Apocalyptic revelation

On the eve of the US election,

“It’s important to remember that apocalypse means revelation; it’s the moment that reveals something about one individual’s life or about society in general…I think this is really a moment of big revelations, not revelations in terms of visions or prophecies, but revelations in the sense of seeing the truth of things.”

This, from Giovanni Bazzana, a professor of New Testament at Harvard Divinity School. He goes on to explain: 

Many scholars believe the Bible’s Book of Revelation ― possibly the most culturally influential story of apocalypse for Americans ― was originally written as resistance literature.
Attributed to a man named John living at the end of the first century, the book contains vivid visions of a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. It prophesies a future in which God will judge the nations, punish evildoers, avenge his people, and establish a just new world. The book was the coded yet defiant response of an exiled community to the Roman Empire’s oppression of Jewish people and destruction of Jerusalem, scholars say.
“Very often, these texts are written by people experiencing oppression from some power that is becoming too invasive or strongly persecuting them.”

Bazzana insists that the apocalypse is here, [and that] it’s “always with us.”
Bazzana isn’t talking about monstrous beasts emerging from the sea or horsemen descending from a cosmic stage to wreak havoc on the earth. The trials of 2020 are an apocalypse in the original sense of the Greek word, he claims: a revelation or uncovering.
This year has revealed truths about American society that can’t be ignored or swept under the rug ― whether it’s inequality in health care, racial injustice or the ineptitude of the government.

News blues…

US sets world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours. Daily caseload of 100,233 surpasses tally set in India last month. Study links Trump rallies to 30,000 cases and 700 deaths  

***

Continuing his well-honed tradition for bullying, lying, insulting, and covering-his-ass (“arse” if you will), Donald Trump and his minions, again, go after Dr Fauci:

… a leading member of the government's coronavirus response [who] said the United States needed to make an "abrupt change" in public health practices and behaviors…[that] the country could surpass 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day and predicted rising deaths in the coming weeks.

Nothing earth shattering in that comment, is there? Well, yes, if you’re Trump, in the Trump administration, or a Trumpie. That group (thankfully shrinking by the day) responded as usual.

The White House on Saturday unleashed on Dr. Anthony Fauci … following his comments … that criticized the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, including Dr. Scott Atlas, who the President has relied on for advice on handling the coronavirus.
"It's unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr. Fauci, a senior member of the President's Coronavirus Taskforce and someone who has praised President (Donald) Trump's actions throughout this pandemic, to choose three days before an election to play politics," [said] White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere.
Deere took issue with Fauci's comments where the doctor seemingly praises Democratic nominee Joe Biden's campaign. Fauci [said the Biden] campaign "is taking it seriously from a public health perspective." While Trump, Fauci said, is "looking at it from a different perspective." He said that perspective was "the economy and reopening the country," according to the Post. 

The Swamp that ate the swamp? Remember “the swamp” that Trump promised to drain when trolling for votes last election? Don’t you kinda miss it? Back then, the swamp may have been a swamp, but it was the swamp we all knew. Nowadays, the swamp has morphed into something far bigger, far deeper, far swampier. Is Trump’s swamp even drainable?

***

If you’re American, understand you have the power to silence him

***

The Lincoln Project:
Seriously  (1:45 mins)
Cancer  (0:50 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

The great fox spider found the perfect spot to hide out and perpetuate it’s species: a military training ground.

One of Britain’s largest spiders has been discovered on a Ministry of Defence training ground in Surrey having not been seen in the country for 27 years.
The great fox-spider is a night-time hunter, known for its speed and agility, as well as its eight black eyes which give it wraparound vision. The critically endangered spider was assumed extinct in Britain after last being spotted in 1993 on Hankley Common in Surrey. The two-inch-wide (5cm) arachnid had previously also been spotted at two sites in Morden Heath in Dorset. These are the only three areas in Britain, all in the comparatively warmer south, where it has been recorded. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’ve lived away from South Africa for four decades. I escaped when I was 19 years old, to “travel the world,” and ended up living in Berkeley, California. In the US, I’ve always lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area (this includes my current American life as a houseboat “liveaboard” in the Sacramento Delta).
A fact about California: the state, with a Mediterranean climate, California experiences rainfall in the winter. It’s a cold rain, usually falling from undramatic cold fronts that release undramatic rainfall. It rarely comes from thunderstorms. If dramatic, cold fronts bare so much rain and that land becomes saturated. Then, Californians experience dramatic mudslides.
Eastern and midland KZN South Africa, however, experiences spring and summer rainfall: a warm rain falling during hot and the wet seasons: spring, summer, and autumn/fall. KZN thunderstorms present rolling thunder, streaks of lightning, buckets of rain, and hail stones larger than marbles.
Now that I’m experiencing this sort of rainfall again, here in the land of my birth, I realize how much I’ve missed it.
I LOVE KZN RAIN!
So do frogs. Nighttime is a cacophony of frog calls, call it a lullaby.

Turbulence ahead

Halloween in the US.
Then election day in the US. 

Turbulence ahead....

News blues…

The United States does not have one coronavirus pandemic, it has 50.

Over the last three months, states have begun to display distinct local and regional outbreak patterns. New England, for example, has had relatively low caseloads, with Maine and Vermont recording zero deaths for days on end. The Northeast — New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts — took the bulk of the nation’s COVID-19 cases in April, then recovered and are now showing a steady rise in cases.
So far, the most distinct regional pattern as the virus enters its third wave is happening in the Midwest. [Last] Wednesday, hospitalizations reached the highest levels yet in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.
Adjusted for population, the Midwest’s cases surpassed the peak New York and New Jersey saw in April. Of the 15 cities with the highest rate of new infections over the last two weeks, 11 are in North Dakota or Wisconsin. The most alarming thing about the Midwestern outbreak is not its severity, but its grim predictability. 

***

In South Africa, tables speak louder than words. 

Turbulence ahead….

***

The Lincoln Project: Marc Anthony  (1:15 mins)
Republican Voters against Trump:
Former Trump Campaign Leader for Biden (1:05 mins)
I've Got Some Questions for My Fellow Republicans  (4:25 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump’s Deadly Sins  (1:55 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Not too late for a comeback? Climate change is real. Species extinction is real. Act now to combat the line of opining that goes against that reality – and know that, given the right conditions, endangered critters do make comebacks. Take, for example, the elusive Voeltzkow chameleon, last spotted in Madagascar – its natural ecosystem – more than 100 years ago.

A research team led by scientists from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (ZSM), discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the north-west of the African island nation.  [They] said genetic analysis determined that the species was closely related to Labord’s chameleon. …Both reptiles only live during the rainy season – hatching from eggs, growing rapidly, sparring with rivals, mating and then dying during a few short months.

“These animals are basically the mayflies among vertebrae,” said Frank Glaw, the curator of reptiles and amphibians at the ZSM.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

No good deed goes unpunished … or another round of “gotta get outta here….”
My 87-year-old mother, used to getting her own way in everything since she controlled the purse-strings and lifelines for many, is going through another round of loud complaint. She “cannot stand” her new home, not enough tea, not follow-through on others walking her dog, not enough obeisance from the rabble, not enough happiness emanating from her dog, etc., etc.
Her life, she’s decided, will be perfect if she lives with her grandson – scion of a multi-generational, chaotic 2 adult and 5-youngster household, who is also trying to build a business clientele for his one-man show as mechanical designer. (This, during the beginning of what could be an overwhelming economic downturn around the world, and particularly in South Africa.)
Having spent the last ten years going back-and-forth from US to SA to untangle my mother’s disastrous decisions, I’m not for this cockamamie fantasy. Moreover, my mother is burning bridges at her current residence where they gracefully (and unusually) allowed her to bring one dog.
What happens when this latest fantasy meets reality and comes crashing down around her? For, it is inevitable that my mother will squabble with her potential housemates. Then, what’s her plan?
Oh, wait, planning is not her forte. Besides, “nothing” can go wrong; “everything will be just fine.” 

I’ll try to talk her out of this. 

I’ll try to talk my nephew out of this. 

If they’re determined to go ahead with it, I’ll bow out.
Turbulence ahead….

Waiting to exhale?

Am I holding my breath or am I waiting to exhale?
The next few days are key to what kind of world we – all sentient beings - wll live in after January 20, 2021.
Why is this US presidential election such a nail-biter?
Poll data on the US election suggests a “close” or “competitive” election.
How can there be any question about Donald Trump remaining in the White House?
As it is, it’s beyond comprehension that he’s still there. The possibility of him remaining there boggles the mind.
Trump has sharply focused the weakness of the American republic’s system of democracy: there is no behavior from the person acting as president that is unacceptable. It’s an anything goes system…

News blues…

Every morning, a SMS (“txt”) informs me of SA’s daily increase Covid infection and death rates. Three weeks ago, the trend was heading downwards, some days numbers indicated under 1,000 new cases per day. Now, alas, daily cases, here as in the rest of the world, continue to surge.

SA recorded 2,056 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said.
This means there have now been 721,770 recorded cases of the illness across the country.
There were also 53 Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 19,164…. Of the new deaths, 15 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours. 

***

George W. Bush said in 2005: "A pandemic is a lot like a forest fire … If caught early it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder, undetected, it can grow to an inferno that can spread quickly beyond our ability to control it." 

The president recognized that an outbreak was a different kind of disaster than the ones the federal government had been designed to address.
"To respond to a pandemic, we need medical personnel and adequate supplies of equipment," Bush said. "In a pandemic, everything from syringes to hospital beds, respirators masks and protective equipment would be in short supply."
Bush told the gathered scientists [including Dr Fauci] that they would need to develop a vaccine in record time.
"If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine on line quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain," he said.
Bush set out to spend $7 billion building out his plan. His cabinet secretaries urged their staffs to take preparations seriously. The government launched a website, www.pandemicflu.gov, that is still in use today. But as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to justify the continued funding, staffing and attention, Bossert said.
"You need to have annual budget commitment. You need to have institutions that can survive any one administration. And you need to have leadership experience," Bossert said. "All three of those can be effected by our wonderful and unique form of government in which you transfer power every four years."

Indeed.
Donald Trump’s response to the work continued by President Obama toward addressing a pandemic?
Throwing out all the preceding work.

Obama’s White House National Security Council left the Trump administration a detailed document on how to respond to a pandemic. The document … is called the Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents.
“We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook… that they ignored,” Ronald Klain, a campaign adviser to Democratic candidate Joe Biden and the former Obama administration Ebola response coordinator, wrote on Twitter. 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Mom  (0:55 mins)
Don’t mess with Texas  (1:20 mins)
Meidas Touch: Alumni against Trump (1:20 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Air travel dominates a frequent traveller’s individual contribution to climate change. Yet aviation overall accounts for only 2.5% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is because there are large inequalities in how much people fly – many do not, or cannot afford to, fly at all [best estimates put this figure at around 80% of the world population].
The second is how aviation emissions are attributed to countries. CO2 emissions from domestic flights are counted in a country’s emission accounts. International flights are not – instead they are counted as their own category: ‘bunker fuels’. The fact that they don’t count towards the emissions of any country means there are few incentives for countries to reduce them.
…Note that unlike the most common greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide – non-CO2 forcings from aviation are not included in the Paris Agreement. This means they could be easily overlooked – especially since international aviation is not counted within any country’s emissions inventories or targets.
How much of a role does aviation play in global emissions and climate change? Here are key numbers …. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

South Africa, dubbed "the protest capital of the world" with one of the highest rates of public protests in the world, is experiencing another round.
Alas, it’s unclear what’s stimulating this week’s protests. Lockdown means staying home rather than dashing out with mic and recorder. Alas, news outlets currently are not covering the activity.
On Monday, local municipality employees gathered outside municipality offices to protest working conditions and pay.
Local social media shared this photo after protesters blocked the narrow bridge over the uMgeni River that is the village’s main traffic artery. Again, no indication about protesters’ concerns.
Since then, protests appear to have blossomed over the country. A recent email from the US Embassy in SA states:

Demonstration Alert:  U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (October 29, 2020) 
Event: The U.S. Embassy is aware of a demonstration scheduled for Friday, October 30th, between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria.
The Embassy would like to remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.   The Embassy would like to recommend avoiding the areas of demonstrations and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings or protests. 
Actions to Take:

• Avoid the area of the demonstrations.
• Keep a low profile. 
• Exercise caution if unexpectedly in the vicinity of large gatherings or protests. 
• Monitor local media for updates. 

A good day to stay home, mix compost, admire bird calls, and keep monkeys away from strawberries ripening in the garden.

October numbers

Worldwide (Map)  
October 29 – 44,402,000 xx confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths

US (Map) 
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths

SA (Tracker) 
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths

News blues…

US Covid cases at all time high – and “the worst is yet to come”   (5:45 mins)

***

When 511 Epidemiologists Expect to Fly, Hug and Do 18 Other Everyday Activities Again 

***

In the last four days, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, three of the country’s Covid-19 hotspots have shown a spike in new cases leading warnings of a possible second wave. 

***

Political ads reaching a crescendo with 5 more days to actual election day.
The Lincoln Project:
Biden’s Moment  (1:40 mins)
Covey Spreader  (2:45 mins)
Pizza  (0:50 mins)
Don Winslow Films: America needs Michigan  (2:03 mins)

Pebble  (0:25 mins) 

Now This: Laid off auto workers confront Trump Jr  (4:40 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Sicko Trump  (2:20 mins)
Believe in Biden  (0:25 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

“Cultural arrogance” best describes corporate attitudes to humans’ environment and history. Capitalism's attitude to the natural environment? It’s a potential treasure trove to plunder when convenient or the price is right. Sacred? Who cares? Mere antiquated notions and superstition.

Trees: In a deal last year, Aboriginal landowners negotiated with the Victorian government to save around a dozen of 250 "culturally significant" trees from destruction.
Protesters have long camped at the site in Victoria to defend culturally significant trees, including some where local Djab Wurrung women have traditionally gone to give birth.
But state authorities cut down the Djab Wurrung "directions tree….” 
Officials defended the felling, saying the tree was not on a protection list.
Earth: The Juukan Gorge caves, in Australia’s Pilbara region, were destroyed last Sunday as Rio Tinto expanded an iron ore project….  
Many prehistoric artefacts have been found at the remote heritage site.
"We are sorry for the distress we have caused," said Chris Salisbury, the firm's iron ore chief executive. "We pay our respects to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura People (PKKP – the traditional owners of the site).
“Extractive industries:” Global extraction of natural resources has increased with the onset of the process of capitalist industrialization, growing at an astounding rate in the past 50 years. Global extraction of primary materials more than tripled to 92 billion tonnes in 2017 from 27 billion tonnes in 1970, an annual average growth of 2.6 percent , according to a 2019 report conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme-hosted International Resource Panel (IRP). 

Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments teeming with exotic wildlife threatened humans by harbouring the viruses and pathogens that lead to new diseases in humans such as Ebola, HIV and dengue.
But a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19…– with profound health and economic impacts in rich and poor countries alike. In fact, a new discipline, planetary health, is emerging that focuses on the increasingly visible connections between the wellbeing of humans, other living things and entire ecosystems.
Is it possible, then, that it was human activity, such as road building, mining, hunting and logging, that triggered the Ebola epidemics in Mayibout 2 and elsewhere in the 1990s and that is unleashing new terrors today?
“We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbour so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses,” David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, recently wrote in the New York Times. “We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.” 

Want to raise your voice against such plunder and shortsightedness? Consider signing the Global Deal for Nature petition:

Thriving nature is essential to life on Earth. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, are all pillars of human survival that depend on a series of delicately balanced interactions within the natural world.
But these systems are being thrown dangerously off balance by an onslaught of human activities. From pesticides on our fields, to plastics choking our oceans, to bulldozers in our forests, all over the planet the natural world is under assault.
This crisis has now reached a scale that threatens everything. Species extinction is running at 1000 times the natural rate, and scientists warn that two-thirds of wild animal populations could be gone in our lifetimes. As with climate change, there is now growing concern that dangerous tipping points could be triggered, causing the collapse of key ecosystems and threatening human survival.
Like what you read? Sign the petition…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The unidentified critters spotted near the pond yesterday  are ivondo (Zulu), or cane rat, of the genus Thryonomys (from the Greek word thryon meaning a "rush" or "reeda rodent”). Found throughout Africa south of the Sahara, the animal – about 720mm/28 inches long - is “related closer to the porcupine than to veld rats.” .
In KZN crops and agriculture, ivondo are considered a pest. Many Zulus consider them culinary candidates.
The ivondo family in our garden appear to have moved in and focus on snacking on vegetation growing between the pond and the stream.

Consequences

More than ten months into the pandemic. Infection and death rates continue to increase around the world. A consequence of the lack of comprehensive and effective leadership? 

This coronavirus scourge has the upper hand. There’s no firm end in sight.

News blues…

President Cyril Ramaphosa debunks lockdown rumours  (4:12 mins)

***

Veterans for Responsible Leadership:& The Lincoln Project Brave women  (1:25 mins)
The Lincoln Project:
Crossroads  (1:00 min)
Fairytale  (0:55 mins)
Last Call  (0:55 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Save America  (1:05 mins)
The (not so) Radical Left  (0:58 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Climate change is shifting the habitat of endangered species, including the lemur…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Three unidentified critters appeared near the pond late yesterday afternoon. What are they?
So far, no one I’ve asked knows.
Their presence is an indicator of what can happen when the natural world is encouraged to re-establish.
After moving onto this property, my mother believed the safety of her 15 dogs required she erect fences. Alas, fences impeded wild critters – African clawless otters, for example - from entering the pond to snack, as was their custom.
A consequence of erecting fences?
No more otters in this section of the stream and pond.
The presence of dogs also discouraged wild ducks and geese from feeding on pond vegetation. Lack of wild ducks and geese feeding in the pond encouraged overgrowth of invasive plants, such as pond lilies….
What one decides to alter in the natural world has consequences.
The good news? One can “undo” past mistakes. It takes time for the natural world to re-establish, and what re-establishes will come back altered, but it can be done.
Ultimately, erecting fences has consequences….

"In lieu of flowers..."

Georgia May died last month. Her obituary (left) states, “In lieu of flowers, Georgia preferred that you do not vote for Trump”.  

News blues…

Covid-19: South Africa “Not a second wave, but a resurgence of the first wave…” 

Dr Aslam Dasoo  (5:20 mins)

***

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation this week on the potential for imposing stricter lockdown restrictions unless there is a decline in coronavirus infections across the country. 

***

US Senate Republicans voted Monday night to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, tilting the balance of the court to a 6-3 conservative majority for years to come. 

The conservative legal movement has achieved its wildest dreams. Trump has now made three appointments to the Supreme Court, the most of any president since Ronald Reagan. The court now has a rock-solid 6-3 conservative majority. All six conservatives have been closely vetted by conservative legal movement leaders in an effort to prevent future ideological deviations. Most important, there are now enough conservatives on the court that even if one broke from orthodoxy, it wouldn’t matter.
Conservative activists are now free to press forward with the agenda they’ve pushed since the Reagan era: criminalize abortion, ban racial preference in school admissions and elsewhere, cripple the federal regulatory state, roll back voting rights, civil rights and campaign finance laws and grant greater and greater powers to corporations. Whether voters support it or not.
“A lot of what we’ve done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election,” McConnell taunted about Barrett’s confirmation on Sunday. “They won’t be able to do much about this for a long time to come.”  

***

Meidas Touch:
Listen up, America  (0:55 mins)
Traffic stop  (0:55 mins) <

Healthy futures, anyone?

Changes of behavior encouraged:

“Zombie batteries” are causing hundreds of fires a year at waste and recycling sites, industry experts have warned. They are urging people to ensure dead batteries are not thrown away in household rubbish or recycling. Batteries discarded with general waste are likely to be crushed or punctured during collection and processing … … Some types, particularly lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries, can ignite or explode when damaged and set fire to other materials. In some cases, this leads to incidents requiring dozens of firefighters and the evacuation of residents, potentially putting lives at risk….
Lithium-ion batteries are typically found in laptops, tablets, mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, shavers, electric toothbrushes, power tools and e-cigarettes. They are increasingly prevalent in devices … meaning the problem is likely to get worse unless people change their behaviour. 

***

Among the many reasons for humans to change our behavior … these critters and this land and water… 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Back at the ranch, “…the beat goes on….” 

Rain ... happy plants… happy pond… happy tadpoles and happier kingfishers…

Burn it down?

Like Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize winning author, “I go to sleep and get up in the middle of the night and start checking the news because God knows what might have happened.” 
And I agree with Mary Trump, The Donald’s niece, author, and a clinical psychologist: “My theory about the way Donald has run his campaign is that he knows he’s in desperate shape, so he’s going to burn it all down, sow more chaos and division because that’s where he succeeds”  
The next weeks are crucial. The weeks until January 20, and a new president is sworn in, will be a minefield.
Let’s be careful out there.

News blues…

• ‘We’re not going to control the pandemic’: White House chief’s comments undermine Trump’s message. Mark Meadows acknowledged the situation is not easily handled, with nine days left in a presidential campaign dominated by the coronavirus.  
• Members of VP Pence’s team tested positive for Covid-19. 
• They’re Afraid. They’re Buying Guns. But They’re Not Voting for Trump. 

***

The Lincoln Project How To Talk To Your MAGA Friends & Family (3:20 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump Crime Family  (1:30 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

A reminder about our beautiful planet: 2020 aerial photos  

***

"Show Me the Monet" sold far above estimates,  
Credit: Michael Bowles/Getty Images 

 Following a nine-minute bidding battle, auctioneers at Sotheby's report Banksy's take on a Claude Monet masterpiece sold for £7.6 million ($9.8 million).
In "Show me the Monet," famed street artist Banksy reimagines Monet's "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies" as a modern-day scene. 

The picture is complete with environmental pollution: A traffic cone and two shopping carts submerged in the otherwise idyllic scene.

***

Greenpeace warns Fukushima water release could change human DNA. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Domestic worker Martha and I were in total accord with her suggestion we begin each day half an hour earlier and end each day half an hour later. That is, we set the security system to turn off at 5:30am and on at 6:30pm, reducing our overnight shut-in hours by one. That extra hour encourages deeper awareness of our surroundings: bird calls, frog croaks, rustling in the undergrowth as small critters settle in for the long night.
A new week begins on a positive note….

“See you in court”

A new billboard in New York City’s Times Square courtesy of The Lincoln Project. 

First daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have threatened to sue The Lincoln Project over two Times Square billboard ads that attack the two senior White House advisers.
The billboard depicts Ivanka Trump presenting the number of New Yorkers and Americans who have died of COVID-19 and Jared Kushner next to a Vanity Fair quote.
The anti-Donald Trump Republican group snapped back with a statement that it plans to make its response ― a “civics lesson” on First Amendment rights ― as “painful as possible.” (More below.)

News blues…

Covid is spiking throughout the world, particularly in the United States: 

Nearly 225,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and the number of deaths could rise to 500,000 by February, experts warned. [The president] attacked the media for its focus on COVID-19 “CASES, CASES, CASES” after the nation hit an all-time high of more than 83,000 daily infections on Friday.
Trump said without evidence that the coverage was a plot to “create fear” ahead of Election Day. Trump told a campaign rally later in North Carolina that “you won’t hear about it anymore” after the election.
Trump falsely blamed the increase in cases on too many COVID-19 tests and ignored the fact that the U.S. leads the world in the number of COVID-19 deaths. With about 4% of the globe’s population, the U.S. has almost 20% of all COVID-19 deaths in the world.
Trump inaccurately argued that the new surge “included many low risk people.” He also said falsely that the nation’s “mortality rate is DOWN 85% plus.”
A spike in deaths inevitably follows a surge in cases. Already, the rising rate of infections has resulted in a 40% hike in hospitalizations.

***

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released another new COVID-19 guideline, this time as it pertains to those who are considered in “close contact” with someone who is infected with the coronavirus.

***

“South Africa, since the first of October has seen a slow and steady increase in the overall number of cases nationally,” says Professor Salim Abdool Karim. 

***

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump sicced their lawyers on The Lincoln Project after seeing the billboard (shown above) in Times Square. The Lincoln Project explains,

[Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump] threatened to sue The Lincoln Project for sharing truthful information.
We purchased billboard space across the country to tell the truth about the malice, complicity, and cruelty behind the White House’s failed coronavirus response.
Jared and Ivanka didn't like it, and — as they do every time they see something they don't like — they sicced lawyers on us.
We don't just have the First Amendment right to broadcast our message, it is our duty to expose the malfeasance, the cruelty, and the corruption of the Trump family.
We are not afraid of the Trump family and their mafia of stooges, grifters, and nut-jobs.

And, the latest episode of this ongoing soap opera from The Lincoln Project: 

Most people buckle as soon as Trump family lawyers issue a threat.
In addition to nearly a dozen battleground states, we are reminding Americans of the deadly legacy of the First Family right from the bowtie of Times Square — the crossroads of the world — because the world must know the malice, complicity, and cruelty behind the White House’s failed coronavirus response.
Jared and Ivanka immediately threatened to sue us, because they refuse to take responsibility for their failures and don’t want anyone to know the truth.

It’s safe to say that the world is now watching.
This is what the First Family does: defraud, con, and stiff hard-working Americans, and send a pack of lawyers to force capitulation.

They have gotten away with this playbook for their entire lives. They expect us to let them get away with it again.

The Lincoln Project lawyers are on the job…  

***

The Lincoln Project Mourning in the Republican Party  (0:55 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

A celebration of South Africa's feathered friends:
Part 1  (14:00 mins)
Part 2  (16:38 mins)
Part 3 (10:25)

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Thunder rolls overhead. Will it rain?
I’ve secured from heavy rain 5 large bags of compost I’ve blended over the last weeks. I numbered the bags, too, with each number representing a particular blend. The first 3 bags include “kraal manure” and the last 2 bags include 2 types of pond weed, plus fresh kitchen scraps.
I fantasize about taking the elderly concrete mixer with me when I move. Common sense makes me scrap that idea: my new home is under what is known in the US as a Home Owners Association – HOA - and in SA as a “body corporate.” Both would frown on someone running a concrete mixer to blend compost in her small back yard.
Perhaps I can create a Compost Team: a group to dedicated composters who collect the community’s kitchen scraps and the landscaping company’s clippings, to create community compost? Better yet, I could join an already formed Compost Team?
Good to have dreams….

Challenges ahead

News blues…

Last Thursday, the United States saw more new coronavirus cases than ever as public health officials warned cases are spiking across the country; 77,640 new reported cases, top the previous record of 75,723 new cases set in July and 921 deaths related to the coronavirus. . Today,

For the second day in a row, the United States set a daily record for coronavirus cases when more than 79,000 infections. Friday's 779,303 cases, as tallied by NBC News, topped Thursday's 77,640. The previous high of 75,723 was set July 29.
The new benchmarks were hit as the pandemic has accelerated at a pace not seen since the summer and as many local governments reimpose restrictions to stop the spread of a virus. 

Meanwhile, according the Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the president of the United States has not been present at coronavirus task force meetings “for quite some time.”

“…several months ago,” Fauci told host Chuck Todd  after he was asked when the president had last attended a meeting.
“ ... We certainly interact with the vice president [Mike Pence] at the task force meetings. The vice president makes our feelings and what we talk about known to the president. But direct involvement with the president in the discussions, I have not done that in a while.” …the number of task force meetings had decreased over time, too.

Interview with Dr Fauci on saving lives: “we’re really facing a very challenging situation…”.  (9:35 mins)

***

In South Africa, civil rights organisation Dear SA is challenging the extension of the national state of disaster, recently extended to end on November 15. It was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 15 to allow the government to put together regulations to deal with the spread of Covid-19.

Dear SA has called on co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to give reasons for the extension or face litigation.
According to Dear SA, the decision to extend the national state of disaster was not rationally connected to the purpose for which it was declared. 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Rats  (0:55 mins)
Remember El Paso (English)  (0:55 mins)
"Seinfeld's" Newman TRASHES Trump in new Democratic ad  (2:20 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Trump is pathetic Part 1: Trump 60 minutes fail  (0:55 mins)
Trump is pathetic Part 2: Trump 60 minutes fail  (0:50 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Spring in KwaZulu Natal Midlands is spectacular. Soon after 4:00am, in this neighborhood, an array of birds begin celebrating the coming day. A bird expert would recognize each call and name the bird. I simply lie in the dark and enjoy the choir.

***

Picture essays:
Antarctica: an ecosystem under threat 
2020 Luminar bug photos  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

South Africa’s daily rate of Covid-19 infection remains between 1,000 and 2,000 cases per day and is not decreasing. Street life, however, has returned to pre-lockdown levels. Stores continue to mandate wearing masks and, upon entering stores, each customer is spritzed with hand sanitizer. Unencumbered by overt politics or conspiracy theories, wearing masks in public appears consistent, too.

***

With my mother’s verbal agreement, auctioneers carried off excess household furniture to be sold at next week’s “vintage” auction.

“A tragedy of history”

“It’s really sad to see the U.S. presidency fall from being the champion of global health to being the laughingstock of the world,” said Devi Sridhar, an American who is a professor of global health at the University of Edinburgh. “It was a tragedy of history that Donald Trump was president when this hit.” (More below.)

News blues…

I miss the Obama presidency. Barack Obama remains a graceful, intelligent, funny, fair guy with a good sense of humor. Yes, there were “issues” during his presidency, but… compare the Obama days to these days!
Obama (“Beijing Barry”?) stumps for Biden and Harris in Philadelphia.  (32:52 mins) 

***

The thing I love most about America and Americans? Whacky humor. Americans viewed Donald Trump’s rally dancing… and set it to the funniest songs .  White man dancing….

***

New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristoff essay, “America and the virus: ‘A colossal failure of leadership” writes that in its destruction of American lives, treasure and well-being, this pandemic marks the greatest failure of US governance since Vietnam.

One of the most lethal leadership failures in modern times unfolded in South Africa in the early 2000s as AIDS spread there under President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki scorned science, embraced conspiracy theories, dithered as the disease spread and rejected lifesaving treatments. His denialism cost about 330,000 lives, a Harvard study found.
None of us who wrote scathingly about that debacle ever dreamed that something similar might unfold in the United States. But today, health experts regularly cite President Trump as an American Mbeki.
“We’re unfortunately in the same place,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A. “Mbeki surrounded himself with sycophants and cost his country hundreds of thousands of lives by ignoring science, and we’re suffering the same fate.”

Read Kristof’s column. 

***

The Lincoln Project: Men (1:15 mins)
Trump is English for Castro (English)  (0:55 mins)
El Dicta Trump  (1:00 mins)
Don Winslow Films No one wants your guns  (1:10 mins) 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Good grief! Yesterday, my mother was happy as a clam. She looked forward to her newly purchased mechanized wheelchair showing her new places. Moreover, The Dog appeared to have settled in and was eating as usual.
I shared a quick word in passing with the facility matron who indicated she was as positive about my mother settling into the Care Center as I was.
Life was good.
But... not so fast….
Today, I received an email from my mother’s lawyer explaining that “she wants out…”, that I could spend a lot of money trying to persuade a court of law that my mother should be forced to stay and to present her with a conservatorship.” But, he wrote, it’s likely that an effort to that end would fail as my mother is “bright as a button.”
It’s not, nor has it ever been my intention to force my mother into doing anything against her will.
It is my intention to make myself available to help her if I believe her decisions are in her best interest. Leaving the Care Center – to do what? – is not a decision I’m willing to apply my efforts. She’s welcome to leave, but I’m not assisting her in that. Nor will I continue to help with the many tasks I’ve done over the last 10 months. Someone else will have to assist.

***

Composting goes on. Recent recipe included snippets of two kinds of pond weed along with a soupçon of water lilies and clippings of the skins and seeds of fresh papaya (“pawpaw”).
Ah, the musty, fecund aroma of fresh compost.

***

A thunderstorm overhead signaled the first thunder and lightning of the summer monsoonal season.
Life is good - despite the ups and downs and unexpected curve balls.

“Not much”

The President of the United States, faced with a still-raging virus that has sickened 8.2 million Americans and killed 221,000, says that there is "not much" that he would have done differently if he could do things all over. 

In the real world, where people scramble every day to assist others and stay safe themselves during a global scourge, the numbers of infected and dead around the world continue to rise.
Worldwide (Map) 
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths

US (Map)  
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths
Covid-19 is surging in small-town America.

SA (Coronavirus portal)  
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths

Argentina, emerging as a recent hotspot of concern, surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases last Monday, with smaller cities seeing some of the most notable upticks.

Doctors have had to quadruple the number of beds for COVID-19 patients over the last month. At least 60% of those tested recently are coming back positive for the virus.
Across Latin America, three other nations are expected to reach the 1 million case milestone in the coming weeks — Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The grim mark comes as Latin America continues to register some of the world’s highest daily case counts. And though some nations have seen important declines, overall there has been little relief, with cases dropping in one municipality only to escalate in another.
The trajectory is showing that the pandemic is likely to leave no corner of Latin America unscathed.
“The second wave is arriving without ever having finished the first,” said Dr. Luis Jorge Hernández, a public health professor at the University of the Andes in Colombia. 

News blues…

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report finds:

…an estimated 299,028 excess deaths occurred from late January through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19. The largest percentage increases were seen among adults aged 25–44 years and among Hispanic or Latino persons. 

***

Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum’s Fireside chat with Dr Fauci.  (41:00 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project:
Imagine  (0:58 mins)
Mourning in Iowa  (0:55 mins)
Deadbeat  (0:55 mins)

My most recent (fundraising) email from The Lincoln Project states:

We are poised to go down in history as the tipping point in this election…
But we can’t be complacent; we must finish the fight.
Right now is the most intense, and most expensive, part of the entire election. We are laser-focused on expanding our coalition and driving turnout of potential Lincoln Voters in the final 13 days before Election Day…
…
Trump will not relent in his efforts to steal this election — we must ensure a resounding repudiation that truly humiliates him, so he has no choice but to concede.
… Our nation's choice is America, or Trump.

All the way back in January, Steve Bannon told the Associated Press that if The Lincoln Project could move 3-4% of Republican voters away from Donald Trump—the "Bannon Line," as we call it — we would be a threat.
Well guess what? That was what we set out to do, and that's exactly what we've done.
And now, our historic movement is being recognized as the deciding factor in this election.
The first step in eradicating Trumpism is repudiating Donald Trump and evicting him from the White House.
That first step is within reach, but it's wholly dependent on the actions we take right now.
For over three years, Trump has eroded our democratic norms, crushed our institutions, and has now literally left us all for dead.
While his enablers in the Senate have stood idly by, patriots like you are taking a stand against the most un-American president in history.
The “Bannon Line” has been hit, breached, and stormed past.
We are winning.
Trump is losing.
But we have to finish the fight.

The email continues with its request for funds to continue the work. (Go to The Lincoln Project if you’d like to contribute. .)

Healthy futures, anyone?

A reminder about amazing and lovely creatures that (currently) exist on our planet – and why We the People must struggle to return our shared planet to health.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Not a single nibble on the house sale.
Worrisome.
My solution? Blending compost in an elderly concrete mixer. Five bags full and counting. And imagining the well-nourished plants in my future. 

***

Lockdown is getting really old…. 

As we say in South Africa, "vasbyt" 

The show goes on

News blues…

The Donald is crashing in the polls….
November 3 – and January 20 – cannot come soon enough.

***

KwaZulu Natal province has the second highest rates of Covid infections in South Africa, behind only Gauteng, the country’s most dense urban environment.  

***

Pictures speak louder than words. The many faces of Dr Fauci as he tries to quell a pandemic that The Donald uses as a positive reason for Americans to elect him to another four years in the White House….

***

The Lincoln Project:
Imagine  (0:58 mins)
Mourning in Pennsylvania (0:55 mins)
Go From There | Joe Biden For President 2020  (0:57 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Hopeful news:

Coral reefs are ancient and highly adaptable – they first emerged nearly 500 million years ago; those corals went extinct, and the corals that we have now first appeared 240 million years ago. …
Coral is slow growing and a reef takes about 10 years to recover fully after a single bleaching event. By 2049, we are expecting annual bleaching events in the tropics, pushing reefs beyond recovery. It’s a grim prospect and one of the reasons that in 2015 the world’s nations pledged to limit global warming to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, a temperature that would enable coral reefs to survive. It remains far from clear whether we will meet this goal.
However, while we still have reefs, we still have hope. Some will do better than others – some already are – and scientists are trying to work out why in a bid to build resilience elsewhere. As with climate change, human activity is implicated. For instance, studies show that reefs are more likely to recover from a heating event if they are protected from other stresses, such as overfishing, pollution from agriculture and boat damage.
… With the future of the world’s ecological and human systems now so deeply interconnected, a new movement in reef conservation is putting social systems at its heart and explicitly building resilience into human and ecological systems in tandem. In other words, protecting nature means protecting people. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Lower temperatures make perfect compost-blending weather. 

Yesterday I donned waders and entered the garden pond, my first foray into the pond since winter began. I found myriad tadpoles (“polliwogs”), crabs, frogs, and unidentifiable water insects. Despite no sign of the goldfish I’d introduced in the spring (kingfishers?), the pond is alive and well.
I harvested two varieties of pond weed and intend to introduce both to today’s compost recipe.
Composting. Love it. It’s among my most favored pandemic lockdown garden activities.

***

My mother purchased a motorized wheelchair. While I worry about her physical strength – or lack thereof – purchasing this vehicle shows, 1) she’s adjusting to the reality of her new life in the Care Center, 2) she’s determined to find a way around her infirmities to live by her own rules.
Good on her.
Her lack of physical strength was, however, on full display during her test run. The quick trip over the concreted pathways of the Center’s garden illustrated further practice is vital. Nevertheless, figuring out wheelchair mechanics both helped her self-esteem and demonstrated to her that running a mechanical wheelchair takes practice.
Roll on, mom….

***

The US State Department issued an update for travelers:

The Department of State revised its Travel Advisory for South Africa on September 15, 2020. The Department continues to advise travelers to exercise normal precautions in South Africa.
Reconsider travel to South Africa due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution in South Africa due to crime, civil unrest, and drought.
Read the Department of State COVID-19 page before you plan any international travel.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for South Africa due to COVID-19.
South Africa has resumed most transportation options, (including airport operations and re-opening of borders) and business operations (including day cares and schools). Other improved conditions have been reported within South Africa. Visit the Embassy's COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in South Africa.
Violent crime, such as armed robbery, rape, carjacking, mugging, and "smash-and-grab" attacks on vehicles, is common. There is a higher risk of violent crime in the central business districts of major cities after dark.
Demonstrations, protests, and strikes occur frequently. These can develop quickly without prior notification, often interrupting traffic, transportation, and other services; such events have the potential to turn violent.
Parts of South Africa are experiencing a drought. Water supplies in some areas may be affected. Residential water-use restrictions are in place in Cape Town and other municipalities.
Read the country information page.  

The update continues in this vein, directing potential travelers to the U.S. Embassy's web page  regarding COVID-19 and the CDC's webpage on Travel and COVID-19. 
Anyone up for a fun, quick getaway?

“Disputatious country”

Disputatious: argumentative, quarrelsome, contrary….
I’ve promoted The Lincoln Project here numerous times, not because I hold Republican values, but because 1) it’s the first time in US history where Republicans have fought ferociously to unseat a fellow Republican, 2) I respect their point of view (not however, I admit, to the point of sending them money). 

This “60 Minutes” clip highlights the values behind The Lincoln Project’s effort to unseat The Donald (2:15 mins)

News blues…

More than 40 million people around the globe confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. European countries battle a second wave. With more than 8.15 million Americans confirmed infected and more than 220,000 dead.

Nevertheless, US President Donald Trump repeatedly shuns advice of public health officials, mocks science and scientists and Dr Fauci,  and now mocks his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, for listening to scientists.
Michael Osterholm, a renowned infectious disease expert, said “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic” in the U.S. And, those brave, upstanding, loyal-to-Trump elected Republicans? Well,

after four years of looking the other way and pretending not to read his tweets, a growing number of Republican senators are suddenly attempting to distance themselves from Donald Trump and rewrite history about their support for a president who, at least according to public polls, is likely headed for a big loss in next month’s election.
The epiphany some GOP senators are having just two weeks before Election Day may have less to do with their convictions and more about positioning themselves politically for a post-Trump world if the polls prove right and Joe Biden becomes president.

Moreover, sinking in the polls, Trump said at a recent campaign rally,

"Don't forget, I'm not bad at that stuff [raising campaign funds] anyway, and I'm president. So I call some guy, the head of Exxon. I call the head of Exxon. I don't know."
Trump went on to describe a hypothetical conversation: "How are you doing? How's energy coming? When are you doing the exploration? Oh, you need a couple of permits?"
"When I call the head of Exxon I say, 'You know, I'd love (for you) to send me $25 million for the campaign.' 'Absolutely sir,'" Trump added.
"I will hit a home run every single call," Trump said. "I would raise a billion dollars in one day if I wanted to. I don't want to do that."

After the president of the United States publicly admits he bribes Exxon Mobile (“do me a favor, though”? ) Exxon Mobile representatives responded,

In an unusual political statement, one of the world’s largest oil producers… posted on Twitter late Monday to clarify that it never spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump about a contribution to his campaign.
Exxon’s tweet came hours after Trump boasted at a rally that he could call a company in need of some permits…and easily get a $25 million contribution. But he wouldn’t do that, Trump said, because he’d be “totally compromised.”
After some on social media took Trump’s hypothetical call seriously, Exxon wrote on Twitter: “Just so we’re all clear, it never happened.”
Exxon’s statement may have only confirmed what was already understood, but it was a rare post for an oil giant that uses Twitter sparingly and largely to promote its efforts on everything from face mask production to methane emissions reductions. It’s the first time in at least a year that Exxon has tweeted about its relations with the president. 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Mourning in Ohio  (0:55 mins)
Hello, Mississippi  (0:25 mins)
Meidas Touch: End the chaos, vote him out  (0:55 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After 208 days of lockdown, I admit my spirits are beginning to slump.
With the house on the market and no nibbles from anywhere or anyone, I’m questioning my raisons d'être .
What if this place never sells? Well, not for a fair price?
I’m advised by friends and my small support system to “take some time off. Break out of your rut. Go out and meet new people.”
Good advice.
I intend to take it.

***

My link to my American family and friends – dependent on technology - is slumping, too. The battery on my elderly, recycled iPhone 6S, with the FaceTime app (only Apple offers the FaceTime app) requires constant hookup to power for any semblance of battery recharge. Since Apple no longer services iPhone 6, I’ve no hope of replacing the battery for what would have been the second time.
I explored the possibility of purchasing a new iPhone SE – the so-called “affordable” iPhone. Yikes! In South Africa, a iPhone SE, 128 G, costs more than ZAR 12,000 - US$750 at minimum, not including tax, duty, etc. The iPhone SE, 64 G cost an arm and a leg outside the US:

Starting at $399, the iPhone SE is the cheapest iPhone in Apple's current iPhone lineup. But this is the price you pay if you live in the US. Apple charges different prices for its iPhones from country to country, depending upon local taxes, GST and how the local currency compares to the US dollar. 

I’m now exploring the possibility of living without an iPhone so without Facetime – my lifeline to family who provide long-distance love, fun ideas, their new discoveries, and my much-needed change of pace. 

Can I do it?
Should I do without?

“An inquisitive mind”

Photo courtesy
Young Scientist Challenge

Big news

Anika Chebrolu. 

Remember that name. Anika is 14 years old, lives in Frisco, Texas, and may have discovered a potential therapy for Covid-19. Anika won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge - and a $25,000 prize - for an invention that uses an in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Anika Chebrolu, an “inquisitive mind,” along with self-confidence, thinking outside the box, and other qualities that suggest our youth might have the wherewithal to force change on our current crop of leaders’ old ways of thinking.  

News blues…

Lordy, Lordy, who else is really sick of Donald Trump and his crew, the lies, the obfuscation, ubiquitous presence on TV, social media, and constant presence in our faces….? 
The scariest part? Trump is president until January 20th.
He’ll be at his most dangerous during this lame duck period. I predict he’ll wreak more damage in those weeks than he has to date. For Trump, being Trump, will punish We the People for ousting him via the ballot box…
It’s not just little ole me, opining via keyboard in locked down South Africa. Former Trump administration officials have hands-on experience that they are – finally - willing to share with the republic…  (3:40 mins)
Ah, yes, but… then you have the creativity expressed about Trump. Here, South African The Kiffness has Trump doing the Jerusalema ….  (1:00 mins)

***

President Ramaphosa extends Covid-19 grant.  (2:08 mins)

***

The US, along with European countries, experiences yet another surge in Covid cases.

The third surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is under way. Outbreaks have been worsening in many states for more than a month, and new COVID-19 cases jumped 18 percent this week, bringing the seven-day average to more than 51,000 cases a day. Though testing rose by 8 percent nationally, that’s not enough of an increase to explain the steep rise in cases.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which had previously been creeping upward slowly, jumped more than 14 percent from a week earlier. 

***

Infections are rising in South Africa, too. The toll of confirmed infections surpassed 700,000 yesterday, and that number includes South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize and his wife, both of whom tested positive.  
More than 18,000 South African residents have died of the virus.

***

Cats for Biden/Harris 
Meidas Touch:

Believe in America  (0:55 mins)
Stronger with Biden  (0:55 mins

Healthy planet, anyone?

Meercat Manor  (20:05 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Funny thing about selling a house at this time, in this place in South Africa: no bites. Not even nibbles.
Information about the house sale published on the real estate agency’s web site a week ago. Recently, I asked a friend about her experience selling her house – two years ago and not during a pandemic. She said, “We got an offer within 48 hours” – and that offer was accepted. My friend added, “It took 18 months, and dropping the selling price by ZAR 200K, for an acquaintance in the same village, albeit a different neighborhood, to sell their well-maintained house.”
18 months!
The real estate market in the San Francisco Bay Area is the opposite: a seller usually receives multiple, competing offers within a day of publishing the sales info.
Local realtors handing the sale of this house concur, telling me, “a sale could take months – sometimes 18 months.”

Sobering. 

I can't stay in South Africa for 18 months! What am I going to do? 

Time to take a lesson from "an inquisitive mind": think outside the box.  

Unrelenting

A short post today due to exhaustion – personal and public. A crisis of epic proportions envelopes the planet – almost 40 million coronavirus infections – and effective coordination to manage it is MIA.

News blues…

More than 1,000 current and former officers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed a letter   criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus crisis and demanding “our nation’s leaders to allow CDC to resume its indispensable role.”

The signees were current and former members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, sometimes known as “disease detectives.” Founded nearly 70 years ago, the EIS is a two-year postdoctoral program for epidemiologists to get hands-on experience in the field.
“The absence of national leadership on COVID-19 is unprecedented and dangerous,” the letter said. “The U.S. epidemic is sustained by deadly chains of transmission that crisscross the entire country. Yet states and territories have been left to invent their own differing systems for defining, diagnosing and reporting cases of this highly contagious disease. Inconsistent contact tracing efforts are confined within each state’s borders — while coronavirus infections sadly are not. Such chaos is what CDC customarily avoided by its long history of collaboration with state and local health authorities in developing national systems for disease surveillance and coordinated control.”
The Trump administration has been criticized for sidelining the CDC. It reportedly went so far as to interfere in the agency’s reports as it has largely failed in its response to the virus’s spread.

Meanwhile, in Europe, global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time, a record one-day increase even as the region enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak.

Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre in recent weeks and is reporting on average 140,000 cases a day over the past week. 
As a region, Europe is reporting more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined.
Of every 100 infections reported around the world, 34 were from European countries, according to a Reuters analysis. The region is currently reporting a million new infections about every nine days and has reported more than 6.3 million cases since the pandemic began.

***

The good news in the US? We, the People are votin’ ….   Will a change in administrations make a difference? Or is it too late to divert the trajectory of this deadly pandemic? 

***

The Lincoln Project Swamp  (0:59 mins)
Really American Blame Trump  (1:08 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Bee brokers broking bees. 'You never stop learning about bees, they're just incredible.' 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Temperature rose to 34 C yesterday. My physical exhaustion equaled my psychological exhaustion. I took the day off from selling and moving related action to potter around the garden and the pond. It was the right thing to do.
Tomorrow = renewed efforts.