By Ben Vidgen.

“It is with great sadness the family of John Pilger announce he died yesterday 30 December 2023 in London aged 84. His journalism and documentaries were celebrated around the world, but to his family he was simply the most amazing and loved Dad, Grandad and partner. Rest In Peace”

I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing John Pilger in 1995 while writing my thesis on terrorism and the man loom big in my heart and mind at all times. His book The Dirty War on the NHS highlight how Britain’s National Health Service, the NHS, was the world’s first universal public health service. Designed to help millions of people and how the NHS is under threat of being sold off and converted to a free market model inspired by America’s disastrous health insurance system. The New Rulers of the World Lord reveals the rise of model of modern imperialism. It begins with Indonesia, where Pilger shows how General Suharto’s bloody seizure of power in the 1960s was part of a western design to impose a ‘global economy’ on Asia. A million Indonesians died as the price for being the World Bank’s ‘model pupil’. In a shocking chapter on Iraq, he allows us to understand the true nature of the West’s war against the people of that country and the evolution of propaganda. Pilger forecast the war in the Ukraine nearly a decade earlier.

John Pilger was my go-to guy when look at the rise of a new Cold war a topic I began writing as warning as of 2005. And a topic, Pilger indepth covered from 2014 onwards in relation to the Ukraine. This is long before Western media waded in belatedly in 2022 to chide Putin (a creature the West made – just like they made Saddam and Quaddaffi and Osama Bin Laden) for daring to respond to the repeated poking of Maidan an issue which has gone over the head of most millennial as their knowledge of the conflict only begins post 2022. The removal of Pilger a respected Pulitzer winner will be welcome in the quarters of the Neo Conservatives, whose Project for A New American Century (PNAC) sought to keep America an Imperial Power and set the stage for a continuation of PNAC never ending war principles. To read Pilger give you actual insight that go well beyond the headline.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE SHIPPING NEWS.

Welcome to 2024 and a new government no doubt with Colin Crusher as the AG and boss of spies you can guarantee and interesting interpretation of the law just don’t mention illegal logging or leaking sensitive SIS documents. While on the other side of the house also defending law and order is MP Golriz Ghahraman 

An outside the bun fight of parliament choc full of amazing role models the Treaty of Waitangi should be top of the news feed this year as globally we are offered the choice between Black Rock sponsored wokeness with ecofriendly cold wars and the rise of the rightwing macho populist. As Tennyson might have written where he with us today ‘who was not to know who had blundered on the free market as we charged into the valley of death. Corporation to the left of us corporations to the right of us only one source of truth to guide the charge of the blogging brigade’ – vox pops he with the most viral algorithmic will win.

The DEADLINE REPORT (AWARD WINNING). Ben Vidgen

Award winning investigative journalist author Ben Vidgen presents a 30-minute show offering quality alternative media backed by quality documented information on the issues not hitting the headlines, but that should be. A double shot of reality, always educational if never pretty.

The Deadline Report airs Sunday afternoons at 1:00 and replay’s Friday nights at 7.00pm.

Jan 14 The Deadline report Public Funding of the Media (when it cool and when it is not).

Jan 07 Revite Cafe Margo D’Hondt Revite cafe Motueka.

Dec 10 Ryu Taka-Hashi, Steam Punk Artist and Paper Nautilus Cafe Motueka.

Dec 3 David Dunning RockFella Motueka Nov 26 Oamaru Pop Artist Dean Raybould on activism and art

AS TUNNELS GET FOUND IN NY MSM ANNOUNCE NEW DEVELOPMENT IN EPSTEIN AFFAIR.

New Development (Yeah right) on the Epstein Affair Prince Andrew and former US President Bill Clinton’s names are emerging in court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – this time describing a witness allegation they were involved in explicit videos.  The fourth set of documents were released on Tuesday (NZ time), detailing how associates of the pedophile and money launder Epstein, were filmed on separate occasions by Jeffrey according to witness Sarah Ransome. Filmed associates according to Ransome included Prince Andrew, Clinton and billionaire Sir Richard Branson. A spokesperson for Sir Richard’s Virgin Group said, per The Guardian: “In a New Yorker report published in 2019, Ransome admitted that she had ‘invented’ the tapes. We can confirm that Sarah Ransome’s claims are baseless and unfounded.” Meanwhile riot break out in NY over secret tunnels and not one media source can explain what the tunnels seem connected to the children Musuem function are therefore exactly or why they fill of bloody mattresses and baby highchairs and strollers but hey look here some old Jeffrey Epstein allegation thrown out as news to keep you happy. Mainstream media are content with the idea the tunnels are linked to “fringe beliefs that a dead former leader is the Messiah, who arrived on Earth to usher in the End of Days and is secretly still alive”. Because that not bazar at all. 

In fact, it as normal as the fact that Porn Hub is owned by a Rabbi Solomon Friedman. His private equity firm took over Mindgeek, the umbrella company of virtually every porn site on the net in 2022. Pornhub money included profiting off the posting of rape videos, and sex. Porn Hub 2022 declared that no longer happens as it has hired hundreds of in-house moderators to view the porn before it goes live, and it now only does Kosher porn. Aylo’s headquarters are located in Montreal Canada, but the company’s corporate structure is divided among entities domiciled in a number of other countries including tax haven shared by the like of Epstein the Paradise and Panama Papers which have documented funds laundered through tax haven from illegal activities including sex trafficking and child abuse.

The company is one of the largest distributors of online pornography, to the extent that it has been accused of having a monopoly position (with 3 out of the 10 most popular online pornography sites being owned by the company). I n 2013, a spokesperson for the company stated that its properties were among the top five users of internet band-with in the world with it potential to not just sell sex but collect intelligence and plant cyber virus being un-limited. In January 2021, a class action lawsuit against Porn Hub making similar claims was launched in Montreal for anyone who had pornography photos and videos, some of which may have been taken when they were underage, shared on its websites without their consent, since 2007. The lawsuit stated that the company knowingly did not “investigate or question its business partner regarding the mounting evidence of sex trafficking”. In February 2021, a U.S.-based civil class action lawsuit was launched against the company on behalf of child sex trafficking victims whose child sexual abuse material was uploaded to Pornhub. On December 21, 2023, Aylo agreed to pay a fine of $1.8 million plus additional compensation to GirlsDoPorn victims, and to have an independent party assess their content moderation processes for three years.

Meanwhile numerous sources, including former Israeli intelligence officials, Julie K. Brown’s book “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story believe that the convicted child sex offender Epstein may have likely been operating a honey trap scheme to blackmail prominent figures for Israeli intelligence. Israeli former prime minister Ehud Barak met with Barak some 36 times with photos emerged of the former Israeli PM entering Epstein’s New York townhouse while covering his face in 2016. On the same day, images of underage women were seen entering and exiting the residence. Epstein also visited Israel in 2008 to move to the country to allegedly avoid a jail sentence in 2009 for his charges. According to Rolling Stone, after he returned to the US, Epstein had a change of mind.

Epstein has allegedly “bragged” to various people on his ties and consultancy to prominent figures from the UK, America, Russia, Africa and the Middle East with ties to Israel. Epstein allegedly even went as far as to suggest that he had made significant wealth from the arms and diamond market. The most prominent allegation appeared in the published book “Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales” by Israeli spy Ari Ben-Menashe. It alleges Epstein and Maxwell were allegedly running a “honey-trap” operation, providing young and underage girls to prominent global political figures for sex and then blackmailing them to suit Israeli intelligence interests. Ben-Menashe has previously claimed to be a ‘handler’ or person responsible for managing agents carrying out operations of Ghislaine’s father, Robert Maxwell. Ben-Menashe books are big on claims short of evidence but yes, it is known that Maxwell did have ties to Israeli intelligence and Epstein did have ties to both Senate John Towers and Adnan Kashoggi both of whom were interictally linked to Israeli intelligence apparatus. But to date much like the prince Andrew Bill Clinton claims no actual tapes have surfaced to date and if you think they will any time soon then you probably also believe Epstien committed suicide.

OUR HOURSE & this issue our MPS of the month are Gloria Judith Collin and Golriz Ghahraman.

A Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman is accused of shoplifting on two occasions from Auckland luxury clothes shop Scotties Boutique. The Green Party says while police investigate she’s agreed to stand down from her portfolios. Ghahraman is said to be overseas on a personal trip and has not yet responded to any of the allegations. 

It’s not a good look the Greens who seem to be a party seriously floundering in the self-entitlement of the middle-class millennials. This actually makes me feel ill sad angry and as Rod and Jean and Gen X legacy has been betrayed …again by these dipshits’ pretenders I initially wrote however after reading Ghahraman who sat on UN bodies relating to genocide as prosecutor and defender I have to conclude this is a very conscientious honorable young woman. Someone who I would no doubt clash with for many reasons. However, the Oxford graduate is clearly also a woman of great heart and ethics who has had to witness many traumatizing issues. I won’t say I will fully retract the ‘self-entitled elitism’ (shit she went out with Guy Williams) vibe, but I can also see how shoplifting can be a response to a compulsive disorder reacting to repressed trauma. A nervous tick if ya well for putting lid on it. Still a bloody silly thing to do and as minor party she toasts. Only course is now professional seppuku. But before setting fire to her and calling her a witch let’s not forget Shane Jones Porno Tape, Judith leak of SIS data, Judith Kauri Deal, Judith……Then there Winston list of sins.

Judith Collin: aka Crusher Collins ‘The Minister for Ball Busting, Police State and Eating Opposition Members Alive’.

One of the few National MPs deemed both experienced and competent whether you love or hate her. Full name Judith Anne Collins KC MP (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She previously served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021.Collins has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Papakura since 2008 and was MP for Clevedon from 2002 to 2008.

Born in Hamilton, Collins studied at Matamata College, the University of Canterbury and University of Auckland. Before entering politics, Collins worked as a commercial lawyer and was President of the Auckland District Law Society and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society. She was a solicitor for four different firms from 1981 and 1990, before running her own practice for a decade. She was a director of Housing New Zealand from 1999 to 2001 and worked as special counsel for Minter Ellison Rudd Watts from 2000 to 2002 before she entered Parliament at the 2002 election.

She met her husband Chinese Samoan David Wong-Tung, at university. He was then a police officer and had migrated from Samoa as a child. Collins began her political life as a Labour Party supporter from early childhood but by 2002 had become a member of the National Party for three years. She has like Helen Clark been a member of Zonta International (who support the parliamentarian for Global Action previously parliamentarians for New World Order) and of Rotary International making her strong candidate to be also a member of the Eastern Star Sisterhood which includes Clark and Jacinda Ardern.

Collins was active in legal associations and served as President of the Auckland District Law Society (1998–1999) and Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society (1999–2000). She served as chairperson of the Casino Control Authority (1999–2002) and was a director of Housing New Zealand Limited (1999–2001). Colins and her husband is part of the click of Nat’s including former Northland MP and ex police officer Mike Sabin who had close links to the section of the Chinese community that revolved around the Sky City casino a DeFacto National Party action donation committee.

Collins has strong support in the Defence dating back to when she was in opposition, Collins campaigned for an inquiry to find out whether New Zealand troops were exposed to Agen Orange during the Vietnam war. Despite previous inquiries stating otherwise, the committee established that troops were exposed to defoliant chemicals during their service in Vietnam, and therefore operated in a toxic environment. This resulted in an apology in 2004 from the Labour led government to Veterans and the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support veterans. In 2004 Collins was awarded the Ex-Vietnam Services Association Pin for campaigning for the inquiry.

In March 2014, Collins was accused of a conflict of interest after an overseas trip where she ‘dropped in’ and endorsed the milk produced by Oravida – a New Zealand company which exports among other thing swam Kauri to China – of which her husband is a director. After being admonished by the Prime Minister, Collins apologised and stated that she and a Chinese executive were ‘very close personal friends’. Over the following weeks the Labour Party continued asking who the Chinese official was. Collins did not provide his name, which House speaker David Carter described as “very unsatisfactory”. Prime Minister John Key stated publicly that Judith Collins was on her final warning over this incident. The Kauri export trade is increasingly merged with organized crime and tirad interest.

In August 2014 the book Dirty Politics, written by Nicky Hager Nicky Hager, revealed that Collins was friends with right-wing blogger Cameron Slater and had passed on private information to him from about Simon Pleasants, a public servant at Internal Affairs. Collins believed Pleasants had leaked information about Deputy Prime Minister Bill English misusing his housing allowance. Slater published Mr Pleasant’s name and details on his blog whihch saw Plesant receive death threats that were subsequently directed at Mr Pleasants.

The conversation – if accurate – shows the blogger discussing the expected release of intelligence information with Ms Collins, a Cabinet minister, before the SIS had released it.

The blogger had made the request for the SIS information on July 26. On August 2, he is said to have sent a message to a friend saying: “OIA’d the briefing minutes and notes for Goff’s SIS briefing… it has been expedited, in the public interest. It is devastating for Goff I am told.” The information arrived on August 4. A 3News-Reid Research poll taken at the time revealed that 63% of voters believed Prime Minister John Key should have stood Collins down over this incident. Key said Collins had been ‘unwise’ and placed on her second “final warning”.

On 30 August 2014 Collins resigned her Cabinet positions following the leak of another e-mail written by Slater in 2011, which suggested she had also attempted to undermine another public servant, Adam Feeley who sought to crack down on white collar crime much of linked to offshore businesses from China and Chinese organised crime. Feeley was Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Collins was the Minister responsible for the SFO at the time. Collins was eventually cleared of involvement in the Adam Feeley smear. On 7 December 2015, Key announced Collins would return to Cabinet, to hold her former portfolios of Corrections and Police again. She was sworn in again on 14 December 2015.

Under Chris Luxon Judith Collins the new Minister for the GCSB, SIS, Defence and Attorney-General. She now has an enormous amount of power for someone who has a looooong track record of abusing power. And frankly that should worry citizens more than the shop lifting record of opposition MP but that in fact is more likely to receive media attention.

Solar geoengineering using solid aerosol in the stratosphere D. K. Weisenstein,D. W. Keith,and J. A. Dykema ‘so much for the theory;

Abstract. Solid aerosol particles have long been proposed as an alternative to sulfate aerosols for solar geoengineering. Any solid aerosol introduced into the stratosphere would be subject to coagulation with itself, producing fractal aggregates, and with the natural sulfate aerosol, producing liquid-coated solids.

Solid aerosols that are coated with sulfate and/or have formed aggregates may have very different scattering properties and chemical behavior than uncoated non-aggregated monomers do. We use a two-dimensional (2-D) chemistry–transport–aerosol model to capture the dynamics of interacting solid and liquid aerosols in the stratosphere. As an example, we apply the model to the possible use of alumina and diamond particles for solar geoengineering. For 240 nm radius alumina particles, for example, an injection rate of 4 Tg yr⁻¹ produces a global-average shortwave radiative forcing of −1.2 W m⁻² and minimal self-coagulation of alumina although almost all alumina outside the tropics is coated with sulfate. For the same radiative forcing, these solid aerosols can produce less ozone loss, less stratospheric heating, and less forward scattering than sulfate aerosols do. Our results suggest that appropriately sized alumina, diamond or similar high-index particles may have less severe technology-specific risks than sulfate aerosols do. These results, particularly the ozone response, are subject to large uncertainties due to the limited data on the rate constants of reactions on the dry surfaces.

Source: Weisenstein, D. K., Keith, D. W., and Dykema, J. A.: Solar geoengineering using solid aerosol in the stratosphere, Atmos. Chem. Phys.  – Published: 26 Oct 2015

THE WAKEFEILD MASSACARE

Just prior to Christmas as part of my lates book project research into Captain Moon light and his mates including Jack Tarrant we visit Tuamarina the site of bloody Wairau Affray in June 1843. The visit is not without intrigue as our visit drew a local watcher a boy race granny dressed in blue who then took off burning tires and screeching gravel when we tried to photograph them. Shortly after wards my drive got a visit from a Sergent Peter Charmoudy (Scott Charmoudy was the Freemason who arrested the Christchurch shooter and Freemason Brent Tarrant) for no real reason but to find out who she was. To say the graveyard if full of old money is somewhat of an understatement.

For example next to Wakefield memorial is the head stone for Sir Charles Stuart Forbes ( a loose cuzzy via the Stuart link) 12 Baronet of Monymusk and Pitsligo, New Zealand one and sole aristocratic family. William Forbes, 6th was known as William Forbes of Pitsligo FRSE (1739–1806), who was not only a Scottish banker but Scotland leading Freemason. His rep in short was as intellectual writer, an improving landlord who improved the lot of his tenants, a philanthropist, slave trader and opium merchant who’s descendent went on to forge Forbes magazine and be one of the backbone families of Yale Skull & Bone Society. In New Zealand history, the Wairau Affray on June 17, 1843, was the first serious clash of arms between the Māori natives and the British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

For decades Captain Arthur Wakefield, one of the big villains of the first colonial New Zealand land grab, was seen as the victim and the Māori defenders where painted chiefly as the villains.

Tuamarina, loosely meaning “the calm beyond” or “the calm easy-going”, was the original Māori name but the area has become better known as the site of the Wairau Affray and it still retains a heavy atmosphere.

The incident is the first major armed clash between Māori and Pākehā in New Zealand – marking it the first battle of Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (the New Zealand Wars) – and the only conflict over land between settlers and Māori recorded officially in the South Island. The New Zealand Company agent Captain Arthur Wakefield, an experienced and seasoned admiralty man educated in strategy and warfare but with little knowledge of colonial development had set out to survey land in Marlborough’s Wairau Valley. Arthur was led to believe the land had been sold by Ngāti Toa based on what his brothers had told him. Te Rauparaha, the senior chief of Ngāti Toa, asserted the land had not been sold to William Wakefield (as Arthur believed) and he saw Wakefield’s survey party escorted from the land pulling up survey pegs and burning down the colonial speculator’s makeshift huts.

Shortly afterwards a warrant for arrest was issued for the fearsome Te Rauparaha on arson charges. It’s now asserted Te Rauparaha, trying to follow the Crown’s rule of law (he had signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi three years to the day earlier), repeatedly urged the settlers to wait for judgment from Land Commissioner William Spain to determine whether the land had been lawfully sold.

Te Rauparaha told the settlers he did not want to fight. The settlers, now deputised as Special Constables, where mostly untrained in combat in many cases their weapons defective old hunting muskets, taken more for show. Misreading his reluctance for warfare they advanced on Te Rauparaha despite Arthur suggestion reading the room more accurately and advising they turn back. Wakefield’s caution was dismissed which proved a fatal mistake as Te Rauparaha was one of the most successful warriors of his day. One of the first Māori to employ muskets, supplied by privateers with their own ambitions for land in Māori inter-tribal warfare a decade earlier*. Mere mention of his army’s approach had led at least than one entire village to leap to their deaths as opposed to face his troops in battle and facing certain torture before been eaten or enslaved afterwards.

*Native Muskets. These where weapons which according to the Riverton Museum in Southland were deliberately not as superior to British Brown Bess rifles used by colonial forces) to assist the land grabbing aspirations.

Te Rauparaha and his men quickly make mince meat of the European after the special constables, who had formed into line, broke and fled ignoring Wakefield and Thompson attempt to rally them. The warriors killed 19 of the settlers’ party. Nine of those deaths including Wakefield occurring after the out classed constables surrendered after quickly realising they were no match for the veteran Māori warriors.

The deaths of the prisoner coming after Te Rauparaha’s nephew, Te Rangihaeata, realising that his wife, Te Rongo, had been killed (along with three other Māori) by a stray bullet during the initial point of confrontation, as she sat by a cooking fire. Some suggesting the weapon, which lead to all out warfare, had accidentally discharged as the magistrate Henry Thompson was arguing with the Māori chiefs and refusing Te Rauparaha handshake and trying to put the high chief in handcuffs. Other maintain it went off in a second volley after Mr. Thompson had twice ordered his party to fire on the natives.

Regardless of cause Te Rangihaeata demanded utu ( karmic justice), in accordance with tikanga ( Māori customs), as restoration for his wife’s demise. Rangihaeata then silently moved behind each of the prisoner and clubbed them to death with his Greenstone mere Te Heketua. After having been made a prisoner, Thompson is said to have begged for his life, as his men where dispatched before him. Rangi-Heata responded to his Thompson plea and bade him to remember his wife, Te Rongo, and added—“A little while ago I wanted to talk to you in (??) friendly manner, and you would not; now you say, ‘save me’—I will not save you. There seems to be no record of how Wakefield and other met their deaths as captives they watched the summary grisly execution of their colleagues and knew they were next.

Te Rangihaeata, fearing colonial reprisal, promptly move to the North Island in Taupō, Porirua, where he built a new pā. He however received unexpected support from Governor Robert FitzRoy (Phot left).

FitzRoy rebuked the Nelson magistrates for issuing warrants, explaining that persons who burnt their own property could not be charged with arson, affirming that the Wairau Valley had never been purchased. Much of what we know of that encounter comes from Te Raupaha testimony with Fitzroy.

It has only been in relatively recent years that the antagonist role of the colonial land grabbers has however been accentuated by post treaty historians and the context of the killing of the prisoners of war presented in contextual terms of Māori custom and the less than above board antics of the resource hungry Wakefield. Previously Arthur was the local hero the 14-year-old midshipman on HMS Hebrus who during the War of 1812 Cutlass in hand, had helped rout American militia from Wahington and had captured a regimental flag. As the African proverb states “Until the lion learns to tells his story, the hunter will always be the hero”.

Edwin Fox

On the same trip I visit the Edwin Fox in Picton a ship with an interesting past.

Edwin Fox was laid down in 1853 in Sulkea, Bengal, India by the builder for the East India Co. Named after, Edwin Fox, a prominent Freemason and convenor of a financial company associated with the East India Company who dominated colonization in the 18th and 19th century marking the rise of the first multi-national corporations. Although built for the East India Company she never sailed under that lag. Her ownership remaining with the builder, Thomas Reeves.

Reeves took her on her maiden voyage from Calcutta to London with a cargo of tea. She was one of the last of the East Indiamen to be constructed. According to Adrian Shubert and Boyd Cothran, professor and associate professor, respectively, of history at York University in Toronto and author of “Edwin Fox: The Extraordinary Story of How an Ordinary Sailing Ship Connected the World in the Age of Globalization,” ships like the Fox went where the work (and wealth) was. Reeves sold the ship to Sir George Hodgkinson who in turn after only one year sold her in 1854 at auctioned where she was bought by Duncan Dunbar and chartered to the British government as transport for troops between Calais and the Baltic and return to Cherbourg during the Crimean War. The legendary nurse Florence Nightingale even mentioned the Fox in a letter ( but it’s unknown if she sailed on it)

After the war Fox travelled to and from India carrying “pale ale” out and tea. In 1858 she became a convict ship for a “superior” class of prisoner to Fremantle, Western Australia.

convicts were William Tester and James Burgess (not to be confused with Richard Burgess famed of Maungatapu ‘Murders Rock’), two of four men convicted of the “Great Gold Robbery” in which about 12,000 pounds sterling worth of gold (about $1.88 million today) were stolen from a train in 1855 (later adapted into a Michael Crichton novel and movie starring Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.

In 1858, the ship was contracted to take prisoners from England to Australia. During this time, she also changed ownership upon the death of Dunbar in 1862. Her new owner were Messrs. Gellatly, Hankey and Sewell & Co. of London.

One of her most arduous journeys occurring in when in 1873 on her way to New Zealand having cleared the English Channel, sailing into the Bay of Biscay, the crew helped themselves to a cargo of hard liquor. “Every man got fighting drunk” oblivious to an upcoming gale which saw the ship lose her bulwarks and spring a leak. It was saved by the passengers manning the pumps as the ship’s doctor was impaled on a metal rod and killed and Able Seaman killed while trying to secure the ship’s boat). During the chaos a young girl was swept from the deck only to be swept back by the next wave and snatched to safety by her quick acting father.

The gale would leave the ship dead in the water her sails in shreds. Sighted by the ‘Copernicus‘ the American steamer drew alongside to allow the passengers to disembark. When the crew tried to join the passengers the Edwin Fox’s captain, with revolver cocked, bellowed “if any of the crew move I’ll shoot”. The Fox was towed into Brest where after six weeks of repairs she again set sail for New Zealand minus her original crew who received six months booze free hard labour.

This was her first trip to New Zealand. On her second trip she was in collision in the English Channel. Regardless she was used by Shaw Savill & Co. for another eleven years on the London / New Zealand run before they sold her in 1884. She would bring 751 settlers to New Zealand on four voyages between 1873 and 1880.

AN IRAN CONTRA COLD CASE

Recently came across a case of an ex Viet intelligence officer Gregory Barker turned alleged serial killer. A captain who did two tours of duty in Nam.

Barker was twice the recipient of the Bronz Star medal of gallantry and was described as very “gun ho” by his follower soilders.

Post-conviction rumor, surfaced online, from those he allegedly served with, that suggest post nam Barker began to hang with cartel and worked as a hit man for them. Other post on barker where from former FBI agents who worked bank robbery case against Barker. And they sound, to be frank, like utter cowboys. Barker was arrested for three bank robberies a murder and rape of one of his victims. He would be named as the single bar killer. He pleaded guilty to the robberies to avoid the death penalty but claims he was victim of a government conspiracy and that he was framed. He would be labeled on Most Wanted as a “deranged delusional” killer who thought he was a spy. The detailed media report by Most Wanted covered how he was ID by the FBI agent busting bank robberies but is not so clear on what evidence convicted him to his ‘victims’.

When I looked further a former cell mate describes a highly lucid and exceptionally intelligent man. The cell mate claim Barker said he was an Ex-government contractor and describes barker as utterly sane wise “mentor”. That barker is in a prison not a mental institute is albeit a minor but significant point. His one specifically linked victim Hilda Roche incidentally also worked in military intelligence too.

Another victim identified on Most Wanted later turned out to be the work of another killer. There in fact appears to be zero details of his specific claims on why he thought he was being framed and by whom. There are likewise zero details on who the other victims are to complete the allegation he was a serial killer. Fact is there is an unusually scant amount of data on serial killer by a usually serial killer fixated American media. I wonder what i will find when I look at the background of other victims (if I can find any more) and how they were tied to Barker by the authorities exactly. Those details seem very scant too. That this all occurs around the All the time of the Iran Contra and the Barry Seal scandal (where Barry Seal, later played by Tome Crusie, revealed a link before his murder of a link between the CIA and Cartel drug dealers) in 1992 is very curious. It makes me wonder if there indeed more to Barkers claims of being a spy than Most Wanted would have American viewers believe

POEM OF THE ISSUE I usually go for original, but this is something a bit special.