General Debate 24 August 2019

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CJames

So the government sees fit to spend near $100M of NZTA money (from the petrol taxes and road user charges) to allow at most 300 passengers a day catch a slow train from Hamilton to Papakura and back. The actual spending will be significantly higher and passenger loading will be a lot lower than planned – who wants a 5 hour a day commute? It will also spend more money from the same slush fund for them to fund the walking track across Auckland Harbour Bridge. However, they haven’t got enough money to build the Katikati to Tauranga highway, the Otaki to Levin expressway, the Cambridge to SH29 widening or the Hatepe to Rangipo bypass. Each of these affect thousands of drivers every day and have a history of road deaths and congestion. The roads will also lower fuel consumption because they will reduce traffic holdups.
Shows where the priorities of the Ministers are, doesn’t it. Feelgood social virtue signalling is just so much more important to them than saving lives and doing something real. Or do they need to set up a well paid working group of their friends to look at it?
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August 24, 2019 8:01am
- septic skeptic
  
  It’s more than just that. There are moves afoot to seriously curtail private car ownership.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:34am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    We are seeing this in Wellington as we speak. The local Government is hand in glove with Central Government to make private transport less and less palatable by shutting down roading improvement projects and getting us to use public transport.
    
    The only saving grace is that they have effectively fucked public transport to such an extent, that people are taking to their cars once more.
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115110097/wellington-commuters-confidence-in-regions-public-transport-plummets
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:06am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Bring it on. The more nonsensical the COL the quicker their removal.
    ☑️ ☑️
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:18am
    - atomic drop
      
      Yes, amplify and accelerate!
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:52am
  - TWEEDSE
    
    You could probably remove the word “car” from that comment. There are moves afoot to seriously curtail private ownership full stop.
    
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    August 24, 2019 1:36pm
  - Ruawai
    
    The biggest problem with this is that most of NZ has no public transport.
    
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    August 24, 2019 2:41pm
- Gravelroad
  
  The Greens are truely scary ideologues given free reign to spend other people’s money.
  Have they ever heard of doing a cost/benefit analysis for any of these mad schemes?
  We already know that cba’s are an unknown concept to the Labour Party.
  Poor old New Zealand – once a great little country now being ruined by temporary social experimenters.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:40am
  - Tall Man
    
    Of course they have… after all they “engaged” genter’s bed buddy for the princely sum of $360,000 of our money.
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:11am
- Monique Watson
  
  That’sLabour. Dragging the socialists along on the coattails. fortunately they’ll be out after one term served.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:41am
  - rockape
    
    Sadly you may be wrong. Those on the right are pretty quiet, tend to see themselves not government as their saviors. Time the right stood up and became more active or expect more of the same.
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:49am
- Psycho Milt
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  They have to start somewhere – there isn’t any magic wand that can fix half a century of shit decision-making about transport infrastructure. There are two reasons for making that start:
  
  1. The usual. For everyone except AGW-deniers, reducing rather than growing the use of private fossil-fuelled vehicles is a no-brainer.
  
  2. Throwing money into creating ever-wider ugly urban sprawl served by ever-bigger roads with ever-bigger traffic jams on them is so stupid it hurts.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:49am
  - CJames
    
    Could this be the same Psycho who regularly drove the road Palmerston North to Rotorua on another blog. Why didn’t you catch the bus? Or are you one of the leftist hypocrites who only preaches virtues for others to practice?
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:04am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      Still do drive it – last time was two weeks ago. Lots of fun driving to be had on that trip if you start nice and early. I don’t think anyone would describe commuting from Hamilton to Auckland every work day as a fun drive, though.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:38am
      - kloyd0306
        
        Fail (again), why didn’t you catch the bus?
        
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        August 24, 2019 3:47pm
      - Psycho Milt
        
        Where’s the fun in that?
        
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        August 24, 2019 4:50pm
      - Suze Wainwright
        
        Your honesty is appreciated Psycho…
        
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        August 24, 2019 6:54pm
  - Ford Prefect
    
    But surely the Greens should be investing heavily in roading as it wont be long before they ban ICE vehicles, everyone will have a Tesla and merrily commuting using only the power of the sun.
    
    Roads will always be needed.
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:16am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      Yep – but the issue is volume of traffic, not the existence of roads.
      
      Also: for the Greens, electric vehicles is a least-worst stopgap to stave off disaster, not an aspirational goal.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:41am
  - Monique Watson
    
    Yeah sure Psycho. Except people will insist in wanting a house in the ‘burbs’ to have babies to want to bring their grandchildren home to.
    Have to start motherfucking “somewhere”. Hows about we bring medium rail in instead of dicking around with wonky buses. Works where I live.
    https://www.bart.gov/
    Get rid of the “Phils”. There’s where we can start.
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:20am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      There are 7 million people in the San Francisco bay area with a high population density, so funding high-use public transport is relatively easy. The same level of public transport for 2 million people with very low population density is a much tougher proposition.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:44am
  - Scott
    
    Psycho – I am a climate change denier. Which according to your lights is the equivalent of a holocaust denier.
    But actually the question is a scientific one-is the world getting warmer and if so is it the fault of greenhouse gases? People I would think should be able to differ on this question without being vilified?
    
    But the solution from this government and local bodies is to stop building roads that thousands of people use. And build cycle tracks!
    Here in Masterton our two lane section of road at a major roundabout has become one lane. This causes traffic congestion. Why was this done? So a cycle track could be added to the road instead.
    
    The cycle track is useless because no one ever uses it. No one cycles in Masterton. It’s but a small example of ideology trumping reality.
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:31am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      At least you’re honest, unlike the National Party.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:46am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Explain how Carbon dioxide lags global temperature changes by 8oo years,
      
      Did our ancestors of the later middle ages cause the present emergency?
      
      AGW by our current generation has been completely skewered.
      
      One flaw of that magnitude is sufficient to deny all.
      
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      August 24, 2019 12:41pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    No PM, this is sh*t decision making. $92m is being put up by govt plus another $20m from the local authorities to do what? They need to buy 2 train sets, hire staff, set up operations centers, set up at each station.
    
    Then when operating the costs of operation will overwhelm this scheme that will carry fresh air. Despite the rhetoric I’ll guarantee you there are not 300 passengers per day to use this service and it will fold within 2 years.
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:51am
    - Psycho Milt
      
      I wouldn’t be surprised if most NZers did prefer to sit for ridiculous amounts of time polluting the atmosphere and raising their stress levels in slow-moving traffic, rather than use public transport. The government has to (or should, at least – National is terrible at it) think a little beyond that, though.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:49am
  - Tall Man
    
    Idiot. You really strive hard to lower the bar of your own intellect… or lack of it.
    
    There isn’t a transport engineer in the world that would put NZ onto a “public transport” system rather than “private vehicular” ownership.
    
    We have neither the population density or even size of cities, bar Auckland, that would ever work with primarily “public transport”.
    
    Only an idealogue or idiot would walk the “public transport” path and I think we are well aware where you fit in there.
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:15am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      I guess it’s possible to be an idealogue and an idiot at the same time.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:45am
      - Tall Man
        
        psycho, steffy girl make a great example of that theory.
        
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        August 24, 2019 1:37pm
      - hullkiwi
        
        Captain & with that I present….Julie-Ann Genter, PM’s pin-up girl!
        
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        August 24, 2019 1:54pm
    - rockape
      
      Yes try public transport down the West Coast where I live. Even EVs will never work here.
      
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      August 24, 2019 11:56am
      - Rob2
        
        Seems Genters mate has just closed one of your roads. The one to the Fox Glacier.
        Not going to be rebuilt till the earth stops moving.
        
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        August 24, 2019 7:07pm
    - Scooter
      
      Italy is roughly the same size as NZ has a fault line running down the centre and has a widespread rail and roading system. It also has 60 million people.
      
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      August 24, 2019 4:16pm
  - Brian Marshall
    
    AGW deniers???? No one denies that man has an affect on the weather. It’s only a matter of how much affect. Outside of the urban heat island parts, it’s minuscule.
    Fact #1. The IPCC reports have 2 parts the scientific part and the political part. The political part has all the bullshit about 3m sea level rises, while the scientific part has much less scary figures.
    Fact #2. The only model projection of temperature increases that are correct, are only correct by the margin of error. Every single projection/prediction has been wrong but for a small number who had a very low range increase at the low end. Every single one had projected much greater temperature increases than what we have had in reality.
    
    Who’s the denier? Who the friggen heck is the denier????
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:17am
    - David George
      
      You would think that if predictions based on a theory proved wrong that there was something wrong with theory. But no, same failed theory just move the fear mongering out another ten years.
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:57am
    - tf78
      
      Climate predictions are based on computer models – data you want in, result you want out. I don’t know how anyone can be taken in by this BS.
      
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      August 24, 2019 11:49am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      I am I suppose a denier. I deny bad science, crap data and stupid conclusions. To say the science is settled is bad science. I deny that. To use the temperature data of badly positioned stations is bad science. I deny that. To say that CO2 increases following Temperature rises proves that CO2 forces temperature is bad science. I deny that. So I am a denier. And fucking proud of it.
      
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      August 24, 2019 12:06pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      @Brian Marshall
      The UNIPCC TAR (Third Assessment Report) explicitly denies that they cannot forecast future climate. The weather is a “chaotic” system and mathematically impossible to model. Add to that the lack of data–a third of the planet which they fill in with estimates. Also the imprecision of an enormous quantity of calculations with binary numbers.
      
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      August 24, 2019 12:50pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Add to that the lack of data–a third of the planet which they fill in with estimates.
        
        66% of Earth’s surface is Ocean..
        For all of last century we had no world-wide monitoring of T data from the Oceans.
        The first global network of argo floats was organised in 2007.
        
        Less than 10% of the Southern Hemisphere has a decent long-temp record.
        
        https://notrickszone.com/2019/08/23/earth-surface-temperature-data-too-scant-no-certainty-southern-hemisphere-stations-show-cooling-since-1880/
        
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        August 24, 2019 4:15pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        And they make up stuff when there is no data.. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/09/27/approximately-92-or-99-of-ushcn-surface-temperature-data-consists-of-estimated-values/
        
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        August 24, 2019 4:51pm
    - backster
      
      Well Obama is the denier, why else would he be building a US$15 million beachside 8 bathroom mansion at Martha’s Vinyard.
      
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      August 24, 2019 6:27pm
  - JimBobJoe
    
    You still using AGW Milt? How brave of you…. didn’t you get the memo to abandon that term in favour of the neutral Climate Change???
    
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    August 24, 2019 6:02pm
- jcuk
  
  Since the proposed train is to be a “hgh speed’ version it will be MUCH faster than travelling by road.
  So you basic argument is bunkum and biased .
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:58am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Add the commute time of traveling to and from the stations
    The car park required at each station
    The bus interchange at each station
    How’s that comparison coming now?
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:35am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    “high speed?”
    The bloody thing’s going to take two hours each way!
    I went on a high speed train in France which in less than two hours went the equivalent distance of Auckland to Palmerston North.
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:48am
    - david
      
      Yeah, in Europe the term ICE means InterCity Express, a 150+Kmph train service. But then they have hundreds of millions of people to move. Also in spite of all the railway tracks, the truck loadiings on even the superhighways (autobhans, autostrada etc) is immense.
      BTW I am still looking for the town called Ausfart. There is a sign on every motorway that points to it!
      
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      August 24, 2019 11:44am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    bullshit! You cannot go “high speed” on New Zealand’s narrow guage, poor curves, poor gradient current rail system.
    
    two hours to the bottom of south auckland, and then transfer to local trains is not high speed by any definition of the words.
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:01am
- Evadne
  
  The SkyPath slush fund will only fund discussion papers, concept plans and engineering reports (and probably, knowing this government, ill-considered contracts).
  
  It will not get close to funding an actual, real, walkway on the Harbour Bridge. It’s an aging structure, the clip-ons are nearing the end of their life, and it can’t bear the loading of a suspended walkway in its current state.
  
  As idiotic and ill-thought out as a tram on Dominion Rd.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:58am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    And of course the usual artist “renderings” showing a beautiful clear and wind-free day, because we have so many of them.
    
    In reality a cold, windswept high and scary pathway paid for by us, to be used by a dozen mamils a day. Maybe.
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:03am
- peterwn
  
  The ex Perth DMU’s are in storage now that Auckland rail network has been electrified (except a few used to service the Pukekohe run). A couple of those could have been given a quick makeover for a Hamilton service.
  Railways tried an upmarket Hamilton service years ago. Politicians and others thought it was a great idea, but hardly anyone used it.
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:13am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Peter, AT are still using DMUs on the Pukekohe to Papakira line. The Perth rolling stock, after being stored in Taumaranui is now in Mozambique.
    
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    August 24, 2019 2:43pm
- Ruahine
  
  There is not even a decent rail service from Papakura to Pukekohe. Crappy old diesel railcars. We have been promised electrification ad nauseam for so long. This is just more wasteful grandstanding by a Government that hates taxpayers.
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:22am
  - peterwn
    
    Pukekohe is in a very strong National area – so why should Labour bother?
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:58am
- Monty
  
  Does anyone remember that during the election labour we’re going to get the Hamilton Tauranga Auckland link up and running for 20 million
  
  Is this another broken election promise as now it will cost $92m for just Hamilton to Papakura and no one will use it
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:33am
- WaveyDavey
  
  Firstly it’s 150 passengers (it’s a commuter there and back service – journey is a return not a one-way) that might grow to 200
  
  So if we assume that the train runs full for 5 days a week (It won’t) we have 36,000 journeys a year at a cost of $8m
  
  Every single person’s journey will cost the ratepayer and taxpayer $222.22 even if costs stay where they intend (they won’t of course). I’d personally be happy to stay at home for $200 a days.
  
  So every trainload will be subsidised to the tune of around $166,000 a week. That’s a waste of $1m every 6 weeks.
  
  All to get 150 cars off the road. It won’t do that of course, all it will mean is that people will take jobs that they were unable or unwilling to travel to previously.
  
  This is a ludicrous exercise in stupidity but what doe we expect of idiots like those currently staffing our ministries.
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:20am
  - emmess
    
    Why do they need to get cars off the Waikato expressway? When it is finally complete at the end of 2021 (delayed again), no thanks to Labour, there will be plenty of capacity.
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:27am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Wavey, the plan is for 1 trip each way in the morning and one trip each way in the evening. It is not stopping in Pukekohoe because that is Auckland territory and there is a Pukekohoe to Papakura service. Because any commuter needs to be in Papakura to return to Hamilton patronage will start high, but will reduce quickly & die. Much as the Tauranga to Hamilton train service did.
    
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    August 24, 2019 3:42pm
    - CJames
      
      The actual press release says two trains of 4 carriages each morning to Papakura and 2 home at night. That is where I got 300 from. And to add to that, when it gets popular, they will put an extra carriage on.
      
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      August 24, 2019 4:56pm
- Komata
  
  In respect of the Hamilton-Auckland ‘commuter’ rail service, those who are old enough may recall the ‘Blue Streak’ service between the same two centres. That service didn’t work , as the ‘expected’ patronage didn’t materialise, and as very little has changed and the Auckland ‘passenger’ network is now very busy, I would suggest that the same fate awaits this new venture. It only takes one ‘systems failure’ on the South Auckland line (Otahuhu / Pukekohe) to immobilise that section, and Hamilton-bound commuters could be in for a very, very long wait.
  
  Observation indicates BTW, that such failures are becoming more frequent rather than declining
  
  Add to that the fact that south of Pukekohe the line becomes quite isolated with little road access (especially over the Wangamarino Swamp), then the potential for ‘difficulties’ becomes even greater.
  
  But hey, because some politicians want to look good and to be seen as ‘environmentally aware’ why not build the thing anyway; it’s only ‘money’ after all (although not THEIR money of course).
  
  Time will tell; I’d give it 18 months (at most) before it is quietly shelved…
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:55am
rightoverlabour

Especially for Stephieboy

https://principia-scientific.org/should-michael-hockey-stick-mann-be-prosecuted-for-climate-fraud/

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/22/breaking-dr-tim-ball-wins-michaelemann-lawsuit-mann-has-to-pay/
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August 24, 2019 8:09am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Found this gem Climate Scientists Discussed Ways To Make The 1940’s Warmth Disappear
  From: Tom Wigley
  To: Phil Jones
  Subject: 1940s
  Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:25:38 -0600
  Cc: Ben Santer
  So, if we could reduce the ocean blip by, say, 0.15 degC, then this would be significant for the global mean — but we’d still have to explain the land blip. It would be good to remove at least part of the 1940s blip, but we are still left with “why the blip”.
  
  The gatekeepers at “science” journals are absolutely real. We all remember Phil Jones words about stopping skeptics papers from being published: “.. “I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”
  
  From: Phil Jones [Director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia University of CLIMATEGATE fame].
  
  To: Many. Nov 16, 1999
  
  “I’ve just completed Mike’s [Dr. Michael Mann] Nature ‘trick‘ of adding in the ‘real‘ temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”
  
  Michael Mann hid the post-1960 decline in the temperatures, as measured by Briffa in his paleoclimate studies using tree ring data. Mann claimed that the decline didn’t match the surface temperature record, and simply erased it.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:23am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    rightoverlabour, source please!
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:49am
    - oob
      
      You need a source, for the climategate scandal at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia?
      
      You anti-science climate alarmists certainly do live in a bubble.
      
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      August 24, 2019 11:20am
    - rightoverlabour
      
      twat – read the links in the post above…. Fuck you are stupid.
      
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      August 24, 2019 12:08pm
      - stephieboy
        
        rightoverlabour, thank you for those link .Their claims are rejected here,
        
        The falsehoods of Climate gate consist of cherry-picked and selective out of context quotes from hacked emails,
        
        Climate Myth…
        
        Climategate CRU emails suggest conspiracy
        
        “[T]he 1079 emails and 72 documents seem indeed evidence of a scandal involving most of the most prominent scientists pushing the man-made warming theory – a scandal that is one of the greatest in modern science. […] emails suggesting conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.” (Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun)
        
        n November 2009, the servers at the University of East Anglia in Britain were illegally hacked and emails were stolen. When a selection of emails between climate scientists were published on the internet, a few suggestive quotes were seized upon by many claiming global warming was all just a conspiracy. A number of independent enquiries have investigated the conduct of the scientists involved in the emails. All have cleared the scientists of any wrong doing:….”
        
        https://skepticalscience.com/Climategate-CRU-emails-hacked.h
        
        tm
        
        Plus, plus,
        
        The New York Times deserves praise for its excellent editorial on Sunday, “A Climate Change Corrective,” which rightly confirms that the “Climategate” non-scandal has been thoroughly investigated and revealed as a political attack on scientists, not the grand United Nations conspiracy concocted by industry front groups and the right wing echo chamber.
        
        Five separate reviews have found no evidence whatsoever to back up the outrageous claims made by skeptics and deniers that the state of climate science has in any way been weakened by the theft and public airing of years’ worth of emails and documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit last winter.
        
        The Times’ editorial correctly calls on all the media outlets that amplified the bogus conspiracy theories from the Climategate noise machine to return to the subject and set the record straight for their viewers. Far too much ink and airtime was spent on inflating the mythical Climategate conspiracy, and ever since there has been hardly any effort made to explain this episode accurately – as a baseless political attack on climate science. It is imperative that all the outlets that fell into this trap and perpetuated the Climategate nonsense now spend the time necessary to ensure that their audiences know the truth.
        
        The Times editorial expresses hope that the “debunking of Climategate, will receive as much circulation as the original, diversionary controversies.”
        
        https://www.desmogblog.com/ny-times-climategate-editorial-reminder-media-have-failed-miserably-covering-climate-science
        
        Game, set , match!
        
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        August 24, 2019 1:19pm
      - rightoverlabour
        
        Then why won’t Mann release his data? Quite simply it will reveal to all the fraud he has committed. However, before you go and celebrate your game, set and match, I’d suggest you indulge me and wait a few years. Most real scientists are predicting cooler weather for the next few years. In this case, time will tell.
        
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        August 24, 2019 4:57pm
    - kloyd0306
      
      If climate change is so eminent (and life threatening) that in 12 years huge sections of coastline will be under water, how is it that the Obamas just handed over $US14.8 million for a beach front property at Martha’s Vineyards?
      
      Which brings about a second question: Where did they get the money?
      
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      August 24, 2019 9:24pm
- chaos
  
  Just to add
  
  INM-CM4
  INM-CM5
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:12am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  “It that all Stephiepersons you are referring”?
  The writing styles are a dead giveaway.
  Wonder if the bad speller is rostered this morning.
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:45am
- stephieboy
  
  Especially for rightoverlabour,
  
  More lawsuits,
  
  In 2011, Ball found himself at the receiving end of a couple of libel suits. In February, University of Victoria climatologist (and now a member of the British Columbia legislature) Andrew Weaver filed a lawsuit against Ball for his op-eds that accused Weaver of incompetence and corruption. In March, Penn State climatologist Michael Mann filed a lawsuit against Ball and his think tank for publishing statements on their websites that claimed Mann was complicit in a “cover-up” of Climategate and that he had committed scientific fraud.[14]
  Since the suits were launched Canada Free Press has retracted one of the interviews with Ball on the website.[15] Furthermore, they seem to have scrubbed a good deal of Ball’s articles and Ball-related material.[16]
  In February, 2018, the suit by Weaver was dismissed on the grounds that Ball’s attack on Weaver was so stupid and inept that it couldn’t be considered libelous thus doing no injury to Weaver’s reputation to an informed reader. [17] Therefore the official judgement of the Canadian court system is that Tim Ball is either an incompetent idiot or someone pretending to be an incompetent idiot.
  
  https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tim_Ball
  
  It will be interesting to find out the legal reasons for the decision from a Tim Ball who has been coy about publishing his CV and Climate science credentials.
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:48am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Tim Ball who has been coy about publishing his CV and Climate science credentials.
    
    Can’t you do a bit of basic research on Professor Ball yourself, stephieboy?
    
    Qualifications and Employment
    Ball received a bachelor’s degree with honors in geography from the University of Winnipeg in 1970, followed by an M.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1971 and a PhD in Geography with a specific focus on historical climatology from Queen Mary University of London in England in 1983.
    
    Ball became an instructor at the University of Winnipeg in 1971, and a lecturer the following year. He then served in the latter capacity for 10 years. In 1982 he became an assistant professor there, and was promoted to associate professor in 1984 and full professor in 1988. He retired in 1996.
    
    Research
    Ball has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the field of historical climatology, most of which pertain to reconstructing temperatures in Canada during the past several centuries.
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Ball
    
    Yesterday you were confused as to who had taken the law suits.
    
    The aim of the Climate alarmists has been to silence Ball by slamming defamation suits against him
    
    It’s a technique that has failed.
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:58am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      And I haven’t got time to check out a complete list of Professor Ball’s climate research papers,
      but here’s a few to get along with, stephieboy
      
      Ball, T.F., 1983. The migration of geese as an indicator of climate change in the southern Hudson Bay region between 1715and 1851. Clim. Change 5, 85–93.
      
      Ball, T.F., 1986. Historical evidence and climatic implications of a shift in the boreal forest-tundra transition in central Canada. Clim. Change 8, 121–134.
      
      Ball, T.F., 1995. Historical and instrumental evidence of climate: western Hudson Bay, Canada, 1714–1850. In: Bradley, R.S., Jones, P.D. (Eds.), Climate Since A.D. 1500.
      Routledge, pp. 40–73.
      
      Ball, T.F., Kingsley, R.A., 1984. Instrumental temperature records at two sites in central Canada: 1768 to 1910. Clim. Change 6, 39–56.
      
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      August 24, 2019 11:44am
    - stephieboy
      
      MW,
      
      First PhD in Climatology?
      
      Ball and the organizations he is affiliated with have repeatedly made the claim that he is the “first Canadian PhD in climatology.” Ball himself claimed he was “one of the first climatology PhD’s in the world.” [9], [10]
      
      Many have pointed out that there have been numerous PhD’s in the field prior to Ball. [11]
      
      Ball was a former professor of geography at the University of Winnipeg from 1988 to 1996. The University of Winnipeg never had an office of Climatology. His degree was in historical geography and not climatolog
      
      https://www.desmogblog.com/timothy-f-ball-tim-ball
      
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      August 24, 2019 1:30pm
      - stephieboy
        
        Wiki informs us that Michael Ball is no stranger to litigating,
        
        Ball claimed, in an article written for the Calgary Herald, that he was the first person to receive a PhD in climatology in Canada, and that he had been a professor for 28 years,[48] claims he also made in a letter to then-prime minister of Canada, Paul Martin.[49] Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, countered his claim on April 23, 2006, in a letter to the Herald stating that when Ball received his PhD in 1983, “Canada already had PhDs in climatology,” and that Ball had only been a professor for eight years, rather than 28 as he had claimed. Johnson, however, counted only Ball’s years as a full professor.[50] In the letter, Johnson also wrote that Ball “did not show any evidence of research regarding climate and atmosphere, ignoring the fact Ball’s PhD thesis in 1983 was on climate and weather.”[42]
        In response, Ball filed a lawsuit against Johnson. Johnson’s statement of defence was provided by the Calgary Herald, which stated that Ball “…never had a reputation in the scientific community as a noted climatologist and authority on global warming,” and that he “…is viewed as a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist.”[49] In the ensuing court case, Ball acknowledged that he had only been a tenured professor for eight years, and that his doctorate was not in climatology but rather in the broader discipline of geography,[42] and subsequently withdrew the lawsuit on June 8, 2007.[49][51]
        In February 2011, it was reported that climate scientist Andrew J. Weaver had sued Ball over an article Ball wrote for the Canada Free Press which was later retracted. In the article, Ball described Weaver as lacking a basic understanding of climate science and stated, incorrectly, that Weaver would not be involved in the production of the IPCC’s next report because he had concerns about its credibility…”
        
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Ball
        
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        August 24, 2019 1:37pm
    - stephieboy
      
      “The aim of the Climate alarmists has been to silence Ball by slamming defamation suits against him”
      
      ????
      
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      August 24, 2019 1:38pm
      - Michael
        
        Duh!
        Err remember Sarah Palin?
        Law suits from Africa by the fckwit left.
        remeber?
        They all costs MONEY to Defend….
        Resources???
        
        Are you deliberately stupid or are you deaf?
        
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        August 24, 2019 6:30pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    You are narrow minded. How can you be competent politically except as a distraction? Does Neave need changing again or has the PM sold Stewart Island to Nga Puhi?
    
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    August 24, 2019 12:56pm
Yvette

Newshub asks – Remember Karel Sroubek? He could be released soon

But in their article, Newshub seems to have forgotten to mention that –
… the Czech Republic’s Justice Ministry said an arrest warrant was issued for Sroubek in 2013 for outstanding criminal proceedings.
“Karel Sroubek was sentenced to four years and six months in prison in the Czech Republic. He is also being sought for further criminal charges,” an English translation of the statement said.
Czech Republic had been advised by New Zealand authorities that extradition proceedings could take several years and so had been waiting for his deportation instead, the statement said.

Doesn’t Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway still have to deal with this aspect of the case?
The Czech officials must know about Dotcom, but seem to not be aware that apparently we are sometimes as inept at deportation as at extradition.
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August 24, 2019 8:14am
- Rob2
  
  Probably don’t care enough to be bothered spending their taxpayer’s money on a piece of crap. Rather let him stay here until he gets dumb and travels to a country where they can nail him without any bother.
  Why should they care?
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:37am
- Inandout
  
  Yvette, I suspect Karl has a business to look after when he is released. ILG knows a lot more than he will admit to; perhaps our version of the US ‘FISA Report’. The stench of corruption in this CoL is all pervading.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:52am
  - igm
    
    There is still the question of why he had Ardern’s confidential phone number, and a few other odds and ends.
    There was a statement by Ardern’s friendly plod that never really did anything other than create less confidence in our police force.
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Jacinda Ardern’s spokesperson told us in February that Sroubek is going to be deported.
  
  A spokesperson for Ardern said the letter had been received.
  
  “The Government has decided to deport Karel Sroubek. Ministers did not have all the critical information when making the first decision, but now that we have all the info, he is being deported,” the spokesperson said.
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12198076
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:18am
  - Suze Wainwright
    
    Has anyone heard what Richie Hardcase has to say about this?
    
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    August 24, 2019 9:38am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      This is what he texted to Jacinda, apparently he speaks for the community as well as all his friends
      
      https://fyi.org.nz/request/9243/response/31466/attach/html/5/foiextract20190118-2159-1js59fi-2_1.jpg
      
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      August 24, 2019 10:59am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    He was going to be deported in officials documents in the early 2000’s, since then he has seen off half a dozen immigration ministers from both sides.
    The guy must have a thick coating of Teflon, he looks untouchable.
    I must admit the last years events are really bizarre, but just amazing he has lasted many many years.
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:07am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Yep,
      it’s a mystery how a young chap on the run from Czech Police ends up being a NZ Champion sportsman and then a bright young businessman around town.
      It just can’t be his good looks can it?
      
      29 0
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      August 24, 2019 10:15am
      - Tall Man
        
        I wouldn’t “sniff” at it…………
        
        16 2
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        August 24, 2019 10:17am
      - sooty
        
        Could be the company he keeps?
        Lawnmowers for everyone.
        That can afford it!
        
        12 1
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        August 24, 2019 10:30am
      - Greg Ettridge
        
        Maggy, he either has extremely smart minders that know how to fudge the system or knows people in places that matter, or the whole system of deportation needs to be addressed and quickly.
        Won’t happen under this government, but I am sure they will try to defer any decision on him till after the election. Never know, Winston could decide he has to go. Might please the voters.
        
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        August 24, 2019 10:30am
      - Greg Ettridge
        
        Maggy, a little bed time reading if you haven’t read these:
        It is obvious Mr Hooton has pushed hard but been coralled on facts.
        5 OIA requests, one fully answered.
        interesting reading.
        https://fyi.org.nz/search/Karel%20/all
        the cell mate doesn’t appear to be a National voter.
        It is all Nationals fault, vindictive bastards.
        It really is about a marriage breakup nothing else.
        
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        August 24, 2019 11:06am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Greg Etteridge
        
        Thanks,
        I’ve read all that.
        
        I don’t know if you saw my earlier posts on KB on this affair.
        
        I was very interested in the links between Sroubek and the Operation Ark players..
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12154770
        NZ seems very naive about East European links into NZ drug trade.
        
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        August 24, 2019 11:30am
      - rightoverlabour
        
        Operation Ark. Wasn’t a certain fisherman’s cell phone picked up in that …..
        
        5 0
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        August 24, 2019 12:12pm
      - Nermal
        
        Old saying:
        It’s not what you know
        It’s who you know
        
        3 0
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        August 24, 2019 12:56pm
  - igm
    
    Is Sroubek not going to be the best man when Ardern tries to boost her popularity when it is under 13%?
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:14pm
mandk

Went to see Rigoletto at the Hannah Playhouse in Wellington last night.

It was absolutely wonderful.

The lead singers were excellent, and it was great to see opera in an intimate setting.

Do go along, if you get the opportunity.
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August 24, 2019 8:23am
Wired-one

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/115192566/150k-households-receiving-benefits-show-new-zealands-welfare-system-has-strayed-far-from-its-purpose

Could the next National PM reign this entitlement culture in thanks. Labour certainly wont.
34 1
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August 24, 2019 8:26am
- Colville
  
  Nations could cut all entitlements for WFF for say $60K and up but would need to cut income tax to balance it out.
  
  Then the lefty twats would be screaming “tax cuts for rich pricks!”
  
  yeah us rich pricks that actually pay all the bills in New Zealand.
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:27am
  - MCos
    
    I never thought of myself as a ‘rich prick’
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:16am
- MCos
  
  The writers complains that benefits are being paid to households with relatively high incomes. Benefits are paid to individuals not households.
  BTW
  $100,000 is not a high household income in Auckland, by any means, if you have even one kid and are renting.
  
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  August 24, 2019 11:12am
Yvette

German amusement park ride Adlerflug shut down over Nazi swastika likeness
Although it’s a Buddhist symbol, the swastika was used as the primary symbol of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi reich and, following World War II, has been illegal under the German Criminal Code section 86a.
After video of the ride … was widely shared online, Adlerflug has been shut down pending a redesign.

So why has no one ever got upset over gatherings, particularly hikoi, where the Tino Rangatiratanga flag predominates with its Nazi colours.
Check it out –
Type Maori flag in Google’s search panel and click on images, then do the same for Nazi flag.

Now, if the Tino Rangatiratanga flag is OK – not reminiscent of Nazism, what is all this krap about the Crusaders ?
24 3
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August 24, 2019 8:28am
- jcuk
  
  I think it is common knowledge that Hitler got it wrong and did not use the swastica but a reverse of it,
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:10am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The swastika appears in clockwise and anticlockwise orientation in Hinduism and Buddhism.
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:52am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  The Tino Rangatiratanga flag. Red, black and white. The proud flag of part-Europeans who would like a Maori ethno state. (Nationalism in its nasty ethnic form (as opposed to civic nationalism, i.e., “when in Rome”)).
  
  Tino Rangatiratanga is not just a flag of nationalism, but socialism, too. (The idea of the collective “family” where everyone is looked after.)
  
  So, we have a black, red and white flag that stands for nationalism and socialism. Where have I seen something like this before?
  
  What could possibly go wrong?
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:54am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Polynesians are not socialists. Being looked after requires directed work for those who are able. A shirker could be shown a bush knife.
    
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    August 24, 2019 1:09pm
- Swifty
  
  The widespread use of the swastika in many countries:
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_use_of_the_swastika_in_the_early_20th_century
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:17pm
artemisia

Hamilton renters in trouble – short supply and high rents.

Hamilton property manager —

“There are very few properties not getting a rent increase at the moment if they become available.” Tougher rules brought in by the government were driving those increases, he said.

Tougher rules might seem a good thing – but mainly for landlords whose tenants with limited (or no) choice kindly pay for upgrades.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115103003/renters-struggling-to-find-housing-as-property-market-tightens
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August 24, 2019 8:29am
Durden

Attention whoring for publicity and virtue signalling with a forked tongue – all in one tweet stream.

Trevor Mallard’s picture feeding Tamati’s recently acquired baby in Parliament was liked by Ilhan Omar. I am sure she will be spreading the message to her brotherhood in countries back home. Of course she can’t do it with Israel-its legal.

And just like that suddenly Trevor appears in the timeline basking in the glory of some lefties calling him a “baby whisperer”. Maintaining the decorum of the speaker’s chair and position.

https://twitter.com/SpeakerTrevor/status/1164263551155855360
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August 24, 2019 8:33am
- Gravelroad
  
  I would expect Coffey to use a baby to further his agendas – any agenda.
  But thought better of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to do similar.
  It is simply unprofessional.
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:28am
  - sooty
    
    Do you think that him an Cindy will get togetheter for the babies play date!
    
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    August 24, 2019 12:33pm
G152

I see those poor sweet misunderstood members of antifa are being extolled by the fake media as paragons while any-one who thinks differently is an evil white supremacist.
(Even Negroes and native Americans)
Of course those videos of antifa rioting and vandalising property are just signs of their playful nature.
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August 24, 2019 8:40am
Happychappy

I bet the poms are spewing after creating a pitch suitable for the new whiz kid fast bowler Archer and then being bowled out for 67 a third of what the Ausies got in their first innings.
24 1
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August 24, 2019 8:46am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Some English fans have turned on them already calling it a ‘flukey world cup win’ etc
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:41am
chaos

A favourite story that I like

The kaikoura lights

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TWVQ-9YvKDw
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August 24, 2019 9:02am
- Sacha
  
  I always liked the incident of The Fishes from the Sky that landed over Brooklyn (Wellington) about the same time.
  No one knew where they came from but it was suggested that they had been swept out of the sea in a tornado –
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:59pm
Monique Watson

Under the headlines: “Fuck Off Phil”: Wellington exports the ‘Few Wonky Buses’ concept to Auckland:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12261403&fbclid=IwAR0eLVl3lJjNwdr60vl5OTaqjEOQYAMSprunlUg-JZqDq9Rr8_0hGxeC2Ao
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August 24, 2019 9:05am
Liberty

Trump has got it wrong by protecting the local inefficient market. Muldoon pulled that stunt and it failed.
China sells to the american consumer simply because they are competitively priced. America has a large local market it should be able to compete. It should not be crawling up the governments arse for protection.
America should embrace the free market and stop subsidizing its inefficient farmers, manufacturers. And remove all tariffs. Or continue being a socialist cesspit and fail
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August 24, 2019 9:07am
- NK
  
  Yip. People clapping and cheering Trump’s tariffs are nothing short of economic dipshits.
  
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  August 24, 2019 11:03am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Yes, that’s right. The US should remove all their Tariffs and go back to when China was the one putting Tariffs and trade restrictions on US imports
    //
    #Moron
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:17am
    - NK
      
      #dipshit
      
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      August 24, 2019 1:53pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        What would you do big mouth?
        Let’s go back to when the US had no Tariffs on Chinese goods but China had them on US goods. China was stealing the IP and manufacturing copies themselves.
        What’s your solution to stop that and even out the Trade imbalance?
        I’ll wait.
        
        4 0
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        August 24, 2019 2:03pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Uhuh
        5 hours later and nothing…
        NK is full of shit eh.
        And TDS
        
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        August 24, 2019 7:53pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        NK … one of the numbnuts who was convinced Trump was involved in colluding with the Russians. Subsequently disappeared but because the 6’2″ Orange Goblin has been living rent free in his head for the last 3 years, is now back to snipe from 13,900 miles away.
        
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        August 24, 2019 11:48pm
- MCos
  
  He made the same mistake countless governments have made before him. Kept promises even when they were blatantly election bribes.
  They next thing will be election year spending in key areas.
  Same here.
  
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  August 24, 2019 11:30am
- kloyd0306
  
  Competitively priced? Don’t you mean “heavily subsidised by the communist government”?
  I expect you also believe that stealing intellectual property and a $500 billion trade deficit equals a level playing field.
  Trump is dead right about one thing: His predecessors were lousy deal makers and allowed China to get away with stacking the deck.
  
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  August 24, 2019 4:19pm
  - Michael
    
    I might suggest that at least a couple of them had been got at or maybe took good speech jobs after??
    
    Just saying.
    
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    August 24, 2019 6:35pm
Yvette

‘There is no deal’ – Waikato-Tainui leader
“If you don’t hear it from the official sources of the Kīngitanga, then it is just rumour and speculation.” – iwi leader Rahui Papa
_______

Tainui saves the Government from a seabed and foreshore moment.
Anyway, the ink is drying. All will be announced next week. Protest leader Pania Newton will not be forgotten, but she has been largely snubbed and that will continue. It’s probably not fair, but what is? – Duncan Garner
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August 24, 2019 9:09am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It would be very wrong for Kuini Hakinida to re-allocate land title lawfully held by Fletchers to the Kingitanga.
  
  There is unfortunately a precedent in closing down Taranaki.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:15pm
Biscuit

Happychappy, and did you see/hear the English crowd the other day when Australia scored 5 runs via a deflection off Davey Warner’s bat?

No such moans a few weeks ago when the same sort of play won their team a World Cup, heh heh.
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August 24, 2019 9:12am
Nookin

Here is the epitome of doctrinaire ideology. City rail is the solution and bugger the consequences. When you look at the money that Jones and Ardern have splashed about over the last year or so, this beggars belief.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115245688/auckland-city-rail-link-minister-mum-on-compo-as-albert-st-businesses-continue-to-struggle
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August 24, 2019 9:17am
Ford Prefect

My teenager has found out the latest school strike to stop Global Warming is happening in September. He’s never believed any of the doomsayers but is overjoyed he might get a day off school.

However, I dont think he should protest without taking some kind of virtue signalling action. I think the best way to stop some nasty fossil fuel going in to the atmosphere would be for me to no longer give him any more lifts in my car as he has a perfectly serviceable bike.

Has anyone else got any ideas how he can put his green money where his mouth is?
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August 24, 2019 9:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I wouldn’t be too insistent on him riding to school if you have unsafe roads.
  
  But it could be time to introduce him to a lentil/tofu/soymilk diet..
  
  and he really doesn’t need to waste the world’s resources by having his own phone/lap-top/tv does he?….. One/family is more than adequate.
  
  And has he dug the garden, turned the compost and chopped the wood for the fire, yet?
  
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  August 24, 2019 11:07am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Here is a great game for the COL to play. A reality check. Imagine the feuds!
https://10daily.com.au/shows/theproject/a190823datgu/hasbro-releases-new-socialism-version-of-monopoly-20190823
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August 24, 2019 9:25am
- Wangas Feral
  
  Man – that game has the SJWs and lefties in an absolute tizz. They are going apoplectic about it.
  
  18 1
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  August 24, 2019 9:31am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Any one know where we can buy it. It might be an essential tool at school for History and Economics students…
  
  4 0
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  August 24, 2019 12:16pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Amazon and E Bay probably have it. Hasbro are taking quite a bit of shit over it. The liberals are going apeshit
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:21pm
CJames

One of the Koch brothers has just died. That will cause big problems for the left. Who will they now demonise as the shadowy funder of all the articles and blogs that rubbish their stupid ideas?
13 1
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August 24, 2019 9:26am
- sooty
  
  Them Clintons are busy!
  
  2 0
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  August 24, 2019 12:36pm
Greg Ettridge

Scorecard like a telephone number only one in double digits, top score 12.
Australia now 283 in front with 4 wickets at hand.
Cummins gave Archer a very quick lesson on how to intimidate someone without knocking their head off.
Archer hasn’t taken a wicket in 2nd innings.
Smiths replacement looking permanent, 53 no.
Looks like the Queen won’t be handing out medals to one and all this series, the poms are on the rack and the screws are going on.
Stokes has bowled well and only ray of sunshine.
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August 24, 2019 9:28am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  No Steve Smith no problem so far…..
  
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  August 24, 2019 9:43am
Fletch

People talk about Trump telling porkies, but Democrat Congresswoman Rashida Tliab the other day was tearfully talking about her family in Palestine – her “impoverished village” and their hardships etc. The media bought it hook, line, and sinker without even looking in to it. It was left to a reporter who works for a newspaper in Israel who basically just looked up her family on Facebook.

Well. Basically they are rich. They are among the richest in “Palestine”. The top one percent of Palestinian life. Photos show her family standing beside Mercedes cars, BMWs, even Corvettes. Living in three story houses etc.

Achiam Tlaib, for example, drives a brand new BMW. On his Facebook account, you can see that his family lives in a very comfortable three-story building.

Raja Tlaib shared on his Facebook account pictures of himself posing next to his new Mercedes, wearing an expensive suit. He also has pictures showing him working out in a gym that has the latest equipment.

Mawaid Tlaib uploaded pictures of his vacations in Italy and other places, and Anas Tlaib has a very expensive Mercedes.

Samach Tlaib drives a BMW and Niaf Tlaib drives a Corvette convertible and uploaded pictures posing next to his new home under construction, also with three stories.

Many of them also have pictures showing them visiting places inside the Green Line (pre-1967 Israel): Jaffa, Acre, Tel Aviv and so on. So perhaps all those checkpoints that supposedly make Palestinian life so miserable are just a myth?

In fact, even the World Bank said in 2014 that the village is one of the richest in the region. The poverty rate in the village stood at 7.4 % in 2014, compared to the overall rate of 21% in the Palestinian Authority.

Only a handful of villages have a lower poverty rate in the PA and employment in the village is also among the lowest in the PA. But perhaps the most important statistic is this: The rate of social mobility in Beit-Ur al-Fauqa is among the highest in the PA.

According to a 2017 PA report on the quality of life of Palestinians, the village has 230 households.

The report says that 215 structures are considered private residences and four of them are actually single-family homes, attesting to their wealth.

More than 115 of the households are in apartments that have 5 bedrooms or more, and 65 of the households have four bedrooms.

And of course, all the structures are privately owned. According to the report, almost every home has satellite TV, and most have LCD screens in their living rooms. Almost everyone in the village has access to the internet and a mobile phone. Half of the families own a car.

https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/tlaibs-palestinian-village-is-thriving-but-she-is-in-denial/
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August 24, 2019 9:34am
BrownSnake

I am about to Cook the Captain his eggs.

I have a plastic bad in each hand.

The shells of my eggs are white.

Leghorn.

You are walking on egg shells posting anything
In a socialist paradise where the sky is about to fall on our heads and no one will plant trees to stop that.
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August 24, 2019 9:55am
- Swifty
  
  Hic!!!
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:14pm
- JibberJabber
  
  Even Google can`t translate Gibberish.
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:18pm
Hugh Pavletich

CHINA

Trump will raise tariff rates on Chinese goods in response to trade war retaliation … CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/trump-will-raise-tariff-rates-on-chinese-goods-in-response-to-trade-war-retaliation.html

KEY POINTS

• President Donald Trump said the U.S. will hike tariffs on most imports from China as his trade war with Beijing escalates.

• The U.S. will raise duties on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% from 25%, and increase tariffs on another $300 billion in products to 15% from 10%.

• Earlier, China announced new tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods — and Trump ordered U.S. companies to find an “alternative” to operating in China.

China to hit $75bn of US goods with additional tariffs … Financial Times

https://www.ft.com/content/37f5900e-c5a1-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9

Here’s a list of American products targeted by China’s new tariffs … CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/heres-a-list-of-american-products-targeted-by-chinas-new-tariffs.html
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August 24, 2019 10:03am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Freight slump flashes economic warning signs amid US-China trade war … CNBC
  
  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/us-china-trade-war-sparks-declines-in-air-cargo-flashing-warning-signs-about-the-economy.html
  
  China’s enormous debt ‘no longer can be ignored,’ analyst says … CNBC
  
  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/23/chinas-debt-levels-amid-its-slowing-economy.html
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:11am
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    Why is the New Zealand Government STILL messing around sorting out urban land supply / urban limits abolition and proper debt financing of infrastructure … when the above is going on ?
    
    Does the Labour – led government understand the risks ?
    
    Access below … and draw your own conclusions …
    
    NEW ZEALAND’S HORROR HOUSING WEEK: From Nationals Housing Crisis To Labours Housing Disaster …
    
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2019/08/general_debate_23_august_2019.html/comment-page-1#comment-2544805
    
    NEW ZEALAND HOUSE BUILDING: What lessons are being learned from top performing Councils such as Waimakariri and Selwyn ?
    …
    
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2019/08/general_debate_21_august_2019.html/comment-page-1#comment-2543708
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:49am
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘China’s enormous debt ‘no longer can be ignored,’ analyst says … CNBC’
    
    Yep. That and the shortage they have of US $ to pay for everything.
    The reality is that without America’s 320 million consumers, China is the world’s most insolvent landfill
    
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    August 24, 2019 11:22am
    - stephieboy
      
      All on Red, enormously exacerbated by Trumps’ Trade war with China which is plunging the world into recession.
      
      Have you Trump’s trade war tools in mind as serious ACT and National election economic policy?
      
      BTW US debt to China,
      
      The U.S. debt to China is $1.11 trillion as of May 2019. That’s 27% of the $4.1 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds held by foreign countries. The rest of the $22 trillion national debt is owned by either the American people or by the U.S. government itself.
      
      China has the greatest amount of U.S. debt held by a foreign country. Japan comes second at $1.10 trillion. It’s followed the United Kingdom at $332 billion, Brazil at $306 and Ireland at $271 billion.
      
      The map below shows a breakdown of the top five countries owning U.S. debt. Combined, they hold 75% of U.S. debt held by foreign count
      
      https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-debt-to-china-how-much-does-it-own-3306355
      
      LOL!
      
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      August 24, 2019 2:18pm
  - BrownSnake
    
    Hugh this Trade war is chicken poop the Hot war
    is being organised and planned as we speak
    
    NZ and AUS are the Targets
    
    You are going to be in the firing line
    
    Put those factors into your
    
    Real Estate Model
    
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    August 24, 2019 12:16pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  These are situations described in economics texts as “not to be done ever again”. It beggars both countries and China is a more likely winner than the USA. China is used to control and can tolerate what the USA will not.
  
  China has 20X the history of the USA so it expects to be there when other global tantrums cease.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:21pm
  - Hugh Pavletich
    
    A few very important recent articles on ‘matters China’ … in case you missed them …
    
    Uncertainty hangs over Foxconn’s newest China factory as trade war and economic slowdown take a toll … He Huifeng … South China Morning Post
    
    https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3023244/uncertainty-hangs-over-foxconns-newest-china-factory-trade
    
    ‘Brutal consequences’: Ansell warns China over exodus of manufacturers … Darren Gray … Sydney Morning Herald
    
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/brutal-consequences-ansell-warns-china-over-exodus-of-manufacturers-20190812-p52gat.html
    
    … How vulnerable is China’s property market to the above trends ? …
    
    … Earlier ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) report …
    
    China’s empty homes may prove a bigger threat than Donald Trump’s tariffs … Michael Janda … ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
    
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-14/china-vacant-property-empty-homes-donald-trump-tariffs/11082900
    
    … extract …
    
    … Build it and they will come. That is the philosophy underpinning modern China’s urban fields of dreams. …
    
    In some senses they have, and do, come. But they are not residents or businesses in many of China’s gleaming new towers. They are investors — speculators betting that property values only go up as China’s population moves indefinitely in just one direction, from country to city. …
    
    … To give you a better sense of the scale of China’s overbuilding, assuming a reasonably generous average of 80sqm of floorspace per new dwelling, that is 80 million units that are currently sitting empty. … read more via hyperlink above …
    
    Chinese property is extremely unaffordable
    
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-14/chinese-property-is-extremely-unaffordable/11113024
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:00pm
    - GJM
      
      Not only is Chinese property expensive, you dont own it and the quality is rubbish. The State owns everything and I believe it is a 70 year lease, which doesn’t inspire long term commitment. One reason why so much Chinese money has gone into real estate internationally over the last 20 years. They have big issues with quality, especially with the spec built units. There is an interesting video byAdvChina and Serpentza on YouTube.
      
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      August 25, 2019 9:44am
- Rob2
  
  Seemingly the Chinese have put a tariff on pork.
  They haven’t noticed that they have had to slaughter millions of pigs because of Swine Fever and are relying on outside suppliers from the USA and others.
  
  Kinda an own goal.
  
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  August 24, 2019 7:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Found this gem on Facebook:

I will comment later. I am in the hospital my cousin, swallowed a 16gb memory card and he is singing all songs in it…we just pray it doesn’t reach video folder
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August 24, 2019 10:03am
- Inandout
  
  Steve, reminds me of Manny in Black Books swallowing the ‘Little Book of Calm’. Hilarious.
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:12pm
Lee C

I put this in the Pike River Gust post, but want to share it wider here as that post is a bit old now…

I refer to Andrew Little an Trevor Mallard’s shenanigans about Pike River in the House the other day.

Labour’s Exploitation of Pike River:

This is what I call Dirty Politics. It is THE dirtiest kind, because it exploits the memories of those deceased miners and exploits the feelings of those families to reap political and electoral benefits, fully in the knowledge that not only can it not be possible to re-enter the mine, but that the deaths themselves are, in part due to the neglect of the labour Government and EPMU which was incidentally headed by Andrew Little at the time of the disaster.

It is the lowest, pond-scum sort of grief porn you may witness because it was in part, caused by the very people now wringing their hands about it.
https://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-andrew-little-failed-pike-river.html

As president of the EPMU Andrew Little was complicit in allowing Helen Clarks’ Government
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/chris-trotter/7924949/Labour-shares-Pike-River-guilt
to sign off on reduced safety standards.

Now Andrew Little gets to preside over proceedings that may exonerate his own involvement in the situation, and has Trevor Mallard (who held the portfolio in 2007) to run protection in the House as the Speaker who, as Minister, assisted in the continued dilution of safety standards which may have contributed to the deaths..

“But despite the overwhelming evidence that there was something seriously and dangerously wrong at the Pike Rive mine, the officials of the EPMU did nothing.”

“The mine opened in November 2008 and on not one occasion did the EPMU initiate industrial action or even criticise PRC’S safety standards, even after a group of workers walked off the job to protest the lack of basic emergency equipment.”

It’s worse than Dirty Politics. It’s Blood-Politics.
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August 24, 2019 10:09am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It’s a farce..
  Andrew Little is donkey-deep complicit in the Pike River disaster.
  While the mine was operating, his union was getting income from the workers’ union fees.
  He had nil concern for the safety, welfare of the workers; he was hand-in-glove with PRC management .
  And now he is Minister of Justice and Min. in Charge of Pike River Re-Entry.
  
  3rd World corruption?…. You betcha!
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:24am
  - sooty
    
    Why is Labour going for an exemption to the double access rules, when they tell us that it’s all legal till 2024 as it is?
    
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    August 24, 2019 10:35am
    - rockape
      
      He stated the entry would be done under “best safety practice” Doesnt best safety practice mean to entry/exits from the mine?
      
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      August 24, 2019 12:18pm
      - sooty
        
        He’s going for an exemption of the rules!
        He’s assisted to kill a shitload of miners, now he wants to kill somemore!
        
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        August 24, 2019 4:16pm
  - stephieboy
    
    MW,
    
    MW, your link was published Dec 3rd 2014,
    
    “The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.”
    
    ― Roy T. Bennett,
    
    Andrew Little open to cancelling Pike River re-entry if progress cannot be made safely
    
    Andrew Little is open to not re-entering Pike River mine and says if no progress has been made by Christmas, officials will question if that is the right move.
    
    On Thursday, Little, the Minister Responsible for Pike River re-entry, announced that the operation planned for Friday had been delayed due to elevated oxygen levels at the far end of the drift.
    
    The decision to suspend operations was disappointing for the local West Coast community and families of the 29 men killed in the 2010 explosion, but they also understood health and safety had to be put first.
    While the previous Government said the mine wasn’t safe enough to re-enter, the current Government says experts believe it is possible to get men back into the mine to look for evidence about what caused the explosion.
    But Little told The AM Show on Friday that if problems continue to arise and nothing can be done to make the re-entry safe, they may have to call quits on the operation.
    “There will come a point where we say ‘we have fulfilled our commitment to do everything possible and everything conceivable and safely, but we can’t get there or we can’t go any further’,” he said….”
    
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/andrew-little-open-to-cancelling-pike-river-re-entry-if-progress-cannot-be-made-safely.html
    
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    August 24, 2019 2:38pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      @stephieboy
      MW, your link was published Dec 3rd 2014,
      
      What link, stephieboy?
      My post at 10:24am does not contain any link.
      
      Don’t you think it is time to just butt out of commenting on my posts?
      Your obsession/harassment is obvious to everyone on KB.
      
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      August 24, 2019 4:51pm
  - stephieboy
    
    MW,
    
    “3rd World corruption?…. You betcha!”
    
    Expand on that, please!
    
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    August 24, 2019 2:39pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      34 people seem to get what I was writing.
      You don’t.
      
      I can’t perform literary miracles.
      
      If you can’t figure out what I’m writing, I figure it is your problem… not mine.
      
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      August 24, 2019 5:48pm
  - Tricati
    
    I see 2 police officers visited the home of the journalist that Little belittled in parliament after the journo made some retaliatory comments. Having the plod arrive at 10:30 at night when you are in bed seems a little aggressive, or was it Little flexing his muscle.
    
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    August 24, 2019 3:10pm
    - sooty
      
      The only muscle he’s got, the arsehole!
      
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      August 24, 2019 4:14pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Potential for a right legal imbroglio should another explosion occur. It reeks of negligence. Former Ministers may not be protected.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:26pm
secondcumming

*WALL STREET* ….the world’s biggest casino, scoops all the mug punters money off the table overnight.

Just imagine the incredible position you and your associates would be in, if only you had a little *prior knowledge* of what was about to pop up on twitter 😎
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August 24, 2019 10:18am
Maggy Wassilieff

Duncan Garner reckons Ihumatao is a done deal and all will be peace and harmony next week…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/115246462/tainui-saves-the-government-from-a-seabed-and-foreshore-moment
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August 24, 2019 10:29am
- Sofia
  
  Fletchers is willing to sell the land for around $38 million.
  
  … property records showed Fletcher bought the land for $19 million in March 2014, when the rateable value was $11.5 million. The land was transferred to Fletcher Residential Ltd in December 2016 with a new title.
  
  The total cost to the Crown of the settlement redress [Treaty Settlement – Te Kawerau a Maki] outlined in the deed is $6.5 million plus interest, $300,000 as a contribution by the Crown to costs associated with establishing a marae at Te Onekiritea Point (Hobsonville), and the value of the cultural redress properties to be vested in Te Kawerau a Maki.
  Is there any private land involved? No.
  
  How much tax, if any, will Fletchers owe on a sale of Ihumatao, if they do sell, and how will that compare to the Te Kawerau a Maki Treaty Settlement of $6.8 million plus the value of the cultural redress properties?
  Would GST be about $5.7m to start with?
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:46am
  - sooty
    
    None, it’s all part of the deal!
    Cindys trying to get as cheap a deal as possible!
    Pay tax and gst and the price doubles!
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:11pm
- Tall Man
  
  The only thing being done here is the long suffering tax payer…. one way or another.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:35pm
Mummy

Did anyone see an article late last night on Stuff about an interview with a Ryan Fox about the big profits he and his mates are making on Bitcoin Loophole? Hubby saw it and reckons it was Ryan Fox the golfer and the interview was on Magic Radio but now can’t be sure. If you google Ryan Fox Bitcoin there is a YouTube interview with a completely different Ryan Fox but whatever it was, it seems to have been pulled and no longer available. If anyone else is cleverer than me and can find it?
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August 24, 2019 10:32am
- atomic drop
  
  Bitcoin Loophole looks like just another scam – “advanced algorithm” invented by big time trader blah blah.
  
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  August 24, 2019 10:59am
- RightNow
  
  I’m not even going to look for it, but I warn you not to be sucked in. Bitcoin Loophole is worthless, a coin toss would likely yield better results.
  
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  August 24, 2019 11:01am
- Mummy
  
  No just found it. It was Duncan Garner on AM yesterday morning.
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:38pm
- ex-golfer
  
  Sir Robert Jones has blogged about this.
  His name is also being fraudulently used in adverts about Bitcoin.
  As he says, Bitcoin is a complete and utter farce, a scam and ponzi scheme of the highest order.
  I can’t wait for the whole thing to come collapsing to the ground and all the poncy millennials who think they are smart stocking up on it crying into their soy-lattes.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:28pm
- burt
  
  I’ve seen ‘articles’ promoted on facebook with Bob Jones promoting bitcoin in the last month or so. I looked at the article and it was somewhat convincing. It had that ‘too good to be true, you need to get in quick’ genre about it so I googled ‘bob jones bitcoin’ – nothing. But I did find this;
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12229163
  
  So it seems there’s convincing scam sites falsely using notable wealthy people to endorse and promote their scam.
  
  It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not these days.
  
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  August 24, 2019 3:01pm
chaos

Hijab Cindy is back, trying to reprise her performance for any upcoming UN job that can get her away from the mess she has created in New Zealand

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12261534

Hijab Cindy, the doll Mattel didn’t want
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August 24, 2019 12:05pm
- Sofia
  
  Jacinda Ardern dons hijab as she fronts Islamic Women’s Council national conference.
  She promised to help workshop aspiring Muslim leaders in politics.
  Responding to a question about how the Muslim community can rise to leadership positions, Ardern said she’d like to unite them with local and central government. She asked the conference who was interested – and an uproar of applause broke out.
  “I will be there and we can have this conversation, that would be great. So let’s be practical and start politics bootcamp.”
  
  No one tell Brian or Hannah
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:22pm
- secondcumming
  
  She’s even suggesting a *Muslim Bootcamp* for those young girls aspiring to leadership roles within Labour. For some male attendees already within the Party, it will be like having died and gone to heaven 😎
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:24pm
  - chaos
    
    When you watch her actually speaking at the event she really is a bad public ah ah aha ah ummmm ah ah speak ah umm er
    
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    August 24, 2019 6:08pm
- Tall Man
  
  In fact she isn’t wearing a hijab because in some countries her husband would be beating her with a “big finger” sized stick as she still has her hair showing as well as neck.
  
  Her adoption of a symbol of oppression for women is naive and calculating but it has worn thin with the vast bulk of kiwis…. although psycho will be along later say how much he supports and adores her. Her actions appeal to idiots so expect steffy girl along as well.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:34pm
  - chaos
    
    just ignore the troll there is something not right in their collective heads.
    
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    August 24, 2019 3:22pm
- kiwiracer
  
  If’s that what she said, she’s becoming more dangerous to our way of life.
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:07pm
- stephieboy
  
  chaos , re the Nimitz UFO incident,
  
  Investigative Files
  Navy Pilot’s 2004 UFO: A Comedy Of Errors
  Joe Nickell
  
  https://skepticalinquirer.org/2018/05/navy_pilots_2004_ufo_a_comedy_of_errors/?%2Fsi%2Fshow%2Fnavy_pilots_2004_ufo_a_comedy_of_errors
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:46pm
  - chaos
    
    https://media.lasvegasnow.com/nxsglobal/lasvegasnow/document_dev/2018/05/18/TIC%20TAC%20UFO%20EXECUTIVE%20REPORT_1526682843046_42960218_ver1.0.pdf
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:00pm
- burt
  
  Hey, be fair. Nobody gave her a hard time when she wore an Akubra following the slaughter of the Aussie Tourist.
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:52pm
- Scooter
  
  Latest buzz words from our Princess, “I will be there” “let’s have a conversation”. More meaningless drivel.
  
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  August 24, 2019 5:19pm
  - Tall Man
    
    “We are them”, “they are us” ” I get lots of money for nothing”…..
    
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    August 24, 2019 6:18pm
Happychappy

Surely our wannabe Princess is missing all the attention that she has had a few months ago, so has returned to the commission of inquiry into the Mosque shootings wearing a Hijab in her lust for attention.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12261534
It must be hard to attract attention when you hide from the truth but why not go back to those that’s I’ll fortune brought you World wide media attention to create some more.
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August 24, 2019 12:08pm
- Happychappy
  
  Sorry it was supposed to be the NZ Islamic Womans Council.
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:21pm
- Sofia
  
  Happychappy – at the Islamic Women’s Council national conference, not the Commission of Inquiry into the Mosque shootings
  
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  August 24, 2019 12:28pm
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Is Ardern doing this because:
  a) Labour Party internal polling is telling them the average NZ voter seriously wants to see a lot more of this kind of behaviour from her;
  b) someone at the UN has told her she has to do much more of it if she really wants to get that job she wants at the UN;
  c) NZ’s Moslem population is seriously like to swing the next election;
  d) other reason(s)??
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:27pm
  - chaos
    
    B. She is only ever doing things for herself and to get a un job
    
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    August 24, 2019 3:19pm
- tf78
  
  Maybe she should be married to Justin – they would have so much fun dressing up.
  
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  August 24, 2019 1:48pm
- Gravelroad
  
  This is just a desperate publicity stunt by Ms Ardern.
  Shame on her for using the tragedy of a group of people to draw attention to herself by wearing someone else’s traditional, religious garb.
  Once was enough.
  Just as once is enough for her to be Prime Minister.
  Time to go, Ms Ardern.
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:28pm
virtualmark

Trump today “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to …”

The guy has always been unsuitable as President, but now the pressure is building on him and he is starting to crack. Or maybe it’s just the general groundswell of public opinion is shifting away from him more rapidly. Or perhaps both.

Either way the Republican Party is going over the cliff with him in 2020. The 2018 House election swing is going to repeat in 2020. I think the Republicans are going to lose today’s under 40 demographic for at least 10 years. All for some unsustainable tax cuts and a couple of Supreme Court seats.
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August 24, 2019 1:19pm
- chaos
  
  Yes , how dare any president or political leader stand up against a country that is basically stealing and copying everyone else’s work. Bad trump, bow down and let the Chinese steal and rip your country off.
  
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  August 24, 2019 3:18pm
  - virtualmark
    
    It’s not about that.
    
    It’s a question of whether you put the Constitution first, or the Orange God King first. No President has the power to “hereby order” any company to do anything.
    
    And so far this week Trump has speculated about buying Greenland, favourably compared himself to the second coming of Jesus and said he was the “Chosen One”, said the Federal Reserve chair that Trump himself appointed was an enemy of the US, and now thinks he can order private entities around. The “very stable genius” is actually unhinged. If your bus driver started talking like that then you’d get off at the very next stop. But it’s okay for this guy to have the codes to the nuclear arsenal???
    
    But hey, you keep polishing his turds for all your worth.
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:57pm
    - chaos
      
      So trump speculating about buying Greenland bad, Harry Truman Offer $100 million for Greenland isn’t. Trump hasn’t ordered, they can still operate in China, it’s just a word. Nope never compared himself to the second coming of Jesus, just played with you snowflakes.
      
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      August 24, 2019 6:26pm
      - virtualmark
        
        The way we think about sovereign rights has moved on since Truman’s day. It’s no longer tenable for Denmark to “sell” Greenland. If Trump had half a brain he’d have realised that.
        
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        August 24, 2019 7:24pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Simple question chaos …
        
        Does the Constitution give the President the power to order privately-owned companies to shut down their Chinese manufacturing and sales operations?
        
        Yes or No.
        
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        August 24, 2019 7:26pm
      - chaos
        
        He actually hasn’t ordered any companies out of China, it was simply the words he used, you’ve taken it too literal.
        
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        August 25, 2019 7:27am
    - All_on_Red
      
      VM is wrong. The President actually does have the authority to direct US companies.
      Especially in times of crisis. The Trade War with China and their poisoning Americans with fentanyl and stealing IP is a crisis.
      As for Greenland, it’s of hugely strategic significance.
      It controls access to Sea lanes in the Arctic.
      Theres quite a lot of commentary about it.
      VM is uninformed.
      
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      August 24, 2019 8:18pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        What’s more hilarious about Trump taking the piss about being ‘the chosen one’ is the fools who take him literally
        They out themselves and show us all how demented they truly are.
        Now that’s really funny.
        #winning
        
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        August 24, 2019 8:21pm
      - virtualmark
        
        In a highly theoretical sense yes … but that’s the sort of impractical position I’d expect from you.
        
        A President’s emergency powers were well discussed here https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/ several months ago.
        
        But the preconditions don’t exist for Trump to “hereby order” any private companies to exit China.
        
        And if Trump were to use those extreme emergency powers wouldn’t that be the sort of socialistic dictatorial over-reach that all you raving loonies feared Obama or Hilary would do?
        
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        August 24, 2019 8:22pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Keep polishing the turds All_on_Red
        
        If Obama had said he was the “Chosen One” you’d have popped a vein. If Trump does it you’ll do any sort of gymnastics required to rationalise it.
        
        Trump Derangement.
        
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        August 24, 2019 8:24pm
      - virtualmark
        
        As for Greenland, it’s of hugely strategic significance. It controls access to Sea lanes in the Arctic. Theres quite a lot of commentary about it.
        
        Sure, I don’t deny Greenland has strategic significance. Nice attempt at misdirection.
        
        The question is whether it’s rational/possible to *buy* it from Denmark. And whether it’s rational/diplomatic to have a tantrum when the Danish Prime Minister says such an idea is absurd.
        
        https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-trump-cant-buy-greenland is a good summary of why speculating about buying Greenland is – as the Danish PM said – an absurd idea.
        
        Stable genius. Keep polishing.
        
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        August 24, 2019 8:53pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        AOR … see above comment about NK.
        virtualmark was adamant that Trump was going down thanks to Booby Mueller. He has been pulling his hair out ever since that boondoggle report ended up as a dud. Derangement means continuing smearing and making shit up. Sad.
        
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        August 25, 2019 12:02am
- rangitoto
  
  Quite the Opposite. Trump’s approval rating is now over 50% and about 93% among republicans. He will walk the 2020 election.
  
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  August 24, 2019 4:34pm
  - virtualmark
    
    No, it means he might walk the *Republican primary*. But even Fox News’ polls show he is in deep do-do with the general voters. His only hope is that the Democrats put someone up who is utterly unelectable *cough*Warren*cough*Sanders*cough*.
    
    But hey, you Trumpkins are like the band on the Titanic … you’ll keep banging out that tune until the water gets up to your nostrils.
    
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    August 24, 2019 5:02pm
  - virtualmark
    
    And the only polls that put Trump’s approval rating above 50% are the Rasmussen ones, which have consistently been 10 or so points higher than other pollsters. Which is why Trump tweets out those Rasmussen numbers.
    
    Other pollsters have his approval rating at about 42% and his disapproval rating at about 54% (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ which tries to incorporate all the relevant polls, not just the Rasmussen figures).
    
    But keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
    
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    August 24, 2019 6:04pm
    - marcw
      
      You’re wrong here VM – Hillary is President, the polls you so love said so!
      
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      August 24, 2019 6:39pm
      - virtualmark
        
        Nope, have never been a Hilary fan.
        
        And the key poll I referred to was the 2018 House elections. Remember how that turned out for the Republicans? Why would they want a double-dose of that in 2020?
        
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        August 24, 2019 7:25pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        You have to laugh how VM slags off Rasmussen as being inaccurate(they were accurate in 2016 along with the LA Times) then quotes 538 as being right!
        Now that level of ignorance and denial is just sad!
        
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        August 24, 2019 8:11pm
      - virtualmark
        
        All_on_Red, a cut-and-paste from Wikipedia …
        
        In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, won control of the House. The Democrats gained a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in the 2016 elections. The 41-seat gain was the Democrats’ largest gain of House seats since the post-Watergate 1974 elections, when they picked up 49 seats. The Democrats also won the popular vote by a margin of 8.6%, the largest margin on record for a party that previously held a minority in the House.
        
        Do you think the same underlying drivers that delivered the House to the Dems in 2018 are still present in US politics? I do.
        
        The Republicans are defending 22 Senate seats in 2020. I think it’s very likely the GOP will lose control of the Senate.
        
        Sure Trump “owns the libs”. But it’s a Pyrrhic victory.
        
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        August 24, 2019 9:01pm
lilman

Really you stupid little girl.

Grow up.

How bloody pathetic.
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August 24, 2019 1:49pm
Chuck Bird

She does not even impress the Muslims. Does she support FGM? Does it happen in NZ? Does she care?

“Jacinda Ardern dons hijab as she fronts Islamic Women’s Council national conference”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12261534
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August 24, 2019 1:59pm
- sooty
  
  One thing is for sure, she condones rape!
  She’s done nothing with the pervert in her office
  
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  August 24, 2019 4:06pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Wasn’t one of her favourite singers, signing songs about raping John Key’s daughter? I guess you could be right.
    
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    August 24, 2019 4:36pm
stephieboy

The” chosen one” is nuts,

Trump says US firms ‘hereby ordered’ to quit China

President Donald Trump says he has “hereby ordered” American companies to leave China, after Beijing announced plans to slap new tariffs on US goods.

The White House did not immediately say what authority the president had to compel private firms to quit a country.
President Trump announced a 5% increase on tariffs on Chinese imports, after China unveiled plans for duties of 10% on $75bn (£61bn) of US goods.

The latest salvos in the trade war sent global financial markets tumbling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 620 points, or 2.4%, while London’s FTSE 100 and the German DAX also turned negative.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49450245
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August 24, 2019 2:28pm
- Wired-one
  
  But you lefties keep telling everyone that the stock exchange had nothing to do with Trump when it was booming at record levels. So surely you wouldn’t blame him for the exchange taking a hit, would you hypocrite?
  
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  August 24, 2019 5:09pm
- All_on_Red
  
  Actually Trump as head of the Executive Branch does have authority to order it.
  He just didn’t invoke it.
  Call his direction a ‘hint’.
  You’re quite ignorant eh Ralph.
  
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  August 24, 2019 8:08pm
rightoverlabour

Hmmm Off to the Gulags..

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/115253203/threats-to-andrew-little-trigger-late-night-police-visit-says-pike-river-reentry-critic
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August 24, 2019 2:42pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear, oh dear

More trouble swirling around Andrew Little and Pike River

Threats to Andrew Little trigger late night police visit, says Pike River re-entry critic
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/115253203/threats-to-andrew-little-trigger-late-night-police-visit-says-pike-river-reentry-critic

It’s never a good idea to threaten the Minister in Charge of the SIS.
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August 24, 2019 2:50pm
- chaos
  
  So, hmmm, a day or two after little is embarrassed in question time over this the author received
  A police visit.
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:55pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Even if he’s the biggest twat unhung……….
  
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  August 24, 2019 2:59pm
Happychappy

I have always thought that Labour was all about donations and what they could get from their Chinese candidates until they got found out that it could hurt their vote, well maybe now I could be right.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/08/24/771471/labour-distances-itself-from-pro-china-candidate
These Hypocrites will try anythink for votes until it becomes known.
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August 24, 2019 4:49pm
- sooty
  
  Don’t forget all them Labour MPs trotting out to the Dotcom mansion sucking up!
  
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  August 24, 2019 6:07pm
chaos

Some interesting articles

“Spencer Kuvin, who accurately predicted that shamed financier would not last until his trial, told Sun Online he had been contacted by an anonymous prison worker who claimed it was “highly unlikely” the perv killed himself.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9757129/jeffrey-epstein-did-not-commit-suicide-murdered-lawyer-suggests/

“Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein four years AFTER his release from prison while the billionaire was still chairman of Microsoft”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7377133/Bill-Gates-REFUSES-reveal-flew-Lolita-Express-Jeffrey-Epstein-prison-release.html

“Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell stroll the streets of Paris with their underage sex slave in unsealed photos which also show the apartment where pedophile housed teen victims in NYC”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7383995/Jeffrey-Epstein-Ghislaine-Maxwell-stroll-streets-Paris-underage-sex-slave-photo.html
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August 24, 2019 6:05pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  This one on Andy in The Guardian gets straight to the point…
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/23/prince-andrew-appalled-epstein-royal-wedding
  
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  August 24, 2019 7:21pm
  - chaos
    
    Very well put. The Queen will not be able to hide Andy from this for long. It’s not going to go away.
    
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    August 24, 2019 7:34pm
Hugh Pavletich

NEW ZEALAND: Another major reason why the current government needs to be thrown out … the transport debacle…

… Former senior National Party politician Steven Joyce explains …

Steven Joyce: Here’s why the Government needs to spend more now (infrastructure) … Opinion … Stuff NZ

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/115253220/steven-joyce-heres-why-the-government-needs-to-spend-more-now

OPINION: It makes sense in a slowing economy to bring forward infrastructure investment to boost economic activity and protect jobs. You get the economic boost from the extra spend, plus something to show for it. If you build the right infrastructure it can in turn boost economic growth in the future. …

… concluding …

… Everyone knows the Green Party is anti-road and anti-development. The surprise for most people is just how much the Greens are now controlling New Zealand’s roading policy, and how radical that policy has become. Highway funding has been halted purely to satisfy the ideology of one of Parliament’s smallest parties.

The construction workers will be okay. There is tons of work coming up for them, although they will need to live in Australia. Melbourne and Sydney in particular are crying out for skilled road builders as Australia ramps up its infrastructure investment.

Our economy however won’t do so well. Rather than a needed infrastructure boost, we are about to have an infrastructure bust. Another politically-induced headwind we simply don’t need.

Steven Joyce – Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Joyce
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August 25, 2019 6:54am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  The $3.5 billion ‘brake’ on the economy | Thomas Coughlan | Stuff.co.nz
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115195602/the-35-billion-brake-on-the-economy
  
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  August 25, 2019 11:53am

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