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President Donald Trump announced that, beginning Friday, flags at all Federal buildings and National monuments will be flown at half-staff to honor those who have died of Covid-19. The flags will remain at half-staff on Monday in honor of Memorial Day.
As is his wont, the President made the announcement about the flags by Tweet:
I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020
As we all know, flags are often lowered to half-staff to mark a period of mourning in the United States for statesmen, or in the case of national tragedies. Lowering the flag to half-staff for three days is the traditional mourning time.
This time, however, President Trump was goaded into lowering the flags by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. They sent a letter to the President challenging him to lower the flags to mark 100,000 Covid-19 deaths, estimated to be reached on June 1, 2020. Although they have a lot of competition, it’s hard to find two more nakedly rank politicians than Schumer and Pelosi. The Hill reported on the letter and provided a section, which exposes these hack politicians:
“Our hearts are broken over this great loss and our prayers are with their families,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote. “Respectful of them and the loss to our country, we are writing to request that you order flags to be flown at half staff on all public buildings in our country on the sad day of reckoning when we reach 100,000 deaths.”
Makes one wonder how many pints of expensive ice cream Nancy Pelosi had to consume to heal her broken heart? Even The Hill noted the political implications of lowering the flag:
The letter also has a political implication, as Democrats have ripped the president for a slow response to the coronavirus that they say has raised the U.S. death toll. Trump has argued there would have been even more deaths in the U.S. without his actions, while seeking to put blame for the outbreak on China and the World Health Organization.
What’s truly rich about the criticisms, lodged by Pelosi, Schumer and all of the Democrats, is the time they all have wasted with the faux impeachment. And, Pelosi’s leaving Congress in recess because of the Coronavirus. Granted, many of the top Democrats in the Congressional leadership are older than dirt and, therefore, more vulnerable. But, they could have sheltered in place in the District of Columbia, rather than scoot back to their comfortable mansions.
CNN reported that Joe Biden Tweeted from his basement, encouraging the President to lower the flags:
“I’ve suggested the President should lower the flag to half-mast, honoring all those people — particularly those first responders, those doctors, those nurses — those folks who went in without the PPP, the protective equipment, and still did their job,” Biden said at the time. “And some of them lost their lives. They’re heroes. They should be honored as such.”
Ugh. I cannot.
The flags at the White House and all Federal buildings and National Monuments will remain at half-staff on Monday in honor of Memorial Day. In honor of Memorial Day, here is “In Flanders Field” by John McCrae as read by Anthony Davies:
In case you didn’t know, in honor of Memorial Day, today is Poppy Friday. If you have a Poppy, remember to wear it.
Featured Image: Paul Arps/Flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Anchovy says: There is a difference between victims and heroes.
GWB says: And, honestly, neither is the criteria for national flags at half staff. That is for those who honorably died while in service to their country. And for a few who died after their honorable service, like a President.
WOW !!!
Everyday of the Chinese Wuhan Virus has been peak stupid and that just raises it.
Bad call Mr. Prez.
GWB says: or in the case of national tragedies
Except it’s NOT supposed to be done for “national tragedies”. Also, those shootings were NOT national tragedies. They were local events, except for the “ZOMG! All shootings must be used to tar the NRA and drive for national prohibitions on firearms!” of the media and the leftist politicians (BIRM).
(BTW, the whole “national tragedies” thing is another bit of virtue signaling in our society, IMO. Much like the President visiting a disaster site or a dozen other rituals we’ve adopted. The national gov’t should simply get on with doing what it needs to do. Honestly, there shouldn’t be any extra people around to lower the flags – if there are, they should be fired and reduce the surplus population gov’t workforce.)
more nakedly rank politicians
While you used the word correctly, I really could have done without the word “nakedly” associated with those two. Blecch.
day of reckoning
I don’t think they really understand what that phrase means. It certainly doesn’t mean what they intend it to mean here. (Though I keep hoping for a “day of reckoning” for them.)
seeking to put blame for the outbreak on
Well, no. He’s trying to get people to accept that the CCCP and WHO are to blame. Because they are. Mostly the Chinese. The WHO* is just a politically compromised international institution – like all the rest – showing its ass with its incompetence.
(Not to be confused with The Who, which, even with half its members dead is still more competent at what it does than the World Health Organization.)
those first responders, those doctors, those nurses — those folks who went in without the PP[E], the protective equipment, and still did their job
Ummm, can we get a fact check? There weren’t even any large number of hoax stories, much less real ones, claiming no PPE.
And some of them lost their lives.
Really? How many of them? How many even in NYC? I haven’t seen articles shouting the numbers from the rooftops, or long lists of these “heroes” in the papers. The one or two I have heard about seem to indicate the numbers are quite low. If they weren’t, you know that the papers would be screaming ALL their stories ALL the time.
And, of course, they’re full of s#!+, since the medical personnel who have died have absolutely NOTHING to do with reaching the 100,000 total dead mark. (BTW, can we lower the flags every time we pass that mark, since we have to revise our numbers down due to dishonesty in recording those deaths? We hit 100,001, then revise down to 90k, then again at 100,001, then revise down again to 95k….)
(Yes, I have a great deal of respect for our medical folks. And I do think they were proving to be great Americans when they kept on in their calling despite the panic induced by the media and the progressives (BIRM). Though, I am saddened that the nurse wearing nothing but undies under her clear PPE was in Russia. C’mon, Florida Nurse, you can do better! But, they are NOT the same as firefighters and policemen on 9/11.)
Scott says: “And some of them lost their lives.
Really? How many of them? ”
Here’s the best info I can find on that GWB. https://www.firerescue1.com/coronavirus-covid-19/articles/nfff-number-of-fire-ems-personnel-covid-19-deaths-hits-50-NKsOp31Wb9joBYHc/
While I agree with your post, and the fact that Biden is a blathering idiot, as they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes. Many Fire / EMS departments (most more likely) did not make it a habit to wear masks / eye protection on mot calls. Gloves were the primary PPE used, unless it was known that is was a contagious disease. So at least in the pre-hospital realm, there were many people going in without proper gear, at least initially (and it has been hard to find / acquire more, many items are back-ordered beyond belief, we’ve had orders for a number of different items cancelled multiple times due to unavailability)
GWB says: Thank you for the info and link, Scott.
I stand corrected on that.
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