Making us worse

Tom Nichols, writing in The Atlantic, says that Donald Trump*’s matinee performances are making us worse people. An excerpt:

In his daily coronavirus briefings, Trump lumbers to the podium and pulls us into his world: detached from reality, unable to feel any emotions but anger and paranoia. Each time we watch, Trump’s spiritual poverty increases our own, because for the duration of these performances, we are forced to live in the same agitated, immediate state that envelops him. . . .

Daily, Trump’s opponents are enraged by yet another assault on the truth and basic human decency. His followers are delighted by yet more vulgar attacks on the media and the Democrats. And all of us, angry or pleased, become more like Trump, because just like the president, we end up thinking about only Trump, instead of our families, our fellow citizens, our health-care workers, or the future of our country. We are all forced to take sides every day, and those two sides are always “Trump” and “everyone else.”

On March 29 I told myself not to watch. Instead, I ended up looking at Aaron Rupar’s clips of choice moments. And on Friday I watched the live performance, at least a little of it. And I found myself (once again) charting new directions in obscenity as I cursed at the screen. And man, were they some strange directions. No more.

I like what Virginia Heffernan says:

Trump no longer matters.

He says the pandemic is bunk, go to work on Easter, try this quackery. Some people cheer; some people say he sucks. And then 316 MILLION AMERICANS listen to Fauci, stay home, flatten the curve.

Right on.

A first draft of history from TNYT

The New York Times has a lengthy report on the history of the Trump* administration’s response to the coronavirus. An excerpt:

Throughout January, as Mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on other issues, an array of figures inside his government — from top White House advisers to experts deep in the cabinet departments and intelligence agencies — identified the threat, sounded alarms and made clear the need for aggressive action.

The president, though, was slow to absorb the scale of the risk and to act accordingly, focusing instead on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away warnings from senior officials. It was a problem, he said, that had come out of nowhere and could not have been foreseen.

As efforts to mitigate the effects of this pandemic continue, this administration’s failures must never be forgotten. Long story short: this president was and is more concerned with his own political well-being than with the lives of the American people. He is reckless, incompetent, a danger to the country he is supposed to be leading, and a danger to the world.

Bye, Will

I’ve finally acknowledged that The New York Times crossword puzzle sparks, for me, no joy. I ended my subscription and switched to the syndicated puzzle some time ago, after TORME, Mel Tormé, was clued as a “cool jazz pioneer.” No, he wasn’t one. I wrote to Will Shortz, the crossword editor, to make that case. I even sussed out the likely source of the mistake (which I suspected was Shortz’s) — the Times obituary for Tormé, which misinterpreted a statement about Tormé and cool jazz in a book on jazz singers. Shortz wrote back to say that I obviously knew more about jazz than he did (well, yes) but that he had “several sources” to support the clue (sure, sure). No correction appeared.

Fast-forward to today’s syndicated puzzle (published March 1). The clue for 54-A, seven letters: “Informal ‘Ugh!’” The answer: NOLIKEY. Ugh, indeed. Here’s a different kind of cluelessness, the same kind that let BEANER appear as a puzzle answer last year, even after Shortz had been told that beaner is a derogatory term. If there’s any doubt that “No likey” is blatantly racist stuff, a search in Google Books will return ample evidence. An additional element of cluelessness: in no universe might “No likey” be regarded as less formal than “Ugh!” Ugh, indeed, again.

In a comment on my Saturday Stumper post yesterday, blogger Zhoen recommended of The American Values Club crossword. Her recommendation couldn’t have been more timely. I’ve started a trial subscription.

Hanks’s OED

Holy cow: Tom Hanks has the twenty-volume second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary on his bookshelves. As seen on Saturday Night Live tonight.

*

See it here. I know — there are only eighteen volumes visible on the shelf. But it is the OED. A screenshot, with a member of the audience asking a question:


[Click for a larger view.]

Today’s Blursday Stumper

Today is Saturday. But it’s also Blursday. I just made up that day of the week, having woken up pretty sure that today was Friday. Today is my first Blursday since my in-house life began on March 14. Feel free to share the idea of Blursday, as long as you, too, do so while staying inside.

I found today’s Newsday Blursday Stumper, by Greg Johnson, a satisfying puzzle. Plenty of difficulty and novelty, but nothing strained or overly arch. I began solving with (what I think is) a giveaway: 19-A, six letters, “’40s actress in the Inventors Hall of Fame.” I would have made more of that first answer if I hadn’t misread the clue for 1-D, five letters, “Forster contemporary.” I was thinking of Stephen Foster and drawing a blank. Oh! Susanna.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially admire:

4-D, seven letters, “Water fitness class.” You were thinking exercise? I was. But the answer made me think of Boy Scout stuff, not that I ever was a Scout.

12-D, nine letters, “Freight hauler of old.” Now there’s an uncommon answer.

14-A, ten letters, “One of 13 in an Ultimate Dunking Set.” A nice bit of misdirection, and a smart way to repurpose a familiar bit of crosswordese.

27-A, twelve letters, “Accounts receivable, e.g.” I don’t know how I saw this answer so quickly. Not in my wheelhouse.

32-A, ten letters, “Kitchen remodeling tool.” Represent!

32-D, four letters, “Woman in hysterics.” Lately, there’s one such answer in every Stumper.

40-A, three letters, “Cutting-edge Lord of the Rings feature.” Must be some magical weapon, no? No.

60-A, ten letters, “What a thrift store CD player might say.” That seems to capture the ethos of every thrift store I’ve visited.

One clue that baffles me, even after getting the answer and looking online for an explanation: 48-A, four letters, “Name that sounds ‘mos’ reasonable.’” When a search for “mos reasonable” and the name turns up nothing but crossword-answer websites and random typos (“mos reasonable rates”), something’s not right. But I can’t say that this clue is strained or overly arch, because I have no idea what it means.

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

[Blursday is better than Blurday, no? I’ve gone back and forth, as you can see by comparing the post and its URL. And as I’ve discovered, other people thought of the name before I did. There is nothing new under the sun, as someone else also already thought of saying.]

“Smart,” “genius,” “very smart”

Donald Trump*, who boasted not long ago about his understanding of the coronavirus, said this afternoon that the virus is “smart,” “genius,” “very smart,” “a brilliant enemy”:

“The germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it.”

Antibiotics fight bacterial infections. They are useless against viruses.

[Once again, Aaron Rupar’s Twitter helped me to make sure I had the words right.]

Reverence

HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY TO ALL!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2020

You don’t have to be a believer to find this message grotesque. But notice the time-stamp as well as the words: Trump* began tweeting this morning at least three hours before this tweet, which is clearly something of an afterthought, hardly the first thing on his mind. I’ve seen that happen with other days and occasions too. Maybe someone prompts him: “Sir, . . . .”

Got logic?

The logic defies logic: the president’s press-briefing appearances endanger his bid for reelection; thus he should step away to better his chances for reelection. Hide his dishonesty, incompetence, misogyny, narcissism, racism, &c. so that he can have four more years in which to put them to use.

Ohio gets it right again

Here's why you should keep social distancing. #InThisTogetherOhio https://t.co/jU4ZAkm3Py pic.twitter.com/fjS7nrgDti

— Ohio Dept of Health (@OHdeptofhealth) April 10, 2020

Ohio gets it right

Clear and memorable:

Social distancing works. We are all #InThisTogetherOhio. https://t.co/jU4ZAkm3Py pic.twitter.com/uKJtfi4cuP

— Ohio Dept of Health (@OHdeptofhealth) April 9, 2020