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Last night, MSNBC’s Ari Melber interviewed Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt for an astonishingly hard-hitting 9-minute overview of Baghdad Don’s three-plus years in office.
Baghdad Bob, Americans remember, was the infamous Iraqi denialist and spinmeister during the US invasion of Iraq.
Truth in advertising: I identify as neither Republican nor Democrat. Nevertheless, I’ve waited for Americans, any Americans, to quit the handwringing about Trump and actually do something constructive about removing him from office. That he’s finally offended a cohort of powerful Republicans enough to act is icing/frosting on the (fruit)cake of irony.
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Take heed, though. Trump supporters a la Tea party protest across the country against stay-at-home orders. Isn’t that like demanding your own personalized dose of Covid-19? Of this photo Steve Schmidt tweeted,
this Josh Bickel of Columbus Dispatch [Ohio] photo is worthy of a Pulitzer. It absolutely and perfectly captures the whackjobbery of Trumpism and the grievance of people who have surrendered any vestige of common sense or normalcy to the altar of freak show politics and the dogmas of political cultism.Only 199 more days of Trump’s reign….
Best not to count chickens though. Trumpist Republicans in Congress will pull out all the stops to corrupt the November election, from disenfranchising voters, to refusing mail-in ballots despite the pandemic, and everything in-between. Despite “whackjobbery”, Trump’s approval numbers sag further each day. (Still, 40+ percent approval?) See Pollster Nate Silver’s polling data.
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South Africa’s select team on the pandemic functions at a high level …and insists on truth: South Africa, they agree, cannot escape the worst of the epidemic. This is because "it is a completely new virus, there is no vaccine, we have no immunity and it affects white and black, old and young… everyone".
They’ll do what they can do to prepare.
You do what you can, too: stay home/ shelter in place, wash your hands, socially distance, wear a mask (and disinfect it regularly).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I dashed out to the store early this morning to replenish our pantry. Who’d a thunk grocery shopping provided entertainment and diversion? I’ve started a cold – I hope it’s a cold! – so I hurriedly fulfilled the shopping list while noting more-than-bare but less-than-full shelves of fresh fruit and veggies. Other shelves were full. Cigarettes unavailable. Liquor store shut. (Funny how lockdown stimulates a longing for a rum and soda with mint and ginger… or a gin and tonic ….) Apparently, food shortages loom:Concerns are rising that South Africa will experience a sharp increase in crime and social unrest as desperation over food supplies spills into streets and shops around the country. According to a senior police official, who briefed News24 over concerns raised during high-level government meetings this week, it was only a matter of time before protests and looting erupted on an unmanageable scale.
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Back home, behind the security fences and gates, I prep the garden for winter.Fall/autumn is early. Winters at this elevation feature plant-killing frost so I’m preparing by spreading grass clippings around plants, distributing rich soil coughed up by moles, and composting leaves and pond weed.
I’m making the most of lockdown – even enjoying it. Gardens are treasure troves of new discoveries.
Remember Scruffy, the blind-in-one-eye, totally deaf dog who barks every 7 to 9 seconds?
Today, Scruffy’s several-hour long barkathon ended after my mother - the dog lover – intervened.
“Scruffy,” she told me, “can’t climb stairs anymore.”
She followed this pronouncement in her inimitable style of telling rather than asking. “Someone will have to carry him up and down the stairs.”
Hmmm, I'm the Someone who leads end-of-day dog walkies around the garden.
Someone’s exercise regime just added a component: weight (and) resistance.
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