Posts by Russell Brown
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Fair point about the span of the Anglophonic world, but neither of them has ever been a member of Five Eyes. The consequences would be as a result of pulling out, not as a result of no longer being in.
The Lange story after we withdrew from the nuclear club is instructive. He had a ton of shit poured on him.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Scott A,
And who next? Bryce Edwards thinks Cunliffe / Robertson is “pre-determined.” Sounds reasonable?
If they have stopped seeing each other as rivals, that would be a powerful combination.
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Pete George, is, of course, a pompous old windbag with no clue.
I'll let this stand, but continuing in this vein would be unhelpful.
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Hard News: Market Wisdom, in reply to Nora Leggs,
Nice pics Russell – ‘grittysocialrealism’. Tilt shifting the tools is an eye-shifter, they appear to be toy sized no matter how much I tell myself they’re full sized.
When I got home and looked at the pic, I thought "this is witch magic" :-)
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Thomas Beagle,
Snowden (or Greenwald) still apparently has a lot more documents to release. This should keep the issue of govt spying going in the international media – plus there’s still a good chance that some of those releases might further explore the relationship between the NSA and the GCSB.
The Guardian’s GCHQ stories look to me to be quite different to the low-hanging fruit of Greenwald’s first couple of NSA stories – they’ve clearly taken some development by Guardian journalists. I would think there’ll be similar work in putting together a GCSB equivalent. But Key’s non-denial of NSA funding for GCSB (such funding is the meat of a couple of the Guardian stories) certainly opens a path. Perhaps a subversive journalist or two is already working on that.
Kim Dotcom has proven he’s good at getting media attention and he still has a high profile court case – plus various accusations against John Key, the GCSB and others. There’s obviously a lot to go on with here.
He’s also promising his lawyers will be able to demonstrate that Key was lying about his foreknowledge of the original raid. That remains to be seen, but if that happens, things will really kick off.
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Pete George,
If the inquiry recommends to retain the GCSB and SIS, perhaps with law tweaks, then Labour would have to go to National for support. which is back to where both National and Labour should have been over the last two months.
I would be astonished if the inquiry recommended the abolition of the GCSB and SIS. That's not the way Shearer has framed it at all, and the chances of it happening are less than zero.
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Hard News: Market Wisdom, in reply to RaggedJoe,
It was fantastic and still sorely missed.
I missed Cook Street's glory days, but I know quite a few people who feel the same way as you.
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Oh, and a picture of the stand that sits in the midst of it all …
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This thread is doing my head in. I feel I should be able to think of someone in my life who fits the Missing Stair description, but I can't. Maybe a couple of people whose mental health isn't always tip-top, including a friend's partner who I didn't feel safe around for a while, but who now has a better handle on her issues, and who I like and respect as a battler. But that's not really the same thing, is it?
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to BenWilson,
Also, it’s dead easy to get stuck into Shearer again. But he wasn’t in the interview, and it would have been a very different beast if he was. He may come across poorly when questioned about what Labour’s policy and direction is, but that’s not what this would have been about, and he’s perfectly competent at taking an aggressive line of questioning, from what I’ve seen in Parliament.
I dunno. I'm a bit weary of hearing him miss his step on Radio NZ.
