General Debate 7 June 2019

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Happychappy

This story is getting murkier by the hour with now the spys jumping in and saying they tried to stop the Treasury boss from calling it a hack.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12238049
This story is under pay wall and
it gives you the gist of what went on but the Herald wants you to pay to read the facts.
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June 7, 2019 8:08am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Matthew Hooton refers to the “Beehive lie” Happychappy, and says claims that Robertson et al “grilled” Makhlouf on whether or not a hack had taken place do not stack up. He says the opposite is almost certainly true or Makhlouf would have been sacked by now, possibly as early as the Tuesday night.
  
  There is more to come on this.
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:22am
  - MCos
    
    The State Services Commission can sack Makhlouf, presumably after due process.
    Seeing as he’s on his bike very shortly anyway I would suggest they may kick this for touch.
    If the SSC took precipitous action and fired him on the spot they would have invited all sorts of legal action from Makhlouf who has a reputation to protect.
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:44am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      If Makhlouf committed serious misconduct (and for a public sector CEO, it doesn’t get much more serious than deliberately misleading your Minister), the SSC could have dismissed him forthwith.
      
      At the end of the day, the relationship between a CEO and a Minister is pretty one-sided, with the balance of power always in favour of the Minister.
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:30am
      - MCos
        
        The ‘if’ is the problem
        
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        June 7, 2019 1:03pm
      - Nermal
        
        Never assign to conspiracy what can more easily be described as incompetence
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:48pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    Robertson couldn’t spot Alf in a pub, so the odds of him spotting the difference between a “hack” and a fuck up are about zero.
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:46am
    - Tall Man
      
      psycho will happily show him, he’s got a handle on it…….. (sarc for the stupid… yes you steffy…)
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:19am
  - Paulus
    
    You you think the Hooten is referring to the fact that Makhlouf, whilst knowing that the information was not correct from GCSB, was “persuaded” by the Minister and two of Ardern’s close hacks in what he was to say to claim it as a National Party hack.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:30am
  - Lizziep
    
    Do you think he did grill Maklouf Tony Stuart? If so why is he still holding down his job?
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:22am
- fernglas
  
  Before the internet, didn’t we always pay to read the facts?
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:22am
  - alloytoo
    
    Nah, I’d just go to the library.
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:31am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Yes, the snowflakes want to have it both ways: reading all media content for free while whining about quality.
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:33am
    - Dairy Flat
      
      Not sure about the snowflakes comment but otherwise I partially agree. Media is a business and providers of quality reporting deserve to be paid for their efforts. The problem with the New Zealand Herald is that it is a rag and thus the management is dreaming if it thinks it will have a healthy base of subscribers to so-called premium content.
      
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      June 7, 2019 8:56am
      - -D
        
        The problem is one of pricing. Although I would pay (something) for Matthew Hooten’s columns (as I do for some podcasters), I can’t afford, nor am I inclined, to pay a full Herald subscription which covers a lot of other stuff. This is a real problem of the internet as a whole at the moment…everyone, news, opinion, entertainment etc. wants a full subscription commitment. It’s unsustainable.
        
        The only solution is incremental pricing, i.e. per article, song, movie accessed…but this lacks a consolidating/billing platform at the moment. PayPal or some other global entity could, and probably will eventually, provide such a vehicle. Meanwhile we can only be patient.
        
        And frustrated.
        
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        June 7, 2019 9:37am
      - stephieboy
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        Dairy Flat, which begs the question as to what is in your estimation premium content?
        
        THis ?
        
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6707947/Sophie-Monks-ex-boyfriend-Stu-Laundy-shares-salacious-comment-Megan-Marxs-Instagram-post.html
        
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        June 7, 2019 9:37am
      - graham
        
        True Dairy Flat, but sadly this rag is still better than Stuff, which increasingly looks like it’s editorial direction is decided on by a bunch of 17-year-olds, with the wisdom of age provided by anybody over the age of 21.
        
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        June 7, 2019 9:40am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        The problem is a lack of micro payments that would let us pay for articles we read as we go instead of forcing us to pay for lots of stuff we don’t want. Would quickly improve quality, and provide higher income for best content creators.
        
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        June 7, 2019 10:16am
    - The Feed
      
      I’d pay for investigative reporting that takes all politicians to task, no matter what party they are from. That is the price of democracy.
      
      I’m not going to pay for party political broadcasts masquerading as “journalism”, written by low-IQ repeaters.
      
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      June 7, 2019 11:54am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    My wife will be passing through Koru on her way home today, so I’ve asked her to pick me up a complimentary Herald.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:02am
    - Alien
      
      With fish n chips wrapped in it?
      
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      June 7, 2019 9:14am
    - Rich Prick
      
      The Herald is pretty useless without a bag of cat litter.
      
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      June 7, 2019 9:52am
    - MCos
      
      I buy a four dollar coffee each day so I could can save $2.50/week
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:02am
    - herb1
      
      in previous winters I had no choice but to purchase newspapers to use for lighting my fire.Ive now discovered firestarters which are cheaper and work better.
      Sorry MSM
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:31am
      - sooty
        
        I agree after chucking local rag which was competing with the free giveaway. I find one little square of firelighter is enough, tried breaking in half but they shattered.
        
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        June 7, 2019 12:40pm
    - freethinker
      
      Useful to fire up the woodburner.
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:36am
  - Tall Man
    
    Irrelevant.
    
    It’s what we do and expect now that is relevant and now that the bulk of the media are nothing more than cheerleaders for an extremely corrupt government why would anyone pay for that propoganda?
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:21am
- G152
  
  Can you use Herald and facts in the one post let alone the same sentence?
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:38am
- Ross12
  
  The media are getting to the bottom of the barrel for ideas to cover for Robertson & co on the Budget mess.
  
  https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-country/audio/simon-bridges-did-budget-hack-give-him-his-best-week-as-leader/
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:29am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  I hope you didn’t pay….
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:59am
Scott

The dust has far from settled over the Mueller investigation of Trump/Russia collusion.
Now the victims of the investigation are speaking out. Their tale is harrowing. Months of interrogation in windowless rooms, of badgering, of finding any inconsistency in their story and then threatening to charge them with lying to federal investigators and putting them in jail for 25 years.
This is what happens when you have a special counsel who has a supposed criminal – Donald Trump, and is now run amok looking for a crime.

Robert Mueller in his press conference gave the game away when he said he couldn’t exonerate the president. That’s not the law! The law is you have enough evidence, you prosecute. If not the man is innocent. Innocent until proven guilty is the standard.

The left couldn’t handle losing the 2016 election. They still can’t. Unfortunately innocent men and women have had to pay the price for their hubris.

‘Scorched Earth’: Mueller’s Targets Speak Out | RealClearInvestigations
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/05/30/scorched_earth_lives_upturned_muellers_targets_speak_out.html
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June 7, 2019 8:11am
- virtualmark
  
  Umm no, that’s not how it works.
  
  “Innocent until proven guilty” is the presumption in the *Court*.
  
  Meanwhile, an investigation can clear someone, and can charge someone, but cannot convict them.
  
  Mueller said he could not clear Trump. He also said that he couldn’t charge him because of DoJ protocol. But he also made it clear that apart from that DoJ protocol he would have charged Trump with obstruction of justice.
  
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  June 8, 2019 3:20pm
hullkiwi

This year Mrs HK and I will have planted 100 olive trees, 50 manuka trees, 20 assorted citrus trees and 30 assorted fruit trees. And we installed solar panels on our roof.

Do you think, I can apply to Shane Jones and his 1billion tree scheme for a subsidy?

Or

Apply for carbon offset tax credits to offset are family holiday or the daily use of my motor car?

Just asking.
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June 7, 2019 8:13am
- alloytoo
  
  I do believe you’ve done more than Shane’s cuzzies will ever do.
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:34am
  - Rocky Jnr
    
    The cuzzies and nephews will never get off the couch, perhaps Shane should buy a fleet of these drones. They work for free, dont smoke dope and are available 24 hours a day.
    
    https://youtu.be/0IY-pl-jHSY
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:54am
    - sooty
      
      He’s already got a shitload of drones.
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:42pm
- Ross12
  
  I do not think that is enough trees to qualify for carbon credits HK. The rules involved are about area covered. For example I know farms with shelter belts do not qualify.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:25am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Fruit and Nut trees (i.e. orchards) don’t qualify for the ETS.
    http://www.laurieforestry.co.nz/Defining-a-Forest
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:34am
    - Ross12
      
      Thanks Maggy. Shows the absurdity of the crazy, money wasting scheme.
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:47am
- tf78
  
  hullkiwi – I remember the ex Wellington Mayor – Celia Wade-Brown writing an article not that long ago about selling carbon credits for a seemingly large amount of loot for doing just what you have done. You might have to google her and see if you can find out more. Good Luck!
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:36am
  - sooty
    
    Lefty and a rort to get free money! Well I never!
    
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    June 7, 2019 12:44pm
alloytoo

Closeted away in an undisclosed location with the education minister, representatives of the teacher’s union issued a statement last night saying they were saying nothing. (Open and transparent government strikes again.)

I told my wife yesterday:

“They will sell their members down the river.”

This morning one of the unions have decided to cancel planned strike action.

They’ve sold their members down the river.
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June 7, 2019 8:13am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  In exchange for what?
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:01am
  - stephen2d
    
    Swiss ball action in their dungeon.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:06am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    List seats for union leaders?
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:15am
  - Alien
    
    A hug and a photo with baby whatshername
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:15am
  - alloytoo
    
    A good question, in this open and transparent government it could be anything, but I guarantee it won’t benefit the Rank and File membership.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:33am
  - Piniwi
    
    Obvious NK for more control as well as influence over Education policy and direction. Even beyond what the PM has confessed to in a rare moment of herself being open and transparent. The pained expression says it all looking like a chicken passing a square egg. A w k w a r d.
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:14pm
  - alloytoo
    
    It would appear for the removal of national standards and Charter schools.
    
    Yesterdays meeting was probably to call in that marker.
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:39pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  OR Chippy caved into their demands.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:00am
  - sooty
    
    Never! He’s the man, not some limp wristed namby pamby!
    
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    June 7, 2019 12:46pm
Maggie Pie

When i got home this morning my partner was already up having breakfast. I could see he was fuming about something. Then he let rip…”Look at this will ya. Nothing for cancer patients, yet that bloody Robertson seems to be able to pull another $million out of his (backside) to fund Rainbow Yoof!”

https://twitter.com/grantrobertson1/status/1136544584555585536
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June 7, 2019 8:14am
- Andrei
  
  And $3 million for “gender reassignment” surgery – while thousands wait years for cararact surgery and knee replacements
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:35am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Sheeple think Jacinda is kind.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:01am
  - sooty
    
    Yep, kinda stuupid!
    
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    June 7, 2019 12:46pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Since the first light, billions of years ago, rainbows have always had 7 distinct colours.
  
  The so-called rainbow movement image has 6 colours.
  
  Theirs is a perversion of what’s natural.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:19am
  - Batman
    
    Bit of a weak argument.
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:31am
- Piniwi
  
  While MG confirming what most believe about the GID mob having mental health issues. More Fairy dust anybody?
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:18pm
Lee C

“The Government’s spy agency made urgent calls to the Beehive before Makhlouf’s public statement – we reveal today what they told at least one senior Government Minister.”

Which ‘senior Government Minister’ was it and when?
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June 7, 2019 8:20am
- Poppa
  
  Andrew Little
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:33am
  - sooty
    
    What did he do with it?
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:46am
    - Nookin
      
      Probably pondered whether Robertson was instrumental in undermining his leadership of the Labour Party and put it aside.
      
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      June 7, 2019 9:04am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        He sent a staffer out to the nearest fishmonger to purchase two whole snapper 😀
        
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        June 7, 2019 10:35am
      - Nookin
        
        I wonder if Jacinda served him?
        
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        June 7, 2019 10:57am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Chicken Little.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:01am
kowtow

Theresa May’s gubmint , basking in the glow of honouring the men of ’44 is prosecuting army veterans of the vicious Republican terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland.
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June 7, 2019 8:24am
- stephen2d
  
  Regarding the Bloody Sunday? The vicious campaign started after that event, and killing ordinary people “just because” is no different than what those terrorists did elsewhere. Long overdue.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:09am
- mikenmildagain
  
  It must be very painful for the alleged murderers to be called to account for their conduct so many years after these crimes.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:25am
  - freethinker
    
    Now theres an idea for a future National Govt to consider re the current COLL.
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:07am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Lockerup?
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:38pm
- MCos
  
  The British involvement in Ireland is a never ending story of one fuck up after another.
  The so called ‘backstop’ looks like being the latest consequence of the decision to divide the country in 1921.
  On Bloody Sunday a protest march was broken up with live fire and 13 people were killed by the Britsh Army who were singularly ill trained for crowd control. The aftermath is still dragging on to this day.
  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-47433319
  https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-48502584/retired-soldiers-face-northern-ireland-troubles-prosecutions
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:41am
- stephieboy
  
  kowtow, conveniently forgetting atrocities committed by Protestant Paramilitary groups,
  
  https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/northern-ireland-loyalist-paramilitaries-uk-extremists
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:07am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  You cannot win against insurgencies unless you are willing to match their brutality. Population must be scared to give harbour to insurgents. Playing nice just means extending length of conflict and increasing overall death toll.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:24am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    On that basis, you might well be arguing that the British Army and its surrogates (RUC, UDR, UVF, etc) didn’t murder enough innocent people.
    
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    June 7, 2019 12:40pm
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      Seriously; yes. Early and extreme brutality in insurgencies and subjugating vassal states, including punishing families, overall saves lives and brings in uncontested belief in new regime’s rulebook sooner by giving the guerillas no safe harbour for operation. This has been done by every successful empire in history.
      
      West can’t successfully fight guerrillas anymore because we are simply too enlightened and nice. Though drones as remote murder machines where collateral ‘accidents’ instil same fear has made it a little easier. English beat IRA in Northern Ireland by matching IRA nastiness through extra-legal paramilitaries.
      
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      June 7, 2019 5:13pm
White Anglo Saxon Protestant

So,
Carlos Maza has convinced youtube to de-monetize Conservative creators.
#VoxAdpocalypse2.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7_20vFddfE
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June 7, 2019 8:29am
Maggy Wassilieff

So are our Security Services on the ball?

The minister responsible for New Zealand’s spy agencies says it’s “surprising” the country doesn’t have a strategy to prevent terrorist attacks.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018698410/christchurch-attacks-what-security-agencies-are-keeping-us-safe
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June 7, 2019 8:32am
- sooty
  
  If that is true, Andrew Little should be sacked before lunchtime today!
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:44am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I seem to recall that the security agencies have received a series of large funding boosts since 2001 as part of the ‘war on terror’, including for massively increased surveillance of New Zealanders. Are we really expected to believe that this has gone on under three successive governments without any actual plan to improve our security?
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:28am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Are we really expected to believe that this has gone on under three successive governments without any actual plan to improve our security?
      
      No,
      Chris Finlayson said that under his watch
      There were always people who were proactively considering security risks of all sorts
      
      Someone took their eye off the ball.
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018698410/christchurch-attacks-what-security-agencies-are-keeping-us-safe
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:42am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Oh, I understand now. In 2017, the minister for some as yet unknown reason told the security agencies to stop considering security risks.
        
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        June 7, 2019 12:42pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The Christchurch Terrorist attack happened this year 2019 on the CoL watch.
        
        Andrew Little and Jacinda Ardern were in Charge.
        
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        June 7, 2019 2:46pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Yes Maggy, some Kiwibloggers might already know that there was an election in 2017 and a terrorist attack in 2019. I don’t think that the royal commission will need your help to establish those facts.
        
        The commission might, perhaps, be interested in slightly more complicated matters, such as considering possible failings by the police and other agencies (and, by extension, their responsible ministers) in the years since the commencement of our war on terror. Given the enromous amount of money and increased surveillance, etc, over the past 17 or 18 years, did our capability to protect against these kinds of attacks actually improve?
        
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        June 7, 2019 3:55pm
Rich Prick

Good morning fellow “Alt-Righters”, Radio NZ and their assorted leftie friends are having a massive moan about us this morning. I am pleased to annoy them.
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June 7, 2019 8:40am
- stephieboy
  
  Rich Prick, as far as I can hear the topic on the bloc is dear to hear heart namely Mental Health funding boost allocation!
  
  Now, the latest on M Bovis and removing the problem.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:45am
  - Rich Prick
    
    Fuck, you’re particularly illiterate today. Warble at some one else.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:43am
sooty

Heard on Ryans radio show the female court reporter say that the person shooting the PI lady had been shot a few times and then she heard the clic, click of empty chambers (pretty sure it would be a revolver, but Iam no expert).
Anyway the blonde reporter said that the perp was shooting blanks at that stage and had to reload!
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June 7, 2019 8:54am
- mark15
  
  The clipazine ran out?
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:26am
Maggie Pie

KiwiFail – LOL!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D8VjR0yU0AAAKDm?format=jpg&name=medium
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June 7, 2019 9:07am
- Rich Prick
  
  KiwiFail is giving British Leyland a serious challenge for the title of champion of building things that no one wants to buy.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:39am
  - alex Masterley
    
    The program is really scoring points. especially if you are developer with the government indemnity. For every one else it is a complete waste of time.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:51am
  - Tall Man
    
    And “not building” things that they do want to buy.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:31am
- srylands
  
  Maybe the price should be lower. You can sell any house at the right price.
  
  My experience so far in ChCh is that there is a good variety of homes available at all price points.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:14am
  - White Anglo Saxon Protestant
    
    If they were truly serious about home affordability, they would be pumping out simple 90 Sqm 3 bed houses on ~400 Sqm of land for $300k or less.
    
    But they’re not, so they aren’t.
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:18am
  - Piniwi
    
    @ srylands even several warm dry emergency houses standing empty seemingly the result of “change” while various Departments now operate independently. A we know walking backwards is a slow process that can also have numerous unintended consequences. Ops.
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:32pm
- freethinker
  
  Next question to the Kiwifail Minister – Are any of the houses built on TC3 Land or Land previously containing a property that was damaged in the quakes and are the houses likely to be subject to higher insurance premiums or uninsurable bearing in mind the changes of risk assessment being implemented by the industry.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:16am
Tony Stuart

What a dysfunctional place the Beehive must be.

The GCSB reported the non-hack to Andrew Little, who sat on the information, allowing Grant Robertson to issue a patently misleading statement, and forcing the PM to back Robertson against allegations from National.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, eh; two years cold! I wonder if Mr Little dined on snapper last Tuesday night 😀
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June 7, 2019 9:08am
- Alien
  
  Did he sit on it or inform grant and jacinda and they still went ahead with their attack on national
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:21am
  - alloytoo
    
    Well there’s the question, does the “No Surprises” policy extend to COL ministers? I’m pretty certain it extended to John and Bill’s ministers.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:36am
  - MickMac
    
    good point, could be either.
    They are so professional..
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:43am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    If he sat on the information, Ardern should sack him for breaching the “no surprises” policy and dumping her and Robertson in it. But if he DID pass the information on, and it was not acted upon, well, that’s a very serious matter for the coalition government’s future.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:52am
    - Rich Prick
      
      If he did pass it on, then it would appear that a cheap, dishonest shot at National is more important to Labour than honesty with the public.
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:41pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I think the SSC investigation, in which no one can have much confidence, should be followed by an actual commission of inquiry that can examine the role of all the politicians in this debacle.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:31am
  - MickMac
    
    yeah especially National!
    ehh MMA 🙂
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:44am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I agree with you mikenmild. I’m sure the opposition would welcome that.
    
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    June 7, 2019 9:56am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Note that I said all the politicians. I’m not sure the oppositon would welcome that bit.
      
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      June 7, 2019 10:10am
      - Tall Man
        
        Still making assumptions without any basis eh mikey……
        
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        June 7, 2019 10:32am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Yes, I realised you wouldn’t make what looked, on the face of it, a very reasonable comment without a fishhook.
        
        I’m sure the opposition would welcome a full inquiry, which included their role in the whole schemozzle. After all, all the opposition did was to expose Treasury’s ineptitude in posting Budget documents almost in full sight, and the government’s desperation to cover up the lapse, whilst unfairly blaming the opposition for a hack that wasn’t.
        
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        June 7, 2019 10:40am
- freethinker
  
  More likely a large Rare Robbo Rump Steak.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:17am
Swifty

Love that diversity!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113214142/child-marriage-in-nz-teenage-brides-grooms-given-visas-to-live-with-nzbased-spouses

Let’s call forced marriages for what they really are – legalised rape.

Communities, clerics, parents, guardians or ‘husbands’ who support these practices should be thrown in jail before being thrown out of the country.
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June 7, 2019 9:29am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Swifty, much more relevant,
  
  Much more relevant is this,
  
  “Donald Trump mocked over ‘ill-fitting’ tux at state dinner with the Queen”
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/113240407/donald-trump-mocked-over-illfitting-tux-at-state-dinner-with-the-queen
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:52am
  - calendar girl
    
    You’re aiming at the really big political hits this morning, stephieboy?
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:35am
- Rich Prick
  
  Why is it that the girls are always young and apparently vulnerable and the men are always older? Where are our feminists on these “marriages”?
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:09am
  - Komata
    
    RP@1009
    
    The perpatrators of this practice are muslims, so therefore it would be ‘culturally insensitive’ for NZ feminists to take any further action about such things.
    
    (aka ‘They’re too scared to’)
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:16am
  - stephieboy
    
    Rich Prick , child marriages of this kind are illegal in NZ!
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:22am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      You didn’t read the article did you, stephieboy?
      Otherwise you would have read this:
      Human rights lawyer Frances Joychild QC said part of the Marriage Act which allowed for young women to enter into culturally arranged marriages was problematic.
      and
      But an INZ spokesman said marriages that took place overseas were exempt from that process: “The only requirement is that the marriage is legally recognised in the country where the marriage took place.”
      
      INZ assistant general manager Peter Elms said INZ was aware some culturally arranged marriages were forced marriages.
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113214142/child-marriage-in-nz-teenage-brides-grooms-given-visas-to-live-with-nzbased-spouses
      
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      June 7, 2019 11:01am
      - stephieboy
        
        MW , I don’t think our crimes Act re age of consent would recognise such an arrangement and therefore would be illegal!
        
        http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329212.html
        
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        June 8, 2019 11:54am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Butchering little girls female parts is also illegal, but is widely practised, not just in NZ but worldwide.
      they estimate 200 Million have been butchered.
      FGM is and will be practised in NZ and the authorities will turn a blind eye.
      As will pedo’s marrying children. It is called diversity. Welcome to a sick society allowing these practises.
      I wouldn’t depend on Immigration to be proactive on these matters, they move quite slowly, Jan Antilok aka Karel was flagged for removal from NZ on 30 April 2004, he is still here. The little girls will be Grandmothers by the time they get around to doing anything.
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:01pm
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Stephieperson, you are not insinuating that because something is illegal, a blind eye is not cast upon it due to cultural pressures and sensitivities?
      This radio interview talks 1 in 5 doctors asked to carry out FGM repairs after birth, 11 admit to doing it. They are breaking the law, this would be the tip of the iceberg, there would be hundreds if not thousands of these barbaric butcheries going on either in NZ or taken overseas to be butchered.
      Do you find this barbaric practise acceptable?
      Child marriages are the same, culturally acceptable.
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2533946
      
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      June 7, 2019 3:16pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Feminists are supporting the patriarchal misogynists of course. Intersectionality 101.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:28am
    - Rich Prick
      
      Muslims simply sit higher on the left’s victim pyramid than young girls.
      
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      June 7, 2019 11:23am
      - sooty
        
        Especially male muzzzies!
        
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        June 7, 2019 12:55pm
- Jules99
  
  Mohammed married an 8 year old so it must ok.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:09am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Six yr old actually, and disturbingly it was because he fancied her, not politics.
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:06pm
- Ruahine
  
  They are likely to be members of a religion so thats O.K.
  
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  June 7, 2019 3:50pm
lastmanstanding

On the subject of OIAs I have never placed any faith in the system no matter who was the Government.

IMHO what gets released it what the Government and its Ministers want to get released.

I dont believe we have a Public Service that is neutral. We did many years ago as I knew people who worked in senior roles and could be trusted.

Now we have a politicised Public Service made up of civil servants who support whoever is in Government or career civil servants who are more interested in furthering their careers than serving the public.

In short I dont believe anything the Government or its civil service tells me even if they stand on a stack of Bibles whilst doing so.
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June 7, 2019 9:29am
- mikenmildagain
  
  The risks of politicisation were signalled very clearly by critics during the ‘reforms’ of the state services in 1987-88.
  Public service neutrality is adhered to, but really only in quite a formalistic way. Politicans of all stripes tend to be inherently suspicious of public servants, and prefer their own ‘political’ advice.
  The progressive weakening of the institutional framework has not helped, but the public service can only really performs effectively in an environment where partisanship respects norms. I think we are still a long way short of political fractures we see in places like the US, but those overseas lessons should be a caution to our own politicians.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:44am
  - Swifty
    
    Well said.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:28am
Fletch

The first day of Trump’s visit to Khan’s London sees 7 incidents, including a shooting, multiple stabbings, and a knifeman roving through Gatwick Airport.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/06/06/khans-london-airport-knifeman-shooting-stabbings-among-7-major-incidents-in-one-day-of-trumps-visit/

Trump was right about him.
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June 7, 2019 9:30am
- MickMac
  
  I remember armed offenders call outs every 7 mins in London 2 yrs ago when I was there.
  
  They only had 3,000 Top Tier Firearms police, with only 1/3rd avail at a time.
  
  In the city north of the river SAS have a continual presence, but not south.
  
  10 Million people 12 or 14% Muslims and a moosa lot of foreigners, many activists of one kind or another.
  
  “LONDONISTAN ” by Melanie Phillips is worth reading, heralds how the 70-80’s governments allowed the situation to grow.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:49am
- stephieboy
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Fletch, tell us how Mayor Khan is personally responible for this?
  
  “Cocaine clichés and London blinkers: yet another knife crime myth-buster
  Tough on crime, tough on the misidentified causes of crime….”
  
  https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/03/cocaine-clich-s-and-london-blinkers-yet-another-knife-crime-myth-buster
  
  Much. much Better than Pizzagate and Dortmund Breitbart
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:55am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Perhaps you are unaware of the fact that the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is in charge of policing in London.
    
    https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/about-mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/mayor-mopac
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:28am
Fletch

It looks like Mexico might be taking Trump’s threat of tariffs seriously.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-trump-mexico/mexico-meets-migrants-at-southern-border-with-armed-forces-idUSKCN1T62YC

Meanwhile, illegal immigration soars to Clinton-era levels.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/06/05/illegal-immigration-soars-to-clinton-levels-1m-illegals-expected-this-year/
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June 7, 2019 9:33am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Why haven’t the Mexicans just got on with it and built a wall on the border? Then Trump could turn his attention to helping the Irish secure their border.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:18am
Hugh Pavletich

Trump threatens China with tariffs on further $300 billion of goods – Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-ireland-trump-china/trump-threatens-china-with-tariffs-on-further-300-billion-of-goods-idUSKCN1T70OQ
.
.
Google NZ search ‘US Tariffs’ …

https://www.google.co.nz/search?source=hp&ei=ryf5XOehEJb39QOYiozgDA&q=us+tariffs&oq=us+tariffs&gs_l=psy-ab.12..
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June 7, 2019 9:33am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Why is US dollar access so restrained in China as trade war rages on? … South China Morning Post
  
  https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3013249/why-us-dollar-access-so-restrained-china-trade-war-rages
  
  … via …
  
  Interest Co NZ 90@9 Friday 7 June 2019
  
  https://www.interest.co.nz/news/100089/us-household-wealth-recovers-china-tightens-capital-controls-us-trade-slips-oecd-sees
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:19am
lastmanstanding

Just referring back to yesterdays post on the “hacking” matter.

The lawyers can correct me but thinking back to my law studies in the early 70s and in particular contract law where an honest mistake is made another party cannot profit from it,

So much as it pains me seems if the Treasury made an honest mistake then the Nats had no legal rights to take the information and profit by it by releasing it.
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June 7, 2019 9:42am
- MickMac
  
  yeah right.
  Politicians……
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:45am
- Dafixeruppa
  
  That would depend on the definition of profit in this circumstance. In contract law, there is a very well defined definition for profit and I’m almost 100% certain that gaining a political opportunity to ensure that the government make asses of themselves doesn’t fall under this definition of profit.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:48am
- alex Masterley
  
  I have never regarded an honest mistake as an excuse for incompetence.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:55am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I don’t think it is a matter of contract, but more of ethics.
  Although I do think there is something in the law about knowing your access to certain information is unauthorised.
  The ethical test would be a bit different. Did the public interest require release of the information, or just publicity about the security lapse?
  Budget secrecy is a bit of a myth nowadays, but people pretend to take it seriously.
  And the story has quite rightly been about the lapses and the response to them. No one, for example, has carried on about ‘teachers, not tanks’, for example.
  
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  June 7, 2019 9:58am
- Classic Liberal
  
  National didn’t financially profit but did their duty of showing Kiwis what an incompetent/evil bunch is currently in power.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:01am
- toby1845
  
  Sorry, how did they profit from it?
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:11am
- alloytoo
  
  I believe you are referring to the law as regards unjust enrichment.
  
  Don’t think it applies in this case. (otherwise Slater et al would be suing Hager)
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:11am
- Lance
  
  So are you trying to tell us that no politician ever in history or in the future has been right to present any leaked document or information?
  Or is that restriction only upon National?
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:14am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    No, I don’t think that’s the case. But anyone considering publishing leaked information should consider the public interest involved.
    That was one of the major criticisms of Wikileaks: although their publications exposed many cases of government and individual crimes and misdeeds, they also carelessly exposed many individuals to serious risk of personal harm by revealing intelligence sources, etc.
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:31am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Intelligence in the COL budget?
      
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      June 7, 2019 11:20am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Not sure what contract law has to do with this. To me, the main issue is whether the information was confidential. I don’t know of any statutory or privacy reason that it should be. The budget is really just planned legislation that the government wished to talk about at a certain time in order to maximise the political advantage to themselves. The opposition have no obligation to cooperate in that plan.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:33am
- freethinker
  
  What was the profit?
  
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  June 7, 2019 2:54pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  I hope that you argue that for every leak?
  
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  June 7, 2019 7:34pm
Chris R

There is speculation as to Jacinda’s tardy “cabinet re-shuffle.” My helpful suggestion to her is to sack the lot of them including herself then ask the GG to dissolve parliament in anticipation of a fresh election. The outcome will yield another government but how it will be constituted is anyone’s guess. Jacinda won’t be PM though. The order of those sacked would have to begin with Twyford, then Lees-Galloway, Clark, Robertson, O’Connor etc..what a roll call of the damned and stupid they truly are!
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June 7, 2019 9:43am
Happychappy

Will Winston Donor’s be subject to this or is he playing the system again.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/06/budget-2019-17-1m-to-protect-m-ui-dolphins-with-on-board-vessel-cameras.html
This should be for all trawlers like it was set out be under National.
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June 7, 2019 9:48am
- Tall Man
  
  “it will affect up to 28 vessels”
  
  How the hell can it cost $17.1 million over 4 years?
  
  What type of camera costs $15K?
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:40am
RW Capitalist

Now we have a politicised Public Service made up of civil servants who support LABOUR whoever is in Government or career civil servants who are more interested in furthering their careers than serving the public.
There one word fix.
NOTE: The number of “leaks” to opposition in 2009, it took years to finally weed them out.
How many in 2017…..none.
Now try and tell me they are not politically LEFT leaning.
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June 7, 2019 9:49am
KiWombat

I live on the road that goes into Pike River Mine.

Yesterday there was a constant fleet of cement mixer trucks going in full and coming out empty.

Does anybody know what is going on up there?
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June 7, 2019 9:52am
- Poppa
  
  That has gone very quiet which suggests to me that it is another fail. Any meaningful progress would be shouted from the rooftops
  
  Anyway I hope it does fail, I have never agreed with attempting to enter the drift
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:05am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Exactly the same thing happened on our street last month. Turns out the new neighbors were putting in a swimming pool.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:08am
  - rangitoto
    
    Little is spending $30 megabucks installing a swimming pool at Pike River?
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:39am
    - freethinker
      
      Small typo it was meant to be a spinning pool!
      
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      June 7, 2019 2:58pm
  - KiWombat
    
    Maggie – At midday yesterday I brushed all the ice off our outdoor table. It had been sub-zero overnight and was still cold enough at midday for overnight ice to still be solid.
    
    Nobody in their right mind would have been laying concrete unless they had to, and whilst some 40 million has been spent up at the mine, I would be very surprised if a swimming pool has been added to the list !
    
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    June 7, 2019 10:44am
    - sooty
      
      Might be ok to pour inside the drift?
      
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      June 7, 2019 1:01pm
- Komata
  
  KIW@0952
  
  Winnie, Little and their media mates have gone inside and they’re not being allowed to come back out?
  
  (Asking for a friend)
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:20am
- oldgolfer
  
  I think Winston and Andrew went in for a look and the lads seized the moment and sealed the exit.
  
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  June 7, 2019 12:31pm
slightlyrighty

So it appears that Andrew Little was briefed by the GCSB as to the true nature of the Budget Leak. I look forward to the matter being raised at Question Time. This is yet another pathway of information that can be picked apart and can also illustrate just how much Grant Robertson misled the media, and the public.
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June 7, 2019 9:53am
MickMac

When I read this, I thought of Goof, Helun and now Jacinda, let alone the Watermelon Greens.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/06/yes_it_matters_that_bernie_was_a_communist.html
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June 7, 2019 9:54am
kowtow

Further to DG’s piece on DDay, Chris Trotsky is in the papers today stating “fully 9/10s of the German forces were engaged in fighting the Soviet Union’s Red Army on the Eastern Front”

According to Harrison appendix G “Divisions Available to Germany on ^ June 1944” that is patently not the case.

Russian Front. 122 infantry divisions.25 panzer ,17 misc divs.

All other fronts ( Fr and Low Countries, Italy Balkans, Scandanavia, Home Front,)

104 infantry divisions,22 armoured and 17 misc.

The western allies had had a deliberate policy of keeping the Germans spread so they could’t concentrate their forces . Italy campaign , supporting Tito , commando raids in Norway etc.

Brilliant strategy.

Just saying.
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June 7, 2019 9:56am
- mikenmildagain
  
  A count of divisions alone won’t tell much, as formations can vary widely in numbers, equipment and preparedness.
  German losses on the eastern front accounted for about 80 percent of their military deaths.
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:37am
  - Jack5
    
    The Russians did the lion’s share of the ground fighting against the German Army, and suffered vast damage to their country and endured terrible human suffering, but:
    
    — The strategic bombing of Germany placed its industry under huge pressure and diverted immense resources.
    
    – The Russians were strongly supported by the Americans, who provided most of their truck transport, plus planes and other materiel. Hard-pressed Britain helped with Hurricanes and Spitfires (many unused by the Russians). The Russians didn’t think much of Western tanks, except for Britain’s tiny Valentine infantry tank, of which they used several hundred.
    
    – The war in the Atlantic, which allowed America to participate and kept Britain fed, diverted German industrial output.
    
    – The Russians didn’t join the war against Japan until it was almost over. The Americans carried the heavy load in the Pacific.
    
    Stalin was paranoid the Western powers would make separate peace with Germany. He knew that if that happened (at least before late 1944), the Germans would drive back the Red Army.
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:44am
    - Hacked-Off
      
      Jack5, Actually the Russians did contribute both to the Japanese attack in the Pacific and to the defeat of Japan in the Pacific before they even fired a shot in 1945.
      How did the Russians contribute to the attack on the Pacific? Between 1937 and 1939 (a few months before Germany and Russia invaded Poland), the Japanese Kwantung Army and Korea Garrisons were involved in border fighting with the Russians along the Amur River border. There was a debate going on in Tokyo between the Army and Naval Staffs as to the direction to attack. The Army wanted to go against the Russians, while the Navy wanted to attack into the Pacific against the British and US. In order to show how easy it would be against the Soviets whom they held in contempt since their victory in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-5, they mounted operations along the border. The two battles – the smaller Lake Karsan fight and especially the Japanese defeat at the larger Kalkin Gol (or called Nominhan by the Japanese) battle convinced the Japanese High Command that the Pacific would be an easier target. Hence the logic went that to fight the Russians they needed the resources of the Pacific.
      As to helping the Allied War effort in the Pacific, the Kwantung Army was reinforced to 750,000 men along with air units etc to defend against the Soviets. This force was kept up to strength in manpower and equipment – if not quality – throughout the war depriving the other theaters of those troops.
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:48pm
      - Kiwi Dave
        
        Your analysis is quite correct, but then one could equally say that the US ‘contributed’ to the decision to go south and fight a war which many senior commanders and politicians recognised was unwinnable.
        
        Once the US said in effect, get out of China or we will stop supplying you with, among other things, oil, the Japanese government and military had the choice of either a tremendous back-down or losing 90% plus of their oil supply which could be replaced only by going south for Dutch East Indian oil.
        
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        June 7, 2019 2:13pm
      - Jack5
        
        Further to Hacked-Off’s post on Japan’s Kwantung Army in Manchuria, the following extracts from an article from Military Wiki are relevant. (The Soviet attack on Japan began three weeks and three days before Japan’s surrender and three days after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.):
        
        At the time of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, when the Soviet Red Army invaded Manchukuo, Inner Mongolia, Korea and Japanese-held islands in August 1945, the Kwantung Army’s strength was at around 1,320,000 men, with one armored division, 32 infantry divisions, six independent brigades, and up to 25 security battalions. However, the men remaining were largely semi-trained conscripts or raw recruits, equipped primarily as a counterinsurgency and border security force and able to use the massive fortifications to withstand the Soviet armored and mechanized infantry invasion.
        
        So it was pretty much a reserve army. What happened to the Kwantung Army?
        
        Over five hundred thousand Japanese prisoners of war were sent to work in Soviet labor camps in Siberia, Russian Far East and Mongolia. They were largely repatriated, in stages, over the next five years, though some continued to be held well into the 1950s.
        
        Stalin thought he would take part in a carve-up of Japan. President Truman and General MacArthur, the Allied Commander, shut the Soviet Union out of the occupation of Japan.
        
        https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Kwantung_Army
        
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        June 7, 2019 2:21pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Ironically, although Stalin had very good intelligence sources in the western allies (and in Japan), he didn’t trust the information they provided. Thought most of it was ‘fake news’.
      
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      June 7, 2019 1:13pm
      - stephieboy
        
        MM, correct .We can’t underestimate the contribution Stalin’s principal spy based in wartime Japan,Richard Sorge ,
        
        An Impeccable Spy by Owen Matthews review – Stalin’s master agent
        
        Espionage at its most effective: the tale of Richard Sorge, the brilliant chancer who lived intensely and was betrayed by the USSR
        
        “..Sorge penetrated two touchy and xenophobic elites, the Nazi party and the Japanese court. From his vantage point in Tokyo in the most crucial years of the second world war, he sent Moscow details of Hitler’s preparations for invading the Soviet Union in 1941 as well as a running commentary on the arguments within the Japanese imperial government about whether to attack to the north, in other words Siberia (which Hitler wanted his Japanese allies to do), or to the south (the direction Japan finally chose)….
        
        ..Sorge recognised that Hitler’s invasion of the USSR was a major blunder for the Nazis, and he came close to revealing his true loyalties by shouting in front of his German colleagues that the idiot had lost the war. He had greater success in signalling the inevitability of war between the US and Japan three months before it happened. He did not predict the assault on Pearl Harbor but his report on Japan’s decisive shift of focus to conquests in the south allowed Stalin not to move troops to Siberia but make them available to block the Germans from moving further east into Russia…”
        
        https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/16/impeccable-spy-stalins-master-agent-review-owen-matthews
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:03pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Battle of Kursk Saliant had 10000tanks and 3.5million combatents.
  
  Biggest battle on Western front, battle of the Bulge was 2500tanks and 1million combatents.
  
  Western front was a side-show.
  
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  June 7, 2019 5:00pm
Swifty

I deserve to be on the Council for what I am:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238050

Please just ignore the fact that I have a very limited skill set, no experience and that I’ve never done anything like this before.

And please be assured that I will spend all my time dragging the Council into areas THAT HAVE GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT like climate change, living wage etc and I will leave all the pesky things like pipes, parks and roads to others.
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June 7, 2019 9:56am
- graham
  
  From the article:
  
  Andy Asquith, a Massey University local government expert, agreed it was great to see more young people, females and different nationalities wanting to stand.
  
  He said an unfortunate feature of local government was that councillors were “male, pale and stale“.
  
  In all seriousness, how is it that people think it’s perfectly acceptable to use this phrase, which is referring to someone in a derogatory fashion based on their gender, race and age – all characteristics which they have no control over – at a time when we are looking at tightening hate speech laws?
  
  Apparently, the Council of Europe says hate speech covers: “All forms of expression that spread, incite, promote, or justify racial hatred, xenophobic, anti-Semitism, or other forms of hatred based on intolerance.” Other forms of hatred based on intolerance – hmm, such as hatred of more mature, white men by inferring that they’re past it, they don’t adequately represent various minorities, and subtly (or not so subtly) implying they should really “move on” and make way for other, “more suitable” people?
  
  Just saying …
  
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  June 7, 2019 10:57am
  - Swifty
    
    Oh I totally agree.
    
    We live in a world with certain rules for some people, and completely different rules for others.
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:44am
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Swifty, it must be so, because there is no way *nobody* can be offended in normal life. If we’re going to have ‘hate speech’ laws, somebody will always lose out.
      
      E.g. sura 4:34 tells men to beat disobedient wives. Will ‘hate speech’ laws make it illegal to criticise that belief, will ‘hate speech’ laws tell us that people can spout that opinion and even act on it, because religious beliefs are sacred?
      
      How the heck can nobody ever be offended?
      
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      June 7, 2019 12:51pm
      - Ruahine
        
        It will be O.K. as long as your name is not Israel Folau.
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:04pm
- Jules99
  
  If I recall correctly Swarbrick got very few votes when she offered her ‘refreshing’ point of view in lieu of experience.
  
  Sounds coordinated to me – wonder who is behind it.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:13am
  - MCos
    
    She polled third out of nineteen hopefuls with 7% of the votes.
    Goff & JT will be pleased she’s not standin* this year.
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:47pm
Micky

Golriz Ghahraman makes a seemingly reasonable point on the corrupt practice of political party donations. However this likely comes from a corrupt desire of wanting more State funding for her own party so she can push her extremist agenda:
https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2019/06/golriz-ghahraman–defend-our-democracy-from-corrupting-money.html

Bryce Edwards points out State funding is also open to corruption:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/10/24/289552/state-funding-of-parties-is-bad-for-democracy
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June 7, 2019 10:26am
- septic skeptic
  
  I think it’s also been pretty well established that money and advertising doesn’t win elections anyway. Thinking of Craig, Morgan and Clinton.
  
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  June 7, 2019 11:05am
  - Batman
    
    Don’t forget Dotcom! An example of failure par excellence
    
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    June 7, 2019 11:33am
  - MCos
    
    ACT was gifted a seat by National (for the last time, I suspect), so basically they were campaigning for party votes and spent about $700,000. That’s about $50/vote as opposed to the Nats & Lab’s less than four dollars.
    Gareth Morgan probably lost half the voters his million dollars brought in with his crass utterances; particularly Lipstick on a Pig
    
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    June 7, 2019 2:20pm
Micky

Anyone sick of seeing the headline ‘SLAMMED’???

Seems every second article is about someone being SLAMMED. A reflection of journalists of the call out culture generation.
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June 7, 2019 10:46am
- Swifty
  
  Slammed, snubbed, outraged and reeling.
  
  Words hardly ever used in daily conversation but seen in headlines in NZ constantly…..
  
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  June 7, 2019 12:13pm
- Nookin
  
  I make a point ignoring any headline with the word “SLAMMED”. Usually, it intimates mild disagreement with someone else’s position.
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:03pm
hullkiwi

Yesterday, Newsroom published a reprehensible piece of journalism about Ritchies and the fact they had applied to hire foreign bus drivers. The thread of the article was they are low payers and were turned down by NZ Immigration to bring in as many drivers as they need.

There was a claim they pay the lowest wages, I know for a fact this is not true (I know which company does).

Newsroom had miraculously got hold of emails and correspondence between the company and INZ and the Union had been able to comment on matters.

As I said above this is an bad piece of journalism, this is because it is several stories in one strung together by private commercial information and innuendo passing as informed comment.

The source of this story are two low thinking/achieving Ministers of the CoL – Phil “the twit” Twyford and Iain Lees-Galloway. These two low life ministers have used Ritchies’ situation to play politics for their union mates about driver wage rates across the industry.

Since he was appointed Minister of Transport, Twyford has made it known that he wants to open up the labour costs on all the nation’s bus contracts tendered/negotiated under the PTOM model over the past 4 years. This is because he believes bus drivers are under paid. After the implementation of PTOM negotiated contracts throughout NZ, there was a national shortage of some 350 to 400 bus drivers. With such a shortage, do these two idiot Ministers believe that operators would be paying drivers at wage rates just above the minimum wage to drive double decker buses with 100+ passengers? Remembering that the operators negotiate wage rates with the unions.

Compounding the nationwide shortage of drivers, last year the CoL passed the Employment Relations Amendment Act (ERAA) in December 2018. In this Act are clauses about workers being entitled to mandatory breaks away their work station (in the case of bus drivers, read bus) after 2hrs (10 mins) and 4 hours for a meal break. Previously, operators and drivers would work such breaks into a driver’s roster, & a driver would park up their bus and take the break. From 6/05/19, this is no longer permissible. The breaks must be taken. On behalf of operators, the Bus & Coach Assoc. made a submission to the select committee taking evidence on the bill, but this was ignored. During the months prior to the effective date of the legislation (6/05/19), the operators and BCA went to Wellington to meet officials and the ministers to explain the impending situation of what it would mean for bus operations with mandatory breaks. At first the ministers weren’t prepared to budge and did not see the problem. Eventually, boffins from the MoT confirmed to the Ministers that implementation of the requirements of the ERA would mean NZ was another 600 to 700 bus drivers short. Resulting from a very emotional meeting prior to Easter, in Wellington, that involved every NZ organisation responsible for Public Transport it was agreed that the 4 parties (the govt, the regional transport authorities, the operators and the unions) would work to a resolution of the problem over the next 12 months. This was all contained in a secret memorandum of understanding, that the government and the union went public with on 6th May (it was even posted on the Scoop website at one point). Now as this act of stupidity meant Ritchies needed a further 100+ bus drivers to the 100 they already needed, do you think the company would continue to pay below negotiated wage rates?

Given all of the above and what it will take to resolve the ERA, do the 2 ministers appreciate how much money it will take to recruit 1,000 drivers to meet current needs? And guess where that money will come from to meet public transport contracts?

So , add to this Tweedle Dumb (Twitford) and Tweedle Dumber (Sleaze-Galloway) want to open up bus industry wage bargaining. The resultant cost of which will be added straight on to all PT contracts. The cost of which is picked up by ratepayers and taxpayers. Are Twyford and Lees-Galloways idiots, or are they brain dead?

So a message to the two brainless ministers, if you think playing cheap politics with Ritchies was clever (and it is also a sign of how dirty the CoL’s politics is), you really are dumb. Because what you possibly didn’t realise was that one of the Directors of Ritchies is Mike Williams (yes the same Mike Williams who was President of the Labour Party during the Premiership of Helen Clark, now with a reshuffle looming, how safe do you feel in your jobs?, Bozoos!)
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June 7, 2019 10:53am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Is that you, Shane Jones? Sounds like you are making political threats politicians on behalf of your mates again.
  
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  June 7, 2019 12:49pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Threats mikey?
    
    I only saw “promises”.
    
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    June 7, 2019 8:50pm
- Ruahine
  
  Is that the same Mike Williams that lobbied the Labour led City Councils to allow those dangerous Lime Scooters onto the streets of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin with the connivance of LTSA?
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:00pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Do you hate all motorised transport? Or just one brand of electric scooter that can be hired very conveniently?
    
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    June 7, 2019 4:55pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Nope, just ex labour hacks.
      
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      June 7, 2019 8:51pm
stoptheboats

from The Age re Melbourne rail project –
cue Auckland ?

” $2 billion blowout? Fears Metro Tunnel may cost much more than forecast.
Well-placed sources from a variety of stakeholders involved in the mega project are warning of delays and major cost blowouts amid claims contractors have encountered unexpected problems.”
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June 7, 2019 10:58am
- RW Capitalist
  
  “contractors have encountered unexpected problems.”
  The government?
  or
  Maybe the council?
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:30pm
rangitoto

If you don’t want to have cameras on your fishing boats, how much do you need to donate? Asking for a friend.
16 1
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June 7, 2019 11:23am
- Poppa
  
  Stand by I will contact Mr Peters & find out
  
  11 1
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  June 7, 2019 11:43am
Old.Mickey.Blue.Eyes

$17.1 million for Maui Dolphin. More virture signalling from the MTC and COL. There must be a far better use of that money ?
12 0
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June 7, 2019 11:31am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Like teachers?
  
  7 0
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  June 7, 2019 11:51am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    “Tanks, not teachers”?
    
    1 3
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    June 7, 2019 1:00pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Is the $17 mio going to get them to breed sooner and more often?
  
  5 0
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  June 7, 2019 1:08pm
- Martin Williams
  
  Tax cuts for the rich?
  
  1 3
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  June 7, 2019 7:36pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Exactly and encourage the unemployed to get into work and stimulate our collapsing economy.
    
    1 0
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    June 7, 2019 8:55pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Drugs for Cancer treatment
    
    2 0
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    June 7, 2019 8:56pm
rightoverlabour

Thank God I am neither famous, nor rich. If I were, I would be very careful about anybody wanting a relationship with me.

BBC article: Neymar rape accuser appears in Brazil TV interview

A salient quote in the whole sad affair

“Ms Trindade then filed a rape allegation in São Paulo last Friday. Her lawyers said the allegation was “incompatible with the strategy” they had agreed, and they parted company with her on Saturday. She now has new representation.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48539113
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June 7, 2019 11:49am
srylands

This is concerning. Civilisation to end by 2050.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/113298790/climate-change-doomsday-scenario-could-start-by-2050-if-we-dont-act-report-warns
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June 7, 2019 12:36pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but maybe the end of the beginning.
  
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  June 7, 2019 12:51pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Meh, it’s a modelling exercise based on the extreme end of a prediction.
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:07pm
- krazykiwi
  
  As alarmist predictions’ have come and gone, the tendency has become to claim increased certainty on diminished evidence of some calamitous outcome much further ahead in time.
  
  It reeks of desperation and the public, even many eco-lefties are starting to call it for what it is: fraud.
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:12pm
- graham
  
  That’s fantastic news! In October last year the UN said we only had 12 years.
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report
  
  So in just eight months we’ve gone from having just 12 years to limit “climate change catastrophe”, to having 31 years! At this rate, in 10 years we’ll be sweet until the year 2314.
  
  I think I’ll go home and light my woodfire to celebrate tonight.
  
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  June 7, 2019 2:58pm
  - srylands
    
    I want a Land Cruiser.
    
    2 0
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    June 7, 2019 3:57pm
  - sooty
    
    Chuck a couple of tyres on as well!
    
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    June 7, 2019 4:20pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Wot about the 25m sea level rise?
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/06/alarming-climate-report-says-25m-sea-level-rise-on-the-way.html
  
  0.5m by 2050 by their account. That is 16mm/year, when current rate is 1-2mm/year and has been since 1900’s. Media + Greens are either colossally ignorant or knowingly lying.
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:50pm
Classic Liberal

“The paper was written by an independent think-tank in Australia called Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration.”

Who. Funds. Them?
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June 7, 2019 1:03pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  They’re a couple of guys in Melbourne
  David Spratt & Ian Dunlop running their own “Thinktank”
  
  David Spratt has been a climate activist for Australia Labour for Yonks.
  http://joannenova.com.au/2019/06/end-of-civilization-coming-31-years-til-lethal-hothouse-beyond-the-threshold-of-human-survivability/#comments
  
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  June 7, 2019 2:30pm
  - stephieboy
    
    M W, Joanne Nova in the tradition of Anthony Watts,Lord Monckton, Jame Delingpole, Nigel Lawson,Bjørn Lomborg etc, etc
    
    “In between regurgitating debunked climate myths, she often posts non-sensical fiscal arguments; then breaks into a general bitching session about anything including the denial crowd pleaser, the Gore bash fest.
    
    She downplays the funding she and other denialists receive from the Heartland Institute and the Science and Public Policy Institute….”
    
    https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Joanne_Nova
    
    Sigh!
    
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    June 7, 2019 3:46pm
    - srylands
      
      Sorry “denialist” is a trigger word that causes me to stop reading today. Others are:
      Alt-right
      Aotearoa
      Colonisation
      Conversation
      Far-right
      Gender fluid
      Inequality
      Just
      Micro-aggression
      Neoliberal
      Patriarchy
      Racist
      Sexist
      Stakeholder
      Working group
      
      8 1
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      June 7, 2019 4:14pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        you forgot fascist and nazi and diversity
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:45pm
      - Rich Prick
        
        May I add “fair share” to the pile?
        
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        June 7, 2019 6:50pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      David Spratt is a Book editor/Book Publisher who got into running a Climate change website some 10 years back…
      
      Why on Earth he is getting any publicity for his Chicken Little scenarios is beyond me…
      
      perhaps our Government wants to distract us from its own impending Catastrophe.
      
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      June 7, 2019 4:42pm
      - Doctor Who
        
        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2019/jun/03/we-must-mobilise-for-the-climate-emergency-like-we-do-in-war-time-where-is-the-climate-minister
        Ian Dunlop was formerly an international oil, gas and coal industry executive, chair of the Australian Coal Association and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a senior member of the advisory board of Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration. David Spratt is Research Director of Breakthrough.
        
        They are co-authors of “What Lies Beneath: the understatement of existential climate risk” (Breakthrough, 2018)
        
        Why don’t you look at some science sites?
        
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        June 7, 2019 6:35pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  They are hosted by a university, but also seek donations, like Joanne Nova and other ‘climate activists’.
  
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  June 7, 2019 3:43pm
All_on_Red

Labour hold Peterborough (just) in the By Election.
Win attributed to better door to door campaigning
Peterborough result:
LAB: 30.9% (-17.2)
BREX: 28.9% (+28.9)
CON: 21.4% (-25.5)
LDEM: 12.3% (+8.9)
GRN: 3.1% (+1.3)
UKIP: 1.2% (+1.2)
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June 7, 2019 1:06pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Look at the CON loss. An absolute routing. May is Europhile poison.
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:15pm
Johnboy

Here we go, to mark the creation of the “Wellbeing Budget” and Cinders attempt to make her mark at the UN! Also to try and re-invigorate the Friday Funnies! So diminished by the new regime of being so awrfully nice to dusky folk of dreadful religious practices! 🙂
As always thanks to Norm of the South. 🙂

Letter to WINZ

Dear Sirs,
I have a very complicated benefits question:
Many years ago, I married a widow who had an 18-year-old daughter. After the wedding, my father, a widower, came to visit a number of times, and he fell in love with my step-daughter. My father eventually married her.
As a result, my step-daughter legally became my step-mother and my father my son-in-law.
My father’s wife (also my step-daughter) and my step-mother, gave birth to a son who is my grandchild because I am the husband of my step-daughter’s mother.
This boy is also my brother, as the son of my father. And, as you can see, my wife became a grandmother, because she is the mother of my father’s wife.
Therefore, it appears that I am also my wife’s grandchild.
A short time after these events, my wife gave birth to a son, who became my father’s brother-in-law, the step-son of my father’s wife, and my uncle.
My son is also my step-mother’s brother, and through my step-mother, my wife has become a grandmother and I have become my own grandfather.
In light of the above mentioned, I would like to know the following:

Does my son, who is also my uncle, my father’s son-in-law, and my step-mother’s brother fulfil the requirements for receiving childcare benefits?
Sincerely yours,
Mohammed.

THE RESPONSE FROM THE NZ GOVERNMENT:-

Of course you all qualify Mohammed!
We have arranged to start mailing cheques to all of you, just as soon as you arrive here in New Zealand
Welcome to Aotearoa!

Our Sincere Regards,
Jacinda & Grant
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June 7, 2019 1:12pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  The government is well-practised in sorting out these kinds of family arrangement. They have been the norm in Wainuiomata for many, many decades.
  
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  June 7, 2019 1:51pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    And of course it goes back to the ancient Greeks, too:
    
    There once was a man named Oedipus Rex
    You may have heard about his odd complex
    His name appears in Freud’s Index because he
    Loved his mother!
    His rivals used to say quite a bit that
    As a Monarch he was most un-fit,
    But sure and all you have to admit that he
    Loved his Mother!
    
    Yes he loved his mother like no other
    His daughter was his sister
    and his son was his brother
    One thing on which you can depend is
    He sure knew who a boy’s best friend is
    When he found out what he had done
    He tore his eyes out one by one
    The tragic end to a loyal son who
    Loved his mother
    
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    June 7, 2019 1:54pm
    - Johnboy
      
      You do seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for your clever ripostes these days Milkey. Perhaps you should cut down from 12 hours a day here to say 4 just so you can let your lefty temporal lobe recover from the strain of defending the idiot Cinders mob of fukwits a tad old chap! 🙂
      
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      June 7, 2019 2:23pm
    - Right of way is Way of Right
      
      Credit to Tom Lehrer surely?
      
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      June 7, 2019 2:38pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Sure.
        
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        June 7, 2019 3:24pm
Maggie Pie

Pharmac have advised that supplies of Flu Vaccine are now totally depleted and they are unable to source further supplies. With winter only really just upon us its going to be a very busy time for some 🙁
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June 7, 2019 1:16pm
- Prince
  
  Result of 21 months of neglect. Clarke told the DHB’s not to bother about the numbers and they took him at his word.
  
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  June 7, 2019 8:40pm
wreck1080

What is it with this country and the inane practice of protecting ugly buildings just because they are old?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238293

That is one ugly building. Should be torn down, not protected! The developer got a good deal, but, why waste money removing asbestos….burn m****f****r burn, I say.
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June 7, 2019 1:18pm
- Johnboy
  
  But above logic we protect one really ugly building and all of it’s really ugly inmates at utterly huge expense to our whole “wellbeing” may I say!
  
  It’s called “The Beehive” 🙂
  
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  June 7, 2019 2:18pm
  - wreck1080
    
    Naturally 🙂
    
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    June 7, 2019 2:55pm
Swifty

I’ve never trusted them myself.

Oh, they come over all doe-eyed, but look behind their eyes and you can just see the malevolence lurking under the surface – and their intent on world domination.

When cattle beasts attack!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/113316332/montana-family-devastated-to-find-cows-living-in-their-new-house
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June 7, 2019 2:41pm
- sooty
  
  Just as well they had no military style weapons!
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:15pm
RW Capitalist

While stitching up a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, who’s hand had been caught in the squeeze gate, while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the conversation turned to politicians and their role as our leaders.
The old farmer said “well as I see it, most politicians are “Post Turtles”.
Not being familiar with the term, the Dr. asked him what a “Post Turtle” was.
The old farmer said “when you are driving down an country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle.
The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the Dr.’s face, so he continued to explain. “You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t belong up there, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, he’s elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder, what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with.
Best explanation of a politician, that I’ve ever heard.
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June 7, 2019 2:41pm
Swifty

Labour said Cunners was a ‘game changer’ too:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/113311125/new-ship-a-game-changer-for-nz-navy–defence-minister

Snigger.
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June 7, 2019 2:42pm
- Alien
  
  So this was built in 2003, can’t we buy new for our navy
  
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  June 7, 2019 3:00pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Care to guess what percentage of RNZN vessels have ever been bought new?
    
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    June 7, 2019 3:19pm
    - Johnboy
      
      We did buy HMS New Zealand new in 1911!
      Still that was long before socialist pollies fucked our economy! 🙂
      
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      June 7, 2019 3:52pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Nice try. But we just gave money for that RN ship.
        ‘New’ RNZN ships have been very rare. Take frigates, for example. None of the Loch Class were new, neither of the Rothesays were, either. Just two of the Leanders and the two Anzacs were new.
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:19pm
      - Jack5
        
        Will the new ship be Norwegian solid?
        
        To the Norwegian oil-rig service firm that owned her, the ship was the Edda Fonn. She is now the Manawanui. The cost of purchase and modification has been just over $100 million. A bit of a bargain.
        
        Meanwhile, being built in South Korea for the NZ Navy is a 20,000 tonne tanker, the Aotearoa. Her specifications include ” one organic SH-2G(NZ) Seasprite or NH90 medium utility helicopter.”
        
        Anyone know what an organic helicopter is?
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:33pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I think in this context it might refer to the ship being designed to accommodate specifc helicopter models. An ‘organic’ unit or sub-unit, for example is a peaciliased group within a larger unit or formation.
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:46pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Anyone know what an organic helicopter is?
        
        Flown from and supported by the vessel.
        
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        June 7, 2019 4:53pm
      - Johnboy
        
        Your onto it Milkey. 🙂 “peaciliased” is wot socialist fuckwits do to our military chaps. We are there on the frontlines to talk peace to the nasty murdering terrorists and keep saying sorry to the scum if we actually manage to kill a few of the turds, purely by accident of course! 🙂
        Thank God we have never managed to put Aunty Helens LAV’s into a combat zone….Imagine the inquiries and wailings if one of our chaps had run over a fellow intent on jihad FFS? 🙂
        
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        June 7, 2019 5:11pm
- Johnboy
  
  Oh dear….Have we bought another second hand dog? Remember the “Charles Upham” ? 🙂
  Look at the state of the hull plates. Seen a bit of hard weather in the Northern oceans I suspect. Wonder what the engines are like?
  Still a good old haka on the quarterdeck should sort out all that sort of shit eh mateys! 🙂
  
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  June 7, 2019 3:04pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    So we get a 2nd hand vessel that serviced Norway’s offshore gas & oil platforms.
    Ironic.
    
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    June 7, 2019 3:27pm
  - Swifty
    
    Love it JB.
    
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    June 7, 2019 4:33pm
RW Capitalist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XX9LX2es4&list=RDr5XX9LX2es4&start_radio=1
Labour’s governing method.
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June 7, 2019 3:42pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Aussie gives it’s latest terrorist a sentence of 42 years.

She can’t come up for parole for 31 years.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/06/why-failed-terrorist-who-stabbed-melbourne-host-got-42-years-behind-bars.html
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June 7, 2019 3:49pm
- Johnboy
  
  O dear and a .22 only costs a few cents! 🙂
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:00pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Supply the cells of each lifer with large doses of methamphetamine, cocaine, crack and heroin. They don’t have to use it if they don’t want. No capital punishment, just pleasant slide to death at any rate they want if they so choose.
    
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    June 7, 2019 4:40pm
- Jack5
  
  Still more fruit of multiculturism … Australian Muslim jailed for designing guided missile for ISIL.
  
  https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-electrician-jailed-for-missile-research-to-help-is-20190607-p51vgj.html
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:13pm
  - Johnboy
    
    Seems a shame really. If they’d let the Aussie build it I’m almost certain it would have done a 180 and taken out the bastards that fired it eh! 🙂
    
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    June 7, 2019 5:14pm
- rangitoto
  
  What, no golf lessons?
  
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  June 7, 2019 5:26pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Lordy,
Now it’s my fault if I fall into temptation….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/06/led-not-into-temptation-pope-approves-change-to-lords-prayer
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June 7, 2019 4:15pm
- stephieboy
  
  MW, not necessarily ,
  
  Fall can mean,
  
  Verb
  
  7 the town fell to the barbarians: surrender, yield, submit, give in, give up, give way, capitulate, succumb;
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:21pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yeah..
    It’s not being Led….
    
    Get the difference?
    To be led, you need an agent of temptation…
    and in the Lord’s Prayer that’s “Our Father”….
    
    Lead us not into temptation.
    
    Read the link if you still don’t comprehend the difference.
    
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    June 7, 2019 4:58pm
    - stephieboy
      
      You read your link more carefully,
      
      Now Pope Francis has risked the wrath of traditionalists by approving a change to the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of saying “lead us not into temptation”, it will say “do not let us fall into temptation”.
      
      The new wording was approved by the general assembly of the Episcopal Conference of Italy last month. It will appear in the third edition of the Messale Romano, the liturgical book that contains the guiding texts for mass in the Roman Catholic church.
      
      The pope said in 2017 he believed the wording should be altered.
      
      “It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation,” he told Italian TV. “I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.
      
      “A father doesn’t do that; a father helps you to get up immediately. It’s Satan who leads us into temptation – that’s his department…”
      
      I think you getting a little pedantic
      
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      June 7, 2019 6:32pm
- Swifty
  
  God’s name is Howard, so they say….
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkIBAXPy8aw
  
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  June 7, 2019 5:34pm
stephieboy

Fox’s Creepy Tucker Carslon is at it again,

“Metric system ‘creepy’, symbol of ‘tyranny’ – Fox News host Tucker Carlson

6 hours ago Dan Satherley  Reddit    A popular TV host in the US has taken aim at a “weird, utopian inelegant, creepy” symbol of “tyranny” the rest of the world takes for granted – the metric system.

“Tucker Carlson, a Fox News presenter whose show is watched by 3 million people every night, told viewers he’d “accept the kilometre when we accept the euro – never”.
Carlson’s guest on Wednesday night (US time) was a New York-based art critic and anti-metric activist, James Panero.
“Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny – the metric system,” said Carlson, introducing his guest…”

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/06/metric-system-the-yoke-of-tyranny-fox-news-host-tucker-carlson.html
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June 7, 2019 4:16pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  The metric system is just one of the tools communists are using to poison Americans’ precious bodily fluids.
  
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  June 7, 2019 4:51pm
  - Jack5
    
    If the personal computer, the smart phone, and the internet had brought us online converters a few years earlier it would probably have been hard to move NZ on to the metric system.
    
    With prevalent current technology we could easily live with hexadecimal, binary, or other number systems. Metric is just a base-10 number system.
    
    Pilots still use knots – nautical miles per hour, and I read that a nautical miles is one minute of arc on any meridian.
    
    And, of course, there are still 24 hours in a day, and 60 minutes in an hour.
    
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    June 7, 2019 5:37pm
    - stephieboy
      
      Jack5, metric I understand is standard in the US science community ].
      
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      June 7, 2019 6:28pm
- Alien
  
  Want to see something truly creepy, look in the mirror
  
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  June 7, 2019 7:24pm
Ross12

I wonder if James Shaw reads the UK Financial Times –full article behind a paywall but

“UK net zero emissions target will ‘cost more than £1tn’
Financial Times – 6 Jun 2019
Philip Hammond has warned Theresa May that her plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 will cost the UK over £1tn. … less money would be available for schools, police, hospitals and other areas of of public spending… “
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June 7, 2019 4:33pm
nasska

The retiring jurist who had the misfortune to listen to weeks of Colin Craig’s bullshit doesn’t miss much. Here Justice Toogood sums up the disgraced conservative politician:

…..” “I assessed Mr Craig as being a man who is extremely confident in his opinions, self-absorbed, lacking self-awareness and insight and, to a degree, hypocritical. Self-justification appears to come easily to him.” “……

So he’s just your everyday religio/conservative who knows what’s best for us but considers himself above the need for such constraints.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238244
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June 7, 2019 4:53pm
- Johnboy
  
  Oh ye of little faith nasska! Just think how pure of mind and body folks like us could be if we self-flagellated several times daily!
  A good bit of self flogging is a wonderful substitute for the real thing my son! 🙂
  
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  June 7, 2019 5:20pm
  - nasska
    
    He’s strange fruit JB:
    
    …..”Mr Craig said that he fell asleep on Ms MacGregor’s lap on at least three  occasions, on two of which Ms MacGregor sang Christian worship songs to help him get to sleep. “……
    
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    June 7, 2019 5:40pm
    - Johnboy
      
      Do you think she may have sung the one that goes?
      “Yet will I fear no ill;
      For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
      And staff me comfort still.” 🙂
      
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      June 7, 2019 6:56pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        He touched me. Oh, he touched me.
        And oh, the joy that floods my soul!
        Something happened, and now I know!
        He touched and made me whole. –He Touched Me
        
        https://sometimesmagical.wordpress.com/tag/hymns-that-sound-dirty/
        
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        June 7, 2019 8:56pm
Jack5

I’ve given a link to Michael Reddell’s Croaking Cassandra blog a few times.

But his latest column, aimed at Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr, is sizzling.

https://croakingcassandra.com/
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June 7, 2019 5:30pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I read it earlier today – it is indeed a sizzler.
  
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  June 7, 2019 5:37pm
Hugh Pavletich

… NEW ZEALAND: Will Housing Minister Twyfords imminent announcements FINALLY ALLOW affordable new housing to be built ? …

… Why are Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Phil Twyford STILL EFFECTIVELY BANNING the provision of new affordable housing for their fellow New Zealanders ? …

… Watch this shameful and totally unnecessary political failure …

Conditions ‘utterly unsatisfactory’ at Auckland caravan park that booted John Campbell – Twyford … TVNZ

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/conditions-utterly-unsatisfactory-auckland-caravan-park-booted-john-campbell-twyford
.
.
… Housing & Urban Development Minister Phil Twyfords important late March speech … but where is the ACTION in this ‘year of delivery’ promised by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern …

New Zealaned Housing Minister Phil Twyfords speech to the New Zealand Initiative Members Retreat … New Zealand Government / Beehive

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-nz-initiative-members%E2%80%99-retreat

… extract …

… In our view there are three big challenges that have to be addressed:

1. A broken system for financing infrastructure

2. A planning system based on urban containment

3. The failure of governments until now, both local and central, to actively work with the private sector to enable urban growth and expansion.

… concluding …

… I talked about the land banking and speculative economy, and the pressure cooker that has given us some of the most obscenely expensive housing in the world.

These moves are designed to change that. …

… If we do these things we can truly flood the market with development opportunities. We can break the land banking economy, and drive down the cost of urban land.

We can achieve more competitive urban land markets. And industry that is more focused on development and building places of enduring value instead of land banking and speculation.

That is the pathway to more affordable housing, and a systemic fix of the crisis that has caused so much hardship, and sucked so much of our national wealth into residential property instead of the productive economy. … read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
… Important background information via …
http://www.PerformanceUrbanPlanning.org
…including … Definition Of An Affordable Housing Market …
http://www.performanceurbanplanning.org/affordability.html
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June 7, 2019 6:03pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Too much shit, too many links.
  Hugh, do yourself a favour and look up the word ‘concise’.
  
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  June 7, 2019 7:57pm
  - sooty
    
    Or just Foxtrot Oscar!
    
    4 1
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    June 7, 2019 8:24pm
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      Captain Mainwaring … The mid – June housing announcements by this Labour – led government are extremely important.
      
      It is very much ‘perform or perish’ time for Housing Minister Phil Twyford and the government.
      
      If they don’t get it right … my view is that they are goneburgers come next year’s election.
      
      The public and the broad media will not tolerate any further incompetence.
      
      Governments lose elections … Oppositions don’t win them.
      
      The mid – June announcement was mentioned within this video interview of Housing Minister Phil Twyford with Interest Co NZ Jenee Tibshraeny 8 May …
      
      Housing Minister Phil Twyford refuses to confirm whether ‘KiwiBuild recalibration’ will include 100,000 house target; expresses interest in using shared equity schemes to get people into KiwiBuild houses | interest.co.nz
      
      https://www.interest.co.nz/property/99563/twyford-refuses-confirm-whether-kiwibuild-recalibration-will-include-100000-house
      
      Will Phil Twyford finally meet public and media expectations … and survive ?
      
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      June 7, 2019 8:53pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        … UNITED STATES …
        
        Jobs Report: U.S. economy adds disappointing 75,000 jobs in May, unemployment rate holds at 3.6% … Yahoo Finance
        
        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobs-report-bls-may-2019-212001939.html
        
        Job growth slowed more-than-expected in May, while the unemployment rate held at a near 50-year low, according to the Department of Labor’s Friday report.
        
        The U.S. economy added just 75,000 non-farm payrolls in May. This was below expectations for 175,000 non-farm payroll additions, based on Bloomberg-compiled estimates.
        
        The previous two months’ payrolls figures were also downwardly revised. April’s change in non-farm payrolls positions was cut to 224,000 from 263,000, and March’s new figure was brought down to 153,000, from the 189,000 seen previously. Following the revisions, job gains averaged 151,000 per month over the past three months. … view & read more via hyperlink above …
        
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        June 8, 2019 2:05am
      - Rob2
        
        If you haven’t got it yet Hugh, Twyford suffer from a mental condition called Delusions of grandeur and that stokes his megalomania.
        Twyford will do shit in his pants.
        
        He is one of gods addled, just like his mate Craig.
        
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        June 8, 2019 3:58pm
noskire

New ship a ‘game changer’ for NZ Navy https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/113311125/new-ship-a-game-changer-for-nz-navy–defence-minister#comments

PM: “For some it means being able to engage with the environment safely, and to journey with certainty”

Does she write this shit herself or does it just freely flow off the tongue?
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June 7, 2019 7:03pm
sooty

Hay, Mallard, your’e slipping mate. Went to WO and they have a pitcure of Cindy and Jethro at the navey ship launching complete wit a pitcure of Never in full frontal face view! Another fail!
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June 7, 2019 8:27pm

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