualmark
        
        How can it be a red herring to read the first-hand account of how “The Art of the Deal” was written and how much (or little) was actually contributed by Trump, and the ghostwriters own account of Trump’s personality (which he had been able to observe first-hand and close-up over a number of months) and Trump’s naivety in terms of the deal they made about splitting the book’s revenues.
        
        I know it doesn’t fit with your Trump man-love moment but that doesn’t mean the proper and grown-up response is to stick your fingers in your ears and run around going “Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah”.
        
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        January 17, 2017 12:46pm
Longknives

‘Nicole Kidman’s Bizarre Behaviour’ shrieks the headline in the Herald..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11783457

Watch the video. Her behaviour is anything but bizarre (she jokingly interrupts a colleagues interview)
Wondering why the Media is hellbent on crucifying Kidman?
Simple- She is a Trump supporter. (Which is seemingly career suicide in the Entertainment industry)
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January 17, 2017 8:11am
- BeeSting
  
  she probably said something pro trump
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:20am
- oldpark
  
  NZ Herald specialises in “Fake News” and lies. Remember the pathetic sicko attacks on John Key,and their complete and misguided support for the convicted criminal Dotcom. Seems they have begun 2017 just like they have done since their inception,printing “Fake News”,they have a lot less newspaper buyers, since their readers finally discovered they were being taken on a “Fake News” ride.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:30am
  - cmm
    
    People click this shit, they get paid by the advertisers. Job done.
    
    Well done people – you just kept them alive for an extra few days to spread their filth and disinformation.
    
    If you really do feel compelled to click on herald etc then install an adblocker. That’s the better thing to do for the sake of civilization.
    
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    January 17, 2017 8:45am
    - MCos
      
      I don’t know why you get so riled up.
      It’s hardly ‘filth’.
      It’s what’s known as ‘Hollywood Gossip’ and has been a staple of various lightweight publications for the best part of a hundred years.
      By the way, that hero of American conservatives, Ronald Reagan, was a staple of the gossip columns well before he turned to politics. So was Trump of course.
      This lightweight froth the Herald bungs in it’s Entertainment section is instantly forgettable, unlike the Shock Horror Fleet St headlines as they mercilessly put the boot into celebrities who have fallen on hard times.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:41am
      - cmm
        
        To me it is filth when the disinformation promotes ideologies which routinely cause massive death and starvation the world over.
        
        Perhaps you have different standards.
        
        Gossip columns are just candy-floss. They are inconsequential. It was really the rest of the herald I’m talking about.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:04am
      - stephieboy
        
        cmm, but of course linking to this kind of publication is OK ?,
        
        http://twitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/new-york-post-melania-trump.jpg
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:06am
  - Paulus
    
    Should the Herald set up a separate section called “Fake News”.
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:02am
    - holysheet
      
      The Fake News Herald.
      Fixed it for ya
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:09am
    - MCos
      
      I’ve just read the NZ Herald at a local cafe. They are reporting that the Blackcaps beat Bangladesh yesterday at the Basin under cloudless skies in front of an almost full house!
      Surely this must be fake news.
      Everyone knows
      1 – Wellington weather is terrible
      2 – Nobody’s interested in test cricket anymore
      3 – The bugger were grinding our plucky lads into the pitch for the previous four days.
      
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      January 17, 2017 12:06pm
  - stephieboy
    
    oldpark, the alt right like Breitbart never indulge in ” Fake news ” ?
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:29am
- dime
  
  lol shes bizarre cause she wants to support the president.
  
  the 20 yr olds running the herald crack me up
  
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  January 17, 2017 10:40am
Paulus Gnome

A comment piece contained in the Auckland paper shouts ‘Dame Tariana Turia: We need a better way of dealing with racial issues’

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11783215

‘Since the advent of mixed-member proportional representation in 1996 the proportion of MPs who identify as Māori has increased, although it would be debatable as to whether all MPs of whakapapa Maori necessarily represent Māori interests.’

I thought that the MP was elected to parliament to represent the thoughts, views and interests of all constituents regardless of race, sex, height and all other ‘isms’; it appears to me that the Dame is saying that maori MP’s, or those who identify as maori, are there to represent the maori point of view ahead of any other consideration.

Casual racism?

Her solutions promote more maori centric involvement than what we already have that include ‘4. Commission advice from marae, hapū and iwi about best practice in improving Māori political participation, based on their local level experiences in achieving mandate.’

All I hear is more at the trough.
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January 17, 2017 8:12am
- pdm
  
  `Casual racism?’
  
  Everybody duck – here comes Dame Susan to put Dame Tariana in her place.
  
  Oh no – it was just a pig flying by.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:17am
  - cmm
    
    Is casual racism something like casual sex?
    
    If so, perhaps we can have some racist bars and a Racer app for your phone where you can pick up some racist ideas.
    
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    January 17, 2017 8:20am
    - holysheet
      
      like casual sex, you can pick up a dreadful disease if you practice casual racism. Its called tokenism.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:00am
    - Stars And Stripes
      
      No need, just read some commentators posts on KB including mine and you will learn everything you need.
      
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      January 17, 2017 12:14pm
- Lance
  
  So is that like saying the only real Maoris are those that support what she thinks?
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:19am
  - Komata
    
    Umm, Lance; you DO realise (I hope) that (according to Statistics NZ) there are actually NO ‘pure-blood’ ‘real Maori’ left in NZ, and that anyone who can prove that they have even a micron of ‘Maori ‘ blood in their veins (irrespective of how many generations and relatives removed) can call themselves a ‘Real’ Maori?
    
    By that definition (and ONLY by that definition) Turia is a ‘real’ Maori. By any other definition she’s just another half-caste pretending to be what she isn’t.
    
    It’s a small but extremely important detail which I thought you’d like to know about.
    
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    January 17, 2017 11:44am
- Longknives
  
  Didn’t this old Witch try and use her influence to get one of her ‘Whanau’ out of Prison a few years back?
  I also distinctly remember her calling New Zealanders of European Descent “Visitors to this Country” -Then she takes a Damehood! (Irony anyone?)
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:23am
- PhilBest
  
  Simon Chapple’s 2000 Report on Maori Socio-Economic Disparity, pointed out an obvious statistical element that no-one is taking into account.
  
  That is, when being identified as “Maori” can be based on any miniscule proportion of Maori ancestry, and there is a racial intermarriage rate hovering around 50% for Maori, just about anything can happen to “the proportion of the population that is Maori”, and the proportion of the population that are “Maori” in jail, failing at school, below average income level, and what have you.
  
  The dislocation between the proportion of the population that “are Maori”, and those identified as part of the failure problem, is due to there being a stronger correlation between “self-identification as Maori” (which is what stats are based on), and failure. The counterbalancing successes among 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 Maori people are not being counted because these people are disproportionately not self-identifying as Maori.
  
  It is such a pity that basic common sense like this, never gets through to the actual public political discussion.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:25am
  - cmm
    
    Of course there is a link between self-identification as Maori and general failure.
    
    1) From an early age, many of those who identify as Maori and hang out with other Maori are accused of “acting white” if they do their homework, put their rubbish in the bin, read a book,… That makes it really, really hard to break out of the cycle. Kids wanting to make a go of their lives often have to make a complete break from family and childhood friends.
    
    2) There is a huge incentive to be classified as Maori for all the handouts it gets you. Generally handouts are a good deal for losers (ie. people who can achieve on their own don’t need/want handouts). Therefore there’s going to be an incentive amongst losers to be classified as Maori.
    
    So it becomes a vicious circle: loser->identify as Maori->loser.
    
    That’s not to say there are no white losers – there are far too many of them too. However the state does not make it worse by handing out special race-based incentives to them (there’s no special hand outs for Bogans) . Nor does the “acting white” thing work. Instead they have to rely on lesser insults (eg. acting posh).
    
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    January 17, 2017 8:59am
  - Komata
    
    PB: Thank you; you have confirmed my reply to Lance’s comment.
    
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    January 17, 2017 11:49am
  - GoVege
    
    I read a few days ago that Charlie Sheen’s real name is Carlos Estevez.
    He gets those tanned good looks from his Mexican dad, but he wanted to be successful so he dropped the ethnic name.
    So did dad.
    Bit like Maori families used to encourage their kids to speak English.
    But that was way before bennies became available and even a career choice.
    
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    January 17, 2017 6:31pm
Paulus

Racial discrimination again – thought she knew better, but she is still part Maori so the trough she wants gets bigger !
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January 17, 2017 8:16am
- lifesgood
  
  And her real name is Juliana…just wants to sound more maori than she is.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:06am
  - Komata
    
    Lifesgood
    
    …But you’re NOT supposed to know that….!!
    
    (It ruins the image).
    
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    January 17, 2017 11:51am
cmm

Anyone know much about programming Firefox plug-ins?

Sometimes I find the comments of some of those amongst us entertaining, but on other days it looks like they spat out their meds that day and all we see is drivel which doesn’t even form a coherent sentence – let alone a relevant point.

What would be useful on such occasions is a filter whereby you can say: today I don’t feel like reading anything from personX or personY (or cmm or whatever too).

Anyone know if that is an easy thing to do?
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January 17, 2017 8:17am
- jcuk
  
  Everybody is equipt with one of them to be found, we hope, behind their eyes.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:20am
- holysheet
  
  I would have thought a wordpress filter would be the best option rather than firefox? The browser wouldn’t be able to filter out what you want?
  This forum is based on a wordpress template?
  I would assume if DPF wanted to, he could get the developers to do this. My limited experience of wordpress suggests that anything is possible.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:38am
  - cmm
    
    What I was thinking was something that can be driven from the reader’s side – not the publishing side.
    
    If DPF filters people out then that places limits on people who genuinely want to see what stephie, gabby (or me or whomever) have to say.
    
    If it is reader-side then the reader gets to chose instead.
    
    If firefox adblocker plugins can detect and kill ads then surely they can parse HTML and knock out paragraphs written by [list of people you’re tired of today].
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:06am
    - stephieboy
      
      cmm, I’m sure Whale Oil and Comrade Redbaiter will be investigating such an idea .However they do it more or less now . It is called censorship !
      Why don’t you go and join them and share your alt right tard fantasy world.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:37am
      - holysheet
        
        Feeling threatened stupidboy?
        If you didn’t post so much shit on here, cmm wouldn’t be looking for anything to try block your crap.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:12am
      - stephieboy
        
        holyturd ,
        
        tsk,tsk, tsk…
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:14am
      - cmm
        
        Shephie What I propose is not censorship.
        
        Censorship means preventing someone from publishing or preventing others from reading what they want to.
        
        I was proposing is the reverse: allowing people to filter what they want to read. That is not censorship that is just people choosing what they want to give their attention to.
        
        Even the thirty-down-ticks hiding a posting is censorship (and I have spoken out against that) and I never down-tick because of that. I only ever uptick or provide a rebuttal.
        
        I can however understand why people would do thirty downticks. There are often completely incoherent ramblings that make so sense at all but just pollute what could otherwise be a forum for some rational discussions.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:22am
      - stephieboy
        
        cmm, still seems like censorship ” by stealth “to me.
        
        I post my opinions 30 downticks or not . Too bad if you others don’t like them.
        
        Tough !
        
        Learn to suck it up !
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:35am
    - rangitoto
      
      It is possible. There are existing content filter add ons available for firefox. They are mostly aimed at parental control type stuff, blocking naughty sites and naughty words. How easy they are to develop, I don’t know but a cursory look shows Mozilla have lots of info published on how to develop add ons for Firefox.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:30am
    - holysheet
      
      Try this CMM
      
      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/comments-filter-for-facebook/?src=search
      
      you might be able to change it to what you want
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:49am
- Happychappy
  
  Shit that’s a let down just when I thought I was getting it right.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:41am
  - cmm
    
    Sorry mate. Not on my radar.
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:07am
  - fernglas
    
    If you dive into a cesspool it’s impossible to filter out the shit.
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:08am
    - Komata
      
      Actually no (and taking your statement ONLY on its face value) technically such material CAN be filtered, but you are eventually working with extremely fine screens and it can become somewhat uneconomic…
      
      (I thought that you should know…)
      
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      January 17, 2017 11:54am
- brett68
  
  It’s not very difficult.
  
  I was thinking of creating a chrome extension for that very reason.
  
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  January 17, 2017 11:59am
- Gabby
  
  That’s just the sort of snoflake whinging you’d expect from a lifelong running-dog cmmist.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:12pm
- Fletch
  
  Someone wrote some code a few years back that filtered out comments on Kiwiblog based on the name of the person commenting, but since then Kiwiblog has been updated so I’m not sure it would work any more. I think the Firefox extension was called Rest In Peace or something (we used to call it RIP), but I can’t remember all the details now. I know it worked very well and there was some discussion about free speech and whatnot.
  
  [edit] found the code –
  
  http://ripwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/8766797/K%20RIPs
  
  And this is the extension it is supposed to work with –
  
  http://rip.mozdev.org/
  
  As I said, this worked before Kiwiblog was updated – not sure if it would work now.
  
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  January 17, 2017 2:07pm
  - Fletch
    
    ps, it seems R.I.P stands for ‘Remove it Permanently’..
    
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    January 17, 2017 2:14pm
  - Fletch
    
    pps, the code was written by “dc” who comments on the blog, or used to.
    
    http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/02/blog_bits_on_waitangi_day.html
    
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    January 17, 2017 2:32pm
Paulus Gnome

An Auckland paper tells me this morning ‘North Shore motorists stung in holiday period speeding fines’

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11783170

‘Devonport-Takapuna local board deputy chairman and former police officer George Wood said some North Shore residents felt like they were unfairly targeted.
“The North Shore is not a high-risk area for [crashes resulting in] death and serious injury.
“It’s hard to figure out why there’s emphasis on the North Shore when far more serious crashes happen in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.” ‘

No pussy diversion for a cup of tea and a friendly chat like the Manukau boys here. Why target the Northshore?

Because it is likely the fines will actually get paid and not just added to the ‘tab’ to be converted to community service at a later date at $1,000.00 an hour which is never completed in any event.

Come in Steve (Northshore) . . . . .
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January 17, 2017 8:18am
- MCos
  
  Enough with your casual elitism
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:32am
- VicParking
  
  An also the cops have only 10 minutes to drive home at night after a hard shift ticketing middle aged white males. If they go down to the Waikato they would get home late and miss Shortland Street.
  
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  January 17, 2017 10:26am
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  You got it. We are easy targets and we pay our bills.
  The new Albany highway north of Snapper Rock/Bush Rd has a T2 lane both sides. So I come out of Rothwell turning left and I have to get in the right lane to avoid a fine – only to fined it near impossible to get into the left lane because I am going to Glenfield, not going on the motorway. And yes that arsewipe from Auckland Transport was there with his camera. Revenue gathering to pay for the fucking toy trainset. The T2 restriction was designed to milk.
  
  Edit, I only just read this Paulis because today I was at work earning money and paying TAX to keep this Country running
  
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  January 17, 2017 5:59pm
BeeSting

Kiwiblog has a resident

ISLAMOFASCIST

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamofascism
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January 17, 2017 8:23am
- holysheet
  
  Nah this is more like it
  
  http://www.barenakedislam.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/3799_NpAdvHover.jpg
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:47am
  - stephieboy
    
    Holysheet and BeeSting , catering here for you both,
    
    http://imgur.com/LuCv6ep
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:40am
    - holysheet
      
      If you are going to post anything Stupidboy, try and get it right. I think you meant to post this:
      
      https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cWeLayCo4xo/V6x6_ARXPbI/AAAAAAAAHto/ZIoZVqM9bqYL0TiTGOY-cHeSfg4-4pCxQCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-08-11%2Bat%2B9.17.19%2BAM.png
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:15am
      - stephieboy
        
        holyturd , so that helps us understand your kinky tastes ?
        
        Golden baths next ?
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:31pm
    - BeeSting
      
      YOU ARE THE ISLAMOFASCIST
      
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      January 17, 2017 1:45pm
- wikiriwhis business
  
  wow..you just found out about this. Surely the middle class is truly half asleep
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:43pm
Padriv Ustoev

One of my wives has escaped me and then renounced Islam, and then had the temerity to tell the truth on an interview on the internet.

She is interviewed by another apostate woman Muslim and a filthy Jew from South America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmqnSwWsCJg
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January 17, 2017 8:25am
- Komata
  
  Re: Your ‘Filthy Jew’ comment:
  
  You know him (and his habits of personal hygiene) personally then ? If so, perhaps you can tell us if he has BO?
  
  If not, how can you make that statement with such absolute certainty?
  
  Even as a joke, that is in extremely poor taste and reveals more than you may have been aware…
  
  Thank you.
  
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  January 17, 2017 12:00pm
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    You don’t know what irony is do you?
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:07pm
Happychappy

Its not often that Winston gets a negative post from the Herald but today they have saying that they hope that it does not come down to him deciding the next Election. This editorial does not seem to be happy with Winton’s vote catching bribe to the Pike River Family’s ahead of Safety.
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January 17, 2017 8:38am
- cmm
  
  It will only work as a vote catcher for people too thick to see through to the facts.
  
  Unfortunately there might be quite a few of those.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:09am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Fortunately cmm, they number less than the total number of voters who voted for Labour, the Greens and Winston First at the last election.
    
    And never let us forget that Peters’ key constituency, the elderly, is literally a dying one.
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:34am
    - Harlequin
      
      The Winston First Facebook page is a fascinating insight into the intelligence of his supporters.
      
      Many urged him to and were convinced that he could, step directly into the Prime Ministers job when Key resigned.
      
      A voice of reason that sometime appears there is a wannabe politician in the form of a Jack Russel dog named [appropriately] Jake Daniels.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:17am
      - sooty
        
        Unfortunately there will still be the elderly left after Winston pop’s his clogs!
        
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        January 17, 2017 11:01am
    - Gabby
      
      But growing.
      
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      January 17, 2017 1:17pm
- pdm
  
  Obviously they (ie the Herald) are scared he will go with the Nats!!
  
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  January 17, 2017 12:50pm
Padriv Ustoev

Good News Kiwi blog,

I have found a new wife to replace the one denounce Islam.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4125174/Muslims-welcome-Lindsay-Lohan-Islam.html
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January 17, 2017 8:43am
- Manolo
  
  Is your missus allowed to drink, Imam Padriv?
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:50am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Only water and Camel juice.
    
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    January 17, 2017 8:58am
    - Manolo
      
      Allahu akbar! The teachings of the prophet are not lost on you, dear Imam.
      
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      January 17, 2017 9:05am
Viking2

Padrov. Do you occasionally wonder if actually your “wives” want to replace you?
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January 17, 2017 8:49am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  No, I don’t it would be unIslamic and against the holly teaching of the Prophet.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:00am
  - stephieboy
    
    Marine Le Pen Declares War On Christianity, And Says That She Will Ban Christianity If She Takes Power In France
    
    “Marine Le Pen just declared war against Christianity, saying that she will utterly ban all Christian crosses, symbols and clothing from public life, even going to so far as to say that she will abolish any Christian imagery from any all public schools. This would be an utter ban on Christianity, since the Faith, by its very nature, is suppose to be incarnational and public. I did a whole video on this:….”
    
    http://shoebat.com/2016/10/20/marine-le-pen-declares-war-on-christianity-and-says-that-she-will-ban-christianity-if-she-takes-power-in-france/
    
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    January 17, 2017 9:49am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      Good. I have always said Christianity must be eradicated and replaced by peaceful tolerant Islam.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:01am
      - stephieboy
        
        Marine Le Pen , is proposing both.
        
        Fixed for you !
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:10am
      - Padriv Ustoev
        
        Well we can’t get rid of both. Have to have something in place to control the masses either Christianity or Islam.
        
        Otherwise it just descends into left wing liberalism and pederasty.
        
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        January 17, 2017 10:24am
    - GoVege
      
      Can’t quite see her logic there.
      The reason for banning the burqa is because it relegates females to the position of chattels and property of their husbands.
      If people want to believe cr*p that’s up to them so long as they don’t impinge on the rights of others.
      
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      January 17, 2017 6:20pm
Manolo

The seller of smoke has a heart of gold:
Pope Francis demanded Sunday that ‘every possible measure’ be taken to protect young refugees, as search and rescue efforts continued following the latest deadly Mediterranean migrant shipwreck.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4122494/Ship-carrying-110-migrants-sinks-coast-Libya-Pope-Francis-demands-possible-measure-taken-protect-young-refugees.html#ixzz4VxLTIEIF
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January 17, 2017 8:54am
- cmm
  
  Every possible measure?
  
  I’ll believe that when he starts walking the walk and sets up a dorm for migrants in the Vatican.
  
  Bastard lives in a walled city-state with the highest income to population ratio in the world and an armed guard, yet he has the temerity to say walls must come down and people must give away their wealth.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:14am
  - VicParking
    
    He should bless them so that they can walk across the sea from Africa.
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:29am
Manolo

Trying to bludge until the last moment:
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/the_most_perplexing_leaving_gift_ever

In December we received a tip off that former Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown asked officials for a ratepayer-funded tattoo as her departure gift as Mayor of the City.

We found it difficult to believe that an elected official would ask for a tattoo, which we were told was to be on the former Mayor’s ankle, so (as is our practise to verify tip-offs) we made a request under freedom of information laws to the Wellington City Council.

To our astonishment last week we received confirmation from Wellington City Council that the tip was correct! Fortunately, the Council refused to grant an unusual request by former Wellington.
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January 17, 2017 9:16am
- Gabby
  
  Cheaper than a gold watch.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:20pm
Manolo

Fighting each other:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/democratic-leadership-race-exposes-party-division-1484583764

The Democratic fissures exposed in last year’s presidential primary campaign between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have roared back to life, with party officials wary the split will hamper their ability to fight President-elect Donald Trump.

The divide was in full view in Phoenix, where Democratic National Committee members from western states gathered over the weekend for the first of four scheduled “future forums” for candidates running to lead the party.
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January 17, 2017 9:25am
RJA

Just been listening to RNZ interview with BBC reporter, saying Trump in total opposition to what his cabinet is stating.
Trump stating = NATO obsolete
Cabinet stating = NATO best deal in recent times.

These are not contradictory. NATO can be both (and probably is). Trump is also stating he values NATO. But it needs an upgrade.

What is it with the media and Trump? I suspect it is that he dared hold them to account and show their failing very publicly.
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January 17, 2017 9:30am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  I think a lot of global problems could be solved if they just invited Russia into NATO.
  
  SO many benefits and no drawbacks.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:45am
All_on_Red

I would be interested in the thoughts of the erudite group which is KB. Below is from Mark Skousen who is currently a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University in California, where he teaches a course entitled, “Modern Political Economy: Who is Winning the Battle of Ideas”
“My best example is when I ask my economics students “Which is more accurate, Say’s law or Keynes’s law?” Say’s law (defined below) is named after the 19th century French economist J.-B. Say, while Keynes’s law is named after the 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes.
Most of the students have never heard of either law, so on the blackboard or PowerPoint, I simplify the definition as follows:
Say’s Law: “Supply creates demand.”
Keynes’s Law: “Demand creates supply.”
Before we have any discussion, I ask the students to intuitively decide which one makes more sense, and why. ”

Yes, he does simplify it but anyway my view is Says Law because until many products were created we didn’t know we needed them. What do others think?
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January 17, 2017 9:35am
- Inandout
  
  But then when a certain supply is found to be crap, then demand decreases. So it comes back to the old saying relating to demand-
  
  ‘Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door’. Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:46am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Exactly, “BUILD a better mousetrap” – so the supply comes first.
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:00am
    - stephieboy
      
      Or a 10 ft higher Wall ?
      
      http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/02/13/trump-the-wall-just-got-ten-feet-higher?videoId=367388523
      
      Idiot !
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:11am
      - pentwig
        
        steffie
        you misread what AOR initially stated:
        “I would be interested in the thoughts of the erudite group which is KB”
        
        Whatever gave you the impression you would be included in that group?
        Tragic.
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:30pm
    - trout
      
      In some of my work in product design I have found that people do not acknowledge they have a problem until the solution comes along. Yes, supply, as in ‘an easier way to do things’ creates demand.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:41am
      - MH
        
        so at first the mouse population decreases then the mice feel the need to procreate more….supply and demand again. then the price of cheese goes up and down.
        If the trap is too good where does it leave the poor bloody farmers? maybe Peters is the pied Piper and leading the mice astray.
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:53pm
    - Gabby
      
      Because nobody felt the need to catch mice?
      
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      January 17, 2017 1:22pm
  - VicParking
    
    The second mouse gets the cheese.
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:32am
- stephieboy
  
  All on Red , with unemployment at 25% 1933 what would you say ?
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression
  
  More cut backs and deflation ?
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:55am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  I sense a logical fallacy in Say’s Law. Not sure how to frame it properly, but –
  
  Just because something has not been created yet does not mean that it was not wanted. So the proposition that there is no want before the creation of something is false.
  
  However if something already exists it can be unwanted, thus no demand.
  
  So Keynes’ law must be the correct statement in that context
  
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  January 17, 2017 10:32am
  - stephieboy
    
    Like the 25% unemployed in 1933 ?
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:37am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      I’m talking approaching the two propositions in an absolutely abstract and philosophical way.
      
      Not cherry picking an example to argue.
      
      I know it’s hard for you to understand but sometimes you can just argue propositions on logic to see if they are true/false.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:47am
  - waikatogirl
    
    That’s where inventors come in, they see a hole in the market, something they want and supply to the market.
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:42am
    - Inandout
      
      As in mousetrap, but obviously the product has to be good.
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:47am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yes, products are often created from an idea for a solution to a problem.
      But you have to create and build them to supply and then be able to sell them. Marketing your solution and providing supply then creates demand?
      
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      January 17, 2017 1:00pm
Tauhei Notts

I get a daily investment letter, the most interesting part therein being the political analysis from a man in Baltimore, Maryland.
He wonders why the hugely funded American security industry would want to pick a fight with their new Commander in Chief.
There are at least 17 intelligence agencies in the USA, with thousands of snoops, analysts and informants paid largely out of classified budgets at a cost of billions of dollars per year.
Why would they pick fights with the new President over clownish “intelligence” reports.
Was it a mistake?
Was it a miscalculation?
Something does not add up.
Okay, I know that military intelligence is the ultimate oxymoron.
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January 17, 2017 9:41am
- Inandout
  
  The security intelligence agencies are deeply embedded in the political career establishment, so as public servants many would have been employed with the grace of Obama appointed head of departments . Their constant failures in preventing terrorist acts in the homeland because the perpetrators were ‘being watched’ or had been released through ‘lack of evidence’ happened time after time.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:55am
  - stephieboy
    
    Inandout , so what will Trump do .?
    
    Pass Laws ?
    
    http://www.dw.com/image/18035970_303.jpg
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:01am
- Komata
  
  No, AMERICAN military intelligence is (Just ask any service personnel who’ve served with or near them…).
  
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  January 17, 2017 12:10pm
- Gabby
  
  They know he’s a crook.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:24pm
RF

If it’s true that Angry is having speech training he should ask for a refund.

I have heard him blithering on several times recently and could not understand him.

I have been speaking to a good Labour source ….now that JK has stepped down they are very confident that the election is theirs to win. Good old Bill has not got JKs X factor.

I pointed out that Angry is also missing this.
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January 17, 2017 9:42am
- Gabby
  
  You’re just a bit deaf. Turn up your deaf aid, take your fngers out of your ears and stop girlscreaming lalalalalala.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:26pm
SPC

An old saying, better to be inside the White House pissing out, than outside the White House being pissed on.

A more recent observation is that trolls go onto a blog or twitter account to piss on the wider world … and now we have Trump.
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January 17, 2017 9:56am
SPC

Trump has observed that the EU had become “a vehicle for Germany” and that Merkel’s intake of a million migrants was a mistake.

Two things that are true in fact and not made up (the weak euro serves German exporters and barely half the refugees were Syrian and very few women and children).

Interestingly the French have reacted the most strongly (as they built Europe to harness German economic power for their political status). Valis a socialist candidate for President called his comments a declaration of war on Europe, presumably to attract pro European sentiment in France behind his candidacy.
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January 17, 2017 10:06am
- Inandout
  
  Merkel’s action was akin to a person deliberately getting infected with anthrax to see what it was like. Sheer madness.
  
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  January 17, 2017 10:50am
Maggy Wassilieff

Heading to Moscow soon?

Remember No ogling of women

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38641117
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January 17, 2017 10:26am
- Andrei
  
  Just change your name from Maggy Wassilieff to Margarita Vasilieva
  
  What was your father’s name? You could use it to to add the patronymic and then you’ll pass muster
  
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  January 17, 2017 10:34am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    My father’s name was John Macdonald.
    
    I have the husband’s surname. I am of the vintage when banks didn’t grant housing loans to married couples with different surnames.
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:50am
    - Andrei
      
      Vasilieva is taking your husband’s surname but explaining that to a bank clerk in days of yore might have caused a glazing of the glazzies
      
      Margarita Ivanovna Vasilieva has a ring to it
      
      We could call you Rita when chatting or to show you our respect Margarita Ivanovna
      
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      January 17, 2017 11:02am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The correct form of address to me is
        Ваше Благородие
        
        But you can call me Maggy.
        
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        January 17, 2017 3:05pm
    - holysheet
      
      “I have the husband’s”
      And he refers to you as “the wife” does he?
      
      4 0
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      January 17, 2017 11:03am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Heck, I can’t remember….
        
        Don’t recall that he refers to me at all.
        
        I’ll ask him when I let him out.
        
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        January 17, 2017 11:17am
    - pdm
      
      `My fathers name was John Macdonald.’
      
      Funny – so was mine.
      
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      January 17, 2017 12:57pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Yay, another one of us….
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:54pm
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Margarita Padrivna Vasilieva
    
    Or Margarita Andreevana Vasilieva
    
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    January 17, 2017 10:52am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      Gotta love that Patronamic name Slavs have.
      
      Or is it only Russians?
      
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      January 17, 2017 10:54am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        What do you imagine Macdonald is?
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_name
        
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        January 17, 2017 11:03am
      - Andrei
        
        Eastern Slavs – I don’t think my friend Lucia Maria has one
        
        4 1
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        January 17, 2017 11:04am
      - Andrei
        
        MacDonald is a patronymic or was. It has become surnameized now probably English influence
        
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        January 17, 2017 11:07am
      - holysheet
        
        Mac donald is son of donald.
        Those norse invaders have a lot to answer for.
        I have traced the Macdonald side of my family back to 750 AD. There was a Harald from Norway in there somewhere. Very interesting pastime is geneology.
        
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        January 17, 2017 12:00pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Amongst many Scots from the Western Isles, it is traditional for the children to be given the same Christian names as some of their close relatives.
        
        I have been named after my 2 aunties; my brothers after their uncles.
        My daughters are named after my mother and grandmother.
        
        My brothers did not continue with the tradition and some very odd names are now appearing in the whanau.
        
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        January 17, 2017 12:01pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @holysheet
        
        we’ve been down this path before on KB
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/09/general_debate_14_september_2015.html/comment-page-2#comment-1584684
        
        Don the Kiwi also has Macdonald ancestry; as does at least one other KB poster.
        Welcome to the whanau.
        
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        January 17, 2017 12:09pm
Lucia Maria

Alec Baldwin Goes High as Donald Trump Goes Low in SNL Twitter Battle

With just five days to go until Donald Trump is inaugurated as president of the United States, he is still, unbelievably, complaining about his portrayal on Saturday Night Live.

Here’s the clip: YouTube – SNL’s Donald Trump Press Conference Cold Open
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January 17, 2017 10:35am
Lucia Maria

On patronymics (so much easier to reply here)…

Andrei, you’re correct, I don’t have one. However, I am doing my family tree right now, and on my mother’s side, I’m seeing the patronymic in the surnames of women that marry into my grandfather’s family. It just doesn’t go down the chain as his name and also my surname are not particulary Polish at all. On my mother’s side, the surname looks German to me, and my surname, I’ve been told, is Dutch.
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January 17, 2017 11:43am
- Jack5
  
  Dutch surname, Lucia. Perhaps you’re descended from one of the Dutch survivors of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Perhaps he settled in Poland as the Russkis kicked Napoleon back to France.
  
  German on your Mum’s side. If she’s Polish, too, you may have ethnic-German Polish relatives who were driven out of Poland in the 1945-46 ethnic cleansing.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:10pm
Happychappy

So Labour and the Greens are to host a state of the
Nation on January the 29th in Auckland where Andrew Little and the obese co leader of the Greens will talk about their plan to fix NZ. I wonder whether this is another master plan of Labour’s to raise funds for the General Election as they need funds to fight the Election and become a creditable hope to become the Government.
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January 17, 2017 12:02pm
- Tauhei Notts
  
  But the big function will be held in Mount Albert electorate, just four weeks prior to the Labour versus Greens contest.
  I thought it was an unusual choice of venue.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:34pm
- Gabby
  
  How’s your diet going, chappy? Hate to think you’re slagging off fatties given your own girth. That would be crappy.
  
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  January 17, 2017 1:46pm
Keeping Stock

It looks as though Paul Eagle has the numbers to take the Rongotai Labour nomination, so Little has cut and run:

Labour leader Andrew Little will stand as a list candidate in the general election – ending speculation he could stand in Wellington’s Rongotai seat.

Wellington councillor Paul Eagle is now the front-runner to stand in Rongotai, which is being vacated after 24 years by Labour’s deputy leader Annette King, who will move onto the list.

Little, a list MP, has lived in the Rongotai electorate for years and told his colleagues at Labour’s caucus meeting at Martinborough’s Brackenridge resort he had decided to be a list-only candidate.

“In the two or so years I have been leader I have observed myself and told my colleagues, the benefit of being a list MP in the role of leader is that I can be anywhere in the country at any time without being tied to the obligations to an electorate,” Little said.

“I have to lead a party that starts from 2014 at a 25 per cent vote, polling at the moment at late 20s, 30 per cent sort of mark.

So we have a lot of work to do, and I don’t underestimate that.

“I want to be free to get around as much of the country as frequently as I can over the next nine months to sell our message.”

There had been speculation King would step aside to give Little an electorate after his two failed tilts at New Plymouth. He made it back into Parliament by a narrow margin after 2014.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11783594

Even with the might of the Labour Party Head Office and the union movement behind him, Little has worked out that he wasn’t going to win the Rongotai nomination, so he has bottled out.

And it would be interesting to see the polls that have Labour in the “30 per cent sort of mark”. The last Roy Morgan poll of 2016 had Labour at 28.5% (up 5% from a disastrous November poll), but we all know Roy Morgan polls go up and down faster than a whore’s drawers.

Lastly, it’s really bad news for Trevor Mallard who will be at best the third-highest ranked non-electorate MP on Labour’s list. Given that Labour will have to give almost all the winnable list placings to women to achieve gender balance, Mallard and David Parker might well be dusting off their respective CV’s.
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January 17, 2017 12:03pm
- sooty
  
  Stuart has been neutered. He does not need to apologize now!
  
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  January 17, 2017 4:30pm
Komata

So where IS ztev when you need him most?

No doubt he will have a Pavlovian response and arrive at the mention of his name – eventually.

(Or perhaps someone should mention the magic words ‘OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY’; they get him every time).
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January 17, 2017 12:15pm
starboard

lol..I see the brown ferals are still running wild in NZ..

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/88485058/axewielding-robbers-take-cash-and-cigarettes-in-hamilton-dairy-robbery
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January 17, 2017 12:58pm
Manolo

Scandalous, claim the progressive Europeans:
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-rattles-europe-by-branding-the-nato-alliance-obsolete/news-story/3f32ac582c0c74bbb4e222a25bd9e10e
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January 17, 2017 12:59pm
Inandout

So Trump’s ‘comb over bald patch’ wasn’t one at all.

http://conservativetribune.com/trump-new-hair-do-inauguration/
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January 17, 2017 1:17pm
Manolo

A rat is captured:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/16/new-year-nightclub-attacker-caught-in-istanbul-turkish-media-reports.html

The gunman suspected of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day has been caught in the city’s Esenyurt district, the Hurriyet newspaper website and other media reports said on Tuesday.

The reports could not be confirmed; but Hurriyet said the man, who media quoted police as saying had operated under the cover name Ebu Muhammed Horasani, was caught in an operation along with his son.
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January 17, 2017 1:29pm
- Inandout
  
  This is the rat’s photo.
  
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/16/istanbul-nightclub-attacker-killed-39-new-years-eve-nightclub/
  
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  January 17, 2017 2:22pm
  - holysheet
    
    It’s stupidboys cuzzie. I see a resemblance in the eyes. It’s always the eyes.
    
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    January 17, 2017 3:05pm
BeeSting

French National Anthem

Arise, children of the Fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny’s
Bloody banner is raised, (repeat)
Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They’re coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!

To arms, citizens,
Form your battalions,
Let’s march, let’s march!
Let an impure blood
Soak our fields!

What does this horde of slaves,
Of traitors and conspiratorial kings want?
For whom are these vile chains,
These long-prepared irons? (repeat)
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What fury it must arouse!
It is us they dare plan
To return to the old slavery!

To arms, citizens…

What! Foreign cohorts
Would make the law in our homes!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would strike down our proud warriors! (repeat)
Great God! By chained hands
Our brows would yield under the yoke
Vile despots would have themselves
The masters of our destinies!

To arms, citizens…

Tremble, tyrants and you traitors
The shame of all parties,
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will finally receive their reward! (repeat)
Everyone is a soldier to combat you
If they fall, our young heroes,
The earth will produce new ones,
Ready to fight against you!

To arms, citizens…

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Bear or hold back your blows!
Spare those sorry victims,
Who arm against us with regret. (repeat)
But not these bloodthirsty despots,
These accomplices of Bouillé,
All these tigers who, mercilessly,
Rip their mother’s breast!

To arms, citizens…

Sacred love of the Fatherland,
Lead, support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished Liberty,
Fight with thy defenders! (repeat)
Under our flags, may victory
Hurry to thy manly accents,
May thy expiring enemies,
See thy triumph and our glory!

To arms, citizens…

(Children’s Verse)
We shall enter the (military) career
When our elders are no longer there,
There we shall find their dust
And the trace of their virtues (repeat)
Much less keen to survive them
Than to share their coffins,
We shall have the sublime pride
Of avenging or following them

To arms, citizens…
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January 17, 2017 1:47pm
- stephieboy
  
  BeeSting,
  
  Marine le Pen to the Rescue ,
  
  http://www.catholic.org/news/international/europe/story.php?id=71455
  
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  January 17, 2017 2:44pm
  - BeeSting
    
    Instruction Manual
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laWIjgWDesE
    
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    January 18, 2017 12:12am
Manolo

Shaking it up:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/world/donald-trump-world-leaders.html?_r=0

He called NATO obsolete. He said Germany’s acceptance of refugees is “utterly catastrophic.” The decades-old One China policy embraced by the United States? That’s up for discussion.

Just days before Donald J. Trump’s inauguration, world leaders on three continents are on edge after comments the president-elect made in an interview on Friday with The Wall Street Journal and in a weekend interview with two European newspapers, Bild and The Times of London.
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January 17, 2017 2:00pm
Fletch

James O’Keefe has another undercover Veritas video out – this time showing those going to protest Trump planning to use butyric acid bombs to stink out a ball planned in Trump’s honor.

According to the video, they allegedly planned to place explosive “stink bomb” devices at the party and, if those failed, to trigger the fire sprinkler system, forcing attendees to evacuate outside in cold weather conditions.

One activist is also heard on the video to threaten the city government of Washington, D.C., and the police:

The message has to be, we do not recognize the city government either. If you try to close us down we will look for your house, we will burn it. We will physically fight the police if they try to steal one of our places. We will go to war and you will lose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZSfhd1X_8

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/16/new-james-okeefe-video-leftists-planning-stink-bombs-deploraball/

These people are anarchists and domestic terrorists, pure and simple. Nothing democratic about them. More videos to emerge this week.
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January 17, 2017 2:20pm
- Disaster Area
  
  I’m pretty sure this would come under some Homeland Security/Terrorist legislation.
  Idiots.
  
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  January 17, 2017 2:25pm
  - Reid
    
    Yes it would but whether the authorities will take it to that level is the question.
    
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    January 17, 2017 5:35pm
    - Disaster Area
      
      The Secret Service are not renowned for their sense of fun over this type of thing.
      
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      January 17, 2017 7:25pm
- stephieboy
  
  Fletch ,
  
  “Conservative Provocateur James O’Keefe Flops In His Biggest Fail Yet”
  
  “James O’Keefe is a professional liar,” Dickerson said. “He just isn’t very good at it.” !
  
  http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/brian-dickerson-james-okeefe-column
  
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  January 17, 2017 2:39pm
  - Fletch
    
    Um, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the D.C Metro Police have been brought into it now. But keep on believing there’s nothing in it if it makes you feel better. What is in the video is plain – it’s not O’keefe talking, it is the protesters themselves.
    
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    January 17, 2017 2:42pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Fletch , we sall have to wait and see .
      
      O ‘ Keefe’s past form is not great gounds for confidence .
      
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      January 17, 2017 2:46pm
      - Manolo
        
        Quite the contrary: he has been excellent!
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:48pm
      - Fletch
        
        Sure it is. Thanks to him the whole selling of aborted baby parts thing came out, the results of the investigation into that are horrible.
        
        O’Keefe is one of the few real investigative journalists out there.
        
        What they found is horrifying and criminal. It’s disturbing that the results have been virtually ignored in the mainstream media. So to fill this gap, here are the top eight horrifying facts the mainstream media doesn’t want you know about aborted babies bodies being sold for profit.
        
        […]
        
        To be clear, the law is unambiguous; it is illegal to make a profit providing organs or any part of a human for research or medical treatment.
        
        But Planned Parenthood and their business partners made a lot of money selling aborted baby body parts, according to the report. The House investigation found one case where Stem Express harvested an intact aborted baby’s brain at a Planned Parenthood clinic. They reportedly paid Planned Parenthood $55 but sold the brain to a researcher for over $3000 – that’s a 2,800% profit. Planned Parenthood reportedly made their money on volume sales and “charitable donations” from these body harvesting companies.
        
        The Senate investigation published invoices which showed in June 2014 ABR bought a fetus from Planned Parenthood for $60. From that one fetus ABR “sold its brain to one customer for $325; both of its eyes for $325 each ($650 total) to a second customer, a portion of its liver for $325 to a third customer; its thymus for $325 and another portion of liver to a fourth customer; and its lung for $325 to a fifth customer.”
        
        Then, the report says, they piled on fees for “disease screening” and shipping. That one aborted baby reportedly brought the company $2,275. The House Investigative Panel found Stem Express generally marked up the baby parts by 400% to 600%.
        
        MORE – http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/15/mcaleer-planned-parenthood-investigation-finds-horrifying-criminal-practices/
        
        The full report –
        
        https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Select_Investigative_Panel_Final_Report.pdf
        
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        January 17, 2017 2:51pm
- mikenmild
  
  Only a moron would accept as valid any information provided by O’Keefe.
  
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  January 17, 2017 3:58pm
Disaster Area

I can’t see any mention of it so far, so please let me be the first to say that I hope your children/family members got the exam results they were hoping for.
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January 17, 2017 2:27pm
Sir Leslie Bottocks

hmmm … I wonder what would happen if an Ocker bowler did something like this while playing against us?

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2017/01/video-tim-southee-fells-shakib-al-hasan-with-painful-blow-to-ankle.html
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January 17, 2017 2:31pm
Stars And Stripes

Confession time.
I used to read Whale Oil daily and thoroughly enjoyed it but this Israel resolution business of late has just turned it into a one trick pony bordering on an obsession.
Only visiting about once a week now as there is only so much one can stomach of the same thing regurgitated a hundred different ways.
So to appeal directly to the Israeli government.
For god sake stop being so tight arse and cough up another free holiday for Whale as surely he has gone beyond the call of duty now in his lavishly positive coverage of this issue then hopefully after he is back we can get back to the good old Whaleoil of beneficiary bashing and persecution of bludgers.
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January 17, 2017 2:40pm
- Brigitte
  
  I think the quote was originally in Tropic Thunder, but doesn’t Slater say “never go full retard”. I think this obsession easily meets that definition.
  
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  January 17, 2017 3:11pm
Manolo

This bugger has some pedigree:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/443896/john-lewis-boycotted-george-w-bush-inauguration

Georgia representative and civil-rights leader John Lewis announced last week that he will boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. “I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd. “You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.”

But this isn’t the first time Lewis has boycotted a presidential inauguration. According to a Washington Post article written on January 21, 2001, Lewis and other members of the Black Caucus boycotted George W. Bush’s inauguration because they didn’t “believe Bush is the true elected president.” Lewis spent the day in his Atlanta district.
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January 17, 2017 3:27pm
- All_on_Red
  
  You’ll enjoy this
  ‘Jan. 16, 2017 – 5:06 – One former Black Panther takes issue with legendary civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis calling Trump an illegitimate president, saying Democrats are the party of the Klan and Lewis is an ‘illegitimate congressman’
  http://video.foxnews.com/v/5284504269001/?#sp=show-clips
  
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  January 17, 2017 4:44pm
Inandout

Gang members have fun in Farkatane with guns and 100 vehicle motorcades. Only NZ gangs can take over our streets with impunity, and have names like ‘Outback Blacks’.
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January 17, 2017 5:03pm
- GoVege
  
  How dare you, Inandout!
  You should know that criminal gangs are a perfectly legitimate and acceptable lifestyle choice.
  The Maori Party apparently says so.
  
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  January 17, 2017 6:10pm
CrazyIvan

Canadian Messiah is under investigation:
http://www.dw.com/en/canadian-pm-justin-trudeau-under-investigation-for-possible-ethics-violation/a-37152965

The funny thing is taking a trip in the Aga Khan’s helicopter may violate the guidelines Trudeau introduced about accepting private flights!
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January 17, 2017 5:32pm
Manolo

The Spectator is harsh on Obama:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/01/obamas-legacy/
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January 17, 2017 6:04pm
- Inandout
  
  Not the Muslim Agha Khan, the spiritual leader of the cultist ones?
  
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  January 17, 2017 6:24pm
- Jack5
  
  A taster from the Spectator article on Obama that Manolo mentions at 6.04:
  
  … the bizarre circumstances surrounding the release from Guantánamo in May, 2014, of five of the Taliban’s top operatives in exchange for Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the young soldier who went AWOL in Afghanistan. To make their case more palatable for the public, the Obama administration mischaracterised Bergdahl as having served his country with ‘honour and distinction’ and the release of the Taliban’s Dream Team as ‘not a security threat to the United States’.
  
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  January 17, 2017 9:41pm
wikiriwhis business

Breaking News war between Russia and NATO has started WW3 !!!

If this is fake news it’s pretty bloody impressive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D3A5dnAqg
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January 17, 2017 7:29pm
- wikiriwhis business
  
  Can’t find anything else anywhere, including on the Beeb’s website. WTH are they thinking? Another Orson Wells War of the Worlds broadcast ?
  
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  January 17, 2017 7:39pm
Jack5

Bob Jones cuts loose again. This time his target is beggars. He says they’re a disgrace to society, and they are mostly “fat and Maori”.

Dame Devoid’s family better get her on transquilizers before she reads the Jones comments.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11783845
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January 17, 2017 8:03pm
- Reid
  
  A snowflake responds (from the link):
  
  Upset NewstalkZB listeners were quick to respond to Jones’ comments via text.
  
  Lynch said one read “the racism in that call is unbelievable, racism knows no colour”.
  
  It’s a shame not only are snowflakes emotionally delicate they’re also idiots as well for they don’t seem to realise it’s their snowflakery that has resulted in said beggary in the first place. The morons don’t seem to get this didn’t used to happen before their idiot hand-wringing touchy feely poison started seeping into the national consciousness from the 70’s on. It’s their fault, entirely their fault and no-one else’s that this has happened. This is the natural outfall of the poisonous cotton wool wrap-around package offered in both welfare and education, which lefty fools have promoted all through the Western world since those days.
  
  What the fuck do the dunderheads think some humans were going to do if they discover all they have to lie down while perfectly healthy and wait for the nearest hand-wringing idiot lefty to mince their way over and start clucking over them?
  
  The unarguable conclusion through logic is lefties are either dumb or evil, there is no third alternative. Because most know this elementary fact of human nature perfectly well, you’d have to think most of them would in fact be evil, wouldn’t you. But look how they behave, so you know it’s not that one.
  
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  January 17, 2017 8:35pm
nasska

“Well Inspector. Empty pill bottle, bath full of water & wrists slashed. Obvious suicide.”

“Sorry Detective. Murder. How long have you been on the force?”

“Six years Sir. ”

“Well I’ve been on the force for thirty two years & I’ve never seen a Muslim in a bath yet.”
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January 17, 2017 8:08pm
Jack5

Leftist Bryan Gould defends political correctness in the Bay of Plenty Times.

Gould, a Kiwi who was diplomat in Britain and an MP in Britain, then from the early 1990s a Waikato academic, says in part:

Political correctness” is a term devised by those who are careless about exacerbating divisions in our society and who seek to avoid justified disapproval for doing so.

AND

“Political correctness” … is a misnomer that denotes no more than the proper standards of behaviour writ large…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11783099
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January 17, 2017 9:14pm
Nostradamus

A lawyer friend has brought this case to my attention. The judgment includes two phone transcripts. Here’s a taste:

OP [operator]: How can I help?
KC [Mr Counsel]: Yeah my wife tried to kill herself the other night. She’s taken off again now I think she’s heading to Albany to jump off at The Gap.
OP: Okay, what was your name?
KC: Kevin Counsel.
…
OP: Whereabouts are you going now, to Albany?
KC: I’m heading to Albany mate flat out.
…
OP: Need like more information if you can understand, because all we’ve basically got is your name, her name and no contact numbers or anything like that. Can you pull over and just get her number?
…
KC: Okay, I’ll just get into my phone..aw man..here we go, contacts…
OP: If you’re on your phone you’ve got to pull over cause we don’t want you getting in an accident.
KC: Mate, I’m not slowing down for no one.
OP: No, no, if your not using hands free I can’t take information from you over the phone, cause if you..
KC: [Shouting including expletives – difficult to understand].
OP: Okay well its up to you. I’m telling you that I am not taking information from you when you are not using hands free on the phone.
KC: [a few mumbled words].
OP: Call terminated 15:39

Call 2:
OP: How may I help you?
KC: Yeah, I’m getting chased by the police at the moment, I’m heading down Albany Highway
OP: Why don’t you stop for them sir
KC: Yeah well I’m not going to stop am I, obviously I want someone to get to Albany, my wife is going to jump off the bridge and you’re going to have to get there before and stop it. My wife is going to jump at The Gap. I want someone I want a police officer at Albany before I pull over okay, no one’s going to stop her from killing herself okay.
OP: But there’s no point in you killing yourself while we are trying to do that sir.
KC: I will not stop until I get to Albany.
…
OP: Are the police actually chasing you now?
KC: They are chasing me now, they are behind me I don’t care I’m not stopping
OP: So the police are behind you right now?
KC: Yes they are they have been behind me for about ten minutes.
OP: Then please stop and…
KC: I’m not going to stop until you promise that someone is going to be in Albany before I stop.
…
OP: Are you pulling over Kevin.
KC: Yeah, I pulling over.
…
Sound of sirens and police officers.

The rest is well worth a read!
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January 17, 2017 9:51pm
rangitoto

It looks like the Iraqi army is finally making progress against Daesh in Mosul after being stalled for a few weeks. They have captured the University and third bridge of the Tigris. They should mop up the remaining areas of the city on the East side of the river over the next few days. Daesh are still in full control of the city on the West side of the river but there are signs they are starting to crumble.
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January 17, 2017 10:07pm
Jack5

The difference between military and civilian prison in NZ is outlined in a statement from a soldier convicted of an offence and then held in the Army prison at Burnham. No TVs, no computers, no university courses. Here’s the soldier’s account:

He said his sentence in military prison was vastly different to civilian prison.

“There is no Sky TV, there’s no hanging out in your room for 23 hours a day.

“It’s all about hard labour and demoralisation from sun up to late at night.

“Discipline and routine are very strict and any infraction will see an inmate in a freezing and dark solitary confinement cell wearing only a singlet and underpants.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/88479433/ex-soldier-who-sexually-assaulted-recruit-says-offending-pales-in-comparison-to-punishment
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January 17, 2017 10:42pm
cha

Retired bloke, sick to death of the wife’s pissing and moaning, offers to help around the house.
Great, she said, you can start with the vacuuming so off he went with the damned thing but a wee while later he wanders into the kitchen and puts the jug on.

The wife eyeballs him and says, I didn’t hear the vacuum running, I thought you were going to do the vacuuming?.

Bloke says he stupid thing is broken, it won’t start. We need to buy a new one.
Really, says the wife, show me — it worked fine the last time.

So he shows her.
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January 17, 2017 11:44pm
Manolo

That would be a start:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/boom-trump-eyes-10-spending-cuts-20-slash-of-federal-workers/article/2612037

Making good on a promise to slash government, President-elect Trump has asked his incoming team to pursue spending and staffing cuts.

Insiders said that the spending reductions in some departments could go as high as 10% and staff cuts to 20%, numbers that would rock Washington if he follows through.
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January 18, 2017 6:24am
Manolo

Playing hard ball with the EU:
Theresa May unveiled her bold blueprint for cutting ties with Brussels today – and warned that if the EU is not flexible it could be ‘crushed into tiny pieces’.

In an historic speech that will define the UK for generations, the Prime Minister vowed to take the country out of the European single market.

She insisted controlling rampant immigration is a red line – and made clear Britain will no longer tolerate being bossed around by European judges.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4127246/PM-immigration-Brexit-plan-leaving-EU-single-market.html#ixzz4W2fQB0uT
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January 18, 2017 6:45am
RJA

I smell a growing displeasure in the West of being governed by well intentioned mummy states. I certain am on that anti team.

If we in NZ want to start by reversing the Nanny trend, gthen why not cancel the stupid “cyclists must wear helmets” law. I totally understand and sympathise the aggrieved mother who lost her kid, but the law is making cycling not an option for thousands who would be more than happy to use them if helmets were not required.

Mums can still make their kids wear them if they are concerned. Let adults make their own mind up.

When I was a kid (over half a century ago) we never wore helmets and bikes were everything to us. We came off and we scraped etc, but that happens now – helmet or not. My Doctor told me that head injuries from cycling subsequent to the law has not improved at all. Get smashed by a motor vehicle and you are in the cart irrespective.

In my day those that rode flat out on racing bikes (virtually the only cyclists now), all wore helmets without needing laws. It made sense. They were travelling as fast as cars then too.

But when you are riding bikes no faster than an athlete can run (or walk), then why treat the cyclist any differently. If one must, put a speed limit of (say) 20kms and no need for a helmet.

No woman I have ever been involved with would “ever” put a helmet over their complex hair construction, needed to be seen in public. So that means no biking to work or anywhere else for that matter. And too many men now days are also in the pretty hair sect and also not prepared to done the helmet. Then of course there is the simple convenience of a bike for the quick trip. But no, we have to go get the helmet and everything that goes with that.

Drop the damned law. Ask any cycle company. We are grossly at odds with the rest of the world.

I get sick of being advised that our laws are changed to keep in step with other countries (eg dropped drinking tolerance). Then why not apply the same with helmets.
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January 18, 2017 4:40pm

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