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US Army removes person tasked for social media after ‘inappropriate’ post on coronavirus

A person who made an “inappropriate post” on the US Army’s Instagram account has been “relieved,” according to the Army.

The images posted to the Army’s Instagram account this week were intended to be about the Army’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, though the images included emojis and jokes about the run on toilet paper.

One answer on a post soliciting questions from the account had to deal with the theory that the coronavirus began in bats.

“it wasn’t because he was thirsty,” the person on the Army’s account responded.

CNN has reported bats are a possible source of the coronavirus.

“The Army regrets the inappropriate post on Instagram related to the COVID19 response and the individual who posted it has been relieved. The post has been removed and we are taking action to ensure this doesn’t happen again, including retraining for our social media personnel,” according to a tweet on the Army’s official account.

The Army has not disclosed whether the individual was a civilian or Army personnel. The Army has also not made it clear if the person was fired from the Army entirely or just removed from handling social media.

US-Iran conflict enters new phase as Saudi Arabia helps hit proxies and diplomacy stalls again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia has publicly joined military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries. Despite several days of relative calm, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war — and further expansion in the region — while little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward. While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks. Following a thwarted attack on the U.S. base in Jordan, Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while sustaining the prospect of continued talks.
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