General Debate 10 January 2020

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mikenmildagain

One hundred years ago today: the Treaty of Versailles came into force, formally ending the first world war and establishing the league of nations.
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January 10, 2020 8:07am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Oddly enough, the US was never a member of the League (although they were very active behind the scenes).
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:35am
- rightoverlabour
  
  and set the scene for WW2…..
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:42am
  - Kiwi Dave
    
    Yes. When Foch heard the terms of Versailles he predicted round two of the Great War within 20 years, and was out by just two months.
    
    However, the Nazis didn’t become a major party until the economic crash, and since German diplomats were quite confident in the 1930s that they could peacefully undo much of Versailles’ losses, it was Hitler’s determination to seek lebensraum which brought about WW2.
    
    If Versailles made another war more likely, it also made German victory less likely, as the effects of 14 years of disarmament could not be undone in six years of rearmament.
    
    The surface fleet in 1939 was very much weaker than the Royal Navy; by 1943 when the U-boat force was nearly big enough to blockade Britain, it was defeated by increased anti-submarine numbers, improved tactics and technology, plus US Liberty ships. The army was adequate for the campaigns of 1939-40, but ran into serious trouble in 1941 in Russia, not just because Germany was unable to build both weapons and sufficient logical support after 1933, but also because it went to war without 14 years of trained reserves, especially junior officers and NCO’s. A pre-Barbarossa photo of one unit shows 53 officers; 50 had become casualties by the end of 1941.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:21am
    - Kiwi Dave
      
      … logistical …
      
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      January 10, 2020 12:16pm
- rockape
  
  Well that was a waste of time wasnt it. Not your post, the League of Nations!
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:47am
- Simon
  
  Whats the alt-history on Germany / Central powers winning WW1?
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:52am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Some counterfactuals see Germany emerging as undisputed leader of something like the European Union – a pax germanica. Others look to Germany’s record in occupied Belgium or the Ukraine and guess the outcome would have been much darker.
    Could a world war have been avoided? Very few seemed to expect one, despite the armaments race and alliance arrangements creating the potential for catastrophe. After the assassination in Sarajevo, most expected the crisis to be resolved in the same way as earlier crises.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:58am
- cmm
  
  If those involved could see the pathetic organisation that emerged (UN) they’d likely not have bothered.
  
  Bear in mind that this happened in the age of steam ships. For many people, attendance was many weeks by ship, then train, then all the way back again.
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:52am
  - Ruawai
    
    Just like Greta
    
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    January 10, 2020 8:54am
- KevO'Brien
  
  100 days ago an idea came into a certain presidents head repudiating diplomacy.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:07am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Even at the height of WWI, moves to form what was to become the League of Nations (and ultimately the UN) were underway.
  “Meanwhile, in the United States, the League to Enforce Peace was formed. At its meeting held in May 1916, President Woodrow Wilson publicly advocated the idea of an international organization. The idea came to be included in the war aims as the United States joined the Allies in April 1917. On 5 January 1918, the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, gave a speech to the Trades Union Congress at Caxton Hall. He declared the creation of some international organization as being among Britain’s preconditions for peace.”
  
  The US and GB were already looking several steps ahead, even as the Great War raged.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:21am
- DigNap15
  
  I’ve always disliked Woodrow Wilons interfernce at the end of the war.
  He wrote the 14 points, and yet the US troops were hardly involved until the last two months!
  
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  January 10, 2020 12:43pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The US did not really want to enter the war, and Wilson wanted to be the peacemaker – hence the 14 points. War was inevitable when the German recommenced unrestricted submarine warfare, Paradoxically, knocking Britain out with submarine attacks was Germany’s best chance of winning, but at the same time bringing the US into the war guaranteed her eventual defeat.
    When the Germans’ war effort collapsed, they deluded themselves that Wilson’s 14 points were still the basis of a settlement. The UK, France and Italy did not agree, and Wilson found he had insufficient influence to bring about the settlement he desired, and insufficient clout back home to bring the US into the League.
    
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    January 10, 2020 2:29pm
Captain Mainwaring

The PTPM is out of action for 8 weeks (I didn’t believe it but apparently it’s true) at a time when the world is engaged in the biggest tension for at least a decade.
And her captive media are letting her off the hook. Again.
Disgraceful.
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January 10, 2020 8:08am
- Yvette
  
  Captain Mainwaring uses PTPM – part-time prime minister.
  While Jacinda’s absence proves that indeed is all she need be.
  Does anyone know where she actually is? Or when she “returns”?
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:16am
  - tf78
    
    Last seen in some upmarket Sydney restaurant -(not that you could tell by the way they were dressed).
    
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    January 10, 2020 8:35am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Met up with a couple of friends yesterday who, a year ago, were confirmed members of the Jacindamania fan club.
    They say now that while she’s still “lovely” they are so disappointed in her failed “year of delivery”.
    They had believed that all these houses would be built and child poverty would be on the way to being fixed.
    Time to move on they said – like Meghan.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:41am
    - Swifty
      
      ‘They had believed that all these houses would be built and child poverty would be on the way to being fixed.’
      
      Good grief – how naive can they possibly be.
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:36am
    - cmm
      
      I’m surprised you didn’t get one of the standard “but at least” phrases:
      
      A)… but at least she tried.
      B)… but at least she cares.
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:49am
      - Rich Prick
        
        The hugs are awesome though, by some accounts.
        
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        January 10, 2020 12:00pm
      - Gravelroad
        
        Well yes CMM, I think they may have said something along those lines. Not so much that she cares about the issues anymore – more that she tried to do something but has failed, so time to move on.
        The Jacinda breath of fresh air has turned stale.
        
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        January 10, 2020 12:03pm
      - cmm
        
        RP: “The hugs are awesome”
        
        You can have my share…
        
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        January 10, 2020 3:55pm
      - Rich Prick
        
        Jeepers, what did I do to deserve that?!
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:04pm
  - Tall Man
    
    And do we care?
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:11am
- Paulus
  
  She is too important for us to realise that her supporters are capable of making any decisions needed from up North whilst fishing.
  Anyway she has worked so hard last year delivering that she needs 8 weeks holiday before the next overseas PR trip.
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:23am
  - hullkiwi
    
    So is she skipping Davos? Or is that part of her 8 weeks R&R?
    
    The other question, what of the other 62 CoL MPs – over the past few weeks I’ve heard Sleaze Galloway breathe in the media, Skid Mark send men and machinery to Oz, The toxic one & the refugee make comments about the mid East. As for the rest nothing!
    
    …and that is not letting off the opposition, for their part they have been equally as silent.
    
    Even on holiday & parliament is in recess these people cost us money. So, am I alone if I expect some public service from our very well paid public servants?
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:45am
    - sooty
      
      But milky has been releasing press statements every 3 minutes. He’s been doing his best.
      
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      January 10, 2020 12:15pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I can confirm that in the press release stakes, the PM is out-scoring the LOO by 1-0 so far in 2020.
        
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        January 10, 2020 2:32pm
- Vallager
  
  8 weeks is plenty of time for festering self doubt to grow into absolute certainty that she is not up to the job. I happily (if somewhat hopefully) predict that upon her return she announces she has decided to step away from the role in order to become financially independent. At which point we will learn that she and Clark have trademarked hundreds of items…….
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:31am
  - cmm
    
    Her only self-doubt might be that she’s not absolutely perfect.
    
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    January 10, 2020 8:55am
  - Tall Man
    
    To make that decision she would need to be capable of rational thought. Also, her opinion is worthless unless it has been passed by “what’s in it for wynston”, he is the real pm as we all know.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:10am
    - cmm
      
      “To make that decision she would need to be capable of rational thought.”
      
      No need for that. She has her perfect inchewishun.
      
      Thinking is bloody hard work.
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:52am
- Sydney Alvarado
  
  Can you provide a source? There is a Cabinet meeting in 18 days from today. In Wellington.
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:54am
  - MCos
    
    One of his mates at the Dads’ Army Appreciation Society annual trip to Caroline Bay.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:14am
  - cmm
    
    I took 10 days off over Christmas. I did, however, answer a few emails and did one brief conference call. Would you say I did not take 10 days off?
    
    She’s taking 8 weeks off, but has posed with some giddy oxygen-deprived fools in Oz. She might also nip in for a quick cabinet meeting or maybe Skype in to that. Does that mean she’s not taking 8 weeks off?
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:56am
  - Tall Man
    
    I’m quite sure there is someone else capable of providing the morning tea.
    
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    January 10, 2020 4:37pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  But at least it’s peaceful here.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:08am
- Sacha
  
  What can she say? She has dissociated herself and NZ from any open agreement with anything that the POTUS might have to say about anything, so she may as well keep silent.
  Maybe she remembers the old advice ” if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all”.
  In which case we are all spared her inanities.
  How’s the Aussie swap going?
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:15am
  - Tall Man
    
    I’d happily take two koalas in exchange, at least they don’t lie.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:07am
    - Batman
      
      Yeah bit you’ll probably get the clap from them….. Worth considering at least ?
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:44am
      - Tall Man
        
        Batman, I had no intention to do to them what ardern is doing to our country.
        
        Interesting to see how your mind works ?
        
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        January 10, 2020 12:21pm
    - Paulus
      
      But Koalas are known to pee all over you if you hold them !
      
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      January 10, 2020 1:23pm
      - Tall Man
        
        Smaller bladders so probably a win 😉
        
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        January 10, 2020 1:33pm
- Prince
  
  She will reappear at Waitangi, dressed in white, bobblehead in overdrive, feeding the multitude with a few snarlers (no, not Mallard).
  The media will lap it up.
  Nobody will ask what outcomes have improved for Maori given all that electoral support. No treaty settlements completed despite Little’s promises. No movement in poverty, imprisonment, educational, health outcomes. No Ihumatao resolution.
  
  Imagine the anger and protests if that was National’s bitter harvest.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:40am
  - sooty
    
    No, she will be in grass skirt and swinging her poi!
    
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    January 10, 2020 12:18pm
    - igm
      
      What about her burkar and islam?
      
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      January 10, 2020 4:48pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Anyone have any idea who the Duty PM is currently?
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:19am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Probably Nanaia Mahuta for all we know.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:28am
  - Sydney Alvarado
    
    Winston
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:54am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Amazes me that Labour caucus allow Kelvin to trouser that paycheck.
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:48am
Ian Boag

Another POV on the Oz bushfires – from an article in the Economist

Ross Bradstock, a bushfire expert at the University of Wollongong, notes that in recent years Australia has greatly expanded the use of preventive measures known as “hazard reduction”, in which controlled burns are carried out during the winter to reduce the amount of material available to ignite when temperatures rise. Some Australians grumble, without much evidence, that “greenies” worried about plants and wildlife have been holding this practice back. But the main obstacle is that the fire season is lengthening year by year, says Shane Fitzsimmons, a fire chief. This shrinks the amount of time available to carry out preventive work.
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January 10, 2020 8:09am
- Doc Holliday
  
  You cannot reason people out of opinions they did not reason themselves into.
  
  Opinions are like rrrsholes – everyone has one.
  
  That’s okay, their “brainwaves” only travel around this loony echo chamber – no rational person takes them seriously.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:04am
- Ian Boag
  
  https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/shane-fitzsimmons-dismisses-barnaby-joyces-claims-bushfires-caused-by-green-caveats-c-637354
  
  Fitzsimmons is commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service. Possibly a reasonably authoritative source. I invite the downtickers to quote someone knowledgeable other than BJ.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:34am
  - backster
    
    Try this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLtFb3Jvi_U&feature=em-uploademail
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:04am
  - CJames
    
    Isn’t the commissioner a career politician rather than an actual firefighter? Wikipedia says he has had a desk job since 1996. And most of their firefighters who do the actual work are volunteers. That’s why Tony Abbott is actually fighting fires, (how many other politicians are getting their hands dirty) rather than Mr FitzSimmons pressing the flesh in his nice clean uniform.
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:42am
    - sam green
      
      Then there’s this guy …
      
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12298981
      
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      January 10, 2020 11:32pm
- MarkF
  
  That may be true and there is no reason to doubt Mr Fitzsimmonds, but even more reason that the “green Mail” needs to be curtailed. Ask MARY
  
  http://joannenova.com.au/2020/01/abc-deleting-facebook-posts-on-how-protesters-stop-prescribed-burns-more-worried-about-climate-change-than-wildfires/
  
  how she feels about her protests now. If the season is small then we need to let the backburners do their jobs with as little interference as possible.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:37am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  and as Bradstock and Fitzsimmons have been saying for a number of years now…
  controlled burning was just one tool available to reduce bushfire risk.
  
  At the forest: urban interface there needs to be a barrier about 1km-wide to safeguard houses/ properties.
  
  https://www.smh.com.au/environment/hazardreduction-burning-has-limited-benefits-in-curbing-bushfires-researchers-20151016-gkalvt.html
  
  Other techniques for reducing fuel loads in drought years include:
  
  Thinning out of forest/scrub growth by mechanical means; sustainable logging; allowing grazing at forest margins
  
  Protective measures around towns:
  creation of arborbelts of non-flammable trees at margins of towns,
  Creation of swales, weirs, micro-dams
  
  and loads more staff to carry out forest management.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:57am
  - Doc Holliday
    
    Yeah. Just as well the change to much warmer drier conditions doesn’t affect the intensity and extent of the fires, or their propensity to create dry lightening.
    
    Blind as an old batty.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:14am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      No-one is denying that drought leads to increased propensity for forests to burn Dennis.
      
      But if you had been reading KB a week ago, you would have seen trolls mocking others for even suggesting there was problem with fuel load, fuel management and arsonists.
      
      And it’s time to tone down the personal abuse.
      
      I make no secret of the fact that I’m 66 and wear glasses, but I have spent 50 of those years wandering in and around forests in a number of countries (including 4 States of Australia).
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:51am
      - Doc Holliday
        
        Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
        The change in conditions is climate change.
        
        Not Green policies, not change in preventive burning policies, not arsonists.
        
        Climate deniers are as mad as hatters.
        
        Don’t like my comments, don’t read them. Mostly I don’t read your rigmarole, and never your links to the crank sites you prefer to science.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:01am
      - Stephieboy2
        
        MW, repeated umpteenth times
        
        [Mod – if you’ve already repeated something Stephieboy2, there’s no need to repeat it again!]
        
        Sigh!
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:05am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Sounds sensible. I upticked it even. But lots of it is pretty hard.
    
    A 1 km clear zone around any settled area would require an awful lot of civil engineering! My son lives in a “flame zone” North Sydney suburb and a 1km clear zone round the suburb takes a lot of imagination – plus there are lots of big trees on people’s sections. But if that’s what it takes …
    
    I would have thought boundary logging should be unsustainable if the aim is to make a clear zone. Too bad that gum-tree timber is useless as a building material. Again – if that’s what it takes ….
    
    Growing an arboreal boundary of “no-burn” trees sounds good but the trees might take something like 25 years to grow to a useful size and be sort of flameproof.
    
    Just saying …
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:24am
    - Tall Man
      
      Red gum is used extensively in construction and furniture as is spotted gum.
      
      Red gum from Northland is also used here.
      
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      January 10, 2020 12:14pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      @TallMan
      
      Re the gum timber thing – I stand corrected. The only stuff I had read on the topic was about California where the fairly large eucalypt plantings are regarded as a menace and the article said the timber warped and was useless.
      
      Goes to show something or other I guess …
      
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      January 10, 2020 12:55pm
      - Tall Man
        
        My understanding is that gum grown in Australia grows more slowly than here and probably the US.
        
        My son has a spotted gum table made by a local joiner but the timber was a bit new so has opened a little.
        
        They are also looking at red gum for flooring for their new house which is much older and harder.
        
        https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/gum-forest-red
        
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        January 10, 2020 1:11pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        From https://www.wood-database.com/blue-gum/
        
        Workability: Gives moderately good results with hand and machine tools, though boards with interlocked grain (especially on quartersawn surfaces) frequently causes tearout during planing and other surfacing operations. Blue Gum tends to have many internal stresses and drying difficulties, and also has a large amount of movement in service, which excludes it from being used in applications where stability is important. Glues and finishes well.
        
        So I guess we are both sort of right … 🙂
        
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        January 10, 2020 4:22pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Too bad that gum-tree timber is useless as a building material.
      
      Goodness, what makes you think that?
      
      NZ’s Wharves, Jetties Wooden bridges were constructed from Australian Gum – Ironbark and Jarrah.
      
      There are over 900 species of gum tree (Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora).
      
      Quite a few them produce first-class construction and finishing timbers
      https://hipages.com.au/article/using_australian_timbers_for_building
      
      Even the low-grade timber is suitable for GLT (glue-laminate timber).
      
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      January 10, 2020 2:08pm
      - nasska
        
        I remember getting advice on this years ago when I was considering using eucalypts as part of a riparian planting project. The jury was out on the subject as milling the timber was difficult & the finished product wasn’t what the market was after.
        
        After felling the pith expands & cracks creating stresses which jams saws, even bandsaws. At one stage a computer controlled bandsaw which could sense stress & change the direction of the cut was mooted. On a small scale chainsaw milling is possible. Discarding the pithwood & slow seasoning can produce reasonable timber but I doubt the extra effort is worth the returns.
        
        I’m long out of the game but I recall reading an article which suggested that NZ grown eucalyptus timber is inferior because it grows faster than it does in Australia.
        
        Maggy may care to comment.
        
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        January 10, 2020 2:45pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Eucalypts are tricky beasts if you’ve spent your life milling fast-growing soft-woods such as radiata pine.
        
        Some of the main problems in NZ have been from disease (tortoise beetle, fungal outbreaks) and wrong choice of species for locations.
        
        I think Scion is still working on improving the genetic stock of the favoured species and a few farm foresters are still hanging-in there with their gum plantations…E. fastigiata brown barrel seems to be the preferred NI choice and E. nitens shinig gum… the SI choice.
        
        But essentially Forestry in NZ is 99% focused on soft-woods..
        We import hardwoods for those folks who can afford top=end timber.
        
        Here’s some results from the Wairarapa/Hawkes Bay Trials
        https://www.scionresearch.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/59265/nzjfs-323-2002-shelbourne-256-278..pdf
        
        an
        
        But
        
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        January 10, 2020 3:30pm
      - nasska
        
        Link doesn’t work Maggy. (Error 404)
        
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        January 10, 2020 3:41pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @Maggie
        
        More years ago than I care to remember – it was the 60’s and I was an undergrad chem engineering student. We were on a field trip to Kawerau/Kinleith. We had a talk from some forestry wallah who talked about the roles of hard and soft woods in paper making. Short and long fibres and all that. He said the primary source of hardwood to date had been tawa but that was now (then) in short supply. They needed a hardwood that would grow fast like radiata. I don’t usually remember Latin plant names, this one was eucalypt regnans. Hardwood and grew almost as fast as radiata. Apparently they were going to start planting it like crazy – AFAIK it never happened (?)
        
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        January 10, 2020 4:31pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @nasska
        
        something funny with that link;
        
        Try Googling for the paper then:
        Shelbourne, Bulloch, Low & McConnochie 2002:
        Performance to age 22years of 49 Eucalypts in the Wairarapa District, NZ and review of results from other trials.
        NZ Journal Forestry Science 32(2) 256-278
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:18pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Ian Boag
        
        If you remember in the 1980s the NZFS was dismantled and state owned Forests were hocked off.
        
        Lots of work that was being done on hardwoods (native & exotic) by our Foresters wood scientists came to a grinding halt.
        
        Growing Eucalypts for high quality timber requires a lot more management and processing than radiata pine.
        
        Folks have been growing Gums in NZ since the 1880s… there have been hoots of difficulties:
        https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/eucalypts-trees-of-the-future/
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:30pm
      - CJames
        
        There are lots of gums in CNI, mainly nitens, but they are grown as pulp wood at about 1% ratio in the pulp to improve it.
        They are prone to disease being monoculture so quite high failure rate.
        
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        January 10, 2020 6:40pm
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Maggy, why do you continue to make such sense?
    As for you, Doc Holliday (Dennis Horne) or whatever you want to call yourself ………………………?”
    
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    January 10, 2020 7:28pm
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  The Greenies responsible is mytBarnabyh created by climate change deniers and those in the” know” like Craig Kelly and Barnaby Joyce
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:26am
  - Rich Prick
    
    Say it again, but this time with the aid of literacy.
    
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    January 10, 2020 12:06pm
- Greg Ettridge
  
  Great false news, Victoria doesn’t go anywhere near the hazard reduction targets recommended and adopted by Bracks Labor government. Not talking about actual burns talking about targets, can’t burn something you don’t target. Nature can.
  Victoria managed just 33% of recommended burns last season.
  Nature and arsonists will of course do the job for us, but there are no boundaries as a controlled burn normally provides. They do get out of control occasionally,but they don’t cover an area of 70,000 sq kms joining together and burn for months to the sea.
  Take your choice, it is a stark one.
  Not ok to burn in good conditions, so let it go to destroy huge tracks of land uninhibited.
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:46am
Captain Mainwaring

Stuff reports that pohutukawa trees are destroying footpaths and underground pipes all over Wellington and nothing can be done about it because they are ‘protected’.
When I arrived in Wellington in the late sixties pohutukawas were unknown. They were only found in their natural state in the Bay of Plenty and north of there.
Then some idiot decided to plant them in Wellington as the numpties who work for councils thought they were pretty.
They are weeds. Rampant, fast-growing fucking weeds.
I have a friend who lives in a 13 year old subdivision in Porirua City who complained to the council about a 13 year old pohutakawa which was planted to ‘make the new subdivision more attractive’ and was now lifting the footpath outside her house. Thanks to her forceful nature and eloquent use of the English language the council eventually came and dug it out. That is the tip of the iceberg. There are many more even bigger pohutakawas in her street, quietly working their mischief under the ground.
Bloody councils have a hell of a lot to answer for.
Employing idiots, mainly.
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January 10, 2020 8:16am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Greens
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:20am
- lifesgood
  
  Captain Mainwaring I have these blasted trees growing in my street. They were planted about 30 years ago and have managed to completely damage my well built concrete block wall. They drop leaves into my property incessantly, block the sun, conceal the street view for cars leaving driveways and are nothing but a bloody nuisance. There is no place for them on suburban street.
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:24am
- Colville
  
  Council idiots dont recognize the difference between native (to NZ) and native to the area.
  
  In totally unrelated news I heard (from a random stranger) that Tordon is a great herbicide !
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:46am
  - igm
    
    Good quantity of Glyphosate 360 and 18mm drill do a magnificent job on any tree that is annoying.
    Once it is dead council remove them as they become a danger.
    
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    January 10, 2020 4:52pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  We had a pohutukawa in our backyard in Tawa which took out our drains. The drain clearer knew them well and his machine tore their roots apart.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:13am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  When I arrived in Wellington in the late sixties pohutukawas were unknown.
  
  They might have been in your small locality, but they were first planted along the Thorndon Esplanade in 1880 (now removed for Harbour works).
  
  A couple of City Park’s Supervisors favoured them — most notably “Pohutukawa Mac” – J.R. McKenzie – who planted them on Town Belt, Bot Gardens, and along the streets of Seatoun, Miramar, and Kelburn
  during the period 1918-1947.
  
  In more recent years, better flowering and slower-growing specimens have been planted around the city (probably some of the Graeme Platt selections).
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:13am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    MW, wrong! It does not factor in prolonged droughts and dry conditions and higher than average temperatures factored in and predicted back in Sept 2019 by tose who do know,
    
    Australia bushfires factcheck: are this year’s fires unprecedented?
    
    Conservative commentators have pointed to a long history of bushfires to suggest there is nothing unusual about this season. Experts disagree
    
    The 2019 bushfires are like nothing we’ve seen before
    
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/22/australia-bushfires-factcheck-are-this-years-fires-unprecedented
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:29am
    - Greg Ettridge
      
      Surely the huge loss of life in black Saturday is more significant, or do lives not matter.
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:52am
      - Doc Holliday
        
        Australia is far better at dealing with fires now. That’s the difference.
        
        Even so, ScuMo refused to see the fire scientists and fire chiefs who were trying to warn him things would be bad. Went on holiday instead, because his brain only processes slogans.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:05am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Doc Holliday falls into the trap of using ad homs, and cedes the moral high ground.
        
        Karma’s a right bitch sometimes.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:15am
- Michael
  
  Captain
  I think all so called Council experts should be named.
  as should committee members who make decisions.
  
  Thank you Maggie..
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:49am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Michael,
    
    “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
    
    ― Aldous Huxley,
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:32am
    - CJames
      
      Just like the inconvenient fact that the world hasn’t ended despite all the climate alarmist’s predictions.
      
      12 2
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      January 10, 2020 11:44am
- Minsk400
  
  Cut mine down. Fortunately it was on the back of the section and no-one else could see it was(n’t) there, and it wasn’t destroying pipes underground. Makes great firewood
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:51am
  - Tall Man
    
    And the sawdust is great for cold smoking salmon and home made bacon 🙂
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:16am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Captain couldnt agree more. They have pushed up the footpath in front of my house and roots had to be cut as wrapping around the water toby. Guess who will pay if they burst pipes on my property – not the council
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:37am
- MCos
  
  ‘They are weeds. Rampant, fast-growing fucking weeds.’
  
  They’re the least of NZs problems. At least they are are native to the country. What about gorse, broom, old man’s beard and all the rest? And then there’s deer, possum, stoats, cats . . . . .
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:59am
  - Tall Man
    
    Is that”whataboutism”?
    
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    January 10, 2020 12:10pm
jaba

can someone please ask Jimmy Shaw if Golriz speaks on behalf of the Greens and therefore he, and the party itself, endorse her comments?
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January 10, 2020 8:17am
- Bobba Fret
  
  Jimmy Shaw only speaks if the women in his party allow him to, and that is to endorse the stupid thing that they have said out in public.
  eg. support of benefit fraud – Meteria, support of using the “C” word and re-claiming it in front of children – Marama, pretty much everything that Gloriz says.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:01am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  When she was speaking on RNZ 8 January about US-Iran, she was speaking as The Green Party defence spokesperson.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118647877/new-zealand-should-be-a-principled-voice-as-usiran-tensions-rise-golriz-ghahraman-says
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:37am
  - cmm
    
    Quite.
    
    Even if that is just her personal position, them giving her this title means that they endorse her position.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:56am
  - Tall Man
    
    However Maggy, the greens are part of the coalition and have seats at the table so who would know where their influence starts and begins. Also, making such a public statement does impact on the perception of our country from afar.
    
    This recent game of making statements as a “party” member has worn thin with me especially when ardern and her liars pull the same trick with her so now we must ask ourselves whether she is speaking as pm or as a labour leader.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:03am
    - MCos
      
      They don’t have seats around the cabinet table.
      
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      January 10, 2020 11:02am
      - Tall Man
        
        “They are at the table” as members of the coalition and have ministers and associate ministers.
        
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        January 10, 2020 12:08pm
      - MCos
        
        Outside cabinet
        
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        January 10, 2020 9:45pm
    - freethinker
      
      TM-For the avoidance of doubt best to assume she speaks as an uninformed r sole.
      
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      January 10, 2020 1:33pm
      - Tall Man
        
        A standard the coalition struggles to ascend too 😉
        
        Seriously, has a government ever sunk so low?
        
        The “what’s in it for wynston” funding foundation, ardern constantly lying and running away from her responsibilities, empty election promises not needing to be kept because they were made by a leader of the labour party not an MP, genter funding her husband to the tune of $360K, the iranian refugee mp conspiring to bring in a refugee to overstay and gain entry through the back door, sexual assaults on children and vulnerable young women, abuse of power by using tax payer money in the millions to have a holiday party with daddy, refusing to answer parliamentary question now into the thousands, trying to appoint a “mate” to a $400K invented job, trying to circumvent protocols in the broadcasting industry, granting residence to a convicted drug importer while still in prison.
        
        FFS, my fingers are getting sore so feel free to add your own debacles.
        
        Any of you pathetic labour trolls care to add your little pea brain comments?
        
        [Mod: it has been mentioned that excessive repetition is not something this blog needs. Mikey, Stephie, Tall Man, whoever … ]
        
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        January 10, 2020 4:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

BOOM! X 52. The time has come. The World has had enough of Iran’s shit
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January 10, 2020 8:21am
- Simon
  
  Trump humiliated these clowns inside of 7 days and that other clown Obama gave them $150 billion.
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:58am
  - Batman
    
    In 1979 the Iranian holdings in the reserve was held ‘hostage’ by the US as part of the response to the revolution.
    
    Part of the negotiations was releasing Iran’s own money back to them in order to get a deal.
    
    Claiming Obama gave them 150b is insulting to everyone’s intelligence.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:04am
    - Simon
      
      “Part of the negotiations was releasing Iran’s own money back to them in order to get a deal.”
      
      Myth. There was an unresolved dispute over money at Claims Tribunal at The Hague. The US would have won.
      
      Also the US had counter claims against Iran for the hostage taking and killings. These claims far exceeded what the Mullahs claimed was owed.
      
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      January 10, 2020 9:11am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Lol Batman. Initial assets frozen in 1979 by America were around $11bn. And a chunk of those were “unfrozen” in the early 80’s.
      Don’t conflate assets frozen around the world (around $120bn) with America, THAT is an insult to everyone’s intelligence.
      
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      January 10, 2020 9:18am
    - Simon
      
      “Claiming Obama gave them 150b is insulting to everyone’s intelligence”
      
      Lol – thats the high estimate but no one knows for sure because it was a secret deal. There was no real accounting for the billions Obama paid off to the Mullahs.
      
      And other $400 million for hostages detained by the Mullahs after Obama paid out $150 billion seven months later.
      
      And while you are hot for Obama paying out to the Mullahs look up Project Cassandra at politico.
      
      The good news is that Trump rubbed out 8 years of Obama appeasement in one drone attack.
      
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      January 10, 2020 9:20am
      - Stephieboy2
        
        Simon, that Obama gave Tehran bundles of cash or whatever worth $150b or whatever is a myth. No atypical trump lie,
        
        FACT CHECK Trump’s Favorite Iran-Obama Cash Story, Still Bogus No Matter How Often He Tells It
        Here is Trump’s latest iteration of this claim from Thursday, the reality behind it and how its used to delegitimize the Iran nuclear deal
        
        https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/iran/trump-s-iran-cash-story-oft-told-still-bogus-1.6032057
        
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        January 10, 2020 10:38am
      - Batman
        
        Right then, Simon and Vino, I have looked into this issue.
        
        So I was a bit wrong, as I was confusing the cash held versus the total sum that gets bandied about.
        
        https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/apr/27/donald-trump/donald-trump-iran-150-billion-and-18-billion-c/
        
        “The $150 billion is the highest estimate we’ve seen, and the one with the least evidence to support it. The high-end estimate from the U.S. Treasury Department in 2015 was $56 billion, and outside analysts believe the number could be lower.
        
        “The $1.8 billion is reasonably accurate. The official amount is $1.7 billion. However, there’s no evidence that barrels and boxes were involved.”
        
        And earlier in the piece on the 1.8 billion:
        
        “The Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan analytic arm of Congress, reviewed this cash transfer in a 2018 report. It gave a total of $1.7 billion.
        
        “That was the amount that U.S. and Iranian negotiators settled on to resolve an arms contract between the United States and Iran that predated the Iranian revolution in 1979. Iran had paid for military equipment, and it was never delivered.
        
        “As of 1990, there were $400 million in that account. Negotiators agreed that accrued interest would add $1.3 billion to the amount, which is a lot of money — but 25 years is a long time for interest to build up the balance.”
        
        So the cash was indeed paid back but it wasn’t fed holdings it was the arms deal dispute, which I totally forgot about. My bad on that.
        
        By the same token, the 150 billion figure is made up rubbish.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:43am
    - kloyd0306
      
      Perhaps it is time for Batman to relocate to his new favourite country, Iran, since he believes the Mullahs are saints.
      Hope he’s not homosexual……some of their buildings are quite tall.
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:45am
      - Batman
        
        Errrmmm, what? Are we in primary school? Grow up.
        
        I am in no way a fan of Iran, just pointing out that the 150b figure is rubbish.
        
        As I explain above, I was also partially wrong.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:38am
      - Tall Man
        
        “Partially wrong”…..
        
        Is that the same as being partially pregnant?
        
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        January 10, 2020 12:05pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Or partly a prime minister?
        
        Or is that a paltry prime minister?
        
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        January 10, 2020 1:07pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Seriously? I have a bridge for sale – interested?
      
      4 3
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      January 10, 2020 1:22pm
JibberJabber

Titania on fire?today,
https://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1215295297229860864

LoL, woketty, woke, woke , Dr WTF?
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January 10, 2020 8:32am
- Bobba Fret
  
  LOL…..thats made my day. So she’s pissed off that a Dalek killed a gay security guard!!!!
  Back in the day when I used to watch Dr Who (John Pertwee), the Daleks used to try and exterminate all humans……my how times have changed.
  Those bloody Darleks!
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:57am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Thank goodness for stairs otherwise the little bastards on steroids with sink plungers for hands would have made into my house!
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:53am
  - Minsk400
    
    She’s totally being ironic “In ‘Agstrom’, a lesbian character is revealed to have married a corpse.
    
    They want us to believe that all lesbians are necrophiliacs, when it can’t be more than 30% at most.”
    
    That last sentence is a dead giveaway.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:21am
    - Ed Snack
      
      Ah, Titania McGrath is a parody account – and a pretty good one too.
      
      13 1
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      January 10, 2020 10:48am
  - geoff3012
    
    Put them in the curry…….
    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spike+milligan+pakistani+daleks&atb=v194-1&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=C0n88tZQc4Q
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:38am
- Minsk400
  
  She’s totally being ironic “In ‘Agstrom’, a lesbian character is revealed to have married a corpse.
  
  They want us to believe that all lesbians are necrophiliacs, when it can’t be more than 30% at most.”
  
  That last sentence is a dead giveaway.
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:16am
oldpark

Who ever heard of Two “Own Goals”.Both carried out by the rogue country Iran. First it was the self styled Iranian Terrorist Quassem Soleimani in full battle dress seen strutting around Baghdad Airport fresh from conducting an attack on the American Embassy in Iraq.. Seems he and his gang were planning to kill American Soldiers and was also sending a veiled message to President Trump, maybe even giving out the fingers with the message “Catch Me If You Can” . Big Donald Obliged. Even giving him a welcome” thanks for coming”.
Then the second “Own Goal” took place in the Rogue country for terrorists Iran. They shot down a Passenger Plane full of Iranian/Canadians . In their own Country .
Country of Iran full of mad dog Mullahs. Who are at this moment working on a nuclear bomb. Lets hope when they finally get a nuclear bomb they dont make history with a third “Own Goal”.Maybe if that happens most of us won’t be around to record it .
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January 10, 2020 8:35am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Step back from the embroidery of patriotic propaganda. Reason needs to prevail not war.
  
  The Americans have got themselves stuck in a Sunni/Shia battleground over the access to oil and petrodollars propping up the USA.
  
  All Muslims cannot tolerate Israel both for religious reasons and their people were displaced.
  NZ remains quiet while Yemen (Shia) is removed from the map.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:22am
  - Komata
    
    KO’B@0922
    
    Re: ‘…And their people were displaced.’
    
    As actual recorded history seems to be at variance with your statement, would you provide a supporting citation please?
    
    ‘Cos if you can’t (And in conformance with well and long-established historical practice), it didn’t actually happen.
    
    Thank you.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:44am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      The Palestinians war about this daily: that their people were forcibly removed when the Israelis took their lands in the near past.
      My wife knows such a family who were removed from their dinner table for the possession of their home.
      The Palestinians are largely Muslim so there is plenty of opportunity for religious opposition against Zionists. Add two flavours of warring Muslims and expect peace?
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:16am
      - Tall Man
        
        And yet if the Palestinians had just accepted the presence of the Jews the last 70 years of violence and death could have been avoided.
        
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        January 10, 2020 10:23am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        There was never any country called Palestine. The area was part of Syria, and the Ottoman Empire. So “Palestinians” is a wee bit of a stretch. Just as the Arabs stopped distinguishing between Jews of Arab origin and Eastern European origin, pretty much the rest of the world regarded the people of the area as Arabs. The British called the total area at the time, the British Mandate of Palestine, with the vast majority of that Mandate being given over to Jordan. No one seems to complain about Jordan pinching “Palestine”.
        
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        January 10, 2020 11:43am
  - PaulDunmore
    
    You are a bit behind the programme, Kev. The US is now one of the largest oil exporters in the world (it also imports a lot, mostly from Canada, so is not quite a net exporter). And its government is financed much more by Chinese purchases of its debt than by petrodollars. Indeed, many petrostates now seem to be net consumers of US dollars, as their deformed economies need increasing deficit spending to keep their populations quiet.
    News flash: the 1970s have gone and are not coming back.
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:21am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Kev, US has been self sufficent in oil since 2018 and for years before that only needed roughly 15% imports. And pretty much all of the oil they sourced from the Middle East came from Saudi, and that was only around 20% if oil that was imported.
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:26am
Lee C

interesting observation (behind paywall) by Hooten – that Ardern should take Ricky Gervais’ advice about virtue-signalling.
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January 10, 2020 8:35am
- Colville
  
  cut and paste please!
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:47am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    ‘cut and paste please’
    
    Where is Hugh when he could finally do something useful!
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:56am
    - Biscuit
      
      PG, remember that old adage:
      
      Be careful what you wish for…
      
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      January 10, 2020 10:27am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        True dat . . . sorry . . .
        
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        January 10, 2020 1:10pm
- Simon
  
  Suppose Hooten said Ardern should do less virtue signalling?
  
  But that is what Ardern has been running on for 2.5 years.
  
  Fairer tax system
  End child poverty
  Fix housing
  Fix Auckland transport
  Fix immigration
  Fix mental health
  Fix climate change
  
  Lets Do This!
  
  All virtue signalling but what else has she or Labo got?
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:03am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    ☑️☑️Rout2020☑️☑️
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:26am
- barnacle bill
  
  He also included all the other parties as well.
  
  He said they are all guilty of virtue-signaling.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:44am
  - Tall Man
    
    Until National become the government other than signal their intentions there is little they can do.
    
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    January 10, 2020 12:44pm
secondcumming

It’s a mad mad mad mad world!
I would have thought *LBQT* defending Iran would be like chickens defending KFC 😎

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EN3AcaOU8AAcAmo?format=jpg&name=small
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January 10, 2020 8:49am
Jack5

Seems person who “forgave” former German concentration camp guard on trial wasn’t a Jew at all.

The “Holocaust” survivor who claimed he was born in a concentration camp seems to be from a German Christian family and was never in a camp.

https://www.jta.org/2020/01/08/global/florida-man-who-forgave-nazi-camp-guard-may-have-invented-his-story-of-surviving-the-holocaust?utm_source=JTA_Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-16067-4812
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January 10, 2020 8:55am
kevn

@Lee… It will never happen. Virtue signalling ‘talent’ is her specialty. There is nothing else. Just a vacuum.
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January 10, 2020 9:04am
Doc Holliday

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
If you cracked open the skull of a climate denier would you find a nut?
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January 10, 2020 9:09am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I don’t think so, Dennis.
  And I would hate to think you are advocating violence against folks who believe all scientific hypotheses are deserving of open scrutiny.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:17am
  - skyblue
    
    [Mod.} Maggy. For the first time ever science is settled, in record time too, about 2 decades.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:28am
    - Tall Man
      
      I think sky was being sarcastic.
      
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      January 10, 2020 4:32pm
  - Doc Holliday
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Scrutiny? Heard of Richard Muller?
    
    AGW is not a “hypothesis”, it’s a coherent and comprehensive scientific theory, based on many lines of evidence, and endorsed by – to all intents and purposes – every climate scientist on the planet. Experts.
    
    Whereas you are just a crank, who prefers to believe the oil industry and its useful idiots, who will sadly die before you can be called to account.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:10am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Whereas you are just a crank,
      
      so we are back to you using Kiwiblog as a personal platform to abuse me.
      
      Honestly Dennis, I’ve put up with about 5 years of your abuse, Griff’s foul crap and Stephieboy’s confusions on this blog and all I can conclude is that you chaps haven’t made a lot of converts.
      
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      January 10, 2020 11:09am
      - Michael
        
        who’s dennis?
        
        4 1
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        January 10, 2020 3:47pm
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        This piloting genius (guaranteed to amuse):
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEDZiwjGlgU
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:22pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      “every climate scientist on the planet”. Not quite correct Doc. I think that most people believe that warming exists and is happening (I for one, quite like warmth). Its the doom and gloom and stupidity (Thunberg et al) that goes with it that is the nonsense that people do not believe. Like, the world will end by 2028. Yeah, right.
      
      17 2
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      January 10, 2020 11:49am
    - DigNap15
      
      Who pays those “Climate Scientists”?
      
      They just say what they need to to keep their job and their funding.
      True scientist just give the real facts.
      
      Eg Melbourne had over 50 degrees a hundred years ago!
      
      11 3
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      January 10, 2020 12:51pm
- CJames
  
  No – there would be a kernel of truth.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:17am
- KevO'Brien
  
  No, a tasty fruit waiting to bring its truth into the world.
  
  11 1
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  January 10, 2020 9:28am
  - Doc Holliday
    
    Yeah, well climate science started nearly 200 years ago and nothing new has made the conclusions anything but worse.
    
    2 24
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    January 10, 2020 10:20am
    - Kabull
      
      Doc, so-called ‘deniers’ do not claim that the climate is not changing – it has done so for hundreds of thousands of years and will continue to do so. I recall in the sixties there was much delight when it was found the climate in Otago had changed so that grapes and other warm-climate crops could be successfully grown there. Nobody claimed that mankind has caused that. The issue for those of us who don’t accept the bulls*t is that climate change is not directly caused by human activity. The volume of CO2 in the atmosphere is irrelevant, The wailing in the DomPost (and all of Stuff?) this morning about the trend of increased heat in NZ, and the ‘dire consequences’ is predictable. But not once does anyone admit that this is just a natural part of the changing environment of the earth.
      Those who are the most dangerous are the doomsayers who authoritatively maintain, to the detriment of the mental health of the young, that we humans have caused/are causing the climate change – and that we humans can ‘reverse’ this change. Of course it will take us all trillions of dollars to make it happen – but that in reality will not be achieved, because the forces of nature are so much more powerful than the scaremongers.
      What will be the consequences for mankind of our spending all this money and finding that nothing changes?
      Remember weather and climate are not the same, and the causes of one do not relate directly to the other.
      
      16 2
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      January 10, 2020 11:57am
- oldpark
  
  If you cracked open the skull of a climate propaganist would you find shit for brains?
  
  24 2
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  January 10, 2020 10:29am
  - Doc Holliday
    
    Probably. The scientists have science and the deniers have ~~propaganda~~ bullshit.
    
    2 21
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    January 10, 2020 11:08am
- Tony Stuart
  
  If you cracked open the skull of Doc Holliday, aka Dennis Horne, would you find a zealot?
  
  24 3
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  January 10, 2020 11:10am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    You’d probably find a vacuum.
    
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    January 10, 2020 8:05pm
- rightoverlabour
  
  Define “Climate Denier”. Most of us here are sceptics, and that is what good science is based on. Morons like you just believe any old shit, especially if delivered by a spoiltbrat, a fraud ( Mann) or a failed politician (Gore).
  
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  January 10, 2020 8:52pm
Maggy Wassilieff

The Cops in Melbourne are having to deal with a Climate-Change protest “Sack Scomo” this evening.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-08/bushfire-protests-planned-melbourne-a-resource-drain-say-police/11851626

The Cops asked the organisers of the protest to reschedule, but they weren’t willing to change.

The decision to proceed with the protest was criticised by both sides of politics.

“I’m stunned by it. This is a really reckless and selfish thing,” Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said.

“Right now, when we have communities at risk, we’ve got thousands of police deployed to keep people safe, I don’t want to see police pulled out of those communities to come in and manage a protest.

“I’m just stunned and I would ask them to reconsider. There is a time for protesting and that is not this Friday.”

The Opposition’s spokesman for police and community safety, David Southwick, said the protest was “a kick in the guts to our frontline officers and the broader community”.

http://www.climatechangeprotests.net.au/event/protest-sack-scomo-fund-the-firies-climate-action-now-vic/
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January 10, 2020 9:29am
- krazykiwi
  
  .. This is a really reckless and selfish thing ..
  
  This accurately sums up the Greens.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:39am
- Tall Man
  
  The “radical left” need constant attention and the need to create division in our communities overrides common sense.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:54am
- Inandout
  
  Maggy, we were in Melbourne last September and on a beautiful Saturday morning we were ready to ride the trams. Sudden announcement..the Green protestors had decided to march down some of the busiest streets in the city, so city trams stopped. What amazed me though was the tolerance of the passengers, who just shrugged and accepted it, like it was a common occurrence. Victoria of course has more Greens per square metre than any other state, except perhaps South Australia.
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:31am
- Stephieboy2
  
  MW, I think the Melbourne police have far , far more important things to deal with such as the thick smoke haze covering the city that might see the Austrlian Tennis open canacelled ,
  
  https://www.9news.com.au/national/aus-fires-hazardous-smoke-haze-to-hit-major-cities/2ef1790c-7068-4d23-af88-f9341dfb0969
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:44am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Melbourne police have far , far more important things to deal with
    
    You didn’t read the article did you, stephieboy?
    
    Of course the cops have a lot more to be dealing with at the moment.
    
    That’s why they asked the protesters to reschedule.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:59am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    All this over egging is just stupid
    Landed in Melbourne late last night, flight attendant tells me severe smoke haze, no smoke haze.
    4 star hotel $80. Tourism is being destroyed by all the sensationalism, and people’s livelihoods.
    protests just normal in Melbourne.
    Business and the people who depend on them for wages do not need all this Armageddon bullshit.
    Eastern Victoria in big trouble, the rest is perfectly fine to visit and enjoy.
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:06am
    - Inandout
      
      Greg, 4 star for $80, incredible. Bugger really, we paid $210 a night.
      
      12 0
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      January 10, 2020 11:36am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        “4 star for $80”
        
        Must have been Hotel Trivago.
        
        11 0
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        January 10, 2020 12:39pm
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        If I see that sanctimonious smiling fucking millenial one more time, I will scream.
        
        What the ad doesn’t show is that the woman paying the $120.00 is getting the presidential suite and the smug pos has to get out of the way at 0530 so the truck can empty her dumpster.
        
        Like CO2 in the atmosphere, cherry picking the truth, you get what you pay for.
        
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        January 10, 2020 1:19pm
secondcumming

I can tell you what I’ve found, if you tuck one of your pant legs into your sock,
people expect a lot less of you.

Just saying 😎
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January 10, 2020 9:34am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Ah, a fellow Mason . . .
  
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  January 10, 2020 1:19pm
krazykiwi

You shall be taught what to think, not how to think:

University of Calgary Professor Ted McCoy recently confirmed rumors that he will fail students that cite Professor Jordan Peterson in his sociology courses.

I’m sure students will be permitted to cite Stalin, Mao & Hitler. Just not Peterson.
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January 10, 2020 9:37am
- chaos
  
  https://twitter.com/tedmccoy/status/1215105558992154626
  
  * Yesterday I made a joke about failing students in my courses if they cite an author I don’t agree with. I regret that it implied that I don’t take seriously my students’ right to free expression. I would never fail or penalize a student for a difference of political opinion.g
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:04am
  - Ruahine
    
    Don’t believe a word of his supposed apology.
    Clever way of getting the word out there. Do not quote Jordan Petersen or else. Clever way of sowing doubt in a students mind.
    Better to not quote Petersen just to be on the safe side, after I am paying to go to University.
    Despicable sod.
    
    29 2
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    January 10, 2020 10:16am
  - lifesgood
    
    Oh, yeah? Do you actually believe this tweet, chaos?
    I think he’s trying to avoid a shit storm. Seems to me that you must be totally left wing nowadays to secure a job in academia.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:25am
    - chaos
      
      I have no view of it either way, just posting his update.
      
      4 2
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      January 10, 2020 10:46am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    He could fail students for citing a psychologist in an sociology essay, couldn’t he?
    
    1 11
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    January 10, 2020 2:40pm
Michael

I do hope Trump gets a 2nd term, if only so these investigations can bear fruit.
Convictions, lots of them.
Or else Americans can’t trust the FBI and DOJ for decades to come.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/house_republicans_are_investigating_the_icig_behind_the_ukraine_whistleblower.html
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January 10, 2020 9:46am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Michael ,
  
  American ” Thinker” ???
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:45am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Landslide victory
  
  9 2
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  January 10, 2020 1:43pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    Fuck, I hope so, Just to see Stephieboy get really pissed….. ( and for a whole bunch of other reasons too)
    
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    January 10, 2020 8:57pm
Bobba Fret

Interesting article in Stuff on the Joanne Harrisson fraud case re Martin Mathews. Written by Sue Moroney (ex Labour).

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/118625205/judgment-is-the-key-issue-in-the-martin-matthews-case
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January 10, 2020 9:48am
Komata

Re the ‘Bushfire’ demo’s;

Surely these individuals would be better-off (and more believable) if they actually left their city environs and went to help the damaged areas; ‘Putting their money where their mouths are’, so to speak.

Words are very cheap, and actions ALWAYS speak louder…

Just saying.
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January 10, 2020 9:52am
- kevn
  
  @Komata… BushFire Fund raising:
  Serena Williams donated her (sponsored) but signed Nike tennis dress. On TradeMe at $2000 now.
  Aussie mining (and farming) billionaire, Andrew Forrest donates $70 million. That’s putting it out there.
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    I think he is referring to those that are choosing to protest and draw police resources away from the place they are sorely needed.
    
    I think they should leave the protesters to be “received” by the locals with a few fire trucks to wash them down.
    
    12 2
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    January 10, 2020 11:03am
  - MCos
    
    Over three days in December he made $500million.
    I guess he can afford it.
    
    https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/andrew-forrest-makes-500m-in-three-days-20191211-p53iwh
    
    Another interesting article from a few months ago.
    
    https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mining-boss-twiggy-forrest-just-made-1-24-billion-in-a-single-day-and-australian-charities-will-be-stoked-2019-8
    
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    January 10, 2020 11:24am
HemiT

a 6 minute video of > u/tuber Avi Yemini confronting green policy and climate change confuscating the Australian bush fires.

wiki ref: > Indian Ocean Dipole
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January 10, 2020 9:59am
KH

We need to get our New Zealand soldiers out of the stupid placement in Iraq. Time for some leadership from somebody in government. (is anybody there?)
10 5
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January 10, 2020 10:04am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Ask your PTPM
  
  10 2
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  January 10, 2020 1:45pm
secondcumming

WEALTH = HEALTH

Why are so many *Chinese Doctors* being murdered?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HspStZXo1rU
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January 10, 2020 10:13am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  Murdered by peasants with huge egos who have no respect for medical staff and no self-control.
  
  The same attitude as that Australian peasant who king-hit (and killed) that heart surgeon who told him off for smoking.
  Ref: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-17/joseph-esmaili-sentenced-for-killing-melbourne-heart-surgeon/11020218
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:57am
Captain Mainwaring

Has Martin Williams self-combusted?
21 2
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January 10, 2020 10:30am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  Most lefties take long holidays. Some of them 12 months per year.
  
  24 2
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  January 10, 2020 10:42am
- Tall Man
  
  He got stood down for a while for being a dick but will be back once he gets his prompts from whoever he operates for.
  
  19 2
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  January 10, 2020 10:56am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    He seems like an Ardern intern.
    
    18 2
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    January 10, 2020 1:03pm
- JibberJabber
  
  I don`t believe anyone cares.
  
  21 1
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  January 10, 2020 11:10am
curry4me

https://radio.foxnews.com/2020/01/08/unmasking-titania-mcgrath-with-andrew-doyle/?fbclid=IwAR2ENMqrpaQGYOfFApQVF42W_-buYOBBTge-wQhTQD3FabXYu1veo6AWt90

Titania McGrath. She isn’t real, nor is she a Soros sock puppet. Check this out.
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January 10, 2020 10:37am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geibjU3xPR4
The China Threat at the Heart of Taiwan’s Elections
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January 10, 2020 10:37am
Stephieboy2

It’s a relief and reassuring to know that there are those in Washington who are not unhinged,

“Pentagon says will not break law of war, despite Trump threat”

“ U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper strongly suggested on Monday that the U.S. military would not violate the laws of armed conflict by striking Iranian cultural sites, a move threatened by President Donald Trump.

Asked whether he was willing to target cultural sites, Esper told Pentagon reporters: “We will follow the laws of armed conflict.”
Pressed on whether he would then not target such sites, because that would be a war crime, Esper said: “That’s the laws of armed conflict.” He did not elaborate.

Targeting cultural sites with military action is considered a war crime under international law, including a U.N. Security Council resolution supported by the Trump administration in 2017 and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property….”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-iran-culturalsites/pentagon-says-will-not-break-law-of-war-despite-trump-threat-idUSKBN1Z527H
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January 10, 2020 10:55am
- cmm
  
  “Targeting cultural sites with military action is considered a war crime under international law””
  
  Absolute bullshit.
  
  Go have a read of: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000082464
  
  The protections are not quite as strong as you think.
  
  For example: special protection is only granted to cultural property which
  (a) is situated “an adequate distance” from legitimate targets such as industrial centres, airports etc.
  (b) are not used for military purposes.
  (c) are clearly marked
  
  These only apply so long as the defending forces have not committed abuses themselves (Iran has committed many) and a degree of tit-for-tat is allowed.
  
  It is going to be very hard to argue that the cultural sites in Iraq are not used for military purposes.
  
  Hold a political rally in a cultural site and you’ve just made it a target.
  
  The US military can target many, if not all, sites in Iran without falling foul of this law.
  
  That really means the Pentagon saying “we won’t do anything illegal” means nothing.
  
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  January 10, 2020 12:15pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    You should perhaps read the specific US armed forces LOAC and the Hague conventoin. The protection for culural sites is in fact very broad.
    
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    January 10, 2020 2:10pm
secondcumming

I’m right with Pawan here……just *hang* the dirty bastards 😎

https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/1215202950311825409
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January 10, 2020 10:57am
Paulus

In a recent newspaper ? Bay of Plenty times was an article on the Labour List MP Jan Tinetti (a very good former Head Teacher) in which whilst she is on Medical leave is reported to have said that she lived in a “modest” house in Matua, Tauranga.
Anybody who knows Tauranga it would be very difficult to find a ‘modest” house in Matua, one of the top locations in Tauranga where you can go up to $4 millon easily – there are 18 currently in Trade Me over a “modest” $600,000 with 2 below.
Like saying that the PTPM lives in a cottage in Auckland.
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January 10, 2020 11:27am
- mikenmildagain
  
  $500,ooo is a ‘modest price’ these days. Tradme lists about 50 houses in Tauranga overall at $450,00 or less, with the cheapest being over $350,000.
  
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  January 10, 2020 2:15pm
  - Paulus
    
    Milkenetc
    Matua, Tauranga was what she said – she lives along to road close to Simon.
    Modest ?
    
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    January 10, 2020 3:35pm
Michael

To the other Michael. Trump appears to have a good chance of being elected for a second term.
To Maggie. Who is Dennis?
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January 10, 2020 12:03pm
- Tall Man
  
  A menace ?
  
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  January 10, 2020 12:38pm
- chaos
  
  Have you not being paying attention to Ardern. Dennis is you, he is me, we are them
  
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  January 10, 2020 12:58pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Yes, I agree with your query re Dennis, Michael.
  Have noticed a few occasions here where people are responding to nom de plume commenters by other names.
  That indicates that there is a group of regulars who know each other personally.
  Does that really matter?
  Probably not.
  It just means that there are groups within groups on this blog – some “in the know” and others on the margins.
  
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  January 10, 2020 3:14pm
  - sooty
    
    Do they have a secert handshake aswell?
    
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    January 10, 2020 4:10pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Look back through this post and you will see that Dennis is named.
    
    He has used the same abusive comments against folks here for a number of years.
    
    11 2
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    January 10, 2020 4:11pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      It really must be time to take a real stand against abuse on Kiwiblog. It’s just not right!
      
      4 12
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      January 10, 2020 4:30pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      Thanks for that Maggy.
      I have scrolled back and seen that “Dennis” is identified in the text of some comments.
      But, Dennis does not post under his own name?
      And now we all know what moniker Dennis uses when contributing to KB.
      
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      January 10, 2020 5:19pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        When I first encountered Dennis on this blog (and other blogs), he posted under his own name.
        He has used a number of pseudonyms on this blog.
        
        I’ve always known him as Dennis.
        
        Check through the archives.. it’s how I’ve usually referred to him.
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:37pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @gravel Road
        
        We used to write poetry to each other…
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/06/general_debate_30_june_2015.html#comment-1545100
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/06/general_debate_30_june_2015.html#comment-1545081
        
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        January 10, 2020 5:50pm
  - Tall Man
    
    It’s irrelevant really don’t you think?
    
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    January 10, 2020 4:30pm
cmm

Hug your light switch. Be thankful you have power.

Poor old South Africa is experiencing load shedding again – stage 2 at the moment which means somewhere between 3 and 4 hours a day with no power. That is after their president promised no more load shedding until at least next week.

Next week the bigger industrial consumers will start to switch their toys back on. What is going to happen then? Probably stage 6 or more (9 to 12 hours per day no power).

Their economy is stuffed and less than 1% GDP growth is expected by the optimists (not enough to absorb over 2% growth in population). No electricity will make that picture far worse.

Oh well, electricity is complicated. Expecting an incometent and corrupt outfit to deliver was always a stretch.
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January 10, 2020 12:40pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  ‘Expecting an incometent and corrupt outfit to deliver was always a stretch’
  
  NZL Col 2020 epitaph
  
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  January 10, 2020 1:28pm
- Ruahine
  
  Billions have been lent to Eskom by China. They, SA, will never be able to pay these loans back. On any default Eskom ownership goes to China.
  
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  January 10, 2020 1:29pm
  - cmm
    
    Not going to be much left worth claiming.
    
    5 1
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    January 10, 2020 2:49pm
    - rightoverlabour
      
      China is playing a very interesting game here. It may take a little longer in South Africa, but with the natural resouces that SA has, China would be dead keen to get hold of some of them.
      
      https://electroverse.net/china-plans-to-put-300-million-chinese-people-in-africa/
      
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      January 10, 2020 9:03pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  in a pinch you can run a grid off of distributed cheap to run natural gas gen sets or (much more expensive) diesel. Import cheap LNG and distribute it by LBG tankers. Add some PV, and put the gen sets in gated communites where they can’t be stolen. Don’t need heavy national grid infrastructure then though does make electricity more expensive.
  
  The organised sections of the SA community should be able to keep their own lights on.
  
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  January 10, 2020 5:18pm
Ian Boag

.
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January 10, 2020 12:53pm
Chuck Bird

I think Megan’s sister has a point.

Meghan Markle’s sister Samantha lashes out: ‘She has no remorse’

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12299405
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January 10, 2020 12:53pm
- chaos
  
  Me-gain is all about herself. It will end badly for her. I predict one more baby soon, and not long after Harry will leave her, she will be remembered as abusive and controlling
  
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  January 10, 2020 1:09pm
DigNap15

Good to see the Indonesian president standing up to China
He is asking fishermen to go to the area
He is sending ships and jet fighters
China said can we talk or negotiate.
He said there is nothing to negotiate this part of the sea is ours!
So F.. off (in Indonesian)
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January 10, 2020 12:55pm
- krazykiwi
  
  He told the Chinese to isap kontol gua!
  
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  January 10, 2020 1:32pm
chaos

Sad, and this is something Labour bitched about when In opposition

* An elderly Hawke’s Bay woman who has mobility issues has been told “housework is a great way to maintain a good level of health” while being informed she is no longer eligible for housework help by the DHB.

The Hawke’s Bay District Health Board has reassessed its Household Management Services to manage their limited budget.*

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/01/hawke-s-bay-dhb-cuts-elderly-woman-s-housework-help-tells-her-to-do-chores-herself-to-maintain-health.html
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January 10, 2020 1:18pm
Prince

Never had any time for Moroney as an MP, other than her dogged pursuit of Matthews about this issue.
Her column is 100% correct.
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January 10, 2020 1:37pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And she was standing up for the public servants who got the boot for blowing the whistle on the Fraudster.
  
  The first two groups of sacked whistle-blowers had ended up talking with Labour’s Transport spokesperson Sue Moroney. The Government’s own Protected Disclosures Act, designed to protect whistle-blowers, had failed. They were out in the cold with no official support. And so they turned to the opposition MP. Moroney explained why she is so alarmed by the Matthews affair. “The systems did work in that the Harrison fraud was spotted quite early by the legal and financial people at the MOT. But the correct actions weren’t taken.”
  
  https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/21-07-2017/the-ministry-of-transport-fraud-case-why-the-rot-goes-deeper-than-joanne-harrison/
  
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  January 10, 2020 2:20pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I was glad to see Stuff published a counter to the puff-piece from Matthews’s PR flack.
  
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  January 10, 2020 2:23pm
chaos

These sort of articles are coming out every few days now. Good luck with the reassessment, hopefully she will be on the list and get it done soon

* She can’t work and lives with agonising pain, but Tricia Phillips still doesn’t meet the threshold for spine surgery.

At a July assessment, the sole neurosurgeon working for Southern District Health Board (SDHB) gave Phillips a priority score of 69/100 – one point short of the 70/100 threshold needed for him to offer her surgery.

“I cried,” she said. “I don’t want to have an operation – it scares the hell out of me – but I see that I’m not going to have any quality of life if I don’t have it.”

A copy of the scoring criteria seen by Stuff shows Dr Ahmad Taha gave Phillips the highest possible scores for degree of pain and for being unable to work.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/118679658/woman-desperate-for-painrelieving-surgery-short-of-threshold-by-single-point
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January 10, 2020 3:24pm
chaos

I guess at least he is donating

* An Australian drug dealer has made a pledge to his customers that he would donate 10 per cent of his cocaine earnings to the bushfire relief appeal.

In a text message sent to customers, the dealer encouraged his customers to dig deep and “get in quick” while revealing his family had been impacted by the fires.

The dealer reassured customers it wasn’t a joke and said the donations would “mean a lot”.*

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12299444
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January 10, 2020 3:29pm
JibberJabber

If Kiwiblogs…(redacted) …er …Greatest commenter ever got a job….
https://twitter.com/AwardsDarwin/status/1215408132517695489
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January 10, 2020 3:51pm
IndividualResponsibility

Hullkiwi – Boris decided in December that he and his ministers will boycott DAVOS.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-17/boris-johnson-s-new-priorities-see-the-u-k-boycott-davos
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January 10, 2020 4:02pm
- curry4me
  
  He’s broken that promise. He is sending one minister.
  
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  January 10, 2020 9:26pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118716002/a-person-died-on-tongariro-crossing

I know this is not trivial , anyone’s death is sad, but let’s face it: every second of every day a baby is born somewhere: in a hospital, a home bed, in a paddock, a car, a bus, a train, a road, a country lane.
And every day people die: at home, in hospital, on a farm paddock, in a car, a bus, at work, in their bed, in someone else’s bed, on an aeroplane.
I am just not sure that all such occurrences need to be published.
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January 10, 2020 4:52pm
- chaos
  
  Story does let those know who plan to do the walk it is closed.
  
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  January 10, 2020 5:21pm
  - rightoverlabour
    
    How long is the closure? I am tired of this closing something every time somebody dies. Time to tell the local Stone Age bogey man to fuck off.
    
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    January 10, 2020 9:09pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  The Tongariro Crossing death provides the opportunity to write a media article showcasing the power and prestige of the local owners of the crossing to impose a rahui and thus demonstrate their power over the ordinary people.
  
  On another note. When there is an accident somewhere you often read in the newspaper about a local elder “blessing” the site where the accident occured.
  My questions are:
  – Is there a network of these tribal elders throughout the country?
  – Is there an operating budget for the authorities to contact them to arrange the blessing?
  – Are they paid or gifted for their time using taxpayer money or is it a purely voluntary action?
  – Are there protocols in place to check with the deceased’s family that it’s OK for a pagan ritual to be held in connection to the deceased? (I imagine that some peaceful religions might feel greviously offended…)
  
  So many questions that the media (not anyone else) ever seems to attempt to answer.
  
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  January 10, 2020 5:28pm
chaos

Hopefully this will hit where it is needed

*Showers in some parts of Australia next week will bring some relief to the fire-ravaged country, though first, it will have to battle through more hot and windy conditions.

Rain and showers are expected to fall down the east coast next week, bringing lighter winds with it.

The rain is expected to continue through next weekend.

On Thursday, 1-6mm of rain is expected to fall at Merimbula in NSW, with up to 10mm predicted to fall in Bega, said Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.*

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/01/australia-bushfires-rain-to-bring-respite-next-week.html
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January 10, 2020 5:19pm
RiP NZ

But, how can this be? Newshub et al have been regaling us with tales of the Mobs virtue.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/01/campground-closed-after-allegations-mongrel-mob-overran-it-during-new-year.html
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January 10, 2020 6:46pm
- The King
  
  Ah those men of “culture” at it again i see.
  
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  January 10, 2020 7:14pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  *Mob’s*
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:09pm
Swifty

God calls his servant home…..

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12299498
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January 10, 2020 6:58pm
- nasska
  
  He’ll probably qualify for his allotment of 72 pubescent choir boys.
  
  Sorry! Wrong branch of the Skyfairy racket. 🙂
  
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  January 10, 2020 7:32pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Hopefully, he remembered to confess his sins before he carked it, and is now enjoying eternal ‘love’ from Jeebus.
    
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    January 10, 2020 10:07pm
- pb
  
  I’ll call your dirty priest and raise you with the high priest of lefty nonsense, NYTimes Krugman, self pwning himself with kiddy porn.
  
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  January 10, 2020 7:57pm
chaos

Pay walled so can’t be read but the headline says enough

* Foreigners splash $17b on NZ assets last year, up 70 per cent: Govt to move

Foreigners spent $17 billion on New Zealand assets last year, nearly double the previous year’s spending, but the Government plans to further tighten the overseas investment regime.*

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12298782
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January 10, 2020 7:19pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Is this good or bad? I really can’t tell unless your give me some guidance.
  
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  January 10, 2020 10:08pm
Prince

The shroud-waving publicity stunt continues.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118719177/missing-pike-river-letter-found-as-mine-barrier-rubble-removed
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January 10, 2020 10:08pm
Hugh Pavletich

AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRES … OUTSTANDING MAPPING …

How Australia’s bushfires spread: mapping the east coast fires … Nick Evershed … The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2019/nov/21/how-australias-bushfires-spread-mapping-the-nsw-and-queensland-fires

It has been a devastating fire season in Australia, with millions of hectares burned, lives lost and almost 2,000 properties destroyed.

Long-term drought conditions and record temperatures have combined with strong winds to create catastrophic fire conditions, resulting in widespread devastation in almost every state.

However, it is hard to grasp the geographic scale and speed with which the fires spread. For example, the Gospers Mountain fires north of Sydney have covered more than 1m hectares, and a record 4.9m hectares have been burnt in New South Wales this season so far. … read more via hyperlink above …
.
.
Australia urges a quarter of a million to flee as winds fan massive bushfires … Reuters / CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/10/australia-urges-a-quarter-of-a-million-to-flee-as-winds-fan-massive-bushfires.html

Australia suffers tourism blow from bushfires and air quality as US Department of State updates travel advisory … Jack Snape … Australian Broadcasting Corporation

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-09/australian-tourism-blow-us-travel-advisory-bushfires-air-quality/11855860
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January 11, 2020 1:23am
KH

The Iraqi PM asks the U s to leave.
https://southfront.org/iraqi-pm-asks-u-s-to-prepare-plan-for-safe-withdrawal/
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January 11, 2020 7:03am

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