https://youtu.be/q_f6YxzDvag?si=lNruauP6S-gZa3M7 

This is an excellent interview which throws well researched arguments against the last 80 years of attempted American world domination - often with disastrous consequences.

Just imagine if all the money that has been swallowed up by endless wars, had not been, how much better the world would be now. Think of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq as three very well-known needless examples.

And a very good argument could be made that without constant American regime change aggression, the Cold War with the USSR might never have happened.

If countries had been engaged in peaceful trade and development, instead of armed aggression, what a different world we would have had.

Of course there has always been a need for well equipped and organised military forces which could be used on a co-operative basis to quell armed aggression wherever it may have erupted, but apart from legitimate defense of one's own homeland security, that should be the limit.

Peaceful, co-operative and competitive trade would have created international attitudes and conditions unimaginable today.

There is US debt (34 trillion USD right now) - none of which can ever be repaid. And much more around the world. All this debt is inevitably going to cause an economic implosion as has never been seen and with consequences that can only be imagined. The weaponisation of the US dollar over the last 80 years is now directly responsible for the growth of the BRICS trading and currency bloc, which may well succeed in its aim of overthrowing USD dominance. The existing US debt  growth has only been possible with the USD dollar as the World Reserve Currency. If that status disappears, the resultant collapse will be even more catastrophic.

To embrace, or perhaps even consider these arguments, certainly needs a substantial mind shift among most, if not all of us, as our lives have been conditioned by the last 80 years in which we have lived, to a greater or lesser extent.

Maybe all, or some of the above, could be said to be wishful idealism, but one can always strive to look beyond the current extremely dangerous world state - and hope.

As always, your thoughts and opinions will be appreciated here in El Retiro.........

We hope all is well in your lives....

Fwd: [NZCPR-Newsletter] The Radicalisation of Parliament

Hi again to all,

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

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

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

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

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

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

 wokeness.

Cheers from Colombia.......

Jim and Jean

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

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

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

Dear friends and family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jim and Jean  

  

 8

Our Colombian doings and as usual our political opinions.

Hi to all,

We hope everyone is well wherever you are and we send our Compliments of the Season.

We have decided on a slightly different format to our blogs in that we start with our personal and local news and follow with comments about the world situation, which we have to say is daily getting worse in many respects, and which is actually far worse than most people are aware. However, there are glimmers of hope ahead.

We have been asked by a very few to not send anything remotely political, so in an effort to placate these souls, we are splitting the blog as above. You do not have to read beyond the personal section should you wish not to do so. The last blog was August 28th. - 107 days ago, so this one is well overdue. 

We have had a few finishing jobs concerning our extensions/renovations to complete, and a few of these are still in process, but it's just a matter of time and perseverance. There have been myriad messages on Whatsapp (our number is +57 310 3069697) and email to our various contractors - all laboriously translated into Spanish by yours truly and Google Translate and that in itself has been very time consuming. However, we accept that we live in a Spanish speaking country and it is really up to us to speak the local language. Although, having said that, it is better to have an accurate translation when things technical are being discussed to avoid the obvious problems that can ensue with misunderstandings.

On that subject, we still do not speak Spanish anywhere near as well as we would like, but we are blessed in having Google Translate which we commonly use when paying accounts at a Bancolombia agency that we use or when going to Sura Comfama, which is for arranging doctor's appointments or prescription enquiries. But for everyday shopping, or visits to a service station to re-fuel the car, our Spanish is adequate. Similarly, ordering in restaurants and reading Spanish language menus. Some restaurants, as a result of the Covid claptrap, used that as an excuse to do away with paper menus on the spurious excuse that they were a potential transmitter of disease, but that has been scientifically disproved long ago. Anyway, some restaurants have adopted QR codes that you access on your phone, but we haven't been successful yet in making such access, being the Dinosaurs that we undoubtedly are, so unless the waitress is helpful with their phone, or they can reluctantly provide a paper menu, we just walk out. But that has almost never happened after some laborious back and forth!  Maybe in time they might get the message.......? 

On that note, service as we understand it, is almost always conspicuously absent in Colombia. Never, if your glass is empty in a restaurant, are you asked whether you would like some more, so their ability to on-sell or just provide service without being asked is always in question. It's not that they are unhelpful; it's just that it doesn't seem to occur to them. This is a very common comment that we have heard from a number of expats. However, this is in no way meant to denigrate the general friendliness and willingness to help when asked that we encounter all the time.

We experienced a situation recently when we expressed interest in buying a charcoal cooker which we thought may be a good investment in view of the parlous state of energy in the world. Although here in Colombia which is an oil, coal and natural gas producer, that doesn't seem to be an immediate problem. And energy costs are LOW compared to just about anywhere else. For example, our latest monthly energy bill was for a total of 548,816 Colombian Pesos. This equates to NZD178 at current exchange rates and includes water supply, waste water, gas and electricity. We use gas for cooking (cooktop and oven) and heating and hot water.

Anyway, back to our situation - we saw this cooker (smallest of 4 sizes - the largest of which would cook a meal for 15!). All the others came with weather-proof covers so they could be stored outside just like a BBQ. We were looking at spending upwards of 1 million Pesos (NZD 260) but we just got a blanket refusal when we asked for a cover for the smallest model. This was a problem for us because we just don't have room under cover to store it. So, no sale and they just don't seem to care!! Otherwise it is an excellent product made locally in stainless steel and is cylindrical with the charcoal fire contained at the bottom and racks at various heights above the fire according to what you are cooking. Very solid and well-made. Similar principle to the Maori Hangi. But, as with everything here, one needs to persevere in order to get what one needs! It will be here; we just need to find it!

Jean's son, Perry, and partner Tracie and the 2 nietos, Carter and Nash, came here a couple of weeks ago for a week and it was great to see them here. Perry was still working so he was constrained somewhat with on-line meetings, etc. and Tracie was home-schooling the boys every morning. However, Perry and Tracie went for early morning walks around Retiro and all around the village, so they got a very good appreciation of the town, which is delightful, being a very traditional Colombian town, without being touristy, as Guatape is.

There is a school just across a small river from here and the nietos played some Soccer (Futball) with some local kids. Their Spanish isn't too bad either, having been largely brought up by their Mexican nanny, Rosa, when they were little. Futball here is a national obsession - as Rugby is in NZ and from what we have seen, there is much talent which develops in an atmosphere of extreme competition.

The town square in front of the cathedral has been undergoing an extensive re-development for around 10 months now and is nearing completion. The amount of building development and associated works, such as road building here needs to be seen to be believed. No sign of Covid (mask wearing) or recession - the place so far is economically buoyant  - no retail vacancies on streets or in malls. 

Jean had organised one morning for horse-riding which we had never done here, but it had caught her imagination as she is a horse-woman from way back! The horses (6) and guide had been organised through a local couple that we had previously met and so we duly arrived at the meeting place - the local cemetery! Yours truly hoped that was not an omen. We trekked along a river valley up above the town and crossed the Rio Pantanillo 3 times during the trek, sometimes with the cold water half-way up the horses' flanks. Some trails very muddy and narrow and steep, both up and down. But fortunately the horses seemed very sure-footed and negotiated the trails and river crossings without losing their riders. Jean was in her element riding up and down the column chivvying the slower horses. For yours truly, the slower the better, since it was at least 60 years since the old guy had been on a horse that we had at Paroa Bay in the Bay of Islands!

Carter said that in the not too distant future he would like to come back to Retiro to learn how to ride los caballos properly. We are sure that Abuela Jean could give him some useful pointers in that direction!

Anyway, it was an experience and very satisfying to have had, and survive more or less in one piece! After dismounting (which yours truly had to be helped with, since he seemed to have become welded in the saddle!), we made our way to La Liebre (the Hare), which is our favourite breakfast restaurant with our NZ orchid breeder friend, Andy, on Sunday mornings. We had several Cervezas (beer) and an excellent lunch which assuaged our general hunger and thirst - then made our shaky way to the car which was in a near-by carpark. Just as well we didn't have to walk all the way home!

We also organised a lunch one day and our lawyer, Astrid, and our friend, Monica, came also. We had ordered food from an Arab food restaurant along the road and everyone brought food as well. It was good for Perry to have met Astrid and we had a very enjoyable time. 

Then on their day of departure, Andy  came to breakfast and it was another pleasant occasion with expertly cooked scrambled eggs and crispy bacon cooked by yours truly. The politics flew thick and fast! Andy had lived for many years in various parts of the US, including Florida, so lots to talk about.  

On that day we had organised a station wagon and driver to take them to the airport, but he didn't turn up and so we were getting concerned. Our Cuban neighbour, Jose, who had also been present at the aforementioned breakfast, however came to the rescue with his Volvo and delivered them all to the airport. He has a young 7 yr old daughter, Celeste, and the boys met her at various times and had an impromptu game of Futball in the road outside our house.

On the subject of the car - it is certainly true that when one buys an old classic (like us!), it probably takes about a year to finally iron out all the issues - like us!! The main thing with the old Merc. has been with overheating. It has 3 cooling fans - one belt driven from the engine which needed a new clutch, and 2 electric fans in front of the radiator. The clutch was replaced some time ago, but the electric fans have been becoming more erratic and we think the issue is simply the relay which controls them according to engine temperature. We have an excellent mechanic who owns his business in Medellin, but it is a bit of business going down there all the time. It is an experience going down the Las Palmas hill in a tow truck with the best part of 2 tons of Merc. sitting right behind the cab! But the tow truck driver was very competent and he didn't drop the car on the road. We had a hilarious conversation as we descended the hill. All in broken Spanish and with the occasional help from Google Translate. The difficulty was hitting the right buttons on the phone with all the jarring movement of the truck! But we explained how we had sailed our yacht 8,000 miles from NZ to Thailand and how big the boat was - only 12 metres - and how it was just us two loco old people who had set sail. People here find it hard to comprehend how anyone could do such a thing, mainly because here we are some distance from the sea and of course well above sea level. Such is the diversity of life. Most Colombians are intrigued as to why we choose to live in Colombia when we come from such a beautiful country as NZ. We simply say that we gained the wanderlust over the 10 years that we lived on the boat and that Colombia is equally as beautiful a country as NZ - different in many respects of course, but nevertheless entirely true. If you shut your eyes for a second up here you could easily imagine that you were still in NZ. A lot of the country is so similar. But establishing a new life in a foreign country with a foreign language and buying property, etc. is not for the faint-hearted and certainly not all beer and skittles! However, having said that, we feel blessed to be living in such a pleasant country town as Retiro. There is no way we could afford such a similar lifestyle in NZ.

But enough nostalgic philosophising - back to the car. Up here there is simply no-one with the necessary knowledge to successfully trouble-shoot the problems with a 30 year old car, especially one with no computers! If you can't plug it in, they are lost! Anyway, the other day the car developed a serious "miss" which meant we had to get a tow wagon down to Medellin - for the second time! A few months ago we had thought we had found a reasonable garage (taller) in Llanogrande and at that time asked them to change the spark plugs as we had no information as to when they had been replaced in the past. However, during the course of the "miss" fixing, it was discovered that the "new" plugs were in fact not new at all - and we had paid for them back then. But it's not worth going back to complain because the business has changed hands. At the time of writing the car is still in Medellin getting the electrics sorted - and the relay for the fans! It has taken 3 visits to Medellin so far to persuade our guy that this is likely the problem because like most Colombians, he has his own ideas and they really don't listen. Jean had consulted a W124 owners' group on Facebook and that was a recurring piece of advice, that relay failure is a common problem - and easily fixed. We also had this issue to some extent with aspects of the building alterations. Hopefully in the next couple of days we will get the car back and all will be well, including the relay! We've done a lot of preventative maintenance as well (brake hoses for instance!) and usually the attitude is - "they're ok - why replace before they break?" However, we don't want a brake malfunction on the Las Palmas hill between here and Medellin which drops 2,000 feet in less than 20 kms!! But to be fair, our "dueno del garage" is completely understanding and doesn't question such things.

We have been becoming expert at catching the El Retiro bus - either going down to collect the car, or in reverse after dropping the old girl off! The other passengers on the bus are unfailingly helpful when making one's way to a seat, especially when they espy decrepit old Gringos like us! And the bus will stop anywhere you want to get on or off. It's usually a very comfortable ride. We now use the San Diego stop which is only a 10-15 minute walk from the taller (workshop) and along the way there are a number of local eateries which offer such irresistible delicacies as Papas Rellenas, which are potato crusts filled with prime ground beef, mashed potato and carrots. And excellent coffee tinto - small Americanos. And SO many tallers for cars and motorcycles - all full and conducting repairs ad nauseam. Even overflowing out onto the footpaths and streets - right under the no parking signs! It's a totally eclectic scene alive with activity. And not a mask in sight - even on the bus!!

And now to the more sober matters we want to discuss. We break them down by country - 

NEW ZEALAND - this is not the first time that we have felt appalled at being citizens of Godszone, but it is by far the worst. We reproduce below in full a transcript of "Baby Will's" forcible blood transfusion against the express wishes of his parents. This story has gone viral all over the internet and the following is taken verbatim from the Patriotic Times, Reno, Nevada. There are almost daily many other identical posts, including videos, which are very hard to watch, of the NZ Police actively restraining the parents in the hospital from preventing their baby's forcible abduction. NZ's reputation is in the gutter.

"NZ COURT KIDNAPS "BABY WILL" FROM PARENTS OVER UNVACCINATED BLOOD FIGHT.

A NZ court has taken custody of a baby who needs a life-saving heart surgery, after the medical establishment in that country argued that the parents are "conspiracy theorists". The parents made a request to provide "Baby Will" with a blood transfusion from an unvaccinated person. They had dozens of unvaccinated volunteers who were willing to donate blood for Baby Will's surgery.

In ruling against them, the court took custody of the baby from the parents, so that the health establishment in that country can now inject Baby Will with the blood of a vaccinated person against the will of the parents. The parents' argument was perfectly logical and reasonable, based on the fact that they had willing blood donors lined up to contribute plasma samples for the baby. The parents' lawyers argued the following before the court:

The blood of a Covid vaccinated person is certain to have spike proteins present in it. The only question is what the concentration of spike proteins will be. The doctor who was supposed to perform Baby Will's heart surgery admitted to having no expertise when it comes to the Phizer/Moderna mRNA shots. But instead of listening to the parents or doing any research, their doctor labelled the parents as "conspiracy theorists" because of their concern for Baby Will's health.

Keep in mind that the parents WANT Baby Will to have this surgery. Their concern is with the safety of the blood supply when so many people have submitted to these shots.

Baby Will's mother had these concerns because another baby at the same hospital is in serious distress and coughing up blood clots after receiving a transfusion during surgery. Here we have actual evidence that points to potential harm from a contaminated blood supply. 

The parents' lawyers argued that the mRNA shots are not safe. This is true based on mountains of evidence. It is also true that spike proteins can be shed from a vaccinated mother's breastmilk to her baby during nursing. This has been conclusively, scientifically proven in multiple studies now. What we don't know is whether the spike protein remains in donated blood samples, and whether the spike proteins can thereby be transferred to an unvaccinated person through a transfusion.

No-one knows the answer to that question for two key reasons:

No-one is testing the blood supply for the presence of spike proteins, and no studies have been done showing us the answer one way or another. I'd be thrilled if the studies show that a person cannot get infected with spike proteins through a blood transfusion. That would be great news for humanity in the wake of this medical catastrophe. But the honest truth is that no-one knows.

Finally, the parents' attorneys argued that the New Zealand Blood Supply and Baby Will's doctors should be looking for proof of safety instead of looking for proof of harm. This was a smart argument, because many hospitals are covering up cases in which babies are dying as a result of the spike protein in blood transfusions.

Steve Kirsch brings up a baby in Spokane, Washington State, who received surgery at Sacred Heart Hospital. "Baby Alex" had his surgery and then began coughing up blood clots earlier this year. The doctors laughed at Baby Alex's parents and told them that vaccinated blood is "super safe" when they expressed concerns that the transfusion could have caused the baby's clotting problems. The doctors backpedalled when Baby Alex died. Then they scrubbed the records, so there's no official proof about the case that you can find anywhere, except on "conspiracy" websites - and the Mom's Facebook page.  

Finding proof of harm is extremely difficult in this environment, so the lawyers argued that New Zealand health authorities should be looking for proof of safety. And there's no proof of safety!

Even though the parents had blood donors lined up and ready to give samples for the baby, and the parents want the surgery, the court ruled against them. The government now has Baby Will in its custody and plans to do the surgery using vaccinated blood "for the child's well-being". Never mind that kidnapping a baby from its parents under colour of law is never good for any child. We should all be praying for a good outcome for Baby Will's surgery, now that a court has taken him away from the parents and is going to force the operation on him against the reasonable conditions the parents asked for."

For us, this says it all about NZ's fixation with cold-hearted, narcissistic authority, and is just an extension of the disastrous management of the whole Covid so-called pandemic. We wouldn't put it past the NZ health crooks to actually covertly ensure that Baby Will gets unvaccinated blood to ensure that there is a good outcome. It would be a very bad look if the baby died! 

We see that there is to be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the NZ Government's handling of the Covid pandemic! That should throw up some interesting conclusions - unless the results are rigged!

** Undoubtedly all the foregoing could be hard reading for anyone vaccinated and for that we apologise. However, a diligent search of the internet can suggest some effective blood cleansing methods, and although we have no specific knowledge of any of these, we believe that there are some that would be well worth pursuing. We can only wish you well in these endeavours.  

To put all this in perspective, at the moment NZ's "active case" number, according to Worldometres.com, is 38,926 in a population of 4,898,203 (0.795%), Colombia's number is 35,947 in a population of 51,512,762 (0.0698%), Australia's is 299,936 in a population of 26,068,792 (1.151%) and the USA's number is 1,645,720 in a population of 334,805,269 (0.492%). So, based on populations, NZ's number of active cases is therefore 11.4 times higher than Colombia's, 0.4 times LOWER than Australia  and 1.6 times higher than that of the USA. This graphically illustrates the sheer mismanagement and total incompetence and outright coercion that has characterised NZ's handling of Covid. It is typical of a Socialist attitude to everything; heavy-handed and ignorant authoritarianism. Australia seems even worse.

If you have the stomach for it, have a look at the Epoch Times' many articles about vaccine injuries. Most of them make the blood run cold and they are all backed by many scientific studies.

This combined with the sheer evil racism and democracy destroying intent of 3 Waters (now 5 Waters) means that the Ardern Marxists have to go before they can do any more damage. 

The Hamilton West by-election result was a ray of light, but we feel very dubious about National's commitment to overturning all the Socialist excesses of the past few years. There have to be more obvious signs of "FIGHT". It's all very well to talk of "keeping the powder dry", but if they do that, it will be too late for the next election, and it's totally possible that a Labour/Green/Maori coalition will prevail. That would mean the end of NZ. BE WARNED. 

UNITED STATES - the November Midterms were a great disappointment to all who value the US Constitution and the freedom of the 246 year old Republic of the United States of America. The GOP took the House by a very slim majority, but lost the Senate. Blame has been cast in all directions, but it comes down to the RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) not supporting a genuine Conservative agenda and the failure of the GOP to develop the street-fighting techniques necessary to defeat the criminal and cheating Dems - in particular to handle the new election system being constantly pushed by the Dems - that of "Election Month" instead of Election Day.

As all electoral law is handled by individual states, it is necessary for the GOP to do all they can to elect GOP Governors and State Legislatures. Only then will the rampant and entrenched electoral corruption that cost President Trump the 2020 election be sufficiently controlled.

The same electoral shenanigans that happened in 2020 in Maricopa County, Arizona which comprises most of the City of Phoenix, have happened again. But this time there is a very determined GOP candidate for Governor, Kari Lake, who is suing every entity she can find to expose the attempted disgraceful criminal theft of the 2022 Midterm election. She MUST succeed and the criminals responsible for the charade must be prosecuted. The margin is very narrow, so she has a very good chance. All power to her. 

On top of all this, we are having the unedifying spectacle of Dr. Fauci being forced to testify before Congress and telling a pack if lies about US agencies funding Gain of Function Research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in spite of that "research" having been totally forbidden by the Obama Administration! Fauci is completely evil, having been almost totally responsible for the Chinese Virus along with the Chinese. 

Next year when the GOP controls Congress from Jan. 3rd., Fauci will be subpoenaed again and very likely prosecuted for crimes against humanity. And he won't be the only one.

UNITED KINGDOM - it is with a sense of bemusement that we have witnessed the musical chairs of PM and other senior Tory Party members. And in all of that, we had the immense sadness of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She was our Head of State for 70 years and she was the glue that held the Commonwealth together during a period of great turmoil with previous members of the British Empire all gaining independence. If it wasn't for her, the Commonwealth would not now exist. May we say that Jean wishes to recuse herself from these comments concerning the Royal Family!

We see the Tories totally betraying the trust that the electorate placed in them in 2019 when Nigel Farage of the then Brexit Party literally handed Boris Johnson an 80 seat majority in the Commons on a plate by agreeing not to stand in marginal, or any seats where the Tories had a good chance of winning. Now that trust has gone out the window and the Tories are looking at the greatest loss in their history when Farage's Reform Party sweeps the stage. Reform is already at 9% in the polls and the Tory support is crumbling. Reform is the only party that one can trust to complete the exit from the bankrupt European Union. Sunak et al are all secret Remoaners and would like to take the UK back into the EU. In the meantime, the Tories are well on the way to destroying Britain with their lunatic permissive immigration negligence - we hesitate to dignify this by calling it policy. This is similar to much of  what is happening on the southern border of the United States.

Which brings us to our final point - 

King Charles III, Rishi Sunak, PM of the UK, Trudeau, PM of Canada, Albanese, PM of Australia, Biden, President of the USA, and Ardern, PM of NZ and most European leaders (except those of Sweden and Italy) are all in the World Economic Forum led by that evil bastard, Klaus Schwab, whose favorite protege is Ardern of NZ. This is a cartel of evilness which wishes to establish poverty and population reduction on the world. Just witness the forced sale of 3,000 Dutch farms because the owners could not meet the strictures of lowering fertiliser use and the threats to fine NZ farmers if they do not reduce "emissions" from farm animals. Not to mention the unaffordability of fossil fuels directly caused by the Biden Administration's war against US fossil fuel production. Can you see the web of connection aimed at the destruction of western economies by the traitors named above - and many others for sure? Destruction of food production is a major method of achieving these goals. 

Aided in all of this is a cartel of 2 billionaires, Michael Bloomfield who is the propagandist for this evil bunch, and Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock which is an investment manager with 10 TRILLION US dollars under management. He is the money man for the cartel. These people wish to destroy everything which we hold dear and which we have known all our lives.

We cannot predict what will happen, but after a cruel winter in northern Europe, people will rise up with unknown consequences. We also think that the divide in the US is now so deep that it will never be healed, and that after all the corruption perpetrated in the Midterm elections, the most likely scenario is Secession of the GOP states from the Dem states. No-one talks about this, but it seems to us to be inevitable.

There is a great financial recession coming in 2023, the consequences of which are unpredictable, except to say that they will be very far-reaching. And finally we read that Russia will no longer accept US dollars for their oil; they will only be accepting gold. That will have very negative consequences for the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. This USD hegemony is coming to an end and just what effect this will have on the currencies of NZ and Colombia is anyone's guess. 2023 is going to be a rough ride.

With that we wish everyone a very Happy Christmas - may earlier family rifts caused by the Covid evilness be overcome - and a New Year in which everyone can survive as well as possible.

With all best wishes,

Jim and Jean in El Retiro, Colombia xoxoxoxoxo       

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