Life of Wry

We live in exponential times. Every day seems like a firehose of new Coronavirus news that compounds the news from the day before by orders of firehose magnitude.

Or something like that.

Today’s brought the announcement of more universities suspending in-person classes; the end of the NBA season; an end to gatherings > 250; a whole lot more talk about social distancing; assurances from my spa (I don’t even go there anymore) and my massage therapist that they are observing the strictest hygienic practices; notices about the cancellation of the Arboretum plant sale and a nice little book reading at a nice little gallery; and just tons and tons of postponed (or cancelled) concerts, conferences, festivals, sporting events, etc. Oh, oh, and Tom Hanks and his wife have tested positive for the Coronavirus, way down in sunny, warm Australia (so much for hoping this things fades with the winter season).

Today’s horribleness also included Trump’s monotoned, clumsy reading of a statement to the country, live from the oval office that — among tricky little xenophobic slights, tough talk and self-congratulatory non-truths — suspended travel from most of Europe to the US.

The European ban thing… I’m just not sure it’ll help. Too little too late, I’m thinking. Besides, we haven’t even tested anybody here yet. Once the results of the tests start rolling in, we’re going to see that the horse is way, way, WAY out of the barn.. that the virus has already spread to such a profound degree that barring the door for a smattering of European travelers is useless.  But it sounded big. I heard he wanted Steven Miller to write him something really big. 

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: nothing he said tonight was even remotely comforting. Anyone who lies as breezily and relentlessly as he does… really… has just lost all credibility. Untrustworthy right out of the gate. He could not convincingly lead a small roomful of people in the Pledge of Allegiance, much less address a nation during a genuine global crisis. The idea of him speaking with any sober authority on any subject, much less a pandemic, after subjecting us to four years of incoherent babble and brazen lies…. is just laughable.

Scary, actually.

As unsteady and capricious a leader as we could have. Don’t feel safe, don’t feel in good hands, don’t trust him as far as I can cough (which we’ll all be doing here, soon). Pretty damn, effin’ awful.

And this virus stuff is just gonna get way worse, before it gets better.

At least we’re all learning how to properly wash our hands.