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Hi again to all,
Once again, our weekly homily - we hope you are all in the pink.
A milestone week, this week. We are both now at the start of our 75th. year on this Godforsaken planet. Jim 3 weeks ago and now Jean. A sobering milestone indeed, but we don't feel a day over 90!! Only joking - we still feel as though we are at least 35 years younger. Mentally perhaps, but at times the physical side makes itself felt!
But having said all that, we feel very lucky to be in this country. Colombia, like NZ, it is a land of plenty - not without some huge problems, but with lovely people and a cost of living roughly 30% of that of NZ.
MUNDO - World
Total cases - 111,040,682 - (21,168,111) - up 89,872,571 or 424.6%
Deaths - 2,457,011 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,697,683 or 223.6%
Recoveries - 85,941,244 - 77.4% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 71,956,401 or 514.5%
Therefore active cases - 22,639,873 - 20.4% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 16,213,934 or 252.3%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,846,976,603 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.289% (0.082%) of the total world population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,885 - (1,437)
Compared to last week, active cases are down 2,780,305 or 10.9%
At last some very encouraging figures. Recoveries as a percentage of total cases are up and active cases are down. The percentage of active cases to total population is down, and total active cases per 1 million of population are down by 355 or 11.0%.Too early for the vaccinations to be having an effect - maybe some more honest reporting is starting to happen and we'll see increases in ordinary 'flu and other causes of illness, such as gunshot wounds and heart attacks!!
ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States
Total cases - 28,543,751 - (5,429,115) - up 23,114,636 or 425.8%
Deaths - 505,944 - 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 335,163 or 196.3%
Recoveries - 18,707,002 - 65.5% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 15,862,467 or 557.7%
Therefore active cases - 9,330,805 - 32.7% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 6,916,976 or 286.6%. Of the total population of 332,235,623 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.809% (0.729%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 28,085 - (9,043)
Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:
Total cases up 541,511 or 1.9%
Deaths up 19,022 or 3.9%
Recoveries up 776,183 or 4.3%
Active cases down 253,694 or 2.7%
Again some heartening statistics.
Compared to last week, active cases as a percentage of total cases are down. Percentage of active cases as a percentage of total population is down. And active cases per 1 million of population are down 767 or 2.7%. Small movements perhaps and who knows the reason for the changes, but maybe now that the Dims are in power, the reporting is becoming more honest?
A Newsmax report just to hand deals with the situation of the Republican Party's appeals lodged with the US Supreme Court in October last year, BEFORE the presidential election on November 3rd., in respect of claimed illegal changes to mail-in ballot deadlines. The Supreme Court decided not to hear the appeals. These appeals were based on the same arguments, among others, used by President Trump's legal team after the election, which were again refused hearings.
Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a blistering attack on the SCOTUS decision not to hear the appeals. He said, "we failed to settle this dispute before the election and thus provide clear rules. Now again we fail to provide clear rules for future elections".
Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch sought to hear the cases but Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal justices in turning them away. Justice Amy Barrett did not take part in the decision as it preceded her swearing-in.
It is clear from the above sad recitation of events BEFORE THE ELECTION, and after, that the whole system was rigged from the start against Trump within the legal system at the highest level, together with criminal election officials in vital swing states colluding to ensure that Biden "won" the battleground states of Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. These states were in truth won by Trump and if that result had prevailed without the criminal election fraud perpetrated by the Dims, then Trump would still be the president and the extreme leftist actions we are seeing now would never have happened. The potential consequences are enormous.
A ray of light is that an Arizona Congressman has launched legal action to force the forensic examination in Maricopa County, Phoenix. This has been blocked for so long and in so many ways - WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE? ONE GUESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is now looking like the Maricopa County Electoral Board may have destroyed evidence, in addition to all their other criminal actions. If that is so, then very definitely people will be going to jail because destroying electoral evidence which is required to be kept for 22 months is a serious crime and in itself should be enough to demand a re-evaluation of the slate of votes sent by Arizona to the Electoral College. Other "battleground" states are very likely to follow Arizona's lead, and then what? Biden & Co. get kicked out of the White House!!
Quite apart from the egregious electoral fraud as above, which has resulted in an illegitimate president, and the disenfranchisement of 75 million voters, we have a continuing litany of absolutely disgraceful leftist incompetence and straight-out crookedness masquerading as news emanating from the United States these days. From a 240 year old democracy which every free citizen of the world once looked up to, it is profoundly disturbing. Not only for all freedom loving citizens of the US, but also for all the world. It is so bad that it is difficult to write about - so here are just a few examples of the latest gems -
The Secretary of Defense has ordered an inquiry into ALL members of the various branches of the US military to establish whether they might be too right wing in their political views to continue their hitherto unblemished military service. This is insulting in the worst possible way and must be affecting morale to a hitherto unplumbed low. It could also contribute to any possibility of secession or even armed rebellion when it is finally realised just how low the Dims are prepared to go.
In addition it is suggested that "white" military members are probably racially right wing and therefore constitute a threat to the on-going stability of the military and no doubt their increasing unwillingness to support the increasingly destructive and unconstitutional policies of Biden & Co.
And note - the military swears allegiance to the Constitution. How does all this sit with that oath of allegiance?
There are still 5,000 National Guard troops (mostly now from the "blue" states) "guarding" the Capitol in DC. From what?? No-one will say, but probably Pelosi and Co. have concerns that their political agenda may well spark some sort of uprising. In that assessment they are probably right. The troops were to have been withdrawn by next month, but now it is being not so subtlety suggested that they will remain until September. You can draw your own conclusions concerning the Dims' reasoning - if indeed it can be described as that. There is razor-wire fencing not just around the Capitol, but also completely around the White House.
Before the Jan. 6th. riot at the Capitol, the Capitol Police Chief requested permission to re-activate the National Guard because they had intelligence that there was going to be some sort of disturbance. The Sergeant-at-Arms denied the request - was he in turn directed by the Speaker and what did she know? Was the motivation to "frame" Trump supporters and lay the groundwork for his 2nd. fraudulent impeachment? We heard his speech and there was most definitely NO incitement to riot. This is all bound up in the Dims finally abandoning their insistence to call witnesses at the kangaroo impeachment trial, because the Republicans threatened to call over 100 witnesses, including Madam Speaker herself, which would have been unacceptably embarrassing to the Dims to say the least. She would have been grilled on her involvement in inciting the riot herself using BLM and Antifa thugs who actually spearheaded the assault.
All of this coupled with trying to re-establish the Iran Nuclear Deal - which will probably cause Israel to again mount a serious attack on Iranian nuclear assets - plus a much softer approach to China which in turn may encourage them to invade Taiwan. The CCP are just biding their time as they assess the weakness and incompetence of the Biden Administration.
And the dire financial straits that the US is in, the seeds of which were laid over Democrat and Republican administrations for many years. Many predictions for runaway inflation, stock market crash and massive devaluation of the USD. All are quite plausible given the level of debt (govt. and private) and continued counterfeit money printing by the US Fed. The Fed is now completely out of ammunition with interest rates at zero. And Bitcoin at over USD50,000!!
And the latest so-called COVID stimulus package for 1.9 trillion USD - only 9% is actually for COVID related relief. The rest of it is just an appalling list of Dim socialist giveaways and paybacks. And all this at a time when US Government debt is headed well over 30 trillion dollars. Look out for some massive tax hikes, inflation and devaluation of the US dollar.
All we can say is that we are very thankful that we no longer own any international shares anywhere. All our fiscal assets are in Colombia where we can earn a comfortable living from reasonable interest and property capital growth. Colombia has, since we've been here, had a very conservatively run financial system. No real property bubbles as a result. 1st. mortgage interest rates are around 10% p.a. and inflation 2-3%. We can only hope that as financial turmoil develops in the US, we are not too badly affected.
Finally, we think the following article from American Retirement Insider dated Feb. 23rd. is entirely apposite:
Heading: "IS JOE BIDEN AN AGENT OF COMMUNIST CHINA?
Is President Joe Biden a Chinese Communist party agent? More and more evidence is surfacing that is leaning towards an answer of "yes".
There are a few plausible scenarios we must consider.
One: President Biden is simply a useful idiot, in the familiar mold of the Cold War American Liberals who championed the Soviet Union and made excuses for its famines and campaigns of oppression and mass murder.
Forget the mass graves, behold the glories of Communism!
In this scenario, President Biden is either thoroughly deceived by the Chinese and/or he is too senile and mentally vacant to know the difference. During presidential briefings on China, Biden plays with a Chinese finger trap in the Oval Office while the Leftists in the Biden Administration sell the United States down the river for a quick Red Buck.
This leads us to our second scenario.......
Two: President Biden is bought and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party. We sure know that President Biden's dropout, drug-addled son has been the beneficiary of Chinese corruption. How did a failed son with no business experience ink a $1.5 billion dollar deal with a subsidiary of the Communist Chinese Government's Bank of China?
Such a question the Mainstream Media refuses to ask, but the dots are obvious enough for a toddler to connect: In 2013, then Vice-President Joe Biden and his druggie son Hunter Biden flew aboard Air Force Two to China. A mere ten days later, Hunter Biden's company landed a 1.5 billion dollar deal.
For all of the Radical Left's talk of "intersectionality", the bright bulbs in the media establishments of America fail to see the intersection between Hunter Biden's ballooning bank account and President Joe Biden's political weakness towards China.
The answer as to whether or not President Biden is an agent of the Communist Chinese government is likely a mixture of the two above scenarios.
It's entirely possible that the Chinese Communist Party has Joe Biden by the balls AND he is too dumb to know. China is playing him like a fiddle.
As former Trump Administration Secretary of State Pompeo stated this week, "China is attempting to influence American foreign policy" at every level; meanwhile, President Biden is echoing "Chinese propaganda" on matters such as the Coronavirus, trade and Uighur persecution.
For those unfamiliar with China's ongoing genocide of their ethnic minorities and the Uighur population, the tale is truly horrific and violates every sort of international human rights law and norm that supposed liberals in the Democrat Party support. In fact, instead it is the Republican Party which is standing up for the Uighurs and their essential human rights.
Behind President Biden's blank smile is nothing but hypocrisy and an emptied-out mind.
President Biden recently excused China's genocide of its minorities in a CNN town hall forum held in Wisconsin, claiming that the Chinese Communists simply operate by a "different set of norms". Such a statement is frankly, anti-American in its bottomless depravity.
"That language that it's just a different set of norms, that's the Chinese propaganda line, they want you to think this is just a quiet nation that may have a little bit of a different system, but goodness gracious, what's all the fuss about?" said Secretary Pompeo in response.
"The truth of the matter is they are trying to wipe out an entire people," Pompeo continued. "Maybe Xi Jingping gets the fact that now the administration is only going to talk about this and raise it 'because I have to talk about this', rather than take action".
President Joe Biden? Useful idiot? Senile? Bought and paid for? Corrupt? Or too weak to make a difference? You decide.
How about all of the above?
Either way, the Chinese Communists are laughing - because they have their pet in the Oval Office, and they're holding the leash.
Joe Biden is a Manchurian President, whether he knows it or not. American patriots and members of Congress need to stand up to President Biden and his Communist Chinese masters before Biden surrenders the future of the United States and enslaves the American people to a world dictated by Beijing."
Biden's cognitive decline is becoming more and more pronounced whenever you listen to him on one of his rare public appearances. Then the 25th will be invoked and it will be President Harris. If you thought that Biden was the pits, you know nothing yet!!
COLOMBIA
Total cases - 2,212,525 - (433,805) - up 1,778,720 or 410.0%
Deaths - 58,334 - 2.6% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 44,189 or 312.4%
Recoveries - 2,105,455 - 95.2% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,854,961 or 740.5%
Therefore total active cases - 48,746 - 2.2% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 120,450 or 71.2%. Of the total population of 51, 226,527 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.095% (0.332%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 952 - (1,367)
Active cases compared to last week are down 8,703 or 15.2%
Some massive declines in cases - active cases are down 8,703. Not sure whether these figures are believable or not, but we must remain positive and accept it for what it may be. These figures now mean that Colombia has the best figures in S America!!
Following are this week's headlines from www.colombiareports.com:
Feb. 14th. Colombia to receive first 50K COVID-19 vaccines this week: report
Feb. 14th. Native Colombia in mourning over loss of leader to COVID-19
Feb. 15th. How long can Colombia's ranchers chief stay out of prison?
Feb. 15th. Colombia's failing state Part 3: the generation with no future
Feb. 15th. Colombia bungles conspiracy to meddle in Ecuador's election
Feb. 15th. Colombia recommends stricter COVID-19 measures for air travellers
Feb. 16th. Colombia receives 50K COVID shots as vaccination drive slowly takes shape
Feb. 17th. Colombia's COVID vaccination drive kicks off with controversies
Feb. 17th. CUTE: Colombia's defense minister believes in "victory against drug trafficking"
Feb. 17th. Journalist resigns after pulling editorial punch at Colombia's richest man
Feb. 17th. Will Colombia's 2022 elections be free and fair?
Feb. 17th. Colombia's military suspected of tampering war crimes witnesses
Feb. 17th. Colombia registers 12th. massacre so far this year
Feb. 18th. Colombia's prosecution destroys credibility in absurd Uribe investigation
Feb. 18th. The President's bosses Part 1: Colombia's business associations
Feb. 18th. Don't let some puppet president turn Colombia into a mafia state
Feb 19th. The President's bosses Part 2: Colombia's clans
For Jean's birthday on the 18th., we decided to again go "up the hill". It was a mixed bag. We went to Los Torritos at La Fe where we had the usual Punta de Anca and a bottle of our favourite Agentinian Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot. All very pleasant and decadent as usual!!
Then we went on to the MG Hotel at Casa Grande where we had stayed many times before. But, although very comfortable, we had the distinct impression that things were deteriorating. The atmosphere was changed in only 3 weeks and there were a few small things that were irritating. The main one was that we had booked the pool for the next morning but when we arrived it was unacceptably cold. The air temperature is around 5 degrees C colder up there than in Envigado so the pool heating should be adjusted upwards. If we had bought an apartment (still to be built) there, a main reason would have been the pool - as it was here in Envigado - so we would not have been pleased.
On the subject of the pool, the booking process which has always been a total mess, has been relaxed to allow up to 8 people in the pool at once. That won't help our exercise swimming but the last time it was only us. We still can't book 2 or 3 days in advance so Jean keeps having to go to the Porteros early in the morning to book for the next day. The concept of having regular days and times for a whole week appears to be absolutely beyond them!!
Otherwise things remain much the same. Except that on one of our recent peregrinations to our favourite Papa Rellena cafe the other day we met our usual friend (who has since bought one of our beds) and a couple of other Americans who live nearby. Not all Americans live in Poblado!! We all agree on the awful things happening in America since Donald Trump lost the fraudulent election and one of them said simply that "America is finished". That comment absolutely shocked us because we still believe that the situation is retrievable - either by Secession or Civil War or (much better) by proving the fraud and by legal means forcing another election, either nation-wide or just in the worst affected states. So difficult to predict because of course there is no precedent for this situation, but something will happen, of that we are sure. Things are moving at long last in Arizona and we are hopeful, as are millions of others, that the result will prove that the election was stolen. If that happens, the other "battleground" states are likely to follow suit and then, if it shows that Trump should have received the majority of Electoral College votes, what happens then? No-one knows, but it all provides a fascinating topic of conversation.
MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY
Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. 12 South American countries in total. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week:
We have also decided to include 3 more countries - the United Kingdom, as that is of interest to many New Zealanders, and also Thailand and Malaysia for nostalgic reasons, as we spent just over 4 years living alternately in both between 2014 and 2018 as we sailed the 120 miles between the 2. Lots of memories. We cannot show the weekly comparative figures for these latest additions but from next week we will be able to.
Mexico - 2.055 - (2,073) - down 18 or 0.9% - 7th. Same placing as last week with a minor improvement
Costa Rica - 5,890 - (6,946) - down 1,056 or 15.2% - still WORST!! 1st. But much improvement in numbers
Panama - 2,602 - (4,796) - down 2,194 or 45.8% - 6th. A further unbelievable improvement!! 2nd. to 6th.
Colombia - 952 - (1,122) - down 170 or 15.2% - BEST! 12th. Another almost unbelievable improvement - long may it continue!!
Ecuador - 1,427 - (1,496) - down 69 or 4.6% - 10th. Improving all round - last week 9th.
Peru - 1,628 - (1,354) - up 274 or 20.2% - 8th. A decline from 10th. to 8th. and a large numbers decline too.
Bolivia - 3,876 - (4,118) - down 242 or 5.9% - 2nd. A good numbers improvement but now 2nd. after Costa Rica - 3rd last week
Paraguay - 2,992 - (2,926) - up 66 or 2.3% - 5th. A slight decline since last week. Now 5th. from 6th. last week
Brazil - 3,708 - (3,917) - down 209 or 5.3% - 3rd. A numbers improvement but gone from 4th. last week to 3rd after Bolivia
Chile - 1,203 - (1,122) - up 81 or 7.2% - 11th. An increase in numbers and now behind Colombia
Argentina - 3,222 - (3,349) - down 127 or 3.8% - 4th. Improvement in numbers but down one place from 5th. to 4th.
Uruguay - 1,499 - (1,524) - down 25 or 1.6% - 9th. Slight improvement in numbers, and now 9th. from 8th.
United Kingdom - 24,142 - (N/A)
Thailand - 16 - (N/A)
Malaysia - 1,128 - (N/A)
AUSTRALIA
Total cases - 28,918 - (23,035) - up 5,883 or 25.5%
Deaths - 909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%
Recoveries - 26,138 - 90.4% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,504 or 91.7%.
Therefore active cases - 1,871 - 6.5% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,151 or 79.3%. Of the total population of 25,687,252 (25,538,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.007% (0.035%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 73 - (56)
Compared to last week, active cases are up 4 or 0.2%
Slight decline in numbers due to some community infection, but negligible movements. As usual totally out of proportion to containment measures.
NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand
Total cases - 2,348 - (1,714) - up 634 or 37.0%
Deaths - 26 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4%
Recoveries - 2,272 - 96.8% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 741 or 48.4%
Therefore active cases - 50 - 2.1% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 1 or 2.0%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 10 - (14)
Compared to last week, active cases are up 6 or 13.6%.
Some hysterical panic at a minute increase in community infections which apparently still cannot be traced despite having spent over NZD6 million on a contact tracing app!! And at some point NZ has to realise that, even with the vaccines, the Chinese Virus with all its mutations is here to stay, just as with the common cold and various strains of 'flu. Elimination is not realistic.
NZ is a wonderful country with great friendly people, but our great concern is the national tendency to pay no attention to international events (in the mistaken belief that they cannot affect NZ), and then possibly be unpleasantly surprised when an adverse event comes to pass. Right now we can use the example of New Zealand's relationship with China. This has for the past 13 years been represented by a Free Trade Agreement where NZ's exports to China now annually total USD14 billion and imports from China total USD9.4 billion. These are substantial figures which have grown over the years and now total USD23.4 billion p.a. Sometime during the past months, although the actual date is not clear, NZ has also signed the Belt and Road Initiative which has been promoted by the CCP of China around the world, and in particular with countries of limited economic means, which means that China can dominate the relationship to their advantage. An example includes that of Sri Lanka where a joint venture port development went sour with SL owing the CCP an amount that they couldn't possibly repay. So, in return for forgiveness of the debt, China now owns a brand new Naval Base right on the doorstep of India - a country that China has already attacked on the Himalayan border in recent months.
In NZ's case, the B&RI is seen by China as a means of obtaining a stronger foothold in NZ with the endgame of a geographical faster track towards South America. As residents of Colombia, that does not please us at all!!
China has a history in many countries of becoming more and more aggressive, particularly where they have entered into a B & R I with a particular country such as NZ. Maybe this is already making itself felt with an inexplicable difficulty which has suddenly arisen with NZ seafood exports to China? This would be typical dominant and threatening behaviour as already exhibited with Australia in recent months.
Is this the tip of the iceberg? We fear that it could well be.
Well, that's it for another week - albeit somewhat delayed this week. We hope that life continues to treat you as kindly as possible
With lotsaluv from us in Medellin - la Cuidad de la Primavera Eterna.
Jim and Jean
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