April 21, 2020: Today in WTF

The Eighth Wonder of the Modern World is the exponential increase in things that make you exclaim, “what the fuck?” Here are only four that I effortlessly picked off of the top of the news today, as reported by the New York Times. I remember a simpler time when the WTF moments left a little air in between occurrences. We are now accustomed to seeing their numbers increasing on a daily basis. The line on the chart is shooting through the roof.

Today in WTF: The price of oil set a record low. An all time record low. If you haven't read about it, try to guess what it is. Five dollars? A buck-three-eighty? No. Yesterdays closing price was negative thirty-seven dollars (thirty-seven below zero). It seems that the SARS-CoV-2 thing has almost eliminated the demand for oil, what with no one traveling by land, sea, or air, and it being too warm to sell much heating oil. Oil production is not like the water in the kitchen sink, you can't just turn off the taps. All that oil, and nowhere to put it. They are not only ready to give oil away at this point, they are prepared to pay people to take it away. What the fuck?

Today in WTF: Korean big shot Kim Jung un has been MIA for a few weeks. No one has seen the guy. He skipped the big ceremonies for one of the biggest national holidays in North Korea. Rumors vary from heart surgery to death, but I think it's more likely that he's having a stripper party with twenty varieties of French cheese and plenty of wine and vodka. Maybe he's at a health spa! God knows he could stand to drop a few kilos. The United Nations is excited about it, and there is mass speculation regarding the succession in the event that he has crossed the river. I guess no one wants to see political chaos in a rogue state possessing nuclear bombs. But really, hasn't he done this before? You'd think that there was enough to worry about, with the world health crisis, the world climate crisis, and one country after another throwing their democracies away like old newspapers. One despot goes incognito for a couple of weeks and the entire world of diplomacy is on the edges of their chairs? What the fuck?

Today in WTF: Paul Krugman's column in the Times today was about the Trump White House's tendency to fire any scientists who know what they're doing and replace them with quacks. Need advice about SARS-CoV-2, aka COVID-19, aka the Coronavirus? Ask Doctor Phil! Or Doctor Oz! Those guys are always available for TV appearances and they have ready opinions on all subjects. I've been warning about a Republican coup happening as we speak, under cover of Trump's silly outfits, clown hair and makeup, gobble-de-gook approach to English sentences, and idiotic behavior. This quackery is just part of it.

Don't take my word for it! No, don't do that! Ask the expert:

“. . . persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment of everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable . . .”

Or:

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

Both quotes from Hannah Arendt, “On Totalitarianism.”

This entry is a double-dip. For one thing, this tendency on the part of Trump is still news? What the fuck? And besides, with the full knowledge of how such totalitarian states arise being part of any decent college education for the last seventy years, this present coup can still sneak in under the radar? What the fuck?

Today in WTF: OSHA is no longer in the business of protecting workers from dangerous workplace conditions. That's according to them, and backed up by their actions and omissions in this current health crisis. For all of the thousands of complaints that they have received from food service workers, delivery personnel, hospital staff, Amazon warehouse workers, and many, many others, OSHA has yet to file ONE complaint with employers. “You're on your own.” What the fuck?

Forgive me, but I lacked the energy to make a longer list. I got to four so quickly, and they were all so fucked up, that I ran out of gas. Frankly, I am losing interest in saving the world. Que sera, sera, MFs.