Hi to all,
This is an update on events since we moved up to El Retiro in late November.
Before getting to the meaty aspects of this blog, we must reproduce the following letter detailing the NZ Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern's past, together with her dictatorial conduct since - all of which makes sense when you connect her ideology with the Godsent opportunity for Socialist control which the Chinese Virus "Pandemic" has offered. The letter written by Craig Turner, a Director of the Sleepyhead Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in NZ is as follows:
"This is one of the best open letters sent to Ardern that we have read. Her history and hidden agenda are laid out in chronological fashion perfectly. Time to kick her out...........
Dear Jacinda,
When you became Labour Party Leader, seven weeks before the 2017 election, you had been a little-known list MP.
We now know that nine months before being elected to Parliament in 2008, you had become President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. The fact that instead of immediately resigning from that role after becoming an MP, you continued on as President for a further 15 months, should have caused concern - especially after a video emerged showing you referring to conference attendees as "comrades" fifteen times in 7 minutes.
Being trusting people, we didn't think that meant you were a Communist.
We saw the media fawning over your elevation to Party Leader so enthusiastically that the term "Jacindamania" was coined. And we noted that these media cheerleaders gave you favourable coverage during the election campaign.
In spite of that, Labour received 956,000 votes or 36.9%, while 1,152,000 New Zealanders - 44.4% - supported National.
That result showed that the country had overwhelmingly voted for conservatism and stability.
But Winston Peters, holding the balance of power and ignoring the wishes of the majority of voters, annointed you as our 40th. Prime Minister.
Kiwis are fair - minded and you were given the chance to prove yourself. But while you had great communication skills, and what appeared to be genuine empathy, it soon became clear that true to your hard-line roots, you intended to impose destructive Socialist extremism onto New Zealand.
The first indication of your intention was your unilateral decision to ban new deep sea oil drilling to effectively close down New Zealand's oil and gas industry. This was done without warning, without consultation and without Cabinet approval, on the eve of your first overseas trip as Prime Minister - allegedly so you could look decisive on the world stage.
We saw this again following the Christchurch attack - even though the perpetrator was a deranged foreigner, you cracked down on the rights of law-abiding Kiwi firearm owners without warning, consultation, or proper justification. Driven by a seemingly insatiable desire for international recognition, you appeared oblivious to the livelihoods and lifelong interests you were destroying.
We then became concerned in 2019 to hear you tell a meeting hosted by Bill Gates, that without our knowledge, you were imposing the United Nations Agenda 2030 onto New Zealand. "My Government is doing something not many other countries have tried. We have incorporated the principles of the 2030 Agenda into our domestic policy - making in a way that we hope will drive system-level actions. I believe that the change in approach that we have adopted in New Zealand is needed at a global scale".
But while you were successfully embedding the UN's Socialist agenda into every regulation and law change,your election promises of building affordable housing, reducing homelessness, and eliminating child poverty were all turning into dismal failures.
And even though the media had largely stuck by you, by the end of 2019 the growing discontent - especially within the business and farming sectors that were facing a tsunami of restrictive rules and regulations - was so widespread, it was reflecting in the polls, indicating yours was likely to be a one-term government.
That is until Covid-19 came along early in election year.
Covid became a Socialist Leader's dream. It enabled emergency measures curtailing freedom and liberty to be embedded into every facet of our lives - with minimal Parliamentary scrutiny.
Under the guise of fighting Covid, you hired a multi-million dollar Rolls Royce communications team to provide you with expert advice; as long as you could keep fear of Covid top of mind right up to voting day, your re-election was assured.
And that's exactly what happened.
Winning over 50% support from New Zealanders was a remarkable achievement.
On election night you assured the country you would govern for "all" Kiwis. "We will not take your support for granted. And I can promise you, we will be a party that governs for every New Zealander".
We wanted to believe you.
But we know now, those words were a lie.
The separatist agenda you unleashed is unprecedented in New Zealand's history.
We now know that you concealed the "He Puapua" blueprint to replace democracy with tribal rule - for 12 months prior to the election.
That report reveals your plan is to introduce 50:50 co-governance, to give the Maori elite, who represent just 15% of the population, disproportionate power and unimaginable authority over the lives of the 85% of other New Zealanders.
Why did you not tell us during the election campaign that you intended to transfer democratic power to an unelected and unaccountable tribal aristocracy so they can control New Zealand for their own benefit?
Since you didn't reveal those intentions before the election, you have no mandate from New Zealanders to replace democracy with tribal rule.
And while you have denied "He Puapua" is Labour Party policy, it's clear that is another lie.
New Zealanders are not stupid - we have read the "He Puapua" report and we can see that the laws you are now enacting are part of this agenda for tribal control.
In health, when you realised that a Maori Health Authority with the right of veto over the entire health system couldn't be established under the decentralised District Health Board model, without any consultation you announced that DHB's would be abolished. You have no mandate to replace community control of health with a centralised Apartheid bureaucracy prioritising Maori over those with more serious medical needs.
Putting race ahead of need is not the New Zealand way. It is shocking and callous. How can anyone with genuine empathy and a clear conscience possibly think it's OK? And restructuring the entire health system during a pandemic is not only ideological madness, but it borders on being criminally reckless.
In education you are allowing Maori extremists to dictate the curriculum and indoctrinate children with a worldview that denigrates our history and the people who helped build our nation.
In local government, you abolished the democratic rights of local communities to reject plans to divide them by race. It seems clear that this was the first step towards the "He Puapua" goal of tribal control of local authorities.
You have no mandate for your disastrous Three Waters proposal to give control of ratepayer funded water infrastructure and services to the Maori tribal elite. Communities up and down the country are outraged at this blatant seizing of local assets - and the transfer of democratic control that will undoubtedly lead to the imposition of royalties to Maori whenever a Kiwi tap is turned on.
And what about your plan to silence opponents through proposed hate speech laws? You did not seek a mandate to "criminalise" someone for political views - such as criticising Labour politicians or Maori supremacists - yet that is what your draft law changes are proposing.
Nor did you seek a mandate to effectively buy media support for your plan for tribal rule. You campaigned on funding the media, but you did not explain that the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund would be contingent on supporting the fabricated Maori "partnership" claim that underpins "He Puapua". In some countries, political leaders who attempt to unduly influence the media through taxpayer funding, are being accused of corruption.
What hold does the tribal elite have over you? Why are you prepared to sacrifice the democratic rights of all New Zealanders, so they can have power? Kind people may think that you are simply naive and being duped by your Maori caucus. Others believe that creating disunity is part of your Socialist DNA.
When it comes to your management of Covid, we are now witnessing the loss of liberty on a scale unimaginable from a New Zealand Prime Minister.
You have given yourself the authority to control our lives, even to the point of allowing Police - or their agents - to enter our homes and businesses without a warrant.
Now, through vaccine mandates - that you promised before the election you would not introduce - you are dividing our nation and trampling over sacred civil liberties and democratic rights, protected by the New Zealand Bill of Rights.
In 1990, when Labour Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer was introducing the Bill of Rights in Parliament, he explained that it was a safeguard to protect New Zealanders against the unbridled power of future governments. "It is unlikely that there will be a wholesale disregard of human rights in New Zealand in the foreseeable future, but....we cannot afford to wait until rights disappear before we take action because it is too late by that stage. It is better to have a Bill of Rights when it is not needed than to not have one when it is needed".
Now, twenty-one years later, you are leading a government that is doing exactly what he believed would never happen in New Zealand - you are stomping on the most basic human rights of New Zealanders.
This is not the New Zealand way - and is not what voters thought they were getting when they gave you the responsibility of leading our country for the benefit of all.
You have betrayed us, and we have lost trust in you and your government.
That's why we don't love you any more, Jacinda - and why we want you to resign.
Yours sincerely......
Have a Great Night
Craig Turner- Director, Sleepyhead Manufacturing Co. Ltd.,
Ph. 064 21920582"
We also report the latest situation with the nasty Omicrons, but as we hardly ever get any meaningful replies to our blogs, we simply think it's probably a waste of time, in spite of screeds of evidence supporting our views. Suffice it to say that we have the advantage of seeing the murderous NZ Government from the outside, and along with similar antics in Canada, Australia and the US - and others, we can see these regimes for what they are. They ban well-proven therapeutic drugs from being used and at the same time do their damndest to force poisonous, still experimental "vaccines" down everyone's throats - or into arms. And the "vaccines" are largely ineffective against the latest variation of the Covid hoax, Omicron, whereas the therapeutics are most definitely effective. If this isn't the commission of deliberate harm and wilful murder in some cases, we don't know what is. NZ has now even declared Ivermectin, one of the most effective of the therapeutics, a Class A drug, along with Heroin and Cocaine!! We take it monthly.
In Canada's case the alleged illegitimate son of Muammar Gaddafi, Justin Trudeau - the PM of Canada - has now largely backed down from his very ill-considered action of invoking emergency regulations which involved brutal tactics on the part of the Canadian Police. At least that was our information, but it seems there may be some back-tracking going on. Typical of leftists everywhere. Among many other totalitarian actions, the government has begun confiscating the financial assets of the peaceful protestors who include interstate truck owners. Now, because a number of government members have rebelled against the Trudeau cabal, the emergency powers are starting to be withdrawn. Trudeau will be toast at the next election - as will Jacinda!!
It is worth noting that Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy PM of Canada, is the grand daughter of Mikhail Chomiak, a Ukrainian who edited an anti Semite newspaper in Poland as part of Nazi propaganda during WW2. The newspaper glorified and encouraged Nazi activities in exterminating as many Jews as possible in horrific circumstances which are well known. Ms. Freeland could have expressed her revulsion at these propagandist activities, but she did not. Instead, while being well aware of her grandfather's revolting activity during the Nazi occupation of Poland, she attempted at various times with some success to sanitise the story. However, in a number of statements and opinions expressed, she has exposed herself as a sympathiser of her grandfather's views. It is also worth noting that an associate of Chomiak's who edited another similar vile rag, was in fact executed after the Nuremberg war crime trials. How Chomiak came to escape the same retributive fate and escape to Canada must remain a matter of speculation. But there is no question that there is a person at the highest level in the Canadian Government right now holding these odious views.
How many more of these leftist Socialist/Communist/anti Semitic cadres are there in governments all over the world - including in the USA, Australia and New Zealand?
It has been encouraging to see the protests (still on-going in NZ and likely to increase in intensity again) against the inhuman governance being imposed in NZ, Canada, Australia, and now the USA. And look out NZ, for a new round of mindless, authoritarian oppression coming into effect on April Fool's Day - the 1st. of April.
Lockdowns and compulsory vaccines don't work, but the leftists are determined to milk the waning days of the "pandemic" for all it's worth - and then there will be another emergency - climate change. But this blog will not cover that can of worms - there will be plenty of opportunity for that in the future - for sure!
Anyway, we said we would not mention the nasty Omicrons any more, and we won't.
Except to point out NZ's woeful infection rate compared with our adopted country, Colombia. It just shows the total failure of NZ's elimination strategy compared with countries that have given far more emphasis to "living with" the Chinese Virus. This strategy has cost our country God knows what in terms of the financial and human costs of businesses which have been remorselessly driven into bankruptcy. And the imposition of experimental "vaccines" onto unwilling subjects by the evilness of sheer coercive blackmail.
At the time of writing (28/02) NZ has 82,433 active cases which equates to 16.5 per 1,000 of population. By comparison Australia has 224,896 (8.7 per 1,000) and Canada has 110,505 (2.9 per 1,000). The USA has 26,187,636 (78.4 per 1,000). In Colombia's case, the comparative figures are 35,253 active cases in a population of 51,781,879. Therefore the Colombian number per 1,000 of population is 0.7. So NZ has over 23 times the infection rate than Colombia. Go figure.
These numbers are all from the Worldometres website, so if any inaccuracies, at least it's comparing like with like.
Anyway, that's it for the Chinese Virus hoax and the appalling oppressive politics and obfuscation that have accompanied it in so many jurisdictions since the Chinese started deliberately spreading it around the world in late 2019.
The first item of news is that we now have our antique Mercedes - a 1993 W124 300E as per the attached photos. Only 2 owners in 29 years. The cost was COP 26,000,000 (USD 6,700 or NZD 10,000). The car has only done 158,000 kms and has had the interior re-done in Colombian leather. Best leather in the world. There are one or two small issues that need to be fixed but nothing serious as far as we are aware. We had had the car fully checked out before going to Bogota, so no immediate concerns there. The biggest issue has been totally unexpected and concerns insurance. It is very difficult to insure "old" vehicles in Colombia and the best we could do in the end is 50% cover plus 4 billion pesos for 3rd. party injury and death liability. That is about 1.5 million Kiwi.
The original plan had been to fly to Bogota with Rodrigo (our car dealer friend), but on the morning of departure Jean's shoulder and arms were so sore that she could not stand the rigors of even an hour long flight to Bogota, let alone a 3 day drive back from Bogota. The road between Bogota and here is in good condition, but very steep, full of trucks, and slow. It is necessary to descend about 7,000 feet from Bogota into a valley and then a similar climb up to where we are. The Andes mountains at this latitude are in 3 parallel sections running roughly north/south and the journey from Bogota transits 2 of them with a humungous valley in between!!
So, Rodrigo and yours truly flew to Bogota and inspected the car. All looked good so we went to the local Motor Transit office for the documentation re change of ownership. Rodrigo and Jim had booked an Airbnb 2 bedroom apartment so then we spent the rest of the day paying for the car, and searching for a car transport company because it wasn't an attractive proposition for Jim to do the drive alone (just over 400 kms from Bogota to Medellin), let alone that at that stage the car was unexpectedly uninsured - and that also means that there is no injury or death cover, so definitely an unreasonable risk. Late that afternoon we drove the car about 15 kms in heavy Bogota commuter traffic to the premises of the car transport company we had selected. Only COP 600,000 (NZD 230 or USD 154) to truck the car. A no-brainer. So then Rodrigo and Jim took a taxi back to our accommodation and then went out for dinner as we were both starving. Had a reasonable Italian meal and then totally exhausted we repaired back to the apartment and slept like logs. Jim booked a return flight to Medellin as he had only a single flight as per the original plan.
Rodrigo has been so helpful through this whole process. In Bogota the previous owner only spoke a smattering of English and the ownership change formalities and finding the transport company would have been VERY difficult without good Spanish. Probably would have finished up driving back in spite of the insurance issue!
But all went according to plan and we touched down in Medellin at about 1pm. the next day. By then we had received news that the car was already in Medellin at the truck company depot after an overnight trip, so we drove down the hill in Rodrigo's retro Fiat 500 - and there she was - looking wonderful. There was only one alternative at that stage and that was for Jim to drive the car to Retiro - albeit uninsured. But the trip up the hill was uneventful and finally she was ensconced in our garage/carport where she really looked the part. Not quite as good looking as the 1987 C126 coupe that Jim had had in NZ, but probably a bit better built and a bit cheaper to run - not being a V8! Around here a 3 litre 6 cylinder is plenty. The car has cruise control, but that will never be used on these roads. Between here and Medellin and locally to the city of Rio Negro, probably the highest speed in normal driving would be 70 kms/hr, and that would be comparatively rare. This country is rugged in parts and the roads are for the most part one lane in each direction - and many corners. We drop 2,000 feet in 20 kms between here and Medellin and the first time we went down we were careful but towards the bottom the brake pedal was travelling further to the floor. That wasn't a good feeling!! It is really necessary to manually engage a lower gear so we will be doing that in future. The pedal returned to normal after cooling down and as this is being written the car is in a specialist workshop having an extensive service which includes replacement of the brake fluid as we don't know when it was last done. Brake fluid is hydroscopic which means it absorbs moisture from the ambient air and the last thing you want in any car is water in the brake lines.
In the meantime we had dealt with the insurance through a very helpful insurance broker recommended by our American friends. She is Venezuelan and she and her husband visited us one evening to finalise all the paperwork which otherwise is a bit daunting for us, since it is all in Spanish!! They came all the way from Envigado where they live, so it was wonderful service. We have our casa insured with the biggest insurance company in Colombia, but they wouldn't touch the car! But Rebeca managed to arrange cover with another reputable company.
In the meantime our other car is now at the Mercedes agent in Medellin still waiting for some replacement screws where there is a sensor which acts between the throttle setting and the auto transmission. That's why we wanted an older car - pre computerised systems. But they are confident this will fix the problem we have had - after 7 months! Then we will be asking Rodrigo to sell the car on our behalf. It's a great pity because Jim's first experience with an almost identical B Class was in NZ as a loan car from the North Shore Mercedes agents 15 years ago! That was before we went sailing! He was very impressed and that influenced the decision to buy this car in Medellin as a 12 year old car in 2019. It was just that this one was subsequently damaged by some idiot who put it in reverse while travelling forward. Anyway, the saga is almost over.
In the meantime we have been getting used to living in a smallish rural town. It is common to see people riding horses in the town. Horse riding is a popular occupation and the Colombian leather saddles and bridles, etc. are works of art. The weather, which we have been assured is unseasonable, has been very rainy and cold at night - down to 12-13C.
We have been having extensive discussions with our architect friend, Juan, and have now almost finalised our renovation/extension plans.
We have been doing a lot of walking around Retiro - particularly while we were carless - but have to confess that we have become a bit lazier since having the "OLD GIRL". Retiro is essentially in 2 parts - a modern smallish mall about a kilometre north of here and then the old town much closer to the south, which doesn't have the fancy restaurants, but which we prefer nonetheless. We are finding our way around, although we still drive to Llanogrande for any large scale grocery shopping. In between there are a number of specialty groups of shops of which we have only scratched the surface so far. We had to get our Canon photocopier repaired the other day and our Cuban friend told us of a small repair shop in the old town almost at the Parque Principal (town square). So we took it there but you can't park around there (we normally walk). So we had to drop it off with a written explanation in Spanish and then Jim went on up to the square where he was able to wait for Jean. Things take much longer here for all sorts of reasons, but somehow it doesn't matter and it's all so laid back. And the people are all so friendly. When walking, everyone who passes says "buenos dias" - in NZ you'd just about get arrested for harassment!! Mask use is fast disappearing and we hear now that in Medellin the requirement has been lifted altogether. So, almost back to normal. We certainly hope so.
Our next priority is to make an appointment for Jean with a Chiropractor in Medellin (no Osteopaths here!) so that hopefully she can have her shoulders and arms sorted. She had a bad fall a couple of years ago and that is almost certainly part of the problem, but in spite of many massages by Jim with a local type of Deep Heat, it only seems to improve briefly and then comes back to give her more grief. And of course she doesn't rest it!!
We hope everyone is well and that very soon now all these ridiculous and onerous Chinese Virus restrictions will soon be a thing of the past and these Socialist regimes that have revelled in population control will also very soon be history. They are revelling in hypocrisy and deliberate incompetence which, in the case of US foreign policy, apart from the destruction of their own economies at home, is also the cause of the exact situation we are seeing in Ukraine and which may well unfold now in Taiwan as well as the Communist dictatorships perceive western incompetence and lack of resolve. An attack on Taiwan would almost certainly also involve India, Japan and Australia, the UK and the US. Either of these situations could easily escalate into WW3, although we must hope that wise heads prevail. Unfortunately we are not seeing much wisdom right now. If we're all still here for the next blog, we will be commenting on this subject further then. This blog is long enough!!
With all very best wishes and lotsaluv from us in El Retiro...............
Jim and Jean xoxoxoxoxox
P.S. Photos -
** the car ones will be self explanatory
** Jim's eldest daughter, Amanda, and her long-term boyfriend recently visited Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on holiday very recently. That revived Jim's interest in the history of his family's island trading businesses in the Cooks and in French Polynesia with various vessels servicing the outer islands for about 100 years before it was all sold in the early 1970's. The "Akatere" was a steel motorship which had been purchased in Holland in 1966 to replace the venerable schooner "Tiare Taporo" which had by then been sold after 50 years of ownership. The photo depicts "Akatere" at Avatiu on Rarotonga with our old trading store of A.B. Donald (C.I.) Ltd. in the background, just after she had arrived from Europe. Jim's first real offshore experience was as a passenger on her at the tender age of 21 in 1968 on a voyage from Auckland to the Cooks. 2 weeks elapsed time! Happy memories.
** the Retiro photos are just random examples of architecture in the old town and the shrine depicts the Virgin Mary. Quite a common sight in this strongly Catholic country. They illustrate not only the architecture, but the cleanliness and obvious pride that the locals take in their town. It is a real treat to walk around and admire the holes in the wall shops and the buildings.
** and finally, although completely out of context, is the Gauntlet yacht "Tiare Taporo III" in which Jim and Jean lived and sailed for 10 years having sailed from NZ in 2011 and eventually arriving in Thailand in 2014. The photo is of her at Able Point Marina in the Whitsundays in Queensland in 2012. This photo was taken by our friend, Dennis Bouverie, who had been one of 3 first owners back in the late 70's and who sailed with Jim from Bundaberg to the Whitsundays. Jean had had to return temporarily to NZ for family reasons. A great trip; plenty of good wind and a few dodgy anchorages! Digby Is. is a name forever inscribed in Jim's brain because it takes pride of place in the dodgy anchorage stakes!
SORRY - HAD TO DELETE ALL THE PHOTOS BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT GO INTO YOUR INBOXES. ONLY A FEW OF THE TOTAL - MOST ADDRESSEES WERE OK
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