General Debate 27 September 2019

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KevO'Brien

Is it good bye Britain?
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/26/britains-remoaner-elite-is-stoking-civil-war/
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September 27, 2019 8:01am
- kevn
  
  @Kev…. Britain close to falling into their European masters-to-be laps.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:24am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I hope not.
    
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    September 27, 2019 7:44pm
- The King
  
  Cuck island was done along time ago.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:48am
artemisia

If household income changes, should taxpayer provided free money – Accommodation Supplement – be adjusted? An opinion piece in Stuff today says not necessarily, because it is based on household income and should be based on individual income. Because romance.

Hello, someone moves in, contributes to household expenses and Accommodation Supplement should just carry on? Sorry taxpayer, love trumps you.

A few years ago my marriage ended and I ended up on a benefit – the Jobseeker sole parent support. I’m not on it now, but working part-time (as many single parents do) and being low income means I’m still getting an accommodation supplement. That means an important part of my income – the money I need for me and my children – is still put at risk based on how I date someone. It also means that part of my criteria for a new partner is whether they’re willing to support me and my kids.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116122931/mothers-kept-single-by-government-rules-about-relationships-for-beneficiaries
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September 27, 2019 8:02am
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  Dating someone does not put a benefit at risk. Having them move in with you puts that at risk, and hopefully, while dating someone, you find out if they are willing to take on supporting you and your kids.
  
  Your kids are part of the package. So, bear that in mind while you are getting to know someone. It’s not all about jumping in to the sack with them at the first opportunity, and then finding out they are not the knight in shining armour you had hoped for.
  
  Put your kids first!
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:11am
  - Piniwi
    
    Sorry Right of way is Way of Right @8.11 am but this lifestyle choice that came with introduction of DPB is the route cause of most of the problems children are suffering now. The only time children are first in this demographic is the fact to qualify they must fist start with one then the sky is the limit.
    There is an increasing number of sob stories about how hard it is to cope which is some cases of those surviving within the system may be genuine. However the majority do much better than survive by adopting one of many ingenious “work arounds” to flourish. Sob stories like this one only serve to illustrate not all recipients have “adapted” to the lifestyle so well.
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:09pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  “Mothers kept single…”
  
  Don’t they have any agency?
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:14am
  - dubya
    
    Agencies are very old-hat. People just use Tinder now.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:50am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Her relationship with her hubby has ended… but he’s still the father of her kids… Shouldn’t he be helping to pay for the roof over his kids’ heads?
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:22am
- Swifty
  
  I don’t want to come across as Stephiestani – always attacking and casting aspersions on the messenger rather than dealing with the substance of an issue – but I will point out that this woman is as thick as thieves with CPAG – The Child Poverty Action Group – who, it seems, will not be content until the country is bled dry attempting to reward people for sloth, irresponsibility and bad decision making.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:46am
- Classic Liberal
  
  “an important part of my income … is still put at risk based on how I date someone.”
  
  Welcome to what every retired person has to consider when they meet somebody they would like to live with!
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:30am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The accommodation benefit is means tested so dependents are allowed for and family income taken into account.
  The purpose of that benefit is to even out the equities between the social housing rents and others on lower incomes paying higher rents privately. It works well for its purpose. It applies to mortgages as well as rent with adjusted rates for each. The payments also differ with location.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:16am
  - artemisia
    
    Average taxpayer subsidy for social housing households – $300 per week. Average Accommodation Supplement for private sector housing households – $100 per week.
    
    And big difference in security of tenure.
    
    Equitable?
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:16pm
- Hard Cheese
  
  Surely it’s simple. If someone moves in with you, they don’t get free accommodation – they will be contributing to the cost of it for both of you. Therefore your Accommodation Supplement goes down.
  
  The Accommodation Supplement is just that, to assist with your accomodation. She is treating it as general (free) “income”, to be completely free of any means testing
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:26am
- The King
  
  Alternative headline.
  
  “Netfix induced woman leaves husband to ride the cock carousal suddenly realizes she has to work “
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:53am
- WaveyDavey
  
  This line stood out I thought
  
  It seems ludicrous to be asking for women’s rights to maintain their financial independence…
  
  GYAC you’re claiming dependence upon the state, sorry the taxpayer, as “financial independence”? Get a feckin’ life (and a job).
  
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  September 27, 2019 1:44pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Big sense of entitlement…
    
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    September 27, 2019 2:57pm
Swifty

Julie Anne Genter needs to come clean:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271392

Dirty, dirty, dirty.
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September 27, 2019 8:03am
- Swifty
  
  I should add, is it really unrealistic of us to expect our elected representatives to give us straight answers to questions posed to them.
  
  They hold public positions. They are paid by us. The are our elected leadership.
  
  But time and time again we see non-answers, misleading answers or outright deceit. Snivelley, weasel answers which they themselves wouldn’t stand for if given to them by civil servants.
  
  Just why don’t we have the ability to compel truth and honesty from our representatives? Under threat of punishment if need be.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:12am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    “they are our elected leadership” and that my friend is where we and they get it so badly wrong.
    
    They are our elected representatives. We are their employers.
    
    I do not regard any of these people in Parliament as my “leaders” we have elected them to perform a necessary function.
    
    We allow them to give themselves airs and graces at our peril.
    
    Manifestly unprepared people such as Green MPs should simply not be there, it is a travesty that we permit an evil embittered old man to select our government.
    
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    September 27, 2019 8:26am
    - Swifty
      
      Yes, good points.
      
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      September 27, 2019 8:42am
    - Stephen Russell
      
      And who decides who is permitted to do this?
      I suggest me. Or failing that, how about voters?
      Some of whom, unfortunately, think that an evil embittered old man is ideal for this position.
      
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      September 27, 2019 9:30am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Pointing and laughing when they pontificate is a good start.
        
        Every single MP who is mocked for stupidity will ultimately learn to avoid pain. If flatworms can turn away from pain, a politician must be able to be taught?
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:59pm
  - info@cruzpro.com
    
    Because referendums are not “binding” in New Zealand. If we elect politicians who will promise (and deliver) binding referendums then New Zealand can have a true democracy as apposed to the current shamocracy.
    
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    September 27, 2019 8:37am
  - The King
    
    No,no,no.
    
    This why they get away with everything because of this mindset.
    
    These people are not ‘elected leaders’ they are ‘ elected GUARDIANS’ Guardians of the people. Not rulers.
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:45am
- Rich Prick
  
  Very dirty. But she is doggedly sticking to her anti-car agenda and will see it through, by fair means or foul. And she has at least two plants within Wellington City Council to help with her plan.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:48am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    And her hubby has lots more work in his new job in Wellington transport planning as a result of her mechanations right?
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:48am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I don’t like JAG but I do support private communications between Ministers, staff and advisors at the political level. They do need freedom to discuss and formulate policies without external supervision. Our curiosity or animosity is not sufficient. Departmental action is different.
    JAG’s repeated statement that the document whatever its head was intended as a private intra COL communication. We cannot call her a liar on that nor do we have a right to see the document.
    Are we going to have the Ombudsman now persusing all documents and completely gumming up the functioning of government business? The COL will not last forever. We should not make our own future more difficult.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:29am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Why is the ombudsman taking so long to decide on releasing the letter? i can only assume that he is trying to come up with a reason to not release the letter as it “would not be in the public’s interest”.
  
  As Wellington are voting for Mayor etc. I would think it is very much in the public interest.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:06am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    I see he spelled the word ‘my’ incorrectly.
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:49am
- kevn
  
  @Swifty… Agree, imported mad green with ‘an agenda’.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:18am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Now Justin Lester, friend of the Greens and Labour, semi denies he said this in that meeting, or semi denies it came out as clearly as the three other councillors are painting it.
  
  Is semi-denying the same as lying,
  or is it the same as telling a half truth?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:27am
  - SGA
    
    Perhaps it’s a different way of saying “agrees in part”? Don’t know.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:34am
  - Michael
    
    Maggy
    I believe the other 3 councillors.
    I think Justion is lying.
    
    It is a simple he said, she said.
    Justin is lying and it is one reason I have not voted for him.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:54am
    - Swifty
      
      He said, THEY said is a little different though in that we have corroboration.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:40am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Shame we don’t impeach.
      
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      September 27, 2019 1:40pm
- Kevin Herlihy
  
  Julie Ann Genter is a list m.p, as are all of her Green Party colleagues.
  She is number 3 on the Greens Party list, and should she resign, she would be replaced by the next person on the list.
  She isn’t in the position to bring down the government as alluded to by the Hosk, that also applies to her colleagues.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:02am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Time to get rid of MMP. All sorts of un-elected radical political activists like Julie Ann Genter make it into Parliament under MMP.
    
    We should remember that Julie Ann Genter gained only 6% of the votes in her Mount Albert Electorate. If 94% of people who have had to formerly assess her worthiness did not trust her, why should anyone else?
    
    A lifetime ago, we studied in school why MMP does not work and how the list system allows un-elected people to gain power and influence. We learnt that while FPP (First Past the Post) is labelled as party politics, and that MMP is touted as genuine representation, the reverse is actually true. i.e. that MMP is party politics – parties get the vote and it then opens the door for radicals that tow the party line to take control through the list. At least under FPP you do not get into parliament if your electorate does not trust you.
    
    I’m sure they don’t teach that anymore.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:12am
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Julie Ann Genter has let the world know in no uncertain terms her feelings on future transport needs. Her instagram account leaves no doubt.
  https://www.instagram.com/p/WStD6IQv7-/
  Back in May 1 2013, here was her opinion.
  “Transmission Gully PPP will cost taxpayers billions for no additional benefit.”
  Didn’t get one comment or like.
  She then trotted off to Copenhagen in May 2018, in economy I would assume, with advisor and peddler to show the world how we should travel.
  This photo really raises a few questions.
  https://www.instagram.com/p/BjX1uUFhbpE/
  It is quite odd she attempts to hide her well publicised ideals within government.
  I do hope she flys economy, in fact she should not fly at all if she truly believes in her mantra.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:23am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    yes she should stick to her principles and slither everywhere.
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:51am
Yvette

Prince Harry has strongly criticised climate change deniers, just days after schoolgirl activist Greta Thunberg accused world leaders of failing to act.

What, then, is the infallible scientific answer to the question: “Should the Government plant trees to supposedly soak up carbon into “forest sinks” for Greta and Neve to deal with when that carbon is released, or actually reduce emissions now, so they are not “kicked down the road” for future generations to wonder why the fuck we did that to them – their nuclear fallout moment?”
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September 27, 2019 8:06am
- kowtow
  
  Yes , like his kookie father , Charles , not the butler , he’s taken to telling us mere Plebs how we should live our lives, this from the most priveliged . ) Let them eat cake?
  
  The irony in the story is evil fossil fuels would solve this problem , and it ain’t climate that’s the problem it’s people and resources.
  
  ‘After decades of deforestation from locals gathering firewood and elephant activity, a conservation organisation working with locals is trying to create a nature and cultural park for the community.’
  
  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/09/26/prince-harry-leaves-meghan-markle-archie-south-africa-visits/
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:28am
- emmess
  
  Do something about your perverted uncle before lecturing the rest of us, Harry.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:44am
- rangitoto
  
  Her childhood was ruined:
  
  https://twitter.com/RomanaVolny/status/1177330568331218944
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:59am
- alloytoo
  
  Are these the same trees being burnt as Bio-Fuel?
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:43am
- Ian Hawthorn
  
  Apparently Nannie doesn’t approve.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:24am
- RiP NZ
  
  So, if we cant deny science as the prince asserts,
  Then why is ok to deny the submission of 500 reputable scientists who question the current status quo on climate change?
  The role of science is to be skeptical. Sad the art of critical thought and challenging groupthink has been lost.
  I detest climate change dogma, not because I have settled a view, but because I’m not allowed to explore both sides of scientific debate without the associated branding from the hysterical.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:33am
- Nermal
  
  I used to admire Harry. But I guess his father’s & wife’s influence won out
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:34pm
- kloyd0306
  
  Harry has opted for a skirt over pants since marrying Megan and like his father, sits down to pee.
  
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  September 28, 2019 12:31pm
igm

Good Lord, another day, another problem:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=12271330
Can any of these types be trusted?
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September 27, 2019 8:06am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  No.
  
  Please ask another question.
  
  Wogs are wogs.
  
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  September 27, 2019 4:05pm
Right of way is Way of Right

Julie-Ann Genter’s position appears to be becoming more and more untenable by the day.

The mysterious letter, whatever letterhead was used, is still being discussed, especially in the lead up to the local body elections in Wellington. If she did, as it appears, use the threat of collapsing the government if she didn’t get her way, and the Mayor of Wellington folded, then both of them are toast.

If Mayor Lester represented his constituents instead of his party, he should have told JAG to stick her empty threats and call her bluff! She would never have walked. She’s disingenuous, he’s spineless. They BOTH need to go!

The ombudsman has a huge decision to make, and we can only hope that it’s the right one!
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September 27, 2019 8:08am
- Tricati
  
  Why is the ombudsman taking so long to make a decision – Surely public interest, particularly with local body elections looming, dictates the letter must be released.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:59am
  - KiWombat
    
    I can only hope that he is considering deportation back to her homeland as she has willfully deceived us, her employers !
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:10am
  - Batman
    
    Tricati, this is not an unusual timeframe for an Ombudsman investigation.
    
    We’re within normal time frames.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:15am
    - MrLovebucket
      
      The Ombudsman sure has been busy lately with these clowns.
      
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      September 27, 2019 7:38pm
- Michael
  
  Good Points ROW
  On it may well be the Integrity on the Ombudsman!
  
  I’ve thought for years they need greater powers to enforce the act and transparency.
  
  But, if they are compromised like Mallard is as Speaker, then the process is fcked and us too.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:49am
cmm

A single mother asks why she and her partner should be treated as a couple after 6 weeks shacking up.

Well sweetie, why the hell should I be supporting you? I don’t even know you.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116122931/mothers-kept-single-by-government-rules-about-relationships-for-beneficiaries
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September 27, 2019 8:10am
- jonno1
  
  Quite apart from the legal and financial aspects, what on earth happened to the simple concept of living apart while courting? No reasonable person would wish to deny her a social life and adult companionship, but parenthood carries certain responsibilities.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:27am
- Classic Liberal
  
  She says: “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t even figured out whether I can tolerate someone’s music taste within six weeks, let alone decided whether they’re reliable, financially responsible, empathetic, honest, caring and kind enough to even consider them as a life partner.”
  
  Very true, lady. All the more reason to not *inflict the guy on your children* until you’re much more certain he is reliable and wants to be a provider.
  
  I miss the old Stuff comments section. They used ChCh as an excuse to get rid of the comments they didn’t like, which were mainly centre/right.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:27am
- Michael
  
  If he’s a live in, the kids are at greater risk!
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:50am
Maggie Pie

We curled up on the couch for an hour or so yesterday and watched Question Time.
The real standout performance for us came during Q8 – TimMcIdoe to the Minister for ACC… (from the 1m:15s mark):

https://vimeo.com/362461926

As my partner said, “It appears Ian is using someone other than Green Acres”
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September 27, 2019 8:11am
- G152
  
  Did nothing when the leader of the Opposition was featured in a video with a slight on his accent.
  However when one of liebors pretties got the same attention suddenly it is a matter for Speakers rulings that no-one can use video from Parliament for political purposes.
  
  This is the same videoed parliamentary sessions and broadcast on a free to air channel that we are now no longer permitted to comment on no matter how ridiculous they become.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:25am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Ve vill fix dat. Itz duck seeson 4 shure.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:36am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Wow, what a bouncy and exciteable lad. Someone must have re-upped his order!
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:32am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Yes I’m not sure what ILG had in his coffee yesterday, but he was very animated. I commented yesterday on this too.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:15am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    For someone who was “not panicking”, the last person I would want near me in a plane crash is ILG. He looked like he was about to bust a boiler.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:52am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Doing a Greta?
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:48pm
- lofty
  
  That boy ain’t wired right..
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:47am
  - Nermal
    
    If he wasn’t an MP I’d suspect he was on methamphetamine
    
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    September 27, 2019 7:37pm
- RightFirstTime
  
  It seems that ILG may be suffering from a health issue. His voice has been dodgy for some time now. I recall that a few weeks ago Mallard suggested ILG take leave from the Chamber if his condition was contagious. He didn’t take leave as far as I am aware. From this performance it would appear the stress of the job is getting to him. I am no fan of ILG but if the job is causing him a serious health issue he would be wise, for his own sake, to consider his options.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:24pm
Steve Todd

DPF: Are you still intending to put up your assessments of the GWRC and C&CDHB candidates?
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September 27, 2019 8:12am
- Michael
  
  I’m not keen on voting for any Incumbants.
  Shand
  O’Dwyer
  Clark
  Simpson
  Verral
  Kaldermis
  Mitikulena
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:53am
oldpark

Could not help but notice and the irony of it . All those school kids missing school to march regarding so called Global Warming Myth.Maybe as a token of good will and the march not starting until circa 11.00 am. Picking up their daily rubbish thrown around willy nilly. Once more save NZ from the Global Warming Myth. How about a given fact . Tidy up their messy bedroom before leaving home, if capable. That would be more productive than missing school and marching for the myth of Global Warming.
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September 27, 2019 8:13am
- pb
  
  These kids are the same as the trench kids in WWI. Their masters will use them up mercilessly on the German machine guns, as the German’s used their kids mercilessly against the Allies machine guns. It’s really bad. They will wipe out the sanity of a generation.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:04am
  - SGA
    
    These kids are the same as the trench kids in WWI …. as the German’s used their kids mercilessly against the Allies machine guns
    
    I was unaware that the Germans mercilessly used their children as machine gun fodder in WW1. Interested, I’ve had a quick look and haven’t been able to find anything. Does anyone have a link to a reputable source, please?
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:09am
    - JackRabbit
      
      https://www.alamy.com/adolf-hitler-1945-vintage-german-ww2-propaganda-image-nazi-leader-adolf-hitler-making-probably-his-last-public-appearance-outside-his-berlin-bunker-meeting-and-awarding-medals-to-loyal-hitler-youth-members-boys-used-as-cannon-fodder-against-overpowering-russian-encirclement-april-1945-ww2-image184273974.html
      
      https://www.history.com/news/how-the-hitler-youth-turned-a-generation-of-kids-into-nazis
      
      https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3609-the-bridge-cannon-fodder
      
      http://uncensoredhistory.blogspot.com/2014/09/sad-fate-of-hitler-youth-boys-in-1945.html
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:19am
      - SGA
        
        Ummm… World War 1? Trenches?
        WW2, the fall of Berlin, etc, I’m aware of.
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:32pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @SGA
        
        It was mainly WWII where indoctrinated children were exploited, not WWI. WWI or WWII it doesn’t matter. They were exploited and met their death as a result of fanatical leaders.
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:13pm
      - SGA
        
        No, Jackrabbit, you’ve missed the bus on this one. The original comment and my question concerned WW1 specifically – that’s why I found it interesting because I’d not heard of Pb’s claims before.
        
        The calling up of adolescents (and old men) to defend Germany during WW2 is pretty well known.
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:03pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      You could take that as a reference to occurrences early in the war (for example in the Battle of Mons where the British Expeditionary force first ran into the German left wing) where German troops march up a road with bands playing. The most enthusiastic troops were recruited from the Universities, and these suffered horrendous casualties.
      
      Interestingly though the British actually had very few machine guns and most of the shots were from the well trained British professionals (no conscripts though there were reservists) who could fire up to 30 shots in a minute from the single-shot bolt action Lee Enfield rifles. It was called the “mad minute” and the Germans frequently interpreted this fire as coming from machine guns because it was so rapid.
      
      However I don’t think that there’s any examples other than this very early stage of any German massed charges into machine guns and they certainly didn’t use “kids” for this even when they did attack.
      
      So at best hyperbole from pb, at worst mere fabrication with no foundation in fact.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:34am
    - scottie
      
      http://greatwarproject.org/2014/10/31/the-massacre-of-the-innocents/
      25,000 German students killed in 1 battle for a starter
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:38am
      - SGA
        
        Were those “student soldiers” any younger than the young men in the allied trenches? Were they “kids”?
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:35pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        SGA, all participants used conscripts down to age 18 or so. Some younger did serve by lying about their age. The students would be 18-20 at least (though of course some might have been 17); they were indeed University students and of a similar age to those at University today.
        
        Britain didn’t introduce conscription until January 1916 and over 1 million men volunteered before that. The conscription ages were 18-41 and initially only single men were subject to it, but it was soon extended to married men. About 2.3 million men were conscripted in Britain, and in the Army they composed 46% of the total, the rest were volunteers. In 1918 the upper age limit was raised to 56 !
        
        Germans used 17 – 45 but often entry did not start until 20 – at least before the war. Both France and Germany had a national military service requirement. By late in the war it is likely that some 17 year olds were serving and there is mention of some as young as 15.
        
        If you want real child soldiers, their are various informal armies in Africa, and most notably in the Iran – Iraq war the Iranians recruited battalions of literal children (as young as 10-12) to march into minefields and “die as martyrs”.
        
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        September 27, 2019 4:32pm
      - SGA
        
        Thanks, Ed.
        
        That’s what I’d always thought, but I was willing to entertain the possibility that Pb was opening my eyes to something new.
        
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        September 27, 2019 8:06pm
    - pb
      
      I am not a war guru. Have a look at the boys amongst the soldiers in Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old. Our tour guide at the WW1 memorial in Wellington mentioned the youngest soldier to serve was 14. He was busted and sent home to his mom. How many weren’t? And does 16 really make a man, really?
      
      Details smeetails. I am more concerned about grownups using kids to push their propaganda in the modern age. That poor pigtailed kid has ptsd from the stories she is hearing about climate change.
      
      There’s an old Nassim Taleb article on this form of child abuse:
      
      Pedophrasty
      Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting. Often done with the aid of pictures.
      
      Hangon, I might have just done that.
      
      https://medium.com/incerto/pedophrasty-bigoteering-and-other-modern-scams-c84bd70a29e8
      
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      September 27, 2019 12:43pm
      - SGA
        
        And does 16 really make a man, really?
        
        The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.
        When my grandfather was born (pre 1900), 14-year-olds worked in the coal mines, younger than that in some of the mills, and the age of consent in most places was 12 years (in Delaware, USA, it was 7!). If I remember my childhood “Biggles” books correctly, the idea that Biggles lies about his age to “join up” for WW1 is seen as a sign of character. Go figure.
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:11pm
  - kowtow
    
    ‘as the German’s used their kids mercilessly against the Allies machine guns.’
    
    Citation required.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:01am
    - scottie
      
      Posted one example above
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:41am
      - kowtow
        
        Doesn’t count.
        It refers to “students” , that implies tertiary . Not at all uncommon and the majority would be 18 and up.
        Now had it refered to “pupils” …….
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:37pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Many of the allied soldiers that fought in both wars were scarred for life, having to kill people, but also having to deal with a deranged brainwashed enemy.
    
    However many of the German soldiers of WW2 were even more scarred once the war was over and the hysterical brainwashing eventually subsided. At that point many, but not all, had to confront their own actions, and realised the enormity of the evil acts they carried against the allies and the Jews in the name of Nazism.
    
    Many in the west could never accept that the remorse shown by some ex Nazi soldiers was real. They regarded them all as evil and did not understand the brainwashing that had taken place caused by mass indoctrination. That and the threat of execution if they did not comply. As many as 75,000 of German soldiers were executed for refusing to take orders they new to be wrong, or for speaking out against the killing.
    
    The history we do not learn from, is the history we are doomed to repeat.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:31am
- Rachael Membery
  
  Start of the school holidays today. I think they should protest during the holidays.
  
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  September 27, 2019 1:50pm
Scott

Well the faux impeachment hearings are on and Adam Schiff put words in Donald Trump’s mouth that weren’t even there. Yes the phone call was so damning he had to make stuff up.

It’s probably a good test. You read the transcript and you decide Pres Trump should be impeached that really says something, about you.

The facts are there was no pro quid pro, he asked him to investigate Hunter Biden in the light of corruption relating to the 2016 campaign.
The Ukrainian Pres himself stated yesterday he didn’t feel pressured.

So you can say Pres Trump shouldn’t have asked him to investigate? OK, maybe.

But grounds for impeachment? Not a chance!
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September 27, 2019 8:17am
- RW Capitalist
  
  For impeachment…a CRIME has to be committed, by the president.
  Name the CRIME.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:28am
  - Batman
    
    Day 3: accuses people who talked to the whistleblower of being akin to spies and infers that in the past they were dealt with more harshly i.e. shot or jailed.
    
    18 U.S. Code § 1512.Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:18am
    - All_on_Red
      
      The Inspector General of the Intelligence Committee has reported the whistleblower had proven animus towards Trump.
      The whistleblower is a CIA person seconded to the Whitehouse. Who heard all this information second hand btw- and the transcript has proved many of their claims wrong.
      Given that background, I don’t think suggesting ‘spy’ is a stretch.
      Your ‘reaching’ is highly amusing btw.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:44am
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘Tampering with a witness,’
        
        Sorry but forgot to add that this is hilarious. The so called ‘whistleblower’ isn’t a witness as they didn’t actually witness anything.
        You know that right?
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:42pm
    - RW Capitalist
      
      He didn’t do that….
      NEXT
      
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      September 27, 2019 4:03pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    There are anti corruption Agreements between Ukraine and the US.
    POTUS, as head of the Executive (which includes Justice) can raise concerns.
    Note Trump referred all dealings to be with AG Barr with Giuliani involved.
    Giuliani is perfectly qualified to assist.
    I see Trump mentioned Crowdstrike first before coming to Biden later.
    The real prize in any cooperation has to be Ukraine investigating Crowdstrike and the links that company has to the DNC and some shady Oligarchs.
    Did you know that the FBI never examined the ‘Russian Hacked’ DNC servers but Crowdstrike did and the FBI (and other Agencies) relied on Crowdstrikes report. Comey confirmed this in Testimony.
    Trump is entitled to ask for help to investigate interference in the 16 Election.
    DNC Senators did just that and also threatened Ukraine too. In writing. On Senate letterhead (how’s their impeachment going- lol)
    Especially now he has been cleared himself of any Russian collusion.
    Bidens the bonus.
    I think the reality is Trump would probably prefer to face Biden than Warren, so I’m dubious about those who say Trumps trying to pressure Ukraine to get rid of a rival.
    These matters were always going to be a problem for Biden. And probably the reason Obama never endorsed him. Because Obama knew too…
    In related matters General Flynns business partner who was convicted has had his conviction overturned by the Courts.
    It looks like Flynns own Trial is now going very badly for Muellers Prosecutors. They’ve been caught failing to disclose evidence to the Defence and the Court that Flynn was innocent of what he was accused of in the interviews.
    Papadopoulis has retrieved the $10,000 he got paid (to trap him at Customs it’s thought) and he’s been proving links to Mifsud and others. Mifsud being a long time US asset whom it’s thought started the set up for Steele Dossier and then the FISA warrants and unmasking.
    What about the ‘Russian Troll Farm’ being prosecuted I hear you say
    Glad you asked. The Prosecutors are having great difficulty in presenting evidence they actually did it. Seems the Prosecutors were very surprised when the charges were actually contested.
    Shocker!
    
    Any bets the ‘whistleblower’, whose ‘complaint’ has been investigated and refuted by the Justice Dept (Congress has the report), is connected to the DNC?
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:27am
    - All_on_Red
      
      Heres the Transcript where Trump asks a favour to look into Crowdstrike and asks them to take a call from Barr.
      POTUS has absolute authority to do this as Head of the Executive Branch.
      Mueller, in his Letter of Appointment) had Authority to investigate this as being part of the origins of the fake Steele Dossier used to get FISA warrants, but he didn’t.
      POTUS is entitled to continue the investigation into the meddling in 2016
      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFVG3gKX4AAcIVa?format=png&name=small
      
      Bidens not mentioned until later.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:52am
      - All_on_Red
        
        More on Joe Biden trying to stop the Ukraine looking further into Bursima- Hunter Bidens company
        ‘Hundreds of pages of never-released memos and documents — many from inside the American team helping Burisma to stave off its legal troubles — conflict with Biden’s narrative.
        And they raise the troubling prospect that U.S. officials may have painted a false picture in Ukraine that helped ease Burisma’s legal troubles and stop prosecutors’ plans to interview Hunter Biden during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
        For instance, Burisma’s American legal representatives met with Ukrainian officials just days after Biden forced the firing of the country’s chief prosecutor and offered “an apology for dissemination of false information by U.S. representatives and public figures” about the Ukrainian prosecutors, according to the Ukrainian government’s official memo of the meeting. The effort to secure that meeting began the same day the prosecutor’s firing was announced.’
        
        And this;
        ‘Ukrainian prosecutors say they have tried to get this information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) since the summer of 2018, fearing it might be evidence of possible violations of U.S. ethics laws. First, they hired a former federal prosecutor to bring the information to the U.S. attorney in New York, who, they say, showed no interest. Then, the Ukrainians reached out to President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
        
        Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told Trump in July that he plans to launch his own wide-ranging investigation into what happened with the Bidens and Burisma.
        
        “I’m knowledgeable about the situation,” Zelensky told Trump, asking the American president to forward any evidence he might know about. “The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and will work on the investigation of the case.”
        
        So the Ukrainians approached Giuliani some time ago about this.
        
        And this. The Ukraine Prosecutor Shokin was not corrupt.
        ‘Sevruk memorialized the meeting in a government memo that the general prosecutor’s office provided to me, stating that the three Americans offered an apology for the “false” narrative that had been provided by U.S. officials about Shokin being corrupt and inept.’
        https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story
        
        Worth reading the whole story as there’s a lot of info in there.
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:12pm
      - Batman
        
        AoR you sound a bit obsessed, old chap.
        
        Have cuppa and a lie down ?
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:20pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        It’s a fascinating story Batty.
        But as for me needing a lie down, what’s up with this comment you made?
        “accuses people who talked to the whistleblower of being akin to spies and infers that in the past they were dealt with more harshly i.e. shot or jailed.”
        
        You seriously saying Trumps using the word ‘spies’ because he’d like to see the person shot?
        Really.
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:35pm
    - Paulus
      
      Maybe that the Democrat Leaders (Polosi) on the quiet would be happy to see Biden drop down the favourite list in favour of their elite Elizabeth Warren going to challenge Trump.
      Another woman would find support grater from the feminista grouping of the left.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:57am
    - Bell-47
      
      I wouldn’t mind betting he/her has some association with Strzok.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:59am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Existing in the presence of Democrats.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:38am
- pb
  
  Looks like the whistleblower is a CIA agent. These corrupt government agencies should be all shutdown. They were infiltrated decades ago.
  
  Russiagate was such a success, it’s happening again. If their goal is to sacrifice trust in the official narrative, they are doing a great job. The official narrative holders are dead set panicking. This is a moral panic of old.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:30am
  - SGA
    
    They were infiltrated decades ago.
    
    By whom? Just curious.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:36am
    - Michael
      
      SGA
      I can’t help feel deja vu with that style of question.
      Reminds me a bit of stephie.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:57am
      - SGA
        
        It’s a fair question, Michael.
        
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        September 27, 2019 11:47am
- Scott
  
  Winston Churchill – “you say what is our policy?
  I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.”
  
  Adam Schiff – you say what is our policy? Our policy is impeachment impeachment impeachment! Orange man bad! That is our policy. 🙂
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:40am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Scott, a totally false equivalence. Impeachment proceedings are hardly the conditions of a world war!
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:27am
    - alloytoo
      
      Stephieboy, you really should tell that to the democrats.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:47am
    - Scott
      
      stephieboy – thank you so much for your reply. The equivalence is that great men like Winston Churchill had big dreams and lofty visions for the benefit of civilisation.
      
      Meanwhile a leading politician in Congress has only one aim – to get rid of the duly elected president of the United States. There are many things that Adam Schiff and the rest of the Democrats could be doing to make America a better place. They could be working with the president on trade deals, improving infrastructure, working on the drug crisis, doing something about the chaos at the southern border. They could be doing their job and legislating to make the country better.
      
      Instead they are not doing their job, they are not legislating, they refuse to work with the president on anything. Their only work is to try and impeach the duly elected President of the United States. When there is an election in just over 12 months time!?
      
      Does that make any sense to you?
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:57am
    - Michael
      
      duh!
      It is war and has been since before Donald Trump won.
      Wake up stephie.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:58am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Treason is what smells like treason. How can any country run the way the Dems have treated Trump?
      There will be revenge.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:44am
- emmess
  
  It truly is clown world, when try to get an investigation into corruption re-opened, can get you impeached for corruption.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:45am
- chaos
  
  This is what speaks volumes
  
  * Rep. Al Green, D-Texas: I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get reelected.*
  
  https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-ukraine-democrats-trump-impeachment-joe-biden
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:50am
  - Bell-47
    
    Yes, that right there is exactly what they are up to. And the glaring irony is of course, trying to impeach him is akin to doing exactly what they are accusing him of, trying to influence the outcome of a coming election. If it wasn’t so serious it would be hilarious.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:03am
- Kabull
  
  He gave the DNI a hard time – I have seldom seen anybody so cunningly put words into the mouth of the witness such that whatever response was given, the answer could be interpreted as agreeing with Schiff’s view. His homily at the end of questioning was dreadfully partisan (as one must expect) and his claim that what he was doing was ‘democracy in action’ was disingenuous.
  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/acting-dni-director-maguire-to-testify-before-house-intel-amid-ukraine-whistleblower-complaint-fallout
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:57am
- Ed Snack
  
  I note several other facts:
  
  1. The “whistleblower” never heard the conversation nor, apparently, saw a transcript. He only “heard” about it.
  2. The Whistleblower’s account contains numerous errors – for example there is no promise.
  3. As well as being third hand hearsay, the WB account includes not just gossip, but confirmation via newspaper articles that are circular reporting as they are stories planted in the media via Adam Schiff who had prior knowledge oif the claim.
  
  That’s the old Fusion GPS playbook used in the Russian Collusion scandal – plant stories in the press in advance from your source, and then claim those stories as corroboration for your source when in fact they are the same.
  
  Then we have Schiff putting the record completely fabricated words that he claimed were in the call. He later backed off and claimed that it was a parody – but parody or not they’re read into the official congressional record.
  
  Then we have the WaPo reporting that acting DNI McGuire threatened to resign if he wasn’t allowed to testify before Congress – sounds bad – but McGuire himself absolutely denies that report, so yet more fake news. The ABC also reported that a Zelenskyy aide confirmed that the President had to be willing to “play ball” in order to get the Trump call and be invited to the Whitehouse. Only official quoted is not an aide, and denies making any such statement.
  
  Where does the dishonesty stop, does the MSM no longer even bother with even minimal fact checking before running anti-Trump stories.
  
  This won’t lead to impeachment unless the Democrats are stupid, but it is the end of Joe Biden’s campaign unless the MSM and the DNC deploys industrial scale whitewashing.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:23am
kowtow

Peak TDS as well as special powers based on race.

“But the possible street name – and its possible association with US President Donald Trump – was met with criticism at a Wanaka Community Board meeting in Hawea yesterday……

All names were still subject to approval by iwi.”

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/wanaka/street-name-hits-roadblock
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September 27, 2019 8:20am
- MH
  
  some of these street names are missing a macron or two.
  
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  September 27, 2019 3:01pm
Simon

The Trump vs Biden corruption is interesting. The MSM / Dem / Never Trump narrative that Trump is the problem.

Everyone knows that Biden and his coke-head son are corrupt. Creepy Joe took money from both Ukraine and China. But the guy in trouble is supposed to be Trump.

The DNC servers were ‘hacked’ and the DNC corruption was on full display but Trump was the problem because he colluded with Russia with the hack. Same narrative is played out.

Most people here would know the general Washington DC business model of influence peddling by elected officials. They also trade on insider information. Usually on contract. See Pelosi for eg.

But is the influence peddling happening in NZ? Big CCP money rolling into NZ, bizarre acts and positions adopted by elected officials which are hugely pro CCP. Jobs for the girls and boys after parliament. Is the Creepy Joe business model coming to NZ or becoming more common?
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September 27, 2019 8:26am
- Vory v zakone
  
  Meanwhile investigative reporter John Solomon says he has documented proof that Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden, 30330, conspired to have the Ukrainian prosecutor fired to take the heat off his son.
  #QuidProJoe ?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:13am
- Michael
  
  Simon
  I suspect it was always here but we are now looking at it better?
  
  I also suspect both Labour and National have been compromised by different avenues and to differing degrees.
  
  The CCP has resources to bring to bear and our openness assists them.
  
  The Chinese broad sheets and Confucious Institute type orgs have broad reach and probably assist with penetration of Decision Makers and IntraGovt access.
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:04am
RW Capitalist

Massive loss for Fonterra, following a massive (1/3 as big loss, last year.
Coincidence we have a Labour govt?
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September 27, 2019 8:26am
- chaos
  
  No, more that Fonterra was run by a dickhead. Can’t blame labour for the losses they made, it seems they were from bad foreign investments.
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:54am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Theo Spierings
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:17am
- MCos
  
  Yes
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:23am
G152

The democrats are trying very hard to lose all and any elections in the near future.
Let us not interfere.
And allow Trump to live rent free in their heads
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September 27, 2019 8:28am
- Vory v zakone
  
  I’ve said this before G. You MUST accept those TDS psychosis sufferers. Especially the ones that are 13,900 miles away arguing against a 6’2″ orange goblin who has been living rent free in their heads for the last 3 years ?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:47am
- Nermal
  
  I don’t agree with everything Trump has done, but give the man credit for flushing out the crazies and giving us great entertainment as he drives them ever more frantic.
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:46pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Last year a highly promoted paper was published in Nature warning us that the oceans were heating much faster than had been predicted.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-oceans-are-heating-up-faster-than-expected/

Within a couple of hours of publication mathematician Nic Lewis had shown the paper was seriously flawed.

It has taken nearly 1 year for Nature to retract the paper…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0651-8

The paper was retracted on the day that the IPCC published its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/home/
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September 27, 2019 8:34am
- Swifty
  
  But hang on, I thought the science was settled?
  
  🙂
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:37am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    It is,
    
    Ocean warming, explained
    
    The world’s seas are heating up, with far-reaching consequences.
    
    “The oceans of the world are warming up, their average temperatures pushed higher and higher each year by human-caused global warming.
    
    Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution a few hundred years ago, humans have burned massive amounts of fossil fuels; cut down huge swaths of forest; and undertaken many other activities that pump heat-trapping carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. In response, the planet has warmed up….”
    
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/critical-issues-sea-temperature-rise/
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:08am
    - stephieboy
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      The very latest here,
      
      27 Sep 2019
      
      IN DEPTHCLIMATE
      
      Warming transforms the oceans and poles
      
      Summary
      
      The world’s oceans and ice caps are being transformed by climate change, posing greater threats to life and human society than scientists had realized, according to a special assessment of climate science focused on oceans and ice, released by the United Nations. The new report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, stresses that the watery parts of the planet are already entering a new state. Melt from the Antarctic is posing a greater threat this century than previously thought, and thawing permafrost is hounded by uncertainties over how much carbon it will release to the atmosphere, and how fast. The ocean is changing in structure and chemistry while heat waves increasingly strike its inhabitants. Although no amount of action now can stop some sea level rise, the worst of these effects can still be held off by cutting carbon emissions, the report says.
      
      View Full Text
      
      https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6460/1359
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:15am
      - Classic Liberal
        
        If you think this can be controlled or reversed by humans it will only be if we vastly reduce human population size.
        
        11 0
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        September 27, 2019 10:59am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Bland, repetitive, kindergarten level propaganda.
        What about the UNIPCC TAR?
        I’m still waiting for my 1972 freeze-over.
        Check with Auckland Uni about sea levels.
        
        18 1
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        September 27, 2019 11:50am
    - Swifty
      
      Why should I believe anything you post?
      
      You have been wrong on here more times than any other person since this blog’s inception.
      
      Your credibility is less than zilch.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:31am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      You believe the National Geographic?
      Next you’ll write you get news from TV1 and the BBC too.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:48am
- rightoverlabour
  
  Hmm getting really COLD really quickly, where it should still be mild…
  
  https://watchers.news/2019/09/26/historic-early-season-snowstorm-montana-rockies/
  
  Sun has dosed off…
  
  https://watchers.news/2019/09/25/century-class-solar-minimum-in-progress/
  
  We might be praying for global warming at this rate….
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:56pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  science in the service of religion lacks rigour
  
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  September 27, 2019 1:45pm
Swifty

”No religion’ overtakes Christianity in latest Census results’

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/09/no-religion-overtakes-christianity-in-latest-census-results.html

We’re going to hell in a hand-basket!!!!!! 🙂
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September 27, 2019 8:36am
- Kabull
  
  While I am not particularly religious, I do believe that a lot of the societal disintegration happening in the West – and particularly here – is because people no longer have a concept of higher purpose or good. The absence of Christian religion has broken the thread that gave our parents (I’m over 70, so I’m speaking of those born in the first part of last century) and their parents something to hold onto when all else was knocking them back. Look at the strength adherents of other religions gain fro their beliefs – I reckon that proves my point.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:02am
  - Swifty
    
    Kabull, I could do no better than Bertrand Russell on this very question:
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4FDLegX9s
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:21am
  - igm
    
    New Zealand was built on Christian values and hard-working Christians. It is now being destroyed by muslims and other non-Christians at the expense of the decent law abiding citizens. Our unelected unwanted PM is a classic example of those ruining our country.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:31am
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      Values matter. Belief in a super duper invisible dude has no bearing on whether a person’s values are ones that tend to lead to a successful society. It was only when Europe started to turn away from religion and towards science and the Enlightenment that it left the rest of the world behind.
      
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      September 27, 2019 9:56am
      - Swifty
        
        Well said Nigel.
        
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        September 27, 2019 10:41am
    - stephieboy
      
      igm, you would define the US President as a practising Christian?
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:17am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  A local Anglican church on Kepa Road is up for sale. The granite stone at the front says that the building was erected in 1957. Sixty-two years later, it is for sale. The site would be good for high-density housing, as the Orakei Railway Station is a 1-km walk down the hill.
  
  The For Sale sign has been removed, so maybe someone has bought the place.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:06am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Churches are an interesting proposition for refurbish into a home.
    I’ve seen two conversions now and they’re quite cool.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:30am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Ah but whose hell?
  Is it the Greek Hades, The Jewish Sheol, the Hindu Naraka, the Muslim Jahannam, The Egyptian Lake of Fire, etc?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:09am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Egyptian lake of fire ???
    
    Book of Revelation
    
    Revelation 19:20: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:19am
    - Swifty
      
      More superstitious mumbo jumbo.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:42am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Perhaps you need to read The Book of the Dead.
      
      Then you might figure out from whence those tales of a fiery hell originated.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:04am
  - SGA
    
    The Pastafarian conception of Heaven includes a beer volcano and a stripper factory. The Pastafarian Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the strippers have sexually transmitted diseases.
    
    Ramen
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:20am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Carrots are nice and all, but they just don’t kow the populace sufficiently for proper theocratic control.
    The greatest invention in the history of religion is THE STICK, with which to beat the flock into meek compliance to the whims of the priesthood and their rulers.
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:51pm
- Stephen Russell
  
  “Satanism had 1149 adherents, more than Scientologists (321) and Druids (189), but below Wiccans (1482) and Jedi (20,409).”
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:39am
- Scott
  
  Yes such a shame swiftly that New Zealanders are abandoning the faith of their forefathers and the faith that built this country actually and built Western civilisation.
  But as someone once said, mankind is incurably religious. So the new religions coming through now include “climate change” where we have our secular prophets including a new Joan of Arc from Sweden.
  Other religions include veganism where people are stopping shoppers from buying meat at the supermarket.
  
  The other thing to take note of is that Christianity is at a low ebb in the public sphere right now. But the demise of the church has been predicted many times. And we are still here. And in fact all around the world there are more Christians than there have ever been.
  
  So I don’t think Jesus is going away anytime soon. In fact according to the Bible he is coming back!
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:58am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    “Other religions include veganism where people are stopping shoppers from buying meat ”
    
    Vegans do have a small minority of fanatics similar to fundamentalist Christians like you!
    
    But vegans have not effectively stopped meat-eaters nore do most of them want to!
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:22am
    - The King
      
      Your hatred for Christians and love for muslims is noted, how about you fuck off to Afghanistan.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:58am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        trolls have a preference for goats, not muslims.
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:59pm
  - SGA
    
    Scott, is there anything stopping someone being a Christian and a vegan, or a Christian and believing in climate change? If not, they can hardly be religions – they may well be beliefs, but not all beliefs are religious.
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:25am
    - Scott
      
      SGA – good point. I was just talking with some fellow Christians in our church and some of them do believe in climate change.
      
      But the problem is that climate change has become a religion for many people. In particular for the young who do not have the benefit of any other religious training or experience. So for them climate change is the cause, their purpose in life.
      
      To be honest I actually think that climate change is part of the trend towards socialism. Socialism in itself is a secular religion.
      
      The idea is that we will all become equal. New Zealand and the United States and other countries will all cut down their carbon emissions and live the simple life bicycling to work. In the meantime China and India will continue their industrial progress and become superpowers of the world. In that way we will all become equal.
      Equality is the goal behind socialism and all of its works.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:02am
      - SGA
        
        But the problem is that climate change has become a religion for many people.
        
        No it hasn’t, Scott. It is something in which some people believe very strongly, but that doesn’t make it a religion. People do find purpose in life without religion. Oddly, to call climate change a religion probably cheapens what you believe in (it’s more than just another strongly held belief, isn’t it?) .
        
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        September 27, 2019 11:54am
      - SGA
        
        Socialism in itself is a secular religion.
        
        Again, some Christians are socialists. Socialism covers a wide range of possibilities, Scott. So many in fact, that any time I’ve looked at it, I just get very confused by all the different permutations.
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:02pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        For many adherents climate change is a religion – just slightly different raiments from the Deity based stuff. They have articles of faith (things they assert but can’t prove), reject evidence without consideration and promulgate dogma that they will not question, and of course persecution of heretics and non-believers.
        
        Rational scientific behavior has been left far in the rearview mirror by the thermogeddonist faithful.
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:06pm
      - SGA
        
        They have articles of faith (things they assert but can’t prove), reject evidence without consideration and promulgate dogma that they will not question, and of course persecution of heretics and non-believers.
        
        You’ve just described many of the debates on most open-access political blogs. 🙂
        
        You run into problems when you define things only by their similarities. Dogs and cats share many,many similar features, but a dog isn’t a cat (and vice versa). A group of men and women joining together in the evening for a common purpose and enjoying each other’s company covers everything from prayer groups to orgies.
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:48pm
    - mark15
      
      Thats the thing about religions,you can interpret them any way you like…
      
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      September 27, 2019 12:09pm
  - Swifty
    
    ‘So I don’t think Jesus is going away anytime soon. In fact according to the Bible he is coming back!’
    
    Yes, he is alleged to have said that he will return within the lifetime of the people he was preaching to.
    
    Still waiting……
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:36am
    - Scott
      
      Swiftly – good point. Jesus was really giving his followers the word to be ready for his return at any time. And that still holds true today. If Jesus comes back tonight, would you be ready?
      
      When the trumpet sounds and the stars begin to fall are you ready?
      That is the question.
      
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      September 27, 2019 2:36pm
      - Swifty
        
        I’ll deal with that matter if and when he arrives but just for you Scott I have put a couple of beers in the fridge just in case he shows up at my place.
        
        Until that point though I will continue to be highly skeptical of all the thousands of divinity claims made by all sorts of people throughout human history – all of them, bar one, you believe nonsense just as I do.
        
        I just regard as nonsense one claim more than you.
        
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        September 27, 2019 3:32pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The Bible predicts this falling away and the inversion of truth for lies which we are now encountering as the norm. I found it hard to follow earlier now I am dumfounded how truth has been suspended as the basis of action. There’s something in those Scriptures.
    
    I can make no prediction about when Jesus will return but I am sure now that we have entered the beginning of the end times season. That may be for hundreds of years or longer–none of us can know.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:58am
    - SGA
      
      I am sure now that we have entered the beginning of the end times season.
      
      Various people have believed that for a long time now 🙂
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events
      
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      September 27, 2019 12:46pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        But the presentation of lies as truth has now reached the level that Governments are operating that way.
        The world has become topsy-turvey in the last 20 years.
        
        That has taken my interest in the Biblical statements about that far fetched situation occurring.
        
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        September 27, 2019 7:39pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Those genetically disposed towards religiosity are breeding like rabbits. Muslims, Mormons and Amish amongst other fundamentalists are expanding rapidly and shall inherit the earth if the status quo is maintained for another century or two. Oppressing women is the route to ruling the world.
    
    Given freedom women on average choose not to have replacement birth-rates – as their standard of living suffers too much.
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:57pm
- lifesgood
  
  Everyone scoffing at the concept of religion is completely missing the point and the mess we now find ourselves in. Human beings of every race have, from the beginning of time, wanted something to believe in. That is why there are/have been so many religions. Now that belief in traditional religion has declined people are now clinging to new beliefs, i.e. greenyism and climate hysteria. I am convinced they are the new religions.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:46am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Religion is a memetic tool happened upon and developed/enhanced by evolution for motivating otherwise intelligent beings to risk their lives in battle or engage in other personally dangerous/harmful activities for the benefit of their genes (progeny, relatives or tribe).
    
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    September 27, 2019 2:12pm
- Michael
  
  Swifty,
  Some of us have been telling you ! 🙂
  
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  September 27, 2019 11:06am
  - Swifty
    
    Heh 🙂
    
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    September 27, 2019 12:09pm
- Nermal
  
  Just because we aren’t Christian, doesn’t mean we don’t share many of its values. But not all. For example,
  I was taught the Pope was infallible. One only has to look at the last two popes to realise this is a myth.
  I was taught if I ate meat on Friday, I would be condemned to everlasting hellfire
  Ditto if I engaged in sex outside Christian matrimony
  
  Disclosure: I do believe there is a God of some sort. I just know it’s not me
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:55pm
Maggie Pie

Fantastic to read that Countdown Supermarkets have decided to ban Firework sales in their stores. Lets hope it catches on. My own hairy little cutie wont miss them.
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September 27, 2019 8:42am
- John Warren
  
  You may be after a quick bang, Maggie Pie, but fire crackers and hairy little cuties do not mix.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:20am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Sooo true JW – i have the cutest little Toy Poodle [Gladys] and she really really hates them. As soon as cracker night starts up she’s under our duvet and stays there for days.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:54am
    - Tall Man
      
      Anything else your dog would like us to give up.
      
      You and greta really are killjoys.
      
      5 2
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      September 27, 2019 2:32pm
    - John Warren
      
      Oh, I think my joke didn’t come across. Never mind, it was very rude and you should just ignore me.
      
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      September 27, 2019 5:20pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Done.
        
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        September 27, 2019 9:54pm
- jonno1
  
  So your partner has a beard?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:45am
- The King
  
  Lets ban fun so cat lady can wallow in her winebox in peace.
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:00pm
Ford Prefect

So Greta reckons

“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction”

Since the alarmists are desperate to find a tragic mascot for their global warming catastrophe, can anyone point me to:

– One person who is suffering from the 1° temperature increase from AGW
– One person who has died from the 1° temperature increase from AGW
– One ecosystem that has collapsed from the 1° temperature increase from AGW
– One animal that has become extinct from the 1° temperature increase from AGW

You can point me to an old skinny polar bear, but I will point you to the reports of hugepopulation increases in polar bear populations

You can point me to a video of walruses falling off a cliff, and I’ll point you to one from the 1950s

You can lie about the Great Barrier Reef and I’ll show you my holiday snaps from last year and the quote the tour operators who say its all crap

What has actually happened since the Industrial Revolution that is so catastrophic
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September 27, 2019 8:42am
- Ian Boag
  
  Barrier Reef.
  
  We went to Cairns last year. Took a trip out to a pontoon and did a bit of snuba (scuba on a hose). All the coral we could see was bleached. Ditto for the stuff visible from glass-bottom boats. Ditto for all that we could see from the air when we did a helicopter flit.
  
  Quite a bit of glum talk from locals about how this was a lot more common than what their memory said.
  
  Anecdotal I know.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:15am
  - Ford Prefect
    
    So no one has died, no one has had to move, no one has even been inconvenienced because of a 1 degree temperature rise in the last 150 years. Also, no animal has gone extinct and the planet is now greening.
    
    The only thing youve got is the GBR is bleaching. A reef that stretches over 2000km and is in fact the same size as Italy, is dying over its entire length due to the increase in temperature to the water. What is that increase?
    
    Never mind the actual pollution being pumped into the sea or the crown of thorns starfish. Lets just concentrate on made up problems.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:32am
    - UrbanNeocolonialist
      
      The great barrier reef has water temperatures 4°C higher at north end than south. But 1°C increase is supposed to be killing it.
      
      Pulleth the other one, for verily it hath bells upon it.
      
      Sea level rose 120m at 1m/century at end of last ice age. Reef survived. Holocene climate optimum was hotter than now, ice free arctic (driftwood found under now permanent ice). Reef survived.
      
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      September 27, 2019 2:23pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    Bleaching is a normal thing which occurs. It usually repairs over a couple of years.
    Coral is remarkably resilient. It’s millions of years old.
    It’s come and gone. And then come back again.
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:37am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      I find the same with anal bleaching. You still need to get it done every year.
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:08am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Maggie, maggie, maggie
        
        I have requested you place R70+ warnings on your posts on a number of occasions.
        
        I am of a delicate constitution, as I suspect are many other KBers, and you should have WARNED ME before I went googling…
        
        Be assured, I read no further than A*** on the first link, but by chance my eagle eyes noted that there were demonstrations of Anal bleaching on You Tube.
        
        My mind boggled at that point.
        I’m having a cuppa to restore myself.
        
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        September 27, 2019 11:19am
      - Maggie Pie
        
        LOL!! And go grab yourself a Krispy Kreme while your at it Maggs 🙂
        
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        September 27, 2019 11:36am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Wash your hands before picking up the Krispy Kreme, you know, good manners, polite society and all that . . .
        
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        September 27, 2019 4:29pm
      - MrLovebucket
        
        I don’t like the term ‘Anal bleaching.’
        I prefer, ‘Changing your ring tone.’
        
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        September 27, 2019 7:52pm
    - stephieboy
      
      All on Red, bleaching is not normal on this scale and here it is not repairing,
      
      The Great Barrier Reef’s corals are struggling to recover fast enough
      
      Climate change is making ocean heat waves worse—a reality that increases the chances for mass bleaching and puts young coral in jeopardy.
      
      In the hottest days of Australia’s summer, just after a full moon, the Great Barrier Reef experiences an underwater snowstorm.
      
      Along the massive stretch of reefs corals release millions of sticky eggs and sperm that float up to the water’s surface and combine. They will eventually form larvae. Some will float down and settle on the nearby ocean floor, while others might be swept along by a current.
      New research published Wednesday in Nature finds that warmer waters are making it harder for corals to reproduce en masse. In fact, following a major coral bleaching event in 2017 the amount of reproductive material collected in the water after a mass spawning event was down by 89 percent in the Great Barrier Reef in 2018. It will take five to 10 years for coral to fully recover, the researchers estimate….”
      
      https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/great-barrier-reef-coral-not-recovering-climate-change/
      
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      September 27, 2019 10:34am
      - rightoverlabour
        
        Stephie, explain how “climate change is making the ocean heat waves worse?”
        
        I wait with anticipation on your discourse…
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:49pm
      - Nermal
        
        Stephies, I’m amazed you (plural) are experts in so many fields. Also, practically every view you express is contrary to almost everyone else here. DPF owes you a lot, keeping the conversations going.
        
        I personally find it boring, and usually switch off, just like the ads on TV or web pages.
        
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        September 27, 2019 8:01pm
    - Blackbob
      
      The Greatbarrier reef is about 500k years old not “millions” Quite young geographically.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:16am
      - All_on_Red
        
        I said Coral as in Coral in general.
        I’ve seen 100,000 years as the age for the Great Barrier.
        Not long eh
        //
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:46pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        sea level was 120m lower during last ice age, weather, waves, time and slow dissolving of dead coral carbonates in water scrub away and destroy evidence of previous coral.
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:28pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  What has actually happened since the Industrial Revolution that is so catastrophic
  Human population increased exponentially and Humans damaged/destroyed ecosystems, rendering some organisms extinct.
  
  https://www.ecology.com/2011/09/18/ecological-impact-industrial-revolution/
  
  Nothing to do with increasing CO2 levels as far as I can see.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:17am
  - stephieboy
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    MW , your link adds this,
    
    The Era of Sustainability: The Next Revolution
    
    Sustainable Development InfographicSustainable development factors. Source: Creative Commons
    Looking back at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, it is difficult to realize how what took place then is having such complicated and vast effects today. This is the principle of environmental unity – a change in one system will cause changes in others. Certainly, the seeds of progress – and the ramifications of that progress – were planted then. And with the very same mechanisms and effects that brought about both the progress and the indelibly connected results of that progress to our ecology – the good, the bad and the ugly – over the last 250 years, we are entering a new era of sustainability. That is the next revolution…”
    
    Agreed?
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:37am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Give up the stalking, stephieboy.
      
      It is FUCKING Tedious.
      
      You don’t have to quote back to me something I’ve already linked to.
      
      I recognise this is your little way to show me that you are still watching/monitoring my posts.
      
      It’s just another form of ABUSE/ harassment, isn’t it?
      
      Just like an obsessed chap walking past a female’s workplace/home.
      
      It’s sick, sick, sick.
      
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      September 27, 2019 11:51am
      - The King
        
        tbf some of your views on certain topics are terrible Maggy and you deserve to be trolled.
        
        No offense intended, just saying.
        
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        September 27, 2019 12:03pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @~~Kea~~ The King
        
        Thank you for your constructive criticism.
        I will endeavour to improve.
        
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        September 27, 2019 1:22pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Since you’re our best commentator, Maggy, please don’t change a thing!
        
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        September 27, 2019 2:38pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Scientists talking about what population size the world can really support tend to come to this conclusion: ‘we don’t know’, but the fact that you and I might have been sensible enough to only have 0-2 kids counts for nothing.
    
    We’re still greedy buggers for wanting a comfortable lifestyle. Instead, we should be prepared to vastly reduce our consumption (David Attenborough in article below: ‘become vegetarian’), just because huge numbers of other people have chosen to have too many children.
    
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/david-attenborough-warns-planet-cant-cope-with-overpopulation/
    
    “According to the UN, the populations of 26 African countries are due to at least double in size between 2017 and 2050.”
    
    ““So if everyone on Earth lived like a middle-class American, then the planet might have a carrying capacity of around 2 billion. However, if people only consumed what they actually needed, then the Earth could potentially support a much higher figure.”
    
    “As David Attenborough says, if we want to save Earth, we can no longer afford to keep eating meat: “We are omnivores, so biologically, if you could have a biological morality, you can say, yes we evolved to eat pretty well everything.
    
    “But now we’ve got to a stage in our own social evolution in which that is no longer practical.”
    
    It’s an Environmental Communism: everyone born should have the same right to an ever-decreasing share of world resources. If you were sensible and ‘saved up’ but not having too many children that does not mean you or your small family can use more resources.
    
    Oh no – it just means that more resources are used for the morons who have too many children.
    
    I’m feeling a great big Fuck Off!!
    
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    September 27, 2019 2:18pm
    - Classic Liberal
      
      Another example: Paul Ehrlich in article ‘Cut world population and redistribute resources’:
      
      “We have too much consumption among the rich and too little among the poor. That implies that terrible thing that we are going to have to do which is to somehow redistribute access to resources away the rich to the poor.”
      
      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/26/world-population-resources-paul-ehrlich
      
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      September 27, 2019 2:33pm
- cmm
  
  I can point you to people having nervous breakdowns do to all the anxiety.
  I can point you to people suffering (and likely dying) from not affording heating after all the taxes etc.
  I can point you to forests chopped down and chipped to make “eco-friendly” biomass.
  I can point you to people who now struggle to afford food because food is being redeployed into making biofuels.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:37am
  - chaos
    
    Heating costs are going to get worse. Fonterra are buying up all the trees they can for their move away from coal, firewood is going to be hard to get next year.
    
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    September 27, 2019 12:33pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  If you want to experience 20° C warming just shift a few hundred km. The top of a room has that difference too.
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:06pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yeah, and stay too long in a classroom or your bedroom and the CO2 levels will be apocalyptic.
    
    https://medium.com/@joeljean/im-living-in-a-carbon-bubble-literally-b7c391e8ab6
    
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    September 27, 2019 1:26pm
Swifty

Sick religious cult operating in New Zealand

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/116078477/wellington-man-who-left-manipulative-shincheonji-cult-issues-warning-to-others

Shame on all those who seek to control others by the use of imaginary bronze-age deity myths.
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September 27, 2019 8:51am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  So it focuses heavily on the End of the World and brainwashes people… sounds like standard United Nations operating procedures.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:35am
Right of way is Way of Right

Brian Dawe and John Clarke (RIP) would have had a field day with this government. I miss John terribly, and in homage to their inimitable style, may I present this, in lieu of footage from Question Time!

DAWES: We’re here with associate transport minister Julie Ann Genter. Good afternoon Minister.

CLARKE: I’m only an MP today, I came by bike.

D: But you were asked here to talk about Transport.

C: Yes, but today I’ve decided not to be a minister, look at the letterhead.

D: This is an interview, not a letter, minister.

C: I used a green painted bike lane, therefore I’m an MP, not a minister!

D: But we booked this through your ministerial office staff at the ministry.

C: Yes, but I only agreed to do this as a Green MP, not as a Minister, which is why I sent the reply on that letterhead.

D: It was ministerial letterhead.

C: Was it?

D: Yes.

C: Oh, well, I can’t find it, but I know it was the right letterhead, so I’m an MP today.

D: I’ve got the letter here Minister, and it’s ministerial letterhead, signed by you as associate minister of transport!

C: No it isn’t!

D: Yes, it is, I’ve got it right here, look!

C: No it isn’t!

D: Yes, here, look!

C: Oh, yeah, so we um, ran out.

D: Ran out?

C: Yes.

D: Ran out of what?

C: Green ink, so we had to use that one, so I’m an MP.

D: Look, Minister….

C: MP!

D: What are you doing about traffic in Wellington.

C: Nothing at all, I’m only an MP, not an associate minister!

D: But you ARE a minister.

C: Not according to the letterhead!

D: But the letterhead says you are.

C: Look, can we just pretend that’s the right letterhead?

D: That’s not how this works.

C: Look, just ask me a question will you.

D: OK, what are you doing about traffic congestion in Wellington?

C: Nothing at all, I’m not the associate minister.

D: But you are the associate minister.

C: Not today.

D: So what do you do then?

C: I ride my bike.

D: Julie-Ann Genter, Associate Minister of Transport, thanks for your time!

C: I was never here.
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September 27, 2019 8:54am
- Sacha
  
  RoW/WoR – So it was YOU who wrote the scripts? And if it wasn’t, you’re a good study.
  Well done.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:30am
- Crazy Ivan
  
  You sir, have won the internet today!
  I don’t think I’m the only one to have read that in their voices…
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:41am
- gravedodger
  
  If they ever find a second coming John Clarke then you must submit that for an interview as a writer for the inevitable show.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:51am
  - Right of way is Way of Right
    
    I’d love to do it myself, to be honest!
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:17pm
Yvette

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is pushing for the world to follow New Zealand’s lead in its approach to tackling wellbeing issues.

In New Zealand now, the Prime Minister said, when deciding where to spend public money and manage the country’s national assets the Government decided it was no longer enough to simply ask what will best drive economic growth.

“We’re investing in mental health because ignoring it is a stain our society and a drain on our economy. Our investment will help people lead more fulfilling lives and increase productivity. That is what wellbeing really looks like. It’s a values-driven approach to economic success. [1]

“So to tackle these issues in New Zealand, my Government is doing something not many other countries have tried.”
Not quite.
Last I was aware one working group reported back and that resulted in nine groups now working on it further, so it is still “something not many other countries have tried”

Meanwhile the international sub-text is : mental health in New Zealand is so bad, it is a stain our society and a drain on our economy.

And as an aside: Regarding the previous Budget 2018, who can name one item that was supposedly not there for the wellbeing of New Zealanders?

[1] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/gates-foundation-event-ardern-calls-other-nations-copy-nzs-wellbeing-budget
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September 27, 2019 8:54am
- cmm
  
  All the world should increase its suicide rates, not just NZ.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:55am
- KevO'Brien
  
  The PM has it back the front. Sh can’t have money to pay for good feelings for all without the money.
  
  When work is now down to part time hours, on a we’ll call you basis, economics badly needs attention before most of NZ land up on State support. Is that what she is working towards–communist NZ?
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:11pm
srylands

I decided to read through the ‘demands’ of the school strikers.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vb4voJUHwmPvul75AHlBw7QoIo6oaviCI8U9HTYIzhs/edit

There are no solutions here. Just wishes. That can never happen.

“The Government should invest in a renewable economy.” I don’t know what that means.

“Stop all oil and gas extraction.” OK 5 billion people will die. Canada and most of Northern Europe and Asia will be depopulated.

In the last 20 years, Governments have not done well at addressing greenhouse emissions. Because they flail at relatively expensive and ineffective solutions. I am not sure greenhouse emissions would be much different today if Governments had done nothing in the last 20 years. And we would be more prosperous.

It is difficult to predict where it will end. But the best guess for 2050 is a world where MUCH more gas is produced and consumed than today, displacing coal (so for Gods sake don’t stop exploring for the stuff), and a largely electrified light passenger MV fleet. There will be 3 x the number of commercial planes, all still powered by Jet A1, albeit more efficiently.

Ironically, it is rich countries that will make this transition most successfully. Countries that shut down natural gas, and tilt at poor and expensive policy measures like tax incentives for EVs will have a much harder time of it.

If only someone could explain some of this to the climate strike kids.
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September 27, 2019 9:24am
- KevO'Brien
  
  My kids are now asking about the new energy sources for the future. They are picking up my hope.
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:14pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Thorcon have a great system figured out using shipyard construction – build a whole 500MW reactor and ship it to coastal site where can be moved along a pier to operating location. After 4 years use swap it out for another as old one is serviced and refuelled in maintenance shipyard. Cheaper than coal power due to mass production in specialist facilities and cheap to decommission.
    
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    September 27, 2019 2:35pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nuclear is the answer – but try and convince the brainwashed.
  Back in the 70s I had Aunties that would never have a microwave in the house, let alone go near one
  
  7 1
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  September 27, 2019 2:47pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Very wise aunties… bet they have all their marbles whereas you and ardern ………….
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:42pm
Than

The school strikers have 5 core demands;

They are calling on the Government to declare a climate emergency, and asking for cross-party support for the Zero Carbon Act.

Declaring a climate emergency is empty words.

Cross-party support for the Zero Carbon Act is already somewhat there. All parties are talking, but final support will depend on exactly what ends up being in it. As it should be. The strikers specific demands for what should be in the bill are simply utterly unrealistic.

They are also demanding the end of all exploration and extraction of fossil fuels, and investment in building a renewable and regenerative economy.

Ending extraction of fossil fuels before we have alternatives in place would be simply insane. It would literally put us back to pre-industrial times.

As for investment in renewables, we’re already pumped many billions, probably trillions, of dollars of R&D into renewables over the last couple of decades (and continue to do so), with very little to show for it. The harsh reality is that these technologies are much more limited than their supporters want to accept.

Last week the school strikers added a fifth demand to their list, which aims to support the Pacific Islands.

We already do send considerable support to the Pacific Islands, and permit significant immigration. This is just another example of people trying to hijack concern over climate change to push a pet issue.
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September 27, 2019 9:24am
- Rich Prick
  
  We could let them have their demands and see how they enjoy life without their lithium battery powered iPhones and petrol guzzling Ubers. What’s that they say?
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:15am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Are the kids going to be marked as truants, and are their teachers going to be charged with aiding and abetting truancy?
    Thought not.
    
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    September 27, 2019 11:58am
    - chaos
      
      there teachers should be charged for some of the spelling on their signs
      
      [Mod: Dare I point out the spelling and grammatical errors here?]
      
      5 3
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      September 27, 2019 12:32pm
      - chaos
        
        Do you have that much spare time mod?
        
        11 1
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        September 27, 2019 1:13pm
      - Michael
        
        Mod, don’t you have a day job to go too?
        
        I don’t mind spelling and Grammer errots
        It shows a real person…
        
        4 1
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        September 27, 2019 4:40pm
      - Tall Man
        
        There their there… it’ll be fine 😉
        
        2 1
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        September 27, 2019 9:40pm
Maggie Pie

My partner tweets …
‘Always good to have a trade to fall back on if the gender alignment surgery doesn’t work out’

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFO_nnQX4AMYzCn?format=jpg&name=900×900

LOL!!!!
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September 27, 2019 9:25am
JibberJabber

If the Wealthy urban elites in Kohi and Remmers, those with baches at Piha, Bethells and Waiheke and other assorted Urbanites could stop shitting in our streams and creeks, that would be nice…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/116076791/code-brown-beach-swimming-spots-to-avoid-in-auckland-northland-during-september-school-holidays?fbclid=IwAR2-UY9vOS4PvhqajB7TzG-lNMdbVqo_LCikV6VQmVBtFqEcSX0y6_x7L1A
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September 27, 2019 9:32am
Yvette

Jacinda Ardern told the UN General Assembly that New Zealand has 150 million trees “in the ground”.

And Shane Jones has been counting commercial Forestry replanting in with those his agencies manage to plant [1] – more likely a ratio of Forestry: 100 million trees in the two years, and Shane: the rest, 50 million, if he is lucky.

However Forestry is in the business of cutting down as many mature trees as they can and only replacing a few more (5%) than they fell, so there is always more to chop down.
A 95% replanting rate is taken to mean, if they have planted 100 million trees, elsewhere they have whacked down 95 million.

So, if she were to be transparent and honest, should Ardern have told the UN Assembly only 55 million extra trees are in the ground – perhaps – a third of what she claimed.
Sorry, Greta.

But the consider my earlier comment this morning, questioning the wisdom of “soaking up carbon into forest sinks” for the next generation to deal with – kicking it down the road – so that carbon is released in a couple of decades, as their nuclear fallout moment.

Is this Government’s success in fact proportional to its bloody failures?

Perhaps if Speaker Mallard allows National to tell us anything that may be based on Parliamentary statements or information –
How many trees has Shane Jones’ agencies actually planted in the 1 Billion Trees programme?
How many trees has Forestry planted in the same time, and qualify to be counted too?
How many trees has Forestry felled in the same period of time?

[1] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200823
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September 27, 2019 9:49am
srylands

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/111480343/judges-difficult-sentencing-of-a-refugee-who-wont-stop-offending

I don’t understand why this guy can’t be deported. He seems like a nightmare.
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September 27, 2019 10:00am
- srylands
  
  EDIT: I commented about this just before DPF’s dedicated post.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:25am
  - Tall Man
    
    He is still a nightmare 😉
    
    4 1
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    September 27, 2019 2:05pm
- Nermal
  
  It’s not that they can’t deport him. It’s tat they won’t
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:10pm
MCos

Donald Trump has more Achilles heels than a centipede. One of the most vulnerable is Rudy Giuliani. Interesting account of an interview with the Atlantic
It starts
‘When I last saw Rudy Giuliani for lunch, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington four weeks ago, his most pressing concern was that he had been locked out of his Instagram account. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and current personal attorney to President Donald Trump, had a young woman named Audra, who told me she had won the “hottiesfortrump” Reddit channel’s “Miss Deplorable” contest three years in a row, there to assist him.’
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/giuliani-ukraine-trump-biden/598879/
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September 27, 2019 10:08am
- MCos
  
  Fox News is another Achilles heel for President Trump.
  Their success depends on backing GOP winners.
  Right now they have to decide if Trump is a crook.
  https://t.co/b2MmBKrWkF
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:42am
  - MrLovebucket
    
    Trump is a true hero and getting on with it while the sore loser left squeal at anything and everything.
    
    1 0
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    September 27, 2019 7:58pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Jealous?
  
  7 2
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  September 27, 2019 12:16pm
  - MCos
    
    Jealous of Rudy or Audra?
    
    0 1
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    September 27, 2019 4:07pm
- Inandout
  
  MCos, Hunter Biden was kicked out of the military because of drug use. This is one troubled offspring and we can only speculate that he was seeking Russian money to pay his debts.
  
  7 1
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  September 27, 2019 2:29pm
  - MCos
    
    So you’re saying Donald Trump was asking Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Biden the Younger rather than the old boy.
    The discharge from the military is not a capital offence.
    
    1 1
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    September 27, 2019 4:22pm
  - Michael
    
    and share with daddy?
    
    4 0
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    September 27, 2019 4:39pm
  - Ed Snack
    
    It was the US Navy, and he failed tests that checked for Cocaine use.
    
    3 0
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    September 27, 2019 4:39pm
Fletch

The climate discussion seems to have reached hysteria levels in the past couple of weeks. I’m getting sick of hearing about it. Now the teens are going on strike again today – the same teens that the Green party is pushing to give the vote to.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/should-16-year-olds-vote-greens-push-lower-voting-age

No surprises there, right? The Greens have probably seen all these brain dead 16 year olds going on climate strike (who have been indoctrinated at liberal schools) and are salivating at the extra votes they know they’ll get.
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September 27, 2019 10:30am
- MrLovebucket
  
  The right to vote should be reserved for those that are net positive on tax.
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:59pm
Swifty

More casual, unprovoked and appalling street thuggery, this time in Tauranga.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271428
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September 27, 2019 10:58am
- Tall Man
  
  “First people”… Special rights.
  
  7 1
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  September 27, 2019 1:52pm
Swifty

THE most absolutely beautiful video you will see this week:

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=JzQc_1569529686

Absolutely guaranteed to give you a warm inner glow.

(Possibly OK for work but with some profanity)
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September 27, 2019 11:17am
- chaos
  
  Not the smartest robber.
  
  7 0
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  September 27, 2019 1:11pm
  - Nermal
    
    Not the sharpest knife in the drawer
    A few wallabies short in the top paddock
    The elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor
    On the left of the IQ Bell Curve
    Votes Democrat
    
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    September 27, 2019 8:19pm
  - Tall Man
    
    You mean there is one……
    
    0 1
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    September 27, 2019 9:35pm
- JibberJabber
  
  So wonderful… he found God.
  
  6 0
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  September 27, 2019 2:55pm
secondcumming

Just how *fucking ridiculous* are the name suppression laws in this country?

1ZB are reporting that a man has appeared in the Tauranga District Court on charges of abduction and sexual assault of a 17yo girl in Auckland earlier this month. The judge has granted him name suppression!

Yet the police released his name and photograph to the NZ Herald, which was splashed across the front page a few days ago.

Perhaps he’ll get to walk free?
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September 27, 2019 11:24am
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  He must have joined the Labour Party since then!
  
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  September 27, 2019 2:16pm
Manolo

An excellent read:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/tribune-of-the-people/
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September 27, 2019 11:42am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Ben tornato, Manolo.
  
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  September 27, 2019 1:37pm
  - Manolo
    
    Grazie, carissima.
    
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    September 30, 2019 8:15am
- Swifty
  
  Manolo – how have you been?
  
  4 0
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  September 27, 2019 3:54pm
  - Manolo
    
    Very well, thank you Swifty. Just watching this ultra PC blog from a considerable distance.
    
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    September 30, 2019 8:16am
stephieboy

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Before the boot goes today on KB in respect of Greta Thurnberg this is worth considering,

‘Disgraceful’: Fox News apologizes to Greta Thunberg after guest calls her ‘mentally ill’

“Fox News has issued an apology to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg after a guest on one of the network’s shows called her “mentally ill.”
Conservative political commentator and podcast host Michael Knowles was on “The Story” Monday night in a segment about meatless diets and its impact on the environment.

“None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science,” Knowles said in a viral clip. “If it were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left….”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/24/fox-news-apologizes-greta-thunberg-after-mentally-ill-comment/2426741001/
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September 27, 2019 11:58am
- rangitoto
  
  https://twitter.com/DeloreanSWE/status/1177338619805274113
  
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  September 27, 2019 2:07pm
- The King
  
  We live in a waterbowl next to a giant fireball that throws solar flares of raging fire us…
  
  And you think cow farts are the problem?
  
  6 0
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  September 27, 2019 5:47pm
  - Tall Man
    
    And annoying buck toothed people.
    
    1 1
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    September 27, 2019 9:29pm
Captain Mainwaring

Now that some of the Spark phone scammers have been caught, I see that the calls are now coming from the ‘Vodafone technical department’, but the voice sounds like the same Indian.
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September 27, 2019 12:00pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Maybe it’s Jason Paris putting a hankey over his mouthpiece? 🙂
  
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  September 27, 2019 12:12pm
Swifty

The most British thing you’ll see all day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8eofPTGXxI
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September 27, 2019 12:06pm
Jack5

Stuff is scraping the bottom of the editorial barrel. No wonder its newspapers’ paid circulations are in a dive.

The Christchurch Press today has a huge slab from the Corbynist, the Englishman, Paul Hunt, who has become NZ’s Human Rights Commissioner (in the article he is labelled “chief” human rights commissioner).

Hunt laments NZ’s lack of a specific hate crimes offence, and advocates a national “inclusivity policy”, with local bodies following with their own “inclusivity” policies. He notes NZ doesn’t have an “over-arching” policy on inclusivity.

Hunt also calls for public service legislation to include an “explicit commitment” to “these values and rights” (presumably “inclusivity”) along the lines of the chidlren, young person’s, and families’ legislation enacted by the last government.

There’s no note of Hunt’s Corbynist past in the Stuff article’s footnote just that he was “formerly an independent human rights expert with the United Nations”.

Not sure what independent means in this case? Perhaps a volunteer?
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September 27, 2019 1:33pm
- Right of way is Way of Right
  
  I know what you mean about Stuff. It’s got so distressingly bad I’m starting to seriously think about a subscription to the Herald Online.
  
  If that’s not an indication of the woeful state of affairs at Fairfax, I don’t know what is!
  
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  September 27, 2019 2:18pm
  - Tall Man
    
    I have a wonderful selection of ball peen hammers…. Pop round and I’ll help you work it out 😉
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:17pm
chaos

NYT outs the whistle blower as cia

* The White House learned that a C.I.A. officer had lodged allegations against President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine even as the officer’s whistle-blower complaint was moving through a process meant to protect him against reprisals, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.*

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/politics/who-is-whistleblower.html
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September 27, 2019 2:00pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Self-awareness in a local body politician

Ken Laban says he “doesn’t deserve” re-election to Greater Wellington Regional Council following the bus debacle, and “fully understands” if he is voted out.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/116109659/greater-wellington-councillors-standing-for-reelection-face-up-to-bus-network-debacle
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September 27, 2019 2:02pm
- shogun
  
  Yet he’s still standing. Either the self awareness tank isn’t that full, or his ego blinkers are strong.
  
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  September 27, 2019 6:45pm
- Tall Man
  
  Then why is he standing?
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:15pm
cmm

There was a time when lawyers kept squeaky clean (most of the time) because getting a conviction could stuff up your career.

Now, it seems, Plod just turns a blind eye because the judge wouldn’t convict anyway on the grounds that a conviction would stuff up the person’s life and thus be cruel punishment.

What’s the point in having a legal profession and a judicial system?

” Last month, a prominent Auckland defence lawyer was found with drug paraphernalia at another Auckland courthouse.

The lawyer was stopped by security staff at the Manukau District Court on the afternoon of August 29 at the screening checkpoint.

In his possession was a glass pipe, two lighters and an empty small clear bag – often referred to as a “point bag” and used for holding methamphetamine or other drugs.

The items were confiscated and the lawyer was given a verbal warning by police.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271531
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September 27, 2019 2:14pm
- Swifty
  
  So many lawyers are finding themselves in trouble I hear that NZ University law departments have added Prison Library Management to their core curriculum. 🙂
  
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  September 27, 2019 3:56pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Norty norty……….
    
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    September 27, 2019 9:14pm
- Tall Man
  
  Part of the “new order”. The new labour mantra…. “be stoned or get Boned”….
  
  Calm down steffy girl, doesn’t apply to the already “initiated”….
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:55pm
Andrei

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

I guess it beats sitting in a stuffy classroom undertaking the hard work necessary to be able to make informed decisions on which issues matter and which are just hot air.
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September 27, 2019 2:20pm
- Nermal
  
  Lemmings
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:23pm
- Tall Man
  
  Doesn’t beat the “pool hall”….
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:57pm
chaos

With the strikes going on today this is worth posting again

https://clintel.nl/brief-clintel-aan-vn-baas-guterres/

*Your Excellencies,

There is no climate emergency.

A global network of more than 500 knowledgeable and experienced scientists and professionals in climate and related fields have the honor to address to Your Excellencies the attached European Climate Declaration, for which the signatories to this letter are the national ambassadors.

The general-circulation models of climate on which international policy is at present founded are unfit for their purpose. Therefore, it is cruel as well as imprudent to advocate the squandering of trillions on the basis of results from such immature models. Current climate policies pointlessly, grievously undermine the economic system, putting lives at risk in countries denied access to affordable, continuous electrical power.

We urge you to follow a climate policy based on sound science, realistic economics and genuine concern for those harmed by costly but unnecessary attempts at mitigation. We ask you to place the Declaration on the agenda of your imminent New York session.

We also invite you to organize with us a constructive high-level meeting between world-class scientists on both sides of the climate debate early in 2020. The meeting will give effect to the sound and ancient principle no less of sound science than of natural justice that both sides should be fully and fairly heard. Audiatur et altera pars!

Please let us know your thoughts about such a joint meeting.

Yours sincerely, ambassadors of the European Climate Declaration,

Professor Guus Berkhout – The Netherlands
Professor Richard Lindzen – USA
Professor Reynald Du Berger – French Canada
Professor Ingemar Nordin – Sweden
Terry Dunleavy – New Zealand
Jim O’Brien – Rep. of Ireland
Viv Forbes – Australia
Professor Alberto Prestininzi – Italy
Professor Jeffrey Foss – English Canada
Professor Benoît Rittaud – France
Morten Jødal – Norway
Professor Fritz Vahrenholt – Germany
Rob Lemeire – Belgium
The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley – UK
*
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September 27, 2019 2:26pm
Classic Liberal

Let’s have a survey

A There is no climate change.
B There is climate change, but it’s not anthropogenic and there is nothing we can do about it.
C There is partly anthropogenic climate change, and we can reverse it.
D. There is partly anthropogenic climate change, and we can’t reverse it but only stop it.
E. There is partly anthropogenic climate change, but we can neither reverse nor stop it.

Anything else?

From what I’ve read I’d support E, because there are just too many of us to halt it. Our best hope would be vastly reduce numbers (yes, I know I keep pointing out that elephant in the room as Greens used to before they became Watermelons), and hope that the damage doesn’t do too much harm because the environment is tough.
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September 27, 2019 2:53pm
- Andrei
  
  E
  But we cannot quantify our effect in the general scheme of things nor determine whether our effect will be overall negative, neutral or positive in the future or far future.
  
  We are here and have to make the best of it
  
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  September 27, 2019 4:21pm
- chaos
  
  My prediction is that within the next 12 months everyone will start to understand what is going on with this planet, from the weather to earthquakes and it won’t be what people currently think it is.
  
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  September 27, 2019 4:52pm
- Fletch
  
  E
  But I reckon that humans have very little effect.
  
  The approximate composition of dry air is –
  
  78.1% nitrogen
  20.93% oxygen
  0.94% argon
  0.04% CO2
  other gases in trace amounts.
  
  Of that 0.04% CO2, over 97% is naturally occuring and humans cause around 3%. So, almost nothing.
  
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  September 27, 2019 5:48pm
  - DigNap15
    
    Don’t tell us!
    Tell the Greens
    And the 170,000 marching school truant children.
    
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    September 27, 2019 7:41pm
- DigNap15
  
  Yes I’m all fro reducing the population in countries such as China, india, Pakistan, The Philippines, Nigeria, Palestine, Uganda, Indonesia, Bangladesh
  They are breeding like locusts and using up the worlds resources.
  One child per woman for 50 years, that is the answer.
  The only answer to “save the world”
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:43pm
- DigNap15
  
  Yes I’m all for reducing the population in countries such as China, India, Pakistan, The Philippines, Nigeria, Palestine, Uganda, Indonesia, Bangladesh
  They are breeding like locusts and using up the worlds resources.
  One child per woman for 50 years, that is the answer.
  The only answer to “save the world”
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:44pm
- Tall Man
  
  “B”…. FFS, the science is settled….. Let’s ask greta…..
  
  Nah let’s not. Window lickers are not needed here.
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:00pm
Swifty

Hahahaha!

This one’s for Scott and friends:

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=kdiVJ_1569544735

Why would God allow that to happen? 🙂
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September 27, 2019 4:07pm
- Nermal
  
  Not his favourite kind of music?
  
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  September 27, 2019 8:25pm
- Tall Man
  
  God has a plan……. 😉
  
  Maybe he should share it…
  
  Yes Maggie… he!
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:05pm
Swifty

Are we witnessing the evolution of people being held to different standards because of race?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/116143670/cop-shop-gun-thief-jailed-for-embarrassing-anzac-day-burglary-in-palmerston-north

When did NZers decide to go down this route?

The Harris family have had as much of a chance of living good lives as the rest of us. They have chosen, for decades, not to take their chance – what they have done though is prey on and victimise their fellow citizens. Again, for decades.
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September 27, 2019 4:15pm
- Tall Man
  
  “intergenerational marginalisation of Māori”
  
  As a white boy that had to endure the “reaction” to the above bullshit by learning to hit harder and run faster… I say “fuck them”.
  
  Once a lying arsehole, always a lying arsehole…. that applies to ardern as well…. For consistency 😉
  
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  September 27, 2019 9:10pm
  - Jack5
    
    Surely this Harris isn’t from the once-notorious Canterbury family, the core of what was known as the Harris gang?
    
    The person this time in question is Alan James Harris, raised in Australia, but described as being of “of Muaupoko descent”.
    
    As I recall, the southern Harris gang were more of a white-power type group.
    
    Regardless, I must admit to some immoral, immature and perverted admiration for a crook who,unarmed, robs a police station of 26 firearms, plus ammunition and cannabis.
    
    If I were dictator, I’d give this Harris the option of jail or volunteering for the SAS.
    
    Can’t help but remember that the police and the Government these days seem intent of taking a lot of firearms from law-abiding people, albeit with financial compensation.
    
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    September 27, 2019 10:13pm
Andrei

E
But we cannot quantify our effect in the general scheme of things nor determine whether our effect will be overall negative, neutral or positive in the future or far future.

We are here and have to make the best of it
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September 27, 2019 4:20pm
shogun

While crossing Queen Street during the climate strike I noticed that many of the signs either used a lot of sellotape, oil based paints, or both.

Others were written on cardboard in indelible marker, which can’t be good for the environment as it leaches into the soil.

I considered pointing this out to people, but Shogun just wanted to cross the road.
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September 27, 2019 4:36pm
Michael

B.

It’s The Sun stupid, Look up!
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September 27, 2019 4:37pm
Fletch

Hundreds of declassified memos show that Biden was lying about why he had the Ukrainian prosecutor fired…

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story
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September 27, 2019 5:50pm
chaos

Are we surprised?

* Controversial Cabinet Minister Shane Jones told a forestry awards ceremony they needed to vote for him or miss out on the billions he’s handing out for provincial growth, it has been alleged.

One person present labelled Jones’ comments as an inducement to “bribery” and another thought the minister – responsible for forestry and the $3 billion provincial growth fund – was “buying votes”.*

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271534
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September 27, 2019 6:01pm
- Swifty
  
  Not in the least surprised.
  
  Jones has shown repeatedly that he cares little about matters of probity or conflict or, at times, truthfulness.
  
  Lets face it – In 2017 Winston and his pals had a plan from the get go. Make out like they could go either way, knowing full well that they would go with Labour who, being so desperate to get back into government, would happily agree to the Provincial Growth Fund – thereby creating a great war-chest with which to fund NZ First’s 2020 election campaign.
  
  I have said it before – this is corrupt. Dangling bribes, from our money, in return for support.
  
  You can only despair at what conversations are going on that are not recorded.
  
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  September 27, 2019 6:54pm
chaos

Well done national

* National has thumbed its nose at Parliament’s Speaker, defying an order to take down attack ads featuring rival MPs.

With 10 minutes before Mallard’s 5pm deadline, National Leader Simon Bridges said in a statement National had no plans to take their videos down.

“Freedom of speech is of fundamental importance to our Parliamentary democracy and to New Zealanders.*

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271662
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September 27, 2019 6:02pm
- The King
  
  I was losing hope with National but this is some epic trolling and i like it alot…
  
  “In the moments after Bridges’ statement, all 55 National MPs re-posted a video Mallard moved to ban on Thursday.”
  
  That right there is how you win folks.
  
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  September 27, 2019 6:32pm
- chaos
  
  Lol
  
  * National MPs have now been sharing the video on social media with their own authorisation statements.*
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/09/national-defies-speaker-s-ruling-ads-using-parliament-tv-footage-to-remain.html
  
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  September 27, 2019 6:41pm
- nasska
  
  …..”Simon Bridges said in a statement National had no plans to take their videos down”…..
  
  See. It wasn’t hard Simon. Keep taking those concrete pills!
  
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  September 27, 2019 7:15pm
Fletch

To be honest, this “climate march/strike” is like striking to protest the tide coming in at the beach. It’s natural and there’s nothing you can do about it, no matter how much you holler and how many signs you hold up.

Ask any of the protesters what they want to happen and I bet none of them have an answer. It’s a march for something without any solutions.
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September 27, 2019 6:32pm
Rodney Randall

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/116149451/fake-afros-to-promote-canterbury-rugby-game-like-golliwogs-and-blackface

The eternally outraged are outraged again.

Ekant Veer
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September 27, 2019 6:55pm
- Tall Man
  
  Do you think they may have had Graeme Thorne in mind which is what I thought when I first saw it.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:02pm
DigNap15

Freedom of speech!
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September 27, 2019 7:40pm
Wired-one

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12271534

Unbelievable.
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September 27, 2019 8:17pm
- Tall Man
  
  Fat, fucked and stupid… Payback 2020.
  
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  September 27, 2019 10:03pm
Wired-one

As many here predicted last week, the Labour sexual abuse scandal has fallen away into the abyss. Yet again our media fails to do its job, just like the Iain Lee’s-Galloway ineptitude, Julie Anne Genters letter and Shane Jones corruption. What’s the bloody point anymore, it seems this government can stuff up as much as they want and nobody seems to care. At least nobody in our MSM anyway.
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September 27, 2019 8:24pm
- Tall Man
  
  Like you I despair.
  
  Our “press” have almost daily rants against Trump who is not our leader nor is he part of our selected government yet we have a surfeit of scandal and corruption within our own government that they choose to basically ignore.
  
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  September 28, 2019 9:49am

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