Lone nutters and suicide by cop

Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, December 16th, 2014 - 89 comments
Categories: Andrew Little, australian politics, International, making shit up, police, Politics - Tags: , ,

The cafe siege in Sydney is over. The lone nutter there was apparently killed by police after he’d killed a hostage.

The details of the nutter are revealing. See “Profile of Haron Monis, the man behind Sydney cafe siege“. A writer of obnoxious letters. Currently facing charges related to the killing of his ex-wife. With multiple current charges against him for decade old sexual offenses whilst operating as a “spiritual healer” involved in black magic.

It is a picture of a person wrapping their own anger, mental and sexual issues with some rationalisation. The kind of person that MPs and their staffs across the country know only too well in their role as the final resource in the social systems. Some of them go on to commit suicide by cop.

Meanwhile over here, we have our own lone nutters. Some are more dangerous that others. For instance an idiot National MP, Mark Mitchell, talking to Audrey Young. “Country is not immune from extremist actions, says former security specialist”

The MP who chaired the anti-terrorist legislation rushed through Parliament last week, Mark Mitchell, says the bill was “100 per cent” justified.

And he said he had had messages yesterday thanking him for the bill in light of the Sydney hostage crisis.

“It becomes a lot more real for people when it’s three hours across the ditch.”

Huh? This jerkoff MP doesn’t appear to have considered the most likely explanation was always the lone nutter. Instead he joins the hysterical fools in the kiwiblog sewer with urine dribbling down their legs quaking at the prospect of iman invasion and sharia law. In their usual dumbarse response, some of the tools that live there start muttering about mob violence.

How exactly does recent legislation in any way help against lone nutters grabbing a cafe full of people and committing suicide by cop? That was always the most likely explanation.

He doesn’t explain that. However what Mark Mitchell did was make himself look like a unrestrained idiot. Mind you that isn’t hard. Generally anyone so admired by Cameron Slater (as shown in Dirty Politics and the rawshark dumps) is likely to be complete jerk off. It was confirmed that Mark Mitchell is an publicity seeking fool back in August when he claimed that a theft was related to Dirty Politics.

What is a bit irritating is that Andrew Little covered his bets with this pathetic fantasy, albeit in a more restrained way.

Mr Little said last night that it was not yet known whether the Sydney crisis involved somebody connected to a network, or was a lone person or whether it was someone with mental health issues. “But the reality is that the sort of risks that the legislation is designed to deal with are real.

I remain quite unconvinced. To me this legislation looks more like the kind of thing that our rather paranoid security people like to have in hand, not for the ostensible targets, but for their more general surveillance of people inside NZ who push for change.

It has very few safeguards simply because the security forces only have to lay a claim of terrorism without any substantive evidence to use it. As the operation 8 fiasco of 2007 showed, the time and effort involved in the state funded  5 year legal retreat do not provide any effective recourse against such fantasies by security forces.

Somehow I doubt that they will use the powers given to them to track individual lone nutters like Haron Monis or the Aramoana killer David Gray or any of the other similar situations over the years. They have killed and continue to kill more people here than the fantasy terrorist groups. Sadly they appear to not be sexy enough for fear mongering politicians like Mark Mitchell who instead push through legislation that appears pretty useless against the ostensible threats.

That all being said. It looks like the Sydney police did a very good job in containing and minimizing the damage from their lone nutter

89 comments on “Lone nutters and suicide by cop ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. One Anonymous Bloke 1
    16 December 2014 at 8:31 am

    Haron Monis’ biography is more reminiscent of Titford than bin Laden.

    • lprent 1.1
      16 December 2014 at 8:34 am

      Indeed.

      Titford is actually quite a good comparison.

      This is the guy who according to his ex-wife and kids, burnt down his house so he could blame it on local iwi.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1
        16 December 2014 at 8:53 am

        Extreme misogyny, extreme paranoia and bigotry, hatred and fear of government…just another rwnj 😈

  2. dv 2
    16 December 2014 at 8:35 am

    AND Key saying that it would be naive to think such a siege couldn’t happen here.

    To Late already has

    Aramoana
    Raumati

    • Wonderpup 2.1
      16 December 2014 at 9:04 am

      David Grey was my first thought as well. Its shameful that politicians are using this as a way to defend their anti-democratic impulses. I saw Tau Henare testing the line for National on twitter – I assume it worked well for them, so Key was able to wheel it out.

      On a side note I was really impressed by the Guardian’s live feed of events. I felt updated and in touch without being soiled by sensationalism. Their Australian edition is coming along nicely, it would seem.

    • Tracey 2.2
      16 December 2014 at 10:18 am

      He probably doesnt remember them…

      “…Mr Key admitted there was always the risk that a lone wolf could stage a similar attack in New Zealand.

      “There’s the risk that there’s a person that is somehow attracted to the teachings and the kind of message and propaganda that these people [Islamic State] are peddling,” he told TV3’s Firstline.

      “We know that that risk is here in New Zealand, but of course we do everything we can to try and combat that.”

      Mr Key was confident the police could respond appropriately to an attack in New Zealand.

      Australia has contributed military help to the fight against IS, but Mr Key didn’t think the attack was necessarily a result of Australia’s involvement.

      And he said the siege wouldn’t make any difference to New Zealand’s approach to IS, otherwise known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

      “In the end we have to confront a terrorist group like ISIS.” …”

      • felix 2.2.1
        16 December 2014 at 10:44 am

        I remember Aramoana and Raumati, but I can’t recall having any opinions about them one way way or the other.

        It was so long ago, and it just wasn’t something I was focused on at the time.

        I didn’t go to any of the shootings myself, but I probably would have if I could have afforded to.

        • Tracey 2.2.1.1
          16 December 2014 at 10:48 am

          STOP IT!!!!

          Although I wanted to be PM since I was a boy and first started having “dreams” it never occurred to me to take note of things like Aramoana or the Springbok Tour of 1981 because I thought becoming PM was about how much money you could bring with you, and THATs when I decided to be a currency trader.

    • Roflcopter 2.3
      16 December 2014 at 11:03 am

      Raumati? Do you mean Raurimu?

  3. TeWhareWhero 3
    16 December 2014 at 8:39 am

    In the current climate, the actions of any mentally unstable person who happens to be Muslim will be used to justify the repressive and anti-democratic laws that have been passed under the guise of controlling terrorism.

    • RedLogix 4.1
      16 December 2014 at 8:50 am

      A quick interview on ABC News this morning with Monis’ lawyer described the man as a ‘political refugee’ who had suffered very badly in detention. But that his ideology had led him to abandon ‘common sense’ and that he was a ‘damaged individual’.

      Paul Buchanan makes some very good points. While my point elsewhere that the bail process will never be perfect still stands – I’m beginning to wonder exactly how the hell this guy was ever allowed to be released.

      • minnie 4.1.1
        16 December 2014 at 10:18 am

        I think “ideology” is the keyword above!!!

        • Crashcart 4.1.1.1
          16 December 2014 at 10:40 am

          Just as it applies when a pro gun nut case in America goes mad and shoots the place up. Unstable person using an extreemist ideology to try and legitamise their actions.

    • Chooky 4.2
      16 December 2014 at 9:04 am

      +100…thanks karol…very good analysis by Paul Buchanan…ie it was a deranged individual and NOT ISIS…..and one wonders why this obviously unstable guy ( Shi’ite not Sunni )with a criminal record and who had killed his wife was let out of prison!….and even then did not have a close police watch put on him to prevent what happened!

      ….the whole thing plays into the hands of those who are trying to frighten the population into increased surveillance ….and which obviously did NOT work in this case…even when there was a guy who obviously should have been watched

      ….also great Post thanks Lprent

      • travellerev 4.2.1
        16 December 2014 at 9:21 am

        He was a deranged person and very likely set up to be a patsy

        • tinfoilhat 4.2.1.1
          16 December 2014 at 9:56 am

          🙄

          Eve believe or not, almost all of the time acts such of these are not the work of some nefarious hidden government or religious group.

          • The Murphey 4.2.1.1.1
            16 December 2014 at 10:04 am

            Q. Are the departments responsible for letting individuals with records of serious violent offending and mental issues out on bail or parole the work of hidden groups?

            Q. Is letting individuals with records of violent offending and mental issues out into the public a tactic which could used to ensure a ‘climate of fear’ to suit political agendas?

            • Tracey 4.2.1.1.1.1
              16 December 2014 at 10:13 am

              Q. Has Australia just been a victim of a society that simply refuses to take alleged sexual crimes seriously enough?

              If yes, THAT is the real warning for NZ which alse has an ambivalent attitude to sexual offending, not some terrorist threat.

            • RedLogix 4.2.1.1.1.2
              16 December 2014 at 10:22 am

              Answer. Given this mans well-known criminal record and obvious derangement (how often does a man’s own lawyer describe someone in such terms?) – AND the fact that he had already suffered badly in detention before, AND the fact that he was on bail – I think we can categorically throw out the window the idea that he was any kind of ‘lone wold’ unknown to the authorities.

        • Tracey 4.2.1.2
          16 December 2014 at 10:11 am

          For whom was he allegedly the patsy?

          Sometimes people do stuff cos they are mentally ill and or criminally narcassistic and despite the hand wringing of politicians and the vacuous ejacultation of media all milking it for their own means, it remains a single act of violence unrelated to any evil cause.

          • felix 4.2.1.2.1
            16 December 2014 at 10:50 am

            Yep.

            On the other hand, what did I do when I let my dog off the leash in a paddock full of rabbits on the weekend?

            Dogs will be dogs, you know?

            And we live in a world where Cameron Slater can get prisoners moved around the country at will.

            • Tracey 4.2.1.2.1.1
              16 December 2014 at 10:53 am

              Agree and see my other comments about he “only” allegedly killed his wife and sexually abused some folks, nothing really serious

    • marty mars 4.3
      16 December 2014 at 9:28 am

      “is this effectively using something inaccurately for political gain”

      This ‘outreach’ line is outrageous – good that this spin is unspun by Paul and the interviewer.

    • Tracey 4.4
      16 December 2014 at 10:00 am

      heard it. Colour me impressed in recent weeks by buchanans calm and fact based analysis.

    • MrSmith 4.5
      16 December 2014 at 11:32 am

      Agreed Karol

      To put things in context you need to listen to Key first.

      “However what Mark Mitchell did was make himself look like a unrestrained idiot.”

      Not to be outdone though key makes an even Bigger idiot of himself.

      Key here.
      http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20161221/prime-minister-john-key-on-sydney-siege

      Then listen Karol’s link with Dr Paul Buchanan basically call Key a hysterical liar here.
      http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20161223/could-australia's-involvement-in-fight-against-is-be-to-blame-for-seige

  5. les 5
    16 December 2014 at 8:42 am

    ‘Authorities outside Philadelphia say six people are dead and one is wounded in multiple homes and the suspect remains on the loose.

    Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman identified the suspect in the Monday morning shootings as 35-year-old Bradley William Stone. She says all of the victims have a “familial relationship” to Stone.

    Police officers have converged on a home in Pennsburg, about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia. They are using a megaphone to compel an end to their daylong pursuit of Stone.’

  6. travellerev 6
    16 December 2014 at 9:17 am

    Iprent you’re getting there. Little by little!

    Thing is Australia’s anti terror squad did an anti terror drill one year before this happened on Martin place and another on how to go about solving a hostage situation in a downtown cafe. And the “lone nutter” has been on the radar for a long time. In fact Muslim leaders had called for the police to investigate him as early as 2008!!!!

  7. millsy 7
    16 December 2014 at 9:17 am

    Tasmania. 1996. Martin Bryant.

    No Islam there. Just a loner with a low IQ and mental illness who was able to access firearms. He walked into a cafe and killed 36 people. No amount of antI-terror law would have stopped him (though making it harder to purchase a gun would have.)

  8. Skinny 8
    16 December 2014 at 9:23 am

    What a sorry saga and very sad outcome. A handful of hostage’s left, and 2 of them are dead. With this oppotunist nutcase carrying a criminal sheet a mile long, it was always going to turn out badly the longer the siege went on. So much for the boasting of the Worlds finest armed offenders squad. They should have took this ‘nothing to lose’ attention seeker down early on when he was prancing around by the front window. You would have to say this lunatic should have been in custody pending trial for 47 indecent assault charges.

    Watching Key on First Line this morning spinning events around to justify sending troops to combat ISIS was simply peddling war propaganda. Trying to say categorically “this had nothing to do with Australian troops in the middle east” is total crap! This halfwit is captured on the news protesting their involvement.

    • Paul 8.1
      16 December 2014 at 9:25 am

      Why is Key so keen to get troops to Iraq?

      • Skinny 8.1.1
        16 December 2014 at 9:49 am

        Key is under instructions to close this deal out, like a good trader does. He will be flying home to America this weekend to give an update. While there he will be debriefed and handed a script (to take to Hawaii to learn) tutoring up on the latest snake oil speak since he has suffered credibility issues i.e. caught out talking crap.

    • vto 8.2
      16 December 2014 at 9:38 am

      John Key is the most dishonest Prime Minister we have ever had to suffer.

    • Colonial Rawshark 8.3
      16 December 2014 at 9:41 am

      As I said beneath the other post, things went down hill the moment Australian authorities started treating this like a militarised “anti-terrorism” operation instead of a standard armed hostage negotiation.

      • Skinny 8.3.1
        16 December 2014 at 10:03 am

        Yes CR I agree totally. To me it appears a failing Abbott’s regime couldn’t help but use the seige as a PR stunt to lift themselves out of the mire. Nothing like a bit of nationalism for a Government polling poorly.

    • Manuka AOR 8.4
      16 December 2014 at 10:23 am

      “should have been in custody pending trial for 47 indecent assault charges. “

      Multiple sexual assault charges, accessory to murder, increasingly deranged comments on facebook, prior requests from within his own community for police to investigate – Why was he out running free? (And why are the msm not asking that question?)

  9. Shona 9
    16 December 2014 at 9:24 am

    Thanks Lprent, a voice of reason and sanity amongst a sea of rabid right wing loonies. These situations always seem like yet another version of Dog Day Afternoon.

  10. batweka 10
    16 December 2014 at 9:51 am

    “David Grey was my first thought as well.”

    Mine was John Tully. I see stargazer has a post up today about beneficiaries not being able to access emergency food grants because in the wake of Ashburton some offices won’t let clients in without ID, or even with ID (plus a bunch of other bureaucratic idiocies). So here we have another situation where the solution to a single, context specific act of violence is to see danger everywhere and to try and control everything but in the process of doing so, the people most at risk of going over the edge are being put under even more pressure than usual.

    It’s not fucking rocket science WINZ (and here I’m talking about senior managers and the decision makers in Wellington). Start treating your clients as human beings, put systems in place that reduce stress and enable dignity, and see an improvement in your relationship with the wider world.

  11. saveNZ 11
    16 December 2014 at 10:21 am

    Love the way Mark Mitchell ‘bribed’ his way into the National Party. Just takes about $10k to a slime ball for ‘blog services’ – what a bargain. Not sure how the more deserving Nat members feel about that, who were undermined in the process. No surprises there that Mark was behind that stupid bill. Obviously can’t wait to start a religious war against anyone not on the 1% hard right of center and mentally ill to boot. My God after cleaning up Security in this country how about Social Welfare. The next bill might be concentration camps for Beneficiaries – he’s such a wizard for policy and democracy for the Nats.

  12. Scott 12
    16 December 2014 at 10:49 am

    There are some interesting parallels, as well as differences, between the tragedy in Sydney and the ‘battle of White Rocks’ which saw a couple of supporters of the Ottoman Empire try to bring World War One to the Australian Outback almost exactly a century ago: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2009/11/from-fort-hood-to-broken-hill.html

  13. Paul Campbell 13
    16 December 2014 at 1:28 pm

    So the plan is to stop all our “Muslim Terrorists” from going overseas ….. John Key just hasn’t thought this through, if you stop them from going overseas (and they really exist) where does he think they are going to do their terror … in cafes in Ponsonby of course, and it will be John Key’s fault

  14. Mike 14
    16 December 2014 at 2:45 pm

    It’s true that it’s very difficult to stop lone nutters, but this case differs from an Aromoana case in that it’s clearly linked to a political beef with Western involvement in the Middle East. His demands included:

    1. An ISIL flag.

    2. To speak to the Prime Minister.

    Note that in September ISIL called for lone wolf attacks in Australia, so it’s not something occuring in a vacuum. Similarly, there have been numerous arrests of people who had been planning be-headings, so the demand for surveillance powers seems a sad requirement at the moment.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1
      16 December 2014 at 3:44 pm

      It’s also “very clearly linked” to impending protracted loss of liberty for murder and rape. I’m picking loss of liberty weighs heavier on the mind than recently boarded political bandwagons.

      Just a wild guess.

    • BLiP 14.2
      16 December 2014 at 5:00 pm

      ‘

      It wasn’t an ISIS flag . . . if you are taking your information from what John Key said on RNZ this morning, be advised: its another of his lies.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 14.3
      16 December 2014 at 5:02 pm

      RWNJ duped by lying Prime Minister. Ho hum.

      • Paul 14.3.1
        16 December 2014 at 7:04 pm

        You should feel sorry for members of cults like Mike.
        There is hope, but they need our help.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 14.3.1.1
          16 December 2014 at 8:30 pm

          Charity is overrated. I suggest we maintain strict rules of evidence and extend them into all public decisions, then provide income assistance to destitute public relations executives and wingnuts.

    • Tracey 14.4
      16 December 2014 at 6:02 pm

      Do you get that wide surveillance power didnt prevent two innocent folks dying in a cafe in sydney this morning?

    • Tracey 14.5
      16 December 2014 at 6:05 pm

      I guess you missed the bit about the australian police not yet convinced it is terrorism, but what would they know, compared to “i dont recall” John Key.

    • McFlock 14.6
      16 December 2014 at 6:59 pm

      This sad fellow sounds more like Samuel Byck than Abu Nidal.

      Amazing how your comments on behalf of demonstrably-ineffective mass surveillance aren’t matched by your [absent] calls for better mental health care, or even a review of bail risk criteria.

    • Murray Rawshark 14.7
      17 December 2014 at 1:25 am

      There were not numerous arrests of people planning beheadings. One that was reported was because a guy had a plastic sword. There have been very few charges from an operation involving more than 800 police. One arrest was apparently based on an incorrectly translated phone call.

      There is something sad in your comment, but it’s not a requirement. It’s a Kiwi who believes anything.

  15. vto 15
    16 December 2014 at 7:05 pm

    So Tony Abbot reckons this gunman committed an act of political violence.

    How does Tony Abbot square that away with Australia’s acts of political violence in the middle east for the last dozen years?

    • One Anonymous Bloke 15.1
      16 December 2014 at 8:20 pm

      “reckons”

      It’s a sliding scale I guess: from the top:

      1. Publishes in a peer-reviewed journal.
      2. Has evidence for.
      3. Believes as a result of direct personal experience.
      4. Thinks.
      5. Reckons.
      6. Spins.
      7. The shit wingnuts do.

  16. barry 16
    16 December 2014 at 8:11 pm

    The one thing that the siege has shown us is that no matter what powers they give themselves the security apparatus is incapable of stopping random acts by nutters. It does not in any way make a case for increasing surveillance powers.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 16.1
      16 December 2014 at 8:26 pm

      Nope, it hasn’t even shown us that: we already knew that. In that sense it’s yet another banal illustration of just how shite “conservative” “opinion” is these days.

      The good news is that #illridewithyou

      • Paul 16.1.1
        16 December 2014 at 8:30 pm

        I’ll ride with you was a wonderful show of solidarity amongst people.
        Generous empathetic and societal.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 16.1.1.1
          16 December 2014 at 8:36 pm

          Human values are independent of human rights, thankfully, Lao Tzu wrote that when the government is lazy and blunt, the people are kind and honest.

          Our government struggles to match ethics that were ascendant, if not ubiquitous, six thousand years ago.