Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: A wretched editorial, in reply to Russell Brown,
Every time he says “what are the odds” it becomes clearer that he has no grasp at all on what “odds” actually mean.
Well, what are the odds that Mr. Muhammad Rizalman bin Ismail would have long since had an appointment to mount a defense against the prosecution's case if he hadn't scuttled out of the country under the skirt of diplomatic immunity only to have this turn into a major - and very public - political embarrassment for the Malaysian Government as well as New Zealand's?
One-hundred-frigging-percent by my estimation.
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Politics isn't the place where "He's a son of a bitch, but at least he's our son of a bitch" comes into play disconcertingly often.
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Alastair Thompson,
I have long wondered if this is the real reason that Simon Power resigned. He was Justice Minister through all this and also well informed (unlike the PM) of what was afoot.
Well, apply salt and tequila to taste, but the “real reason” I heard was infinitely more prosaic, kind of sad and not actually a matter of legitimate public interest regarding his actions as a minister or MP.
It is suggested in the House that she must hold something big against Key Co.
Usually by people who, quite rightly, roll their eyes and laugh mirthlessly when the Government benches start predicting David Cunliffe will be rolled by lunchtime. Trolling was a fine art long before the internet. :)
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Quite - David Fisher and Andrea Vance have a lot more leg work to do (and are capable of it) before I buy the vast Hollywood-driven residency honeytrap narrative Dotcom's selling. And if Kim's actually got hard evidence of this, I think the media and everyone else should say this "wait until five days before the election!" fan dance isn't really on. Among much else, Internet Mana should be asking themselves whether they're a serious political party that wants to work in the public interest, or a cudgel in a pissing match between Bob Jones 2.0 and John Key.
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Kumara Republic,
And there’s also the possible wildcard of the lawsuit-happy Graham McCready getting two Johns in a row.
M'kay, probably a question for another time and thread but how seriously should anyone be taking this?
The case, brought by serial litigant Graham McCready, will use a DVD of Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street as part of the evidence against Mr Key.
[...]
The activities depicted in The Wolf of Wall Street were "very relevant" to the case, as they reflected Mr Key's actions, he said, branding the Prime Minister a "rogue currency trader" who had applied his "practices to his daily dealings in Government".
Mr Key had aided and abetted Mr Banks' declaration of a false electoral return by "wilful blindness", he said.
He was confident Mr Key would appear in court to defend the charges.
I'm even more confident Key -- and every other politician with two brain cells to rub together -- will be staying as far away from that movie night as possible.
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Russell Brown,
Actually no. This June 2011 story by David Fisher refers to his intention to settle in New Zealand. He’d been back and forth on visits from Hong Kong, once for two months, but he may well not have settled had his residency not been granted.
This is something else that’s been bugging me about this story. There’s probably someone out there who knows the relevant law better than I do, but as far as I’m aware the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and Hong Kong is still in effect. Why would anyone give the proverbial rat’s arse whether they were lawyering up in Hong Kong or New Zealand?
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Hard News: A wretched editorial, in reply to Suzanne McNamara,
That editorial made me feel ill, it was cynical and totally insulting to Tania – so what if she’s a leftie, would they have been so critical if she was a member of the Young Nats?
Rodney Hide pulled a spectacularly gross and ill-conceived concern troll on Maggie Barry in his Herald on Sunday column this week. I'm rather glad we didn't do the usual local cafe Sunday brunch this weekend, because more often than not I end up idly flicking through whatever Sunday papers are lying around. A very public scene was avoided, I guess.
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Pete George,
Dotcom has confirmed today that he will have a town hall event on Monday 15th September and drop a bomb that he claims will discredit John Key
Mkay... I bet Winston is seriously pissed Dotcom is stealing his shtick, and Dotcom better have one up on Peters and actually have something more than a wet sparkler.
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Hard News: A wretched editorial, in reply to Russell Brown,
Ugh. Perhaps Billingsley simply and understandably felt that she was due a personal contribution to a political debate that had been going on around her for a week and a half.
And I don't think I was the only person more than a little... disquieted by how sharply the victim of a crime got elbowed out of the way so media commentators could get to the "real issue" -- how it affected the political interests of an awful lot of men both in New Leeland and Malaysia. IMO & YMMV, of course, but that seemed to me another symptom of how rape culture works -- if you push rape victims to the margins of their own story, as it were, you don't have to bother yourself with them. Right?
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Hard News: Dotcom: Further news of the unlikely, in reply to Russell Brown,
Sources today pointed Fairfax Media to the timing of the Hobbit negotiations and the spy agency U-turn.
Russell: Um… would that be KDC or Internet Mana shopping a story paragraph three of Andrea’s own story says Dotcom’s been pushing for a while? Look, we’re all grown ups here perfectly well aware the Press Gallery is being pitched and spun from all sides all the time, but please let’s not be cute…
But none of those were the stuff of a joint FBI and New Zealand police operation, which came in while his residency application was being considered. That was surely pretty major.
So is alleging that the Government ran some convoluted residency honey trap at the behest of a foreign corporation, or something. I’ve given up chanting “correlation does not imply causation” at the media, but someone needs to even if you do believe there’s no corruption or depravity the Government won’t stoop to…