Sunday, February 22, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/21/us/afghanistan-carter/index.html

U.S. reconsidering 2016 Afghanistan troop withdrawal, defense chief says
Jason Hanna and Ralph Ellis, CNN
Sat February 21, 2015

Photograph – U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, left, meets with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on Saturday.

(CNN)President Barack Obama may change the United States' plan to withdraw virtually all its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, his new defense secretary said Saturday during a visit to the central Asian nation -- an indication that the White House is considering extending the U.S. troop presence there beyond that year.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made the comment in a news conference in Kabul with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has previously called on Obama to "re-examine" the withdrawal plan to ensure his country has the support it needs to maintain security gains.

Carter arrived in Afghanistan's capital on Saturday during his first foreign trip since being sworn in as defense secretary four days ago.

"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the time line for our drawdown of U.S. troops," Carter said.

"That could mean taking another look at the timing and sequencing of base closures to ensure we have the right array of coalition capabilities to support our Afghan partners," he said.

After Ghani's election last year, Afghanistan and the United States signed a security agreement that allowed U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the previous December 2014 deadline to withdraw.

Under the current plan, the United States ended its combat presence in Afghanistan in December, but nearly 11,000 troops remained at the start of 2015 for training and support roles.

American forces currently are expected to drop to 5,500 in 2016, and by 2017 the U.S. military presence is to scale down to what officials described as a "normal" embassy security contingent.

Last month, Ghani told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Obama should reconsider the 2016 withdrawal plan.

"Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas," Ghani said in the "60 Minutes" interview. He continued: "If both parties or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline."

Carter recently took over as secretary of defense, replacing Chuck Hagel. The Senate confirmed Carter on February 12, and he sworn in on Tuesday.

Carter plans to meet with U.S. troops and other Afghan leaders during his Afghanistan trip Saturday and Sunday.

Before his plane landed in Kabul, Carter told reporters he wants to better understand America's role in Afghanistan.

"I have seen reports of all kinds giving assessment of how things are going in Afghanistan and I'm just coming back into the government now and trying to wrap my mind around it," he said.

When asked about ISIS activity in Afghanistan, Carter replied: "I've seen the reports of people essentially rebranding themselves as ISIL here in Afghanistan as has occurred in other places. The reports I've seen still have them in small numbers and aspirational."

Carter, 60, is a respected technocrat who served in a number of high-level positions at the Pentagon. He holds degrees in theoretical physics and medieval history from Yale and Oxford.

Hagel, a former Republican senator, resigned after less than two years on the job when he was unable to fully mesh with Obama's national security team at the White House.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/12/03/what-theyre-saying-about-ashton-carter-defense-secretary-nominee/

What They're Saying About Ashton Carter, Defense Secretary Nominee
Susan Adams Forbes Staff
 12/03/2014

The Obama administration hasn’t yet confirmed multiple reports that it plans to nominate former deputy defense secretary Ashton B. Carter, 60, to be the next secretary of defense, but already politicians and observers are weighing in. Almost all of the comments have been favorable, though Republican Senator Ted Cruz blasted the Obama administrationfor the turnover in the position—Carter would be the fourth defense secretary in six years—and charged the president with wanting a yes-man for the job. “It seems what the administration is looking for is a defense secretary who will follow the orders of the political White House rather than focus on defending the national security interests,” said Cruz at a Tuesday event hosted by Concerned Veterans for America and The Weekly Standard.

Cruz’s critique may be misguided. As Politico points out, Carter is a “strong-willed independent thinker,” who differed with Obama when it came to the U.S. pull-out in Iraq. Carter wanted to leave a strong residual troop force there. He has also been critical of Pentagon budget cuts backed by Obama and Congress, and has forceful views on nuclear non-proliferation that could lead him to take a harder line on Iran policy than that favored by the administration.

Aside from Cruz, Republicans have so far praised the Carter pick. “I can’t imagine he’s going to have opposition to his confirmation,” said Sen. James Inhofe in a statement. Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, an armed services committee member, said of Carter, “He’s well-respected in the defense community,” but went on to echo Cruz’s critique of the administration and hint that Carter’s confirmation hearings could be a forum for attacking Obama’s defense strategy. “[A]t the end of the day, it’s hard to get someone to help you implement your strategy when you haven’t defined what your strategy is,” Blunt said. “And that will be [Carter's] biggest challenge I would think before the armed services committee and the Senate: Trying to explain what the president’s strategy really is and what they intend to do.”

“He’s respected by the military and that’s hugely important,” Jane Harman, a former Democratic member of Congress from California who now heads the Wilson Center think tank, told Politico.

A Philadelphia native, Carter got his first job at a carwash at age 11 but was fired for talking back to the owner, according to an autobiographical piece he wrote while he was at Harvard. The New York Times reports that he also worked as a hospital orderly, a mate on a fishing boat and a counselor at a suicide prevention hotline. He is highly educated, with degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale and a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford. He has served on the faculty at Harvard and since leaving the defense department last year, he has been lecturing at Stanford.



http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/11/hagel-dump-obama-113152.html#.VOpL0HzF9kk

How Obama Dumped Hagel
He ‘just wasn’t the man for the job,’ the president concluded.
By GLENN THRUSH
November 24, 2014

When President Obama first summoned Chuck Hagel to the Oval Office in October, he wanted to know how his Pentagon chief planned to cope with the dangerous new threat posed by the Islamic State that had drawn the reluctant president back into war in the Middle East, not to mention getting a sense of Hagel’s other plans for the final two years of Obama’s presidency

But after several lackluster, low-energy sessions, Obama was so unimpressed by the performance of his laconic, self-effacing defense secretary that he decided Hagel “just wasn’t the man for the job,” according to a senior administration official. That set in motion the decision that led to Hagel’s decorous dumping on Monday by a president who almost never fires anybody—and never admits it when he does.

Hagel, a heavy-lidded former Republican senator from Nebraska with an iconoclastic streak, freely acknowledged his own shortcomings in at least three meetings with Obama. He had signed on to preside over the end of Obama’s wars, a period the president envisioned as a time of downshifting and pulling back for the over-stressed American military. But that was then, after the 2012 election; now, Hagel reckoned, he wasn’t the kind of gung-ho, wartime consigliere Obama needed as he recalibrates his national security strategy to deal with a new round of conflict in the Middle East.

But Hagel also fired back: After reports began surfacing of White House dissatisfaction with his performance in the past few months—including an ominous column by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius—he dashed off an uncharacteristically sharp memo to National Security Adviser Susan Rice slamming the administration’s Syria policy as rudderless and ill-defined.

Even before the midterm election defeat earlier this month that saw Republicans take both houses of Congress while hammering a message of Obama administration fecklessness and indecision on national security, it was no secret that Obama and his West Wing team harbored serious reservations about the decorated Vietnam vet whose near-narcoleptic performance during confirmation hearings in early 2013 prompted an immediate bout of buyer’s remorse. In a Politico Magazine profile of Hagel a year ago, one senior Obama aide called the defense secretary a “paper tiger” and suggested “he needs to show us more” to keep his job, hardly a guarantee of long-term employment. More recently, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough has groused about Hagel’s inability to control the Pentagon brass that ostensibly works for him—believing the Pentagon had been the source of calculated leaks over expanding the war in Iraq and Syria intended to narrow Obama’s policy options.

At the same time, several sources I spoke with yesterday insisted that Hagel’s dismissal should not be misinterpreted as the start of a major national security overhaul that many, especially Republicans, have called for. “There is no shake-up,” a senior administration official told me. “For good or ill, Hagel’s it.”

 “What’s sad about this whole thing is that this is a way to say to the American electorate that we are shaking things up. But this is not a shake-up because Hagel never really had a voice in policy discussions anyway,” added one former defense official. “This is so superficial.”

The defense secretary, regardless of his lofty title, was never part of the president’s inner decision-making circle on foreign policy, which the sources said would remain intact (and it’s worth noting, the sources said, that powerful Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey is), and few expect his departure to solve the deeper problems plaguing Obama’s national security team given the iron grip exerted on foreign policymaking by Obama’s West Wing staff.




"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the time line for our drawdown of U.S. troops," Carter said.... Under the current plan, the United States ended its combat presence in Afghanistan in December, but nearly 11,000 troops remained at the start of 2015 for training and support roles. American forces currently are expected to drop to 5,500 in 2016, and by 2017 the U.S. military presence is to scale down to what officials described as a "normal" embassy security contingent.... When asked about ISIS activity in Afghanistan, Carter replied: "I've seen the reports of people essentially rebranding themselves as ISIL here in Afghanistan as has occurred in other places. The reports I've seen still have them in small numbers and aspirational." Carter, 60, is a respected technocrat who served in a number of high-level positions at the Pentagon. He holds degrees in theoretical physics and medieval history from Yale and Oxford. Hagel, a former Republican senator, resigned after less than two years on the job when he was unable to fully mesh with Obama's national security team at the White House.”

It appears that Hagel just didn't show a great deal of interest and enthusiasm and that Obama, perhaps, didn't trust him enough to make him a part of the decision-making. He also wrote an op-ed article criticizing Obama's policies. Carter has an impressive academic background including theoretical physics, and is well respected at the Pentagon. That should be a great part of the battle for Secretary of Defense. Also, he is a Democrat whereas Hagel is a Republican, and perhaps will have fewer ideological differences with the President. I hope he will work out well.






FIGHTING ISIS


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/22/388189867/turkish-operation-rescues-soldiers-guarding-tomb-in-syria

Turkish Operation Rescues Soldiers Guarding Tomb In Syria
Scott Neuman
FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Photograph – Turkish soldiers during the military operation in Syria, on Sunday. Turkey launched the raid to evacuate some 40 soldiers guarding the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish army launched an overnight operation to rescue some 40 of its soldiers guarding an Ottoman-era tomb who came under attack by self-declared Islamic State. The remains of the Tomb of Suleyman Shah were taken back across the border.

NPR's Peter Kenyon, reporting from Geneva, says that throughout the conflict in Syria, Turkey has kept soldiers at the tomb near Aleppo. Suleyman Shah was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled vast parts of Europe, Asia and Africa for six centuries. Shah is revered by Turks.

"We had given the Turkish armed forces a directive to protect our spiritual values and the safety of our armed forces personnel," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.

The New York Times writes: "The operation, called "Sah Firat," began on Saturday and involved a large convoy of tanks and other heavy weaponry that entered Syria through Kobani, the Kurdish territory in Syria that has recently been freed of Islamic State militants in an American-led military operation, according to the Turkish newspapers Milliyet and Yeni Safak. The reports were pulled from the Internet almost immediately after being posted."

The operation involved some 600 Turkish troops and 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers backed by surveillance flights by manned aircraft and drones.

By way of background, The Associated Press notes:

"Turkey was widely criticized for not intervening for months in the Kobani battle, which finally saw Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes push out the extremists.

"There had been rumors for months that the soldiers stationed at the tomb had been besieged by militants from the Islamic State group, which hold a third of Syria and neighboring Iraq in their self-declared caliphate. Some 40 Turkish soldiers once guarded the tomb, making them a target for the Islamic State group and other militants in Syria's long-running civil war, though the overnight operation apparently saw no fighting."




“The Turkish army launched an overnight operation to rescue some 40 of its soldiers guarding an Ottoman-era tomb who came under attack by self-declared Islamic State. The remains of the Tomb of Suleyman Shah were taken back across the border. NPR's Peter Kenyon, reporting from Geneva, says that throughout the conflict in Syria, Turkey has kept soldiers at the tomb near Aleppo. Suleyman Shah was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled vast parts of Europe, Asia and Africa for six centuries. Shah is revered by Turks.... "The operation, called "Sah Firat," began on Saturday and involved a large convoy of tanks and other heavy weaponry that entered Syria through Kobani, the Kurdish territory in Syria that has recently been freed of Islamic State militants in an American-led military operation, according to the Turkish newspapers Milliyet and Yeni Safak. The reports were pulled from the Internet almost immediately after being posted." The operation involved some 600 Turkish troops and 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers backed by surveillance flights by manned aircraft and drones. By way of background, The Associated Press notes: "Turkey was widely criticized for not intervening for months in the Kobani battle, which finally saw Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes push out the extremists.”

Does this mean that Turkey will send in some ground troops to fight ISIS in Syria or Iraq now? Probably not. Turkey is considered a US ally, and has been critical of ISIS, but they may simply be afraid of ISIS trying to include part of Turkey in its territory. We need a strong alliance of nations who will send in troops to fight them, and the Middle East seems to me to be the most likely area for that because ISIS is mainly fighting other Islamic people. It would make sense for a defensive league to form against them.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/02/22/387744947/iraqi-kurds-were-ready-to-fight-for-mosul

Iraqi Kurds: We're Ready To Fight For Mosul
Ari Shapiro
International Correspondent, London
FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Photograph – Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdish region's National Security Council, speaks in Erbil, in northern Iraq, last July. Barzani says that with U.S. air support, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have pushed back the Islamic State in several areas. However, he says the Iraqi army will be needed to retake Mosul, the country's second-largest city.
Azad Lashkari/Reuters /Landov

American military officials announced that they are planning an operation in April or May to free Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, from the group that calls itself the Islamic State, or ISIS. The extremist group has controlled the city since June, and the Pentagon says up to 25,000 Iraqi troops will take part in an offensive to reclaim the city.

Kurdish fighters will be a key part of this operation. The Kurds are a close U.S. ally in this conflict and have already driven ISIS out of other areas in northern Iraq. NPR's Ari Shapiro spoke with Masrour Barzani, who leads Kurdish security and intelligence services, about the approaching operation. Here are excerpts of their conversation.

If word came today that it's time to go liberate Mosul, would the Kurdish Peshmerga be ready?

The Peshmerga are ready and have been fighting ISIS for a long time, but the liberation of Mosul is not just about having Peshmergas ready to do their part. We are basically waiting for the rest of the Iraqi troops, the Iraqi army to be ready to come to Mosul. Peshmergas will not enter Mosul alone. We understand that this will create some political sensitivity. So there has to be a Sunni military force to be able to liberate Mosul.

Is the Iraqi army ready?

I wish I could tell you that they are ready, but they are not, and this is very unfortunate. ... Let's not forget that for 10 years the Iraqi army was trained and supported, and unfortunately they did not last for a long time fighting ISIS. Especially in Mosul. Five Iraqi military divisions and one federal police division were completely destroyed or abandoned their posts.

And let's also not forget that fighting ISIS with new recruits is not that easy. So you have to have combat-hardened forces, and those forces that have already been fighting ISIS for quite some time.

Mosul was a city of 2 million people. Do you fear that a fight could flood the region with fleeing civilians?

We have well above 1.6 million IDPs (internally displaced people) in Kurdistan, mostly from southern cities. And any plan to liberate Mosul has to be well calculated and well coordinated. The liberation of Mosul should not really lead to another mass exodus of people elsewhere. That would happen if the operation fails.

If ISIS is driven out, who should handle security and governance in Mosul?

We know that about 30 percent of the population of Mosul is Kurdish. So the Kurds will definitely have to play a role. But it would be those Kurds that live in Mosul. And other components of the city or the province must participate.

So for the future of Mosul, the security of Mosul, or the post-liberation of Mosul, definitely everyone who lives in Mosul who has not been affected or affiliated or collaborated with terrorism should be included, and that will require training, it will require additional support and help.

How do you evaluate the assistance you've received from the U.S.?

We are grateful for the support that the U.S. has provided to us. They were among the first that came to our assistance when ISIS shifted its focus and attacked Kurdistan almost overnight. The airstrikes have been extremely effective and have been a turning point in terms of supporting Peshmerga and defeating ISIS in the battlefield.

However, this is not enough to defeat ISIS ultimately. ISIS does not only exist on the front lines with the Kurds or fighting Peshmerags. They exist in other places where there are no Peshmergas, and unfortunately they are not an effective enough force to defeat ISIS or push ISIS back or drive ISIS out of the country.

So we believe that much more needs to be done in terms of providing ground support to the Peshmerga, in terms of sufficient armament, heavy armored tanks, vehicles, helicopters that we've been asking for for quite a long time from the U.S. and coalition forces.

Are there specific places that need to be liberated before a Mosul operation can begin?

The Peshmerga have conducted a number of operations in the north, east, and west of Mosul. And we've liberated thousands of square kilometers. Now it's time for the Iraqi army to advance from the south toward Mosul. And that is the key. Mosul has to be completely isolated for any effective assault and let's say guaranteed operation. ISIS should not have a corridor, a way out. They have to be isolated, they have to be attacked from all different sides.

If the Iraqi army doesn't get ready, is there a plan B?

We cannot go beyond areas that are not Kurdistan, and that limitation does not allow us to chase ISIS into the areas where it's basically the responsibility of the Iraqi army to do so. If the Iraqi army is not ready, if there are no other ground forces to defeat ISIS, that is something that the decision makers in the U.S., members of the coalition have to make. Do they have the time and luxury to live with ISIS in an area where they can still flourish and produce terrorism?




“The extremist group has controlled the city since June, and the Pentagon says up to 25,000 Iraqi troops will take part in an offensive to reclaim the city. Kurdish fighters will be a key part of this operation. The Kurds are a close U.S. ally in this conflict and have already driven ISIS out of other areas in northern Iraq. NPR's Ari Shapiro spoke with Masrour Barzani, who leads Kurdish security and intelligence services, about the approaching operation.... Peshmergas will not enter Mosul alone. We understand that this will create some political sensitivity. So there has to be a Sunni military force to be able to liberate Mosul.... If ISIS is driven out, who should handle security and governance in Mosul? We know that about 30 percent of the population of Mosul is Kurdish. So the Kurds will definitely have to play a role. But it would be those Kurds that live in Mosul. And other components of the city or the province must participate. So for the future of Mosul, the security of Mosul, or the post-liberation of Mosul, definitely everyone who lives in Mosul who has not been affected or affiliated or collaborated with terrorism should be included, and that will require training, it will require additional support and help.... We cannot go beyond areas that are not Kurdistan, and that limitation does not allow us to chase ISIS into the areas where it's basically the responsibility of the Iraqi army to do so. If the Iraqi army is not ready, if there are no other ground forces to defeat ISIS, that is something that the decision makers in the U.S., members of the coalition have to make. ”

I'm glad to see that some 25,000 Iraqi troops will go to Mosul in the next few months, but this Kurdish security and intelligence chief seems unsure that they will be “ready” to fight when the time comes. I hope that isn't true. Obama has asked for approval from Congress to send in US ground troops, but that hasn't happened yet, either. Hopefully we'll get some better news soon.





http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/21/health/ebola-liberia-reopens-borders/index.html

Ebola crisis: Liberia to reopen borders, lift curfew
Faith Karimi, CNN
Sat February 21, 2015

(CNN)Liberia is reopening its land border crossings shut down during the Ebola outbreak, a positive sign in a nation that was the epicenter of the deadly virus.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also lifted a nationwide curfew imposed in August to help combat the virus. Her orders, which go into effect Sunday, come the same week schools reopened after a five-month hiatus.

The virus has killed about 9,365 people mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization.

About 3,900 of the deaths have been in Liberia, which was so badly affected, it declared a shortage of body bags last year.

In October, the World Health Organization said the number of new cases in Liberia was declining, with fewer burials, plateauing lab confirmations and less-cramped hospitals.

Declining numbers

In its most recent update, the WHO reported two new confirmed cases in Liberia for the week ending on February 15. In contrast, a total of 52 new cases were reported in Guinea while Sierra Leone had 74.

Liberia closed its borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea in July in response to the outbreak. Those borders will reopen Sunday, Johnson Sirleaf said.

Though the President expressed optimism, she warned against complacency.

"The ministry of health has been requested to ensure the adoption and implementation of health protocols that will prevent the importation of the virus through any of the crossing points," she said in a statement. "Members of the joint security assigned at the borders are mandated to work closely with the health authorities to ensure adherence to the health protocols and safety at all times."

Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.




“The virus has killed about 9,365 people mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization. About 3,900 of the deaths have been in Liberia, which was so badly affected, it declared a shortage of body bags last year. In October, the World Health Organization said the number of new cases in Liberia was declining, with fewer burials, plateauing lab confirmations and less-cramped hospitals.... Liberia closed its borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea in July in response to the outbreak. Those borders will reopen Sunday, Johnson Sirleaf said. Though the President expressed optimism, she warned against complacency. "The ministry of health has been requested to ensure the adoption and implementation of health protocols that will prevent the importation of the virus through any of the crossing points," she said in a statement.”

I am so glad to see that at least one of the most endangered African nations has hit a plateau in the spread of the disease. If the work on potential vaccines continues, perhaps all of Africa can be protected from this disease in the future. It seems to “pop up” more or less out of nowhere and rampage through the nearby populations and then recede as it is now doing. It's a very strange virus.





http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/health/new-virus-discovered/index.html

Man's death leads to discovery of new virus in Kansas, CDC reports
By Ralph Ellis, CNN
Fri February 20, 2015

(CNN)The CDC has discovered a new virus that may have contributed to a Kansas man's death, the agency announced Friday.

Named the Bourbon virus after the county where the patient lived, the virus is likely spread by tick or insect bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

A 50-year-old man suffered multiple tick bites in the spring of 2014 while working outside on his property, the CDC said in an article published in the agency's "Infectious Diseases" journal.

The man fell ill over the next two days, went to a doctor on the third day, was hospitalized and died of a heart attack 11 days after becoming sick, the CDC said.

While the man was hospitalized, test results for many infectious diseases came back negative, the press release said. A blood sample was sent to the CDC, which determined a new virus had been discovered, the press release said.

The man's symptoms included fever, tiredness, rash, headache, other body aches, nausea and vomiting, the website said. The man had low blood counts for cells that fight infection and help prevent bleeding, the website said.

Though the CDC only has one case to work with, the agency said "it is likely that Bourbon virus is spread through tick or other insect bites."

The CDC recommends people protect themselves by tick bites by using insect repellents, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, avoiding bushy and wooded areas and checking for ticks after spending time outdoors.

The Bourbon virus is part of a group of viruses linked to tick or insect bites in Europe, Asia and Africa, the CDC said.

This is the first time a virus in this group, known as thogotoviruses, has been known to cause illness in the United States, the CDC said.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomyxoviridae

Orthomyxoviridae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Orthomyxoviruses (ορθός, orthos, Greek for "straight"; μυξα, myxa, Greek for "mucus")[1] are a family of RNA viruses that includes six genera:Influenza virus A, Influenza virus B, Influenza virus C, Isavirus, Thogotovirus and Quaranjavirus. The first three genera contain viruses that causeinfluenza in vertebrates, including birds (see alsoavian influenza), humans, and other mammals. Isaviruses infect salmon; thogotoviruses infect vertebrates and invertebrates, such as mosquitoesand sea lice.[2][3][4]

The three genera of Influenza virus, which are identified by antigenic differences in theirnucleoprotein and matrix protein, infect vertebrates as follows:

Influenza virus A infects humans, other mammals, and birds, and causes all flu pandemics
Influenza virus B infects humans and seals
Influenza virus C infects humans,pigs and dogs.

Thogotovirus is a genus in the virus familyOrthomyxoviridae. Thogotoviruses can replicate in both tick cells and vertebrate cells and usually are transmitted by ticks. The genus has four species:Batken virus, Bourbon virus (BOUV), Dhori virus(DHOV), and Thogoto virus (THOV), which is the genus's type species.

A thogotovirus can be transmitted from infected to uninfected ticks when co-feeding on uninfectedguinea pigs, even though the guinea pigs do not develop detectable viraemia.[citation needed]

THOV has been isolated from ticks in Africa and southern Europe. The only knownNew World thogotovirus was identified by next generation sequencing of the blood of a Bourbon County, Kansas man who died following a tick bite. The previously unknown strain was named "Bourbon Virus."[1] THOV is known to infect humans in natural settings. THOV has 6 RNA segments.[2]

DHOV has been isolated from ticks in India, eastern Russia, Egypt, and southern Portugal. DHOV is able to infect humans, causing a febrile illness and encephalitis. DHOV has 7 RNA segments.[3]

Bourbon virus (BOUV) is an apparent tick-borne virus first identified in the blood of a Bourbon County, Kansas man who died after being bitten by a tick.[1][2] There is currently no treatment or vaccine for it.[3]

BOUV is a type of thogotovirus, which is in theOrthomyxoviridae family of RNA viruses. This is the first time that a thogotovirus has been identified in the Western Hemisphere.[4][5] The Bourbon virus is related to viral genomes found in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. None of these related viruses have been known to cause human disease.[6]

The Bourbon virus has been identified and confirmed only in a single individual in the United States.[7] Currently, the prevalence of the virus in tick populations and its ability to affect human health is unknown.[7]

Signs and symptoms[edit]

The patient suffered from high fever, headache, muscle aches, and nausea before eventually dying from multiple organ failure.[7] The individual who contracted the virus demonstrated laboratory abnormalities similar to the tick-borne illnesses from the heartland virus and ehrlichiosis.[2][4] The abnormalities seen were a decrease in his white and red cell counts, an increase in liver enzyme levels, and decreased appetite.[4]




“The CDC has discovered a new virus that may have contributed to a Kansas man's death, the agency announced Friday. Named the Bourbon virus after the county where the patient lived, the virus is likely spread by tick or insect bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.... The man fell ill over the next two days, went to a doctor on the third day, was hospitalized and died of a heart attack 11 days after becoming sick, the CDC said.... The man's symptoms included fever, tiredness, rash, headache, other body aches, nausea and vomiting, the website said. The man had low blood counts for cells that fight infection and help prevent bleeding, the website said.... The Bourbon virus is part of a group of viruses linked to tick or insect bites in Europe, Asia and Africa, the CDC said. This is the first time a virus in this group, known as thogotoviruses, has been known to cause illness in the United States, the CDC said.”

“Bourbon Virus, Wikipedia: “The Bourbon virus is related to viral genomes found in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. None of these related viruses have been known to cause human disease.[6] …. The patient suffered from high fever, headache, muscle aches, and nausea before eventually dying from multiple organ failure.[7] The individual who contracted the virus demonstrated laboratory abnormalities similar to the tick-borne illnesses from the heartland virus and ehrlichiosis.[2][4] The abnormalities seen were a decrease in his white and red cell counts, an increase in liver enzyme levels, and decreased appetite.[4]”

Thogotovirus – "A thogotovirus can be transmitted from infected to uninfected ticks when co-feeding on uninfected guinea pigs, even though the guinea pigs do not develop detectable viraemia.[citation needed]"

So how did this virus arrive in the Western US? How does something like a tick carrying it get here and establish a population? Did an infected animal or person from Africa, Eastern Europe or Asia come to that area fairly recently and ticks then “co-fed” on its blood? Or did an ancient proto-American Indian come over across the Bering Land Bridge carrying the virus, but immune to its effects, thus infected local ticks without becoming a first case of illness? This virus could have been here for thousands of years if that is the case, before it mutated to become harmful to man. Well, that's a “deep subject” as my father used to say. Interesting, but I can't divine the answer to the question.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/02/22/387481854/if-your-teacher-likes-you-you-might-get-a-better-grade

If Your Teacher Likes You, You Might Get A Better Grade
ANYA KAMENETZ
FEBRUARY 22, 2015 

Were you ever the teacher's pet? Or did you just sit behind the teacher's pet and roll your eyes from time to time?

A newly published paper suggests that personality similarity affects teachers' estimation of student achievement. That is, how much you are like your teacher contributes to his or her feelings about you — and your abilities.

"Astonishingly, little is known about the formation of teacher judgments and therefore about the biases in judgments," says Tobias Rausch, an author of the study and a research scientist at the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg. "However, research tells us that teacher judgments often are not accurate."

This study looked at a group of 93 teachers and 294 students in eighth grade in Germany. Everyone took a short test to establish basic features of their personalities: extraversion, agreeableness and the like.

They gave the students reading and math tests too, sharing the test items with the teachers. Then they asked the teachers two questions: How good is this student compared to an average eighth grader? How well will this student do on this test?

In other words, the first question asked the teacher to give a global judgment; the second asked for a task-specific judgment.

The study found that when teachers and students were peas in a pod, the teachers overestimated the students' general abilities. Conversely, students who were dissimilar from their teachers were judged less positively.

But when the judgment was grounded to a specific test, the effect disappeared.

This finding is maybe not that surprising. But it's important for two reasons.

First, there's concern that teacher bias of many kinds may unfairly hold back groups of students.

For example, a recent study from Israel showed that teachers gave girls lower grades on math tests when they knew their gender. And lots of researchers have looked at the importance of having teachers who share the racial and socioeconomic backgrounds of their students.

If teachers give students who are similar to them better grades, or even just maintain higher expectations of those students, what does that do for the students who don't look or act like their teachers?

Second, as Rausch, the coauthor, points out, this study points to the importance of balancing teachers' "holistic" evaluations with standardized assessments, or at least assessments that aren't graded by a student's own teacher.

Rausch also says it might be a good idea to spend more time training teachers to notice their biases. "The best way to control for is probably raising teachers' awareness concerning the way they assess their students' competencies and their awareness concerning typical judgment biases and tendencies," he says. Human judgment, after all, is only human.




“A newly published paper suggests that personality similarity affects teachers' estimation of student achievement. That is, how much you are like your teacher contributes to his or her feelings about you — and your abilities. "Astonishingly, little is known about the formation of teacher judgments and therefore about the biases in judgments," says Tobias Rausch, an author of the study and a research scientist at the Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg. "However, research tells us that teacher judgments often are not accurate.".... In other words, the first question asked the teacher to give a global judgment; the second asked for a task-specific judgment. The study found that when teachers and students were peas in a pod, the teachers overestimated the students' general abilities. Conversely, students who were dissimilar from their teachers were judged less positively. But when the judgment was grounded to a specific test, the effect disappeared..... First, there's concern that teacher bias of many kinds may unfairly hold back groups of students. For example, a recent study from Israel showed that teachers gave girls lower grades on math tests when they knew their gender. And lots of researchers have looked at the importance of having teachers who share the racial and socioeconomic backgrounds of their students..... Second, as Rausch, the coauthor, points out, this study points to the importance of balancing teachers' "holistic" evaluations with standardized assessments, or at least assessments that aren't graded by a student's own teacher. Rausch also says it might be a good idea to spend more time training teachers to notice their biases.”

Well, this is not at all surprising, though it is disturbing, because kids are known to learn better from people whom they like and vice versa, and if a child's parents pay attention to them a great deal they will be more receptive to their viewpoints. A child who knows the parent loves him will tend to be more cooperative and strongly influenced by the parent. Without that nurturing the kids may become rebellious and negative. When a teacher doesn't “like” the student that will interfere with the kid's ability to learn from him or her. Every child who has a sibling knows that either the father or the mother prefers the other kid. Children are rarely liked/loved equally by both parents. Parents always swear they don't do that, but of course they do. Hence the fact that the statement "You're just like your father," may not be a complement.

I think the good news in this story is that the article suggests teaching teachers to be aware of their biases and actively work to lessen the influence of those prejudices in the situation. For a teacher to have a high opinion will cause him to show more positivity toward the student, and thus make him learn more readily. The same situation occurs whenever authority figures of any kind deal with a population – like a white policeman in a black community. Not everybody has those biases to the same extent at all, but when they do, it negatively or positively affects all interactions.