Month: April 2023

Chiefly a rant against politically correct euphemisms – Evening statistics

I have come across another change in the naming of our roads that irritates me profoundly.  The road formerly called “Plantation Parkway” has been re-christened “Fair Woods Parkway.”  It follows the same pattern of the recent re-naming of “Old Lee Highway” to “Blenheim Boulevard” and of “Rebel Run” to “Lion Run”; the idea, apparently, being to purge Fairfax City from any taint of Confederacy.  And in this case it’s so completely unnecessary.  “Plantation” is a perfectly innocuous word.  It means a large farm devoted to the cultivation of a single main crop:  often in practice, it is true, of cotton, tobacco, or sugarcane, which in the ante-bellum South were certainly managed by crews of slaves.  But a plantation in itself does not necessarily equate to slavery.  It merely signifies a farm with a certain function.  Many exist in the country today.  It does not mean a farm that uses slave labor.  There is no more need to remove the word from the language than it is to remove “Kristall” (glass) from German simply on account of the Nazis looting and pillaging Jewish shops on “Kristallnacht” in 1938.

Many years ago, Mad Magazine parodied this concern for avoidance of potentially upsetting language by showing us a dining room in a wealthy household full of guests who were avidly discussing the excellence of the broiled chest of chicken served for dinner and their participation in meetings of the Lavatory Birch Society.  If ridicule could kill, this type of pretentiousness would be long gone; but unfortunately it very much alive with us today.

But what does it matter, it may be asked, if the name change is, in Douglas Adams’s phrase, “mostly harmless”?  The answer is that the prurience of such false delicacy is every bit as blatant as that of the 19^th-century lady who sedulously covered snowmen with clothes to shield the supposedly refined sensibilities of young maidens.  It is as thoroughly repellent as it is ridiculous.  It is gestures such as these that characterize the Left at its worst, and which alienate thousands of Americans – my friend JN, for instance, who has worked at blue-collar jobs and has voted Democratic all of his life until 2016, when he was so repelled by Hillary Clinton and, four years later, by Joseph Biden, that he refrained from voting at all. 

To those zealots who are dedicated to refining American modes of thought I would say:  concentrate your efforts on the issues that really matter – for instance, upon those would-be disrupters of elections who clog our judicial system with frivolous and costly lawsuits whenever the results of a ballot turns out not to be to their satisfaction (yes, Kari Lake, I’m looking at you).  That, surely, should absorb your energies to the full.  Oh, yes, and leave linguistics alone:  that field, decidedly, is not your forte.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,915,037; # of deaths worldwide: 6,844,203; # of cases U.S.: 106,491,174; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,158,454.  During the past few days the COVID-related deaths have been in the range of 75-150 per day; if this trend continues, COVID will scale back in mortality rate to parity with influenza. 

Fox News has reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in order to avoid the lawsuit levied against the organization:  it will pay $787 million to the latter, just under half of the $1.6 billion Dominion originally asked for but a substantial amount all the same.  The net worth of Fox News is about $16.44 billion, so it will end up paying nearly 5% of its entire holdings.  And the “stolen election” claim of Trump supporters has received some official discredit as well.  But the outcome is disappointing all the same.  The most egregious of the offenders – Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham – emerge unscathed.  In effect, Rupert Murdoch is paying to avoid making any public acknowledgement that some of its biggest stars deliberately lied to their viewers and that the viewers were sadly mistaken in believing them: he is paying in order to avoid any negative impact on the network’s ratings.

This outcome illustrates why suits levelled at Trump and his allies that involve only monetary penalties are ineffective.  Their holdings are too great for fines, even substantive ones, to make any impact on them.  The only penalty that can make any impression on such people is prison.

 Vladimir Putin earns about $125,000 annually from his position as President of Russia and his official residence is an apartment with a large open-plan room that serves both as living room and dining room, a kitchen, an office, a bedroom, and three bathrooms – comfortable, but not especially luxurious and not unduly costly for its size and location in central Moscow (slightly over $2000 per month in rent).  It’s so refreshing to see a government leader living a relatively modest lifestyle – that is, assuming you don’t factor in the following other residences in his possession:

1. The Grand Kremlin Palace, which admittedly is a working residence; he doesn’t actually live there. 
2. Novo-Ogaryovo in the elite neighborhood of Rublyovka, aka Russia’s Beverly Hills on the outskirts of Moscow. Putin doesn’t officially own the place but the property was allocated to him in perpetuity after he became Prime Minister in 2008.  The compound includes a 19th-century palace built for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, a huge villa “in modern Russian style,” a six-story reception building, a private hospital, a vast sports and well-being complex, an ice rink, a deluxe log cabin, a private church for Putin and his family, a heliport, and a private bridge.  A $15 million sauna was built on the property, but it burned down in 2021, never having been used.  One hopes he’ll get around to replacing it soon.
3. Bocharov Ruchey in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games were held.  This is his official summer residence and has been used to host many visiting government leaders, including George W. Bush and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
4. The grandiose Constantine Palace in St Petersburg.
5. The Yantar Palace in Kaliningrad.

And now we come to the un-official ones:

1. A VIP ski resort in the Caucasus Mountains, a château that has been likened to the Palace of Versailles.
2. “Putin’s Palace,” a building on the Black Sea coast (but not to be confused with the official Bocharov Ruchey property listed above) that could easily serve as a good-sized hotel instead of a house for one person, costing about $1.4 billion, about 190,000 square feet (about three times larger than the White House).  Its rooms include a deluxe gilded theatre, a lap-dancing room, and a hookah lounge, along with Putin’s magnificent master bedroom.  Outdoor amenities include an “aqua disco,” an underground ice hockey rink, a Byzantine-style church, a mammoth restaurant and entertainment complex, and, finally, a winery.  (On paper, this property belongs to billionaire oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, but Putin has a habit of concealing his holdings among his network of relatives and close associates.)
3. A retreat on Lake Valdai, which is located in the Novgorod region of north-western Russia between Moscow and St Petersburg.  This is not a single building but a complex, including a 38,000 square-foot mansion; a 75,000 square-foot spa complete with a pool, hammam, and Jacuzzi; a Chinese-style pavilion; a deluxe log cabin; a mini-casino; a private church; a golf course (to accommodate surprise visits from Donald Trump?); and, for good measure, a private railway station, which is part of a larger network that connects Putin’s properties to his private presidential terminal at Moscow-Kalanchevskaya Station.  The mansion’s interior is modeled on that of the Hermitage Museum, and it includes golden and silver living rooms, a music room graced with a $158,000 concert grand piano, and a shimmering “night cellar” with a canopy ceiling covered in petals of gold leaf.
4. A mysterious “Property V”, allegedly worth $200 million, in the elite Greenfield development near Moscow. This 91,500 square-foot residence features a helipad, a football field, stables, and its own forest.
5. A 40,900 square-foot dwelling is located near the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort in the Krasnodar region, whose furnishings include a Blüthner grand piano ($80,900) and a Frette candle holder ($3,700).  It has its own cable car, helipad, and sauna.

Putin is also said to own an estate in Siberia’s Altai Mountains, which houses a nuclear bunker akin to an underground city, as well as a multimillion-euro villa near Marbella in Spain, but since these are only rumors and are not (yet) confirmed by documentation, we won’t count those.

Naturally Putin requires transportation to shuttle to all of those properties, and that he possesses in abundance:

1. A fleet of 43 planes, including a jet kitted out with an $18 million cabin designed by a top jewler, as well as a gold toilet that cost $75,000.
2. A supplemental fleet of 15 top-end helicopters.
3. Several yachts, including:  a) The Graceful, a 267-foot long yacht that cost $119 million initially and takes $10 million per year to run; b) the Scheherazade, a 459-foot beauty Scheherazade, worth about $507 million (Putin had a bit of ill luck with this one; it was seized last year by Italian authorities in the port of Marina di Carrara); c) the Olympia, priced at $22 million Olympia; and d) the Chayka, priced at a relatively modest $18 million.
4. A collection of 700 automobiles, including  an Aurus limo, which cost $1.2 million:  a heavily armored, James Bond-style vehicle that is built to resist bomb and chemical attacks and is decked out with a plethora of state-of-the-art security features.

This man makes Donald Trump look like an ascetic in comparison.

Today’s statistics as of 10:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,806,155; # of deaths worldwide: 6,843,505; # of cases U.S.: 106,481,967; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,158,347.

Theodor Diener, in memoriam – A Wanderbirds picnic – Increased amount of travel – Trump’s proposal for government employee examinations – Evening statistics

I was saddened to learn of the death of Theodor Diener, the Swiss-American scientist who discovered “viroids,” the smallest known agents of plant disease (they are about 80 times smaller than a virus).  This discovery enabled the control of diseases in many important crop plants, to the great benefit of the global food supply.  But it was not as a scientist that I knew him, but as a hiker.  During his 90s he had lost his wife and, to obtain some solace for his loss, rejoined the Wanderbirds club, to which he had belonged several years previously, and cheerfully paced the trails despite his advanced age.  There is one hike in particular in which I remember him; it was on our Rachel Carson Trail/Northwest Branch Trail loop, where I met him at the point just after going over the bridge on Colesville Road from the mill to the Northwest Branch and turning to go upward.   He cut quite a gallant figure that afternoon; although age had slowed him down it could not stop him. 

The Wanderbirds held their first picnic hike of the year, at Patapsco.  It was rather a Tantalus-like experience for me, for I had had a medical procedure on the preceding Friday and had been warned by the physicians not to engage in over-strenuous exertion.  However, I was able to go for four other hikers there and back along the Ridge Trail for a round trip of four miles, savoring the piedmont scenery and the abundance of wildflowers; here, as in many other locations, the spring beauties were exceptionally plentiful and fresh-colored.  And afterwards, when everyone had returned from their hike, we gathered in the Avalon area of the park, with its extensive pavilions and easy access to restrooms.  It was sunny in the morning, but it clouded over during the afternoon and the air thereby felt cooler, even though the temperature was over 80 degrees.  And we feasted on appetizers and grilled meats and numerous vegetable dishes and a variety of desserts,   Hiking and eating and socializing:  a typical Wanderbirds celebration, in short.

Much of our conversation centered on trips we had taken or were planning to take, for after the confinement we had been forced to endure during the earlier months of the pandemic the amount of travel hasexpanded almost exponentially during the past year.  In particular, I conversed with members who had taken recent trips to exotic locations, such as Egypt and Cuba.   Both countries, it appears, are extremely hospitable towards tourists, since much of their national economies depends on them.  EF and MJ displayed their new camper, which they will be using in a few weeks to travel across the country, eventually arriving in San Diego, where they will be residing for the next two years.  Yes, matters have changed since the beginning of the pandemic; travel looms large in the future of almost every single member, and a casual eavesdropper who listened to our interchanges that afternoon might be pardoned for mistaking us for a group of nomads.

Donald Trump announced that if he were elected he would require federal employees take a civil service test and fire the workers who do not pass it.  The test would include topics such as command of due process rights, equal protection, free speech, religious liberty, and the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.  This is actually a surprisingly reasonable idea, coming as it does from such a source.  The only drawback is that if Trump himself were subjected to such a procedure he would flunk his own test.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,712,475; # of deaths worldwide: 6,842,781; # of cases U.S.: 106,474,559; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,158,254.  At this point there is a widespread impression that the number of deaths from COVID have decreased to such an extent that one has as much change as dying from a traffic accident as from COVID.  But that impression is false, despite the recent decline in COVID-related deaths.  In August, 2022, for example, the number of people who died in traffic accidents was about 3,850.  The number of people who died from COVID in the last week of August alone was 3,918. 

Strange stories about Putin – Biden’s bid for re-election – COVID precautions in decline, both home and abroad – Difficulties in collecting COVID data – Evening statistics

There are rumors that Putin is ill.  Some of these claim that he is actually dying, but it is impossible to tell one way or the other.  The Kremlin would not release such information even if it were true, and the Ukrainian sources naturally have a bias in the opposite direction.  If he is indeed dying and the state of his health became known, the campaign against Ukraine would be seriously undermined.  Perhaps North Korea itself offers fewer obstacles to reliable information about its national affairs than Russia.  There is some footage showing Putin visibly limping in Sevastopol at the ceremonies celebrating the ninth year of Crimea’s annexation.  But that, of course, may only be a temporary condition and in any case is not necessarily a sign of mortal illness.  Denmark’s military intelligence service believes that Putin probably does not have a terminal illness at all, although it claims to have information to the effect that Putin has been given hormone treatments for cancer in recent months.  He has good reason, other than health issues, for looking grim and concerned.  Russian economy has suffered greatly from the war, not least on account of the number of young men diverted from the work force:  about one million men have been drafted and an additional million have fled the country to avoid being drafted.

We are not in a position to cast stones at a nation whose leader may be too old or disabled to fulfill the functions of his office, for Biden has recently announced he has decided to run for a second term and will formally announce his re-election campaign “relatively soon.”  I can only hope that the Democrats will have the sense to nominate a different candidate.  He is not what might be called an inspiring figure.  Biden’s approval ratings are stuck in the low 40s, and  if elected he would be 86 by the end of a second term, nine years older than the average U.S. male life expectancy.  To be fair, his would-be competitor is a mere four years younger than he and in addition is currently besieged by numerous lawsuits that reflect on him disgrace rather than credit.  But even so, the Democrats would do well to show a little foresight and to stop clinging to so many of their antediluvian representatives in both the executive and legislative branches, whose age could almost be expressed in geological terms. 

What is the status of COVID amid these domestic and international furors?  Very far removed from the public radar at this point.  From both national and international localities I can cull only a few examples:

“I’m hoping it’s true that we are getting to more where COVID is like flu, is like RSV (respiratory syncytial virus),” said Dr. Leisha Nolen, an epidemiologist for Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services.  Utah is planning to stop reporting case counts next month, although other data will continue to be updated weekly. Abroad the indications are the most people are similarly inured to the presence of the disease.  Singapore recently saw an upsurge of nearly double the amount of COVID cases this past week, as compared to the week before, but “cases are mostly mild,” according to its Ministry of Health, and Singapore has no plans to reinstate the mandates it dropped in February.   India has also seen a substantial increase in COVID cases, but the mortality remains at 1.19%:  significant, but not worse than many other diseases that are now relegated to the “endemic” status. 

And of course the data being reported are undergoing continual revision.  Recently Florida removed more than 32,000 COVID cases from its reported tally, a decrease of about 17%.  No explanation was given for the decrease, but other metrics suggest that this modification is justified.  In March the number of COVID-related hospitalizations was 830 throughout the state, much lower that a total of nearly 3,000 reported in January.  The health officials of California’s Sonoma County reported that local COVID statistics are no longer reliable due to dramatic decreases in laboratory testing.  As of April 13^th there were 19 COVID-related hospitalizations in the country.  But local health officials have repeatedly pointed out that many of those cases are what is considered “incidental COVID-19,” where patients seeking care at a local hospital, for some other condition or procedure, also tested positive for the virus.

So with all of these caveats to be borne in mind, the daily statistics that I glean from various sources must be treated with caution.  Here they are nonetheless:  # of cases worldwide: 685,600,450; # of deaths worldwide: 6,842,351; # of cases U.S.: 106,464,679; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,158,158.  If COVID were to retain the death rate seen in the last week, it would be about twice as deadly as influenza in the U.S.  But this is much better than the rate it had when it first came out; in 2020 it claimed more than 16 times the number of people who succumbed to influenza.

At Manassas Gap – The Tennessee General Assembly remains unchanged – Flight of a Russian MP – Evening statistics

A brief entry today, for nothing much has happened either in the news or with regard to the pandemic.  I went with a few fellow-hikers on the Appalachian Trail from Manassas Gap to the shelter and beyond.  This area, although not quite as rich in wildflowers as Bull Run, still has a large variety, and it is much visited somewhat later in the season on account of the trillium, more numerous here than in any area in the country.  We actually found a few tentative blooms, although it is a bit early for them; normally they appear in late April and early May.  There were many other flowers in bloom, however, and, as in the Bull Run area, the spring beauties were exceptionally profuse and colorful. 

Afterwards we lunched at the Dark Horse Irish Pub, formerly known as the Griffin Tavern, which has a good deal of local fame, and deservedly so.  It was very warm today, but nonetheless we sat outside; even if it is somewhat warmer than usual for this time of year the humidity of the summer months has mercifully not set in yet.  We actually could do with a bit more rain; when I returned home I watered the plants in my garden, as they are somewhat worse for wear after a succession of dry days.

Justin Pearson is now reinstated in the Tennessee General Assembly, not much later than Justin Jones’ reinstatement.  Shelby County’s commissioners voted unanimously to restore him, just as Nashville’s city council representatives voted unanimously to restore Jones.  Politically the expulsion of these two men has accomplished nothing.

Sergei Zakharov, formerly a regional MP in Perm, a Russian city near the Urals mountain range, has fled to Germany after calling Putin a “petty dictator” who is ruining the country, particularly with his misguided policy of invading Ukraine.  He had served as MP for seven years and, until he publicly criticized Putin, was not expected to resign in the near future.  Zakharov actually spoke out against Putin before turning in his resignation and then, wisely remembering the fate that has overtaken Putin’s other critics, left the country before Putin had the opportunity to imprison him.  He acknowledged that even in Germany his life is at risk.  He would do well to avoid approaching windows too closely, especially those on higher stories. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,215,849; # of deaths worldwide: 6,839,471; # of cases U.S.: 106,402,060; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,157,346. 

On the Bull Run/Occoquan Trail – At the theatre again – My Fair Lady – A new Trump trial approaches – Reinstatement of Justin Jones – Evening statistics

I was unable to go with the Wanderbirds on the Bull Run/Occoquan Trail on Sunday, on account of a theater performance I saw in the evening.  It would have been impossible to meet with RK for dinner if I hiked all day and arrived at Vienna in the late afternoon.  I was sorry for this, since normally on this hike, which occurs annually, I take the option of hiking the trail in its entirety from Fountainhead to Bull Run Regional Park, about 18½ miles in all.  Happily, however, the Vigorous Hikers had set up a hike on the same trail today, beginning from the soccer field, going slightly over 10 miles to Bull Run Regional Park, and then returning to the soccer fields, so I cannot complain of getting short measure.

And what a hike it was!  One might have supposed that the goddess Flora presided over it.  The river banks were carpeted with bluebells, of course; that is normal for this time of year.  But there were many other varieties of flower as well:  bloodroot, bluets, rue anemone, cutleaf toothwort, white violets, blue violets, yellow violets.  I have never seen spring beauties in such profusion before, nor more vividly pink-and-white; they were every bit as magnificent as the bluebells.  And here and there a few spiderwort were blooming, and that is a flower that I never tire of contemplating:  the violet hue of its petals is so deeply saturated as to make the flowers that we call violets look almost grayish in comparison.  The day became warm but neither overly hot or humid, and the sky was clear, and in color somewhat deeper and more intense than the usual azure or cerulean that characterizes the clear spring days here. 

The performance that I saw on Sunday with RK was that of My Fair Lady at the National Theater, the second stage performance I’ve seen since the pandemic began.  The house was not very full.  I don’t know whether that was on account of that particular Sunday being Easter or the fact that it was the last performance to be held in the city (it ran in Washington only from the 6^th to the 9^th, after which it was moved to Broadway) or that fear of COVID is still discouraging people from live performances.  A combination of all three, in all probability.  There were notices stating the facemasks were “strongly encouraged”; even so, the majority of audience members were not wearing them.  The process of obtaining tickets was somewhat peculiar, at any rate to my old-fashioned notions:  instead of being given paper slips, as was the case of theater tickets in the past, I received a text on my cell phone that contained a link which, when opened, displayed QR codes onscreen that the ushers scanned in order to admit us to our seats.  I suppose that this method saves on expenses connected with printing tickets on colored paper, but what is done for theater patrons who do not possess cell phones?  There are a few such benighted beings left, even in the 21^st century.

It was extremely well mounted and staged, although RK and I were not altogether pleased with the performances of Madeline Powell (Eliza) and Jonathan Grunnert (Higgins).  Powell has a good singing voice and a fine presence, but she appeared to be laboring under a speech impediment (even when she was no longer speaking Cockney in the later scenes) that at times made it difficult to understand what she was saying or singing.  Grunnert was by no means deficient, but he lacked the sharp incisiveness that Rex Harrison had brought to the role when he originated it.  On the other hand, some of the other roles were delightfully rendered by John Adkinson (Pickering), Nathan Haltiwanger (Freddy), and Michael Hegarty (Doolittle).  The musical holds up remarkably well, nearly seventy years after its first appearance.  Every song in it is as brilliant as ever. 

The ending was left deliberately ambiguous as to whether Eliza actually returns to live with Higgins in his house, which pleased me.  In George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, the play on which the libretto is based, it is fairly broadly hinted in the final scene that Eliza will not pair off with Higgins but will live independently.  Shaw even went to the trouble of writing a prose epilogue in which he said explicitly that Eliza winds up marrying Freddy and eventually comes to run a successful florist and greengrocer shop after their marriage.  In 1913, when the play first appeared, the idea of a clever managing woman who molds her own destiny and that of others no doubt seemed more unusual than it does now (although the concept was far from unknown then).  By the 1950s plenty of women had entered the marketplace; there was no need for the reassurance, supplied by the original musical, that women have no further ambition than the marriage altar. 

Speaking of Shaw’s epilogue, the following excerpt explaining why the prospect of a subordinate existence possesses no charms for the strong-minded Eliza has a good deal of relevance to today’s political scene:

“Eliza has no use for the foolish romantic tradition that all women love to be mastered.  ’When you go to women,’ says Nietzsche, ‘take your whip with you.’  Sensible despots have never confined that precaution to women: they have taken their whips with them when they have dealt with men, and been slavishly idealized by the men over whom they have flourished the whip much more than women.”

I would not exactly describe Donald Trump as sensible, but a despot he incontestably is, and he has wielded the whip on numerous occasions, with no apparent resentment from the numerous associates and followers he has used and has afterwards flung aside. 

His perplexities are increasing.  After the first deposition he has been required to give last week he will be forced to deal with a second lawsuit on April 25^th:  the one instituted by E. Jean Carroll, accusing him both of rape and of defamation of character.  Louis Kaplan, the judge who will preside over the case, addressed the defendant:  “Mr. Trump, I hate to sound inquisitive, but would you kindly inform me whether you intend to be present at the trial?”  Well, he didn’t put it in precisely those terms, but that was gist of it.  If Trump were to attend the case physically, as he did for the deposition for the charges brought against him by Alvin Bragg, special security arrangements would have to be made – so Kaplan’s desire for clarification on that point is understandable.  The judge has also pledged that the jurors will remain anonymous, in order to safeguard them after attacks from Trump’s supporters:  a by no means unnecessary precaution, given that Trump’s calls for violence against Juan Merchan, the judge in the case at which he deposed last week, have led to death threats against the judge and against his family members as well.

Justin Jones has been reinstated in the Tennessee Assembly General, a mere three days after his expulsion.  The city council of Nashville voted unanimously to restore him.  Supporters are currently underway to reinstate Justin Pearson as well.  The Republicans who ousted him have gained nothing from their maneuverings, except the enmity of the capital of the state they purport to represent. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 685,082,227; # of deaths worldwide: 6,838,374; # of cases U.S.: 106,385,356; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,157,194. 

Hiking on the AT – A Passover dinner – In Central Park – Expulsions from the Tennessee General Assembly – Afternoon statistics

I spent the past few days visiting my relatives in New York.  The occasion was a dinner for Passover at my cousin’s residence, but several of us spent time together doing other activities as well.  I stayed with my cousin, who lives in the Bronx, and for that reason I drove instead of taking the train, as I generally do when I stay with my aunt in Manhattan.  Since my cousin lives fairly close to various trailheads along the Appalachian Trail, I stopped at one on Rte. 17A in Bellvale on Wednesday before heading to his place.  This had the advantage of providing a hike along the way and also of approaching the Bronx from the north, which is much easier than driving to it via the George Washington Bridge.

The hike was a frustrating one in many ways.  Several miles of it were bare rock, not jagged and broken as in the AT in Pennsylvania, but still very wearing in the long run.  The sky was dull and overcast, and it was very cool, almost chilly, and damp as well.  Even though I was less than 200 miles north of the forest area close to my residence, the season had advanced much less in New York; there were no leaves on the trees and no wildflowers in bloom anywhere.  But it did provide extensive views of Greenwood Lake, picturesquely framed by the village of the same name.  It is a seven-mile long lake that straddles the border between New York and New Jersey, the very same lake that is featured in several paintings by Jaspar Cropsey. 

On Thursday we gathered for the dinner itself.  We did not recite the seder.  The seder is recited by most Jews on the first day of Passover but less frequently on the second day.  There were no children among our gathering, and the seder is a very child-oriented ceremony; it lacks something if no children are present.  It was simply a quiet family gathering without any special holiday observance, at which we conversed about our recent activities in the manner that close friends and relatives do when they haven’t met for several months, and of course we feasted. My cousin has been a professional chef and he still teaches cooking classes, so we ate very well indeed.

Then on Friday some of us got together in Manhattan and went along the paths of Central Park for a few hours.  Central Park is, ordinarily, not one of my favorite parks.  There is a disproportionate amount of paved path to trees and meadows and it is surrounded by skyscrapers that cast their long shadows over the park for most hours of the day.  However, my cousin-in-law is very knowledgeable about the park and was able to lead us along several paths I had not seen before.  The odd weather of the past few months – the warmer-than-usual February followed by a succession of cold nights in March – had a surprising effect on the wildflowers, which we saw in great profusion and in many varieties not often seen simultaneously.  It was odd to see hellebore, bluebells, and rhododendron all in bloom at the same time.  This difference in seasonal phases between New York and Washington, incidentally, received dramatic confirmation on my return home, upon crossing the Susquehanna River.  Up to that point the tree branches were still bare, while on the south bank of the Susquehanna and beyond the leaves were already unfurling.

After our explorations of the park we stopped at the bar where one of my younger cousins works as a bartender and we ate a light dinner there; after the feast of the preceding day we did not want an elaborate meal that evening.  Finally we converged at my aunt’s apartment and again conversed together and spoke of possible plans for future get-togethers.

The drive home on Saturday was uneventful, but even though I was able to use cruise control for most of it I felt fairly drained by the end of it, as I generally do after long drives along interstate highways.  Even when the traffic is relatively light one must be constantly vigilant in case a driver ahead on the road does an unexpected maneuver, and at no point is it advisable to relax completely. 

As the reactions towards Trump’s indictment have more or less stabilized, another news item has given rise to widespread indignation among some and rapturous applause among others.  The Tennessee General Assembly voted to expel three of its members for participating in a protest against gun violence.  The protestors did nothing illegal – they did not, for instance, organize an assault upon nearest available Capitol building, as certain protestors did on a similar occasion.  It is true that the legislators violated House rules against encouraging demonstrations and bringing a bullhorn and posters to the state House floor.  Still, while legislators can be reprimanded, censured, fined, stripped of committee assignments, and expelled for a wide variety of conduct by their fellow-legislators, such a sanction has rarely been applied in the past.  The Assembly expelled Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, but did not expel Gloria Johnson.  Jones and Pearson are black, while Johnson is a white woman; and most onlookers are not sufficiently credulous to believe that this is mere coincidence.  It is not clear that the expulsion will have any long-term effect, other than to diminish the creditability of those who initiated it. The Metro Council of Nashville has already called a special meeting for tomorrow to fill Jones’ seat.  Nashville Mayor John Cooper said that he believes that the council will re-elect Jones without hesitation.  Similarly, Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery said Thursday night he plans to call a special meeting over Pearson’s expulsion, with the intention of restoring him to his position.

Since I will be out this evening and the hiatus in the journal is already long enough, I am posting this entry during the afternoon.  Today’s statistics as of 4:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 684,955,585; # of deaths worldwide: 6,837,710; # of cases U.S.: 106,363,748; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,156,898.  Although the rate of COVID infections and mortalities is declining we should not be entirely lulled; during the interval between this entry and the previous one nearly 145,000 Americans contracted the disease and over 1850 died from it.

Hikes in Sky Meadows, Cool Spring, and Lake Frederick – How social media has exacerbated rewriting of history – Finland and NATO – Donald Trump in New York – Evening statistics

More hiking, of course, over the weekend, at Sky Meadows on Saturday with LM and others, and at Cool Spring on Sunday with AD and RH leading the Wanderbirds hike.  Both of them had this peculiarity:  the weather at the beginning of the hike was rather cold and unpleasant, but as the morning wore on it became much dryer and more comfortable.  But that, of course, is not unusual for days in early spring.  The Sky Meadows hike was relatively brief, because we gathered after the hike to discuss our plans to traveling to the Lake District later in the month.  The Cool Spring hike was longer, nearly 12 miles, and part of it took place close to the bank of the Shenandoah River, where bluebells were in profuse bloom.  From there we went into the Rolling Ridge conservatory and took the Perimeter Trail that goes close to the ridgeline in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  There were numerous other flowers in bloom during this hike, especially spring beauties, which we saw i great numbers upon the return descent. 

And today I went with the Vigorous Hikers to Lake Frederick.  This trail is a perimeter around a lake created by a dam, and is eight miles in circumference.  We went around it twice, first going counter-clockwise and then, after lunch, going clockwise.  It is more challenging that it might appear at first.  Even though it does not ascend a great deal at once, there are several small ascents that total to about 900 feet in each direction.  The trail, in fact, is rarely completely flat anywhere.  Also in some places the trail surface slants towards the lake, so that one has to make an effort to keep one’s balance.  Since the temperature today went up to the 80s, it is unsurprising that the hike made me very thirsty:  my water bladder contains 100 ounces, which I had thoroughly drained by the end of the second loop, and I drank about a quart of lemonade once I returned home.  The trail is very scenic, with views of the lake everywhere and numerous birds flying about, including great blue herons and red-tailed hawks.  There were no bluebells on this hike, but spring beauties and violets were ubiquitous and some areas contained numerous bloodroot as well. 

I recently listened to a lecture about Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII.  I feel an interest in her not only for historical reasons but also because on a hiking tour in Wales I visited Pembroke Castle, where she lived as a child-bride and gave birth, at the age of 13, to the son who eventually became king of England.  The lecture was enlivened by an indignant discursion from the narrator about the attempts of various revisionists to pin the deaths of the Princes in the Tower on her, in defiance of all probability and a complete lack of evidence.  The lecturer’s indignation is of course thoroughly justified; the Richardians must be pretty desperate at this point to entertain such a theory.  The original proposition of this group that the perpetrator was Henry Tudor – despite a fourteen-year absence of the latter from England – is obviously unworkable even to the dullest comprehension.  But it goes to point up a more widespread issue, namely, the increasing amount of history being rewritten to suit the convenience of those doing the rewriting, often for no other purpose than that of entertainment.  This increase is one of the unintended consequences of social media, in which any theory, however baseless and absurd, can be posted online and in due time attract thousands of gullible subscribers. 

Finland is now a member of NATO, which means, among other things, that the border between Russia and NATO-member nations has doubled in length.  This development has ominous implications for the Russian military.  The weaknesses in the Russian army have been thoroughly exposed by Putin’s excursion into Ukraine, whereas the Finnish soldiers are not only substantial in number but well-trained and every bit as capable of enduring cold weather as Russian soldiers. Unlike most members of the European Union, Finland did not did not cut defense spending and investment after the Cold War.  It has a large reserve army and is investing heavily in new equipment, including dozens of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was in part motivated by an attempt to intimidate NATO and to discourage its expansion towards Russia; it appears to have had exactly the opposite effect of what he intended. 

And what would one of these journal entries be without a mention of Donald Trump?  Something a good deal more cheerful than it actually is, in all probability – but that’s beside the point.  Where was I?  Oh, yes; Trump has been arraigned today and it must in all fairness be said that his responses when he was formally charged with 34 counts of felony were delivered with commendable brevity.  He simply pled “Not guilty” to the charges.  When he was asked whether he understood that he was entitled to “conflict-free counsel” (Joe Tacopina, Trump’s attorney, cannot be allowed to represent him in this case on account of a conflict of interest), he said “Yes” and “Thank you”’;  when asked whether f he understood that the court could proceed without him if he were to “become disruptive,” Trump answered, “I do”; when asked if he understood that the judge could impose a sentence without him present, if needed, Trump answered, “Yes” – a total of eight words in all.  Both Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators congregated around the courthouse, but at no time did any sort of violence resembling the attempt on the Capitol erupt on this occasion – a circumstance that ordinarily would not give rise to comment at all, were it not for the fact that Trump had hinted earlier that if some sort of uproar along the lines of the January 6^th assault ensued, he would not take it amiss.  He has returned to Florida by now, and will no doubt speaking at much greater length than he permitted himself to do in the courtroom; but for now, at least, he has displayed an amount of restraint of which I never would have supposed him capable.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 684,181,115; # of deaths worldwide: 6,832,963; # of cases U.S.: 106,267,910; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,155,541.  The number of COVID-related deaths is slightly over 500 in the course of four days, a most welcome decline.