General Debate 12 October 2017

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Keeping Stock

Better late than never; just sayin’…
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October 12, 2017 9:25am
calendar girl

Today, 12 October, is 100 years since that dark day in the mud of Passchendaele, Belgium, when 845 New Zealand WW1 troops lost their lives in a single day. The death toll from that day’s battle rose to 950 over the following days as further troops succumbed to injuries sustained on 12 October itself. With a total population of 1.1 million people at that time, a death toll of that magnitude reached into most New Zealand towns and small settlements.

(By way of comparison, if today’s UK population of over 66 million people were to lose a similar percentage in a single day of battle, the death toll would be in excess of 50,000 troops.)

Lest we forget.
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October 12, 2017 9:26am
- Keeping Stock
  
  Lest we forget indeed. Passchendaele was without doubt the darkest day in our military history. Thanks to all those brave New Zealanders who gave their lives for our freedom.
  
  Some argue that the haka is overdone, but this one from NZDF personnel at the Menin Gate an hour or so ago is spine-tingling.
  
  https://twitter.com/CDF_NZ/status/918199046421987328
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:30am
  - David Garrett
    
    KS: I’m sorry mate…the bloody haka IS totally inappropriate on such a day. It should be a day of solemn remembrance, not the glorification of violence and bloodshed that the haka is, no matter how present day revisionists try to cast it.
    
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    October 12, 2017 9:40am
    - PaulL
      
      Disagree. Different people can commemorate in different ways, and so long as their commemoration doesn’t impact yours, then good on them for doing what they feel is right.
      
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      October 12, 2017 9:49am
      - alex Masterley
        
        I am more than irritated that Passchendale was pushed off the front page of the Herald (where it belongs) by Winston Peters.
        I bet the old bugger wont even acknowledge it during the day.
        
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        October 12, 2017 9:57am
      - kowtow
        
        No , it’s more central govt imposing it’s newly minted version of Aotearoa on all things where they have their grubby mits.
        
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        October 12, 2017 10:02am
      - Jack5
        
        DG is correct.
        
        There was minimal Maori presence in the NZ fighting battalions – and casualties – at Passchendaele.
        
        I think I heard on radio that NZ also insisted on having its part of the memorial differentiated. The other participants were happy with the four languages of the soldiers. My understanding is NZ insisted on its section of the memorial also having Maori language.
        
        Then this, from an NZ Government site, details plans for the NZ commemoration yesterday (NZ time):
        
        At 7 p.m. on 11 October a special commemorative event with a distinctly New Zealand flavour will be held in Ieper/Ypres. Along the ramparts next to the famous Menin Gate, a video and sound show telling the story of New Zealand’s participation in Passchendaele “from the uttermost ends of the earth” will be shown. As part of the event, a ceremonial waka taua will be paddled for the first time in Flanders’ fields, by a 14-strong crew. This will be followed by the traditional Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony, strongly featuring New Zealand elements including a performance by New Zealand music legend Dave Dobbyn.
        
        That’s Dave Dobbyn, the thicko who produced the wailing song Welcome Home to welcome to NZ the border-gatecrashing Ahmed Zaoui, an Algerian member of the Islamic Salvation Front.
        
        And Dobbyn gets to be a highlight in an NZ war commemoration!
        
        In the NZ publicity about the battle, it would be nice to hear some praise for the Canadians, who also lost heavily, but succeeded where our troops failed. The main difference was the Canadians had a competent, even outstanding, commander who insisted on detailed preparations. The NZ command, in contrast, was mediocre.
        
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        October 12, 2017 10:58am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Jack5, that’s a little unfair. The Canadian commander wasn’t that superior but he did have his own command and his own Corps to carry out the task. The NZ Division was just that, a division and part of a larger force.
        
        Interesting factoids, the NZ division consistently remained one of the, if not the, strongest division in the British forces from 1917 on. That was because of the NZ governments decision to field just the one division in France but to ensure that the division had a proper “supply” of reinforcements so it remained at full strength. Also, when the British army changed from 4 to three battalions per brigade the NZ division stuck with 4. So whereas a typical British standard division was normally well under strength by late 1917 and might have 9-10,000 men at best, the NZ division was (I believe) over 16,000. This had a big impact in 1918 when the division was moved to cover the March 1918 German breakthrough.
        
        By contrast the Australians chose to field they maximum number of divisions they could initially man, so had up to 5 divisions in the field. However they could not maintain the flow of reinforcements and the divisions became steadily weaker and less able to withstand the attrition to the point where the Australians basically withdrew from combat by October 1918. They had of course done a hell of a lot by then including the August 8 Amiens offensive (with the Canadians & others) and broken through the Hindenburg line.
        
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        October 12, 2017 2:22pm
      - Jack5
        
        Ed, I have to disagree. The NZ soldiers were great, but they didn’t have a commander like the Canadians’ Sir Arthur Currie.
        
        I’m not convinced the Canadians are right in the video clip I link to. They say Currie was the greatest general of the First World War.
        
        But he was bloody good.
        
        https://youtu.be/mUtQlX-t8H4
        
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        October 12, 2017 3:46pm
      - Jack5
        
        In the Canadian video I linked to in my post above at 3.46pm, if you slide about 17 min into the video the next seven or eight minutes is about Currie’s Canadians taking Passchendale in November.
        
        It also covers Currie’s views on why the British high command pushed colonial soldiers into being slaughtered at Passchendale.
        
        The link again:
        
        https://youtu.be/mUtQlX-t8H4
        
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        October 12, 2017 5:18pm
    - flipper
      
      DG …..
      Forgive my ignorance …. but does not the Haka represent a cry from the depths of despair and a challenge to oppressors??
      But..
      Yes I do agree that the Haka is overdone. But I talked to my youngest Grandson who was recently charged with leading a school Haka of more than 800 to welcome some 100 similarly aged Japanese. Benjamin was convinced that it was the correct way to “greet and challenge their visitors.”
      He said the English speaking Japanese teachers told them that their visitors were in awe of them. I think I lost that debate.
      
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      October 12, 2017 10:20am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      I disagree David. NZDF personnel use the haka to honour those who have lost their lives serving their country; fallen warriors, if you will. In the context of today’s observance and remembrance at Passchendaele, it was entirely appropriate IMHO.
      
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      October 12, 2017 10:39am
      - RF
        
        I must support those that disagree that the haka was appropriate at the ceremony.
        
        The Maori role in the battle was minimal yet by the haka getting prominence it has been hijacked by them… sadly not the first time.
        
        I do not have any Maori heritage and I am content to remember family members lost in WW1 in my own quiet way…… not in your face…
        
        On another note… I was disappointed that the little rat Dave Dobbyn made an appearance. I had first hand experience of the Aotera Square riots in December 74 that I hold him responsible for inflaming by his comments. He was later charged with inciting a riot after David Lange called for a commission of inquiry. He was unfortunately acquitted.
        
        Just a little arsehole.
        
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        October 12, 2017 12:38pm
      - fluffykiwi
        
        I always thought it was a war dance.
        
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        October 12, 2017 2:06pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Don’t really have a problem with the haka on these sort of occasions, it has more or less been adopted by all NZ’ers in one way or another.
        
        There were, of course, very few Maori in the fighting division (there were a number in the Pioneers – labour battalions and a few made it into the NZ division) by Government decree. They were concerned that too many Maori would enlist and reduce the number of Maori in NZ by a critical amount – there were relatively few at the time, perhaps around 30-40,000.
        
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        October 12, 2017 2:27pm
    - Kimbo
      
      @ David Garrett
      
      It should be a day of solemn remembrance, not the glorification of violence and bloodshed that the haka is…
      
      Hmm. Given how the armed forces take centre stage on Anzac or Remembrance Day, dressed in full uniform and with all the accoutrements and traditions of military tradition and pomp on display I’m inclined to agree with PaulL. The haka is just another way of commemorating/remembering.
      
      …
      
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      October 12, 2017 10:55am
      - Inandout
        
        The haka is a war dance, but strangely the anti war Left are OK with its aggressive movements. But what concerns me more is that the cretin Phil Goff managed a rate payer funded trip. That prick should be ashamed to show his face at any war graves.
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:45am
- big bruv
  
  Well said Calendar girl.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:00am
- aquataur
  
  I calculated it as the equivalent of 60 times the 9/11 death toll in the US.
  Absolutely mindboggling the scale of the disaster and the impact on NZ society.
  As a side note, my Grandfather was wounded there – and everything I have learned about Passchendale comes from research I’ve done – he didn’t mention anything to any of his children ever about the battle – locked up tight and never to be spoken about
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:02am
  - KevOB
    
    Yes. I have discovered a missing gt uncle too among my family history–never spoken of.
    
    The freedom they died for is now being trampled on–might in support of ideology can never be right.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:45am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Well said CG.
  An elderly relative rang the paper this year to note that again there was not a single mention of VJ day.
  The response was something like:
  What?
  What’s that?
  Oh well
  Perhaps you could remind us next year.
  
  Sadly “Lest we forget” is too late for those who never knew.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:23am
- journo
  
  I’ve just returned from an outdoor memorial service at our local RSA. Very dignified, simple, straightforward – the Last Post played, a short address by a padre, quiet chatting before and afterwards. A few young Army guys taking part. No haka. And about 50/50 Maori/Pakeha. Our daily paper reported it yesterday and was there taking photos today….I was impressed by the photographer’s respectful approach, trying to get the shots he wanted without intruding.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:15pm
Prince

Excellent article by Tracy Watkins, (and one by Vernon Small), on the lost weeks while Winston preens and the other party leaders prostrate themselves. You know things are dire when these two recoil at what is playing out in the Beehive.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/97781600/winston-peters-says-hes-going-to-change-new-zealand–where-is-his-mandate

What a spectacle – Mr 7%, showing the effects of years of heavy drinking, proclaims he is ‘changing the way the country is run economically and socially’. No substance, no mandate. We will look back with the same disbelief as we now watch Muldoon announshing the shnaps lecshin – how could we have arrived at this point ?

Meanwhile English and Ardern tiptoe around, fearful of upsetting his majesty. Lackeys like Barry Soper are ever watchful for potential slights to the emperor with no clothes.
Worst is Shaw, who has been totally out-flanked and simpers about trusting Ardern to do her best for what was once an independent voice.

What a sickening spectacle. MMP subjects voters to the tyranny of maths worse than FPP did.

Farmers farm, workers work, taxes are paid, fuelling the gaping maw of this circus of politicians, bureaucrats, protesters and the indolent.
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October 12, 2017 9:26am
- kowtow
  
  You’re right about the disconnect between politicians and people .
  
  Just look at the clusterfuck they created by decriminalising whoremongering and noone gives an official shit about the real effect of their virtue signalling on real people.
  
  Well done Tim and Helen who have carved out very comfortable niches for themselves on the public teat.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/97710505/city-council-accused-of-abdicating-responsibility-after-refusing-to-regulate-prostitutes
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:35am
  - Jaywalk
    
    They assured us all that a law change would remove more dangerous street prostitution and allow for more safety, now it’s in our suburbs with them plying their trade outside of little kids bedrooms. We were sold a lie, this is still a problem and with the last murder of a prostituted woman in Christchurch we were informed it was the fourth such murder in that city in recent years. Instead of facing up to the unacceptable risk posed to those in prostitution, we were told that the occupation shouldn’t be mentioned instead of that murder and violence should be an unacceptable risk in any occupational group, least of all that one.
    
    Many suggested the much safer option of the Nordic model which decriminalises the prostituted person but leaves everything else intact. It seems to work well as the model includes support and drug rehabilitation instead of normalising this and telling residents they need to have a conversation when they do try this they get threatened and still have put up with used needles, condoms and disruptive behaviour.
    
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    October 12, 2017 11:03am
    - Jack5
      
      Helen Clark was a big supporter of prostitution reform.
      
      She’s itching to get back into NZ politics, as her twitter posts show.
      
      Jacinderella will try to make Clark the first president of the Republic of Aotearoa.
      
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      October 12, 2017 5:12pm
- Victor Omega
  
  Hear hear. Alas, I have but one uptick to give.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:39am
- PaulL
  
  I still don’t really understand the process if Winston were to select Labour.
  
  Does that mean that Winston and Labour agree, then the agreement is written down, then it’s given to the Greens, then the Greens have their SGM and vote, and then the Greens say “yup, we’re OK”, then Winston announces? And all that happens without anyone in the Greens leaking to the media the substance of the agreement and National saying “hang on, we could offer that”? And what if the Greens say no, does Winston then go back to National and go “actually, I want to go with you after all”?
  
  I just don’t see the mechanics of Winston, Labour and the Greens reaching an agreement working in a way that lets Winston keep all the attention on him. As soon as he announces Labour, all the media attention will shift to the Greens, because they get the final say. He’s never going to give all that publicity to them, surely? But if he makes Labour get agreement from the Greens first, then his super secret negotiations aren’t super secret any more.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:53am
  - KevOB
    
    No one can get agreement from any greens. They have no place in Parliament–somebody has to make decisions.
    
    Rule Magenta.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:51am
- Inandout
  
  When MMP was offered to post war Germany I suspect the Allies had a secret agenda in teaching the Hun to learn the art of grovelling. On the pretext of course that MMP would prevent another dictator. The end result of ‘coalition talks’ is political emasculation of the male leaders, and political FGM of the female, by a stroppy loser.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:44pm
  - Jack5
    
    It’s been pointed out many times on Kiwiblog that the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system was not developed by the Allies for Western Germany after World War 2.
    
    When self-government was returned to West Germany by the Western Allies, West Germans chose to reintroduce the MMP system Germany had before Hitler closed down elections. They amended it, including by introducing the 5 per cent threshold for gaining list seats.
    
    But I agree with you Inandout about MMP: it’s worse than FPP.
    
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    October 12, 2017 7:58pm
Paulus Gnome

Ahhhh, the chip wrapper being useless once again.
‘The final hours before teenager Morocco Tai died in a police chase’

Still a police chase not a fwit fleeing from police headline yet? Still a misunderstood future Warriors player and community role model taken too soon!

#istilldontgiveafuckandtheworldismostlikelyabetterplacewithoutthepos!

#standbyforaseriesoftelevisednausatingimpromptuhakasasthiscommunityherobeginshisjourneytobecomingfertiliser
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October 12, 2017 9:29am
stigie

Am i missing something here, do these snowflakes hunger for this feelz good publicity or what ?
Is this even worth mentioning…? Give me some fucking strength !~
“TV star Clarke Gayford has documented a hilarious tale about one of his friends mistakenly taking a neighbour’s cat to the vet, instead of his own pet.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11932088
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October 12, 2017 9:29am
- Ashley Schaeffer
  
  Regurgitating facebook and twitter posts is what seemingly passes for journalism in 2017. And the bar is embarrassingly low for what constitutes a “star” in this country.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:41am
- Inandout
  
  Aww, look at Jacinda’s ginger pussy.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:47pm
- Twinkletoes
  
  Hope he learns to spell properly soon! Or perhaps he just has pudgy fingers.
  
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  October 12, 2017 2:52pm
- Gabby
  
  Did you miss that fishboy has a mental age of twelve stinky.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:24pm
Paulus Gnome

Did anyone hear the boy Tame get handed his arse by Matthew Hooton and Larry Williams yesterday afternoon?

Pure delight! Knowledge meeting twitter intelligentsia! The twitterer was exposed by the bird bath depth of understanding that he has and discovered that anti Trump soundbites inserted while someone else is speaking does not pass as knowledge or serious comment.

I gave up the Campbell slot to endure advertising for gems like this.
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October 12, 2017 9:30am
- Poppa
  
  Yes I heard it, the man child was totally out of his depth. He is basically just a try hard thinking he is the next Hosking.
  
  I have bad news for you Jack, you will never reach that level
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:53am
- alex Masterley
  
  Yes. I laughed. He was outraged that someone had the effrontery to disagree with him.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:53am
- big bruv
  
  Paulus
  
  Do you have a link to that show?
  I despise Tame with a passion, I would love to hear the smug little prick destroyed by Hooton.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:03am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I am sure there is one somewhere and I would listen to it again on a loop.
    
    So if anyone here with the smarts and the time to look for it on ZB about 5 – 5.30ish on Larry’s panel slot
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:23am
    - big bruv
      
      I found it, http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/week-on-demand/
      17.15 – 18.00
      
      Deeply embarrassing for Tame.
      
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      October 12, 2017 10:47am
      - Random T Person
        
        That’s a very wide range, 1715 to 1800, any chance of narrowing that down a bit?
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:12am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Great, thank you.
        
        The word you are looking for is schadenfreude
        
        ˈʃɑːd(ə)nˌfrɔɪdə,German ˈʃɑːdənˌfrɔydə/Submit
        noun
        
        A pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.
        
        Such delight, Tame is a tosser.
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:13am
      - Kimbo
        
        Deeply embarrassing for Tame.
        
        You know “deeply” is an emphatic adverb? Um, you were impressed by Hooten’s argument that, courtesy of Keith Locke’s endorsement back in the distant past before the Green Party was formed…that they are supporters of the policies of Pol Pot? You are easily impressed.
        
        I think you may find it was also official US – and NZ – government policy of the time to recognise his as the legitimate government of Cambodia. So that would include such radical lefties as Gerald Ford and Rob Muldoon. 😉
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:20am
      - graham
        
        Go to http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/week-on-demand/ and select midday to midnight. Everything is listed in 15 minute slots, the bit you want starts about half-way through the 17:30-17:45 slot, and carries on through the 17:45-18:00 slot.
        
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        October 12, 2017 12:01pm
      - Keeping Stock
        
        It’s on this segment, from about the 8 minute mark. Hearing Hooton telling Tame to stop interrupting is gold
        
        http://120.138.20.16/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2017.10.11-17.30.00-D.mp3
        
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        October 12, 2017 12:07pm
- Inandout
  
  Tame needs rogering.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:49pm
- Gabby
  
  Did Lardy or Hootie say a clever thing Puller.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:25pm
Manolo

Lying for a good old mate:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/movies/rose-mcgowan-ben-affleck-matt-damon-weinstein.html
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October 12, 2017 9:32am
- Victor Omega
  
  Oh God, queue the triggered anti-trumpies.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:45am
Keeping Stock

Was Jacinda Ardern stalking Winston Peters last night?

Given that in nine years in Parliament she says she’s never been to the Green Parrot for a feed before, you’d have to think that her dinner choice last night had more to do with who she might meet there than culinary choice. Pretty desperate stuff…

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11932070

PS: I can personally recommend the schnitzel at the Green Parrot, but it’s not for the faint-hearted or those on a diet 😀
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October 12, 2017 9:34am
- Huevon
  
  This event is symbolic.
  
  The Green Parrot’s menu belongs in the “old” New Zealand. White bread, meat and 3 veg, and plenty of it. It’s exactly the kind of food Rob Muldoon would have enjoyed. Wellington hipsters go there for the irony, Winston goes to feel comfortable.
  
  Of course Jacinda has never eaten there. You don’t find homemade almond milk at the Green Parrot. Do they even bother with a vegetarian option? ( there is white bread, I guess). But it gives Jacinda an opportunity to slum it with the working class so she can get their votes. Just like the Labour Party.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:51am
  - KevinH
    
    You get a mean feed at the GP, everything from the soups through to the deserts are on the biggish side.
    I ate there earlier this year, didn’t see any polys, and when the schnitzel arrived I thought wow how am I going to eat that, it was huge and came with an egg on top. Thankfully I had ordered the salad so didn’t have to mow through the chips that my mate got. I haven’t seen bread on a table for a long time, not since the days of Ivan’s in Ponsonby but I still ate it.Wiped my plate with it.
    In terms of value for money the GP is bloody excellent, a good no nonsense big feed.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:41am
    - sooty
      
      I wonder if Taxcinda had the frogs legs?
      edit Got to eat your greens?
      
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      October 12, 2017 12:44pm
- RalphT
  
  I haven’t been to the GP for over 30 years, possibly because unlike Jacinda I don’t want to bump into Winston. In the late 70s you could get a decent feed at a good price and despite it not having a licence it was possible to take a bottle inside in a brown paper bag. And that with the Taranaki St police station just across the road. Ah, the good old days.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:54am
  - Keeping Stock
    
    It’s fair to say that whilst the GP’s menu has not changed much over the years, the prices have definitely kept pace with inflation, or even gained a little.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:42am
    - Swifty
      
      KS – is the food any good these days?
      
      I did my apprenticeship next door to the ‘Dirty Bird’ in the 80s – used to take their food deliveries if they hadn’t yet opened up for the day.
      
      Friday nights were 5pm knock off and bolt the doors, quick shower upstairs courtesy of the charming ladies at the Lily of the Valley (Slut of the Canyon as we used to say), a feed at the Dirty Bird and then off in to the night….
      
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      October 12, 2017 11:55am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        It has been the last couple of times I visited. Last time, my mate ordered flounder which came on two plates; one plate with TWO pan-fried flounder, and a separate plate with the salad and chips on it. As I said above, not for those on diets.
        
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        October 12, 2017 12:20pm
- Poppa
  
  I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she is answering questions about being in opposition for another 3 years
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:04am
- Inandout
  
  That is such creepy behaviour on her part, so ‘being seen with celebs’ Ponsonby. It is like thrusting a Corgi dog at the Queen on her walks; she deliberately ignores the thruster.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:56pm
Manolo

The seller of smoke, do-gooder of the highest order:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-wants-catholic-opposition-death-penalty-increased-184725324.html

Pope Francis called Wednesday for categoric opposition to capital punishment to be written into an update of the most important guide to Catholic teaching.
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October 12, 2017 9:35am
- Scott
  
  He should read his own Bible. In Romans it says that the government does not carry the sword for nothing.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:40am
- kowtow
  
  One of the worst crimes politicians committed against their own societies was the abolition of the death penalty.
  
  Across the western world it was a signal to criminals to go out and victimise the weak , the poor , women , the defenceless.
  
  Bring it back and let ’em swing.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:47am
  - Sideoiler
    
    One of the worst crimes politicians committed against their own societies was the abolition of the death penalty.
    
    The problem with Governments is they tend to do all things very poorly and at maximum cost.
    The worst crime politicians committed was taking away the tools and the right to look after ourselves.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:19am
- Inandout
  
  He is merely doing what his Islamic friends tell him, as they are the ones likely to be affected.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:58pm
Scott

On the good news front the American economy is booming. The sharemarket has had its greatest rise since FDR. The energy sector is gearing up for growth and the US economy is well on the way to energy independence. The unemployment rate in the US is going down.

Much of this is due to the Trump effect. The cutback of burdensome regulations by the Trump administration is having a big boost to the economy.

All this is good for New Zealand and our future economic prospects.

Also Isis is having the hell bombed out of it and Isis troops are surrendering by the score.

Also political correctness is getting hammered and there is a return to the old-fashioned values such as hard work and patriotism.

All these are good things. I look forward to similar inspiring leaders come forth one happy day in New Zealand.
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October 12, 2017 9:39am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  What’s everyone guessing on timing for next global market crash? Shares looking very ‘toppy’, P/E’s of major indicies up above 25, no real productivity growth in OECD in last decade. OECD population growth stagnant, Chinese commodity and US IT/connectivity booms long gone with nothing replacing them. House prices at insane highs (particularly in china) and OECD and China debt at critical levels, with most govts never coming out of deficit since GFC.
  
  Next 3 years seems pretty sure, but could come at any time.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:36am
  - Maxx
    
    Just keep on repeating “in the next 3-6 months the market will crash. The mother of corrections is coming”.
    
    Eventually you’ll be right and can join the other truthsayers.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:43am
- big bruv
  
  “Also Isis is having the hell bombed out of it and Isis troops are surrendering by the score.”
  
  Why the fuck are they letting them surrender? Keep bombing the bastards until there are none left.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:49am
- KevOB
  
  It’s all numbers–where’s the value? The market is a plaything inflated by the FED’s and other global banks massive credit expansion. Money for the super rich which indirectly pushed up our prices here.
  
  Nothing to do with Trump or any politician. Some very hard adjustments are required.
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:00am
- SPC
  
  Trump is inheriting the legacy of Obama’s work.
  
  The irony is you will resent any Labour-NZ First coalition inheriting the legacy of National’s work.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:26pm
  - KevOB
    
    Nothing to do with Obama either: the FED is basically independent.
    
    Every new government takes over where their predecessor left off.
    
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    October 12, 2017 9:43pm
Maxx

NZ Herald running a story on a guy who was here on a student visa, working 60+ hours a week and being underpaid. He’s only coming out saying this now that he has his work permit.

This is a classic example of the student visa rort that is going on at the moment. They know they are only allowed to work 20hrs a week max but come here on a student visa, on a dodgy course (apparently the ICA where he was “studying” has had its accreditations revoked), working full time with the goal of getting a work permit.

He should now have his work permit revoked as he has admitted he broke the rules of his student visa, and if the guy that hired was not born in NZ, he should also be kicked out. No doubt Unite who are protesting on his behalf will say he is the victim. Wrong. People who are trying to follow the laws in regards to visas are the victims and so are New Zealanders.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11932036
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October 12, 2017 9:43am
- kowtow
  
  Funny how so many of these exploitation stories are part of the rich multicultural diversity dividend that the employers are part of.
  
  Import third worlders and you get third world practices.
  
  Meanwhile I feel very enriched by the exploitation and modern day slavery that we’ve seem to have so much of from the sub continent.
  
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  October 12, 2017 9:53am
  - Digmen1
    
    Yes and its always their own that do it.
    
    I know of a Philipino girl working in a Philipino owned restuarant for peanuts, and she is too scared to report the owner who has several restaurants.
    
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    October 12, 2017 9:57am
  - GoVege
    
    Wealthy business people from poor countries are even worse than first world ones.
    Probably because they’re not used to their slaves having any rights.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:28am
- GoVege
  
  Isn’t the point that because he wasn’t getting anywhere near minimum wage, he couldn’t have survived on 20 hours?
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:25am
  - Maxx
    
    As in he had no intention of studying in the first place and wanted to be here to be able to apply for a work permit.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:44am
    - Jack5
      
      Immigration policy and practice has been a disaster under National.
      
      I don’t think National yet sees the student-visa scam for what it is.
      
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      October 12, 2017 5:09pm
      - Gabby
        
        Are you kidding jacksie? Is that subtle irony there?
        
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        October 12, 2017 5:39pm
fernglas

It will be interesting to see if NZ First comes up with the names of its board and what its true shape is; any decision purportedly made by the Board on coalition or whatever will be open to judicial review so it had better be properly constituted and its powers properly exercised or we will have even more pandemonium.
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October 12, 2017 9:47am
- G152
  
  I can help you there
  Winston first’s board is as follows.
  Winston, Winston, Winston and Winston.
  Then we go to Winston, Winston and Winston who help Winston and Winston with assistance from Winston.
  Hopefully that clears it up for you 🙂
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:20am
  - fernglas
    
    By my count that is only 10 disciples. Is that a quorum?
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:21am
  - Digmen1
    
    Is Winston on the board ?
    
    Do any other pardy’s have boards?
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:24am
  - Maxx
    
    I’m sure Winston dutifully asks the board what their vote is and after consulting with Winston they give their vote.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:47am
  - KevinH
    
    The list has been released to the media and is available at RNZ:
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/341390/who-s-deciding-nz-first-board-list-revealed
    
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    October 12, 2017 11:02am
    - RalphT
      
      My understanding is that most of the board will be unavailable for the conference call so will give their proxy to Winston…
      
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      October 12, 2017 11:27am
- flipper
  
  Judicial Review ??????
  Bollocks.
  Putting aside the correct legal folderol, there has to be an ability / cause to bring the application.
  Only an NZ First member could do that. But others could best clarify….
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:34am
  - fernglas
    
    An ultra vires decision by a political party to enter into coalition and so become part of government is reviewable by any citizen, in my view, because every citizen is affected by it. But perhaps you are right, and that is bollocks. Is that word also legal folderol?
    
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    October 12, 2017 2:34pm
Chuck Bird

If Jacinda has her way this could happen in NZ.

Woman who survived abortion after nurse saved her from bin

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11932131
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October 12, 2017 9:49am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Yup, if it’s not already. Murdering types tend to look after themselves, bit like paedophiles. And yes, I hope the promurder, pro infanticide bunch get offended by me comparing them to paedophiles, I mean to offend. Suck it up. (Not much difference between butchering a baby physically or destroying them psychologically later)….
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:30am
Digmen1

I was just reading the NZ First website and their “social development” policies do not seem to gel very well with Labour and the Greens.

They seem more right wing. No free money!
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October 12, 2017 9:54am
Happychappy

It makes you laugh with the Greens and Labour calling National a hypocrite for looking at a petrol tax while basing there campaign around the tax that Labour were going to bring in. This shows exactly why they are not ready to Govern as any responsible Government has to look at these taxes when dealing with a City that is wanting to charge people that use their roads. So to come out and say that they were looking to impose a petrol tax is bending the truth to make it look like they told lies when before the Election they stated that no tax would be implemented in their next term if elected is a bit far fetched and shows their lack of understanding how the Government works.
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October 12, 2017 10:02am
Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
As coalition talks draw to a close …

Housing, education, health and ‘first world wages and jobs’ the focus for Winston Peters | Stuff.co.nz

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97791126

Winston Peters says he’s never stopped thinking about the four things that will change the lives of Maori – housing, education, health and “first world wages and jobs”.

The NZ First leader spoke to Radio Waatea on Wednesday morning ahead of a busy day of negotiation talks with National and Labour, which he described as “going fine”.

“People forget we didn’t know the result of the election properly until 2pm on Saturday…we’re happy with the progress.” … listen and read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
… check out Winston Peters News …

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=winston+peters&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4vMDe1ejWAhVIxrwKHeJeCmgQ_AUICygC&biw=985&bih=433
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October 12, 2017 10:04am
- Digmen1
  
  First world wages ?
  
  There are not many countries with higher minimum wages than ours
  Australia comes to mind.
  We are well ahead of the USA and Canada.
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:22am
- flipper
  
  Another pile of links. Say something or F off ….
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:36am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Flipper … note what I said a month ago …
    
    Ardern v English: Leaders’ house price claims face credibility claims … Rob Stock … Sunday Star Times
    
    https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/money/96556989/arden-v-english-house-price-claims-face-credibility-claims
    
    … extract …
    
    VERDICT ON ENGLISH
    
    English’s answer may provide comfort for homeowners enriched as a result of a failure to build enough homes to meet demand, but it offers none to a generation of people left renting from astronomically high house prices.
    
    Hugh Pavletich, who describes himself as “somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan”, said: “There has already been a generation that’s been severely mistreated because of this housing issue, and what Mr English is saying is another generation should miss out. That is grossly irresponsible.”
    
    Pavletich said prices must fall, gradually, until they are around three times median income.
    
    English’s vision of prices staying level, but falling in real terms as wages rise, wouldn’t achieve that.
    
    Auckland needed only look to Christchurch for its housing solution, Pavletich said. Spread out. Free up land supply. Let people build.
    
    Pavletich does not believe National has the policies to keep prices flat as incomes rise.
    
    “We will get to Sydney levels and beyond if we leave the current government in place,” said Pavletich.
    
    When National came to office under John key the median house in Auckland cost 6.4 times median household income, he said. “It’s now a “stratospheric” ten times.”
    
    “After nearly a decade of inaction from this government, we have really had enough.”
    .
    .
    … and back late January at the time of the release of this years Demographia Survey …
    
    New Zealand’s housing consensus: Where is the political leadership ? … Hugh Pavletich … Not PC blog
    
    http://pc.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/auckland-worlds-fourth-hardest-to-buy.html
    .
    .
    REINZ’s national median selling price down in September as sales volumes slump to lowest level in six years … Greg Ninness … Interest Co NZ
    
    http://www.interest.co.nz/property/90299/reinzs-national-median-selling-price-down-september-sales-volumes-slump-lowest-level
    
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    October 12, 2017 12:30pm
    - Notsofast
      
      And I find it hilarious the way Winston is stringing along loser Bill as he never forgets the strong support he offered to John currency front ****** Key in saying I will never work with Peters, I don’t trust him.
      Well I don’t trust currency front ******* to not do the same with a country. Key did, for specific gerry mandering.
      
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      October 12, 2017 12:37pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Notsofast …
        
        In due course they will learn John Key wrecked the National Party.
        
        They need to go back to what Key said 2007 through 2008 to understand why.
        
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        October 12, 2017 1:07pm
    - Jaywalk
      
      Auckland spread out…into prime horticultural land which feeds the city. I completely fail to see why there is the obsession with houses, all major cities overseas limit sprawl and go for high density in the inner city areas. It’s not functional nor feasible, and councils have successively dropped the ball on this and other areas of town planning.
      
      Housing is a private market, outside of state housing and council housing and the government really only has financial tools for dealing with the market. Every man and his dog assumes a control we don’t have, we are not like Singapore where the government owns the land and makes decisions accordingly. The fact is the housing affordability issues started long before that, but were muted by the GFC which meant in some areas values dropped and then recovered. The restrictions on lending brought in clearly have started to bite as well. The only thing that Sydney etc tell us is that we are not unique, nor does having things like Capital Gains taxes seem to dampen the market in the situation of short supply and high demand.
      
      We also seem to be stuck on this mythical 2-3 times income level, but that is a thing of a past era where land was plentiful and cheap, rules few (over 60% of housing in the sixties didn’t have indoor plumbing, we only required decent insulation since 2000) and they had access to cheap materials and were logging native forests like mad. It’s not like that today, and any assessment needs to have some kind of relativity with land and building costs today, as well as factoring in inflation (double digits in the past) and interest rates (similarly double digits) where borrowing power was much more limited compared with today. In other words, everyone ought to be thinking about this differently, it is actually an impossibility to have all houses 2-3 times median income today unless you are buying in a small town with a similarly small market.
      
      You’d have to be selling them at far less than they cost to purchase the land and build the houses today and that figure needs to go up and people also should realise that there is a limit as the amount that can be borrowed is limited and correction naturally will occur.
      
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      October 13, 2017 1:05am
Lucia Maria

A strange story popped up on my Google newsfeed this morning under a special search I have for “Cats”

A case of mistaken identikitty: [New Zealand] Man rushes his cat to the vet and has it put on anti-anxiety medication because it was acting strange – only to realise he had kidnapped his NEIGHBOUR’S pet

The guy didn’t even notice the cat he’d kidnapped and drugged wasn’t the same sex as his own cat.

Turns out the idiot who did this was Clarke Gayford’s room-mate. Could there be multiple Clarke Gayfords or is this Jacinda’s partner? The article doesn’t say.
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October 12, 2017 10:16am
- lifesgood
  
  There couldn’t possibly be two people with a name like that.
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:03am
- KevOB
  
  How many are there in Gayford’s room?
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:04am
  - RF
    
    Total of 3. One double bed.
    
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    October 12, 2017 8:37pm
- DifferentPerspective
  
  It was pretty funny though!
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:28am
Digmen1

But yes, I would like to see many more Maori’s take the free education that is offfered to them, as a way of improving themselves and their race.
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October 12, 2017 10:23am
kowtow

Merkel’s Germany.

“Now refugees are working as male prostitutes there. During the day men can be seen waiting on the paths. When potential customers approach them they say “hello” before disappearing behind a tree.”

https://www.thelocal.de/20171011/how-a-murder-has-forced-light-into-the-shadows-of-berlins-lawless-central-park
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October 12, 2017 10:24am
- GoVege
  
  One of the homeless sleeping in the park is a 28 year old carpenter.
  Surely he could be put to work doing carpentry and provided with some modest accommodation?
  What a waste of potential.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:09pm
Happychappy

Helen Clark calls our obesity rate disgraceful after being named in the top three Countries in the world with this problem and saying the Government should be doing more to address the problem. So to my recollection we have had this problem for a number of years so why did Labour not address it themselves when she was the Prime Minister.
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October 12, 2017 10:39am
- Kimbo
  
  They did. Or at least they tried. Trying to rid school tuck shops of junk food was played on by National (including Anne “stomach by-pass” Tolley) as ‘nanny state’ and contributed to Labour’s loss in 2008. Adults and free choice, yes? But children?! Was a bullshit call by National when they could have achieved a consensus as occurred with smacking kids. Instead they played politics.
  
  I disagreed with some of what Clark did but she did good when it came to taking on the tobacco industry. I speak as an ex smoker (11 years this Labour weekend) who probably would never have been able to give up but for the government-sponsored patches. Am grateful to Clark for the quality years and income that added to my life. And the tax-payers! 😉
  
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  October 12, 2017 10:43am
  - nasska
    
    …..”Am grateful to Clark for the quality years and income that added to my life”…..
    
    How much time are we allotted to discuss the subject & take a vote on whether to endorse your hypothesis? 🙂
    
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    October 12, 2017 11:01am
    - Kimbo
      
      Sorry, you are a bit too subtle for me, nasska.
      
      Are you saying
      
      1. Years of improved quality were likely not added to my life by giving up smoking?
      
      2. If they were, nonetheless Clark’s policy had little or nothing to do with it?
      
      3. Or such a policy in general, and for me specifically was not a good investment of tax-payer money? If it is the latter I can think of any number of Kiiwbloggers and other acquaintances who are prepared to argue I should have been allowed to carry on smoking 20 a day uninterrupted. 😉
      
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      October 12, 2017 11:11am
      - nasska
        
        As you’ll appreciate I have an open mind on the subject Kimbo but considering the implications of #3 I do think that extended debate is warranted. 🙂
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:20am
      - Kimbo
        
        You might think that, nasska, but I couldn’t possibly comment. But run it up the old flag pole and let’s see what you get, starting with – just checking my Rolodex for the members of my substantial fan club – howitis, holysheet, kowtow, Chuck Bird, MT_Tinman, sooty… 😉
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:33am
  - Happychappy
    
    Kimbo yes but it is the Adults that have to show their children the healthy way of eating because until they change their children will follow their example. I to was a smoker of over one packet of 25’s a day and on my 25th Wedding Anniversary whilst transporting my mother who had attended to the airport for her trip home wound down the window in my car and tossed my cigarettes and lighter out and said to my mother I will never smoke again. To this day 18 years ago come December I have never even thought about having one but my stomach line has increased by having quit.
    
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    October 12, 2017 11:32am
    - Kimbo
      
      Kimbo yes but it is the Adults that have to show their children the healthy way of eating because until they change their children will follow their example.
      
      Indeed, including the adults in the Education Department who set the policy for what the adults in schools (i.e., loco parentis) should make available to children for lunch.
      
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      October 12, 2017 11:37am
      - Happychappy
        
        Kimbo I do not disagree but surely until it starts at home things won’t change and also most of these children are being fed at school now so as you say the education system should be giving out healthy food.
        
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        October 12, 2017 11:46am
    - Paulus
      
      I did similar – when my children stopped pestering me about smoking in the car, they had learnt at school, I awoke one morning chucked my ciggies and matches and have never smoked since – cold turkey but it worked.
      That was nearly 50 years ago.
      
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      October 12, 2017 2:14pm
  - Johnboy
    
    Many of us may have smoked to excess under Helengrad so we could try to escape early from her evil influence but stopped straight away when she departed to the UN? 🙂
    
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    October 12, 2017 1:03pm
- KevOB
  
  Being generously covered throughout Polynesia equates to superior status. The poor were skinny. If a hurricane comes body fat makes it easier to survive.
  
  Chief’’s daughters were specially plumped up to show their rank.
  
  KFC may be substituted for taro.
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:20am
- Lucia Maria
  
  The biggest single thing that government could do to tackle obesity would be to improve health checking of women, who are typically in charge of the diets of their families.
  
  And the biggest problem that many women of child-bearing age face is the constant bleeding we experience every month which can cause iron deficiency and potentially anemia which then leads to lack of energy which then leads to shortcuts in everyday life, including food choices.
  
  Yet, iron deficiency and anemia are very rarely checked for regularly unless another major problem turns up after years of chronic impairment, which most women are not generally aware of because it creeps up on you.
  
  We get constant reminders for cervical smears, but nothing to check on that part of ourselves that directly impacts our health and the health of our families – our blood.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:17pm
  - nasska
    
    A point well worth remembering Lucia Maria. A few years back the CEO, who usually lives life at 100mph, became tired & listless.
    
    It wasn’t until she developed a craving for iceberg lettuce that the internet provided a hint of the cause. A visit to the GP, a blood test resulting in an iron supplement & she was as good as new.
    
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    October 12, 2017 12:41pm
    - Lucia Maria
      
      Thanks, Nasska.
      
      For me, I didn’t realise I was chronically low on iron and blood a few years back until I went to the doctor thinking there was something wrong with my heart. I’d been sick for 3 weeks and couldn’t shake it and my heart had been doing weird things when I bent over to pull out weeds in the garden, and the chest pains hadn’t been going away. I’d gotten used to the chronic tiredness, just thought it was because I wasn’t getting enough sleep. Turned out I was very anemic and had almost no iron stores, with my ferritin down to 2. Just looking at me, the doc said she could not tell I was anemic at all.
      
      I’m all enthused about this subject because last week had another major blood loss which put me back a day for a calc assignment I had to had in. Went to the docs at the end of the week to make sure I was ok, because I did not feel that great, and I had a haemoglobin of 87 (that’s severe anaemia – if I’d been below 80, I would have had to have a blood transfusion). The doc said she didn’t know how I was still able to get around on that level. I just shrugged and said I pace myself.
      
      Anyway, we’ve been having a lot of takeaways recently, because I’ve been barely functional, though I’m still trying to cook 2/3rds of the time.
      
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      October 12, 2017 2:10pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        If you can’t face a plateful of liver or kidneys, then you need to develop a taste for pate, black-pudding and mussels….. as well as a decent steak.
        
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        October 12, 2017 7:55pm
- RF
  
  Dont forget she had a fat Maori MP. Now deceased. Forgot his name. Claimed white folk would not let him sit in the school bus that was later found to be bull shit.
  
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  October 12, 2017 8:40pm
Digmen1

As reported yesterday the whole world is getting fatter, even now they say in Asia an the Middle east.

Sure, its fast food, sugar and fat, and lack of excercise.

But no sugar tax please. Or GST free “healthy food” The problem is that fast fiod tastes good and is cheap and easy to prepare. Its personal responsibility.

And the need to admit, or agree that obese people look (the opposite of nice) and that they need to take personal responsibility and stop eating so much.
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October 12, 2017 11:04am
- Maxx
  
  Its not as easy as that… now wheres my 4pm chocolate bar /s
  
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  October 12, 2017 3:49pm
  - jcuk
    
    I still enjoy my “4pm choc bar” BUT having managed to reduce myself from the edge of obesity [BMI etc .. lost 10kg] by only having two meals a day Breakfast and Lunch with some snack around evening to ‘take with food’ my evening medication.
    
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    October 12, 2017 8:26pm
Johnboy

Poor little pony. Can’t even get to relish the crumbs! 🙂

“Asked whether she had enjoyed a meal at the Green Parrot on Wednesday night – a favourite haunt of Peters – Ardern noted she “can’t even get a schnitzel in peace.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97799911/winston-peters-last-day-of-coalition-meetings-begins
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October 12, 2017 11:16am
Fletch

Breakfast has a news story (finally) on screen this morning about the dangers of reusable shopping bags. A new U.S study shows that half of bags have coliform and 12% have e-coli germs.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/reusable-shopping-bags-good-environment-but-they-could-make-you-sick
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October 12, 2017 11:19am
Digmen1

Everytime I go shopping at New World or Countdown I am going to tell the check out girl that I want free plastic bags.
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October 12, 2017 11:27am
- Lucia Maria
  
  Just went shopping at New World and boy those (especially young) checkout girls are loathe to give out plastic bags.
  
  I personally prefer to pack my own and use the right no of bags per shopping. But today, not quite feeling up to packing my own, so the girl did it for me.
  
  And we got to the end where the loaf of bread (in a plastic bag) and the large bag of pototoes (in a plastic bag) were left.
  
  Would you like Little Gardens? Yes, I said.
  
  Would you like your bread in a bag? Yes, I said. And she popped the bread and the Little Gardens in a bag.
  
  Would you like your potatoes in a bag? No, it’s fine, I said.
  
  Sigh.
  
  She probably doesn’t realise that I don’t want my bread crushed, nor do I want the bread lying around in the boot of my car, and I want to be able to carry all my shopping in one go from the car to my kitchen.
  
  And I really don’t care about saving plastic bags. They are there to serve, not the other way around.
  
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  October 12, 2017 2:20pm
Fisiani

My prediction is that Winston has already decided to sit on the cross benches and “keep National honest” . He knows that formal coalition could be fatal for NZF and given that he is in his last term of office given his terminal illness he wants stability. He would prefer having National consult him on every bit of legislation and having a veto than accept Cabinet collective responsibility. He loves theatre and simply wants to drag out the inevitable announcement.
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October 12, 2017 11:27am
- Digmen1
  
  I hope you are right.
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:30pm
- skyblue
  
  Yep, I have seen the report on his health from a friend in the health service, not to well is our Winnie.
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:05pm
  - sam green
    
    I would suggest that your friend in the health service has breached the Privacy Act.
    
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    October 12, 2017 1:41pm
    - skyblue
      
      Who you gonna tell………………
      
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      October 12, 2017 1:45pm
      - sam green
        
        Ghostbusters.
        
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        October 12, 2017 3:49pm
  - calendar girl
    
    I hope that you are not right, Fisiani. Peters, however, could relish three years of circus, and cause National’s legislative programme to be frustrated at his whim.
    
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    October 12, 2017 3:02pm
  - Gabby
    
    You should tell your mate you’re pretty strong on lawn order issues skypoo.
    
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    October 12, 2017 6:30pm
  - jcuk
    
    Sad thing is that he is only at the start of his seventies too.
    
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    October 12, 2017 8:31pm
  - sam green
    
    Obviously Farrar supports this privacy breach – seems to be doing nothing about it.
    
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    October 12, 2017 10:51pm
- AgentBallSack
  
  Terminal illness? When did this become a rumour?
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:44pm
  - skyblue
    
    Seen a screenshot of his meds when he went into hospital. Cannot offer more detail to keep my contact safe. But he is on serious drugs.
    
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    October 12, 2017 1:49pm
    - RF
      
      Shit… do I have time to get my suit dry cleaned.
      
      5 3
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      October 12, 2017 5:20pm
      - Gabby
        
        You got your buryin collar picked out rf rf.
        
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        October 12, 2017 7:03pm
    - Johnboy
      
      Glenfiddich is seriously expensive so must be true! 🙂
      
      3 1
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      October 12, 2017 5:24pm
    - sam green
      
      Your friend is a craphole. Welcome to NZ’s health services where sky blue’s “contact” will give out people’s health information to you just because they can. Whether I support Winston or not I think this is a shitty way to operate.
      
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      October 12, 2017 6:57pm
    - sam green
      
      Farrar again supporting this privacy breach.
      
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      October 12, 2017 11:07pm
      - Rachael Membery
        
        Get a grip, some anonymous poster shit stirring about being in the know, I would have thought that you could recognize the type.
        
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        October 13, 2017 7:45am
tom hunter

As the Joker would say, Harvey, Harvey, Harvey…
‘Harvey Weinstein’s Media Enablers’? The New York Times Is One of Them

But I simply gagged when I read Jim Rutenberg’s sanctimonious piece on Saturday about the “media enablers” who kept this story from the public for decades.

“Until now,” he puffed, “no journalistic outfit had been able, or perhaps willing, to nail the details and hit publish.”

That’s right, Jim. No one — including The New York Times.

In 2004, I was still a fairly new reporter at The New York Times when I got the green light to look into oft-repeated allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein.

The usual excuses got made internally at the time…

But I had the facts, and this was the Times. Right?

Wrong. The story was stripped of any reference to sexual favors or coercion and buried on the inside of the Culture section, an obscure story about Miramax firing an Italian executive. Who cared?

The Times’ then-culture editor Jon Landman, now an editor-at-large for Bloomberg, thought the story was unimportant, asking me why it mattered.

“He’s not a publicly elected official,” he told me.

And that’s how the MSM rolls folks. And it was still happening a few days ago, when MSM links were to the “Money” section of CNN or the “Culture” section of The Guardian.

The job of the MSM is to cover stories.

With a pillow. Until they stop moving.
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October 12, 2017 11:29am
- mikenmild
  
  Makes one wonder why the MSM published the story now.
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:33am
  - kowtow
    
    To pretend they are doing their job.
    
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    October 12, 2017 1:24pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    As the story has it, the New Yorker (of all places) decided it had a scoop that would help it (it has suffered a fair drop in circulation) so decided to publish. A whiff of that reached the NYT who decided it couldn’t afford to be scooped on this and so published. Helps to be a daily rather than a monthly to get stories out first.
    
    Why was it OK, who knows, maybe it was decided that one of the “right wing” oufits would get hold of it and make it a major issue and further undermine them ? It has been pretty widely known about for a long time; and there’s possibly a lot more about the culture of sexual abuse in Hollywood that may yet come out as well. Various actors and actresses are starting to talk, if pretty guardedly, about rape and exploitation.
    
    This does follow the patter. The left never actually cared about sexual exploitation and harassment (up to and including rape) except that it was a handy weapon to bludgeon their opponents with. A classic piece of seeming and virtue signalling that conceals a the moral vacuum at the heart of leftism.
    
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    October 12, 2017 2:50pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Quite a few people knew that this story was going to break.
      Look who wrote the latest expose published in the New Yorker…. Ronan Farrow.
      (The son of Mia Farrow and ? Woody Allen/?Frank Sinatra)
      
      Farrow had been researching the story, interviewing folks for the last 18 months. He tried releasing it to NBC earlier this year as a TV scoop(he’s done journalism work for them)… They weren’t interested…. So he took the story to the New Yorker.
      http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/media/nbc-new-yorker-harvey-weinstein/index.html
      
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      October 12, 2017 8:10pm
- Kimbo
  
  Meanwhile in more important news, the Cubs (ahead 2-1 in the 5 game playoff) are down 0-1 to the Nationals going into the bottom of the seventh.
  
  https://www.mlb.com/gameday/nationals-vs-cubs/2017/10/11/526495?partnerId=LR_gameday#game_tab=gameday,game_state=live,game=526495
  
  Question – if they get to the National League pennant match-up, how to beat the red-hot Dodgers?
  
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  October 12, 2017 11:45am
  - tom hunter
    
    Heh – and Jon Lester, of all pitchers, has just thrown out a guy at first in the top of the eighth!!! Laughter and a standing ovation from the crowd. Took a challenge and a replay. Opposition runners may give the guy a little more respect now. Hell – perhaps he’s even overcoming that psychological block of his! I mean there’s no physical reason why a guy who pitches 95mph with precision to the plate, can’t pickoff first!
    
    Anyway, this game, and the series, have been only for baseball aficionados. Tight, low-scoring games with great pitching from both teams. I think only one pitcher – Edwards from the Cubs – could be said to have failed, and that was just one bad pitch.
    
    So this game – and the series – could go either way. Strasburg has actually been better here than in game 1, repeatedly striking out the big Cubs batters with low balls they chased. Impressive.
    
    But the Dodgers? Yeah – they look to be back to their awesome best. Hard to see either the Nationals or the Cubs beating them.
    
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    October 12, 2017 12:08pm
  - tom hunter
    
    Ha ha. And yet 18 minutes later we’re still in the 8th inning, and Taylor of the Nationals – on a day when nobody has been able to get much out into the wind – hits a frigging Grand Slam!!!!
    
    Sigh. And after saying that Edwards had pitched well for months, he lost control of his fastball, leaving the bases loaded. Wade Davis is good, but not good enough to stop that.
    
    5-0! Can’t see the Cubs pulling it back, unless the Nationals bullpen explodes as it has done before, but they’ve plugged those gaps this year.
    
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    October 12, 2017 12:25pm
  - SPC
    
    Yankees beat the Indians, the SPC law that no team from a state that voted Trump will win a national sports contest is still in force.
    
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    October 12, 2017 4:52pm
    - Gabby
      
      No super bowl for the Chiefs then. What a shame.
      
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      October 12, 2017 6:36pm
  - tom hunter
    
    Well crap!
    
    The Indians blow a 2-0 lead over the Wildcard Yankees to fall 3-2 in the Divisional Series. Jeez – the Yankees couldn’t even win their Division against the Red Sox (who went down against the Astros): 91 wins was all they could achieve, but they sure don’t look like a 91 win team now!
    
    The 100 winner curse strikes again too; the Indians had 102 for the season. I really thought they were going all the way this year. Heard on the broadcast that out of twenty three 100-winner teams since playoff baseball began, only three have won the WS.
    
    Nuts! Looks my MLB Postseason package might be a little wasted as I watch teams I care little about fighting it out – unless the Cubs, Nationals or Astros make to the WS. The Astros look (or looked) like a team that would maul the Yankees – but they won 101 games, one less than Cleveland. I think the Yankees are like the Australians; when they get a wind behind them…
    
    Oh well. Here’s hoping the Astros smash them. They’ve got the pitching staff to do it.
    
    And as good as the Dodgers are I do not want to see yet another “classic matchup” with the Yankees in the WS.
    
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    October 12, 2017 5:19pm
    - SPC
      
      The Trumpists of Ohio could not handle the liberal “lefties” of the Big Apple. Payback for letting the bully loose on the American people.
      
      Astroturfers gonna get chem trailed out of the park when the Yankees big hitters finally arrive. Overdue.
      
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      October 12, 2017 5:29pm
      - tom hunter
        
        Now, now SPC – I’ll repeat what I said in the comment below these, about Mr Weinstein:
        
        This is what you get for combining politics and Hollywood, and politics and everything.
        
        Or as Iowahawk puts it more succinctly:
        
        1. Identify a respected institution.
        2. kill it.
        3. gut it.
        4. wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect.
        #lefties
        
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        October 12, 2017 5:38pm
      - SPC
        
        Agreed, the sooner brand Trump is out of the White House, the better.
        
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        October 12, 2017 6:00pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Meanwhile, spirits in Boston have fallen, not only because the Red Sox are out, but more so as the Yankees are still in the running. 😉
      
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      October 12, 2017 5:31pm
      - SPC
        
        New England Super Bowl, California NBA, New York MLB proudly defending freedom from tyranny. Patriots, Warriors, Yankees home of the brave on each liberal coast.
        
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        October 12, 2017 6:03pm
tom hunter

So the question becomes – why now? Why has the dam finally broken around Weinstein? He’s still as rich and connected as ever, with just as powerful a legal team behind him.

I think this article may have the answer – and it’s a big, meaningful answer, The Human Stain: Why the Harvey Weinstein Story Is Worse Than You Think.

First the setup as to why not earlier:

A friend reminds me that there was a period when Miramax bought the rights to every big story published in magazines throughout the city. Why mess with Weinstein when that big new female star you’re trying to wrangle for the June cover is headlining a Miramax release? Do you think that glossy magazine editor who threw the swankiest Oscar party in Hollywood was trying to “nail down” the Weinstein story? Right, just like the hundreds of journalists who were ferried across the river for the big party at the Statue of Liberty to celebrate the premiere of Talk—they were all there sipping champagne and sniffing coke with models in order to “nail down” the story about how their host was a rapist.

The author points out that one of the reasons, “everybody knew”, was that Weinstein had pulled this shit on journalists!

And the shot:

That’s why the story about Harvey Weinstein finally broke now. It’s because the media industry that once protected him has collapsed. The magazines that used to publish the stories Miramax optioned can’t afford to pay for the kind of reporting and storytelling that translates into screenplays. They’re broke because Facebook and Google have swallowed all the digital advertising money that was supposed to save the press as print advertising continued to tank.

Delenda est MSM.

And the author has no time for bullshit reasons about being “woke”:

Rebecca Traister says the stories are coming out now because “our consciousness has been raised.” Between Bill Cosby and Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and Donald Trump, argues Traister, people are now accustomed to speaking and hearing the truth about famous, sexually abusive men.

This is wrong. It has nothing to do with “raised consciousness”—or else she wouldn’t have left off that list the one name obviously missing. It’s not about raised consciousness or else the Democratic party’s 2016 presidential campaign would not have been a year-long therapy session treating a repressed trauma victim with even its main slogan—“I’m with her”—referencing a muted plea for sympathy for a woman who’d been publicly shamed by a sexual predator.

This is what you get for combining politics and Hollywood, and politics and everything. It looked great for the Left for two decades – but now when shit hits the fan in those areas you can’t wall them off from politics by burying the stories in the Money or Culture sections. And so…

Which brings us, finally, to the other reason the Weinstein story came out now: Because the court over which Bill Clinton once presided, a court in which Weinstein was one part jester, one part exchequer, and one part executioner, no longer exists.

And the likes of Dianne Feinstein in California – who has just announced another run for her Senate seat, at age 84 – have not figured out that there is a new rising force in the Democrat Party – and I must say I find this phrase delicious:

The 2016 election demolished Clinton world once and for all, to be replaced by the cult of Obama, an austere sect designated by their tailored hair shirts with Nehru collars. “That is not who we are as Americans,” they chant, as Harvey Weinstein’s ashes are scattered in the wind.
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October 12, 2017 11:52am
- Gruffydd
  
  This guy seems to really get to you Tom.
  He is a Movie Producer .
  Well known to be predatory arseholes when it comes to woman. The casting couch has been acknowledged in popular culture since talking Movies first started.
  This story has more attention from you in a week than the KB atheists have given Cardinal Pell all year .
  Perspective .
  Pell third most senior official in the Vatican who is presently standing trail for 50 odd counts of sexual misconduct of an unspecific type….. probably sucks and sodomy with the choir boys..
  Some random yank movie producer who is a lecherous prick and donated funds to the Democrat party .
  Billionaire Harvey Weinstein donated 1 million to Democrat campaigns since 2000.
  That’s small change even here in NZ.
  The Gibbs have poured far more into ACT NZ in that time.
  Colons Craig was down about 5 million in four years on the NZConservative party.
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:09pm
  - kowtow
    
    “probably sucks and sodomy with the choir boys..”
    
    Wow , big allegation there against a man who is innocent until proven guilty.
    
    This is a modern day witch hunt , political show trial.
    
    All reasonable people should be very concerned that this kind of shit can go on in a modern western democracy. He is being charged not based on evidence but on the nature of the allegations.
    
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    October 12, 2017 1:42pm
    - Gruffydd
      
      Yesss kowtow.
      You know as much about his innocence as I do for his guilt. I just said he was on trail and speculated as to what. You claim he is totally innocent with out seeing the evidence or even knowing the charges.
      
      I am allowed to have an opinion that if a catholic priest is charged with sexual misconduct its probably some version of hide the sausage with choir boys.
      Abuse of position of authority and under age boys being factors in the preponderance of Catholic church priestly sexual abuse cases reported and all.
      
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      October 12, 2017 2:56pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    Worst smear your drug addled imagination can come up with ? It’s been an anti-catholic witch-hunt with Pell as the target. Despite the fact that a child is more likely to be molested by government employed teachers, the anti-catholicism strain that infests Australia makes the Catholics the whipping boys.
    
    To put it mildly, the allegations against Pell don’t meet any reasonable grounds except one – it makes the news.
    
    And Weinstein, in thick with the Democrats for many, many years. Wasn’t just an “FOB” but also a major bundler for Obama as well. There’s more to come, I would expect him to remain in “therapy” in Europe for some time, to avoid prosecution, a la Polanski.
    
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    October 12, 2017 2:59pm
    - Gruffydd
      
      Hello Ed the piss head .
      You don’t know the evidence.
      Its not even known what the actual charges are.
      50 witnesses four weeks and we will have a result
      until then you are fully supporting a possible sexual deviant based on nothing but blind faith.
      That’s ikkky.
      Then you have decided Weinstein is guilty beyond doubt.
      We have a name for such thinking.
      It is called conformation bias.
      
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      October 12, 2017 3:30pm
  - tom hunter
    
    This guy seems to really get to you Tom.
    
    It’s the ecosystem he’s in that gets to me, as I’ll explain…
    
    He is a Movie Producer . Well known to be predatory arseholes when it comes to woman. The casting couch has been acknowledged in popular culture since talking Movies first started.
    
    Sure – but they didn’t used to lecture me constantly about my ethics and morality on a seemingly endless list of topics, even when they were enforcing it on screen – and they weren’t as political in public. In fact for decades the owners & producers had their actors’ contracts set so they kept their political opinions to themselves.
    
    This story has more attention from you in a week than the KB atheists have given Cardinal Pell all year .
    
    That’s because I regard the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Hollywood as being far more influential on our society than the decaying corpse of the Roman Catholic church, and other Christian groups. They’re so hopeless they’ve almost given up talking about gays, gay marriage and abortion – let alone sex outside of marriage (hahahaha) – to focus on Social Justice issues and the Environment. Ha! As if that will save them.
    
    How many graduates of Media Studies are there each year vs. graduates of Theology?
    
    Pell third most senior official in the Vatican who is presently standing trail for 50 odd counts of sexual misconduct…
    
    Cultural power nowadays – near zero!
    Political power – near zero.
    Certainly vastly smaller than that of the media ecosystem of TV programs, movies and music, and has been so for decades.
    
    Some random yank movie producer who is a lecherous prick and donated funds to the Democrat party .
    Billionaire Harvey Weinstein donated 1 million to Democrat campaigns since 2000. That’s small change even here in NZ.
    
    Sure, folks like envirofanatic Tom Steyn give vastly more money – but I’d bet their power of cultural influence and media networked connections does not come close to Weinstein’s. That’s why so many Democrats flooded to his organised events.
    
    The Gibbs have poured far more into ACT NZ in that time.
    
    If they contributed to either National or Labour, and had the degree of media influence that the Weinstein’s of the world have, then the comparison would make sense. As it is, such influence is near zero from them, as the political results with ACT demonstrate.
    
    Perspective .
    
    I’m giving you some. You’ve got the power-influence equation back to front because of your myopic focus on religion in general and Christians in particular.
    
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    October 12, 2017 6:31pm
    - Gruffydd
      
      I dont do screen media Tom.
      He produced a few films including pulp fiction
      None of which I have seen.
      He is a filthy bastard using his power in the media circus.
      Rolf Harris Bill Crosby Jimmy Savile.
      
      The Pell reference was in comparison to the effort you have placed in pushing the Weinstein/ Democrat narrative.
      We have hardly mentioned Pell despite his charges being more reprehensible and his position far more powerful as # three in the largest Christian church with 1.2 billion ~~zombie muchers~~ adherents.
      If you think the Catholic Church has no influence boy have I got some news for you.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Holy_See
      
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      October 12, 2017 8:38pm
      - EAD_TWO
        
        Griff,
        
        Please address the Jewish element of movie industry deviancy, particularly against young children in this matter.
        
        I mean even the Jewish magazine “Tablet” has addresses the “Jewy nature” of Weinstein yet all you can is keep yelling “look Squirell”!
        
        http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/246724/the-specifically-jewy-perviness-of-harvey-weinstein
        
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        October 12, 2017 8:52pm
      - Gruffydd
        
        Nazi
        Jews are your obsession.
        After two thousand or more years of almost constant oppression the Jewish peploe seemed to have benefited from Darwin’s survival of the fittest.
        Your argument that they are some kind of malevolent force behind world events is pure dribbling fuckwittery.
        
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        October 12, 2017 9:25pm
- SPC
  
  Some of the Democrats just do not learn. Holding onto position is what lost them control of the Supreme Court.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:07pm
Surely Knott

The Tree Council has announced Tree Week including a mobile app showing tree loss and live chat on Kauri Dieback with Tree Council secretary Mels Barton, and her partner Tree Council Chair Freeman. But Barton who is regularly quoted on tree issues in Auckland but they never mention her other role which is Phil Twyfords assistant. It just feels a bit astroturfy. And if you are a parliamentary staff with a partliamentary email then it should be clear when you are running a campaign that looks like you are offering an independent opinion. IMHO.
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October 12, 2017 12:36pm
Ross12

It looks like housing costs are an election issue in many parts of the world. This piece which giving views of the main bank in Malaysia is interesting.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/heres-why-you-cant-afford-a-house-bank-negara-tells-malaysians#hWcVb5k2E6Auzfqy.97
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October 12, 2017 12:36pm
cha

I guess Bannon will publicly denounce Weinstein…..

Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist and current head of Breitbart News, is the latest politico touched by the scandal. Bannon, whose website has hammered Democrats for accepting Weinstein’s political donations, himself profited off a relationship with the movie mogul, in an ill-fated joint venture more than a decade ago.

https://www.apnews.com/8633ead4811943268ad652d762dcd5e9/APNewsBreak:-Steve-Bannon-had-ties-to-Harvey-Weinstein?
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October 12, 2017 12:42pm
- Inandout
  
  Weinstein booked into hotels so the reception and room service had a connection with him. Bannon is putting useless Republican politicians on notice he is going to get candidates to stand against them, and getting the working class (Clinton’s deplorables) to support him.
  
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  October 12, 2017 2:52pm
Manolo

Jeepers. This article could have written by Bruv or Longknives:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/12/all-blacks-dominance-threatens-the-health-of-international-test-rugby

Never in the history of sport has there been an international team as dominant as the All Blacks. The New Zealanders have lost only two games since winning the 2015 World Cup – an exhibition against Ireland in Chicago and the second Test against the combined might of the British and Irish Lions, which they played with 14 men for almost three quarters of the game after Sonny Bill Williams was red-carded.

The All Blacks’ dominance might be wonderful for rugby in New Zealand, but questions remain as to whether it is positive for Test rugby and the health of the game in other countries. This is particularly true for Australia, as the Wallabies play the Kiwis more often than any other team.
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October 12, 2017 12:47pm
slightlyrighty

So, Winston is now delaying for another day, and will not confirm when an announcement would be made.

The reason is that the NZ First board cannot meet on Friday.

The question that this raises, is given that Winston is on record as wanting to have a decision by today, why the hell did he not arrange a meeting in advance, knowing full well that it needed to happen?

Does Winston not know how his own party operates?
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October 12, 2017 12:52pm
- Johnboy
  
  With his obvious senility I’d be surprised if he knows that it’s Friday the 13th tomorrow! 🙂
  
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  October 12, 2017 12:56pm
- Paulus
  
  Assume that the NZF Board are Muslims who have to go to the Mosque on Fridays so we have to wait until Saturday.
  
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  October 12, 2017 2:18pm
  - Johnboy
    
    What if their Jewish or (heaven forbid) Seventh Day Adventists? 🙂
    
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    October 12, 2017 2:53pm
    - MH
      
      Something about eating fish on a Fryday.
      
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      October 12, 2017 3:55pm
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Brethrens?
      
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      October 13, 2017 7:52am
Ross12

Why do those who place buildings and structures under the various grades of the Historic Places Act allow this to happen? Or are they just wasting their time ?
If you are going to make it Grade II then surely a method for maintaining it and continued public access is warranted. Otherwise why pretend you are preserving it?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11932224
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October 12, 2017 12:57pm
- Maxx
  
  It is done so to ensure that if anyone decides to do the right thing and make the bridge safe again, do so in a manner respects the historical nature of the bridge.
  
  Of course, by doing so, they make doing the right thing prohibitively expensive so no one will want to do so and then it falls apart. But at least we have respected the historical nature of it.
  
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  October 12, 2017 3:56pm
  - Ross12
    
    Fair enough Maxx but now we have a pile of rubble instead of a preserved bridge.
    If it is important enough to be listed Grade 2 then the “process” should ensure there is an effective way to preserve it ( including the required funding ) otherwise it is just a waste of time or a charade.
    (BTW I think it deserved to be kept in place as part of our history)
    
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    October 12, 2017 5:45pm
dime

apparently winston wont make a decision for a while yet. something about flying his bunch of losers in to vote how he says.

i gotta be honest, im struggling to give a fuck since the election.

no ones talking about it really (in real life).

must piss him off hes not the centre of attention like he was in 96.

we have seen this crappy movie before.
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October 12, 2017 1:13pm
- srylands
  
  “On his way out of a two and a half hour meeting with National Peters said his 13-person board and parliamentary caucus would all need to meet in person to ratify the decision.”
  
  I note that he speaks in sombre tones about this “Board” ratifying a decision to form a government.
  
  Yet I can’t find any information on the Board or the people who comprise it.
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:30pm
  - Digmen1
    
    The board is not even listed on their website.
    
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    October 12, 2017 4:39pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  and we know the end; 50% of those New Zealanders who bothered to vote will be pissed off and the 7.5% who gave NZF the key to this cluster of losers on the horizon, should be deeply embarrassed and regret the angst that is forthcoming
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:41pm
- Maxx
  
  With the way this is going, we’ll have the next election before Winnie manages to make a decision
  
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  October 12, 2017 3:58pm
Tauhei Notts

I see that Betfair are still taking bets on the next Prime Minister.
It is split into National ($1.36) Labour ($3.10) and any other party at $11.50.
The money is saying Bill English, but a bet on National wins if Winnie says Bill – out and Nick Smith – in. Or even Judith Collins, heaven forbid!
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October 12, 2017 1:38pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  National will not take Bill off the podium.
  
  Winston will demand one thing too far, and National will just let it go.
  
  I think the phrase will be ‘fuck off Winston’
  
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  October 12, 2017 1:44pm
  - Happychappy
    
    Be careful you will upset those that voted for Winston because Bill was weak, dull and out of his league, if I remember right one or two revert to Mr 21% even now because they have to blame someone for their poor decisions.
    
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    October 12, 2017 2:46pm
cha

If the the much vaunted F-35 more than 8 million lines of software codes have been compromised, does that make the aircraft an obscenely expensive dart?.

In November 2016, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) was alerted by a “partner organisation” that an attacker had gained access to the network of a 50-person aerospace engineering firm that subcontracts to the Department of Defence.

Restricted technical information on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the C-130 transport aircraft, the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) smart bomb kit, and “a few Australian naval vessels” was among the sensitive data stolen from a small Australian defence contractor in 2016.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/secret-f-35-p-8-c-130-data-stolen-in-australian-defence-contractor-hack/

https://www.f35.com/about/life-cycle/software
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October 12, 2017 2:42pm
- SPC
  
  So every international sale made by the MIC of the USA undermines American security, thus the profit from arms is an/their Achilles heel.
  
  Each imperial power is revealed to have one or two (I wonder how the Chinese selling oil futures backed by gold will play out).
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:38pm
  - Gabby
    
    No refunds though.
    
    1 0
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    October 12, 2017 6:55pm
- All_on_Red
  
  The article doesn’t specifically state the code for the jet has been stolen.
  It just says ‘restricted technical information’
  That could be anything.
  But hey jump to a conclusion and indulge in some rumour spreading.
  Lol
  
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  October 12, 2017 7:10pm
Johnboy

Will this mean we need to swap our tinfoil hats for tinfoil underpants to filter out the harmful electromagnetic radiation? 🙂

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/central-leader/97744286/project-granted-12m-to-cut-the-cord-on-charging-electric-vehicles
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October 12, 2017 2:52pm
sooty

No baubles for you greens. Nothing, denada!
3 0
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October 12, 2017 3:37pm
- Maxx
  
  We all know at the first sign of conflict they would take their baubles and run home to mummy to cry.
  
  Either that or a 3-day conference on resolving the conflict whilst respecting their whakpapa and Gaia.
  
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  October 12, 2017 4:02pm
Jack5

Trudeau says boys should be raised as feminists!

What a blockhead!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/11/justin-trudeau-pens-essay-on-raising-feminist-sons-all-of-us-benefit
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October 12, 2017 3:57pm
Fletch

re: Weinstein – Hollywood, of course, has always had that reputation of actors giving it up to producers for a job. Remember The Eagles song, King of Hollywood?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdnmEqIAHU

They could be singing about Weinstein directly.
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October 12, 2017 4:53pm
cha

Remember when Obama was going to shut down Christian broadcasters.

/

Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2017

https://spectator.org/41723_will-obama-seize-radio-stations-next/
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October 12, 2017 5:15pm
- SPC
  
  Trump has threatened the tax status of NFL teams (corporates value money more than the players or freedom) and now the issuing of licences to media … one cannot talk about the abuse of power in Hollywood without noting that Trump practices it on an industrial scale now he is POTUS.
  
  None of this was unforeseen. He abused his power in relationship to sub-contractors.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:45pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Surprising a Lefty like you supports the blatant crony capitalism which provides Tax relief and subsidies for Billionaire NFL team owners.
    But then again maybe not a surprise.
    Hypocrisy runs deep amongst the left as it’s the SIDE which counts. Wankers.
    #tribalism.
    
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    October 12, 2017 7:04pm
    - cha
      
      Tax relief and subsidies for Billionaire NFL team owners.
      
      The tax relief and subsidies for Billionaire NFL team owners that the NFL voluntarily dropped in April 2015, or the Obama bill to end tax exemptions that allows for (and encourages) taxpayer money to fund the building and renovations of sports stadiums, rejected by the GOP controlled congress?.
      
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      October 12, 2017 7:32pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Fuck you’re thick.
        Congress is part of the swamp Trump needs to clean out.
        So no point pinning Trump to what Congress didn’t do.
        Trump is apolitical.
        Also Stadiums get huge subsidies and tax relief for maintenance because they are deemed as a public good creating unity.
        Go figure
        
        4 3
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        October 12, 2017 7:38pm
      - SPC
        
        Trump makes the personal political, team Trump or not team Trump. The most petty POTUS ever.
        
        2 3
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        October 12, 2017 8:00pm
    - SPC
      
      What tax status?
      
      Was he ignorant of 2015 law changes.
      
      2 2
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      October 12, 2017 8:01pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘ … one cannot talk about the abuse of power in Hollywood without noting that Trump practices it on an industrial scale now he is POTUS.’
    
    Hahahahahahaha.
    Do you actually read the shit you write?
    So funny.
    
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    October 12, 2017 7:13pm
    - SPC
      
      Trump tweeters away without knowledge – from NFL tax status, to media licences.
      
      Declaring his ignorance about what he comments on an industrial scale. All the while posing as domineering and a threat to anyone who dares stand up to him. He so badly needs to be seen as a strong man one wonders at his personal insecurities – big brand, big IQ, big digits.
      
      All hype in a hat with a brand name on it.
      
      It’s telling, about what sort of people want to believe in a man, to the point of becoming apologists for him and what he does.
      
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      October 12, 2017 8:14pm
      - cha
        
        Declaring his ignorance about what he comments on an industrial scale.
        
        Chickenhawk Heel Spur demonstrates his ignorance.
        
        Ooh fun. On a military base Trump stays seated and tells jokes during 'Retreat.' pic.twitter.com/vqEHVkMJdm— Zedward Tweeterhands (@ZeddRebel) October 12, 2017
        
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        October 12, 2017 8:47pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Actually Trump has won the ‘kneeling’ battle. The NFL has caved.
    They were losing supporters by the millions and all Trump did was kick it along and administer the coup de grace with a few tweets.
    ESPN is totally fucked now though. They’ve annoyed their core support and now all the liberals when they reacted!
    Businesses need to learn they should stay out of politics or ‘virtue signalling’.
    Trump raising Tax status is also about pointing out the inconsistencies in the Tax code so he can get more support for simplifying it.
    Clever huh.
    Lol
    
    4 2
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    October 12, 2017 7:36pm
    - SPC
      
      He seems ignorant of the 2015 tax changes that mean the NFL are not part of tax reform debate.
      
      Twittering without knowledge of the facts is not going to win him influence on the hill, or impress the public. An easy man to dismiss.
      
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      October 12, 2017 8:05pm
RF

I saw the princess bride on News Hub after her meeting with King Peters. She was not her usual hockey sticks and hinting about policy disagreements.

She looks tired and I also believe she has
lost weight. Could be the result of her sleeping in the Green Parrots doorway last night waiting for his Lordship to turn up.
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October 12, 2017 5:41pm
- SPC
  
  It would be surprising if there were not dead rats on the plates of both Bill and Jacinda.
  
  The pragmatist may have an advantage over the idealist when it comes to resigned acceptance of necessity, but a strong stomach will be needed all the same.
  
  For those unaware of the Green hand, it is offer NZF the maximum leverage with National. So any 4th term becomes a smooth transition to the next government.
  
  If National finds the deal particularly onerous, they know who to talk to.
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:54pm
- Johnboy
  
  Can’t be preggers yet then RF? 🙂
  
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  October 12, 2017 5:57pm
  - SPC
    
    There is the unspoken promise – “we will be trying for a child in the next term”, that should she be pregnant and take leave there would be a significant period of time in which another would be PM.
    
    It is his one chance, he can of course overlook this if he wants to just focus on policy.
    
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    October 12, 2017 6:10pm
  - nasska
    
    In her defence she has been a bit busy with other things lately JB.
    
    Getting her eggs fertilised is probably not on her “must do” list right now. 🙂
    
    4 0
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    October 12, 2017 6:12pm
    - Johnboy
      
      I think she should get half pissed one night and tell Gaylord to “Just do this” 🙂
      
      8 0
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      October 12, 2017 6:14pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Johnboy:
        
        Are you sure your quote above (Ardern noted she “can’t even get a schnitzel in peace.”) wasn’t a euphemism or perhaps a coded message to Mr Gayford?
        
        6 0
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        October 12, 2017 6:40pm
      - nasska
        
        In times of political uncertainty Wikipedia is our friend:
        
        …..”A schnitzel is meat, usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer,”……
        
        I think we may have stumbled on the real problem! 🙂
        
        6 0
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        October 12, 2017 6:51pm
      - Johnboy
        
        You mean Helen popped round to Jacindas place for dinner with her man hammer nasska? 🙂
        
        6 1
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        October 12, 2017 6:54pm
    - SPC
      
      She is at the use them or store them (frozen embryo)stage.
      
      5 0
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      October 12, 2017 6:14pm
      - Johnboy
        
        My mother was 37 when I was born SPC.
        Still she was only 36 when she did it so your right, time is running out for a lovely herd of little ponies! 🙂
        
        5 0
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        October 12, 2017 6:24pm
      - SPC
        
        If she waited to her 40’s it would be a nightmare to be on fertility treatment (runaway hormones) while in the Beehive.
        
        5 0
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        October 12, 2017 6:35pm
  - RF
    
    Johnboy…
    
    The only way we can find out is by a urine test. Are you game to spread gladwrap across her toilet.
    
    3 0
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    October 12, 2017 8:43pm
- Gabby
  
  You been pissing in doorways again rf rf. I thought you were chained up at night now.
  
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  October 12, 2017 6:58pm
  - RF
    
    Gabby.
    
    Your sister wants her panties back. She figures that they will be too tight for you plus as they are crutchless you might fall out.
    
    5 1
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    October 12, 2017 8:47pm
Nostradamus

University of Waikato offers students degree overseas

Chinese students can now get a New Zealand university degree without stepping foot in the country.

Waikato University is offering three undergraduate degrees at Zhejiang University City College (ZUCC) in Hangzhou – a city pipped as the innovation capital of China.

It’s the first time a New Zealand university has offered a full degree in another country.

And although the first semester has just begun, it’s near capacity, with 231 “high-quality” students taking 240 of the available spaces.

Say this after me with a straight face: “I got my Waikato degree at ZUCC”.

Then again, if the notorious Otago University’s Department of Public Health were to focus their effort on overseas degrees, and spent less time thinking up ways to ban things, I wouldn’t complain!
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October 12, 2017 7:18pm
Jack5

If foreigners want asylum in NZ, they may have a better chance if they are LGBT:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/333279/lgbt-asylum-seekers-granted-refugee-status-in-nz
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October 12, 2017 7:46pm
- nasska
  
  …..”they may have a better chance if they are LGBT:”…..
  
  Who cares…..just so long as they’re not Muslim!
  
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  October 12, 2017 7:56pm
- Nostradamus
  
  From your link Jack5:
  
  Two months earlier, the tribunal granted refugee status to a gay man from Myanmar living in New Zealand whose wife had discovered his sexuality through a Facebook page.
  
  So the gay man from Myanmar was “living in New Zealand” (apparently with his wife back in Myanmar) before he sought refugee status. A cynical view is that he’s an economic refugee (enjoying the New Zealand lifestyle), and seeking to avoid the inconvenience of having to go back to Myanmar.
  
  “The appellant told the tribunal that, now that he has a taste for living as an openly gay man, he will not go back to his previous hidden life if returned to Myanmar,” it said. “He stated that, while the body may live, the heart would die in such a situation and he will no longer hide who he is. His family, he believes, would beat him and may even kill him.”
  
  So “the body may live, [but] the heart would die” – this sounds like a bit of creative legal writing.
  
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  October 12, 2017 8:45pm
Manolo

Crooked Hillary on the offensive:
http://freebeacon.com/culture/clinton-aides-gang-boyfriend-harvey-weinstein-accuser/
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October 13, 2017 7:10am

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