Not a week, a lifetime!

News blues

I suspended posting for over a week to learn what I needed to learn to act as caregiver to my bestie, Mary.
A week ago, I accompanied a nervous Mary to the hospital, checked her in, hugged her “tot siens”, and left her in the very capable hands of the thoracic surgery team that would relieve her of an unknown quantity of pleural mesothelioma nodules accumulated in her chest and upon the lining of her left lung.
It's been a rough week, rougher for Mary, but she’s home now.

Before describing Mary’s surgical and post-surgical encounters – and my lesser encounters as care giver, let’s revert to the familiar: the pandemic. 

Or should I say, pandemics? 

Pandemic 1: Covid
An abbreviated set of Covid numbers
Worldwide (Map) 
July 23, 2022 – 569,461,510 confirmed infections; 6,383,200 deaths
July 14, 2022 - 558,366, 400 confirmed infections; 6,357,300 deaths

US (Map) 
July 23, 2022 – 90,390,200 confirmed infections; 1,026,950 deaths
July 14, 2022 – 88,967,000 confirmed infections; 1,022,000 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
July 23, 2022 – 3,998,000 confirmed infections; 101,980 deaths
July 14, 2022 - 3,998,000 confirmed infections; 101,880 deaths

Pandemic 2: Emergent monkey pox
Outbreaks of monkey pox in more than 70 countries is, the WHO declares, an “extraordinary” situation that now qualifies as a global emergency.

Declaring a global emergency means the monkeypox outbreak is an “extraordinary event” that could spill over into more countries and requires a coordinated global response. WHO previously declared emergencies for public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016 and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.
The emergency declaration mostly serves as a plea to draw more global resources and attention to an outbreak. Past announcements had mixed impact, given that the U.N. health agency is largely powerless in getting countries to act.
Last month, WHO’s expert committee said the worldwide monkeypox outbreak did not yet amount to an international emergency, but the panel convened this week to reevaluate the situation.

Read more >> 

***

On war and culture war

"You couldn't make this up. Last night Russian state TV ran a report on the unexpected 'benefits' of having your son killed in Ukraine. You can buy a [cheap vehicle] Lada with the compensation given to you by the state!
Watch the report >> 

Moreover, Russia, after coming to an agreement with Ukraine on shipping grain from the port of Odesa, bombed the port – and thereby the agreement.

Russian missile strikes have hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, just one day after Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from the region.
Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa military administration, said two missiles hit the infrastructure of the port and two were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense.
At least six explosions were heard in Odesa, according to Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko.
It comes one day after ministers from both Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement – brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul – to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports aimed at easing the global food crisis sparked by war.

Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Tucker Carlson’s Unofficial Presidential Speech  (1:12 mins)
Part of the plan  (1:10 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - July 19 , 2022  (2:10 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Believe it or not! A four-year assessment by 82 leading scientists has found,

A market-based focus on short-term profits and economic growth means the wider benefits of nature have been ignored, which has led to bad decisions that have reduced people’s wellbeing and contributed to climate and nature crises, according to a UN report. To achieve sustainable development, qualitative approaches need to be incorporated into decision making.

Read “Humans need to value nature as well as profits to survive…” Focus on market has led to climate crises, with spiritual, cultural and emotional benefits of nature ignored >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Mary’s harrowing journey with surgery becomes clearer each day as she adjusts to her new reality: pain, confinement, pain, physical limitation, pain, and pain killers. 

The journey will unfold as she becomes more comfortable and I’ll share her own words as we go forward. For now, the summarized version:
Surgery took about six hours. During that time, the surgical team removed an astonishingly large and well-formed series of malignant masses from her chest, lining of her left lung, her heart, her aorta.
Mary had asked the surgeon, previous to surgery, to take an informal photo of what he removes. This, as she, none of her friends and family, had a clue a to what pleural mesothelioma nodules look like.

Now we do.
It ain’t pretty. Indeed, it is astonishing.
“How on earth,” Mary asks, “Did I walk around with that much gunk around my lung and not know?
That’s the question.

Malignant epithelial mesothelioma nodules, exised.
July 15, 2022.

A close look at the photo shows well-formed, well-developed, well-entrenched malignancies. That “stuff” has been around for some decades.
How did it escape detection for so long?
More to the point, how much longer could it have gone undetected ifMary hadn’t heeded the advice of a doctor during a casual conversation?
Back then, Mary admitted experiencing pain in her hip. The doctor suggested x-rays. 

Mary poo-poohed that. “X-rays? For a sore hip? Seems too trivial.”
Thank the gods she took the doc’s advice.
Thank the gods she asked her primary doc’s advice on why she had a short, dry cough while doing certain yoga exercises.
Thank the gods, her primary doc ordered x-rays on her chest.
Here we are, six weeks later, with the gunk displayed here, displayed here. That is, it’s no longer squatting in her chest.

Thank the gods!  

eeek! More variants

Worldwide (Map) 
July 14, 2022 - 558,366, 400 confirmed infections; 6,357,300 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 1,888,565,400 confirmed infections; 4,061,275 deaths
July 16, 2020 – 13,558,000 worldwide: confirmed infections; 585,000 deaths

US (Map) 
July 14, 2022 – 88,967,000 confirmed infections; 1,022,000 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 33,952,000 confirmed infections; 608,120 deaths
July 16, 2020 - 3,500.000 confirmed infections; 138,000 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
July 14, 2022 - 3,998,000 confirmed infections; 101,900 deaths
July 15, 2021 – 2,236,800 confirmed infections; 65,595 deaths
July 16, 202o - 311,050 confirmed infections; 4,460 deaths

Posts from:
July 15, 2021, “Heavy heart” >>
July 16, 2020, “Doin’ the numbahs!” >>

News blues

Meet “Centaurus”, the latest coronavirus variant, aka BA.2.75, overtaking in speed of transmission, the extremely transmissible BA.5 variant.

“Centaurus” was first detected in India in early May. Cases in the UK have since risen steeply – and apparently faster than those of the BA.5 variant, also present in India, and is rapidly displacing the previously dominant BA.2 variant in many countries.
BA.2.75 has also since been detected in about 10 other countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Germany and Canada.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) designated it a “variant under monitoring” on 7 July, meaning there is some indication that it could be more transmissible or associated with more severe disease, but the evidence is weak or has not yet been assessed.

Read more >> 

Fulltime job these days to keep up with variants, subvariants, boosters….

***

On war and culture war

More Russian men look to avoid military service >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Rep. Jamie Raskin’s closing remarks  (2:30 mins)
Herschel Walker’s Green New Deal  (Good air, bad air? Say what? This man is the Republican Party’s nominee for US Senate, 2022. (0:46 mins)
Proud Boys  (0:55 mins)
The GOP’s Crazy Candidates  (2:24 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Since humans in “leadership” positions insist climate change is a “hoax”  , or “fake news” , while they spread disinformation, geophysics continues “business as usual”. Just this week, for example, two glaciers displayed the stresses they faced before succumbing – and the growing dangers of continuing to ignore our planet's warming.

 
Read “Rising global temperatures are weakening glaciers in mountainous areas, where millions of people rely on these reservoirs as a source of water”, watch the videos, and believe your eyes....

***

Think climate change is “someone else’s fault”? Not so. It’s yours and mine, too. We’ve been ineffective in shutting out the caps-in-hand politicians who fully rely on corporate donations.
Read more about it.
Summary:

Corporations are facing increased scrutiny over their political spending—particularly when their stated values seem to contradict their lobbying efforts. A 2020 report by the Center for Political Accountability offers abundant examples, including corporations that have publicly demanded racial equality while contributing to groups and candidates that promote racial gerrymandering and corporations that purport to be concerned about climate change while donating to groups that challenge the EPA’s clean-power plan. In this groundbreaking article the authors argue that companies should halt political spending entirely to reduce the risk of blowback and enable executives to focus attention and resources on running their companies.
From the article:
…hypocrisy—has become endemic in the corporate world as a direct consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That ruling freed corporations to fund political candidates and dark-money campaign committees (organizations that do not have to disclose their donors).
As a result, companies now donate to help elect candidates they hope will do their industry’s bidding or support a specific cause, even as they publicly advocate for the opposite stance.

Read more from Harvard Business Review >> 

This reality is beginning to catch up with “us”… as “a new analysis provides the first measurement of nations’ liability in stoking the climate crisis.”

© Guardian graphic. Source: Callahan et al., 2022, “National attribution of historical climate damages”.
Note: Losses calculated using emissions from countries’ territorial boundaries in 2010 US dollars.

…Dartmouth researchers combined a number of different models, showing factors such as emissions, local climate conditions and economic changes, to ascertain the precise impact of an individual country’s contribution to the climate crisis. They looked for these links over a period spanning 1990 to 2014, with the research published in the journal Climatic Change.
What they found was a perniciously uneven picture – rich nations in northerly latitudes, such as those in north America and Europe, have done the most to fuel climate change but have not yet been severely harmed by it economically. Countries such as Canada and Russia have even benefitted from longer agricultural growing seasons and reduced deaths from the cold as winters have warmed.

Read “Nearly $2 trillion of damage inflicted on other countries by US emissions” 

Research puts US ahead of China, Russia, India and Brazil in terms of global damage as climate expert says numbers ‘very stark’ 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother passed away, in her sleep, one year ago. Today would have been her 89th birthday. I wasn’t there when she died. Not only had the Care Center shut down due to another Covid surge, but I’d departed South Africa 6 weeks prior to her death. I’d been in the country for longer than one year, due to Covid, lockdown, cancelled air travel, and caring for my mother, her interests, her dogs, her property. Moreover, I’d brought my son-in-law from Alaska to caretake my mother until I returned. After I departed, he, however, wasn’t allowed to visit her, again due to the Covid surge.
I tried my best to protect and care for my mother during that difficult time.
Good training for caring for my bestie over the next few weeks.

The last days before surgery are the most challenging. 

Mary’s ready for surgery – “Now! Today!” she says. “Waiting is the hardest.”
I’ll be back posting as soon as I can, under the circumstances.
Meanwhile, a task for you: strategize on – and implement – ways to address our planet’s ongoing crisis.

Surprised?

News blues

Surprise! “Official Covid-19 case metrics severely undercount the true number of infections, leaving the United States with a critical blind spot as the most transmissible coronavirus variant yet takes hold.”
Is anyone surprised by this information?
Reminder, for too many months, official policy has been to hand out Covid test kits (a good move) yet offer no effective plan to collect test data (a dumb move).
Surprise! Severe undercount is the natural result.
We, the people – a fractious lot at the best of times – might not have reported test results anyway, but at least there’d be an understanding of what is expected and why.

An estimate from the Institute for Health Metrics, a research center at the University of Washington, suggests that actual infection numbers in the first week of July have been about seven times higher than reported cases – which have averaged about 107,000 each day over the past two weeks…
Before the CDC lifted the requirement for international travelers to test before coming into the country last month … it was an “amazing opportunity” to monitor the state of Covid-19 across the US among a group of mostly asymptomatic people. About 5% of travelers were testing positive throughout the month of May, which he says probably translates to at least 1 million new infections every day in the broader US population – 10 times higher than the official count. Now that BA.5 is here, “we know that there is going to be a wave in the fall – there’s almost no doubt about that – if not before. So you just have to be really cognitive that that is what might happen…”

Read more  >>

Buckle up, folks! And get boosted - again! Yes, another booster is coming.
Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator along with other health officials recently outlined their plan to combat the latest form of the coronavirus to pose a threat: emphasize existing tools like vaccines and boosters, testing, and treatments.

BA.5 has become dominant in the United States, as well as in much of the world, because it is so adept at establishing infections in people who’ve previously had Covid-19 or been vaccinated — even more so than other versions of the virus that also fall under the Omicron umbrella. At the same time, waning immunity from previous infections or past shots leaves people more susceptible to infections, even as vaccine-elicited protection against more severe outcomes is broadly maintained.
Health officials sought to convey they were on top of BA.5, while underscoring the risks it posed. The strategy outlined included improving the accessibility f tools that to varying levels have been available for months, including vaccines and boosters, the antiviral Paxlovid and antibody bebtelovimab, and easy and widespread testing. The White House also mentioned steps it’s taking to protect immunocompromised people — including expanding the availability of the pre-exposure treatment Evusheld — and to encourage building owners to improve ventilation.
“We can prevent serious illness, we can keep people out of the hospital and especially out of the ICU, we can save lives, and we can minimize the disruptions caused by Covid-19,” Jha said, highlighting the effectiveness of vaccines and treatments. “And even in the face of BA.5, the tools we have continue to work.”

Read more >> 

***

On war and culture war

July 12, 2022 Ukraine/Russia news >> 

***

As the US careens toward fascism: watch January 6 rioter, former Oath Keepers spokesman testify in seventh hearing >> 

Meanwhile, South Africa’s State Security Agency, Police Crime Intelligence, the military and the Hawks predict a repeat insurrection, likely driven by the pro-Zuma RET faction and marked by guerilla-style sabotage. The aim: to keep Jacob Zuma — and his allies implicated in the State Capture inquiry — out of jail.
Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
(Republican nominee for US Senate for 2022) Herschel Walker’s Green New Deal (Good air, bad air? Say what?  (0:46 mins)
Proud Boys  (0:55 mins)
The GOP’s Crazy Candidates  (2:24 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Exposure to asbestos has been a long-standing issue, threatening the health of both the environment and human population for centuries. Hundreds of millions of people are exposed to the toxin worldwide each year, despite its known health risks. One study from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health estimates that roughly 250,000 people die as a result of asbestos exposure annually.
… Asbestos is a naturally found mineral and doesn’t pose a threat until broken or disturbed. Unfortunately, however, it was first mined and used thousands of years ago, making it common to come across in both the natural and built environment. Once released into the air, the toxin becomes extremely harmful for humans if ingested or inhaled.
The adverse health effects have been known for close to 100 years, but the toxin continued to be used in a variety of ways and the consequences have spread globally.

Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

As Mary’s surgery date approaches, she’s both terrified and ready forcibly to evict the Squatters. “I can feel them there now,” she reports. “Two months ago, I ascribed discomfort I felt in my back to a pulled muscle. Not any more. While my breathing is unimpaired, I can pinpoint areas of my chest and back where I suspect these uninvited ‘aliens’ hang out. To quote Lady MacBeth, ‘Out, damned spot! out, I say!’”
This time next week? Damned spots should be gone!
It’s schlepp. 

 Indeed.
And Mary’s up for it.

Fight the power

News blues

What to know about Covid’s BA.5, the “more transmissible” variant >>  (7:30 mins)

***

Moving from Covid to cancer, will a proposed cancer tax go anywhere in the US?

It has been 50 years since President Nixon declared his War on Cancer. There have been incredible strides made in terms of survivorship, mainly due to improved treatments and earlier detection, but rates of new cancer – including a disturbing rise in pediatric cancer incidences – remain alarming. So, yes, we have and will continue to get better at treating cancer. Biden already has $1.8bn lined up for his cure-related Cancer Moonshot goals of scientific discovery and data sharing. But we also urgently need to get better at preventing cancer from happening in the first place.
… President Joe Biden’s mind when, earlier this month, he shared plans to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years – a lofty goal for his Cancer Moonshot program.
To succeed, Biden needs a radical new approach. We’d like to propose one: a cancer tax.
The idea has solid precedent. There are already taxes on products known to create health problems, including a federal cigarette tax and sugary drink taxes. Think of a cancer tax like a carbon offset – corporations pay for the harm they inflict.
…Proceeds would be used to fund prevention, the most neglected element of cancer initiatives. Treatment gets about 97% to 98% of all health-related spending in the United States, while prevention gets a piddly 2% to 3%. But to end cancer as we know it, it is critical that we stop it before it needs a cure.
Prevention is not anti-cure. It’s complimentary – a one-two punch. While the science behind cancer treatment is truly astonishing, it’s equally remarkable how little we understand about why cancer occurs. Risk factors like genetics, age, and lifestyle all play a role, but how they combine is often unclear. Environmental factors, including the massive increase in the number of cancer-causing chemicals we all come in contact with every day, are clearly part of the equation. Most people aren’t even aware of these exposures, though many can and should be prevented – or at the very least reduced.

Read “If we want to fight cancer, we should tax the companies that cause it” >> 

Naturally, this era being out-of-control late-stage capitalism, “we” – the US legal-political-corporate decision makers - will never crack open the Pandora’s Box of taxing cancer-causing companies. I mean, holy s**t! Where to begin? If we can’t persuade the Donald Trumps (paid $750 tax in 2016 and 2017), and the Jeff Bezos, Elon Musks, Warren Buffets of the world, to pay taxes, how can We, the people, persuade corporations to do so? 
(Moreover, let’s recall it was Senator Joe Biden who got “us” into the endless trap of school loans  that hang around the necks of too many Americans attempting to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” 

On war and culture war

Cry, the beloved country! South Africans enjoy mimicking other countries’ cultures. But, pleeze, South Africans, do not mimic America’s culture of mass killings.
Alas.
“At Least 15 Killed In South Africa Bar Shooting.” Police say they are investigating reports that a group of men arrived in a minibus taxi and opened fire on some of the patrons at the bar shortly after midnight Sunday. 

Read more >> 

***

Oh, man, Russia. 

What to say? 

My original intention vis-à-vis sharing news of Ukraine was simply let pictures tell 1,000 words of Russia’s invasion of and terroristic acts towards Ukraine and Ukrainians.
The time has come to include words about this international crime. Moreover, truth-seeking Russians within Russia apparently have difficulty accessing actual news, as opposed to propaganda pushed by Putin’s power structure. Plus, according to analytics, this blog is attracting readers from within Russia. I’m happy to provide a modicum of what’s reported outside of Russia about Putin’s invasion masquerading as a “special operation.”

At least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped after Russian Uragan rockets hit a five-storey apartment block in Ukraine's Donetsk region, local officials said as rescuers picked their way through rubble.

Read “Death and devastation as Russian rockets hit Ukraine apartment block…” >> 

***

Not much of a rap music fan, I nevertheless appreciate the lyrics and intention of “Fight the power”… Listen, enjoy, and think about >> (4:40 mins) 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A month ago, while walking the neighborhood, I met Linda . I’d been impressed with her hard work, a woman older than me placing large rocks in the garden of a building she manages. We’d struck up a conversation that day and, when my passing by coincided with her gardening, we continued talking.
Busy with Mary and her recent diagnosis, Linda had fallen off my radar and I’d not seen her for more than two weeks.

Then, walking with a friend and pointing out Linda’s hard work in her garden, he pointed to this note I'd not seen.

As she requested, I called Linda. We met, as arranged, in her garden. I introduced my friend, Andy. Linda introduced her husband, Hugh, to us. 

We conducted a lovely visit over greenery and rockery. Turns out, her husband, once an avid rock climber, is now an avid sailor. (Around here, there’s more water than rock faces and Hugh adjusted accordingly.) 

I mentioned to Hugh that I’d sold a houseboat last year, after Covid interrupted my liveaboard plans. I mentioned, too, my intention to purchase another houseboat. “If I do, and you’re interested, Hugh, you can teach me to pilot it through the Delta.”

Hugh is interested.
Woo hoo! A (wo)man with a plan!
Next part of this woman’s plan: My bestie Mary overcomes her health challenges and soon, we’ll all be aboard grilling lunch, leaping into the water, enjoying life.

The modern world

Healthy planet, anyone?

With my best friend struck down by a deadly contaminate, I fluctuate between fierce anger, intense fear, and a desire “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
This quote first appeared in the 1902 book Observations by Mr. Dooley, by Finley Peter Dunne (1867 – 1936).
Dunne’s Mr Dooley is a fictional Irish bartender critical of just about everybody:

“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”

I intend to further explore Mr Dunne’s and Mr Dooley’s literary exploits, and - as I grapple with the overwhelm of current reality – I go one further on Dooley's view of newspapers: I heap blame on SNS - social networking sites - too.  
Future posts will explore this topic of SNS yet, assigning blame to SNS, I simultaneously appreciate SNS. Keying into Dr Internet’s search engine, “quotes about afflicting the comfortable” , after all, introduced me to Dunne and Dooley.
What to say? Life is tough. Even assigning blame is complex. Indeed, assigning blame is one of today’s toughest tasks. That is, if one seeks nuance. I do seek nuance. I’m uncomfortable thinking I’ve a handle on “the one and only truth.”
But the truth hurts.
Here’s yet another terrifying truth and yet another warning of the state of our beleaguered planet:

We cannot ignore biodiversity loss. Biodiversity is the variability that exists among all living organisms, between different species, within species including genetic makeup, and in wider ecosystems. Billions of people rely on wild species for food, clean water, energy, income and health and wellbeing. Annually, crops worth up to £480bn are pollinated by a variety of wild animals, and an estimated 4 billion people depend on natural medicines for their healthcare. These vital ecosystem services are fundamentally based on a healthy environment, and this requires biodiversity. Losing biodiversity leaves species and ecosystems less resilient to challenges such as invasive species or pests, meaning there is an increased risk of whole populations being wiped out and destabilising the entire ecological network. Nature is a finite resource, and human self-interest alone should determine that biodiversity must be protected.
Alongside overexploitation, humans are driving biodiversity loss by destroying, polluting and fragmenting habitats across the globe. Many of the UK’s important peatlands, which provide a home for rare species such as the hen harrier, have been drained for agricultural use. The Amazon rainforest is being cleared to such an extent that it may be near a tipping point beyond which it cannot recover.

Read more “We’ve overexploited the planet, now we need to change if we’re to survive” >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Community entities such as stalls at farmer’s markets that disappeared during the height of the Covid pandemic are slowly reappearing.
Yesterday, legal business took me to Oakland on farmer’s market day.
What joy!
This photo shows the outer edge of the market located on streets of four or five city blocks. Vendors presented lush in-season local produce, assorted nuts and nut butters, breads and baked goods, an array of cuisines in to-go boxes, even spectacular orchids. (These sorely tempted; I didn’t succumb.)
I walked through the market to the lawyer’s office where, sticky-taped to the front door, I read this message addressed to United Package Service. I share it here as a humorous reminder that others share my current state of mind: “What lousy service. That’s the modern world for you.”

Coping - but just

News blues

As we’ve shared all this week, Covid cases are on the rise. Now, mask mandates may make a comeback.

Cities across the United States might be urged to bring back mask mandates as the new Omicron subvariants continue to spread.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that Omicron's subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are expected to make up a combined 70.1 percent of the COVID variants in the country as of July 2, Reuters reported. Both of the sublineages made up 52 percent of the variants in the U.S. during the week of June 25.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School said in June that new data suggests that the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 seem to be more vaccine-evasive than previous subvariants among the fully vaccinated and boosted and those who were previously infected. However, the COVID-19 vaccine is still deemed as an effective way to protect against the virus.

Read more >> 

(Groan! Does this mean another round of whackidoodles out in force in public again, spreading the virus as they complain about mask mandates?)

***

Humor amid the horror: Good lines…

As America devolves into a sprawlier version of Hungary, let’s capture and celebrate creative lines:
Not my personal fav in terms of his worldview, David Brooks, of the New York Times, nevertheless produced an apt description vis-à-vis The Donald: “We’ve got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar.”
Read The Atlantic’s “The most pathetic men in America” >> 

***

The Lincoln Project:
AZ Gubernatorial  (2:16 mins)
Boris  (1:25 mins)
Star  (0:24 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

As introduced on July 4th, post “Oh, the irony,”  asbestos is an environmental health menace. Like other environmental poisons, asbestos is stealthy, until it’s not. Then it’s a ghoulishly efficient and relentless killer.
And… We the People are set to endure yet another variety of human-manufactured toxins to bedevil our children and our children’s children.
Meet Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), Perfluorooctyl Sulfonate (PFOS) and Other Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs), known collectively as PFAS.
At a recent meeting of the Advisory Restoration Board – RAB that I’ve served on for more than a decade - representatives of the companies “cleaning up” the former US Naval Base, Alameda, alerted community members to the huge until-recently unrecognized problem our community faces with PFAS. These chemicals are widely distributed on the former base, as well as in waterways surrounding the base.
Environmental contamination is not unusual for US military bases – anywhere in the world. For other posts on this topic, see “Consequences”  and “Play ball”  and “It’s perfectly safe, it just kills plants” )
More on PFAS:

PFAS are a class of chemicals used since the 1950s to make thousands of products repel water, stains and heat. They are often called “forever chemicals” because they don’t fully break down, accumulating in the environment, humans and animals. Some are toxic at very low levels and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, kidney disease, liver problems, decreased immunity and other serious health issues.

Read more >> 
US EPA explains PFAS >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

It’s been a rough couple of days. My bestie looks the way she usually looks, perhaps a trifle more introspective - yet her left lung is contaminated with asbestos. (We refer to "him" as The Squatter - who has invited all his relatives in to share the bountiful free rent.)
This time next week she’ll have been sliced and diced, ribs spread, lungs scraped, and put back together again.
Terrifying!
Slowly but surely, we’re coping with this new reality.
As if we don’t have enough going on, someone, who knows who, crawled under my Honda and stole the catalytic converter.
This is nothing new for other unlucky residents in our town. Such thefts are reported every week, if not every day. Apparently, spending a couple of minutes under someone else’s car to rip off the catalytic converter is a quick way to make a few hundred bucks. In my case, my vehicle was parked in my parking spot in the so-called secured parking lot in the so-called secure complex.
So much for security.
On the plus side, it’s a beautifully sunny and breezy day here on the San Francisco Bay shoreline.
Pelicans, Canada geese, crows, cormorants, California gulls, Least Terns, ground squirrels, and others all having a great time. 

 On my iPhone, I captured this stilt singing in a local pond. 

Stilt aria

So plastic

Worldwide (Map) 
July 7, 2022 - 522,200,200 confirmed infections; 6,344,300 deaths
July 8, 2021: 185,236,000 confirmed infections; 4,005,000 deaths
July 30, 2020: 17,096,000 confirmed infections; 668,590 deaths

US (Map) 
July 7, 2022 - 88,241,700 confirmed infections; 1,019,110 deaths
July 8, 2021: 185,236,000 confirmed infections; 4,005,000 deaths
July 30, 2020: 17,096,000 confirmed infections; 668,590 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
July 7, 2022 - 3,995,800 confirmed infections; 101,850 deaths
July 8, 2021: 2,112,340 confirmed infections; 63,100 deaths 
July 30, 2020: 471,125 confirmed infections; 7,498 deaths

Post from:
July 8, 2021: “Refugees” 
July 9, 2020: “Pestilence, thunderstorm, and a locust” 

News blues

The “bad” Covid news:

[The] omicron subvariant known as BA.5 now comprises a majority of U.S. COVID-19 cases, according to data released Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data is a sign of the rise of the highly transmissible subvariant, which has prompted concern about a new increase in cases.
BA.5, along with a related subvariant known as BA.4, has mutations that have shown an increased ability to evade the protection from vaccines and previous infection.

• BA.5 now makes up 53.6 percent of U.S. cases, according to the CDC.
• BA.4 makes up another 16.5 percent, putting the two together at around 70 percent of infections.

The “better” news:
New vaccines coming: The Food and Drug Administration last week advised vaccine makers to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in updated vaccines they are preparing for this fall.
The sobering news:
An infectious disease expert at New York University stressed that people should not wait for the updated vaccines to be available to get a booster shot.
“The updated vaccines won’t be available until October at the earliest,” she wrote. “That’s 4+ months away. That’s a big window of risk.”

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Data: Shiels MS, Haque AT, Berrington de González A, Freedman ND.
Leading Causes of Death in the US During the COVID-19 Pandemic, March 2020 to October 2021.
JAMA Intern Med. Published online July 05, 2022.
Chart: Axios Visuals
Click to enlarge.

According to a new review of death certificate data in JAMA Internal Medicine, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021, accounting for 1 in 8 lives lost.
The virus exacted a huge human toll even after vaccines became widely available and indirectly affected other causes of death like heart attacks and strokes, in part by discouraging some Americans from seeking care.
The National Cancer Institute study found COVID-19 trailed only heart disease and cancer among the leading causes of death between March 2020 and October 2021.

• The virus last year was the first and second leading cause of death among people ages 45–54 and 35–44, respectively.
• Deaths among those 85 and older dropped during the period studied, likely because of targeted vaccination efforts.
• There was a downward age shift in the distribution of COVID-19 deaths in 2021 compared with 2020, possibly driven by higher vaccination rates.

The true toll was, in all likelihood, significantly higher. Some COVID-19 deaths were misattributed to other causes. And the analysis didn't cover the Omicron wave of late 2021 and early 2022.

Read more >> 

On war

Citizens’ Images of Potential War Crimes in Ukraine Flood the Internet, but Might Not Hold Up in Court 

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The Lincoln Project: Last week in the Republican Party - July 5, 2022  (2:00 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Supreme Court strikes at environmental issues:  “According to the court, the EPA has the authority to regulate individual plans, but not to make more sweeping efforts to regulate carbon emissions – that has to come from Congress. The court’s decision follows the expanding logic of its so-called “major questions doctrine.” The doctrine states that the Supreme Court can strike down regulatory action of “vast economic and political significance” if Congress did not specifically delegate a rule-issuing agency to issue that regulation.”

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© M. Wuerker, Politico

“Climate change is here and happening regardless of whether a tiny, extremist minority wants us to do something about it,” a White House official said of the decision under condition of anonymity. “This decision is shocking in its impact even if it’s not surprising.” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Took the day off from work to hang out with my bestie, Meso Mary. She’s remarkably upbeat for someone with a cloud of unknown outcome hanging over her head. 
Since mesothelioma is a rare diagnosis, particularly for women, Mary and I are working with assorted mesothelioma support groups. The law firm with which we’re working most closely turns out to have on board Erin Brockovich, the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Erin Brockovich  (2000). I doubt we’ll have direct contact with Erin, but it’s good to know she’s in our corner – or we’re in hers….
Mary and I have begun carefully combing through Mary’s history to understand where and how she may have encountered free floating asbestos. I predict we’ll narrow it down to a few possibilities and, in the process, deepen our already depressing understanding of how companies duck and dive to avoid responsibility for the damage they cause – too often knowingly. I’ve spent many a day interviewing people cheated out of what they’re due from such corporate antics, but as emotionally hard as that has been, it's more emotionally draining to have a beloved person struck in this way.
Draining. And infuriating. (Read Richard Power’s novel, Gain,  for a view of lives affected by corporate wrong-headedness.)
What to say?
One step in front of the other, and focus on what matters: truth and love and appreciation.

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SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:54am
Sunset: 8:34pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:54am
Sunset: 5:14pm