It would have been Hygienically efficacious for New Zealanders to still have ‘single use plastic shopping bags’ in this Covid-19 Crisis …. Hmmmm?
Whose short sighted bright Idea was it to scrap those?
This Covid-19 crisis has been Horror Carnival ride for everyone.
The Information, and data constantly changing.
I will be the first to admit this would be a very testing time to be in Government.
A very testing Time for NZ PM Jacinda Ardern.
The greatest enemy actually being *ignorance*… so little being known.
Having to make decisions based largely upon conjecture… dubious computer models, etc.
The tendency in such times is usually to er on the side of caution, yet as time passes more data become available and a good leader should be looking to modify their plans as new Data suggests that is the prudent course.
She appears unable to do so.
Ignorance is no excuse for trampling over the rights and liberties of the citizens or destroying the economy!
Where did she get the idea that such heavy handed action was her right as PM to take?
The Minister of Health David Clark also deceived the NZ Public when he insisted the government had sufficient test kits available. Ardern perpetuated that myth too.
In reality there was a serious lack of test kits resulting in dire under-testing of symptomatic people .. many people were turned away who turned out to have the virus.
We can be thankful that it appears Covid-19 is no where near as lethal as was feared just a few weeks ago when Italy was in Crisis.
They should have been honest about this lack of test kits from the beginning.
New Zealand had gotten off very lightly so far, yet rather than this being a consequence of Arderns great leadership… I suggest it has in fact been in spite of her many grievous failings.
Covid-19 has presented the world with many moral dilemmas and it is in such times that an apprehension of some of the deepest Moral precepts and conundrums comes into play.
Ends…. and Means.
Just because she has usurped the power to act as she has done… does not mean she had the moral right or legitimate authority to do so, and in the years that follow… will she be held accountable for the misery and hardships her actions will bring… or the loss of rights and liberties that will flow in her wake?
Will the people of New Zealand accrue a tally on her account for any spike in Suicides, etc that ensue?
Probably not…
Yet still contemplate the following….
“How many people are hypnotized by the ‘mild… female voiced’ Covid-19 tv ad… repeated several times an hour… that calmly dictates to the entire Nation the strict terms upon which our now all powerful government will ‘permit us’ to use our cars and vehicles?
Such a calm female voice is supposed to invoke a belief that these rules are reasonable, not harsh…. not abuse of power…
I say the way this message is packaged is a frightening demonstration of the use of ‘Psychology of the masses; type techniques to cloak the true nature of what is going on.
I say it would be more honest if these Ads were instead a video of a Gruff Uniformed Male Police Chief stipulating the The Law… in a manor as if they are addressing a crowd of unruly Teenagers upon whom they are seeking to make clear *the Real nature of these Dictates.*… saying it for Example like thus…
“You will obey these rules… or else!”
“They are not optional!”
“We the Police will enforce this Lock down!”
“Anyone caught breaking the rules will be severely punished!”
The mask would be off!
That would take the sugar coated Bullshit away from what is currently being said!
People will naturally recoil from such a blunt declaration!
It would make clear the real relationship that now exists between the People of New Zealand and the Ardern State.
You will obey… or else!
That’s the real face of the Authoritarianism Ardern and parliament have set up… so all the Idiots who think this way of ‘taking care of us all’ … would at least realise and see it for what it really is… instead of some soft spoken feminine voice speaking to us like she is advertising some sort of beneficial health products….
The Soft female voice normalises the Police state!
That’s how the Useful Idiots see socialism… Good Nice Old Caring Nanny State.
That is the purpose of running these ads by a soft spoken woman…. to deceive… and carry on the grand delusion.”
Satan Laughing spreads his wings!
The sycophants of the Ardern Regime in the New Zealand Media have been busy propping up her Cult of Personality one Newshub article calling her heavy handed Covid-19 response ‘a masterclass in crisis leadership’… in which they described one of her great leadership qualities was her ability ‘to Persuade many to act for the collective good’, when in reality her methods are not ‘persuasion’ at all!
She has done the opposite thing!
She has called in the Jackboots, Enacted heavy prohibitions on an unprecedented scale, and encouraged a Neighbour vs neigbour approach whereby the People Police each other… acting as informants upon anyone who refuses to live in fear.
Many people are praise Ardern for her heavy hand and pretend she has acted wisely *and morally*, yet I ask… how can it be moral, or a sign of ‘Great leadership’ to be destroying the livelihoods of thousands of Citizens… while your decisions dont impact upon your own financial circumstances in the slightest?
Dont you think that it is *very questionable* for Ardern to usurp the power to do such a thing?
By what right was *her plan* even possible to implement?
To me it is fundamentally immoral and an abuse of Power!
If this Crisis was to be faced collectively It ought to have been done *on a moral basis without the usurpation of tyranical powers!
Ie it ought to have been truly undertaken by persuasion instead of force… and called for voluntary cooperation… these things are (or ought to have been) Non-negotiable.
Many Nations have indeed taken different courses of action that were far less intrusive and have been very successful in fighting the Virus and minimized the impact of Government activity upon their economies.
For example Coronavirus: To Swedes, it’s the rest of the world engaging in a reckless experiment
“Birds build nests and fly away when faced with danger.
Hedgehogs eat snails, and always curl up into a spiky Ball.
Its their nature to do these things, and it never occurs to them to do anything else.
The same applies to Socialist Politicians like Ardern!
It is her *unthinking nature* as a socialist to always approach every issue with the heavy hand of State power and legislation… to always enhance the power of the state at the expense of the rights and liberties of the people… taking away their rights to act in their own judgement and best interests… and that is what she has done under this Covid-19 crisis…”
Its not an act of Well reasoned action!
But her Predictable as pie Kneejerk reaction!
The idea that we could have faced this crisis with all our rights and liberties intact did not even pass through her mind!(or the minds of 80% of the NZ Sheeple… because they have become thoroughly institutionalized… like inmates who actually think life in jail is great!
Regimented Meals.
Free Healthcare,
All those guards looking after them, and getting safely lock into their cells at night!
Who needs ‘dangerous freedom’ where you have to think and look after yourselves????
Only trouble makers and selfish rebels worry about things like government abuse of power… or petty things like rights and liberties!
Ardern the Great will keep us safe!
I am no Arden Cultist, yet still I myself would have voluntarily acted for the common good and conformed to a prudent plan.. without legislative threats to send the Jackboots to my door.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Update: 12-4-20 The video below to appreciate the dubious processes and data upon which Politicians like Jacinda Ardern use as a basis for their decisions and tyrannical responses…
Also apreciate that it was also via this extremely corrupt data that has been unquestioningly accepted as ‘scientific fact’ that was used by the media to terrify the populations of the west into submitting to a massive expansion of State powers and the curtailment of citizens rights and liberties.
This goes a long way to explain why at the beginning of the lock down we were expecting Covid-19 to hit us like a bomb… yet nothing happened!
This is because the Data we had been fed was total rubbish.
I am going to release this post in a series that will eventually be parts of a whole.
I am doing this so that I can publish it to ‘Eternal vigilance’ as early as possible, and in chunks that are not ‘War and Peace’.
“May you live in interesting times” is an English expression which purports to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically; life is better in “uninteresting times” of peace and tranquility than in “interesting” ones, which are usually times of trouble.
Despite being so common in English as to be known as the “Chinese curse”, the saying is apocryphal, and no actual Chinese source has ever been produced.” Wikipedia.
These are interesting times.
This will be the most significant Blog post I have written for years.
It will encapsulate virtually all my most important values and warnings and declarations I have made over the past 20 years.
I will try and stitch together as many essential elements as possible without writing a book… yet a Book… many Books… will need to be written to explore the events that are unfolding around us… that threaten our very lives…and way of life.
A friend of mine took puerile glee on social media the other day … displaying contempt for our Panic… by asserting that the Covid-19 is… quote: ‘not an existential crisis’ for mankind *as a species* … because despite the death toll… human life will go on… yet such a shallow indifference to the fact that many thousands are dying… must also be called out for its callous indifference to the very real *existential crisis that is afoot for Human liberty and clear boundaries against Totalitarianism*.
Now I love my unnamed friend… and i know it’s poor taste and rough usage on my part to proceed to frame everything I am about to say upon his off hand remark, in truth the following is absolutely not about that… It is simply a matter that I can utilise his comment to exemplify *what is really at stake*… above the mere fact that life will go on for most.
He is correct in that… and I guess for many, that is all they care about… It does not even matter to them that things will never be the same.
To be fair I know my friend is as concerned about the leap Western Nations are making in the face of Covid-19 as I am… maybe even more so.
His remark was a protest that tyranny cannot be justified upon the false premise that Covidid-19 constitutes an existential threat to Humanity as a species.
This being so… what justification if any exists for the Usurpation of extraordinary powers by Governments, and the heavy curtailment of individual rights and liberties?
PM Jacinda Ardern was acting very casually when she introduced to the nation the 4 tier Government emergency response plan she would be implementing.
at the time of announcement the question of whether or not she actually has the legal authority to carry out this scheme was never put to her by the news media who are supposed to ask the tuff questions of our leadership… on behalf of We… the people.
And so she was allowed to do what ever she liked based upon the mere unquestioned assumption she had the authority to do so.
Was it a devious ruse on her part to set the country at alert level two, and to keep the schools open for the sake of keeping the people in a false state of calm for a critical few days when she was all along rushing to get ready to jump straight up to level 4 and shut the roads… trapping us in… so that we had no opportunity to relocate ourselves in more congenial spots to hibernate?
When we read of reports from places like Italy where before roadblocks were imposed or flight restriction, people left the main centers and traveled to other towns… that their governments considered this behavior detrimental to their ideas of containment…. I suspect Ardern *did* intentionally lull us into a false sense that things were better than they actually were.
Think about that, and what that says about the way she operates.
What ethics… if any… underpin her actions?
I put nothing past her… she displays all the characteristics of a person who thinks her ambitions justify any means necessary… including deception of the New Zealand public.
Remember how she ran for office on the promise of running the most open and transparent Government ever?
Yet time has proven the opposite is true… she has time and time again refused to answer questions put to her.
She springs edicts upon us without public discussion or debate.
I was offered a place to escape to out of Hamilton City yet because of Arderns sudden implementation of Alert level 4 it became too risky to be stopped on the roads by Police who might treat people looking to escape the cities as criminals.
There are other reasons why my family chose to weather the storm in Hamilton.
As a Maintenance Engineer at one of New Zealand’s ‘essential food industries’ I have continued to work while my family are in Isolation.
The Company has implemented many changes to make our working environment safer.
Sanitiser everywhere, no meetings in confined spaces, less people per Smoko room breaks, maintaining social distance of 2 meters, anyone who can work from home is doing so, etc.
There is still opportunity for Smokoroom banter and discussion about whats in the news… albeit at greater distances… and a continuous theme among my peers is an incessant exclamation that the government should be implementing Far heavier … Martial Law type actions.. than it already is upon those whom are perceived to be ‘non-compliant’ to self isolation.
The primary underlying thinking of these people is firstly Fear, and secondly they are exposing their fundamental belief that Tyrannical government is a Collective good that trumps individual rights.
These fools should be careful what they wish for!
In a National environment full of such thinking, Heavy handed’Jacinda Ardern’ type politicians are in their element, and she will be most willing to oblige them in their desires to be rendered Rightless slaves beneath her all powerful rule!
She is after all… a Socialist.
I am surrounded by ‘nice people’ who in fact endorse totalitarianism and are happy to surrender their rights in a heartbeat!
I am sure any legal authority to do so is being quietly, yet hastily drafted as we speak.
No media seem to be interested in asking such questions about what extra powers our government is planning to usurp… to rush through parliament… under urgency… with no public consultation.
Where did I get that impression?
Oh that’s right… that’s precisely what happened just last year… precisely how Comrade Number 1 Ardern and *all our elected representatives behaved *bar 1* in the wake of the Christchurch Terrorist attack when they flouted due legal process to rush the prohibition of semiautomatics and high capacity magazines into law!
All it took was for Ardern to declare Gun ownership in New Zealand is not a right, but a privilege!
This arbitrary assertion set up the notion that the State was not acting tyrannically in confiscating the Guns from Law abiding citizens who had done no wrong.
And it was basically swallowed hook, line, and sinker by virtually every member of parliament and almost every journalist in the country.
Virtually No time was allocated for Public consultations or submission of protest, and those few token submissions that were herd fell on deaf ears.
The Government simply gave themselves the legal powers they wanted.
Kinda like Hiter’s ‘Enabling Act’.
That’s the sort of government we have running this country!
Things are quite calm at present… 400 odd cases Nationally last time i checked.
Everyone has plenty of supplies… for a month or two.
No one has even died of the virus in New Zealand… The Morale of the nation is fearful… yet still high, yet this calm will not last long.
Panic will replace calm as hospitals become overwhelmed, and the virus starts to claim lives.
The Reaper will thrust in his sickle.
Family and friends will die.
Martial law is probably just around the corner… as the supermarkets begin to run out of supplies… and the people realise that they dont have enough stores in the cupboards.
All the compulsion that is being implemented and that will be ramped up is being almost universally touted as the only possible means of tackling this Pandemic.
Its taken as a given
It’s considered unquestionable.
Any suggestion that the governments and populations of the world could possibly have worked collectively together to fight this pandemic without Tyranny has not even been openly discussed.
Many consider anyone questioning why people should be compelled to obey all the restrictions as being dangerous to the common good… as being criminally negligent.
And because this is the path that most nations are taking, It may appear moot to even ponder whether or not things could have been done better… differently
When Chaos ensues and martial law imposed it will be even more difficult.
*yet to my mind if martial law is imposed it will signal the utter failure of Ardern’s heavy handed policies*… not justify them.
After the crisis has past… and the scale of devastation reconsidered, it is very probable many people will wake up to the fact that our Nations surrendered our precious rights too easily… and that the promised security that such Heavy handed Government imposed did very little to hinder the inevitable out come… over and above what could have been achieved by a purely voluntary approach that respected rights and liberties.
It is very possible that the governments whole strategy will be judged to be an abject failure.
That what in fact happened was we ended up with a Rash ‘Enemy like’ State working against the people … not for the people as was supposed.
Yet having gained broad ranging powers that circumvent any lawful obligation to follow important due processes that were created to keep Government just and in check… they will be very reluctant to surrender these powers.
Such powers that allow the police to enter houses without warrants, power to detain people on mere suspicion, the power to compel vaccinations, the power to arrest critics of Government edicts when ‘national emergencies have been declared’. etc.
They will be especially ardent in their desire to retain these powers even after the present crisis is passed because if they are allowed to do so it will mean they can use them to more easily impose the entire political UN Globalist agenda than otherwise would be the case if they were compelled to follow time-honored due process that exist to protect the people from Power grabs.
Many Independent thinkers perceive the current crisis as a practice run for the overthrow of Western civilization consisting of Free and independent sovereign nations by the UN Globalists embedded in almost every government on earth.
Will the ultimate result of the Ardern Doctrine prove to having been a disaster in the long run?
I suspect so.
My next part to this issue I will discuss more about how this crisis could have been handled much better… and far more justly.
I want to post this portion, yet for now let it be known that just because I strongly disagree with the usurpation of power Ardern and other world leaders have assumed in this crisis, that this means I wont voluntarily comply with all those edits that are in fact based upon common sense and sound reason.
The whole trust of my counter-argument rests upon the idea that Peoples ability to reason, and to grasp what is in their own best interests,and the interests of the country as a whole… and that when political leaders display high character and integrity… that by far that majority of people will willingly comply *to a national strategy that does not require State Jackboots.*
So let me make this very clear.
I am all for self isolation.
I am all for social distancing.
I am all for the washing of hands.
I am all for staying out of Public spaces as much as possible.
I am all for collective effort to flatten the curve!
Totalitarianism does not have a monopoly on these obvious actions, nor the means to impose them by force!
It is voluntary compliance that will be the deciding factor.
Ardern could have in fact still introduced the four tier alert system, and have called the nation to act collectively on a totally voluntary basis.
The meme above insinuates that *Even anarchists* become supporters of tyranny in such times as these, yet this is simply false.
This does not mean they endorse the States heavy hand.
It means they are asking people to voluntarily comply *to common sense actions*… and act in a collectively responsible manor… it is quite secondary that many of these wise ideas are *also government policy*.
The Idea that Anarchists *must* rebel against *all government policies and laws* just goes to show that people dont understand Anarchism or Libertarianism*… because both will *voluntarily* comply with Laws that are in accordance with their own values and Ideals… while maintaining the right to condemn Government coercion in such matters.
None of these essential basic habits require compulsion!
So why allow Ardern to strip us of our rights?
The need to do so is pure illusion.
I will sign off here with one final ‘shout out’ and that is to all the Good citizens still leaving their families, and the security of their own homes to go to work in the midst of this pandemic for that sake of keeping their communities supplied with the necessities of life!
It is truly Noble.
Their personal risk means our whole society will be able to maintain our isolation much longer… which is the best hope of defeating the spread of this killer disease, and will save lives by taking pressure off our hospitals.
I salute every Nurse and Doctor, and Orderly, Evert Trucky, every Supermarket check out person, Every factory worker and farmer, etc young, old … Boy or Girl… or other who continue to provide for us, mostly without any extra reward.
While some degenerates will use times of crisis to create chaos, these Good citizens are showing us that Tuff times are also when the best of humanity shines brightest.
Tonight Sunday 29-3-20 at 7pm the call has gone out for the Citizens of New Zealand to go out onto their front doorsteps, or to open a window… and put your hands together and give these essential workers a clap!
This is a token of our appreciation for what they are doing in such a dangerous time… the personal risks they are taking for our countries sake!
I also ask for every person of faith to say a prayer for their personal safety… esp the ones that you personally know.
And remember everyone… should you contract the virus or not…. remember that the throne of God’s love and grace is still open to you.
get right with God!
Look to the Cross of Christ for your salvation while the door is still open for you.
My prayers are with everyone who reads this post, and with your loved ones… may you all get through this crisis.
Amen.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
Update: 30-3-20
“Police Commissioner Mike Bush explains what will happen to anyone not abiding the new laws.
The Defence Force is ready to respond with aircraft, vehicles and personnel if the public doesn’t comply with isolation rules during lockdown.
Commander Joint Forces NZ Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour said they have military planners and people with specialist skills working with the Government to assist in the response.
“We have a range of capabilities should these be required to assist in the response to Covid-19, including transport aircraft and vehicles, and skilled personnel who can assist other government agencies if needed,” he said.
“We have initiated Operation Protect to focus and organise our contributions to the all-of-government effort to respond to, and manage the effects of Covid-19.”
I started writing this post a week ago, yet as things have been developing so fast, and because there has a powerful debate about how serious this virus is, I put my writing on hold to gather more information and watch how things have been developing….
The News is not good.
In fact my heart is sinking as I realise that almost a worse case scenario is unfolding before our eyes…
Today I released my personal Civil Alert.
The rationale is to look to your own safety and that of your families …. while the window of opportunity is still open.
To all my Family and friends, and facebook Peeps!
Its time to go into self Isolation people! The Virus will be in your street in a matter of days… weeks…not months.
I’m doing a shop today and hope to stay out of supermarkets etc for the next week.
I may pull Roman out of school next week…
Its that serious….
Most people will just laugh…. they only see the sun shining outside and all is well…. they have no idea how this thing is like the invisible approach of a tsunami… Nek minnit…. BOOM…. yet you left it too late to get to high ground.
A special warning and message to friends working in the Health system (and other services)… *Take care*…. and look to your own well-being… to what degree you choose to put your Vocational care for others above your own safety can only be decided by *you*… not your Employers…. and you have families of your own that you must consider… At some point *soon* you too may choose to self Isolate… and *no one* will have the right to accuse you of breaching some sort of *public duty* to sacrifice yourselves…. No doubt many will do so… many will put their vocation ahead of their own safety… and to such people our society owes an incalculable debt of gratitude… because it will cost many of them their lives….
These are horrible things to contemplate… yet that does not mean we should not talk about them…. because the Covid 19 is *no myth*… it is real… it is coming… and *the System* has its own agenda to keep society calm… so they will be hesitant to speak the scary truth… Yet The Truth must be said… so that we all walk into this thing with our eyes open… under no delusions… fully ready and prepared… and that my friends *is the best way we can fight this fight*… by being awake… ready…”
Quote:
“The coronavirus is coming to you.
It’s coming at an exponential speed: gradually, and then suddenly.
It’s a matter of days. Maybe a week or two.
When it does, your healthcare system will be overwhelmed.
Your fellow citizens will be treated in the hallways.
Exhausted healthcare workers will break down. Some will die.
They will have to decide which patient gets the oxygen and which one dies.
The only way to prevent this is social distancing today. Not tomorrow. Today.
That means keeping as many people home as possible, starting now.”
There is a lot of pressure on governments to ‘do stuff’… yet what in reality ought they do… what powers ought they rightly to exercise under such emergencies… institute martial law?
There are of course legitimate concerns about Government measures crossing the line from legitimate activity straight into tyranny.
Using emergencies as a time to usurp great powers is a quintessentially Tyrannical thing to do!
Video footage of how the Chinese authorities has treated its people in ‘dealing with Covid 19 are absolutely terrifying!
China is Ruled with an Iron fist.
I do not have time to fully discuss this very important aspect in this post as I want to focus on what *we as individuals* ought to do *voluntarily* acting from our own intelligence… in our own interests… the question of the rights or wrongs of *Government actions* will have to wait for another time.
I will however include a short comment on the desire of the powers that be to ‘control information’ and the fact that nefarious globalist powers also seek to use this crisis to promote their wet dreams of a Cashless world order.
That aside there are serious Economic concerns about how best to act under this crisis… Internationally, regionally, and for individuals and families.
The stock market is spiraling downward… closed boarders are suffocating Trade.
Businesses are going broke… and that all means some households are struggling more than just the usual amount.
Many people live from week to week and have no ‘cash stash’ to use to get themselves emergency supplies enough to last months.
A commentator on the ‘explosive global situation’ makes the following statement…
“If you do not have active and aggressive containment measures right out of the gate, you are going to have a great big medical emergency later on.
Remember there is that three way balancing act… Do you contain the virus and stop the Pandemic, Do you preserve your economy, or do you risk overcoming your Hospital systems… those are the three variables you have to play off against each other… a lot of countries in the West in particular have made the decision to preserve their economies… not panic peoples… put out soothing statements… at the expense of what we are going to find out Italy has discovered here of a fairly overwhelmed hospital system that we think can only get worse…”
The point of implementing protective measures and practicing self-isolation is to ‘Flatten the Curve’… the rate of infection… see Ben Shapiro graph below.
A friend just asked me… “Mass self isolation is not without economic cost. What if your employer (and thousands of others) go out of business? Economic depression and ensuing poverty can also be fatal for many.”
I replied…
“These are weighty matters that everyone must strike a balance they believe is in their own best interest… and ultimately being Dead or having loved ones die because of a collapsed health system is surely one of the highest considerations.
If the spread of the plague can be slowed it gives all our systems the least stress… and valuable time to get supplies… etc.
It depends upon the inclinations and interests of individuals as to how they will suggest is the best way of dealing with this crisis… At one end of the spectrum…many seem to be rolling the dice and doing nothing… these are the ones who say… “Oh its not even as bad as the flu…”…. others at the other end of the spectrum…. mainly Asians… *Have already bought out New Zealand’s supply of face masks*… are buying up all the toilet paper*… etc etc*… ie they are in full *self preservation mode*.
Somewhere between these two extremes most people will be sitting… yet I fear most will be down the ‘Do nothing’ end of the spectrum rather than prepping for the worst.
I myself am waaay down the ‘Action stations’ self preservation end of the scale…. and I worry about everyone who is acting so Blase about it.
I have good reason to think these people simply dont appreciate how dire this situation is… and by the time they wake up… there will be *no supplies* to stock up for self isolation… or worse… they will be in the first wave of victims…
My Thinking is that it is better to prepare for the worst… and find things turned out better than expected rather than letting misplaced optimism leave you and your loved ones unprepared when things turn out far far far worse than you could have imagined.
Now Put yourself in one of the Italian or Chinese cities that has been locked down… surrounded by a plague that is killing your neighbours…. what message… what advice do you think they would have for us…??
Don’t you think they would tell us with all urgency to prepare prepare prepare???
‘Panic buying’ is a euphemism for ‘loonie’… for ‘irrational fear’… yet are people like myself who are taking action for our own welfare Really behaving irrationally?
I think not.
I received some funny looks and comments from fellow shoppers when they gathered that I was prepping for Covid19
It is staggering to me that there are so many people who think this virus is less dangerous than the common flu!
The Coronavirus is probably number 1 news topic on the globe at present… and though the net is now flooded with contradictory information, my Social media page is awash with posts saying ‘it’s no big deal’ and that all the Doom saying news is just ‘media sensationalism’.
They say not to worry about preparing for massive interruptions of our normal social operations such as supermarkets, etc.
These posts all carry the insinuation that those of us who take this crisis more seriously… that we are somehow foolish simpletons who cant comprehend ‘the latest scientific updates and statistics’ that say that ‘Only Old people need to be concerned’… or ‘The common Flu has a greater mortality rate’…. etc.
That is simply *BULLSHIT!*
Its like these people are willfully selecting the information according to what *they want to believe*…*hope to be true*, rather than being Objective.
How is it possible to maintain such apathy in the face of such facts that entire cities are being locked down?
To my thinking You just dont do that shit when its just a Flu!
This thing is way more serious than the powers that be would have you think….
The UN when discussing how to handle ‘Information’ during pandemics have indicated their desire to control and censor the internet… even shut down social media… because they want to control the public narrative… they want to halt popular protests against their activities, etc…
You see the powers that be have a separate vested interest that can be in conflict with the people knowing the whole truth… and that their agenda is to *maintain control*
The following video is a *must watch*… its the sort of video that could get a Free speaker in trouble….
Wake up people!
In the following (video below) Joe Rogan Experience interview with Michael Osterholm “…an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease epidemiology. He is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)…”
*He states that Covid 19 is up to 15 times more dangerous than the common flu* and goes on to make closer comparisons with the Spanish flu pandemic of the early 20th century that killed 60+ Million people.
Watch this video…..
Making the decision as to when to go into self isolation is critical.
The exponential nature of this plague coupled to the unique geographical characteristics of various countries makes it extremely difficult to ‘guess’ when things change from ‘acceptable risk’ to Too late… I do think favorable factors will give New Zealand a small amount of extra time… maybe a week or two… the problem being that if you self isolate too soon not only do you burn through your supplies and incur more personal economic hardship (by not going to work), but also some wives will start to think isolation was a dumb idea and step back out into society… *just as the pandemic hits*… rendering all efforts and wisdom for naught.
It goes without saying that the extreme risk comes from tarrying too long… and the ‘exponential explosion of contagion’ catching you out and about…because you left your escape too late.
And this raises another dilemma… what of the households where one of the adults wants the family to go into isolation… but the other one thinks thats being silly?
This thing presents problems and dilemmas of 1000 kinds… any of which mistakes could be met with the highest consequence.
(photo from Tool fan page)
Tool Concert a personal wake up call.
Just how difficult it is to make smart decisions to self isolate rather than attend ‘important’ events… like Big parties, concerts, etc was made clear when My favorite band Tool toured New Zealand just a few weeks ago, yet it was only at the last minute that I got a ticket and attended their Saturday nite show in Auckland.
It was a bucket list item for me… yet the fleeting thought did occur to me… ‘what about the Corona Virus?’… I decided the risk was low and the gain high… and Tool did not disappoint!
It was fabulous seeing them live and esp hearing their New Tracks from ‘Fear inoculum’.
Yet a Week later it became big news that in fact a Person with Corona Virus *did attend* one of the Tool gigs in Auckland… and consequently…frightfully… *2 people* caught the virus who also attended the show and stood near where the contagious carrier watched the show!
It turned out this happened at the show the day before I went, and the sick person was located well away from where I sat… yet all of this was pure luck.
*That could easily have been me* and I could have carried that contagion home!*
The risk may have been extremely low, yet for the poor people who caught the disease and are now in Isolation no doubt they appreciate *just how dangerous* attending Gigs and parties really is, and how easily such events *can spread the virus far and wide*.
This is why *self Isolation is essential*
Learning my lesson I have had to decline attending a 60th party in West Auckland of a Good friend who is not well (heart issues)… who may not have many… if any… parties left.
This is a painful decision… a hard decision… yet I believe it is the right decision.
It is *very difficult* to decline *personally important events* for Covid 19’s sake.
It is awkward and unpleasant explaining your reasoning… even though the truth is Isolation is in everyone’s best interest.
Making a decision to keep your kids home from school… making a decision not to go to work… these are Tuff calls… yet that is sometimes what must be done.
People who dont have the stones to weigh up the risks and make the judgement call for themselves… are like sheep waiting for the shepherd to make a grand declaration … or for the flock to panic and all stampede…. like maniacs.
Things could get nasty when the Zombies realise they underestimated the gravity of what is about to unfold.
They wont have any food… they wont have any sanitisers, health products, etc etc
They will have no Personal protection equipment.
These fools dont realise how the functionality of our society will be severely impacted… they assume things like internet shopping will carry on as normal… they dont realise that *all the supplies of essential items are already disappearing off the shelves* … not only by smart people who are fast enough to look to their own security and well being… but apparently there have been groups of Asian migrants who have stockpiled important Items to send home to their families… again… this is not some sort of ‘Evil plot’… but is in fact *what should be expected* people will do in such times of global crisis when the Mother countries where their loved ones live are in the throes of the pandemic have exhausted all their supplies.
They are doing what they can for their families and loved ones.
I do not mention the fact that that it has been Asians who have emptied the shelves to incite any form of hateful backlash against them.
God forbid!
I only say it because it is a fact reported to me voluntarily from virtually every store I have visited trying to buy face masks, etc. I did not ask who or why the shelves are now ‘out of stock’… the store attendants told me as a matter of fact.
This is how societies behave when faced with a Global epidemic.
This is a perfect example of *why we all should have listened to Civil defense* warnings about *Always having Emergency supplies*… a civil emergency kit.
Because when the shit hits the fan… it is simply *too late* to stock up.
You slept when you should have been a busy squirrel!
Now winter is here!
Dont allow this crisis to turn you into a Racist.
Dont let it turn you into a lawless
How we all behave in this time of crisis will determine our Mettle… what sort of human beings we *really are*… for it is only in times of crisis that our morals and values are truly tested.
Most of us have seen the pathetic video of the three Auzzy woman pulling each other hair out over rolls of dunny paper… and how one evil cow with a shopping cart chocker with rolls would not even allow the stranger to have a single pack to maintain her own dignity!
*That my friends is a demonstration of how thin the skin of civility is on many people and that beneath lurks heartless savages!*
In the time of crisis we will see that many Human beings dont give a rats arse about anyone but themselves!
Well my people I pray you have a great soul that that!
Be wise and frugally manage your supplies, yet I pray that should things become dire for your friends and neighbors that you do what you can to share anything you possibly can… because even the smallest measures of generosity and compassion could make the world of difference to those in dire straights.
And how you act in these time will not only be the measure of your humanity… but also will not be forgotten by those you help… or refuse to help…. remember that.
May the Good Lord be with you and your loved ones.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Update: Big News… Good news for children and young people…
US SURGEON GENERAL JEROME ADAMS: “If you are a child or young adult, you are more likely to die from the flu, if you get it, than you are to die from coronavirus. So, there is something about being young that is protective.”
This lifts a massive weight off the shoulders of parents concerned about their children.
Update 14-3-20
This graph (Below) is very handy for understanding the spread of the virus.
It will help people to judge risk in the early period… yet for many countries thay are already in the the first phases of the steep climb.
It shows exponential growth over a cycle of 15 days.
10 000 x 10 000 …. in 15 days time…. in Italy, Iran, and south Korea.
We here in New Zealand have not yet hit 100 ‘confirmed cases’… yet that should only be in the next month…. in 6 weeks we could hit 10 000.
Globally the numbers will soar to a staggering number.
The death rate will be proportional.
Yet regional factors also have some variable affects… some positive… some negative.
What a load of crap!
I am sure that instead of talking to ‘academics’ if the press actually went and talked to front line staff who work in hospitals they would speak of the very opposite reality
The New Zealand health system bends over backwards to Maori…pandering to the skewed dictates of ‘fulfilling treaty obligations’.
Think about what these academics preach and what the NZ press so thoughtlessly reports.
Maori crime? White privilege!
Maori Health? White Privilege!
Maori abuse of children? White Privilege!
Maori Obesity? White Privilege!
Maori Poverty? White Privilege!
Maori Alcoholism and drug use? White Privilege!
Maori dropping out of School? White Privilege!
Maori violence against other Maori? White Privilege!
Maori in Gangs? White Privilege!
Notice how nothing is actually Maoris own responsibility?
And this has been the ‘Diagnosis’ of Socialist politicians and academics for the past 30 years… and they have thrown Billions at this…. which has proven to be a utter failure… only growing dependence upon the state!
Could it be the whole diagnosis is absolutely wrong?
False?
would that not explain why their remedies dont work?
How about a different prognosis… how abot we start seeing the problems faced by Maori as fundamentally a matter of *self responcibility and personal ethics… ie *their own fault*… not the fault of the Pakeha at all!
After all colonisation introduced *great advantages* to Maori of western science and wisdom! And it is a complete lie to suggest they have not had access to this valuable store of wealth creating wisdom.
Could it be that the Maori people have actually been led down the garden path by their own leaders for their own political advantages, power, and wealth?
Could it be that Socialist have used the Maori people as pawns to attack New Zealand freedom, equality, and prosperity… to fulfill their maniacal delusions about the forced redistribution of wealth by the all powerful socialist state?
Hmmmmmmmm????
END WAITANGI APARTHIED!
Dump the Race based seats in parliament!
Dismantle all the Socialist crutches that enable the victim mentality.
When will The press in New Zealand actually do their job and produce some Journalism of quality instead of just parroting the state agenda?
Get your copy of ‘Free Speech Under Attack’ from Good Bookstores or order direct from Tross publishing
**********************************
This Blogpost has been a bloody nightmare to write… and will probably suck just as badly to read!
Not only is it Obscene in length, containing last weeks news that has been thoroughly covered by other writers when it was actually current … The whole theme I was trying to lay out simply didnt work!
There has been too much crap going on!
Yet because I have spent 3 days writing this sod of a thing, I am too peeved to just Euthanize it … letting it die quietly… with dignity…
I’m sorry…. Read at your own peril.
As the calendar clicked over into 2020 I was wallowing under a cloud at how oppressive Ardern’s regime and her henchmen The New Zealand Police has been behaving with regards to the Police raid on Right Minds Social media Commentator and critic of the Ardern Globalist doctrine and Concerned Citizen who made a Submission in opposition to the Firearms Amendment Act… Conservative Thinker Dieuwe de Boer.
The Police had evidently used his submission to the bill as ‘pretext’ to invade and ransack his home and traumatise his family… finding nothing…. yet leaving him (and the Independent NZ Blogging community) a clear message from the regime… of the consequences contrary opinions to the State Agenda could expect to be treated if they dare express them in the public domain.
This shocking act of Political Gansterism was just the latest in a series of such raids on independent Kiwi social media commentators … a clear systematic pattern now evident to all who are awake… one which the so-called mainstream media have done their part to condition the sheeple to endorse as a legitimate suppression of ‘Far Right extremism’.
I had predicted this Jackbooted activity would commence (here) given the Gun confiscation amnesty had been such an utter failure… the Police eager to ‘Punish’ those who had in any way attempted to protest against their new tyrannies…. and because the raid on de Boer’s family home was well covered by several Bloggers there was little I could have added to the discussion, and so I chose to share these commentaries rather than write another one myself.
Here are a few good ones….
Excerpt: “Many New Zealanders were shocked yesterday by the news that Right Minds columnist Dieuwe de Boer had been raided by Police, ostensibly to look for a now-banned magazine for a .22 rifle. As this essay will show, the true reason for the Police raid was as part of a wider effort to suppress dissent – an effort carried out in co-ordination with the Government and the mainstream media.
The New Zealand Government knows what it wants to do to the New Zealand people, and it’s going to do it to them whether they like it or not.
Like all authorities throughout history, the New Zealand Government has a number of people who oppose it, and a number of arse-licking slaves who support it. Those who oppose it are the New Zealand people, whose natural will is to live freely. Those who support it are the soulless hordes of weaklings who have always fallen in line behind authority figures.
That the Government works together with the Police is obvious. In theory, the Police are supposed to be politically independent. The reality is that most Kiwi alternative media commentators have now received Police harassment visits. Vinny Eastwood, VJM Publishing, Cross the Rubicon and now de Boer have all been targeted in recent months – all selected for harassment on account of their outspoken criticism of the Government.
What is less known is that the Government and Police also work hand-in-hand with the mainstream media. The media plays an essential role in this suppression by manufacturing consent for the crackdowns. They present pro-Government propaganda, and attack the reputations of anti-Government speakers…”
^ That is an exceptional piece of truth telling by VJM Publishing which exposes the mainstream media as fake news and complicit in the loss of liberty and headlong plunge of our nation under the Jackboot of a Socialist Police State.
And If that was not enough to depress the Concern citizens of New Zealand… the media kept pumping out the bad news that the State Juggernaut was steam rolling forward with ‘more ‘Hate speech legislation’… and more betrayal of the ‘Full and Final Treaty settlement process’ (re: Arderns utter disregard for the Law with respect to Inhumatao).
Anti-freedom Social engineers are constantly baying for more heavy handed socialism.
Academics and the Media have been promoting sugar taxes… and Taxes on Meat and dairy… Hospitals are changing their menus, not to improve Patients health but for the so-called Politically correct rationale of making their operations ‘more environmentally sustainable’.
I was feeling the weight of the relentless Millitarisation of the New Zealand police as being the new and accepted ‘Post Christchurch ‘Norm’ … having been sold to the public via the same lies that were used to justify the concurrent disarmament of Law abiding New Zealanders… that the Christchurch attack ‘had forever changed the rules of the game’… and that We New Zealanders must accept a heavy curtailment of our rights across the board… because we are being told our rights and liberties were ‘dangerous’… and therefore the Police needed far more Powers.
Today if the police pay you a visit they will always be armed… and they will treat you as if you are dangerous irrespective of the reason they have come to see you about.
Until Ardern took office, that B.S only happened in Communist shitholes or in Gun ho America!
certainly not here in Gods own!
Yet in the blink of an eye The New Zealand Police have become a serious danger to the New Zealand Public and they waive loaded guns in people faces on a regular basis and have shot more people in the past 10 years than in the previous 40… and at an accelerating rate…
Just recently 14 armed police turned up to Uplift a child from a single mother
This is the new oppressive reality that the Power Mad Socialists of both the Left and the Right are foisting upon us!
Worse… a huge deluded and ‘woke’ portion of our population are actively lobbying for their own enslavement… begging for the all powerful State to crush independent thinking and Self reliance… primarily these people are Bat-shit crazy … the brainwashed fear driven Pompously self righteous Vegan Zealots of the Cult of Climate change.
In the first weeks of the new year I was also contemplating how New Zealanders are being systematically railroaded into a cashless society… The enormity of this is chilling to the bone!
A Google search will bring up many articles that have been written in the past few years… here is one…
The realisation that this will probably happen without without any significant protest… being fully propagated in the public mind by our Mainstream media…. and the complete loss of Liberty and privacy… the All-seeing Evil Eye watching, and regulating, and taxing your every transaction… such a massive power accrual… in ensnaring the entire population into this system of Mammon.
What sort of future are we bequeathing to our Children????
It is Ironic that while the media report Climate change Doom hysteria is creating a wave of anxiety destroying the hopes and dreams of the youth because they are being told that the governments of the world are not acting decisively enough to reign in capitalism and Far Right extremism and hate…. yet I have been harboring my own anxiety and bleak outlook for precisely the opposite reasons… as I watch the loss of Liberty… The systematic vilification of dissenting opinions… and exponential growth of the Police state… how do tell my son to have faith in God’s grace and providence, while at the same time warn him of the fast approaching Global Kingdom of The Antichrist?
Laugh at me if you like yet anyone familiar with the New Testament and particularly Book of Revelation can see the Prophecies about the Global system of the Beast all coming to fruition… The spirit of Antichrist… the Roaring Lion… the evil seducing spirits at work sewing the idea that Christianity is Evil and its dissemination should be should be Legally suppressed as ‘Hate crime’.
Revelation 13
“11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Satan Laughing spreads his wings.
These thoughts and others have been weighing heavy on my soul and because of a sense of utter helplessness to prevent the advance of Leviathan I have been suffering despair for the future… despair for my Children and Grand children… will they grow strong enough in Fortitude and wisdom… in Faith, and Truth to be able to walk the path that the Children of God must walk… and endure the Powerful delusions that will be propagated against the truth?
I am fearful that they will not be strong enough to resist and to endure… for I know what a monumental trial lies ahead for Christians and Libertarians.
And yet in the past few weeks several monumental things have happened that have reminded me of the importance of maintaining a positive faith.
When things look dark it is easy to get tunnel vision and to focus on the gloom… yet I am happy to say that I have today good reason to think that The Powers of Light are not yet defeated, and that Though things are dire… that still resistance is on several fronts causing the minions of Satan to retreat… and the first of those was January 31… BREXIT!
YAY!!!!!!!! 😀
PRAISE THE LORD!
What a great day for Freedom and self determination in Britain!
What a Kick in the teeth for Socialist Globalism and their desire to destroy Western civilisation via Immigration from the third world, and the suppression of western values under the guise of ‘multiculturalism.
Britain is about to restore their place in the world as advocates for free Trade which PM Brian Johnson rightly accredits as the greatest means by which to raise humanity out of poverty and of creating bonds of mutual benefit between nations thereby greatly reducing the likelihood of Armed conflict.
Will Brexit cause other European nations to reclaim their independence?
Lets hope so!
As Nigel Farage said in his epic Farewell speech to the EU while saying that Britannia loves Europe he condemned the EU as Power without accountability… he slammed the EU’s pigheaded refusal to bend to the expressed will of the people… relentless in their determination to impose their agenda
“I’m hoping this begins the end of this project. It’s a bad project, it isn’t just undemocratic it’s anti-democratic.”
What a kick in the nuts for Socialist Globalist One world order!
A return to Independent Nations!
Again anyone who is familiar with the scriptures and the Genesis account of the Tower of Babble stands in awe of the wisdom of God in dividing the nations in the first place… to prevent the Evil One world Government of Nimrod… King of Babylon.
Politically speaking the concentration of Power has always been the greatest danger… for as the dictim goes… ” Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” … so the Socialist delusion that a One world Globalist government is the way to end wars and wealth disparity is fundamentally flawed as by centralizing all power … which has always been a tenet of Socialism… you usher in not peace… but unleash the Leviathan upon humanity!
Christianity has the Ideological Goods that exposes such dangerous enterprises for what they really are.
Like Satan, Socialists hate the Bible because it stands in the way of their will to Power.
Being peopled and promoted by Globalists the EU is fiercely anti Nationalistic independence and effectively put the whole of Europe under the sway of UN Socialist Policies and agenda.
Hopefully we are in fact witnessing a turn of the tide against the machinations of Anti Western Socialist Globalism!
Add to this the acquittal of Trump in his Senate Impeachment trial… ending the latest Farcical and Malicious attempt by the Whacko Leftist Democrats to discredit and even topple Trump from power.
Now I am no Trump worshiper yet the fate of the World was very precarious in 2016 and the Defeat of Hillary Clinton by Trump may be understood to be akin the Brexit in that it represents yet another massive defeat for the Woke leftist Globalist Agenda.
Like British Brexit is patently a resurgence of Nationalism and independence… so too was the election of Trump a resurgence of American Nationalism…. away from the socialist New world order.
As Farage pointed out “Populism is becoming very Popular”, and Both Bexit and The election of Trump are symptoms of a Populist backlash against Woke Liberal Globalist bullshit that is attempting to destroy western values and ideals and impose a Global socialist dictatorship.
And as such the Rabid Woke democrats have sold their souls to Belzeebub …. and possessed with the deepest malice have incessantly labored to fabricate outright despicable lies to try and impeach Trump in the hope to damage his chances of Re election.
Their Fraudulent Congressional process of impeachment was an absolute partisan travesty by any legal standard, yet their Evil plans were once again thwarted by the US Senate which the Machiavellian Democrats did not control.
So My spirit has been buoyed by these huge events.
Now 2020 is not only a pivotal year for the US in that its Election year for them… it is also Election year for us too in New Zealand… an opportunity to Boot out The worst government we have suffered this millennia … the Ardern Regime, The problem is there is little to be gained given how utterly hopeless the main opposition party is!
This is of itself a very depressing fact, and yet the National party Leader Simon Bridges has made Several announcements that do in fact constitute some important improvements on what Ardern and Labour are peddling.
In particular he has said he wants the farcical Treaty settlement process to be fully wound up by 2024, He says that the waitangi tribunal should eventually go, and also wants to see an end to the Apartheid electoral system and race based seats in parliament!
Both these things are of the highest importance to me and so while ‘Regeim change’ will not exactly be reason for dancing in the street as would be the case if New Zealand elected a Libertarian party into office, none the less there are at least some reasons to be more positive than the current misery.
Given that Arderns recent meddling, having ignored the *Legal* status of Treaty grievances at Ihumatau as being full and finally settled , is threatening to completely put our nation back to square one
If Ardern is defeated so too will her Evil Collaborator be booted out!
Bridges early declaration that He will not consider any coalition deal with the current deputy Prime minister and Leader of the New Zealand First Party Winston Peters was music to my ears!
And watching Peters behave this a child kicking a tantrum has also been delicious!
It will be Good riddance to this Charlatan!
So I am doing my best to shrug off my recent depression and put on a more positive outlook…in spite of the Coronavirus outbreak!
Our world is in constant flux, and contrary to how I how I was feeling at the end of last year… I do appreciate that there is a wave of protest rising against Socialist Globalism that is starting to seriously impact upon their Agenda.
Their Greatest diabolical machine that is causing the most trouble is their great Global warming Scam… how much longer will they be able to fool so many billions of people and deceive them into supporting their Tyrannical Globalist ambitions?
Sadly there is very little to distinguish the National party from Labour esp when it comes to matters of Draconian militarization of the Police and intrusive surveillance.
Under National New Zealand’s slide towards a cashless society will not skip a beat.
What Simon Bridges has said about ending New Zealand’s Apartheid system is Great stuff…. yet will he actually deliver on it?
It was talk like this from Don Brash that put the fear of God into the Establishment Maori at the thought of losing all their Political privileges and Billions of annual tax loot that has them furiously working to entrench the Treaty and make it harder for this apartheid system to be abolished….
So be vigilant!
This challenge to Racist separatist power and extortion will not go without a nasty fight… and the real problem is that I fear New Zealanders dont have the spine to do what must be done.
Plagues and pestilence.
I have been doing my best not to freak out too much about this, yet evey day the news gets worse.
Is The Coronavirus Outbreak China’s Chernobyl?
What Bullshit are we being fed,,, and what is the real truth?
If we survive the Caronavirus Pandemic I myself will be giving my party vote to Act.
I cannot Blog more about the virus here and now… it will have to wait.
Still…Maybe it would be wise not to wait for people to start dropping dead in the streets and our country plunges into chaos and panic before making sure our Civil defense Survival Packs and your stores are in order to sustain your family for a Month at least, and start to fortify your body….
” Strengthen your immune system now. Stock up on iodine, high dose vitamin C, B.complex, garlic or allicin and vitamin D.Be prepared to self quarantine where possible, so stock up the pantry too.”
That last piece of advice was given me by a friend… (what the hell the Iodine is good for against viruses I do not know… a disinfectant?)
You will have to google that and find out yourselves, yet I think that sums up about all we can do for our own self reliance self preservation at present in the face of this terrifying virus… Waiting on the *The Government* to instruct you what to do is not a plan.
If shit gets real here in NZ supplies of essentials will immediately disappear off the shelves.
Dont be a sheep.
Prep!
And at Times of crisis do you really want to live in a cashless society???
We all need to consciously resist the push to do all our business via the internet and make using Cash cool again!
This is just one way we can resist the evil desires of the Beast system and maintain our privacy and independence as Free Men and woman… lets tell the Banks, and IRD, and the Government to bugger off with their Evil plans for a cashless society!
Lets tell then No thanks!
We dont want it.
IMO despite all the evils we are wallowing in I believe having a positive outlook depend upon having a Life affirming faith in Christ and that no matter how bad things may get… Ultimately Good will conquor Evil.
“Tonight marks the end of the gun buy back and amnesty, with thousands of guns handed over to police.
However, the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners say owners have been “hiding valuable firearms, protecting family heirlooms, and being ignorant of the fact they are affected by the new bans is now the new normal”.
The council estimated that 100,000 unlawful guns won’t be handed back after the buy back ends tonight, a figure it says came from talking to 11 of the 15 large gun suppliers and from custom numbers…”
Report from New Zealand….
Guy Buy Back scheme and Amnesty period finished.
Over 100 000 Guns not surrendered.
Things are about to get real people…. The Police will seek to make ‘examples’ out of some people in the hope to terrify the rest into compliance….
I would expect the Police to flout the law and start systematically raiding the homes of licensed gun owners… with virtually no just cause… they will start with those whom they are suspicious…. maybe even having staff Trawling social media (like this forum) to ascertain possible non-compliant gun owners simply from the comments they have made…
Obviously anyone who has not handed in their now prohibited guns had better have them well stashed….
******
“The truth is, that we had a law-abiding firearm community who, in my view, have become engaged in civil disobedience on a massive scale because Parliament eroded the respect for the law.”
David Seymour Act Party Leader.
****** Statement from the Outdoors and Recreation Party.
“After today thousands of law-abiding New Zealanders will become criminals and face up to 7 years jail for possessing what was a lawful and authorised firearm”. Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party said “The police attitude is threatening and intimidating with TV adverts depicting people heading off to court. The police and the Government need to take a long hard look at themselves. Less than half of the Semi Automatics have been handed in and for the police to now make threats of raids, prosecution and jail for honest citizens smacks of Tyranny…”
Someone with Legal nouse needs to write up a ‘Know your rights’ Bullet point list for Gun owners who find themselves getting raided.
It should include what paperwork the Police must have, what they are allowed to do… and esp what they are not allowed to do.
Are they allowed to photograph the contents of your safe?
Are they allowed to record in writing the contents of your safe?
You see that in the absence of a Gun register the Police will still be trying to build a database on what you own so they can demand you surrender them as their prohibitions broaden.
It should include what reasonable standard/ threshold must be met before such a heavy handed activity is undertaken… and who is responsible for it … esp when nothing is found… and by what means an innocent person is not robbed of his legal possessions and licence.
The Gun community must be prepared to keep vigilant on this because the Police will abuse their powers… do raids that are not justified… Take guns they are not justified on taking under the most flimsy circumstances… and will arbitrarily deprive innocent people of their licences.
Remember… do not talk to the Police… respectfully decline to answers their questions…
Are you allowed to video their Raid?
How are the police allowed to treat your children and spouse?
Are they allowed to murder your dogs?
ETC ETC
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
New Zealand.
UPDATE!!!!
This Mainstream media piece is vile… talk about making out the Police are the good guys in this… and that this innocent law abiding man is ‘Far right’ and hold opinions ‘Like Brenton Tarrent… the Christchurch Terrorist’…!!!
Disgusting Political Propaganda justifying tyranny!
I spent a week preparing myself for this Oral submission, though we were given a mere 5 minutes to present our arguments.
The idea that such a stingy allocation equates to sound due process… that the Government is ‘interested’ and ‘listening’ to citizens concerns before passing legislation is farcical… Nonetheless there is little point crying about it.
With this in mind I Ruthlessly ignored a thousand equally important factors I would have loved to have been able to present, I managed to focus my submission to a single main theme… the end result being notes 4 times the material that I would be able to speak in 5 minutes… which meant before I even walked in the door I had to sacrifice 75% of this already narrow presentation… leaving me with a mere 1/4 of a single thread of argument… and I guess I am supposed to feel honored to have been able to present that tiny snipet.
There’s nothing Important at stake after all… just the Future Freedom of My Children and theirs!!!!
Only the fact that my country is sinking into a Jackbooted Police State!
I Prayed for Calmness and wisdom, yet still I could not prevent myself from becoming emotional as I presented my case.
In the end I did not even manage to finish that meager portion… yet fortunately I brought 6 printed copies of my full oral submission that I was able to give to the Clark, and so That was a more positive outcome than my 5 minute presentation.
I admit that I was quite nervous about delivering my submission as I had visions of being raked over the coals at question time with regards to how scathing my earlier written submission was… as it turned out my paranoia was unfounded.
Having watched a few submissions, I was expecting the Chair to tell me when I was at 4 minutes so that I could round up on my final points, and maybe field a question or two, yet for some reason she did not give me a 4 minute signal and so I spoke right up to the bell and finished rather abruptly.
I did not hang about long after my delivery as i was expected back at work, yet the ratio was about 5:1 against the Bill.
I left when one submitter began to say they supported the Bill.
The Secretary of The council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) Nicole Mckee was present and I introduced myself to her and we had a short chat about proceedings.
She was a very pleasant lady, and gave me her card.
Though she had already presented an Oral submission as a COLFO representative at an earlier Hearing, she was in attendance to hear the submissions, and to offer encouragement and advice to others making submissions.
Below is a video of my submission (starts about 5 minutes in… and dont worry… the Video corrects its orientation before I start to speak! 🙂 )
from this you will get the shortened summary of the much longer argument I presented to the committee via the Clark … which I will also post after the video.
It should also be remembered that I had already made a written submission on this Bill here.
Because Submission time was so short, it is difficult to feel satisfied yet at least I know I have done the best I could muster under the circumstances.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
^^^Watch the video… My submission is about 5 min in….
28-11-19
9;45am
FGM Stadium, Splice Construction Lounge.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Oral submission on the (New Zealand) Arms Legislation Bill.
To the Finance and Expenditure Committee
Good Morning.
In my written submission I made many statements about why I reject the re-establishment of a gun register.
In these Hearings the Committee will have herd testimony from a broad range of experts on Guns, and the gun community, social services, etc
My contribution is from a different quarter.
I do not own any firearms.
I want talk about this bill from the perspective of a Father and Grandfather and very concerned and observant citizen who has been witnessing over the past year that New Zealanders Individual Freedom across the board have been coming under siege … not from Terrorism but from oppressive politics.
Our Rights which have been a birthright for generations are threatened from a rapidly expanding Police State.
The Bill before us is all part of this insidious regressive process and that is why I call upon you to reject it in totality.
via such activities as this Bill and the Arms amendment Act, and the belligerent attitude of Parliament and the police, our Cultural heritage and very fabric of our nation are being systematically undermined.
It is frightening to witness these changes that are being hastily implemented by this parliament in the space of less than a year.
let me quickly give a few examples.
The Waikato is a place that has always held the Best Armistice Remembrance days… and I have always attended them …. bringing my family to look at all the military displays and memorabilia… esp all the old machine guns that collectors brought along… and you could sit and chat with them as they proudly described Epic Battles and Heroic Deeds performed by the New Zealand troups… and others.
Each year this events grew bigger and better… except for this year… Something terrible has happened and it is not the Terrorist attack… as some may assume, but the atmosphere that now exists because owning machine Guns and semiautomatics has become a crime!
All the machine-guns and semi-automatics that were normally there ….were gone!
Yet they were all Taonga!
National Treasures!
This parliament has succeeded in the space of a year to create an atmosphere under which to enjoy our Martial traditions and history… and Arms… is now virtually *a thought crime!*
The difference in this year’s event was appalling…
The guts has been ripped out of the Event.
Attendance was very low, and when I talked with those people who were still running stalls and displays they virtually all told me they believed the cause of the dirth was the new Anti-gun laws.
I fear the viability of this long held remembrance event is now in jeopardy.
Multiply this sad situation across the country and the magnitude of the ‘New Anti-Gun era’ being fostered onto our country by the Government becomes apparent…. and it is shocking to me.
I was told of other cancelled events.
On top of this I have seen News reports that the Guns and arms that RSAs have had on display for decades are now under threat of destruction … all because of Parliaments and the Police’s callous and arrogant attitudes and agenda!
Lest we forget…
What was the reason New Zealanders fought two world wars?
It was to liberate Nations from invading Tyranny and to Defeat Evil Totalitarian Ideologies and powers that threatened the life and liberty of ourselves, our Friends, and neighbors!
Lest we forget…
The idea that New Zealand’s greatest sacrifices for Western civilization… for freedom are being systematically destroyed instead of preserved for Posterity is a monumental crime that only serves the interests of those in governments… certainly not the well being of the people!
And it is *you people* who are doing this. Your ill conceived legislation is having many dire consequences that weaken not strengthen our Nation.
Via bills such as the one we are considering today You are effeminating our Nation!
Your ‘Guns are Evil’ indoctrination is socially conditioning an ignorance and a loss of respect for Bearing arms, and the security and quality of life that comes from being a Brave… Free… and proud martial people!
Since the Christchurch event the cowardly way the government has behaved has proven that the Terrorist has won!
Legislation like the bill before us is taking our nation in the very opposite direction of what ought to have been done in the wake of what happened… and the wrong people are being punished!
Instead of the knee jerk reaction of Heavy handed fire arms prohibitions…driven by Political opportunism and Fear, this horrific event should instead have strengthened our National resolve to remain strong and Free!
That is how you defeat terrorism!
The very worst thing you could possibly do is go weak at the knees and retreat backwards into a less free Nation!
Yet that is what Parliament has done.
Only 4 types of people benefit from making our Nation weaker and more timid …as you are today in the process of doing… and these are Criminals, Terrorists, Foreign Enemies, and a tyrannical domestic government.
Taking away New Zealanders most powerful firearms is an extremely foolish thing to do with respect to Homeland security!
God forbid that we should face a foreign invasion …. yet when an enemy knows that we have been disarmed by our own Government … that only serves to encourage them to attack us!
Far from reducing the likely hood of future terrorist attacks … by taking away the nations best guns you are making us all weaker… in resolve and in arms !
And you have succeeded in making our country a much more juicy target… ie much much less safe!
In New Zealand we have no Constitutional protection from Mob rule or the arbitrary whims of Parliament as our Bill of Rights is not worth the paper it is printed on!
We dont have a ‘Second amendment as the US does
and that is the only reason why This government and Police has been able to get away with taking us down this low road… and running Ruff shod over the rights of Gun owners…
yet this does not make what you have been doing right… even if it is Legal…
This is not the rule of Law…which is the rule of just principle…. what you guys are doing is an unprincipled exercise of arbitrary power!
It is a well understood principle of Liberty that The Police should never be allowed any part in writing the laws they are being paid to enforce!
It places too much power in their hands and is a dangerous opportunity for them to put their own interests ahead of the Rights and liberties of the people they serve….
The Police are not our masters, but our servants and from how their hierarchy have been behaving lately its high time they were reminded of this fact!
I have been actively promoting the Idea that New Zealand desperately needs a New Constitution to prevent this sort of abuse of legislative power currently afoot.
A constitution that does among other things embodies the principles of the US second amendment… yet in the absence of this today… here and now …. all I can do is appeal to this committees conscience.
I hope my submission has succeeded to some degree in giving you pause… to contemplate what direction this legislation and others like hate speech laws will carry our Nation…. and that is backwards… making us less free… and making us Weaker… more vulnerable… and more dependent…
It does not have to be this way… This committee could recommend to parliament that there is a far better and more principled ways to move forward after what happened in Christchurch….
That they should reject this program of Gun restrictions and registers… and instead boldly defend the great freedoms we have enjoyed in this country for generations… respecting our Culture and traditions that have made living here so wonderful.
Please Act now before the Police destroy all our Cultural treasures in arms!
This is pure sacrilege and vandalism!
Please don’t stuff things up for my children!
I want them to be Brave, Independent, and free.
Thank you. I am now willing to face your questions.
Update: I edited this argument slightly to fit the Supplementary Order Paper 408 -Arms legislation bill and submitted it with the following recommendation….
“I recommend this bill be rejected in total, and an independent review be taken as to how Parliament and Jacinda Ardern have circumvented due process to rush these Arms Prohibitions into Law without a legitimate mandate from the people (ie the people did not vote them into government on these serious legislative changes), or at least first waiting for the Royal Commission of Inquiry Report into the Christchurch Terror attack before making any decisions on Arms Legislation.
I would also hope such an Inquiry would investigate why the terms of reference for the Royal Commission did not allow them to investigate the process in which the arms amendment act was hastily enacted, whether the act will prevent any future attacks, or why the Commission were not instructed to thoroughly investigate the Police in how they granted Brenten Tarrant a Licence. These shortcomings in the terms of reference smacks of a political cover up as it Hog ties the commission from investigating these most essential questions.
If it is found that the Police did not fulfill their Duties correctly in granting Tarrant a licence, this would indicate that this whole series of Arms prohibitions and regulations that is being Ram Rodded home is a devious miscarriage of justice against New Zealand citizens and gun owners, because Arms legislation as it stood was already sufficient to prevent the Christchurch event if only the Police had done their Job properly.
And If all this proved to be true then the activities of Jacinda Ardern, The New Zealand Police Hierarchy should be held accountable for political corruption, and legitimacy of the Arms amendment act itself must be called into question… and preferably abolished.”
As usual it was on the last night that submissions were open that I could no longer put off writing my submission… and as usual that left me no time to do a decent job of it… no time to refine it, correct it etc etc and I have just submitted it with just over an hour till submissions close…
I post it below…
Cheers!
(edited)
**********************
Submission of Tim Wikiriwhi on the Arms Legislation Bill
I oppose the regressive step of reintroducing a Gun registry, and any further infringements of New Zealanders current Gun Rights.
I request the Bill be scrapped.
My concerns about this second tranche of heavy handed Gun laws proposed in this Bill, is that like the preceding Arms amendment Act which criminalised Law abiding citizens who owned semiautomatic firearms… who have now been forcefully dispossessed of their rightful property having been stripped of their rights though having committed no offences whatsoever… are yet again facing more unjust treatment by our Leftist Liberal Government and Police… under equally disingenuous aims and justifications.
The way the first Tranche was shamefully enacted sets the context by which the public ought now to view with trepidation this second tranche.
That spectacle is still fresh in my mind… the underhanded way Parliament cheated David Seymour of his vote to insure a more thorough process was followed… with far more public consultation… truly contemptible behavior by Parliament for Legal rigor!
There are good reasons why those legal safeguards existed for a more thorough process and yet all parliament colluded to negate due process!
The Shame of it stinks to hell!
Parliamentarians like Ardern whose personal Globalist ideology is at variance with her duty and responsibility to the people of New Zealand, and The Police who had been lobbying to get Semiautomatic Rifles outlawed for a long time prior to the Christchurch event, have colluded together and acted in self serving ways with respect to the first tranche of Arms confiscations, and being emboldened by the ease with which they were able to Rob New Zealanders of their Rights and property…. they now have come back for a second helping with this second tranche… that is born out of the same self interest and carried forward by the same contempt for the rights, property, and Liberty of the New Zealand people!
There is little evidence that the Government’s gun buyback scheme would avoid future gun-related death and injury, the Treasury advised the Government. (ref:https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/treasury-advice-on-gun-buyback-little-evidence-it-will-avoid-gun-related-deaths/?fbclid=IwAR2ZCaHQttCvXPfJHKO9dWuokLwmMg2ywEyqsbsZxy7n9StvIFCuemWscvE)
And with this being so is it any wonder that large swathes of previously trusting New Zealanders are now starting to see through the propaganda about these arms amendments being about making our country safer, but now perceive the real underlying motivations behind these legislative actions that serve to take away the rights of New Zealanders and further empower the State?
New Zealanders like myself are not fooled by the semblance of ‘due diligence’ that this public submission process entails… New Zealanders need to ask whether or not The committees place any serious weight on concerns raised by Citizens like myself who oppose new legislation which take away the rights and property of New Zealanders and further empower the State… or as I suspect via cognitive dissonance and prejudice they dismiss voices of protest, and carry out their own ambitions… regardless.
For example I know that the committee will have received many submissions that will respectfully ask the committee to consider overseas evidence that Gun Registers are notoriously unreliable at keeping track of fire arms… and at best only keep track of those held by the law abiding… not criminals… and are very expensive to administer, and result in another bloated bureaucracy, and because they dont make society safer other countries have abandoned them And in fact it was because of facts like this that New Zealand decided the register was a waste of time and abandoned having one in the first place!
These people who make these valid points for which they have good evidence to substantiate their assertions that the reintroduction of a Gun register will not make our country safer from gun crimes are doing so under the assumption that this submission process is not a charade, and that the committee will genuinely be moved by Well reasoned arguments and appeals to facts.
These well intentioned and guileless gun owners take it on face value and have bought into the line that these proposed amendments arise from Ardern’s genuine ambition to make New Zealand safer… and that she and Parliament will be open to reason.
Not I!
I suspect Ardern’s real ambition is ultimately the prohibition of all privately owned firearms… one step at a time.
I think to myself How foolish are these other citizens who appeal to the governments sense of reason!
How silly to assume that by providing facts and proofs that a gun register will not achieve the expressed outcome that our government claims to be the underpinning motive and justification for the Law changes that they will take heed of such submissions and this bill will not make it though the gauntlet into law!
I doubt this because Ardern and her Comrades keep their *Real motives and intents* hidden from the public and so they will not be swayed by such facts in the slightest… because they miss *the real mark*!
My submission on the other hand may be less congenial… but is more accurate.
Their true reason for enacting this bill and having a gun register *is about power over New Zealand gun owners*
Thus I can say with a large degree of confidence that no matter how many submission this committee receives in opposition to this bill that it will become law… the public be damned!
If after this Public consultation process it is determined *not to reintroduce a gun register* I will eat my hat!
Its already a foregone conclusion… because Ardern and the NZ Police *want the register for their unspoken nefarious goal.
All submissions and arguments and proofs about how a register is a waste of time with respect to public safety will fall on deaf ears as the *Real* purpose why Ardern and the Police want the gun register is *not about* safety or keeping guns out of criminal hands… but about making it easier for them… *The State* to implement future successive waves of Arms confiscations and make it much harder for The Citizens to refuse to comply… and this is their agenda and why a gun register *will serve the interest of Ardern and the Police very well*.
Step by step our Rights are in retreat while the jackbooks march forward until they have achieved their ultimate goal… complete firearms prohibition… the Socialist Police States wet dream!
The Draconian way Our Arden led Parliament and police have behaved post Christchurch Attack has in fact evidenced the tragic truth… The terrorist has won!
This Bill is part of an ongoing assault on the Rights of New Zealanders that represents a massive shift in personal freedom vs the Power of the State… it is part of an insidious erosion of Our Liberty and Rights that has been enthusiastically accelerated by our hostile Government and Police under the pretense of being an understandable response to the Christchurch terrorist mass murders.
A response that in fact is so ‘understandable’ it was not merely anticipated by the Terrorist himself… but carefully engineered!
Ardern and the Police have done exactly what the terrorist hoped they would do and he said so in his manifesto!
That’s the manifesto the government has banned New Zealanders from reading so that they can understand what the vile Terrorist’s actions were *really* all about for themselves.
The manifesto which our government has busied itself trying to get banned internationally.
So now New Zealanders who never watched the news reports about the manifesto… or took the opportunity to read it while it was still lawful to do so… are now expected to ‘Believe the Official narrative’.
In reality these new Gun laws have zero to do with *a rational response* to the Christchurch atrocity.
New Zealanders who are not fooled by Socialist Liberalism know our government is following the UN ‘textbook’ on ‘how to sell out your Nation to Globalism, a chief tenet of which is the disarmament of Western populations…which is why US Liberals are so hostile towards their second amendment which constitutionally protects american citizen’s gun rights from Liberal Police State confiscation.
And in this UN Socialist textbook it is the Police who benefit from all the new legislation… not the people… the people have to simply shut up… and do as they are told!
We see our Globetrotting PM promoting Anti-free speech State regulations of Social media, and yet
internet security via encryption is not welcomed… because it will hamper Government (Police) ability to spy on citizens.
Parliaments and the Police rushed Arms Amendments has sown mistrust and outrage!
Innocent and law abiding New Zealanders have been robbed of their rights and property by the collusion of Politicians and the Police.
After such belligerency is there any wonder Public opinion of the Police is at an all time low and that Ardern’s Coalition government is now tanking in the Polls?
The Vigilant citizen has every right to ask themselves what the heck is going on!
We are not the fools Ardern and the Police take us for… We know the subversive political doctrines that are being implemented by political ideologues and a belligerent Police Hierarchy.
We can see the direction you are taking our Nation… and we protest!
It was also the very height of presumption for Ardern to ‘Pontificate’ ‘that firearm ownership is not a right but merely a privilege’ … This statement coming down from on high is not *a fact* but her personal opinion that is worth no more than any other New Zealanders… no matter how often it was repeated in the press since.
That this utterance has become the dominant premise being peddled to the New Zealand public is a disgrace!
If such a position were to be accepted as a Fact that would render New Zealanders not Free citizens who enjoy the greatest Liberty… but sorry subjects of an Authoritarian State that rules by despotic Laws and powers!
Ask yourselves how it is that our society should slide so far!…. So fast!…so that now we are told we can no long enjoy the great freedoms we have had for generations?
Please follow that link and read the story there.
My short commentary is below followed with a few excerpts from the article reproduced simply out of fear that this valuable tale may disappear off the net.
Originally published Dec. 31, 2006, with the headline: Doctor and invention outlast jeers and threats
By JOE ROJAS-BURKE, The Oregonian
**********
Commentary by Tim Wikirwihi….
Epic!
This is a perfect example of how Forward thinkers are treated like fools by the Backward and entrenched status quo… and how innovators meet with hostility from the establishment.
It also shows why People should not simply leave their own health concerns or those of their friends and loved ones in the hands of ‘the Experts’… or trust that they are telling you the whole truth!
It is also informative that this sort of behavior is especially prevalent in the fields of science exposing the fallacious yet carefully crafted myth that the scientific fraternity is peopled with enlightened and objective thinkers who are especially open to progressive ideas… the opposite is true… science is infested with narrow minded and Dogmatically opinionated drones… who are more likely to resist progress than speed it.
And this being so my friends… you had better be prepared to swim against the flow of ‘accepted opinions’ if you want to more closely understand the truth.
Quote:
“In a pause between patients, Epley reflected on the reasons other doctors refused to accept his findings for so many years.
“If I look back at medical school, much of it was misinformation,” he said. “Physicians learn to just do the routine, to do the accepted things — don’t go too far out. They’ve got so much to lose if they stick their neck out.”
Rest in Peace Dr Epley.
Tim Wikiriwhi
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Excerpts….
“He is a doctor and innovator. Years ago, he took aim at a medical curse that has disabled millions of people and defied treatment. He came up with a cure that was astonishingly simple. No surgery. No pills.
Now, think: Would his colleagues cheer his stroke of ingenuity by spreading the news — and practice — of the treatment to relieve suffering?
No. Inexplicably, they rejected him, ridiculed him, heaved accusations that threatened his license to practice medicine.”
“John Epley’s stooped shoulders and gentle eyes gave him a turtlish look. He wore a thickly knotted necktie and wrinkled sport coat. No amount of combing could tame the stubborn cowlick in his short hair.
His audience of ear surgeons muttered skeptically and shook their heads. Few at the October 1980 meeting in Anaheim, Calif., believed Epley’s claim to have developed a cure for the most common cause of chronic vertigo.
In any given year, tens of thousands of people seek treatment for the disorder’s strange, crippling attacks. Provoked by a casual tilt or turn of the head, the victim’s surroundings whirl. The eyeballs twitch involuntarily. Nausea overwhelms the senses. On-and-off bouts may torment a sufferer for years.
Physicians were baffled. The best they could offer as treatment was a drastic last resort: surgically destroying nerves to the inner ear, impairing patients’ balance and possibly their hearing.
Epley proposed an elegant alternative.
His talk concluded with a demonstration, a young woman acting as his patient. Epley and his research collaborator, audiologist Dominic Hughes, began by tilting the woman flat on her back, her head hanging over the end of an exam bench. Hughes cradled her head in his hands and rotated it about 45 degrees to his right, then he and Epley rolled the woman’s head and shoulders back to the left in a counterclockwise move that ended with her face down. In a final move, Hughes and Epley lifted the woman to a sitting position.
And that was it.
By then, audience members were walking out. One doctor stomped up to Epley and slapped down a comment card before exiting. He’d scrawled, “I resent having to waste my time listening to some guy’s pet theory.”
”
To maintain balance, the brain coordinates messages from the eyes, from muscles pulling against gravity and from motion sensors inside the inner ear’s maze of fluid-filled canals.
Another researcher had reported finding chalklike particles in the inner ears of vertigo patients and proposed that these particles clumped onto ears’ motion sensors to trigger false sensations of motion. But the hypothesis failed to explain the on-again-off-again nature of positional vertigo: If particles stuck on sensors, why did dizziness ever go away?
Epley and Hughes reasoned that the particles must float freely. Head movements might shift them, causing a siege of dizziness until the particles settled or shifted. It might be possible, they figured, to move the particles where they wouldn’t cause mischief. Since the particles are denser than inner-ear fluid and sink, gravity could do the work.
Hughes used plastic tubing to build a model of the inner ear. To simulate loose particles, he put BBs in the coiled tubes. He and Epley flipped and turned the hand-size model as they might a kid’s puzzle, to work out a sequence of moves to reposition the tiny metal balls.They began testing the moves on people straightaway, tilting and rolling them on an exam bench. Odd as the treatment sounded, frustrated patients were keen to try it.
The first two or three subjects seemed to gain immediate relief. At first, Epley wasn’t too impressed. The condition often clears up by itself, he recalls reminding himself. He didn’t know whether he had made any difference.
But when the treatment cured several more patients, including one who had endured dizziness for a decade, he and Hughes realized they’d hit upon a great discovery.
Hard sell
In Portland, some of Epley’s colleagues were so skeptical that they began to question his medical skills. Some doctors stopped referring patients.”
“In front of hostile crowds, he kept presenting his findings. Ken Aebi, a medical supply salesman in Portland who’d become Epley’s friend, felt helplessly embarrassed for him. Epley struggled at the lectern, reading too much from notes and occasionally wandering off on tangents. Some doctors rolled their eyes. Others laughed openly.”
Desperate patient
At an emergency room in 1995, a doctor couldn’t figure out the cause of a sudden attack of vertigo that struck Joseph Delahunt.
He had crawled from the living room of his North Portland house out to his car so that his wife could drive him to the hospital. Delahunt hung his head out the window and vomited most of the way. An Air Force veteran in his mid-50s, he was healthy and active — selling real estate and practicing yoga — until the attacks started.
Delahunt consulted his family doctor, then tried a neurologist and an ear, nose and throat doctor. They prescribed motion-sickness drugs and other medicines that didn’t help much. One told him he’d have to learn to live with the “benign” condition. None mentioned Epley’s treatment. His wife discovered it on the Internet.
Delahunt’s condition worsened. To avoid unbearable, spinning nausea, he sat as still as he could in a reclining chair. For nearly three months, he left the recliner only to go the bathroom.
At Epley’s office, an assistant helped Delahunt down a long hallway to a gray-walled room with closed blinds. An ungainly apparatus filled much of the room. Inside a giant steel ring hung a padded chair that reminded Delahunt of an ejection seat. Motors, gears and drive-chains were rigged to flip and twirl the chair like a carnival ride.
Delahunt stepped up to a platform and into the chair. An assistant clipped straps across his chest and ankles. She covered his eyes with a bulky mask. It contained a video camera to track his eyes. She clipped a vibrator behind his ear. It buzzed gently, more lightly than a cell phone on vibrate.
“Are you comfortable?” the assistant asked. Delahunt nodded, grateful for the Valium he’d taken.Epley fingered a joystick controller to tilt the chair back until Delahunt was face up. A flick of the joystick rotated Delahunt like a barbecue skewer. On a black-and-white computer display, Epley monitored his patient’s eyes for a characteristic twitching movement triggered by positional vertigo. He repeated the series of calibrated tilts and whirls. Then he swung the chair upright and face-forward.
No waves of vertigo struck when Delahunt moved his head. The nausea had cleared. He stopped taking the medications other doctors prescribed and resumed his life.
Threat to livelihood
In Portland, many doctors still dismissed Epley as a crank.
The conflict flared into a crisis in 1996. The Oregon Board of Medical Examiners notified Epley that he was under investigation for alleged unprofessional conduct.
His medical license and livelihood were on the line.”
“Epley’s accusers, two Portland physicians, testified that Epley was administering the nerve-deadening drugs recklessly, based on inadequate diagnostic testing.
Epley’s main defender, a Harvard-affiliated specialist from Boston, described Epley as “a forward thinker who has been right virtually every time he stuck his neck out.”
Litzenberger left no doubt whom she found most credible, portraying the board’s medical experts as hostile, one-sided and ill-informed. In the summer of 2001, Litzenberger dismissed all claims.”
“By then, a review article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine had credited John Epley as the inventor of the “treatment currently recommended” for positional vertigo. In clinical trials, about 90 percent of patients were cured by a single treatment. Doctors applying treatment around the world referred to it as the “Epley maneuver.”
Victory….
“At 76, Epley sees patients three days a week. He spends the two other days of the workweek at Vesticon. His daughter’s startup has already launched development of two of Epley’s other inventions.
In a pause between patients, Epley reflected on the reasons other doctors refused to accept his findings for so many years.
“If I look back at medical school, much of it was misinformation,” he said. “Physicians learn to just do the routine, to do the accepted things — don’t go too far out. They’ve got so much to lose if they stick their neck out.”
2019 epilogue
Three years after this article was published on the front page of The Oregonian, Dr. John Epley had a stroke and retired. He died in July 2019.
