Fool’s paradise

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

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

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

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

News blues…

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

Two problems:

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

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

***

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday-today-and-tomorrow shrub

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

***

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

Attention requested

News blues…

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

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

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

Healthy futures, anyone

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

Do-over?

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

News blues…

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

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

***

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

***

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

Healthy futures, anyone

The good(ish) news:

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

The bad news:

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

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

***

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

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

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

Cooperation

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

News blues…

Is South Africa slowly beating Covid-19?

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

***

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

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

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

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

***

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

***

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

Rain dance

© Associated Press
Click to enlarge

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

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

News blues…

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

*** 

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

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

On the other hand,

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

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

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

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

***

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

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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

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

Blistering

Back in the day, I spent four months living in a cave on the reef and beach in Sharm el-Sheikh when there was nothing there except a locked dive hut. (Sharm el-Sheikh is now an “Egyptian resort town between the desert of the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea, known for its sheltered sandy beaches, clear waters and coral reefs.”). During that long ago past, I survived 3 days of desert sandstorms, called khamasīn, in the Sinai Peninsula and have since traveled in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. These are all high temperature countries. Yet, these days, it’s California experiencing temperatures ranging up to 114 F (+45 C) . Creatures great and small struggle at this temperature. The extraordinary fires exacerbate a growing catastrophe.  
What’s next, a plague? Oh, wait…. Now you mention it….

News blues…

Click to enlarge.

A month ago, South Africa was fifth on the list of countries most affected by Covid-19. If the numbers can be believed, it’s now seventh on the list,  behind Peru and Columbia. Good going, South Africans! 

Healthy futures, anyone?

Magical moments in music  (7:00 mins) 

***

Has the pandemic highlighted the fragility of global supply chains and identified a need to redefine the role of food in the economy? In UK,

The first post-lockdown crops of the land army have been harvested. The food – chard, spinach, lettuce and radish – is being parcelled out to the local shops, market stalls and those in need. Now the volunteer labour force has its sights on a new goal: a land-use revolution that will make UK farming more nature friendly, plant-based and resilient to future shocks.
“If the whole coronavirus experience has taught us anything, it is that we should be more self-sufficient. It was terrifying seeing the empty shop shelves,” said Chris Higgins, a retired academic who gets as much back as he gives from the voluntary work. “It’s very enriching. Growing and cooking food and working together is a great way of engaging with the local community and nature at the same time.” 

***

The Lincoln Project: UnAmerican  (1:15 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The day before The Day. Tomorrow, we take my mother’s three very elderly and very incontinent dogs to the vet for the last stage of their life journey.
My mother moves to the Care Center next week. Two of the younger dogs will stay in this house with me until the house is sold. I’ve committed to “rehoming” them. Rehoming is not an easy task in a country with an exploding dog population (even more dogs than monkeys) – and a mother who believes that, if not with her, all her dogs should be put down. She explains, “I don’t want them to be unhappy.”
I will drive her small Toyota Yaris with my mother, a domestic worker, and three elderly dogs to the vet. After the deed is done, the dogs remains are “processed”, returned to my mother in personalized boxes, and will be placed on a shelf in her new home with at least a dozen similar boxes of cremains.

Cold War II?

The scramble is on to be first with a Covid-19 vaccine. About whether the vaccine works or not, the unspoken attitude may be: Who cares? What matters is being first.

News blues…

According to a British spy agency monitoring international fiber optic cables, Russia, China, and Iran are especially competitive in targeting “vaccine research networks in the United States, Canada and Britain.”
The New York Times reports, 

Chinese intelligence hackers were intent on stealing coronavirus vaccine data, so they looked for what they believed would be an easy target. Instead of simply going after pharmaceutical companies, they conducted digital reconnaissance on the University of North Carolina and other schools doing cutting-edge research.
In short, every major spy service around the globe is trying to find out what everyone else is up to.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted one of the fastest peacetime mission shifts in recent times for the world’s intelligence agencies, pitting them against one another in a new grand game of spy versus spy, according to interviews with current and former intelligence officials and others tracking the espionage efforts.
Nearly all of the United States’ adversaries intensified their attempts to steal American research while Washington, in turn, has moved to protect the universities and corporations doing the most advanced work. NATO intelligence, normally concerned with the movement of Russian tanks and terrorist cells, has expanded to scrutinize Kremlin efforts to steal vaccine research as well, according to a Western official briefed on the intelligence.

Last month, the world heard from Russia…

that its vaccine, named "Sputnik V" after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval. This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack of safety data, with some warning that moving too quickly on a vaccine could be dangerous.
Russia denounced criticism as an attempt to undermine Moscow's research.
In a Lancet study, Russian researchers reported on two small trials, each involving 38 healthy adults aged between 18 and 60, who were given a two-part immunisation. … The report said the data showed that the vaccine was "safe, well tolerated, and does not cause serious adverse events in healthy adult volunteers".
The trials were open label and not randomised, meaning there was no placebo and the participants knew they were receiving the vaccine and were not randomly assigned to different treatment groups.

Working Russians – eligible for the test vaccine - appear skeptical.

Yuri Varlamov, a teacher in Moscow and a member of the union, said he doesn't want to take the vaccine because he doesn't believe it is safe right now.
"Before the end of trials, they cannot make it mandatory. But I know that in some schools and state bodies, people are talking about mandatory status of this vaccine by the end of this year."
Marina Balouyeva, co-chairman of the "Uchitel" union, said a petition against compulsory vaccination for teachers was more of a precaution. She is wary of Sputnik-V for several reasons. "Firstly, it is generally known that the quality of domestic vaccines is worse than that of foreign ones."
"Secondly, the vaccine was created at railway speed, which already raises concerns. It was created in haste."
Despite promises from authorities that taking the vaccine will be voluntary, she said she fears things could go differently in reality, as often happens in Russian state institutions.

Moreover, vice presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris of California, said she would not trust President Trump’s assurances that a coronavirus vaccine was safe, that she’d not take Trump’s

“word for [its safety]. He wants us to inject bleach,” she added, referring to remarks in April when the president incomprehensibly suggested a dangerous coronavirus treatment.
Ms. Harris’s remarks came after federal officials alerted state and major city public health agencies last week to prepare to distribute a vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November. Given that no vaccine candidates have completed the kind of large-scale human trials that can prove efficacy and safety, that time frame has heightened concerns that the Trump administration is seeking to rush a vaccine rollout ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.

So, Russia, China, Iran … and Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I meet with a real estate agent to view a couple of “appropriately sized” future homes for people like me. Practical. Not romantic.