Pardon-athon?

We know who he'll pardon first. 
But who else is on his list?
Enquiring minds wanna know....

News blues…

The Donald’s ship has sailed – and the rats, his so-called “allies”, can’t abandon him fast enough.
The odd thing about Trump? Despite perfecting the Art of Usury – including using people for his own ends - his pathological arrogant narcissism never understood that users beget users. A list of “allies” who’ve abandoned the Trumpster so far:

• GOP Leaders Cordially Decline Trump's Going Away Party  (3:55 mins)
• After 4 years of sycophancy, “Moscow Mitch” now says, “The mob was fed lies.” 
• Pence, McConnell, and McCarthy are skipping Trump's departure ceremony 
• Republican support for convicting Trump in Senate growing 
• Ah, well, who needs ‘em? Trump’s arranging his own send-off at Joint Base Andrews at 8am on Wednesday. Naturally, Trump wants a military-style send-off with a band and a flyover.
• He and his family, from wife to kids and grandkids, no longer welcome in New York, are off to Florida. 

With four hundred Americans dead from Covid-19 and a country in shambles, “Good luck, Florida!”

***

The Lincoln Project:

In less than 24 hours, Joe Biden will be President. Kamala Harris will be Vice President.
And Donald Trump will be a disgraced ex-President, failed businessman, and a Twitter-less private citizen.
We are in the final hours of the worst presidency of our lifetimes, and one of the most destructive in our country’s history.
For the first time in four years, the sitting president won’t be a national security landmine, a walking emoluments clause violation, or a nepotist pimp dealing spoils and favors to loyalists and the highest bidders.
We will soon have a president who listens to scientists instead of conspiracy theorists, experts instead of provocateurs, and trusted legal minds instead of pillow salesmen.
Our new president will consider the human toll of the raging pandemic before his political posturing.
Our new president will defend the values of liberal democracy, instead of abandoning our allies and cozying up to autocrats and oppressors.
Our new president will work for all Americans—not just himself and the privileged few.
Reaching this day was years in the making. November’s election did not occur in a vacuum.
It took every other patriot in this coalition to fight for democracy and deliver Joe Biden’s victory.
It took millions of Americans standing up for what is right versus what is so clearly wrong.
This is our time.
And this is our new president.

As glad as I am that the Trumps are going, the cynic in me wonders how long the current adoration of Biden as Savior will continue.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My things-to-do before-I-can-depart-SA list just got one item more complicated. Before I can purchase a return ticket and depart, not only must I sell a house – my mother’s - and find homes for three dogs – ditto, my mother’s – figure out if I should rent my own new home, and set up a routine that tries to ensure my mother’s well-being in the Care Center, I must also follow Embassy-level directions before I can re-enter California.
As per the US Embassy in SA:

Health Alert: Requirement for Proof of Negative COVID-19 Test or Recovery from COVID-19 for All Air Passengers Arriving in the United States
Location: The Republic of South Africa
Event: Starting January 26, 2021, all air travelers to the United States, including U.S citizens, are required to provide a negative COVID-19 test or proof of recovery to enter the United States.
On January 12, 2021, CDC issued an Order requiring all air passengers arriving to the US from a foreign country to get tested no more than 3 days before their flight departs and to provide proof of the negative result or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 to the airline before boarding the flight. This Order will go into effect on January 26, 2021. Actions to take: 

• Visit the CDC’s webpage for more details on this requirement: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html
• Visit the Embassy’s COVID information page, https://za.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information-2/, for additional information on COVID in South Africa.

Talking about Covid, my sore throat is still sore, but slightly less sore than this time (5:45am) yesterday. Pain and discomfort is worse overnight and, happily, last night’s discomfort was marginally less than the previous night’s.
Restored health on the horizon?
Amen!

5G. Golly gee!

KwaZulu Natal is many things… including a mishmash of misinformation and hysteria amongst those who believe that 5G towers are spreading coronavirus, that vaccines will “infect” their blood with “demons,” and that a combo of 5G, coronavirus, vaccines, electricity transmission lines, etc. herald the imminent apocalypse… 
The targeted “bad guys” at the center of many conspiracies circulating in South Africa? 

Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci. George Soros, too, although he’s more demonized in the US than he is in South Africa.
Interestingly, few South Africans recognize Mark Zuckerberg, his name, his social media platforms, or his outsized role in social media. This, despite WhatsApp - and Facebook - being social media platforms of choice for “everyone” in SA with a mobile phone .
Conspiracy theories swirl more than ever as news circulates about users having to opt into WhatsApp’s updated privacy rules by 6 February  
As increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories multiple exponentially, Telegram is promoted as the alterative social media platform. In the US, however, Telegram (along with Gab, CloutHub, and MeWe) are described (by “normal” people) as “a haven for MAGA extremists and far-right message boards such as 8kun (formerly 8chan)).
Positioned with one foot in California and one foot in KZN offers a fascinating peek into human complexities, conspiracy theories and all.

News blues…

Eish! Hasn’t he left yet?

(Above) This week’s New Yorker magazine says it all.

Next week’s prescient New Yorker cover.  

***

As Donald Trump prepares to scuttle out of Washington, DC, he’s said to be selling pardons, for up to $2 million each. 
Hey, Donald, haven’t you heard? “You’re fired!”

***

The Lincoln Project: The Liar's Guide to Mendacious Hypocrisy  (2:06 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Will Neptune’s balls save us?

Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls”, researchers have found. 
With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900m plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, [according to a study] in the journal Scientific Reports.

My concern about miracle cures, whether Neptune’s balls or any other?
Humans tend to decide “someone else” is taking care of the planet's plastics problem and nothing more effort is required of them.
Friends, that’s far from true.
Much of the plastic dropped in recycling bins isn't being recycled. 

In 2014, 22 percent of PET plastic collected for recycling was exported out of the United States. Plastic production surged from 15 million tons in 1964 to 311 tons in 2014 — an increase of more than 2,000 percent. 

According to the EPA, of the 267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste generated by Americans in 2017, only 94.2 million tons were recycled or composted. Sixty-six percent of discarded paper and cardboard was recycled, 27 percent of glass, and 8 percent of plastics were recycled. 

Recycle, recycle, recycle and learn if plastic is recycled productively in your neighborhood. 

Your efforts, small or large, are vital. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Heron Pond is one of four small lakes spaced, ladder-like, in a shallow valley near my section of my soon-to-be-new home. Over the weekend, while circumambulating Heron Pond, I learned anyone can fish for bass in any of the small lakes – Heron, Stork, Robin, and Duck.
Traditionally, fishing has not been my choice of pastime. I have accompanied a friend into California’s Sierra foothills to fly fish trout. LINK He practices catch-and-release so I wasn’t faced with the dilemma of watching a pretty trout lose the struggle for breathe on a riverbank.
While he fished, I explored tide pools, scrambled over rocks, and admired rock formations.
The idea of sitting on the bank of Heron or other pond appeals. I’d probably not bait the hook (what if a bass bites?), but holding a fishing rod/pole would provide cover for sitting near and staring into water.
Or I could watch for fish eagles These amazing predators frequent these ponds. I watched two circle overhead and one dive to the pond surface. 

Vegetation blocked my view of whether her/his dive was productive.
Next time, I’ll carry a camera

***

Sore throat update: My infected throat is neither noticeably better nor worse. I continue to steam and gargle salt water. I took advice from the doctor’s office to use a throat spray and to try a different over-the-counter lozenge or syrup.
While I’m willing to go with medical advice, to date my flesh is unwilling to comply.

“Free again, free again…”

I’ve been in South Africa for almost one year – 8 months beyond what I’d planned. One luxury I’ve granted myself during this time is an Internet connection. While I love the location of this house - semi-rural in a valley with wonderful vegetation and tall trees - I pay a premium for the Internet connection.
As of next Thursday, I’ll move to a connection one third the price for four times the data. 

It’ll be awkward and disruptive and my posting schedule will change, but I’m looking forward to no longer being exploited by an ISP that considers me a source of endless Yankee dollas.
I’ve managed, despite load shedding and ISP troubles, to post every day since the beginning of Covid and Lockdown and I intend to maintain that discipline.
Thank you for reading this blog and, after Thursday, please be patient as we segue to a modified schedule. Daily posts will continue albeit slightly later in the day.

News blues…

Since the recent attempted coup/insurrection/siege of the Capitol, will America and Americans have another round of soul searching around race and xenophobia?

For African Americans, Wednesday’s siege of the U.S. Capitol by a mob bent on keeping President Donald Trump in office despite his election loss in November offered fresh evidence that the double standard and the racism … remain firmly in place. 

The Lincoln Project: Which side  (0:55 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

A Black Lives Matter rally
in Brisbane in June after the death of
George Floyd in the US.
'In a just world, no one should
have to fight for oxygen,’
writes author Jennifer Mills . 
Photo: James D Morgan/Getty Images 

The question of who breathes, and who suffocates, is a question of who deserves to live. It’s a question that will only become more urgent as the climate crisis develops.
Read, Trouble breathing: 'We all breathe the same air, but we don't breathe equally' >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Eskom, South Africa’s electrical supply commission parastatal, regularly displays its budgetary and executive/managerial shortcomings.
Load shedding – shutting down the country’s power grid to cope with diminished supply – is an ‘in your face’ display of shortcomings, but the devil, as they say, is in the details.
Once upon a time, Eskom offered industry and residents the cheapest electricity in the world. 

Yes, politically and socially those were the “bad old days” of apartheid: labor was abundant, cheap, and exploitative. 

And yes, since electricity was so cheap, it was the power source of choice (for those who could afford installation). Natural gas was available, but more expensive therefore less desirable than electricity.
These days, for purposes of load shedding, Eskom’s supply grid is segmented into named and numbered neighborhoods that endure load shedding together. Our neighborhood, “same-village name_A-14”, is across the freeway from “same-village name_B-14”.
About a month ago“same-village name_A-14” – our neighborhood – endured several days without power due to theft of electrical cable from a transformer on our street. 

A week after that, we endured another day without power because a drunk driver crashed into and damaged the same transformer.
This weekend, a portion of “same-village name_A-14” endured 19 hours without electricity while our house, endured 2.5 hours of scheduled load shedding.
Nineteen hours is a long time without power, more so if you’re an elderly, alone, shut-in with ill health that includes diabetes. My neighbor and friend could not cook her solitary hot meal, could not bath, could only worry as she watched her stash of frozen food slowly thaw.
She and her dog ate processed meat and bread.
I dared not reach out to her since I suffered a sore throat, potentially a Covid indicator.
Naturally, social media was rife with rumor and conjecture about why power was off only in sections of the same grid.
Eskom was silent.
Hour 20, power returned – and a reason for the outage. Somehow, physical cable for “same-village name_A-14” and “same-village name_B-14” had been confused and mis-connected at a local transformer.
That is, residents endured 19 hours without power along with the regular load-shedding schedule due to a faulty transformer connection,.
Did I mention that Eskom now has among the most expensive electricity in Africa?

***

Sore throat update: I’ve now had a sore throat for longer than Eskom supplied continuous power: from Friday night to Monday morning. 

It’s worse overnight. 

Still no other overt signs it’s evolving into a more dire illness.

There goes the neighborhood

© Sheneman, the Star-Ledger

News blues…

White, in-charge-of-the-system, America is slowing waking up to the reality that “white, right-wing extremism” can be synonymous with “domestic terrorism.”
Can business-as-usual grapple with climate change, income inequality, racial inequality, economic collapse, teetering democracy, recalcitrant Republicanism, developing fascism, and “domestic terrorism”?
Under a Biden presidency?
Enquiring minds wanna know.
Federal statutes provide a definition of domestic terrorism, but there is no a specific law that outlaws it .
I suspect We the People will watch months, if not years, of Congressional squabbling as House and Senate grapple with an agreed upon and just solution to address the recent insurrection.
Keep in mind …

Just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed the "USA/Patriot Act," an overnight revision of the nation's surveillance laws that vastly expanded the government's authority to spy on its own citizens, while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court.

“Panicked” is the key word.
Congress is panicked again. And pressure is building for Congress to refine “domestic terrorism” – or not. The Patriot Act was controversial at the time . Any tool can be abused.
One view of the pros and cons of The Patriot Act. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Update: My throat is less sore than the early hours of Saturday, but still sore. The care routine I’ve developed over the past 3 days: gargle salt water upon waking; drink orange juice then indulge in coffee; breathe in steam; suck a Strepsil lozenge (flubiporfen 8.75 mg) every 3 to 4 hours; continue to regularly gargle salt water.
After I complained to a friend that I was developing ear ache, he recommended gargling with alcohol. Hmmm. Okay. Of a choice between gin and rum, I prefer rum, so I chose gargling with gin. “Gin might be too strong,” he advised.
As we chatted on the phone, I gargled a small swig of rum.
My friend had suggested I spit it out. Alas, the (grapefruit-flavored) rum gargle tasted great - so I swallowed it.
Delicious.
Next time you have a sore throat, gargle with grapefruit flavor rum.
Not sure it helped my sore throat, but it was a good start to the day.
Observations:
Symptoms lessen during the day.
Sense of smell is robust; no loss of energy nor increased fatigue; no fever; no head- or body aches; no cough.
Conclusion: perhaps a slow-developing cold?

“Change is hard”

News blues…

Our planet is heading towards 100 million Covid infections – a quarter of those in the US – and more than 2 million deaths – 20 percent of those in the US. Yet The Donald is holed up watching TV in the White House, and a second impeachment looming. Nary a word about Covid-19’s toll on the nation.

***

What are the roots of the attempted coup on US Capitol? “The Capitol riot has ended the notion that the president’s hardcore base was motivated by economic anxiety. It has always been about race.”

Donald Trump supporters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol last week weren’t short on cash or propelled by severe economic anxiety.
The insurrectionists came to Washington by plane. They stayed in Airbnbs and at the Embassy Suites. They wore costumes and carried weapons and iPhones. Some were cops. There were doctors, lawyers, a Chicago real estate broker, teachers ― even a school therapist. A CEO.
Sure, some of them could’ve been impoverished former coal miners, as so many pundits have described a certain sect of Trump voters. But these people weren’t raging over the decline of the carbon-based economy. This was a riot about race and power. If there was economic anxiety, it was spurred by the rioters’ false notion that their place in the world is under threat.
We can stop talking about how white Americans voted for Trump because of economic interest. His appeal was never about money. (And Trump is leaving office with the economy in tatters, by the way. On Thursday, 1.15 million more people filed for unemployment.)
The insurrection was the violent cry of a group of (mostly) white men, afraid of losing power ― not just of having their savior leave office but more broadly seeing their place at the top of the American caste system knocked down a peg.
…Overwhelmingly they’ve found that Americans who chose Trump were worried about losing their social status, their place in a country where white folks will soon be in the minority and where many women no longer seem to realize that men should be in charge.

Read “Trump Supporters’ Main Problem Was Never the Economy” >>  

***

The truth will out: “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers,” a new analysis, calls out the corporate and trade association political action committees that poured millions in campaign contributions to the 147 Republicans who voted to object to President-elect Joe Biden's win over President Donald Trump. 

***

Steve Schmidt, cofounder of The Lincoln Project: The 2nd Impeachment of Donald J Trump 

Latest ad from The Lincoln Project:

How democracy dies  (0:55 mins)

Ted Cruz. 

Josh Hawley. 

Kevin McCarthy. 

These are the names of traitors to the United States of America—and officeholders in our nation’s Capitol.
They must resign, or be expelled.
The defense of our democracy and our Constitution from domestic enemies is our most critical job.
We’re airing ads across Missouri, Texas, California, and in D.C. to remind Americans of the most urgent threat to our Republic.
There is no denying what the stakes are. We’ve borne witness to what falling off the edge would look like.
Our democracy dangled off the point of no return last week, as we watched the President and his sycophants levy a violent attack on the Capitol—and on Congress doing the people’s work inside. We cannot look over that edge again.
We must take steps to back away, and that starts with accountability, first and foremost.
Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Kevin McCarthy must resign—or they must be expelled.
We, the People, demand it.
We hoped the fight for our Republic would take place at the ballot box.
Now, it’s in our shared halls of democracy. We must defend them.
Voters in every state and district represented by a seditionist must know the truth, and must take action.
It is our country’s only way forward.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My sore throat continues. My various remedies include placing a towel over my head then handing my head over a sink full of boiling water and alternate breathing steam through mouth and nose. (Some recommend flavoring the water with eucalyptus oil.) I gargle with salt water, a easy home remedy recommended to fend off anything more deadly.
Home remedies rife on social media advise eating piles of vitamin D, D3, C, magnesium, and/or zinc capsules, and this, that, and the next thing, consume mangos, pineapples, and avocados, not drink cold liquids, only hot, especially with lemon juice and ginger. I received advice to drink gallons of hot tea, as Chinese do “and look, their Covid infections are waning”. But, I reply, the English drink more tea than the Chinese “and look, their Covid infections are surging…”
My most effective home remedy to date? “Rum therapy”: swallow one Panado capsule (500 mg paracetamol) with a mojito: chopped mint, large squeeze of lime, ice cubes, soda water and a hint of white rum. Drink early afternoon. By sunset you’ll be smiling again.
Note: Dr Internet recommends acetaminophen for sore throats. Not much of a pill swallower, I have no acetaminophen meds in the house, only paracetamol. If you have a choice of meds, go with acetaminophen for sore throat. Better yet, trust your own doctor’s advice over Dr Internet’s. 

Alas, my various remedies work only during daylight. Overnight my throat infection blossomed. I spent an uncomfortable night, despite several forays to the bathroom to gargle salt water.
This morning, after shining a flashlight/torch down my gullet, I see one tonsil is more inflamed than it was yesterday. I thank my lucky stars both tonsils are not inflamed.

***

News from the US Embassy in South Africa:
Health Alert: South African Department of Home Affairs Announced the Temporary Suspension of Marriage Services in South Africa
Location: The Republic of South Africa
Event: The South African Department of Home Affairs announced January 12 that they are to combat COVID transmission. These include applications of Smart ID cards, applications for passports, and marriage services such as solemnisation and registration including those of foreign citizens.
Actions to Take:

• Visit the DHA’s webpage for more details on this announcement 
• Visit the Embassy’s COVID information page for additional information on COVID in South Africa. 

I recommend the info available on this last bullet point….

Beware: Getting married or not, South African Department of Home Affairs is the last place anybody with a modicum of sense would visit during a pandemic.
Having spent literally years trying to get a passport and an ID card completed in South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, I’d say one would be hard pressed, during a normal (non-pandemic) day, to tell whether Home Affairs has “temporarily suspending many services” or is operating. The pace is about the same for both operation and suspension of "many services."
After years visiting KZN Home Affairs head office, I finally stumbled upon how to complete paperwork: do it via the South African Embassy in Los Angeles, Ca. 

What had not been completed over 6 years of trying took 6 months in LA. 

That is, I received a passport. 

The ID card? Nope. I still do not have and ID card that can be applied for only in South Africa. 

The rumor that I could obtain one via my bank turned out to be half true: only via banks in Gauteng Province.

Hotspot!

News blues…

The lead article of a local weekly print newspaper this week, titled “Umngeni: Covid-19 Hotspot,” reports uMngeni District (in which I reside) “boasted the most Covid-19 cases” [in KZN province]. “The district has seen the highest number of deaths throughout KZN during this second wave.”
The front-page article enumerates how local funeral parlors and undertakers are feeling the strain and experiencing “an increase of more than 80% [funerals overall and] “some 30% more funerals during the week than before Covid.”
Moreover, “fetching a body takes a maximum of 20 minutes…but now they spend more than on hour on one body because of [Covid] protocol.”
The article ends, “We all see what is happening out there but being stubborn or stupid won’t help us. Let us all pray and make sure we protect ourselves and those who are close to us.”
Amen!

***

The Donald reverts to type. With six bankruptcies in his past, The Donald is setting the stage to not pay his consigliere Rudy Giuliani. Surprised? Nope. It’s the Way of The Donald. Don’t say Rudy didn’t know… It couldn’t happen to a more deserving duo. 

Look on the bright side, Rudy: you're not special - the amount The Donald owes you pales in comparison to the amount he owes many others. Moreover, you must know you risked not getting paid by a guy who seldom pays anyone.

***

The Lincoln Project: Defund the GOP  (0:59 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Research suggests that at least one type of plant – the french bean – may be more sentient than we give it credit for: namely, it may possess intent. 
… Intrigued by the ability of climbing beans to sense structures such as garden canes and grow up them, [scientists] devised an experiment to investigate whether they deliberately aim for the cane, or simply bump into such structures as they grow, and then turn them to their advantage.
… they used time-lapse photography to document the behaviour of 20 potted bean plants, grown either in the vicinity of a support pole or without one, until the tip of the shoot made contact with the pole. Using this footage, they analysed the dynamics of the shoots’ growth, finding that their approach was more controlled and predictable when a pole was present. The difference was analogous to sending a blindfolded person into a room containing an obstacle, and either telling them about it or letting them stumble into it.

{I’m tempted to make a sarcastic joke about a French bean showing more logic than your average American human….)

***

In general, not one for seeing omens, here's food for thought: 

One of the ravens at the Tower of London is feared to have died, in a potentially gloomy omen for Britain. It means that the tower is close to having fewer than six ravens, a level that would spell doom for the kingdom, according to legend. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Last week I admitted that I’d become more alarmed at the increasing rates of Covid infections in the area, and that I lacked medical insurance .
More than 6 weeks ago, I’d emailed a “medical plan” company requesting information on securing a medical plan, but I’d heard nothing back, beyond an acknowledgement of receipt of emails.
Today, however, a form letter from that company:

The number of COVID-19 infections have increased significantly in the second wave all over the country.
To limit the impact of infections on our members and staff, we have opted to close all [company name] walk-in centres from 15 January 2021. The walk-in centres will re-open on 1 February 2021.

While I am careful, always wear a mask in public, ensure the required social distance, and always sanitize, I also regularly enter grocery stores, both for groceries and to receive cash back to pay the gardener. (He lacks a bank account for electronic fund transfer.)
I awoke after midnight last night with a terribly sore throat.
Soon after that, I emailed the handy man who’d worked at my place yesterday morning and who intended to return today to complete other tasks. I informed him of my ailment and delayed completion of the remaining work.
Could I have contracted Covid somewhere, somehow? Examining my behavior and activities it seems unlikely but…
I’ll carefully monitor my health today.
I’d waited a month, since before Christmas, to have someone remove a section of fencing around my new apartment. I made peace with my decision to remove the fencing and, potentially, allow warthogs and impala enter the inner garden and eat garden plants. The work is finally done. I can now step from my small patio onto a set of flag stones I laid, then into the semi-private garden. Oh, joy!
Ironical if I contract Covid… and become a statistic. But which statistic? Another infection? Or another death? Enquiring minds wanna know….

“The beat goes on…”

Worldwide (Map) 
January 14, 2021 – 92,314,000 confirmed infections; 1,977,900 deaths
December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
Five countries doing well against Covid: New Zealand, Senegal, Iceland, Denmark, and Saudi Arabia. 

 
US (Map)
January 14, 2021 – 23,071,100 confirmed infections; 384,635 deaths
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
“The death toll from Covid-19 has now passed 380,000 across the US, according to Johns Hopkins University – closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in the second world war, or about 407,000…” California is among the hardest-hit states. 

 
SA (Coronavirus portal)
January 14, 2021 – 1,278,305 confirmed infections; 35,140 deaths
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
“SA recorded 806 new Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, its highest ever single-day deaths so far.” 

News blues…

The Lincoln Project

A day of firsts:
The first President to be impeached twice.
The first time a party’s caucus has been unanimous in voting for impeachment (222-0).
This goes along with the most votes for impeachment from the President’s party (ten Republicans) in history.
Ten.
Ten Republicans upheld their oaths, put country first, and voted for impeachment—and 197 voted to protect a broken man who launched an insurrection to overturn an election he lost.
All eyes are now on the Senate, but Mitch McConnell—despite signaling his support for impeachment—seems unlikely to bring the chamber back in session before Inauguration Day.
Notably, Senators-elect Warnock and Ossoff (D-GA) will likely be sworn in, so Trump’s second impeachment trial will take place with a Democratic majority. Our coalition’s efforts to defeat Trumpism in Georgia could not have proven more consequential.
To be clear though, Trump’s second impeachment is no celebratory occasion.
Today is a sad day, in an impossibly sorrowful time, for our country.
A full week after siccing a violent mob on the Capitol, the President has been impeached for inciting an insurrection—yet he remains in office.
Our Republic still stands, but her foundation—democracy—has been battered and tarnished.
And the assailant, and his co-conspirators in the Sedition Caucus remain in power.
In the wake of the MAGA insurrection, accountability comes first and foremost.
It is undoubtedly a good thing that President Trump has been impeached for his role in orchestrating this heinous terrorist attack.
But the fact that 197 House Republicans voted to protect the man who just ambushed the very institution they are a member of is a stark reminder of the profound rot in today’s Republican Party.
In the days and weeks to come, we will continue to learn more about the attack on our Capitol. Who incited, who abetted, and who comforted the attackers will be known.
And we will be right here, ready to expose evildoers, traitors, and seditionists, and ready to fight for our Republic.

Healthy planet, anyone?

Political officials at EPA have overruled the agency’s career scientists to weaken a major health assessment for a toxic chemical contaminating the drinking water of an estimated 860,000 Americans, according to four sources with knowledge of the changes. 
The changes to the safety assessment for the chemical PFBS, part of a class of "forever chemicals" called PFAS, is the latest example of the Trump administration's tailoring of science to align with its political agenda, and another in a series of eleventh-hour steps the administration has taken to hamstring President-elect Joe Biden's ability to support aggressive environmental regulations.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother’s physical rehabilitation continues to improve. Alas, Covid continues to spread in the care center. Last week they found one case within the population of elderly. This week, another case.

***

Back in the day, a mixture of beetroot, olive oil and spinach was touted by “some” SA government officials as a way to “strengthen” the immune systems of – even cure - AIDS sufferers. 
These days, it’s not beetroot, or olive oil, or spinach but bananas.
A quick search on You Tube will reveal a cornucopia of coronavirus-fighting foods and food supplements.
Good nutrition is essential to essential to health. True.
Fresh veggies and fruit are delicious, nutritious, and health preserving. True.
Will they prevent Covid-19. Hmmmm.
But why risk it?
I examined the bananas (full of potassium and other nutrients) at the grocery store and brought three home. Two remained, along with three white peaches, in the fruit bowl when I drove out the security gate. Jessica The Dog was in charge of our downstairs living area.
I returned two hours later to learn three monkeys had invaded the house - again. They’d ripped through the fruit, torn open a large bag of my mother’s favorite biscuits, even scratched through the container in which I collect food scraps for composting.
Where was Jessica the Monkey Discouraging Dog during this monkey enterprise? Sunbathing.