Navy misses boat with captain
It is mind-boggling that the commanding officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt, Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, was relieved of duty after sending a frank assessment of how the coronavirus had infected his crew aboard the aircraft carrier.
"We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset - our sailors," Crozier wrote in a letter emailed to 20 or 30 people. The letter was later leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Crozier had previously sought help as the virus spread quickly on the ship where close quarters prevented social distancing and where testing results were too slow.
The Navy reported on March 24 that three sailors had tested positive and been airlifted to a hospital in the Pacific. Five more sailors were diagnosed the next day, and by the third day that number had jumped to 23 sailors. This week, the Navy said more than 100 sailors have been infected on the ship, which is now in Guam.
According to acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly, who fired Crozier, the captain showed "poor judgment" by sending the letter. Modly also implied that Crozier leaked the letter to the press, although he later walked that back.
The crew of the Roosevelt clearly didn't agree with the Modly's decision, and hundreds cheered Crozier for his outspoken plea for help.
Chants of "Captain Crozier!" from hundreds of sailors filled the aircraft carrier's hangar deck, according to multiple videos on social media. "Now that's how you send off one of the greatest captains you ever had ... the GOAT," a person says in one video, using the acronym for greatest of all time. "Man for the people." In another video, Crozier waves, salutes and walks down the gangway alone.
A medal for Capt. Crozier, not a firing, would be more appropriate.
President's virus handling doubted
A new ABC News-Ipsos poll released Friday has found that fewer than half of Americans currently approve of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus public health crisis.
Only 47% of poll respondents approved of Trump's performance, while 52% disapproved. That's an approval drop-off of eight percentage points from two weeks ago.
The latest ABC-Ipsos poll was conducted on April 1 and 2, after Trump warned of some "very painful" weeks ahead, and the White House released projections that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans would die as a result of the coronavirus even if social distancing advice was closely followed.
The new poll also found that more than 9 in 10 Americans say the outbreak has disrupted their daily routines. What's more, fewer than half believe their daily routines will return to normal by June 1.
And that's a good bet.
People's daily routines will struggle for a while, given that the coronavirus recession is shaping up to be the biggest blow to the U.S. economy since the Great Recession.
The past two weeks wiped out all the economy's job gains since President Trump's November 2016 election - all of the gains the president likes to tout as his "record" economy. And now it truly is a record economy.
More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, on top of the 3.3 million claims from the week before. Such numbers have never been seen in U.S. history.
Who is that masked man?
A Laredo, Texas, City Council vote to fine residents who venture out in public without covering their faces is causing some confusion - and some smiles.
Where were residents supposed to get masks, since drugstores sold out long ago? Did a person have to cover up in their own car? Would masked anchors deliver the evening news? Was the city seriously suggesting that people conceal their faces when entering a bank?
The emergency mandate, likely the first its kind in the country, went into effect Thursday. Laredo is threatening to punish those who don't cover their noses and mouths with a $1,000 fine.
"I'd rather bury them in debt than bury them in a coffin," City Councilman George Altgelt reportedly said during a special session on Tuesday.
Nancy Pelosi's good advice
Politico reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shifted her tone on Friday and called for a much more focused "Phase 4" relief package to address immediate needs related to the coronavirus pandemic, "a departure from the sprawling legislation she and other top Democrats were pushing earlier this week."
Pelosi said it's clear the next round of relief funds should be an expansion of the massive $2 trillion package the president signed into law last week - more money to aid states, cities and small businesses, expand unemployment benefits and another round of direct cash payments for Americans.
That doesn't mean she's dismissing big ideas like infrastructure to put people back to work. But right now is not the time, she said. Perhaps that's for phase 5.
But in a lighter moment Thursday night as a virtual guest on Stephen Colbert's home edition of "The Late Show," she had more personal advice.
Asked by Colbert what she would tell people nervous about our current times, Pelosi said: "I've said to people, 'Wash your hands, hydrate, pray, and you can never dance too much.' Just keep moving and enjoying family in the way that we can now, but understanding that this cannot be the new normal. Better things are ahead for us."
We like that.