Evidently the people at iPredict don’t like being called “bookies” or being described as “opening a contract” on someone. We are now being targeted by this shadowy organisation.
Perhaps it is time that the police exerted themselves as the entertainment for the media and started operation 9 against this subversive organisation
You know that bookies sense when there is blood in the water and they’ll create contracts. I don’t gamble but the interesting contracts today in my mind are “Judith Collins to cease being a Minister before 1 June 2012”, “An ACC official ….to be found to have leaked Boag email”, “Beehive staffer to be found to have leaked Boag email”, etc. And a politician is definitely in trouble in NZ when they start talking about defamation 🙂
When a government figure says someone broke a law when there has been no conviction they are effectively imposing an extra-judicial punishment by defaming them. Key and the Police cannot be allowed to serve up extra-judicial punishments to whomever they choose by branding them a criminal and then not taking them to court to prove it.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world, and an international study has just highlighted the fact.
1,200 prison beds, 1 in 8, are empty plus the 1,300 bed reserve. Prisoner numbers are projected to keep falling. So, why are the Nats spending a billion dollars on the Wiri private prison? And where will they get the prisoners? By closing existing public prisons. Rather than upgrading what we have more cheaply they’ll let a foreign company make a profit off locking people up.
Can anyone tell me why the Nats are spending $300m to build and $36m pa to run a 960-bed PPP prison when there are 2000 spare beds in the system and prisoner numbers are projected to fall? Or why Joyce is cutting a dirty ‘convention centre for pokies’ deal when international convention numbers are falling? Or why they’re spending $1b a year on low BCR highways when vehicle numbers are falling?
Directorships are the golden ticket in the world of the business elite. You attend maybe 10 meetings a year, sign whatever’s put in front of you, typically get paid $3-4K a pop, and do it over again half a dozen times or more for various companies. It’s a gravy train for managers past their use by date. But customers and shareholders have to trust what directors sign off on.
Watch Grant Robertson’s question to Key today Robertson to Key on Radio Live Key didn’t know his office was deeply involved in the show that breached the Broadcasting Act? Even though he personally chose the guests? It was a matter solely between the Electoral Commission and the broadcaster? Judge for yourself.
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.
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?
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.
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.
A quick post on sentences handed down in the wake of riots in England.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas speaks his mind to some New York police. A bit repetitive, but he gets his point across!
Perhaps Mr Key’s staff might like to explain to him what the implications of this development, in conjunction with the recent UN Report […]
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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
The “Urewera 18” are now down to four. The police persecution has now been dropped for eleven of those charged in the Operation […]
The government is planning a crack down on “organised crime”.  What could possibly be wrong with that?
Cases being tried in England raise the question – what is an appropriate punishment for inciting a riot on Facebook?
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.
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”.
There have been two nights of rioting, looting and burning in London. Â The trigger was the police shooting of Mark Duggan. Â But the cause is the alienation of the permanent underclass, and the stresses of the current austerity programme.
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.
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?
