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Hola to all,
As always, we trust that this finds everyone in the pink.
For the first time we have missed a week of reporting this disease which has become the subject of so much controversy, misinformation and an excuse for governments the world over to exert draconian controls on their populations. Not to mention the "vaccination passports" being actively touted by the Biden crooks. The aim is to take away citizens' most basic rights, such as being able to travel (internally and internationally), visit a restaurant, sporting fixture, hold or get a job, and many more. Fortunately there is now strong evidence that concerned and patriotic citizens are resisting this most basic assault on liberty and freedom. Note that the crook in the White House said over Easter that getting vaccinated was a "moral obligation". What a hypocrite when his administration is actively encouraging criminals and others across the US-Mexico border - many of whom are certainly not vaccinated and actually have the Chinese Virus which they are spreading rampantly and randomly throughout the United States.
There was an article in the NZ Herald (not a paper we normally quote from these days!!) which referred to the UK variant which is now described as almost a new virus. It is widespread in Europe and also in the US. There are fears among many virology and epidemiology experts that it will be unresponsive to any vaccine. It is more lethal and contagious than the original Chinese Virus. Makes our reservations about vaccines even more relevant.
Also just read that the AstraZeneca vaccine will no longer be offered to those under 30 because of the underlying risk of blood clots. This could just be the tip of a very nasty iceberg.
In these Chinese Virus times, the world seems more uncertain than ever. And that's not even mentioning the hypocrisy and lies which emanate from the Democrat liars and all other left wing liars in many countries these days. Figures in parenthesis are as at 21/08/20, unless otherwise stated. The usual disclaimer applies. Note that the source of these statistics is www.worldometers.info/coronavirus.
MUNDO - World
Total cases - 134,740,061 - (21,168,111) - up 113,571,950 or 536.5%
Deaths - 2,918,654 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 2,159,326 or 284.4%
Recoveries - 108,450,230 - 80.5% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 94,465,387 or 675.5%
Therefore active cases - 23,371,177 - 17.3% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 16,945,238 or 263.7%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing at the rate of 1,557,692 per week) of 7,856,322,755 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.297% (0.082%) of the total world population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total world population - 3,026 - (1,437)
The figures are not so good. Compared to 2 weeks ago, total cases are up approx. 9 million, deaths remain at the same percentage of total cases at 2.2% as before, recoveries are at a miniscule lower percentage of total cases, active cases are up by 1,749,561 (8.1%) and total active cases per 1 million are up 273 which is an increase of 9.9%. None of this is going in the direction that you might expect, given the roll-out in many countries of the vaccines.
ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States
Total cases - 31,721,688 - (5,429,115) - up 26,292,573 or 484.3%
Deaths - 573,894 - 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 403,113 or 236.0%
Recoveries - 24,272,873 - 76.5% - (2,844,535 - 44.6%) - up 21,428,338 or 753.3%
Therefore active cases - 6,874,921 - 21.7% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 4,461,092 or 184.8%. Of the total population of 332,494,997 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.068% (0.729%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 20,677 - (9,043) - up 11,634 or 128.7%. Two weeks ago the figures were up 12,072 or 133.5%.
Compared to 2 weeks ago, the comparative figures are (movements compared to 2 weeks ago in parenthesis):
Total cases up 965,767 or 3.1% (up 395,520 or 1.3%)
Deaths up 14,055 or 2.5% (up 7,365 or 1.3%)
Recoveries up 1,076,656 or 4.6% (up 672,418 or 3.0%)
Active cases down 144,944 or 2.1% (down 264,263 or 3.6%)
Active cases are down by a lesser amount compared to the reduction of of 2 weeks ago. However, deaths are up compared to the figures of 2 weeks ago, but so are recoveries, and the total new case increase has exceeded those of 2 weeks ago by 570,244. Surely there should be NO total case increases week on week with the vaccine roll-out, which is in full swing - apparently. However, it is encouraging to see that the total active cases per 1 million of total population has actually reduced by 438 or 2.1%. Small gains overall, but it remains to be seen how things progress from here.
On the 2nd. we watched an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show where she interviewed Craig Shirley who is a well-known author and American History historian. His argument is that America is now so deeply divided between the Republican ("red") and Democrat ("blue") states, that the divisions are not capable of being healed and so separation (Secession) is inevitable. This is the first time that we have heard such opinions openly stated. We have flirted with the Secession idea in previous blogs ourselves as it has seemed to us also that the political divide is irreconcilable. The blue states are bankrupt and the red states are not. The blue states are run by grossly corrupt Democrat governors and legislatures who appear willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their toxic Socialist hold on power, whereas the red states are governed with integrity in the best interests of their citizens. So, there is really only one answer, but the immediate worry is the military security of a divided country with China adopting a more and more aggressive stance world-wide. And of course the debt which the Socialist crooks are hellbent on expanding massively with their "Covid relief" and "Infrastructure" bills. These bills are fraudulent because only miniscule proportions of the proposed expenditure will actually go to their deceptive headline titles.
Basically the blue states are only interested in destroying America and so the split whenever it comes is probably inevitable.
There have been persistent reports for some time now that Biden is intent on devaluing the USD. As we've been saying, it's the only (faint) possibility of ever repaying the US's horrendous debt. But what will that do to the US's financial reputation when its creditors receive devalued dollars? And of course the inflation that will result. And they still propose to print more - lots more. This is a slippery slope that has been repeated many times in history and the end result is always the same - the complete destruction of the country that perpetuates such fiscal insanity.
A reading of the history of the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1930's or the decline of the Roman Empire should be instructive. The eight reasons for the final fall of the Roman Empire in the 500's AD are uncannily similar to many things now taking place in the United States. One of the main problems with Rome was its vast size which virtually made it ungovernable. So, they divided it into the East (Byzantium - later Constantinople) and the West centred on Rome. Rome was already in a very weakened state and soon fell victim to its own corruption and invasions from Germanic tribes from the north. The East on the other hand was well governed and wealthy, but it too fell to the Ottomans in the 1400's - 1,000 years later. Shades of the present with the corrupt and bankrupt Democrat states and the well governed and fiscally responsible Republican states. More reason for Secession, but the same ultimate fate could overtake all of the former USA for the same reasons. The Republican states are unlikely to survive for another 1,000 years as the Eastern Roman Empire did. Things tend to move a bit faster these days!!
Apart from the border crisis which predictably is worsening all the time, and the fraudulent multi-trillion dollar bills that the Dims are trying to bulldoze through the Senate, the latest move is to go after guns. There is a popular misconception, which yours truly must admit to having had, that the whole problem is automatic and semi-automatic weapons. In fact statistics show that the most number of homicides are committed by people with hand guns.
The lawlessness which is now endemic in Chicago and New York as well as other cities, is way out of hand and horrifically increasing, simply because of the woke mayors and governors who push this ridiculous and destructive policy of de-funding the police and also taking away normal policing powers so that the police cannot operate effectively and in fact are themselves suffering increasing casualties as a result of these deliberately destructive policies. One can only assume that these city and state authorities are not stupid, but simply pursuing an endgame of destroying America. There's simply no other credible explanation.
Once upon a time we might have felt that there were too many guns in America - now with the increasing lawlessness, we feel that quite probably there aren't enough.
GUN CONTROL IS NOT ABOUT GUNS; IT IS ABOUT WHO CONTROLS AMERICA - AND THE DIMS ARE SCARED WITLESS ABOUT THE NUMBER OF GUNS IN PRIVATE HANDS. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY RISE IN HOMICIDES - INDEED THEY ARE ENCOURAGING THAT BY DEFUNDING THE POLICE - THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT POWER.
Justice officials such as city and state DA's are even worse, as they willfully release people charged with serious violent crime on NO bail. Many of those criminals just go on to repeat their offences with innocent people suffering as a result. There was the case last year where a lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri and his wife were confronted with a lawless BLM mob who had broken into their gated community. The couple confronted the mob outside their home holding an automatic rifle and a handgun. The mob were screaming that they would break into their house, kill them and burn the house to the ground. The mob eventually dispersed, but who knows what might have happened had the courageous couple not actually confronted them. Since then, the local DA has charged them with gun law violations - they didn't shoot anyone! This is how crazy many "blue" states have now become. The case, almost a year later is still dragging on in and out of the courts. Things have become so bad that law-abiding citizens need their guns for their own protection.
Anyway, guns like cars, don't kill people - people do.
News to hand in the last 24 hours is that Biden is saying that he will resume building Trump's wall, but much damage has already been done and his extreme left lunatics will be baying for his blood if he does that. It seems that he is panicking because he realises that he has through sheer incompetence, created a human catastrophe of astronomic proportions on the Mexican border. And it is getting worse by the hour. In February there were 9,000 unaccompanied minors coming across the border illegally; in March the figure is 19,000. Rooms designed for 32 are now holding at least 400 - that's a 1,150% overcrowding factor. There are grossly overcrowded enclosures where unaccompanied minors are being held - many with Covid. And there are increasing reports of rape occurring within these enclosures with not a border patrol officer in sight - because they are being totally overwhelmed. We hope that the corrupt, criminal and murderous Biden and his criminal cohorts are satisfied with the human carnage and child trafficking that he and his band of Socialist crooks have directly caused.
But, regardless of all the horrific situations caused and still being caused by this destructive Biden administration, the one overwhelming concern is the state of the US economy and the debt that is being relentlessly increased by this administration. It is now in the vicinity of 80 trillion dollars when you take into account corporate and other private debt. There is only one way in which this massive debt can even begin to be repaid and that's by inflation of proportions that have never been seen in the US. And this inflation, which will destroy economies, and interest rate rises will spread around the globe. If you thought COVID-19 was a problem, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
COLOMBIA
Total cases - 2,492,081 - (433,805) - up 2,058,276 or 474.5%
Deaths - 65,014 - 2.6% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 50,869 or 359.6%
Recoveries - 2,355,832 - 94.5% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 2,105,338 or 840.5%
Therefore active cases - 71235 - 2.9% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 97,961 or 57.9%. Of the total population of 51,299,093 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.139% (0.332%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,389 - (1,367)
Active cases compared to two weeks ago are up 23,875 or 50.4%
The figures are moving upwards considerably compared with 2 weeks ago. Total new cases have increased by 132,239 (5.6%). The percentage of deaths compared to total cases has fallen. The percentage of recoveries has also fallen slightly and active cases are up 50%. We've commented on the weekly movements in active case numbers before. Frankly they stretch credibility. Either the earlier figures were wrong, or the movements are wrong. The whole system is so inefficient and corrupt, who would know. Our figures which are derived from Worldometers, could also be wrong, as they are supplied by the governments concerned. It is being claimed that the Brazilian strain is now rampant in Colombia and that this is responsible for the present increasing trend. Who would know? Suffice it to say, the Brazilian strain is claimed to be much more infectious than the original and may even be resistant to any vaccine. Another reason NOT to have the vaccine in ANY circumstances. There is so much deliberate and incompetent misinformation that for us we will simply look after ourselves to the best of our ability and ignore "official" pronouncements. They say that the Brazilian strain is more virulent for those under 50 - again who knows?
On the 4th. dropped Jean off at Jose Maria Cordova Aeropuerta Internacional for her flight with Jet Blue to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We had been a little apprehensive about the check-in procedure with all the extra documentation needed with proof of Chinese Virus negativity etc etc but all went swimmingly. She checked in at 1130 for her flight at 1440. Then yours truly carried on his lonely (!) way back through the 11 km Tunel Oriente (Eastern Tunnel) and back down to Envigado 1,000 feet below. Had a meal at the Otraparte Cafe because there had been nothing since a plate of the usual fruit salad at 8.30 and then repaired back to our apartment which felt quite welcoming after the usual madcap Colombian driving! Although have to say that the traffic was much lighter than normal so not so bad.
Anyway, she arrived safely at Fort Lauderdale and Perry met her. She has been happily reunited with the Nietos. She's been involved with their home-based schooling and with them on daily excursions to a circus that they are actively involved in and on-going swimming lessons. It is the youngest's (Nash) birthday party on the 10th. - he's achieved the grand old age of 6!! They are 2 boys of 8 and 6 - full of energy which is extending their 74 yr old grandmother!! She'll love that in the blog!!
The anti Chinese Virus restrictions here in Medellin have been extended. The curfew and Pico y Cedula have been extended to April 19th. The curfew is of no consequence for us old codgers, but the restriction on days that you can shop makes life inconvenient to say the least. You can't just say - "oh, I forgot something yesterday" - and go and get it, so it all requires a bit more organisation. Probably not such a bad thing!!
Now we have further restrictions in the face of claimed collapses of the Medellin hospital system. If this is the case, it would probably be mainly caused by infected people being brought into the city for treatment from regions where medical treatment facilities are either very rudimentary or non-existent. The whole health system in Colombia is corrupt and therefore as a consequence in total disarray. An unforgettable example of this is that right at the earliest stage of the Chinese Virus, 1.5 billion USD simply disappeared. It was intended for hospitals to pay doctors and nurses who hadn't been paid for weeks and also to provide desperately needed PPE - but the money just disappeared. There has since been no news of its whereabouts or any on-going investigation. One cannot trust any official pronouncements any more, if one ever could! Anyway, the latest panic measures are that from 8pm on the 8th. there will be a curfew extending unbroken until 5am on the 12th. A hilarious aspect of this and the earlier restriction is that there is a stipulation (Ley Seca) that liquor cannot be sold during the hours of curfew. How would anyone be able to buy anything between those hours anyway? More Colombian logic!!!
Things for yours truly to do while the boss is away - search for a desk and chair, move existing desk into spare room which will become the office and continue sorting all the papers and items brought from storage in NZ in 2019.
There has been a developing problem with our fridge. The freezer is OK, but the fridge isn't maintaining the correct +3C temperature. Once again Clara came to the rescue and rang a serviceman who duly arrived and diagnosed the problem as a sensor and the fan. In the meantime the fridge is useable, but not for anything which needs to be just above zero. Anyway, he came back on the 9th. to effect the necessary repair which in total will be 455,000 Pesos (NZD 182). No doubt cheaper than getting a serviceman to come to one's house in Godszone!! Just been told today (9th.) at the last minute that the freezer has to be emptied 4 hours before the guy comes. That's nonsense because we are not taking the risk of losing all the contents - which are considerable. So, it will be emptied 30 minutes before they come; the problem is that appointments mean nothing here and they may not turn up on time which is crucial right now. Anyway, he can use a hair drier to unfreeze anything that he needs to work on. Now all done - used the hair drier to melt ice and the fridge is now reverting to its correct operating temperatures as we speak.
Clara is also keeping a motherly eye on the old codger all on his own, because she sent over some home-made lentil soup which was consumed with great relish. We have had Clara's lentil soup before and it is delicious.
Now 81 hours of total lockdown until 5am on Monday morning to endure. Not that there is any shortage of things to do, but the whole thing is unscientific nonsense and just an over-blown knee-jerk reaction.
Following are this week's headlines (for 2 weeks) from the English language www.colombiareports.com:
Mar. 28th. Colombia ramps up vaccinations as COVID-19 infections surge
Mar. 29th. The role of Fascism in Colombia Part 1: the coffee corporatists
Mar. 29th. Venezuela warns border violence could spark war with Colombia
Mar. 30th. How Ecuador's former public relations chief is destroying sons' Colombian victim
Mar. 30th. White supremacy in Colombia Part 3: "the Negroes multiply by themselves"
Mar. 31st. Medellin hospitals on brink of collapse amid COVID-19 surge
April 1st. Colombia's prosecution opens investigation against opposition presidential candidate
April 6th. Bogota announces weekend lockdown, tougher mobility restrictions
April 6th. Duque ally sabotaged ceasefire with Colombia's ELN guerillas
April 7th. Colombia's hospitals collapsing, COVID-19 vaccination drive in chaos
April 7th. Colombia strips courts of powers that block Duque's authoritarian ambitions
April 7th. The pandemic's devastating impact on poverty in Colombia
April 8th. Southwest Colombia massacre highlights ongoing increase in violence
April 9th. Can Colombia prevent another lockdown amid Brazilian COVID-19 threat?
April 9th. Colombia wants court to revise police brutality ban
April 9th. ELN goes diplomatic as Colombia and Venezuela bicker over border security
MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, plus UNITED KINGDOM, THAILAND, MALAYSIA and JAPAN
Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. Figures in parenthesis are those for 2 weeks ago.:
Mexico - 1,992 - (2,018) - down 26 or 1.3% Miniscule drop, but another move in the right direction.
Costa Rica - 4,481 - (3,818) - up 663 or 17.4% Still increasing fairly substantially.
Panama - 1,029 - (1,153) - down 124 or 10.8%. Good to see previous downward trends resumed.
Colombia - 1,389 - (923) - up 466 or 50.5% A sudden very sharp rise after that of 2 weeks ago. A concerning trend.
Ecuador - 1,916 - (1,695) - up 221 or 13.0% Continuing to increase but rate of increase has slowed a little
Peru - 804 - (1,067) - down 263 or 24.6% Very satisfying rate of decrease. Why is Peru achieving these results when Colombia which is a neighbour is seeing just the opposite? More questions.
Bolivia - 3,201 - (3,363) - down 162 or 4.8% Good to see the decline continuing at about the same rate as previous weeks
Paraguay - 5,085 - (4,556) - up 529 or 11.6% Still increasing, although the rate od increase from previous weeks has lessened somewhat
Brazil - 5,656 - (5,844) - down 188 or 3.2%. A welcome reversal.
Chile - 2,131 - (2,041) - up 90 or 4.4%. Still going up but rate od increase down somewhat from previous weeks
Argentina - 5,002 - (3,663) - up 1,339 or 36.6%. A very large increase in the weekly rate of increase. A very worrying trend.
Uruguay - 8,166 - (4,503) - up 3,663 or 81.4%. Suddenly Uruguay is a basket case. What is going on? 2 weeks ago up 36%, week before 25% and now 2 weeks on up 81% over the last 2 weeks. Brazil and Argentina are both on their borders - maybe that's it?
United Kingdom - 4,371 - (6,525) - down 2,154 or 33.0%. Reduced rate of decrease but still going in the right direction. Very sad to see that Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh and Queen's Consort has passed away aged 99. There is much controversy surrounding his long and eventful life, but his loyalty to the Monarch cannot be questioned.
Thailand - 38 - (21) - up 17 or 81.0%. Thailand needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps!!
Malaysia - 453 - (437) - up 16 or 3.7%. Going up again.
Japan - 210 - (152) - up 58 or 38.2%. Considering Japan's population of 126 million, not too much of a concern.
Taiwan - 1 - (2) - down 1 or 50%. This is another reason why the CCP hates Taiwan so much as they show them up in so many ways.
AUSTRALIA
Total cases - 29,388 - (23,035) - up 6,353 or 27.6%
Deaths - 909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%
Recoveries - 26,343 - 89.6% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,709 or 93.2%
Therefore active cases - 2,136 - 7.3% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 8,886 or 76.3%. Of the total population of 25,726,850 (25,536,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.008% (0.035%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 83 - (56). Since 2 weeks ago up 27 or 48.2%
Compared to 2 weeks ago, active cases are up 3 or 3.8%.
Some figures heading in the wrong direction, but overall seems under control. As in NZ though, tourism in particular has suffered massively.
NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand
Total cases - 2,561 - (1,714) - up 847 or 49.4%
Deaths - 26 - 1.0% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4.0%
Recoveries - 2,440 - 95.3% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 909 or 59.4%
Therefore active cases - 95 - 3.7% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 46 or 93.9%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.002% (0.001%) of the total population.
Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 19 - (14) - up 5 or 35.7%.
Compared to 2 weeks ago, active cases are up 21 or 28.4%.
Figures are up, but all in managed isolation. But once again, at what cost?
Have listened to Leighton Smith's latest podcast #105 of April 7th. He interviewed Professor Des Gorman who is Professor of Medicine in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. It was one of the more fascinating of Leighton's interviews that has been broadcast and we recommend that everyone should listen to it - www.newstalkzb.com.nz. We should also add that we find all of Leighton's podcasts fascinating to some degree or another!!
Prof. Gorman stated that NZ's health system has been on its knees since 1938 and certainly could not cope with a full-blown community outbreak of the Chinese Virus.
He also stated that NZ's approach to this health emergency is all wrong. He mentioned Taiwan as an example where they have created a much lower level of infection than even NZ. NZ has done it by using a sledge-hammer approach involving closing the border and also by the sheer good luck of being an island nation miles from anywhere at the bottom of the Pacific. In the process the tourist industry, NZ's biggest foreign exchange earner, has been all but destroyed. But the main issue with NZ is that they have used a combination of politicians (with all the political pressures) and the existing creaky and over bureaucratised health system to deal with this crisis. The economic consequences are profound and are only now beginning to be truly felt - as is the case with the rest of the world.
Professor Gorman also stated that in his opinion the Chinese Virus would be with us now for the next 5 to 10 years and that we all just have to get used to the fact. We concur absolutely with that assessment.
Instead, New Zealand should have followed Taiwan's successful model of creating a well qualified and resourced task force and then leaving them free of political pressure to do what was necessary. Taiwan has not had any lockdowns whatsoever and yet currently their rate of active cases per 1 million of population is just 1 - down from 2. And with almost 5 times NZ's population. NZ, in spite of draconian border measures and some lockdowns, currently has a rate of in the vicinity of 19. NZ needs to get a grip!!! That's unlikely, because Prof. Gorman also said that when people get fearful, they tend to cling more and more to perceived benign authority and that's exactly what's happened in NZ with the fawning over the toothy grin. Even any controlled relaxation of border rules would almost certainly be met by anguished protest with everyone thinking they are about to shuffle off this mortal coil as a result!
Well, that's it from us for another week (fortnight). We hope everyone remains well and getting on with life as best as you can, depending on your circumstances.
With all best wishes and lotsaluv from the City of Eternal Spring.............
Jim and Jean
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