An academic dean once advised me to avoid airing the school's dirty linen in public. It's an old phrase that originally referred to keeping one's business to oneself.
In today's institutional environment it means, "For God's sake don't let anyone know what's going on here." Or its short form, "Don't tell the truth."
U. S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier allegedly broke that rule by publicizing a memo to his superior officers begging for medical assistance for 100 members of his crew stricken with COVID-19, and protection for their unprotected crewmates. Because the memo found its way to the media, Capt. Crozier was removed from his post as commanding officer of the U. S. S. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Navy's most powerful and important ships.
This is no small boat we're talking about. The Roosevelt has the population equivalent of a small city, carrying 5,600 souls including its air wing. If a community of that size on land was threatened by disease that could easily overwhelm its medical resources the mayor would very publicly be doing her best to bring attention to the problem by whatever means necessary, and be commended for it.
But in the Navy? You get canned.
The person responsible for dismissing Capt. Crozier is Thomas B. Modly, Acting Secretary of the Navy. Modly did happen to graduate from the U. S. Naval Academy, and spent seven years in active duty as a helicopter pilot. But his education and experience are all about business, making him a good Trump buddy. Here's a link to his official bio: https://www.defense.gov/Our-Story/Biographies/Biography/Article/1905292/thomas-b-modly/
Modly has no military command experience, yet he was appointed to sit in judgment of a proven commander with decorations for exemplary and meritorious service whose only mistake was to tell the truth.
It's irrelevant how Capt. Crozier's memo got to the media; the point is, it had to, and it did, and it probably saved a lot of lives when the naval high command couldn't be bothered to take care of its own service personnel.
All Americans should pay attention to this and make noise about it. We honor those who serve; why don't their bosses?
We have an alleged Commander-in-Chief. He needs to make this right by reinstating Capt. Crozier and paying more than lip service to his duty.
--Diogenes
U.S. Constitution
The voice of the people
03 April 2020
01 April 2020
Magical thinking
Magical thinking is the belief that if a person wishes for something ardently enough the wish will be granted. In a child wishing for a pony it's cute. In a chief executive wishing publicly for a quick end to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's worrisome.
In a televised Fox News "town hall" meeting March 24, saying Americans are full of "vim and vigor" (when was the last time you heard that phrase?), the Great Pretender, in the face of all medical evidence to the contrary, all but predicted that COVID-19 would run its course in just a couple of weeks, so Americans could enjoy Easter, saying, "I would love to have it [America] open by Easter. . . It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make it an important day for this too. I would love to have the country opened up and they’re just raring to go by Easter."*
That may be a nice thought, but one has to ask "why Easter?" If he's suggesting Easter as a target because it's the most important day in the Christian calendar and getting everybody back into church would be nice, he might at least give lip service to the first day of Passover (April 8) and the beginning of Ramadan (April 23), respectively acknowledging America's approximately 7 million Jews and 4 million Muslims, who are also subject to illness.
But that's not Trump's vision. He wants Easter with happy families and springtime and new hats for the girls, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. Oh, sure, Easter is important for other reasons--like the Resurrection, duh--but in Trump's mind it's his act of making it the day of the country's back-to-work "opening" that's going to make it a real big-time whoop-ti-do all-American celebration.
Two days into this ludicrous timeline, with a one-day increase of 15,000 cases, the United States gained the dubious distinction of having the most cases of COVID-19 in the world. And suddenly the Easter "opening" is forgotten, replaced with a can-do, all-hands-on-deck response, including invocation of the Defense Production Act to increase dramatically the manufacture of ventilators.
In a fluid situation such mid-course corrections can be necessary, but in the March 23 meeting the Great Pretender downplayed the severity of COVID-19, comparing it to garden-variety types of flu at least 20 times during the approximately 21 minutes that he actually spoke. And on March 27 he mocked state governors for overstating the need for equipment even as he ordered the building of ventilators to be accelerated.**
Magical thinking in an adult is not an indication of mental instability in and of itself, but in a person known to have a volatile temperament it should be of concern, especially when he is responsible for our nation's welfare.
-----Diogenes
*https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-town-hall-transcript-march-24-trump-wants-to-restart-the-economy-by-easter
**https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/489909-trump-uses-defense-production-act-to-require-gm-to-make-ventilators
In a televised Fox News "town hall" meeting March 24, saying Americans are full of "vim and vigor" (when was the last time you heard that phrase?), the Great Pretender, in the face of all medical evidence to the contrary, all but predicted that COVID-19 would run its course in just a couple of weeks, so Americans could enjoy Easter, saying, "I would love to have it [America] open by Easter. . . It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make it an important day for this too. I would love to have the country opened up and they’re just raring to go by Easter."*
That may be a nice thought, but one has to ask "why Easter?" If he's suggesting Easter as a target because it's the most important day in the Christian calendar and getting everybody back into church would be nice, he might at least give lip service to the first day of Passover (April 8) and the beginning of Ramadan (April 23), respectively acknowledging America's approximately 7 million Jews and 4 million Muslims, who are also subject to illness.
But that's not Trump's vision. He wants Easter with happy families and springtime and new hats for the girls, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. Oh, sure, Easter is important for other reasons--like the Resurrection, duh--but in Trump's mind it's his act of making it the day of the country's back-to-work "opening" that's going to make it a real big-time whoop-ti-do all-American celebration.
Two days into this ludicrous timeline, with a one-day increase of 15,000 cases, the United States gained the dubious distinction of having the most cases of COVID-19 in the world. And suddenly the Easter "opening" is forgotten, replaced with a can-do, all-hands-on-deck response, including invocation of the Defense Production Act to increase dramatically the manufacture of ventilators.
In a fluid situation such mid-course corrections can be necessary, but in the March 23 meeting the Great Pretender downplayed the severity of COVID-19, comparing it to garden-variety types of flu at least 20 times during the approximately 21 minutes that he actually spoke. And on March 27 he mocked state governors for overstating the need for equipment even as he ordered the building of ventilators to be accelerated.**
Magical thinking in an adult is not an indication of mental instability in and of itself, but in a person known to have a volatile temperament it should be of concern, especially when he is responsible for our nation's welfare.
-----Diogenes
*https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-coronavirus-town-hall-transcript-march-24-trump-wants-to-restart-the-economy-by-easter
**https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/489909-trump-uses-defense-production-act-to-require-gm-to-make-ventilators
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