Monday, May 25, 2020

“By the way, I’m still here”

Donald J. Trump’s antics on Memorial Day 2020 will go down in history as, well, bizarre.
From Tweeting accusations of murder about a TV reporter, insulting current and former politicians and leaders, threatening to cut funds to struggling states – all while playing golf – the guy appears to be coming apart at the seams.
Back in 2017, Bandy Lee, a forensic psychiatrist, edited a book called, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. Twenty-seven psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals contributed essays describing the "clear and present danger" that Trump’s mental health poses to the "nation and individual wellbeing". His mental health, the authors argued, was affecting the mental health of the people of the United States and that Trump places the country at grave risk of involving it in a war, and of undermining democracy itself due to his dangerous pathology.
The book was unprecedented.
The American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater rule states that it is unethical for psychiatrists to give professional opinions about public figures without examining them in person. The authors, however, maintained that pointing out danger and calling for evaluation is different from diagnosis.
Four years later the president’s increasingly compromised mental health is on full display via press conferences, briefings, interviews, and Tweets.
More alarming is how far into whackjobbery Americans and American leaders have allowed Trump’s craziness to manifest – with nary a sign of invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Essentially, the Amendment states that if the President becomes unable to do his job, the Vice President becomes President.
Perhaps the operative words are, “becomes unable”. Donald J Trump has always been “unable” to do the job of president.
Yet, full blown whackjobbery persists! Indeed, he’s still there!

News blues…

Hyped hydroxychloroquine. Yet again, the thesis of Rick Wilson’s book, Everything Trump Touches Dies proves true.
Even as health and science professionals urge caution, The Donald insists hydroxychloroquine is the cure for Covid-19.  He even claimed he popped hydroxychloroquine pills, an unproven treatment. (Reportedly, he stopped last Friday saying, “Finished, just finished. And by the way, I’m still here.” )
The World Health Organization temporarily dropped hydroxychloroquine from its study into coronavirus treatments. Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was made in light research that showed people taking it were at higher risk of early death.
Back in April, the US Department of Veterans Affairs admitted dosing 1,300 of 10,000 veterans with the drug. (See post of April 23rd, “Experimenting on American servicemen?” )
Despite contra-indications, the VA states it will continue to use the drug.
Relying on his “very large brain” and his “morbidly obese” gut to run a government proves Wilson’s thesis: “everything Trump touches dies.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Sunday night President Ramaphosa’s announced South Africa would enter Lockdown Level 3 as of June 1.
Grocery shopping less than 24-hours later, I noticed people acting as if Level 3 was already in effect. Groups of people gather in streets and in stores. Parking lots are full and car guards* back in attendance. The energetic "we're all in this together" spirit once displayed by store personnel spritzing customer’s hands at entrances is gone, leaving lethargy in its wake.

*car guard: an “independent contractor” who wears a safety vest and assists drivers in backing out of public parking spaces. Car guards are paid in tips – if a driver feels generous.
***
Before sunset each day I visit the garden pond. Seeing goldfish, and tossing fish food, is a highlight.
This evening, ambling over a pond weed path, I spotted a common brown water snake (Lycodonomorphus rufulus) – the second I’ve seen in my life, both in the garden pond. Night feeders, their favorite food is frogs although they also eat fish, small rodents, lizards and even nestling birds.
These non-venomous, apparently good-natured, reluctant-to-bite snakes can excrete a foul-smelling substance, so I touched its tail, cautiously.
Slowly, the long, slender snake slide down the pond’s rock wall, entered the water, and dove under lilies.
What a treat!
I trust large goldfish are off the menu for common brown water snakes.

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Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a US federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. The day honors and mourns military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Under normal circumstances many Americans would enjoy a holiday off from work. Under pandemic circumstances, many Americans would pay to go to work or to have a job to go to!
Memorial Day is also considered the first day of summer. This means Americans flocking to parks and recreation areas.
Hope they remember to wear masks and maintain social distance!
While Donald Trump golfs (unmasked),  The Lincoln Project recognizes Memorial Day.

News blues…

Ramaphosa speaks! 
Level 3 coming up as of June 1.
Ciggies still banned. Alcohol? “…phased in … as part of a swathe of details such as the conditions, times and days of sales for home consumption…”
All manufacturing, mining and construction can fully reopen from 1 June, alongside financial, professional and business services, including IT. Wholesale and retail trade will open, as will all spaza shops and informal traders. … Exercise is allowed anytime, anywhere – just not in groups. Domestic business air travel will be phased in. Announcements on this will be made as part of a swathe of details such as the conditions, times and days of sales of alcohol for home consumption. … “(W)e have not yet reached the eye of the storm and therefore we caution all South Africans not to think of the lockdown easing as a return to normalcy but rather the opposite, ramping up precautionary measures and staying safe.” 
***
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that Covid-19 cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll.
“The COVID-19 pandemic today reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago”… noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.
WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, from Botswana, said: “For now COVID-19 has made a soft landfall in Africa, and the continent has been spared the high numbers of deaths which have devastated other regions of the world….Even so, we must not be lulled into complacency as our health systems are fragile and are less able to cope with a sudden increase in cases.”
The WHO said about half of African countries are experiencing community transmission of the virus,.
South America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit. Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert… said: “In a sense South America has become a new epicenter for the disease.”
Remembering the dead and dying:
Worldwide: 5,408,310 confirmed cases; 342,694 deaths
US: 1,643,215 confirmed cases; 97,720 deaths
SA: 22,583 confirmed cases; 430 deaths
Brazil (surpassed Russia, now second only to the US); 363,215 confirmed cases; 22,750 deaths.

Whackjob bots?

A bot (short for "robot") is an automated program that runs over the Internet.
Carnegie Mellon University lead researcher, computer science professor, and head of the university’s Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity, reported that, since January, researchers have collected more than 200 million tweets discussing the coronavirus or COVID-19…[of which an estimated] 45 to 65 percent … are generated by bots.
These [bots] plug false cures, peddle conspiracy theories and clamor for the US to drop safety measures [and] re-open America.
Ongoing research …indicates that a significant portion of the social media conversation about COVID-19 is likely automated amplifications of political perspectives and do not represent individual human authors.
Hmmm, on one hand, slightly fewer whackjob poopagandist/ conspiracy theorists out there?
On the other hand, “automated amplifications of [whacky] political perspectives” by bots?
Human poopaganda* is a challenge. Bot poopaganda is a horror.

*Whackjob: term promoted by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism.
*poopaganda – a quasi-genteel term for virulent bull-s**t “truthiness” masquerading as self-empowering info.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Carl Jung’s approach to psychology appears to have fallen out of favor in the new millennium. Theoretically, millennials engage with in Jungian analysis but I know none. (Then, 60 days locked down means not knowing much of anything happening out there.)
Brief background to dreams and dreaming:  Carl Jungian theorized that dreams encourage and support the work of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspect of the human psyche. This integration he called individuation.
Individuation, according to Jungian psychology, is the process of transforming one's psyche by bringing the personal and the collective unconscious into consciousness. It’s a process of psychological differentiation with the goal the development of the individual personality.
Two dream snippets from early this morning:
Snippet 1: I’m one of a crowd jamming a hallway at Jo’burg’s Oliver Tambo Airport’s international departure hall. The hall’s interior design is deceptive: vast, high, wide. It feels spacious, yet the walkways on the top floor are cramped and narrow. Knees of anxious people occupying the single row of chairs lining one wall poke into the knees of anxious passengers standing single file in the crowded passageway.
Snippet 2: I’m a new member of a ceramic studio (yes, in “real life” I am a ceramic sculptor.). In the first dream scene, I access the studio by picking my way along rickety plumbing attached to the wall. In the second dream scene, I’ve climbed halfway up the same wall, but the rickety plumbing is different and I’ve lost my way. A fellow artist tries to help me. I ask her to call the studio manager who asks what I’m doing, where I’m going. I don’t know. My mind is completely blank. I cling like a spider to the plumbing and laugh. They join in. Our laughter does not erase our collective sense of foreboding.
It’s been years since I’ve clearly recalled dreams.
Omen? Extra sensory perception?
Just dreams?

Weather. Predictions this week indicate freezing temperatures. In preparation, I’ve snuggled leaves and grass clipping around plants.
I expected to have returned to California by now. Ironically, temperatures there will rise into record triple digits: 100-104F (around 41C).


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Sunday, May 24, 2020

“Going herd”

First time in 2 months of lockdown that I felt my enthusiasm flag. I’ve no peep into my future in California, no idea when I can see my American family and friends, or maintain my houseboat, or actively respond to responsibilities there.
This morning, writing the daily blog post felt daunting.
What more to write?
Who cares?
Then, the miracle of whackjobbery!

Paralleling the coronavirus pandemic is the pandemic of whackjobs and whackjobbery*.
Whackjobs believe in the illusion of support offered by populist, know-nothing-much, wanna-be authoritarian leaders. This false empowerment, the illusion of power over one’s life direction, lulls a growing number of humans into believing they/we are stronger and safer than reality indicates.
It’s tough when one’s friend/s fall into the suffocating bog of false empowerment and conspiracy theories.
I love my friend for her independence and internal strength and I’m concerned that she’s falling into this bog. Most recently, she messaged the following (with flashing bright red and green icons, not shown):
INTERNATIONAL 🔴 ITALY
IN ITALY THE CURE FOR CORONAVIRUS IS FINALLY FOUND *
The Italian doctors disobeyed the WHO world health law, not to make an autopsy on the dead coronavirus and they found that it is not a VIRUS but a BACTERIA that causes death. This causes blood clots and the patient to die.
🔷Italy beats the so-called Covid-19, which is nothing but "disseminated intravascular coagulation" (Thrombosis)
And the way to fight it, that is to say, cure it, is with "antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and anticoagulants". ASPIRIN, indicating that this disease has been poorly treated.
This sensational news to the world was produced by Italian doctors by performing autopsies on corpses produced by the Covid-19.
…It is in our hands to carry the truth and the hope of saving many lives… SPREAD this message…!
I’ll not share the entire harangue here. (You’ll likely get your own version soon…) This fantastic “news” goes on and on, mocking the stupidity of everyone who believes or understands science, medicine, and pharmacology.

Outcome?
I’m no longer flagging.
I’m rejuvenated; ready for more lockdown.
Another week?
Another month?
Bring it on….

For once, it's not just whacky Americans on this crazy train.
For the ninth week running, thousands gathered in European cities to vent their anger at social distancing restrictions they believe to be a draconian ploy to suspend basic civil rights and pave the way for “enforced vaccinations” that will do more harm than the Covid-19 virus itself.
...The alliance of anti-vaxxers, neo-Nazi rabble-rousers and esoteric hippies, which has in recent weeks been filling town squares in cities such as Berlin, Vienna and Zurich is starting to trouble governments as they map out scenarios for re-booting their economies and tackling the coronavirus long term.
*Whackjob/whackjobbery: term popularized by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project  to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism or Alex Jonesism, or Rush Limbaughism or ….

News blues…

The small Indian Ocean island of Mauritius makes remarkable progress in protecting its public from Covid-19.
Sweden, on the other hand, hoping to achieve herd immunity, decided it was everyone for her/himself.
Unlike its Nordic neighbors, Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open.
Initially, Sweden saw death rates from COVID-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now the Scandinavian nation’s daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States’ 4.59, according to online publication Our World in Data. Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe
The Donald refers to Sweden’s decision as “going herd.”
Talking about herds, Millions of farm animals culled as US food supply chain chokes up:
Covid-related slaughterhouse shutdowns in the US are leading to fears of meat shortages and price rises, while farmers are being forced to consider “depopulating” their animals.
More than 20 slaughterhouses have been forced to close, although some have subsequently reopened. On Tuesday President Trump issued an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open which would, he said, help solve liability problems for meat companies.
At least two million animals have already reportedly been culled on farms, and that number is expected to rise. Approved methods for slaughtering poultry include slow suffocation by covering them with foam, or by shutting off the ventilation into the barns.
A nationwide advisory issued last Friday by the US Department of Agriculture and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said state veterinarians and government officials would be ready to assist with culls, or “depopulation”, if alternatives could not be found.
The advisory was described … as a clear indication of a national farm animal emergency… chickens are most at risk, followed by piglets. “Chickens are bred for speedy growth and are meant to be slaughtered at between 42 and 47 days. After that they die.”
Political leaders in Iowa – the biggest pig producing state in the US - have warned that producers could be forced to kill 700,000 pigs a week due to meat plant slowdowns or closures.
Did you note the sentence: "President Trump issued an executive order to keep slaughterhouses open which would, he said, help solve liability problems for meat companies”?
This refers to
…meatpacking plants have become coronavirus clusters, infecting as many as 5,000 workers industrywide and killing at least 20.
But the language in the executive order offered little in the way of further clarity. In the days after the order was issued, pundits savaged the president, saying it was part of a plot to “indemnify corporations in advance” for what might happen to their employees. That is, the companies would be able to avoid being held accountable for exposing their workers to a potentially fatal virus.
… there’s been a lot of chatter from politicians and business owners about the need for “liability shields.”
…[in] New York, for instance, where real estate and hospitality interests are pushing for legal immunities that have been afforded to doctors and hospitals. It’s happening in statehouses … And… Washington, D.C. [where] majority leader Mitch McConnell has demanded business liability protections in the next stimulus bill, citing the prohibitive costs of warding off hundreds of coronavirus-related lawsuits that have already been filed. “This epidemic of lawsuits …is going to impact our ability to get back to work.”
… Legal experts … say that language is deliberately vague—and meant to achieve rhetorical goals as much as legislative. A “liability shield” could be a way to limit employees’ claims for coronavirus-related medical bills. It could be a way to end consumer lawsuits. Or, some say, it could be a Trojan horse for tort reform.
Ah, capitalism….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

(c) Madam & Eve
Click to enlarge
I’ve upped my Weed Walking routine – fast walking and occasional stooping to pick weeds - to twice a day and extended the range. Judging by our conversations as I walk, visiting monkeys and hadidah ibis approve. I find it difficult to persuade my mom’s dogs to leave their warm beds and accompany me. Blackjacks and other weeds prefer I stay in my warm bed.

Winter’s first freeze is due next week. Odd to be in freezing KZN when California experiences record high temperatures.

Telkom update: Telkom emails continue, apologizing for my problem…and explaining why it’s the responsibility of some other department to assist.
Kafka would love this.


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Saturday, May 23, 2020

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:
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.
©  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….

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