Jacinda Vs John. Trump gets laughed at.

Wheeler's Corner 40 28th September 2018

'Connecting with people who care' 

 1. The latest bit of stirring doing the rounds on the national MSM political scene these days is the relationship between Jacinda and appointee [now cancelled] Handley. I roamed the web seeking to enlighten myself and the best piece on the issue was on the 'The Daily Blog' site, here is what it said. My comments are in italics: 

"The manner in which the NZ mainstream media have attempted to whip the Jacinda-Handley interaction into a ‘jobs for the boys’ style scandal is embarrassing when you compare it to the previous relationship of Key and his [illegal]appointment of his school mate Ian Fletcher to the GCSB.
I agree that the appointment and then refusal of Handley has been a cluster fuck. Eager MP's like Curran and the PM who wanted a person of Handley’s talent helping the Government out is about as bad as this actually gets, yes Curran and Jacinda were eager and friendly, and in that haste they didn’t dot i’s and cross t’s, but that and the emails between Jacinda and Handley.
Here’s the time line of Jacinda and Handley:

April 23 – August 20th – Handley sends Jacinda 2 text messages and an email about the CTO role.  

Hardly Watergate [or pony-tail-gate] is it? Now here is the timeline of Key appointing his school mate to head the GCSB while he was ramming through mass surveillance laws and setting up Kim Dotcom for the NSA:

March 8th 2011 – Jerry Mateparae is [Bribed or] stepped down as head of the GCSB. [and appointed Governor General]
March 15th 2011 – Top NSA spook, James Clapper, flies to NZ to meet with Key to discuss ‘synchronicity’ between the NSA and GCSB.
March 22nd 2011 – High level intelligence meetings
May 2011 – McCully visits Washington
June 17th 2011 – Key meets with Ian Fletcher for breakfast at Stamford Plaza.
July 22nd 2011 – Key is invited to Washington as pay back for this new ‘synchronicity’.
July 26th 2011 – Key side steps normal protocols and appoints his old school friend Ian Fletcher to take over at the GCSB.
October 2011 – John Key, the head of the SIS and NZDF join Ian Fletcher, the MFAT Head, and the DPMC boss for a secret dinner at the British High Commissioner’s home
December 8th 2011 – A letter states that Key is going to meet Ian Fletcher on 12th December
December 12th 2011 – Key meets with Ian Fletcher. [see comments below]
December 14th 2011 – The Police boss responsible for spying on Dotcom meets John Key with other intelligence agencies present.
December 16th 2011 – Kim Dotcom starts to be illegally spied upon.
January 2012 – Raid on Kim Dotcom.

…I can’t take ‘jobs for the boys’ criticism of Jacinda seriously when Key broke every protocol to get his mate to head the spy agency at a time when he was gerrymandering Dotcom and mass surveillance legalisation.
If only the NZ media had spent as much effort on exposing Key’s scandal as they have on Jacinda’s ‘scandal’. TDB ends.

Key and Fletcher [left] being interviewed.

Key appointed heaps of his friends to various positions, over his nine years in office...but his manipulation to install Ian Fletcher was so obviously under the table. Yet little was made of it by the MSM. I admit that NZ is a small country and well known people have contacts with many others on a personnel basis. Put simply Key pushed the then head of the GCSB Jerry Mateparae to resign and he had only been in the job a few months... by offering him the job of Governor General...so as to allow Key to appoint someone who would do his bidding without question...Key also had a meeting with Fletcher [after a quick return fight in and out] from Australia, which was at first denied but later admitted. So much for honesty.
Now watch and listen to the governments response to the issue of releasing info to the public:    
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/367397/govt-releases-all-communications-relating-to-derek-handley 
Now put that along side Keys response to his [ill regular] appointment of a new head of the GCSB. Learn more about Fletcher / Key connections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fletcher_(diplomat)

****

2.

So Jono Naylor and his family will continue living off the tax or rate payers hard earned money... Between himself and his wife [a Palmerston North City Councillor] they are taking out around sixty thousand dollars per year, and don't forget that rate payers also pay 15% GST over and above that $60.000. So they are really raking it in. All that for around a twenty hour week between them.
Still, I suppose democracy comes at a price, its just a pity that we couldn't share the wealth. It would seem that Horizons voters just love to have ex-mayors as their representatives or should I say benefactors...The question of ability seems to be rated on name recognition rather than actual proven skills and I've no doubt that conservation activities will remain low on the measurement factors as we judge our representatives at the next full local body elections [2019].

**** 

3. 

ZB reported:
"Simon Bridges says if he was at the United Nations event being held in New York, he would not of laughed at US President Donald Trump.
World leaders chuckled at Trump's boast to the UN General Assembly that in less than two years, his administration had achieved more than almost any other in US history.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kept a straight face, and wouldn't be drawn on her views afterwards.
Bridges says although President Trump may be a polarising character, he deserves respect and this incident was unfortunate.
“There are some things which he is doing which I agree with, and as the President of the United States, he deserves our respect. I certainly would not be laughing.”

Trump a repubican?

That statement from Simon Bridges tells us more about Simon Bridges than it does about pink haired Donald Trump, This says it all [picture]:
Some times our leaders need to speak the truth...the whole world is laughing at Trump, not because he is funny, but because he acts stupid, and the problem is that his stupidity could lead to yet more war, death and destruction, US spends trillions on arms and continuing US led conflicts in over 75 countries.
His latest claim that China is somehow effecting the upcoming mid term elections by attacking his republican party...but not too long ago he called 'Republican voters the dumbest in the country'. So maybe becoming a Republican President was the job for him. Since becoming President he has according to 'fact checker' lied six thousand times and our very own Simon Bridges says we should treat him with respect...really. How can anyone respect a liar, bigot and pussy grabbing dumb-dumb, as he himself says...'I could lie and they'd still eat it up'...after all he is a Republican is he not. Compared to Bernie Sanders, he is an egotistical idiot.

****

 

Lastly, if you have the time [22 minutes]  Listen to our PM address the UN and compare her presentation with that of the US President, the differences are stark, war Vs peace, togetherness Vs separatism, https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/367450/me-too-must-become-we-too-jacinda-ardern-delivers-un-address 

Have a good weekend.

  

Wheelers Corner 38 15th September 2018. Change of film date.

Wheeler's Corner 38 15th September 2018

Connecting people who care together

 1. Change of film showing date:

Because of some difficulty in getting the film from the US the date for its showing will now be the 14th [Sunday] of October at the Globe...so please change your diary entry:

Stanislav Petrov:

The documentary film 'The Man who Saved the World' with Stanislav Petrov, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon. Here is a trailer you can watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaPXVJWHji4

This film is being screened to commemorate the International Day for Peace (Sept 21) and the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Sept 26).

The Man Who Saved the World is a 2014 feature-length Danish documentary film by film maker Peter Anthony about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and his role in preventing a nuclear reaction to a false alarm. 


2. What was the Council role in permitting the Expo here in Palmerston North: Here is the question I asked along with their response: 
  
Q: Under the Freedom of Information regulations [Act] can you please supply me with a copy of the original request to hold the NZ Defence Industry Association Forum from the 30 Oct to 1 Nov 2018 at the Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North.

"Good afternoon Mr Wheeler

Following receipt of your email of August 15 we can supply the following information.
*Please note this information is supplied under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. The Freedom of Information Act is no longer in existence.

A: The original request was an unsolicited phone call in late February 2018 from Robert Martin from Event Mergers (a conference management company), requesting venue hire charges for a conference. No details were given on what the conference was. Information regarding venue costs were sent to Event Mergers on 22 February.

The Mayor stated 'that a catering company [Compass] was sponsoring this event', I have requested information as to who is the sponsor from Event Mergers in Auckland: I am awaiting a reply. In the meantime perhaps the Mayor can inform the public of just who this catering company is and is it for real, who owns it: So that we can contact the company and request that they do do the decent thing and maybe change their mind...a quick check of Compass shows that it has a military connection, here is what their web-site states: It obviously has a American link...

Defence  http://compass-group.co.nz/our-brands/ess/#

ESS defence clients work with us as a support services provider who understands the strategic challenges of running efficient and effective facilities and operations.
Millions of meals and rations are delivered through first-class dining facilities and mess halls and to troops training in the field, along with logistical and hospitality services to thousands of military and civilian personnel.
Our grounds maintenance staff maintain thousands of hectares of defence estate, including environmentally sensitive areas.
Our security services watch over high and medium level security facilities.
We manage vehicle fleets that include cars, buses, fire engines, ambulances and a wide variety of specialist vehicles.
Other specialised services  we perform for defence clients include the management of armouries, reprographics, warehousing, cinemas, gym and sporting facilities.

The Compass web site does not show the function at the Central Energy Trust arena:
https://www.compass.ac.nz/seminars-by-city/palmerston-north 
So who do we believe? Perhaps we should ask...who are they hiding, could it be Lockheed-Martin.

In actual fact what the PNCC Councillors could do if they found the courage, would be to move a notice of motion 'to have the council reconsider their approval' for the function being held at the council owned Central Energy Trust Arena at the end of October. 

One Councillor could move this so long as one other Councillor seconded the motion. It could then be debated in public and the public could at least have a say. Is that too much to ask?

A cartoon from the US election says it all.

3. A friend received this information via a new organization that has been formed in the US, it covers the area of military / police activity that has swept the US in the last few years. It proves how deadly it is to combine Military and Police in political goals...could it happen here in NZ...is it already happening. 

An example of what is contained in this investigation shows that: 
These exchange programs facilitate the sharing of practices and technologies between US law enforcement and Israeli military, police and intelligence agencies. They also introduce militarized logics of security into the civilian sphere, which rely on mass surveillance, criminalization, and violent repression of communities and movements the government defines as threatening. Finally, they deepen ties between US and Israeli officials to shore up support for a shared security model that justifies flagrant human and civil rights violations. Here is the report for you to consider:

"Dear, I am excited to tell you about a groundbreaking resource that was just released today. It has the power to transform organizing across the country! The resource, Palestine is Here, is a search engine created by a USCPR member group, Researching the American-Israeli Alliance, that maps the connections between US and Israeli state violence in your local city or town. Accompanying the database, RAIA is releasing a new research report for the Deadly Exchange campaign, tracing the dangerous consequences of 16 years of Israeli training of US law enforcement. The tool traces deadly exchanges of law enforcement between the US and Israel—including ICE agents and local police—that contribute to state violence across Palestine, in our streets, and at our borders. In our local communities, under the banner of “counter-terrorism,” these exchanges contribute to expanded surveillance and infiltration of social movements; racial profiling and refined tactics and technologies that target entire communities; and suppression of public protests through force. Living up to its name, Palestine is Here shows how Israel’s oppression of Palestinians is not just something happening on the other side of the world. Instead, that oppression is concretely intertwined with the oppression of Black, brown, indigenous, and other marginalized communities in the US through direct institutional alliances. Palestine Is Here will soon expand to map corporate, academic, military, and other local institutional links. Explore Palestine is Here

Across the US, people like you are committed to real safety and security through justice and solidarity rather than criminalization and incarceration. In the past few months, we celebrated when the San Francisco Bay Area Stop Urban Shield coalition successfully ended a massive SWAT training and weapons expo bringing together police-military units, including from Israel. We celebrated when the city of Durham, North Carolina, voted to ban police exchanges with Israel, the first in the nation to do so. You can be part of those wins for justice. By combining resources like the Palestine Is Here database and the Cities for Palestine toolkit, people like you can identify smart targets and build strategic campaigns aimed at the liberation of all people. Toward justice, ANNA BALTZER Director of Organizing and Advocacy P.S. You can learn more about Palestine is Here at USCPR’s national conference, Together We Rise, September 28-30 in St. Paul, Minnesota. There’s still time to register for this phenomenal event, which will include a “Resisting Global Policing: Disrupting US-Israel Exchanges” workshop featuring Palestine is Here, the Stop Urban Shield coalition, and more. See you there! 4.  I hope that if you live in PN you have posted off your vote in the Horizons by-election, I incorrectly enveloped my vote, so I got it delivered back, but I dropped it off at their office here in PN...I must be getting old!  The NZ political scene is really weird these days... with the Labour party trying to maintain its Roger Douglas Neo-lib behaviour while at the same time attempting to introduce some new people / worker changes that will satisfy their voters, Winston Peters continues down the populist track, the Greens tread lightly as they learn to live within the governing arrangement. The National Party are torn between acting tough on everything and continuing to carry the weight of an Act Party baggage like weird  Don Brash and company...while they seek new friends. My view is that in general we have yet to actually accept an election has taken place and that the country has accepted that first past the post has ended and that MMP is now the norm. I feel that the Maori language week has been a massive success. The progression toward a living wage has picked up speed and that at last our old rich main stream media crowd is disappearing by being swept up in a ball of fluff and digested by our vacuum cleaners.  Well that's it for this week, stay warm and look after yourselves for you are among the most important people in the world...why because all people are important.

  

Wheeler's Corner 37 8th Sept 2018. Working for peace

Wheeler's Corner 37 8^th September 2018.

“Connecting with people who care”

1. War or peace:

When will we ever learn, that war is no pathway to peace, that updating ones weapons leads toward the misuse of those weapons, why else do we buy them... As I’ve pointed out before, many times in fact, certain countries depend greatly on convincing other countries that by updating their weaponry they are updating their security. 

That in fact is a lie, but its a good selling point. In 2017 in Wellington a company was pushing others to buy their latest long range snipers rifle. I don’t know if the NZ Army brought any of these massively expensive weapons for these transactions are often kept highly secret until its too late to cancel the purchase.

The United States under Trump is pushing weapon sales big time [especially in India right now] across the world and it clearly has New Zealand in its sights...our very own Minister of Defence...appears so it would seem, to be a great fan of present US behaviour...he even plans to present awards at our latest upcoming Defence Industry get together here in Palmerston North.

The present NZ Parliament has two past mercenaries, one on the National side and the other being our present Minister of Defence. [Ron Mark] In my view this is not a good look.

Two references will give a closer look at just who Ron Mark is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mark and https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2015/06/whaleoil-challenge-to-ron-mark-show-us-your-tan-beret-ron/

Ron Mark SAS really ?

and I am inclined to agree with whale-oil as my youngest brother spent time with the UN force in Gaza and he was never a part of the SAS.regardless of the truth or otherwise of Ron Mark and his military career...

Will we be drawn into the Trump clan that buys what the US instructs us to buy...not to meet our perceived so-called threats...but to achieve Trumps need to sell more weapons to a world flooded with arms all ready.

To understand clearly the US drive for arms sales go to the reference below. I think it will shock you. It clearly shows how the US depends on the dictators of this world and in many respects shows the reasons why Trump is so supportive of certain key dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and such like.

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-diplomat-singapore-airshow-trump-weapons-sales-push-2018-2/?r=AU&IR=T

Sweden has cancelled a deal with Saudi Arabia regarding some weapons sales because of their misuse of those weapons... go to:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sweden-cancels-defence-agreement-saudi-arabia-over-rights-abuses-1101266482

“This is a win for a clear foreign policy based on respect for human rights and a moral compass where this type of far-reaching military cooperation agreement simply does not fit,” said Asa Romson, deputy prime minister and member of the Green Party.

However, Ulf Bjereld, a professor of political science at Gothenburg University, said the cancellation could isolate Sweden on the world stage."But it can also strengthen Sweden's role in that we treat everyone equally and we stand up for human rights," he said.

We must not forget that Trump thinks Saudi Arabia and its present dictator is a great place to do business with, as does Britain and Canada. Obviously money talks...the question is can we support Trump and his childlike beliefs, and still maintain a high standard of human rights behaviour...or will we too sell our soul for a few bucks.That is the question that we as individuals have to answer... 

It would appear that we here in Palmerston North are happy to be a part of Trumps desire for the sales of new and more deadly weapons that can be used in all the undeclared wars taking place around the world. 

2. There are people here in Palmerston North who take seriously the task of effecting change to our present 'follow the leader' style of behaviour that has led to the irrational connection of collective security and war as a means of insuring peace. Their desire and goal is to achieve a more human climate for the advancement of peace and good will:

"We have agreed on a respectful NVDA response with an over-arching peace theme. As a result we have gained wide support from multi-faith, church and refugee groups and others who feel safe to join our PAM events. 

We live in a 'Peace City' and are fully  aware of our duty of care towards our fellow citizens. Our opposition is focused on the war profiteers, the weapons manufacturers and arms dealers, not the NZDF or the police who are respected members of our community".

To that end, PAM [Peace Action Manawatu] will be hosting various events leading up to and during the Weapons EXPO here in PN. My plea to you all, is that you will note the dates in your diary and if you can will attend, for two clear reasons: 1. To understand the urgency of recognising the failure of war as a weapon of peace and 2 to become a living and active member of a growing peace community.

On Sunday Sept 23 at 3.00pm, at The Globe Theatre , Peace Action Manawatū  is presenting the acclaimed documentary film 'The Man who Saved the World' with Stanislav Petrov, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon.

This film is being screened to commemorate the International Day for Peace (Sept 21) and the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Sept 26).

The Man Who Saved the World is a 2014 feature-length Danish documentary film by film maker Peter Anthony about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and his role in preventing the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident from leading to nuclear holocaust.

On 26 September 1983, the computers in the Serpukhov-15 bunker outside Moscow, which housed the command centre of the Soviet early warning satellite system, twice reported that U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles were heading toward the Soviet Union. Stanislav Petrov, who was duty officer that night, suspected that the system was malfunctioning and managed to convince his superiors of the same thing. He argued that if the U.S. was going to attack pre-emptively it would do so with more than just five missiles, and that it was best to wait for ground radar confirmation before launching a counter-attack.

Trailer for the movie can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaPXVJWHji4

Other events for the period of the so-called expo / forum [October / November] are still at the planning stages and I'll keep you up to date as they are finalised: But if you could note for your dairies the period of the 29th Oct to the 3rd of Nov 2018. I doubt if there will full coverage by the media, but we are hoping for a balanced and reasoned approach by the media. Of course it would be great if the local city councillors can force a retreat by those who granted permission for this anti-human approach to maintaining peace in the world in which we all reside.  
3.
What is stated below represents how by arming a country with nuclear weapons you threaten not only only the innocent but also the world:

Let me finish this Wheeler's Corner with a couple of verses from that wonderful poem sent to me:

"Blessed are those who are meek

For they will indeed inherit the earth

How can you 'see' but refuse to 'speak'?

Just how much is your soul worth?

Woe to the hypocrites who twist

What is right and what is wrong

I don't think He is at all impressed

So tell me “Who would Jesus bomb?”

If you have not already done so, you can go to:  http://wheelerscornernz.blogspot.com/2018/09/who-would-jesus-bomb.html and read the full poem.

Well that's it for this week, I hope you are well and that your wider family are as well...and never forget that you are among the most important people in the world...even if you disagree with me..because all people are important.

Please feel free to contact me at: wheeler@inspire.net.nz. Wheeler's Corner is broadcast each Monday a 4 pm at MPR. [AM999]

  

Who would Jesus bomb:

As a young soldier in 1962.

Wheeler's Corner 37 4th September 2018

"Connecting people to people who care"

I was sent this poem: And I thought I should share it with you... Part two is the result of a poll conducted by a Councillor: 548 citizens responded, and the results give a clear and precise indicator of how the council should react...

1. “WWJB?” {who would Jesus Bomb] A question worth asking.

When we are in awe of the power-broker

By default we passively take their side

Our concepts of justice are small and mediocre

We're complicit in oppressing the power-denied

Many New Zealanders live with mental anguish

They need peace to help them experience calm

Still, there are others who are left to languish

So I pose the question “Who would Jesus bomb?”

Those who weep now will one day be able to laugh

Blessed are those who hunger for they shall be filled

Comforted by the Good Shepherd's rod and staff

Until then they grieve for those who've been killed

The Defence Industry are given pats on the back

“We want our military to be powerful and strong”

When you are actually just paranoid of attack

I need to ask you “Who would Jesus bomb?”

Blessed are those who are meek

For they will indeed inherit the earth

How can you 'see' but refuse to 'speak'?

Just how much is your soul worth?

Woe to the hypocrites who twist

What is right and what is wrong

I don't think He is at all impressed

So tell me “Who would Jesus bomb?”

God can raise a generation from dry bones

For He is just and will exalt the lowly

Tearing down the mighty from their thrones

For this is what it means to be holy

Woe to those who store wealth, greedy for more

These are the shocking words of His Mum

Blessed are the minimum waged and the poor

Consider carefully “Who would Jesus bomb?”

Woe to these manufacturers who get rich

Who have bribed that DIA liar Andrew Ford

Whose products leave dead bodies in the ditch

You'll reap what you sow and die by the sword

Is our Palmy City Council even still relevant?

Or only a dead corpse we'll have to embalm?

How can ignorance remain so prevalent?

I ask you this “Who would Jesus bomb?”

Government spending money on ammunition

Coughing up for four submarine killers

Spinning lies like a professional politician

Coffin up! Weapons traders are blood spillers

We will stand and shout with all our might

Against your trade deals with Uncle Tom

So on behalf of children and refugees in flight

Auntie Pam yells “Who would Jesus bomb?”

2.

Wheelers Corner special on stopping the EXPO

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/106773155/protest-promised-against-palmerston-north-hosting-defence-forum