October 20-24, 2022

On Bearfence Mountain – Steve Bannon evades the consequences of his subpoena – Lindsay Grahan evades the consequences of his subpoena – Donald Trump evades the consequences of his subpoena – Does anyone see a pattern here? – The small fry are less favored by fortune – The Trump Organization on trial – The effects of at-home schooling during the past two years of the pandemic – The new British Prime Minister – Evening statistics

Another hiatus in the journal and I have, if not an excuse, at any rate an explanation for it.  I had to lead a hike for the Wanderbirds yesterday.  I scouted it with SW, my co-leader, on Friday and then I led it on Sunday.  The hike included the rock scramble on Bearfence Mountain, a delightful exercise that leads to the top of the rocks at the mountain’s summit.  There one has a 360-degree view of the Shenandoah Valley, wreathed at this season in autumnal splendor. 

During the hike itself I had several “young Turks” at my heels, impelling me to go forward swiftly so that they would not become impatient or complain that I was holding them back.  That is as it should be.  It has been gratifying to know that, at 68 years of age, I am one of the fastest hikers in both the Wanderbirds and the Capital Hiking Clubs, but it is also slightly ridiculous; it is high time for the youngsters to take their natural place in the vanguard.  After the hike we gathered close to the bus, as is our custom, to drink and snack while the hikers gradually assembled.  I was seated with a number of the hikers who arrived back more or less at the same time I did, and by sheer accident it happened that, while most of them were seated on the ground in a circle, I was occupying the space in the center.  We were conversing about various trails and inquiring about the rock scrambles that were available on them.  SW joked that the others were listening attentively to their “Uncle Josh”; and although I wasn’t making any conscious effort to monopolize the conversation, it is difficult at my time of life not to sound avuncular on occasion.  At all events, we had a splendid day; the skies remained clear in the early part of the hike, where the rock scramble took place, and everyone returned to the bus well within the appointed time.

Incidentally, a new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that regular physical activity of this nature significantly reinforces the preventative effects of COVID vaccines.  The vaccines have reduced the risk of hospital admission by 60% among fully vaccinated adults in the low physical activity category.  But for adults in n the medium and high physical activity groups, the risk has been reduced by 72% and 86% respectively.  “Low physical activity” is defined as less than 60 minutes of activity per week, “medium physical activity” as 60-150 minutes per week, and “high physical activity” as 150 minutes or more per week – and I do as much as 150 minutes of hiking in a single day, as do many of my friends and acquaintances. 

During this time while I have been joyfully been tramping about in Shenandoah National Park, various events have been occurring on the national and international scene – some of them, alas, the reverse of joyful.

Disregarding subpoenas has become something of a fashion statement among Trump and his faction.  For example, Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison for his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.  But it’s retribution without teeth; as a matter of course, he plans to appeal the ruling and the judge in the case has decreed that he will not serve any part of his sentence while the appeal process is ongoing. 

Again, Senator Lindsay Graham has been subpoenaed by the investigation conducted in Fulton County by Fani Willis.  He requested a lower appeals court to block this command to testify; and, after a unanimous three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit turned this appeal down with insulting speed and decision, moved it to the Supreme Court itself.  And this appeal has not been in vain:  Justice Clarence Thomas has issued a “temporary” block on the subpoena, of his own accord, not even referring the question to the remainder of the judges on the Supreme Court.  So the investigation initiated by Fulton County has received yet another delay and will no doubt receive as many other delays as Justice Thomas and his fellow Trump cronies have in their power to concoct.

Finally, Donald Trump himself has been formally issued a subpoena by the House investigating committee, but almost certainly he will not testify. He has invoked his fifth-amendment right against self-incrimination more than 400 times in a deposition during the fraud lawsuit by the New York Attorney General.  Does the committee really expect he will behave any differently towards them?  Although it is tempting to speculate whether his ever-present desire to exercise his powers of abuse and maledictions (in both of which he excels) will overcome his prudence.  So far no action has been taken against him for his thorough lack of cooperation in the New York lawsuit, and I do not expect any kind of initiative on the committee’s part either. Everyone is so anxious to handle Trump with kid gloves!

In the meantime the small fry continue to get penalized.  Mark Mazza, a Trump supporter who brought two guns to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and dropped one of them on Capitol grounds, was sentenced to 60 months in prison.  Mazza filed a false police report about the gun he dropped, claiming that it had been stolen from him.  Like many of the rioters, he bitterly regrets having allowed himself to be duped.  Before he was sentenced, Mazza told the court he got “caught up in a mob mentality that I never anticipated” and that he was “not quite the monster that the prosecution has described me as.”  Quite possibly – but, if not a monster himself, he participated in a monstrous uprising and deserves every hour of the sentence handed down to him by the judge.  I have no complaints about what was meted out to him; but as far as the main perpetrator is concerned, unfortunately, the goddess Nemesis appears to ignore him.

Still, there is one bright spot on the horizon.  The Trump Organization, if not Trump himself, is on the defensive.  The trial in which it has been accused of criminal tax fraud has begun today and even if it is doubtful that it will result in any direct penalties administered towards Trump, it does have the potential of eroding a major source of his financial power – and this, although grossly insufficient as a punishment for his numerous misdeeds, is at any rate better than nothing.

We are now beginning to see the effects of children being forced to learn remotely rather than in person for two years running as a result of the pandemic.  Preliminary test scores are confirming that the longer students received lessons via Zoom, the less they learned.  In some cases, third-graders are struggling to sound out words, while ninth-graders are giving up on school altogether because they feel so far behind that they can’t catch up.  From March 2020 to June 2021, the average student in Chicago lost 21 weeks of learning in reading and 20 weeks in math, equivalent to missing half a year of school.  Children whose schools met mostly online in the 2020-2021 school year performed 13 percentage points lower in math and 8 percentage points lower in reading compared with schools meeting mostly in person.  Students in eighth grade, a critical point in educational development, suffered setbacks in nearly every state, with three out of four failing to meet standards.  The Northeast, the area in which schools were the most likely to be closed for months, showed the greatest declines.  On the other hand, students at Catholic schools, which overwhelmingly reopened the fastest, saw no drops in average NAEP scores at all (save for in math among eighth graders). 

Liz Truss’s term as Prime Minister has not lasted long.  After a bare a month and a half, she has been ousted.  Her replacement is Rishi Sunak, who is the first man of Indian descent to occupy the position.  He became chancellor in 2020, and his popularity surged during the COVID pandemic when the Treasury dispensed billions to save jobs and support struggling Britons.  However, his popularity has dimmed somewhat in recent weeks, when it was revealed that his wife, Akshata Murty, had limited her tax exposure (she has since voluntarily paid the extra taxes) and that he himself retained a U.S. green card, hich would allow him to live permanently in the United States. He gave it up before making his first visit to the country as chancellor in October 2021. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:30 PM – # of cases worldwide:  633,055,580; # of deaths worldwide: 6,583,675; # of cases U.S.: 99,116,752; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,093,099.  The mortality rate for Americans is now down to 1.1%, quite a decline from the earlier stages of the pandemic.