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Monday, April 6, 2020

The View From The Bridge

There are two stories that can lighten your day as you have to sit at home in the name of social distancing.

1.  On the View today, Whoopi Goldberg said that when Joe Biden is president he should name his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, as Surgeon General because, in Whoopi's words, Jill is not only a doctor, but "she's an amazing doctor".  The audience applauded and the other panelists smiled.  Then one of them said to Whoopi that Dr. Jill Biden isn't a medical doctor, but rather has a doctorate in education.  She's a teacher, not a doctor.  Whoopi then changed the subject really quickly.

2.  Off the coast of Venezuela a few days ago, the cruise ship Resolute was passing through the Caribbean with no passengers on its way to storage while all cruises are halted.  It was in international waters off the coast when a Venezuelan navy ship suddenly appeared and radioed the cruise ship that it would have to follow the destroyer into port in Venezuela.  The captain of the cruise ship called his home company in Germany and confirmed his location in international waters.  The company told the captain to keep going and not to stop.  The Venezuelan destroyer fired a warning shot, but the Resolute did not stop.  The destroyer then began to ram the cruise ship using its bow to try to push the bow of the cruise ship towards shore.  But here's the problem:  the Resolute is an expedition ship designed to go to the Antarctic.  As a result, it has a bow built like those on an icebreaker.  It has a triple reinforced steel bow which is strong enough to survive a collision with an ice berg.  This resulted in the cruise ship being much stronger than the destroyer.  After ramming the cruise ship 2 or 3 times, the bow of the destroyer crumpled and it began taking on water.  In fact, the damage was so great that the destroyer sank.  The cruise ship offered to help the crew of the destroyer, but rescue craft came from Venezuela so the cruise ship went on its way.

After the destroyer sank, the Maduro government in Caracas denounced the German cruise ship as a terrorist craft that had attacked the naval vessel.  So the Venezuelans tried to take a cruise ship and lost a destroyer for their troubles. 

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