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Hi again to all,
As always here's hoping that everyone, despite the ravages of time, remains in the pink. Please note that figures in parenthesis relate to 21/08/20 - except where otherwise indicated. The usual disclaimer applies with regard to the reliability of these figures, but, as we've said before, at least we are comparing apples with apples from week to week.
MUNDO - World
Total cases - 116,354,535 - (21,168,111) - up 95,186,424 or 449.7%
Deaths - 2,583,824 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,824,496 or 240.3%
Recoveries - 91,989,595 - 79.1% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 78,004,752 or 557.8%
Therefore active cases - 21,781,116 - 18.7% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 15,355,177 or 239.0%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,850,091,987 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.278% (0.082%) of the total world population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,775 - (1,437)
Compared to last week, active cases are down 109,291 or 0.5%
Critical statistics are still reducing but at a slower pace. Active cases are down 109,291 - 0.5%, whereas last week's reduction was 3.3%. Active cases per 1 million of population are now 2,775 - down 0.5%. Last week's reduction was 3.3%. Hopefully coming weeks will increase the reduction rates again.
We now wish to make another comment about Hydroxychloroquine. We've mentioned it before in this forum. This drug has been around for 80 years and is mainly used to treat Malaria. It works by reducing inflammation as Malaria causes inflammation of internal organs - just as the Chinese Virus does. The inflammation is what kills people, so it's a no-brainer. People with Osteoporosis are often treated with Hydroxychloroquine as well as that disease is inflammation of the joints. We have a supply here. But when looking at C Virus websites there is no mention of Hydroxychloroquine and its anti-inflammatory properties. Instead, if it's mentioned, it is denigrated and in many countries, including the US, its sale is outright banned. All on behalf of murderous Big Pharma. Now that they've got the wonder drug, the vaccines, they will be making billions. Never mind possible side-effects and in some cases doubtful efficacy.
ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States
Total cases - 29,527,245 - (5,429,115) - up 24,098,130 or 443.9%
Deaths - 533,641- 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 362,860 or 212.5%
Recoveries - 20,093,745 - 68.1% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 17,249,210 or %
Therefore active cases - 8,899,859 - 30.1% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 6,486,030 or 268.7%. Of the total population of 332,309,730 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.678% (0.729%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 26,782 - (9,043)
Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:
Total cases up 454,713 or 1.6%
Deaths up 12,298 or 2.4%
Recoveries up 655,465 or 3.4%
Active cases down 213,100 or 2.3%
Reductions in active cases are being maintained at last week's level. We guess that's reasonably satisfactory.
We have attached a copy of the Epoch Times article dated March 4th. which was sent to us by a Colombian friend. It was written by Trevor Louden who is a New Zealander who has lived in the US for the past 30 years, so knows the country and its people well. It is interesting that he focuses on "the enemy within", which of course is the insidious Socialism. That was also Abraham Lincoln's theme who said that if anything destroys the Republic, it will be an attack from within. That is exactly what we are witnessing right now, and it is well advanced.
The article is in our opinion one of the best summaries of the current situation that we have read. It is a complex situation which is difficult to comment on, as it is such a dynamic, fluid and evolving set of events. The only area where we might have some issue with Mr. Louden is that of his insistence that right-wing violence will not achieve anything and will in fact be of great assistance to the left who are praying for just an event (or series of events) in order to justify further crackdowns - a la the 7 foot razor wire fence around the White House and Capitol, together with the on-going deployment of 5,000 National Guard troops in DC.
This observation is no doubt true, but as is now happening in Texas with the border crisis, it may become redundant as the "red" states must defend themselves. There are multitudes of lawsuits on constitutional grounds by various states against the federal government as under the 10th. Amendment, states have more individual power than has been hitherto supposed. These suits will either be resolved in a legally peaceful manner, or the states will coalesce and secede. There is no doubt that this would be very destructive and would open the door for America's enemies to fully exploit the situation. We certainly agree with the article on that point, but in the end if things get so bad - and there's every indication that they will - what option do the states have? To simply roll over with their feet in the air would be an absolute dereliction of duty to their own people by the state governments.
The Dims' assault on democracy is intensifying. The southern border is now in absolute crisis and Texas is openly defying the federal government in sending all their military assets to the border to resist the influx. There are huge numbers of unaccompanied minors - just ripe for child trafficking to the paedophile rings. Not to mention the opportunity for vastly increased quantities of Chinese drugs once again flooding across. And the certainty of the Chinese Virus spreading into the US from these undocumented and certainly untested people.
The Biden administration is still in denial as regards the border, and only this week is sending a "team" to assess the situation. No doubt this will produce a self-serving report which will simply aid them in continuing their programme to destroy America.
The news clips that rarely show the president on public display, do not inspire confidence, to say the least. He is bumbling and when he was speaking with his Defence Secretary at his side, he couldn't even remember his name. Just referred to him as "that guy in charge of that place over there" - the Pentagon. And his hand is still on the nuclear codes!! China is hammering him over Taiwan and the South China Sea and, due to his corruption by the CCP, he is increasingly unable to respond appropriately. He has secretly withdrawn some US forces from the general area which leaves Japan exposed. However, they together with India, are gearing up for a fight without the US, which they are confident of winning and which is surely coming. And God knows what North Korea will do with feeling emboldened once again.
The Dims have succeeded in passing the latest C Virus stimulus package - 1.9 Trillion dollars with 91% going to favourite Dim projects in the most shocking display of pork barrel politics in history. Only 9% for genuine C Virus relief. And all this at a time when the US has the highest government debt ever - approaching 30 trillion USD. There is only one way out of this, and that's by causing massive inflation (inflate of die), which will occur sooner rather than later, given the massive increase in the money supply. The whole world, including NZ, has been indulging in these voodoo economics, so hold on for a rough ride. Inflation and interest rate rises are coming. It'll make our rough yacht passage on "Tiare Taporo III" from NZ to New Caledonia back in 2011 seem like a millpond!!
The Dims know that they have at most only until the mid-terms in 2022 to advance their most radical policies. This is because, assuming that there is still an intact voting system, they are likely to lose both Houses of Congress in the 2022 mid-terms, which they currently hold on razor-thin margins. So they need to try to pass these destructive bills before then:
* removal of the Senate "fillibuster" which means that certain constitutional legislative proposals need a majority in favour in the Senate of 60 votes. This majority is currently unattainable - hence the moves to attack the "fillibuster".
* HR1 - a proposal to codify all the crooked electoral practices that occurred in 2020 in order to perpetuate a Dim stranglehold on all future elections for generations to come - and a Socialist America, which will impact the whole free world. HR1 would require the 60 vote majority to pass -hence the determined attack on the "fillibuster".
* The other thing the Dims want to do is elevate DC and Puerto Rico to statehood in order to obtain 4 extra left-leaning Senators in the Senate. This would again require removal of the "fillibuster" - hence the Dims' concentration on that.
You can see from this list and from reading Mr. Louden's article, that democracy in the USA is in the fight of its life. This fight will in short order extend to the whole world. We just hope that there are sufficient anti - "woke" people who are prepared to join the fight - otherwise the world is in for a very long, dark winter, which none of us will ever see the end of in our lifetimes.
COLOMBIA
Total cases - 2,266,211 - (433,805) - up 1,832,406 or 422.4%
Deaths - 60,189 - 2.7% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 46,044 or 325.5%
Recoveries - 2,164,438 - 95.5% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,913,944 or 764.1%
Therefore active cases - 41,584 - 1.8% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 127,612 or 75.4%. Of the total population of 51,247,260 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.081% (0.332%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 811 - (1,367)
Active cases compared to last week are down 2,052 or 4.7%
Following are this week's headlines from the English language www.colombiareports.com:
Mar. 1st. Duque's pirate "Plan Colombia" copy latest blow to peace process
Mar. 1st. Biden increases pressure on Duque with explicit support for Colombia's peace process
Mar. 1st. The dilemma of Colombia's "Coalition of Hope"
Mar. 1st. Colombia's war crimes tribunal and the terrorist with apparent learning disabilities
Mar. 2nd. Colombia "harassing victim and witness" of former president's alleged criminal practices
Mar. 2nd. How bankers turned Colombia's mass media into mafia apologists
Mar. 3rd. Colombia's government ordered to curb mass killing of former FARC fighters
Mar. 4th. The troubled expansion of Colombia's ELN guerrillas
Mar. 4th. Governor of Colombia's largest province arrested on corruption charges
Mar. 5th. Bishop threatened after opposing violence in west Colombia
Mar. 5th. Colombia's chaotic COVID-19 vaccination "plan"
Mar. 5th. Testimony: how group on US terror list helped Uribe win Colombia's 2002 elections
Mar. 5th. Colombia's prosecution asks court to drop Uribe investigation despite evidence
Life continues apace - nothing of great moment to report. We therefore thought that another reference to the wonderful fruit available in this part of the world. The ones we refer to this week are the Tree Tomato (Tamarillo to NZer's), the Uchuva (Cape Gooseberry), and local Tangelos. In the produce area potatoes, which have been grown here for not a few thousands of years and Corn - likewise. They are both natives of the northern Andes region.
There are many varieties of potato as you might expect given their antiquity in this area. The corn is pleasant to eat except that it is not as sweet as the hybrid varieties developed in NZ and elsewhere.
Tree tomatoes (tomates arbores) are also native to the northern Andes region and, depending on the climatic conditions in which they are grown, they produce year round. Generally bigger fruit than we were used to in NZ and way more affordable.
The Uchuva which only grow in private gardens or just wild in NZ, are widely cultivated here where again they are native. They are usually available in clear plastic punnets with the shells removed. And again available all year round. Jim remembers in the Bay of Islands as a child finding some Cape Gooseberries behind a Gorse bush on the beach and gorging ourselves on them! Such a treat to now find them in Colombia and ready to purchase in a supermarket! A revival of childhood memories.
There is also a variety of black table grapes which we often buy. They are exactly the same in taste and appearance as the "Albany Surprise" variety we have become used to in Auckland. Wonderful to eat.
And we should also mention the Feijoas which are native to this region. Surprisingly though the local fruit is small and not good to eat compared to the commercially developed varieties in NZ. Quite disappointing as Feijoas were always a favourite.
Although neither fruit nor vegetables, we should mention the flower industry. All grown under plastic and many types we are well familiar with. Colombia is the 2nd. biggest cut flower exporter in the world - almost all to the US. Let's hope for the sake of the local industry that the US maintains that market. With the state of the political and financial situation there anything could happen, but to lose even a part of the flower industry here would be a tragedy for Colombia.
The Tangelos are local and very plentiful. Previously we were also getting Peruvian ones but since the C Virus that seems to have stopped. But the Colombian variety is very acceptable and yours truly has one most mornings for breakfast along with an array of other fruits - 3 varieties of Passion Fruit, Guavas, etc etc.
We also buy organic Spinach and other green vegetables from the Mercado Campesino (Farmers' Market) on Avenida Poblado every Sunday morning. But our friend, Natalia, who sold wonderful hand-made pesto and hummus is no longer there. Hopefully she will be back at some stage. You never know with the locals!! Apparently she has family up north towards Cartagena somewhere.
Now one side of two main roads are closed on Sunday mornings until 2pm for the Cyclovia, which means those closed lanes are available for cycling, walking, running and dog walking! Going there is no problem because the right hand side going north is still open for traffic but coming home is a bit more convoluted as the Cyclovia has been extended to Avenida Las Vegas as well. This means an extended trip south along the open lanes of Las Vegas to where we can turn and then make our way back via the back roads of Envigado. We would walk but the knees won't take several kilometres of walking and also we usually have quite a bit to carry. Another little snippet - when parking outside the market on Av. Poblado, there are self-appointed parking wardens who do a good job of directing you into sometimes tight parking spots. Then, when returning to the car it is customary to make an ex gratia payment of around 2,000 Pesos (about 80 cents NZ) for the service. This actually is a very useful service and occurs all over the city. There are also many privately owned off-road parking areas, which we have used as well. The Spanish for parking is Parqueadero!!
MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, plus UNITED KINGDOM, THAILAND and MALAYSIA.
Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week.
Mexico - 2,065 - (2,047) - up 18 or 0.9%. Down 8 last week but up 18 this week. Certainly no improvement..
Costa Rica - 3,389 - (4,924) - down 1,535 or 31.2%. A surprisingly large reduction in one week. Hope it's true.
Panama - 1,761 - (2,160) - down 399 or 18.5%. Another fairly large reduction.
Colombia - 811 - (852) - down 41 or 4.8%. More numbers heading in the right direction.
Ecuador - 1,452 - (1,498) - down 46 or 3.1%. A reversal of last week's trend
Peru - 1,577 - (1,565) - up 12 or 0.8%. Last week down 3.9% - this week heading up again
Bolivia - 3,811 - (3,750) - up 61 or 1.6%. Down 3.3% last week - now up 1.6%
Paraguay - 3,294 - (3,133) - up 161 or 5.1%. Last week up 4.7% - now also up another 5.1%. NOT GOOD.
Brazil - 4,206 - (3,833) - up 373 or 9.7%. Upward trend continuing in a disturbing trend - last week 3.4% and this week 9.7%.
Chile - 1,324 - (1,227) - up 97 or 7.9%. Upward trend accelerating which is disturbing.
Argentina - 3,363 - (3,412) - down 49 or 1.4%. After recent increases let's hope that the downward trend continues.
Uruguay - 2,212 - (1,897) - up 315 or 16.6%. Last week up by 26.6% - this week up 16.6%. For a little country with a population of only just under 3.5 million, this is not good. Let's hope they can get things back under control and heading in the right direction. Problem for them is that they have 2 large countries right on their border - Argentina and Brazil.
United Kingdom - 14,396 - (18,519) - down 4,123 or 22.3% from last week. Again, let's hope this trend continues. It will be about time after the UK's grossly incompetent initial response to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. There is no country in S America anywhere near as bad as these UK figures.
We have never commented on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before. Please note that the following views on this subject are yours truly's only!!
Anyway in the aftermath of the interview with Oprah Winfrey, it may now be appropriate to comment. It seems that the real problem is that the Palace (the Firm) has not moved with the times and needs to be reminded that we are now living in the 21st. century.
Harry, at the age of 12, will have been affected for all of his life by the horrific circumstances that led up to Princess Diana's death and then particularly the aftermath where he and William were forced to take that lonely walk behind his mother's coffin. And in talking about the unhappy circumstances that surrounded Princess Diana, one should not forget the Prince of Wales's callous treatment of his new wife when he insisted on carrying on his adulterous affair with Camilla, who was also married to another at the same time. He should NOT become King of England. He is NOT a fit and proper person. He should abdicate in favour of his eldest son, William - King William V.
These issues together with the traditional coldness and aloofness of the Royal Family, have now all come together. Does anyone think about the effect of all the foregoing on a developing young man? Doesn't seem so. And don't forget Harry's military service where he served his country with distinction in combat.
Then he met Meghan and regardless of Palace propaganda, she was always going to be an outsider. She may have naively thought that she could work on changing the Firm's long out-dated Royal strictures about who can do what and when, plus their restrictions on a dynamic entrepreneurial young woman with regard to business ventures she wished to pursue, but of course she could not. So, given all the above, it's little wonder that the present situation has arisen.
Maybe H&M lacked consideration for the Queen at 94 and also for the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh is 99 and quite ill in hospital, and that they are definitely "woke", but it is not accepted that they deserve the level of vitriolic criticism that has been heaped upon them.
Thailand - 7 - (11) - down 4 or 36.4%. Wow - even better than NZ!!!
Malaysia - 675 - (858) - down 183 or 21.3%. Another very good weekly reduction.
AUSTRALIA
Total cases - 29,021 - (23,035) - up 5,986 or 26.0%
Deaths - 909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%
Recoveries - 26,189 - 90.2% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,555 or 92.1%
Therefore active cases - 1,923 - 6.7% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,099 or 78.7%. Of the total population of 25,698,566 (25,538,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.008% (0.035%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 75 - (56)
Compared to last week, active cases are up 38 or 2.0%
NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand
Total cases - 2,389 - (1,714) - up 675 or 39.4%
Deaths - 26 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4.0%
Recoveries - 2,295 - 96.1% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 764 or 49.9%
Therefore active cases - 68 - 2.8% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 19 or 38.8%. 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 - 14 - (14)
Compared to last week, active cases are up 1 or 1.5%
Hopefully you were able to read the article we sent to you on Monday the 1st. which was written by the noted historian and former Labour Member of Parliament, Dr. Michael Bassett on the subject of biased attitudes in favour of Maori in many aspects of NZ society, including changing street names (the streets weren't even there before European settlement!), skewing history teaching in schools in a biased way to discredit European history and show Maori history in a favourable light, and many other issues. We feel that that tampering with school teaching is particularly dangerous because it affects young impressionable minds and they grow up with a biased view of history. Anyone who doesn't know or understand history is doomed to allow all the bad aspects of history to repeat themselves. THE ARTICLE HAS NOW BEEN PULLED BY THE NZ "toilet paper" HERALD.
Anyway, Bassett's article was published in the Northland Age - a subsidiary of the NZ "toilet paper" Herald. Today, the article which was factual and mildly critical of the wokeness as above was pulled. SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT ALREADY, YOU WILL NEVER READ IT NOW - BECAUSE IT IS CANCELLED. This was a direct affront to free speech. The response pulling the article did not waste time with reasonable argument - rather it utilised the "cancel culture" to prevent and severely criticise the free expression of a professional, cultured and highly educated person.
It actually accused Dr. Bassett of being racist - a common complaint these days. It even compared Dr. Bassett's approach to white supremacy and implied a connection with the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK were never in NZ!!!!
If anyone knows NZ history, it is Dr. Bassett and his comments should be treated with respect. The following historical snippets of Maori history should be of interest to the "woke brigade" -
A noted Ngapuhi chief (for all the wrong reasons), Hongi Hika actually travelled to England in 1820 with a missionary, Thomas Kendall, and met King George IV, who presented Hika with a suit of armour which he later wore in battle against his own people. He was well feted and met a Baron de Thierry who offered him many muskets and ammunition in return for land in NZ's Hokianga area. He travelled back to NZ via Sydney and there picked up the cargo of guns. Back in NZ, he proceeded to lay waste to the upper half of the North Island, slaughtering an estimated 60,000 of his own people. This is more than the entire NZ loss of life in both WW1 and WW2.
And what about the Taranaki tribe who travelled to the Chatham Islands with encouragement and assistance from the European settlers, where they slaughtered 95% of the entire population of Moriori - a peace loving offshoot of Maori who had lived in the Chathams for over 300 years. This was one of the most vicious genocides in human history in which the Moriori were exterminated in shocking and hideous circumstances which included some of them being staked out on a beach - a form of horizontal crucifixion where they were held by spears to the beach until they died in appalling and unimaginable pain.
We'll bet that these episodes will never feature in the woke cancel culture new history of New Zealand.
NZ has had a close brush with some very large earthquakes - all of which occurred offshore which obviated any real destruction or loss of life. However, there was the risk of tsunami which fortunately also only occurred in a very minor form.
Here in Medellin, we also fortunately have not had a repeat of last week's 5.1 earthquake. Let's hope that's it for a while and, if these events occur again, that the recent releases of energy mean that there isn't something much bigger brewing in the future.
Well, that's it from us for another week. Sorry this one has been delayed but yours truly has not been well for a couple of days, but all good again now.
With lotsaluv from us in the City of Eternal Spring (La Cuidad de la Primavera Eterna) in Colombia,,
Jim and Jean
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