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Does the lack of a ban on travel from West Africa… — 29 Comments

  1. If it wasn’t for colonialism then we wouldn’t have to put up with this putz of a president.
    I blame the british.

  2. this reminds me of the scene from my cousin vinney…

    “Imagine you’re a deer. You’re prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water. BAM! A f–in’ bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask you: Would you give a f– what kind of pants the son of a b–- who shot you was wearing?!” —Mona Lisa Vito (Oscar winner Marisa Tomei) in My Cousin Vinny

    who cares as to what makes O click and whir and choose what he chooses? when your dying of ebola, will you give a crap what Obama is or was thinking?

    not to mention, how hedonistically asinine the question is other than a distraction for entertainment (ergo hedonistic). whatever the point it means and changes nothing, other than wasting time to argue, or discuss a point that ultimately means nothing.

    [there was a reason why men thought a lot of what women discuss is frivolous, cause men tend to want results, and women tend to want commisseration and hear themselves chatter… of course they also want to maintain an image, so they dont really accept the negative of it, despite advertising saying things like “how not to have angst over your pores” – a kind of ad that would never work on guys… ie. anst on pores? i wish i had the kind of life where that was a problem over the life i have where pores dont even come into my mind unless i see womens adverts…

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    The Associated Press reported more details Thursday about efforts in Africa to halt the spread of Ebola, including how Senegal and Nigeria successfully isolated Ebola patients and imposed travel restrictions so as to eliminate the disease in their countries, with no new cases since August. Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal, which share a border with at least one of the three Ebola-afflicted countries covered in the new USCIS policies, have all closed the borders that they share with these nations. In addition to Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe have imposed a variety of travel restrictions, airport screening procedures, and quarantine rules.

  3. Artfldgr:

    Ah yes, I’m known far and wide for my frivolity.

    And when I go out to lunch with my lady friends, we always discuss female topics such as whether Dinesh D’Souza is correct about the anti-colonial motivation of Obama, and how it might relate to his ebola policy failures.

    And of course, any reader of this blog knows how I’ve ignored all the more serious ebola-related issues. Just haven’t been on top of the topic at all.

  4. As I understand it, the argument that such measures have failed before is based on reasoning like this: following September 11, all air travel in the United States was stopped for several days. As an apparent result of this hiatus, that fall’s flu season was delayed in its normal onset by a couple of weeks. However, it wasn’t stopped, just delayed — we still had flu, just later than usual. I have read expert opinion to the effect that this “proves” that a ban on entry to the US for travelers from West Africa wouldn’t work, since, in the end, we still had a flu season in 2001.

    But this is the kind of logic that we’ve been skewering in the no-more-competence threads here in the past couple of days. In fact, the September 2001 flight hiatus apparently DID work, temporarily, to stop that year’s flu. The only reason it didn’t work permanently was that the HIATUS was not permanent — flights resumed after a while, and then so did contagion, and the flu eventually spread as always. Based upon the September 2001 experience, we could stop or at least minimize the entry of Ebola-infected persons to the US with a travel ban for as long as that travel ban lasted — which could extend, if we chose, until after Ebola is stopped in West Africa. The fact that the “experts” triumphantly brandish evidence that a travel ban could be helpful as incontrovertible proof that it cannot possibly work would be enough to make my head explode — if that hadn’t already happened at least six times, and that’s just this week.

  5. And Art isn’t over-the-top in his contempt, disdain and blame for anything and everything associated with all things female at ALL.

  6. I think Dinesh has an interesting theory but it’s basis is “Dreams from my Father”. And that book is a bunch of bull hockey meant to con people into thinking how thoughtful and deep O is, and to elicit some white guilt from the gullible.
    Maoists have the same attitudes toward colonialism and, of course, broader social justice issues than just Africa. The New Leftist coalition is influenced by Maoist theory. Anyone who has researched O’s background knows that O had strong socialist/communist influences through out his life.
    I think Stanley Kurtz has done more in depth study of O than D’Souza. And Dinesh’s theory has two flaws – lack of breadth and reliance on O’s own words.

  7. Total bullpucky. BOTH Obama’s claimed outrage at colonialism and that it is the motivation for his banning air travel. This is first, last and has always been about keeping the southern border open. Obama is a failed President unless… he can be the man who gave the democrats a permanent majority. That is the legacy he seeks and if he can through hook or crook get Congress to pass Comprehensive Amnesty for 15-35 MILLION “undocumented” democrats with an expedited path to citizenship, he secures that legacy.

    With a permanent majority the democrats can amend the Constitution however they desire and, it will all be perfectly legal. Our ‘unalienable’ rights will be ‘modernized’ by the democrat party.

  8. Lurker:
    “I come for the dance and fashion and stay for the genocide and collapse of the west.”

    And jello and candy corn for dessert!

  9. Maybe there is some Benghazi-like decision making going on. Reasonably dealing with a crisis concedes that there is a problem.

    We are trying to understand the refusal to restrict air travel from Ebola areas within the context of one disease outbreak. Meanwhile, Obama and President Jarrett are looking at the big picture. Admitting that restricting entry mitigates the spread of disease might cause the hoi polloi to connect the dots and start asking about recent tuberculosis, measles and scabies outbreaks. They may even want the southern border secured.

  10. I agree that the reason for lack of a travel ban is the southern border issue.

    And, I wonder if there is a hope that things get to a certain level that either the November election is impacted (canceled or low turnout) or that he can impose martial law and just continue on until the crisis is over.

    A follow-up on questioning your local government on being prepared – the director of Emergency Management of my town (population = 87,000) did call back, leaving a message that he had been out of town. I missed him again, but he’ll call back next week.

    I have my list of question about what prep they are taking and how are they going to communicate with the city.

    One of the city hospitals has a very detailed section on their website, listing the specific steps they are taking to deal with a possible case. These include signage, entry questions, isolation rooms, transportation, equipment, specific and limited health care team, required training for ALL hospital staff. The state also has multiple pages on their site and they give an update on a daily basis, describing what was done that day – pretty impressive.

    On the temperature issue – I checked the printouts I get from my doctor after every visit. MY average temperature at 8am is 97.5. A check of several internet sources (including Wiki) indicates that normal = 97.7-99.5. So, Neo’s comments on the temps is spot on – if I had a temp of 99.4or whatever the 2nd nurse had, I would be having a fever.

  11. The first is to completely misunderstand (or purposely misrepresent) what is being advocated, which is not a complete travel ban but merely a ban on West African nationals coming from there to this country on commercial flights–

    They do that on purpose because the rest of their argument is stupid.

  12. As I understand it, the argument that such measures have failed before is based on reasoning like this: following September 11, all air travel in the United States was stopped for several days. As an apparent result of this hiatus, that fall’s flu season was delayed in its normal onset by a couple of weeks. However, it wasn’t stopped, just delayed – we still had flu, just later than usual. I have read expert opinion to the effect that this “proves” that a ban on entry to the US for travelers from West Africa wouldn’t work, since, in the end, we still had a flu season in 2001.

    Wait WHAT? Is this an actual argument? It is breathtakingly stupid. The travel ban would be imposed until the outbreak was taken care of. When no cases of Ebola are present in any of the countries there is no risk they will bring it here.

    Do they not know that flu is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VIRUS than ebola? For gods sakes! I am sorry for all caps but I really want to smack someone right now.

  13. You don’t have to be overly educated in matters of numerical analysis to comprehend that once you allow a few exposed persons into the environment, the exposure problem multiplies at an alarming rate. That is the simple, and I would say compelling, argument for controlling at the source.

    It is not clear exactly what restrictions are being placed on the lives of innocent Americans who just happened to be at the wrong hospital, on the wrong airplane or cruise ship, or related to the wrong health care worker. We are euphemistically told that they are “monitored”. whatever that entails. If any become symptomatic, the ripples spread wider.

    News flash. A woman who recently returned from Liberia just threw up in a Pentagon parking lot. Ripples on the pond.

    So, now we are sending troops into the danger zone; but, rest easy they are getting 4 hours of training. On the other hand, it is reported that they are staying in commercial hotels, mingling with the population at large. Be assured that this does not fit the definition of “boots on the ground”. Do not confuse the “War on Ebola” with the “War on Terrorism”. The latter was so pre-2008.

    Who knew that the Mad Hatter was on the Presidential ballot in 2008, and again in 2012, disguised as the “One we were waiting for”? Certainly not the fools who voted for him.

  14. Liz:

    I agree that the southern border issue is most definitely part of it.

    But I think there’s an extra resentment at the idea of banning travel from Africa. How dare we? Smacks of condescension and control and colonialism.

  15. They talk in that linked Politico article about how we didn’t institute a travel ban during the SARS outbreak a decade ago and, see, everything turned out just fine. But it’s never mentioned that the death rate from SARS was 9% to 12%, a far cry from Ebola’s 50% to 70%.

    It’s like no one in charge wants to come to grips with that major fact. I think the rest of us have.

  16. All the PC posturing by those opposed to banning entry to people with West African passports reminds me of the pushback from AIDS activists when reminded that stopping AIDS was easy with a behavior change on the part of gay men: stop having unprotected sex with strangers. Yes, but people get HIV in other ways. So why oppose ending the way that a majority of infections are spread? It wasn’t a judgment of gay lifestyle, just acting according to the facts of behavior and biology.

  17. Love the snark of this line: “The days of Ellis and Angel islands screening out diseases effectively disappeared with the jet age.” I wonder what it was about the jet age that obliterated our ability to check the stamps in people’s passports? (Is THAT what happened to everyone’s competence? Who knew it was jets??) That’s all it would take — just a riffle through the pages — to spot and turn back the few foreign nationals — there can’t be many — seeking entry to the US who’ve come from or recently visited Ebola-affected countries.

  18. So many things wrong with how Obama is handling this…
    It’s perfectly fine to use enhanced pat downs on children and disabled grandparents, but apparently it’s a bridge to far to institute a travel ban.

    We can’t get enforce any law 100% – there are still criminals who get their hands on illegal guns, tax evaders who hide income, addicts who obtain illegal drugs, drivers who exceed posted speed limits, and yet no one says we should banish those laws (OK, maybe Libertarians & the drug laws).

    We can protect people from themselves by banning them from purchasing “large” sodas despite the fact that they could just as easily purchase and consume two smaller ones in one sitting, but we can’t protect people from others who would bring a deadly disease to our communities.

    I’ve never considered Obama brilliant, but he’s also not this dumb. The only conclusion one can make is that this is intentional, whether it’s anti-colonialism, the need to maintain his “all immigrants are safe and good” narrative, or because he’s a trans-nationalist who no longer perceives America as a sovereign nation – that taking in and caring for people, regardless of their origin, is a greater responsibility than caring for the “haves”/US citizens.

  19. Art’s really angry at what his boss and co workers do to abuse him. But he finds he cannot quit because the promise of a pension and time put in, keeps him leashed to his medical union corrupt like company.

    So what results is displacement. Talking about feminists and what not, at least won’t get you fired from your job, if you are anonymous. Which is also why he doesn’t run his own blog, since he wrote before that when he did, he went off talking about his work and home location and the Leftists came for him.

    Well, that’s not surprising. Who doesn’t expect the Left to come knocking if you start talking crazy heretical anti dogma? Did the Tea Party expect the IRS? Sooner or later, they would have to.

    So the point is, blaming various stuff over there is easier than dealing with problems over here. That’s been the case for humans, regardless of what crutch they say they got in “disabilities”, for awhile now.

    A person that cannot change himself, improve his own position, or defeat his personal enemies, cannot be expected to change the world of corruption and feminism. After all, that’s unreasonable.

    Mrs Whatsit

    I heard Eastern block countries routinely had various “health checks” to keep certain people out. It was a document printed with the passport, so all documentation had to be handed in. Although it was more detailed than merely the vaccination ones used normally.

  20. I’ve never considered Obama brilliant, but he’s also not this dumb.

    The goal of evil doesn’t require brilliance or dumbness. The goal of evil can work with either one, which in another way it means ability or IQ is irrelevant to evil.

  21. You know, Obama is not alone in this decision not to impose a travel ban. I believe all the international healthcare organizations, most notably the WHO, are against such action. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important, I think, is that they think of themselves as “citizens of the world,” not of individual countries to which they owe their first loyalty.

  22. Ann,

    I don’t wish to sound hysterical, but the various alphabet soup international bureaucracies, including our own bureaucracies are incapable of responding due to the foolish, incompetentence of bureaucracies to operate with efficency under the umbrella of pc.

  23. Lizzy Says:
    October 17th, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    “{…} I’ve never considered Obama brilliant, but he’s also not this dumb. The only conclusion one can make is that this is intentional, whether it’s anti-colonialism, the need to maintain his “all immigrants are safe and good” narrative, or because he’s a trans-nationalist who no longer perceives America as a sovereign nation — that taking in and caring for people, regardless of their origin, is a greater responsibility than caring for the “haves”/US citizens.”
    = = = = = = =

    I ran across a possible scenario of Obama’s mindset in a comment at Patterico:

    http://patterico.com/2014/10/16/is-it-unfair-to-criticize-obama-over-ebola/

    See comment #181 — it’s WAAAY long, but there are some jaw-dropping insights. From the Obama-Commie point of view America has “… been doing everything wrong” from its inception, and it’s time for our “chickens to come home to roost”. We will only appreciate how evil we’ve been after we’ve suffered the way the rest of the world does. “He thinks of America as one giant, affluent, suburban community. We’re only rich because we’ve plundered everyone else. We must be made to realize …”

    So, by bringing the woes of the world to us, (the woes that according to Commie doctrine, WE have caused the rest of the world to suffer) “he’ll have to show us how we’ve been doing everything wrong our entire history by bitterly clinging to our undeserved wealth {and} our military might, …”

    Once we’ve been humbled, like Winston Smith was, THEN we’ll understand. THEN, 2+2 will equal 5 (or whatever else it needs to be). We’ll be healed.

  24. We will only appreciate how evil we’ve been after we’ve suffered the way the rest of the world does. “He thinks of America as one giant, affluent, suburban community. We’re only rich because we’ve plundered everyone else. We must be made to realize …”

    Most of that is true, but America in that sense means the Left. Most of the evil comes from the lEft, and since the Left is part of America, that means America is tainted and responsible as well.

    The solution is simple. Wipe out the evil, and the guilt will go away. Don’t wipe it out, as people refuse to fight the Left even now, and guess what happens.

  25. Anyone but a fool knows that when you keep asking “Why?” and you get a different unconvincing answer each time, that the speaker is obviously lying to you, and that’s generally because he knows that the truth would not be good for him. It’s amazing to me that anybody takes the CDC director at his word – as though he, himself, actually believes what he is telling you. The “geniuses” at Politico are just parroting his lies. Among the other absurd things he has said are that we would be violating the West Africans’ civil rights, that it would stigmatize them, and that it would hurt their economies. If he weren’t a barking-mad liberal, you’d ask him “No, seriously, why not do a travel ban?” My favorite is his last excuse, because the suggestion that the transport of native Africans to the US is a part of their economy suggests something that became obsolete after the Civil War, IYKWIMAITYD!

    We should also notice that the White House hasn’t backtracked a single thing he has said. Obviously, this stuff is coming straight from Obama, himself.

    If we also look at the fact that the CDC did not immediately send a team to TX to handle America’s 1st Ebola case, and whisk the patient off to one of the govt facilities set up to handle such cases, it becomes clear that the Obama Adminisitration is determined to ALLOW Ebola to come into the country unabated. (They have done similar things before.) The CDC has vast experience in dealing with Ebola overseas, and knows how dangerous it is, and yet they chose to leave it to amateurs in the Homeland. If those 2 nurses die, CDC Bob has blood on his hands, and couldn’t care less.

    Betsy McCaughey, known for doing her homework, observed (on a news talk show) that the White House statements regarding the new Czar literally said that it was so that the CDC wouldn’t have to be “distracted from their primary mission”, which is to stomp out Ebola IN AFRICA.

    I could imagine several reasons why they might be this way, but I think your observations from D’Souza’s work (especially since it quotes Obama’s book) speaks volumes. He refers to Africans as “his people”, and he seeks revenge for Western Colonialism (which also explains his treasonous Middle East policy). I have long observed that his odd behavior is explained by by 4 things, in this order of importance: (1) narcissism (2) socialism (3) anti-colonialism and (4) cronyism. So I guess I knew it all along, but didn’t realize it – it’s #3 this time.

    Oddly, people take his pick for “Ebola Czar” seriously too, when it’s obviously bureaucrat-speak for “You want me to do something to stop Ebola in the US? F*** y**!” It’s a response, but the choice is an outright show of contempt for the American People. (Sorry about the bad language, but it loses something if you “translate” it!)

    PS: I think of your research on Patient Zero every time they mention him as having lied to get here. To me, it’s even worse that he walked on in here without so much a violating a single rule or law. You really do your homework too.

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