Lake Brunner, West Coast, South Island from ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ 🤣 Tourism NZ

by Carol Sawyer

Never have I seen so many winter aerial 1080 operations as now!

They barely gave themselves a breathing space.

By Geoffrey Churchman

The list of countries that have police forces whose members do not routinely carry guns is a short one: Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and New Zealand.  But it seems the Jacinda government wants to remove NZ from that list.

There’s been really no need for it here because of the very low level of gun violence (see earlier posts), and there’s still no need for it.  But last year’s mosque shootings by one lone lunatic visitor (possibly with an accomplice who provided some coordination assistance) presented the Jacinda government with the golden opportunity of introducing the sight of armed police to the public: all frontline police officers throughout the country were instructed by (fortunately now retired) Police Commissioner Mike Bush to carry guns while on duty for several weeks.

It seems likely to become the permanent scene before much longer.

Why? Because armed police are more intimidating, and this government has swiftly been moving NZ from a liberal democracy to an authoritarian state where political opponents and their views are not tolerated.

According to this webpage, each year about 1,100 people a year get shot dead by Police in the U.S.; dividing that by 66 translates to a population equivalent of about 16 per year in NZ.

NZ’s actual figures until last year have been nothing like that, but according to this article on the Sccop website, in the first 6 months of Bush’s Armed Response Teams (ARTs) launched by police last October, three people have been shot dead by them; doubling that would mean 6 annually, still a way short of the American statistics — but it needs to be remembered that in America, handguns are extremely widely carried by criminals, drug dealers, gang members and others.  That is not the case in NZ.

According to this article on the Newshub website, these 6 months of the country’s routinely armed police officers saw them used most often for traffic stops instead of armed offenders or serious crime.

‘The six-month trial of Armed Response Teams (ARTs) was launched by police last October, with former Police Commissioner Mike Bush saying they’d be focussed on crimes that caused “significant risk”. But data obtained by Newshub Nation shows they largely did the work of normal police.’

“One of the concerns, when these teams were introduced, was they would be an introduction of armed units into routine policing by stealth, and looking at the data that’s emerged those fears seem to be realised,” says former police officer Tim McKinnel.

In the Scoop article, People Against Prisons Aotearoa spokesperson Emilie Rākete is quoted as saying: “The police are killing people who didn’t have to die. The Armed Response Team trial has given police permission to shoot first and ask questions later.”

The photo below shows what the New Normal in Jacindaland could well be: a policeman wielding a semi-automatic assault rifle (which Jacinda & Co. made illegal for everyone else last year) in April in Wellington during Lockdown with no apparant reason.  We do not want to see poorly trained cops running around with guns on Rambo-style power-trips.

And with this we’ll leave the theme of autumn for this year — next up, winter!

Satire by Geoffrey Churchman

“The beach at Paraparaumu is accreting, but not fast enough,” said Gurunathan, the Prophet of the Kapiti Coast to a gathering of his Sahabah on Thursday. “We cannot wait many years for the seawater to be replaced with sand, we must all go to the Island now.”

“There must be a grand temple to reflect the spiritual importance of the Island,” said Gurunathan. “Its fame has spread around the world.  Once we have our temple, people will make the pilgrimage from many countries to see it.  It may even eclipse the Palais de Versailles and the Taj Mahal as the place to visit in one’s lifetime.” He added, “There is a story about someone once swimming three miles between the mainland and the Island, but pilgrims no longer need to swim, we have waka now.”

By majority vote the Sahabah approved the building of a temple to be a place of embarkation for the sacred journey to the Island.

A member of the Sahabah, Hollowborrow, said the many disciples of Gurunathan on the Kapiti Coast will gladly pay the costs of building and then operating the temple.  “The people love their Prophet; their contribution of 86 Dinars each is a small sacrifice for them to make. And when the tens of thousands, if not millions, of pilgrims arrive every year who will each pay 22 Dinars to enter the temple, we should be in annual surplus.”

“Even if they are not spiritual people, there are tourists who will want to see the manu that are rarely seen on the mainland,” said Bushel, another member of the Sahabah. But she rejected the widely held belief that there are arewhana to be seen, whether white or any other colour.

New Zealand has been in lockdown for far too long and needs to be at level 1 now with a trans-Tasman bubble already operating. —Winston Peters

Cracks in the Coalition 

By Roger Childs

After a solid front during Lockdown so far, chinks are now appearing in the coalition government’s unity. The Greens are not happy that people who have lost their jobs during the Covid-19 crisis will soon get a benefit considerably higher than other job seekers. New Zealand First’s Winston Peters wants the government to move quickly to Level 1. There is a compelling case for doing so and it is hard to understand Jacinda’s reluctance.

Put the economy first!

There is now only one active case in the entire country, so why delay going to Level 1? The country has successfully negotiated its way through Levels 3 and 2 with bars now open and in some big colleges over a thousand schoolkids have been inter-mingling for nine days. The danger of further cases occurring is minimal. Level 1 would mean that there would be no limits on the size of gatherings and social distancing would not be required. 

Crucially, it would allow the economy to fully open, with the exception of overseas travel.

• Crowds would be able to see sports fixtures and concerts live and put money in the stadium tills.
• Cafés and restaurants would be able to function as normal and pack the customers in as they did before the crisis.
• Bars could have patrons being able to stand as well as dance.
• Planes could have normal seating. 

Jacinda suggests that cabinet will decide in 10 days’ time with 22 June the likely date for the change, but why wait for three weeks? The longer the government delays the more businesses will go down the tubes and the more jobs will be lost. How about deciding next Tuesday? It seems that the decision hangs on the advice of Lord High Protector, Ashley Bloomfield. 

We have to get to Level 1 quickly to allow the economy any chance of full recovery. Furthermore we need to look at letting in foreigners who will spend big bucks, on the basis of compulsory testing and a 14 day quarantine. Also how about the foreign students who are itching to return and are worth millions of dollars to the country? They could have mandatory health checks in their home countries and then self-isolate on arrival. 

The link up with Australia is being investigated and it seems logical that with safeguards, this could be done on a state by state basis if necessary. Aussie snow sports enthusiasts and other visitors would be very welcome in the tourist spots around the country.

Losing the plot?

The government has succeeded in the key objective of eliminating the Covid-19 virus and in a day or two there will be no active cases. Jacinda’s popularity at present is remarkably high and the Labour Party’s massive lead in the latest polls has recently forced National to make a change of leadership. But political advantage can quickly evaporate and the public, which overwhelmingly approved of the handling of the lockdown, is getting tired of restrictions. They want to go back to the way things were in bars, cafés and restaurants, and go and watch sport and entertainment in large numbers. 

The Covid-19 health danger has passed so it’s time to focus fully on the health of the economy. 

We should go to Level 1 without delay to remove petty restrictions on all businesses and get the country on the path to recovery!

An architect-designed house will likely be one of distinction, this example dates from 2012.  From Architecture Now:

“Richard Middleton of Architects: Novak+Middleton was commissioned by his clients to design a house for an historic site south of Waikanae. The site, which is called Te Rama, is in a rural setting and drops down to the Waikanae river valley and on to the Kapiti Coast beyond.

“Te Rama translates as torchlight, and refers to when local Maori used to light fires there to guide canoes in safely from Kapiti Island. The site has strong characteristics, with established gardens, a swimming pool, a grass tennis court and a protected native reserve running along the northern side. There were also a number of sheds and a cottage that the clients had been living in on the site, a large protected tree, and an old dairy building (where butter would once have been made).”

Full article with more pictures

You can’t help wondering how long websites like The BFD will last when Andrew Little gets his “Hate Speech” laws…  Of course, it’s the reaction and counter to the daily hagiographies from TV1/TV3/NZME/Stuff so they’ll get their share of Government handouts.  The reality is somewhere between the two.

George Lucas is not exactly renowned as the greatest writer of dialogue in modern cinema, but his Revenge of the Sith contains at least one sharply observant line: So this is how liberty dies – with thunderous applause. It is referring, of course, to the rapturous reception given to newly-appointed dictator Senator Palpatine – behind whose benevolent mask lurks the sinister Emperor.

There are few leaders garnering more thunderous applause – at least from the global media elite – than Jacinda Ardern. But, behind Ardern’s unctuous mask of “kindness” lurks a Sith lord whose incipient malevolence is exceeded only by her economic incompetence.

Just as Senator Palpatine manipulates the threat of the Trade Federation to enact sweeping “emergency powers”, Jacinda Ardern has used the Wuhan pandemic crisis to grant her government extraordinary new power. Power so sinister that even the normally supinely left-wing Human Rights Commission is alarmed.

Full article

Winston isn’t happy — News item   The people react..