Fiddling the data?

Typically, politicians deliver bad news to Americans late Friday. This, as politicians assume Americans will cool down over the weekend and Monday will bring a new start, fresh thinking, and a dose of amnesia.
Even while Trump’s White House tenure delivers outrageous news thick and fast all day, any day, and every day, the coming weekend promises no cooling down nor amnesia.
Perhaps just the opposite.
Two days ago, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, African-American George Floyd was killed by up to four police officers.
In February, African-American runner Ahmaud Arbery was shot to death in Satilla Shores, Georgia .
In March, African-American Breonna Taylor was shot eight times and killed during a police raid of her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.
Unlike other similar deaths, these deaths burst into public awareness and stoked outrage.
They’re adding to the stress brought on by an apparently out-of-control pandemic, a controversial election, and what looks very much like the crumbling of a venerated democracy.
This weekend in the US looks be long, hot, and violent.
Instead of steady leadership, Trump, of course, resorted to blaming via Twitter:

“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.....”

Ironically, it was just two weeks ago that Trump threatened to “terminate” 40,000 National Guardsmen by June 24, one day before thousands would have qualified for key retirement and education benefits. (See post “Distracting the Distractor”)
After an outcry, Trump made a sharp U-turn. The federal government will now keep funding National Guard troops across the country.

“The National Guard remains committed to its service in support of the fight against Covid-19 and will remain in that fight as long as we are needed," a National Guard Bureau spokesperson told POLITICO. "Our nation is looking to the National Guard to help and we will not let them down.” 

News blues…

New week, new numbers
Worldwide: 5,810,335 confirmed cases; 360,335 deaths
US: 1,721,750 confirmed cases; 101,620 deaths
SA: 27,405 confirmed cases; 577 deaths

Several news outlets report federal and state officials across the nation altering or hiding public health data that tracks the spread of Covid-19, and

… hindering the ability to detect a surge of infections as President Donald Trump pushes the nation to reopen rapidly.
In at least a dozen states, health departments have inflated testing numbers or deflated death tallies by changing criteria for who counts as a coronavirus victim and what counts as a coronavirus test according to reports …and states' own admissions. Some states have shifted the metrics for a “safe” reopening; Arizona sought to clamp down on bad news at one point by simply shuttering its pandemic modeling. About a third of the states aren’t even reporting hospital admission data — a big red flag for the resurgence of the virus.
The spotty data flow is particularly worrisome to public health officials trying to help Americans make decisions about safely venturing out. The lack of accurate and consistent Covid-19 data, coupled with the fact that the White House no longer has regular briefings where officials reinforce the need for ongoing social distancing, makes that task even harder.

Nor is our planet out of the woods…or the atmosphere… where the load of carbon dioxide continues an upward trajectory:
23 May 2020: 416.97 ppm
23 May 2019: 414.72 ppm
May 2010: 393.46 ppm
Pre-industrial base: 280
Safe level: 350
Reading from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (part per million). Source: NOAA-ESRL

Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises as high as 2C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.

If that news leaves you blue, consider that Covid-19 at least benefits some animals. In Yosemite and Death Valley, critters appear that have not been seen, “in our lifetimes,” said Kati Schmidt, a spokesperson for the US National Parks Conservation Association.
Deer, bobcats, black bears, pronghorns, coyotes, even wolverines are taking advantage of human-free environments while they can.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “only 300 [wolverine] species [are] left in the contiguous US,” and a handful have been spotted in Washington State. One on a beach, another “walking down a road in Naselle, a town east of Long Beach Peninsula.”

***

Use of plastic has soared during the pandemic. Restaurants trying to stay afloat rely on plastic utensils for takeout orders, grocery shoppers have reverted to disposable bags over sanitary concerns, and the CDC says disposable dishes, utensils, napkins and tablecloths should be the default.

"The idea that the CDC recommends that single-use disposable items should be preferred seems a little illogical to me," said Chris Slafter, interim coordinator of Clean Water Action's ReThink Disposable program… Someone still has to handle that item before it goes into a customer's hand."
Before the pandemic, California was leading the way on eliminating single-use plastics in various consumer sectors. While environmentalists have long criticized plastic products for polluting oceans and overwhelming landfills, state and local leaders also have sounded the alarm after China in recent years stopped accepting many U.S. plastics for recycling.
[T]he virus has thwarted efforts to toughen statewide recycling targets.

***

Another Daily Maverick Live Webinar, “School Reopening: The Great Debate”
After weeks of uncertainty, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga confirmed last week that schools will reopen on 1 June – but only for Grades 7 and 12.
Hosted by Judith February, governance specialist, columnist and lawyer. With Dr Nic Spaull, education economist at Stellenbosch University and commentator on education policy in South Africa, and Dr Sara Black, former high school maths teacher who now trains teachers and works in critical education sociology, with a focus on equity and justice in education policy.

***

Comedienne Sara Cooper’s Trump impressions have tickled more than 18 million viewers. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell recently interviewed her on The Last Word  (5:31 minutes).
We’ve celebrated Sara – “The Trump Whisperer” – on this blog, too. (See post, “Humor might save us”.)
I’m in awe of how many wonderfully talented, funny people out there keep the rest of us sane during crazy times. Thank you!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Following the direction of Category 1b of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, I’m removing invasive cannas from the inside garden. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, cannas – originally from the Caribbean and tropical America - were introduced to South Africa as an ornamental where they have, well, blossomed.
Black jacks, khaki weed, cosmos, cat’s claw – ditto, from South America - have successfully settled into KZN’s fertile soil, too. They are among 775 identified invasive species – that’s about seven new species introduced each year. (List of invasive species in South Africa.)
I’ve written elsewhere about my small success eradicating cat’s claw creeper  and I intend eradicating canna. At least, from the inside garden. I’ve no ambitions to tackle the plant beyond the inside garden where it thrives along roads, in the wetlands, indeed, wherever its hardly seeds germinate.
Frost damages the leaves and stems but does little to discourage its tuber.
Getting rid of tubers requires persistence – and heavy digging.

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“Viruses respond to science, not politics”

After his recent visit to the Trump White House, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a public address, “Viruses respond to science, not politics”.  (24:00 hard hitting minutes followed by questions – a total of 52:29 highly recommended, well worth watching minutes.)
Based on his rhetoric during the briefing - “Is now the time to savage essential services?” and “There is no nation without the states” - the meeting did not go well. No melding of the minds.
Get ready, folks, we’re in for a rough ride!

Cuomo, not Biden, for president!
We, the People of the United States needs someone with real management, “control freak” skills at this precarious time. Cuomo has those skills.
Alas, the Biden octogenarian presidency currently in the works will provide the same old, same old maintenance of the status quo…with old-style “malarkey” rhetoric.
Who needs that?

***

Twitter tweets. Expect more whackjobbery from the White House as, for the first time ever, Twitter editorializes.
Twitter recently tagged two of Trump's tweets, calling them “potentially misleading.”
One evidence-free Trump tweet falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud.
The other evidence trampling Trump tweet accused TV host Joe Scarborough of murder.
Twitter added a linked message beneath Trump’s mail-in ballot Trump tweet: "Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” that it’s not “rigged” as Trump suggests. Twitter aims to provide context around Trump’s remarks and “combat information and disputed or unverified claims.”
Trump responses?
Tweet 1: “Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.
Tweet 2: “…Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH and I, as President, will not allow it to happen.”
Gird yourself for a barrage of Trump tweets…
Moreover, looks like the “Trump administration will target a 1996 statute that protects the companies from lawsuits — an avenue that a growing number of Republican lawmakers are advocating as they press their bias accusations about Silicon Valley.”

CNN’s Chris Cillizza believes Twitter’s pushback will not work  because:

• Twitter isn't going to remove Trump's account. Which means Trump can use Twitter’s platform to savage Twitter – as he’s already doing.
• The Twitter link isn’t bold enough. The small link urging people to "get the facts" is ineffective. Twitter could suspend Trump’s account, but under the aegis of protecting 1st Amendment rights, they have no plans to do that.
• Twitter is damaged goods. Trump and Trumpies have insisted for years that Twitter, Facebook et al are biased against conservatives. “That conservative accounts are taken down, muted or disappeared. That the Silicon Valley founders of these social media giants are all liberals and are finding ways small and large to promote views they agree with and to silence those they don't…. Twitter’s attempt to point people to facts when the President has made a false claim isn't a good faith effort [but another] example of how conservatives are being unfairly treated, and how liberals get away with things they never could.”

Nevertheless, Twitter highlighting Trump in this way, might alert the so-far-politically-disengaged to Trump and Trumpie goings-on.
That might mean We, the People, begin to see a turning of the tide away from the Trumpster.
One can only hope!

News blues…

The US has more than 1.7 million cases of infection and beyond 100,000 known Covid-19-related deaths (despite the real numbers being wrong – “and everyone knows it” )
My home state, California, joins Illinois, New Jersey, and New York as states with 100,000 known infections.
It’s bad out there.

***

Another Daily Maverick webinar, “Junked: Consequences of the Downgrade.” Hosted by Tim Cohen with Nazmeera Moola and Peter Worthington (currently locked out of South Africa and locked down in Canada).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Frost, Thursday morning.
Click to enlarge

This morning, like yesterday morning, lawns, roofs, trees, and garden plants host a layer of frost!
Yesterday afternoon, I walked the garden and inventoried the frost-damage.
The plants shown mid-right background in this photo are invasive cannas, aka Indian Shot, introduced as an ornamental, not from Indian as the name suggests, but from the Caribbean and tropical America.
Tenacious and prolific, these plants fall into Category 1b of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, meaning it must be removed from gardens as it forms dense spreading clumps which when left unattended eliminates indigenous species.
I’ve had them in my sights for eradication for years. Today is the day to begin that process. Alas, frost may have softened up the plant for easier eradication, but the tubers and seeds promise another bumper crop come spring.

***

They're baaaack!
Repatriation flights confuse! Announced, cancelled, announced again - with a short window of opportunity.
That cancelled SAA flight of a couple of weeks ago?
It’s back on schedule!

Health Alert: Announcing May 29 South African Airways Flight – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa (May 27, 2020)
Location: South Africa
Event:  The South African Department of Health has confirmed 24,264 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
South African Airways Flight – May 29, 2020
South African Airways (SAA) has notified the U.S. Mission of a special repatriation flight on May 29, 2020, from Cape Town to Washington, D.C. (Washington-Dulles International Airport.) For further information or to book a seat, please see SAA’s repatriation portal here. If you were previously booked on the canceled May 19 SAA flight, you have been automatically re-booked on the May 29 flight but must contact SAA to confirm. This is not a U.S. government-coordinated flight; you must contact SAA directly to book tickets or for further information.
Please note:

• The airline will submit a final list of passengers to the U.S. Mission and we will confirm with the airline that passengers have appropriate travel documents. We will work directly with the relevant authorities for clearing passenger lists and are not providing documentation such as a permission letter to individual passengers.  You do not need to contact the U.S. Embassy or take further action for this approval.
• For non-U.S. citizens (excluding U.S. legal permanent residents), you need to contact DIRCO directly for permission to depart South Africa.
• For information regarding price details, payment methods, baggage allowances, and other specific questions, please contact SAA directly.
• Please do not contact the U.S. Mission to South Africa regarding assembly point logistics and travel permission letters for confirmed passengers. SAA is coordinating assembly point logistics and will distribute that information to you separately.
• You will need to contact the airline directly for questions about availability.

I detect an assumption underlying these emails: that while in South Africa caring for aging family, Americans longing to return to the US, must live out of packed suitcases, ready to depart with less than one day’s notice.
I’d love to return to warm, sunny, northern California. But living under lockdown amid a pandemic with an aging parent, seven dogs, two domestic workers, and a large garden hosting invasive species, provides enough stress without the added stress of living out of a suitcase.
Digging through packed belongings for toothpaste and warm socks while checking one’s email inbox for emails that announce flights, cancel flights, announce flights again?
All for the privilege of landing in Washington D.C., home of the whoppers?
Who needs it?
On March 23, 1775 at the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, VA: Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty, or give me death!"
I paraphrase Patrick Henry: “Give me SFO, or keep me KZN’ing….”

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“A change in the weather…”

In South Africa, under the lockdown ban on cigarettes and alcohol, it takes four minutes and 28 seconds to find contraband cigarettes under levels 4 and 3 lockdown regulations.
Sure, cigarettes cost a lot more than usual: from R1.50 to up to R7.00 per ciggie – and up to R140 for a pack of 20. (US$1.00 = about ZAR17.00 – so about US$8 per pack of 20.)
While the ban on alcohol will ease at Level 3 (next week), the ban on ciggies will continue.

Musician David Scott, of The Kiffness, protests the ciggie ban via one song with two versions of the South African national anthems: African and Afrikaans.
Not everyone seeing this video will “get” the lyrics that will make multicultural South Africans smile, here’s a brief translation:

• Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, currently Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, former wife of former president Jacob Zuma, stepmother(?) to Duduzane Zuma, entrepreneur, comrade-in-arms with Jacob, his father, and reported cigarette merchant.
• Rizla: papers for rolling “zol”
• “zol” – “dagga” or marijuana cigarettes.

The small print disclaimer accompanying this song:

This is a satirical piece, and is not necessarily based on fact. The views expressed in this song are my own. I have the right to freedom of expression. In addition, if any deaf people watching this video are offended by my "sign language", please know that I have nothing but love & respect for the complexity and skill that comes with your language. I often watch the sign language during these political speeches and am always impressed by how quickly the interpreters are able to sign what the President is saying. I hope it's clear have no idea what I'm doing, and the idea is for the audience to laugh at me, not at you. I hope you understand that that is part of the satire & the video's in no way made to make a mockery of your language.

After enjoying this video, I researched The Kiffness. I’m delighted to discover how David Scott uses lockdown as an opportunity to create and share his lockdown experience.
Check out his YouTube channel for more laughs and scroll to section Lockdown Parodies to view.

News blues…

On March 27, the first day of the lockdown, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded SA’s international long-term credit rating from Baa3 to Ba1, a subinvestment grade. This meant, according to all three credit rating agencies - Moody’s, Fitch and Standard and Poor’s (S&P) - the country’s international credit rating was below investment grade, aka junk status. The outlook looked grim.
Then, the easing of lockdown regulations with some countries starting to reopen their economies has provided a welcome boost.

The rand strengthened as much as 5.2 percent last week and continued its rally, opening at R17.57/$ on Monday morning. It strengthened to as much as R17.53/$ before trading at R17.67 by late afternoon.
The rand has been the second-worst performing currency after the Brazilian Real, having weakened more than 20 percent for the year to date. Just weeks ago, analysts were predicting the currency would test the R20/$ mark, as they anticipated large capital outflows as much as $14 billion on the back of the rand falling out of the World Government Bond Index, due downgrade to junk status.
This has not yet happened.
On the contrary, appetite for SA portfolio assets has not died down… Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop noted that she expects the rand to strengthen further this year, possibly to R16 against the greenback, and even further into 2021 

***

Latest Daily Maverick webinar, "The Upside of Down: How chaos and uncertainty breed opportunity in SA." Daily Maverick’s Stephen Grootes goes behind the scenes with financial journalist, talk show host and author Bruce Whitfield to discuss how problem-solvers thrive in tumultuous times, how your mindset can define your future and other topics covered in Whitfield’s latest book, The Upside of Down. Webinar sponsored by book publisher Pan Macmillan.

***

Michael Moore-produced documentary "Planet of the Humans" debuted on YouTube last month. Subsequently, it was condemned as inaccurate and misleading by some climate scientists and some activists.
Now, it has been temporarily removed from YouTube in response to a copyright infringement claim by British environmental photographer, Toby Smith. Smith alleges the documentary includes a material used without his permission and that he does not approve of the context in which the clip is used.
No doubt Moore will respond to Smith and edit the movie.
Regarding the complaints by climate scientists and activists, I suggest you watch the movie when it is reposted on YouTube and decide for yourself. I watched about half of it in short bursts of time – due to Internet access, nothing to do with subject matter – and found it strikes at the heart of the climate controversy. Moore posits that there is no long term, quick fix…that big/corporate money is omnipresent, and that climate activists are jollying people along into believing all is quick-fixable while maintaining the usual western standards of life.
Moore suggests climate activists (350.org, etc,) are settling for wishy washy action and not preparing middle-of-the-road humans for what it will actually take for our planet to produce sustainable “green”/”renewable”/”environmentally adequate” energy.
Moore and his team may have violated fair usage rules. I don’t know. But I tend to agree with Moore that the movie’s science and activist critics pan the movie because of his unwillingness to toe the moderate “we-got-sustainable-energy-under-control” line.
There are no quick-fix panacea to our energy crises.
Solar helps. Wind helps. Hydro/wave helps. None is a solution.
We, the People must grasp our ongoing energy challenges and the depth of damage perpetrated by our dependence on fossil fuels. The sooner the better.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A story to soothe the savage breast, or at least to alleviate the blues. South African stork falls in love with Croatian stork and finds a family.

***

Microcosm weather woes. Last night, KZN temperature dropped to 1 degree Centigrade (33.8 F).
California’s daytime temperature rose to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 C).

What’s the difference between climate and weather?
Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere (temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind) and its short-term variation in minutes to weeks.
Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a period of time, often 30 years.
(Donald Trump take note.)

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“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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“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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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 

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