Mindboggling numbers

Each week I ponder whether to post coronavirus statistics on the last day of the week or on the first day of the next week.
This week’s numbers of infections and death around the world are rising so precipitously it feels appropriate to examine them, understand them, do our best not to contribute to further rise – and begin a new week fresh and hopeful….
Week 13’s numbers… compared with Week 12’s:

• June 25 - worldwide: 9,409,000 confirmed infections; 482,190 deaths
  June 19 - worldwide: 8,489,000 confirmed infections; 454,007 deaths
• June 25 - US: 2,381,540 infections; 121,980 deaths
  June 19 - US: 2,191,100 confirmed infections; 118,435 deaths
• June 25 - SA: 111,800 confirmed infections; 2,205 deaths
  June 19 - SA: 83,890 confirmed infections; 1,737 deaths

News blues…

• Global report on numbers. 
• South Africa sees its biggest ever single-day increase, a total of 111,796 includes more than 5,800 cases reported in the past 24 hours 
• As the US records highest one-day total in coronavirus cases since April...

...the president and Feds Set To Cut Coronavirus Testing Funds As COVID-19 Cases Soar COVID-19 testing centers across five states are set to lose federal funding next week after the Trump administration decided not to extend the program that established them.
As a result, 13 testing sites across Colorado (1), Illinois (2), New Jersey (2), Pennsylvania (1) and Texas (7) will likely close if those states are unable to replace the necessary funding.
... Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir confirmed that the program that originally funded 41 such sites across 48 states would end next week… [as] part of a planned transition to “more efficient and effective testing sites,” noting that the original end date had already been postponed once.

“All 13 sites were provided an extra 30 days from the original transition date in May,” Giroir said, “and I personally spoke with Governors from all 5 states involved, and/or their leadership designees, who agreed that it was the appropriate time to transition out of the original 13 sites and into the thousands of new testing options.”

And Trump?
Trump is not just in denial but also indifferent to an unfolding American tragedy

... the best President Donald Trump cares to offer the thousands more Americans projected to shortly die of Covid-19 is the unsubstantiated prospect of a "beautiful surprise."
The US just hit its third highest ever peak of new coronavirus cases, multiple states are registering their own daily records and three are now taking the extraordinary step of imposing quarantines for citizens from pandemic hotspots. The world's most powerful nation lacks a coherent national strategy to meet another cresting viral crisis, the capacity or even the willingness to take steps that might stop it.
It is also led by a man who is suggesting by his actions and attitudes that he doesn't care that much about the unfolding tragedy.
Trump, who has previously predicted a "miracle" would occur or the virus would just disappear in the warmer weather, again declared falsely Wednesday that the danger had passed -- even with the nation racing towards another deadly summit of infection.

The weirdest thing?
According to a Reuters poll  37 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of this health crisis.
How can 37 out of every 100 Americans approve?
Mindboggling.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s tough to sustain vigilance against an unseen, mysterious, and, yes, controversial virus. It appears vast numbers of people cannot grasp the concept of a pandemic or its wide-ranging implications.
Confused, contradictory messaging (Trump) – or too little messaging/too many messengers (Ramaphosa and Dlamini Zuma) – doesn’t help.
Add a dash of WhatsApp misinformation and voilà! People fill the gaps in their knowledge with wishful thinking.
After my quick walk-for-exercise around the neighborhood today, I dropped by a neighbor’s house. She displayed a WhatsApp message listing more than a dozen schools, malls, and business in Pietermaritzburg that had shut their doors due to a spike in infections in that city.

Graph shows 9 out of 10 Internet
users in South Africa are
active on WhatsApp Click to enlarge

That WhatsApp is the messaging app-of-choice for 9 out of 10 South African mobile phone users does not mean WhatsApp info is accurate.
Back home, I researched the data and found that, yes, indeed, Pietermaritzburg (a 15- to 20-minute drive away) is:

… on high alert following a dramatic rise in the number of reported coronavirus infections across the city… Since last week, cases have been reported in at least five schools, shopping and retail outlets, city hall, and the electricity department in Havelock Road. A local magistrate, Mumsy Boikhutso, who tested positive for coronavirus, this week succumbed to Covid-19.
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health’s Ntokozo Maphisa … called on the community not to be careless and to follow all the protocols of social distancing, wearing masks, sanitising and staying at home if possible.
“Covid-19 is a pandemic affecting the whole world … we must accept that this virus is with us… It is now up to us to follow the rules that are in place. We must think of ourselves and our loved ones. Let us not be careless.”

Amen, Maphisa.
Friends, let’s be careful out there.

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To jest or not to jest…

So, is Trump kidding or not kidding when he said he’d had directed his administration to slow coronavirus testing in the United States?
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was “speaking only in jest”…
Trump later said he was “semi-joking”….

Anyone looking for guidance from the White House on avoiding the coronavirus is on her or his own. Good luck out there and, y’know, all that stuff….

MeidasTouch (“because truth is golden”) presents their view: “Trump kills US.”

News blues…

Things are not going well in South Africa – and we don’t even have a Trump confusing issues.

Eastern Cape “Premier Oscar Mabuyane said on Monday 22 June that 15,751 people in the Eastern Cape had tested positive for the coronavirus. With 8,035 people having recovered that left 7,716 active cases and 285 deaths.
The province’s biggest metro, Nelson Mandela Bay, had 4,706 positive cases, of whom 2,116 had recovered and 86 deaths.
…“The current doubling rate is 10 days and this will get shorter. Hospitals are already turning people away because there are no beds.”
Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the main driver of infections in the metro remains poor adherence to precautionary measures like washing hands, wearing a mask in public and maintaining personal distance.
He said they had managed to reduce the testing backlog in the province and now had a turnaround time of between 48 and 72 hours. Last month it was between 14 and 21 days.

***
Daily Maverick webinar, “Two Minutes to Midnight: Will Cyril Ramaphosa's ANC survive?”
Host Ferial Haffajee in discussion with author Dr Oscar Van Heerden

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My daily walk around the neighborhood is circumscribed by reality.
Since a woman walking alone is a target for mugging, I repeatedly walk the same circular route away from main thoroughfares. I also carry an impressive wooden knobkerrie walking stick and pepper spray.
Walking the same way, the same routine, in the same fashion each day quickly becomes tedious.
The same dogs bark.
I greet the dogs the same way: “Hello, Curly Tail”… “Woof, woof, woof, doglets” … “Oh, what a big barks you have!” ….
One section of this repetitive walk passes a yard with two boxers. The alpha dog works himself into a frenzy as I pass his territory. When his companion boxer joins in the fun, the alpha attacks it. Yesterday’s attack was particularly vicious: the younger dog was savaged as long as I remained in sight.
The message came across loud and clear: dastardly human, watch me savage my pal and pretend it’s you!
An experience not for the faint hearted.
Today, instead of walking the neighborhood, I returned to loping around the garden: around the pond (no goldfish), up and down one set of stairs, down and up another set of stairs, around the apple tree, past the compost pile… and repeat – for forty minutes.
After that, I returned to revamping the section of garden where I’d recently removed the canna plants.
I recycled bearded iris tubers and replanted them in what I hope will be another small garden with purple bearded iris.
I also recycled several logs that have been beautifully hollowed out by ants. I’ll fill the logs’ nooks and crannies with soil and create organic planters perfect for small succulents.
It’s essential, during Lockdown, to keep busy, plan, implement, exercise. And remind yourself that, this, too, shall pass.
But, oh. When?

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Silver linings

The Africa Medical Supplies Platform is coming!
Ubuntu in action.
The AMSP is designed to unlock access to supplies across the continent and save money for African countries suffering high rates of viral infection.
I hope it works.
President Ramaphosa calls it a “silver lining… the glue that is going to bind the continent together.”

“The one-stop shop [will] give the continent a fairer chance in the international scramble for Covid-19 test kits, protective equipment and any vaccines that emerge.” 

Finally, a scramble for Africa by Africans for Africans.

News blues…

Trump, post Tulsa rally.
Click to enlarge.

Portrait of a man beaten - at least, a man temporarily beaten.
Trump, being Trump, will find a way to rebound and reframe and re-rally.
For now, though, even his tie has come undone.
As mentioned yesterday, I’m not a fan but I recognize compassion when I feel it.
Watch the 3 short video memes in this article – set to appropriate music - and tell me you don’t feel a flicker of pity for The Donald as the memes multiply….

Is Donald Trump finally paying “a direct, personal price for his pandemic denial - the possible shelving of the thing he cares about most, the raucous rallies that defined his political rise and are crucial to his reelection hopes”? 

We’ll see.

Sara Cooper passes comment on Trump’s Tulsa turmoil with her latest voice over: How to empty seat. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m not a person who shies from “speaking truth to power” – no matter the power. I’m not very successful at it – no eponymous not-for-profit organization, few interviews on “mainstream media”, little to no income generated from freelance writing, radio show short-lived – four years (Raising Sand Radio), conned by my book publisher, etc., etc.
Moreover, I’m an equal opportunity speaker: I alienate friends and colleagues on the Left and foes on the Right, and on multiple continents, too. (I’m not boasting. I wish I had better control of the conduit between my outrage and my emotional intelligence.)
Overall, though, I’m not someone who gives up. It’s odd, therefore, to find myself locked up in Lockdown, inside looking out.
I follow the rules: maintain social distance, wear a mask, wash my hands, and stay home.
I read online news. I participate in webinars. I read WhatsApp messages from a small circle of friends (one of whom, after I requested that she discern truth from conspiracy theories, deleted me from her group).
While I talk regularly on the phone to friends and family in the US – who follow virus-related safety precautions, stay home, and work online via Zoom - I’m without face-to-face friends.
Nevertheless, I’m relatively cozy: nourished, warm enough, safe enough.
“Out there”: hunger stalks, cold weather unavoidable, and, too often, shelter and security inadequate. Accordingly, I donate small amounts of funds to a local non-profit that provides food and essentials to children and families. It all feels – is – insufficient in the face of reality.

One day a week, I learn from our public-taxi-commuting gardener about the effects of lockdown on him, his family, and residents of his “location.”
(FYI: “Location” usually describes an underdeveloped sub-urban residential area. “Township” denotes larger residential communities built on the periphery of towns and cities that may/may not offer electricity, septic tanks, garbage/rubbish disposal service. “Informal settlements” describes shacks cobbled together on land residents have no legal claim to/occupy illegally and offer no amenities other than what is carried in/out.)
The gardener reports that, to date, no one he knows has contracted Covid-19, that, of those residents who had jobs before lockdown, many still have jobs waiting for them and, for now, income/handouts from those jobs. (I’m happy to hear it although I suspect this is unusual.)

With infections surging in South Africa, I reduced our gardener’s working/commuting days to reduce the risk of contagion for my 87-year-old mother and her two health-compromised, live-in domestic workers (one diabetic, one asthmatic).
I found him another day job in the neighborhood. I offered to place a classified ad in the local newspaper seeking yet another day of work, if needed. He declined: his current schedule suits.
Last week, after work, I sent him home with an assortment of groceries: chicken, rice, apples, spinach, potatoes etc., and chocolate brownies for his two kids.
It’s awkward purchasing groceries across culinary cultures. Would his family like chicken feet or chicken thighs? Canned beans or unprocessed samp? Chocolate cookies or garish pink coconut-sprinkled puff balls?
Whether more to Euro-American than Zula taste buds, he carried the groceries in two ordinary store bags.
This week, I played it safe and gave him one 12.5 kg bag of mealie/maize meal, a Zulu staple.
He asked for a black bin liner.
As I handed it over, he explained the opaque bin liner disguises the contents resulting in fewer strangers hitting him up for food.

***

I’ve two more opportunities to flee and fly:

Opportunity 1: Health Alert: Announcing June 27 Repatriation Flight on Lufthansa – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa.
Event:  The South African Ministry of Health has confirmed [then] 83,890 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
Announcing June 27 Lufthansa Flight
We have been notified of a special commercial repatriation flight operated by Lufthansa from Cape Town to Frankfurt and onward connecting destinations on Saturday, June 27, 2020.
Flight information:

• Potential passengers must book their tickets directly with Lufthansa. To make a booking please visit: www.lufthansa.com. Seats are subject to availability and sales close on 21 June 2020.
• IMPORTANT: You must select “ONE WAY” when making you booking online, as this a special repatriation flight and not a regular commercial flight. Only once you have made a confirmed booking for this repatriation flight, you must complete the attached Passenger Information excel document and return this to Lufthansa via the following email: Jnbmarketing@dlh.de
• The flight will depart from Cape Town to Frankfurt, Germany and connecting destinations.
• Passengers will be responsible for travel to their final destination in the United States.
• Once the flight has been closed for sale, all passengers who have purchased a ticket will receive information about the assembly point. This will be provided by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Passengers will be responsible for finding transportation to the required assembly point. The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany will issue you with a letter which allows passengers to travel to the assembly point. Thereafter, all passengers will be transported from the assembly point to Cape Town International Airport by bus. Please note that you may not travel directly to the airport yourself.
• For any questions regarding availability, cost, baggage allowance, or other flight details, please contact Lufthansa directly.

Opportunity 2: Health Alert: Announcing June 28 Repatriation Flight on Ethiopian Airlines – U.S. Embassy Pretoria, South Africa
Event: The South African Ministry of Health has confirmed 101,590 cases of COVID-19 within its borders.
We have been notified of a special commercial repatriation flight operated by Ethiopian Airlines to Chicago, United States on Sunday, June 28.
Flight information:

• Interested passengers must book their tickets directly with Ethiopian Airlines by contacting SouthAfricaSalesTeam@ethiopianairlines.com.
• The flight will depart from Johannesburg and then Cape Town on Sunday, June 28 before proceeding to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and onward to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, United States.
• Passengers will be responsible for travel to their final destination in the United States from Chicago O’Hare.
• This flight is open to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents, and visa holders who have received DHA approval to depart South Africa.
• Passengers will be responsible for finding transportation to the required assembly point, which will be communicated by Ethiopian Airways prior to the flight departure.
• Travel permission letters for U.S. citizens and green card holders are not required unless you will be crossing provinces to arrive at the assembly point. If you must cross a provincial border to join this repatriation flight, please write to SAEvacuation@state.gov requesting a travel letter. Include your name, passport or greencard number, current address, and flight confirmation.
• For any questions regarding availability, cost, baggage allowance, or other flight details, please contact Ethiopian Airlines directly.
  ...

U.S. Mission Repatriation EffortsIf you would like to depart South Africa, we highly recommend you avail yourself of any available opportunity, even if it is not your desired flight route. We cannot guarantee frequency of special repatriation, nor can we guarantee that previously scheduled commercial flights will depart as planned. We do not have further information about when regular international commercial flights will resume.
To date, over 30 repatriation flights have departed to the United States in coordination with airlines and friendly mission partners since the government lockdown, returning over 1500 U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and visa holders to the United States. For questions about other potential upcoming repatriation opportunities, please contact the airlines directly for details.…

Despite my personal drawbacks and the public health situation, I’m mentally-emotionally unable to depart.
Certainly, travel restrictions affect my decision – how do I make my way to Cape Town? Or Johannesburg? – but restrictions hamper only if I allow them to hamper.
Rather, I appear to have accepted/intuited that I’ll remain here until the expected surge – August? September? – has receded.
In other words, the conduit between my brain and my emotional intelligence has presented a solution I can live with – at least psychologically.
Yet, I must figure out how to vote in the US presidential election, 3 November.
Silver linings, indeed.

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Capitalizing on capitalism

The planet is on the cusp of 9 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 with almost half a million dead.
A month or two ago such numbers seemed wildly unlikely.
Now? Not so much.
As confirmed cases keep multiplying - South Africa heads towards 100,000, Brazil 1.1 million, and the US 2.3 million – we humans adjust, albeit reluctantly. Some adjust by increasing their humanity to fellow humans. Others adjust by increasing their net worth.
Back in 1981, Pink Floyd’s music alluded to the power of money over the human psyche:

Money, it's a gas/ Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash…
Money, get back/ I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack
Money, it's a hit/ Don't give me that do goody good bullshit

(Listen to “Money”  - 6:29 mins)

Maybe I’m full of “that do goody good bullshit” but… I’m still shocked by revelations that nursing homes are evicting frail, poor/low income elderly humans in favor of elderly humans who bring in more … money.

… in America, nursing homes have come to symbolize the deadly destruction of the coronavirus crisis. More than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have died, representing more than 40 percent of the total death toll in the United States.
But even as they have been ravaged, nursing homes … are taking on coronavirus-stricken patients to ease the burden on overwhelmed hospitals — and, at times, to bolster their bottom lines.
… They are kicking out old and disabled residents — among the people most susceptible to the coronavirus — and shunting them into homeless shelters, rundown motels, and other unsafe facilities…
Many of the evictions, known as involuntary discharges, appear to violate federal rules that require nursing homes to place residents in safe locations and to provide them with at least 30 days’ notice before forcing them to leave.
… Medicare often pays for short-term rehabilitation stints; Medicaid covers longer-term stays for poor people.
Nursing homes have long had a financial incentive to evict Medicaid patients in favor of those who pay through private insurance or Medicare, which reimburses nursing homes at a much higher rate than Medicaid.
RC Kendrick, an 88-year-old with dementia, was living at Lakeview Terrace [where his] family had placed him there to make sure he got round-the-clock care after his condition deteriorated and he began disappearing for days at a time.
But on April 6, the nursing home deposited Mr. Kendrick at an unregulated boardinghouse — without bothering to inform his family. Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Kendrick was wandering the city alone.
… According to three Lakeview employees, Mr. Kendrick’s ouster came as the nursing home was telling staff members to try to clear out less-profitable residents to make room for a new class of customers who would generate more revenue: patients with Covid-19.

News blues…

Trump held a re-election campaign rally – and nobody came!
Trump claimed a million people would show up at the venue that has a capacity of 19,000. Only 6,200 showed up.
Naturally, he and his team blame the media, “thugs” aka protesters, this, that, and the next thing.
Turns out, he was punked by savvy teenagers. 

The Lincoln Project quickly responded to the failed rally:

Donald Trump kicked off his re-launch in Tulsa. And, like the man himself, it was a disaster, and much smaller than he promised.
But, as soon as he started talking, he did exactly what we thought he would do: lie, praise the Confederacy, and then lie some more.
Every time Trump opens his mouth, we need to be there to hit back with the truth.
What a failure.
He's losing.
We can see it in the polls, and now Donald Trump can see it in his own crowds: His numbers are shrinking.
He can’t deliver on COVID-19 testing. And now he can’t even deliver crowds.
Millions are turning away from Trump….

Watch the ad, Shrinking (0:45 mins)

I admit that I am not only not a Trump fan but I am the opposite of a fan, something Merriam Webster defines “nonadmirer”, “belittler”, “carper”, “critic”, and “detractor.”
I’d accept “nonadmirer” and “critic” but my lack of fan-dom is more complicated than simply pasting the correct term on my feelings.
I also harbor a smidgen of compassion for The Donald.
His narcissism combined with his craving to be loved means he’s both where he wants to be – the center of attention – and where he hates to be – publicly lampooned around the world.
For a world class narcissist, this is psychological torment.
I agree with Trump’s former friend, Howard Stern, SiriusXM radio host, who claimed during an interview with Steven Colbert, that Donald Trump didn’t really want to be president.

“I firmly believe that Donald did not want to run for president, I don’t think it was serious…. I knew him. He had a great life at Mar-a-Lago. He was running around town. He played golf. He had a good time.”
Stern said Trump was trying to negotiate more money from NBC for “The Apprentice” and ran for president as a tactic to get a raise.

Ouch. Instead of The Apprentice and a hefty raise, Trump’s known as Ass, Buffoon, Bully, Bunker Boy, Clown - and at least 25 other names.

I’ve a solution: Trump should feign a heart attack and give up the presidency – out of the goodness of his heart, of course.
A fake/ faux heart attack would earn him sympathy rather than antipathy. From his palatial sick bed he could Tweet how it’s not his fault that he can no longer carry the world upon his shoulders, how unfair it is that the American People are deprived of his bigly deal-making skills, how he’ll MAGA from the 100th floor of Trump Tower or his Mar-a-Largo suite….
A faux heart attack would solve Trump’s president problem – and the world’s Trump problem.
It’s a win/win for the world and a zero/sum game for Trump.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My soft spot for vervet monkeys comes from a childhood with a young male vervet as a pet. Jacko went everywhere with me and my brothers – for long hikes and horse rides in the veldt (grasslands), swimming, bathing, sleeping….
The closest I come to befriending the monkeys in this neighborhood is admiring them and talking to them as they pass.
Once largely considered vermin in South Africa, vervets are protected by national and provincial conservation legislation and national animal protection legislation. They’ve been on the Cites (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) list since 1974 although were only declared "protected" in September 2004.
Injuring or killing vervet monkeys is a jail-able offence. That does not mean, unfortunately, that people do not harm them. (This 3-egged monkey lost a hind leg to accident, trap, or injury)

A troop of at least 37 vervet monkeys visited the garden today, in dribs and drabs – some raided the avocado tree and some the bird feeder while others dashed to-and-fro along the aerial electrical cable (amazing how they use their tails to balance on the narrow cable).
Winter is in full swing and monkeys are hungry. Feeding them is not an option: they become more dependent, more of a nuisance, more likely to become aggressive towards other species and humans, and more likely to be injured or killed by irate humans.
Moreover, wild monkeys are highly susceptible to diseases from human hands and can die from bacteria transferred from a human hand that has no ill effect on the human.
Feeding creates a dangerous dependency on humans that diminishes the monkeys’ survival abilities.
Contrary to the stereotype, bananas are not the preferred food of monkeys in the wild. Bananas, especially those containing pesticides, can be upsetting to the monkeys’ delicate digestive system and cause serious dental problems that can lead to eventual death.
Feeding interferes with the monkeys’ natural habits and upsets the balance of lives centered on eating wild fruits, seeds, small animals, and insects.
Most interestingly, monkeys need to travel an average of 17 kilometers each day to be in good physical condition. If they know that food is available in a particular location, they will not leave that area.

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Smart, at last!

Happy Father’s Day and happy solstice!

News blues…

In South Africa, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that in the past 24 hours, “the cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 92,681. The mortality rate is 2 percent.”
These numbers are alarming – particularly as South Africans, like Americans, appear to have decided the risk of contracting the virus is more welcome than suffering further lockdown tedium.
The people of Tulsa, Oklahoma, however, displayed unexpected wisdom and didn’t budge from home.
After weeks of controversy about Trump’s first campaign rally to take place in months “and held against the advice of Trump’s own coronavirus task force, which had urged White House officials to nix the event amid fears it might spread coronavirus,” Americans elected to watch it on TV.
Perhaps it was the message that:

“potential rallygoers would participate in the event at their own risk [or that the] registration page for the rally included “a legal disclaimer that said attendees could not sue Trump or his campaign if they found themselves infected with COVID-19” [or that] the Trump campaign confirmed that at least six Trump rally staffers [had] tested positive for the coronavirus [and were]...immediately quarantined.”  

Whatever kept you home (an expected audience of 925,000!) We the People salute you!
I paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr.: Smart, smart at last, thank the gods, you’re getting smart at last!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Focusing on something other than lockdown continues to challenge. With domestic conundrums waking me each day with tense neck and shoulders muscles and tension headaches, I’m running out of new obsessions. (“Symptoms of Lockdown Fever.”)
The change to cold weather has subdued my garden and garden pond obsessions (goldfish are hiding; pond weed paths now covered with cypress needles; canna plants eradicated, cat’s claw eradication ongoing).
Alas, like nature, human brains abhor a vacuum, so this human brain is revisiting ideas for remodeling Otter Pop, my pontoon houseboat.
Currently, alone and unvisited, Otter Pop docks in a small marina on the San Joaquin River in California’s Sacramento Delta.
Until January, when I departed the US, I’d maintained the boat, the outboard motor, a deck garden with pots of basil, tomatoes, and parsley, and several hummingbirds that dropped by to sip at the feeder hanging off the bow.
On this winter solstice, I long for Otter Pop, summer temperatures (upper 30s, even low 40s C / 90s into 100s F), birds and otters and fish, fellow mariners, glorious sunrises and sunsets, even the islands of invasive water hyacinth that float through the marina's channel.
Instead, I’m cold, locked down, and isolated
All is not dismal, however: I’ve begun a virtual remodel of Otter Pop.
I’m researching materials with which to upgrade the deck – exterior and interior, how to clean two pontoons, or who I could hire to de-foul and maintain the pontoons, if necessary.
Besides overall maintainance, I plan to enlarge the “head” – the shower/toilet space – replace the too-small kitchen sink, and insulate interior walls with spray-on foam insulation.
Not sure when I’ll board Otter Pop again, but when I do, I’ll have plans aplenty.

Click to enlarge.
(c) Susan Galleymore
Jabula Arts

Sculpture on my mind.
Last week I mentioned my interest in returning to work in clay, or clay-like material.  The experiment conducted with cement/peat didn’t work: the mixed material is too soft and requires too much set up time.
The yen to work clay, however, hasn’t diminished.
As I figure out my next move on how to satisfy this yen, I revisit past sculptures, a handful of which exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area (Link to my Heedlessness series. )
This series grew out of meditating upon a line of Rumi poetry: "Heedlessness is a pillar that sustains our world, my friend.”
Apt, no?

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Avoid the “3 Cs”

Scientists around the world are sharing more of their findings about Covid-19.
Japanese research, for example, advises humans avoid the “3 Cs”: closed environments, crowded places, and close-contact settings.
Moreover, “Any one of us could unknowingly be a superspreader.”

News blues…

Reality check:

• Covid-19-related deaths rose to 1,831 across South Africa, including 60 deaths reported in the Western Cape, 27 in Gauteng and seven in KZN. 
• Brazil is now the world's second worst-hit country with more than 1 million COVID-19 cases, and nearly 50,000 deaths. 
• India reported 14,516 coronavirus cases and 375 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Remember, avoid the “3 Cs”, wear masks, wash hands, measure distance between people, and stay safe.

***

Ouch, The Lincoln Project is ramping up on Donald Trump. Their latest hard-hitting ad, “China”,  will drive The Donald crazy. (Well, crazier than usual. That whiff of smoke you detect wafting in Washington and Mar-a-Largo? That’s Bunker Boy’s Twitter account sizzling as he tries to duck and cover….)

***

Week’s Webinars
Daily Maverick: “Risks and Rotisserie Chicken: How safe is our food during Covid-19?” 
Hosted by Estelle Ellis with food expert Professor Lucia Anelich.
Takeaways:

• No current evidence the virus is transmitted via contaminated food and food packaging. (Coronavirus is a primarily a respiratory, not digestive, illness.)
• Do not disinfect your groceries with soap and water (soap is toxic to humans’ digestive systems).
• Virus is susceptible to drying out.
• Refrigeration and freezing prolongs virus survival.
• Virus does not fare well in higher temps, above 30 or 32 Celsius.
• Sunlight: virus “seems not to like sunlight,” but person/item would have to be in sunlight for “a few hours” to negatively affect virus.
• Virus only replicates in the host cells – not outside cells, surfaces, etc.
• Gloves: not a good way of dealing with Covid-19, particularly when dealing with food. Often give a false sense of security: hand washing is more effective than wearing gloves.
• Supermarket trollies and baskets: wipe handles down before use.
• Safety glasses: okay but be vigilant and do not rub eyes.
• Disinfect shoes? WHO says virus not transmissible via shoes and disinfecting streets not useful.
• Dogs: no indications that strangers touching/patting your dog spreads virus.
• Taking temperatures and listing names: food industry does/must take temps; person taking temp should be protected with mask and regularly sanitize hands.
• Handling money/cash: sanitize hands after handling/handing over/accepting money – both paper and coins.
• Air con: consensus that virus is not aerosolized in office environment – distribute by large droplets within a meter of person shedding droplets.
• Disinfection booths: avoid them.
• Be aware. Practice safe food handling. Wear masks, correctly; Wash hand, correctly (20 seconds at least).

Mail & Guardian: “COVID-19 & WFH: Best practices for employers and employees to adapt work-from-home as the new normal.” 
Moderator: Melody Xaba, Learning & Development Consultant & Co-Founder of My Future Work. Presenters: Colin Erasmus, Modern Workplace Business Group Lead at Microsoft; Bronwyn Williams, Trend Translator & Future Finance Specialist at Flux Trends.
Takeaways re (Working from Home) WFH:

• Pros: flexibility for employees; employers can save costs; requires trust;
• Cons: small children at home, not at school, cuts down on productivity; requires trust;
• Review of Tools, systems, contractual obligations, technologies; Using devices (headsets, laptops, phones); Security; Generational challenges; Types of work.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Warmer weather, and sunshine!
Neighborhood walks resumed; neighborhood dogs woof and howl as I pass by; neighborhood vegetation looking peaky but not frozen.

***

What, I wonder, are the statistics on infection rates of passengers on repatriation flights? Reviewing the risks of transmission during air travel makes me (somewhat) happy I’ve stayed put.

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Heedless

The numbers, this week and last week:

• June 19 - worldwide: 8,489,000 confirmed infections; 454,0007 deaths
  - June 12 - worldwide: 7,514,500 infections; 421,460 deaths
• June 19 - US: 2,191,100 confirmed infections; 118,435 deaths
  - June 12 - US: 2,043,500 infections; 114,000 deaths
• June 19 - SA: 83,890 confirmed infections; 1,737 deaths
  - June 12 - SA: 58,568 infections; 1285 deaths

March 29, 1968, Memphis Tennessee. 

US National Guard troops block off 

Beale Street as civil rights marchers 

pass by during the third consecutive 

march led by the group in as many days. 

© Bettman Archive/Getty Images.

Click to enlarge.

Juneteenth – a combination of the words "June" and "19th" – is the primary holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
The date is tied to a speech given by Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, in 1895, in Galveston, Texas. In "General Order No. 3, Gordon declared that, owing to the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years earlier, "all slaves are free."
The order did not end slavery overnight in Texas, just as Lincoln's earlier proclamation had not ended its practice in other Confederate states. But a few years later, formerly enslaved people of Texas, particularly in the area around Galveston, began to celebrate Juneteenth as the day of slavery's abolition.
Alternatively known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, is often marked by parades and public ceremonies.

News blues…

A recent post mentioned an amorphous, white supremacist, far-right anti-government movement called Boogaloo and its adherents, Boogaloo Boys/Bois.
In our current world of extreme prejudice and whackjobery, the word “boogaloo” is shorthand for stimulating a second American civil war. The name may reference a 1984 film, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, glamorizing armed conflict with authorities and law enforcement. (Ironically, in the 1960s, boogaloo was a genre of music and dance popular in the US - a fusion of popular Latin, African American rhythm and blues and soul.)
Boogaloo (the xenophobic group) has been deeply involved with disinformation activities following the lockdowns related to COVID-19.
Now, Boogaloo Boys have been specifically mentioned in charging documents filed against 32-year-old Steven Carrillo in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
US Air Force Sergeant Carrillo, a leader of an elite security force from a nearby military base, was charged with killing other security force members. He ambushed Santa Cruz deputies and threw pipe bombs at police on June 6, killing Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and wounding four other officers. He has also been federally charged with the murder of federal security officer Pat Underwood, killed in a drive-by shooting on May 29 in Oakland. (An area close to where I work when in California.)

Whackjobery: it’s bottomless

Disinformation is the emergent weapon of choice of dis-informers, aka conspiracy theorists (aka “bullsh*t Berties”).
The current crop of dis-informers takes it cues from the president of the United States.
We’re not talking the usual kind of agit-prop put out by politicians and political parties. We’re talking nasty sh*t designed to dog whistle the easily swayed and the dangerous.
Latest pro-Trump gambit? Facebook ads displaying a red inverted triangle with text asking Facebook users to sign a petition against antifa, a loosely organized anti-fascist movement. (See post “Change in political and economic power.”)
In a tweet on Thursday, the Anti-Defamation League’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, said of the symbol:

“The Nazis used red triangles to identify their political victims in concentration camps. Using it to attack political opponents is highly offensive.” The Facebook ads were run on pages belonging to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and also appeared in ads and organic posts on the “Team Trump” page.

I fear this is the beginning of an even more virulent disinformation campaign by an increasingly desperate Trump team. Essentially, he asking, “Boogaloo anyone?”

***

Despite a political worldview far from Republicanism, I promote the work of The Lincoln Project , a self-described Republican group focused on ousting Trump and Trumpism.
How is The Lincoln Project different from run-of-the-mill agit-prop generators?
Jennifer Horn, co-founder of the project, explains.
The Lincoln Project responds to Trump’s first rally since the start of the pandemic. It’s to be held tomorrow in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The ad, “Tulsa.” 

***

Chickens, home, roosting, etc.
On the eve of Trump’s first re-election campaign rally since the start of the pandemic, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford, warned wanna-be attendees at high risk from the coronavirus:

“… if you have comorbidities, if you are older, or you have other health issues, don’t come. …Watch it on TV.
Lankford stopped short of joining public health experts who have condemned the Trump campaign’s decision to host the event indoors at the 19,000-capacity BOK Center, saying the president is “always welcome” to come to the state.
Lockdown measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus were eased in Oklahoma weeks ago and a fresh surge in infections was expected, Lankford said. He said the rise in cases wasn’t accompanied by an increase in hospitalizations or deaths.
People seeking tickets to Trump’s rally had to acknowledge a waiver on the Trump campaign website that they won’t sue organizers if they contract the coronavirus at the event.
The Trump campaign said it will hand out face masks and hand sanitizer to attendees. The president himself flouts Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by refusing to wear a mask in public.
Lankford said wearing a mask would be “an individual decision” for rally attendees.
“The hard part about it, and I’ve tried to explain this to other folks, when you’re at a large gathering like that, as you know, it’s hard to be able to hear sometimes,” he said. “So there’s going to be times, they’re gonna pull masks on and off. That’s why I really encourage people, if you have other health issues, I discourage you from coming to the event. But a lot of folks are coming, and the state is very excited about receiving the president.”

What to say?
Perhaps take a lesson from Arizona’s pro-Trump Republican sheriff, Mark Lamb? Back in April, Lamb refused to continue enforcing Arizona’s coronavirus lockdown order.
This week, he announced he’d tested positive for Covid-18 during a visit to the White House where he’d been invited to join President Donald Trump at a campaign event.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My vehicle’s 2020 license was due for renewal by the end of April. The deadline has been extended, but my past experiences at the department leads me towards pro-action. Accordingly, I’ve dropped by the municipal offices and enquired about renewal.
First, I was told the office would open for business the following week.
The following week the gate was shut, and the security guards advised, “Come back next week.”
The following week, the gate was closed and, since then, remains closed.

Meanwhile, the saga of cancelling my mother’s Telkom telephone account continues. (See post, “Boiling frogs”)
I’ve cancelled the account online – as per Telkom voice instructions. Nevertheless, my mother continues to receive bills. Calling Telkom directly frustrates as I’m directed to “use the app” – except the app is an malfunctioning endless loop. I’ve repeatedly cancelled online, also as directed. I suspect cancelling her Telkom account will become another burr under my saddle of SA bureaucracy. It reminds me of a joke:

A man dies and goes to hell.
There, he discovers each country has its own version of hell.
He decides to go with the least painful version.
At the door to German Hell, he is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
Not liking the sound of that, he visits American Hell, Russian Hell, Norwegian Hell, and many other countries versions of hell. All are gruesome.
At the door to South African Hell, however, a long line of people waits to enter.
Amazed, he asks, "What do they do in this Hell?"
A woman tells him, "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the South African devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."
"But that's the same as other countries. Why are so many people waiting for that?"
“Ah,” she smiles, "Because of load-shedding, the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but never supplied, so the bed is comfortable. And the South African devil was a civil servant, so he comes into work, signs his time sheet, then goes back home to run his own business.

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