Shopping without facemasks – The case against Trump Organization – The bears from the Smoky Mountains – Evening statistics
Today, though relatively uneventful, featured a landmark of sorts: for the first time in months, I went shopping without wearing a facemask. The sign at the front of the store now says only that facemasks are recommended for those who are not vaccinated. I asked one of the cashiers (who herself was not masked) whether it was true that vaccinated customers could forego the use of facemasks and she confirmed that such was the case. I still take a facemask with me when I go out to public areas such as stores or restaurants. The policy remains too erratic to be certain whether or not they may still be required in some of these places.
I have refrained from commenting upon the case that has been developed by the criminal probe jointly conducted by Cy Vance Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, and Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, against the Trump Organization. There have been indications for months of such a lawsuit being in preparation, but for many weeks I thought it would resemble the proverbial mountain in labor that eventually gave birth to a mouse. It now appears, however, that the two attorneys’ efforts will be less empty than I had initially feared. A grand jury has been seated to weigh criminal evidence against Donald Trump and his company, and to decide if indictments should be issued. Several Trump Organization officials, including Eric Trump and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, have already been deposed. The most encouraging sign of all is that Trump is evidently badly rattled by this development, for he has spoken out yesterday against the charges pending against him, with that modest air and quiet understatement that his past performances would lead one to expect: “No other President in history has had to put up with what I have had to, and on top of all that, I have done a great job for our Country, whether it’s taxes, regulations, our Military, Veterans, Space Force, our Borders, speedy creation of a great vaccine (said to be a miracle!), and protecting the Second Amendment.”
The charges include the Trump Organization inflating the value of its properties to lenders and insurers and underpayment of taxes. Prosecutors are also reportedly investigating whether Trump’s business gave employees benefits instead of higher salaries in an attempt to lower the company’s payroll tax burden. The case will take some time; the probable schedule is for the grand jury to review information for three days a week over the next six months. The evidence it will review contains eight years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns. None of this is any guarantee, of course, that Trump will undergo an appropriate penalty for his defalcations, but at any rate the lawsuit will occupy his energies for some time to come and perhaps may deter some of the more squeamish in the Republican Party from continuing to align themselves with him. Who knows? – perhaps even Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy may come to realize to hitching their party’s fortunes to a man facing criminal charges and a potential jail term may not be as a good an idea as they have believed up to this point. But admittedly such a conjecture may in all probability be overly optimistic on my part.
In Jefferson County the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) attempted to celebrate a party at the Chalet Village in Gatlinburg, which was visited by some unusual gate crashers. Seven bears from the adjoining Smoky Mountain National Forest wandered into Chalet Village and blithely sauntered into its pool and Jacuzzi to refresh themselves during the 80-degree heat, while the students fled from the scene. Chalet Village employees say that bears are frequently seen in the area, but that it is rare to see so many at once. They are apparently becoming aware that the park facilities may be adapted for their own uses. Some weeks ago a few friends of mine were staying in a cabin in the area, and they returned from one hike to discover that the cabin had been raided by bears. One of them had even figured out how to open the refrigerator. Unlike Goldilocks, the unexpected visitor of the three bears, they rejected nothing as being too cold or too hot, and devoured all of the food that they could find.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 169,056,817; # of deaths worldwide: 3,511,531; # of cases U.S.: 33,969,223; # of deaths; U.S.: 606,141.