Woo woo*

Oh dear, as in the US, conspiracy theories and theorists are alive and well in South Africa - and just as lavishly flavored with soupçons of extreme Christian evangelisms.
As Lockdown extends, I’ve noticed a Christian friend tipping more towards evangelical conspiracy theories. Yesterday, she reported experiencing dreams and visions – “very disturbing but exciting as well” - and updated me on how:

“Fauci and Gates want everyone microchipped when given the vaccine. That means we have lost our freedom… according to Revelations it’s the sign of a one world government and the start of a 7-year Tribulation before the coming of Christ….”

I Googled “Tribulation” and discovered at least three controversial periods of Tribulation. It’s complicated, certainly more complicated than I can absorb in one sitting. (You try….  )
My friend also directed me to an interview with a guy who explained how “the world’s governments worked together” to create Covid-19 from the two earlier iterations of coronavirus, SARS and MERS. 

My friend is a good and decent person so, perhaps ill-advisedly, I responded that I wished the “world’s governments” could successfully work together on anything. 

* woo woo: A person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.

More whackjobery*

California Pastor John MacArthur …defended his decision to hold in-person services despite the state-mandated closure of churches, saying his congregation is “protesting lies and deception for the sake of the truth.”

[He explained] his church decided to reopen just two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom indefinitely closed churches [because] “We are the original protesters. We go back 500 years [and] we are still protesting lies and deception for the sake of the truth.”
“…it is a First Amendment right. This is the United States of America and… we stand on that amendment…The second thing that makes this so sensible is that in California … you have a 99.99 percent chance to survive COVID.”

"99.99" percent may have been true back then, but it is no longer true. LA Times data analysis at the end of June  … found that 5.7 percent of coronavirus test results in California over the preceding seven days came back positive, a rate not seen since early May. A week ago, the rate was 4.7%, a rate that had been largely stable for June until just Sunday, when there was a dramatic shift in the numbers.

Pastor Greg Locke of Tennessee is willing to go to jail to defend his right not to wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic and has been telling his church members to do the same. 

I’m so sick of this mask brigade nonsense. Bunch of Nazis. We don’t require masks at our church…. We probably had 450 people crammed into a tent this weekend. Two people in the whole place had a mask. If they want to wear a mask, that is great, I’m not going to mandate it. As a matter of fact, I discourage it because I think it’s utter nonsense.”
Locke produces viral videos. [A recent] video … triggered after a confrontation with a male staffer at an unidentified store over his [Locke’s] refusal to wear a mask, has already been watched by more than six million people.
“I’m pretty spittin’ mad about a bunch of nonsense. Did you know that there’s nothing in the American culture and nothing in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that has separated the body more than these stupid things right here? We call them safety precautions. No, what these are, these are gags, ladies and gentlemen … These have become idols … used to divide the Church. They don’t do anything whatsoever. They are the dumbest thing to have ever been created by humanity. They are scientifically proven to do Jack sprat! But I’ll tell you, religiously what they’ve done, they’ve divided the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things are so dumb.” 

Evangelist Franklin Graham – son of Billy - warned of “all-out socialism” if Americans do not vote for leaders who “love this country, defend the Constitution, & support law & order.”

He pointed to the “chaos erupting in cities controlled by liberal, socialist-leaning leadership” as a harbinger of things to come … if “this kind of leadership wins in local, state & national elections… [it] would lead to the demise of our nation as we know it. Socialism is dangerous, and we have a party and many politicians who are flirting with all-out socialism. I would encourage every person who loves this country to pray & to turn out by the millions to vote…. America’s new enemies are “progressives” and “godless secularism.”  

*Whackjobery: term promoted by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism.

News blues…

South Africa passes half a million Covid infections as “the government struggles to retain public trust amid allegations of widespread corruption, arbitrary decisions on restrictions and administrative incompetence.” 

…“The lockdown succeeded in delaying the spread of the virus by more than two months, preventing a sudden and uncontrolled increase in infections in late March,” the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said….
As restrictions have eased, infections have risen quickly, with some observers questioning decisions to allow the crowded minibuses that provide most public transport to operate and to permit religious services. A ban on smoking and drinking has also been controversial. In recent days, several prominent officials from the ruling African National Congress, including Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, have been suspended or forced to step down temporarily following graft allegations. More than a hundred contracts for procurement of protective equipment and other vital supplies are under investigation in Gauteng province, the economic heart of South Africa, and its worst-hit area.

***

Apple fire in Banning, California.
Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Click to enlarge. 

Thousands of people were under evacuation orders  after a wildfire in mountains east of Los Angeles exploded in size as crews battled the flames in triple-digit heat. The fire, dubbed the Apple Fire by local firefighters 

… consumed more than 23sq miles (about 60sq km) of dry brush and timber, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. …The blaze began as two adjacent fires reported Friday evening in Cherry Valley, an unincorporated area near the city of Beaumont about 85 miles (137km) east of downtown Los Angeles.

*** 

Covid-19 affects the California firefighter’s life and work. 

Healthy futures anyone? 

Focus on Switzerland. According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index*, Switzerland ranks number one in the world for its achievements in sustainability and environmental conservation with a 2018 overall EPI score of 87.42, environmental health score of 93.57, and ecosystem vitality score is 83.32.

Switzerland protects its natural lakes, forests and mountains and the health of the environment on a global scale. It boasts a secure economy, a high standard of living and an impressive emphasis on education… [and it has preserved its] water quality since the 1960s, especially its wastewater treatment… (97 percent of the Swiss population was connected to a sewage treatment plant [with] approximately 900 wastewater treatment plants across Switzerland0. It leads in waste management with a recycling rate of 53 percent.

How sustainable is Switzerland? Implementing the 2030 Agenda from a civil society perspective 

*Environmental Performance Index is a ranking system used to compare the world’s countries based on their efforts to preserve and protect the earth’s environment. This index also measures how close countries are to meeting their established environmental policy objectives. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index is the most up to date index and has scored 180 countries on their environmental performance using the latest set of data available, as well as data from the past decade. In addition to receiving an environmental performance index score, countries also receive an environmental health and ecosystem vitality score. The environmental health score is based on the quality of the country’s air and water, while the ecosystem vitality score primarily indicates the condition of a country’s ecosystem and the animal species that live within these ecosystems. Some of the performance indicators used to score these countries are household air quality, air pollution, drinking water quality, wastewater treatment, species protection, marine protected areas and CO2 emissions. The scores achieved by each country are translated into rankings that can be used as an opportunity for countries to engage in friendly competition as they try to improve their rank. The Environmental Performance Index also gives countries a more granular view of the areas in which they need to improve.
Sustainable Development Index (SDI) measures the ecological efficiency of human development, recognizing that development must be achieved within planetary boundaries. It was created to update the Human Development Index (HDI) for the ecological realities of the Anthropocene. The SDI starts with each nation’s human development score (life expectancy, education and income) and divides it by their ecological overshoot: the extent to which consumption-based CO2 emissions and material footprint exceed per-capita shares of planetary boundaries. Countries that achieve relatively high human development while remaining within or near planetary boundaries rise to the top.
Currently, Cuba tops the SDI, followed by Costa Rica (2) and Sri Lanka (3). South Africa’s SDI is 57. USA’ SDI is 160. Total countries on the SDI: 164. See the map and the SDI. 

The Lincoln Project:  Moms  (1:27 mins) 

 A South African proverb used during the struggle against apartheid: 

“You touch a woman, you touch a rock.” Or, "Wathinta abafazi, wathinta imbhokodo." 

Updated for 2020: “You touch a mom, you touch a rock.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I like marshmallows. I seldom eat them, but when I do I enjoy them under the illusion they were made with egg whites – a saving grace that made them not a total junk food.
This winter in South Africa, I’ve indulged in eating more sugary items than at any other time in my life (as an adult!) - including marshmallows. 

Today, as I worked on my laptop, I noticed the pink dancing marshmallow illustrated on the empty bag next to me. I read the ingredients list: glucose syrup, sugar, water, gelatine (bovine), dextrose, stabilizer, flavouring, coloring, and “may contain” sulphites.
Sugar and salt; nary a whiff of egg white. And “bovine” gelatine? Cow fat?
Illusion became disillusion. 

Last week, a watched film on the use and abuse of children working to grow and process cocoa trees and beans – think chocolate. Ah, the hidden costs and unbearable reality of that delicious treat.
Upside of the pandemic: Like thousands of others, I’ve time on my hands. It’s leading to deeper recognition about the need to take ever more responsibility for the welfare of the planet and its people.
Woo woo conspiracy theories and theorists demand “freedom”?
How about implementing existing freedoms to expanding one’s own small view to include a wide view of the world’s unvarnished realities?

Testing... testing...

Four-plus months into Lockdown and six-plus months into what was planned as three months to oversee my mother’s affairs, I’m humming and oldie but goodie:

“On a Sunday morning sidewalk/wishing lord that I was stoned/for there’s something ‘bout a Sunday/makes a body feel alone…” (See below for more.)

And my tales of woe are just a microcosm.
The macrocosm? “Who the hell knows what’s going on? It’s just insanity.” 

News blues…

The federal government, under Trump’s direction, has botched testing.

…Experts are warning that the U.S. testing system is on the brink of collapse. “We are at a very bad moment here … We are about to lose visibility on this monster and it’s going to rampage through our whole country. This is a massive emergency.”

This must-read Vanity Fair article by Katherine Eban, “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan Went Poof Into Thin Air”, lays a foundation to understand how We the People arrived at this tenuous place.  

***

Trump’s Tweet baselessly claims
mail-in voting is a vehicle for voter fraud.
Click to enlarge. 

"Why would Trump even suggest putting off the vote? Unless he plans to occupy the White House illegally, a postponed election wouldn’t keep him in office. In fact, it could well usher in an unelected President Joe Biden. That sounds strange, but it’s where the rules would take us if there were no election — if those rules were followed, which is a significant “if.” Here’s how it would work. 

Additionally, even Republican conservative legal expert and Federalist Society’s Steven Calabresi calls the president’s threats to delay the election “fascistic – and grounds for impeachment.” 

The influential conservative law professor supported President Donald Trump in 2016 and spoke out against his impeachment said the president’s latest tweet about delaying the election is grounds for his removal. Steven Calabresi wrote in his New York Times opinion article  that Trump “should be removed unless he relents” on his suggestion to delay the November election…. “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist,” Calabresi wrote. “But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.”
Calabresi also called for any lawmakers who support Trump’s fight to delay the election to “never be elected to Congress again.”

***

Tick tock on TikTok? - because “Sarah Cooper is being mean to me! I don’t like it when girls are mean to me!” Critics [including this one are] convinced Trump wants TikTok banned because Sarah Cooper is driving him (even more) nuts. 

Healthy futures anyone?

Sunday timeout to appreciate wonderful creatures of our planet. They, we, the planet requires giant efforts to bring back a semblance of sustainable balance. Search for the community that is right for you and get to work…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

“On a Sunday morning sidewalk/wishing lord that I was stoned/for there’s something ‘bout a Sunday/makes a body feel alone/and there’s nothing short of dying/half as lonesome as the sound/on the sleepy city sidewalk/Sunday morning coming down…”
On this Sunday morning, I’m aligned with Kris Kristofferson (remember him? An historical figure these days.) “Sunday morning coming down”  (4:30 mins – scroll to 1:40 for the refrain.) 

I’m out of my depth in the situation I find myself. Having no experience of a mothering mother, I’m at a loss trying to understand the person biologically my parent. All this is complicated by the huge changes she faces: advanced age and fragile physicality, the consequence of past decisions, living as a “boss” in the same life for 60 years, and never having to face the challenges and complexities of the “real” world. Plus, seven pampered dogs. Two resentful and frightened domestic workers who see the writing on the wall: their longtime “boss” cannot continue “as is” so they’ll be retired. 

They’ll retire with sufficient funds to ensure they do not have to work again, but change is frightening. 

Fear projects outward, onto an object. 

Too bad for me that, in the microcosm,  I’m the object.
Too bad for the planet that, in the macrocosm, We the People - and planet - are Trump's object.

Seeing the light?

It’s taken a long time, but I knew, sooner or later, a majority of Americans would break through the fog of Trumpism. But, the toll, the toll…. 

News blues… 

Rats abandoning ship as Sen. Mitch McConnell suggests the Republican Senators… 

do whatever it takes to salvage their campaigns ahead of what could be a devastating election for the Republican party. McConnell has become so concerned over Republicans losing control of the Senate that he has signaled to vulnerable GOP senators in tough races that they could distance themselves from the President if they feel it is necessary…. [This] forces them to walk a tightrope. 
"These vulnerable senators can't afford to explicitly repudiate Trump," said one senior Republican on Capitol Hill. "They just need to show they are independent on issues important in their states." 

Residents vote to rip off President Trump Name from New York City Building  (4:15 mins) 

Trump’s Self-Inflicted Wound: Losing Swing Voters As He Plays to His Base  The president’s support among bedrock Republicans is almost certainly not enough to win him a second term in the White House, as even some G.O.P. leaders concede.

*** 

To poach, or not to poach? In May, news reported a …

wildlife catastrophe unfolding in Africa with closure of safari tourism (an industry worth almost $30 billion a year and employing almost four million people) due to the coronavirus pandemic, decimating the industry, and leading to an increase in poaching. Experts and rangers on the ground say they are seeing a surge in poaching as thousands of unemployed people dependent on the industry turn to wild animals for food. They also fear an upsurge in more organised poaching of endangered species. 

August 1, news reports South African rhino poaching halves in six months thanks to Covid-19 lockdown 

South Africa has for years battled a scourge of rhino poaching fueled by insatiable demand for their horns in Asia - China and Vietnam - where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or a status symbol. 

During the first six months of the year, 166 rhino were poached in South Africa, compared with 316 in the first half of 2019. That’s a drop of 53 percent in the first six months of 2020 as restrictions and disruption to international flights hinder poachers.

I’m confused. Animals other than rhinos are still being poached? 

Healthy futures anyone?

Taken-for-granted items in your pantry: “The 'deadly food' we all eat” - BBC REEL  (3:25 mins) 

***

The Lincoln Project :

Wake up  (6 mins) 

We will vote  (1:00 min) 

A must see ad: Nationalist Geographic  (0:55 mins) 

Sarah Cooper: How to tick tock  (0:13 mins) 

 Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

 I was scheduled to return to California on May 21, but the pandemic and subsequent lockdown put an end to commercial flights. Overly bureaucratized repatriation flights were occasionally available, but high-tailing it out of SA and abandoning my fragile, 87-year-old mother didn’t feel like a viable option. Moreover, repat flight reservations and routes were confusing. If I could get to Johannesburg (required a permit for the 6-hour trip by car), a flight would dump me in, say Istanbul or Doha – cost in the vicinity of US$2,500.00 (ZAR41,250). I’d still have to find a flight to New York – then the world’s Covid-19 epicenter – or Chicago, followed by a domestic flight to San Francisco. 

I was smart to stay put. 

Today, travelers who opted for repat flights find themselves in a quandary: Americans stranded abroad as the coronavirus spread took a lifeline offered by the State Department: We'll fly you home, but you have to pay us back. 

… the main method of payment for State-chartered repatriation flights was promissory notes, without anything more than an estimate of how much it might cost. Most of the people repatriated, especially in the beginning of the department's efforts, were handed blank documents which they had to sign before they got on the plane, promising to pay back the government when billed. 

Some Americans had to use passports as collateral for loans — but months later, they're still waiting for a bill, so their passports are invalid. Others signed promissory notes agreeing to pay an eventual bill they're still waiting for, and dreading a price tag that for a family of four could weigh in at $10,000. 

Since the pandemic began, State has flown home about 100,000 U.S. citizens from nearly 150 countries, at a cost to the agency of $196 million, which it must collect from passengers. Of that sum, about $8 million comes from direct loans secured with a passport. 

Hmmm, sounds like health care in America. 

Health care has never been easily available or affordable in America. President Obama tried to address that. 

Along came Trump. In the middle of a pandemic, he has been battering at the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. 

Who does that? 

And why? 

My guess? 

Then president Obama – for years accused by then-birther Trump of not being eligible for the presidency as not born in America – made fun of notoriously thin-skinned The Donald at the White House Correspondents dinner back in 2011. 

This clip is a bit “inside the beltway” for non-Americans but worth watching: Barack Obama mocks Trump at the White House correspondents' dinner.  (3:57) 

Ah, the good ole days! I miss Obama. Smart. Funny. Intelligent. Elegant. Happily married family man.

Decent Americans are out there still, plenty of them/us. Step up, you guys. We the People need you!

“Not Trumpistan”

Déjà vu all over again: end of the month and end on the week without internet.

After full-throated moaning about being hours behind the latest news, one accepts the temporary absence and finds something else to do. A refreshing break….

 (c) Illustration by Victor Juhasz
for Rolling Stone
Click to enlarge

News blues…

Donald J Trump Tweets his idea of delaying the election: 

With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???

Masters of under-statement – and Trump allies - respond:

• Lindsey Graham, "I don't think that's a particularly good idea."
• Majority Whip Sen. John Thune: "I think that's probably a statement that gets some press attention, but I doubt it gets any serious traction.”
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: "I think we've had elections every November since about 1788, and I expect that will be the case again this year," he said. 
• Republican Sen. Thom Tillis: "The election is going to happen in November period."
• Republican Sen. Ted Cruz:  "Election fraud is a serious problem we need to stop it and fight it, but no the election should not be delayed."
• GOP Sen. Marco Rubio: "I wish he hadn't said that, but it's not going to change: We are going to have an election in November and people should have confidence in it."
• Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley: "All I can say is that, it doesn't matter what one individual in this country says. We still are a country based on the rule of law. And we must follow the law until either the Constitution is changed or until the law is changed."
• Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming: "No, we're not going to delay the election… We're going to have the election completed and voting completed by Election Day."
• GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota: "Moving Election Day would seriously jeopardize the legitimacy of the election. Federal, state and local officials need to continue to work hard to ensure that Americans can vote safely whether by voting early or on November 3." 

Trying to change direction when he’s under fire is Trump’s go to MO (modus operandi). It’s worked well for him in the past, but there are signs the public – including Republicans – are onto his strategy. 

• Now This: The Rock Slams Trump with Scathing Video Message  (8:00 mins)
• Trump's narcissism and lack of empathy have Dan reconsidering his party status after 60 years. (1:02 mins)
• Why This Longtime Republican Rejects Trump (4:00 mins)
• Lifelong Republican give a blistering critique of Trump and the GOP  (4:13 mins)
• Trump Vote A Monumental Mistake.  (2:20 mins)
• Trump Voter: "Every day he breaks my heart as an American in a new way" (4:12 mins) 
• Jim is a gun-owning USMC vet who voted Trump in 2016 but will be voting Joe in 2020  (4:45 mins)
• Linda, a lifelong Republican from a military family, won’t vote for Trump this fall. (3:25 mins)
• Marie (Connecticut)  (2:40 mins)

The Lincoln Project:

Steve Schmidt interview, “This is the United States of America, not Trumpistan.” Watch: ‘This Is An Autocratic Moment.”  (3:19)

Memories 2  (0:57 mins) 

Meidas Touch:

Nobody likes Trump  (0:37 mins)

Rolling Stone’s “The Plot Against America: The GOP’s Plan to Suppress the Vote and Sabotage the Election.” Blocking ballots, intimidating voters, spreading misinformation — undermining democracy is at the heart of Trump’s 2020 campaign :

Healthy futures anyone?

An effort to educate and support peoples' effort toward sustainable living.

Terms and definitions: The Sustainable Development Index (SDI)

… measures the ecological efficiency of human development, recognizing that development must be achieved within planetary boundaries. It was created to update the Human Development Index (HDI) for the ecological realities of the Anthropocene. 

The SDI starts with each nation’s human development score (life expectancy, education and income) and divides it by their ecological overshoot: the extent to which consumption-based CO2 emissions and material footprint exceed per-capita shares of planetary boundaries. Countries that achieve relatively high human development while remaining within or near planetary boundaries rise to the top. 

See SDI results for 2015, the most recent year of complete data. While some countries score reasonably well, none reach over 0.9. South Africa is 57 on a list of 164 countries while US is 160.

Sustainable development goals – SDGs – also known as the Global Goals, 

…adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

The 17 SDGs are integrated  — that is, recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability…. Everyone is needed to reach these ambitious targets. The creativity, knowhow, technology, and financial resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context. 

Focus on Norway.  Norway ranks high on SDI in terms of global implementation of the SDGs. 

From the school curriculum to the initiatives for recycling and the cross-industry struggle to keep the air, the seas and nature as free from pollution as possible, every aspect of life is imbued with a need to go greener. 10 Ways Norway Is Contributing to an Environmentally Friendly Planet  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

South Africans talk of “the CCMA” as the bugaboo of South African employers, particularly employers with long-term employees. Since one of my mother’s two long-term domestic workers is spreading false rumors that I am “going to throw her out of her job and into the street”, I researched CCMA. 

The website was no help in unpacking the acronym, but Google defined it as, “Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). 

CCMA is “a dispute resolution body established in terms of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 ….” 

If a dispute exists (none exists here, far as I’m concerned) dispute resolution is a good thing. Isn’t it? 

Apparently, CCMA has the reputation for bias – toward employees and against employers. 

I believe in fairness and recognition of all parties to obtain justice. 

Should be interesting as the saga continues….