Riled up!

It ain't getting better yet. 

Worldwide (map of global cases ):
August 20 – 22,425,000 confirmed infections; 788,000 deaths
August 13 – 20,621,000 confirmed infections; 749,400 deaths
August 6 – 18,753,000 confirmed infections; 706,800 deaths
United States (map of infections and rates) :
August 20 - 5,530,000 confirmed infections; 173,177 deaths
August 13 - 5,198,000 confirmed infections; 166,050 deaths
August 6 – 4,824,000 confirmed infections; 158,250 deaths
South Africa (Covid Information Portal) :
August 20 – 596,060 confirmed infections 12,423 deaths
August 13 – 569,000 confirmed infections 11,010 deaths
August 6 – 529,900 confirmed infections; 9,298 deaths

Big question: Is anyone safe from Covid-19?

To answer this, we need to look at how our immune system eliminates the virus. In itself, that reveals a hugely important positive concept: unlike some viruses that turn us into lifelong carriers (remember herpes, or HIV?), we can actually eliminate this coronavirus. For most of us it takes about two weeks. You have heard that immunology is complicated; here’s what we know so far.
Our bodies contain different types of defences, some evolved for speed, others for accuracy. Speedy defences deployed minutes after infection are part of the body’s innate immune system, and are powerful enough to control many pathogens. In researching Covid-19, scientists worried that if these were sufficient to control coronavirus, we would risk having no protection from reinfection. This is because rapid defences do not refine themselves to be more potent after the first infection, and they would be expected to mobilise in the same way when we become exposed to the same virus after recovery, suffering the same symptoms in the process. (Read the full article: “Is anyone safe…”} 

News blues…

Decades living in California and frequently puzzled by Americans’ lack of expressed anger about, say, unaffordable health care, increasingly subpar education of children and youth, laissez faire attitudes to inequitable housing, income, taxes, racial inequality, an over-reliance on military might instead of heart-felt diplomacy, and increasing numbers of homeless and vulnerable people.
If the system isn’t yet broken, it’s close to breaking point.
Then, along comes a polarizing figure like The Donald, intellectually ill-equipped to function in his role as president, and psychologically ill-equipped to squeeze out positive feelings for other humans, never mind feel anything as sophisticated as compassion.
Suddenly, far more than usual Americans are rearing up and intimating, “hell no, we’re not gonna take it anymore!”
Following the goings-on from 14,000-plus miles away, I’m enjoying the spectacle of Americans trumping Trump.
Ironic that, with notoriously low voter turnout, Americans would get riled up about Trump imperiling mail-in voting.

In the age of email, texting, Goole, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok...
Who’d a thunk?

Trump’s poking the post office is not the only thing bugging Americans. Disputes about wearing/ not wearing masks, social distancing or not, staying home or going to the beach, pale in comparison to plain old embarrassment.

Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say the US response to the coronavirus outbreak makes them feel embarrassed, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as 62% of the public says President Donald Trump could be doing more to fight the outbreak.
The new poll  finds disapproval of Trump's handling of the outbreak at a new high, 58%, as the share who say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come has risen to 55% after dropping through the spring. And as the virus has spread from the nation's cities throughout its countryside, the number who know someone who's been diagnosed with the virus has jumped dramatically to 67%, up from 40% in early June.
And Americans are angry. About 8 in 10 say they are at least somewhat angry about the way things are going in the country today, including an astonishing 51% who say they are very angry.

***

The Lincoln Project: America  (0:55 mins)
Hasta La Vista:
English version  (1:17 mins)
Spanish version  (1:25 mins)
Care  (0.56 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump’s Course: Driving Us in the Wrong Direction (0.25 mins)

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Tuesday night, temperatures dropped below zero and thick ice remained in the watering can at 10am. After opening the cold-frame, I noticed a pole bean seedling and a couple of zucchini seedlings looked … parched. Took a moment to understand they’d likely been damaged by low temperatures. Perhaps a cold draft flowed into the cold-frame?
The good news is that spring is on the way! Temperatures will still fluctuate, but sunrise and sunset times indicate spring is on the way:
Aug 6 : sunrise: 6:37am; sunset: 5:29 pm
Aug 20 : sunrise: 6:24am; sunset: 5:37 pm

*** 

The US Embassy in Pretoria published a long list of upcoming repatriation flights. As of 21 August, and almost every day after that through August and into September, KLM, Turkish, Emirates, Ethiopia, and Qatar airlines will ferry Americans back to America. Interested? Contact Johannesburgacsmessage@state.gov or book tickets directly with airlines, as follows:

• Ethiopian Airlines: SouthAfricaSalesTeam@ethiopianairlines.com
• Lufthansa: Jnbmarketing@dlh.de
• Emirates: Emirates Johannesburg office, eksa@emirates.com and completing a required booking form
• Turkish Airlines: cptmarketing@thy.com
• KLM by contacting:
    o Website: You can book your ticket through KLM’s website www.klm.co.za by searching for a one-way trip and specific date. The calendar view will not display them. Please book only for the flights on these dates.
    o Call centre: KLM sales and Service Centre can be contacted to book a flight, via phone: +27 (0)10 205 0100 or +27(0)10 205 0101, daily between 09:00 –16:00. Payment can only be made with credit card. If you have an existing booking with Air France or KLM you can use it to (partially) pay for this flight.
    o Additional Information: During the booking process a link will be given to fill in a web form. You need to fill in the form for each passenger in your reservation. It is mandatory to fill in this web form. In case you missed the link in your booking process, you can find it here: https://www.klm.com/travel/za_en/customer_support/repatriation_flights.htm.
• Air France: the same KLM information above.
• Qatar Airways: for reservations visit www.qatarairways.com/WeWillGetYouHome and use promo code PR_CR981 or call +27 11 267 7700.

I will remain here for the foreseeable future. Lots to do: move my elderly mother and one large dog to move into a local care center, other dogs to rehome, domestic workers to “retrench,” and a large house to spruce up for sale.
The sooner I get started, the sooner I can high-tail it back to houseboat-living….

Desperately seeking …

I’m generally pro-Ramaphosa but I’m beginning to waver.
Where is he these days?
Why no regular presidential updates to the nation?
Our president appears to … disappear … when people need lockdown updates.
I understand he’s “consulting” with:

• Tourism industry leaders 
• Opposition party leaders 
• Church leaders 

He’s also got his hands full with Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma desire to impose full prohibition on wayward South Africans’ use of tobacco and alcohol.
Still, there’s room for flexibility.
A sweet spot exists for introverts like Ramaphosa and extroverts like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo updating New Yorkers and Americans on television almost every night, Donald Trump admitting that he’s popping hydroxychloroquine pills and refusing to wear a mask  and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro’s jet skiing , cooking out, and joking about the mad “neurosis” of Brazilians worried about the virus.
My advice to South Africa’s president?
Find a comfort zone that includes a once-a-week pandemic update; 30 minutes a week will go a long way.
Enquiring minds, and all that…

***

The Lincoln Project is a Republican-centric outfit concerned about the direction of the US under current leadership. Not Republican, I appreciate the Project’s efforts.
Earlier this week, I received a Project email listing three politicians and asking which We, the People, would like the Project to target.
I chose Senator Mitch McConnel… aka “Moscow” Mitch McConnell  and “Midnight” Mitch.
Yesterday, I received another email:

… we asked for your advice on which of Trump's enablers we should feature in our next ad.
It was...a landslide: 91% said Mitch McConnell.
So, we’re starting work this afternoon on a new ad.
But, let's be clear-eyed about something: Mitch McConnell is not like Donald Trump. In some ways, he's worse: calculating, methodical...intelligent.
McConnell may be Trump's Enabler-In-Chief, but he has also built himself one of the most powerful and ruthless campaign empires on the map.
Taking on the Majority Leader of the United States Senate is a seriously bold move, but it's one we're ready to make…

I can’t wait.

Senator and Trump Enabler Lindsey Graham is a target, too.
This 81-second ad spot, produced by the new Democratic LindseyMustGo super PAC, slams Senator Lindsey Graham as “spineless,” “shameless” and “dangerous” and calls for him to be voted out of office in the November election.
Further reasons Lindsey Graham’s gotta go… 

***

Need more levity? Enjoy Matt Wuerker, Politico editorial cartoonist and roaster-in-chief …

News blues…

Rick Wilson, well-known Republican Party campaign strategist and a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, is author of Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever. I’ve never read the book although I agree with the sentiment.
There are times when pity and glee come together to produce an emotion best described as, “Yikes, poor old Trump has an unerring instinct for choosing the wrong option!”
Early in his campaign for president, Trump and white evangelical Christians joined forces. A poll found overwhelming support from white evangelical Christian voters, with 75 percent approving of the president.

Religious leaders pray 

with Donald Trump after 

he signed a proclamation 

for a national day of prayer.  

©  Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Click to enlarge

Trump basks in this approval and, always aiming for biggliest, he continues to claim that "no president has ever done what I have done for evangelicals, or religion itself."
Trump appointed right-wing Christians to his cabinet - Pence,
Redfield, Pompeo, Barr, et al.  Among his most ardent supporters is Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr., son of pastor, educator, evangelist, activist Jerry Lamon Falwell Sr., American Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist (with a net worth of US$10 million upon his death). Junior Falwell is president of private evangelical Christian Liberty University in Lynchburg, one of the largest evangelical Christian universities in the world and one of the largest private non-profit universities in the United States.
Backfiring?  Trump’s recent demand that churches and other houses of worship reopen for services amid the coronavirus crisis may come back to haunt him.
Deeming religious services “essential” and threatening to override governors who ignored his orders for health and safety reasons, Trump’s support led the pastor of a small church in Arkansas to conduct services. Both he and his wife contracted Covid-19, and

ended up spreading [the virus] to 35 others who attended events at their rural Arkansas church - identified only as “Church A” in a rural Arkansas county of 25,000 people.
An additional 26 cases in the community occurred among people who had contact with those who participated in the church events, according to the study “High COVID-19 Attack Rate Among Attendees at Events at a Church — Arkansas, March 2020.”
The report found that more than a third of 92 people who attended events at the church from March 6 to 11 contracted confirmed cases of COVID-19, and three later died. The pastor, the first known case along with his wife, led a Bible study group at the church before he developed symptoms….
The contagion study released just as Trump is demanding that churches reopen.

***

Take a  deep breath and try to relax during this pandemic. For, No One Knows What’s Going to Happen. Stop asking pundits to predict the future after the coronavirus. It doesn’t exist.”

The best prophet, Thomas Hobbes once wrote, is the best guesser. That would seem to be the last word on our capacity to predict the future: We can’t.
But it is a truth humans have never been able to accept. People facing immediate danger want to hear an authoritative voice they can draw assurance from; they want to be told what will occur, how they should prepare, and that all will be well. We are not well designed, it seems, to live in uncertainty. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The day began with ongoing bank-centric frustrations: continued inability to send Instant Cash to the gardener who is under lockdown in distant Mpophomeni Township. (See yesterday’s post for backstory. )
The most recent email received from the bank’s Instant Money department explained:

Thank you for the response, unfortunately due the account the OTP that gets sent to you from bank and not from the instant money department. We will not be able to fix the problem on our side because we do not have access to your profile, which can only be accessed by Transactional Banking customer care.

Frustrated, I responded to that email:

I went to the bank yesterday where I was told only YOU guys could fix it. Now you tell me only THEY can fix it.
This does not make sense.
Could you phone the person I'm trying to pay and explain to him that, THIS time I cannot pay him because … well, of all the reasons you’ve given. Olsen Z is his name and he’s a husband and father of two small children that he's trying to feed while under lockdown. His phone number is 072 xxx-xxxx. Also, please explain to him that the last time I managed to pay him with your bank’s Instant Cash feature didn't really happen, that that was a figment of our imagination...
Thanks for your help! Have a good day!

Anxious to alleviate Olsen’s money worries, I tried again, two hours later, to send him Instant Cash.
Out of the blue, the transfer worked!
I messaged the gardener his passcode then sighed with relief!

The mysterious nature of how, why, and when these supposedly logical systems operate suggest intervention not by high-end technology but by moody genie. One day the genie feels generous and happy and grants favors such as Instant Cash. The next day? Nah! The genie is not in the mood.

Another sigh of relief today as I cancelled my mother’s Telkom account. (See post “Filling gaps?” for backstory )
This saga, however, will continue for 60 more days: 30 days for Telkom to cancel the account; another 30 days for Telkom to send the “final statement.” After 8 weeks with, essentially, no phone service, my mother will be billed for two more months of non-existent service.

***

Repatriation flights update:

Health Alert: Announcing Additional Repatriation Flights via Amsterdam – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (May 21, 2020)
     Location: South Africa
     Event: The South African Ministry of Health has confirmed 18,252 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
Announcing KLM Special Repatriation Flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Amsterdam
We have been notified that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, in coordination with the Dutch Embassy in South Africa, is coordinating two special repatriation flights departing on May 29 and 30. U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are eligible for this flight solely for the purpose of transiting through Amsterdam. Non-EU and Schengen state citizens must have an onward ticket from Amsterdam in order to board this flight, unless you have a residency permit for an EU or Schengen state country.
Please note, U.S. visa holders of any kind will not be eligible for admission to the United States after transit in the EU.
Flight information:

• Flights will depart from Cape Town on Friday, May 29, and from Johannesburg on Saturday, May 30 to Amsterdam.
• To book a ticket, you must contact KLM directly. Bookings can only be made through KLM’s Sales and Service Centre via phone at: +27(0)10 205 0101, daily between 09:00 – 16:00. You do not need to notify us that you purchased a ticket; we will coordinate with the airline directly.
• U.S. citizen and LPR passengers are eligible to transit through the airport but will not be allowed to enter the Netherlands and must have a connecting flight.
• Passengers will be responsible for onward travel to their final destination in the United States.
• For any questions regarding price, payment, baggage allowance, seats, and other flight details, please contact KLM directly.
• You do not need to email the U.S. Mission to South Africa to request a “laissez-passer” travel letter; these will be distributed as soon as possible after KLM sends us a confirmed passenger list.
• KLM has a final manifest, passengers will receive all information about the assembly point, time schedule, and other relevant info from the Dutch Embassy. We thank you for your patience and ask that you do not email asking for this information.

You will be responsible for finding your own transportation to the required assembly point.

And, there is the rub: getting to Johannesburg’s Tambo International. Moreover, assuming I can figure out the six- to seven-hour one-way car trip to Johannesburg, how do I return to San Francisco from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport?
If one must be stuck in an airport, Schiphol is the world’s most user friendly. Unlike other airports, it provides chaise longues for all weary travelers to nap, not only those with private business club access.

I need more information from KLM before deciding on whether to depart or not.
So far, none of my calls have been answered.

I’ll keep trying but hope fades….

Read   Week 1 |   Week 2   |  Week 3  |  Week 4 |  Week 5  | Week 6  |  Week 7  |  Week 8  |  Week 9 

See photos  Spying on Garden Creatures 

Watch  Videos of Garden Creatures

“We’ve been Zucked!”

Post for Wednesday May 6  references The Donald’s reactions to The Lincoln Project’s latest ad, Mourning in America.
The saga heats up…

News blues…

The Lincoln Project recent email to subscribers:

…we've been Zucked: Facebook is now censoring the ad that made Trump lose his mind.
You're not going to believe this — not much shocks me these days, but even I had to see it with my own eyes.
But now, less than 24 hours later — as if on cue — Facebook has slapped a "false" warning label on our video, telling its users to beware…
it's no secret that Facebook has stood by and done little to nothing as lie after lie — from the Liar-In-Chief himself — runs wild on their platform.
(Oh, and let's also not forget the conspiracy theories, foreign disinformation campaigns and negligence that got Mark Zuckerberg questioned by the United States Congress. )
But, this? This is an entirely different and dangerous kind of collusion.

But, is it an entirely different and dangerous kind of collusion?
We are talking here about Trump administration that has, over just three years, epitomize a “different and dangerous kind of collusion”.

Mark Zuckerberg’s trend toward colluding with Trump only increases over time.

“…Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump appear to have struck a “mutual assistance arrangement” that will help the US president “get re-elected”, referencing Facebook’s willingness to continue publishing political adverts. 

Unfortunately, words, any words, uttered by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, are attacked, reviled, and undermined – increasingly successfully – by US hard right, nationalists, fear mongers, and the gullible. Soros is the hard right’s bogeyman.

Trump/Zuckerberg “mutual assistance arrangement”

• January 2020: President Trump says Mark Zuckerberg running for president 'wouldn't be too frightening
• December 2019: Mark Zuckerberg says there was nothing shady about secret meeting with Trump 
• November 2019: Trump hosted Mark Zuckerberg for private White House dinner
• April 2019: Mark Zuckerberg says he's 'confident' about 2020 election

***

On a different note, one of humane public service, I highly recommend Daily Maverick’s free webinar “The Dual Epidemics: Looking at the overlapping and interweaving of HIV and Covid-19”, hosted by Mark Heywood.
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, discusses the lessons from the HIV pandemic that are applicable to Covid-19, whether Covid-19 presents a threat to people living with HIV-AIDS, how the spread of Covid-19 will impact Africa, how a vaccine, once created, will reach everyone who needs it, and the lessons from HIV that are applicable to the response to Covid-19.

***

A combination of events had police tightening lockdown in the KZN city of Pietermaritzburg.
Today was the deadline for a six-day long once-off allowance for interprovincial travel. Judging by the crowds, too many people left that to the last minute.

According the provincial police commissioner, since 27 March, at least 18,000 people have been arrested for violating Covid-19 lockdown regulations.

Street scene from Pietermartizburg,
May 7 2020
Click to enlarge.

Roadblocks manned by the army and the Road Traffic Inspectorate are responding to a high volume of complaints about non-compliance.

I suspect Pensioners’ Day swelled the crowds, too. Every Tuesday and Thursday people over 60 years old get 5 percent discount off purchases.
Who wouldn’t risk Covid-19 for such a deal?

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I took a breath of freedom "outside the wire"* with a plan that was (I hope) lockdown compliant: seeking giblets for my mother’s dogs at the recommended butcher in “Little Lagos.”
Alas, dense crowds lined the street - no one could maintain social distance – and bringing home giblets to overfed dogs might be worth the risk of infection to some.
To me?
Not so much.

Back home, I noticed the dogs didn’t seem to mind I was giblet-free.
My mother explained their point of view: “They like Pet Mince now.”
What a relief! No dog would starve due to my selfish desire for safety!

While Pet Mince fills the dogs’ culinary breach for now, it does not mean I’m off the hook for locating a source of giblets.
Rather, it means I visit Little Lagos on non-Pensioners’ Day: Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

(*The phrase "outside the wire" originated with US military troops locked down on military bases in Iraq during that disasterous invasion. Heavily armored troops went off base only to patrol local towns and villages. Their routes, the same day-after-day, made them frequent targets of attack.)

***

Yesterday I described an upcoming SAA repatriation flight to Dulles International in Washington, D.C. Today, I received an update from the US Consulate in South Africa:

Event:  The South African Ministry of Health confirmed 7,808 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
South African Airways Flight
It was announced that South African Airways will be required to cease all operations on May 8. Unfortunately, due to that timeline, SAA informed us that they had to move their planned flight to the U.S. to repatriate South Africans to early this morning, making it impossible for us to put U.S. citizens on the outbound leg. We know this will be very disappointing news to many of you who had hoped to participate in this flight, as it is for all of us working to make it happen.
While we will continue to inform citizens of opportunities as they arise, we have no information on any other potential repatriation flights at this time.
 
We have no information on when commercial flights will resume.

This means that every repatriation flight mentioned in the last month by the US Consulate in South Africa has been cancelled.
A news snippet, however, might shed light.

The government [and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan] is unhappy that SAA business rescue practitioners (BRPs) spent between R30m and R35m on American consultants, while it has not yet seen any plan to save the national carrier from total collapse.
Gordhan said the government also wanted the BRPs to reverse their decision to put a complete halt to all SAA flights on Friday, including planes that may be required to urgently repatriate South Africans stuck in foreign countries as the world battles the Covid-19 pandemic.
"What we've had in recent days is the announcement by the practitioners that all flights, repatriation or otherwise, will stop on May 8. … the department has had a discussion with the BRPs and there's now some indication of maybe some flexibility in this regard.

This is almost like the States. There, our fearless leader and his crew put out what appear to be definitive statements one day, contradict those statements the next day, then repeat the original statement on the third day.

To paraphrase the SAA flight captain, “Welcome to your flight. Nothing can go wrong… go wrong … go wrong….”


Read Week 1  | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4  |  Week 5   | Week 6

See photos Spying on Garden Creatures     

Watch Videos of Garden Creatures

“This is not my beautiful life…”

Click to enlarge.

 Tomorrow is the first day of Lockdown Week 7.

Forty-two days behind a security fence. Forty-two days with insufficient aerobic exercise. Forty-two days talking to dogs, monkeys, fish, birds, bugs, crabs, and plants…
How much more of this must a gal take?

Bad case scenario?
In 42 more days, this gal pines for the good old days of Lockdown Week 1 or 2… or 6!

News blues…

Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, laid out "10 plain truths" about Covid-19 … at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the pandemic response.
A summary of Frieden’s ten truths:

1. "It's really bad" in New York City
2. It's "just the beginning"
3. Data is a "very powerful weapon against this virus"
4. We need to "box the virus in"
5. We must find the balance
6. Protect the "frontline heroes"
7. Protect our most vulnerable people, too
8. Governments and private companies need to work together
9. We must not neglect non-Covid health issues
10. Preparedness is paramount

Read the details

***

One joy of statistics and mathematical formulae is their ability to ‘sanitize’ the human experience from the messy and unquantifiable psychological and emotional aspects.
Let’s try that:

Worldwide – Confirmed infections: 3,755,379; deaths: 263,831
US – Confirmed infections: 1,228,603; deaths: 73,000
SA – Confirmed infections: 7,808; deaths: 153
Turkey* – Confirmed infections: 131,744 deaths: 3,584

*Turkey listed as I may fly to California via Turkish Airlines via Istanbul.
My motto? Know the numbers and the risks.
Johns Hopkins University ranks Turkey seventh in the world for the number of confirmed infections although the actual toll, like everywhere else, is higher.
Is there a crew sanitizing the airport?

There is increasing evidence that the rise of highly infectious diseases is linked to the increasing destruction of, and human encroachment into, the natural environment. It behooves humans to understand – and mitigate – our destructive tendencies.
Start small. Understand the concentrations of carbon dioxide - CO2 – in our fragile atmosphere:

May 2, 2020: 416.82 part per million (ppm)
May 2, 2019: 414.45 ppm
10 years ago: 393.18 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280ppm
Safe level: 350ppm

From Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Source: NOAA-ESRL 

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it?
Figure our what you, in your ecosystem “bubble”, can do to cut down on CO2 emissions, plastics, and non-recyclables.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m far from my houseboat home but I’m secure, nourished, with adequate privacy. Still… I’m ready to return to California.
I thought, briefly, about reserving a seat on a repatriation flight from South Africa to Doha, Qatar. Dates were posted, people booked flights, things looked good – except for the part about having to find one’s own way from Doha to California.
Then, last night, the US Consulate in South Africa issued a follow-up email:

Qatar Airways Flights
We have received notification from Qatar Airways that all flights scheduled for May 7 and beyond have been canceled. If you have already booked a seat with Qatar Airways, please contact the airline for a refund. We have no further information on whether other repatriation flights from Qatar will be available in the future.

What happened?
No one is saying…

Moreover, Americans trying to register for information on the SAA repatriation flight to Dulles, Washington D.C. get the message that the SAA website is “experiencing technical difficulties”:

“SAA has assured us that the site is up and functioning, however, they are experiencing significantly higher than expected demand.”

Hmmm, this reminds me of my experience with the Department of Home Affairs in Pietermaritzburg where I tried – for five years! - to get my passport. I’d presented my fingers for prints, smiled for the ID camera, and paid the fee.
After that?
Nothing.
I called to enquire about status and was told, “You didn’t pick up your document, so we sent it back to Pretoria.”
Finally, I went through the SA Embassy in Los Angeles.
I was issued a passport within six months.

Joke: the SAA flight captain welcomes passengers aboard the plane, “Shortly after takeoff, our flight crew will come around and take your cocktail orders. We look forward to getting you to your destination. Be assured nothing can go wrong… go wrong … go wrong….”

Plan for Day 42? Do a giblet run….


Read Week 1  | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4  |  Week 5   | Week 6

See photos Spying on Garden Creatures     

Watch Videos of Garden Creatures

White House: Home of the Whopper

By January 2020, Donald J Trump had made 16,241 verifiably false or misleading claims. With the pandemic offering him the opportunity to outdo his own record of whoppers, he’s excelling (for once).
A sampler of his recent whoppers:

• Maximum Of 60,000 Deaths

During a White House briefing March 29 in the Rose Garden, Trump referenced modeling that found there could be between 1.6 million and 2.2 million fatalities in the U.S. if no containment measures were taken.
“If we could hold that down … so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job.”
Trump moved the target again last week, predicting a maximum of 60,000 Americans would fall victim to the disease … “We did the right thing, because if we didn’t do it you would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe 2 million people dead… Now, we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people.”

(May 3, US death toll is more than 65,000.)

• ‘We’ve Tested More Than Every Country Combined.’

A shortage of COVID-19 tests [is]… ultimately costing the health care system precious time. … Trump declared that “anybody that needs a test gets a test.” Dr. Anthony Fauci… contradicted the president…describing “the lack of available tests as an ongoing failure.”
Trump also promised “…individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed without having to leave your car.” … [and that] “Google was “very quickly” developing a website for checking symptoms and locating testing sites. Instead, Google issued “a statement that said the website was in “early development”….
“We had a chance to contain this outbreak, but we didn’t,” Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told ABC News.
“And as a result of that testing failure, over 60,000 Americans are dead and our economy has been shut down. It didn’t have to be this way.”

• There’s Plenty Of PPE For Health Care Workers

“We have masks. We have everything,” said the prez. … Pressed …about widespread accounts from health care workers of personal protective equipment shortages, Trump declared them to be “fake news.”
With dire shortages of vital supplies – protective N95 masks, gloves, gowns and face shields - health care workers have resorted to wearing trash bags or Yankees rain ponchos as gowns. In many places, doctors, nurses and other workers reuse masks that are supposed to be thrown away after a single use. In others, personnel are forced to use substandard equipment, like surgical masks that provide little protection compared to N95 masks. Health care workers are even staging GoFundMe campaigns to buy the supplies their employers aren’t providing. Some medical personnel have even been fired for speaking out against unsafe working conditions.

• A Coronavirus Vaccine Is ‘Very Close’

Feb 25: “We’re very close to a vaccine.”
Feb 26: “We’re rapidly developing a vaccine,”
Feb 27: “The vaccine is coming along well.”
Vaccines typically take years to develop and test and there’s always a chance that one is never developed. Dr Fauci dispelled “the president’s nonsense. A vaccine, he said … would take at least 18 months”….[and] offered a somewhat more optimistic assessment of the progress of developing a coronavirus vaccine: Immunizations could be available as soon as January. Eleven months actually would be a fast deployment for a vaccine preventing a virus that was only discovered last winter… In fact, we’ve never successfully created a vaccine for other coronaviruses.

But, never fear, Jared Kushner is on the job. He summed it up and declared victory. “The federal government rose to the challenge. This is a great success story.”

News blues

According to the Guardian, “Trump is handling coronavirus so badly, he almost makes [Boris] Johnson look good.”

We don’t need to wait for a full statistical analysis to know that Johnson has not been the worst world leader in this crisis, because we can declare a winner in that contest right now.
Each day Britons wake up to ever more jaw-dropping news from across the Atlantic. Last week, it was Donald Trump advising Americans to inject bleach. On Friday, it was his claim to have seen evidence that coronavirus was developed in a Wuhan laboratory, a claim denied by his own director of national intelligence. The shocking images of protesters wielding assault weapons storming into the state assembly in Michigan on Thursday night are hardly a surprise, given that Trump himself was tweeting “Liberate Michigan!” a matter of days ago, cheering on those who are demanding their states defy the advice of Trump’s own White House and prematurely end the lockdown that has so far proved to be the only way to stop the virus.
However bad Boris Johnson and his government of conspicuously few talents is … they can at least show a modicum of human empathy for those who’ve lost loved ones, a feat that continues to elude Trump. They have at least – eventually – united behind a coherent “stay home” message, rather than undermining that advice at every turn. They are not hawking quack cures and endorsing deranged conspiracy theories. They do not seem willing to countenance mass death in the insane belief that it will help them win an election.
It’s a low bar, but these are low times. 

Going mobile?

My scheduled departure date is May 19. So far, at least half my trip – London to San Francisco - has been cancelled. Even if the first half - Johannesburg to London - isn’t cancelled, current Lockdown Level 4 rules prevent me crossing provincial borders prevents me travelling to Johannesburg.
I missed the US Consulate’s deadline issued for its “last/final” repatriation flight to the US. I received another email yesterday:

We have been notified of Embassy of Qatar-coordinated repatriation flights to Doha in the coming weeks. It is not confirmed as a certainty; however, we are collecting information on prospective travelers to provide to the Qatar Embassy in the event the flights are approved.

Flight information:

• These flights will depart from Johannesburg only and will land in Doha. You must make your own onward arrangements from Doha; you will not be able to stay in Doha – only transit is allowed at this time.
• You will be responsible for finding your own transportation to either the Johannesburg airport or to a required staging area (if applicable); we are not aware of any domestic flights at this time.
• It is our understanding that travel between provinces will be permitted next week and thus no travel letter is needed.
• Currently, we do not have any further information on baggage allowances, flight cost, or specific flight times/final dates. We also do not know if business class seats will be available.

Hmmmm. Good news is "It is our understanding that travel between provinces will be permitted next week and thus no travel letter is needed."
My choice? Stay here with garden, lawns, critters, and mental health discomforts… or sit in Doha airport until I can book a flight from Doha to California?
Is this Hobson’s Choice, Morton’s Fork, or Buridan’s Ass?
Hobson’s Choice: A free choice in which only one option is offered; i.e., “take it or leave it”.
Morton’s Fork: A a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives… or two lines of reasoning that lead to the same unpleasant conclusion. It is analogous to the expression, “between the devil and the deep blue sea,” and “between a rock and a hard place”.
Buridan’s Ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy in the conception of free will. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it will die of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other. The paradox is named after the 14th century French philosopher Jean Buridan, whose philosophy of moral determinism it satirizes. (Thanks Kennon-Green.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

David, artist and friend based in New Mexico, posts Stare, the world’s longest-living blog.  This weekly/“weakly” notes:

The coronavirus is killing people faster than the living can cremate or bury them. …the solution [is] obvious: reusable, composting caskets. That would get rid of the backlog of bodies and provide fertilizer to help with the upcoming food shortages.

If humans weren’t so finicky about death and dying, David’s idea could work. It aligns with Lockdown Level 4’s stipulation not to travel to attend funerals.

Perhaps it needs more fleshing (ahem!) out.
How about simply slipping bodies – with or without coffins - into compost piles? Or stuffing bodies without coffins into garden sink holes? If charity begins at home, my garden sink hole has room to stuff bodies. Moreover, if my suspicious are correct, bodies would quickly be recycled by my sink hole’s debris-consuming dragon…

(Hmmm, talking about mental health…)

Read Week 1  | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4  |  Week 5   | Week 6

See photos Spying on Garden Creatures 

Watch Videos of Garden Creatures

Land of the Free (to infect yourself and others)

REUTERS/ALYSON MCCLARAN
Health care workers stand in the street in
counter-protest to hundreds of people
who gathered at the state Capitol to
demand the stay-at-home order 
be lifted in Denver.
Click to enlarge.

Let’s honor healthcare workers in Colorado with the courage of their convictions.
Protesters calling for an end to Stay-at-Home orders faced obdurate health careworkers who didn’t give an inch. Hooray!

Not to get bogged down in ideology but … in America, buzzwords “free” and “freedom” too often are used to batter thoughtfulness and to deny intellectual complexity and human capacity.
What would this woman hanging out the window of her RAM 1500 SUV (retail price -US$80K to US$90K / ZAR1,440K to ZAR1,620K) say about other, equally valid ways of expressing “free” and “freedom”? (The healthcare workers right not to be abused, for example?)
What about rapper Joey Bada$$’s musical version of Land of the Free? Joey's expression of creativity coupled with his point of view would, I’d bet, horrify that irate RAM passenger, protester, and Freedom-lover to the extent that she’d denigrate and diminish Bada$$’s right to freedom of expression.
Noam Chomsky’s view might addle her brain (it does mine…).
Living as a humane human is complex. Is negotiating humane humanity way too complex for too many of us humans?

***

Cancelled!

The second leg of next month's return flight from London to San Francisco was cancelled. No news about the first leg. If it’s not cancelled, I could choose to sit at Heathrow until another flight to California is scheduled. How long could that be?

Serendipitously, an email from the US Embassy in Pretoria arrived with news: “The repatriation flights organized by the U.S. government have departed and no further U.S. government-coordinated flights are planned.” But:

The High Commission of Canada in South Africa has notified the embassy of a planned repatriation flight that will depart Johannesburg on Friday, April 24 for London Heathrow Airport (via a stop in Cape Town to pick up additional passengers), and will allow U.S. citizens to join the flight, if space permits.

The email continues:
• This flight ends in London, U.K. and it will be up to you to book any onward flight. Neither the U.S. government nor the Canadian High Commission can assist with booking onward flights from London.
• You must be eligible to enter the United Kingdom to participate in this flight. The U.S. Mission to South Africa is unable to advise the United Kingdom’s entry eligibility criteria.
• The cost of the flight must be paid directly to the Canadian High Commission in order to reserve your seat. The estimated cost for the flight is $1,600 CAD (US$1,138/  ZAR20,484) for economy and $3,050 CAD (US$ 2,170/ZAR 40,771) for business class; however, this is subject to change.
• Seat allotment and boarding is at the discretion of the Canadian High Commission, not the U.S. Mission to South Africa.
• You must be eligible to enter the United Kingdom to participate in this flight. The U.S. Mission to South Africa is unable to advise the United Kingdom’s entry eligibility criteria. Please visit the country information page on travel.state.gov for guidance.

I’m tempted. But sit at Heathrow for the foreseeable future? Cheapest fish and chips cost £25 pounds there…and its ordered online from your table. On the trip to South Africa, crowds of people vying for fish and chips meant I couldn't get a table. I imagine that won't be a problem this time given how few passengers are transiting. Come to think of it, it's likely the restuarant would be shut, too.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A WhatsApp voice message arrived today about Microsoft Patent 060606/Body interfaced digital currency. I noticed the semi-disguised 666 mark-of-the-beast in the patent number, listened to the first 30 seconds to ascertain I had the gist of where the 3-minute long harangue of whackadoodle-itude was headed, then deleted it.

Click to enlarge.

Worse news than that Bill Gates is trying to infiltrate my body with evil?
The message came from someone I consider a good friend and seemingly mentally balanced.
Is this a sign of pandemic stir-craziness? Or are hidden gems of my friend's personality shining through?



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