As the Deity is my witness, I swear that certain of our elected officials at the state and municipal level are holding a contest to see who can be the most petty, obnoxious, contradictory, and unreasonably dictatorial boot stamping on a human face in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus. (Yes and I will call it the Wuhan coronavirus, or maybe even the Chinese Commie Crud; I owe nothing to the Chinese Communist Party, nor do I expect to sell books in China, so bite me, Premier “Winnie the Poo” Xi, you and your running-dog lackeys in the American media.)

Lets’ see – Governor Gretchen “Karen” Witmer was making a strong showing for most of the last few weeks; stupid and illogical orders as to what was essential and what was not; yea, even to the point of roping off aisles in general-purpose stores. You could go to the store, look at the merchandise which was sitting right there, in plain sight … but because Governor “Karen” had ruled, in her inexplicable wisdom, that certain items were not essential … you could not purchase them. You could, in fact, order them through the store website … but you could not actually pick up the item and schlep it to the cashier yourself. Governor “Karen” also, in her infinite wisdom, decided that the same quarantine/isolation practices that were marginally appropriate for the Big City in her state were also appropriate for the far-distant rural counties, where one might have to actually arrange for someone with the Wuhan coronavirus to come and cough on you. Governor “Karen” also claimed to see Nazi and Confederate banners at public protests objecting to her idiotic policies. So, not only stupid and illogical … but delusional. If she was auditioning for a spot as the Dem VP-nominee, I suspect that she has bombed the audition. (But one never knows. Like idiocy, there seems to be an infinite and boundless supply of delusions of competence on the part of our current political leadership in blue states.)

Alas, there are other front-runners in the idiocy sweepstakes over this last week. Governor Cuomo, he of the great state of New York likely takes the cake, if not for his apparent nipple-piercings, than for his ukase that medical volunteers from out of state coming to New York to tend to the suffering – at their own expense and unpaid by the health panjandrums in New York – let it be known that New York felt entitled a share of whatever they had been earning at their regular jobs. For grasping ungraciousness that rivals the unwelcome mat put out for the Samaritan’s Purse emergency portable hospital in Central Park. I have never expected much from Mayor “Kaiser Wilhelm” de Blasio, so I don’t feel particularly disappointed in his assorted coronavirus bungling – to include failing to consider the subway system as a super-spreader of the Wuhan Crud until fairly late in the game. Garbage mayor in, garbage city out. I know that there simply must be some sensible voters in New York who do not deserve the dysfunctional hell which “Kaiser Wilhelm” has inflicted on New Yorkers … but really. Y’all voted in Rudy Giuliani once upon a time. Pull up your socks and do it again.

As for my own dear state of Texas … While Governor Abbott appeared so far to be reasonably on the ball with regard to lockdown conditions in Texas generally, certain other local officials have come off not looking so good; notably Judge Eric Moye, who might have been within the letter of the law in convicting Shelly Luther of violating the law in opening her beauty salon ahead of time, but was definitely pushing the limits in demanding that she apologize and grovel, or else. And speaking of the full weight of the law – the Ector County sheriff’s deputies certainly don’t look any better than Judge Moye, prompting all kinds of vicious reference about doughnuts, and out of shape officers with delusions of military adequacy. Since businesses like salons, bars, small retail and all the rest are supposed to be opening over the next few weeks, authorities like … Judge Moye, and the Ector County sheriff’s department have not done themselves any good long-term by being such “respect mah authoriteh!” hard-liners about it all. Neither have governors like Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom of California, in continuing to rigidly enforce the lock-down in view of developing information on exactly the Chinese Commie Crud spreads. Interesting and reassuring that citizens are increasingly inclined to defy such lock-down orders, even as certain authoritarians become ever shriller and more insistent on being obeyed. Discuss as you will.