General Debate 3 January 2020

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Simon

Predictions for 2020:

Kelvin Davis: – Some of his best mates are inside for GBH – private members bill to legalize medicinal GBH, strong support from the Greens.

Kiwi build reboot – Motorway bridges are converted to housing. But problems arise when homeless are forced to move on, costs blow out and no sales are made.

Greta Thundberg – her new book is out called My Struggle

Hundreds of top profile US liberals, with Trump’s pending re-election, threaten to move to New Zealand or any other white majority country.

World first – Ardern to job share PM functions with a hologram
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January 3, 2020 8:06am
- Rich Prick
  
  That’s a catchy title for Greta’s book …
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:09pm
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  One small suggested change – Greta’s tome will instead be called “Mein Kopf, Your Kopeks”.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:35pm
Captain Mainwaring

Here you go JAG, the answer to your road toll ambitions.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117577747/waikato-bay-of-plenty-110kmh-speed-limit-roads-prove-safer-than-regular-highways

Now tell us why you stopped building these roads?
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January 3, 2020 8:10am
- krazykiwi
  
  JAG won’t be interested. Socialists inherently know The Truth. Facts and evidence are of no consequence.
  
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  January 3, 2020 8:26am
- Andrei
  
  Because it is more fun to spend money pissing everyone off by turning our roads into obstacle courses – with so called “traffic calming measures ™” and cycle lanes.
  
  Since Roman times people have been working out transportation systems that allow people and goods to move more freely, quickly and cheaply from A to B
  
  Then along comes a mad American woman with a new paradigm that she wishes to inflict upon us which adds all sorts of unnecessary speed humps, chicanes, cheese cutters etc which add wear and tear to your vehicle, slow your journey times and increase your gas consumption.
  
  My 7 minute drive has now become a 12 minute nightmare with among other things speed humps that launch you into low earth orbit if tackled at anything over 20 kph. And unbelivably a safe pedestrian crossing zone a mere 30 meters from a light controlled pedestrian crossing – WTF all it achieves apart from encouraging jay walking is to prevent vehicles approaching the lights seperating into the correct lanes because of the single lane bottle neck it creates which increases congestion big time.
  
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  January 3, 2020 8:26am
  - Sacha
    
    Andrei – her reply would be that you should be walking if your drive only takes 7 minutes, and maybe cycle if it takes 12.
    Think of your health man! Or the planet or something.
    And get your car off the road!
    
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    January 3, 2020 11:30am
  - Lance
    
    I would certainly put Auckland Transport in the category of “her evil minions”
    I would hate to have a low slung car now, I doubt it would be able to clear the grossly idiotic speed obstacles infesting roads around Auckland.
    
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    January 3, 2020 12:13pm
- pdm
  
  And JAG tell us why you are making other roads more dangerous with those `cheese cutters’.
  
  The Hawkes Bay Expressway is a prime example – we stay off it now because it is too dangerous.
  
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  January 3, 2020 8:43am
  - Sacha
    
    What are ‘cheesecutters’. ?
    
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    January 3, 2020 11:31am
  - ronsegal
    
    Yes, they were clearly invented as a ‘final solution’ to motorcyclists such as myself.
    
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    January 3, 2020 12:59pm
- RoboRob
  
  But she has given us signs that say ‘New Zealand roads are different…..’
  Whenever I read those I see a total admission of failure. Our roads aren’t as good as other countries so instead of upgrading them we put warning signs out and reduce speed limits.
  
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  January 3, 2020 9:03am
Stephieboy2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
“Australia bushfires: Fox Glacier covered in ash and yellow haze”

Smoke from Australia’s raging bushfires that’s drifted over the South Island made landfall in Fox Glacier, covering the area in yellow ash patches.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/406584/australia-bushfires-fox-glacier-covered-in-ash-and-yellow-haze

“The smell of smoke is really strong’: Cantabrians can smell smoke from Aussie bushfires thousands of kilometres away “i

Residents in Canterbury are reporting smelling strong whiffs of smoke from the Australian bush fires burning thousands of kilometers away. … The smell of smoke is really strong in Christchurch. Feel for those across the ditch.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12297797

Dunedin and other parts of South. Island a sepia brown greets the new day as a consequence of Australian bush fires,

https://mobile.twitter.com/BeneHoltmann/status/1212129138108071936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1212129138108071936&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rnz.co.nz%2Fnews%2Fnational%2F406523%2Faustralia-fires-sending-pretty-hefty-smoke-new-zealand-s-way

Or is this all just commie greenie inspired fake news ?
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January 3, 2020 8:23am
- alloytoo
  
  It will be interesting to see if any of the arsonists they arrested have Green affiliations.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:25am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I imagine that information would be suppressed..
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/man-charged-with-starting-bushfire-in-east-gippsland-as-blazes-rage-20200102-p53oap.html
    
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    January 3, 2020 12:17pm
    - Stephieboy2
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      MW. I’m confident that arson will not be found to be the sole cause of the Gippsland and other fires in NSW and Victoria.
      
      Unusual weather conditions like highest average temperatures, prolonged droughts will be found to be the most significant factors. Not Lucifer fire lighters or whatever.
      
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      January 3, 2020 12:29pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Sure
        It’s hot and it’s dry
        Has been in Australia for thousands of years
        But how did the fires start?
        Spontaneous combustion?
        
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        January 3, 2020 2:29pm
      - Stephieboy2
        
        All on Red, no Luicifer Fire starters as the conspiracy goes.
        
        LOL
        
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        January 3, 2020 2:50pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        No, it’s not the sole cause of the East Gippsland fires as I wrote here a couple of days ago.
        
        But it was you that was scoffing that arsonists had anything to do with fire outbreaks in Australia… don’t you remember?
        
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        January 3, 2020 3:47pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        He still hasn’t told us how he thinks the fires started
        
        He seems to think that it being hot starts fires just by itself.
        “Climate change starts fires!’
        Lol
        
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        January 3, 2020 5:49pm
    - Tall Man
      
      My son sent me a photo of front page of the Courier Mail in Brisbane from 14 January 1939.
      
      Death toll from fires 28, death toll from Melbourne heatwave @ 114 degree was 24.
      
      Just shows that these heat issues have been around for quite some time and interestingly the headlines weren’t as hysterical as they are today.
      
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      January 3, 2020 5:34pm
- Nukuleka
  
  And here in Christchurch on a midsummer day the temperature is 16 degrees.
  
  The facts are the facts Stephie.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:20pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Christchurch is currently being cooled by smoke from Aus. Our light has been cut in half and haze covers the sky.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:56pm
    - IC5000
      
      Sounds like more fake news
      
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      January 3, 2020 6:43pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        I live in Christchurch. I am a retired photographer and well used to measuring light by eye and it has been as low as -2 stops or a quarter of the normal sunny day light which is surprisingly constant.
        The haze has prevented the penetration of sunlight too so less thermal energy has warmed us.
        
        Weather is the foundation of climate and it’s always changing.
        
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        January 3, 2020 7:23pm
    - cmm
      
      It was cool before the smoke came and after it went.
      
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      January 3, 2020 7:16pm
- infused
  
  greens stopped the abbos cutting back bush which they have done for decades.
  100 fires were lit by arsonists
  dont buy this climate change bullshit
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:09pm
  - Batman
    
    The fires themselves aren’t directly caused by a changing climate but I would venture that the long dry spells and ever-higher temperatures have not helped the continent at all…
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:17pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      They had Temps over 50C in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
      
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      January 3, 2020 2:30pm
    - Tall Man
      
      See my post above.
      
      1939 and not a lot of SUVs on the road.
      
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      January 3, 2020 5:35pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    People however are preferring to live in pretty tree covered suburbs. Didn’t that seaside community hemmed in by bush comprehend the risk they were taking? Those type of settlements are going to have to have adequate, massive, firebreaks around them and their access ways.
    Are there too many people now living in Australia for the agreeable coastal areas?
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:01pm
    - Tall Man
      
      “Are there too many people now living in Australia for the agreeable coastal areas?”
      
      Not at all Kev.
      
      There is just so much land available for development that the population could double and there’d still be big gaps.
      
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      January 3, 2020 5:37pm
- yossarian
  
  FFS eucalyptus gums propagate by being exposed to extreme fire. Without fire they wouldn’t regenerate, as they have been for the last probably 50 million years, yes well before climate change and humans for that matter.
  
  The aborigines knew this and used to burn their land consistently as it was seen as helping the forest, because that’s what it is supposed to do. Notice how successive govts have banned this, and now look at the mess they’re in, that’s without the unhinged nut jobs lighting fires left right and centre.
  
  Heads up bro, Portugal and California are now experiencing bush fires…both grow large areas of eucalyptus. To the point that Portugal is thinking of banning any new plantings.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:06pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I like eucalyptus. I grew up playing under the trees in Wellington. They are tall and provide a high sheltering canopy so are agreeable to humans and livestock as shelter. However they are firebugs and can fill the air with their resinous terpenes and have inbuilt kindling. Their use needs to be strictly controlled.
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:07pm
    - cmm
      
      I hate eucalyptus. They spontaneously shed limbs. and are known as widow makers.
      
      My son (3 years old) was almost killed by one in 1994/5.
      
      He was playing outside on a swing tied to a eucalyptus, but stopped to pop inside for a drink. Ten seconds later the eucalyptus shed a limb and smashed the swing to matchwood. Bits of the swing were driven about 15cm into the ground.
      
      If he had got his timing wrong it would have been his body parts we dug out of the ground – not bits of swing and tree.
      
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      January 3, 2020 7:21pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        I haven’t experienced that. I too would be wary. I only know them from my childhood when we made forts in local bush areas around the city and my son has them close to his housing estate in outer Brisbane.
        
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        January 3, 2020 7:27pm
    - Shaun the Sheep
      
      I love the gum emperor caterpillars.
      
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      January 3, 2020 10:30pm
G152

Obviously doesn’t sit well with greens that single stream high speed traffic flows are safer than the other slower revenue gathering they’re so fond of
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January 3, 2020 8:24am
Stephieboy2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
A great birthday gift idea especially for those who believe in light or even no regulation like ACT party members and supporters or Paleo etc libertarians or Austrian School economics true beleivers ,

“Rottenomics: The Story of New Zealand’s Leaky Buildings Disaster”

By Peter Dyer

DESCRIPTION

” For over a quarter century our building industry, economy and Government have failed to provide this basic guarantee: new buildings will not rot. Leaky buildings are the result of an unfortunate confluence of industrial, legislative, historical and cultural factors. Collectively, these elements stubbornly continue to defy a full and final resolution. Featuring personal stories of homeowners faced with insurmountable repair costs of hundreds of thousands to their `dream home’, often leading to sickness, depression and financial loss. And revealed for the first time, withheld government reports that estimate the total cost of leaky dwellings at $47 billion. Rottenomics is an engaging expose into a national crisis that refuses to go away.”

https://www.whitcoulls.co.nz/product/rottenomics-the-story-of-new-zealands-leaky-buildings-disaster-6477068
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January 3, 2020 8:33am
- ronsegal
  
  Must be missing something. Can somebody say why, what seems to be a very reasonable and important topic for discussion has been so down voted?
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:10pm
  - ronsegal
    
    Ah, not to worry .. see now it’s aimed at the commenter rather than the comment!
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:18pm
- fernglas
  
  Some years ago I was at a function with a guy from BRANZ who said that kiln-dried pine will rot in Auckland’s ambient humidity,whether the building leaks or not. The problem is far deeper than even this book suggests.
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:12pm
MCos

I see the fat cats who control cricket want to squeeze a few more bucks out of the game by reducing test matches to four days.
They want to free up time for more games and you can be sure they won’t be test matches.
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January 3, 2020 8:34am
gorse

I can say that driving in excess of 160kph on German autobahns keeps you focussed on the road. You’re dead if you make a mistake. Not many mistakes made.
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January 3, 2020 8:42am
- rockape
  
  At that speed you would be holding up the traffic!
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:58am
kevn

jag is a ‘cheese cutter’ enthusiast. Motorcyclists nightmare.
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January 3, 2020 8:46am
Happychappy

Why didn’t we hear this from Jan Logie a Green MP when our Prime Minister had a Sexual assault allegations about a senior worker that was employed in the PM’s office.
New Research shows for every 100 sexual Violence incident just six people were imprisoned- and Jan Logie says that’s “not good enough “.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/11/this-isn-t-good-enough-research-shows-six-jailed-for-every-100-sexual-violence-cases.html
Why didn’t we hear Jan Logie defending the integrity of the young staffers in Labour Party sexual assault allegations or see her standing up for these young lasses, instead of watching Labour sweep it under the carpet like a piece of dirt.
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January 3, 2020 8:46am
- Engelbert Humperdink
  
  Hypocrites gotta hypocrit. It’s what they do.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:36pm
krazykiwi

NASA tells us that the area burned by global wildfires dropped by 25% since 2003.

Good news that you won’t see at Stuff, BBC, Guardian, The Herald etc etc
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January 3, 2020 8:55am
Tauhei Notts

I have noticed in the betting market for the 2020 Presidential election that there has been significant support for Bernie Sanders over the past four days, whereas Bloomberg looks wasted. Trump’s odds are unchanged.
What has Bernie done to get that sort of support?
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January 3, 2020 8:56am
- Komata
  
  Tauhei@0856
  
  Paid large amounts of money to the necessary people in the appropriate places?
  
  It seems possible…
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:29pm
- fernglas
  
  Raised a lot of money. It’s not that the best candidate raises the most money, but that the one with the most money is the best candidate,
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:14pm
dave_c_

Indeed Captain
No further comment required folks !
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January 3, 2020 8:57am
Ruahine

Roads allow people to have cars. Cars allow people to have freedom and make their own decisions. This is dangerous. JUG.
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January 3, 2020 8:59am
JibberJabber

Australian bushfires, people dead, homes destroyed, all a bit of a jolly jape to Labours cleverest, mostest smartest of MPs Debbie Russell.
https://twitter.com/BeeFaerie/status/1212586715451232257
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January 3, 2020 8:59am
- Tall Man
  
  Twits like her can’t help themselves.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:01pm
- ronsegal
  
  There’s an interesting link in the tweets.
  It’s happened before:
  https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19390113.2.50?query=Australia+bush+fires+smoke&snippet=true
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:32pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  You over rate Debbie Russell. She may be A grade Labour but she’s E grade National. She not very articulate in common with most of them.
  
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  January 3, 2020 4:12pm
  - ronsegal
    
    Yep, have to agree Kev. Having recently watched a few parliamentary debates on TV, the majority of Labour MPs seem to struggle to present a coherent argument or anything much beyond emotive waffle. Actually quite surprised as although they might be supporting policies that I don’t go along with, I was at least expecting them to present a plausible case.
    
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    January 3, 2020 5:54pm
Notsofast

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
I have been thinking about how to mark the assignment handed in by the supreme court in the Lundy case.
Does accuracyos content matter when marking as in the real world the rest of us imagine we inhabit?
Forest Miller writes at para
[130] We accept that the stomach contents evidence tends to point to a time of death
that was earlier than, say, 2.30 am, which is about the time Mr Lundy might have
arrived in Palmerston North if he left Petone at 1 am and drove normally, but it falls
well short of excluding that possibility.

The problem here is that a normal drive is still 1 hr 57 as google maps still states despite road improvements.
So we are less short of excluding that possibility.
And thus closer to a strong alibi. And the tme has a 3 handle on it, not 2.
Forest Miller also states that
Both stomachs appeared to contain thick fries and it was suggested that those from McDonalds were of the shoestring variety.

This statement is false for the following reason, though helpful in suggesting Amber are later. which is not and will never be contested by the police.
There was one photograph ever presented at trial or to the defence of thick and completely undigested sharp cornered fries in the stomach of Christine. All other photos were deleted, as the numbering sequence shows. This shows two things. Christine had eaten these very soon before her death, and the original prosecution claim at trial one that there were recogisable fish and chip contents in both stomachs is false. This claim was no longer necessary when the time of death was shifte from 7 15pm to about 3 in the morning, but the prosecution were stuck with it.
Answer, Amber’s stomach had only chyme, and Christine’s had chyme plus the just eaten chips, the subject of the only photo.

The assignment is being marked with proper diligence, and the result will be available in due course. It ain’t pretty,
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January 3, 2020 9:02am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  On and on he goes. Give it up. Lundy is where he deserves to be.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:27am
- Tall Man
  
  Come on people…… 30 downticks is all we need.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:57am
  - freethinker
    
    Done
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:56pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Was Ronald McDonald ever considered as a suspect?
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:46pm
  - Rich Prick
    
    Not sure, but I always thought that Hamburglar chap looked a bit dodgy.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:25pm
Lee C

I understand the Herald has ‘fact-checked’ Jacinda Ardern’s Christmas Message.

A bit of a departure, isn’t it?.
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January 3, 2020 9:04am
- Gravelroad
  
  What Christmas message? Didn’t know the was one.
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:03pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Is our Govt this dumb with the gun buy back?
It is 1 year old, but still I wonder how many have done this.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/man-sells-junk-guns-to-buy-back-program-buys-new-gun-with-cash/
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January 3, 2020 9:07am
- dave_c_
  
  Indeed they are – A truly half baked idea, doomed to failure, and solving nothing.
  
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  January 3, 2020 9:18am
- toby1845
  
  My son has done precisely that.
  
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  January 3, 2020 9:43am
- BullyHayes
  
  yes – i was catching up with family on boxing day – and one had an old dunga firearm that was caught up in the confiscation – a rifle that was in doubtful working order
  
  the compensation turned out to be massively in his favour and has since replaced it with 2 rapid fire – pump action – 10 shot (i think – im not really a gun guy) rifles… for ‘no money down’
  
  its fair to say he’s pretty chuffed with the situation
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:43am
redeye

Who thinks that when Simon Bridges publicly discounts working with NZ First, he should press harder and taunt Cindy into doing the same? She really does have more reasons to discount them than National.
NZ First have cobbled some of this governments most progressive policies and now with the furor over the NZ First Foundation and the NZ First family members going the grab on the billion trees fund, they have completely removed any remaining claim they had to being a principled government.
I know I’m dreaming but wouldn’t it be wonderful if both major parties had discounted working with these rogues? We would be back a good old left versus right battle and both sides would be able to cleanly put their agendas to the voters.
Regardless, taunting Labour to also rid themselves of Peters would bring benefits to National as it would subtlety point out the Labour/Greens desire for power is stronger than their commitment to ‘progressive policies’. It would highlight the dysfunction in this group and it would force Cindy to defend the indefensible.
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January 3, 2020 9:09am
- Prince
  
  You’re dreaming. Labour would respond with ‘We will work with what NZ voters give us, collaboratively, as MMP requires us to do.’
  National should just point out that going over the last twenty years of Peters’ speeches and statements, it is not plausible that he would choose to govern with National, hence they are removing all doubt.
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:00pm
mjw

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
One of the weirdest things about 2019 was that the right became totally politically correct – filled with outrage, wedded to doctrine, and intolerant of opposing views.

Why on earth did that happen?
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January 3, 2020 9:28am
- Tall Man
  
  Bullshit as much as you want, we’ll just quietly laugh at your stupidity.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:56am
  - Engelbert Humperdink
    
    Please sir, I generally guffaw derisively.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:38pm
    - Tall Man
      
      You may… no one else though, this is a site with some degree of decorum 🙂
      
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      January 3, 2020 8:08pm
Maggy Wassilieff

RAND corporation’s way-off predictions
Nanobots, ape chauffeurs and flights to Pluto. The predictions for 2020 we got horribly wrong
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/01/tech/2020-predictions-we-got-wrong-scli-intl/
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January 3, 2020 9:42am
- Lance
  
  One major point of note is that they got it wrong concerning what a robot is.
  They envisioned cars, appliances etc being the same but with a humanoid robots operating them.
  Rather, what is quietly happening, is the devices are becoming the robots. Cars that auto park, bleep if you depart the lane without signalling, auto-break if approaching a car too fast from behind etc.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:24pm
Maggie Pie

My partner retweets….

Yeah, yeah, yeah – we’ve heard all this shit a thousand times before.
The real question is : Have you renewed your visitors visa, OR, are you here illegally?

https://twitter.com/BehrouzBoochani/status/1211903257842352129
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January 3, 2020 9:48am
- Tall Man
  
  Now I know what I want for my birthday this year…… one of those “giveashitometer” thingy 😉
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:55am
- Ruahine
  
  He will be here illegally. He will be here amongst his special friends. Bit like the way Ardern has special friends.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:23pm
slightlyrighty

If 2019 was the year of delivery, then 2020 can only be the year of excuses.
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January 3, 2020 9:51am
- Tall Man
  
  And she’s started already…..” It wasn’t me it was the pr guy… that I employ…. and then used repeatedly…… “
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:52am
- RalphT
  
  Well I hope 2020 will be the year of departure. Theirs.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:25pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

At last someone has pointed out a lie from Trump.
He said that Conservatives will get sick of winning.
That is a yuge fat lie
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January 3, 2020 9:52am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Known as a biggly!
  
  GUSTO -Keep United States TOgether
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:45am
John Warren

Wow! 9.55am and just 5 comments. Great moderation.
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January 3, 2020 9:55am
- sooty
  
  Nah, everyone is still in bed and there is six moderators lined up with nothing to do!
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:34pm
Greg Ettridge

My thoughts on the 75,000 square kms that is impacted by fire in Victoria.
Our original keepers of the land were able to successfully manage fuel loads with just their bare hands to burn and control it.
2020 we have thousands of men, trucks and planes and have lost absolute control.
This is a national disgrace and not one lesson has been learnt from black Saturday in 2009.
Heads should roll, this is a disgrace.
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January 3, 2020 9:57am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Greg Etteridge , like PM Scott Morrison as he vsits fire-ravaged towns ,
  
  https://www.9news.com.au/national/scott-morrison-cobargo-tour-hastily-moves-on-as-residents-express-anger/98f2b3ff-e648-4e65-a84d-f5273d5e930e
  
  NSW declaration of state emergency a vast overreaction?
  
  ‘Going to be a blast furnace’: State of emergency again for NSW
  
  “Tens of thousands of people have fled from the state’s fire-ravaged South Coast and more have been told to leave dozens of other towns after much of southern NSW was declared unsafe.
  
  An area stretching hundreds of kilometres from Nowra to the Victorian border and west to Kosciuszko has been declared “leave zones” ahead of the extreme fire conditions forecast for Saturday….”
  
  https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/going-to-be-a-blast-furnace-state-of-emergency-again-for-nsw-20200102-p53ofd.html
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:02am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Heads should roll,
  
  heads will roll, but will they be the right ones?
  
  The Climate alarmists will yell that Man-made global warming and coal mining are the root cause of the apocalypse… They will blame any politician who hasn’t embraced AGW completely.
  
  Some of The Greens who were so voluble against fuel-reduction in forests will suddenly discover indigenous fire practices and finally champion management of their fire-prone vegetation.
  
  But as long as folks live and work in the midst of fire-prone vegetation in a Mediterranean climate, catastrophic fires will be a feature of their lives and landscapes.
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:10am
  - Stephieboy2
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    MW, maybe an inept attempt to try and deflect the seriousness of the Australian bush fires?
    
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    January 3, 2020 10:14am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Of course it’s not, stephieboy.
      
      For the last few days I have been stressing the consequences of ignoring the basics of Forest Fire ecology.
      
      Don’t you remember?
      
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      January 3, 2020 12:34pm
      - Classic Liberal
        
        Maggy, the StuffyTwit is not worthy of your slightest attention.
        
        If there were a Kiwiblogger honours list you’d be at the top.
        
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        January 3, 2020 2:43pm
  - GazzaW
    
    Will we ever learn how many of these fires were deliberately started either by those with faulty wiring up top or even by those with extremist views? You would have to hope that maximum sentences are handed down to arsonists or as has been announced today to looters ransacking was the ruins.
    
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    January 3, 2020 10:32am
  - JibberJabber
    
    The Greens have already started to rewrite their history,
    https://twitter.com/StingerAndrew/status/1212664193213558784
    
    And the ABC have been deleting stories with reckless abandon to promote the CC BS,
    https://twitter.com/_evelynrae/status/1211943487391715330
    
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    January 3, 2020 10:40am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    And we got the first arrivers who understood everything in the universe but still managed to wipe out (16 species of?) Moa, the Haast Eagle and whatever else including themselves.
    
    What have the aboriginal people of Australia managed to take to extinction in the past millennia, the past meggannum?
    
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    January 3, 2020 10:52am
MrTips

So Pope Francis lost his cool at an unidentified woman who grabbed him whilst parading by. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/406556/pope-apologises-for-bad-example-of-slapping-arm-of-pilgrim-who-tugged-him

Oh dear, the mask slipped for all to see. Quite the temper you have there Jorge – just ask any Argentinian unlucky enough to upset you back in the day. Or any Vatican official who doesn’t jump high enough for you.
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January 3, 2020 10:02am
- John Warren
  
  How about an incredibly rude and insistent woman who grasped him inconsiderately? It’d piss me off, that’s for sure.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:41am
- Tall Man
  
  I don’t blame him actually. Who knows what is coming next when being grabbed in public… a knife, a bullet?
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:49am
- Fletch
  
  You’ll probably find that he was told beforehand that it was too dangerous to be among the crowds away from the safety of his Popemobile but he ignored the advice. However, that would have been on his mind as he wandering around and it would only have taken someone grabbing his hand to have panicked him…
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:11pm
- Lance
  
  What OTT drivel. Someone tried to PULL him into the crowd and he resisted as a reflex.
  And shock horror… he isn’t perfect, and he admitted it later.
  
  I guess it shows the Pope isn’t infallible 😉
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:28pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The Pope has my sympathy on this one.
  He is 83 years old and a bit unsteady on his legs… The woman pulled him off balance as he was heading away from her.
  She’s lucky she wasn’t arrested for assault.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:43pm
  - MrTips
    
    He hit the wrong woman! And he did that on the very day he put out a press release decrying violence to woman! No sympathy from me.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:25pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Maggy, cynical Moi observed aloud that, if the assailant had been a young lad, the Pope might have been a little less hasty with his slapdown.
    
    And to anyone thinking he had to be careful for his wellbeing you can’t get within 6754625626345626 km of St Peter’s Square on days he works the crowd without being security checked/x-ray surveilled every 5254623452 steps.
    
    Caveat: Above numbers may be slightly overstated!
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:48pm
  - Scooter
    
    Stupid arrogant woman in the crowd yanked his arm, it looked painful. His security guards should have tackled her to the ground.
    
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    January 3, 2020 7:05pm
Captain Mainwaring

Over two hours and just 6 comments have managed to get through moderation.
Are commenters just giving up because it’s so slow?
If this is the case I fear for the future of this once great blog.
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January 3, 2020 10:10am
- dave_c_
  
  Submitted at 10:27am – my comment at 8:57, still awaiting moderation
  
  I agree, and am losing interest rapidly- I may pull out from commenting, but may still read posts going forward
  
  Perhaps part of the original strategy – get everyone wanting to participate – to register ! I’m not buying into that, if it is the true reason posts take so long to see the light of day
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:28am
- krazykiwi
  
  It is a bit grim. I’ve been commenting here for 14 years with a clean record and still have all comments moderated, sometimes for many hours. I do wish David would allow more trusted commenters to have comments auto-approved thereby focusing the moderation effort on new and less well behaved commenters.
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:49am
  - The King
    
    To the front of the class you go! here’s a good boy stamp!
    
    5 2
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    January 3, 2020 12:41pm
    - Biscuit
      
      A tad harsh, The King.
      
      No-one – least of all DPF, I’d suggest – wants ‘goodness’ on a 24/7 basis … but what is happening at present is very offputting to folk like krazykiwi, Moi and (dare I say it, ha?) your good self.
      
      And it can’t be doing the Mods’ livers any good either. Damned if they do, damned if they dont…
      
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      January 3, 2020 1:52pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    DPF told me when he has some time available he will get around to it. The privileges may requires some direct coding for exceptions on the website itself, not something the mods can do.
    Perhaps different add on tools fro WordPress may be helpful.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:12pm
- fernglas
  
  Where’s the point in replying to a comment when it doesn’t get posted until the context has completely changed?
  
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  January 3, 2020 10:59am
- Andrei
  
  I have had one in moderation since 8:26 am
  
  This blog is not what it used to be = in fact is is verging on becoming irrelevant
  
  This moderation thing is another of that Tarrant characters little wins of course
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:00am
- Paulus Gnome
  
  Good luck with that argument Capt’n, expect an answer of, it was my day off, there is only one of me, I am a volunteer and I am allowed a life and I am the only one here with a ‘the dog ate my homework for good measure.
  
  Be prepared for ones comments in the queue to always be last allowing Sboys to comment and be downticked to oblivion before yours comes up in spite of your comment being earlier because, you know, commentators using their real name get preference and Sboy is sooooooo a real name . . .
  
  So that is you and me fucked for the day Capt’n, TallMan is being more contrite of late but his principle tenet of ‘Adhern is a liar’ remains true.
  
  May as well be out of the park for six . . .
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:00am
  - Tall Man
    
    Contrite…… surely you jest 🙂
    
    Seldom does a day go by without one of my comments being deleted or having the crux of the argument ripped out of it.
    
    Yesterday “what is it with the kids of labour people”…. or something like that referring to diane abbott’s son but linking to recent hanky panky here. Gone like this one probably will.
    
    I believe there is one mod who sees the words “adern is a liar” or similar and immediately hits delete, whether I have referenced the comment to a particular event or article as instructed or not.
    
    I was also a little annoyed when I was told by a mod to “grow up”. Some may indeed see my obsession with ardern’s dishonesty as infantile, I don’t. She is the pm, elected or selected, and should be held to a higher standard than she is and just because the media won’t doesn’t mean that it should piled up under her carpet with all the other rubbish.
    
    Moderation severely impacts the flow of the conversations in my opinion and this is being imposed simply because there are some that really shouldn’t be allowed near the internet but there has to be a better way but without knowing the severity of the deleted comments, which in my case is as mild a form of abuse as you can get, that get removed.
    
    I for one cannot believe that anyone would consider seeking retribution in the courts because I called ardern a liar.
    
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    January 3, 2020 11:45am
- brett68
  
  It’s fairly obvious to anyone even slightly awake that DPF couldn’t give a shit if people post or not, the comments aren’t really of that much value, probably more a liability than anything else.
  
  Some clown will put up some racist, sexist rant, a passing lefty will take a screen shot and then post it all over twitter.
  
  Next minute DPF’s name is getting trashed and dragged through the mud, I don’t think he can be really fucked with all that anymore.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:02am
  - Tall Man
    
    He may also be concerned that his children may become the target for abuse as we have seen that some of the left will leave no stone unturned to inflict their special brand of “hate” on someone they disagree with.
    
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    January 3, 2020 11:48am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    A number of blogs are being forced into registering commenters because of the disruptive/dishonest behaviour of blog trolls.
    
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/01/01/new-year-new-wuwt-new-initiative/
    
    Of course, DPF could pay a moderator for KB and whilst I have contributed $$ to some other blogs, I’m buggered if I will cough up cash to be slimely smeared at 11pm by an anonymous troll as I was last night on this blog.
    
    https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/01/general_debate_2_january_2020.html#comment-2617040
    
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    January 3, 2020 12:52pm
    - Biscuit
      
      ‘Slimely speared’, eh?, Maggy.
      
      The imagery!
      
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      January 3, 2020 1:57pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Looks like ole Smarmy Mike was doing some drunk posting.
      
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      January 3, 2020 2:40pm
    - Stephieboy2
      
      MW, but do try and answer this one from mm,
      
      “Boo hoo. Tell me more about the elites controlling the world.”
      
      Carry on…?
      
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      January 3, 2020 2:52pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Yes, stephieboy…
        
        that “Boo Hoo” is more reminiscent of one of your replies…Not really what one would expect of the highly literate mikenmildagain….
        
        and the posting slimey responses late at night is so familiar…
        Gosh, what fun, hassling an old lady at bed time.
        
        So 5 years of abuse against me rolls on and on and on…..
        
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        January 3, 2020 3:54pm
Fletch

Alan Jones column for the Daily Telegraph in Australia where he correctly says that the wildfires have nothing to do with climate change and that previous green govts are to blame for closing fire trails and not allowing controlled burns.

Dramatic language has been used to suggest that the devastation of last week is “unprecedented”, “apocalyptic”, “catastrophic”, “worst bushfire conditions ever”.

Well, what is to be made of the Black Saturday fire in Victoria in 2009 which burnt 450,000 hectares of land, killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes; Or the Ash Wednesday fire in Victoria and South Australia in 1983, which burnt 520,000 hectares, destroyed 2,400 homes and killed 75 people; or the Tasmanian Black Tuesday fires in 1967 which burnt more than 260,000 hectares, destroyed something like 1,400 homes and killed 62 people; or back in 1939, the Black Friday fire which burnt almost two million hectares, destroyed more than 700 homes and resulted in 71 fatalities.

No one is denying the gravity of what people and firefighters have been through now, but it is no use gilding the lily here.

You can’t have a fire without fuel.

Two factors above all else come into play here.

In NSW, when Bob Carr was the minister and later, the Premier, he ratified moves to have fire trails abandoned.

Premier Carr’s moves prevented access to those fire trails by the Rural Fire Service.

And this was under the pretext that he was keeping four wheel drives and campers out.

The government (and how many problems that we face today are created by government?) put locked gates on these national parks and planted big rocks at the entry to the fire trails.

Understandably, the fire trails are now overgrown with re-growth forest, impenetrable to everybody except native and feral animals.

Yet it was these fire trails that enabled the fire fighters to get to the heart of a fire.

They could then create back burning and land clearing.

Fire fighters could mobilise earth moving equipment and successfully put the fire out. […]

I repeat, you cannot have a fire without fuel.

When you think there are seven million hectares of national parks in NSW alone, 200 of them in Sydney, and yet hazard reduction burns have occurred on less than 1 per cent of fire prone land, then we are staring at a potential inferno.

This has nothing to do with climate change.

https://www.facebook.com/alanjonesaustralia/photos/a.130602527532698/509166916342922/
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January 3, 2020 10:18am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  “You can’t have a fire without fuel.”??
  
  Tinder dry vegetation and trees after severe prolonged drought plus dry lightening strikes etc, etc
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:57am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The tinder-dry vegetation and the trees are the FUEL, stephieboy.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:39pm
    - Stephieboy2
      
      What factors create a favourable environment for bushfires to occur?
      
      The basic factors which determine whether a bushfire will occur include the presence of fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. The fire intensity and speed at which a bushfire spreads will depend on ambient temperature, fuel load, fuel moisture, wind speed and slope angle.
      
      Fuel load…
      
      Fuel moisture..
      
      Wind speed…
      
      Ambient temperature…
      
      Ambient temperature..
      
      etc, etc
      
      Ignition Source,
      
      Bushfires can originate from both human activity and natural causes with lightning the predominant natural source, accounting for about half of all ignitions in Australia. Fires of human origin currently account for the remainder and are classified as accidental or deliberate. Fires lit deliberately can be the result of arson or might be designed to achieve a beneficial outcome but conditions have changed, resulting in uncontrollable spread…
      
      https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/community-safety/bushfire
      
      Not forgetting the pre exsiting unusually hot dry patterns and conditions!
      
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      January 3, 2020 3:01pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        The basic factors which determine whether a bushfire will occur include the presence of fuel, oxygen and an ignition source.
        
        Exactly, stephieboy.
        
        Remember, that’s what I posted here 2 days ago.
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2020/01/general_debate_1_january_2020.html#comment-2616338
        
        Perhaps you are starting to understand why fuel management is a critical issue in flammable ecosystems.
        
        Since 1939, there have been at least 18 major bushfire inquiries in Australia.
        
        https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/agric/completed_inquiries/2008-10/bushfires/report/c02
        
        Perhaps you are beginning to understand why some folks are upset that the inquiries’ recommendations to manage fuel loads are not being followed.
        
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        January 3, 2020 3:38pm
  - Classic Liberal
    
    Even if the current dryness were totally due to AGW: all the more reason to do sensible risk management through fuel reduction.
    
    Since droughts have always existed in Australia, the risk management burn offs should never have been stopped, AGW or not.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:08pm
Paulus

The Sydney Morning papers have suggested that Morrison contact Ardern so he can learn how to be a Prime Minister and how he should handle the Fire crises.
We know he needs to get a headscarfe and to learn to cuddle and hug everybody, and to go everywhere, especially to Kindergartens for photoshots. Women love that.
He can learn how to destroy the social fabric and the economy of a country in only two years.
He can learn how upon getting a great sound economy with a good surplus how to destroy that and create a huge increasing deficit – spend and show nothing in return but feelings. Borrow more and do similarly spend, spend but where ? Try and buy an election – it will not work except spend.
From 3rd in the OECD countries to 31st in only 24 months.
Morrison would do best to ignore the Australian left wing media – they are as pathetic as they re in New Zealand. They, like the Democrats in the USA and Labour in the UK cannot bear not to be the centre of attention – like Ardern craves – but only for 9 months more.
Who will succeed her in Labour ?
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January 3, 2020 10:20am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  “From 3rd in the OECD countries to 31st in only 24 months.”
  
  ???
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:58am
- Prince
  
  They wont be able to avoid their ‘Unions Decide’ rule this time, so it’s anyone’s guess.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:27pm
Fletch

Map on Joanne Nova’s website showing the hottest historical temperatures in Australia at 50 deg and over. And what do you know, they had temperatures above 50 deg starting in the 1800s and early 1900s when records began.

http://joannenova.com.au/2019/01/forgotten-history-50-degrees-everywhere-right-across-australia-in-the-1800s/
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January 3, 2020 10:24am
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Fletch , as has been pointed out many times before the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has pointrd out the “highest average” temperatures.
  
  Not the highest! in a particular locality.
  
  Is Joanne Nova that dense?
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:02pm
  - CJames
    
    No Stephie girl. You are that dense – yet again proving you are a true pothead. BoM data starts at 1910. If you actually did some real reading, rather than your usual trolling, you would know that. Their rainfall records start from just 1900.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:36pm
  - hookerphil
    
    No, but you appear to be.
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:52pm
Kevin Herlihy

Fallout from Aussie bush fires stains New Zealand glaciers a muddy brown:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/118563496/just-one-more-horror-iconic-south-island-glaciers-stained-by-aussie-bushfires
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January 3, 2020 10:24am
Maggie Pie

I’ve had to have a quiet smile to myself over the past few months……that when it comes to ‘matters religion’, just how much my partners mum sounds like Cap’tn Mainwaring 😀

Last night she txts:

“the Soap-on-a-Rope looks like a nasty old prick”
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January 3, 2020 10:26am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Haha, Love ya Mags.
  
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  January 3, 2020 11:35am
MCos

Not everyone’s impressed with Scott Morrison right now.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/scott-morrison-cobargo-tour-hastily-moves-on-as-residents-express-anger/98f2b3ff-e648-4e65-a84d-f5273d5e930e
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January 3, 2020 10:29am
- Kevin Herlihy
  
  Scott Morrison has under estimated the impact of these wild fires on the health and well being of Australians affected by them.
  He has not shown leadership during this crisis. From the outset when these fires were being described as catastrophic he should have been all over it, activating a nationwide emergency response, calling on all services, friends like NZ, leading the news every night reassuring Australians that all that could be done is in situ. Plus supporting victims with emergency accomodation etc. This is the response Australians wanted and are now receiving albeit a little slower than expected.
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:27pm
  - Paulus
    
    New Zealand Firefighters were there in mid November.
    So far something like 150 have gone to assist with more following shortly.
    Our last group came back on the 17th December to have Christmas at home.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:03pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    The Aussie fires are their collective responsibility. They have a long history of these extreme blazes but they choose to live where the trees are.
    Earlier they were more prudent but increasing population coupled with no fire in their neighbourhood for a while has meant ignoring dangers and living with risk. My son’s has stands of eucalyptus as suburban decor. It looks good but there is a whole street full of houses within 100m.
    
    Rigor is going to be needed to force tree removal and create massive firebreaks. Those who don’t like the birds being affected are going to have to accept trees-birds-animals /fire/ human occupation is an incompatible mixture.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:51pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Part of the Problem in Australia is that Rural Fire Service and fire management generally is a State Government responsibility.
    
    The Federal Government steps in with Funding and Military Aid when Disasters are declared.
    
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    January 3, 2020 7:57pm
curry4me

Socialism is dying in the Fourth Reich. What’s the down side?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yssZKfTh0pY
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January 3, 2020 10:45am
curry4me

Think big tech isn’t a problem? OK Boomer. America Uncovered hits the nail on the head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzPcdKQTHeA
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January 3, 2020 10:46am
Jack5

In Britain, a security firm is stepping in to make prosecutions for theft and supply street “bobbies”; the police appear to have given up on thieves.

In parts of Britain as few as one in 500 theft complaints are being solved.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/02/tens-thousands-thieves-escaping-justice-telegraph-analysis-reveals/
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January 3, 2020 11:50am
Maggie Pie

With not a lot better to do, my partners mum has been listening to 1ZB Talkback over the last few days. She can’t believe how they allow these dickhead hosts they call the ‘4 Tims’ to dominate the airwaves with their naive liberal views over the holiday period!
Ma reckons all they do is attract the same callers every day, the likes of ‘Kelvin’, ‘Shirley’ ‘Mikey’, Mark’, ‘Chuck’ & ‘Housing Sue’. They refer to them as being “regular callers”….. ma refers to them as “the full-mooners”
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January 3, 2020 12:03pm
- Biscuit
  
  Maggy, back in the day I used to do much ‘overtime’ in the office.
  
  It’s amazing how much you can achieve without any phone calls buggering up your day!
  
  I occasionally listened in to what was then Radio Pacific (I’m a big Horse Racing buff) but gave that up quite quickly once it became apparent that the talkback hosts were quite happy to have some woman called ‘Fransie’ (spelling?) ring up each and every bloody night and – I shit you not – sing to the listeners for minutes on end…
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:02pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    LOL!! Ma just saw your comment Bikkie and txt to say she recalls ‘Francie’ well! Always pissed as a fart she reckons 😀 .
    [Ma is still keen on the horses …..said you’d probaly remember ‘Alby Gane’ from the good old days on Pacific?]
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:10pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Oh indeed, Maggie.
      
      Hi to your Ma, too.
      
      When I was younger and, erm, not tied down to a millstone oops not happily shacked up with the light of my life, I used to decamp (by plane) to Auckland on Boxing Day morning, cab to one of those motels on Green Lane Road opposite the Trotting course and then ‘race myself silly’ by attending:
      
      Boxing Day – Ellerslie
      December 27 – Alexandra Prak
      December 28 – Ellerslie
      December 9 – Alexandra Park
      Jnauary 1 – Ellerslie
      Jnauray 2 – Ellerslie
      
      Those six meetings formed the Auckland Racing Carnival.
      
      I remember, at Ellerslie, crowds of 50,000.
      
      But the dolts ‘improved’ things and now the four day Ellerslie meeting is down to 2 days, the infield (superb for a picnic with friends on one, at least, of the days) is 50% a golf course, crowds are lucky to hit five figures (this is the Super Shitty with, what?, a million people) and I have long since bothered to attend.
      
      I fly to Sydney or Melbourne (though not admittedly in high summer) where they understand ‘their’ public far better!
      
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      January 3, 2020 7:40pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Alexandra Park is just about all residential apartments these days. Although my partner reckons it was one of the worst financial decisions the trotting club ever made. He thinks it could send them broke!
        
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        January 3, 2020 8:40pm
Prince

The much awaited cricket tour of Australia has turned into a disaster.
Questions should be asked over management, selection and preparation, but I doubt they will be. Has there been any other team struck down with illness to three of their players in recent history ? How did they prepare for the game ?
The Melbourne and Sydney tests are important for Australian Cricket, and we have basically failed to turn up.
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January 3, 2020 12:23pm
- MCos
  
  Several of the English team were crook before their recent test in RSA, including Joe Root, the captain.
  More have gone down since.
  New Zealand’s problem is they we have the depth to bring in top quality substitutes as teams like Oz and India do. We don’t have that problem on our own either. Sri Lanka, Windies & Pakistan are the same. Note that none of the players in these teams earn big bucks playing for their country.
  https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/50946642
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:52pm
  - MCos
    
    ‘we don’t have the depth’ that should be
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:50pm
  - Prince
    
    But Root played, and from memory got a fifty-odd in the 2nd dig.
    
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    January 3, 2020 5:55pm
- Biscuit
  
  A re-invite will be long in coming, mefears…
  
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  January 3, 2020 7:42pm
Prince

Strange listening to the local Greenies pleading for more trees to be planted in NZ, to avoid fires such as those in Australia.
What do they think is burning ?
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January 3, 2020 12:29pm
Swifty

I’ve dithered over posting this, because I’m unsure of my facts and for the likely reaction it may provoke.

Anyway, I’d be interested in understanding whether Indian men are over-represented in the murder of women statistics – we seem to be seeing a lot of it over the last few years.

Here’s the latest:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12297806

If they are committing these crimes out of proportion to their presence in the community – then what is the cause and what do we intend doing about it?
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January 3, 2020 12:44pm
- DigNap15
  
  Letting more of them in
  Without them our local ferals would have to get a job
  driving taxis, deleievring pixzzas filling shelves at Countdown.
  Money laundering fro scammers.
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:20pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

US National Parks doing some secretive backtracking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXmJU-9Zkrk&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1iP7FQZhMps2FIVNsn6N3jtZKTfS4d0AZT2LVaeZoZb7o-MFc3fQmpPWc
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January 3, 2020 12:45pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I have been to Alaska twice and seen many glaciers. There are over 100000, mostly un named. They cover about 5% of the State (gives you an idea od the size of the place) This global warming/climate change is a crock of shit Worldwide.
  But we only have 12 years – how dare they?
  
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  January 3, 2020 12:51pm
- Stephieboy2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Steve Otto(North Shore),
  The Park Service changed three signs to reflect updated scientific projections about glacier behavior.
  
  One element of deliberate misinformation is that it often contains a grain of truth. That’s the case with this myth, too. This story appears to have been triggered when the Park Service changed three signs about projected dates when the glaciers might melt completely. These signs said that the glaciers could be gone by 2020. We now know that’s not the case. The signs have been updated to say, “When they will completely disappear, however, depends on how and when we act.”
  
  https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/09/fact-check-no-the-glaciers-are-not-growing-in-glacier-national-park/
  
  BTW the Lysander Spooner University is apparently fictional! It’s merely a website devoted to climate change denial
  
  https://blog.hotwhopper.com/2016/05/spoof-or-genuinely-nuts-another.html
  
  Now this is becoming a habit of yours.
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:03pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You are shifting the goalposts again
    
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    January 3, 2020 1:52pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      You saw glaciers, and that convinced you that climate change is a hoax?
      
      3 14
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      January 3, 2020 2:33pm
      - MrTips
        
        Vast swathes of Europe and elsewhere were carved by glaciers that no longer exist, yet we are still here.
        
        Climate change exists; its present threat to humanity is another matter entirely and likely bullshit.
        
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        January 3, 2020 4:20pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You got it Mike. When you fly over the ice fields that feed the glaciers, they are huge. Have to be there to realise how big.
        Now, down in Seward there is a glacier called Exit Glacier. There are signs showing where the glacier front used to be in years gone by, coming back some 2 km from where it is now. What they don’t tell you is Exit Glacier used to go right down to the ocean at Resurrection Bay, some 15 km away. Exit Glacier has been exiting for over 10000 years – that’s before the industrial revolution when mankind started fucking with the planet (bullshit)
        
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        January 3, 2020 4:41pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        I feel sorry for you
        
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        January 3, 2020 8:37pm
  - All_on_Red
    
    lol
    Referring to ‘hotwhopper’ as a reputable source
    Ahahahaha
    No wonder you’re so ignorant.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:46pm
    - Stephieboy2
      
      All on Red , so you beleive the so called Lysander Uni is a real entity like Yale , Princeton or Stanford?
      
      Sheesh !
      
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      January 3, 2020 3:03pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        Didn’t even look Stephie
        Not interested.
        But I do know enough about Miriam the nutter from Hotwhopper though. She’s right on the fringe and she’s a real stalker too.
        Just like you.
        
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        January 3, 2020 5:39pm
      - Biscuit
        
        Only Lysander I know was a character in Billy Shakes’ ‘A Midsumer Night’s Dream’.
        
        Lysander was an odd fish – I got cast as him in a School play – and I remember having to wear my sister’s red leotards throughout. Still, he also spent a good half hour of his stage time snogging a female character whose name I forget (both the play name AND the girl who played her) senseless.
        
        My Rugby mates were both p*ssing themselves at my leggings and spittting tacks at my jamminess re the snogging!
        
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        January 3, 2020 7:48pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Only the sources AoR disagrees with could possibly be nutters.
        
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        January 3, 2020 8:41pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  Amusing BBC docu on Red Radio this morning: journalist visits Iceland wanting sob stories about retreating glaciers.
  
  Instead the locals said things like ‘our environment has always been changing, we’re used to it’, ‘we’re not worried at all’ and ‘might be nice if a bit hotter’.
  
  The only people she could get her desired reactions from were climate scientists and: school kids trained up with climate horror stories.
  
  One interesting point even a climate scientist made was that in the C15 it got much colder and glaciers grew, grinding down farms and communities. Stories about constant change and the glaciers not necessarily being humans’ best buddies have formed the locals’ ‘cultural memory’.
  
  So yes: things change. AGW? Maybe, partly. Can we prevent it? Not currently with a population of 7 billion.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:30pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Greenland was once agricultural, but we won’t mention that
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:54pm
Hollyfield

This has to be the headline of the week: “Man and goat taken on terrifying drive after carjacking in front of sex shop”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12297820&ref=clavis
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January 3, 2020 12:48pm
- skyblue
  
  Stephieboy wanted a threesome.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:17pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    [Wish i’d posted that 😛 ]
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:59pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Dare to hazard a guess who the sole downticker to skyblue’s comment (as at 7.50pm) was, Maggie?
      
      I’m thinking it just may have been your nemesis himself!
      
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      January 3, 2020 7:50pm
    - Tall Man
      
      You’ll be pleased to know that my comment about steffy girl was deleted… why, because I said that with her multiple personalities every event was at least a threesome.
      
      Now, we all know that there is either more than 1 person using steffy’s login or there are “issue” that result in varying levels of comprehension and communication.
      
      Now that I have over detailed my comment it loses it’s punch doesn’t it?
      
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      January 3, 2020 9:28pm
Wired-one

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/norway-s-huge-new-oil-project-clashes-with-growing-climate-focus

The lefts “utopia” of Norway is drilling for oil, interesting.
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January 3, 2020 1:11pm
- krazykiwi
  
  Norway was a poor, desolate place 100 years ago. It is the development of their oil energy resources that has allowed the country to become a cohesive, modern society. Their massive hydro generation capability was paid for by oil income. Their generous social services are paid for from oil income. Their huge subsidies for the purchase and operation of electric vehicles is paid for by their oil income.
  
  Block all oil-related income today, and Norway would become a Scandinavian Venezuela within 5 years.
  
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  January 3, 2020 1:58pm
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    I trust the Norwegians will invest their oil income prudently before “Peak Technology” is reached.
    
    The Stone Age didn’t end because mankind ran out of rocks.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:10pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Stone Age ended because they all turned into fucking Democrats and Labourites!!
      
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      January 3, 2020 4:57pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Norway invested all it’s North Sea oil money. The English have spent all theirs.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:31pm
  - Mummy
    
    Just been to Norway. You forgot to mention their massive network of amazing roads and tunnels that go straight through mountains. All paid for by oil money. It’s why Norway hasn’t joined the EU. Doesn’t have to.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:49pm
  - Jack5
    
    Krazykiwi, except that the Norwegians have stored away much of their loot from oil and have the world’s biggest sovereign fund.
    
    Called Government Pension Fund Global, it has assets of more than $US1 trillion.
    
    The fund has been selling is oil investments and re-investing in renewable resources.
    
    Norway won’t become another Venezuela.
    
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    January 3, 2020 2:57pm
    - krazykiwi
      
      Yup, that’s true. My point was (and remains) that their current and future wealth is as a result of their wise investment in hydrocarbon energy.
      
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      January 3, 2020 10:35pm
JibberJabber

Rare footage of KBs dumbest commenter getting owned again…
https://twitter.com/HurtHad2/status/1212887526286991360
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January 3, 2020 1:23pm
Odakyu-sen

“Tent death at Tokerau Beach ‘horrifically unfortunate accident”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12297878

Let’s see if I got the facts. A 4WD parked on a rise above the owner’s tent. In the night, the vehicle rolls down the hill, running through the tent, killing the occupant and then hitting a fence. “For some reason the handbrake seems to have failed,” a policeman said.

Question: if a 4WD is on a slope, is the handbrake alone sufficient to hold it overnight? (It is possible that as the temperature drops at night, the tiny amount of metal shrinkage might cause the effectiveness of the handbrake to decline. But I’m not an expert.)
Obviously the 4WD transmission had not been put into P or 1st (if a manual).

Have any of you had or known of a similar failure? (I see a few on YouTube.)

I was taught always to engage the transmission AND apply the handbrake when parking on a slope for a lengthy period. And if in further doubt, chock the wheels.
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January 3, 2020 1:44pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Yes, Sensei – a truly dreadful but avoidable accident.
  My partner goes up to a farm at Karikari for a spot of duck shooting most years. He was saying you’d actually be lucky to find a 4wd vehicle up there with doors…..let alone a functioning hand-brake 🙁
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:34pm
- Stephieboy2
  
  We will just let the Police complete their investigations and if need be a Coroners inquest rather relying on a know it all like you!
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:05pm
  - chaos
    
    mods please stop allowing this user to make personal attacks and flaming. Odakyu-sen Is talking about a current news story, there is no need for the above user to call them a know it all.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:22pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Just report him. Enough reports and the mods might do something – or DPF
      
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      January 3, 2020 5:01pm
      - chaos
        
        Na the mods don’t they claim they are watching him. But they constantly approve his posts with personal attacks in them.
        
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        January 3, 2020 7:12pm
  - Biscuit
    
    Stephieboy2, you really have a problem with people having an opinion that is different to your one, don’t you?
    
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    January 3, 2020 7:53pm
Gravelroad

Anyone know why cricketer Tim Southee has been “rested” for the Sydney test?
Seems odd to leave out their senior bowler when the team is in such dire straits – especially as he has already come onto the field as a substitute fielder.
What’s going on? Has Southee upset the cricketing mafia somehow??
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January 3, 2020 1:54pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Always planned to be rested. Still lots of cricket this summer.
  
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  January 3, 2020 2:29pm
  - Prince
    
    Yep, the T20’s and ODI’s are far more important than some New Year test in Sydney. I’m sure the Aussies will understand.
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:32pm
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Maybe his bowling in the first two tests was ineffective enough that somebody else needed a turn.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:14pm
  - Tall Man
    
    12 wickets at a rate of 26. Not too shabby.
    
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    January 3, 2020 3:48pm
- greybeard
  
  Probably the same ‘flu’ which has ruled out Williamson.
  Tui ad.
  
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  January 3, 2020 4:46pm
Monique Watson

Soleimani killed in a Baghdad air strike. And:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Mahdi_al-Muhandis
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January 3, 2020 2:38pm
- fernglas
  
  And Trump’s twitter account just put up a large American flag. Join the dots.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:48pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    He also tweeted to Iran’s Rohani: “Happy New Year!”
    
    LOL = MAGA!!
    
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    January 3, 2020 4:55pm
All_on_Red

‘Almost 19,000 children have been sexually groomed in England in the past year, according to official figures that have prompted warnings of an “epidemic”.
‘Drugs and alcohol are frequently used by grooming gangs to incapacitate girls or coerce them into sex, with the criminality later discouraging victims from going to police.
There are several methods of grooming, with the best-known “boyfriend” model seeing an abusive relationship used to force victims into sex with others.
Children can also be trafficked, befriended online or – in the so-called party – targeted by groups of men who lure them to gatherings with offers of drinks, drugs, money and car rides.’

Interesting photos of the type of people doing the rapes
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grooming-child-sex-abuse-exploitation-rotherham-rochdale-police-a9215261.html
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January 3, 2020 3:06pm
- chaos
  
  Means nothing, kids are groomed by people from all ethnic groups and professions, don’t make child abuse appear as it is just being done by one ethnic group because it isn’t.
  
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  January 3, 2020 3:16pm
- Odakyu-sen
  
  How do you create a culture for young girls that makes them more resistant to being lured to gatherings with offers of drinks, drugs, money and car rides?
  
  Such a culture would have to begin when the girls are at a young age, and involve their mothers, fathers, schools, older siblings, peers, grandparents, churches (if applicable), Girl Guides and other established youth organizations…
  
  Wait a minute. What’s that? What do you mean “most of these traditional institutions are missing from these girls’ lives”?
  
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  January 3, 2020 4:13pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    Too many people having too many kids they do not want to be bothered by/with.
    Drugs, alcohol, gambling, tattoos, the never ending search for the perfect partner and, of course, dogs – all have a higher priority than small humans for some people these days.
    But they are paid to have kids, so……….
    
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    January 3, 2020 5:55pm
CJames

This is interesting – Iranian General killed at Iraqi airport
https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/476608-top-iranian-general-killed-in-airstrike-on
Though Iran will still try to convince useful idiots that they have nothing to do with the attacks in Baghdad.
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January 3, 2020 3:16pm
Maggie Pie

They all look like employees from the UK franchise of ‘Allan’s Snack Bar!’ 🙁
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January 3, 2020 3:17pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  This was supposed to be in response to ‘A-O-R’s’ post @3:05pm…… [Interesting photos of the types of people doing the ropes]
  
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  January 3, 2020 4:51pm
chaos

* US military kills head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, at direction of President Trump

The Pentagon says the United States military has killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, at the direction of US President Donald Trump.

An airstrike killed Soleimani, architect of Iran’s regional security apparatus, at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, Iranian state television and three Iraqi officials said, an attack that’s expected to draw severe Iranian retaliation against Israel and American interests.

The Defense Department said Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/donald-trumps-america/118580937/us-military-kills-head-of-irans-elite-quds-force-at-direction-of-president-trump
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January 3, 2020 4:24pm
- chaos
  
  * Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US after the airstrike on Baghdad airport that killed Iranian Soleimani.
  
  The Iranian state TV carried a statement by Khamenei also calling Soleimani “the international face of resistance.”
  
  Khamenei declared three days of public mourning for the general’s death.
  
  Citing a Revolutionary Guard statement, Iranian state television said Soleimani was “martyred” in an attack by US helicopters near the airport, without elaborating.*
  
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  January 3, 2020 7:14pm
greybeard

Australia will bat for 2 days, make a massive score and then crush NZ by an innings and about 250 runs.
Any takers ?
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January 3, 2020 4:50pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118574035/australia-bushfires-new-zealand-will-send-22-more-firefighters-to-help
Newsflash: “Jacinda saves Australia”.
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January 3, 2020 4:53pm
chaos

Good. But such an announcement would normally come from the duty prime minister in the country not the one on holiday, but alas this is All About Me Ardern

* The Government is sending 22 more firefighters to Australia to help fight the country’s out of control bushfires.

New Zealand has been sending firefighters to Australia since late October, with 157 having already been deployed.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand would do all it could to assist.

“The devastation caused by these fires is taking a substantial toll on our Australian neighbours and we will continue to do what we can to assist as they deal with this extremely dynamic, dangerous and ongoing situation,” Ardern said.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118574035/australia-bushfires-new-zealand-will-send-22-more-firefighters-to-help
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January 3, 2020 5:01pm
- Prince
  
  Note the ‘new look’ Ardern Stuff uses now.
  More action, stressed, decision-making, similar to JFK at his desk during Cuban crisis.
  Less the fashion model smiley princess.
  
  PM’s Focus groups must be signalling some issues.
  
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  January 3, 2020 5:50pm
  - Tall Man
    
    What… that she’s a vacuous idiot?
    
    Surely not 😉
    
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    January 3, 2020 6:57pm
- curry4me
  
  Shouldn’t she be wearing a fireman’s helmet; or smoke stained clothes to show ’empathy’?
  
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  January 3, 2020 9:01pm
Swifty

I’ve just come across this on YouTube.

Look at how blithely Louisa Wall would give away NZers rights to speaking their mind. Look at how airily she would take away the freedoms that people have yearned and died for over millennia.

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

This is the modern left. They’ll wreck everything in pursuit of their unattainable perfect society.

(Oh and for a hoot, look at how she tries to say that if her laws were in place, March 15 would never have happened. What a joke.)
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January 3, 2020 5:18pm
- Tall Man
  
  She neglected to say that there is also hate speech from the left towards white, wealthy males.
  
  But that ok coz we’ve got white privilege and need to be destroyed eh?
  
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  January 3, 2020 6:56pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Steps ahead in the 3D chess.
https://www.oann.com/iraqi-media-u-s-air-strike-kills-commanders-of-iran-backed-quds-force-iraqi-shiite-militia/?fbclid=IwAR3ObktuzM57faF1EciaMqp5Rm1TUmBvYtjaFlA3ooxz3tlWyG86OKukQro
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January 3, 2020 5:44pm
Rodney Randall

When are the National Government approved “Disharmonious Speech” (Blasphemy) Laws coming?

What happened to Andrew Little’s urgent review?
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January 3, 2020 6:06pm
Suze Wainwright

Have catching protected species (Great White sharks) at popular beaches and then laughing and going whoop whoop over the remains (while getting angry with those who would try to rescue the poor fish) got anything to do with Treaty rights?
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January 3, 2020 6:41pm
chaos

Disgusting. Perhaps a visitor to the country should learn to respect the country they are in

* British musician Yungblud has added his voice to the multitude of those angry at Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.

Video posted online on Friday taken at a recent concert in Melbourne shows the singer/songwriter leading the crowd in chanting “f**k sco mo”.*

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2020/01/video-shows-yungblud-leading-crowd-in-obscene-anti-scott-morrison-chant.html
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January 3, 2020 8:28pm
Hugh Pavletich

AUSTRALIA …

The Shocking Size of the Australian Wildfires … Katherine Buchholz … Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/20387/recent-wildfire-events-by-acreage-burned/

The devastating California wildfires of 2018 and last year’s fires in the Amazon rainforest made international headlines and shocked the world, but in terms of size they are far smaller than the current bushfire crisis in Australia, where approximately 12 million acres have been burned to date. Fires in remote parts of northern Russia burned 6.7 million acres last year, but most of the regions were sparsely populated and no casualties were reported. … read more via hyperlink above …
.
… via …

The Shocking Size Of The Australian Wildfires … Zerohedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/shocking-size-australian-wildfires

… concluding …

… The bushfires grew more severe amidst a heatwave that saw Australia record its hottest day and simultaneously driest spring on record, according to The New York Times. New South Wales has been affected disproportionately, plunging Sydney into dark smoke in mid-December. Around 10 of the 12 million burned acres are located in the state.

Bushfires frequently occur in Australia, with some years bringing more severe destruction that others. Scientists are claiming that in connection to climate change, fires will become more frequent and more severe when they happen.
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January 3, 2020 9:24pm

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