General Debate 24 December 2017

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Captain Mainwaring

It’s really quite interesting to see the range of talent constantly on display here at Kiwiblog, but quite depressing to note that there are also a few bitter and twisted, hate-filled lefties (you know who you are) who have nothing better to do than spew their bile all over our gracious host’s site.
So to all of you, from both sides of the great divide, and at the risk of poking the hornet’s nest, all I can say is that I hope that the joy of family time over Christmas allows you to walk into the New Year with a positive attitude which will give you strength despite whatever perceived doom and gloom you see before you.
Enjoy the festive season.
Cheers,
The Captain.
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December 24, 2017 8:02am
- alloytoo
  
  Heres wishing everyone on Kiwiblog (and indeed NZ) a peaceful and refreshing holiday season
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:11am
  - EAD_TWO
    
    Heres wishing everyone on Kiwiblog (and indeed NZ) a peaceful and refreshing holiday season
    
    I’ll edit your sentiments slightly Allytoo…
    
    Heres wishing everyone on Kiwiblog (and indeed NZ) a peaceful and refreshing Christmas as we spend time with our families and remember the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.??
    
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    December 24, 2017 8:29am
    - CHFR1
      
      Merry Christmas to all commentators, even our resident grinches.
      Here’s to a New Year full of sparing and holding the government to account in our small way.
      
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      December 24, 2017 8:37am
      - Adolf Fiinkensein
        
        I’d rather have ‘sparring.’
        
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        December 24, 2017 11:49am
    - alloytoo
      
      Express your own wishes, kindly refrain from editing mine.
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:54am
    - kowtow
      
      I wonder if alloytoo is Aaron Hawkins.
      
      “Instead, Cr Hawkins said the level of abuse directed at council staff over the issue ”has been embarrassing”.
      
      ”I hope those who have engaged in this bullying behaviour have a long hard look at themselves.
      
      ”We do acknowledge that our celebrations need to be as inclusive and as reflective of our community as possible, values I’ve always considered to be core Christian values, and we’ll look to make sure that happens next year.”
      
      https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/poll-dcc-rejects-christmas-tree-banner-offer
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:12am
      - EAD_TWO
        
        I was at a party in Auckland recently and somehow got talking local body politics in Otago (conversation evolved from talking about the Forsyth Barr stadium).
        
        Turns out the guy I was talking was in the same year as Aaron Hawkins at an Invercargill Catholic high school. Long story short is that Hawkins was an overweight singer who struggled to fit in with the crowd.
        
        Perhaps his social crusading and green politics is his way of getting revenge on the society that didn’t recognise his obvious genius in his teenage years.
        
        Green politics attracts an odd and bitter bunch❗ ??
        
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        December 24, 2017 10:48am
    - Swifty
      
      Not my lord.
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:13am
      - big bruv
        
        Nor my lord.
        
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        December 24, 2017 6:30pm
- david in Aus
  
  I don’t mind the lefties or right wingers with different points of view. That’s what makes Kiwiblog different from The Standard, The Daily Blog and Whale Oil. Echo chambers are no fun.
  I enjoy the back and forth.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:50am
  - GoVege
    
    Right on David.
    Viva free speech!
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:43pm
- The Other Enoch
  
  Well said Captain. The bile and the cesspit responses from the lunatic left are the ONLY things that put me off reading more that a half dozen comments on most articles. For by the time we get to number 5 or 6 the left have captured the content and their caustic comments start flowing.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:54am
- jcuk
  
  While the lefties are a bit of a problem I would suggest far worse are the childish and silly comments about the government with a string of folk trying show their wit.
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:05am
  - holysheet
    
    You mean like you offending the feelz of every child here on KB? Shame on you.
    Didn’t you get the memo about being nice to all on KB this year? I must admit, I missed it as well.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:53am
    - jcuk
      
      I am isualy nice to all though it is a strain and I wish I could give 100 down klicks to that prick wanting to send the wife home after the husband got killed by a drunk.
      
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      December 24, 2017 3:58pm
- GoVege
  
  I thought you were gonna say “bitter and twisted, hate-filled righties” Cap’n!
  
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  December 24, 2017 12:40pm
Paulus Gnome

I’m off to Kmart to do my Christmas shopping, I am hoping that my timing is right and everyone else has completed theirs. Should be a breeze . . .
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December 24, 2017 8:10am
- Biscuit
  
  Paulus, I have already got all of this family’s littlies their main toys…
  
  Had to eat five McDonald’s Happy Meals to get them, though!
  
  I kiddeth…
  
  Best wishes to all Kiwibloggers for tomorrow.
  
  We may have some disagreeable sods in here – hell, I can be a disagreeable sod MYSELF – but our disagreements are all verbal. No-one is lobbing rocks, setting off bombs, driving cars at each other.
  
  Enjoy the day, folks!
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:17am
  - Harkman
    
    “I have already got all of this family’s littlies their main toys…
    
    Had to eat five McDonald’s Happy Meals to get them, though!”
    
    Some of you guys crack me up! Just think that in 2,000 years time some archeologist might be dissecting your entrails for clues ?
    
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    December 24, 2017 11:05am
- Viking2
  
  hahahahaha.
  good luck with that.
  The last day before Xmas is mens shopping day.
  
  Kmart is of course designed these days for young mums with children.
  
  You need a mans store.
  
  Car yard, boat yard, mega. bunnings, outdoor etc.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:46am
Paulus Gnome

iPhone facial recognition technology cannot tell Chinese faces apart.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11965176

A programme designed by chinky Twatford no doubt!
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December 24, 2017 8:16am
- Padriv Ustoev
  
  IPhone is racist. I knew it!
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:28am
- Brigitte
  
  That’s not correct. It CAN tell Chinese faces apart, it is just *really* *really* SLOW processing the data….
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:45am
  - holysheet
    
    And they drive really really really slow in the fast lanes.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:55am
- VicParking
  
  Either can Twitford, Robbo and the gang.
  
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  December 24, 2017 12:01pm
GazzaW

Well said Captain. In another world the two or three Labour Party sanctioned trolls that haunt KB would have been barred ages ago. That Labour finds it necessary to go to the trouble of rostering teams to troll here is kind of sad. That one of them even has access to a research unit to enable him/her to access background info and stats in very short order is even sadder. That Labour finds it necessary to regularly monitor KB by party members is somewhat sinister but highly indicative of their attitude to free speech.
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December 24, 2017 8:21am
- G152
  
  The good thing is that such can be easily idented and their posts treated with downticking to oblivion …
  I wonder if they get paid or is it another aberration of the ‘apprentice’ thing they had going at the election?
  Must be sad and lonely waiting for a post to attempt to demean but there you go
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:31am
  - Paulus
    
    Easy to identify so just ignore anything – cannot be bothered to down tick – tells them you have read their crap.
    
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    December 24, 2017 8:37am
    - alex Masterley
      
      I just scroll down when i see the trolls comment. Saves stress.
      Anyway Happy Christmas to all and have a safe and enjoyable new year.
      
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      December 24, 2017 8:42am
    - G152
      
      I downtick on the name. No reading required
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:24am
      - sooty
        
        Same here. No reading needed. Just down tick.
        If it’s hidden, add to it!
        
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        December 24, 2017 9:33am
    - holysheet
      
      Oh my god Paulus, you actually read their comments?
      I thought you had more sense than that.
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:57am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Over the Christmas break, ztev and his team will be restocking the ‘squirrel’ supply for busy political diversion tactics in 2018.
    
    Their look over their tactics will get dirtier as the CoL unravels. Hold onto your hat there are going to be plenty of Liarbor squirrels slung next year. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    
    Relax, eat and be merry over the break. Get yourself in peak form for a hell of a political ride next year. ?
    
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    December 24, 2017 8:47am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Nah, sometimes even the most vicious make a valid point. Aren’t we above just ignoring or automatically ticking down?
    
    I’m prepared to read the main points anyone is posting here and vote on merit.
    
    Maybe just because I’m a relative newbie though…
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:22am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Maybe just because I’m a relative newbie though…
      
      Indeed…. but you will discover that some folks have a habit of saying the same thing over & over& over& over….
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:05pm
      - waikatogirl
        
        It’s cause you’re not listening Maggy.
        Delusional much, but fun seeing them tying themselves in knots. If they repeat their message often enough we will all see the light and the truth of what they are espousing. ?
        
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        December 24, 2017 12:40pm
- jcuk
  
  As somebody who was a founding member of ACT and generally though to be a right wing bastard, I have not yet been banned from The Standard so obviously been doing something right. Once introduced to visiting party leader as “The Voice of ACT locally”
  Happy Days!
  
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  December 24, 2017 4:05pm
  - big bruv
    
    jcuk
    “As somebody who was a founding member of ACT ”
    
    I bet you’re devestated at what that once great party has become.
    
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    December 24, 2017 6:44pm
Padriv Ustoev

Just flicked through Spinoff for the first time ever. Am i getting old and grizzled or is that site all garbage?
Its all just hipster bullshit and leftie upper middleclass opinion.
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December 24, 2017 8:27am
- alex Masterley
  
  Some bits are worth reading but to find it there is a lot of rubbish to work through.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:44am
- Southern Raider
  
  Yep their articles and opinion pieces trying to get Lorde to cancel her Tel Aviv show are laughable.
  
  It’s like the rabid left who were too left for the Herald and Fairfax started a new paper
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:52am
  - ztev
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    They are aiming at a particular market, the millenials and have some commercial sucess.
    
    meanwhile Whaleoil whos is stuck with an angry male over 60 market has to flog coffee mugs and merch to stay afloat- thats not when hes spending money on his court battles…boo hoo
    
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    December 24, 2017 8:57am
    - igm
      
      Whale Oil is not on the take from taxpayers like you!
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:23am
      - Piniwi
        
        igm is that WOBH = Winston Our Big Hero?
        
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        December 24, 2017 4:01pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      We start at 8.00 here, none of your socialist glide time here junior
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:31am
    - david in Aus
      
      Isn’t great that you are not automatically banned.
      As in The Standard, Whaleoil blog etc eh, Ztev.
      
      So we can all see your reactionary idiotic posts. Glad that Kiwiblog allows alternative viewpoints.
      Not intellectually insecure unlike left-wing blog sites and Cam Slater. Not sure, what Cam’s political leanings are these days, Winnie’s offsider?. But the general impression is that he will doing anything for a meat pie. Mmmm meat Pie.
      
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      December 24, 2017 3:25pm
- artemisia
  
  Set up an RSS feed, scroll through real fast and just click through on the occasional item of interest.
  
  Saves a heap of time, and a lot of eyeballs on advertising.
  
  I use The Old Reader – it’s like the old Google reader, RIP.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:35am
- oldgolfer
  
  It’s all garbage. Wanky waffle.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:38am
Paulus Gnome

Took one for the team before heading off to Kmart, opened something in the chip wrapper by Jack Tame.

‘Jack Tame: And it’s goodbye from me’

I cannot bring myself to read it as I am already up to glasses and hypertension medication. I will spare others the agony and not post a hyperlink, those sad enough can find it themselves and immediately wish they hadn’t bothered!

Trouble is tho’, the little haemorrhoid will pop up somewhere else in his quest to be greater than Paul Holmes.
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December 24, 2017 8:27am
- lifesgood
  
  Maybe take over from Mike Hosking? Heaven forbid!
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:32am
- waikatogirl
  
  Read Lame’s goodbye from Granny Herald as a columnist. Seems to have realised after blase predictions that his opinion is not always correct- time will tell!
  
  ps: I wondered the same Lifesgood.
  Groan ?
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:33am
- kowtow
  
  Just had a look.
  
  Interesting how these nobodies have to put it out there……
  
  “The other occasion is the Christmas break. On a spiritual level I’m agnostic as anything, …..’
  
  Twat.
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:35am
Happychappy

Where have all them photos and stories of the homeless and the hungry gone at this time every year MSM has pushed these stories to the max and now we have a change of Government the problem has been fixed with no houses built and no Xmas stories of families in need. There hasn’t even been much said by those that run the Charities either especially the Salvation Army so the Labour Coalition must be paying heaps to keep them quiet as they have no story being pushed by MSM. Funny how things go quiet when MSM get their way.
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December 24, 2017 8:30am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Happychappy you must know that we only have poverdy and homelessness when it’s National’s fault.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:41am
- GazzaW
  
  …..and no photos in Granny Herald of endless queues stretching down Albert St from the portals of the City Mission. Maybe the Herald has finally woken up to the fact that Aucklanders are totally over professional bludgers driving up from Hamilton for free food parcels.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:46am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Agree re the professional bludgers, no shame any more.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:06am
- Southern Raider
  
  What’s your problem
  
  Cindy promised she would solve poverty and she has just in time for Christmas
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:53am
  - RalphT
    
    And we should flood the churches tonight in gratitude for what she has done
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:32am
  - VicParking
    
    Woke up this morning and someone has planted 1,000,000 trees in my front yard.
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:06pm
    - waikatogirl
      
      LOL Vic!
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:43pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Didn’t see them come off the side bar counter, were they planted by private contractors then?
      
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      December 24, 2017 1:22pm
  - KKKKatee
    
    Ardern’s false promises will come back and bite her on her ass rather savagely I think. She must be regretting some of the ridiculous promises she made pre-election. All ‘piss and wind’ I think is the term. She hasn’t got a hope in hell of solving ‘poverdy’ as she so eloquently puts it. Oh and don’t forget she promised ‘a house for everyone’. Yeah right.
    
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    December 24, 2017 2:21pm
    - Left Right and Centre
      
      yeah – santa would redline his sleigh right out of dodge in nothing flat if he ever got a whiff of her xmas wishlist.
      
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      December 24, 2017 4:33pm
  - jcuk
    
    I do no think it was her but those feeding the 500+ multitude in Dunedin and elsewhere.
    
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    December 24, 2017 4:09pm
- kowtow
  
  They’ll have the full fare of them tomorrow.
  They might even rerun the racist xenophobic one of the Asian tourists doing the usual riff raff out of their Christmas dinner down at the mission , I wonder if that counts as Bigot Bingo at Newshub?
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:24am
Chuck Bird

Mirrors and Mazes

I just finished reading Mirrors and Mazes which I got on Kindle after listening to a real climate scientist interviewed by Leighton Smith. I am confident that my decedents are going to enjoy many warmer and colder Christmases in the northern and southern hemispheres.

The end is not nigh!

I recommend this excellent book to all Kiwibloggers and all our politicians. I wonder if even one of our politicians of either party will read it.

The science is not settled!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSDtZ15j0JE
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December 24, 2017 8:36am
Digmen1

And its Merry Christmas from me to.
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December 24, 2017 8:43am
Digmen1

Ar least we’l still have Larry Williams and Mark Richardson.
(and Duncan Garner to a certain extent)
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December 24, 2017 8:44am
Maggy Wassilieff

Bugger tradition!

Somehow I have become trapped in other folks’ Xmas traditions.

When we were too broke to buy Xmas pressies for the hubby’s lot, we used to make a load of piroshki to take to their Xmas dinner.
Now my kids expect me to make piroshki every Xmas….. but I am over it!
“Oh no!,” exclaimed eldest, who has arrived for a staycation, “we must have piroshki and trifle.”

This year I will be cunning and I’m making a pirog!

Who else has cabbage pie for Xmas, FGS?
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December 24, 2017 8:44am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Thanks for the invitation Maggy but I think I’ll pass on that.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:50am
  - RalphT
    
    Yes, the forecast is for a lot of wind in Gisborne…
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:34am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      It’s the methane levels and resultant global warming that are worrying me…
      
      The pirog’s filling of stewed cabbage, onion and hard-boiled eggs is a toxic brew (but tasty).
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:00am
      - holysheet
        
        Add some baked beans and you will beat the rocket into orbit.
        
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        December 24, 2017 11:02am
- waikatogirl
  
  Time to pass the tradition to the next generation Maggy. If “staycation” must have, give her the ingredients and let her get on with it.
  
  You put your feet up Maggy. Nobody die! ?
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:54am
  - VicParking
    
    Merry disambiguation Maggy, Wai Kato Wahine and Holy.
    Merry Christmas Stephboy and Morris dancer, may your goats be gentle. Can I suggest the following alternative : http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/florida-zoo-employee-killed-while-attempting-to-rape-alligator/
    To all the rest of the KB crew thanks for the entertainment. My new years resolution will be to learn how to type and spell.
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:18pm
- hmmokrightitis
  
  My kids (all mid teens) expect Dad’s homemade hash browns with a cooked breakfast. But dinner is the go: home cured salmon, heavy on the vodka and dill; slow cooked beef filet on the BBQ; spud salad, large salad, followed by strawberry shortcake. And then, it has to be The Princess Bride on the box with Port and Mince Pies.
  
  Ive got a lovely bottle of vintage Moet Ive been saving (2006) for The Blond and I for later today. Settle in with some of that cured salmon, a glass or three and the most beautiful girl in the world. And then try and run and ride it all off on Boxing Day.
  
  Life is good, even with MLP thinking she’s in charge. Merry Crimbo my fellow travelers, I shall raise one for your collective good fortune in 2018 later today.
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:04am
  - VicParking
    
    Brown Hash sounds good for breakfast. Will keep the kids quiet before lunch.
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:20pm
    - artemisia
      
      And stop them saying OMG Dad, not the Princess Bride again.
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:23pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        Clearly, artemisia you have missed the memo – the Princess Bride is the GMOAT (Greatest Movie Of All Time) … [be off with you Casablanca & Godfather fans] 🙂
        
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        December 24, 2017 3:36pm
Southern Raider

So National is out and so soft stance against drugs in the workplace is back in.

BOP Polytechnic has dumped mandatory drug testing of students in construction courses although the previous test in May had no positive drug results

Looks like being stoned on site is back in under Labour
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December 24, 2017 8:47am
- brett68
  
  I don’t have a problem with people smoking weed outside of work.
  
  Nothing different to sitting backing and chilling out with a few beers or wines.
  
  The problem is how they test for weed, you can test positive from one joint 6 days after you’ve smoked it
  
  https://www.homehealthtesting.com/marijuana-drug-test-way-urine-test-p-70.html
  
  You’ve tested positive but you’re not the remotest bit impaired or a health and safety risk on a work site.
  
  A far better and more accurate testing regime has to be developed.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:59am
  - nasska
    
    ….”You’ve tested positive but you’re not the remotest bit impaired or a health and safety risk on a work site”…..
    
    You obviously haven’t read the religio/conservative script. Its key tenet is “alcohol good…..marijuana bad”.
    
    This allows the grinches to deny others pleasure while pushing their view of society as seen through the bottom of a gin bottle.
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:16am
    - tusker
      
      One of our businesses supplies tradies. It’s common for a reasonable number of the younger guys picking up stock early in the morning to be still pissed or out of it.
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:39am
      - brett68
        
        That’s not just young guys, that applies to lots of older salesmen as well.
        
        Out drinking with clients until 3 or 4 in the morning, have a sleep for a couple of hours and somehow you’re magically sober again.
        
        I don’t think so.
        
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        December 24, 2017 9:44am
- Viking2
  
  140,000 tests at $70-90 each. Nice little earner.
  
  Note the complainant was an ex building instructor.
  
  Note also that the Poly retains the right to test anyone who they consider needs to be tested.
  
  Their responsibility is to get the kids learning, not waste vast sums on modern day thieves such as meth testers and drug testers.
  I presume that you, the taxpayer paid out all that dosh.
  
  good decision.
  
  All we need now is for the whole industry to be set up and properly regulated as in Colorado.
  
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  December 24, 2017 11:52am
- VicParking
  
  Breakfast at hmmokrightitis’s
  
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  December 24, 2017 12:21pm
Nukuleka

A thought for Christmas.

Here in New Zealand we have succumbed already to Sharia law through the introduction of the practice of halal slaughtering. At the very time that the practice of Christianity is in some decline in our country we have allowed the dictates of Sharia law to creep into our everyday lives.
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December 24, 2017 8:48am
- MCos
  
  NZ has had halal killing for forty years.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:01am
  - Nukuleka
    
    So? Your point is?
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:59am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Doesn’t mean that we should have to eat it, where is our choice? It should be marked halal.
    If it is okay for Muslims to ask for halal KFC then it should be okay for me to ask for non halal meat.
    
    Guessing that all pork products are good to go though ;).
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:13am
    - MH
      
      I think you are after ‘HALO” meat.It glows with new contrition and goes down well with a garland of thorns.
      
      1 4
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      December 24, 2017 10:58am
    - GoVege
      
      Yeah Rach, the poor piggies are all battery raised these days.
      They have the same IQ as a smart doggy.
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:52pm
      - Rachael Membery
        
        I have kune kunes as pets and I do not respond well to ‘Rach’.
        
        I have had many years of joy from my pets and I do not equate them with my bacon.
        
        I respect your choices, but do not recognise your desire to influence mine!!!
        
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        December 24, 2017 11:41pm
- Victor Omega
  
  Saw this a while back.
  
  “Just been told by staff at KFC that the meat might have to be killed in the traditional Islamic way. How on earth do you strap a backpack to a chicken?”
  (via Twitter)
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:11am
  - Brito
    
    Weeping with laughter….
    
    12 0
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    December 24, 2017 10:51am
    - realityczech
      
      Brittle normally mows them down with his Uzi
      
      1 0
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      December 24, 2017 10:57am
    - MH
      
      now we know why it crossed the road to Jerusalem.
      
      5 0
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      December 24, 2017 11:00am
- calendar girl
  
  I can live with halal slaughter in our meat works as a pragmatic approach to avoiding additional costs of parallel but separate production lines. There are no religious implications for NZ’s domestic meat consumption, but a single method of slaughter must deliver serious cost efficiencies .
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:33am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Best quick death for the animal I say. The less stress an animal is under the better the meat is for the consumer.
    
    Nevermind about facing Mecca…
    It should be all about best practice for the animal!
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:59am
  - Nukuleka
    
    What do you mean ‘there are no religious implications’? Facing Mecca, killing with a knife and saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ and you say ‘no religious implications’? So you would be happy for a Christian crucifix to be in every state school classroom and would say ‘there are no religious implications’?
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:03am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    I used to think that way, Calendar girl, but the more I have learned about halal slaughter and the islamist wish for theocracy and submission of everyone else, I no longer support halal slaughter at all.
    
    Again for any leftists out there: I don’t support islamism because it does *not* allow equal rights for people.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:39am
    - MH
      
      maybe the packaging could have a compass point shown on those chicks killed facing mecca.
      
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      December 24, 2017 11:03am
  - Victor Omega
    
    That’s pretty naive. Halal is cruel and all about religion.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:49am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Yes, cutting the throats without stunning them first is cruel.
      Not good for the taste of the meat either as fear and stress cause adrenaline
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:29pm
      - cha
        
        Yes, cutting the throats without stunning them first is cruel.
        
        Stunning is compulsory in NZ abattoirs. The sole exemption is –
        
        Poultry may be slaughtered without prior stunning in accordance with the requirements of shechita
        (Jewish religious requirements) and the requirements of this minimum standard.
        
        https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lrl7tKTrUL8J:https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1409-commercial-slaughter-animal-welfare-code-of-welfare-2016+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz&client=firefox-b#32
        
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        December 24, 2017 8:17pm
  - Jack5
    
    One of those rare Maori Muslims put a video on the Net showing halal slaughter not so long ago.
    
    It lasted a few days before the uproar and pressure on the employee caused it to be taken down.
    
    To be fair, Jewish slaughter requirements for kosher meat similarly breach Western Anglo consensus on humane slaughter.
    
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    December 24, 2017 11:07am
    - realityczech
      
      “To be fair”
      
      Jacksie ❗ You fucking Hitler worshiping Nazi scum you make me want to vomit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      
      Oh the humanity………………… blah blah blah
      
      2 10
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      December 24, 2017 11:21am
Tauhei Notts

Don’t knock the halal slaughtermen. Two of them, both single figure handicappers, will not be competing for hams at today’s Christmas Eve golf tournament. More for us infidels.
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December 24, 2017 8:59am
Komata

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Long may our discussions continue, and thank you David for giving us the opportunity to do so.
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December 24, 2017 9:05am
- Komata
  
  How very, very odd. A down tick for wishing everyone a Merry Christmas etc. Whomever you are who downticked me, I DO hope you have at least a ‘Nice’ day, you would seem to be in need of it. Thanks for your ‘contribution’. 🙂
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:39am
Southern Raider

Very sad about the taxi driver that was killed by drunk youth last night

However why was he and his wife her in the first place. They appeared to have come in on Indian study visas and then he drives a taxi and she gets pregnant

The whole student visa scheme is a rort
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December 24, 2017 9:07am
- Huevon
  
  And he probably did some bullshit IT course in how to install Windows to get that visa. Damn shame for the wife and kid, but life will be better for everyone if they just go back.
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:12am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Very sad for the taxi driver but it will be interesting when we find out who the killer driver was.
  What 20 year old can afford to drive a Mercedes-Benz CLS?
  Anyone want to bet that it was a Chinese ‘student’ driving the car that daddy bought him?
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:16am
  - Southern Raider
    
    Or it was stolen
    
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    December 24, 2017 9:26am
    - artemisia
      
      Police said no indication it was stolen.
      
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      December 24, 2017 9:40am
  - Brito
    
    Oooooohhh dearie me, no, this will never do…assumption over people!!!!
    
    Probability…very, very high but you can’t say that…
    
    Where’s my racist cards…got a bunch of them here somewhere…
    
    “Racial slur on KB”….headlines tomorrow
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:54am
  - Viking2
    
    First thought I had. and added that he was more than likely a drug dealer . 5.30 in the morning.
    
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    December 24, 2017 11:59am
- stephieboy
  
  SR , bringing on your seasonal charm of Good will and blessings for all human kind ?
  
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  December 24, 2017 9:49am
  - holysheet
    
    Fuck off stooooooopidboy.
    
    13 2
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    December 24, 2017 11:07am
- Jack5
  
  What has happened to the student-visa racket?
  
  Have Labour and NZ First lived up to their promises and ended it?
  
  The local pizza parlours and petrol stations around here seem to still be staffed by Indian students awaiting permanent residency so they can go through the back door to Australia.
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:31am
  - Digmen1
    
    I’d like to start a Give A Little Page so we can send that taxi drivers wife and child back to India.
    (A lot of Indians are muslims)
    It sounds like they are muslims.
    Why do we let “students” bring their wives here and then start families!
    
    12 2
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    December 24, 2017 10:39am
    - Jack5
      
      What happened with the entry of immigrants’ parents and their eligibility for super. This was being discussed last year.
      
      https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/315435/migrants'-parents-cost-nz-'tens-of-millions‘
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:47am
    - realityczech
      
      I’d like to start a Give A Little Page so we can send that taxi drivers wife and child back to India.
      (A lot of Indians are muslims)
      It sounds like they are muslims.
      
      Jawohl ❗ Schutzstaffel Obersturmführer
      
      Round up the women and children and put them on the trains.
      
      1 9
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      December 24, 2017 11:05am
      - Digmen1
        
        Trains ? You mean planes.
        
        7 0
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        December 24, 2017 11:32am
    - artemisia
      
      The family will get a payout from ACC.
      
      Sounds like there is an expectation that his wife and child return to India for the funeral and then remain confined for some time.
      
      Doubtful that she will have a visa approved to return should she wish to. Unless on some sort of compassionate ground.
      
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      December 24, 2017 12:03pm
- realityczech
  
  Southern Raider, I agree NZ needs to tighten up on its paper work and who we let in here.
  
  We can’t have these bloody foreigners coming here with their godless ways and strange food.
  
  I am sure Brittle agrees 🙂
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Israel%E2%80%93New_Zealand_passport_scandal
  
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  December 24, 2017 11:01am
  - GoVege
    
    Too true Rally check,
    Whenever my elderly mummy used to venture out into Queen Street and inevitably fall flat on her face, it was always one of those Indian fellas who hauled her back up.
    I even saw one asking somebody who was having an asthma attack if they were OK.
    Nosy buggers!! 🙂
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:58pm
    - realityczech
      
      Vege, yes it sounds like a hate crime to me. Report those Indians. They do not believe in God or worship Jews you know ?
      
      3 3
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      December 24, 2017 4:07pm
- big bruv
  
  Yes very sad. And I will think of them both as the plane leaves the ground out at Auckland Airport. The mother and the child are not our problem, send them home.
  
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  December 24, 2017 7:10pm
Digmen1

And its Happy Holidays to the team at Ztev
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December 24, 2017 9:10am
lifesgood

Got a free Sunday Herald in my letter box today, so, naturally, I read it. That Heather du Plessis Allen, once again, proves she is an idiot. She decries the use of pine trees as Christmas trees in NZ and says that everyone should have a Pohutukawa instead. Yeah, that would go down well, wouldn’t it, just imagine everyone hacking great branches off protected trees.
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December 24, 2017 9:44am
- waikatogirl
  
  In Queenstown this year they are selling introduced Wilding (?) pines as Christmas trees. Instead of culling them they are being sold and raising money for local charities. Win/win ???
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:08am
- Rachael Membery
  
  Especially as they might be already endangered
  by myrtle rust.
  
  10 0
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  December 24, 2017 10:17am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    In the Kawarau Gorge they’re endangered by the spraying program to get rid of them.
    
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    December 24, 2017 10:40am
    - Jack5
      
      Maggy W. might tells us what sort of trees these wildings are. Douglas fir? If so that’s Oregon timber in NZ.
      
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      December 24, 2017 10:51am
      - Nermal
        
        Pinus Contorta
        http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/common-weeds/wilding-conifers/
        
        4 0
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        December 24, 2017 11:04am
      - sooty
        
        Jack Tames last colum as well. I say, don’t let tne door hit you in the arse on the way out.
        
        6 0
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        December 24, 2017 12:04pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Around Queenstown Lakes Area and the Wakatipu Catchment Douglas Fir and Lodgepole/Contorta pine are the main wilding conifers.
        
        But there are a swag of wilding conifer species invading our native ecosystems throughout NZ…
        
        radiata, Scots pine, European larch, Lawson’s cypress, macrocarpa, mountain pine (mugo), Corsican pine, Norway spruce, etc, etc.
        
        Very good summary of the problem/state of play here:
        http://www.wildingconifers.org.nz/files/Wilding_Conifer_Status_Report.pdf
        
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        December 24, 2017 12:52pm
- Jack5
  
  Heather has been sipping too much with her husband Barely Sober.
  
  It’s no use, Heather, you’ll never drink that Southland sozzler, Barely, under the table!
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:35am
  - MH
    
    it’s the barley that does it.
    
    7 0
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    December 24, 2017 10:53am
- GoVege
  
  Free??
  I paid for mine!
  
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  December 24, 2017 1:22pm
All_on_Red

Are you giving a PowerPoint presentation of your favourite Ivanka Trump porn?
If only they knew. Tsk tsk tsk
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December 24, 2017 9:51am
- holysheet
  
  Nah stoooooopidboy is like his prophet. Only interested in the under aged girls.
  Bet he went to the mall for his daily fix.
  
  11 4
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  December 24, 2017 11:34am
  - Morrissey
    
    “Under aged girls”?
    
    http://media.beam.usnews.com/1d/47/d7f5a173446899808909a5efb751/170202-donaldtrump-editorial.jpg
    
    1 5
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    December 24, 2017 7:13pm
- stephieboy
  
  All on Red , sad how the glory of the female form disgusts and shames you,
  
  https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/Tizan-3.gif
  
  Go and see your shrink !
  
  1 11
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  December 24, 2017 12:13pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Stop telling lies you creep
    
    9 2
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    December 24, 2017 12:18pm
    - stephieboy
      
      You’re in denial . I repeat, go and see your shrink !
      
      1 12
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      December 24, 2017 12:29pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Denial about what?
      That you link to porn sites?
      That you perv at young girls?
      That you’re Kiwiblogs Dumbest Commentator?
      Thats all true.
      
      So stop this pathetic deflection trying to infer I don’t like women. If anything you’re in denial about what a creepy little prick you are.
      The fact you have no shame about your behaviour shows you are the one with the mental issues.
      LOL
      
      10 2
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      December 24, 2017 12:35pm
tusker

This morning we are told that Maythem Radhi was apparently not engaging in people smuggling when he was collecting fares on behalf of the organisers for the ill-fated SIEV-X voyage on which 353 drowned. By way of explanation Radhi says ‘it wasn’t just me, others were also doing the same’ and that giving recommendations on which smugglers were ‘good’ doesn’t make him a smuggler. His tale is that at the last minute ‘he heard they might be considered for asylum in the UK’ so didn’t board SIEV-X.

Regrettably most who could provide their version on Radhi’s involvement are dead but it’s deeply worrying that this country’s immigrant screening processes did not identify that the Aussies had, by the time Radhi applied to come here, identified him as an alleged smuggler and had a warrant out for his arrest.
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December 24, 2017 10:18am
- niggly
  
  It’s even more appalling the prick has a prick of a lawyer defending him to the hilt not to be deported and delaying the process.
  
  What happened to “justice”?
  
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  December 24, 2017 12:04pm
  - lifesgood
    
    Yeah, well two words – Kim Dotcom. How the hell that crook is still in NZ beats me.
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:12pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    Please do not spoil my Christmas and tell me that the people smuggler’s legal fees are being paid by us taxpayers through the guise of legal aid.
    You wouldn’t be that cruel, would you?
    
    7 0
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    December 24, 2017 12:26pm
    - tusker
      
      Tauhei. Nope. Santa is paying the bill.
      
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      December 24, 2017 1:00pm
Jack5

A drug testing problem is hurting young New Zealanders and contributing to the labour and skills shortage. It has led to a trades training institute abandoning drug tests.

The tests shut many young people out of jobs and training, and thus push up numbers on the dole and back those employers who want cheap foreign labour rather than pay New Zealanders.

It’s also an issue on which National needs to consider its stand. In the report linked to below, National’s tertiary education spokesman, Paul Goldsmith, is reported warning that it’s impossible to keep workers safe in high-risk industries without drug-testing.

As I hear it, the problem is that the tests show up marijuana traces from up to a fortnight earlier. This compares with alcohol testing which shows up consumption over, what, 24 hours?

You don’t want someone operating a circular saw or a nail gun for driving a forklift while they are high on marijuana, but these tests are shutting out of training and jobs young people who are nowhere near under the influence of it, but whose body contains residual traces.

The pro-marijuana faction of society isn’t pushing the tests problem, because it wants total freedom of use.

The country spends scores of millions on research and development subsidies. Why couldn’t it finance the development of a cheaper, more relevant tester for marijuana use? Something that measured degrees of current toxicity or effect of the drug.

This would be useful for road safety as well as for getting tens of thousands of young New Zealanders into job training, or even retaining jobs.

Let’s get the testing problem sorted before debating the bigger question of marijuana legalisation.

How long marijuana traces last:

https://www.verywell.com/how-long-does-marijuana-stay-in-the-system-67791

NZ trades centre ditches drug testing:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/100142052/trades-institute-ditches-mandatory-drug-tests-which-were-scaring-off-students
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December 24, 2017 10:23am
- brett68
  
  I’ve heard that businesses get a deduction in their ACC premiums if they can show that their staff are all drug-free.
  
  I don’t know if that still applies under this current government.
  
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  December 24, 2017 11:01am
- Pharmachick
  
  Correct Jack5 (unusual for me to say that).
  
  There are currently NO good scales for marijuana intoxication. We *do not* have a reliable metabolite or primary indicator that can be used the way breath or blood alcohol can be. The burning of the marijuana releases hundreds of different chemicals into the bloodstream. THC is too simple of a test and it has real problems with long systemic residence time as it is sooooo fat soluble. Therefore, its almost useless as an index of intoxication.
  
  Until someone (anyone) can find a good scale, we probably need to proceed with zero tolerance above a certain level THC, particularly for driving, operating machinery, working in an operating theater (what you think medical professionals don’t smoke marijuana?) etc.
  
  The studies about the “level” that means intoxication are still being actively performed in Colorado, Oregon, Ontario and British Columbia – but they’re not done yet. Most of the current tests are too sensitive, they will detect 7-10 days from usage. Thats really silly.
  
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  December 24, 2017 3:52pm
tusker

‘The tests shut many young people out of jobs and training, and thus push up numbers on the dole and back those employers who want cheap foreign labour rather than pay New Zealanders’.

But the drug testing regime for job seeker beneficiaries rarely throws up positives, showing it’s not drugs that are preventing these able bodied people from taking up work.
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December 24, 2017 10:50am
- Digmen1
  
  So what is it then?
  Why can or why do Indian students get jobs by the hundreds at Pizza Hutt, Service Stations, Kiwi Fruit, Taxi Drivers, Supermarkets.
  Surely employers would prefer to employ kiwis?
  
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  December 24, 2017 10:58am
  - Viking2
    
    Noel Lemming is full of them as well.
    
    4 0
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    December 24, 2017 12:03pm
    - sooty
      
      Lemmings?
      
      2 0
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      December 24, 2017 12:45pm
  - waikatogirl
    
    Willing to work, unlike the Kiwis who prefer not to work but to stay on the couch or hang with their mates.
    
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    December 24, 2017 1:19pm
- Jack5
  
  Eve if that’s so, Tusker, it would still be fair to have the testing more on a par with alcohol testing.
  
  And no, I don’t take marijuana.
  
  I don’t buy the argument that it’s lack of will that’s causing youth unemployment. Look at the North Island towns where timber processing plants have closed. Jobs have gone, drug taking has soared, and gangs have flourished. Society has crumbled.
  
  The closing of a freezing works in Ashburton and the wool scouring plant at Belfast, Canterbury, with their water allocations being grabbed by foreign exporters, are small local examples of declining work opportunities.
  
  The type of kids who might have worked at these plants haven’t the nous or drive to compete with smart Indian “students” on “study” visas.
  
  The young foreigners know their low-pay pizza-joint, petrol-station, taxi-driving, dairy-serving type jobs are only temporary first rungs on the NZ society ladder.
  
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  December 24, 2017 11:00am
  - nasska
    
    The real problem is that since marijuana is illegal there’s no incentive to devise a test that proves or disproves impairment rather than historical use.
    
    As such a blanket ban is a useful tool for employers to sack unwanted staff & provides low cost redundancy.
    
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    December 24, 2017 11:32am
  - Digmen1
    
    But at least those jobs are a start.
    Something to do.
    A sense of belonging.
    Something to put on your cv!
    
    And with every wage rise more of those jobs you mention will go. And as the world automates and produces so much.
    So we need to tell our young ones to get a good education (not basketweaving) or get a trade.
    
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    December 24, 2017 11:36am
  - tusker
    
    Jack5.And yet if you spend some time in small town and rural NZ you can’t help but notice the almost desperate roadside notices pleading for people to operate machinery and do contracting work.
    
    I notice the latest line to explain the supposedly ‘unemployed’ figures (against the reality of employers saying they can’t get workers) is that many of them are said to be ‘between jobs’ and will be on the dole for only short periods.
    
    A mates high school son (good strong lad but inexperienced and not that motivated) recently fronted to a labour pool employer because he wanted money for christmas. They immediately grabbed him with both hands, kitted him out in high viz and boots, in a van and on his way to a job.
    
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    December 24, 2017 12:55pm
    - Jack5
      
      A good point, Tusker.
      
      As I see it, part of the problem is the distortion of young people’s aspirations, instilling in them ambitions that take too many to university centres. This leaves regions weakened.
      
      The message from schooling system, from the media, from culture at large through movies and videos, is that university, or at least tertiary education, should be the ambition of all young people.
      
      This has been reinforced by the Labour Coalition’s granting all young people a State-financed tertiary-study year off work.
      
      On the other side there is a dearth of training schemes. Didn’t there used to be to the rural cadetship training schemes? And NZ apprenticeships at one stage were almost wiped out.
      
      This contrasts with the environment in Germany, famed for its high industrial standards and strong economy. There, apprenticeships proliferate in hundreds of occupations – even in industries such as banking and tourism. (Here, we are saddle kids with debt by directing them towards university courses in tourism.)
      
      Some of the biggest recent business successes dropped out of tertiary education: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerburg three of them. Walt Disney built his empire with having had a tertiary eudcation.
      
      University education is necessary for some professions – medicine, law, spring to mind. But we’ve way overemphasised its importance.
      
      The great investor, Warren Buffett, has interesting views on this:
      
      https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/warren-buffett-on-how-much-college-and-business-school-matter.html
      
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      December 24, 2017 3:40pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        I up-ticked that, and I work for a University FFS.
        
        (full disclosure: I am also a paid consultant to several entities in the Pharma and Biotech industries).
        
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        December 24, 2017 3:58pm
  - Left Right and Centre
    
    Shifting ethnic demographics too.
    Increasing proportion of dumbarse folks that need an income.
    
    No answer to that surely.
    
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    December 24, 2017 6:49pm
- MH
  
  yes,they had some degreed lady on 3’s Morning show saying that few benes have signs of drugs and yet we are also told drug use is common for under 30’s hence the need to decrim some drug use.
  
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  December 24, 2017 11:10am
  - Digmen1
    
    Degreed ladies are the second worst thing we have in NZ.
    
    7 0
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    December 24, 2017 11:37am
    - MCos
      
      Didn’t you just say that young people should get an education?
      
      1 5
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      December 24, 2017 11:58am
Manolo

Capitalism has failed, insists comrade PM Ardern:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-reports-economy-shrank-16-5-2016-024327621.html

Venezuela’s economy shrank a massive 16.5% in 2016, according to an official government filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The oil-rich but impoverished country attributed the collapse to a contraction of 9.9% in the oil sector and 16.1% in the non-oil economy.
15 0
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December 24, 2017 11:21am
- Digmen1
  
  “They did that.”
  
  6 0
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  December 24, 2017 11:37am
Komata

Lifesgood: As well, don’t Pohutukawa have a range- limit beyond which they will not grow? Evidently Ms DPA isn’t as knowledgeable about her new country as she believes…
6 0
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December 24, 2017 11:47am
- lifesgood
  
  Not as knowledgeable about anything as she believes, I would venture. 🙂
  
  5 0
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  December 24, 2017 12:14pm
Adolf Fiinkensein

A very special Christmas greeting.

To our gracious blog host.

David, may you and your family enjoy a merry and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous, interesting and entertaining New Year.

Many thanks for Kiwiblog. My lifeline to NZ>
23 1
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December 24, 2017 11:52am
- stephieboy
  
  Amen to that . I’m not sure about the lifeline bit though ?
  
  1 17
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  December 24, 2017 12:32pm
  - Adolf Fiinkensein
    
    When I lived in NZ, the Bulletin magazine, to which I subscribed for 25 years, was my lifeline to Australia.
    
    So it is, now, with Kiwiblog.
    
    There is nothing reliable to be gleaned from The Herald, DomPost, RNZ, TVNZ, TV3.
    
    15 0
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    December 24, 2017 3:24pm
RF

I see the commie chic is sharing her Xmas recipes with us under privileged plebs.

It will be short and brief as how can you fill a book giving you a choice of crumbed or battered sole with chicken salt.
12 0
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December 24, 2017 12:08pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Ah yes, but it is all in the presentation wrapping . . . .
  
  5 0
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  December 24, 2017 1:33pm
  - RalphT
    
    And the right chip spud is very important
    
    5 0
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    December 24, 2017 4:21pm
KevOB

To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

Blessings to all. Happy Christmas and a great new year.
May you all come to Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
11 8
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December 24, 2017 12:12pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  And to all those of you who are not followers of the sky fairy and his imaginary descendants, you have a great day off as well.
  
  14 3
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  December 24, 2017 2:39pm
  - waikatogirl
    
    Thanks Captain, right back at you.
    The sun is over the yard arm somewhere and it’s time to toast Christmas eve, and all that we are grateful for.
    Eat, drink and be merry. Good wishes to everyone no matter what your beliefs are.
    Go well and be safe whatever you are doing.?? ?? ?
    
    9 1
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    December 24, 2017 3:21pm
MH

and to the rest of those without sin may you cask the first wine. Cheers to one and all. To those i have offended may you repent, for the year is not over yet.
10 1
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December 24, 2017 12:26pm
Digmen1

Re the Indian (muslim ?) lady whose husband was killed by a speeding driver.

She now wants to appeal to Jacinda for help to fulfil her hasbands dream of having a good NZ education for their son!

And a family friend said that all he wanted was a better life in New Zealand!

I thought he came here as a STUDENT.

So study and go home!
16 0
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December 24, 2017 2:52pm
- artemisia
  
  According to the media it was the wife who came here to study. She finished her studies and then the baby arrived. She wants to stay here, not go back to India, where it seems her family and in laws reside.
  
  8 0
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  December 24, 2017 3:17pm
- Jack5
  
  It’s an industry.
  
  Immigration agents in India and pseudo colleges in NZ have been taking thousands of dollars from these young Indians. They are in effect selling them rights to migrate to this country and become citizens.
  
  12 0
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  December 24, 2017 3:18pm
- ztev
  
  Thats because the current foreign student system is designed to bring him people who work mostly and take various junk courses -often they have a good degree from India- as the path to residency was via work/study visas.
  
  10 4
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  December 24, 2017 3:19pm
  - Digmen1
    
    For once I agree with you.
    So will anyone stop it?
    
    5 0
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    December 24, 2017 4:24pm
    - realityczech
      
      What is your final solution Diggy ?
      
      A recent study out of the University of Connecticut discovered that adding religious affiliation to 3200 fake resumes sent to 800 jobs in a 150-mile radius of two major Southern cities hurt the applicants’ chances in all cases except one — Jews.
      
      “Jewish applicants received significantly higher employer preference rates than all other religious treatments,” the research team wrote in their conclusion. “They were more likely to receive an early, exclusive, or solo response from employers, compared with all other religious groups combined.”
      
      Read more: https://forward.com/opinion/200406/want-a-job-put-jewish-on-your-resume/
      
      1 9
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      December 24, 2017 4:29pm
Manolo

No way the incompetent messiah Obama will ever forgive Trump:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/year-one-list-81-major-trump-achievements-11-obama-legacy-items-repealed/article/2644159

With the passage of the GOP tax bill this week, the Trump administration has scored 81 major achievements in its first year, making good on campaign promises to provide significant tax cuts, boost U.S. energy production, and restore respect to the United States, according to the White House.

And along the way, President Trump even outdid his own expectations and slashed at least 11 major legacy items of former President Barack Obama, including cracking down on the open border, slowing recognition of communist Cuba and effectively killing Obamacare by ending the mandate that everyone have health insurance or face a tax.
9 2
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December 24, 2017 3:22pm
- holysheet
  
  Bring on the next year. I can see him taking a big axe to the UN funding next. These little despots in the UN full of hatred of anything US, had better learn not to bite the hand that feeds them.
  
  15 1
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  December 24, 2017 3:36pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I agree. Trump is not threatening nations. It is like putting conditions on those on welfare. He is not threatening countries like NZ with trade sanctions.
    
    NZ gives add to the Pacific Islands. Both governments have had strings attached to this aid.
    
    Trump has his faults but he is better than lying Hilary.
    
    16 1
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    December 24, 2017 3:43pm
- Ross12
  
  Trump and his team are slowly, but surely getting into draining the swamp. McCabe (FBI) has decided to take “early retirement” and another head FBI guy has been “reassigned”.
  I think early in the New Year the corrupt mess surrounding the dossier is going to be blown open
  (well more than it has been). Those Obama people involved know this will happen and the signs of stress are starting show (eg. Comeys pathetic tweets, Schumer’s meltdowns on twitter).
  
  9 1
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  December 24, 2017 4:06pm
realityczech

Those poor Juice and all that persecution. Look over there ❗ a Chinese/Muslim/Indian…

A recent study out of the University of Connecticut discovered that adding religious affiliation to 3200 fake resumes sent to 800 jobs in a 150-mile radius of two major Southern cities hurt the applicants’ chances in all cases except one — Jews.

“Jewish applicants received significantly higher employer preference rates than all other religious treatments,” the research team wrote in their conclusion. “They were more likely to receive an early, exclusive, or solo response from employers, compared with all other religious groups combined.”

Read more: https://forward.com/opinion/200406/want-a-job-put-jewish-on-your-resume/
3 7
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December 24, 2017 4:26pm
- Brito
  
  Ya Jews are more desirable and employable.
  
  Christmas blessing thing to you all and may the light of your particular god (lowercase) shine down on your family and friends.
  
  Signing off to hide during your pagan festival.
  
  Keep up the good work and may Mary and whomever bless you bits and bobs.
  
  Brito!!
  
  11 1
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  December 24, 2017 4:40pm
  - realityczech
    
    Brittle that is very insensitive to us atheists. Not all of us follow the unemployed* Jewish homosexual and product of a single mother – Jesus.
    
    Apparently he was a chippy but there is no record of the useless prick building anything, other than a cult of murderous pedophiles – the Catholics.
    
    4 10
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    December 24, 2017 4:46pm
    - Brito
      
      Actually rc, actually…Christ ventured forth around the Mediterranean before his calling came and he did lay-ith with a woman and was intwined…more than once.
      
      That’s how the grand poo-bah of the Templars came into being. Direct descendants of yours truly.
      
      And as for Him(sic) not making anything, I used to hear a chippy exclaim “Jesus H Christ” on numerous occasions so…CASTIGAT RIDENDO MORES. He was of them and did produce…
      
      8 2
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      December 24, 2017 5:22pm
      - rangitoto
        
        I always thought that the H was short for Haploid.
        
        2 2
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        December 24, 2017 5:58pm
    - Viking2
      
      Be nice otherwise you will start a rash of Virgin mothers later next year.
      
      Taxpayers will get rooted again.
      
      5 2
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      December 24, 2017 5:29pm
      - Brito
        
        If they need to be ‘touched’ by a special old Jew, I can recommend one.
        
        4 1
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        December 24, 2017 5:34pm
      - Viking2
        
        😆
        Touching is not allowed anymore didn’t you know.
        Trumpy spoilt it for the rest of us.
        
        2 0
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        December 24, 2017 6:57pm
    - lifesgood
      
      My goodness you are one nasty article, reality Czech. I feel sorry for you, you are consumed with bitterness.
      
      2 0
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      December 24, 2017 9:04pm
All_on_Red

Golriz Gharaman still spinning bullshit.
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2017/12/another-golly-g-moment/
Some fool on here was stating she would be a Supreme Court Judge or even Governor General one day!
16 0
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December 24, 2017 5:14pm
- Brito
  
  Don’t laugh…in this current climate of idiocy even that horrific thought is possible.
  
  12 0
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  December 24, 2017 5:25pm
  - igm
    
    With these despicable bastards in power, nothing would be surprising. Slobcrim will possibly be their next Minister of Finance, and an Imam Minister of Education, in charge of little girls.
    
    10 1
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    December 24, 2017 6:22pm
Left Right and Centre

Hey – it’s coming up to the 6pm feelz let’s pretend everything’s gravy festive holiday cheer time of year bullshit bulletin hour. Cool . . .
6 1
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December 24, 2017 5:59pm
big bruv

I was woken early and heard myself say “of course I want to go into the city centre on Christmas Eve with you Mrs Bruv”
Queen street was polluted with brown begging scum, I counted at least two dozen of these vermin, one poor lady even had to ask two of them to move so she could open her shop.
It is no wonder that inner city shopping is fading out, these feral low life should be rounded up and dumped out west or down south where they can be with their own ‘Whanau’
15 2
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December 24, 2017 6:55pm
- Viking2
  
  Yep, just like the Aussies did with the boat people. Send them back where they come from.
  
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  December 24, 2017 6:59pm
Morrissey

Palestinian women are slapping Israeli soldiers.
What would Gandhi have said?

“When a woman is faced by a maniac, what is she to do? . . . In her rage she will slap him . . . That is to say, the woman will use all her physical strength. Will that not constitute violence? . . . In a situation like [this], slapping or scratching, if the occasion demands it, does not constitute violence. The trust of a woman who slaps is not in the slap, her trust is in God . . . Her expression is not an expression of violence, only of her opposition . . . Her anger, her alarm, proclaims for herself as well as for the man her preparedness to die . . . Instead of feeling helpless and scared, she should say to herself: ‘I shall offer up my body and life, but shall not become a coward.’ Her slap or scratching indicates this resolve. It is in itself non-violence. She has no strength to cause harm. Hence her act is not violence.”

—-Mahatma Gandhi, “What Women Should Do in a Difficult Situation,” Collected Works, 4 September 1932

http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/12/22/from-children-of-the-stone-to-women-of-the-smack-a-one-step-plan-to-end-the-israeli-occupation/
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December 24, 2017 7:00pm
- Morrissey
  
  Someone hates Gandhi and young women who stick up for themselves and their families.
  
  2 14
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  December 24, 2017 7:37pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Oh well. So we have “Stabbing” school for the children and “Slapping” school for the women.
  Let me guess, “tunnelling” for the men or “Guy Fawkes is for pussies.”
  ‘Here’s how we light a rocket!’
  What a bunch of nutters.
  
  5 0
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  December 24, 2017 8:03pm
big bruv

Somethings wrong. It’s Christmas Eve and I cannot find Die Hard on any of the channels.
5 0
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December 24, 2017 7:02pm
- Morrissey
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blpe_sGnnP4
  
  Big Bruv, you kill moi.
  
  3 2
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  December 24, 2017 7:07pm
- waikatogirl
  
  8.30pm on 3.
  
  Happy Christmas bb
  
  3 0
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  December 24, 2017 7:57pm
Viking2

Jetstar has apologised for pre-Christmas flight delays that have left some holidaymakers stranded.

A flight from Auckland to Palmerston North was cancelled, and services between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch have been delayed.

A Jetstar spokesperson has apologised for the delays, claiming a “series of crewing and technical issues” were behind the disruptions.
============================
Nothing changes.
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December 24, 2017 7:31pm
Morrissey

Fuckin’ Jetstar…

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EveryVerifiableGrackle-max-1mb.gif
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December 24, 2017 7:41pm
Viking2

WOULD you dob in your neighbour for leaving their home unoccupied?

That’s the hope of federal and state governments as they prepare for a major crackdown on houses and apartments sitting empty around the country.

In November, federal Parliament passed legislation giving the Australian Taxation Office power to fine foreign investors up to $5500 a year if they leave their properties empty, plus up to $52,500 for failing to lodge their forms.

Meanwhile, the Victorian state government’s vacant residential land tax kicks in from January 1, with owners in 16 council areas facing potential fines equal to 1 per cent of the property’s value.

In 2016, 11.2 per cent of private dwellings were unoccupied on Census night, compared with 10.7 per cent five years earlier, totalling 1,089,165 dwellings. In Melbourne and Sydney, the number of empty properties increased by 19 per cent and 15 per cent respectively

A spokeswoman for the ATO said foreign investors with Foreign Investment Review Board approval would be required to lodge an annual “vacancy fee return”, currently being designed, which will consist of an online declaration and payment system.

“If the fees and charges accumulate and remain unpaid, a hold can be placed over the property so that unpaid amounts are recouped when the property is sold,” she said.

“The Treasurer can also have a property sold to recoup unpaid fees if required. The ATO expects that the severity of the penalties for non-lodgement will encourage foreign investors to lodge the vacancy fee return.”

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/criminal-sanctions-are-available-for-false-statements-ato-tools-up-for-empty-house-crackdown/?rsf=syn%3Anews%3Anca%3Acm%3Asocref

This will cause some grief.
The ATO has some smart data matching by the sound of this.
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December 24, 2017 7:49pm
nasska

“Oh Mary, you’re pregnant! That’s wonderful! And I’m not the father but that’s okay, because God is?”

“Awesome!”

I love naivety plays.
8 1
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December 24, 2017 7:54pm
Tricati

Merry Christmas to Kiwi-bloggers, and please be safe on the roads over the break so we can enjoy each others comments on this forum.
To David, many thanks for making this forum available, and hope you and the family have a great Christmas – Now finally time for a drink or two.
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December 24, 2017 7:55pm
Viking2

Sums up Trumps Year.

https://www.facebook.com/TrumpTimes/photos/a.1658943327698008.1073741828.1656768881248786/1983375165254821/?type=3&theater
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December 24, 2017 8:48pm
- nasska
  
  Says it well V2. But they missed the best part where we watched him do all that while bathed in the tears of the disbelieving socialists who knew best.
  
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  December 24, 2017 8:53pm
Jack5

America’s Homeland security says “chain migration” – immigrants bringing in extended family – has brought terrorism-related suspects into America.

Chain migration occurs in NZ. It is helped by a media sympathetic to “sob” stories from migrants wanting admitted to the country spouses,children and other dependents, parents, and relatives.

Chain migration is emerging as a border crack that extremists are exploiting.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/23/homeland-security-says-chain-migration-let-terrorism-related-suspects-into-u-s.html
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December 24, 2017 10:31pm
GazzaW

If we can believe the Herald the fuel situation is not looking great with some gas stations now completely out of petrol and diesel.

We can take cold comfort that the Government is going to hold an enquiry. One things for sure this situation hasn’t just come out of the blue. The Government must have known about this for some time. Why has no action been taken?

Family holidays stuffed, limited fuel available for tourists in rental cars and tour coaches. Bus services affected.

We need a Government statement now . Is the situation temporary or longterm? When will the problem be rectified.
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December 24, 2017 10:47pm

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