Hiking in cooler temperatures – The horrors of the new Texas abortion law – Melania Trump – Evening statistics
I went with AD and RH along a hike that was a mirror-image of the hike we completed on January 24th: we started from the Pinnacles picnic area along the Appalachian Trail, went down the Corbin Cutoff Trail, then up Nicholson Hollow to return to the AT, took the Passamaquoddy Trail and the Stony Man horse trail to the AT again, and used the AT to complete the circuit back to the Pinnacles. The weather was somewhat cool and wet, so that even though there was nearly 3000 feet of elevation gain, I did not feel exhausted as I had done at the end of several hikes during previous weeks in the 90-degree heat. There were 11 of us, but only 5 did the complete hike; the others went there-and-back on the AT.
We also discussed various topicstogether, amongst which the new abortion law in Texas occupied a prominent place. It is definitely a retrograde step, taking us back to the bad old laws when women without familial support (and even, quite frequently, with families who were hostile to them in their situation) would surreptitiously attempt to abort a child on their own, using a knitting needle or a similar implement – with disastrous results, often fatal ones. Women who can afford to will simply fly out of Texas when necessary to obtain an abortion in a state where no such law exists, but poor women will have no such resource. ML said that Planned Parenthood is planning to step in for such cases and provide them with necessary expenses, accommodations, and flight arrangements; but I could not help expressing my doubts as to how effective they will be – the women now left in the lurch must number in the thousands.
There are murmurings of Donald Trump being poised to run again for President in 2024, and many of his family members are already trying to thrust themselves into the foreground. But there is a notable exception to this rule: Trump’s wife Melania. Of all of our nation’s First Ladies, she enjoys the distinction of being the one least interested in her job. Even when her husband inhabited the Oval Office she stayed away from Washington as much as possible, gave less than five on-camera interviews with the press in the course of four years, and gave no print interviews at all. Her glacial indifference to the effect she could potentially achieve in her role is all the more vivid for the contrast she presents to her predecessors. Laura Bush was a seasoned campaigner and was a critical factor in obtaining a greater share of the women’s vote for her husband’s party. Michelle Obama was such a skilled public speaker on her husband’s behalf that she eventually won the nickname of “the closer.” She gave an additional (and impressive) display of these skills in the Democratic convention of 2020. Melania Trump, by way of contrast, has not accompanied her husband on a single one of his rallies after the election, has appeared in no public events for charities or any other purpose, has delivered no speeches extolling Donald Trump’s qualifications (admittedly not an easy task to do with a straight face), and, in general, shows a disdain for Trump’s re-election ambitions that very nearly matches my own.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 221,515,472; # of deaths worldwide: 4,581,259; # of cases U.S.: 40,803,569; # of deaths; U.S.: 666,219.