Levity is contagious in grim times

Wanna know what the new normal is?

It’s U. S. Sen. Dick Blumenthal, sitting in the sun on New Haven Green, leaning way back, so a 4- inch rod with a tiny cotton ball on the end gets pushed waaaay up his nasal cavity and twisted around by people dressed for a stroll on the moon.

Yeah, that’s just about as humorous as it gets in this age of ’ Rona: watching the state’s senior senator, a righteous thorn in President Donald Trump’s side, perform a circus trick, up his nose, with a lovely pair of PPE- clad assistants, testing him for COVID- 19. He was not happy, but was a good enough sport to illustrate how sooner or later, we’ll all need to be tested.

But for freakish shock appeal, I kind of like the tail end of a conversation I heard from three slightly scraggly security techs outside the State Capitol Friday afternoon.

It was right after Gov. Ned Lamont suggested during a news conference that I might attend a church that served booze. As an atheist — and cheap drunk — I applaud the implications and the possible vaudevillian slapstick that could ensue.

Lamont, in front of the Capitol with about a dozen members of statewide clergy, had been talking about letting those indoor gatherings of five swell to 10, and for outdoor events to increase to 25, as we slide down the backside of the pandemic’s current curve.

He transitioned into a riff on how the two tribal casinos did not take his advice on banning the consumption of alcoholic beverages when they start their soft reopening this weekend. He’s also worried about COVID- vulnerable folks over 60 falling victim to the virus just because they happened to, say, feel lucky at a card table.

Then Lamont talked about allowing religious institutions to open, slightly, for indoor services of up to 100 people, with precautions such as keeping away aged congregants. “Again, alcohol is not a big part but obviously it attracts an older clientele,” Lamont said as several of the church leaders giggled over the free- styling notion of booze on a Sunday morning.

The chuckling became contagious. I mean, it like chuckling, but at that moment everyone but the governor was wearing a face mask. I joined in the levity.

The governor looked my way.

“Much of it was indoors so we wanted to ( pause) ...

that Ken? ... we wanted to come up with some protocols that could keep the congregation safe and allows you to worship in an appropriate way,” Lamont continued.

This is a microcosm of where we are in this pandemic spring.

We have a Democratic governor with more experience every day in dealing with a public health catastrophe and an economy that is like an empty church, facing 9,000 COVID deaths. We have an election year in which not only has opposition Republicans been marginalized, but the entire General Assembly has been put on ice.

It’s as if all of Dan Malloy’s dreams have come true, except for the body count and the massive economic damage.

There is virtually nothing for anyone in the legislature to run on. They’ve been out for 10 weeks. They’re not going to return and do anything important, like vote on that bill to make vaccinations mandatory for school kids. Republicans are grasping at anything to be critical of Lamont.

Are lawmakers going to come in for special session in June to enact some mailin- ballot legislation for

November?

Well, hope springs eternal.

Something else that I find comical is that Lamont’s never- ending executive orders continue to prevent people from getting fingerprinted as part of the application for a pistol permit. Yeah, there just aren’t enough guns around, so we must make it easier in the pandemic for people to shoot themselves.

That brings us to the three contractors outside the Capitol. A few minutes after Lamont’s Friday news briefing, I walked out to parking lot and the three working guys seemed to be taking a break. They were not standing socially distant, not wearing masks and sounded like ultra- con TV and radio had frozen the portions of their brains that handle critical thinking.

I have kind of a live- andlet- live attitude generally. It’s not like I am a confrontational type. I’m an aggressive pacifist. They were outside, and if they wanted to inhale a COVID- laced aerosol or 50, that was their business.

But then one of the dudes started complaining about how open- carrying a pistol with a mask on is against the law. Not entertainment.