Hals makes for joy. His work is a metaphor for life and promise. Left: Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, c. 1622, by Frans Hals. Oil on canvas. (©Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam ...

Days later, a confederacy of dullards, charlatans, and quacks seized our lives, crashed the economy, and tossed hundreds of millions of children from school and workers from their jobs ...