Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 10th, 2012 - 24 comments
Armed Police assisted by the Eagle helicopter, the counter-terrorism unit, customs officials, and the police launch towed on its trailer have raided Prime Minister John Key’s Parnell mansion, executing warrants relating to the illegal ‘DJ Key’ election ad. Simultaneously, a joint Police-SAS taskforce has stormed RadioLive, deploying teargas and tasering all present.
Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, February 9th, 2012 - 80 comments
There’s a few interesting threads to the Kim Dotcom saga. Should merely providing a tool that can be used for piracy be a crime? Did the alleged offences justify a 70-strong armed police raid or was this more heavy-handed showing off by the cops? And, if Dotcom really is such a bad guy, why did National let him come to live in New Zealand in the first place?
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, February 9th, 2012 - 43 comments
The Electoral Commission’s decision on the ‘DJ Key’ hour on RadioLive has been leaked. It shows that Key’s hour-long DJ spot was an election ad. It’s the only sensible decision. Key was clearly on the show to promote his brand to win votes. He made several political comments. RadioLive now faces a $100,000 fine for perverting our election. And Key’s reputation takes another hit.
Written By: - Date published: 11:57 pm, February 3rd, 2012 - 11 comments
After the horrifying attack on a 5-year old tourist in Turangi in December, Kiwis showed their compassion, and their shame, by donating over $62,000 to the family. Now, the family has said they don’t blame the community and have used some of the donations to fund children’s play equipment in Turangi and medical equipment for the children’s wing of Waikato hospital.
Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, December 17th, 2011 - 14 comments
A quick post on sentences handed down in the wake of riots in England.
Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, December 8th, 2011 - 99 comments
In its final days, South Canterbury Finance quietly loaned $300m to related-parties. Breach of the deposit guarantee scheme’s rules. Nats did nothing. When SCF collapsed the related parties got off scot-free – if they owned SCF bonds, the Nats even paid them $350m voluntarily. Now, the Serious Fraud Office has laid the biggest fraud charges in history over SCF. What’s the bet it’s over those related-party loans and bonds? And where’s our fucken money?
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, November 25th, 2011 - 8 comments
Key and Collins say police training next year hasn’t been cancelled. They say fewer new cops are needed because fewer are leaving. All lies. The attrition rate is rising, not falling. There is 1 training wing booked next year, not 4. Cause is cuts. 5% nominal to the training college, 15% nominal to Police HQ. Meanwhile, Key is wasting Police time over the tea tapes.
Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, November 24th, 2011 - 69 comments
John Key said last night the Nats has boosted Police numbers by 600. In fact, 2008, Police numbers have grown by only 442, 5.4%, barely more than population growth. All but 80 of those extra cops came in the 2008/09 year – under Labour’s last budget. Cops per capita has fallen in the last two years. No wonder there are more unsolved crimes.
Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, November 21st, 2011 - 43 comments
In what seems a very wise move, police are holding off their searches of four media organisations until the legal situation has been clarified. See also some notes on the legal situation prior to Tuesday’s hearing.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, November 18th, 2011 - 21 comments
John Key says that it’s OK for the Police to waste time trying to intimidate the media on his behalf because they have “spare time” with the drop in crime. There were 220,000 unsolved crimes last year including 8 homicides. The cops solved 15,000 fewer crimes than the previous year. Don’t tell me they’re sitting around waiting to do the PM’s bidding.
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 pm, November 17th, 2011 - 57 comments
Interesting looking at the current law on getting and using search warrants on media organisations. There are some quite clear guidelines from a 1965 case.If the guidelines are adhered to it is hard to see how warrants could be obtained. Reading and publishing the search warrants and the supporting materials looks to be the only way that the public will be able to decide if John Key is walking down the path of close cooperation between the police and the current prime minister used by other ‘democratic’ countries.
Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, October 30th, 2011 - 28 comments
Jeez some people just can’t catch a break. Not only is John Banks coming second in an election race to a guy specifically chosen to lose to him but now the word is some scoundrel’s stolen his Harley Davidson.
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, October 20th, 2011 - 19 comments
Anyone noticed the sudden overbearing presence of Police at peaceful protests? Bugging Greenpeace and intimidating lawful activists. 25 Police at a 150-strong anti-deepsea drilling protest in Tauranga. 12 officers at a 60 worker picket at CMP Rangitikei. Are they just hyper because of the Cup or is it about shielding businesses from people exercising their democratic right to protest?
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, October 19th, 2011 - 14 comments
Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas speaks his mind to some New York police. A bit repetitive, but he gets his point across!
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, October 13th, 2011 - 22 comments
Perhaps Mr Key’s staff might like to explain to him what the implications of this development, in conjunction with the recent UN Report on NZ SAS rendering prisoners in Afghanistan and the housing of CIA operations at NZDF bases, might mean for the PM. Amnesty International (London) has issued a call to Canadian authorities to arrest …
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, October 12th, 2011 - 5 comments
When an armed force takes prisoners in a war, they have a responsibility to ensure that the prisoners are treated according to international law – eg they aren’t tortured. Are the prisoners our SAS takes being tortured? The Defence Minister says ‘dunno’. Not good enough. If our soldiers are delivering prisoners to torturers, that’s a war-crime.
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 pm, October 8th, 2011 - 51 comments
Just flicked on TV1 to see what’s happening in the rugby. Host is a man who pushed his partner down the stairs. Kicked her as she lay. Broke her back in 4 places. Cause he’s ‘famous’ he got off with only 300 hours CS & a 10K fine. He bribed her to keep it out of the news. Tells me a lot that TVNZ thinksVeitch is an acceptable face of their station and of rugby. Then I switched off. [Fuck, Veitch is on Radiosport. It was Devlin on the TV. My point still applies to Radiosport]
Written By: - Date published: 4:27 pm, September 29th, 2011 - 104 comments
Since I can’t seem to leave a comment on his site to refute John Pagani’s current foolishness on the operation 8 outcomes and ‘evidence’. That is unfortunate because I’ll put it here instead with a wider audience just to please him with a response from a lefty.
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 27th, 2011 - 55 comments
mickysavage at Waitakere News blog has an analysis of the legal and unconstitutional implications of the Nationals dubious plan to override the courts with poor kneejerk legislation. It is rather disturbing as the action appears to have more to do with electioneering than actual legal need.
Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, September 24th, 2011 - 17 comments
No Right Turn points out the salient feature of National’s hysterical response to the Supreme Court’s decision on video surveillance. Reading the blank cheque that they are proposing indicates that the government has no understanding of what “the rule of law” means. It certainly does not include half-arsed measures like this.
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, September 6th, 2011 - 41 comments
The “Urewera 18″ are now down to four. The police persecution has now been dropped for eleven of those charged in the Operation 8 raids four and half years ago. Crown Solicitor Simon Moore said the effect of a recent Supreme Court ruling on the case – which is suppressed – was that there was …
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, August 25th, 2011 - 30 comments
The government is planning a crack down on “organised crime”. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, August 18th, 2011 - 46 comments
Cases being tried in England raise the question – what is an appropriate punishment for inciting a riot on Facebook?
Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, August 16th, 2011 - 68 comments
The private operators of the new Mt Eden remand prison are using desserts as a reward for good behaviour. It seems to work. But the Right doesn’t know quite how to react: on one hand, it’s mollycoddling prisoners, on the other hand it’s a private operator being innovative. Imagine how they would have reacted if the public prisons started doing this.
Written By: - Date published: 5:13 pm, August 9th, 2011 - 40 comments
A report in the Financial Times, that hotbed of socialism, says that PFI’s as PPP’s are known in Britain cost an extra 20 billion pounds in “extra borrowing costs” over the 53 billion pounds of the projects’ actual cost. Not only that, 4 billion pounds will go to consultants. Enough said. Another dumb idea from those who gave us collateralised debt instruments, self-correcting markets and “there is no alternative”.
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, August 9th, 2011 - 201 comments
There have been two nights of rioting, looting and burning in London. The trigger was the police shooting of Mark Duggan. But the cause is the alienation of the permanent underclass, and the stresses of the current austerity programme.
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, July 29th, 2011 - 37 comments
Rightwing violence fetishists are exploiting the Norwegian terror attacks to call for looser gun laws. ‘If only one of those teenagers had a handgun to take on the drugged up zealot with the automatic rifle’. Fact is, the ‘guns save lives’ myth was destroyed by the Tuscon shooting earlier this year. The armed bystander there nearly caused more innocent deaths.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, July 28th, 2011 - 9 comments
Did anyone else see the Herald article beginning: “A priest working as a senior executive at the Auckland University of Technology has resigned after “accounting discrepancies” involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.” and think “the money was just resting in my account“?
No? Just me?
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, July 26th, 2011 - 152 comments
Just after Irish has discussed how little it takes to jump from the violent language of the NZ Right to the violent actions of Anders Breivik (and an ‘expert’ had said it can’t happen here), we learn of a rightwinger who planned a van-bomb attack on ACC. The striking thing is that his online rants are unremarkable within the Right’s discourse.
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, July 26th, 2011 - 55 comments
The Right is whining that Key said “If [the Norway massacre] is an act of global terrorism, I think what it shows is no country large or small is immune from that risk and that’s why New Zealand’s played its part in Afghanistan” . ‘IF! Don’t you see, IF!’ Try to get the point, righties. Key opportunistically framed a tragedy for his political purposes.
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 21st, 2011 - 22 comments
Boot camps are a failure. $36K per head. 15 of 17 in the first two groups have reoffended already. That’s a worse recividism rate than prison. Even on dubious assumptions that the other 2 would have reoffended without boot camp and actually haven’t, that’s $612,000 to stop 2 offenders. Time for National to admit failure and stop wasting our money.
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