What Point?

Posted on by Thor

The 1,107 graduating Cadets at West Point have been studying remotely since March 19, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The spring break was extended indefinitely due to the spread of the virus across America. By studying at home, cadets helped stop the spread of the disease. Despite these successful safety measures, President Donald Trump insisted that he wanted to give a commencement speech in front of all the cadets at West Point.

Every cadet had to return to West Point two weeks weeks early to self isolate so that the POTUS who never wears a mask in public and often does not social distance might be kept safe. “Trump’s reckless decision to gather 1,000 Cadets at West Point for a speech puts our future military leaders at increased risk – all to stroke his own ego,” Army veteran Senator Tammy Duckworth wrote in April.

“Because travel increases your chances of getting infected and spreading Covid-19, staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from getting sick,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote on it’s website. On top of this, New York State has had the highest number of cases of Covid-19 in America. West Point is just a 90 minute drive north of New York City which has been the epicenter of the outbreak of the virus.

Prior to the ceremony every cadet had to take Covid-19 tests to keep the POTUS safe. The ceremony flouted New York Governor Andrew Cuomo‘s social distancing directives for graduations in the state to be limited to 150 people. Sixteen of the graduating class tested positive for the Covid-19 upon their return to campus. The 16 cadets are receiving treatment but are not showing symptoms of the disease, Lieutenant. General Darryl Williams, West Point’s superintendent, told USA Today. Other than the 16 cadets, 71 of the more than 5,000 faculty, staff and civilians at West Point have also tested positive for COVID-19 since March, USA Today reported. I am sure that Trumps SS would kept anyone who was infected far from the president.

A rift has become evident between the executive branch and the military. The government’s highest ranking military official, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley apologized for his role in Trump’s now infamous photo op in front of Saint John’s Church last Monday June 8, 2020, saying “I should not have been there.” Hundreds of West Point alumni, two days before Trump’s address, also called out the top Pentagon leaders, for failing to uphold the Constitution in their responses to nationwide protests.

Top Army leaders and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were “open” to the discussion about re-naming military bases that are named after Confederate generals who lost the civil war. The  GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee approved a new amendment that would require military bases named after Confederate soldiers to change their names – setting senators on a collision course with the president. Trump tweeted that he “will not even consider” renaming military bases. The bases are located in  southern states that helped Trump secure his 2016 victory, and as Election Day approaches, he needs their support.

The class of 2020 West Point graduates entered their commencement ceremony on the Plain Parade Field wearing white face masks. Once they got to their socially distanced folding chairs they could remove their masks. There was no family of friends allowed. I imagined that if I was a graduate I would probably make a scarecrow to wear my hat. The POTUS probably wouldn’t notice the difference. The scarecrow could easily stand in for the military salute photo op.

The presidents speech was sleepy and insipid. I read his speech, but don’t pay attention to what he says anymore, I just watch what he does. He hobbled  off the stage after the cadets all threw their caps in the air. 16 0f those caps might have been carrying the Covid-19 virus.

Second Wave

Posted on by Thor

There were 3 different waves of illness during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, starting in March 1918 and subsiding by summer of 1919. The pandemic peaked in the U.S. during the second wave, in the fall of 1918. This highly fatal second wave was responsible for most of the U.S. deaths attributed to the pandemic. The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.

President Donald Trump claimed the danger of a second wave  was “fake news” and said “Covid-19 virus might not come back at all.” CDC Director Robert Redfield told The Washington Post that there could be a second wave of the coronavirus this winter, combined with flu season, ‘will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went
through.’ Trump pulled Redfield up to the podium during a press briefing to dispute the report but after splitting hairs between “worse” and “more difficult or more complicated” he confirmed that he was quoted correctly by the Post. Dr. Anthony Fauci, referenced the possibility of a “second wave” of the Covid-19
pandemic in the fall, following expected slower growth rates of COVID-19 cases during the summer. He said, “By then, the country will be better equipped to fight the illness.

On March 31, 2020 Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier, sent an emotional letter, pleading for a more decisive response to his ship’s COVID-19 outbreak. He had asked for permission to let all but 10 percent of crew get off in Guam for their protection.That letter leaked to the news media. 

On April 2, 2020 he was removed as the ship’s skipper by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. Video of the crew when he had to leave the ship was brimming with the respect they had for their captain. The Navy secretary then flew to Guam where the the war ship was docked in the midst of a pandemic and delivered in person a petty, obscenity-laced speech denigrated the captain and his crew. Modly said, “If he didn’t think the information was going to get out into the public, in this information age, then he was either -A too naive or too stupid to the commander of a ship like this.” The crew could be heard literally shouting “What the F#ck?!” The acting Navy Secretary’s comments were widely criticized. Clearly he was too naive or too stupid to realize that his comments would have consequences.  He resigned.

 At least 840 sailors on the war ship have since tested positive for the virus. The number could climb as a “small number” of results are still pending. The Navy has tested the entire 5,000-member crew of the Nimitz class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Of the positive cases, 88 sailors have since recovered, the Navy
said. Four sailors remain in the hospital, down from six Wednesday, with
none in intensive care. One sailor from the Roosevelt died last week.

Admiral Michael Gilday, who is the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, is
reported by the Associated Press to have met with Joint Chiefs Chairman
General Mark Milley on Tuesday and with Defense Secretary Mark Esper Friday
to recommend the fired captain’s reinstatement. On April 20, 2020 the recommendation was made that Captain Brett Crozier be put back
in command of the Covid-19 plagued aircraft carrier USS Theodore
Roosevelt. Crozier’s reinstatement is likely to be the first time that a
ship’s commanding officer who had been relieved of command for a loss of
confidence has been restored to command.

The heroes in this crisis are those that seek to protect those around them, while government leadership looks for ways to cover up or ignore the crisis exists. Captain Brett Crozier is one such hero.