DOCTOR IN NEW YORK INFECTED WITH EBOLA VIRUS

24 Oct

The Ebola virus is now in the concrete jungle…

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A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea became the first person in the city to test positive for the virus Thursday, setting off a search for anyone who might have come into contact with him.

The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in isolation at the same time as investigators sought to retrace every step he had taken over the past several days.

At least three people he had contact with in recent days have been placed in isolation. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which dispatched a team to New York, is conducting its own test to confirm the positive test on Thursday, which was performed by a city lab.

While officials have said they expected isolated cases of the disease to arrive in New York eventually, and had been preparing for this moment for months, the first case highlighted the challenges involved in containing the virus, especially in a crowded metropolis. Dr. Spencer, 33, had traveled on the A and L subway lines Wednesday night, visited a bowling alley in Williamsburg, and then took a taxi back to Manhattan.

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Police officers stood outside the apartment of Dr. Craig Spencer on West 147th Street in Harlem on Thursday. Credit Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

The next morning, he reported having a fever, raising questions about his health while he was out in public. The authorities have interviewed Dr. Spencer several times and are also looking at information from his credit cards and MetroCard to determine his movements.

Health officials initially said that Dr. Spencer had a 103-degree fever when he reported his symptoms to authorities at around 11 a.m. on Thursday. But on Friday, health officials said that was incorrect and that Dr. Spencer reported having a 100.3-degree fever. They said the mistake was because of a transcription error.

People infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they begin to display symptoms, and it cannot be spread through the air. As people become sicker, the viral load in the body builds, and they become increasingly contagious.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a news conference at Bellevue on Thursday night, sought to reassure New Yorkers that there was no reason to be alarmed.

“Being on the same subway car or living near a person with Ebola does not in itself put someone at risk,” he said.

Dr. Spencer’s work in Africa and the timing of the onset of his symptoms led health officials to dispatch disease detectives, who “immediately began to actively trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” according to a statement released by the health department.

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Bellevue Hospital Center, where the first person in the city to test positive for Ebola has been quarantined. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times

Dr. Spencer’s fiancée has also been quarantined at Bellevue. Two other friends, who had contact with him on Tuesday and Wednesday, have been told by the authorities that they too will be quarantined but whether they will isolate themselves in their homes or be relocated was still under discussion, according to a person briefed on the investigation. None of the three were showing signs of illness.

The driver of the taxi, arranged through the online service Uber, did not have direct contact with Dr. Spencer and was not considered to be at risk, officials said.

Speaking at the news conference, city officials said that while they were still investigating, they did not believe Dr. Spencer was symptomatic while he traveled around the city on Wednesday and therefore had not posed a risk to the public.

“He did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city health commissioner, said. “We consider it extremely unlikely, the probability being close to nil, that there will be any problem related to his taking the subway system.”

Still, out of an abundance of caution, officials said, the bowling alley in Williamsburg that he visited, the Gutter, was closed on Thursday night, and a scheduled concert there, part of the CMJ music festival, was canceled. Health workers were scheduled to visit the alley on Friday.

At Dr. Spencer’s apartment building, his home was sealed off and workers distributed informational fliers about the disease.

What the New York City Ebola Patient Was Doing Before He Was Hospitalized

Locations visited by Craig Spencer, a Manhattan doctor who has tested positive for Ebola.

OPEN Graphic

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Dr. Spencer had been working with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea treating Ebola patients, and completed his work on Oct. 12, Dr. Bassett said. He flew out of the country on Oct. 14, traveling via Europe, and arrived in New York on Oct. 17.

Since returning, he had been taking his temperature twice a day, Dr. Bassett said.

He told the authorities that he did not believe the protective gear he wore while working with Ebola patients had been breached but had been monitoring his own health.

Doctors Without Borders, in a statement, said it provides guidelines for its staff members to follow when they return from Ebola assignments, but did not elaborate on the protocols.

“The individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately,” the group said in a statement.

Dr. Spencer began to feel sluggish on Tuesday but did not develop a fever until Thursday morning, he told the authorities. At 11 a.m., he found that he had a 100.3-degree temperature and alerted the staff of Doctors Without Borders, according to the official.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke during a press conference at Bellevue Hospital in New York on Thursday. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times

The staff called the city’s health department, which in turn called the Fire Department.

Emergency medical workers, wearing full personal protective gear, rushed to Dr. Spencer’s apartment, on West 147th Street. He was transported to Bellevue and arrived shortly after 1 p.m.

He was placed in a special isolation unit and is being seen by the designated medical critical care team. Team members wear personal protective equipment with undergarment air ventilation systems.

Bellevue doctors have been preparing to deal with an Ebola patient with numerous drills and tests as well as actual treatment of suspected cases that turned out to be false alarms.

A health care worker at the hospital said that Dr. Spencer seemed very sick, and it was unclear to the medical staff why he had not gone to the hospital earlier, since his fever was high.

Dr. Spencer is a fellow of international emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and an instructor in clinical medicine at Columbia University.

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“He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first,” the hospital said in a statement. “He has not been to work at our hospital and has not seen any patients at our hospital since his return from overseas.”

I agree with Robert Koorse – why did Dr. Spencer not voluntarily quarantine himself, after having such intimate contact with Ebola patients?…

Doesn’t it seem reasonable to expect that licensed medical professionals like Dr. Spencer Craig and Nurse Amber Vinson would have the…

If Dr. Spencer survives, he should be prosecuted. He knew the risks, he knew the danger to others if he wandered out of isolation . . . and…

Before Thursday, more than 30 people had gone to city hospitals and raised suspicions of Ebola, but in all those cases health workers were able to rule out the virus without performing blood tests.

While the city has stepped up its laboratory capacity so it can get test results within four to six hours, the precautions required when drawing blood and treating a person possibly sick with Ebola meant that it took until late in the evening to confirm Dr. Spencer’s diagnosis.

Doctors said that even before the results came in, it seemed likely that he had been infected. Symptoms usually occur within eight to 10 days of infection. Dr. Spencer stopped working with Ebola patients 11 days ago and returned home six days ago.

Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces and vomit.

Because of its high mortality rate — Ebola kills more than half the people it infects — the disease spreads fear along with infection.

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Mark Caserta: Should we be concerned about Ebola outbreak

23 Oct

Or does “O” have it under control?

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Oct. 23, 2014 @ 06:57 AM

MARK CASERTA

The deadly Ebola virus is now in the United States. So how concerned should we be?

In September, the Obama administration told Americans we had little to fear about an Ebola outbreak in the U.S., like the one occurring in certain West African countries.

“The CDC has concluded that there is no significant risk in the United States from the current Ebola outbreak,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

“And while it is unlikely that the disease would spread if the virus were detected in the United States, the CDC is taking action to alert health care workers in the U.S. and remind them how to isolate and test suspected patients while following strict infection control procedures.” Ebola virus disease is a rare and deadly affliction caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains. It’s spread through the transmission of bodily fluids or contaminated surfaces and causes an acute, serious illness which can be fatal if untreated. There are currently no licensed vaccines. The menacing nature of the virus has sparked fear that it could spread from West Africa to other regions or continents.

“This epidemic is without precedent,” said Bart Janssens, director of operations for Medecins Sans Frontieres. “It’s absolutely not under control, and the situation keeps worsening … There are many places where people are infected but we don’t know about it.” CNN recently reported the current Ebola outbreak is “running much faster” than the international response to it, according to the co-discoverer of the virus.

“This is the first Ebola epidemic where entire nations are involved, where big cities are affected,” Peter Piot, a microbiologist and former undersecretary general of the United Nations, said. “And I continue to be worried that the response to the epidemic is really running behind the virus.” Three weeks ago, Barack Obama took to the podium along with CDC Director, Dr.

Tom Frieden, to “calm” the nation regarding the Ebola outbreak.

“First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low,” Obama said. “In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home.” But despite the president’s “reassurance,” recent events make one question just how prepared we truly are for an Ebola outbreak.

As of last Friday, eight confirmed cases of Ebola have now been or are being treated in the United States while 125 other people are being monitored or are in some form of quarantine, according to the CDC.

So, how concerned should Americans be about a potentia Ebola outbreak in the U.S.?

The same president who told us there wasn’t a “smidgen” of corruption in the IRS, “you can keep your health care plan if you like it” and the Benghazi attack was the result of an anti-Muslim video is now telling us not to worry about Ebola. You tell me.

Mark Caserta is a conserva tive blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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WE ARE BUILDING AN ARMY!

22 Oct

The time has come to take back our country!

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We are building an army of God-fearing, patriotic individuals who still believe America is the greatest nation on earth.

“We (are) The People” who believe the citizens of the United States are invested in American “exceptionalism” not only by the blood spilled by our brave men and women in harm’s way, but by the blood spilled by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on Calvary.

I can only imagine God speaking to us now as He did to Jerusalem.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

God is speaking to America through the signs and wonders among His people.  He is calling us to make a difference for the future of our children and our children’s children.

But God made us a people of choice!  He demands that we make the choices as to how we will live our lives and to whom we will make ourselves available – to Him or the enemy.

The time has come for us to take back our country and end this failed liberal experiment which has compromised our strength, our respect and our safety around the globe.

America is better than this!  We are better than this!  I refuse to stand idly by while tyrants destroy our nation and the nation of Israel.

And should we win the day, the 4th of November will no longer be known as just another day, but as the day when America declared in one voice:

“We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!

We’re going to live on!

We’re going to survive!”

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

God Speed my fellow patriots!  Go to the polls on November 4th!

And subscribe to join the fight at www.freestatepatriot.com

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Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress

20 Oct

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By DAVID E. SANGEROCT. 19, 2014

WASHINGTON — No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.

Even while negotiators argue over the number of centrifuges Iran would be allowed to spin and where inspectors could roam, the Iranians have signaled that they would accept, at least temporarily, a “suspension” of the stringent sanctions that have drastically cut their oil revenues and terminated their banking relationships with the West, according to American and Iranian officials. The Treasury Department, in a detailed study it declined to make public, has concluded Mr. Obama has the authority to suspend the vast majority of those sanctions without seeking a vote by Congress, officials say.

But Mr. Obama cannot permanently terminate those sanctions. Only Congress can take that step. And even if Democrats held on to the Senate next month, Mr. Obama’s advisers have concluded they would probably lose such a vote.

“We wouldn’t seek congressional legislation in any comprehensive agreement for years,” one senior official said.

White House officials say Congress should not be surprised by this plan. They point to testimony earlier this year when top negotiators argued that the best way to assure that Iran complies with its obligations is a step-by-step suspension of sanctions — with the implicit understanding that the president could turn them back on as fast as he turned them off.

“We have been clear that initially there would be suspension of any of the U.S. and international sanctions regime, and that the lifting of sanctions will only come when the I.A.E.A. verifies that Iran has met serious and substantive benchmarks,” Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Friday, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We must be confident that Iran’s compliance is real and sustainable over a period of time.”

But many members of Congress see the plan as an effort by the administration to freeze them out, a view shared by some Israeli officials who see a congressional vote as the best way to constrain the kind of deal that Mr. Obama might strike.

Ms. Meehan says there “is a role for Congress in our Iran policy,” but members of Congress want a role larger than consultation and advice. An agreement between Iran and the countries it is negotiating with — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — would not be a formal treaty, and thus would not require a two-thirds vote of the Senate.

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The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat, said over the weekend that, “If a potential deal does not substantially and effectively dismantle Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, I expect Congress will respond. An agreement cannot allow Iran to be a threshold nuclear state.” He has sponsored legislation to tighten sanctions if no agreement is reached by Nov. 24.

A leading Republican critic of the negotiations, Senator Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, added, “Congress will not permit the president to unilaterally unravel Iran sanctions that passed the Senate in a 99 to 0 vote,” a reference to the vote in 2010 that imposed what have become the toughest set of sanctions.

Such declarations have the Obama administration concerned. And they are a reminder that for a deal to be struck with Iran, Mr. Obama must navigate not one negotiation, but three.

The first is between Mr. Obama’s negotiators and the team led by Mohammad Javad Zarif, the savvy Iranian foreign minister. The second is between Mr. Zarif and forces in Tehran that see no advantage in striking a deal, led by many in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and many of the mullahs. The critical player in that effort is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has reissued specific benchmarks for an accord, including Iran’s eventual expansion of its uranium enrichment program by nearly tenfold. And the third is between Mr. Obama and Congress.

Mr. Zarif, in an interview last summer, said that Mr. Obama “has a harder job” convincing Congress than he will have selling a deal in Tehran. That may be bluster, but it may not be entirely wrong.

Many of the details of the negotiations remain cloaked. The lead negotiator, Wendy Sherman, the under secretary of state for political affairs and a leading candidate to become the State Department’s No. 2 official next month, struck a deal with congressional leaders that enables her to avoid public testimony when the negotiations are underway. Instead, she conducts classified briefings for the key congressional committees.

But it is clear that along with the fate of Iran’s biggest nuclear sites — Natanz and Fordow, where uranium fuel is enriched, and a heavy-water reactor at Arak that many fear will be able to produce weapons-grade plutonium — the negotiations have focused intently on how sanctions would be suspended. To the Americans, the sanctions are their greatest leverage. For many ordinary Iranians, they are what this negotiation is all about: a chance to boost the economy, reconnect with the world and end Iran’s status as a pariah state.

For that reason, many think Mr. Obama’s best option is to keep the negotiations going if a deal is not reached by the deadline, a possibility both Iranian and Russian officials have floated.

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“Between now and 2017 Obama’s goal is to avert an Iranian bomb and avert bombing Iran,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “If Congress feels obliged to pass additional sanctions, the best way to do it would be to create a deterrent — basically to say if you recommence activities Iran has halted, here are new sanctions.”

But Mr. Obama is feeling pressure as well. Some cracks are appearing in the sanctions regime. In the spring, the administration was alarmed to see a spike in Chinese purchases of Iranian oil, seeming to undercut the sanctions. More recently the figures have declined again. Nonetheless they are the subject of behind-the-scenes talks between American and Chinese officials. And the Iranians want far more than a suspension of American-led sanctions: They are also pressing for an end to United Nations Security Council resolutions that bar “dual use” exports that have civilian uses but also could be used in nuclear and missile programs; those resolutions give the United States and its allies a legal basis for demanding inspections of shipments to Iran that could be part of a covert program.

Inside America’s intelligence agencies, the biggest concern is that Iran, concluding that its existing facilities are under too much scrutiny, would once again turn to covert means to obtain nuclear technology — buying it from the North Koreans, or building it in one of hundreds of tunnels.

“We have not seen much lately,” a senior intelligence official said. “But over the past 10 years, we’ve uncovered three covert programs in Iran, and there’s no reason to think there’s not a fourth out there.”

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Obama makes rare campaign trail appearance, people leave early

19 Oct

America tiring of this president…

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By Jeff Mason

Thu, Oct 16 2014

UPPER MARLBORO Md. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday with a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, but early departures of crowd members while he spoke underscored his continuing unpopularity.

With approval levels hovering around record lows, Obama has spent most of his campaign-related efforts this year raising money for struggling Democrats, who risk losing control of the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 4 midterm election.

Most candidates from his party have been wary of appearing with him during their election races because of his sagging popularity.

Not so Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown of Maryland, who is running for governor, and Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois, who is running for re-election. Obama plans to appear at an event for Quinn later in the evening.

“You’ve got to vote,” Obama repeated over and over at a rally for Brown in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, near Washington.

Democrats have a history of not turning up to vote in midterm elections.

U.S. President Obama waves as he arrives for a campaign rally for Maryland Lt. Gov. Brown at a High School in Upper Marlboro

“There are no excuses. The future is up to us,” Obama said.

A steady stream of people walked out of the auditorium while he spoke, however, and a heckler interrupted his remarks.

Obama’s help, or lack thereof, may not matter much to Brown, who is 11 points ahead of Republican opponent Larry Hogan, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics.

Quinn’s race is tighter. He is ahead of Republican opponent Bruce Rauner by 1.8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

Obama is scheduled to spend the night at his Chicago home after the campaign event for Quinn.

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(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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OBAMA’S DEPORTATION POLICY LEAVES MOST ILLEGALS UNTOUCHED

19 Oct

95 percent of deported illegals were criminals

ILLEGALS

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Thursday, October 16, 2014

President Obama has generally kept true to his vow to deport only criminals and repeat immigration violators, according to a new report Thursday from the Migration Policy Institute that undercuts many of the fears immigrant rights advocates have about the severity of his policies.

MPI said that 95 percent of the immigrants deported from 2009 to 2013 met Mr. Obama’s stated national security priorities for deportations, meaning only about 77,000 of the 1.6 million illegal immigrants removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the last five years were rank-and-file border-crossers with clean records.

Mr. Obama has pledged to try to refine his deportation policies later this year, but the MPI study, said he’ll have to make major changes such as carving out exceptions for substantial categories of illegal immigrants if he’s to make a dent in his deportation figures.

That’s because Mr. Obama has already placed most rank-and-file illegal immigrants living in the interior of the U.S. out of any danger for deportations, the MPI report concluded.

“In effect, the Obama administration has shifted from a more generalized model of enforcement to a model focused almost exclusively on illegal border crossers, obstructionists and criminals,” the MPI said.

But the report also said it is unfair to describe it as a major shift, since even under President George W. Bush, 91 percent of deportations were of criminals, repeat-immigration violators or recent border crossers. Under Mr. Obama, that’s risen to 95 percent.

The MPI researchers said Mr. Obama has arguably added to the illegal immigrant population by nearly eliminating the risk that most illegal immigrants will be deported. The researchers said, however, that Mr. Obama’s policies could be deemed more “humane.”

“To randomly remove noncitizens who fall outside the scope of stated enforcement priorities and to purposely create a climate of fear and uncertainty competes with the effort to make enforcement more humane,” the researchers said.

While Mr. Obama has mostly kept his vow to only deport “priority” immigrants with criminal records, he has fallen short in overall deportations, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Center for Immigration Studies, which said in fiscal year 2014 ICE was projected to only deport about 312,000 immigrants.

That’s a drop of about 25 percent from the total that ICE has said it has the funding to deport each year.

ICE officials have countered that some deportations cost more than others, which might account for the steep drop.

The Center for Immigration Studies report also concluded that in fiscal year 2014, which ended Sept. 30, ICE agents encountered 585,000 potentially deportable immigrants, but released 442,000 of them without ever bothering to even try to deport them.

“Catch and release policies continue,” concluded Jessica Vaughn, the report’s author.

© Copyright 2014 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

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EBOLA IS THE CHALLENGE OF OUR GENERATION

18 Oct

HOW WILL THIS END???

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London (AFP) – Aid agency Oxfam on Saturday said Ebola could become the “definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation”, as US President Barack Obama urged against “hysteria” in the face of the growing crisis.

Related Stories

  1. World bank chief says ‘we are losing the battle’ against Ebola AFP
  2. Obama: US can’t cut itself off from West Africa Associated Press
  3. US urges action to keep Ebola from becoming ‘next AIDS’ AFP
  4. World vows Ebola action as second US case stirs fears AFP
  5. Ebola must be stopped at source, not via travel bans: World Bank’s Kim Reuters

Oxfam, which works in the two worst-hit countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — called for more troops, funding and medical staff to be sent to tackle the west African epicentre of the epidemic.

Chief executive Mark Goldring warned that the world was “in the eye of a storm”.

“We cannot allow Ebola to immobilise us in fear, but… countries that have failed to commit troops, doctors and enough funding are in danger of costing lives,” he said.

The worst-ever outbreak of the deadly virus has so far killed more than 4,500 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, but isolated cases have now begun to appear in Europe and the United States.

“The Ebola crisis could become the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation,” a spokesperson for the British-based charity said as it appealed for EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday to do more.

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A passenger arrives wearing a face mask at Los Angeles International Airport as fear of the Ebola vi …

Obama’s warning about hysteria came a day after the World Bank said the battle against the disease was being lost and as the US president named an “Ebola czar” to coordinate Washington’s response.

In Sierra Leone, Defence Minister Alfred Paolo Conteh was put in charge of the fight against the disease as the death toll there rose to 1,200.

In a statement, President Ernest Bai Koroma said the defence minister would “with immediate effect” head a new national Ebola response centre.

A global UN appeal for nearly $1 billion (785 billion euros) to fight the spread of the disease has so far fallen short, but a spokesman told AFP more money was coming in daily.

Out of $988 million requested a month ago, the UN said Saturday $385.9 million had already been given by a slew of governments and agencies, with a further $225.8 million promised.

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US President Barack Obama, seen here at the White House on October 16, 2014, said Ebola is “a s …

“It has been encouraging to see the amount and the speed with which these amounts have been committed,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA).

But the total was still some way off, Laerke said. “Nobody’s smiling in this crisis, so I’m not going to go out and clap my hands and say everything is going fine, because it’s not,” he told AFP.

– Panic growing –

Meanwhile, as panic and Ebola scares spread worldwide, Obama called for patience and perspective.

“This is a serious disease, but we can’t give in to hysteria or fear — because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need. We have to be guided by the science,” Obama said.

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Jeff Hulbert from Annapolis, Maryland, calls for a halt of flights from West Africa, as he protests  …

Friday saw a number of false alarms in the United States as fears grew, including at the Pentagon, where an entrance was closed after a woman vomited in a parking lot. US authorities later found no evidence that she had contracted Ebola.

“We have to remember the basic facts,” Obama said Saturday.

The United States — where a Liberian man died from Ebola on October 8 and two American nurses who treated him have tested positive — was not seeing an “outbreak” or “epidemic”, Obama stressed.

More “isolated” cases in the country were possible, he conceded. “But we know how to wage this fight.”

The US president played down the idea of a travel ban from west Africa.

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Employees of the emergency medical service at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris check for si …

“Trying to seal off an entire region of the world — if that were even possible — could actually make the situation worse.”

– ‘Losing the battle’ –

Obama’s call for calm was in stark contrast to World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim, who warned Friday that “we are losing the battle”.

He blamed a lack of international solidarity in efforts to stem the epidemic.

“Certain countries are only worried about their own borders,” he told reporters in Paris, as leaders in Washington and beyond grapple for a coordinated response to the outbreak.

Airports in several countries were taking passengers’ temperatures in a bid to detect Ebola carriers, although experts have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the checks.

France on Saturday started carrying out health checks on Air France passengers arriving from Guinea, where the epidemic began in December, while a cabin crew union called for a halt to flights from Conakry altogether.

The United States, Britain and Canada have already launched screenings at airports for passengers from Ebola-hit zones. The EU is reviewing the matter.

As of October 14, 4,555 people have died from Ebola out of a total of 9,216 cases registered in seven countries, the World Health Organization said.

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OBAMA POLITICIZES FIGHT AGAINST EBOLA

17 Oct

So Obama names an Ebola Czar, charged with supervising the fight against this dangerous virus. This “czar” has zero experience in the medical field. He’s a politician. You can’t make this stuff up. Such is the wisdom of this president.
Don’t forget what Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel said, “Never let a crisis go to waste,” he said. “Because you can do things you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do.”
Americans must pay attention to this.

RON KLAIN

Obama to Tap Former VP Chief of Staff Ron Klain as Ebola ‘Czar’

President Barack Obama will appoint Ron Klain to head up efforts to address the Ebola threat, a senior administration official tells NBC News.

Klain is a former chief of staff to both Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore. He left the vice president’s office in 2011. He is now the president of Case Holdings and serves as the general counsel for Revolution, an investment organization.

 “It’s not solely a medical response,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “That’s why somebody with Mr. Klain’s credentials — somebody that has strong management experience both inside government but also in the private sector; he is somebody who has strong relationships with members of Congress; and obviously strong relationships with those of us who worked with him here at the White House earlier in the administration. All of that means that he is the right person.”

Obama signaled his openness to appointing an Ebola “czar” Thursday night, telling reporters that it “may be appropriate” to elevate an additional person to coordinate the U.S. response. (White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that Klain’s official title is not czar, but Ebola Response Coordinator.)

Klain will report directly to White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice and the president’s Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco. He is tasked with protecting Americans from the disease and making sure the response is coordinated with the U.S. effort to stop Ebola in West Africa.

The White House had previously resisted the idea of a czar, saying that the administration had already established clear lines of responsibility for handling the threat.

But Obama faced pressure from critics who argue that the nation’s hospitals are not prepared for an outbreak of the virus.

 

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Mark Caserta: Obama’s policies are on November ballot

16 Oct

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Oct. 15, 2014 @ 09:20 PM

No doubt when President Obama told Mitt Romney during the first 2012 presidential debate that he “liked” the term “Obamacare,” he was confident the appellation would be revered as an historic accomplishment for his administration.

Certainly Democrats have been willing to spend your hard-earned tax money to preserve the president’s aspirations. Bloomberg Government reports the cost of HealthCare.gov has now exceeded the $2 billion mark, while the total cost of Obama’s health care reform is more than $73 billion.

But nowadays it’s difficult to find a Democrat who openly supports any of this president’s policies in their election campaigns, much less Obama’s signature health care legislation. But in a recent speech, President Obama assured Americans his policies were indeed on November’s ballot.

“I am not on the ballot this fall,” President Obama said. “But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them.”

Yes, there are people who now have healthcare who didn’t prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

But millions have been forced off their existing plan (despite Obama’s promise this would never happen, winning him the esteemed Politifact “Lie of the Year” Award) into health care exchanges where they’re experiencing less coverage, higher deductibles and fewer choices in providers.

In fact, if the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had scored the ACA correctly, it probably would never have passed! According to Forbes Magazine, 12.5 percent fewer people are uninsured by 2014, rather than the 37.3 percent projected by the CBO.

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Additionally, of the millions with canceled coverage, 1 million remain uninsured. And Americans are experiencing far higher premiums than originally estimated while nearly $7,000 will be added in taxes/fees over a decade even for families in the lowest 20 percent of household income.

And all around the country businesses are preparing for the impact of the employer mandate under Obamacare. Understand, these companies will not simply absorb these additional costs. They’ll either cut expenses or raise prices.

Currently hundreds of employers are cutting back on employee’s hours to avoid paying for health care, forcing these individuals into purchasing coverage from an exchange or pay a fine.

And many people still don’t realize the IRS will be the enforcer for ensuring everyone meets their “shared responsibility payment” as decreed by the individual mandate of Obamacare. And Americans have already seen what IRS leadership is willing to do to propagate this president’s ultra-liberal agenda.

Now, there are points in the ACA which should remain, such as coverage for “pre-existing” conditions. But Democrats failed to engage in the necessary conversation about allowing the free market to work in the insurance industry by instituting healthy interstate competition and tort reform.

Instead, they went right for socialized medicine.

Simply put, Barack Obama and complicit Democrats passed legislation that forces Americans into purchasing a product, despite their wants or needs, so they can “redistribute” the assets as they deem “fair.” They’ve taken the “care” out of health care and made it health “control.”

So Democrats may want to run, but they cannot hide. They gave us Obamacare.

COAL 1

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page

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Marc Thiessen: Why is Obama skipping more than half of his daily intelligence meetings?

15 Oct

IS HE THAT MUCH SMARTER THAN HIS ADVISORS?   OR WOULD HE SIMPLY RATHER BE GOLFING?

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By Marc A. Thiessen September 10, 2012

President Obama is touting his foreign policy experience on the campaign trail, but startling new statistics suggest that national security has not necessarily been the personal priority the president makes it out to be. It turns out that more than half the time, the commander in chief does not attend his daily intelligence meeting.

The Government Accountability Institute, a new conservative investigative research organization, examined President Obama’s schedule from the day he took office until mid-June 2012, to see how often he attended his Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) — the meeting at which he is briefed on the most critical intelligence threats to the country. During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent. By contrast, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush almost never missed his daily intelligence meeting.

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I asked National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor about the findings, and whether there were any instances where the president attended the intelligence meeting that were not on his public schedule. Vietor did not dispute the numbers, but said the fact that the president, during a time of war, does not attend his daily intelligence meeting on a daily basis is “not particularly interesting or useful.” He says that the president reads his PDB every day, and he disagreed with the suggestion that there is any difference whatsoever between simply reading the briefing book and having an interactive discussion of its contents with top national security and intelligence officials where the president can probe assumptions and ask questions. “I actually don’t agree at all,” Vietor told me in an e-mail, “The president gets the information he needs from the intelligence community each day.”

OBAMA AT PRESS BRIEFING

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