“Republican wack pack”

Here, the queen assumes the year 2020 is over and that the worst has passed.
Not so, your highness. 

Eleven more days present Donald Trump, a desperate man trying desperately to stave off the inevitable, wiggle room to bring down the system of governance that voted him out of office.
The United States heads towards, not only pandemic disaster, but the disaster of doing too little, too late to stop a crazy man. 

In 2012, Americans such as Steve Schmidt began warning  about the appearance on the political scene of Donald Trump and the “Republican wack pack,” (aka “an autocratic cult of personality.” An interview worth watching – 18:30 mins.)
If you think we’ve reached bottom with the Trumpster and Trumpism, think again. The cult may be gasping for oxygen, but the Republican wack pack is headed up by powerful politicians determined to weaken essential American-style democracy.  (5:40 mins)

News blues…

Trump acolyte, Covid denialist, and anti-maskist, Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, stands accused of sending armed officers to raid the Tallahassee, Florida home of Rebekah Jones.
Jones is the former Florida official who says she was ousted from her job managing the state’s COVID-19 data for refusing to censor and alter case information. 

After her ouster in the spring, Jones went public with allegations that her superiors had told her to put misleading and false information on the public-facing COVID-19 dashboard, which people could use to track data about coronavirus infections in Florida.
The information they asked her to post would have over-counted the number of COVID-19 tests performed and under-counted the total number of cases, she said, as Florida rushed to reopen its economy. She also said she was asked to remove evidence of people testing positive for the virus in January.
… FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen disputed Jones’ claim that the officers [invading her house] pointed guns at her and her children. But Jones’ video indicates that they may have pointed weapons in her family’s general direction. When the officers enter the house, one demands her husband come downstairs while another points what appears to be a firearm directly to the top of the staircase.
Jones said she’ll return to work running her dashboard on Tuesday.
“If [DeSantis] thought pointing a gun in my face was a good way to get me to shut up, he’s about to learn just how wrong he was,” she tweeted. “I’ll have a new computer tomorrow. And then I’m going to get back to work.”

***

The Lincoln Project: Pence  (0:34 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

• Earth photo essay
• Our global fire crisis is the sign of a dying biosphere. But we can take action.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

A pandemic positive: picking up a plethora of new skills. I did not choose these roles. They – through circumstances – chose me.
I’m delving into the sad ins and outs of early dementia in the elderly. I’d prefer to do without this skill. Words of warning: as a member of collective humanity, you will, come face-to-face with dementia in someone you love. Prepare for that, now.
Pool Gal: After waiting three months for Pool Guy Richard to show up to troubleshoot the small pool, he arrived, looked it over, removed the apparently dysfunctional “creepy” suction system, quoted “R2,500 or more” to finish the job, then tucked the “creepy” under his arm and departed. 

Five days and many phone calls later, he returned the creepy. In the interim, the gardener and I experimented with “fixing” the filter system. No dice. Despite tardiness and lack of specificity in tasks required or associated costs, Pool Gal must defer to Pool Guy’s expertise.
Recycling Carpenter is a role I relish since I relish creative reuse. I’m rising to the challenge of recycling odds and end to build a garden worktable for my new home. A perfect-enough discarded kitchen counter top, two recycled “legs” and a recycled former dog bed all go into the mix. 

Photos forthcoming….

Denial is a river in Egypt

Have We the People reached the point at which “real” reality begins to inform our day-to-day actions?
A range of powerful and complex emotions - such as desire, need to be right, greed, pride, revenge, need for status, shame, humiliation - exert a strong influence over humans’ ability to interpret facts.
The worsening coronavirus pandemic highlights the reality that:

… fact-based decision-making hasn’t made as much progress in society as it deserves because many decisions are overwhelmed by emotions. Our overall progress as a society, however, is predicated on our learning how to control emotions and make decisions based on “real” facts [as opposed to “alternative facts]. Add in other psychological dynamics such as ideology (which substitutes belief for facts), inertia (change requires significant energy), momentum (the desire to will obstacles out of our way), impulsiveness (wanting it now!) and stubbornness (no one will change my mind), and we can easily relegate facts to a far, obscure corner [of our minds].  

News blues…

The three Ws: Watch your distance; wash your hands; wear a mask. Informative updates on coronavirus from an European perspective.  (11:50 mins) 

***

Canadian Premier's harsh holiday message, “If you don’t think Covid’s real, you’re an idiot!“ (3:33 mins)

***

Powerful reality check by MSNBC’s Stephanie Rhule on her COVID-19 Diagnosis: I Did All the Right Things, But I Still Got the Virus  (6:20 mins)

***

Donald Trump’s ever-widening reign of inhumanity continues. His finals acts in office include pardons for his crooked cronies (Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Joe Arpaio, et al), decidedly questionable pardons among a long list and, now, an execution spree (“killed more death row prisoners than the U.S. government has done in the last five decades”) that are also super spreader events.

The decision by the U.S. government to move full steam ahead with federal executions in the face of a raging pandemic has attracted scant attention, despite the fact that it is dramatically out of step with state prison practices and opposed by a growing number of law enforcement officials and advocates for incarcerated individuals.
Since coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March, executions by state governments have essentially come to a halt because of the health risks involved. Only two people on state death rows have been executed, Walter Barton in Missouri on May 19 and Billy Wardlow in Texas on July 8.
In contrast, the federal government has executed eight people, with five more people scheduled to die before President Donald Trump leaves office. Brandon Bernard is set to be executed on Dec. 10, Alfred Bourgeois on Dec. 11, Lisa Montgomery on Jan. 12, Cory Johnson on Jan. 14 and Dustin Higgs on Jan. 15.
Since it reinstated capital punishment at the federal level this summer, the Trump administration has killed more death row prisoners than the U.S. government has done in the last five decades combined. 

Donald Trump spectacular and brazen vindictiveness is so apparent that humans cannot directly cope. We appear, so far, stumped, opting for denial over evidence.
How much longer will We the People allow Trump, his cronies, and the Republicans that enable him to continue on this path?

Healthy planet, anyone?

A change of pace: celebrate our ancestors and an example of “what you do today matters tomorrow”: Astonishing rock paintings discovered in Colombia hold a lesson for today’s rainforest. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Spending more time in South Africa this year than I’ve done in the last 40 years has advantages. One advantage is an unfolding awareness of seasonal change.
These days, for example, neighborhood monkeys invade this garden – balancing precariously on overhead cable, scaling garden walls and fences, and squeezing through the security gate - before our security system disables at 5:30am. This means, instead of my usual monkey-deterrent behavior – running outside wielding a stick and yelling, “go home, monkeys! Scoot monkeys!”, I yell from behind the burglar guards. Hardly incentive for monkeys to abandon the chance to snack on green onions, tender zucchini, crunchy new potatoes….
Moreover, “go home monkeys”? 

This IS their home. They’ve as much right to snack on Earth’s bounty as I do, perhaps more since no grocery stores cater to their culinary needs.

"Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me"

As our world sags under an astonishingly contagious virus, Donald Trump continues to ignore reality, instead whining continually along the lines of, “Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me". (See below.)

News blues…

In the US state of Michigan, the forces for crazy upped the game over the weekend: “Supporters of President Donald Trump amped up their efforts to intimidate M
ichigan officials this weekend, gathering with firearms outside Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home on Saturday to protest the battleground state’s election results…” 

In the US, the combination of crazy coupled with access to guns is a potent combination for violent wackiness.
The prez, it is worth repeating, does nothing, says nothing, and shows no intention of doing or saying anything, about the pandemic… other than tweeting that his clown-show lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has contracted Covid-19:  

Rudy infected with Covid
Perhaps not wearing a mask
and gulping air is partly to blame?
Iconic Rudy Giuliani

"Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!"

By the way, “Carry on” also refers to a long and successful string of comedic movies :

The stock-in-trade of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the National Health Service (Nurse, Doctor, Again Doctor, Matron and the proposed Again Nurse), the monarchy (Henry), the Empire (Up the Khyber), the armed forces (Sergeant, England, Jack and the proposed Flying and Escaping), the police (Constable) and the trade unions (At Your Convenience) as well as camping (Camping), foreign holidays (Cruising, Abroad), beauty contests (Girls), caravan holidays (Behind), and the education system (Teacher) amongst others. Although the films were very often panned by critics, they mostly proved very popular with audiences.
In 2007, the pun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams (playing Julius Caesar) in Carry on Cleo, was voted the funniest one-line joke in film history.

Healthy planet, anyone?

The pandemic will leave behind a very different world from that of a year ago. Thousands of people have died; entire industries have been brought to the brink; welfare states have been shaken. In the coming years, the major challenge facing all public leaders will be charting a path of recovery through the devastating human, social and economic marks that Covid-19 has left on our societies.
But rather than redoubling on the fragile world of the pre-pandemic age, we should be taking advantage of this moment to build one that is more just, balanced and sustainable.
Cities will play a key role in this process. Barcelona and its metropolitan area want to lead the response to one of the toughest situations that humanity has faced in modern times. Achieving this will mean tackling two interrelated challenges. We need to continue the fight against the climate crisis, spurred by the European Green Deal. And we will need to boost the post-Covid economy through green technologies, sustainable industry and transport. ...
Read “Cities can lead a green revolution after Covid. In Barcelona, we're showing how…” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Reorienting the brain: strong memories from my childhood in the Valley of a Thousand Hills include hot summer days concluding with fierce afternoon thunderstorms. Perhaps the storms were more intense because we lived on the edge of a valley, what was referred to as “the highest point.” The standard signifier or this status was a black and white plaque – no words – affixed to a five-foot metal pole embedded in a bucket of concrete buried above the slope into the valley/escarpment.
Being caught in a storm, while riding horses, or swimming in dams, or exploring the veld was deeply thrilling and satisfying. Thunder, lightning, and drenching rain reminded me that I was part of an amazing world worth celebrating as the spirit moved me: running, singing, and dancing amid the wildness.
During yesterday’s thunderstorm – lighting flashing directly overhead and buckets more rain – I realized that living for decades in California has impeded me not at all of the need to celebrate our planet’s vitality.
My brain rejoices as it reorients and my voice, if not my body, follows: I sing my appreciation.

Day of rest

News blues…

Pandemic news is exhausting. A day of rest is in order – after a data-driven reality check. 

South Africa:
Confirmed Cases: 796 472
Confirmed Deaths: 21 289
Confirmed Recoveries: 716 444 

Source: Data courtesy of the Data Science for Social Impact Research Group at the University of Pretoria. Sourced from Department of Health Statements and NICD and Daily Maverick.

United States:

“I have federal agents that protect me. So they drive me to work, they stay here, they make sure that nobody tries to break in [to my home] and, as Steve Bannon would like, have someone behead me. I don’t socialise. It’s my wife and I and the federal agents." 
                                                        Dr Anthony Fauci 

                                                                                               
Source: Sources: State and county officials
Graphic: Jiachuan Wu / NBC News

Healthy planet, anyone?

Are Tides And Waves The Missing Piece Of The Green Energy Puzzle?  Solar and wind are energy powerhouses until the sky is dark or the air is still. An ancient source of energy — the tides — could soon offer a predictable alternative.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

While not recovered yet, I am recovering from 3 days of grim achiness. 

Another day of rest should perk me right up.

uyagula

Feel sick during this Covid pandemic and, naturally, one suspects the onset of Covid-19. Thursday evening my body began to ache – neck, back, hip joints, and a thumping headache. 

Friday morning, I reviewed the list of Covid symptoms. My temperature was normal, no sore throat, no fever, no chills, no fatigue, no dry cough. The only symptom was body ache. No Covid toes. Judging by the wonderful wafts of jasmine and yesterday, today, and tomorrow blossoms, my sense of smell wasn’t affected. I had not contracted i-coronavirus, but a simple case of uyagula (“ya-goola”/sick).

News blues…

Notoriously recalcitrant with facing Covid realities, people of the United States are facing lockdowns that other countries, South Africa, for example, implemented months ago.
Governor of my home state, California, Gavin Newsom, yesterday announced a Regional Stay Home Order, where all sectors other than retail and essential operations would be closed in regions of the State where less than 15 percent of ICU beds are available. 

Health Officers announced the San Francisco Bay Area will implement the Regional Stay Home Order earlier, stating that more aggressive action is necessary to slow the surge and prevent our local hospitals from being overwhelmed. The new restrictions will go into effect in Alameda County on Monday, December 7, at 12:01 am and remain in place until January 4, 2021.
Under the Regional Stay Home Order, all private gatherings are prohibited and the following sectors must close:
• Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• Indoor recreational facilities
• Hair salons and barbershops
• Personal care services
• Museums, zoos, and aquariums
• Movie theaters
• Wineries
• Bars, breweries, and distilleries
• Family entertainment centers
• Cardrooms and satellite wagering
• Limited services
• Live audience sports
• Amusement parks
The following sectors will have additional modifications in addition to 100% masking and physical distancing:
• Outdoor recreational facilities: Allow outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
• Retail: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Shopping centers: Allow indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Hotels and lodging: Allow to open for critical infrastructure support only.
• Restaurants: Allow only for take-out, pick-up, or delivery.
• Offices: Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
• Places of worship and political expression: Allow outdoor services only.
• Entertainment production including professional sports: Allow operation without live audiences. Additionally, testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.
Finally, glimpses of sanity…

*** 

The Lincoln Project: 

Don’t go back  (0:25 mins)
Pulpit  (0:25 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

This is the year Americans learned how a food system reliant on industrial agriculture, near monopolies and exploited laborers breaks down. Just two months into the pandemic, the meat industry in the most powerful nation in the world was buckling.
Big questions: Can this food system be fixed?
Can farmers create a food system that works with the earth, not against it?

For all the consumer-facing, shrink-wrapped elegance of the modern food system, the pandemic has exposed its fragility.
Alongside the public health crisis, poverty and food insecurity have skyrocketed this year. As of July, 29 million Americans said they “sometimes or often” did not have enough to eat.
At the same time, Americans were confronted with images and stories of farmers forced to dump milk, destroy crops, and euthanize their livestock as processing facilities and restaurants shut down. 

***

It’s not just the food system. It’s all systems with profit-first motives.
The biggest petroleum corporation in the world, Exxon, faces $20 billion hit from 'epic failure' of a decade ago. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I remain uyagula, but less achy, and slightly less headachy. Now I worry about what might happen if I contracted Covid. My travel health insurance ran out months ago and my US-based health insurance is valid only in the US. I’ve no backup health insurance. This would mean any serious ill health would require going into debt for private hospital care or, horrors, partaking of the free but notoriously poor government health system. (One is advised to bring one’s own sheets and blankets for a stint in state hospitals – and to carry them with you to the toilet. Leaving bedclothes on the bed, even briefly, runs the risk of returning to a bare bed, bedclothes stolen. 

Shaggy-dog story? 

Am I willing to risk it?

Presidential update

I continue to marvel at how President Ramaphosa addresses South Africans: respectfully, honestly, directly, without threats of violence or calls for mayhem. In the era of Trump, this is refreshing leadership.

News blues…

President Ramaphosa updated South Africans on the country’s response to the pandemic and laid out how we intend to cope over the next month.  (25:30 mins)
Summary:
President Ramaphosa began with heartfelt appreciation for South Africans who observed five days of mourning for those dead from Covid-19 and from gender-based violence (GBV)
His update on worldwide Covid numbers – SA has dropped on the list from 5th to 14th – included the realities of a resurgence of infections across the country that is exacting a heavy toll: 887,200 people infected since March, with a recovery rate 92%, and 21,803 deaths.
There’s a marked rise in new infections and more infected people in hospital. We went from 1,500 new cases per day, to 2,900 the last week of November to 4,400 new as of yesterday (December 2)
Three areas of the country suffering particularly:
Nelson Mandela Bay

Sarah Bartman area 

The Garden Route (due to the interprovincial movement of seasonal workers) 

Eastern and Western Cape showing an increase in deaths
Rise in transmission rates due to:

• interprovincial travel
• people gathering in large groups – and in poorly ventilated venues such as for funerals and “after tears” parties
• increases in alcohol-related trauma admissions to hospital that divert capacity of hospitals and hospital staff to cope with Covid. Many people are NOT wearing masks or practicing proper hygiene and social distancing

The main problem is that people are not complying with current restrictions and basic prevention measures
The plan to deal with the resurgence includes:

• Creating more capacity for hospitals
• Expanding public health
• Increasing awareness campaigns
• “Overall, however, we must change our behavior. The resurgence is like a bush fire: we must quickly extinguish flare ups before they develop into an inferno.”

In order to keep the economy open, we will implement measures: In Covid hotspots: we must track new cases day by day, increase the rates of testing, track positivity percentage, and deal with active hospital admissions, and track deaths

NCCC declares hotspots to practice new restrictions as of midnight:

• Curfew – 10 p to 4 am – no one outside residences, except essential workers
• Alcohol sold only between 10am and 6pm, Monday thru Thursday
• No consumption of alcohol in public spaces, including beaches and parks and in gatherings
• Restrictions on gatherings, including religious: no more than 100 indoors and 250 outdoors, and not to exceed 50 percent capacity anywhere
• All “after tears” gatherings prohibited
• We seek to take steps that are absolutely necessary. The summer season may go ahead in Eastern Cape with the risk adjusted plan approved, including:
• Strict adherence to health protocols, PPE, access to water
• NO initiation schools allowed for the interim in an effort to contain spread and save lives
• National State of Disaster extended to 15 January, 2021
• Level 1 remains throughout the country
• Everyone must play her/his part, respect rules, measures, and protocols; breaking rules will have consequences
• – Taxis: all passengers must wear masks
• Full compliance with curfews

Our only viable defense is vaccine
No one will be left behind
WHO global access to COVAX – countries shall pool resources to ensure equitable access
SA’s Solidarity Fund will make available ZAR327 million to procure vaccines
Currently there are three trails of candidate vaccines and we’re awaiting confirmation that they’re safe, effective, and suitable for South Africans
We, people, remain out own best protection:

• Through wearing a mask in public and staying safe
• Practicing social distancing
• avoiding gatherings
• Washing/sanitizing hands

The safety messages must sink in so download app (1 million downloads so far)
Avoid danger by avoiding complacency, particularly during coming festive season. This is a time for caution
Large gathering are super spreader events so take precautions to avoid spreading the virus
Let there be no relaxing on these measures and do not let down your guard with this coronavirus
Let us recommit ourselves to this fight for our lives, take steps now, stand together, and work together.

*** 

The Lincoln Project: 

On the Ballot  (0:59 mins)
Whispers III  (1:32 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

How Covid sowed the seeds of food security in Johannesburg
During South Africa’s strict lockdown, groups of activists decided to distribute parcels of vegetables as wells as seedlings and gardening materials to hundreds of vulnerable households. A photo essay… 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Covid careful Santa (“Father Christmas”) greeted me at the local grocery store.

Fatal “individualism”

Worldwide (Map) 
December 3 – 64,469,710 confirmed infections; 1,492,100 deaths
November 5 – 48,136,225 confirmed infections; 1,225,915 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 16,333,485 confirmed infections and 266,185 deaths

US (Map)  
December 3 – 13,920,000 confirmed infections; 273,370 deaths
November 5 – 9,487,470 confirmed infections; 237,730 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 4,432,530 confirmed infections and 35,640 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 3 – 796,475 confirmed infections; 21,710 deaths
November 5 – 730,500 confirmed infections; 19,585 deaths
In 29 days, an increase of 65,975 confirmed infections and 2,125 deaths

News blues…

A Brookings Institute survey of Americans asked about why they choose not to wear a mask to slow the transmission of coronavirus, finds “individualism” a key component of resistance:

 © National Panel Study of COVID-19 

… 40% of Americans who do not wear a mask say this is because it is “their right as an American to not wear a mask.” This modal response was followed by Americans who say they do not wear a mask “because it is uncomfortable” at 24%. The data reveals that a combined 64% of Americans believe that their right to not have to be inconvenienced by wearing a mask or scarf over their face is more important than reducing the probability of getting sick or infecting others.

Read the article: “American individualism is an obstacle to wider mask wearing” 

***

Further health-oriented Covid restrictions coming up in South Africa with the  health department recommending to the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) that the government:

• reduce the maximum size of indoor gatherings
• implement an earlier curfew overall 
• put in place a 10pm curfew in Covid-19 hotspots around the country 
• restrict alcohol sales from Monday to Thursday, and 
• declare bars and taverns close by 9pm.

Healthy planet, anyone?

For extended periods over the past two years, Eskom’s [South Africa’s parastatal electricity supply commission] Kendal Power Station has been found consistently exceeding particulate matter atmospheric emissions of up to 10 times the allowable limit.

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy has revealed that summons was served on Eskom on 27 November notifying it of the decision by the senior public prosecutor to pursue a criminal prosecution in respect of air pollution by Eskom’s Kendal Power Station. This includes a charge of supplying false and misleading information in reports prepared by management at Kendal Power Station to an Air Quality Officer, which is a criminal offence listed in Section 51(1)(g) of the Air Quality Act.

 ***

“…The state of the planet is broken," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a speech on Wednesday. He issued a searing indictment of humanity's "war" on the environment and urged everyone to prioritize "making peace with nature."

"We are facing a devastating pandemic, new heights of global heating, new lows of ecological degradation and new setbacks in our work towards global goals for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable development."
The UN chief laid out in stark terms the damage already done to the environment and warned that countries risked losing the opportunity afforded by the coronavirus pandemic to reset their priorities on climate change and environmental protections if they do not act now.
Guterres highlighted two authoritative new reports - one from the World Meteorological Organization  and the other from the United Nations Environment Programme  - "spell out how close we are to climate catastrophe…."

***

New Zealand declares a climate change emergency as Jacinda Ardern calls climate change “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and pledges carbon-neutral government by 2025.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Rain, rain, rain… and vegetation shooting up. Grass must be cut at least once a week, bamboo seemingly grows inches overnight, trees, flowers, weeds bloom thither and yon.
All this 29-degree-southern-hemisphere fecundity disorients a 38-degree-northern-hemisphere Californian….
I’m adjusting – and enjoying the adjustment.