Getting there

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

News blues…

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

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

***

The Lincoln Project:

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

***

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

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

Eyes on POTUS

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

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

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

President Trump was completely invisible from the moment he arrived. 

News blues…

Level 1 anyone?

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

Fool’s paradise

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

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

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

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

News blues…

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

Two problems:

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

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

***

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow shrub

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

***

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

Attention requested

News blues…

President Cyril Ramaphosa and health minister Zweli Mkhize's tease at dropping to level 1 lockdown and easing restrictions further.

According to Ramaphosa, some of the proposals are from religious leaders who are requesting an extension in the number of people who may attend gatherings… the sports sector, the entertainment, hotels and tourism industry had also submitted proposals.
“We are considering all of that as we do an evaluation of where the infection rate is. We will be able to give consideration to all of these proposals and get advice,” said Ramaphosa.  “This is where we will need advice from the Medical Advisory Committee as well as from our [National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure] NATJoints, which is the real engine of monitoring our coronavirus approach.

This, even as SA records 113 new Covid-19 deaths and approaches more than 650,000 confirmed infections. The recovery rate is close to 573,003 or close to 89 percent.  The latest pandemic update confirmed the death of 97 more patients in the past 24-hours: 17 from KwaZulu-Natal, 21 from Gauteng, seven from Eastern Cape, four from Free State, one from Limpopo, 26 from Mpumalanga, 15 from North West and six from the Western Cape.

Healthy futures, anyone

All the world’s people must begin to grapple with the reality of climate change. That we’re amid climate change is the reality that must shift from the ideological to the practical, despite denier politicians, denier corporations, denier citizens….

After touring the fire damage in the North Complex Fire near Oroville in Northern California, Governor Gavin Newsom was in no mood for one of his usual, careful media statements. “If you do not believe in science,” Newsom said bluntly while standing in the ashes of what once was a Butte County forest, “I hope you believe observed reality.”
“The hots are getting a lot hotter and the wets are getting a lot wetter. The science is absolute. The data is self evident. We have to own that reality and we have to own the response to that reality.”
Last year by this time, 118,000 acres had burned, he observed. This year, it’s over 3 million acres charred. The state is currently battling five of the 20 most destructive fires in the last century. The debate is over in terms of climate change. If you don’t believe that, just come to the state of California.”

Last week, it was predominantly California that suffered devastating wildfires. This week, it’s the west coast, from southern California to Washington, with Oregon and Oregonians experiencing fire nightmares. 
Cry, beloved west coast.

Deadly wildfires raging Friday in Oregon, Washington and California made two major West Coast cities — Portland, Oregon, and Seattle — the places with the worst air quality in the world.
Portland had an air quality index of over 200 on Friday — more than that of any other major city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company that operates a real-time air pollution monitoring platform.
Seattle ranked second, with an AQI of around 190. 

My hometown-away-from-home, the island city of Alameda in the San Francisco Bay, recently experienced an AQI of 235.
All Bay Area friends, within the inner bay, and outside it, report ash falling like snowflakes, and cooler than usual temperatures. But no rain.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Anyone who is a daughter knows the kind of tension common among mothers and daughters. I’m no exception. Lockdown in SA initially exacerbated the tensions between me and my mother. Moreover, I’ve little in common with her chosen lifestyle – multiple dogs, domestic workers, huge house and garden. To me – independent, focused on art and ideas – that lifestyle is enigmatic, cumbersome, confining….
Yet, here I am, the “go-to” person expected to maintain this lifestyle. It’s a challenge to which the pandemic and Lockdown has added layers of complexity.
Over the last 170 days, my mom left the house once: last week, a trip to the vet’s clinic to put down her three elderly dogs. She’s unfamiliar with the lengths to which the public and neighbors conform or not, to pandemic regulations. Nor is she invested in ensuring her domestic workers conform. That was left to me. And, when I instituted regulations to ensure safety, especially the safety of my 87-year-old mother, my efforts were undermined, even chastised. This sticky situation was exacerbated by domestic workers reluctant to accept and conform to Lockdown regulations in general and more so to those of the household.
Next week, however, things look up: one domestic worker – the most reluctant – leaves my mother’s employ after 38 years.
Next day, I move my mother’s good to her new home in the Care Center.
Day after that, I move my mom and her dog.
Then, preparation for sale of house begins….

Do-over?

President Ramaphosa hints at reviewing Lockdown levels and, perhaps, dropping to level 2; Looking forward to that.
Nevertheless, this twenty-fifth week of Lockdown presents a new batch of weirdness, including exposure of the moral bankruptcy of our collective political institutions…

News blues…

What was Donald Trump’s solution to Bob Woodward’s 2018 book, Fear: Trump in the White House, an unflattering portrait of the current White House residents?
Agree to many hours of interviews with Woodward for another book, Rage, due out on September 15. Trump’s incomprehensible solution – a do-over - did not go as he’d hoped. Instead, Fear ignited further controversy after Woodward released audio recordings from the interviews. 
President of the United States Donald Trump clearly states his awareness of the dangers posed by Covid-19 – and his solution: to lie about it. Thus began the tragic comedy of fatal errors and lies that has lead, so far, to more than 190,000 dead Americans dead and more than 6.3 million confirmed infections. (“UnAmerican")
Trump’s excuse for his lies and lack of effective action? “I don’t want people to panic.”(Covid-19)  
From the virus’ “miraculous” disappearance, to endangering children (“they’re immune”), culture wars about wearing masks, undermining science and scientists, the man is scrambling to stay ahead of an accumulating mountain of lies.
But this is the essence of Trump. 

On the other hand, it could this his solution to quelling the days-long furor of Americans angry at Trump’s view of military personnel: “losers,” “suckers,” “dopes,” “babies,” and “I don’t get it. What’s in it for them?’
It is possible. That’s the way The Donald rolls…. 

***

Daily Maverick webinar: The Rise and Fall of the ANC Youth League.  Hosted by Gregory Nicolson with Rebone Tau and Prof Somadoda Fikeni

***

The Lincoln Project: Parasite  (0:56 mins)
Unfit  (2:00 mins)
EXCLUSIVE CLIP "THE TRUMP APPEAL" – Project co-founder George Conway discusses what's going on in Donald Trump's head  (2:04 mins)
Vote Vets Maine Ad – Marty  (0:55 min)
RVAT: Max is disgusted with Trump's lack of character, so he's going against his party and voting Biden  (3:32 mins)
Meidas Touch: Pretend President: Trump Downplayed the Pandemic (0:53 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone

The good(ish) news:

Up to 48 bird and mammal extinctions have been prevented by conservation efforts since a global agreement to protect biodiversity, according to a new study published in the journal Conservation Letters. It estimates that extinction rates for birds and mammals would have been three to four times higher over that period, which was chosen because 1993 is when the UN Convention on Biological Diversity came into force.
Since then, 15 bird and mammal species have become extinct or are strongly suspected to have disappeared. But researchers say that between 28 and 48 bird and mammal species were saved.

The bad news:

Wildlife populations are in freefall around the world, driven by human overconsumption, population growth and intensive agriculture, according to a major new assessment of the abundance of life on Earth.
On average, global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles plunged by 68% between 1970 and 2016, according to the WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL)’s biennial Living Planet Report 2020. Two years ago, the figure stood at 60%.
 The research is one of the most comprehensive assessments of global biodiversity available and was compiled by 134 experts from around the world.
It found that from the rainforests of central America to the Pacific Ocean, nature is being exploited and destroyed by humans on a scale never previously recorded.

With all the chaff swirling around the political environment these days, it’s tough to find the kernels of truth about the ongoing degradation of our planet. Here’s a list of five lies uttered to conceal truth…. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Two days ago, local residents got an urgent warning: “Umngeni Water will be doing their maintenance upgrade in the Howick Reservoir Pipeline and as such there will be a TOTAL SHUTDOWN of water on Tuesday 08 September 2020.” Naturally, residents – including in this household – took this warning seriously. We stored water in kettles, pots, and buckets.
The water never shutdown.
Eskom, too, warned of scheduled load shedding. That never happened either.
Will either or both suddenly shut down without warning? It is possible.

***

Big day: I drove to the local city – 20 miles away – to purchase and set up delivery for a bed base (aka “box spring) for my mother. Her new home is small, and this bed base has three drawers on either side. It’ll give her better storage capacity. One of the perks of living on a houseboat as I do: exquisite eye for best use of space, and saving space.

I’ve not been in the city since my I picked up my mother from the hospital several weeks ago. It was strange driving with hundreds of other drivers and vehicles racing robots (“traffic lights”) and one another. Today's errand, though, has been a long time coming: delivering for recycling several dozen empty bottles of my mother’s favorite wine at an off-sales liquor store.
I parked outside the security gate exactly at opening time: 9am.
I waited. And waited. At 9:10am I phoned the store and was told “the security guard will come open the gate.” I waited. And waited some more. At 9:20am I exited my car – parked over the pedestrian pavement (“sidewalk”) – and approached security guards at the exit gate. 

One asked, “Do you have a license?” I told him I had a driver’s license. He ignored me. The other guard asked, “Do you have a license?” I asked what license he had in mind. “Liquor license.” I confirmed I had no liquor license. Then I realized: liquor stores are closed Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays across the land.
I’d carried several dozen empty wine bottles without remembering this salient fact about Lockdown. The two guards and I laughed at my mistake.
I’ll drive back there again on Monday.

Cooperation

Smoke from multiple wildfires
burning in California and Oregon
hung above a layer of fog
in San Francisco.
Click to enlarge. 
Photo: Jessica Christian /
The Chronicle. More photos 

The sun came up as usual, but in California it hid behind a thick blanket of smoke, fog, haze, and muck. Headlights and porch lights stayed on all day. Flashlights came out at high noon.

The ominous shroud was a product of the plumes of smoke billowing from the historic number of wildfires burning across the state, as well as Oregon and Washington. Wind conditions overnight pushed smoke into lower elevations, filtering sunlight and producing dark tints of red, orange and gray. Still, air quality remained mostly unchanged.
The orange dimness confused almost everyone and everything — from the Bay Lights display on the Bay Bridge, which is supposed to turn off a half hour after sunrise, to pets acting unusually standoffish to folks who spied the early-morning darkness, figured their alarm clocks were wrong, and rolled over and went back to sleep.
Hours after sunrise, dawn remained something of an oversight. At high noon, the heavens grew darker instead of lighter. The surreal replaced what passes for the real. 

***

Worldwide (Map)  
September 10 – 27,766,325 confirmed infections; 902,470 deaths
September 3 – 26,940,000 confirmed infections; 861,870 deaths
New daily cases: 232,982; new daily deaths: 4,737

US (State by state map)
September 10 – 6,360,000 confirmed infections; 190,820 deaths
September 3 – 6,114,000 confirmed infections; 185,710 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
September 10 – 642,431 confirmed infections; 15,086 deaths
September 3 – 630,596 confirmed infections; 14,390 deaths
SA dropped from 5th highest infections rates in the world to 8th highest, surpassed, this week, by Peru (696,190) Colombia (686,850), and Mexico (658,299).

News blues…

Is South Africa slowly beating Covid-19?

The statistics are as confusing as they are potentially enlightening. “We are seeing that we have had what seems to have been a peak, and now we have the daily numbers of cases being reported overall in [Africa] going down,” the World Health Organisation Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti is reported to have said recently.
However, tracking the arc of the virus in Africa has been and remains a challenge. Could it be possible that the continent has actually passed its Covid-19 peak? Can anyone now or in the near future speak with conviction of the true toll of Covid-19 on the continent?
Poor data management or just a Covid-19 enigma? discusses the trends and statistical enigma, and encourages readers to understand that the “positive” news of Covid-19 easing and that the return to normalcy should be treated with some degree of caution.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize suggests, the declining number of infections in SA may move the country to Level 1 soon.

“We can safely say we are over the surge. June, July and August were the worst months, as predicted by our models. However, we found that not as many people as the model suggested would be affected… A number of factors could be attributed to the declining number of infections.”
“A major factor is that we embarked on containment measures, and there may well be other factors in the environment here. We are very grateful for the support we got from South Africans to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”
Asked when the county could move to level 1 and what measures would be put in place, Mkhize said President Cyril Ramaphosa would give an indication in a few days.
“We are still discussing all the issues. The president will give us a sense of direction, but we will be preparing to start easing to the next level.” 

***

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has admitted that, back in February 2020, he knew the dangers of Covid-19. He elected to hide that information from Americans as, 

“I want to show calmness, I’m the leader of this country,” Trump told Hannity on Wednesday after the accounts were published. “I don’t want to be jumping up and down, I don’t want to scare people. I want people not to panic. And that’s exactly what I did.” 

Hmmm, if I wasn’t scared before this revelation (I was), I’m scared now. Of the virus, yes, but more scared because this man remains in a position he’s demonstrably incapable of mastering.
Moreover, Trump’s former lawyer and fix-it guy, Michael Cohen recently tossed out a “theory”: Trump will resign if he loses the presidential election and pave the way for Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him for any federal crimes he’s supposedly committed. 
Sounds like Trumpian logic….

***

The Lincoln Project: LPTV – The Breakdown (56:00 mins) Vote Vets
POW  (1:00 min)
A Real Commander-in-Chief  (1:20 mins) 

Usually, this segment shares ads developed to address the current moment: 1) Republicans and former Republicans offended by Trump and Trumpian rhetoric and urging voters to elect the opposition’s candidate, and 2) points of view outside of the “normal” mainstream of American socio-political culture. The following 2 ads fit the latter category.
We're Listening | Joe Biden For President 2020   (1:00 min)
Eject and elect  ((0:30 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I accept that I’m in KZN, under Lockdown. There is no part of me that is glad I’m not in California, suffering from catastrophic fires. Indeed, disaster, catastrophe, and stress,

may actually lead to greater cooperative, social, and friendly behavior…. This more positive and social response could help explain the human connection that happens during times of crises, a connection that may be responsible, at least in part, for our collective survival as a species. 

I watch from 14,000 miles away, listen to family and friends struggle with conditions of pandemic and environmental disaster, and I worry. California is weeks away from rain. How will Californians survive?

***

Eskom. Don’t gotta love it, but do gotta live with it. Today, Eskom messaged customers: “No load shedding scheduled, but possibility exists that Stage 2 could trigger at short notice. We’ll let you know immediately if anything changes.
If Stage 2 triggers, power in this neighborhood is expected to shut off from 22:00 – 00:30 (10pm – 12:30am). That’s manageable. If it goes according to “possibility.” The only thing consistent about Eskom and load shedding is the inconsistency.

***

Here, at home, we’re three dogs down, experiencing cool weather with comparatively clean air.
Packing up the household continues….

Rain dance

© Associated Press
Click to enlarge

California’s winter rains usually end in March or April and begin again in October or November – although these days that varies. This year, that schedule is catastrophic. 

With more than 14,000 firefighters battling hundreds of fires around California and more than 2 million acres already burned, let’s dance, pray, beg for rain.

News blues…

After a typically dry summer, California is parched heading into fall and what normally is the most dangerous time for wildfires. Two of the three largest fires in state history are burning in the San Francisco Bay Area [population more than 7 million].
A three-day heat wave brought triple-digit temperatures to much of the state during Labor Day weekend. But right behind it was a weather system with dry winds that could fan fires. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, was preparing to cut power to 158,000 customers in 21 counties in the northern half of the state to reduce the possibility its lines and other equipment could spark new fires.
Randy Moore, regional forester for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region that covers California, announced campgrounds at all national forests in the state also were closed. “The wildfire situation throughout California is dangerous and must be taken seriously. Existing fires are displaying extreme fire behavior, new fire starts are likely, weather conditions are worsening, and we simply do not have enough resources to fully fight and contain every fire.”
Record-breaking temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year, and transmission losses because of wildfires have cut into supplies. Throughout the holiday weekend, the California Independent System Operator that manages the state’s power grid warned of outages if residents didn’t reduce their electricity usage. 

*** 

With scores of pharma companies working on a vaccine against Covid-19,  spokesperson for AstraZeneca, the company working with a team from Oxford University, explained the trial has been stopped to review the “potentially unexplained illness” in one of the participants.

The spokesman stressed that the adverse reaction was only recorded in a single participant and said pausing trials was common during vaccine development.
“As part of the ongoing randomised, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process was triggered and we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee.”
“This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials. In large trials illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully. “We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials.”
The vaccine had been expected to be publicly available as early as January.

On the other hand,

Pfizer and BioNTech are confident they can have a vaccine against the novel coronavirus ready for regulatory approval by the middle of October or early November, [said] BioNTech CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin. "It has an excellent profile and I consider this vaccine ... near perfect, and which has a near perfect profile."
US drug giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech say they plan to provide 100 million doses of their vaccine candidate, BNT162, by the end of the year, and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. How are vaccines tested? 

In the pre-clinical stage of testing, researchers give the vaccine to animals to see if it triggers an immune response. 

• In phase 1 of clinical testing, the vaccine is given to a small group of people to determine whether it is safe and to learn more about the immune response it provokes.
• In phase 2, the vaccine is given to hundreds of people so scientists can learn more about its safety and correct dosage.
• In phase 3, the vaccine is given to thousands of people to confirm its safety – including rare side effects – and effectiveness. These trials involve a control group which is given a placebo.

Take aways?
Excessive heat. Excessive fire danger. Excessive death and illness. Who knows what will happen next?
One thing for sure: we’re living in unprecedented times. But we’re doing it. We will survive. (Let’s hear it, Gloria Gaynor.  (3:12 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project: Fallen Heroes  (2:00 mins)
Radicalize  (0:55 mins)
Trump is not like you  (2:15 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Hard day in the house, sad day, too. Three dogs down. Yes, three elderly, incontinent dogs but my mom loves ‘em. Now they’re elderly, incontinent doggie angels in doggie heaven. Happy sad? 

The move is moving along. This time next week, my mom will start another phase of her life. She’ll adjust and, I believe, even enjoy the company once she settles in.
And I’m saying a   L O N G  goodbye to the plants I’ve nurtured in the garden lo, these many months.