High Ground Underground

     First we were reassured by the CDC and administration that Ebola couldn’t be a problem here, because we know how to deal with it.  Then a single case of Ebola gets into the country, and one of the best hospitals in the country, and the CDC, can’t deal with it.  2 healthcare workers there now have contracted the disease from the person who died from it (it has 70% mortality rate with no known cure), after wearing the protective gear and following protocols.  Obviously they didn’t understand it as well as they assured us.   On top of that, one of them began showing symptoms, and before traveling asked the CDC if she should, and they said yes!  When her symptoms were confirmed, everyone on the plane (over 100 people) is now a potential carrier and must be tracked.  And potentially everyone each of them comes in contact with – many hundreds more, etc., etc.  You can’t quarantine all of those people, or even thoroughly track ...

Free-Fall [from the NY Daily News Aug. 31] “Lawmakers across both parties had harsh words Sunday for President Obama's "cautious" approach to ongoing threats from Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq. "I think I've learned one thing about this President, and that is he's very cautious," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Maybe in this instance, too cautious." “On Thursday, during a televised statement to the U.S., Obama admitted that "we don't have a strategy yet "to combat the rise of the bloodthirsty ISIS militant organization in Syria and Iraq. “House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) meanwhile, responded to the startling admission on Sunday, claiming that the President's foreign policy was "in free fall." "Our traditional allies are now standing up saying 'well, ...

Russian Imperialism The surface-to-air missile (SAM) shoot-down of the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine with 298 aboard from many nations is just another consequence of a series of both U.S. foreign policy ineptness & lack of leadership, as well as adventurism by various bad guys around the world.  And the two go together – when we leave a vacuum, they’re more than happy to fill it. I’m still catching up after several months of hiatus.  I’d meant to comment during the Sochi Olympics, that there were already rumblings in the Ukraine (Russian-incited separatists & infiltrated, masked Russian special forces) that were clear to me would give the Russians their typical excuse for invasion (e.g., Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia,….).  But of course they’d wait until after the closing ceremonies to make their move.  I was going to blog that just as in the Disneyland commercials after the Super Bowl (where a victor is asked, “now that you...

The Bad Deal Our “amateur” president (to quote Bill Clinton) continues to display his ineptness in the 5-to-1 Taliban prisoner exchange for Private Bergdahl.  He claims the mantle of nobility in line with Washington, Lincoln & FDR who released prisoners, but shows his ignorance of history because those all followed cessation of hostilities, victory and instruments of surrender/treaties.  Of course he would like to think the war is over, and indeed politically wants to reap the rewards of unilaterally withdrawing troops before any conclusion to the conflict, or effective transition to a capable native defense force.  After all, OBL is dead, right, and he took the victory lap?  His ego is such that he apparently feels his sheer will and power of words will make it so.  But of course he didn’t even want to call it a war, but rather an “overseas contingency operation.”  So now that he wants to avoid the stigma of negotiating with terrorists, he calls ...