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Posted by Amy Miller on October 23, 2014 7 Comments
(UPDATE: Officials have confirmed a diagnosis of Ebola. See our updated post here. A physician who recently returned from a Doctors Without Borders mission to West Africa is in isolation at New York's Bellevue Hospital after presenting with a 103 degree fever. Here we go again. NBC News reports:
"While at this stage there is no confirmation that the individual has contracted Ebola, Doctors Without Borders, in the interest of public safety and in accordance with its protocols, immediately notified the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, which is directly managing the individual’s care," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. Health care workers are among those at highest risk of being infected, because they work so closely with very ill patients and are in frequent contact with infectious bodily fluids such as vomit. “The patient was transported by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” the city health department said in a statement, adding that after consultation with the hospital and the CDC, they would test for Ebola. They are also checking him for malaria, salmonella and stomach viruses because they can all cause similar symptoms.
Dr. Craig Spencer, the latest patient, had been monitoring himself since his return, and thankfully did the right thing by reporting his fever to the appropriate officials. Reports haven't revealed where Dr. Spencer was practicing, but if he was in a country that was placed under recently-implemented travel restrictions, the next few weeks could be...interesting...for elected officials:

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Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 23, 2014 13 Comments
Elizabeth Warren has said many times that she "is" not running for President. Yet still the progressive movement doubts her, convinced that she is just waiting for the right moment. Because in their heart of hearts, they believe that Warren would crush Hillary. I believe Hillary knows that too. And so does Elizabeth. The polls mean nothing now because Warren "is" not running. Progressives want her so much, they have reached the point of Kremlinology when it comes to Warren:
During the Cold War, lack of reliable information about the country forced Western analysts to "read between the lines" and to use the tiniest tidbits, such as the removal of portraits, the rearranging of chairs, positions at the reviewing stand for parades in Red Square, the choice of capital or small initial letters in phrases such as "First Secretary", the arrangement of articles on the pages of the party newspaper "Pravda" and other indirect signs to try to understand what was happening in internal Soviet politics.
[caption id="attachment_103768" align="alignnone" width="575"]http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2007/10/post_493.html (Photo via Classical Values)[/caption] A recent article in The Nation reflects this technique, Did Elizabeth Warren Just Change Her Tune on Running for President?:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 23, 2014 7 Comments
Some good news related to Ebola: The nurse who flew to Ohio while ill with an Ebola infection has been declared free of the virus.
Dallas nurse Amber Vinson is free of the Ebola virus and will be transferred from isolation at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, her family said Wednesday. The family also said that the 29-year-old nurse, who contracted the virus from Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, was regaining strength and that her spirits were high. "We are overjoyed to announce that, as of yesterday evening, officials at Emory University Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention) are no longer able to detect virus in her body," the family said in a statement hours after Vinson spoke with her mother, Debra Berry.
And as the 21-day quarantine ends for the family of the late Thomas Duncan and the healthcare professionals who cared for him during his fatal bout, new questions are being asked about the time period of isolation itself.
As the 48 patients exposed to the first U.S. Ebola patient near the end of their 21-day incubation period on Sunday, Oct. 19, a new study is questioning whether that period is sufficient to keep the public safe. "Twenty-one days has been regarded as the appropriate quarantine period for holding individuals potentially exposed to Ebola Virus to reduce risk of contagion, but there does not appear to be a systemic discussion of the basis for this period," lead researcher Charles Haas, an environmental engineering professor at Drexel University, wrote in the study paper.
In the meantime, it is heartening to learn that nobody else has succumbed to hemorrhagic fever as a result of Duncan's actions.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 23, 2014 8 Comments
It's remarkable to watch Democrats scrambling to get away from Obama just six years after they and the media declared the death of the GOP. The latest example comes from Josh Kraushaar of National Journal:
Senate Democratic Officials Start Lashing Out at White House The relationship between the White House and Senate Democrats hit a new low Tuesday evening after the administration's press office released a transcript of first lady Michelle Obama's appearance in Iowa on behalf of Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Braley. The problem: The subject line of the e-mail referred to Braley as the "Democratic candidate for governor." The botch came after the first lady repeatedly referred to the Democratic Senate nominee as "Bruce Bailey" in a campaign appearance earlier this month—and it took an attendee in the crowd to correct her mistake... Indicating the sensitivity of the mistake, top Senate Democratic officials wasted no time lashing out at the Obama administration's political team in response, suggesting it was acting like a junior varsity operation two weeks before the midterms. The slipup comes one day after President Obama told Rev. Al Sharpton on his radio show that Senate Democrats keeping their distance from him are still "folks who vote with me. They have supported my agenda in Congress." That alarmed Senate Democrats up for reelection this November, most of whom are working hard to distance themselves from an unpopular president. "The ineptitude of the White House political operation has sunk from annoying to embarrassing," one senior Senate Democratic aide told National Journal. Another Senate official told the Washington Post that Obama's comments were "not devised with any input from Senate leadership."
The problem for Democrats is Obama's ego. He just can't stand not being part of the story.

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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 23, 2014 11 Comments
While most Democrats are desperately trying to distance themselves from President Obama, Illinois Democrats are safe from the President's campaign death kiss. Monday night, President Obama headlined a campaign rally for Illinois Senator Dick Durban and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. As Rebel Pundit pointed out:
ABC 7 reporter Charles Thomas stated the Jones Convocation Center, was not filled. Thomas did his best to paint the president’s visit as a success, “When it comes to Chicago, especially on the South Side, Obama has not lost his political magic. Sunday night at the Jones Convocation Center, it was filled to near-capacity.” Thomas reported 6,000 attendees at the rally to re-elect Quinn, but the capacity at the center is 7000.
Interestingly, the President is having difficulty filling seats on his home turf. Earlier this week, attendees at a Maryland rally walked out when Obama took the stage; and last month, the Climate Summit held in New York City was missing some pretty crucial world leaders, yet another indicator of Hope and Change's waning star power.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 23, 2014 0 Comments
My husband and step-daughter are touring Asia, so I asked them what the coverage of the Hong Kong protests has been like. Instead of sending out officials and experts to offer false assurances, the Chinese stations simply black out the reports about the demonstrations. However, my husband indicates that many people outside of China are closely following the developments in the international fiscal center. The demonstrations continue unabated. In fact, the latest round was inspired by a little political candor from C. Y. Leung, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region who is the focus of protesters' ire.
Many were angered by Mr Leung's comments in an interview on Monday, where he said fully democratic elections would lead to populist policies, as poorer residents would have a dominant voice in politics. "If it's entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 (£1,110) a month," he said. These startlingly frank remarks have not gone down well with many demonstrators, who see it as proof that the political system is rigged on behalf of the rich, the BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong reports. It tallies with the narrative of the city as a place where the gap between rich and poor - which is one of the highest in Asia - is rising, our correspondent adds.
A CNN report describes the latest approach by Hong Kong's officials: Invite the students in to talk, and give them a lecture on law while offering to do a report to send to Beijing. The interaction of the "t-shirts" versus "the suits" was played on a big screen, so that the demonstrators could view the dialog.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 23, 2014 25 Comments
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had strong words for the attacker who opened fire at the National War Monument before moving on to the halls of Parliament in Ottawa on Wednesday. Harper's comments come in the wake of the fatal shooting of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, who was a reservist in the Canadian Forces, by Muslim convert Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.
“This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world,” Harper said in his address to the nation. “We are also reminded that attacks on our security personnel and our institutions of governance are by their very nature attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all. But let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.”
The attack began just before 10 am on Wednesday, when Zehaf-Bibeau fired on the ceremonial guard at a war memorial across the street from parliament. It was here that Corporal Nathan Cirillo was shot; he later died from his wounds. Zehaf-Bibeau then made his way past armed guards and into the building where MPs from both parties were caucusing. Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms, shot Zehaf-Bibeau dead before anyone else was injured. CBC News has terrifying raw footage from inside Parliament's Centre Block:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2014 10 Comments
If Texas politics is the wild west, then the Wendy Davis campaign is currently on a slow jog through the desert at high noon. Twitter exploded this evening when a member of the College Republicans in Virginia caught the "@WendyDavisTexas" Twitter account (Davis's personal account) claiming that a picture of several College Republicans actually showed Davis supporters:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 22, 2014 30 Comments
Oh, thaaaaaatttttt historically underrepresented group. Not the one you were thinking of. Via CNN:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren told CNN she has been treated differently as a woman in the clubby upper chamber — echoing the general sentiments of her colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who wrote about sexism in the Senate in a recent book. During a wide-ranging interview on the Colorado campaign trail—where she was stumping for endangered incumbent Sen. Mark Udall—CNN asked Warren whether she had experienced any different treatment as a woman. "Yes," she said. Would she elaborate? "Nope." But was it surprising? "Not really, I wish it were," she told CNN. "But it's hard to change these big, male dominated institutions. What I am very happy about is that there are now enough women in the United States Senate to bring change to that place and I think that's just powerfully important." There are now 20 women in the senate. Warren added: "You know, others have said it before me. If you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu." Warren's comments did make one clear case: women will be treated as equals when there continue to be more women in the Senate.

Posted by David Gerstman on October 22, 2014 2 Comments
Earlier today, a Palestinian drove his car off the road into a group of people who had just gotten off Jerusalem's light rail at the Ammunition Hill stop, killing a three month old baby and injuring seven others. The Times of Israel reports:
“A private car which arrived from the direction of the French Hill junction hit a number of pedestrians who were on the pavement and injured nine of them,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. “Initial indications suggest this is a hit-and-run terror attack,” Samri said. The baby died at the nearby Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus a few hours after the incident. A spokesperson for Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said a 60-year-old woman and seven other people, including the baby’s father, were also lightly and moderately wounded in the attack. ...
The suspect , Abdelrahman al-Shaludi, previously served time in jail and has been identified by Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman as a member of Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for partnering with Hamas and inciting violence.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 22, 2014 31 Comments
For Colorado Democrats, voter fraud isn't just a way of life---it's an awesome way of life. James O'Keefe has released more raw footage showing employees of three separate Democratic groups in Colorado---Work For Progress, Greenpeace, and the Rep. Joe Salazar campaign---directly condoning James' suggestions about how to commit voter fraud using mail in ballots. Watch: This isn't just criminal---it's enthusiastically criminal. Progressives like Donna Brazile may believe that allegations of voter fraud are "a big ass lie," but the only big ass lie I'm seeing is the lie Democrats in Colorado are telling when they say they're working for fair and equal representation for the citizens of their state. John Fund at National Review points out that Colorado officials have repeatedly warned legislators about the very real prospect of mass-mailed ballots being used to commit voter fraud:

Posted by Andrew Branca on October 22, 2014 60 Comments
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has obtained and released the official autopsy report of Mike Brown, the black man shot and killed by Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO this past August.  (The autopsy report is embedded below.) The item in the report that perhaps sheds the greatest light on the circumstances of the shooting is the evidence that Mike Brown has a gunshot wound to the inside of his right hand near his thumb and palm that appears to be a contact gunshot wound.  This would be consistent with the police narrative that Brown was fighting with Officer Wilson for possession of his service pistol when the shot was fired. Gunpowder stippling is typically indicative of the distance between the muzzle of a fired gun and the gunshot wound caused by the projectile.  If the shot is fired at close distance (inches to feet) there is typically unburned gunpowder that causes an observable stippling on the victim's skin.  When the shot is fired from a greater distance (several feet or further) the unburned gunpowder generally does not reach the victim's skin, and thus there is no stippling. Somewhat counterintuitively, however, there is another type of gunshot wound in which no stippling is found.  In a contact gunshot wound, in which the muzzle is in contact with the victim's skin, the unburned gunpowder simply enters the wound along with the projectile.  Because the powder does not contact the skin, there is no skin stippling in a contact gunshot wound.  A contact gunshot wound also typically cause a star-like burst or fragmentation of skin at the site of injury, as the hot gasses propelling the bullet enter and expand within the flesh. The projectile itself, of course, will often fragment skin and bone.

Posted by New Neo on October 22, 2014 11 Comments
Yesterday was the opening of controversial opera "The Death of Klinghoffer" at New York's Lincoln Center. The occasion was marked by turmoil:
Demonstrators, primarily associated with Jewish groups, plan to rally outside Lincoln Center with 100 wheelchairs, in honor of the slain handicapped Leon Klinghoffer, on whom “The Death of Klinghoffer” is based. Klinghoffer was hurled from the Achille Lauro cruise ship by PLO terrorists in 1985 after it was hijacked. The opera, which centers on the terrorists who perpetrated the murder, has been accused of glorifying terrorism and incorporating anti-Semitic tropes.
The Klinghoffer opera is not new; it was first produced in 1991, and has drawn protests wherever it goes. I recall hearing the news of the hijacking and the shocking manner of Klinghoffer's death at the time it occurred. But back then I was unaware of the almost immediate post-modern interest of some in understanding---empathizing with, and even sympathizing with---Klinghoffer's murderers. In the years since, and especially post-9/11, such enabling attitudes have become only too common. "The Death of Klinghoffer" is an example of the genre. In the olden days, an opera on such a theme might have featured the terrorists as traditional villains steeped in evil, with thunderous and dissonant music to signify the horror of what they did. But in this version they are given sonorous and lovely melodies to sing and sympathetic words to utter. But it wasn't enough to portray the murderers in a sensitive light; the Klinghoffers and their associates are portrayed less nobly:
More than 20 years ago, in his review of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's premiere of the opera, The New York Times chief music critic, Edward Rothstein, questioned the presentation of Jews and Palestinian Arabs as "symmetrical victims of each other's hatreds." Rothstein later wrote that the opera's depiction of its Jewish characters reduced them "to petty triviality" compared to their Palestinian counterparts.
The opera's librettist, Alice Goodman, is an interesting tale herself. Born and raised as a Jew in Minnesota, educated in literature at Harvard, married to a British poet, she became an Anglican priest and opera librettist.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 22, 2014 3 Comments
If you missed the debate between Scott Brown and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire last night, consider yourself lucky. Brown did very well despite the tremendous odds stacked against him. The debate was sponsored in part by the University of New Hampshire and moderated by the not-at-all biased Chuck Todd of NBC News. Scott Brown went out of his way to tie Shaheen to Obama's poor record and at one point, she helped him out. While many Democrats are running as fast as they can from Obama, Jeanne Shaheen admitted that she has voted with Obama 99% of the time. The Washington Free Beacon caught this moment:
Jeanne Shaheen Admits To Voting WIth Obama 99% Of Time Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D., NH) admitted Tuesday night that she has voted with President Barack Obama 99% of the time. At her second debate against Republican senate candidate Scott Brown, Shaheen conceded the fact after being pressed by a debate moderator. After reminding Shaheen of her voting record the moderator questioned Shaheen, “How does your voting record sort of jive with serving the citizens of New Hampshire?” Faced with the facts, Shaheen admitted to the number and tried to pivot. “Scott Brown talks a lot about one survey and 99% of the time I voted with the president,” Shaheen replied, “but the numbers I’m proudest of are the 259 people now working at the Berlin prison because I was able to get the prison open after it sat empty for two years.”
Here's the video:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 22, 2014 7 Comments
HBO's Last Week Tonight is easily the best satirical news program on TV these days. Hosted by Daily Show alum John Oliver, Last Week Tonight is all over the spectrum ideologically, but regularly has me in stitches. Recently, Last Week Tonight noticed video cameras are not allowed to film SCOTUS oral arguments. Oliver and crew set out to ensure the American public is never without a visual of the Supreme Court arguments again. Enter "Real Animals Fake Paws." Take a look: Oliver released the raw footage on YouTube for enterprising individuals to utilize. Slowly but surely, oral arguments set to "Real Animals Fake Paws" are popping up.
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