Thursday, October 30, 2014


News Clips For The Day


THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2dd3bdb6-5f95-11e4-8c27-00144feabdc0.html

Nato fighter jets intercept Russian military aircraft
Sam Jones, Defence and Security Editor
October 29, 2014

More than two dozen Russian military aircraft, including six nuclear bombers, have conducted “significant military manoeuvres” on the edges of Nato and European airspace in the past 24 hours, causing jets to be scrambled from eight countries as well as Nato’s own Baltic air policing force.

The incidents – three of which occurred on Wednesday and one on Tuesday – followed last week’s violation of Nato airspace by a Russian spy plane, the first since the end of the cold war. Taken together they constitute the most serious air provocation mounted by the Kremlin against the alliance this year, if not in more than a decade, according to Nato officials.

“These sizeable Russian flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace,” Nato said in a detailed statement issued from its headquarters in Belgium.

Military officials at Nato point to a threefold increase this year in the number of times they have had to scramble fighters to fend off Russian aircraft. Finland and Sweden have separately reported big incidents.

On Wednesday the air forces of alliance members Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Turkey and the UK, as well as those of Finland and Sweden, remained on high alert.

The most significant intercept on Wednesday occurred in the North Sea. A force of eight Russian aircraft, including four Tu-95 long-range strategic nuclear bombers and four refuelling aircraft, were detected flying in formation at about 3 am central European time flying from mainland Russia over the Norwegian Sea.

Six aircraft turned back, but two bombers continued southwards, close to the Norwegian coast and followed by F16s sent to intercept them by the Royal Norwegian air force. When the Russian aircraft then turned over the North Sea, RAF Typhoons were scrambled to intercept as they approached UK airspace. Portuguese fighters were later deployed as they came near the Iberian peninsula.

The aircraft did not file flight plans, had turned off their transponders and did not respond to any radio calls from civilian or military controllers.

Simultaneously, jets from the Nato Baltic Air Policing mission based at Šiauliai in Lithuania had to be scrambled to intercept a force of seven Russian fighters, including two MiG-31 Foxhounds, two Su-34 Fullbacks, one Su-27 Flanker and two Su-24 Fencers.

Turkish jets were also sent up to monitor two Russian strategic bombers escorted by two Russian fighter jets approaching their airspace from across the Black Sea.

On Tuesday, German, Danish, Finnish and Swedish jets had to be scrambled to deal with another big incident in the Baltic, instigated by a force of seven Russian jets identical to that a day later. Though the Russian jets had filed a flight plan, and were using transponders, they kept radio silence with air traffic controllers despite attempts to contact them, according to Nato.

The increased number of Russian air provocations is causing significant concern at the alliance. While Nato has quadrupled the number of jets it has stationed in the Baltic states in the past year – from four to 16 – and has spent more than €150m upgrading airbases there, Russia has remained undeterred in its adventurism in the skies.

In a sign of the jumpiness the Russian provocations have caused among Nato members, RAF jets were also scrambled to guide a civilian Antonov cargo plane into landing in Stansted airport near London on Wednesday evening. The event caused a supersonic boom – triggering calls to police from concerned local residents – as they rushed to intercept the plane. The plane had been flying over London when it stopped responding to radio calls from civilian air traffic controllers.



http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2013-08-09/obama-3/

Obama: Putin ‘Bored Kid’ Slouching in Back of Classroom
By Mark Silva
August 9, 2013

Since the return of Vladimir Putin to the presidency, he said, “we have seen more rhetoric that is anti-American… I have encouraged Mr. Putin to think forward, rather than backwards… with mixed success.”

The president insisted that there is plenty of room for cooperation between the two nations: “My hope is that over time Mr. Putin and Russia recognize that… if the two countries are working together we can probably advance both peoples.”

Asked how he can conduct business with Russia without a good relationship with Putin, Obama went on to say: “I don’t have a bad personal relation with Putin. When we have conversations, they’re candid. They’re blunt. Oftentimes, they’re constructive. I know the press likes to focus on body language, and he’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. But the truth is is that when we’re in conversations together, oftentimes it’s very productive.”



http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/28/us-nordics-russia-idUSKBN0IH1A120141028

Nordic, Baltic states face 'new normal' of Russian military threat
BY ALISTER DOYLE AND SIMON JOHNSON
OSLO/STOCKHOLM  Tue Oct 28, 2014

(Reuters) - Fears of Russia re-asserting its Cold War dominance in the Baltic Sea are forcing countries there to re-think their defenses, prioritizing military spending at home and reducing participation in far-flung U.N. or U.S.-led missions.

Sweden's fruitless search for a submarine -- dubbed by locals "The Hunt for Reds in October" -- and Russian violations of airspace are seen as elements of what one defense minister called a 'hybrid warfare', where fear and propaganda are deployed to keep countries on their toes.

"It is a new normal," Anna Wieslander, deputy director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, said of Russia's greater military activity. "The readiness to respond to suspected territorial violations needs to be increased."

Most countries on Russia's northwestern flank are planning higher military spending, reversing sharp falls of recent years, after the crisis in Ukraine revived Cold War tensions and exposed aging equipment.

The Baltic states, for instance, have just one working tank -- a 1955 Soviet-era T-55 in Riga. Sweden's week-long search for a submarine was hampered by the sale or retirement of anti-submarine helicopters in 2008.

In the Cold War, Nordic nations were on a front line facing the Soviet Union across the Baltic. But the "peace dividend" reaped since then has meant less military spending. Sweden's defense budget, for example, shrank from 3 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 1.2 percent last year.

"Russia sees that ... this is a Monty Python type of defense," said Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London.

Estonia has reported six breaches of airspace by Russian aircraft this year, up from two in all of 2013. Latvia says it has sighted more than 40 Russian military vessels near its waters this year, usually a rarity.

"Defensive tasks closer to home must take a higher priority if Russian adventurism is to be deterred," said Keir Giles, a military expert at the Chatham House think-tank in Britain.

TURNING INWARDS

Shoring up domestic defenses is leaving fewer resources for foreign missions.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Oslo would not match Denmark in sending F-16 fighter planes to help the United States fight Islamic State militants in Iraq.

"My impression is that all our NATO friends believe our key role now is actually to ensure good surveillance in the north," Solberg told Norway's TV2 this month.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said her new center-left government would be less enthusiastic about working with NATO. Sweden and Finland are outside NATO while Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are members.

"I think we have to do both," Wallstrom told reporters on Friday of local and foreign priorities.

"I am interested in using Sweden's good name in contributing to U.N. troops and U.N. missions" such as in Mal, she said, but stressed: "Of course we don't have unlimited resources."

In 2010, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite rejected higher military spending, arguing that pensions and wages were a priority. She changed her tune after Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in March and Russian exercises off the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

"Life always gives many corrections, including to political decisions," she said.

PUTIN TESTS NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin may see the small Nordic and Baltic nations as a testing ground for the unity of the U.S.-led NATO alliance - NATO members are obliged to treat an attack on any member as an attack on all.

The Baltic states, which regained independence from Moscow in 1991, are acutely aware of vulnerability. Like Ukraine, they rely on Russian energy and have sizeable Russian minorities.

Lithuania hopes to meet an informal NATO goal of 2 percent of GDP on defense in 2017, up from 0.9 percent in 2014. Latvia aims to met the goal by 2020, also up from 0.9 pct in 2014.

Estonia, the only Nordic or Baltic nation to meet the NATO goal, plans to raise spending fractionally to 2.05 percent of GDP in 2015.

Finland is considering raising defense spending, projected at 1.3 percent of GDP in 2015.

"We have squeezed every possible thing out and in the long term, that will not be enough to sustain a credible defense," Finnish Defense Minister Carl Haglund said at the weekend.

Some say the Russian threat should not be exaggerated.

"I cannot imagine that Russia would dare to disturb the Baltic countries or Poland or any NATO member," Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lindegaard told Reuters, saying Moscow was waging a 'hybrid warfare'.

"You have massive propaganda, provocations, stimulation of groups inside other countries, which is not warfare but which is something very hostile and close to warfare," he said.

Sverre Diesen, head of Norway's armed forces from 2005-09, said the region had to forget hopes of a benign, democratic neighbor and accept that Russia "will remain a great power but with an autocratic regime of one kind or another".

The Russians, he said: "will always try to push their ... area of interest forward as a matter of geopolitical instinct, without necessarily harboring plans for immediate and bare-faced aggression."

(With extra reporting by Alistair Scrutton and Simon Johnson in Stockholm, Aija Krutaine in Riga, David Mardiste in Tallinn, Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, Annabella Nielsen in Copenhagen, Jussi Rosendahl in Helsinki, Adrian Croft in Brussels; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)




I think Putin is trying – constantly – to advance his image as a very dangerous man. I personally think he is clever, sometimes wise, never moral or ethical, and mainly interested in regaining control over the Baltic nations to put his name in the history books, but with bluffs rather than war. He hates NATO, but I don't believe he will gather his army and march into a nation like Poland as the Russians did in the Cold War. The stakes are too high. Within the last several months it was reported that his economy is weak and starting a war is expensive.

I also think Europe and the US will put up a fight if he does try such a move. The Reuters article above shows Poland moving to increase its military might to push back against Russia. The US has already started improving the NATO armaments in the nations nearest Russia, and if the Republicans win in this next week's Senatorial elections, that will bring in more “hawks” who will support limited war. I am very interested in what is going on, but I'm not exactly afraid, partly because I think Putin is too smart to move Russian tanks into another nation, even Ukraine.





http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/colorado-man-who-disappeared-from-broncos-game-walked-and-hitchhiked-100-miles-home-174658949.html

Colorado man who disappeared from Broncos game walked and hitchhiked 100 miles home
By Frank Schwab
October 29, 2014

The story of how Paul Kitterman disappeared at halftime of last Thursday's Denver Broncos-San Diego Chargers game was strange, but at least he's safe. But the story behind what happened after his disappearance is even stranger than the disappearance itself.

Kitterman was found safe on Tuesday night in the parking lot of a Salvation Army in Pueblo, which is 112 miles south of Sports Authority Field, where Kitterman was last seen by his family at the Broncos' game. His disappearance made national news, but he didn't know because he said he hadn't watched television in several days and wasn't aware people were looking for him, the Associated Press reported. Kitterman said he didn't want to watch any more football so he walked and hitchhiked his way home.

Yep, the 53-year-old man walked and hitchhiked 112 miles because he had "his fill of football." It's great that he's safe, but that's unusual.

"He said he had his fill of football and that he likes to walk and wander, and he was looking for a warmer place," Pueblo police Sgt. Franklyn Ortega said, according to the AP. 

Temperature at kickoff of the Broncos-Chargers game was 68 degrees.

After he was found Kitterman was tired and had trouble walking but an exam showed he was unharmed, the AP report said. A friend's ex-wife saw him at the Salvation Army, picked him up and dropped him off at a hotel.

His stepson, who Kitterman went to the game with, said Kitterman had only four or five beers in a four-hour span, and that his stepfather didn't have any known health or personal problems. Now that Kitterman is safe, the police have no plans to file charges. He didn't do anything wrong, after all. 

"He's a grown man. If that's what he wants to do, he can do it," Ortega said. 



This article doesn't give Kitterman's age. One of the things that causes people to walk away from home like that is Alzheimer's. I hope he is okay, physically, and that his family will look into his mental health. He does remember his reason for leaving the game, though – he just “had 'his fill of football.' It's great that he's safe, but that's unusual.” Personally I have to agree with him on football. I can't watch more than five minutes of it. Basketball or tennis I enjoy. I can see lots of movement and action in those games.





With Marines Gone, Can The Afghan Army Hold Off The Taliban? – NPR
by SEAN CARBERRY
October 27, 2014

U.S. Marines board a C-130 transport plane as they withdraw from Camp Leatherneck, their huge base in southern Afghanistan. This marked the biggest handover yet to the Afghan army, which is facing a tough fight with the Taliban in Helmand province and other parts of southern Afghanistan.

The desert sun beat down on the U.S., British and Afghan troops gathered at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The Marines rolled up their flag as it came down, along with the NATO and British banners.

With the ceremony on Sunday, the Afghan army is now in command of Camp Leatherneck and neighboring Camp Bastion, the former British base.

As the U.S. military presence winds down in Afghanistan, this was by far the biggest transfer yet, and it marked the end of a Marine mission here that began in 2009. At the time, British forces were in charge of Helmand province, but they weren't able to subdue the Taliban. So the U.S. sent in the Marines, and at the peak, 20,000 of them were battling the Taliban in this part of the country.

The Taliban haven't been defeated in Helmand, and the departure of the Marines raises questions about whether the Afghan army will be able to fend off the Taliban.

"This transfer is a sign of progress," said Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, the last commander of Regional Command Southwest, which is now effectively dissolved. Closing out this mission is a personal bookend for him. He was a Marine lieutenant colonel in the force that stormed into southern Afghanistan in 2001.

Between then and now, more than 350 Marines died in Helmand province. In addition, more than 450 British troops were killed fighting here.

"And they will always be in our thoughts and hearts," said Yoo.

The U.S. still has around some 20,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, including a small Army base in Helmand province that is expected to remain for a few more months.

However, the American combat mission throughout Afghanistan is set to conclude by the year's end after more than 13 years of war. The U.S. and Afghanistan recently signed a security agreement that calls for the U.S. to keep nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan over the next two years to help the Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.

After Sunday's ceremony, some of the Marines headed straight to the airfield, others went to finish packing, and a few manned the guard towers for their last watch.

Lance Cpl. Javonte James, with 3rd Platoon of Alpha Company of the 1-2 Marines out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., said it was a great honor to be part of the last Marine unit in Helmand.

"We're worn out. But at the same time, the war is over, it's time to go home," he said.

He said he had faith in the Afghan army, which is facing a tough fight in Helmand. The Taliban have inflicted heavy casualties this year on Afghan forces, who have lost nearly as many troops in 2014 as NATO has lost in the province since 2001.

Looking out the tower, James says he's shocked how quickly the base was torn down.

"One minute you see a building, and the next it's gone," he said.

This base once housed more than 40,000 personnel. It was a small city. The last time I was here in 2013 the base was still bustling with thousands of troops and contractors.

Now, it looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. There is an eerie stillness. The only sounds are generators humming in the distance and the sound of fighter jets circling overhead. They are providing security, now that the base's surveillance hardware has been dismantled.

As far as you can see, there are empty buildings and razor wire fences surrounding vast expanses of nothingness.

As the Marines prepared to depart, a convoy pulled out of the adjoining Afghan base. The Afghans followed Alpha Company along the base perimeter. At each tower, two Afghans got out and replaced the Marines on duty.

They quickly shook hands, the Marines wished their replacements well, and then they headed to the flight line.

Over the next few hours, Marines squeezed themselves into a variety of helicopters and C-130 cargo planes.

There are no seats in the planes. The troops sat on their backpacks in the cargo bay for the flight to Kandahar. One looming question: What would come next for the Marines?
Capt. Joseph Wiese served in Iraq in 2009 and helped the Marines transition from that war to Afghanistan.

"What the heck's going on in Syria?" he asks. "What's going on in the rest of the world? Before, we were [preparing] to go to Afghanistan, and now the world's not any safer, so job security looks good."




“This marked the biggest handover yet to the Afghan army, which is facing a tough fight with the Taliban in Helmand province and other parts of southern Afghanistan. … With the ceremony on Sunday, the Afghan army is now in command of Camp Leatherneck and neighboring Camp Bastion, the former British base.... The U.S. still has around some 20,000 military personnel in Afghanistan, including a small Army base in Helmand province that is expected to remain for a few more months. However, the American combat mission throughout Afghanistan is set to conclude by the year's end after more than 13 years of war. The U.S. and Afghanistan recently signed a security agreement that calls for the U.S. to keep nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan over the next two years to help the Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.... He said he had faith in the Afghan army, which is facing a tough fight in Helmand. The Taliban have inflicted heavy casualties this year on Afghan forces, who have lost nearly as many troops in 2014 as NATO has lost in the province since 2001.... As the Marines prepared to depart, a convoy pulled out of the adjoining Afghan base. The Afghans followed Alpha Company along the base perimeter. At each tower, two Afghans got out and replaced the Marines on duty. They quickly shook hands, the Marines wished their replacements well, and then they headed to the flight line. Over the next few hours, Marines squeezed themselves into a variety of helicopters and C-130 cargo planes.”

The military base which housed 40,000 fighters now is empty except for those Afghan troops who have taken over. “Now, it looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. There is an eerie stillness. The only sounds are generators humming in the distance and the sound of fighter jets circling overhead. They are providing security, now that the base's surveillance hardware has been dismantled.”

I do hope the Afghan army is strong enough and determined enough to subdue the Taliban. The social domination that the Taliban and their friends al-Qaeda have enforced over the Afghan and Pakistani people is an abomination to me, especially their abuse of women. Also their idea of education is to teach the boys only, and then only teach rote memorization of the Koran. A country like that can't take a competitive place in the world, and they don't make good allies to a democratic society. All they're good for is sending suicide bombers to places where peaceful civilians gather. I don't feel very hopeful about this turnover to the Afghan army. If the new leadership under Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will be socially and religiously enlightened, and if they avail themselves of Western aid, maybe they will remain on a path to greater freedom, strength and prosperity.



President of Afghanistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Afghanistan has only been a republic between 1973 and 1992 and from 2001 onwards. Before 1973, it was a monarchy that was governed by a variety of kings, emirs or shahs. From 1992 to 2001, during the civil war, the country was recognized as the Islamic State of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The Constitution of Afghanistan grants the president wide powers over military and legislative affairs, with a relatively weak national bicameral national assembly, the Wolesi Jirga (House of the People) andMeshrano Jirga (House of Elders). The Presidents can only serve up to two five-year terms. Hamid Karzai started his first five-year term in 2004.[1] After his second term ended in 2014, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzaiwas chosen as the next president.






EBOLA – TWO ARTICLES


Why It's OK To Worry About Ebola, And What's Truly Scary – NPR
By Nancy Shute
October 30, 2014

Public-health types are getting increasingly annoyed with people freaking out about Ebola in the United States, from governors to the general public. It's easy to see why; when I heard a swim coach was getting questions from parents worried that their children might get Ebola from the pool water, it's hard not to cue the eye roll.

On the other hand, I suspect I'm not the only person whose husband asked her to buy chlorine bleach and gloves the next time I went to the store.

Fear of the new, unknown and deadly is normal; it's what prompts us to act to protect ourselves. The question is how do we get from misplaced fears, like Ebola in the swimming pool, to the right kind of worry.

To find out, I called up Peter Sandman, a crisis communication consultant who's been working on how people and government officials respond to disease outbreaks for decades, including SARS and H1N1 flu.

So are we idiots for being worried about Ebola in the pool? 

It's certainly true in my judgment that the long-term risk to Americans isn't in the high school swimming pool. It isn't in New York City and it isn't in Dallas and it isn't the debate about whether we quarantine or isolate or self-monitor or actively monitor returning volunteers. It's not any of that.

It's in whether we can get some control over what's going on in West Africa, whether we can get the epidemic under control. And it's in whether, if we can't get it under control or until we get it under control, a lot of sparks fly and ignite epidemics in other parts of the world.

There are lots of reasons to think that the United States can put out those sparks. But putting out the spark in Dallas was harder than we thought. It's not easy, it's not cheap, it's not pain-free, but if we have 10 Ebola cases a month we can do it.

But if India has 10 a month, Nigeria has 10 a month, very few people feel they can do it. If the epidemic in West Africa continues, it's hard to imagine that it isn't going to spread. And many of the places it would spread to have health-care systems that won't be able to cope.

It's one thing to argue that we should close the border to travelers from West Africa. But imagine trying to stop people coming in from India. Or worse, yet imagine trying to stop stuff coming in from India. Imagine India in chaos and what that would do to the United States. Now imagine Mexico in chaos. That's what people should be worried about.

(Sandman gets more deeply into pandemic Ebola risks in this column.) See the website to read further.

If that's the true risk, why so much commotion over Ebola at home?

When people are coming to terms with a new worry, it's very normal to worry about the wrong things for a while. You personalize it; you localize it; you imagine it's happening here rather than there and now rather than later and to you directly.

I'd like to see Americans shifting their focus from the risk that's small to the risk that's huge, but thinking the small risk is huge isn't a stupid place to start.

The people who are trying to say stop worrying about Ebola in New York, stop worrying about Ebola at Newark airport, what they're trying to do is lose the teachable moment. If they succeed in getting people to stop worrying, they will regret it, because there's a lot to worry about it.

Calming us down shouldn't be a goal. It would be different if people were panicking in the street.

But the evidence doesn't say that say people are unreasonably, dangerously upset. They're sometimes worried about the right things more than the experts are. I think it's reasonable that when people read that the CDC and WHO say Ebola is characterized by a sudden onset of symptoms to think, doesn't that mean you could be fine at 10 o'clock and vomiting in the subway at noon? Then I think you should stay home. What's irrational about that?

So what you've got are people who are climbing the learning curve, and in some cases learning more quickly than officials — learning that you probably can't get it from someone who doesn't have symptoms, but also leaning that the people who told you that have made some mistakes.

The governors have gotten a lot of heat from the White House and CDC for trying to impose quarantines on returning health care workers. Why is this so controversial?

The public health people are getting it wrong and framing it disingenuously.

There's certainly a case to be made that quarantine is excessive, that active monitoring would be good enough. But it seems to me to be a pretty open debate on whether quarantine is excessive or appropriate, and it depends on how cautious you want to be. Saying that the science proves incontrovertibly that quarantine is wrong – it's bad communication and it's bad science.

The CDC is desperately trying to recruit people to go to West Africa. Nobody asks the obvious question – if you're worried that quarantine is going to hurt recruitment, aren't you biased when you say quarantine isn't necessary?

OK, so we're worried with good reason. What do we do with that fear?

That's a fair question. If a friend said, I buy your argument about sparks, and I'd like to make a contribution, here's what I'd tell them.

Help put pressure on the government to push harder on vaccine research. They're pushing much harder than they were, but it's way smaller than the Manhattan Project. Get them going on virus time rather than project time.

A second thing I would be urging my friend to is think about is whether you can make a personal contribution or urge a government contribution in the direction of spark suppression.

If the thing that endangers the us most is a dozen epidemics in countries around the developing world, then if you want to volunteer, volunteer to make that less likely. If you want to contribute money, find an organization that wants to do that. Tell the CDC that you don't want 20 CDC experts in New York, you want 20 CDC experts in Nigeria to help get ready to put out the next spark and the one after that and the one after that.

You have reason to worry that your daily life a year or two from now could be significantly worse if Ebola is all over the world. But what you can do in your daily life to protect yourself against Ebola now is absolutely nothing.




“On the other hand, I suspect I'm not the only person whose husband asked her to buy chlorine bleach and gloves the next time I went to the store. Fear of the new, unknown and deadly is normal; it's what prompts us to act to protect ourselves. The question is how do we get from misplaced fears, like Ebola in the swimming pool, to the right kind of worry.... It's in whether we can get some control over what's going on in West Africa, whether we can get the epidemic under control. And it's in whether, if we can't get it under control or until we get it under control, a lot of sparks fly and ignite epidemics in other parts of the world. If the epidemic in West Africa continues, it's hard to imagine that it isn't going to spread. And many of the places it would spread to have health-care systems that won't be able to cope. It's one thing to argue that we should close the border to travelers from West Africa. But imagine trying to stop people coming in from India. Or worse, yet imagine trying to stop stuff coming in from India. Imagine India in chaos and what that would do to the United States. Now imagine Mexico in chaos. That's what people should be worried about.... There's certainly a case to be made that quarantine is excessive, that active monitoring would be good enough. But it seems to me to be a pretty open debate on whether quarantine is excessive or appropriate, and it depends on how cautious you want to be. Saying that the science proves incontrovertibly that quarantine is wrong – it's bad communication and it's bad science.... Help put pressure on the government to push harder on vaccine research. They're pushing much harder than they were, but it's way smaller than the Manhattan Project. Get them going on virus time rather than project time. A second thing I would be urging my friend to is think about is whether you can make a personal contribution or urge a government contribution in the direction of spark suppression.”

“Tell the CDC that you don't want 20 CDC experts in New York, you want 20 CDC experts in Nigeria to help get ready to put out the next spark and the one after that and the one after that.” This article would have us, as US citizens, think globally on this issue, because the epidemic is a truly global threat. It isn't just keeping Africans out of the US, or closing the swimming pools. It's the huge need for an effective vaccine and the kind of push we need in all developed nations to create those vaccines. This is definitely not a time for the federal government to wait for the “invisible hand” of the marketplace to produce a supply of vaccine. That's why we have no vaccines after decades of dealing with Ebola right now – it wasn't deemed profitable.

A month or so when I was reading about vaccine prototypes it was mentioned that full scientific testing takes years, and it is so clear to me that we don't have years. The last news report I saw was that January of 2015 should produce at least one vaccine. Other articles around that time said that preliminary testing on more than one vaccine or broad scope antiviral drug had already showed the drugs to be effective to some degree, though not necessarily guaranteed safe. Some processes, including blood transfusions from those who have survived it, have shown themselves to cure people who have developed Ebola symptoms. One thing we could do right now, and should do, is to stockpile blood from those who have developed antibodies and recovered to be used in field hospitals across Africa. An organization like the Red Cross has spent decades stockpiling blood supplies, so they should be doing that now. Records in the US and in Africa probably indicate who is a survivor and may be of help in that way.

“Putting out the spark in Dallas was harder than we thought.” Ebola viruses are active agents for a pretty long period before the patient shows symptoms. I have not been able to feel completely sure that patients are not contagious at all during that incubation period, and especially before they spike a fever, which is the criterion that is commonly being used. The CDC specifically says “before they show symptoms,” and to me the “feeling of weakness” that the second US doctor to come down with Ebola showed on the day before he spiked a fever was clearly a symptom. Following the rule of thumb of a fever being the crucial symptom, he went out on the town that day and paid no attention to how he felt. We need very close monitoring, not a loose kind of highly voluntary supervision, for at least the first couple of weeks to discover the very first symptom.



One age group much more likely to die from Ebola – CBS
AP October 30, 2014, 10:02 AM

Who survives Ebola and why? Health workers treating patients in Sierra Leone, including some who died doing that work, have published the most detailed report yet on medical aspects of the epidemic. The research suggests young people are less likely to perish, fever is the most common symptom when victims first seek care, and early help is crucial.

The report, published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, is from 47 doctors, nurses and others who cared for 106 patients at Kenema Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, one of the West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic.

Their work adds new knowledge about the disease, which has killed more than 5,000 since early this year, the largest outbreak ever of Ebola, said one study leader, Dr. John Schieffelin, an infectious diseases specialist from Tulane University School of Medicine.

In particular, it shows the advantage of youth - the fatality rate was 57 percent for patients under 21, but a whopping 94 percent for those over 45.

"They're more resilient and younger and tougher," Schieffelin said.

"This is definitely the most detailed analysis" of symptoms and factors related to survival, he added.

One striking factor was how devastating the severe diarrhea is from the disease.

"It requires a lot of intensive fluid therapy," and replacement of body salts called electrolytes, to help people survive, he said.

Key findings:

-It can be hard even in an outbreak setting to tell who has Ebola. Of the 213 people initially tested for signs of a hemorrhagic fever, about half, or 106, turned out to have Ebola.

-The estimated incubation period was 6 to 12 days, similar to what has been seen elsewhere in this outbreak.

-Fever was the most common symptom - 89 percent had it when diagnosed. Other symptoms were headache (80 percent), weakness (66 percent), dizziness (60 percent), diarrhea (51 percent), abdominal pain (40 percent), and vomiting (34 percent). Only one patient had bleeding, one of the most gruesome symptoms, but researchers say other cases may have been missed through incomplete record-keeping. Patients with weakness, dizziness and diarrhea were more likely to die.

-Those with more virus in their blood when they sought medical care, indicating more advanced infections, were more likely to die than those who got help when their illness was less far along.

Seven of the 47 study authors died - six of them from Ebola and one from a stroke. They included Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, a doctor who led Sierra Leone's battle against Ebola until his death in July.




"Who survives Ebola and why? Health workers treating patients in Sierra Leone, including some who died doing that work, have published the most detailed report yet on medical aspects of the epidemic. The research suggests young people are less likely to perish, fever is the most common symptom when victims first seek care, and early help is crucial.... In particular, it shows the advantage of youth - the fatality rate was 57 percent for patients under 21, but a whopping 94 percent for those over 45....One striking factor was how devastating the severe diarrhea is from the disease. 'It requires a lot of intensive fluid therapy,' and replacement of body salts called electrolytes, to help people survive, he said.... -Fever was the most common symptom - 89 percent had it when diagnosed. Other symptoms were headache (80 percent), weakness (66 percent), dizziness (60 percent), diarrhea (51 percent), abdominal pain (40 percent), and vomiting (34 percent). Only one patient had bleeding.... Patients with weakness, dizziness and diarrhea were more likely to die. -Those with more virus in their blood when they sought medical care, indicating more advanced infections, were more likely to die than those who got help when their illness was less far along.”

The difference of 57% and 94% between those under 21 and over 45 is striking, and perhaps should change how the CDC deals with the two groups. Perhaps those over 45 should go immediately into a medically supervised environment when they come from the airport and are recognized as being in danger. Early treatment is very important in their ability to survive Ebola. They should also be given blood plasma from Ebola survivors if their blood type can be matched, as that seems to save more people than just fluid therapy. The Red Cross would be a good group to set up a blood bank from Ebola survivors to be used as needed. I realize I said that on the article above so I'm repeating myself, but so far I haven't seen that mentioned in any of these news articles as something that should be done.

I have little sympathy with the nurse who is refusing to stay at home during the incubation period of the disease. I think she is acting like a narcissist – seeking personal attention and behaving irrationally. This news article does give 6 to 12 days as the incubation period rather than standard 21 days, but I wouldn't personally trust that. In her favor is the fact that the CDC does approve monitoring of potential patients rather than enforced isolation, as NJ and NY have mandated. Yet, one of the two doctors who became ill recently did have one of the primary symptoms mentioned by authorities the day before he spiked a fever – weakness. I felt that, being a doctor and therefore knowledgeable on the subject, he should have stayed home because of that, rather than walking around the city and going to a park. The monitoring system failed to stop him from doing that.

The size of the NJ/NY metro areas does make the likelihood of the disease becoming an epidemic there higher, so I sympathize with the mandatory 21 days required by those governors. I basically feel that it is better to take thorough measures rather than merely a sketchy telephone contact with potential victims. If every person on the list of 80 or more contacts mentioned by Duncan had gone to a hospital for 21 days, though, our hospital beds would have been full when the acute cases arrived. The CDC is trying to take adequate measures, but not use up the nation's resources unnecessarily. Personally, I just hope the vaccines that are in the works will very soon be in the hands of health professionals both in the US and in Africa. A preventative vaccine, like the polio vaccine that was mandated in the US in the 1950s, could stop this epidemic from spreading any further.





Do Americans think U.S. ground troops are needed to fight ISIS?
CBS NEWS October 29, 2014, 6:33 PM
By Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto and Fred Backus

Two months after U.S. airstrikes were launched against the Islamic State in Iraq, most Americans are still unconvinced that President Obama has a clear plan for dealing with the militant group. Sixty-one percent don't think he has a clear plan. Just 29 percent think he does; that is down seven points from earlier this month.

Seventy-one percent of Americans support U.S. airstrikes against ISIS, but evaluations of how things are going for the U.S. in its fight against the militant group are negative. Fifty-seven percent think it is going somewhat or very badly. About a third say it is going well, including just three percent who say the fight is going very well.

Americans are now split on whether the U.S. should send ground troops into Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS. The percentage that favors ground troops (47 percent) has been inching up since September.

Most Republicans support using U.S. ground troops, while most Democrats, and half of independents, are opposed. Still, most Americans do think ground forces will ultimately be necessary to remove the threat from ISIS. Sixty-four percent say U.S. ground troops will be needed, while just one in five thinks airstrikes alone will work.

A vast majority of Americans--85 percent--express at least some concern that U.S. intervention in Iraq and Syria will lead to a long and costly involvement there, including 48 percent who are very concerned. Most Americans continue to view ISIS as a major threat to the security of the United States, with 58 percent saying it is a major threat, while another 21 percent say ISIS is a minor threat. Just 15 percent say ISIS is not a threat to the U.S. at all.

This poll was conducted by telephone October 23-27, 2014 among 1,269 adults nationwide. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Media, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Oct14f Isis (1) by CBS_News



I am one of those who feels that ISIS will certainly be a threat to the US or other Western powers if they succeed in establishing a territory in the Middle East as they plan. I would rather the US would run the risk of annoying Turkey by sending in heavy weapons to arm the Kurds, though, than sending in 20,000 US combat troops. Whoever fights ISIS has to be both bold and tenacious. Stripping off their uniforms and running from ISIS as the Iraqi army did won't help at all. If it has to be our marines, or better still special forces who are trained in asymmetrical warfare, I wouldn't be against sending them in, but I think the Kurds have a more legitimate claim in the fight – they are protecting their homeland, though they aren't officially a “nation.” Yesterday's Wikipedia article on the Kurds as a people shows them to be one of the most ancient inhabitants of that part of the world, and a group who have maintained a definable culture there for thousands of years. Interestingly, they have been more closely linked by DNA testing to the Jews and some other groups than to the Arabs. They aren't all of the same religion -- some are Muslim, some are Yazidi, some are Christian. The linkage between them is familial. I am impressed with them. Whoever goes in to fight ISIS, they are going to have to fight ISIS close up, not just by air. I think we don't have to do it right this minute, because the Kurds have ISIS engaged right now, but by another six months we may have to. The US did drop weapons to them on the ground last week according to one article, but I think they could use tanks and whatever other heavy weapons are available. I don't think things like that could be dropped from an airplane.

About Obama being undecided or timid, I don't really think that's his problem. I think he is a very deliberative thinker and prefers not to make extreme moves, and he's not the “cowboy” type like George W. Bush, so he doesn't bluster and put on a show. He also has to tread carefully to avoid angering several of the local powers who don't trust the Kurds. I was personally surprised when he sent in the Navy Seals to kill bin Laden. That was the only way to get rid of him, though, as long as Pakistan continued to protect him. Pakistani leaders were angry because Obama decided against warning them ahead of time about the raid, but I thought that was just the only intelligent way to do it. Pakistan is not my idea of a friend to the US, plus if their leaders aren't themselves linked with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, they are at least terrified of angering them, so they aren't helpful as US allies against them. ISIS is another kind of enemy – they're an army on the march rather than a wealthy and highly cerebral band of jihadists. The US will eventually have to fight them in one way or another, and it may be soon.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Disabled Vermont Woman Who Led Class-Action Suit Sues Medicare Again – NPR
by SUSAN JAFFE
October 27, 2014

A 78-year-old Vermont mother of four who helped change Medicare coverage for millions of other seniors is still fighting to persuade the government to pay for her own care.

Glenda Jimmo, who is legally blind and has a partially amputated leg due to complications from diabetes, was the lead plaintiff in a 2011 class-action lawsuit seeking to broaden Medicare's criteria for covering physical therapy and other care delivered by skilled professionals. In 2012, the government agreed to settle the case, saying that people cannot be denied coverage solely because they have reached a plateau and are not getting better.

The landmark settlement was a victory for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions and disabilities who had been denied coverage under what is known as "the improvement standard" — a judgment about whether they are likely to improve if they get additional treatment. It also gave seniors a second chance to appeal for coverage if their claims had been denied because they were not improving.

Jimmo was one of the first seniors to appeal her original claim for home health care under the settlement that bears her name. But in April, the Medicare Appeals Council, the highest appeals level, upheld the denial. The judges said they agreed with the original ruling that her condition was not improving — criteria the settlement was supposed to eliminate.

After running out of options appealing to Medicare, her lawyers filed a second federal lawsuit in June to compel the government to keep its promise not to use the improvement standard as a criterion for coverage. They are asking Medicare to pay for the home health care that Jimmo received for about a year beginning in January 2007.

"There was really no expectation that she would improve — she was getting skilled nursing and home health care to maintain her condition and reduce complications," said Michael Benvenuto, director of Vermont Legal Aid's Medicare Advocacy Project, who has filed review requests for 13 other seniors. "It shows there may be real problems with implementing the settlement at the very highest level."

In the settlement, officials had agreed to rewrite Medicare's policy manuals to clarify that as long as patients otherwise qualify for coverage — for instance, they have a doctor's order for skilled care to preserve their health or to prevent or slow deterioration —Medicare must pay for therapy and other care at home, in a nursing home or office. They also agreed to educate providers, billing contractors and appeals judges about the change.

The council's decision on Jimmo makes no sense to Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, which filed the original class action lawsuit with Vermont Legal Aid, and helped negotiate the Jimmo settlement.

"People shouldn't have to decline in order to get the care they need," Stein said.

She recommended that seniors or their families get the center's self-help packet and contact her if they still have problems at improvement@medicareadvocacy.org.

The Parkinson's Action Network, one of the seven advocacy groups that had joined the original Jimmo lawsuit, still receives several calls a week from patients who are told Medicare won't cover their care because they aren't improving. But Parkinson's disease is an incurable chronic degenerative neurological condition.

"Just maintaining function is a victory," said Ted Thompson, chief executive of the Parkinson's group.

Gabe Quintanilla, a lawyer for the city of San Antonio, refused to sign the noncoverage forms when he was told at least seven times this year that his 92-year-old mother's physical and speech therapy would end because she wasn't improving following her hospitalization for a stroke. One doctor suggested hospice care.

"The only reason I was able to keep my mother's therapy going is because I sent a copy of [the] Jimmo [settlement] to her doctor, her insurance company and the home care agency," he said. His mother has a Medicare Advantage plan, a private health insurance program that must also comply with the settlement. He discovered it "by accident," he said, while researching legal options on the Internet.

His mother eventually left the hospital and received follow-up care at a nursing home before returning home. Despite the dire predictions, what began as maintenance therapy has led to unexpected, if slight, improvements.

In a video he posted on YouTube, he leans in close to share his prediction that the Spurs are going to beat Portland. And she smiles, pleased that her favorite basketball team won't let her down.

"The Jimmo settlement saved my mother's life," he said.




“The landmark settlement was a victory for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions and disabilities who had been denied coverage under what is known as "the improvement standard" — a judgment about whether they are likely to improve if they get additional treatment. It also gave seniors a second chance to appeal for coverage if their claims had been denied because they were not improving. … The council's decision on Jimmo makes no sense to Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, which filed the original class action lawsuit with Vermont Legal Aid, and helped negotiate the Jimmo settlement. 'People shouldn't have to decline in order to get the care they need,' Stein said. She recommended that seniors or their families get the center's self-help packet and contact her if they still have problems at improvement@medicareadvocacy.org.... 'The only reason I was able to keep my mother's therapy going is because I sent a copy of [the] Jimmo [settlement] to her doctor, her insurance company and the home care agency,' he said. His mother has a Medicare Advantage plan, a private health insurance program that must also comply with the settlement. He discovered it 'by accident,' he said, while researching legal options on the Internet.”

This seems to be the difference between receiving therapy and receiving palliative care through hospice. I didn't realize Medicare had this rule about the failure of a patient to improve. The article says that one doctor even counseled hospice care for a patient who was in this condition. This is a situation we all may confront if we live long enough – Medicare declining further treatment. The lawyer Gabe Quintanilla knew his rights and simply refused to sign the noncoverage forms. He then sent a copy of the Jimmo settlement to all parties involved in her care and got her treatments continued.

Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, at improvement@medicareadvocacy.org has issued a “self-help packet” to guide those who need further care and have been denied. I suggest readers in their sixties and seventies may want to look into that.





FERGUSON TODAY – TWO ARTICLES

Five Cases Dismissed Because Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson Was No-Show
By Tracy Connor
October 27th 2014

Five criminal cases have been dismissed because the primary witness — the cop who shot unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri — didn't show up to court, prosecutors said Monday. Officer Darren Wilson "wasn't available," said Ed Magee, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney. He said prosecutors would not take any action against Wilson, who has not been seen publicly since the Aug. 9 shooting that sparked weeks of protest and unrest. "We don't get people in trouble for not showing up for court," he said.

A spokesman for the Ferguson Police Department and Wilson's lawyer did not immediately return requests for comment. Magee said he could not provide details on the cases because they were now closed, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the latest involved a felony drug charge against Christopher Brooks, who claimed in a Facebook post that Wilson roughed him up during the 2013 arrest. The judge tossed out the case after giving Wilson, who received a commendation in the case, weeks to show up before the grand jury.



Protesters Clash With Ferguson Cops After Michael Brown Autopsy Leaked – NBC
Erik Ortiz
October 23rd 2014

Protests heated up in Ferguson, Missouri, overnight Wednesday following the leak of a new autopsy report detailing the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. A crowd of about 200 gathered near the city’s police department as some protesters knocked down barricades and pelted police with objects. Five officers were hit by either rocks, bottles or a metal rod, although no injuries were reported, St. Louis County police said Thursday.

Five people were arrested and charged with either disturbing the peace or failure to disperse, police added. The crowd dwindled down significantly by 2 a.m. Video taken at the scene shows people chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” as officers in riot gear lined up along the sidewalk.

The protests were apparently fueled by the leak of Brown’s autopsy report this week to media outlets. An earlier autopsy conducted for the Brown family revealed the 18-year-old was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, during the incident with Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. The official autopsy suggests that Brown was shot at close range and may have been reaching for Wilson’s firearm. A grand jury is deciding whether to indict Wilson on criminal charges, and an attorney for the Brown family has asked protesters “to take their frustrations to the ballot box, not the streets” once a decision is reached.



Autopsy – “An earlier autopsy conducted for the Brown family revealed the 18-year-old was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, during the incident with Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. The official autopsy suggests that Brown was shot at close range and may have been reaching for Wilson’s firearm.” This first autopsy conducted for the Browns appears to show that Brown was shot from a distance half a dozen times, but the “official autopsy” shows he was shot from close range and “may have been reaching for Wilson's firearm,” which is what Wilson claimed. An earlier news report stated that there was evidence of the gun being fired inside the police car. That report may have come from this official autopsy, however. The eye witnesses said the shooting occurred from a distance. I hope the DOJ will investigate these two stories and conduct yet a third autopsy.

Mysteriously, Wilson hasn't “been seen publicly since the Aug. 9 shooting.” The judge has not charged Wilson with any kind of misconduct for not showing up to court in the Christopher Brooks drug case in which Wilson is accused of “roughing Brooks up.” The judge has thrown the case against Brooks out of court, but the article records the fact that Wilson was given a “commendation in the case, and weeks to show up before the grand jury.” This does look like judicial favoritism, if I understand the situation correctly. It shows, too, that Wilson had at least one prior case of violent policing against him. I can see why the Ferguson black community is still unsatisfied with the proceedings. It is almost time for the Grand Jury to deliver a verdict against Wilson if they are going to. The sooner a decision is reached, the sooner the racial situation can be soothed.





Facing The Islamic State Threat, Kurdish Fighters Unite – NPR
by ALICE FORDHAM
October 28, 2014

At a checkpoint outside the northern Iraq town of Makhmur, I saw something I'd never seen before in Iraq.

Two men were checking cars. One was young and wearing a sand-colored uniform of the official Iraqi Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga. The other was older, grizzled and dressed in an olive-green, traditional Kurdish overall, and he's with Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We're happy to be working together," said the older man, Hajji Hussein Abdulrahman.

This is a new development. Until recently, Iraqi Kurdish authorities and the peshmerga didn't deal much with the PKK. There's a long rivalry between the two. Plus, Turkey and the U.S. consider the PKK to be terrorists based on their attacks against civilian targets in Turkey for many years.

But some of those attitudes began to change when the self-described Islamic State, also known as ISIS, charged into northern Iraq and overran large chunks of territory, including this town in June.

The peshmerga were struggling to fight back. But thousands of PKK supporters, who had been kicked out of Turkey, were living in a nearby refugee camp. They picked up their old rifles and joined the fray.

"We evacuated all the civilians, the women and kids and elderly people from the camp," said Polat Mohammad Khalil, a civilian official at the camp. "And then we reorganized ourselves as guerrillas to confront ISIS."

With the help of U.S. airstrikes, the combined Kurdish forces pushed out the Islamic State extremists.

"It was the first time for us to coordinate with the peshmerga — to be in one place, one position," Khalil said. "So we have to thank ISIS because they unified us."

The president of Iraq's semi-autonomus Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, has long had bad relations with the PKK. But he came to thank them. And many other people in the town of Makhmur also seem grateful.

Aram Karim, who was making sandwiches in a shop, said the PKK help was a surprise. The Kurdish camp has been here since the 1990s, but the Turkish Kurds never did any fighting.

"They were always good neighbors," he said, "but I like them much more now."

This isn't the only place where Kurdish fighters have been active. On northern Iraq's Mount Sinjar in August, the PKK helped tens of thousands of minority Yazidis escape the advancing Islamic State.

And the Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, has been battling to keep the Islamic State out of the town of Kobani.

In the main Iraqi Kurdish city, Irbil, Shiman Eminoglu is a politician from the BDP party, which leans strongly toward the PKK. She says the PKK is fighting for everyone's benefit, and that this should be recognized by the United States.

"I feel there is a very big injustice against the PKK because they put them on a terror list and they classified them as a terror organization," Eminoglu said. "I think the whole international community should change its opinion about the PKK."

Many think that's unlikely. Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of three soldiers just this week and has been targeting them with airstrikes.

"The United States will not, on the PKK, change policy," says Turkey expert Henri Barkey of Lehigh University. "It doesn't talk to the PKK, it considers it a terrorist organization, it follows the Turkish line."

But when it comes to the PKK's Syrian sister group, the YPG, Barkey thinks there has been a shift. The Syrian Kurdish group is not on the U.S. terror list, and last week, the U.S. airdropped weapons to them.



“Two men were checking cars. One was young and wearing a sand-colored uniform of the official Iraqi Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga. The other was older, grizzled and dressed in an olive-green, traditional Kurdish overall, and he's with Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 'We're happy to be working together,' said the older man, Hajji Hussein Abdulrahman. This is a new development. Until recently, Iraqi Kurdish authorities and the peshmerga didn't deal much with the PKK. There's a long rivalry between the two. Plus, Turkey and the U.S. consider the PKK to be terrorists based on their attacks against civilian targets in Turkey for many years....The peshmerga were struggling to fight back. But thousands of PKK supporters, who had been kicked out of Turkey, were living in a nearby refugee camp. They picked up their old rifles and joined the fray. 'We evacuated all the civilians, the women and kids and elderly people from the camp,' said Polat Mohammad Khalil, a civilian official at the camp. 'And then we reorganized ourselves as guerrillas to confront ISIS.'... The president of Iraq's semi-autonomus Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, has long had bad relations with the PKK. But he came to thank them. And many other people in the town of Makhmur also seem grateful. Aram Karim, who was making sandwiches in a shop, said the PKK help was a surprise. The Kurdish camp has been here since the 1990s, but the Turkish Kurds never did any fighting. 'They were always good neighbors,' he said, 'but I like them much more now.... the PKK helped tens of thousands of minority Yazidis escape the advancing Islamic State.... 'I feel there is a very big injustice against the PKK because they put them on a terror list and they classified them as a terror organization,' Eminoglu said. 'I think the whole international community should change its opinion about the PKK.' Many think that's unlikely. Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of three soldiers just this week and has been targeting them with airstrikes.... But when it comes to the PKK's Syrian sister group, the YPG, Barkey thinks there has been a shift. The Syrian Kurdish group is not on the U.S. terror list, and last week, the U.S. airdropped weapons to them.”

I'm very glad to see that the US is furnishing at least some of the Kurdish groups with weapons. The US is closely allied with Turkey, so we don't recognize the PKK, calling them instead a terrorist group. If it is true that they are operating as a terrorist group in Turkey, they need to stop that practice and make peace formally with Turkey. There was a story a couple of weeks ago saying that Turkey was forcibly prohibiting its Kurdish population from crossing the border into Syria and joining the fight there. I don't know why Turkey would care if they fight in Syria or Iraq, as long as they don't combat the Turkish government forces. Of course, if the PKK is a committed enemy to Turkey, they would be an even more dangerous enemy if they were well armed. The interrelations between groups in the Middle East are so complex and filled with hostility that it's no wonder so many of the countries there are basically unstable. In the case of the Palestinians, they are not acknowledged by the US, among others, as a nation at all, yet they are clearly a unified culture. Likewise with Kurdistan. See the following article on the Kurds in Wikipedia. Wikipedia shows them to be truly ancient, going back to the time of the Assyrians. Look below at the article on DNA studies of Kurdistan.


Kurds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kurds (Kurdish: کورد Kurd) are an ethnic group in theMiddle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch ofIranian languages.[22]

The Kurds number about 30 million, the majority living in West Asia, including significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey outside of Kurdistan. A recent Kurdish diaspora has developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany. The Kurds are in the majority in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan and are a significant minority group in the neighboring countries Turkey, Syria and Iran, whereKurdish nationalist movements continue to pursue (greater) autonomy.

Contemporary use of Kurdistan refers to large parts of eastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), northwestern Iran (Iranian Kurdistan) and northeastern Syria(Syrian Kurdistan) inhabited mainly by Kurds.[15] Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.[16]

Some Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independentnation state of Kurdistan, consisting of some or all of the areas with Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater Kurdish autonomy within the existing national boundaries.[17][18] Iraqi Kurdistan first gained autonomous status in a 1970 agreement with the Iraqi government, and its status was re-confirmed as an autonomous entity within the federal Iraqi republic in 2005.[19] There is a province by the name Kurdistan in Iran; it is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian Civil War were able to take control of large sections of northeast Syria as forces loyal to al-Assad withdrew to fight elsewhere. Having established their own government, some Kurds called for autonomy in a democratic Syria; others hoped to establish an independent Kurdistan.[20]

One of the earliest records of the phrase land of the Kurds is found in anAssyrian Christian document of late antiquity, describing the stories of Assyrian saints of the Middle East, such as the Abdisho. When the SassanidMarzban asked Mar Abdisho about his place of origin, he replied that according to his parents, they were originally from Hazza, a village in Assyria. However they were later driven out of Hazza by pagans, and settled inTamanon, which according to Abdisho was in the land of the Kurds. Tamanon lies just north of the modern Iraq-Turkey border, while Hazza is 12 km southwest of modern Irbil. In another passage in the same document, the region of the Khabur River is also identified as land of the Kurds.[28]

The Kurds are a people of Indo-European origin. They speak an Iranian language known as Kurdish, and comprise the majority of the population of the region – however, included therein are Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Azeri, Jewish,Ossetian, Persian, and Turkic communities. Most inhabitants are Muslim, but adherents to other religions are present as well – including Yazidis, the Yarsan, Alevis, Christians,[53] and Jews.[54]



http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/kurds.html

Kurdish Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries
Family Tree DNA

DNA studies from 2005 to 2011 are abstracted in this article, which is long and goes into very technical detail. It does give some summarized information, however. The Kurds are genetically linked with the Jews, Yazidi, Georgians, and to “the European gene pool.” “'In comparison with data available from other relevant populations in the region, Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to their Arab neighbors." “ According to the current results, present-day Kurds and Azeris of Iran seem to belong to a common genetic pool." “Genetic analysis has shown that the Kurdish people are closely related to the Azeri, Armenian, Georgian, and Jewish peoples, descending from some common ancestors in the northern Near East region.”

Kurds were promised an independent nation in 1920 by the Treaty of Sèvres but never got one. The Kurds' identity — even their use of the Kurdish language — was widely suppressed in Turkey and Syria. In Iraq beginning in the 1990s the Kurds managed to assert their political autonomy but they are still part of that country and since the fall of Saddam Hussein they've reintegrated into the countrywide Iraqi political system.




Pope Says God Not 'A Magician, With A Magic Wand' – NPR
by SCOTT NEUMAN
October 28, 2014

In a move that could be aimed at healing a rift between science and religion, Pope Francis has said that evolution and the Big Bang are consistent with the notion of a creator. And according to the pontiff, believers should not view God as "a magician, with a magic wand."

Francis made the remarks at an assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, billed as meeting to discuss "Evolving Concepts of Nature."

"When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so," Francis told the gathering, where he also dedicated a statue of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. God, Francis said, "created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment."

To be sure, the Catholic Church's views on the origins of the universe and life, unlike those of many Protestant sects, have for years been largely in line with the scientific consensus. The church has long leaned toward what some describe as "theistic evolution," i.e., a God supernaturally created the universe and life but allowed natural processes to work over billions of years.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed that evolution was not at odds with Catholic teachings, and Pope John Paul II endorsed the view himself in 1996.

However, Pope Benedict hinted at accommodating "intelligent design," a form of creationism that has become popular in many religious circles in recent decades.

(As an aside, a recent Chapman University survey showed that more Americans believe in the lost civilization of Atlantis and that "UFOs are probably spaceships" than in evolution, and that as many people believed in Bigfoot as in the Big Bang.)

The Associated Press notes: "Francis has gone out of his way to embrace Benedict even as he steers the church on a vastly different course than that charted by the German theologian."

Francis' remarks are in keeping with a more open view he has taken to church matters and the intersection between the spiritual and secular worlds since becoming pope last year.

He has downplayed the importance of such hot-button issues as abortion, contraception and gay marriage, denounced the "cult of money," and even said that atheists can be redeemed.

But earlier this month, a group of bishops meeting at the Vatican showed that the church as a whole remains deeply divided on many of those issues.




"'When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,' Francis told the gathering, where he also dedicated a statue of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. God, Francis said, 'created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment.'... (As an aside, a recent Chapman University survey showed that more Americans believe in the lost civilization of Atlantis and that 'UFOs are probably spaceships' than in evolution, and that as many people believed in Bigfoot as in the Big Bang.)... He has downplayed the importance of such hot-button issues as abortion, contraception and gay marriage, denounced the 'cult of money,' and even said that atheists can be redeemed. But earlier this month, a group of bishops meeting at the Vatican showed that the church as a whole remains deeply divided on many of those issues.”

Here is another proof that Pope Francis is a rational man who stresses the things that Jesus taught, such as helping the poor, over dogma. He speaks of the human tendency to worship money, especially ones own money, as a cult. I think that is a very good description of the modern-day Republican/ultra-conservative view of wealth as the ultimate goal in life, the proof of all virtue, and the holy “marketplace” as the ultimate judge. It is not surprising that his congregation is “divided” over these issues. They have been taught that the hot button issues described above are the teachings of Jesus. That is funny to me, because those are all modern issues that Jesus never mentioned.

The use of the death penalty was not mentioned here, but many Catholics and other Christians are opposed to it. The Pope in some other news articles has been softer toward many of the social issues as being forgivable. See the following from IBTimes. http://www.ibtimes.com/catholic-pope-francis-talks-sex-marriage-divorce-vatican-synod-meeting-1701174 in the article titled Marriage, Divorce At Vatican Synod Meeting of October 8, 2014, quotes him as saying, “The procedures for the annulment of marriage must be looked into,” the Pope said in May. “The faith with which a person enters marriage must also be examined, and we also need to make it clear that the divorced are not excommunicated. So often they are treated as though they have been excommunicated.”



DEATH PENALTY LAW

China May Drop 9 Crimes From List Of Death Penalty Offenses – NPR
by FRANK LANGFITT
October 28, 2014

Chinese lawmakers are considering removing nine crimes from eligibility for the death penalty. A draft amendment to that effect went to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in Beijing this week. It appears to be part of a trend to reduce the use of the death penalty in a country that still executes more people than any other.

Legislators are considering striking the use of the death penalty for such offenses as weapons smuggling, counterfeiting, forcing others into prostitution, and spreading rumors to mislead others during wartime, according to the New China News Service. The maximum punishment for those crimes would become life imprisonment, though it was not immediately clear how many people are actually executed for those offenses now.

In 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent, economic crimes, including smuggling of culture relics as well as gold and silver. That move, though, was seen as largely symbolic. Fifty-five crimes are still punishable by death.

The move to reduce use of the death penalty is driven by concerns about miscarriages of justice in a legal system that has been known in the past for forced confessions and a 99-percent conviction rate.

The number of people executed in China remains a secret, but human rights activists believe it is in significant decline. In 2002, China executed about 12,000 people. The Duihua Foundation, a human rights group based in San Francisco, estimates the number last year was around 2,400.




“Chinese lawmakers are considering removing nine crimes from eligibility for the death penalty. A draft amendment to that effect went to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in Beijing this week. It appears to be part of a trend to reduce the use of the death penalty in a country that still executes more people than any other. Legislators are considering striking the use of the death penalty for such offenses as weapons smuggling, counterfeiting, forcing others into prostitution, and spreading rumors to mislead others during wartime, according to the New China News Service. The maximum punishment for those crimes would become life imprisonment, though it was not immediately clear how many people are actually executed for those offenses now. In 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent, economic crimes, including smuggling of culture relics as well as gold and silver. That move, though, was seen as largely symbolic. Fifty-five crimes are still punishable by death.... In 2002, China executed about 12,000 people. The Duihua Foundation, a human rights group based in San Francisco, estimates the number last year was around 2,400.”

I am glad to see that the courts in China have become concerned about unjust convictions due to “forced confessions and a 99-percent conviction rate.” That still happens quietly in the US under unscrupulous police officers, as a kind of short-cut to solving the crime by examining the evidence. Just pick a minority individual and beat a confession out of him. I don't believe that happens here as often now, since John Q Public has become very concerned about such unjust events. The fear that the innocent have been convicted is a large part of why I am unconvinced on the subject of the death penalty. The Innocence Project has freed too many of our criminals by the use of DNA evidence for me to feel sure that everyone in prison is guilty of a crime.

Unlike many Democrats, if the police have developed a really solid case by DNA evidence on a child rape and murder charge, or egregious torture, rape and murder of anyone, I feel that the criminal should be executed. As long as faulty execution methods are being used, however, such as chemical cocktails that don't work rapidly and painlessly, I would rather see life in prison without parole.

Some of the crimes listed as resulting in the death penalty in China did surprise me, especially counterfeiting and “spreading rumors” during wartime. Those don't sound like capital crimes to me, even though the US has high penalties for spying. The following several Wikipedia articles provide a summary of the law in the UK and the US on the subject.


Capital punishment in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder (in 1965 in Great Britain and in 1973 in Northern Ireland). Although not applied since, the death penalty was abolished in all circumstances in 1998. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom, prohibiting the restoration of the death penalty for as long as the UK is a party to the Convention.[1]


Capital punishment by the United States federal government
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States federal government (in comparison to the separate states) applies the death penalty for certain crimes: treason, espionage, federal murder, large-scale drug trafficking, and attempting to kill a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases. Executions by the federal government have been rare compared to those by state governments. Twenty-six federal (including military) executions have been carried out since 1950. Three of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. The Federal Bureau of Prisons manages the housing and execution of federal death row prisoners. As of January 19, 2014, fifty-nine people are on the federal death row for men at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana; while the two women on the federal death row are at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]

Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon Gregg. Referred to by a leading scholar as the July 2 Cases[1] and elsewhere referred to by the lead case Gregg, the Supreme Court set forth the two main features that capital sentencing procedures must employ in order to comply with theEighth Amendment ban on "cruel and unusual punishments." The decision essentially ended the de facto moratorium on the death penalty imposed by the Court in its 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia 408 U.S. 238 (1972).

Troy Leon Gregg (1953 – July 29, 1980) was the first condemned individual whose death sentence was upheld by the United States Supreme Court after the Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia invalidated all previously enacted death penalty laws in the United States. Gregg was convicted of having murdered Fred Edward Simmons and Bob Durwood Moore in order to rob them. The victims had given him and another man, Dennis Weaver, a ride when they were hitchhiking. The crime occurred on November 21, 1973.



EBOLA – TWO ARTICLES


Blood Test For Ebola Doesn't Catch Infection Early – NPR
by RICHARD HARRIS
October 28, 2014

Photograph – Magnified 25,000 times, this digitally colorized scanning electron micrograph shows Ebola virus particles (green) budding from an infected cell (blue).

In an ideal world, health care workers returning from West Africa would get a quick blood test to prove they aren't carrying the Ebola virus. A test like that would likely put to rest some of the anxiety surrounding these doctors, nurses and scientists.

Unfortunately, even the best blood test in the world can't do that.

The test uses a technology called PCR, for polymerase chain reaction. It can detect extraordinarily small traces of genetic material from the Ebola virus.

But the catch is, the test is usually used on blood samples. And in the beginning, that's not where the Ebola virus hides.

"The initial sites of replication actually are not in the blood itself — they're mostly in tissues like spleen or liver," says Thomas Geisbert, a microbiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

It's not practical to sample these organs to look for Ebola. But the virus doesn't stay there forever, Geisbert explains. As the infection grows, virus particles are gradually released into the blood, as well.

And as soon as a small amount of virus ends up in the blood, PCR will detect it. It can find one or two virus particles in a drop of blood. That concentration is so low, Geisbert says, that an infected person's body fluids pose a minuscule risk to others at that stage. The problem is, that can change pretty quickly.

"As the disease progresses, and people start to get sick," he says, "in that same small drop of blood [there can be] 100 particles — or a thousand particles."

That's the point when body fluids do pose a risk. It's also the moment when the infected person starts to feel sick.

"You're going to start to detect the virus at about the same time you're going to have clinical signs of disease," Geisbert says.

So — sensitive as the PCR test is — it doesn't reliably give you much advance warning that a person is infected.

On the plus side, this pattern of infection also explains why people infected with Ebola aren't a risk to others until they actually fall ill with symptoms.



“Unfortunately, even the best blood test in the world can't do that. The test uses a technology called PCR, for polymerase chain reaction. It can detect extraordinarily small traces of genetic material from the Ebola virus. But the catch is, the test is usually used on blood samples. And in the beginning, that's not where the Ebola virus hides. 'The initial sites of replication actually are not in the blood itself — they're mostly in tissues like spleen or liver,' says Thomas Geisbert, a microbiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.... And as soon as a small amount of virus ends up in the blood, PCR will detect it. It can find one or two virus particles in a drop of blood. That concentration is so low, Geisbert says, that an infected person's body fluids pose a minuscule risk to others at that stage. The problem is, that can change pretty quickly. 'As the disease progresses, and people start to get sick,' he says, 'in that same small drop of blood [there can be] 100 particles — or a thousand particles.' That's the point when body fluids do pose a risk. It's also the moment when the infected person starts to feel sick....

“On the plus side, this pattern of infection also explains why people infected with Ebola aren't a risk to others until they actually fall ill with symptoms.” This is the first proof I've seen that people who don't have symptoms yet are not contagious. I still feel uneasy about cases such as the most recent US doctor to become ill, who “felt weak” while running the day before he developed any fever. I think at the airports all they are really doing is testing for fever and questioning the travelers about their trip, unless a traveler did begin to vomit while on the airplane. One case of that did occur, though the man tested negatively for Ebola.

Finally, in all the reports I've seen, airport encounters are all that have discussed in the news. People walking across the Mexican or Canadian border, or sailing into a seaport haven't been mentioned, it seems. Hopefully every traveler at every port of entry or border crossing is being questioned and tested for fever or other signs of illness. We can only do our best, but we should do that much.



Emory Hospital Shares Lessons Learned On Ebola Care – NPR
by JIM BURRESS
October 29, 2014

Atlanta's Emory University Hospital got the first call at the end of July. An American doctor who'd been treating Ebola in Liberia was now terribly sick with the virus himself. In just 72 hours, Dr. Kent Brantly would be coming through Emory's doors. Then, almost immediately, the staff learned that a second Ebola patient was also on the way. Dr. Jay Varkey's first thought was, "What do we need today, in order to care for these patients tomorrow?"

In the three months since, Emory has treated four Ebola patients; all survived. Most recently, Dallas nurse Amber Vinson spent more than a week in a special treatment unit at Emory before being discharged in restored health and good spirits Tuesday.

"The general dogma in our industry in July was that if patients got so ill they required dialysis or ventilator support, there was no purpose in doing those interventions because they would invariably die," Dr. Bruce Ribner, who heads Emory's Ebola team, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday. Emory, he said, proved instead that aggressively treating the illness can be effective.

Emory's plan to treat patients who have diseases like Ebola actually began 12 years ago. That's when the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started working with the hospital to create a special isolation unit.

Since then, Varkey says, a core team of health workers has trained yearly and held practice drills every six months to stay sharp — ready for whatever infectious disease comes their way. Once, in 2005, the unit was used for a suspected SARScase that turned out to be negative.

But in July, with two Ebola patients on the way, it quickly became clear that Emory's specially-trained team was too small, says Nancy Feistritzer, the hospital's chief of nursing.

Critical care nurses volunteered to help fill in the gaps, but weren't part of the core group that had long practiced for this day. The expanded team had to quickly train — and not everybody made the cut.

Once all the team members were in place, they focused on supportive care of these patients — administering IV fluids and preventing infections.

"The true cure for Ebola virus is keeping the patient alive long enough to develop the antibodies that will cause them to get over the infection," Varkey says.

Emory learned lessons, big and small, from each case, he says.

For example, just increasing the amount of working space around patients sick with Ebola helped a lot, he says. So did "having a hand sanitizer dispenser available, that wouldn't require us to actually touch it with a gloved hand."

In Emory's experience, nurses on the Ebola unit who started out on 8-hour shifts, preferred 12-hour rotations instead. And caring for the emotional health of patients in isolation is as important as promoting physical well-being, the staff learned.

Team members also worked hard to coordinate their efforts. From top administrators to waste management crews, to pharmacists and lab technicians — every department played a role.

"Every morning the team meets to discuss what worked well, what might be refined," Feistritzer says, looking for lessons that might be put into practice the next shift, or the next day.

The Emory team doesn't claim to have all the right answers, Varkey says. But what they do know, they're sharing.

"Our entire 84-page document, in terms of our protocols," he says, "is now available to any person who wants to access that on the web."
Those protocols went live a week ago. So far, more than 11,300 people have registered to get access to them.

This story is part of a reporting partnership between NPR, WABE and Kaiser Health News.




“Emory's plan to treat patients who have diseases like Ebola actually began 12 years ago. That's when the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started working with the hospital to create a special isolation unit. Since then, Varkey says, a core team of health workers has trained yearly and held practice drills every six months to stay sharp — ready for whatever infectious disease comes their way. Once, in 2005, the unit was used for a suspected SARScase that turned out to be negative. But in July, with two Ebola patients on the way, it quickly became clear that Emory's specially-trained team was too small, says Nancy Feistritzer, the hospital's chief of nursing.... Once all the team members were in place, they focused on supportive care of these patients — administering IV fluids and preventing infections. 'The true cure for Ebola virus is keeping the patient alive long enough to develop the antibodies that will cause them to get over the infection,' Varkey says.... For example, just increasing the amount of working space around patients sick with Ebola helped a lot, he says. So did 'having a hand sanitizer dispenser available, that wouldn't require us to actually touch it with a gloved hand.' In Emory's experience, nurses on the Ebola unit who started out on 8-hour shifts, preferred 12-hour rotations instead. And caring for the emotional health of patients in isolation is as important as promoting physical well-being, the staff learned. Team members also worked hard to coordinate their efforts. From top administrators to waste management crews, to pharmacists and lab technicians — every department played a role.... 'Our entire 84-page document, in terms of our protocols,' he says, 'is now available to any person who wants to access that on the web.' Those protocols went live a week ago. So far, more than 11,300 people have registered to get access to them.”

Personally I won't try to read 84 pages of information on Ebola, but it's good that professionals in the field will have easy access to Emory's acquired knowledge. I am delighted that an unpleasant tasting, but easy to make , drink is saving people who don't have access to an antiviral agent or antibodies. It's sugar, salt and a quart of water, to be drunk endlessly as long as they are suffering from stomach symptoms which are dehydrating. That can be found in an NPR article from the last several days. The simple replacement of bodily fluids can keep the patient alive long enough for his own immunity system to create antibodies which will fight the virus, and if they are not replaced he will almost surely die. We still need a vaccine, though, which can be given to everybody in those parts of Africa that foster the disease, probably by the eating of fruit bats. Several kinds of bats have been found to have ebola virus in their blood. If a vaccine can provide full immunity it can save a whole continent from the next epidemic – and there will surely be another one.

Monday, October 27, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Child being tested for Ebola at NYC hospital
CBS NEWS October 27, 2014, 9:49 AM

NEW YORK -- A pediatric patient is being tested for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital, the New York City Health Department said.

The child, who had been in one of the three West African countries affected by the disease in the past 21 days, was taken to Bellevue Sunday night after reporting a fever, the Health Department said.

Sources told CBS Radio station 1010 WINS the patient is a 5-year-old boy and that the family had traveled from Guinea.

An ambulance crew in full hazmat gear brought the child to the hospital as part of the newEbola precautions put into place in New York City.

While initially being examined, officials said the child did not have a fever, but later developed one around 7 a.m. Monday. After consulting with the hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Department conducted a test for Ebola.

Test results are expected within 12 hours. Health officials are also looking and other causes for the child's symptoms.

"As a further precaution, the Health Department's team of disease detectives has begun to actively trace all of the patient's contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk," the Health Department said in a statement. "The Health Department staff has established protocols to identify, notify, and, if necessary, quarantine any contacts of Ebola cases."

Officials stressed that Ebola is only contagious through coming in direct contactwith an infected patient's bodily fluids and that the changed of the average New Yorker getting Ebola "are extremely slim."




“While initially being examined, officials said the child did not have a fever, but later developed one around 7 a.m. Monday. After consulting with the hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Department conducted a test for Ebola. Test results are expected within 12 hours. Health officials are also looking and other causes for the child's symptoms.” Hopefully test results will be in the news by late this afternoon.





http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Senegal-Boys-Attacked-Bullying-IS-318-Tremont-NYC-280519232.html

African Boys Attacked at Bronx School, Called "Ebola": Advocacy Group
Monday, Oct 27, 2014

A group that advocates for Africans in the Bronx is calling for action after it says two brothers who had recently immigrated to the borough from Senegal were beaten and severely injured by several people who called them “Ebola.”

The boys, in sixth and eighth grade, were attacked Friday afternoon at I.S. 318 in Tremont, according to the African Advocacy Council.

Boy, 5, Tested for Ebola After Developing Fever: Officials

The boys, who have been in the U.S. for about a month, were taken to the hospital after the attack.

The group says that the attack is just the latest incidence of disrespect and bullying of Africans since the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

Friends: Woman Who Died Working 3 Jobs Had Untold Story

The Department of Education says it's aware of the complaint and that it dispatched additional security to the boys' school. 

Senegal is one of several West African countries where Ebola cases have been reported, but there have been no new cases in that country since late August, according to the CDC.

Nurse in NJ Ebola Quarantine Released From Hospital

Cases continue to be reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A few health care workers and travelers coming from those countries have also been diagnosed with the disease in other countries, including one person in New York City. 




Here we go with people behaving like animals. This article didn't say whether the “people” who attacked the African boys were young , old, white or black. Their excuse will be that they are afraid, but cruelty and lawlessness are not acceptable to me. We have to think our way beyond our fears and educate ourselves about Ebola. If this kind of thing becomes common, and the African Advocacy Council said this is the last of a number of similar attacks, our cities will become dangerous for everyone. The Department of Education has upgraded the security at the school in question. Hopefully that will solve the problem. The perpetrators should be arrested if they haven't been. The boys were severely injured, and the attackers should be punished as a criminal offense rather than as a school discipline matter.





Federal government recognizes same-sex marriages in six more states
By JAKE MILLER CBS NEWS
October 25, 2014, 1:12 PM


Lin Davis, of Juneau, Alaska, shown wearing an orange rain coat, holds signs supporting gay marriage during a news conference Friday, Oct. 10, 2014, outside the federal courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska.  AP

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Saturday that the federal government would recognize the marriages of same-sex couples in six additional states - Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming - bringing the total number of states in which same-sex marriages are federally recognized to 32, plus the District of Columbia.

The announcement means that gay couples married in those states can now qualify for a variety of federal benefits, including Social Security and veterans' benefits. Holder made a similar announcement last week with respect to seven other states.

"With each new state where same-sex marriages are legally recognized, our nation moves closer to achieving of full equality for all Americans," the attorney general said in a statement. "We are acting as quickly as possible with agencies throughout the government to ensure that same-sex married couples in these states receive the fullest array of benefits allowable under federal law."

The announcement comes after the Supreme Court decided earlier this month to decline to hear any cases involving same-sex marriage, allowing lower court rulings in favor of marriage equality to stand. The decision effectively cleared the way for same-sex marriages in eleven states.

In addition, Holder announced on Saturday that the Justice Department has determined it can recognize marriages performed in Indiana and Wisconsin this past June. Those marriages were performed after federal district courts struck down the states' bans on same-sex marriage, but the status of those marriages was thrown into confusion when officials in those states quickly asked the courts to stay their decision pending an appeal. With Holder's announcement on Saturday, the federal government acknowledged that it would recognize any same-sex marriages performed in those states after the bans were struck down.

It's been a heady few years for proponents of same-sex marriage. In 2013, theSupreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage at the federal level in exclusively heterosexual terms. And though the Supreme Court's decision to not hear any same-sex marriage cases disappointed some advocates who hoped the justices would seize the opportunity to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, others viewed the relatively quiet extension of marriage rights as a victory.

In a CBS News poll released earlier this year, 56 percent of Americans spoke in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. In the spring of 2012, that number was only 42 percent.




I am pleased to see that, one by one, several more states have been brought into compliance on the same sex marriage issue. The District of Columbia and 32 states now allow the unions. Sexual orientation is simply not changeable by “therapy” or forced marriages to members of the opposite sex. It is something which doesn't harm anyone else who is not related to the individuals. Most heterosexual people have no desire to marry a gay person unless they are unaware of what the situation is. Men who have remained “in the closet” may have spent time with a heterosexual female, but they generally are unable to relate to them sexually. Therefore I feel strongly that we should just let them follow their own path and find happiness.






THE GROWING INCOME GAP – THREE ARTICLES

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/most-millionaires-say-they-are-concerned-about-income-inequality-n234806

Most Millionaires Say They Are Concerned About Income Inequality
By Robert Frank, CNBC
 October 27th 2014

Most millionaires are concerned about inequality, and nearly half support a higher minimum wage and more taxes on the rich, according to a new survey. The survey, from PNC Wealth Management, found that 64 percent of millionaires are "concerned" about economic inequality in America, and about half of those millionaires are "extremely concerned."

Fully 49 percent support raising the minimum wage, compared with 38 percent who oppose an increase. A surprising 44 percent of them support raising taxes "on the top income earners," versus 41 percent who oppose. And when it comes to other solutions, 69 percent say they support charities focused on poverty and hunger in the U.S., while 64 percent said they support scholarship and other educational opportunities for low-income children. "These findings show the wealthy realize that our society is better when everyone is in the game and earning—and that economic inequality can have negative consequences," said Thomas P. Melcher, executive vice president and head of Hawthorn, PNC's family office. In this poll, which was conducted in September, 476 people were surveyed who had $1 million or more in assets.



Even Bankers See a Risk in Rising Wealth Gap
By Martha C. White
October 23rd 2014,

You know the expanding wealth gap is getting bad when bankers are warning about the risks to the economy from it. A new surveyconducted for FICO by the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association found that almost two-thirds of bank risk managers in the United States and Canada believe the wealth gap “poses a growing risk to the financial system.”

Of the 149 risk managers who participated in the survey, just over 62 percent said they agreed or agreed strongly with that sentiment, compared with roughly 14 percent who disagreed. Although these professionals, by definition, tend towards risk-aversion, “I do think the gap in wealth is something that is a concern and something that, collectively, all financial institutions need to take a look at,” said FICO spokesman Anthony Sprauve. It’s not just risk managers who are concerned. “Income inequality is a very destabilizing thing in the country,” Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said in a CBS This Morning television interview in June. Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen also said the wealth gap is worrisome and runs counter to American economic ideals.



Fed Chief Janet Yellen: Income Inequality 'Greatly Concerns' Me
First published October 17th 2014, 10:13 am

Is the growing wealth gap un-American? That's a question raised by Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen in a speech Friday in which she said income inequality "greatly" concerns her.

"I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation's history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity," she said. "The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concerns me," Yellen told a conference on inequality at the Boston branch of the central bank.

She said that the wealth gap is at the widest its been in the past century. "It is no secret that the past few decades of widening inequality can be summed up as significant income and wealth gains for those at the very top and stagnant living standards for the majority," she told economists, professors and community workers. Yellen conceded that rebounding home prices have restored some lost housing wealth, particularly for those at the bottom. Yet at the same time, she said, the wealthiest 5 percent still hold two-thirds of all assets, and while there have been significant gains at the top of the spectrum, things have been stagnant for the majority.



'Wealth Gap' Seen in American Diet
JAMAInternalMed 
1 Sep 2014

Americans' eating habits have improved — except among the poor, evidence of a widening wealth gap when it comes to diet. Yet even among wealthier adults, food choices remain far from ideal, a 12-year study found. On an index of healthy eating where a perfect score is 110, U.S. adults averaged just 40 points in 1999-2000, climbing steadily to 47 points in 2009-10, the study found. Scores for low-income adults averaged almost four points lower than those for high-income adults at the beginning; the difference increased to more than six points in 2009-10. The results are published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Higher scores mean greater intake of heart-healthy foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains and healthy fats, and a high score means a low risk of obesity and chronic illnesses including heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Low scores mean people face greater chances for developing those ailments. The widening rich-poor diet gap is disconcerting and "will have important public health implications," said study co-author Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health. Diet-linked chronic diseases such as diabetes have become more common in Americans in general, and especially in the poor, he noted. "Declining diet quality over time may actually widen the gap between the poor and the rich," Hu said.




American Diet – “On an index of healthy eating where a perfect score is 110, U.S. adults averaged just 40 points in 1999-2000, climbing steadily to 47 points in 2009-10, the study found. Scores for low-income adults averaged almost four points lower than those for high-income adults at the beginning; the difference increased to more than six points in 2009-10.”

Millionaires Polled – “Fully 49 percent support raising the minimum wage, compared with 38 percent who oppose an increase. A surprising 44 percent of them support raising taxes 'on the top income earners,' versus 41 percent who oppose. And when it comes to other solutions, 69 percent say they support charities focused on poverty and hunger in the U.S., while 64 percent said they support scholarship and other educational opportunities for low-income children. "'These findings show the wealthy realize that our society is better when everyone is in the game and earning—and that economic inequality can have negative consequences,'" said Thomas P. Melcher, executive vice president and head of Hawthorn, PNC's family office. In this poll, which was conducted in September, 476 people were surveyed who had $1 million or more in assets.”

Yellen On The Issue – “'I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation's history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity,' she said.... She said that the wealth gap is at the widest its been in the past century. 'It is no secret that the past few decades of widening inequality can be summed up as significant income and wealth gains for those at the very top and stagnant living standards for the majority,' she told economists, professors and community workers. Yellen conceded that rebounding home prices have restored some lost housing wealth, particularly for those at the bottom. Yet at the same time, she said, the wealthiest 5 percent still hold two-thirds of all assets, and while there have been significant gains at the top of the spectrum, things have been stagnant for the majority.”

The wealthiest 5% hold 2/3 of all assets, with the trend still shifting toward the top. Income for “the majority” has been stagnant for the last several decades. That's the problem. 49% of millionaires suggest raising the minimum wage and taxing the wealthy more heavily. 69% support charities focused on US poverty, hunger and education.

The jobs that have been shipped overseas in response to 1980's business tax rules are another issue, and perhaps the worst of the problems. Raising the minimum wage won't help those who can't get a job. When the US faced joblessness in the 1930s Roosevelt created government sponsored jobs such as highway improvements, dams, etc. Modern day Republicans hate Roosevelt on principle, but he saved the country. Of course when we joined Europe in WWII it also created jobs making military supplies and weapons, and many Americans left their farms and small towns to fight overseas. Their wives went to work in the factories for the war effort. That brought in money for US citizens, too. When the anti-draft movement toward a smaller, all-volunteer army went through in 1973 that created a loss of jobs, of course. I can't see Americans embracing a military draft again, even though it would create jobs.

We are now faced with smaller wars in several places with a smaller military to handle them. Obama needs to find another way to create jobs through government, such as the infrastructure improvements and building of environmentally friendly energy plants which we need so much to relieve the CO2 pollution problem. I don't want to see millions more of our citizens resorting to full scale dependence on poverty programs for their daily sustenance. It isn't a good solution, and doesn't actually solve the problems. The income gap is still growing in such a case.





Ancient Viruses Lurk In Frozen Caribou Poo – NPR
by GEOFF BRUMFIEL
October 27, 2014

A careful examination of frozen caribou poop has turned up two never-before-seen viruses.

The viruses are hundreds of years old: One of them probably infected plants the caribou ate. The other may have infected insects that buzzed around the animals.

The findings prove viruses can survive for surprisingly long periods of time in a cold environment, according to Eric Delwart, a researcher at Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco.

"The DNA of viruses is preserved extremely well under cold conditions," he says.

Delwart's day job at Blood Systems is to find new viruses that could contaminate the blood supply. But he enjoys looking in odd places too. He got interested in ice cores from high mountain regions, after reading about all the interesting old things the ice contained.
"Things like old shoes and arrowheads," he says, "and then I realized this is nature's freezer, which should also contain organic remains."

Delwart had one particular type of organic remains in mind: caribou poop. Just about everything an animal eats can be infected with a virus. And that makes animals, including humans, virus vacuums that suck up every virus in their path.

"I mean we're constantly shoving viruses down our throat and if you look at poo samples from humans and from animals you will find a lot of viruses," he says.

Caribou hang out on ice, so these pristine ice cores are actually full of poo. And as scientists go through layer after layer of ice, the poo gets older and older.

Delwart examined poop from Northern Canada that was 700 years old. The result, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the discovery these two, never-before-seen viruses.

The DNA was so well-preserved that Delwart's collaborators could even reconstitute one virus and use it to infect a plant in the lab.

As far as Delwart can tell, these viruses aren't dangerous, which is good. As the North warms and ice melts, more caribou poo infected with ancient viruses will be finding its way into the modern ecosystem.




“The findings prove viruses can survive for surprisingly long periods of time in a cold environment, according to Eric Delwart, a researcher at Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco. 'The DNA of viruses is preserved extremely well under cold conditions," he says. Delwart's day job at Blood Systems is to find new viruses that could contaminate the blood supply. But he enjoys looking in odd places too. He got interested in ice cores from high mountain regions, after reading about all the interesting old things the ice contained. 'Things like old shoes and arrowheads,' he says, 'and then I realized this is nature's freezer, which should also contain organic remains.'”

The two viruses found in the poo piles appear to be harmless to people, which is good because they will be becoming a part of our current environment as the ice melts. More fun to me are the “old shoes and arrowheads.” Delwart's goal is to discover viruses that could be harmful if they get into our blood supply. Ice cores have always been interesting to me. They are a hands on and very real life way of doing what archaeologists do by looking at human artifacts, campsites, caves, etc. The difference is that a lot of what the archaeologists do is theoretically based and educated guesswork.

One modern trend in archaeology is impressive to me, though – the experimental studies in which groups of scientists use ancient tools and seed types to operate a farm, live in rude structures as the neolithic and iron age people did, and other work that provides some proof for their theories. A team of archaeologists (from a documentary in the last ten years) put together groups of volunteers and successfully moved huge stones almost as large as those at Stonehenge with log rollers, ropes, and a large pulling team, then dug a hole and set the stone upright in it. It did eliminate some of the questions that archaeologists have had about how Stonehenge was built.





In Crimea, Many Signs Of Russia, Few Of Resistance – NPR
by DAVID GREENE and LAUREN MIGAKI
October 27, 2014

Morning Edition host David Greene and producer Lauren Migaki traveled to Crimea to see what's changed since Russia sent troops in this spring and shortly afterward annexed the territory despite widespread international criticism. Their stories will be on air and online this week.

We're traveling through flat farmland on a two-lane road in the far north of Crimea, when suddenly it's interrupted by a checkpoint. Actually, Russia now considers it the border, a physical reminder of the new divide between Russia and Ukraine — and the West.

A guy in military camouflage, with a Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder, sees NPR producer Lauren Migaki with her tape recorder going, and he makes it clear he wants it off.

She turns off the recorder. But that's not enough. Another guy in military fatigues comes over and says we broke the law as foreigners by being so close to a Russian border. He takes our passports and asks our interpreter to come with him, leaving us to wait.

This little episode is a personal reminder that Russia is now in control. All across Crimea, the signs of Russian power and influence have arrived.

Ukrainian flags that flew atop government buildings have been removed, replaced by Russian flags. Menus in restaurants have been reprinted with prices in Russian rubles. New labels have been glued on wine bottles — even older vintages — saying the wine is from "Crimea, Russia."



I hope no Ukrainian speakers are left in Crimea now, and that no Jews will be persecuted. There has been so little Ukraine news in the last two months or so that I have concluded it must be peaceful. I will look specifically under the term “Ukraine” and see what I find. See below.


http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-voters-embrace-west-peace-rebels-025755891.html

Ukraine's pro-West parties negotiate coalition
By Sebastian Smith
October 27, 2014

Kiev (AFP) - The pro-Western winners of Ukraine's parliamentary poll entered coalition talks Monday, but attacks by pro-Russian insurgents in the east highlighted the obstacles to their ambitious promises of peace and deepening ties with the European Union.

The day after pro-West and moderate nationalist forces backing President Petro Poroshenko scored a big win in Sunday's election, the hard work of forming a ruling coalition began.

With 67 percent of precincts reporting, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's People's Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc were neck and neck, getting about 22 percent of the votes each.

Expectations were that the two would work together, with Yatsenyuk retaining the premier's post.

Russia welcomed the outcome of the election as backing for "a peaceful resolution" of the separatist war, while the head of the EU executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, said the election was a "victory of democracy and European reforms".

US President Barack Obama called the vote -- declared mostly fair by a European observer team on Monday -- an "important milestone in Ukraine's democratic development."

Rebel rockets -

But in a fiery reminder of the hurdles Poroshenko faces, an election-period lull in the rebel-held east ended early Monday in a barrage of artillery fire.

Dozens of rockets fired by pro-Russian insurgents could be heard blasting from the city of Donetsk towards a nearby Ukrainian military base, AFP correspondents said.

More shelling was reported near the government-held coastal city of Mariupol, while military authorities reported the deaths of two soldiers in a rebel attack on Sunday near Lugansk.

Kiev and its Western backers see the six-month uprising, and the March annexation by Russian troops of Crimea, as an attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cripple Ukraine.

But Moscow says it is simply coming to the aid of Russian speakers who feel threatened by Ukraine's lurch toward the West.

In response, the United States and European Union have imposed damaging economic sanctions on Moscow, fueling the kind of East-West tensions last seen in the Cold War.

Sunday's election was meant to finalise a revolution that began in February, when huge street protests ousted Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych after he abruptly rejected a landmark EU pact.

Communists and other Yanukovych allies were routed Sunday, although a party made up of his former associates won a small share of seats through proportional representation.

Radicals who rejected Poroshenko's peace deal with the insurgents did poorly, as did corruption-tainted politicians who had steered Ukraine through two decades of stuttering reforms.

- Tough challenges -

However, the pro-West regime now faces giant challenges: restoring relations with Russia, ending the insurgency, eradicating corruption, tackling massive debt, and resolving a near permanent crisis over Russian gas supplies.

"Poroshenko and his government will have a difficult time resolving the task of moving into Europe," Yuriy Romanenko at the Stratagema think-tank told AFP.

"The war will also go on for a long time. The standoff there could continue for several years."

Moscow gave a guarded thumbs up to the new Poroshenko-Yatsenyuk era.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin said the results showed "that parties which support a peaceful resolution of the internal Ukrainian crisis received a majority".

He also said that "the election, in spite of a rather harsh and dirty campaign, is valid."

Western governments welcomed the vote, with France saying the results "confirmed the people's fundamental choice".

Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told Ukraine that it "had guarantees of support from the European Union and the United States. Everybody wants to help Ukraine in its economic reforms."

However, he also urged Ukraine "to resolve its relations with Russia".

Peace talks or breakup? -

Poroshenko says there can be no military victory against the separatists and that he is ready to negotiate autonomy, though not independence, for pro-Russian regions.

A Moscow-backed truce agreement signed by Kiev and the separatists on September 5 calmed the worst fighting, despite frequent violations, especially around the disputed Donetsk airport.

But after so much bloodshed it remains unclear whether either side is ready for tough compromise, with some analysts expecting the fighting to intensify now that the election is over.

Despite the rise of relatively moderate parties, radical nationalists, including large formations of volunteer fighters, remain an important force in Ukraine.

On Sunday, voters living in Crimea and the separatist areas of the east -- about five million people in all -- were excluded from the election. Twenty-seven seats in the 450-seat parliament will remain empty.

That, plus the separatists' plan to hold their own leadership polls next Sunday, risked adding another layer of formality to what already appears to be the de facto breakup of Ukraine.




Some fighting is continuing at Donetsk, Lugansk, and Mariupol, but the peace seems to be holding elsewhere. Yatsenyuk's People's Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, both of which got 22% of the votes, are expected to work together with Yatsenyuk as Premier and Poroshenko as President. Pro-Russian groups who voted won “a small share of seats through proportional representation.” The pro-Western regime will now have to deal with improving their relations with Russia, ending the insurgency of pro-Russian rebels, and economic problems due to “massive debt” and “a near permanent crisis over Russian gas supplies,” and “moving into Europe.” Yuriy Romanenko of the Stratagema think-tank said that “the war could go on for a long time.” “Moscow gave a guarded thumbs up to the new Poroshenko-Yatsenyuk era.” In other words, there is a good deal of relative stability now unless the rebel forces fail to approach a peaceful relationship under their new autonomous status and proportional representation in the government. I hope Ukraine does join the EU and develop its economic strength. I am impressed with its standoff against Russia during the last months.