General Debate 26 January 2019

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harvey wilson

Andrew Little is 100% right , our justice system is broken if former Massey lecturer Grant Harris can get home detention for sexually assaulting an 82 year old dementia patient.
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January 26, 2019 8:31am
- JibberJabber
  
  Just more evidence (as if we needed anymore) on how utterly corrupt and bereft of common sense the gullible Judiciary is.
  Because this C#*t is considered an “academic” the Dudge after waffling about his heinous crime decides to give it the softest sentence possible and laments the effect its offending will have on its “career”.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:38am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    I didn’t read the reporting where the scumbag’s academic credential were given by the judge as the reason for the sentence.
    
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    January 26, 2019 8:42am
    - JibberJabber
      
      That`s cos ` ur a little dim Miky and can`t “read between the lines.”
      
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      January 26, 2019 8:44am
    - auckwood
      
      He may be confusing his statement with the judges remarks of being more lenient in sentencing because he wouldn’t grant name suppression, therefor, the fact he is named & shamed and has to take responsibility for his actions, he didn’t receive a longer detention period or actual custodial sentence
      
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      January 26, 2019 8:47am
      - JibberJabber
        
        Yeah nah, ask yourself what sentence any other citizen would have received for a violent sexual assault.
        What part of
        
        “I was mentally unwell when I offended. The pressures of overwork and looking after my mother had taken their toll. My actions were totally out of character and shock me.
        
        “The counselling I am receiving has helped me understand why I behaved as I did and to ensure I do not behave that way again.
        
        indicates taking responsibility or remorse (apart for himself) for his actions?
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:05am
      - calendar girl
        
        This serious, callous criminal should be named publicly as well as serving a lengthy spell of imprisonment.
        
        (I suspect that he would receive a hearty welcome from his fellow-prisoners, which is likely to be why the judge is trying to protect him. So I’d be happy for him to serve his deserved prison sentence in self-chosen solitary confinement.)
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:16am
      - Nermal
        
        Accidentally reported JibberJabber. Sorry
        
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        January 26, 2019 1:54pm
      - calendar girl
        
        Mannis’s CV refers to him as holding both New Zealand and English citizenship, but not where he was born.
        
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        January 26, 2019 3:41pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      I didn’t read what you wrote but I know enough to give it a downtick.
      
      You’re welcome.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:03am
    - burt
      
      I though he was given a short and light sentence so that he would be able to attend next years Labour Camp.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:54am
      - Dave Mann
        
        No, he only likes older women. Oh wait…. there I go again leaping to conclusions. As he worked at Massey in ‘academia’, maybe the 82 year old was a guy? I must check my facts more carefully.
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:48am
- Ross12
  
  I note he was a journalism lecturer –do I need to say any more?
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:43am
  - Fletch
    
    He also was with Consumer magazine for years?
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:15am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Ross 12, no you do not need to say more. No more than if he was say a commerce lecturer or a Lawyer like DG!
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:20am
  - artemisia
    
    I think that his occupation must have been misreported. Whoever heard of a journalism lecturer under pressure from overwork.
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:58pm
  - toby1845
    
    You are quite right, Ross.
    
    I also note that he lied twice — sorry, make that ‘significantly changed his story twice’. All that might explain why so many NZ journalists find it absolutely impossible to ever tell the truth.
    
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    January 26, 2019 3:27pm
    - sooty
      
      Because they have been taught by an expert at lying?
      
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      January 26, 2019 5:05pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  His surname is Hannis.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:48am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Sounds foreign.
    
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    January 26, 2019 8:50am
    - harvey wilson
      
      Mikenmildagain “ sounds foreign “ you mean in the same honesty and integrity are foreign to you?
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:10am
  - harvey wilson
    
    Thanks for the correction, unfortunately too late to edit the post
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:09am
- auckwood
  
  Former Associate Professor of Journalism at Massey University Grant David Hannis, 55
  
  (just to clarify actual name, and former position held)
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:51am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Now we know why the current “Journalists” are tits at their job.
    Here is their teacher.
    ALL puns definitely intended.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:08am
- Keeping Stock
  
  Numerous aspects of this case disgust me:
  
  * Hannis took advantage of the elderly woman in the one place where she should have felt safe
  * Having been interrupted by a staff member, Hannis continued the offending once the staff member had left
  * He agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge, then then judge gave him a discount for pleading guilty!
  
  Yes Andrew Little; the justice system IS broken when a scumbag like this can weasel out of serious sexual offending without spending a single night in prison. If any case was likely to unite people against a government that is actively trying to empty our prisons, I would suggest this is the one.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:53am
  - MT_Tinman
    
    KS your conclusion, I suspect, is correct but for the wrong reason.
    
    The “man” will find that every door, even the lowest-of-the-low that is journalism, will be closed to him and given that he has been a school teacher he will most likely have no real assets or genuine friends (and certainly will have none now).
    
    The judge, in my opinion, was probably doing the right thing by leaving the filthy bastard in the community to let him feel the hate and loathing that will come his way.
    
    Until NZ creates some cells with ropes and ceiling hooks provided this type of sentence is the next best way.
    
    This is, of course
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:11am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I agree..
      
      if he had had a jail sentence, he’d serve less than half his time and then come out and be lauded by the media as some expert in the inhumanness of our Prison system….
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/04/prison-a-miserable-frightening-experience-ex-inmate-alex-swney.html
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:25am
      - holysheet
        
        Cindy will give him her phone number so she can get advice on improving her communication skills.
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:04am
    - kowtow
      
      The judge could have been creative , sentenced him to a long term of imprisonment , where he could use his “skills” to teach other inmates to read and write .
      
      That would be useful.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:31am
      - Paulus
        
        Who says he can read and write – he was A journalism teacher which like our Princess Di Ardern means sweet FA – he probably like her had a big gob !
        
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        January 26, 2019 1:10pm
      - Peter S
        
        If the sill level of the journalists coming out of uni anything to go by I’d suggest not that useful.
        
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        January 26, 2019 1:14pm
    - auckwood
      
      I think he deserved even a short custodial sentence, preferably in general population to be taught a lesson on manners in regards to his pick up game, then the burden of living out his days knowing his sick history & predatory nature is only a quick google search away
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:34am
      - harvey wilson
        
        I see a search still has links up to this creep but Massey are deleting the content .
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:39am
    - GoVege
      
      Yes, poor bastard’s life is finished.
      Doesn’t matter that he was mentally ill at the time, that it was a one-off and out of character.
      The whole nation probably reckons he “should die”.
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:06pm
  - Chris R
    
    It will be interesting to see whether any previous conduct of this type now surfaces given his name is now out there. If this is so and further charges follow, how will the judge explain his earlier leniency? This guy is a sicko and perhaps gaol isn’t the place for him…perhaps an insane asylum would be ideal?
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:18am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I supposed it is always a possibility when such offending is publicised.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:32am
    - GoVege
      
      Apparently they’ve checked him out and nobody at Massey has complained about him.
      Just a case of temporary insanity by the sound of it.
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:22pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  There should have been no need to have downgraded the charge of the more serious crime of unlawful sexual connection. The woman who had dementia was not in a state to have given informed consent any more than a child or a woman who is extremely drunk.
  
  The woman should not have been required to testify in court her statement that she made should have been sufficient.
  
  The judge is a funking disgrace.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:39am
  - MH
    
    maybe Massey will give him speaking rights.
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:07pm
- marcw
  
  To give little Angry a taste of the real world, could someone please give this scumbag Hannis Mrs Angry’s mobile number. They could swap “stories”.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:38pm
artemisia

Thinking about the Labour-led government …. I wonder whether quite a few government MPs would be well pleased to be back in Opposition in 2020. By then they will have some policies in place that will be tricky to remove completely, some failed and laugh-a-minute policies they know will be mocked with ‘3/4/5… years of neglect’, some dodgy deals under scrutiny, a whole bunch of incompatible working group recommendations, slogans that will come back to bite them for years.

Plus exhausted from countering a large and experienced Opposition, a workload they are not used to and figuring out what to do about those pesky working group recommendations that could number in the thousands.

OTOH Jacinda could get them over the line again regardless. Another 3 years of misery with its game face slipping and sliding?
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January 26, 2019 8:31am
- Gravelroad
  
  Jacinda will get them over the line again unless National cease fighting and screwing each other and start listening to and offering worthwhile policy alternatives to the voters.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:42am
- Pascal
  
  I am doubtful that National can challenge Labour this next election. Few reasons:
  
  * Unreasonable media bias in favour of Jacinda and Labour. We even have media outlets contacting the government for advice / support.
  
  * Voters for self interest. There is far too much spending on feel-good policies that give people money for nothing. Labour is buying votes with their policies, nothing more. That is difficult to counter with a message of: “We need to change your attitude, rather than giving you more money”
  
  * Lack of coalition partners. They have to do it all themselves.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:04am
  - Ruahine
    
    The master stroke is the vote on Cannabis for all in 2020. In 2023 it will be free Cannabis for all.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:26am
    - kevn
      
      @Ruahine… All part of the JA ‘wellbeing’ rubbish.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:34am
  - Dave Mann
    
    * Lack of coalition partners. They have to do it all themselves.
    * Lack of coalition partners. They have to do it all themselves.
    * Lack of coalition partners. They have to do it all themselves.
    * Lack of coalition partners. They have to do it all themselves.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:00am
    - Dave Mann
      
      At the bottom of this page is a panel called ‘CURIA POLL AVERAGE’ which indicates that what Pascal says is 100% correct.
      
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      January 26, 2019 12:07pm
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Disagree
    With SLG in Davos saying we need to look at “well being” not growth rates, prepare for:
    Negative growth (recession)
    Higher unemployment (they have already tried to hide them in the “job seekers” )
    Business confidence to fall
    and we are still 18 months from an election.
    Not plan to fix or even acknowledgement that it exists.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:15am
  - rockape
    
    However most voters are taxpayers as well.Many pensioners own rentals as their retirement fund. neither of those two categories will be thankful to Labour,
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:59am
  - Nermal
    
    *Labour Light policies
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:00pm
- freethinker
  
  Have to correct you-artemisia
  Thinking about the Winston Peters-led government.
  Understandable error so early on a saturday morning so all is forgiven.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:33am
- yossarian
  
  Notwithstanding that the housing crisis, immigration, tax policies etc are far far easier to fix in opposition. Now they’re actually accountable these things are bloody hard!
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:58am
  - starboard
    
    …especially after 9 loooooooooong years of neglect
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:14am
mikenmildagain

Happy International Customs Day to you all.
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January 26, 2019 8:38am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Is that all you have to declare Mikey?
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:43am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I am considering which customs I should follow today.
    
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    January 26, 2019 8:50am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Try politeness to others in a group environment
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:05am
    - pentwig
      
      Carmen (Trevor Rupe) had some quaint customs.
      Perhaps you could follow some of its.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:08am
    - JibberJabber
      
      Seppuku is a popular custom in a foreign clime, just an observation, not a harmful digital communication.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:11am
    - freethinker
      
      Does Goat servicing appeal?
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:34am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        You should indulge in whatever customs feel right for you. So long as you are considerate with your goat, I’m not going to censure you.
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:31am
    - Peter S
      
      The trappist monk vow of silence would be worth a try, provided it extends to written/digital communications.
      
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      January 26, 2019 1:18pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It’s Australia Day
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:09am
  - sooty
    
    Means something to australians.
    Maori day is just a day off to NZ.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:31am
    - kowtow
      
      And our media, cucks and soy boys like to slag them off for being proud of their country .
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:36am
- MCos
  
  Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
  Oscar Wilde
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:19am
  - kowtow
    
    Cos Oscars’ life was so uncomplicated.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:37am
    - MCos
      
      Maybe, but for the most part an awful lot of fun.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:56am
      - kowtow
        
        Reading gaol ?
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:07am
      - GoVege
        
        Poor Oscar…just another horny, imperfect male… 🙂
        
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        January 26, 2019 6:24pm
Sofia

Now that Twyford has had a burst of transparency and honesty about Kiwibuild,
will Shane come clean about his trees?

How many has he really planted, without including Forestry’s annual re-planting total in with his?

Mr Jones said the programme is well on its way to the goal, with this year’s target exceeded by more than 60 million trees planted.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/377894/national-accuses-shane-jones-of-misleading-benefits-of-billion-trees-programme

Did Forestry not plant roughly 48m trees as annual re-pantings?
So, Shane’s total would be nearer 12 million, unless he can name numbers of his plantings and their locations to prove otherwise?

Forest Nursery Growers Association president Kevin Haine said its member nurseries would grow 100 million tree seedlings this year, almost double the 54m trees grown two years ago.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/109810764/400-a-day-to-plant-trees-but-no-one-wants-the-job

Again, if 100 million tree seedlings are grown this year and about 50m are Forestry re-plantings, and 50m go to Shane, who is growing another extra 50m to give Shane his yearly total of the 100 million trees he boasts he will plant a year?

Nothing seems to have happened yet to Twyford, except his integrity is blown out of the water.
Come clean about the trees, Shane.
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January 26, 2019 8:41am
- slightlyrighty
  
  Isn’t it obvious? We can’t build the houses because the trees haven’t grown yet!
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:11am
  - Brian Marshall
    
    Great. Pinus Radiata takes around 27 years to reach maturity for harvesting. Another excuse from the government why it can’t build the extra 10k houses a year….
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:19am
    - sooty
      
      Shane will only come clean, when they are turned into toilet paper!
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:32am
      - Salacious Crumb
        
        Jones does have a greater than average need for tissues.
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:43am
      - burt
        
        Turned into a box of tissues in a hotel room.
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:56am
      - toby1845
        
        Jacinda: “So, Winston. About this tree planting target. Heather’s a little concerned……”
        
        Winston: “Don’t worry. Shane has assured me he can pull it off.”
        
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        January 26, 2019 4:11pm
- MH
  
  your’e putting him out on a limb.
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:11pm
Woz

I’m probably a bit late to this particular party, but for the last few days I’ve been observing our media gushing mindlessly about Ardern wowing the world at Davos. Lloyd Burr on Newshub was almost certainly the most fevered, using phrases such as “the star attraction”, “the darling of Davos”, and “mobbed by international media”.

Tell me why then, when exhaustively trawling all the major news websites, doing a Google news search for “Davos Ardern”, etc, etc, I can find virtually no trace of our virtuous Prime Minister at all. In fact Davos itself seems to be rather under-reported, whilst Jacinda Ardern is simply invisible.

Why is our local media intent on feeding us such utter drivel about Ardern? Who’s putting them up to it? Why am I asking these questions? We here all know the answers…
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January 26, 2019 8:42am
- srylands
  
  Yes I did the same thing. I can recall being in Australia at the time of the last meeting between the Australian and New Zealand Prime Ministers in Australia. In Australia, it got zero visible coverage. Think a small article on page 7 of the SMH.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:47am
- JibberJabber
  
  But Dude, she`s world famous in Mt Eden.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:49am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Her beau is most likely more well known in Mt, Eden, Parry . . . .
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:08am
  - SaltyCroc
    
    More like world famous in her own mind….
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:47pm
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Same deal as with all those media stories of what a colossus of the world stage John Key was. New Zealanders like to feel they’re important.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:16am
  - freethinker
    
    Golf with POTUS or did Obama play Golf with everyone who asked?
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:39am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Maybe he did. Wasn’t Trump always criticising Obama for playing too much golf?
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:35am
    - GazzaW
      
      ……and I don’t anticipate HM asking Cinders and her defacto to Balmoral for the weekend either.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:46am
      - MH
        
        certainly not until the landrover has been repaired.
        
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        January 26, 2019 12:14pm
  - srylands
    
    I do not recall such media stories? Can you please provide a link to one? More importantly, I doubt that John Key would have regarded himself as a collosus on the world stage.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:03am
- MT_Tinman
  
  Notably the only international reporting I’ve read on Davos has been very negative – mainly on how much a waste of time the whole thing is.
  
  I do wonder if the clowns’ internal polling has shown such bad results that the order has gone out for slime to push the bullshit pro-clown stuff full bore.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:17am
  - freethinker
    
    I noticed key player like The Don and Xi didn’t bother to attend.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:40am
  - Brian Marshall
    
    I did notice one item on alternative media. They noted there wasn’t enough parking for all the private jets in any of the nearby airports…..
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:00pm
- MCos
  
  This forum gushing mindlessly about Ardern on a daily basis, usually in unflattering terms.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:22am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    It would appear she is an obsession for many. Isn’t there some kind of [insert name] Derangement Syndrome for those kinds of people?
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:42am
    - pentwig
      
      milky
      its the mouth
      its just not quite right somehow
      its memberable
      
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      January 26, 2019 11:28am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Pete George has been checking around too for news stories on Ardern in the International media
  
  but Ardern hasn’t been the star of the show everywhere. She still doesn’t rate a mention on the Reuters web page covering Davis (sic): https://www.reuters.com/davos
  
  https://yournz.org/2019/01/26/ardern-adulation-at-davos-but-self-awareness-and-problem-solving-sorely-lacking/
  
  Her days of being International clickbait are over.
  
  But the NZ hagiography will spew forth all year.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:31am
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    It’s the Trudeau Effect. As it has become more apparent what an abject moron and embarrassment he is, even the meeja who originally fawned over him don’t want to be tainted by association.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:46am
    - KevOB
      
      If Ardern had stayed home she wouldn’t lost her international credibility permanently.
      
      Coming up: Pike River.
      
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      January 26, 2019 11:06am
- G152
  
  Does the term fake news cover the non newsworthiness of Davos
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:41am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The term fake news covers any reporting you would prefer not to believe.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:43am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Very good Mike, I’ll pass on the downtick on this occasion
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:47am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s become a fairly meaningless term in an era where people can so readily find comfort from sources that feel true to them. This is accentuated by technology that can identify quite accurately users’ preferences and channel to those users the kinds of news they will want to read and believe.
        Naturally, everyone believes that only others who do not share their opinions are believing ‘fake news’.
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:02am
      - Dave Mann
        
        I reckon Mike has a good brain and he’s pretty clued up, as his comment above about ‘fake’ news (and others) demonstrates.
        
        Sadly, because he comes from the left of the political spectrum, too many people here just instinctively downtick whatever he writes.
        
        10 9
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        January 26, 2019 11:13am
    - JibberJabber
      
      Good that you are beginning to recognise your symptoms.
      
      12 2
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      January 26, 2019 10:07am
- oldgolfer
  
  Burr justifying trip to Brussels.
  Christ, I wish he’d buy a new coat and scarf.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:25am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  Bridges called it “Political Tourism”
  Nice one.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:35am
- Faroffsound
  
  Most of the publicity is probably due to the novelty aspect of her being only the second female PM to give birth while in office.
  
  Lack of true international recognition might make it easier to get rid of her when the time comes.
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:34am
- Paulus
  
  Well simply Davos did not happen.
  Trump, May, Macron and Merkel did not bother to go – not important.
  Big Gob only went to further her own role in trying to get a UN job – she is not good enough anyway –
  Another scrapbook for her CV.
  Sweet FA for New Zealand.
  She has be away since before Christmas and I would expect dreads coming back to her mess (particularly in her own office).
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:23pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Equally when watching Prince William he was addressing his comments to the woman to his other side, although I do think that he acknowledged a comment by Jacinda, as is polite, our media are certainly glass half full where she is concerned.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:01pm
  - Woz
    
    They go further. They have hallucinations about the other half being full.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:24pm
srylands

So many scenarios for the 2020 election. It will be interesting to see if the Government legislates to reduce the 5 percent threshold to 4 percent in an attempt to keep New Zealand First in the game. In most countries this would be unthinkable. But New Zealanders seem passive in the face of these things. Activists do their futile demonstrations (Bradford, Golriz, Minto etc). But it is hard to imagine most New Zealanders taking to the streets, even in the face of tyranny.
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January 26, 2019 8:44am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  You mean, what if the current government actually implemented this recommendation of the 2012 MMP review that the previous government refused to implement?
  
  The party vote threshold should be lowered from 5% to 4% (with the Commission required by law to review how the 4% threshold is working);
  
  It would indeed be interesting to see that. Maybe they could implement some of the other recommendations while they were at it – the previous government was too cowardly or self-interested to do so.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:21am
  - srylands
    
    I don’t give a shit what the MMP review recommended. If we must have MMP, which is most unfortunate, just leave it alone. Stable nations don’t muck about with their electoral systems for spurious reasons.
    
    Are you inferring that Government should simply implement any recommendations of “reviews” regardless of how daft they are? Perhaps the government could implement all the recommendations of the Productivity Commission over the last decade that would dramatically improve housing affordability? That would be excellent.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:23am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      I don’t give a shit what the MMP review recommended.
      
      You don’t have to. Your opinion on the subject is worth no more than anyone else’s.
      
      If we must have MMP, which is most unfortunate, just leave it alone. Stable nations don’t muck about with their electoral systems for spurious reasons.
      
      Indeed they don’t. However, a review was promised at the time MMP was introduced, specifically so that any shortcomings found with using it in practice could be discussed and dealt with. That’s not “mucking about with the electoral system for spurious reasons.”
      
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      January 26, 2019 11:34am
      - srylands
        
        The only way to fix the shortcomings in MMP would be to ditch it. And that now seems to be impossible for at least the next couple of decades.
        
        11 2
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        January 26, 2019 12:55pm
      - Psycho Milt
        
        Gosh, if only the government had the wisdom to ask you to review MMP, rather than the poorly-qualified and partisan the Electoral Commission, eh?
        
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        January 26, 2019 2:14pm
- cmm
  
  “Government legislates ”
  
  Wouldn’t this be a consitutional change that requires a super-majority of 70% or whatever?
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:30am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    We haven’t seen Graeme Edgeler commenting here for a while. He would know, but maybe you could look it up for us.
    
    3 17
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    January 26, 2019 9:44am
Chuck Bird

Good to see Leighton is still politically active. The science is not settled Cindy.

Leighton Smith’s new column: The case for Donald Trump

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12194977
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January 26, 2019 8:44am
- billr
  
  Windbaggery of the highest order.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:23pm
hullkiwi

A massive congratulations must go to the Wellsford branch of the Northland electorate National Party for an advertising coup second to none.

Just south of Wellsford on a farm opposite the Wellsford Golf Course are three billboards.

The first in Labour red & white reads:

“We know the traffic can be a pain”

Then the second billboard in National blue and white reads
“That is why National planned to build a four lane highway here”

Then the third billboard in Labour red and white reads:

“But Labour cancelled it”

Then 50 meters on is the Matt King Northland National billboard.

It is so on the mark it is outstanding and once again highlights the failure that is Mister out his depths Phail Twitford!
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January 26, 2019 8:45am
- hullkiwi
  
  It is also something the Warkworth branch of the Rodney electorate need to copy for drivers at the south end of the Dome Valley.
  
  Very ironic too, because JAG and Twitford did their big public announcement at the summit of the Dome Valley a month ago.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:48am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Don’t worry – Marquess will be along shortly to explain that any lives lost on that stretch of SH1 are just rich Tories on the the way to their holiday homes so are no loss to the collective.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:57am
  - JibberJabber
    
    Marquess is busy eating cake for breakfast.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:13am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s a propaganda coup, not an advertising one.
  
  National never “planned” to build the roads in question, it just promised them in an election campaign with no “Show us the money” to indicate the promises weren’t straightforward lies.
  
  Labour not implementing National’s election campaign promises isn’t “cancelling” anything. There was nothing to cancel.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:24am
  - fluffykiwi
    
    Apparently the land is being acquired, check out the LTA website. I have heard that if labour is outed the highway will be ready to go, given the equipment etc. is already building the highway north of the tunnels
    
    30 1
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    January 26, 2019 9:33am
  - pentwig
    
    ooh – touchy
    a leftie apologist tries squirrilling
    what fun
    
    30 3
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    January 26, 2019 9:36am
  - freethinker
    
    Almost everything Labour promised pre election hasn’t been delivered so just another shipload of lies then?
    
    27 1
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    January 26, 2019 9:47am
  - auckwood
    
    Engineering reports, plans and consents etc had been done/underway/lodged on several of the roads of whatever they’re called, which labour has since cancelled, wasting millions of dollars worth of time and resources. Articles on stuff a month or 2 back I think.
    
    The COL idea of plastic centre bollards and bright paint have already failed to stop a handful of road deaths where already implemented in northland.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:48am
  - DigNap15
    
    NO.
    They had about 12 roads they wanted to do.
    Obviously could not do them all at once.
    Some of them were ready to go, with the money allocated!
    
    19 1
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    January 26, 2019 9:49am
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    Bit early for blatant lies isn’t it Milt? Why were Labour in opposition branding it “The Holiday Highway”? Do Labour hate the people of Northland that much?
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:49am
  - hullkiwi
    
    PM you are writing out of the wrong end there. The route had already been identified and land was being purchased. It was JAG and the Red Melons who convinced Twitford to stop it. Thank God it was too late for them to stop the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:21am
  - toby1845
    
    Thanks to everyone who downticked PsycoMinge.
    
    You saved me having to read his cr*p before down ticking you.
    
    6 1
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    January 26, 2019 5:12pm
- Viking2
  
  Copied from Todd Mullers campaign for the katikati highway.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:58am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Viking2 even if it was. It is really eye catching and to the point. It is a reminder of the CoL’s failure.
    
    As we are at least 20 months until the next election National need to do more of it to get the message of the CoLs failures out there. Also it is outside the period of the Electoral Finance Act.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:27am
Humble Capitalist

Im hoping that kindness will pay to paint the house this summer. I just cant seem to find kindness as a revenue source on my budget spreadsheet and I dont have a cash cow called the NZ taxpayer either.
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January 26, 2019 8:46am
- Gravelroad
  
  Just wait for the wellness budget.
  I’m sure there will be a subsidy for house painting to make you feel better.
  Just like last winter with the house heating hand out.
  This is part of a wellness series.
  Next will be a grant to all companion animal owners to help pay for their food – contributes to mental health outcomes and ticks the animal welfare box as well.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:01am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Have you tried asking your family, friends or neighbours to help? Often that can be more effective for you snowflakes than sitting on your arse waiting for nanny state.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:47am
  - burt
    
    Nice to see that you think people should pull on family and friends before the pull on the government tit. Never expected you to suggest we reduce welfare but there you go. Welcome to self responsibility mm.
    
    30 2
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    January 26, 2019 10:01am
    - starboard
      
      “Welcome to self responsibility mm”
      
      Nice mm. Beats ( excuse the pun ) the old usual, self gratification.
      
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      January 26, 2019 11:25am
Souvlaki

The Herald this am headlines with its anti National meme ” Sarah Dowie’s political career all but over “.
What about the reputedly high profile employee at RNZ also rumoured to be entwined with Ross in a similar fashion, and who harbours overt prejudice towards National? What says the Herald on this??
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January 26, 2019 8:47am
- Woz
  
  Right there you have amply confirmed my New Year resolution, so far holding firm, to never look at Stuff or the Herald ever again, so long as I live.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:53am
  - Pascal
    
    Same here. Not only are they crawled so far up Jacinda Ardern’s arse that I’d need a flashlight to read them, but they’re owned and managed by Chinese interests (At least their sister publications). While I don’t object to Chinese ownership, I do dislike the idea of the levels of censorship that has already been shown on them.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:08am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Stuff is still slightly worthwhile because of the comments. Only because of the comments.
    
    19 0
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    January 26, 2019 9:22am
    - Peter S
      
      Used to be the case but rapidly becoming less so.
      When Colin Espiner ran a political blog on Stuff the debate was robust and the level of censorship low. When he left Tracy Watkins took over briefly but was far too precious and could not take the level of criticism, and the blog died.
      I found my coments on Stuff either took hours to appear, or just never made it, so I don’t bother now, apart from some up or down ticking, which they find harder to control.
      It is becoming less and less useful. The science articles are junk (about the level of the Grauniad in the UK).
      
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      January 26, 2019 1:39pm
    - alloytoo
      
      “Stuff is still slightly worthwhile because of the comments. Only because of the comments.”
      
      For that brief 5 mins before they close them.
      
      7 0
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      January 26, 2019 2:08pm
  - Lance
    
    I like Heralds ‘codecracker’ puzzle, everything else is shite
    
    5 0
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    January 26, 2019 11:49am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Who is she?
  
  16 4
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  January 26, 2019 8:53am
  - Paulus
    
    Is the RNZ senior person a “She” – perhaps Ross is ambidextrous.
    
    4 0
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    January 26, 2019 1:29pm
- JibberJabber
  
  This is all Labours got, expect more for the next 18 months or so, they are certainly not going to be able to campaign on their “achievements” in the run-up to the next election.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:57am
- howitis
  
  The person Dowie beat in 2014 to get to Parliament was Lesley Soper.
  Does anyone know if Lesley Soper, 64 yo, is a relative to Barry Soper like a sister or one of his ex wives prior to his Heather of Africa re-birthing?
  
  From what people said on KB yesterday, Barry Soper is part of the nasty club against Dowie.
  I would not know as I don’t bother with radio and cannot understand why someone who lost his voice years ago is a radio commentator.
  Marcel Marceau would do a better job.
  
  31 2
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  January 26, 2019 9:58am
  - harvey wilson
    
    The first Soper to turn up in Invercargill had 10 sons , they were prolific breeders too . So probably related in some way , maybe not closely.
    
    25 2
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    January 26, 2019 10:06am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    howitis, you seem to know a little about Soper. So he has been divorced a couple of times. Maybe he has been a victim of adultery and that is why he has his view on Dowie. On the other hand, he may have been guilty himself and that makes him a first class hypocrite.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:39am
    - Paulus
      
      More the latter !
      
      8 0
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      January 26, 2019 1:30pm
    - Jack5
      
      There are so many Sopers in Southland that they from time to time field a Sopers rugby team.
      
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      January 26, 2019 4:59pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Souvlaki, why not name her of email with a link? I understand she has been named some time ago in the MSM. I will keep your name confidential.
  
  chuckbirdnz@gmail.com
  
  6 1
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  January 26, 2019 12:17pm
Sofia

Chlöe Swarbrick to campaign on ‘three ticks Green’ in 2020 after cannabis referendum announced.
Ms Swarbrick says [21/12/2018] one of her major focuses in 2020 will be trying to put together a bill outlining what a vote in favour of legalising cannabis will mean.

Who will control the cannabis referendum?
Will the question or issues be independent of politics?
Can smoking cannabis be an acceptable option, in view of Smokefree New Zealand policies? – where would that fit in a wellbeing budget?
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January 26, 2019 8:49am
- Woz
  
  Another Silly Little Girl.
  
  37 3
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  January 26, 2019 8:53am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Just how do you think a referendum can be ‘independent of politics’?
  
  10 15
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  January 26, 2019 9:50am
  - burt
    
    I never knew that consumption of cannabis was correlated to political views. Here was me thinking it was a personal choice and it’s obviously been a party political thing all along.
    
    12 1
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    January 26, 2019 10:09am
    - rockape
      
      Didnt work too well with the flag referendum. Labour were for that until JK ran it.
      
      11 0
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      January 26, 2019 12:11pm
- howitis
  
  Ah. Chlöe
  NZ’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
  
  Occasional Cortex got in and gets lauded by journos for her 15,879 votes for 57 % of a low turnout.
  Pretty good to get that few votes in the ol’ US of A and get a USD174,000 salary, expenses, and all the publicity Cortex gets.
  
  Poor ol’ Chlöe got nearly double the votes at 29,089 votes for a mere third in the 2016 Auckland Mayoral elections.
  But hey, there is the List route in to NZ’s Parliament !
  
  Either way they are both MBAs – Master Bullshit Artists.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:13am
- KevOB
  
  Does it come with a $500/gm tax for mental health damage and ACC costs?
  
  7 1
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  January 26, 2019 11:14am
  - burt
    
    Ask the gangs, they currently make millions from it and pay no tax at all on it. But hey, since it’s illegal you can pretend that it will only be available if we legalise it.
    
    4 0
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    January 26, 2019 6:06pm
DigNap15

Yes I think there is a set of these on the Tauranga to Waihi road where they were just about to start a road of National significance.
But the Genter and Twyford got in and sentenced many people to death over the next few years and will force people to stick in slow traffic.

I wrote to Genter about it, and I got a very detailed reply as to how they are spending our money all over the country on small roading improvements.

She really has no idea.
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January 26, 2019 8:50am
- kowtow
  
  Lime e scooter craze . Many inured , and I place that at the gubmints door . Why , because these dangerous motorised vehicles were rushed onto our footpaths by a bureaucratic sleight of hand .
  
  ‘She said the process of legalising e-scooters had been rushed through, was now endangering public safety, and it was time for a rethink.
  
  She took issue with an official gazette publication on September 17, later notified to Parliament on December 7, that declared that e-scooters were not motor vehicles.’
  
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/call-rethink-e-scooters
  
  This has been rushed through because the elites are anti car and they see these damn things as a ‘transport solution’.
  
  Motorised vehicles do not belong on pavements.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:18am
  - KevOB
    
    They probably qualify as litter under Council by-laws.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:16am
    - kowtow
      
      Today’s ODT seems to suggest that the council have allowed them to be parked on pavements , such parking being , in my humble opinion an offence contrary to Section 22 of the Summary Offences Act 1981.
      
      ‘Cr Doug Hall claimed Lime had breached other provisions of the agreement including having 1.2m clearance on the footpath.’
      
      https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/regulating-scooter-use-could-be-option-cull
      
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      January 26, 2019 11:53am
holysheet

Beer Bottle: You break me, you get 1 year of bad luck!
Mirror: You kiddin’ me? You break me, then you get 7 years bad luck!
Condom: Hahaha… (Condom walks off laughing)
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January 26, 2019 8:51am
- auckwood
  
  Stealing this one, hilarious!
  
  7 1
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  January 26, 2019 8:57am
srylands

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/110169565/the-long-road-to-sarah-dowies-naming-in-jamilee-ross-saga

This is an annoying article. The journalist claims that “National has struggled to move on from the saga”. I think everyone has moved on except for a few journalists who are desperate to keep it going.
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January 26, 2019 8:51am
- Woz
  
  Right there you have amply confirmed my New Year resolution, so far holding firm, to never look at Stuff or the Herald ever again, so long as I live.
  
  22 2
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  January 26, 2019 8:54am
  - DigNap15
    
    A good plan, but where will yo get your NZ news from?
    
    6 2
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    January 26, 2019 8:57am
    - Pascal
      
      I have a pre-printed sheet that I use for news until the next election. It’s got a series of articles like:
      
      * Neve is awesome. The PM is awesome.
      * Jacinda Ardern is the leader the world needs.
      * NZ winning battle against Climate Change
      * [Roll 1d20, pick random industry] is evil, captains call bans it.
      * Jones gifts money to close relations
      * Winston Peters says something stupid but everybody laughs and applauds
      * Soimon is simple.
      * National is bad. Look, one of them farter seven years ago.
      
      That’s about all you need to know about NZ news, isn’t it?
      
      34 0
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      January 26, 2019 9:12am
      - alloytoo
        
        Can we use your list for COL Bingo?
        
        1 0
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        January 26, 2019 11:10pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Or more importantly, the suduko puzzle and the government policy announcements hidden in cryptic in the horroscopes!
      
      12 0
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      January 26, 2019 9:14am
    - Woz
      
      Kiwiblog of course! And my Uncle Trev, who rings up most days with a rundown and rant.
      
      Actually it seems to keep seeping through from an agglomeration of other outlets. The important stuff makes its way to me, and by dumping Stuff and the Herald I feel like the mass of information flowing into my brain has been somewhat filtered and cleaned first. I acknowledge, of course, that the principal alternatives aren’t that much better, but I was heartily sick of wasting my time reading the garbage published by those two sites and needed to break the habit.
      
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      January 26, 2019 9:17am
    - freethinker
      
      Al Jazeera
      
      2 4
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      January 26, 2019 9:51am
      - kowtow
        
        NZ news on AJ , not unless it’s a feature slagging off whiteys for locking up gangster crims ( Maoris) ,colonialism you see.
        
        It’s extraordinary how “progressive’ AJ is being as it is funded by a Muslim fundamentalist.
        
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        January 26, 2019 7:23pm
    - Inandout
      
      DN15, just have the radio tuned to a music station and you will get the local news. For streaming there is Sky or Fox. For extra local stuff just use the weekly giveaway papers, and ignore the likes of Gordon Campbell ‘opinion’ articles. Just like the plastic bag fiasco, I work around it.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:48am
- JibberJabber
  
  I notice Watkins no longer allows comments on her epistles of bullshit, obviously she`s sick of getting her arse handed to her by the thinking public.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:17am
- Pascal
  
  This is the one thing I don’t get.
  
  JLR is a sleazy nutjob that made some allegations that has been disproved. He’s slept around but hey, Labour has worked very hard over decades to remove any kind of morality from society in general. Prostitution is legal. Any form of moral education or structure has been dismantled and removed and even the threat of criminal justice is being watered down. So in the frame of NZ overall, sleeping around is nothing.
  
  Why the fuck do the journalists care so much about this? There’s far bigger shitbags threatening NZ.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:17am
  - auckwood
    
    Sounds like an ideal future chaperone on a Young Labour sex camp….
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:40am
  - auckwood
    
    damn autocorrect, I mean summer camp, honestly!
    
    14 0
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    January 26, 2019 9:41am
  - JibberJabber
    
    It is nothing less than a diversion tactic being run by the Labour Party media wing to cover the sheer and utter incompetence of SLGs “Government.”
    
    15 1
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    January 26, 2019 9:52am
  - howitis
    
    So Darren Hughes, Labour MP at the time, allegedly attempted to ass rape a young fellow of diminished capacity via excess alcohol to the point he (the alleged victim of attempted? homosexual rape; not capable of consent) had to run screaming from the house in the early hours of the morning and this is not reported fully by corrupt and biased media.
    
    However Dowie is one of multiple people that Jami Lee Ross, the disgraced MP for Botany, had consensual, extra marital sex with …and Dowie is a bad person…but no-one else.
    The NZ Media are F.I.T.H.
    
    This is a deliberate attempt to distract from the widely hailed yet massively failed Kiwibuild.
    I could ask if NZ media have any shame but that would be like a Miss World contestant asking for World Peace.
    
    There is a question here.
    Was Tova O’Brien one of the people who had consensual sex with the married MP, Jami-Lee Ross?
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:47am
    - Viking2
      
      Has that smell of nastie about it. Woman scorned and all that.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:49am
      - waikatogirl
        
        JLR is doing a pretty good impression himself of being scorned. In his case, it is purely an excuse for not taking responsibility for his own stupid behaviour, the disloyalty to his old political party and former lover. JLR is acting like a big girl’s blouse, boo hoo, poor Jamie.
        
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        January 26, 2019 2:00pm
    - alloytoo
      
      “Was Tova O’Brien one of the people who had consensual sex with the married MP, Jami-Lee Ross?”
      
      Tova appears doggedly determined to insert herself into the story, wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
      
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      January 26, 2019 2:20pm
      - pentwig
        
        she did!
        where are her colleauges condemning her?
        
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        January 26, 2019 9:22pm
- lifesgood
  
  Well they’ve got a lot to deflect from right now. Orders from on high, I bet.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:33am
- KevOB
  
  $$$
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:17am
DigNap15

Yes I think there is a set of these on the Tauranga to Waihi road where they were just about to start a road of National significance.
But the Genter and Twyford got in and sentenced many people to death over the next few years and will force people to stick in slow traffic.
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January 26, 2019 8:53am
CJames

Everyone is trashing Ms Dowie for the JLR affair. Why has the press not mentioned the reporter that also had an affair and subjected her to the same scrutiny? Or is that just looking after your own and it not fitting the narrative?
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January 26, 2019 8:54am
- Disillusioned_Voter
  
  I’m beginning to think it’s about time for Dowie to dump everything she knows; texts, email, diary – the lot. Only then can she free herself (and hopefully National) from the attention of out “main stream media”.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:11am
  - Jules99
    
    The only way that could work for her is if it led to a clean up all parties, and the media. She’d need some pretty smart guidance to do this as it is risky. For her personally, the best option is probably not to engage and to work away diligently in her electorate.
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:23am
    - brett68
      
      She’s finished as an MP, won’t be standing at the next election.
      May as well go out in a blaze of glory.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:36am
      - srylands
        
        Is that your prediction or has she said that she is not stranding in 2020?
        
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        January 26, 2019 11:08am
      - brett68
        
        My prediction.
        She’s pretty conservative in that part of the country, a married MP with young kids who had an affair with another married MP wouldn’t go down well with the National members of Invercargill.
        
        I’d expect her to take the hint and move on or be deselected.
        
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        January 26, 2019 11:32am
      - rockape
        
        Lots of resignations from the National party and staff in Invercargyll. Shame for her National party Mainland conference due there soon. She would have been running it as host!Due 11 May.
        
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        January 26, 2019 12:18pm
- kowtow
  
  People need to wake the fuck up to the fact that the vast majority of reporters and the MSM are not our friends , and have become a tool of the cultural marxists.
  
  Why do they hate Trump so viscerally ?
  Cos he’s powerful and has called them out . Side stepped them by addressing his base directly , showing them up to be the shit they are.
  
  And if anyone needed any further proof of their fake news and their vilification of people they don’t like then just read up on the Covington Catholics at the Lincoln Memorial.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:27am
  - Viking2
    
    This Tova tart and her mate Vance seem a particularly nasty bunch.
    Live by the sword die by the sword, so if you get back what you give out their fate ain’t looking that nice.
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:46am
    - JibberJabber
      
      The pair of them seem to be relying on a different skill set to get the scoops rather than the one they`re employed for.
      Admittedly it is hard to tell the difference.
      
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      January 26, 2019 12:11pm
    - rockape
      
      I saw Vance at a National conference just before the election and had to intervene when she was bullying security staff, While Bill was rehearsing his speech she wanted to get back into the auditorium to ” recover her handbag” I taught her the meaning of the words FO.
      
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      January 26, 2019 12:21pm
      - waikatogirl
        
        ?
        
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        January 26, 2019 2:03pm
DigNap15

I think this wellness budget will be a great opportunity for us all to question the COL.

Does giving money to poor people help their wellbeing?

Does legalising cannabis encourage wellbeing?

Does lifting sanctions and allowing people to stay home all day on the couch encourage well being?

Does campaigning against fat shaming encourage well being?
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January 26, 2019 8:56am
- auckwood
  
  Attempting to ban photo shopping of women’s bodies* in all women’s mags (how are they still a thing..???) will encourage well being and body positivity!**
  
  *ban on photo shopping of all women, except the SLG of course..
  **much like generous welfare encourages people not to work, body positivity encourages people that being overweight/unhealthy is perfectly acceptable…
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:05am
- waikatogirl
  
  “Does lifting sanctions and allowing people to stay home all day on the couch encourage well being?”
  
  Lack of personal achievement is bad for mental health. People know when they are skiving and it does not promote wellbeing. It leads to worse outcomes and ultimately may result in suicide. Cindy promised zero suicide but does not see that achievement and independence is paramount in wellbeing statistics.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:56am
- namron
  
  Firstly I’d like to read a full statement defining what they consider “wellness” to be!
  Gives a better basis for our critical assessment of every little deviation, failure [+ lots more words of similar meaning] to continue our criticism and embarrassment of Phail Twitford, Miss Ardern etc
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:27pm
  - Paulus
    
    My Southern Cross medical policy is my “Wellness Policy” and has been called so for many years.
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:36pm
    - waikatogirl
      
      Vitamin D for everyone!
      
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      January 26, 2019 2:04pm
  - auckwood
    
    Unfortunately you can’t read the statement, it does not portray the same emotive triggers as seeing SLG’s huge chompers sparkling in the camera flashes as her head bobs from side to side and swivels like that old carnival clown game that swallowed the balls, while inserting as many fluffy completely unrelated buzz words in an attempt to pass off actually saying nothing as answering all your questions and concerns… oh and heres a baby!
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:37pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Grant Hannis on the Len Brown Affair…. and the role of the Media in scandal-mongering.

https://mro.massey.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10179/10615/Brown.pdf

Worth a read in light of the JLR -Dowie exposures
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January 26, 2019 8:57am
- freethinker
  
  Thanks Maggie Hannis =Hypocrisy – Judge Incompetent.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:57am
  - MH
    
    heinous
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:33pm
- harvey wilson
  
  Hilarious in retrospect to see him writing about how the internet never forgets.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:08am
- secondcumming
  
  We overheard our 14yo referring to him as a “granny fucker” this morning……
  even the missus smirked.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:35am
- Viking2
  
  A media scandal occurs when private facts that disgrace or offend the
  idealized, dominant morality of a social community are made public and
  narrativized by the media, producing a range of effects from ideological
  and cultural retrenchment to disruption and change. (Lull & Hinerman,
  1997, p. 3)
  That is to say, the media takes private information and makes it public, with the
  disclosure generally outraging society and producing any number of effects.
  The media’s motives in doing this, the manner in which the outrage is reported
  and the precise effects engendered, have much occupied scholars
  
  Kinda prophetic in a way.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:53am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Interesting read Maggie. I note this particularly prophetic paragraph:
  
  “Hager concluded that Slater’s actions should have ‘totally discredited him’ (p. 117). Activities such as pressuring a source to go public and being driven by political motivations ‘would be the end of a journalist’s reputation’ (p. 117).”
  
  How many media people (they aren’t journalists anymore) could that be describing?
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:58pm
- 3-coil
  
  Thanks Maggy – excellent research.
  
  Convicted sex offender (82yr old victim), Labour Party supporter, dubious journalism professor at (dubious academic institution) Massey University – Grant Hannis has a long dodgy list of accomplishments for his CV!
  
  His linked article is ironically of Bgrade student quality (eg non-existent word “purient” while groping for smart-sounding “prurient” shows his shoddy standards) yet he taught the current batch of media hacks! No wonder the current crop of MSM wannabes are so utterly useless.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:36pm
kowtow

A couple of police related stories that illustrate how fucked up the UK elites have allowed things to become ( and while I support Brexit , things won’t get any better , as the UK Elites are the traitors )

You can be logged by their Plod for a “hate incident” for having a bit of fun / or indeed an honestly held opinion.

‘PC Mansoor Gul told Mr Miller: “I’ve been on a course and what you need to understand is that you can have a foetus with a female brain that grows male body parts and that’s what a transgender person is.”’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/24/man-investigated-police-retweeting-transgender-limerick/

While the ‘community cohesion officer’ was tracking down the heinous tweeter , two cops in London were getting the bash from black criminals.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/25/police-release-body-cam-footage-despicable-attack-officers/

The worrying thing about this incident is the female officer who was given the flying kick was telling her colleague “John” who was struggling with one culprit to “let him go”.
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January 26, 2019 8:57am
- EAD_THREE
  
  The UK police “service” (they’re not a force these days) is so cuckcolded that if I shouted at the 2 Blacks bashing the cops “get off them you Niggers”, the Officers colleagues would sooner arrest me for a “hate crime” than help their stricken colleagues.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:15am
  - stephieboy
    
    EAD THREE, adding Soros and the Jews are to blame also as they frog march you off to the nearest community mental health centre
    
    Police officers under attack in Scotland by a honkey ,
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud-lIOkCehQ
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:27am
- auckwood
  
  Absolutely chilling to read both articles…
  
  ‘Hate incident’ for a limerick (which I saw posted yesterday or the day before on here) which actually raises some valid points worth discussing in regards to the trans movement…
  
  That female officer seemed a little out of her depth there, and lucky she didn’t get hit by that bus!
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:20am
  - EAD_THREE
    
    Agreed – everyone must read the first article in particular
    
    PC Mansoor Gul told Mr Miller: “I’ve been on a course and what you need to understand is that you can have a foetus with a female brain that grows male body parts and that’s what a transgender person is.”
    
    This quote sum up why the British Police “Service” is lowering it’s entry standards so to admit low IQ non whites because they lack critical thinking skills and unquestionably swallow this cr*p up.
    
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-racist-uk-recruitment-bame-institutionally-npcc-strategy-women-disability-a8581646.html
    
    But this relentless pushing of the transgender crap helps one see just why so ordinary Germans got so pissed off with Magnus Hirshfield & his transgender agenda which, just like today, is being so heavily pushed onto German families just like in Weimar.
    
    https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in-germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:55am
Keeping Stock

Interesting story in the Herald this morning. MBIE and Treasury were urging the government to reduce subsidies to the film industry. But after Jacinda Ardern and David Parker had a meeting with Peter Jackson that was not listed on the PM’s schedule, they made the decision to ignore the advice from officials:

The Weekend Herald investigation, conducted mainly through the Official Information Act, revealed multiple meetings between Ministers and Jackson’s Weta Group in mid-2018 when the curb was being contemplated.

On August 15 Ardern and Parker held what official briefings described as a “side-meeting” with Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh following a public event held at one of Weta’s buildings in Miramar. This meeting was not listed on the Prime Minister’s public schedule.

Parker said the meeting was “brief”, and Jackson and Walsh “did emphasise the importance of the SPG. I don’t recall anything specific.”

A week later, on August 23, Parker and three other ministers – Grant Robertson, Clare Curran and Kris Faafoi – visited Weta headquarters in Miramar. Parker said this meeting was to allow the company to describe “the breadth of their activities”.

On September 11, four Ministers – Ardern, Parker, Robertson and Curran – met with officials in Wellington and decided to abandon policy work on measures, including a cap, that might limit taxpayer exposure.

This decision came despite a briefing prepared for this meeting noting: “MBIE and Treasury are concerned about the level of fiscal risk associated with an uncapped scheme with few levels to maintain fiscal control, in the light of the inability to quantify value for money with any certainty.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12195991&fbclid=IwAR2nwBD-CZiJzTjllTb_vIMjy1xgxt1iMNd4_4FCs-rETVQAjxdDtUKm6gU

This story is well worth a read. Labour repeatedly slagged National and John Key off over subsidies given to the film industry, but now we find Jacinda Ardern and co have been having “side meetings” with Sir Peter Jackson, and lo and behold, Weta will continue to receive huge support from the taxpayer; $149.2m in 2018.

Welcome to the most open and transparent government ever!
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January 26, 2019 9:00am
- Gravelroad
  
  Peter Jackson is New Zealand’s biggest tax payer funded benefit recipient.
  But films and the celebrity lifestyle “community” are very important and vital to our wellbeing, of course.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:35am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Hell of a lot of folks in the Wellington area have had work from Jackson/Weta.
    
    Jobs that were never there in the bad old days of the NZFilm Commission…
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:57am
    - harvey wilson
      
      Weta for sure, Jackson seems like a sponge when it comes to other people’s money . The film museum is a classic case in point.
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:10am
- MH
  
  talk about riding on the red carpet…
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:37pm
DigNap15

Whilst I dont live in Auckland, I am so pleased that John Tamihere is going to stand for mayor.

Phil Goff is an evil leftie and has achieved nothing and has had a very low profile.
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January 26, 2019 9:01am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  Sure. Just what Auckland needs. A 3rd successive Labour Mayor.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:05am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Won’t it split the Labour vote, giving a sensible centrist a chance?
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:30am
  - fluffykiwi
    
    One can but live in hope.
    
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    January 26, 2019 9:37am
- Jules99
  
  I agree with your assessment of Phil Goff, but word on the ground is that elected politicians can’t achieve anything because of the tight control permanent staff have over the council. The same sort of thing Trump gets – slow walking, constant staff changes, endless meetings where nothing is achieved. Our local boards see the same thing.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:33am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Yes, Minister…
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:54pm
secondcumming

REASON #164 Never use *Auckland Public Transport*…..

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1088535560950550528

Honestly, these pricks couldn’t run a Lime Scooter.
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January 26, 2019 9:09am
- GazzaW
  
  Obviously not sc given that the news has just broken that Auckland’s rail project has just gone up by $500 mill and that won’t be the last increase.
  
  I love the way that Goff’s spin doctors describe it as ‘the low hundreds of millions’. How the fuck can hundreds of millions be described as low especially when it means that the city’s credit rating will be negatively affected?
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:07pm
slightlyrighty

I am applying for a wellness subsidy.

I only need $56 per week,

That’ll get me 2 of these…

https://www.glengarrywines.co.nz/items/91692-6/guinness+draught+cans+(6+pack)+(440ml)?gclid=Cj0KCQiAhKviBRCNARIsAAGZ7CdSJEyiuJRbUHIUrm-71kIq4TBmgcV0uDzNYIxK-in6kNY5MY1Hn3YaAq8EEALw_wcB
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January 26, 2019 9:14am
septic skeptic

I certainly wouldn’t vote for Tamihere. I think he would be a very poor choice.
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January 26, 2019 9:21am
MCos

I see the US Government Shutdown is all but over, at least for a few weeks while a some sort of compromise is worked out.
Translation
Trump caved in.
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January 26, 2019 9:31am
- All_on_Red
  
  Or;
  The Dems will once again get shown up of having no interest in negotiating when they don’t compromise.
  And Trump gets to do the SOTU address with Pelosi sitting behind him with no right of reply…
  
  I really don’t think the issue is going to go away.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:38am
  - stephieboy
    
    We will just have to wait and see wrong as you have been on many issues regarding your God!
    
    3 29
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    January 26, 2019 10:24am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Stop telling lies you creep.
      
      17 4
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      January 26, 2019 10:33am
      - sooty
        
        Post of the day!
        
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        January 26, 2019 12:10pm
- Ross12
  
  It is only for three weeks. Pelosi said they would only negotiate if the Govt. was open. Trump has given them 3 weeks during which Govt. workers will be paid.
  Now the ball is in Pelosi’s court. If they do not negotiate (and listens to the far-left lady from NY) then they will be shown up.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:58am
  - All_on_Red
    
    I suspect it was the FAA which caused Trump to do this.
    Pause the shutdown, let them get paid, give the Dems more rope, then do it again.
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:32am
    - stephieboy
      
      You suspect? Based on what line of evidence?
      
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      January 26, 2019 10:35am
      - All_on_Red
        
        I realise that you are retarded pervert creep but that aside I feel charitable today about assisting your ongoing ignorance.
        https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/25/us/air-traffic-controller-shortage-faa/index.html
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:46am
      - stephieboy
        
        All on Wed, from your CNN ( Clinton News) Link we get this,
        
        “A White House official said the air traffic delays played a key role in Trump backing down — at least temporarily — from his insistence on border wall funding to reopen the government.
        “Planes have to keep flying. This is getting worse and worse,” the official said. “He knows this has to end.”
        The White House had been discussing the shutdown’s impact on commercial aviation with officials at federal transportation agencies, according to a source familiar with the talks.
        The stark portrayal presented to the White House of a prolonged shutdown coupled with a shortage of Transportation Safety Administration officers and Friday’s massive delays were a “contributing catalyst” for the agreement ending the shutdown, the source said..”.
        
        DUH!
        
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        January 26, 2019 10:57am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Hahahahaha
        Thanks for proving my point when I said “I suspect it was the FAA which caused Trump to do this.”
        
        Lol, Stephie doesn’t know what FAA stands for. Just like he’s ignorant of the IPCC!
        What a Dumbass
        
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        January 26, 2019 11:06am
  - virtualmark
    
    Negotiate != give Trump what he wants. So don’t expect that in 3 weeks time the wall will be funded (unless Mexico pays for it …)
    
    Trump wanted a wall but today he got a cave. Politically Pelosi owns him. He lost the support of the middle with this shutdown and now he’ll lose a bit of support from his base for this caving.
    
    The Art of the Deal. Very stable genius. All the best people.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:53am
    - Milhous
      
      I wonder if Pelosi is getting tired of all the winning?
      
      10 3
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      January 26, 2019 1:17pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Hey downtickers here’s a question for you …
      
      What do you think Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh etc are going to be saying in 3 weeks time if Donny hasn’t got any money out of Nancy for his wall?
      
      Or if the only way he gets the money is by signing on to a bunch of immigration dead rats like DACA amnesties?
      
      6 3
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      January 26, 2019 1:50pm
- Fletch
  
  According to CNN, they have copies of documents the White House is preparing to declare an emergency and get funding, bypassing Congress.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:19am
  - Viking2
    
    So the Whitehouse needs a security revamp. Too many not to be trusted.
    
    Where is the FBI etc on this breach of the Whitehouse security.
    
    Imagine if this was wartime and it leaves us wondering what the likes of the Chinese and Russians etc get from the internal workings of the “leaky White House.”
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:35am
  - Viking2
    
    So the Whitehpuse needs a security revamp. Toomany not to be trusted.
    
    Where is the FBI etc on this breach of the Whitehouse security.
    
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    January 26, 2019 10:42am
    - Paulus
      
      The FBI are well involved with the stuff ups at the White House.
      They still cannot be trusted.
      
      4 1
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      January 26, 2019 1:41pm
  - virtualmark
    
    If the White House were to use emergency powers then that would certainly go straight to the Supreme Court, and the legal commentary so far says the White House would lose that case.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:55am
- Steve Todd
  
  “Trump caved in.”
  
  Yep, just doing what he does best: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/trump-almost-always-folds/560948/.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:56am
dcrown

Admit that I didn’t see this coming?

Soy Boi Trump just got dog walked by Nasty Pelosi …
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/427004-trump-agrees-to-end-shutdown

He’s ‘one and done.’ A lame duck till 2020. The other republicans in congress will abandon him.
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January 26, 2019 9:33am
- Inandout
  
  dcrown, do a little research before opining.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_V8QDy9IYA
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:02am
  - dcrown
    
    lol, I can quote John McCains boyfriend also:
    
    “He’s not going to sign a bill that doesn’t have money for the wall. I can tell you exactly how this is going to end. The president is going to challenge Democrats to compromise and if they continue to say no, they’re going to pay the price with the American people,” Graham said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.” “If he gives in now, that’s the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president,” he continued. “That’s probably the end of his presidency. Donald Trump has made a promise to the American people. He’s going to secure our border.”
    
    https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/423626-graham-trump-giving-up-on-border-wall-fight-would-be-the-end-of-his
    
    If Trump doesn’t get wall funding soon he’s one and done, son. Hear me now, quote me later.
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:26pm
Classic Liberal

The more I look into what Capital Gains Tax would mean for NZ, the more it worries me. And the Taxpayers’ Union have totally sold out.

Look up ‘CGT UK + Couples’. There are huge complications in what your spouse or partner can be gifted or inherit.

This tax will affect every Kiwi who has saved up even a small amount and will be especially hard on elderly people.

Most Kiwis seem to be very blasé about this, perhaps thinking it will affect only a few landlords.

If anyone else here cares: how can we make swing voters aware what CGT would mean to them?
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January 26, 2019 9:37am
- DigNap15
  
  Social media ?
  Phone talk back
  Or a street march?
  Like in every other country
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:53am
- simpleton1
  
  Probably in the cost of collection being so high, then IRD needs to put in place a form of “user pays”, i.e. a higher “fee”.
  “User pays” being they can afford it anyway. 🙂
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:55am
- JibberJabber
  
  Bugger all anyone can do, at least half of NZ voters think a CGT is just a rich pricks tax, too fucking stupid to realise the implications until it`s too late, it`s the Kiwi way.
  We just need to ensure that National follow thru with their promise to repeal this Grasping Envy tax, but be ready for weasel words and excuses as to why they won`t.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:59am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    But will National win if there aren’t enough swing voters who see the light? If not on this issue, on others.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:56am
- brett68
  
  When my parents die and if they’re still living in their own house will I have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of my parents house?
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:40am
  - stigie
    
    From what im reading brett68 yes, the CGT will apply at the 33% tax for a individual or 28% business.
    If you intend to live in your parents house after they have died, they are talking about an inheritance tax which would be the same.
    Im happy to be corrected..?
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:03am
    - brett68
      
      That what I wondered.
      
      Since I already own my own home, my parents place wouldn’t be considered my “family home” and therefore would be liable for capital gains.
      
      14 0
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      January 26, 2019 11:12am
    - KevOB
      
      We have no facts yet to assess what the Envys are planning.
      They have to implement their proposals–that’s where it will all come adrift.
      This could be a fun year:
      CGT
      GFC
      Pike River
      Lawmowing
      KiwiTree
      Wellness budget on OPM
      Strikes
      
      COL’s Anus horribilus?
      
      18 0
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      January 26, 2019 11:28am
      - sooty
        
        I wonder what will happen if the parents house is in a trust?
        
        8 0
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        January 26, 2019 12:07pm
      - mark15
        
        Hahaha Freud
        
        3 0
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        January 26, 2019 3:19pm
harvey wilson

Morrisey I have good news mate , now that there’s an established link between Trump and Wikileaks through Roger Stone you can stop tying yourself in knots defending Assanges sex crimes .

I’m happy for you mate.
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January 26, 2019 9:43am
Hugh Pavletich

… DEMOGRAPHIA HOUSING AFFORDABILITY SURVEY MONDAY RELEASE: A MASSIVE RESPONSE …

Government needs to act quickly to fix housing market … Hugh Pavletich discusses with Mike Yardley … NewstalkZB

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/larry-williams-drive/audio/hugh-pavletich-kiwibuild-needs-a-revamp-to-fix-the-housing-market/
.
.
Housing in all main NZ markets now ‘severely unaffordable’ | Hugh Pavletich discusses with Morning Reports Susie Ferguson | RNZ News

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/380511/housing-in-all-main-nz-markets-now-severely-unaffordable
.
.
Demographia In The News

https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=demographia&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZzpSb5YngAhUGeisKHZYyCgMQ_AUIDigB&biw=462&bih=410
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January 26, 2019 9:52am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Around the 2008 election, the National Party was very much my friend … when using the housing issue to get rid of the Labour – led government at the time ! …
  
  John Key on Housing Reform 2007 – YouTube
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPgoAI1cLE
  
  … soon after the 2008 election …
  
  Bringing better balance to the housing market | Beehive.govt.nz
  
  https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/bringing-better-balance-housing-market
  
  But … alas … John Key didn’t have what it takes and mutinied in 2016 … leaving poor Bill English to beach the ship at the 2017 election …
  
  GONE GONE GOING: The demise of the National – led government … Performance Urban Planning
  
  http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/National%20News.html
  
  If the National Party can’t do housing properly, wouldn’t it be best just to shut it down ?
  
  Isn’t it sad … the National Party left me … I didn’t leave the National Party.
  
  Why did the National Party fail with housing … persisting in denying young Kiwis the opportunity to access affordable new housing … a basic human right ?
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:14pm
  - Paulus
    
    Hugh
    Still today 333 houses in Tauranga under $550,000 for sale (and thousands with land approval still).
    You forgot that there are for example I believe 16 retirement villages in Tauranga and that almost around a third of the 130,000 do not earn anything, being retirees so must be considered when you try and hoodwink us in your report.
    So your figures are basically crap and your published supposition is flawed.
    
    7 1
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    January 26, 2019 1:48pm
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Paulus … We are simply restoring housing affordability … not inventing it ! …
      
      Why are New Zealand homes so pricey? It has nothing to do with avocados … Charlie Gates … Stuff NZ
      
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/106789344/why-are-nz-homes-so-pricey-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-avocados
      .
      .
      http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/affordability.html
      
      1 10
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      January 26, 2019 2:04pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Political year kicks off and the government takes a hit | Peter Wilson | RNZ News
        
        https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/380959/political-year-kicks-off-and-the-government-takes-a-hit
        
        By Peter Wilson*
        
        Analysis – Having to reveal a politically-damaging failure wasn’t the best way for the government to start 2019. … read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        January 26, 2019 5:53pm
Tom Barker

How’s that big, beautiful wall coming on, Donnie?
Got the foundations in yet?
6 26
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January 26, 2019 9:55am
- Ross12
  
  Some building has been going on for some time, Tom.
  
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  January 26, 2019 9:59am
  - stephieboy
    
    Ross12, not really. The existing building operations are directed at improving and renovating existing wall structures!
    
    3 26
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    January 26, 2019 10:38am
    - All_on_Red
      
      They are replacing the post and rail fences with 30′ wall.
      You don’t know anything do you.
      
      17 3
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      January 26, 2019 11:01am
    - Inandout
      
      stephie, just hop off CNN for a moment.
      
      13 2
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      January 26, 2019 11:03am
- JibberJabber
  
  The U.S. Border Patrol first began to erect physical barriers in its San Diego sector in 1990. Duh.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:02am
  - MCos
    
    The border is two thousand miles long. There is already a wall along up to a third of that length in the obvious areas.
    
    9 8
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    January 26, 2019 10:15am
    - All_on_Red
      
      “There is already a wall along up to a third of that length in the obvious areas.”
      That’s not true. There isn’t 700kms of ‘wall’
      Most of it is post and rail fence. Easy to step over.
      
      10 4
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      January 26, 2019 10:37am
      - stephieboy
        
        Easy to step over? Like this ,
        
        https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=3418
        
        LOL to KB’s most stupid poster!
        
        3 27
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        January 26, 2019 10:45am
      - All_on_Red
        
        There’s a variety of type of barrier. But there isn’t 700kms of “wall”
        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=chYzuxdiQHo
        
        13 2
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        January 26, 2019 10:58am
      - Swifty
        
        More abuse from you to other posters Stiffy?
        
        But don’t you regularly complain about being abused here, and again only recently?
        
        My you are a two-faced little rat aren’t you?
        
        10 2
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        January 26, 2019 12:07pm
      - stephieboy
        
        Swifty, have I ever called you and others like All on Red,
        
        A PERV?
        
        A GOAT SHAGGER?
        
        etc, etc
        
        4 18
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        January 26, 2019 12:14pm
      - stephieboy
        
        And you think Trump is going build that wall to over the complete 1900 mile wall?
        
        Fantasies!
        
        3 12
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        January 26, 2019 12:16pm
      - Swifty
        
        I get it, you abuse others, and others abuse you.
        
        Just don’t come on here and bleat and whinge about it – you’re as guilty as others in dishing it out.
        
        9 0
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        January 26, 2019 2:23pm
- virtualmark
  
  Tom,
  
  It’s quite fair for a country to build a wall along its borders. I have no problem with the US putting a barrier along the Mexico border. And there’s already a lot of wall there.
  
  The problem has been Trump’s political mismanagement of this. Mexico was never going to pay for the wall, so saying they would just created a political crisis for you down the road. And then Trump had two years of a Republican House to get US funding for the wall in place … and did nothing. And then he is on camera in the Oval Office telling Pelosi & Schumer that he would shut down the Government and take the heat for that.
  
  It’s totally his own fault that he’s getting spanked by Pelosi right now. On so many different levels.
  
  7 8
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  January 26, 2019 12:14pm
  - rangitoto
    
    The Mexicans have already paid.
    
    2 2
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    January 26, 2019 1:47pm
    - virtualmark
      
      So did the cheque bounce or something?
      
      Because Donny tells us Nancy needs to pay.
      
      3 4
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      January 26, 2019 1:56pm
secondcumming

My missus was wondering, if Aliens are smart enough to travel through space, why do the keep abducting the dumbest people on earth?

Just saying…..
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January 26, 2019 9:57am
DigNap15

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110165485/three-nzta-directors-resign-in-wake-of-fallout-over-enforcement-issues

Look at the directors who resigned!
Young-Cooper she really looks like a typical labour stooge.
And to think that she is on other boards.
Heaven help us!
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January 26, 2019 9:59am
emmess

Has Jacinda recognized the new interim president of Venezuela (Juan Guaido) yet? In line with her ‘husband’ Trudeau and others or is she still supporting her socialist brother Maduro?
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January 26, 2019 9:59am
- harvey wilson
  
  I think you know the answer to that .
  
  Is there an embarrassing sound bite of her frothing over Chavez? Surely there must be .
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:12am
- Shaun the Sheep
  
  You mean has Winston given her permission to take a stand yet?
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:47am
Viking2

Congressional leaders in the US and President Donald Trump have agreed to a stop-gap spending plan that would end a partial government shutdown now in its 35th day, according to a senior Democratic aide.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/01/us-shutdown-to-end-but-only-temporarily.html?fbclid=IwAR32nMWzqORFnoPb_bGVtxyGw4rOo_T2OX-Uufoxo3lKnsvAw9UJew5JHKs
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January 26, 2019 10:07am
Catons

Trump has blinked and Nancy stayed firm. If you stand up to s bully they eventually cave. Nancy knows that and she won. She will not rub Trumps nose in it unless he gets ungracious.
7 22
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January 26, 2019 10:13am
- Inandout
  
  Nancy is a dumb arse who tolerates extreme left wing Democrats. She will do anything to scoop dead beat voters. Her mind may not last until the next election.
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:08am
- Cobolt24
  
  His tweet explains what’s happening:
  
  I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!
  
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  January 26, 2019 6:00pm
  - Cobolt24
    
    It makes it worse for Pelosi now she has no hostages when (or if?) the shutdown begins again too.
    
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    January 26, 2019 8:07pm
NK

Stone is the sixth associate or confidante of Trump to be arrested. But most of you here will complain it’s “fake news” or a “witch hunt”.

I have three words to finish, “Lock Him Up”.

That should be the Dems catch-cry next year.
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January 26, 2019 10:14am
- All_on_Red
  
  I realise Trump and Stone know each other but Stone has been charged with Process Crimes relating to Testimony.
  The Indictment lists nothing about collusion
  #TDS
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:39am
  - virtualmark
    
    Yep, that’s the FBI’s playbook for wrapping up organised crime.
    
    Get the foot soldiers on smaller process crimes, and cut them deals as they turn over the next level up. Then cut those guys deals until they turn over the next level up … and so on and so on until you get to the head.
    
    Stone won’t be the last indictment. But we’re getting to the point where the next dominos to fall have “Trump” or “Kushner” on their passports.
    
    6 9
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    January 26, 2019 11:58am
    - virtualmark
      
      “Process crimes” is just a shorthand way of saying “You’re Mueller’s bitch now, and so you’ll tell us what you know”.
      
      My prediction … the next one to go down for “lying to Congress” is Erik Prince. And then it’s Don Jr.
      
      Interesting thought: I suspect Bannon is a cooperating witness for Mueller. It’s either that or Bannon is in legal jeopardy. And Bannon is the one smart person in the Trump campaign, and certainly smart enough to keep himself out of legal jeopardy.
      
      5 5
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      January 26, 2019 12:31pm
  - NK
    
    #TDS – ThickDumbStupid – that describes Trump acolytes perfectly.
    
    5 12
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    January 26, 2019 1:00pm
    - virtualmark
      
      I have also heard “Trump’s Delusional Supporters”, but I personally think “Trump’s D*** Suckers” is the winner.
      
      3 10
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      January 26, 2019 1:29pm
- Jules99
  
  The haven’t stopped saying that since 8 November 2016. Sadly for them, they haven’t found a crime yet.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:44am
  - stephieboy
    
    Jules99, just remember Water and Contragate took a lot,lot longer to investigate and unravel!
    
    3 21
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    January 26, 2019 10:47am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      Water and Contragate…had REAL evidence and real witness’.
      
      15 2
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      January 26, 2019 10:58am
      - stephieboy
        
        Yes, but it took a lot, a lot longer to unravel and reach conclusions according to law, witnesses or not!
        
        2 17
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        January 26, 2019 12:05pm
    - Inandout
      
      Mueller is yet to be named as a groper. Watch and wait.
      
      10 2
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      January 26, 2019 11:09am
      - stephieboy
        
        Inandout, waiting, waiting…. sigh!
        
        2 17
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        January 26, 2019 12:06pm
  - NK
    
    Never found a crime to indict Hillary Clinton either.
    
    5 3
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    January 26, 2019 2:02pm
- fernglas
  
  The swamp is being drained.
  
  12 1
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  January 26, 2019 11:38am
  - NK
    
    Yes. And the Swamp is full of Trump associates and confidantes.
    
    5 7
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    January 26, 2019 1:01pm
- kowtow
  
  Arrested is one thing , charged and convicted after due process entirely another.
  
  Or are we happy with politically motivated enforcement agencies?
  
  9 4
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  January 26, 2019 12:04pm
  - virtualmark
    
    8 convictions so far.
    
    Papadopoulos (Foreign Policy Advisor)
    Flynn (National Security Advisor !)
    Pinedo (helped the Russians)
    van der Zwaan (Russian oligarch’s son-in-law)
    Gates (key Trump Campaign aid & inauguration manager)
    Manafort (Trump Campaign manager)
    Cohen (Trump’s personal attorney)
    Patten (helped funnel Russian money to Trump’s campaign)
    
    Another 30 people & 3 organisations – almost all Russians – have been indicted but realistically are beyond reach.
    
    So far no one indicted has been found innocent. So far all except Manafort appear to now be cooperating witnesses.
    
    The problem with witch hunts is that there’s just so many witches.
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:11pm
    - kowtow
      
      Convictions for what though?
      
      7 3
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      January 26, 2019 1:46pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Mainly convictions for lying.
        
        Which leads straight to the question of … what was so bad about the truth that you felt you had to lie, at great risk of imprisonment?
        
        Which leads straight to the demand of … so now you tell the truth to Mr Mueller.
        
        Mueller is building his case. Against Trump not against Papadopoulos, Flynn etc. He wants the capo not the foot soldiers.
        
        To build his case he needs Papadopoulos, Flynn etc to tell him the truth. He needs evidence and he needs witnesses. And sometimes you just need to squeeze someones balls in a vice to get the evidence.
        
        But hey, you keep telling yourself they’re all innocent, and process crimes, and politically motivated. Yep, I’m sure that will work out.
        
        3 6
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        January 26, 2019 1:54pm
      - NK
        
        If these were Clinton campaign aides you’d be apoplectic.
        
        But it’s OK when one of yours does it. I get that.
        
        5 5
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        January 26, 2019 2:03pm
  - virtualmark
    
    But if you really want to stew your brain kowtow how about this …
    
    So far none of the Steele Dossiers has been found to be wrong. So far everything we’re learning via the media, Mueller etc has corroborated Steele’s work.
    
    #PeeTape
    
    3 5
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    January 26, 2019 1:32pm
- Nermal
  
  Do any of the indictments include the word “Russia”. I thought not
  
  5 2
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  January 26, 2019 2:21pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Jail could well be his fate, NK, unless he co-operates.
  
  This is a good read: https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-stone-welcome-to-the-barrel-cosplaying-supervillain-meets-robert-muellers-real-life-feds.
  
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  January 26, 2019 8:08pm
tknorriss

The sentence was probably reduced because he is part of the Massey academia that supports the boycott of Don Brash, and restricts freedom of speech and expression.
17 1
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January 26, 2019 10:19am
- DigNap15
  
  What sicko would want to rape or expose himself to an 82 year old woman, especially one with dementia!
  
  14 1
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  January 26, 2019 10:59am
  - sooty
    
    A Labour party supporter!
    
    20 1
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    January 26, 2019 12:01pm
    - calendar girl
      
      … and seriously dangerous criminal.
      
      1 1
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      January 26, 2019 7:20pm
Fletch

Hannity asks, what is Pelosi fighting for? Trump is fighting for the safety and security of America. What is she fighting for?

Meanwhile, CBS interviews a border patrol agent who has been in the job through six administrations – has seen six presidents, and who says the situation at the border is a “crisis” and the worst he’s ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRMz4YPtF1k

The agents, though, are willing to work without pay because they believe strongly in the job they do.
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January 26, 2019 10:24am
Fletch

This is fking disgusting – Democrats actually standing, clapping, whooping and cheering after New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo passed law that will allow abortion up until ~~die~~ due date. They also lit up the One World Trade Centre in pink to celebrate it.

https://www.facebook.com/blazemedia/videos/2038319882950740/

MORE –

The law appears to restrict late-term abortions, but it adds a broad “health” exception for abortions after 24 weeks. The exception would allow women to abort unborn babies up to nine months of pregnancy for basically any reason, including “age, economic, social and emotional factors,” according to New York Right to Life.

So, basically abortion-on-demand up until birth. These people are evil.
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January 26, 2019 10:38am
- kowtow
  
  And Cuomo directed the One World Centre lit up in pink to celebrate !
  Appalling.
  
  13 5
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  January 26, 2019 10:46am
  - Fletch
    
    Yup. In the past the Dems have sort of hidden behind this idea of “well, we know abortion is a serious thing, not to be taken lightly, and only in extreme situations”, but now the mask is right off. They actually stand and cheer that women can kill their own babies with impunity, right up until birth (for all intents and purposes). Cuomo is supposed to be a Catholic, and other Catholics are calling for him to be excommunicated from the Church.
    
    13 7
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    January 26, 2019 10:56am
    - EAD_THREE
      
      https://mobile.twitter.com/Sekusa1/status/1088559374287732737
      
      4 4
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      January 26, 2019 11:37am
      - stephieboy
        
        EAD THREE, abortion forbidden for all Aryan women,
        
        http://www.cpforlife.org/the-nazis-and-abortion
        
        3 16
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        January 26, 2019 12:11pm
      - Salacious Crumb
        
        Are you comfortable with late or full term abortion Stephieboy?
        
        7 5
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        January 26, 2019 1:04pm
      - GazzaW
        
        Not if he’s being loyal to his own Church’ doctrines. Answer please steffie.
        
        8 0
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        January 26, 2019 1:13pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        SC: nobody is ‘comfortable’ with late-term abortions, least of all the woman! Such a physically and emotionally horrific thing would only happen in an absolute emergency, to save a woman’s life.
        
        4 2
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        January 26, 2019 3:02pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  What would you know about anything – old man?
  
  9 0
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  January 26, 2019 11:40am
- Inandout
  
  We all know the welfare breeding classes are unaffected, just the NY chattering ones. The Muslims are natural producers of babies, even though many are inbred and could easily be aborted; they are anti abortion.
  
  9 0
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  January 26, 2019 12:16pm
  - stephieboy
    
    “The Muslims are natural producers of babies..”
    
    A falling birth rate Iran and Gulf states
    
    etc,https://www.prb.org/menafertilitydecline/
    
    DUH!
    
    2 16
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    January 26, 2019 1:11pm
    - secondcumming
      
      That’s because most of them have moved to Mt Roskill.
      
      DUH!!
      
      13 0
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      January 26, 2019 2:31pm
DigNap15

The latest Bay Sun has two articles against cycle ways and the new improved bus service.
Tinted windows hiding empty buses
Empty buses
High subsidies
Taking up valuable road space
Blinkered idiots running our transport.
They hope more people will use buses and cycles.
Wait till winter.
Tauranga is too spread out for public trasnaport and cycling.
Tauranga is growing by more each year than the people on the buses.
So they need to do a radical re-think.
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January 26, 2019 10:42am
- fernglas
  
  There’s a bus lane there that sees about 3 buses an hour, on one of your town’s busiest streets. Has anyone ever done a proper cost benefit study for these things, one which allocates, say, the “living wage” to commuters, to determine how much they lose being stuck in queues? Lost productivity? Pollution caused by stationary idling vehicles?
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:42am
Catons

There is no boarder crisis. Trump is using it as a political ploy against the Democrats. He lost.
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January 26, 2019 10:46am
- RW Capitalist
  
  If it’s crisis in the Jordanian refugee camps.
  Then it’s crisis on so many levels on his southern border.
  1. Illegals coming in (any is too many)
  2. Drugs are coming in
  3. Gangsters are coming in
  Trumps ploy here is obvious.
  Agree to open the Govt. while announcing the PROMISE the Dems have made to build a wall as part of the package. Now if the Dems don’t, THEY and not him will get the blame.
  NB: Opening the govt. for ONLY 3 weeks.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:55am
- kevn
  
  @Catons… It’s not over yet. Watch and see.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:56am
- Viking2
  
  We will see.
  
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  January 26, 2019 10:58am
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Watch for more of Trump’s tricks in this 3 dimensional chess. Pelosi is away so we have to wait until Tues NZ time.
  Many here with TDS are about as informed as they are over the Covington boys. The MSM fake news are feeding you shit and you are lapping it up. Get away from CNN ffs
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:53am
- Inandout
  
  Catons, I dislike taking in boarders.
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:18pm
Gravelroad

Anyone been following the Australian Open tennis?
I’m no expert on international tennis, but is it usual in the men’s grade for there to be such a large disparity in ability in two grandslam tournament semi finals?
Neither Tsitsipas nor Pouille were in the same game as Nadal and Djokovic.
Was like watching the All Blacks playing a school boy team in the World Cup semi.
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January 26, 2019 10:51am
- Longknives
  
  Nadal is in absolutely sensational form-and Djokovic is World No 1.
  It’s the Final the tournament deserves…
  *Not that the Media will notice- They are still ranting and raving and making excuses for their beloved Serena Williams..
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:07am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Not knowing a lot about top level tennis, the point I was making was that I was surprised to see such a gap in ability between Nadal, Djokovic (and usually Federer) and the others on the international circuit.
    Hope Nadal wins but won’t be surprised if he doesn’t.
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:54am
- Salacious Crumb
  
  All the young Turks getting a lesson in professionalism by the old boys. Novak and Nadal probably have another 5 years so it’s not going to get any easier for them.
  Highlight so far was seeing Williams get arsed out the day after hearing her press conference where she told everyone how impressed she was with her ability to keep growing.
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:09am
  - Longknives
    
    Serena Williams is the most ungracious, arrogant and revoltingly unsporting player I have seen in my lifetime.
    As I said the other day- I immensely enjoyed her getting belted out of the tournament and laughed my head off when she started limping (She does this whenever she is losing)
    By now she will be back at home locking herself in her Panic Room to avoid Drug Testers…
    
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    January 26, 2019 11:16am
    - Salacious Crumb
      
      Yep she’s probably the GOAT in the arrogance and ungraciousness stakes. Sharipova wouldn’t be that far off either. Making servers wait, taking the piss with time allowances and water breaks and never, ever can bring herself to admit the opponent was better when she’s beaten. And don’t get me started on the shrieking and drug thing. They should have to go watch Federer interviews as compulsory etiquette training.
      
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      January 26, 2019 12:04pm
    - Disillusioned_Voter
      
      Many would say that title belonged to Schumacher… Or maybe Tommy Makkinen, but that was mainly because his English was terrible ?
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:06pm
- gump
  
  Nadal, Federer, and Djokivic have won fifty of the last sixty grand slam finals.
  
  They’re playing on a different level to the rest of the planet.
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:55pm
Michael

Trump did the right thing re ending the shut down.
If the Democrats don’t come to some agreement re funding for the wall in the next three weeks he will either reinstate the shut down, or else declare a national emergency. If there is another shut down it could well be that the the Democrats [Pelosi] will get more of the blame than will Trump.
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January 26, 2019 10:56am
- waripori
  
  Trump was pushed by loud voices from the right of his base into adopting a negotiating position ( shut the government until I get my wall ) that left him no room to manoeuvre. All Pelosi had to was wait while Trump’s poll numbers tanked and Republicans in the Senate got fed up with him for claiming the shutdown as his own.
  
  He has played his best card so now he is going to have to negotiate which generally means doing something you don’t want to do if you want the other guy to do something he doesn’t want to do. If he expects the Democrat house to give him some fence funding he is going to have to give them a long term DACA fix. Coulter et al will call this amnesty and it will cost Trump some of his base. It is a deal he could have had a year ago when Schumer offered 25 Billion for the wall and the Freedom caucus would not stand for it.
  
  If his negotiations with North Korea work out as well as this has we better start digging fallout shelters.
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:47am
  - KeaRea
    
    48 hour rule is in effect. Always give 2 days.
    
    The media in the US is in maximum Cope mode. They got spanked badly for their Lugenpresse ways with the Covington cathlolics.
    
    https://www.infowars.com/journos-meltdown-after-being-told-learn-to-code-in-wake-of-mass-layoffs-at-huffpo-buzzfeed/
    
    Lol and Buzzfeed just laid off 15% of it’s work force.
    
    Because one of the consequences of the government shut-down was that the deep-state cash which keeps the Lugenpresse afloat dried up. So the weaker recipients of the patronage fired over 1000 womens studies majors, Gender PHD’s and Shecklesteins. They’re in maximum Cope mode.
    
    They’ve spend decades telling working class whites laid off, fucked over by illegal immigrants, or on Opoids because of the Sackler-Jews, or barred from work because they don’t have a protected attribute for affirmative action, or kept out of the Ivy League because they have to have their core of don’tbelongs to Tikkun Olam ‘LeArN tO COdE’.
    
    But they really hate it when they get told they need to learn to code.
    
    Hey – it’s a really good economy out there. Anyone can get a job in the year 2019.
    
    Media types just need to learn to code.
    
    Learn to Code – Coding is easy. All the time the Lugenpresse bitches spend complaining on Twitter, they could be learning C++. I will happily teach any media in New Zealand who get laid off when National dry up their gibs how to code. It’s so easy. WoMeN in TeCH are so smart – I bet they can go it 50 times faster then I learned!
    
    Learn to Code.
    
    I wonder how many of these enemies of the people and truth and goodness will starve in the streets or get spiked by a Martin Luther King American because of institutionalised racism?
    
    Hard to say – probably about 6million percent.
    
    So all the ‘Trump caved’ media are very silly.
    
    He will see his precious little Ivanka in chains if he doesn’t build the wall and drain the swamp.
    
    There are always reasons for things unrelated to a grand narrative.
    
    In any case, if he doesn’t follow through, the post-Trump candidate will. Give it 48 hours.
    
    But above all understand – in the territory known as the United States, the American nation, regardless of what Trump does, will be reforming a new state.
    
    And we all know how to code, very well. The journos better hope they aren’t on the internet of things.
    
    ‘ItS a PoLtErGeiST’
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:13pm
  - MH
    
    no matter our views this is all damaging the image of the USA and in future dealings with issues with China, Nth Korea and Iran and Russia.
    
    With modern tech and mobile squad vehicles and drones and heat seeking imaging a better use of existing security has been proposed at a 1/5 the cost of Trumps asking budget. However the argument is lost in this battle between the dems and Trump, the GOP remains sitting on the drawing board of a virtual fence. Mexico with queues and assistance to these illegal queue jumping illegals is paying indirectly for the fence.
    
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    January 26, 2019 1:03pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Pelosi already owns this shit and she know it. Other Dems and the Unions are putting the heat on. Why else would she go away for a long weekend? Oma rappiti, oma rappiti, oma oma oma
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:57am
  - virtualmark
    
    Pelosi is going to need to list “Donald Trump” on her federal asset disclosure forms.
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:00pm
Michael

Catons
You are correct, there is no boarder crisis. However there is a border crisis.
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January 26, 2019 10:59am
kevn

Now, about this Czech crim caper…
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January 26, 2019 11:09am
- stigie
  
  No, the MSM are desperate along with the Labour Party to bury it.
  
  Correction:- The coalition of losers !~
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:13am
Viking2

On those new houses.
Is buying homes and slapping kiwibuild stickers on them really building?

And I was talking to one of the contractors that are doing the landscaping for the new state housing in Mangere, he was saying they were planting on the other side to the road where people have allready moved into them, some dude came across and asked what the fruit trees are, his worker told he then the dude said ” oh sweet I’ve dug them up and took them to my cuzzies house up north!” lol ahhh socialism….
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January 26, 2019 11:18am
fernglas

Is it only me, or was that rugby/cricket game on TV1 last night an enjoyable piece of fluff ruined by a completely humour free commentary from some self congratulatory rod wallopers?
If that poor excuse for comedy can command prime time here, it’s no wonder our most successful comedians have had to emigrate to be appreciated.
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January 26, 2019 11:55am
- Happychappy
  
  I turned off when Winston gave his speech and how he campaigned for freeview.
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:17pm
  - fernglas
    
    But the game started in the evening. How come you could understand a word? Did he in fact say that he had campaigned for free booze?
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:50pm
sooty

So Mr Hannis the journalism lecture must be a Labour supporter. Caught with his hands down the pants of an 82yr old lady dimentia patient in a rest home. Will he welcome back to Massey Uni. Maybe he could go to the sex camps if he was not 55yrs old and on home detention.
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January 26, 2019 11:56am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  sooty,
  
  “.. must be a Labour supporter”??
  
  Verification, please!
  
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  January 26, 2019 11:57am
  - Swifty
    
    Ex-teacher, journo, academic – you got to admit Stiffy he ticks a few of the boxes….
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:03pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Swifty, a surmise not a fact!
      
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      January 26, 2019 1:09pm
      - Swifty
        
        But I’ve learnt from you that facts don’t matter.
        
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        January 26, 2019 5:00pm
    - Nostradamus
      
      Stephieboy:
      
      You’re the resident pervert. What characteristics would you look for when identifying someone who perves at young (or in this case old) girls?
      
      16 1
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      January 26, 2019 1:33pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        (or in this case old) girls?
        
        @Nostradamus
        
        Would you mind not focussing stephieboy’s attention on Gerontophilia.?
        
        He’s already made a couple of cracks about me being in a retirement home.
        
        I’m a very Worried old woman.
        
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        January 26, 2019 2:14pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        Maggy:
        
        I’m a very Worried old woman.
        
        Kimbo would select you over Stephieboy for his kick-ass pub quiz team any day of the week, for your general knowledge and good humour, unless specialist expertise in animal husbandry is needed!
        
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        January 26, 2019 2:25pm
Johnboy

Fuck you do luv all this pathetic Kiwi Kringe shit!
First it was the poor pommie trash traveler crap. 🙂
Now it’s the rich pommie trash traveler crap. 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/110184381/gordon-ramsays-new-zealand-tour-wanaka-is-stunning
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January 26, 2019 12:03pm
- Johnboy
  
  Course if Nigella had got her hooters out on her recent trip I wouldn’t have been so condemning about glorified cooks! 🙂
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:06pm
  - Longknives
    
    Think you would have a chance with Posh Totty like Nigella Johnboy?
    Would a spin in the Hilux then a romantic feed of lamb chops and mash be enough to woo her?..
    
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    January 26, 2019 12:17pm
    - Johnboy
      
      A naked dip in my converted sheepdip/spa pool with the Wainui Moreporks warbling away and a glimpse in the moonlight of my ramrod should just about swing it LK. 🙂
      
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      January 26, 2019 12:22pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Nigella didn’t get that porcelain complexion by skinny-dipping, JB.
        https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/entertainment/nigella-lawsons-waiheke-island-beach-escape-37102
        
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        January 26, 2019 1:02pm
      - Johnboy
        
        So the huge arse, narrow waist and substantial tits are down to what Maggy? 🙂
        
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        January 27, 2019 12:16pm
    - auckwood
      
      Isn’t she more akin to reading between the lines with Jethro and Sroubrek? or maybe a lil lawnmower or 2 to perk her self up….?
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:42pm
secondcumming

Just heard *JT* being interviewed about his tilt at the Auckland mayoralty……said he had *Matt McCarten* as part of his campaign team.

Thought he would have been a lot fucking smarter than that.
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January 26, 2019 12:24pm
- Johnboy
  
  He’s just planning ahead. He’ll need some cartons to pack up all his crap after he loses! 🙂
  
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  January 26, 2019 12:30pm
KeaRea

https://www.westernjournal.com/pelosis-equality-act-lead-parents-losing-custody-kids-want-gender-transition/

Remember everyone hated me talking about trannies yesterday? Well, Pelosi is on the case.

“Last year in Ohio, a judge removed a biological girl from her parents’ custory after they declined to help her ((transition)) to male with testosterone supplements”.

The parents wanted counselling, so the county prosecutor charged them with abuse and neglect. Because the kid went to the Cincinnati Gender Clinic after being groomed and the parents intervened. The kid was taken from the parents, and mutilated by the State.

[Trannie fetishist] “doctors and activists compared their decision to denying treatment for astham or cancer patients”

Pelosi’s new Equality Act would open doctors to being sued who don’t comply with locking out parents from the Trans sitioning. Guess who will be suing them? The ((SPLC)) and the ((ADL)) and ()(B’nai B’rith)) who are so focused on the wellbeing of the children.

Parents who try to block their children being sterilised will be thrown into prison.

Kids will get pubery blocker at 11, cross-sex hormones at 16, then ‘sex-reassignment’ mutilation at 18.

The T in LGBT are coming for the medical profession. They’ve already had state laws passed by their homosexual or Trap governing officers in California and New Jersey, and sued Christian hospitals for not sterilising and neutering children.

The Equality Act defiles the Civil Rights movement by pretending grooming child victims is Martin Luther King.

I played basketball with a lot of Basketball Americans. There will be a lot of space in the neo-confederacy for African Americans, Asians, and Latinos who are disgusted by Pelosi.

If you want to see what a human being looks like who has been tortured through the whole trannie process, just take a look at poor old Alexandra Pelosi, Pelosi’s son.

The media and Trump are totally misreading the US electorate. They’re ready to build piles of Skulls to the Renegade God. Or maybe he is, and he’s trying to hold off on the war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL7pBMxdX6o

It’s all going in the big book of grudges and being dispersed amongst the brothers of the world’s edge Mountains.

Freedom of the Press is not freedom from consequences. The media are going to hang from gibbets like wheat on night-breeze.
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January 26, 2019 12:38pm
- KeaRea
  
  Lol we’re just kidding. We love our media friends. It’s easy to learn how to code.
  
  They just have to learn about truth.
  
  But downticking the kid confiscation program isn’t going to make it go away is it.
  
  Do you think a new generation of people is going to just cuck cuck cuck like Classical Liberal and hand over the twins to Big Kev to get speyed?
  
  “ConSeRvatIves DoNt InTo CuLTuRe”
  
  Just because some Judge says it’s okay?
  
  Anyway I respect classical lib so have a care-free Kea-free day.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:04pm
rouppe

Well this story in the Herald is interesting.

I note:
* Jacinda Adern and Grant Robertson made the decision after meeting with the parties affected. Much like they accused John Key of doing
* Jacinda Adern had a meeting with Peter Jackson not recorded in her diary. A secret meeting. When she is Minster of Arts and Culture. Clare Curran was sacked for having a secret, off-diary meeting with a broadcaster when she was Minster of Broadcasting. Hmmm
* Subsidies paid to the film industry last financial year (2017/2018) is around $150 million. Double what has usually been paid in previous years, including during that nasty Hobbit business.

Is it just me or has this appeared to have been kept nder wraps?
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January 26, 2019 12:53pm
- GazzaW
  
  What a joke rouppe. How often was John Key slagged off publicly by the likes of Cunliffe, Parker and Mallard about the NZ taxpayer paying off his Hollywood mates? Oh the irony.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:25pm
- burt
  
  It’s different when Labour do it.
  
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  January 26, 2019 7:24pm
  - sooty
    
    Labour still get their knickers in a bunch over John Key!
    
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    January 26, 2019 8:20pm
Johnboy

Just for anyone who is tired of putting up with shit. 🙂
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/diarrhea-symptoms
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January 26, 2019 12:55pm
- KeaRea
  
  I’ll teach you how to code too, little Johnboy 🙂
  
  All the shekels in the world, do not a calibre make.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:23pm
- KeaRea
  
  Just flash your homo jetski and rest on your fat middleman haunches Johnboy. That will do the trick.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:30pm
Manolo

It seems that the loatshome Pelosi won, doesn’t it?
https://apnews.com/30769167ab7a4ef9adf880d020b775dd

Submitting to mounting pressure and growing disruption, President Donald Trump agreed to a deal Friday to reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress give him money for his border wall before federal agencies get back to work.
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January 26, 2019 1:15pm
- Viking2
  
  Think about it Manolo.
  3 weeks to negotiate a deal. If they don’t then it’s Trump who wins as he has given them a lifeline that they asked for which, if they abuse it will go against them.
  
  He will still be able to say that Pelosi doesn’t like me and is using this to revenge against me which is hypocritical as she and the Democrats have been wanting this wall for years, what’s her problem.
  
  Her problem of course is that if he gets his way that’s the finish of the Dems for years.
  Its conceivable that she will be retired by her mates if she remains as intransigent as she is.
  
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  January 26, 2019 1:26pm
  - Steve (North Shore)
    
    At last! Someone gets it. The Dems are fighting amongst themselves and trying not to show it
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:26pm
    - Steve (North Shore)
      
      Trump writes (not reported by the media)
      I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was is no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races
      
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      January 26, 2019 2:44pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s damn lucky that Trump has told people that this was in no way a concession. Otherwise some people might consider that merely getting a continuing resolution (a deal he rejected a month ago) was a crushing defeat.
        
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        January 26, 2019 7:50pm
  - Komata
    
    Viking2@ 326
    
    Something to consider re Ms Pelosi
    
    For her, this seems to have become personal to the point of obsession.
    
    Does it imply some underlying, possibly unacknowledged, mental health problems?
    
    (Just a thought).
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:45pm
    - Steve (North Shore)
      
      Alcoholics don’t know they have mental health issues. Have you seen her piss bill? US$101000 in 2 years, just on airlines
      
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      January 26, 2019 3:18pm
    - Viking2
      
      Lady spurned perhaps. Seems about right.
      wonder if the FBI have a bedroom file on her.
      
      Jealousy Pelosi.
      Wouldn’t quite strike the same poses as Melania. links below.
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:46pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Can anyone explain what is really going on here?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/110024475/in-hot-water-how-climate-change-is-affecting-our-treasured-lakes

The story implies that Mokia Island is eroding away from rising lake levels—-due to climate change.

There is no mention that man-made weirs and floodgates are used to maintain lake levels of Rotorua and Rotoiti at agreed high levels.

https://www.lawa.org.nz/get-involved/news-and-stories/bay-of-plenty-regional-council/2017/april/okere-gates-remain-fully-open/
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January 26, 2019 1:36pm
- trout
  
  The Mokoia Island story is something you read with growing scepticism knowing that eventually there will be a demand for money. The lake level of lake Rotorua is controlled by a weir in the Ohau Channel and a gate on the Kaituna River (Rotorua/Rotoiti). These lakes are storage lakes for a hydro dam on the Kaituna; the Okere Falls power station that delivers electricity to Rotorua.
  
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  January 26, 2019 2:27pm
  - kowtow
    
    And none of that is mentioned in the article. It’s all down to “climate change”.
    The author of that article or more correctly labelled , fabrication, would have been well aware of the weir issues but deliberately omitted it to fit the narrative. Then they wonder why they are so despised and increasingly dismissed as the lurgen presse.
    
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    January 26, 2019 2:32pm
    - JibberJabber
      
      It`s Vance, does anyone really expect anything better from her?
      She should stick to her strengths like teasing the possibility of a blowy to washed up politicians.
      
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      January 26, 2019 3:19pm
    - Viking2
      
      Well Vance wrote the shit.
      stupid irish traveller.
      
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      January 26, 2019 6:47pm
- Steve (North Shore)
  
  Dam! Now you spoiled it for Te Arawa, just when they were talking about taniwha and koha
  
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  January 26, 2019 2:28pm
- Peter S
  
  The guy in the first article is both right and wrong (he is actually a really decent person that I have mountain biked with in the past).
  The lake levels are definitely high, not just Rotorua but the Blue lake (which has no outlet) has been high for about the last 3 years, and the levels have stayed high for longer each year.
  We had 2 winters in a row (prior to this last one which was average) that were very wet for extended periods, and there was standing water in Kuirau park (just above lake level) for months.
  I suspect that what has happened is that this has caused some soil composition changes, effectively reducing the normal draining through the soil as the sandy/pumice rich soil has become more muddy or clay rich.
  2 wet winters do not make for a change in climate any more than a couple of freezing Northern Hemisphere winters do.
  Are there more extreme weather events in the area? Not from my anecdotal observations over 13 years of living here.
  I have observed about several El Nino and La Nina cycles, and the patterns are similar for each over that time.
  What I can say with certainty is that snow cover on Mt. Ruapahu has been visible consistently later into the Summer than when I arrived in the country and first observed it in 1989.
  I can accept that Mokoia has an erosion problem, and that rats are eing washed into the lakes by storms. As to the events being from increasingly prevalent extreme weather events driven by climate change- sorry not buying.
  
  It occurred to me the other day that, when I was growing up in the late 60’s-80’s that there was a lot of nostalgia about how great the summers used to be in the 40’s & 50’s, and how the Summer weather was just not as good now (this in the UK).
  Of course in the 40’s and 50’s there was a scare over warming and the melting arctic. I grew up being told by my Greenpeace loving teacher that we were in danger of another ice age (yes, I remember the reports on TV for those who try to deny that there was a scare, it really did happen ).
  I suspect that down the track there will be fine memories of the lovely summers we had in what is the current era, though whether we will also remember the doom mongers remains to be seen.
  
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  January 26, 2019 2:41pm
  - Viking2
    
    Not so many years ago jack frost used to frequent Rotorua, Taupo and surrounds.
    I can recall the frost being 30 feet up the pine trees for days on end.
    The frost used to pop the pumice up onto icicles. Not seen that for a longtime.
    
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    January 26, 2019 6:51pm
  - calendar girl
    
    I can vouch for the fact that man-controlled weirs (leading into the Ohau Channel from Lake Rotorua and through to Lake Rotoiti) are maintaining Lake Rotorua at artificially-high levels.
    
    Inevitably, that is causing conspicuous erosion around the edges of Lake Rotorua that will eventually – in the medium term – cost billions to repair (costs that will fall on both private land-owners and Council).
    
    That’s madness to achieve some “easy” additional short-term electricity generation.
    
    3 0
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    January 26, 2019 8:26pm
- Komata
  
  Maggy@1336
  
  You’re not supposed to KNOW about the gates etc., it ‘complicates’ things for the average ‘journalist’ and ruins the narrative.
  
  Can’t have ‘actual, factual’ ‘truths’ getting in the way; there be money to be made by their ommission…
  
  10 0
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  January 26, 2019 2:49pm
- rouppe
  
  It cannot be climate change. Lake levels do not rise due to melting sea ice, they can only rise because of melting glaciers (there are none around Rotorua) or significantly increased rainfall (not significant) and anyway infall rivers would have to be running higher and faster as well.
  
  As others have said, man made structures control flows into that lake
  
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  January 26, 2019 2:59pm
  - Viking2
    
    It is probable that the hard surfaces that have replaced pumice now cause more water to run into the lake thus keeping it higher.
    
    But it is probable as well that like many temporary islands around the world the island is sinking. In this case back into its volcano.
    
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    January 26, 2019 6:53pm
Prince

The cricket fiasco last night, bought to us apparently by Winston Peters, was cringeworthy.
A festival match is a great idea, but don’t televise it with too few cameras, inadequate graphics, countless ads and promotions, and worst of all a lamentable commentary team trying to be funny.

If you’re going to commentate, at least do some research so you can recognise the players. Saying ‘that man’ to identify the fielders was not acceptable when Billy Ibadullah tried in the 1960’s, let alone today. Allocating runs by Beauden Barrett to Mike Hussey was embarrassing once, but it went on…and on. The sandpaper lark fell so flat even the commentator had to apologise.
The only people laughing last night would be the Sky team. Is it too late to transfer World Cup coverage to them later this year ?
13 1
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January 26, 2019 1:38pm
- Gravelroad
  
  We didn’t know it was even on until those goofs on One News started raving about only having to do a 30 minute bulletin.
  Whaaat?
  The usually sacrosanct One News 6pm bulletin was cut back by half to accommodate a frivolous charity cricket match?
  How did that happen?
  I wouldn’t imagine that the TVNZ News commissars would even cut back the main bulletin of the day if Queen Elizabeth died – but lads playing cricket – fabulous.
  
  7 0
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  January 26, 2019 2:11pm
- big bruv
  
  Why would anybody want to watch that hit and giggle shit when there is real cricket on Sky?
  
  6 0
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  January 26, 2019 6:00pm
Captain Mainwaring

If Lake Rotorua is rising so high that it’s washing Mokoia Island away, how come downtown Rotorua isn’t under water?
Or does the surface of the lake slope uphill in that part of the world?
21 2
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January 26, 2019 1:41pm
- Nostradamus
  
  Captain Mainwaring:
  
  No problem if Rotorua goes underwater.
  
  The Legend of New Zealand
  
  Māui – no ordinary man
  
  Māui is the gifted, clever demigod of Polynesian mythology responsible for fishing up the North Island of Aotearoa, New Zealand. After a miraculous birth and upbringing Māui won the affection of his supernatural parents, taught useful arts to mankind, snared the sun and tamed fire. But one of his most famous feats was fishing up the North Island.
  
  Māui will sort out Rotorua!
  
  11 1
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  January 26, 2019 1:59pm
- kevn
  
  @CW… I think it is sloshing around of water in a shallow lake issue.
  
  5 0
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  January 26, 2019 3:17pm
- auckwood
  
  Mokoia Island has a resident Taniwha. The Taniwha is very heavy. A very heavy Koha will help refloat the island and make the Taniwhat more skinny. everyone wins.
  
  10 0
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  January 26, 2019 6:39pm
V

Wow.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/26/melania-trump-apology/
6 4
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January 26, 2019 3:33pm
- Inandout
  
  Yes, wow.
  
  6 2
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  January 26, 2019 4:12pm
  - Longknives
    
    Wow indeed!
    
    https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections
    
    What a First Lady!
    She certainly puts that dreadful Michelle Obama creature in her place..
    
    12 6
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    January 26, 2019 5:00pm
    - Inandout
      
      Longknives, Michael is indeed a ‘creature’.
      
      5 4
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      January 26, 2019 5:19pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Remember when some of the yank media went apeshit about Michelle Obama’s ‘bare arms’? Melania Trump’s ‘bare ass’ is much more dignified, I think. And we all know that Donald Trump would never stop to the depths of wearing a tan suit, or ordering Dijon mustard.
      
      5 12
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      January 26, 2019 7:04pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      I think two of Trump’s confederates called Michael have been convicted so far. Which one did you mean?
      
      5 13
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      January 26, 2019 7:05pm
      - Inandout
        
        m&m, you are like a spider when you come bounding out of the web when your chosen chocolate is mentioned in a dark light.
        
        6 4
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        January 26, 2019 8:09pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        https://eatingrichly.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-protein-ball-spiders/
        
        1 0
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        January 26, 2019 8:26pm
      - pentwig
        
        she did!
        where are her colleauges condemning her?
        
        1 2
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        January 26, 2019 9:44pm
big bruv

We really are a fucking embarrassing bunch of insecure cunts. Gordon Ramsey comes here, says something nice and our media go into a frenzy of self-flagellation. Ramsey is from bloody Glasgow; a long drop toilet is nice compared to Glasgow.
Horse face is in Europe and we must pretend that the world desperately hangs on every word she says. The reality is that very few people outside of NZ even knows she is there, why the hell would they? NZ does not matter in the grand scheme of things. Horse Face would have been better served staying here and looking after her severely neglected child and facing up to the lawnmower issue.
It only takes a small mention from a celebrity (minor or major) and we act like a teenage girl at a pop concert.
Just fucking grow up NZ, the insecurity is embarrassing.
24 2
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January 26, 2019 7:07pm
- Longknives
  
  But Bruv I heard on the Radio today that Jacinda is ‘Leading the World on Climate Change’!
  Surely our Labour Party-Controlled ‘Media’ wouldn’t lie to us??
  
  19 3
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  January 26, 2019 7:13pm
  - KevOB
    
    Reality: Climate change is leading Ardern and the COL. She’s trying to tell he weather what to do?
    
    2 0
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    January 26, 2019 10:27pm
- Viking2
  
  for once I find myself agreeing with Bruv.
  
  10 1
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  January 26, 2019 8:34pm
- The Heat
  
  Also leading the world on “wellness”, apparently, that vacuous slogan loved by many health supplement charlatans.
  
  It’s quite fitting, actually. A placebo. You pay well over the odds to convince yourself you feel good. Which just about sums up the left in 2019.
  
  Meanwhile, I consider wellness to mean “not having a government of the left variety”. And who is to argue with that – because “wellness” can mean anything.
  
  7 1
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  January 26, 2019 8:54pm
  - KevOB
    
    The “wellness budget” is a smoke screen for ideological driven expenditure. Without an understanding of economics and GDP as a measure Taxcinda has to feel good about something.
    
    3 0
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    January 26, 2019 10:25pm
nasska

You disappoint me Mike. Melania’s arse is a thing of beauty whereas the other one instanced would be politely written off as “less so”.

As I’m not hampered over much by politeness let the records show that the south end of your seeing eye dog when observed on a north heading would beat Michelle on one of her better days. 🙂
11 4
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January 26, 2019 7:12pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Well, you are entitled to your opinion, such as it is, on the respective physical attributes of the two ladies.
  Don’t you sometimes wonder what the godnuttering conservatives would have made of a thrice-married, proudly pussy grabbing president had that individual had the temerity to be a black Democrat?
  
  3 10
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  January 26, 2019 7:38pm
  - Longknives
    
    Why do you always have to bring race into it Mikey?
    
    11 3
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    January 26, 2019 7:49pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Do you remember the nutters on here that were convinced that Barack Obama frequented gay bathhouses in Chicago and that his wife was actually a man?
      Come to think of it, what did you think Inandout meant above when he called Michelle Obama “indeed a ‘creature'”?
      
      5 9
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      January 26, 2019 8:01pm
      - sooty
        
        Hillary Clinton is a shape shifter!
        
        5 2
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        January 26, 2019 8:13pm
      - pentwig
        
        do kber’s remember when milkmaid was sane?
        was it ever?
        good grief
        
        5 2
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        January 26, 2019 9:50pm
  - nasska
    
    …..”what the godnuttering conservatives would have made of a thrice-married, proudly pussy grabbing president”…..
    
    For some unfathomable reason I’m seldom the confidante of socially conservative Godfreaks.
    
    Don has my endorsement but since I’m not a Yank he probably won’t send me a Xmas card this year either. 🙂
    
    10 4
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    January 26, 2019 7:51pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Not often you put yourself in the same category as our lovely resident Scott, who supports Trump because the president is doing God’s work of appointing judges who won’t let women murder their babies.
      
      5 9
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      January 26, 2019 8:10pm
      - nasska
        
        Okay. I admit that I’m severely conflicted over that. While a woman’s body is her own to decide what she should use it for the advocates of late term (eg 9 month) abortions have jumped the shark.
        
        Yet it exposes the problem. In a country where about half the voters think the world is 6000 years old & penguins walked to the ME to board the Ark sane & secular governance is a challenge.
        
        9 1
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        January 26, 2019 8:22pm
  - Viking2
    
    Nope.
    
    Obviously you do!
    
    1 1
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    January 26, 2019 8:35pm
Jack5

☭☭☭ The Green Party has been to the fore in the annual Leftist-Peacenik protest against the Waihopai electronic intelligence base.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/110184004/annual-waihopai-spy-base-protest-takes-aim-at-donald-trump
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January 26, 2019 9:55pm
KeaRea

https://psmag.com/news/with-the-addition-of-new-york-conversion-therapy-is-now-illegal-in-15-states

Conversion therapy is now illegal, and a hate-crime, in 15 states.

Right – so a kid can be groomed into wanting to get a sex change aged 9 without the parents knowing. It’s illegal for the schools to intervene. It’s illegal for the police to intervene. It’s illegal for the doctors to intervene.

Because it’s illegal to get a kid to try and change their orientation – and the entire apparatus and system is designed to do exactly that.

‘No conversion therapy’ means ‘don’t intercede in our grooming and exploitation of little children’.

Again – Swifty if you’re too dumb to see the Orwell flowing, just don’t comment. Don’t call people liars and homophobes. I’m not homophobic. I’m just expressing a satirical heterosexual manifesto. It’s just satire. So why are you taking it so seriously?
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January 27, 2019 5:08pm
KeaRea

.
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January 27, 2019 5:13pm

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