General Debate 27 March 2017

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fernglas

Andrew Little must be nervous about his defamation case, which apparently starts next week. His only real asset is a jointly owned family home (what, no trust?) which is subject to a mortgage. Defamation costs and damages are pretty high; he could be wiped out. Not to mention that a member of the board that he implicitly accused of corruption over the deal is Ross Ardern, his new Deputy.
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March 27, 2017 9:43am
- fernglas
  
  Deputy’s father
  
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  March 27, 2017 9:44am
- ztev
  
  Wont be a full hearing next week. The only thing that will happen is that it will be postponed.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:32am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Until the beginning of September
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:33am
    - GazzaW
      
      Nice timing.
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:46am
  - sooty
    
    Why would it get postponed? It’s been pushed by the Hagamans, would you not think that they would not want to postpone it. Andy would not want it any closer to election day. Maybe he could have it next year when he is no longer the leader of the labour party or in parliment. I don’t think so! That would not suit the Hagamans, l think. Better to ream Andys arse now for maximun effect!
    What makes you the font off all knowledge.
    I think you are blowing smoke out your arse!
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:19pm
- stephen2d
  
  There is no chance in hell that Angry will use his own money to pay defamation costs and damages. It will most likely be either from a dwindling Labour slush fund or, more likely, from the parliamentary services allowance. Either way, very shortly after the cases is settled (if done prior to elections), he will be gonsky, knifed by Jacinda, Grant & co.
  
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  March 27, 2017 2:06pm
Kimbo

Rodney Hide nails it with Todd barclay. He may have got excellent legal advice, but it was awful political advice:

Rodney Hide: Not a good look for Barclay

5:00 AM Sunday Mar 26, 2017

…The prospect was for Barclay to be MP for 60 years. A glittering career lay ahead of him.

All he needed do was keep his head down and learn the ropes. Time was on his side.

Alas, it was not to be. There was a falling out with electorate staff who had worked for years with previous local MP English. There was upheaval in the electorate committee with the chairman declaring his position untenable.

There were allegations of Barclay “unlawfully intercepting a private communication”. There was a police investigation. There was an unsuccessful challenge from within to depose him.

The only requirement of backbench MPs is to be tidy. Barclay failed in that one crucial task.

But that’s not all. A year ago Barclay promised his full co-operation with police: “If they do contact me on any matter, then I will co-operate fully,” he said.

Later in the year he explained: “I have not spoken to the police about any alleged complaint.”

It sounded like he was more than happy to talk to the police but they closed the file without the need even to talk to him. That wasn’t so. It emerged this week police were eager to interview Barclay but he refused. He didn’t even front up to refuse – he had his lawyer do it for him.

It’s quite okay for private citizens to refuse a police interview. In my opinion it’s not okay for MPs. And it’s especially not so when the MP is telling voters he is more than happy to be interviewed.

The suspicion that cannot be avoided in my mind is that his answering questions would be bad for him.

Barclay can’t claim inexperience. He has worked as a PR professional and in the most powerful political offices in the land. His youthful inexperience doesn’t remove him from the hook. He doesn’t have the defence that he misspoke.

Such is the nature of politics that in a few short years his colleagues will have forgotten the staff controversy and English on the spot. Political accidents happen. But they won’t forget his refusal to front for questions and his seemingly misleading statements. They will dog him his entire career.

They are a matter of character.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11824145
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March 27, 2017 9:46am
- kowtow
  
  A politician didn’t keep a promise …….
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:33am
- dime
  
  “There were allegations of Barclay “unlawfully intercepting a private communication”. ”
  
  did he read someones email? i know F all about this.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:34am
  - Kimbo
    
    Police documents released to NZME show Clutha-Southland MP Todd Barclay refused to cooperate with police during an investigation into allegations the 26-year-old secretly recorded staff in his electorate office.
    
    Mr Barclay initially told the Otago Daily Times that he would co-operate fully with police if they contacted him about the allegations. But police now say Mr Barclay did not return their calls after several messages were left for him to do so.
    
    In November 2016, Prime Minister Bill English, who was then deputy, refused to back New Zealand’s youngest MP in his former electorate, after his seat was challenged by former Merrill Lynch investment banker Simon Flood.
    Mr Barclay has faced several scandals in his first term since taking over the seat from Mr English in 2014, but the alleged secret recordings made in his Gore office that resulted in several long-term workers quitting their jobs was the biggest.
    
    Police at the time laid no charges against Mr Barclay claiming there simply wasn’t enough evidence to do so.
    
    Mr Flood unsuccessfully challenged Mr Barclay for his Clutha-Southland seat following the scandal.
    
    It’s now emerged Mr English’s long-time Clutha-Southland electorate agent Glenys Dickson openly clashed with Mr Barclay before he asked her to stand down despite a positive appraisal.
    
    It is alleged Mr Barclay made secret recordings of his conversations with Ms Dickson and other staff members.
    
    Mr Barclay has since been re-selected to stand for National in the Clutha-Southland electorate in the upcoming election.
    
    http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/03/mp-todd-barclay-refused-to-cooperate-with-police-over-bugging-claims.html
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:54am
    - dime
      
      well thats him fucked
      
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      March 27, 2017 12:09pm
virtualmark

“We’re going to end, terminate, repeal Obamacare and replace it with something really, really great that works.”

“We will immediately repeal and replace Obamacare – and nobody can do that like me.”

“On my first day in office I will ask congress to send me a bill to immediately repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare.”

“Obamacare is going to be repealed and replaced with something much less expensive that works much better.”

“It’s going to be so easy.”

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody.”

“I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially.”

“I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.”

“Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.”
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March 27, 2017 9:46am
- virtualmark
  
  To be fair to the Don, he was elected as a rebuke to the US political establishment rather than because he was competent. And healthcare in the United States is beyond any easy solution.
  
  Meanwhile … and very sadly … the Republicans have met the enemy and it is them. They’ve had 7 years to prepare the better solution they’ve always claimed they could deliver. They should have had a high-quality healthcare bill ready to go on the 21st of January with the whole caucus behind it, but instead we got this omnishambles. The Tea Party movement set the Republican’s plane on a collision course with the ground. All Trump’s added has been to open the throttles a bit wider.
  
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  March 27, 2017 9:48am
  - MCos
    
    “healthcare in the United States is beyond any easy solution”
    
    “It’s going to be so easy.”
    Donald Trump
    
    Maybe he should sack all his useless advisors and hire someone who actually knows how to run a country rather than settle scores.
    Now John Key is sitting around doing nothing at the moment.
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:11am
    - virtualmark
      
      I think the real problem is that (the rest of the Western world shows that …) the best solution for healthcare is universal healthcare.
      
      But Republicans believe universal healthcare is a Communist conspiracy that’s only supported by people like Bernie Sanders. And to be fair the Republican’s priority is tax cuts over healthcare. And the people that have their ear are the insurers, the big hospital networks, and the drug industry.
      
      So Americans will carry on telling each other their system is better, while they take their bus to Canada to pick up their cheap meds.
      
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      March 27, 2017 10:23am
      - dime
        
        universal health care?
        
        so you dont roll with private insurance? yikes!
        
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        March 27, 2017 10:36am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        They need:
        1/ tort reform to slash the massive malpractice insurance (and consequent unecessary procedures) overspend. But fat chance of that happening when most politicians are lawyers and insurance industry has massive lobbying spend.
        2/ single price for all consumers of health services (no discounts for any group – which favours various cartels).
        3/ less entry restriction to medicine (AMA restricts doctor supply to elevate doctor pay, same problem NZ has with opthamologists)
        
        But yes universal healthcare as practised elsewhere (and in NZ) is best/cheapest option.
        
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        March 27, 2017 10:50am
      - virtualmark
        
        dime,
        
        Personally I think the mix of universal healthcare with optional private insurance (for faster, higher, better service) is a good one.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:30am
      - bc
        
        Well said, virtualmark.
        
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        March 27, 2017 1:48pm
  - Komata
    
    virtualmark
    
    Tahnk you. It is difficult not to conclude that the president was very deliberately ‘set up’ by those senior Republicans’ who ostensibly supported him, and that this was intended to ‘teach the (ignorant) interloper a lesson’. Paul Ryan was the face of this, as evidenced by his smirk and smarmyness and crocodile tears when the bill was withdrwn. Ryan and Co are no doubt happy, (and the Dems are positively delierious)m, BUT they have underestimated the man. Donald Trump is a very, very clever businessman who NEVER loses nor leaves unfinished a task he has set himself, and this total repeal and replacement of ObamaCare will eventually go through. Mr. Trump is learning a lot in a very short space of time and now knows whom he can trust and whom he can’t. He will have reched his own conclusions and made his own assessments of what has happened and, having made that assesment, will now make very, very sure that he doesn’t get caught like this again. If I were them, Mr. Ryan and co (those who set the President up’) should now be very, very careful and watching their backs. Trump has their number and he will act when and as necessary . it’s a matter of ‘when’ not if. It’s also very evident that the ‘great unwashed’ know what has been done and by whom and they are probably going to have their personal revenge at the Mid-terms. Given the way that Mr Trump operates and that he is a very fast learner, Mr. Ryan may not last that long…
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:23am
    - virtualmark
      
      Komata,
      
      I believe Trump’s priorities are corporate tax reform, regulatory reform and infrastructure investment.
      
      I believe House Republican’s priorities are healthcare/Obamacare, and tax reform.
      
      I suspect that Trump allowed Ryan et al the first go at their priorities, being to repeal Obamacare. But I don’t think Trump was ever fully invested in that, even though he spent plenty of time railing on it in the campaign. (If Trump had been fully invested in it he’d have called it TrumpCare).
      
      Well, Ryan had first go, and fell flat on his face. So I expect Trump will tell the House Republicans that it’s time for his priorities to get done now.
      
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      March 27, 2017 10:29am
      - Komata
        
        Virtualmark
        
        Re: ‘I believe House Republican’s priorities are healthcare/Obamacare, and tax reform’.
        
        Thank you. The key part of that phrase IMHO is ‘House Republicans’. It is very, very evident that President Trump is being ‘White Anted’ by senior members of the very party that he supposedly represents. Despite all the (weasel?) words that they may say to the contrary there would seem to be little actual support for him by those in the house , and indeed evidence of a constructive and concerted effort to neutralise all and anything that he does. All carefully concealed of course, and no doubt those concerned are laughing behind their hands as he tries to keep his promises. I believe that ultimately President Trump WILL prevail but do wonder what it will take to reach that state, especially as his own side is also full of swamp creatures.
        
        It promises to be an interesting few years.
        
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        March 27, 2017 10:43am
      - virtualmark
        
        Well, the weird thing we have here is that Trump isn’t really a Republican. The alt-right guys like to accuse people of being RINOs. Well Trump is the ultimate RINO. You saw that in the campaign. Ryan etc held their noses and supported him because the voters showed that was what they wanted, but Trump isn’t one of them.
        
        So he’s on a slightly different plane to the House Republicans. In some areas (corporate tax reform) they overlap. In other areas (healthcare) they tolerate each other. In other areas (trade?) they’re at odds.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:32am
      - ztev
        
        No it wasnt . Trumps first priority was ‘repeal and replace. This was his major priority in his first 100 days.
        How could he be ‘set up’- hes surrounded himself with the ‘best, the very best’ advisers.
        Anyway that was his number one selling point , ‘making a deal’
        
        So far one thing has come true-‘ the people are sick of his winning’
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:37am
    - Tirebiter
      
      Trump has no interests in anything but Trump He isn’t interested in healthcare reform, or regulatory reform – unless it benefits himself and his cronies, or foreign policy, or learning the trade of governance, or ‘making America great again’ whatever that means. As he never said. He’s just interested in enriching himself and his friends through government and producing tax breaks for himself and his rich friends i.e. the Wall Street crowd who he complained that Clinton served, (which she did) but who he also serves and packed his cabinet with. That’s the way the system works in the US If you don’t know that you don’t know the first thing about the American political system.
      As for being a successful businessman – well 6 bankruptcies several lost or settled lawsuits, I think belie that claim. He kept his fortune like most big-time corporate boys do by using other people’s money then pissing it away. He went further by not paying employees and subcontractors, cheating his partners, and then filing for bankruptcy when things went south and had the taxpayers pay for it; not once but several times. He did the first when he first entered business with $2million from his father, then another few million to keep him solvent when he lost that. It just shows how corrupted the US political system has become. He definitely knows how to play the system, take the wins and have others pick up the tab when he loses – which he does more often than he admits. It’s like he’s an idiot savant. He knows his business – if you consider his business is sacrificing others to maintain his wealth and self-image of perfection, but seems to know nothing about anything else. If you want to call that successful that’s okay with me but I wouldn’t say so.
      As for getting rid of Ryan – well maybe, but maybe not. The presidency and the congress are two separate monkey-trees and one really can’t control the other. And the republicans are a pretty volatile and feral group right now; they will eat their own with relish. Sooner or later they are going to have to decide who they want to live with and they may just decide to protect their own jobs and back away from the orange oval one. Time will tell.
      
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      March 27, 2017 1:39pm
  - SPC
    
    SPC
    
    1. The GOP was united against Obamacare.
    
    2. They were not united in favour of any replacement, in fact the initial campaign was to return to pre Obamacare days.
    
    They were blindsided by
    
    1. the fact many of their own voters liked some Obamacare changes (cover of the children till 25, and their ability to get new cover when transferring to new jobs despite pre-existing conditions) and did not want to return to the pre Obama care days.
    
    2. Trump saying his new health care would cover everyone and be cheaper.
    
    The GOP certainly wanted it to be cheaper, intending to use savings to fund tax cuts.
    
    So the proposal they put up did not cover everyone (broke Trump’s promise in that) – not covering 14M within a year of its start. And old people on low incomes faced huge increases in cost of cover – in one extreme case a 64 year old on 26,000 would have had to pay 13,000 in health care premiums
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:08am
    - Tirebiter
      
      The republican idea of competition is misplaced in the healthcare field. It is based on the assumption, as they claim, that healthcare insurance providers, right now based in one state or another, will establish networks in other states and that those seeking healthcare insurance would benefit from the increased competition. There is no interest among healthcare insurance companies to expand their networks into other states than the ones they currently operate in. It requires a significant investment and network building that they just won’t do.
      And market-based tax breaks? That works if you have sufficient income to reduce your income and benefit from the tax breaks, but if you are not making enough money to benefit from tax breaks you will be far worse off.
      And not only in premiums, but most healthcare plans have out-of-pocket costs of $5000 or more a year, every year, that the enrollee has to pay before the insurance company pays any costs at all. So that’s your $13,000 + $5000 making $18,000 – leaving little for anything else like rent or mortgage, food, transportation, phone, heat, electricity, water, and on and on. By far the single greatest reason for personal bankruptcy in the US is paying for healthcare.
      
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      March 27, 2017 1:52pm
  - Scott
    
    The debate is actually a philosophical one and transcends the current political machinations of the moment. On the right they believe that healthcare is a commodity like any other and the best way for people to access that commodity is through the free market. Therefore government funded help care is not the solution. The solution is to open up the free market so that for example health insurance can be purchased across state lines. This means that healthcare premiums will become cheaper and affordable.
    
    Everyone needs clothes, but we don’t have a government store selling low-cost clothing. Everyone needs food and everyone buys their food through the free market. Everyone needs healthcare and again they buy their healthcare through the free market.
    
    It’s a very different philosophy from what we are used to in New Zealand. But they believe that the free market is best to deliver quality and affordable healthcare.
    
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    March 27, 2017 12:10pm
    - Tirebiter
      
      Free-market may be the philosophy, but in practice corporate America has been benefiting from a system of socialism for decades. If the market decides then General Motors would have gone out of business as well as most of the Wall Street pirates.
      
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      March 27, 2017 1:54pm
      - Postitrote
        
        Adding to Tirebiter’s point – it’s not just automobiles, the agricultural industry is propped up by approx $20 billion in farm subsidies and insurance each year. Will be interesting to see how Trump’s free market philosophy will be treated by an industry that has enjoyed corporate welfare since the 1930s.
        
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        March 27, 2017 3:23pm
  - Fletch
    
    As I’ve read others saying, the best thing to do is let Obamacare die its own natural death. Let it fall over on its own (which it will), and then people can’t blame any new Trump plan. A new solution can be formulated ready for when that happens.
    
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    March 27, 2017 12:19pm
- Inandout
  
  Well this ain’t nothing compared with the politicking that went on leading up to Prohibition. But in Trump’s case I don’t think this is going to take 80 years. Netflix has a fascinating doco on booze and how the early German immigrants virtually monopolised the beer brewing.
  
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  March 27, 2017 9:54am
  - virtualmark
    
    Bill Bryson’s book “One Summer: America 1927” also spends a lot of time looking at how America managed to talk itself into Prohibition. And like most Bill Bryson’s books is an accessible and breezy read.
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:25am
  - Kimbo
    
    Netflix has a fascinating doco on booze and how the early German immigrants virtually monopolised the beer brewing.
    
    Is that the one by Ken Burns? I often try on my wife the line the Brewers used to try and stave off prohibition and present their product as good – “beer is ‘liquid bread'”! 😉
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:39am
    - Inandout
      
      To get around the law doctors used to prescribe beer as a tonic. Oh and some Senators would be anti booze on one hand, and then be knee deep in bootleg.
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:33am
- mikenmild
  
  I wonder if the Trumpistas are getting sick of winning yet.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:00am
  - sooty
    
    They wont till they jail Hillary!
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:58pm
- SPC
  
  1. The GOP was united against Obamacare.
  
  2. They were not united in favour of any replacement, in fact the initial campaign was to return to pre Obamacare days.
  
  They were blindsided by
  
  1. the fact many of their own voters liked some Obamacare changes (cover of the children till 25, and their ability to get new cover when transferring to new jobs despite pre-existing conditions) and did not want to return to the pre Obama care days.
  
  2. Trump saying his new health care would cover everyone and be cheaper.
  
  The GOP certainly wanted it to be cheaper, intending to use savings to fund tax cuts.
  
  So the proposal they put up did not cover everyone (broke Trump’s promise in that) – not covering 14M within a year of its start. And old people on low incomes faced huge increases in cost of cover – in one extreme case a 64 year old on 26,000 would have had to pay 13,000 in health care premiums.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:06am
  - virtualmark
    
    SPC,
    
    I saw one piece of analysis that said “TrumpCare” would end coverage for over 550,000 Pennsylvanians. Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes …
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:35am
- MCos
  
  Donald Trump is the President of the United States of America.
  His predecessor Barak Obama, managed to push through a health care bill which, for all it’s flaws, he has not shied away from taking responsibility for and is unofficially named after him.
  Trump, on the other hand, can’t run away fast enough from his responsibilities. He blames all and sundry including the Democrats. The Democrats!
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:06pm
- virtualmark
  
  So, Trumpkins, by 3:15 a dozen of you have down-clicked a post that’s made up purely of quotes from your own Orange God King.
  
  I mean really, that’s got to mess with your heads right?
  
  How tight did you have to clench when you clicked on the down-vote? Did you have to go back to your safe space afterwards?
  
  Snowflakes.
  
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  March 27, 2017 3:19pm
- realityczech
  
  You oppose good health care because Obama was black and Trump is not.
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:38pm
alex Masterley

The phones will be running hot between Littles lawyers and these of the Hagermans with settlement with frantic settlement proposals.
I am trying to figure out who is paying for Mr Littles defence and for example the costs contribution he has offered. I hope it is not the ever suffering NZ tax payer.
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March 27, 2017 9:46am
- Rich Prick
  
  Well, we all know Labour has nothing in the tin, so I guess Mr 7% is busy looking for a way to tap our dime.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:03am
  - mandk
    
    To honour Mr Little’s 4th place in the preferred PM polls, we could also call him: Mr Out-of-the Medals.
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:53am
- pdm
  
  I think those calls will be one way as I doubt the Hagamans are calling Little.
  
  Why would they when they hold all of the aces.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:05am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Quite so pdm; it’s up to Little to make Earl and Lani Hagaman an offer they can’t refuse. I suspect they may agree to:
    
    i) an unconditional apology
    ii) their costs being met
    iii) a significant donation to a charity of their choice in lieu of damages, and
    iv) Little’s resignation as leader of the Labour Party
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:29am
    - Rich Prick
      
      No, no, no. Anything but number 4, because Little is doing such a brilliant job.
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:36am
    - calendar girl
      
      “a significant donation to a charity of their choice ….”
      
      Not the Labour Party!
      
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      March 27, 2017 4:12pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Not so much aces maybe as this involves dealing with the courts so nothing is ever certain but the image of his balls in a vice is strangely, and disturbingly, pleasurable.
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:43am
- Paulus
  
  Do you mean on the site “Give a Little” ?
  
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  March 27, 2017 1:34pm
Inandout

This could be interesting in election year:

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/03/winston-peters-a-dangerous-old-man-sue-bradford.html
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March 27, 2017 9:48am
- Chuck Bird
  
  You of course are referring to Winston calling for a binding referendum on the continuation of the anti-smacking bill.
  
  If NZF holds the balance of power I wonder which party would most likely agree with this reasonable policy.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:01am
  - Kimbo
    
    Loves his “binding referendums” does Winston. What’s the problem? Doesn’t he know we have a “binding referendum” every three years, and then the government is expected to get on with it, and they are judged accordinmgly in another three years time. it is called representative government.
    
    As much as I disagree with Bradford’s (and Clark’s and Key’s) legislation, they were elected to govern and/or legislate. And it’s not a core constitutional matter that should be put to the electorate in a binding referendum. So as per usual, Peters is running around trying to create needless expense by appealing to single-issue crackpots. take a bow, Chuck…
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:08am
  - Inandout
    
    Well we had one the year Key got elected if I remember correctly, but he ignored it though it was overwhelmingly against Bradford’s bill.
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:15am
  - Happychappy
    
    Did you not read that Winston took a hit in the poll last night. The media have lost what respect they had and the people are reluctant to heed their advise that NZ equivalent of Trump will make a difference.
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:25am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Happy, I did notice but one has to look at a trend. If you look at the right sidebar which was just updated he hold the balance of power. If he expands his call for a binding referendum on smacking to one on the continuation of the racist Maori seats he will get a bigger boost in polls.
      
      There was some justification for conscience votes under FPP but none under MMP.
      
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      March 27, 2017 10:48am
    - waikatogirl
      
      Sorry Chuck, if you can take them seriously, TV1 were last night calling the Maori party as the kingmaker for this years election.
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:03am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Sorry waikatogirl, I look at a trend rather than one poll. I think it should be clear that the election will be close there is a good chance NZF will have the balance of power. It is still six months till the election. Do you support binding MMP for moral issues where MPs get a conscience vote of do you believe MPs have a superior conscience to you?
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:17am
      - Kimbo
        
        Pfft. Every issue that an MP votes on in parliament is “moral”, in one for or another. The budget is “moral”, so too is taxation, roading, policing, whatever. We have elections and representative government rather than push-button voting by everyone on everything for a reason. One results in good government, the other in chaos.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:23am
      - Kimbo
        
        Pfft. Every issue that an MP votes on in parliament is “moral”, in one form or another. The budget is “moral”, so too is taxation, roading, policing, health, education, social policy, defence, the price of fish, whatever. We have elections and representative government rather than push-button voting by everyone on everything for a reason. One results in good government, the other in chaos.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:24am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Kimbo, if what you claim is true there would be no conscience votes. With votes along party lines you have an idea how parties will vote from their manifesto.
        
        One has no idea before an election how MPs will votes. especially list MPs.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:45am
      - Kimbo
        
        On conscience issues? Ask ’em.
        
        On party issues? Ask ’em
        
        And if they change their mind, and you are not satisfied with the reasons, then vote against them, and see if a sufficient number of your fellow voters agree.For example, John Key, due to circumstances, raised GST after he said he was not going to. I thought he had valid reasons, and, as he mitigated against the impact on those with a low income, I voted accordingly.
        
        Even more than “keeping promises”, competence is what we require from governments, political parties, and, yes, individual MPs. And as government – and opposition – is dynamic, dealing with complex circumstances, MPs should always have the right to change their mind, individually, or as a party collectively. They are not chimps being given orders by the electorate. They are our representatives in a parliamentary Westminster democracy. Maybe you and Winston Peters should do more research on what that means.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:56am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “On conscience issues? Ask ’em. ”
        
        That is not practical even for a political junkie let alone the average voter.
        
        No one knows in advance what may be drawn from the ballot. However, the average voter knows the difference between right and wrong as well as the average MP on issues such a section 59 and the law that says it is legal for a school counselor to arrange an abortion for an underage girl without parents being notified.
        
        I take it you support such a law or if you do not accept that collectively MPs are more moral or smarter than you.
        
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        March 27, 2017 12:27pm
      - Kimbo
        
        That is not practical even for a political junkie let alone the average voter.
        
        No one knows in advance what may be drawn from the ballot.
        
        No, Chuck, that is the difference between canvassing an MP for their general outloo/philosophy and decision-making process on matters – law and order, trade, finance, social welfare, industrial relations, abortion, euthanasia, whatever – and trying go micro-manage everything they do and vote for. Again, they are not chimps taking orders from you. Especially (justified adverb!) not you!
        
        However, the average voter knows the difference between right and wrong as well as the average MP on issues such a section 59 and the law that says it is legal for a school counselor to arrange an abortion for an underage girl without parents being notified.
        
        I take it you support such a law or if you do not accept that collectively MPs are more moral or smarter than you.
        
        Now, now, Chuck. You know what happens when you call me out with those sort of demands and interrogations trying to set the agenda – you get a deserved kicking because, like a coward, you never reciproacte in answering questions.
        
        However, there is no such thing as “the average voter”. I know what I think on the matter you have raised, and I know how that it determines whom I vote for. Are they smarter than me? Doesn’t matter. Sometimes I’ve watched a game and seen something Richie McCaw may have missed. However, I’m not on the field playing. Now, as you have failed to get yourself elected as an MP, and as I have counselled before, kindly stop acting like a sad political junkie thinking that your “contributions” here are having a dramatic or significant effect on the political process. It’s not. And kindly stop issuing grandiose challenges to me, or “Binnie the Ninnie” that we should be hanging on your every word. You want to shill for Winston Peters – go for it, and take you slap-downs like a man, not a whiner as you have in the past.
        
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        March 27, 2017 12:42pm
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “You want to shill for Winston Peters – go for it, and take you slap-downs like a man, not a whiner as you have in the past.”
        
        I can say the same about you. You talk about about Kimbo’s law like you are superior to everyone else. When said a political junkie I was referring to most of those who blog here – not just myself or those who agree with me.
        
        You say, “No, Chuck, that is the difference between canvassing an MP for their general outloo/philosophy and decision-making process on matters – law and order, trade, finance, social welfare, industrial relations, abortion, euthanasia”
        
        As I said that is not practical. Do you think the average voter has the time to ask every MP in a party or parties they are considering voting for that range of questions. If many did MPs would not have time to reply.
        
        I certainly do not agree with all Winston’s policies. He was on with Leighton this morning and was asked what else he would have a referendum on. He said immigration and asset sales. I do not agree. That also would not be practical for reasons you have given.
        
        There are a small number of issues like abortion and euthanasia to be ratified if supported in a conscience vote. Bill English has wisely stated abortion law is not on the agenda. Wayne Mapp earlier gave good reasons why it should be left as it is and as imperfect as it is.
        
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        March 27, 2017 1:09pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Correction, Chuck. I don’t just shill Kimbo’s law, I gratuitously, ostentatiously and excessively (adverb alert!) plug it on every possible occasion, merited or not. And I thank you for your small contribution to turn it into a meme ?
        
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        March 27, 2017 1:19pm
    - Kimbo
      
      There was some justification for conscience votes under FPP but none under MMP
      
      As per Edmund Burke’s dictum that an MP owes you (or even that of his political party) his judgement, not his agreement, there will always be justification for a conscience vote, no matter what Winston Peters’ chagrin if one of his MPs refuses to submit any longer to the cult of personality and goes wandering off the reservation. Which has happened in his case all too often: Neil Kirton, John Delamere, Tau Henare, hell, half his caucus in 1998! Brendan Horan…
      
      If to lose one MP in such small caucuses is unfortunate, and two is careless, what does that make Peters?!
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:11am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        I doubt if Burke had ever heard of MMP.
        
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        March 27, 2017 11:47am
      - Kimbo
        
        Shouldn’t make a difference. Even ahead of party policy, the key issue when casting a vote, or deciding on the performance of our elected representatives remains, “is the judgement of this candidate competent”. Whether they are standing for your electorate, or, one of a number on a cumulative party list, that need remains the same. So if it is judgement we seek from them, then they must be given the freedom and scope to exercise it – including going against their party whip.
        
        If not, then abolish parliament, and just vote on the dozens of issues that arise every day. Recipe. For. Disaster.
        
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        March 27, 2017 12:03pm
- Komata
  
  So therefore, if the ‘Inverse’ rule applies, Winnie is actually getting Bradforsd and co worried.
  
  Not a bad thing IMHO – and long overdue.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:28am
  - Komata
    
    Very frustrating: Although The ‘Click to Edit’ button is working and the ‘Edit’ box appears, the actual text of the post to be editted doesn’t appear – only a blank space within the box.
    
    Are others also having this problem?
    
    6 0
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    March 27, 2017 10:34am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Yes!
      
      5 0
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      March 27, 2017 10:35am
    - Manolo
      
      It happens now and the, komata. Just quickly close the window and retry before the 5-minute window closes on you.
      
      6 0
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      March 27, 2017 10:36am
      - Komata
        
        krazykiwi and Manolo
        
        Thank you. ‘Beat the clock’ has just taken on a whole new meaning…
        
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        March 27, 2017 10:46am
Happychappy

I see Jacinda on the news last night calling for a inquiry into the allegation of the NZDF cover up revelled in the latest Hagar book Hit and Run. Was Andrew to busy or was he fighting off his tears of disappointment of the Maori Party getting 4% in the latest Colmar Bruton One News Poll.
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March 27, 2017 9:49am
wiseowl

What is the Government going to give away with update of the FTA with communist China.
We are hearing about better deals for our exports but nothing about the tradeoffs.
The suggestion that thousands of Chinese workers will be allowed in to this country to build new infrastructure and housing is just what the country needs.
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March 27, 2017 9:51am
- Komata
  
  wiseowl
  
  Re: ‘The suggestion that thousands of Chinese workers will be allowed in to this country to build new infrastructure and housing is just what the country needs’.
  
  Zimbabwe comes imediately to mind (Some here will know…).
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:48am
  - GazzaW
    
    Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania & Zambia if I am reading you correctly Komata.
    
    This maybe a step too far but I have a totally open mind until the detail is announced. Bill English is not stupid.
    
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    March 27, 2017 12:28pm
    - Viking2
      
      Add Cambodia and Vietnam to that list.
      http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/The-Chinazation-of-Cambodia?utm_source=paid.outbrain.com&utm_campaign=OutbrainOver3minView30days&utm_medium=content%20retargeting&utm_content=RSSfeed
      
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      March 27, 2017 7:28pm
BeaB

I demand an inquiry into why we pay the Leader of the Opposition $288,000++ when he has only 7% support and his deputy is higher in the polls than he is. So is Winston Peters.
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March 27, 2017 9:53am
- Brigitte
  
  And it doesn’t help the Male:Female wage gap either. Sack him and help fix two problems at once (or three if ensuring no change of govt at sept time).
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:49am
Southern Raider

Saw an article on a hemp trial the other night on Three News

I can’t understand why National doesn’t chuck some money in behind this and medical cannabis. It has so many commercial and employment benefits for the regions and NZ, plus a slap in the face to the Greens

– grows very well in areas where there is high unemployment and although can be mechanised to some degrees is still labour intensive and will bring investment
– all the parts of the plants can be used and hemp has been around for centuries and is a fantastic building material
– can leverage NZ international brand to market end products
– great fit with growing our biotech and medical industries
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March 27, 2017 9:54am
- KiwiGreg
  
  Cannabis in particular.
  
  We could latch onto the Lord of the Rings and it could be marketed as pipeweed “from the Shire”.
  
  Also marijuana tourism and export for medical purposes. Big business in Colorado now (to extent that the state is rebating some property taxes due to excess revenues….)
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:01am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  It is a tiny volume product if done legally, a couple of paddocks and staff could service entire NZ demand. It is no economic saviour.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:55am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Global demand. Who cares about NZ demand
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:27pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Large protests in Moscow.
Opposition Leader arrested.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39398305
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March 27, 2017 9:56am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  Maggy, Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
  I have often joked that if there was an anti federal government protest in Lincoln Nebraska, attended by three people the only international Tv channel to give publicity to that protest would be Russian Tv. That is how much they hate the Yanks.
  But I have seen no sign of these very widespread protests in Russia. I note there was a protest in, of all places, Novosibirsk. That is in Siberia and would still be as cold as buggery.
  Come on Russian Tv; you have mocked endlessly the death of the Main Stream Media, but now you are showing your true colours. And your true colours are not the red, white and blue of the Russian flag; they are the dark brown of male bovine excrement.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:38am
  - Andrei
    
    Wrong Tauhei Notts – Hundreds detained at unsanctioned opposition rally in central Moscow
    
    7 6
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    March 27, 2017 10:48am
    - mikenmild
      
      Well, the key word in that headline is ‘unsanctioned’.
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:02am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    The media were going to cover the protests but unfortunately couldn’t fit it in after the late addition of the piece about Ivanka Trump’s new neighbour complaining she put the rubbish out on the wrong day.
    
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    March 27, 2017 2:01pm
krazykiwi

The Herald’s puppetmasters seem to have decided the NZDF is due a hit that they hope sticks.
22 1
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March 27, 2017 10:02am
- Happychappy
  
  The Public will look at the Journalist that penned this piece and see it was David Fisher of Dot Com fame and realise that this man is not a real creditable source.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:32am
  - Paulus
    
    Why bother looking for the Herald – you can find one in your local coffee shop.
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:38pm
SPC

ECAN, now air, exposed as having laxer rules on quarries close to housing than India and Pakistan.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/90727471/Its-killing-us-Christchurch-residents-by-quarry-told-to-wear-masks-due-to-health-risk
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March 27, 2017 10:03am
Manolo

Some advice for President Trump:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/opinion/sunday/donald-this-i-will-tell-you.html?_r=0

Dear Donald,
We’ve known each other a long time, so I think I can be blunt.

You know how you said at campaign rallies that you did not like being identified as a politician?

Don’t worry. No one will ever mistake you for a politician. After this past week, they won’t even mistake you for a top-notch negotiator…
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March 27, 2017 10:04am
- Inandout
  
  It will probably work out this year in his favour, I suspect when Obamacare implodes. He tried his best but he has a ton of enemies in Congress.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:18am
  - mikenmild
    
    Was Trump wrong when he said healthcare was too important for Obamacare, or is he right now, when he wants to wait for it to implode?
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:04am
  - ztev
    
    Apparently when we are right- Trump is an idiot- it will somehow come ‘allright this year’
    
    When has Trump been right on anything he has done so far.
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:42am
    - Happychappy
      
      Better still when have you ever been right with any thing you have posted on here.
      
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      March 27, 2017 12:08pm
Manolo

Desperation:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4347568/Refugee-advocate-60s-marries-asylum-seeker-31.html

An elderly refugee advocate has wed an asylum seeker half her age – but both insist it’s not just to get him a visa.

Dianne Baumann, who refused to give her age, married Manus Island detainee Mohsen Norozi late last year, and has vowed that they will live together for ‘a long time in the future’.
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March 27, 2017 10:17am
- Longknives
  
  A loophole that should quickly be closed?
  Lets see how long Mohsen (if that’s even his real name) sticks around with the deluded old bint then..
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:23am
big bruv

Has Winston paid back the $158k he owes us yet?
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March 27, 2017 10:18am
- stigie
  
  “NO”
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:11pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  He should also be billed for all the oxygen he has used during his tenure in Parliament.
  
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  March 27, 2017 2:09pm
peterwn

I put it down to a mismatch of personalities. A MP, Minister or senior executive expects to have staff that works for them and expects staff to adjust to their personalities and way of doing things. So staff who can fit in with the boss’s personality, culture and idiosyncrasies will do fine and others cannot stand the heat and want out. This is quite normal and is no reflection on the boss or staffer. The ones who have done well are Heather Simpson (H2) and the PA for Spark’s boss (she was his PA in his former employment roles). Another one was a shorthand-typist assigned to Winston Churchill in WW2 who wrote a book of her experience (shorthand was not needed as she was expected to type as he dictated) – some others did not last a day and would have returned to Whitehall departments. I am rather skeptical of the ‘bugging’ claims since they most probably involve a pocket voice recorder than a James Bond type bugging operation.
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March 27, 2017 10:21am
- Kimbo
  
  I assume you are replying to my post above about Todd Barclay. As Whale Oil says, in Barclay’s chosen profession, “explaining is losing”. The problem is that politics is about perception, and Barclay will now be hit with the “declined to speak to police” label for the rest of his career. Not matter what spin he may put on it, or what ‘maybes’ and ‘coulda happened this way’ anyone else offers. That is Hide’s point, Barclay is held to higher standards
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:32am
  - peterwn
    
    ‘explaining is losing’ – precisely why Todd exercised his legal right (Americans call it ‘take the fifth’) and declined to make a statement. Indeed anyone should be very wary in making a ‘statement’ if it is basically a series of answers to leading questions. After a few years who is going to remember the incident and if someone brings it up the response would be ‘yawn’. If he gets the candidacy for the seat in 2020 then his political judgment on declining to make a statement would have been vindicated. As for the staffer(s) in question, presumably they do not need another job that badly. By pushing the matter in the public domain (even by telling friends etc and then it leaks to journos or political enemies), they greatly diminish their chances of winning another job. If they cannot get along with the boss they should quietly seek another job, not tell their friends how terrible things are.
    
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    March 28, 2017 7:51am
- mikenmild
  
  It doesn’t really matter how the recording was done – I believe it is illegal to record someone deliberately without their consent.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:05am
  - Jack5
    
    Milky, I guess that’s why when you phone some firms you get the message, “Your call may be recorded for training purposes”.
    
    One of the Kiwiblog lawyers may be able to help us with details of recording conversations without permission.
    
    Remember the case where a tape-recorder was “accidentally left on a table in a coffee shop where John Key was talking with ACT’s representative, and, coincidence of coincidences, it was left switched on”?
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:15am
    - mikenmild
      
      Yes, that case was all about whether the conversation had been deliberately recorded, and was settled, wasn’t it?
      
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      March 27, 2017 11:19am
    - Dafixeruppa
      
      If my memory serves me right, there are a couple of things at play:
      1. If at least one party is aware of the recording
      2. or If there is a reasonable expectation of the recording being made
      3. What is the purpose of the recording?
      
      Since he made the recording, then point 1 is covered making point 2 redundant and it all hinges on point 3.
      If he didn’t actually use the recording, then he hasn’t broken any laws. If he recorded the conversation to ensure that there was no opportunity for wild accusations later, then he is still allowed to under point 3.
      If he then disseminates the recording, then he could be in breach of the law.
      
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      March 27, 2017 12:30pm
  - Callum
    
    I was under the impression you need consent of only one party to the conversation, so you can record yourself talking to someone else without telling them. It is not really clear what the allegation is, what form the recording supposedly took or who was involved in the conversation and if there is any actual evidence of a recording so not surprising the police have taken no action.
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:26am
    - fernglas
      
      That’s right, Callum. It’s illegal to intercept private communications. As between participants, there is no expectation of privacy
      
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      March 27, 2017 12:15pm
  - peterwn
    
    Key word is ‘deliberately’ and to make an illegal recording charge stick, the prosecutor needs to prove it beyond reasonable doubt. And it seems use of a recording that was ‘accidentally’ recorded is not to make it illegal. Cup of tea incident refers. In this instance a pocket voice recorder was most probably involved rather than a James Bond type bugging operation.
    I suspect the complainant had become so obsessed and paranoid that she would like to think her conversations were ‘bugged’ and the sight of a pocket voice recorder probably put the idea into her head.
    
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    March 28, 2017 12:26pm
Manolo

This will stop the terrorists:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4350946/Muslim-women-stand-solidarity-London-terror-victims.html#comments

Muslim women stood hand-in-hand with others on Westminster Bridge in a show of solidarity with the victims of Wednesday’s terror attack.

People from a range of backgrounds joined the event, organised by Women’s March On London.
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March 27, 2017 10:25am
- kowtow
  
  More lying media hyping the “Muslim’s aren’t the baddies theme”.
  
  The devil is in the detail and there were only about 20 -30 and they were Ahmaddis , certainly not representative of mainstream Islam and themselves subject to oppression by said mainstream Islam.
  
  The media usually trot out an Ahmadi after one or other of these Islamic terror assaults to “prove” the problem ain’t Islam when in fact the terror is inspired by the life and example of the so called prophet himself and the literal word of God in the Koran.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:48am
- Inandout
  
  Still wearing their ‘make me look ugly’ hoods I see.
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:38am
Longknives

Please, Please NZ Media-
No more stories about Adele- Christ it’s sucking the life out of me..

*Today’s ‘Scoop’ is that she is wearing sunglasses that may have been designed in NZ..
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March 27, 2017 10:26am
- krazykiwi
  
  +10
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:42am
- Komata
  
  Longknives
  
  ‘May’???
  
  Are they that desperate?
  
  Yes; very!
  
  Thank you.
  
  14 0
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  March 27, 2017 10:53am
- Longknives
  
  It’s painful- And the gushing has just been totally over the top-
  Stuff and Herald have both referred to it as our ‘Biggest Concert ever’..
  Even the usually sensible Mike Hosking said the other night something about Adele being ‘The Biggest Act we’ve seen’..
  
  Biggest Act we’ve seen?? These idiots are aware that the likes of Beatles, Stones, Led Zep, Bob Marley, Elton John, Michael Jackson, David Bowie etc etc have all played here?..
  *Springsteen, AC/DC…The list goes on. Christ Justin Beiber was here last week- One could argue that little prick is bigger star than Adele!
  And as for crowd size- I’ve seen far bigger crowds at Western Springs than the piddly 40,000 Adele was pulling at Mt Smart..(Didn’t Bowie play to 90,000?)
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:32am
  - big bruv
    
    Knives
    
    Have you seen the size of this Shelia?, she may well be the biggest act we have ever seen.
    
    13 5
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    March 27, 2017 11:54am
  - GazzaW
    
    I rather suspect that Adele’s PR team were very generous with freeby VIP tickets for the MSM.
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:21pm
  - Don the Kiwi
    
    Neil Diamond in ’75 was HUUUGE.
    
    5 2
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    March 27, 2017 7:29pm
    - Longknives
      
      Longknives was born in ’75 so will have to take your word for it Don!..
      Just sick of the hype and bullshit..
      
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      March 27, 2017 8:16pm
- Lance
  
  Adele is probably begging NZ media no more Adele stories
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:44pm
Keeping Stock

Kudos to Bill English for telling Hager and Stephenson to take a running jump:

Prime Minister Bill English says there won’t be an inquiry into allegations New Zealand’s SAS was possibly involved in war crimes in Afghanistan – but won’t rule out an inquiry or investigation into other claims.

English told Mike Hosking this morning that an inquiry into any of the claims was “unlikely”, now the NZ Defence Force had told him its troops never operated in the two villages identified in the book Hit & Run.

“But as we found with this issue it is better to work through it pretty carefully. I wouldn’t rule it out just yet.

“But I think we can rule out an inquiry into the alleged war crimes because whatever those stories were, if they happened at all they happened in different villages, not in the village where the New Zealand operation occurred.”

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/pm-bill-english-no-inquiry-into-alleged-war-crimes/

This is smart politics by England. He hasn’t shut the door completely, but he has basically told Hager and Stephenson to put up or shut up. More importantly, he has backed the Chief of Defence and NZDF.

Nice work Prime Minister.
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March 27, 2017 10:36am
- Peter
  
  Looks like this is an even bigger balls-up than “Dirty Politics”.
  
  If that was indeed possible…
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:47am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Someone on social media has suggested that Hager’s book should be re-named Hit and Miss 😎
    
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    March 27, 2017 11:23am
    - Peter
      
      If the purpose of these books was to bring about the downfall of National, then keep them coming, I say.
      
      The last two appear to have achieved the opposite.
      
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      March 27, 2017 1:14pm
    - kowtow
      
      How about Shit and Miss?
      
      They’ve tried to shit all over the NZ military , the SAS and the gummint of the day.
      
      And there was no shortage of the luvvies, commentariat,and media who were very quick ,too quick to jump on the bandwagon to try and shit on the military and Key for it. Tremaine had a particularly disgusting and actually offensive cartoon of a flippant Key waving goodbye with blood on his hands.
      
      Would Tremaine ever have the guts to do a Mo cartoon?
      
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      March 27, 2017 1:42pm
- Brigitte
  
  This could see his popularity bounce back after the dip in the CB poll just released. That would make the 7%/9% gap become even more tense in the cheap seats.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:53am
krazykiwi

The sisterhood will be sharpening their knives at this:
Sexual harassment? We used to call that ‘welcome attention’ from men, says Fay Weldon

Fay Weldon, the author and playwright, has risked the wrath of feminists by claiming the movement was bad for most women, and argued that what is now seen as sexual harrassment was once viewed as ‘welcome attention.
:::
Weldon, who releases the sequel to her seminal work, The Lives and Loves of a She Devil, next month, said that women had to stop thinking of themselves as victims.

“This was right and proper some 20 or 30 years ago when they couldn’t work, they couldn’t earn, they couldn’t join the professions. Well all that has changed. So why do they see themselves as victims? I don’t know. But they go on thinking men are their oppressors.
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March 27, 2017 10:53am
- waikatogirl
  
  “This was right and proper some 20 or 30 years ago when they couldn’t work, they couldn’t earn, they couldn’t join the professions. Well all that has changed. So why do they see themselves as victims? I don’t know. But they go on thinking men are their oppressors.”
  
  I agree. There has always been a bit of good natured banter, or a little innocent flirting. Women are quite capable of making it obvious when attention is unwanted.
  Years ago I remember being horrified to hear a successful working woman, who was separated from her husband, say she had not been eligible for a credit card as the bank required a husband to be the card holder!
  Now that is something real to complain about girls!
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:23am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    I agree. There has always been a bit of good natured banter, or a little innocent flirting. Women are quite capable of making it obvious when attention is unwanted.
    
    Further on a similar theme there is an “Opinion” piece on Stuff at the moment headlined Women don’t call men “boys” so men shouldn’t call women “girls”.
    
    I haven’t read it and won’t!
    
    The columnist has produced a column based on pure lies. Out and out bullshit.
    
    Regularly, I’m guessing at least three or four times a week I hear women do exactly that.
    
    Conversely more often than not when I hear women referred to as “girls” it is by women. It is good natured banter at it’s best
    
    I can only ask what do these bloody liars expect to gain from their dishonesty and why does any organisation, even a crap outfit like Stuff, print/broadcast them?
    
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    March 27, 2017 12:19pm
    - Viking2
      
      For you to read in the morning. what else?
      
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      March 27, 2017 8:12pm
  - Paulus
    
    Are not over 50% of University Graduates women now ?
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:43pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    The trouble with good natured banter is that a few words from a chap who is seen as undesirable elicit the victim/harassment response, while the same words from a chap who is seen as desirable elicit an invitation for more. The poor chap is supposed to know the state of things before he opens his mouth!
    
    This isn’t a new phenomenon. I first (and last) experienced it while navigating these treacherous relationship waters some 30+ years ago 🙂
    
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    March 27, 2017 5:27pm
Hugh Pavletich

Posted at … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/03/links-27-march-2017/#comment-2838033 …

NZ PM English gets hammered in the latest poll …
while Building Minister Smith gets hammered in the Parliament

Maori Party surges into potential Kingmaker position in latest poll … Colmar Brunton TVNZ

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/maori-party-surges-into-potential-kingmaker-position-in-latest-poll-v1

… extract …

‘… Meanwhile in the preferred Prime Minister stakes Bill English has taken a hit this month down from 31 to 25 per cent. …’

Hardly surprising when English supports / props up Building and Construction Minister Nick Smith … who Labours Housing Spokesman Phil Twyford hammered in the Parliament last week …

Question Time NZ Parliament … Smith v Twyford … 22 March 2017

Watch Nick Smith protect his speculator constituency ! …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YznZ6HjUmFU
(clickable video)

… Nick Smith’s Auckland speculator constituency is still very active …

House investors (speculators) hit record in Auckland, first home buyers fall: CoreLogic | Stuff.co.nz

http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/90861306/house-investors-hit-record-in-auckland-first-home-buyers-fall-corelogic

… concluding …

‘ … Labour’s housing spokesperson Phil Twyford was critical of the fact that nearly half of all house sales in Auckland were to investors, and less than one in five were to first home buyers.

“The CoreLogic report shows that investor activity is on the rise, building consents are declining, and the country needs to be building a thousand extra houses a month just to keep up with the burgeoning population.”

Labour’s election promise is to build 100,000 affordably priced houses, to crack down on speculation and to dismantle tax advantages for investors over home buyers.
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March 27, 2017 11:18am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  … A little very important very recent history … much more at http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org …
  
  Abolish Auckland city limits – Labour – May 2016 – NZ Herald News
  
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11640374
  
  Labour support on city limits (abolition) welcomed … Nick Smith … May 2016
  
  https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/labour-support-city-limits-welcomed
  
  Editorial: Labour’s bond proposal makes sense – May 2016 – NZ Herald News
  
  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11643010
  
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  March 27, 2017 11:23am
  - Happychappy
    
    You will have to up your game Hugh aso Labour is getting desperate and running out of ideas to get support, Maori Party to poll six percent come Election time
    and it’s all over red Rover and National to be Government for another three years.
    
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    March 27, 2017 1:31pm
Keeping Stock

I had the privilege of attending a National Party candidate selection yesterday, and it was a most interesting experience. There were four candidates who had made it through pre-selection, the first contested selection in the Whanganui electorate since Chester Borrows won the nomination in 1999.

Each of the nominees spoke for 10 minutes, then answered questions from the party president and PM which were handed to them in a sealed envelope. In the end, it may well be that the responses to the questions were the final determinant.

There was no clear winner on either of the first two ballots, and the lowest-polling candidate dropped out each round. On the third ballot, Whanganui lawyer Harete Hipango won the nomination ahead of Whanganui District Councillor Hadleigh Reid. She will be an outstanding candidate, and if elected, a terrific replacement for Hon. Chester Borrows.

But the best bit of the whole day was this; there were 60 voting delegates, all members of the National Party’s Whanganui branch. There was a presence from National Party HQ, but that was only to ensure that the rules were observed; the decision on a local candidate was made by local party members. Contrast that with Labour, where all too often, Head Office has a major say, often trumping the wishes of the local membership.

I certain prefer National’s method of selecting candidates to Labour’s. Perhaps that’s why National pretty much has a mortgage on provincial New Zealand, with Palmerston North and Napier being the only provincial seats Labour holds.
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March 27, 2017 11:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hipango is such a revered name in W(h)anganui.
  
  Presumably Harete Hipango is a descendant of Hoani Wiremu Hipango. – Defender of township Whanganui
  
  http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1h24/hipango-hoani-wiremu
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:13pm
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I think so Maggy. Her father’s name was Hoani, and she is a grand-daughter of Hori Hipango, a Whanganui chieftan from Putiki.
    
    Interestingly, with a significant percentage of the Whanganui general roll being Maori, she has the potential to really boost National’s share of the party vote.
    
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    March 27, 2017 2:21pm
- thedavincimode
  
  I’m not sure how that would work KS. Local people selecting their local candidate and not being told what to do?? Sounds a bit rad.
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:41pm
waikatogirl

“This was right and proper some 20 or 30 years ago when they couldn’t work, they couldn’t earn, they couldn’t join the professions. Well all that has changed. So why do they see themselves as victims? I don’t know. But they go on thinking men are their oppressors.”

I agree. There has always been a bit of good natured banter, or a little innocent flirting. Women are quite capable of making it obvious when attention is unwanted.
Years ago I remember being horrified to hear a successful working woman, who was separated from her husband, say she had not been eligible for a credit card as the bank required a husband to be the card holder!
Now that is something real to complain about girls!
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March 27, 2017 11:22am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I had married friends who applied for a bank loan in the early 1980s for their home. They were refused because she hadn’t taken his married surname.
  Bugger, I thought… there goes my Macdonald surname.
  We got a bank mortgage without too much hassle (apart from spelling & pronouncing the new surname).
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:53pm
  - GoVege
    
    The 70s was even worse Maggie.
    A divorced woman couldn’t get a bank loan without a male guarantor.
    
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    March 27, 2017 2:02pm
minto57

@ big bruv, 26 million for a vanity project that’s what I call immoral
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March 27, 2017 12:05pm
Kimbo

Tom Latham gets out of his slump and scores a 50. Can’t believe people were talking about dropping him. “Form is temporary, class is permanent”.
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March 27, 2017 12:23pm
- Kimbo
  
  Bugger!! Knew I’d get him out! Sir Richard Hadlee may have taken 431 test wickets for NZ, and even though Murali holds the official test record with 800, but I’m certain I’m unofficially responsible for more dismissals than the two of them combined 😉
  
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  March 27, 2017 12:30pm
Kea

Investors are now taking a record 44 per cent of Auckland housing market, according to data from property consultants CoreLogic.
stuff news

This is an example where some government interference is desirable in the market.

Done right, it may even drive investors to put money into productive enterprises that create jobs and add value. Instead of the speculative and non productive housing market.
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March 27, 2017 12:51pm
- Paulus
  
  Tell me where I can get an adequate return on my investments in this country – we are too small to take chances with very few opportunities to get an adequate return – say 5% before tax ?
  
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  March 27, 2017 1:46pm
  - SPC
    
    Genesis shares.
    
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    March 27, 2017 3:36pm
    - stigie
      
      Spark shares.
      
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      March 27, 2017 4:11pm
Manolo

The new sultan shows his contempt for Europe:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-referendum-eu-idUSKBN16W0R2

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Turkey may hold a second referendum on whether to continue with European Union accession talks, following a planned vote on April 16 that could give him sweeping new powers.
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March 27, 2017 12:55pm
- SPC
  
  Making his move before the EU ends the talks, he has always realised that the direction he was taking the country was incompatible with EU membership.
  
  But he had to boil the domestic frog to condition them to this.
  
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  March 27, 2017 3:41pm
- Tirebiter
  
  As the sultan Erdogan has said: “Democracy is like a train. You get off when you reach your destination.” His destination is unchallenged personal power.
  
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  March 28, 2017 3:37am
Kea

Even the Muslims think the EU is shit.
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March 27, 2017 1:06pm
Manolo

Society-wrecker but generous Mamma Merkel has deep pockets:
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/trump-printed-out-made-up-dollar533bn-nato-invoice-and-gave-it-to-angela-merkel/ar-BByPnPD?li=BBqdg4K&ocid=mailsignout

Angela Merkel will reportedly ignore Donald Trump’s attempts to extricate £300bn from Germany for what he deems to be owed contributions to Nato.

The controversial President is said to have had an ‘invoice’ printed out outlining the sum estimated by his aides as covering Germany’s unpaid contributions for defence.

Said to be presented during private talks in Washington, the move has been met with criticism from German and Nato officials.
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March 27, 2017 1:30pm
- GoVege
  
  Maybe the grateful refugees could help raise the money?
  
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  March 27, 2017 2:04pm
Right of way is Way of Right

Here’s a quick question for all you Trump fanboys.

President Trump has passed a bill to Germany for 490 billion dollars that he believes is owed to the USA for it’s participation in NATO.

If Trumps connections with Russia are so insignificant, why is he trying so hard to destabilise the NATO alliance?

Seriously, the repeal and replace Obamacare is just a sideshow. Why is it that the US President is now doing exactly what Putin has hoped from a US president for years?
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March 27, 2017 1:37pm
- Brigitte
  
  Merkel should point out that the cost of refugees (and terrorist attacks) are military (related) spending and thus they easily meet the standard. Or maybe that they’re spending too much and will have to cut down on what they buy from the US. That’ll learn him.
  
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  March 27, 2017 2:18pm
- All_on_Red
  
  “President Trump has passed a bill to Germany for 490 billion dollars that he believes is owed to the USA for it’s participation in NATO.”
  An actual Bill huh. That he believes is owed to the US.
  Now that’s quite a nice example of #fakenews
  Rather odd that you see Trump wanting NATO countries to increase defence spending as somehow helping Putin.
  Are you a bit thick?
  
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  March 27, 2017 3:18pm
  - Right of way is Way of Right
    
    Thick? Hardly.
    
    Trumps actions on this matter have hardly been constructive. They are disruptive, unwanted and contribute nothing to the stability of eastern Europe. In particular, the baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and former Soviet satellite states such as Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary…. they will be packing themselves.
    
    Not only that, but Germany has every right to spend as much as they want to on defence, just as we do. they are an independent state after all!
    
    Trump actually made campaign statements that he would withdraw the US from the NATO alliance, if I recall correctly.
    
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    March 27, 2017 7:25pm
- SPC
  
  This is a bit of a comprehension failure on a range of fronts.
  
  All the US can bill Germany for is the cost of its bases in Germany. It cannot bill Germany for the shortfall of their defence spending (below the 2% GDP NATO target).
  
  That said their would be a cost to the USA in relocating those based there somewhere else, (one option is further east to Poland where they do spend 2% GDP on defence).
  
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  March 27, 2017 3:49pm
Jack5

Matthew Hooton, Radio Labour’s designate voice of the Right, backed calls for an inquiry into Hager’s attack on the NZ Defence Force.

Both Hooton and the Left wing commentator in the show seemed to say that an inquiry was needed because it was leading the TV news for more than a day.

The Left wing commentator cited Bill English’s
“tone and body language” indicated the PM was reluctant to hold an inquiry. This Left wing commentator was quite warm on Hager.

Does this mean a vote for Labour will be a vote for Hager? Something for former and present soldiers, for their families and friends, for their sympathisers, to ponder as the election approaches.
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March 27, 2017 2:34pm
Jack5

Anyone-else having problem with the edit function on Kiwiblog today?

I am getting a blank box when I press “click to edit”.
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March 27, 2017 2:36pm
- Manolo
  
  We all are, Jack5. It seems a bug in the system.
  
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  March 27, 2017 2:49pm
- SPC
  
  Yes, and the delete.
  
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  March 27, 2017 3:43pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Melbourne University and its Eugenics Professor
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-39376013
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March 27, 2017 2:38pm
Manolo

A pioneer of AGW gets a plump job:
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/SCR_72732/a33a69e13debcfd38db46e794451f03254200636

The committee accepted the report of the
subcommittee recommending Rt Hon Simon
David Uptonxfor the role of commissioner.
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March 27, 2017 2:39pm
- mikenmild
  
  A good choice.
  
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  March 27, 2017 5:39pm
Inandout

Shoot em up time at a US nightclub. Sounds like this sort of behaviour is common at this joint.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/15-people-shot-killed-cincinnati-nightclub-46380858
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March 27, 2017 3:40pm
fernglas

“Nicole Reynolds, the drugged driver who ran over and killed two Bay people and left another man seriously injured, has been jailed.

Reynolds, 40, was sentenced in the District Court at Tauranga today, after she earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of drug-driving causing death and a further charge of drug-driving causing injury to Lance Carter.

Reynolds was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.”

Maximum penalty 10 years. 25% off for an early plea. How in God’s name did it get down to 3 1/2 years?
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March 27, 2017 4:27pm
SPC

Black caps enjoying the lack of pressure, batting to improve test averages, with rain forecast to get in the way of a result in the game.

The Saffies probably a little complacent, series won and a no result game to finish it off.

But a hundred from Williamson and Raval and a nice lead built up tomorrow – just a chance that a few not too long rain breaks disrupt their starts during their second innings and …
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March 27, 2017 4:53pm
Michael

Paulus
Genesis shares
Meridian shares [ but you should have bought them a year ago when they were 8% net ]
Mercury shares.
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March 27, 2017 4:57pm
Michael

I see Rodney Hide gets a mention.
The perk-buster who got busted.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/general/rodney-hide-perk-buster-or-just-busted-2009110919
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March 27, 2017 5:05pm
- pentwig
  
  Where?
  That report is 8 years old FFS.
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:41pm
Michael

Poor old Donald Trump.
He couldn’t get enough support to change Obamacare. But you can’t really blame him, after all the GOP have had years to get a new scheme sorted out and all they did was sit on their collective bums.
But even we have problems. Unless you can afford to pay upfront, or else have health insurance, you have to wait years to get a hip or knee replacement.
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March 27, 2017 5:11pm
Michael

Watched a bit of the cricket last night while I was on my wind trainer. Tom Latham played some classy shots. I doubt there will be a result, but you never know. Where did that bloke Ravel come from? I hadn’t heard of him until this year. Not that I am a great follower of the longer form of the game, I must admit.
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March 27, 2017 5:18pm
- Pateke
  
  Plays for auckland. A plucky 88 today caught behind by a blinder from Morkel.
  
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  March 27, 2017 5:56pm
- SPC
  
  He gives the impression of just ravelling along, in Indian time, not that suited for setting the pace in the shorter form of the game.
  
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  March 27, 2017 5:58pm
  - SPC
    
    To the downticker, did it go over your head …
    
    Where did Ravel come from – the composer, an impressionist, came from France, Raval was born in India, but eventually made it here, in his own good time. About as fast as Richardson runs … and scores …
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:17pm
- Kimbo
  
  Where did that bloke Ravel come from?
  
  At a time when a number of Kiwis, especially Kiwibloggers are questioning the value gained from immigration, I thought this story about Raval was delightful:
  
  http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/1088577.html
  
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  March 27, 2017 7:05pm
Michael

Hipango Terrace, Wanganui [without the h] .

http://rwwanganui.co.nz/wanganui/durie-hill/1497032/
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March 27, 2017 5:28pm
Michael

Off to watch some more cricket. Only 50 runs behind now. Raval is as slow as a wet week, but Williamson is going well. We could build enough of a lead to have a show of winning, providing it doesn’t rain.
Pedal, pedal, pedal.
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March 27, 2017 5:37pm
- mikenmild
  
  Raval played superbly. The only thin I could fault him for was not grinding it out through to the end of play today.
  Incidentally, this is the first time a NZ top three have all scored 50+ in a home test (done it 7 times overseas).
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:17pm
  - mikenmild
    
    But why, oh why, no nightwatchman after the late wicket(s)?
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:21pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Still up to 12 overs to go (they can bat through to 7pm if they want to make up for lost time, light permitting). So a nightwatchman would have to survive a long time and would slow down the run rate – and time is the most precious commodity if we are to win.
      
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      March 27, 2017 6:27pm
    - thedavincimode
      
      milky, our middle order is in fact populated with night watchmen. Lucky break for Santner.
      
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      March 27, 2017 6:34pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Yep, pity he was out just 12 short of a century but as one commentator put it on cricinfo, he is there to occupy the crease, and his runs are incidental. When we have Williamson in excellent form, Raval’s job was, as with the first new ball, take the shine off it and stick around as long as possible.
    
    Wickets now falling, will need probably need Watling (again!) to hold up an end while Williamson accelerates tomorrow. Would love to have a lead of 200 on these guys. Then if the rain stays away, we are in with a chance.
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:23pm
    - Longknives
      
      Great knock Raval.. But as someone said earlier- All a bit academic as rain has ruined this Test..
      
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      March 27, 2017 6:46pm
- SPC
  
  I agree that it was a bit annoying that he actually slowed down from when he had got to around 70 or so. He is going to be painful to watch when he does get into the 90’s seeking his first 100.
  
  But a good foil to Latham in tests and places Guptil as a 5 option.
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:23pm
  - Longknives
    
    Guptill simply not a Test Batsman.
    Slogging like a maniac in One Dayers and T20 ‘Hit and Giggle’ joke games are a far cry from the Test Arena..
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:45pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Even at no. 5 or 6? Given that there is maybe a vacancy there, I would be tempted to give him one last chance (say, a series) and then if he doesn’t deliver, treat him forevermore as a limited overs specialist only. But if Guptill hadn’t decided to have injury recovery treatment before Taylor was injured, he should have been picked ahead of Broom – who is only a limited overs specialist. Can’t see him getting another test again at his age.
      
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      March 27, 2017 6:57pm
    - SPC
      
      You want a 5 who can either score quickly and heavily (Guptill) or someone who builds partnerships and bats out the innings (Nicholls hopefully develops into this – Watling covers for now and allows a place for the all-rounder to be a freer hitter).
      
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      March 27, 2017 7:27pm
krazykiwi

Oooo this could be fun – Julia Gillard: Why I’ve stepped back into public life, while the time-bomb of her involvement in the AGU Scandal is still ticking.
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March 27, 2017 6:19pm
krazykiwi

Oooo this could be fun – Julia Gillard: Why I’ve stepped back into public life, while the time-bomb of her involvement in the <a href="http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2017/02/if-ralph-blewitt-is-charged-in-the-awu-scandal-gillard-will-be-charged-too-heres-why.html"<AWU Scandal is still ticking.
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March 27, 2017 6:21pm
krazykiwi

Oooo this could be fun – Julia Gillard: Why I’ve stepped back into public life, while the time-bomb of her involvement in the AWU Scandal is still ticking.
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March 27, 2017 6:22pm
krazykiwi

Oooo this could be fun – Julia Gillard: Why I’ve stepped back into public life, while the time-bomb of her involvement in the AWU Scandal is still ticking.
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March 27, 2017 6:24pm
- thedavincimode
  
  Are you having some sort of seizure?
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:30pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    😀
    
    Looks like that doesn’t it?
    
    Just screwed up the anchor tag HTML, and was rushing, screwed it up again.
    
    Rinse and repeat
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:36pm
krazykiwi

Ah.. so Edit doesn’t work, and neither does Delete.

Fun times.
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March 27, 2017 6:29pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Or the, ‘you have already posted that comment functon’ lol.
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:33pm
  - krazykiwi
    
    Indeed!
    
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    March 27, 2017 6:33pm
Kea

And now for the weather….

GORILLA IN THE FROST Britain set to endure the coldest start to a year EVER – and even the animals make the most of it at Paignton Zoo – as temperatures plunge to -15C with snow, ice and freezing fog on the way
Sub-zero temperatures will again grip the nation tonight, plummeting as low as -4C to -6C

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2522259/commuters-warned-of-hazardous-conditions-as-icy-roads-and-freezing-fog-pose-danger-after-uk-temperatures-plunged-to-6c-overnight/
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March 27, 2017 6:46pm
- krazykiwi
  
  And now for the weather …
  
  … for the elderly
  
  😀
  
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  March 27, 2017 6:49pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Where the fuck did you find this link Kea?
  It dates back to January.
  Idiot.
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:05pm
Kea

GERARD S. SLOYAN
PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF RELIGION
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

Many of today’s Jews are convinced that the horror of Hitler’s days was simply the culmination of centuries of Judenhass (“Jew Hate”). But is this what happened? Were the baptized Christians of Europe ripe for the pagan nationalism of Hitler, Rosenberg, Göring, Himmler, and the rest?

SUMMARY
Was there a direct line from the anti-Jewish passages in the New Testament to the gas chambers at Auschwitz, as some have alleged? Probably not. The line was indirect, beginning around 150 with gentile misreadings of the bitter intra-Jewish polemic contained in those writings. The theological anti-Judaism of the Church fathers, repeated endlessly in medieval and Renaissance-Reformation preaching, was the far greater culprit. It was the continuing rationale for the indefensible Christian conduct of the Middle Ages onward that was xenophobic and angry at Jewish resistance to absorption into the cultural mainstream. But because the Church’s preaching and its catechizing had long shaped the popular mind, a new phenomenon was able to come to birth: modern anti-Semitism.

Its no wonder so many Jews have gone to live among the Muslims in the Middle East. Where it is considerably safer. (Provided you stay away from civilian areas, the main target of black warlord Obama.)
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March 27, 2017 6:55pm
- EAD
  
  I think this is why the plan is to get all Jews back into Israel and their traditional ghetto situation, closed off from mankind, where they can be blitzed by their leaders with the correct propaganda to make them “good Jews”.
  
  It’s easy to forget that regular Jews have been subject to the most horrendous psychological warfare by their own leaders throughout history’.
  
  They really do believe they are a moral people that has been persecuted, exterminated and turned into lampshades by evil goyim.
  
  Imagine what kind of psychological damage such imagery does to the mind of an innocent four year-old.
  
  If you look back at history, regular Western Jews made many attempts to break away and reform old school Judaism.
  
  Many were happy in the West, happy being Westerners, happy to breed with goyim – most Western Jews (eg Henry Montague) were against Zionism, thought it was crazy.
  
  Nearly all heinous crimes by the tribe in recent times have been caused by eastern Jews (who practically appeared from nowhere), western Jews were ultimately fairly successfully absorbed by humanity.
  
  It’s only been by the monumental efforts of their leaders and fear based mind control (eg holocaustianity) that their leaders managed to fight against this natural desire to join mankind.
  
  But with the creation of Israel, they now have their dream of their own country, the ultimate ghetto.
  
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  March 27, 2017 7:31pm
  - Kea
    
    Yes no one get more brainwashed with zionist propaganda than Jews. Not even the gape jawed drooling retards on KB who think Jesus is rushing back now the chosen ones have their promised land.
    
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    March 27, 2017 8:08pm
krazykiwi

Good long read: Economist Essay – What’s gone wrong with democracy?

Democracy was the most successful political idea of the 20th century. Why has it run into trouble, and what can be done to revive it?
:::
Democracies are on average richer than non-democracies, are less likely to go to war and have a better record of fighting corruption. More fundamentally, democracy lets people speak their minds and shape their own and their children’s futures. That so many people in so many different parts of the world are prepared to risk so much for this idea is testimony to its enduring appeal.
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March 27, 2017 7:11pm
- Tirebiter
  
  I agree with you in principal, but there are some contradictions. US polls have for decades discovered that the people, by significant percentages, want one thing and the government has done almost the opposite. Some examples? A single payer healthcare system, going to war in Iraq, a fair justice system, protections of the more vulnerable in society, a fair tax system, containment of the overt and unpunished corporate corruption, a healthy environment, equal opportunity for all, a decent educational system, safety, not privatizing the legitimate functions of government including the mail, prisons, education and security, peace instead of war, and on and on.
  As for democracies not going to war, Americans are weary of being at war and want peace and the US has been at war with somebody -hot or cold – all but about 40 years of its roughly 230 year existence and just about every year since 1941. War is by far the greatest cause of the $20T national debt. The costs of war to maintain primacy is what toppled every empire ever built.
  And why people all over the world are prepared to risk so much for the idea of democracy is because there is a constant tension between those who want democracy and the freedom to choose, for all its flaws, and those who don’t want them to have it. Which brings to mind what Bertolt Brecht said about Hitler that I think is still applies today and will apply tomorrow: “For though the world stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.”
  
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  March 28, 2017 3:02am
Fletch

I just watched a story on Seven Sharp where they ~~lied their asses off~~ were misleading with the facts. They repeated a story that United Airlines stopped some women boarding because they were wearing leggings. What they didn’t mention is that this dress-code standard only applies to free pass holders (United Airlines employees and their families). What makes it worse is that they knew it wasn’t true. They admit as much on their Facebook feed on the post discussing the topic.

I guess they went ahead with it anyway because they didn’t have time to fill in with another story. This is one of the reasons we distrust the media.
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March 27, 2017 7:23pm
Kea

Don’t miss the great science fiction show on Choice tonight folks: Operation Arctic.

***************Spoiler Alert*****************

The story is about how a tiny number of WHITE people in the world enjoy democracy, capitalism, reasonable human rights, strong environmental protections and a degree of prosperity.

The story claims this is causing the end of the world because all that freedom is causing a 0.00000000023 % rise in average temperatures. (Except for the 20 year pause and the those places its getting colder)

Don’t miss it 🙂
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March 27, 2017 7:28pm
wiseowl

Interesting programme on Face TV now.
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March 27, 2017 7:35pm
nasska

GOD: I have made Mankind.

ANGEL : You fucked up a perfectly good monkey…..that’s what You did. Look at it. It’s got anxiety.
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March 27, 2017 8:04pm
- Kea
  
  That is blasphemy you dirty communist heathen 🙂
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:11pm
  - nasska
    
    She’s right Kea. I always had an outside chance at best of getting to Heaven anyway. 🙂
    
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    March 27, 2017 8:15pm
    - Kea
      
      Careful the Jews don’t stone you to death
      
      13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
      
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      March 27, 2017 8:20pm
      - SPC
        
        The idea of God having a name is in breach of the 10 Commandments – thus the testimony of Moses about God declaring his name to Moses, sort of indicated the first to be in breach of the law was Moses himself (or to the wise, anyone declaring the word “of God” to “other men” is by definition a false prophet).
        
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        March 27, 2017 9:04pm
      - Kea
        
        Sounds like someone needs to get laid ^^^
        
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        March 27, 2017 9:09pm
stigie

Heaven or hell, does it matter these days Nasska..?
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March 27, 2017 8:26pm
- Longknives
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGqpTcJJcas
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:31pm
- Kea
  
  No one seems to care anymore stigie.
  
  People used to be incited to intemperance at the mere mention of God and his chosen ones. It was not even safe to chat about the weather on KB. No matter how tactfully and gently I broached the subject. Which I always did 🙂
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:34pm
- krazykiwi
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91DSNL1BEeY
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:35pm
nasska

They always reckon that you go to Heaven for the weather & Hell for the company stigie.

I can always take an umbrella. 🙂
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March 27, 2017 8:31pm
- Kea
  
  Hell is half full of sodomites. You can forget any ideas of fun gay bars though, as the other half are Muslim.
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:40pm
  - SPC
    
    If the followers of a false prophet end up in hell to be judged as if beasts …
    
    then there is a mosque, there the followers of a false prophet go down to pray in the position of offering of submission to the God (a bit like how primates offer submission to the dominant male). and in so doing provide temptation to those banned from heaven for their homosexuality.
    
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    March 27, 2017 9:19pm
  - SPC
    
    And of course there was also an area where women who competed in beauty pageants and generally competed with each other for male approval in the harems of the rich and the royal, were now to parade naked to be judged by lesbian feminists (who denied that God was in the image of a man).
    
    Hell is really
    
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    March 27, 2017 9:24pm
  - SPC
    
    or if God was in the image of a man, then Goddess was in the image of a woman, then God was not the ultimate authority …
    
    hell is just an antidote to those who claim that only those like them are worthy of heaven (maybe those who are otherwise are worse, maybe not).
    
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    March 27, 2017 9:29pm
    - Tirebiter
      
      Or as JP Sartre observed: “Hell is other people.”
      
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      March 28, 2017 3:43am
- mikenmild
  
  The best quote about hell:
  “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”
  – Winston Churchill
  
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  March 27, 2017 8:41pm
  - SPC
    
    I thought it was a quote about party politics and the supremacy of the Tory party over that of the communists (or Labour), but they could still agree on some things …
    
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    March 27, 2017 9:32pm
    - mikenmild
      
      It was about Hitler’s invasion of Russia.
      
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      March 27, 2017 9:39pm
      - SPC
        
        Er, yes, and despite the fact that Soviet Russia was governed by the commies/left … they could still agree that
        
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        March 27, 2017 9:46pm
      - EAD
        
        A good book on the German/Soviet war:
        
        Onwards Christian Soldiers:
        
        https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0939482622/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
        
        The Chicago Tribune’s northern Europe correspondent from 1920-40, Day used his base in Riga, Latvia to report unflinchingly on the realities of Soviet tyranny and Red subversion in the Baltic. Banned from entering the USSR, fired from the Tribune at the instance of the U.S. State Department, Day threw in his lot with the brave Finns and their German allies during their anti-Bolshevist crusade. Onward Christian Soldiers bristles with Day’s insights and reminiscences of northern Europe — Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Danzig, Lithuania, and his beloved Latvia, Estonia, and Finland in the years between the wars. With an introduction by legendary Tribune correspondent Walter Trohan, Onward Christian Soldiers pulls no punches on the Jewish role in Communism and on Britain and America’s hypocrisy in posing as defenders of Christian civilization.
        
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        March 27, 2017 10:09pm
    - SPC
      
      that is the atheists had something in common with Church’ill.
      
      So while he and the left would continue to be adversarial to other (even slander each other) fro9m across the house, they still had a common enemy they could fight together against (and the lefties included those of Russia too).
      
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      March 27, 2017 10:10pm
EAD

Savant skewers the MSM:

http://irishsavant.blogspot.co.nz/2017/03/the-fake-news-galacticos.html?m=0
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March 27, 2017 9:29pm
- Kea
  
  I see the death toll has risen to 240. No one here is interested. They are too busy crying rivers of fake tears over a few poms hurt in a car accident.
  
  240 civilians don’t even register, because radical extremist Jews want Syria destroyed. Not only that, the people who dropped the bombs are war heroes in their sick little world.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:12pm
  - SPC
    
    Mosul is in Iraq.
    
    The air raid was requested by the Iraq government.
    
    And now the Iraq government claims that car bombs destroyed a building the dead were pulled out of, and it was not an air raid at all …
    
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    March 27, 2017 10:27pm
    - Kea
      
      Yes I just popped back to amend that. However, those same people were behind the attacks on the former US ally, Iraq.
      
      They want a fragmented and weak Arab world. They have gotten smart with Syria, Egypt, Libya, by arming disgruntled factions and letting them stuff the place up.
      
      All this death is due to the Israel lobby pressing the agenda of a tiny number of powerful religious nut job Jews.
      
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      March 27, 2017 10:32pm
- krazykiwi
  
  “And according to RIA Novosti, Americans and Saudis have agreed to transfer 9,000 ISIS jihadis to Syria in order to prolong the conflict there.”
  
  Riiiiight.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:30pm
- SPC
  
  Are the Russians of the view that the western media and governments are being inconsistent – critical of civilian death rates while Russians supported the Syrian government with air power against rebels in Syria, yet accepting such things when the west is acting in support of groups in Syria or Iraq fighting IS?
  
  Then they could say that and keep it to that, rather than accuse the west of what they themselves said was unfair accusation when they were involved. At least be consistent rather than just a partisan hack criticising the other teams inconsistency.
  
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  March 27, 2017 10:42pm
Manolo

The Democrats will oppose everything until the end of time:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-delay-vote-supreme-court-nominee-neil-gorsuch-n738901
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March 28, 2017 6:57am
- mikenmild
  
  Hey, at least they did allow Gorsuch (and the President) the courtesy of a hearing for the nominee, even though he refused to answer any questions.
  
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  March 28, 2017 7:14am

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