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April 23, 2018 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 23 April 2018

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smttc

First. All the way from Kiev in Ukraine)))
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April 23, 2018 8:01am
- KiWombat
  
  Good morning Kiev – well at least from our perspective !
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:10am
  - smttc
    
    Late Sunday evening Wombat. But a beautiful one indeed.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:15am
    - KiWombat
      
      Well I suppose I should say good night then ?
      
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      April 23, 2018 8:18am
      - pdm
        
        smttc – I couldn’t resist when I saw your location. Hope you are having a good time.
        
        BTW you must be up early – or just late home based on your 3.01.
        
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        April 23, 2018 4:13pm
    - pdm
      
      Are you looking for a wife?? lol.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:46am
      - pdm
        
        mrspdm asked the same question when I told her that is where you are.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:40pm
      - smttc
        
        No PDM. I just love this historic beautiful city. But there are many beautiful women here too.
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:01pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    You are in danger of sounding like the vote announcer at the European song contest.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:13am
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Are you a Russian Spy?
  Asking for a friend, she told me to.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:17am
  - oldgolfer
    
    Please, there are no Russian spies.
    Jacinda had a conversation with us on that.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:22am
    - holysheet
      
      Yeh she was absoludly possadive about that. She even exuded the right feelz about it.
      
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      April 23, 2018 8:29am
    - Maxx
      
      Hmmm… 1 + 1 = Jacinda must be long-term sleeper spy.
      
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      April 23, 2018 8:31am
  - smttc
    
    Nahhhhhh. Just a kiwi infatuated with this beautiful city.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:23am
    - Kimbo
      
      Tried the chicken yet? ?
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:27am
      - smttc
        
        Not that Kiev muck. No. There are much better food options here.
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:03pm
Souvlaki

Is the top billing Deborah Hill Cone article “Why does Clarke Gayford bug me ? “purely serendipidous…or significant ??
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12037416
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April 23, 2018 8:01am
- Poppa
  
  Yeah it had that undertone of something is about to get messy.
  
  I wonder how many more articles of a similar nature we will see shortly?
  
  Quite brave & smart I thought
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:20am
  - Steve (North Shore)
    
    You mean there is an elephant in the room?
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:25am
    - RalphT
      
      A whole bloody herd of them; you can’t move for elephants.
      
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      April 23, 2018 8:29am
  - Duxton
    
    Agreed Poppa (and Souvlaki). I sensed that DHC knows something, and knows that that something is about to become more widely know.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:39pm
  - RF
    
    I know it’s a no go area and I respect our hosts decision but I can tell you that in the area of desert my tribe frequents, the toms toms are beating loud and strong.
    
    Last time I heard them so loud was when Mr. Walker the Phantom was coming.
    
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    April 23, 2018 1:29pm
- cmm
  
  She says he’s awlays smiling….
  
  Well he never seems to be smiling in those photos where he and Jacinda are being interviewed.
  
  http://apn.pd.ak.o.brightcove.com.edgesuite.net/pd/1308227299001/1308227299001_5544431588001_5544410221001-vs.jpg?pubId=1308227299001&videoId=5544410221001
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:26am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Na, it’s a gratuitous space-filler.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:33am
- Maxx
  
  He annoys me as well and I don’t know the guy. Generally, I like to meet with someone before I take a position on whether they’re ok or not. And I try not to judge people by their associations with other people.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:36am
- Philview
  
  I remember years ago he revealed a tramp stamp tattoo on his lower back. I find it hard to get past that memory.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:03am
  - Random T Person
    
    A bloke with a tramp stamp tat? Gosh – tacky on a bint, super tacky on a bloke.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:55am
- dime
  
  I read it.
  
  I recall his smug interview back in the day where he had a crack at hard working people who think they are smart.
  
  apparently because he can go fishing instead of working, hes the smart one.
  
  the guy is a gold digger.
  
  and ya gotta think the media are about to turn on him big time. if they cant get him for what they want to get him for, they will just try and make him unlikable.
  
  dont know a lot about the lady who wrote the thing, but she great admires chompers so her judgement is shit
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:13am
  - Swifty
    
    Does anybody know exactly what he does for a living?
    
    How has he funded his life over the last, say, 10 years?
    
    Does anyone know?
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:22am
    - dime
      
      lots of tv work? ummmm
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:30am
      - sooty
        
        ?
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:17pm
  - cmm
    
    Well what does that tell you about the judgment of a woman that would give him access to her loins, let alone want him to make babies and then look after the babies?
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:41pm
- Huevon
  
  He lives, as they say in Spanish, “by the face”. That’s why he works in the media.
  
  Maybe fatherhood will sharpen him up. Maybe. Or he will go deeper into his proclivities. NZ is a small place and if he starts playing around word will get out quickly.
  
  My guess is that Jacinda is pretty gullible and not very sharp when it comes to men. Had she even had a serious relationship before meeting this guy?
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:26am
  - dime
    
    i highly doubt that she has.
    
    then she gets this chump whos a b grade celeb and turned on the charm. its all over. he retires, she earns the cash.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:30am
    - howitis
      
      Soundbite Cindy can be the MP for Mon Albert until 2054 and fish boy can be her consort.
      By then it will be Owairaka -Mogadishu.
      So much diversity.
      
      Cindy’s house by then will have 14 foot walls with electrified barb wire and two guard dogs.
      The irony of which is that she will still be saying we need less prisons!
      
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      April 23, 2018 11:42am
    - RF
      
      How many times have we heard about the naive girl from the country who has her first steady relationship with a fast boy. She gets knocked up and boy friend reluctantly sticks by her until the baby arrives.
      
      Boy friend yearns for the good old days and buggers off.
      
      Meets another naive country girl and bingo… its ground hog day.
      
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      April 23, 2018 1:40pm
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  For a simple opinion piece to be given such a high profile indicates that there is more to this story than is printed therein. If there are aspects to this being legally suppressed, then the voting public has a right to know. Bugger the privacy act, is there leverage being brought to bear on certain high ranking people in the government? How much is the tail wagging the dog? Why do the Greens have such influence on government policy? What is the price of a confidence and supply agreement? Where are the missing pages of the coalition document?
  
  Transparent and Open Government? Yeah, Right!
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:36am
- kowtow
  
  Jax “magnificent in her korowai”
  
  Give me a fucking break!
  
  And as for a double barelled person using a line like this “the flourish of an “e” in Clarke?”
  
  Just fuck off , “feminist” poseur.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:14am
  - KiWombat
    
    As I said yesterday, I returned home to find Mrs W in bed with a bottle of Gin. When I asked why – she replied that she had just seen Cindy in London dressed like an enormous chicken !
    
    Writing the day off with a bottle of Gin was the best solution she could come up with to erase that vision from her mind. She’s not up yet, so can’t report whether it actually worked !
    
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    April 23, 2018 11:36am
- Rich Prick
  
  I’m not sure attacking the media is a wise strategy. Clarke’s Twitter is an attitudinal insight though.
  
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  April 23, 2018 3:41pm
  - tui47
    
    I think attacking the media is a very bad thing indeed. Meanwhile Deborah Hill Cone, who herself has a history of depression, is being attacked on Facebook by Jacinda and Clarke groupies. The media won’t like to see one of their own attacked. But if we look at it in a positive light, anything that makes this COL look bad, whether warranted, is a good thing.
    
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    April 23, 2018 4:36pm
holysheet

Clarke was speeding at 3am in the morning when he was stopped by the police. He was pissed and high on who knows what cocktail of drugs. The cop wanted to know what the hell he was doing. Clarke told him he was on his way to a lecture on the dangers of driving while drunk and high. “Who gives a lecture at 3 in the morning?” The cop asked.
“Cindy,” He replied.
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April 23, 2018 8:05am
- GazzaW
  
  You can bet your bottom dollar that the MSM dirty tricks locker is stashed full of ready-use ammo to bring into play at the appropriate time.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:33am
KiWombat

Well I am going to step up and acknowledge Shane Jones here. Along with others I have been bagging him about starting his tree planting programme, and now tree #1 is actually in the ground.

DPF – please subtract this tree from your counter – I realise it will be replaced with another in a nanosecond, but at least he has begun his journey. Perhaps today he will plant #2 !

https://newsie.co.nz/news/91953-first-of-one-billion-planted-today.html

Now lets sit back and watch the tree planting increase with breakneck speed – there’s a long long way to go before he reaches tree #50,000,000 !
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April 23, 2018 8:07am
- G152
  
  The ceremonial first tree is in the deck.
  Bush gangs are lined up with their pruning hooks to trim extra branches from it in 6 or so years.
  The question is…. can Shane get enough cuzies out of bed and off the whacky baccy long enough to get to the job site and start planting.
  Waiting
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:44am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Remind me if I am incorrect in saying the 10 billion trees were for commercial gain? So why is Shane counting 2 trees planted on school grounds that clearly won’t be harvested when they are grown. Tokenism doesn’t count Shane. Get back to us when you have a swathe of commercial forest trees planted before the next publicity photo. ???
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:16am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      and commercial gain…..when???
      In 15 years?? They will have bankrupted the country by then.
      What of the risks??? ALL commercial ventures have risk, sale price, competition from other countries (doing it cheaper), forest fire etc.
      I suppose you have actually done these numbers Shane……….NO didn’t think so.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:49am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No I don’t think that’s correct.
      Shane hasn’t quite figured out the balance of production forestry, revegetation forest planting, natives, non-natives.
      I’m sure that there is a committee to work on this very topic.
      https://www.mpi.govt.nz/funding-and-programmes/forestry/planting-one-billion-trees/
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:49am
      - simo
        
        Shane is CEO of the TTP Committee – Taking… yea that one.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:19pm
    - KiWombat
      
      Shhhh !
      
      Don’t confuse him with facts now that he has started his project. We wouldn’t want him to down tools and call for another conversation after just the first tree – would we ?
      
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      April 23, 2018 11:18am
    - Piniwi
      
      Partly waikaogirl though the main gain was to be in reducing emissions while we know it is largely pay back for forest financial campaign support. In fairness it was to include extra plantings of native trees that thanks to the Gang Green can no longer be harvested. However it has since been revealed it is now linked to the regional development slush fund providing funding for selected Northern native tree nurseries. Seems there is some sort of plan but not as we would know it or see it appropriate.
      
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      April 23, 2018 3:12pm
- simpleton1
  
  So government replaced one of the kauri trees, yet many more will succumb from “kauri die back disease”
  
  Pohutukawas, kanuka, ramarama, blue gums, manuka, succumbing to myrtle rust.
  
  Just how many trees per day to be planted to break even with the death rate?
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:22am
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  Be fair, it’s actually 5 trees.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:19am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yeah, but that makes the maths harder.
    By the time I’ve subtracted 5 from 50913974, the counter is back up to the 50913974.
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:54am
oldpark

Just a new idea on NZs bail laws. Rumour has it that a person whose name has been suppressed by a NZ Criminal Court Judge who has been charged with very serious drug offences,has allowed that person to travel to London. If that rumour turns out to be true,it surely would not be a good look for our Criminal Law system. Wouldn’t that confirm different laws for certain NZs citizens. Surely not,or whats going on.
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April 23, 2018 8:09am
- Inandout
  
  The US will be the big test because they look into pending cases. Even our ex PM’s husband can’t gain access.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:16am
- Paulus
  
  He possibly ! was on a Diplomatic Passport.
  Assume that the other Clark husband may not have been able to get one from his wife – perhaps she did not want him there.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:28am
  - sooty
    
    The telling thing maybe, which way did they fly to europe and return. Did they bypass the USA.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:38am
    - Inandout
      
      If the USA was merely a stopover then I doubt their Customs would bother. A visitor is a different story.
      
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      April 23, 2018 8:47am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Ask Barry Soper, his was just a stop over wasn’t it?
        
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        April 23, 2018 9:20am
      - sooty
        
        2 hours and they did not let him in.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:23pm
      - Paulus
        
        Wrong – you land anywhere in the Land of the Free then you are deemed to be in the USfoA and need a visa.
        
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        April 23, 2018 1:43pm
    - Komata
      
      Sooty
      
      While I have no idea if she flew to London in an RNZAF aircraft (but on the assumption that she did), would that not have ‘diplomatic immunity’ irrespective of where it transitted, as it was carrying the PM?
      
      On that basi the boyfriend would ipso facto also have the same ‘immunity’ so long as he did not leave the aircraft.
      
      Can our lawyers advise?
      
      Thanks.
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:02am
      - RF
        
        I can remember an incident many years ago in the late 60s at the Deep Freeze base in Christchurch. It is claimed by many that a USAF cargo plane from the states had just landed and was about to be searched by NZ Customs. The pilot refused them entry telling them it belonged to Uncle Sam. He told them to piss off and then took off back to Hickam Air Force base in Hawaii. Apparently customs suspected it had additional cargo.
        
        These were the days when if you knew a crew member you could import virtually anything. . Drugs were a major problem and these were going down to the ice.
        
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        April 23, 2018 2:00pm
- Gravelroad
  
  What bothers me about all the rumours is this:
  If the prominent person in a significant leadership position is living with a convicted criminal and strings have been pulled to allow life to go on as usual with no consequences, then what does that say to the ordinary citizens about credibility and integrity?
  Lecturing people on how to behave, while living a lie yourself is hypocrisy.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:56am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    BUT but…certain people in senior positions never lie and don’t see any reason to. Don’t they?
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:21am
    - Gravelroad
      
      So if an elected leader of a country is living with an undisclosed convicted criminal, is this something to be concerned about?-or not?
      To me it calls into question the integrity and judgement of both parties.
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:39am
      - lifesgood
        
        Gravelroad, And our legal “profession”
        
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        April 23, 2018 10:30am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        Or at the very least made public so the voters can make up their own mind.
        
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        April 23, 2018 10:51am
      - backster
        
        Well it would seem to raise National Security issues something that may worry our Security oversight advisory committee.
        
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        April 23, 2018 11:39am
      - Paulus
        
        Called Pillow Talk security.
        
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        April 23, 2018 1:44pm
  - lifesgood
    
    For me the most telling thing is that these rumours have been swirling around for weeks. Innuendos and hints all over the internet. Some things I have read are much more than innuendo BUT nobody has come out and denied them or threatened to sue for slander and you can be sure they know of them. Interesting
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:42am
    - KiWombat
      
      These have been swirling around for more than months – probably closer to a year !
      
      Somebody has been busy burying this as deep as possible – I understand the original charge sheet has now been heavily redacted so as to make it impossible to identify anybody – or even what happened !
      
      The truth will never see the light of day. If only that alleged photo would surface. Then we might get some answers !
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:28am
      - Gravelroad
        
        “Somebody has been busy burying this as deep as possible”…. Who?
        The partner of the person charged with a crime?
        Back room people at a prominent political party?
        Lawyers putting pressure on the police to minimise charges?
        Where is the news media in all of this?
        They weren’t backward in coming forward to show John Key’s family in a less than flattering light.
        Hypocrisy much.
        
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        April 23, 2018 11:12am
      - sooty
        
        Ah, the media! If only we had one.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:26pm
  - simo
    
    Pure Marxist playbook Grav
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:21pm
- Holly Roggerz
  
  Ha you mean like that recent court case where the Drug Dealer soemehow managed to argue it was only because he was brown or something that his vehicle was searched, and that therefore the evidence was illegally gavered and not admissable in court and that it was therefore a miss-trial and he never should have been found guilty…..
  
  And my understanding was that the judge who liked the idea of setting such a reckless presidence (and I don’t really see what being brown has to do with being racially profiled, I mean can’t I rob a bank, and then say that the maori/pacific islander who was employed on the basis of racial quotas by a racist organization, racially profilled me, and that I shouldn’t be found guilty or have to give any of the money back, its just because they hate white people, or is the get out of jail race card just for brown people….) said, well since the police ‘can’t prove’ that he wasn’t racially profiled that he must have been racially profiled, therefore the evidence was inadmissable….
  
  And you know, it seems a bit strange that these judges can selectively pick parts of the Plantif or Defendents case or argument and say, well you have made this argument, you have presented no evidence or facts to support it, but I agree with it and since the other side can’t proove that you have made up this story, well we are just going to go with, because you know I am the judge, and if I say soo that is how it’s going to be……
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:59am
EAD_TWO

The truth begins to out:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-21/germanys-largest-public-tv-news-broadcaster-syria-chemical-attack-most-likely

A senior correspondent for German state media broadcast ZDF heute stunned his European audience during a report from on the ground in Syria when he gave a straightforward and honest account of his findings while investigating what happened in Douma. The veteran reporter, Uli Gack, interviewed multiple eyewitnesses of the April 7 alleged chemical attack and concluded of the testimonials, “the Douma chemical attack is most likely staged, a great many people here seem very convinced.”

The German ZDF report is consistent with veteran British journalist Robert Fisk’s investigation upon being the first Western journalist to gain access to the site in Douma. Fisk reported early this week, “There are the many people I talked to amid the ruins of the town who said they had ‘never believed in’ gas stories–which were usually put about, they claimed, by the armed Islamist groups.”

Increasingly, it appears that mainstream media gate-keepers are losing it over the fact that so many highly visible and respected reporters and broadcasters have featured reports this week which publicly question the Syrian chemical attack narrative and US coalition missile strikes that followed.

Indeed – it is only in MSM land where all the so called “independent” press (which always sing from the same hymn sheet”) where one is one guilty before being proven innocent depending on what the narrative being pushed is.
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April 23, 2018 8:10am
- Scott
  
  Congratulations for being Kiwi blogs number one conspiracy theorist! In the face of stiff competition you are unrelenting in seeing conspiracies everywhere and at all times.
  
  The fact of the matter is that UN inspectors are trying to gain access to the site. They are still being blocked. Why is that?
  I like to suggest that is because Syrian and Russian forces are hard at work trying to cleanse the site from all chemical residue.
  
  We know that Syria had chemical weapons, they have used them in the past. We know that the chemical weapons were delivered by air. The Syrians have an air force while the rebels do not.
  
  It is quite consistent with the behaviour of Assad to use chemical weapons on what he perceives as rebel Syrians.
  
  So let’s get a grip. There was a chemical attack. The Americans and others have responded to the chemical attack by another limited strike to deter future use of chemical weapons.
  
  So as far as I can see that’s all good.
  Sometimes things really are what they seem. Not everything is a conspiracy.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:23am
  - EAD_TWO
    
    Just like Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction and how Benghazi was facing imminent destruction at the hands of Gaddafi.
    
    Fool me once, shame on the MSM.
    Fool me twice, shame on me.
    Fool me three times, shame on both of us.
    
    https://thesaker.is/syrian-boy-describes-douma-chemical-attack-false-flag/
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:30am
    - Scott
      
      We know that Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction. In the war between Iran and Iraq Saddam used chemical weapons multiple times. The chemical weapons I understand were sent away to Syria.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:43am
      - Paulus
        
        Empty special lorries were found in the Desert on the way where Iraq goes to Syria.
        Must have carried the fish and chips from Saddam’s Baghdad to Assad’s (Father?) Damascus.
        
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        April 23, 2018 1:53pm
    - Paulus
      
      Why would anybody believe Fisk on anything ?
      
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      April 23, 2018 1:54pm
  - Holly Roggerz
    
    There is a difference between a conspiracy and a Fact mate, the UN report the MIT report these reports do not collaborate the claims of the first set of ‘chemical weapons attacks’ in syria, and lets follow the rules of law and common decency scott, lets wait for the independent UN reports and whatnot….
    
    Lets not forget that it is a FACT scott and not a CONSPIRACY that the Syrian Regime in compliance with Russian and US demmands worked with the Americans to destroy their chemical weapons, it was reported by the UN oversight body and repeated by the likes of CNN and BBC that the americans had destroyed the remaining Syrian Chemcial weapons….
    
    So now you have to proove that they have been CONSPIRING to produce new chemical weapons, unfortunately the very people making these accusations have allegedly blown up the previous production facilities, so now they cant be inspected…. So their claims can’t be verified…
    
    But lets wait too see what the UN and other international organizations, and organizations like MIT who analyze the ‘evidence’ say about this ‘current round of attacks’….
    
    Not that it makes any difference to me, its a war, people die, if the allegations are true, why is it OK and acceptable for the Syrian Regime to Kill by say starvation a number of random peoples, or just shoot them or whatever, but killing 60 people out of hundreds of thousands with some sort of ‘chemical weapon’ is crossing the line….
    
    Lets take that moral outrage and moral superiority and put it back in the cubord ok? What about the hundreds of thousands of people killed as a result of chemical weapons used by SADAM, manufactured with precursors brought from European and American Chemical firms, and produced with their assistance in the Iraq-Iran war, over the seizure of the Iranian Oil corporation which was part owned by american and british interests after the iranian revoloution….
    
    Where are the charges of warcrimes… What about the various unjustified wars of agression, regime changes and acts of terrorism and murder by the americans… Lets be reasonable, lets judge everyone by the same standards… Where are the US bombers on their way to blow up the European facilities that sold precursors to Sadam? Where were the calls for the president of Germany to be deposed?
    
    The only conspiracy theorist in this conversation scott is you…. They destroyed their chemical weapons, where do you suppose they got the replacement weapons to even carry out this second alleged attack?
    
    Remember the Weapons of Mass destruction, the Gulf of Tonkin accident the sinking of the maine or the sinking of the Lusitania by germans before WW2 after it was carrying war materials to the UK…. The US makes this shit up all the time, and the same idiots that believed in the Weapons of Mass Destruction are going on about the ‘Chemical Weapons Attacks’… Get a grip scot…
    
    How about we just don’t, we just let other countries be, you know we don’t complain about any of the tyranical and despotic regimes in the Mid-East, the Gulf states that are our allies, where they chop hands off for various criminal offenses and life in prison or stoning for being gay or having pre-martial sex or whatever, yet you know we have a good go at Russia for being Homophobic, how many homosexual people have been stoned to death in russia? Lets just cut the imperialist warmongering hypocrtic BS out…
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Syria%27s_chemical_weapons
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:14am
    - KevOB
      
      Let’s hear it for the Yemenis too in their fight against Saudi and Shia aggressors with US and Brit support. BBC where are you?–there are pics of dying children available.
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:49am
      - Holly Roggerz
        
        Well it is not just that KevOB, lets also consider that in Saudi Arabia they literally stone people to death on their second offense of homosexuality, says right here (below) on wikipedia, hell its not even illegal to be gay in Russia yet we hear endless complaints and whinging about how ‘bad Russia and the Russian Government and people are’… How many gay people get stonned to death in Russia….
        
        Yet we are constantly reminded by the Media that Russia is a bad country… And it is our enemy… And Putin is a terrible dictator… And if we don’t watch out, if we blink for even a second, they will be crossing the Rhine into France, because they hate us and our freedoms, and their jealous of countries like Italy that have had a new government every year, since the US and UK broke italy in WW2… And y’know 40% real-unemployment and all that crap….
        
        Want to hear about human rights, until about a month ago women couldn’t even drive a vehicle in Saudi Arabia, think Russian Elections are rigged (like the american elections, just because your candidate lost) well they don’t even really have real elections in Saudi Arabia, afterall its an Absoloute Monarchy… Everyone is appointed by the king based on familial relations, and you know how much the person at the top fancies the person in question…. Out of favour, expect to be assigned to minister of sewredge or some BS……
        
        Favourite relative, well you get to be the next king…. We go on about how supposedly the elections in Syria are fake, and that justifies waging a proxy war, through a bunch of islamic terrorists that we fund and train and arm and call the opposition, but what about Saudi Arabia… I mean the intelligence of the people in these matters really is pathetic…
        
        If this is what democracy produces, I don’t know why anyone wants what we have…. You know we are bassically a weak lilly livered, morally bankrupt society, with shortages of key materials like oil and houses and roads, because of idiotic socialist policies, which really are just an economically inefficent way for a bunch of otherwise completely useless idiots to extract what is (even though it is say 275k or some such figure) a relatively insiginificant amount of money, so that they can eek out a living without doing any real work…..
        
        And incase anyone missed the point, the useless idiots are the politicians…. Its literally the worst profession in the west..
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia
        
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        April 23, 2018 10:06am
    - Scott
      
      Holly – gosh, a lot of words covering multiple topics!?
      The fact is that the Russians were supposed to supervise the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons. But it seems clear that they did not.
      According to reporting the latest missile strikes against Syria targeted sites that were storing or producing chemical weapons.
      
      Let’s not forget that the Americans have access to advanced
      surveillance technology – satellites, drones and so forth and they were convinced that chemical weapons were used by the Syrians.
      
      Lastly the horror of the civilised world against chemical weapons goes back as far as World War I. From that time civilised nations have tried to stamp out the use of chemical weapons. Which is entirely reasonable I think.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:48am
      - Kimbo
        
        All possibly true, Scott. But may I please step in here and assist Holly to understand the real reason you think the alleged chemical attacks were genuine, and maybe save both of you lots of time?
        
        You support Trump and think he’s doing an honest and good, even outstanding job. Therefore, if he says it was a chemical attack, it was a chemical attack.
        
        Therefore you prefer reports and alleged data that confirm that judgement, and reject those that don’t as outlandish propaganda from biased and dishonest ideologues.
        
        I make no commentary on the confirmation bias, and potential circular reasoning that undergirds that judgement process, just as a similar one arguably undergirds EAD’s and Holly’s contrary views.
        
        You’re welcome. ?
        
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        April 23, 2018 11:23am
      - Kimbo
        
        Also joking aside, did you see my follow up question yesterday about your Dispensational beliefs? When you interpret Scripture to mean that God has prophesied a redemptive and future eschatological purpose for “Israel” just before the end of the age/return of Christ, do you interpret that to mean Jews as a whole, wherever they are throughout the world
        
        …or is it specifically and especially focused on the modern Zionist state of Israel – with the presumption that Jews in Diaspora will continue, in fulfilment of God’s purposes to emigrate there, and as land is in such short supply, and as it is also God’s will that all the promised land is theirs, they shouldn’t yield an inch in any peace agreement with the Palestinians, which is a waste of time anyway as the Arabs are deceitful and a tool of Satan and the future anti-Christ and his False Prophet, as also was Murray McCully with NZ’s co-sponsoring of UNSC2334, and it is only the return of Christ that can bring peace anyway?
        
        As you said that it was “theologically wrong” to criticise the modern Israeli state, including in the form of UNSC2334, I’d at least like to know the specifics of why I’m in error. ?
        
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        April 23, 2018 11:39am
      - Scott
        
        Not going there Kimbo. Not a dispensationlist. Comments about Israel-based on the scriptures that they will be grafted back in to the original vine.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:53pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Yeah, but I’m asking you to clarify the definition of “Israel”. You mean an h Jewish people as a whole…or the modern Jewish state? Biblical commentators differ…so what do you think. Suggest it is fair enough as you chided others for theological error. Cheers.
        
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        April 23, 2018 1:02pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        … your Dispensational beliefs … God has prophesied a redemptive and future eschatological purpose for “Israel” … Jews in Diaspora … in fulfilment of God’s purposes …
        
        Nasska will be along shortly to admonish you for this religious gobbledygook!
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:05pm
      - Kimbo
        
        Nostradamus
        
        Hey, I’m only reporting what the Dispensationalists, including a few politicians who try to determine US foreign policy in the Middle East, believe! What harm could they do?! ?
        
        Also, irony: someone with the online name “Nostradamus” calling a reference to the obscure terms used to understand prophecy, “gobbledygook”. ?
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:07pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Kimbo:
        
        Reid (when he was around) used to tell us that the Neocons were the bad guys in the US government. He called them “murderous neocon bastards in Washington“. Are “Dispensationalists” the new bad guys then? The word conjures up an image of a pharmacist dispensing prescription medicine!
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:10pm
      - Kimbo
        
        No, neo cons (who are more secular) and Dispensationalists (who are entirely religious) are different, but some of their policy goals may coincide, especially in regards to US policy regarding Israel.
        
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism
        
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism
        
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        April 23, 2018 3:14pm
      - Holly Roggerz
        
        Well I don’t mean to be vexaious but how about just taking the established facts presented by the UN oversight comitee and reiterated by Russia, USA, CNN, FOX, BBC, et.all about the 100% destruction of Syrian Chemical weapons as meaning that 100% of the chemical weapons were destroyed, and lets just also assume that for instance the sole international regulatory body and oversight commission also they know what they are talking about too for that matter…
        
        And now lets assume (and this unlike the aforementioned assumptions is a big stretch) that somehow Syria produced more chemical weapons, well how can we verify recent activity in those facilities, now that they have been blown up, how does that help the US bring these people to justice, legally, through the court systems? Because last time I checked, destroying evidence doesn’t help the prosecution…..
        
        And how can they stand as prosecutors in a UN court, when they themselves have violated UN law, and waged in violation of both UN law and American war, illegal warfare! Only Warfare which is authorised by the US legislation through an official decleration of war is legal under US law, and likewise under UN law… But I supposed they think that the laws only apply to the ‘other people’…. Typical of fascists…
        
        Ofcourse as I said before, the US would never lie like they did about the WMD would they? To justify a war…. I mean a non-war deployment of the navy and cruise missiles and fighter planes to drop bombs in a ‘not-war’ because y’know, as we said before in order to be legal their needs to be a decleration of war passed in the US legislative chambers… And then the UN needs to also authorize it….
        
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        April 23, 2018 5:23pm
  - kowtow
    
    scott
    
    You ever followed the Pallywood Red Cross Ambulance pantomime?
    
    The conspiracy is one between the terrorists and the media.
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:23am
- softail 1450
  
  ead two,,,,i think you may be correct,i watched a bbc reporter interviewing a doctor from the local hospital and he stated he had seen zero people with gas related side effects .
  the doctor said there had been a fire in old damaged sewer piping and the smell had sent people into a “gas attack”panic.
  we may never know the absolute truth, as the old saying goes the first casualty of any war is always the truth.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:41am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Just the one question.
    Why did they not allow access, for days. To inspect the relevant area?
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:24am
    - Holly Roggerz
      
      IDK RW Capitalist, IDK whether they did or didn’t, but one can speculate that in a warzones, ones access to many places, particularly if one is from a country which makes public by decleration as to the fact that they are, paying, arming, training and co-ordinating the very rebels you are fighting against is likely to be restricted…..
      
      Now this does or does not necessarilly have anything to do with any supposed chemical weapons attacks… Lets just wait for evidence, untill someone presents evidence, whether that someone is a private citizen or the state department of the US, all that their accusations are is heresay….
      
      That is how a Democracy with a Rule of Law and a presumption of innocence works, if there is such a case, then the correct procedure is for the US to take the Syrian State to the International Courts for their violation of various UN conventions that they are party too, to request their cooperation in thet ICHR etc..etc…
      
      And I just want to remind everyone that all countries in the UN have renounced as a condition of membership the usage of warfare to resolve various disputes and conflicts and to agree to abide by the decisions of the UN security council… And that it is under the Current systems of international government unlawfull to wage warfare against any state without the express permission of the UN, and that what was allegedly done ammounts to a warcrime, that is to say a crime commited in war, pertaining to that war…
      
      And by all rights they could be brough up infront of the UN courts and tried for that…
      
      Unfortunately it seems these countries are more interested in waging war against Syria than actually following the established international law, and pursuing the matter in a lawfull manner through the relevant courts…
      
      I supposed it would be like me accusing someone of something, and then going over their with an axe to resolve the issue, and talking about how that person really deserved that… Not really, thats not how our legal system works…. And everyone deserves a trial…. This sort of vigilantee justice should be rightly condemned…..
      
      Now we can’t even inspect the chemical weapons factories for signs of activitivity, because they allegedly blew them up…. And what sort of person does this, engages in this sort of vigilantee ‘justice’ and destroys evidence… Surely not someone with a good sound legal case…..
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:50am
      - Ed Snack
        
        As I understand it, the first time the inspectors went to the site (or headed towards it) there was active gunfire so they never got there.
        
        The area was supposed to be “rebel” held so I doubt that it was readily accessible from the Syrian government side anyway. Like it or not, there is an active war being fought. If it is in Syrian government controlled territory, why in the hell would Assad gas it ?
        
        The point is, can we trust any of the “news” services to report fairly and impartially ? It now seems possible that this was either a real Syrian attack, and “false flag” attack by Jihadi’s to get public support and US intervention, or even a “false false flag” attack, a Syrian attack meant to look like a Jihadi one,…and so on.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:26pm
      - KevOB
        
        The war against Syria was planned as far back as 1957. Now it’s imperative once again to secure the gas and other natural resources in the North. The Americans have made a base there and are reportedly selling Syrian oil!
        Oh dear, never mind their corporates rule the world.
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:29pm
      - Holly Roggerz
        
        Yeah well Ed Snack why would he gas his own people anyway? And even if he wanted to kill his own people why not just send executioners, be very specific, murder the exact people, heck why not just throw them off buildings like the us sponsored al-nusra does? If it works for mercanaries under the payroll of the greatest military power on earth why not for a shitty country like Syria?
        
        That way you make sure you get the right women and children… Just like Al-Nusra, or any other terrorist organization. Because with gas who knows, the wind may blow the wrong way or some people may not be home or whatever and not only are you not murdering your victims as intended, but actually maybe the gas blows into a neighbourhood and kills people you don’t want dead….
        
        Perhaps even the soldiers that used them, which FYI is largely why both sides in WW1 kind of abandoned the idea of chemical weapons…. And I don’t want anyone to think I endorse any of this, obiously I don’t, I am just pointing out that the story doesn’t make much sense when you think about it…. And I think that is the problem, most people just take everything the TV tells them as gospel….
        
        Ofcourse the TV in every country always tells ‘its people’ that ‘their war’ is a ‘just war’ and the other people are ‘evil people and hate our freedoms’ and all of that…. And if you grew up in a muslim country you would be muslim, if you grew up in a catholic country you would be catholic, and if you grew up in North Korea you would think communism is just fantastic and those evil capitalists hate our ‘high standard of life and freedoms’….
        
        And lets not play the ‘labour’ isn’t playing ball with the BS war of the hour against ‘those people’…….
        
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        April 23, 2018 5:35pm
    - kowtow
      
      Syria has very strict health and safety legislation?
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:29am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        But not for Russians.
        
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        April 23, 2018 10:54am
Happychappy

So Shane Jones is just like his nephews and nieces the ones he promised to get off the dole and into work to plant all these millions of trees. The industry that will be planting these trees is now calling on wanting overseas Labour to plant these tree as they say there is not enough of a labour force here to do the job. Is this going to end up as another of the Coalitions sky in the pie policies or are they about to increase immigration instead of the decline in numbers they promised.
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April 23, 2018 8:10am
- KiWombat
  
  NO NO NO – they should just ring Shane !
  
  He will prise his cuzzies away from the TV, give them a shovel and a boot in the ass, and tell them to get planting !
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:21am
  - waikatogirl
    
    Ain’t no one listening to Uncle Shane… ?
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:24am
- Maxx
  
  It’s all Air New Zealand’s fault.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:38am
Paulus

Am interested to both see and hear in the media about our Princess and her photo shoot via the Euro capitals that matter and on to London.
The photos are agreed to be lovely in some cases where she is hobnobbing with Royalty, the Rich and Famous and some of the World’s leading Capitalist.
Now she is coming back to New Zealand where she is hell bent on reducing what is one of the World’s best countries and economies to become the dregs of the South Pacific unloved and untrusted by most of those Capitalists – Justin Trudeau excluded but he is in the way out anyway.
A pity that she will not have turned her brain on to recognise the damage she is about to wrought.
Am really sorry – pity she could not have learned from her experienced and knowledgeable peers she met that Socio/Communism does not work albeit she wishes to try assisted by H Clark who was with her in London – advising presumably.
Peters would not look good in a dress though – it appears he does not like being upstaged as we are hearing.
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April 23, 2018 8:24am
- cmm
  
  I think it going to play out differently.
  
  She has been holding out for this Eurotour. This has been her chance for fame and setting herself up for her climb up the ladder to the UN.
  
  She is gaunt and tired. She’s also 7 months preggy and over aged for that role. The clusterfuck of CoL can’t be a nice thing to have to face every morning.
  
  She can now get medical advice to step down and hand the whole mess over to Winston.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:33am
  - kevn
    
    @cmm. Prob is that winnies is a mess himself. Hold on folks, rough ride ahead.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:19am
  - RalphT
    
    “She can … hand the whole mess over to Winston.”
    
    …who will turn it into an even bigger mess. Mark my words the next few years will be like a roller coaster; fun if you’re watching but pretty hair-raising if you’re on it.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:38am
    - cmm
      
      Yeah, but as I wrote on Friday, the Jacinda Factor is basically a chick-flick script of an incompetent woman who bumbles along and for whom any achievement is amazing.
      
      Basically Cindy is Bridget Jones. You only like the character because she is so useless.
      
      That sort of stuff works for 30-something women, not old men.
      
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      April 23, 2018 2:47pm
  - KevOB
    
    Jacinda: UN?
    She can manage fishnchip shop wrapping and maybe fryups but intellect is useful if pontificating on the world stage. The dustbin of history awaits.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:44am
    - cmm
      
      Tailor made for the UN then.
      
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      April 23, 2018 2:47pm
MCos

I read on the internet this morning that Deputy Leader of the Opposition Paula Bennett has dropped around 30kg over the last six months or so. That’s very impressive. She had one of those stomach operations, at her own expense, plus she put some thought into her eating habits.
Good on her.
I heard her on Morning Report this morning and she exhuded bonhomie towards the Prime Minister with regards to her appearance whilst representing the country in London.
A little less complimentary towards Peters, but he’s been a lightening rod for controversy of late.
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April 23, 2018 8:29am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  If Peters really is a ‘lightening rod’, perhaps he can be deployed to help Megan Woods and Nanaia Mahuta as well.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:51am
  - MCos
    
    That’s quite funny in a bad taste sort of way.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:57am
- dime
  
  if you stomach your staple in half, you have no choice about your food choices. if you eat bad you feel terrible.
  
  its def the weak persons way out but good for her anyway
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:16am
  - marcw
    
    After the stapling if you don’t change your eating habits then your body will revert to it’s former state. The operation is an aid, not a cure.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:48am
    - Fletch
      
      True. Carnie Wilson from pop group Wilson Phillips has had the operation twice. She dropped the weight and got it all back again (to 300 pounds or something). You still need willpower to keep it off.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:16am
    - Paulus
      
      Correct – David Lange soon got fat again.
      
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      April 23, 2018 1:59pm
  - Random T Person
    
    Getting your abdomen ripped open isn’t for the faint of heart, Mr Dime.
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:17am
- Happychappy
  
  Well talking about weight Winston seem to have puffed up recently if his photos with Boris Johnston are any indication, he seems to be fatter in body, face and general look or is it time for our politicians to be drug tested the same as our athletes.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:21am
  - Inandout
    
    Happy, does Winnie require any of the following:
    
    ‘Drugs that may cause medicine-related weight gain include:
    
    Drugs for diabetes, such as insulin, thiazolidinediones, and sulfonylureas.
    Antipsychotic drugs such as haloperidol, clozapine, and lithium.
    Antidepressant drugs like amitriptyline, paroxetine, and sertraline.
    Drugs for epilepsy like valproate and carbamazepine’.
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:37am
    - VicParking
      
      Also Pies, stoat and pork pies
      
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      April 23, 2018 12:27pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Sympathetic pregnancy with his Besty Jacinda?
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:37pm
  - Nermal
    
    I understand he’s knocked off the ciggies. That will account for an increased appetite and weight increase.
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:43pm
  - cmm
    
    Incontinence nappies can be pretty bulky too.
    
    So too can a couple of three hip flasks.
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:49pm
Nigel Kearney

I was pleased to hear Ardern’s comments on the Israel Folau issue. Didn’t call it hate speech, stressed that freedom of expression is extremely important, and generally considered it sufficient to just say she didn’t agree with what he said.
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April 23, 2018 8:37am
- calendar girl
  
  A fair enough view, Nigel. I agree on the ‘freedom of expression’ aspect.
  
  But why does our PM consider it necessary, desirable or part of her job to make media comments – of any kind – on the public behaviour or utterances of an Australian rugby league player?
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:15am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    Because a repeater was all but on their knees begging her to call it hate speech.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:41am
    - Piniwi
      
      But NK it is another ouch moment for the Commie Chick sitting on a fence again where all be it uncomfortable it is a “safe space”.
      
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      April 23, 2018 3:25pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    It is important, because every time she shmoozes with Merkel and the closer we get to EU trade agreements, the closer we also get to Merkel strong-arming us into the extremely harsh anti-free speech laws Germany has (again). They threaten online sites with gigantic fines for allowing ‘hate speech’, so the sites panic and delete everything that could be at all offensive to anyone. Anyone the right colour and gender that it. Offend white males all you like.
    
    It’s called the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz: network enforcement law.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:44am
    - Paulus
      
      Merkel is on her way out – under her MMP she has handed many important roles to the Socialist opposition particularly Finance, and Immigration
      He own party is a shadow of its former self.
      
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      April 23, 2018 2:02pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Sure, and the AfD has been growing impressively.
        
        However, that crappy new law exists and is muting criticism of – just about anything! And it’s exactly the kind of ‘hate speech’ law that many leftards want.
        
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        April 23, 2018 2:24pm
    - Holly Roggerz
      
      Now remind me, was Merkel the leader of the NAZI party or the Communist Party, I know she was part of the Ruling Class of the USSR when she ruled East Germany as part of the USSR yet she seems awfully fond of opressing the rights of the opposition to effectively campaign…. It is just a little hard to tell…
      
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      April 23, 2018 5:41pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Probably the first time I have agreed with the majority of what she said. I still hold that journalists are the lowest form of pond scum and that came through in the way they questioned her, including asking her to comment on Corinthians. Despicable fuckers. Probably rank lower than parking wardens and willsons parking.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:27am
  - MCos
    
    That would be ‘Wilson Parking’
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:31pm
- Flash
  
  Maybe she’s a quick study, and after a week listening to measured diplomatic speak, has learnt the art –
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:27am
- KevOB
  
  Taxcinda’s utterances are meaningless. Hope the nappies to come don’t overwhelm her.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:40am
  - cmm
    
    Laundryboy seems to be knowledgeable about washing machines… when he’s around.
    
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    April 23, 2018 3:17pm
- kowtow
  
  Talk is cheap.
  
  Action is what counts.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:33am
VicParking

33 comments and Trump has not been mentioned. Let’s make this Trump free Monday
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April 23, 2018 8:41am
- fernglas
  
  And try not to think of Belgium
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:42am
  - virtualmark
    
    Why not? It’s such a beautiful city.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:32am
    - RalphT
      
      Sorry for nit-picking but Belgium is a country; Brussels is the city. And the European city with one of the highest proportions of Muslims (15%); quite a few of the incidents in France in recent years have involved people coming from Brussels (or fleeing there after the event).
      
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      April 23, 2018 9:43am
      - virtualmark
        
        https://quotecatalog.com/quote/donald-trump-belgium-is-a-be-G7P8yy7/
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:57pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Might be useful to tell that to the President … https://quotecatalog.com/quote/donald-trump-belgium-is-a-be-G7P8yy7/
        
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        April 23, 2018 9:10pm
      - Kimbo
        
        @ virtualmark
        
        I’m a bit skeptical about the authenticity of those sort of quotes, although they are amusing. Like the one misattributed to George W Bush by his critics: “The French have no word for ‘entrepreneur’”. ?
        
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        April 23, 2018 9:17pm
    - Fletch
      
      In Bruges.
      
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      April 23, 2018 10:17am
- MCos
  
  Too late
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:42am
- G152
  
  Don’t mention the war
  
  8 0
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  April 23, 2018 8:48am
  - KiWombat
    
    You started it – you invaded Poland !
    
    7 0
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    April 23, 2018 10:21am
- Inandout
  
  The Democrats have gone troppo and are suing everybody that moves. I love to see their demise.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:49am
- GazzaW
  
  Stephie’s not here yet VP.
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:44am
sooty

Did our princess communist Cindy not stay behind to go to the Queens 92nd birthday concert. The highlight of the year.
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April 23, 2018 8:43am
- Inandout
  
  Our Princess is needed back here to sort out our many problems; and arrange another working party.
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:50am
- MCos
  
  Ignoring the inches thick layers of barely concealed sarcasm, who wants to see Tom bloody Jones sing some fifty year old song at yet another Queen’s anniversary concert and gawk at her looking crushingly bored?
  
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  April 23, 2018 8:51am
  - MCos
    
    The Queen would probably rather be at home with Phil watching the Royal Rumble.
    
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    April 23, 2018 8:54am
  - Kimbo
    
    Hmm. Seems the halcyon days of acts with the wit to ask, “Will the people in the cheaper seats please clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery” are over.
    
    But Tom Jones never goes out of style. Criticise the monarchy all you want, sir, but Tom Jones?! You blaggard!
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:53am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Kimbo, it’s not unusual…
      
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      April 23, 2018 12:29pm
    - MCos
      
      I bought his CD Praise & Blame a few years ago.
      Apart from that I have some cylinders my grandfather left me from his middle period. Tom Jones that is.
      They were songs he sang at Queen Victoria’s funeral, or was it wedding?
      
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      April 23, 2018 12:39pm
    - Kimbo
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3_KP6yUWEw
      
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      April 23, 2018 1:24pm
- Felt
  
  I thought the Queen looked sick. In the past she has always been spritely for her age, but she had the look of someone who had some internal issues beyond her age.
  
  I would not be surprised if she stood down very soon.
  
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  April 23, 2018 1:12pm
  - cmm
    
    Clearly that is on the cards with the whole “please support Prince Charles” thing.
    
    She must be shaking her head when she realises she has grandkids older than one of her PMs. I’m surprised she didn’t just give Cindy a colouring in book and juice in a cup.
    
    Seeing that must make you think you’re getting too old for this shit.
    
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    April 23, 2018 3:22pm
  - RF
    
    I suspect Cindys lover boy put the hard word on her and she was looking at Phil thinking… shall I.
    
    If not a lost opportunity.
    
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    April 23, 2018 5:16pm
Harkman

Is there anybody actually going to defend capitalism (or commerce) in this country? There is absolutely zero in the way of countering the “I got drunk and smoked while I was pregnant and now the state should reward me and my deadbeat kid” or the line that “government investment” isn’t anything other than a complete and utter waste of money. National isn’t really pushing it, though they need to be a broad church but ACT, Seymour is to busy on Dancing with the Stars and Euthanasia to worry about taxes and spending. Perhaps it seems Jordan Williams is the only lone voice out there. This government inherited a stable economy and we all know it is going to end badly but they aren’t being challenged.
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April 23, 2018 8:54am
- waikatogirl
  
  Wellington business has announced predicted growth. Not surprising really with the CoL growing the civil service and all the special liebour appointees to run their long list of inquiries and conversations. Wellington might be booming but not so much business enthusiasm in the rest of the country.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:27am
  - Harkman
    
    Well exactly, Wellington might do well at the expense of the rest of the country (though the Chch rebuild cost the rest of nz). But my moan is that there actually needs to be a party out there on National’s right flank actually preaching limited government on a daily basis or some sort of prominent radio/TV personality doing it. The majority of this country is being force fed a diet of Marxism 24/7 (I’m near bursting point ?) One News last night was nonsense, 3 with the likes of Lisa Owen are probably worse.
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:42am
    - stephieboy
      
      Harkmam, I thought tinder dry Leighton Smith would be your man?
      
      2 27
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      April 23, 2018 9:49am
      - Inandout
        
        Can’t be as dry as that grey haired presenter on CNN. Looks like he just stepped out of a crypt.
        
        7 0
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        April 23, 2018 10:42am
    - waikatogirl
      
      I agree Harkman. It seems Marxism is taking over the western world. Plenty of resentment and those awake asking how these inept lefties have got into power but not much pushback yet. Scary!
      
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      April 23, 2018 1:04pm
      - stephieboy
        
        waikatogirl , “scary”? More like creeping paranoia.
        
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        April 23, 2018 1:07pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Except for those business’ in Wgtn (like mine) that rarely deal with govt.
    Personally, I’m expecting dealings with the govt. to get worse
    The last labour govt. (Clarke), in my experience, it took months to get paid, under National I was paid on or before the 20th of the month, depending on what day that fell on.
    I’m not looking forward to them going back to their old ways.
    
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    April 23, 2018 11:00am
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    Seek government job adverts are booming. Wellington recruitment agencies are booming. Most businesses here that I talk to don’t seem to be booming though. Revenue may go up a bit but the business pessimism is based on the excessive cost increases that are coming – employment law changes (eg overtime entitlements, collective bargaining, 27% wage growth for most of those under $22/hr), petrol, cost of goods inflation.
    
    I can see why higher end businesses that deal directly with government will be rubbing their hands together though.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:41pm
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Happened under Clark too, bulging govt. departments, more cost higher tax, ZERO achieved.
      
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      April 23, 2018 3:17pm
  - Paulus
    
    My family returned from NZ overseas posting trying to buy in Wellington.
    Open houses have 40 groups to view with no pricing indications – just put in your confidential bid on xxx day by 5pm.
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:06pm
    - Humble Capitalist
      
      Hardly surprisingly the Wellington property market just keeps on moving up in value. Not even the development of a few Kiwislum subdivisions would slow it down.
      Lower Hutt rental prices up a national high of 17%
      
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      April 23, 2018 2:51pm
VicParking

Looks like the Folau’s are off to England for lucrative contracts. Good on them. I hope Adern’s Comments bring an end to this Marxist Dogma.
Set the mark up with a trick question, twist the answer to attack the person then encourage companies/organisations to comment, then call the answer Racist, sexist, misogynistic to ruin the marks life.
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April 23, 2018 8:55am
- Harkman
  
  Do you blame him?
  
  Australian rugby is going to take another hit if he goes. But netball here will take a (further) hit as well.
  
  There was actually proposals to outlaw any form of homophobic speech. WTH? Most ‘gay’ words were commandeered from other parts of the language anyhow.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:48am
Hugh Pavletich

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
IS THE NEW LABOUR – LED GOVERNMENT FAILING WITH HOUSING ?

Posted at … https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/04/general_debate_22_april_2018.html/comment-page-1#comment-2194309 … and … https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/04/links-23-april-2018/#comment-3091755 … and …

… Recent history … Bloomberg report … 30 August 2017 …

Housing Affordability Fires Up New Zealand’s Voters – Bloomberg – 30 August 2017

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-29/kiwis-defeated-by-crazy-house-prices-create-vote-battleground

… extract …

… As ownership falls to the lowest since 1951, housing affordability is firing up voters ahead of New Zealand’s general election on Sept. 23. The government is under attack for failing to respond to price surges that have forced many to ditch their property dreams. New Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has made housing a key issue, helping restore the main opposition party in opinion polls and leaving the election too close to call.

“The government’s response has been too slow and inadequate for many because they’ve seen house prices rising very fast,” said Raymond Miller, professor of politics at Auckland University. “Some voters might well have a feeling of being let down by what they see as indifference to their plight. It’s the government’s Achilles’ heel.”… read more via hyperlink above …

Housing – New Zealand Labour Party

https://www.labour.org.nz/housing

… extract …

… Remove barriers that are stopping Auckland growing up and out

Labour will remove the Auckland urban growth boundary and free up density controls. This will give Auckland more options to grow, as well as stopping landbankers profiteering and holding up development. New developments, both in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand, will be funded through innovative infrastructure bonds. … read more via hyperlink above …

TWO QUESTIONS …

1. When are the Auckland Urban Limits being abolished ?

2. When is bond financing for infrastructure to be introduced nationally ?

… Latest One News Colmar Brunton poll …

Labour drop 5% in ONCB poll | Kiwiblog

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/04/labour_drop_5_in_oncb_poll.html

The latest One News Colmar Brunton poll has Labour dropping 5%, and behind National.

It is interesting to compare how this Government is doing compared to the previous one at the same time. How does April 2017 and April 2009 compare poll wise. … read more via hyperlink above …
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April 23, 2018 8:57am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  IS THE NEW LABOUR – LED GOVERNMENT FAILING WITH HOUSING ?
  
  Yes.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:16am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Welcome to the “Australian finance crisis of 2018” – MacroBusiness Australia … behind paywall …
  
  https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/04/welcome-australian-finance-crisis-2018/
  
  Via Ian Rogers at Banking Day:
  
  The Australian finance crisis of 2018 is roaring, producing an immediate and lasting credit crunch. All banks are tightening scorecards to lift expenses and frame credit analysis on realistic incomes, a secular change sure to impede system credit growth.
  
  The combined work of the Hayne Royal Commission and APRA is driving this drain on confidence, and in the long run hauling down property prices, shifting the gates on affordability.
  
  Recent lending by banks may shift into negative equity, in volume, and the bad debts charge across the industry will mount soon.
  
  Across the industry, residential property loans will from now on be advanced at lower debt to income ratios than those once common at some large lenders.
  
  In sideshow alley (and still bad for banking, directors and top management at AMP) ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac will be leaving in numbers, some soon. Accountability may inform hasty changes in personnel at industries beyond banking. … read more via hyperlink above …
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:58am
  - KiWombat
    
    What’s the difference between a link and a hyperlink ? Do you have to sniff cocaine before you click one of them ?
    
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    April 23, 2018 11:45am
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Google search ‘ Australia Banking Royal Commission ‘
      
      https://www.google.co.nz/search?source=hp&ei=KyfdWvL5Bcab8wXX3Y7QCg&q=australia+banking+royal+commission&oq=australia+banking+royal+commission&gs_l=psy-ab.13..
      
      … MacroBusiness Australia …
      
      https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/
      
      … access to yesterdays extensive GD posts up – thread …
      
      https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/04/general_debate_22_april_2018.html/comment-page-1#comment-2194585
      
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      April 23, 2018 12:30pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Banking royal commission: AMP’s Catherine Brenner has ‘serious questions to answer’ … Australian Broadcasting Corporation
        
        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-23/banking-rc-revelations-put-amp-chairwoman-board-in-jeopardy/9686820
        
        The future of AMP chairwoman Catherine Brenner and possibly the wealth manager’s entire board is in jeopardy after admissions that it meddled with a supposedly independent report to the corporate regulator.
        
        The Australian Shareholders Association (ASA) is threatening to use its proxy voting power at AMP’s annual general meeting on May 10 unless Ms Brenner provides a proper explanation justifying the board’s interference with the Clayton Utz report.
        
        ASA director Allan Goldin is unimpressed at AMP’s commitment to launch an independent inquiry into governance at the company and how top executives misled the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and charged advice fees when no service was delivered. … VIEW & READ more via hyperlink above …
        
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        April 23, 2018 12:57pm
  - KevOB
    
    A credit crunch in Aus. will be here soon. Our baby govt is not going to know what to do. They will wish they left it to the Nats.
    
    The fact that baby govt are not aware of basic global financial movements and consequences is the result of fishnchip shop training, student politics and mistress diversity.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:37pm
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Keeping a roof over my kids’ heads is impossible | Rachel Miller | Stuff.co.nz
    
    http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/103316320/keeping-a-roof-over-my-kids-heads-is-impossible
    
    It’s not just mums with six kids to six different dads who are on the streets. It’s not just non-working parents who struggle.
    
    It’s not only addicts, or people with huge amounts of debt who find themselves with nowhere to live.
    
    I’m a mum of two. I work, I pay my rent, I clean the house and I don’t smoke, don’t party and don’t own pets.
    
    Yes, I do have two children, which I realise is my choice. I make sure they don’t miss out on the basics: I pay my bills, they’re fed and clothed. I’ll also point out that when I had them, housing was affordable and findable – I didn’t see a crisis looming. … read more via hyperlink above …
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:35pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Hugh:
      
      I’m a mum of two
      
      Well you had us fooled Hugh! 🙂
      
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      April 23, 2018 3:03pm
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    … CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND GENERAL MORTGAGE CAP 3.5 TIMES INCOMES …
    
    … Why over recent decades have the Australian and New Zealand banking and finance sectors failed to responsibly advocate for sound housing markets and associated responsible lending ? …
    
    … Dysfunctional housing markets and irresponsible lending go hand – in – hand …
    
    Mortgage Measures | Central Bank of Ireland
    … also … access background research …
    
    https://www.centralbank.ie/financial-system/financial-stability/macro-prudential-policy/mortgage-measures
    
    … Normal housing markets do not exceed 3.0 times annual household income (median multiple) … requiring sensible mortgage loads of 2.5 times annual household income … refer …
    
    Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: All Editions
    
    http://www.demographia.com/db-dhi-index.htm
    
    … also …
    
    The Economic Implications Of Housing Supply – Edward Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko
    
    https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.32.1.3
    
    The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices … Reserve Bank of Australia Discussion Paper
    
    https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.pdf
    
    The Urban Containment Effects (Zoning Effects) On Australian House Prices (RBA Report) … Wendell Cox … New Geography
    
    http://www.newgeography.com/content/005921-the-urban-containment-effect-zoning-effect-australian-house-prices
    
    … extract …
    
    • In Sydney, the urban containment effect adds $489,000 to the house price making the annual mortgage payments $29,000 higher. Figure 4 shows the components of the average house price in Sydney.
    
    • In Melbourne, the urban containment effect adds $324,000 to the house price, making the annual mortgage payments $19,000 higher.
    
    • In Brisbane, the urban containment effect adds $159,000 to the house price, making the annual mortgage payments $9,000 higher.
    
    • In Perth, the urban containment effect adds $206,000 to the house price, making the annual mortgage payments $12,000 higher.
    
    • No data is available for Adelaide, but the present median multiple (median house price divided by median household income) suggests that urban containment effect adds at least $13,000 to the mortgage. … read more via hyperlink above …
    
    … When do the authorities in Australia and New Zealand intend to restore normal housing markets … so normal banking and finance sectors can be restored as well ?…
    
    The royal commission changed this week — from awful and dumb to utterly shocking – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
    
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-21/royal-commission-changed-this-week-awful-to-shocking/9681942
    
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    April 24, 2018 2:19am
Happychappy

Bitter twisted senile moron back posting the same articles day after day.
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April 23, 2018 9:15am
- sooty
  
  How do you know?
  Have you been reading them?
  No one else does.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:35pm
Maxx

Study: People with less political knowledge think they know a lot about politics

Alright – hands up who anyone who falls into this category

http://www.psypost.org/2018/04/study-people-less-political-knowledge-think-know-lot-politics-51062
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April 23, 2018 9:31am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Maxx , from your link this one does,
  
  “At some point after the election, several individuals began referring to Trump’s presidency as the ‘Dunning-Kruger Presidency’, as Trump appears to opine incredibly confidently about topics he appears to know little about.”
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:47am
  - softail 1450
    
    septicboy ,trump trump trump trump trump trump trump trump trump? its a great rhythm for self flagellation septic ,or tossing off to, i suspect the latter in your case.
    
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    April 23, 2018 10:04am
  - Inandout
    
    stephie, you are of course speaking of that exceptionally glib ex President Obama. He actually invented confidence at the forefront of ignorance.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:24pm
  - UpandComer
    
    I know nothing. That means I know everything.
    
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    April 23, 2018 5:06pm
- Random T Person
  
  The more I read and learn, the more I realise how little I know.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:20am
Manolo

As history shows, the French are always strong and brave. Tui ad.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/macron-warns-against-being-weak-putin-160612836.html

French President Emmanuel Macron warned against showing any weakness towards Vladimir Putin — while insisting he wants to work with the Russian strongman — in remarks broadcast Sunday on the eve of his state visit to Washington.
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April 23, 2018 9:31am
- kowtow
  
  Ah yes , the famous French war cry …..
  
  “Sauve qui peut”
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:39am
Catons

The is a YouTube clip clip of Clarke Gayford boasting how he has had hunderds yes hundreds of successful relationships with women. I watched it. We will be hearing more from Gayford. The problem for Ms Ardern is Gayford strikes right at the heart of her judgement about people. They are a very handsome couple and the photos of her and him together are very impressive. But all is not what it seems.
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April 23, 2018 9:34am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Catons ,
  
  “But all is not what it seems.”?
  
  Carry on …
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:44am
  - Inandout
    
    Except for you stephie, you are what it seems.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:27pm
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      LOL!!
      
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      April 23, 2018 4:10pm
- KiWombat
  
  That clip was done many years ago – probably into the thousands now !
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:01pm
  - Felt
    
    But in order for him to have had soo many, he would have had to had an “overlap” surely?
    
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    April 23, 2018 1:16pm
    - KiWombat
      
      Probably overlapping right now – hard to throw a leg over that bun !
      
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      April 23, 2018 4:39pm
Ross12

Does “Morning Joe” Scarborough often wrote for the Washington Post or are they both getting more desperate ?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/103309914/its-becoming-clear-that-trump-wont-run-in-2020
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April 23, 2018 9:41am
Lance

Although Air NZ is far from perfect..

Jetstar are cunts. In the interest of consumer protection there should be a BIG warning on any Jetstar e-ticket that you might be stranded for several days at your remote airport with NO accommodation etc if you are dumb enough to fly with Jetstar

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12037579
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April 23, 2018 9:46am
- RalphT
  
  And not stranded just anywhere, but Palmerston North. John Cleese would sympathise.
  
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  April 23, 2018 10:01am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Oh so the downtickers think that Jet Star is great! Jet Star have a fair amount of “Crew Sickness”. I am a little suspicious…
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:37am
- GazzaW
  
  Jetstar is fine until one of their aircraft falls over or is significantly delayed by weather. They just do not have enough aircraft operating in NZ to cope with operational adversities. NZ’s topography and weather patterns are not condusive to troublefree airline operations but the Aussies seem to know better.
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:55am
- Ed Snack
  
  Flew on an ANZ flight Whanganui to Auckland a few years back. Got all the way to Auckland but couldn’t land because of excessive side winds.
  
  Flew back to Whanganui, landed, parked the aircraft and the crew just buggered off. Whanganui is a small airport, it was unattended, because of a large event there were no rental cars and no accommodation available. And ANZ did absolutely nothing to help, didn’t even tell us that we could fly next day.
  
  In the end me and about 5 others hired a shuttle to drive us to Auckland.
  
  So Jetstar ain’t alone in this sort of behaviour.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:39pm
- KevOB
  
  The risks with Jetstar are discounted in the prices. Most of the time their OK.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:45pm
Surely Knott

Waitakere by-election. Two of the candidates for local board directly report to the councillors in a non council orginisation during their day jobs. Can a local board member do a strong job of advocating for their area and criticising the governing body when necessary, if the councillors are their boss the next morning. Can the public be confident decisions are made at Council board meetings and not influenced via office chats. Or is it all good and conflicts happen.
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April 23, 2018 10:30am
- Viking2
  
  Ask Penny.
  
  Isn’t this what she has been on about to much criticism.
  
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  April 23, 2018 9:41pm
Ross12

How to waste rate payers money

https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/103246531/virtual-reality-game-shows-wellington-after-sea-level-rise
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April 23, 2018 10:35am
- RW Capitalist
  
  or
  Painting blue lines on the road, all around the Hutt Valley, to show where the sea would get to, should there be a tsunami.
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:06am
- niggly
  
  The best thing about that article is the comments section & commentators smashing the WCC for wasting money and scare mongering by over-inflating the sea level rises!
  
  12 0
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  April 23, 2018 11:30am
  - Ross12
    
    I’ve found similar comments on most climate related articles on Stuff. It is interesting because most commentators on other subjects seem to be centre left, if not far left. I think there is a rapidly increasing number of people, outside the beltway, who have seen through the AGW scam and are now confident enough to express their opinion.
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:42pm
103PapPap

With the hoohaa about mould and sewerage on the walls of Middlemore hospital, you would have thought that one of the union-member nurses would have used their cell phone to take a photo and post it on social media, wouldn’t you.
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April 23, 2018 11:05am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Assuming, that they took the video and pictures of the worst parts, on the News.
  It looked like a few bottles of “wet and forget” or 30 seconds with our little Asian chap. Would fix the problem.
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:08am
  - Harkman
    
    I love that guy.
    
    4 0
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    April 23, 2018 7:48pm
    - Kimbo
      
      Don’t tell Andrew Little that. He’ll likely complain about the country being flooded under the last National Government with low skilled and low paid Asian actors, when a local such as…um, ~~Sam Neill~~ ~~Cliff Curtis~~ Raybon Kan could have done the job. ?
      
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      April 23, 2018 7:56pm
- waikatogirl
  
  Is the Middlemore Hospital mould still a problem? Haven’t heard any more about it in the msm since revelations that Liebour knew about it back in October. ?
  
  14 0
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  April 23, 2018 1:16pm
  - GazzaW
    
    Leighton said this morning that the shit running down the walls ‘right through the hospital’ was fixed in an hour by a single plumber with a bucket. I can see ‘Dr’ Clarke on the receiving end of some awkward questions next week.
    
    14 0
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    April 23, 2018 1:58pm
- Paulus
  
  Middlemore Hospital SNAFU
  Seems now reported it has been difficult to find after one something was washed away with a bucket full of water and Jif.
  No wonder Nurses Unions could not use their mobiles to photo anything.
  
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  April 23, 2018 2:12pm
Igotta Numbum

“Capitalism has failed” claims Jacinda Ardern, as she pockets a tidy $300k profit from the sale of her house.

On another note, does this sale fail the brightline test, and is liable for tax on gains?
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April 23, 2018 11:10am
- marcw
  
  Oh I hope it was someone with a “chinky” sounding name that bought it. The ultimate in hypocrisy and lack of principles.
  
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  April 23, 2018 5:09pm
- Holly Roggerz
  
  No its a family home so exempt.
  
  1 0
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  April 23, 2018 5:44pm
kowtow

The war on cops in the US.

Pisses me off no end , our media . Black lives matter , blah blah , sometimes even leads our “news” broadcasts .

Two cops on meal break , shot dead in cold blood, ho hum nothing to see here…..

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/Two-Florida-deputies-shot-killed-at-restaurant-in-Gilchrist-County_167494306
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April 23, 2018 11:12am
- MCos
  
  The Tampa Bay Times is hardly our media.
  
  1 6
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  April 23, 2018 11:31am
  - kowtow
    
    I said it was ?
    
    1 0
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    April 23, 2018 5:04pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Here we protect drug addled forestry workers and blame their employers when THEY have an accident.
  Here we would call this a health and safety issue too.
  
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  April 23, 2018 11:40am
Poppa

I heard that the Muppets are coming to Wellington for a show.

At least they will be in good company, but will probably make much more sense than the muppets we already have running the place
14 1
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April 23, 2018 11:32am
RW Capitalist

Am I mistaken or did Mallard want to change the opening prayer at question time to:
It’s time to play the music
It’s time to light the lights
It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

It’s time to put on makeup
It’s time to dress up right
It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight.

Why do we always come here
I guess we’ll never know
It’s like a kind of torture
To have to watch the show

And now let’s get things started
Why don’t you get things started
It’s time to get things started
On the most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational
This is what we call the Muppet Show!
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April 23, 2018 11:43am
rightoverlabour

Is it Hate Speech if I suggest that this is a major concern. Drugs today, explosives tomorrow. I have always maintained that confiscating pocket knives and bottled water is not the answer to aviation security, it’s the vetting of employees that have unfettered access to the baggage, and aircraft on the ground.

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-43804155/gang-jailed-for-heathrow-airport-drug-smuggling

Notice the nice Anglosaxon names…. (That’s where the Hate Speech comes in)
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April 23, 2018 11:47am
- stephieboy
  
  rightoverlabour , do note this Anglo Saxon name in respect of Aussie’s biggest drug bust,
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3603085/William-Roger-Reaves-jailed-Australia-s-biggest-drug-bust-reveals-wild-life-smuggler.html
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:00pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  NO
  
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  April 23, 2018 4:04pm
stephieboy

Deborah Hill Cone, sleazebag journalism,

Claims in Deborah Hill Cone column cast doubt on the prime minister and her squeeze, who stands accused of being cringey and having a name ending with the letter ‘e’. Danyl Mclauchlan digs deeper.

Early this morning the New Zealand Herald published a hard-hitting piece on Clarke Gayford, a fishing show reality TV star and the partner of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The story, which led the newspaper’s website and was announced with a “Breaking News” banner, was written by veteran business journalist and columnist Deborah Hill Cone. It contained a number of serious allegations that raise grave doubts about Gayford’s reputation as a likable guy who likes fishing. Instead, the story alleged, the “first bloke” is “vexing, “problematic” and “cringey”. Hill Cone further alleges that Gayford’s first name ends with the letter “e”. If the revelations in Hill Cone’s piece are true, Gayford is far from the amicable figure he seems. It raises important questions about how much Gayford actually loves fishing, and whether he is secretly kind of like Betty Draper. You know, from Mad Men.

But an extensive investigation into Hill Cone’s story conducted by the Spinoff over dozens of seconds in the early hours of this morning casts uncertainty on the story’s findings…..”

https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/23-04-2018/breaking-news-clarke-gayford-reputation-rocked-by-herald-allegations/
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April 23, 2018 11:53am
- Poppa
  
  The prosecution rests Stephie
  
  17 1
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  April 23, 2018 12:02pm
  - stephieboy
    
    Poppa. ???
    
    2 17
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    April 23, 2018 12:06pm
- Jack5
  
  Clearly, roster change at Stephiestani Trolls Ltd.
  
  16 1
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  April 23, 2018 12:06pm
  - Harkman
    
    The goat is obviously filling in and the sensible one in the relationship.
    
    2 0
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    April 23, 2018 7:53pm
- GazzaW
  
  I read her column with great joy stephie. I can’t abide Hill-Cone but to see yet another lefty journo see the light after just six months and turn on Jacinda’s squeeze is most encouraging regardless of the shallowness of her arguments. It will at least reach a significant gullible audience who will believe every word.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:07pm
  - stephieboy
    
    GazzaW, now what can you investigative prowess reveal ( sleaze or otherwise ) about Clarke Gayford?
    
    2 26
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    April 23, 2018 12:10pm
    - GazzaW
      
      None at all but that’s not the point. I was merely pointing out that Hill-Cone’s column will be swallowed hook, line and sinker by her regular readers. Rightly or wrongly the damage has been done.
      
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      April 23, 2018 12:24pm
      - stephieboy
        
        GazzaW, what damage?
        
        4 13
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        April 23, 2018 1:00pm
  - Inandout
    
    Gazza: It is happening in the US as well with that real ‘sleazebag’ Comey. He is beginning to feel the heat from some journalists who amazingly have turned on him with reference to his book. That publication shows his unusual fixation with males. The FBI is well rid of him.
    
    https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/21/17266312/amazon-james-comey-a-higher-loyalty-book-reviews-verified-purchase
    
    I can imagine what some comments would be like.
    
    13 2
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    April 23, 2018 12:35pm
    - stephieboy
      
      “feel the heat from some journalists ”
      
      Like whom?
      
      2 16
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      April 23, 2018 1:17pm
  - Nermal
    
    It’s not unknown for the left to turn on their own if one of them goes down in the stampede. They just colour him as a predator, and that makes him fair game, a la Weinberg
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:59pm
- Surely Knott
  
  It was a “cringey” article from Cone. Although I have to agree Gayeford is annoying. But it was a trashy article. But the Spinoff….give me strength. Spinoff is the green party magazine. eg. their voter guides they published from the last auckland council election based on the opinions of the generation xero lobby group.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:27pm
- UpandComer
  
  She hasn’t touched upon much more serious stuff. Gayeford has truly de factoed his way up with a nice girl.
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:35pm
  - KevOB
    
    Deborah HC hasn’t put the rumours to rest either.
    
    11 1
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    April 23, 2018 12:50pm
    - stephieboy
      
      kevOB , what rumours?
      
      1 18
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      April 23, 2018 1:03pm
  - stephieboy
    
    Upandcomer ,
    
    “more serious stuff..”?
    
    Some examples?
    
    2 20
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    April 23, 2018 1:02pm
    - Awww C-mon
      
      The rumour he was caught doing in a 3 some with a goat and some bloke in a church yard in Auckland.
      
      But you wouldn’t know anything of the sort huh Stephie
      
      11 1
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      April 23, 2018 1:39pm
Fletch

Ozzie soldiers banned from wearing “deaths head” scarves, etc, by the leaders in the Army.

The Australian Army has issued a directive that prohibits soldiers from wearing “death” symbols in combat, declaring the practice arrogant, ill-considered and deterimental to the ethos of the armed forces.
Australia’s Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, made the decision. He cited several symbols to be specifically prohibited because of what he claimed are violent, murderous and vigilante symbolism.

Lt Gen Campbell stated in his order that he had come across the symbols worn as patches or badges while visiting army units in Australia and overseas. These included the Skull and Crossbones, Spartans, the Grim Reaper and the Phantom or Punisher.

He reiterated that such symbols were at odds with Army values while acknowledging this was not the intention of those who wore them.

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/04/22/australian-soldiers-banned-wearing-arrogant-death-symbols/

Maybe it’s too scary for the people they are fighting?
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April 23, 2018 11:59am
- stephieboy
  
  Maybe, the enemy finds it good target practice?
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:03pm
  - UpandComer
    
    Have you seen the top brass? It probably offends their fashion sense.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:45pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  “The Australian Army has issued a directive that prohibits soldiers from wearing “death” symbols in combat…”
  
  I wonder is there is a correlation between combat and death?
  
  //
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:05pm
- Lance
  
  If the enemy was shit scared of them it would probably be better for all concerned.
  ‘Don’t attack the highly trained soldiers, it could be hazardous to your health’
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:24pm
- Huevon
  
  This scene from Full metal Jacket seems appropriate…
  
  https://youtu.be/KMEViYvojtY
  
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  April 23, 2018 1:43pm
- Nermal
  
  The generals always fight this war using the last war’s tactics. I don’t see any difference between the masks and face camouflage paint, but they were obviously afraid of offending someone, or a lawsuit by an enemy who became traumatised after seeing a real soldier.
  
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  April 23, 2018 3:03pm
- kowtow
  
  Staff officers used to wear badges with crossed swords …….perhaps a rainbow would be more appropriate.
  
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  April 23, 2018 5:02pm
rangitoto

I did a project over the summer building a new deck. Last weekend I happened to go to the local hardware and timber supply place I bought most of the materials. I checked out the prices of the treated timber and concrete and I estimate that if I were doing the deck project now it would cost me about ten percent more. Seems a big jump in a few months. I wonder if this is general or just that particular retailer. It doesn’t sound hopeful for affordable homes.
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April 23, 2018 12:01pm
- waikatogirl
  
  Supply and demand rangitoto. Phil needs the timber for his 10,000 homes.
  
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  April 23, 2018 1:26pm
  - Poppa
    
    He would if they built any.
    
    I doubt he has bought a shovel at this stage
    
    5 0
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    April 23, 2018 1:58pm
    - Paulus
      
      Or found a builder – any !
      There are none available in Christchurch to re re re repair any Earthquake damage after some 10,000 quakes. Teletubby will have to find them !.
      
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      April 23, 2018 2:17pm
  - Viking2
    
    Interesting discussion today with our bank manager type. Our major bank suggests that we cannot produce enough timber to build Phils 100,000 houses. That on top of the amount of money needed for the subdivision and infrastruce to support that 100,000 houses and its occupants.
    
    https://www.interest.co.nz/news/93340/new-zealand%E2%80%99s-biggest-bank-suggesting-new-zealand%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Curgent%E2%80%9D-need-infrastructure
    
    https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/93346/tex-edwards-cooks-multi-course-recipe-improve-housing-affordability-new-zealand-market
    
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    April 23, 2018 9:53pm
Jack5

Dame Devoid’s five-year term as Race Relations Commissioner will end in a few weeks.

The question is whether, like her predecessor, the Marxist Joris de Bres, Devoid will get a second term.

Hints she won’t be would come from the Labour Coalition sounding out, for a Devoid successor, minority groups such as Auckland Pacific Islanders, Indians, Chinese, and Muslim groups. The requirement will be for a leftist-oriented, LGBTQ, non-white, non-Christian who supports tighter controls on free speech. Finding an LGBTQ Muslim could be a challenge.
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April 23, 2018 12:03pm
- Kimbo
  
  On balance Dame Susan Devoy has done an ok job, in a role that is foolish, and has long since ceased to serve a positive purpose, and now acts as a lightening rod for all manner of cranks, malcontents and conspiracy theorists from the political and racial extremes. If the nation had a dollar for every time someone wrote or said something beginning with, “How come Devoy/Devoid doesn’t do something about…?”, we’ld clear our national debt! ?
  
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  April 23, 2018 12:06pm
  - RRM
    
    I hear Israel Folau might be coming off-contract soon?
    
    And the people’s princess has confirmed what he said isn’t hate speech:
    
    http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/04/israel-folaus-gay-comments-arent-hate-speech-jacinda-ardern.amp.html
    
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    April 23, 2018 1:25pm
  - Paulus
    
    I understand that after considerable looking for this role nobody wanted it but Devoy was finally pressured to take it.
    Will be surprised if she will not be relieved to retire from it. It is a hiding to nothing.
    
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    April 23, 2018 2:20pm
  - cmm
    
    C’mon Kimbo she’s done a poor job. She didn’t have to take it.
    
    “If the nation had a dollar…” I doubt it would pay the millions of dollars her little outfit costs us every year.
    
    They clearly do not have enough race relations work in NZ to keep them busy which is why they have the time to put their noses into other areas: womens issues, homosexuality issues, Muslim woes and Scarlett-the-stripper. None of those fall within their brief of race relations.
    
    Strangely they do not have time for Genter’s racist nonsense.
    
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    April 23, 2018 3:14pm
- GazzaW
  
  There will be many an ex-unionist, retired or axed ex-Labour MP or longtime Willis House seat polisher with their hands up for this little sinecure. Jobs for the girls?
  
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  April 23, 2018 1:38pm
- RF
  
  No no no no no
  
  Hat tip to the Vicar of Dibley.
  
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  April 23, 2018 5:58pm
Manolo

Who did it?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/malaysia-seeks-killers-of-palestinian-engineer-1524431407

Palestinian electrical engineer Fadi al-Batsh was on his way to a mosque outside Malaysia’s capital for dawn prayers when he was shot dead by a helmeted attacker on a motorcycle.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant and political organization that governs the Gaza Strip, blamed Israel for Mr. Batsh’s death on Saturday, calling it an assassination. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mr. Batsh was a member of the group, with “an honorable reputation in science.”
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April 23, 2018 12:26pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hamas blames Mossad – Israel’s Special Ops Dept
  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/mossad-carries-assassinations-180422152144736.html
  
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  April 23, 2018 2:13pm
- Nermal
  
  Wall Street Journal highlights a drive by murder in Malaysia. When was the last time they reported on a drive by murder in Detroit or Chicago, which both have strict gun controls.
  
  I guess that doesn’t fit their narrative
  
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  April 23, 2018 3:08pm
UpandComer

I’m going to try to write less screeds. I know my comment about the Queen was vituperstive. But look at this. Three politicians have already been implicated for child abuse just in the tiny town of Telford. Three. This is absolutely tip of the iceberg. Telford is a ‘tiny’ town. But it’s a representative sample of England at large. Note the daily Mail article doesn’t mention the political party they’re from. The Telegraph reported two labour counsellors and a police chief were doing the same in Rotherham. Current people of goodwill say everything referred to in the royal commission is happening still, now, unabated. I mean what I say and it’s based on substantiated grounds.

http://voxday.blogspot.com.au/?m=1

The Queen could be stopping this. But instead she’s nullifying her status as head of the church of England as a direct descendant of Mohammed.

Stephieboy will be along to ‘Pizzagate’ it. But this a whole new country. It looks like the penetration of Jimmy Saviles into the heart of all of England’s institutions is ubiquitous and widely diffused.
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April 23, 2018 12:33pm
- Kimbo
  
  I’m going to try and write less screeds
  
  My dear fellow, why?! The diversity’s of otherwise disparate threads you weave together with such crafted and original pose – no cut and paste for UpandComer – has you in the running for “troll of the year”. We are privileged to see an artist at work. Keep up the good work! ?
  
  7 10
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  April 23, 2018 12:45pm
  - UpandComer
    
    But Kimbo, I have to defer to you. You’re the mega giga alpha troll. The troll under the bridge. How meta of you to appoint me with your own position as kiwiblog’s Oscar winning troll lord. But I must refuse the honorific. It’s yours. You’ve earned it. Look at the spectacle of you implying a ‘disparate’ quality to threads that are completely coherent and interwoven with interior logic. Tell us more about how much you don’t read what I say ever, but think about it a lot.
    
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    April 23, 2018 12:48pm
    - Kimbo
      
      You’re the mega giga alpha troll.
      
      Shhh! You’ll blow my cover. 😉
      
      4 7
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      April 23, 2018 1:28pm
- stephieboy
  
  Upandcomer ,
  
  “But it’s a representative sample of England at large”
  
  Evidence and facts?
  
  2 19
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  April 23, 2018 1:11pm
- UpandComer
  
  Jimmy Savile was knighted by the Queen. Jimmy’s heinous crimes at the BBC were covered up by Mark Thompson. Mark Thompson is now the head of the New York Times. How is it possible people doing such horrendous things attain positions of such influence and power. Remember that the next time you read the New York Timesm The NYT’s editorial stances are being established by Jimmy Saviles patron and protector at the BBC.
  
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  April 23, 2018 6:38pm
RRM

Meet your next generation of future fence-sitting independent, windsock-goes-wherever-the-winds-of-polling-blow, nanny-statist “thau shalt do what we say” big government psychopath, troughing list MPs:

https://www.facebook.com/mitchellhopping/?rc=p

I must confess after I read this guy’s page I felt a brief ray of warmth that thank goodness we have such a focussed, competent and principled government as Greebour First!

Then I thought to myself, wait, what??

Then I re-read this guy’s page and yes he does indeed make Taxcinda, Julie Anne Yank & Co look like the real deal…
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April 23, 2018 1:10pm
- Nermal
  
  A perfect example of the truism that anyone volunteering to be elected to a public position should be automatically be barred from doing so
  
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  April 23, 2018 3:12pm
Jack5

Junior Minister in the Labour Coalition slates Chinese diplomats in their row in Tahiti.

Is the Coalition’s giant slab of Ministers not under control?

The guy getting into the Tahiti-China row: Associate Justice Minister Aupito William Sio.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/355748/tahiti-dispute-over-china-consulate-disgraceful-nz-minister
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April 23, 2018 1:54pm
Philview

I read that Shane Jones planted the first tree yesterday. Just 999,999,999 to go. However, there seems to be a problem, they will need to bring in immigrants to plant them which of course is against Government policy.
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April 23, 2018 2:07pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Philview:
  
  Do you know if Shane Jones gave the tree a good watering?
  
  9 1
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  April 23, 2018 2:28pm
  - sooty
    
    No. It was not a lemon tree.
    
    11 1
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    April 23, 2018 4:31pm
  - godruelf
    
    Or did he get his old mate Dover Samuels out of retirement..
    
    9 1
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    April 23, 2018 5:20pm
VicParking

Jacinda was asked Ten Quick Questions by the BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-43858635/nz-pm-jacinda-ardern-decides-lord-of-the-rings-or-thor
“Who do you pick Thor or Lord of the Rings” Her Answer Thor. Quick look at her minders who were no doubt signaling wildly. Changes her answer to Lord of the Rings
“Which politician do you most admire: Answer Obama. Would would of guessed!!!
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April 23, 2018 2:41pm
rangitoto

Oh dear, another 575 houses down the gurgler. Has Twitford built any yet?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12037834
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April 23, 2018 2:48pm
- Nostradamus
  
  From the linked article:
  
  Geologist and author of Volcanoes of Auckland Bruce Hayward has described Crater Hill as the second best preserved volcano in South Auckland after Mangere Mountain. It is ranked the eighth most valued volcano in a report to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, which is assessing the case for nominating Auckland’s volcanoes for World Heritage status.
  
  WTF?
  
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  April 23, 2018 4:42pm
  - KevOB
    
    Shouldn’t they wait till one blows its top then it will be significant.
    
    7 0
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    April 23, 2018 5:13pm
Nostradamus

Kelly O’Dwyer interview only drew more attention to Coalition’s bad call on banking royal commission

Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to have a lie-in on Sunday morning. Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer might wish she’d done so at the weekend. Ms O’Dwyer should not have gone out — or been put out — on the ABC’s Insiders program with the lines she had on the banking royal commission. The interview was agony to watch, and counter-productive for the government, as she steadfastly refused to admit the Coalition had been wrong in not agreeing earlier to the inquiry, which has produced such devastating disclosures.

The full 14-minute interview is here (second video on that page).

The banks are up there with cost of living issues (like power prices) as a hot-button issue for voters. For O’Dwyer to front up for an interview and play word games, as she did, shows bad political judgement. The next Newspoll won’t be good for Malcolm Turnbull!
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April 23, 2018 2:51pm
rangitoto

The Greens propose new transport option to beat global warming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9hIxJ0cu0
8 0
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April 23, 2018 3:32pm
kevn

The Streisand Effect is about to take place… clark(e) gayford comes out swinging at Deborah Hill-Cones column content (in the NZ Herald this morning). He was the subject needless to say.
Bring it on ‘trophy hunter’…
17 3
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April 23, 2018 4:12pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  How bloody desperate the NZ herald must be.. trying to interest the country in such pathetic click-bait crap.
  
  We have just received our 3rd offer of a free 5-week trial to the NZ Herald. If we weren’t interested the first 2 times why would be wanting it now?
  
  12 0
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  April 23, 2018 4:35pm
  - itstricky
    
    If we weren’t interested the first 2 times why would be wanting it now?
    
    Because the only posts in the last hour have been ADS Clarkey ones, and because you’ve obviously also taken the time to post your own thoughts? Clearly you (and six other KBers) are not that disinterested.
    
    3 12
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    April 23, 2018 4:46pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Itstricky:
      
      Clearly you (and six other KBers) are not that disinterested.
      
      Help is available here!
      
      7 1
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      April 23, 2018 4:50pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Thank you Nostradamus
        
        You’ve saved me delivering a little lecture.
        
        @Itstricky
        I’m not interested in having a paper copy of the NZ Herald delivered.
        I had written earlier today that the DHC article was gratuitous.
        I am not interested in reading any more on this pathetic issue in the NZH.
        I had earlier written a snarky comment about the NBR dumping Hooten, only for him to reappear as a columnist in the NZH.
        Thank you for providing yet another reason for me to write a disparaging comment about the quality of the NZH.
        
        15 1
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        April 23, 2018 5:04pm
      - itstricky
        
        Help is available
        
        Hmmm… you’re probably right, although I was also trying to convey a feeling of Maggy not being an “impartial sideliner” so maybe not that clear cut.
        
        3 7
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        April 23, 2018 5:21pm
      - itstricky
        
        I had written earlier today that the DHC article was gratuitous.
        
        So you did. Sorry.
        
        6 1
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        April 23, 2018 5:23pm
      - itstricky
        
        Thank you for providing yet another reason for me to write a disparaging comment about the quality of the NZH.
        
        Still, 30+ and counting KBers disagree with you – they’re just loving the column. Lapping it up. And Anne – she loves it so much she’s resorted to capitals! CAPITALS!
        
        And lots of quote marks.
        
        And stuff.
        
        6 8
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        April 23, 2018 5:30pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @Itstricky
      
      Still, 30+ and counting KBers disagree with you
      
      How can that be?
      I thought I was in an echo chamber.
      
      Oh hell, don’t tell me I’m on the wrong blog.
      Shall I buzz off to The Standard?
      
      11 1
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      April 23, 2018 5:42pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Maggy:
        
        Shall I buzz off to The Standard?
        
        I hope you stay here. If you must buzz off somewhere, though, how about YourNZ? Griff featured in a special guest post there.
        
        Maggy [Griff, you may not be aware of how things operate here but please refer people by their name and respectfully, don’t diss them personally. PG]
        
        Hmmm… you have to choose between Stephieboy (who wants to know your underwear size) here and Griff (who wants to destroy you) there… what a choice!
        
        10 1
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        April 23, 2018 6:06pm
      - waikatogirl
        
        You stay Maggy, itsticky can go. ?
        
        10 2
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        April 23, 2018 6:34pm
      - itstricky
        
        How can that be? I thought I was in an echo chamber.
        
        Maybe the sea level has risen and you’ve floated out of it?
        
        3 6
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        April 23, 2018 6:50pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Nostradamus
        
        If you must buzz off somewhere, though, how about YourNZ?
        
        Naughty, naughty… You aren’t stalking me, are you?
        Did you miss yesterday’s abuse of me?
        
        @Itstricky
        And Anne – she loves it so much
        
        Have you considered that Anne (and WaikatoGirl & DHC) may be better judges of men than me?
        Remember I’m just a dull old house-frau stuck with a Beta male for the last 40+ years.
        I’m not a Woman of the World experienced in the ways and wiles of men… let alone alpha Male men.
        
        Perhaps they’ve got the measure of the man, and I’m
        hopelessly out of my depth.
        (Still, I can swim quite well).
        
        7 2
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        April 23, 2018 7:08pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Maggy:
        
        I sometimes scan YourNZ to see what Pete’s blogging about. Some of his material is original analysis and interesting but, on the whole, his commenter base is too weird for my liking,
        
        Did you miss yesterday’s abuse of me?
        
        Who abused you?
        
        6 1
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        April 23, 2018 7:24pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Just the same old, same old…(but linked to an entry the day before)
        
        Yes, I wander over to see what topics are on Pete George’s radar.
        He often picks up stuff that is glossed over on the MSM.
        
        A few cranks have found a home there… a couple have that annoying childish why? why? interjection style.
        
        3 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:48pm
sooty

NZHerald Clarke Gayford is pissed at Debarra Hill Crone had an opinion peice saying why she did not like him and he returned the favor getting snakey. Well tough shit mate you have put yourself out there as a socialite, tv presenter, columist. Harden up, dickhead. Your trading on your position as the PM consort.
22 2
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April 23, 2018 4:23pm
- marcw
  
  Wait until we start singing songs about raping his daughter – according to the EC, it’s all ok.
  
  9 1
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  April 23, 2018 5:25pm
- RF
  
  How sad.
  
  Who gives a flying fuk what this turkey thinks……
  
  8 1
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  April 23, 2018 6:10pm
sooty

What did Clarke Gayford get up to while Communist Cindy was in meetings. Did he entertain all the wifes or did he go and do his own thing?
10 3
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April 23, 2018 4:27pm
sooty

What’s this about Winney not turning up where he was meant to be.
9 1
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April 23, 2018 4:55pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Tell us more Sooty.
  
  Did Winston get the Green Parrot Cafe (Wellington) and the Green Parrot Bar (London) mixed up?
  
  6 1
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  April 23, 2018 5:14pm
Anne Glen Eden

I agree with DHC – and I think a lot of women would. He DOES present as ‘cringey’, ‘vexing’, ‘smug’, and bringing on ‘acid reflux’. The reasons are all contained in what she’s written.

1. His ‘identity’ is a ‘social pages regular’ from the ‘local celebrity scene’. “There is something unseemly about brazenly trying to be a famous person in New Zealand, when the height of success is a Woman’s Day cover.” And a history of ‘serial’ women.

2. “Still, he might want to watch out that he doesn’t sound smug when he dismisses the rest of us mugginses who are not out there being Hemingway.” Exactly. So nice to just ‘go fishing’ while others work for a living.

3. “There is something shameful about gratuitously getting status you didn’t “work for”. Indeed, no effort in any meaningful way.

4. “…he instantly gets membership to the helluva guy club before he has even changed a single nappy.”

5. “Gayford seems to be enjoying the whole political circus so far. Possibly a little too much…seems to lap the attention up, like the political equivalent of manspreading.”

6. And ultimately, the whole impression is that he is “shacking up” with a partner with whom he can “piggyback on [his] other half’s success”.

That whole impression is increased by his response to DHC, “comparing her to a “bottom-feeding fish”.

He could have had the grace, if he had to say something, of acknowledging his lack of substance up to this point and that his future actions would denote ‘sterling character and commitment’ or some such. But he didn’t. Which is typical – and just more reason for Ew!

But then, they’re a pair. Hawkesby damned Jacinda with faint praise as well. What can you say about a PM with the impression:

She encapsulated all the key ingredients to woo a swooning press: FEMALE, YOUNG, PREGNANT, SMILEY, UPBEAT, POSITIVE, CULTURALLY AWARE and CONSIDERATE.

Those are ‘the list of notable aspects of her leadership.’ Appropriately, “The British and European press, though not really that interested in New Zealand’s Prime Minister, did manage to say positive things when they did refer to her.”

She’s hardly a ‘stateswoman’ and there’s no sign she will be. I wouldn’t even say she’s a knowledgeable or capable politician.

So all things considered, they’re both vacuous. Ardern, at least, has ideology – however impractical. Gayford has nothing.
16 3
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April 23, 2018 5:06pm
- KevOB
  
  I hadn’t heard of CG until Babyrella got promoted out of her depth.
  The vacuous deserve each other.
  
  11 2
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  April 23, 2018 5:18pm
  - sooty
    
    Young. Christ she’s 37yrs old. Just about too old to bred, without risks. You had better go to Spec Savers.
    
    8 2
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    April 23, 2018 6:08pm
- waikatogirl
  
  Gayford needs to learn to shut up and take the criticism which sounds like it may get worse if rumours are true. Dishing it back at DHC or any of the media is only going to end in tears for him.
  
  DHC got it right as far as I’m concerned. He is definitely ‘cringey’, ‘vexing’ and ‘smug’. He does seem very pleased with himself.
  
  14 2
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  April 23, 2018 6:44pm
  - RF
    
    What a sleeze.
    
    A dirt bag out for everything he can get.
    
    Pity any gullible females that get hooked up with this idiot. Does not reflect very well on the female who should know better.
    
    7 2
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    April 23, 2018 7:09pm
  - Piniwi
    
    But waikatogirl we understand how easy the left are to wind up as the troll count shows. Thankfully DPF is giving us so many serious issues that today especially have had so much troll free threads.
    
    3 0
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    April 23, 2018 8:39pm
Swifty

Anybody heard from starboard?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12037691
8 0
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April 23, 2018 5:36pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Yes – 3 days ago!
  
  Starboard
  
  Righto trendsetters, I’m off back to Bangkok, winters too cold here for these old bones. Keep the bastards honest.
  
  April 20, 2018 9:47am
  
  8 0
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  April 23, 2018 6:09pm
sooty

Penny Bright. Her give a little page closed midnight on the 20th. Pledged $15,120.00, by 224 people. So did not raise the $20k, to only pay the back rates. Let alone the penaltys and costs. Tender closes tomorrow, I think.
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April 23, 2018 6:04pm
- Nostradamus
  
  From Penny’s Facebook page:
  
  Today, Monday April 23 2018, Penny Bright filed an ‘Application for Interim Injunction Under Urgency’ and a supporting Affidavit at the Auckland High Court, the grounds upon which the interim injunction is sought being as follows:
  
  “1. There is good reason to believe the planned sale of the Applicants property by the Respondent is unlawful and which, if effected, cannot be remedied by way of damages. [My comment: the planned sale isn’t unlawful. Auckland Council is following the process set out in the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002]
  
  2. Alternatively, there is good reason to believe the planned sale is motivated by ill will; where such planned action is additionally without precedent. [My comment: There is a precedent – Charlotte Marsh]
  
  3. There exists elementary legal questions concerning the actions of the Respondent in selling the Applicant’s property which require a judicial determination, and which actions cannot be undone if the legal questions are determined in favour of the Applicant. [My comment: This assertion is unsubstantiated by the evidence]
  
  4. A judicial review laying out the legal questions at issue will be filed in support of the interim injunction within 2 working days. [My comment: So Penny is asking the High Court to stop the sale process now on the basis of “legal questions” that will be filed later]
  
  5. As set out in the accompanying affidavir of Penelope Mary Bright. [My comment: It looks like Penny is trying yet again to conflate the rates and public records issues. The High Court has made it clear that they’re separate issues]
  
  Penny’s “application” is misconceived. The Registrar of the High Court is carrying out the sale, not Auckland Council, so Penny has named the wrong party.
  
  The timing is particularly savage as Penny is experiencing serious health issues, which she believes are definitely Auckland Council stress-related. “Auckland Council is making me sick,” says Penny Bright.
  
  Many long-suffering Auckland ratepayers are sick of Penny Bright too!
  
  14 1
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  April 23, 2018 6:48pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Hi Penny
    
    Looks like you getting your legal advice from the same breakfast cereal box you claimed I got my degree from. Too bad, so sad.
    
    8 1
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    April 23, 2018 7:36pm
  - KevOB
    
    Having yourself as Counsel is not wise.
    Is Penny of sound mind? Should she be examined under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992?
    I fail to see reason being exercised. Penny may need protection from herself.
    
    4 0
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    April 23, 2018 7:41pm
  - Nostradamus
    
    Oh dear – the Auckland High Court judges seem to be rather busy tomorrow so they may not have time to see Penny. By the way, is it rude to speculate how Penny managed to stump up with the court application fee?
    
    5 0
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    April 23, 2018 7:59pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      Justice Woodhouse is duty judge tomorrow so he will draw the short straw to deal with the application.
      Just on the extracts you have highlighted the application smacks of desperation.
      Penny will have her work cut out showing that an injunction should be granted in the view of the previous history and none of the legal tests appear to be made out for the grant.
      
      7 0
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      April 23, 2018 8:13pm
      - nasska
        
        Nostra or Alex M
        
        Do the judges actually read & consider these applications or take the easy way out & rubber stamp them?
        
        From a layman’s pov it seems that proceedings (eg bail or evictions) are often stymied by appeals that have little or no obvious merit.
        
        3 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:27pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Alex Masterley:
        
        Justice Woodhouse may want to take the shortest route home by quoting Justice Venning:
        
        Whether or not the Council has complied with its obligations under the Public Records Act is not in issue in this proceeding. On Ms Bright’s own admissions the rates charged by the Council are valid. … [T]here is no connection at law between the Council’s obligations under the Public Records Act, its powers to impose and collect rates under the Local Government (Rating) Act and Ms Bright’s obligation as a ratepayer to pay rates under that Act. … 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.
        
        Do you know how much the High Court application fee would be for this matter – $200?
        
        7 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:27pm
      - alex Masterley
        
        Nostradamus, Nasska, pressed the bloody report button – apologies.
        Costs – the filing fee would be something in the vicinity of $1900.00 according to the fees regulations.
        Nasska. Believe it or not yes. Back in the dark ages when I did litigation if you swanned up to court seeking an interim injunction (even on an exparte basis) without submissions in hand and answers to questions anticipated and unanticipated you would be in trouble.
        Given the reference to Venning J’s decision that Nostradamus quotes I cant see how even the most compelling advocacy would succeed. But then again, you give these things a go. You never know what the outcome will be. Good old judicial risk.
        
        7 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:34pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Alex:
        
        the filing fee would be something in the vicinity of $1900.00 according to the fees regulations.
        
        I’m not familiar with this area. I assume the High Court registry won’t process an application without the filing fee (unless the filing party claims an exemption). So does that mean Penny has managed to rustle up $1900 at short notice and stands to lose it?
        
        4 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:40pm
      - alex Masterley
        
        I am out of practice in this field (by choice) so I cannot comment on High Court practice when faced with the indigent applicant.
        Checking the fees regulations the filing fee is closer to $1500.
        Still a lot to stump up.
        If she loses then not only is the filing fee lost but she will be at risk of a or more properly another costs award of some size.
        On a super short notice application a lawyer might be able to get things going with an undertaking to pay but the lay advocate faces quite a few hurdles to get their proceeding into the system.
        
        6 0
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        April 23, 2018 8:52pm
  - Nookin
    
    A question for Penelope:
    
    Assuming for a moment that AC’s feelings towards you are remotely relevant to your liability to pay rates and its ability to recover them in accordance with statutory procedures, can you reconcile your allegation that the AC bears you malice with its decision not to pursue costs in the defamation proceedings?
    
    You remember the proceedings — you botched them big time ( not that they had any merit) and couldn’t be bothered turning up. As a result the rate payers have been landed with a bill in excess of $200,000.
    
    Now I would have thought that a malicious council would have been after you like a rate up a drain pipe.
    
    From memory, the courts have rubbished your fancy theories about council motives.
    
    Another question, while I am on the topic:
    If AC’s disregard for the law is so contemptible that it should be denied the benefit of rates on your property, is it not rank hypocrisy for you sit sit back and happily allow others to pay them for you?
    
    8 0
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    April 23, 2018 8:50pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Nookin”
      
      a malicious council would have been after you like a rate up a drain pipe.
      
      I see what you did there!
      
      7 0
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      April 23, 2018 8:51pm
      - Nookin
        
        Sadly, Nostra, I cannot claim that to be a clever play on words — not even a subliminal glow in the fog of a dull mind.
        
        I fear that it was the curse of the arse who invented predictive and who seems hellbent on driving me mad.
        
        6 0
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        April 23, 2018 9:09pm
Fletch

On the news just now, Wellington banning plastic drinking straws. Getting tired of these eco-essjays telling us what we can and cannot do…
10 3
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April 23, 2018 6:11pm
- mikewasmild
  
  Who should tell you want you can and can’t do, Fletch?
  
  2 8
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  April 23, 2018 6:49pm
  - itstricky
    
    14 young Thai women?
    
    7 1
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    April 23, 2018 6:54pm
    - nasska
      
      Starboard buys his Viagra in bulk itstricky! 🙂
      
      6 1
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      April 23, 2018 7:23pm
      - mikewasmild
        
        He can’t afford them fancy pills.
        
        6 1
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        April 23, 2018 7:36pm
      - Swifty
        
        I’ve heard he prefers two ice-block sticks and some insulation tape!
        
        4 0
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        April 23, 2018 7:47pm
  - Kimbo
    
    In Fletch’s case the Pope. And apparently he’s infallible! ?
    
    4 1
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    April 23, 2018 7:14pm
    - nasska
      
      …..”And apparently he’s infallible”…..
      
      I’ve heard rumours to that effect but I feel that it’s safe to discount them.
      
      Yet I’ve grown fond of the current Pope. The dark mutterings from the devout about His socialist ways warms the cockles of this atheist’s heart. 🙂
      
      4 0
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      April 23, 2018 7:20pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Nasska:
        
        The dark mutterings from the devout about His socialist ways
        
        Is this part of Redbaiter’s master plan to turn Catholics away from socialism and towards Colin Craig-style conservatism?
        
        4 0
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        April 23, 2018 7:28pm
      - nasska
        
        ….”Colin Craig-style conservatism”…..
        
        You’re kidding! The Redbaiter Seal of Approval was withdrawn when Colin, desperately seeking the PI Godnutters’ vote, started waffling about the need for welfare.
        
        Baity’s endorsement can be fickle. 🙂
        
        5 0
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        April 23, 2018 7:33pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Nasska:
        
        Baity’s endorsement can be fickle.
        
        It’s hard to know who was a greater cheerleader for the Conservatives in their day – Redbaiter or Deadrightkev.
        
        3 0
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        April 23, 2018 7:39pm
      - nasska
        
        Had a read of that thread Nostra. Definitely one of the more “spirited” evenings on GD. 🙂
        
        4 0
        Report
        April 23, 2018 7:45pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        It was an eventful night. Starboard’s comment was memorable:
        
        “I do quite like the little sausages in baked beans”
        
        I bet you do mm..
        
        7 0
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        April 23, 2018 7:52pm
- KevOB
  
  Drinking straws are just micro plastic pipes. What about the bigger ones?
  
  0 0
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  April 23, 2018 7:44pm
  - mikewasmild
    
    Have you been throwing your PVC downpipes in the ocean again?
    
    1 2
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    April 23, 2018 8:21pm
Nostradamus

The New Zealand Comedy Trust is a pathetic joke:

This letter serves to confirm that the NZ International Comedy Festival acknowledges your request to have the following list of people banned from your show, Feminazi Bitches, for making you feel unsafe:

Kate Hawkesby
Mike Hosking
Kevin Spacey
Mike Pence
Tony Veitch
Don Brash
Sir Bob Jones
Louis CK
Julia the racist one who said the n-word on Real Housewives of Auckland Pauline Hanson
TK from Shortland Street

We will advise the venue staff not to allow them entry to your performance space at the following times: […]

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have anyone else to add to this list, or if anyone makes you feel unsafe during the Festival period. The safety of our artists and audiences is our priority.

The New Zealand Comedy Trust website states: “The New Zealand Comedy Trust is a not-for-profit charitable organisation – with a focus on championing the art of laughter so that more people laugh more often”. The sponsors include (but aren’t limited to) Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Bronze Sponsor); and Auckland Council, NZ On Air, Wellington City Council and Creative NZ (Funding Partners).
12 0
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April 23, 2018 8:15pm
Nookin

Noteworthy that Trump remains a welcome attendee.
5 0
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April 23, 2018 9:14pm
Manolo

Good on the Frogs:
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/04/why-should-france-tolerate-islamic-intolerance/

Why has the refusal of France to grant a passport to an Algerian woman who declined to shake the hand of a state official at her citizenship ceremony because of her “religious beliefs” made the BBC website?

Picked up by other news’ outlets, including the New York Times, it’s not unreasonable to infer that the subtext is: there go the French again, discriminating against Muslims. If it’s not the burka or the burkini, it’s a handshake.
6 0
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April 23, 2018 9:17pm

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