Internet-related frustrations – Hiking on the Appalachian Trail – Lifting of mask mandates – The situation in Ukraine – Our damaged electoral system – Evening statistics
I was too out of sorts to make notes yesterday. It was a busy day and, among other things, I was attempting to reserve flights for a trip to visit some friends out West. Using both booking.com and expedia.com turned out to be an infuriating experience: nearly every return flight these sites presented to me left either at midnight or so late in the evening that the time the plane alighted in one of the Washington airports would have been on the following morning. In desperation I turned to the United website, where I was fortunate enough to find a flight from California to DC had both departure and arrival times scheduled for a reasonable hour.
Today was much more pleasant. I went to the Appalachian Trail close to Buchanan and hiked from the Sunset Field area, where the Apple Orchard Trail forms a junction with the AT, down to Jennings Creek. I hired a shuttle between the start and end point, and I am glad that I did. It would have been very discouraging doing a there-and-back hike, particularly as the point where I started the hike was more than 2000 feet higher than the point where I ended. It was rather chilly and overcast when I began hiking but the weather quickly became much less cloudy and – somewhat less quickly – rather warmer. For those who wish to avoid crowds I can heartily recommend this area, at any rate during the winter season. In the 11½ miles of the hike I encountered only one other person, and the portions of the path that were covered with leaves several inches deep indicated that the trail is not heavily used. There is only one overlook but the hike was scenic nonetheless, going over numerous ledges and valleys defined by meandering little streams. The descent to Jennings Creek was particularly dramatic on account of glimpses of the scattered houses of the little village of Arcadia to the east that accentuated the wildness of the setting.
The completion of these 11½ miles means that I have a segment of approximately 40 miles in the Pearisburg area remaining in order to fulfill the goal of hiking all of the AT that goes through Virginia (about 550 miles in all, or one-quarter of the entire AT). My friends AD and RH, with whom I’ve hiked a large amount of the AT, have already scheduled a trip later this year that will cover this segment, so it is possible that I will have completed the Virginian portion of the AT during 2022.
The mask mandate for public transportation has been extended from March 18th to April 18th. At this point, however, nearly all states have rolled back their indoor mask requirements. Hawaii, the last state to do so, has announced that its mandate will be lifted on March 25th.
It is impossible to get any reliable statistics from the Ukrainian invasion, but the Pentagon has estimated that Russia already lost 4,000 soldiers. By comparison, 2,461 U.S. troops died in the war in Afghanistan over 20 years. President Zelinsky has said that Putin will soon negotiate to end the war on account of the unexpectedly strong resistance from the Ukrainians. It sounds like wishful thinking to me, but it may be so. The Russian economy has taken a beating as a result of the Western sanctions, as even the Kremlin has acknowledged. In addition, Russia may not have sufficient manpower to occupy the country. Approximately 190,000 Russian troops are believed to be in Ukraine now. That is a substantial portion of Russia’s army, which is estimated to have 280,000 personnel and 900,000 armed forces overall. Russia claims to have 1-2 million of reserves, but only a minority have had the military training for active war, possibly as few as 4,000-5,000. Currently Russia is recruiting fighters from Syria and has deployed paramilitary units, including from the Muslim Russian region of Chechnya. That is, possibly, a sign that the Russian government is unable to sustain the war with its own army unaided.
The damage that Donald Trump has inflicted on our electoral system is both ugly andlasting. About 20% of election workers are at this point considering leaving the profession altogether. They are frustrated both by interference from politicians after the latter lose elections and by threats to their physical safety. The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law conducted a poll that, among other things, documented more than 900 threatening and hostile messages to election administrators and staff in 17 states, almost all alluding to Trump’s mendacious of a stolen election. Of those who said they are “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” to remain in their posts through the next presidential election, about a third said a key factor in their decision is that “too many political leaders are attacking a system that they know is fair and honest.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 453,251,646; # of deaths worldwide: 6,050,491; # of cases U.S.: 81,107,413; # of deaths; U.S.: 990,220. With only 4% of the world’s population, Americans account for over 16% of COVID-related deaths – lower than before, but still four times greater than the worldwide average. This pandemic is not over yet.