Recent hikes – Convictions of Oath Keepers – Declining Christianity in England – Rising influenza rates – Evening statistics
There has been much hiking of late but a dearth of news. That is to say, I went with RS in a loop of 22 miles around the city, starting from Arlington Cemetery, on Saturday; and I went with the Wanderbirds in the Great Falls area on the Maryland bank Sunday, scrambling over the Billy Goat Trail. Both of which were extremely enjoyable, although in retrospect it probably was not the best choice to attempt the extremely rocky Billy Goat Trail with rain in the forecast. The rain in fact did begin to fall some time after I passed the halfway point, making the rocks very slippery. But I made it to the end without any ill effects.
In the news, however, I saw little beyond reports of various experts proclaiming that something ominous is “going to” happen to Trump as a result of the investigating committee’s findings – as they have been predicting for months on end, and yet somehow this threatened thunderbolt refrains from falling on Trump’s head and he makes his plans for his campaign in 2024 quite unimpeded. Merrick Garland persists in dragging his feet on the matter, and even the suit in Fulton County, for which I had entertained great hopes in this respect, shows no signs of coming to an issue.
Today, at any rate, the drop has fallen, if not on Trump himself, at any rate on one of his most prominent supporters. Elmer Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, along with Kelly Meggs, who runs this group’s Florida chapter, were both found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Their colleagues Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, and Kenneth Harrelson managed to evade conviction on that charge, but were still convicted of obstructing an official proceeding, a charge seen in many of the other trials of those who assaulted the Capitol. Prosecutors showed stills from security cameras in which defendants could be seen wheeling in large cases of the supplies, which a “QRF,” or quick reaction force, could transport to the Capitol if needed. Such an arrangement was necessary to further their plans because although DC has very strict gun-control laws, those of our happy state are much more relaxed and Virginian hunters have virtually unrestricted access to weapons that enable them to hunt down deer, bears, elk, turkeys, hikers, bikers, and various other game suitable for the season. Text messages showed Caldwell debating whether he should have a boat on hand to ferry the weapons across the Potomac River, although Caldwell denied that was ever his plan. He testified that a text-message reference to moving “heavy weapons” was an excerpt out of a screenplay he was writing. This ingenious defense, apparently, was not taken as seriously as he initially appeared to expect; prosecutors had visible difficulty in keeping a straight face in response. Sentencing for all five defendants should take place within the next few weeks.
Christianity is no longer the majority religion in England and Wales. The amount of English and Welsh who classify themselves as Christian is down to 46% of the population, a significant drop from the 59% of a decade ago. The biggest gainer is the group who declared themselves to be of “no religion,” from 25% a decade ago to 37% now. Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs maintained roughly the same ratio as before, while Islam appears to be the only gainer, going up from 5% to 6.5%.
Two-third of states across the country are reporting either “very high” or “high” levels of influenza-like activity, according to the CDC. During this time last year, all states were reporting “low” or “moderate” levels of activity, with only New Mexico and Rhode Island reporting “high” levels. The hospitalization rate, which sits at 11.3 per 100,000, continues to be the highest for this time in the season since the 2010-2011 season. So far there have been at least 6.2 million illnesses, 53,000 hospitalizations, and 2,900 deaths from influenza. For those inclined to worry about the rising influenza rates, however, it must be pointed out that COVID still remains the third leading cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease and cancer – which is a comfort, at any rate.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 645,626,817; # of deaths worldwide: 6,635,241; # of cases U.S.: 100,456,053; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,104,743.