Posts by Rich of Observationz

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  • Hard News: Spammer until proven innocent,

    Maybe Ellis needs to go one stage further and provide free EEE machines and connections to people who are prepared to click ads all the day. It could become the new pokies.

    I would hope that those having their ads served through mintsauce or whatever it's called aren't under the impression that the clickage is coming from normal punters?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    I don't see anything off the wall in assuming that our police would behave in much the same way as the UK police / security forces. There's pretty much no oversight that would stop them engaging in that sort of activity (using major criminals as informers).

    The fact that gang leaders seldom get busted suggests that there might well be some sort of accomodation between them and the cops. Best case, there's a tacit agreement that they keep their activities within certain bounds. Worst case would involve brown paper bags full of banknotes...

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Something I've often wondered is how undercover cops don't get rumbled straight away in NZ?

    I'd have thought they wouldn't get far before they found someone who was at school with them and remembers them being Dave who joined the police.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Come on. As Kyle said, it's highly unlikely the police would have used paid informants, and somewhat more likely that someone who got involved freaked out and went to the cops.

    You must admit that it is feasible, if unlikely. That's one reason why surveillance evidence isn't always admissable (it isn't admissable *at all* in some jurisdictions like the UK).

    And why a trial for minor arms charges against a background of partial surveillance evidence leaked (illegally) by people within the police is likely to lead to a miscarriage of justice. All of which makes it harder to buy the "trust the police, they are your protectors against the bad people" line that the centre-left is trotting out.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Matthew: New citizens swear oaths of allegience. Does that mean that those granted citizenship can commit treason while the NZ-born can't?

    I don't believe that a treason charge could ever be justified in peacetime these days.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Free speech has been almost banned in this country for decades for fear of being called sexist or racist by peers and the MSM

    What country do you live in? The sort of overt bigotry that goes in the letters page of the Herald or the rantings of some of the right-wing columnists wouldn't be tolerated in the established media of any other English speaking country.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Oh, BTW, since none of what's been published amounts to *evidence* as opposed to *journalism*, I have no idea which if any of the 17 have been engaging in unpleasant hate-speech.

    Some of them might have gone on the bush trip and come back rather shocked and with a mental note to avoid those nutters in future.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    Sure. They were bad. I wouldn't hang out with them, or give them a job.

    My point is that while deeply unpleasant, that doesn't make them part of a Terrorist War On Civilisation (TM). It doesn't mean that we have to abandon our liberties. It doesn't mean we should just shut up and be thankful that our great and good government is here to protect us from these nasty people.

    I'd say that on a scale of threats to my future health and happiness, Tama Iti and his band are somewhere down there with volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    What a group of NF nutters or off-duty cops might or might not say is totally beside the point here.

    The point is that mouthing off, however offensively, doesn't amount to terrorism.

    These people clearly (assuming they aren't being taken out of context - it's not impossible that the conversations don't include an undercover cop egging them on) aren't very nice. That doesn't make them terrorists or "traitors".

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • "The Terrorism Files",

    If a group of off-duty policemen were shown to have discussed killing people for practice (let alone having secretly acquired and trained with weapons) I would expect them at the very least to be thrown out of the force.

    I have no idea what the National Front talk about on their get togethers, but police officers don't talk about assassinating Prime Ministers on or off duty.

    Well - in the UK, a BBC team infiltrated a police training course. One officer was recorded saying that they would kill an Asian person "if I could get away with it". An officer was filmed dressing up in a Ku Klux Klan hood. Another said that murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence "deserved to die".

    I'd say that this is on a par with anything in the alleged transcripts (unless you believe that Prime Ministers have a stronger right to life than ordinary black kids). Several of the policeman exposed by the programme resigned, but to my knowledge none were prosecuted. (The police did at one stage arrest the journalist).

    Now you could argue that that was the UK and our police are better than that. I somewhat doubt it. They do have the means to evade surveillance and prosecution very effectively through everything from knowledge of operational techniques to active frustration of investigations, so any such behaviour is highly unlikely to come to public notice.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

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