Sugarloaf Mountain in the snow – Indonesia mediates for Myanmar – A focused resolution – Evening statistics
A local author is writing, or I should rather say updating, a book on hikes in Western Maryland. At her behest, several hikers in the region are scouting the hikes described in the book and suggesting revisions as needed. It is a necessary task for any revision of a book describing regional hikes. Trails get rerouted, as do the roads that are mentioned in the driving directions to the trailheads. As part of this effort I went to Sugarloaf Mountain today to go over a circuit hike described in the book. I honestly did not expect any surprises, since I had been there as recently as November; but I received one nonetheless. The trail routes themselves have not changed, but on this occasion the residual snow and ice transformed what ordinarily would be a rather easy hike into quite a challenging one. I was very tired by the time I had completed it, and it was only about 9 miles long. On the other hand, the views from the summit and from White Rocks were splendid. The view from the summit overlooks the unincorporated community of Dickerson and its power plant. That, in itself, doesn’t sound very attractive, but in fact the community and the plant are on such a small scale that they actually emphasize the expansiveness of the view. From White Rocks one looks westward over the Frederick Valley, the floodplain of the Monocacy River. The road to the East View and West View parking lots was closed, and only a few cars were parked at the small parking area at the base when I arrived at 9:00 AM, so I had these views to myself when I arrived at the overlooks – the first time I have ever done so, for Sugarloaf is a popular local excursion and generally is rather crowded. It was a beautiful day, close to 60 degrees on the mountain (and well over 60 when I came back to lower elevations), a welcome change after the wet weather and gray skies of the majority of the days these past three weeks.
Indonesia has taken the lead within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar caused by the coup on February 1st. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Myanmar’s military-appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, for talks in Bangkok yesterday. The Myanmar democracy activists are suspicious of this intervention, not entirely without justification. They fear that such efforts might confer legitimacy on the junta now in control. Retno insists that she will hold communications with both sides and that the wellbeing of the people of Myanmar is the number one priority. This last statement is of course rather vague, but Indonesian authorities are indicating that they will induce ASEAN to send monitors to ensure that the military government will adhere to its promise of holding free elections within a year. It clearly is in the best interests of the current government in Myanmar to be in good standing with their neighbors and economic allies, which makes a peaceful outcome at any rate a possibility. Still, people – and politicians in particular – do not always act in accordance with their best interests. Sometimes love of power overrides every other consideration. We have recently seen an example of that somewhat closer to home.
Speaking of which . . .
House Democrats have introduced a bill that bans former U.S. presidents who have been “twice impeached” from burial in Arlington National Cemetery. I’m little surprised that they did not include a proviso that rules out “orange-haired former U.S. presidents who wear hideous neckties” from the privilege, just in case the proposed motion as it stands is not specific enough.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 113,081,640; # of deaths worldwide: 2,506,752; # of cases U.S.: 28,974,124; # of deaths; U.S.: 517,408.