Author: betula54

The transitional phase of a pandemic – Visiting New York, then and now – An attempt to create a viable third political party – Why Americans feel let down by Republican and Democratic parties alike – The Winslow Homer exhibit – Evening statistics

Dr. Fauci has said that we are now in a “transitional” phase and that the full-blown pandemic phase is over.  This, of course, is not an official pronouncement.  I suspect that the CDC has no wish to say anything that would make people behave even more carelessly than they do now.  In my recent experience of public transit (of which more hereafter) hardly anyone wore a mask.  This fearlessness is dangerous.  The newer strains of COVID are certainly less virulent than the old ones, but the threat of long COVID is not to be regarded lightly.

Still, my recent visit to New York, which began on Wednesday and ended today, explains the rationale behind Dr. Fauci’s statement.  I had gone to celebrate my aunt’s birthday, and I cannot help contrasting the ease of this visit with the difficulties I encountered two years ago.

Two years ago I could not even travel to state of New York or indeed to most other states outside of Maryland and West Virginia.  My relatives and I had to content ourselves with setting up a video of each of us sending my aunt our best wishes – well enough in its way, but not the way one would wish to celebrate a 90^th birthday.  The past Wednesday, by way of contrast, I drove to Princeton Junction, took the New Jersey transit to Penn Station, and then took the subway to the Upper East Side neighborhood where my aunt lives.  During my visit I went with my aunt to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I dined with her in a few restaurants.  All of the rigorous enforcement that characterized my previous visit to New York City has completely disappeared.  Hardly anyone bothered to wear a mask either on the commuter train or the subway; while at the museum the guard at the entrance assured us that wearing a mask was, to use his expression, “optional.”  Occasionally waiters in restaurants will wear masks on their own account, but only occasionally.  And New York was formerly enforcing COVID-related restrictions much more thoroughly than the DC metro area.  Just as with my visits abroad, I ate in restaurants a great deal, to a much greater extent than I do while I’m at home.  And I confess that I do not wear masks in them, since I have to remove masks anyway for the purposes of eating and drinking.  All of which lends credence to Fauci’s contention that we have moved on to a different phase.

The visit was illuminating for another reason that has some bearing on recent events.  A new national political third party, known as Forward, has recently been formed by several dozens of former Republican and Democratic officials.  The initial chairs are former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey. Their hope is that the party will become a viable alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties that dominate US politics.  And we certainly need one.

Women in particular must feel totally abandoned by the Republican party.  I think that even the staunchest pro-lifer among them must be somewhat taken aback by the spate of laws that prohibit women who have been raped from obtaining an abortion unless they manage to do so within six weeks after conception – which is generally much too short a time to detect pregnancy at all.  The Republicans don’t seem to realize that they will eventually be fighting a losing battle with demographics:  the younger a voter is, the more likely he or she will favor a lenient abortion policy. 

Their eventual desuetude would be small loss, one might say, were it not for the fact that the Democrats are proving themselves equally insensitive and inept.  I happened to stop by in one of the shopping areas near Columbus Circle, and at one point I went to its restrooms, where the following notice was prominently displayed:

“Patrons are welcome to use any restroom that matches their gender identity or expression.”

In other words, a biological male can enter a women’s restroom simply by claiming to be transgender, regardless of whether such claims have the slightest validity.

It is simply naïve to believe that sexual predators will not take advantage of such opportunities.  While Republicans are making it as difficult as possible for women who have been raped to overcome the emotional trauma of such an experience, Democrats are striving to create a situation that diminishes their safety in public places and makes them more likely to get raped in the first place.  How can any American woman repose her confidence in either one or the other?

Something similar must be said about the economic policies of the two parties:  the Republicans favor laws that benefit modern robber-barons and the Democrats try to place as many people on welfare as possible, not excluding illegal immigrants.  In the meantime the concerns of the ordinary wage-earner whose income is continually diminished by taxation or by corporation greed fall by the wayside.  It is no wonder that the average white-collar or blue-collar worker has little liking for either.

In the words of Mike Taylor, a former Trump Homeland Security official who denounced Trump in a scathing op-ed article in October, 2020, “The fundamentals have changed.  When other third party movements have emerged in the past, it’s largely been inside a system where the American people aren’t asking for an alternative. The difference here is we are seeing a historic number of Americans saying they do want one.” 

On a more pleasant note, the visit that my aunt and I took to the museum was for the purpose of viewing a special exhibit on Winslow Homer.  Even now, it is startling to see how original an artist he is.  “We frankly confess that we detest his subjects,” Henry James once wrote at the time that the paintings were first seen in public, “he has chosen the least pictorial range of scenery and civilization; he has resolutely treated them as if they were pictorial . . . and, to reward his audacity, he has incontestably succeeded.”  Even if one feels that James has overstated the novelty of the subject matter, it still presents a contrast to the accepted notion of “artistic” subjects.  In his treatment of women, for instance:  Homer would on occasion show women at leisure, but only occasionally.  For the most part the women in his pictures are laborers – and engaged in fairly exhausting labor at that.  Many pictures from his earlier years deal with the Civil War, and he does not glorify either side.  One picture shows a sniper poised in the branches of a tree, and it is a frightening picture.  We don’t see any of his targets, his features are half-concealed by his weapon; but his stance as he steadily holds his rifle has the earnest intensity of someone embarking on a difficult task – the task set before him, of course, being that of killing any soldier from the opposing side who comes within range.  It frightened me, at any rate, because I could easily imagine myself, if I had been trained that way, approaching such an assignment in exactly the same spirit.  The sharpshooter, as he is called, is typical of figures in Homer’s paintings:  he is looking at something that we, the viewers, do not see.  Sailors look away from us towards the ocean; hunters glance about for potential targets; children gaze wistfully in the distance.  Homer prefers to suggest rather than to tell outright; this feature occurs continually and must have been consciously established. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  581,441,004; # of deaths worldwide: 6,418,666; # of cases U.S.: 93,068,141; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,055,039.

On Robertson Mountain and Stony Man – Trump and Pence back in Washington, but not side by side – COVID and the senators – Evening statistics

The temperatures have fallen in the aftermath of a storm yesterday.  I went with the Vigorous Hikers today to ascend Robertson Mountain and afterwards to go to the summit of Stony Man, which was quite cool.  The view from Robertson was completely enshrouded with mist, but from Stony Man it was only partially concealed, with various peaks projecting through wreaths of cloud cover. 

It not only was a good time to be in Shenandoah National Park today; it was a good time to be out of DC.  Trump has again polluted the city with his presence, swerving not a bit from his claims of the election being “stolen” from him; and, with his eyes narrowed to slits, huge open mouth, and fingers curling back into oddly tentative fists, resembling nothing as much as an enormously overgrown infant having a tantrum.  And Mike Pence was present as well, although no longer as a Trump ally.  But although Trump’s faction at one point threatened him with execution and although Trump continues to excoriate him with his typical freedom and candor, Pence still refuses to criticize Trump outright.  The closest he got to saying anything negative about the man whose adherents tried to kill him was:  “I don’t know that the President and I differ on issues, but we may differ on focus,”  On points such as, for example, whether presidents are able to win elections without resorting to manslaughter. 

COVID has been on the increase in the area, this time not sparing numerous politicians.  Biden himself tested positive for COVID last week and has been undergoing self-isolation.  Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tested positive earlier this month, forcing him to wrangle with Senator Joe Manchin from a distance about the latter’s refusal to endorse the Democrats’ social spending bill; and Manchin himself became infected this week, along with Senator Lisa Murkowski, while Senators Tom Carper and Tina Smith became infected the week before.  White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain addressed the issue of the rising incidence of COVID by sharing on Internet an op-ed penned for The Washington Post last week in which physician Leana Wen wrote that COVID “is a manageable disease for almost everyone, so long as they use the tools available to them” and that it’s “crucial to test as soon as someone develops symptoms, and if they’re positive, to isolate right away.” Except that isn’t an option for many people who do not have the luxury of working from home.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  576,757,179; # of deaths worldwide: 6,406,581; # of cases U.S.: 92,427,768; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,052,724.

Mainly hiking-related, although COVID does not fail to obtrude – Evening statistics

I have not written in the journal for several days, partly because I’ve been busy and partly, for reasons that will become evident, because I’ve been discouraged.

I was not inactive during this period.  On the 19^th I went on a there-and-back on the Tuscarora Trail in the Capon Springs region.  It went primarily along the ridgeline, with extensive views in places, and the amount of elevation gain was about 2500’ in all, which is not a great deal for the distance we covered.  The actual distance we covered became a matter of some debate.  EC, who organized the hike, said that it was between 17 and 18 miles total, and that indeed was the amount recorded on his GPS.  But the signs on the trail indicated that our total distance was over 10 miles each way.  It took us over nine hours to complete the hike, and I couldn’t believe that we were going less than 2 miles per hour. Afterwards I looked at the PATC book that describes the trail in detail, and the book agrees with the signs.  It is not clear what could have caused such a discrepancy.

EC has a somewhat pawkish sense of humor that on this occasion led to an amusing interchange during the second half of the hike.  I had gone ahead for a little distance, but at one point I paused to wait for the others.  EC came up, at which point the following dialogue ensued.

EC:  Why are you waiting here?

Me:  There’s a rattlesnake close to the left side of the path, so we need to tell everyone to veer slightly to the right.

EC:  Did you hear him?

Me:  I can see him.

EC:  But are you sure?  Did you actually hear him?  Rattlesnakes generally start rattling and making a lot of noise when people get too close to them.  [At this point the snake started coiling and uncoiling rapidly, with a great deal of hissing for emphasis.]

EC [brightly]:  Yeah.  Something like that.

I was not on the trails Wednesday and Thursday, but I spent some of the time working on maps for the August hikes for both CHC and Wanderbirds, as well as some preliminary planning for the hikes in the fourth quarter for each group.

On Friday (the 22^nd) I went with GS and RR to scout the Neabsco Creek/Leesylvania hike that we were to lead on the following day.  We were delighted with the hike, not only because the scenery provides a vivid contrast to the mountainside views that are more typical of our hikes – the vegetation along the Neabsco Creek in particular would not be out of place in Florida and the views of the Potomac from the main part of Leesylvania are stunning – but also because, in spite of the heat, the abundance of shade and the relatively low humidity made the hike quite comfortable.  It was slightly more humid on Saturday, when we actually led the hike, but it still was much less oppressive than a hike in the open sun would have been.  The hikers all expressed enthusiasm for the route after the hike was completed.

Nonetheless this hike was a major source of the discouragement I mentioned earlier.  We had only 18 hikers on the bus.  It could have been more, but we had nine cancelations that week.  I realize that the weather forecast was not encouraging, but the club has hiked under similar conditions in the past. 

It now has been three weeks since the Wanderbirds resumed bus hikes.  The first one, on July 10^th, had slightly over 30 hikers – not enough for the club not to lose money on the transaction, but at any rate a respectable amount.  The second hike had to be canceled because we had only seven signups by the end of the week.  The hike on Saturday also had a very low number of signups, but we had already contracted for the bus and were obliged to use it no matter how low the turnout might be.

The inroads of COVID have led to a two-and-a-half year hiatus in the usual pattern of the club activities.  I was prepared for something of an uphill process in order to restore our former setup, but the results to date are far worse than I expected.  In the past the club had over 200 members, of whom 30-40 were known as “regulars,” i.e., who generally appeared on the bus nearly every Sunday.  Many of these former regulars have not responded at all to the invitations to the bus hikes.  Then, too, as I’ve indicated in several entries, the club has done its best to keep going in some form or other by organizing trailhead hikes, in which people arrange their own transportation to meet at the trailhead.  And again, many of the hikers who attended these have shown no interest to date in any of the bus hikes. 

There are various reasons for this lack of response, of course.  Many people are on travel during the summer – and this summer in particular, since it is the first one after two previous summers in which travel was actively discouraged.  Then, too, the weather has been quite hot for the past ten days or so.  It was in the high 90s for the better part of this week and today the temperature reached 100 in some areas.

I have to qualify this assessment to some extent.  The newspapers lately have been full of dire warnings about the heat sweeping the nation.  It may be so in other parts of the country, but in this area we certainly have had nothing like the dismal season of 2020, with nineteen days in succession of temperatures over ninety degrees.  Mid-July is normally the hottest time of the year in DC and its environs, and the weather of the year to date is conforming to the usual pattern.  It actually has been better than usual this year, because it has been somewhat less humid.  And in the past the Wanderbirds club members have hiked in such weather without any difficulty, or at any rate have not found the difficulties of hiking in such weather insurmountable.  One cannot get away from the fact that for two-and-a-half years the club has had no new members and that many of the current members have been less active during that time, thereby finding it difficult to resume their former level of activity.   And yesterday morning, when I contemplated the large number of empty seats on the bus, I found myself wondering whether the club has aged beyond repair.

I am in a somewhat more cheerful frame of mind today, as a result of having scouted the hike for July 31^st with VH.  We hiked in the Skyland and Hawksbill areas of Shenandoah National Park, which are the park’s highest areas.  The elevation certainly makes a difference.  The temperature never rose above the low 80s where we hiked and the humidity was (by East Coast standards) also on the low side, which made for quite a comfortable hike, as well as a very scenic one.  The hike goes up to the summit of Hawksbill, the highest peak in the park, with its extensive vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Massanuttens, and even the Alleghenies; and it also skirts along the Little Stony Man viewpoint, looking over the Shenandoah Valley and the town of Luray, its houses and shops studding the forest floor.  The weather forecast for the following week calls for slightly more moderate temperatures; and I think that that circumstance, along with our stressing the much more comfortable conditions of the higher elevations at this time of year, will result in more signups for next Sunday.

My concerns about the Wanderbirds have, as I believe, a wider implication.  The COVID pandemic has cut across the activities of several clubs – not hiking clubs alone by any means, but clubs devoted to activities such as choir-singing, film viewing, restaurant dining, conversing together in foreign languages, museum touring:  to anything, in fact, that involves a large number of people getting together in close quarters.   Many such organizations are undergoing similar struggles to restore themselves.  Some of them will fail, and the national level of social life will be all the more impoverished as a result.  Numerous articles have been written about how COVID has led to an increase in domestic violence, closures of schools and universities, exacerbation of social inequities, strain on the health care systems of various nations, and so on.  Less emphasis has been laid on the inroads that the pandemic has made on leisure activities and the subsequent increase of isolation of people from their associates; and yet that may come to prove its most detrimental effect in the long run. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  575,022,722; # of deaths worldwide: 6,402,965; # of cases U.S.: 92,194,722; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,051,996.

Hiking in Shenandoah River State Park – Joyful return to Rappahannock Cellars – The Bannon trial begins – Fauci’s imminent retirement – Evening statistics

It was hot and sultry today, more typical of July than it’s been for the past two weeks.  Nonetheless several of us hiked in Shenandoah River State Park for 6-7 miles.  In the morning the temperature was not as oppressive and for the most part we stayed in the shade, sometimes even getting an occasional breeze from the river.  I actually felt more tired after this relatively brief hike on account of the heat than I did after the adventures of Saturday, which resulted in my hiking well over twice the distance.  And at that, it seems somewhat faint-hearted to complain about the heat, when at this juncture over 20% of Americans are enduring temperatures in the triple digits.  

And afterwards we went to a winery:  none other than Rappahannock Cellars, the same winery where LM, MM, and LH met for our first indoor social occasion together after the beginning of the pandemic.  Already it is nearly two years since that meeting!  Matters are certainly better now.  We are able to meet with people under covered roofs without thinking twice (at least, most of us are), to take journeys on public transit without trepidation, to travel on buses and trains and airplanes, even to take international trips.  Yet COVID is still casting a shadow on us.  Although the term “endemic” is repeatedly slung about, we simply are not at that stage yet.  The virus is still unpredictable:  new variants are continually emerging and, unlike variants of, for instance, influenza, we have no idea as to whether or not any new variant will prove to be as severe as the original virus.  Currently the BA 5 variant is accounting for the majority of the cases and its mortality rate is somewhat higher than its predecessors, although much less than the strains that prevailed a year ago or even last winter.  And a new variant of interest, BA 7, has been detected.  During the hike, LH remarked that a majority of people with whom she is acquainted have come down with the disease in one form or another.  I’m not certain that the same is true in my case, but certainly the proportion of those with whom I meet or correspond who have been infected is much higher than, say, a year ago.

At all events, we enjoyed ourselves as much as we had done that memorable occasion in July, 2020.  Rappahannock Cellars on this afternoon had more customers than it had had during the 2020 visit, but the staff was as pleasant and welcoming as ever, the wines were all of good quality, and the eight of us had the large area upstairs all to ourselves.  And there we sat for two hours, as we had done before, feasting on hummus and prosciutto and gorgonzola and nuts and bread and guacamole and various salty snacks and chocolate and babka and cake, all accompanied by the four bottles of wine (one red, one rosé, and two white) that we shared between us, as we conversed comfortably about past trips and plans for future ones and hiking excursions and simple gossip. 

As before, I felt in no great hurry to read the headlines after so enjoyable a meeting, but in the evening I scanned the Internet to find that there is no dearth of news of interest.  Steve Bannon will be on trial for two criminal charges concerning his failure to comply with the House’s January 6, 2021, investigation 10 months after receiving subpoenas.  Jury selection at the federal courthouse in Washington began today. Twenty-two potential jurors have been found, and the 12 that make up the jury and two alternates will be selected tomorrow.  Opening arguments will begin soon after.  No one knows how extensive Bannon’s defense will be, or whether he will want to take the stand in his own defense. He will not be able to force House members to testify.  Already his defense attorney David Schoen has complained, “What’s the point of going to trial here if there is no defense?”

If convicted, Bannon faces a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail and a fine ranging from $100 to $100,000 for each of the two contempt charges. The fines are negligible for a man of his worth (financial worth, not moral worth – which is a very different criterion), but jail time for this charlatan is a highly desirable outcome.  One year, of course, is grossly insufficient, but if he is found guilty in this instance it may pave the way for more substantial penalties later on, when other, more weighty charges are brought against him.

Anthony Fauci has announced his plans to retire by the end of Biden’s term in office.  In his own words:  “We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have COVID anymore,’ then I will be 105.  I think we’re going to be living with this.”  He has steered the nation well through an epidemiological crisis, enduring personal attacks of extraordinary virulence in the process.  Already he is 81 years old and I earnestly hope that he gets the opportunity to enjoy some years of quiet retirement.  He has earned them.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  568,155,306; # of deaths worldwide: 6,388,817; # of cases U.S.: 91,359,299; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,049,005.  I wish I could see how the U.S. is faring in comparison to other countries with respect to infection rate and mortality rate.  But for several days running the websites have no longer been publishing these for the U.S.  If my calculations are correct, we rank about 58^th among nations for infection rate and 15^th among the nations for mortality rate.  But these estimates probably need to be adjusted, because the latest population count I could obtain dates back to 2020.

A hiking adventure – Ivana Trump – Long COVID – Evening statistics

Outside of the two international trips, life has been fairly uneventful in these past several days – until yesterday, which abundantly made up for the recent lack of incident.

I was leading a hike with the Capital Hiking Club, which has a somewhat lower age level than that of Wanderbirds or the Vigorous Hikers.  It was a hike with much to recommend it, mainly along the Appalachian Trail between Big Meadows and Skyland, with a side trip to the summit of Hawksbill (it is rather puzzling that the AT does not go to Hawksbill directly, since it is the highest peak in Shenandoah National Park) and, for those who chose the longer hike, a second side trip to Miller’s Rock.  Although it was raining slightly on the way to the trailhead, the rain ceased for the day by the time we began our hike and the temperature was quite comfortable for mid-July.  Indeed the summer season up to this point has presented a welcome contrast to those of previous years, with very few days breaking the 90-degree mark and the nights for the most part cool enough to sleep comfortably with open windows.

We had problems, however, with a few first-time hikers who greatly over-estimated their capabilities.  Something of a warning sign occurred when, during the bus ride to the trailhead while I was describing the route, one hiker asked “What do we do if it starts raining?”  I certainly did not expect such a question but I promptly replied, “We keep on hiking.  There’s nothing else you can do.  I’ve hiked in the rain many times, and, as you see, I’m still on my feet.”  This response, if it did not cause my interlocutor to bask in the light of reason, at any rate reduced her to silence, which answered the purpose just as well. 

However, as the hike progressed, MM, who was sweeping the hikers, noticed that both the person who had questioned me about hiking in the rain and her companion were both having difficulties, slowing down after the first two miles to a pace of less than a mile per hour.  In addition, one of them was swaying from side to side as she walked.  MM was rather alarmed, since such a symptom could have indicated that the hiker was suffering some sort of stroke.  So he lost no time in steering them to the first possible point where they could access Skyline Drive, told them to wait there, and then ran to the bus to instruct the driver to pick them up (a distance of about 7 miles along Skyline Drive; MM is an excellent jogger). 

The hike, as I mentioned, included a side trip to Miller Rock for those who wished for a longer hike.  I had arrived at the bus a little before 2:30 but it was not until about 2:45 that another hiker arrived who wished to do this option.  2:45 was, as I thought, approaching the outside limit as to when people should attempt this side trip if they were to return to the bus by 3:30 – the distance of the round trip is about 2½ miles.  He and I, therefore, went off together and as a result I was not present when MM arrived.  Some other hikers had returned to the bus at this point, but MM explained the situation and they agreed to wait at the hike endpoint and to assure anyone else in the group who arrived while the bus was absent that it would be returning shortly.  After these arrangements were made, the driver drove the bus to the point where the disabled hikers were waiting so that they could board it.  By the time I and the other hiker had completed the side trip to Miller’s Rock, the bus had returned to the hike endpoint. 

But even after this issue was resolved, we were waiting for six other hikers after most of the group had completed the hike.  Eventually three of them appeared.  They told us that one of the remaining three was evidently dehydrated, pausing frequently and continually drinking water, and that the other two had stayed with him to guide him to the end.  We waited for half-an-hour longer, and then three of us, myself included, were dispatched to go back on the AT and try to meet them, carrying water and salt tablets to aid the dehydrated hiker.  (MM was hesitant at first to include me in this venture, since I had already hiked 12-13 miles.  But I thought it best to accompany the other two, since I was familiar with the route and knew of the best bailout points, which the others did not.)  We went more than two miles from our endpoint without encountering our truants, at which juncture I decided that we should stray from the bus no further.  I told one of them to remain on the trail to intercept the missing hikers if they showed up.  Then I and the other bushwhacked a short distance to Skyline Drive, where I told him to go back to the bus and explain that we were unsuccessful and that we needed to be picked up.  I had calculated how long it would take him to get back to the bus and how long the bus would take to drive to our location.  But we waited for much longer than that amount of time.  At last I bushwhacked back to the AT and told the other would-be rescuer that we needed to get back to the bus.  He had questioned every hiker who passed by on the trail, and the answers from all of the people he questioned said the same thing:  they had seen no sign of the hikers missing from our group.  There clearly was no point in waiting any longer.  So we bushwhacked back to Skyline Drive and then walked on the road back to the bus; fortunately the route along the road was shorter than it had been along the AT.  As we went back we wondered what could possibly have happened, where the missing hikers were at the moment, and why the bus had not arrived at our location.

What had happened was this:  the two hikers accompanying the dehydrated hiker had done a very sensible thing – they had gotten off at the first road that cut across the AT and made their way to Skyline Drive, where they had hitched a ride to get him back to the bus.  This occurred about twenty minutes after I and the other two had been sent to intercept them.  So MM rounded everyone up and had them board the bus, all set to pick up me and my companion.  But the bus was parked on a narrow strip of road surrounded by grass on all sides, and in its maneuvering to turn onto Skyline Drive one of its rear tires sank in the soft ground, rendering it nearly immobile. 

It appeared as if we would need the services of a towing company to pull the bus from its location.  A few members of our group had gone to the lodge at Skyland to try to obtain the services of such a company.  (There was no cell phone service anywhere in that area outside of the lodge, which aggravated our difficulties not a little.)  But a couple of people who were experienced in steering vehicles calculated that if the bus could manage to get its front wheels onto the strip of road again, it would be barely possible for it to return to its former position.  The area was full of trees that left hardly any room for the bus to maneuver, but there was a minimal amount of space in which the bus would shift its position by going back and forth numerous times, cutting the wheels at a sharp angle with each cycle.  Eventually, thanks to the skill of the driver and the sharp eyes of those providing steering directions, the bus was extricated and we were able to depart once all of the passengers were rounded up again.  I was not the least thankful of the group to be seated in the bus on its return journey, for I had in the course of my search for the missing hikers gone a considerable distance, both from the hike endpoint and back to the bus again, resulting in an additional four miles to the hike I had already led. 

The hikers in the group accepted these mishaps with good humor and no one was lost or even seriously injured.  So it all ended well, but it was rather a relief when we were able to leave the park.

In turning to the news, I find that Ivana Trump, the first wife of our ex-President, is dead.  I would not find this cause for much comment, were it not for one circumstance:  she is probably the only person, living or dead, who ever got the better of Donald Trump in financial negotiations.  When she divorced her husband after the disclosure of his entanglement with Marla Maples, she demanded, and received, one of the largest settlements on record.  She brushed aside Donald’s plea that his businesses were on the verge of bankruptcy, doubtless aware that that was their normal condition.  She must have possessed some unusual personal qualities; for strange to say, Donald Trump, who is so quick to be roused to anger and so retentive in holding grudges, appears to have borne her no resentment for having acquired a disproportionately large amount of his wealth.  The two were on civil terms with one another after the divorce was finalized; and he even hosted her costly wedding to her fourth husband, while his sister, who is a federal judge, officiated.  She appears, also, to have been an attentive parent, solicitous for her children’s welfare, and in her business dealings she displayed none of the chicanery that characterized the murky financial history of her ex-husband.  Perhaps the effect of her passing is best summed up by one anonymous Internet commentator:  “RIP, the wrong one died.”

As the pandemic continues we are finding out more about “long COVID,” as it is called, and the data are not encouraging.  Nearly a quarter of those who test positive eventually come down with symptoms that last 12 weeks or longer.  The most troubling of these is fatigue – but extreme fatigue that makes the simplest of exertions, such as brewing a cup of coffee or walking from one end of the room to the other, a source of exhaustion.  Researchers have found a correlation between long COVID and obesity; and that is troublesome as well, for the U.S. obesity rate was up to 41.9% in March 2020.

Worse still, it is possible to come down with long COVID despite not getting a positive COVID test result.  The data are scanty and few detailed studies on the subject have been completed, although there are numerous personal accounts by people who have been disabled for months with COVID-like symptoms despite consistently negative COVID test results.  These, of course, are anecdotal and since COVID is still a fairly new disease, it will take some time for firm data on this issue to materialize.  A few physicians are starting to track patients with long COVID symptoms, whether or not they have tested positive for the disease.  For example, Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, a rehabilitation and physical medicine doctor who leads University Health’s Post-COVID Recovery program in San Antonio, said about 12% of the patients she’s seen never had a positive COVID test.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  567,583,273; # of deaths worldwide: 6,387,495; # of cases U.S.: 91,265,296; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,048,834.

Vagaries of the WHO – “Revelations” of the Congressional investigative committee – Our deteriorating political process – An “unfortunate incident” in  Ohio – Evening statistics

The WHO seems determined to blacken its own reputation.  Yesterday it declared that “sex is not limited to male or female.”  It is currently working on new guidance that updates “’key concepts around gender,’ as well as expanding on the concept of intersectionality, which examines how ‘gender power dynamics’ interact with other hierarchies of privilege or disadvantage, leading to differing health outcomes among those individuals.”  The turgidity of the prose alone would be enough to inspire profound mistrust of any guidance the authors could provide; but even the least fastidious stylist must be astounded by an organization that exists for the purpose of monitoring international health declaring its determination to ignore some elementary facts of biology.  “Not being clear about basic biology opens the door to a range of problems, including very poor health communication but also distorted data,” said Jenny Gamble, a professor in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at Coventry University.  “The wording regarding there being more than male and female sexes is concerning,” Dr. Karleen Gribble, another expert in nursing and midwifery at Western Sydney University.  “The website says that the handbook is being updated in light of new scientific evidence and conceptual progress on gender, health and development.”  As she pointed out, of course no such evidence exists. “The idea that there are more than two sexes, is a postmodern, unscientific understanding.”

There are many stories emerging from the activities of the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol:  for instance, the meeting of December 18, 2020, during which outside advisers to Donald Trump screamed insults at presidential aides; a verbal agreement by Donald Trump to grant Sidney Powell a security clearance and to make her special counsel with oversight for seizing voting machines for the purpose of overturning the election; the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson  that Trump that knew some of his supporters at the Jan. 6^th rally were armed and that he desperately wanted to join them as they marched to the Capitol; and so on.  It may be wondered how it is, after I have fulminated at some length in this journal when the attack on the Capitol occurred, that I am paying so little attention to these disclosures now. 

The answer is that just as many people say that they are undergoing COVID fatigue, I myself have long been afflicted with “Trump fatigue.”  None of these stories have told me anything new, at least anything substantive.  From the first I have regarded the attack on the Capitol as an act of treason by Trump, and I see no reason now to alter that opinion.  And unfortunately, I do not see that we are one whit further in obtaining any sort of penalty for Trump after his seditious assault eighteen months ago (I say his assault with intention, for he is unquestionably the ringleader in the matter) and after his disruption of our national electoral process.  I realize that indicting a former president is not an undertaking to be done lightly.  But, after all, England in the 17^th century and France in the 18^th managed to indict a monarch or two, thereby ridding themselves from such encumbrances; so why are we unable to simulate such spirit and enterprise in the 21^st?

The damage that Trump has inflicted on our country’s political process is incalculable.  From this point onward, the results of any contest, national or state-wide or even county-wide, are easier to invalidate than they formerly were as a result of Trump’s response to the 2020 national election.  The losing candidate has merely to clog our judicial system with lawsuits and to marshal up some of his supporters to make violent demonstrations, just as Trump did, in order to intimidate officials tallying the votes and to nullify the results of the polls. 

Even the investigation led by Fani Willis in Fulton County, while it has issued subpoenas to many prominent Trump supporters, has not issued any to Trump himself.  The man seems untouched by the crimes he has committed, and no one, it appears, is willing to call him to account for them.  This Fulton County investigation, incidentally, appears to be the most likely avenue of any charges being directly leveled against Trump at all; the investigative committee in Washington is composed of legislators and has no direct judicial authority to indict him.

Themis, goddess of Justice, has shown herself to be hobbled, broken-gaited, and strabismic in yet another instance.  A ten-year old girl in Ohio who was twice raped by an adult male was forced to be transported to another state to have an abortion after this horrifying experience.  Ohio now forbids abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which usually occurs about six weeks into pregnancy.  Her mother had requested Franklin County, where the family resides, to obtain an abortion for her victimized child, only to be told that it was too late to do anything about it; hence the hasty journey to Indiana, where, for the moment, such operations are still permitted.  That sort of remedy may not be long available:  Indiana has scheduled a special legislative session later this month, during which its abortion restrictions may become every bit as restrictive as Ohio’s.  Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initially attempted to downplay the story, saying that it was a fabrication.  He abruptly changed his tune when Gershon Fuentes, the rapist, confessed to his crimes after being arrested and interrogated.  “My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child,” Yost tweeted.  Why do politicians believe that the “pain” they profess to suffer on behalf of those they have wronged amount to any sort of tangible compensation?  Yost and his judicial confederates are accomplices after the fact of this disgusting child molester, and no amount of exegesis can alter the situation.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 563,765,059; # of deaths worldwide: 6,378,844; # of cases U.S.: 90,855,685; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,047,495.

The first post-pandemic bus hike for Wanderbirds – A winery hike – The thrilling chase of Dusty Mobley – Lake Mead – Evening statistics

The Wanderbirds completed a bus hike yesterday, the first one some two-and-a-half years since the pandemic began.  We hiked in Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania.  In the past, we have generally hiked in this area during the first or second week of July, when the rhododendrons are in bloom.  They were somewhat less prolific this year than usual, but there were several in evidence nonetheless.  The various club members who attended the hike expressed great pleasure at seeing the bus hikes resumed.  Not every seat was taken, but it was reasonably full and there were several new members among the participants.  I lost no time in recruiting new hike leaders from this group, for we have had no new members join the club once the pandemic began, and our pool of potential leaders has greatly shrunk as a result.  After the hike we snacked and chatted as we waited beside the bus for the hikers to straggle in, and the result was something like the atmosphere of old times.

Today I went with LM and a few others on a winery hike, doing a loop from Ashby Gap that went south on the Appalachian Trail, then turned on the Old Appalachian Trail until it joined the AT again, and returned on the AT.  On both this hike and yesterday’s the weather was lovely, sunny and warm but not overly hot for this time of year and not especially humid.  Many wineberry and blackberry bushes line the trail in this area.  The blackberries are still ripening, but the wineberries are at their peak, and we eagerly sampled many along the way.  Afterwards we went to Delaplane Cellars, on Rte. 17 just a couple of miles away from the Sky Meadows entrance.  Like many of the Virginia wineries, it is in a wonderful physical location, perched on Lost Mountain and overlooking the Ashby Gap area.  As is usual on such hikes, we brought in various provisions for lunch and enjoyed ourselves eating outside, sipping wine (although I am not especially fond of rosé wines, theirs was quite good), and leisurely conversing on various matters, some political and some personal.  SW had been among the group with whom I went to Iceland.  She and her husband had stayed in that country for several additional days in the Westfjords region, and she shared many lovely photographs from her travels there.

Car chases occur frequently in movies and, happily, somewhat less frequently in real life; but the chase of the Okaloosa police after Dusty Mobley would have made quite a curious cinematic experience had it been captured on film.  The deputies had pursued him because earlier in the year he had stolen a boat and, when the police tried to arrest him, dove from the boat into a swamp, after which he eluded capture.  He certainly has a predilection for unorthodox methods of escape, but this time, when the police obtained information of his whereabouts, his methods met with less success.  Mobley made a somewhat unusual choice of getaway vehicle:  a lawn-mower.  Despite his valiant attempts to kick his John Deere mower into “high gear,” the chase ended in about 17 seconds, when deputies shot Mobley with stun guns.  When taken into custody Mobley had a revolver and a handcuff key in his possession, along with a pipe with methamphetamine residue.  He faces more than a dozen potential charges, including resisting an officer, obstructing police, possession of a weapon or ammo by a convicted felon, drug equipment possession, and grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Lake Mead is now 30% below capacity.  Its level has dropped 170 feet since reaching a high-water mark in 1983.  One episode illustrates how quickly the water is diminishing.  Craig Miller was motoring on his houseboat last month when the engine died and he floated to shore. Within days, the knee-deep water where his boat came to a rest was gone.  “It’s amazing how fast the water went down,” Miller said. “I was landlocked.”  Eventually he was rescued by a sympathetic social media personality< Dave Sparks, who saw a video about Miller’s plight, and showed up with a crew to pull the boat from the shore and to tow it to a marina.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 561,381,360; # of deaths worldwide: 6,374,297; # of cases U.S.: 90,479,793; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,046,196.

Hiking with CHC – Doggedly clinging to facemasks – Long COVID – Evening statistics

I went today with the Capital Hiking Club to go up to Mary’s Rock and from there to descend to the Hazel River Trail and eventually, by means of the Hannah Run Trail, to ascend to the Pinnacles Overlook.  It is one of the more strenuous hikes in the CHC repertoire, no so much in distance (the long and moderate hikes are 9½ and 8 miles respectively) as in elevation gain.  The ascent along Hannah Run to the Pinnacles in particular is long, rocky, and, in some places, very steep; and the total elevation gain for the long hike is nearly 3000 feet.

I always seem to have bad luck in scheduling hikes to Mary’s Rock.  The weather never seems to cooperate when I set one up.  It rained a good deal, especially during the morning, when we were ascending to Mary’s Rock, and the air was so laden with clouds that we could see nothing when we reached the overlook, which under better circumstances provides one of the best views in the entirety of Shenandoah National Park. 

Come to think of it, although it is not exactly the same thing, those who signed up for the hike in expectation of seeing one of the celebrated features of the park had a little reverse in fortune as well.

Not many braved the forebodings that the weather forecast naturally evoked, and something under a third of the seats of the bus were occupied.  But the hikers who did show up took all of the adverse conditions in stride, both figuratively and literally.  The average age level was fairly young and I believe that I was the only person over 60 among them.  However, I held my own.  I was the sweep for the long hikers on this occasion, and one of them, who had been on the long hike the previous week and who thus knew something of my capabilities, commented upon my “patience” in slowing my pace down to accommodate the less swift-moving members of this group. 

In one respect, perhaps, my age made a difference:  outside of the bus driver, I was the only one who wore a facemask during the bus rides to and from the trailheads.  I am more likely to be badly affected by COVID than persons twenty and thirty years younger.

 In case it may be thought I am obsessing in this matter, it may be observed that at this point one out of 13 Americans have reported symptoms of so-called “long COVID”:  i.e., symptoms not present prior to COVID-19 infection and lasting three or more months after first contracting the virus.  The symptoms can be severe, such as a decrease of oxygen capacity in the lungs that could preclude any possibility of vigorous exercise – which, for me at any rate, would be little short of a catastrophe.  So I prefer to minimize the risks of contracting it.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  560,185,538; # of deaths worldwide: 6,372,297; # of cases U.S.: 90,313,843; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,045,780.

Mainly related to the demise of Roe vs. Wade – A mysterious hiking death – Evening statistics

Biden has signed an executive order to try to protect access to abortion and has, moreover, condemned the Supreme Court decision of June 24^th in an impassioned speech.  I am bound to say that his fervor on this point is a great deal more rational than the emotional intensity he invested in transgenderism.  I can only hope that his advocacy for abortion rights will not be tainted by association with the latter.  That vigorous measures are required, there can be no doubt.  More than a dozen states now have strict limits or ban abortion entirely, and a dozen more states are poised to enact similar restrictions.  Soon women in half of the states in the country will be required to travel great distances to terminate a pregnancy, even if the pregnancy endangers her life or has come about as a consequence of rape. 

Incidentally, if religious laws are invoked in support of the new measures, it may be observed in passing that Jewish religious practice states explicitly that when a mother’s life is endangered by a pregnancy, the mother’s life takes precedence over that of the unborn child.  It will be a curious development, but by no means an impossible one, if some future court case ensues in which an Orthodox Jewish couple, denied an abortion when the mother is dangerously ill, becomes a plaintiff versus one of the states for violating their religious rights.

I have always felt a kind of grudging admiration for AOC, despite her extreme left-wing views, on account of her “don’t tread on me” attitude; and this sentiment has been reinforced by her comments upon an incident in which Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh abruptly quitted a DC steakhouse on Wednesday night amid pro-abortion protests outside – he having, of course, consistently been determined to overturn the Roe vs. Wade ruling ever since his nomination to the position four years ago.  “Poor guy.  He left before his soufflé because he decided half the country should risk death if they have an ectopic pregnancy within the wrong state lines,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s all very unfair to him. The least they could do is let him eat cake.”

Whatever may be said about the Republicans, at least they understand what their candidates’ stances are.  The same cannot be said of Democrats, at any rate those in Alabama.  In June, Yolanda Flowers defeated state Senator Malika Sanders-Fortier to lead the Democratic ticket.  She is now set to run against Governor Kay Ivey, who does not appear overly concerned.  After reading some of Flowers’ tweets, it is easy to see why.  (As an aside, how is it that Twitter has become a major political tool?)   “Roe v. Wade: Pro-life/Whole-life, what’s the difference? Pro-choice/Real-choice, what’s the difference? Our choice/God’s choice, what’s the difference? #Deuteronomy3019 #AlabamaHealth #VoteBlueIn2022 #Yolandaforgov”  The Biblical verse that she cites runs as follows:  ““I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” 

That’s right:  the Alabama Democrats, quite unwittingly, have nominated a determined anti-abortionist.  No matter who wins Alabama’s gubernatorial election, Alabaman women are out of luck. 

On a different note:  because I do so much hiking, reports of hiking accidents tend to arrest my attention – such as the one about Brad Utegaar, a 27-year old hiker whose body was found today in the White Sands desert of New Mexico.  White Sands has seen several fatalities, since its trails are subject to extreme temperatures and are completely devoid of shade and water.  But Utegaar’s backpack was well-equipped with both water and food.  There was no evidence of foul play.  The Alkali Flats Trail is only five miles in length.  It is, however, easy to go astray on the sand dunes; his body was found two miles from the trail itself.  It sounds like an episode similar to that of Geraldine Largay, the hiker on the portion of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Maine, when she went some yards from the trail to relieve herself and then was unable to find her way back to it.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 559,521,942; # of deaths worldwide: 6,371,118; # of cases U.S.: 90,233,460; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,045,609.

The resignation of Boris Johnson – The new variant – Facemasks falling into disuse – The upcoming return to bus hikes – Evening statistics

Boris Johnson has resigned.  It seems that the most appropriately named Chris Pincher had groped two men at a private club, but that Johnson chose to overlook such peccadilloes when appointing him as  both as a junior minister and a deputy party whip.  This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, apparently; the ensuing uproar was so frenetic that Johnson’s own party has been calling for his resignation. 

British politics has recently undergone several scandals of this nature.   Last month, Conservatives lost two special parliamentary elections that had been triggered by the resignation of a pair of Tory MPs, one of whom quit after admitting to watching porn in the Commons chambers, while another was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.  It makes one wonder whether the Tory party, which purports to uphold the fine old British traditions of yesteryear, might consider importing a few foreigners for breeding purposes.

Yet another new variant, BA.5, has emerged and is swiftly accounting for the majority of the newest cases:  about 53.6% of new cases nationwide for the weeklong period that ended Saturday.  Vaccinations and booster shots remain key factors in keeping hospitalizations relatively modest.  The anti-vaxxers are obtaining less credence at this point than formerly.  Nearly 77% of all Americans 18 years of age and older are fully vaccinated. 

As I noted earlier, people are becoming more and more careless about masking.  Face coverings continue to be recommended for public interior settings such as stores, restaurants, theaters, and family entertainment centers, but the mask mandates are largely forgotten.  As one epidemiologist friend expressed it, “CDC is a wussy.”  A few localities still require face coverings on public transit, but only a few.  From my own observation, many personnel in stores have abandoned face coverings, despite coming in contact with several strangers every day, while the majority of passengers on the Metro also n wear masks no longer.  And I live in an area that has been one of the less resistant to COVID-related restrictions of the past.  In the rural areas of Virginia that I have visited of late, no face coverings are to be seen.

My own level of resistance will be undergoing an interesting test during the next several months.  The Capital Hiking Club has resumed bus hikes on a regular basis, and Wanderbirds will begin to do the same as of this coming Sunday.  That means that I will be taking long bus trips (they generally run between one and two hours) at least once and perhaps twice every week, in close quarters with several dozen other people.  The bus company that provides services to both groups has a policy that all passengers wear facemasks.  But this policy is rather loosely enforced, as I found upon leading a hike this past Saturday.  The driver wore no mask herself and, although she made several safety announcements before the drive began, did not mention this facemask policy at all.  The only course I could take was to don a facemask myself and urge others to do the same, but I was in no position to enforce this policy on my own.  We shall see how matters shape up in this respect during the weeks to come.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 558,432,703; # of deaths worldwide: 6,368,768; # of cases U.S.: 90,064,306; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,045,078.  The rates of increase continue to be much lower than previously.  But we are still accounting for a disproportionate amount of new cases and of COVID-related deaths.  Today, for instance, Americans comprised 11.2% of the new COVID cases and for 20.0% of deaths globally.

Hiatus in journal entries – Overturning of Roe vs. Wade – Weekend hiking – The July 4^th festivities – The Fulton County investigation – COVID still to be reckoned with – Evening statistics

After my return from the trip to Iceland I was immediately engrossed in private and personal concerns, allowing me little time to follow the news – including making preparations for leading two hikes this past weekend.  In my defense, little appears to have changed during my absence.  The war in Ukraine continues to wreak havoc in Eastern Europe; Donald Trump’s violations of the law during the events that led up to the attack on the Capitol are repeatedly exposed, but never seem to lead to any sort of penalty being imposed on him; COVID continues to wane in severity but still falls short of the endemic phase because we cannot predict with any degree of certainty whether new variants will be more virulent than the current ones. 

One significant development, of course, occurred during my stay in Iceland.  I refer, of course, to the over-turning of Roe vs. Wade by the Supreme Court on June 24^th.  The effects of this development are too complicated to be summed up in a single entry or indeed in a series of entries.  For the present it may be sufficient to observe that the maternal mortality rate in the United States is one of the highest of those of all developed countries, and that the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will make this rate even higher, perhaps exponentially so.  Whatever the adherents of the so-called pro-life party might say, preservation of human life is not high on their list of priorities.

My weekend was very much filled up with leading a hike for the Capital Hiking Club on Saturday at Sugarloaf Mountain and a second hike for Wanderbirds at Elkwallow Wayside in Shenandoah National Park.  Both hikes went well.  The weather on Saturday was very sultry and it was not a surprise when, after polling the hikers before the moderate and long hikers diverged, that only four hikers wished to take the long hike.  But we stuck together and went at a brisk pace, and arrived at the bus before several of those taking the less strenuous hike returned. 

I had expected the hike on Sunday to be something of a fiasco.  Originally the scheduled hike had been designed as the first bus hike for the Wanderbirds.  But there was a delay in setting up the contract with the bus company and as a result we had no bus available that day.  I was forced to fall back on a round trip hike along the Appalachian Trail, which seemed to me an inadequate substitute.  But it went over quite well, and the weather in the higher elevations was blissfully cooler and far less humid than that of the day before.  Elkwallow Wayside is a very pleasant place to terminate a hike:  it contains many places for sitting in the shade, sheltered restrooms, and a store that sells various snacks and also some very good ice cream. 

Yesterday, as well, struck a note of cheerfulness:  it was the Fourth of July, and the celebrations this year presented a great contrast to those of the past two years.  In 2020 there were no celebrations at all.  In 2021, there was an attempt to set up the celebrations of previous years, but they were so half-hearted and so restricted that it would have been wiser to have left the matter alone.  But this year we had fireworks and a street fair and the traditional parade, with numerous floats and groups of celebrants representing various civic and professional organizations.  To my surprise, and that of many others, the governor made an appearance.  I do not know why he elected to come to Fairfax instead of remaining in Richmond for the Fourth of July festivities.  Fairfax, however, is – despite being an incorporated city, one that is independent of county government – is also the county seat of Fairfax County (an odd arrangement, but by no means unique in Virginia, which has more incorporated cities than any other state), and Fairfax County is the most populous county in the state.  That is the only explanation I could devise, but perhaps he may have other motives.  I do not pretend to understand him, but it must be admitted that Governor Youngkin has managed to steer clear of the extreme partisans of Donald Trump without openly defying the ex-President and thereby alienating his devotees.  I pay my respects to his shrewdness and powers of judgment, though I like him not.

A rather promising development occurred today:  various key figures of the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election have been subpoenaed by the investigation in Atlanta led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.  I had long believed this effort to be dead or at least moribund, but it has sprung to life at last.  The persons involved include Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, devisors of the plan to assemble alternate slates of electors, as well various other figures drunk upon the Kool-Aid with which Donald Trump so liberally supplies his followers, such as Lindsay Graham.  The investigation is following up claims, among other things, from election workers in Georgia who were threatened by Trump’s and Giuliani’s thugs – no, no (begging their pardon), officials.  “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” said Ruby Freeman, one of the election workers. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me.”

This is all to the good, and no one will be delighted than I if Willis succeeds in obtaining some jail time for these gentlemen.  But it still raises the issue:  when is some form of retribution going to overtake Donald Trump himself?  Time is running out; he is expected to make an announcement of running for President in the 2024 election within the next month or so, which would complicate any attempt to bring criminal charges against him.

Although COVID may appear to have taken a back seat amongst the various headlines of more recent months, it remains the third-leading cause of death in the United States, at any rate up to October, 2021.  Only heart disease and cancer exceeded it in mortality.  It should be borne in mind that both “heart disease” and “cancer” are somewhat vague terms that in fact each describe a multiplicity of different diseases, whereas COVID is a single disease.  At all events, COVID accounted for one of every eight deaths in the U.S. in the period between March, 2020 and October, 2021. 

Undoubtedly the lack of emphasis upon the disease has led people to become complacent.  I myself am guilty of this.  I am less meticulous about donning masks when entering stores than I have been in the past.  I still wear them continually whenever I use public transit, although I see many passengers who do not.  I do not use them in restaurants, because I would have to remove them in any case when I begin eating.  And I have been attending restaurants much more frequently in recent weeks than I have previously, chiefly on account of being on travel and thus unable to prepare my own food.  Stores, hotels, indoor malls, trains, buses, planes – in all of these facemasks are becoming the exception, not the norm.  This change is not limited to the U.S.  In Iceland facemasks are rarely worn at all.  It needs to be emphasized that COVID is still a threat.  The death toll may be declining, but it is still significant, and the long-term effects of the virus still remain to be gauged. Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  556,136,401; # of deaths worldwide: 6,364,008; # of cases U.S.: 89,663,336; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,043,694.  It’s been another long interval since I’ve tracked COVID statistics:  more than three weeks.  One encouraging factor that is steadily emerging:  the mortality rate continues to decline.  The U.S. aggregate mortality rate is 1.2%; today’s rate is 0.04%. 

I am now back from my second international trip of the year.  It was a good deal less stressful than the previous one, since I did not have to make any of the travel and accommodation arrangements on my own and also since the requirement for COVID testing upon returning to the U.S. has been lifted.  Indeed, although I brought a copy of my vaccination card, it turned out to be unnecessary; no one asked to look at it. Even though the test requirement was waived, I took a COVID test on my own during the last evening of my stay.  As with the Ireland/England trip, I had been eating in restaurants and coming in close contact with people in groups much more frequently than I have been doing at home during the pandemic and I wanted some reassurance that I had not picked up any contagion.  The results, happily, were negative.

Iceland as a whole seems quite confident about its ability to cope with the prevalence of COVID.  No one wears masks anywhere, even in the airport.  About 77% of the entire population is fully vaccinated and over 80% of all residents five years and older are fully vaccinated.  Its mortality rate at this point is less than 0.05%.  Hospitalizations have gone up slightly in the past two weeks, but the number is still fairly insignificant and none of the patients are in an ICU. 

Iceland is a prosperous country.  It was not always so; in the 19^th century it was one of the poorest regions in Europe.  But it has many natural advantages, including an abundance of renewable energy from hydro-power and geothermal-power.  To be sure, it is not rich in mineral wealth, and tourism, which after all is a very volatile source of income, accounts for more than 33% of its GDP.  But the roads are for most part excellent and the grocery stores, even the most rudimentary ones, are invariably well-stocked.  As is the case with so many island nations, it must import a substantial amount of its food.  One can dine very well in Iceland, but not economically.  Many young people from other nations attempt to find temporary employment in Iceland, where the wages are higher than they are in most other European countries. 

The architecture for the most part is uninspiring.  Houses and office buildings alike have a depressing box-like construction and they are frequently painted in bright but crude colors.  Reykjavik is a sufficiently pleasant city, but I did not see a single building in it that impressed me with its beauty of form.

The Icelanders are both courteous and efficient, but they are considerably more reserved than, for example, the Irish or even than the British.  They tend to look down upon loud behavior and in particular, despite their reputation for drinking heavily, upon any public displays of drunkenness.  All of which makes for very pleasant conditions when walking along the streets in the nation:  one is much less likely to be confronted by someone overcome with liquor or drugs than in any American city.  The Icelanders also appear to pamper their dogs much less than the Americans or the British do.  Only once were we accosted by a dog without a leash during eight days of hiking, and the owner lost no time in reining it in once she saw it approaching us.  

The landscape, as will appear when I describe the hikes in more detail, has a strange kind of spare, stark beauty, in sharp contrast to the luxurious profusion of the forests of the Eastern states in the U.S.  Even in suburban Fairfax I was struck upon my return by the leafy canopy along the residential streets.  Fireflies were flitting about during the evening of my return, which is a common sight in the area at this time of year; but they seemed quite exotic after my spending more than a week in an area that has few insects of any kind.  In many parts of the island the view is treeless as far as the eye can see; snow-capped mountains are visible from even the flattest and lowest areas of the country.  Many areas are barren, with hardly any grass or even any moss.  Some areas are densely covered with lupines, but outside of these not many flowers grow in the wild.  The area close the Keflavik, where the airport is located, for the most part consists of bare lava fields and some of the regions we penetrated during our hikes resembled a moonscape.  I would not care to live in such an environment but there is no question that the variety of rock formations and cliffs and shorelines make it a fascinating place to explore.

6/18 – Geldingadalir, 6 miles, 1200’ elevation

The flight was reasonably comfortable, although Icelandair is very much a no-frills airline, serving no food unless passengers elect to purchase it, and even dispensing with the customary demonstrations of safety equipment, presumably because the operators realize that no one pays any attention to them.

We drove to the hotel in rental vans.  I was the designated driver for one of these.  After we left our luggage at the hotel (it was far too early to check in), two of my passengers and I took a hike about 40 minutes from Keflavik in the vicinity of a volcano that erupted just one year ago.  Even the areas where the lava flow did not reach were devoid of vegetation.  Eventually we arrived at a plateau that provided a 360-degree view of the various ranges.  Steam emanated for portions of the lava field.  Parts of it were a pale yellow on account of the sulfur content.  It was very windy on the plateau – our first intimation of the gales that are a continual feature of the island’s climate.

Afterwards we went to Reykjavik, by far the largest city in the nation.  The city alone accounts for over a third of the country’s population, while the greater metropolitan area contains nearly 63%.  As may be imagined, that does not leave many people to inhabit other urban areas.  Akureyri, the largest community outside of the greater Reykjavik area, has a population of less than 20,000.  Despite its limited architectural interest, Reykjavik is a pleasing place to visit, being very clean (it is said to be one of the cleanest cities in the world), with an abundance of shops and restaurants both along the old harbor and around the Austurvöllur, a large park built around a public square that contains buildings of public interest, such as the Parliament House and the Dómkirkjan, the oldest church of the city.

6/19, Glymur, 5 miles, 1200’ elevation

Until recently Glymur had the reputation of being the highest waterfall in Iceland.  In 2007, however, another waterfall called Morsárfoss was discovered within a glacier and it is about 100 feet higher.  Nonetheless, it is a beautiful sight.  It is reached by traversing fields of lupines, threading one’s way through a cave, and then crossing a river to reach an immense canyon whose rocky walls are covered with moss.  It contains numerous colonies of fulmars.  These birds resemble gulls but are not, in fact, closely related and are actually a type of petrel.  They nest on cliffs and keep their eggs on shallow depressions on rock, sometimes lined with plant material.

As we came to the side of the canyon we went upward, continually pausing to view the waterfall at different points from its base to its summit.  On occasion chains were embedded in the rockface alongside the path to aid hikers in ascending.  On the whole, however, it was not unusually steep. 

After reaching the summit above the waterfall itself we descended back to the stream, which we had to cross a second time, this time using water shoes since the stream was wide and the water flow rapid.  It was not very deep in most places but it was cold and we made haste to complete the crossing as quickly as we could.  From there we descended along the south side of the canyon, with many views of the valley below. 

It was rather cloudy and damp that day and unfortunately the rainfall increased during the afternoon.  We had intended to do another hike in the Akranes area, but first we went to Akranes itself and soaked in the hot pool there just beside the beach.  The hot water felt very soothing after the hike; but, alas, the rain did not cease to fall and in the end we had to dispense with the other hike on which we had originally planned.

6/20, Seljalandsfoss/Skógafoss, 12 miles, 2000’ elevation

This time the weather was much more favorable, actually becoming sunny and relatively warm as we progressed.  We first stopped at Seljalandsfoss, which is a popular tourist attraction because it is possible to walk behind the waterfall as well as in front of it.  It was very crowded when we arrived, so we decided to go on to Skógafoss instead and return to Seljalandsfoss later, when the bus tours were less likely to stop.  This turned out to be a wise decision.  Skógafoss is also a popular spot, the waterfall being about the same height (they both have a drop of approximately 200 feet) but it is wider and more powerful.  Most people are content with taking the staircase to an observation post at the top so that they can view the waterfall from below.  However, this ascent is only the beginning of one of the most famous hiking paths in Iceland, the Fimmvörðuháls pass.  It is 22 kilometers (about 14 miles) long; we obviously did not have time to go there and back for the entire length of the trail, but we did go about 4½ in each direction, up to a bridge that crosses the stream onto an extensive plateau. 

Along the way are numerous waterfalls (about 25 in all), with far lower drops than Skógafoss itself but arguably even more scenic, many of them framed by the walls of the gorge of either side.  Many of them shimmered with rainbows.  We were pausing every few hundred feet to take photos.  After we reached the bridge, the descent was much quicker, since we already took photos of nearly every waterfall we had passed (although in some cases we stopped to take a few facing in the other direction).

From there we went to a swimming pool heated by a natural hot-water spring.  It was very enjoyable, although it would not have been possible to have such a pool in the U.S.:  the water was not chlorinated and the surface of the pool’s floor was covered with slime.  The Icelanders, however, are much less fussy in such matters than we are; and as we saw several of them enjoying the warm waters of the pool we imitated their example and found it very refreshing after the 9 miles we had done at the Fimmvörðuháls pass, along with the additional mile from the parking area to the pool itself.

After our swim we returned to Seljalandsfoss, which was indeed less crowded than before.  It is possible to walk behind it, since it falls in front of a cave.  Another waterfall, Gljúfrabúi, is located at about a ten-minute walk from Seljalandsfoss.  It is hidden by a cliff and a stream, the Gljúfurá, runs through a cleft in the cliff.  So one must wade a bit to reach it, but it is worth the effort; the waterfall tumbles in front of a great boulder, the sky opens up above, and a continual mist hovers about the pool at the base, reflecting the glints of sunlight.

6/21, Reykjadalur, 10 miles, 2000’ elevation

Reykjadalur contains the so-called “Hot River,” a stream in which geothermal heat makes it as warm as a hot bath.  It was quite cool and wet when we arrived, and since there was a bus-load of other hikers right at our heels, we decided to hike elsewhere until it became less crowded.  We went on one brief loop and then, when we returned, found it still crowded.  So we went on a second, longer loop – putative loop, I should say, for the trail proved to lead away from the point at which we wished to return, and in the end we were forced to backtrack.  The weather was steadily worsening and the trails were very muddy.  When we finally arrived back at the hot stream I said that it would be misery, after going into the warm water, to put our sodden clothes back on again and then continue over 2 miles back to the parking area.  The others agreed and so we passed by the bathing area for the purpose of returning as quickly as we could.  The wind increased in velocity, the rain lashed out continually, and all in all it was rather a relief to get back to the lodge at the parking area.  The lodge was a pleasant place to linger and to have a hot drink, but outside of that the hike was not enjoyable.  I took very few photos that day, for although we went through scenery that under other circumstances would have been impressive to look out, most of the time on this hike everything was shrouded in mist and fog.

6/22, Hengill, 9 miles, 2300’

This day was also cool and damp, but we did not encounter any heavy rain and on occasion the skies cleared.  Hengill is an active volcano, even though it has not erupted for 2000 years.  But lava is close to the surface, and at one point we came to a stream whose temperature was literally close to boiling, with steam continually hissing from gaps in the rockbed.  The geothermal heat is actually a significant source of energy, and the parking area at the trailhead is next door to a power plant built to harness the heat.  The trail does not appear to be much used. We were the only hikers on it for the entire day except at the very end, when we saw two hikers just beginning their hike from the parking area just as we were returning to it.  The hike supplied many dramatic views of the Reykjadalur valley, although the photos I took of it were somewhat disappointing – the grayish skies and low-hanging clouds made the view seem almost depressing, which in fact was not the case. 

Nonetheless I could have wished to spend more time in the area.  We had a hike of reasonable length and elevation but we had to ensure that we ended in good time because our group had made an arrangement to spend the evening at the Blue Lagoon.  And, in fact, we ended well before the time appointed, so we stopped at a bar along the way.  It was a comfortable place, with several games provided in the sitting area.  JK and MP played darts together, while I eventually got involved in a game of chess with one of the other customers.  I have played chess on the computer from time to time, but it is many years since I played a game with another person.  I won the game, so I was pleased to find that my proficiency had not fallen entirely into disuse. 

And what was it like, this far-famed Blue Lagoon?  Was it “one of the 25 wonders of the world,” as its website claims?  Truth to tell, no.  It is a large geothermal spa and the milky blue color of the water comes from the high amount of silica it contains.  Although it is called a lagoon, it is in fact man-made and the water is a byproduct from a nearby power plant.  The waters are said to have a beneficial effect on people afflicted with psoriasis.  Apart from that, it is difficult to see how it obtained its reputation.  The water is rather tepid in most areas; it was only by determinedly searching out the pumps that feed the hot water into the pool that I found water warm enough for my preference.  The spa provides a drink and a certain amount of silica-based facial cream as part of its package; at one point one can stand underneath a pleasingly hot waterfall and at another one can enter a sauna – but all in all, it seemed rather an overpriced method of obtaining a hot bath out of doors, particularly as we were staying at a hotel with a pool of its own in which the water was heated to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 

6/23, Black Sands Beach area, 9 miles, 600’ elevation

This day we did three little hikes, none of them strenuous, but all of them rewarding:

1. Dyrhólaey peninsula

This promenade offers a variety of views both of unique coastal rock formations and of colonies of wildlife.  We saw a few puffins at close range, as well as numerous fulmars and kittiwakes.  The walkway goes up to the lighthouse, at which point we can see many points of vantage to view the seashore below.

2. Reynisfjara Beach

This beach is the well-known black sand beach.  The sand grains are rather large.  In other parts of the beach the shoreline consists of small rocks, rounded and smoothed as if they had been polished.  We first walked to indentations in the rock wall to the south, one of them lined with hexagonal basalt columns.  We had to conclude this part of the walk quickly, for the tide was coming in, and it has swept people out to sea on numerous occasions.  Then we went all the way north to the base of the first overlook of Dyrhólaey before going back.  The beach skirted by a lagoon towards the far end, and many bird colonies were lodged in the rock wall on its far side.

3. Solheimajokull Glacier

Another there-and-back walk, going to the edge of a glacier, with its chiseled appearance and odd blue-green tints.  We could not go on the glacier itself, which requires special equipment (crampons, a helmet, and a harness) but we were able to get all the way to its surface where it reached the path.

6/24, Rainbow Mountains, 9½ miles, 2300’ elevation

Iceland certainly has no shortage of beautiful hikes.  Geldingadalir provided unique views of an area recently overflowing with lava; Glymur was characterized not only by the waterfall itself but the dramatic views of the canyon that enclosed it; Skógafoss and the waterfalls that dotted the Fimmvörðuháls pass were a perpetual delight; Hengill offered exciting vistas of mountain ranges and of a river heated to the point of steaming; the rock formations along Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara were like none others that I have ever seen.  Each of these would have justified taking an airplane trip across the ocean to experience.

But the hike in the Rainbow Mountains was by far the best of all.  There is nothing quite like it.  The mountain jut up from a flat area without any preliminary rise and many of the peaks are colored with green, orange, red, yellow, and black belts, owing to the different minerals in the soil and also the degree to which the surface has been heated by the geothermal activity below.  In many areas clouds of steam are perpetually emerging from large fissures.  Numerous little lakes of a peculiar glassy silvery blue color are nestled among the mountain roots.  Snowfields spread over the tops of the high plateaus.  In some parts of the trail appear almost golden on account of the reflected sunlight. 

Our hike first led us to the top of one peak, where we lingered to take in the 360-hike – not for very long, though, for the wind was very severe at this elevation.  We went down again and continued along to another, gentler ascent to a plateau.  At this point we had to turn from the main trail (which extends for miles from the campsite at the base) and take another trail, much less well-marked.  We went along several snowfields, frequently consulting GPS to find our way, since the trail markers were sparse in this area.  Eventually we descended along a “knife-edge” until we met with the trail to another peak.  We were not certain whether we could descend on the other side back to the camp or whether we would have to backtrack, but we took the risk and went up.  On the way I encountered two guides monitoring the trails and they confirmed, after I questioned them, that indeed we could get back to the campsite that way and indeed it was the quickest way to do so.  So we stopped at the summit to enjoy another 360-view and then went down. 

We were relatively fortunate in our weather.  It was quite cool and very windy at times, but there was no rain and from time to time we had clear skies. 

6/25, Móskarðshnjúkar/Thingvellir, 9 miles, 2600’ elevation

The last hike of the trip was also a wonderful hike, although it seemed slightly anti-climactic after the hike in the Rainbow Mountains – and indeed that hike can scarcely be surpassed.  But it was impressive all the same, steadily ascending to a ridgeline and then to a high peak, with many views of the lowlands, including birds-eye views of Reykjavik in the distance.  I had expected, from the description, that we would be doing a good deal of bushwhacking.  But the hike was quite straightforward.  We followed a well-defined trail all the way to the summit.  Then we descended down the other side to an old, disused road; there was no trail per se, but after going down a brief distance the road was clearly visible and it was not difficult to reach.  The road eventually led back to meet the main trail a short distance from the parking area.

When we came to the parking area it was empty and we assumed that the hike was not well-known.  However, when we returned over a dozen more cars were parked there.  We had merely gotten an earlier start than the others. 

This circuit was only five miles long, so we drove down the road briefly to Thingvellir National Park.  This park contains points of both scenic and historic interest.  It is one of the only places in the world where it is possible to walk through two tectonic plates.  The continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the region.  Going through the largest of these is like going through a canyon.

Historically, it was the site of the Althing, the open-air assembly first held in 930 that functioned as Iceland’s parliament.  Iceland did not have a king during the earliest period of its history.  The Althing did not have much in the way of executive power to enforce the laws, but it was the only institution that the country had to provide any kind of centralized government.  The assembly was a festival as well as a national gathering of lawmakers, where people exchanged news and gossip, and met up with old friends.  Women attended this festival as freely as the men, and sometimes marriages were arranged there. 

It is pleasant place to stroll about and a good way to wind down after a week of intense hiking.  It is much greener than the other parts of Iceland we had seen, with an abundance of grassy meadow and even some scattered groves of trees.  It contains a couple of waterfalls and there are paths that go along the shore of a lake, on which many large geese were swimming.  The day was clear and sunny and somewhat warmer than most of the days we had hiked earlier in the week.

We departed on the following day.  I can praise the Keflavik airport only circumspectly.  It is clearly not large enough for the amount of traffic it handles – rather like the Dublin airport in this respect.  The areas where the passengers waited before boarding, to be sure, had many interesting stores and restaurants and they were very clean.  All was well once passengers could seat themselves and the plane actually began moving.  The flight was smooth and arrived more or less on time, and the line at Customs was passed through with surprising speed.  There were no flaws of any note except in the boarding process; but there the deficiency was considerable.  Notifications of gate assignments for various flights were given just minutes before the boarding process itself, barely allowing passengers sufficient time to pass the security check of their passports.  The lines for the various airplane gates were not clearly demarcated and they are in close proximity with one another, so that it was easy to wait in a line only to find out, as one approaches the gate entrance, that one has been standing in a line for the wrong gate.  In addition, there was a delay in boarding, a delay in admitting us to the causeway to the airplane once the boarding process began, and another delay in allowing passengers to move from the causeway into the airplane itself.  Standing in a narrow enclosed elevated causeway with dozens of other people for several minutes on end while waiting to be admitted into an airplane whose doors are only a few feet distant is not the most pleasant way to begin a flight.

Steve Bannon in and out of court – COVID remains a pandemic – Heatwave in the Midwest and the West – Short-sightedness of the Democratic Party – Evening statistics

Yesterday Steve Bannon provided a media appearance in outside of a courtroom in Washington, in which he gave a long speech characterized by his usual intemperance of language, claiming that the MAGA movement will take over the US, gain “80 to a hundred” seats in the two chambers, and rule for a hundred years.  He made this performance after a three-hour hearing in which he attempted, in vain, to get the criminal contempt of Congress charges against him dismissed.  Bannon, it may be noted, has assets worth $11.8 million to $53.8 million, including some rental real estate which, however, comprises a relatively small amount of his holdings.  In Jane Austen’s words, “What a difference a vowel makes! – if his rents were but equal to his rants!”

COVID deaths have been declining over the past five weeks, but they are beginning to rise again, chiefly in Latin American and the Western Pacific.  The WHO said that coronavirus cases are still falling, with about 3.2 million new cases reported last week.  This number represents a decline in infections since the peak in January . Still, there are significant spikes of infection in some regions, with the Middle East and Southeast Asia reporting increases of 58% and 33%, respectively.  As always, the WHO has to cope with the issue of under-reporting, particularly now that many countries have reduced surveillance and testing.  Most of the countries in Europe and North America have dropped COVID-related restrictions, but China maintains its rigorous “no COVID” policy.  Residents in Beijing are still undergoing regular testing – in most cases every two days – and must wear masks and swipe a mobile phone app to enter public places and facilitate case tracing.

A heatwave in the Midwest has reached such extremes that about 107.5 million Americans, more than a third of the nation’s population, have been warned to stay inside.  Record temperatures for this day of of the year have been set in many parts of the West:  109 degrees in Las Vegas, 100 degrees in Denver, 100 degrees in Chicago as well.  In Phoenix the temperature has reached 110 degrees for four consecutive days, never dropping below 80 degrees at night.  Already the seasonal wildfires are beginning.  About 300 people were evacuated in close to Los Angeles as wildfires sparked over the weekend swept a mountainous area to its north-east. Blazes throughout the dry region covered more than 990 acres.

I have been critical of the Republican Party for its unwillingness to shake off the throes of Donald Trump, but I must not fail to remark that the Democratic Party’s aversion to change is not one whit less intense than that of its rival party.  Numerous Democratic Senators have publicly declared that they will support Biden in his efforts to campaign for a second term – this, despite the fact that, were he to win the next national election, he would be 82 years old on Inauguration Day of 2025.  Are they really so destitute of talent as to be unable to supply an abler and more vigorous candidate?  He is not popular at this juncture.  Rising gas prices have greatly impacted our population’s mobility, mortgage rates are now the highest they have been for 35 years, and more families are complaining that they are just barely able to live from paycheck to paycheck.  In all likelihood the Democrats will pay a huge penalty for their association with him during the oncoming midterm elections; the projections at this point are for a substantial Republican increase in both the House and the Senate.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  543,002,179; # of deaths worldwide: 6,337,848; # of cases U.S.: 87,836,012; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,037,885.  Our death toll is still relatively high.  COVID has claimed about 0.3% of the U.S. population since March, 2020.

The Platinum Jubilee – The House committee hearings – COVID in North Korea – The CDC lifts COVID testing for travelers – Evening statistics

As a result of the trip and its aftermath, with preparations for a second trip hurriedly following, not to mention the task of working out the hiking schedules for two different hiking clubs, I have had little opportunity for delving very deeply into the headlines.  But now I have a few moments to resurface and to experience the pleasure of being up-to-date again – rather a dubious pleasure, it seems to me.

However, not to shirk my responsibilities –

I was not entirely untouched by the news during my stay in the UK.  I was there, of course, during the week of the Platinum Jubilee.  Queen Elizabeth II is now officially the second-longest reigning monarch in history, being exceeded in this respect only by Louis XIV, who became King of France at the age of four.  Her mobility is limited now and her direct participation in the festivities was somewhat curtailed in consequence; but this amazing woman still acts as a rallying point for the British and, at 96, held a reception for pensioners and gave a speech on Accession Day renewing her commitment to a lifetime of public service, just as she had done in 1947.  At the party I attended in the UK, the other attendees were curious to hear what sort of reputation she had in the United States, and I had great satisfaction in assuring them that she was well-regarded there.  We could have used a figure like her in our own national arena during the past two years, battered as we have been both the pandemic and the upheavals in the White House. 

Speaking of the latter, today is the second day of the greatly-heralded hearings of the House committee investigating the attempted government overthrow January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, in which the following points were established:

 It cannot be said that any of these disclosures came as a surprise.  They have been fairly apparent since – oh, ever since January 6, 2021, I suppose.  The question is whether the findings of the investigating committee will have any tangible consequences.  Will Trump ever be indicted for his offenses?  Will he ever be held accountable in any way for his manifold trespasses, and even crimes?   At this point he has gone for such a long time without undergoing the slightest penalty for his flagrant violations of the law or of any wavering in his overwrought groupies, who currently seem to be in control of an entire political party, that I have lost any hope of seeing him brought to justice. 

1. Donald Trump knew his claims of a fraudulent election were not true and made them anyway, despite several staff members warning him that they had no basis in reality
2. Trump’s staff was decided into two groups:  a “Team Normal” that was well-aware that the election was over and that it was time to pack up, and a “Team Giuliani” that deliberately fostered Trump’s paranoia and advocated baseless claims of election fraud
3. Millions of dollars were sent to a non-existent “Election Defense Fund”

COVID is raging throughout North Korea, although, as always, statistics are impossible to obtain.  The government admitted that 4.5 million (about 17% of its population) have been infected, but claims that only 72 have died, or a fatality rate of 0.002%  – which is, to put it mildly, improbable.  The American mortality rate from COVID, for instance, is about 1.2% cumulatively.  Most North Koreans who live in mountainous areas (and it is a very mountainous country) can’t even reach provincial hospitals because of poor roads and transport. They are most likely ailing, and possibly dying, in isolation.  Almost all of the medicine in the country is imported from China and the last two years of border closures have choked off this supply. 

I have mentioned that the CDC has at last lifted its requirement for travelers to the U.S. to receive a COVID test before entering the country.  “The COVID-19 pandemic has now shifted to a new phase,” officials said in a news release on Friday, citing “highly effective” vaccines and “high rates of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity” among Americans.  About 78% of Americans have been vaccinated and it seems that at least 58% of Americans have been infected at least once.  Indeed, I can’t see any pressing reason for such a requirement at this stage.  I am admittedly somewhat biased, having traveled recently to Ireland and the UK, and planning to travel again within a few days.  But if the test requirement was enforced with the idea of keeping the virus out of the country, it has manifestly failed:  the number of official COVID cases is well over a quarter of the population and it seems that the CDC has estimated the infection rate as considerably higher.  Nor did it make much sense to impose this requirement on those entering the country by legitimate means, while ignoring the numerous hordes of people crossing our borders illegally.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  540,859,662; # of deaths worldwide: 6,332,125; # of cases U.S.: 87,362,317; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,035,903.  It has been nearly a month since I tracked COVID statistics.  In that time less than 11,000 deaths have occurred in the U.S. during that time, a far lower number than comparable intervals in the past year.

Ireland/England Trip

It’s nearly a month since I’ve made an entry, and although I have written down travel notes (as I usually do on any long journey) I will have to give a shortened version here:  the trip was so long and so eventful that a complete account would run to a volume.

It was a stressful trip.  The hikes in Ireland took us through some lovely scenery; the society of my hiking companions was an invariable source of pleasure; it was delightful to connect with my friends in England after a hiatus of three years.  But I could not enjoy it as much as I would have done under ordinary circumstances, for three reasons.

First, the company that organized our trip thoroughly mismanaged the arrangements.  I cannot understand it.  I have taken two other trips with this organization previously, and everything ran like clockwork.  But in this instance almost every aspect of the trip was bungled.  No documentation was sent, and it would have decidedly useful; for the Kerry Way, though well-marked, frequently presents a choice of alternate routes.  We had no guidance whenever this happened, and had to blunder our way as best we could.  Occasionally we had to rely on taxi services to transport us after the hike from the endpoint to our accommodations, and these were a nightmare:  it took repeated exchanges of Emails to obtain such fundamental details as the time of pickup and the place we were to meet.  Even in small details there were troublesome omissions:  for instance, we never received any labels for the luggage that was to be transported from one location to another, and I do not envy the transport employees who were forced to examine each piece of luggage to locate its label when the labels had no standard size or placement.

Then, too, the Kerry Way is rather a mixed blessing for hikers.  It traverses, as I said, beautiful scenery, with lofty ridgelines, broad green valleys, clear blue lakes, and dramatic coastlines.  But over a third of it consists of road-walking, and in addition it is poorly maintained, going through many boggy areas with no drainage or water runoffs.  In several areas the trail is visibly eroding, as a result of people tramping through the mud that oozes several inches deep.  Even in Wales, where (as will be seen) I did a little additional hiking and where the terrain and soil are similar, it was much better maintained and it almost came as a shock to be treading on firm ground again instead of on slippery mud and stone.

Finally, the COVID test that I was required to take at the end of the trip cast a long shadow over the entirety of my stay.  Initially I had hoped that I would be able to find a place to take the test in Shropshire, where I was staying with my friends.  But there weren’t any; the British test centers for the most part shut down in April after the UK lifted its requirement for testing to cross its borders.  In the end I had to take the test at Heathrow, which meant that instead of being able to go to London the day before the flight and enjoy a few hours touring the city, I had to book a hotel in the vicinity of Heathrow in order to take the test there.  (Heathrow is quite a distance from London, and traveling back and forth from one to the other multiple times would have taken several hours.)   On top of that, I developed a cold that was characterized by a persistent cough and nasal congestion – not a surprising consequence, one would say, of hiking several days in wind and rain, but one whose symptoms could obviously have another interpretation.  The account of those friends of mine who had toured the Lake District and afterwards were forced to stay three additional days in quarantine continually recurred to me, and I was all but certain that I would be enduring the same fate.

To proceed to a day-by-day account, including the hikes I did:

May 17/18, Washington to Shannon

A wretched flight, two hours late in departing – which was, indeed, the case, for many of the flights at the airport:  I was sufficiently curious to look at the list of departing flights, and over half of them were delayed, most of them significantly so.  Landing in Shannon, I took the bus to Limerick and then to Killarney, where I was much relieved to arrive at the B&B booked for us – and I will say, at the onset, that the accommodations throughout the trip were excellent.  So, too, was the dinner at a place nearby.  Killarney is a considered a small town, but it has many attractions and, as I was to discover later, is delightful to walk through.

May 19, Killarney to Black Valley, 14 miles, 2000’ elevation

This first hike was a good one to start with, leading alongside a bay, then around a 19^th-century mansion (Muckross House), then ascending up to a waterfall and from there to a ridgeline.  That was the big climb of the hike; afterwards the ups and downs were gentle, circling around a lake and eventually leading to a road that led to our B&B for the night.  The landlady was obviously apprehensive about COVID, wearing a facemask throughout the duration of our stay and taking some care to keep distant from us.  I don’t suppose it can be very enjoyable being forced to have a stream of strangers in one’s house on a daily basis in the midst of a pandemic. 

There were eight of us in all, and we separated into subgroups.  Four members of our groups going together got lost – thanks to the lack of documentation that I remarked upon earlier, as they came to a place that had a choice of routes and they took the wrong one.  In the end they had to take a taxi to arrive at the B&B.

May 20, Black Valley to Glencar, 18 miles (not counting a few detours), 2000’ elevation

This was a frustrating hike in many ways.  It rained in the morning, not heavily, but in sufficient quantities to make the rocks on the ascent to the first ridgeline and the descent afterwards very slippery and to transform much of the path into a quagmire.  The hike had much to offer:  green valleys, dense forest alternating with broad meadows, swift-running streams.  Later on the weather cleared and the ascent up the second ridgeline, although longer and steeper, was less arduous. 

After coming down we had a choice of routes, one described as the cross-country route and the other as a roadwalk.  MG and I, who were hiking together, naturally chose the cross-country route.  This was a mistake (which could easily have been avoided if we had received the appropriate documentation).  The first half-mile of it was a misery, nothing but boulders and mud and puddles.  In drier conditions it would have been tolerable, but as it was, we were longing for it to be over.  The remainder went over some road walking and a rather long fire road, eventually leading us to an impressive stone bridge, where the accommodation for six of us was located (the other two stayed at a different one, not far from the point where the choice of routes occurred). 

The landlady was a very charming person, albeit somewhat subdued in manner.  I afterwards learned, by accident, that she had recently lost her husband.  How difficult it must be to maintain a B&B or any sort of private inn at times!  This unfortunate woman had no time to mourn in private.  But she did not give a hint of any emotional upheaval and she treated her guests with quietly attentive service throughout the duration of our stay.  It was a lovely place, and possessed, among its other attractions, a beautiful sitting room where we had a view of the dark waters of the Meelagh River flowing under the moss-covered bridge.

May 21, Glencar to Glenbeigh, 5 miles, 1000’ elevation

It should be noted that those of us at staying at Blackstones (the B&B close to the stone bridge) had hiked a miles past Glencar itself, which is why this hike was so short.  It was wonderful nonetheless, taking us first along a road (with, thankfully, little traffic) up to a trail that went up to a ridgeline called Windy Gap.  As we looked back, we had magnificent vistas of the valley, ringed with mountains, that we had just quitted; after reaching the summit, we had equally imposing views of the bay area with the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Dingle peninsula to the north.  The houses of Glenbeigh were clustered along the flatter portion of the meadow stretching to the shore.  From here we descended to Glenbeigh, where we met with the other two members of our group for lunch. 

Glenbeigh itself is rather a pretty little village with several restaurants and a couple of stores.  Several wedding parties were being held when we arrived (it was a Saturday), with people quite elaboratedly attired.  Since we had several hours to wait before the taxi to our next accommodation arrived, we strolled about, eventually going to the shore of the bay and then back to the main street.

May 22, Glenbeigh to Cahirsiveen, 15, 2000’ elevation

We cut off the first three miles of the route, which consists entirely of road walking – walking on a road that services a fair amount of traffic – by taking a taxi on our own initiative.  The first part of the hike was spectacular as we ascended Drung Hill, which climbs steadily to a ridgeline that overlooks the broad Ferta valley and numerous cliffs that drop down to the sea.  The wind blew steadily as we gained in elevation, but it was the type of wind that invigorates rather than disheartens – for me, at any rate:  I felt an energetic spring in my gait as I went forward.  We passed a group of Ukrainians, who were being hosted by a few of the local residents.  One of those hosts appeared taken aback by rapidity of our pace, as ET and I skirted around them, and he called out towards “Don’t kill yourselves now!”; to which ET replied airily, “Try telling that to Josh!”  I could not help it; the combination of the increasingly dramatic vistas, of the wind blowing about us, and the steadiness of the ascent that gradually exposed views of sea and cliff and meadow and streams, so that I felt as if I were floating upwards – these all acted upon me like an intoxicant and it was impossible for me to traverse it sedately.

The remainder of the hike was something of an anti-climax.  Most of it was on fairly level ground, much of it muddy.  There were a few good views here and there of the valleys between the mountains, but less imposing than what we had seen earlier.  Cahirsiveen, however, was a surprise:  it was considerably larger than I expected and possesses several attractions, some of which I explored the following day. 

May 23, Cahersiveen, 16 miles, 1000’

Officially this day was a “0” day, which no specific hike designated.  But the weather was too splendid for us to remain inside all day, and, besides, there was much in the area to see.  Cahirsiveen, among other things, is the birthplace of Daniel O’Connell, the liberator of Ireland, the determined opponent of slavery in every shape or form, the adherent of non-violence whose policies helped shape those of both Gandhi and Martin Luther King. 

TK, CC, MG, and I had bypassed a mile or so of the Kerry Way towards the end of the previous hike, going into the town by a more direct route; so I went along the portion on which we had missed out, and it featured one or two notable viewpoints.  Then I went along the Daniel O’Connell Heritage Trail, which included his birthplace, a very mournful-looking old abbey and graveyard where several of his relatives and associates are buried, the memorial church built in his honor, and the old army barracks.  The church looks like a Gothic church, but is in fact a Victorian imitation and was not fully completed until 1902.  Then I went to a summit outside the town called “The Top of the Hill,” a magnificent 360-degree view of the town itself, the marina, Valentia River, Valentia Island, the Dingle peninsula jutting into the ocean, and the Blasket Islands to its west.   Finally I went to two old stone forts – not military outposts, but strongholds built by landowners in times when law enforcement was barely known and most people had to fend for themselves.  One of them dated back to 600 A.D. and the other to 1000 A.D.  They are entirely circular and built of flat portions of slate that fit together with astonishing precision.  The interiors were wide enough to sustain several dwellings, the remains of which could be clearly seen.  I had anticipated a rather dull day, so all of this activity and variety were a delightful surprise. 

May 24, Cahersiveen to Waterville, 12 miles, 2000’ elevation

Initially the hike was estimated to be 19 miles, but again we took a taxi to eliminate a portion of road-walking (a step, as it turns out, recommended by the documentation), five miles of which we had already done on the May 22^nd hike.  The first portion was quite challenging, consisting of a series of ascents and descents, all of them steep and most of them extremely muddy.  Eventually we obtained the top of a ridge, where we had many panoramic views – including, interestingly, several wind turbines that did not jar with the natural beauty but actually accentuated it.  At one point we reached a choice of routes, one that continued along the ridgeline and one that dropped down into the valley.  This time ET, MG, and I, who were together, made the correct choice, continuing along the ridgeline and eventually making our way to our accommodation, which was about a mile outside of Waterville itself.  Along this ridge there were many lovely views of the lake below and of Waterville itself nestled along the narrow isthmus that separates Lough Currane from the bay opening out to the Atlantic. 

Waterville itself is a well-known golf resort and, consequently, has many restaurants, some of them quite elaborate.  We splurged that evening, selecting one about a mile from our B&B; and our hosts obligingly drove us to its doors.

May 25, Waterville to Caherdaniel, 11 miles, 1200’

Again we were split up into a group of six and a group of two for the night; the group of six all walked together.

I started this hike without enthusiasm.  The first mile was along a major traffic artery without shoulders, followed by another roadwalk through the town and then outside to the south; the sky was gray and overcast; the wind blew persistently and mistily.  Waterville is sufficiently pleasant, but nothing more.  As we passed by the golf course it was rather amusing to see golfers swinging at balls in the midst of a high wind.  Most of the views were obscured by mist. 

Who would have guessed that this unpromising beginning would lead to one of the most splendid moments of the trip?  We went over a ridgeline and down again, crossed that same traffic artery on which we had hiked for the first mile, and went down to a junction where we had a choice of routes, one that led over more ridgelines and one that went along the coast.  But we were prepared for this, having been notified beforehand, and took the coastal route.  The weather began to clear as we descended to the beach, and soon we were passing through a succession of little bays and inlets, low cliffs covered with foliage and with flowering purple rhododendron in particular.  This plant is regarded as an invasion species in both Ireland and the U.K., but it was magnificent to behold nonetheless. 

Afterwards we stopped at Derrynane House, the ancestral home of Daniel O’Connell.  We did not tour the house itself, but stopped to treat ourselves to ice cream at its food store and afterwards to tour its extensive gardens.  Then we went to our accommodation, which involved a fair amount of road walking.  But the B&B featured by largest bedrooms by far we had slept in, and our hosts were delightful people and obliging as well, driving us to the local pub in Caherdaniel (a village with a single street) and picking us up, and driving us to the trailhead the following morning.

May 26, Caherdaniel to Sneem, 10½ miles, 1400’ elevation

Again, I was not looking forward to this hike.  The wind was beating against the windows, and the air was misty and wet.  Our B&B, however, was at a somewhat higher elevation than the our starting point, where it was much less windy and the moisture for the most part consisted of drizzle – quite tolerable on the whole.  Still, there was nothing much to see:  only the vaguest of outlines were discernable through the mist, which never lifted during the entirety of the hike.

“It is a queer little Cornish village, very picturesque – too picturesque, perhaps.  There is rather too much of the atmosphere of ‘Ye Old Cornish Tea House’ about it.  It has shops of bob-headed girls in smocks doing hand-illuminated mottoes on parchment.  It is pretty and it is quaint, but it is very self-consciously so.”

Substitute “irish” for “Cornish” in this description by Agatha Christie of the Cornish village of Mousehole,  and you will have a fairly accurate description of Sneem.  It is pretty and it is quaint, but very self-consciously so.  Sneem is a popular tourist destination, with several busloads of foreign visitors duly unloaded to stay there for a few hours (we encountered one of Norwegians when we stopped there to snack to fill in the interval between our arrival at our destination and the check-in hour for the B&B), so its self-conscious picturesqueness has considerable economic motivation. 

May 27, Sneem to Kenmare, 22 miles, 2500’

Only MG and I did the entire hike; the others took a taxi to cut off the first five miles.  This portion was pleasant walking, but nothing out of the ordinary. 

There followed one of the best sections of the Kerry Way and one of the worst.  MG and I eventually crossed the Blackwater Bridge, at which point the trail went down to the bank of the Kenmare River (which actually is more of a bay than a river), with a stunning panoramic view of sparking blue waters and the Beara peninsula to the south.  As it happened, we arrived just after 11:30 and we had completed (as we thought) about half of the hike, so it seemed the perfect spot for lunch.  

This turned out to be a fortunate choice.  Afterwards the trail left the shoreline and went through what the guidebook describes as a dense woodland but which is much used for timber and is filled with fallen trees; then it went along service roads and eventually along a major traffic artery. 

And here our lack of documentation hampered us in an infuriating fashion.  Our maps indicated that we had to continue along this traffic artery for about a mile.  But the signs for the Kerry Way indicated that we should deviate off of it onto a series of secondary roads.  It turns out that the route indicated by the signs adds more than 2 miles and 500 feet to the hike, which already had been estimated at 20 miles.  But MG and I were unaware of this (as was everyone else in our group); we had to choose between the map and the signage.  In our ignorance, we went with the latter, which took us first up and then down winding asphalt roads past a series of suburban houses, a most tedious diversion.  

Afterwards the two routes converged and we were on track again.  But the trail went up and down two hills, and it was thoroughly sodden on both of them, and on the second one in particular.  It was maddening to see the town of Kenmare just below us while being forced to go at a snail’s pace along a seemingly endless series of marshes and quagmires studded with wet rocks.  Going up on these hills was not too bad, but the descents were a torment.

Kenmare is a lively, prepossessing town and all of us wished that we had had time to explore it a bit – which would have been possible if we had known in advance about the shorter route.  As it was, the arrangement was for us to be taxied back to Killarney and to be driven to the start point of the hike for the next day, so that we would not have to pack and unpack for the last day of hiking.

May 28, Killarney to Dublin

TK, CC, MB, and I elected to bow out of the last day of hiking, which repeated nearly 10 miles of what we had covered on the first day.

I had intended to ascend Torc Mountain, but at one point I realized that I was too constrained by time.  I strolled about the town for a while, then took the train to Dublin, staying overnight at a hotel near the airport.  I would have done better to take the ferry, as my British friends advised; had I done so, I could have stayed in Dublin itself and spent a few hours sightseeing.

May 29, Dublin to Bangor, plus walking tour of Bangor, 7 miles, 500’ elevation

Another dismal flight.  Ordinarily it takes 45 minutes to fly from Dublin to Manchester, but this flight took twice as long.  It took more than an hour to check in and go through security.  Factor in the train ride that I took the preceding day from Dublin to the airport, and it will be seen that the 4½-hour ferry from Dublin to Holyhead would have amounted to the same time in travel, and much pleasanter, to say nothing of being closer to my destination.  The train ride from Manchester to Bangor is three hours, whereas from Holyhead it would have been only ½ hour.

Bangor is an attractive university town.  I had a good walk through the town, going through the center to the pier, and up the Coastal Path to the summit above the university.  After savoring the birds-eye view of the town and the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Anglesey, I gradually descended through the university grounds and skirted by the cathedral.

May 30, Bangor to Twywn

My British friends live in Shropshire but have a second home in Twywn.  I took a bus to meet them in Dolgellau, met up with them, toured the town (not a time-consuming enterprise, since its population is well under 3,000), drove to Machynlleth, where we had lunch, and toured that town as well.  Machynlleth is connected with Owain Glyndwr, the Welsh prince who rebelled against the English during the reign of King Henry IV and who was crowned in the town’s Parliament House (one of the three medieval buildings in town that still survive).  We also stopped along the way at the beach town of Aberystwyth, which resembles Cape May, NJ in some ways:  the house architecture is somewhat more elaborate than those of the neighboring areas and the exteriors have similarly bright pastel colors.  After we arrived at their place in Tywyn I did little, being tired by so much traveling during the preceding two days.

May 31, Talyllyn Railway Trails, 16 miles, 400’ elevation

My friends had various household tasks to pursue and, having recovered my energy after a day’s rest, I took their suggestion of hiking along a network of trails in the vicinity of the Talyllyn Railway, a narrow gauge preserved railway about 7¼ miles long.  My friends accompanied me first to the main church, St. Cadfan’s, which contains the Cadfan Stone.  It is a stone cross whose inscriptions are possibly the oldest known examples of writing in Welsh.  Afterwards they pursued their errands and began hiking.

The railway itself, originally designed to carry slate from quarries to Tywyn, is now a tourist attraction.  The trails are not challenging but very enjoyable, with numerous view of hills, rivers, small towns, fields, and the railway that weaves in and out of the valley.  One of the loops led, by means of a brief detour, to the grave of Mary Jones, a well-known figure in the Welsh Methodist church.  I ended by going through Tywyn’s main street and the promenade.  Tywyn does not possess the somewhat more showy attractions of Aberystwyth; but it was built up by a 19^th-century industrialist, John Corbett, as a beach resort to rival Torquay and its promenade in particular offers striking views of the coastline.

June 1, Happy Valley and back, 4 miles, 600’ elevation

We were to leave for Shrewsbury that day, but because my hosts had much to do in closing up the house for some time, I occupied myself by going up through the Happy Valley up to a saddle from which I had splendid views of the descent on the other side to the shoreline below.

After I returned the house was boarded up and we went to Shrewsbury.  English country roads are narrower than ours, sometimes with insufficient room to accommodate cars traveling in two directions.  It’s like driving on a road with continual one-way thoroughfare, equipped with occasional bulges where cars can wait to allow those coming in the opposite direction to pass by before proceeding.  We ate dinner and then went to a performance by a local theater group of various sketches by Alan Ayckbourn.  They were very slight, but rather amusing.  What was notable about this evening is not the playlets themselves but the fact that this is the first performance of any kind I’ve attended since November, seeing and hearing Handel’s Messiah in Alexandria.  I have not overcome my reluctance, brought on by the pandemic, to enter an enclosed room full of people for two or three hours on end.

June 2, Hereford

This visit consisted of city walking, about 11 miles in all, chiefly to visit the amazing cathedral, as well as the Black and White Museum.  The cathedral, whose construction began in the late 11^th century, is one of the outstanding Norman churches of England.  It is also home to the Mappa Mundi, a medieval map of the world created about 1300, the largest medieval map known to still exist, and the chained library, in which books (most of them handwritten on vellum, long before movable type came into use) are resting upright and are equipped with chains attached to their frames for the purpose of pulling off the shelf.  The Black and White Museum is a preserved house of the family of fairly prosperous butchers during the English Civil War, providing insightful glimpses into the lifestyle of middle-class families during the 17^th century.  The town center is vivid and colorful, consisting of numerous pedestrian walkways, most of them cobbled, and several examples of medieval architecture.  Further away from the center is an extensive park along the Wye River, where I saw an abundance of waterfowl, including several swans.

June 3, Shrewsbury

This day was devoted to relaxation, chatting and strolling with my hosts, and afterwards visiting some friends of theirs for the late afternoon.  We were expecting to attend an afternoon tea, but we were provided with so much food as to make dinner unnecessary.  Again, this was notable for being one of the few indoor parties I’ve attended since the pandemic began.

June 4, Shrewsbury to London

Back to sober reality!  I have made no reference to the pandemic during my account of the trip, but it did not fail to obtrude on this enterprise.  No COVID test was available in Shrewsbury.  I left in the late morning to take the trains (Shrewsbury to Birmingham, Birmingham to Euston Station in London, Paddington Station to Heathrow), arriving at about 4:30 to register for a COVID test.  The registration process was difficult; the form is not easy to fill out via cell phone and I had to enter nearly every piece of information twice over before the application would accept it.  The test process itself was rapid and seamless.  It was completed in a matter of minutes and I received the results a couple of hours later.  There was one advantage to this enforced COVID test:  it was relief to know that, after taking so many journeys on trains and buses in which hardly anyone wore masks and after dining at more restaurants in the past two-and-a-half weeks than I had done in the two years since the pandemic began, I had not come down with the disease.  That sounds unduly fearful and even old-maidish when written down; but the effect of the pandemic has been to transform many of us into hypochondriacs.

After testing I took a bus to the hotel.  I was exhausted by that time and had little inclination to dine out.  My friends had packed some sandwiches for me before I left, and these sufficed for dinner.

June 5, London to Washington

In contrast to my departing flight, the return home could not have been better.  Boarding, for a wonder, began precisely at the time advertised; whereas the usual procedure is to delay boarding until about ten minutes before the scheduled departure and then hastily cram the passengers on board in an effort to make up for lost time.  The flight departed on time.  I was assigned a middle seat, but three of the people in the row were a family that wanted to sit together and they asked if I would mind taking the aisle seat instead.  Needless to say, I accepted with alacrity.  We landed a few minutes early.  The line for Customs was long, but it moved surprisingly quickly, and I got through just as the luggage had been transported from the plane and was appearing the in baggage claim area.  The taxi ride encountered little traffic, for we were traveling on a Sunday.  In short, it was as close to perfect as I’ve ever experienced on any airplane journey.

Among the choice of movies to watch on the plane was one entitled “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” purporting to be an account of the rise, fall, and redemption of Tammy Faye Bakker.  It was quite a jolt to learn that she had redeemed herself in the least trifling particular.  As far as I can discern, she and her husband have no regret for their defalcations, other than that of being found out; and after their much-publicized repentance are devoting their activities to bilking their followers of as much of their money as they can lay their hands on.

How good it felt to be home, after an absence of nearly three weeks!  Everything – trees, roads, houses, office buildings – appeared so much larger, after being in Ireland and England for 19 days.   It was warm and sunny, the first truly warm day I had experienced ever since I left the country.  I still was recovering from my cold, and now at last I had an opportunity to let it bake out.  I am committed to leave for Iceland later this week, but the auspices for this trip are somewhat more promising.  All of the arrangements have been made in advance and we will be staying in a single set of cabins, rather than moving from one accommodation to another night after night.  Best of all, we received news that the COVID test for returning to the U.S. has been waived, as of June 12^th. 

Returning to bus hikes – Complications of international travel – North Korea – Evening statistics

There were various administrative matters to deal with on the part of both the Capital Hiking and the Wanderbirds Clubs.  CHC is losing three Board members, including the President, who is taking a well –deserved rest after serving in the position for years and successfully steering the club through the vagaries of the conditions imposed by the pandemic.  CHC resumed bus hikes on April 23^rd, but we need to ensure that hike leaders will be recruited for hikes scheduled for the third quarter.  Hike leader recruitment has always been an issue with CHC, but the two-year hiatus exacerbates the problem. 

Wanderbirds will be resuming bus hikes at the beginning of July, and in this case as well the process of hike leader recruitment must be conducted energetically.  Wanderbirds has the advantage of a rather larger number of members who have regularly led hikes in the past and have continued to lead even during the pandemic.  But the summer season has traditionally been the most difficult time of the year for finding a sufficient number of hike leaders, both on account of the hot weather and of the fact that many people are traveling during those months.  On the other hand, members have long been wishing for the resumption of bus hikes, with the camaraderie that they have fostered and the fact that the use of a bus means that it is not necessary to drive for an hour or more after hiking eight or ten or twelve miles, so there is hope that leaders are willing to be available.  

My first international trip since the pandemic began is rapidly approaching, and it is a source of mixed emotions.  It will be wonderful to be able to travel abroad again and I am eagerly looking forward to hiking on the Kerry Way, but I am a bit concerned about the return.  LM, who managed to get back after testing positive and being quarantined for days in England, said that the experience was “a real pain,” and I see no reason to disbelieve him.  Travel industry representatives have been continually requesting the Biden administration to lift the COVID test requirement for returning to the country, but so far the administration has not them any encouragement that this requirement will end.  International travel by Americans is at this point 15% lower than it had been at pre-pandemic levels.  Many are deterred from fear of undergoing an experience like that of my friends, who after touring the magnificent scenery of the Lake District were forced to sit in a hotel all day long for days on end, making a frustrating termination to what otherwise would have been a thoroughly enjoyable trip.

The administration is not consistent, however, for travelers to this country by way of land ports or ferry terminals, although still required to show evidence of having been vaccinated, are not required to be tested.  Similar rules apply to those who cross the land borders between the U.S. and Canada or between the U.S. and Mexico. 

The EU, by way of contrast, has dropped all mandates for wearing a mask on an airplane and in airports.  Individual airlines may choose to impose mask mandates of their own.  It will be interesting to see whether my flight to Ireland, which is a United Airlines flight, will impose such a rule and, if so, whether passengers will comply with it.  For my part I will wear the mask continuously through the lift-off and through the landing; I am less worried about the portion of the flight when the plane is well above ground and the air filtration system is running.  Even then, however, I probably will keep it on most of the time, except when I am eating or drinking.

Kim Jong Un has criticized various health officials for slow deliveries of medicine and has mobilized the military – presumably to aid with the aforesaid deliveries; but from the way he talks, it sounds like he is directing them to combat the virus as if it were an army that can be opposed with gunfire.  The number of people now sickened from the virus is approximately 1.2 million, about 4% of the population.  That is merely the official figure.  The country lacks test kits and is in no position to detect asymptomatic cases or those with mild symptoms.  The death toll, which is officially stated to be 50, is almost certainly higher.  “When people die, North Korean authorities will say they’ve died of overwork or from natural deaths, not because of COVID-19,” said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.  It’s too late at this stage to inoculate the North Koreans, although supplies of vaccines might help to reduce the mortality rate in some high-risk segments of the population (elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, etc.).  For the most part, North Korea is relying on isolating people with symptoms at shelters.  As of yesterday, more than ½ million were in quarantine.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  522,794,375; # of deaths worldwide: 6,289,611; # of cases U.S.: 84,356,883; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,026,898.  

Hiking among the wildflowers – Finland and NATO – Rumors of Putin’s failing health – Biden’s imitation of Trump tweets – Evening statistics

I helped FH to lead a there-and-back hike on the Appalachian Trail between Manassas Gap and the junction with the unnamed trail that leads to the Verlin Smith Trail and the Thompson Wilderness area.  To tell the truth, initially I was not looking forward to it.  Lately we have not had much luck with the weather these past few weekends, and the forecast was for rain.  But the forecast became less and less threatening as the week worn on, eventually predicting only showers; and in the event not only did no rain fall during the entire hike, but on several occasions gleams of sunshine shone through the clouds, dappling the forest floor below.  The trilliums were past their peak but still numerous.  This section of the AT is generally rich in wildflowers in all seasons except winter, and today proved to be no exception:  we saw an abundance of wild geranium, along with starry chickweed, showy orchis, bloodroot, rue anemone, and May apples, which were just beginning to bloom.  It proved to be a lovely hike and, best of all, not difficult to lead:  we were only six in all, others having been discouraged by the misleading weather report, and they were all capable hikers, so I had no worries about any of them running into difficulties.  

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto called Putin to inform him that Finland has applied for membership in NATO.  Finland has previously refrained from joining NATO; it shares a border with Russia 830 miles long and has been anxious to remain on reasonably cordial terms with its giant neighbor.  But, as Ninisto told Putin, the recent invasion of Ukraine has left him no choice in the matter.  Putin’s long-term strategy appears to be backfiring in a rather spectacular way.  Part of the purpose of the invasion was to intimidate NATO and cause it to diminish its activities.  Instead, NATO has started flexing its military muscles, sending weapons and aid to Ukraine; while both Finland and Sweden, hitherto neutral, are on the verge of joining it.

Rumors about Putin’s health continue to circulate but at this stage they are precisely that:  rumors.  An unnamed Russian oligarch claims that Putin is suffering from blood cancer.  It is certainly possible.  Video footage of his recent meeting with Belarus President Lukashenko shows him with repeated tremors in his arms and legs, and in various public events, including Russia’s Victory Day celebration, he has appeared frail.  But all of this may be wishful thinking.  The Kremlin has stated that while Putin is taking strict precautions during the pandemic, including the use of a long table to meet other political leaders, he remains fit and well – which leads one to believe that the rumors may be true.

Biden has not been as egregious as Trump about the use of tweets, but his record in this respect is far from flawless.  This past Thursday the administration posted a tweet that stated that vaccines were unavailable when Biden took office.  This is of course blatantly untrue; they were first distributed in ths country during the month of December, 2020.  By the time Biden took office, more than 18 million Americans had received at least one dose and about 3 million had been fully vaccinated.  Biden himself had already been vaccinated as well.  Dr. Fauci, when asked about this tweet, seemed quite taken aback when it came out and confirmed to Jake Tapper of CNN, who interviewed on the subject, that the tweet was indeed inaccurate. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  520,805,577; # of deaths worldwide: 6,287,528; # of cases U.S.: 84,197,814; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,026,575.  The incidence rate of the U.S. has been steadily sinking with respect to other countries; there are now 57 nations with higher rates of COVID than ours.  Regrettably, our mortality rate with respect to other countries has not changed:  we are still 18^th on the list. 

More COVID news from abroad:  New Zealand and North Korea – Deborah Birx’s portrayal of the initial response to the pandemic – Evening statistics

Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime Minister, has tested positive for COVID.  Her reaction is characteristic:  even though parliament sessions are scheduled this coming week for two set-piece events in the emissions reduction plan and the budget, she has conformed with the restrictions she has placed on others and has put herself in quarantine.  She will conduct some administrative work remotely, but much of the interaction with the press, for instance, she has delegated to her deputy, Grant Robertson.  “This is a milestone week for the government and I’m gutted I can’t be there for it,” she said.  “Our emissions reduction plan sets the path to achieve our carbon zero goal and the budget addresses the long-term future and security of New Zealand’s health system.  But as I said earlier in the week, isolating with COVID-19 is a very Kiwi experience this year and my family is no different.”  I cannot stress enough how greatly she differs from American politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, who unabashedly act as though they are “different.”  Some decades ago many American politicians would not have dreamed of claiming to be above the law, but that attitude has passed away from the political life of this country long ago. 

North Korea has admitted that 350,000 of its population have been afflicted with “an obscure febrile disease” that has included fever among its other symptoms.  Further than that, not much information is being disclosed – the mortality rate, for instance.  There is, of course, no respiratory disease other than COVID that is currently spreading so rapidly as to affect hundreds of thousands of people in a short time, but the North Korean government seems to regard COVID as the Disease-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, every bit as fearful as Harry Potter’s associates were of uttering the name of Lord Voldemort.  The country’s medical system ranks 193^rd among the 195 nations of the world and well over 40% of the population are suffering from malnutrition, so it seems likely that COVID will be infecting many more North Koreans in the near future.  Any attempt, however, to obtain reliable statistics from that country is simply a lost cause.  Lina Yoon, a Human Rights Watch researcher, summed up the situation as follows:   “Most North Koreans are chronically malnourished and unvaccinated, there are barely any medicines left in the country, and the health infrastructure is incapable to deal with this pandemic.”

Deborah Birx has recently published a book called Silent Invasion, which goes into great detail about how the Trump administration botched the crisis created by the pandemic.  Her book is of interest because most of the coverage up to this point has focused on Trump alone– I have done as much myself in several entries – whereas she provides details about the rest of the team that formulated the disastrous response to the disease in its initial phases.  Chief among this group was Scott Atlas, the radiologist from whom Trump took epidemiology advice.  Atlas had a habit of repeatedly responding to group emails from her by hitting “Reply All” and then removing her from the list before sending.  Others that she names include presidential Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (who, however, has already received a measure of fame, or rather infamy, for his consistent misrepresentations to the public), vice-presidential Chief of Staff Marc Short (who was mainly concerned about protecting his boss), Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the entrenched and inflexible staff of the CDC, the out-of-its-depth staff of the Council of Economic Advisers, the politically wobbly World Health Organization, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who, Birx indicates, knew better but caved to political pressure.  She does praise some participants for quietly facilitating a few positive responses, including, rather surprisingly, Mike Pence and Jared Kushner.  Some governors, also, such as Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Doug Ducey of Arizona, took the pandemic seriously from the beginning. 

Birx is known, of course, for failing to stand up to Trump when he went so wildly astray.  In the book she laments her most public lapse:  when Trump seemed to advocate consuming disinfectant in a live televised briefing, and she feebly and quietly uttered, “Not as a treatment.” She should have been more forceful, she writes, and “should have ignored my deeply ingrained, military-honed instinct not to publicly correct a superior” – which, of course, raises the question of how it is possible for any sane person to consider Donald Trump a superior.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  520,269,695; # of deaths worldwide: 6,286,458; # of cases U.S.: 84,159,845; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,026,485.

The second booster – Perils of being stranded abroad – North Korea admits to having COVID cases – Evening statistics

I am going to appear very inconsistent.  After having expressed doubts about the necessity for taking a second booster, I got one myself yesterday.  I had made the appointment to obtain the pneumonia vaccine, but when I finalized the appointment I decided to request the second booster as well.

The fact is, I’m a bit rattled by the story of my two friends being stranded in England on account of having tested positive for COVID.  I do not want to be in a similar position at the end of my forthcoming trip to Ireland and the U.K.  It is not very amusing to be in quarantine in a foreign city, even in a foreign city where people speak English.  The expense is not trivial either.  I cannot see that being forced to spend ten days in London chained to a hotel room and ordering food from the outside can amount to less than $3000.  Then, too, I will be traveling to Iceland just under two weeks after I return from England; if I were to be placed under quarantine at the end of my stay I would barely have enough time to return to the U.S. and then to travel on the flight to Reykjavik that has been reserved for me.  I still have doubts about the efficacy of a second booster, but under the current circumstances I cannot neglect any precaution. 

A significant segment of the population, despite having been exposed to the virus, have never come down with it, and no one knows why this should be the case.  It is possible that, having been unaffected by the virus for so long a period, I may be among this fortunate group.  But such matters cannot be counted upon.  I would have said that my two friends were in as little danger of getting infected as anyone I know, being in excellent health, unusually active for their age, and reasonably cautious in their personal habits.  But of course while they were traveling in England they dined out at numerous restaurants and were in other milieus in which they mingled with a large mass of people.  I will of necessity be doing the same in Ireland, where I will be on a hiking tour and will be dining in restaurants every morning and evening.  Nor can I claim to have been exceptionally cautious in my own country.  I have not dined out much, but I have shopped in person at grocery stores regularly, have patronized other stores (hardware, electronics, barber shops, etc.) in person as well,  have taken public transit, have traveled on long airplane rides – in short, I have tried to behave as normally as the circumstances attending the pandemic would admit.  For domestic travel the risks are not high, but international travel is another matter and will remain so as long as we need to get tested every time we return to our home country. 

Kim Jong-Un has at long last brought himself to admit that two and two are four.  More specifically, he has acknowledged the presence of COVID in his country and has declared it to be a “severe national emergency ”– as well he might, given that hardly anyone out of the country’s 25 million have been vaccinated.  Areas of Pyongyang have been in lockdown for two days and a rush of panic buying has ensued because no one is certain when the lockdown will end.  The country had closed its borders to nearly all trade and visitors at the start of the pandemic but it tentatively re-opened railroad freight traffic with China in January, which is quite sufficient to provide a vector for the virus.  In fact, the Chinese authorities have shown their private opinion about the claims that the cases are the first that North Korea has endured:  they halted trade last month after a COVID outbreak in Dandong, a city close to the border.  By that time the virus has taken a firm hold on the North Korean population, which its abysmal health care system and the consistent avoidance of the government to admit unpleasant facts can only exacerbate. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  519,619,561; # of deaths worldwide: 6,284,280; # of cases U.S.: 84,032,416; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,025,992.

Hiking in the southern portion of Shenandoah National Park – A near-perfect day – A new member’s impressions of the hiking group – How one descends into squalor – Tom Reed’s change of career – Evening statistics

Today I repeated the hike I led with the Vigorous Hikers nearly a year ago, consisting of a circuit via the Brown Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Big Portal Run, Big Run Loop, and Appalachian Trails.  As was the case last year only three hikers participated.  It is a shame that the long drive seems to discourage so many of the hikers in the group from taking part in it, but we have driven just as far to other hikes, and to my mind this one is as good as any of them.  It is particularly notable for the number of birds that flit through the region:  today, for instance, I saw no fewer than three indigo buntings.  The first part of the hike goes through the Big Run valley, defined by nearly perpendicular rock walls and carpeted with numerous wild flowers, such as starry chickweed, wild geranium, pinxter azaleas, phlox, and even a few dwarf irises.  Then, after lunching at the Big Run Overlook (with its view of the Rockytop ridge joining the main Blue Ridge and of the cliffs of Rocky Mountain and its talus slopes of white Erwin quartzite), it goes east of Skyline Drive along the Appalachian Trail, a section that provides several dramatic overlooks of the valleys both to the east and the west of the ridgeline that the trail traverses. 

It felt like an eon since I had hiked in such conditions, with warm but not sultry temperatures and a cloudless sky.  This spring has been relatively chilly to date and it has had numerous wet days as well.  It is true that the recent rains had filled Big Run to abundance and that the stream crossings proved troublesome at times, but every other respect the hike was ideal.  The ascents are not especially steep, but the one from the bottom of the Big Run valley to the overlook covers 1500 feet in 2.2 miles, and there are three relatively brief but rather steep climbs on the AT whose total adds nearly 1500 additional feet – so it stimulates sufficiently to get the blood flowing in one’s veins. 

I met a new club member at the Centreville commuter area and we carpooled together.  He had hiked a good deal in the past, but he ran into difficulties during the first part of the hike and decided to bail out when we reached Skyline Drive, preferring to wait until I had completed the hike and could drive back to pick him up.  I was a bit reluctant to agree to this, for it meant that he would have to wait for two hours.  In the end, however, I agreed.   I was expecting to find him somewhat aggrieved with the way matters turned out for him, but when I drove back, I found him awaiting me with perfect good humor.  He was quite satisfied with the amount of hiking he had done (nearly 10 miles and at least 1500 of elevation gain) and said that he intended to hike more regularly to be able to withstand the demands of other hikers in the Vigorous Hikers’ schedule.  He also insisted on treating me to coffee at a place where we stopped together on the way back to Centreville – which was, indeed, very refreshing under the circumstances.  He commented with some wonder about the speed with which we moved and he made one remark that I found rather curious:  “How thin and trim you all are!” he exclaimed.  “Not an ounce of superfluous fat on any one of you” – which is an interesting observation from someone who once served in the Israeli army.  I would not describe any of us in precisely those terms, but I suppose it is possible that to some onlookers we might appear to have a lean and hungry look. 

During the hike I conversed with JC, who had been a lawyer before he retired and who had in the course of his career had occasion to prosecute prominent officials, including several well-known lawyers, who had indulged in questionable practices in order to support their expensive lifestyle.  In some cases they had been former colleagues and friends of his, and he spoke of them with more compassion than I would have shown in his place.  But he had known many of them at the beginning of their careers, when they certainly had no intention at that time of indulging in nefarious practices – had even, in some cases, displayed a certain amount of idealism.  It takes a strong head, however, to withstand the pressures that accompany the sudden possession of large amounts of money.  These promising young attorneys, originally spoken of as being exceptionally fortunate, would win a few cases that provided large rewards, and then they would get swept up into a lifestyle that involved an expensive city residence, a yacht, a country house, and so on.  And then it might happen that a case from which they anticipated lavish fees would be decided against them or other similar accidents would occur that provided a disastrous blow to their scheme of finance.  And they would be forced to borrow money in order to maintain their expensive way of living – only temporarily, to be sure – and by degrees they would get deeper and deeper in debt, until finally to be driven to obtain money by any means, fair or foul.  And so they would degenerate into the final phase, being discovered in their defalcations or malpractices and being arraigned in court.  In most of these cases all traces of spirit or manliness desert them by the time of that sad last phase, even to the point of their sobbing in public and groveling for mercy from the judge passing sentence upon them. 

It was a strange sort of milieu that he described, to my notions at any rate.  For most of my professional life I have associated with engineers, and such stories are much less frequent among them – not because engineers are necessarily more virtuous than lawyers, but because the opportunities for their breaking the law on an extravagant scale are much less common.  But certainly no profession is immune from such temptations.  The fate of the unfortunate John McAfee, who retired from his career as inventor of security software with a fortune of $100 million and who descended in the course of two decades to bankruptcy, tax evasion, imprisonment, and, eventually, suicide, provides a melancholy example of the adage that Mammon has as many martyrs as God Himself.  

Republican Congressman Tom Reed of New York announced that he will resign his seat, effective at the end of today, cutting his last term a few months short. Reed announced his retirement from Congress after being accused of sexual misconduct. He is leaving to join Prime Policy Group, a Washington D.C. bipartisan lobbying group.   Happily, he will in his new position continue to carry the banner for his party’s principles.  He vows in particular to lobby for legislation that would compel all of the women he abused to carry any children to term that they may have conceived after succumbing to his enforced embraces  – no, on second thought I think I made that last part up.  

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  518,335,259; # of deaths worldwide: 6,279,988; # of cases U.S.: 83,778,713; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,025,104.

Hikes in Shenandoah and Sky Meadows – Another winery visit – COVID and international travel – More nation-wide contention about abortion – Evening statistics

Friday and Saturday were wet and dreary.  The clouds lingered on Sunday but thankfully the rain came to an end after falling almost continually for 48 hours.  It was not the most promising of conditions under which to lead a hike, but nonetheless MM and I led a bus hike for the Capital Hiking Club on Sunday.  Normally this club hikes on Saturdays, but on this weekend the bus was not available on the 7^th.  In the event, it worked out to our advantage; we were leading a hike that ascended Hawksbill and ended at the Stony Man Overlook and the trails, which are very rocky in some areas, would not have been pleasant to navigate under constant rainfall. 

Despite the fog and mist that obscured most of the views, the hike came off splendidly.  Capital Hiking Club is based on Meetup, and while this system has advantages, it has drawbacks as well.  In particular, many sign up for a hike or two almost at random, in some cases greatly over-estimating their capabilities.  I have been on several in the past that ended in the group waiting at the end for a long time for one or two stragglers.  But nothing like that occurred today.  Every one of the hikers, even those hiking with the club for the first time, handled the trails well and the amount of time between the first and the last of the hikers to arrive at the bus was brief for both the moderate and the long hikes.  On the overlook itself the clouds had lifted and we had birds-eye views of the Page Valley and the town of Luray, the vegetation appearing unusually lush and green as a result of the recent rain.  They all enjoyed the hike.  A few of the first-time members became club members and we received two volunteers to act as hike leaders – who, indeed, are greatly needed. 

Today was the first mild and sunny day we have had in the course of a week.  Various hiking friends and I went together to the Lost Mountain section of Sky Meadows.  We have hiked within Sky Meadows fairly frequently during the pandemic – it is a convenient distance from DC and is reached via major traffic arteries without necessitating the use of any gravel roads – but we do not go to the Lost Mountain section very often.   I “led” a hike there, but “explored” would be a better word for what I actually did, for it had been a long time since I had been there and I was not altogether certain of the route to take.  But I managed to piece it together.  We used the counterclockwise route for the loop, the preferable way to ascend the mountain:  the steeper portion occurs during the beginning of the ascent, making the descent towards the end more gradual.  In addition, the views are better; as we descend, the there is one switchback that emerges from the belt of trees to provide a clear view of the meadow below and of the ridgeline over which the Appalachian Trail runs, whereas anyone who ascends by the way we went downward would have to look backward to see the same view. 

Afterwards we went to the Delaplane winery, a first visit for many of us.  We had a wonderful time there.  The winery allows customers to bring their own food to the tables on the deck, which overlooks Sky Meadows and the surrounding area, and the weather was perfect:  warm but not hot and not at all humid – somewhat surprisingly, in view of all of the precipitation for the past several days; and of course everyone provided food and there naturally was an abundance of wine.  There were eight of us in all and we emptied at least three bottles among us.

But even among this idyllic setting we had a reminder that the pandemic is still to be reckoned with.  The hike was originally organized by LM, who planned to lead it after his return from the Lake District in England.  But just the day before we received news that he and one of the other members of the group with whom he was traveling tested positive for COVID and are currently quarantined in England for at least ten days. 

We commented among ourselves about the futility of the regulations that the U.S. has imposed upon travelers.  Initially it seemed advisable to test travelers from abroad and to delay their return until their recovery:  we were still trying to contain the virus, and the effects of the virus were much more severe than they are now.  But at this point the virus has spread all over the country – as noted earlier, it is quite possible that as much as 60% of the population has been affected – while the prevalence of newer and milder variants, combined with the fact that three-quarters of the adult population has been vaccinated, indicates that such precautions are no longer needed.  The European countries have jettisoned them:  it is not necessary to get tested to enter them.    This past Thursday major U.S. airlines, business and travel groups, and other companies urged the White House on Thursday to abandon the pre-departure testing requirements for international travelers.  It is not the first appeal of this nature; many corporations in the tourist industry, as well as several health experts, have asked the administration repeatedly during March and April to imitate the example of Great Britain, Germany, and Canada, among others, in this matter.  So far the White House has not responded. 

Abortion continues to be a rallying cry for both parties.  Democrats are attempting to pass legislation that explicitly entitles women to decide their own fate when they become impregnated, while Mitch McConnell has openly stated that a national abortion ban would be “possible” once the Republicans gain control of the Senate and the House as a result of the midterm elections.  Perhaps the most arbitrary pronouncement on the subject came from Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi.  Mississippi has a trigger law set to ban abortion immediately if the Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision.  An interview he conducted with CNN correspondent Jake Tapper including the following exchange:

JAKE TAPPER: Assuming SCOTUS overturns Roe, Mississippi will force girls & women who are victims of incest to carry the child to term. Can you explain why that is the law?

GOV. REEVES: Because in 2007 the Mississippi legislature passed it.

This argument is roughly in alignment with that of Ring Lardner’s character in “The Young Immigrunts”:  “’Shut up,’ he explained.”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  517,592,255; # of deaths worldwide: 6,277,573; # of cases U.S.: 83,664,501; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,024,718.

COVID and excess deaths – An unfortunate cruise ship – Women in Afghanistan and in the U.S. – The cautionary tale of Matthias Rimmi – Evening statistics

We have received reminders recently that it may be premature to declare the pandemic over just yet. 

Officially the death toll from COVID is something over 6 million – something under 0.1% of the global population.  But this week the WHO announced that the number of excess deaths, for which COVID undoubtedly accounts the greater part, is much higher, possibly as much as 15 million, nearly one in 500.  In India particularly, the number of excess deaths is 4.7 million – about a third of the global excess deaths and about 9 times the amount of officially reported COVID-related deaths.  Other nations show similar signs of under-reporting of deaths:  twice as high as the government’s official tally of COVID-19 deaths in Mexico, about 12 times as great as the official COVID-19 toll in Egypt, eight times as high in Pakistan, seven times as high in Indonesia, three times as high in Russia.  In the U.S. the death toll may well be over twice as high as the official number.  Although most of the excess deaths were caused by COVID-19 itself, some of the deaths were caused indirectly by the disease:  the pandemic has made it more difficult to get medical care for ailments such as heart attacks and treatments such as surgical operations.

The CDC has dropped all warnings for cruise travel, but today a Carnival Cruise Line ship docked at Seattle, with over 200 passengers who have been stricken with COVID.  They are now currently strung out in various hotels in Seattle, undergoing quarantine.  It is unclear how much of a crisis this situation is:  at this point most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic.  But it is obvious that the cruise company was unprepared for handling such a scenario.  Passengers complained about long waits for meals, not being about to get ahold of medical staff, and not being properly isolated.  For my own part, I am ready to take off my mask on an airplane during flight, where the air is continually filtered, but I would not venture on what some have called “floating Petri dishes” while we are still in a pandemic. 

This is not a good time to be a woman.  In Afghanistan the new government decreed that all women must veil their faces in public.  And by “veils” they do not mean those thin light gauzy ones that brides in this country customarily wear on their wedding day, but thick, heavy, uncompromising burqas that cover the entire body from the top of the head down to the feet, with a mesh screen that allows the wearer to see only what is directly in front of her.  One can imagine the comfort such garments provide during the summer, where temperatures in many parts of the country average 90 days during July and August.   The Taliban government has also closed girls’ high schools and recently introduced rules limiting women’s ability to travel without a male chaperone.

Somewhat closer to home, not only are various states attempting (and in some cases succeeding) to make abortions all but impossible to obtain, but Justice Samuel Alito of the Supreme Court has drafted an “opinion” endorsed by a majority of other Supreme Court justices for overturning the Roe vs. Wade decision that enabled women to have access to abortions.  Justice John Roberts denounced in ringing terms the iniquity of those who leaked this draft to the public; about the iniquity of the Supreme Court stepping outside of its judicial function and attempting to legislate on its own, completely bypassing the Senate and the House in the process, he is stricken with silence.

The body of Matthias Rimml, a 35-year-old professional mountain guide from Tirol, Austria, was located on Denali, the tallest peak in North America.  He had already acclimated to the altitude by means of recent climbs and, although he had planned to climb Denali “alpine style” (traveling fast with light gear) he still was carrying a sufficient amount of fuel and food for ten days.  He began his climb April 27^th from the Kahiltna Glacier base camp at 7,200 feet, and his last known call to his friend was on April 30^th , when he “reported being tired, but he was not in distress.” It was unclear whether he intended to climb higher or to return to his camp at 14,000 feet. 

My cousin recently asked me whether I knew of another mountain climber (a relative of one of his friends) who had also met his death on difficult peak (Snowdonia).  This person’s name was not familiar to me, and I explained to my cousin that while I certainly spend much of my time on mountains I am not a mountain climber in any sense of the word.  I have gone up several “fourteeners” in Colorado and have been on the Via Ferrata in Italy, but none of these excursions required any special equipment and they never lasted longer than half a day.  Still, the story of Matthias Rimmi is something of a warning.  He was not a novice who blundered his way into snowy oblivion, but an experienced climber who habitually ascended thousands of meters during a single season.   One reason that his body was found relatively quickly was that even though he was ascending on his own he periodically issued bulletins to a close friend, and when that friend heard no check-in calls for a few days, he notified the park authorities.  The most likely explanation was that he fell while attempting the steep traverse between Denali Pass at 18,200 feet and the 17,200-foot plateau, a notoriously treacherous stretch of the West Buttress route.  He took risks, certainly, but they were controlled risks based upon the experience of many past excursions.  It took only a single misstep to result in his death.  And I also take risks on some of my hikes – risks that are by no means as daunting as the ones he faced, but risks nonetheless – it is possible that one could end in misfortune if I grow too careless or over-confident.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  516,905,372; # of deaths worldwide: 6,275,649; # of cases U.S.: 83,567,707; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,024,525.

The long “final” stage of the pandemic – Another January 6^th participant pleads guilty – Evening statistics

From a social point of the view the pandemic is over already.  The mask mandate, of course, has been overturned and people are deciding for themselves whether or not to wear masks.  As I could perceive while performing various shopping errands, several are not bothering.  Today, for instance, I went to a supermarket, where not only were the majority of the customers mask-less, but the cashiers, while nominally each wearing one, tended to let their masks slip continually to expose their noses and mouths, thereby rendering the masks useless.  The anti-vaxxers continue to denounce the “conspiracy” of the pharmaceutical companies and to promote alternative quack remedies, but only occasionally.   They seem to be realizing that they have lost their self-imposed battle:  over 75% of everyone in the country 18 years or older are fully vaccinated and nearly 50% have received at least one booster. 

The omicron variant of COVID is one of the most infectious diseases among humans known to science, but its mortality rate and that of its sub-variants remain relatively low.  The mortality rate of the omicron variant is about 0.13%, as opposed to 4.25% during the height of the pandemic, when the delta variant was dominant.  The rate is not quite at the level of seasonal flu, which ranges from 0.06% to 0.09%, but it is at any rate comparable to a disease that has long been accepted as endemic.  And indeed the status of COVID greatly resembles the status of influenza in this nation at this point.  It is now regarded as severe, but not so severe as to warrant disrupting everyday activities, while people are more or less becoming resigned to the prospect of getting a COVID vaccine periodically just as we now receive annual influenza vaccines. 

Our health care system is no longer undergoing the great strain it endured while the pandemic was at its height.  Hospitalizations of patients afflicted with COVID have declined by nearly 90% since January.  Many countries, such as the U.K., Denmark, and Spain, are treating COVID as an endemic disease already.  Dr. Fauci said last week that we are currently out of the pandemic phase, although he later back-pedaled, saying that we are “out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase,” but that he was not officially declaring COVID to be endemic yet. 

We appear to be at the point where fluctuations in the disease cause only minimal change in people’s economic and social behavior – what is sometimes referred to as “individual endemicity.”  But we have not yet reached the stage at which COVID-19 exists at a predictable level and does not require society-defining intervention, nor are we quite at the stage where the economic impact of the disease has resolved.  The difficulties we are currently enduring as a result of supply chains being under stress is an example of the economic aftermath of COVID that we are still enduring.  That is likely to last for some time even after the pandemic comes officially to an end. 

This official pronouncement is not likely to occur in this week or even within the next several weeks.  We do not know at this point when significant new variants will emerge, nor whether they will be comparable with omicron or more severe or milder.  And while the rate of infections is steadily declining in most parts of the world, it is still rising in several nations, chiefly those in Latin America and Africa. 

In other news, William Todd Wilson has become the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy for his participation in the riot of January 6, 2021.  Fellow-members Joshua James and Brian Ulrich pleaded guilty to the charge earlier this year and agreed to cooperate with the government.  This enterprising vacationer drove to DC on January 5 equipped with an AR-15-style rifle, a pistol, ammunition, body armor, a camouflaged combat uniform, pepper spray, a large walking stick intended for use as a weapon, and a pocketknife:  the sort of gear that I must admit many visitors to the nation’s capital in the past have decided to be most appropriate for touring the city.  The Wikitravel website contains an extensive entry about Washington, but it does not mention assaulting and beating up law enforcement officers as one of its attractions:  an inexplicable omission, which Wilson and other holiday-makers of his stamp will doubtless be glad to correct whenever a new edition of the entry is required.  During this week alone, Thomas Webster, a retired NYPD officer, was found guilty of injuring a DC police officer with a flagpole during the attack on the Capitol; Kevin Creek, a former Marine from Georgia, pleaded guilty to hitting and kicking a police officer; and Marshall Neefe, a civilian from Pennsylvania and a member of QAnon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers during a court hearing.  Neefe’s case is especially noteworthy:  he had brought nothing more than a wooden club to proceedings, proclaiming after the attack that he would be “bringing the next time.”  But he along with several of the other wayfarers hoisted and pushed a large metal sign frame, at least 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and “supported by large casters that were approximately the size of a man’s head” into a defensive line of Metropolitan Police Department officers attempting to prevent the crowd from further advancing on the west front plaza of the Capitol.  The image on the sign was a large photo of Donald Trump, which certainly is a most suitable insignia for hindering and maiming members of the police.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  515,203,960; # of deaths worldwide: 6,268,096; # of cases U.S.: 83,336,115; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,022,329.

Requiem for a (mental) lightweight – Obliviousness of the Capitol rioters – Selection for the grand jury investigating Trump’s actions in Georgia during the election – Putin’s questionable health – Debate about the second booster – Evening statistics

Philip Anderson has provided, with tears in his eyes, a eulogy for Roseann Boyland, one of the attendees of the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and who, as he claims, suffocated under a pile of 30 bodies of people who collapsed after the police sprayed them in order to render them unconscious.  He himself nearly underwent the same fate that day, but had gotten his arm over his head before the others fell on top of him, thereby giving him enough space in which to breathe even after he fell into unconsciousness.

As a matter of course, he places all of the blame upon the police for the stress he endured and for this woman’s death, with none whatever allotted to himself and his fellow conspirators.   As it happens, the autopsy tells a different story:  the cause of Boyland’s death was an amphetamine overdose.  She had, it appears, been struggling with drug addiction for some time.  But Anderson’s account is typical of the majority of the people who assailed the Capitol.  “It was all very confusing,” said Shawn Bradley Witzeman, who attended the rally and was subsequently arrested and charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. “I don’t think the large majority of people who were there had any idea that what they were doing was illegal.” 

I have, I admit, been over-hasty in writing off all of the participants as being activated by malice and treachery.  I should have remembered the dictum of my favorite philosopher, Lucy Van Pelt from Charles Schultz’s Peanuts:

“Have you ruled out stupidity?” 

It appears that progress has at long last been made in the investigation concerning Trump’s attempt to derail the voting result of the election in Georgia.  A special grand jury was selected today, consisting of 23 grand jurors and three alternates.  It is a beginning, but there is a long way to go.  The jurors won’t convene until next month and even then they won’t be meeting every week – understandably, for the grand jury investigation may take months to complete.  There was a pool of over 200 people from whom the jurors were selected, and they were selected amid a set of fairly rigorous requirements.  To qualify, a grand juror must be at least 18, must be U.S. citizens and must have lived in Fulton County for the past six months. Anyone who was an elected official or has been for the last two years, anyone convicted of a felony, or anyone who served on a Fulton County jury or grand jury in the last year was disqualified to serve on this one.  In addition, anyone who was convinced beforehand that a crime was committed during Trump’s attempt to force Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed for him to win the state was similarly eliminated.  This last criterion certainly would have excluded me.

Vladimir Putin is set to undergo cancer surgery and to delegate power to Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he is incapacitated during and after the procedure.  The surgery and its aftermath are predicted to incapacitate Putin for two or three days.  An anonymous Russian insider said that Putin’s cancer is progressing but added that he didn’t want to give anyone “false hope.”  Putin has appeared sickly of late and uncharacteristically fidgety as well, causing some observers to surmise that he is afflicted with several other maladies, including Parkinson’s disease, in addition to his cancer.  Indeed, some rather odd rumors are circulating about the nature of the remedies he has resorted to – such as bathing in the blood extracted from deer antlers, which are hacked off while they are growing and still full of fresh blood (an “alternative therapy” used in the Altai region, as well as in Khazakstan and Mongolia).  How his condition will affect the war in Ukraine is very uncertain.  Patrushev is said to be even more hardline than Putin but his grip on the nation’s government is less secure.  If Putin is incapacitated longer than predicted, the Russian government officials who are concerned about the nation’s economic and military losses from the conflict (Russia has already lost several generals, an almost unheard-of result in any other instance of a major nation waging war) may push back against continuing to pursue operations in Ukraine, but this is not to be counted on.

The fourth dose of the vaccine has become widely available, but there is still considerable debate as to whether it is necessary or even desirable.  A recent study concludes that although a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offers protection against serious illness for at least six weeks after the shot, it provides only short-lived protection against infection, which wanes after just four weeks.  In any case, Americans who have already been boosted have shown low rates of hospitalization and mortality from COVID and it is unclear what benefit, if any, a second booster will provide.  Dr. Marty Makary, a medical commentator and public policy expert from Johns Hopkins University, criticized the FDA for approving fourth doses for all Americans 50 years and older:  “At the crux of the broad opposition to second boosters is the recognition of B- and T-cells, which public-health officials have long ignored.  They talk only about antibody levels, which tend to decline in the months after vaccination.  B- and T-cells, activated by the primary vaccine series or an infection (and augmented by a single booster in older patients), are highly and durably effective at preventing serious illness from COVID.” 

Several other medical professionals agree with this assessment.  “There are very few, if any, people who in my opinion require a fourth dose” (Dr. Anna Durbin, an international public health expert at Johns Hopkins University).  ‘In general, it’s too early to recommend a fourth dose, except for those who are immune-compromised” (Dr. Paul Goepfert, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham).  “Where’s the evidence that somebody over 50 benefits from a fourth dose? Because the evidence to date appears to support the possibility for those over 65, although I haven’t, we haven’t, seen all the data . . . but where’s the evidence for a 50-to-64 year old? Where’s that evidence? Because absent that evidence, then there shouldn’t be this recommendation” (Dr Eric Rubin, editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, and member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee).  This last statement refers to the fact that Pfizer asked FDA approval only of second boosters for people 65 and older, and corporate officials were probably as surprised as everyone else when the FDA recommended them all those over 50 as well.

All in all, it seems best to defer the second booster until more evidence comes in.  Take medicine because you must, not because you can – that has always been my attitude in such matters, and I see no reason to alter it in this case.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide:  513,794,980; # of deaths worldwide: 6,262,846; # of cases U.S.: 83,122,109; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,020,958.

Increased activity – A social visit – Considerations for international travel – Difficulties of using Irish transit websites – Wildflowers in the Hazel River area – Leading a bus hike – Mask mandates – Indirect adverse effects of the pandemic – Evening statistics

Although the amount of activity I’ve done over the past several days would not have been unusual before the pandemic started, it seems like a great deal after the leisurely existence imposed by COVID restrictions.  During the past several days my time has been filled up, not only with hiking, but with social visiting, auto maintenance, organizing hiking events, making trip arrangements for the forthcoming hiking tour in Ireland, registering for the AT Vista conference in August, and so on. 

Wednesday was relatively uneventful, consisting of dropping the car off in the morning for an oil change and recharging the air conditioning system, mowing the lawn, tending the yard, and performing various errands.  I’m not sure why, but I fell into a fit of lassitude during the evening and felt too drowsy to write much.  Part of the reason is that so little is changing, as far as the pandemic is concerned.  We seem to be perpetually on the cusp of emerging from it, but never quite managing it.  Whatever else may be said of the earlier months, they certainly did not lack for drama.  Now we’ve been in a state of suspended animation for weeks on end, and there appears to be no prospect of a change in this respect for the near future.

Thursday was more agreeably occupied, visiting my friends EG and HG, lunching with them in their beautiful house (they have an extensive collection of intaglios that adorn the walls), admiring the burst of color in their garden as a result of the mid-spring flowering and of their azaleas in particular, and conversing about their recent travel experiences to visit their daughters’ families and, eventually, about the gradual diminishing of travel restrictions and what to expect for trips abroad in the future. 

Trips to European nations have been considerably easier.  It is no longer necessary to undergo COVID testing in advance to entering them, for instance.  The lifting of the mask mandate does have some positive aspect.  There is no doubt that it is not especially comfortable to wear one during a flight that lasts eight hours or more.  It does not appear much of a risk to forego mask-wearing on an airplane when its filtration system is actively running; but certainly it is prudent to don one before the plane reaches about 10000 feet in elevation to ensure that the filtration system is active (it takes some time to ramp up) and after landing, when the system is shut down. 

Apart from that EG and HG tell me that they are experiencing something of my own sense of being swamped by activity and events after the somewhat glacial pace of existence we have been undergoing while the pandemic was at its height.   Indeed, one reason for the timing of the visit is that we’re not sure when we’ll have the opportunity to repeat it.  I will be leaving for Ireland in the middle of May and will be away for nearly three weeks, and then I will be in Iceland during the latter part of June; while they have several commitments of their own.  Not only is social life beginning to move again, but people are afflicted by a sense of having to make up for lost time, which in some cases is making the pace of our lives all but frenetic.

Friday was devoted to making various trip arrangements.  The main part of the trip to Ireland is a hiking tour, which has already been plotted out in advance.  But I will then be going to England to visit friends there, which means traveling to Dublin, booking a hotel to stay overnight, booking a flight for the following day, and purchasing the necessary train tickets to make the appropriate connections.  The websites for Irish transit are not user-friendly.  This is not merely my personal assessment; at one point I became so frustrated in trying to obtain the tickets I needed that I logged into various travel forums to obtain advice from other, more experienced travelers.  They all said the same thing:  the Irish websites are to all practical purposes unusable.  Part of the problem is that the train and the bus stations all have two names, one English and one Gaelic.  Still, I have booked train trips in Wales, where the same condition applies, without any particular difficulty.  It appears, however, that both trains and buses are rarely full and that purchasing tickets on the spot is feasible for all but the most exceptional cases.

I also was occupied plotting out the hiking schedule for the Wanderbirds during the third quarter of the year, having recently assumed the position of Director of Trails for the club, as well as exchanging Emails with my co-leader for the hike I led today.  These exchanges carried over into Saturday, whose main activity, however, was joining various Wanderbirds friends in the Hazel Mountain area for the purpose of viewing various wildflowers:  rue anemone, wood betony, bloodroot, showy orchis (just beginning to flower), bluets, trillium, among others.  The highlight of the trip was a patch of pink lady-slippers along the White Rocks Trail, on one of its highest points before the trail descends to the Hazel River. 

Finally, today I led a hike for the Capital Hiking Club on the Appalachian Trail from Raven Rocks Rd. to the U.S. 40 parking area adjacent to the bridge over I-70.  It was notable for being the first bus hike I have led for over two years, with the exception of the Calvert Cliffs I led in August, 2021, during that brief period when CHC resumed the use of buses and then was forced to fall back on carpool hikes after one month, on account of the resurgence of the virus.  But now CHC has reverted again to bus hikes, very much to the gratification of the club members.  Many of these live in DC itself and do not have cars, relying on public transportation for the purposes of commuting, running daily errands, and pursuing such diversions as restaurant dining, concert-going, museum-visiting, and so on. 

Officially CHC has a mask mandate in place for the bus hikes, but recently the Board decided to rescind it after the CDC mask mandate was overturned, and to permit eating and drinking on the bus.  The vote to do away with the club’s mandate was nearly unanimous, with only one Board member voting in favor of retaining it:  me. 

Without delving into the political implications of Judge Mizelle’s decision, I must observe that this decision was based on legal considerations only.  Judge Mizelle claims that in imposing the mandate, the CDC overstepped its authority.  This may possibly be true; I do not have the legal expertise to argue one way or the other on the question.  But from the medical point of view, at least, this decision does not make the wearing of masks on public transportation any the less advisable. 

I will admit, however, that it would have been difficult to enforce the mandate on this particular occasion.  The weather forecast called for only occasional showers, but the amount of rain was much greater than predicted, and accompanied at times by chilly winds.  It would have been impossible for the hikers to hover outside the bus while consuming snacks and drinks under these circumstances, as we usually did and presumably will continue to do whenever the weather conditions are more favorable.  Under the current conditions, my co-leader and I had no choice but to bring the snacks onto the bus and allow the hikers to eat them within the bus, which of course meant that they removed their masks while eating and drinking. 

Despite the bad weather, the hike was a success.  Many of the hikers expressed gratitude for the opportunity of being able to go so far afield without being forced to drive such distances on their own (and several, as noted above, do not have cars of their own) and thereby to have the opportunity to hike long distances again.  Indeed, many who in the past relied on the bus for transport to trailheads have become slower and less agile as a result of the hiatus in hiking activities imposed by the pandemic.  There were two long hikers in particular, whom I knew from past experience to be strong hikers, who had great difficulty in completing the hike.  FH, who was the sweep for the hike, told me that accompanying them during the first ascent (from Raven Rocks Rd. to Buzzard Knob) was agonizingly slow.  It was fortunate that an experienced hiker like her was the sweep; towards the end she prodded them by taking the lead and urging them to quicken their pace.  They managed to reach the bus in slightly over 5 hours (the hike is about 13 miles long and 2300 feet of elevation gain), so the end result was not bad.  But they provided an example, all the same, of how the pandemic has obtruded in the otherwise active habits of many and the toll taken by the inertia that have been thrust upon them.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 513,524,301; # of deaths worldwide: 6,261,385; # of cases U.S.: 83,081,982; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,020,851.