General Debate 4 April 2017

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Northland Wahine

23 years ago a very controversial book was made into a movie. I recall purposely avoiding seeing “Once were Warriors” because as I didn’t see the point of reliving my own childhood. Only difference was, my stepfather was pakeha as my own biological pakeha father had never been on the scene before I was born. Such was the life of many an inner city Grey Lynn Maori kid.

To cut a long story short, my best friend insisted I see it with her once the hoopla had died down and we watched it in an almost empty theatre. I still recall my knees drawn up to my face, my eyes a gushing tap, and unable to stop sobbing.

After the movie we’re went to dinner and for the first time in our then 15 year friendship and told her about my childhood. I wish my mother was as strong as Beth…she wasn’t. I thought Grace took the easy way out. Who was going to protect her younger sisters from “uncle bully”. But most of all I thought have brave Alan Duff was to not only write such a story, but also to defend it, because Maori academics at the time saw it as Maori bashing, many still do. Unlike this movie family, we 5 siblings were uplifted into the States care, where we were fed and clothed, however abuse was still part of everyday life.

Reading Alan Duffs piece in the herald this morning http://nzh.tw/11830835, reminded me again how brave he is.

There are many Maori who have good careers, loving families and partners, who are out there doing great things in our communities. And we feel the backlash from those who are all that our fellow New Zealanders fear.

Many of us do own the problem. We step up time and time again to make a change. Not only do we face negativity from those who just see us “another bludging hori” but by saying what we do, behaving as we do, setting the examples that we do, we also face the negativity of those we are endeavouring to assist.

So if I appear defensive at times, that’s not my intention. Do read his piece tho.

Have an awesome day everyone.
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April 4, 2017 8:02am
- Lance
  
  I supervised a Maori junior technician when I worked at the Uni of Auckland.
  We were both movie buffs and used to critique and discus the various movies we had watched.
  The next day after I had seen Once Were Warriors I asked him what he thought of it as I know he had seen it as well.
  There was silence for a while then in a soft voice he said “that is how we grew up”.
  
  He was one of the few Maoris in the entire dept and when it came to the ‘compulsory’ Treaty of Waitangi workshop day, he refused to go, and nobody made him attend either.
  He basically has completely rejected all things Maori and doesn’t want a bar of the culture as he is much happier now.
  Rather sad I always thought.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:11am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I know plenty of Maori who do not reject their culture who work, pay taxes and are good parents.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:15am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      How much of the “Once were Warriors” culture is “Maori culture” and how much is “underclass culture”? Can you separate the two?
      If so, then what characteristics of “Once were Warriors” culture would be unique to “Maori culture”?
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:22am
      - Northland Wahine
        
        Odakyu-sen, It isn’t unique to Maori Culture because the behaviour is mirrored internationally in the underclasses. But in this country, it is Maori that stand out in those appalling statistics of imprisonment, crime, uneducated, poverty, welfare.
        
        Your other post regarding disassociating and working within suggests there is 1 set solution. I don’t think there is. I do think education is the starting point, but again there will be arguments and debates on what do we educate our people in?
        
        The treaty negotiations are filled with educated Maori…I think the irony of this is missed.
        
        Maori need to encourage other Maori that it’s ok to succeed. That when one Maori goes forward, it’s ok to follow and not try to drag him back down.
        
        Aristotle and Allergy of the cave often springs to mind…
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:42am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Just as there are no full blooded Maori there is no unique Maori culture. Many who identify as Maori have a blended culture. There was Christianity prior to the English coming. Maori have a Tangi which Maori custom but they also say Christian prayers. Many also have plenty to drink after which is Irish culture.
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:56am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        Northern Wahine,
        
        I agree that the “Once were Warriors” culture is essentially an underclass culture, but it is overlaid with the extra dimension of “race”.
        
        I chose a 1-set solution simply to provide a logical starting point.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:26am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        One of the most insidious characteristics of the underclass is the desire to remain within its prison.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:47am
      - GoVege
        
        Odakyu: the characteristic unique to Maori would be the obsession with having a ridiculous number of children, thereby compounding their problems many times over.
        It’s not really unique. ..just typical of all sexist cultures that aim to control their women by keeping them barefoot and pregnant.
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:29am
      - Northland Wahine
        
        Govege…you posted the following…
        
        “the characteristic unique to Maori would be the obsession with having a ridiculous number of children, thereby compounding their problems many times over.
        It’s not really unique. ..just typical of all sexist cultures that aim to control their women by keeping them barefoot and pregnant.”
        
        Well either it’s unique or it isn’t. And are Maori the only Polynesian culture that continue to have large families? Does religion play a part in how large families can be? Mormons, Brethren, Catholicism?
        
        I suggest you ask who keeps whom barefoot and pregnant. The young women I interview make their own choices, rightly or wrongly. They don’t want to listen to their mothers, they want their own lives, their own babies, their own homes. Sadly, they don’t get that their lives will never be the same from here on end, babies become demanding teens, with running your own home comes bills. It’s these young women we need to educate. Change their attitudes to their worth and that should flow on to their children. Regardless if their father is in their lives or not.
        
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        April 4, 2017 12:08pm
      - GoVege
        
        You’ve definitely got a point there NW.
        I know Pacifica families with huge numbers of kids, but usually they had them back in the islands where it is very hard to obtain contraception.
        Unlike NZ.
        I met a Samoan family recently with 11 kids.
        The difference between them and most Maori with that many kids, is they are not on the dole and they are not expecting the government to house all their kids either.
        And their oldest child is at university.
        That’s not to say there aren’t some pretty useless families back in the islands.
        Immigrants tend to make a big effort to better themselves.
        I’ve also come across Pacifica girls having 7 or more children to fill a void in their lives.
        One I know well was raised on the dpb by a Samoan single mother.
        When mum was pushing 30, she decided it was “time to find a husband” and ditched her 2 kids on unwilling relatives.
        The girl ran away at 15 and now has 8 kids.
        The boy is in a gang.
        
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        April 4, 2017 7:53pm
      - GoVege
        
        NW: I said Maori are a sexist culture who pressure their women and girls to have heaps of kids, because that is what I have observed talking to Maori friends and neighbours.
        A good friend of mine used to confide in me about what his cousin, a mum of 11, was up to because he was worried about the children.
        Yet one time, when she’d just had her 7th or 8th child, he obviously thought it was awesome she had had another, despite what a negligent mum she was.
        Another Maori family I knew had 16 kids…12 survived and of them one was disabled in a near-fatal accident.
        Another Maori friend told me she was “the oldest” of her sisters to start having kids…at 20.
        When her sister visited I heard her calling her preschool daughter
        “a useless c***”.
        I have heard Maori friends talking in reverential tones about women who had 10 or more kids like they were saints.
        I can furnish more examples if you like.
        BTW I am very sorry you and so many Maori have had such terrible childhoods.
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:08pm
      - Northland Wahine
        
        Veg, I copied and pasted what you said word for word. You have more side steps than a 7 legged crab. For every Maori story you have, I have a Samoan, a Tongan, a nuiean, and Rarotonga. Told to me from the latter…workmates, friends, clients, in laws. I’m not sure what your point is to be honest. If you need to think Maori are lower on the pecking order than you, then knock yourself out. I’m not going to compete with you veg.
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:27pm
      - GoVege
        
        Why can’t you just address the issues instead of resorting to name-calling, Northern Wahine?
        If you don’t have an answer, admit it.
        I don’t “need to think Maori are lower on the pecking order”…that appears to be in your mind.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:13pm
      - Northland Wahine
        
        Veg, I’ve addressed the issues more than once today. I don’t deny the statistics. The real statistics. Not the ones you can no longer find links for. It suits your agenda to think all Maori call their kids horrible names, that we all breed like rabbits, that we all uneducated and on welfare. There is nothing I could type, no thought I could express that would not satisfy your need to think the worse of all Maori.
        
        As for name calling? Good grief veg, hand in your man card.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:29pm
      - GoVege
        
        Tell me what names I have called you, Northland Wahine.
        Have I accused you of “having an agenda” or tried to tell you what you “need to believe”, etc?
        This is a debate about the problems of Maori and what can be done about them.
        I have given my honest opinion that Maori have too many children when contraception is easily available (unlike in many countries) and for some reason you have chosen to take that as a put-down.
        Could it be that you think that non-Maori have no right to have an opinion about Maori problems?
        Believe me, you are welcome to voice your opinion about things pakeha are doing wrong.
        Just try not to get abusive.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:01pm
    - VicParking
      
      Totally agree and wish to add “own their own house”
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:22am
    - Lance
      
      Good for you
      And your point is?
      
      FWIW my point was these violent assholes damage peoples lives long after the victims are free of them
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:23am
- VicParking
  
  Can hardly wait to see the Hit and Run movie.
  Who will star? Or will it be a cartoon movie.
  The new PM, bunkrupt Andy can star as himself and so can the New Minister of defence Peter Dunne. The villages who by then will NZ citizens can play themselves although with a million each in their back pockets they may hire doubles.
  John Key will be unable to participate as he and most of the cabinet will be in prision.
  Plenty of military equipment to use as the Army, Navy and Airforce will be disbanded and their personnel made to build state houses.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:13am
  - Paulus
    
    Susi Ferguson will have a large part in it somewhere – probably wearing a Burka to hide her Afghan identity and being like the parrot on Hager’s shoulder – I can hear it -“pieces of eight”.
    She is good at hearsay, like this morning.
    Where Susi are the FACTS not paid for hearsay evidence.
    We know that the so called media are fully intent to ramming this down our throats before the election.
    Katie has said so. Lest we forget – yea !
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:36am
  - G152
    
    Even their little snowflake buddies in the media are shying away from rat face and the other thing…
    Personally I’d do them for bringing the country into disrepute
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:37am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I can’t watch the film or read the book… I’ve seen bits. I know what happens to Grace.
  I didn’t grow up with violence, but I still can’t stomach the thought that others do.
  
  You are right, Duff has written a powerful piece today. And he provides the only solution.. educate, educate, educate.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:17am
  - cmm
    
    Education is the answer so long as it is the sort of education that leads to people taking responsibility for their own lives.
    
    Unfortunately what passes for education these days is fanning grievances and handing out victim cards.
    
    Personal responsibility is key. Nobody can fix your life but you.
    
    Focusing on some grievance from the past just makes people bitter and gets in the way of doing the things that need to be done. Blame is a useless emotion.
    
    Northland taking charge of his own life is a good start, but our society needs people like him and Duff to be more outspoken and hold up the mirror.
    
    And this does not just apply to Maori. It applies to all people who are feel society has done them wrong and stop taking personal responsibility.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:31am
    - Swifty
      
      Wahine is Maori for ‘woman’.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:58am
      - cmm
        
        Thanks for the education.
        
        You learn something new every day.
        
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        April 4, 2017 1:03pm
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Talking about education misses the point. How much a kid actually ends up learning is 75% due to the parents and only 25% due to the school. A good school cannot overcome poor parenting and a below average school (in NZ anyway) will still be adequate if the parents do a good job.
    
    Then you add all the other stuff that kids need parents for and the school hardly influences at all.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:01am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Me and my friends are all keenly aware of the influence of parents – we won’t send our kids to schools unless the vast majority of parents push their kids to educational success – keeping their kids in line and creating a peer group where high achievement is expected and a school that is less affected by negative effects of bullying.
      
      For that reason we will avoid low decile schools with children who have lazy parents like the plague.
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:26am
  - krazykiwi
    
    Kids need to be loved first, educated second. No quantity of education will replace a lack of love.
    
    Our social systems make it easy for parents to not love their kids. There are no consequences. Abdication is made guilt free because the state steps in to provide care. But care isn’t love, and what kids primarily and desperately need is to be loved.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:15am
    - Northland Wahine
      
      Agree krazykiwi… but what constitutes love? Making sure they have full bellies, warm clothing, a roof over their head. It’s hard to comfort a constantly sick and hungry child if you can’t take care of the basics. How do you get the basics? Having a job helps. We can’t all live on self sustainable plots.
      
      I agree education isn’t the be all and end all of Maori woes. And yes, all kids need to be loved and feel worthy. When they appreciate their own worth and start to appreciate others worth. Respect will follow.
      
      Sadly, all of the above is missing from too many young lives.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:31am
      - krazykiwi
        
        but what constitutes love?
        
        That’s a challenge isn’t it? We recognise the absence of love more readily than we can define exactly what it is. As a Christian I have a belief that love flows from God though each of us, whether we’re a believer or not.
        
        As you’ve suggested, love is respecting someone, and making them feel valuable. Parents need to be doing this, and society (somehow!) needs to make their not doing so subject to some kind of consequence.
        
        Thanks too for sharing your story. Like many commentators here, I appreciate your openness.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:42am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        The Allegory of the Cave is timeless isn’t it and just goes to show that nothing has changed, despite ‘modern’ circumstances being blamed for age old human conditions and situations.
        Mankind is meant to be the most adaptive of creatures, modernity was an advancement in my opinion and yet some have trouble adapting to it, I wonder why?
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:44pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  If you identify with an ethnic group that is associated with specific and recurring problems, what should you do?
  
  – Disassociate from your group (but remain separate from the “outsiders”)?
  – Disassociate from your group (but attempt to join the “outsiders”)?
  – Work within your group for its reform (but exclude “outsiders” from your efforts)?
  – Work within your group for its reform (and invite all “outsiders” to help you)?
  
  Please discuss…
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:17am
  - SGA
    
    How many words? Will this assignment count towards my final grade? If so, how much? Do I need to use referencing (if so, what style)? 🙂
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:19am
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      Good points, SGA. 😉
      -2,000 words
      – 20% of final grade
      – You will be following the John Benjamins Publishing Company’s style guide. More specifically, it has been adapted from: http://www.benjamins.com/jbp/© 2002 John Benjamins Publishing Company:
      BenjICEHL12.doc
      (Personally, I prefer the Chicago Manual of Style’s guidance for referencing, but Benjamins it is…)
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:32am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    None of the above.
    
    Go about your business and be the best person you can be. Don’t disassociate from your ethnic group but don’t take responsibility for them either. If you’re going to put work into helping people outside your own family, do it based on need not race.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:59am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Had a farming friend in the Waikato 80’s-00’s, the hard working Maori that he knew over several decades their all had to either leave or cut off contact with their families – as bludging relatives would take it all (sort of a continuation of the old tradition of ‘muru’ that saw assets removed using various excuses from anyone accumulating them in pre-european days). Also said that Maori with strong iwi connections were unemployable owing to one or two 3-day tangi absences per month.
      
      Maori culture is a millstone around the necks of Maori trying to improve themselves.
      
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      April 4, 2017 5:24pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Go to Australia, like most hard working Maori.
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:27am
  - Postitrote
    
    Like Nigel said above – none of the options listed. Just because I identify with an ethnic group doesn’t mean I carry the burden of problems caused by a few bad people and I don’t judge or classify individuals by their ethnicity.
    
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    April 4, 2017 5:13pm
  - Tirebiter
    
    People are pretty much the same all over the world. We’re all born into our cultures and assimilate that culture’s values. For those born into bifurcated cultures, where the values diverge, a certain schizophrenia is impossible to avoid. I live among the Oneida, a native American tribe who for most of their 300 years of interaction with European whites were killed on sight, had their land stolen, their language outlawed, their children taken and put in white schools to learn to be poor white drones, and every treaty with them broken by the US government. The Oneida never broke an agreement. That is their cultural value. The US’s white European cultural values allow, and even encourage, breaking their word to ‘win’ – whatever it is they want to win. The Oneida don’t understand this but try to work within the system while defending their culture. The Oneida were part of a native confederation that practiced democratic principles hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived. Many Oneida volunteer to serve in the US military because they are, like many Native American societies, a warrior society with warrior values like honor, courage, sacrifice, and defense of their people – which now includes the US through its military destroyed their ancestors. Like most people they have a workable culture, but defective individuals. Those of us in the white European culture generally don’t have the added burden of trying to serve two very different sets of cultural values. Because of this, even though I don’t share all of the Oneida values, I understand their difficulty and try to give them a little latitude. It might be a strategy worth exploring.
    
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    April 5, 2017 1:51am
- Chinarugby
  
  Thanks Northland Wahine.
  
  I’m Pakeha and grew up in an only slightly less hideous family environment. Myself and two other siblings managed to break the cycle of extreme violence and go onto live good lives (crime, drug free etc) and raise between us 7 children – who have gone on to become a doctor, dentist, auditor and so on.
  
  The best part my sister married a Maori guy who had an even more violent upbringing. He staunchly rejected the violence in this childhood and removed his wife and children from any Marae involvement (this is where he would see as a child the violent fathers meet).
  
  Proudly it’s his three children – proudly part Maori – who are the doctor, dentist and auditor.
  
  There are plenty of Maori (not enough) who have fought back and broken the cycle.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:25am
  - towaka
    
    Chinarugby,
    I am curious about your name?…are you involved in rugby in China?I have heard that the Chinese government is investing in developing the game in China.
    
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    April 4, 2017 6:52pm
    - Chinarugby
      
      Yes was involved some years ago in China rugby clubs.
      
      Yes the chinese govt. is investing into rugby at Uni level for a number of reasons I think.
      
      – They want to ‘man up’ soft Chinese males
      – The 7’s a re now in the Olympics which means medal opportunities in an new sport.
      – It kills them that Japan is the Asian #1 in the sport – they would dearly love to knock them off that perch.
      
      Jack Ma of Alibaba is going to invest some $100m into Rugby there in some form.
      
      I’ve seen some of the Uni games there and see huge potential in their players.
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:25pm
      - towaka
        
        Thanks for that informative reply ChinaR,
        
        I have heard the ”harden” up the males and Olympic sport angle before but not the bit you said about ”knocking the Japanese off their perch”..makes sense though as the rivalry with the Japanese is something else!
        
        Also from living here in Guangzhou I have seen how the Chinese are not scared to invest money when it suits i.e they built an amazing purpose built cricket stadium for the 201o Asian games that now gets used by a handful of expat club teams.
        
        From what you are saying it sounds like rugby in China might go the Japanese way of being an upper-class sport played at elite universities?
        
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        April 5, 2017 1:46pm
- waikatogirl
  
  Thank you for that NW. Very brave to put your (past) life out there.
  
  There is a lot of comment made on KB and in general life about useless maori. I believe you understand this is frustration at those Alan Duff describe, and most white kiwis understand the difference between maori who embrace convention and encourage their families to do well and thrive in life, and those who refuse to step up to life, and drag others down. This frustration covers those white ferals who also indulge in lowlife attitudes, all the while expecting the taxpayer to cover their lifestyle choices.
  
  I like the way Duff described looking in the mirror and making a choice about not becoming a drop nuts. This is an important lesson many need to make.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:26am
- Swifty
  
  You have an awesome day too Northland Wahine.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:29am
- Viking2
  
  Its interesting. I have Maori girls on mystaff and I Deal with this appalling behavior towards them almost daily. It just never goes away.
  It is an indictment of Maori that Maui Solomon is on the outer for attempting to bring this out in his own place of home. He said just last week that he had 70 documented cases that he is dealing with. The biggest barrier seemed to be the women.
  
  What can we say or do. The safest place for the women seems to be at work.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:40am
- Rachael Membery
  
  And you are testament to being able to overcome a shit start in life. I can not presume to know what it was like growing up like that but for my own children that could have been their lot.
  My first husband I shall generously refer to as a ‘motorcycle’ enthusiast, I met him when I was 16, pregnant, married at 17, mother and separated at 18 as I decided that it was not the lifestyle for me and my baby, some would say not a wise choice as a husband but looking back I guess I was flattered that he ‘chose’ me.
  Bad boys were way outside my middle class experience with two school teacher parents. He had been in borstal, as it was, he made his choice, I made mine. He has been in and out of prison throughout his adult life having embraced the ‘motorcycle lifestyle’, fortunately it didn’t affect me, my son didn’t visit his father in prison, he had limited exposure to him when visiting with his paternal grandparents. If I had grown up less sheltered he might not have seemed novel lol.
  Tried to save husband number two from alcohol (not a violent drunk) he just sapped all available emotional energy, I left when one child was two and the oher three months when I was 30 and had a teenager from first marriage. Biological clock had a hand in that. No regrets re the children.
  I feel that I put my children first, certainly before any man.
  Anyway, I left school wth school c English accredited as I wagged a lot. I now have a law degree and one in philosophy.
  I have a bit of the ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ when I see people becoming train wrecks.
  Some choices are made for us and others we make for ourselves!!! But when we make choices that affect others, ie our children there should be no choice but what is best for them.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:40am
  - calendar girl
    
    Thanks for that insight, Rachael; you’ve shown great courage in putting your personal story out there.
    
    It’s a compelling account of being prepared to assess one’s own circumstances, and to do what’s necessary to move to an environment of personal development. And of the imperative of creating a positive home experience for the development of one’s youngsters.
    
    Well done on what you have achieved for (and by) yourself, and most importantly for your precious children.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:17am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      As I did law at WAIKATO lol, with lots of educated Maori, the opportunities given to Maori students to ensure their success is great, I have been privy to some of the extra measures provided, Maori mentors, particular career seminars, meeting Maori already in the legal fraternity etc, even welcoming dignitaries, opportunities not provided to the wider campus.
      I got invited along to an exam study group by someone who identifies as Maori, they get to be quite clique due to their heritage and Maori only events, anyway she hadn’t given it a thought, I was treated as a pariah by some, it became clear why I had not received notification of the event as it had been paid for apparently with iwi funds and not open to the wider Law school. It can be hard being informed that being Maori means that you can identify with anyone and everyone but that I as a pakeha would not be able to assist Maori as I have no innate sense of Tikanga by virtue of birth and whakapapa.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:49am
      - Northland Wahine
        
        And it’s that kind of behaviour and attitude that needs to discouraged.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:59am
      - Odakyu-sen
        
        “… no innate sense of Tikanga by virtue of birth and whakapapa.”
        
        Profound.
        
        I would claim that an “outsider” would have a very keen sense of Tikanga (but indirectly). The outsider cannot sense Tikanga directly, but can infer it from the indentations (its “footprints” if you will) that it makes in society.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:12am
    - Flash
      
      Two strong women have spoken today. I am proud for you both. (And I would add Paula Bennett to the group)
      I saw Once were Warriors at a matinee, sitting in front of three cheery, laughing Maori women – laughing that is, until Beth got the bash, and then there was silence. That’s when I knew that it wasn’t fiction.
      
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      April 4, 2017 12:25pm
    - Rachael Membery
      
      No biggy, it is what should happen.
      My children could see it differently but they all work, only the eldest has provided me with grandchildren after he was thirty and the youngest two at 25 and 27 haven’t yet, two own homes and the third is at the ‘homestead’. The law degree was by accident and can be inconvenient.
      I have what I consider to be a wealth of ‘experience’ and education to offer, but as I apparently can’t identify with the problem group, both are seemingly superfluous.
      
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      April 4, 2017 3:08pm
  - Northland Wahine
    
    Thanks Rachael and Waikatogirl and others…
    
    And we mothers worth any grain of salt know that the most important thing in our lives are our children. They are paramour. We sacrifice all that able to ensure what’s best for them. Not wants…needs.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:48am
- Chris2
  
  It’s interesting how feminists lambast men for abusing women and demand that ALL men must take responsibility for fixing this. But we never hear the activists demanding that ALL maoris take responsibility for the abuse of maori children.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:04am
- Rachael Membery
  
  I apologise for the two wankers that downticked your post, I would also be interested in knowing why they downticked.
  Would either or both care to enlighten? Call it a social experiment.
  That is Northland Wahine’s original post.
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:10am
- RF
  
  Northland Wahine. Thank you. That took courage and I respect you for that. I apologise if my previous posts have offended you as I have been very critical of Maori.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:23pm
Padriv Ustoev

Right on cue another Lone Wolf not related to Islam explosion of Peace and understanding.

https://www.rt.com/news/383202-st-petersburg-blast-metro/

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11831155

I’m sure the Russians having no scruples and not plagued by white guilt will call this spade a spade.
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April 4, 2017 8:04am
- Huevon
  
  Islam is cancer.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:14am
  - ztev
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    What was it when the Protestants and catholics were shooting and blowing each up in Northern Ireland ?
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:23am
    - Longknives
      
      Have you ever visited Planet Earth Ztev?..
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:45am
    - alex Masterley
      
      That was;
      
      From the perspective of the Catholics a fight against the British to unite Ulster with Ireland.
      
      From the perspective of the Protestants a fight to keep Ulster in the United Kingdom.
      
      It wasn’t about religious domination, although unhappily the combatants were divided along sectarian lines.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:45am
      - stephen2d
        
        And the IRA was always Marxist (which they have managed to conceal from the Americans so successfully, otherwise there would have been close to zero donations from there).
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:05am
    - cmm
      
      Yup that was a cancer too, but that was back then and is no longer a threat to society. It was sorted out.
      
      So were the Nazis, the Stasi, apartheid, the plague…
      
      Let’s focus on the threat at hand shall we? Care to offer any wisdom on how this might be sorted out?
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:46am
      - alex Masterley
        
        Sadly, it hasn’t gone away. There are still issues bubbling away under the surface.
        There are tribal areas in Ulster, and Ireland that don’t forgive or forget.
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:53am
      - cmm
        
        alex: Sure it hasn’t gone away 100%, but now it’s just a few pissed people bottling each other in pubs. There haven’t been bombs for quite a while.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:05am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        the troubles ended when Ireland became economically successful. (It’s the economy stupid). Islamic terrorism arises largely out of economic failure of it’s adherents, the vast majority are unemployable losers.
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:34am
      - kowtow
        
        cmm
        
        It hasn’t gone away. It is simmering under the surface. Adams and McGuinness convinced the majority of terrorists to stand down but a significant minority continue. The Provos ( Adams’ mob) will still murder people they consider to have been informers or traitors.
        
        The 6 counties are a very divided society. The irony is that the 2 main representatives of the 2 communities are the extremists on both sides , the centre ground has been lost to them . Ireland could have once been a great country but the gunmen of 1916 are glorified as heroes when they were terrorists and todays terrorists can draw on that glorification of violence for legitimisation.
        
        http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-10866072
        
        “BBC News NI takes a look at significant events involving dissident republicans since March 2009.”
        
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        April 4, 2017 12:01pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      The telling part of your comment is ‘each other’ because of that is what it was, each other, and the unfortunate British soldiers trying to keep the factions apart.
      
      The English only became concerned when the bastard IRA brought their terrorist activities to the mainland.
      
      And that is how it is with the ragheads and their death cult, they choose to bring their shit to us and this is not acceptable to our western sensibilities and values.
      
      I believe I can say that not many here give a shit about the Muslims killing each other in their own sandpit, it is when they bring their failed Stone Age ideology to our backyard to prove that the utterances of a paedophile have some sort of validity and we need to recognise their barbaric practices or die
      
      Islam is a cancer, Islam is a curse, Islam is the plague of the west and like the London plague in 1665, it is going to take a great fire to eradicate.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:54am
      - kowtow
        
        The “English” had to send the army in because the RUC were at breaking point due to province wide rioting and ethnic cleansing between both sides.That cleansing lasts to today with very divided suburbs, especially in Belfast.The IRA in the ’70s had a deliberate policy of murdering Protestant farmers in border areas in order to have a clear run in what they considered to be Catholic areas of the country side.
        
        The arrival of the army provided the IRA with a target and a chance to pose themselves as the protectors of their “community” as well as the “liberators” of the province. . Up to that point the Catholics had nick named them, The I Ran Away.
        
        Catholics welcomed the army initially as their protectors from attacks by Protestants .This was anathema to the IRA who played a skillful strategy of controlling it’s own neighbourhoods through terror and intimidation as well as attacking the army and police to get reprisal raids by the army which pushed the Catholics into the arms of the IRA.
        
        Always bear in mind that these shenanigans were largely ghetto /working class issues and the middle classes of both sides tended not to get involved .
        
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        April 4, 2017 12:16pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Radicalised Islamist suicide bomber
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39486640
  
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  April 4, 2017 11:40am
Padriv Ustoev

But in funny news.

Turns out non whites can be racist and they don’t give a fuck about your feelings.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11831077

Asian owner accused of racism by a Maori and throws it back in her face by calling her a criminal and ugly.

Zero fucks given by Don Choa. I love this.
Will the Badminton player tell him that he is being watched or not?
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April 4, 2017 8:07am
- Chinarugby
  
  When we lived in Asia I had the same thing – written in Chinese on the receipt was ‘White Man’.
  
  It was in a Starbucks with about 30 people waiting for drinks – so what it said white man – I’m white and they then knew who the drink was for (they couldnt spell or pronounce my name as there is no ‘W’ in Mandarin.
  
  I don’t feel sorry for this lady – even less so as she has run to the media without even speaking to the owner.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:15am
  - Lance
    
    He probably saw no harm in it.
    In Israel the clothes sizes were small , medium or fat 🙂
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:17am
    - MT_Tinman
      
      He’s not alone.
      
      The only “racism” in this is the report by suggesting a casual description for identification purposes is racist.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:58am
  - cmm
    
    So where’s the harm in saying it is for the white man (or the black man)?
    
    It is just another factual descriptor like “the guy in the red shirt” or “table 6”.
    
    The same goes for disabilities. Nothing really inherently wrong with saying “the guy in a wheelchair” or “the blind guy”, but no we’ll use some other trait like their shirt colour to pretend we don’t notice their affliction.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:55am
- peterwn
  
  She was a Squash player. Both are indoor court games and played with racquets but there the similarity ends.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:50am
  - SGA
    
    Silly me – I see now. The badminton reference escaped me at the time.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:23am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    I’m sorry, it was squash. It makes her much more qualified to be a race relations commissioner than badminton
    
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    April 4, 2017 10:23am
    - sam green
      
      who appointed her?
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:02pm
- Duncan Brown
  
  Quite possibly she was wearing black. Its a simple identifier. My job also requires me to quickly identify people in my notes and in some instances there’s no way I’d let you read them.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:43am
- GoVege
  
  I’m afraid some Asian people can be very rude and ignorant.
  Chinese people for instance will rarely accept a disabled child in the family.
  
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  April 4, 2017 11:04am
  - kowtow
    
    Is that why there’s no Downs’ Syndrome in Iceland?
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:18pm
    - GoVege
      
      Actually kowtow, the teacher aides at my child’s school one day watched a programme about special kids in Asia.
      Most of them were in tears afterwards at the way disabled babies were often just left on the side of the road to die.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:29pm
Keeping Stock

It’s a bit moist this morning.

If it’s raining in Wellington, will Andrew Little still be using the umbrella with the energy company branding on it when he rocks up to the High Court?
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April 4, 2017 8:09am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  Heard him declare on NatRad this morning that he alone is funding his lawyers and any costs that arise. He was very clear on that, no sourcing of funds through the labour party were his words. That to my mind would also preclude using taxpayer funds, right ztev?
  
  The man will come out of this financially ruined. Even if the plaintiffs are awarded half of what they are seeking, thats $1M. Poor wee broken Angry.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:17am
  - ztev
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Leaders funds?
    
    Key flipped his bill to the national party when he got knocked back from the ‘leaders funding’
    
    3 39
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    April 4, 2017 8:25am
    - Happychappy
      
      Where’s Labour going to get the money from as they have none and the top heavy executive follow their Membership of the unemployed to lazy to get off their bums to raise some. Andrew Little was the worst offender when he was President and started the rot by doing nothing in raising money.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:34am
    - G152
      
      ztev is going to help his lord and master out by posting stuff here about the great evil Key.
      Like that’s going to work
      
      29 1
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      April 4, 2017 8:47am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I thought you said the case wouldn’t go to trial yesterday ztev. Big mistake, if Little and his brief turned up expecting a call-over and adjournment.
      
      As for defaming a 91-year-old man who is terminally ill. Are there no depths to which Labour will not sink? I can’t wait until the cross-examination of Mrs Hagaman this morning.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:47am
      - sam green
        
        “defaming a 91-year-old man who is terminally ill”
        
        The spin is great in this one.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:04pm
      - GazzaW
        
        Not spin, fact.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:47pm
    - hmmokrightitis
      
      As he has every right to do ztev. But Angry’s out there now, hes footing the bill. More power to him.
      
      To do anything other than that now, after he’s made a public commitment, would be oh I dont know, corrupt?
      
      Angry just lost the leadership and the election, this morning.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:00am
    - GazzaW
      
      I heard Little interviewed on RNZ News and he stated categorically that legal costs and damages (should he lose) will come out of his own pocket.
      
      If that should come to pass then I commend Andrew Little for not raiding our wallets.
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:16am
      - smttc
        
        Gazza
        
        You missed the bit where Suzie Fergusson let Little off the hook by failing to get him to confirm that the Unions would not be footing the bill either.
        
        This is where he will get the funding from.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:04am
      - GazzaW
        
        I didnt hear the interview just the news item but Little said that he was taking personal responsibility for his legal costs and any damages. If he is duplicit enough to use union funds that’s fine by me but I dare say there will be thousands of union members out there who will not share my joy. Green Party members also will wonder all over again about doing a MOU with Labour.
        
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        April 4, 2017 1:17pm
    - Garbageman
      
      You might no be so defensive and flippant when your pay decrease is announced ztev streuth I find it hard to fathom how you can constantly defend this muppet you must have a performance review coming up
      
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      April 4, 2017 10:21am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      30 and out!
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:43am
  - Paulus
    
    Plus Costs – that’s another half million.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:39am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      Plus his own lawyer’s bills. I’m not sure what the per diem rate is for a lawyer of the standing of John Tizard, but I would be surprised if the legal bill for Little alone is less than $250k.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:51am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    I saw him on the AM show going on about an inquiry, not one question from Duncan Garner about the Court case, Duncan Garner gave him a free pass.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:48am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I guess Little is restricted in what he can say about a case that is currently before the Court.
      
      You’re brave for watching the AM Show though Rachael. I vowed at the start of the year that I wouldn’t watch breakfast TV, and three months in, I still haven’t.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:54am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        Hangover from watching Paul Henry, I can’t bring myself to watch Breakfast. But if he was doing radio interviews, he doesn’t seem to have been restricted.
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:15am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Didn’t stop him from making out that he was a hero on Nat Radio (RNZ) this morning when interviewed by Suzie Ferguson.
        
        something along the lines of “I take responsibility for my actions, I offered settlement money from my own finances, etc”
        
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        April 4, 2017 9:50am
  - howitis
    
    Yeah Nah
    
    Owen Glenn will step up and underwrite any costs!!
    After all he has a Maaaarvellous relationship with Labour.
    Ask Hulun
    🙂
    Fomenting mischief since….
    
    No wait Glenn paid the $2.6 mill over to Auckland Uni last month. Oh drat!
    https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2017/03/sir-owen-glenn-gifts-to-university-of-auckland-for-innovation.html
    
    Sorry Andy boy you’ll have to look elsewhere.
    
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    April 4, 2017 1:07pm
- stephen2d
  
  Maybe it is a sponsorship deal to help him pay the defamation costs?
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:06am
Maggy Wassilieff

Over 150 scientific papers published so far in 2017 indicate changes in atmospheric CO2 are not a major influence on weather or climate.
http://notrickszone.com/#sthash.PYYtzCi2.dpbs

Year after year, the number of papers countering the “consensus” view grows.
How long before the mainstream media start paying attention?
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April 4, 2017 8:09am
- mikenmild
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Nice to know that you have read all those papers and can personally confirm that they all refute the hypotheses of climate change.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:11am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No MM, I haven’t read all of them.
    Kenneth Richard has.
    
    And since 2014 he has been collating all the peer-reviewed scientific papers that indicate natural factors are the drivers to climate change.
    248 papers published in 2014
    282 papers in 2015
    500 papers in 2016
    http://notrickszone.com/skeptic-papers-2016/#sthash.dXXT4qsj.dpbs
    It might pay to check a few of them out…
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:27am
    - mikenmild
      
      And there is no possibility of him misrepresenting any of those papers? I’m generously assuming that he is an eminent climatologist.
      
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      April 4, 2017 8:39am
      - krazykiwi
        
        1. The theory is increase CO2 levels will increase global temperature
        2. CO2 levels are increasing
        3. Temperature is not increasing
        4. Entire theory of anthropogenic climate change invalidated
        5. Stop wasting billion of dollars
        6. Get on with life
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:57am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Mikenmild
        Kenneth Richard posts the links to all the papers,
        and usually puts up the abstracts
        feel free to read them yourself.
        
        The whole point is that the IPCC has studiously avoided investigating other variables that could be influencing our climate.
        There is (and always was) a whole literature in scientific journals that discusses the role of solar influences, ocean currents, volcanic events, cloud-albedo variations, etc that affect our weather and past and present climate.
        
        It will be very difficult for the IPCC to avoid referencing these recent papers now. Thousands of working scientists have moved well beyond the CO2 drives climate dogma.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:20am
    - jonar
      
      Well just checking out the first one, if you go to the link to the review information rather than just the pdf that he’s linked you find this.
      
      http://www.earth-syst-dynam-discuss.net/esd-2016-38/
      Review Status: This discussion paper has been under review for the journal Earth System Dynamics (ESD). The manuscript was not accepted for further review after discussion.
      
      RC2: ‘Too many flaws, and conclusions that are not supported by the observations’, Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Oct 2016
      
      SC1: ‘Data on atmospheric CO2 are wrong’, Peter Köhler, 30 Nov 2016
      
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      April 4, 2017 10:54am
      - jonar
        
        Here’s another
        http://www.ocean-sci-discuss.net/os-2016-27/
        
        This discussion paper has been under review for the journal Ocean Science (OS). A final paper in OS is not foreseen.
        
        Reviewer’s comments Where these are discussed the paper
        appears very speculative and the results shown do not really justify the conclusions. I therefore think that the claim of the paper to have explained why decadal hindcasts appear to fail with this model (and by implication to the same deficiencies in other models) cannot really be justified. I cannot therefore recommend publication in the full journal
        The presentation is rather superficial level at times
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:08am
      - itstricky
        
        That can be explained with…Umm…
        
        https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385?lang=en
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:12am
  - Kleva Kiwi
    
    Probably as many of the discredited 97% you must of read.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:43am
- VicParking
  
  Their results can not be duplicated by Greenpeace so they dont count.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:16am
- itstricky
  
  One of notrickszone’s contributors has suggested we’ll all be -2.5C by 2020, Maggy. Only three years away – you’d better start stocking up on heaters.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:32am
- Dave Mann
  
  Yes. I’ve become tired of mentioning this to you my friends and family because for the most part people just blindly accept the Climate Change fear/religion which is being fed to them…. but I’ll say it again:
  
  You don’t have to be a ‘scientist’ to realise that small changes in a gas which ONLY REPRESENTS 0.04% OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE cannot be RESPONSIBLE for changes in climate. You only need a basic education and the ability to think logically to understand this, so why are so-called ‘scientists’ unable to understand the obvious?
  
  Seeing that the whole planet is covered in VEGETATION which exudes CO2, isn’t it more likely that CO2 ratios are an INDICATOR of temperature rather than the CAUSE?
  
  And the final point. How do these ‘scientists’ explain away the historical Ice Ages, Little Ice Ages and other climatic fluctuations? Have any of these people looked up into the sky and noticed that fucking big hot thing up there which warms the whole planet from 150 million kms away?
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:28am
  - Dave Mann
    
    Late edit: Wrong word….not ‘exudes’ CO2 … breathes CO2. Note to self: avoid poncy
    words 😀
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:39am
    - Kimbo
      
      And unnecessary and excessive adverbs.
      
      Hey, it’s been a full five days since I referenced it! 😉
      
      6 3
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      April 4, 2017 9:58am
      - krazykiwi
        
        You keep records of your own reference to your own law?!? There’s gotta be a name for that condition 🙂
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:06pm
  - wiseowl
    
    I think you will find the vegetation uses CO2 not exudes .
    Otherwise you are right but scientists on the bandwagon get paid for perpetuating this scam.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:44am
    - Dave Mann
      
      Yes wiseowl you’re correct. I realised my mistake just after the edit option expired! lol
      
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      April 4, 2017 9:51am
  - itstricky
    
    You don’t have to be a ‘scientist’ to realise that small changes in a gas which ONLY REPRESENTS 0.04% OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE cannot be RESPONSIBLE for changes in climate.
    
    And yet, 0.1% in the air you breath would be enough to make you quite sick.
    
    Have you ever heard that phrase about how someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about overstates, whilst someone who does understates?
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:03am
    - All_on_Red
      
      .1 is 1000 ppm.You can talk about not knowing what they are talking about.
      CO2 is currently 408 ppm. Figures vary but to be harmful CO2 needs to reach 15,000- 40,000 ppm. One source said 60,000 for humans to become extinct.
      Indoor rooms with poor ventilation can reach 1-2000 ppm.
      I was surprised when I looked it up. I thought 5000 ppm was harmful.
      Apparently 2000 ppm is very good for plant growth.
      http://www.co2science.org/subject/h/summaries/healtheffectsco2.php
      http://principia-scientific.org/at-what-concentration-does-co2-becomes-toxic-to-humans/
      http://www.hse.gov.uk/carboncapture/carbondioxide.htm
      
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      April 4, 2017 12:30pm
      - Dave Mann
        
        Thank you Red
        
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        April 4, 2017 1:56pm
      - itstricky
        
        I can see I haven’t highlighted my exact point and it has been misinterpreted.
        
        My point is about Dave’s use of (small numbers) as some sort of evidence.
        
        40,000ppm is still only 4%. A source I have here says that 1000-2000ppm (0.1% to 0.2%) in a confined space is enough to make one feel drowsy and complain of poor air quality.
        
        4% is a small number. 0.2% is an even smaller one.
        
        Why on Earth (pun intended) would anyone, not a scientist (and clearly dismissive of scientists) proclaim something is not important just because of a (small number) ?
        
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        April 4, 2017 4:19pm
    - Dave Mann
      
      No it wouldn’t, tricky .. it would have no effect at all on a human. Anyway, we’re not talking about human physiology; we’re taking about atmospheric physics. I stand by my point.
      
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      April 4, 2017 1:53pm
      - itstricky
        
        You’re quite right Dave, we’re not talking physiology. That’s why my example wasn’t really about physiology. See above.
        
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        April 4, 2017 4:21pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Each time you breathe out, your exhaled air contains 4-5% CO2.
      
      Carbon dioxide is not a dangerous pollutant.
      It is absolutely essential for human life and healthy functioning of our physiology.
      If CO2 concentration in the atmosphere drops below 250ppm, then we are in deep, deep trouble.
      
      3 1
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      April 4, 2017 2:30pm
      - itstricky
        
        Didn’t say it was, Maggy
        
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        April 4, 2017 4:22pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Year after year, the number of papers countering the “consensus” view grows
  
  The key word is consensus. When you see that word you can be sure that there’s little science involved.
  
  Prof. John Christie : “’Science’ is not a set of facts but a process or method that sets out a way for us to discover information and which attempts to determine the level of confidence we might have in that information.
  
  In the method, a “claim” or “hypothesis” is stated such that rigorous tests might be employed to test the claim to determine its credibility. If the claim fails a test, the claim is rejected or modified then tested again.
  
  When the “scientific method” is applied to the output from climate models of the IPCC AR5, specifically the bulk atmospheric temperature trends since 1979 (a key variable with a strong and obvious theoretical response to increasing GHGs in this period), I demonstrate that the consensus of the models fails the test to match the real-world observations by a significant margin. As such, the average of the models is considered to be untruthful in representing the recent decades of climate variation and change, and thus would be inappropriate for use in predicting future changes in the climate or for related policy decisions
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:09am
  - jonar
    
    https://grist.org/climate-energy/consensus-is-collusion/
    
    Viewing the increasing agreement among climate models and climate scientists as collusion instead of consensus is a rather conspiratorial take on the normal course of scientific investigation. I suppose that fewer and fewer scientists disagreeing with the status quo is indeed consistent with some kind of widespread and insidious suppression of ideas, but you know, it is also consistent with having the right answer.
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:14am
    - krazykiwi
      
      it is also consistent with ~~having the right answer~~ tribalism and confirmation bias
      
      There is no ‘right answer’ in science. There are theories, hypotheses, and observations.
      
      Once the narrative moves to right vs wrong established by consensus, the science has stopped and the dogma has taken over.
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:32am
      - Dave Mann
        
        Hear hear. I think the whole western scientific method (which gave the world such wonderful progress) is under threat at this time.
        
        In its place seem to be developing a creeping guilt based superstition where ‘consensus’ gathered to milk government funds is replacing the pursuit of objective facts.
        
        Sreading the notion that humanity is ‘bad for the planet’ is going back to the religious dogma of original sin. Hasn’t the Enlightenment taught us anything?
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:06pm
Odakyu-sen

The Opportunities Party (of Gareth Morgan) has the slogan, “We want to make New Zealand FAIR.”

I hope Morgan is proposing equality of opportunity (which kiwis already have) and not equality of outcome.

I am a little leery of people who claim that they want to “make” utopia.
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April 4, 2017 8:09am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Make it Fair or else!
  
  Land for the Peasants!
  
  Factories for the workers!
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:13am
  - Longknives
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYU87QNjPw
    
    1 0
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    April 4, 2017 8:47am
  - Manolo
    
    A herd of camels for each one of us, revered Imam Padriv.
    
    3 0
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    April 4, 2017 12:37pm
- VicParking
  
  FAIR – Why will we all have to dye our hair blond?
  
  7 0
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  April 4, 2017 8:17am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Gareth has hair?
    
    13 0
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    April 4, 2017 8:27am
- Keeping Stock
  
  He doesn’t want to make New Zealand fair for cats!
  
  11 0
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  April 4, 2017 8:54am
- ross411
  
  Things not being fair is what children complain about when someone else has the toys they feel they should have instead.
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:02am
oldpark

Wonder why there is a hint of complacency by our Health Department on the Typhoid outbreak in Auckland. There appears to be no directive to the unsuspecting public ,just how deadly the disease is,and how it is spread. Seems by human faeces getting into the food chain,and the lack of handwashing ,after going to the toilet. Surely that simple advice could be broacast to an unsuspecting public. Some NZ ethnic races,could be ignorant of the fact ,that good healthy food preparations,are paramount,by just a simple washing of the hands after toilet use. Maybe it is time that our head in the sand, Health Department should at least quote the case of” Typhoid Mary” a cook and a carrier of such a devastating disease,which could be terminal.
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April 4, 2017 8:12am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  Yeah I’m pretty sure those people that don’t wash their shitty hands are not going to listen to public service announcements either, even if they understand English.
  
  If.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:15am
  - GoVege
    
    You’re probably right Padriv.
    Unfortunately other cultures tend to be very stubborn about clinging to their old beliefs.
    Taking on new ideas and questioning the old ways tends to be a Western attitude.
    We probably have as much change of getting them to wash their hands as we do of getting them to practise water safety.
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:46pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  First death has occurred.
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/91178918/woman-dies-after-contracting-typhoid
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:24am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Why do they interview Andrew Little? How is he even relevant to the story, not as if he is the MP for Mt Roskill, or anywhere truth be told.
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:17pm
    - Shaun the Sheep
      
      “this is concerning”
      No shit Sherlock, glad you spelled that out for us.
      That’s why 7% was asked for comment – because we couldn’t be concerned without the signal.
      
      May I extend my sympathy to family and friends of the deceased.
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:06pm
- oldpark
  
  We now have our first death ,because of Typhoid disease.
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:37am
  - Padriv Ustoev
    
    Well we are first in something in OECD for once.
    
    4 0
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    April 4, 2017 11:21am
    - skyblue
      
      Third world diseases coming to South Auckland. Not new.
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:58pm
Manolo

Education and more education is the only way out for Maoridom.
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April 4, 2017 8:13am
- Chinarugby
  
  …… and loving your kids helps.
  
  17 0
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  April 4, 2017 8:16am
  - VicParking
    
    And obeying the law.
    
    17 0
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    April 4, 2017 8:18am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Who’s law?
      
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      April 4, 2017 10:50pm
- waikatogirl
  
  A change of attitude too!
  If you insist on seeing your life as the fault of everyone else, then education is not going to be effective.
  
  Half glass or full glass, it’s all the way you look at things…
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:44am
Happychappy

Well the Greens have released their first TV promotion for the2017 General Election and its main Character is the fat obese Telly Tubby and Co Party Leader. Who ever sanctioned this Political advertisement obviously never asked the voter what there opinion was.or is as this person will drive more voters away than she will encourage to join with her out of date policies and thoughts.
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April 4, 2017 8:19am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Any TV ad featuring the wide-mouthed frog will repel more voters than it attracts.
  Good.
  
  24 2
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  April 4, 2017 8:26am
- itstricky
  
  Fat obese tubby frog? You guys really stick to the policies, a?
  
  7 27
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  April 4, 2017 8:29am
  - Peter
    
    Personal attacks aside, I do wonder how anyone who really believes in environmentalism can be overweight?
    
    A few rare medical conditions aside, isn’t being overweight a sign of over-consumption? Taking much more than one needs? Encouraging more factory production of food? More transporting of same? More animals being raised?
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:55am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Looking prosperous?
      
      7 0
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      April 4, 2017 9:20am
      - ross411
        
        A lot of time for eating, little time required for doing anything – given a well paid opposition position that requires doing little of consequence besides hollow grandstanding.
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:01am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Be fair (Morgan the light), she only has ONE castle ?
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:26am
      - waikatogirl
        
        What else does Material do except prepare her one and only question for the house, “does the Minister stand by his remarks.” ?
        
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        April 4, 2017 10:53am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Apologies WG, I reported instead of replying, my bad and a rogue mouse function caused by scrolling past Hugh’s laborious paste and repeat pastes and repeat pastes and repeat pastes and stabbing to downtick the ztev bot.
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:47am
      - waikatogirl
        
        You’re forgiven PG. I fully understand the impulse to downtick Hugh’s repeated comments…… ?
        
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        April 4, 2017 12:41pm
    - Rachael Membery
      
      It used to be a good thing, tailors got more for suits etc as more material required hence you had to have more money.
      
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      April 4, 2017 12:19pm
    - GoVege
      
      That’s true, Peter.
      I thought Greens believed in NOT making their stomachs graves for animals.
      
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      April 4, 2017 12:41pm
      - Garbageman
        
        That’s the best one yet GV if you have a hot curry will that make your stomach a crematorium for animals
        
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        April 4, 2017 3:13pm
      - GoVege
        
        That’s a pretty good one too, G man.
        
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        April 4, 2017 7:00pm
peterwn

So the Medical Officer of Health is trying to influence the licencing renewal decision for the New World at Wellington Railway Station. The Police to their credit have no objection about renewal and no issues regarding inappropriate sales have been identified. This New World is in a sensitive location and no doubt the lease terms also govern liquor sales. If there were instances of drinking in the station or on the trains then the New World management would come under serious pressure from the landlord. Seems the Officer just wants the licence cancelled to deal with issues that can arise from alcohol abuse even there are non for particular premises. Failing that, he wants the alcohol hidden away. This would have unintended (to him) consequences of shoplifting – are the Police and Officer going to conduct ‘controlled’ shoplifting operations? So better to have it in the open so staff can keep an eye on it and the presence of other shoppers would deter shoplifting. Anyway it was time port and sherry were available in supermarkets – any issues with having these more readily available would probably be minimal.
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April 4, 2017 8:22am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  The Medical Officer of Health needs to find a real job.
  Using his logic, people would be unable to walk past a pub without going in for a drink.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:28am
- ztev
  
  MOH is specifically required to give their opinion. Police obviously deal with the bad behaviour side, try to open late and they will oppose it.
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:28am
  - calendar girl
    
    It’s a licensing issue in relation to a perfectly-legal product, albeit one that requires a sales licence.
    
    It should have nothing to do with the Ministry of Health.
    
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    April 4, 2017 8:50am
  - srylands
    
    “MOH is specifically required to give their opinion.”
    
    You mean “it’s” opinion?
    
    Well that should be changed in that case.
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:16am
  - peterwn
    
    And the product has to hit scanner by the cut-off time or no sale – I am not sure but perhaps the transaction has to proceed to swipe card or till open stage by the cut off time.
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:58pm
lifesgood

Good on ya, Bill English. Kick that sanctimonious moron in to touch once and for all.
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April 4, 2017 8:27am
- niggly
  
  Exactly. Why does Hager keep calling for an inquiry, when there already has been an inquiry?
  
  There was an official investigation by the International Security Assistance Force in 2010 in association with the Afghan Government and the Governor of Baghlan Province (which came about when villagers approached the Governor).
  
  Now Hager and Stephenson (and the likes of Deborah Manning) want another inquiry. Now Hager and Stephenson know very well that NZ cannot over-ride international conventions by over-stepping the Afghan (and US) Governments. Hager and Stephenson (and Manning) also know very well that NZ cannot compel Afghan and US authorities to partake.
  
  Any new inquiry would be a farce, a show trial specifically for Hager’s benefit to push his well known and documented anti-NZ/US military co-operation viewpoints.
  
  Ironic how Hager, when being interviewed by the media after the PM’s announcement, resorts to his standard tactics of calling it a “cover-up” (when how can there be when it was already investigated?), totally rejects the military showing the PM video evidence (when he hasn’t seen it himself?) and is so sure that he is right and the “establishment” is wrong (this is the sort of thinking of a “conspiracy theorist”)! Oh and he again loses his cool, which is very uncool and undignified.
  
  This is what Fairfax reported yesterday. How much more can the NZDF do to make the likes of Hager accept reasoned and informed reviews?
  
  The Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Tim Keating in his letter to Brownlee on Friday said he had reviewed all the documentation available about the operation.
  
  “This includes material generated before, during and after the operation, the rules of engagement and the executive summary of the 2010 investigation by the International Security Assistance Force, the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the Afghan Ministry of Defence,” English said.
  
  Keating had told Brownlee “the material clearly shows personnel involved in the operation took deliberate and careful steps to ensure that it was conducted according to the law of armed conflict”.
  
  It had also showed the operation was overseen by a Defence Force legal officer and that personnel “took all feasible precautions to minimise potential civilian casualties and the destruction of property”.
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/91163021/no-basis-for-probe-into-hager-book-allegations-says-english
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:11am
Jigsaw

But we continue to separate Maori out! When I started teaching in the early 1960’s and the last days of separate Maori schools ( which incidentally were much better off as regards equipment etc) – we phased them out because they were too separatist. Now we are back doing exactly the same again and we have little idea of just what they are teaching but as far as we can see it is nothing good-not good for society. We seem to be busy teaching young Maori that they are special and don’t have to be part of NZ society – then we wonder why we have such problems. I am not advocating that all schools being the same just that teaching resentment of the broader values of our society cannot have a happy outcome.
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April 4, 2017 8:57am
- wiseowl
  
  And changes to legislation such as the Smith amendments to the RMA are separatist on a major scale.
  If these changes go through the consequences will be
  extremely divisive and the special people will think they rule.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:33am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    No, if this RMA bill goes through, maori then know they rule
    
    Apartheid for all.
    
    The end of an egalitarian society in New Zealand
    
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    April 4, 2017 10:31am
- VicParking
  
  Correct
  Before the 1960’s we seperated the Maori out – fail
  From 70’s till now we included then – fail
  Now we want to seperate them out again ??????
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:26pm
rightoverlabour

This needs to be fought, tooth and nail. Once freedom of speech is destroyed, democracy dies too.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/91132233/prominent-kiwis-pen-open-letter-saying-free-speech-is-under-threat-in-nz-universities
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April 4, 2017 8:58am
- ross411
  
  “History shows that fear and intolerance drives suppression of free speech, not that free speech causes fear and intolerance,” Moon said
  
  How sad that we see black clad left wing “anti-fascist” violent groups rise up when this allowed to fester, by both the low energy universities and the fake news mainstream media who often pass through these universities. So sad!
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:56am
- kowtow
  
  “Students at Hull University are being told to use gender neutral language in their essays – or risk losing marks. ”
  
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/02/university-students-told-essays-will-marked-fail-use-gender/
  
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  April 4, 2017 1:07pm
  - Kimbo
    
    From the “General Hospital” episode of “Blackadder goes Forth”, when Edmund was assigned to find out the identity of a German spy:
    
    Captain Blackadder: I then leapt on the opportunity to test you. I asked if he’d been to one of the great universities, Oxford, Cambridge, or Hull.
    
    Nurse Mary: Well?
    
    Captain Blackadder: You failed to spot that only two of those are great Universities.
    
    Nurse Mary: Swine!
    
    General Melchett: That’s right! Oxford’s a complete dump!
    
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    April 4, 2017 1:14pm
- SPC
  
  Has this been reported in local media yet?
  
  Apparently death threats from Moslems in Oz and New Zealand have resulted in the cancellation of the “Hero of Heresy” tour of former Dutch MP and prominent critic of conservative Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, due to “security concerns”.
  
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-39475462
  
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  April 4, 2017 1:32pm
  - SPC
    
    In an article for the Hoover Institution last month, Ms Hirsi Ali described what she called “political Islam” as being not just a religion but “a political ideology, a legal order, and in many ways also a military doctrine associated with the campaigns of the Prophet Muhammad”.
    
    Nearly 400 people had signed an online petition opposing Ms Hirsi Ali’s visit to Australia and New Zealand. “Against a backdrop of increasing global Islamophobia, Hirsi-Ali’s divisive rhetoric simply serves to increase hostility and hatred towards Muslims,” the petition said.
    
    Protests had been planned at locations where she was speaking, and people who bought tickets were told their bags would be searched.
    
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    April 4, 2017 1:39pm
    - GoVege
      
      What a sick joke.
      Ayaan Hirsi Ali is accused of “divisive rhetoric. .that serves to increase hostility and hatred towards Muslims”.
      Yet the actual facts are:
      She has been genitally mutilated (like millions of other females)…by Muslims.
      She has had her friend and colleague Theo Van Gogh slaughtered in broad daylight in Amsterdam and a note attached to his dead body threatening to kill her also….by a Muslim.
      She has had to have bodyguards for years to protect her from murder ….by Muslims.
      And SHE is the one stirring up hatred?
      
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      April 4, 2017 7:13pm
Manolo

Big bucks:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2017/04/03/the-111-million-reason-bill-oreilly-is-safe-at-fox-news-for-now/#585756c76ed3
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April 4, 2017 9:10am
- dime
  
  its fair to say Billy does OK
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:19am
- ross411
  
  Lesson learned: Do not comment on a black woman’s hair if you are white, or.. if you do, compare it to a white man’s hair.. I guess. Actually, what exactly is the lesson? That the media and political activists, and politicians look to get outraged over anything opportunistically?
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:49am
  - mikenmild
    
    I thought the lesson was that if you make enough money you can get away with anything.
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:17am
    - ross411
      
      Oh my god, he earns more money than you doing something people want! Let’s lynch the capitalist pigdog already! How dare he earn more money than you! What a transgression!
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:42am
      - cha
        
        Remember how things turned out for Beck when advertisers bailed.
        
        Mercedes-Benz said Monday that it has “reassigned” its advertisements on “The O’Reilly Factor” following a report about five settlements with women who alleged sexual harassment or verbal abuse by the show’s host, Bill O’Reilly.
        
        http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/03/media/mercedes-ads-bill-oreilly/
        
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        April 4, 2017 12:53pm
- wiseowl
  
  I read Megan Kellys’ book.
  She was on $18m .
  Appeared as though Ailes had tried it on with her as well and she went to Murdoch when more allegations came out.
  She spoke highly of Bill.
  
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  April 4, 2017 12:46pm
Manolo

Our own stephieboy, recipient of an “unfortunate” ban, would be proud. She is loyal to the bitter end:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/03/susan-rice-requested-to-unmask-names-trump-transition-officials-sources-say.html
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April 4, 2017 9:29am
- ross411
  
  Yes, #dirtyrice as the right wing media and their supporters on Twitter are dubbing it. It’ll be interesting to see how Rice either speaks out, or takes the 5th, when she is asked to testify.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:58am
- Garbageman
  
  I believe Dime said the ban was over tomorrow so no doubt there will be a few thousand rapid fire responses to inform you how its probably the Russians and obviously Trumps fault, it is good to see their devious webs slowly being untangled though but they sure as hell are going down kicking and screaming the old death by a thousand cuts scenario
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:51am
Northland Wahine

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/01/the-kingdom-of-women-the-tibetan-tribe-where-a-man-is-never-the-boss?CMP=fb_gu

Think a few female kiwibloggers will enjoy the article.
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April 4, 2017 10:01am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Not much different from my household..
  I’m the boss, then the daughters, then the cats… then the “stud”.
  
  My brothers have been blessed with households of daughters and granddaughters….
  bliss
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:31am
  - Northland Wahine
    
    My own family is very matriarchal however we are overwhelmed with males. 3 sons and 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter…and you can bet she’s a little miss independent! And this particular nana wouldn’t have it any other way!
    
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    April 4, 2017 10:49am
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      In my family it is very different. There is me 7 wives and 5 surviving mother in laws. All my cousins are either living the good life overseas, or fighting the infidels, in the UK.
      So as you see when you are alone against 13 women, you need to hold your own.
      Using snakes and canes is not done because Muslims hate women, it is because we are afraid of them.
      
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      April 4, 2017 11:43am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        V. good Padiv, made me smile although it would be possible to have five mother-in-laws if you married sisters or as is muslim tradition, your own daughter.
        
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        April 4, 2017 11:52am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        All men should hold their own!!! lol ;0
        
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        April 5, 2017 6:48am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I do trust our male kiwibloggers aren’t SF fans.
  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/03/shortlisted-book-women-able-to-kill-men-with-single-touch-baileys-prize
  
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  April 4, 2017 3:53pm
Nigel Kearney

How to avoid a drink driving conviction:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/91141209/discharge-without-conviction-for-waikato-addiction-counsellor-who-refused-drinkdrive-test

Warning: this method may not work for all of us.
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April 4, 2017 10:32am
- ross411
  
  I understand what you are intentionally not saying Nigel. He was given the old “Maori pass” for his transgression.
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:44am
- Rich Prick
  
  The cultural adviser exchange rate doesn’t buy that much. “Making people laugh” buys you a lot more latitude.
  
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  April 4, 2017 10:53am
- Jack5
  
  Ah, Judge Ailsa Patricia Duffy. She has an interesting background, and sounds to be a fairly feisty lady.
  
  Not many judges can say they were go-go dancers in a club in the 1970s, and not many women judges have an interest in marine diesel engines.
  
  http://www.kiwisfirst.com/judge-file-index/high-court-justice-ailsa-duffy/
  
  https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/judges-own-research-raises-question-bias-103337
  
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  April 4, 2017 11:06am
  - Jack5
    
    Then this decision of Judge Duffy in 2014 raised a few eyebrows.
    
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11372755
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:09am
Hugh Pavletich

Meantime folks … an update from the Mago Lar development, Texas City, Houston – Galveston …

Residential Boom Bolsters Texas City – Houston Chronicle / Construction Equipment Guide

http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/residential-boom-bolsters-texas-city/33599

Texas City, better known for petrochemical landscapes than landscaped subdivisions, is poised for an unprecedented growth spurt as the region’s residential boom continues its southward advance.

The Houston Chronicle reports the transformation of a vast expanse of interstate-fronting prairie into a mixed-use commercial hub began with a fancy outlet mall and a sprawling Buc-ee’s. It continues with the 3,300-acre Lago Mar subdivision, now in the early stages, that eventually will add up to 7,000 homes on the edge of the Galveston Bayside town. To top it off, construction of an adjacent amusement park is now under way.

Texas City officials predict that by the time Lago Mar is filled up, an estimated 15 years from now, the development will have added as many as 12,000 residents to the city’s current population of about 48,000. By comparison, the city added about 7,000 people between 1990 and 2017. … read more via hyperlink above …

Lago Mar | Homes for Sale near League City, TX

http://lagomarintexascity.com/?gclid=CNrnq6StidMCFYSYvAodqIgMDw

Lago Mar in Texas City, TX, New Homes & Floor Plans by CastleRock Communities

https://www.newhomesource.com/communitydetail/builder-9404/community-96386#refer=GPPC600&gclid=CLzL-M6tidMCFdgGKgodD6cLlg
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April 4, 2017 11:01am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Copy … extracts … Mondays General Email …
  
  Residential property becoming a buyer’s market as rush of new listings and rising stock of properties for sale give buyers more choice | interest.co.nz
  
  https://www.interest.co.nz/property/86815/residential-property-becoming-buyers-market-rush-new-listings-and-rising-stock
  
  Is the Auckland land bubble about to burst? – NZ NBR / MacroBusiness Australia
  
  https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/03/auckland-land-bubble-burst/
  
  The Auckland housing market is on the verge of losing all the capital gains it made in the last 12 months | interest.co.nz
  
  https://www.interest.co.nz/property/86771/auckland-housing-market-verge-losing-all-capital-gains-it-made-last-12-months
  
  Performance Urban Planning
  … just updated …
  http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/
  
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  April 4, 2017 11:05am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Same article five days in a row that mentions the collapse of the Auckland housing market; fuck off Hugh
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:53am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      I second that motion.
      
      9 1
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      April 4, 2017 12:58pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Just 12% of homes sell at Barfoots main West Auickland auction … Interest Co NZ
        
        Homes in West Auckland struggle to sell at Barfoot & Thompson auction | interest.co.nz
        
        https://www.interest.co.nz/property/86851/homes-west-auckland-struggle-sell-barfoot-thompson-auction
        
        Barfoot & Thompson sold 81 of the 224 properties the agency marketed for sale by auction last week, giving an overall clearance rate of 36%.
        
        However results varied widely between auction with a very low sales rate at the Shortland St auction on March 31, where all but one of the 25 properties on offer were in West Auckland.
        
        They included a reasonable mix of homes from throughout the district, including properties in in Kelston, Te Atatu, Massey, Glendene, New Lynn, Henderson, Ranui, Glen Eden and Sunnyvale.
        
        But only three of the 25 properties were sold either under the hammer or by 5pm the following day, giving an overall clearance rate of just 12%. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        April 4, 2017 1:13pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    How come if this is he case my property on homes.co.nz has risen $20,000 each month since December last year? I know its not an accurate appraisal, but it did drop mid last year and has been rising steadily ever since?
    
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    April 4, 2017 3:04pm
Fletch

Trump has donated his first presidential salary of $78,000 to the park service.

https://twitter.com/charliespiering/status/848973373334069248/photo/1
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April 4, 2017 11:30am
- mikenmild
  
  I guess that will just about make up for his proposed $2 billion budget cut to the Interior Department, of which the park service is the major component.
  
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  April 4, 2017 11:36am
  - ross411
    
    How dare he cut a large budget to a general service which wastes lots of money on unnecessary things, which happens to also fund some other useful things! Clearly defunding those unnecessary things is the same as defunding useful things! It is wrong for things to change! Rahrah.
    
    Heaven forbid the states not fund it, and Trump can therefore fulfil his promise of lowering federal taxes.
    
    Very sad. Low energy mikenmild acting lethargically outraged again, and hinting at wrongs, without substance. Bigly fail on his part. So sad. #MAGA
    
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    April 4, 2017 11:45am
    - jonar
      
      Could be interesting to see what happens to his support when the budget cuts occur.
      
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/donald-trumps-america/91145443/donald-trumps-budget-would-hit-rural-towns-especially-hard-but-theyre-willing-to-trust-him
      
      The president’s proposed budget would disproportionately harm the rural areas and small towns that were key to his unexpected win. Many red states like Oklahoma – where every single county went for Trump – are more reliant on the federal funds that Trump wants to cut than states that voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
      
      Durant has already undergone years of state budget cuts, as Oklahoma has been unable to balance its increasing costs with declines in the oil industry, tax cuts and generous corporate tax credits. That has made federal funds even more vital to the city, especially for programs that serve the poor and working class.
      
      “It’s very easy to look at a laundry list of things that exist and say, ‘Cut, cut, cut, cut,’ and say, ‘Well, this is wasteful spending’ without really understanding the true impact,” said Durant City Manager Tim Rundel, who grew up in poverty in northwest Arkansas. “The bottom line is a lot of our citizens depend on those programs.”
      
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      April 4, 2017 1:32pm
    - Tirebiter
      
      As Justice Holmes opined about 200 years ago: “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.”
      
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      April 5, 2017 2:00am
  - Inandout
    
    Just imagine how much our DoC would save if they could cut all the iwi bullshit they have to abide by.
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:49pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Maybe they should charge a bit more for access.
    ‘Senior Pass
    Cost: $10 lifetime pass (see note in “how to purchase” for more details)’
    
    Here’s another idea. Stop seizing millions of acres and designating them Parks so then you have to pay for them…
    
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    April 4, 2017 12:50pm
    - mikenmild
      
      Sure, they really should be charging the public more to visit public property.
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:18pm
Manolo

Intolerant AGW-mongers:
https://spectator.com.au/2017/04/tantrum-of-the-climate-alarmists/
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April 4, 2017 11:33am
- jonar
  
  Hardly a tantrum, more like rational behaviour. Most people would look for other work if they kept writing reports and their boss just chucked it in the bin.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/23/two-quit-australia-climate-change-authority-john-quiggin-danny-price
  
  Quiggin said his immediate reason for resigning was the government’s failure to respond to the authority’s third report of the special review into potential climate policies, which the government had requested and which it was legally required to respond to.
  
  “The government has already indicated that it will reject the key recommendations of the review, particularly the introduction of an emissions intensity scheme for the electricity industry.”
  
  Quiggin said he didn’t believe there was anything to be gained “by giving objective advice based on science and economic analysis to a government dominated by elements hostile to both science and economics”.
  
  Price told Guardian Australia he had resigned because he “didn’t think it was appropriate for a member of a government agency to be openly critical of government policy”.
  
  “I think the authority does really good work, but I didn’t think I could stay if I was going to continue to criticise the government’s policy making and I didn’t see any chance that it would get any better,” he said.
  
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  April 4, 2017 12:04pm
Manolo

Another day, another wave:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4374116/Four-day-old-baby-500-migrants-rescued-sea.html

Italians are sick of being invaded.
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April 4, 2017 12:06pm
- Inandout
  
  They won’t stop coming until such time as they are dropped back to where they left from. It need only happen once or twice and they would learn.
  
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  April 4, 2017 12:51pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  The Italians don’t care because the invaders don’t want to stay in Italy. They’re headed straight for France or Germany who can’t do anything about it because they’re reliant on the Italians policing their coastline.
  
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  April 4, 2017 1:33pm
  - tusker
    
    Contract the job out to the Aussies, they’d fix it in a jiffy.
    
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    April 4, 2017 2:41pm
dime

stubbed my toe

dam russians.
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April 4, 2017 12:09pm
All_on_Red

Oh dear Susan Rice….
Over to Bloomberg
‘White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The pattern of Rice’s requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government’s policy on “unmasking” the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like “U.S. Person One.”
The National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice’s multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel’s office, who reviewed more of Rice’s requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.’

And who is Rices husband? Ian Cameron, exec Producer at ABC News. How convenient.
Leak the names and let the smearing commence.
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April 4, 2017 12:47pm
- Ross12
  
  Yes All_on_Red .
  Note to cha –drip
  drip
  drip …..
  
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  April 4, 2017 1:17pm
  - cha
    
    You do seem to be confusing who unmasks (NSA) with who asked for the unmasking (Rice).
    
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    April 4, 2017 1:52pm
    - Fletch
      
      Whoever it was, it’s a felony.
      
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      April 4, 2017 1:58pm
      - cha
        
        Whoever it was, it’s a felony.
        
        Can you substantiate your claim, or is it a freshly laid heap.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:04pm
    - Ross12
      
      What difference does it make. She was the person who made the repeated requests over a period of time. If a worker at the NSA actually gave the names they were just “following orders”. Or put another way, if she did not make the request the unmasking would not have taken place.
      If you think Rice was acting on her own then as they say “I’ve got a bridge to sell you”
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:30pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        The connections between people involved with Obama and his Admin and with the ‘elite’ MSM is extraordinary.
        They are all in relationships with each other.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:34pm
      - cha
        
        the unmasking would not have taken place
        
        It did?.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:37pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Rice was the NSA advisor to Obama so she was the one who unmasked and shared with her colleagues.
      NSA had done the surveillance so already knew who was in the conversations.
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:30pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Rice had the authority to ask. The Felony occurs when the information she gathered is then leaked.
    We don’t know whether Rice leaked it or someone she told leaked it.
    But we do know Obama and his admin was collating surveillance on Team Trump(ie Trump was right about “wiretapping”)
    We also know Obama widened who could be told the info. This brings more people into play which probably makes it harder to find who leaked.
    Doesn’t matter really as the key point is we have a President surveilling the sitting candidate of an opposition Party on a pretext of collusion -which has never been proved.
    Now that’s a scandal.
    There’s also the other problem,which is not going away, of the Podesta brothers proven links to Russian links connected to Putin…
    John Podesta was right inside the ruling inner Political circle.
    
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    April 4, 2017 2:26pm
    - cha
      
      Now that’s a scandal.
      
      But members of the Trump campaign team talking to Russian spies and mobsters isn’t?.
      
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      April 4, 2017 2:33pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Don’t interrupt AoR while he makes a giant squirrel…
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:37pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Talking?
        About what? Evidence of wrongdoing?
        Mannafort and Flynn were removed. Neither served a long period with Trump. Neither has been charged with anything. Both want to testify to Congress. I hope they do.
        They’re a false flag look squirrel job. There needs to be an investigation into the Clintons and Podesta links to Russia.
        Trumps actions has shown he is no friend of Putin.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:40pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Lol Mikey
        Trumps alleged collusion with Russia is the biggest squirrel in the Woooooorld.
        
        6 2
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        April 4, 2017 2:42pm
      - mikenmild
        
        It it true that when you look up ‘gullible’ in the dictionary, it shows a picture of AoR wearing a MAGA hat?
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:43pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Is it true that if you look up picture of lonely loser wanker sitting at home spending his whole life trying to reach 29,000 posts on KB, you get Mikenmild?
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:47pm
      - cha
        
        Trumps actions has shown he is no friend of Putin.
        
        On the record, perhaps.
        
        The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
        
        https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?tid=ss_tw#pq=CpYUxM
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:47pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Lol, I reckon cha’s the gullible one.
        The WAPO article proves nothing.
        ‘Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump’
        
        Hahahahahahaha. Sounds like they got sucked into an all expense paid trip to the Seychelles!
        Hey, if Trump was there yes. but he WASNT.
        Everybody has said ‘no collusion between Trump and the Russians’
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:53pm
      - mikenmild
        
        Until there is photographic evidence of Putin handing Trump a wedge of cash, no one’s gonna buy it. Even then, the hardcore Trumpistas like AoR would claim the photos were faked.
        
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        April 4, 2017 2:56pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Well Obama has certainly tried to take the pictures!
        Hahahahaha
        Hey, how many shares did John Podesta get again?
        
        8 2
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        April 4, 2017 2:58pm
      - cha
        
        Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos’ brother flies half way around the globe…. yeah, I know, what are the odds?
        
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        April 4, 2017 3:01pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        The odds are good. Betsys brother is a billionaire who owns Amway!!!! He flies half way round the world all the time. You really are thick.
        Edit, soooo funny.
        
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        April 4, 2017 3:06pm
Chuck Bird

I note no current MPs have signed this. I wonder if they were asked to.

Prominent Kiwis pen open letter saying free speech is under threat in NZ universities

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/91132233/prominent-kiwis-pen-open-letter-saying-free-speech-is-under-threat-in-nz-universities
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April 4, 2017 12:47pm
Inandout

I think this is case where the docket correctly described the customer as ‘black’. If the worker had written ‘white’ on the receipt nothing would have been said. In any case the cafe was Asian owned, so they can’t be labelled racist.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/food-news/91175760/auckland-cafe-owner-denies-staff-are-racist
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April 4, 2017 12:57pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Soon we won’t be able to refer to our coffees by colour either.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:18pm
SPC

Our fishing quote regime is a grand pretence of no real substance.

1. MPI keeps stuff secret, such as the level of dumping. Has half of the catch taken been dumped? Seems so, however much MPI tries to cover this up.

2. A company contracted to monitor overfishing, manage quotas and decide on licences for the fishing industry is wholly owned – and working out of the same office – as the industry’s biggest lobby group.

Total farce.

Why, National in bed with corporates suits the meme of the Labour-Green left, so why are they not all over this? Coz Maori business interests are involved?
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April 4, 2017 2:31pm
Longknives

Just when you thought Adele (and the ridiculous hysteria surrounding her) was gone and it was safe to read NZ Media again-

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/food-news/91189114/scarlett-johansson-says-nz-chocolate-cake-is-the-best-of-her-life

I know I’m not very ‘Patriotic’ ..But really??
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April 4, 2017 3:00pm
All_on_Red

Trumps actions has shown he is no friend of Putin.
“On the record, perhaps.”
And on the field.
No sanctions removed
Missile shield in Romania
Armored Division and 2500 men in Poland
Marine Division in Syria ( that must have pissed Putin off)
Increased Missile Cruisers in the Black Sea
Enabling Fracking on public land and reducing regulations- ouch, price of oil held down bigly.
There’s more but that’s enough. Only a moron would think Trump is in Putins pocket.
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April 4, 2017 3:03pm
- SPC
  
  It does appear that Trump was only pandering to pro Russian sentiment that had been developing on the alt-right.
  
  The peace not war between white race nations of Christendom, that was also fashionable back in the 1930’s.
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:21pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Oh rubbish.
    The Alt right is tiny. He had no need to pander to them.
    
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    April 4, 2017 6:01pm
    - SPC
      
      Larger than the Trump majorities in the rust belt …
      
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      April 4, 2017 6:32pm
- Tirebiter
  
  Presidents come in go. Long-term national policy, driven by more ideological forces, overrides any overtures to the Russians. (Read NSC68 – if you can find it – the National Security Document providing the blueprint for the US relationship with Russia – which is still policy.) The US has hated the Russians since the 1917 threat of a different way of organizing society. Hence President Wilson’s Creel Commission – the first large-scale governmental propaganda office in US history, red-baiting in the ’30s, the red scare in the ’40s, the cold war from the ’50s, and on and on. The Russian version of totalitarianism failed in 1989. A good thing. But the US still hates Russia. Any serious politician in the US who promotes increased cooperation with the Russians will not be a serious politician for long.
  
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  April 5, 2017 2:12am
wiseowl

SPC
Have you been watching question time?
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April 4, 2017 3:10pm
- SPC
  
  No, but I have now seen the written oral question by the Green MP.
  
  Pity, I would liked to hear the answer to the question about closing the age gap with Oz – while our economy has been doing so much better than theirs … all those Kiwis returning home to lower paid jobs and more expensive to wages housing coz they are between jobs and do not get the dole in Oz …
  
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  April 4, 2017 3:45pm
wiseowl

On this super wet day it looks like the resource legislation is going to come up in parliament.
It is an opportunity to witness the destruction of democracy at a time when many very astute commentators have warned of the consequences of pursuing these changes.
A sad day for what was once a great country.
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April 4, 2017 3:21pm
Jack5

Chaos has worsened at the Westland District Council over the awarding of engineering contracts to an Auckland cakeshop owner.

Now it seems all at the top are covering their arses.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/91192027/westland-district-council-chief-executive-tanya-winter-suspended-over-misconduct-allegations
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April 4, 2017 3:31pm
- SPC
  
  Bizarre how the chief exec informs SFO about the actions of a manager, but does not inform the council even though council is to vote on approving the contracts.
  
  Gives them cause not to renew her contract though.
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:11pm
Don the Kiwi

Not looking good for the Dems – arguably exonerating Trump and team.

In a massive scoop, on Monday morning Eli Lake of Bloomberg reported that Barack Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice, repeatedly requested information from the intelligence community on members of the Trump transition team and campaign, unmasking them to an audience beyond the intelligence community in the process. Normally, raw intelligence masks the identity of American citizens caught up in legal surveillance of other targets.

Here’s Lake:
In February [National Security Council senior director for intelligence] Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice’s multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel’s office, who reviewed more of Rice’s requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy. The intelligence reports were summaries of monitored conversations — primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials. One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration.

Rice denied that she knew anything about members of the Trump transition caught up in incidental intelligence gathering last month. As Lake also points out, the revelation that Rice requested the documents would explain House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes’ trip to the White House two weeks ago – he needed to go there to view Rice’s missives. It would also explain why Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the most ardent Trump critic on wiretapping and leaks, suddenly went silent over the weekend after seeing documents the White House presented to him.
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April 4, 2017 3:36pm
- SPC
  
  It is quite appropriate for a NSA to be informed about whether there is any security risk to the USA from connections of an incoming administration to a foreign government.
  
  And no wire-taps of Americans was asked for in this, not by her or POTUS.
  
  Conclusion
  
  1. Rice was doing her job.
  2. Obama did not authorise any wire-taps.
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:27pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    “Wire taps” is a euphemism…
    No one seriously imagines Barry is the cable guy sneaking in to place a bug in Trumps phone.
    Except you obviously.
    Rice unmasking and sharing the info is the problem- if that info was then used for political advantage. You could argue just the knowledge of the conversations gave advantage.
    Stunning hypocrisy from you lefties unconcerned by this.
    
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    April 4, 2017 5:56pm
    - SPC
      
      How, if what Rice did was after the election?
      
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      April 4, 2017 5:59pm
    - SPC
      
      Er no the stunning hypocrisy is from yourself/the Trump apologist,
      
      1. the “euphemism” comes from Trump himself, who affected an convincing misunderstanding of the modern surveillance world quite naive in the post Snowden era.
      2. as for the new unmasking revelation – just another way of saying, Trump operatives caught in incidental surveillance of others (not themselves) being identified by the action of unmasking.
      
      Part of a desperate attempt to give legitimacy to the surveillance claims, by trying to claim Trump meant unmasking, not wire-taps. Just misspoke – coz everyone “misunderestimates” how right Trump actually is.
      
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      April 4, 2017 7:19pm
- mikenmild
  
  Don, I think you left out the bit that said:
  
  The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rice’s unmasking requests were likely within the law.”
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:50pm
- Tirebiter
  
  You make a mistake to focus on the diversion that is party politics. Instead you should pay attention to the things both parties agree on that nobody talks about which affect Americans far more than the petty squabbling of the two political entities that represent different factions of the same corporate constituency. Things both the republicans and democrats agree on like preventing a rational healthcare system, gun ownership, the privatization of public resources and prerogatives, curtailing democracy and civil-rights, increased security, military-adventurism, and empire building. These affect far more Americans than LGBT issues, ‘gay marriage,’ bathroom policy, black lives matter, abortion and birth control, religion in school and on and on.
  
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  April 5, 2017 2:30am
Don the Kiwi

Uh oh.
All on Red beat me to it. ( I wasn’t allowed to edit my own comment !!! )
5 1
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April 4, 2017 3:38pm
- All_on_Red
  
  No worries Don
  Looks like the next thing coming out is that because they were surveilling Trump and his team from last July, after Rice demasked them, Obamas team had access to transcripts of Trump and his team discussing their Campaign and transition etc
  Drip
  ,
  ,
  ,
  Drip
  ,
  ,
  ,
  Drip
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:02pm
  - waripori
    
    Not sure you are connecting the right dots. There has been an active FBI investigation into the Trump teams contacts with various foreigners since July. Rices requests for “unmasking” of the individual Americans appearing on interceptions of communications with those Foreigners only occurred after the election. She was still National Security advisor and it seems reasonable she would want to know who those individuals were. How widely that information was disseminated seems a bit unusual but it did not have anything to do with the election.
    
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    April 4, 2017 4:58pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘Rices requests for “unmasking” of the individual Americans appearing on interceptions of communications with those Foreigners only occurred after the election.’
      
      I can’t find any reference to confirm when she accessed the transcripts. Except that she asked dozens of times to see various transcripts. And that the FBI/NSA was surveilling since July.
      Perhaps you could prove why you say ‘only occurred after the Election’
      Ta
      
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      April 4, 2017 5:51pm
    - mikenmild
      
      Doesn’t matter whether it was before or after the election. As the Bloomberg article reported:
      
      The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rice’s unmasking requests were likely within the law.”
      
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      April 4, 2017 5:54pm
      - cha
        
        The new magic words – Unmasking/Susan Rice.
        
        National-security experts say Rice’s reported requests to identify who was speaking with the foreign officials before Trump was inaugurated were neither unusual nor against the law — especially if, as Lake reported, the foreign officials being monitored were discussing “valuable political information” that required the identity of the people they were speaking to, or about, to be uncovered.
        
        “The identities of US persons may be released under two circumstances: 1) the identity is needed to make sense of the intercept; 2) if a crime is involved in the conversation,” said Robert Deitz, former senior councilor to the CIA director and general counsel at the National Security Agency (NSA).
        
        “Any senior official who receives the underlying intelligence may request these identities,” Deitz added.
        
        https://www.businessinsider.com.au/susan-rice-trump-unmask-intelligence-wiretap-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
        
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        April 4, 2017 7:24pm
All_on_Red

From @TheTwatterati
“Looks like the only foreigner who meddled in the American election was Obama.”

Lol
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April 4, 2017 3:58pm
- SPC
  
  More fake news.
  
  3 8
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  April 4, 2017 4:17pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    It’s a joke….
    Sheesh.
    
    5 1
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    April 4, 2017 5:27pm
    - SPC
      
      Sure, coz the “original” fake news was something Trump also professed belief in, Obama being a foreigner …
      
      2 3
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      April 4, 2017 7:21pm
Fletch

Tucker Carlson on the Russia thing interviewing David Dafuri, former state official and foreign policy advisor to Obama. Asks him for any scintilla of evidence that Russia was involved in ANY sort of hacking. As always, they don’t have any.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taFo8zVyKj8
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April 4, 2017 4:01pm
- All_on_Red
  
  You have to gaze in awe at Dafuri. A master obsfucator.
  
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  April 4, 2017 4:07pm
SPC

It seems in retrospect Trump’s pandering to pro Russian sentiment on the alt-right and Russian influence within that on-line propaganda world, spooked the security establishment.

And that in turn spooked Trump.

But for the most part it has only led to fake news, over-egged reports of connection between the Trump campaign team and in-coming administration and Russia, and over-egged fears of being under some Obama authorised surveillance.
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April 4, 2017 4:43pm
big bruv

We really are fucking pathetic at times, how on earth is this news?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/food-news/91189114/scarlett-johansson-says-nz-chocolate-cake-is-the-best-of-her-life
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April 4, 2017 4:44pm
- Manolo
  
  The snowflakes need reassurance…and the Huruld is happy to oblige.
  
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  April 4, 2017 5:01pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Click bait
  They got you huh.
  
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  April 4, 2017 5:52pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Good news for the shop, they can serve chocolate cake every day now, is it news just because we have commented on it after having read it?
  
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  April 5, 2017 7:08am
RRM

Banned from the Standard again 😈

This time “for flaming”… that’s a new one.

https://thestandard.org.nz/land-of-the-long-white-wash/#comment-1316935
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April 4, 2017 5:04pm
- SPC
  
  It means stating that Nicky Hager is not getting the government to respond as he wants (despite Labour calls for it to do so), annoys supporters of Labour.
  
  This is flaming, because it speaks to the meme that the opposition is not getting traction with the public (polls etc) and thus the government feels no need to act. And this hurts those at the Standard – undermines their general confidence, and it is election year.
  
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  April 4, 2017 5:56pm
- stigie
  
  Thanks for taking one for the team RRM.
  
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  April 4, 2017 6:23pm
- nasska
  
  Only a month. You usually do better than that!
  
  Try harder. 🙂
  
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  April 4, 2017 7:01pm
Swifty

Keeping Stock – if you get this, please accept my best wishes for tonight. I understand the weather forecast for down your way is grim.

Good luck mate.
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April 4, 2017 6:11pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Crikey, who downticked swifty’s post?
  
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  April 4, 2017 6:33pm
  - mikenmild
    
    Maggy did, so she could have something to complain about.
    
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    April 4, 2017 6:36pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Nasty smear, yet again.
      
      You forget I’m a W(h)anganui girl.
      I’ll be hoping all my rellies and friends are fine and dry and the old hometown and inhabitants are ok.
      
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      April 4, 2017 7:29pm
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Sorry Maggy, I got so pissed off my finger hit the wrong button.
        Who are the sickos who are downticking messages of goodwill for those in a city that looks like it’s going to get a drenching tonight? And I don’t care how you spell the name of the place.
        Rot in Hell you horrible bastards.
        
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        April 4, 2017 8:24pm
      - rangitoto
        
        Don’t worry. They can now sue the river for any damages.
        
        6 1
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        April 4, 2017 8:44pm
Nostradamus

An interesting contrast between mickysavage and Keeping Stock:

mickysavage

I went along to the Auckland Regional List Conference yesterday. … This was one of the most stressful yet exhilarating weekends of my life as I oversaw a process that was huge on drama and pathos. It was fascinating watching the deal making and seeing what worked and who succeeded and witnessing the crushing of the political ambitions of quite decent people who unfortunately had no idea what they were letting themselves in for or how the system worked.

Keeping Stock

I had the privilege of attending a National Party candidate selection in Whanganui yesterday, and it was a most interesting experience. … 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 solely and entirely 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. …
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April 4, 2017 6:14pm
SPC

Found buried by the Great Pyramid, a stone carved into the shape of a pyramid above an urn with ashes in it – and a note, “yeah I was cremated”, “I do not want to spend my next life building the bastard another one”.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39484988
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April 4, 2017 7:48pm
- Fletch
  
  The cultured version –
  
  I met a traveller from an antique land
  Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
  Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
  Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
  And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
  Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
  Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
  The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
  And on the pedestal these words appear:
  ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
  Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
  Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
  Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
  The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
  
  ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
  
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  April 4, 2017 8:36pm
  - SPC
    
    But what is the legacy of a culture, or a dynasty?
    
    What underpinned Egyptian culture was their survival around the water of the Nile (each year it flooded into the delta), continuance of the throne/nation and their faith in survival after death. So then are the buildings of Sneferu and his son Khufu a testimony to this – this informs Christianity (and Islam). Note how Judaism associated its God with authority in the world of the living, or appeared to …
    
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    April 4, 2017 9:48pm
nasska

Studies have shown that the kind of male face a woman finds attractive can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle.

For example, if a woman’s ovulating she’ll be attracted to a man with rugged and masculine features.

If, however, she is menstruating, she is more likely to be attracted to a man with scissors shoved in his temple and a bat jammed up his arse.
10 1
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April 4, 2017 8:04pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  You’ve been reading too much Barnaby Dixson haven’t you?
  http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(13)00022-6/abstract
  
  5 1
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  April 4, 2017 8:13pm
  - nasska
    
    You women are a weird lot Maggy. Sackfuls of hormones led by a whim. 🙂
    
    6 1
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    April 4, 2017 8:22pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Oh not me, Nasska.
      I specifically demanded to be removed from that study.
      
      5 1
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      April 4, 2017 8:26pm
SPC

Chemical weapons used once again in Syria.

Last time Obama drew a line in the sand with a bit of string, which moved every time the wind blew. Wonder what the Trumpmeister will do, first he has to notice or be asked a question on Twitter.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39488539
2 1
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April 4, 2017 8:16pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Send in the Marines?
  Oh hang on. He’s just done that.
  
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  April 4, 2017 9:59pm
Stars And Stripes

Still absolutely raining arse here in Taranaki with no sign of respite.
Looks like the god forsaken hole of Waitotara is under threat as usual with the river rising fast.
They should have not resurrected the place after it flooded the last 100 times or so.
Might invest in some scuba gear if this carries on much longer.
5 1
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April 4, 2017 8:19pm
BananaLlama

A bit wet out tonight.
4 1
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April 4, 2017 8:39pm
wiseowl

Watching the train wreck resource legislation in the house and it is horrifying what some MP’s are saying.
SOP’s put up that are poorly drafted and little understanding of the main Act.
The SOP put up on GM to try and satisfy a small group of agitators in Hawkes’ Bay is unacceptable.

Is an MP allowed to sit next to the speaker and text or read a cellphone.?
It is disrespectful .Plain rude behaviour.
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April 4, 2017 9:34pm
Manolo

When the news do not fit CNN’s narrative:
https://news.grabien.com/story-cnn-goes-rampage-against-susan-rice-bombshell-instructs-view
1 1
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April 5, 2017 7:10am

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