General Debate 24 January 2020

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Hugh Pavletich

CHINA CORONAVIRUS SPREAD …

The deadly new coronavirus has reached the US. Here’s how to protect yourself … CNN Health

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/22/health/coronavirus-us-precautions/index.html

Coronavirus outbreak: China places two more cities on lockdown, restricting movement of 20 million people … UK Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-outbreak-china-places-two-cities-lockdown-restricting/
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January 24, 2020 8:05am
- Simon
  
  Its much worse than reported as the CCP are loosing their shit. – Just cancelled a lot of their new year moon celebrations.
  
  CCP tried to cover it up but its too big and people around the world are going to die due to CCP incompetence.
  
  If the 21st century is China’s century is going to be a grim century. China is one fucked up country run by vile turds.
  
  China / NZ travel ban needed ASAP.
  
  The problem is the clowns in Wellington believe everything that comes out of the CCP mouths.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:39am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    They just imprisoned a US uni student who visited China for 6 months for tweeting, using an anonymous account, a cartoon of Xi while he was in the US. How exactly they identified him is very concerning.
    
    Not safe to visit China anymore.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:06am
    - Hugh Pavletich
      
      China delivers message to its diaspora in NZ: The Xinjiang ‘deradicalization’ programme has been a ‘great success’, Taiwanese independence attempts are ‘doomed to fail’, the US/Chinese trade agreement won’t harm NZ/China trade relations … Interest Co NZ
      
      https://www.interest.co.nz/news/103329/china-delivers-message-its-diaspora-nz-xinjiang-deradicalization-programme-has-been
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:34am
    - Random T Person
      
      Like visiting anywhere, it pays to know the rules and keep a low profile.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:18am
      - Bell-47
        
        Almost impossible to keep a low profile in China, everywhere you go there are cameras. Most if not all motorway or main road overhead signs have multiple cameras mounted on them, the flashes from the constant taking of pictures is very distracting if you are trying to drive. My job takes me to many government labs “scientific use only” and I am heavily scrutinised before I travel, during and after. I’s impossible for me to keep a low profile. As for your average traveller, even now, white people stand out almost everywhere except Shenzhen.
        
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        January 24, 2020 10:54am
      - tf78
        
        Same rules coming to the country that used to be our pride and joy.
        
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        January 24, 2020 11:18am
    - Michael NZ
      
      It has never been safe in China…
      They like Russia and Iran do NOT have the Rule of Law.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:51am
      - rangitoto
        
        They are a bit like Taradale in that respect.
        
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        January 24, 2020 12:52pm
      - Hugh Pavletich
        
        Coronavirus Live Updates: China’s Travel Limits Now Cover 35 Million People … New York Times
        
        https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html
        
        Shanghai Disneyland and other tourist sites across the country shut down, at an unknown cost to the economy, as the authorities tried to contain the deadly new virus.
        
        By The New York Times
        
        RIGHT NOW
        Beijing’s propaganda organs strike a positive note as online anger over the government’s response persists.
        
        A deadly outbreak is growing. Here’s what you need to know.
        
        • China restricts travel for 35 million people as the death toll rises.
        • China reports two deaths outside the epicenter.
        • Residents, some displaying symptoms of the virus, are turned away from overrun hospitals.
        • Anxiety hangs over residents on Lunar New Year’s Eve.
        • Hospitals in Wuhan make urgent appeals for supplies and help.
        • British and American governments tell citizens to avoid the outbreak hot zone.
        • Shanghai Disneyland and other major attractions will shut down.
        .
        .
        China coronavirus: Death toll rises as more cities restrict travel … BBC
        
        https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51230011
        
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        January 25, 2020 1:27am
  - Michael NZ
    
    They did the same the last time. you cannot trust China, because of the CCP.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:50am
mikenmildagain

Back to the important things – cricket – today. Chance for NZ to bounce back from the disastrous showing in Australia.
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January 24, 2020 8:06am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Here’s hoping mikenmild. I certainly plan to be at the Basin Reserve, the spiritual home of New Zealand cricket, to celebrate Ross Taylor’s 100th test on the opening day of the New Zealand vs India test match on Friday 21st February.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:16am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    I don’t really follow cricket that much but my partner is glued to Sky when its on.
    The only thing i do get excited about is what Ross Taylor does with his tongue 😛
    
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    January 24, 2020 8:33am
    - chaos
      
      He’s glued to the sky? How, are his hands on the clouds or something? Glued to sky, sounds like something Extinction Rebellion would do. Don’t unglue his hands until he buys you something
      
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      January 24, 2020 8:57am
- Batman
  
  Twelve downticks for Mike hoping we do well in the cricket?
  
  Either there’s plenty of cricket haters here or some people need to grow up. Sheesh.
  
  Go the Blackcaps.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:54am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    At least I’m not stephieboy!
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:15am
    - Tall Man
      
      Close at times though.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:16am
    - Random T Person
      
      Well, there most certainly is that 😉
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:18am
    - Michael NZ
      
      Mikey very close with your drive bys.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:56am
  - hookerphil
    
    I would think that the now 16 downticks relate to the chances have of beating India.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:16am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Yes, grossly unfair on mikenmild. Being a cricket devotee is one of his few redeeming features 😉
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:53am
  - oob
    
    Agreed.
    
    I like Milky, one of the characters of this blog.
    
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    January 24, 2020 12:00pm
    - Batman
      
      Yeah exactly. We can disagree and bicker like we’re at the pub all we like but I really not a fan of impulse down-ticking specific people.
      
      Except for Hugh’s long cut n paste jobs haha.
      
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      January 24, 2020 12:04pm
- Prince
  
  Why can’t they schedule this game to avoid a clash with NZ’s successful team, Phoenix ?
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:56am
  - Humble Capitalist
    
    Lets hope the Phoenix bat first tonight against bottom of the table Newcastle
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:32am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Think that’s bad?
    Next Friday, India vs NZ clashed with Blues vs Chiefs in Rd 1 of Super Rugby.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:46am
    - Bell-47
      
      Rugby it is then..thanks for the reminder 🙂
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:59am
Paulus

Does it mean that as New Zealand was not represented at the Holocaust Memorial meeting that we will ignore the Christchurch Massacre as well.
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January 24, 2020 8:09am
- sooty
  
  Not a bloody chance mate.
  Comrade Cindy will be there with a freshly ironed tea towel in all her glory.
  Preperations are underway as we speak!
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:35am
- chaos
  
  Don’t be silly, she can make world international news going to the Christchurch memorial.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:36am
  - igm
    
    She is pro-Islam as are most of her cohorts . . . she is unelected to a position of trust and blowing it daily.
    
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    January 24, 2020 5:47pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  No way. Christchurch is vote harvesting – Israel is not
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:42am
- Michael NZ
  
  I won’t.
  No one should be subject to what their community was.
  I don’t care what race, religion, gender etc etc.
  It is NOT us and we should stand against it no matter the victims and offender.
  
  I am sorry Tarrant won’t get the death penalty.
  A fair 2nd best would be to jail him and then release and deport him to Australia.
  What happens to him there, happens to him there.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:59am
Zapper

So Ardern is announcing they want a fact based and transparent campaign. If only they’d had a fact based term in government!

Are we really expected to think they know what transparency is? Their Minister for Transparency was sacked for having secret meetings and lying about it! And that is only one example.

The ability to speak in forked tongues is breathtaking.
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January 24, 2020 8:11am
- Humble Capitalist
  
  When you have a degree in Spin like Ardern its rather easy to seem genuine and transparent to those of lower IQ
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:29am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Facts are elusive to the Labour Party
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:44am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Does Ardern actually know what a fact is as distinct from a thought or “must do”?
  
  Is she the world’s gift to public administration? Could she moonlight as a policy wonk in a Govt Dept?
  Could she run an IRD Office or be #2 in Internal affairs?
  Could she run a household?
  Could she serve fish and chips in a staff cafe?
  
  Does Ardern need to consult an Occupations adviser?
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:51am
- Simon
  
  Labo facts = Labo factoids.
  
  Fact: Ardern covered for a rapist, lied about it and when caught out blamed wider NZ society.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:53am
  - Michael NZ
    
    well said Simon….
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:01am
- Prince
  
  Hilarious release from the Ardern…
  “…we are starting to turn around the long term issues ignored for too long. I’m proud that our positive message…”
  So positive means being positive about yourself, and negative about the other lot. So what’s new ?
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:00am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Well the 37,000 more on welfare may be a turn in the wrong direction.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:53am
- herb1
  
  I really don’t think Labour want a fact based campaign.
  The facts are particularly unkind to them.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:51am
- tf78
  
  This year will be different honest!
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:21am
  - sooty
    
    It’s really different when the left do it!
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:45am
- Scooter
  
  We may have lost HRH Harry but we still have Jacinda the Queen of Glib Phrases, (Mike’s Minute today)
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:48am
Maggie Pie

Last night my partner decided it just wasn’t worth taking any chances. So he cleaned out the fridge and headed over to Mt Roskill to find an empty roadside bin.

https://i.imgflip.com/3mzktg.jpg
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January 24, 2020 8:11am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, Corona still make their beer in Mexico, and apparently have their own water supply.
  
  ‘The third largest brewer in the U.S., Constellation Brands—which produces Corona, Modelo and many other notable liquors—plans to set up their brewery in northern Mexico, a region with drought and a sinking water table’.Feb 4, 2018
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:55am
  - Random T Person
    
    Whoever wrote that probably hasn’t heard about what the Romans have done for us.
    Which is nothing. Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health.
    And peace.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:21am
    - Michael NZ
      
      but at the price of subjugation Random….
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:02am
Tony Stuart

Hot on the heels of Jacinda Ardern’s pronouncement that this year’s election campaign will be “factual”, here’s a reminder of just one of the lies Labour told in 2017:

Labour’s lies on health spending

For some years now Labour have lied and lied and said that National has cut health spending by $1.7 billion. The media run this as a statement of fact often, despite it having no basis in truth.

The most generous interpretation you can make is that Labour is saying that they have calculated the level of funding they think Vote Health needs, and that it is $1.7 billion more. But that is very different to saying it is a cut.

If you are on a $60,000 a year salary and ask for $70,000 but only get $64,000 then you can’t say your salary has been cut by $6,000.

Now let’s look at what at what Vote Health has done between 2008 and Budget 2017.

Nominal Vote Health – increased by $4.85 billion a year from $11.92 billion to $16.77 billion – a 40.7% increase
Real Vote Health – increased by $3.00 billion a year from $13.77 billion to $16.77 billion – a 21.8% increase
Real Vote Health per capita – increased by $341 a year from $3,233 to $3,574 – a 10.5% increase

You can claim it is not enough. You can claim more is needed. You can claim growing elderly population needs more funding. But you cannot claim it has been cut. That is a lie.

https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2017/05/labours_lies_on_health_spending.html

Brought to you this morning in the interests of open, transparent and factual election campaigning!
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January 24, 2020 8:12am
- lofty
  
  Great stuff Tony.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:18am
- pdm
  
  Inv – are you going to revive your Keeping Stock Blog for Election Year?
  
  Please consider doing so.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:28am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Alas not pdm. I have no doubt that years of blogging, and the addictive nature of it, was a significant factor in my mental health meltdown of a couple of years ago. I have no desire to go back to dark places, so I will have to decline your kind invitation to reconsider. With semi-retirement just around the corner, my health is paramount.
    
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    January 24, 2020 8:44am
    - pdm
      
      Fair enough Inv – look after yourself.
      
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      January 24, 2020 8:55am
    - Batman
      
      We just need to get you on that top 100 NZ politics tweeters list, Tony!
      
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      January 24, 2020 8:58am
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Thanks for the thought Batman, but for the moment, I am saving my competitiveness for the golf course.
        
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        January 24, 2020 10:54am
- Ruahine
  
  This is why Labour has got rid of standards and targets which are numerically based. Then when data is fed through the Facebook algorithms it basically does not show up as anything contradictory.
  Deceitful. But enough people will be convinced of their virtue.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:37am
  - alloytoo
    
    Why the hell should we trust Facebook.?
    
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    January 24, 2020 12:36pm
    - rangitoto
      
      Yes. A foreign company trying to interfere in NZ elections with Taxinda complicit.
      
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      January 24, 2020 1:31pm
- Rich Prick
  
  Whatever Cindy says, be sure she means the opposite.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:43am
  - tf78
    
    Just like newspaper headlines.
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:47am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Lying has become an art form for Labour. They are so good at disguising it
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:48am
- Happychappy
  
  Tony Winston Peters started the year off with a blatant lie saying it is a bit rich of Gerry Brownlee to try and score Political points over the Coalition not sending g anyone from the Government to represent NZ at the Holocaust Memorial when National didn’t send representation in 2010 or 2015, now according to David Farrar National sent (Chris Finlayson and Labour MP Annette King in 2015) so is Winston the quid or has his mind started to betray him.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:04am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I believe they are talking about different events,
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:51am
- rockape
  
  We want more of the same, not lies but your posts!
  
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  January 24, 2020 1:26pm
Jack5

More madness from our NZ justice system that imprisons 16-year-old boys for reading banned manifestos while it sets a young extremist who planned mass murder on a course to golf lessons.

A 20-year-old girl is sentenced to home detention, and worse, is humiliated by having her photo and details published in the media. Her supposed crime? Having sex with a boy aged fifteen and a half – that is six months short of being able to have legal sexual relations. What a hypocritical, mad society we have become.

The court was told the sex occurred over about a month when, with the consent of the victim and his parents, the woman shared the boy’s bed. Interviewed by the police, the young woman said they initially had sex about three times a week, increasing to several times a day.

This is a society that subsidises sexual liberalism such as surgery to convert men into women and the reverse, and which our grandparents would think had run amok with sexual entertainment and sexual advice.

Why don’t the police tackle New Zealand’s gangs toe-to-toe instead of hounding generally law-abiding gun owners and now young people having sex?

Everyone was happy: the parents, as well as obviously, the young woman and the teenage boy. Why didn’t they leave them alone like they seem to do with the gun-owning, drug running gangs?

And what of the publicity? The rich and famous in Auckland seem to have little trouble getting suppression. But this young woman, perhaps with no cash for a defence lawyer, is now notorious.

A sad footnote in the report:

“In mitigation, [I won’t repeat her name] had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12303041
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January 24, 2020 8:16am
- sooty
  
  He got realy, realy lucky. Didn’t he!
  Envy of all his mates!
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:37am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  How did the Police find out? Somebody has a problem
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:54am
  - DeepBlue
    
    Police got involved a few weeks ‘after’ the relationship ended.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:31am
- Batman
  
  She’s TWENTY. That’s a big different from a 15 year old.
  
  A school age kid versus a grown adult.
  
  She shouldn’t have gone there. There will be unreported reasons why it went to court, I suspect. Probably to do with an inappropriate relationship or power imbalance of some sort.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:17am
  - lifesgood
    
    What sort of parents does that boy have? Unbelievable!
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:29am
    - Batman
      
      Inattentive, would be my guess.
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:32am
  - Tall Man
    
    The relationship had ended. Perhaps someone got jealous.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:13am
  - Sacha
    
    The difference between a 15yo’s brain maturity and physical maturity is well known –
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:20am
  - GoVege
    
    The human brain doesn’t finish maturing til about 26 years of age, probably longer when the brain has been subjected to unusual stress or deprivation.
    Whereas puberty occurs at 12 to 13.
    Males have a far stronger libido and don’t get pregnant.
    Obviously its far more sensible for pubescent lads to only have relationships with girls their own age.
    The consequences will be far better for them and society….
    
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    January 24, 2020 7:16pm
- Chuck Bird
  
  Jack, what do you think the law should be? If you think an age gap of 5 year is okay. What gap is not okay?
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:51am
  - sooty
    
    My missus is seven years younger than me, but she was older than 15yrs when I met her!
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:01am
  - Tall Man
    
    Perhaps someone should ask judge Turner that question or is it only ok if the male is the older one in the relationship?
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:14am
- Jack5
  
  There are different physical consequences for young woman of 20 having sex with a boy six months short of the legal age of 17, from the consequences of a young man of 20 having sex with a girl six months short of 16.
  
  The female can get pregnant, and this can mean extremely heavy consequences for a girl not yet 16.
  
  In this boy’s case, the consequences are only non-physical and, some might argue, even beneficial.
  
  But the point of my post is the heavy penalty for the young woman, notably the notoriety imposed on her by the publicity (including a photograph) , when well-known figures of entertainment and sport often have their identities shielded, and for offences that don’t entail “victim” complicity.
  
  For Chuck, I attach here a link to ages of consent in American states. Note that some have a “close in age” exemption, which I’m guessing might affect a fifteen and a half year old if there were such an exemption in NZ.
  
  https://www.ageofconsent.net/states
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:54am
  - Jack5
    
    Whoops, I notice the American “close in age” exemption” applies only when both partners are under the age of consent.
    
    The American restrictions look puritanical to me, and don’t seem to have stopped the carryings on of Epstein, the pal of the Duke of Dork.
    
    Another case of one law for the rich and famous, and another for the plebs.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:06am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    “In this boy’s case, the consequences are only non-physical and, some might argue, even beneficial.”
    
    Jack, a 15 year old boy getting a woman pregnant can have an effect on the boy. The law has now changed. It used to be the case where an underage boy fathered a child to a woman over 21 was liable for child support. This has now changed.
    
    I agree with you well-known figures of entertainment and sport often have their identities shielded bt not about victim complicity. One has to draw the line somewhere for age of consent.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:27am
- Chuck Bird
  
  I quote the judge from the Herald below.
  
  “Imposing sentence, the judge said aggravating factors were the five-year age disparity and there having been full sexual intercourse on numerous occasions. Being permitted to share the victim’s bed might be considered unusual in the extreme, but his parents would not have expected Bambery to commit an offence.”
  
  What planet is the judge on? The parents obviously know the two would be having sex if they shared a bed.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:01am
- Blackbob
  
  Imagine the jail time if the two people involved were switched, a 20 YO male sleeping with a 15.5YO female, and then ask yourself if the consequences were “ too harsh”?
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:22am
  - Batman
    
    Nailed it, Bob.
    
    The paedophile chants would be heard from afar…
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:24am
    - Jack5
      
      Batman, are you alleging that this was a case of paedophilia?
      
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      January 24, 2020 1:34pm
      - Batman
        
        Without looking up a definition and trying to apply it to this, no I am not.
        
        However it is certainly illegal and fairly suspicious.
        
        What I am saying is that if it was a man there would be shrieks of “predator” “pedo” “creep” etc etc. But since it’s a woman the first reaction was “oh the young lad got really lucky!”
        
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        January 24, 2020 2:04pm
Humble Capitalist

Another day for the champagne socialists sipping Martinborough’s finest while they pretend to have all of the answers because NZ is such an unfair place. So unfair that the couple renting a room above a garage across the road that cant be bothered getting out of bed before noon most days have a bigger TV screen than me and drive a newer car. They are the sort of people that just expect more and more from the government and are probably classified as living in poverdee
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January 24, 2020 8:20am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I had a debate about this on Twitter last night. Whilst Helen Clark’s acolytes were most definitely Chardonnay socialists, those who follow Jacinda Ardern with an almost religious fervour are probably Pinot Noir drinkers, given the choice of Martinborough as a venue for their retreat.
  
  Is it any wonder that Labour has completely disengaged from beer drinkers such as Waitakere Man and his many mates?
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:47am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Well, Martinborough does make the best Pinot’s in the country. And a really good Pinot is an almost religious experience. Sadly really hard to find…
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:01am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Those who hold Central Otago Pinot in such high regard might beg to differ Ed!
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:00am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Central Otago Pinots are wannabes. Expensive, but not (maybe not yet) up to Martinborough standards.
        
        My pick for best overall in NZ, Ata Rangi – been a customer of theirs for over 30 years, since the 1980’s.
        
        Best as yet unremarked NZ wine area – North Canterbury – headed by Pegasus Bay. Can grow Reds but best area in NZ for Rieslings.
        
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        January 24, 2020 11:13am
  - Batman
    
    Speaking from a central Wellington observation point, the height of Ardern cultism, they’re Pinot Gris drinkers.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:20am
    - alwyn
      
      “they’re Pinot Gris drinkers”
      That I can confirm. All the Labour Party luvvies among my acquaintances love the stuff.
      I personally find Pinot Gris an extremely boring wine. It simply has no depth at all.
      That is probably why the Socialist followers of St Jacinda like it. The dreariness of the wine goes with the dreariness of their conversation.
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:35am
      - All_on_Red
        
        Alas I have only one uptick to give for that comment
        
        9 1
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        January 24, 2020 10:39am
      - Ruahine
        
        I have been told that Cannabis goes well with Pinot Gris.
        
        9 0
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        January 24, 2020 10:44am
      - Ed Snack
        
        Most Pinot Gris in NZ seems to be made in the Italian (Pinot Grigio) style, lightweight.
        
        But if you can get hold of an aged bottle of Dry River Pinot Gris then it is an entirely different creature. Not cheap and hard to source, but worth trying if you can.
        
        To be honest, it’s not my favourite and I don’t buy or drink the standard Pinot Gris’, but the odd bottle of quality can be a welcome change from Chardonnay and Riesling as the most reliable quality drinkable whites.
        
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        January 24, 2020 10:48am
    - Tall Man
      
      Based on the drinkers around here I think the wine is currently in vogue and in no way connected to voter preference.
      
      My good lady and quite a few friends enjoy the Selaks lower alcohol Pinot Gris and I doubt there is one that would give ardern the time of day.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:11am
      - Paulus
        
        My wife has been ob Low Alc whites for as long as they have been available.
        I have low alc Heineken, as I have Type 2 Diabetes.
        
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        January 24, 2020 2:04pm
  - tf78
    
    Why on earth are children invited to these retreats – shows how serious Labour is about it’s actual job of running the country. They are a very bad dream that we can’t awaken from.
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:58am
secondcumming

Aljaz reports that as negotiations continue in relation to Huawei, *China’s Ambassador* to Germany, Wu Ken, told Berlin, “China is the second largest economy in the world and it will bring a lot of economic disadvantage to whichever country tries to push it down. The Chinese government will not stand idly by”

Yes sirree Bob 😎
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January 24, 2020 8:26am
Ruahine

New surveys revealed that the population of humpback whales in the South Atlantic region now number 24,900 — almost 93% of their population size before they were hunted to the brink of extinction.

Next weeks story on the bbc, abc, tvone, tv3, the guardian, nytimes, stuff etc, etc.

New surveys have revealed that the population of humpback whales in the South Atlantic which now number around 24,900 may be about to start dying of starvation due to the possible shortage of krill which many scientists now believe could likely be due to the possible effects of climate change.
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January 24, 2020 8:28am
- RW Capitalist
  
  they do that don’t they.
  Use words like “likely” and “possible”
  While all the time, telling us the “climate change” is a fact, caused by humans.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:54am
- cmm
  
  Ummm, so what if the humpbacks are running into a krill shortage?
  
  That is a normal natural feedback mechanism: rabbits breed until they run out of food; foxes breed until they run out of rabbits.
  
  It has always been so. Any farmer knows this: it’s the carrying capacity of the land. Land can only raise X tons of grass, so you can only have Y sheep on it.
  
  Only in socialist utopias can Comrade Humpback keep making the beast with two backs and expect infinite food.
  
  But, hey, climate change!
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:53am
G152

So.
This mine reentry.
Not even half a K in, behind time and running out of money, want more ‘forensic investigators’….
Time to shut the debacle down..
Leave them where they lie.
Put a large stone up in the entry and leave
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January 24, 2020 8:28am
- projectman
  
  You, me and (NZ’s population – 100 or so) agree.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:48am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Heard the mother of one of the mine victims on the radio saying it’s time for Little to stop wasting money on this futile exercise. She said it’s all being done for political reasons and the money could be better used elsewhere.
  Wonder how many other coasters are on the side of this sensible woman.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:50am
  - chaos
    
    Most of the families didn’t want this, it was a few loud mouths that pushed it.
    
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    January 24, 2020 8:53am
    - Nickc2
      
      Andrew Little wants to blame someone in order to placate his union. He was the union boss at the time.
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:51am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    Very few I would say!
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:03am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      If you did your homework Stephie, I think you’ll find the Pike River families group represents less than 30% of the 29 men who sadly died at the mine. Most of the families just want to move on, and don’t want to remain endlessly in victim/grievance mode.
      
      More surprising than anything however is that our hopelessly biased media (when it comes to matters around Pike River) have actually reported that there is division in the ranks. One is usually left with the impression that Ms Osborne and Mr Monk speak for all the families when that is patently not the case.
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:07am
  - lifesgood
    
    Give that woman a medal. What they are doing is desecrating graves. It beggars belief that the government is hell bent on keeping their promise to re enter the mine but break all their other promises with impunity. Why? Most coasters vote labour anyway, it’s not like they’ll gain converts.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:13am
    - DeepBlue
      
      Have ‘A Little’ conscience… Can’t rest till he can find evidence to blame someone else
      
      29 0
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      January 24, 2020 9:36am
      - Paulus
        
        As long as there is no Contributory Negligence like ciggy butts and covering gas monitors, it will be ok.
        
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        January 24, 2020 2:06pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        You mean Stuart, sorry Andrew, Little.
        
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        January 24, 2020 6:18pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  The one thing they never said:
  It will take 20 years to get to the mine (they are only in the drift). Then they can start looking for “evidence” and “recovering” the remains.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:57am
  - JackRabbit
    
    As the coroner said they won’t find anything. And since its highly likely the explosion happened because workers bypassed safety controls, they would have to fabricate said evidence.
    
    I mean who would be daft enough to lead an exploration to find culpability and closure for victims families, when the victims in all probability “pulled the trigger”. It is a given that Little intends either never get there or manufacture blame.
    
    Its a dead cow, but Little has his hands on all four teats pulling feverishly, and wanting to shovel more feed in the already dead cow. There is probably a better chance of re-floating the titanic than getting anything out of Pike river.
    
    And every time Pike river is on the news again, the poor families who want closure have salt poured on their wounds. Little is a grave robber. Trying to win brownie points the expense of of peoples emotions.
    
    This is yet another thing National can campaign on – shutting down the Pike river charade as a waste of money and not allowing closure for the Pike river families. As long as they word it preceded by “in our opinion”, no-one can have a go at them.
    
    National have plenty of fodder to load in the election cannon.
    
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    January 24, 2020 6:31pm
- Komata
  
  G152@0828
  
  Leave them alone? You must be joking; it’s an ELECTION year so a ‘Profit’ is to be made. Expect a huge amount of malarkey from the usual two suspects, but a dollar to a donut no-one in the MSM will remind Peters and Little about their ‘promises’ to be first in the mine… Stuff the victims, just get the pictures!
  
  In a ‘Fact based and transparent campaign’, ‘facts’ will always be always what the CoL want them to be…
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:47am
  - Ruahine
    
    All that money being wasted on Little’s mine is to buy the West Coast vote they hope.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:48am
oldpark

Noticed the clothing store/stores known as Cotton On have decided to cut and run from their North City Porirua outlets. Reasons seems to be the trade union bullies were trying to strong-arm them into coughing up a so called “living wage”. Even though the company in that precinct sales were running at a huge loss.
A rumour spread last week in the store was, yes the union had finally got the employees a living wage increase. That was celebrated big time . Good old union they said. Until the bad news also filtered through. The store is closing down. Go figure that one.
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January 24, 2020 8:28am
- RW Capitalist
  
  I remember the 5 in 05 campaign.
  5% increase in 2005.
  Southward engineering said they couldn’t afford it, the union went out on strike, they got their 5%, 6 months later this company closed.
  A previous Labour govt.!!!
  Seems to be a pattern.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:00am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  oldpark, link please?
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:03am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118994731/cotton-on-gave-staff-less-than-two-weeks-notice-that-the-stores-were-going-to-close
    
    You can do this Google searching thingee all by yourself, stephieboy.
    
    Just plug a few KEY words into that big empty search bar and press enter….
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:35am
    - herb1
      
      Stephie can’t bring himself to type KEY words as its brings back his Key Derangement Syndrome .
      
      28 3
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      January 24, 2020 10:01am
      - JackRabbit
        
        Its also difficult with one hand.
        
        4 1
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        January 24, 2020 6:32pm
    - Tall Man
      
      The problem is with the “big empty” head on steffy’s shoulders.
      
      21 3
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      January 24, 2020 10:08am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      I love it when stephieboy gets hoist by his own petard.
      
      15 1
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      January 24, 2020 11:09am
    - Stephieboy2
      
      MW, so a Union is not permitted to negotiate a living wage and workers paid the same?
      
      What’s your idea of a” living wage”?
      
      US minimum wage $10.25?
      
      1 18
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      January 24, 2020 11:25am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        MW, so a Union is not permitted to negotiate a living wage and workers paid the same?
        
        I made no comment on the Union’s activity.
        
        I merely put up a link as you seemed to be incapable of finding it yourself.
        
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        January 24, 2020 11:55am
      - Billy Collins
        
        There is no such thing as a living wage. Its a propaganda term. There is no one-size-fits-all wage. Everyone lives different lives, and employers make different amounts of money, that require different wages.
        
        It’s funny though, those who call for a living wage are the same ones who say a one-size-fits-all approach to pretty much everything else, from education to diet to housing, is a bad thing. It is, but why make an exception for wages?
        
        Scandinavian countries and some European countries (Germany for instance) have no minimum wage at all. They seem to do alright, but then they seem to have good control of their unions.
        
        9 1
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        January 24, 2020 12:19pm
      - Tony Stuart
        
        Gee stephie; yesterday, you said the US minimum wage was $12.
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:06pm
      - Stephieboy2
        
        Tony Stuart, $12.00 ?? Well its official US $10.25,
        
        https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage
        
        A baseline for our minimum wage to work from?
        
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        January 24, 2020 2:08pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Maggy Wassilieff
        
        “I made no comment on the Union’s activity.”
        But I can.
        
        Going on strike is not negotiation. Its bullying.
        
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        January 24, 2020 6:36pm
      - chaos
        
        What’s even more funny is the troll claims the federal main wage is $us10.25 and he links to it, it even says it on that page he links to $us7.25. So he doesn’t even read what he links to.
        
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        January 24, 2020 7:51pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    gfy.com
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:47am
  - Michael NZ
    
    yes it is nice to get links to click on.
    I’m with you Stephie on this.
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:11am
- Fletch
  
  Took them a while to cotton on….
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:50am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Businesses have to balance cash in and cash out. Borrowing has to be very temporary except for long lasting income producing assets.
  
  Govts that don’t understand that, are really a fraud on the taxpayers. Unions are instinctive bullies and Govts need to restrain them sometimes. A “Living Wage” determined by a Lower Hutt cleric has no validity except as one person’s opinion. That campaign originated in the UK–home of unionist bullies.
  
  To push wages up arbitrarily puts pressure on business cashflow. Something has to give and frequently does so into bankruptcy. Also the country as a whole has to be able to provide for the increased demand from the extra pay. That also requires more foreign exchange as spending is ultimately reflected there. Living standards are impacted as import cost prices are increased.
  
  Sound Govt would promote growing the national cake (GDP) then we would have more to share around. Wages follow production, not lead it.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:49am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Ah I see the Key government got things wrong by pushing up the minimum wage in the first place and wages solely paid at the whim of the employer?
    
    “Minimum wage cut could mean very low wages, says Key”
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10748133
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:30am
    - Batman
      
      Yes it was called a balanced approach, Stephie.
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:43am
  - ronsegal
    
    Labour wants to replace GDP with a well being measure.
    So if we live in mud huts but are happy everything is cool.
    
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    January 24, 2020 7:03pm
peterwn

Things turning a full circle – Kiwibank wants to buy BNZ. Presumably this year is the window of opportunity – next year the Nats would not allow it. The Government bailed out BNZ in the past, only to have BNZ mess it up in the 1980’s requiring a Government bail-out and sale (the ‘I am going to say no’ branch managers were OK, it was yuppie ‘managers’ at regional level lending to other yuppies who wrecked things).
So the Labour Government would be betting on the purchase being a safe investment for ACC, Superannuation fund, etc who would need to lend/invest the $10B+ to enable the purchase.
BNZ would probably go head over turkey in 2050 or so based on past experience.
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January 24, 2020 8:30am
- igm
  
  When a government is foolish and inserts trade unionists into directorships of anything fiscal there is going to be failure.
  How many Labour/Greens have ever made a success of a commercial venture?
  Parker, who knows everything, not only went belly up in easy trading times, he reduced his business partner to poverty and then ran off to Labour as a list MP where he continues his fiscal ruination of anything he touches.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:00am
- KevO'Brien
  
  BNZ is not a NZ company, it was sold off and National Bank of Australia owns it.
  Previously it got into difficulties. Despite being Govt owned it actively took positions against the Govt. A notable one was an overseas deal in which it pledged the NZ power grid as a security.
  Those were the days when Winston rightly commented on crookedness.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:26am
- rangitoto
  
  Are NAB interested in selling it?
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:37am
  - Paulus
    
    In today’s world everybody has a price – ask Winston.
    
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    January 24, 2020 2:10pm
EuropeanCanon

Donald Trump is going to the March for Life this weekend. This president stands up for the innocent unborn. Meanwhile in NZ we want to expand the slaughter.
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January 24, 2020 8:31am
- Maggie Pie
  
  In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v Wade, that it was a woman’s fundamental right to have an abortion.
  
  In the 47 years since then, a woman’s right to a safe, legal abortion has been threatened again and again, mainly by old grey haired men in shiny-arse suits.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:53am
  - Nukuleka
    
    Yes, Maggie Pie, very ‘safe’ for the unborn child.
    
    12 12
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    January 24, 2020 9:47am
    - Batman
      
      You mean the mainly inanimate and unconscious foetus?
      
      Nice to know that in some cases you’d rather both the woman and the foetus die than to save the one that’s alive.
      
      Maggie is right, it’s mostly ignorant dicks in shiney-arsed suits trying to control other people.
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:52am
    - Michael NZ
      
      very. Nuk
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:16am
  - Fletch
    
    In 1973 the ~~Supreme Court~~ same old white men in robes who ruled in 1857 that a black man was not a person, ruled in Roe v Wade, ~~that it was a woman’s fundamental right to have an abortion~~ that an unborn child was also not a person and it was OK to kill it.
    
    Fixed…
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:54am
    - fernglas
      
      Remarkable longevity in the Supreme Court.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:43am
  - Fletch
    
    The true story of Roe V Wade. Roe was basically used by pro-abortion lawyers. She never actually had an abortion, and became pro-life.
    
    “I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name” – Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”)
    
    https://www.facebook.com/prageru/videos/vb.127225910653607/110295387058458/?type=2&theater
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:49am
    - Michael NZ
      
      So where are all you abortionists now?
      
      Thank you Fletch.
      
      Has anyone seen the vid of the so called fetus trying to get away from the vacumn trying to render it asunder?????
      
      It’s on the web, do go and look.
      
      Oh and just as it takes a village to bring up a child so it takes 2 to make one.
      Then there are the 2 Grannys and 2 Grandads to think of.
      least of all the fetus which if it is fed and not interfered with, will pop out naturally a few months later.
      
      How many Earnest Rutherfords, Mother Theresa’s have we washed down the gurgler….
      
      5 6
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      January 24, 2020 11:20am
  - Billy Collins
    
    It was old grey haired men who decided Roe v Wade.
    
    The woman represented as Jane Roe in Roe v Wade is now a pro-life advocate and admitted she made up the whole thing.
    
    The judges couldn’t even clarify where in the constitution abortion could be justified. They just said its there…somewhere. Numerous lawyers have gone through it, even pro-choice ones, and admit it was a baseless decision.
    
    Here is a pretty decent run down from someone who isn’t even particularly pro-life:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKhyskuIIjY&t=3s
    
    4 4
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    January 24, 2020 12:28pm
    - Batman
      
      If everything has to be apparent in the Constitution then 99% of US law should be thrown out.
      
      That’s a ridiculous argument.
      
      5 5
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      January 24, 2020 12:36pm
      - Billy Collins
        
        You’ll notice, Batman, if you simply pay attention, that I never made a single argument.
        
        Maggie is the one relying on the appeal to the supreme court decision to justify the claim, seeming to hope that people just accept that they are the law and constitution experts therefore they must have good reasons. I’m merely pointing out information about the supreme court decision, that pretty much every law expert admits their decision is baseless, and you can make your mind up.
        
        The supreme court literally said abortion is justified under privacy laws because “we feel it is”. That is what Maggie is using to justify her claim. If my argument, which I never made, is bad, then Maggie’s is as well.
        
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        January 24, 2020 12:59pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  It’s still not clear how many abortions Trump paid for as a result of his ‘personal Vietnam’ on the New York club scene in the 1970s.
  
  4 46
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  January 24, 2020 9:20am
  - Tall Man
    
    A particularly offensive and childish post from you mikey, on par with your usual I suppose.
    
    28 5
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    January 24, 2020 10:06am
    - fernglas
      
      True. I doubt he paid for any of them.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:44am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Just watching play school TV1 breakfast shit (because that’s what the speaker of the house watches) Some clown up on a crane has now come down. ‘Made it safely to dry land’ she said. It is fucking raining ffs.
Appalling reporting
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January 24, 2020 8:32am
- tedbear
  
  Jeepers creepers Steve, next thing you’ll be taking on is holding a baby while pretending to be working.
  
  10 2
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  January 24, 2020 8:44am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I don’t work Fridays – she refuses to change channels.
    Total abuse of an old guy
    
    15 2
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    January 24, 2020 9:00am
    - tedbear
      
      Easily fixed. I read that hardship grants are easy to come by.
      
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      January 24, 2020 9:04am
- Inandout
  
  Steve, switched on TV3 and was met with Aseeze and some woman on the panel, discussing nothing really. When you have to drag a staff member to fill the panel you know money is running out. Mike on radio is better on my eyes first thing.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:01am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    All of it is shit. Give me OAN any day, especially Liz Wheeler – Final Point
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:43am
RW Capitalist

A story yesterday
Unemployment up
Benefit numbers up dramatically
a story earlier last year
poverty numbers up
etc etc
Willie Jackson on the AM show this morning
saying
After the great year we had last year
Progress on unemployment, the economy, health and education.
Question:
Is Willie Jackson, the new Comical Ali?
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January 24, 2020 8:39am
- sooty
  
  He’s a better commedian than Guy Williams!
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:08am
- Swifty
  
  ‘There are no American tanks in Baghdad. No, never.’
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:09am
chaos

* Why Holocaust Remembrance Day matters more than ever

BBC reporter Richard Dimbleby was the first broadcaster to enter the Bergen-Belsen death camp after it was liberated by the British on April 15, 1945. Overcome, he broke down several times while making his report. The BBC initially refused to play it, as they could not believe the scenes he had described, and it was broadcast only after Dimbleby threatened to resign.

Bergen-Belsen was only one of the thousands of killing sites during World War II. The Holocaust saw the murder and death of six million European and North African Jews in a deliberate genocide.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118931549/why-holocaust-remembrance-day-matters-more-than-ever

And for those that want to listen, Richard Dimbleby‘s braodcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP9BLKZENbc
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January 24, 2020 8:43am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  “You who live safe
  In your warm houses,
  You who find warm food
  And friendly faces when you return home.
  Consider if this is a man
  Who works in mud,
  Who knows no peace,
  Who fights for a crust of bread,
  Who dies by a yes or no.
  Consider if this is a woman
  Without hair, without name,
  Without the strength to remember,
  Empty are her eyes, cold her womb,
  Like a frog in winter.
  Never forget that this has happened.
  Remember these words.
  Engrave them in your hearts,
  When at home or in the street,
  When lying down, when getting up.
  Repeat them to your children.
  Or may your houses be destroyed,
  May illness strike you down,
  May your offspring turn their faces from you.”
  
  ― Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:09am
  - Manolo
    
    Sono felice che ti piaccia Primo Levi, cara Maggy. Ti consiglio Il sistema periodico.
    
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    January 24, 2020 9:19am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Snap.
      
      2 11
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      January 24, 2020 10:23am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Excelent author. My favourite is The Periodic Table.
    
    3 15
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    January 24, 2020 9:21am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      And my favourite chapter (at the moment) – Vanadium.
      
      Reread it MMA.
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:36am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        That’s the one about the German chemist, isn’t it?
        
        2 7
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        January 24, 2020 10:56am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Yep.
        
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        January 24, 2020 11:08am
  - Michael NZ
    
    Thanks Maggie
    I’m going to put that on a TShirt.
    Cheers
    
    5 0
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    January 24, 2020 11:24am
- KevO'Brien
  
  I won’t watch that. I saw newsreels screened in the movie theatres when I was about 6. They showed the capture and opening up of those concentration camps. No details were spared. The public worldwide were to be informed of the hell that had prevailed.
  Those memories are indelibly etched.
  We dishonour those victims by not attending their memorial.
  
  24 1
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  January 24, 2020 10:17am
  - Ed Snack
    
    One of the sadder revelations about the liberation of the camps was the death toll afterwards. The inmates had been so starved that their bodies could no longer handle significant amounts of food, and a significant number of the survivors died from consuming too much for their weakened bodies to handle.
    
    It took around 6-8 weeks of careful management of diet to enable the inmates to partake of a near normal diet, and sadly one of the first instincts of the liberators on seeing the survivors was to feed them what turned out to be far too much.
    
    There was limited medical support available and a lot of part trained people worked it out almost by trial error that they needed to almost keep the people in the camp area, tend to them and feed them limited but nutritious foods in a controlled way until they could safely begin reintegration to normal life.
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:00am
- Michael NZ
  
  Thanks Chaos..
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:22am
igm

How much longer do taxpayers wait for this sort of bullshit policing to stop?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118978450/father-in-hospital-after-latenight-group-assault-on-his-birthday
When one reads this type of article it does nothing but make one resolute to see the end of this vile and corrupt CoL.
Reposted from yesterday’s General Debate.
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January 24, 2020 8:54am
- Sydney Alvarado
  
  “Police officers arrived a short while later, but the attackers fled on foot and only two were arrested. They were released with pre-charge warnings. ”
  
  What the hell?
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:34am
- Tall Man
  
  I wonder if these were the same cops that allowed the firearms and drugs to be stolen from the police station while they stood there with drawn pistols………..
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:03am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/119010741/the-benefit-battle-every-cent-counts

There are so many stories like this that I really believe that it is time to require sterilisation for some people.

31 years old with 4 kids is a recipe for disaster, and a sure way to spend the rest of his life on taxpayer benefits. And the 4( at least ) kids probably will too.
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January 24, 2020 8:59am
- chaos
  
  I’m 45 with no kids, the benefit isn’t easy and with the rising cost of living and now gst being added to international purchases.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    Should a benefit allow the same lifestyle as working fulltime?
    
    Income protection insurance has been available my whole working life and I have had to utilise it a couple of times so I have little sympathy for those that have fallen on tough times due to health issues.
    
    In my working life I have interacted with thousands of people from all races and income levels and I was often amazed at the lifestyle many on benefits were able to maintain, Cell phones, more than one car in the family, laptops, Sky, cigarettes plus drugs and or alcohol.
    
    There are those that are born into a benefit lifestyle and have no desire or ambition to exit that lifestyle.
    
    I am not attacking you as I don’t know your circumstances but those that genuinely require assistance and have never had and still do not have the ability to avoid the situation they find themselves in could receive much more if the bludgers were removed from a benefit.
    
    13 2
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    January 24, 2020 9:59am
    - Sydney Alvarado
      
      The way they maintain that lifestyle is through cash jobs and/or drug dealing and/or other petty crime.
      
      9 1
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      January 24, 2020 10:22am
    - Sydney Alvarado
      
      Some people cannot get income protection insurance because they have chronic health issues. Anyway, putting that aside, for able bodied people, I would:
      
      – work test the hell out of them. (No you can’t have a benefit. Here is $500 and a bus ticket to Napier. The picking contractor will meet you at the bus stop. See you at the end of the picking season.)
      
      – No increase in benefit for any woman that has a kid while on a benefit, and counsel the hell out of them to be sterilised.
      
      – Front end dole payments. Initially they are high if you lose your job (not if you quit). But after 6 months they reduce and after 12 months they go to a basic subsistence level – say half of current levels.
      
      I am sure there are lots of variations on those principles, but as DPF has illustrated in his post today, the current situation is untenable. Indeed why is it not the headline media story?
      
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      January 24, 2020 10:29am
      - Batman
        
        Do you mean sterilised or contraception?
        
        Sterilising is morally repugnant in this circumstance.
        
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        January 24, 2020 10:37am
      - Sydney Alvarado
        
        Sterilised
        
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        January 24, 2020 11:12am
      - Stephieboy2
        
        “sterilised” ?
        
        Repulsive but what more can one expect from the extreme right!
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:06pm
      - Tall Man
        
        “Some people cannot get income protection insurance because they have chronic health issues”
        
        I am aware of that Sydney and they would fall into the category that would and should receive help, but at a reasonable level which we could afford if we got those that elect to be on a benefit off.
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:48pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        A few years back, some WINZ staff were firm on losers who come in for a top up to buy groceries because they spend there normal dole on gambling, booze and cigs.
        
        Said staff got reprimanded and only ones not to get bonuses or pay rise.
        
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        January 24, 2020 6:48pm
    - chaos
      
      No it shouldn’t but there needs to be more thought for those who aren’t on unemployment. As I’ve said before I have pots so until I can beat this bitch I’m getting substantially less than I would be earning, and I’m ok with that. The help medically though is a joke. I get $2 extra a week for medication. $3 a week for doctors visits.
      
      Yeah I know there are people defrauding the system. One moved in next to us. 6 cars, a caravan, and winz dont care hes doing under the table jobs.
      
      There are little things thos govt has done that go unnoticed by the media that just add costs everywhere.
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:02am
    - Michael NZ
      
      Good points Tall Man
      
      5 2
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      January 24, 2020 11:27am
- Tall Man
  
  So about $12,500 plus lump sums paid out so far with more to come.
  
  Why couldn’t the DHB prioritise workers over beneficiaries and get this guy treated asap? Surely the cost of one would balance the cost of the other.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:53am
- GoVege
  
  I’ve met a 19 year old with 5 kids…..
  
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  January 24, 2020 7:55pm
Stephieboy2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
More about Trump’s rogue’s gallery of lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr. The two that enabled Pedophile Epstein to get off scot free in a “sweet heart plea” deal . Thereafter o allegedly abuse again Now the two are on Trump’s impeachment trial legal tea.

Maybe Dershowitz and Starr can pull another similar “sweet heart plea” deal and what really happened to Epstein on the fateful day 10 August 2019 in the year of our Lord ?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-just-hired-jeffrey-epsteins-lawyers-alan-dershowitz-and-ken-starr
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January 24, 2020 9:00am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Good lawyers take a multitude of clients. Closed minds use limited sources of information as their own.
  
  20 2
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  January 24, 2020 10:10am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Are you suggesting that there is merit in defending Jeffrey Epstein ?
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:19am
    - chaos
      
      Ate you suggesting a person charged with a crime should have no legal representation
      
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      January 24, 2020 11:36am
      - Stephieboy2
        
        chaos , of course not but just imagine if Hillary Clinton’s or Obama’s legal counsel did the same?
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:08pm
      - chaos
        
        Yes we know creepy that if it was Obama or Clinton you would be posting out your asshole what great lawyers they are. Don’t worry everyone here can smell your shit a mile away
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:19pm
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Every person accused of a crime is entitled to a competent defence stephie.
      
      9 0
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      January 24, 2020 1:09pm
      - Stephieboy2
        
        At any price?
        
        0 7
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        January 24, 2020 2:09pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Without a defence there can be no justice. The alternative is to shoot all prisoners.
      
      3 0
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      January 24, 2020 7:55pm
- JackRabbit
  
  “Now the two are on Trump’s impeachment trial legal tea. ”
  
  What scones with raspberry jam, and Earl Gray?
  
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  January 24, 2020 6:52pm
- yossarian
  
  Would you be more happy if his lawyer was your buddy Goliz, who only defends those who incite genocide?
  
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  January 24, 2020 6:53pm
KH

Another day and another near death experience on state highway tourist route in Central Otago.
This time it was a chinese rental Corolla doing something insane (as usual) and a chinese tour bus on my side of the road in avoidance (less usual). Both ended stopped in unusual positions.
Will I survive the summer.?
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January 24, 2020 9:09am
- secondcumming
  
  By the sound of it, not if the CCP’s got anything to do with it 😎
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:33am
- Tall Man
  
  Dash cam plus *555.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:48am
- Sydney Alvarado
  
  I was at Christchurch airport last night. Walked past the rental kiosks. There were dozens of Chinese nationals renting cars having just got off a long haul flight. So they they then head out of the airport, at dusk, tired, never driven on the left hand side of the road….
  
  It is terrifying.
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:32am
  - Tall Man
    
    I doubt it is the tiredness that is the issue, they are just crap drivers without a clue.
    
    I am on the road a bit and I can generally guess the driver by the way they drive.
    
    Yesterday I followed a medium minivan at 70kph until the passing lane and then we hit 130 and I managed to squeeze past and then I watched him fade almost out of sight in my rear view while he built another queue behind him.
    
    I have also virtually had to come to an emergency stop when the car in front braked heavily when another car came towards him on a bridge and he panicked.
    
    These events are in the middle of the day and are cases of crap driving not exhaustion.
    
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    January 24, 2020 1:54pm
  - GoVege
    
    That’s exactly why we need more trains.
    So tired tourists aren’t forced to drive themselves.
    
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    January 24, 2020 7:57pm
chaos

https://twitter.com/DExEUgov/status/1220354468207874048

The Brexit Act has been given Royal Assent.

We’re leaving ?? next Friday.
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January 24, 2020 9:15am
- Ruahine
  
  “Those silly people did not know what they were voting for. Why don’t they just do as they are told by people who know a lot more about what is good for them and what is good for the UK”
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:01am
chaos

* Ingraham investigation: Emails expose what Obama admin knew about Bidens and Burisma*

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6125736869001#sp=show-clips
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January 24, 2020 9:19am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Debunking lies about Trump, Biden, Ukraine, and the whistleblower
  
  WRITTEN BY COURTNEY HAGLE & BOBBY LEWIS
  RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PAM VOGEL & ERIC KLEEFELD
  
  “……
  
  Fact: Shokin was not actively investigating Burisma
  
  As a Wall Street Journal news report explained, Shokin “dragged his feet” in the case of the natural gas businessman at the center of this story, Mykola Zlochevsky, and his Burisma Holdings. Shokin undermined a vaunted attempt by British authorities to freeze $23 million worth of Zlochevsky’s assets.
  
  https://www.mediamatters.org/rudy-giuliani/debunking-lies-about-trump-biden-ukraine-and-whistleblower
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:18am
- Michael NZ
  
  err for some of us that has been a foregone conclusion for years.
  Obama ran it all by egging others on.
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:30am
- chaos
  
  Blizzard that the local troll is posting an article tat doesn’t even explain the story above or even mention the emails it presents. Oh well what do we expect from a troll. Just bizarre, posting an article a few months old in reply to emails just released.
  
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  January 24, 2020 12:50pm
  - Stephieboy2
    
    chaos , why I have no faith in Laura Ingraham and her investigative skills nor naturally Fox News,
    
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/laura-ingraham-impeachment-fox-news.html
    
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    January 24, 2020 1:20pm
    - chaos
      
      You really do not understand do you, it doesn’t matter how you feel about someone they have officially released emails, that is all that matters. And yet you still try with making it about her and not about what is in the emails, piss off until you have something that disputes what is in the emails they have
      
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      January 24, 2020 1:33pm
      - Stephieboy2
        
        OK whats in the emails??
        
        1 10
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        January 24, 2020 2:11pm
      - chaos
        
        Not my job to tell you, if you can’t be bothered watching a clip then don’t spam the post with your troll crap
        
        6 1
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        January 24, 2020 2:35pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s raving conspiracy theory nonsense…
        
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        January 24, 2020 3:53pm
      - chaos
        
        That’s right mike emails officially released under freedom of information can’t be real and must be raving, you are as much of a lunatic as the other troll. Now you are claiming that officially released emailed can’t be factual, so you must be saying that offically released emails are made up, that is a serious accusation to make
        
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        January 24, 2020 4:42pm
      - Vory v zakone
        
        ‘Raving Conspiracy Theory Nonsense’ is what Pencil Neck Schiff is perpetuating. Wait until the exposure by Trump’s legal team which will make the Demtards squirm
        #SchumerSchiffShamShow
        
        https://imgur.com/uBiegAE
        
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        January 24, 2020 5:22pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        The problem for her is that the emails don’t show what she claims. Not that facts matter for her braindead audience.
        
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        January 24, 2020 5:34pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @mikenmildagain
        
        “It’s raving conspiracy theory nonsense…”
        
        Conspiracy Theory: In 1967, the CIA Created the Label “Conspiracy Theorists” … to Attack Anyone Who Challenges the “Official” Narrative
        
        Anyone who uses the term “conspiracy theory” to discredit another person or idea, does so because they have no rational argument, or they wish to hide the fact they have been doing something wrong.
        
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        January 24, 2020 7:03pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Hadn’t heard that one before: the conspiracy theory that the CIA invented ‘conspiracy theories’ to discredit the truth tellers.
        
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        January 24, 2020 7:44pm
    - chaos
      
      It’s distraction jack, notice how neither has commented and disproved what is in the video, the head troll admits he trolled for a while without even bothering to see what was in it. This is how these two act.
      
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      January 24, 2020 7:37pm
Sydney Alvarado

I bought my first overseas purchase for the year and sure enough New Zealand GST was added. As the item was half the cost of buying it locally (including freight) it was still worthwhile. (And TBH even if it was marginally more expensive, I would still buy online because of the variety and choice, and the often terrible service you get in NZ.)

But I was thinking how is this not a “new tax” ? GST on overseas purchases must total hundreds of millions.
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January 24, 2020 9:22am
- chaos
  
  I’m not looking forward to buying my supplement in a month, is already very expensive, with gst added on, argh
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:41am
- RW Capitalist
  
  The ridiculous thing here.
  If it was under $400 ex GST, it probably cost us (the taxpayer) more to collect the $60, than we received.
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:42am
- Ian Boag
  
  There was a figure kicked around when the “Amazon tax” rules came in. About $120 million/year by the end of 2022. You could look it up like I did ….
  
  Next explain why you should not have to pay it. GST is promoted in NZ as a “good” tax – difficult to evade, simple to collect. The killer on overseas purchases was that it was difficult/expensive to collect. Not any more.
  
  Tax (total about $80,000 million) is the price of having healthcare, education, pensions, army, police, roads etc etc
  
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  January 24, 2020 9:46am
  - Sydney Alvarado
    
    I agree we should pay GST where it is feasible so I am not complaining. But $120 million seems kind of low.
    
    Anyway, assume it is $120 million. Why does the Government need an additional $120 million? They were doing just fine before. Other taxes should be adjusted to raise $120 million less. Otherwise it IS a tax increase.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:13am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      No new taxes. Where did I hear that?
      
      10 1
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      January 24, 2020 10:48am
      - Tall Man
        
        Jesus Steve, that was just “aspirational” from the honest and transparent liar we all know as ardern as you well know.
        
        Now, where are your firearms?
        
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        January 24, 2020 1:57pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Tall Man. My firearms fell off my boat – gone forever
        
        6 1
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        January 24, 2020 2:39pm
    - chaos
      
      Why should we pay tax on something not even purchased in nz that we have already paid tax on in the country it was purchased.
      
      7 0
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      January 24, 2020 12:05pm
  - Michael NZ
    
    Ian it is very simple.
    The item is bought overseas.
    I am a private individual not a business.
    
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    January 24, 2020 11:31am
- tf78
  
  Logically I can’t see how our government can charge goods and services taxes on products which are not goods or services from NZ. Courier gst cost perhaps.
  
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  January 24, 2020 12:31pm
- ronsegal
  
  ‘As the item was half the cost of buying it locally (including freight) it was still worthwhile.’
  
  As much as half the cost. There are many items being sold here that they are readily available directly from China at a fifth of the cost or less.
  
  Be happy to pay 10 or even 20 percent extra to buy goods from and support a local store, but with several 100 percent mark-up, no way. GST by comparison is just an annoying blip. Indeed, it is even easier now to purchase more expensive items below NZ2000, with less concern that the goods will be stopped by customs.
  
  Have to say though that my perception is a tightening of the rules rather than a new tax, which any Government would probably eventually have implemented.
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:57pm
Sydney Alvarado

I heard a story yesterday about a friend of a friend. I have met him a few times. He is a builders labourer. Seemed like a good sort. Works hard. Has a wife and two young kids. He is about 30 and has been driving for more than a decade without a licence. He tried a couple of times in the test and failed so just gave up. It got me thinking (a) How does he get away with it? (b) How many others are out there?
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January 24, 2020 9:38am
- sooty
  
  Are his cars registered and warranted aswell?
  
  6 0
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  January 24, 2020 10:11am
  - Sydney Alvarado
    
    AFAIK his car is OK. But if he hits someone any insurance (if he has it) will be null and void. So he is exposing his family to major financial risk (e.g. if he hits a high end car.)
    
    I know someone who is doing work on licencing trends. Apparently the numbers of licensed young people are falling rapidly. It is harder and more costly to get a license. (The Greens will say that young people are not driving because they care about climate change. It is crap.)
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:36am
DeepBlue

Anyone else notice the launch of another political party yesterday…there was a video inserted into a Stuff article. Some ex NZFirst list people, having learnt from their experience.

Very cheap launch, lady reading a speech about not being NZFirst…. For some reason I’ve forgotten the party name already.
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January 24, 2020 9:40am
- MCos
  
  Probably New NZ First
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:08am
- sooty
  
  The people who formed must be forgetable aswell!
  Not going to do well are they!
  The empty space over there party!
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:13am
  - Tall Man
    
    Similar to labour except they’re the “empty space up there” party.
    
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    January 24, 2020 10:46am
Fletch

Woah. Dire Straits themed royal Facebook Meme ? –

https://www.facebook.com/MKandDS/photos/a.184886123518/10157179267623519/?type=3&theater
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January 24, 2020 9:56am
Fletch

It doesn’t help the Chinese fight horrible virus’s when they eat whole bats for lunch ..
[WARNING – contains pics of bat being eaten}

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7920573/Revolting-footage-shows-Chinese-woman-eating-bat-scientists-link-coronavirus-animal.html

Scientists reckon that’s where the virus comes from.
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January 24, 2020 9:59am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  and there’s lots of “warm” / live meat for sale in the wet markets
  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/23/appetite-for-warm-meat-drives-risk-of-disease-in-hong-kong-and-china
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:48am
Hugh Pavletich

The New Zealand housing fiasco …

Government spends $48 million in 3 months on grants for people in dire need of accommodation, as number of grants issued increases 5-fold in 2 years … Jenee

https://www.interest.co.nz/property/103344/government-spends-48-million-three-months-december-one-grants-people-dire-need

Whakatane teacher feeling impact of housing unaffordability ‘threat to middle class’ … Susan Edmunds … Stuff New Zealand

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/118924598/whakatane-teacher-feeling-impact-of-housing-unaffordability-threat-to-middle-class
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January 24, 2020 10:08am
- Hugh Pavletich
  
  Kiwi homes pass $1.2 trillion in value, Core Logic says … Rob Stock … Stuff New Zealand
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119005258/kiwi-homes-pass-12-trillion-in-value-core-logic-says
  
  … What lessons are being learned from Greater Christchurch ? …
  
  New survey ranks NZ’s most and least affordable cities … Anne Gibson … NZ Herald
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12301144
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:09am
  - Cobolt24
    
    High airfares and rising rents boost inflation to 1.9%
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/119013766/higher-airfares-and-rents-again-boost-inflation
    
    4 1
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    January 24, 2020 12:13pm
  - Paulus
    
    I heard that 77% of houses in New Zealand are fully owned – ie no banks or mortgages.
    
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    January 24, 2020 2:17pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Hardship grant payouts have gone up massively in the last few months…
573,000 paid out in the 3 months to December…

Thats $165 M over & above the usual benefit payouts.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408046/focus-on-employment-over-increasing-benefit-levels-government-national-party

Looks like the Col had better start harvesting some more money trees, because the Golden goose has stopped laying.
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January 24, 2020 10:15am
Sydney Alvarado

What has happened to TOP? They have a flash new website but I see little coverage of them in the media.

https://www.top.org.nz/
8 2
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January 24, 2020 10:15am
- ronsegal
  
  From the information on their web site, TOP seem to be an alternative, socialist wannabe party.
  
  13 1
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  January 24, 2020 10:29am
- Minsk400
  
  Spent force. Fear of wasted vote. Geoff haunts Interest with interesting economic articles, but how many people read that?
  A pity…
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:38am
  - Sydney Alvarado
    
    TBH I think their vote this year will be lower than last time.
    
    6 0
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    January 24, 2020 11:14am
RW Capitalist

Dumbest thing said on the AM show this year? (already)
Any move to give universal free lunches in school, will not increase your taxes, it will come out their current budget…..Duncan Garner
Really Duncan????So they will have lunch but 1 less teacher or 1000 less books etc The money has to come from somewhere, so the govt. will put more money in to cover for it. Govt. only gets money from 2 places…TAX and BORROWING, surely you aren’t recommending the govt. borrow to pay for school lunches?
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January 24, 2020 10:31am
- Michael NZ
  
  Duncan is a plank some days…
  That’s what happens to chardonay socialists.
  
  common sense stops working…
  
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  January 24, 2020 11:34am
Michael NZ

No matter what else they say about him, Trump does what he says he is going too.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/president_trump_will_become_the_first_president_to_attend_the_march_for_life.html
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January 24, 2020 10:49am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Trump was for a very long-time pro-choice. No one believe he is sincere in his current anti-abortion stance.
  
  7 23
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  January 24, 2020 11:00am
- Stephieboy2
  
  One wonders how many of the unborn succmbed during his sleeping around escapades that he personally boasted about,
  
  https://www.thedailybeast.com/draft-dodger-trump-said-sleeping-around-was-my-personal-vietnam
  
  2 27
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  January 24, 2020 11:07am
  - chaos
    
    You are a disgusting creep
    
    17 4
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    January 24, 2020 11:33am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Sorry down ticked by mistake.
      
      2 0
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      January 24, 2020 7:06pm
  - Michael NZ
    
    Oh you’re both up.
    The old “one Two”…
    
    9 1
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    January 24, 2020 11:35am
Martin Williams

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Great news.

Now that the John Key government has been and gone, NZ has returned to the top of the least corrupt countries list.

No coincidence I’m sure you’ll agree.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/408056/new-zealand-seen-as-least-corrupt-country-in-world-international-report
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January 24, 2020 10:57am
- Batman
  
  Just wait for the NZ First governance structure and the PGF to filter through to that ranking…. We’ll be out of the top 10 in no time.
  
  20 4
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  January 24, 2020 11:02am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Interestingly Martin, NZ was #1 on its own in 2011, three years into the Key era, with a better score (9.5) than the current 9.3.
  
  Then they were 1= in 2012 and 2013, 2nd in 2014, 1= in 2015 and 2016 and outright first in 2017, when National left office.
  
  DPF described Andrew Little’s self-congratulatory media release yesterday as the “biggest wankery statement” of the day. I’m surprised someone as astute as you got sucked in by it (sarcasm ends)
  
  Oh, and by the way, the 2018 report had New Zealand in second place, with a lower index score than ANY YEAR when John Key was Prime Minister. Odd that neither you or Andrew Little mentioned that 😀
  
  23 2
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  January 24, 2020 11:22am
- Michael NZ
  
  Seen, not is Martin…
  Distinction
  
  5 1
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  January 24, 2020 11:35am
- Tall Man
  
  Yeah but how’re we doing on the personal safety ratings with the labour party’s sexual abusers running around the halls of parliament and camps.
  
  Oh that’s right, rape victims are liars if they are being assaulted by someone who is a useful idiot to the party.
  
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  January 24, 2020 2:03pm
- Paulus
  
  First along with Denmark.
  
  2 0
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  January 24, 2020 2:18pm
  - Nickc2
    
    We won’t be there for long after the corruption of Cindy’s mob is revealed. Whoever is keeping tabs on our corruption just needs to lift up the carpet in her office. Lots of stuff has been conveniently swept under it.
    
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    January 24, 2020 2:41pm
Stephieboy2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Some quotes from Greta at the Davos economic forum that even the cynical US President could find common ground ,

“Let’s be clear. We don’t need a “low carbon economy.” We don’t need to “lower emissions.” Our emissions have to stop”

“We are not telling you to “offset your emissions” by just paying someone else to plant trees”

“Planting trees is good, of course, but it’s nowhere near enough of what is needed and it cannot replace real mitigation”

“until we have the technologies that at scale can put our emissions to minus, then we must forget about net zero. We need real zero.”

“Any plan or policy of yours that doesn’t include radical emission cuts at the source, starting today, is completely insufficient for meeting the 1.5-degree or well-below-2-degrees commitments”

” this is not about right or left. We couldn’t care less about your party politics. From a sustainability perspective, the right, the left as well as the center have all failed”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2020/jan/21/davos-2020-donald-trump-greta-thunberg-climate-mark-carney-wef-day-one-live?
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January 24, 2020 11:02am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Her Dad is a good speech writer
  
  22 1
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  January 24, 2020 11:10am
  - rangitoto
    
    More likely the Indian guy.
    
    8 1
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    January 24, 2020 1:09pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      2050: A look back in time to 2019. Cowgirl and the Indian. How a Spoilt child and a Bollywood actor stole from the rich and gave to the super rich.
      
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      January 24, 2020 7:12pm
  - Stephieboy2
    
    And Trump has Sephen Miller and now a committe of speech writers,
    
    https://www.quora.com/Whos-Donald-Trumps-speech-writer
    
    LOL!
    
    1 16
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    January 24, 2020 1:24pm
    - Tony Stuart
      
      Laughing at yourself stephie? You may as well, because everyone else is laughing at you when you post inane shit like that!
      
      10 1
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      January 24, 2020 2:41pm
    - tf78
      
      Jacinda would be speechless without one.
      
      9 1
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      January 24, 2020 3:09pm
      - chaos
        
        well that might get her some votes because every time she opens her mouth she is lying, stop that and people might trust her, no, that won’t work nothing will make intelligent people trust that liar
        
        5 0
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        January 24, 2020 4:40pm
  - chaos
    
    Weirdo now turning this into the fact presidents always have speech writers.
    
    7 1
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    January 24, 2020 1:31pm
    - sooty
      
      Even Comrade Cindy has a lot of speech writers on her staff!
      Stuffed full of has been, never was scriblers!
      
      9 1
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      January 24, 2020 2:21pm
      - sooty
        
        The media is stuffed full of all the rest that she could not employ directly!
        
        8 1
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        January 24, 2020 2:25pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Don’t you mean “some quotes from Greta’s speech writer”?
  
  23 2
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  January 24, 2020 11:23am
- graham
  
  “Let’s be clear. We don’t need a “low carbon economy.” We don’t need to “lower emissions.” Our emissions have to stop”
  
  “until we have the technologies that at scale can put our emissions to minus, then we must forget about net zero. We need real zero.”
  
  Fascinating. Just how does Greta propose that we “stop emissions”??
  
  I honestly don’t believe it is possible. Open to being corrected though …
  
  11 1
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  January 24, 2020 1:27pm
- yossarian
  
  Concern about Climate Change is only the privilege of the bourgeoisie middle classes, and i thought you lefties hated the middle class?
  
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  January 24, 2020 7:00pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Be a good sport StephiBoy2,
  
  Could you forward the link to this new energy source she is advocating we use to replace fossil fuels.? I need to update my project list.
  
  Alternately please explain what she means by “real zero”?
  
  Should I be concerned that Greta is actually from an alien pilot ship? Aliens that cannot have any CO2 because it burns their skin?
  
  Or are we simply supposed to stop breathing like as requested by that alien in “Independence Day”
  
  “Why are you here, What do you want us to do?”
  “To simply stop breathing!”
  
  4 0
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  January 24, 2020 7:19pm
All_on_Red

General Flynn update
‘Sidney Powell, lawyer of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, said the FBI excluded crucial information from a report on their interview of her client. The report, an FBI 302 form, was used to charge Flynn with lying to the FBI, but the original draft of the 302 stated that Flynn was honest with the FBI, according to a witness who saw the draft, Powell said.’

Strozk was involved in editing the 302. He’s in the shit for other stuff also after he got sacked.

The Prosecutor Van Grack, who was one of Muellers team, tried to get Flynn to lie in another of their cases.
Flynn refused.
Judge Emmet Sullivan is not impressed…
9 3
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January 24, 2020 11:08am
- Michael NZ
  
  Orange Jumpsuits for the wrong doers.
  That is deliberate felonies.
  
  then they threatened his family….
  
  3 1
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  January 24, 2020 11:37am
- mikenmildagain
  
  That would be Judge “you sold your country out” Sullivan.
  Flynn’s going to prison.
  
  3 12
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  January 24, 2020 11:40am
  - Batman
    
    Oh yeah, it is too.
    
    The one that pointed to the flag hanging behind his chair and told Flynn he had disgraced it and himself, or words to that effect.
    
    5 5
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    January 24, 2020 11:46am
    - All_on_Red
      
      This, of course, was before all the information came out showing how exculpatory evidence for Flynn was suppressed.
      It’s a shame the rules don’t allow me to call you a moron.
      
      6 3
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      January 24, 2020 1:59pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        He was tricked into lying about his scheming with the Russkies…
        
        3 3
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        January 24, 2020 2:04pm
- Batman
  
  Flynn is off to jail.
  
  No great awakening.
  
  3 10
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  January 24, 2020 11:41am
Biscuit

Meantimes, in news that will surely bring a bit of warmth to the heart cockles of even the saddest of Kiwiblog downtickers, Liverpool’s beginning to the 2019/20 Premier League season continues on its merry, unbeaten way:

W-W-W-W-W-W-W-D-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W

Altogether now:

When you walk
through a storm…
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January 24, 2020 11:12am
DeepBlue

The people are hurting, Total Cover now in receivership.

So more Global Warming doesn’t mean
more Global Awnings. Should have been a runaway business market.
8 1
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January 24, 2020 11:47am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGabeCCmf34
Virginia Gun Rally: A War of Perception.
Chris Chappell nails it again.
3 1
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January 24, 2020 12:06pm
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgckfDZJ74
EU votes to accelerate punitive actions against Hungary and Poland. Things aren’t going too well for the Fourth Reich.
9 1
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January 24, 2020 12:08pm
chaos

* Don’t panic, the Prime Minister has been found. She is among the vines in Martinborough.

And from between those vines she has repeated the mistakes of the previous two years. She’s promised something and given it a name and headline. She is promising to run a positive, factual, and robust campaign.

Oh dear. Is that the same as saying you are the most open, honest, and transparent government ever? Or not dissimilar to last year being the year of delivery?*

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12303102
17 1
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January 24, 2020 12:10pm
- JackRabbit
  
  … Nest and ….-Parent
  
  [Mod: Beyond reasonable comment JR – consider this a gentle warning to lift the standard.]
  
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  January 24, 2020 7:22pm
Steve Todd

This is an interesting article: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2020/01/writer-calls-egalitarian-marriages-functionally-homosexual.html.

The writer responds to a “traditional Christian” who considers “the current ‘Christian’ marriage model of ‘equal partners’ is in fact a functionally homosexual relationship, […].”

Christians, eh? Aren’t they a funny lot?
7 1
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January 24, 2020 12:11pm
- JackRabbit
  
  Men and women are like cars and trucks. Both have equal rights to be on the road, but have to be driven differently.
  
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  January 24, 2020 7:25pm
Forrest

Th government cannot be accused of sitting on its hands. It most certainly has been the year of delivery.
The Herald is reporting that Andrew Little the minister responsible for the Pike River Re-entry as saying that he was not ruling out seeking more funds for the re-entry.
This is on top of the $36m already allocated.
He also said that the re-entry “was about a year behind schedule”.
This for a project that was only announced in November 2018.
So less than 14 months after it was announced:
they are 12 months behind schedule AND have managed to spend $36m.
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January 24, 2020 12:12pm
- sooty
  
  He’s have to pull finger to find forensic everdence to rant and rave about before election day!
  Will he just incrimanate himself or does he have first dibs on all the stuff retreived?
  I think that with the extra staff been recuited is there is going to be one big push to get to the end of the drift and to hell with safety!
  This is why he wants more money!
  
  4 1
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  January 24, 2020 2:14pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Was originally $23 million. Blew out to $36 million very quickly. And shortly more will be required.
  In my opinion (and some of the people who lost loved ones in the mine), there has already been too much spent on this. $36m could have gone towards Pharmac drugs for living people.
  So anyone care to guess what the final cost of this debarcle will be….I’ve always thought around $80 million.
  What do you guys think will be the upper limit this COL will waste on Pike River?
  
  8 1
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  January 24, 2020 3:14pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    They could have used it to refloat the titantic, or find a more spectacular way to waste the money.
    
    3 0
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    January 24, 2020 7:27pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    They are advertising for a couple of new staff…
    but only through to 30 June 2020.
    
    … they don’t seem to be able to hold on to Electrical technicians
    (they wanted one in Jan 2019, August 2019, and now Jan 2020)
    https://www.pikeriverrecovery.govt.nz/news/vacancies-health-safety-risk-and-assurance-advisor-and-electrical-technician/
    
    2 0
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    January 24, 2020 7:46pm
- tf78
  
  Maybe they should use desert spoons instead of teaspoons whilst digging their way into the mine.
  
  6 0
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  January 24, 2020 4:28pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Nah, desert spoons are only good for digging in sand…
    
    1 5
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    January 24, 2020 4:40pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Looks like they’ve been using a risotto spoon.
    https://www.greentulip.co.uk/images/thumbnails/350/350/detailed/37/B056270_-_CO.jpg
    
    3 0
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    January 24, 2020 5:38pm
    - sooty
      
      Liddle Angry is spending up large to try and get the job done and dusted and in court before the election! Money no object and neither is safety!
      
      4 0
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      January 24, 2020 5:54pm
      - chaos
        
        Andy is spending up big to try and cover up his involvement in ignoring the concerns of these miners when he was head of the union and it was raised with him
        
        2 1
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        January 24, 2020 7:30pm
Hugh Pavletich

New Zealand’s biggest social scandal – Dr Oliver Hartwich, Executive Director, New Zealand Initiative

https://nzinitiative.outreach.co.nz/?Ns=&Na=view-msg-public&SMESG-oid=21663&Scontact=2149250d

The greatest social scandal of our time barely raises eyebrows anymore.

Every year for the past 16 years, urban consultancy Demographia releases their international ‘Housing Affordability Survey’.

In New Zealand’s case, it should be called an ‘Un-Affordability Survey’. It documents our ridiculous house price-to-income ratio.

Each of New Zealand’s eight surveyed local areas is now classified as ‘severely unaffordable’. This means median households need more than five times their annual income to buy a median house.

Consider this: At a ratio of 9.3, Tauranga is now the fifth most expensive of 305 analysed global housing markets. Even San Francisco (8.3), London (8.2) and Singapore (4.6) are more affordable.

Given these figures, a public outcry would be appropriate. However, there was little media coverage for the Demographia report. And what there was sounded like a well-rehearsed routine.

Yet there is nothing in our housing affordability data we should ever get used to. They are and remain outrageous.

In a country that barely uses 1 percent of its land for development, house prices should never be as high as ours. As recently as the early 1990s, New Zealand price-to-income ratio was below 3.0 – a level Demographia rates as ‘affordable’.

What has happened since is a political scandal, an economic disaster and a social tragedy. The loss of affordability has driven two generations of Kiwis deep into debt. It is the main driver behind poverty, inequality and deprivation. It has locked young people out of the housing market. It has exposed our economy to the volatility of the property sector.

The Initiative’s research has revealed the factors responsible for this disaster. They include our restrictive land-use planning regime, lack of alternative infrastructure finance and insufficient fiscal incentives for councils.

Other researchers and organisations have come to similar findings. After decades of research, there are no doubts as to the roots of our housing crisis.

The housing market spun out of control under both National- and Labour-led Governments. Neither party could honestly blame the other without getting into pots and kettles territory.

Because they are jointly responsible for the current mess, it is time for joint, bipartisan action to fix it.

The Government and the Opposition worked together on the Zero Carbon Bill last year. What is stopping them from finding consensus on the biggest domestic policy challenge of our time: restoring housing affordability?

It should not take another dozen Demographia reports until we get real political action on housing.

Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor November 2019

https://www.ipsos.com/en-nz/ipsos-nz-issues-monitor-november-2019
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January 24, 2020 12:59pm
Maggie Pie

As he was close by, my partner shot in home earlier on with a couple of KK’s for lunch.
He saw the story on the Herald site about Olivia Bambery, the 20yo Dunedin woman who was sentenced to HD, ‘…for having sex three times a day with a 151/2 year-old schoolboy’.
While he was reading it, he wondered out loud “Whether the judge became sexually aroused while hearing the case?”

My partner certainly seemed to be 😛
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January 24, 2020 1:07pm
- chaos
  
  arent you glad your k button doesn’t stick
  
  5 0
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  January 24, 2020 1:16pm
- Tall Man
  
  Who’s a thought he fancied a 15 year boy…………
  
  5 2
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  January 24, 2020 2:06pm
chaos

Stuff would like us to believe that prince Charles has snubbed mike pence.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/119009069/prince-charles-appears-to-snub-mike-pence-at-holocaust-forum

Of course being stuff they miss out that pence and Charles had meet moments earlier and the photo of them laughing away. Or even the video of them shaking hands and talking. Fuck stuff you are a disgrace

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/prince-charles-mike-pence-snub-debunk
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January 24, 2020 1:10pm
rangitoto

Go BoJo

https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1220415200383381506
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January 24, 2020 1:20pm
- secondcumming
  
  What they need to do now is get rid of that Khan t in London 😎
  
  8 3
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  January 24, 2020 2:16pm
Stephieboy2

The unstoppable progress of EV flight as innovative Israeli company secures 150 orders for its electric plane,

Eviation Aircraft said it has signed on two more customers for its all-electric commuter aircraft and secured more than 150 orders, Bloomberg reported last month. This is before the aircraft, dubbed Alice, has taken its first flight.

The Tel Aviv-based company, established in 2016, developed and manufactured an all-electric nine-seat aircraft, aiming to make electric aviation a viable, sustainable, cost-effective option. In June 2019, the company debuted a prototype of the aircraft at the 53rd annual Paris Air Show, wowing the crowd with its commuter plane.

Bar-Yohay revealed at the time that Massachusetts-headquartered regional airline Cape Air would be the company’s first customer. According to Bloomberg, “work is already taking place” on installing infrastructure for the airline….”

https://nocamels.com/2019/11/eviation-aircraft-customers-electric-plane/
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January 24, 2020 1:25pm
- rangitoto
  
  It hasn’t even flown yet.
  
  5 1
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  January 24, 2020 1:35pm
  - Stephieboy2
    
    That hasn’t stopped airlines ordering them,
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0DHhiwvatQ
    
    2 11
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    January 24, 2020 2:15pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      And neither will it. All new technology goes through a development cycle testing phase to iron out bugs. This is a bug.
      
      5 1
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      January 24, 2020 3:42pm
  - chaos
    
    Just ignore him, he posts old articles thinking he knows something but misses important ones like this
    
    * ‘Total loss’ feared after fire damages Eviation Alice electric plane prototype
    
    The incident, which could be a blow to the nascent electric flight industry, happened during ground testing of an aeroplane believed to be the Eviation Alice, a nine-seater all-electric craft aimed at the regional market.
    
    Images posted online show fire crews using multiple hoses to deluge the burning plane on the tarmac of Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona.
    
    An Eviation statement said a “ground-based battery system” is believed to have caused the fire, and the company has launched a full investigation into the causes. Firefighters on standby during the test reportedly extinguished the flames “quickly” and there were no injuries. *
    
    https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/total-loss-feared-after-fire-reportedly-damages-eviation-alice-electric-plane-prototype
    
    9 3
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    January 24, 2020 2:48pm
    - Stephieboy2
      
      hats right. At least it wasn’t flying and not related to the structure of the aircraft and very unlike this kind of thing,
      
      United Airlines flight out of Newark suffers apparent engine fire, makes emergency landing,
      
      https://nypost.com/2020/01/16/united-airlines-flight-out-of-newark-suffers-apparent-engine-fire-makes-emergency-landing/
      
      In really don’t know why you seem to oppose any kind of innovation in new technology. Just your hysterics. Imagine when the electric light bulb came on stream vs gaslight or candles!
      
      3 15
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      January 24, 2020 3:06pm
      - chaos
        
        I oppose idiots posting crap not innovation.
        
        10 1
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        January 24, 2020 3:42pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Since you were so quick to critcise Nikola Tesla the other day:
        
        Do you know that Tesla did more to reduce reliance on fossil fuels than any other scientist?
        
        When he and Westinghouse tried to introduce AC, there were public demonstrations and protests started and funded by the big money behind DC. The protesters “believed” that AC was dangerous and would kill us all. At times, protests were as large and violent as Climate Change protests are today. If the internet was around then it would have been as much in your face.
        
        Here is the thing though. Tesla’s AC could travel very long distances, which meant Niagara falls could be harnessed for clean power.
        
        DC power could only travel a few hundred meters at best, and required coal powered generating stations on every street block to generate the DC.
        
        Protesters, whipped up by big money were protesting according to the indoctrination, and resisting an available solution. And the threat of AC, did not exist. However protesters did not put forward a viable alternative. Thankfully, not everyone was brainwashed, and AC prevailed.
        
        The same is happening now. Protesters chant on about man made Climate Change, a problem that does not exist, and want to stop the use of fossil fuels immediately. And they don’t want nuclear power, the best alternative, at present, to end fossil fuel dependency, and reduce CO2 emissions.
        
        Depending on country, fossil fuels supply anywhere from 30% to 85% of countries energy needs. Energy that we need to allow current technology to continue long enough, and progress to happen, to develop cleaner fuels.
        
        Greta would be the stupid lunatic that would travel back in time and shoot any caveman that discovered fire. Thus bringing to halt an entire chain of technological evolution that would then never happen.
        
        Then, sitting in her Tesla car supplied free by Arnold, and the back seat full of junk food wrappers, she and the Tesla are busy de-materialising (going out of existence) and her last words are: “What the fuck just happened? I was on my way to McDonalds for a big Mac.”
        
        3 0
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        January 24, 2020 7:56pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Does anyone trust this govt to manage a major pandemic of spanish flu proportion?
13 2
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January 24, 2020 2:56pm
- Stephieboy2
  
  Short answer is yes! Trying to make the corovirus into an ideological poltical football?
  
  What a sad individual!
  
  3 20
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  January 24, 2020 3:08pm
- chaos
  
  No, they failed on measles, they lied about the flu vaccine and on the meningitis. Incompetent.
  
  19 1
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  January 24, 2020 3:43pm
Bobba Fret

What is it with these people who just will not stop for the police! This guy now has a manslaughter to his name.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119009197/one-person-is-dead-after-a-police-pursuit-in-taup
6 0
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January 24, 2020 3:35pm
kevn

Neve goes to Ratana… stop the press. OMG, photos are being taken.
9 1
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January 24, 2020 3:44pm
- sooty
  
  It’s ok now, theres going to be heaps in the lead up to the election!
  
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  January 24, 2020 10:13pm
rightoverlabour

Ever notice that it seems hotter when there are fewer clouds? Well it seems like cloudiness may be the driving force of climate changes after all. Read this, and especially the conclusion, (as the maths is only for Stephieboy and may put lesser mortals off.)

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/new-insights-on-the-physical-nature-of-the-atmospheric-greenhouse-effect-deduced-from-an-empirical-planetary-temperature-model.php?aid=88574
8 0
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January 24, 2020 3:48pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

This will be on playschool TV1 Network News at 6pm …..
https://www.statedepartmentwatch.org/2019/11/22/smoking-gun-adam-schiff-directly-connected-to-7-4-billion-burisma-corruption-scandal-details-developing/?fbclid=IwAR0gJBR1JLAUUb5AZnA4toN6Fai6o0nkH3E79o5QK7vkn-HtDrhSSmJvCNM
10 1
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January 24, 2020 3:53pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Because One News has nothing better to do than source its reports from fringe loonies in the US?
  
  2 12
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  January 24, 2020 3:58pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Your mates Mike – not mine.
    One News is a fucking joke ad
    
    10 1
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    January 24, 2020 5:21pm
  - softail 1450
    
    MMA , FFS back off on the grip you have on your “junk”for a few hours and you may find your life becomes more bearable, and also you will find that when you wake up in the morning you wont have that ” crows foot gripping hand” that you’ve just dismissed as a part of growing old..ha,ha,he,he.
    
    7 2
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    January 24, 2020 5:21pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Are you watching my live web cam?
      
      1 5
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      January 24, 2020 7:39pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        “Are you watching my live web cam?”
        
        http://www.shodan.io
        
        Type in your IP address. You might get lucky.
        
        3 0
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        January 24, 2020 8:02pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Oh wait. That will be after all of the feel good safety message about driving this Auckland Anniversary weekend. Drive slower, make sure you are not tired, drink water, adhere to the speed limit, watch out for speed cameras unless you can or won’t pay the fine.
  Usual bullshit
  
  6 2
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  January 24, 2020 3:58pm
- secondcumming
  
  Excellent links Steve! What a great time to be alive 😎
  
  4 0
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  January 24, 2020 4:06pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Did I give links? Are you just fucking lazy?
    Better fuckwit and troll than Mike
    
    5 4
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    January 24, 2020 5:23pm
    - secondcumming
      
      WTF??
      I was thanking you for the link to the ‘statedepartmentwatch’ site.
      
      No wonder I get into punch-ups with the ignorant old pricks at the Gun Club 😎
      
      3 2
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      January 24, 2020 5:42pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I misread – too much crown royal
        
        0 0
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        January 25, 2020 9:24am
kevn

@Steve… The old ‘go for the low hanging fruit’ trick.
Too bad about gang gunfights. Bit harder.
4 1
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January 24, 2020 4:02pm
Maggie Pie

I had to laugh! Ma phoned just before to say she’d been listening to Ryan Bridge on Magic. He’d opened his show talking about ‘women with grey hair being invisible’.
Apparently, what really got her going, was when he said …”woman shouldn’t worry about it – it’s not as though they’re dead. They still walk, talk and fart”.
Honestly, she was mortifried!!

I told her not to take any notice of anything he says….Ryan’s just a Jobby-Jabber anyway.
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January 24, 2020 4:59pm
- sooty
  
  That’s an interesting turn of phrase!
  
  6 1
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  January 24, 2020 5:46pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Do you like that? I have others… 😛
    
    7 0
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    January 24, 2020 7:10pm
    - sooty
      
      Hang on I’ll just get my KK’s and a coffee, then you can tell me more. I like stories!
      
      1 0
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      January 24, 2020 10:09pm
MCos

Amusing tweet
https://twitter.com/robintallfish/status/1220510776080969730?s=21
1 2
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January 24, 2020 5:21pm
chaos

* A leading Chinese virology expert has warned that the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic could be 10 times as bad as the Sars outbreak that killed almost 800 people around the world in 2002-03.

Guan Yi, director of the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases at Hong Kong University, said in an interview with Caixin magazine on Thursday that after a brief visit to the central China city on Tuesday and Wednesday, he “chose to become a deserter” and left.

“My conservative estimate is that this epidemic could end up at least 10 times the scale of Sars [severe acute respiratory disease],” he said.*

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3047319/wuhan-coronavirus-full-blown-community-epidemic-chinese-health
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January 24, 2020 5:23pm
Fletch

It looks like all these students and teachers from Wuhan are on their way to NZ. A bit dumb to let them in, I reckon.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nz-universities-preparing-arrival-students-and-teachers-wuhan-city-centre-coronavirus-outbreak
5 1
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January 24, 2020 6:21pm
Michael NZ

You can’t trust the Chinese.

-Putting their own citizens in concentration camps without them breaking any laws.
– Chinese Intelligence owning tech companies stealing.
– Chinese Law requiring Chinese citizens and companies to give any and all aid to the organs of state.
– Chinese Law requiring all companies local and foreign to have to give passwords and access to Wans/Lans and software.
– Monstering other countries around the South China Sea.
– stealing IP
– Not having a rule of law.
– Not having an independant judiciary.
– Not disclosing the SARS epidemic until foreign intelligence (medical) forced them too.
4 2
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January 24, 2020 6:56pm
DeepBlue

Herald writes ‘mother attended with husband’ how unwoke for Jacinda? Did I miss the wedding?

‘Wearing a pink bucket hat and blue dress, Neve was seen interacting with attendees while her mother attended with husband Clarke Gayford’
7 1
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January 24, 2020 7:40pm
- chaos
  
  She knew the Maori weren’t happy with her, take her baby to make sure they don’t let lose on her. Hot day, offical meeting, not the place for a baby
  
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  January 24, 2020 7:52pm
- Fletch
  
  Deep in our psyche, we all know that marriage between man and woman comes first, then the children. It all seems to be a bit back-to-front these days.
  
  5 1
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  January 24, 2020 8:02pm
Fletch

More evidence that the left are totally unhinged. Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, who has really been laying low and hasn’t held a press conference in a long time, has been getting death threats, hateful messages, teddy bears that have been slashed and with fake blood, etc. The woman hasn’t even done anything.

It’s funny how liberals can be triggered by someone using the wrong pronoun, or offended by someone not performing a wedding ceremony for them. It’s like the end of the world and they need a safe space to mellow out. But it’s the right who are seriously the target of very serious threats and attacks. Such a double standard.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/23/exclusive-you-fcking-cnt-stephanie-grisham-inundated-with-sexist-hatred-threats-as-establishment-media-pile-on/
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January 24, 2020 8:09pm
Fletch

Piers Morgan, who I don’t agree with all the time, puts the smackdown on a liberal on TV because the lib wants him fired for not advocating that there are over 100 genders. Morgan points out how much nonsense it all is while fighting for his right to disagree. About time someone said it.

https://twitter.com/WeAreAPW/status/1219915772434227200/video/1

Let’s hope that 2020 has even more push back from people like Morgan and Gervais. We’ve meekly accepted this rubbish for too long now, being too polite to call it what it is.
5 1
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January 24, 2020 8:27pm
chaos

More corruption from a labour person

* A complaint about Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel’s election expenses has been referred to the police, Stuff has learned.

Dalziel, who defeated Darryll Park and John Minto in October to win her third term as mayor, was criticised for failing to identify donors who made significant contributions to her campaign.

Electoral law dictates that candidates can accept anonymous donations under $1500, but must disclose the names of donors who contribute more than that sum.

Dalziel’s election return listed only her husband, lawyer Rob Davidson, as a donor at a campaign fundraiser in July.

But in December she revealed the names of six people who donated more than $1500 at the dinner by buying auctioned wine for prices higher than market value.

All six have connections with Davidson, and many have links to China.

Among them was Davidson’s China-based business partner, as well as a businessman who has property interests in Christchurch and owns a Chinese-speaking newspaper in New Zealand.

One donated $17,000 – more than 11 times the $1500 limit that must be declared under the Local Electoral Act.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/119036650/complaint-about-christchurch-mayors-election-expenses-taken-to-police
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January 24, 2020 8:37pm
- chaos
  
  * Dalziel updated her return on December 18 to add the following names:
  
  – Wei Min Lu ($17,850). A Chinese national living in Guangzhou, Lu is listed as a co-director with Davidson at two companies, HWD Investment and Sing Wei Developments, both registered at Davidson’s law firm’s address.
  
  – Yong Chen ($3920).
  
  – Zhe Cheng Tan ($2800).
  
  – Jiang Ping Wang ($2350). Known as “JP”, Wang has New Zealand business interests in property development, construction, water bottling, language education and tourism, and was previously a business partner of former mayor Bob Parker.
  
  – Grandland Investment Limited ($2950).
  
  – Yang Xia Wu ($1750).
  
  Their donations total $31,620.*
  
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  January 24, 2020 8:40pm
  - sooty
    
    Oh no, not chinky sounding names from a Labour sycophant!
    Will it come back to roost with Helen Clark?
    
    0 0
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    January 24, 2020 10:04pm
  - igm
    
    Was she not sent to the back of the classroom by Clark for telling porkies in Parliament?
    John Banks was found not guilty on appeal after a socialist-inspired judge took evidence of a charlatan in preference to his successful and honest wife.
    
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    January 25, 2020 3:49am
chaos

The no herald today wanted to tell us how wrong it was that French lawyers were protesting the pension reform by doing the Haka, seems they did that story to Corvus the massive protests that they did not show in their article

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw6iKzl0YpI

https://francais.rt.com/france/70634-contre-reforme-retraites-marches-flambeaux-dans-toute-la-france
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January 24, 2020 9:00pm
greybeard

Just watched about 10 minutes of the T20 between NZ & India.
I think the whole thing is a sham. The Indian field placement is so generous to NZ it looks as though they are gifting NZ runs.
Who would trust any result involving India ?
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January 24, 2020 9:11pm
igm

What a load of left-wing unadulterated bullshit. Is drought something new in a NZ summer?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/119016702/kiwi-becoming-climate-refugees-as-droughtlike-weather-hits-northland
The sooner Fairfax Aus pull the rug from under these irresponsible losers the better for all NZ.
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January 25, 2020 3:42am

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