Fwd: [NZCPR-Newsletter] The Radicalisation of Parliament

Hi again to all,

We trust you found our recent blog (04/11) interesting and thought provoking - even if you didn't agree with aspects of it!!

We are now forwarding the latest newsletter from NZCPR (The New Zealand Centre for .Political Research - Dr. Muriel Newman). We think it is essential reading as it amplifies the concerns we raised indirectly in our blog - specifically the fundamental disagreement between certain possible coalition partners as regards the proposed Referendum on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. ACT in particular, and we suspect with NZF coming a close second, favours this referendum, whereas National does not. In our opinion this simply illustrates the wokeness of National and Luxon in particular. Remember that it was the Key National government that signed NZ up to the UN doctrine as regards indigenous peoples. 

In NZ's case, Maori are no more "indigenous" than Europeans, but that's a debate for another day. Suffice it to say that Maori were in NZ first, but that gives them no more "rights" than Europeans who brought many innovations to NZ's shores and prevented vicious inter-tribal wars which in the few years preceding the 1840 Treaty, killed more Maoris than the total NZ loss of life in two World Wars!! This awful situation was enabled by certain Kerikeri missionaries who were no more than arms dealers. This little historical snippet is now well and truly written out of contemporary historical accounts of that troubled period.

NZ is a country of less than 5 million citizens and cannot afford the disunifying nonsense that has been spouted in recent times as regards "co-governance" - and not to mention the accompanying "He Puapua". The proposed referendum will once and for all deal with this spurious nonsense and, given that whatever government NZ finishes up with, the correct and historically verified Treaty translation will be legally upheld in perpetuity. Note that the Treaty Principles were correctly set out by no less a person than Sir Apirana Ngata - that great Maori leader in the 1920's.

The issues of the disunifying evil of co-governance and Treaty principles which include equality for ALL NZ citizens, must be legally upheld. If National in its wokeness and desire to "not rock the boat" refuses to support a citizens' referendum, then ACT and NZF must stand true to their principles and refuse to coalesce with National - thus possibly forcing a National ĺcoalition with Labour - which would be the ultimate betrayal - but not beyond the bounds of possibility.

The better alternative would be another election where voters could truly express their preferences, finally knowing the relative parties' degrees of (racial) 

 wokeness.

Cheers from Colombia.......

Jim and Jean

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Muriel Newman <muriel@nzcpr.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2023 at 05:49
Subject: [NZCPR-Newsletter] The Radicalisation of Parliament
To: <newsletter@nzcpr.com>

NOTE: If the articles don't display properly, please view them on our website by clicking HERE 

Dear NZCPR Reader, This week… In this NZCPR newsletter, we examine the radicalisation of opposition parties in Parliament and uncover the driving forces, our NZCPR Guest Commentator the former Labour Cabinet Minister Dr Michael Bassett shares his insight into Labour's election defeat, and our poll asks, whether the new Prime Minister should stand up to bullies threatening social unrest in order to govern in the interests of all New Zealanders, or back down to keep the peace. Last week… In case you missed it, last week we outlined how Labour's historic defeat represents a mass rejection of the radical woke agenda that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had imposed onto the country and we suggested some important lessons for the new government HERE, and our NZCPR Guest Commentator Chris Trotter explained how Labour's divisive focus on race led to the loss of their working-class voter base and was a key factor in their downfall HERE. *A podcast of last week's feature article "A Rejection of Woke" can be found on our Podcast page HERE. Ensuring our newsletters can continue … To maintain our independence and keep our information freely available, the NZCPR does not seek State assistance, run ads, have paywalls, or ask for subscriptions. Instead, the significant role we play in informing public opinion and influencing decision-makers is only possible through the wonderful support of newsletter readers like you - please click HERE to help. And, if you don't like website forms, you can donate directly via Internet Banking to NZCPR Account 12-3099-0833814-00 – but please include your first name as well as surname in the reference area … and email receipt@nzcpr.com for a receipt. As always, thank you so much for your on-going interest and support – and please feel free to share these newsletters as widely as you can. Warmest regards, Dr Muriel Newman NZCPR Founding Director
NZCPR WEEKLY: THE RADICALISATION OF PARLIAMENT By Dr Muriel Newman Parliament has not even been sworn in, but already the Greens, the Maori Party, and Labour, are demonstrating levels of radicalism and hate not seen in our House of Representatives before. Their target is the new government – and their supporters. Is this extremism going to be their modus operandi for the next three years? When Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick chanted "From the river to the sea" at a recent rally for Gaza, the crowd responded, "Palestine will be free". The words of this battle cry can be found in the constitution of Hamas - the terrorist group that controls Gaza and which launched the attack on Israel killing more than 1000 civilians and capturing hundreds of hostages: "Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea." The expression from the river to the sea refers to the land between the Jordan River bordering the east of Israel and the Mediterranean Sea to the west - and is commonly understood to stand for the complete annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people. In Britain, when a Labour MP used a similar expression at a pro-Palestine rally, the Labour Party leader condemned the comments as "deeply offensive" and suspended him. In contrast, not only was Chloe Swarbrick not suspended, but a Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson, was egging her on! This incident is indicative of the radicalisation of the Greens. They have morphed from a Party of environmentalism to one of extremism. Even the other co-leader James Shaw, who has long cultivated an image of moderation and reasonableness, has now revealed he's just as radical as the rest by promising "violence" and "wide scale social disruption" if the new government goes ahead with the ACT Party's proposed referendum on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Marama Davidson elevated the rhetoric by threatening the new government: "Just try and come for the Treaty, just try". She warned the Greens will do everything they can to incite public opposition and resistance: "There is going to be community-led resistance and movement that the Greens will absolutely amplify." Not to be outdone, the Maori Party president John Tamihere claimed, "all hell would break loose" if the government tries to introduce the referendum with "well-organised" protest action: "That protest will be significant... there will be days of national Maori action and they'll close down Whangarei, Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington." He described the referendum as a 'clarion call' for protest action around the country: "Even conservative Maori who voted for National would come out with us." The  rhetoric from the Labour Party was even more menacing, with former Minister Willie Jackson making inflammatory threats that Maori would 'go to war' over the referendum: "If there's a referendum I'll stay around for as long as it takes to fight that, and to stop that. I'm amongst people who will go to war for this, war against Seymour and his mates". And on TVNZ's Q&A, he warned, "Let me tell you now, if they try and push that through it'll be 81 Springbok Tour, civil unrest times five, times ten." Prior to being repealed in 2007 by the then Labour Government, such comments would likely have qualified as sedition under Section 81 of the Crimes Act 1961: "A seditious intention is an intention to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against, the Government of New Zealand; or to incite, procure, or encourage violence, lawlessness, or disorder; or to incite, procure, or encourage the commission of any offence that is prejudicial to the public safety or to the maintenance of public order; or or to excite such hostility or ill will between different classes of persons as may endanger the public safety." Isn't all of this exactly what Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party are doing? So, what is it that's giving rise to such orchestrated fearmongering? The ACT Party has proposed a referendum to clarify the meaning of the "principles" of the Treaty of Waitangi. Even though the Treaty of Waitangi doesn't actually have any principles, dozens have been invented by the judiciary, the Waitangi Tribunal, academia, and the civil service to embed a wide variety of race-based privileges into our legislative and regulatory framework. This week's NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Michael Bassett, former Labour Government Minister outlines the process: "Over the last twenty years the tribal elites began inventing arguments that under the Treaty of Waitangi Maori were entitled to more and more from the taxpayer. A growth industry in Treaty fiction emerged. Before long, a 1987 Court declaration that the Treaty of Waitangi was 'something akin to a partnership' between Maori and the Crown developed into a call for a 50-50 split in governance over all resources, despite Maori numbering barely 17% of the population. "The Ardern-Hipkins government with its big numbers of Maori in the Labour caucus bought into the tribal elites' argument that special assistance, to be enjoyed by no other ethnicity, should be delivered to Maori." We all know what happened next - using the invented 'partnership' principle as justification, Labour's secretive He Puapua plan for tribal control was steamrolled across the country.  If the Treaty principles currently in place were replaced with ones based on equal rights and the Rule of Law, Maori privilege, and the various income streams that flow from it, would be threatened. That's why opposition party rhetoric is so explosive - they want to prevent the new government from taking away the lucrative arrangements that have been put in place. ACT's proposed referendum would define three principles - based on the original three articles of the Treaty - in a Treaty Principles Act, with the public then asked to support or oppose the law change. The first principles would be along the lines of, "The New Zealand Government has the right to govern New Zealand". The second, "The New Zealand Government will protect all New Zealanders' authority over their land and other property". And the third, "All New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and duties". The original three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi are eloquently described by Sir Apirana Ngata in his 1922 explanation of the Maori version of the Treaty - copies available from the NZCPR HERE. So, the battle to regain democratic control of our country has now begun. Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party are determined to prevent the new National-led government from even considering a referendum since it would not only jeopardise the privileges secured for the tribal elite, but it would also undermine their own power-base, which depends on the continued categorisation of Maori as victims of a tyrannical majority. Fortunately, most Maori do not buy into the agenda of these radical separatists. Most Maori have the same aspirations as everyone else. They want to build a better life and a brighter future for themselves and their families. And its long past time that we stopped isolating them through separate race-based laws and practices and began treating them as the equals they are. That was a recommendation made back in 1960 when Sir Jack Hunn, the Deputy Chaiman of the Public Service, published his landmark report into Maori Affairs which recommended the phasing out of separate statutes for Maori: "Differentiation between Maoris and Europeans in statute law should be reviewed at intervals and gradually eliminated". The report also noted that Maori disadvantage was socio-economic, not race-based: "Such discrimination as may exist is obviously not racial but social and applies between different groups of society, whether Maori or European". Equality was also the recommendation made by the 1986 Royal Commission into the electoral system, which suggested that if MMP was introduced, there should be a common electoral roll and no race-based differentiation. They argued that Maori would receive more effective government if they were part of the mainstream of society. They also warned the Maori seats would create a disproportionate over-representation of Maori in Parliament if they were not removed, and they were clearly worried about the consequences: "Nor do we think it appropriate that any minority group should have the power of veto in the legislation of a democratic nation." They would no doubt have been horrified to witness the introduction of a new Apartheid-style health system that prioritises patients on the basis of race instead of clinical need, which is clearly the result of a minority group holding disproportionate power and a right of veto. Given successive governments have lacked the courage to do what's right for the country and remove the Maori seats, has MMP delivered the over-representation of Maori in this 10th Parliament that the Royal Commission warned about? The unequivocal answer is "yes". David Farrar of Curia Market Research has done the analysis. Of the 122 MPs elected to Parliament, 33 are Maori. While Maori make up only 13.7 percent of the adult population, their representation in Parliament is almost double at 27 percent (more than half-way towards their 50:50 He Puapua goal). With non-Maori significantly underrepresented in Parliament, it is now time our electoral law was reformed to rectify this imbalance. If the Maori seats were removed, Maori would still make up more than 20 percent of Parliament, so claims there would be an underrepresentation if the reserved seats were abolished are unwarranted. Furthermore, while 18 of the Maori MPs are list Members, the fact that 8 won general seats while 7 won Maori seats invalidates claims that the 'system' is hostile to Maori.   Of the six parties in Parliament, five have a greater proportion of Maori MPs than the adult population. Labour has nine Maori MPs out of 34 (26 percent), with seven from the list, one from a general seat, and one from a Maori seat. The Greens have six Maori MPs out of 15 (40 percent), with five from the list, and one from a general seat. And the Maori Party has six Maori MPs out of six (100 percent), with all six from Maori seats. National has five Maori MPs out of 48 (10 percent), with all five from general seats. New Zealand First has four Maori MPs out of eight (50 percent), all list MPs. And ACT has three Maori MPs out of 11 (27 percent) with two from the list, and one from a general seat. Opposition parties aren't just threatening to incite violence over the referendum either, but over any law change that would undermine the iwi power base.  The co-leader of the Maori Party Debbie Ngarewa-Packer claimed there would an "uprising of the hikoi of all hikois", if National attempts to fix their Marine and Coastal Area Act, even though it has now been re-engineered by the Court of Appeal to ensure that virtually the entire coastline and Territorial Sea end up under tribal control. Given the law will now deliver the exact opposite of what Parliament intended when it was passed in 2011, the new government must, as a matter of urgency, restore a law that upholds the public interest and the birthright of every New Zealander to enjoy free and unfettered access to our coast. In reality, the threats of violence and civil unrest that are being issued by MPs are a last-ditch attempt to protect the separatist power-base that's been established over the last six years within the public service and the private sector. They are desperate to prevent the new government from exercising the mandate they have been given by voters to restore democracy and remove all traces of tribal rule and He Puapua from our statutes. Attempting to intimidate and bully the new Prime Minister – and the public - into submission is their strategy. Let's hope democracy and our right to live in a country where the big issues can be tackled through the ballot box prevails. THIS WEEK'S POLL ASKS:  * As a matter of principle, should the new Prime Minister stand up to bullies threatening social unrest in order to govern in the interests of all New Zealanders, or back down to keep the peace? *All poll comments will be posted on our NZCPR.com website during the week. *In last week's poll 100% of NZCPR readers believe Labour's woke agenda has damaged our country. *Feedback can be viewed on the NZCPR.com website.
NZCPR GUEST COMMENTARY: THE 2023 ELECTION IN RETROSPECT By Dr Michael Bassett "Between 2017 and 2023 Labour's caucus failed to realise that privileges for Maori were seen by the newer immigrants to New Zealand as penalising them. The same for fourth and fifth generation Pakeha. "As more and more of the tribal elites strutted around with tattoos and moko, demanding additional Treaty 'entitlements', and Labour tried to find ways to satisfy them, first the Chinese, then the others, and finally the Indians, all of whom who had come to New Zealand to work, and to get ahead, joined other Kiwis resenting this racially-charged largesse to the many who were work shy. "When Kelvin Davis set about emptying large numbers (disproportionately Maori) out of prisons, and Chris Hipkins presided over an educational system where on any school day six out of ten Maori kids were truanting, an underclass of out-of-control Maori youngsters joined gangs, converted cars, and ram-raided shops, many owned by Indians. "It's all been out there for everyone to see. Not surprisingly, the new immigrants who dominate in many of Auckland's formerly hard-core Labour seats turned against Labour. The only people who couldn't work this out were Labour's MPs! When will some kind of awakening take place? Until it does, Labour is doomed to remain in opposition..."  *To read the full article please visit the NZCPR.com website:
WHAT'S NEW ON OUR BREAKING VIEWS BLOG… Breaking Views is administered by the NZCPR - the views are those of the authors. Here's a small selection of the dozens of the latest articles published on the blog… Peter Williams: The Return of the Rant What Willie Jackson, Marama Davidson, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer et al have been spouting about civil unrest, mass demonstrations and even "going to war" is at best irresponsible and at worst, dismissive of the concept of democracy… Helen Mandeno: Current Concerns down on the Farm My family has a problem. We have sheep and cattle on our farm that emit methane. We are told regularly we will have to cut our emissions. If we don't, the bill will be bigger than we can afford… Mike Butler: A vote on the treaty? Would a referendum on the treaty of Waitangi be corrosive and unfair? Anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond dashed off a column to explain why she felt giving everyone the opportunity to vote on the issue was mean and unfair… Graham Adams: Wakey, wakey, mainstream media! Newsroom's political editor seemed surprised to discover that co-governance and its various policy manifestations aren't popular. On X she wrote: " more people surveyed opposed Māori wards, co-governance than supported them"… Karl du Fresne: The Christchurch mosques inquest: what we know so far The inquest into the Christchurch mosque massacres has unexpectedly become a source of national shame and embarrassment. New Zealand has no reason to feel guilty about the atrocity itself, but the failings of the first responders have come as a shock… Caleb Anderson: Simply Unfit for Office We should be concerned about the increasing propensity of political figures to make public comments intended to incite a reaction. The media have published laments of Green and Maori politicians at the number of "white" faces in our parliament… Chris Trotter: Threatening "Consequences" "CONSEQUENCES" – it's a word that acquires an ominous quality in the mouths of political radicals... as Te Pāti Māori's Debbie Ngarewa Packer expressed it, when asked about referendum on Te Tiriti: "We have always said there will be consequences"… Derek Mackie: The NZ Far Left Grows Two parties in Parliament meet the definition of neo-Marxist Hard-Left. I'm not talking Labour - they just don't possess the complete set of unhinged, off the planet, obnoxious, morally corrupt and frankly, moronic policies embodied by my nominations… Ross Meurant: Evolution of MMP Evolution of MMP confirms that separate List & Constituency parties is henceforth the key to power in parliament. General Election 2020 saw plus 400,000 Blue voters abandon the National party… Barrie Davis: Stuff, the Media Council and the HRC In the lead-up to the election, Stuff went quiet on the issue of Maori co-governance but after voting closed 14 October Stuff published a number of articles against the incoming government's co-governance pre-election statements…  Ian Bradford - The Wind Farm situation: It's not getting any better Does the Green Party care about the health of people? Do they care about landfills full of toxic blades? Do they care about destruction of the countryside and the displacement of animals from the sites… Clive Bibby: Fighting for our survival as a free society It must be obvious to anybody watching the Middle East conflict and the reaction to it from nations throughout the world that this war is not just about whether a peaceful solution can be found… Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 6/11/23 While Māori account for 26 per cent of our MPs, but only 13.7 per cent of the voting population, non-Māori have cause to complain that they are under-represented and to campaign for electoral reforms to rectify the imbalance… Mike Hosking: How democracy can thrive Willie Jackson, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer of Maori Party and Marama Davidson of the Greens are people to be feared. Not because they may hit the streets, but because they don't want the rest of us to have a say and they hope to scare us into submission… Matt Ridley: Why won't Greenpeace admit that offshore wind turbines may be killing whales? So far last year, 71 whales have washed up dead on the shores of New England and neighbouring states. The rate seems to have risen in recent years along with a growth in the number of offshore wind turbines…
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The business of America and the West is WAR; the business of China is BUSINESS and the business of Russia is PEACE. A world-wide collective of USA driven Socialist madness.

Dear friends and family,

We hope all is well with you - wherever you are - and that life is treating you tolerably well. We came across the following quote from Mark Twain which we found thought provoking and apt in the present climate of people being frightened half to death by governments hell-bent on achieving absolute control. There are two main avenues that have been and are being used to achieve this control. The first of course was Covid and the various draconian methods used by governments to mandate their agendas - whether by lockdowns, and/or travel restrictions and the jabs themselves - in some cases compulsory upon threat of loss of jobs. The health effects of all this are becoming very apparent - just listen to Dr. John Campbell on Youtube for compelling evidence of the vaccine's less than beneficial consequences. That's a euphemism!!

The other main avenue is of course "CLIMATE CHANGE", which is also outright BS. So much false "science" being used in conjunction with the World Economic Forum to advance its evil agenda which in a nutshell is destruction of the way of life we have all been fortunate enough to enjoy for all of our lives so far. Compulsory taking of farmland (already underway in the Netherlands) and forced acquisition of all private property generally, mainly through economic means. Just consider compulsory insulation of homes in the UK - many of which cannot be insulated effectively because of their age, So these houses will be demolished. And if you don't get rid of your old gas boiler, you'll be fined 15,000 pounds (COP 74 million!) under the new Energy Act. This legislation is already in place - and received Royal Assent from the traitor king. And in case anyone thinks we are just talking through holes in our heads, think again and read the many authoritative books and articles on the subject. More on all that later............

Anyway, here is Mark Twain's famous quote - "IN THE BEGINNING OF A CHANGE THE PATRIOT IS A SCARCE MAN, AND BRAVE, AND HATED AND SCORNED. WHEN HIS CAUSE SUCCEEDS, THE TIMID JOIN HIM, FOR THEN IT COSTS NOTHING TO BE A PATRIOT". This is as apt today as it was when Twain wrote it - perhaps more so today, given the outrageous threats, blackmail and censorship commonly directed at those who speak out against these spurious narratives.

Before we get into all this meaty stuff, here is our personal news since we last communicated on December 13th. last year. That's a record - over 10 months ago. One reason for this uncharacteristic lack of communication is that we have become somewhat discouraged by what has seemed to us over some time to be a complete disinterest in what we are doing and our experiences. Except for a very few hardy souls who usually make some comment or other!! We certainly don't expect all our readers to hang on every word, but it would be nice occasionally to have some reply with others' news, or even a disagreement with our political views!!! However, the other overriding reason for the blogs has always been as a personal record for us as the old memory is not improving with age!! So, as time goes on, they will continue. The following will not be in any particular order - 

Between early June and the end of July this year we had Jean's old friend, Sara, who now lives in Murwillumbah, Australia staying with us. And Perry and family came and stayed just before Sara went back to Australia. They were here for a week.

We took Sara down to Medellin early on and Jean took her on the cable-car to Parque Arvi while Jim had a business meeting with Alianza Valores S.A. with whom we have some investments. We all stayed at the Refugio del Jaguar in Poblado which had a very quirky interior designed to give the impression of being lost in the Amazon jungle. No snakes or Piranhas though - thank God. We had left the car with our mechanic - Alejandro of Greiautos - and after 2 days we collected the car and returned to Retiro. Sara stayed on for a few more days and explored Medellin on her own.

As a result of talking to the owner of Refugio del Jaguar, Sara decided to spend some time at a jungle resort not too far from Medellin just off the Medellin-Bogota road. She was very enthusiastic about the experience at a remote resort. It had a river running through it and lots of hiking.

We have to say that Medellin for us does not have the same cachet as before. The leftist mayor that was has let a once beautiful city to go to wrack and ruin with rubbish everywhere and cleanliness generally neglected. There is still some artistic graffiti, but also some of the other sort as well. So sad. We well remember on our first visit to Medellin back in 2016 we loved the place - so leafy and clean. And we even saw someone cleaning the outside of a stainless-steel bus stop! Couldn't believe our eyes, but we don't think that happens any more. But the example of leftist city administrations destroying their cities everywhere is well-known - just look at New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and many others. 

However, there have now been local body elections on the 29th of October, and there has been a definite change for the better in Medellin. It certainly seemed likely because Medellin (and Antioquia Province of which Medellin is the capital) is overall right wing, and everyone we talked to had no time for the incumbent. In the meantime a few weeks ago the leftist mayor suddenly resigned for reasons not clear - much like Jacinda Ardern in NZ after coming very close to completely destroying NZ's economy and democratic freedoms.

The local body elections here have now been held and it looks like a clean sweep to the right for Governors, Mayors and Councillors right across Colombia. This is a great slap in the face for the leftist president, which will definitely cramp his style. He has 3 years of his term to go, but fortunately will be something of a lame duck President. The right candidate for El Retiro, which extensively encompasses much of the rural communities around here as well, has also been elected. It's difficult for us to talk in detail about local politics, except in broad terms, because all the news is in Spanish and we just know what we glean from locals from time to time, but it's all very much more encouraging than previously when President Petro was elected last year.

Jean and Sara went to Santa Marta and Cartagena together. SM is about an hour's flight from Medellin. Totally different there on the Caribbean coast from being at 7,000 feet altitude in El Retiro!. MUCH HOTTER!!! Santa Marta is the oldest surviving European city in S. America and was founded in 1525 - nearly 500 years ago. They stayed in a hotel near the marina on the waterfront. Lots of history there. Santa Marta is where Simon Bolivar, the liberator from Spain of Gran Colombia which encompassed present-day Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, died in 1830 at the age of 47. He is buried in Caracas. On an earlier visit we saw the bed that he died in!! He is still very much revered in Colombia as he was mainly responsible for finally kicking the Spanish out of S America after all the depredations that they caused. Many statues of him on horseback and many notable landmarks named after him in various cities.. Even a whole country - Bolivia!!

Santa Marta is also a port city, like Cartagena and the city in between - Baranquilla - reputedly owned 100% by the mafia who control Colombia's northern coast. Jean and Sara travelled by bus from SM to Cartagena and stayed in a hotel in the Old Town where we had spent a night back in November 2021 before the vagabonds from Miami arrived! Again very historic with the fort being the main attraction. This fort was subjected to many attempted attacks, but always repelled them. However, later in the many tumultuous battles between the English and Spanish, the English finally dealt Spain a serious blow when the Royal Navy sank a Spanish galleon loaded with gold, silver and emeralds which had just sailed from Cartagena bound for Spain. The proceeds of this booty were to be used to fund King Philip's wars in Europe, and of course the loss was a serious blow to Spain. The wreck has only recently been located in very deep water and there is an on-going argument between Colombia and Spain as regards ownership. Not sure of the latest development in that saga! 

Anyway, Sara enjoyed her sojourn in Colombia and is keen to return for some more exploring. She walked every day around El Retiro soaking up the genuine Colombiana of this delightful town. People often ride horses around the town and one needs to be aware of horse deposits on the roadways. It washes away in the rain eventually! 

Travelling to any of the other towns and municipalities involves driving through countryside which reminds us so much of rural NZ. The roads are good, but in places somewhat windy and it is not possible to safely get much above 70 kms per hour, but everything is quite close so that is not an issue. Of course everyone drives (mostly!) on the right, but we are well used to that now. We have also become quite expert at catching local buses - particularly going to Medellin if we don't need to take the car. The trip down to the city is about 45 minutes and then it is a matter of using one of hundreds of local taxis which are still relatively cheap. Average cost of travelling around the city is 10-15,000 Pesos (NZD 4 - 6).

We never tire of the El Retiro old town and also of outlying areas such as La Ceja, La Union, where there is a cheese factory and an associated restaurant where we took Sara for lunch one day, and El Carmen de Viboral where exquisite hand painted crockery and dinner sets are manufactured. In addition other towns and areas are La Fe, Fizebad, Llanogrande and Rio Negro. The latter is a small city where anything can be found if it cannot be found locally. RN is only 30 kms from El Retiro. Food shopping in El Retiro is reasonably catered for with 3 moderate sized supermarkets, but if it is necessary for more extensive food shopping, then Llanogrande has 2 larger supermarkets and RN more than that. In between there are specialist shops - many butchers and a specialist fish shop, although being so far from the coast here, everything is frozen. Not what we were used to back in the Bay of Islands - in another life!  

Perry, Tracie, Carter and Nash arrived for a week at the end of July and it was good for Perry and Sara to meet again because it had been many years since they had last seen each other. Roughly about 40 years!

We have just recently joined a local country club - Hacienda Fizebad - which is about 10 kms from Retiro. Mainly for the reason that they have a heated pool, a necessary feature at this altitude of 7,000 feet! The old estate house, which is now used as an office, was built in 1825. Apart from the pool, they have 3 restaurants, tennis courts, a chapel mainly used for country weddings, accommodation for conference attendees and other guests, a conference centre and very extensive stables, as well as a 9-hole "chipping" golf course. Beautiful horses and lovely old stone stables. We organised some horse riding lessons for the nietos (Carter and Nash) and in all they had 3 lessons on separate days. All very well done and attention to detail impressive. They took careful note of the ages of the nietos and provided suitable horses accordingly.

The Club is also very family orientated with many children-related functions when schools are in recess.

We also went to a miniature motorbike circuit in Llanogrande where the nietos chased each other around the track. Then we went into the mall to a 10 pin bowling alley - way cheaper than in Miami apparently. We all enjoyed the bowling and, as yours truly had NEVER bowled in his life, he managed a creditable score.  

The saga with our old German chariot continues - nothing serious, but a series of frustrating outcomes as the typical Colombian attitude is - "if it still works why fix it"? No idea of preventative maintenance. Unfortunately we had a parting of the ways from our earlier workshop as we met the scion of a very well-known local Medellin family who are involved in many commercial enterprises, at a lunch and classic car meet at Hacienda Fizebad. He directed us to another workshop who he said would be better at diagnosing issues with non computerised cars - and Mercedes especially. We met Juan through Andy, our fellow New Zealander and renowned orchid breeder friend, who we had invited to the function with us and he effected the introduction. Andy had had an E-type In the US many years ago. He'd also had a 1930's Chevrolet back in Hastings in NZ in his younger days, so no stranger to classic cars.

There were some great cars there - a trio of Model A Fords which appealed to Jean as her father had had one in Wellsford many years ago (he also had a Humber Super Snipe), a 1960's Chevrolet Corvette which was gorgeous in red, another Chevrolet - 1957 Bel Air convertible - gorgeous also. There was a 1960 Buick Invicta and a couple of Mercedes among many others. And a Pontiac GTO as well as 2 Ford Mustangs from the 60's, and a number of others.  A great day out. The Club has many weekend functions - all sorts of concerts among many other things. The GM cars of that era bring back memories for Jim with the Canadian built Pontiacs and Chevrolets that we had in NZ from the mid fifties to the late 60's. And earlier than that the Armstrong Siddeleys for which we had the NZ agency until they stopped making them in 1959 with the Star Sapphire.  

Anyway, back to the 124 - we have been going to the new workshop now for a bit over a month and the first thing we discovered was that the main cooling fan had been installed back to front which of course meant that the air was being blown out in front of the car instead of back over the engine. No wonder we had cooling issues. The electric fans had been working overtime to keep the old girl cool, and largely succeeding. We also changed the timing chain - our guru in the US said that these M104 engines never had timing chain issues, but yours truly was very mindful of the experience with the 420 V8 back in NZ when a chain guide broke on start up and caused the bending of some valve stems in one cylinder bank. And our new mechanic said that at 105,000 miles we should definitely change it. We had already bought the parts from the US some time ago, so we had it changed - good for peace of mind. There have been some other issues as well - alternator which had been supposed to have been rebuilt at the previous workshop, but which packed up again resulting in a third trip on the back of a tow wagon down to Medellin. However, the car is now back again (we picked her up the other day) and it's never been better, so it seems that we are after almost 2 years finally getting on top of historical 30 year old issues! And 2 new Michelin tyres on the front; the old girl won't know herself!

We have also by default discovered that the model is an E320 (straight six), rather than the 300E which is on the original documents. We think that the capacity was entered on the documents when it was imported from the US to save tax based on engine capacity. Another example of Colombian corruption!  Although apparently in 1993, 320's sold in the US were badged and documented as 300's. And also confusingly, our car had been delivered without any badging on the boot lid, and they could be specified in that manner if ordering a new car. This was all discovered through a careful check of the VIN number. But fascinating to find all this stuff out. 

One more comment on the Colombian cost of living. Our living costs have risen during 2023 mainly due to local inflation which has been as high as 10%, but also the decline of the NZD and USD against the Colombian Peso (COP). Since the beginning of the year, the NZD is down 23% against the COP and the USD down 20%.    

WE are also in the process of joining an informal Spanish-English-Spanish language group. Mostly made up of locals wanting to either learn or brush up their English (and we can help with that), but also there should be a spin off for us to learn more Spanish.

One more item of personal news - arguably the most important. We have in the last month or so, commenced our applications for Permanent Residency of Colombia. Our lawyer friend, Astrid Melendez, is assisting us in this process which will take us to the next level before citizenship. These things are usually fairly long-winded, but we have the time as our present visas don't expire until early June next year. So far we have been here on 3 year migrant visas - 2 so far. 

And now to the inevitable geopolitical comments, which we cannot ignore, particularly as the world is in such turmoil. We'll try and keep them as brief as possible - 

** Ukraine - we have already commented extensively on this subject. Suffice it to say that if anyone had taken the trouble to research recent history, particularly from the 2015 Minsk Accords onwards, they would conclude that Russia was entirely justified in invading Ukraine in early 2022. The Minsk Accords, which provided for Ukrainian neutrality as a buffer state between the Russian Federation and the US and its NATO allies, were cynically and deliberately broken by the US and its NATO allies in its continued efforts to promote war with Russia over Ukraine. These people are MAD - don't they understand what nuclear warfare means? This of course is to benefit the military/industrial complex in the US. Congress authorises the taxpayer funds which then enable the production of the lethal weapons, and they get sent to Ukraine from where there is a clandestine export trade to anyone who wants them and can pay exorbitantly for them. Many US weapons originally sent to Ukraine have now been found in Lebanon and Gaza in the hands of Iran-backed anti Israel terrorists. How ironic is that!! And never mind the 88 billion USD worth left in Afghanistan when the crooked Biden cabal withdrew. In addition, Congress authorises cash payments to Ukraine from where most is pocketed in back-handers to senior Ukrainian politicians. How else does Vladimir Zelensky come to own a very expensive estate in Florida? And of course the Bidens, whose corruption is being continually exposed by the Republican House on a daily basis. Impeachment soon, we earnestly hope. The guy is a traitor.

Russia can no more tolerate missiles installed in Ukraine aimed at Russia than the US could tolerate Russian (USSR) missiles in Cuba in 1961 and aimed at the US mainland. Or the possibility of Chinese missiles in Mexico aimed in the same direction. So Russia had to deal with the problem. Russia has now effectively and deservedly invaded Ukraine and won the war against the NATO-backed Ukraine with commendable restraint. 

But Ukrainian casualties amount to in excess of 500,000 DEAD and at least 50,000 wounded - mostly AMPUTEES. This horrific consequence can be laid directly at the doors of Zelensky and Biden & Co. They have cynically continued to hurl ineffective "counter-offensives" at the Russians in order to justify more weapons' shipments from the US, thus further lining their own pockets and increasing the Ukrainian casualty count. The Ukrainian secret police have been press-ganging anyone remotely capable of holding a rifle and sending them into the meat-grinder against the Russian defensive positions which have no hope of being breached. The leadership of the US, NATO and Ukraine are thus continuing to commit war crimes on a massive scale. They might be diminishing now, but that's only because there are hardly any men, or women of military age left in Ukraine.  

Russia is now almost certain to keep all of what was eastern Ukraine and Crimea and Odessa on the Black Sea. All of these areas are traditionally Russian anyway. Ukraine has effectively been destroyed with horrific population loss due to massive refugee migration to neighbouring countries and of course the wartime losses as detailed.

We rely for our Ukrainian news on the decorated U.S. Col. Douglas Macgregor who often has a Youtube slot with Judge Andrew Napolitano. 

** The US/Mexico border - the Biden Administration has continually done their best to actively allow massive increases in illegal immigrants into the US heartland and no-one has any idea of where these people are now, or whether some of them may be potential terrorists. And of course Chinese Fentanyl continues to pour over the border into the US where it is causing at least 100,000 deaths per annum of mostly young Americans. Just lately some Border Patrol people were caught cutting razor wire on the border which the state of Texas had installed in an attempt to stem some of the immigration. This is criminal sabotage on the part of the Federal Government and, along with all the other administrative border crimes, will certainly result in prosecutions when the Republicans re-take the White House in early 2025. And Trump has said that he will immediately institute mass deportations of illegals back into Mexico. But it will take many years to undo the damage that Biden & Co. have caused. 

** And now we have the horrific murderous attack by the Palestinian Hamas from Gaza against the state of Israel on Oct. 7th.. Some 1,500 Israelis Including over 200 at a music festival were murdered in the most unimaginably awful fashion. In all the emotion it is difficult to talk about this but it does seem that babies were decapitated in front of their mothers before or after the mothers were raped.

We try and leave the emotion out of these comments, but it is difficult. Israel is thankfully ignoring the feeble and deranged pronouncements of Biden and have gone into Gaza and apparently have largely succeeded in destroying some 300 miles of Hamas tunnels under Gaza - and particularly under hospitals and schools - which is Hamas' cowardly MO. Israel's aim is the total destruction of Hamas, their infrastructure and their evil leadership - an aim in which we wholeheartedly concur. Otherwise the  75 year old state of Israel will be itself destroyed

There seems to be a great deal of historical ignorance of the Jewish entitlement to occupy what is now largely the state of Israel. One thing that needs to be understood is that the Judeo-Christian religion and history in the region goes back centuries before the time of Christ. On the other hand the rise of Islam did not occur until approximately 400 years after Christ (AD). And Muslims have ever since promulgated death and destruction against not only Jews, but also against Christians. They cannot be allowed to prevail in their evil agenda. Israel is one of the most capable military states in the world with a string of impressive victories behind them. They will prevail against Hamas, Hezbollah and the terrorist enablers - Iran. In spite of the Biden liars.

We can only hope that the war does not spill over into a wider regional conflict and, God forbid a World War from which there will be no survival for any of us.  Along with Ukraine, the Biden criminals have really steered the world close to the abyss. If President Trump had not experienced the blatant cheating which deprived him of a continuance of his first four years - NONE OF THE ABOVE WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

** The UK deserves a mention with their mindless obsession with "net zero" Now they have the Energy Act which has just received Royal Assent from King Charlie Boy - that paragon founder of the World Economic Forum. This means that local authorities can break into peoples' homes and if they discover that the occupier is still using a perfectly good gas boiler, they can slap a 15,000 pound fine on the hapless occupants. Along with 15 minute cities, the UK is sliding into the ignorant pursuit of "CLIMATE CHANGE" - and to hell with the consequences. And Hell is where the UK is heading, along with the pursuit of fraudulent "climate" money!! Watch Richard Vobes and/or Nigel Farage for verification of the above.

** And now political events in NZ. We were very encouraged to view the final election result - after the specials had been counted. The fact that National and ACT are now totally dependent on NZ First to govern at all, raises a great cheer in our hearts and minds. In particular, we hope that NZF will succeed in demanding a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Covid "pandemic" and the way in which that was dealt with in such a draconian manner. We don't trust National - and Luxon - any further than we could kick them. Mainly because Luxon has been in bed with the WEF from way back and needs some strong restraint and oversight. The immediate concern is that no later than Dec.1st., the draft WHO agreement whereby the WHO would totally take over NZ's health system in the event of another "pandemic" - which is already in the planning stage - would take effect. This is another avenue the World Economic Forum (WEF) can use to control the NZ population. NZ First will almost certainly oppose ratifying that obnoxious agreement, but we wouldn't put it past Luxon to request sufficient votes from Labour (with whom they have not coalesced - YET!) to pass the necessary legislation. It's even possible that National and Labour will formally coalesce together, in the event that NZ First might not accept their possibly half-baked coalition agreement. This would give National/Labour over 80 seats in the Parliament - don't worry NZ - this was suggested long before the election. It would be a powerful argument against Winston getting too uppity - the election, and its consequences, is a long way from being over yet. NZ could finish up with a National/Labour coalition well and truly aligned with the WEF. Unlikely, but a possibility and horrific to contemplate.

In summary, the world is a chaotic place and has never been more dangerous since the 2nd World War - especially since a number of countries now possess nuclear weapons. And all thanks to those ideological traitorous clowns in the White House. If we all survive, their comeuppance will be swift and severe.

On that sober note we must leave you. We would very much appreciate hearing from you with your news and even severely opposing comments relating to our steadfastly held views!! The essence of democracy is the free and frank exchange of views as long as they are expressed respectfully.

With lots of  love from us in El Retiro, Antioquia, Colombia,

Jim and Jean  

  

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