Continental divides

The recent battering of the World Health Organization’s reputation  does not nullify its important research – echoed by many other reputable organizations and individuals. Its warnings about urbanization is particularly apt:

Urbanization is process of global scale changing the social and environmental landscape on every continent. Urbanization is a result of population migration from rural areas in addition to natural urban demographic growth. In 2007, the world’s population living in towns and cities surpassed 50% for the first time in history and this proportion is growing. Rapid, unplanned and unsustainable patterns of urban development are making developing cities focal points for many emerging environment and health hazards. As urban populations grow, the quality of global and local ecosystems, and the urban environment, will play an increasingly important role in public health with respect to issues ranging from solid waste disposal, provision of safe water and sanitation, and injury prevention, to the interface between urban poverty, environment and health. 

We, the people, have been warned. 

Will we rouse ourselves enough to force a change in direction, from unfettered consumption to sustainability?

New blues…

This Ridley Olive turtle
screen saver graces my laptop.
Click to enlarge.

The good: More than 10,000 baby Olive Ridley turtles were released into the sea off the Indonesian island of Bali - part of conservationists’ attempts to boost the population of a vulnerable species and promote environmental protection.
The turtles, just a few inches long, scurried over the black sand and pebbles as the tide splashed over them. 

The bad: Under a new “self-reliant India” plan, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will boost the economy post-Covid-19 and reduce costly imports, [by opening] 40 new coalfields for commercial mining in some of India’s most ecologically sensitive forests. 

Among them are four huge blocks of 420,000 acres of forest in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, which sit above an estimated 5bn tonnes of coal…. [This pits] a rich and biodiverse Indian forest, indigenous people, ancient trees, elephants and sloths against the might of bulldozers, trucks and hydraulic jacks, fighting with a single purpose: the extraction of coal. 

The ugly: While more than 160,000 Americans are dead, unemployment has soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression...

federal payments to laid-off workers have expired with millions more facing possible eviction, and coronavirus cases continue to spike nationwide, Congress and the White House are mired in their ancient, all-consuming gridlock.
Two weeks of closed-door talks … failed to lead to a breakthrough on a new coronavirus relief package. [Democrats and Republicans] remained hundreds of billions of dollars apart on overall spending for the new package, and even more important, were separated by a huge ideological chasm over what role the government should play at this point in the calamity. 

***

The Lincoln Project’s Steve Schmidt on Trumps hot mic moment and strong words on Trumps Golf Club press briefing  (12:15 mins)
Meidas Touch: Vote out Racism  (1:47 mins)
Trump Rant: Axios Interview, “I want a Do Over with more charts and graphs and no Jonathan Swan!  (7:48 mins)
Don Winslow Films: Consequences For Trump  (2:19 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Granadilla, aka passion fruit, is a fruit native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It flourishes in lower altitude KwaZulu Natal; so far, I’ve had no luck growing it in the Midlands. Two weeks ago, I purchased a dozen purple fruit and waited for them to wrinkle and harden – evidence they’d ripened enough to eat. Then I made granadilla curd, a buttery, egg-yolk-rich, sweet/sour treat. 
It turned out well. I plan to bake granadilla bars – think lemon bars with seeds – although it’s a tossup if there’ll be enough curd left after the many spoonsful I snack on in the meantime.
Granadilla curd requires only the yolk of eggs. I beat the leftover egg whites and baked an impromptu veggie frittata: zucchini (“baby marrow”), onion, sweet pepper, garlic, parsley, olive oil, Swiss and Romano cheese.
Many ingredients I use in California are difficult to find in KZN: fish sauce - available sporadically. Mexican ingredients and spices (I’d kill for tortillas, a softshell taco, salsa verde, refried beans, a frozen margarita…).
On the other hand, Indian cuisine spans both countries – with the South African variety far cheaper. For example, a samosa in California costs from 5 to 7 US dollars - equivalent to 80 to 150 rand! Slightly less plump KZN samosas costs 18 to 20 rand each – that’s 1 to 1.20 dollars).
No melktert or koeksisters in California. No lacey cookies in KZN.

*** 

As a child I had a one-on-one relationship with Jacko, a pet vervet monkey. These days, my relationship with vervet monkeys is hands off and communal. The local troop comprises about three dozen monkeys I address collectively as “monkeys ... monksters … monkilizers….”
I continue to appreciate their antics when they negotiate the garden perimeter, raid the bird feeder, and balance precariously on overhead wires.
My relationship with this primate community, however, is becoming more nuanced and complex as they uproot – destroy – seedlings, most recently snap peas and pole beans.
Local gardeners familiar with monkey business advise not transplanting my veggies into the dedicated veggie garden I’ve created. Rather, they suggest transplanting seedlings among decorative garden plants.
I’m not adverse, but it means rethinking an approach I assumed already settled.
Accordingly, I scanned the winter-dry garden for segments of garden capable of disguising veggies from monkeys.
A dry palm stump offered potential for climbing peas and beans. I donned my sunhat and gardening gloves and began removing the dry vegetation around the base of the stump.
Within a minute, dozens of small black ants swarmed over and bit into my hands and arms.
This encounter with South African ants was less vicious than a past encounter with Texas fire ants.
Outside the Crawford, Texas property of then-president George Bush, as we protested his administration’s war policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, I’d unwittingly pitched my tent on a colony of fire ants.
Those ants can bite – and their bites burn for days!
That day lives on in infamy!

Dear Diary

Dear Diary: This Is My Life in Quarantine / under Lockdown
Sensing that they’re living through a historic moment, many people are journaling [and blogging] to create a keepsake of life during the pandemic. The time we’re living through will one day become history. This is always true, of course, but the coronavirus pandemic has, perhaps more than any other event in living memory, made people hyperaware that their present will be remembered in the future. And this new, strange sensation has compelled many to capture the moment for posterity. 

Thank you for being on board here. If the mood strikes, comment below and I'll share your thoughts and experiences….

New blues…

“Sh**hole country,” anyone?
Irony of ironies: America shut its southern border to South Americans while Canadians shut their southern border to Americans.
I’ll dare to say it: “What goes around, comes around.” Or, rats clinging aboard ship….

Since March, the U.S.-Canada border has been closed to all but essential traffic in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But Americans being Americans, they are flouting the new regulations in the pursuit of their usual summer fun.
“Canadian border patrol has effectively prevented caravans of Americans” from crossing the border. Most are arriving by sailboats and luxury yachts.
Those crossing the border have often told officials that they are heading to Alaska to circumvent the new regulations. …
One reason Americans are being spotted is that Canadian boaters are using technology to monitor them. With the requirement that all passenger boats have to be equipped with tracking devices to help prevent weather-related accidents, anyone with an internet connection can monitor border-crossings and identify vessels by type and country of origin. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

During a recent visit to Karkloof Conservancy,  I spotted wattled cranes flying over the hide (aka “blind”), but they settled in a field out of reach of my camera lens.
Karkloof Conservancy hides were built by local farmers, foresters and landowners to provide visitor safe access to the region’s biodiversity. Posters decorating the hides’ interior whet the appetite of novice crane-seekers. 

View posters: 

Poster wattled crane
Click to read.

Poster blue crane
Click to read.

Poster grey crowned crane
Click to read.

I will return to the Conservancy in anticipation of a close encounter with a crane, any crane. 

After all, recent visitors shot gorgeous video of wattled cranes at the Conservancy (0:33 mins). If they saw wattled cranes, so can I. Hope spring eternal.
Wattled cranes bring to mind the thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate to California’s Sacramento Delta each winter.  I hear them from my houseboat and a 10-minute walk reveals vast flocks grazing and nesting.
Not a hardcore “birder,” my motto is, shoot first, ask questions later. I’m frequently unsure of what birds I’ve captured on camera. Can you identify those at the bottom of the page, Spying on garden creatures?

Exemplars of absurdism

“I recently thumbed through “The Plague,” to see if Albert Camus had intuited anything about the rhythms of human suffering in conditions of fear, disease and constraint. Naturally, he had. It was on April 16 that Dr. Rieux first felt the squish of a dead rat beneath his feet on his landing; it was in mid-August that the plague “had swallowed up everything and everyone,” with the prevailing emotion being “the sense of exile and of deprivation, with all the crosscurrents of revolt and fear set up by these.” Those returning from quarantine started setting fire to their homes, convinced the plague had settled into their walls."

We’ve hit a pandemic wall: New records show that Americans are suffering from record levels of mental distress. 

Healthy futures anyone?

I recently “had my say” on South Africa’s Nuclear Regulation Act. Take a look and, if South African, have your say. 
South Africa taking on another nuke power station is, well, an exemplar of absurdism. Why purchase – with the country’s demonstrably corrupt tender system and little technical knowhow – a power system that provides mountains of toxic waste?
No nuclear waste has ever been successfully (sustainably) managed anywhere in the world.
Why nuke power in an era when the world must go in a sustainable direction?

African prosperity will not come by it being shackled to the outdated dirty energy infrastructure of the past. Rather than trudging behind in the 50-year-old footsteps of European countries, Africa needs to leapfrog to the clean, cheap and renewable technologies of the future. This is how Africa will catch up with its global neighbours. Africa is blessed with more sun, wind and geothermal energy than anywhere else on the planet, but that fact does not help the GWPF or the coal industry.
Not only are wind and solar increasingly becoming the cheapest forms of new electricity across the globe, but they are also inherently more agile and versatile than grid-reliant fossil fuels. Pastoralists in remote parts of Africa in need of electricity will not be served waiting for hulking great power grids to be built, cutting a swathe across Africa’s precious natural landscape. They would be better off with solar mini-grids and wind turbines supplying energy exactly where it is needed most.  

***

Mauritius environment minister Kavy Ramano and fishing minister Sudheer Maudhoo concur, “We are in an environmental crisis situation… This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem.” 

The problem? A breach in the vessel MV Wakashio, carrying 200 tonnes of diesel and 3,800 tonnes of bunker fuel.

The ministers said all attempts to stabilise the ship had failed because of rough seas and efforts to pump out the oil had also failed. Ecologists fear the ship could break up, which would cause an even greater leak and inflict potentially catastrophic damage on the island’s coastline. The country depends on its seas for food and for tourism, boasting some of the finest coral reefs in the world.

It’s not rocket science: We the Critters of this planet all depend on our oceans. (Way back in May 2010, Greg Moses wrote “Oil Wars come home to roost."  It’s more relevant than ever. )
What can you do? Start small with an easy-to-accomplish step:
Call on world leaders to protect Antarctica and deliver the largest act of ocean protection in history. Only one Antarctica 

*** 

A line from the movie, “Cry, the Beloved Country, about apartheid South Africa: “In South Africa, the law and justice are distant relatives – and they haven’t been on speaking terms for decades.” 

Update that for this moment and substitute the law and justice with Trump and responsible leadership. Trump is a dangerous clown but he is merely the current instrument with which American right-wing politicians hammer home their philosophy expressed by Grover Norquist: “I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
And right-wing Republicans accuse “The Left” of anarchism? 

It's a complex history with a simple plot line: subjegate The People by impoverishing them, taking away possibilites of health care, decent and affordable education, minimum wage....
How the pandemic defeated America. 

This is not a blanket condemnation of all Republicans. The Lincoln Project, for example, is made up of Republicans of a different feather (at least during this season of Trump disasters).
Republican Vets Against Trump  (1:00 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Leave Me A Loan: Trump's PPP Scandal Exposed (1:16 mins)
Trump Hoaxed America  (1:00 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Overnight temperatures dropped to 2C/ 36F – that means below zero in our valley wetlands. And that means, ice in my watering can this morning. In anticipation of freezing temperatures, last night I wrapped vulnerable plants.
I watch the days getting longer by mere seconds, longing for the return of spring and summer. This time last month, the sun rose at 6:53am and set at 5:12am; today, it rose at 6:37am and will set at 5:29. Getting there, slowly but surely.

***

The latest threat to healthy seedlings and flourishing vegetable gardens?
Monkeys.
I discovered the hard way – solid evidence – that monkeys, curious rather than malicious, pluck seedlings out the ground and toss ‘em. 

I’d be less chagrined if monkeys ate seedlings – it’s winter and they’re hungry.
But, wanton destruction?
Exemplars of absurdism.

Reaching out

Click to enlarge 

Reaching out during times of stress can be lifesaving. 

The conundrum: doing it in a way that preserves health, safety, and well-being.
It’s a mess out there. Do your part.
Pandemic toll: this week’s numbers compared with last week’s:

• August 6 – 18,753,000 worldwide confirmed infections; 706,800 deaths
• July 30 – 17,096,000 worldwide: confirmed infections; 668,590 deaths
• August 6 – US 4,824,000 confirmed infections; 158,250 deaths
• July 30 - US: 4,451,000 confirmed infections; 151,270 deaths
• August 6 – SA 529,900 confirmed infections; 9,298 deaths
• July 30 - SA: 471,125 confirmed infections; 7,498 deaths

KZN rising...
Click to enlarge.

US CDC’s interactive map of Covid devastation across that nation. 
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Monday, “The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. needs to get below 10,000 a day by the fall in order to maintain some control over the pandemic.” Over the past week, there has been an average of over 60,194 cases per day

News blues…

Repetition helps drive home reality:

The human destruction of natural ecosystems increases the numbers of rats, bats and other animals that harbour diseases that can lead to pandemics such as Covid-19, a comprehensive analysis has found. The research assessed nearly 7,000 animal communities on six continents and found that the conversion of wild places into farmland or settlements often wipes out larger species. It found that the damage benefits smaller, more adaptable creatures that also carry the most pathogens that can pass to humans. In June, experts said the Covid-19 pandemic was an “SOS signal for the human enterprise”, while in April the world’s leading biodiversity experts said even more deadly disease outbreaks were likely unless nature was protected.
…David Redding, of the ZSL Institute of Zoology in London, who was one of the research team (results published in the journal Nature), said the costs of disease were not being taken into account when deciding to convert natural ecosystems: “You’ve then got to spend a lot more money on hospitals and treatments.” A recent report estimated that just 2 percent of the costs of the Covid-19 crisis would be needed to help prevent future pandemics for a decade. 

***

Give sustainable peace a chance … and critters may make a comeback

New Guinea has greatest plant diversity of any island in the world, a study reveals.   New Guinea is home to more than 13,500 species of plant, two-thirds of which are endemic, according to a new study that suggests it has the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world – 19% more than Madagascar, which previously held the record.
Ninety-nine botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries trawled through samples, the earliest of which were collected by European travelers in the 1700s. Large swathes of the island remain unexplored and some historical collections have yet to be looked at. Researchers estimate that 4,000 more plant species could be found in the next 50 years, with discoveries showing “no sign of levelling off”, according to the paper published in Nature. New Guinea is home to more than 13,500 species of plant, two-thirds of which are endemic, according to a new study that suggests it has the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world – 19% more than Madagascar, which previously held the record.
Ninety-nine botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries trawled through samples, the earliest of which were collected by European travellers in the 1700s. Large swathes of the island remain unexplored and some historical collections have yet to be looked at. Researchers estimate that 4,000 more plant species could be found in the next 50 years, with discoveries showing “no sign of levelling off”, according to the paper published in Nature. 

***

Poop-spotting: Poop reveals presence of new penguin colonies in Antarctica

Satellite images have revealed 11 previously unknown emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, boosting the number of known colonies of the imperiled birds by 20 percent. The discoveries were made by spotting the distinctive red-brown guano patches the birds leave on the ice. The finds were made possible by higher-resolution images from a new satellite, as previous scans were unable to pick up smaller colonies.

***

For your viewing pleasure:
Hummingbird pool party  (0:47 mins)
The Lincoln Project’s Secretary Of Failure (0:56 mins)
Meidas Touch: Trump Donors: Don't Be Don's Next Con  (1:00 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I spent my childhood in a section of rural South Africa 55kms/35 miles from my current location. Due to short-term visits to KZN, and now the pandemic, I’m both isolated and constrained in finding a local network of friends and supporters. In short, I’m isolated in my mother’s household and in the town where she chose to purchase a dwelling large enough to house her 12 dogs.
We barely have a social community. Those in our circle are predominantly people I’ve contacted as health care providers. Thankfully, I’ve developed a couple of friendships with generous spirits who have offered a lifeline: valuable advice and emotional support.
Yesterday, after court, the effects of this isolation became clear.
My security team suggested following my vehicle home – “just to show I have security and that it’s not easy to mess with me.” I was reluctant – they’ve provided support beyond the call of duty and I hated to take more of their valuable time. Nevertheless, I agreed to drive in convoy: me in the middle.
Alas, I quickly lost the vehicle I was following. Instead, I followed a different, barely similar, vehicle driving in the opposite direction.
That’s what weeks of stress does to the human head.
After arriving at home – again in convoy – I realized it is time to reach out for professional support. I contacted a well-regarded local psychologist. Today, I plan on visiting her, clarifying my thinking, talking through current circumstances, and seeking advice on solutions to dilemmas.
Before visiting her, though, I plan to visit Karkloof Conservancy for another form of clarity: a glimpse of migrating wattled cranes. 

 Video clip of cranes at the conservancy.  (0:33 mins) 

 South Africa’s wattled cranes remind me of life in California’s Sacramento River Delta. Thousands of sandhill cranes migrate to the delta each winter. Many flocks are easily heard and seen a short walk away from my houseboat. 

Nature soothes. If given the chance, nature heals, too. 

Gee Bee Vee

GBV: gender-based violence.
South Africa has one of the highest, if not the highest, rates of gender-based violence in the world. It’s prevalent and normalized such that one can be involved in GBV and barely recognize it. 

Happily, if one spends the time, asks for and follows advice, is supported in following through, one can succeed at least in receiving legal protection.

News blues…

Article from Mountain Echo
newspaper of Underberg
Page 5 of 8
Click to enlarge and read.

Open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa on farm murders:

Mr President, 

On September 26, 2018 you spoke to financial news service Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York. In the interview, you said that there were “no killings of farmers… white farmers in South Africa.” In fact, farmers (black and white), farm workers (black and white), and visitors to farms (black and white) were being killed, and are still being killed today. These murders often involve the most terrible torture of the farmers and farm workers, their parents, their wives, and their children. What you said then was false. You in fact contradicted yourself in that 2018 Bloomberg interview, because in November 2017, in the NCOP you said: “We condemn the farm killings that continue to take place in our country, because we can never justify any form of taking of life. The farm killings must be brought to an end.”
We are not sure of your motivation in denying to the world 10 months later that these heinous murders, tortures and kidnappings were taking place. We, as the Official Opposition, ask that you, Sir, put this matter to rest once and for all. In 2018, when you made this claim, there were 54 farmers and farm workers who were horribly murdered on South African farms and smallholdings. There were 394 vicious attacks. Farmers and farm workers in South Africa, instead of being supported as workers within a Strategic Asset, feel today that they have become persona non grata as the Police Strategy fails them year after year. In 2017and 2018 combined there were 136 murders on farms, a figure which contradicts what you announced to the world. This year, during this lockdown period, we have seen a large increase in attacks on farms and smallholdings… (Read the full letter, page 5.) 

Glad you’re not a farmer? 

The bad news: In South Africa, you are most likely to be killed not on a farm but in public. 

Between April 2019 and March 2020, a total of 7,735 attempted murder and 30,272 assault GBH cases were reported in a public space.
Police minister Bheki Cele said gender-based violence (GBV), political killings and farm murders were some of the most stubborn crimes plaguing the country.
Overall, 5,522 people were murdered at residences, while 853 were murdered at shebeens and 467 at business premises.
The statistics further showed that 232 people were killed in modes of transport, 166 were murdered on a farm or smallholding and a total of 88 people were murdered at a lake or river. The recent murder of an elderly couple and their daughter on their farm in Hartswater sent shock waves across the country. Danie, 83, and Breggie Brand, 73, and their daughter Elzabie, 54, were found dead in open fields in the Taung area on Tuesday. Five suspects have appeared in court for the brutal murders. Shockingly, 33 people were murdered at a petrol station while a further 60 attempted murder and 269 assault GBH cases were opened.
Last year, people including taxi bosses, gang “bosses” and a lawyer were gunned down at petrol stations across the country.

My own confrontation with a drunken male, also a convicted rapist, threatening me with death, rape, and mayhem completed another phase. See that story below. 

First, a little levity:
Every day, thousands of YouTube viewers eagerly await a uniquely compelling feature of the 2020 election cycle: ads from The Lincoln Project.
Here, Trump endorses:
Steve Daines  (1:33 mins)
Dan Sullivan  (2:16 mins)
Susan Collins  (2:15 mins)
Assorted musical interludes
"Vote Him Away #2 (The Liar Tweets Tonight)"  (2:40 mins)
Don Caron parodies:
Spreadin through the air (with David Cohen)  (2:40 mins)
Battle Hymn of the Republic - Modified for Relevance   (4:44 mins)

But it’s not all song and dance. The Lincoln Project and other groups (Meidas Touch, Sarah Cooper, Now This, Randy Rainbow, et al) engage serious topics to educate Americans about the perils of another four-Donald-Trump-laced years.
Lincoln Project co-founder and conservative lawyer George Conway – aka “the man married to White House counsel Kellyanne Conway” – recently wrote:

Trump must face retribution after he’s voted out of office… For the sake of our constitutional republic, he must lose, and lose badly. Yet that should be just a start: We should only honor former presidents who uphold and sustain our nation’s enduring democratic values. There should be no schools, bridges or statues devoted to Trump. His name should live in infamy, and he should be remembered, if at all, for precisely what he was — not a president, but a blundering cheat.”

Hear, hear, George Conway!
Still need convincing? The following exclusive interview could be a parody, but, alas, this is the real, live, actual president of the United States with AXIOS’s Jonathan Swan. It’s 37-well-worth-watching minutes of eye-opening Trump (il)logic, off topic ramblings sprinkled with power-of-positive-thinking-ism, and, yes, plain, old-fashioned lying.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday afternoon I fetched my mother from her overnight ordeal in the hospital. (Backstory ) She was discharged early due to her age – 87 – in face of Covid-19.
Her severe nosebleed has been staunched and medical hardware inserted into her nostril. She’s weak, exhausted, and her face is swollen from hardware, but she’s happy to be home. Her many dogs are just as happy to have her home.

*** 

Today’s law and order/crime watch theme was stimulated by my day in court. (Backstory 1 and Backstory 2)
Thinking (erroneously) that arriving early to the local Magistrates Office would get me in and out within a “reasonable time”, I arrived 20 minutes before doors opened. One and a half hours later I was still waiting – outside (a pandemic precaution), masked, and shivering with cold.
Half an hour later, the man threatening me arrive and we were signed in and allowed to proceed to the initial holding area.
I had not expected the defendant to show up. Since he had, I figured he must have an effective rebuttal….
Faced with the magistrate’s first administrator, the defendant claimed he “did not understand the charges," nor the documents, nor did he speak English.
Problem is, after we'd laid a trap to counter the efforts of his mother, my mother's domestic worker, who had been hiding him, the security team had escorted hin to the police station where they'd explained the charges - in English, with his agreeement. 

I texted them to confirm: Had he not signed documents declaring he understood English and understood the documents?
Indeed, he had. “It’s a delaying tactic,” they texted me back, along with the name of the Detective Warrant Officer who'd processed the defendant.
Additionally, they texted me that two members of the security team would join me at the magistrate’s office, in case their evidence was needed.
By the time they arrived, I’d already been waiting four hours. Together, we waited another hour and a half. 

After being introduced to the magistrate,  she explained the process; an interpreter translated into Zulu for the defendant. 

Forty-five minutes later I had papers in hand confirming the defendant must stay away from me and from my mother’s property, refrain from talking, harassing, threatening, and approaching me -  for the next five years. Failing that, he spend three years in prison.
I’m tempted to write, “finished and klaar” but nothing really is, is it?

Yet, I got on the official record that my mother’s longtime domestic worker may no longer sneak her son through the armed security system onto my mother’s property. (She’d ignored the previous written warning from my mother’s lawyer and perfected this habit, particularly, but not only when I was absent.)

A shout-out to Specialized Security Systems – “Triple S” – for outstanding service and support and for going several extra miles in assisting me in this ordeal. I’ve never been supported by any company on anything in the way Triple S has supported me in this.
Special shout-out to Cheyne and Dennis. Can’t thank you enough for your help!

Cliché USA

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Even The Donald sees the writing on the wall – and is grasping at straws. Time to pay the piper….
Now that I’ve exhausted the clichés appropriate to this moment, I’ll move on to … 

News blues… 

Joe Heller (c) 2020 Hellertoon.com
Click to enlarge. 

Ironic that I’m preparing to vote absentee from South Africa in the US election. South Africa has a barely functioning postal service, but I can still vote from here (see below for details). 

The US Postal Service has problems, but mail is sent and delivered well enough that Trump can’t allow it to do its job. Apparently, he and his enablers will attempt to collapse the USPS to ensure the disenfranchisement of Americans looking for alternatives to Trump and Trumpism.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington warned Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, that: “Recent actions” taken by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by Donald Trump in May, “will delay prioritizing mail delivery,” which threatens voting by mail…. The number of Americans voting by mail is expected to surge across the nation as voters seek to avoid the risk of catching COVID-19 at the polls. Yet DeJoy is slashing overtime for mail carriers and prohibiting employees from making late delivery trips, which will slow the mail… DeJoy, who has no experience in the agency, is a prominent Trump donor and the former lead fundraiser for the Republican National Convention. “We have an underfunded state and local election system and a deliberate slowdown in the Postal Service,” Wendy Fields, the executive director of the Democracy Initiative, told The New York Times. Trump is “deliberately orchestrating suppression and using the post office as a tool to do it.” 

Remember, the United States is a constitutional republic with some decisions - often local - made by direct democratic processes and others - often federal - made by democratically elected representatives. 

The president is actually elected by the Electoral College, not necessarily directly by the popular vote.
It’s complicated, but briefly: The Electoral College forms every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president of the United States. Each state has electors based on its total number of representatives in Congress. With 538 total electoral votes, each elector casts one electoral vote following the general election. The candidate gaining more than half – 270 – electoral votes wins the election.
American voters in each state cast hardcopy ballots – in person, by mail, absentee…. The vote is counted and, in nearly every state, the candidate who gets the most votes is supposed to gain that proportional number of electoral votes in the Electoral College - and win.
However, candidates can win the popular vote yet lose the election. Hillary Clinton, in fact, won the popular vote by 3 million but lost in the Electoral College. (Al Gore has a similar history although his case was decided by the US Supreme Court.)  

*** 

Meidas Touch:
Trump has no healthcare plan  (1:00 mins)
Evict Trump from the White House  (1:00 min)
Lincoln Project Ad Slams Trump’s COVID-19 Response | NowThis   (3:20 mins)

Healthy futures anyone?

Focus on Denmark. 

Denmark’s groundwater is one of the cleanest in the world for a reason. According to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it’s the result of the country’s consistent efforts to purify the country’s wastewater and protect its aquatic environment with the help of more than 1,000 water-treatment plants. Perhaps partially due to the expenses associated with maintaining so many treatment plants, Denmark’s water prices are fairly high, but ultimately, that’s a good thing. Similar to how carbon taxes work, the country’s high water price deters its citizens from using a surplus amount, which allows the cycle of clean water to flow interrupted. Denmark is also home to the “world’s greenest city,” Copenhagen. There are so many things we can learn from this eco-friendly city, starting with its famous landmark, CopenHill, aka Amager Bakke.
CopenHill is a power plant that converts waste to clean energy to produce heat and electricity for tens of thousands of local households, but that’s not all it does. It also functions as an artificial ski and snowboard slope! Copenhagen also makes it easy for its citizens to use eco-friendly forms of transportation. All the city’s buses are electric. One can rent inexpensive electric bicycles as well as ride on electric, solar-powered boats in some of the purest waterways in the world.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Last night, my elderly mother purposefully used the internal alarm system. I’d purchased it despite her poo-pooing the need for such a system – “I’ll never need it!” she said.
At 8:35pm, she triggered that alarm. I phoned her and heard a muffled call for assistance. One domestic worker and I opened the multiple burglar guards and doors and discovered my mother hunched in her bed and covered in blood. Dogs competed for space around the cumbersome bed set up and licked at blood splattered on the floor. My mother was suffering a severe nosebleed. She’d suffered another, less dramatic bleed two weeks ago and her doctor’s office staff suggested we “wait and see.”
EMTs arrived and worked on her for an hour before deciding to take her to a not-so-local hospital.
Since then, I’ve had one constructive conversation with a nightshift “Sister” (“charge nurse”) who told me, “she’s fine; she’ll be admitted after we get a bed and the doctor sees her.”
Several subsequent calls dead-ended in a “full mailbox” message.
Most recently, I was told, “she’s had her breakfast and she’s still waiting for a bed.” And, “no visitors allowed due to Covid.”
I asked Sister to relate a message, “The dogs are fine.”

*** 

Vote! US Consulates in South Africa explain how:

Act early and take the necessary steps to vote in the 2020 U.S. elections!
In order to vote in the November 2020 elections, all overseas U.S. citizens need to request a ballot through their state’s online portal or complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) in 2020. Whether you are a first-time voter or have already received ballots and voted absentee in past elections, you must complete this process each year to participate in elections as an overseas absentee voter.
Registering to Vote and submitting a ballot is fast, easy, and can be done from anywhere in the world! Follow a few simple steps to vote in the 2020 U.S. elections: 

1. Register to vote: Start by confirming your voter registration with your state. Some states require absentee voters to register annually, so you may need to re-register. Go to FVAP.gov to connect to your state’s voter portal to register to vote, request a ballot, and more.
2. Request Your Ballot: Most states provide the option to request ballots through their state election portals, which you can easily access via FVAP.gov. You can also choose to complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). The completion of the FPCA allows you to request absentee ballots for all elections for federal offices (President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives), including primaries and special elections, during the calendar year in which it is submitted. FPCA forms that are correctly filled out and include a signature and date are accepted by all local election officials in every U.S. state and territory. FVAP’s easy online assistant can assist you with completing the FPCA. Whether you request your ballot through your state’s portal or the FPCA, we encourage you to select the option to receive your ballot electronically (by email, internet download, or fax) when available. This is the fastest way to get your ballot and ensures you have it in time to return a completed form before your state’s deadline.
3. Receive and Complete Your Ballot: States are required to send out ballots 45 days before a regular election for federal office, and states generally send out ballots at least 30 days before primary elections. Most states allow you to confirm your ballot delivery online.
4. Return Your Completed, Signed Ballot: Some states allow you to return your completed ballot electronically. If your state requires you to return paper voting forms or ballots to local election officials by mail, you can do so through international mail, professional courier service, or through the U.S. Embassy’s diplomatic pouch. The diplomatic pouch provides ballot mail service from embassies and consulates to a U.S. sorting facility. You will need to place your ballots in postage paid return envelopes or in envelopes bearing sufficient U.S. postage, in order for them to be delivered to the proper local election authorities once received by the U.S. sorting facility.
If you plan to use the diplomatic pouch, drop off your completed voting forms and ballots addressed to your local election officials at the U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban by October 1, 2020 during the following hours:

U.S. Consulate General Johannesburg

9:00-15:00 Tuesday-Thursday \ Email questions to: VoteJohannesburg@state.gov 

U.S. Consulate General Cape Town

9:00-15:00 Monday-Thursday \ Email questions to: VoteCapeTown@state.gov 

U.S. Consulate General Durban

10:00-15:00 Tuesday-Thursday \ Email questions to: ConsularDurban@state.gov 

Address and other contact information for each Consulate is below. Please note that all visitors to the Consulates must wear appropriate PPE. It can take up to five weeks for mail to reach its destination if sent by an embassy via diplomatic pouch. All overseas U.S. citizens are advised to submit their forms and ballots accordingly. Ballots will be received and forwarded whenever submitted, including after October 1, 2020, but you may want to consider using a courier service if submitting your ballot close to or after the stated delivery time for pouch mail.

For more detailed information please visit our U.S. Citizen Voting Page.
Researching the Candidates and Issues: Online Resources. Go to the FVAP links page for helpful resources to aid your research of candidates and issues. Non-partisan information about candidates, their voting records, and their positions on issues are widely available and easy to obtain online. You can also read national and hometown newspapers online, or search the internet to locate articles and information. For information about election dates and deadlines, subscribe to FVAP's Voting Alerts (vote@fvap.gov). FVAP also shares Voting Alerts via Facebook (@DODFVAP), Twitter (@FVAP), and Instagram (@fvapgov).

USA! USA!

Woo woo*

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

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

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

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

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

More whackjobery*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News blues…

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

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

***

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

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

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

*** 

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

Healthy futures anyone? 

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

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

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

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

The Lincoln Project:  Moms  (1:27 mins) 

 A South African proverb used during the struggle against apartheid: 

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

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

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

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