Free Freedom?

Ten facts about Freedom Day

Yesterday, Monday April 27, was Freedom Day in South Africa.
Under normal conditions, Freedom Day is a public holiday to celebrate and commemorate the first post-apartheid elections held on April 27, 1994.
Freedom Day during Level 5 Lockdown seems like an oxymoron.

Perhaps it’s the public holiday…or Midlands weather – cold and wet – or the Lockdown Blues… or Trump Fatigue…or that we've blown passed 3 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 - one third of which are in the US ....that makes today’s post shorter than usual.

Before closing, this US state-by-state guideline may help you plan your day.

Regarding my homestate of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state is not prepared "to open up large sectors of our society" but made the first modification to the state's stay-at-home order with the resumption of "essential" surgeries.

“Tumors, heart valves, the need for people to get the kind of care they deserve," Newsom said. "If it’s delayed, it becomes acute. This fundamentally is a health issue.
The guidelines became effective immediately.
Meanwhile, San Diego announced April 24 that beaches could reopen for various forms of exercise beginning at sunrise on April 27. Boardwalks, piers, and parking lots remained closed; gatherings were still banned and beachgoers should maintain social distancing and wear a face covering, the city said.

You go, Gav!

On a bright note

Glow-the-dark/bioluminescence of swimming dolphins…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Cold, wet, rain… forecast is the same for tomorrow.
Perfect for plants, fine for fish, dismal for dogs, and lousy for lockdownees….

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“Not worth the time and effort”

World: 2,971,669 confirmed cases; 206,542 deaths

US: 965,910 confirmed cases; 55,000 deaths 

SA: 4,546 confirmed cases; 88 deaths

BBC News
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Favorable front page news coverage and high ratings have been The Donald’s obsession for decades.
Massaging tabloid coverage of his shenanigans with women, business dealings, and lifestyle - along with his “reality” show "The Apprentice" - likely contributed to his election. 

A first-class narcissist, he adores coverage.
His disastrous comments on injecting disinfectant into the human body, however, may be his Waterloo.
Then again, this is Trump. Who knows what else his “very, large brain” cooks up before the election?

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These days, even his handlers urge him away from the podium.
They fail, however, to confiscate his cell phone.

Over the weekend he went on a Tweet tirade

  … against the media Sunday, slamming a days-old story about his lax work habits and even bashing his usual favorite Fox News, calling for an “alternative.” 

Trump also called on reporters who wrote about Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election to return their “Noble” prizes. There are no Noble prizes for reported stories, nor are there Nobel Prizes. There are Pulitzer Prizes for journalism; there is a Nobel Prize for literature. That particular three-tweet rant about Noble prizes subsequently vanished. ... 

Hours later, Trump called his comments “sarcasm” — insisting he meant to say “Noble” prizes all along (even though he had earlier called on the “Noble Committee” to rescind the awards). 

Trump’s 10-tweet media attack (as of Sunday evening) first scorched The New York Times for what he called its “phony story” Thursday reporting that he often doesn’t arrive in the Oval Office until noon after spending the morning watching TV news — and enjoys eating Diet Coke and French fries. 

He called himself the “hardest-working president in history,” who hasn’t left the White House in “many months,” apparently forgetting a campaign rally just last month.  

One can almost feel sorry for a narcissist of his caliber to fail this spectacularly while the entire world watches. 

Back on Day 27, April 22, after his former friend Piers Morgan critiqued Trump’s (and Boris Johnson’s) woeful leadership in a time of crisis, I predicted “Piers Morgan can bid goodbye to that friendship.” 

Three days later, Donald Trump ‘unfollowed’ Piers Morgan on Twitter

Simultaneously, The Lincoln Project, and Republicans for the Rule of Law (prominent Republican groups) regularly release ad spots condemning the president, members of his administration, and other prominent Republicans. 

The next six months will be fascinating - if we survive Covid-19 pandemic. 

Trump won’t be physically removed from office – “Not worth the time and effort.”
His coterie of thugs, yes men, and Republican toadies, if wise, would limit his public announcements (including Tweets). 

After all, with Trump at the helm, they’ve succeeded in shrinking government – a decades-long goal. All that’s left is to drown it in the bathtub. That, they may accomplish before the election.
That’s terrible for the world, but powerful Republicans daily display how little “the world” matters to them. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… 

Cold and wet enough today to pull my winter faux-sheepskin jacket from storage. While temps drop in SA (F: 61/53; C:15/12) spring gears up in California (F: 85/55; C29/18). 

Alas, with no camera at hand, I missed shooting a red-chested cuckoo with its distinctive call: “Piet-my-vrou”.  (Listen to its call) Onomatopoeia anyone? Incidentally, Piet-my-vrou is the bird’s Afrikaans name. 

No recent goldfish sightings – but now I know they’re there….

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

See photos Spying on Garden Creatures 
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"Out, Damned Spot!"

What'll he push next?
Don't hurry him -
 he could get it right
(...Nah! Unlikely)
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“Out, damned spot,” says Lady Macbeth as she washes invisible blood from her hands. “Out, I say! - One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky! ...afeared? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?”

In this scene, Shakespeare communicates Lady Macbeth’s internal attitude to her despicable actions brought on by overweening ambition. And to abuse of power by the powerful.

Lady Macbeth’s conscience still flickered.

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The Donald’s? Not so much.
He wallows in abusing his power . Moreover, he proudly tells the world that his decisions come from his “gut” and his “very, very large brain.”

Do you see either gut or large brain at work in this clip of Trump promoting the injection of disinfectant into the human body?

The clip shows me a desperately deluded individual aiming to go down in history as The Guy with the Definitive Cure.
As this gaff becomes a universal meme, The Donald is back-pedaling, claiming, “It was sarcasm.” (Sheesh, can’t you take a joke?)
Sarcasm?
During a pandemic that has, to date, killed upward of 50,000 Americans?

Astoundingly, some diehard Trumpies believe him.
Kudos to the 100+ Maryland residents who’d like to believe him but decided to ask actual experts before following the deadly advice.

Of the “big problem” in Trump’s response, former Trump officials say:

…he is not relying much on data  but instead is using what he’s previously called “his very, very large brain.” At a briefing in mid-April, he pointed to his head when asked the metrics he would use to decide when to reopen the economy. 

… Asked whether Trump is a different person because of the virus, Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s short-lived communications director, said: “No way. This guy hasn’t changed one iota.” [He added] “There’s only one thing that he’s concerned about and you know what that is? It’s TRUMP,” … spelling out the letters for effect. “When he does a news search,... [he] doesn’t search ‘USA,’ he searches ‘TRUMP.”

The Mooch got that right.

Then there are the pesky Americans (gotta be Democrats and socialists) who left a pile of newspaper-stuffed body bags outside Trump’s D.C. hotel.
Their message? “Most of the country believes in science….”

***

Listening pleasure

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Music soothes ... and, during a pandemic, can lighten the load. The firefighter (left) gets it. He's playing his trumpet to lighten the load for residents locked down in Quito, Ecuador. Enjoy these, too:

• Randy Rainbow with A Spoonful of Clorox
• Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo’s pandemic take on Miriam Makeba’s famous song ‘Pata Pata
• Below: Song of Frogs after Rain – I recorded this after a heavy rainfall that flooded the garden and wetlands next door.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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Detergent suds in the stream appear in the garden pond a few times a month.

Someone in the ‘hood is doing what residents near Howick Falls do: use public waterways to wash laundry.

***

I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to photograph a pair of long tailed birds flying into a yellowwood tree in the garden. They could be widowbirds, shown left. 

I’m almost certain they’re not pin-tailed whydah.
The whydah is a handsome bird – at least with his seasonal breeding plumage, as shown below.

The seasonal appearance of his tail must boost his confidence because, during this time, he chases, pecks, and bullies his feathered colleagues.

After his tail feathers drop off, he turns back into a small black and white bird… and the bully becomes the bullied.

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See photos Spying on Garden Creatures 
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Meaty Issues

(c) Progressive Charleston
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China’s Calling

Trump might have small paws, but when it comes to grasping money, they reach around the world.
From possible money laundering  to loans coming due, life’s going to get interesting for the guy who too often gets away with bad chit!
Those of us who follow the prez, know he’s up to his orange hair in various money schemes.
Now We the People (at least, those of us who care) discover that Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China – and the loan is coming due:

In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump’s most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China — its first loan of this kind in the U.S. — which matures in the middle of what could be Trump’s second term.

Second term? Nah, he’s not getting another shot at that, is he? The question is, how will he squirm out of this one? And, how deeply will he implicate all of us?

***

The meat of it

Increasing evidence suggests climate change, decreasing natural environments, and pandemics go hand in hand. Fossil fuels subsidies are in the mix, too. So are your individual actions....

Usually not a head-in-sand kind of person, I admit existential pain kept me from looking too closely at the toll of ongoing poaching, hunting, and trafficking of wild animal and the devastation of our communal oceans.
Last week I joined the Daily Maverick webinar, Earth Day: Nature and Societal Reset in the Age of Covid-19.  Presenter Linda Tucker clued me into what was happening with lion bones … and lions, and tigers, and bears….
It ain’t pretty.

Serendipitously, soon after the webinar, I received an email from Dear South Africa, a policy shaping outreach organization to which I subscribe.  Dear South Africa encourages citizen participation in governmental propositions. (If you are South African, sign up )
This time, it asked citizens: Do you support the draft amendment to the Meat Safety Act?
I read the information then, not one to hold back, I responded:

No, I do not support the draft amendment to the Meat Safety Act.
Never in my wildest nightmares did I consider humans to be as short-sighted, greedy, thuggish, and self-centered as this amendment shows them to be. Instead of domesticating and/or eating and/or otherwise consuming wild creatures, we humans should be doing our best to conserve them and the natural lands that SUPPORT THEM AND US IN THE LONG TERM. If its an issue of money, FAR MORE MONEY CAN BE MADE CONSERVING RATHER THAN KILLLING. Wake me up, someone. This nightmare must end!

You can get involved and share your view on the Meat Safety Act

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Next week, lockdown will ease from Level 5 to Level 4.
Who knows if easing will make much of a difference in the here and now. Long term, however, lockdown has gifted me with the time to truly notice the ongoing lives around me: birds, bugs, fish, fowl, primates, plants. I noticed and appreciated these lives before but this time around, the joy of just sitting, listening, and watching has been a luxury.

Pond Creature Takes a Breather
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This frog (Common Striped River Frog?) popped out the pond and posed for me.
I titled it, "Pond Creature Takes a Breather."

Far away in Florida, endangered sea turtles agree that Covid-19 has an upside.
They're taking a breather, too.

Monkey dream
I dreamed an ill neighborhood monkey placed herself in my care.
I wrapped the wild creature in a blanket and felt her furry forehead for fever.
We stared into one another’s eyes...and we saw one another. Fellow creatures.

The dream ended there but the feelings evoked have not ended. I hope they don’t.
I’ve re-dedicated to following the knowledge with which I’ve been gifted. Oh, the existential pain will be there, but my personal pain is nothing compared to that foisted upon our living planet by thuggery, greed, and ignorance.


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

See photos Spying on Garden Creatures 
Watch Videos of Garden Creatures