Ebola + Politics = Plague of Lunacy

Back in March, when I first started reporting on West Africa's ebola pandemic my goal was to alert - get people to "Stop it where it started." But few paid attention before the political hacks decided to run with the story. lol Now people know just enough to be panicked. But there still aren't anywhere near enough doctors and healthcare workers on the ground in West Africa - and even though many nations promised millions and millions of dollars in aid, only about $100,000 has actually been deposited in the UN account set up for the Ebola crisis.

Enjoy your election, and just so you know:

* There are NO direct flights from West Africa to the US.

* Only three Ebola-infected travellers per month are likely to fly out of west Africa - most will fly elsewhere in Africa - and only 2% of those 3 people per month would be heading to the USA now that Nigeria is Ebola-free.

* The key to travels restrictions is 'exit screening' in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

* Only Cuba is putting it's money -and people- where it's mouth is.

Ebola plus politics equals a plague of lunacy

In West Africa, thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of people are dying from Ebola. But so far at least, the news on this side of the ocean is good. To date, the number of U.S. and Canadian residents killed by the virus is zero.

This would seem to be cause for modest optimism. But not in the United States, where a combination of politics, paranoia and 24/7 coverage has created a plague of fear and recrimination. Populist superstar Glenn Beck has been ranting about Ebola on his radio show every day for weeks. “It’s insane!” he insists. “They are playing with our lives!”

But what’s really insane is the opportunism that has infected American politics. The midterm elections are just around the corner and control of the Senate hangs in the balance, so the recriminations are especially shrill. Republicans say the crisis is all President Barack Obama’s fault. Democrats say it’s all the Republicans’ fault. And everybody faults the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for missteps that, while serious, were probably not all that surprising for any big bureaucracy confronted with a novel and complex emergency.

In this fevered environment, panic has spread much faster than the actual disease. In Dallas, where one West African visitor died of Ebola and two nurses were infected, four schools shut down. In Mississippi, parents pulled their kids from school after they found out that the principal had been to Zambia (where there is no Ebola). A Caribbean cruise ship was turned away by Belize and Mexico, and had to return to port in the United States because a passenger had handled lab samples from the infected West African man. The governor of Florida demanded that the CDC track down everyone aboard a plane that had landed in Fort Lauderdale – because one of the infected nurses had flown to Dallas on the same plane the day before.

....The good news is that two infected nurses look like the only American casualties of the screw-ups. No doubt the system has learned from its mistakes – Ebola will be contained. That’s more than you can say for the toxic politics that spread the panic.

…no direct flights to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea exist. ….a flight ban would have to ground connecting flights from Brussels, Amsterdam and other European cities.

Only three Ebola-infected travellers per month are likely to fly from west Africa
Lancet study says that exit screening from Ebola-hit countries most efficient; only 8.7% of travellers from the region go to UK

….They found that most travellers from the three countries – more than 60% – fly to low- and middle-income countries, with Ghana and Senegal as the top destinations. The arrival of somebody infected with Ebola is a greater threat to less affluent countries than to the UK, which was the third most popular destination, with 8.7% of travellers, or to the USA, where 2% would be headed.

Canadian researchers have argued that screening on exit is the best way to stop Ebola-infected people boarding flights out of Africa. The team from St Michael’s hospital in Toronto, Canada, said only three people a month with Ebola were likely to try and fly out of west Africa – and that restricting air travel was harmful to the economies of the countries fighting the epidemic, while doing little to protect the west.

Assessment of the potential for international dissemination of Ebola virus via commercial air travel during the 2014 west African outbreak

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 21 October 2014
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61828-6Cite or Link Using DOI
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Findings
Based on epidemic conditions and international flight restrictions to and from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as of Sept 1, 2014 (reductions in passenger seats by 51% for Liberia, 66% for Guinea, and 85% for Sierra Leone), our model projects 2·8 travellers infected with Ebola virus departing the above three countries via commercial flights, on average, every month. 91 547 (64%) of all air travellers departing Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone had expected destinations in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Screening international travellers departing three airports would enable health assessments of all travellers at highest risk of exposure to Ebola virus infection.
Interpretation
Decision makers must carefully balance the potential harms from travel restrictions imposed on countries that have Ebola virus activity against any potential reductions in risk from Ebola virus importations. Exit screening of travellers at airports in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone would be the most efficient frontier at which to assess the health status of travellers at risk of Ebola virus exposure, however, this intervention might require international support to implement effectively.

World must stop Ebola in West Africa or face 'pandemic': Cuba's Castro

(Reuters) - The world must confront Ebola in West Africa to prevent what could become one of the worst pandemics in human history, Cuban President Raul Castro said on Monday.

"I am convinced that if this threat is not stopped in West Africa with an immediate international response ... it could become one of the gravest pandemics in human history," Castro told a summit of the leftist ALBA bloc of Latin American and Caribbean countries in Havana.

the government and media did what they do best: didn't let a good crisis go to waste.
and the people on this site, that should know better, ate the whole thing up hook line and sinker.
this was all a political stunt, right form the start.
sure people died, and we all wish that wasn't the case.
but we got nowhere near the levels that the MSM or ATS suggested.
sometimes i think the two are the one and the same.
and it's sad. so many minds, so much potential, and we fall into the same traps over and over.
illuminati? population control? reptilians? chemitrails?
nah, screw that noise.
all you need to put a country on it's knees is a rumor.
and since WE allow it to happen to ourselves and then act like victims, i lift my F#&k us mug, cheers

Not to derail, but generally speaking anything + politics = plague of lunacy. Natura of the beast it seems

I see your point.

Then why did Obama make it worse by

appointing a well known depopulationist

as Ebola Czar

instead of a epidemiologist or MD?

Of course, this is internet gossip that he is a depopulationist.

However, having worked for the #1 Environmentalist in the world Al Gore as chief of staff, he'd more likely than not be one who believes humans are a blight on mother earth and need to be culled as most environmentalists believe.

This appointment does nothing to assuage fears, if anything, it fuels them.

And sending 18,19,20 year old soldiers with 4 hours of 'training" in how to handle Ebola into the hottest zones, putting them in hotels with locals caring for their rooms and feeding them, ensuring that at least some will get Ebola, doesn't do anything to help American's fears either.

a reply to: IShotMyLastMuse

...this was all a political stunt, right form the start.
sure people died, and we all wish that wasn't the case.
but we got nowhere near the levels that the MSM or ATS suggested.

Not a stunt - the epidemic is raging in West Africa and destroying 3 nations, at least. But yeah, the hypochondriac response takes the focus off the real problem.

S&

Related.

What the world thinks of the American Ebola panic

…."As long as the disease was limited to distant Africa, Americans hardly cared. That changed suddenly when the first U.S. cases emerged. Since then, Ebola has fueled an infinite loop of disinformation and demagogue…"

…. "In an election season, where there's potential panic, there's politics."

U.S. to funnel travelers from Ebola-hit region through five airports

The United States ratcheted up its safeguards against Ebola on Tuesday, requiring travelers from three countries at the center of an epidemic in West Africa to fly into one of five major airports conducting enhanced screening for the virus.

Restrictions on passengers whose trips originated in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea were announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and due to go into effect on Wednesday. …

….Affected travelers will have their temperatures checked for signs of a fever that may indicate Ebola infection, among other protocols, at New York's John F. Kennedy, New Jersey's Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago's O'Hare international airports, officials said.

….Johnson said those airports account for about 94 percent of travelers flying to the United States from the three countries, noting that there are no direct, nonstop commercial flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to the United States.

a reply to: grandmakdw

I don't know of ANY environmentalists that think men, women and children need to be killed off. Having less children in poor, highly populated areas that can't handle proper care of those children, maybe - but killed off? No.

You are listening to Alex Jones, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh a little too much.

You don't need a medical person to organize staff, communications, and procedures. You've already got the CDC, who are a bunch of medical people.

a reply to: grandmakdw

There sounds like an AWFUL amount of right wing fear mongering in there. How much of that information did you get from Foxnews or Breitbart?

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: grandmakdw

I don't know of ANY environmentalists that think men, women and children need to be killed off. Having less children in poor, highly populated areas that can't handle proper care of those children, maybe - but killed off? No.

You are listening to Alex Jones, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh a little too much.

You don't need a medical person to organize staff, communications, and procedures. You've already got the CDC, who are a bunch of medical people.

You do need someone who knows about the disease and it's transmission, not the fantasy AIDS type transmission, but how it is really transmitted and has enough medical knowledge to be able to sort truth from politically expedient fiction in charge.

Enviornmentalists are constantly moaning about how awful humans are and how there need to be far fewer humans. The current support for post-live birth abortion (which Obama publicly supported in Illinois) is one indication that killing under the guise of kindness is a part of the agenda.

a reply to: grandmakdw

I KNEW IT! Right wing rhetoric.
Obama and ‘Infanticide’

Whether opposing "born alive" legislation is the same as supporting "infanticide," however, is entirely a matter of interpretation. That could be true only for those, such as Obama’s 2004 Republican opponent, Alan Keyes, who believes a fetus that doctors give no chance of surviving is an "infant." It is worth noting that Illinois law already provided that physicians must protect the life of a fetus when there is "a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb, with or without artificial support."

a reply to: grandmakdw

Nope, wrong on both counts.

1. We already know how it's transmitted.

2. Not wanting more humans than we have the resources to support does NOT mean you want to kill them off. Post-live abortions? What the heck does that have to do with environmentalists? Have you seen any official communications from any environmentalist groups saying they are in favor of post-live abortions? Didn't think so.

a reply to: IShotMyLastMuse

the government and media did what they do best: didn't let a good crisis go to waste.
and the people on this site, that should know better, ate the whole thing up hook line and sinker.
this was all a political stunt, right form the start.
sure people died, and we all wish that wasn't the case.
but we got nowhere near the levels that the MSM or ATS suggested.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but the above makes it seem like you think the potential danger Ebola represents is not as great and is something we can easily remedy.

It also seems as though you think we are completely in the clear here in America now that we have everything 'under control.'

I don't think the people in Ohio are 100% conviced we are all ok just yet.

a reply to: kaylaluv

What does Ebola have to do with politics and the enviornmental movement?

“The present vast overpopulation, now far beyond the world carrying capacity, cannot be answered by future reductions in the birth rate due to contraception, sterilization and abortion, but must be met in the present by the reduction of numbers presently existing. This must be done by whatever means necessary.” Eco-92 Earth Charter

“The United Nation’s goal is to reduce population selectively by encouraging abortion, forced sterilization, and control of human reproduction, and regards two-thirds of the human population as excess baggage, with 350,000 people to be eliminated per day.” Jacques Cousteau

“If radical environmentalists were to invent a disease to bring human populations back to sanity, it would probably be something like AIDS. It has the potential to end industrialism, which is the main force behind the environmental crises.”

Earth First!

“At present the population of the world is increasing at about 58,000 per diem. War, so far, has had no very great effect on this increase, which continued throughout each of the world wars.. War has hitherto been disappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove effective.

If a Black Death could spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full. The state of affairs might be unpleasant, but what of it?”

Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society

“If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”

Prince Phillip

www.depopulation.newworldorderuniversity.com...

a reply to: grandmakdw

Ha ha - I should trust a website called new world order - I wonder if Alex Jones has anything to do with it?

I could post several quotes from the Christian fringe, i.e., Westboro, that are pretty horrendous. Should I assume that most/all Christians want to kill all homosexuals?

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: grandmakdw

Ha ha - I should trust a website called new world order - I wonder if Alex Jones has anything to do with it?

I could post several quotes from the Christian fringe, i.e., Westboro, that are pretty horrendous. Should I assume that most/all Christians want to kill all homosexuals?

Kaylaluv,
You asked for the quotes, so I gave them to you. They are not out of the blue. If you want to debunk them do the research yourself. I provided the quotes you asked for.

The question at hand was Ebola and it's role in politics, environmentalism is instrumental in the politics of Ebola, since many see allowing Ebola to spread through lack of quarantine as part of the environmental movement.

I just gave you what you asked for and if you are unhappy about it, tough cookies. There are environmentalists out there who want to quickly depopulate through disease, face facts.


One more for you! You asked for it. (I'm not asking for any quotes in return, just giving you what you asked for)
Sticking to the OP and not drift:
www.pearceyreport.com...

Pianka said the Earth would not survive unless its population was reduced by 95% suggesting that the planet would be "better off" if the human population were reduced and that a mutant strain of Ebola would be the most efficient means.....

a reply to: grandmakdw

Misquotes, quotes taken out of context, and quotes from lone-wolf radicals aren't good enough evidence for me that the Ebola "czar" is going to try to spread ebola to kill off a bunch of the population.

I also believe that most Muslims aren't planning to chop off all our heads, and most Christians don't want to kill all the gays.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

I just don't understand this : Doctors ‘no longer able to detect Ebola virus’ in Amber Vinson’s body, family says

fox8.com...

Is it wishful thinking on the family's part? Aweful fast I think.
Surly it is what the family thinks, not the Doc's yet I hope.

Speed is of the essence but world leaders are barely crawling forward. Still no real progress.

Official WHO Ebola (death) toll near 5,000 with true number nearer 15,000

…Among the thousands of cases are 443 health care workers, 244 of whom have died. …."Early indications are that a substantial proportion of infections occurred outside the context of Ebola treatment and care," it said.

…A U.N. plan to stop the epidemic, known as 70-70-60, involves isolating at least 70 percent of cases and safely burying at least 70 percent of those who die by Dec. 1, a 60-day deadline from the start of the plan. That is supposed to rise to 100 percent by the 90-day deadline on Jan. 1.

The number of isolation beds had increased substantially to 1,126 but remained only 25 percent of the 4,388 expected to be needed in 50 Ebola treatment units. There were also firm commitments from foreign medical teams to staff only 30 units.

Without those beds in those units, families have to care for sick relatives at home and risk infection.

The WHO also estimates 28 laboratories are needed in the three worst-hit countries, with 12 now in place, and 20,000 staff will be needed to keep track of people who have had contact with Ebola patients and may be at risk.

The three worst-hit countries will also need 230 dead-body-management teams by Dec. 1, it said. They have 140.

PS. The beds are useless without staff.