Morons want to seizes the means of food distribution.
The Green Party is promising to nationalise 120 Woolworths and Foodstuffs supermarkets to create a new Government-owned supermarket, KiwiMart, if elected.
The party says the Parliamentary Library costed the policy at $2.8… pic.twitter.com/PChoe4figl

— NZ MAGA Mike #MAGAmikesMEMEmarathon (@NZMAGAMike) September 6, 2026

There’ll be discounts for those with the right ancestry, no doubt, but price increases for the rest. Where possible grow your own food.

by Wally Richards

THERE HAS NEVER EVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO PLANT FOOD CROPS

If you follow the many articles from various news sources on the Internet you’ll realise that there are some massive problems facing our food chain.

The problems with Iran and America, the weather events including the current severe El Nino event are going to be causing much more problems than previously.

A perfect storm.

Wheat, of which a good portion of comes from Ukraine and Russia, is not being supplied.

Neither are fertilisers that are used by commercial growers and what is available is much more expensive.

With fuel, facilities outside of the Gulf states are having problems beacause of their low capacity to convert crude to diesel, particularly in America where many refineries were closed down over the past few years. Currently in America diesel is two to three dollars dearer than petrol per gallon.

Commercial growers of food crops have a major problem because they are in the treadmill of having to use lots of man made fertilisers to grow anything. Their soils have been depleted of all life, microbes and worms, and it is only by using more and more man made NPK fertilisers that anything will grow.

Its like hydroponics where chemical nutrients are added to water flowing past the roots of plants to feed the plants.

In barren soil we apply more and more fertilisers to ensure the plants grow as the soil is only somewhere for the roots to be.

As we now see at the supermarket, the price of food is increasing noticeably every time we shop.

It is now spring and temperatures are rising which warms the soil and aids the expansion of the soil life (if you have not killed it with chemicals and chlorinated water). The weather will settle a bit (allowing that the El Nino factor may cause fluctuations) and more sunlight hours gives plants longer periods to convert sunlight to carbohydrates.

So this is the best time of the year to plant food crops.

Let’s think back to times past when our parents and grandparents lived through very hard times of depressions and wars. They were fortunate to have good size sections, often a quarter of an acre or so, and thus plenty of room to grow crops and potatoes.

A chicken run area supplied both eggs and manure for the vegetable gardens as well as an occasional meal.

City dwellers have been put at an increasing disadvantage these days with much smaller sections and with less area to grow plants. Town houses and retirement villages or apartments afford little or no areas to grow in the ground and only minimal areas for growing in containers.

Where there is a will there is a way and I have seen balconies growing a nice range of small edible plants, or in front of windows facing north in containers which are turned around 180 degrees every day or two to give them even amounts of sun.

The least one can do is to have one or more Mr Fothergills seed sprouters, which are only $20.00 each. Grow your own, fresh, nutritious, tasty sprouts. Mr Fothergills Kitchen Seed Sprouter makes it simple and affordable.

Simply sprinkle the seeds into the trays, then water as per the instructions included. We offer a Mixed Microgreen Pack, however, you can sprout any seeds you like individually. Sprouts are often referred to as Nature’s Super Foods, and rightly so, they are packed with powerful vitamins and minerals.

A study that involved scientific analysis of the vitamin and phytochemical content of 25 types of micro-greens, found that there were higher concentrations of vitamins and carotenoids (precursors to vitamin A) than the full-grown versions of the plants!

Instructions are included. Ensure any seeds that you sprout have not been chemically treated.

When you add Wallys Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) to the non-chlorinated water you use in the sprouter, you have significantly increased the mineral and nutritional value of the sprouts.

Place on a window sill above the kitchen sink so you don’t forget to recycle the water a couple of times a day and in a few days you have delicious sprouts for sandwiches, salads or side dishes. You could live very healthily on them with some pasta or rice in your diet: affordable, healthy and if nothing else sustainable.

Purchase bulk seeds for sprouting and store in sealed glass jars in the fridge for long term keeping.

The next step up is a Mr Fothergills Micro Greens Growing Tray which are only $10.00 each. With these you can in a good light situations germinate and grow micro greens for salads and side dishes.

Once again increase their health value by adding 10 ml of MBL to the non-chlorinated water you water them with.

All you need is a table at window height in front of a north facing window; and turn the tray 180 degrees every day or so for even growth. As with the garden you can spray the foliage with Liquid Sunshine (tablespoon of molasses in a litre of hot water with 10 ml of MBL added)

Molasses in bulk is very well priced as I found a 25 kg bucket at PGG Wrightsons for only $75 or apparently $84 delivered. Some readers will recall their mums giving them a teaspoon of molasses when young as a energy food. It’s an excellent long term storage food for your well being — and that of the garden plants you want to grow better and quicker.

If you don’t have a suitable place in good natural light indoors then for a small outlay through the likes of Temu you can buy cheap to run LED grow lighting which you place above what you are growing and raise it as they grow.

Our forefathers learnt from squirrels that storing food when food is scarce is better than going hungry. Hence they dehydrated, preserved, pickled and kept well in stock basics such as flour, sugar (molasses) rice and pasta. The Philippine grocery shop we have in Marton stocks very small cans of things like tuna, sardines, chicken meats and it took me a time to realise these small cans of morsels are to add to a pile of cooked rice to add to the flavour of the rice.

Remember the Scouts’ motto, ‘Be Prepared’ and at this time it could be a very wise thing to do. Besides prepping, grow some healthy food with what ever resources or ways you can do so.

If you have lawns that you mow, then turn some lawn area into a vegetable garden. If you don’t have any ground to grow on then make raised gardens or containers on concrete areas.

If you are keen and diligent call into an Age Care office (Grey Power) in your area and ask them if there are any elderly members that would like to let you use their vegetable growing areas to grow crops on and share the harvest with them in return for your use of the land.

I am sure there are elderly people not too far away who would be happy to see their land put to productive use when they are no longer able to use it and benefit from the health and savings they gain.

Where there is a will there is a way.

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

In fact they’ll move to Gaza! That would actually be a win-win and they should be encouraged to do so. It would be great if the Greenies would do that too.

View this post on Instagram

Zelensky's mafia collapsing.

Since yesterday nobody can find the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

After millions of dollars been found in his office, he is hiding.

He is accused of covering scam call-centers that were stealing money from elders in the USA and Europe.

I already…

— Diana Panchenko 🇺🇦 (@Panchenko_X) September 5, 2026

We asked both Gemini and Grok what organised crime there is in BlackRock/Von der Lyin’/Burnham/Macron/Merz/Zelenskyland, a.k.a. Ukraine–

Gemini

Organized crime in Ukraine is heavily shaped by the ongoing war, systemic corruption, and a shift toward digital fraud, synthetic drug production, and illegal border smuggling. [1, 2]

Major Criminal Activities

• Synthetic Drug Production: Traditional maritime transit for cocaine and heroin dropped significantly due to wartime port closures. Instead, organized groups like Khimprom expanded large-scale domestic production of synthetic drugs and methadone. [1]
• Draft Evasion and Smuggling: Strict martial law prevents men aged 18 to 60 from leaving Ukraine. This restriction created a lucrative, digital-coordinated smuggling market using forged medical documents to help individuals cross borders illegally. [1]
• Cybercrime and Scam Hubs: Port cities like Odesa operate under a loose criminal model hosting scam call centers, digital financial fraud, and large-scale tax evasion tied to grain exports. [1]
• Legacy Mafia and Corruption: Post-Soviet mafia-style networks maintain historic ties to political and economic corruption. While many top crime bosses briefly relocated abroad after the 2022 invasion, many later returned to restructure their domestic enterprises. [1, 2]
• Explore detailed regional criminal dynamics on the OC Index profile.

Grok

Organized crime in Ukraine involves a complex ecosystem of structured groups, looser networks, and opportunistic actors engaged in drugs, fraud, trafficking, economic crimes, and other activities. The full-scale Russian invasion since 2022 has disrupted traditional routes and groups while creating new opportunities and adaptations.

No single organization dominates. The landscape includes traditional “thieves-in-law” (vory-v-zakone) networks (many of whose leaders are abroad and which have faced stronger enforcement), professional structured groups, functional racketeering outfits, ethnic-based networks, and hybrid actors with corrupt ties. Pre-war links with Russian organized crime were largely severed, though some residual activity has been reported in places like Odesa.

Major illicit markets (post-2022 shifts)

According to a July 2025 UNODC report and related analyses, key areas include:

• Drug trafficking and production: Traditional cocaine and heroin transit (e.g., Afghan heroin routes via the Black Sea/Odesa or overland) dropped sharply due to closed ports, airports, and border disruptions. Synthetic drugs have risen instead, including cathinones and methadone, driven by domestic demand and darknet facilitation (e.g., after Hydra’s dismantling). Structured groups such as Khimprom and Dvadtsiativski are involved in production and trafficking; much methadone stays domestic.
• Online scams, cyberfraud, and call centers: Cases more than tripled in some periods. An estimated 1,000–1,500 call centers operate (concentrated in Dnipro and Kyiv, with spread to other cities), employing tens of thousands and generating potentially very large revenues (one GI-TOC-linked estimate suggested up to ~$1 billion monthly industry-wide before major crackdowns, though profits concentrate at the top and overheads are high). Three major networks reportedly control much of the sector, with organized crime involvement and past protection issues. Victims include Ukrainians (including displaced people) and Europeans; some operations have targeted Russians. Recent enforcement (including by NABU/SAPO) has shut centers and exposed related corruption, such as a 2025–2026 criminal organization allegedly headed by a Prosecutor General’s Office official that protected call centers in exchange for bribes and laundered proceeds.
• Arms trafficking: Large volumes of weapons from the conflict have increased domestic availability, seizures, and some civilian violence (including domestic). There is no strong evidence of large-scale outbound trafficking to Europe so far, but monitoring continues due to historical regional actors and surplus risks. Emerging concerns include potential misuse of drones or 3D-printed components.
• Trafficking in persons and related facilitation: Displacement of millions has raised risks. Groups exploit vulnerable people (e.g., via fake humanitarian aid/shelters leading to forced labor). There is also facilitation of illegal border exits and draft evasion.
• Economic crime and smuggling: Includes cigarette/customs fraud, budget fund theft, amber mining (“amber mafia” in northwestern regions involving illegal extraction, smuggling, and local control), grain-related fraud, and other corruption-linked schemes. Extortion/racketeering persists in some sectors. Gambling-related issues and money laundering also appear.
• Other: Historical involvement in human/sex trafficking, counterfeit goods, and contract violence. Some foreign elements (e.g., Georgian, Azerbaijani, or other networks) operate alongside Ukrainian ones. Odesa remains a noted hub with a relatively open “free city” underworld model for certain activities, though military/security presence constrains it.

Structures, scale, and response

Ukrainian police and prosecutors report hundreds of organized groups/criminal organizations detected annually, with significant cases involving drugs, budget theft, corruption links, interregional/transnational ties, and illegal border activity. Numbers of related crimes rose substantially from 2020–2024 in some statistics. Traditional hierarchical groups have been pressured; many activities are more networked or adaptive.

Authorities (National Police strategic investigations, NABU, SAPO, cyber police, etc.) actively prosecute, with international cooperation (Europol, etc.) on cross-border cases such as drug corridors or underground banking. Corruption remains a facilitator and target of enforcement—recent high-profile cases involve officials protecting fraud operations or energy-sector schemes.

The war caused initial disruption (dispersion of groups, route changes), followed by adaptation and partial recovery of illicit activity by 2023 onward, though often not to pre-war levels in traditional markets. Displacement, mobilization pressures, economic strain, and weapons proliferation create ongoing risks. For the most detailed official analysis, see the UNODC report Ukraine: Organized Crime Dynamics in the Context of War (2025).

By Roger Childs

These two teams have thrown everything at each other. –Commentator Jeff Wilson at half time in the third test

Another close game

86,000 witnessed Sunday’s battle between the world’s two best rugby teams. The All Blacks had the better of the first half until the last 10 minutes, and started strongly. Captain Ardie Savea scored two tries early on, but unfortunately suffered a shoulder injury late in the half and had to be replaced. The Boks’ fullback Cheslin Kolbe scored the Springboks first try to make the score 5-12 and then they drew even when the Georgian referee awarded a penalty try in the 37^th minute.

First half leadership

In the second half the Springboks came out firing and a try to centre Jesse Kriel, then one to legendary hooker Malcolm Marx in the 65^th minute took them out to a 26-14 lead. A penalty 4 minutes layer extended their advantage to 12 points and it was only a try on the stroke of 80 minutes by reserve All Black hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho that closed the gap to make the final score 29-24.

Ardie Savea was dynamic in the first twenty minutes and the visitors’ forwards had the better of the relentless physicality until the last 10 minutes of the half. The All Blacks won more turnovers, made more breaks and exhibited some excellent attacking in the open with quick, accurate passing in the backline and crisp inter-passing between forwards and backs. Coach Rennie’s changes in the run-on team were working well. 

New hooker Asafo Aumua threw well into the lineout, tackled strongly and always made ground with ball in hand.  Substitute flanker Peter Lakai was active in the loose and passed and tackled impressively. 

Halfback Cam Roigard was always dangerous, and set the backline moving swiftly and Jordie Barrett regularly got across the gain line and was his usual reliable self with his effective tackling. Going into the sheds at half time the visitors were a little unlucky not to be ahead on the scoreboard. 

For the Boks Marx has been impressive, captain Siya Kolesi led by example and in the backs center Ethan Hooker was everywhere starring with strong defence, attacking enterprise and skill in setting up his outsides.S

Boks too strong in the second forty

Urged on by over 80,000 fans the home team came out firing after half time but it was actually the ABs who scored first. After an excellent Carter break, Jordan scored his fourth try of the series. The visitors were definitely missing the dynamic leadership of Savea in the second half. The Boks dominated the scrums throughout and won a number of penalties from the visitors collapsing the front row. 

Experienced centre Jesse Kriel brushed off a weak Carter tackle and scored a try after a strong 40 metre run to the line in the 57^th minute and then the clincher was a try under the posts by Marx after a 30 metre lineout drive.  

It was four tries apiece, but the Springboks were better on the day especially in the forwards in the second half, and Savea’s leadership was sorely missed by the visitors after he went off.

Next week the two teams meet in Baltimore USA and Dave Rennie’s All Blacks will be desperate to square the series.

by Geoffrey Churchman

On Saturday, Eva and I took advantage of our Gold Cards and took the train to Wellington. Then followed what must be a 1 km walk up the platform and then the ramp to cross the enormous slab of plain concrete named ‘Fran Wilde Walk’ (I don’t think I’d like my name on it) to what is now Hnry Stadium (yes that is the correct spelling.)

As the song goes ‘you can’t beat Wellington on a sunny day’ but it was a grey and windy day. Never mind, once inside there was the the circular walk around the exhibition area to look at the many stalls. There were several vibrating bed sellers (which we didn’t bother with, already having one), outdoor furniture, house construction / maintenance / retrofitting products and services, exotic products like locally made gin and liqueurs (we bought a bottle of Zealan vodka) health products and art.

In addition there were non-profits such as the Fire Service, the SPCA and one political stallholder — ACT. The lady said that she reads Waikanae Watch and likes it, which was good to hear. We can imagine certain parties telling us the opposite. 🙂

There were several coffee and food stations, but we made do with aqua or as it is labelled here Wai Inu (water in you? Actually just ‘drink water’ and as it happens, the same in Maori and Hawaiian).

It cost $8 entry each and we felt it was a worthwhile visit.

A 90 degree turn at this spot provided this view of a ship being loaded with logs into its holds, the traditional way.

As a child Cathy O’Brien was sold into the CIA’s MK ULTRA Project Monarch and exposed to world leaders at international level. Through her rescue and healing process, she was able to reclaim the memories of what she witnessed while under mind control. Her story provides insight into how we’ve been mind controlled in the past, where we are going as a nation and how to reclaim personal and collective sovereignty.