Tested - again

News blues

News free day! 

Take a break. 

Stare at your bellybutton... and chuckle at The Lincoln Project: The GOP isn't interested  (1:00 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

If you’re in a fragile state of mind today, skip this article. 

If you have the fortitude…

Global heating is causing such a drastic change to the world’s oceans that it risks a mass extinction event of marine species that rivals anything that’s happened in the Earth’s history over tens of millions of years, new research has warned. Accelerating climate change is causing a “profound” impact upon ocean ecosystems that is “driving extinction risk higher and marine biological richness lower than has been seen in Earth’s history for the past tens of millions of years”.

Read “Global heating risks most cataclysmic extinction of marine life in 250m years” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Had yet another Covid test today, my second test at the same pop-up facility located outside a local hospital. I displayed my vaccination card with my long list of vaccination details. I’m eligible for the second booster on return to California, too. 

The list is a statement on inequality: I’ve had 3, soon 4, Covid vaccinations. Too many people around the world (who seek vaccinations) await their first jab.

***

Immediately after being robbed upon 4 February arrival at Oliver Tambo Airport, I alerted my CA credit union about the loss and requested they replace my credit/debit cards. Done. (Local Standard Bank was less hospitable and I had to drive half an hour to another branch for one measly debit card and an interaction not tinged with suspicion.) I was unable to replace my stolen California phone SIM card with my years old California phone number, my CA driver’s license (acts like SA ID card), or my public transportation debit card, along with library cards and sorted other cards. All must be and will be replaced upon return. 

Upon arrival in CA, my immediate needs include US dollars to pay for public transportation (my dollars were stolen). I NEVER ask anyone to pick me up at SFO, a thirty-minute drive from home under best traffic conditions, but at least 2 hours under “normal” conditions of 6pm Bay Area traffic. I need a alert the person to pick me up at the train station nearest my home (no public phones anywhere anymore). All this with a brain foggy after a 32-hour, southern to northern hemisphere economy class trip.
No phone. No cash. One large bag, one small bag, and one smaller backpack (that, since being robbed, I’ve learned to wear as a front pack).
Oh, joy!

***

International Workers’ Day tomorrow, 1 May… also observed 2 May. 

Irony? A unneeded holiday for South Africa's official unemployed - up to 36 percent of the working-age population.

***

Results of having a long Q-tip poked down my throat and up my nose, seeking coronavirus?
Negative.
Yay!

Up ticks

News blues

In the United States

… the national seven-day average of new COVID cases hit nearly 49,000 up from about 27,000 three weeks earlier. The uptick is likely being driven by BA.2, the new, more transmissible offshoot of Omicron that’s now dominant in the United States. BA.2 does seem to be troubling: In Western Europe and the U.K. in particular, where previous waves have tended to hit a few weeks earlier than they have in the U.S., the variant fueled a major surge in March that outpaced the Delta spike from the summer.
… so far, the official numbers in the U.S. don’t seem to show that a similar wave has made it stateside. But those numbers aren’t exactly reliable these days.

Read more >> 

***

Africa, too

… is seeing an uptick in Covid-19 cases – largely driven by a doubling in cases reported in South Africa, according to the World Health Organization. New Covid cases and deaths on the continent have increased for the first time after declining for more than a month.

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Laughing (0:55 mins)

***

On war…

Ukraine – photo essay - April 29, 2022 >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

© Adam Zyglis | Copyright 2022 Cagle Cartoons

Will the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry respond to California’s attorney general’s sweeping investigation into their alleged role in the spread of rampant plastic pollution?

AG Rob Bonta said that the investigation will focus on what he called a “half-century campaign of deception” and that it will target companies “that have caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.” Plastic pollution has long been a tentpole environmental issue, with conservationists decrying the spread of plastics to the remotest corners of the Arctic, into the planet’s geology and in the bodies of everything from the stomachs of sea birds to human lungs.

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

This time next week I should be back in Californy…
Tick tock...

Tick tock...

 
Autumn in KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:26am
Sunset: 5:26pm

Spring in San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:15am
Sunset: 7:57pm

Guttered

Worldwide (Map) 
April 28, 2022 - 511,746,700 confirmed infections; 6,228,600 deaths
April 29, 2021 – 149,206,600 confirmed infections; 3,146,300 deaths

US (Map) 
April 28, 2022 - 81,189,400 confirmed infections; 992,800 deaths
April 29, 2021 – 32,229,350 confirmed infections; 574,350 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
April 28, 2022 - 3,776,300 confirmed infections; 100,351 deaths
April 29, 2021 – 1,578,500 confirmed infections; 54,290 deaths

April 28, 2020 post: “Chomping at the ‘net” >> 
April 29, 2021 post: “Consequences” >> 

News blues

A Florida judge’s ruling on mask mandates – to get rid of them – can impact humans today and into the future.

The decision by Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a judge appointed to the Federal District Court in Florida by former President Donald Trump, is part of a larger effort by conservative judges nationwide to rein in federal administrative agencies. Experts in those operations, working under the direction of Congress, write many of the rules that govern our lives.
If Judge Mizelle’s ruling is upheld, Gostin and Hosie warn, “the C.D.C. will be seriously hobbled and a ruinous precedent will be set for the entire federal regulatory apparatus.”
Which is why they write that even if you’re completely fed up with masking up, you should be distressed about Judge Mizelle’s decision.

Read more >> 

***

The Covid outbreak in China quickly moves toward city-wide testing >> 

***

Dr Fauci: The U.S. is no longer in the “full-blown” pandemic phase. He reports the U.S. is no longer seeing “tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths” from COVID-19. But…
Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Last week in the Republican Party - April 27, 2022  (2:15 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Trash it or recycle it? How plastics keep us guessing >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Freedom Day yesterday, International Worker’s Day on Sunday and recognized as a public holiday on Monday. In April, the 18th was Family Day, the 15th Good Friday, and in March the 21st was Human Rights Day. Plenty of holidays – no official businesses open – in this part of the world.
Mollified: while unscrewing screwy screws does not a carpenter make, I’m mollified that the window frame I replaced after re-puttying the pane, did not fit because of long-term issues with fitting, not my lack of carpentry skills. In other words, an actual carpenter found that the frame was warped and, on querying the domestic worker, learned the window didn’t close properly “before.” I’m still not a carpenter, but I am mollified.

***

An exchange/barter arrangement to clear this house’s roof gutters of debris, moss, and sprouting flora went awry. Perhaps my expectations were “too American”, that is, if one has already received the bartered item, one performs the work in a timely manner or presents a reason why the task is delayed and reschedules. Perhaps if I were “more South African” I’d recognize that, well, things get done – eventually – when the planets and stars align perfectly, one “feels” like doing it, etc., etc. Clearing gutters is particularly important when rainfall exceeds expectations, and a house has a tendency towards dampness. Debris overloaded gutters means heavy rainfall simply overflows and floods verandahs and walkway and further damages already damp walls.
Yes, I tend towards over-independence – if you want something done, do it yourself. And, yes, after weeks of watching gutters overflow, over-independence won out over self-protection: do not climb rickety ladders to clean gutters yourself. Happily, I found a happy medium and climbed rickety ladders to clean the roof gutters I could “easily” reach.
I cleaned 5 of 8 gutters of a thriving compost of moss, mud, and organic materials that went, fittingly, into the compost pile.
Now I must find someone with the tools and the courage to tackle the five remaining, more precarious and more densely-packed gutters.
The joys of maintaining an elderly house. Not!

***

My afternoon walk around the neighborhood presented Willem mowing communal lawns and verges. I’d never seen him before but wished him “a happy Freedom Day”. He responded and I took the opportunity to introduce myself. Since he was friendly, I took the opportunity to ask if his property had flooded recently. (This info could help with my plea to roads dept to unblock culverts.) 
Willem was a font of local knowledge: no trees grew in the area when he moved into the area in 1974; the stream was more of a river back then and otters cavorted along the river/stream banks. I also learned how and after whom the road was named, how mowing communal verges encourages homeowners to mow their own lawns, and the history and habits of various homeowners.
Today, I awoke with the realization that Willem could make an ideal accomplice in my plan to reintroduce an otter family to the stream. Moreover, he could encourage his neighbors to alter their section of the stream to encourage otters, too.
Perhaps the neighborhood’s joint efforts for otters and other water creatures would encourage the local animal rehab group to release otters into the stream.
One can dream.

***

Some sun though cold…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:26am
Sunset: 5:27pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:16am
Sunset: 7:56pm

MORE Covid?

News blues

Expert sounds alarm on fifth wave after Covid-19 curve turns upwards in SA More subvariants! As the World Health Organization tracks two new coronavirus subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5 more cases of these found in countries other than South Africa.
Professor Adrian Puren, the head of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), said recently, “The public should exercise caution in interpreting these data as there may be changes in test patterns. An early warning indicator, wastewater detection surveillance, shows an increase in Gauteng. He added that there was no clear evidence that Omicron was being displaced as the significant circulating variant. NICD reported that 10.6% of Covid-19 tests were positive in the past seven days, which was 2.6% higher than the previous week. 

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: This woman votes  (0:23 mins)
Meidas Touch: Texas Paul REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene Lying Under Oath! (3:12 mins)

***

On war…

Published: 23 APR 2022 © Zapiro

The Fight Against the GOP's Culture War  (7:25 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Three reasons ANC is stuck on nuclear power for South Africa’s power future:

Mantashe was enthusiastic, indicating the government was still intending to go ahead with the nuclear build process. Just to be clear, we are talking about a build programme that is likely to cost somewhere in the region of R1-trillion.

Read more >> 

I'm in the process of introducing South African anti-nuke power activists to Dr. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) at Canada’s University of British Columbia. Dr. Ramana is also Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues and the Acting Director (2020-2021) of the Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) in the Institute of Asian Research.
My goal? Dr Ramana has agreed to write an article, maybe more, about the impact on South Africa of building nuclear power plants. His prognosis? Not good! And, for many of the reasons presented in the article above. India-born Dr. Ramana is very familiar with the impacts and costs of nuke power on developing countries.
Exciting!
Stay tuned!

***

Take a break from bad news on the planet and focus on wildlife: a photo essay >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yet more on Escom/Eskom… as economists at the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) noted recently that South Africa hit a new record of 22,000MW of generation capacity unavailable last week, with a ‘staggering’ 17,000MW of this being unplanned.
“Worryingly, in its assessment for the winter period, Eskom anticipates between 37 to 101 days of load-shedding, the latter in an extreme scenario. If it can limit unplanned breakdowns to below 12,500MW, it could avoid load-shedding,” the BER said.
Fear not, though. President Ramaphosa finds it ‘difficult and unacceptable’ that South Africa continues to face ongoing load shedding, that rolling blackouts are costly for the economy, causing significant frustration and hardship for all citizens and businesses, and that his government now working to ensure it comes to a permanent end. 

***

Puttied my first window on Friday. To clarify, noticing badly cracked or missing putty in a window frame, I removed the window frame, the pane of glass, and the old putty. After that, I puttied the groove into which I replaced the pane of glass and also applied fresh putty.
It turned out not too bad. It helps that putty has a similar consistency to clay with which I’m intimately familiar; putty, however, is stickier, less obliging, and harder to remove from hands.
Yesterday, I applied wood preservative to the frame and, soon as it was dry, I happily replaced the window into the frame, the screws placed in exactly the same screw holes.
Alas, something is off. The window doesn’t fit snugly into the frame. Grrrr!
Story of my life: in theory it “should work”, in reality it hardly ever does. As a wannabe carpenter… or plumber… or “pool gal”… or lily pond maintainer … or roof gutter cleaner… I’ve great respect for expertise… and know enough to recognize I display far more willingness to try than ability to do.
Expertise?
None here!
Sad.

Sad.

Day of semi rest

The Lincoln Project does its thing.
A reminder: The Lincoln Project was formed in 2019 by former and incumbent Republicans who had, previously, worked hard to prevent the election of Democrats to public office. During the 2020 presidential election, however, founders of the Lincoln Project aimed to prevent the re-election of Republican Donald Trump and to defeat all Trump-supporting apologist Republicans in close races running for re-election in the United States Senate. Since that time, the Project’s ads have focused on Republicans and the Republican Party’s trend to the extreme right. 

Latest ads:
Kevin McCarthy is a Liar  (1:18 mins)
Former President Obama on challenges to democracy (2:03 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Profanity alert as Texas Paul reacts to leaked Kevin McCarthy tapes! (2:39 mins)
And more profanity as Texas Paul reacts to “Turd” Cruz and his “furry porn fetish”  (2:40 mins)

***

On war…

Rape as a weapon of war >> 
Ukraine – photo essay >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Take a break from bad news on the planet and focus on wildlife: a photo essay >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Puttied my first window on Friday. To clarify, noticing badly cracked or missing putting in a window frame, I removed the window frame, the pane of glass, and the old putty. After that, I puttied the groove into which I replaced the pane of glass and applied fresh putty.
It turned out not too bad. It helps that putty has a similar consistency to clay with which I’m intimately familiar; putty, however, is stickier, less obliging, and harder to remove from hands.
Yesterday, I applied wood preservative to the frame and, soon as it is dry, I will replace the refreshed window.
You go, girl!

***

Some sun, some rain…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:23am
Sunset: 5:31pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:21am
Sunset: 7:53pm

A titan passes

News blues

A day late and a dollar short: Earth Day – missed it! It shows up on calendars in SA but holds with no ceremony nor receives official recognition.
In the US, Earth Day is a big thing – well, not big enough for a day off work and certainly not big enough to do anything serious about addressing our slowly suffocating planet or climate change….
(FYI: Wednesday is Freedom Day in South Africa and, yes, it’s a public holiday. Grocery stores will remain open, all other stores and offices closed.) 

Editor's note: This is a special cartoon Gary drew for Earth Day 1990,
as part of a project in which many cartoonists participated to bring
more awareness to the state of the environment.
© The Far Side,  Gary Larsen

***

Back in California, George Baxter Humphreys passed away. His obituary presents details about the man and his life that I never knew, but I knew him as a gift – knowledgeable, courageous, curious, generous with his knowledge and time, and dedicated to both educating residents and ensuring our town was as safe from toxic contamination as is possible under the circumstances. I also knew him as a gifted and patient watercolorist and artist. 
George served on the town’s Restoration Advisory Board from its inception in 1997 until now. 

A RAB  is designed to act as the local citizenry’s oversight group that ensures – as far as possible – the clean up and removal of toxic contamination, In our case, the clean up and removal of toxic contamination produced by decades of military and navy activities.

George fulfilled his role as RAB president, co-president, community member and as informal outside educator. I visited his home several times on RAB business, learned a lot from him, and was impressed and amused at his RAB filing system: boxes and boxes containing years of RAB documents piled up in his large kitchen and his small office.
Past posts on RAB and RAB activities:
Plus ça change… 
Play ball! 
Consequences 

Most impressive about George, vis a vis The RAB, was his activist heart. IMHO, it is unusual for someone with his professional education and background to engage with exposing systemic wrongs. He was a mainstream (white) man who questioned US Navy personnel about their assertions regarding health and safety measures – or the lack thereof – as they “cleaned up the base.” Many times US Navy personnel and contractors modified their assertions and their clean up actions based on George's professional feedback.

We’ll miss you, George. Thank you for your service.

Relief (not!)

Click to enlarge and enjoy
© Zapiro

News blues

In the US, the change in reported COVID-19 cases per 100k people in the last two weeks >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:

McMorrow fights back (1:42 mins)

Ron DeSantis: bad for business  (1:00 mins)

***

On war…

Ramaphosa and Zelensky finally talk about Russian aggression >> 

Zelensky’s post-talk tweet: “Had a phone conversation with @CyrilRamaphosa. Told about our resistance to Russian aggression. Discussed the threat of a global food crisis, deepening relations with the Republic of South Africa and cooperation within international organizations.”

 
Ramaphosa’s post-talk tweet: “I had a telephone conversation with President @ZelenskyyUa of Ukraine to discuss the conflict in Ukraine and its tragic human cost, as well its global ramifications. We agree on the need for a negotiated end to the conflict which has impacted Ukraine’s place in global supply chains, including its position as a major exporter of food to our continent. President Zelenskyy anticipates closer relations with Africa in future.”

 
“…deepening relations with the Republic of South Africa and cooperation within international organizations…” and “…closer relations with Africa in future”?
Sounds good.
But ...how tight is Putin’s grip on African leaders? Who, for example, is pushing nuke power in South Africa? Putin and Russia, that’s who. At least they’re the frontrunners, along with China – second in line but so-so on nuke power these days  - also, South Korea, France, and US. 

US isn’t going overboard for nuclear power anymore, plus, for US, I suspect nuke power would require way too much effort, given South Africa’s lack of knowhow and the minimal overall economic benefit to the US.)

So. We shall see how much closer and how much deeper relations become between presidents in the future.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

More kvetching about Escom/Eskom:

[The parastatal power company] Escom forecasts more load-shedding in the winter season, with the power utility saying there could be as many as 101 days of power outages — something that it calls an “extreme case” scenario.
The “best case” scenario (if there is such a thing regarding the major inconvenience of load-shedding) is that Eskom might throw South Africa into darkness for 32 days during winter.

Read more >> 
Oh, great! Cold, dark winter made colder and darker because, after a decade of loadshedding, Escom – a power generation company - still hasn’t figured out how to deliver consistent power?
Just in Time – JIT* -  for me to abandon ship… back to drought- and fire-ridden California. She’s got a ticket to ride  ….
[*JIT? Just in time… A form of management – usually managing an inventory of consumables but sometimes of emotions - that requires suppliers and supply chains to produce materials just as production is scheduled to begin, no sooner. 
The goal? 
Lean and mean production machine that meets demand with zero storage costs. 
Managing emotional inventory, however, means recognizing emotions, applying limits - neither ignoring nor overly expressing feelings of frustration, irritation, and anger, nor making dramatic snap decisions – and, importantly, knowing when to ride!]

***

This week’s posts focused on corruption. There is another aspect: when fed up – or broke – residents do not pay their utility and rates (property tax) bills. Each month this year, uMngeni Municipality has sent out the following notice with their invoices: 

Click to enlarge

As fed up as I am with “service delivery” – the lack thereof – I pay my bills. The idea of purposefully putting myself into a position where I'd have to interact regularly with any South Africa bureaucracy as an individual is, well, laughable. If, however, a concerted effort by a nationwide community of protesters arose that was dedicated to fight corruption in government, I’d join. The ‘popcorn’ protests that spring up here and there are ineffective against SA’s entrenched corruption. 
A nationwide effort, though? Hmmm....

***

Disney in hot water: Least favorite governor Florida’s Ron DeSantis has it in for Disney, threatening to strip the company of its 55-year-old special status that allows it to operate as an independent government around its Orlando-area theme park.
This, over the DeSantis-inspired measure that bans schools from teaching young children about sexual orientation or gender identity.

After DeSantis signed the bill into law earlier Monday, the Walt Disney Company wrote in a statement that its "goal" was to get the law repealed or defeated in the courts.
DeSantis said Disney "crossed the line" with that statement. On Thursday, DeSantis went further, suggesting Disney's "special privileges" could be lifted.

Read more >> 
Wanna-be-Donald-Trump Ron DeSantis doesn’t care who he takes down in his struggle to be anointed the next Donald Trump. Kids? Dime a dozen. Transgender? Way too many of ‘em already. Teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity? Bah humbug!
(Read the downside of DeSantis' effort to Floridians >>) 

I support Disney in repealing or defeating DeSantis’s inhumane trend.
My gripe about Disney? The apparent impossibility of unsubscribing from its email lists. Specifically, its National Geographic for children’s email list.
I subscribed two children to that magazine. They liked it – until they outgrew it. That happens. Children grow and outgrow. Disney specializes in children so it must know that.
Yet, it’s taking months of frustration to stop Disney sending me annoying offers to re-subscribe, or buy this, that, or the next unwanted publication. A simple “unsubscribe” link isn’t offered on their emails, so I tried their Contact Us link. That consistently presents the error page, “our system is currently unavailable. Try again later.”
Frustrating.

***

Sunny yesterday. Showers predicted today and for the next 3 days…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:22am
Sunset: 5:32pm

Rain, finally...
San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:24am
Sunset: 7:51pm

Live with it

Worldwide (Map) 
April 21, 2022 - 507,015,200 confirmed infections; 6.207,600 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 143,503,705 confirmed infections; 3,056,000 deaths

US (Map) 
April 21, 2022 - 80,801,505 confirmed infections; 990,210 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 31,862,100 confirmed infections; 569,500 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
April 21, 2022 - 3,743,590 confirmed infections; 100,195 deaths
April 22, 2021 – 1,568,500 confirmed infections; 53,900 deaths

Post from April 22, 2021: “Earth Day” 
Post from April 23, 2020: “Try it, what have you got to lose?” 

News blues

…and yet another variant/subvariant of coronavirus as BA.2.12.1 and BA.2.12 account for over 80% of cases in New York state- both “more transmissible than BA.2 with a 23% – 27% growth advantage.” This is a 67% increase since last week.

Against the backdrop of rising new variants, the Biden administration is scrambling to provide new guidance around masks after a federal judge in Florida struck down a federal mask mandate for air travel and other forms of public transportation.
… 
President Joe Biden and his administration have signaled that people will have to make their own decisions on COVID as the pandemic evolves. Biden on Tuesday told reporters it’s up to Americans to decide whether to mask up aboard airplanes. 
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week that COVID won’t disappear and that people will have to weigh individual risks as cases rise.

Read more >> 

***

Another American stands up to Republican trends towards fascism 

***

The Lincoln Project: It’s in the Plan (0:58 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - April 19, 2022  (1:49 mins)

***

On war…

Day 56 of Russian invasion of Ukraine 

Healthy planet, anyone?

A drop in the ocean – on sea level rise, with photos >> 

***

Why has humanity destroyed such vast forests? And can we bring this to an end? 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The latest bout of Stage 4 power cuts – three 2.5-hour sessions per day - is scheduled for Stage 3 by 10pm tonight. This still entails three 2.5-hour sessions per day, just at different – actually more intrusive – times of the day. 

Sigh.
But take heart: Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter apologised to the country for this week's high-level power cuts, but said they were “necessary to avoid a total system blackout.”
Ah, joy. Thank you, Mr. de Ruyter…although when it’s dark, it’s dark. May as well be a “total system blackout.”
Insult to injury? Yesterday's post mentioned a study conducted in 2018 that established loadshedding costs SA business and industry in excess of R 2 billion per week.
That cost increased 1 April 2022 when Eskom increased their rates by 9.61%. We the People, bearers of the brunt of loadshedding’s inconvenience, pay for the luxury of Escom’s incompetent delivery/non-delivery.
Loadshedding focuses the mind and amps up negative emotions.
Looming power downs from 6pm to 8:30pm had me scurrying to secure the house and put the dogs to bed (Pixie hates her sleeping quarters and requires the incentive of 3 Beeno doggie biscuits to shift from her favorite armchair to that doggie bed.) I pull on my jammies, hurry through my pre-bed ablutions, set the emergency light, and ensure my laptop and phone are plugged in and prepped to begin charging as soon as power returns. I draw up my extra blanket, draw down my mosquito net, and hop into bed. Yes, 6pm is early for bed (then again, I’m up before 5am) but I read a library book on my cell phone until I fall asleep, awaken at midnight to read further, and fall back to sleep.

***

Insider humor from Zapiro

© Zapiro

Zandile Gumede is the former mayor of Durban accused of corruption and the ANC’s newly elected eThekwini [Durban] chairperson. Her win is seen as “giving the middle finger” and “a setback for Ramaphosa’s renewal project” 

Complicated stuff.

Gumede and her co-accused are facing 2,786 charges relating to a 2017 Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tender amounting to more than R320 million. The trial has been set for July 13 to August 31 in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Gumede was charged in May 2019 while she was still eThekwini mayor. She formally resigned as mayor in August 2019 after being recalled by the ANC.”

Read more >> 

[SA] Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana explained that officials were looking at setting up an independent agency to manage the [disaster/flood] money. This would include people from outside the government to ensure proper transparency.
This is an immense concession – our own finance minister believes that the government is corrupt, or at the least, cannot be trusted.
There are plenty of examples as to why this has happened. Just in the past few years, money destined to buy personal protective equipment for health workers at the start of the pandemic was looted. Nearly half a billion rand was spent on sanitising classrooms that did not need to be sanitised. The contracts to do this work were agreed to on WhatsApp.

Read more >> 

The newly elected eThekwini ANC regional leadership has been accused of hijacking the work of the eThekwini Municipality by establishing a nerve centre to co-ordinate the government’s response to the floods.
Who’s surprised that, after the ANC government promises to help the country recover from the recent floods and make financial resources available, ANC representatives are met, not with gratitude but overwhelming cynicism? Most people – me included - believe this money will simply be stolen.
Certainly, corruption is not just within South Africa nor only South African politicians. The US, too, has its COVID-19 fraud schemes, some of which, totaling $150 million, are drawing criminal charges. The US Justice Department is unveiling charges that range from overcharging for medical services to selling fake vaccination cards. 
Corruption in the US tends towards powerful political figures "fund raising" from powerful lobbyists, corporate and business interests - who expect big things in return. This is built into the nation's laws, the most recent of came out of Citizens United vs FEC. 

Money, always a major driving force of politics, each day becomes even more important across the world.
Astonishingly, US Congressman Mo Brooks, a Trumpie's Trumpie, loyal devotee of The Donald, was video'd recently explaining how Congressional committees work >>
Who was it said, "the truth will out"? 

Oh, yes, Shakespeare ...

An outing I can get behind...

Discouraging

News blues

In the US state of Florida, a federal judge struck down President Joe Biden’s national mask mandate covering airplanes, airports and other public transportation. This prompted the White House to announce the rule would not be enforced while federal agencies decide how to respond to the judge’s order.

The ruling appeared to free operators to make their own decisions about mask requirements, with several airlines announcing they would drop mandates, but other transport networks including the New York City subway planning to keep them in place.

Read more >> 

Additionally, most major US airlines are no longer requiring travelers or employees to wear face coverings on domestic and some international flights >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Roger Stone  (0:20 mins)

***

On war…

Photo essay documenting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine >>

Healthy planet, anyone?

President Ramaphosa addresses flooding across the east coasts of South Africa. Another national state of disaster!(25:00 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Loadshedding at stage 4 today; no electricity from 2 to 4:30am, 10am to 12:30pm, and 8 – 10:30pm. This just-in-time change presented on the app at 7:30am.
How do small and large business owners and their formal and informal workers manage to run under these conditions? Some, grocery store chains and big manufacturing plants, for example, run petrol- or gas-powered generators. The “little guys”?
A generator parts manufacturing company lists challenges facing businesses:

• Loss of production: where most businesses use electricity for machinery, technology and light to complete the day’s work, loss of electrical power means that the day’s target cannot be completed.
• Loss of profit: with the loss of production, there is a loss of profit, and in some cases, a large loss. Businesses cannot keep pay their employees to be present during a power outage….
• Theft and burglary: small businesses are choosing to close for business during load shedding as incidences of theft increase. During the power outage, burglar alarms are rendered useless, , with increased risk of burglary, unless they have an alternate power source.
• Damage to electronics: the surge of electricity when the power is returned upsets the steady voltage flow in the electrical system. This in turn can cause damage to electronic components.

A study conducted in 2018 established that load shedding is costing SA industry in excess of R 2 billion per week. 

Read more >> 

***

Rain slows, clear skies for few days…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:20am
Sunset: 5:35pm

Some drizzle predicted…

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:28am
Sunset: 7:48pm

Easter Monday

News blues

Covid news roundup: Pfizer and BioNTech reported preliminary clinical data supporting use of their Covid-19 vaccine as a booster in children ages 5 to 11. And, one vaccine developer won marketing authorization in Europe while another faces a regulatory setback.
Read more >> 

***

China’s strategy for managing their recent Covid outbreak in Shanghai, population more than 25 million, has been a tight locked down since last month; only last week did they begin to ease onerous restrictions.
The Biden administration eschews lockdowns while it continue its strategy of vaccinations, boosters and treatments… and urging a seemingly reluctant Congress to take up a multibillion-dollar funding package upon its return from recess.
Read more >> 

Our World in Data – global Covid tracker >> 

***

On war…

Photo essay >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

As I stepped into the bathtub last night the house plunged into darkness.
What to do?
First, wonder – not for the first time – if I have the fortitude to live in South Africa. Unlike thousands of others, I’m choosing to live here. Is that the wrong choice? Why am I choosing the inconvenience and the ineptitude that accompanies almost every facet of daily life here? 

After I donned my jammies, I tried to determine if the problem is local – confined to the house – or widespread. My recollection was that Escom called off loadshedding. Electrically power wi-fi doesn’t operate without power so accessing Escom’s loadshedding app with its schedule was out of the question. 

Shining my heavy-duty emergency light on the main distribution board, I ascertained no fuses had tripped. Rather, the whole neighborhood was dark.
Escom's just-in-time schedule - no warning - again.

However, Our World In Data’s fossil fuel energy tracker map presents interesting data on global electricity sources. 

 

Source: Our World In Data based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy & Ember.
© OurWorldInData/energy 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A recent SMS offered easy-to-get money that may be an invitation to participate in money laundering.

Do you need a loan with a low interest of 5% which there is no credit check Blacklisted, Debt review and Court order are eligible and accepted. T & Cs applies… [sic]
1. PERSONAL LOANS
2. SECURED LOANS
3. INSTALLMENT LOANS
4. STUDENT LOANS
5. HOME LOANS
6. BUSINESS LOANS
7. PENSION LOANS
8. PAYDAY LOANS
Loan Amount From R5,000 up to R10 Million Interested kindly contact our South Africa branch for more details on how you can apply. [sic]
S.G RESERVE BANK LITHUANIA AFFILATED WITH SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK.

Info on how to contact sender included email address, phone, Whatsapp, and customer service numbers, along with another “call number”.
If I was desperate enough to apply for such a load would the S.G. Reserve Bank of Lithuania, affiliated with the SA Reserve Bank, give me precise measurements for the size hose to use to ensure efficient vacuuming of money out of / into my bank account?
“Bob’s story: During the Zuma years, a friend “Bob” – who speaks fluent isiZulu and is known to and liked by provincial chieftains who occasionally visited his country home - called an ambulance after the daughter of a KZN politician was involved in a vehicle accident.
Soon after, the woman’s father called Bob and asked for a bank account number into which to deposit a financial thank you. Caught between common sense (never share your bank account number with a politician) and local politics (don’t antagonize local chieftains) Bob reluctantly presented a seldom used bank account number. A day later, very large sums of money began to flow in and out of that account. Bob said nothing, did nothing, and never touched one penny of those funds. (FYI: One US penny is equivalent to 10 SA pennies.)
Corruption R Us?
As KZN residents suffer severe flooding, someone realistic recognizes the temptation presented by funds for flood victims. She or he determined that the SA Human Rights Commission will monitor the distribution of the SA government’s R1-billion emergency relief package. “The commission says it will ensure the resources reach those who need them most. The Public Protector will also send a team to make sure there is no maladministration or corruption.” .

Hmmm. Will this avert the usual money grabbing?

 
More worries that KZN disaster relief funds will be looted: report 

The corrupt recognize no boundaries and no need other than their own. Amid a global pandemic, for example, billions were stolen from funds to address Covid in Africa and South Africa. 
Indeed, SA health minister Zweli Mkhize, his ‘family friend’ and ex-private secretary pocketed Covid-19 cash via R82m Department of Health contracts. 
Amanpour and Company recently interviewed Frank Vogl, anti-corruption expert and author of The Enablers: How the West supports kleptocrats and corruption – endangering our democracy (18:00 mins).
An excerpt:

Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former dictator, had a personal fortune of more than $2 billion; 40% of Angolans live on less than $20 a month. And Vladimir Putin has stolen so much from Russia and its citizens, that he — not Bezos, Musk, or Gates — may be the richest person alive. As Frank Vogl shows in his deeply researched and damning new book, laundering the dirty cash of kleptocrats into safe investments could not happen without the help of Western bankers, lawyers, accountants, and realtors – these are the enablers.

Read the review and buy the book >> 

***

Yet more rain…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:19am
Sunset: 5:37pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:29am
Sunset: 7:47pm

Deeply unsettling

News blues

As Covid takes hold across China,

… cities are locking down their residents, supply lines are rupturing, and officials are scrambling to secure the movement of basic goods - as the largest ever recorded outbreak of Covid-19 threatens to spiral into a national crisis of the government's own making.
At least 44 Chinese cities are under either a full or partial lockdown as authorities persist in trying to curb the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant…
In Shanghai, the epicenter of the country's latest outbreak, scenes once unimaginable for the hyper-modern financial capital have become part of the daily struggle for 25 million people. There, residents forbidden to leave the confines of their apartments or housing blocks for weeks have been desperate for food and freedom….

Read more >> 

Shanghai’s Covid outbreak is China’s most serious since the beginning of the pandemic, with 200,000 cases reported – and likely far more not reported - since the outbreak started in March.

While the government touted its Zero Covid strategy, its system of containment using intensive testing and tracing, combined with partial or complete lockdowns when a case is detected, as keeping case counts and deaths low over the past two years, the reports coming out of Shanghai suggest that the local government was unprepared for an outbreak in the country’s economic center and cast doubt on the feasibility of Zero Covid at this point in the pandemic. That’s translated into serious struggles for residents, including hours-long ambulance wait times, dwindling savings, and inadequate or rotten food supplies, among others. Although the central government is reportedly stepping up efforts to get supplies to the city, the overall policy is driving many residents to criticize the government’s policy — and Shanghai’s implementation of it — despite serious potential risks to their safety and freedom by doing so.
[Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations said recently,] “Even the authoritarian governments… still have to take this mass reaction into account, or else will lose the cooperation from the society. We’re going to expect that [the central government] is going to improve the policy implementation, even though the policy itself is not going to change.”

Read more >> 

Across the US, evident rise of BA.2 variant >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Affinity  (0:32 mins)

***

On war…

Russia Resumes Attacks On Kyiv >>

War of words: Across the U.S., law makers are writing and presenting insidious anti-gay and anti-transgender bills – essentially, to outlaw a facet of humanity that includes human sexuality and human love. Missouri bill 2140 is one of 50 similar bills being presented in state capitals around the U.S.
Thank the gods for Missouri Representative Ian Mackey who confronts this direction. In this clip, Ian Mackey confronts a colleague in a beautiful, heartfelt speech. (2:15 mins) 
You go, Ian Mackey! Eventually, you will be proved right: these bills and the people who write them will lose. It’ll take time for the pendulum that is American politics to swing from its current extreme right position to something more humane, but it will swing. Sadly, people will suffer in the meantime. I, like millions of other Americans, can hardly wait for the swing.
May We the People see more Ian Mackeys sharing heart and love and humanity and generosity of spirit….

Healthy planet, anyone?

The Amazon Rainforest, a critical global ecosystem, is on the ballot in Brazil.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has presided over record deforestation of the Amazon – as unclear-on-the-concept humans stood by and watched.
As Bolsonao’s reelection campaign begins, can this essential-to-life rainforest can survive 4 more - any more - years of Bolsonaro in office?
Can humanity survive him?
A deeply unsettling reality: Forcing one country’s 2.126 million people to vote for life or death of the entire planet and 7.753 billion humans.
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yet more rain in…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:19am
Sunset: 5:38pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:30am
Sunset: 7:46pm

MeerKAT

News blues...

Covid, schmovid! Let’s celebrate something out of this world – and first spotted by South Africans:

This record-breaking megamaser is the most distant one ever observed at 5 billion light-years away from Earth.
The light from this space laser traveled a whopping 36 thousand billion billion miles (58 thousand billion billion kilometers) to reach our planet.
An international team of astronomers, led by Marcin Glowacki, observed this light, using the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory's MeerKAT telescope. (MeerKAT is shorthand for Karoo Array Telescope, preceded by the Afrikaans word for "more.")
Glowacki is a research associate at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia.
Megamasers are created when two galaxies crash into each other. It is the first hydroxyl megamaser that MeerKAT has observed,,,,

Read more >>

***

(c) Zapiro

Reviewing the aftermath of recent flooding in Durban, President Ramaphosa said, “…climate change is serious, it is here… We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change.”

Good for Ramaphosa. The reality, however, more complex. Where does a country like South Africa, burdened with ongoing massive corruption at the highest levels of government, get the funds needed to competently address the growing effects of climate change. Moreover, South African police used stun grenades to disperse a crowd in Durban, suffering catastrophic flood damage, calling for more and better official aid for flood victims.
Read more >> 
(See below, more on climate change action.)

***

The Lincoln Project: Abbott’s Wall  (0:55 mins)

***

On war…

Alla Gutnikova's speech at the Dorogomilovsky court. She is one of the editors of the Moscow student journal DOXA, and facing prison sentences for "inciting minors to take part in illegal opposition protests”. But the speech, “Be Like Children. Repeat: 2+2=4. Black Is Black. White Is White.” is about so much more. 

Read Alla Gutnikova's speech at the Dorogomilovsky court >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Twenty-five scientists affiliated with Extinction Rebellion, arrived at Westminster, London, and

... pasted pages of scientific papers to the windows of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and glued their hands to the glass to highlight the climate science they said the government was ignoring.
This, a week after the government published a new energy strategy that promised to continue the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas, failed to set targets for onshore wind, and gave nuclear power a central role.
Dr Aaron Thierry, a 36-year-old ecologist said, “Last week the world’s scientists released a report that sounded the final alarm for the planet. It said we must end our addiction to fossil fuels now. The UK government’s response a few days later was to announce it will increase its exploration for oil and gas with the intention of extracting every last drop.
“Science tells us that this approach will condemn our civilisations to destruction. We will not stand by and let this happen. Scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades but have been ignored by governments.”
…[Another scientist said} ““At both the domestic and international policy level, there are very powerful actors who don’t want our society to decarbonise.
“There are people who are very wealthy and powerful from the way that the world is set up now and they don’t want that to change, they don’t want to decarbonise because that will limit their opportunity to generate money from fossil fuels.
“As a result we have government departments making decisions that will lead us to calamity, and as a scientist I know what impacts this has, I can see that coming, and I can’t be passive, I can’t just let that happen. I need to act.

An observer tweeted, “The government’s insane, and I don’t know what to do, other than to do this, to try and get the attention that we need to wake the public up.”
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

More clouds, more rain…
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:18am
Sunset: 5:39pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:32am
Sunset: 7:45pm

Persistence

Worldwide (Map) 
April 14, 2022 - 501,095,900 confirmed infections; 6,186,310 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 138,278,420 confirmed infections; 2,973,058 deaths

US (Map) 
April 14, 2022 - 80,483,900 confirmed infections; 986,510 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 31,421,361 confirmed infections; 564,402 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
April 14, 2022 - 3,734,000 confirmed infections; 100,116 deaths
April 15, 2021 – 1,560,000 confirmed infections; 53,500 deaths

News blues

The world surpasses half a billion known coronavirus cases, amid concerns about testing. 

***

The Biden administration announced it is extending the nationwide mask requirement for airplanes and public transit for 15 days as it monitors an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was extending the order, which was set to expire on April 18, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant that is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S.
I’m intending to wear masks every moment of my return trip to California anyway, but… 

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project: Last week in the Republican Party - April 13, 2022 (2:12 mins)

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

How much greenhouse gas emissions the world emits in the coming decades is unknown. … It will depend on what people around the world will do now and in the future.

In this situation, it’s helpful to create scenarios that cover a range of possible futures. This is what the ‘Shared Socioeconomic Pathways’ (SSPs) are. SSPs are the possible futures that climate researchers in the IPCC consider in their models.
SSPs do not tell us what the world will look like. Instead, they tell us what the world could look like.

Read more and use the IPCC Climate Scenario Explorer >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

That heavy rainfall that fell on KZN? Those predictions of flooding?
They were very real yesterday. Video clips of flooding in and around Durban  (3:00 mins)
Flood aftermath: view 1 (2:17 mins) and view 2 (3:54 mins)
More than 300 dead >> 

Stormwater drainage infrastructure
Many in the business community say the damage was made worse by a failure on the part of the provincial government and the Durban municipality to maintain drainage infrastructure and prepare for eventualities such as these.
Now, the Durban Chamber of Commerce has called for the government to undertake a “serious review” of the stormwater drainage system along the road networks.
It wants the local and provincial governments of eThekwini to share their disaster management plans, including their programmes of infrastructure maintenance and development to improve drainage and traffic congestion.
“There needs to be a serious review of stormwater drainage systems related to our local and provincial road networks to ensure that rainwater can easily drain away,”

Read more >> 

Indeed, there really “needs to be a serious review of stormwater drainage systems - all infrastructure - related to our local and provincial road networks to ensure that rainwater can easily drain away.”
My “timely” - 6 YEARS – nagging the local roads department to attend to the blocked culverts paid off, albeit in miniscule fashion. 

Plenty more nagging ahead. 

Frankly, I doubt that public entity – supported by residents’ property taxes, including mine - will ever devote the people power needed to address infrastructure problems, including my small one: clearing the second totally blocked culvert and removing silt that continues to threaten to rise to levels that block water from draining.
Nevertheless, their recent small efforts helped. This, after I kvetched to local council people then to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. His terse email to the local office to get the work done galvanized the local team. Had I complained with less dedication, this house’s downstairs would be under water.
The good news? The sheer volume of water pushing into the open culvert cleared out debris and silt. Water is flowing better than it has for some years. The overflowing stream banks, last week not visible, are still overflowing, but the water level has dropped after reaching a depth in the lower garden of more than 1 meter (3 feet).
Alas, the sump formed by the backhoe operator is now a convex hump rather than a hole, due to silt runoff from the dirt road.
I will continue kvetching to the roads department although their workload increased exponentially with the flooding across the province. I will write another email, in report format and accompanied by photos and video clips, to the head guy in Pietermaritzburg. He’ll send a terse email to the local team. The local team will show up, mill around, scrape debris here and there, depart. And the cycle will be unbroken  (4:00 mins)
And… amid the flooding, Escom – South Africa’s parastatal electricity company – is “load shedding” again. Our electricity schedule: two hours off at 8:00 pm. 

Try pumping away massive amounts of excess water without electricity.

***

“Clear” weather predicted today. Alas, more rain predicted for the Easter Bunny weekend:
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:16am
Sunset: 5:41pm

San Francisco Bay Area
Sunrise: 6:35am
Sunset: 7:43pm

Reality checks

News blues

According to Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the way we were thinking about transmission of Covid-19 - surfaces, large respiratory droplets – “was missing the point”.

Two-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, you probably know the basics of protection: vaccines, boosters, proper handwashing and masks. But one of the most powerful tools against the coronavirus is one that experts believe is just starting to get the attention it deserves: ventilation.
If you're indoors, you could be breathing in less fresh air than you think.
"Everybody in a room together is constantly breathing air that just came out of the lungs of other people in that room. And depending on the ventilation rate, it could be as much as 3% or 4% of the air you're breathing just came out of the lungs of other people in that room," Allen said.
He describes this as respiratory backwash.
"Normally, that's not a problem, right? We do this all the time. We're always exchanging our respiratory microbiomes with each other. But if someone's sick and infectious ... those aerosols can carry the virus. That's a problem."

Read “This invisible Covid-19 mitigation measure is finally getting the attention it deserves” >> 

***

U.S. universities nationwide reinstate mask mandates amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases >> 

***

On war…

Photo essay >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

© UN FAO

It’s one thing to live in the bubble associated with “modern” life: a cozy fire on cold and wet days, contradictions of ideology alongside the need for physical safety, a functional security system, a vehicle for trips to the grocery store, and so many other taken-for-granted conveniences that allow one to view others’ struggles from a distance.
It’s uncomfortable to look outside the bubble for reminders of what life is like for the planet’s vast majority.
Yesterday, in front of the fire, when I looked outside the bubble, I learned how my late mother’s former staff and their families struggle for a semblance of comfort. This, alongside world news reporting dire events affecting peoples’ day-to-day lives:

• Flooding: Zululand, South Africa (see photos of my flooded garden, below). Ramshackle houses around KZN buckle under constant rainfall. Australia 
• Drought: southern Africa  (Eswatini is former Swaziland), Afghanistan, Iran 
• Fire: southern Europe and western US 
• Famine: Yemen 
• Food shortages:

  “On March 24, 2022, President Biden warned of food shortages due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It’s going to be real,” he said of food shortages. “The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia; it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country [US] as well. Both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat…just to give one example.”

  In truth, it’s not only Russia causing food shortages; a badly managed pandemic and simple lack of care for our world’s most vulnerable are included. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Peru , South Africa,
• War: Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic
• Xenophobia: South Africa  and “deadly denial” 
• Pandemic hotspots: China, Washington, DC and think of the effects of the ‘claw back’ of $5 billion in funding for the global vaccination effort that the US had previously proposed .

Personal reality check: Back in August 2020, I described the son of my mother’s faithful domestic worker threatening to kill me.  Back then, guided by prescience, I stated, “I’m tempted to write, “finished and klaar” but nothing really is, is it?”
While I’m currently no longer harassed by that man, he continues to wander, always drunk, around this neighborhood, harassing his fellow humans; retaliation has put him in the hospital more than once. Now, I learn his sister – whom I’d always thought married a decent, hardworking man – married a hardworking but regularly drunk man who spends his earnings on maintaining a constant level of alcohol in his bloodstream. His desperate wife, ironically named Happiness, begs money to purchase food for her three children – and one grandchild. Her oldest daughter, 13, is a mother, too.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday, former president Jacob Zuma was due back in the Pietermaritzburg court. Last year when he was to appear in court, Gauteng and KZN were wracked by riots. (It was during that time, July 12, although not related to the protests and riots, that my mother passed away peacefully.)
Today’s Zuma-related concern?
Our faithful domestic worker begins her first fulltime holiday since the beginning of the pandemic. She will take a taxi to Pietermaritzburg, then a bus ride for 30 km to her home in a rural village.
Alas, the courthouse is around the corner from the taxi rank and bus station.
Worrisome.
Heavy rainfall, flooding predicted, and possible riots and/or protests associated with Zuma’s trial.
Bon voyage?
As it turned out, no serious protests and Zuma’s trail postponed, yet again.
Flooding, however, continues.

Writing this, the sun is yet to rise so I can’t yet see the extent of flooding in the garden. Given constant rainfall during the night, and the blocked culverts, I assume yesterday’s photos indicate continued flooding of the lower lawn.