Alf Grumble MP blogs on how a South Korean has been prosecuted and faces up to five years jail for his pessimistic financial blogging. If Bernard Hickey was in South Korea I reckon he’d be facing 25 years to life 🙂
Adam Smith blogs on how the UK Government has backed away from its plans to force ISPs to disconnect Internet users on the basis of allegations of copyright infringement. Now we just need the NZ Government to do the same, but sadly not looking positive.
Bill Ralston blogs on the killing of Halatau Naitoko and says “Police instructions are quite clear on the use of “deadly force”. You can shoot at an offender to defend yourself or others if you fear death and cannot protect yourself in any other way. You can shoot if you think the offender is likely to kill someone and you cannot delay or arrest him in any other way. You can shoot if that person is likely to kill and is escaping arrest. On all three counts the officers were within their right to shoot at that maniac. Unless the Police Conduct Authority exposes some completely reckless act of negligence by police it would be completely unfair to charge the cop who fired the fatal shot.”
Matt Nolan blogs on how stupid Phil Goff’s idea is that banks should be forced to allow people to break fixed rate contracts without penalty and says it is as sensible as say “I tell you what, while we’re at it why don’t we also make it that employers can break contracts and make employees reapply for their jobs when wage rates are falling (when unemployment is high)?”
No Right Turn updates us on the situation in Canada with the constitutional crisis over the Government losing the confidence of the House just weeks after being sworn in. The latest is the Liberal Party has now backed down from rolling the Government (a sensible move as they faced a massive backlash for breaking their word not to go into coalition with the NDP) and the Conservative Government will pass its budget with the support of the Liberal Party.
Graeme Edgeler makes the case for NZ to consider a limited use of grand juries in cases such as the Halatau Naitoko shooting, as superior to havign the Police and Crown Law decide unilaterally whether to lay charges or not lay charges. Stephen Franks blogs on the issue also.
Scrubone responds to a post on the Standard about how superior “progressives” are to “conservatives”. He points out that despite liberal headed househodls earning 6% more, conservative headed households in the US donate 30% more to charity and that people wh reject the notion that it is the Government’s job to reduce income inequality give four times as much as those who accept it. So in summary he says conservatives walk the walk while liberals talk the talk.
