Resolute 2021

© Far side – Gary Larsen

News blues…

Americans and their guns! New Year's Eve celebratory shootings result in victims, including the slaying of a 4-Year-old child.  

***

Abdo Sayid at 4 years old
was only 14 pounds. 
Photo: Giles Clarke/U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reminds us of that we’d prefer to ignore. By suppling military equipment and bombs, the US supports the bombing of Yemen. By supporting Saudi Arabia’s attacks on Yemen, the US supports the starving of children.
This means, Americans, that our tax dollars are used to starve children like Abdo Sayid.

Kristof writes:

That’s a photo of a 4-year-old boy, Abdo Sayid, who weighed 14 pounds when he was brought to a hospital in Aden, Yemen, to be treated for starvation. I wondered whether to run the photo with this newsletter, and with my column today. 
There’s an argument that such photos are “poverty porn,” reducing humans to two-dimensional “victims.”
I decided to include the photo. Because I think it’s important for the world to see the consequences of indifference to the growing threat of starvation in poor countries around the world, as a pandemic of hunger follows the coronavirus pandemic. My new column cites a report indicating that an additional 10,000 children are starving to death each month because of the pandemic, and these are preventable. I’m a believer that photos galvanize us and awaken our consciences in ways that words sometimes don’t.
Abdo died soon after reaching the hospital, but his family and the doctors were eager to have the photographs circulated because they want the world to know of such suffering — in hopes that awareness will lead to more help to prevent other kids from dying unnecessarily.
So my column today explores the global, indirect consequences of the pandemic, including people dying of AIDS and tuberculosis because they can’t get medicines, or children going blind because vitamin A supplementation is disrupted, or 2 million additional girls enduring female genital mutilation because campaigns against the practice have slowed. People in poor countries aren’t so much dying of the virus itself, but they are suffering enormously because of the indirect consequences of the pandemic — and because rich countries and the World Bank aren’t doing enough to help. Please read the column. 

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

Need ideas for New Year’s resolutions that go beyond “getting more exercise” and “losing weight”?
Do your part in shaping a healthier planet and brighter future for all.
Ways to protect our planet :
Climate

Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity as ever faced.
It affects every corner of our planet – from the poles to the tropics, and from the mountains to the oceans. People and nature worldwide are already feeling the effects: water supplies are shrinking, extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity, forests are burning, and coral reefs are dying.

Food security

The food system is the single biggest threat to nature today.
It uses most of our natural resources - 69% of all our water and 34% of our land. It has caused 75% of deforestation, 30% of topsoil erosion and contributes at least 24% of greenhouse gas emissions. And yet, we don't even eat all the food we produce - around one third of it is lost in the supply chain or thrown away.

Oceans

The ocean supplies half the oxygen we breathe, and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.
They are also home to a wondrous array of wild species, from tiny plankton to the biggest creature that’s ever existed – the blue whale. But the ocean is in crisis. Centuries of overuse and neglect threaten to leave us with a vast blue wasteland.

Freshwater

Almost half the world's population will face severe water scarcity by 2030 without urgent action
Water is our most precious resource. We can't live without it, there's no substitute for it, and there's only so much of it to go round. Of all the water on Earth, just 2.5% is fresh water, and most of that is locked up in ice or deep underground. We rely on freshwater for farming, industry, and for the sustenance of 7 billion human beings and all life on land.

Forests

Human actions have already led to the loss of around 40% of the world’s forests.
We all need healthy forests. They help keep our climate stable, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. They regulate our water supply and improve its quality. They provide a home to more than half of all species found on land, and we rely on them too! Over 1 billion people live in and around forests, depending on them for fuel, food, medicines and building materials.

Wildlife

The population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles today have dropped an average of 68% since 1970.
Maintaining the complex balance of animal life on Earth ensures the health of the natural systems we depend on for water, food, clean air, fertile soils and a stable climate. We need to reverse this loss of nature and biodiversity to create a future where wildlife and people thrive again

Read “Go from zero to planet hero this 2021" >> 

***

Our lives depend on a healthy planet:  Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health

Every day we depend on biodiversity (the sheer variety of life found on Earth) to keep us alive and healthy. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take are all by-products of a healthy planet.

Read “Our lives depend on a healthy planet” >> 

***

Healthy people, healthy planet: the search for a sustainable global diet
By 2050, an estimated 10 billion people will live on Earth. To provide them with a healthy diet, eating habits need to change.
Read “Healthy people, healthy planet: the search for a sustainable global diet” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Despite best intentions, rain prevented me transplanting indigenous plants into my new garden at my new home. With a let up in rain today, I will dedicate myself to creating a wonderful garden. A New Year’s resolution!

So this is 2021?

Hmmm, so far 2021 is not going well. A drunk driver drove into a neighborhood Eskom transformer. Knocked out electricity early afternoon, 1 January. Sixteen hours later the outage remains in effect.
Heavy rainfall since 31 December means garden and – as I discovered to my dismay – many battery operated items are water-logged.
I’d packed my car with gardening items to take to my new place and transplant while the soil is damp and easier to dig.
Alas, my car wouldn’t start; battery had some life but not enough to start the engine. (I’d pulled the car out from under the carport so that rain could cleanse it of excess dust. Perhaps that was the problem? Some necessary part got wet? That doesn’t make sense but who knows?)
I searched for the jumper cables that belong to this household. Alas, my brother, naturally, has commandeered them and they’re at his house, a 30-minute drive away. Moreover, he’s under quarantine and couldn’t return them anyway.
I transferred all items from my car to my mother’s car, that does start.
Alas, the electricity-powered security gate didn’t work. Usually, battery power kicks in when electricity is off and, after a pause, gate opens and closes with a signal from the remote. Today? No such luck. The security gate battery appears flat, too.
What else can a girl do but have a cup of tea – and a hunk or tow of dark fruit cake.
I pray my array of battery charged items – phones, laptop – last for the duration or the power outage.

***

Two hours later electricity back on. Time to boogey….

Happy New Year!

Froggie went a’courtin’ …
frogs mating in the
swimming pool to usher in
the new year (see below).

Perhaps We the People should take heed of this Froggie couple and, as we wave a grateful farewell to 2020, pledge, for 2021, to “make love, not war”?

News blues…

Dr Fauci will become chief Covid advisor to the Biden administration. This, after Fauci’s frustration and struggles with the Trump administration. Fifty-two years as a public servant:  (20:00 mins)

***

Covidiot is a peculiarly American phenomena whereby certain Americans apparently believe wearing masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene does not apply to them... and that coronavirus is a hoax. Moreover, since they are American and thus “free,” they can act “free.” Behold, an example of a Covidiot practicing covidiocy:

A store clerk was left amazed by a customer who had cut a hole in her Covid-19 face mask because it 'makes it easier to breathe'.
Joe Samaan was working his shift at an S J Food Mart outside Lexington, Kentucky, when a woman came in asking to pay for gas.
But unlike the hundreds of other customers Joe sees on a daily basis, the hole in this woman's protective facewear, which left her mouth and nose exposed, caught his eye. Here’s the incredible moment Kentucky Covidiot explains she has cut a hole in her face mask because it 'makes it easier to breathe'  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Amid 2020’s gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful about the climate in 2021 

***

Iceland - an example for the rest of us...

Isolated and challenged by a harsh climate and battered by the financial crisis of 2008, Iceland has successfully moved away from fossil fuels and shifted to 100% electricity production from renewable sources.
The island nation has developed high-tech greenhouses to grow organic vegetables and embraced sustainable fish farming, ecotourism, breakthrough processes for carbon capture and disposal, and efforts to restore the forests that were lost in earlier centuries https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2020/dec/30/icelands-innovations-to-reach-net-zero-in-pictures

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother has been released from hospital back to the Care Center where, I’m told, she’s “doing well,” eating (Jungle Oats), sleeping, and will begin her physiotherapy regime ASAP.
Jessica The Dog, back at the house, is settling in , too. She still acts depressed, but her tail curls over her back again, she roly-polies on the grass when I encourage her to walk in the garden, she’s eating like a trooper, and monkeys are scarce due to her vigilance. She enjoys barking.

***

Word is getting around among the frog population that the garden pond is sufficiently crowded with mating “courting” frogs, that a couple desiring privacy might try the swimming pool. That, or courting frogs have discovered that I’ve become quite the Swimming Pool Gal with vastly improved pool maintenance skills.
Yesterday, after I cleaned and flushed the pool filter, sprinkled chlorine granules, and refreshed the chlorine-dispensing “floaters”, I discovered this amorous couple producing meters-/yards-long strings of eggs. (the videos aren’t perfect but they give the gist….)
I removed the strings of eggs -the long black stream shown in the video - then discovered another batch of eggs – at least a cupful - in one of the pool filter baskets. The small, round, black eggs, encased in a translucent, flexible, and strong string would be, under normal conditions of froggie mating, wound around reeds, lilies, and other pond vegetation.
Given how many hundreds of eggs one frog-mating couple produces, it’s clear the planet and it’s amphibians are in way worse shape than even I, a pessimist, imagined.

Frogs mating - December 31, 2020.

And, a couple more videos for your new year's viewing pleasure (no ads!)

Rhombic night adder

Masked weaver building a nest

Egyptian Geese

TGIO*

* Thank God It’s Over!

The end Lockdown Week 40 coincides nicely with the end of the year. 

More than 82 million people around the world infected with a highly contagious virus is a hellava way to end a year, any year!. Who’da thunk?
Below, our weekly wrap up of Covid-19 stats of the last three months.
May the year 2021 see a diminution of the horror.

Worldwide (Map) 
December 31 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths
October 29 – 44,402,000 confirmed infections; 1,173,270 deaths
Cry, the beloved planet….

US (Map) 
December 31 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths
October 29 – 8,856,000 confirmed infections; 227,675 deaths
One in 1,000 Americans have now died of Covid-19.
1 in 17 Americans have tested positive for Covid-19.
More than 63,000 Americans died of Covid-19 in December.
Cry, the beloved country….

SA (Tracker)  
December 31 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths
October 29 – 719,715 confirmed infections; 19,111 deaths
Cry, the (original) beloved country….

News blues…

Then and Now: a photo essay of the year around the world. 

***

And, 18 actually good things that happened in 2020 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet?  Slowdown of human activity was too short to reverse years of destruction, but we saw a glimpse of post-fossil fuel world  

When lockdown began, climate scientists were horrified at the unfolding tragedy, but also intrigued to observe what they called an “inadvertent experiment” on a global scale. To what extent, they asked, would the Earth system respond to the steepest slowdown in human activity since the second world war?
Environmental activists put the question more succinctly: how much would it help to save the planet?
Almost one year on from the first reported Covid case, the short answer is: not enough. In fact, experts say the pandemic may have made some environmental problems worse, though there is still a narrow window of opportunity for something good to come from something bad if governments use their economic stimulus packages to promote a green recovery.

Read “Could Covid lockdown have helped save the planet?” >> 

***

This Year Was A Disaster for The Planet. From record-breaking wildfires to devastating hurricanes, human-driven climate change keeps killing us.  

***

Floods, storms and searing heat: 2020 in extreme weather. While Covid has dominated the news, the world has also felt the effects of human-driven global heating. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I end the year with my mother still in hospital due, not to adverse reaction to her recent surgery, but still awaiting results of her Covid test. The Care Center, naturally, requires she’s Covid negative before they can accept her. She was tested on Monday, the same day she was admitted. Today, Thursday, she’s still not received results. 

One wonder what viruses and infections she may have been exposed to after four days in the Petrie dish of a hospital.
On the other hand, I’d asked the surgeon on Tuesday if he could see his way to keeping her in the hospital one more day. This, I thought, might ensure better post-surgery care – and delay my sharing the news that I brought Jessica back to the house while my mom recovers. The surgeon explained that, under normal conditions, he’d consider keeping her another day, but under Covid conditions, hospital staff are hard pressed and hospital beds at a premium.
Jessica The Dog has had a tough time. A lugubrious creature at the best of times, she’s currently in mourning. She spends her days installed in her ‘special place’ in the garden, a spot that expresses her state of mind. Yesterday, she refused to move from there, even during the afternoon rain shower.
Good news for Jessica? After having to stifle her yen to bark at the Care Center, here she’s free to bark again. And she does. She's especially gleeful at barking at monkeys. I'm gleeful too: the monkeys take heed.

***

My brother and his family – 3 adults – are under quarantine as “secondary contacts” for Covid.  The son of a member of the extended family, someone who visits regularly with my sister-in-law, is infected. 

Covid is getting closer. The Care Center psychologist also is under quarantine. While my contact with both my brother and the psychologist is confined to texting and/or phone, I feel more hemmed in by encroaching Covid.
Meanwhile, the Care Center has set up video conferencing. This means my brother – my mother’s all time favorite human in the world – can easily contact her to chat. The only drawback? Both my mother and my brother mumble, slur their words, and/or speak at such low volume that a conversation quickly becomes a mumble-athon. At least they can see one another.
My dread my first Zoom conversation with my mother as I will have to explain why Jessica is at the house rather than the Care Center. I doubt my mother will accept the truth: that, for now, her physical health decrees she cannot get up to feed and walk the dog.
Alas, try telling that to an 87 year old who still thinks of herself as a 27 year old.

Storm in a teacup

News blues…

Bheki Cele, SA Minister of Police,
under his signature Trilby hat.
Image: Esa Alexander 

Bheki Cele, Minister of Police, looks like a man who loves his work and has fun doing it. Yesterday, he warned creative South Africans about the sale of alcohol during Lockdown Level 3:

The non-sale of alcohol is the non-sale of alcohol - do not put alcohol in teapots in your restaurants or in bottles ... We know your tricks, don’t invite the police to come and check whether there is really Rooibos [tea] in there or there is something else in the teapot.

Further advice from Cele  >> 

***

More pithy advice from the front lines of the Battle against Covid:

“Some of us will die, but those left behind should continue the fight… Your chances of survival when arriving at a hospital will decided whether you are admitted to ICU or receive oxygen.” 

***

Eskom may have stumbled upon a load shedding schedule that least annoys South Africans: coincide load shedding with curfew.
Perhaps it’s the intense heat of the last few days, but electricity supply has been unreliable and We the People find ourselves suddenly in the dark. Electricity simply goes off – and comes back on – and goes off – and comes back on… Surely this defies the intention behind a schedule?
Yesterday, we learned at 3pm of a load shedding event from 22:00 to 5:00, aka 10pm to 5am.
Curfew extends from 21:00 to 6:00 for all medical, security, and essential workers.
Has Eskom hit upon perfect timing?
Perhaps Bheki Cele – and his Trilby – is working with Eskom to persuade South Africans to adhere to curfew? Stay home and drink Rooibos tea?

Healthy planet, anyone?

… and yet another climate-change-related crisis, this one a fatal freshwater skin disease in dolphins:

Dolphins are increasingly dying slow, painful deaths from skin lesions likened to severe burns as a result of exposure to fresh water, exacerbated by the climate crisis.
Researchers in the US and Australia have defined for the first time an emerging “freshwater skin disease” reported in coastal dolphin populations in the US, South America and Australia.
While cetaceans can survive in fresh water for short periods, sudden and prolonged exposure – such as when an animal becomes trapped, or the salinity of their habitat is affected by heavy rainfall – has been found to cause a form of dermatitis.
This progresses into ulcers and lesions that can affect up to 70% of the animal’s surface area, with the severity of a third-degree burn. 
“Their skin is just as sensitive as ours, and possibly even more so – it would be incredibly painful,” says Dr Nahiid Stephens, a veterinary pathologist at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, and co-author of the paper published in Scientific Reports journal. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s been a long day of waiting for news on my mother’s health.
She underwent surgery to insert a metal pin into the neck of her femur (where upper leg bone fits into hip socket). The surgeon reported that all went well, and she could be returned to the Care Center as soon as today, tomorrow at the latest. All depends upon the negative result of Covid test. (The test was conducted on Monday, the day of her injury, and we’re still awaiting results.)
I’d be happy with delayed results keeping her in the hospital another day. I know, theoretically, that hospitals are the best dispensers of assorted infections, but they’re also not the Care Center where my mother is comfortable enough to complain ad nauseum. In hospital, a new environment, she’d have to work up the nerve to complain. Every day of her not complaining is a day of healing.

***

Jessica, The Dog, is depressed. Her pleasure at returning to the house, her old stomping-sniffing-roly-poly ground, has been accompanied by what looks like depression. She spent all day yesterday – 34C/95F temperature – in a part of the garden she once resorted to only when she was miffed or depressed.
Jessica is a dog sensitive to human – and dog – moods and emotions. As with many creatures with high degrees of sensitivity, Jessica shares - perhaps over-shares - her own emotionality.
She is, however, slowly settling.
I’ve decided – and the Care Center agrees – that Jessica should stay at the house until my mother is mobile enough for Jessica to return there. To all adhering to the philosophy of Common Sense, my mom is recovering from a fall and surgery and is in no shape to get out of bed to feed and walk the dog. Alas, there’s my mother’s version of reality: “Of course I can take care of Jessica. I want her back!” She’ll be unhappy without me!”
I dread telling my mother of this decision. Perhaps I should try to manipulate her into thinking she made the decision?
Manipulation is not in my comfort zone. I tend to take the direct approach – usually to my detriment. But I'm desperate. Perhaps, if I rose to the occasion I'd learn a new skill? Learning to manipulate also may increase my own psychological range.
At the very least, it would break the monotony of Lockdown.

Vigilance demanded

News blues…

President Ramaphosa’s update to the nation on South Africa’s Covid status: (38:00 mins)
Key takeaways:
More than 1 million infected and more than 27,000 dead, a rate of 50,000 new infections since Christmas Eve; new cases dire in KZN, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Eastern Cape
New variant – 501.V2 - is well established in SA and it appears to be more contagious than first wave; it’s also fueled by super spreader events -
We’re all paying price for the lack of vigilance people displayed during the holidays: not masking, not sanitizing, not maintaining social distance, and hosting/attending public events that increase the risk of transmission
Alcohol contributes to risky behavior; also drives up trauma cases in hospitals; fewer restrictions on alcohol creates increased trauma cases in hospitals and puts unnecessary strain on hospitals already full; health care workers exhausted - and more than 41,000 health workers infected
A doctor wrote a letter stating: “We’re all going to pay for your inability to be responsible with our lives”
NCCC recommends Lockdown level 3, from midnight, to:

• Minimize risk of super spreader events
• Limit activities of infected persons showing no symptoms; decrease unsafe interactions; increase implementation of social distancing, wearing masks, sanitizing, and regular symptom checking
• Redirect scarce resources
• This includes all indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited for 14 days from midnight
• Funerals cannot be attended by more than 50 people
• Businesses must determine social distancing guidelines and limits
• Curfew: extended form 9 pm to 6am, nobody allowed outside during curfew except for medical, security, and essential workers
• Most businesses must be closed by 8pm
• Everyone must wear a cloth mask over nose and mouth in public. Adjusted level 3 makes every individual legally responsible for wearing a mask in public – compulsory for everyone and failure to do so will be considered an offence that could lead to arrest, fine and/or prosecution with up to 6 months in jail.
• Sale of alcohol: this industry is important but out priority is to save lives and protect health care system: every medical related item and person is needed to save lives so alcohol sale is prohibited except for some exceptions. This will be reviewed in next few weeks if there’s a sustained decline in alcohol-related incidents.
• Businesses may operate as long as health protocol are adhered to, except for alcohol related business.

Restrictions are in effect until January 15, 2021 when they will be reevaluated on the basis of state of pandemic
Hotspots subject to additional restrictions:

• Eastern Cape and Garden Route
• KZN: Durban,
• West Rand and Joburg
• Western Cape and Karoo
• North West
• Limpopo
• Beaches, dams, lakes, pools, closed to the public
• Parks: some open
• Minimize travel within districts and minimal social contact.

Vaccine update:
SA is part of global access – COVAX – with ZAR 283 million contribution already made. SA will be among first group of African countries to get vaccine, probably in the second quarter of 2021;
Need to build partnership between govt and business to augment resources to achieve herd immunity
Public must observe highest degree of vigilance and protect others
Avoid 3Cs: closed spaced, crowded area, contact with others

Play your part to defeat this pandemic
Instead of parties at new year, spend time with close family – no fireworks but light a candle for those who have lost their lives and the sacrifices made by all.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Late this afternoon I learned my mother, residing (unhappily) in the Care Center, had “fallen in the passageway.” This, after I’d visited her earlier in the day and found her fuzzy, confused, and focused on my brother, his well-being, his location, and his absence.
I drove to the Care Center to pick up the dog and arrived just as the ambulance was pulling out of the parking lot. I flagged it down and was able to talk, briefly, at my mom (she was in no shape to talk to me). I told her I would relate events to my brother and ask him get in touch with her… and that I was taking Jessica back to the house.
Due to surging Covid infections, the ambulance EMTs didn’t know if there would be a bed for her at local hospital - or where they’d take her if there was no bed.
I had to trust that they knew what they were doing.
I picked up Jessica’s food – the dog was freaked out – and talked to the Sister on duty. Apparently, mom – foggy as she was – got up, did not ring for assistance and used her walker to head down the passageway (to the bathroom?). She moved aside in the passageway to accommodate another resident and fell. Her leg was clearly damaged as it was at an unnatural angel.
We got Jessica in the car and I drove home.
Jessica looked very uncertain after she arrived. The other dogs were cautious and one, an officious beast at the best of times, looked ready to attack. That’s all I need: dog fights, dog emergency care at the vet, more dog hassles….
Last night, at 9pm, the hospital-based surgeon, phoned. My mother, he said, has what looks like a broken hip. Then he asked, “Is she usually this confused?”
I explained the events of the last week, mentioned that her regular doctor had taken her off her chronic blood thinner meds just last week in case of a fall.
The surgeon said he had no information at all on my mother’s medical history. Nothing in the way of background had accompanied her admission. All he had received was, "Elderly woman, fell, hurt her leg and may have hit her head."
In other words, the Care Center had sent her off without documentation. I know documentation exists as I’d filled out pages of forms on her medical history forms when my mom was admitted to the Center. Yet she had nothing to guide her medical care at the hospital. Moreover, shock and confusion meant she could provide nothing meaningful.
Covid mandates that no one can visit patients. So, my mother, scared, confused, has a broken hip that requires surgery that she cannot undergo until the surgeon contacts her GP to learn more about her medical history. She also requires a Covid test before she can be fully admitted to the hospital. And she’ll require another Covid test before she can be discharged back the Care Center.
After talking to the surgeon, I phoned the Care Center to request an appointment with the matron. Alas, the matron is “on leave and won’t be back until next week.”
“Well, who is in charge now?”
“Sister Liz.”
“No, I need to talk to someone with higher status than Sister Liz.”
Turns out no one is available.
I gave my email address and asked that a Trustee contact me.
Sending my mother off to hospital with no safeguarding documentation is a dereliction of care.
Emergency surgery on someone just recently off blood thinners could be fatal.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve let some things slide at the Care Center. For example, my mother was able to take too many pills last week - after the Center had said their care givers would dispense her pills to her.
True, my mother is stubborn, stuck in her ways, imperious, and sometimes quite unpleasant (I’ve been on beneficiary many times). But, Care Center personnel’s failure to provide minimal vigilance cannot be overlooked.

Countdown, 1

This strange and challenging year comes to a close with strange and challenging events…. Do We the People of the world have the will, the know-how, and the selflessness to steer a different direction for our mutual survival?
That is the question....

News blues…

South Africa surpasses milestone of 1 million cases of Covid infections. 
The world surpasses 80 million infections.
The US surpasses 19 million infections, almost double the infection numbers of India, the country with the next highest rate at 10 million.

***

• The president of the United State has, over his term, siphoned off more than US $10.5 million into his personal business.  
• As of Dec. 27, 2020 the same president of the United State has played golf 306 times since becoming President.  This, after chastising Obama for golfing far fewer times over two terms in office. 
• The same president of the United States has overtly ignored a raging pandemic, and potential mitigation measures. As of today

…there have been nearly 19 million recorded COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and more than 331,000 deaths nationwide.
December marked the deadliest month in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began, with more than 63,000 COVID-19 deaths recorded nationwide during the month so far. 
April held the previous monthly record for the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, with at least 55,000 reported. The U.S. saw a steep incline in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the spring, followed by a sharp decrease over the summer. Those numbers began to increase again in the fall and have continued to surge into the winter.

*** 

© Meidas Touch

The Trump administration highlights the weakness of the American political bureaucracy. 

For now, the systems is holding (the dismissal of Trump’s claims of election fraud) but it is teetering. 

Trump has shown how to successfully manipulate a system whose “checks and balances” are designed to forestall such manipulations. 

With Joe Biden, the “go along to get along guy,” there is no reason to assume the next administration will do anything to check the flagrant abuses of Trump and his enablers.
The US system may be designed for checks and balances, but it depends solely on the combined and concerted will of Congress to ensure the system works. 

There’s no reason at all to expect the will of the current Congress to implement consequences and strengthen democracy.

On the positive side, at least humor remains. Thank you, Meidas Touch.

  

Healthy planet, anyone?

Hopeful directions:

The Air Company, based in New York, makes vodka from two ingredients: carbon dioxide and water. Each bottle that’s produced takes carbon dioxide out of the air. It has been chosen as one of the finalists in the $20m NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, which aims to incentivise innovation in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

More news of hopeful directions >> 
On the other hand, “'It's as if we've learned nothing': alarm over Amazon road project.” 
Our planet is in desperate need of common sense, logic, and a change of direction. 

We’re running out of time….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It was too hot yesterday for outside activities. Turns out if was also too hot for inside activities. For several hours in the afternoon, Eskom failed to supply electricity. Eskom’s designed-to-inform app failed to inform, too.