Posts by Idiot Savant
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Posters here whose first instinct is to trash the police might just want to give some thought about what the consequences for NZ would be if a militia was allowed to set off an armed sectarian conflict.
We'd have people like you demanding we give every jackbooted wannabe thug in a uniform a blank cheque to do whatever they wanted with no public scrutiny or oversight?
We're not talking about "armed sectarian conflict" here; we're talking about a few isolated nutters with guns and no popular support base (something absolutely vital for any real terrorist movement). And it's entirely proper to treat them as such. But please continue your hysteria, it's most amusing.
-
I don't care if they're right-wing or left-wing crazy people, or "badly organised" or not. And I'm not clear on what freedoms I'm being deprived of in the police intervening to stop crazy people doing crazy things with weapons.
Intervening, I should note, by getting search warrants, arresting people, bringing them to court the same day, and planning to prosecute them in open court under ordinary laws.
We're a long, long way from the "war on terror" here, folks.
What this also means is that if the police are over-egging their case, and apart from a few unlicensed frearms (which are a Bad Thing) all they have is dumbarses mouthing off like they do on Kiwiblog every day, they're going to lose very badly in court.
-
It may well have been prudent, but at the same time they may have to be satisfied with not being able to use their funky new anti-terror laws. Which will probably mean they'll demand newer, funkier ones, with fewer safeguards, to protect us from this Terrible Threat.
(Personally, I find the idea of police running amok with anti-terrorist legislation more threatening than our local terrorist wannabes. I mean, it's not like the latter have actually killed anyone...)
People are apparently appearing in court in Wellington ATM, though there's no news yet on who they are or what they are charged with.
-
Arresting people alleged to have been training in the use of "military-style weapons" (one of the news stories mentioned grenades) for political ends would seem to be quite a bit different.
Indeed it would - thought they'd need to show that the group was a group that carried out terrorist acts (difficult as none have been committed) and that participation was for that purpose. In other words, they'd need to have serious evidence of planning and conspiring to commit murder or blow stuff up for a political purpose. And if they don't, then all they have are firearms chargesand a big headache.
-
Broad also notes that "not everyone who would have been at the camps has necessarily committed an offence".
-
It seems to me that the fact that the police were using the TSA to conduct these raids sugests the interference of "a foreign power"
According to the police commisisoner, there was no international aspect, and the suspect activities were purely domestic.
He talks a lot about "training camps" and people playing with military weapons. A lot will depend on the intent of those involved. It's not a crime to go off with a bunch of mates and blast holes in things with registered, legally-owned firearms (provided it is done safely). It is a crime if you are doing this as preperation to commiting murder and other crimes of violence.
-
Police press conferance video here
Legally speaking, remaining silent does not make you a party to a crime, and there's no obligation to report anything. Morally, of course, its a different story, and I think Che is probably right on both counts - some people will have gone to the police, and others will have not wanted to say anything to the people who regard them as the scum of the earth and beat and arrest them if they speak up in public. And if the police are pissed about that, they have no-one to blame but themselves.
-
The Stuff piece noted that
More than 60 other people from around the country who have been recorded talking to, and in some cases training with, the arrested group will also be brought in for questioning.
Some of them are known to have pulled out once they realised the level of violence planned.
So, they're sweeping up anyone who has even talked to those involved, and in the process smearing them as terrorists. Lovely.
-
Illegal firearms are bad, and so is planning to use them. And OTOH, they're arresting everyone from anti-bypass activists to students to chicken-rescuers - which seems to be casting the net rather wide.
Looking around, police have raided a community house in Wellington, and a community activist centre in Auckland, and arrested student activist Omar Hamed (guess it must have been the Middle Eastern name) and people from Open Rescue (who are most notable for saving chickens from battery farms). if these are "terrorists", I think our police have been paying too much attention to Ian Wishart and the SIS...
-
I think the most useful lesson for Labour might be that a low turnout won't be good for them.
I think they figured that out before the last election. Their key strategy, remember, was pumping the vote in key Auckland constituencies, and making sure their voters made it to the polls. And as strategies go, i think its one we should encourage, no matter who does it.