Hiking in Shenandoah National Park – Members of a hiking group – The Republican Party, then and now – Twitter vs. Donald Trump Jr. – The medical expertise of Dr. Stella Immanuel – Evening statistics
I went with the Vigorous Hikers today, thereby escaping the intense heat that still plagues the DC metro area. As in other instances, temperatures along a mountain ridge were much less oppressive. We started from Panorama, going the opposite direction used by the hike I did yesterday, stopping by briefly at Mary’s Rock (where the breeze was especially strong, very refreshing after an ascent of over 1100 feet in 1.7 miles) and continuing along the Appalachian Trail to the Little Stony Man overlook, and then returning: about 8½ miles each way and 4000 feet of elevation gain in all. The overlook from Mary’s Rock remains as impressive as ever: a 180-degree view of the Shenandoah Valley below, as well as a birds-eye view of the city of Luray. I could not help being reminded, however, of a certain Wanderbirds hike some years ago on the return from Mary’s Rock to Panorama: no less than three people were injured on the final descent, one of these injuries being a broken wrist. It actually is not an especially difficult descent, but one must maintain care and attentiveness going down at all times on account of its grade and the amount of rocks and scree. I can assure hikers who may disbelieve this claim that there are many portions of the AT that are far more hazardous. There are several other splendid views along this section of the AT – the top of Pinnacles, the descent into Jewell Hollow, and of course Little Stony Man itself.
MB has returned to the group, having successfully been operated on his knee. He made good time in completing the hike, although he admitted afterward that he may have overdone it for a first significant hike after such an operation. He mentioned that his daughter recently contracted the virus, but that happily it had little effect on her and that she is now completely recovered. Still, she was forced to self-quarantine for 14 days. The group also included CC, who has been recently widowed (I have spoken about her husband’s final days in earlier entries) but is showing a resilient spirit in the face of her loss and is gradually resuming former activities, at least to the extent that that is possible under the circumstances. She spoke of her plans of going to Saratoga later in the summer. She would have to self-quarantine, of course; but since she has a summer house of her own in the area, that would not be an issue for her.
It was a full day, even if not quite up to the standards of what I enjoyed yesterday – and indeed that could scarcely be surpassed. It is to be hoped that others are managing to obtain pleasures of their own and not skulking in fear all day long; for, as usual, the reports from the headlines form a vivid contrast to the tenor of life on a personal level.
“Remember, we have no enemies, only opponents.” These are the words of Ronald Reagan talking to his staff in the Republican Party during his administration. The spirit that inspired such words has been banished completely; the Republican Party has been cast in a very different mold by our current President, and by no means a better one. It will take a long time before the cheerfulness, confidence, and graciousness embodied by Reagan can be restored, if indeed any such restoration is possible. I suppose it is idle to wonder at this point how the Republicans allowed their party to be hijacked by this crude, imperceptive, small-minded vulgarian; the fact remains, that it has been hijacked and is now completely off-course. The men and women who have been discarded like broken toys mishandled and spoiled by an ill-disposed child must be ruing the day they stretched out on the ground and allowed him to place his feet on their necks; they are rightly despised by the majority of their countrymen for their cravenness and will almost certainly be roundly rejected in the upcoming election.
Donald Trump has claimed (and repeated that claim numerous times) in a recent interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News that he has been “unfairly treated” by his political enemies; and it is possible that his once-beloved Twitter has become an honorary member of this extensive list. Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son, posted a video on Twitter that was a rehash of all of the old claims – that masks were unnecessary, that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for the virus, etc. Twitter reacted by taking the video down, stating that it was a violation of their policy against posting misinformation about COVID-19, and putting his account on hold for 12 hours in addition. One hopes that it is only a matter of time before they take similar action towards his father.
Both father and son have lauded the pronouncements of a new expert, one Stella Immanuel, a Houston physician who makes similar claims. I must say that they have chosen a most appropriate spokesman to represent their views. Dr. Immanuel has made public a few other facts little-known to science, such as that DNA from aliens is routinely used in medicines, that scientists are working on a vaccine to make people irreligious, that the government is run in part by “reptilians,” and that gynecological problems such as cysts and endometriosis are caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. Oh, yes, and also that Jesus Christ will destroy Facebook for removing her videos from public dissemination; apparently she and the Savior are on excellent terms with each other, and even went on double dates at one point. I’m exaggerating a little in that last clause, but only a little; the remainder is taken verbatim from reports about her videos before they were shut down. Indeed, I couldn’t possibly make such things up. The life of the satirist must be difficult indeed in times such as these; no matter how wild his exaggerations may be, they inevitably fail to be more bizarre than reality.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 16,881,309; # of deaths worldwide: 662,399; # of cases U.S.: 4,496,645; # of deaths U.S.: 152,265. With over 1.3% of its population affected by the virus, the U.S. is officially tenth on the list of nations with the highest case counts per capita. However, when one considers that two of the others on the list are San Marino and Vatican City (populations of 34,000 and 800 respectively), it should really be considered eighth highest, being exceeded only by Qatar, French Guiana, Bahrain, Chile, Kuwait, Oman, and Panama. It will be noted that the majority of these are on the Arabian peninsula, the remainder being claimed by Latin America.