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herding cats
herding cats's Journal
herding cats's Journal
October 15, 2014
New Texas nurse with Ebola had fever on airliner
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - A second Texas nurse who has contracted Ebola flew on a commercial flight from Ohio to Dallas with a slight temperature the day before she was diagnosed, health officials said on Wednesday, raising new concerns about U.S. efforts to control the disease.
Chances that other passengers on the plane were infected were very low, but the nurse should not have been traveling on the flight, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters.
The woman, Amber Vinson, 29, was isolated immediately after reporting a fever on Tuesday, Texas Department of State Health Services officials said. She had treated Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola and was the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0I40UE20141015
October 15, 2014
While I can't reason out why or how the hospital thought this was acceptable practice, it does remove some of the mystery about why the healthcare workers are getting sick. I won't be surprised if there ends up being even more such shocking details exposed.
Records: Presbyterian workers treated Ebola patient without hazmat gear
Records: Presbyterian workers treated Ebola patient without hazmat gear
Health care workers treating Thomas Eric Duncan in a hospital isolation unit didn’t wear protective hazardous-material suits for two days until tests confirmed the Liberian man had Ebola — a delay that potentially exposed perhaps dozens of hospital workers to the virus, according to medical records.
Related
The 3-day window of Sept. 28-30 is now being targeted by investigators for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the key time during which health care workers may have been exposed to the deadly virus by Duncan, who died Oct. 8 from the disease.
Duncan was suspected of having Ebola when he was admitted to a hospital isolation unit Sept. 28, and he developed projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea later that day, according to medical records his family turned over to The Associated Press.
But workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas did not abandon their gowns and scrubs for hazmat suits until tests came back positive for Ebola about 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to details of the records released by AP.
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/presbyterian-workers-wore-no-protective-gear-for-two-days-while-treating-ebola-patient.html/
Health care workers treating Thomas Eric Duncan in a hospital isolation unit didn’t wear protective hazardous-material suits for two days until tests confirmed the Liberian man had Ebola — a delay that potentially exposed perhaps dozens of hospital workers to the virus, according to medical records.
Related
The 3-day window of Sept. 28-30 is now being targeted by investigators for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the key time during which health care workers may have been exposed to the deadly virus by Duncan, who died Oct. 8 from the disease.
Duncan was suspected of having Ebola when he was admitted to a hospital isolation unit Sept. 28, and he developed projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea later that day, according to medical records his family turned over to The Associated Press.
But workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas did not abandon their gowns and scrubs for hazmat suits until tests came back positive for Ebola about 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to details of the records released by AP.
http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/presbyterian-workers-wore-no-protective-gear-for-two-days-while-treating-ebola-patient.html/
While I can't reason out why or how the hospital thought this was acceptable practice, it does remove some of the mystery about why the healthcare workers are getting sick. I won't be surprised if there ends up being even more such shocking details exposed.
October 11, 2014
I am floored by the level of ignorance and misogyny in this statement. If out of wedlock births are so feared by the Texas AG they they need to address poverty in their state which is a cause, or maybe try providing access to birthcontrol for the impoverish in the state, not limiting it even further. Medicaid expansion in the state would have a direct effect on decreasing the number of unwed couples making babies down there, but gay marriage is what they want to blame the problem on?
On a brighter note, If you're a gay person in Texas wanting to get married in the near future, I don't see how even the conservative stuffed fifth circuit court is going to be able to rule in favor of this lame argument.
Greg Abbott: Texas gay marriage ban reduces out-of-wedlock births
AUSTIN – Attorney General Greg Abbott says Texas’ same-sex marriage ban should remain in place because legalizing it would do little or nothing to encourage heterosexual couples to get married and have children.
Writing in a brief filed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Abbott said the state was not obligated to prove why gay marriage might be detrimental to the economic or social well-being of Texans. It was only required to show how opposite-sex marriage would be more beneficial for its citizens.
“The State is not required to show that recognizing same-sex marriage will undermine heterosexual marriage,” the brief read. “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriages will.”
<>
He added, “Second, Texas’s marriage laws are rationally related to the State’s interest in reducing unplanned out-of-wedlock births. By channeling procreative heterosexual intercourse into marriage, Texas’s marriage laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the costs that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.”
In the brief, Abbott concedes that same-sex marriage might have some positive effects for society, like increasing household wealth and adoptions or providing a more stable environment for children raised by gay couples. While there might be benefits, however, he said it’s for the Legislature, not the courts, to decide whether to expand the right to marry.
http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2014/10/abbott-texas-gay-marriage-ban-reduces-out-of-wedlock-births/
Writing in a brief filed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Abbott said the state was not obligated to prove why gay marriage might be detrimental to the economic or social well-being of Texans. It was only required to show how opposite-sex marriage would be more beneficial for its citizens.
“The State is not required to show that recognizing same-sex marriage will undermine heterosexual marriage,” the brief read. “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriages will.”
<>
He added, “Second, Texas’s marriage laws are rationally related to the State’s interest in reducing unplanned out-of-wedlock births. By channeling procreative heterosexual intercourse into marriage, Texas’s marriage laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the costs that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.”
In the brief, Abbott concedes that same-sex marriage might have some positive effects for society, like increasing household wealth and adoptions or providing a more stable environment for children raised by gay couples. While there might be benefits, however, he said it’s for the Legislature, not the courts, to decide whether to expand the right to marry.
http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2014/10/abbott-texas-gay-marriage-ban-reduces-out-of-wedlock-births/
I am floored by the level of ignorance and misogyny in this statement. If out of wedlock births are so feared by the Texas AG they they need to address poverty in their state which is a cause, or maybe try providing access to birthcontrol for the impoverish in the state, not limiting it even further. Medicaid expansion in the state would have a direct effect on decreasing the number of unwed couples making babies down there, but gay marriage is what they want to blame the problem on?
On a brighter note, If you're a gay person in Texas wanting to get married in the near future, I don't see how even the conservative stuffed fifth circuit court is going to be able to rule in favor of this lame argument.
October 10, 2014
Details About 'Party Boy' George W. Bush's Drunken Driving Incident Revealed
Australian tennis legend John Newcombe has lifted the lid on "party boy" George W. Bush and the drunken-driving revelation that clouded his 2000 US presidential election campaign.
<>
"George was a bit of a party boy in those days," Newcombe said of George W.
"I noticed that George was sort of eyeing me off," he added as they began drinking "reasonable-sized mugs of beer."
"I put on a bit of pace, and he'd keep pace with me. A little silent game was going on.
"After about four of these, I picked the glass up in my teeth without my hands and skulled it straight down and I said, 'What are you made of, George?' And so he had to do that."
Newcombe said he then drank another beer from the wrong side of the glass: "I looked at him and go, 'Have you got any guts, George, or what's your story?' So he did that."
The pair staggered back to their car, and Newcombe's wife, Angie, offered to drive, but Bush insisted he was fine.
"We had about three miles to drive down this road along the sea, and after about a mile he got pulled over," Newcombe recalled.
"The cop got out of the car and made him walk the line and back and he kind of did it all right, but he was a bit cheeky when he was doing it," he said.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-newcombe-lifts-lid-on-party-boy-george-w.-bush-2014-10#ixzz3Fmtz6nKt
<>
"George was a bit of a party boy in those days," Newcombe said of George W.
"I noticed that George was sort of eyeing me off," he added as they began drinking "reasonable-sized mugs of beer."
"I put on a bit of pace, and he'd keep pace with me. A little silent game was going on.
"After about four of these, I picked the glass up in my teeth without my hands and skulled it straight down and I said, 'What are you made of, George?' And so he had to do that."
Newcombe said he then drank another beer from the wrong side of the glass: "I looked at him and go, 'Have you got any guts, George, or what's your story?' So he did that."
The pair staggered back to their car, and Newcombe's wife, Angie, offered to drive, but Bush insisted he was fine.
"We had about three miles to drive down this road along the sea, and after about a mile he got pulled over," Newcombe recalled.
"The cop got out of the car and made him walk the line and back and he kind of did it all right, but he was a bit cheeky when he was doing it," he said.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-newcombe-lifts-lid-on-party-boy-george-w.-bush-2014-10#ixzz3Fmtz6nKt
October 10, 2014
Thousands of venomous spiders force family from upscale Missouri home
WELDON SPRING, Mo. -- A family was driven from their suburban St. Louis home by thousands of venomous spiders that fell from the ceiling and oozed from the walls.
Brian and Susan Trost bought the $450,000 home overlooking two golf holes at Whitmoor Country Club in Weldon Spring in October 2007 and soon afterward started seeing brown recluse spiders everywhere, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Once when showering, Susan Trost dodged a spider as it fell from the ceiling and washed down the drain.
An expert on brown recluse spiders told CBS affiliate KMOV-TV that the creature's bite can be very serious depending on how much venom is injected.
<>
At a civil trial in St. Charles County in October 2011, University of Kansas biology professor Jamel Sandidge - considered one of the nation's leading brown recluse researchers - estimated there were between 4,500 and 6,000 spiders in the home. Making matters worse, he said, those calculations were made in the winter when the spiders are least active.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thousands-of-venomous-spiders-force-family-from-upscale-missouri-home/
Brian and Susan Trost bought the $450,000 home overlooking two golf holes at Whitmoor Country Club in Weldon Spring in October 2007 and soon afterward started seeing brown recluse spiders everywhere, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Once when showering, Susan Trost dodged a spider as it fell from the ceiling and washed down the drain.
An expert on brown recluse spiders told CBS affiliate KMOV-TV that the creature's bite can be very serious depending on how much venom is injected.
<>
At a civil trial in St. Charles County in October 2011, University of Kansas biology professor Jamel Sandidge - considered one of the nation's leading brown recluse researchers - estimated there were between 4,500 and 6,000 spiders in the home. Making matters worse, he said, those calculations were made in the winter when the spiders are least active.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/thousands-of-venomous-spiders-force-family-from-upscale-missouri-home/
October 10, 2014
This was sent to me and I decided to share the article for the first sentence alone.
There are words that you just don't say in specific situations.
"Fire" in a crowded theater, "bomb" in the TSA line, "gun" near a presidential motorcade and "news" when preceded by "Fox" and followed by "network."
The newest word to enter the lexicon of "Don't say this out loud, you bonehead, especially in a 767 packed with paranoia," is "Ebola." And with pretty good reason.
As if we needed a wake-up call about cautious use of the name of the world's scariest virus (at the moment, anyway), on Oct. 8, a passenger on a U.S. Airways flight from Philadelphia to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, made enough of a joke about having the virus that the flight was grounded and the plane isolated, according to a video posted on YouTube by fellow passenger Patrick Narvaez, who as of Thursday had 21 subscribers.
http://blog.sfgate.com/travel/2014/10/09/ebola-joke-gets-passenger-kicked-off-plane-leads-to-latest-no-fly-word/
The newest word to enter the lexicon of "Don't say this out loud, you bonehead, especially in a 767 packed with paranoia," is "Ebola." And with pretty good reason.
As if we needed a wake-up call about cautious use of the name of the world's scariest virus (at the moment, anyway), on Oct. 8, a passenger on a U.S. Airways flight from Philadelphia to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, made enough of a joke about having the virus that the flight was grounded and the plane isolated, according to a video posted on YouTube by fellow passenger Patrick Narvaez, who as of Thursday had 21 subscribers.
http://blog.sfgate.com/travel/2014/10/09/ebola-joke-gets-passenger-kicked-off-plane-leads-to-latest-no-fly-word/
This was sent to me and I decided to share the article for the first sentence alone.
October 9, 2014
Health officials: Test results are negative for Dallas County deputy. He does NOT have Ebola.
DALLAS -- The Texas Department of State Health Services says negative results were returned from a lab in Austin Thursday, indicating that a Dallas County deputy does not have the Ebola virus.
This is a breaking news update. Check back for more on this developing story.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/health/2014/10/09/ebola-test-results-negative-dallas-county-deputy/16984093/
October 7, 2014
I'm quite interested in what the League of Women Voters and the local chapter of the NAACP have to say about their voter registration drives.
Huge Increase In Voter Registrations In Ferguson Apparently Never Happened
Last week, numerous news outlets, national and local, reported on a huge increase in registered voters in Ferguson, Mo., following the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown. But it apparently didn't actually happen.
The St. Louis County elections board reported that 3,287 Ferguson residents had registered to vote. That is a huge surge for a city of 21,000, particularly as controversy swelled about the racial make-up of the city government after the shooting. Ferguson is two-thirds African-American, but its mayor and all but one member of the six-person city council are white.
But apparently that first report was in error. There was no voter registration spike. The county elections board reversed course on Tuesday and said that, actually, only 128 people had registered to vote since the shooting.
<>
St. Louis County director of elections Rita Heard Days told TPM in a phone interview Tuesday that the county had mistakenly used a report that records all changes to a voter's registration information -- new address, change in marital status, etc. -- to get the initial 3,287 number. Somebody within the office pointed out the issue after the huge spike was reported, and the board worked with the secretary of state's office to get the actual 128 new registrants.
Days said she thought the original report of 3,000-plus new voters was "odd," but that it was at least possible because a lot of people had asked for voter registration information since the Brown shooting.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/ferguson-missouri-voter-registration-drive-didnt-happen
The St. Louis County elections board reported that 3,287 Ferguson residents had registered to vote. That is a huge surge for a city of 21,000, particularly as controversy swelled about the racial make-up of the city government after the shooting. Ferguson is two-thirds African-American, but its mayor and all but one member of the six-person city council are white.
But apparently that first report was in error. There was no voter registration spike. The county elections board reversed course on Tuesday and said that, actually, only 128 people had registered to vote since the shooting.
<>
St. Louis County director of elections Rita Heard Days told TPM in a phone interview Tuesday that the county had mistakenly used a report that records all changes to a voter's registration information -- new address, change in marital status, etc. -- to get the initial 3,287 number. Somebody within the office pointed out the issue after the huge spike was reported, and the board worked with the secretary of state's office to get the actual 128 new registrants.
Days said she thought the original report of 3,000-plus new voters was "odd," but that it was at least possible because a lot of people had asked for voter registration information since the Brown shooting.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/ferguson-missouri-voter-registration-drive-didnt-happen
I'm quite interested in what the League of Women Voters and the local chapter of the NAACP have to say about their voter registration drives.
October 7, 2014
A former CEO said that Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner made rather direct threats against her, allegedly saying that if she decided to "go legal" Rauner and his colleagues at the Chicago investment firm GTCR would "hurt you and your family."
Those comments, allegedly made by Rauner to Christine Kirk, were published in a report from The Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday. Rauner's alleged threats were directed at Christine Kirk, a CEO of a national accounting firm who Rauner and GTCR recruited to help run the business-outsourcing company LeapSource. Rauner was a member of LeapSource's board.
The threats the Sun-Times reported came from a 2005 deposition that came out of a "corporate divorce" between Kirk and Rauner as a result of the LeapSource project collapsing. The Chicago Sun-Times was able to obtain records of the lawsuit Kirk filed against Rauner and GTCR. In it Kirk alleged that Rauner very directly threatened her.
"If you go legal on us, we’ll hurt you and your family," Rauner allegedly threatened to Kirk in February 2001.
According to Kirk, Rauner also suggested to another board member, Thomas Gilman, that he might go after her.
"I will bury her," Rauner allegedly said to Gilman.
There's more. Rauner also allegedly told Gilman that he would make Kirk "radioactive."
"She will never get another job anywhere, ever. I will bankrupt her with legal fees," Rauner said. "I don't know if she has a family or not, but if she does, she better think twice about this."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bruce-rauner-christine-kirk-lawsuit-threats
IL GOPer Allegedly Threatened CEO Over Lawsuit: 'I Will Bury Her'
A former CEO said that Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner made rather direct threats against her, allegedly saying that if she decided to "go legal" Rauner and his colleagues at the Chicago investment firm GTCR would "hurt you and your family."
Those comments, allegedly made by Rauner to Christine Kirk, were published in a report from The Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday. Rauner's alleged threats were directed at Christine Kirk, a CEO of a national accounting firm who Rauner and GTCR recruited to help run the business-outsourcing company LeapSource. Rauner was a member of LeapSource's board.
The threats the Sun-Times reported came from a 2005 deposition that came out of a "corporate divorce" between Kirk and Rauner as a result of the LeapSource project collapsing. The Chicago Sun-Times was able to obtain records of the lawsuit Kirk filed against Rauner and GTCR. In it Kirk alleged that Rauner very directly threatened her.
"If you go legal on us, we’ll hurt you and your family," Rauner allegedly threatened to Kirk in February 2001.
According to Kirk, Rauner also suggested to another board member, Thomas Gilman, that he might go after her.
"I will bury her," Rauner allegedly said to Gilman.
There's more. Rauner also allegedly told Gilman that he would make Kirk "radioactive."
"She will never get another job anywhere, ever. I will bankrupt her with legal fees," Rauner said. "I don't know if she has a family or not, but if she does, she better think twice about this."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bruce-rauner-christine-kirk-lawsuit-threats
October 7, 2014
The U.S. Attorney defending Sinnigen claims that the agent's actions were OK: while Arquiett did not give "express permission" for Sinnigen to use the photos, it is argued, she "implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an ongoing criminal investigations." To which Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania law professor interviewed by BuzzFeed, replied: "I may allow someone to come into my home and search, but that doesn't mean they can take the photos from my coffee table and post them online."
http://gawker.com/feds-stole-a-womans-identity-and-made-a-fake-facebook-p-1643348368
Feds Stole a Woman's Identity and Made a Fake Facebook Page for Her
Search "Sondra Price" on Facebook and you'll find a profile for the woman shown above. From the information that's publicly displayed, you'll learn a few things about her: She went to Watertown High School, she drives a BMW, her nickname is "Sosa," and judging by one picture, she might have young children.
All of this is true—the children in the photo are her son and niece, it turns out—but she didn't create the Facebook page—a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent named Timothy Sinnigen did. Sondra Arniquett was arrested in 2010 for a minor role in a cocaine-dealing ring (she went by Sondra Prince at the time). Ultimately, she was sentenced to probation, BuzzFeed reports, and without her knowledge, Sinnigen used photos and information taken from her seized cell phone to set up the profile in hopes of luring in other offenders. Now, Arniquett is suing Sinnigen, and government attorneys are claiming that the identity theft was permissible. From BuzzFeed:
The DEA's actions might never have come to light if Arquiett, now 28, hadn't sued Sinnigen, accusing him in federal district court in Syracuse, New York, of violating her privacy and placing her in danger.
In a court filing, a U.S. attorney acknowledges that, unbeknownst to Arquiett, Sinnigen created the fake Facebook account, posed as her, posted photos, sent a friend request to a fugitive, accepted other friend requests, and used the account "for a legitimate law enforcement purpose."
In a court filing, a U.S. attorney acknowledges that, unbeknownst to Arquiett, Sinnigen created the fake Facebook account, posed as her, posted photos, sent a friend request to a fugitive, accepted other friend requests, and used the account "for a legitimate law enforcement purpose."
The U.S. Attorney defending Sinnigen claims that the agent's actions were OK: while Arquiett did not give "express permission" for Sinnigen to use the photos, it is argued, she "implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in an ongoing criminal investigations." To which Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania law professor interviewed by BuzzFeed, replied: "I may allow someone to come into my home and search, but that doesn't mean they can take the photos from my coffee table and post them online."
http://gawker.com/feds-stole-a-womans-identity-and-made-a-fake-facebook-p-1643348368
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