The right loses its shit after a public servant accidentally tweets from the wrong account

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, December 26th, 2017 - 111 comments
Categories: blogs, brand key, David Farrar, Dirty Politics, dpf, interweb, israel, making shit up, Media, national, phil twyford, same old national, social media lolz, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

Some poor unfortunate public servant accidentally tweeted the other day their view of America’s bullying of the rest of the world for refusing to accept the absurdity of recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The text of the tweet, “I guess New Zealand won’t be invited to the party on 3 January and won’t be getting any aid from the US. Wait did we ever get any aid or even a free trade agreement with them?” was hardly cutting edge or contentions.  And it certainly was not rude.  Especially by twitter standards.

After all Trump’s America had threatened to cut aid to countries who did not support the US.  Thankfully the vast majority did so.

The tweet was factual and gently ironic.  Not the sort of thing that would set the twitter sphere alight.

Unfortunately it was sent from a NZTA twitter account.  I can imagine what happened.  Someone sent what they thought was a tweet from their private account but unfortunately it was from the work account.  This sort of thing happens all the time.  If there is one thing about social media it shows the enormous and varied ways that people can make mistakes.

It appears that the twitterer did indeed made a mistake and deleted the tweet as soon as they realised what had happened.

But not before the forces of the right discovered it and then railed in.

National’s pollster thundered “NZTA Needs to explain” and called the tweet a “rant against the US, Israel and free trade”.  He obviously presumed the tweet was deliberate and said that official Government twitter accounts are not for agency staff to use as their personal outlets for political musings.  I think the fact the tweet was deleted clearly shows that the stuff theory up as opposed to the conspiracy theory applies.

The comments to Farrar’s post are interesting, a veritable cess pit of loathing and conspiracy theories veering wildly into claims involving Hillary Clinton and Uranium and even somehow the Kennedys and the Peace Corps.  My favourite comment is:

What does one expect when our country is run by a unelected dyke’s disciple full of socialist agendas that will be the ruination of NZ?

Including so much misogyny, hate and stupidity in one short comment is a major achievement.

And Cameron Slater chipped in declaring “[h]ey NZTA, you might have deleted the tweet but we still got the screenshot” (be warned actual link).  He clearly thinks that this is some sort of conspiracy involving the New Zealand Government, the Antifa movement and the shadow banking system.

The comments are also hilarious.  This one struck a real chord with me:

I am getting tired of seeing Jacinda splashed across the front page of the Herald two days in a row. Our very first celebrity PM, select. The Herald just has no shame.

It is like for the past nine long years they lived in a different dimension to the rest of us.

But I think the Minister is pretty chilled about the tweet.  As should everyone else.

https://twitter.com/PhilTwyford/status/944737956320788481

111 comments on “The right loses its shit after a public servant accidentally tweets from the wrong account ”

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  1. Sanctuary 1
    26 December 2017 at 9:35 am

    I say again (as I do at every opportunity) we underestimate the influence of Fox and Breitbart on the right in this country. A sizeable portion, including Farrar, believe that crazy shit.

    • Ed 1.1
      26 December 2017 at 10:10 am

      This has been well documented in America.

      https://www.amazon.com/Brainwashing-My-Dad-Matthew-Modine/dp/B01C6AFEQG
      https://www.salon.com/2014/02/27/i_lost_my_dad_to_fox_news_how_a_generation_was_captured_by_thrashing_hysteria/

      However I disagree with you about Farrar.
      He knows.
      He just likes taking the money and the trips.

    • Sabine 1.2
      26 December 2017 at 11:09 am

      No Farrar does not believe that shit, but he likes the money that goes into his account that comes with peddling this shit.

      I think it is well past due time to ‘excuse’ our ‘betters’ when they are being outright misogynist, racists, hypocrites, bigots even – as poor misunderstood people that ‘believe’ stuff. Just because you sell snake poison does not mean you believe it is medicine that works, its just that a sucker is born every day and they – Farrar and their posse including the National Party NZ – are laughing all the way to the bank selling you, your whanau and the country that shit to heal all ills of society.

      National Party – a sucker is born everyday would be a fitting slogan.

      • Ed 1.2.1
        26 December 2017 at 11:11 am

        He is a hired gun who is never described honestly by Jim Mora on the Panel.

        The National Party have to persuade people to vote against their own interests. And for that they need propagandists.

        • Draco T Bastard 1.2.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 12:46 pm

          The National Party have to persuade people to vote against their own interests. And for that they need propagandists.

          The leaders in the right-wing have to lie to gain power. That’s all that anybody with any intelligence should need to know. Unfortunately, some 46% of the populace actually believe the lies that National and their flunkies peddle.

          John Banks actually said it best: If I wear my policy on my sleeve, I won’t get elected.

          An admission of lying but a lot of those 46% would have been congratulating him for his strategic nous.

        • grumpystilskin 1.2.1.2
          26 December 2017 at 6:47 pm

          Jim’s too interested in wanting his panelists and listeners to think he’s (Jim that is) a nice guy to say anything. I usually turn RNZ off till he’s finished because John Campbell just makes him sound like an intellectual lightweight.

  2. red-blooded 2
    26 December 2017 at 10:11 am

    Interesting to see how that site works (I never go to Kiwiblog) – all the (few) comments that hit back at at conspiracy shit are “hidden due to low comment rating” – accessible if you click an extra link, but effectively cut out of the conversation. That’s so manipulative!

    • Antoine 2.1
      26 December 2017 at 11:04 am

      False. There were plenty of comments (from RWers) that rubbished the idiotic idea that JAG was involved, and did not get hidden.

      A.

      • Ed 2.1.1
        26 December 2017 at 11:07 am

        So you are on KiwiBlog Antoine?

        • Antoine 2.1.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 11:11 pm

          Often!

          • Galeandra 2.1.1.1.1
            30 December 2017 at 10:47 pm

            Often?????
            Sad.
            It’s a cesspit of malevolence racism and misogyny. I’d be ashamed to go again after my brief period of attempting to offer alteranative opinions there .
            Either you’re morally deficient or a voyeur .OO.

      • red-blooded 2.1.2
        26 December 2017 at 11:19 am

        I wasn’t just commenting on the rubbish about the actual tweet, Antione. There were multiple conspiracy comments about all sorts of totally irrelevant crap on that line of comments. Quite a lot about the sources of uranium, for example. Very odd, and mostly very rightwing.

        What do you think about the practice of hiding comments? I note you didn’t respond to that.

        • UncookedSelachimorpha 2.1.2.1
          26 December 2017 at 12:06 pm

          “What do you think about the practice of hiding comments”

          That is hilarious!! An intentional and utterly cynical way of maximising the echo chamber effect and maximising confirmation bias – and maximising the stimulation of the reward centres of your echo chambering readers.

          https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-political-brain/

          Good for clicks, crap for discourse.

          Confirms KiwiBlog has zero interest in public dialog, but is a smart money maker.

        • Antoine 2.1.2.2
          26 December 2017 at 11:13 pm

          > There were multiple conspiracy comments about all sorts of totally irrelevant crap on that line of comments.

          Yes, you get that. There are sensible commentators and then also there are loonies.

          > What do you think about the practice of hiding comments? I note you didn’t respond to that.

          I don’t have a strong view. I don’t place downticks myself. Still, hiding comments can be mildly helpful in that it avoids the need to scroll past long screeds of rubbish posted by certain habitually annoying commenters.

          A.

  3. The Wicked Witch 3
    26 December 2017 at 10:13 am

    I also say at every opportunity – people in this country, predominantly angry white men, have been radicalised online and the USA Culture Wars are coming here. One hears and reads the same language, assumptions and the same conspiracy theories on NZ based media. Bob McCroskrie said something about “George Soros” on National Radio the other day. We had Bill English using “virtue signalling”, New Zealanders are using “liberals” for left-wing and as a pejorative, I heard a gun shop owner on the radio refer to “varmints” instead of pests. It is hugely concerning.

    • weka 3.1
      26 December 2017 at 10:43 am

      I agree. Also it’s pretty clear that DPF is going to let that misogyny run on his blog. People need to pick a side, and he already has.

    • Ed 3.2
      26 December 2017 at 10:47 am

      Yes there is quite a collection of pale stale males over the yearswho have been providing the poison for Kiwi minds.

      Hosking
      Smith
      Garner
      Soper
      Richardson
      Williams…….

      It’s a long list and we now have many in NZ with toxic, ignorant and intolerant views.

      • Antoine 3.2.1
        26 December 2017 at 11:05 am

        Whoever talks about ‘pale, stale males’, I at once discount anything they have to say about bigotry.

        • Ed 3.2.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 11:06 am

          That’s fine. Think as you wish.
          I sense poisonous right wing ideologies embedded themselves in your brain a while ago.

          • Barfly 3.2.1.1.1
            26 December 2017 at 3:01 pm

            Next you will be saying there are no non -whites leading the charge of neo-liberalism in the National Party ffs get a grip get over your obsession with colour.

            • mpledger 3.2.1.1.1.1
              27 December 2017 at 10:05 am

              Who are these non-Whites? What is their ranking and portfolio? How do they influence the direction National takes?

        • Sabine 3.2.1.2
          26 December 2017 at 11:15 am

          sadly the shoe fits.

          these guys are stale.
          they are white
          and they are male.

          don’t shoot the messenger rather argue for more diversity on our telly , our radio waves and newspaper. T’would be good for the country i bet.

          you can’t change a prevailing attitude if you refuse to name the beast.

        • Draco T Bastard 3.2.1.3
          26 December 2017 at 1:03 pm

          I cringe at that term but I don’t discount what they say as they’ve got a point. The privileged are fighting back against their declining privilege.

        • John Drinan 3.2.1.4
          27 December 2017 at 12:46 pm

          And you usually conjure up an image of a particularly pale stale male.. saying it.

        • tracey 3.2.1.5
          28 December 2017 at 9:42 am

          Good idea. That will help them overcome their oppression. Oh wait…

    • Bill 3.3
      26 December 2017 at 11:30 am

      This isn’t a dig.

      But if “predominantly angry white men” are having their anger channeled in one way or another, then shouldn’t we be asking something about the root cause[s] of that anger as opposed to dismissing or marginalising them because of how their anger is being channeled?

      And then addressing those root causes along with those that give rise to the other angers of other people?

      Because see, I suspect the roots are pretty much the same in all cases.

      • The Wicked Witch 3.3.1
        26 December 2017 at 12:08 pm

        Who is “we”? Are you telling me not a dismiss Bill English? Or not to dismiss Cameron Slater? Do you think he, and his followers and admirers and trolls are “marginalised”?

        I don’t need to be schooled by you, thanks. Perhaps you should just speak for yourself – the approach *you* take, why *you* don’t dismiss those partaking in the promulgation of US style language and politics in NZ and what *you* intend to do to “address those concerns”. I shall focus on defending the groups and values that are being attacked.

        • Bill 3.3.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 1:16 pm

          It seems you didn’t really read my comment.

          But in response to what you’ve replied with –
          “We” is all of us in general.

          Am I telling you not to dismiss Bill English? No.

          To not dismiss Cameron Slater (or any other number of highish profile promulgators of bad shit)? No.

          Do I think it’s a good idea to just routinely dismiss anyone who is to some degree influenced by them and their ilk, or by the notions they peddle? No.

          I wasn’t “schooling” you or anyone else, but voicing an opinion by way of suggestion.

          And I do just speak for myself. I think you’d be hard pressed to find an instance of me blithely assuming to speak for others.

          Defending groups and values that are being attacked by others entails identifying exactly or precisely who those others are, and isn’t particularly well served by operating off the back of any sweeping generalisation (eg – the pale, male and stale “catch-all” label some have used in this thread) that would put potential allies into the enemy camp. Not that I’m saying you’ve done that. It’s just an obvious and general observation I’m making.

          • weka 3.3.1.1.1
            26 December 2017 at 9:06 pm

            ‘pale, stale, male’ was used to describe Hosking and co.

            TWW used ‘angry white men’ to describe men in NZ being radicalised by the right into some serious and harmful socialisation.

            ‘pale, male, stale’ is a pejorative, and has limits as such imo, but not too bothered it being used in reference to Hosking. I do think it’s being overused generally, and find it interesting to see men using it now without reference to the deeper politics around gender and race.

            ‘angry white men’ is simply a descriptor, it’s not a pejorative, and it seems reasonably accurate. I agree that NZ needs to look more deeply at what is going on with the radicalisation (and if it doesn’t, there will be serious consequences), but I also think it’s important to not strip out the gender issues here while doing that (or the ethnicity/cultural ones).

            I don’t read KB so don’t have a good sense of the individuals and their backgrounds/situations. I do have a reasonable sense of DPF encouraging some pretty reprehensible politics and that there are people there who fit the angry white men descriptor.

            Rereading TWW’s comment it looks to me like she is pointing more towards the active promoters of a cultural shift in NZ. While I think that the reasons for some men in NZ being attracted to that also needs looking at, I think that we should be taking a pretty uncompromising stand against what DPF etc are doing.

            • tracey 3.3.1.1.1.1
              28 December 2017 at 9:46 am

              Being lumped together sucks. Some amongst us are just learning this. Others of us have lived with it for years with little voice or platform to object. This group has a loud vouce and a strong platform and they use it. Thinking they are oppressed and being oppressed are different things. One clue is the volume of tge vouce and size of the platform with which they can object.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.4
      26 December 2017 at 12:54 pm

      One hears and reads the same language, assumptions and the same conspiracy theories on NZ based media.

      That’s organised in the backroom by the RWNJ parties across the world. The language to use and how to use it is well researched to get the desired results and then shared.

    • joe90 3.5
      26 December 2017 at 5:53 pm

      people in this country, predominantly angry white men, have been radicalised online and the USA Culture Wars are coming here.

      Yup, a political philosophy devoted to sneering at/pissing off the left/liberals, and that’s it.

  4. weka 4
    26 December 2017 at 10:41 am

    Good on Twyford.

    Some muttonhead of a National MP tweeted that Julie Anne Gender was in charge of the NZTA account over Christmas. He then had to spend a few tweets saying he didn’t really mean it or something.

    JAG helpfully gave him some hints,

    Julie Anne Genter‏ @JulieAnneGenter
    Replying to @ScottSimpsonMP

    I know this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but you may need to explain that to your followers. NZTA is controlled by a board, ministers don’t tweet under its handle.
    1:57 pm – 24 Dec 2017

    https://twitter.com/JulieAnneGenter/status/944733803657936897

    Not really too much of a surprise that National MPs don’t understand how government works, especially in regards to power and boundaries.

  5. Incognito 5
    26 December 2017 at 11:41 am

    It always amazes me how these main DP characters can so quickly access any piece of data and morph it into a meme/narrative/story for almost immediate spread through their (social media) networks. It is a (propaganda?) machine that seems well-resourced, well-oiled, fast & far-reaching, and influential. The initial seeds of distrust are simply to spread and reach out and if & when they ‘germinate’ the pest starts to develop & evolve into something that can do a lot of damage. Twitter is the ideal medium for this kind of epidemiological spreading & attack.

    • Bill 5.1
      26 December 2017 at 11:54 am

      It always amazes me how..

      Yup. They’re pretty good at their shit. I’d guess that’s what comes from having built up networks and having become somewhat hooked into society’s more dominant concentrations of power.

      That’s the mutually reinforcing resource, efficiency, reach and influence right there. Nothing very mysterious about it. In fact, powerful as it is, it’s kind of banal.

      • Ed 5.1.1
        26 December 2017 at 12:11 pm

        They are well resourced.
        Big business has deep pockets and they want to see right wing policies enacted.

        • Incognito 5.1.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 12:22 pm

          Yes, I’ve heard this before so many times yet it ignores, or assumes rather, a major necessary factor for it to be successful and as effective as it is: a receptive audience (‘fertile soil’).

          As Bill said, it is mutually reinforcing; we (…) are not simply passive bystanders.

      • Incognito 5.1.2
        26 December 2017 at 12:17 pm

        You’re right that it is “nothing very mysterious” yet it still amazes me; call me ignorant & naive. You nailed it by calling it what it is: “banal”. Fighting it only makes it stronger – it will not surrender or succumb. It has been with us forever and will be for a very long time still because it is how & what we are …

    • The Wicked Witch 5.2
      26 December 2017 at 12:23 pm

      I recommend anyone interested in this phenomenon reads ‘Fantasyland’ by Kurt Andersen. It’s a brilliant and depressing review of the intersections of magical thinking, conspiratorial mindset, and the modern media and political environment. It’s about the USA, Trump and “altervative facts” etc, and the fact that the USA’s unique (in the developed world) religiousity makes it particularly susceptible to rabble rousing and hysteria. But the writer points out the rest of the world could go down that rabbit hole and the internet is the ideal means to foster such developments.

      • Incognito 5.2.1
        26 December 2017 at 3:51 pm

        Thank you for the tip. When I read your comment I immediately compared it to the hegemony of Ego-consciousness with its emphasis on rational hyper-individualism and strong suppression of what we consider our dark side (Shadow). Shadow always attacks/opposes Ego and is much more powerful too; its ‘tools’ are crude & primitive and full of symbolism (dreams and projections). The parallels between the developments in the USA and what happened in Europe last century are uncanny and strikingly similar in many ways. We live in worrisome times in which division & isolation (hate & anger) dominate over union & integration (love & peace).

    • Ad 5.3
      26 December 2017 at 12:44 pm

      Only amazes me that the left refuse to use those same instruments that define the narrative their own way.

      Anyone seen or heard of a counter-narrative since the “Bridges is running for Leader” counter-narrative put out to counter Bridges running the tables on Hipkins?

      Fuckme.

      Whoever is running comms counter-strike in the PM’s Office is a softcock.

      • Incognito 5.3.2
        26 December 2017 at 4:02 pm

        Before the election the narrative of the Greens gave me hope but their voice has been all but silenced and not all by or because of their own choosing … Counter-strikes may make you look strong and even win a battle but never the war. I favour non-partisan politics and of conciliation but I realise & accept that I may be in a minority, even here on TS.

        • Ad 5.3.2.1
          26 December 2017 at 4:13 pm

          When the Pope defends worldwide refugees yesterday and the Queen defends cities who resist terrorism on the same day, I’d say partisan has gone out the freakin window.

        • red-blooded 5.3.2.2
          26 December 2017 at 5:03 pm

          When you say, their voice has been all but silenced” you ignore the fact that:
          1) They haven’t “been silenced” – they’ve been busy; immersed in getting to grips with their new ministerial and parliamentary roles, and beginning to actually get things done rather than just talking about the other side not getting things done (ie, they’re in government); and
          2) They’ve been saying plenty about issues like transport, energy and climate change policy (eg the big announcements about cancelling superhighways and building up the rail network, and about building towards carbon free by 2050).

          You say you’re in favour of being non-partisan and conciliatory, but that’s not backed up when you say things like “been silenced and not all by their own choosing”.

          The Greens are free to speak up in public about any policy – speaking for policies from ministries that they’re responsible for, and for or against any other policy. Has it occurred to you that maybe they know they’ve been given a chance to achieve positive things and they don’t want to blow that chance by undermining the new government and playing into the narrative of instability?

          I’m sure that over time there’ll be times when the Greens exercise their right to speak and/or vote against policy they don’t agree with. It wouldn’t show much political nous to be doing so now, though.

          • Incognito 5.3.2.2.1
            26 December 2017 at 6:21 pm

            Thank you for engaging constructively.

            Yes, the Greens have been busy and yes they have been communicating on isolated issues as one would expect of a coalition party. However, they received more airtime and presented a more coherent message of integrated issues and philosophy that was 100% their own before the election. All I am saying is that I’m missing that now, for whatever reason.

            You say you’re in favour of being non-partisan and conciliatory, but that’s not backed up when you say things like “been silenced and not all by their own choosing”.

            I don’t follow you here.

            Yes, you could be right that the Greens don’t want to rock the boat. Which is to say that I’m hoping that they will find a way to voice their unique values and approach to politics and our pressing issues in a non-confrontational way that cannot be parlayed by some to destabilise the Government. I thought this was the idea behind the Greens being outside Cabinet.

      • Stuart Munro 5.3.3
        26 December 2017 at 5:22 pm

        Give them some credit – trying to repack stuff that’s so far past its use-by date is always going to be a struggle. The spinners don’t have the clout to purge the non-performers – they have to wait and hope enough will fall away to leave something that could be mocked up to look credible.

      • McFlock 5.3.4
        27 December 2017 at 12:02 am

        The problem is that taking a current event, reflecting upon it, and generating a pithy meme from it is often quite difficult, even if the outputs look simple.

        However, taking a random comment or event and deliberately misinterpreting it or outright making shit up about it, then either saying “I was joking” when it’s demonstrably false or simply doubling down on it when it can’t be proved either way – that’s a knack quickly acquired.

        So honest politicians and their staff are always fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. But then if they were lying tosspots like the other lot, I wouldn’t vote for them.

        • Psycho Milt 5.3.4.1
          27 December 2017 at 7:59 am

          But then if they were lying tosspots like the other lot, I wouldn’t vote for them.

          This being the essential, fatal flaw in Ad’s suggestion of the left’s politicians making a few trips to the dirty-politics well. It wouldn’t make Kiwiblog’s fuckwit blowhards vote for them, but it sure as hell would poison their existing market.

          • tracey 5.3.4.1.1
            28 December 2017 at 9:49 am

            Exactly. And you dont change things by doing the same things. It is a narrow and self defeating view mired in tge same behaviour that creates the mess that needs cleaning

  6. Ad 6
    26 December 2017 at 12:16 pm

    Keep it tidy NZTA.

    Twyford has got one almighty programme to get signed into contract.

    Discipline.

  7. One Two 7
    26 December 2017 at 1:00 pm

    ‘The Left’ would be all over this, the other way around…

    The hypocrisy is on all sides on all debates/topics…is now unrecoverable

    This article illustrates as much

    Perhaps it was a mistake, perhaps not

  8. Ian 8
    26 December 2017 at 6:05 pm

    Ya’all had a good day ?It’s good times when ya’all scrapping together. Leaving us productive types to work,make a profit,pay tax and help this country grow. All the best for a prosperous new year

    • mickysavage 8.1
      26 December 2017 at 6:11 pm

      I employ 8 people, have two jobs and pay a fair bit of tax.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1
        26 December 2017 at 6:16 pm

        Ian shits in rivers and calls it prosperity.

        • Ian 8.1.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 8:23 pm

          I have never defecated in a river. Keep up your evil. 6 young farmers committed suicide last month. What is your target ? 50 a month would start to affect the replacement rate where it hurts.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.1.1.1
            26 December 2017 at 8:43 pm

            None. My target is none, Ian.

            However, since you delight in projecting scorn and slander in your every utterance, you are in no position to complain about your reflection.

            Don’t like hurtful remarks and odious generalisations? Stop making them.

            Both rivers you have claimed a personal connection to in the past, show signs of degradation consistent with dairy pollution. There is a mounting body of evidence that shows a cavalier and contemptuous attitude to public health, and active hostility towards those entrusted with enforcing the law.

            If that’s what you call prosperity you’re a fool; your business model is broken and all you have to show for it is buck-shuffling and cowardice. Eating the future isn’t a plan.

            • Ian 8.1.1.1.1.1
              26 December 2017 at 9:32 pm

              Look in the mirror and you will see the source of hurtfull remarks ,lies ,innuendo and propoganda Goebbles would have been proud to own. You and your propogandists have blood on your hands. Hopefully you may see the light and look at the human costs of your sick campaign of half truths and deliberate lies.

              • One Anonymous Bloke …
                27 December 2017 at 5:40 am

                My propagandists? My campaign? 😆

                Have you fortified your underground bunker yet?

              • mickysavage …
                28 December 2017 at 8:14 am

                How the hell do you equate opposition to National going into full smear mode with lefties supposedly supporting farmer suicides?

          • Mr Scooter 8.1.1.1.2
            26 December 2017 at 9:08 pm

            [Out of bounds Mr Scooter. Keep the discussion more respectful – MS]

      • Ian 8.1.2
        26 December 2017 at 8:06 pm

        You would be an exception on this boardwalk. take a bow and work towards paying heaps of tax,like I do.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1.2.1
          26 December 2017 at 8:08 pm

          Your perceptions of the people who post here are based on blind prejudice and stupid lies. Someone has to keep rubbing your face in it until you sharpen up.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2
      26 December 2017 at 6:12 pm

      🙄

      Earned enough again this year to be able to close the doors for a while and take time off. Wankers like you just make business shittier (like the rivers) and more difficult.

    • Ed 8.3
      26 December 2017 at 6:47 pm

      Growth on a finite planet is an insane proposition .

    • Psycho Milt 8.4
      27 December 2017 at 7:54 am

      Ya’all had a good day ?It’s good times when ya’all scrapping together. Leaving us productive types to work,make a profit,pay tax and help this country grow.

      Er, you are of the people “scrapping together” on this blog instead of devoting your every waking minute to productive labour for a strong fatherland.

      Also: helping this country grow more polluted isn’t actually a good thing. It’s good for you personally, sure – that profit you mentioned, mainly. But for the country as a whole? Really, really, not so good.

  9. Tanz 9
    26 December 2017 at 7:00 pm

    Our media is incredibly biased to the left, Audrey Young called Bill English boring on the front page of the Herald, and they have never given him the user-friendly and celebrity like coverage that Ardern enjoys. Hardly fair in a so-called democracy. Also, what makes the Herald think that the entire electorate is interested in Ardern’s private life? Imagine the outrage from the left if one of the columnists dared to call Ardern mean names. How utterly awful anyway, to dare to call English boring. Why, because he is nice, and decent, blokey and doesn’t happen to be a woman?

    I never buy the Herald, and am not surprised its circulation is in dire straights. More of a propaganda machine than a mere newspaper (back in its broadsheet days was far more balanced).! Blimey, the next three years is going to be trying..thank goodness for the blogosphere, far more balance and perspective.
    Farrar runs the best blog in the country, the most balanced, sensible and centered. Light relief and completely unbiased. What more could one want.

    • Ed 9.1
      26 December 2017 at 7:02 pm

      Surprise. Surprise.
      Tanz makes an outlandish comment to get people to argue against a ridiculous set of premises.
      Tanz, have you better things to be doing?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 9.2
      26 December 2017 at 7:13 pm

      the next three years

      National will not form a government after the next election. Read it a couple of times so you have something to rage against 😆

      • Tanz 9.2.1
        26 December 2017 at 7:18 pm

        You can see the future then can you OAB? Bet they do, with a single party majority, but invite Act in as well, just to be nice. NZ First won’t be there, that’s a given already.
        If IPredict was still around, I would love to put money on it.

        • Ed 9.2.1.1
          26 December 2017 at 7:20 pm

          ACT a little left wing for you

        • One Anonymous Bloke 9.2.1.2
          26 December 2017 at 7:20 pm

          😆

          Please keep telling yourself that. Pray for it. Baptise a toad or two.

        • McFlock 9.2.1.3
          27 December 2017 at 12:31 am

          I suspect OAB has a better record at prediction than you do.

        • Brian Tregaskin 9.2.1.4
          27 December 2017 at 11:41 pm

          Tanz its game over its going to take a miracle for National to be able to form a govt next election. Once the left get hold of power almost impossible to get rid of em. You will have to wait until the next National messiah surfaces. (Somebody like Muldon, Key)

    • mauī 9.3
      26 December 2017 at 7:18 pm

      Bill in drag would be an improvement.

    • Pete 9.4
      26 December 2017 at 9:31 pm

      1 Maybe it’s because Bill English is boring. Have you had as much to do with him as Audrey Young has?

      2 The Herald isn’t biased to the left. If they were even in the centre they would have followed up in accepted proper journalistic ways and presented the full story at the times of the blatant lies of John Key and been full frontal about the Bill English lying over the Clutha stuff this year.

      3 The next three years are going to be trying. For the Government because of all the low-down, scumbag tactics the opposition is going to come up with, the lies they are going to make up and put out to undermine the Government and the brainless who are going to believe and repeat them.

      4 The next three years are going to be trying for all of us. We are going to have to suffer the infantile whinging, name-calling and sad sack loser behaviour of the National supporters.

      5 Farrar runs the the most balanced, sensible and centred blog in the country, the best. It has light relief and is completely unbiased. Sorry I can’t spend any time discussing that because I have some phone calls to make. First to Steve Hansen to tell him I’ll have to miss a few Super Rugby matches as I’m off to win gold in the 100m sprints at the Comm games, win a gold in the 100m butterfly in the pool and win the marathon gold. He’s told me I’m a starter for Eden Park game with France in June.
      I’ve got to get on to my acceptance speech for my doctorate at Oxford and the one at Harvard. Fortunately my visit to Boston coincides with my orientation into the Red Sox for next season. I’m tossing up with my schedule to see if I can fit in my fourth scaling of Everest too next year and need to get on to some stuff about that.

      Thank you for your words though, they will give me something to think about as I trek back to Lukla. “Farrar runs the the most balanced, sensible and centred blog in the country, the best. It has light relief and is completely unbiased.”

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 9.5
      26 December 2017 at 10:17 pm

      I laughed when I read Farrar’s comments policy – you can see what matters to him (looking after number 1!) – and suggests he might suffer slightly from a paper-thin skin:

      ”
      What is the easiest way to get banned?

      To attack me personally. Quite simply it will not be tolerated. I welcome people to disagree with my views, to correct my errors, to debate what I assert, but if you attack my integrity, my character etc I will terminate your privileges.
      “

      • James 9.5.1
        26 December 2017 at 11:26 pm

        Try attacking the sysop of this blog personally- you would be a fool to think you wouldn’t get banned on her also.

        Or is that just because he has paper-thin skin also?

        Or perhaps it takes time and money and effort and there is no reason to personally attack people.

      • Pete 9.5.2
        27 December 2017 at 9:19 am

        His integrity? What?

    • Wensleydale 9.6
      27 December 2017 at 2:27 am

      This is hilarious.

      Jacinda’s been in the Beehive all of five minutes, and already we have National supporters claiming Granny Herald is a shameless left-wing propaganda rag, and Audrey Young is a closet Communist. Were you people asleep for the past nine years? Audrey Young couldn’t be any more blue if she was dumped in the North Sea and left there for six weeks. And every time someone says something nice about Labour in the Herald, Gerry Brownlee stuffs his face full of pies and cries himself to sleep.

      Your problem isn’t the Herald or its journalists. Your problem is people are saying uncomplimentary things about National, all of which are true, and you delicate wee flowers are getting your panties in a bunch over it. Welcome to opposition. It’s going to be an arduous journey, so I hope you’ve brought sensible shoes and a cardigan.

  10. Tanz 10
    26 December 2017 at 7:15 pm

    Not really. Holiday time with loads of free time down in Wellington. You could be mowing your lawn, perhaps? The right blogs get plenty of lefties, by the way. What a shame the House is not sitting, love to see that in real living colour for a change.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1
      26 December 2017 at 7:22 pm

      Who are you talking to? Your invisible friend?

      • Tanz 10.1.1
        26 December 2017 at 7:29 pm

        You keep replying, do you not. Must be bored…

      • greywarshark 10.1.2
        27 December 2017 at 5:25 pm

        Cracker joke about invisible friends.

        ‘When I was a kid, I had two friends and they were imaginary and they would only play with each other.’-Rita Rudner

        Actually it was from a list of good jokes I have, not a cracker. Too smart for those. But I think many of the RW visitors here are in a position that we are their invisible friends. Sad isn’t it.

  11. NZJester 11
    26 December 2017 at 8:20 pm

    The right is paranoid about that sort of stuff as they know it goes on. Not by the left however, but by the right themselves against the left. They are scared the left will start doing it to them The problem is unlike the right that has no morals, those on the left do. So while we could easily do it to them our conscience will not let us.

  12. greywarshark 12
    27 December 2017 at 5:19 pm

    When it comes to nosing out s..t – well you have to be one to know one!

  13. Richard McGrath 13
    29 December 2017 at 5:50 pm

    The Jerusalem Embassy Act was signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1995, passed in the U.S. Senate by 93 votes to 5. All Trump has done is act in accordance with the will of Congress, which his predecessors lacked the spine to do. It was meant to be actioned before 31 May 1999.

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