49 more days

49 more days left to the US presidential election. But Trump, if he loses the election, hangs around until January 20 – his window-of-opportunity to further punish Americans, this time for voting him out.

News blues…

Trump visited Sacramento, California and, with his usual wisdom, advised “forest management” is at root of California’s devastating fires, that dry trees become “like matchsticks” and must be “removed” from forests. (BTW: Most US forests are on land owned by the federal government – which makes “forest management” his bailiwick.) According to Trump, “raking forest floors” is correct forest management – the PM of Norway told him that.
Still in Sacramento, in the context of acknowledging California’s soaring temperatures but avoiding the topic of climate change, Trump tackled the weather, predicting: “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch.”
According to The New York Times, “Mr Trump and his senior officials have regularly mocked, denied or minimized … human-caused climate change … and has sought to zealously rollback [environmental] regulations.”

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Scientific American breaks its own record and steps into the fray. After 175 years of Scientific American not endorsing a presidential candidate, the respected magazine – and scientists – endorses Joe Biden for president.  (3:30 mins)

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The Lincoln Project:
Trump NO Nos Quiere YouTube  (1:17 mins)
Don Winslow Films: How we got here  (2:20 mins)
RVAT: President Trump couldn't care less about our military heroes (5:00 mins)
And, on the topic of political ads… Donald Trump et al blow it: 

MSNBC’s The ReidOut, “Campaign Ad Slammed As Overtly Racist”  (1:58 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I delivered my 87-yr-old-mother and her chosen dog, Jessica, to her chosen retirement center. This move has been month’s in the making – plans interrupted by the pandemic, my mom changing her mind, then changing it back again, repeating that…
Finally, after we paid the deposit and first month’s rent, the household got on board behind the decision. We retrenched (“laid off”) a long term employee but retained another to help prepare the house for sale.
Today has been a long time coming.
Tomorrow, we pivot: 1) ready the house for sale, 2) possibly purchase a unit in a lovely “estate” (akin to a “gated community”), 3) figure out when – and how – I can return to California without exposing myself to Covid-19 or climate change fire-related health hazards.
But first, tonight is a moment to breath deep, pat myself on my back (no one else in the extended family will do so) and feel grateful that my mom will adjust into a new, safe, people-and-animal-filled life for her remaining days.
Amen.

Getting there

The Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Dashboard  has been one of the most reliable data providers for coronavirus infections, trends, and deaths. This week’s numbers are rising fast to what, six months ago, was inconceivable: 30 million infections – and 100,000 dead.
Sobering. Terrifying.

News blues…

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s report recently published report,  

In only half a year, the coronavirus pandemic has wiped out decades of global development in everything from health to the economy. Progress has not only stopped but has regressed in areas like getting people out of poverty and improving conditions for women and children around the world.
“In other words, we’ve been set back about 25 years in about 25 weeks,” the report says. “What the world does in the next months matters a great deal."
Global action to stop the pandemic would prevent illness and deaths caused by Covid-19, but there's more at stake: The crisis sets back strides made in global poverty, HIV transmission, malnutrition, gender equality, education and many more areas. Even if the world manages to get the coronavirus under control soon, it could take years to claw back lost progress.

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The Lincoln Project:

Broke  (0:55 mins)
Don the Con  (0:58 mins)
School  (0:25 min)
RVAT: Nebraska Republican: I Remember a Very Different GOP  (1:50 mins)
Brian can't vote for Trump for two reasons: he destroyed fiscal conservatism and he's a moron.  (0:50 mins)

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This is a favorite Lockdown interaction: “Father & Son" (Cat Stevens Lockdown Parody  (3:15 mins)
Like The Kiffness? Take a tour of Dave Scott’s pandemic compendium. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Three weeks ago, my mother was offered a choice of a large room or a small room for her upcoming life in a local up-market Care Center. She chose the smaller.
I begged her to reconsider, take the larger room, choose comfort over cost. Yes, the larger room was more expensive. But she and her large, hefty mongrel, Jessica, would have space to relax in the larger room.
I couldn’t convince her.
Then, yesterday, fewer than 24 hours before moving, she changed her mind. Suddenly, she wanted the larger room.
I tried. I contacted the Center manager. The larger room had been snapped up by a decisive couple. More power to them.
At the Care Center today ("100% lockdowned due to Covid-19"; masks compulsory at all times)  to set up my mom’s small room, I peeked into the larger room as passed: the decisive couple resident there now looked very settled and comfortable. 

I’m pleased I planned my mom’s move over two days: first day to set up the room; second day to drive her and Jessica there, a hassle-free, leisurely settling in.
For, “what can go wrong, will go wrong.”
The delivery of her new 6-drawer “bed base”/box spring was unsuccessful; something about not having received payment despite me having paid.
The team hired to set up her television arrived four hours after their scheduled appointment due to “unexpected delays.”
Had I decided to fit the move and the relocation into one day, my mother and Jessica would have spent all day waiting - and still not have had a bed in which to sleep.
Hoping for better service tomorrow.

Eyes on POTUS

POTUS in San Francisco -
and no one can find him! 

Orange on orange. Oh no! The president visited San Francisco to offer aid and maybe make fun of the Democrat politicians running the state a little bit. But as soon as he stepped off Air Force One, Secret Service lost their visual on him, his soft, persimmon-hued skin blending in perfectly with the fiery hellscape around him. 

"Anyone got eyes on POTUS?" a frantic Secret Service agent shouted into his radio. "We've lost him! Repeat, we've lost him!" 

President Trump was completely invisible from the moment he arrived. 

News blues…

Level 1 anyone?

Just as spring is in the air, so too is the anticipation for further relaxation of lockdown regulations with a move to the risk-adjusted level 1 expected soon.
With the National State of Disaster for Covid-19 extended by a month on Thursday, expectations are for President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the nation in the coming days. 

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The excuses Republicans, Trumpies, and Republican propaganda trumpeting machine Fox News’ maintain for Trump not arming Americans with the truth to fight Covid-19? “The fog of war.” An “epidemiological Pearl Harbor.” Oh, and Dr Fauci. And China (“Chayna!”) More excuses to come. Brace yourself…. 
Nevertheless, a real question remains: Why did Bob Woodward sit for so long on the audio tapes of Trump’s interviews? Was it, like John Bolton, to sell his book? Or because he’s a journalist embargoing information, including journalistic ethics to protect sources? If so, does that apply to current circumstance? Isn’t there an over-riding responsibility to the people of the world?

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Science Writer at The Atlantic, Ed Yong’s August 2020 article, “How the Pandemic Defeated America: A virus has brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees.” 
Ed Yong interviewed on MSNBC, discussing the American response to COVID-19.  (2:04 mins)

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Cross cultural political ads. Political ads are not confined to the US election. South Africa creates fine political commentary, too. Meet The Kiffness  (4:25 mins)
Another Kiffness product, off topic on the pandemic but timely.
Julius Malema (Jerusalema Parody)  (1:52 mins)
Background: Economic Freedom Front (EFF) frontman Julius Malema took offense at an advertisement published by Clicks. (Clicks is similar to US’s Longs or CVS chain of stores.) The ad shows “dull and damaged” and “frizzy and dull” over images of black women with “normal” and “fine and flat” used over images of white women. Describing the ad “insensitive and offensive,” EFF organized a violent invasion of Clicks stores.
“Mzansi” is a colloquial name for South Africa and also refers to aspects of South African arts, culture and leisure, etc. 

RVAT: Hardcore Conservative: Now Voting for Biden  (3:58 mins)
Young Business Owner: Flipping from Trump to Biden  (4:45 mins)
113 Reasons REPUBLICANS Aren't Voting for Trump in 2020  (11:25 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Another trip to the local city to recycle wine bottles I couldn’t recycle last week due to Lockdown’s rules about alcohol consumption.
Another day to try – gently – to persuade my mother to attend to what she wants to pack. Diplomacy is not easy.
Stressful week ahead.

Fool’s paradise

A banner protests President Donald Trump’
 pandemic and climate change response
 at RNC HQ, 24 Aug.
© JEMAL COUNTESS VIA GETTY IMAGES 

Trump’s latest surreality? Comparing his response to Covid-19 to PM Winston Churchill’s response to the Blitz of WWII.
One problem?
Trump got it wrong - again.
Trump said of Churchill, “He always spoke with calmness. He said we have to show calmness.”
Churchill may have spoken “with calmness,” but he was forthright and truthful with the British people. According to historian Jon Meacham, author of Franklin and Winston,  Churchill said, “The British people can face any misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy as long as they are convinced that those in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, or are not dwelling in a fool’s paradise.”
Trump’s response? Covert, deceitful, denying, and patriarchal: hiding of the truth from Americans so as not to “cause panic” – as if child-like Americans must be protected from the truth.
A fool’s paradise is Trump’s favorite paradise.
A sample of what Twitter users had to say about Trump and Churchill:

• Winston Churchill never, NEVER, said that the Blitzkrieg was a hoax, or that he took “no responsibility at all.”
• And he certainly wasn't put off by the rain. [A reference to Trump refusing to attend Belleau Wood as rain would muss his hair.]
• Or that his followers should disregard the blackout orders and keep their lights on proudly for freedom.
• “No the Nazis aren’t coming. Relax. It’s a hoax. And besides if Hitler does show by April the heat will drive him out. Like a miracle, all the Nazis will just disappear.”

Am I uncharitable towards Trump - again? Perhaps it’s a case of mistaken identity and Trump, notoriously imprecise, was referring, not to Churchillian, the statesman, but chinchilla, the rodent?)
Surprisingly, there are people out there who favorably compare Churchill and Trump. A motivational speaker and diehard Trumpie authored a book promoting Churchill and Trump as “defenders of Western Civilization.”

News blues…

More Trumpian imprecision: In a series of expensive ads posted on Facebook and Instagram, the Trump campaign claimed President Donald Trump had been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize – for achieving “PEACE in the MIDDLE EAST!” 

Two problems:

Problem 1: There is no such prize as the Noble (it is the Nobel)… 

Problem 2: unfortunately, the Middle East is as unpeaceful as ever.

***

More accurate political ads
RVAT: Gulf War Vet Tears Trump Apart  (3:20 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow shrub

Rain predicted on Tuesday and Wednesday, moving days. I’ve hired two movers for Tuesday’s transport of my mom’s small collection of furniture and large TV. This being South Africa, a seat-of-the-pants country, should I remind the movers to bring tarps for cover. Or should I trust movers will do so? Hmmm. 

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Spring is springing. As I write, perfume of the yesterday-today-and-tomorrow perennial shrub wafts through the garden. The brunfelsia pauciflora, a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae, the nightshades, is another exotic carried to South Africa from Brazil. Other common names include, morning-noon-and-night, Kiss Me Quick, and Brazil raintree.
My mother transplanted this shrub from her former home.
I might graft a segment to grow in my new South African home. A fitting legacy.