General Debate 28 July 2017

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Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
CHRISTCHURCH RECOVERY FAILURE: SORT OUT YOUR OWN COUNCIL MAYOR LIANNE DALZIEL

CHRISTCHURCH COUNCIL MAYOR DALZIEL
ONLY HAS TO LEARN FROM THE ADJOINING SMALLER COUNCILS
OF WAIMAKARIRI AND SELWYN
TO UNDERSTAND WHY HER COUNCIL FAILED

GREATER CHRISTCHURCH … THE EMERGING OPPORTUNITY CITY … THANKS TO ADJOINING COUNCILS SELWYN & WAIMAKARIRI

SPARE US THE TEDIOUS BLATHER AND LACK OF ACTION LIANE !

Further posts at …

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/07/general_debate_27_july_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1976400 … and … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/links-27-july-2017/#comment-2924360

… Why did the recovery cost twice as much as it should have ? …

Mayor Lianne Dalziel wants warts and all earthquake recovery symposium | Stuff.co.nz

https://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/95071334/mayor-lianne-dalziel-wants-warts-and-all-earthquake-recovery-symposium

… early 2012 former Christchurch Central Labour MP Brendon Burns had this to say …

Better communication can shine a light in the darkness | Stuff.co.nz

http://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/perspective/6380541/Better-communication-can-shine-a-light-in-the-darkness

… extrasct …

For this city to best recover from its seismic nightmare, the process of decision- making needs to be inverted to truly empower communities. Such a radical change is very difficult to accept for anyone – of any political persuasion – who happens to be in power.

To date, the required response is tokenistic. A top-down command and control system may be appropriate in the days after a disaster but not in a recovery which will take years. Among the ultimate victims will be those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to true community engagement. Just look at the Christchurch City Council. … read more via hyperlink above
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July 28, 2017 8:39am
- sooty
  
  Come on everyone down tick Hugh. Lets see how many he can collect.
  
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  July 28, 2017 8:43am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Agree, he’s becoming obsessive.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:03am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      I’m pleased to note that my downtick caused him to disappear.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:04am
    - calendar girl
      
      “… he’s ~~becoming~~ obsessive.”
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:29am
    - RalphT
      
      A clear case of OCD; his obsession compels us to downtick.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:30am
      - realityczech
        
        Ralph its your fear that compels you. You are terrified to think your property value might fall to what it is worth.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:00pm
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      It may be a good idea to read within the above post, The Press article on Mayor Lianne Dalziels perspectives on the Christchurch recovery first guys ! … link again here …
      
      Mayor Lianne Dalziel wants warts and all earthquake recovery symposium | Stuff.co.nz
      
      https://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/95071334/mayor-lianne-dalziel-wants-warts-and-all-earthquake-recovery-symposium
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:44am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Hugh, it may be a good idea to stop repeatedly bombarding us.
        Aren’t you getting the message?
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:52am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Capt Mainwaring … read the post first … then comment on the issue.
        
        Thank you.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:04am
      - Awww C-mon
        
        The issue at hand Hugh is are you a nutter, the answer appears to be yes…
        
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        July 28, 2017 1:02pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Make a point guys of reading the latest Interest Co NZ article illustrating house price trends … just a few below this post.
        
        Then read this earlier post of mine …
        
        LEARNING FROM THE IRISH 2007 HOUSING CRASH … THE SEVERE COSTS OF MULTIPLE STRETCH …
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/07/general_debate_20_july_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1971764 … and … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/links-20-july-2017/#comment-2919583
        
        This is just the start of it.
        
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        July 28, 2017 1:56pm
      - sooty
        
        We don’t read the rest of them. So why should we read this one.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:52pm
- stigie
  
  Wow, gone in 20 minutes, gotta be a record..?
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:03am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    Gentlemen, you are collectively becoming more proficient in this area.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:13am
    - RalphT
      
      Well, he certainly gives us lots to practice on. Our next target should be to do it blindfolded; that way there is no risk of us actually seeing the stuff.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:32am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        I just hit the report button and not even think of blaming failing eyesight, sore knees or fat fingers
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:15am
    - Gabby
      
      It’s the Oriental Hive Mind at work.
      
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      July 28, 2017 1:05pm
- Rodney Randall
  
  Spot on Hugh.
  
  Lianne was apparently sick yesterday and couldn’t attend the C.C.C.meeting. It is most likely she was avoiding the South Shore residents who are furious at council inaction over coastal flooding mitigation. All councillors confirmed staff’s lack of action since 2014.
  
  The most poignant statement yesterday in the chamber came from Cr. Johsnson who stated we don’t even know who is running this city. We have so many organisations and if we don’ t know what is going on, how could the poor public possibly know!”
  
  The organisation is in a state of paralysis.
  
  There is one thing certain about poor old Lianne and that is she will stop at nothing to manipulate the media if the ‘message’ strays too far from painting her in a good light.
  
  Manipulation of the media by govt. Officials is of course nothing new, however it flies in the face of openess and transparency that politicians campaign on.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:45am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Rodney … thank you for your informed comments.
    
    Refreshing indeed.
    
    It has long been known the centralized Council structure does not work.
    
    Why did Mayor Lianne fail to mention this within The Press article I wonder ?
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:59am
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Falling house prices around NZ bring home ownership a step closer for first homes buyers, but they’d still struggle to get on the property ladder in Auckland or Queenstown | interest.co.nz
      
      http://www.interest.co.nz/property/89013/falling-house-prices-around-nz-bring-home-ownership-step-closer-first-homes-buyers
      
      By Greg Ninness
      
      House prices are now falling in most parts of the country making home ownership more affordable for first home buyers in most places, according to interest.co.nz’s June Home Loan Affordability reports.
      
      The reports show that the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s lower quartile selling prices have fallen back from their recent peaks in 10 of the 12 regions where affordability is measured, – Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson/Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago and Southland, with prices continuing to rise in only two regions – Manawatu/Whanganui and Bay of Plenty.
      
      In Auckland, the lower quartile selling price was $650,000 In June, a decline of 4.4% from the peak of $680,000 set in March. … read more via hyperlink above …
      
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      July 28, 2017 10:52am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        The answer to that is simple Hugh. We are told there is plenty of work in the provinces, so get out of Auckland, and get your life back.
        
        I live on the outskirts of Whanganui, in a lovely home on an acre, with great views. My commute to work starts at 7.55am, and ends when I get to work at 8am; unless I have to wait for a second cycle of lights at the bottom of Victoria Avenue; that happens maybe once a month. Even then, I’m at my desk before 8.05am.
        
        I shudder to think what our property would cost in Auckland. It was a bit of a stretch for us when we bought it, but we are taking chunks out of the mortgage every fortnight by paying the maximum the bank allows. In six years, we have taken more than four years off the term of the mortgage.
        
        Provincial NZ is going ahead in leaps and bounds. Housing is affordable, there are few traffic woes, our town has a fantastic cafe culture, great schools, two championship golf courses and lots of businesses wanting to grow. Even though we own a couple of businesses in Auckland, there’s no way we’d live there.
        
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        July 28, 2017 11:13am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Keeping Stock … Thanks for your considered thoughts !
        
        Note the Interest Co work is basically a Mortgage Affordability Report. The guys at Interest Co are very clear on that. Good on them. They do great work.
        
        We deal with structural housing affordability with the Demographia Surveys … refer the Definition of an Affordable Housing Market at http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org .
        
        The position we take is that people should be free to live where they choose.
        
        Housing shouldn’t exceed 3.0 times annual household incomes requiring sensible mortgage loads of about 2.5 times.
        
        Report: housing affordability out of sync with incomes … Hugh Pavletich … Sydney Morning Herald / the Age … Feb 2011
        
        https://www.domain.com.au/news/report-housing-affordability-out-of-sync-with-incomes-20110202-1ad3m/
        
        Our very focused concerns are to deal with two things …
        
        First … eliminate artificial zonal scarcity values … and …
        
        Second … debt finance infrastructure properly.
        
        There is just screeds of stuff up on my archival website http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org .
        
        It is hugely heartening the political progress being made on these issues in New Zealand … indeed we are the global leader restoring housing affordability.
        
        As Kiwis … we should be very proud of that.
        
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        July 28, 2017 11:40am
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        HIA: Sydney drives decline in mortgage affordability – MacroBusiness Australia
        
        https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/hia-sydney-drives-decline-mortgage-affordability/
        
        … extract …
        
        “HIA’s Affordability Index shows Housing affordability in Australia continued to decline in the June quarter this year. This is largely due to a rise in the median dwelling price of 9.1% per cent to a record high of $540,200.
        
        The HIA Affordability Index is produced quarterly and uses a range of data to including wages, house prices and borrowing costs to provide an indication of the affordability of housing. A higher index result signifies a more favourable affordability outcome.
        
        “The growth in house prices in the quarter outstripped the growth in wages resulting in the deterioration in affordability”. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        July 28, 2017 5:02pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Grenfell fire: Scotland Yard has ‘reasonable grounds’ to susect Council of corporate manslaughter … UK Telegraph
        
        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/27/scotland-yard-says-reasonable-grounds-suspect-kensington-council/
        
        By Harry Yorke
        
        There are “reasonable grounds” to suspect that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its Tenant Management Organisation committed corporate manslaughter, Scotland Yard announced yesterday.
        
        In a letter circulated to survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire, the Force confirmed that officers had notified the council that they may be charged for their role in the blaze which left at least 80 people dead.
        
        The Justice 4 Grenfell campaign group said it hoped the statement was a “precursor” to individual arrests, adding: “Any arrests made will be seen by all those affected as tangible evidence that they are valued members of society and are being listened to.” … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        July 28, 2017 6:12pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        … How could this start influencing local government culture ? …
        
        The Great Inertia Sector: A whistleblower’s account of council work where staff pull six-month sickies … UK Daily Mail
        
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289702/Public-sector-inertia-council-office-employees-month-sickies.html
        
        Inquiry. The Great British Housing Disaster (Adam Curtis, 1984) … YouTube
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5VorymiL4&t=2s
        
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        July 28, 2017 6:48pm
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Do check out the ‘Grenfell Tower’ postings a little further down thread.
  
  A very important issue indeed …
  
  Google news search ‘Grenfell Tower’ …
  
  https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=grenfell+tower&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMtZGKy6vVAhUM1WMKHYgABosQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1011&bih=444
  
  Postings at …
  
  http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/07/general_debate_28_july_2017.html/comment-page-1#comment-1977384 … and … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/hia-sydney-drives-decline-mortgage-affordability/#comment-2925511 … and …
  https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/07/links-28-july-2017/#comment-2925504
  
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  July 28, 2017 8:58pm
Manolo

Today’s sewer, primitive Pakistan;
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-rape-idUSKBN1AC1DL?il=0

Pakistani police have arrested 25 members of an informal village council accused of ordering the rape of a 16-year-old girl as revenge for her brother’s alleged sexual assault of another girl.
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July 28, 2017 8:39am
- kowtow
  
  And its export to the UK.But it’s so enriching.
  
  ‘A double manhunt has been launched after a 15-year-old girl was raped by two different men in the same day.’
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4736452/Girl-15-raped-TWICE-two-different-men-day.html
  
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  July 28, 2017 8:41am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    I wonder if the girl’s father knows these two men personally …
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:15am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  This is a tricky one from the point of view of Sharia. The correct punishment according to the holly Quaran would be to rape the brother. However then the people who carried out the sentance would need to be stoned to death for pederastry.
  So this a tricky one as far as Islamic jurisprudence goes.
  I can see why the villagers took the easy way out.
  
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  July 28, 2017 10:37am
  - freethinker
    
    Surely the answer is castration – problem solved and a warning to other rapists.
    
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    July 28, 2017 1:09pm
    - Padriv Ustoev
      
      That is a truly barbaric punishment fit only for the kaffir. How could you suggest such a thing ?
      
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      July 28, 2017 4:27pm
kowtow

It took the krauts a while to wise up.

‘People were open to all sorts of people in the beginning. Now they are increasingly picky, sometimes even racist,” she said, noting that some are only willing to host women or Christians.

“Things have completely changed. We were talking about the ‘welcome culture’ in 2015. That no longer exists today,” warned Geiling.’

https://www.thelocal.de/20170727/movie-releases-reflect-growing-german-ambivalence-towards-refugees
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July 28, 2017 8:39am
- Random T Person
  
  Racism, for all its odiousness, is an instinctive reaction for many good reasons.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:46am
- rangitoto
  
  Women and Christians are a race now?
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:40pm
Keeping Stock

Dear DPF

I know the General Debate is just that; a general forum, with freedom to post about pretty much anything.

But I’m sure I’m not the only visitor who is getting sick of Hugh repeatedly posting back links to his past diatribes, as you will see above.

Your downtick policy causes Hugh’s lengthy, shouty posts to disappear after a period of time. So what happens? He posts again the next day, linking back to the previously hidden post.

It’s your blog, but I feel Hugh is taking advantage of your generous approach towards free speech. The Kiwiblog experience would be far more pleasant if he was politely asked to desist, and obeyed your request.

Regards

KS
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July 28, 2017 8:43am
- Colville
  
  KS.
  Is Hugh as bad as the mad “Gabby” who spouts 50 one line streams of shit every day?
  
  I would love to see a system where if someone picks up say 200 reds in a day they get the rest of the day off. You need to troll pretty hard to get 200 downticks.
  
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  July 28, 2017 8:53am
  - holysheet
    
    If every one hits the report button, the monitors will get highly pissed off and do something?
    
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    July 28, 2017 8:59am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I largely ignore Gabby now, although when the name calling becomes offensive, I will use the “report” button.
    
    If you have to resort to childish behaviour as Gabby does, you’ve lost the argument well and truly.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:20am
  - Gabby
    
    How many socks you got colly?
    
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    July 28, 2017 1:18pm
- gazzmaniac
  
  Years ago we had the same problem with a serial nuisance named philu …eh?…
  A good portion of the Kiwiblog community solved that problem with a plugin for Firefox called Remove it Permanently (R.I.P.). I don’t have the inclination to find the thread where it was discussed (we’re talking maybe 2006) but that might help solve your problem if it still works. It did for philu – when I got a new computer and went to Kiwiblog without R.I.P. he’d gone.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:03am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    Ah yes, Phil U. A beneficiary who refused to work because he refused to have his 16-year-old son go into any form of care after school or in the school holidays.
    
    Anyone trying to argue that long-term cannabis use does not cause problems hasn’t met Phil U.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:22am
    - Longknives
      
      Philu also told us one night that Cannabis was ‘good for developing children’s brains’…
      Yep he advocated giving Cannabis to kids.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:29am
    - Gruffydd
      
      Phill U’s history suggests his issues predate his long term cannabis abuse.
      Symptom not cause.
      Like those we all know who pickle them self’s in alcohol do so for underlying problems.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:41am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        Not to mention Phil U’s past dabbling in IV drugs, which led to him doing an armed robbery of a chemist, and spending time in the Big House.
        
        Like Metiria, this is public knowledge by virtue of Phil’s own confession:
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2005/02/tame_iti.html
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:21am
      - Gruffydd
        
        Indeed KS .
        I was thinking about his early drug use and conviction.
        We are perhaps all better off when PhillU abuses pot rather than facing the greater social costs of the other self medication outlets possible for such a lost soul.
        
        Many effected by mental problems fall though the cracks and become a burden.
        I would rather see more effort on early intervention than on jails, hospitals and welfare . Schools are the obvious place to identify such individuals and intervene on their future trajectory.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:48am
- Biscuit
  
  I’m not sure there, KS…
  
  Like you, I despair at those who post on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on (STOP it, Biscuit!) about the same topic day after day after day after day after day (Biscuit, I’ll slap your legs if you don’t stop!).
  
  But one of the joys of Kiwiblog is that you really have to be a giant klutz to get banned.
  
  In other words, play nicely and you CAN post on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on (Biscuit, go to your ROOM!) about the same topic day after day after day after day after day…
  
  And, just presumably DPF did permaban Hugh, what would then happen?
  
  ‘Oh, Penny should be banned too!’
  ‘What about bloody Biscuit?’
  ‘AND Keeping Stock!’
  Heh heh…
  Each of us has our ‘enemies’, no?
  
  I take your point, though, that a polite mailing to Hugh might be in order!
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:08am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I’m not calling for Hugh to be turfed out for good Biscuit. Rather, I’d just like to see him acknowledge that, like the rest of us who comment here, he does so at DPF’s pleasure. Our host has put a huge amount of time, effort and money into building a brand, and he doesn’t need someone like Hugh being a parasite trying to push an agenda.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:14am
    - Rodney Randall
      
      Push an agenda that is contrary to yours?
      
      TISSUE?
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:57am
    - howitis
      
      Furthermore KS.
      Whilst I have not read Pavletich’s repetitive diarrhoea for quite some time, a huge offending element is that he mainly has url’s to drive people away from his host’s blog.
      
      Whether anyone chases these rainbows I don’t know but it is offensive to come to some one else’s blog and 90% of effort is to try to send people elsewhere rather than have original prose that adds value with each posting.
      
      That is low calorie ethics to go with Pavletich’s OCD.
      
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      July 28, 2017 10:03am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Yep, it’s the whore linking which is just blatant spamming. Especially when he promotes his own blog and work.
        It’s an abuse of DPFs hospitality and against the comments policy.
        Personally I think what he does backfires. I agree with him about lots of what he says. But I knew all that 10 years ago. I don’t need to be reminded 4 times a day, 365 days a year. He’s just ruining his reputation by being such an obsessive whiner.
        Sad!!!
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:20am
      - Rodney Randall
        
        Howitis: Your brown squirts are equally offensive. Not really:) just pathetic.
        
        To assume people don’t click on links within links to further inform themselves is naive at best, dishonest at worst.
        
        Hugh, provides a sobering counterweight to the fervent cheerleaders.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:27am
    - Swifty
      
      Linkwhoring and promotion of your personal business interests should be strikable offences.
      
      Surprised they’re not.
      
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      July 28, 2017 10:41am
    - Biscuit
      
      Yep, KS, I appreciate that.
      
      I was taking censorship to its inevitable (?) conclusion, though.
      
      And I always remember that horrendously-prescient line from the German essayist, journalist and poet Christian Johann Heinrich Heine.
      
      Writing in his 1823 work ‘Almansor: A Tragedy’, a century before AH began his horrific actions, he wrote:
      ‘Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.’
      
      I first saw those words at Dachau Concentration Camp, just to the north-west of Munich.
      
      I translate them as:
      ‘Where books are burned, in the end, people will also be burned.’
      
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      July 28, 2017 10:44am
  - SGA
    
    Biscuit
    
    And, just presumably DPF did permaban Hugh, what would then happen?
    ‘Oh, Penny should be banned too!’
    ‘What about bloody Biscuit?’
    ‘AND Keeping Stock!’
    Heh heh…
    Each of us has our ‘enemies’, no?
    
    As demonstrated in the very next post after KS’s original –
    Colville wanting to be able to do more to shut Gabby down.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:48am
- Rodney Randall
  
  Devious attempt to silence dissenters who provide necessary disinfectant.
  
  Nice try.
  
  Free speech warts and all MOFO
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:54am
  - Swifty
    
    But repeatedly every fucking day?
    
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    July 28, 2017 10:43am
    - Rodney Randall
      
      Swifty, No.
      
      Just the 5th minute of the tenth hour on the 3rd day, when the sun is obscured by overcast and the wind is 15kts northeast as prescribed by Oh Great One Swifty
      
      Then and ONLY then shall THEY speak in accordance with the Swifty Law?
      
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      July 28, 2017 11:51am
      - Swifty
        
        Dork.
        
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        July 28, 2017 12:39pm
    - Gabby
      
      You manage sweaty.
      
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      July 28, 2017 1:21pm
brett68

Desktop Metal – remember the name. This Massachusetts company is preparing to turn manufacturing on its head, with a 3D metal printing system that’s so much faster, safer and cheaper than existing systems that it’s going to compete with traditional mass manufacturing processes.

http://newatlas.com/desktop-metal-3d-printing/50654/

This is going to have such an impact on the world economy it isn’t funny.
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July 28, 2017 8:44am
Chris R

I heard Hosking discuss the week earlier today. He rightly sees the conduct of Turei as the centre of events. The issue would now seem to be whether Turei’s dishonesty and lack of expressed regrets will harm Labour over and above trashing the Greens. If Labour sees the Greens as an asset in its attempts to form a government then they’d better re-think this pronto. 22% tops for Labour with 10% tops for Greens doesn’t get close to the target, even with the over estimated 15% from Winston. If Turei ever offers a benefit to this country it will be her annihilation of her own party and the trashing of Labour as a result. The MOU looks less appealing now, entry into it by Labour using the massive brain-power of Angry Andy was a complete miscalculation. After 23/9 National will form the next government with or without Winston, Labour will be in Opposition with or without Winston.
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July 28, 2017 8:46am
- CHFR
  
  If a good friend of mine is any indication Labour and the greens are stuffed. She is as left as they come but is livid over this issue. She believes in hard work and not ripping off your fellow taxpayers and sees Turei as promoting just that.
  She can’t believe what she is about to do but after a discussion with me has decided national is the only party that thinks like she does.
  I have said it before but I think the greens have made a massive blunder with this and Labour with the MOU will go down with them.
  
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  July 28, 2017 8:50am
  - Chris R
    
    Agree. If one was inclined and sufficiently talented a musical could be created around Turei’s behaviour. The songs would include “Don’t Worry Be Happy” for everyone other than Labour’s diminishing following, “Material Girl” for the title role, “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves” which would be a chorus for Turei/Ardern as they head to the fashion boutiques, “Going Down In A Blaze Of Glory” for Winston and Little Angry…etc…
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:03am
  - Biscuit
    
    Agreed, CHFR.
    
    Exactly what substance had James Shaw been on when he publicly DEFENDED MeTu?
    
    There must be (surely?) a section of the Red Green voters who are appalled at MeTu’s actions.
    
    Who is speaking for THEM?
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:13am
    - jcuk
      
      I am not inclined to support Labour or the Greens but as I was in MeTu’s position, no no kid of course, she has my sympathy for her predicament during the early nineties without a supportive welfare system. The abatement rules have changed little since then and the ‘don’t tell them their entitlements’ attitudes of staff as right wing polies set up a draconian system where ‘un helpfulness is good’ has disgusted me for decades.
      If it wasn’t for the careful financial management getting us out of the crisis of the current period I would have been a staunch left supporter.
      National needs to find a way to include humanity in its actions.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:34am
      - Chris R
        
        Does “humanity” include criminality in your lexicon? Your apparent acceptance of moral relativism is sickening. Ms Turei was supported by the father of the child and the child’s paternal grandmother….a sitting Labour MP. She was not destitute. She had funds to have a tilt at the Auckland Mayoralty and at Parliament.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:46am
      - flipper
        
        Bollocks !
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:12am
      - jcuk
        
        The 25 to 4 illustrates the ugly side of National supporters….. nowhere did I support criminality but rather can understand why due to lack of support at the time … not just money but suggestions how to make ends meet like many others do ….she defrauded the system. Even at 22yo she was still young and ignorant of options available to her.
        The problem with the current set-up are the abatements which encourage people to defraud the system and not work.
        
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        July 29, 2017 11:13am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    I agree completely CHFR. Now it seems to have emerged that one of the flatmates was Ms Turei’s now-husband. But she is refusing to answer legitimate questions as to whether or not she was in a relationship with him whilst in receipt of the DPB.
    
    Ms Turei seems to have forgotten that it was her admission of benefit fraud that brought this whole matter into the public domain. That she is now having to answer (or refuse to answer) questions of a personal nature is simply a consequence of her decision to go public about her sustained and deliberate defrauding of the taxpayer. She has tried to set herself up as a victim, but the media, belatedly, is no longer buying that.
    
    The damage to the Green brand is only just beginning, and by saying he was “proud” of Turei, James Shaw has made things even worse.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:29am
    - Chris R
      
      It wasn’t so much her going public about her criminality, it was her criminality which has placed her in the spot she’s now in. Mr Shaw exemplifies the lack of sophistication and intuition which is rife among the Greens. In summary, she refused to name the father of her child while the child’s paternal grandmother was a serving Labour MP, she has covered-up her relationship with her now partner to derive a greater sum in benefits and is devoid of contrition. Hardly a representative of the electorate any of us would aspire to be. Had anyone set out to destroy the Greens and Labour deliberately it is hard to imagine a more effective hatchet-job. Happy days!
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:38am
      - KevOB
        
        If she doesn’t resign shortly she may face that shortly after the new Parliament if the Greens get any seats.
        Some things are tolerated in this pre-vote season so the public can adjudicate. If they let her through it will probably be only after great damage to the Greens and possibly to their MOU partner. They can’t harbour a conceited sociopathic self confessed gleeful law breaker without voters being worried and fellow MP’s feeling ashamed by association.
        
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        July 28, 2017 11:45am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      “Now it seems to have emerged that one of the flatmates was Ms Turei’s now-husband.”
      
      KS, Is that a fact? If it is would you have a source please? I have filed my complaint with the IPCA but and solid evidence would be helpful.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:50am
      - holysheet
        
        Here you go Chucky, proof about Winston defrauding the taxpayer (you and me).
        https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nz-first-urged-pay-back-money-31512
        
        and here on kiwiblog
        
        http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2014/06/winstons_158000_and_the_susan_couch_trust.html
        
        If you want more let me know.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:26am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        This was in the Herald yesterday Chuck. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen something more substantive.
        
        She has said she will pay the money back, and will meet the agency’s investigate unit next week. However, she will not say whether one of the flatmates she did not tell WINZ about was a boyfriend.
        
        “I don’t believe it is right for the state to investigate a woman’s intimate personal life. And if I respond to your question and defend myself I am validating that, and I don’t believe that is right. I won’t do it for myself – despite the fact I could defend myself – because I don’t believe any other woman would be subject to the same.”
        
        Asked if living with a partner without disclosing that to WINZ was more serious than failing to tell the agency about flatmates, Turei said it was treated differently by the agency.
        
        “And one of the things that I will do if I get the chance is to fix that system so a woman’s personal life is not subject to questions by WINZ, by MSD. We have seen a lot of that directed at solo mums.
        
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11895482
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:29am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Thanks KS and backster. I have seen those but they are not proof but evidence. I have raise these with the IPCA yesterday.
        
        holysheet, you try lodge a complaint like that and the Police and the IPCA would not consider it any more than a complaint against Paula based on rumour.
        
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        July 28, 2017 12:00pm
  - adamsmith1922
    
    One can but hope, yet some people have come out and suggested that Turei means they will vote Green. She appears to have attracted some support from some young social media types.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:38am
- Colville
  
  Chris.
  Its a very interesting time to be sure.
  Greens will win and lose some from MeTu’s fraud, some hard lefties and stay at home losers will go Green and some will be repulsed by her disgusting behaviour back then and now, so smugly thinking its all fine and dandy to steal from the taxpayer.
  Labour will lose more voters by association than they gain from the Greens. I cant see any positive at all in this for Team Angry.
  NZF will pick up a few that just refuse to vote Nat.
  Nat should pick up a few Labour centerists appalled by the Greens.
  I think a fair few will just stay home.
  
  The next polls will be fascinating.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:01am
  - Paulus
    
    Will the stay at homers actually vote ?
    They havn’t done before being part of the lost million.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:05am
    - kowtow
      
      Another reason not to have postal voting.
      
      If you can’t be bothered to get off your fat entitled subsidised arse once every three years then you shouldn’t get to vote at all.
      
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      July 28, 2017 11:20am
      - Nermal
        
        Actually postal voting is more difficult than voting at a polling booth. Try finding a mail box in town, then finding a park.
        
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        July 28, 2017 1:06pm
  - Kimbo
    
    Yep, for all those reasons and as Labour shackled themselves to a corpse with the MOU, I’m still picking their vote to collapse on election day to around the 20% mark as National’s did in 2002. I think NZ First will be the primary recipient. Waitakere Man doesn’t like crime, welfare abuse nor migration because those affect him, his family, his neighbourhood, his kid’s school, his inability to afford a home and his take-home pay more than any others. So Winston is ticking all the boxes.
    
    The key is whether NZ First can get well over 15%, and the combined NZ First-Labour-Green bloc over 45%. Then Peters has real leverage, and, with Little not making it on the list, he could go left for the Prime Ministership.
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:10am
    - Colville
      
      Kimbo.
      I would think National would pick up 1 of every 2 Labour loses.
      So if Labour do hit 20%, National will bolt in alone in September.
      
      Most people want safe and stable government, and a WinstonFirst/Angry/MeTu coalition aint going to be stable.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:18am
      - Kimbo
        
        Hmm. You may be over-optimistic. The thing about Labour people, and I speak as a former party member, is that they are the most “tribal” of all voters. And part of that tribalism means they define themselves against something or someone, in particular, their traditional enemy, the “Tories”. Is a bloody hard ask for them to transition, and I think the number of potential defections reached its saturation point in 2011 and 2014 due to the “John Key likeability” factor
        
        Whereas voting for a pragmatic populist centrist like Peters is much more palatable and easily rationalised by old-fashioned hard-working Labour “battlers”. Plus Peters is a likeable guy. Put it this way, for all his good points, Bill English can’t match him. And as it’s MMP, its not what the majority do. It’s that floating 10-15% who will decide the day.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:25am
      - SGA
        
        The thing about Labour people, and I speak as a former party member, is that they are the most “tribal” of all voters.
        
        Are they these days, Kimbo? I’m sure that there is a hard core (as there is in National), but from the centre to the left of the political spectrum there seems to have been more splintering since MMP than centre to right.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:55am
      - Kimbo
        
        @ SGA
        
        No, you could argue the right was once splintered – ACT, National, NZ First (on some of their policies – they after all the new “Rob’s Mob”), and the aborted Conservatives. Don Brash, ironically because he always belonged in ACT, helped nearly kill it off by taking National rightward in 2004-5.
        
        I accept that people are more fluid. But stuff like this:
        
        Rugby-netball double international Louisa Wall is sticking up for fellow Labour MP Darien Fenton over her attack on the public “bromance” between the Mad Butcher Sir Peter Leitch and Prime Minister John Key.
        
        This week, Ms Fenton called Sir Peter a “sycophant” and said he was “sucking up to John Key big time. I’m never going near him again.”
        
        “I choose not to buy stuff from those who support Tories.”
        
        She was reacting to Sir Peter’s public endorsement of Mr Key and invitation to him to watch the Warriors at tomorrow’s NRL grand final.
        
        Late on Thursday, she apologised on Labour’s Red Alert blog and called Sir Peter “a top bloke”.
        
        Most Labour MPs, including party leader Phil Goff, distanced themselves from Ms Fenton’s outburst, calling it unwise.
        
        But Ms Wall, who is back in Parliament for a second stint as a list MP, said the comments were misinterpreted, and she shared the disappointment at Sir Peter’s support for Mr Key _ despite admiring his work.
        
        “We would have assumed Sir Peter was a working-class champion,” Ms Wall said.
        
        “If you look at what the National Government has done, it has taken workers’ rights backwards.”
        
        Ms Wall, who is contesting the safe Labour seat of Manurewa, said “personal is political”, and Sir Peter could not endorse Mr Key without endorsing his policies.
        
        https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/second-mp-attacks-mad-butcher-ties-key
        
        …and the fact Labour, somehow, despite their ineptitude command the support of 1 in 4 New Zealanders (of whom the Pacific islanders are especially loyal) demonstrates to me there is a “class-warfare” hard core that will find it hard to vote for National..ever. Not by most Polynesians/Maori, but the Palagis/Pakeha who gain their undeserved vote? You betcha. Put it this way – the spectre of a “big business takeover” in the stupid Closed Brethren thing in 2005 was enough to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat for Helen Clark in 2005.
        
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        July 28, 2017 11:30am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      When the voters have a long and hard think about the dross that Winnie will bring in with him, a lot will fall back into the National camp.
      I see National at 51%, NZF less than 12 and the Left well and truly in the ditch.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:24am
      - Awww C-mon
        
        I sincerely hope your right capt.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:25am
      - Kimbo
        
        I see National at 51%, NZF less than 12
        
        No. Waaayyy too optimistic IMHO. National in 2017 under Bill English is not going to get 4% more than National in 2011 and 2014 under John Key. I know it is an election and anything, like “Dirty Politics” or “Corngate” can happen (and will, no doubt be manufactured), but no.
        
        Is Peters’ campaign to stuff up not getting the balance of power. Mind you, its seemed like that would be a shoe-in in 2014…
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:29am
      - Colville
        
        I would love to be a fly on the wall to watch Winston when he sees his dream of power go down the toilet on election night, despite having more than 15%.
        
        I will be happy with Nats on 47% but 49% would be better 🙂
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:33am
      - waikatogirl
        
        Or just not bother voting. Imagine how disillusioned some greens/labour voters are with Turei and Angry and co, especially with the incredible fraud confession.
        
        2 ticks blue for sanity.
        
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        July 28, 2017 9:38am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        The Nats on 47% would be pretty much guaranteed being able to govern in some form, especially if there is a good chunk of TOP vote to be redistributed (which the Nats would get 47% of).
        
        I can see the Maori Party winning three seats, and Act getting at least a second MP elected which could compensate for Peter Dunne’s likely demise. Greg O’Connor winning Ohariu would make things more difficult for Labour’s list candidates, but that could be balanced out by Hutt South where Chris Bishop has a very good chance of winning. But if Labour loses a couple of Maori seats, they could end up with a couple of extra list MP’s. It’s going to be interesting to see how it all pans out.
        
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        July 28, 2017 10:54am
      - Shawn Herles
        
        “I see National at 51%, NZF less than 12 and the Left well and truly in the ditch.”
        
        Can I have some of whatever you are drinking/smoking? 🙂
        
        “When the voters have a long and hard think about the dross that Winnie will bring in with him”
        
        A lot of socially conservative nationalists? People like Richard Prosser?
        
        Yep, that’s got me worried. 🙂
        
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        July 28, 2017 11:30am
    - Biscuit
      
      I agree with your scenario, Kimbo.
      
      Remember that brilliant Dancing Cossacks ad that National ran against the Rowling-led Government in, when was it, 1975?
      
      A similarly-enlightened ad agency this time around would simply focus on a giant bed with Angry, Jacinda, MeTu, James, Winnie and Ron all fighting for a share of the sheets.
      
      Remind the voting populace OFTEN that if you vote for any of that sextet (and, really, I do not wanna THINK about ‘sex’ with regard to any of them, ha) you are effectively voting for them all.
      
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      July 28, 2017 12:28pm
  - Gabby
    
    Why would hard lefties approve colly?
    
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    July 28, 2017 1:27pm
- Awww C-mon
  
  I’ve been thinking, which is generally a mistake but I wonder if MT has actually shafted Labour with this announcement.
  The greens who disagree with her won’t go Labour, they may go TOP or stay home.
  Labour lefties who support this call will flock green.
  Labour moderates who disagree with her now can’t vote Labour because they get her too…
  
  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the green vote hold or slightly lift and Labour crash as the left voters shuffle around after this
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:13am
  - Awww C-mon
    
    P.S.
    
    After reading some of the above about Winnie collecting the lost Labour vote,
    
    Where is the Maori party? Socialist by nature, able to work with National and get things done, politically correct for the wowsers, they need to get busy!
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:29am
  - Longknives
    
    TOP are the dark horse here- I can seriously see Gareth’s insane (and blantantly obvious) bribe to Young People snaffling a few % off the Benefit Fraud Party..
    
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    July 28, 2017 12:24pm
  - Gabby
    
    Natters wouldn’t refrain from voting for BingleNation just because they get Browneye, Pricksmith and Finkyson now would they awwwk wawwwk.
    
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    July 28, 2017 1:29pm
    - starboard
      
      Do you have a certificate in fuckwittery giblet?
      
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      July 28, 2017 2:17pm
      - Gabby
        
        Are you the issuing authority starfish?
        
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        July 28, 2017 7:36pm
holysheet

It’s coming to the USA. Another promise from Trump being actioned.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/27/house-votes-for-1-6b-down-payment-on-border-wall.html

The GOP-controlled House has given tentative approval to a $1.6 billion down payment for President Donald Trump’s long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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July 28, 2017 8:55am
- Gruffydd
  
  $1.6 billion down payment.
  
  Land has to be provided to build the wall on .
  Two major issues.
  Texans.
  The Reo Grand.
  The court process to take land from a bunch of Texans along the border will be long hard and expensive.
  Build a wall along the middle of a river
  Not physically possible.
  
  You will see planing, design and survey work , even a fancy demonstration section for your billion and a half.
  A continuous wall to keep out Mexicans?
  No.
  Trumps regime will soon be history and the stupid idea will recede into the mist.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:10am
  - Shawn Herles
    
    “Trumps regime will soon be history and the stupid idea will recede into the mist.”
    
    Have you been puffing on the weed again Griff? 🙂
    
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    July 28, 2017 12:34pm
    - Gruffydd
      
      For a relative value of soon.
      History will not be kind to the Orange one.
      The mid terms will be his crisis point.
      Odds are almost 50/50 he will be gone before the end of his term.
      
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      July 28, 2017 2:27pm
- realityczech
  
  Gruffydd clearly does not support a solar power generating wall. He supports coal.
  
  Clever boy.
  
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  July 28, 2017 7:38pm
  - Gabby
    
    I reckon those Mayhecans would set fire to a wall of coal reallyczit.
    
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    July 28, 2017 7:49pm
Paulus Gnome

A little gem from the red radio commute this morning tells me that that Sean Plunket is the Communications Manager for TOP

Google is my friend: http://thejackalman.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/sean-plunket-asshole-of-week.html – an interesting read

I always considered him one of the more balanced and knowledgeable commentators before falling off the radar, he does like dogs though . . . . . . . . .
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July 28, 2017 9:02am
- hmmokrightitis
  
  Plunket is so far left its not even funny. You should hear him when hes pissed, its hilarious.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:33am
- waikatogirl
  
  “To their detriment, TOP’s director of communications, Sean Plunket, and other right-wing affiliates have been feverishly throwing every attack line they’ve ever developed at the Green party co-leader.”
  
  PG, Incredible the writer of the article believes TOP are right wing!
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:44am
Colville

Anyone know when the next poll is due out?

DPF ??

A sweepstake for a chocolate fish? 🙂
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July 28, 2017 9:03am
- oldgolfer
  
  Soon, please.
  If the Greens rise after this, I am going to take leave of my senses.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:12am
niggly

I posted a few days ago about the Manawatu Gorge closure meetings in Woodville and Ashhurst last week. It seems commentators to the local MSM paper weren’t happy that opportunist politicians, nowhere to be seen in decades on the closure/slip issues, suddenly turn up and promise the earth if people vote for them etc (so last week Winston Peters and Ron Mark got a pasting).

Yesterday it appears the Greens turned up (Shaw, Turei, Genter and local candidate Thomas Nash) and announced their solution to the gorge closure issue …. a new twice daily rail service between Palmerston North and the Hawkes Bay! Oh yeah!

I notice Manawatu Standard/Fairfax commentators overwhelmingly slamming the Greens with comments like “ok so I drive to the rail station, take a train to a place in the Hawkes Bay, then walk for miles (as no taxis or bus services in some of the smaller HB towns) to their destination????” etc! Here’s one:

“Rail? Seriously? Did they even engage their brains before suggesting that? Who do they think uses that road that would catch a train and then presumably public transport at either end? Tourists? The Greens are losing touch with reality again.”

Plus I thought, what about the locals in the likes of Woodville (and other hub towns like Dannevirke, Waipawa and Waipukurau etc) who actually want motorists to drive through their town so that they stop, buy local food and local arts and crafts etc? They will totally miss out (which exactly what the people of Woodville are concerned about as some businesses face closure)!

Anyway interesting to see the commentators are also overwhelmingly slamming Metiria Turei – plenty of comments against her and the Greens – here are merely a few!

“Pay the money back Metiria. Also time for you to eat your own words you hypocrite. You have called on multiple MPs to resign over things that are not even proven and just speculation. Any whiff of a scandal and you are on your high horse calling for the MP involved to resign. Time for you to resign and stop being a smug sanctimonious self righteous hypocrite” !

“Will the “Borrowed” / “Stolen” money to be repaid by the Green Lady fund this?” !

“more rubbish from the criminally lead Greens” !

“If you ever needed proof that they don’t have a clue… here it is…” !

“Green Party should stick to their knitting, defrauding taxpayers.” !

“Don’t worry once Turei pays back all the money it should just about cover it, if ever you thought you could take them seriously we hear Turei was once in the McGillicuddy Serious Party. Makes perfect sense now….” !

“This just sums up the “left” at present, completely out of touch and out of their depth. The Green Party and their criminal co-leader who demands every other MP resign over the slightest allegation, yet sees nothing wrong with her defrauding the taxpayer. ” !

“This must be fake news surely because even the greens couldn’t be so far out in la la land. Can someone from Labour confirm they are still going to work with these fruit loops. Obviously Shaw and his criminal sidekick won’t need to use this service (if you could call it a service)” !

“As long as that woman is co-leader of that party anything they have to say or do about anything is null and void.” !

Oh dear! Meethinks the Green Party is completely out of touch with everyday NZ’ers again over the Turei defrauding issue and it will cost them dearly …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/95153832/passenger-train-would-take-stress-off-the-manawatu-gorge–greens
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July 28, 2017 9:07am
VicParking

The more that comes out the more the population is seeing Turei’s fraud was not as a reason to survive and put food on the table but a method for her to undertake political advocacy and live a certain type of lifestyle. The important outcome from this fiasco Is that she is: 1. Not treated different because she is an MP and that 2. The investigation is handled promptly and that it is not delayed till after the election. 3. If, and from her own mouth she should be, she is charged she should stand down from Parliment.
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July 28, 2017 9:09am
- KevOB
  
  Expect the fraud investigators to be professional. Turei is not going to like it as she has insulted them by laughing at the law they are bound to uphold.
  Questions about relationships have always been relevant to benefits as those are granted on the basis of family incomes and responsibilities.
  I don’t know WINZ investigative powers but if they are anything like IRD the truth will be doggedly uncovered so a prosecution can be effected if decided on. In a Tax situation the Commissioner may impose very substantial penalties without recourse to the Courts. Similar provisions seem justified for WINZ as the burden of proof is put aside and less work may suffice to get justice overall.
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:19pm
Happychappy

So Andrew Little and Winston Peters won’t rule out Turei having a roll in their Caucus if the Coalition become the next Government. This is from two Leaders that call Bill English weak and not fit to lead this Country, really the only thing that is weak is this pairs lust for power and will stop at nothing to achieve it. If either of these Leaders came out and said we don’t except what she has done and like Todd Barclay should leave parliament at the end of the Parliamentary Term they would be credible but to condemn one and agree with the other shows their mentality is not what we want running this Country.
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July 28, 2017 9:09am
- Albert_Ross
  
  I feel ever so slightly queasy at the thought of Metiria Turei having a roll in caucus with Andrew Little and Winston Peters.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:11am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    My sentiments exactly Albert_Ross. Could some kindly soul please pass the mind bleach 😀
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:16am
    - Colville
      
      Will Angry or Winston bring the bag of flour?
      
      Organic of course.
      
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      July 28, 2017 9:25am
- Dafixeruppa
  
  Albert you beat me to it.
  Also just a pet peeve of mine, accept not except please 🙂
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:25am
Albert_Ross

I see from Facebook that heaps of people are ever so willing, indeed desperate, to pay more to help poor people.

Isn’t there a commercial business opportunity here? Let employers of low-paid workers offer two prices for all the goods and services they sell, with a guarantee that if you choose to pay the higher price, every cent of the excess will be added to the staff wage budget, either increasing the wages of existing staff or even taking on new staff. An independent auditor would confirm that this was genuinely additional money, not substituted for money that would have been paid anyway.

This huge, unsatisfied audience of people who want to pay more will then all take their custom, and pay the higher prices, to businesses that offer this option. The businesses won’t make any more profit per higher priced sale than they do per normal priced sale, but they should make more sales and therefore more profit in total. Staff will be paid more and/or new job opportunities will be available. People who want to pay more to help poor people will have done so.

Everyone’s a winner!
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July 28, 2017 9:10am
- Dafixeruppa
  
  Um, I think you missed the point, they want to help people and are desperate to do so, but only with other people’s money, or with money that they don’t see now so they don’t really see it as an additional burden on them.
  
  These same people that are clamoring to help people and think that businesses should pay their staff more, are the same people that do much of their purchasing from businesses online and offshore to reduce their costs and purchase their local needs from the cheapest supplier without realising why they are cheaper.
  
  Saying that, there are some people that are happy to pay higher prices for things that they see as helping the planet (e.g. much higher prices for Organic food and free range foods), but they would never agree to pay a higher price for the same product that other people are paying a lower price for. They just believe that everyone whether they want to or not should pay the higher price.
  
  Personally, I think that we could all pay a little more to ensure those that are lower paid workers could get paid a bit more, but I also realise that increasing prices to help them, would also hurt them at the same time, since they are buying in the same market everyone is.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:31am
- jcuk
  
  … and the taxpayer gets more GST?
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:49am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Hadn’t thought of that, but yes I suppose so
    
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    July 28, 2017 11:59am
  - david
    
    Additionally, not many of them are net tax payers so it isn’t even their own money they want to give away, laundered through the Government into “Free Government Money” as it is.
    
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    July 28, 2017 1:26pm
lastmanstanding

An observation on Identity Politics. Whilst I use the Left Right Centre etc tags like everyone else in reality I and I suspect many others have views on specific subjects and matter that range across the wide spectrum of thought.

So on some matters like ensuring every child gets the best education even if I have stump up my hard earned taxes I could be identified as Socialist.

On the matter of crime and punishment I could be identified as Hard Right.

I have always been bemused at especially the Lefts efforts to put people like me in a box and not treat me as an individual and not respect my views as I respect theirs even if In dont agree.

I have always been a student of Voltaire perhaps that is the difference.
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July 28, 2017 9:23am
- Rich Prick
  
  Not only that, all of those people ought to be told that IRD does take donations. If you’re keen on supporting welfare fraud or the alleged poor, rock along and make a donation. Let’s see how long the queue gets.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:26am
  - Albert_Ross
    
    If you want to help a cause:
    
    – it is virtuous, and also makes good sense, to make a donation to a charity that works in support of your cause;
    
    – it is virtuous, but does not make good sense, to pay higher taxes to the Government and assume that they will use the money effectively and efficiently in support of your cause;
    
    – there is no virtue at all in demanding that other people be made to donate their money for your cause
    
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    July 28, 2017 9:34am
  - howitis
    
    Bear in mind the TOP Cat killer collected about $70 million from the sale of his son’s Trade me business. Tax Free.
    He advocates the rest of us pay more in taxes but he never popped along to IRD and offered say 40%, or even 20%, of the $70m windfall for the IRD to ‘do as they wish’ with the money.
    Oh No. Morgan has used it to lord over others.
    
    Bob Jones has the measure of this hypocrite.
    ….Sir Bob Jones has offered to erect a 5000m-high statue of fellow businessman Gareth Morgan – to celebrate his “overwhelming wonderfulness”
    Jones says he also hopes to erect a Victoria University Department of Morgan Studies building, with “an anticipated annual enrolment of 6000 students”.
    But he isn’t stopping there – he’s also asked Wellington City Council for permission to build a temple, able to accommodate up to 8000 “Morganist pilgrims” at once. “His abiding humility and extraordinary genius about absolutely everything demands nothing less…..
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykRZbOb1c5c
    Top Cat Intro Credits
    
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    July 28, 2017 10:35am
Sublime

David Seymour on Twitter (https://twitter.com/dbseymour/status/890383235368103936):

I’ve laid a complaint with the Privileges Committee today over Winston Peters’ attempt to mislead the House.

This is worth looking at just to see the press release’s URL!
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July 28, 2017 9:26am
- doggone7
  
  D’ya reckon he’ll lay complaints about some of the other bullshitting misleading of the House by the ones along to his left in the House? Actually the seating arrangement looking a bit like a grandstand is appropriate because grandstanding is the Seymour style.
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:59am
  - Sublime
    
    Actually the seating arrangement looking a bit like a grandstand is appropriate because grandstanding is the Seymour style.
    
    A front-row ticket to see the dog whistling and desperation across the floor!
    
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    July 28, 2017 10:49am
- Gabby
  
  Win didn’t suggest that Seemore loves the Coq did he.
  
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  July 28, 2017 1:38pm
VicParking

Equal pay and opportunities for females in the work place. The people who are advocating for this give example after example and I’m sure they are true in describing the current situation for these cases. What they fail to explain is, do these women have the same qualifications and experiance as the men who have “Stolen” their jobs. In my career I had been on many employment panels and in all cases we evaluated the applicants with a “Blind eye”. The person with the qualifications and experiance and ability to fit into our business model got the job. The major issue was a lack of female applicants. This is because females tended to follow a different career path. Today this is not so and more and more women are undertaking jobs that in the past were deemed “male”. It however takes time, you can not just sack a male employee to replace them with a female because of some quota system. You can not hire more females, with lessor qualifications and experiance, just to fill a quota. I’m sure that withon a few years this issue will become less and less however its up to the schools to incourage our female students to take career paths that allow them to compete with male applicants on an equal footing and not because of some feminist quota system.
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July 28, 2017 9:29am
- kowtow
  
  Equality?
  
  Take the police , no doubt they pay Mr and Miss Plod the same pay , however they have lower physical standards for Miss Plod to get in .
  
  How is that equality?
  
  Same job , same pay is fine , but only if all are subject to the same standard , which is not the case. And it’s the same in the army , a lower standard is expected of She Soldiers.
  
  I wonder if she firemen are allowed to carry a lighter weight on the ladder tests than the he firemen? If so the fire service is putting the public at risk for the sake of social engineering.
  
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  July 28, 2017 11:37am
  - Longknives
    
    Yep- And female Coppers aren’t usually the ones scrapping with huge drunk Poly’s on K-Rd on a Friday night. They are often found back at the Station sitting at desks in the ‘Intel Office’..
    
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    July 28, 2017 12:27pm
    - kowtow
      
      On the few occassions I watch those cop “reality” shows it’s always the blokes scrapping , rolling round on the ground with the shit heads , the Chick Cop not in the melee but standing over ready with handcuffs or on the radio calling for the back up.
      Equality.
      
      5 2
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      July 28, 2017 12:41pm
    - cha
      
      Of course, Detective Jeanette Park was back at the Station sitting when Daniel Luff tried to murder her and Constable Alana Kane was in the ‘Intel Office’.. when she KOéd by a drunk Nikolas Delegat ..etc…etc..
      
      //
      
      https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/policewoman-hospitalised-five-arrested-after-hawera-courtroom-chaos
      
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6362206/Man-denies-assault-on-female-constable
      
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/6487135/Attacked-policewoman-a-tough-rooster
      
      3 3
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      July 28, 2017 2:19pm
      - Longknives
        
        I have a very good mate (Ex Cop) who still tells the story about when he got into a shitfight with a huge guy he was arresting- His female partner (Senior member of the I-Car) went into a panic and stood there doing nothing- He had to yell at her to call for back-up on the Radio while trading blows with this animal.
        He is long gone from Police- She is rapidly riding the ‘Women in Policing’ train and climbing the ranks quite spectacularly…
        
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        July 28, 2017 2:57pm
Longknives

Front Page Herald-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11896177

“Cue all of us melting into one big giant puddle of love.”

Using kids for Propaganda purposes- Everybody say ‘Awww’!
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July 28, 2017 9:35am
- Kimbo
  
  Sorry, is “coming out” still a thing? About as cliched as sports starts “thanking the Lord Jesus Christ” when they win. Funny they never say that when they miss a tackle that cost the game! 😉
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:40am
  - SGA
    
    Kimbo
    
    About as cliched as sports starts “thanking the Lord Jesus Christ” when they win
    
    Don’t be such a meanie. I like the idea of the Lord sitting back and thinking “Who shall I let win the Bledisloe Cup this year? And Naholo deserves a couple of tries, I suppose.” Sort of like a cosmic sports Santa Claus 🙂
    
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    July 28, 2017 10:01am
  - Left Right and Centre
    
    Funny they never say that when they miss a tackle that cost the game!
    
    Dang – the devil be taking my hand-eye co-ordination, balance and reaction time.
    
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    July 28, 2017 2:20pm
- waikatogirl
  
  I detest people who use kids to promote their cause!
  
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  July 28, 2017 9:55am
  - MH
    
    just like Trump !
    
    3 8
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    July 28, 2017 11:56am
    - Gabby
      
      So rude. Very rude.
      
      1 5
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      July 28, 2017 1:41pm
Chris2

Turei claims she admitted to benefit fraud to draw attention to the need to discuss poverty.

Turei’s admission ought really be the catalyst to discuss benefit fraud and how extensive it might be.
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July 28, 2017 9:48am
waikatogirl

Verity Johnson on TV3 this morning says Turei defrauding the Govermunt is ok cause everyone knows someone on the benefit that is doing it. She is so inspired by Turei’s heartfelt confession that she will now make an effort to vote.

Where does she think all that government money comes from? I guess even air heads have the right of free speech, but perhaps one day she will learn to engage her brain before speaking.
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July 28, 2017 9:51am
- SGA
  
  Verity Johnson on TV3 this morning says drink driving is ok cause everyone knows a drinker that is doing it. 🙂
  
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  July 28, 2017 10:03am
jcuk

Who is Verity Johnson?
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July 28, 2017 9:59am
- RalphT
  
  The name Verity means “Truth”; in her case I think “bullshit” would be a better definition.
  
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  July 28, 2017 10:26am
- howitis
  
  Don’t you know who I am??
  
  verified
  by Verity!!
  
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  July 28, 2017 11:07am
- 4077th
  
  Nobody!
  
  5 0
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  July 28, 2017 1:08pm
  - Gabby
    
    Back in the 8063rd there was a nurse called Verity. She had an enormous adam’s apple. Transferred across to that other mob with the dress wearing corporal toot sweet.
    
    5 3
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    July 28, 2017 1:43pm
    - Left Right and Centre
      
      NASH nerd, huh ? hmmm – obscure questions – let’s see . . .
      
      How many tines did C Potter say ‘horse hockey’ during the entire run ?
      
      4 0
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      July 28, 2017 2:26pm
      - Left Right and Centre
        
        Ok – not my computer – and the n and m keys – the lettering is worn off just on those two and I mix them up. Give ne a break, yeah ?
        
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        July 28, 2017 2:35pm
      - Gabby
        
        It was S T Potter.
        You’ll have to get up a bit earlier if you want to pull off that kind of malarky.
        
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        July 28, 2017 7:30pm
- Left Right and Centre
  
  Verity was a social media reporter on tv3 morning show.
  To qualify – had to be younger and have something very irritating about you – voice, look, personality.
  
  For her – voice. It’s got some kind of I know everything sound to it. Throaty young woman thing they do. Brit and posh toff sounding. She’s ok – sort of.
  
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  July 28, 2017 2:32pm
  - softail 1450
    
    I dont know about verity but did you see the horrific apparition of stevie Chadwick ?if that is what 25 years as a Labour Party mp does for a person they should be getting danger money,,,,,
    
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    July 28, 2017 5:03pm
Michael

I see that Black Hands podcast has been downloaded over 500000 times. Way to go, Martin van Beynen!!!
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July 28, 2017 10:52am
- Gabby
  
  Half of colly’s socks must’ve watched it.
  
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  July 28, 2017 1:44pm
Michael

Re the comments about Hugh Pavletich. Some commenters appear to be down ticking his comments without even reading them. Takes brains to do that, not.
No- one has to read Pavletich’s comments. If you don’t want to read them , why not just scroll down?
Personally, sometimes I read them, sometimes I don’t. Have to say he does appear to be pretty clued up on his subject. I don’t subscribe to the ticking system so he doesn’t get any upticks or downticks from me.
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July 28, 2017 11:02am
- Shawn Herles
  
  “Some commenters appear to be down ticking his comments without even reading them.”
  
  I actually agree with what he says about housing, but his posts are way too long, especially when they are back to back multiple posts, and involve far too large cut n’ pastes. Plus, he’s somewhat mono-obsessive. After a while it just becomes annoying and a boring pain in the butt.
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:00pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  scrolling down isn’t much of a problem for me when I’m reading from my lap-top, but if I’m accessing KB on my phone screen….long, repetitive screeds are unreadable and a pain in the neck.
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:19pm
- KevOB
  
  Pavletich is not that clued up but is strongly opinionated. He is also promoting Labour issues strongly and not so subtly
  I don’t want to waste my time disagreeing with him interminably.
  Even worse he repeats …..& …..
  .
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:30pm
- rangitoto
  
  I read him once. Has he posted anything different since then?
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:59pm
backster

CHUCK………This might be what you are looking for a report by Lefty Andrea Vance in 2011….Strange she hasn’t commented on it…..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5889368/Hanging-out-with-the-political-Wags Scroll down to Warwick Stanton
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July 28, 2017 11:06am
Tom Barker

Making America Great Again, again:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11896195
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July 28, 2017 11:41am
UpandComer

https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/

Sea levels have been falling the past 2 years.

But remember, climate change, and not all the established science around Ethly-estradiol, Omega 6 oil, Atrazine, and psychosomatics is why men have 52% less sperm then they did 30 years ago. What we really need to do is fund more climate change and womens initiatives.
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July 28, 2017 12:00pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Yep and Greenland is gaining a shit load of ice this year too (adding to the global ice accumulation occurring in Antartica). https://www.dmi.dk/en/groenland/maalinger/greenland-ice-sheet-surface-mass-budget/
  
  1.8mm year sea level rise (global average of un-adjusted tide gauge data rather than tortured ‘satellite altimetry’), pretty much constant since mid 19th century end of Little Ice Age is nothing to be worried about.
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:19pm
  - Gruffydd
    
    UrbanNeocolonialist
    I did try to help you with trends.
    I see you still haven’t got it .
    https://tamino.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/sea-level-rise-has-accelerated/
    If you can not grasp something so basic it will little good pointing out that the surface ice mass budget of Greenland is not measurement of Greenland ice mass .
    The surface ice mass balance is how much snow falls compared with how much snow melts.
    Meantime the ice cap is falling into the sea quicker than it accumulates on land…..,
    https://www.dmi.dk/en/groenland/maalinger/greenland-ice-sheet-surface-mass-budget/
    
    But hey keep living an an alternate universe
    Reality will never catch up to you .
    Sarc////
    
    2 11
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    July 28, 2017 2:43pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      The Church and White graph on your (snigger) ‘Dr’ Foster link ends at 2013.
      ‘The data extend for another 21 years, to the end of 2013. And here it is:’ etc
      In the NASA link it refers to sea level rise easing off over the past two years.
      Fuck you are thick
      Hahahahahahaah
      
      3 1
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      July 28, 2017 6:28pm
      - Gruffydd
        
        If you could read DK.
        
        The data extend for another 21 years, to the end of 2013. And here it is:
        
        Neil White even commented on one of the threads in the series . You know a scientist agreeing with another scientists explanation.
        
        Neil White | July 25, 2017 at 9:22 pm | Reply
        
        Yes, the longer-term (say, 100 years) linear trend is around 1.6mm/year. The recent trend (last 25 years or so) is more than 3 mm/year. The satellites and the tide gauges agree on this (see, for example the figure at the bottom of https://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/).
        
        There is no actual problem here. When (as is happening) the rate of sea-level rise is increasing, the trend over recent decades is higher than the trend over the full record.
        
        What exactly is your point?
        
        Neil
        
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        July 28, 2017 6:44pm
      - Gruffydd
        
        Here sweety its a comic so you should cope.
        http://www.realclimate.org/images//Bjorn_Lomborg_Sea_Level_Rise.png
        
        Zombie myths and D K.
        Sooooo cute.
        
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        July 28, 2017 6:54pm
- kowtow
  
  And NAME (north africa / middle east) immigration so they can repopulate Europe .
  
  It’s been the plan for 1300 years , the difference today is European politicians think it’s a good idea.
  
  Bye bye Europe.
  
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  July 28, 2017 12:38pm
- Gabby
  
  It’s not like we’re short of kids upnbummer. Must be special antiwhitesperm chemicals in the water.
  
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  July 28, 2017 1:49pm
Shawn Herles

‘How Approval Polls and ‘Junk’ Journalism are Fake Views Pushed by Fake News’

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/17/kassam-approval-ratings-public-polling-and-the-junk-journalism-from-the-propaganda-press/
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July 28, 2017 12:14pm
Shawn Herles

The diversity dividend from mass immigration strikes again.

‘Cops Hunt ‘Asian’ Men after Horrific Double-Rape Case’

“Last month police in the Yorkshire town of Keighley reported that another potential grooming gang scandal was emerging. They claim that close to 200 young girls were sexually abused and say they are investigating 165 suspects involved in the case.

Conservative MP Kris Hopkins said that the town had become “top of the list” for Asian-Muslim grooming gangs in the UK, remarking “the sick model of organised groups of Asian men grooming young white girls to be sexually abused remains a blight at the heart of many communities across this country”.”

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/07/27/teen-girl-sexually-attacked-railway-station-another-man-asked-help/
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July 28, 2017 12:16pm
realityczech

China is committed to climate change. Big time. You have to wonder about those people on KB telling us they are all about “solar panels” 🙂

These Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html
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July 28, 2017 12:22pm
Don the Kiwi

Transgender ideology is causing child abuse.
Those with Gender Dysphoria have a psychological disorder, which needs psychological treatment – not medical intervention.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5524002302001/?#sp=show-clips
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July 28, 2017 1:24pm
publicwatchdog

GARETH MORGAN BITES LIKE A WHITE POINTER SHARK!

Friday 28 July 2017

“Penny you are so into personality politics it’s sick.

What matters is policy nothing else.

You need to get focussed on that if you want to be anything more than idiot wind in this thread.

Try starting by telling us just one policy that you want and why – just one.

Then at least we can see you have some content and what it is.”

Gareth Morgan was responding to this post I made on his TOP Facebook page:

“In my view – you’re being conned.

The real reason, IMO, for Gareth Morgan’s TOP is to keep this National-led Government in power, and to do that, help undermine Winston Peters and NZ First.

Not the first time that’s been attempted.

Remember 2014 and another millionaire, Colin Craig and his Conservative Party?

IMO – very similar in terms of what their political purpose was – to help reduce votes for NZ First.”

MY RESPONSE TO GARETH MORGAN 28 July 2017:

“Actually, unlike yourself Gareth Morgan, I’m a proven anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner, with a proven track record of defending the public and the public interest.

FYI – I’ve just come back from The Hague, having been invited to the World Justice Project 2017 International Rule of Law Forum.

One of 400 ‘international experts’ from 75 countries.

UPDATE FROM HER WARSHIP – THE HAGUE 14 July 2017
5.27 am

I ended up handing out 80 copies of my following ACTION PLAN to fellow attendees, (on the other side being the recent article by Damien Grant Sunday Star Times 9 July 2017).

(It has been well-received.

I have had feedback from a number of attendees that they had no idea that was the situation in New Zealand.)

This, in my view, is the alternative to a corruption measure bring based upon ‘perception’ (ie: largely the subjective opinions of anonymous business people).

These are objective yardsticks / milestones that can be used, in my view, to measure corruption REALITY.

There are actually hundreds of hours of work that have gone into this ONE A4 page.)

The question is – if New Zealand was truly ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ – wouldn’t we be the MOST transparent?

So why doesn’t New Zealand already have the following?

ACTION PLAN TO ENSURE ‘OPEN, TRANSPARENT AND DEMOCRATICALLY ACCOUNTABLE’ NZ GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY:

1) Make ALL ‘facilitation payments’ (BRIBES) illegal.

2) Legislate to create an NZ independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.

3) Legislate for NZ members of Parliament (who make the rules for everyone else) to have a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.

4) Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.

5) Make it lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

6) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

7) Make it lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Directors and staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.

8) Fully implement and enforce the Public Records Act 2005, to ensure public records are available for public scrutiny.

9) Make it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis of NZ Central Government and Local Government public finances must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in house’ is cost-effective for the public majority of tax payers and rate payers.

10) Legislate for a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure that they are not ‘above the law’.

11) Legislate to provide a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.

12) Ensure ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.

13) Legislate for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists, and ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.

14) Legislate for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’ ) quarantine period from the time officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.

15) Legislate to make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public Private Partnerships.

16) Legislate to make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.

17) Legislate to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.

18) Legislate to prevent ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.

……
_____________________________

Which political parties in NZ
have such an ACTION PLAN?

What I would like to see is AS MANY political parties/ groups / organisations and individuals ‘pick up the ball’ here and ‘help themselves’ to as many of these ‘demands’ as possible – so we get AS MANY people as possible calling for genuine transparency and accountability in New Zealand.

“Where the people lead – the politicians will follow …”

Politically – we need to CLEAN our country up!

On the NZ anti- corruption front – this ACTION PLAN gives a clear path forward.

Please folks – all I ask you to do is read carefully and consider these ACTION PLAN points, and if you agree – please SHARE?

THANKS!

Penny 🙂

….
2 25
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July 28, 2017 1:30pm
- Longknives
  
  What was that Penny? I wasn’t listening….
  
  16 0
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  July 28, 2017 1:33pm
  - Gruffydd
    
    Shhhh longk or she will come back and tell us again and again and again.
    
    Penny if you read this I understand there is an anti corruption conference in outer Turkmenistan.
    
    I am positive your experience in rooting our corruption wheresoever it is found will be valuable along with your welding and angle grinding skills .
    
    If you were to start a give a little page I could even be persuaded to chip in towards the airfare cost.
    Economy one way of course.
    
    Yours Griff.
    
    14 2
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    July 28, 2017 2:09pm
  - stigie
    
    My fucking scroll wheel is now rooted !~
    
    11 0
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    July 28, 2017 2:19pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    “What was that Penny? I wasn’t listening”
    
    What I think she’s trying to say is that Gareth Morgan is a bastard because he’s trying to undermine Winnie to help the Nats. remain in power.
    If that’s the case I have a new-found admiration for Morgan.
    
    11 1
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    July 28, 2017 3:03pm
    - sooty
      
      What was that penny are you going to pay you rates.
      
      7 0
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      July 28, 2017 4:40pm
- Awww C-mon
  
  Penny whats with the lovefest you have going on for Winnie? You are all over the whine-box like its the 80’s again
  
  Its been a couple of weeks on your FB and here as well as the strandard.
  
  11 0
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  July 28, 2017 1:40pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  See?
  I Spray and Walk Away
  Rubbish stays
  I walk away
  
  17 0
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  July 28, 2017 1:55pm
Shawn Herles

The diversity dividend strikes again.

“Three Muslim youths have been jailed for a series of “horrendous and unprovoked” assaults against strangers who were targeted because they were white and non-Muslim, in Liverpool last year.”

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/07/27/muslim-youths-attack-white-non-muslim/
11 1
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July 28, 2017 1:34pm
Left Right and Centre

1) The lastest dumb language trend – ‘double down’. It’s everywhere. It’s on here. People are all over the place ‘doubling down’. They’ve doubled this – downed that. Been there downed that. Trendy talk. Tragic.

Just add that to everyone now ‘weighing in’ on everything. Aha. And . . . nothing happening ‘on their watch’. ‘Epic fail’ – list goes on and on. Gimmicky gabbling – groan.

2) light and fluffy . . . searched a song – are they singing ‘thingamajig’ ? No – ‘fake magic’.

Image search ‘upside down house’ – it’s a bit of a laugh – and there’s heaps of them.

The competition I want to see: minimal letters required google search pros – almost like a really lazy reverse-spelling bee contest.
6 0
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July 28, 2017 3:02pm
- nasska
  
  The buzzwords (& phrases) I detest the most:
  
  1) Moving forward
  
  2) Push the envelope
  
  3) Sustainability
  
  4) Proactive
  
  9 0
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  July 28, 2017 5:06pm
  - Kimbo
    
    5) Learnings (its not, it’s fucking “lessons”!)
    
    9 3
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    July 28, 2017 5:28pm
    - nasska
      
      I’d forgotten that one. My major bitch about buzzwords is their use by supercilious wankers who wouldn’t know shit from bright yellow clay.
      
      The second I read “going forward” I’ve consigned the writer’s message to the toilet.
      
      9 2
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      July 28, 2017 5:45pm
      - stigie
        
        “Going forward” pisses me off as well. You use to hear it a lot in business circles but not so much now..?
        
        8 1
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        July 28, 2017 5:54pm
      - starboard
        
        ” drill down” shits me no end.
        
        8 4
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        July 28, 2017 6:49pm
      - sam green
        
        Yeah nasska – like snowflake, sjw, virtue signalling, etc. All those buzzwords just don’t push the envelope going forward. When you drill down they are meaningless.
        
        2 2
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        July 28, 2017 10:12pm
cha

Shit’s getting serious.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-orders-diplomats-families-leave-venezuelan-capital-48897931

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/venezuela-travel-warning.html
9 2
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July 28, 2017 4:20pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Sure is!!!!
  ‘Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to appoint a second special counsel, this one to investigate Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
  In a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Judiciary Republicans say they want a second investigator to match Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting a sprawling investigation of the Trump campaign and various Trump associates.
  “The unbalanced, uncertain, and seemingly unlimited focus of the special counsel’s investigation has led many of our constituents to see a dual standard of justice that benefits only the powerful and politically well-connected,” the Republicans say.
  In their letter, the Republicans list 14 separate categories they say should be investigated by the additional special counsel.
  They are calling for a deeper investigation of Hillary Clinton and her potential mishandling of classified information.
  Daily Caller
  
  5 4
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  July 28, 2017 6:45pm
Fisiani

In 2014 National polled 47%, Labour 25% Greens 11% and NZF 9%
With the MOU a leftist voter could vote Labour or Greens, makes no difference. This the first ever MOU and could prove toxic to Labour. A 3% drop would take them to 22% and Greens 14% . Labour would have no leader. IF Winston holds the balance of power he would demand a Labour NZF government with NO Greens in government (just a passive voting block ) He would demand to be made PM for at least a year. He must never be allowed to wield such power.
9 2
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July 28, 2017 4:22pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Won’t happen Fisiani. Yes, Labour will drop 3% but so will the Greens due to the Me Tu effect.
  Labour + Green + Winnie will be short of the Nat’s percentage.
  Business as usual.
  Two Ticks Blue.
  
  9 4
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  July 28, 2017 4:44pm
  - sooty
    
    Labour under 20%. Angry at 3%. Greens at 3%.
    
    4 3
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    July 28, 2017 6:30pm
  - Gabby
    
    Two Licks Poo.
    
    4 7
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    July 28, 2017 7:24pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POG0naC9lrg
      
      1 0
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      July 28, 2017 8:12pm
- realityczech
  
  Winston polled almost as high as the Greens who are adored by the media. With people waking up to media lies and bias, expect him to do better this time.
  
  1 3
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  July 28, 2017 8:15pm
Longknives

LGBT Activists have infiltrated Aussie Schools-

http://youreteachingourchildrenwhat.org/2017/07/breaking-desperate-victorian-mother-goes-public-on-self-made-video-about-safe-schools-program/

Sex Education? Or Grooming??..
8 2
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July 28, 2017 5:31pm
- nasska
  
  …..”Sex Education? Or Grooming??”…..
  
  Neither. It’s social engineering.
  
  8 2
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  July 28, 2017 5:56pm
  - realityczech
    
    It is both social engineering and grooming.
    
    8 2
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    July 28, 2017 6:02pm
cha

Because the Trump regime is all about smaller government and cutting regulation.

Tech companies like Facebook and Google that have become essential elements of 21st-century life should be regulated as utilities, top White House adviser Steve Bannon has argued, according to three people who’ve spoken to him about the issue.

https://theintercept.com/2017/07/27/steve-bannon-wants-facebook-and-google-regulated-like-utilities/
4 3
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July 28, 2017 6:05pm
- Morrissey
  
  Trump? That chump has only one destination….
  
  http://orig09.deviantart.net/b9c6/f/2016/293/8/d/trump_for_prison_sign_by_darkkomet-dalogwu.png
  
  4 13
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  July 28, 2017 6:12pm
- Shawn Herles
  
  “Because the Trump regime is all about smaller government and cutting regulation.”
  
  ‘Trump signs executive order rolling back Obama-era energy regs’
  
  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/28/trump-signs-executive-order-rolling-back-obama-era-energy-regs.html
  
  ‘Promised To Cut Two Regulations For Every New One. He’s CRUSHING That. Over first 6 months, the Trump administration has cut 16 old regulations for every new one added.’
  
  http://www.dailywire.com/news/18844/great-trump-promised-cut-2-regulations-every-new-james-barrett#
  
  4 3
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  July 28, 2017 6:47pm
Odakyu-sen

Grooming in preparation for social engineering?
8 0
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July 28, 2017 6:12pm
- nasska
  
  Nah. The move behind “safe schools” was probably well intentioned as kids can be unmercifully cruel to any of their peers who differ in any way from the herd.
  
  IMHO it has been hijacked by those who would see us as rainbow communities where everyone loved each other & sang rousing choruses of Kumbaya twenty times a day.
  
  The same people who fail to realise that if you add shit to ice cream it doesn’t improve the shit but spoils the ice cream.
  
  8 0
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  July 28, 2017 6:26pm
sooty

Prince William has given up his helicopter rescue pilot job. Is big ears going to be by passed and William to be King?
6 1
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July 28, 2017 6:27pm
realityczech

Trump has ushered in a new age of reason and freedom of expression. We are seeing a grassroots revolution.

Those used to being told what to think, by the media, are having trouble adapting to this new age and are frightened and angry. They have lost the ability to think for themselves. They feel cut off and betrayed by a media who lied to them about Trump’s popularity, after filing them with lies about the man.

Sadly this is not their time LOL 🙂
7 5
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July 28, 2017 6:41pm
EAD_TWO

Fascinating look this week in the Times of Israel into what the Author describes as “organised International Jewry” and the financial and political power that they yield:

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/time-to-end-diaspora-complacency/

It’s quite a contrast and indees eye opener to see the conservative and rigid maintenance of strong cultural, ethnic and even racial identity pushed in every article. Every article can just about be read “what does this mean for International Jewry”?

Contrast this with “Globalist” agenda (multiculturalism, all the deranged and dementing strands of Cultural Marxism etc.) pushed onto the peoples of Europe and the West, where even forming a club at a University that celebrates and studies European history is attacked viciously in the MSM.

Wouldn’t it be great in the West if we reversed the divisive movements of the past 60 years that seek to divide us and make us rootless, atomised consumers and feel part of a wider family with a purpose.
3 6
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July 28, 2017 6:52pm
Jack5

Does anyone match the English for tolerance?

I’m thinking of tolerance of folk now in Britain from former bits of the British Empire, kicking hell out of Britain’s historic performance and motives, demanding removal of Victorian-era statues, and replacement of photographs of “old white men” who pioneered many of the British institutions where they study.

Priyamvada Gopal, from India, now a lecturer in English literature at the University of Cambridge in the current Guardian puts the boot into the old British Empire.

Gopal describes Scottish historian and Harvard professor Niall Ferguson as “imperialism’s leading televangelist.”

Gopal, at the Cambridge web site, describes her research thus:

My primary interests are in colonial and postcolonial literatures. I have related interests in British and American literatures; the novel; translation; gender and feminism; Marxism and critical theory; and the politics and cultures of empire and globalisation. Published work includes Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence (Routledge, 2005), After Iraq: Reframing Postcolonial Studies (Special issue of New Formations co-edited with Neil Lazarus) and The Indian English Novel: Nation, History and Narration (Oxford University Press, 2009). I am currently at work on a project called Half the Story: Anti-Colonialism in the Making of Britain which is funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship and will be on sabbatical leave until October 2014. My work has also appeared in The Hindu, Outlook India, India Today, the Times Literary Supplement, The New Statesman and The Guardian and I’ve contributed occasionally to the BBC’s Start the Week and Newsnight as well as programmes on NDTV (India), Al-Jazeera, National Public Radio and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation .

Why do the British hire such people to hammer them? It’s a little like masochism.
6 2
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July 28, 2017 7:06pm
nasska

There’s some thieving bastards where I live. Last night someone stole my TV, Xbox, all my porn, a big bag of weed & two bottles of vodka.

I wouldn’t mind, but I’d only left my cell for five minutes.
10 1
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July 28, 2017 8:30pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Report it to the screws, nasska.
  
  4 0
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  July 28, 2017 8:46pm
- Jack5
  
  Nasska, that must have been when you were walking the two ladies from Pink Pussycats outcall back to the visitor check-in.
  
  5 0
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  July 28, 2017 8:52pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Are you innocent of your alleged crime(s), nasska?
  
  I could lobby for your release, but I need a bit of colour ( disturbed childhood, lover of model trains, gifted bassoonist) to garner sympathy for your pitiful plight.
  
  6 0
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  July 28, 2017 9:22pm
- Monique Watson
  
  Got a guitar and some Pussycats? Nasska? Then you’ve got plenty of music and company! Even if the bastards got everything else.
  
  1 0
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  July 29, 2017 12:55am
Don the Kiwi

Claim to have a transgender persecution complex while you were sitting down to pee, nasska, and evreyone was scorning you – you’re sure to get government assistance and get your stuff back.
6 1
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July 28, 2017 9:39pm
Rodney Randall

If the military has a Special Ops unit comprised entirely of trannies, would they be called Pre-Ops or Post-Ops?
5 0
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July 28, 2017 9:55pm
- sam green
  
  Why do you think they were called Special Ops?
  
  5 1
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  July 28, 2017 10:00pm
sooty

Bloody hell. Hugh comes up with a dozen odd post today. He really needs a new hobby.
4 0
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July 28, 2017 10:25pm
Manolo

A failed state:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/28/pakistani-court-disqualifies-pm-nawaz-sharif-from-office

Pakistan’s supreme court has removed the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from office in a unanimous verdict over corruption allegations that will further upset the country’s unstable political landscape.
0 0
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July 29, 2017 7:13am

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