Chinese Virus statistics week number 29 as at 05/03/2021 (plus political comment and our personal news) since August 21st. 2020 (203 days). Thought for the week - there's a new word in the English language these days - "WOKE". It simply means - "ya ain't woke up yet".

Hi again to all,

As always here's hoping that everyone, despite the ravages of time, remains in the pink. Please note that figures in parenthesis relate to 21/08/20 - except where otherwise indicated. The usual disclaimer applies with regard to the reliability of these figures, but, as we've said before, at least we are comparing apples with apples from week to week.

MUNDO - World

Total cases - 116,354,535 - (21,168,111) - up 95,186,424 or 449.7%

Deaths - 2,583,824 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,824,496 or 240.3%

Recoveries - 91,989,595 - 79.1% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 78,004,752 or 557.8%

Therefore active cases - 21,781,116 - 18.7% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 15,355,177 or 239.0%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,850,091,987 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.278% (0.082%) of the total world population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,775 - (1,437)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 109,291 or 0.5% 

Critical statistics are still reducing but at a slower pace. Active cases are down 109,291 - 0.5%, whereas last week's reduction was 3.3%. Active cases per 1 million of population are now 2,775 - down 0.5%. Last week's reduction was 3.3%. Hopefully coming weeks will increase the reduction rates again.

We now wish to make another comment about Hydroxychloroquine. We've mentioned it before in this forum. This drug has been around for 80 years and is mainly used to treat Malaria. It works by reducing inflammation as Malaria causes inflammation of internal organs - just as the Chinese Virus does. The inflammation is what kills people, so it's a no-brainer. People with Osteoporosis are often treated with Hydroxychloroquine as well as that disease is inflammation of the joints. We have a supply here. But when looking at C Virus websites there is no mention of Hydroxychloroquine and its anti-inflammatory properties. Instead, if it's mentioned, it is denigrated and in many countries, including the US, its sale is outright banned. All on behalf of murderous Big Pharma. Now that they've got the wonder drug, the vaccines, they will be making billions. Never mind possible side-effects and in some cases doubtful efficacy. 

 

ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States

Total cases - 29,527,245 - (5,429,115) - up 24,098,130 or 443.9%

Deaths - 533,641- 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 362,860 or 212.5%

Recoveries - 20,093,745 - 68.1% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 17,249,210 or %

Therefore active cases - 8,899,859 - 30.1% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 6,486,030 or 268.7%. Of the total population of 332,309,730 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.678% (0.729%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 26,782 - (9,043)

Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:

Total cases up 454,713 or 1.6%

Deaths up 12,298 or 2.4%

Recoveries up 655,465 or 3.4%

Active cases down 213,100 or 2.3%

Reductions in active cases are being maintained at last week's level. We guess that's reasonably satisfactory.

We have attached a copy of the Epoch Times article dated March 4th. which was sent to us by a Colombian friend. It was written by Trevor Louden who is a New Zealander who has lived in the US for the past 30 years, so knows the country and its people well. It is interesting that he focuses on "the enemy within", which of course is the insidious Socialism. That was also Abraham Lincoln's theme who said that if anything destroys the Republic, it will be an attack from within. That is exactly what we are witnessing right now, and it is well advanced.

The article is in our opinion one of the best summaries of the current situation that we have read. It is a complex situation which is difficult to comment on, as it is such a dynamic, fluid and evolving set of events. The only area where we might have some issue with Mr. Louden is that of his insistence that right-wing violence will not achieve anything and will in fact be of great assistance to the left who are praying for just an event (or series of events) in order to justify further crackdowns - a la the 7 foot razor wire fence around the White House and Capitol, together with the on-going deployment of 5,000 National Guard troops in DC.

This observation is no doubt true, but as is now happening in Texas with the border crisis, it may become redundant as the "red" states must defend themselves. There are multitudes of lawsuits on constitutional grounds by various states against the federal government as under the 10th. Amendment, states have more individual power than has been hitherto supposed. These suits will either be resolved in a legally peaceful manner, or the states will coalesce and secede. There is no doubt that this would be very destructive and would open the door for America's enemies to fully exploit the situation. We certainly agree with the article on that point, but in the end if things get so bad - and there's every indication that they will - what option do the states have? To simply roll over with their feet in the air would be an absolute dereliction of duty to their own people by the state governments.  

The Dims' assault on democracy is intensifying. The southern border is now in absolute crisis and Texas is openly defying the federal government in sending all their military assets to the border to resist the influx. There are huge numbers of unaccompanied minors - just ripe for child trafficking to the paedophile rings. Not to mention the opportunity for vastly increased quantities of Chinese drugs once again flooding across. And the certainty of the Chinese Virus spreading into the US from these undocumented and certainly untested people. 

The Biden administration is still in denial as regards the border, and only this week is sending a "team" to assess the situation. No doubt this will produce a self-serving report which will simply aid them in continuing their programme to destroy America.

The news clips that rarely show the president on public display, do not inspire confidence, to say the least. He is bumbling and when he was speaking with his Defence Secretary at his side, he couldn't even remember his name. Just referred to him as "that guy in charge of that place over there" - the Pentagon. And his hand is still on the nuclear codes!! China is hammering him over Taiwan and the South China Sea and, due to his corruption by the CCP, he is increasingly unable to respond appropriately. He has secretly withdrawn some US forces from the general area which leaves Japan exposed. However, they together with India, are gearing up for a fight without the US, which they are confident of winning and which is surely coming. And God knows what North Korea will do with feeling emboldened once again.

The Dims have succeeded in passing the latest C Virus stimulus package - 1.9 Trillion dollars with 91% going to favourite Dim projects in the most shocking display of pork barrel politics in history. Only 9% for genuine C Virus relief. And all this at a time when the US has the highest government debt ever - approaching 30 trillion USD. There is only one way out of this, and that's by causing massive inflation (inflate of die), which will occur sooner rather than later, given the massive increase in the money supply. The whole world, including NZ, has been indulging in these voodoo economics, so hold on for a rough ride. Inflation and interest rate rises are coming. It'll make our rough yacht passage on "Tiare Taporo III" from NZ to New Caledonia back in 2011 seem like a millpond!!

The Dims know that they have at most only until the mid-terms in 2022 to advance their most radical policies. This is because, assuming that there is still an intact voting system, they are likely to lose both Houses of Congress in the 2022 mid-terms, which they currently hold on razor-thin margins. So they need to try to pass these destructive bills before then:

* removal of the Senate "fillibuster" which means that certain constitutional legislative proposals need a majority in favour in the Senate of 60 votes. This majority is currently unattainable - hence the moves to attack the "fillibuster".

* HR1 - a proposal to codify all the crooked electoral practices that occurred in 2020 in order to perpetuate a Dim stranglehold on all future elections for generations to come - and a Socialist America, which will impact the whole free world. HR1 would require the 60 vote majority to pass  -hence the determined attack on the "fillibuster".

* The other thing the Dims want to do is elevate DC and Puerto Rico to statehood in order to obtain 4 extra left-leaning Senators in the Senate. This would again require removal of the "fillibuster" - hence the Dims' concentration on that. 

You can see from this list and from reading Mr. Louden's article, that democracy in the USA is in the fight of its life. This fight will in short order extend to the whole world. We just hope that there are sufficient anti - "woke" people who are prepared to join the fight - otherwise the world is in for a very long, dark winter, which none of us will ever see the end of in our lifetimes.   

   

COLOMBIA

Total cases - 2,266,211 - (433,805) - up 1,832,406 or 422.4%

Deaths - 60,189 - 2.7% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 46,044 or 325.5%

Recoveries - 2,164,438 - 95.5% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,913,944 or 764.1%

Therefore active cases - 41,584 - 1.8% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 127,612 or 75.4%. Of the total population of 51,247,260 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.081% (0.332%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 811 - (1,367)

Active cases compared to last week are down 2,052 or 4.7% 

Following are this week's headlines from the English language www.colombiareports.com:

Mar. 1st. Duque's pirate "Plan Colombia" copy latest blow to peace process

Mar. 1st. Biden increases pressure on Duque with explicit support for Colombia's peace process

Mar. 1st. The dilemma of Colombia's "Coalition of Hope"

Mar. 1st. Colombia's war crimes tribunal and the terrorist with apparent learning disabilities

Mar. 2nd. Colombia "harassing victim and witness" of former president's alleged criminal practices

Mar. 2nd. How bankers turned Colombia's mass media into mafia apologists

Mar. 3rd. Colombia's government ordered to curb mass killing of former FARC fighters

Mar. 4th. The troubled expansion of Colombia's ELN guerrillas

Mar. 4th. Governor of Colombia's largest province arrested on corruption charges

Mar. 5th. Bishop threatened after opposing violence in west Colombia

Mar. 5th. Colombia's chaotic COVID-19 vaccination "plan"

Mar. 5th. Testimony: how group on US terror list helped Uribe win Colombia's 2002 elections

Mar. 5th. Colombia's prosecution asks court to drop Uribe investigation despite evidence

Life continues apace - nothing of great moment to report. We therefore thought that another reference to the wonderful fruit available in this part of the world. The ones we refer to this week are the Tree Tomato (Tamarillo to NZer's), the Uchuva (Cape Gooseberry), and local Tangelos. In the produce area potatoes, which have been grown here for not a few thousands of years and Corn - likewise. They are both natives of the northern Andes region.

There are many varieties of potato as you might expect given their antiquity in this area. The corn is pleasant to eat except that it is not as sweet as the hybrid varieties developed in NZ and elsewhere.

Tree tomatoes (tomates arbores) are also native to the northern Andes region and, depending on the climatic conditions in which they are grown, they produce year round. Generally bigger fruit than we were used to in NZ and way more affordable.

The Uchuva which only grow in private gardens or just wild in NZ, are widely cultivated here where again they are native. They are usually available in clear plastic punnets with the shells removed. And again available all year round. Jim remembers in the Bay of Islands as a child finding some Cape Gooseberries behind a Gorse bush on the beach and gorging ourselves on them! Such a treat to now find them in Colombia and ready to purchase in a supermarket! A revival of childhood memories.

There is also a variety of black table grapes which we often buy. They are exactly the same in taste and appearance as the "Albany Surprise" variety we have become used to in Auckland. Wonderful to eat.

And we should also mention the Feijoas which are native to this region. Surprisingly though the local fruit is small and not good to eat compared to the commercially developed varieties in NZ. Quite disappointing as Feijoas were always a favourite. 

Although neither fruit nor vegetables, we should mention the flower industry. All grown under plastic and many types we are well familiar with. Colombia is the 2nd. biggest cut flower exporter in the world - almost all to the US. Let's hope for the sake of the local industry that the US maintains that market. With the state of the political and financial situation there anything could happen, but to lose even a part of the flower industry here would be a tragedy for Colombia.

The Tangelos are local and very plentiful. Previously we were also getting Peruvian ones but since the C Virus that seems to have stopped. But the Colombian variety is very acceptable and yours truly has one most mornings for breakfast along with an array of other fruits - 3 varieties of Passion Fruit, Guavas, etc etc.

We also buy organic Spinach and other green vegetables from the Mercado Campesino (Farmers' Market) on Avenida Poblado every Sunday morning. But our friend, Natalia, who sold wonderful hand-made pesto and hummus is no longer there. Hopefully she will be back at some stage. You never know with the locals!! Apparently she has family up north towards Cartagena somewhere. 

Now one side of two main roads are closed on Sunday mornings until 2pm for the Cyclovia, which means those closed lanes are available for cycling, walking, running and dog walking! Going there is no problem because the right hand side going north is still open for traffic but coming home is a bit more convoluted as the Cyclovia has been extended to Avenida Las Vegas as well. This means an extended trip south along the open lanes of Las Vegas to where we can turn and then make our way back via the back roads of Envigado. We would walk but the knees won't take several kilometres of walking and also we usually have quite a bit to carry. Another little snippet - when parking outside the market on Av. Poblado, there are self-appointed parking wardens who do a good job of directing you into sometimes tight parking spots. Then, when returning to the car it is customary to make an ex gratia payment of around 2,000 Pesos (about 80 cents NZ) for the service. This actually is a very useful service and occurs all over the city. There are also many privately owned off-road parking areas, which we have used as well. The Spanish for parking is Parqueadero!!

MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, plus UNITED KINGDOM, THAILAND and MALAYSIA.

Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week.

Mexico - 2,065 - (2,047) - up 18 or 0.9%. Down 8 last week but up 18 this week. Certainly no improvement..

Costa Rica - 3,389 - (4,924) - down 1,535 or 31.2%. A surprisingly large reduction in one week. Hope it's true.

Panama - 1,761 - (2,160) - down 399 or 18.5%. Another fairly large reduction. 

Colombia - 811 - (852) - down 41 or 4.8%. More numbers heading in the right direction.

Ecuador - 1,452 - (1,498) - down 46 or 3.1%. A reversal of last week's trend

Peru - 1,577 - (1,565) - up 12 or 0.8%. Last week down 3.9% - this week heading up again

Bolivia - 3,811 - (3,750) - up 61 or 1.6%. Down 3.3% last week - now up 1.6%

Paraguay - 3,294 - (3,133) - up 161 or 5.1%. Last week up 4.7% - now also up another 5.1%. NOT GOOD.

Brazil - 4,206 - (3,833) - up 373 or 9.7%. Upward trend continuing in a disturbing trend - last week 3.4% and this week 9.7%.

Chile - 1,324 - (1,227) - up 97 or 7.9%. Upward trend accelerating which is disturbing.

Argentina - 3,363 - (3,412) - down 49 or 1.4%. After recent increases let's hope that the downward trend continues.

Uruguay - 2,212 - (1,897) - up 315 or 16.6%. Last week up by 26.6% - this week up 16.6%. For a little country with a population of only just under 3.5 million, this is not good. Let's hope they can get things back under control and heading in the right direction. Problem for them is that they have 2 large countries right on their border - Argentina and Brazil.

United Kingdom - 14,396 - (18,519) - down 4,123 or 22.3% from last week. Again, let's hope this trend continues. It will be about time after the UK's grossly incompetent initial response to the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. There is no country in S America anywhere near as bad as these UK figures.

We have never commented on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before. Please note that the following views on this subject are yours truly's only!!

Anyway in the aftermath of the interview with Oprah Winfrey, it may now be appropriate to comment. It seems that the real problem is that the Palace (the Firm) has not moved with the times and needs to be reminded that we are now living in the 21st. century.

Harry, at the age of 12, will have been affected for all of his life by the horrific circumstances that led up to Princess Diana's death and then particularly the aftermath where he and William were forced to take that lonely walk behind his mother's coffin. And in talking about the unhappy circumstances that surrounded Princess Diana, one should not forget the Prince of Wales's callous treatment of his new wife when he insisted on carrying on his adulterous affair with Camilla, who was also married to another at the same time. He should NOT become King of England. He is NOT a fit and proper person. He should abdicate in favour of his eldest son, William - King William V.

These issues together with the traditional coldness and aloofness of the Royal Family, have now all come together. Does anyone think about the effect of all the foregoing on a developing young man? Doesn't seem so. And don't forget Harry's military service where he served his country with distinction in combat.

Then he met Meghan and regardless of Palace propaganda, she was always going to be an outsider. She may have naively thought that she could work on changing the Firm's long out-dated Royal strictures about who can do what and when, plus their restrictions on a dynamic entrepreneurial young woman with regard to business ventures she wished to pursue, but of course she could not. So, given all the above, it's little wonder that the present situation has arisen.

Maybe H&M lacked consideration for the Queen at 94 and also for the fact that the Duke of Edinburgh is 99 and quite ill in hospital, and that they are definitely "woke", but it is not accepted that they deserve the level of vitriolic criticism that has been heaped upon them.

Thailand - 7 -  (11) - down 4 or 36.4%.  Wow - even better than NZ!!!

Malaysia - 675 - (858) - down 183 or 21.3%. Another very good weekly reduction.

AUSTRALIA

Total cases - 29,021 - (23,035) - up 5,986 or 26.0%

Deaths - 909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%

Recoveries - 26,189 - 90.2% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,555 or 92.1%

Therefore active cases - 1,923 - 6.7% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,099 or 78.7%. Of the total population of 25,698,566 (25,538,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.008% (0.035%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 75 - (56)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 38 or 2.0% 

NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand

Total cases - 2,389 - (1,714) - up 675 or 39.4%

Deaths - 26 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4.0%

Recoveries - 2,295 - 96.1% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 764 or 49.9%

Therefore active cases - 68 - 2.8% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 19 or 38.8%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 14 - (14)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 1 or 1.5%  

Hopefully you were able to read the article we sent to you on Monday the 1st. which was written by the noted historian and former Labour Member of Parliament, Dr. Michael Bassett on the subject of biased attitudes in favour of Maori in many aspects of NZ society, including changing street names (the streets weren't even there before European settlement!), skewing history teaching in schools in a biased way to discredit European history and show Maori history in a favourable light, and many other issues. We feel that that tampering with school teaching is particularly dangerous because it affects young impressionable minds and they grow up with a biased view of history. Anyone who doesn't know or understand history is doomed to allow all the bad aspects of history to repeat themselves. THE ARTICLE HAS NOW BEEN PULLED BY THE NZ "toilet paper" HERALD.

Anyway, Bassett's article was published in the Northland Age - a subsidiary of the NZ "toilet paper" Herald. Today, the article which was factual and mildly critical of the wokeness as above was pulled. SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT ALREADY, YOU WILL NEVER READ IT NOW - BECAUSE IT IS CANCELLED. This was a direct affront to free speech. The response pulling the article did not waste time with reasonable argument - rather it utilised the "cancel culture" to prevent and severely criticise the free expression of a professional, cultured and highly educated person.

It actually accused Dr. Bassett of being racist - a common complaint these days. It even compared Dr. Bassett's approach to white supremacy and implied a connection with the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK were never in NZ!!!!

If anyone knows NZ history, it is Dr. Bassett and his comments should be treated with respect. The following historical snippets of Maori history should be of interest to the "woke brigade" -

A noted Ngapuhi chief (for all the wrong reasons), Hongi Hika actually travelled to England in 1820 with a missionary, Thomas Kendall, and met King George IV, who presented Hika with a suit of armour which he later wore in battle against his own people. He was well feted and met a Baron de Thierry who offered him many muskets and ammunition in return for land in NZ's Hokianga area. He travelled back to NZ via Sydney and there picked up the cargo of guns. Back in NZ, he proceeded to lay waste to the upper half of the North Island, slaughtering an estimated 60,000 of his own people. This is more than the entire NZ loss of life in both WW1 and WW2. 

And what about the Taranaki tribe who travelled to the Chatham Islands with encouragement and assistance from the European settlers, where they slaughtered 95% of the entire population of Moriori - a peace loving offshoot of Maori who had lived in the Chathams for over 300 years. This was one of the most vicious genocides in human history in which the Moriori were exterminated in shocking and hideous circumstances which included some of them being staked out on a beach - a form of horizontal crucifixion where they were held by spears to the beach until they died in appalling and unimaginable pain.

We'll bet that these episodes will never feature in the woke cancel culture new history of New Zealand. 

NZ has had a close brush with some very large earthquakes - all of which occurred offshore which obviated any real destruction or loss of life. However, there was the risk of tsunami which fortunately also only occurred in a very minor form. 

Here in Medellin, we also fortunately have not had a repeat of last week's 5.1 earthquake.  Let's hope that's it for a while and, if these events occur again, that the recent releases of energy mean that there isn't something much bigger brewing in the future. 

Well, that's it from us for another week. Sorry this one has been delayed but yours truly has not been well for a couple of days, but all good again now.

With lotsaluv from us in the City of Eternal Spring (La Cuidad de la Primavera Eterna) in Colombia,,

Jim and Jean

Fwd: From Monica good acticle

Hi 

This article is compelling and very frightening. In particular, take note of the last sentence of paragraph 1.

Anybody's guess as to how all this plays out but however it turns out it won't be good.

Blog following very soon!!!

Cheers

Jim and Jean

City of Eternal Spring

Colombia.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jean Tallentire <jean.tallentire@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 8, 2021, 10:10
Subject: From Monica good acticle
To: Jim Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>

https://m.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/a-new-zealanders-9-starter-steps-to-save-america-from-socialism_3718917.html?v=ul 

Chinese Virus statistics week number 28 as at 26/02/21 (plus political comment and our personal news) since August 21st. 2020 (196 days)

Hi to all,

We hope that everyone, despite advancing years - like us(!) -  is still in the pink. Once again, please note that figures in parenthesis relate to 21/08/20 - except where otherwise indicated.

MUNDO - World

Total cases - 113,785,596 - (21,168,111) - up 92,617,485 or 437.5%

Deaths - 2,523,840 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up1,764,512 or 232.4%

Recoveries - 89,371,349 - 78.5% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 75,386,506 or 539.1%

Therefore active cases - 21,890,407 - 19.3% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 15,464,468 or 240.7%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,848,534,295 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.279% (0.082%) of the total world population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,789 - (1,437)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 749,466 or 3.3%

A key indicator is "active cases per 1 million of population" and since last week it is down by 96 which is a reduction of 3.3% worldwide. Active cases themselves are down 749,466 or 3.3%. Slowing rates of reduction since last week.

All good, but the rate of reduction has slowed considerably from last week.  

A comment about vaccinations - there is a huge amount of adverse opinion being expressed about all the vaccines at the moment. We, like most people, do not know who to believe, but our opinion is that there is enough disquieting information out there to raise serious doubts. Therefore, for us we will delay getting any vaccine for at least 12 months until there is more corroborating data available. We've listened to all the propaganda, both for and against, and all that has done is make us more uncertain and concerned at side effects than ever. These side effects may take months to develop. 

ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States

Total cases - 29,072,532 - (5,429,115) - up 23,643,447 or 435.5%

Deaths - 521,343 - 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 350,562 or 205.3%

Recoveries - 19,438,280 - 66.9% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 16,593,745 or 583.4%

Therefore active cases - 9,112,959 - 31.3% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 6,699,130 or 277.5%. Of the total population of 332,272,677 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.743% (0.729%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 27,426 - (9,043)

Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:

Total cases up 528,781 or 1.9%

Deaths up 15,399 or 3.0%

Recoveries up 641,278 or 3.4%

Active cases down 217,846 or 2.3%

A further reduction in active case numbers but at a slower rate than last week. So, not sure where the claims of a huge reduction in infections and hospitilisations comes from; maybe there's a lag in reporting. But at least the figures are heading in the right direction - slowly!

The following article from Liberty Planet bears repeating here in view of the determined attempts on the part of the left to permanently suppress free speech in America.

It is headlined "Democrats Are More Concerned With Censorship Than Actually Governing Anything"

"The war against the right, waged by hardened leftists is just getting started. The Democrats currently in power do not seem content to enjoy their victories and get back to the business of governing. Instead, they are targeting the right at every turn. Initial efforts were devoted to impeaching President Trump yet again. Fortunately, the Senate failed to convict the former president, which means he is able to run for office again should he choose to do so.

However, recent actions show their efforts will not end with the impeachment of President Trump. In fact, they will continue with several actions aimed at discrediting, demoralising, and dehumanising conservative voters and silencing conservative voices.

These are just a few efforts currently in the works:

* An FBI investigation into the role certain members of Congress had in the Capitol riot.

*Congress is drafting a bill to create a 'Capitol riot Commission' to investigate the events leading up to the riot - one that would include seven Democrat appointees and four Republicans.

*Lawmakers calling for 'truth' commissions to investigate President Trump's actions in office.

* Democrats call on cable and streaming providers encouraging them to address 'misinformation' from conservative networks like Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax.

The tech giants of Twitter, Facebook, and Google are doing their part to silence the voices of conservatives by censoring what can be said and who can be heard and even 'fact checking' legitimate news stories, or removing them completely, so that only one narrative is heard among their audiences. Congress is wasting no time in seeking to make these challenges universal.

On Feb. 22nd. 2021, Democrat lawmakers sent letters to executives from various cable companies, satellite companies,and streaming services, including:

Altice, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Dish, Google parent Alphabet, Hulu, Roku, and Verizon.

The letters urged these organisations to address misinformation by those who use their services stating that this information has led to radicalisation and seditious acts, the rejection of public health best practices, and other issues.

The letters specifically mentioned Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network as offenders for spreading the disinformation and asked the organisations not only if they intended to continue to carry these networks, but why.

Fox is not taking these actions sitting down and released a statement claiming, 'For individual members of Congress to highlight political speech they do not like and demand cable distributors engage in viewpoint discrimination sets a terrible precedent'.

Of course, big tech has already engaged in this type of censorship earning rebukes from Germany and others around the world about the slippery slope these actions create.

Republican Federal Communications Commissioner, Brian Carr, indicates that this is a massive transgression against free speech rights all other media outlets in this country enjoy.

We're glad to see Democrats are focussing on the issues that matter. Secondary things such as vaccine distribution and an economic recession are taking a comfortable back seat."  

We had the pleasure of seeing the former President Trump addressing the CPAC conference in Florida on Sunday. As a result, there is no doubt in our minds that he will be president again in 2024 - if not sooner, if forensic examinations of state voting systems prove widespread fraud as claimed. Trump also claimed again in his CPAC speech that he lost the election fraudulently citing some very compelling statistics such as more ballots received than there were registered voters in many counties, as well as the overall statistic of Trump receiving more votes (75 million) than any sitting president EVER, including more than Obama ever received. Put that alongside Biden's fraudulent claim from his basement of 80 million votes, and that's a total of 155 million. There were only 135 million registered voters - period. So, where did those extra 20 million come from. They were produced from vote counting machines that had been fraudulently tampered with, as well as dead people voting in droves and votes received from non-residents. These anomalies and others were enabled by crooked vote tabulators who unilaterally and illegally changed the rules with no reference to their state legislatures so these "new rules" were UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Thanks to a few very determined Arizona state Congressmen and Senators, there is as we speak beginning the first forensic examination following the November 3rd. election. An Arizona judge has now ordered a forensic audit to proceed. If evidence has been tampered with there will be serious repercussions as electoral evidence destruction is a serious crime. Other states are watching closely and all it would take in each of those "battleground" states (Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin) would be to find similar fraud which would easily overturn Biden's razor-thin margins in those states. What happens after that would be totally unknown because the situation would be unprecedented. But you could not have a fraudulent administration in power which at that point would have received way less than the required 270 Electoral College votes.  

Other snippets from the Biden maladministration -

Children as young as 3 are being "counseled"  at kindergarten and school about their sexuality without the knowledge of their parents with a view to encouraging them to take sex changing drugs and possibly at a slightly older age undergoing medical procedures to physically confirm the change. At their ages they are quite simply and obviously unable to even understand the ramifications and it is our belief that it is all designed to ultimately destroy on-going family life with the aim of pursuing an extreme Socialist agenda. This is the ultimate child abuse.

A number of "red" states are now instituting legal action to counter many of the dimwitted Biden's executive decrees which are in the main unconstitutional. These actions are mainly aimed at illegal immigration, which is now at crisis point once again with thousands of unacompanied minors being apprehended and having to be incarcerated. Their ages range from younger than 10 or 11 up to 17-18. These kids are being taken from their parents with false promises, and then pushed across the border where they are inevitably picked up by the border authorities whose resources are at breaking point. Then the criminal traffickers will seize them again when they are released by a grossly overwhelmed border force where they will be sold to paedophile gangs which are rife in the US, and indeed in many other places these days. There was a people smuggler SUV with 25 illegal aliens packed in like sardines which was involved in an accident on a California freeway with a large interstate truck. 13 of them were killed - God knows the condition and trauma of the others.

Other Dim executive orders being targeted by the states are those which directly impact upon the states' ability to govern themselves from the point of view of infrastuctural and financial capacity. This includes the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline and the consequent loss of thousands of skilled jobs. 

All of these "orders" are very likely to be overturned - if not it is likely that the worst affected states will simply defy federal authority in order to survive Washington's deliberate efforts to destroy them. Secession and/or Civil War will not be far behind. 

So far all who comment on these issues, such as state governors and AG's, are being very circumspect in their language. They need to take this tack for the moment because if they overstep the boundaries they also will be "cancelled" by big tech at the behest of the Dims. Certainly any mention of presidential election fraud is prohibited, except that every so often someone dares to make an oblique reference. Such is the almost total control that the Dims have managed to exercise in suppressing free speech in what was once the greatest democracy in the world. 

There are continuing lies and obfuscations emanating from the Dims as regards the Jan. 6th. riots. They are continuing to try to pin the blame onto President Trump when he has been exonerated in the sham impeachment!! And they are hiding the real events of that day. Pelosi's "commission of enquiry" when it uncovers some inconvenient facts, is likely to blow up in the Dims' faces. 

The Dims know that they almost certainly only have a maximum of 2 years to destroy America because in the midterms in 2022 when the Dim malfeasance will have become starkly obvious, if not already, they will lose the House and probably also the Senate. However, this assumes that the integrity of the US electoral system will be retrieved from the debacle of 2020 and re-established. The Dims are doing their best to stop this happening, and indeed to permanently alter the electoral landscape to ensure that they stay in power for at least the next 3 generations. So they are going hell for leather and their proposals and attempts to change the law (and by extension the Constitution) are truly horrifying. Their propaganda is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930's. 

The USA is at war with the criminal and fanatical Dims, and all freedom loving people need to know it because if they succeed, our cherished way of life is finished. Most people, especially in geographically and socially isolated countries like NZ, fail to realise this, or they say -  what can I do? Same attitude as prevailed in Germany in the early to mid 1930's. Apathy is the Dim's friend and the absolute enemy of freedom - and the Dims know this only too well. We are all on a knife edge.

COLOMBIA

Total cases - 2,241,225 - (433,805) - up 1,807,420 or 416.6%

Deaths - 59,396 - 2,7% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 45,251 or 320.0%

Recoveries - 2,138,193 - 95.3% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,887,699 or 753.6%

Therefore active cases - 43,636 - 2.0% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 125,560 or 74.2%. Of the total population of 51,236,893 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.085 % (0.332%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population  - 852 - (1,367)

Active cases compared to last week are down 5,110 or 10.5%

Again massive reductions in active cases per 1 million of population of 100 (10.5%) and active cases down by 5,110. We can only hope that these reported figures are true.

Following are this week's headlines from www.colombiareports.com:

Feb. 20th. Colombia's military executed more than 6,400 civilians in 6 years: court

Feb. 21st. Medellin: Colombia's extrajudicial execution capital

Feb. 21st. Colombia's elderly still waiting for COVID-19 vaccines

Feb. 22nd. Uribe accuses HRW chief of terrorism support amid war crime probes

Feb. 22nd. Will the politicians behind Colombia's mass killing of civilians go to court?

Feb. 22nd. The president's bosses Part 3: Colombia's mafia

Feb. 22nd. "Only peace process can stop Colombia's return to war"

Feb. 23rd. 11 killed in eruption of narco violence in southwest Colombia

Feb. 23rd. Notorious crime family pleased with Colombia's election chief

Feb. 25th. UN urges Colombia to dismantle paramilitary groups

Feb. 25th. Tensions in Colombia over lost COVID-19 shots

Feb. 25th. Coronavirus crisis bankrupted 500k of Colombia's small businesses 

Feb. 26th. Colombia's COVID-19 vaccination campaign shows first cracks

Feb. 26th. Does Colombia's ruling party believe everybody is a terrorist?

Feb. 26th. Colombia's prosecution shield against government's narco ties

We have spent a ridiculous amount of time booking Jean's tickets to go to Miami next month. One airline's website was non-functional so we eventually booked her with Jet Blue. They have the best prices as well. Jean will be away for a fortnight and Jim will be keeping the home fires burning - figuratively of course! Then she has to obtain a visa waiver from the US Govt. (ESTA), which is available to NZ passport holders among others, plus medical cover - which is expensive for the US - especially in these Chinese Virus times. At least she can be with Carter and Nash again after a hiatus of 15 months. Not what we imagined when we first came to live in Medellin! 

Then, although strictly outside the parameters of last week, we experienced a 5.1 magnitude terremoto (earthquake) at about 6 pm. on Monday. The shaking was sufficient to cause the building to sway and it lasted for around 5 seconds. That was the longest 5 seconds we have ever spent!! The movement seemed to get worse during the shaking and then mercifully abruptly stopped. We are on the 8th. floor and there is one residential floor above us. The shake was sufficient to cause a water pipe buried in a concrete floor or wall to rupture on our floor and on the floor below us there was something of a waterfall. The water to the building was turned off for a time so, as we did not know when supply might be resumed, we decided to augment the bottled water supplies we already had in storage. We made a quick trip in the car, which is parked in the basement, to a local supermarket and bought more water. However, when we returned the supply was back on with the affected damaged pipe isolated. Still, we are well prepared for next time - provided we can get to our storage unit!! There was no other damage anywhere that we are aware of.

It is said that Medellin is situated on a massive bed of granite rock and that protects the city from anything major in the earthquake department. And hopefully these lesser quakes are a way of letting off steam in lieu of a really big one. Certainly Medellin, unlike some other urban areas in Colombia, has not had a major earthquake (touch wood), despite having been settled now for at least 400 years. We can only hope that situation continues.

An amusing little distraction - yours truly had been getting frustrated by the fact that the electronic clock in the car had been upset during the recent work where of course the battery had been disconnected. But the instruction manual which is massive is all in Spanish, and in spite of considerable time trying, he could not even find the appropriate reference!  So, in a flash of intellectual brilliance, for which he is well-known, he decided to try and find something on the internet. Lo and behold there was a website which among other things purported to deal with the issue as it applies to the 2007 Mercedes Benz B Class.. So, armed with this vital information on the trusty smart phone, it was then necessary to take the car out of the basement parking in order to regain internet access. This was done and things were progressing quite satisfactorily when it became apparent that the website had left out a vital step. Finally the problem was deduced by focussing yours truly's considerable brain power on the problem. A feeling of quiet triumph then prevailed once the correct time was once again displayed. 

Once upon a time all you had to do was tweak a stalk on the clock face - computers have hugely complicated our world and distracted us from matters that are actually important. 

   

MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY plus UNITED KINGDOM, THAILAND and MALAYSIA.

Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week.

Mexico - 2,047 - (2,055) - down 8 or 0.4% - slight improvement but not significant

Costa Rica - 4,924 - (5,890) - down 966 or 16.4% - big reductions over the past few weeks - almost down by 50 % during that time. Believable??

Panama - 2,160 - (4,796) - down 2,836 or 55.0% - same comments as for Costa Rica. But let's not denigrate too much. Hopefully the figures keep reducing.

Colombia - 852 - (952) - down 100 or 10.5% - again a substantial reduction. Now the best figures in S America!!

Ecuador - 1,498 - (1,427) - up 71 or 5.0% - figures creeping up again.

Peru - 1,565 - (1,628) - down 63 or 3.9% - hopefully the downward movement  continues

Bolivia - 3,750 - (3,876) - down 126 or 3.3% - going in the right direction

Paraguay - 3,133 - (2,992) - up 141 or 4.7% - going in the wrong direction!!

Brazil - 3,833 - (3,708) - up 125 or 3.4% - up again - hopefully the downward trend starts again

Chile - 1,227 - (1,203) - up 24 or 2.0% - up a little. Let's hope that they can resume a downward trend

Argentina - 3,412 - (3,222) - up 190 or 5.9% - Argentina's economy is a basket case (again!) - let's hope that the Chinese Virus doesn't take on the same characteristics!!

Uruguay - 1,897  - (1,499) - up 398 or 26.6% - very surprising as Uruguay was looking good. Let's hope that they can reverse this. Maybe a good part of their problem is that they only have a population of just over 3 million and they have very big neighbours in Brazil and Argentina.  

United Kingdom - 18,519 - (24,142) - down 5,623 or 23.3%. At least their figures are better than the US. But if the Johnson government had been responsible at the beginning, instead of letting flights in unchecked from hotspots like Milan and Teheran, they would probably be in far better shape than they currently are. At least the figures appear to be going the right way.

Thailand - 11 - (16) - down 5 or 31.3%. Miniscule figures but only achieved at the expense of border closures which have decimated tourism and the yacht maintenance business. Similar to NZ in that respect.
Malaysia - 858 - (1,128) - down 270 or 23.9%. Impressive reduction.

AUSTRALIA

Total cases - 28,958 - (23,035) - up 5,923 or 25.7%

Deaths -  909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%

Recoveries - 26,164 - 90.4% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,630 or 91.9%

Therefore active cases - 1,885 - 6.5% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,137 or 79.1%. Of the total population of 25,692,909 (25,538,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.007% (0.035%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 73 - (56)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 14 or 0.7%

Seems to be a holding pattern - that's about as much as one can say.

NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand

Total cases - 2,371 - (1,714) - up 857 or 38.3%

Deaths - 26 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4.0%

Recoveries - 2,278 - 96.1% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 747 or 48.8%

Therefore active cases - 67 - 2.8% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 18 or 36.7%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population  - 13 - (14)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 17 or 34.0%

NZ had a slight increase in community cases and as a result locked down Auckland -  a city of almost 2 million people. 25,000 vehicles were stopped at the city's  borders and only some 300 were actually turned back. People were waiting on the roadside for hours - needing to visit a toilet, and water supplies and running out of fuel big problems. 

Where is these peoples' headspace? Lunatic knee-jerk panic. NZ MUST REALISE SOONER OR LATER THAT ELIMINATION IS SIMPLY NOT AN ANSWER. Probably in 10 years from now we'll be saying the same thing!!

Follow the lead of the United States which has been one of the hardest hit countries - if you can believe the mostly fraudulent statistics. The states which had the least restrictions - Texas, South Dakota and Florida - have actually had way fewer deaths per 1 million of population than Dim controlled states like California and New York - although in the latter case, due to a murderous decision by the governor (whose tenure is now very much on the ropes), at least 15,000 elderly people in rest homes died entirely unnecessarily. 'Nuff said.

Hope the coming week treats you well. Let's hope that our next missive contains some better statistics.

With lotsaluv from us in La Cuidad de la Primavera Eterna, Colombia,

Jim and Jean  

Fwd: NZ

We have just read this article from Dr. Michael Bassett, which we attach here. We feel strongly that every thinking New Zealander should read this  and be very, very concerned and not a little afraid of the contents, which will speak for themselves. 

The same "cancel culture/history" wokeness is well and truly alive and well in all western democracies right now and is reaching a fever pitch in the USA where it has a good chance of provoking some sort of armed rebellion - Secession possibly.

We would be interested in your comments - as long as you are not concerned at being "cancelled" yourselves. Blog following very soon!!

Cheers and lotsaluv from Colombia's City of Eternal Spring........

Jim and Jean 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jean Tallentire <jean.tallentire@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 at 14:57
Subject: NZ
To: Jim Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>

Racism on a grand scale
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northland-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503402&objectid=12425193


Sent from my iPad

Chinese Virus statistics week number 27 as at 19/02/21 (plus political comment and personal news) since August 21st. 2020 (189 days)

Hi again to all,

Once again, our weekly homily -  we hope you are all in the pink. 

A milestone week, this week. We are both now at the start of our 75th. year on this Godforsaken planet. Jim 3 weeks ago and now Jean. A sobering milestone indeed, but we don't feel a day over 90!! Only joking - we still feel as though we are at least 35 years younger. Mentally perhaps, but at times the physical side makes itself felt! 

But having said all that, we feel very lucky to be in this country. Colombia, like NZ, it is a land of plenty - not without some huge problems, but with lovely people and a cost of living roughly 30% of that of NZ. 

MUNDO - World

Total cases - 111,040,682 - (21,168,111) - up 89,872,571 or 424.6%

Deaths - 2,457,011 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,697,683 or 223.6%

Recoveries - 85,941,244 - 77.4% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 71,956,401 or 514.5%

Therefore active cases - 22,639,873 - 20.4% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 16,213,934 or 252.3%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,846,976,603 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.289% (0.082%) of the total world population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 2,885 - (1,437)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 2,780,305 or 10.9%

At last some very encouraging figures. Recoveries as a percentage of total cases are up and active cases are down. The percentage of active cases to total population is down, and total active cases per 1 million of population are down by 355 or 11.0%.Too early for the vaccinations to be having an effect - maybe some more honest reporting is starting to happen and we'll see increases in ordinary 'flu and other causes of illness, such as gunshot wounds and heart attacks!!

ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States

Total cases - 28,543,751 - (5,429,115) - up 23,114,636 or 425.8%

Deaths - 505,944 - 1.8% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 335,163 or 196.3%

Recoveries - 18,707,002 - 65.5% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 15,862,467 or 557.7%

Therefore active cases - 9,330,805 - 32.7% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 6,916,976 or 286.6%. Of the total population of 332,235,623 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.809% (0.729%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 28,085 - (9,043)

Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:

Total cases up 541,511 or 1.9%

Deaths up 19,022 or 3.9%

Recoveries up 776,183 or 4.3%

Active cases down 253,694 or 2.7%

Again some heartening statistics.

Compared to last week, active cases as a percentage of total cases are down. Percentage of active cases as a percentage of total population is down. And active cases per 1 million of population are down 767 or 2.7%. Small movements perhaps and who knows the reason for the changes, but maybe now that the Dims are in power, the reporting is becoming more honest?

A Newsmax report just to hand deals with the situation of the Republican Party's appeals lodged with the US Supreme Court in October last year, BEFORE the presidential election on November 3rd., in respect of claimed illegal changes to mail-in ballot deadlines. The Supreme Court decided not to hear the appeals. These appeals were based on the same arguments, among others, used by President Trump's legal team after the election, which were again refused hearings.

Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a blistering attack on the SCOTUS decision not to hear the appeals. He said, "we failed to settle this dispute before the election and thus provide clear rules. Now again we fail to provide clear rules for future elections".

Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch sought to hear the cases but Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal justices in turning them away. Justice Amy Barrett did not take part in the decision as it preceded her swearing-in. 

It is clear from the above sad recitation of events BEFORE THE ELECTION, and after, that the whole system was rigged from the start against Trump within the legal system at the highest level, together with criminal election officials in vital swing states colluding to ensure that Biden "won" the battleground states of Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. These states were in truth won by Trump and if that result had prevailed without the criminal election fraud perpetrated by the Dims, then Trump would still be the president and the extreme leftist actions we are seeing now would never have happened. The potential consequences are enormous.

A ray of light is that an Arizona Congressman has launched legal action to force the forensic examination in Maricopa County, Phoenix. This has been blocked for so long and in so many ways - WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE? ONE GUESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is now looking like the Maricopa County Electoral Board may have destroyed evidence, in addition to all their other criminal actions. If that is so, then very definitely people will be going to jail because destroying electoral evidence which is required to be kept for 22 months is a serious crime and in itself should be enough to demand a re-evaluation of the slate of votes sent by Arizona to the Electoral College. Other "battleground" states are very likely to follow Arizona's lead, and then what? Biden & Co. get kicked out of the White House!!

Quite apart from the egregious electoral fraud as above, which has resulted in an illegitimate president, and the disenfranchisement of 75 million voters, we have a continuing litany of absolutely disgraceful leftist incompetence and straight-out crookedness masquerading as news emanating from the United States these days. From a 240 year old democracy which every free citizen of the world once looked up to, it is profoundly disturbing. Not only for all freedom loving citizens of the US, but also for all the world. It is so bad that it is difficult to write about - so here are just a few examples of the latest gems -

The Secretary of Defense has ordered an inquiry into ALL members of the various branches of the US military to establish whether they might be too right wing in their political views to continue their hitherto unblemished military service. This is insulting in the worst possible way and must be affecting morale to a hitherto unplumbed low. It could also contribute to any possibility of secession or even armed rebellion when it is finally realised just how low the Dims are prepared to go.

In addition it is suggested that "white" military members are probably racially right wing and therefore constitute a threat to the on-going stability of the military and no doubt their increasing unwillingness to support the increasingly destructive and unconstitutional policies of Biden & Co.

And note - the military swears allegiance to the Constitution. How does all this sit with that oath of allegiance?  

There are still 5,000 National Guard troops (mostly now from the "blue" states) "guarding" the Capitol in DC. From what?? No-one will say, but probably Pelosi and Co. have concerns that their political agenda may well spark some sort of uprising. In that assessment they are probably right. The troops were to have been withdrawn by next month, but now it is being not so subtlety suggested that they will remain until September. You can draw your own conclusions concerning the Dims' reasoning - if indeed it can be described as that. There is razor-wire fencing not just around the Capitol, but also completely around the White House.

Before the Jan. 6th. riot at the Capitol, the Capitol Police Chief requested permission to re-activate the National Guard because they had intelligence that there was going to be some sort of disturbance. The Sergeant-at-Arms denied the request - was he in turn directed by the Speaker and what did she know? Was the motivation to "frame" Trump supporters and lay the groundwork for his 2nd. fraudulent impeachment? We heard his speech and there was most definitely NO incitement to riot. This is all bound up in the Dims finally abandoning their insistence to call witnesses at the kangaroo impeachment trial, because the Republicans threatened to call over 100 witnesses, including Madam Speaker herself, which would have been unacceptably embarrassing to the Dims to say the least. She would have been grilled on her involvement in inciting the riot herself using BLM and Antifa thugs who actually spearheaded the assault.

All of this coupled with trying to re-establish the Iran Nuclear Deal - which will probably cause Israel to again mount a serious attack on Iranian nuclear assets - plus a much softer approach to China which in turn may encourage them to invade Taiwan. The CCP are just biding their time as they assess the weakness and incompetence of the Biden Administration. 

And the dire financial straits that the US is in, the seeds of which were laid over Democrat and Republican administrations for many years. Many predictions for runaway inflation, stock market crash and massive devaluation of the USD. All are quite plausible given the level of debt (govt. and private) and continued counterfeit money printing by the US Fed. The Fed is now completely out of ammunition with interest rates at zero. And Bitcoin at over USD50,000!! 

And the latest so-called COVID stimulus package for 1.9 trillion USD - only 9% is actually for COVID related relief. The rest of it is just an appalling list of Dim socialist giveaways and paybacks. And all this at a time when US Government debt is headed well over 30 trillion dollars. Look out for some massive tax hikes, inflation and devaluation of the US dollar.

All we can say is that we are very thankful that we no longer own any international shares anywhere. All our fiscal assets are in Colombia where we can earn a comfortable living from reasonable interest and property capital growth. Colombia has, since we've been here, had a very conservatively run financial system. No real property bubbles as a result. 1st. mortgage interest rates are around 10% p.a. and inflation 2-3%. We can only hope that as financial turmoil develops in the US, we are not too badly affected.  

Finally, we think the following article from American Retirement Insider dated Feb. 23rd. is entirely apposite:

Heading: "IS JOE BIDEN AN AGENT OF COMMUNIST CHINA?

Is President Joe Biden a Chinese Communist party agent? More and more evidence is surfacing that is leaning towards an answer of "yes".

There are a few plausible scenarios we must consider.

One: President Biden is simply a useful idiot, in the familiar mold of the Cold War American Liberals who championed the Soviet Union and made excuses for its famines and campaigns of oppression and mass murder.

Forget the mass graves, behold the glories of Communism!

In this scenario, President Biden is either thoroughly deceived by the Chinese and/or he is too senile and mentally vacant to know the difference. During presidential briefings on China, Biden plays with a Chinese finger trap in the Oval Office while the Leftists in the Biden Administration sell the United States down the river for a quick Red Buck.

This leads us to our second scenario.......

Two: President Biden is bought and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party. We sure know that President Biden's dropout, drug-addled son has been the beneficiary of Chinese corruption. How did a failed son with no business experience ink a $1.5 billion dollar deal with a subsidiary of the Communist Chinese Government's Bank of China?

Such a question the Mainstream Media refuses to ask, but the dots are obvious enough for a toddler to connect: In 2013, then Vice-President Joe Biden and his druggie son Hunter Biden flew aboard Air Force Two to China. A mere ten days later, Hunter Biden's company landed a 1.5 billion dollar deal.

For all of the Radical Left's talk of "intersectionality", the bright bulbs in the media establishments of America fail to see the intersection between Hunter Biden's ballooning bank account and President Joe Biden's political weakness towards China.

The answer as to whether or not President Biden is an agent of the Communist Chinese government is likely a mixture of the two above scenarios.

It's entirely possible that the Chinese Communist Party has Joe Biden by the balls AND he is too dumb to know. China is playing him like a fiddle.

As former Trump Administration Secretary of State Pompeo stated this week, "China is attempting to influence American foreign policy" at every level; meanwhile, President Biden is echoing "Chinese propaganda" on matters such as the Coronavirus, trade and Uighur persecution.

For those unfamiliar with China's ongoing genocide of their ethnic minorities and the Uighur population, the tale is truly horrific and violates every sort of international human rights law and norm that supposed liberals in the Democrat Party support. In fact, instead it is the Republican Party which is standing up for the Uighurs and their essential human rights.

Behind President Biden's blank smile is nothing but hypocrisy and an emptied-out mind.

President Biden recently excused China's genocide of its minorities in a CNN town hall forum held in Wisconsin, claiming that the Chinese Communists simply operate by a "different set of norms". Such a statement is frankly, anti-American in its bottomless depravity.

"That language that it's just a different set of norms, that's the Chinese propaganda line, they want you to think this is just a quiet nation that may have a little bit of a different system, but goodness gracious, what's all the fuss about?" said Secretary Pompeo in response. 

"The truth of the matter is they are trying to wipe out an entire people," Pompeo continued. "Maybe Xi Jingping gets the fact that now the administration is only going to talk about this and raise it 'because I have to talk about this', rather than take action".

President Joe Biden? Useful idiot? Senile? Bought and paid for? Corrupt? Or too weak to make a difference? You decide.

How about all of the above?

Either way, the Chinese Communists are laughing - because they have their pet in the Oval Office, and they're holding the leash.

Joe Biden is a Manchurian President, whether he knows it or not. American patriots and members of Congress need to stand up to President Biden and his Communist Chinese masters before Biden surrenders the future of the United States and enslaves the American people to a world dictated by Beijing."  

Biden's cognitive decline is becoming more and more pronounced whenever you listen to him on one of his rare public appearances. Then the 25th will be invoked and it will be President Harris. If you thought that Biden was the pits, you know nothing yet!!

      

 COLOMBIA

Total cases - 2,212,525 - (433,805) - up 1,778,720 or 410.0%

Deaths - 58,334 - 2.6% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 44,189 or 312.4%

Recoveries - 2,105,455 - 95.2% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,854,961 or 740.5%

Therefore total active cases - 48,746 - 2.2% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 120,450 or 71.2%. Of the total population of 51, 226,527 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.095% (0.332%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 952 - (1,367)

Active cases compared to last week are down 8,703 or 15.2%

Some massive declines in cases - active cases are down 8,703. Not sure whether these figures are believable or not, but we must remain positive and accept it for what it may be. These figures now mean that Colombia has the best figures in S America!! 

Following are this week's headlines from www.colombiareports.com:

Feb. 14th. Colombia to receive first 50K COVID-19 vaccines this week: report

Feb. 14th. Native Colombia in mourning over loss of leader to COVID-19

Feb. 15th. How long can Colombia's ranchers chief stay out of prison?

Feb. 15th. Colombia's failing state Part 3: the generation with no future

Feb. 15th. Colombia bungles conspiracy to meddle in Ecuador's election

Feb. 15th. Colombia recommends stricter COVID-19 measures for air travellers

Feb. 16th. Colombia receives 50K COVID shots as vaccination drive slowly takes shape 

Feb. 17th. Colombia's COVID vaccination drive kicks off with controversies

Feb. 17th. CUTE: Colombia's defense minister believes in "victory against drug trafficking"

Feb. 17th. Journalist resigns after pulling editorial punch at Colombia's richest man

Feb. 17th. Will Colombia's 2022 elections be free and fair?

Feb. 17th. Colombia's military suspected of tampering war crimes witnesses

Feb. 17th. Colombia registers 12th. massacre so far this year

Feb. 18th. Colombia's prosecution destroys credibility in absurd Uribe investigation

Feb. 18th. The President's bosses Part 1: Colombia's business associations

Feb. 18th. Don't let some puppet president turn Colombia into a mafia state

Feb 19th. The President's bosses Part 2: Colombia's clans 

For Jean's birthday on the 18th., we decided to again go "up the hill". It was a mixed bag. We went to Los Torritos at La Fe where we had the usual Punta de Anca and a bottle of our favourite Agentinian Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot. All very pleasant and decadent as usual!!

Then we went on to the MG Hotel at Casa Grande where we had stayed many times before. But, although very comfortable, we had the distinct impression that things were deteriorating. The atmosphere was changed in only 3 weeks and there were a few small things that were irritating. The main one was that we had booked the pool for the next morning but when we arrived it was unacceptably cold. The air temperature is around 5 degrees C colder up there than in Envigado so the pool heating should be adjusted upwards. If we had bought an apartment (still to be built) there, a main reason would have been the pool - as it was here in Envigado - so we would not have been pleased.

On the subject of the pool, the booking process which has always been a total mess, has been relaxed to allow up to 8 people in the pool at once. That won't help our exercise swimming but the last time it was only us. We still can't book 2 or 3 days in advance so Jean keeps having to go to the Porteros early in the morning to book for the next day. The concept of having regular days and times for a whole week appears to be absolutely beyond them!!

Otherwise things remain much the same. Except that on one of our recent peregrinations to our favourite Papa Rellena cafe the other day we met our usual friend (who has since bought one of our beds) and a couple of other Americans who live nearby. Not all Americans live in Poblado!! We all agree on the awful things happening in America since Donald Trump lost the fraudulent election and one of them said simply that "America is finished". That comment absolutely shocked us because we still believe that the situation is retrievable - either by Secession or Civil War or (much better) by proving the fraud and by legal means forcing another election, either nation-wide or just in the worst affected states. So difficult to predict because of course there is no precedent for this situation, but something will happen, of that we are sure. Things are moving at long last in Arizona and we are hopeful, as are millions of others, that the result will prove that the election was stolen. If that happens, the other "battleground" states are likely to follow suit and then, if it shows that Trump should have received the majority of Electoral College votes, what happens then? No-one knows, but it all provides a fascinating topic of conversation.    

MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY

Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. 12 South American countries in total. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week:

We have also decided to include 3 more countries - the United Kingdom, as that is of interest to many New Zealanders, and also Thailand and Malaysia for nostalgic reasons, as we spent just over 4 years living alternately in both between 2014 and 2018 as we sailed the 120 miles between the 2. Lots of memories. We cannot show the weekly comparative figures for these latest additions but from next week we will be able to.

Mexico - 2.055 - (2,073) - down 18 or 0.9% - 7th. Same placing as last week with a minor improvement

Costa Rica - 5,890 - (6,946) - down 1,056 or 15.2% - still WORST!! 1st. But much improvement in numbers

Panama - 2,602 - (4,796) - down 2,194 or 45.8% - 6th. A further unbelievable improvement!! 2nd. to 6th.

Colombia - 952 - (1,122) - down 170 or 15.2% - BEST! 12th. Another almost unbelievable improvement - long may it continue!!

Ecuador - 1,427 - (1,496) - down 69 or 4.6% - 10th. Improving all round - last week 9th.

Peru - 1,628 - (1,354) - up 274 or 20.2% - 8th. A decline from 10th. to 8th. and a large numbers decline too.

Bolivia - 3,876 - (4,118) - down 242 or 5.9%  - 2nd. A good numbers improvement but now 2nd. after Costa Rica - 3rd last week

Paraguay - 2,992 - (2,926) - up 66 or 2.3% - 5th. A slight decline since last week. Now 5th. from 6th. last week

Brazil - 3,708 - (3,917) - down 209 or 5.3% - 3rd. A numbers improvement but gone from 4th. last week to 3rd after Bolivia

Chile - 1,203 - (1,122) - up 81 or 7.2% - 11th. An increase in numbers and now behind Colombia

Argentina - 3,222 - (3,349) - down 127 or 3.8% - 4th. Improvement in numbers but down one place from 5th. to 4th.

Uruguay - 1,499 - (1,524) - down 25 or 1.6% - 9th. Slight improvement in numbers, and now 9th. from 8th. 

United Kingdom - 24,142 - (N/A)

Thailand - 16 - (N/A)

Malaysia - 1,128 - (N/A)

AUSTRALIA

Total cases - 28,918 - (23,035) - up 5,883 or 25.5%

Deaths - 909 - 3.1% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%

Recoveries - 26,138 - 90.4% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,504 or 91.7%. 

Therefore active cases - 1,871 - 6.5% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,151 or 79.3%. Of the total population of 25,687,252 (25,538,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.007% (0.035%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 73 - (56)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 4 or 0.2%

Slight decline in numbers due to some community infection, but negligible movements. As usual totally out of proportion to containment measures.

NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand

Total cases - 2,348 - (1,714) - up 634 or 37.0%

Deaths - 26 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - up 1 or 4% 

Recoveries - 2,272 - 96.8% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 741 or 48.4%

Therefore active cases - 50 - 2.1% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 1 or 2.0%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population  - 10 - (14)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 6 or 13.6%.

Some hysterical panic at a minute increase in community infections which apparently still cannot be traced despite having spent over NZD6 million on a contact tracing app!! And at some point NZ has to realise that, even with the vaccines, the Chinese Virus with all its mutations is here to stay, just as with the common cold and various strains of 'flu. Elimination is not realistic. 

NZ is a wonderful country with great friendly people, but our great concern is the national tendency to pay no attention to international events (in the mistaken belief that they cannot affect NZ), and then possibly be unpleasantly surprised when an adverse event comes to pass. Right now we can use the example of New Zealand's relationship with China. This has for the past 13 years been represented by a Free Trade Agreement where NZ's exports to China now annually total USD14 billion and imports from China total USD9.4 billion. These are substantial figures which have grown over the years and now total USD23.4 billion p.a. Sometime during the past months, although the actual date is not clear, NZ has also signed the Belt and Road Initiative which has been promoted by the CCP of China around the world, and in particular with countries of limited economic means, which means that China can dominate the relationship to their advantage. An example includes that of Sri Lanka where a joint venture port development went sour with SL owing the CCP an amount that they couldn't possibly repay. So, in return for forgiveness of the debt, China now owns a brand new Naval Base right on the doorstep of India - a country that China has already attacked on the Himalayan border in recent months.

In NZ's case, the B&RI is seen by China as a means of obtaining a stronger foothold in NZ with the endgame of a geographical faster track towards South America. As residents of Colombia, that does not please us at all!!

China has a history in many countries of becoming more and more aggressive, particularly where they have entered into a B & R I with a particular country such as NZ. Maybe this is already making itself felt with an inexplicable difficulty which has suddenly arisen with NZ seafood exports to China? This would be typical dominant and threatening behaviour as already exhibited with Australia in recent months.

Is this the tip of the iceberg? We fear that it could well be. 

Well, that's it for another week - albeit somewhat delayed this week. We hope that life continues to treat you as kindly as possible 

With lotsaluv from us in Medellin - la Cuidad de la Primavera Eterna.

Jim and Jean

  

Chinese Virus statistics week number 26 as at 12/02/21 (plus political comment and personal news) since August 21st. 2020 (182 days)

Hi once more to everyone,

Here's hoping everyone is in the pink. We hope that our weekly C Virus newsletters continue to be of interest and that our other comments provoke much thought. We doubt that there has ever been a time in history (excluding wartime of course) where the world has been at a comparable turning point - and make no mistake - we are ALL at war with Socialist/Communist forces of darkness whose only interest is domination of the world, and by extension OF YOU. Their plans included the C Virus and are well advanced. They absolutely had to get rid of Donald Trump, who constituted a temporary block to their plans, and they are attempting to even prevent his political comeback. This will blow up in their faces. They have at least partially succeeded with the C Virus to date, but they are absolutely not concerned that they have directly caused the deaths of almost 2.5 million people so far. If you cannot believe that, you just need to be aware that Mao T'se Tung's evil regime killed 70 million of his own people on-going since 1949.. And the Uighurs in Xinjiang are heading towards genocide at least on a scale rivalling the Jewish Holocaust in WW2. It is said that Socialism never sleeps and how right that is. It is relentless in its evil quest to dominate every country and ultimately the world, and this quest has been helped massively by the C Virus - which of course was all part of the plan.

Here we go again (figures in parenthesis relate to 21/08/20) - 

MUNDO - World

Total cases - 108,380,779 - (21,168,111) - up 87,212,668 or 412.0%

Deaths - 2,380,746 - 2.1% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,621,418 or 213.5%

Recoveries - 80,579,855 - 74.4% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 66,595,012 or 476.2%

Therefore active cases - 25,420,178 - 23.5% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 18,994,239 or 295.6%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692 per week) of 7,845,418,911 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.324% (0.082%) of the total world population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 3,240 - (1,437)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 445,331 or 1.7%

Figures seem to be all slowly headed in the right direction, if you compare last weeks' figures. But exactly why is no doubt anyone's guess, especially as so much of this reporting is fraudulent.

ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States

Total cases - 28,002,240 - (5,429,115) - up 22,573,125 or 415.8%

Deaths - 486,922 - 1.7% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 316,141 or 185.1%

Recoveries - 17,930,819 - 64.1% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 15,086,284 or 530.4%

Therefore active cases - 9,584,499 - 34.2% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 7,170,670 or 297.1%. Of the total population of 332,198,570 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.885% (0,729%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 28,852 - (9,043)

Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:

Total cases up 727,457 or 2.7%

Deaths up 19,919 or 4.3%

Recoveries up 897,471 or 5.3%

Active cases down 189,933 or 1.9%.

Compared with last week, recoveries are running ahead of new cases, and total active cases per 1 million are down 2%. Active cases themselves are down 1.9% as well, so let's hope that these trends continue.

There is a right of centre Newsmax commentator - Michael Savage - who has delivered some comments on the latest Trump Impeachment which we feel are worthy of quoting. He summarises his political philosophy in 3 words - borders, language and culture. He characterises his views as conservative nationalism. The commentary is as follows:

"True History will see the impeachment charade being staged against former President Donald Trump as the greatest political blunder of history, said Michael Savage, host of the Michael Savage Show Podcast on Newsmax TV, while lambasting the House impeachment managers.

'I'm antagonised more than I've ever been in my life', Savage told Newsmax TV's Grant Stichfield Thursday night. 'I will tell you right now, I'm angrier now than I've ever been in my whole life watching these vermin. I have no other word for these garbage people. I'm so angry'.

'The impeachment trial is damaging the Republic', said Savage, 'and the impeachment managers remind me of the vermin prosecutors who take innocent men and try them without a trial. It's something that was done in the Soviet Union'.

Savage also said the trial is coming at a time when the nation is divided, and he wonders why the Democrats would want to antagonise half the nation with lies. But the good news is here for all of us who see the truth.

Savage added that he doesn't think the "Average American" believes much of what the Democrats are selling with their push this week to convict Trump of inciting the Jan. 6th. riot at the Capitol. He also accused House impeachment managers of presenting a propaganda film that used selectively edited clips to tie the violence to Donald Trump.

It would make Leni Riefenstahl proud to see what they did, he said while referring to the late German filmmaker often cited for her role in producing Nazi propaganda films.

'There was no direct connection. It was ludicrous. What the Democrats are doing to Donald Trump rivals what the Romans did to Tiberius Gracchus, a populist Roman politician who dared to stand up to the Swamp of his time. The Dems are no different than the demagogues of ancient Rome or the demagogues of the Soviet Union'.

Savage also said the sham trial will backfire on the Democrats, because voters will remember it and then "they are gonna vote the Democrat bums out", and dismissed claims made during the Senate testimony that the rioters were inside the Capitol with the intent of killing lawmakers."  

Since then we watched some of the proceedings in the Senate and frankly the garbage being spouted by the Dims made our stomachs churn. They fabricated evidence and selectively edited parts of it. They ignored the fact that there were many already primed Antifa/BLM activists ready to go once they received the go-ahead to invade the Capitol. When that happened the genuine Trump supporters were just leaving the site of the President's address to march PEACEFULLY to the Capitol. And another curious fact - Capitol Police who were to have started their shift at 11 am, were stood down and told to go home. Fortunately Trump's lawyers were onto them and countered with proper unvarnished versions. It was all further evidence of the "stop at nothing" efforts of the Dims to pervert justice by whatever means. If the Dims had done this in a real court of law they would be charged with perjury at least with their lawyers disbarred and probably in the slammer!

One consequence of the Impeachment hearing is that the "never Trumper" Republicans (including the Senate minority leader - Mitch McConnell) are now well exposed and will be "primaried" in 2022 and 2024 to ensure that in future only Republicans true to the party principles are elected in those Senate and House seats. Otherwise there is a strong possibility that Trump and his supporters will form a breakaway party called America First, or somesuch. It will be the end of the GOP, and will be the inevitable final outcome of their continuing efforts to sabotage President Trump and all that he stands for. 

We can highly recommend listening on Youtube to Candace Owens, a young black woman in her early thirties, who speaks eminent sense. She is a slightly right of centre commentator who is married to an Englishman whose father is a member of the House of Lords in England. She often refers to the Democrat Party's treatment of the black people - the Democrats were the party of slavery and they fired the first shots in the Civil War with Washington in 1861, simply to protect their inhuman, privileged and flawed way of life. They also spawned the Ku Klux Klan and violently opposed desegregation in the 60's and 70's. Biden himself was against desegregating schools and is a closet racist. The Dims have perpetrated a huge con job on mainly urban black populations where they have kept the blacks in poverty and denied them proper health and education, so their future remains bleakly the same. The City of Baltimore in Maryland is a very good example, as is the Southside of Chicago where homicides have risen to an alarming degree over recent months, thanks to the wokeish, black, LGBT mayor who should be guilty of criminal negligence. As should many other Dim wokeish mayors and governors. Listen to Candace and be reliably informed.     

On that subject, the Democrat Governor Newsom of California is on the skids as there are now sufficient petition signatures for him to be sacked (recalled). They have the required 1.5 million signatures already, but the organisers are continuing to a further final target of 2 million so that there can be no chance of the crooked governor evading at least some justice. He should then be prosecuted for the damage that he has caused to his state's economy and the destruction of citizens' livelihoods. 

Governor Cuomo of New York has been proved to have falsified the statistics of the extent of the rest home deaths caused by his murderous order to move infected patients back into nursing homes where the C Virus spread like a wildfire. It is now estimated that at least 15,000 elderly residents were killed as a direct result of that inexplicable order, which was completely unnecessary because at the time, there was an Army field hospital in Central Park and a USN hospital ship moored in NY. Both of these facilities which had been provided by Donald Trump, were hardly used, but nevertheless they had the specialised facilities to take these infected people. With any luck Cuomo will be prosecuted for negligent culpable homicide, but with the corrupt Dims in the White House, don't hold your breath.

We've mentioned Sleezy Joe's executive orders before, but the ones affecting release of illegal immigrants and the opening of borders, as well as destroying the oil and gas industry, are already being legally challenged by the states involved because the orders are actually unconstitutional. If that doesn't work in the corrupt US legal system, we have no doubt that the governors will not countenance the resultant damage to their states and the country as a whole, and will therefore openly defy the presidential orders. 

There is widespread fury rapidly gaining ground throughout mainly the "red" states affected by these orders, and is not helped by the Dim's impeachment criminal shenanigans as well as Biden's latest move to threaten Florida by preventing all travel in or out of the state by whatever means. The excuse is that one of these so-called new strains of the Chinese Virus has established itself in the state, but the real reason is that Governor de Santis has introduced state legislation to rein in the flagrantly mis-used censorship and surveillance powers of the big tech companies, at least in his state. Other states will probably follow. It is straight out Federal revenge, no doubt at the behest of big tech, for an action that the Federal Government itself should be carrying out in the best interests of its citizens. But they will never do that because widespread censorship and surveillance is definitely in the interests of the Socialists.

And, since President Trump's acquittal in the Senate on bogus incitement to riot charges, the Dims are wasting no time in continuing to pursue him by any means possible. Apparently Georgia, DC and Washington State are leading the legal charge to try by whatever illegal means they can dig up, to continue their vendetta against Trump and try and hobble any chance that he might have of running for public office again.

We don't know at which point the 75 million plus Trump voters and supporters might say enough is enough, but we suspect it is rapidly approaching that point. Probably the Southern Border will be the catalyst, but this flashpoint will cause Secession because the alternative is destruction of the states themselves and the country as a whole, which is something that true patriots will never accept. By our reckoning there are over 30 states which would, either immediately or over a period of time, join such a Secession.

No-one can predict the outcome of this, but it would certainly not mirror the events of 1861 where the opposing factions formed standing armies and fought each other to a standstill over 3 years or so. It is inconceivable that the US armed forces would today fire on their own people, so there would no doubt be a division of loyalties which would be solved by units moving and joining the new country or staying with whatever remained of the US. 

It is worth noting here that the US armed forces swear loyalty to the US Constitution - not the Commander in Chief who also happens to be the president. If the CinC is perceived to be acting unlawfully, and in particular against the Constitution itself (which is held dear), then their loyalties would remain with the Constitution. The Dims in their ongoing lack of awareness and wisdom, almost certainly fail to completely realise the significance of this.    

Of course another logical development of these thought processes could be an armed revolt and takeover of the Federal Government, pending LEGAL elections to be held in the future once the corrupt states' vote counting machinations could be cleaned up. In that way the armed forces' loyalty to the Constitution would be maintained, although the new seceded country could also offer exactly the same constitutional provisions. Therefore the military would maintain their sworn oath of loyalty in either of these situations.

It should also be noted here that in Arizona the Senate held a final vote on proceeding with the forensic audit of vote counting that we have talked about before. However, the Republicans have only a 1 vote majority and a RINO Republican voted with the Democrats to stop the investigation. The matter is now the subject of further legal action. We don't know what this means in respect of the timing but under federal electoral law, the states are required to keep ALL electoral records for 22 months after an election, so if it was found later that this material was missing or machines wiped, then that would constitute destruction of evidence which is a serious crime in itself. We have to say that we believe, as do millions of Americans, that there was fraud committed in order for Biden to win the vital states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Wisconsin where Biden's margin is razor thin. If these states were proved to have been won by Trump, then there would definitely be an illegitimate "president" in the White House. God knows what would happen then. 

Watch this space.

         

COLOMBIA 

Total cases - 2,179,641 - (433,805) - up 1,745,836 or 402.5%

Deaths - 56,983 - 2.6% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 42,838 or 302.9%

Recoveries - 2,065,209 - 94.8% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,814,715 or 724.5%

Therefore active cases - 57,449 - 2.6% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 111,747 or 66.1%. Of the total population of 51, 216,160 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.112% (0.332%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,122 - (1,367)

Active cases since last week are down 21,697 or 27.4%

Once again the improvement in active cases in a week (27.4%) is almost beyond belief, but slightly more believable than last week's number of 34%. As a matter of interest, the figure in just 2 days is now at the time of writing 6% better again. We can only hope that the figures are true because they offer some hope for the future.

Following are this week's headlines from www.colombiareports.com:

Feb. 7th. How terrorism works Part 1: Colombia's ELN guerillas

Feb. 8th. Colombia's president spins growing number of lies and conspiracy theories

Feb. 8th. Colombia's new Defence Minister kicks off first day negating political violence

Feb. 9th. Colombia to legalise migrant status of all undocumented Venezuelans

Feb. 10th. Duque's fear for Colombia's migrant votes 

Feb. 10th. HRW slams Colombia over failure to curb violence against human rights defenders

Feb. 10th. How terrorism works Part 2: Colombia's mafia president

Feb. 10th. The tragicomic ineptitude of Colombia's peace commissioner

Feb. 11th. Colombia's Defence Minister asks mayors for money to recruit police

Feb. 11th. Duque reverting freedom of the press to Colombia's "darkest days"

Life carries on in the City of Eternal Spring.  Not as much rain as we have had over previous months, which with heightened economic activity, is starting to cause pollution in the city again. There have as a result been sporadic attempts to reinstitute the Pico y Placa system where vehicles are restricted from commuter times depending on the last digit of their number plates. No doubt it will happen properly soon.There are also many major roadworks happening near us which make the choice of a route to anywhere fairly difficult if you want to avoid long delays.

And there is an apartment building being constructed a block away from us which reared its head into our view just pre-pandemic, but then all work stopped for at least 9 months. But it is good to see that work has now resumed and there is another floor in the last 10 days. It looks as though there is one more to go and then it will be about 17 floors altogether. Quite fascinating to see how the construction is done with all the concrete for floors and pillars poured on-site with timber boxing in the old-fashioned way. No precast slabs here.

MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY

Following are the "active cases per 1 million of of total population" for each country nominated above. 12 South American countries in total. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week:

Mexico - 2,073 - (2,126) - down 53 or 2.5% - 7th. - same placing

Costa Rica - 6,946 - (7,370) - down 424 or 5.8% - WORST - taken unenviable top place from Panama

Panama - 4,796 - (7,717) - down 2,921 or 37.9% - 2nd. - an improvement from worst to 2nd. An unbelievable improvement in 7 days of 38% 

Colombia - 1,122 - (1,545) - down 423 or 27.4% - BEST equal with Chile. Again an unbelievable improvement by 27% from 10th. last week 

Ecuador - 1,496 - (1,604) - down 108 or 6.7% - 9th. Same placing as last week.

Peru - 1,354 - (1,409) - down 55 or 3.9% -  10th. 11th. last week but still a 4% improvement.

Bolivia - 4,118 - (4,139) - down 21 or 0.5% - 3rd. Same placing as last week, but a slight improvement of 0.5%

Paraguay - 2,926 - (3,000) - down 74 or 2.5% - 6th. Same placing as last week but a reasonable improvement of 2.5%

Brazil - 3,917 - (4,109) - down 192 or 4.7% - 4th. Same placing as last week but a reasonable improvement of 4.7%

Chile - 1,122 - (1,210) - down 88 or 7.3% - BEST equal with Colombia. Good improvement of 7.3%

Argentina - 3,349 - (3,482) - down 133 or 3.8% - 5th. Same placing as last week. Reasonable improvement of nearly 4%. 

Uruguay - 1,524 - (1,700) - down 176 or 10.4% - 8th. Same placing as last week. Good improvement of 10.4%

AUSTRALIA

Total cases - 28,880 - (23,035) - up 5,845 or 25.4%

Deaths - 909 - 3.2% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%

Recoveries - 26,111 - 90.4% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,477 or 91.5%

Therefore active cases - 1,867 - 6.5% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,155 or 79.3%. Of the total population of 25,675,939 (25,536,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.007% (0.035%) of the total population. 

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 72 - (56)

Compared to last week, active cases are up 14 or 0.8%

There seems to have developed C Virus hysteria  - again. In W Australia where there was only ONE supposed case of the Chinese Virus,  a couple were threatened first with a $A20,000 fine each if they did not submit to a C Virus test and then when they didn't budge, the threat was escalated to $A50,000 - each. Shades of Melbourne a few months ago where police were smashing car windscreens with their truncheons if vehicles did not stop at roadblocks.

Typical of how many governments are now fraudulently using their C Virus draconian powers (largely self-awarded) to control and coerce their populations.  

NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand 

Total cases - 2,326 - (1,714) - up 612 or 35.7%

Deaths  - 25 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - no change

Recoveries - 2,257 - 97.0% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 726 or 47.4%

Therefore active cases - 44 - 1.9% - (49 - 3.0%) - down 5 or 10.2%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population. 

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 9  - (14)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 18 or 29.0%.

To put things in perspective, although it is strictly outside the scope of this week's reporting, we have learnt that there have been 3 new community cases all in one family which have broken out in South Auckland. As a result, Auckland is at the moment in a Level 2 lockdown and the rest of the country at Level 3. Level 1 is the most severe and restrictive and has already been threatened. Shades again of Australia.

The Socialist toothy grin is at it again and many people cry out - "Oh Jacinda, please save us all from this dreadful viral scourge". Try coming and living in Colombia - or anywhere else for that matter!!!!!

And, we have been very pleased to hear the radio personality, Leighton Smith, back on his weekly podcast after a month's holiday. One of his interviewees was a Senior Economist at The NZ Initiative - Matt Burgess. There has very recently been released an over 800 page report from the Climate Commission with regard to  achieving the draconian reduction in emissions that NZ has set itself in just a few years. According to the Climate Commission, these reductions will only be achieved by severe and difficult to attain methods. However, Mr. Burgess claims that the opposite is true and that the same emissions targets can actually be achieved fairly easily without drastic changes to peoples' lives. 

The inference seems to be that the findings of organisations like the Climate Commission are initially set up and driven by their Socialist masters in order to impose the most draconian and controlling measures possible in order to further control the population. Exactly what is being seriously attempted in the US.   

On that contentious note we will love you and leave you but we will continue to be fans of Leighton Smith on Newstalk ZB in Auckland.

Lotsaluv from us in the City of Eternal Spring..............

Jim and Jean

Chinese Virus statistics week number 25 as at 05/02/21 since August 21st. 2020 (175 days)

Hi again to all,

We hope that you have had a good week and that everyone is in the pink. Here are this week's Chinese Virus figures which we just know you have been waiting for with bated breath!!

MUNDO - World

Total cases - 105,517,582 - (21,168,111) - up 84,349,471 or 398.5%

Deaths - 2,296,803 - 2.2% - (759,328 - 3.6%) - up 1,537,475 or 202.5%

Recoveries - 77,210,665 - 73.3% - (13,984,843 - 66.1%) - up 63,225,822 or 452.1%

Therefore active cases - 25,865,509 - 24.5% - (6,425,939 - 30.3%) - up 19,439,570 or 302.5%. Of the total population (which is estimated to be increasing by 1,557,692) of 7,843,861,219 (7,804,380,455), the percentage of active cases is 0.330% (0.082%) of the total world population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 3,298  - (1,437)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 77,521 or 0.3%

Some encouraging signs here. Since last week the number of active cases is down by 77,521. And active cases per 1 million population is also down by 10 which is 0.302%. Small movements but maybe sustaining longer term movements. Usual disclaimers concerning the accuracy of these figures. At least we are comparing apples with apples!

ESTADOS UNIDOS - United States

Total cases - 27,274,783 -  (5,429,115) - up 21,845,668 or 402.4%

Deaths - 467,003 - 1.7% - (170,781 - 3.2%) - up 296,222 or 173.5%

Recoveries - 17,033,348 - 62.5% - (2,844,535 - 52.4%) - up 14,188,813 or 498.8%

Therefore active cases - 9,774,432 - 35.8% - (2,413,829 - 44.6%) - up 7,360,603 or 304.9%. Of the total population of 332,161,557 (331,236,184), the percentage of active cases is 2.943% (0.729%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 29,427 - (9,043)

Compared to last week, the comparative figures are:

Total cases up 934,152 or 3.6%

Deaths up 23,209 or 5.2%

Recoveries up 961,600 or 6.0%  

Active cases down 50,657 or 0.5%

There are several trending figures which need commenting on. Notwithstanding that there is no doubt that there has been deliberate misreporting and recording cases and deaths as Covid related when in fact they were due to other causes.

Compared to last week, the percentage of active cases to total population is down, total active cases per 1 million of population is down, and active cases are down by 50,657. Small movements but all in the right direction. Maybe partly due to the effect of vaccines so far (notwithstanding our reservations on that subject), but also may be due to overall trends with more and more states belatedly opening up their economies. More than anything it could be due to an overdue movement to more accurate reporting, entirely due to there being a new administration in Washington!! We'll keep an open mind. And it should also be pointed out that if it hadn't been for President Trump, there would be NO vaccine to even discuss. Think on.     

First of all we thought that the following very apt comments from Clint Eastwood might be of interest. Says it all -

"I voted against that incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron currently in the White House!!" 

And another one - "I approve of gun control, as long as I'm in control of the gun"!!

Now a few political comments - 

Firstly a comment on the sham and unconstitutional Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. There is no doubt that these make-believe proceedings will fail because of the unconstitutionality (he is no longer in office and therefore cannot be "removed"), and the total lack of proof of any guilt - i.e. of incitement to riot. This is just commonsense but such is the Dims desperation, they cannot help themselves it seems, in their rabid quest to completely destroy the legacy of President Trump, and to prevent him from ever running for office again. They are scared witless of him, and with good reason. 

A fascinating story with some similarities to this utter nonsense is that of Pope Stephen VI who was the Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 896 - 897 AD when he died by strangulation. If you just go to Wikipedia and read his gruesome story you will see the farcical similarities with the actions now proposed against President Trump by the US Senate. It doesn't say whether he strangled himself or someone else was the perpetrator - shades of Jeffrey Epstein!!  

Apart from all this, as if that wasn't enough Dim shenanigans, we see the hysterical and politically driven Dims trying to perpetuate the nonsense that the seat of government of the United States is under threat of attack from extreme right-wing racists!! They have surrounded the Capitol with fences and razor wire and have instituted metal detectors so that Congressmen and Senators cannot smuggle arms into the Chambers to assassinate God knows who. It is political grandstanding on a massive scale costing tens of millions of dollars that they don't have but will create out of thin air by the Federal Reserve's counterfeiting money machine.

Then there are the many Executive Orders signed by the reclusive President Biden which are unconstitutional and therefore illegal. These include most if not all of his decrees concerning illegal immigration and his arbitrary cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline. Already Texas and Arizona have filed urgent lawsuits against the Administration in respect of these orders. And it is certain that as border states, they will never allow detrimental situations to develop which will cause direct damage to their states from the Dims' crazy immigration reforms. And we use the word "reforms" lightly!.

We also believe that right now there are contingency plans being drawn up by key states to deal with inevitable Secession from the Union if the Administration does not back down from many of their most destructive Socialist schemes. There is actually as we write, a referendum circulating in Texas which would authorise the state government to advance planning for Secession, which as you can imagine is a far more complicated matter than it was in 1861.

The Dims are putting the US and its people in danger with the caravans of illegals now nearing the Mexico - US border and at the same time putting tens of thousands of skilled workers out of work in the vital oil and gas industries. Under President Trump, the US achieved energy self-sufficiency, but Biden is going hell for leather to undo all of that - simply to satisfy the lunatic extreme left of the Democrat Party. And all this at a time when the US is struggling to pay its massive debt - 30 trillion dollars of government debt, but an eye-watering 80 trillion when taking into account private and corporate debt. We've said this before, but how can this debt ever be repaid? Maybe one way - massive inflation and associated devaluation of the currency. This will cause a decline in the US economy to match that of Venezuela and will also have severe repercussions word-wide, but the debt might get repaid!!

However, Secession would see the financially stable Republican (Red) states in a relatively good position due to their prudent financial management over the years, whereas the Democrat states would sink even further into the morass that they have created through crazy Socialist spending schemes together with ever higher state taxes including property taxes which are right now causing a large exodus of people from those states. Florida for example is experiencing an influx of 1,500 people per day from the bankrupt Democrat states. Texas is in a similar position.

And then there is the increasing surveillance and censorship issues with many electronic platforms such as Twitter and Facebook cancelling customers accounts (including President Trump's)  simply because they are deemed in these IT companies' biased political judgement to be expressing conservative political views. WHO THE HELL DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? But there are moves afoot to counter this anti-democratic stifling of the 1st Amendment and already there is another platform called Gab to counter Twitter. Twitter is losing customers in droves, and rightly so. Trump already has almost 2 million followers on Gab, so it is happening.

The forensic examination of Maricopa County vote counting in Phoenix, Arizona is underway at last, but has suffered further delays due to the County's efforts to thwart the process at every turn. But it will happen - maybe with results in about 2 week's time. This is the FIRST TIME that there has been a proper forensic examination of vote counting in ANY state in relation to the 2020 Presidential Election. The effect on the election as a whole once other states have come on board will be significant and it's anyone's guess just what will happen then. But if justice is finally denied, then we fear that Secession will be inevitable.  

Finally there are reports and indications that the CCP of China is testing Biden and his minions just to see how much they can get away with. This is likely a prelude to invasion of Taiwan and further pressuring and bullying of Australia and NZ.  The US must stand as firm as it did under Trump, but there are worrying signs.

The world is increasingly a fraught place with countries like China always doing their utmost to advance their own plans for world domination.

COLOMBIA

Total cases - 2,135,412 - (433,805) - up 1,701,607 or 392.3%

Deaths - 56,131 - 2.6% - (14,145 - 3.3%) - up 41,986 or 296.8%

Recoveries - 2,001,135 - 93.7% - (250,494 - 57.7%) - up 1,750,641 or 698.9%

Therefore active cases - 79,146  - 3.7% - (169,196 - 39.0%) - down 90,050 or 53.2%. Of the total population of 51,205,793 (50,948,628), the percentage of active cases is 0.155% (0.332%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 1,545 - (1,367)

Active cases since last week are down 41,132 or 34.2%

These figures are quite literally unbelievable. How does the number of active cases reduce by 41,000 (34%) in 7 days? Either the previous high figures were "manufactured" to scare the population, or the present low figures are simply not correct. And the active cases percentage of total cases is at a level which lies somewhere between Australia and NZ!!! Really!!? Either way, it inspires absolutely NO confidence in the management of Colombia's health system. Like everything else here, it's as corrupt as hell. Although the actual care and operational expertise if required is world-class, and we suppose that's what we need to be most concerned about.

Speaking of that, the finale of our car emissions debacle with the Alcadia de Envigado played out last week. It turned out actually that we had received 2 tickets, but the 1st one was now out of the discount period because we were absolutely ignorant of the fact that it existed. Sometimes they send you a notice and sometimes they don't. You need to check their website fairly often!!

Anyway, to get the discount, it is necessary to sit a punitive refresher course. So, on Thursday last week we duly presented ourselves for said course - just up the road - an easy 10 minute walk. They were all very cheerful and we had a hilarious time with Google Translate and our limited Spanish. We also met a Venezuelan who works for an oil company in the Middle East and spoke excellent English, so that was certainly helpful. But then they realised that the course would be an absolute waste of time because of course it would be all in Spanish, and they also hid behind the excuse that we were "of a certain age"!!  So, they got us to sign a form saying that we had attended and we paid their fee, which was then deducted from the fine which we had to go upstairs in the same building to pay. One of the staff members accompanied us there and was very helpful showing us where to go. So, we are now legal again. What a performance and not exactly cheap - COP 655,000 (NZD 262). Now we understand another aspect of the car-owning bureaucracy - it was just unfortunate that in the first instance the car was in the workshop when the old certificate expired and the first ticket was the day after we collected the car. 

Once again we owe Clara a debt of gratitude for helping to steer us through this aspect of Colombian bureaucracy! 

Following are this week's headlines from www.colombiareports.com:

Jan. 30th. Colombia tries to recover loss of formal jobs with informal labour

Jan. 30th. Colombia's COVID vaccination drive to kick off "on February 20"

Jan. 30th. Duque isolated as US vows "strong support for peace in Colombia" 

Jan. 31st. Colombia's war crimes tribunal exposes former guerillas' sinister kidnapping practices

Feb. 1st. Colombia's top bankers could face 4 years in prison, but evidence of tax evasion ignored

Feb. 1st. Native Colombia's fighting COVID without government

Feb. 1st. Medellin business elite endorses fraud to obtain poor children's lunch money

Feb. 2nd. Colombia's failing state Part 1: Antioquia and the art of decapitation

Feb. 3rd. Duque's former chief of staff replaces Colombia's late defense minister

Feb. 3rd. Foreigners kidnapped, held hostage in southwest Colombia

Feb. 3rd. Colombia's ex-president asks Biden to remove Cuba from terror list

Feb. 3rd. Colombia's failing state Part 2: who is the boss in Buenaventura?

Feb. 4th. Terrorist attacks in Colombia almost doubled in 2020: Defense Ministry

Feb. 4th. Court revokes detention of cops who discovered Colombia's 2018 election fraud plot

Feb. 5th. Glencore to abandon mining in Colombia amid growing woes

MEXICO, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY

Following are the "active cases per 1 million of total population" for each country nominated above. We have included 2 further countries - Bolivia and Paraguay for which there are no comparative figures until next week. Now 12 South American countries in total. Figures in parenthesis are for the previous week:

Mexico - 2,126 - (2,268) - down 142 or 6.3% - 7th.

Costa Rica - 7,370 - (7,549) - down 179 or 2.4% - 2nd

Panama - 7,717 - (9,641) - down 1,924 or 20.0% - WORST

Colombia - 1,545 - (2,349) - down 804 or 34.2% - 10th.

Ecuador - 1,604 - (1,526) - up 78 or 5.1% - 9th.

Peru - 1,409 - (1,379) - up 30 or 2.2% - 11th.

Bolivia - 4,139 - (N/A) - 3rd

Paraguay - 3,000 - (N/A) - 6th.

Brazil - 4,109 - (4,289) - down 180 or 4.2% - 4th.

Chile - 1,210 -  (1.334) - down 124 or 9.3% - BEST

Argentina - 3,482 - (3,627) - down 145 or 4.0% - 5th.

Uruguay - 1,700 - (2,059) - down 359 or 17.4% - 8th.

Apart from Colombia's unbelievable improvement referred to above, the figures are generally going in the right direction, except for 2, but even those figures have not deteriorated greatly

AUSTRALIA

Total cases - 28,842 - (23,035) - up 5,807 or 25.2 %

Deaths - 909 - 3.2% - (370 - 1.7%) - up 539 or 145.7%

Recoveries - 26,080 - 90.4% - (13,634 - 59.2%) - up 12,446 or 91.3%

Therefore active cases - 1,853 - 6.4% - (9,022 - 39.2%) - down 7,169 or 79.5%. Of the total population of 25,675,939 (25,536,969), the percentage of active cases is 0.007% (0.035%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 72 - (56)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 3 or 0.2%

NUEVA ZELANDA - New Zealand

Total cases - 2,315 -  (1,714) - up 601 or 35.1%

Deaths - 25 - 1.1% - (25 - 1.4%) - same

Recoveries - 2,228 - 96.2% - (1,531 - 95.5%) - up 697 or 45.5%

Therefore active cases - 62 - 2.7% - (49 - 3.0%) - up 13 or 26.5%. Of the total population of 5,002,100 (5,002,100), the percentage of active cases is 0.001% (0.001%) of the total population.

Total active cases per 1 million of total population - 12 - (14)

Compared to last week, active cases are down 10 or 13.9%.

If you do nothing else, unless you've already done so as a result of our last post, please go to www.thebfd.co.nz/2021/02/06/labour-are-selling-nzs-soul/?

This will give you an understanding of just where NZ's Socialist government is taking the country in respect of the CCP of China. A very dangerous and shameful path which will end in tears.

A quote from the article - "Fools deal with the Devil at their peril. No matter how glittering the prize the Prince of Liars dangles before the naive and greedy, the Devil always wins and cheats his dupes".

That is all we will say on the matter.

Hope you have had a good week and that the next one lives up to your expectations.

Cheers and lotsaluv from the City of Eternal Spring

Jim and Jean