The Commentariat -- Oct. 26, 2014
Internal links, illustration & related text removed.
Sabrina Tavernise, et al., of the New York Times: New York's "carefully planned response was a world apart from the scene that unfolded in a Dallas hospital last month when a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, became the first person to test positive for Ebola in the United States.... The often rudderless response [in Dallas] lasted two weeks, and in the end, two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, fell ill with the virus. Both have recovered, but the searing experience stunned experts, and shook Americans' confidence in their health care system.... In effect, the United States has become 19th-century Britain: We provide superb education for elites, but we falter at mass education." ...
... As Marvin Schwalb points out, not every response to Ebola in these parts is perfect (blame Chris Christie!):
... Anemona Hartocollis & Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "A nurse who was being quarantined at a New Jersey hospital after working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone criticized her treatment on Saturday as an overreaction after an initial test found that she did not have the virus. 'I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa,' the nurse, Kaci Hickox, wrote in an essay on the website of The Dallas Morning News, in collaboration with a friend who works for the paper. 'I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganization, fear, and most frightening, quarantine.'" ...
... Noam Scheiber of the New Republic: "The authorities in New York clearly lied in their press conference ... about Craig Spencer, the New York physician who contracted Ebola while volunteering for Doctors Without Borders in Guinea. Among the many accurate pieces of information that Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and city Health Commissioner Mary Bassett disseminated to the public was the following whopper: That Dr. Spencer acted entirely appropriately and responsibly.... This is clearly not true.... He decided to ride the subway, go bowling, and frolic at the High Line Park on Wednesday." Scheiber is okay with the lie because it avoided public panic. CW: I think the lie was stupid & I thought so when I read it because I already knew Spencer had been all over the city. And that too was damned stoopid.
Nicholas Kristof: "THE best escalator to opportunity in America is education. But a new study underscores that the escalator is broken.... A new Pew survey finds that Americans consider the greatest threat to our country to be the growing gap between the rich and poor. Yet we have constructed an education system, dependent on local property taxes, that provides great schools for the rich kids in the suburbs... and broken, dangerous schools for inner-city children.... Too often, America's education system amplifies not opportunity but inequality."
Thomas Frank on how Barack Obama is just like Jimmy Carter. Thanks to Terence for the link.
Charles C. W. Cooke of the National Review, in the New York Times: "If supporters of the right to keep and bear arms want their pleas to be heard in their proper context, they might consider talking a little less about Valley Forge and a little more about Jim Crow -- and attempting to fill their ranks with people who have known much more recently what tyranny really looks like." CW: This is a remarkable essay: historically & theoretically correct -- & stunningly naive. If black people want to get shot dead with impunity, they should openly pack heat in stand-your-ground states.
God News
Ross Douthat with News from the Vatican: Oh my god oh my god. The Holy Roman Catholic Church is in CHAOS. Stop the gays! Stop the divorcees! "... this pope may be preserved from error only if the church itself resists him." ...
... Bad News, Ross. Cathy Grossman of Religion News Service: A new survey by religion researcher David Kinnaman finds that 38 percent of Americans are "churchless"; that is, "roughly four in 10 people living in the continental United States are actually 'post-Christian' and 'essentially secular in belief and practice.'" Via Steve Benen.
Sarah Jones in Americans United for Separation of Church & State: Alabamians will vote next week on a ludicrous state constitutional amendment to outlaw Sharia law. To make the amendment look less silly, its authors didn't use the word "Sharia." "At Americans United, we are often asked why we don't support these bills. The answer is always the same: Because there isn't a real threat that our courts or legislatures are implementing Sharia law. We have yet to receive a report about a Muslim community or Muslim elected official attempting to legislate based on Sharia principles.... We do, however, receive many reports about fundamentalist Christians doing exactly that." Via Benen.
CW: Isn't it time for conservative Christians to do something about the shocking fact that four months of the year -- January, March, May & June -- are named for pagan gods? It's bad enough that two months are named for pagan dictators -- July & August -- but gods? In Christianland, the calendars months should be something like Epiphany, February, Easter, Josephus, Mary, Jesus, September, October, November, December, Reaganus, Christmas.
November Elections
Alabama. See God News, above.
Kentucky. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is giving his reelection campaign a $1.8 million personal loan to stave off a new round of attack ads from Democrats."
Mississippi. Geoff Pender of the Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger: "The state Supreme Court on Friday upheld the dismissal of Chris McDaniel's lawsuit over his June GOP primary loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. The court ruled four to two, upholding a lower court decision that McDaniel waited too long to file the challenge of his loss. Three justices did not participate.... Neither McDaniel nor his lead attorney Mitch Tyner answered definitively on Friday whether the ruling will put end to his trying to overturn the election...."
Beyond the Beltway
Another Murder in Gunland. David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "A Gary, Indiana man shot and killed a 13-year-old neighbor boy for laughing at him on Friday night. According to the Gary Post-Tribune, police have not released the shooter's name, but said that he shot Kobe Jones, 13, nine times.... Gary Police Lt. Thomas Pawlak told the [Gary] Post-Tribune that the gunman's home was broken into and robbed some time on Friday afternoon..... As [the shooter] was having a noisy tantrum in his back yard, a crowd of neighborhood residents gathered. Jones made the mistake of laughing at his neighbor's histrionics."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Under the cloud of a bitter war in their nation's east, Ukrainians on Sunday were projected to have elected the most pro-European parliament in their country's 23-year-old history, firmly backing an effort to steer their nation away from Russia's orbit."
New York Times: "The Obama administration has been pushing the governors of New York and New Jersey to reverse their decision ordering all medical workers returning from West Africa who had contact with Ebola patients to be quarantined, an administration official said on Sunday."
... The Washington Post story is here.
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Reader Comments (17)
NY/NJ carefully planed response to Ebola seems to have a problem. The nurse who was quarantined at Newark airport reports on her treatment. Besides the fact they misdiagnosed her condition (no fever), they treated her like crap! http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/nyregion/nurse-in-newark-tests-negative-for-ebola.html?-
Welcome to America.
Would be interesting if the health professionals coming home from humanitarian missions in west Africa would just spit on their tormentors. First thing you know half the population would be enjoying the fruits of quarantine.
Does anyone besides me wonder how it is that Mitch McConnell, who has spent his entire career in politics, can afford to loan anyone $1.6 million? He has that kind of cash lying around? On $174,000 a year?
WTF?
I just read an article by Ezra Klein about how Elizabeth Warren should run for President in 2016. I began reading very skeptically, but finished hoping she will do just that! Good on you, Ezra. She has nothing to lose, and might very well succeed in pushing Hillary a bit to the Left. Don't want to get excessively hopeful on that one though.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/26592-6-reasons-elizabeth-warren-should-run-for-president
A Nonny Mouse: Insider trading rules don't apply to certain professions. That could be one reason.
To follow up, yes Marie, Christie is in part at fault for the quarantine mess at University Hospital. The nurse is in a TENT! Unrelated to this case, UH was designated as a primary Ebola hospital for NJ. UH used to be a a great hospital. Now it is a political toy.
And yes, the quarantine policy for people treating Ebola patients in Africa does make sense. There is concern that this may make volunteers less likely to go. But we should easily make arrangements for the best circumstances including their own location if practical or something a little better than a tent if necessary. You know, treat them with dignity and respect.
And lastly, 20+ years ago I arranged for my brother to have bypass surgery at UH. Today I wouldn't let them cut my nails. (They are excellent at one thing, gun shot wounds. They get a lot of practice.)
And this is NJ's number one Ebola hospital.
@Mouse: You may find this WaPo article entitled, "How Did Mitch McConnell's Net Worth Soar?" of interest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/05/22/how-did-mitch-mcconnells-net-worth-soar/
From a 1997 essay, Ben Bradlee's words on liars.
Some interesting history for journalists who simply accept a story at face value and feel they don't have to dig deeper (I'm looking at you Chuck "...it's not our responsibility..."Todd).
Tho, Bradlee offers a rationale that "Newspapers don’t tell the truth under many different, and occasionally innocent, scenarios. Mostly when they don’t know the truth. Or when they quote someone who does not know the truth."
On the other hand, he states, "Even the very best newspapers have never learned how to handle public figures who lie with a straight face."
Guess that means, we'll continue to quote you whether you lie outright and/or we know you are lying...we'll still publish your words AND NOT CALL YOU ON IT!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-his-own-words-ben-bradlee-on-liars/2014/10/22/6236cadc-4a67-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html
What a surprise, its all about politics. So the reason that Christie and Cuomo decided to quarantine the Ebola care givers was politics. Probably but that does not mean it is a bad idea. Never mind the disgraceful way NJ is handling it. Now Obama wants them to back off. NYT comments are saying that it makes no sense because we don't do the same for the people handling Ebola in the US. (Never mind the two nurses who were infected in Texas.) You cannot compare the activity in Africa with Bellevue Hospital. UH won't be a problem since the nurse is in a tent and the only contact with humans appears to be when they leave some food at the door.
Does anyone consider the word Medicine. Anyway the answer is to provide serious high quality environment for these people. Cuomo might figure that out but Christie never will.
OK one more comment on the nurse story. Reading the NYT and comments there seems to be a misunderstanding about quarantine.
The nurse has no symptoms of disease. Quarantine limits her contact with others. There is absolutely no reason why she is in a hospital. she could be at home in Maine. She could be in a hotel room with limited access. The girlfriend of the Dr. currently being treated in NYC is in her apartment! Quarantine has nothing to do with a hospital. This is Ebola. If she moved into my house the only thing I would not do is bite her if she started having a fever!!!
Marvin,
Okay. I'm willing to seriously consider this quarantine. However, she is in a tent without a shower or a flushable toilet, provided with magazines and newspapers for 'reading material', and can't see her attorney. That's one very bad plan. Home in Maine is a much better idea but then she will require round-the-clock guards for two entrances and a shopper to keep her fed as will every other arrival from west Africa who have had contact with an ebola patient. Christie may be willing to send her to Maine, but what will he insist on for the nurse or doc who lives in Trenton - just more tents and non-flushable toilets? I can't figure out how any 'comfortable' commercial living quarters owner will allow their property to be filled with possible ebola patients. What hotel would accept them and expect to not have their hotel empty out immediately?
How do we make this quarantine more humane?
@Haley Simon "How do we make this quarantine more humane?"
It's easy. You elect a governor who gives a shit about something other than himself. Remember there were quarantines in Texas (and no one including the people who lived with Mr. Duncan were infected.) and now in NYC and actually NJ. They simply require people to stay at home. Setting that up in practical way is very easy to do. But first you actually have to think and plan and give a damn.
Marvin,
I don't think you have solved the problems and I don't think it is simple. Forget the politics and tell me how you are going to "require" people to stay at home. Is it tents and non-flushable toilets for those who arrive in NJ and live in Arkansas? Will Arkansas take them? Will a plane fly them to Arkansas? Will the families of those who live in Trenton also be quarantined? "Selling" this quarantine is going to sow panic and ignorance and even more division in this country
A gazillion years ago, my brother came down with polio and, according to the protocol of the day, were quanantined. At home. The LA County healthniks stapled a red tag to our front door, and that was pretty much it. Except, of course, my father was excused from the quarantine because, you know, work. And because somebody had to shop for groceries and such. I was about 10, so that was 70+ years ago. Nobody else got sick; everyone survived. More importantly, no one paniced and imagined all sort of nonsense.
Haley, I don't want to bother with details but this is really no big deal. Had Christie appointed the right person in charge, the nurse would be home in Maine by now without any problems getting there or living in quarantine. Remember, she has no symptoms and she just flew in. Did anyone suggest we quarantine the people on that plane?
Marvin and James
You're the experts and I'm a Cassandra. Hope you're both right.
We'll know soon enough.
Sorry, Marvin, I can't resist.
I just read one of those NYT comments....the writer pointed out that the doc being treated in NY is in contact with healthcare workers.
Should they be quarantined?
As I fear....it's not simple.