Virus pandemic as forest fire

Trump’s Covid-19 Failures Miss Key Lessons From 1918 Pandemic  (6:55 mins)

News blues…

US daily Covid-19 hospitalizations are inching closer to 100,000 - the highest they've ever been.  (2:22 mins)

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What Needs To Happen Before The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Considered Over?

There needs to be a whole new approach to confronting the virus before the pandemic can be considered over or resolved, said Daniel B. Fagbuyi, an emergency room physician in Washington, D.C. That starts with leadership and a more coordinated, national pandemic plan.
“It is clear that the pandemic response and messaging has been mediocre,” Fagbuyi said. The cessation of this pandemic clearly begins with national leadership change, a change of the old guard and a visionary that embraces science.”

…Steps that will bring the coronavirus pandemic under control and how long it might take to get back to "normal."  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Something a little different in this segment today: a celebration of artists over 12,500 years: “Tens of thousands of ice age paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals….” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After four decades of living in California – dry summers and cold, wet, dark winters – I’m rediscovering KZN weather: warm, wet summers and cold, dry winters. I love KZN weather.
My attempts over the past couple of years to grow veggies failed because I misunderstood my garden nemesis: the cutworm.
Destructive cutworms attack seedlings at or just below the soil surface. The trick to avoiding that damage? Sew seedlings early-to-mid August, before the rains begin late September, early October. August, of course, is also the time neighborhood monkeys are most hungry. Seedlings that avoid cutworms encounter monkeys. Not a single beet/beetroot I planted survived the monkeys. All beets were uprooted, ditto green onions. Potatoes take a beating but thrive. Zucchini (“baby marrows”) do better as monkeys gnaw the young fruit while still on the plant. Half a zucchini is better than no zucchini – and just as delicious – and I gleefully harvest them.

Help is not on the way

News blues…

MSNBC: Rep. Andy Kim: “1 Out Of Every 1,250 Americans In This Country Has Died Because of COVID" (5:45 mins) 

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With 4 percent of the world’s population, the US has 19 percent of the world’s Covid deaths. Since Thanksgiving, there has been 346,061 new infections and 2,704 deaths. This clip includes an information update with Dr Fauci. 

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An informative overview of Covid – potentially brewing over 5 decades  (11:30 mins)

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South Africa requires Covid certificates for cross-border truck traffic.  (2:20 mins)

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The last several weeks workers with the local village’s Umngeni Municipality have engaged in “popcorn” strikes, spontaneous events that block municipal office entrances. The original focus was a request for an increase in salary. Today, more action:

Protest action at Umngeni Municipality remains unresolved. A Court Interdiction was issued on 2020-11-27 to 6 respondents regarding the protests. The applicant in that court interdict is Ms Thembeka Cibane the Municipal Manager who wanted the Court to force all 6 applicants to instruct those who are protesting to stop their actions.
As a result of the court interdict, there was a public meeting at Mpopomeni Hall to discuss the way forward.
After that meeting, a decision was taken to intensify the protests by blocking all roads leading to Howick. The targeted roads includes R617, Tweedie Rd and all others access roads. Information received also indicates that today’s protest will be joined by people from Zuzokuhle and Mathandubisi areas. Roads blockade are expected to start in the early hours of Monday morning 2020-11-30.

I hope protesters wear masks….

Healthy planet, anyone?

...Scientists are finding that parasites are puppet masters, shaping ecosystems by changing the behaviour of their host species. Research in California  showed parasites were involved in 78% of links in the food chain. Rough estimates suggest there could be 80 million parasites, but only 10% have been identified….
Colin Carlson is a biologist at Georgetown University in the US who has just published a paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B arguing for a global parasite project to record parasitic life on Earth. He says we know next to nothing about them. “When we think about plants and herbivores and carnivores, there are parasites operating on every part of that food web – they’re this kind of dark matter. There are these unaccounted for links and forces in the network that we often can’t quantify.”
Carlson believes conservationists underestimate public support and interest in parasites. “People assume that because they’re gross, there’s not going to be any interest,” he says. “And I think, actually, it’s quite the opposite … People like the idea that there’s this entire hidden world within animals that we know nothing about. People love frontiers, right? They love the deep ocean and deep space and there is a frontier inside every animal on Earth.”
The global parasite project could lead to half the world’s parasites being described in the next decade, researchers say. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Cycads  typically grow very slowly and live very long, with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000 years old. Cycads are sometimes mistaken for palms or ferns because of a superficial resemblance, but they are not closely related to either group.
I’ve a special place in my heart for cycads. When I was a child, one had grown, ignored for years, in a bird aviary near my bungalow. Then, an irate cycad-knowledgeable person strongly urged my mother to remove the aviary and “protect that bloody cycad. Don’t you know it could be a thousand years old?”

A couple of youthful cycads try to live long and happy lives in this garden. Alas, caterpillars make that tough.
Last year, I noticed swarms of yellow and black caterpillars on the youthful cycads. Yesterday, I noticed relatives of those swarms had returned. Quick online research indicated these would soon develop into Cycad Moths, a blue-grey butterfly.
Despite their attractive coloring, birds avoid these critters as the diet of cycad makes the caterpillars distasteful.
I scooped dozens of these caterpillars from cycad fronds and tossed them into the pond. The Massacre of the Innocents, each of us victims of do-what-ya-gotta-do.
As a mark of respect, I watched the caterpillars drown and sunk. Sunlight illuminated their bodies on the pond bottom. 

I tell myself they’ll to enrich the ecosystem as compost…. 

unThanksgiving

The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, aka unThanksgiving Day, is a day of recognition little known among majority-immigrant Americans. It is, however, the day many Native Americans regret the arrival of immigrants onto their land, the continent of North America.
Several years ago, a friend and I left home at 3.33am on a rainy morning to ferry to Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, to celebrate an Indigenous Peoples’ Unthanksgiving.
 I foresee a future when Americans look back at 2020’s Thanksgiving and holiday season as a time for sober reevaluation. 

What were we thinking when we acted rashly and ignored an out-of-control pandemic?

News blues…

As Thanksgiving week draws to an end, more experts are warning the Covid-19 pandemic will likely get much worse in the coming weeks before a possible vaccine begins to offer some relief. 
[Across the US] More than 205,000 new cases were reported Friday - which likely consists of both Thursday and Friday reports in some cases, as at least 20 states did not report Covid-19 numbers on Thanksgiving. As of Saturday evening, more than 138,000 new cases and 1,100 deaths had been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US has now reported more than 100,000 infections every day for 26 consecutive days. The daily average in the week to Friday was more than 166,000 - almost 2.5 times higher than the summer's peak counts in July.
The number of Covid-19 patients in US hospitals reached record levels on Saturday evening, with 91,635 Americans hospitalized with Covid19, according to the COVID Tracking Project. 

***

Overnight numbers of new Covid infections in South Africa, were, again, above 3,000.

Motherwell resident Ntombizanele Majamana, 56, urged [health minister] Mkhize to convince the cabinet to impose strict regulations in Port Elizabeth. “I have lost many relatives to Covid-19,” she said.
 “I wish we could return to the strict lockdown because [then] people adhered to the rules. At the moment people are acting as if Covid-19 is gone, they are attending churches, funerals and traditional ceremonies in numbers.

Healthy planet, anyone?

Reuters photographer Gleb Garanich says: “…the animal world need not only be found in the wild. I was on my way to cover a protest near the Ukrainian parliament and had deliberately left 90 minutes ahead of time as I like to take pictures early in the morning in the city centre”…
This photo essay reminds us that beauty is all around, if we have eyes to see…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Spotted my fourth snake yesterday, the first green one. It was fast but I registered a fresh shade of green, not more than 14 inches long, and what I’d categorize as a youthful body. Could have been any of a range of “green snakes” … 

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Marketing in South Africa is highly dependent on “passion”. Marketing professionals are “passion about,” feel “passionately,” and employ variants of this word to flog anything, from cannabis oil to shoes, to manufacturing, to pharmaceuticals… 

Recently, an email from a pharmacy declared, “we are passionate about delighting our clients…”  

One wonders what drugs they’re pedaling. 

More of the same

News blues…

Like elsewhere in the world, South Africa’s Covid infections are surging: more than 3,370 new cases in the past 24 hours. Numbers are “concerning,” says Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. 

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Black Friday, indeed: ‘Terrified’ retail workers face brutal Black Friday choice: Risk catching COVID-19 from ‘entitled Karens’ or get fired.

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Whackjobbery is baaaack! The recent surge in whackjobbery (see definition) submerged during the swampy election, but it’s back – and as whacky as ever. Even diehard whackjobs are confusing their ideologies as QAnoners fight the “MAGAverse” and all threaten to boycott, well, something or someone.
It’s funny, in a macabre way - as long as adherents leave their guns home - but it's a challenge to keep the factions straight.
Mike Rothschild, writer and researcher on conspiracy theories working on a book about QAnon, offers a primer:

“At its core, Q mythology is a theory that Trump is the sole savior from a cabal of Satan-worshipping, pedophiliac Washington elites…
It's really hard to put aside that worldview, even for just a couple months, to get behind a conventional election.
When you've been spending years thinking all elections are rigged, the deep state controls everything, nothing you do matters and the only way to stop it is for Donald Trump to win every state, be president for life and destroy his enemies — you're so caught up in believing this radically enormous thing, that you miss the very small thing right in front of you….” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The shebeen (unlicensed “bush pub”) across the road hosted a party last night. It began at 7pm or so – and continues… (currently 7am next morning). Music, singing, dancing, fighting, yelling… sounds like a hellava party. Our security alarm sounded at 2:44am last night. A check of the property revealed no incursions. 

***

Zebra suit… Lockdown across South Africa, instituted mid-March, shut down my swimming routine at the pool in a gated community. Soon as the facility reopened in September, I started swimming again.
This gated community also currently houses my mother in the Care Center. It’s a high-end facility that my mother agreed would suit her needs. Alas, she’s changed her mind. Alas, I lost patience with her constant reversals and complaining – "not enough tea, hard veggies, old people" (she’s 87), etc. etc. Alas, when we selected her room, we agreed overlooking the parking lot was the option that allowed her regular views of wild animals – small groups of zebra, impala, and warthogs – and an intriguing assortment of bird life. This has proven true. So far, she’s not complaining about the view. But I am. Alas, the view includes the only entryway to the swimming pool This means our currently troubled relationship affects my swim routine: I hesitate to enter the pool in full view of my mother while not dropping by for a visit.
Friends to the rescue: one friend suggested that, when I head to the pool, I wear a zebra suit as a disguise!
Friends. I luv ‘em!

Mythical plans

News blues…

SA: My early morning Covid stats app declared more than 3,000 new infections across this country in the past 24 hours.
US: Even with 181,490 new cases on Wednesday, millions of Americans defied official advice not to travel or gather for Thanksgiving on Thursday. This is the third daily rise in a row, and hospitalisations hit 89,959 cases, a record for a 16th day in succession. 

***

Conspiracy theories frequently revolve around a coherent plan emanating from a central cabal coordinating lockstep coercion aimed at “taking over the world,” or the city, or the county, or the state, or the whatever….
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lead lawyer in his “ongoing series of false claims about election fraud, laid out the whole shebang during a, um, sweaty press conference on Thursday” :

"This pattern repeats itself in a number of states, almost exactly the same pattern, which to any experienced investigator, prosecutor, would suggest that there was a plan from a centralized place to execute these various acts of voter fraud specifically focused on big cities and specifically focused on, as you would imagine, big cities controlled by Democrats. And particularly focused on big cities that have a long history of corruption."

The one big, glaring weakness in such theories?
Two or more humans together barely agree on what to eat for dinner, never mind adhere to a “plan from a centralized place.” (Think Soviet Union….) Despite an agreed-upon “platform,” Democrats barely control party apparatchiks – think AOC and “the squad”, Dianne Feinstein – never mind act coherently.
If a coordinated “centralized place” presented a coherent people-and-planet-friendly plan, I’d quickly join it. I’ve participated many so-called “political action” planning sessions and experience proves it is ludicrous to suggest groups of humans are capable of agreement, never mind successful coordination. It just doesn’t happen. We’re genetically incapable of agreeing upon and sticking to a long-term plan. That’s why we’re destroying our beautiful life-sustaining planet.

***

The Lincoln Project offers thanks:

While this year presented unique challenges for all of us, we still have so much to give thanks for.
We are thankful for unity — an unprecedented coalition of over 80 million Americans united behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to reject Donald Trump.
We are thankful for democracy — despite egregious and seditious attacks, we, the People, remain sovereign and in charge of our Republic.
We are thankful for honesty, integrity, and merit — as the Biden transition kicks into high gear, it is relieving and exciting to witness the restoration of moral, principled, and qualified leadership and expertise to the White House.
Above all, we are thankful for you. Your dedication and support for our mission is truly the only reason we are here.
You fought to protect our democracy.
You restored honor and decency to the White House.
You defeated Donald Trump.
Thank you, for being a watchdog for our country’s institutions, a gatekeeper for our nation’s highest offices, and a dedicated patriot.
Our work is not over—far from it.
We will keep up the fight against Trumpism as long as we have you standing with us.
We hope you have a safe, restful, and joyful Thanksgiving.
From co-founders: Reed Galen, Jennifer Horn, Mike Madrid, Steve Schmidt, Ron Steslow, Rick Wilson

Healthy planet, anyone?

Amazing gift that will keep on giving: New Zealanders Dick and Jillian Jardine, whose family have owned and worked the land for 98 years, have gifted 900 hectares of pristine land by the edge of Lake Wakatipu to the crown, saying it is “the right thing to do”.
The stretch of land at the foot of the Remarkables range will become open to everyone in 2022, after being handed over to the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust for “the benefit and enjoyment of all New Zealanders”. 

***

Back in 2018, the US state of Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources built a bridge over Interstate 80 to reduce traffic accidents in Parleys Canyon caused by wandering animals. Last week, the agency released a video of the bridge in use - aiding moose, porcupines, deer and even bears across the busy highway. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Thirty-six weeks of waiting….
Temperatures are dropping back in California, specifically where my semi-abandoned houseboat is docked. The outboard motor is exposed to the elements. It’ll crack if temps drop below zero – as forecast by weather people. I’ve reached out via text to request fellow mariners cover the motor with an old cloth or bag or towel or…. 

Fourteen thousands miles away and I rely on the “kindness of strangers…”

Lucky bird

“Oh, that’s a lucky, lucky bird….”
Donald J Trump was not referring to his expectation that he’ll avoid a future as jailbird for assorted tax and constitutional crimes. He was congratulating Corn and Cob, the turkeys he pardoned from become meals for Thanksgiving 2020.  (1:50 mins)
As comedian Steven Colbert noted, “An innocent turkey pardoned by a lame duck.” 

***

Note, below, the exponential increase in numbers of Covid infections and deaths…
Worldwide (Map) 
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths

US (Map) 
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths

SA (Tracker)  
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths 

News blues…

Hunger for Thanksgiving…  (2:20 mins)
Travel for Thanksgiving… 

***

More than 3,200 new infections in South Africa in 24 hours. 
Western Cape considers local restrictions to fight resurgent Covid-19 

 ***

What will The Lincoln Project do next? The group made a difference in the recent election as well as presented new ways of understanding Republicanism, what it means to be American, and demonstrated one way to push back against lies and deceit.
Their recent ad: The Lincoln Project Gives Thanks,  (1:43 mins).
Right back at ya, TLP: Thank you!

Healthy planet, anyone?

South African lizards pollinate 'hidden flower' in Drakensberg 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My pall of despondency briefly lifted today when two realtors dropped by to take another look at my mother’s large property so as to revamp the online marketing description. The current description garnered not a single nibble from potential buyers. 

Californian’s hot real estate market ensures most properties receive multiple offers over the asking price and sell quickly. Here, one gets nary a sniff? 
Living in a double holding pattern – pandemic and waiting to sell – is a nightmare.
Additionally, I’ve spent almost a year here – six months more than planned – trying to establish a safer home for my frail mother. 

It's tough, when delivering yet more cooked giblet meals for The Dog, she greets me with a barrage of complaints: “I can’t stay here… I’ll die if I stay here … their vegetables aren’t cooked enough… they don’t give me enough tea … people here are old … I’m moving back to my house: you can live in the top section and I’ll live in the bottom section….” 

She was shocked when I said, “I don’t want to live in the top section. I have my own plans and my own place.” 

She's unfamiliar with someone, anyone - never mind her daughter - disagreeing with her ready-to-implement plan-of-the-day and refusing to fall in line.
Not only did I not fall in line, I suggested she make more of an effort to reach out to others instead of rebuffing efforts others make towards her, and that she stop complaining….
Oh boy!
The fur’s gonna fly!

Moving on

US President-elect Joe Biden is naming his cabinet and the country is moving on…. 

Now to roll out an actual, coherent plan  to address the pandemic across that nation and the world.

News blues…

Lockdown booze ban saved 21 lives a day: Shocking stats reveal how badly SA is impacted by alcohol abuse, with young men bearing the brunt.

A report on unnatural deaths in SA during the second alcohol ban shows the devastating effect that booze has on the country.
Researcher Kai Barron of the Berlin School of Economics, says the data showed “the five-week sales ban reduced the number of unnatural deaths in SA by 21 per day, which is substantial”...

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South Africa’s health ministry confirms 2,493 new cases in the past 24 hours from 20,288 tests — a positivity rate of 12.2%  

The ministry also confirmed 115 new Covid-19 related deaths, taking the national death toll to 21,083. Of the new deaths, 45 were in the Eastern Cape, 20 in the Free State, 19 in Gauteng, 16 in the Western Cape, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal, and five in the Northern Cape.
There have also been 716,444 recorded recoveries, at a recovery rate of 92.8%.
The figures are based on 5,325,631 total tests to date, of which 20,288 fell in the past 24-hour cycle.

***

US sets record for Covid-19 hospitalizations amid fall surge 

There are 88,080 people currently hospitalized with Covid-19, setting a record for hospitalizations amid a continuing fall surge, according to the Covid Tracking Project. This is the highest number of Covid-19 hospitalizations the nation has ever experienced since the pandemic hit the US.

Healthy planet, anyone?

Amazing creatures of our amazing planet: each arm of an octopus may have a mind of its own…. 

The common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, … has three hearts, and eight limbs with 200 suckers that can feel, taste and smell its surroundings. Scientists remain divided over whether it has one brain or nine. In mammals, most neurons are in the brain, but with octopuses, two-thirds are in their body and arms, enabling each arm to do complex tasks, such as opening jars to obtain food, apparently independently from the central brain.
After much experimenting with underwater mazes and other contraptions, scientists concluded that octopuses could solve various problems with one limb and then communicate the experience to other arms via the central brain.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I grew up in KwaZulu Natal’s rural Valley of a Thousand Hills, elevation 759m/2490ft. 

Elevation of my current home in the Midlands: 1032m/3386ft. 

That 273m/896ft difference means, among other natural wonders, cooler weather and smaller critters, including smaller snakes. Indeed, overall, there appear to be fewer snakes here than in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, home to large snakes, from non-venomous mole snakes to lethal black- and green mambas as well as rinkhals (spitting cobra), adders (puff and night), rock pythons, etc. During my childhood, I’d find snakes relaxing under or on a bed, in cupboards, on verandahs, on footpaths…. I recall finding a puff adder wrapped around cistern plumbing, three inches from my young, vulnerable spine, as I sat upon the toilet.
Until yesterday, in two years, I’d seen only three small snakes here. I spotted the fourth in the veggie garden while I rearranged potato plants uprooted by invading monkeys. Small, black, and whiplash fast, it burrowed into debris.
Like me, monkeys are terrified of snakes. As I child, I saw Jacko, our pet vervet monkey, faint at the sight of a rubber snake placed under his shelter.
Maybe the small, black snake in the potato plants can help dissuade neighborhood monkeys from regular and destructive incursions into the garden?
It has certainly dissuaded me …

Serving the turkey

© The New York Times 

No overt concession by the Trumpster, but concession is implicit. 

The White House on Monday stopped the blockade on cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition. 
“President Trump’s government on Monday authorized President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to begin a formal transition process after Michigan certified Mr. Biden as its winner, a strong sign that the president’s last-ditch bid to overturn the results of the election was coming to an end,” The New York Times reported. “Mr. Trump did not concede, and vowed to persist with efforts to change the vote, which have so far proved fruitless.” 

Irony triumphs. Remember when Trump mocked Carrots the Pardoned Turkey for refusing to concede White House after the last election?  

News blues…

With Trump heading to the exit, fighting the pandemic can begin in earnest.  

***

When will South Africans get the Covid vaccine?  (8:14 mins)

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Not directly related to Covid-19, but fascinating: New Genetics Research: Migration made African immunity stronger  (5:22 mins)

***

Now This: Right to stand up  (4:49 mins)

As mentioned before, The Lincoln Project was founded by a group of Republican political strategists specifically to defeat Trump and Trumpism. This project, unique in American history, chose humor, satire, and historical references to raise awareness about and to fight back against Trump and his Republican enablers. I am not a Republican, but I’ve shared The Lincoln Project content and ads in my pandemic posts. Along with appreciating the Project’s aim and goals, I’ve enjoyed their work – and learned a lot more about what makes the co-founder tick. The Lincoln Project has (lightly) softened my view about Republicanism. Enjoy the latest salvos:
Remove Republic from Republican  (1:00 mins)
Mourning in the Republican Party  (0:55 mins)

"It's a Republic, if you can keep it…
The framers of our Constitution designed a system of checks and balances with three coequal branches of government, empowered to reign in the most reactionary and radical ebbs and flows of popular opinion, and to secure the fundamental, inalienable rights of all Americans.
The survival of our Republic as it was conceived is dependent on each branch of government remaining disciplined and independent of one another, and remaining loyal only to the Constitution and the American people—not to a party, nor, especially, to one man.
The U.S. Senate, the upper chamber of the legislative branch, was once touted as “the world’s greatest deliberative body.” And throughout our history, there have certainly been times that were true.
But the current Republican Senate majority’s loyalty to the American people and the Constitution has been replaced by absolutist partisanship, a zero-sum, no holds barred political calculus, and allegiance to a party led by a deranged, unhinged, immoral narcissist.
This allegiance to power and partisanship over the needs and interests of the American people, and the illiberal, nativist populism Trump espouses, is Trumpism.
But, while Donald Trump will leave the White House in a matter of weeks, Trumpism has proven to be a persistent, pernicious force that will not so easily be removed.
Donald Trump brought our nation to the precipice of calamity—a cliff we are only beginning to slowly inch back from—and he did so with support, guidance, and counsel from sycophants who encouraged and enabled his worst ideas and instincts.
We must hold accountable those in power who, at the very least, did nothing to prevent Donald Trump’s desecration of our nation's highest office and revered institutions.
We now know the names of those who cannot be counted on to hold truth to power, put country over party, and defend the Republic.
All of them."

Healthy planet, anyone?

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization reports:

Climate-heating gases have reached record levels in the atmosphere despite the global lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
There is estimated to have been a cut in emissions of between 4.2% and 7.5% in 2020 due to the shutdown of travel and other activities. But the WMO said this was a “tiny blip” in the continuous buildup of greenhouse gases in the air caused by human activities, and less than the natural variation seen year to year.

***

The underwater farm on an Irish island  (3:17 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The security system is still enabled when neighborhood monkeys arrive in our garden. Yelling through my bedroom window does not discourage them. I wonder if, perhaps, they look forward to the resident crazy lady’s morning greeting?
Hats off to British musician Paul Barton playing the piano to hundreds of hungry monkeys in Thailand .

Early Santa

Covid-19 won't stop NORAD from tracking Santa's Christmas Eve flight around the world.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, responsible for protecting the skies over the US and Canada, says it will be ready to follow Santa on December 24 as he flies from the North Pole to visit children's houses all over the world.
This will be the Santa Tracker's 65th anniversary. It dates back to a typo in a 1955 Sears ad and an Air Force officer, who's now known as the "Santa Colonel."
NORAD was even able to keep the tradition going during the [Trump-inspired] 2018 government shutdown.

News blues…

Recently, G20 leaders – excluding Trump, who played golf instead – pledged online to “spare no effort” to ensure the fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide. They offered no specific new funding nor a roll out plan to meet that goal.
I offer no insights on funding, but I have a suggestion on distribution: Santa’s Christmas Eve flight around the world.
There may be more Santa skeptics in the world than there are Covid-19 skeptics in the US, but surely even a diehard skeptic wouldn’t argue when a clatter of reindeer hooves sounded on the roof and, from heaven, a frozen package of vaccine dropped through the chimney?
Rollout is an challenge. Temperature, for example, is key to maintaining vaccine efficacy:

[Covid-19] vaccines use a novel technology—strands of messenger RNA (mRNA), held within lipid particles—that is vulnerable to degradation at room temperature and requires doses to be frozen for transportation, then thawed for use.
…The Moderna vaccine may have an edge: Unlike Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s offering, it does not have to be stored at –70°C, but can tolerate a much warmer –20°C, which is standard for most hospital and pharmacy freezers. 

African countries have a disadvantage: hospitals and pharmacies are in short supply and many that exist likely lack freezers.

A challenge beyond distribution:

We are likely to need several Covid-19 vaccines to cover everyone and as a contingency, in case the virus mutates and “escapes” the ability of one vaccine to neutralise it, a real possibility in light of the discovery of an altered form of Sars-CoV-2 infecting European mink. But we also need better methods of diagnosing and treating the disease. The recent suspension of two major vaccine trials due to serious adverse events is a salutary reminder that there’s much still to learn and a pandemic, while no one would wish for one, provides scientists with a golden opportunity for learning.
Like most Covid-19 vaccine candidates, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are injected into the muscle, from where they enter the bloodstream and stimulate the production of antibodies to Sars-CoV-2 (specifically to the protein that forms the spikes covering its surface). But antibodies are only one component of the body’s adaptive immune response, which develops over time, in response to invasion by a virus or other pathogen. There is also innate immunity, which we are born with and that is mobilised instantly upon infection, but is not tailored to any specific pathogen.
“There are a lot of moving parts to this,” says immunopharmacologist Stephen Holgate, of the University of Southampton in the UK, who wonders why scientists have focused on so few of them.

I assume it is out of the question to suggest scientists and G20 leaders – minus Trump – meet online with Santa to work out the details?
[Note: I admit a tongue-in-cheek flavor. Given the current moment replete with “alternative facts,” conspiracy theories, and old fashion lies, let it be known: editorial comments are satire… born of frustration, pandemic fatigue, and loss of confidence in top down leadership.]

Healthy planet, anyone?

Photo essay: The tiny, magical world of pygmy seahorses, one of the most elusive fish on the planet. 
Note photo #10: “a new species of pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus nalu … spotted in Sodwana Bay, in north-eastern South Africa … the first pygmy seahorse to have been recorded anywhere in the Indian Ocean.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday, I dreaded visiting my mother at the Care Center. Her ongoing complaints debilitate, from not enough cups of tea, “cold” tea, too many “old people,” “hard” vegetables (she’s old school English and expects cooked vegetables the consistency and color of Pablum), “unhappy” dog, “nobody” walks The Dog, etc., etc.
I groaned as I filled out the Covid tracking documents before entering the facility,  and learned my mother's escalating her complaints. Nevertheless, carrying two containers of cooked giblets and one container of rice – for The Dog – and a bottle of my mother’s favorite wine, I squared my shoulders and cautiously entered her room.
She was asleep. 
I set the dog food in the ‘fridge, placed the wine on the floor near her bed… and skedaddled.

Oh, I do believe in merciful Santa….

Virus mass distribution

For a Trump official, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s slip of the tongue  during a telephone interview was uncharacteristically honest: “We’re working on mass distribution of the virus.”
Likely his goal was spinning reality and saying, “mass distribution of a vaccine.” 

Shakespeare said it first: “the truth will out.” 

Will Trump say to Mnuchin what Trump's famous for? "You're fired!" 

News blues…

Another horrific milestone in a month full of devastating Covid-19 records in the country. November already accounts for almost a quarter of all Covid-19 cases and 9% of deaths.  The number of US coronavirus cases surpassed 12 million Saturday - an increase of more than 1 million cases in less than a week. The number of US coronavirus cases surpassed 12 million Saturday -- an increase of more than 1 million cases in less than a week.
South Dakota is the state with highest rates of Covid in the country, replete with residents and a governor who refuse to pay attention to safety…   (4:11 mins) 

***

Hunger for Thanksgiving? Los Angeles California in dire straits ….  (2:50 mins)

***

SA records 86 new Covid-19 deaths as cases climb to 765,409 

***

President Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded with G20 Leaders to ensure all countries have access to the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available, saying the global recovery needs to be inclusive.  
"An immediate task is to ensure that there is equitable and affordable access for all countries to the COVID-19 vaccine once it is developed.

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

Mission Blue  is a not-for-profit organization geared “to inspire action to explore and protect oceans and to unite a global coalition for an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas termed Hope Spots.” 

Cape RADD (Research and Diver Development) became the newly-appointed Champions of the False Bay Hope Spot. Run by a small team of passionate marine biologists and conservationists, Cape RADD serves as a platform for researchers in the False Bay area of Cape Town, South Africa.
Cape RADD’s team of scientists aim to better understand the underwater world by using a variety of sampling techniques including transects, quadrats, remote underwater video and mark-recapture to monitor long-term changes to biodiversity in the area. They conduct a number of research projects including kelp forest grazer density and distribution, fish and shark population estimates, microplastic pollution, and more.   Learn more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I am rediscovering my groove after despondency, fear, anxiety dogged my last ten days. Somehow, resilience won out. I’m back in action.

***

Today, I bid farewell to the elderly concrete mixer that gifted me 5 bags full of compost. The last batch surprised: the raw material was damp after sitting in the mixer during two thunderstorms. Instead of producing drier, spreadable compost, it produced dozens of compost balls in a variety of sizes: ping pong ball, tennis ball, baseball, even a pair of semi-deflated-footballs. Not perfectly round, but off-center, the collection of balls resemble animal dung ranging in animals the size of cane rat to rhinoceros. Gardening. Gotta love it: never a dull moment.
My waders got a workout, too. Geared up - waders, gloves, sunhat with pert guinea fowl feather, and slathered in sunscreen - I entered the rain-swollen pond to weed out excess pond lilies and freshwater grasses. I recycled this vegetation by forming a new footpath through the far reaches of the garden.
The plum tree is prolific this year, with dozens of slowly ripening fruit. Naturally, this indicates dozens of future visits by the neighborhood’s monkey troop. Already the troop, numbering more than 50 fearless individuals, including this year’s crop of youngsters, enter the garden at will, pull up potatoes, root through zucchini plants, and enjoy mulberries and bird seed.
I predict too much monkey business….

Turkey pardons…

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the US, followed by Black Friday – aka the day to dash out and holiday shop ’til you drop…. 

US tradition has it that, on or slightly before Thanksgiving Day, the president “pardons” two turkeys from being slaughtered and consumed as the main attraction at the holiday repast. 

The pardonees go on to enjoy the rest of their life, threat-free, at Virginia Tech’s “Gobbler’s Rest” enclosure.
Hmmm, I look forward to the current hard-to-dislodge president 1) pardoning himself as this year’s turkey, and 2) the cornucopia of Trump-as-turkey-of-the-year themed cartoons…

Let the games begin – people need a good laugh during these dire times.

News blues…

With more than 3,000 new Covid cases over 24 hours, South Africa’s health minister is “very concerned” about the rise in infections, particularly in Eastern Cape …  (9:15 mins)

***

El Paso, Texas desperately needs Morgue Attendants at the county medical examiner’s office as Covid fatalities continue to rise. The work notice states:

“Morgue Attendants will be provided maximum PPE [personal protective equipment] and will receive a COVID test prior to starting. All Morgue Attendants will be tasked with physically moving Decedents… Not only is this assignment physically taxing, but it may be emotionally taxing as well.”
The request comes as the county has resorted to using low-level offenders from the county jail to help transport the deceased. Their work will continue until there are enough new hires, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said. “Not everybody is going to be able to do [the job]. We’ve had people there that have lasted an hour, 30 minutes, half a day…it’s a difficult process.”

Cry the beloved country.
Who’d a thunk?
Many immigrants may share my experience of ambivalence towards an adopted country. In my case, I went from adventurous country kid living in rural Valley of a Thousand Hills, KZN to life in a small city apartment within California’s 7-million-people-strong conurbation of San Francisco Bay Area. That massive emotional and psychological adjustment took two decades.
Today, locked down in a small village in KZN, 14,000 miles from San Francisco, I watch the unfolding tragedy in my adopted country… and cry.
How could such mismanagement of a deadly pandemic have happened in the United States of America?
Then I remember, ah, yes, Trump. A son of the soil… 

***

I seldom watch news anchor Rachel Maddow’s show (too long winded). Recently, however, I stumbled upon a You Tube clip she’d made during an enforced quarantine. Thankfully negative for Covid 19, her brief appearance was brave, clear, and very touching. Her message? Do everything you can to avoid Covid-19 – it can kill those you love… (8:15 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project: Michigan  (1:40 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Months ago, I made an offer to purchase a small, safe, secure, relatively inexpensive (in comparison to California’s prices) apartment in the village of Howick. The purchase was accepted and we began the very long process of transferring my funds from the US to seal the deal.
I worked with the conveyancing company selected by the seller’s representative.
FYI: Google explains that a “conveyancer is a licensed professional/attorney who provides advice and information with regards to the transfer of property ownership, as well as assisting buyers and sellers through the selling process.”
Alas, “assisting buyers and sellers through the selling process” is not how these conveyancing attorneys see their role.
Yesterday, after weeks of a very delayed timeline and regularly urging the conveyancing office assistant to attend to details of the very delayed timeline that costs me a pile of extra money – I met with a conveyancing professional.
My complaint? Their admin dropped the ball, made egregious errors on paperwork geared to transfer US dollars – and continues to cost me thousands of dollars more than budgeted.
Naturally, the conveyancing office practices CYA (cover your ass). They’re attempting to shift blame entirely upon my shoulders when dated documents clearly indicate the core of the problem: tardiness emanating from their office.
Moreover, I learned their office was operating on a halftime schedule due to Covid. No adjustment had been made, however, to address the staff’s ongoing fulltime workload – other than, “oh, well…” 

The turkeys seek a pardon…

Giving new meaning…

Trump as African dictator
(c) Trevor Noah  

Giving new, broader, and inclusive meaning to Donald Trump’s assertions about “sh**hole” countries, greed and corruption, in America millions of dollars have been stolen from the pandemic-related PPP – the US Payroll Protection Program 

Donald Trump brought his history of and reputation for shoddy business behavior with him into the White House:

• Whenever Trump has been in positions of power or authority, he has demonstrated a pattern of trying to enrich himself by abusing the trust others have placed in him — whether it’s creditors, contractors, charitable givers, Trump University students, regulators, or campaign donors  .
• Trump’s business failures are very real .

A simple Internet search will reveal far more of The Donald’s shady business history. It wasn’t like We the People were not warned. Way back in the misty past of 2016, South African Trevor Noah was spot on with his assessment of Trump: How South Africa Could Prepare the U.S. for President Trump…  (11:49 mins)

News blues…

The Super Spreader in Chief:

• White House Plans In-Person Holiday Parties As COVID-19 Cases Rise 
• Over 900 Midwest Mayo Clinic Staff Diagnosed With Coronavirus In Last 2 Weeks  
• Trump Takes Credit For Vaccines, Remains Silent On 250,000 COVID-19 Deaths 

And, to ensure he kills more of us with inaction on Covid-19, the Super Spreader in Chief continues to fighter election reality: Trump Summons Mich. GOP Leaders To Special Meeting At White House 

***

The Lincoln Project: Leaders (0:55 mins)
And, an email from The Lincoln Project on not-leaders:

Our nation's institutions, and our vigilance and resolve, are being tested at this hour.
Trump and his entourage of grifters and sycophants continue to challenge the legitimacy of our nation's free and fair elections, despite a complete lack of any evidence of fraud.
And, despite the Trump team's incompetence, the damage they are inflicting on our democracy is very real.
The reality is that Joe Biden won handily, and will become the 46th President of the United States on January 20. That has not stopped Trump from sowing chaos, confusion, and doubt to sabotage the president-elect and further divide our nation on his way out.
Trump has summoned members of the Michigan GOP in a bid to continue his charade, with two legislative leaders confirmed traveling to meet with the president:

Lee Chatfield
Michigan Speaker of the House
LeeChatfield@house.mi.gov
Office #: (517) 373-2629 

Mike Shirkey

Michigan Senate Majority Leader

SenMShirkey@senate.michigan.gov

Office #: (517) 373-5932

Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader, Mike Shirkey, and Speaker of the House, Lee Chatfield, are meeting with Trump to continue denying Joe Biden the electoral votes he’s won.
Contact them now to demand that the results of the election—and the will of Michigan voters—are upheld.
We must stay focused, stay vigilant, and stay confident. Our system is holding firm. Joe Biden is our duly elected president-elect, and he will take the office on January 20.

***

Healthy futures, anyone?

Poet Robert Frost wrote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”
…Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense….

What would Frost write about the US/Mexico border wall?

In the 1980s, when Kevin Dahl first began visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in southern Arizona, the border was unmarked, save for a simple fence used to keep cattle from a ranch in the US from crossing into Mexico. In those days, park rangers would call in their lunch orders at a diner located just across the border.
Since then, a 30ft steel bollard wall has replaced the old barbed wire fence at Organ Pipe. The towering steel barrier cuts through the Unesco reserve like a rust-colored suture.
“It’s this incredible scar,” said Kevin Dahl, a senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, describing the wall that snakes its way through a pristine track of Sonoran desert, dwarfing the giant cacti that give this desert its name. “What was once a connected landscape is now a dissected one.”
That dissection is now a reality across much of the US border. It is a landscape increasingly defined by walls, roads, fences and associated border infrastructure that is fragmenting critically protected habitats, desecrating sacred cultural sites and threatening numerous endangered species in some of the most biodiverse and unique places in North America. 

Read 'An incredible scar': the harsh toll of Trump's 400-mile wall through national parks 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The saga of what can go wrong, will go wrong – amid a pandemic, to boot. This morning, I head to meet with a set of lawyers who’d like nothing more than have me stop kvetching at them and just disappear already. Their inefficiency has cost what to me is a lot of money – and I’m fighting back. More about it tomorrow…. My challenge? Emotionality. My friend, himself a (public interest) lawyer, shared a lawyer’s motto: Don’t let your feelings become an enemy of your wallet.
Excellent advice for today.

Normalizing

It's that increasingly dreaded end-of week reviewing of numbers and facing Covid’s devastation on our planet:
Worldwide (Map) 
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths

US (Map)  
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)  
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths

News blues…

While the particulars change day-by-day, each day seems to offer a rehasd  of yesterday’s news:

• Covid-19 wreaks havoc around the world, and particularly in the US (“North Dakota COVID Mortality Rate Highest in the World, With 1 in Every 1,000 Residents Dead”).
• Donald Trump wreaks havoc to the rule of law and highlights the weakness at the heart of a democratic republic that espouses “the rule of law .” 
• Climate change, unacknowledged, wreaks havoc on the environment .
• Honest, coherent, forward-looking leadership remains absent. 

I got the blues as the US normalizes havoc!

***

In South Africa, Covid-19 cases jump by 2,888 in a day  

***

Healthy futures, anyone?

Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health:

Every day we depend on biodiversity (the sheer variety of life found on Earth) to keep us alive and healthy. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take are all by-products of a healthy planet. Read more  >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The rainy season arrives with drama and fanfare: hail stones, the size of tennis balls, fell in Pietermaritzburg yesterday . Here, a 15-minute drive away, hail stones were of inferior size, mere marbles. 

Hooray for inferiority!

Lost the plot

News blues…

Recycled outrage. Current news isn’t new. That’s my conclusion about the current state of news reporting. US news anchors repeatedly express, 1) outrage about Trump’s latest gambit to accept reality, 2) outrage about the Trump administration’s inaction to address the unprecedented surge in Covid infections, and 3) routrage about the most recent Republican election shenanigans. That’s about sums up “new” news.
While ordinary (thinking) people, grapple with understandably high levels of fear and anxiety associated with an out-of-control pandemic, US media increases the levels of anxiety and fear, but does not address it. Is fear un-American?
One solution? Replace the 24-hour news cycle with hour-long news shows each morning, noon, and evening. For the other nine hours, present shows on, say, how beautiful and beautifully complex is our planet - or show cartoons. 

 ***

John Heilemann sums it up: Maximum moment of vulnerability…  (3:14 mins)

***

Meidas Touch: They lie, you die  (1:00 mins)
Don Caron: Fifty ways to leave the White House  (3:00 mins)
Randy Rainbow: Don't Tell Donald He's NOT RE-ELECTED TODAY! (3:55 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Got fleas?

Highly toxic insecticides used on cats and dogs to kill fleas are poisoning rivers…. The discovery is “extremely concerning” for water insects, and the fish and birds that depend on them – scientists… expect significant environmental damage is being done.
Research found fipronil in 99% of samples from 20 rivers and the average level of one particularly toxic breakdown product of the pesticide was 38 times above the safety limit. Fipronil and another nerve agent called imidacloprid that was found in the rivers have been banned from use on farms for some years. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Blogging each morning has, until now, provided a structured way to attend to the world’s goings-on, and to express my quirky point of view. I find, however, that I’m increasingly falling into a “oh, what’s the use,” state of mind. This is unconstructive… and it adds to my inherent anxiety.
Yesterday, I awoke with the dreadful feeling that I must find a way to fill in surplus time. This feeling is unfamiliar and further anxiety-provoking; seldom have I experienced time as heavy on my hands.
Today, I awoke with the same dreadful feeling.
I need a new direction that engages head, heart, and hands….

Power(lessness) of positive thinking

Humans. Gotta luv ‘em. Nurse says, “…Some coronavirus patients often don't want to believe that Covid-19 is real, even in their dying moments…”   (4:29 mins)

News blues…

The news media repeatedly repeats repeated news: Trump refuses to face reality; Republicans support Trump no matter what; Covid 19 crisis continues to surge; Covid-19 decimates We the People; Trump tweets while the US burns; corruption reigns; comedians try to make light of tragedy….

Healthy futures, anyone?

Australia’s latest State of the Climate Report finds,

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mostly from fossil fuel burning, has driven more dangerous bushfires, rising sea levels and a rapid rise in the days where temperatures reach extreme levels.
“What we are seeing now is beyond the realm of what was possible previously,” said Dr Jaci Brown, director of CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre.”
Among the key findings, the report said Australia’s climate had warmed by 1.44C since 1910 with bushfire seasons getting longer and more dangerous. Australia’s oceans had warmed by 1C and were acidifying.
In a briefing to reporters on Tuesday, Dr Karl Braganza, manager of climate environmental prediction service at the bureau, said … “What we are seeing now is a more tangible shift in the extremes and we are starting to feel how that shift in the average is impacting on extreme events.
“So we don’t necessarily feel that 1.44C increase in average temperature, but we do feel those heatwaves and we feel that fire weather.” 

Read the article, “Rising levels of carbon dioxide increasing extreme weather events in Australia.” 

In conjunction with rising temperatures and sea level rise, “humanity’s destruction of biodiversity creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases like COVID-19”… 

Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments teeming with exotic wildlife threatened humans by harboring the viruses and pathogens that lead to new diseases in humans like Ebola, HIV and dengue. But a number of researchers today think that it is actually humanity’s destruction of biodiversity …creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases… to arise—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 among the well-being 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 …is unleashing new terrors today? … “We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor 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.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I recommend treating pandemic fatigue with limited, safe, masked social interactions with friends and colleagues. Be prepared for side effects: Wanting more interactions with friends!
Successfully engaging with friends after months of lockdown feels liberating. Afterwards, however, lockdown feels like imprisonment. Lockdown isolation is stressful. One rebels, but… stays home, again. 

 ***

A word of warning to anyone thinking of doing business in South Africa: Expect costly delays!
Protect yourself – even if things “sound” feasible and appear straight-forward.
Do not expect any busines-person to show up on the agreed upon schedule.
What can go wrong is likely to go wrong!
Unfortunately, I’m discovering this the hard way: financial loss, threated law suits, avoidance and displacement of responsibility….
Not to be cryptic, but for now, best I express chagrin, not air details.
To date, this extended stay in South Africa has confined me to a home not my own, and far from my immediate family; strained relationships with my extended family; included verbal abuse and insults from my mother; had a bad actor threaten to rape and kill me; put me in front of a local magistrate to request a restraining order; illegally (unbeknownst to me) carried licensed firearms in my vehicle in an (unsuccessful) effort, on behalf of my mother, to turn them in to local police….
Things can only get better. 

Right?

Déjà vu all over again

News blues…

A look back at the influenza pandemic of 1918 reveals that a chaotic White House response to a public-health emergency is nothing new. 

President Trump talks about the fight against COVID-19 as a war against an invisible enemy, but a little over 100 years ago, President Woodrow Wilson was fighting both kinds of war: the Great War in Europe was in its final stages as the flu pandemic swept the globe, including the United States. Wilson chose to focus on the battlefronts of Europe, virtually ignoring the disease that ravaged the home front and killed about 675,000 Americans.
The 45th President has made inaccurate public statements about the coronavirus — last Wednesday, for example, Facebook removed a video in which President Trump claimed that children are “almost immune” to COVID-19—but, by comparison, the 28th president never uttered a single public statement about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic.
In terms of managing a federal response to the pandemic, “there was no leadership or guidance of any kind directly from the White House,” historian John M. Barry, says the author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. “Wilson wanted the focus to remain on the war effort. Anything negative was viewed as hurting morale and hurting the war effort.”
Tevi Troy’s book Shall We Wake the President: Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the Oval Office, ranks Wilson as the #1 worst president in a disaster: “The federal response to the influenza outbreak in 1918 can best be described as neglectful. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died without President Wilson saying anything or mobilizing nonmilitary components of the U.S. government to help the civilian population.”

President Wilson, until now ranked the #1 worst president in a disaster can rest assured: he’s now #2. Number One goes to The Donald.
Trump was 100% correct when he said we’d “get sick and tired of all the winning,” and that we’d tell him, 'Please, please, we can't win anymore….”
Winning a la Trump is killing us.

***

Now This: Say Goodbye to Trump’s Cabinet (5:52 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After 7 months of lockdown and severe pandemic fatigue, I drove 50 kms to Mooi River (“pretty” river) to visit friends. The village of Mooi River serves surrounding farmers/farms in the foothills of the Drakensberg. 

 While waiting for my friends to guide me to their home, I snapped this photograph of a traditional Zulu songoma. 

I also snapped a warning to drivers regarding the state of road (photo below). 

The phenomenon of potholes is par for the course in South Africa. Few roads are absent potholes. The interprovincial N3 is relatively free of potholes – as one might expect given the exorbitant road tolls one pays coming and going. I paid R53 at the Mooi River toll gate to access the village and R37 to leave. (Approximate total of tolls one way from Durban to Johannesburg is R250 – steep for your average South African driver.)

Overall, my visit was restorative. I needed it. Safety first, but positive human interaction is vital, too.

“A slaughter”

The Case for
Political Exile for Donald Trump   

The Case for Political Exile for Donald Trump suggests We the People  exile The Donald as Napoleon was exiled. I second that. 

Indeed, why not exile The Donald - and family - to Thomas island. This is the 70–78 acres (28–32 ha) island in the subdistrict East End of Saint Thomas, owned, from 1998 until his 2019 death, by Donald’s friend American convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein . 

***

Cry, the beloved country. Doctor reacts to US Covid-19 numbers: 'It's a slaughter' as forty-four states see a rise in hospitalization and the number of daily new cases in the US… 

News blues…

Another example of Karma at work?

The Alaska congressman who once ridiculed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus, calling it the “beer virus,” said on Thursday he is now infected with it.
The announcement by Representative Don Young comes as the state’s governor on Thursday warned that health-care and public-safety systems were at risk of being overwhelmed by the rapid spread of the virus across Alaska.
Young, the 87-year-old Republican who is Alaska’s sole U.S. House of Representatives member, made the announcement on Twitter.
“I have tested positive for COVID-19. I am feeling strong, following proper protocols, working from home in Alaska, and ask for privacy at this time.”

With so many of Trump’s do-nothing-about-Covid cabinet and more than 130 Secret Service protectors infected, one might reconsider Karma. Hinduism and Buddhism state that the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, decides their fate in future existences. 
Or, as Westerners put it, “What goes around, comes around…. 

***

News from the neighborhood. Today, while bantering with gals in a hair salon (see details below), I carefully asked what the women thought of the US election and the results.
An elderly woman to my right said, “I think Trump’s an idiot.”
A younger woman on my left said, “I think Trump’s great! He’s a strong leader.” She added, “Bidden (her pronunciation of ol’Joe’s name) isn’t a strong leader.”
Another woman chimed in, “South Africans love Trump!”
The elderly woman to my right opined again, “They’re idiots, too!”
Usually, I’d chime in with my firm opinion – at least say, snidely, “I’m with her” and point to the woman on my right. Instead, I corrected pronunciation – “It’s Bye-den, not Bidden,” - and not only refrained from offering my opinion, I changed the subject. Me not opining shows I am capable of holding my tongue. Progress!
Nevertheless, Trump as a “strong leader”?
Baffling.

***

A message to the citizens of the USA from UK actor and comedian John Cleese (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, etc.): "Britain is Repossessing the U.S.A."

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Arkansas, which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Boris Johnson, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

First, look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary, then:  

1. Look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" and “right?” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.
4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.
6. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.
9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager.
12. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.
13. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
14. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us. No more Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Cereal Bowl or Super Bowl. From now on..... get used to the World Cup.
15. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
16. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
17. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
18. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God save the Queen.
John Cleese

(FYI: The humor in Cleese's  message may appeal only to those deeply familiar with USA/UK cultural differences with a soupçon of British colonialism....) 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Except for my own snip-snip-snippings and cut-cut-cuttings, I’ve not had a “real” haircut in 7 months. Today I splurged with a professional cut at Rene’s salon, Classic Cuts. What a treat to be among chatty, vivacious (if uninformed) people!
Moreover, Rene remembered me from 7 months ago when we’d discussed the neighborhood: she once lived in a house on the same short street.
Today, I learned that she’s in touch with Johan, a man whose father purchased this house when Johan was two years old (he’s now in his early forties). These days, Johan lives in Pretoria (aka, for South Africans, as “behind the boerewors curtain.” For non-South Africans: boerewors, Afrikaans for “farmers’ sausage,” denotes a long, no link-cut-as-needed, uniquely South African “meaty treat” – and implies conversative views.)

I asked Johan if the smallest pair of the children’s footprints memorialized in concrete – shown here, on left - were his. They were.
He shared that his father had built the garden pond – although the current pond configuration sounds different to his father’s version.
Peoples’ history. I love it!

***

Mint plants run rampant in this garden. I don’t mind; mint is fragrant, what’s not to like?
Last year, I tried, unsuccessfully, to make mint jelly. Mint has no natural pectin and, alas, my attempts to add pectin failed: my mint jelly never gelled. Instead, I have a large jar of mint syrup. Surprise! Mint syrup is the perfect ingredient for the Cuban mojito cocktail. Ice, soda, two spoons of mint syrup, and a dash of rum. Unlike many South Africans, drinking alcohol is not my regular habit. Lockdown has persuaded me, however, of the efficacy of an occasional “sun-downer” while relaxing on the bank of the pond – albeit a solitary activity since I’m starved for company. I purchased a bottle Bicardi white rum: R199.99I/ US$ 12. (Compare this to the fancier brands that cost into the range of R400 to R500/US$26 to US$32.)
In the past, my mojitos required mulling mint and sugar, adding ice, adding soda water, and topping off with rum. Nowadays? Two spoons of mint syrup, ice, soda water, and rum. Voila. Mojito-in-a-moment!
Cheers!
Hiccup!