Journal of the Plague Year, COVID-19 Version

March 1-7, 2023: Lost River

March 7, 2023March 24, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Lost River State Park – Elon Musk – Sergei Lavrov – A Russian oligarch dodges assassination – A recipe from a Department of Natural Resources – Kim Jong Un’s elusive children – The early spring – Evening statistics

Another long pause in the journal, in part due to the fact that I was away for the weekend, staying with several friends at cabins in Lost River State Park. We were fortunate in our weather. It was, to be sure, cold and damp and rainy on Friday, the day that we all drove up and checked in, but afterwards the weather was clear and dry, growing steadily warmer each day. As with the previous trip, we went on various hikes both in and out of the park, and then assembled to converse and feast and play board games afterwards. There were fourteen of us in all, which made for lively evenings. We were scattered about in three cabins; we held dinners in the largest one of the three, in which I among others was staying. In some cases I had not seen members of this group for a long time. The issue of not seeing various friends for months on end is still one of the legacies of COVID.

Here are the hikes we did during this trip:

3/4, Half Moon, 6½ miles, 1200’ elevation

The park is close to Great North Mountain, which has several trails with overlooks that draw hikers from many different areas. Half Moon Overlook is reached by a trail that at one point goes up a short, steep rock path, nestled in dark-green pines. It provides one of the best views of the Trout Run Valley, with Big Schloss prominently displayed on the range opposite the overlook. The blue of the sky was accentuated by the cumulus clouds spaced at irregular intervals, which cast shadows on portions of the valley and thereby highlighted those areas illuminated by the sun. Ordinarily the hikes I’ve taken to this overlook involve going up the German Wilson Trail, which is extremely arduous, ascending nearly 1000 feet in less than a mile, and going to and fro for the first quarter-mile about a rocky ravine that generally is wet and slippery even on dry days. The route we took on this occasion was a pleasant alternative, starting from the base of the Halfmoon Trail (there is a parking area at the trailhead) and gradually ascending to the Halfmoon Lookout Trail that leads to the overlook.

The hike was relatively short and for that reason we returned early. I went on my own for an additional four miles on some of the trails in the park itself. Specifically, I did a circuit involved the Staghorn, Woodthrush, East Ridge, Covey Cove, Copse Cove, Lee, and Light Horse Harry Lee Trails, using the Pine Ridge Road (which actually is another trail, despite the name, and has no automobile traffic except for an occasional park service vehicle) to connect between the Covey Cove and Copse Cove Trails. This was less enjoyable than previous rambles in the park have been. Lost River State Park has suffered greatly during the winter storms and many of the trails contained dozens of blowdowns. There is little evidence of anyone attempting to clear them; but the park service for many states, and for West Virginia in particular, is short-staffed and it cannot be easy to maintain a network of trails that cover dozens of miles. Even though this additional hike was only four miles, it was slow going, taking me a good hour-and-a-half to complete it.

3/5, Cranny Crow and Miller’s Rock, 12 miles, 2000’ elevation

The weather was warmer and less windy on this day than it had been on Saturday, although the wind intensified as we reached higher elevations. We took a slightly different route than we generally have done on previous visits to the park, using the Big Ridge Trail from the walk along the disused road instead of following the road all the way to the junction with Miller’s Rock Trail. That trail was reasonably clear, but when we turned along the Virginia View Trail the way became rougher, with several blowdowns to go around, for it was impossible to climb over them. At Cranny Crow itself the wind blew fiercely and we stayed at the overlook only a few minutes, preferring to lunch behind the overlook structure itself to obtain some shelter. It was at Cranny Crow on a previous visit, incidentally, that upon contemplating the lofty views encompassing six counties the divine afflatus seized me and inspired me to compose the following immortal lines:

Upon the top of Cranny Crow
I met up with my mortal foe;
I could not think, I did not know
I’d dash him down the rocks below –
How pleasant that it happened so!

Afterwards we took the Miller’s Rock Trail to the fire tower. Here several members of the group turned back to return, but others went on all the way to Miller’s Rock itself. The views from the rock, incidentally, are somewhat limited on account of the trees obscuring one’s line of vision, but an outcropping just a few yards from the rock provides an extensive vista to the east, including the unincorporated town of Lost River in the valley below and of Great North Mountain on the other side of the valley. The hike thus described is actually only ten miles. It was longer for me than for the others, because the others chose to drive to the trailhead, whereas I decided to walk the additional mile to the trailhead and the additional mile from the trailhead back to the cabins.

3/6, Trout Pond, 4 miles, 550’ elevation

Most of us wished to do an additional hike after we checked out of the cabins, so we went to Trout Pond, which involved only a short detour during the drive back home. We parked at the area just before the gate for the Trout Pond Recreational Area (which was closed for the season) and took a loop via the Fisherman’s, Lake, Chimney Rock, and Trout Pond Trails. We went at a leisurely pace, savoring the sun and the increasingly warm temperatures, with many views of the lake along the appropriately-named Lake Trail. The hike was of modest length and elevation gain, but it included three stream crossings; and, since the streams were particularly full after the rain of the previous week, they provided a bit of a challenge. Happily those of us who did the complete hike crossed them without any mishap.

Afterwards we all lunched together at Toltecas, a Mexican restaurant in Strasburg, and one that I can thoroughly recommend. The food is delicious and not at all expensive, and it has unusual décor, with chairs containing enamel coverings on their backs with Aztec-themed images. Here we ate and chatted before saying our farewells to each other and returning our separate ways.

As always, such episodes in our relatively carefree and relaxed lives contrast vividly with events in more exalted circles.

Recently Elon Musk – who has been praised for years as a paragon of ingenuity – lately received the following tribute from Joshua Erlich, an employment and civil rights attorney based in Virginia: “lord grant me defendants this dumb.” The event that prompted this remark was the case of Haraldur Thorleifsson, who had worked for Twitter since February 2021, when he sold his digital brand agency to the company. Thorleifsson suffers from muscular dystrophy, which has been steadily increasing his disabilities. At one point he tweeted at Musk, claiming that he had lost access to his work computer alongside roughly 200 other staffers. Subsequently, he said, the company’s human resources department would not confirm whether he was still employed, while Musk ignored his emails. Musk responded by terminating him and afterwards publicly mocking him on Internet. Thorleiksson has not filed a lawsuit yet, but, as Erlich’s comment indicates, he probably could win one if he did. I hope he will. No doubt any damages awarded to him would be too insignificant to make any appreciable dent in Musk’s financial holdings, but anything that tarnishes Musk’s inexplicable reputation for brilliance would be only too welcome.

Russian Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov and U. S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met at the G20 talks in India. Afterwards, at the Raisina Dialog conference, also held in India, Lavr

Here are the hikes we did during this trip:

3/4, Half Moon, 6½ miles, 1200’ elevation

3/5, Cranny Crow and Miller’s Rock, 12 miles, 2000’ elevation

Upon the top of Cranny Crow

I met up with my mortal foe;

I could not think, I did not know

I’d dash him down the rocks below –

How pleasant that it happened so!

3/6, Trout Pond, 4 miles, 550’ elevation

As always, such episodes in our relatively carefree and relaxed lives contrast vividly with events in more exalted circles.

Russian Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov and U. S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met at the G20 talks in India. Afterwards, at the Raisina Dialog conference, also held in India, Lavrov at one point referred to “the war which we are trying to stop and which was launched against us.” The attendees of the conference, including a plethora of journalists, erupted in derisive laughter at this remark, to his visible embarrassment and, in all probability, his suppressed rage as well.

The Russian government is making some other claims in addition, the probability of which is left to the reader to decide. For instance, Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti has announced that it has forestalled an assassination attempt by Ukrainians on Konstantin Malofeev, a public figure and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tsargrad group of companies. Malofeev is a vocal supporter of Putin and of the war in Ukraine in particular. By an amazing coincidence, the assassination attempts upon oligarchs who have gone on record as disagreeing with Putin’s policies have been consistently successful.

It appears that the state of Utah is desperately in need of French chefs. The state’s Department of Natural Resources is urging residences to catch bullfrogs and eat them. The bullfrogs are an invasive species that, among their other activities, consume three species of native frogs that are threatened or struggling to repopulate in Utah. Ja Eggert, a hunting supervisor for the DNR, has provided detailed instructions for catching and skinning the bullfrogs, and in addition has helpfully included a recipe for breaded frog legs – which is not ordinarily the sort of information one would expect to receive from a state DNR.

A few details are emerging about Kim Ju Ae, the nine-year old daughter of Kim Jong Un who was paraded about recently at various official events this past November. These are fairly meager, concentrating principally upon her hobbies – horseback riding, swimming, and skiing; but they are a wealth of information in comparison with those of her two siblings, of whom even their gender cannot be ascertained. The eldest of the three is said to be a boy, but there is no direct evidence to support this claim. If Kim Jong Un and Boris Johnson ever meet face-to-face, assuredly they will compare notes about the best methods of concealing one’s offspring.

It will come as no surprise, after the numerous references that I have made to unseasonably warm days in both January and February, that spring has arrived early this year. Pear and cherry trees are blossoming; daffodils are in full flower; in my garden the hyacinths are beginning to unfurl their chalices – and all of this some two weeks before the equinox. In many parts of the country snow has fallen in abundance, coming down in California in such profusion that there are hopes that the snowmelt will relieve the drought that has prevailed there for some years. Here we have had next to no snow at all. The well-known cherry trees at the Tidal Basin may reach their peak as early as March 21^st or 22^nd, just a day or so after spring officially begins.

ov at one point referred to “the war which we are trying to stop and which was launched against us.” The attendees of the conference, including a plethora of journalists, erupted in derisive laughter at this remark, to his visible embarrassment and, in all probability, his suppressed rage as well.

February 24-28, 2023: James River State Park Trip

February 28, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

I went down to James River State Park on a trip organized by AD and RH, which, among other things, is home to what may be some of the best scenery along the portion of the Appalachian Trail that goes through Virginia. We stayed at the cabins in the park itself, and, as is our custom on such trips, prepared our dinners together. We hiked each day and feasted lavishly afterwards. We stayed in two cabins that were a few hundred feet apart from one another, so that we went back and forth between them during the evenings to assemble to dine together, and on these occasions we were treated to unusually clear views of the stars. The park is not close to major cities and the interference from the ambient light is considerably reduced as a result. Even on Saturday, which was cool and wet, we were not inactive, covering several miles in the park itself. But it is best to take the hikes in order:

2/23 – Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail, 4½ miles, 300 feet elevation

This trail is quite new, having been opened in 2020. It is based on the track of an old railway that was used to transport goods in the area. It is slightly over 2¼ miles long each way, and it goes through a tunnel near Rockfish Gap. The tunnel is 4,273 in length, the longest train tunnel in the U.S. It was last used by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1944. Afterwards a new tunnel was built and the old one fell into disuse. In 2007 the company donated the old tunnel to Nelson County, which spent some years creating the path of crushed stone that leads through it. Like the hike along the Torrey Brown Rail Trail, it is a hike that gives a sense of what life was like during a time when the railroad was the most efficient form of transport, not only for passengers but for cargo. When entering the tunnel its end appeared to be quite close; it was only after walking for a bit that one realized that the light was much further away than it seemed.

2/24 – Upper Crabtree Falls to Spy Rock and back – 9 miles, 1800 feet elevation

The weather for the tunnel trail hike was unusually warm for the season – well over 70 degrees. Indeed it set a record in some areas. The temperature on the following day was somewhat more normal but still warmer than average, excellent weather for hiking along mountain trails. We began by taking a rather jolting ride down to the parking area: four miles of gravel road in very rough condition down to a parking area a little over a mile from Upper Crabtree Falls. We did not, however, visit the falls but went in the opposite direction (south) to Spy Rock. The Appalachian Trail goes up and down several hills here, but none of them unusually taxing, and there were several views to the south through the bare branches of the trees in several areas. But of course the highlight of the hike was Spy Rock itself. Spy Rock is a large rock outcropping with a 360-degree panoramic view overlooking numerous forested valleys and several mountains, including the “Religious Range”: the Priest, the Friar, the Little Friar, and the Cardinal. The sky directly overhead in some areas was an unusually deep shade of blue, thrown into contrast by a few wisps of clouds interspersing it. It was windy, but we managed to find shelter in one fold of the rock, and there we had lunch, savoring the vistas all the while.

When I was last at Spy Rock – which was just before the pandemic began – there were several people on the summit and going up was something of a scramble. On this day, being a weekday in mid-winter, we had the rock to ourselves and the path has in the interim been much better defined, so that one no longer has to devise his or her own way to reach the top. Indeed the Spy Rock Trail has been designed specifically to discourage such clambering, which are injurious to several plant species. So it was less challenging than I had anticipated, but none the worse for that.

2/25 – James River State Park, 9½ miles, 900 feet elevation

Since the weather forecast was (correctly) for a cool and wet day, and since the drive to the previous day’s hike was long and troublesome, we decided to hike in the park itself, so that we did not have to drive at all. The park has some similarities to the Shenandoah River State Park: rambling trails with several undulations skirting along the riparian scenery and featuring at least one striking overlook: that of the Tye River draining into the James River, coming in almost at a right angle to the larger stream, with the peaks of the Religious Range in the background. We had planned to use a route recommended by the Hiking Upwards website, but we made a couple of wrong turns and the 7-mile route described online expanded to nearly 10 miles in the course of our roaming.

We came across daffodils in full bloom on one of the trails. I am somewhat concerned for the hikes I’ve scheduled for both Wanderbirds and Capital Hiking four weeks from now. These hikes are supposed to feature bluebells, but if this unseasonably warm weather continues the bluebells may come into flower several weeks ahead of their usual time and become past their prime when the two clubs take the hikes set for the first week in April.

Because we did not have to travel anywhere to trailheads we ended at about 1:00. Even though it rained steadily over the next hour and was still very damp in the later afternoon, I went down to the Visitor Center and afterwards to the view of the James River at Dixon Landing, where I saw the train barreling the track along the north bank.

2/26 – Three Ridges, 10½ miles, 4000 feet elevation

We split up for this hike. Three of us took the Appalachian Trail from the parking area on Rte. 56 to Reids Gap, going over the Three Ridges Mountain from south to north. Two others also went over Three Ridges, but in the opposite directly, starting at Reids Gap and ending at the Rte. 56 parking area. Two others took the Mauhar Trail, going south to north, which is somewhat shorter and has less elevation gain, but is still quite strenuous; it is at least 2500 feet of elevation gain and I would not be surprised to learn if the figure is closer to 3000’.

Again, I was here just as the pandemic was beginning. It is as splendid as I remembered. Three years ago I took the entire loop, starting at Reids Gap and going south on the Appalachian Trail over Three Ridges and returning via the Mauhar Trail, with an out-and-back to the parking area on Rte. 56 thrown in for good measure. This effort amounted to 18½ miles in length and nearly 6000 feet of elevation gain. The hike we completed on this occasion had cars at either end and so we went only one way; still, since three of us were going north instead of south we were covering the more strenuous way of going over the ridges – the parking area on Rte. 56 is about 1600 feet lower than the endpoint at Reids Gap. As the name indicates, the hike goes over three ridges, each one higher than the next. The ascent to the first one is moderately graded, but the other two are considerably steeper and, in parts, very rocky in addition; and after the ascent over the third ridge is completed there are a few lesser ups and downs to traverse even after finishing the better part of the climbing. I met with the other two in our group coming from Reids Gap for lunch at the overlook a little below the summit of the third ridge, something over the halfway point of the hike but – as they assured me – with much of the ascending now behind me. The summit, incidentally, does not provide the best view; that occurs about 400 lower down upon an outcropping called Hanging Rock. On this rock slab, as one gazes downwards thousands of feet into the Tye River Valley and at the Priest looming behind it, one feels suspended in air. A few scattered houses of the village of Tyro (it has fewer than 1,000 residents) accentuate the vast empty expanse below.

The two members of the group who took the Mauhar Trail option were quite pleased with their hike as well. It is an appealing trail, somewhat reminiscent of the Little Devils Stairs Trail in Shenandoah National Park, as goes upward to follow the Campbell Creek and skirts around a series of little waterfalls. AD had packed several snacks in the car for the end of the hike, as she usually does, and on this occasion we eagerly devoured the bagful of popcorn, for all of us greatly needed the salt.

An interesting side-note: I returned on the 27^th and had intended to post this during the evening. But even though I returned early and even though the drive was not especially troublesome, I felt too weary to do much more than attend to the various little chores that pile up whenever one returns from a trip, even a brief one. Today I hiked with the Vigorous Hikers on a there-and-back along the Appalachian Trail between Rte,.55 and Rte. 522 – about 16 miles, with about 3400 feet of elevation gain. Yet I felt much livelier after the hike than I did after yesterday’s drive. Some people are able to drive long distances with energy and enjoyment, but I am not one of them. How strange that a drive of barely over three hours should leave me in a state of lassitude that persisted for the rest of the day, while after a hike lasting five hours I felt energized and invigorated! The portion of the AT we covered today is not one of the most spectacular portions of the trail, and is without striking features or overlooks; but it wends its way through dense forest and I definitely was feeling what is sometimes called “hiker’s glow” after the completion of the last ascent and the subsequent long descent to the parking area.

We had limited access to Internet during the trip, and we all thought that it was just as well. Certainly there was little news of interest. I continue to scan the headlines in vain for any evidence of progress of the indictments against Trump that are supposed to be pending, either from the Department of Justice investigation or the Fulton County investigation. MJ says that at this stage the legal authorities have delayed too long and that nothing will come of either investigation now, and I fear that she is right.

There is one item relevant to the COVID virus: Governor Newson of California has declared an end to the state of emergency that had been put into effect three years ago. There are seven states in which the state of emergency is still in effect, including, rather anomalously, Texas. Governor Abbott is about as different in his political views from Newson as can possibly be conceived, but in the early stages of the pandemic he was quite cautious, instituting facemask mandates over the protests of his far-right allies. Still, the continuance of any individual state’s declaration of a state of emergency is academic at this point, given that the Biden administration plans to end the national state of emergency on May 11^th.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 679,951,261; # of deaths worldwide: 6,800,015; # of cases U.S.: 105,277,221; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,145,502. There were less than 100 deaths from COVID in the U.S. today, a very encouraging sign.

February 20-23, 2023

February 23, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Hiking in Fort Duncan and along the Maryland AT – To run or not to run: that is the question – Biden in Kyiv – Evening statistics

The unusually warm winter weather continues, albeit fitfully. It was rather cool on Monday, but clear for the most part, enabling a few of us to hike in the Fort Duncan area. The hike consists of bushwhacking for the most part, but at this season the undergrowth was not especially troublesome and the glimpses of the past, both at the earthern parapet of the fort and of the limonite mine, which provides the sensation of a slot canyon when walking between its walls, are well worth the effort. Of course the views thus obtained are somewhat misleading, for the foothills in this area were almost completely denuded of tress during the middle of the 19^th century, when the fort and the mine were established; and now they are covered with forest, with oaks rearing to great heights. It is startling to realize how great a change has occurred in little more than a century.

Yesterday I went with the Vigorous Hikers on the Appalachian Trail from Weverton Cliffs to the pedestrian bridge over I-70, a distance of about 19 miles, with over 3500 of elevation gain. It was sunny during the first part of the hike, but the clouds gathered over us and rain began to patter when we lunched at White Rock. I was somewhat apprehensive about the section to follow, for White Rock is close to the completion of the ascent of Lambs Knoll from the south, and the descent from that summit to the Reno Monument is long, steep, and rocky. Happily it was only a light sprinkle that did not make the rocks unduly slippery. This section of the AT tends to get short shrift from devotees of the trail. It is, to be sure, not spectacular, but there are several views along the way both of the Hagerstown Valley to the west and the Catoctins to the east, and the various ups and downs amount to no trivial effort. We completed the hike in six hours, including the break we took for lunch, which is a very reasonable pace.

There is some doubt after all about whether Biden will run for re-election. He has made no specific declaration and he shows no eagerness to begin campaigning. Most of his daily activities are focused on the Presidential job itself, rather than preparing to undergo another four years of it. But because he has made no definite indication one way or another, the Democratic Party is currently in a flurry of indecision. Its members do not wish to undermine Biden’s campaign if he does decide to run; but they also want to start focusing on viable candidates if he does not – assuming, that is, if they can find any.

Biden has recently shown a degree of decisiveness not usual in him, when he strode with Ukraine’s Zelensky along the streets of war-besieged Kyiv and then, after Putin delivered a rambling but belligerent speech about the decadent West, giving a speech of his own denouncing Putin as a tyrant and a dictator. Overall he displayed a surprising optimism about the war, even to the extent of speaking at times as if it were already over, with Ukraine as the victor. The war, after all, has already claimed about 300,000 lives and Russia remains in occupancy of 20% of Ukraine’s territory; so a declaration of victory seems a trifle premature. Still, Biden’s presence in Kyiv and his resolute attack on Putin afterward is a welcome change from the vacillation and irresolution that has characterized so much of his administration.

I continue to post statistics about COVID cases and deaths from . . . sheer cussedness, perhaps. It is becoming clear that reliable data in many instances is impossible to obtain. For example, the death toll from the recent wave of the disease in China is officially 83,150 people as of Feb. 9. This figure is clearly an undercount, not the least because it reflects only those who died in hospitals instead of in their own homes. In addition, deaths from liver, kidney or cardiac failure were also excluded, even when COVID was the obvious cause. The recent wave of COVID may actually have killed between 1 million and 1½ million. Even at that, the death rate is lower than that of countries such as the U.S., Germany, Italy, etc., where the disease ran rampant before vaccines were available.

With this caveat, today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 679,079,043; # of deaths worldwide: 6,793,825; # of cases U.S.: 105,053,586; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,143,368.

February 17-19, 2023

February 19, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Weekend pleasures – A tale of warning – The Dominion Voting lawsuit (perhaps) progresses – Evening statistics

After a rain-filled week the weekend has become fairer, allowing me to attend an after-trip dinner party yesterday and to embark upon a 20-mile hike today in comfort, starting at the MLK memorial (or, in my case, from the Foggy Bottom Metro station, since I did not wish to drive into DC) and completing a loop via the Wharf and the two banks of the Anacostia River, with a brief detour to Heritage and Kingsman Islands. Both days were clear, and today was especially so, so that the wavelets of the Anacostia danced and sparkled in the sunlight. It is both heartening and impressive to see how greatly the river has improved in recent years. I can remember a time – not so very long ago either – when its pollution was a byword; now it is quite clean and virtually free of debris.

A rather troubling hiker-related story has come to my attention. Ruth Woroniecki ascended the 8,800-foot summit of Cucamonga Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, and then, upon returning down, slipped on ice that had accumulated on the trail and fell 200 feet. Her tumble was broken by her landing on a fallen tree trunk. As a result of the fall, she suffered a number of torn ligaments and tendons in her legs and large gashes on her head, chin, and face that required over 40 stitches, as well as a broken neck. She was found in this condition by other hikers, who contacted San Bernardino Rescue. Because of the wind conditions, it took a helicopter two hours to arrive and to lower one rescuer onto the mountain just west of Woroniecki’s location. But the helicopter could not go any further and the rescuer told Woroniecki that she would have to hike 200 feet so that she could be picked up there. She managed to get there despite the intense pain from her broken neck and despite the risk of paralysis, after which she was airlifted to a hospital for treatment. All of her injuries, including the broken neck, were successfully repaired.

The story thus had a happy ending but it is troubling nonetheless, because I can readily imagine such an accident happening to me. It is well-known that the descent is the most difficult part of any hike. Unfortunately, however, it often happens that a hiker feels such a sense of accomplishment upon reaching a summit that he or she is off-guard when beginning the downhill portion leading back to the trailhead. I try to be cautious when going steeply downhill but I am not always successful, and I’ve taken a fall now and then. Such accidents as I have had were limited and temporary in nature, but that is more a matter of luck than anything else. Ruth Worniecki was 40 when she underwent her misadventure, whereas I am nearly 70; and I doubt if I could have recovered under such circumstances as thoroughly as she managed to do. I must try never to let my guard down while pacing upon the trails; more than that I cannot do.

Excerpts from an exhibit of the lawsuit that Dominion Voting Systems has leveled against Fox News have been made public, and it appears that the Fox News hosts had doubts about the allegations of voter fraud in November, 2020, with Tucker Carlson telling a producer that “Sidney Powell is lying” and Sean Hannity remarking “that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second.” The trial is scheduled to begin in mid-April. Superior Court Justice Eric Davis has ruled that in this case Dominion Voting Systems is to be regarded as a public figure, which means that Dominion must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the Fox defendants acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth.

Unfortunately it is difficult for laymen like myself to determine what constitutes “proof” to the subtleties of the legal mind. I’m not the only one in such perplexity. See, for example, Ambrose Bierce’s definition of “technicality” in The Devil’s Dictionary: “In an English court a man named Home was tried for slander in having accused his neighbor of murder. His exact words were: ‘Sir Thomas Holt hath taken a cleaver and stricken his cook upon the head, so that one side of the head fell upon one shoulder and the other side upon the other shoulder.’ The defendant was acquitted by instruction of the court, the learned judges holding that the words did not charge murder, for they did not affirm the death of the cook, that being only an inference.”

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 678,691,949; # of deaths worldwide: 6,791,079; # of cases U.S.: 104,986,098; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,142,595.

Februar 13-16, 2023

February 16, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

In the Massanuttens – The French film biography of Mozart’s sister – Biden’s bid for re-election – Donald Trump advocates firing squads – One more Russian defenestration – In-fighting in North Korea – Evening statistics

Tuesday was crowded with incident, as Oscar Wilde would say. Much of the day was taken up with a hike that went up to Signal knob and then down to Mudhole Gap (somewhat more attractive than its name would lead one to believe), taking the Mudhole Gap Trail nearly all the way back to Rte. 678, but stopping just short of it to connect with the Tuscacora Trail and back to the parking area – about 16 miles in all. It was chilly in the morning but it warmed up quickly, and I had divested myself of both jacket and sweater by the end of the hike. The view of the Shenandoah Valley down to Strasburg immediately below and stretching for miles both to the north and to the south, is beginning to become overgrown as the trees on the mountain slope immediately below it are gradually becoming taller, but it remains magnificent nonetheless.

When I returned, I went back home to shower and change my clothes, and took the Metro downtown, where I met with AD, EB, and WG to see “Nannerl,” a film about Mozart’s sister. I was not sure what to expect. She died in obscurity and her life does not, at first glance, provide much of cinematic interest. She seems to have had ambitions of becoming a composer in her youth, but nothing composed by her has survived. After the years of performing with her brother as a pair of child prodigies, she stayed at home in Salzburg with her mother and earned a living teaching the piano. At the age of 32 she married a widower in his fifties, with five children from his two previous marriages, whom she helped to raise, along with three children of her own. Only one of these lived to maturity. Eventually she became a widow and supported herself again by teaching music; also she came in contact with Mozart’s widow and the latter’s second husband, and provided information to aid them in writing Mozart’s biography. She lost her eyesight towards the end of her life, but was not (as the film mistakenly states) impoverished; even though she lived rather frugally, she left a considerable fortune to her surviving son.

As EB pointed out, in some ways she provides a real-life example of Virginia Woolf’s account of a hypothetical sister of Shakespeare in A Room of One’s Own, who has talents similar to her brother’s but whose sex provides an insuperable barrier towards realizing them. Maria Anna Mozart did not, of course, die young after being seduced and abandoned by an unscrupulous fellow-artist, as Woolf’s Shakespearian sibling does, but all accounts of her from those who saw her perform in early years speak of her extraordinary musical gifts, while Mozart’s own correspondence mentions his sister’s early works with enthusiastic praise. One might have expected her to have left at least a few extant works that could have borne comparison with her brother’s early symphonies and concertos or at the very least have shed light on his compositional methods. But she gave up any such attempt, quite understandably. In her day it was virtually impossible for a woman to earn a living as a composer. (As indeed it was for many years afterward. Clara Wieck Schumann, who was born approximately 70 years after Maria Anna Mozart, wrote several beautiful works [personally I greatly prefer her music to her husband’s], but she obtained fame and income through her work as a performer, not as a composer. “I once believed that I possessed creative talent,” she wrote. “But I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?” Sadly, most of her own music was never played by anyone else during her lifetime.)

So what does one do when confronted with the prospect of making a film about a person to whom nothing much happened and who was pretty much relegated to the sidelines during her adult life? Why, make something up, of course! There is not the slightest evidence that the Mozart family had contact with any of the sons and daughters of Louis XV of France, but in “Nannerl” the titular figure forms a friendship with Louise, the King’s youngest daughter, and eventually becomes involved in an affair (albeit one that is, unusually for a French film, Platonic) with the recently widowed Louis the Dauphin, the only surviving son of the king. The film is well-acted, the sets are handsome and imposing, the music that accompanies the scenes is hauntingly lovely; but the discrepancy between the events being portrayed and what actually happened (or rather what didn’t happen) is so glaring that, for me at any rate, it greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the film.

I have commented previously, upon seeing another French film “biography” of Vincent Van Gogh, about movie-makers’ tendency (and French movie-makers in particular) to distort reality in order to conform with their preconceptions. It is axiomatic that any great artist must by definition be a great lover; therefore, let Vincent Van Gogh be portrayed as a man who causes every woman who crosses his path to swoon over him – even though in reality he had little success with women and was once turned down in a proposal of marriage with insulting speed and decision. Similarly, it is not sufficient simply to show Nannerl dappling in composition and then sadly coming to the conclusion that attempting to obtain musicians to perform her works and to induce audiences to hear them is a wasted effort; no, she must go about in masculine garb to the Palace of Versailles and in this disguise conduct a performance of her works to admiring listeners among the French nobility, all of this undertaken with the connivance of no less a personage than the heir to the throne of France. Incidentally, Maria Anna Mozart was born in 1751 and she is said in the film to be “nearly 15” when she meets the recently widowed Dauphin, who in fact lost his first wife in 1747. I daresay the movie-makers would have had Nannerl play some of her music to console Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette through their last months during the French Revolution if they could have stretched the calendar far enough.

If any further proof is needed that the film-makers were completely out of touch with the era they ostensibly portrayed, a speech in one scene given by one of the professors in the Academy of Music puts all doubts to rest. The good professor states that anyone who has technical knowledge of musical techniques but who composes without passion is to be pitied. That concept simply did not exist in the 18^th century. Music, both to composers and to their audiences, was a craft. Composers could, and did, invest their compositions with a great deal of emotion and many violent quarrels erupted about the respective merits of various composers (the one concerning the superiority Gluck to Piccini or vice versa rocked Paris for months on end), but no one at that time considered passion for its own sake to be an attribute to strive for. “The great emotional wallow,” as C. S. Lewis stigmatized it, did not emerge until the Romantic era of the 19^th century, though admittedly it has dominated the arts ever since.

But what does historical accuracy matter, it may be asked, if the film tells a good story? The answer is that if the story were frankly presented as a fiction it would matter very little; but the distortion of historical personages to suit one’s personal convenience should not be dismissed so lightly. When living men and women are subjected to such a process, it is called slander, and so-called biographies such as these are not any the less slanderous because the people they depict are no longer alive.

It is, alas, no slander but a sober matter of fact that Biden, now aged 80, is pursuing plans to campaign for the Presidency in 2024 and, to that end, has just undergone a physical examination, whose results are yet to be announced. What he expects to gain by such an undertaking, goodness only knows. Few people have received his bid for re-election with enthusiasm. According to a recent survey, only 22% of the populace believe that he should run at all; and even among the Democrats only a scant 37% of them endorse this effort. During recent months his fits of coughing have become more frequent, and his gait has become noticeably stiffer and more halting, the result of a combination of spinal arthritis and nerve damage to his feet. These symptoms have led one observer to remark “the guy can’t walk, let alone run.”

There has been a bit of an outcry following a report that Donald Trump is planning to introduce firing squads as a method of capital punishment to be used as an alternative to the lethal injection that is currently in use, and even (according to one source, which however is not confirmed elsewhere) that such punishments should be televised. (There are a handful of states that technically allow this method of execution, although it was last used well over a century ago.) I can only hope that Trump will reinforce precept with example by presenting himself to one such squad if convicted of sedition.

Those wacky Russians, they just keep losing their balance whenever they desert the ground floor of any building. The body of 58-year-old Marina Yankina, who headed the Financial Support Department of the Russian Defense Ministry in St. Petersburg’s Western Military District, was found in the Kalininsky district of St. Petersburg as a result of an unexplained fall from a window, some 160 feet above the pavement. In the past few months, many officials in Russia have met their ends in this bizarre manner: tycoon Pavel Antov, who fell from a window at the hotel in the city of Rayagada, India; former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute Anatoly Geraschenko, who fell “from a great height” down a flight of stairs in the institute building; Lustoil chairman Ravil Maganov, who fell from a window in a hospital in Moscow. I keep urging Russians, and especially any Russians who have criticized Putin in public, to stick to basements whenever they can; but so far they haven’t taken any notice.

Another person who should be on her guard is Kim Yo Jong, the once-powerful sister of Kim Jong Un. I say “once-powerful” because recently Kim Jong Un has been parading his 10-year old daughter Kim Ju Ae in public at various key events and has even issued five new stamps with her image on them, a pretty clear indication that this child is his designated successor. As previous experience has shown, being a once-powerful family member of Kim Jong Un is not a good position to occupy. Kim Jong Un has had both his uncle and his half-brother eliminated once he decided that they might become threats to his grasp on the nation’s political power, so Kim Yo Jong has good reason to hope that Kim Jong Un will not be turning his fraternal attentions towards her in the near future.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 678,223,481; # of deaths worldwide: 6,787,167; # of cases U.S.: 104,898,749; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,141,524.

February 12, 2023

February 12, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Gloomy weather – Two abandoned children – An advocate for senicide – Women return to the labor workforce – Evening statistics

A dreary day! The temperature was actually warmer than it had been yesterday morning, but yesterday was sunny and dry and absolutely delightful; today the gray sky and the continual patter of the rain for hours without respite lowered the spirits, and the chill seemed to creep into one’s bones. The hike I had planned to do was canceled, and that was quite a relief to me. Shenandoah National Park closed its roads, for in those elevations the precipitation took the form of snow.

I saw a sad story today. Raven Yates, like Ibsen’s Nora, walked out of her house (located in the small town of Roman Forest, TX) late last year, leaving two children behind. Unlike the children of Ibsen’s Nora, there was no faithful old nursemaid and no father to look after them once she departed; they were left on their own from September 28 to November 14, 2022. The police are still searching for Ms. Yates, who is believed to be roaming somewhere in the vicinity of Mobile, AL. The father of the 12-year-old girl called police when he became concerned upon being informed that the children were home alone. The father, who lives in California, said he had been ordering food for the children. And why, it may be asked, did the 12-year old daughter not notify her father that she had been abandoned? The answer is that she and her three-year old sibling have different fathers, and she was frightened by the prospect of her father coming to take her away and leave her little half-brother completely alone and helpless. She did her best to look after herself and her brother for more than six weeks on end; but of course a twelve-year old child cannot be expected to keep house and be caretaker of a three-year old all on her own. When the police arrived in November, the refrigerator and food cabinets were nearly empty and the little boy’s room smelled heavily of urine. Ms. Yates, in the meantime, has blithely posted on social media during this quest for self-identity, scarcely mentioning her children at all. One can imagine the terrors that this unfortunate young girl must have undergone after concluding, with only too much supporting evidence, that neither of her parents could be trusted with the welfare of herself and her brother.

Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale University, has made a “modest proposal” concerning the issue of how to deal with the burdens of Japan’s rapidly aging society: namely, mass suicide and seppuku. This statement is not quite as bizarre as it sounds. There are locations in Japan when senicide (or ubasute, as it was called) may have taken place in times of famine; it is not certain whether this custom actually occurred or whether it is merely legend, as the evidence is conflicting. In any case, if it did occur, it did so very sporadically and long ago, and it certainly is not in use now. Somewhat disquietingly, despite being virtually unknown in the U.S., Narita has a wide following in social media among the Japanese, especially among frustrated youths who believe their economic progress has been held back by a gerontocratic society. Critics worry that his comments could replicate the sentiments that led Japan to pass a eugenics law in 1948, under which doctors forcibly sterilized thousands of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illness, or genetic disorders. In 2016, similarly, a man who believed those with disabilities should be euthanized killed 19 people at a care home outside Tokyo.

On a brighter note, as the pandemic continues to lessen the depressing trend of women leaving the labor force is being reversed. The percentage of prime-age (25-54) women in the labor force has steadily risen in the years since World War II, from 39% in 1953 to 77% today. The pandemic interrupted this trend, causing women to lose 2 million more jobs than men did during its first months. Health care, education, retail, hospitality, and leisure, in which women have a higher representation than in many other industries, were all severely affected. But at this point women are rapidly re-entering the workforce. Now the schools are re-opening, the problem of child care has to some extent been eased, while increased opportunities of telecommuting have enabled pregnant women and mothers of young children to work from home.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 677,594,767; # of deaths worldwide: 6,782,387; # of cases U.S.: 104,766,853; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,140,017. Those who are curious enough to compare today’s death toll in the U.S. with that of the preceding day may notice that COVID apparently claimed only two lives today. Unfortunately, that does not of itself indicate a favorable trend. Deaths tend to be reported less during the weekends, particularly on Sundays, with the statistics from the succeeding weekdays making up for the loss. The daily death toll remains in the hundreds – an improvement, it is true, from the thousands of deaths during this season a year ago, but still a good deal higher than is pleasant to contemplate.

February 9-11, 2023

February 11, 2023March 7, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Along a rail trail – Abuses of Oregon liquor control – McDonald’s embarrassing ad – Evening statistics

Today I went with the Capital Hiking Club on the Torrey Brown Rail Trail. The trail is flat (not quite flat, however – it has a very gentle grade in places so that in the course of 14½ miles it ascends 200 feet, but certainly flat enough so that its rise is scarcely noticeable), and I suppose that is why, unusually for a CHC hike, it was rather sparsely attended. It is shame, actually, for the hike is much more interesting than I remembered it to be. I have not been on it since the pandemic began, and indeed since well before the beginning of the pandemic. The trail, as the name indicates, goes along the track of a defunct railway, in this case one that connected farms in northern Maryland to York, PA in order to transport their produce. It does not intersect any other trails but there is a quantity of quiet country roads that go across the path. Many parts of the trail recall an era that, if not simpler, was at any rate different: a time when agriculture provided a greater amount of the GNP than it does now, when transport by railroad was the fastest way of getting from one point to another, and when the few cars to be seen on the roads were still regarded as toys for the wealthy. We were fortunate in our weather as well. During the past few days the sky has been cloudy and dun-colored, but today was very sunny, with air like crystal and a few slight snow-white clouds emphasizing the bright azure surrounding them. Our timing was fortuitous; during the bus ride home the clouds began to thicken and cover the sun, while the forecast for the following day is one of unrelenting rain.

The Oregon Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation of Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) following an internal investigation that concluded that OLCC officials were diverting rare, sought-after bourbons, which can cost thousands of dollars per bottle, for personal use. The officials appear to have routed limited bottles of top-shelf bourbon to a liquor store, often in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie where the commission headquarters is located, and would reserve them for pickup later. This process, which would appear to be fairly risky to an outsider, can actually be performed with surprising ease. Oregon is one of 17 states known as a “control state,” in which the government operates either the wholesaling and/or retailing of distilled spirits in the state. Nearly all the liquor the state receives goes to a single warehouse, from which it is then distributed to various retailing outlets, known as “contract stores,” that are operated by state-appointed liquor agents.

The officials claim that they were paying for the liquor that they acquired; but if so, they were not paying market prices. Bourbon has had a boom in popularity during the pandemic of almost unprecedented proportions. Since, by definition, 15- and 20-year old bourbons cannot be manufactured overnight, the prices for these in particular have skyrocketed. In a state that imposes uniform government-mandated markups, a bottle of bourbon that might be worth $2,000 on the secondary (illegal) market is selling for $100–200 dollars in a state-run store. Inevitably, the rush to obtain these bottles is enormous and creates ideal conditions for insider jobs and abuses of power. Oregonians are well-aware of this state of affairs. They have attempted to privatize their state liquor system on several occasions, including most recently in 2022, when a voter initiative was aborted before making it onto the ballot.

McDonald’s has had a bit of a a mishap concerning one of its ads at a bus stop in Cornwall, England, for “McCrispy.” a sandwich consisting of a patty of chicken dipped in batter and deep-fried, accompanied with shredded lettuce and mayonnaise sauce on a soft potato bun. The placement of the ad was somewhat unfortunate: the bus stop in question is directly opposite the Penmount Crematorium. Several of the locals found this contretemps quite amusing, although, as one of them pointed out, it was “no worse than our local council entertaining the idea of allowing a crematorium to be built next door to a retirement village,”

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 677,425,583; # of deaths worldwide: 6,781,871; # of cases U.S.: 104,764,296; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,140,015.

February 7-8, 2023

February 8, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Harbingers of an early spring – COVID-created recluses – Trump’s attempt to denigrate DeSantis backfires – Evening statistics

The little purple crocuses, the first flowering of the year, appeared on my lawn today, indicating that spring will come early. The weather continues to be considerably warmer than the average and the snowfall to date has been insignificant, even though we are now in the eighth week of winter. Stream water levels will be lower than usual once the spring thaw begins in earnest, for there will be little snowmelt to augment them. Even on the tops of the mountains in the Blue Ridge and Massanutten ranges hardly any snow has been seen all winter.

I received a rather sad letter from a married couple I know. I had reached out to them in hopes of setting up a visit. They wrote back to explain that they were still leading quite a restricted life as a result of COVID. The husband has immune deficiencies and in an effort to minimize his coming down with the disease they have seen hardly anyone since the pandemic began. Their visitors are confined to the sole surviving parent of the two spouses, and two close friends in the neighborhood, but outside of that they have been in seclusion. They are hoping to end their self-imposed isolation by the summer of 2023, provided that they can overcome their phobia (and they used that word in their communication to me). For their own sake I hope so as well. This continued shunning of society must in the long run be as detrimental as possible risks to exposure might be. I have no doubt that their fears must be multiplied among hundreds or even thousands of other households, transforming many into hermits even now, when the pandemic is waning. It may not be easy for them to resume social activity again, even after they emerge from hiding, after a three-year hiatus of interacting with others.

Donald Trump appears to be seriously rattled by the competition provided by Ron DeSantis, since he has gone to the lengths of posting a 20-year old photo of the latter when DeSantis was a high school teacher, apparently sharing alcohol with three high school girls. The photo doesn’t actually show him drinking, but it does show one of the young women holding up a brown glass bottle, whose contents are presumably alcoholic. This maneuver does not appear to have been very effective. Several alumnae recalled that DeSantis went to parties with the seniors without any particular mishap. Two students said that DeSantis attended two parties where alcohol was served, though they added it was after graduation. They weren’t bothered by it at the time and his behavior appears to have been unexceptionable. “It was his first job out of Yale, he was cute. We didn’t really think too much about it,” one of the former students said. One can imagine the chagrin of Trump upon hearing this reaction, particularly since his own past is associated with advances towards numerous ladies younger than himself, including at least 26 who have accused him of sexual harassment, and not one of whom would ever have dreamed of calling him cute.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,772,170; # of deaths worldwide: 6,775,720; # of cases U.S.: 104,575,714; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,137,528.

February 6, 2023

February 6, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Some long-term social effects from COVID – Blaming the victim, in this case by the victim himself – Evening statistics

On yesterday’s hike I met KW, who had lived in Washington several years and had, upon his return to Canada, periodically visited the area for two to three months at a time. Whenever he was in the area he was a fairly frequent participant in Wanderbirds hikes. Such participation, of course, came to end after the pandemic began and traveling from one country to another became restricted. This year was the first time since 2019 that he had been in Washington, and naturally any changes that occurred during that period were much more apparent to him, who was seeing their results all at once, than to those of us who had witnessed the changes occurring gradually over a period of many months.

Among other things, he said that the business offices in Washington had far fewer occupants than they had had during the pre-pandemic days. This observation did not surprise me at all. Many employees had taken to working from home and telecommuting during the days of the pandemic; and even now that the pandemic was receding, the majority of them have no great desire to resume commuting. It is has been asserted by some experts that the amount of work performed by people in offices, as opposed to telecommuting, may eventually be diminished by as much as a third. In an area like DC, in which information technology forms a large component of its industry and which by its very nature can be performed remotely without any impact on the quality of the work, this situation seems especially likely. Telecommuting, moreover, allows people to take up residence in areas at a greater distance from the physical location of the office to which they report, and such areas tend to have less expensive housing. I cannot tell what the eventual consequences of this increase from working remotely and the subsequent reduction of personal interaction among company employees may be, but I have no doubt that they will be far-ranging.

Blatant sycophancy was of course endemic (to use a word that is greatly in vogue these days) during the Trump administration, but today we received a reminder that it was a prominent feature in American politics long before he ever took office. On this day Harry Whittington passed away at the age of 95. And who was he, it may asked? Whittington’s claim to fame is rather a singular one. He was shot in the face with over 200 spray pellets during a quail hunt by Dick Cheney, who was Vice-President at the time. The shot was of course accidental, but the injury was severe nonetheless, resulting in a heart attack and a collapsed lung that required a week-long treatment in a hospital.

All of this might have been dismissed as an unfortunate incident, were it not for the sequel: Whittington publicly apologized to Cheney for being the victim of the latter’s carelessness. In this way he set the example for the numerous ranks of men and women who have been insulted, vilified, traduced, and manhandled by Donald Trump, only to grovel and plead for forgiveness, and to express gratitude for the spitefulness that he bestowed upon them. Self-respect is not a quality that is greatly cultivated among our politicians, and an American legislator or executive staff member who possesses even a vestige of it is truly a rara avis, as unusual a sight as a black swan or a white crow.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,396,299; # of deaths worldwide: 6,773,261; # of cases U.S.: 104,509,261; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,136,448.

February 4-5, 2023

February 5, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

On Signal Knob, then and now – Donald Trump denounces his own achievements – Evening statistics

We had two splendid winter days both yesterday and today. I was not able to hike yesterday, because I was host to visiting friends; nor did I grudge the time spent with them, for they live over an hour’s drive from me and it had been several months since we last met. Today, however, I went out with the Wanderbirds to hike along Signal Knob. This area is a special significance to me. When I arrived at the age of 40 I decided that I was leading too sedentary a lifestyle and decided that it would be well to transform myself from an occasional hiker to someone who hikes on a regular basis. For some time afterwards I took to hiking with various groups within the PATC or to hiking on my own, tracing out routes from a book about the trails in Shenandoah National Park. But although the benefits of the exercise were unquestionable, my knowledge of the area remained limited and as time passed I was puzzled as to how to diversify the hikes I undertook and range abroad further. In time some colleagues of mine, aware of my interest in hiking, as a birthday present gave me a book that described 50 hikes in Virginia. Upon looking through it and reading the descriptions, the one at Signal Knob seemed at once interesting and easy to drive to; the trailhead is slightly over an hour’s driving time from my house. This hike was accordingly the first one in the book that I attempted. It struck me as being quite difficult then, although it does not seem so to me now; but the day on which I ventured it was beautifully fine and clear, and this hike might be said to be the beginning of the time that I became a dedicated hiker.

Today, it is true, we did not follow the exact route described in the book. It is a modification, which I have also done in the past. The original hike is a counterclockwise loop (it can be done in the clockwise direction as well, but that is not as satisfactory, since in that direction the rockier and more difficult part of the circuit is reached after several miles of exertion, when one is already in the mood for the hike to come to end) that leads to Signal Knob, then goes down a fire road and turns on the Tuscacora Trail to a junction with the Massanutten Trail, leading back to the trailhead. On this occasion we went to Signal knob, but then backtracked to an earlier junction with the Meneka Peak Trail, which goes over the peak to meet with the Tuscacora Trail before resuming the loop. There is no real overlook at Meneka Peak, but at this time of year views to the valley below are easy to obtain; and in the strange clarity of the air and with the odd position of the sunbeams slanting downwards, the tops of mountains on the far side of the valley appeared truly blue, almost of the pigment that is sometimes called Prussian blue, as opposed to the vague adjective carelessly slung about by poets.

This following news item is not exactly a national health issue, but COVID is certainly at the center of it. In an effort to denigrate Ron DeSantis, Trump has dubbed him as one who “Loved the Vaccines,” seemingly forgetful of the fact that his own administration promoted the “warp speed” development of the COVID vaccines and that he was quite anxious to take credit for them just as recently as a few months ago. Indeed, the rapid development and deployment of the vaccines while the pandemic was steadily accelerating is probably the sole achievement of his otherwise wretchedly corrupt and chaotic reign. However, if he is so intent on robbing himself of any acclaim now, I am the very last person to stand in his way.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,249,453; # of deaths worldwide: 6,772,080; # of cases U.S.: 104,488,837; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,136,313.

February 2-3, 2023

February 3, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

The continuing saga of George Santos – How a craving for attention led to an arrest – Falling influenza and RSV rates – Evening statistics

One might not have thought that George Santos could have made matters worse for himself than he has already done; and yet that it is what this unlucky young man did. According to Richard Osthoff, a homeless veteran who lives in a tent, Santos set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of Osthoff’s service dog Sapphire, who had developed a large tumor and needed life-saving surgery, and then proceeded to retain every penny of the money that was raised for himself. Michael Boll, founder of New Jersey Veterans Network, was eventually asked to intervene in the matter after the dog died. His account confirms Osthoff’s version of this episode, At first Boll tried to give Santos the benefit of the doubt, but as time went on and Santos continued to evade his suggestions of either reimbursing all who contributed or give the money to veterinarian in Osthoff’s area for the purpose of saving future dogs needing treatment, he concluded that Santos “was not going to help out at all.” Osthoff has since obtained an interview on CNN, during which he made the dramatic gesture of bringing the dog’s ashes for display. GoFundMe has already banned Santos from using the website again, and the matter is under investigation by federal law enforcement officials. It is unclear whether his colleagues in the GOP are coming to realize that Santos is an unmitigated embarrassment who cannot be jettisoned too quickly or whether they will recommend that Donald Trump take Santos under his wing as an adoptive son.

Connoisseurs of Italian cuisine in St. Etienne, France, were in agreement that the Caffe Rossini restaurant produced pizza to die for – that is, if the chef didn’t decide to kill you first. Edgardo Greco was working under the alias Paolo Dimitrio as a pizzaiolo, having been on the run for 16 years after the brutal slaughter of two rivals with iron bars. He was apprehended by Italian police as a prominent figure in the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Italy’s most powerful crime group. He probably would have eluded capture, however, if he had kept a low profile and took refuge in anonymity. Instead, he was unable to resist the temptation to appear in an article in the French newspaper Le Progres, which praised his cookery and which the restaurant proudly posted on its official Facebook page. The restaurant owners, understandably embarrassed to discover afterwards that its master pizza chef was in fact a well-known Mafioso member, has since disconnected its telephone number.

Not only are COVID rates are falling across the country, but flu rates are as well. According to the CDC, most states experienced “minimal” or “low” flu activity in the past week, with only New Mexico and Oklahoma experiencing “high” rates. Flu-related hospitalizations this week are lower this week than they were last week by nearly one-third. There was a flurry of activity both with flu and RSV during the holiday season, which is earlier than usual, but this activity appears to have peaked, as the downward trend has continued for several weeks. The total amount of deaths for the season from flu so far is approximately 17,000. The total amount of deaths from COVID, sadly, is still between 4 and 5 times that number. COVID is less of a threat than it once was, but it remains a threat nonetheless.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 675,978,628; # of deaths worldwide: 6,769,631; # of cases U.S.: 104,450,115; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,135,888.

February 1, 2023

February 1, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

The first winter snowfall – More political posturing in the two chambers – Evening statistics

A snowfall occurred overnight. In this area there has been no snow during either December or January. The snow, it is true, provided only a very light covering upon the grass, most of which melted in the gleaming sunshine by the end of the day; but as it is the first snowfall of the season, even though half of winter is nearly gone, one cannot be too exacting or fastidious under the circumstances.

I have no doubt that cries of global warming will be echoing throughout the social media in consequence. But I can remember the winter of 1975 in suburban DC, which had several periods of weather warm enough to feel more like early spring than winter. Leaves would unfurl and flowers bud prematurely, only to be halted by a frost coming upon the warmer days; then we would have another three or five days of warm weather, followed by another frost, and so it continued throughout the entire season – so that by the time the spring thaw had truly arrived, the plants were showing clear signs of exhaustion and the spring that followed was relatively colorless as a result of the diminished blooms. Global warming is certainly a valid concern, but it is a good more deal more gradual than most people appear to believe.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would end the COVID state of emergency immediately. The vote in favor of the motion was 229-197, precisely along party lines. This bill has little chance of passing in the Senate, which is Democrat-controlled and will almost certainly align with Biden’s intention, already announced, to end the emergency on May 11^th. In other words, the House has made a thoroughly meaningless motion, and they are well-aware that it is meaningless. They are merely posturing, in order, as they believe, to win the approbation of their constituents; and sadly, they are probably right in their supposition that many voters will be impressed by such empty gestures.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 675,405,739; # of deaths worldwide: 6,763,892; # of cases U.S.: 104,249,672; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,133,521.

January 29-31, 2023

January 31, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Trump indicted at last – The approaching end of the COVID emergency declaration – Hiking downtown and in Shenandoah National Park – Evening statistics

Resolutions of various classes are looming in the wings.

Donald Trump has at long last been formally accused in a court of law. The lawsuit in question has been organized by New York Attorney General Letitia James and it is seeking $250 million in penalties, an amount which, if not sufficient to break Trump entirely if it were collected in full, would at any rate make a significant dent in his assets. It is true that the case against is one of peculation rather than sedition, the charges being that Trump and his family used fraudulent financial statements to obtain favorable rates of insurance and loans and tax benefits. I would have greatly preferred to see him indicted for organizing the treasonous assault on the Capitol two years ago. But since there appears to be little chance of such a case ever materializing, I am resigned to putting up with this one, as being at any rate better than nothing. At the very least it will divert some of his energies from the Presidential campaign that he is currently attempting to initiate.

Better still, the COVID emergency declarations are now officially scheduled to end on May 11^th. I have already discussed, on numerous occasions, the difficulty of determining when an epidemic is no longer categorized as an epidemic and instead becomes labeled as “endemic.” This termination of the official emergency declaration that heralded the pandemic’s beginning seems as good a criterion as any. In many ways, of course, Americans are already treating COVID as something that is to be endured, without any of the emotional intensity that they displayed in earlier months. COVID-related restrictions in public areas are all but gone; travel has long gone unhindered; vaccination mandates are no longer in force; people are becoming increasingly careless about wearing facemasks in public. Not all of these types of behavior may be desirable, but there can be no question that COVID is no longer regarded as the dire threat it had once been.

And there is some justification for such confidence. Even now, in mid-winter, the rates of COVID hospitalizations and deaths are far lower than they were last winter, and there is every reason to believe that they will decline still further as the weather moderates into spring. Among the vaccinated, hospitalizations and deaths have declined dramatically. Still, COVID mortality rates as a whole are slightly over twice the rate of influenza mortality rates during those periods when influenza is at its most severe in terms of death toll. That is much better than being twenty or thirty times such rates, as they were in the past, but it is still high. In very approximate terms, COVID is currently responsible for an average of 500 American deaths per day.

What will the end of such a declaration mean? Many free health benefits will undoubtedly come to an end. COVID tests, for example, will have to be purchased. So will vaccines. Those who are uninsured or under-insured will be worse off. On the other hand, certain measures that have placed people in difficulties (landlords attempting to collect from renters who plead epidemic-induced poverty and refuse to pay, lenders attempting to collect student loans from graduates who refuse to pay for the same reason, and so on) will obtain some much-needed relief. I know that the word “landlord” conjures up the image of a Scrooge-like miser profiting hugely off of the rents of hapless tenants; but in fact many landlords are persons letting out small properties for the purpose of augmenting family income (and in some cases supplying it in its entirety) and they have suffered gravely during the pandemic. In short, the measure will benefit some and penalize others, just as any other large-scale government measure would do.

And amid all of this people carry on their pursuit of happiness with increasing regularity – as, indeed, I have done myself. I hiked with the Wanderbirds on a splendid tour of the various monuments in downtown Washington on Sunday (including a visit to the Jefferson Memorial, hence the phrase used in the paragraph’s first sentence), while today I went with the Vigorous Hikers up Little Devils Stairs and from there to do a loop to Overall Run and back. This last item was about 17 miles long and entailed about 4400 feet of elevation gain, much of it along trails in Shenandoah National Park that have suffered greatly from the ice storms in December, making for rather rough going at times, and all of it in damp, misty weather that made the rocks very slippery, particularly at stream crossings. But what of that? Comfort must not be expected when folks go a-pleasuring.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 675,168,909; # of deaths worldwide: 6,762,224; # of cases U.S.: 104,196,097; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,132,935.

January 20-21, 2023

January 21, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

In Patapsco again – Encouraging statistics from Minnesota County – Evening statistics

I led the CHC group on a hike in Patapsco State Park today. I have related, in an earlier entry, how portions of the park had been unexpectedly closed off and how, in desperation, I managed to put together an alternate route of adequate length just hours before leading the Wanderbirds on it a couple of months earlier. The route that I devised as a last-minute improvisation in November had become a familiar circuit by this time; it is quite surprising how quickly one acclimatizes to new situations and developments, in hiking as in other matters. The attendees were pleased with the route, which offers a contrast to the usual mountain hikes that we undertake. Even in the piedmont, however, the undulating hills provide a fair amount of elevation gain, which in this case amounted to over 1500 feet. It was not especially chilly, being in the low forties; although I could have wished for less cloud cover. Outside of a few moments towards the beginning of the hike, when the sun shone momentarily, the sky remained whitish and the daylight muted.

I came across a rather curious statistic concerning Scott County, Minnesota. About 6.3% of the residents are black, and their average life expectancy is 89.7 years – well above the national average, let alone the average for African-Americans. No one is certain exactly why this is the case. But a few factors are almost certainly contributors to this fortunate result. Most of the so-called blacks in this community are truly African-American, i.e., they have recently emigrated from various African nations to the U.S. Like most recent immigrants, they are go-getters and, in addition, they tend to lead a healthier lifestyle, eating more whole foods and more home-cooked meals. Many have more active habits and rely on longstanding social support. Then, too, the area has many resources: it is home to regional entertainment destinations such as Valley Fair, Canterbury Park, Mystic Lake casino, and the seasonal Renaissance Festival; Shutterfly and Amazon have offices in the county, offering stable employment to many of the residents; and it is close proximity to many wealthy Twin-Cities suburbs. Residents are more likely to have two-parent families and to own their homes rather than rent them. The blacks are not the only minority to benefit from this combination of favorable circumstances: the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which also resides there, is one of the wealthiest Native-American communities in the nation.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 673,002,559; # of deaths worldwide: 6,743,107; # of cases U.S.: 103,829,943; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,128,521

January 18-19, 2023

January 19, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Assessing the Cub Run Trail – An irresistible appeal – An unusual vehicle chase – An indirect victim of COVID – Evening statistics

Yesterday I went along with WN along the Cub Run trail west of Compton Road to ascertain its condition and whether it can be restored. We equipped ourselves with hedge clippers, and they were greatly needed, for the trail is wretchedly overgrown and all but impassable in its current state. We managed to cut our way through, but the work that we accomplished can only be temporary. It will take a fully equipped work team to clear the trail of blowdowns and brambles and make it usable again. Still, it is far from impossible to reclaim it, and its reclamation is very desirable. The alternative is to use the park road that accesses the pavilion in Bull Run Regional Park, which is uninteresting in itself and which is not available to pedestrians at all during the park’s annual two-month-long Festival of Lights. There actually is a signpost at the end of the trail where we emerged (at the underpass close to the road that leads to the Bull Run shooting center), as well as a faded blaze on one of the nearby trees, and I can well imagine the dismay of anyone who follows the direction indicated by these, only to encounter an unrelenting series of briars and fallen tree limbs.

Recently I read a plea for contributions from The Guardian which, I must confess, is not without merit. Arwa Mahdawi, a columnist for the paper, reported that Elon Musk referred to The Guardian as “the most insufferable newspaper on planet Earth.” To which she blithely added, “I’m not sure there is any greater compliment.” The appeal was rounded off as follows: “If you are able, please do consider supporting us. Only with your help can we continue to get on Elon Musk’s nerves.” Who can resist such a worthy cause? I uploaded a contribution immediately after reading this.

The Guardian proved its worth by featuring a story I ran across immediately afterwards. In Boone, North Carolina, Ronnie Hicks stole a vehicle and, after onlookers reported his erratic driving to the police, they energetically went in pursuit. They were able to catch up with relatively little effort, for the stolen vehicle was a John Deere tractor, whose maximum speed is 20 miles per hour. Stopping it, however, was another matter. The 43-year-old hot-rodder ignored the policemen’s cries to halt and, although the police tried to immobilize him with tire deflation devices, these “were not terribly effective on a tractor,” as Andy LeBeau, Boone’s police chief, later admitted. Even though both front tires deflated and one completely separated from its rim, the tractor was still operative. So the slow-motion chase continued, going along several highways and interstates, with other vehicles from the county police and the North Carolina State Highway patrolmen joining in. Eventually Hicks turned down a private road, jumped off, ran away, was cornered, drew a knife out, was tased by officers, and was then arrested. He was charged with felony counts of fleeing to elude arrest and assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, along with misdemeanor counts of driving while impaired, resisting a public officer, and reckless driving. Also, just to cover all bases, he was cited for driving left of the center lane (and no, I’m not making that last item up).

From this farcical account I pass to one much grimmer. A trial in Wales is making the headlines concerning the appalling conditions under which a young girl, Kaylea Titford, died at the age of 16 in October, 2020. Kaylea suffered from spina bifida, making it impossible for her to get around except in a wheelchair, and hydrocephalus (“water on the brain,” a condition that has a mortality rate of over 50% if it is untreated). The account of her final months reads like a primer of parental neglect. She had outgrown the wheelchair she used in earlier years, which would have been unusable in any case, since it had flat tires and needed a new front wheel. She thus was rendered immobile, even to the point of being confined to her bed and being unable to be wheeled to the shower. Her parents rarely cooked at their home, relying on takeout from restaurants instead; and it is not surprising that, under a regimen of rich foods and with no opportunity for getting exercise (or even for getting out of doors at all), it is unsurprising that her weight ballooned to over 300 pounds, with a body mass index of 70. When she went into a coma and the police were called in, she was found lying upon filthy, soiled bedlinen and pads that had absorbed several days’ leakages from her body, with matted, tangled hair, toenails that had not be cut for at least six months, and skin so severely inflamed and ulcerated that in some places it had split, displaying the fatty layer underneath. Her parents appear to have been as incompetent as they were negligent. Alun Titford, her father, by his own admission has not prepared a meal for himself or anyone else for the past twenty years and never cleaned the house on his own, leaving such tasks to his partner. Sarah Lee Jones, the mother, did make some half-hearted attempts from time to time to mitigate the perpetual squalor, but Titford’s sloth appears to have been infectious and eventually she too succumbed to a lifestyle of sheer inertia.

Sadly, it appears that COVID was an indirect cause of this unfortunate young woman’s death. Before the pandemic she was sufficiently proficient on the wheelchair as to be able to attend school and even to participate in basketball games and to run track by pushing her wheelchair. But in March, 2020 the lockdown occurred and she was then confined to her home, where, virtually abandoned by her parents, she died just seven months later.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 672,495,595; # of deaths worldwide: 6,739,058; # of cases U.S.: 103,803,483; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,128,217.

January 17, 2023

January 17, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Hiking in Washington on MLK Day – Hiking in Manassas Battlefield Park – Indications that Putin is in difficulties – Decreasing rate of COVID mortality – Evening statistics

Yesterday RS and I celebrated Martin Luther King Day in our usual fashion: visiting the monument, listening to a portion of the remarks delivered there to commemorate the man for whom this holiday was created, and then walking with others about the city for 20 miles or so (it actually came out to 24 miles on this particular occasion) in his honor. It was a splendid day and a splendid route, which, in addition to visiting many familiar sites, took us to some that we had not seen before: the east bank of the Anacostia River, Union Market, various paths in the Dumbarton Oaks Park. There is so much to see in this city that it seems that a lifetime devoted to exploring it could not exhaust all that it has to offer.

Today I went with the Vigorous Hikers on another hike with historical aspects, one in Manassas Battlefield. Normally when I go there I use the First and Second Manassas Battle loops, but this one took us to other regions of the park that are less well-known: Brawner Farm, Stuart’s Hill, Sudley Church. This visit to the park was particularly interesting because DG, our hike leader, is a descendent of one of the thousands of soldiers who participated in the Battle of Second Manassas (and who participated in many other Civil War battles as well). He has traced his ancestor’s movements, some of which we went over today. Presumably DG’s ancestor did not have to contend with the extremely muddy conditions we encountered today as a result of a light but steady rain during the morning; on the other hand, both battles took place in mid-summer, during which the paths may have been drier but must have been excruciating on account of the intense heat, the debilitating effects of which were almost certainly aggravated by the amount of baggage each soldier was expected to carry on his back.

Numerous military experts claim to see “desperation” in Putin’s naming of a new military leader after a succession of embarrassing defeats in its war with Ukraine. From a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor: “My sense is that Putin is flailing because he’s not getting what he wants.” From John Herbst, another former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now with the Atlantic Council: “The incompetence of the Russian military has now been thoroughly demonstrated.” From Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman: Gerasimov’s promotion reflects “some of the systemic challenges that the Russian military has faced since the beginning of this invasion.” From Richard Dannatt, the United Kingdom’s former chief of the general staff: the decision to replace Surovikin with Gerasimov, just three months after the former took charge, can be seen as a “sign of desperation.” And so on.

I would dismiss such claims as wishful thinking, especially in view of the fact that the Russian assault shows no signs of lessening, if it were not for an incident that suggests that the Russian military is indeed undergoing difficulties. Andrei Medvedev, who commanded a squad of the infamous Wagner paramilitary forces in eastern Ukraine, today escaped to Norway to claim asylum, climbing through barbed-wire fences, evading border patrol dogs, running away from guards’ bullets, and running through a forest and over an icy lake in order to cross the border. Once he arrived, he immediately asked to be taken to the police. The Wagner group consists largely of ex-convicts, whom Medvedev claims – only too believably – were used as cannon fodder. The fact that he prefers to be imprisoned in Norway for an indefinite period to enjoying the privileges given to a commander in the Russian army suggests that there may be some truth in the aforementioned experts’ assertions.

More than 267,000 people died of COVID in 2022, according to preliminary data from Johns Hopkins University, compared with more than 350,000 COVID deaths in 2020 and more than 475,000 COVID deaths in 2021. This reduction, however, has not affected its status as the third leading cause of death for the year, as it was for 2020 and in 2021. About 7,000 COVID deaths have already been reported in 2023. If this amount of COVID deaths remains consistent throughout the year, the number of deaths would still be smaller than that of previous years. But it seems probable that the increase of COVID deaths per month will diminish as the weather gets warmer again. We may even emerge this year with fewer than 100,000 deaths from the disease. How horrifying this figure would have seemed to most people during the early months of the pandemic and, if it indeed becomes the statistic for the full year of 2023, what welcome news it would be now!

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 671,872,961; # of deaths worldwide: 6,733,384; # of cases U.S.: 103,614,411; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,125,895.

January 14, 2023

January 14, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Brazil’s imitation of the 2021 riot – Trump threatens his judge – Betrayal by Biden – Evening statistics

It’s been cold today, grayish, with the wind perpetually blowing, and I’ve been idle as well, so I naturally am in a disgruntled mood. Besides, the news has not been good.

I have neglected to mention that during this past Sunday Brasilia was witness to a scene that mirrored that of Washington two years ago. Supporters of right former President Jair Bolsonaro marched through the streets as an ad hoc army, invading and defacing Brazil’s Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court. Even though it was the worst demonstration of politically motivatied violence in Brazil since the 1980s, there were several differences in the two episodes, all of them in favor of Brazil. Bolsonaro was not actually present to orchestrate the event personally, being ill in Florida. There was a great deal of destruction – furniture was thrown through the smashed windows of the presidential palace, parts of Congress were flooded with a sprinkler system, ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court were ransacked – but no one was actually killed. But essentially the scenario is the same: like Trump, Bolsonaro was defeated in a national election, refused to accept the result, and organized an attempt to overturn it, using social media to incite the rioters. But Brazilians are relatively fortunate. On Monday, the day after the riots ensued, Bolsonaro was seized with stomach pains and admitted to a hospital, while it seems likely that the U.S. government will expel him to his homeland. Lula’s government has been a great deal more pro-active than our own in the aftermath of the onslaught, having already thrown 1500 of the rioters in prison.

Speaking of Trump, incidentally, he never can remain removed from the headlines for long. Yesterday the results of a deposition he gave in response to the charge leveled by E. Jean Carroll’s charges of sexual assault was made public; and his defense strategy is, to say the least, unique. First he assailed the plaintiff with calumny and abuse, calling her a “nut job” and the perpetrator of “a complete scam” in which she described the rape as she “was promoting a really crummy book” – behavior which is more or less to be expected from him. But then he went not only to threaten her but Lewis Kaplan, the presiding judge, as well. “I will sue her after this is over, and that’s the thing I really look forward to doing. And I’ll sue you too,” he told Kaplan. Not surprisingly, Kaplan upheld the lawsuits alleging rape and defamation and seeking unspecified damages by Carroll, saying they could proceed to trial because Trump’s challenges were “without merit.”

The episode has its comic aspect, but there is nothing amusing about the revelation that Biden appears to be as culpable as Trump in his handling of classified documents from the Obama era, when he was Vice President. He has removed several from the sensitive compartmented information facilities (SCIFs), where they belong, and has stored them at the garage in his private residence In Wilmington, just as Trump removed several to his private residence in Mar-a-Lago.

I have striven, as I believe, to be even-handed in these records; and while I continue to abominate Trump as a seditious traitor, I have not glossed over the numerous failings of the current administration: the mishandling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the complete irresponsibility in dealing with the border crisis, the perverse championship of so-called transgender rights that more often than not are an excuse for men trampling down women. But up to now I had some confidence in his basic integrity. This episode has been a rude awakening. Whether the reason for illegally storing such documents in an unprotected private dwelling for years on end is the result of future plans during an earlier decade for jockeying for power or simply of carelessness due to premature senility I neither know nor care. The fact remains that he is as great as an offender against the country’s security as his predecessor. For the present the White House refuses to release records of who visited the house while the documents have been lodged there. I can only echo the passionate cry of Mrs. Boyle from Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, upon discovering that the man who was engaged to her daughter first impregnated her and afterwards deserted her: “oh, is there not even a middlin’ honest man left in th’ world?”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 671,177,343; # of deaths worldwide: 6,729,721; # of cases U.S.: 103,573,042; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,125,539.

January 13, 2023

January 13, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Some material advantages of keeping a journal – Handling money matters for seniors – Falling numbers for respiratory diseases – Evening statistics

This journal helped me to save money yesterday. I received a bill in the mail for $380 from the PM Pediatrics for Virginia facility. This puzzled me, since I do not have children and could not recollect having made any doctor’s visit at the date of the alleged appointment. To be certain on this last point, however, I inspected the journal entry for the day and discovered that on September 10, when I was supposed to have made a visit there, I actually had been on a flight to Denver to begin the vacation in Rocky Mountain National Park. So I called them up to ask why I had received such a bill, and they told me that it was for a COVID test I had taken at their facility.

Now it is true that the facility does offer COVID tests for adults and children alike, and indeed I did take a couple of tests from them about two years ago, at a time when testkits for home use were not readily available. I pointed out, however, that a COVID test should not cost $380, and in any case it was physically impossible for me to have taken one on the date they claimed to have seen me, since I was thousands of miles away. They quickly agreed to withdraw the bill altogether.

I doubt if it was a deliberate attempt at fraud; in all likelihood someone made a mistake in accounting. But such an incident demonstrates how vulnerable seniors are in matters such as these. There are all sorts of scams directed at them, both via telephone solicitors and Emails, as well as outright errors such as the one I met with today; and it requires constant vigilance to combat them. Seniors, especially those who are unfamiliar with the Internet, are by far the most likely to be taken in. In my father’s last years I had to handle virtually all of his accounting for him, just as I’m doing now for my mother.

The so-called “tripledemic” has not materialized. Cases for both influenza and RSV have gone steadily downward over the past six weeks. COVID hospitalizations trended upward during December, but these also appear to going down in recent weeks. It is difficult to be certain on account of the reporting lag from various hospitals, but the fact that so high a percentage of the populace has already been infected and that nearly 70% of all Americans are fully vaccinated has rendered us much less vulnerable than we were during the winter of last year. In Virginia, on several days during the past couple of weeks there have been no deaths at all. On some few days (November 20^th, December 4^th, December 18^th, among others) there have been no COVID deaths across the entire country during a 24-hour period.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 670,772,387; # of deaths worldwide: 6,726,970; # of cases U.S.: 103,482,187; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,125,020. Today’s death toll from COVID world-wide was less than 1,500. A year ago the death toll for this date was nearly six times that amount, so the intensity of the disease is definitely subsiding.

January 11-12, 2023

January 12, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Our vulnerable air travel system – Hiking on the Appalachian Trail – At the winery after the hike – McCarthy and Trump – The end of the investigation by the special grand jury in Georgia – The strange precision of George Santos – The pandemic (officially) continues – Evening statistics

I appear to have been unusually opportune in my timing. Yesterday the computer system that generates NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions) broke down, causing thousands of flights to be delayed or, in some cases, canceled altogether. I was very fortunate not to have delayed my return to Washington by a day!

Instead, having settled back at home on Tuesday afternoon, I was able to hike with friends yesterday on the AT from the parking area near Linden to the Manassas Gap shelter and back. It was a winery hike, which is why the hike was short: only 6 miles and 1200 feet of elevation gain. But it was of interest as being the first hike I have done since the two great storms of December, which caused numerous blowdowns along the trails. LM, who had hiked on the Dickey Ridge Trail about a week earlier, showed photographs that displayed a trail covered with brush and nearly impenetrable. I was interested to see what the condition of the AT would be at this point. It proved to be in very good repair, with no particular barriers to contend with. Of course one cannot build too much on this single experience. The AT would receive first priority as far as getting the blowdowns cleared and in any case the hike was rather a small statistical sampling.

Afterwards we had lunch at the Rappahannock Cellars. We could not eat in the enclosed patio on the top floor, since it admits air from the outside and the temperature in that area was under 40 degrees, but we ate and drank on the second floor, which provides a more intimate atmosphere than the general dining/tasting area on the ground floor. It is very pleasant, among the more strenuous hikes that I generally undertake, to have the occasional relaxed, leisurely type of hike like this one, allowing much time for leisurely eating and drinking and chatting afterwards. We sat together at the table and enjoyed one another’s company for two hours, and yet we were able to return to our residences before the rush hour began.

Kevin McCarthy has won the struggle to become Speaker of the House. This is disturbing, not account of the selection of McCarthy himself – it was clear from the onset that the GOP was not going to provide any other viable candidate in his place – but because the intervention of Donald Trump advocating his election was the turning point in overcoming the deadlock within the party. In other words, Trump’s stranglehold over the party remains as strong as ever and McCarthy in particular feels indebted towards him, which will naturally inhibit any criticisms he might be capable of. Indeed he afterwards went out of his way to praise Trump, some two years after the treasonous attempt to invade the Capitol and overturn the results of the 2020 election.

It is possible that nemesis will come to Trump for his attempted intervention of the electoral tally in Georgia. But it is not to be counted on. The special grand jury in Fulton County has completed its investigation and has sent its report to Fani Willis. The final decision as to whether or not to press charges remains with her. It is not certain that she will; and even if she does decide to do so, she must first present evidence to a separate, regular grand jury that has the power to indict. Who can wonder that Trump found it so easy during the earlier part of his career, when his lawbreaking was confined to the world of finance, to hoodwink our judicial system? At this point two investigating committees, one national and one state-appointed, have documented his felonies; and yet we seem to be as far from an indictment as ever.

The outcry over George Santos’s numerous fabrications, or perhaps I should more properly say myths, about his past has prompted him to tell reporters that he would step down if “142 people ask for me to resign.” How on earth did he arrive at that particular figure? If he had said “over a thousand” or even “over ten thousand,” it would be understandable. But 142? Surely that seems a very precise number under the circumstances, more appropriate for conducting a scientific experiment than for an informal poll. One can’t make up stories like this one. Satirists are simply out of luck when it comes to the American political scene. Nothing that they could invent can possibly be more bizarre than the reality.

At all events, his conditions have readily been met. The anti-Trump Lincoln Project asked Twitter for 142 calls for Santos to resign, which was quickly surpassed. In addition, a Change.org petition calling for Santos to step down has collected over 200 signatures. We shall see if he is ready to fulfill his promise, but it seems doubtful that his word is to be relied upon on this as in any other instance.

The Department of Health and Human Services has extended the COVID-19 state of emergency that was instituted in January 2020, It is the 12th renewal of the emergency and is scheduled to last 90 days. So officially, at least, the pandemic is not yet over and will not be over until April at the very earliest.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 669,332,725; # of deaths worldwide: 6,717,570; # of cases U.S.: 103,151,843; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,121,725.

January 6-10, 2023: Louisiana Trip

January 10, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

I have just returned from a visit to Louisiana, my first visit to that state. I spent a couple of days in Baton Rouge with a friend and then two days in New Orleans.

Traveling there was remarkably easy. I’m glad to report that Dulles has moved to the 21^st century at long last. I was able to take the Silver Line all the way to the airport, instead of having to stop at Reston and catch a shuttle bus, as was previously the case. And the airport is finally phasing out the clumsy and uncomfortable shuttle coaches that passengers were forced to use upon deplaning from return flights: the train within the airport now runs in both directions. The airport at New Orleans was a very pleasant surprise as well. I was expecting a dirty, chaotic, run-down facility like the airport at Miami. Instead I found a remarkably clean and efficiently-run organization that would not be out of place in Germany. The plane landing at the airport was nearly ½ hour early; but instead of the plane being forced to hover in the air until a gate was available (as has happened to me at Dallas and Atlanta), space was readily obtainable and we got off the plane without encountering anything to nullify the advantage of the early arrival time.

My friend RW met me at the airport and we went to his place in Baton Rouge. First, however, we spent the better part of the afternoon at Oak Alley, the former home of a sugar plantation owner. It derives its name from the impressive series of oaks lining the avenue that formed the house entrance (which were full-grown when they were transplanted to the area when the house was first built and which are now well over 200 years old). The house itself is built on the usual plan of such mansions: the front door opens onto a main corridor wide enough to function as a ballroom, with openings on either side to large rooms such as the main dining room, drawing room (we would call it a living room today), study, and so on. Bedrooms were located on the second floor. Most of the furnishings of the house were from the period in which it was built, but some few items actually belonged to the family that originally owned it. Oak Alley passed through several hands after the original owners were no longer able to maintain it and eventually, though the energetic efforts of the last owners, it was preserved from being razed by means of a grant that made it possible to sustain itself by holding tours.

Sugar, of course, was intimately intertwined with slavery; and the management of Oak Alley, far from concealing this aspect of the mansion, goes out of its way to highlight it – noting the hardships of the slaves’ lives and also the fact that slaves were used as collateral when the owner first took out a loan to build the house. Interestingly, the owner’s brother, who was a member of the Louisiana legislature, did not wish Louisiana to enter the Confederacy. His attitude was that the other state economies were primarily based on cotton, and that the only cause that Louisiana had with these states was its pro-slavery position. He was overruled, of course, but it is striking that he felt that the cotton interests would prove as detrimental to the state as the abolition of slavery. Louisiana, or at any rate its southern region, is certainly not suitable for such a crop. The area is flat and much of it is swamp. There are no hills to mitigate the effects of windstorms as they sweep through the area. The rains from the Gulf can be unrelenting, lasting days at a time, to say nothing of the hurricanes that the inhabitants must endure every summer.

On the following day RW took me on a brief tour of Baton Rouge itself. Baton Rouge is a fairly pleasant city, although I would not make a special trip to see it. The architecture is not particularly distinguished, apart from the Capitol, which is magnificent. It was somewhat startling to see how Huey Long, who is generally cast in a villainous role by the history books on account of his opposition to Franklin Roosevelt, is here venerated as a hero. Certainly he did many good things for the state, ensuring that schoolchildren had access to free textbooks, breaking up the dens of prostitution and gambling halls that infested New Orleans, and constructing roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, and state buildings on a scale unprecedented in the economically backward South at the time: much of the infrastructure in Louisiana today is based on what Long established during his tenure. In short, he is such a mass of contradictions, such a mixture of monumentally good and monumentally bad, so it is impossible for me to come to a firm conclusion about him without more intensive study.

During the afternoon I went around the lakes in the vicinity of the campus of Louisiana State University. The trails are lovely, sometimes skirting past palatial homes and offering views of a great variety of waterfowl, including gulls, egrets, herons, swans, ducks, and cormorants.

RW told me about his experiences during Hurricane Katrina. Baton Rouge was not devastated in the manner that New Orleans was, being slightly above sea level and further inland as well. But it went without power for weeks on end (the neighborhood in which RW lives was without power for two weeks, which was far less than the outages many other parts of the city endured) and the overflow of people fleeing from New Orleans swelled the populations there from approximately 500,000 to more than five times that number. He himself at one point had no fewer than seventeen guests in his house for over a week. Foraging for food during that period was a major undertaking. To this day he avoids the various museums in both cities whose exhibits center about this event, having no desire to be reminded of what he underwent during that time.

On the following day RW dropped me off at New Orleans. The earlier part of the day was rainy, and I spent much of it at Mardi Gras World, a fascinating exhibit of the history of how Mardi Gras evolved into its current manifestations in New Orleans and of the process used for manufacturing the floats used by the “krewes” in the Mardi Gras parades. The weather cleared afterwards and I spent the later part of the afternoon and some hours in the following day to explore the French Quarter. The French Quarter is not large and one can easily cover all of its blocks in the course of a few hours. It is noted for its distinctive architecture, with verandas on the second and third stories supported by narrow pillars on the ground and ornamented by elaborate wrought-iron railing.

My appraisal of New Orleans is somewhat ambivalent. The architecture is certainly worth seeing, even though it is less varied than that of Old Town Alexandria or Annapolis, and many of the less-frequented streets are beautiful. The much-famed Bourbon Street, however, is an unmitigated nuisance. Imagine a dozen ghetto-blasters all blaring at once and striving to out-rival each other in volume, and you can get some idea of the hideous cacophony that ensues. Bach and Mozart themselves would be intolerable at so high a decibel level, and the strains that the musicians were playing were anything but Mozartean. Why are Americans so intent on destroying their sense of hearing? And they are doing so in full knowledge that they are condemning themselves ultimately to deafness, for there have been warnings without number from various physicians about the deleterious effects of subjecting oneself to an unceasing stream of clamor,

The cuisine of New Orleans has likewise been over-praised. The seafood is fresh and varied, and shrimp dishes in particular benefit by the fact that the main ingredient does not have to be frozen before the chef has access to it. But I regret to say that the beneficial effects of French influence on the cuisine are minimal. The quality of the coffee is no different from that of other regions in the U.S., and is often worse. The breads are displeasingly soft, cottony in texture, and all but flavorless, like much of the bread in this country. Any native Frenchman would turn up his nose in scorn at the croissants and rolls sold in New Orleans. The delicate touch that French chefs use in preparing vegetables has fallen by the wayside in this former French territory: vegetables tend to be over-cooked here as they are in most of the other parts of the South.

The part of my tour of the area that I enjoyed the most was the ride on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar, which goes through the greater part of the city, including the campuses of Tulane and Loyola. There are many imposing mansions, churches and synagogues of historical interest, extensive parks, and lively bustling neighborhoods along the way. The usual practice is to ride the full length of the streetcar Journey from Canal St. and then ride back again in the opposite direction, but I walked back on my return in order to explore at my leisure some of the areas I had passed earlier. (The distance of the streetcar route is about 6½ miles, so the return on foot is not arduous.) I also went through the Marigny district, which borders the French Quarter and is notable for the gaily painted exteriors of many of the residents, rather like those of Cape May. Finally, the Riverwalk along the Mississippi provides impressive views of the width of the river, with numerous barges and ships and boats passing along its surface.

I do not care for the New Orleans drivers, although I realize that the greater part of them are not native to the city. Suffice it to say that their habit of treating STOP signs and crosswalks as if they were Mardi Gras decorations greatly impair the pleasures of walking through the French Quarter. The drivers are not as bad as those of Philadelphia or Boston, but the drivers of both New York and Washington are much more courteous towards pedestrians in comparison.

Much has occurred on the political scene during the past few days, but I will reserve reflections on these for later entries, after I have the chance to download my photos.

Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 669,332,725; # of deaths worldwide: 6,717,570; # of cases U.S.:103,151,843; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,121,725.

January 27-28, 2023

January 9, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

The Glenstone Museum – Fears for declining years – Gambrill State Park – Is the clerkless society imminent? – Evening statistics

I went with EG and HG to Glenstone Museum in Potomac, which is unlike any other museum I have seen. The museum consists of a 230-acre campus with a trail winding through it to various buildings devoted to displaying the works of art, all of which is contemporary. It is a requirement that in order to exhibit in Glenstone, artists must first have exhibited at least 15 years in other museums. Several of the large-scale sculptures are placed out of doors and the landscaping is every bit as elaborate as that of an English country estate in the age of Humphrey Repton. A boardwalk goes over a meandering stream, crossing it several times, and the buildings themselves are works of art. They include, for example, three stone-walled houses, with the stones intricately fitted to each other, and the Pavilions, a building of precast concrete sections that were poured at different seasons to produce color variation and which, although it is in fact a single building, has the appearance of several different buildings as one approaches it. The Pavilions offers numerous vistas both of the interior courtyard, with its water garden, and of the outdoor riparian scenery, which is breath-taking even in winter. The galleries are lavish with the amount of space they allot to each exhibited piece; several contain only two or three in a room. It is the largest private contemporary art museum in the country. We saw the museum to advantage yesterday, inasmuch as it was a bright sunlit day, so that the riotous profusion of pale straw-colored grasses had a slightly golden tinge when viewed from the panoramic window view in one of the gallery rooms.

And what of the works of art themselves?

“These consist largely of tantalizing abstractions: an egg balanced on cone, an erg balanced on a bone, a hag balanced on a roan.”

Such is S. J. Perelman’s facetious description of the wall decorations of a fashionable Manhattan jewelry store and, by extension, of the modern art scene in New York generally. Some of the artworks in Glenstone are a bit like that: obvious attempts to impress the viewer with the artist’s originality, but holding little intrinsic interest otherwise. But others are much more impressive, including, housed in a separate gallery building , those by R. H. Quaytman, an artist of extraordinary range and power. She is listed as an “abstract artist,” but that is really too reductive a label for her. Her works are an intricate blend of realist and expressionistic techniques, and the results are riveting. We were particularly delighted by a series of 22 panels ranged along the wall depicting the meeting of field and sky at the horizon (“Morning, Chapter 30”), with the tints of the sky varying from one panel to the next and ranging from pale bluish gray to deep indigo. The room contained other works that were so completely unlike in style from the panel series and from each other that at first it was difficult for me to believe that they all came from the hand of the same artist.

Afterwards we returned to EG’s and HG’s house, and had tea together. Our conversation, though animated as usual, took a somewhat melancholy turn, touching upon how the efforts of modern medicine to prolong life has been something of a mixed blessing, resulting in numbers of people whose last years consist solely of pain or oblivion and who would ask for nothing better than to able to put a swift end to them. EG and HG mentioned a neighbor who is 92, whose infirmities are increasing on an almost daily basis, and who awakes in the mornings with an emotion akin to despair in the knowledge that she must somehow or other endure another day; while I, of course, spoke and thought of my unfortunate mother, who has been in a semi-comatose state for years on end and who is now unable to recognize anyone or indeed to respond to external stimuli of any kind. EG, HG, and myself are all active and alert; we enjoy our respective periods of retirement greatly; and yet we are each of us old enough to feel the presence of that specter of ill health, both physical and mental, hovering in the background, ready to pounce upon us at any given moment, and it is not surprising that we occasionally wonder what form it will take. For my own part, I certainly do not desire to outlive my mental faculties.

Today I went with LM and others in Gambrill State Park, where I had not been for several months. We had another fine day, going first along the Red Maple Trail and the Catoctin Trail, then going along the greater part of the Yellow Poplar Trail and stopping at the North Frederick Overlook. This overlook is one of the best to see the city of Frederick from above, as well as the isolated peak of Sugarloaf Mountain to its south. A rather amusing incident occurred during the meandering path of the Upper Yellow Poplar Loop. While waiting at a junction I encountered another hiker who went on; then, after I regrouped with the others and went forward again, I met this same hiker coming in the opposite direction and looking anxious. “Am I going in the right direction?” he asked me, as we approached each other. “I overtook this group of hikers some minutes ago and now it looks like they’re coming towards me.” I assured him that he had not gotten turned around; the illusion was created by the fact that the trail bends frequently and uses many switchbacks, so that it could easily appear to someone a hundred feet or so above one such turn that he had reversed his direction.

A rather amusing article in my AARP magazine was devoted to the plight of the “overworked consumer.” Businesses are using clerks and cashiers to a lesser degree than they have done in the past, for obvious economic reasons. Not only do they have to pay fewer people for checking customers out, but transactions tend to be swifter. A customer has little temptation to linger over the counter if there is no one to talk to. On the other hand, customers (and older customers in particular) are less familiar than clerks to be familiar with bar code locations and the machines themselves can be slower than a register operated by an efficient clerk. I actually prefer the self-checkout option myself; I like to be able to arrange the packaging of my shopping bags, which I can safely say I do somewhat more efficiently than the majority of clerks. I well remember one shopping experience, when I purchased six items that clerk proceeded to store in four plastic bags. It is a little less of a problem now, ever since Virginia started charging for plastic bags; before that occurred I would have to thrust my reusable shopping bags practically under the clerk’s nose in order not to be overwhelmed with plastic bags that I didn’t need and didn’t want. I suspect that while personal service in grocery stores and fast-food restaurants will not die out entirely, it will become much less frequent. No doubt younger generations will look back with wonder upon footage showing stores in which customers hand over cash or credit cards to an actual, breathing person.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 674,692,946; # of deaths worldwide: 6,758,403; # of cases U.S.: 104,111,747; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,132,254..

January 24-26, 2023

January 9, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Hiking around Harpers Ferry – McCarthy’s The Groves of Academe – Lockdown in Pyongyang – Evening statistics

On Tuesday I went with the Vigorous Hikers to do a circuit of over 15 miles along the battle area surrounding Harpers Ferry, beginning with Bolivar Heights, then going through the town, over the Potomac, ascending Maryland Heights via a back way, and having lunch at Stone Fort. From there we descended back to town and took the trail along the Shenandoah that eventually leads to the Visitor Center and returned to the parking area by going over Bolivar Heights again. It is a splendid hike, especially as Tuesday proved to be the first fine day we’ve had for nearly a week, and it gives a vivid impression of the various forces during the Civil War that besieged the unfortunate city of Harpers Ferry, which to this day has never recovered its former importance since that conflict. Before the war it was a commercial city of considerable importance, but it was invaded multiple times, passing sometimes into the hands of the Union army and sometimes into the hands of the Confederate army, eventually destroying most of its resources; so that it is now a tiny town with a population of well under 500, and whose economy rests principally upon tourism.

It rained incessantly on the following day and I scarcely ventured out at all, passing the time by perusing a book that I had long intended to read, Mary McCarthy’s The Groves of Academe. I had begun this effort with considerable good will, for I had heard much about its premise, which is a promising one. An untenured English professor named Henry Mulcahy has received a letter of dismissal from the college President, Maynard Hoar. Mulcahy is a good scholar but has notable defects as an instructor (failing to turn in attendance records, occasionally missing out on appointments with his tutorial students, etc.), so that his dismissal does not seem misplaced. However, he hits upon the scheme of accusing himself, quite falsely, of having been a member of the Communist party, which thereby enables his sympathizers to claim that he is being discharged on account of political discrimination as they lobby for his reinstatement. It is an intriguing theme, with numerous opportunities to satirize the pretentiousness, political correctness, and staff infighting that are prominent features of American college campuses to this day, and I was looking forward to reading the novel with great enjoyment.

Alas! Mary McMarthy is not much of a novelist. The greater part of the events that unfold during the narration are told as back story, at tedious length. This tendency towards flat abstraction is carried to a startling extreme in the last chapter, in which Mulcahy and Hoar have a final confrontation. It is a moment that could have held considerable dramatic impact, but the emotional intensity is drained out of it by McCarthy’s perverse decision to relate it at second hand, not showing the confrontation itself but having Hoar summarize it afterwards to a member of his staff.

In addition, McCarthy does not handle dialogue well. Every single remark that each of the characters makes is swathed in several complex sentences of exposition, making it impossible to get any sensation of the give-and-take of an ordinary conversation or any vivid impression of the persons carrying on their interchanges with one another.

It is regrettable. The novel should have been a good one. It does, in fact, have the makings of being the basis of an entertaining movie, once a skillful screenwriter condenses some of the wordier speeches and omits the extraneous parts of the narrative. The concept of many of the episodes is quite inventive. One chapter, for instance, focuses on a conference on modern poetry sponsored by the college, to which several poets across the country are invited. In the hands of an exuberant satirist it could have been riotously funny. (It is a little surprising, in fact, that conferences of this nature have not been satirized more often.) But it is not, despite some sharp observations about the eccentricities of the conference guests and the strain it puts on the members of the faculty who have the misfortune to host them. The visiting poets and the faculty members alike are shadows, wraiths. And, remarkably for a novel whose setting is a college campus, students make hardly any appearance at all. Science departments, social science departments, student athletic competitions, and dormitories are likewise omitted. All in all, it makes for fairly dull reading: the ingredients are all excellent, but the dish is not worth eating.

North Korea has ordered a five-day lockdown of Pyongyang for an unspecified “respiratory Illness.” We have no clue as to what this illness might be. None at all. Of course not.

It can’t possibly be COVID, since, as we all know, no new cases were reported after July 29, 2022 and the North Korean government declared victory over the ailment this past August. Kim Jong-Un has said so himself, and who would venture to contradict him? Nobody in North Korea, certainly. And, it appears, the WHO is equally spineless, and with far less excuse, considering it is not in Kim Jong-Un’s power to execute any of its members; the organization will not even speculate on the extent to which the disease has progressed there.

At one point Pyongyang did report 4.77 million cases of fever, out of a population of 25 million, nearly 20% in all. About the death toll it maintained a discreet silence. It clearly is impossible to obtain reliable statistics from that country. The likelihood is that COVID is running rampant throughout the populace, particularly since the North Koreans have a high rate of malnutrition and virtually no medical system to speak of. Officially, Peru has the highest COVID death rate, which has claimed nearly 6½% of its population. It seems likely that North Korea’s figures are similarly high. But whether the disease has killed 1% of the North Koreans or 2% or 5% or 10% – no one knows.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 674,207,917; # of deaths worldwide: 6,753,733; # of cases U.S.: 104,047,866; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,131,369.

January 22-23, 2023

January 9, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

Sherman Gap/Shawl Gap hike – Exploring paths near Difficult Run – The lengthy process of trail creation – More convictions of various 1/6/2021 rioters – Seeming immunity of Donald Trump – COVID following the path of influenza – Transgender pronouns – Evening statistics

Yesterday I led the Wanderbirds up Sherman Gap, along the ridgeline of Massanutten, and go down Shawl Gap. It was the first truly strenuous hike I’ve done since the beginning of the year, and my lack of practice told: going up Sherman Gap felt more difficult than I had remembered. Still, I made up there in reasonable time. I had been anticipating the hike to be something of a washout, for the day was greatly overcast and rain was in the forecast. Happily, outside of brief showers, the rain held off until the mid-afternoon, after we had completed the hike and our customarily partying at the end of it, and the other hikers said that they enjoyed themselves. This hike was a carpool hike – that is, we drove to the trailhead instead of using a bus; the club will not be chartering a bus for the entire quarter, due to the low turnout on our bus trips since we resumed them in July.

Today’s hike was rather different: I went with WN to escort various representatives from the Park Service and the surveying company employed by them along the route on the east side of Difficult Run, which goes along the direction of the original Georgetown Pike Road and which, as it turns out, I had never before visited myself. I was aware, in a vague sort of way, that walking in that area was possible, since when going on the Difficult Run Trail in Great Falls National Park I would frequently see various people wandering about on the other bank of the stream. The path there is an unofficial trail, but it is obvious that some sort of trail maintenance has been done. It was easy to follow and there was little undergrowth. We examined potential sites for establishing a footbridge (even if only a temporary one) over Difficult Run to link this footpath with the network of trails in Great Falls and traced the route up to the point where Townston Road forms a T-intersection with Georgetown Pike. If such a link could be established, it would substantially reduce the gap on the Potomac Heritage Trail between Difficult Run and Scott’s Run. From Towlston, moreover, it may be possible to bypass Madeira, where obtaining an easement is less likely than in other areas.

One of the Park Service representatives cautioned us against expecting swift results, however willing the county, state, and federal agencies might be. Even if converting this unofficial trail into one that it is a recognized park trail were to be approved tomorrow, it might be as long as ten years before it actually came to pass. Studies would have to be done about environmental impact (on trees, Difficult Run and the little streams in its watershed, property boundaries, among other factors), cost estimates would have to be made, the appropriate funds would have to be allocated, and so on. All of which made me appreciate how the trails which we take for granted – including, of course, the Appalachian Trail itself – were conceived and brought into existence by people who sometimes never lived long enough to tread upon them themselves and whose efforts were devoted solely for the recreation of future generations.

Joseph Hackett of Sarasota, Florida; Roberto Minuta of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel of Punta Gorda, Florida; and Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, Arizona, members of the Oath Keepers, were all convicted today of seditious conspiracy in the role they played during the riot of January 6, 2021. They have not yet been sentenced, but some amount of jail time is all but certain; the charge has a maximum penalty of twenty years. In addition, Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the man who obtained his 15 minutes of fame by proudly displaying his feet propped up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk during that same event, has been convicted of on all eight counts in his indictment, including felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He will be sentenced some time in May.

At an earlier juncture news such as this would have delighted me, but by now it is merely a source of irritation. Yes, these people participated in the attempt to overturn the results of a national election and have been duly convicted of it. Well and good; but why are no charges being brought against the chief perpetrator, i.e., Donald Trump? More than two years have elapsed since this treasonous assault he has orchestrated; not one, but two special investigating committees have certified that he is guilty; and yet no charges have been brought against him and, it appears, never will be. More than this, he has announced some time ago his intentions of running for President in the 2024 election and I should not be in the least surprised, even while being somewhat dismayed, if the Republican Party flocked to his leadership as eagerly as the Jews of the 17^th century flocked to that of the false Messiah Sabbatai Zvi.

I have been predicting that COVID will eventually subside into a status not dissimilar to that of influenza, and that prediction now is on the verge of becoming true. The FDA has recommended that people receive an annual vaccine against the disease, just as we do now with flu; and we seem to be on the road to accepting COVID as a fact of life that has to be provided against and mitigated by periodic vaccines, just as this nation did with flu after the great epidemic of 1918.

In North Dakota one bill was proposed and rejected on Friday, which mandated people affiliated with schools or institutions receiving public funding having to pay a $1,500 fine for using gender pronouns other than those assigned at birth for themselves or others. Many in the state’s senate judiciary committee that voted down the bill noted that they agreed with the bill’s intention to limit transgender rights, but they felt that the bill was poorly written and difficult to enforce. My own feeling is that, while I have no wish to limit the rights of people of ambiguous sexuality, I object to such pronouns as a grammarian. Gender is an essential part of most Indo-European languages; this attempt to disguise the fact that people have a gender assigned to them at birth can only lead to mass confusion and obfuscation, all of the sake of suiting the tender sensibilities of a very small portion of the population at large, and at the expense of everyone else.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 673,478,488; # of deaths worldwide: 6,747,959; # of cases U.S.: 103,888,296; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,129,145.

January 15, 2023

January 9, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

A DC hike – Race relations then and now – Declining rates of COVID – Evening statistics

The return of the sun has brought about a lightening of mood – that, as well as an 18-mile hike with RS, starting from the Martin Luther King monument and skirting about the Kennedy Center, Glover-Archibold Park, the Cathedral, the Normanstone Trail, Dumbarton Oaks Park, Dupont Circle, the Kennedy Center again, and Roosevelt Island. Every time I go on ventures of this sort into DC, I discover something new. In this case I saw the Gandhi sculpture for the first time (although I have heard of it before) and the Dewi Saraswati statue, a relatively recent addition (it came to DC in 2013) in front of the Indonesian embassy. I was puzzled by its location, since Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country, but it turns out that the statue came from Bali, the archpelago’s largest island with a Hindu majority. It was breezy but not blustery like yesterday and the skies were bright blue in contrast to the dull grey of the day before.

There will be more to come tomorrow, when RS and I will lead several others in a circuit from the MLK memorial in our annual commemoration of Martin Luther King. It was very pleasant to see African-Americans, Asian-Americans, whites, Hispanics, and so on, mingling together on the streets, in restaurants, in stores, on the Metro, and so on, in a manner that would have been much less common even as little as half a century earlier. However, there is a way to go. When I was in Iceland this past summer, I overheard one American tourist remark that for the first time in his life he was unaware of being black. It will take a long time yet for us to reach that stage.

There are, perhaps, less personal reasons for rejoicing as well. COVID is easing worldwide with a weekly 23% decrease in cases and 13% drop in deaths. There is one exception: mainland China, where the virus emerged three years ago and where reliable data are simply impossible to obtain. Wonderful to relate, the WHO itself has actually requested China to supply them with information that is verifiable; and such a request and its implied criticism, though timid and tentative and far less censorious than the Chinese medical officials deserve, is yet better than nothing.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 671,340,707; # of deaths worldwide: 6,730,405; # of cases U.S.: 103,577,391; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,125,541. The numbers are not misprints, as one might think in comparing them with yesterday’s statistics: there were indeed only 2 COVID deaths in the U.S. today.

January 3-4, 2023

January 9, 2023February 9, 2023 betula54 Journal Entry

On the Bull Run/Occoquan Trail – College admissions scandal – The mouse that roared: the WHO criticizes China (for once) – Abortion pills become easier to obtain – Kevin McCarthy still failing to become Speaker – Evening statistics

The mild weather continues. Yesterday I went with the Vigorous Hikers on the Bull Run/Occoquan Trail, a there-and-back between the Kincheloe Soccer Field and the southern terminus at Fountainhead. At times rain fell, but so lightly that one scarcely noticed it. We had lunch at the lake towards the end of the entrance road at Fountainhead. The dam, which is about ½ mile from the boating area, had been opened recently in a manner that led to flooding, but there were little signs of damage where we had lunch. At the end of the hike I encountered GP and BH. They had come down with COVID a few weeks ago – which of course in GP’s case is no trifling matter, since he is now well into his 90s – but they both have since recovered and have immediately taken back to the trails again.

William Singer, a self-labeled “college admissions consultant,” has been convicted of bribing coaches and rigging examination results to obtain admission for the children of his well-placed clients, who include various financiers in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and New York City. Using staged photographs and resumes filled with nonexistent accolades, a girl who’d never played soccer competitively found herself at UCLA on its nationally ranked soccer team; the daughter of actress Lori Loughlin was admitted to USC as a recruited coxswain on the basis of a posed photograph on a rowing machine; and the son of a Los Angeles businessman won a spot at USC after his father photographed him posing in water polo gear in the family pool, then paid a graphic designer to impose the boy’s image in a shot of an actual match. Singer has been sentenced to pay a fine of $10 million to the Federal government and to serve 3½ years in prison. In addition, prosecuting attorneys are leveling charges against 53 of his clients for obtaining admission for elite colleges for their sons and daughters to the detriment of thousands of other more qualified applicants.

That is all very well as far as it goes, but it does not address the root of the problem: namely, the colleges themselves. Singer himself outlined the issue when he described how he came to develop his scams in the first place. Students, as he said, could enter various elite universities via the “front door”: studying hard and pursuing an interest in sports, the arts, or other extra-curricular activities. But of course there are many applicants for every entrance opening, and there are no guarantees that any student, however qualified, can obtain admission to the college of his or her choice. And here matters become more murky. Wealthy and influential families have created a “back door” for their children: i.e., a massive donation to a university endowment. Even that measure, however, does not absolutely guarantee admission for their progeny who happen to be unentitled to such placement. So Singer created what he called a “side door” by cultivating relationships with coaches and other athletic officials willing to sell him admission spots earmarked for recruited athletes into colleges such as Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, USC, and UCLA, among others ease with which colleges allow themselves to be bribed, and the ever-increasing corruption associated with college student athletic programs, will cause scandals such as these to become commonplace. We urgently need reform in our collegiate system.

The WHO has done something truly astounding today: it has actually criticized China. We have seen in the past that the WHO has been shamefully subservient to that country, minimizing its responsibility for the emergence of COVID in the first place and even bolstering its fallacious claim to Taiwan by suppressing any references to the latter as an independent nation. But today the WHO has stated that the Chinese medical authorities are lying about the extent of the infections and deaths from COVID – the WHO has actually said “under-representing” instead of “lying,” but everyone knows what they mean – and has gone so far as to endorse, although in very muted terms, the precautions other countries are taking concerning travelers from China entering their borders. No doubt even these timid censures will draw upon them the wrath of the Xi Jinping administration, so that the WHO’s venturing even this far borders on the miraculous.

Right-to-lifers are now going to have to adjust to a new regulation enforced by the FDA that enables access to abortion pills to pharmacies and from them to their patrons. Women can now get a prescription for the pills via a telehealth consultation with a health professional, and then receive the pills through the mail, at any rate in states where this is permitted by law. This development will make the enforcement of anti-abortion laws much more difficult, even in the most Draconian of states. Thus if a woman in Texas desires to obtain an abortion, there is nothing to prevent her from obtaining an online consultation and then contacting relatives in, for example, California to pick up the prescription at a pharmacy in their area and then sending it to her. Obviously that does not resolve the issue entirely – doubtless there remain many women who may not have the necessary contacts to bring about such an outcome – but it does mean that our home-grown ayatollahs must be pulling their hair out in despair at this reduction over their control of women’s wombs.

Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday failed to secure the Speakership on the House’s sixth vote, the third vote of the day. It is the first time in over a century that the House has required more than one vote to select a Speaker. McCarthy needs 218 votes, but there are 20 representatives within the Republican party who have declined to vote in his favor, first voting for Jim Jordan and then, when it became apparent that Jordan was a non-starter, voting for Byron Donalds. Trump has endorsed McCarthy as Speaker, which leads one to hope that he may not obtain the position after all. As many are discovering, Trump’s endorsements are now beginning to become liabilities rather than assets.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 666,386,672; # of deaths worldwide: 6,703,047; # of cases U.S.: 102,852,514; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,119,624.