Winter snowfall – Traffic jam on I-95 – The first anniversary of the attempted coup – Trump as a “karma Houdini” – Evening statistics
We had the first snowfall of the season on Monday, and the first significant one (more than 8 inches in some areas) for at least two years. I was more or less confined to the house on Monday, and although some of the roads were plowed yesterday, I judged it best not to drive anywhere when there was no necessity to do so. Yesterday I went to Scott’s Run Nature Reserve to finish clearing out the Potomac Heritage Trail between the nature reserve and Scott’s Run itself. Of the past three days, Tuesda saw the best weather, the atmosphere displaying the pristine quality that occurs once a storm passes through and clears the air. More snow is expected tonight (Thursday).
Admittedly, my attitude towards the snow might have been different if I were still commuting or obligated to drive under such conditions instead of having the luxury of choosing to remain at home. One man had a particularly grueling experience on Monday evening. Upon returning from San Francisco to Dulles, he hired an Uber to get back to his residence in Richmond. The car got stuck in a huge traffic jam created by the unplowed roads and the ride, which under ordinary circumstances would have been about two hours, amounted to more than nine. Afterwards Uber charged him $600 over the original cost. It is only just to record that after he protested and was able to get in contact with the company, it refunded the fee and stated that the amount would not be taken out of the driver’s earnings. His experience was far from unique: the traffic jam on I-95 stretched out over a distance of 50 miles and hundreds of drivers waited more than 24 hours before the roads could be cleared by the plows.
For my own part, the snowfall has induced a certain lassitude – with regard to the journal, that is to say. Otherwise I have been active enough: shoveling the walks, shopping on foot (because I was running low on food Monday, and it seemed very inadvisable to drive as the snow was falling even for short distances), making more bread for the week, scouting hikes that I am to lead on the 8th and the 11th, and so on. Part of the reason is that there has been little real news. The status of our situation as far as the COVID virus is concerned is virtually unchanged. Omicron continues to be the dominant variant, numerous anti-vaxxers have lost their lives on account of their obstinate refusal to take the vaccines, and various prominent Republicans (Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Kevin McCarthy, among others) continue to display the ostrich instinct in denying the severity of a virus that has claimed well over 5 million lives worldwide, over 15% of them American – about four times of what the proportion would have been had deaths from COVID been distributed evenly among all the world nations. One gets wearied of so much repetition.
Today, however, has aroused me from my apathetic attitude towards writing, for it is an important occasion. It is both Epiphany and what might be called, for our country at any rate, Anti-Epiphany: in other words, today is the first anniversary of the assault upon the Capitol. The aftermath possibly inspires even greater dismay than the original event. About 70 of the rioters have received sentences, most of them quite trivial. None of them has received more than five years of jail time. One might excuse such misguided leniency on the grounds that they were for the most part merely pawns, but those who have orchestrated the event have not received any sentencing at all. In particular, Donald Trump has emerged scot-free. None of the lawsuits that threatened to accuse Trump of treason has materialized and politically the failed coup has cost him nothing: if anything, his stranglehold on the Republican Party has intensified as a result. If the presidential election were to be held this year, he would be certain to win the nomination. There is a real possibility of his running for President again in 2024, and, what is worse, of winning the election.
It is true that various lawsuits have piled up against Donald Trump during the past few weeks, many of them initiated by police officers who were attacked in the January 6th riot. But it seems a waste of time to itemize them; at this point Trump is enmeshed in dozens of lawsuits by private parties, and none of them seem to be able to touch him. Any financial penalty he undergoes will not even make a dent in holdings that amount to two-and-a-half.5 billion dollars. The only penalty that would make any impression on him is time in prison, and our court system is too pusillanimous even to consider it.
His supporters, in the meantime, continually keep up the pose of being political outsiders even when they occupy some of the most prominent offices in the land:
“The American people deserve an honest government, not a bunch of gaslighters,” Lauren Boebert wrote in a recent tweet. Several months ago Brazilian President Bolsonaro participated in a protest march against the Brazilian national government – that is to say, against himself – and now Boebert is following his example by disparaging our own national government, seemingly unaware that she is one of its representatives.
Yesterday’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 298,083,620; # of deaths worldwide: 5,481,639; # of cases U.S.: 58,765,219; # of deaths; U.S.: 853,561.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 300,638,492; # of deaths worldwide: 5,489,390; # of cases U.S.: 59,521,490; # of deaths; U.S.: 855,734.