Category: Journal Entry

Interval of calm – Evening statistics – The increasing death toll

After the events of yesterday, today was comparatively subdued.  On the personal level, I took things rather easily, focusing mainly on mundane errands.  In the national news, all states have certified their results and Biden’s expected electoral college vote count this coming Monday is 306, well over the number of 270 required votes as the minimum. 

The most dramatic news comes from today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 69,208,167; # of deaths worldwide: 1,574,722; # of cases U.S.: 15,817,225; # of deaths; U.S.: 296,637.  The death count for today was over 3,000, which is a new record.  We’ve had over 2,500 deaths per day for several days running now.  We are beginning to see the results of the various social gatherings during Thanksgiving; there will be worse to come as cold weather drives more people indoors most of the time and as people gather for Christmas and New Year celebrations.  Our mortality rate is relatively low (about 1.8%, a little over half of those for the U.K. and Italy); therapeutic treatments have improved over the past few months and have driven this rate down substantially.  But the increasingly high numbers of new cases translates into a large number of deaths all the same.  The number of deaths will probably be over 500,000 by the end of January.

Hiking the Great North Mountain region – A nonagenarian hiker – The day of safe harbor – The new ailment in India – The vaccine in the U.K. – The ravages of COVID accelerate – Evening statistics

This has been a day “crowded with incident,” both on the personal and on the national level.

I met with the Vigorous Hikers at the Wolf Gap Recreational Area, where we hiked over the Great North Mountain region along the Mill Mountain, Tuscacora, and Stoney Creek Trails.  We split up into two sub-groups.  The hike included a bushwhack, but it was possible to avoid the bushwhack via a detour that added three miles to the total.  Four of us took this option, of which I was one; I am not overly fond of bushwhacking, although I’ve done it on occasion.  The weather was clear and, initially, quite cold; it was very windy at Wolf Gap and it was only when we went beyond Big Schloss that we got into an area that was sheltered from the wind.  Still, the wind died down and the temperature went up as the day progressed, and it was quite comfortable by noon. 

The four of us who took the longer detour to avoid the bushwhack arrived at the point where the two routes converged well before the others, and in the end we decided to leave after we ate lunch.  The hike leader had given me a walkie-talkie so that I could communicate with him, but generally these do not function very well over a distance of more than a half-mile, and in this instance most of my attempts to notify him of our status failed.  We did have one brief moment when we established contact, but it ended all too quickly, and eventually I had to turn it off because its battery was running low.  At the point of convergence, therefore, I left a note for the hike leader telling him that we had moved on, so that he would not wait for us when he arrived and found that we were not there.  From this point we continued along FS 92 to Rte. 675, where one of the members of our sub-group returned to Wolf Gap, while I and the other two went along various fire roads to the Tibbett Knob Trail – where, unfortunately, the wind picked up again and discouraged lingering at the overlook on the knob’s summit.  But it was worth seeing all the same, especially since my two companions had never seen it before.  (Those who took the bushwhack, as I later learned, followed the shorter route back to Wolf Gap and did not access Tibbett Knob at all.)  Once we got past the worst of the windy areas it was a beautiful day, and it has been such a long time since I’ve been on the Stoney Creek Trail that it was almost like going on a new trail for me.  The complete hike was 18 miles in all, with about 3000 feet of elevation gain, but most of the ascent occurred at the beginning, going up to the ridge on the Mill Mountain Trail, and the remaining ascents were relatively short and gentle.

What made the hike particularly notable, however, was our meeting at the beginning with GP, the “grand old man” of hiking in our area.  He and BH, his wife, generally meet the Vigorous Hikers and undertake a shortened version of the group’s route.  He will be celebrating his 90^th birthday on Thursday, and BH brought some homemade cake (delicious!) for the occasion.  People like GP are nothing short of an inspiration.  It is inevitable that I will lose some of my agility and speed as I grow older, but at any rate there is hope that I may still aspire to activity on the trails even in my old age.  I have seen far too many examples of people withdrawing into a mole-like existence as they grow older and I will be striving to avoid such a fate as long as I can.  GP, as well as several others I have associated with on Wanderbirds hikes, have shown me that this is possible.  Today, for instance, after we had congratulated him and gave him our best wishes, he and BH were cheerfully beginning their hike along the Mill Mountain Trail, which ascends over 600 feet within the first mile.

Alas, one has to come down from the mountain eventually, literally as well as metaphorically.  Not all of the news I heard on the radio and gleaned from the Internet articles was bad, but it was a decided letdown after the revitalizing exertions of the main part of the day.

As predicted, the case brought to the Supreme Court that challenged the results of the Pennsylvania election has been overturned.  The lawsuits initiated by Sidney Powell on behalf of Trump to contest the voting results in Michigan and Georgia have been similarly unsuccessful.  We have now reached the so-called “safe harbor,” the date at which states are supposed to certify their results, set at six days before the casting of the electoral college ballots.  Nonetheless some attempts to derail the election process are still ongoing.  More than 60 Republican law-makers (so-called – in this instance “law-breakers” would be the more accurate term) have made a motion to the state’s congressional delegation to reject Biden’s victory in the state.  And in a truly bizarre development, Texas has mounted an effort to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin by filing a lawsuit against them directly to the Supreme Court.  One can imagine the delight of the residents of those four states to learn that they are taking their marching orders from Austin.

There is no additional information about the mysterious new ailment in India.  It is unrelated to COVID, and tests for other viruses such as dengue have come up negative.  Water contamination and air pollution have also been ruled out.  Officials are currently conducting blood tests for pathogens such as E. Coli, which can cause nausea and vomiting, but not typically do not cause seizures as well.  At this point it defies classification and the full extent to which it has spread is unknown.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is now being administered in the United Kingdom.  The U.K. has had an especially severe mortality (even worse than our own) and its government has secured 800,000 doses of the vaccine so far, enough to give 400,000 people two doses each.  The FDA is likely to follow this example of approve the emergency use of the vaccine, but it still may be a matter of several days before the vaccine is administered here.

This news provides a much-needed note of hope, for the deaths from the virus in the U. S. have now been averaging more than 2,200 per day; and we have not even accounted for the fallout from the recent Thanksgiving celebrations.  The gatherings typically massed during Christmas and New Year’s will exacerbate the situation.  The news from various states is consistently grim.  To take a few examples – In California more than 22,000 residents test positive for the coronavirus each day, with about 12% inevitably showing up at hospitals in two to three weeks.  Riverside University Health System Medical Center, one of the state’s intensive care units, has opened an ICU in a storage room.  North Carolina’s patient count has doubled in the past 12 days.  In Georgia, the number of confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections has soared more than 70% in the past week, and hospitals are already warning state officials about their ability to absorb new COVID patients.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 68,546,837; # of deaths worldwide: 1,562,031; # of cases U.S.: 15,589,681; # of deaths; U.S.: 293,363. 

A visit to the bank – The upcoming certification deadline – A n innovative electoral principle – Unknown disease in India – Evening statistics

Banks have re-opened – at any rate, my local one has.  I found this out when I tried using the ATM and it could not read a check properly when I tried to deposit it.  To my surprise the door to the bank lobby was unlocked and cashiers were at their counters, so I was able to deposit the check without difficulty.  But it is a bit puzzling.  Matters are certainly not safer now than they were a few months ago.  In fact, infections have been increasing at the rate of close to 200,000 a day nationally for some time and not a day has passed these past two weeks without at least 1,000 deaths.  I kept my visit there to a bare minimum, getting out as quickly as I could and doing all other transactions at the ATM.  Not many customers were present, even though it was a Monday, so I suppose that others have similar concerns.

New Jersey has certified its voter count today – not that there was any doubt about the outcome – and at this point Hawaii and Missouri are the only states yet to certify.  Biden now officially has 288 electoral college votes, 18 more than required to secure his office.  There is one last-gasp hope for the Trump contingent.  Congressman Mike Kelly has filed a petition to the U. S. Supreme Court to cancel Pennsylvania’s certification of a Biden win on the grounds that the state law setting up this year’s election rules violated the U.S. Constitution by restricting state legislative control of the process.  The hearing date is set for tomorrow, but it seems unlikely that anything will come of it.  Most legal experts regard such a claim as fairly clumsy. Tomorrow, the 8^th, is the deadline for a final certification of all states.  It’s still a week before the official casting of Electoral College ballots, but tomorrow will at any rate signify the end of a significant hurdle.

The Trump groupies are clearly starting to get desperate.  They are now contending that the election is suspect because Biden won little over 16% of the counties in the U. S.  Of course, that claim omits a factor – ignored by people quoting this statistic – known as “population density.”  For instance, the county in which I live has more residents than the entire state of Wyoming (or, for that matter, several other states such as Vermont and Montana), by several hundred thousand; and it is far from being the most populous county in the nation.  I realize that the Electoral College has been established to ensure that the states with the greatest concentrations of residents don’t run roughshod over those with less, but this is the first time I’ve anyone argue that we apply this principle on a county-by-county basis.

There is a new disease that has come to the surface in India.  Its symptoms have more in common with epilepsy than the flu:  seizures, headaches, and vomiting.  The persons affected with it have tested negative for the COVID virus.  More than 400 people have been hospitalized by this as yet unidentified illness, and it is increasing just at the rate as the COVID virus was during its early stages.  It is fairly localized at the moment and there are no reported cases outside of India, but it needs to be monitored.  The last thing we need at this point is another pandemic.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 67,921,471; # of deaths worldwide: 1,549,733; # of cases U.S.: 15,365,416;  # of deaths; U.S.: 290,438.  At this rate we will reach a total of well over 300,000 deaths by the end of the month. 

Burke Lake – Winter hiking is soon to come – Giuliani and the virus – A long list – Evening statistics

I wanted to enjoy the day but not to drive very much, so I took the Burke Lake/Lake Mercer double-loop hike.  Ordinarily I do not wear a mask while hiking, but this trail is so flat and encounters with other hikers are so frequent that I put it on for the entire hike (which is about 11 miles in all).  It was chilly but sunny and only slightly breezy.  This is one of the loveliest autumns I can remember, not so much for its foliage – we’ve had other years when it was slightly more colorful – but for the clarity of the air and the absence of haze in the sky.  This past spring was very cool and wet, and the summer had some of the most punishing heat I can remember; but the autumn has more than made up for it.

There were indeed many people outside.  I was somewhat premature in my lamentations of yesterday, I perceive.  People are still getting out, to the local parks in the area at any rate.  I’m glad it is so.  I hope that this trend will continue in winter and that people won’t be transformed into moles, as they usually are during that season.  I can remember how, when I was working, my colleagues were intrigued by my habit of hiking every weekend and how they would ask, “But what you do in winter?”  “I go out hiking,” was my reply, and they were always taken aback, even amazed on some occasions.  I’ve already spoken about the advantages of hiking in winter (see the entry for August 7^th) but I will admit that it took me a while to get used to the idea myself.  Once I learned how to dress for such hikes I was able to appreciate the advantages of hiking during that season.  I’m actually looking forward to the first snowfall; it can be such a delight to hike on a trail covered with an inch or two of snow.

Yesterday’s entry was premature in yet another way – or was it eerily prescient?  After my dirge about the reputation of Giuliani I find that he has just been stricken with the COVID virus.  And it appears that he could conceivably have infected many others, since he has been resolute in wearing no mask for all of his public appearances.  In his case, it has been serious enough to necessitate to his checking into a hospital.  He is one of the latest of those in Trump’s orbit who have contracted the virus, the roster including:  the President himself, ever disdainful of taking the most elementary precautions in this matter, his wife Melania, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., his youngest son Barron, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski, Communications Director Hope Hicks, Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller, US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, White House aide Nicholas Luna, Principal Assistant Press Secretary Chad Gilmartin, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager Bill Stepien, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Republican Senator Mike Lee (Utah), Republican Senator Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Republican Senator Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.  You’d think that people would be getting the message that working alongside Donald Trump may be hazardous to one’s health.  Hazardous to one’s mental health too, perhaps, although that is less certain:  if the conduct of the President’s staff during various press conferences provides any indication, diminished mental stability appears to be a pre-requisite for entering Trump’s service.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 67,375,271; # of deaths worldwide: 1,541,350; # of cases U.S.: 15,159,490; # of deaths; U.S.: 288,906. 

Fashions in supermarkets – Diminishing car traffic – Giuliani’s downward spiral – Evening statistics

In the new Oriental supermarket (called, somewhat incongruously, “Ranch”) I came across a rare find:  a stewing chicken.  It has become quite difficult to find one, although I’m not sure why; they are egg layers that have become less productive as they age and would have to be culled in any case.  At any rate, this is the first one I’ve been able to purchase in several years.  For once I’ll be able to make a decent chicken stew in a stock with a well-defined flavor (instead of that faint hint of chicken that results in using younger and more tender cuts for stewing). 

Stewing chickens were much more common in stores when I was growing up, but I rarely saw once I reached the age for attending college.  It’s strange how supermarkets are subject to fashion, almost as if they are selling clothes instead of food.  Why, for instance, is the skin almost invariably taken off of chicken breasts before they are packaged?  That was not the case until relatively recently.  If one is using the meat in a stir-fry or a sauté then purchasing it with the skin removed is a convenience.  If, on the other hand, they are baked or in a fricassee, it is better to get them with the skin still on; there is less risk of the meat drying out during the baking or browning.  But the butchers at the supermarkets don’t appear to agree; they take the skin off automatically, it seems, and if you want to find some with the skin still on you may have to do quite a bit of searching.  Curiously enough, the skin remains on for whole chickens and for all other parts of the chicken sold separately:  legs, thighs, wings. 

During the course of shopping and various other errands I could not help noticing that the traffic on the roads is diminishing again.  It makes for more agreeable walking, of course, but it is an ominous sign.  As a result of the colder weather and also, perhaps, of the various discouragements officials in all states have been making about travel of any kind, people are taking fewer road trips (even when they are only day trips) than before.  Winter is generally a less crowded season on the trails in any case, but this year I suppose that fewer people will be hiking than usual.  It is to be regretted; it seems apparent that it is less risky to be out of doors than inside.

“The fiery youth of today would start back in horror if he could be shown his portrait in old age.”  No, I’m not applying Gogol’s words from Dead Souls to myself – I haven’t sunk into invalidism or unusual fits of eccentricity, unless indeed maintaining a journal is considered eccentric; but to Rudolph Giuliani.  Had he died a decade earlier, he probably would linger in many minds with grateful remembrance as the mayor who rejuvenated New York City and as a stalwart presence during the crisis of 9/11.  Now he will go down in history as Trump’s crony and dubious accomplice in the attempt of the latter to invalidate our electoral process.  The most recent setback to this enterprise occurred yesterday, when Judge James T. Russell turned aside Trump’s lawsuit in Nevada, not merely dismissing it but giving a detailed statement running to 35 pages of why not a single claim advanced in the lawsuit was valid.  Indeed, none of the 46 lawsuits that Trump has filed to date has made any headway.  In response to these results Giuliani has said, “We don’t need courts.   The United States Constitution gives sole power to the state legislator to decide presidential elections.”  In other words, he is saying outright that how people vote don’t matter and that he will continue to labor to install Trump as our dictator.  And he has become ludicrous in proportion to his moral deterioration; the conference during which he sweated so profusely as to cause his hair dye to melt while shrieking out conspiracy theories is probably the most vivid image people now retain about him.  Who could have predicted that the man who presided over Ground Zero and rallied New York City through the most devastating attack it ever endured would be reduced to this?

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 66,833,796; # of deaths worldwide: 1,533,741; # of cases U.S.: 14,982,628; # of deaths; U.S.: 287,825.  There was a time when both India and Brazil seemed likely to surpass us but that time is long gone; several days of new cases in the hundreds of thousands have placed us far in the lead again, where we are unlikely to be challenged.  More than 4.5% of our population has been infected by now. 

Hiking Old Rag – Media bias – Why Republicans still support Trump – Trump vs. Twitter – Certification is approaching – Evening statistics

Old Rag is a mountain in the Blue Ridge range with a rocky exposed summit that features a 360-degree view.  It contains one of the most popular hikes in Shenandoah National Park, and is considered to be something of a rite of passage for hikers in this area.  The last segment of the ascent to the summit (which is about 3½ miles from the parking area) consists of a continuous rock scramble that, although it does not require special equipment, at times involves supporting your body weight with your arms and lowering yourself down (and occasionally sliding down) very large boulders.  Yesterday I went on the hike with HG, who was doing the hike for the first time.  The day proved to be ideal for completing this hike.  It was a weekday in December, which meant that it was much less crowded than usual; in fact, I don’t remember seeing so few people on the summit during the numerous times I’ve done the hike in the past.  Then, too, the weather was the best we had all week:  sunny, chilly but not frigid in the early morning and going up to the 50s well before noon, and all but windless.  It is always an enjoyable hike but completing it in the company of HG gave the hike an added dimension; since it was her first time, hiking Old Rag in her company was like seeing it through new eyes.  For example, I have tended in the past to speed along the fire road (the last segment of the hike) without noticing much, whereas yesterday we were remarking on the views of the summit from which we had descended and of the water in the river that runs beside the path cascading over the rocks and creating a series of waterfalls in several areas. 

The trail has been significantly altered.  It now begins from the new parking lot, eliminating much of the walk along Rte. 600 that used to comprise the first mile of the hike, and this new section of the trail is extremely well-maintained, with very few rocks and so free of fallen leaves that it almost appears as if someone had gone through and swept it out inch by inch.  Then, too, the route of the rock scramble has changed in some places.  There used to be one part of the trail that involved hoisting oneself up between two smooth and all but perpendicular boulders close together with no traction, no obvious places to anchor the feet, and no useful handholds within reach.   Getting past it depended a great deal on the strength (and length) of one’s arms.  It frequently tied up pedestrian traffic as a result of awaiting the painful efforts of the people just ahead to try to get through it.  This obstacle has now been eliminated.  Certain other problem spots are no longer on the trail as well.  It is still quite strenuous, but the most obvious points for tying up hiker traffic are no longer an issue.

The hike evidently tired me out more than I thought.  I didn’t feel at all tired when I returned home, but later in the evening, after dinner, I became quite sleepy and went to bed early.  After all, it is not necessary to have a journal entry for every single day.

During the drive to the parking area I listened to the radio.  While I have (as should be apparent) little love for Donald Trump, I am bound to say that his claims about biased media have some justification.  Yesterday I heard one news report that said something along the lines of: “Trump gave a rambling 46-minute demented rant filled with the by-now familiar diatribe about election fraud, wild conspiracy theories, and downright lies about how he won in states that he actually lost.”  That may not have been the actual wording, but it is not far removed from it.  I can understand why his remarks would be summarized in such a fashion, but such a style cannot be considered impartial reporting.  There is no need to embellish matters with emotionally laden adjectives; the mere facts of his behavior are damning enough.  I certainly have shown no restraint in referring to him in my entries, but I do so as a private individual.  If I were reporting in the role of journalist I would make an attempt, at any rate, to sound less obviously biased.

I recently learned why some members of the Republican Party continue to be so muted about Trump’s conduct concerning his claims of election fraud.  Hitherto I could not imagine how such a self-centered man was able to inspire any feelings of loyalty.  It appears, however, that the outcome of the two runoff elections in Georgia will determine whether or not the Republicans can retain a majority in the Senate; and since Trump continues to exert great influence upon the rank and file of Republican voters, the leaders of the party think it prudent not to repudiate him, no matter how he may behave.  This at least is a motive I can understand, however much I may disapprove of it.  Mitch McConnell in particular might thus be compared to Lucy Steele in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, “a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.”

Twitter has indicated that Trump may be banned from the platform once January 20^th rolls around and he becomes an ordinary citizen.  As a world leader, he is exempt from the rules that Twitter has imposed on other users, but he has broken them so often that the Twitter administrators are – to use a somewhat inelegant phrase – fed up with him.  Trump set up a Twitter account in 2009 and has since generated over 29,000 tweets.  They have become such a persuasive force that Joe Biden has seen fit to reassure the Twitter administrators and the public at large that “You won’t have to worry about my tweets when I’m president.”

The date for certification of the election results in all states is rapidly approaching (just four days from now) and all but four states have already certified:  California, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Missouri.  Of these, only Missouri has displayed a Republican majority; the others in the past election have been solidly Democratic.  There are no lawsuits filed against the results of any of these:  not even Donald Trump could have the audacity to claim that California voted for a Republican candidate. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 66,211,027; # of deaths worldwide: 1,523,556; # of cases U.S.: 14,772,535; # of deaths; U.S.: 285,550. 

Evening statistics – Our COVID status in global terms – The “What, me worry?” attitude of the populace  – Mike Pence

Normally I end my entries with the statistics from the evening, but I cannot forbear dwelling on them at the beginning of this one:

# of cases worldwide: 64,816,274; # of deaths worldwide: 1,498,296; # of cases U.S.: 14,309,270; # of deaths; U.S.: 279,845. 

As bare numbers these may not seem very meaningful, but the increase of new cases today was nearly 200,000 and the number of deaths nearly 3,000.  In global terms, we accounted today for more than 31½% of the new cases and nearly 23% of today’s deaths.  There are many countries that are suffering greatly from the inroads of the virus, but not at the rate ours is undergoing.  We have now surpassed France and Mexico in number of deaths in proportion to the national population.  Florida now has over 1,000,000 cases total, the third state to endure such a large number.  Up to this point, hospitalizations are still well under the number of available beds in every state, but there is a shortage of nurses and other medical aides.  It’s not easy to find people willing to work in hospitals under such stressful conditions, let alone finding those with sufficient qualifications.

And in the meantime people continue to flout the guidelines with serene indifference.  The following is a typical incident:  a couple from Hawaii going to their home from San Francisco tested positive for the virus while going through the pre-screening that is now imposed on all airplane travelers.  They managed somehow to board the airline anyway.  Derek Kawakami, the mayor of Kauai (where the couple lives) has since announced that they have been arrested and are facing charges of second-degree reckless endangerment.  All very well, as far as it goes – but now every single one of their fellow-passengers and every member of the flight crew are in a state of wearing suspense as to whether any of them have gotten infected by the actions of this enterprising duo.

In other developments, Mike Pence has been making some effort to distance himself from Trump’s baseless voter fraud claim. As a former governor himself, he is said by insiders to be quite displeased with Trump’s attacks on Governors Kemp (Georgia), DeWine (Ohio), and Ducey (Arizona).  He has not lent his name to any of the fundraising Emails from Trump’s campaign for legal overturns of the election results since November 25^th.  He has also actively campaigned on behalf of Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in a November 20 rally in Georgia, and has publicly participated in the swearing-in of Senator Mark Kelly (a Democrat) a week ago, thereby tacitly admitting that such elections are not “rigged,” as Trump claims they are.  But while many believe that he thinks Trump’s legal campaign is counterproductive and doomed, he has never uttered even the slightest breath of criticism directed towards Trump.  When it comes to the art of sitting gracefully on a fence, Mike Pence must be acknowledged as one of its most distinguished practitioners.

Hiking in the Massanuttens – A sidereal phenomenon – The unexpected behavior of William Barr – Trump’s prospects continue to dwindle – A sad COVID story – Categories of virus transmitters – Evening statistics

The reports for the weather differed greatly.  I heard that the day would be cloudy and that temperatures would be in the forties, and I dressed for the hike accordingly.  But others had come equipped with more layers of clothing than I had, for they had heard that the temperatures would in the middle 30s at most and that the winds would make it feel much colder. As matters turned out, the report I had listened to had the correct forecast, but I am little surprised at the variety in weather reports for the same region.

The hike consisted of a double loop, both loops starting from Elizabeth Furnace.  The first went up Shawl Gap and descended by way of Sherman Gap, and the second went along the Tuscarora Trail to Meneka Peak and descended along the Massanutten Trail:  17 miles in all and about 3800 feet in elevation gain.  Despite the cloudiness of the day, we enjoyed the hike greatly.  Both loops go along high points of ridges and we were able to see extensive views through the bare branches of the trees.  The second loop in particular displayed distant views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east, and on this occasion they were indeed a dark purple-blue that seemed all the more vivid against the background of the grayish-white sky.  There were overlooks on the descent of the second loop as well, one that looked down into Fort Valley (an area where George Washington did a good deal of surveying) and the other opposite Buzzard Rocks, the bare rock outcropping standing out and contrasting with the portions of the ridge covered with boles of trees.. 

The last part of the descent along the Massanutten Trail is uneven, going through several areas of talus (debris consisting of broken rock).  But I had been on it before and knew what to expect, and after my recent experiences on the AT in Pennsylvania this section seemed much less strenuous in comparison.

Upon returning home, I learned that astronomers are looking forward to an extraordinarily close pairing of Jupiter and of a somewhat dimmer Saturn low in the southwestern sky after sunset.  On the evening of December 21st, they’ll be separated by only 0.1° — so close that to the eye they’ll appear to have merged into a single beacon. They haven’t appeared this close to one another for nearly 400 years. 

Perhaps this phenomenon accounts for the extraordinary piece of news in the headlines today:  namely, that William Barr publicly announced that the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of the widespread voter fraud alleged by President Trump and his army of lawyers.  I would have as soon expected Jupiter to enter our own planet’s orbit as to learn that William Barr, who up to this point seemed to be Trump’s creature, body and soul, would defy the known wishes of his overlord to this extent. 

All six of the states where Trump has contested the results have now completed certification.  Wisconsin and Arizona completed certification yesterday; Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Nevada certified their results last week..  Some of the states have Republican governors, who have endorsed the results as whole-heartedly as the Democrat governors in this group.  Time is running out for Trump’s last-ditch efforts.  The states are all due to complete certification by the 6^th and cast their electoral votes on the 14^th.  I have no idea what Trump plans to do after the ballots are cast.  It may well be that he has no clear idea himself. 

There are so many sad stories circulating in relation to the virus, but one of the saddest has recently emerged from Russia.  Kirey Pinchin, a man in his sixties, underwent heart surgery and his daughter Svetlana visited him while he was in the hospital.  Eight days after his discharge he died – not from complications with the surgery but from the COVID virus, which he had, without realizing it, contracted in the hospital.  Svetlana was pregnant at the time.  Shortly afterwards she checked into a hospital to have her child delivered, and there she was diagnosed with the virus as well, having contracted it as a result of visiting her father.  She was placed on a ventilator, delivering her child six weeks prematurely and dying shortly afterwards..  Svetlana’s mother Vera also died of the virus just a week later.  The unfortunate infant is now bereft of immediate relatives.  To make matters worse, Svetlana, a divorcee, never identified the child’s father and the orphan is heir to a considerable estate (including two apartments in St. Petersburg, which are valuable commodities in Russia), which means that a fierce custody is raging while the child is only a few days old and undergoing all of the struggles a baby delivered prematurely is bound to experience. 

The CDC has released specific numbers that identify who ls spreading the virus:

• 24% of people who transmit never develop symptoms.
• 35% of people who transmit were pre-symptomatic.
• 41% of people infected others whole experiencing symptoms.

That is one of my fears:  that I might inadvertently spread the virus into the facility that houses my mother if I happen to contract the virus without developing symptoms.  That is possibly neurotic on my part, but how is it possible to tell in such a situation?  I can’t very well get tested every day, or even every week.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 64,177,072; # of deaths worldwide: 1,485,743; # of cases U.S.: 14,108,224; # of deaths; U.S.: 276,976.  Our death toll today surpassed 2, 000. 

The dangers of being confined indoors by wet weather – Evening statistics

It was not a day for much outdoor activity, since it was raining for most of the time.  I did get out a bit, but locally, taking advantage of lulls when the rain fell fairly lightly.  It was not uncomfortable, being fairly warm, and at no point was the wet weather aggravated by wind.  Still, most of the day was spent doing household chores and then pottering about. There was little of note in the news as well.

 I amused myself a bit by speculating about how, as numerous musicals and light operas have made after the fact about various well-known events, one in the distant future dealing with this crisis might unfold.  It should, as I noted earlier, contain a chorus of sycophants (also known as the White House staff) whose function is to fawn about the President at every turn, while all the while being well aware of his failings.  Here is a possible list of the dramatis personae:

The Doctor                                                             Bass

The President                                                        Baritone

The Press Secretary                                              Lyric Soprano

The Chief Strategist                                              Bass-Baritone

The President’s Eldest Son                                  Tenor

The President’s Second Son                                Tenor

The President’s Daughter-in-Law Elect              Dramatic Soprano

The Virus Coordinator                                          Alto

The plot would center about the machinations of the Doctor and the Virus Coordinator to impose various restrictions such as social distancing and the wearing of masks, all the while being craftily thwarted in their efforts by the President, aided by his supporters, including his sons, his daughter-in-law elect, his chief strategist and, not least, the press secretary.  The opening number might run something like this:

[The CURTAIN rises to reveal the CHORUS.  As they sing the following in unison they break out into a dance whose liveliness appears rather forced.]

Our business is rejoicing!
Our business is rejoicing!
Let no one fail in voicing
Compliments and flattery!

It would be a disaster
For our great lord and master
If by chance a word of blame
Were to reach the ears of he.

His temper is appalling;
He is so fond of brawling
At any hint of opposition
He becomes a shrill banshee.

So if he starts to scowl
Lay it all on with a trowel
Lest he explode with ire and wrath
And assault and battery.

Our business is rejoicing!
Our business is rejoicing!

A scenario like the one I outlined suggests quite a variety of premises for various numbers.  There would be an interview between the President and the applicant for the position of Press Secretary.  During their duet, the latter explains that she has discovered that of all of the available scams the sweet innocent maiden persona is the best of the lot and that she has mastered it accordingly; at which point he is so impressed by her qualifications that he hires her on the spot.  This would be followed by her first assignment, that of holding a press conference.  As at one point she is left alone on the stage:

[Noise without as of people gaining admittance into the entrance of the building.  She breaks out into a recitative.]

PRESS SECRETARY

Ah, me! They are coming –
And all my limbs are trembling!
Whatever shall I do?
Already the camera crew
Are busily assembling.
To publicly utter one continual lie
May be too much even for my
Famed powers of dissembling!

[Solemn MARCH as the JOURNALISTS file into the room.  The PRESS SECRETARY instantly becomes smiling and gracious as one by one they find a position in which to stand.]

Thank you, gentlemen, for coming – and ladies too
As you are well aware, my position here is new
If occasionally I falter, I entreat you to believe
That never will I speak with intention to deceive.
The duty of informing, I am ever at its call.
Ask me anything, gentlemen, anything at all.

FIRST JOURNALIST [spoken]:  Is it true that the President is trying to discourage people from being tested for the virus in order to lower the statistics of the number of reported infections?

PRESS SECRETARY [momentarily taken aback] Well! 

[She then breaks out into a staccato patter with a tempo of presto, along the lines of Sondheim’s “(Not) Getting Married” from Company.  As she enters into her explanation the eyes of the JOURNALISTS become increasingly dazed in expression.]

It’s a very complicated question, I will do my best to answer and attempt to make it simple, just as simple as I can, and you have to understand that testing’s in its early stages, its results are doubtful, not reliable, which is unfortunate, which is not to say that anyone should not get tested if he so desires, which I’m sure I wouldn’t blame him if he developed any troublesome symptoms – but to the point – You see the outcome isn’t always accurate, and there are many false positives, yes, many, I’m not sure how many but I will look the matter up and report the matter back to you as soon as I can, which is why the President recommended what he did.

[At this point she becomes less frenetic and the rhythm becomes more regular, with a slight reduction in tempo, allegro rather than presto.]

Am I clear?  Am I clear?
And can everybody hear?
And I crave your kind indulgence while this new job I am learning
And I thank you one and all for the attention I am earning
For I’m somewhat slow of speech, as you are probably discerning,
But to keep the public well-informed, that is my constant yearning
Any question that you pose I will answer readily
I’ll relate the news and information very faithfully
For as anyone and everyone and all the world can see
There is no one who is possibly less devious than me!

CHORUS OF JOURNALISTS:

It is very evident
That she’s free from ill intent
If there enters in her words
A slight discrepancy,
We know all the same
She is not at all to blame
There is no one in the world
Less devious than she!

There should of course be one scene showing the President dismissing someone from his staff, beginning something like this:

PRESIDENT

You’re fired!  You’re fired!  You’re fired – fired – fired!
Your services no longer are required – quired –quired.

And at one point he will turn to the chorus, glaring at them and demanding whether any of them dares to impugn his decision by trying to make excuses for the poor trembling victim.

CHORUS

No fear of that!  No fear of that!
Not one of us will go to bat
To speak a word on his behalf.
The mere idea, it makes me laugh.
He’s no longer one of us!
Throw him underneath the bus!

Not being a composer, I have only the vaguest of ideas of what the leitmotifs of the various characters should be like, but at the very least the one associated with the Daughter-in-Law Elect should have a Wagnerian quality, rather like the music associated with the Valkyries in the Ring Cycle, while that of the Eldest Son should make use of dissonant chords to convey a hint of schizophrenia and that of the Second Son should, on the contrary, contain a certain amount of vibrato to correspond to his somewhat wavering personality.

Yes, I’ve been sitting in the house too long..  The rain is moving away and I plan to be with the Vigorous Hikers tomorrow, so that day shall be spent somewhat more profitably. 

Besides, I need some sort of relief from the depressing statistics:

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 63,584,430; # of deaths worldwide: 1,473,738; # of cases U.S.: 13,919,870; # of deaths; U.S.: 274,332.

Incident at Riverbend – Thanksgiving travel – The Denver Broncos – Jon Voight’s dire warnings – Evening statistics

A somewhat awkward incident occurred in Riverbend State Park.  The park staff recycled and used an old board to prevent erosion along a trail following flooding.  Unfortunately, the board previously hung over some stalls to notify visitors about “Public Restrooms.”  The board of course was turned backwards so that its lettering was not apparent, but a park visitor with a sense of humor flipped it over.  I’m in two minds about this.  I naturally would prefer not to witness people relieving themselves directly on the trail, but I can easily understand the temptation that caused the visitor to play his little prank.  The board has since been removed.

Already some of my premonitions about Thanksgiving are being realized.  TSA has revealed that more than a million Americans have used the airlines to travel to holiday celebrations, despite the request from CDC to refrain from unnecessary traveling.  Admittedly, that amount is less than half of the usual amount of traveling at this time of year, but it is still a high figure in light of the warnings about travel and social gatherings of any kind.  And that is merely the figure for airline travel.  Many others have traveled by automobile as well, and there is no way of telling what this number may be.  There are already over 88,000 Americans hospitalized with coronavirus, and new cases and deaths are climbing.  In nine states there are twice as many new cases a day now as there were two weeks ago. 

The Denver Broncos were in a somewhat discomfited position today.  They were scheduled to play a game this afternoon but had no qualified quarterbacks.  There are four quarterbacks on the team, but all of them have been deemed high-risk for practicing and playing without masks.  One of them has tested positive and the others have all been in close contact with him as a result of the practices.  They are required at this point to quarantine for several days before entering any game.  The Broncos were forced to fall back on a wide receiver on their practice squad as their emergency replacement.  This last-minute substitution did not do them much good; they lost the game, 31-3.  The NFL forced them to play after their violations of the COVID restrictions in order to teach them a lesson, and it certainly was a severe one.  The NFL has also fined two teams hundreds of thousands of dollars for COVID restriction violations.  I question the wisdom of having football games being played at all but I will admit that the NFL is behaving as responsibly as it can under the circumstances.

Jon Voight has announced that the country will be “in great danger” if a Biden administration comes to power.  I find this interesting, for a number of reasons.  In the first place, I am rather curious as to why the words of an actor who has never held office should carry any weight at all in political matters.  However, there is nothing new in that; Hollywood actors on both sides have proclaimed their views at length, taking advantage of their privileged position (for they are well-aware that anything they utter will be quoted and repeated at length) as a matter of course.  More significant, with respect to this particular pronouncement, are the current figures regarding the COVID virus.  I would say that we’re in fairly perilous straits right now under the current administration.  We had over 140,000 new cases today and over 800 deaths – typical of the daily figures for the past two or three weeks.  At this point the only countries with populations over 10 million whose case incidence rate is higher than our own are Belgium and the Czech Republic.  We are tenth in the list of nations ranked by mortality rate.  The U.S. accounts for nearly 22% of the cases in the world and over 18.5% of the deaths.  Our hospitals, as I noted above, are nearly at full capacity, and there is every reason to suppose that the strain on their resources will increase dramatically over the next few weeks.  Taking all of these factors into account, I should like to know what Voight’s definition of “danger” is. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 63,066,168; # of deaths worldwide: 1,465,048; # of cases U.S.: 13,750,404; # of deaths; U.S.: 273,072.

Hiking in King’s Gap – A virtual theater performance – Dickens’ Christmas Carol – Trump experiences more setbacks – Evening statistics

I wanted to take advantage of the weather yesterday and also to take a look at an area I have not seen for some time, so I alighted on the King’s Gap area.  It is in Pennsylvania, but it is only a two-hour drive from my place.  King’s Gap is a state park built around the summer home of a wealthy family that was prominent in state politics.  The building and the surrounding land was purchased by Pennsylvania in 1973, and the building is now used as an environmental education center.  The land contains numerous and exceptionally well-maintained trails that eventually link to others outside of the park boundaries that lead to Caledonia.  Although the park is not especially striking, it is very pleasant walking; I rambled in the area for 13 miles or so. 

In the evening I “attended” a theater performance, or at any rate a facsimile of one.  I am acquainted with one of the actors in a small theater in New Jersey, which is broadcasting livestream performances.  Thus my attendance consisted of sitting in front of my workstation and logging into a link that the theatre group supplied in an Email.  It is somewhat limited – by necessity, since the COVID virus makes it too risky for actors to come together on the same stage.  The play in question purports to be a radio performance attended by various mishaps and it was limited to three people playing multiple roles, the screen being split between all of the three.  This means that it is difficult to obtain the sort of interplay that actors can supply when they are within the same physical proximity of each other.  But the dialog was delivered well at any rate, and since it is the first occasion I have had for seeing anything even approximating a theatrical play, it was very welcome.  Theatrical plays, concerts, visits to museums – all of these have fallen by the wayside as a result of the virus.  The last time I have been able to enjoy any one of these was on March 6^th, when I went with RK to hear the King’s Singers.  Even then audience attendance was rather sparse, as forebodings about the dangers of the virus were already making people wary of entering an enclosed building with several others.  The danger of infection was much lower then, since the virus was only beginning to make headway; now any sort of stage event is out of the question, both for performers and attendees. 

The play was a version of “A Christmas Carol,” which prompted me to reread the original Dickens novella.  It is actually rather surprising to see how frank Dickens is about harsh social realities, particularly when he focuses on the Cratchit family.  Scrooge’s reluctance to give his employee a holiday, for instance, is not atypical; Cratchit’s daughter also, in getting a day off, is being granted an unusual favor.  Peter Cratchit has an opportunity of obtaining employment by which he might, if he is lucky, earn as much as five-and-a-half shillings a week (the equivalent of something like $150 in modern terms).  They are not good-looking.  The Christmas pudding is just barely large enough to feed everyone, because that is all that they can afford.  Whether he lives or dies, Tiny Tim’s lameness is incurable (in fact, the description of his condition is based on one that afflicted a nephew of Dickens, who died young).  And in the midst of this backdrop of pawnshops and disease and perpetual skimping and foul weather, Dickens manages to provide a truly convincing impression of happiness.  For once the Cratchits are able to obtain an ample meal and the leisure in which they can savor it in each other’s company, and as a result they are genuinely enjoying themselves.  “The wolf is at the door,” as George Orwell memorably described this passage, “but he is wagging his tail.”  It may be that Dickens lays it on a bit too thickly when he dwells on the saintliness of Tiny Tim’s character, but the work as a whole can in no way be interpreted as escapist literature.

Trump has not been making much progress with his efforts to overturn the election.  More than half of the states have already certified their results.  His attempt to deal with the state of Wisconsin in particular has turned out badly, from his point of view.  After he demanded a full recount, the officials of Wisconsin complied, and the recount resulted in 132 additional votes going to Biden.  Trump expended $3 million for this maneuver, but naturally he has learned nothing from the experience.  I suppose we simply have to resign ourselves to the fact that he will continually be initiating lawsuits, no matter how frequently they get thrown out of court, until December 14^th, the day that the Electoral College formally casts its ballots.  What he will resort to after that event is anyone’s guess. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 62,563,184; # of deaths worldwide: 1,458,103; # of cases U.S.: 13,610,357; # of deaths; U.S.: 272,254.

A new feature at a food store – Christmas lights – North Korea – Trump’s flailing attempts to hold onto power – Evening statistics

When shopping today at H-Mart I came across a machine that took one’s temperature at the store’s entrance.  There was a sign stating that getting a temperature scan was mandatory for entering the store’s aisles, but the scanner itself was easy to overlook and no one was monitoring the area to ascertain whether shoppers entering the store were actually using it.  I certainly have no objection to getting a scan; the scanners are less troublesome than mouth-thermometers and using them is a convenient way of being reassured that one’s internal temperature is normal (or alternatively, of getting notified that it is awry before symptoms start to declare themselves).  This is the first time that I’ve seen one installed at any store.  How common this practice is I do not know.  In all probability it will become more widespread during the winter, since the number of COVID cases is bound to surge as a result of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year celebrations.

One (literally) bright side about the days becoming shorter is that Christmas lights have already started to go up.  Normally people wait at least a few days after Thanksgiving, but it may be that this year people have more time on their hands.  At all events, several houses on my block are displaying colorful lights from 5:00 onwards. 

The numerous colors certainly provide variety, but I cannot help recalling the Christmas I spent long ago in Denmark (in 1966, to be exact), where all of the Christmas lights were uniformly white, and the effect was simply dazzling.  I do not know whether that is still the case today or whether the Danes are now using colored lights just as we are.  I suspect that they have succumbed to the use of multi-colored lights, but if so I think it rather a pity.  Sometimes the more limited palette makes the better effect artistically.

Although North Korea has yet to disclose the extent to which the virus is prevalent within its borders, it is tacitly admitting that COVID is a genuine threat.  Pyongyang has been locked down and Kim Jong Un has ordered overseas diplomats to not engage in any actions that could provoke the United States amid the transition to the Biden administration.  The border with China has already been closed, with significant effect on the North Korean economy (and not for the better, needless to say), and now Kim has also, rather curiously, imposed a restriction on fishing at sea, on the grounds of preventing seawater from being infected with the virus.  There have also been at least two executions, one of an official who violated the border lockdown and engaged in smuggling Chinese goods, and the other of a well-known money-changer, who was charged with contributing to North Korea’s plummeting exchange rate.

Trump has now publicly stated that he will concede if the Electoral College results confirm Biden’s victory.  His attempts to upset the election results have had remarkably little effect.  For instance, the U. S. Third Circuit’s judge panel has unanimously rejected the appeal for lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania that challenged the state’s outcome, and in satisfying blunt terms:  “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy.  Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”  It concluded with the inspiriting words, “Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.”

Trump continues to threaten yet more lawsuits.  It is unclear what he expects to gain from such maneuvers.  Not a single lawsuit filed by Trump to date has had a successful outcome.  So far over 40 lawsuits in all have been filed, of which at least 23 have been dismissed, denied, or withdrawn.  The others are still active, but the amount of votes each one of these challenges is relatively small and cannot affect the overall results of any of the states in which they are filed.   In any case, they may get tossed out as well. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 61,956,870; # of deaths worldwide: 1,448,183; # of cases U.S.: 13,450,712; # of deaths; U.S.: 271,025.  Our death toll from the COVID virus to date is now 817 per million of our population.  The overall global average is 186 per million.  An inhabitant of our happy land is thus more than four times as likely to die from the virus than the average overall. 

Modified rapture – The Macy’s Parade – A super spreader event – Evening statistics

This year’s Thanksgiving was solitary, but I have no right to complain.  I have already enjoyed an early Thanksgiving with DC and JC last week(on 11/20) and a late morning visit with EG and HG, and that is probably as much social activity as anyone can reasonably expect in the course of a single week.  And, from a larger perspective, there is much to be thankful for.  I have complained a great deal about the current administration in these entries, and certainly I continue to think of Trump’s influence as baneful and will heave a sigh of relief when he is out of the Oval Office at last.  But at the same time I have never had to live in fear of the door being broken open and police bursting in to drag me to prison, as in Soviet Russia, or of being “struggled against,” as in Maoist China, simply because I think badly of our national leader.  I even publicize such views on social media without fear of reprisal.  Donald Trump has a great capacity for enmity, but it is on a personal level and thus is fairly containable; and then, too, our nation has a sufficient number of safeguards to prevent an outright dictatorship from occurring.  His besetting flaw is, as I think, avarice; and to quote Samuel Johnson, avarice is “a uniform and tractable vice.”  He never will be kind to anyone, but he will not be needlessly cruel to people if there is no money to be obtained from it. 

The Macy’s Parade took place in New York, as always, but there were no crowds in the streets and the balloon handlers and those riding the floats all wore masks.  With such precautions, the event is not likely to be a “super spreader” like various others in recent memory, such as various rallies and the massive motorcycle event in Sturgis. 

Alas, even seemingly innocuous private events have their dangers.  A family in St. Louis gathered together last month to celebrate the 99^th birthday of one of its members.  What could be more natural?  They did not act in a spirit of recklessness.  It was not a huge party – only 12 people in all.  Each of them quarantined several days before the event.  Members who used an airplane trip to travel to St. Louis got tested beforehand, with negative results.  It made no difference.   Every single one of the celebrants came down with the virus afterwards.  In this case they all recovered and there have been no lasting ill effects to date.  But imagine such an episode multiplied by tens of thousands across the country, and that will give an idea of what the results of this year’s Thanksgiving will be.  We may be tired of the COVID virus, but the virus assuredly is not tired of us.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 61,290,843; # of deaths worldwide: 1,436,977; # of cases U.S.: 13,247,759; # of deaths; U.S.: 269,555. 

A mid-morning visit – Voting by mail – The transition to the new administration – Evening statistics.

The weather was warm enough to enable EG and HG to have me over to take coffee with them in their spacious and scenic backyard.  Here I went with EG to look at the koi in the fish pond, which were testifying to their enjoyment of the warmth by swimming energetically, sometimes creating little ripples in the water whenever they came close to the surface.  Then we sat and drank and snacked on scones and cookies, and we discussed the ongoing transition and the manner in which the electoral process has stood firm despite its current trials.  As HG pointed out, the judicial system upheld the voting process in an admirable fashion, tossing out lawsuits that had no evidence to back their claims and not hesitating to remind lawyers of the penalties attached to bringing frivolous lawsuits to the courts.  We agreed, also, that the process of voting by mail is a great benefit.  I for one will probably not vote in person again, since voting by mail is so much easier.  For example, if the ballot contains a voting option for an amendment one has not heard of before (a frequent experience in past visits to the polling station), it is now possible to make inquiries about the issue at one’s leisure before committing oneself to a decision of how to vote on it.  The lawsuits might even be beneficial in the long run, uncovering isolated errors here and there, and thereby allowing us to correct them and to streamline the process.  It is not the effect that Trump intended, but at any rate he can claim that his attempts to challenge the results have not been without impact.

So far Biden deserves a great deal of credit for the way he is handling the transition.  Without making any kind of outcry against the attempts to cheat him of his victory, he has displayed an impressive degree of quiet confidence and has refrained from abusing his political opponents, solely tempted as he must have been to do.  Many of the career civil servants who had suffered under the Trump regime and who in some cases have been forced out of their positions now have a hope of restoration to normalcy.  For example, Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a 35-year veteran of the State Department who had resigned at Trump’s behests and who afterwards wrote bitterly about the damage he was inflicting on the department as a whole.  Now she will be serving as the U.S Ambassador to the United Nations.  The State Department in particular has suffered greatly under the current administration, losing numerous senior people and not obtaining anyone with an equivalent amount of experience and expertise to replace them.  But others have lost people in crucial positions as well:  the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and so on.  It is impossible to describe the relief one feels, after witnessing the four year-long saturnalia of hiring and firing under the current administration, fueled principally by the criterion of loyalty to an unbridled egomaniac, upon seeing the formation of a governmental team superintended by mature adults.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 60,715,397; # of deaths worldwide: 1,426,730; # of cases U.S.: 13,137,962; # of deaths; U.S.: 268,219.  At this point our rate of infection is 4% of the national population.

Hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain – Mileage for the year – Increasing popularity of chess – The dying dinosaur of Trump’s election fraud claim – Evening statistics

Sugarloaf Mountain is a fairly unusual feature in the mid-Atlantic states.  It is a small isolated mountain, or what in geological terms is called a monadnock.  There are several in the Carolinas and Georgia to the south and in New England to the north, but there are few of them in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia.  It was formed by erosion, the bedrock being formed of quartzite much harder than the soil in the surrounding area, and thus it has endured while the nearby land has been worn down by millions of years of weathering.  I led a hike with the Vigorous Hikers there today and we covered nearly all of trails that cross over it.  None of the ascents are particularly long or difficult, but we managed all the same to climb a total of nearly 3000 feet during the hike.  The weather was much better than previous forecasts had indicated.  I was expecting a rather gray and raw day, but instead we had no wind, dry air, beautiful blue skies, and temperatures in the high forties.  We lunched at White Rocks, the midpoint in our hike, and the site of the best views on the mountain.  Sugarloaf is a popular destination, being so close to Washington; there were not many cars in the area when we started at 8:30 but when we returned the parking area was nearly full.  We encountered numerous other hikers on the trails.

At this point my total mileage for the year is over 1900 miles (this amount is for hiking only, not walking along the streets of the city and suburbs).  Hiking periodically both with the Vigorous Hikers and subsets of the Wanderbirds has caused the total to mount up.  And, of course, my attempts to complete the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania had added significantly to the number of miles covered.  I expect to end up with over 2000 miles by the end of December.  It will, in all probability, be the most active year I have had in this respect.  To some extent this result can be attributed to the virus; there has been little in the way of visits to the theatre, to museums, to concert halls, and not much in the way of social gatherings, so I have had to fill up the time in other ways.

During the hike MG mentioned that she and her husband are trying to take up chess, and added that the manufacturers of chess sets are having great difficulty in keeping up with the demand.  The effects of the virus have caused many to take an interest in the game who might otherwise not have invested much time in it, for while its basic rules are easy enough to learn it is difficult to play the game well.  Apparently the Netflix film, The Queen’s Gambit, has also had a share in stimulating interest in the game.  I have not seen it, but others tell me that it is one of the few onscreen dramatizations that depict chess realistically.  Most screenwriters who tackle the subject know very little about the game’s strategies, and their ignorance becomes very apparent whenever the camera focuses on the pieces standing on the board; they are often arranged in a position that is unlikely to occur in real life or in a position in which an immediate win by one of the players is so apparent that no player of even moderate abilities could overlook it.  I played a good deal when I was younger and reached a rating between 1700 and 1800, but it has been years since I have found anyone else to play the game with.  Perhaps that situation will alter once social interaction with others indoors becomes feasible again. 

The recent flurry of news headlines have died down now that the GSA has enabled the transition to begin.  By degrees Trump’s supporters are resigning themselves to the inevitable and have realized that the continual repetition about the election being “rigged” is a non-starter.  Rush Limburgh, the radio host, has actually voiced open dissatisfaction with the efforts of Trump’s legal team to discredit the election results, although his disappointment is chiefly focused on their ineffectiveness rather than their turpitude.  Tucker Carlson, similarly, has called out Sidney Powell for not providing evidence of several of her claims (such as the election software manufacturers were used by “Venezuela, Cuba, and possibly China,” a claim that they have denied with some emphasis).  I don’t see that any of these erstwhile Trump supporters have gone so far as to say that the promises of evidence of election fraud have not been fulfilled because no such evidence is to be found; but possibly such an admission may come forth in time.  This may represent the triumph of hope over experience on my part.

The virus, of course, remains unaffected by party politics and continues to expand at a faster pace than ever.  Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 60,086,831; # of deaths worldwide: 1,413,778; # of cases U.S.: 12,954,671; # of deaths; U.S.: 265,889.  And Thanksgiving will be coming in two days, which will accelerate the rate of expansion still further.                .

Possible extension of the Loudoun Heights Trail – The increasing burden on the national medical system – Transition formally authorized at last – Evening statistics

I went with RS and two other members of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association to investigate the possibility of extending the Loudoun Heights down to the parking area close to the gas station on Rte. 340 – or, more accurately, reviving the old route that had been closed off.  The Loudoun Heights Trail has undergone a considerably amount of modification in the past several years.  Originally the trailhead was located at the back end of the parking area until the trail was closed several years ago to terminate at Split Rock.  More recently, it was rerouted to split from the Appalachian Trail below the ridgeline and go along a lower elevation until reaching a telephone line, at which point it goes upward towards the ridge.  What has motivated the most recent modification I do not know, but the closure of the original trailhead was due to the fact that the trail used switchbacks that passed through private property, and its owner was no longer willing to grant the easement.  It should be possible, however, to set up switchbacks that will remain within the public boundary.  We also explored going along the Potomac from the Harpers Ferry Adventure Center in order to bypass walking along Rte. 340, which is not at all pleasant.  It turns out that setting up a trail there is quite feasible; indeed, it is clear the many people have walked along this way already and a trail has been created, more or less, by people’s footsteps; all that remains to be done is to clear out the undergrowth and to saw through the blowdowns and move them aside. 

As will be seen, hiking and trail exploration remain my chief activities.  There have not been many social gatherings since the advent of the COVID virus, and any in which I have participated have been on a small and reduced scale.  My friends and relatives have been equally circumspect, but evidently this attitude of caution is not universal.

“Somehow the number of deaths hasn’t translated into an overall sense of responsibility that we should have toward each other.”   The speaker of these words is Dr. Nailah Abdulbaaqee, a doctor with a primary care practice with offices in Atlanta and elsewhere.  She is one of many medical professionals reacting to the numbers of people who willfully disregard safety and set up dinner parties with large numbers of guests, sleepovers, and maskless get-togethers.  At this point many hospitals are at full capacity, and we have not even started the holidays yet.  Thanksgiving promises to be a herald of horrors:  it may be taken as a certainty that numerous families will disregard the warnings about large social gatherings and thereby accelerate the rate of infection.

Presumably matters will change once we get an administration that will encourage people to treat the virus seriously and not swamp them with foolish conspiracy theories.  The General Services Administration has formally notified Biden that the transition process can begin and has placed resources at his disposal.  It appears that Donald Trump is beginning to understand, however dimly, that his delaying tactics are not adding to his popularity.  Trump’s perpetual claims of voter fraud, incidentally, obscure the fact that Biden won the popular vote by a 51%-to-47% margin, one of the largest in recent electoral history.  At all events, Ellen Murphy, the GSA Administrator, sent the notification with Trump’s concurrence, so this authorization is a significant step forward. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 59,498,413; # of deaths worldwide: 1,401,539; # of cases U.S.: 12,773,601; # of deaths; U.S.: 263,659.

The Pennsylvania segment of the Appalachian Trail – An improvement of mood – General observations on the AT in Pennsylvania – Evening statistics

A long-term goal was completed today:  I hiked the segment of the Appalachian Trail between Lehigh Gap and Ashfield Road, so that I now have completed hiking all of the AT that runs through Pennsylvania.  I did not undertake this hike in precisely the circumstances I had anticipated.  Originally my plans were to drive to the trailhead, complete the hike, and stay somewhere nearby overnight, so that I could drive back home at leisure on the following day.  The trailhead is about 3½  hours away from my house, so that driving there and back on the same day would amount to 7 hours in all.  But staying at hotels has latterly become very inadvisable, so I made up my mind simply to get up early, start the hike in the morning, and drive back on the same day.  It worked out extremely well; the lateness of the season and the unpromising weather resulted in fewer people being on the roads for outdoor excursions, and the drives in either direction were trouble-free, allowing me to use cruise control for most of the way. 

As for the hike itself, I thought that it would be a somewhat anti-climactic note to end upon, for the weather was forecasted to be cold and damp and cloudy, with rain coming on during the evening, and no views of note were mentioned in the guidebooks.  But here again I was agreeably surprised.  The weather was rather chilly but not unduly so, there was no mist or fog, and the skies were not so overcast as to interfere with the views from overlooks.  I had learned, as I mentioned in the entry for the beginning of the month, that shuttles are now available.  Nonetheless I decided to do a there-and-back hike for this segment, for a couple of reasons.  In the first place, it hardly seemed worthwhile to drive 3½ hours to complete a hike of less than six miles, and also I had learned about a certain trail, the North Trail, that diverges from the AT in this area and rejoins it later on, which was said to be more scenic and which in any case would make the hike more of a loop.  It was 5½ miles each way; using the North Trail adds about ½ mile and some additional elevation gain, but the total ascent for the entire hike was no more than 2000 feet.

It turned out to be an excellent way to complete my goal.  The trail in this area does not have any of the boulder fields that were such an irritating feature of several other sections of the AT in Pennsylvania; there were some rocky areas, certainly, but nothing that approached a perpetual struggle to maintain one’s balance.  The hike goes along a mountain ridge and there were glimpses of the Lehigh Valley throughout.  The views from the North Trail were wonderful:  sweeping vistas of the valley with the Lehigh River winding through it and numerous towns clustered within the expanse.  Palmerton, an old zinc mining town located within the junction of the Lehigh River and Aquashicola Creek, was especially prominent in the panorama as I moved from west to east.  I can thoroughly recommend the loop (it’s about 5½ miles total without the additional distance I covered there-and-back to Ashfield Road after the two trails converge, with 1200-1300 feet of elevation gain) to anyone who is visiting the area. 

I was very glad that I chose this option and that I made up my mind to complete the Pennsylvanian section of the trail at this time, for several reasons.  Not only did I complete coverage of the AT for the state, but the North Trail – as the name indicates – skirts along the north side of the ridge and is greatly afflicted by storms in the winter, so I was thankful that I was able to undertake it before December.  Then, too, my general outlook was materially affected, and greatly for the better.  My temper, as I am well aware, has been souring as a result of the antics of our President to retain his office illicitly and of the continual expansion of the COVID virus.  They have had the effect, as well, of transforming my journal into a continual anti-Trump diatribe:  a worthy cause, to be sure; but after all there are many such on the Internet already.  But today, after the pleasures of the exertion and of savoring the loveliness of the views, my state of mind became a great deal more serene.  So elated was I by the time I was making the final descent that if I had encountered Donald Trump himself in person I would have been inclined to pat him on the head, utter soothing words, and give him some candy in order to comfort the poor child (OK, he’s 74, but he has a mental age of 10) for the disappointment he sustained as the result of the recent election.  I’m not certain exactly what sort of treat I would supplied under the circumstances:  an all-day sucker, perhaps, would have been the most appropriate.

General comments about the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania:  Throughout Pennsylvania the ascents along the Appalachian Trail are not very high; more than 1,000 feet at a time is quite unusual.  The southern half of the trail, which passes through the northernmost portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Cumberland Valley, is comparable to the AT in Maryland in terms of difficulty. The northern half is a different story.  The greater portion of the trail in this part of the state goes along the ridgeline of Blue Mountain and the alterations in elevation are not enormous.  But it is cluttered with boulder fields, sometimes as much as a mile in length, and walking on them is a frustrating experience.  Few of them feature rocks with flat surfaces; for the most part they are jagged and stick up at acute angles several inches above the trail surface, making balance quite precarious.  Some through-hikers consider Pennsylvania to be one of the more difficult areas to traverse on this account. 

The AT goes through St. Anthony’s Wilderness, the second largest section without roads in the state, so that is all to the good.  This area includes some ghost towns from former mining communities that are of historic interest.   But it also passes along some busy state routes, sometimes involving road crossings without walkways where drivers pass by at 60 MPH and more.  On this day’s hike, for instance, I had to cross Rte. 873 (and Rte. 246 as well, but that road at least has a stoplight that pedestrians can use), which is a high-speed road.  There are some parts that involve road walking, and in a few cases the roads do not have sidewalks.  The section of the trail from the last block of Duncannon up to the Clark’s Ferry Bridge, for instance, is one of the most disagreeable I have ever experienced on the AT.

I hiked the greater part of the northern half of the trail while the virus was causing various trail maintenance groups to cut back on their services, and how it is maintained during normal conditions I do not know.  Some portions had blowdowns and others had so much overgrowth that at times it was difficult to make out where exactly the trail led – that is only to be expected.  No doubt under normal circumstances trail repairs are made more frequently.  More troubling, however, is the paucity of blazes in some areas.  In several instances the trail is crisscrossed by other, unmarked trails, and the intersections frequently lack blazes to indicate which way to choose.  On occasion of course I experienced similar difficulties in other states as well, but never as frequently as I did in Pennsylvania. 

The majority of the towns that the AT passes through in Pennsylvania are somewhat drab.  Lickdale, Port Clinton, and Walnutport are fairly non-descript villages, Duncannon is shabby and clearly has seen better days, Wind Gap (which the trail just skirts by in any case) is an unprepossessing collection of strip malls, and even Delaware Water Gap, though pleasant enough, is not especially striking.  Boiling Springs, however, is delightful.  It contains many fine examples of 19^th-century architecture, an old grist mill, and a lake that is crowded with waterfowl.  Like Harper’s Ferry, it is worth visiting for its own sake. 

A distinctive feature of the trail is the portion that goes through the Cumberland Valley, which separates the segment running through the Blue Ridge Mountains from the trail along the long ridgeline of Blue Mountain.  This section goes through numerous farms and meadows, forming a contrast to the more usual mountain scenery of the Appalachian Trail generally.  The trail does pass through farmland and meadow in other states, but not to the extent one finds here.  It provides a welcome change of pace and if, as I did, one has the good luck to go through the area on warm, dry, sunny days, it is an invigorating experience. 

Hikers expecting views with the dramatic impact of some of the more spectacular areas of the trail, such as McAfee Knob or the summits of the mountains in the Presidential Range, will be disappointed.  With the exception of the Pinnacle and Pulpit Rock, there is little approaching such vistas in scope.  But there are numerous lovely views of the valleys adjacent to the base of Blue Mountain that are well worth the effort needed to see them. 

The logical progression after completing the AT in Pennsylvania is to attempt the segment that goes through New Jersey.  For that, of course, I would need to stay in a hotel for a few days, and it is now impossible,  in light of the state’s quarantine restrictions, to determine when such a course will be available again.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 58,969,491; # of deaths worldwide: 1,393,225; # of cases U.S.: 12,587,627; # of deaths; U.S.: 262,694.

Walking in Jug Bay along the Patuxent River – Various chores – The decline in pollution – The G20 summit conference – Defections from the Trump supporters – The decline of the Republican Party – Evening statistics

The effects of the COVID virus have had rather an odd result from a personal point of view:  I am discovering much more about the park areas close to the Chesapeake Bay than I have ever known before, although I’ve lived in the DC metropolitan area for the greater part of my life.  Most of the hiking I’ve done around here has been to the west, mainly in the Blue Ridge and Massanutten ranges.  I have been to Cedarville and Calvert Cliffs, but there are numerous other parklands in Prince Georges, Anne Arundel, and Calvert Counties that I have not seen at all until recently.  These are certainly less strenuous and less dramatic than, say, Old Rag or Signal Knob, and the views are very different in character – one sees the landscape not from a peak or a rock ledge looking downwards but rather from the same level of the point where one is standing.  In the past several months little groups of members of the Wanderbirds hikers have gathered together to hike in these areas, chiefly because they are easy for most of us to reach (less than 90 minutes of driving each way).  I met with seven other Wanderbirds members at Jug Bay, a wetlands area along the Patuxent River and a characteristic example of tidal riparian scenery.  We went along various trails for eight miles, none of them especially challenging but very pleasant walking nonetheless.  Numerous creeks crisscross the area and it is easy to perceive that they readily overflow their banks; there was evidence of recent flooding in many areas on account of the rainfall this autumn.  The best overlooks are actually located close to the parking area itself, with broad vistas of the watery expense dotted with reeds and of the various waterfowl skimming the surface of the marsh in their flight.

We started between 8:30 and 9:00, hiking rather over three hours and covering about 8 miles in all.  And then, in typical Wanderbirds fashion, we snacked together on various items contributed by some of us – mainly by PE, who organized and led the hike:  cider, cheese, crackers, and apples.  I supplied some ginger biscotti, using a recipe that was new to me, and it worked out very well.  I had actually made them on Thursday evening and they improve for being kept over the period of a day or so; the spice intensifies in flavor.

Afterwards I attended to some chores at home, cleaning the gutters, gathering the leaves to dump at the curbside (we are instructed by the municipal government not to bag them), and setting up maps for the hike I am scheduled to lead for the Vigorous Hikers this coming Tuesday.  We will be going up Sugarloaf Mountain, quite an unusual geological feature for this area; but I will say more of it in the entry for the 24^th.

The pandemic has had yet another interesting side effect, on a somewhat less personal level.  By the end of December, carbon dioxide emissions are projected to be 9.2% less than those of last year nationally and 7% less than those of last year globally.  The reduction in transportation, which is by far the biggest polluter, is the main reason for this decrease.  Once the virus is controlled, of course, transportation and, consequently, pollution will increase again.  It is possible, however, that some long-term decrease will result, chiefly because commuting and travel for business purposes will still be considerably less frequent than it was before the virus began to appear. 

The G20 summit met today in Saudi Arabia – but the word “met” should not be used in its literal sense, for this year the meeting was virtual, due to constraints imposed by the virus.  The pandemic was naturally the chief topic of discussion.  Despite lockdowns imposed by various nations, the virus is more virulent than ever.  The WHO says that more cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past four weeks than in the first six months of the pandemic.  Its economic impact on developing nations has plunged millions into poverty.  For that matter, nine of the nations represented in the summit rank the highest for the greatest number of COVID cases:  the United States, India, Brazil, France, Russia, Spain, the U.K., Argentina and Italy.  There does not appear much in the way of practical measures to emerge from this meeting, but the G20 nations did agree to suspend debt payments for the world’s poorest countries until mid-2021 to allow those nations to focus their spending on health care and stimulus programs. 

There is reason for feeling slightly more optimistic about the nullification of Trump’s attempt at a coup d’état (I cannot consider this continual flood of lawsuits in any other light).  Some Republicans are distancing themselves from Trump’s efforts to hijack the election.  Mitt Romney has openly denounced Trump for his attempts to push state officials to overturn results:  no surprises there, since his hatred of the President is sufficiently well-known by now.  Two Republican senators — Ben Sasse from Nebraska and Joni Ernst from Iowa – have repudiated the fallacious claims of the press conference this past Thursday, while Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has called on the Trump administration to authorize the Biden transition.  But how isolated and tentative these ventures are, and how saddening it is to see the great majority of Republican legislators remain silent on the matter, oblivious to the abjectness of the figures they cut in their wriggling as they sit upon the fence.  The Republican Party has simply withered.  It cannot be salvaged.  Trump has contaminated it beyond recall.

In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliott is driven by his extravagance and by expenses fueled by his exaggerated sense of self-importance to the desperate step to renting out the family manor.  His daughter Anne is forced to move in with her married sister as a poor relation (not an uncommon fate at the time for women entering spinsterhood).  After she lives in that position for several months, a friend of the family proposes visiting the couple renting out the manor, adding,

“’Anne, have you courage to go with me, and pay a visit to that house?  It will be some trial to us both.’

“Anne did not shrink from it; on the contrary, she truly felt as she said, in observing,

“’I think you are very likely to suffer the most of the two; your feelings are less reconciled to the change than mine.  By remaining in the neighborhood, I am become inured to it.’

“She could have said more on the subject; for she had in fact so high an opinion of the Crofts, and considered her father so very fortunate in his tenants, felt the parish to be so sure of a good example, and the poor of the best attention and relief; that however sorry and ashamed for the necessity of the removal, she could not but in conscience feel that they were gone who deserved not to stay, and that Kellynch-hall had passed into better hands than its owners’.  These convictions must unquestionably have their own pain, and severe was its kind; but they precluded that pain which Lady Russell would suffer in entering the house again and returning through the well-known apartments.”

And so it is with Republican Party.  It requires no gift of prophecy to foresee that a violent reaction will arise against it once Trump is out of the White House; their continual cowardice towards a man who combines the qualities of folly, ignorance, conceit, and treachery in every action he undertakes will be recollected and deplored; and they will suffer greatly for it in the 2022 elections.  I am sorry for it, for it was not so very long ago that they championed policies that I myself favored; but it is impossible for me to feel otherwise than what Anne Elliott felt about the father and elder sister who frittered their estate away, that “they were gone who deserved not to stay.” 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 58,474,888; # of deaths worldwide: 1,385,768; # of cases U.S.: 12,445,387; # of deaths; U.S.: 261,783.

An early Thanksgiving celebration – The recount in Georgia – Speculation about events on January 20^th – Evening statistics

I visited my friends DC and JC, during which we had an early Thanksgiving celebration, eating outside on the lawn on what turned out to be a perfect day:  temperatures in the 60s, no wind, and a cloudless sky.  Time passes quickly in such company; I arrived a little before 11:00 and before I knew it, it was already 3:00 by the time we rose from our seats and decided to stretch our legs after eating.  We strolled to the Lee District Park, which is a local recreational area with a pleasant trail through the woods and numerous athletic fields.  It will not be easy to repeat an occasion like this for some time.  Soon the weather will become too chilly to eat out of doors comfortably.  This circumstance, combined with the growing number of lockdowns in various states, will probably result in numerous closures of restaurants and bars; it is doubtful that the majority of them can survive such severe restrictions over a protracted period of time.

As is happening so frequently in recent months, the peaceful nature of my experiences on a personal level forms a vivid contrast to what is happening in the nation at large.

Georgia has completed its hand-recount of the votes and has certified the results, and Governor Kemp has confirmed that he will sign the certification.  But no result is considered final by Trump and his myrmidons.  Almost certainly they will demand another recount.  And recounts in various other states.  And other tactic that they can think of to delay the inevitable.  During yesterday’s press conference, Trump’s spokesmen went into screaming hysterics as they recited their claims of conspiracy, with attorney Sidney Powell choking down actual tears and Rudy Giuliani sweating so profusely as to cause his hair dye to melt.  It would have been risible if the stakes were not so high. 

What is going to happen if Trump refuses to leave the White House by January 20^th?  Technically, he becomes a civilian that day and Joe Biden, as Commander-in-Chief, acquires the authority to order the military or the Secret Service to escort Trump off of the premises by force.  Whether he will have the resolution to do so is another matter.  I can understand why he would hesitate to make a public spectacle of his predecessor in this fashion, but I can see no alternative.  It is clear that Trump will not leave of his own volition. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 57,894,649; # of deaths worldwide: 1,376,796; # of cases U.S.: 12,274,040; # of deaths; U.S.: 260,273.  Our case count increase today was over 200,000 – about 30% of the daily case count increase for the world.  It has to be reiterated that we account for only 4% of the global population.  Our death toll incidence rate has overtaken that of Chile.  And we still have two months of this administration’s misguided policies to endure!  When I first heard that Trump himself had been stricken with the virus, I said that I had no particular desire for a fatal outcome.  I would now like to retract that remark.

A long hike – Social Security – The sad story of Rudy Giuliani – Evening statistics

After going with RS from the “Workhouse” (the former prison at Lorton that has been converted for use as artists’ studios) to Belle Haven via Fort Belvoir for over 30 miles, I arrived home very late yesterday, and was too tired to write a journal entry.  It was a good hike, on a brisk although not frigid day, but the route turned out to be somewhat longer than expected.  But we had fine views of the Potomac just as dusk was beginning and very pleasant walking on the trails in the area at and surrounding Meadowood. 

Today I’ve been taking matters somewhat more easily, but still not without labor, attending to various chores such as laundry and shopping and lawn-tending, as well as settling accounts.  Today marked my first Social Security payment.  It is a bit disturbing to realize that for many people such payments are their only source of income after retirement.  It is a very useful supplement, but it would not be sufficient in itself to live on.  I do not mean to complain, however.  It will undoubtedly make matters easier.  For several months I have managed to live on my income and even have enough for menus plaisirs, but I have had to avoid larger expenses.  Now I will be able to make certain improvements that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time (getting a new garbage disposer, for instance, or getting an old maple tree in the backyard cut down before it collapses). 

At this point Trump’s lawsuits have become so frequent even the news headlines are weary of them and are giving them less prominence.  I cannot forbear, however, remarking on the sorry deterioration of Rudy Giuliani, who has been spearheading the effort to bring them to the courts.  In 2001 his leadership of New York City after the 9/11 attack was inspiring.  This is not simply my personal assessment; he was listed as the “Person of the Year” by Time magazine and he received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, as well as many other honors from both our country and other nations.  Now, nearly two decades later, he has become Trump’s stooge, stooping to the most blatant falsehoods and most frivolous claims in order to bolster Trump’s flailing attempts to remain in office illegally.  What can he hope to gain from such a course?  He is already a wealthy man, his assets amounting to about $45 million.  He is 76 years old and has undergone treatments for prostate cancer, a disease that claimed the life of his father at the age of 73; so it is unlikely that he has many future years of life to provide for.  Yet he clings to his position of Trump’s legal advisor as avidly as if he were a young man whose career and income for decades into the future depended upon it. 

He is a good example of the phenomenon about the Trump administration that continually puzzles me:  how is a man of such base character and limited intellect able to inspire undying loyalty among men and women whose natural abilities are greatly superior to his own?

The extent to which Giuliani has declined under Trump’s influence was made evident when he unintentionally became involved in the new Borat film.  The scene indeed was something a sting operation.  The actress playing the role of Borat’s young daughter, posing as a TV journalist, gave him an obsequious interview and afterwards invited him to have a drink with her in a hotel room (which was rigged with concealed cameras).  After she removed his microphone, Giuliani reclined on the room’s bed, fiddled with his untucked shirt, and reached into his trousers, apparently to stimulate his genitals. At this point Borat interrupted them by running in and saying: “She 15. She too old for you.”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 57,216,034; # of deaths worldwide: 1,364,814; # of cases U.S.: 12,064,025; # of deaths; U.S.: 258,282.  Today’s death toll in this country was over 2,000.  The amount of the population infected with the virus is now over 3.6%, or more than one person in every 28. 

Hiking from the Old Rag parking area to Stony Man – An unexpected snowfall – A comforting theory – Overturning of the Pennsylvania lawsuit – Evening statistics

After missing out on a couple of hikes with the Vigorous Hikers I was able to rejoin them this week.  We started from the new parking area for Old Rag, the first time I’ve used it.  It is a great improvement over the old one, being closer to the trailheads and thus averting the necessity for a lengthy road walk, and it is paved, so that one can avoid parking the car on muddy ground on days after recent rains.  We did not go up Old Rag, however; instead we took the Nicholson Hollow Trail to Skyline Drive, turned onto the Appalachian Trail to go to Stony Man, took the horse trail leading out of Skyland to the Old Rag fire road, and returned via the Corbin Mountain Trail and the Nicholson Hollow Trail – something over 16 miles and about 3400 feet of elevation gain.  It is interesting how the memory of certain trails does not always jibe with one’s most recent experience.  I remembered the ascent along the Nicholson Hollow Trail from Corbin Cabin to Skyline Drive as being long, steep, and arduous.  It is long, certainly – nearly two miles of steady ascending – but it is much less steep than I remembered.  Perhaps it seemed more difficult on previous occasions because for some reason the hikes we did along this trail seemed to take place on hot days, when any kind of ascent becomes more taxing. 

The weather was certainly not overly warm on this occasion.  During the beginning it was in the high forties and rather sunny, excellent weather for a continual ascent.  When we reached Skyline Drive, however, it became overcast, much colder, and windy as well.  When we reached Stony Man it actually began to snow – only a dusting, it is true, but a fairly intense snow squall while it lasted.  We tried to stop for lunch on the leeward side of the mountain, but even so it was too cold for me to sit there for long, since I had not brought extra layers of clothing to wear.  It became steadily warmer as I returned down into the hollow and by the time I reached the Nicholson Hollow Trail again it was very pleasant.  Much of the foliage is gone by now; Nature is beginning its annual slumber and casting off her finery.  There is some comfort in the midst of a pandemic in being reminded that this slow alternation of systole and diastole continues with its usual steady beat and that the cycle of life outside of the purely human level endures without being affected by our current turmoil.

Some members of the group mentioned a report that they heard on the radio claiming that it is possible that many may be acquiring a degree of immunity to COVID without being aware of it.  It seems that if droplets, instead of being concentrated in an enclosed room, are dispersed and scattered in the air, they may cause persons to contract the virus in such an attenuated state that they will have no symptoms; while at the same time the diluted concentration of the virus in one’s system will set antibodies in action.  It certainly is a cheering theory; but I would like to obtain some sort of confirmation before subscribing to it.

Another cheering circumstance is that the lawsuit to block certification of the votes in Pennsylvania, based on the claim that independent observers were prohibited access to the polls in Philadelphia, was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court   Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes, well over the number needed to ensure that Biden’s total electoral vote count is over 270.  More and more Republicans have been suggesting that the flurry of lawsuits will have no effect whatsoever, and presumably are poised to desert the sinking ship that is Donald Trump.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 55,934,708; # of deaths worldwide: 1,342,942; # of cases U.S.: 11,695,711; # of deaths; U.S.: 254,255. 

Another beautiful day – The virus spreads at accelerating rates – Vaccines – Judges react to Trump’s lawsuits – Evening statistics

One could not ask for a greater contrast between yesterday and today.  The gray, shadowy skies and oppressively heavy atmosphere have given way to a day almost without clouds and with fresh, dry air.  Generally the sky appears clearer after a rainfall ends, but there is no question that the great reduction of traffic emissions as a result of the virus has been a factor as well.  The past several months have given us some of the clearest skies in the area that I can remember – even during the summer, which usually is much hazier, with the tint of the sky being bleached to the extent of its becoming more white than blue. 

It is a pleasure rather dearly bought, for the COVID virus continues to expand at an alarming rate.  We surpassed 11 million cases just three days ago, and today we already have more than 500,000 additional cases total.  Both Texas and California have more than 1,000,000 cases apiece – rather more than Mexico.  As a basis of comparison, Mexico’s population is over 129 million, whereas Texas and California have 29 and 40 million respectively.  At this point Dr. Fauci recommends abstaining from bars, nightclubs, indoor restaurant dining, non-essential travel, and large social gatherings, including family gatherings such as those traditional during the Thanksgiving holidays.  About 70,000 COVID patients have checked into hospitals, which are undergoing a strain similar to that which occurred during this past spring.  One medical worker, Dr. Brandon Webb from Intermountain Healthcare, said in reference to his workplace, “I have seen more human suffering in the hospital in the last month than I’ve seen in my career.” In certain places, such as El Paso, Texas, coroners as well as hospital workers are overwhelmed; prison inmates are being used to load bodies into mobile morgues. 

Two vaccines have been developed and are awaiting approval for distribution, one by Pfizer and one by Moderna.  They may become available as early as December.

In the meantime our nation is still undergoing a blight of a very different character.  The virus, at least, is impersonal.  The continued refusal of Trump to concede and to clog the legal system with lawsuits is a combination of obstinacy, duplicity, temerity, greed, and sheer unadulterated spite. Judges have expressed their exasperation with lawsuits that have come to them with no justification, whether they are Republican or Democratic appointees.  Of the eighteen suits filed to date, only two have been accepted; the remainder have been dismissed – and not only dismissed, but the judges have in many instances chastised the litigants, which is highly unusual.  But then again, the lack of evidence in the cases brought to the courts is unusual as well.  The sharpest words probably came from Judge Timothy Kenny who, in dismissing the case that requested blocking the certification of the results in Michigan, said that the GOP poll watchers’ “interpretation” of events inside the Detroit counting facility at the TFC Center was “incorrect and not credible.”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 55,340,037; # of deaths worldwide: 1,331,731; # of cases U.S.: 11,538,057; # of deaths; U.S.: 252,651. 

Leaf removal – Slight indications towards concession – Biden continues his preparations – Evening statistics

Even after a few days absence, tasks mount up.  In this case I had to tend to the leaves on my lawn, which have greatly accumulated in the course of four days.  The effort I expended today on their removal will probably be, if not the last time for the season, the most extensive.  At this point most of the branches of the trees on my yard and my neighbor’s are bare.  On one day during this coming week I will have to clean out the gutters as well.  Today was probably a good time to work on this chore.  It was very gray and overcast, with what is sometimes called a “close” atmosphere:  perpetually threatening to rain but never actually breaking out, so that the air felt almost like a physical weight bearing down on everything.  It would not have been very pleasant to be out hiking and in any case my pedometer shows that I covered between 9 and 10 miles simply by tending to lawn-related chores and grocery shopping. 

Although Trump has refused to concede, he has more or less admitted that Biden has won the election – always maintaining, of course, that the election was “rigged.”  His followers marched in Washington yesterday, where they clashed with those who support our usual electoral process.  It started out peacefully enough and its ending admittedly could have been worse:  21 arrests and one stabbing, not fatal.  And finally some Republican voices are being heard in favor of Trump’s acknowledging defeat so that the transition can take place smoothly, Governor DeWine (Ohio) and Governor Hutchinson (Arkansas) among them.  Outside of these, it is sad to see the extent to which Trump has the entire party in thrall.  One would think that they would welcome the opportunity to shake off his influence after his defeat was confirmed, but instead the majority of them prefer to bask in his groundless conspiracy theories and rally to his support as he continually places our country at risk by issuing roadblocks to the transition.  Transitions between one president and another are perilous under the best of circumstances, but Trump has made this one doubly so by his refusal to allow Biden access to classified information that is needed to formulate policies.

In the meantime Biden goes on to all appearances unperturbed by Trump’s recalcitrance, mulling over potential candidates for critical new positions and meeting with various experts to determine strategies to pursue long-term goals.  Kamala Harris has tactfully kept a low profile during this period, making no public appearances since the day of her acceptance speech.  All in all they each promise to bring about a much saner government than the one we currently have.

Biden’s influence is beginning to be apparent in other ways as well.  As is well-known, he does not, like our incumbent, possess a gilded trophy for a partner, but instead is married to a real wife.  Already the atmosphere in our capital is notably more monogamous as a result.  Public displays of conjugal affection are now fashionable, and encounters with sprightly youths in their sixties and seventies boasting of their conquests have become less frequent as the city prepares to usher in the new administration.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 54,802,832; # of deaths worldwide: 1,324,025; # of cases U.S.: 11,363,699; # of deaths; U.S.: 251,832. 

An out-of-state trip – Hotels half-empty – The virus continues to spiral – Development of a vaccine – The threat of Thanksgiving – Donald Trump’s refusal to concede – The mood at the White House – The mounting figures – Evening statistics

I had to put the blog on a brief hiatus while I took a trip that was, possibly, ill-judged.  Some time ago I had arranged to visit a friend in the Chicago area during the mid-spring, but we kept postponing it for various reasons, the virus among them.  Finally we decided to set up the visit this week because if we waited any longer it would be many additional months before it could occur. 

The visit itself was enjoyable but the surrounding circumstances were certainly odd.  I took two days to drive, stopping overnight at a hotel just off the highway near the Ohio/Indiana border.  I had not made a reservation in advance, but none was needed; it was clear that the hotel had very few occupants.  The same was true of the hotel in Orland Park.  Whenever I used the elevator I had it all to myself.  Breakfast, of course, was not served.  There are restrictions on indoor dining, although using restaurants for takeout is still permitted.  People are now much more diligent about wearing masks, even when walking on the streets.  No one can enter a store without one.  To make my stay there as risk-free as possible, I asked the front desk whether I might forego daily maid service (since I checked in on the 12^th and left on the 14^th, it was not exactly a killing sacrifice), and they did not appear to think such a request at all unusual, and indeed seemed rather gratified than otherwise.  This trip, brief and limited as it was, will probably be the last one I will take for some time to come.  As the virus steadily increases in all states, it seems probable that travel from one state to another will be severely limited, if not prohibited altogether.

The numbers of people afflicted with the virus has been steadily increasing.  To say that it is spiking would be inaccurate, because that implies that the rate of increase has reached its maximum; whereas every day sees an incrementally larger rate of increase.  We have had more than a million new cases within a week.  By way of contrast, in China, where the virus originated, the number of new cases is minimal and there have been hardly any new deaths for several days.  In Europe, South America, and Latin America, on the other hand, the virus is spiraling out of control as well, although not to the same extent as here.  Already our hospitals are being strained again, as they were in the spring,.  Many have reached full capacity.

There is one hopeful piece of news:  the vaccine appears to be nearing the completion of development and it will be distributed on a limited basis to health care personnel and to others who are at the greatest risk.  But not too much should be built on this.  It is not known how long its effectivity will last and it is also unclear whether a significant number of people will react badly to it.  In any case, it will take several months before a vaccine can diminish the effects of the virus on the populace at large.

In the meantime, Thanksgiving festivities are approaching; and even though most state governors are imploring residents to limit their family gatherings, it seems likely that several will be held across the country and increase the rate of contagion still further.  Also, the upcoming winter season means that people will be spending more time indoors, where infection is more likely to occur. 

And what of the man who is chiefly responsible for this state of affairs?  Donald Trump still refuses to concede the election.  He has issued various lawsuits challenging the results in various states.  Most of these have been summarily thrown out of court, for there is not the slightest evidence of falsification of results anywhere.  Trump’s lawsuits, incidentally, are quite insulting to the polling officials who conducted their operations painstakingly and conscientiously, under especially challenging conditions – such an unprecedented number of mail-in votes and a pandemic raging through the country; but hardly anyone has spoken up on their behalf.  Some of the claims that Trump’s supporters have made in his support ought to be awarded prizes for sheer nerve.  One Nevada official, for instance, said that people voted out of state.  Of course they did – several people who are listed as state residents may have temporary residences elsewhere.  College students are a primary example.  Again, sometimes people may have time-consuming work assignments that make it advisable to take in a pied-à-terre close to their office because their main home is too far away from the location where they are expected to work. 

It is difficult to obtain clear reports about what is happening behind the scenes at the White House.  Such accounts that have emerged indicate that Trump is even more dejected than he is angry.  And well he might be – once he is no longer President he will be expected to meet his personal debts (amounting to about $350 million), with the additional complications of a possible $100 million owed in back taxes and a lawsuit from his niece challenging the distribution of the inheritance he received from his father.  He will cling to his office by all means possible, and this barrage of lawsuits and denigration of our voting system might well be his attempt at a coup d’état. 

“I don’t hate Trump,” one friend told me.  “I think of him as a frightened little boy.”  That is perhaps as good an account as any.  The problem, of course, is that he is a frightened little boy in a position of power, rather like the six-year old boy in the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life,” who on account of his telepathic powers has isolated his village from the rest of the world and subjected its inhabitants to a reign of terror.  Already a quarter of a million Americans are dead from the COVID virus.  Of course Trump could not have prevented all of these, but does anyone doubt that this figure would have been much lower under a different administration? 

As an illustration, here are the figures for past few days (I neglected to get the global numbers for 11/10 but the other figures are complete):

11/10 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases U.S.: 10,565,822; # of deaths; U.S.: 245,919. 

11/11 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 52,416,475; # of deaths worldwide: 1,288,776; # of cases U.S.: 10,703,519; # of deaths; U.S.: 247,279. 

11/12 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 53,073,151; # of deaths worldwide: 1,298,558; # of cases U.S.: 10,870,708; # of deaths; U.S.: 248,550. 

11/13 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 53,730,860; # of deaths worldwide: 1,308,564; # of cases U.S.: 11,063,015; # of deaths; U.S.: 249,979. 

11/14 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 54,311,920; # of deaths worldwide: 1,317,397; # of cases U.S.: 11,225,823; # of deaths; U.S.: 251,255. 

Leaf removal – Trump uses his characteristic “You’re fired!” phrase again – The voter fraud hotline – Evening statistics

An uneventful day, after the activities of last week.  The Indian summer, as it is called here, is still continuing.  It will be warm tomorrow as well; then rain on Wednesday and more seasonal temperatures are expected to follow.  I spent a good deal of the afternoon removing leaves from the lawn, using a lawn mower instead of a leaf blower.  This method is not only easier, but it results in bits of leaves remaining on the grass to act as a mulch. 

Matters were less humdrum In the public arena today.  Donald Trump has reacted to his defeat in a characteristic manner:  by firing someone, of course.  The sacrificial victim of the day is Defense Secretary Mark Esper.  Since in all likelihood Esper would have been forced to depart once Biden took over and since also he would not intervene in the scapegoating of Brett Crozier, I feel little sympathy for him.  He will not be the only person to lose his position as a result of Trump’s defeat.  Ivanka Trump will no longer occupy her post as “special advisor to the President” once the Presidential office is occupied by a man who is not her father.  She will thereupon be forced to join the ever-swelling ranks of the unemployed, albeit she will be in a somewhat different situation than most of the others in that category.  She and her husband will have to struggle together somehow on the interest of their fifty-to-a-hundred million dollar estate. 

Trump has set up a “voter fraud hotline” that encourages people to report suspected instances of fraud in the polls, however fallacious they may be, and it has met with all of the success it deserves.  Various pranksters from Tik-Tok and Twitter users have flooded it with spam calls, in some cases going viral with the results.  One example is Alex Hirsch, creator of the Disney Channel show Gravity Falls, who made a recording of his prank call to report an attempt of interference at a poll by the “Hamburglar” (a character from MacDonaldland fantasy-land).  The video has been viewed nearly half a million times since Friday.  As a result, the Trump team keeps changing the number, in the vain hope of discouraging such jokes; the only response is that the pranksters redirect their calls to the new number.  Despite Trump’s use of Twitter, he never has really understood the impact of Internet.  He ought to have learned something about it by this time, considering how various social media groups flooded his first post-shutdown rally on June 20^th in Tulsa with fake applications to attend, so that the number of people who actually showed up was, from his point of view, disappointingly low.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 51,232,442; # of deaths worldwide: 1,268,905; # of cases U.S.: 10,421,076; # of deaths; U.S.: 244,448.