Herd immunity, impunity, or fraternity?

Catching up after three days without an Internet connection.
So much going on it’s hard to stay current.

News blues…

A friend under curfew (also a lawyer) texted news from the San Francisco Bay Area:

• Yesterday was the attack on peaceful protesters, media, and clergy by secret service, police, and the National Guard in Lafayette Square [outside White House] to clear it for a Trump photo op. They attacked protesters under the direct command of Attorney General [William] Barr, who could clearly be seen ordering the attack. I watched this in real time.
• There were a number of crimes committed by all involved, the main crimes being criminal civil rights violations and conspiracy to violate civil rights.
• I spent the morning calling my federal representatives about this stuff, and my state and county reps about the wholesale use of gas, flash bang grenades, and rubber bullets against non-violent protesters, many of whom are young college and high school students. This is happening all over the state [California]… A main freeway [near me] was blocked [by protesters, too].
• A MSNBC TV reporter asked Republican Senators about these attacks. All senators either refused to answer or claimed not to have seen it.*
• Former CIA analyst Gail Heit said, “This looks like what happens when democracies die. It happens like this in countries before a collapse. It really un-nerves me.”
• There are big demonstrations all over defying the curfews. Like many cities and counties around the country, San Francisco and East Bay counties [population of 3.5 to 4 million], are now under curfew indefinitely. 
• [Signaling]…resistance from the big state governors and other quarters, a member of the Defense Science Board, James Miller, a former under-Secretary of Defense, resigned today. [He wrote] a scorching letter to the Secretary of Defense saying both he [current SecDef] and Trump had violated their oaths of office and the law.

Defense Science Board member, James Miller’s resignation is the beginning, I believe, of a domino effect that will bring Trump down.
*For now, leaders such as Marco Rubio still prop up the stale edifice. Rubio (R-Fla.), the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said about the attacks on peaceful protesters outside the White House:

“That wasn’t even a protest ― that was a provocation … created deliberately for national television… Show me the pictures of that crowd and tell me those are real protesters and not professional agitators.” 

Meanwhile, Republican Voters Against Trump, a Republican group opposed to President Donald Trump urges voters to end his “American carnage” by voting him out of office in November. The group is using Fox & Friends, one of Trump’s favorite TV shows, to spread the message.

The spot uses the president’s own words against him and is centered around a line from his inauguration has taken on new meaning amid a deadly pandemic and nationwide civil unrest: “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”

Former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, wrote in The Atlantic:

It sickened me yesterday to see security personnel — including members of the National Guard — forcibly and violently clear a path through Lafayette Square to accommodate the president's visit outside St. John's Church. I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump's leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent.
Whatever Trump's goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing

Televangelist Pat Robertson, on his “700 Club” TV show, scolded President Donald Trump over his threat to send the U.S. military into American cities to control civil unrest.

“You just don’t do that, Mr. President. It isn’t cool.”
In comments posted online by Right Wing Watch, Robertson also called out Trump for getting the tone all wrong in dealing with the people protesting against racial injustice in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, last week.
“You know, there’s a purpose to everything under heaven, you read in the Bible, and there’s a time,” Robertson said. “And I think now is the time to say, ’I understand your pain, I want to comfort you, I think it’s time we love each other.” 

Ah, yes, this is what I love about America and Americans. When the fur flies (aka “sh** hits the fan”) Americans guided by principle come out of the woodwork and show their courage.
I find fraternity at these times with James Miller, and Mike Mullen, and Republican Voters Against Trump, even very conservative Pat Robertson.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Third feature of Lockdown Syndrome: coupled with isolation, disconnection from the Internet for more than 24 hours causes irritation, anxiety, even depression.
Sitting by the garden pond helps, watching dragon- and damselflies helps. Seeing a vibrant Woodland Kingfisher certainly helps. But, there’s nothing like reconnection to the Internet!

***

Mea culpa. Fulsome complaining about the kitchen alarm and staff’s misuse of gas comes back to haunt.
It is true that staff does not moderate gas burners.
It is true that fire alarms are necessary tools to signal emergency.
And, it is true that alarms malfunction.
Indeed, malfunction was the root cause of our kitchen’s overactive alarm.
Another humbling lesson in why not to jump to conclusion, why not to assume, and why not to assign blame.
My excuse? I’m all-too-human.

On the topic of all-too-human, this was the perfect morning to listen to Arlo Guthrie’s, “City of New Orleans.”

Good morning, America
How are you?
Say, don’t you know me?
I’m your native son…

I listen, smile with joy … and cry with anguish as American burns. (Why brutalize people who justly claim their humanity?)
Crying is not allowed in my family of origin. Never has been, never will be.
So, like a well-trained seal (Bored Zoo Animal?) Dutiful Daughter sits on her bed, alone in her bedroom in KZN, far from friends and family in burning, adopted-country America, and cries.

Take care, Americans and America.
Do not give up your fight for your humanity, your human rights – and our democracy.

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Going cuckoo

After brief Internet connection, I’m disconnected. Again.
A “problem with the tower.”
The tower ain’t got no power!
Coming from California – close to hyper-urban, hi-tech Silicon Valley – to KZN’s rural low-tech Midlands demands patience.

News blues…

Uneasy about being cut off from US news during one of the most significant domestic moments of the New Millennium, I grimace… grumble … grouse…
Friends and family text me their local news:

• I’ve been watching videos of cops and undercover cops inciting violence. One video showed an undercover cop breaking windows. Another showed people intentionally pushing other people into the cops from behind then running away. What’s fascinating is that they used to get away with all this stuff but now it’s all captured on video so all can see the tactics.
• Resistance [to heavy-handed cops] is already happening. In Minneapolis a bus driver refuse to drive arrested protesters to jail. In a couple of places cops even joined protesters. This has never happened before - so it’s a good sign.
• [Congressman] Seth Moulton, a Democrat and a [war] vet just called on the military to “lay down arms” if ordered to confront protesters.
• As per the UN International Human Rights Standards of Law Enforcement pocket handbook, soldiers have a duty to refuse unlawful orders: “All measures for the restoration of order are to respect human rights.”

Leaders of the City of Alameda, an island city of approximately 74,000 souls and my home for 20 years, alerted residents that:

A curfew is in place…tonight and tomorrow night, June 1 and 2, from 8pm to 5am. If extended, we will continue to update the community.
Last night, May 31 into June 1, the East Bay was hit hard by widespread incidents of looting, burglaries, and violence. Here in Alameda, we experienced a dozen incidents from 9pm to 5am, and arrested 7 individuals. What we experienced was less severe than in neighboring cities, but damage was done to our community.
These unfortunate events will also further complicate statewide and regional efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19.
We have substantially increased the number of officers we have on duty and have contingency plans in place to address changing circumstances.
Curfew regulations…include that it is unlawful for any person to travel or be upon a public street, sidewalk, or public place within the City during dates and hours designated, unless you are exempt. Exemptions include essential workers and individuals traveling to and from work, seeking emergency care, fleeing dangerous circumstances, or experiencing homelessness.
The Alameda County Sheriff issued a curfew order for the entire County [1.67 million people] beginning tonight at 8pm and extending through June 5 at 5am.

Hmmm, nothing about banned cigarettes, rationed alcohol, or wearing/not wearing short-sleeved white undershirts.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Day 2 of Lockdown Level 3. Except for masks covering many but all faces in public, and the occasional store clerk holding an infra-red thermometer to customers’ foreheads, life here appears back to normal. Heavy traffic, crowded taxis, crowded shopping malls, crowded stores, crowded pavements.

***

The live-in domestic worker who took ill yesterday suffered, not a stroke, but a form of lockjaw!
She reports that a fellow patient in the communal ward where she spent the night suffered similar symptoms … and he succumbed. Dead.
I’m trying to get further details on the malady.
No one knows nothin’.
Without Internet, I can’t even consult the Internet’s diagnose-from-a- distance “health experts.”

***

Further symptoms of Lockdown Syndrome.
Sunday’s post admitted my growing obsession with the graphs displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.
Today, I admit my daily Weed Walk resembles the anxious lope of a Bored Zoo Exhibit. The swaying elephant… poop-tossing baboon… cage-circling wolf… breast-feather-plucking cuckoo….
Come 3 o’clock, I don walking shoes and pluck weeds while I prowl: over mown and unmown lawns, up the stairs and turn right or down the stairs and turn left (last minute changes of direction add variety), around and around, up and down, down and up, over and under, under and over – over and over and over.
Vehicles passing on the dirt road poof clouds of dust that settles onto my hair and shoulders.
Hadidah ibis roosting on the electric pylon observe and chuckle raucously.
The dogs that once alleviated their boredom by following me no longer bother.
On the plus side, Weed Walking has eliminated garden weeds.
At 3:30, I dust off the dust … and visit my mother for a cup of tea and a dose of Judge Judy.

Click to enlarge.

End of day, I review the graph displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.
Love the pattern!

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“Change in political and economic power”

Protestors demonstrate in 

Columbia, S.C. in response 

to the recent killing of 

George Floyd at the hands 

of law enforcement. 

Sean Rayford, © The New York Times

Click to enlarge

Fourteen thousand miles/ twenty-three thousand kilometers from the US yet I feel, and sympathize (non-violently) with the anger in the streets of my adopted country.
I’ve lived, worked, and engaged with events in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years, including the 1992 Rodney King riots, the 2010 Oscar Grant riots, the 2003 anti-war protests, and the 2011 Occupy encampments.
What protesters say now was true then: We, the People, protest injustice and mobilize for change yet our protests go nowhere - beyond police banging up protesters, shooting with rubber bullets, and arresting hundreds.
We get labeled, too.
Once upon a time, “Communist” was the worst Boogieman name to label Americans. These days, “socialist”, even “Democrat”, thanks to Trump - are in the running, but both lag behind the current worst naming label: “Antifa.”
Antifa lends itself to amorphous projections that imply all the bugaboo lables: communist, un-American, traitor, terrorist, domestic terrorist, socialist, Democrat, radical, Left, far-Left, and ultra-Left. It implies youth: dissatisfied, disengaged, disenfranchised, disempowered. And, dare I say it, it implies poor “people of color”…
In fact, Antifa is an abbreviation for something truly American: anti-fascist.
Pronounced an-tee-fah, and defined as “a political protest movement comprising autonomous groups affiliated by their militant opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology.”
If Antifa is made up predominantly of young people (no proof of that) then these young people are among the most politically engaged Americans. They’re willing to risk their health and well-being to demand progressive change in our country.
South Africans know how to protest – effectively, too. Yet, for me right now, KZN seems so, so far from the current round of protests in the US that:

…shook more than three dozen [American] cities on Saturday as crowds expressed outrage over the death of George Floyd…. Demonstrators shut down freeways, set fires and battled police batons and tear gas…the pain and frustration of the moment spilling out into the streets.
In Columbia, the city where Mr. [Joe] Biden delivered his victory speech after the South Carolina primary just over three months ago, demonstrators on Saturday said they were demanding more than what it seemed like an election in November would deliver. Not only justice for the death of George Floyd, but change in political and economic power that would prevent the death of another black person in police custody, another brutal video going viral.

Ah, “change in political and economic power”….
“Change” is a tough enough ask of politicians.
Add “in political and economic power”… and you’re wandering into the realm of “ain’t gonna happen” – at least not without sustained protest.

News blues…

“Willing to kill democracy”?

…we can focus this simply on Trump or we can also focus on all of those folks that have enabled Trump: the Republican leadership, the corporation that may make statements in support of this work but, on the other hand, do all sorts of things to prop up, support, donate to Donald Trump. You don’t get Trump and Trumpism without a whole host of institutions and individuals that support and enable him.”

***

The Lincoln Project reports that Republican Senator Mitch McConnel responds to their ad, “Rich Mitch”  with a page from Trump’s playbook: tweeting insults.
McConnell roundly denounces the team who created the ad with name calling: inane, ridiculous, etc. But the Gentleman from Kentucky does not refute their central claim, that Mitch enriched himself at the cost of Kentucky.
To be fair, Mitch’s second wife Elaine Chao, inherited money after her mother died in 2007. That marriage would have increased Mitch’s net worth on paper. He balanced those books by elevating his wife to Transportation Secretary.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Further symptoms of Lockdown Syndrome. Yesterday, I described a growing obsession with the various patterns displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.
Today, I recognize my daily Weed Walking  around the garden resembles the anxious lope of a Bored Zoo Animal.
Limited access to Internet news and limited exposure to public behavior under Lockdown suggests South Africans view Lockdown Level 3 as an opportunity to socialize again.
Accordingly, I elected to delay until next week the gardener’s return to work, and then he’ll work only one day. Returning to/from work via public taxi one day a week poses a risk of Covid-19 infection; returning three days a week is a greater risk, one I’m unwilling to take.

***

Yesterday, one domestic worker suffered a medical episode that’s a repeat of an event eight years ago diagnosed as a stroke.
Her face swelled up and her upper lip was rigid. Swelling is not a feature of stroke, nor is moving around easily.
An ambulance transported her to a provincial public hospital.
This raises a dilemma.
South Africa’s notoriously under-funded and over-crowded public hospitals cater to, well, ill people, including people carrying, knowingly or unknowingly, coronavirus.
Today, I sought advice from a “sister” – an advanced nursing professional – on how safely to incorporate the worker back into the household.
The domestic worker returned – unexpectedly by public taxi – to quarantine.
We’ll all take necessary precautions.

***

Another round of canna removal.
The succulent garden I imagine slowly takes shape.

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Micromanaging, or barely managing?

Lockdown Level 3 begins at midnight. Confused messaging from the country’s leadership adds up to overall confusion among the people.
Forty-eight hours without Internet means 48 hours without easy access to news.
Forty-eight hours without Internet is like a month on a desert island with a can of beans but no can opener.

News blues…

Brief peeks at the news via my cell phone indicate confusion reigns about what is and is not permitted during Lockdown Level 3.
Cigarettes? Still banned. Except … cigarettes can be “transported for export” while also “prohibited to be sold, and prohibited to be bought” [sic] and “police have a right to seek the receipt of where you have bought cigarettes….”
If I were a smoker, my brain would fry ….
Work? “An essential or permitted work permit from the employer is required” - or not. No “letter from employer” exists in Level 3 regulations, and a permit is required only for movement across provinces, districts and metro boundaries, or declared hotspots.
Dress code? The confusion regarding “short-sleeved t-shirts as under-garments” reminds me of Woody Allen’s 1970s movie, “Bananas.” The storyline includes an authoritarian leader insisting citizens wear clean underwear. To prove they’re changing underwear regularly and according to law, citizens must wear underwear on the outside.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

This morning, soon after sunrise, the upstairs kitchen alarm squawked three different times.
Back in February, I installed two small battery-powered fire alarms inside my mother’s large house.
I placed one alarm above her bed. This because, despite my entreaties to the contrary, my mother burns an open candle next to her bed at night – she says its to memorialize her dead partner. Try arguing with that!
I placed the second alarm on the wall above the kitchen stove.
In the past week, soon after sunrise, the kitchen alarm has squawked five times.
Each time, still in pajamas, I slip on shoes, depart my warm room, run through the garden, up the back stairs, along the balcony, and enter the hallway that leads to the kitchen.
Each time, I’ve found no one inside the kitchen while steam rises furiously from a pot filled with dog food bubbling on the stovetop.
Does humans depart the kitchen because a watched pot never boils?

I’ve demonstrated to the staff how to moderate gas flow.
I explained the theory and mechanics of moderating gas flow.
I attempted to raise awareness of the economics of natural gas, even, in desperation, expounded on the politics of fossil fuels and described the impending disasters of climate change.
Other than increasing resentment toward me – and the alarm – there’s no sign of behavior modification.
Soon as I depart the kitchen, the gas is full throttle again.
My mother’s attitude?
Yes, natural gas is expensive, “But,” she claims, “I can’t hear the alarm.”
(Translation: if she can’t hear it, it doesn’t squawk.)
My mother’s solution after today’s three episodes? “We should turn off the alarm.” (Translation: “We” means yours truly.)
Flabbergasted, I departed the kitchen and scuffled along the balcony, down the back stairs, through the garden, and into my warm room.
Still dressed in pajamas, I returned to bed.
I developed a throbbing headache and a fever.
An effective headache capsule convinced me I hadn’t contracted Covid-19. Just to be sure, I (gratefully) self-isolated and spent the day quietly pondering 1) life in general: why opt for live-in staff? And, 2) my life in particular: what the hell am I doing in South Africa?
I could die here.

Lockdown Level 3 decrees no domestic or international flights. I cannot follow my instinct to flee back to California, back to where violent protest against violent police killing innocent Americans makes more sense than disarming an alarm because it works.
Am I a traitor if question why someone who:

• spends her day watching TV spend none of her day watching TV news.
• reads nothing, hasn’t been outside the gate for eight weeks, and pays no attention to official Covid-19 recommendations, believes she’s au courant?
• never insists on staff wearing masks “out there”
• never insists on staff sanitizing their hands after re-entering the property yet when I insist, tells me they wash their hands with “soap”?

I don’t want to suffocate on mucus – a typical Covid-19 death - due to uninterest and lack of information.

***

Symptom of Lockdown Fever: Obsessively tracking cell phone’s battery level.
I use an elderly iPhone, model 6. Before departing California, I visited an Apple store to replace the phone battery.
Apple no longer supports iPhone model 6.
I left California with the iPhone battery I have, not the iPhone battery I want.
I purchased a back-up battery charger to counter Eskom’s program of load shedding.
Background: Eskom is South Africa’s state-owned-enterprise that supplies the nation with electricity.
Load shedding is Eskom’s solution to dwindling electrical capacity: it “saves” energy by switching off the electrical grid for wide swathes of the country for anywhere from 6 to 10 hours, sometimes longer, per day.
One upside to the pandemic is Eskom refraining from load shedding for now (although electricity still fails for long minutes).
Lack of availability of energy – coal-generated electricity or electrically charged phone batteries – focuses one’s attention.
I’ve become fascinated with the bar graph displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.

(Disclaimer: directions for an iPhone 6. Directions for android or other phone may differ.)

1) Go to “Settings”
2) Scroll to and select “Battery > ”
3) Scroll to “Last 24 Hours”
4) Examine the graph.

Green bars indicate regular battery use. Yellow bars indicate Low Power Mode. Red bars indicate battery charge is dangerously low.
Note: No bars indicate iPhone switched off

If, like me, you’re “arty” and would like to create your own charge pattern, vary your use of Full and Low Power mode. Experiment with creating nice green/yellow/red display patterns.
Such is life under Lockdown Levels 5 and 4. Little indication that Level 3 will change much.
Am I losing my marbles?
I remind myself: lockdown will end.
When it does, I suspect we’ll see a flurry of post-lockdown support groups for people who, like me, showed signs of going bonkers around Day 60.
“Hello, I’m Susan. I’m addicted to checking the bar graphs displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.”

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No ‘net, no post. Reprise!

Just as America explodes in rage and this Enquiring Mind wants to follow the news, I exceeded my monthly Internet data usage.
Temporarily disconnected, this Saturday post published Monday.

News blues…

 Law enforcement officers gather
in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
on May 29, as fires burn after a
night of unrest.
(c) David Joles/Star Tribune/AP
Click to enlarge.

Last week, unarmed and handcuffed 46-year-old George Floyd died after a police officer pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee on Floyd's neck. Three other police officers watched for up to nine minutes as Floyd, still pinned, suffocated to death.
Following outraged protesters burning a Minneapolis police station, five hundred Minnesota National Guardsmen were deployed to St. Paul, Minneapolis and surrounding communities.
Subsequently, protests exploded around the country.

With his usual (lack of) leadership, inimitable Trump Tweeted,

"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"

The orange-head knows how to, well, inflame.
Protests are symptoms of social dis-ease - and protesters don’t respond kindly to politics-as-usual treatment.
Unfortunately, the Democrats running Joe Biden for president present a band-aid, not holistic healing nor the long overdue amputation of gangrenous organs in the US-body politic.

***

Clip from the video ad 

© Center for Responsive Politics

Click to enlarge.

Mitch morphs: “Rich Mitch” is the latest moniker succinctly describing Mitch McConnell, Republican Senator from Kentucky. Other monikers:
From Grim Reaper to Moscow Mitch. Sparked by the various revelations into Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election, Mitch blocked a proposal that would have required candidates, staffers, and family members to alert federal authorities if offered aid by foreign governments.
Thank you, TV host Joe Scarborough for “Moscow Mitch.”
From Moscow Mitch to Midnight Mitch. During Trump’s impeachment, McConnell restricted impeachment managers to 24 hours over two days. Given the 1 p.m. start time, that meant arguments would continue into the early morning hours - when no one would be watching.
Thank you, ace reporter Carl Bernstein for “Midnight Mitch.”
From Midnight Mitch to Rich Mitch. “After 35 years, Kentuckians are still waiting for the kinds of opportunities Rich Mitch has worked so hard to give himself.”  (58 seconds)
Thank you, The Lincoln Project for “Rich Mitch.”

“Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures”
If the current moment represented business-as-usual national politics, Republican-centric The Lincoln Project, would not aim devastatingly negative ads at Republican political leaders, corrupt or not. Nor would they promote a Democrat for president.
Corporate/financial-capital-beholden Democrat Joe Biden is about as middle-of-the-road as politicians come…which is why The Lincoln Project promotes him.
Joe may as well be Republican for all the desperately needed political change his presidency will bring.
Nevertheless, it is increasingly clear that democracy as We, the People know it will not survive another four years of Donald J Trump.
It may not survive another four weeks.
Whether voted out of office or hauled from the White House wrapped in a straight-jacket, Trump must go.

“Actions or affiliations that would seem extreme during normal times are appropriate during times of adversity.”
To the extent that I appreciate The Lincoln Project’s  sense of humor, dedication to principle, and growing list of succinct ads, I declare myself an “Honorary” (Lincoln Project) Republican.
Background of “Honorary.” Before 1994, foreign dignitaries who planned to visit South Africa, but didn’t meet apartheid’s stringent “sniff test” – color, race, political ideology, etc. - were temporarily classified “Honorary.” This “sanitized” the visitor from the white South African government’s political molestation for the duration of the visit.
Visitors such as US Ambassador to the UN Andrew Young during the Carter administration, soul musician Percy Sledge (1970), chanteuse Shirley Bassey (1985) legally crossed South Africa’s border and, briefly, thrilled South Africans.
As an “Honorary” (Lincoln Project) Republican I’m inside the tent Lyndon Johnson referred to back in October 1971 when he spoke of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover: “It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

Whackjobbery, never ending…

Conspiracy theories thrive on right-wing radio. 
Much of the media coverage of right-wing pundits tends to focus on Fox News hosts … who can count on Trump watching their shows and are able to serve as informal advisers. But conservative talk radio is an immensely important part of the pro-Trump media ecosystem. Nationally syndicated shows [and] a sprawling network of local hosts, function as a means of reaching the Republican base and gauging its feelings.

“One of the big roles of conservative media in the past 20 to 30 years has been doing the mediation between Republican office holders and the conservative base,” said Nicole Hemmer, author of “Messengers of the Right” and a research scholar at Columbia University.
When Republican voters have felt confusion or frustration with Trump’s reactions to the coronavirus pandemic, hosts have stepped in to reassure listeners and mend those rifts while validating their audience’s grievances.
…an array of conservative talk radio stars … reach[ing] tens of millions of listeners every week… have spent the pandemic downplaying the crisis, promoting conspiracy theories and sycophantically praising Trump. These hosts have created an alternate reality that exists largely outside the scrutiny of fact-checkers and mainstream press coverage, spreading unchallenged misinformation that threatens public health.
Scanning through top conservative radio hosts’ recent coronavirus coverage reveals a staggering number of falsehoods and facile arguments…[touting] an unproven coronavirus treatment as a miracle cure….[railing] against social distancing measures and [defending] armed lockdown protests.

“The Only Good Democrat Is A Dead Democrat”

[Recently], the president quote-tweeted a video shared by Cowboys for Trump. In the video, the group’s founder, Couy Griffin, is speaking in front of a New Mexico church, encouraging his audience to violate stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve come to a conclusion where the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat,” says Griffin, going on to add that he doesn’t mean that in a “physical sense,” but in a “political sense.”

In response, President Donald Trump tweeted a note of thanks.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The invasive canna plant is disinclined to separate from fertile KZN soil.
After dumping two wheelbarrows-full of canna stems and leaves, I tackled the roots and tubers. These tend to clump. Clumping requires intervention with heavy tools such as pickaxe and garden fork. Pickaxe and garden fork require strength and fortitude… of which I have a limited supply.
Before giving up for today, I removed five clumps of canna – each the surface area of an extra-large pizza and the depth of a millstone.
Fourteen more clumps to tackle.
My reward for back-stressing work? Relaxing in a hot bath as I imagine that section of garden with semi-shade indigenous plants….

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

Read   Week 1 |   Week 2   |  Week 3  |  Week 4 |  Week 5  | Week 6  |  Week 7  |  Week 8  |  Week 9  |  Week 10 

See photos  Spying on Garden Creatures 

Watch  Videos of Garden Creatures

“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?

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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.

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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….”

Read   Week 1 |   Week 2   |  Week 3  |  Week 4 |  Week 5  | Week 6  |  Week 7  |  Week 8  |  Week 9 

See photos  Spying on Garden Creatures 

Watch  Videos of Garden Creatures