General Debate 3 January 2018

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Paulus Gnome

Anyone but WoO and any of the other muppets who manage to mangle a thread before it has even started and the serial downticker ticker who just needs to get a life, a frontal lobotomy or a woman or something
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January 3, 2018 7:48am
- Rachael Membery
  
  As if we don’t have enough to do!!!!
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:31am
Manolo

Chasing the corrupt minions of crooked Hillary:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/02/jail-trump-slams-crooked-hillary-aide-huma-calls-on-deep-state-doj-to-act.html

“Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aide, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on the submarine? Jail!” Trump tweeted early Tuesday. “Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others.”
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January 3, 2018 7:53am
- Milhous
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  But Trump employing his incompetent family members in “advisory” roles and using his properties and his presidential status to personally enrich himself is just another example of the oh so amazing Trump presidency…..Think about it, Forget about the hackneyed policies, forget about the unstable narcissistic personality , forget about his obvious lack of intelligence, forget about all that and what you have is the most corrupt…President….Ever…..Period.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:51am
  - Milhous
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Imagine if Clinton charged people to attend her resort where they could acces her and observe classified meetings . Imagine if Chelsea and Bill were on the White House payroll, imagine if she continued to own property near the Whitehouse where lobbyists PAID to stay …….you guys would be apoplectic…..but because it’s Trump….meh.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:04am
    - Rich Prick
      
      Umm OK, two words, Clinton Foundation.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:09am
    - CHFR1
      
      Clinton ran a pay to play scam at The State Department, enough said.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:10am
      - Milhous
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        I’m not backing Clinton. I can’t stand Clinton. I’m saying Trump is worse by a many fold magnitude and yet so called conservatives turn a blind eye.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:12am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        ABH
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:36am
    - kowtow
      
      Don’t need to “imagine”
      
      ‘Once in office, Bill Clinton quickly set up the Task Force on National Health Care Reform,[7] headed by First Lady Hillary Clinton, to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans, ‘
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_health_care_plan_of_1993
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:40am
      - cmm
        
        Let’s also not forget Bill Clinton’s massive fees for his speaking engagements.
        
        There were numerous occasions of over half a million bucks for less than an hour’s speech.
        
        Of course Bill Clinton might be a very dynamic and powerful speaker, but it is interesting to see that his speaking engagements have dried up since Hillary Clinton lost power.
        
        Perhaps it is all just a coincidence?
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:14am
      - ztev
        
        Dried up ?
        http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/inspiration-turns-to-irony-when-bill-clinton-speaks-at-georgetown/article/2640358
        
        The price per speech is set by the market in the US, the ‘lecture circuit’ can be a very well rewarded occupation for those with some celeb status, and can actually speak well.
        Clinton was a renowned speaker even before his presidency, just he stopped doing it for political office and changed to earning money
        
        The Clintons would have earned at least $150 mill from speeches since he left the Oval Office
        http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/index.html
        
        Most speeches are to large corporations, not for profits might only have to cover travel costs
        
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        January 3, 2018 11:26am
      - cmm
        
        “Clinton was a renowned speaker even before his presidency”
        
        So he started this rort while he was Governor of Arkansas.
        
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        January 3, 2018 12:00pm
    - NK
      
      Milhous, I’m an Act voter and member and still I agree with you. I’ve learned over the years that people view politics with rose tinted glasses and pointing out the enemy is on the same side as you is pointless. The only thing that matters it seems is that Trump kept Hillary out and so he’s a hero. Oh yeah, and he’s not Obama.
      
      I’ve discovered that everything else is an irrelevancy.
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:38am
  - flipper
    
    .. Yeah Milliwous… if billionaires had your intelligence we would all be billionaires.
    
    Think about it. A nation of 330 million elects Trump as its President. That said, your self- centred arrogance to proclaim superior knowledge and intelligence is is something to be found only in an “intelligent” UN idiot……/
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:10am
    - Milhous
      
      What an elegant rebuttal.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:13am
      - softail 1450
        
        Milhous,here’s a more elegant one for a cretinous clinton troll, fuck off.
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:09am
      - stephieboy
        
        softail1450 , the erudite mind of an alt right Trumpeter !
        
        LOL
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:29am
      - Random Punter
        
        Sorry Milhous, accidentally reported your 9.12am comment. (Doesn’t mean I agree with you, though.)
        
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        January 3, 2018 2:09pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    SQUIRREL !!!
    
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    January 3, 2018 11:03am
    - Gabby
      
      Squirrel vagina, edschmuck.
      
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      January 3, 2018 6:17pm
      - Lance
        
        Nurse!!! Quickly
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:20pm
Viking2

Anyone? will I do?
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January 3, 2018 8:03am
Viking2

Nice morning in Fielding this morning. Been for a walk over Mansfeild.
Shower last night but warm at 27
degrees.
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January 3, 2018 8:05am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Fielding. Feilding?
  Mansfield. Manfield?
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:21am
  - Viking2
    
    whatever!
    Whatever spins your wheels. I’m on holiday so don’t give a stuff.
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:28am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      You clearly don’t give a stuff V2, if you’ve chosen Feilding as your holiday destination 😀
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:59am
      - Viking2
        
        Just an overnight visit for family.K.S.
        There are worse places actually. Wanganui is high on the list. Not visiting there this year. 😆
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:49pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Know pikkin onn da Vyking, Capin!
    
    Going for a long stroll along the river here in Upper Hutt soon.
    
    If I am not feeling a lazy sod by the time I get to Stokes Valley I may even walk back.
    
    Alternatively, I might catch the bus back from there!
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:31am
    - pdm
      
      Are you ok Biscuit?
      
      You are not usually awake this early – no Liverpool game I assume.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:26am
    - GoVege
      
      Upper Hutt!
      Stop it!!!!
      You’re making me homesick…beautiful town of my birth! 🙂 🙂
      
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      January 3, 2018 11:23am
      - alwyn
        
        I suggest you keep your fond memories and don’t go back.
        I was there last week and the Upper Hutt CBD looked completely dead. I would think at least half of the shops were closed down and the premises vacant.
        
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        January 3, 2018 2:19pm
      - GoVege
        
        You’re breaking my heart Alwyn.
        Hopefully they’re just on holiday…. 🙂
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:23pm
      - GoVege
        
        Actually my fondest memories of Upper Hutt are going to the river to swim and admire the beautiful little waterfalls. ….but then some bast**ds diverted the river and put it through a pipe in order to build an fn motorway!
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:44pm
      - Viking2
        
        I suggest you keep your fond memories and don’t go back.
        I was there last week and the Upper Hutt CBD looked completely dead. I would think at least half of the shops were closed down and the premises vacant.
        
        Well you can add Marton, Wanganui, Taihape where almost all of one side of the street is empty and even Hamilton.
        Feilding ITOH has new shops and this year is getting a new New World.
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:52pm
  - PaulP
    
    Not quite Captain. It’s actually Manfeild (not Manfield) being a combination of Manawatu and Feilding.
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:36am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      I thought it was because the original name for the village of Feilding was Manchester.
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:40am
      - Viking2
        
        Nope it was part of what was called the Manchester Block which nearly Wanganui to the Gorge.
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:54pm
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      Bugger, you’re so right PaulP. Got me there.
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:42am
    - Keeping Stock
      
      Almost Paul; the “Man” part refers to the Manawatu Car Club, on whose initiative Manfeild was first designed and constructed in the early 1970’s.
      
      Of course these days, it’s now known as Circuit Chris Amon, in honour of arguably the best driver never to have won a F1 Grand Prix.
      
      https://www.manfeild.co.nz/chris-amon.html
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:02am
      - PaulP
        
        Yeah KS, it’s a shame the renaming was a bit of a cop out. They should have called it something like “Chris Amon Motorsport Park”. Much like Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo.
        
        Having it as Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon seems like a renaming by committee where they couldn’t quite let go of the old name.
        
        I can only think the plan was for if to be a function venue with it still being Manfeild and the race track only being Circuit Chris Amon. But, realistically it is almost solely the race track now.
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:12am
      - ztev
        
        The spelling is Manfeild KS , as the town it is in is Feilding
        
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        January 3, 2018 11:16am
      - Keeping Stock
        
        Yes, it is ztev. Which, if you look again, is precisely how I spelt it.
        
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        January 3, 2018 6:54pm
      - Viking2
        
        Feilding was named after a Colonel Feilding who was involved somehow with the Manchester Block.
        
        The Manfeild is attached to the grounds that once were the Racing Club. Walked up a stand this morning and can say that there is no track and all the area appears to be sports field.
        The stands are in a sad state of repair like no one owns them. Perhaps belong to the Feilding borough or something.
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:59pm
  - igm
    
    Thought it was a Stuff weather report.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:40am
Left Right and Centre

Answer: within 15 minutes.

Question: time it takes for off-duty doctor; home to hospital – responding to an 11pm page on the night of The Station nightclub fire 2003 in US. 100 dead – 230 injured.

Not bad. Oh – and welcome to ‘things could be worse’ with your host – LRC.
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January 3, 2018 8:05am
- Sinbadskink
  
  What?
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:33pm
Don the Kiwi

I’d say that the cricket NZ v West Indies at the Mount Oval is doomed – light rain already, increasing during the day. Also the Bryan Adams concert could be adversely affected.
Ah well, knowing full well that the weather is always unsettled at this time of year, the promoters still chase the buck and busy schedule. February is always much better here in the Bay.
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January 3, 2018 8:06am
- flipper
  
  It is the understandable quest for the holiday market.
  But the insistence of Umps and teams in calling off play for a few showers is what queers their pitch.
  Bugger the weather. Play the game. 🙂
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:17am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  The best place in the North Island for any outdoor activity over the holiday period has been Wellington, without question.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:22am
  - Viking2
    
    Why?
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:31am
    - RalphT
      
      Because the Captain and I live here…
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:42am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      No rain.
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:42am
      - cmm
        
        But even without the rain it is still Wellington.
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:16am
  - big bruv
    
    Wellington!….you’re kidding. I was there last week for four days. It was ten degrees colder than Auckland and it rained. Wellington is a shit hole.
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:33pm
    - alwyn
      
      So you were the bastard who brought the Auckland weather down with you in your carry on bag.
      In future you are banned. Stay in that dump just north of the metropolis of Pukekohe and leave the residents of New Zealand’s finest city in peace.
      
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      January 3, 2018 2:24pm
      - VicParking
        
        Get a life, well as much as you can in that cold, wet, windy hell hole which has the lowest IQ in NZ.
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:52pm
      - Viking2
        
        Get a life, well as much as you can in that cold, wet, windy hell hole which has the lowest IQ in NZ.
        
        No,No, that’s Dunedin.
        
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        January 3, 2018 8:01pm
- Digmen1
  
  Oh no
  I’ve got tickets to Brian Adams!
  (every thing I do, I do for you)
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:28am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Whose fault was that?
    
    He played Matakana last night and created traffic havoc.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:08am
    - GazzaW
      
      Who but a ‘mastermind’ would use Matakana at New Year as a concert venue? A single two lane road as access from Warkworth which was already awash with holidaymakers and day trippers from Auckland. A traffic disaster waiting to happen.
      
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      January 3, 2018 12:13pm
- Viking2
  
  Pleased I escaped the traffic jams.
  
  Mangaweka and Fielding are deserted.
  Peaceful and quiet.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:29am
  - MCos
    
    Brings it into line with the other 364 days of the year.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:19am
    - Viking2
      
      Yep except for most of those days I put up with shit drivers and shit traffic jams inspired by the numpties that run Tauranga City council and NZTA.
      Couldn’t predict roading needs more than a day ahead the useless pricks.
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:04pm
- G152
  
  So the next time we have a dry spell all we’ll have to do to get the rain is have a game of cricket 🙂
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:38am
  - Digmen1
    
    That reminds me of an old joke!
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:55am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Careful, you’ll start sounding like a POME…..
    “….and rain stopped play….”
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:10am
- Paulus
  
  No – latest weather from the Mount is it is brightening up and may well be clear by this evening.
  
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  January 3, 2018 1:23pm
- Sinbadskink
  
  I work in events. It’s awful in NZ, predicting weather. Count on shit, and work up from there. Poor buggers,
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:36pm
VicParking

The failing newspapers coverage of the Iranian demonstrations have been poor as they rely on the BBC and CNN who’s “Obama is still king” line stops them from running any thing that might diminish his legacy. Also they have no coverage of the 500 arrests, 1000 cars vandalised and a police women lynched in Paris on new years eve.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/01/02/cowardly-criminal-lynching-police-france-female-officer/
Also the multiple women attacked in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden etc.
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January 3, 2018 8:18am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Only a propaganda tool for White supremacists like Breitbart could be so crass as to call a White person “kicked to the ground, taking several blows to the head” a “lynching.” And yet you’re happy to repeat the racism, why is that?
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:30am
  - Shaun the Sheep
    
    It was a direct quote of Macron.
    It appeared elsewhere, not just Breitbart.
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:45am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      A Frenchman speaking French gets a free pass for not being familiar with English usage. An American media outlet doesn’t. If they were quoting Macron there should have been quotation marks around the term – without the quotation marks, they’re using it themselves and for a fairly obvious purpose.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:29am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The word “lynch” has been used loosely to apply to a mob of folks giving someone else a beating.
    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Lynch
    
    According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the original usage was: to whip, tar and feather, or the like.
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:49am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      The Shorter Oxford Dictionary is full of terms that had original meanings that no longer apply. American racists gave the word “lynching” a new and fairly specific meaning last century – Macron can be forgiven for not knowing that but Breitbart certainly can’t be.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:32am
      - EAD_TWO
        
        American racists gave the word “lynching” a new and fairly specific meaning
        
        You’ve been reading too much ADL agitprop Psycho Milt.
        
        You are trying to paint a picture of unhinged Whites going around randomly stringing up Black Americans but a more appropriate term is “mob justice”.
        
        Now I’m not going to spend time on this blog defending “mob justice” in America 130 years ago (to be frank, I don’t care). But mob justice is still pretty common in places such as South Africa, Bolivia, India, China & Israel even in this day and age:
        
        http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/man-rape-six-year-old-girl-stoned-death-south-africa-mob-durban-clare-estate-a8021281.html
        
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3935566/Man-accused-raping-killing-4-year-old-girl-murdered-mob-storm-police-station-held-drag-hang-tree.html
        
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981515/Justice-Indian-style-Angry-mob-breaks-prison-kidnaps-man-accused-raping-student-stripping-naked-dragging-four-miles-beating-death-street.html
        
        http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Police-searching-for-civilians-seen-beating-Eritrean-man-mistaken-for-terrorist-427385
        
        But when the likes of you try and emote with words like “lynching”, you only want it to refer to one thing and one thing only – Whites taking justice into their own hands.
        
        I know your type Pschyo Milt – exaggerate, lie, spin whatever crimes, real or perceived by Whites, diminish, ignore and obfuscate the far, far more numerous times when it happens in reverse.
        
        What next, are you going to try defend the blood soaked hands of Communism?
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:05am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Good post!
        
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        January 3, 2018 11:34am
  - EAD_TWO
    
    propaganda tool for White supremacists
    
    In your sick world view, White supremicists = any normal person who wants to live in coherent, cohesive society much like the rest of the world does and our Ancestors have done for Millenia.
    
    You are the extremist Psycho Milt – just how bad does it have to get before you and your fellow travellers admit the multikult experiment has been an utter disaster. What we are witnessing is literally the end of history and civilisation as we know it and all you can do is scream and call people names that fear for the future of their children.
    
    You are sick in the head.
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:54am
    - stephieboy
      
      EAD TWO , multicultural; experiment a disaster ?
      
      Contaminating your genes ?
      
      LOL
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:29am
      - EAD_TWO
        
        Stephieboy,
        
        are you (((Nicolas Sarkozy))) in disguise?
        
        http://www.westernspring.co.uk/video-update-sarkozy-calls-for-white-genocide/
        
        woops – embedded Youtube not working, view this:
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4KqvVlp9LQ
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:10am
  - flipper
    
    Quick, phone the Mason Clinic.
    Psychomilt has escaped !!!!!!!
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:29am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      Aranui: Stage-3 Dementia Care, Specialist Licensed
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:34am
- Inandout
  
  In case the Muslo apologists cry ‘breitbart’:
  
  ‘French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out against the violence on Monday afternoon, remarking: “The culprits of the cowardly and criminal lynching of the police doing their duty on the night of December 31st will be found and punished. Force will sustain the law. Honor to the police and full support to all officers crudely attacked.”
  
  Macron’s comments were followed by remarks by the French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who decried the “society of violence” and called for police forces to be strengthened. Calling out particular “neighbourhoods” where violence was able to flourish, the interior minister described a situation in some areas where fire crews could not even enter without a police escort, reports Le Express.
  
  No arrests have been made’.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:31am
  - Simon
    
    Mullahs killing Iranians yet has NZ government called the shit heads at their NZ embassy to account?
    
    Why is the Nz government so silent about the Mullahs?
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:41am
    - Manolo
      
      Is our Minister of Foreign Affairs sober enough to utter a word?
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:43am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Is anyone that interested in what the old soak has to say anymore?
        
        After he said ‘labour’ everything has been white noise to me
        
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        January 3, 2018 8:49am
      - waikatogirl
        
        Winnie has declared he will go to North Korea if he is asked. A previous visit by him was seen as successful.
        
        I guess Winnie and Kim will bond while sucking down a shared bottle of single malt.
        
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        January 3, 2018 8:59am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Manolo, he’s forgotten what he was going to say. Nuff said.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:57am
    - Milhous
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      So when is Trump going to actually DO something???? He said he’d take a tougher stand than Obama…up until now he’s like many a keyboard warrior on his side …just full of piss and wind .
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:00am
      - Simon
        
        Don’t worry about it the wall will get built.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:02am
      - flipper
        
        My, you are clever Milliwous.
        If only Donald J Trump was like you.
        Come to think of it, Chamberlain was better than you.
        Idiot.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:32am
      - KevOB
        
        Why should we all get involved in a Sunni/Shia fight? It’s being going on for 1300+ years. We don’t get the truth. The Shah was deposed by the Brits because BP wanted the oil access. Nothing’s changed.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:36am
      - VicParking
        
        Obama was all wind and he sat down to piss
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:44am
      - softail 1450
        
        swillhouse,,,what a fucking idiot you are….
        
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        January 4, 2018 5:42am
    - GazzaW
      
      …….you can imagine the uproar if the Israelis had shot the equivalent number of Palestinians during the course of protests.
      
      22 3
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      January 3, 2018 9:09am
    - DifferentPerspective
      
      Because the NZ govt is far more worried about (lol) “real” issues like sanctioning at the UN a sovereign nation which is putting their embassy in the capital city of another another sovereign nation.
      
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      January 3, 2018 12:19pm
  - Simon
    
    Her colleague had a gun but didn’t use it.
    
    What a mess. Had he used it there would be riots for weeks. The left would have blamed the riots on poverty, inequality and racism.
    
    That’s why there are no go areas all across Europe. Trump was right.
    
    France and Paris in particular has been lynched the by political class and the left
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:01am
    - hmmokrightitis
      
      They are trained when and how to use their sidearms. He made the right call – pulling a weapon at that moment meant he may have killed one or two, but mob mindset was at play – they would both have been quickly swamped and killed if he had drawn.
      
      A difficult bloody call to make, but ultimately the right one – the mob could have turned really nasty if he had.
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:34am
  - MCos
    
    Macron probably didn’t say that at all seeing as he’s French.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:41am
    - big bruv
      
      That young chap Macron is such a nice boy. How thoughtful of him to take his mother everywhere he goes.
      
      13 3
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      January 3, 2018 12:35pm
      - GoVege
        
        Do they say that about Trump?
        
        2 8
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        January 3, 2018 12:54pm
      - GazzaW
        
        Why would they say that about Trump GV? Mary Anne Trump died in 2000 aged 88.
        
        8 2
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        January 3, 2018 2:54pm
      - GoVege
        
        Gazza: because there is exactly the same age difference between Trump and HIS partner but for some reason no-one mentions THAT!
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:47pm
      - GazzaW
        
        Oh so you weren’t talking about HIS mother, you were referring to his missus. Most blokes are too busy thinking “Lucky bastard!” to give it much more thought.
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:56pm
      - GoVege
        
        He’s a rich bugger, Gazza, otherwise he’d probably be on his own.
        Bit like those old guys you see with young Asian chicks.
        At least you know with Mr Macron, it must be love.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:29pm
    - MCos
      
      Having said that the French word for lynch is lyncher. Although in English it is an emmotive word commonly meaning an extrajudicial killing by a mob, it can be expanded to include the administration of a severe beating, but I don’t recall that particular usage. We don’t say someone is lynched when they are beaten up, but by the sounds of things the French do.
      
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      January 3, 2018 1:44pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    La veille, le président, Emmanuel Macron, avait promis, sur Twitter, que « les coupables du lynchage lâche et criminel des policiers faisant leur devoir […] seront retrouvés et punis ».
    
    http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2018/01/02/a-champigny-sur-marne-une-soiree-du-nouvel-an-chaotique-avant-l-agression-de-deux-policiers_5236885_3224.html
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:52am
- kowtow
  
  The UK Daily Mail on the lynching say the neighbourhood is “Portugese” . But the video shows black people .
  
  Who’s engaging in anti white , pro African migration propaganda?
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5228969/France-declares-violence-crackdown-ghettoised-suburbs.html
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:47am
  - doggone7
    
    Yeah, like the Dutch soccer team is called the Netherlands Football team and some of their players are black. And French teams …?
    https://theblokediary.co.uk/sport/football/french-fans-sing-god-save-queen-england-match/
    
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    January 3, 2018 11:53am
  - GazzaW
    
    Black Portuguese hail from Angola and Mozambique, both former Portuguese colonies whose citizens had residency rights in Portugal. As Portuguese citizens they and their descendants can live anywhere in the EU.
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:19pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      The same applies to Brazilians who qualify for Portuguese passports, much in the same way as those Kiwis who can qualify for UK or Irish passports.
      
      7 0
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      January 3, 2018 12:51pm
      - big bruv
        
        Kiwis should be well aware of this. After all, their ‘national’ rugby team has often had a large percentage of the team born in other countries.
        
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        January 3, 2018 2:17pm
      - doggone7
        
        ” … has often had a large percentage of the team born in other countries.”
        
        Big Bruv: ‘Often’? A ‘large’ percentage?
        
        For example?
        
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        January 3, 2018 2:44pm
      - GazzaW
        
        BS big bruv. Currently Kaino (arrived in NZ aged 3), Naiholo, Laulala and Tungufasi are the only regular ABs not born in NZ. The Poms have far more expats (including Kiwis) than the ABs.
        
        Get back to your soccer!
        
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        January 3, 2018 3:05pm
- stephieboy
  
  VicParking , false ,
  
  For example MSM BBC coverage is extensive ,
  
  http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-42548176/iran-protests-why-people-are-taking-to-the-streets
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:09am
  - KevOB
    
    If you believe the BBC you know how many grains of sand there are on Oriental Bay Beach.
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:06pm
Digmen1

The Herald is fast becoming a gossip magazine!
34 1
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January 3, 2018 8:29am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  The Herald has been a lightweight gossip magazine for years.
  Try to keep up D1
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:34am
KevOB

Who wants to read their Aussie rag?

News does not sell.
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January 3, 2018 8:34am
- BeaB
  
  Reasons I cancelled the herald:
  1 Anti-Israel editorial.
  2 Cartoonists exaggerating John Key’s nose while minimising Ardern’s choppers – anti-Semitic or just anti-National?
  3 Three articles in ONE day by repetitive and inane Steve Braunias.
  4 Cartoons still having a go at National while ignoring rich material for fun and satire in new government.
  5 Inky fingers.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:59am
  - VicParking
    
    My cat won’t even piss on it
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:46am
  - cmm
    
    6: The paper isn’t as absorbent as it used to be.
    
    16 0
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    January 3, 2018 10:20am
    - Paulus
      
      I understood that the paper for the Herald is imported from Malaysia as it is cheaper than that produced here, and of an inferior quality.
      Hence it will not absorb cat’s piss – or anybody elses.
      
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      January 4, 2018 8:41am
G152

Well, actually news does sell. It’s just that our newspapers don’t handle news.
Clickbait and anti Trump rhetoric yes but news?
No
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January 3, 2018 8:41am
- Surely Knott
  
  News this morning – Auckland Council puts out their waterflow prediction model of where sewerage might go in a storm. The council reports that while the new wastewater pipes will be going in, some unnamed environmental groups feel it’s not enough, but Mr Chin from Council says “if Aucklanders really wanted to fix the problem they should get behind a targeted water rate that w ould be voted on this year.” Another blatant press release from the comms dept at Auckland Council. Along with the Kauri Targeted rate and the Transport tax. Perhaps if the Environmental dept at Council wants to fix the problem they shouldn’t have spent the budget on “The Problem” – real life game and app with free party and anti national propoganda. https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347380/poo-tracker-shows-extent-of-sewage-in-auckland-s-beaches
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:26am
  - VicParking
    
    Swerage runs downhill, the beaches are downhill.
    
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    January 3, 2018 3:59pm
  - redeye
    
    This might be a better use of their umpteen dozen PR staff. They surely aren’t overworked and they’re supposedly hired for their ability to turn crap into something palatible.
    
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    January 3, 2018 6:27pm
- KevOB
  
  The Sun and others discovered years ago that pics on p3 sold. Journalism was a waste of effort. The Herald and Stuff are just catching up.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:40am
  - ztev
    
    Yes, but they had to have good football coverage as well as P3
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:53am
    - KevOB
      
      I retired from any variety of football when I was 7.
      
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      January 3, 2018 12:07pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Only if you are a Pommy Englishman following the Premier League, then all other sports reporting is pants.
      
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      January 3, 2018 1:07pm
  - VicParking
    
    Remember the “Truth”. The failing newspaper is creaping every closer to that publication. They are only short by two breasts on page three.
    
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    January 3, 2018 4:01pm
Manolo

Poland fights the EU and exercises its right:
https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/01/poland-repeats-it-refuses-to-accept-migrants-from-muslim-countries/

Poland has received many refugees from Ukraine, but is not going to change its position and accept migrants from Muslim countries, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.

The European Commission has filed a lawsuit against Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic in the European Court because of their refusal to take refugees within EU relocation program.
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January 3, 2018 8:41am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Israel orders its African migrants to leave the country within 90 days or got to jail.
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42541515
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:56am
  - stephieboy
    
    MW, but not Black Ethiopian Jews I trust ?
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:34am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      https://www.timesofisrael.com/kenya-jewish-leader-denied-entry-to-israel-deported-to-ethiopia/
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:10am
      - stephieboy
        
        I fail to see your point ? Read my link and be informed .
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:17am
MT_Tinman

The other day I was following a small hatchback on the outskirts of ChCh.

The driver was driving to the rules at sensible speed. It was raining.

The hatchback entered a round-a-bout, again at reasonable speed, lost traction and spun several times across the empty (thankfully) road.

This made me think; This incident was caused by the badly designed/constructed road and could easily have caused a fatality.

The round-a-bout and road, I have since learnt, has a bad reputation for such incidents but has never been repaired.

The last couple of weeks the slime, aided by their porcine mates, have been hammering the road toll and pushing for even more controlling legislation but how many accidents/crashes would be prevented.

What we are never told is how many of the (380 this year I believe) road deaths are actually caused by preventable actions?

If we take out the medical events (heart attacks etc.), pedestrian-caused incidents, law breakers wrapping themselves around trees, poles and innocent motorists, NZTA and local Council incompetence caused accidents (as the one I observed), suicide etc. none of which new driver (or anti-driver) legislation would affect what do we have left?

I suspect the real number of fatal accidents after this subtraction will be in the tens, not hundreds and certainly not worth worrying over.
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January 3, 2018 8:44am
- Inandout
  
  Cellphones and texting are a big contributor to fatals. Just observe any technophobe walking toward their vehicle glued to their mobile. They don’t just forget about their device when they start driving.
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:49am
  - Digmen1
    
    I agree that cellphones are a distraction.
    
    But we have really only had cellphones in a big way for the last 20 years.
    So you would think the road toll would have doubled over that time.
    But it has gone down.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:01am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    Can’t comment on the driving part (I don’t know) but do wonder how many accidents are caused by pedestrians and cyclists glued to their ‘phones instead of paying attention to what they are doing.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:03am
    - GazzaW
      
      I very nearly bowled a jogger yesterday who was wired for sound – he ran straight out in front of me. He was outraged to the point of trying to wrest open my car door in an effort to deal to me. Such anger….it’s a worry that these people are loose on our streets.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:20am
  - flipper
    
    The single largest cause 0f the volatile road fatality numbers is CHANCE. All the rest is political bullshit, leavened by increasing population and vehicle numbers.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:41am
  - Lance
    
    Bloody contractors / builders texting or whatever while driving are at fucking plague proportions in West Auckland.
    Not giving way (looking at phone) drifting across centre line in curves (still looking a phones), not stopping at red lights and also not proceeding when lights turn green. They just don’t seem to give a shit
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:53am
    - kevn
      
      Tradies can’t afford a bluetooth clipon? Most of their flash utes have it built in though.
      
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      January 3, 2018 11:03am
  - DifferentPerspective
    
    Hmm that’s what the liars at the Min of Transport and the Police would have you believe. But note they use the weasel words “contributing factor” whenever they are talking about the causal factors of road toll fatalities. Which when you strip the pseudo-science out equates to an association rather than an attribution factor. Interestingly a staggeringly high number of road accident fatalities are by people wearing underpants. Therefore applying the same munted logic of the MoT, NZTA and the Police – I have divined that it is best not to wear any underpants when driving. So far I have incontrovertible proof that underpants kill!
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:24pm
  - big bruv
    
    At least 80% of the young ladies I pass whilst crawling through Auckland traffic have their head down looking at their phones.
    It seems that millennial females find it impossible to ignore their phones whilst driving.
    
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    January 3, 2018 2:22pm
    - Lance
      
      millennial females and builders…. seems an odd correlation?
      
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      January 3, 2018 3:54pm
- Digmen1
  
  So what do we have left?
  
  But yes we need much better information of the cause of each crash.
  
  I saw a govt web site the other day with some detailed stats, but it was unreadable and irelavant.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:04am
- kevn
  
  MT… Rain. I wonder if the little hatchback had bald tyres? Ask and wof isuer, they are alway amazed at folk driving on bald tyres. Eyes painted on… se nothing, just put petrol in.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:04am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    I didn’t stop (The car hit nothing and was not damaged) and I had an appointment in Akaroa.
    
    Cannot comment on the tyres therefore but I have since been informed that there have been several similar instances in the same place, some involving large trucks.
    
    Being a regular user of the new Northern motorway extension in ChCh I expect there will be similar experiences at the Clearwater round-a-bout (that has me slowed right down even in good conditions).
    
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    January 3, 2018 11:43am
- CJames
  
  On the car that spun out, what were the tyres like? So many drive around with bald tyres, or the cheap imports that have no grip.
  That is more likely the fault than “bad” road design
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:15am
  - srylands
    
    Yes I agree. The tyres many people drive on are unbelievable. Cheapest they can buy and down to less than 2 mm of tread. Never check the pressure.
    
    If you spin out on a roundabout, you can’t blame the roundabout.
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:01am
    - Viking2
      
      since someone in NZTA redesigned roundabouts to defy the natural forces of gravity there have been plenty of accidents on them, especially with big truck.
      
      They are an abortion of a job. We have had working roundabouts on NZ since the first one in Seaview at Petone and its only since the “new” design that we have had accidents.
      
      Try telling the numpties at NZTA. Their roundabout design is faulty.
      But there is hope.
      
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11964666
      
      Which Is about Worksafe charging Ritchies Buses for bad workmanship on a bus that crashed a year ago. They have used section 36(2) to prosecute.
      Makes for an interesting discussion as I can see that they could use this on a dangerous bit of road. Time NZTA upped their game.
      
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      January 3, 2018 8:23pm
    - Viking2
      
      since someone in NZTA redesigned roundabouts to defy the natural forces of gravity there have been plenty of accidents on them, especially with big truck.
      
      They are an abortion of a job. We have had working roundabouts on NZ since the first one in Seaview at Petone and its only since the “new” design that we have had accidents.
      
      Try telling the numpties at NZTA. Their roundabout design is faulty. but there is hope.
      
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11964666
      
      which os about Worksafe charging Ritchies Buses for bad workmanship on a bus that crashed a year ago. They have used section 36(2) to prosecute.
      Makes for an interesting discussion as I can see that they could use this on a dangerous bit of road. Time NZTA upped their game.
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:40pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Tinman, did you check the hatchback to see if there was any tread on the tyres?
  Worn tyres is another big cause of crashes, especially since the time between WOF checks was increased.
  Sorry guys, saw your similar comments too late, but my ‘delete’ function seems to have stopped working.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:24am
- flipper
  
  An excellent contribution.
  But you omitted o0ne factor (may have been buried in other comjment – CHANCE.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:36am
- ztev
  
  Reduce speed for conditions, includes rain , especially as rain after a long dry spell means parts of some roads are especially greasy.
  That sort of loss of control is normally fixed by stability control – how old was this hatchback of yours ?
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:49am
- Paulus
  
  Don’t fret Julia Anne Genter will soon be back from her US holiday and will sort it all out within 100 days.
  
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  January 3, 2018 1:28pm
dime

Stinking hot day in Fiji. But thunderstorms this arvo apparently. Best I get my snorkeling in early.

Love this time of year!
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January 3, 2018 8:47am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  The staff on the Interislander are not happy that you chose Fiji over two weeks with them.
  
  I understand from the head of catering, that they have kept a pie in the warmer just for you in the event you change your mind and show up. It is the one that has the really thick ‘pastry’, curled up edges and something that was gravy shrivelled and dried to so to be consistent with wet clay on the inside. Enjoy!
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:55am
  - dime
    
    Heh I do enjoy a pie!
    
    11 2
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    January 3, 2018 10:00am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    They are only serving pies because the staff have nicked all the good food.
    
    9 2
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    January 3, 2018 10:03am
- flipper
  
  SHADUP !!!! 🙂
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:16am
  - ztev
    
    Who made you ‘door bitch’ ?
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:40am
hullkiwi

Hi fellow KB bloggers,

This morning, I apologise up front, but I feel it necessary to vent my spleen following a message received yesterday, that I would like to share with you all. To me, it highlights what 60 years of dumb social engineering has helped create in our society.
The message is from our local primary school principal posted on the Ahuroa community information web blog “The Ahuroa Grapevine”, please refer below,
http://www.ahuroa.nz/2018/01/02/ahuroa-school-community-help-desperately-needed/

Yes, learning that these mindless acts of vandalism have occurred in our community annoys, angers and saddens me, but in equal measure it both saddens and angers me that in our society we have among us those who:
1. partake in the mindless vandalism described by Michelle Nell and think this is a jolly good laugh and is a way of passing the boredom;
2. know who this mindless moron is/or who these mindless morons are and by not saying anything they are as guilty as the perpetrators; and
3. excuse and find this mindless vandalism acceptable because the (or these) moron(s) are bored – in this instance that is bullshit, because the (or these) perpetrator(s) had to drive to the school to carry out their action (and that suggests premeditation, not the act of someone who is bored and carries out a spontaneous act for the hell of it.
For those of you who are happy to excuse this sort of mindless behaviour and say “what the hell, the school is able to afford to repair the damage without any consequence”, well you are wrong. Someone always has to pick up the cost of repairing such damage, whether it be our general community, the property of anybody (rich or poor), or even a rural school. And for those of you who think a rural school can easily pick up the tab for the repair of such vandalism, once again you are wrong, because the school in question has very limited resources (financial and otherwise) at its disposal.
Moving from the specifics of the case above, many questions are raised about what type of society we are creating for ourselves. Yet, I am always left asking, is it right that “society” deems it acceptable that we should have to suffer the broken “society” they are engineering for us?

At a macro level, and example of how wrong matters are, was contained within the Governor General’s address on Monday. In her address she highlighted the plight of woman, and made reference to women who still face violence in the home. Hello, this has been a continuing/growing problem for the past 100 years, and all we seem to have done as a collective society is seen a growth industry of government agencies and other NGO organisations telling us that this problem is unacceptable. To me, this has been instead of dealing with the actual issue, i.e. the perpetrators of the violence. Why do we need to keep talking about an issue continually rather than do something about it? Or is it a case that the issue doesn’t really exist, but we need to create an industry that talks continually about an issue?

Please note, I am not someone trying to preach a moral/right/Christian crusade, but I would be interested in the thoughts of others.
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January 3, 2018 8:47am
Maggy Wassilieff

At least 9 dead in USA from freezing cold.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/02/us-cold-weather-freeze-warnings

Why didn’t Bernie wear a hat?
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January 3, 2018 8:59am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  MW, nothing unusual about extreme weather events other than a spurious reference to a hat ?
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:27am
  - waikatogirl
    
    How is not wearing a hat in freezing conditions “spurious”.
    Heat escapes from the head, it is life saving, complete common sense to wear a hat in the cold.
    Idiot. ?
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:41am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Earlier on Sunday, New York police warned revelers to suit up in thermals, hats and gloves or risk frostbite and hypothermia
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5225051/Million-people-brave-second-coldest-New-Years-Eve-NY.html
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:06am
    - stephieboy
      
      Can we safely say that these freezing conditions that have frozen sharks is nothing unusual ?
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:19am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      They should have drunk more alcohol?
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:43am
    - Paulus
      
      Bloody Global Warming !
      
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      January 4, 2018 8:44am
- flipper
  
  Yep… Brother- in- law phoned this morning from central Florida. He complained that the temp will get down to 24F tonight.
  Central Florida? Climate change? Nahh…. it is due to Gore’s 40,000 sq ft northern mid-west mansion and his massive indoor swimming pool, fleet of big bangers and jets…..
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:24am
- VicParking
  
  Global warming is to blame.
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:03pm
hullkiwi

Hi fellow KB bloggers,
This morning I apologise up front for venting my spleen, but I would like to share with you a message we in Ahuroa received yesterday. I am sharing the message with you, because to me it highlights the angst that a small number of morons can create within a community, and on a macro scale it raises questions about what type of behaviour we find acceptable in modern New Zealand.
The message is from our local primary school principal posted on the Ahuroa community information web blog “The Ahuroa Grapevine”, please refer below,
http://www.ahuroa.nz/2018/01/02/ahuroa-school-community-help-desperately-needed/
Yes, learning that these mindless acts of vandalism have occurred in our community annoys, angers and saddens me, but in equal measure it both saddens and angers me that in our society we have among us those who:
1. partake in the mindless vandalism described by Michelle Nell and think this is a jolly good laugh and is a way of passing the boredom;
2. know who this mindless moron is/or who these mindless morons are and by not saying anything they are as guilty as the perpetrators; and
3. excuse and find this mindless vandalism acceptable because the (or these) moron(s) are bored – in this instance that is bullshit, because the (or these) perpetrator(s) had to drive to the school to carry out their action (and that suggests premeditation, not the act of someone who is bored and carries out a spontaneous act for the hell of it.
For those of you who are happy to excuse this sort of mindless behaviour and say “what the hell, the school is able to afford to repair the damage without any consequence”, well you are wrong. Someone always has to pick up the cost of repairing such damage, whether it be our general community, the property of anybody (rich or poor), or even a rural school. And for those of you who think a rural school can easily pick up the tab for the repair of such vandalism, once again you are wrong, because the school in question has very limited resources (financial and otherwise) at its disposal.
Moving from the specifics of the case above, many questions are raised about what type of society we are creating for ourselves. To me, the above actions and thoughts are signs of a society that has much wrong with it, but am I alone/a minority in having these opinions?
To me how wrong matters are, was highlighted by the Governor General in her address on Monday. During her address she highlighted the plight of woman, and made reference to women still facing violence in the home.
Hello…., this has been a continuing/growing problem for the past 100 years, and all we have done as a collective society is seen a growth industry of government agencies and other NGO organisations telling us that this problem is unacceptable.
To me, this has been instead of dealing with the actual issue, i.e. the perpetrators of the violence.
Why do we need to keep talking about an issue continually rather than do something about it?, or is it a case that the issue doesn’t really exist, but we need to create an industry that talks continually about an issue?

I would be interested in the thoughts/opinions of others.
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January 3, 2018 9:04am
- Digmen1
  
  I don’t have time to read such long posts, that may or not be interesting to me.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:05am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    And that is your choice, as is commenting on the fact, which was a poor choice imo
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:21am
- waikatogirl
  
  Michelle Nell sounds like a good lefty… nobody is responsible for their behaviour today, there is always an excuse. Bored, really!
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:24am
- Inandout
  
  Condense, and then highlight main points.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:27am
- GazzaW
  
  The presence of nappies and empty bottles in the pool and the proximity of the school to SH16 would indicate that an ‘entitled’ family group has stopped enroute to/from Northland for a poolside picnic over the Christmas break. Welcome to ‘civilisation’ Michelle. Some surveillance cameras might do the trick otherwise a PTA roster to have your school community members have a presence at the pool over the holiday period.
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:02am
- GoVege
  
  Hullkiwi: the issue exists alright.
  The trouble is, most women who seek help soon find that the organizations paid to assist them have only one solution : leave.
  90% of women do not want to bust up their families so they are stuck in limbo.
  The only organization that will give them real help (these days) is the Police.
  All the rest have their own philosophies and agendas
  It’s in society’s interests to keep families together, because generally things get worse all round when kids have a succession of stepfathers.
  
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  January 3, 2018 12:48pm
Simon

Lynch. Another trigger word for the left
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January 3, 2018 9:05am
stephieboy

Donald Trump mocked after taking credit for 2017 air safety record: ‘Unlike Obama, Trump won’t let any planes crash’

President says he has been ‘very strict on Commercial Aviation’

“…The President appeared to be referencing a report from the Aviation Safety Network that dubbed 2017 the “safest year ever for commercial aviation”.
But as a number of Twitter users noted, no one has died on a commercial American carrier’s flight since 2009, when a plane crashed near Buffalo, New York….”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-plane-safety-tweet-credit-us-president-mocked-crashes-a8138511.html

Enough said !
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January 3, 2018 9:26am
- Inandout
  
  Enough said for the day, just go and pray somewhere.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:29am
- Milhous
  
  It’s Trumps frequent inane , and baffling comments like this which quite rightly have many people worried about his health.
  
  There is a fair bit of evidence provided by the man himself to suggest there is a good chance he has Alzheimer’s.
  
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  January 3, 2018 9:35am
  - Inandout
    
    Oh yeah that’s right he has dementia, and Michelle Obama has balls. It’s true, it was on You tube.
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:38am
    - Milhous
      
      He’s quite elderly, he slurs his speech , he is clearly documented as consistently confabulating, he seems to have a problem with manual dexterity……just observations, but all point to a degenerative neural process .
      
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      January 3, 2018 9:45am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Just like Winnie (the Poo)Peters?
        
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        January 3, 2018 12:21pm
      - Viking2
        
        For your benefit 72 is not old.
        
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        January 3, 2018 8:28pm
  - VicParking
    
    It’s Milhous’s frequent inane , and baffling comments like this which quite rightly have many people worried about his health.
    
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    January 3, 2018 4:06pm
KH

News unwelcome to some. “Thousands match against Netanyahu corruption” (Al Masdar News) Fifth week in a row apparently.
Israeli Spring ? Perhaps not.
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January 3, 2018 9:59am
- Brito
  
  Not a little bit biased don’t we think?
  
  A wee bit rag-head centric…
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:23am
Morrissey

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Trump Tweets “Time for Change” While Backing Dictators Worldwide

GLENN GREENWALD: So, Iran is an extremely sophisticated and complex country of 80 million people. And I think that when it comes to analyzing exactly what’s driving the protest in Iran, we ought to defer to Iranians, people who are steeped in Iran’s civil society, and ought to avoid the sort of overnight experts who tend to pop up in the West and opine on these matters from afar without much knowledge. Even within the commentariat of Iranians, you see conflicting accounts about whether the primary impetus is economic deprivation or agitation for greater political rights, whether it’s demands that the government reform or whether it’s an actual desire to change the government. So, I think, really, all we can say from afar is that protesting one’s own government without being shot in the street or arrested is a universal human right, and we ought to have solidarity with people who are agitating to make their government better.

But what I do think we can and have to comment on is the posture of the United States government and Western governments in terms of foreign policy and how they’re responding to the events in Tehran. That, I think, we can comment on meaningfully and should. I think it’s worth remembering that for a long time it has been the top item on the foreign policy agenda of lots of factions to have regime change in Iran. Going back to 2005, 2006, the neocon slogan, after they toppled Saddam Hussein, was “real men go to Tehran.” They were really most eager to facilitate regime change in Iran. And so, there’s a lot of interest in terms of agitating for instability in Iran from people who are pretending to care about the Iranian people, but who actually couldn’t care less about the Iranian people.

And you could start with Donald Trump, who, as you just noted, tweeted his grave concern for the welfare of Iranians. This is the same president who, not more than three months ago, announced a ban on Iranians from coming to the United States. He’s somebody who has aligned with the world’s worst, most savage dictators, including in Saudi Arabia and other places around the world. Lots of Western commentators who are posturing about being concerned about human rights in Iran are people in think tanks funded by other dictatorships and repressive tyrants in the same region. So I think we ought to be extremely skeptical when it comes to people like Donald Trump or people in Washington think tanks pretending that they’re wanting to intervene in Iran out of concern for human rights or for the welfare of the Iranian people. I think when it comes to foreign policy, the best thing we can hope for is that the United States stays out of what is a matter of political dispute inside Iran.

Read more…
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/2/glenn_greenwald_on_iran_protests_trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqh0KgkupuA
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January 3, 2018 9:59am
- GazzaW
  
  What does fount of all knowledge Gideon Levy think Morrissey?
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:05am
  - Morrissey
    
    He’s not the fount of all knowledge, he’s simply an honest journalist. He and other honest Israeli journalists like Amira Hass are the equivalents of Glenn Greenwald and our own Nicky Hager.
    
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    January 3, 2018 10:09am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Nicky Hager isn’t a journalist Morrissey, he’s a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist who joins dots that are not there to make nothing seem like something.
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:14am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Totally agree Vino, if Hager is a journalist I’m a trapeze artist and Morrissey is a sane human being.
        
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        January 3, 2018 10:46am
    - GazzaW
      
      Glenn Greenwald of ‘Moment of Truth’ fame? Bahahaha!
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:48am
    - notrotsky
      
      Greenwald like most of Moz’s heroes has the distinct touch of ‘snivelling cunt’ about him.
      
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      January 3, 2018 10:50am
      - Morrissey
        
        Oooooh, notrotsky, you’re AWFUL……
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJmg-879j5o
        
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        January 3, 2018 5:13pm
      - Gabby
        
        Where’d you get your dribbling vagina nutrotty? Surgery?
        
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        January 3, 2018 6:39pm
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Lol, “aligned with the most savage dictators including in Saudi Arabia”. Obviously means that country that is such a paragon of rights and diversity that it sits on the UN Council for Womans Rights.
  And Greenwald advocates of course, that “ought to avoid the sort of overnight experts who tend to pop up in the West and opine on these matters from afar without much knowledge”, when he himself has made a living from doing the same.
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:13am
- stephieboy
  
  And Greenwald will tell us that China and Russia are Lilly white ?
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:22am
- flipper
  
  Geez…. I suppose there are a few idiots that can be persuaded by this MFAT panty-waist crap
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:31am
- Harkman
  
  Didn’t Obama go on an apology tour to these dictators, that you accuse Trump of being allies with, as his 1st tour as President?
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:54am
Lance

Well Milhous et al.

I don’t like Trump’s style, he irritates me most of the time with ill tempered comments and tweets.
BUT
I cannot deny that he has the balls to enact the following actions that are long overdue
1. Recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
2. Introduced serious tax reform
3. Is calling out paying eye watering amounts of aid to countries that hate them, lie to them and harbour the enemies of the USA.
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January 3, 2018 10:03am
- Milhous
  
  1 and 3 I will give you, but is that enough to mitigate the hamfisted governance that he engages 95% of the time ?
  
  The tax cuts are a dog. I would love to love them as much as rank and file trumpophants do, but the fact of the matter is they are poorly constructed , full of loopholes, largely temporary and are based on massive deficit borrowing … the very Fucking thing we as conservatives have fought against for decades!
  
  Health policy…. a dog.
  Infrastructure …..non existent
  The Wall…..a joke.
  General Governance widely acknowledged as the worst ever.
  
  He barks and yaps like a little dog at every passing car, but at then end of the day he curls up and goes to bed early having achieved nothing.
  
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  January 3, 2018 10:16am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Bleeding heck Milhous, you had to say it didnt you? “achieving nothing”. Try healthcare, welfare, religious liberty and homosexual and transgender matters just for starters (yep, it is LONG!):
    The Trump Administration took numerous actions related to healthcare and welfare:
    January 20, 2017—On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that would lessen Obamacare’s burden while Republicans work to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
    August 30, 2017—The Department of Health and Human Services rescinded an Obama-era directive that had allowed states to request a waiver to ignore work requirements for the poor in order to receive welfare.
    October 12, 2017—President Trump signed an executive order to increase market competition and make the healthcare market freer, such as by expanding access to plans that reach across state lines and which do not have to comply with ObamaCare rules.
    October 12, 2017—The Trump Administration announced it would stop paying Obamacare subsidies, which a federal court ruled during the Obama Administration to be unconstitutional.
    
    The Trump Administration took numerous actions related to religious liberty:
    
    May 4, 2017—On the annual National Day of Prayer, President Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty. Among its provisions, it loosened IRS restrictions against political activities by tax-exempt religious organizations, effectively weakening the Johnson Amendment; and it attempted to make it easier for employers not to provide contraceptives if they had religious objections. The order gave conservative Attorney General Jeff Sessions greater authority regarding religious liberty policy. Although well received by some Christians and conservatives, others criticized it for being ineffective and easy to repeal.
    October 6, 2017—The Department of Health and Human Services rolled back the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate which required employers to provide birth control and sterilization procedures to employees even if the employers disagreed with the services for religious and moral reasons.
    October 6, 2017—The Department of Justice issued several memos directing how federal agencies should interpret religious freedom, directing the DOJ to vet proposed regulations for any potential impact on religious freedom, and ordering the IRS not to enforce the Johnson Amendment.
    November 6, 2017—The Department of Agriculture issued a guidance protecting religious liberty and ensuring that Christians who opposed homosexual “marriage” would not be discriminated against for their beliefs.
    
    The Trump Administration took numerous actions related to homosexual, transgender, and other sex-related matters:
    
    February 22, 2017—President Trump rescinded former President Obama’s pro-transgender guidelines for schools receiving federal aid that are subject to Title IX. A day earlier, the Trump Administration announced it would discontinue Obama’s pro-transgender policies.
    April 14, 2017—The Justice Department dropped its discrimination lawsuit against North Carolina for its “bathroom bill” (filed under the Obama Administration) after North Carolina passed a compromise bill. Homosexual activists still opposed the new bill.
    In May 2017, the Trump Administration began to undo Section 1557 of ObamaCare, which would have helped liberals gain transexual “rights” through the courts.
    President Trump did not proclaim June 2017 as LGBT Pride Month, unlike former presidents Clinton and Obama.
    October 4, 2017—The Department of Justice issued a memo reversing an Obama-era policy that had the DOJ interpret the scope of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to extend to “gender identity.”
    
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    January 3, 2018 11:22am
    - Milhous
      
      Is that it!!!
      
      Is that “Making America Great again”?
      
      A rag tag of ineffectual and meaningless sop’s to his inbred base.
      
      Jesus H Christ its worse than I thought!
      
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      January 3, 2018 11:37am
      - Sideoiler
        
        …..Jesus H Christ its worse than I thought!
        
        What an elegant rebuttal.
        
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        January 3, 2018 4:48pm
KH

Seems to create only disaster when the big countries decide on regime change. Pour in a few billion, employ some rebels, pay them salaries that they have never seen the likes of, call them freedom fighters, and end up with worse than you started with. Not to mention a few million dead civilians and tens of millions displaced.
Should be a war crime catagory.
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January 3, 2018 10:13am
- EAD_TWO
  
  The problem KH is that people have short memories.
  
  Surely it should be ringing alarm people when the likes of Hillary Clinton & Bernie Sanders are lining up beside Trump & Paul Ryan (not to mention reptiles like Bill Kristol & Ben Shapiro)
  
  Be very careful being taken in by this “muh freedom fighter” rhetoric, we’ve seen it countless times before. It ends with hundreds of thousands of Iranians dying in American air raids.
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:23am
  - hullkiwi
    
    EAD_Two,
    It is almost needless to add George W Bush (with his ill conceived war on terror) and the Pommy pair of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (who conned the UK parliament into pursuit of an illegal war in Iraq).
    
    In both Afghanistan and Iraq the US and UK led nations to war with no clear military objective in mind and with no plan to secure the peace once major hostilities concluded.
    
    The consequence, 100,000s of civilians have been needlessly killed in both countries where it has been difficult to guarantee the safety of civilians. great result.
    Obama’s actions were equally unclear and littered with broken promises as were the actions of David Cameron.
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:39pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    Sorry, I forgot the US and Chenney’s mates were after the Iraqi oil.
    
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    January 3, 2018 12:41pm
Digmen1

Iran
Yes, its pretty hard to overthrow a regime, unless you are the military.
Who would run the country?
Who would handle some new elections?
Would a new constitution need to be written.
What would the Republican guard do (who pays them?)
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January 3, 2018 10:46am
- Harkman
  
  Sadly, all the protesters will be shot. It is called Islam, the religion of peace.
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:02am
EAD_TWO

This is funny – a Jewish family insist that marriage plans cease upon discovery that bride was “only half Jewish.”

https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/12/27/16811056/orthodox-jewish-wedding

But remember, Jews aren’t racist, they’re the ultimate victims of racism. What a master stroke 🙂
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January 3, 2018 11:11am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Fixed it for you: “This is funny – an orthodox Jewish family insist that marriage plans cease upon discovery that bride was “only half Jewish.”
  
  EAD_TWO, as you know, comparing orthodox Jews to ordinary Jews is like comparing Amish to Methodists.
  
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  January 3, 2018 12:40pm
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Plenty of agreement it seems to the proposition that we shouldn’t take the actions of a small number of deranged fruitloops as a reflection on an entire community.
    
    Now can anybody think of any other communities that the same sensible approach might apply to?
    
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    January 3, 2018 2:13pm
  - EAD_TWO
    
    Thanks Odakyu,
    
    So these people are essentially “Jewish Supremicists” or “far right Jews” or “Jewish Nazis” to use the lexicon of the left??
    
    Are you aware that Israel has very strict laws on race mixing so that The Jew doesn’t mix their bloodline so to maintain racial purity?
    
    https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/shavuot/.premium-1.596576
    
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    January 3, 2018 5:08pm
    - Odakyu-sen
      
      I think many Israelis regard “these people” as a pain in the tuchus. (They won’t serve in the military, the men have large families but spend a lot of time studying the Torah, the list goes on…).
      
      As for marriage, civil, interfaith and same-sex marriages entered into abroad are recognized by the state of Israel. (Just get married overseas.)
      
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      January 3, 2018 5:15pm
Morrissey

Another reason you should not go on Facebook

Aside from the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is a sniveling little weasel, and an enemy of the teaching profession in the United States, his corporation is simply nasty….

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/2/glenn_greenwald_is_facebook_operating_as
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January 3, 2018 11:16am
- Inandout
  
  Facebook and Twitter are becoming irrelevant, and anyhow Gab has taken a lot of their visitors. Isn’t free speech wonderful?
  
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  January 3, 2018 11:52am
  - itstricky
    
    Facebook and Twitter are becoming irrelevant, and anyhow Gab has taken a lot of their visitors. Isn’t free speech wonderful?
    
    Facebook = 2 billion users Gab = 31 thousand users
    Facebook = Alexa position 3 Gab = Alexa position 17,000
    
    Admittedly these figures are from Wikipedia but J-H-C I think you’re dreaming a very vivid hallucination.
    
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    January 3, 2018 5:06pm
Jack5

The multiculturists and PC mob have sprung into action over the crime wave by young Sudanese in Melbourne.

Their ethnicity has largely disappeared from media reports, though, in The Age, of Melbourne, this is included in the report:

African youth leaders believe a small core of repeat offenders are responsible for the majority of crime blamed on their communities, and this was backed up by Victoria’s police minister Lisa Neville, who said on Tuesday: “Victoria Police have known, recognised, that there are a small number but a core group … of criminal thugs.”

On the ABC web site, the campaign to shut down mention of the gangsters’ ethnicity is under way:

Saturation media coverage of a “gang crisis” is fuelling discrimination against young African immigrants, who are increasingly “viewed as criminals wherever they go”, community advocates say.

The ABC reports a Anthony Kelly, from Smart Justice — a group of organisations led by Victoria’s Federation of Community Legal Centres — said the “black crime association” in mainstream media is a key factor behind the practice of racial profiling by police.

This is the cover-up approach. It’s understandable when taken by newcomers from less democratic countries, but reprehensible when taken by local multiculturists and Leftists.

The ABC says statistics show that a Victorian is more than 25 times more likely to be seriously assaulted by someone born in Australia or New Zealand than by someone born in Sudan or Kenya.

This ignores the per capita aspect. That is, from the statistics, what is the probability of a Sudanese or Kenyan person in Victoria seriously assaulting someone. Compare this with the likelihood of someone born in Australia or NZ doing the same.
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January 3, 2018 12:40pm
- stephieboy
  
  Jack5 , the life and times ( past and present ) of the Melbourne Calabrian Mafia brings a sense of perspective with your handwringing over black crime there ,
  
  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/true-crime-scene/how-melbourne-became-a-calabrian-mafia-stronghold/news-story/be9affa3d431dc9ff26fe6159199e7e3
  
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  January 3, 2018 12:54pm
  - Jack5
    
    Good afternoon, Duty Stephie – Mum Stephie.
    
    I hope your boys weren’t among those lunging at painted boobs at the Rhythm & Vines rave.
    
    Though I think the boobs would have been too mature to titivate your Stephie-ettes.
    
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    January 3, 2018 1:11pm
    - Paulus
      
      The R& V show
      I missed it and note that it has been closed.
      Damn – nothing like a good young US half naked doll to admire.
      
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      January 3, 2018 2:15pm
      - VicParking
        
        By Comparing her age with her hang she been doing it for a while.
        
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        January 3, 2018 4:11pm
    - Manolo
      
      Preference wise, where do you locate the pious Muslim? 🙂
      
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      January 3, 2018 3:30pm
    - Gabby
      
      I was wondering how Ponyboy spends his hols.
      
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      January 3, 2018 7:00pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Tables of crime statistics presented at the end of this item on African street gangs in Melbourne.
  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-02/street-gangs-are-a-problem-in-melbourne-police-admit/9297984
  
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  January 3, 2018 2:44pm
  - stephieboy
    
    MW, much like it was in West Auckland a couple of years back ,
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/73705576/West-Auckland-town-centre-plagued-by-armed-gang-of-youths
    
    The name African or Black seems of significance to you .
    
    Interesting ..
    
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    January 3, 2018 3:19pm
    - Manolo
      
      Significant to every honourable citizen. Most of these animals share your vile cult. Enough said.
      
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      January 3, 2018 3:32pm
Manolo

Waste of money or wise investment?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiels-founders-fund-makes-big-bet-on-bitcoin-1514917433

Founders and Mr. Thiel, 50 years old, are well-known for early investments in companies like Facebook Inc. that sometimes take years to come to fruition. The bitcoin bet is quickly showing promise. Founders bought around $15 million to $20 million in bitcoin, and it has told investors the firm’s haul is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars after the digital currency’s ripping rise in the past year.
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January 3, 2018 12:53pm
- Jack5
  
  According to this report, monero seems to have displaced bitcoin, at least among criminals who use cryptocurrency to launder money.
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/criminal-underworld-is-dropping-bitcoin-for-another-currency-20180102-h0co06.html
  
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  January 3, 2018 1:13pm
Odakyu-sen

“The ABC says statistics show that a Victorian is more than 25 times more likely to be seriously assaulted by someone born in Australia or New Zealand than by someone born in Sudan or Kenya.”

Therefore, if someone born in Sudan or Kenya is just as likely to seriously assault as someone born in Australia or New Zealand, there must be 1 Sudanese or Kenyan per 25 Australians or New Zealanders in Victoria.
Since the population of Melbourne is 4.5 million, there must be (4.5 million / 25 ) = 180,000 Sudanese or Kenyans in Melbourne.
If the population of Sudanese or Kenyans in Melbourne is only 18,000, then they must be 10 times more likely to seriously assault than a native or a Kiwi.
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January 3, 2018 12:53pm
- RalphT
  
  Never let the facts get in the way of a bleeding heart story.
  
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  January 3, 2018 1:04pm
- VicParking
  
  Now compare the statisical ratio between assults by those born in Australia to those born in East Africa
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:14pm
Manolo

Doom and gloom. EAD reincarnated:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/02/2018-may-bring-disastrous-geopolitical-event-says-eurasia-group.html

The world is moving toward crisis and a state of “geopolitical depression” as the presidency of Donald Trump accelerates divisions among citizens and the unraveling of the global order, risk consultancy Eurasia Group warns.

Liberal democracies are suffering from a deficit of legitimacy not seen since World War II, and today’s leaders have largely abandoned civil society and common values, Eurasia Group says in its annual assessment of top geopolitical risks. The breakdown in norms opens the door to a major event that could rock the global economy and markets.

“In the 20 years since we started Eurasia Group, the global environment has had its ups and downs. But if we had to pick one year for a big unexpected crisis — the geopolitical equivalent of the 2008 financial meltdown — it feels like 2018,” said Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer and Chairman Cliff Kupchan.
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January 3, 2018 1:04pm
Surely Knott

The Aussies telling it like it is about lefty virtue signalling hierarchies. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/the-real-reason-lorde-boycotted-israel/news-story/5eda88387ad26a34d3873dce620c8f5d
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January 3, 2018 1:27pm
publicwatchdog

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Remember this Auckland-wide ‘Rates Revolt’ back in 2003 Kiwibloggers?

“North Shore City Council backs ARC rate revolt – NZ Herald

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3514371

The North Shore City Council last night joined the revolt against the Auckland Regional Council’s new rate.

At a noisy city council meeting councillors voted unanimously to ask the ARC to urgently review their new rate, which has seen bills skyrocket across Auckland.
…”

Just asking – nicely 🙂

Penny Bright
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January 3, 2018 1:48pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  So are any of you Kiwiblog ‘down tickers’ private consultants or contractors to Auckland Council (or Auckland CCOs) perchance?
  
  Who don’t want the public to know how much (your) private contracts are costing Auckland ratepayers and citizens?
  
  (Seems that there are thousands of them ….)
  
  Penny Bright
  
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  January 3, 2018 3:13pm
  - calendar girl
    
    No, I’m not a private consultant or contractor to Auckland Council or any of its CCOs. But I did down-tick your comment.
    
    Thank you for asking.
    
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    January 3, 2018 4:05pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      Why did you downtick my comment Calendar Girl?
      
      Don’t you support transparency in the spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors?
      
      Just asking – nicely 🙂
      
      Penny Bright
      
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      January 3, 2018 4:16pm
  - VicParking
    
    No Penny we are people who pay our rates.
    
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    January 3, 2018 4:15pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      And you simply don’t care if Auckland Council don’t comply with their statutory duties regarding transparency in public spending on private consultants and contractors?
      
      Or you’re too scared to do anything about it and prefer to oppose someone who is?
      
      (Are you actually an Auckland Council ratepayer?)
      
      Just wondering 🙂
      
      Penny Bright
      
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      January 3, 2018 4:20pm
  - GazzaW
    
    I downticked you Ms Bright because my bigger concern is with longterm debtors who force the Council to use my rates to pay lawyers in an endeavour to secure payment for services and facilities that you have misappropriated.
    
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    January 3, 2018 5:20pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    once again fuck off
    
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    January 3, 2018 11:15pm
kevn

When did you last pay your council rates? Just asking…
18 1
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January 3, 2018 2:01pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  Some years ago.
  
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  January 3, 2018 2:58pm
  - sooty
    
    Well, go and pay some now! How stupid can you be?
    
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    January 3, 2018 3:21pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      Seen this Sooty?
      
      This is the information currently provided about awarded contracts by Auckland Council:
      
      https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/working-with-us/Pages/awarded-contracts.aspx
      
      “Awarded contracts and supplier spend
      
      We regularly publish awarded contracts and supplier spend reports, as part of our commitment to transparency and the proactive sharing of information of interest to Aucklanders.
      
      What is an awarded contracts report?
      
      An awarded contracts report contains information about contracts valued at $100,000 and greater, awarded by the council during the period stated (including provisional spending commitments in some instances).
      
      An awarded contracts report lists:
      
      a description of the goods and/or services being supplied
      
      the general type of goods and/or services being supplied
      
      the name of the successful supplier
      the start date and end date of the contract.”
      _________________________
      
      You may note that not only does Auckland Council NOT provide the following details of ALL awarded contracts, (only contracts worth more than $100,000) but does not track the money spent on each unique contract.
      
      Information requested:
      
      The unique contract number.
      
      The name of the consultant/ contractor.
      
      A brief description of the scope of the contract.
      
      Contract start/finish dates.
      
      The exact dollar cost of each and every awarded contract – including those sub-contracted.
      
      How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
      
      Do YOU think that Auckland Council should provide this information about awarded contracts Sooty?
      
      Yes or no?
      
      If ‘no’ – why not?
      
      Penny Bright.
      
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      January 3, 2018 3:42pm
      - srylands
        
        No because it is mind numbingly boring and useless information. If you ever got all the information you dream of, how would you analyse it?
        
        The problem with local councils (and I generalise) is creeping reach into dubious or plain stupid functions, and poor regulatory regimes, badly administered.
        
        How about you get on to that? And stop asking stupid questions. And pay your rates.
        
        14 2
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        January 3, 2018 4:14pm
      - sooty
        
        They should not have too, until you pay your rates. Until you pay rates you are just a bludger on the rest of the ratepayers. You should get no water at all, no rubbish.
        
        2 0
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        January 3, 2018 7:32pm
      - Keeping Stock
        
        Rates revolt, eh Penny?
        
        Well, as a business ratepayer to Auckland Council, I think it’s revolting that you won’t pay your rates, but you still avail yourself of the council’s services.
        
        4 2
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        January 3, 2018 7:50pm
rangitoto

Latest from the Don:

‘North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!’
16 1
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January 3, 2018 2:02pm
- mikenmild
  
  What next?
  “Kim better watch out or I’ll get my Chinese best friend to beat him up”
  
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  January 3, 2018 3:42pm
  - GoVege
    
    Welcome back Milky!
    
    4 8
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    January 3, 2018 3:50pm
    - GazzaW
      
      translation: Fuck off Milky!
      
      7 4
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      January 3, 2018 5:22pm
      - Gabby
        
        Cum on that’s a bit harsh guzzla.
        
        0 4
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        January 3, 2018 7:05pm
      - GazzaW
        
        You could do us all a favour and piss off too Gabby. You contribute nothing but inane oneliners and adolescent nametags.
        
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        January 3, 2018 9:38pm
DifferentPerspective

Iran protests? Will Golriz go back now please?

If the Iran protests continue and are successful, can Golly G please go back there? A true feminist and activist would surely be more interested in dealing to the oppressors in a post-revolutionary Iran?
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January 3, 2018 3:15pm
- VicParking
  
  Funding from the Greens/COL to send her over there on our behalf is needed. I’m sure the lawyers who are representing all those that were arrested need someone to make their coffee.
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:19pm
  - CrazyIvan
    
    Wouldn’t she be defending the Revolutionary Guards who did the shooting?
    
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    January 3, 2018 5:06pm
waikatosinger

There has been some comment on water quality in Auckland in the news recently.

The engineers and practical people are working on improving the situation with new and better pipes. Meanwhile the Green and Labour types want to fix the problem with a new tax.

Typical.
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January 3, 2018 3:22pm
- MCos
  
  Many, many years ago Frank Kitts who was mayor of Wellington & part of our whanau was telling us just how difficult it was to convince ratepayers that a lot of money needed to be spent on the continual upgrading of sewerage systems, town water supplies & other boring stuff like that if it meant a rate rise.
  Consequently it got put off . . . . .
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:03pm
publicwatchdog

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Here you go Kiwibloggers – some more FACTS.

‘Records Management Standard for the New Zealand Public Sector’

(Released July 2016 – please note that the Public Records Act 2005 has been the LAW since 2005.)

http://archives.govt.nz/sites/default/files/records-management-standard_for_the_new_zealand_public_sector_-_may_2014.html#Offences-under-the-Public-Records-Act

iv. Offences under the Public Records Act

The following actions are offences under the Public Records Act:

wilful or negligent damage of a public record

disposal of a public record otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and
contravention of, or failure to comply with, any provisions of the Act or any regulation made under it

v. Records of business activities contracted out

Public sector organisations must ensure that records of business activities carried out under contract are created and maintained.

Contracting organisations could:

require contractors to create and maintain appropriate records, or
require contractors to provide them with sufficient information so they can themselves create and maintain appropriate records, or
combine the two approaches
…”

Penny Bright
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January 3, 2018 3:24pm
- VicParking
  
  BOHOO
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:20pm
Manolo

Isn’t Mamma Merkel doing wonders for Germany?
http://www.dw.com/en/afd-politician-censored-under-new-german-hate-speech-law-for-anti-muslim-tweet/a-41992679

Beatrix von Storch, a leading figure in the Alternative for Germany party, is one of the first hit by new hate speech laws on social media. Critics say the legislation opens the way for censorship by internet companies.
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January 3, 2018 3:29pm
publicwatchdog

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Auckland Transport ‘Awarded contracts’ – provides more information than ‘parent’ Auckland Council – but still not enough, IMO, for proper transparency and accountability.

https://at.govt.nz/about-us/procurement/awarded-contracts/

“Awarded contracts
Auckland Transport is committed to ensuring its procurement activities are undertaken in an ethical and transparent manner.

This report shows all contracts awarded in the current financial year, it is updated at the beginning of each month.

Details include the contract number and name, the supplier, and the award value.”

Auckland Transport do not provide the finish dates of contracts or how contracts were awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.

Although Auckland Transport provide the exact dollar value of all awarded contracts – this (like Auckland Council) does not apply to sub-contracted contracts.

As I understand it – ALL Auckland Transport’s ‘operational’ spend is sub-contracted.

Penny Bright.
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January 3, 2018 4:01pm
- srylands
  
  zzzzzzzzzzzzzz………
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:15pm
  - publicwatchdog
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Ah – Srylands – the consultant / contractor who doesn’t want transparency – perchance?
    
    How can you possibly establish ‘cost-effectiveness’ in public rates or tax spending Srylands, if you don’t know exactly where the (contracting) costs fall?
    
    Or is your snout so deep in the trough you don’t care and don’t want others to know?
    
    😉
    Penny Bright
    
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    January 3, 2018 4:25pm
    - srylands
      
      No on the contrary, I am deeply interested in cost effectiveness. You, demonstrably, are not. You don’t understand it. You are simply on a crusade against capitalism, couched as opposition to corruption. A confused mash up of communism, paranoia, and entitlement.
      
      18 1
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      January 3, 2018 5:13pm
- Sofia
  
  In the interests of transparency and honesty, Penny, and as I can’t recall an update since Goff became Mayor, what is the current legal situation regarding your non-payment of rates?
  
  Have you lodged any appeal awaiting hearing or what its the position of any court action?
  
  Is it still correct you have not paid any rates since 2007?
  
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  January 3, 2018 4:20pm
  - sooty
    
    Come on Goofy, grow some balls and sell her up!
    
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    January 3, 2018 7:22pm
publicwatchdog

As I am still not receiving the ‘democratic services’ to which I am lawfully entitled regarding transparency in rates spending under the Public Records Act 2005, my rates are still being disputed, and I am still refusing to pay.

There is currently no ‘live’ Court action.

Thanks to my efforts to help resolve the underlying issue – there has been some improvement with Auckland Transport who now provide details of all awarded contracts, (previously just contracts worth more than $50,000).

(But not sub-contracted contracts.)

Why others who have the statutory duties and lawful authority to hold Auckland Council and CCOs to account continue to fail to do so – simply beggars belief, IMO.

In the meantime, as a citizen who knows both my rights and Auckland Council’s statutory duties, I shall continue to fight on.

I look forward to some major breakthroughs in transparency and accountability regarding public spending on private consultants and contractors in 2018.

It’s about time.

Penny Bright
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January 3, 2018 4:50pm
- starboard
  
  You’re a sexy woman alright Penny Bright , especially when you wear that coon skin hat ..and nothing else ?
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:11pm
- CrazyIvan
  
  Penny, you’re not entitled to anything under the Public Records Act. That just requires the Council to maintain records, which they probably are in terms of contract procurement. If you want to see those records then try the LAOIA
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:15pm
  - sooty
    
    Your not entitled to anything! Pay your rates. Untill you do, you should get nothing. Denada, diddly squat.
    
    8 1
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    January 3, 2018 7:20pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Penny:
  
  As I am still not receiving the ‘democratic services’ to which I am lawfully entitled regarding transparency in rates spending under the Public Records Act 2005, my rates are still being disputed, and I am still refusing to pay.
  
  Some facts (and law) from a High Court Judge:
  
  During the course of oral submissions Ms Bright accepted that her essential proposition was that the Council was in breach of its obligations under the Public Records Act and that provided a defence to the Council’s claim against her for unpaid rates. Ms Bright confirmed that she was not challenging the validity of the rates or suggesting the rates themselves were invalid. Ms Bright suggested this was a test case about the Public Records Act. To the extent Ms Bright considers that the Public Records Act has anything to do with this appeal, she is simply wrong.
  …
  None of the issues that Ms Bright raise amount to a defence to the Council’s claim for rates. Ms Bright may wish to make a point about the Council’s obligations under the Public Records Act and the Local Government Act, but these proceedings are not an appropriate vehicle to do so. Ms Bright, like other ratepayers, has an obligation to pay the rates that have been validly assessed as payable by her. Her refusal to do so simply increases the administration costs of the Council.
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:56pm
nasska

If the mad Waterwoman paid her rates to help facilitate the laying of new pipes it might prevent Auckland’s harbours from becoming defacto sewage ponds.

Now there’s an issue that a protester could sink her gums into.
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January 3, 2018 4:52pm
kevn

Not So Bright… They should cut your water and sewerage. Do they take your rubbish still? Cut that as well. They are the true council services.
Forget the pedantics of council mechanisms and your ‘rights’. Just be responsible.
As long as goff is running things nothing will change.
Run for council and fix it from inside the tent.
16 1
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January 3, 2018 4:58pm
- nasska
  
  I think you’ll find that she’s had her water restricted to a litre a minute according to council & Watercare policy. Health regulations would prevent them from shutting off sewage connections or rubbish collections.
  
  The poor folks living next to Chez Bright have suffered enough already…….the ACC mustn’t risk their health as well.
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:06pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  IMO – defending my lawful rights to transparency in Auckland Council spending by disputing and refusing to pay rates is the most responsible thing I can do as a citizen?
  
  What have YOU done?
  
  Kind regards
  
  Penny Bright
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:13pm
  - nasska
    
    …..”What have YOU done?”…..
    
    Since I don’t live in the hole……nothing.
    
    13 1
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    January 3, 2018 5:18pm
  - chuk
    
    I’ve paid my rates…………….
    
    17 1
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    January 3, 2018 5:22pm
    - sooty
      
      Got running water as well!
      
      9 0
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      January 3, 2018 7:13pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  You really don’t have a clue about my political history and track record – do you Kevn?
  
  🙂
  
  Penny Bright
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:18pm
  - chuk
    
    Well done Kevn.
    
    14 1
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    January 3, 2018 5:23pm
  - Komata
    
    Penelope
    
    kevn may not, but rest assured a lot of others do; and despite your self-delusional, self-important and ultimately pointless ‘crusades’ over the years, we STILL see that you are essentially a parasite in that you live off others (even resorting to theft, as proven by both the Occupy episode and your own on-going use of items and services that belong to Auckland ratepayers; a group of which you are not, by your admission, even part of); contribute absolutely NOTHING to society and then share your delusions and ‘supposed’ accomplishments with us….
    
    You’re just very fortunate that the ACC haven’t chosen thus far to close you down; be assured that there will be loud cheering when they do…
    
    Said in a ‘caring’ way of course; just in case you wondered…
    
    16 1
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    January 3, 2018 5:41pm
    - simpleton1
      
      “Occupy episode” where advantage was taken.
      “Caesars wife is to be above suspicion”
      Yet broke their constitituion, to clean out the bank account, for what she claims she was owed.
      In house or subcontracting one’s services?
      Inquiring in a caring way. !
      
      12 1
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      January 3, 2018 5:59pm
- sooty
  
  She’s tried standing at elections, but very little vote for her. I wonder why?
  
  8 0
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  January 3, 2018 7:16pm
nasska

Police in South Auckland pulled over a local youth & were amazed to find the car was registered with a current WOF. It wasn’t stolen & there were no stolen goods or drugs found. The driver was sober & he had a full licence with no demerit points.

A police spokesman said, “We had no option but to issue him with a $250 infringement notice for wasting police time.”
21 2
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January 3, 2018 5:02pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  They must have found a Mormon.
  
  10 0
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  January 3, 2018 5:18pm
- Gabby
  
  Why’d they pull him over then nutsack?
  
  1 12
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  January 3, 2018 7:09pm
publicwatchdog

Why does it matter – finding how much public money is being spent on private contractors?

Because it’s been proven to be nearly twice as expensive as ‘in house’ public service provision.

Seen this?

Economist’s View: “Contracting Out Costs the Government Lots Extra”

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2011/09/contracting-out-costs-the-government-lots-extra.html

“Contracting Out Costs the Government Lots Extra”
Michael Froomkin:
Contracting Out Costs the Government Lots Extra, Discourse.net: POGO Study: Contractors Costing Government Twice as Much as In-House Workforce.

This looks like an important study.

The results are sadly not incredible: if you look not at the wages employees receive in the contracted-out businesses, but rather the prices their employers charge the government for their services, contracting-out looks (sometimes very) expensive compared to using government workers.

The U.S. government’s increasing reliance on contractors to do work traditionally done by federal employees is fueled by the belief that private industry can deliver services at a lower cost than in-house staff.

But a first-of-its-kind study released today by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) busts that myth by showing that using contractors to perform services actually increases costs to taxpayers.

POGO’s new report is the first to compare the rate that contractors bill the federal government to the salaries and benefits of comparable federal employees.

The study found that while federal government salaries are higher than private sector salaries, contractor billing rates average 83 percent more than what it would cost to do the work in-house.

The study comes with some caveats, but at first glance it looks like a serious attempt to measure things that — oddly — are not routinely measured by the government that pays for all this stuff.”

Penny Bright
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January 3, 2018 5:17pm
- chuk
  
  Please go and pollute somewhere else. My down-ticking finger has more than enough exercise for the day.
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:24pm
- srylands
  
  You are still asking the wrong questions. That is why you are still railing against these imaginary demons year after year. You would be better off selling you house paying your rates, and retiring to a little cottage in Huntley.
  
  14 1
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  January 3, 2018 5:37pm
  - Komata
    
    srylands
    
    A bit unfair; what have the residents of Huntly done to deserve such a fate?
    
    11 0
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    January 3, 2018 5:44pm
- twofish
  
  So, publicwatchdog, you are in fact just an activist who is anti-private contractors.
  
  And your requests for contract details are to demonstrate your theory that private contracting nearly twice as expensive as ‘in house’ public service provision.
  And since there is no ‘in house’ “works division”, if you even had total out-contracted figures, you have nothing to compare them to – ‘in house’ no longer exists.
  
  You are yet to reveal any case of corruption in the decade you have not paid rates.
  
  So not paying rates is based on a personally held idea that Auckland Council should have its own fleet of bulldozers, mega-trucks, tunnelling machines and all the equipment to do its own city development and maintenance, with nothing but a vague memory of the past ‘ministry of works type department’ to compare it to.
  
  You have no legal grounds to not pay your rates, instead of bulging off neighbours’ contributions each time you use a footpath, road or anything much else.
  
  And don’t bother with the accusation I must be “one of them”. I’m just pointing out you are living in a past fantasy that will not re-invent itself. As evidence of that I would submit your own example – the time that Auckland Council has tolerated you not paying your rates. What you ask of them is beyond the simple rates task you yourself have presented them with. You are a great example of the incompetency you charge them with.
  QED.
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:40pm
  - calendar girl
    
    You provide that explanation very succinctly, twofish.
    
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    January 3, 2018 7:54pm
  - publicwatchdog
    
    So Twofish – you don’t believe that Auckland Council should comply with the ‘Rule of Law’ – namely the Public Records Act 2005?
    
    You don’t believe that Auckland Council should be financially prudent in the spending of public monies?
    
    Yes or no?
    
    Penny Bright
    
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    January 3, 2018 8:22pm
    - waikatosinger
      
      I believe that people should pay their rates. As for financial prudence, what I want to know is why the hell the council hasn’t seized your house already.
      
      2 0
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      January 4, 2018 1:49am
publicwatchdog

I first raised this POGO research over six years ago:

Where’s National’s ‘corporate welfare’ reform? | Scoop News

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00095/where-s-national-s-corporate-welfare-reform.htm

PRESS RELEASE: Independent Candidate for Epsom Penny Bright:

“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?

3 November 2011
…”
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January 3, 2018 5:23pm
kevn

bright… like a broken record. Regurgitating stuff from the the last decade.
Pay your rates, you are just a parasite on the backs of all the other ratepayers.
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January 3, 2018 5:29pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  That’s me Kevn – consistent, persistent and WINNING 🙂
  
  Have a lovely evening 🙂
  
  Penny Bright
  
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  January 3, 2018 7:03pm
  - kevn
    
    bright… You would seem to be another ‘MeTu’ type. You call that winning? Really? I would say consistently losing.
    All you have in life is health and reputation.
    One down one to go for you.
    
    17 1
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    January 3, 2018 7:09pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      IMO a large part of the problem is that so many public service ‘bureaucrats’ have private sector backgrounds and ‘culture’ they bring with them, and wouldn’t know public service ‘ethos’ if it leapt up and bit them on the bum (as it were).
      
      (Meant of course in a caring way 😉
      
      Penny Bright
      
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      January 3, 2018 7:15pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      I helped get Auckland Transport to ‘open the books’ – to include ALL contracts (including those costing less than $50,000).
      (But not yet sub-contracted contracts).
      
      Ask Auckland Transport Board Chair Lester Levy – he’ll confirm that.
      
      Penny Bright
      
      1 24
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      January 3, 2018 7:18pm
      - kevn
        
        bright, again… Helped? Really? Wow. Turned the pages for ‘them”, opened the door? Put sugar in ‘their’ coffee?
        Yep, I’ll give Lester a buzz, bound to be some gaps to be clarified.
        
        15 1
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        January 3, 2018 7:26pm
    - publicwatchdog
      
      Really Kevn?
      
      IMO – reputations cannot be bought or sold – they are based on years of your accumulated actions and proven track record.
      
      I’m quite happy with mine, as it happens 🙂
      
      Unlike you, Kevn, I put my name to my posts & anyone who wishes to, can ‘google’ my name to find out more about me, if they wish.
      
      Kind regards
      
      Penny Bright
      
      1 20
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      January 3, 2018 7:23pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Penny:
        
        anyone who wishes to, can ‘google’ my name to find out more about me, if they wish.
        
        http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/video-hysterical-scenes-during-arrest-of-occupy-protestor-penny-bright-2012012612
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:31pm
      - nasska
        
        If you really wanted to research the reputation of the true Bright Google offers up this:
        
        https://occupysavvy.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/penny-bright-fails-to-co-opt-occupy-auckland-again/
        
        12 0
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        January 3, 2018 7:41pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        From Nasska’s link:
        
        Penny Bright and the missing $200
        
        In another brilliant showing of respect for democracy, Penny completely ignored the G.A. rules that it must approve all funds before they are released (over $100) by usurping the last $200+ in the bank account, without G.A. approval, ostensibly with the help of “Chris Glen” who was on the finance committee and was also a bank signatory.
        
        She wanted it for “phone bills”… despite the Media Team she spent months trying to depose never having been reimbursed by Occupy Auckland for any of our bills incurred as a result of our activism work.
        
        Even worse – she took the money within a month of having been appointed to undertake an audit of Occupy Auckland expenditure (as recorded in her own minutes). For an anti-corruption campaigner who rails against backroom-deals and conflicts of interest – how could she take money outside of G.A. process while simultaneously being tasked as auditor? (Transparency! Accountability!)
        
        Penny Bright and anonymous donations
        
        In her second to last attack video, Penny claims that she is mortgage-free as a result of having “worked hard” . She claims to be a “professional protester”, as if it is somehow a viable career path, rather than a calling of conscience. Sensing something wrong, we went back in time a little bit and discovered the following articles on the Auckland libraries website.
        …
        Yes, that’s right. Penny Bright who publicly rails against anonymous donations and anonymity is in fact herself a beneficiary of them.
        
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        January 3, 2018 7:53pm
      - kevn
        
        I must add deluded. With plenty of self belief.
        The other posters below have had a look/laugh.
        Just pay your rates and then you will be qualified to comment on local body affairs.
        
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        January 3, 2018 8:47pm
mandk

“How many billion$ of public monies could be saved by ‘CUTTING OUT THE CONTRACTORS’?”

Based on my experience of working in both the public and private sectors, the truthful answer is zero. The waste and inefficiency in the public sector is vast.

The reason why this is true is because, if you stuff up in the public sector, it’s “only” other people’s money you have pissed away, and there is no come back. The public sector lacks the incentive not to be wasteful.
16 1
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January 3, 2018 5:31pm
- publicwatchdog
  
  How can you check for ‘efficiency’ when public services are contracted out to private sector contracts – when details of awarded contracts are not available for ‘line-by-line’ accounting and public scrutiny?
  
  How can you check for ‘cost-effectiveness’ when you don’t know exactly where the costs fall?
  
  In my opinion and experience ‘efficiency’ is just ‘corporate speak’ for ‘we haven’t yet got our filthy hands on it.’
  
  Penny Bright
  
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  January 3, 2018 7:09pm
Digmen1

I’d like to sack all the town clerks (CEOs) and all the bureaucrats.
And re-advertise half of their jobs at 100K with a 20K bonus for really good performance, as voted by the ratepayers.
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January 3, 2018 5:48pm
Longknives

Sounds like Ardern has told Police to Zip It!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/100302588/cause-of-rhythm–vines-sickness-outbreak-may-never-be-known-says-dhb

Fairly obvious to anyone with a brain they have all taken some bad drugs.
But Jacinda won’t want any bad publicity from ‘her’ festival…
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January 3, 2018 5:49pm
- nasska
  
  Of course it could be crook chicken from the local greasy or high levels of E.coli in the water at the Rere rockslide that many of those afflicted with the bug had swum in.
  
  But it wouldn’t bolster your campaign against all social drugs other than alcohol.
  
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  January 3, 2018 5:58pm
  - Longknives
    
    “Eastern district commander Inspector Sam Aberahama said on Wednesday afternoon that health experts at Tairāwhiti DHB had informed him some of the patients had taken MDMA (ecstasy) and ketamine – an anaesthetic that is also used as a horse tranquiliser.”
    
    10 0
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    January 3, 2018 6:01pm
    - nasska
      
      …….”Michael Weir, who became sick with the stomach bug after the festival ended, said St John staff had mentioned at the time that many of the people they had treated for the bug had recently visited the nearby Rere rockslide.”…..
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/100302588/cause-of-rhythm–vines-sickness-outbreak-may-never-be-known-says-dhb
      
      5 1
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      January 3, 2018 6:03pm
      - Longknives
        
        Of course Michael Weir doesn’t want his Mum and Dad to know he took Horse Tranquiliser!
        
        Mate I’m not going on an Anti-Drug bandwagon here- Just pointing out that kids have been popping pills and tabs at Festivals like this for decades, and it is sadly quite common for unscrupulous types to rip them off with some bad ingredients..
        Of course Jacinda being self-annointed ‘Queen’ of Rhythm and Vines wouldn’t want any bad publicity…
        
        9 1
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        January 3, 2018 6:16pm
- kevn
  
  LK… Those millenials. Not counting JA, she has her own special.
  
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  January 3, 2018 6:00pm
Digmen1

I really like Donald Trumps latest tweet. That he has a bigger button than KJU and that his actually works!

That will prove to all of his detractors that he still has a sharp mind.
13 0
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January 3, 2018 5:51pm
- Gabby
  
  His carers tell him it works dicman.
  
  2 10
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  January 3, 2018 7:11pm
publicwatchdog

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the unsubstantiated allegations of Suzette Maree Dawson.

Interesting that you (again) choose to rely on them 🙂

Which tends to help prove whose side Suzette Maree Dawson was really on, IMO, and whose interests she was really serving?

Not those, IMO, of the public 99%.

Kind regards

Penny Bright
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January 3, 2018 8:30pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Penny:
  
  … the unsubstantiated allegations of Suzette Maree Dawson …
  
  Well, if it’s a toss-up between you and Suzie Dawson, then I’m not sure who has less credibility than the other! (By the way, as Suzie hasn’t put her name to the OccupySavvy blog, how do you know she wrote it?)
  
  But, to the issue at hand, what part of the allegations are “unsubstantiated” in your view? Did $200 go missing? Did you take it? If not who did?
  
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  January 3, 2018 8:40pm
  - nasska
    
    With a prosecutor of your calibre Bain & Lundy would have been dragged from the courtroom by the jury & hung from the nearest tree. 🙂
    
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    January 3, 2018 9:10pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Our friend Notsofast might have something to say about that, Nasska, old chap?
      
      2 1
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      January 3, 2018 9:23pm
      - sooty
        
        Pray, tell! Why should we pay any attention to you? What have you done to gather public support? As far as I can tell you are just a loon.
        
        4 0
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        January 3, 2018 9:46pm
- simpleton1
  
  Wandering who the “self appointed” auditor/watchdog was?
  Is that the way to control corruption.?
  
  4 0
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  January 3, 2018 9:39pm
publicwatchdog

Why, IMO, Suzette Maree Dawson is a fraud, and people should ‘seek truth from facts’.

http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/715

by Penny Bright
Thursday, 7th March 2013

A statement by Penny Bright, an Appellant in her own name, in the Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal.
7 March 2013

OCCUPY AUCKLAND WINS HIGH COURT APPEAL!

Mainstream media coverage:

Occupy Auckland barrister Ron Mansfield explains the ruling of Judge Ellis:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2548345/court-ruling-paves-way-for-more-action-by-occupy-movement.asx

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10869644

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-5361876

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-5361876/video

http://www.3news.co.nz/Occupy-eviction-went-too-far—ruling/tabid/423/articleID/289259/Default.aspx

http://www.3news.co.nz/Legal-victory-for-Occupy-Auckland/tabid/423/articleID/289280/Default.aspx

http://www.bizbilak.com/news/occupy-auckland-protesters-win-appeal-against-eviction-ruling-tvnz

Please be advised, that as an Appellant in my own name, at no time did I express an opinion as a ‘Spokesperson’ for Occupy Auckland.

A copy of the Appeal decision of High Court Justice Ellis is available on

http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz

a website for which I take full personal responsibility for content.

Also on this above-mentioned website are copies of my key legal submissions, as an Appellant in my own name, so people can read them for themselves.

The main reason I organised the setting up of this website, was to counter the defamatory lies about myself being spread by Suzette Maree Dawson, which she has published on her own private websitehttp://occupysavvy.com

Suzette Maree Dawson published on her above-mentioned private website a statement by Ben Cooney (‘Redstar’) during his livestream video coverage of the protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) protest on 8 December 2012:

“There’s Penny Bright – SIS informant”.

The FACTS are, that I was one of 12 people responsible for organising Auckland anti-Springbok Tour protests in 1981, I was named in Muldoon’s SIS list as a ‘subversive’, and have never been able to get a copy of my SIS file.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0711/S00086.htm

If people think I’m going to put up with these sorts of filthy defamatory lies, when I have had a proven track record going back over 40 years as an activist – think again.

I strongly recommend that those involved in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, exercise commonsense and due diligence?

If people come from nowhere, with no proven track record in the ‘protest’ / ‘activist’ movement, and make a beeline for controlling the message, or means of getting the message out – act in ways which cause dissension or conflict within the group, spread misinformation / disinformation about people, without facts and evidence to back it up – BEWARE!!!

Being involved in ‘media’ gives such people the ability to mix and mingle and take photos from inside the ranks of the ‘protest’ movement.

Where exactly are those photos going?

BEWARE of those who act like the 1%, without openness, transparency or democratic accountability.

Why is it that as a (successful) Appellant in the Occupy Auckland Appeal, I cannot post this information up on the Occupy Auckland facebook page?

WHO are ‘Admin’ currently responsible for the Occupy Auckland facebook page, and why am I being blocked?

I note a Press Release up on Scoop – in the name of Occupy Auckland.

Who put out this Press Release?

On whose authority?

As a NAMED APPELLENT in this Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal – I for one was never contacted by this now mysterious, anonymous and apparently secretive ‘Occupy Auckland’ – who do NOT have permission or any authority to speak on my behalf.

http://auckland.scoop.co.nz/2013/03/vindication-for-occupy-auckland/

WHO now are ‘Occupy Auckland’?
Without transparency – there is no accountability.

When / where was the Occupy Auckland General Assembly that discussed the Appeal, and authorised this Press Release?

I note that Suzette Maree Dawson and her private website ‘occupy savvy’ did NOT attend the hearing of the Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal, and did not publish any of my legal documents, which arguably played a role in helping achieve this significant victory for Occupy Auckland, both locally, nationally and internationally?
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January 3, 2018 8:43pm
Nostradamus

So who’s following the cricket? New Zealand got to 243/5 in its 20 overs. West Indies are currently 2/2 after 1.1 overs.
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January 3, 2018 8:54pm
Manolo

The almost broke The Guardian writes with glee:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/03/donald-trump-russia-steve-bannon-michael-wolff
1 0
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January 4, 2018 7:07am
- Inandout
  
  Bannon was once outside the tent, but the desperate Guardian now see Bannon as their saviour – how propaganda changes in the media world.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/30/revealed-ukip-whistleblowers-raised-fears-about-breitbart-influence-on-brexit
  
  1 0
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  January 4, 2018 7:42am

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