Challenges ahead

News blues…

Last Thursday, the United States saw more new coronavirus cases than ever as public health officials warned cases are spiking across the country; 77,640 new reported cases, top the previous record of 75,723 new cases set in July and 921 deaths related to the coronavirus. . Today,

For the second day in a row, the United States set a daily record for coronavirus cases when more than 79,000 infections. Friday's 779,303 cases, as tallied by NBC News, topped Thursday's 77,640. The previous high of 75,723 was set July 29.
The new benchmarks were hit as the pandemic has accelerated at a pace not seen since the summer and as many local governments reimpose restrictions to stop the spread of a virus. 

Meanwhile, according the Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the president of the United States has not been present at coronavirus task force meetings “for quite some time.”

“…several months ago,” Fauci told host Chuck Todd  after he was asked when the president had last attended a meeting.
“ ... We certainly interact with the vice president [Mike Pence] at the task force meetings. The vice president makes our feelings and what we talk about known to the president. But direct involvement with the president in the discussions, I have not done that in a while.” …the number of task force meetings had decreased over time, too.

Interview with Dr Fauci on saving lives: “we’re really facing a very challenging situation…”.  (9:35 mins)

***

In South Africa, civil rights organisation Dear SA is challenging the extension of the national state of disaster, recently extended to end on November 15. It was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 15 to allow the government to put together regulations to deal with the spread of Covid-19.

Dear SA has called on co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to give reasons for the extension or face litigation.
According to Dear SA, the decision to extend the national state of disaster was not rationally connected to the purpose for which it was declared. 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Rats  (0:55 mins)
Remember El Paso (English)  (0:55 mins)
"Seinfeld's" Newman TRASHES Trump in new Democratic ad  (2:20 mins)
Meidas Touch:
Trump is pathetic Part 1: Trump 60 minutes fail  (0:55 mins)
Trump is pathetic Part 2: Trump 60 minutes fail  (0:50 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Spring in KwaZulu Natal Midlands is spectacular. Soon after 4:00am, in this neighborhood, an array of birds begin celebrating the coming day. A bird expert would recognize each call and name the bird. I simply lie in the dark and enjoy the choir.

***

Picture essays:
Antarctica: an ecosystem under threat 
2020 Luminar bug photos  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

South Africa’s daily rate of Covid-19 infection remains between 1,000 and 2,000 cases per day and is not decreasing. Street life, however, has returned to pre-lockdown levels. Stores continue to mandate wearing masks and, upon entering stores, each customer is spritzed with hand sanitizer. Unencumbered by overt politics or conspiracy theories, wearing masks in public appears consistent, too.

***

With my mother’s verbal agreement, auctioneers carried off excess household furniture to be sold at next week’s “vintage” auction.

“A tragedy of history”

“It’s really sad to see the U.S. presidency fall from being the champion of global health to being the laughingstock of the world,” said Devi Sridhar, an American who is a professor of global health at the University of Edinburgh. “It was a tragedy of history that Donald Trump was president when this hit.” (More below.)

News blues…

I miss the Obama presidency. Barack Obama remains a graceful, intelligent, funny, fair guy with a good sense of humor. Yes, there were “issues” during his presidency, but… compare the Obama days to these days!
Obama (“Beijing Barry”?) stumps for Biden and Harris in Philadelphia.  (32:52 mins) 

***

The thing I love most about America and Americans? Whacky humor. Americans viewed Donald Trump’s rally dancing… and set it to the funniest songs .  White man dancing….

***

New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristoff essay, “America and the virus: ‘A colossal failure of leadership” writes that in its destruction of American lives, treasure and well-being, this pandemic marks the greatest failure of US governance since Vietnam.

One of the most lethal leadership failures in modern times unfolded in South Africa in the early 2000s as AIDS spread there under President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki scorned science, embraced conspiracy theories, dithered as the disease spread and rejected lifesaving treatments. His denialism cost about 330,000 lives, a Harvard study found.
None of us who wrote scathingly about that debacle ever dreamed that something similar might unfold in the United States. But today, health experts regularly cite President Trump as an American Mbeki.
“We’re unfortunately in the same place,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at U.C.L.A. “Mbeki surrounded himself with sycophants and cost his country hundreds of thousands of lives by ignoring science, and we’re suffering the same fate.”

Read Kristof’s column. 

***

The Lincoln Project: Men (1:15 mins)
Trump is English for Castro (English)  (0:55 mins)
El Dicta Trump  (1:00 mins)
Don Winslow Films No one wants your guns  (1:10 mins) 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Good grief! Yesterday, my mother was happy as a clam. She looked forward to her newly purchased mechanized wheelchair showing her new places. Moreover, The Dog appeared to have settled in and was eating as usual.
I shared a quick word in passing with the facility matron who indicated she was as positive about my mother settling into the Care Center as I was.
Life was good.
But... not so fast….
Today, I received an email from my mother’s lawyer explaining that “she wants out…”, that I could spend a lot of money trying to persuade a court of law that my mother should be forced to stay and to present her with a conservatorship.” But, he wrote, it’s likely that an effort to that end would fail as my mother is “bright as a button.”
It’s not, nor has it ever been my intention to force my mother into doing anything against her will.
It is my intention to make myself available to help her if I believe her decisions are in her best interest. Leaving the Care Center – to do what? – is not a decision I’m willing to apply my efforts. She’s welcome to leave, but I’m not assisting her in that. Nor will I continue to help with the many tasks I’ve done over the last 10 months. Someone else will have to assist.

***

Composting goes on. Recent recipe included snippets of two kinds of pond weed along with a soupçon of water lilies and clippings of the skins and seeds of fresh papaya (“pawpaw”).
Ah, the musty, fecund aroma of fresh compost.

***

A thunderstorm overhead signaled the first thunder and lightning of the summer monsoonal season.
Life is good - despite the ups and downs and unexpected curve balls.

“Not much”

The President of the United States, faced with a still-raging virus that has sickened 8.2 million Americans and killed 221,000, says that there is "not much" that he would have done differently if he could do things all over. 

In the real world, where people scramble every day to assist others and stay safe themselves during a global scourge, the numbers of infected and dead around the world continue to rise.
Worldwide (Map) 
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
September 24 – 31,780,000 confirmed infections; 975,100 deaths

US (Map)  
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
September 24 – 6,935,000 confirmed infections; 201,880 deaths
Covid-19 is surging in small-town America.

SA (Coronavirus portal)  
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
September 24 – 665,190 confirmed infections; 16,206 deaths

Argentina, emerging as a recent hotspot of concern, surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases last Monday, with smaller cities seeing some of the most notable upticks.

Doctors have had to quadruple the number of beds for COVID-19 patients over the last month. At least 60% of those tested recently are coming back positive for the virus.
Across Latin America, three other nations are expected to reach the 1 million case milestone in the coming weeks — Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The grim mark comes as Latin America continues to register some of the world’s highest daily case counts. And though some nations have seen important declines, overall there has been little relief, with cases dropping in one municipality only to escalate in another.
The trajectory is showing that the pandemic is likely to leave no corner of Latin America unscathed.
“The second wave is arriving without ever having finished the first,” said Dr. Luis Jorge Hernández, a public health professor at the University of the Andes in Colombia. 

News blues…

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report finds:

…an estimated 299,028 excess deaths occurred from late January through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19. The largest percentage increases were seen among adults aged 25–44 years and among Hispanic or Latino persons. 

***

Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum’s Fireside chat with Dr Fauci.  (41:00 mins)

***

The Lincoln Project:
Imagine  (0:58 mins)
Mourning in Iowa  (0:55 mins)
Deadbeat  (0:55 mins)

My most recent (fundraising) email from The Lincoln Project states:

We are poised to go down in history as the tipping point in this election…
But we can’t be complacent; we must finish the fight.
Right now is the most intense, and most expensive, part of the entire election. We are laser-focused on expanding our coalition and driving turnout of potential Lincoln Voters in the final 13 days before Election Day…
…
Trump will not relent in his efforts to steal this election — we must ensure a resounding repudiation that truly humiliates him, so he has no choice but to concede.
… Our nation's choice is America, or Trump.

All the way back in January, Steve Bannon told the Associated Press that if The Lincoln Project could move 3-4% of Republican voters away from Donald Trump—the "Bannon Line," as we call it — we would be a threat.
Well guess what? That was what we set out to do, and that's exactly what we've done.
And now, our historic movement is being recognized as the deciding factor in this election.
The first step in eradicating Trumpism is repudiating Donald Trump and evicting him from the White House.
That first step is within reach, but it's wholly dependent on the actions we take right now.
For over three years, Trump has eroded our democratic norms, crushed our institutions, and has now literally left us all for dead.
While his enablers in the Senate have stood idly by, patriots like you are taking a stand against the most un-American president in history.
The “Bannon Line” has been hit, breached, and stormed past.
We are winning.
Trump is losing.
But we have to finish the fight.

The email continues with its request for funds to continue the work. (Go to The Lincoln Project if you’d like to contribute. .)

Healthy futures, anyone?

A reminder about amazing and lovely creatures that (currently) exist on our planet – and why We the People must struggle to return our shared planet to health.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Not a single nibble on the house sale.
Worrisome.
My solution? Blending compost in an elderly concrete mixer. Five bags full and counting. And imagining the well-nourished plants in my future. 

***

Lockdown is getting really old…. 

As we say in South Africa, "vasbyt" 

The show goes on

News blues…

The Donald is crashing in the polls….
November 3 – and January 20 – cannot come soon enough.

***

KwaZulu Natal province has the second highest rates of Covid infections in South Africa, behind only Gauteng, the country’s most dense urban environment.  

***

Pictures speak louder than words. The many faces of Dr Fauci as he tries to quell a pandemic that The Donald uses as a positive reason for Americans to elect him to another four years in the White House….

***

The Lincoln Project:
Imagine  (0:58 mins)
Mourning in Pennsylvania (0:55 mins)
Go From There | Joe Biden For President 2020  (0:57 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

Hopeful news:

Coral reefs are ancient and highly adaptable – they first emerged nearly 500 million years ago; those corals went extinct, and the corals that we have now first appeared 240 million years ago. …
Coral is slow growing and a reef takes about 10 years to recover fully after a single bleaching event. By 2049, we are expecting annual bleaching events in the tropics, pushing reefs beyond recovery. It’s a grim prospect and one of the reasons that in 2015 the world’s nations pledged to limit global warming to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, a temperature that would enable coral reefs to survive. It remains far from clear whether we will meet this goal.
However, while we still have reefs, we still have hope. Some will do better than others – some already are – and scientists are trying to work out why in a bid to build resilience elsewhere. As with climate change, human activity is implicated. For instance, studies show that reefs are more likely to recover from a heating event if they are protected from other stresses, such as overfishing, pollution from agriculture and boat damage.
… With the future of the world’s ecological and human systems now so deeply interconnected, a new movement in reef conservation is putting social systems at its heart and explicitly building resilience into human and ecological systems in tandem. In other words, protecting nature means protecting people. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Lower temperatures make perfect compost-blending weather. 

Yesterday I donned waders and entered the garden pond, my first foray into the pond since winter began. I found myriad tadpoles (“polliwogs”), crabs, frogs, and unidentifiable water insects. Despite no sign of the goldfish I’d introduced in the spring (kingfishers?), the pond is alive and well.
I harvested two varieties of pond weed and intend to introduce both to today’s compost recipe.
Composting. Love it. It’s among my most favored pandemic lockdown garden activities.

***

My mother purchased a motorized wheelchair. While I worry about her physical strength – or lack thereof – purchasing this vehicle shows, 1) she’s adjusting to the reality of her new life in the Care Center, 2) she’s determined to find a way around her infirmities to live by her own rules.
Good on her.
Her lack of physical strength was, however, on full display during her test run. The quick trip over the concreted pathways of the Center’s garden illustrated further practice is vital. Nevertheless, figuring out wheelchair mechanics both helped her self-esteem and demonstrated to her that running a mechanical wheelchair takes practice.
Roll on, mom….

***

The US State Department issued an update for travelers:

The Department of State revised its Travel Advisory for South Africa on September 15, 2020. The Department continues to advise travelers to exercise normal precautions in South Africa.
Reconsider travel to South Africa due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution in South Africa due to crime, civil unrest, and drought.
Read the Department of State COVID-19 page before you plan any international travel.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for South Africa due to COVID-19.
South Africa has resumed most transportation options, (including airport operations and re-opening of borders) and business operations (including day cares and schools). Other improved conditions have been reported within South Africa. Visit the Embassy's COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 in South Africa.
Violent crime, such as armed robbery, rape, carjacking, mugging, and "smash-and-grab" attacks on vehicles, is common. There is a higher risk of violent crime in the central business districts of major cities after dark.
Demonstrations, protests, and strikes occur frequently. These can develop quickly without prior notification, often interrupting traffic, transportation, and other services; such events have the potential to turn violent.
Parts of South Africa are experiencing a drought. Water supplies in some areas may be affected. Residential water-use restrictions are in place in Cape Town and other municipalities.
Read the country information page.  

The update continues in this vein, directing potential travelers to the U.S. Embassy's web page  regarding COVID-19 and the CDC's webpage on Travel and COVID-19. 
Anyone up for a fun, quick getaway?

“Disputatious country”

Disputatious: argumentative, quarrelsome, contrary….
I’ve promoted The Lincoln Project here numerous times, not because I hold Republican values, but because 1) it’s the first time in US history where Republicans have fought ferociously to unseat a fellow Republican, 2) I respect their point of view (not however, I admit, to the point of sending them money). 

This “60 Minutes” clip highlights the values behind The Lincoln Project’s effort to unseat The Donald (2:15 mins)

News blues…

More than 40 million people around the globe confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. European countries battle a second wave. With more than 8.15 million Americans confirmed infected and more than 220,000 dead.

Nevertheless, US President Donald Trump repeatedly shuns advice of public health officials, mocks science and scientists and Dr Fauci,  and now mocks his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, for listening to scientists.
Michael Osterholm, a renowned infectious disease expert, said “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic” in the U.S. And, those brave, upstanding, loyal-to-Trump elected Republicans? Well,

after four years of looking the other way and pretending not to read his tweets, a growing number of Republican senators are suddenly attempting to distance themselves from Donald Trump and rewrite history about their support for a president who, at least according to public polls, is likely headed for a big loss in next month’s election.
The epiphany some GOP senators are having just two weeks before Election Day may have less to do with their convictions and more about positioning themselves politically for a post-Trump world if the polls prove right and Joe Biden becomes president.

Moreover, sinking in the polls, Trump said at a recent campaign rally,

"Don't forget, I'm not bad at that stuff [raising campaign funds] anyway, and I'm president. So I call some guy, the head of Exxon. I call the head of Exxon. I don't know."
Trump went on to describe a hypothetical conversation: "How are you doing? How's energy coming? When are you doing the exploration? Oh, you need a couple of permits?"
"When I call the head of Exxon I say, 'You know, I'd love (for you) to send me $25 million for the campaign.' 'Absolutely sir,'" Trump added.
"I will hit a home run every single call," Trump said. "I would raise a billion dollars in one day if I wanted to. I don't want to do that."

After the president of the United States publicly admits he bribes Exxon Mobile (“do me a favor, though”? ) Exxon Mobile representatives responded,

In an unusual political statement, one of the world’s largest oil producers… posted on Twitter late Monday to clarify that it never spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump about a contribution to his campaign.
Exxon’s tweet came hours after Trump boasted at a rally that he could call a company in need of some permits…and easily get a $25 million contribution. But he wouldn’t do that, Trump said, because he’d be “totally compromised.”
After some on social media took Trump’s hypothetical call seriously, Exxon wrote on Twitter: “Just so we’re all clear, it never happened.”
Exxon’s statement may have only confirmed what was already understood, but it was a rare post for an oil giant that uses Twitter sparingly and largely to promote its efforts on everything from face mask production to methane emissions reductions. It’s the first time in at least a year that Exxon has tweeted about its relations with the president. 

***

The Lincoln Project:
Mourning in Ohio  (0:55 mins)
Hello, Mississippi  (0:25 mins)
Meidas Touch: End the chaos, vote him out  (0:55 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After 208 days of lockdown, I admit my spirits are beginning to slump.
With the house on the market and no nibbles from anywhere or anyone, I’m questioning my raisons d'être .
What if this place never sells? Well, not for a fair price?
I’m advised by friends and my small support system to “take some time off. Break out of your rut. Go out and meet new people.”
Good advice.
I intend to take it.

***

My link to my American family and friends – dependent on technology - is slumping, too. The battery on my elderly, recycled iPhone 6S, with the FaceTime app (only Apple offers the FaceTime app) requires constant hookup to power for any semblance of battery recharge. Since Apple no longer services iPhone 6, I’ve no hope of replacing the battery for what would have been the second time.
I explored the possibility of purchasing a new iPhone SE – the so-called “affordable” iPhone. Yikes! In South Africa, a iPhone SE, 128 G, costs more than ZAR 12,000 - US$750 at minimum, not including tax, duty, etc. The iPhone SE, 64 G cost an arm and a leg outside the US:

Starting at $399, the iPhone SE is the cheapest iPhone in Apple's current iPhone lineup. But this is the price you pay if you live in the US. Apple charges different prices for its iPhones from country to country, depending upon local taxes, GST and how the local currency compares to the US dollar. 

I’m now exploring the possibility of living without an iPhone so without Facetime – my lifeline to family who provide long-distance love, fun ideas, their new discoveries, and my much-needed change of pace. 

Can I do it?
Should I do without?

“An inquisitive mind”

Photo courtesy
Young Scientist Challenge

Big news

Anika Chebrolu. 

Remember that name. Anika is 14 years old, lives in Frisco, Texas, and may have discovered a potential therapy for Covid-19. Anika won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge - and a $25,000 prize - for an invention that uses an in-silico methodology to discover a lead molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Anika Chebrolu, an “inquisitive mind,” along with self-confidence, thinking outside the box, and other qualities that suggest our youth might have the wherewithal to force change on our current crop of leaders’ old ways of thinking.  

News blues…

Lordy, Lordy, who else is really sick of Donald Trump and his crew, the lies, the obfuscation, ubiquitous presence on TV, social media, and constant presence in our faces….? 
The scariest part? Trump is president until January 20th.
He’ll be at his most dangerous during this lame duck period. I predict he’ll wreak more damage in those weeks than he has to date. For Trump, being Trump, will punish We the People for ousting him via the ballot box…
It’s not just little ole me, opining via keyboard in locked down South Africa. Former Trump administration officials have hands-on experience that they are – finally - willing to share with the republic…  (3:40 mins)
Ah, yes, but… then you have the creativity expressed about Trump. Here, South African The Kiffness has Trump doing the Jerusalema ….  (1:00 mins)

***

President Ramaphosa extends Covid-19 grant.  (2:08 mins)

***

The US, along with European countries, experiences yet another surge in Covid cases.

The third surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is under way. Outbreaks have been worsening in many states for more than a month, and new COVID-19 cases jumped 18 percent this week, bringing the seven-day average to more than 51,000 cases a day. Though testing rose by 8 percent nationally, that’s not enough of an increase to explain the steep rise in cases.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which had previously been creeping upward slowly, jumped more than 14 percent from a week earlier. 

***

Infections are rising in South Africa, too. The toll of confirmed infections surpassed 700,000 yesterday, and that number includes South Africa’s health minister, Zweli Mkhize and his wife, both of whom tested positive.  
More than 18,000 South African residents have died of the virus.

***

Cats for Biden/Harris 
Meidas Touch:

Believe in America  (0:55 mins)
Stronger with Biden  (0:55 mins

Healthy planet, anyone?

Meercat Manor  (20:05 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Funny thing about selling a house at this time, in this place in South Africa: no bites. Not even nibbles.
Information about the house sale published on the real estate agency’s web site a week ago. Recently, I asked a friend about her experience selling her house – two years ago and not during a pandemic. She said, “We got an offer within 48 hours” – and that offer was accepted. My friend added, “It took 18 months, and dropping the selling price by ZAR 200K, for an acquaintance in the same village, albeit a different neighborhood, to sell their well-maintained house.”
18 months!
The real estate market in the San Francisco Bay Area is the opposite: a seller usually receives multiple, competing offers within a day of publishing the sales info.
Local realtors handing the sale of this house concur, telling me, “a sale could take months – sometimes 18 months.”

Sobering. 

I can't stay in South Africa for 18 months! What am I going to do? 

Time to take a lesson from "an inquisitive mind": think outside the box.  

Unrelenting

A short post today due to exhaustion – personal and public. A crisis of epic proportions envelopes the planet – almost 40 million coronavirus infections – and effective coordination to manage it is MIA.

News blues…

More than 1,000 current and former officers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed a letter   criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus crisis and demanding “our nation’s leaders to allow CDC to resume its indispensable role.”

The signees were current and former members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, sometimes known as “disease detectives.” Founded nearly 70 years ago, the EIS is a two-year postdoctoral program for epidemiologists to get hands-on experience in the field.
“The absence of national leadership on COVID-19 is unprecedented and dangerous,” the letter said. “The U.S. epidemic is sustained by deadly chains of transmission that crisscross the entire country. Yet states and territories have been left to invent their own differing systems for defining, diagnosing and reporting cases of this highly contagious disease. Inconsistent contact tracing efforts are confined within each state’s borders — while coronavirus infections sadly are not. Such chaos is what CDC customarily avoided by its long history of collaboration with state and local health authorities in developing national systems for disease surveillance and coordinated control.”
The Trump administration has been criticized for sidelining the CDC. It reportedly went so far as to interfere in the agency’s reports as it has largely failed in its response to the virus’s spread.

Meanwhile, in Europe, global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time, a record one-day increase even as the region enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak.

Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre in recent weeks and is reporting on average 140,000 cases a day over the past week. 
As a region, Europe is reporting more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined.
Of every 100 infections reported around the world, 34 were from European countries, according to a Reuters analysis. The region is currently reporting a million new infections about every nine days and has reported more than 6.3 million cases since the pandemic began.

***

The good news in the US? We, the People are votin’ ….   Will a change in administrations make a difference? Or is it too late to divert the trajectory of this deadly pandemic? 

***

The Lincoln Project Swamp  (0:59 mins)
Really American Blame Trump  (1:08 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Bee brokers broking bees. 'You never stop learning about bees, they're just incredible.' 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Temperature rose to 34 C yesterday. My physical exhaustion equaled my psychological exhaustion. I took the day off from selling and moving related action to potter around the garden and the pond. It was the right thing to do.
Tomorrow = renewed efforts.