"But the issue here isn't that some dude ran a PSC, it's that he then entered parliament bringing those values with him, and held a number of Ministerial positions including Defence and Police." I guess that would depend on the motivations for running such...
I don't find private military companies particularly tasteful either tbh. But I think the blame for their existence needs to be laid equally at the feet of Western governments who don't want to be seen to be directly involved in various scenarios around ...
That raises the issue of honesty and whether Mitchell is inclined to be open and transparent, or manipulate comms to create an impression. Weka, I guess there are two answers to that. Firstly, in my experience, people who have been involved in conflict ...
As a self declared mercenary he was there to kill.No questions asked. Francesca, I think that statement is bordering on defamatory. You need to back that statement up with evidence. I agree that a possible consequence of him being there was that he might ...
The 'only mention' does not mean that was the only conflict he was involved in… That may or may not be true. But the onus is on you to produce the evidence. Otherwise you are just speculating.
Weka, as I pointed out above, the only Wiki mention of him being in actual conflict that could have incurred deaths was a self-defence situation. I expect that if you, I, or any of our politicians, including Anderson, were in that compound, we would be ...
As Hipkins said in her defence, he is often provocative. And of course there is an element of truth in what she said. I guess you could claim an "element of truth'' in the same way it could be claimed that the police or armed forces may end up killing ...
I don't know what got into Ginny Anderson yesterday on NewsTalk ZB with Mark Mitchell and Hosking. I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. On Newstalk ZB Week on Demand at 8.15 yesterday for the discussion. She accused Mitchell, in his previous role ...
We host Filipino students who come to train for farm jobs here. We had a case recently where a farmer was considering a young couple we were hosting for a farm job which included a nice house. But first he wanted to consider a kiwi couple who had also ...
TSMC should explore making their computer components with nuclear power. Then they might be making fission chips, lol.
I agree that the US wouldn't get involved just for Taiwan's sake. But, they might if there are wider strategic concerns. In this respect, the goals for AUKUS, the QUAD, and the defence of Taiwan aren't mutually exclusive. The South China Sea in itself is ...
I agree that the blockade scenario of Taiwan is more likely than an outright invasion. A lot would depend on whether the QAUD group would step in to help. I agree that Taiwan wouldn't be able to withstand an attack from China on its own. From what I have ...
I understand they are testing a submarine kamikaze drone at the moment, which would be a lot harder to detect. Something really nasty would be to have one that cruises undersea at about 100 metres deep or so, and then launches up vertically at the ...
I am all for using modern technology. I never implied that I wasn't.
There won't be war with China. The economic blow-back would destroy them. Starting with a sea blockade that would stop the flow of goods in and out of China via sea. India, as part of the QUAD, has positioned themselves strategically for this purpose. The ...
Hi Anne, I was being a bit naughty with my use of the "over-mothering" phrase there lol, and was trying to be deliberately provocative. But, I think it is symptomatic of the tendencies these days for authorities to try and risk-manage every aspect of ...
A couple of impertinent comments/questions from me to kick off the day. Firstly, how on earth will public transport be widely accepted if we keep having the sort of nonsense that has been affecting the trains in Auckland lately? Secondly, what is all this ...
Some councils deserve to be gutted. Wellington council for example. It is unforgivable that they have water leaks sprouting everywhere and they are spending millions upon millions on feel-good projects when their primary responsibility is to ensure ...
Sorry, meant to have been post a bit lower down as a reply to 11.3.1.1
But that’s not what you’re saying at all; it sounded more and more like some hallucination from an AI bot. What I am really wanting to see is conditions where those who are released from prison come out better than when they went in. I am sure most of us ...
Here is a Wiki link for you on that one. From the article: Crime rates in Singapore are some of the lowest in the world, with petty crimes such as pickpocketing and street theft rarely occurring, and violent crime being extremely rare.[1] Penalties for ...
But people are paid for making those sorts of distinctions now. So, what I am proposing isn't all that much different to the status quo in many ways in that respect. If what I proposed was a non-porus bifurcation between the two groups, then you would have...
Under the model I am proposing, prisoners who are most motivated to change and take advantage of all the supports offered would get out first. Hence, the prisoners would have a strong motivation to make changes, rather than just enduring their lag. Notice,...
The type of offenders I am talking about are often on long non-parole sentences anyway. So, not a lot would change in that respect except the criteria would widen a bit. I am not saying that those in the high security prison can't move to the lower ...
As I said earlier, probation reports already cover a lot of this, and could be augmented if the detail is sufficient in respect to culture. I just don't see the need for a duplication.
Ad, I am all for prison populations reducing. But for the right reasons. What I don't want is something akin to reducing hospital waiting lists by changing the criteria for hospital treatment rather than developing effective interventions to reduce the ...
I think the main flaws with your idea are that there's no objective way to judge or measure human nature. It will all be up to the interpretation of lawyers, judges, and juries. You have just described almost any justice system. You will inevitably end up...
So, rather than just ridiculing my idea, how about some comments to show why my idea wouldn't work, or be superior to what we currently have. Imprisoning people the way we do now obviously doesn't work. But catch and release doesn't seem to work either. So...
I actually think we need a whole new approach to prisons. I think the focus needs to either be on public safety or rehabilitation. So, people who come out of prison should be a lot better than they went in. The first thing I would do away with is the ...
I used to work in the High Court back in the day. In my experience, all sentencing was accompanied by a probation report which appeared to cover most of issues to do with the offender background etc that contributed to offending. If the cultural reports ...
Yes, I do understand that. Hence why I try to feed my addiction in the morning.
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