Saturday, August 9, 2014
Airlift to U.S. considered for Brantly and another American infected with Ebola
Airlift to U.S. considered for Brantly and another American infected with Ebola
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ATLANTA -
MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
3:00 P.M. UPDATE
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The death toll from the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history, which has touched Abilene, surpassed 700 in West Africa as security forces went house-to-house in Sierra Leone’s capital Thursday looking for patients and others exposed to the disease.
Fears grew as the United States warned against travel to the three infected countries — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — and Sierra Leone’s soccer team was blocked from boarding a plane in Nairobi, Kenya, that was to take them to the Seychelles for a game on Saturday. Airport authorities in Kenya said Seychelles immigration told them to prevent the team from traveling.
Almost half of the 57 new deaths reported by the World Health Organization occurred in Liberia, where two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly, a 2003 graduate of Abilene Christian University, and Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina-based missionary, are also sick with Ebola.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is looking into options to bring them back to the U.S. Officials at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital said they expected one of the Americans to be transferred there “within the next several days.”
The hospital declined to identify which aid worker, citing privacy laws.
“They have absolutely shown no symptoms,” said Melissa Strickland, a spokeswoman for the group for which Brantly was volunteering.
The World Health Organization says the disease is not contagious until a person begins to show symptoms.
Amber Brantly says in a statement Thursday that she and the children are “physically fine.”
She did not mention whether her husband is the American to be transferred to the U.S.
“Our prayers for healing go out to Dr. Kent Brantly (’03), who has been tending to Ebola patients in Liberia with Samaritan’s Purse and has now tested positive for the virus himself,” Abilene Christian University posted to its Facebook page Sunday morning. “Please join us in lifting up the Brantly family in prayer.”
Writebol is in stable but serious condition and is receiving an experimental treatment that doctors hope will better address her condition, according to a statement released by SIM, a Christian missions organization. Her husband, David, is close by but can only visit his wife through a window or dressed in a haz-mat suit, the statement said.
“There was only enough (of the experimental serum) for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, another aid organization that has been working in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
Brantly, who works for the aid group, did receive a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of the doctor’s care, Graham said in a statement.
“The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life,” he said.
Giving a survivor’s blood to a patient might be aimed at seeing whether any antibodies the survivor made to the virus could help someone else fight off the infection. This approach has been tried in previous Ebola outbreaks with mixed results.
No further details were provided on the experimental treatment. There is currently no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola, and patients can only be given supportive care to keep them hydrated. There are a handful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola and while some have had promising results in animals including monkeys, none has been rigorously tested in humans.
The disease has continued to spread through bodily fluids as sick people remain out in the community and cared for by relatives without protective gear. People have become ill from touching sick family members and in some cases from soiled linens.
In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have refused to go to isolation centers. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival instead of bringing them to clinics that have had a 60 percent fatality rate. Those in the throngs of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears.
Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said it is “crucial” at this point to gain the trust of communities that have been afraid to let health workers in and to deploy more medical staff.
“The declaration of a state of emergency in Sierra Leone shows a recognition of the gravity of the situation, but we do not yet know what this will mean on the ground. What we can say is that it will be difficult to implement due to the fact that the cases are dispersed over such a large area, and that we currently do not have a clear picture of where all the hotspots are,” she said.
Liberia’s president on Wednesday also instituted new measures aimed at halting the spread of Ebola, including shutting down schools and ordering most public servants to stay home from work.
“It could be helpful for the government to have powers to isolate and quarantine people and it’s certainly better than what’s been done so far,” said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Whether it works, we will have to wait and see.”
Dr. Unni Krishnan, head of disaster preparedness and response for the aid group Plan International, said closing schools could help as they bring large numbers of children together, which can amplify infection rates.
“Door-to-door searches are not going to be easy,” he said. “What will help is encouraging people to come forward when they see symptoms and seek medical help.”
The U.S. Peace Corps also was evacuating hundreds of its volunteers in the affected countries. Two Peace Corps workers are under isolation outside the U.S. after having contact with a person who later died from the Ebola virus, a State Department official said.
In Moberly, Missouri, Liz Sosniecki said she got a call from her 25-year-old son, Dane, a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He had not been exposed to Ebola and expressed disappointment about leaving just six weeks after he arrived.
“He said, ‘I’m coming home.’ Sorry,” she said, beginning to cry. “I’m a little emotional. It’s a relief.”
The last time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued such a travel warning during a disease outbreak was in 2003 because of SARS in Asia.
Ebola now has been blamed for 729 deaths in four West African countries this year: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Leone, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria.
The World Health Organization is launching a $100 million response plan calling for the deployment of several hundred additional health workers to help the strained resources in deeply impoverished West Africa, where hospital and clinics are ill-equipped to cope with routine health threats let alone the outbreak of a virulent disease like Ebola.
Among the deaths announced this week was that of the chief doctor treating Ebola in Sierra Leone, who was buried Thursday. The government said Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan’s death was “an irreparable loss of this son of the soil.” The 39-year-old was a leading doctor on hemorrhagic fevers in a nation with very few medical resources.
The Ebola cases first emerged in Guinea back in March, and later spread across the borders to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Outbreaks of the virus in previous years had occurred in other parts of Africa.
The current outbreak is now the largest recorded in world history, and has infected three African capitals with international airports. Officials are trying to step up screening of passengers, though an American man was able to fly from Liberia to Nigeria, where authorities say he died days later from Ebola.
Experts say the risk of travelers contracting it is considered low because it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions such as urine, blood, sweat or saliva. Ebola can’t be spread like flu through casual contact or breathing in the same air.
Patients are contagious only once the disease has progressed to the point they show symptoms, according to the World Health Organization. The most vulnerable are health care workers and relatives who come in much closer contact with the sick.
In Liberia, authorities say 28 out of the 45 health workers who have contracted the disease so far have died.
MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
3:00 P.M. UPDATE
(AP) — Federal officials say two American aid workers who
contracted Ebola in Africa will be flown into a metro Atlanta military
base.
The Pentagon's press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Friday that a private-chartered aircraft will be arriving at Dobbins Air Reserve Base with patients evacuated from Africa. The patients will then be taken to medical facilities.
Kirby says officials in the U.S. State Department asked the military to provide an airfield for the arrival.
Details about the patients' movements were not entirely clear Friday. Kirby said he did not know when the patients would arrive.
At least one of the Americans was expected to be treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, which has a specialized isolation unit. Hospital officials have declined to identify which patient will be treated there.
The Pentagon's press secretary, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said Friday that a private-chartered aircraft will be arriving at Dobbins Air Reserve Base with patients evacuated from Africa. The patients will then be taken to medical facilities.
Kirby says officials in the U.S. State Department asked the military to provide an airfield for the arrival.
Details about the patients' movements were not entirely clear Friday. Kirby said he did not know when the patients would arrive.
At least one of the Americans was expected to be treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, which has a specialized isolation unit. Hospital officials have declined to identify which patient will be treated there.
EARLIER UPDATE
NEW YORK (AP) — Plans are under way to bring back the two American aid workers sick with Ebola from Africa.
A small private jet based in Atlanta has been dispatched to Liberia where the two Americans work for missionary groups. Officials say the jet is outfitted with a special, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
The U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are helping to arrange the evacuation.
"The safety and security of U.S. citizens is our paramount concern," said the State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, in a statement released Friday morning. "Every precaution is being taken to move the patients safely and securely."
The two Americans — Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol — are in serious condition and were still in Liberia on Friday, said the charity Samaritan's Purse. Their transfer to the U.S. should be completed by early next week, the North Carolina-based group said.
Brantly, who works for Samaritan's Purse, treated Ebola patients at a Liberia hospital. Writebol also worked at the hospital for another U.S. mission group called SIM.
An administrator for the now closed hospital, Dr. Jerry Brown, however, said the two Americans were to leave Liberia on Friday. He did not know how they were being transported or where they were headed.
At least one of the Americans is expected to be treated in the U.S. at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, which has a special isolation unit. Emory said Thursday that it expected the patient to arrive "within the next several days."
The hospital declined to identify the patient, citing privacy laws. The private jet can only accommodate one patient at a time.
The Emory solation unit is one of about four around the country for testing and treating people who may have been exposed to very dangerous viruses, said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor who formerly worked at the CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
The current outbreak in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has killed more than 700 people.
ORIGINAL STORYNEW YORK (AP) — Plans are under way to bring back the two American aid workers sick with Ebola from Africa.
A small private jet based in Atlanta has been dispatched to Liberia where the two Americans work for missionary groups. Officials say the jet is outfitted with a special, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
The U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are helping to arrange the evacuation.
"The safety and security of U.S. citizens is our paramount concern," said the State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, in a statement released Friday morning. "Every precaution is being taken to move the patients safely and securely."
The two Americans — Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol — are in serious condition and were still in Liberia on Friday, said the charity Samaritan's Purse. Their transfer to the U.S. should be completed by early next week, the North Carolina-based group said.
Brantly, who works for Samaritan's Purse, treated Ebola patients at a Liberia hospital. Writebol also worked at the hospital for another U.S. mission group called SIM.
An administrator for the now closed hospital, Dr. Jerry Brown, however, said the two Americans were to leave Liberia on Friday. He did not know how they were being transported or where they were headed.
At least one of the Americans is expected to be treated in the U.S. at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, which has a special isolation unit. Emory said Thursday that it expected the patient to arrive "within the next several days."
The hospital declined to identify the patient, citing privacy laws. The private jet can only accommodate one patient at a time.
The Emory solation unit is one of about four around the country for testing and treating people who may have been exposed to very dangerous viruses, said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor who formerly worked at the CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
The current outbreak in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has killed more than 700 people.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The death toll from the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history, which has touched Abilene, surpassed 700 in West Africa as security forces went house-to-house in Sierra Leone’s capital Thursday looking for patients and others exposed to the disease.
Fears grew as the United States warned against travel to the three infected countries — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — and Sierra Leone’s soccer team was blocked from boarding a plane in Nairobi, Kenya, that was to take them to the Seychelles for a game on Saturday. Airport authorities in Kenya said Seychelles immigration told them to prevent the team from traveling.
Ebola patients headed to Atlanta
Ebola patients headed to Atlanta
Almost half of the 57 new deaths reported by the World Health Organization occurred in Liberia, where two Americans, Dr. Kent Brantly, a 2003 graduate of Abilene Christian University, and Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina-based missionary, are also sick with Ebola.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is looking into options to bring them back to the U.S. Officials at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital said they expected one of the Americans to be transferred there “within the next several days.”
The hospital declined to identify which aid worker, citing privacy laws.
Brantly’s wife, Abilene native Amber (Carroll) Brantly, and the couple’s children, ages 3 and 5, returned to Abilene nearly two weeks ago, before Brantly began showing signs of illness.Amber Brantly StatementI would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the many people who have reached out to me and my family during this difficult time. Thank you to our good friends and thousands more who have been in constant prayer and fasting for Kent’s deliverance from this disease. Also, thank you to Samaritan’s Purse for their warmth, professionalism, and support they have extended to us.
I remain hopeful and believing that Kent will be healed from this dreadful disease. I am grateful for the daily reports I receive from his doctors on the ground. He is strong and peaceful and confident in the love of Jesus Christ, which is his sustenance right now.
Many people have been asking how I am doing. The children and I are physically fine. We had left Liberia prior to Kent’s exposure to the virus. I am always anxiously awaiting any news from Liberia regarding Kent’s condition. Through the mountain tops and the valleys of this ordeal I have been given a peace that comes from my relationship with my God. Jesus remains the Rock that I lean on. I feel strengthened each passing hour by your prayers. Through letters and comments, we have felt God’s love and comfort poured out to us from literally every corner of the world.
During our time in Texas, the children and I have enjoyed the reunion of family. Our kids have been a welcome relief and distraction to us all, reminding us of our joy and hope.
I have been encouraged by the Writebol family and their bravery during this situation. They have kindly reached out to me and offered their full support and prayers as we walk this road together.
I ask for your continued prayers for Kent, Nancy, and the many others who are suffering.
“They have absolutely shown no symptoms,” said Melissa Strickland, a spokeswoman for the group for which Brantly was volunteering.
The World Health Organization says the disease is not contagious until a person begins to show symptoms.
Amber Brantly says in a statement Thursday that she and the children are “physically fine.”
She did not mention whether her husband is the American to be transferred to the U.S.
“Our prayers for healing go out to Dr. Kent Brantly (’03), who has been tending to Ebola patients in Liberia with Samaritan’s Purse and has now tested positive for the virus himself,” Abilene Christian University posted to its Facebook page Sunday morning. “Please join us in lifting up the Brantly family in prayer.”
Writebol is in stable but serious condition and is receiving an experimental treatment that doctors hope will better address her condition, according to a statement released by SIM, a Christian missions organization. Her husband, David, is close by but can only visit his wife through a window or dressed in a haz-mat suit, the statement said.
“There was only enough (of the experimental serum) for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, another aid organization that has been working in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
Brantly, who works for the aid group, did receive a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of the doctor’s care, Graham said in a statement.
“The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life,” he said.
Giving a survivor’s blood to a patient might be aimed at seeing whether any antibodies the survivor made to the virus could help someone else fight off the infection. This approach has been tried in previous Ebola outbreaks with mixed results.
No further details were provided on the experimental treatment. There is currently no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola, and patients can only be given supportive care to keep them hydrated. There are a handful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola and while some have had promising results in animals including monkeys, none has been rigorously tested in humans.
The disease has continued to spread through bodily fluids as sick people remain out in the community and cared for by relatives without protective gear. People have become ill from touching sick family members and in some cases from soiled linens.
In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have refused to go to isolation centers. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival instead of bringing them to clinics that have had a 60 percent fatality rate. Those in the throngs of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears.
Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said it is “crucial” at this point to gain the trust of communities that have been afraid to let health workers in and to deploy more medical staff.
“The declaration of a state of emergency in Sierra Leone shows a recognition of the gravity of the situation, but we do not yet know what this will mean on the ground. What we can say is that it will be difficult to implement due to the fact that the cases are dispersed over such a large area, and that we currently do not have a clear picture of where all the hotspots are,” she said.
Liberia’s president on Wednesday also instituted new measures aimed at halting the spread of Ebola, including shutting down schools and ordering most public servants to stay home from work.
“It could be helpful for the government to have powers to isolate and quarantine people and it’s certainly better than what’s been done so far,” said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “Whether it works, we will have to wait and see.”
Dr. Unni Krishnan, head of disaster preparedness and response for the aid group Plan International, said closing schools could help as they bring large numbers of children together, which can amplify infection rates.
“Door-to-door searches are not going to be easy,” he said. “What will help is encouraging people to come forward when they see symptoms and seek medical help.”
The U.S. Peace Corps also was evacuating hundreds of its volunteers in the affected countries. Two Peace Corps workers are under isolation outside the U.S. after having contact with a person who later died from the Ebola virus, a State Department official said.
In Moberly, Missouri, Liz Sosniecki said she got a call from her 25-year-old son, Dane, a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He had not been exposed to Ebola and expressed disappointment about leaving just six weeks after he arrived.
“He said, ‘I’m coming home.’ Sorry,” she said, beginning to cry. “I’m a little emotional. It’s a relief.”
The last time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued such a travel warning during a disease outbreak was in 2003 because of SARS in Asia.
Ebola now has been blamed for 729 deaths in four West African countries this year: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Leone, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria.
The World Health Organization is launching a $100 million response plan calling for the deployment of several hundred additional health workers to help the strained resources in deeply impoverished West Africa, where hospital and clinics are ill-equipped to cope with routine health threats let alone the outbreak of a virulent disease like Ebola.
Among the deaths announced this week was that of the chief doctor treating Ebola in Sierra Leone, who was buried Thursday. The government said Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan’s death was “an irreparable loss of this son of the soil.” The 39-year-old was a leading doctor on hemorrhagic fevers in a nation with very few medical resources.
The Ebola cases first emerged in Guinea back in March, and later spread across the borders to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Outbreaks of the virus in previous years had occurred in other parts of Africa.
The current outbreak is now the largest recorded in world history, and has infected three African capitals with international airports. Officials are trying to step up screening of passengers, though an American man was able to fly from Liberia to Nigeria, where authorities say he died days later from Ebola.
Experts say the risk of travelers contracting it is considered low because it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions such as urine, blood, sweat or saliva. Ebola can’t be spread like flu through casual contact or breathing in the same air.
Patients are contagious only once the disease has progressed to the point they show symptoms, according to the World Health Organization. The most vulnerable are health care workers and relatives who come in much closer contact with the sick.
In Liberia, authorities say 28 out of the 45 health workers who have contracted the disease so far have died.
Merciless' Ebola virus spreading, CDC chief says Travel restricted as dead top 700
Merciless' Ebola virus spreading, CDC chief says
Travel restricted as dead top 700
Friday, August 1, 2014
PHOTO BY AP / ABBAS DULLEH
A man washes his hands
Thursday before entering a public building in Monrovia, Liberia, as part
of a drive to prevent further spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Security forces went house-to-house in
Sierra Leone's capital Thursday looking for Ebola patients and others
exposed to the disease as the death toll from the worst recorded
outbreak in history surpassed 700 in West Africa.
Fears grew as the United States warned against travel to three countries -- Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- experiencing outbreaks.
"The bottom line is Ebola is worsening in West Africa," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who announced the travel warning. He called Ebola "a tragic, dreadful and merciless virus."
The purpose of the travel warning is to not only protect U.S. travelers but also limit their use of overburdened clinics and hospitals for injuries or other illnesses, he said.
Little Rock-based nonprofit Heifer International, which works to address world hunger, has staff members in West Africa. Heifer spokesman Tina Hall said the organization has two employees in Sierra Leone but none in Liberia or Guinea.
"We have had contact with them, and they are well," she said. "They're based there, so they're not really traveling back and forth."
Hall said the travel advisory would not affect Heifer's work, because it does not have current or forthcoming projects in the three countries covered by the travel notice.
As their countries struggle to deal with the Ebola outbreak, the presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone said Thursday that they will not attend President Barack Obama's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington next week. The event was planned to discuss investment, regional stability and U.S. ties to the region.
The president of Guinea is still debating whether to attend the conference, said a State Department official who wasn't authorized to comment publicly. The three countries will be represented by high-level delegations in any case, the official said.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Thursday that meetings on how to respond to the Ebola crisis will be held during the conference with staff members from the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Almost half of the 57 new deaths reported by the World Health Organization on Thursday occurred in Liberia, where two Americans -- Dr. Kent Brantly of Texas and Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina-based missionary -- also are sick with Ebola.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is looking into options to bring them back to the U.S. Officials at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital said they expected one of the Americans to be transferred there "within the next several days." The hospital declined to identify which aid worker, citing privacy laws.
Officials said in a statement Thursday that the hospital has a special isolation unit that was built in collaboration with the CDC that is used to treat people with certain serious infectious diseases.
Writebol was in stable but serious condition Thursday and was receiving an experimental treatment, according to a statement released by SIM, a Christian missions organization.
"There was only enough [of the experimental serum] for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse, another aid organization that has been working in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
Brantly, who works for Samaritan's Purse, did receive a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of the doctor's care, Graham said.
"The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life," he said.
Giving a survivor's blood to a patient might be aimed at seeing whether any antibodies the survivor made to the virus could help someone else fight off the infection. This approach has been tried in previous Ebola outbreaks with mixed results.
"I remain hopeful and believing that Kent will be healed from this dreadful disease," Brantly's wife, Amber, said in a statement released by Samaritan's Purse. She and the couple's two young children left Liberia for Texas before her husband was infected, and she said they are fine.
There is currently no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola. There are a handful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola, some of which have had promising results in animals including monkeys.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that U.S. officials are working to fast-track the development of a vaccine and hope to begin human trials in September.
"We're trying to go as quickly as we can given the emerging nature of the situation," Fauci said.
While Ebola has historically killed as many as 90 percent of those who contract it, the current outbreak has seen a fatality rate of 60 percent, probably because of early treatment efforts, officials have said.
But containing the spread of the disease has been complicated by local beliefs that the disease doesn't exist, suspicion of medical workers and a lack of basic health care services. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival instead of taking them to clinics.
In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have refused to go to isolation centers.
Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said it is "crucial" to gain the trust of communities that have been afraid to let health workers in.
"The declaration of a state of emergency in Sierra Leone shows a recognition of the gravity of the situation, but we do not yet know what this will mean on the ground. What we can say is that it will be difficult to implement due to the fact that the cases are dispersed over such a large area, and that we currently do not have a clear picture of where all the hot spots are," she said.
Liberia's president on Wednesday also instituted new measures aimed at halting the spread of Ebola, including shutting down schools and ordering most public servants to stay home from work.
"It could be helpful for the government to have powers to isolate and quarantine people, and it's certainly better than what's been done so far," said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Whether it works, we will have to wait and see."
Peace Corps exits
The U.S. Peace Corps on Thursday was evacuating hundreds of its volunteers in the affected countries. Two Peace Corps workers are under isolation outside the U.S. after having contact with a person who later died from the Ebola virus, a State Department official said.
In Moberly, Mo., Liz Sosniecki said she got a call from her 25-year-old son, Dane, a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He had not been exposed to Ebola and expressed disappointment about leaving just six weeks after he arrived.
"He said, 'I'm coming home,'" she said, beginning to cry. "Sorry. I'm a little emotional. It's a relief."
Ebola now has been blamed for 729 deaths in four West African countries this year: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Leone, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria.
The WHO is launching a $100 million response plan calling for the deployment of several hundred more health workers to help the strained resources in deeply impoverished West Africa, where hospital and clinics are ill-equipped to cope with routine health threats let alone the outbreak of a virulent disease like Ebola.
The current outbreak is now the largest since the virus first emerged in 1976, and it has shown up in three African capitals with international airports. Officials are trying to step up screening of passengers, though an American man was able to fly from Liberia to Nigeria, where authorities said he died days later from Ebola.
Experts say the risk of travelers contracting the virus is low because it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions such as urine, blood, sweat or saliva. Those in the throes of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears.
Patients are contagious once the disease has progressed to the point that they show symptoms, according to the WHO.
The most vulnerable are health care workers and relatives who come in close contact with the sick. In Liberia, authorities say 28 out of the 45 health workers who have contracted the disease so far have died.
The CDC has about two dozen staff members in West Africa working to control the outbreak. Frieden, the agency's director, said Thursday that the CDC will send 50 more in the next month. CDC employees in Africa also are helping to screen passengers at airports, he said.
The CDC has said that the risk of the Ebola virus emerging in the United States remains small. On Monday, the agency sent a health alert to U.S. doctors, updating them about the outbreak. The alert stressed that they should ask about foreign travel in patients who come down with Ebola-like symptoms, including fever, headache, nausea and diarrhea.
Even if someone infected with Ebola came to the U.S., the risk of an outbreak is considered very low, Frieden said. U.S. hospitals are well equipped to isolate cases and control spread of the virus.
Frieden also noted that relatively few people travel from West Africa to the United States. He said about 10,000 travelers from those countries come to the United States in an average three- or four-month period, and most do not arrive on direct flights.
The CDC has staff members at 20 U.S. airports and border crossings. They evaluate any travelers with signs of dangerous infectious diseases and isolate them when necessary. The agency is prepared to increase that staffing if needed, he said.
Frieden said a widespread Ebola outbreak in the United States "is not in the cards."
But fears of travelers spreading the virus persist elsewhere. Seychelles on Thursday forfeited an African Cup qualifying game and withdrew from the competition rather than allow Sierra Leone's soccer team to travel to the Indian Ocean nation.
"We have taken the decision because of the advice sent to us by the Seychelles Ministry of Health," Seychelles Football Federation President Elvis Chetty said, according to the BBC. "We also received a letter from the Ministry of Immigration saying it would not allow the Sierra Leone team to enter our jurisdiction."
The Ebola outbreak also led the Liberia Football Association to call off all games indefinitely in that country this week.
"Whenever there is a game, a lot of people come together, and we want to discourage gathering at this point," said Hassan Bility, president of the association.
Information for this article was contributed by Clarence Roy-Macaulay, Krista Larson, Maria Cheng, Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Carla K. Johnson, Gerald Imray, Josh Lederman and Mike Stobbe of The Associated Press; by Nicole Gaouette, Silas Gbandia, Elise Zoker, Marie French, Cynthia Koons, Makiko Kitamura, Simeon Bennett and Olivier Monnier of Bloomberg News; by Brady Dennis of The Washington Post; and by Cammie Bellamy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 08/01/2014
Fears grew as the United States warned against travel to three countries -- Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- experiencing outbreaks.
"The bottom line is Ebola is worsening in West Africa," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who announced the travel warning. He called Ebola "a tragic, dreadful and merciless virus."
The purpose of the travel warning is to not only protect U.S. travelers but also limit their use of overburdened clinics and hospitals for injuries or other illnesses, he said.
Little Rock-based nonprofit Heifer International, which works to address world hunger, has staff members in West Africa. Heifer spokesman Tina Hall said the organization has two employees in Sierra Leone but none in Liberia or Guinea.
"We have had contact with them, and they are well," she said. "They're based there, so they're not really traveling back and forth."
Hall said the travel advisory would not affect Heifer's work, because it does not have current or forthcoming projects in the three countries covered by the travel notice.
As their countries struggle to deal with the Ebola outbreak, the presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone said Thursday that they will not attend President Barack Obama's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington next week. The event was planned to discuss investment, regional stability and U.S. ties to the region.
The president of Guinea is still debating whether to attend the conference, said a State Department official who wasn't authorized to comment publicly. The three countries will be represented by high-level delegations in any case, the official said.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Thursday that meetings on how to respond to the Ebola crisis will be held during the conference with staff members from the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Almost half of the 57 new deaths reported by the World Health Organization on Thursday occurred in Liberia, where two Americans -- Dr. Kent Brantly of Texas and Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina-based missionary -- also are sick with Ebola.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. is looking into options to bring them back to the U.S. Officials at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital said they expected one of the Americans to be transferred there "within the next several days." The hospital declined to identify which aid worker, citing privacy laws.
Officials said in a statement Thursday that the hospital has a special isolation unit that was built in collaboration with the CDC that is used to treat people with certain serious infectious diseases.
Writebol was in stable but serious condition Thursday and was receiving an experimental treatment, according to a statement released by SIM, a Christian missions organization.
"There was only enough [of the experimental serum] for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse, another aid organization that has been working in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
Brantly, who works for Samaritan's Purse, did receive a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of the doctor's care, Graham said.
"The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life," he said.
Giving a survivor's blood to a patient might be aimed at seeing whether any antibodies the survivor made to the virus could help someone else fight off the infection. This approach has been tried in previous Ebola outbreaks with mixed results.
"I remain hopeful and believing that Kent will be healed from this dreadful disease," Brantly's wife, Amber, said in a statement released by Samaritan's Purse. She and the couple's two young children left Liberia for Texas before her husband was infected, and she said they are fine.
There is currently no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola. There are a handful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola, some of which have had promising results in animals including monkeys.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday that U.S. officials are working to fast-track the development of a vaccine and hope to begin human trials in September.
"We're trying to go as quickly as we can given the emerging nature of the situation," Fauci said.
While Ebola has historically killed as many as 90 percent of those who contract it, the current outbreak has seen a fatality rate of 60 percent, probably because of early treatment efforts, officials have said.
But containing the spread of the disease has been complicated by local beliefs that the disease doesn't exist, suspicion of medical workers and a lack of basic health care services. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival instead of taking them to clinics.
In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have refused to go to isolation centers.
Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said it is "crucial" to gain the trust of communities that have been afraid to let health workers in.
"The declaration of a state of emergency in Sierra Leone shows a recognition of the gravity of the situation, but we do not yet know what this will mean on the ground. What we can say is that it will be difficult to implement due to the fact that the cases are dispersed over such a large area, and that we currently do not have a clear picture of where all the hot spots are," she said.
Liberia's president on Wednesday also instituted new measures aimed at halting the spread of Ebola, including shutting down schools and ordering most public servants to stay home from work.
"It could be helpful for the government to have powers to isolate and quarantine people, and it's certainly better than what's been done so far," said Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Whether it works, we will have to wait and see."
Peace Corps exits
The U.S. Peace Corps on Thursday was evacuating hundreds of its volunteers in the affected countries. Two Peace Corps workers are under isolation outside the U.S. after having contact with a person who later died from the Ebola virus, a State Department official said.
In Moberly, Mo., Liz Sosniecki said she got a call from her 25-year-old son, Dane, a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He had not been exposed to Ebola and expressed disappointment about leaving just six weeks after he arrived.
"He said, 'I'm coming home,'" she said, beginning to cry. "Sorry. I'm a little emotional. It's a relief."
Ebola now has been blamed for 729 deaths in four West African countries this year: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Leone, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria.
The WHO is launching a $100 million response plan calling for the deployment of several hundred more health workers to help the strained resources in deeply impoverished West Africa, where hospital and clinics are ill-equipped to cope with routine health threats let alone the outbreak of a virulent disease like Ebola.
The current outbreak is now the largest since the virus first emerged in 1976, and it has shown up in three African capitals with international airports. Officials are trying to step up screening of passengers, though an American man was able to fly from Liberia to Nigeria, where authorities said he died days later from Ebola.
Experts say the risk of travelers contracting the virus is low because it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions such as urine, blood, sweat or saliva. Those in the throes of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears.
Patients are contagious once the disease has progressed to the point that they show symptoms, according to the WHO.
The most vulnerable are health care workers and relatives who come in close contact with the sick. In Liberia, authorities say 28 out of the 45 health workers who have contracted the disease so far have died.
The CDC has about two dozen staff members in West Africa working to control the outbreak. Frieden, the agency's director, said Thursday that the CDC will send 50 more in the next month. CDC employees in Africa also are helping to screen passengers at airports, he said.
The CDC has said that the risk of the Ebola virus emerging in the United States remains small. On Monday, the agency sent a health alert to U.S. doctors, updating them about the outbreak. The alert stressed that they should ask about foreign travel in patients who come down with Ebola-like symptoms, including fever, headache, nausea and diarrhea.
Even if someone infected with Ebola came to the U.S., the risk of an outbreak is considered very low, Frieden said. U.S. hospitals are well equipped to isolate cases and control spread of the virus.
Frieden also noted that relatively few people travel from West Africa to the United States. He said about 10,000 travelers from those countries come to the United States in an average three- or four-month period, and most do not arrive on direct flights.
The CDC has staff members at 20 U.S. airports and border crossings. They evaluate any travelers with signs of dangerous infectious diseases and isolate them when necessary. The agency is prepared to increase that staffing if needed, he said.
Frieden said a widespread Ebola outbreak in the United States "is not in the cards."
But fears of travelers spreading the virus persist elsewhere. Seychelles on Thursday forfeited an African Cup qualifying game and withdrew from the competition rather than allow Sierra Leone's soccer team to travel to the Indian Ocean nation.
"We have taken the decision because of the advice sent to us by the Seychelles Ministry of Health," Seychelles Football Federation President Elvis Chetty said, according to the BBC. "We also received a letter from the Ministry of Immigration saying it would not allow the Sierra Leone team to enter our jurisdiction."
The Ebola outbreak also led the Liberia Football Association to call off all games indefinitely in that country this week.
"Whenever there is a game, a lot of people come together, and we want to discourage gathering at this point," said Hassan Bility, president of the association.
Information for this article was contributed by Clarence Roy-Macaulay, Krista Larson, Maria Cheng, Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Carla K. Johnson, Gerald Imray, Josh Lederman and Mike Stobbe of The Associated Press; by Nicole Gaouette, Silas Gbandia, Elise Zoker, Marie French, Cynthia Koons, Makiko Kitamura, Simeon Bennett and Olivier Monnier of Bloomberg News; by Brady Dennis of The Washington Post; and by Cammie Bellamy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 08/01/2014
WORKING ON GETTING SOME MORE OF MY JEWISH FRIENDS OUT
I WILL HELP ANY JEW WHO WANTS TO RETURN TO ISRAEL
THE CALL TO COME HOME TO THE HOME LAND AS STARTED
BIBLE TALKS ABOUT THIS WHEN ALL THE JEWS WILL RETURN HOME
JUST HAPPY GOD GAVE ME THIS JOB HELPING MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR LORD
THE FATHER OF MY LORD JESUS
SEND ME EMAILS HERE IF YOU WANT MY HELP
THE CALL TO COME HOME TO THE HOME LAND AS STARTED
BIBLE TALKS ABOUT THIS WHEN ALL THE JEWS WILL RETURN HOME
JUST HAPPY GOD GAVE ME THIS JOB HELPING MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR LORD
THE FATHER OF MY LORD JESUS
SEND ME EMAILS HERE IF YOU WANT MY HELP
SORRY I HAVENT BEEN ON HELPING PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HACKED RECOVERING THEY FACEBOOK PAGES
AND GETTING THEY COMPUTERS RESTORED
SAD I WOULD HELP PEOPLE THEN POST THIS EVIL
I POST EVERY DAY KIND OF HAPPY ABOUT IT
I DONT GO TO SLEEP CRY IN AND HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE
SAD I WOULD HELP PEOPLE THEN POST THIS EVIL
I POST EVERY DAY KIND OF HAPPY ABOUT IT
I DONT GO TO SLEEP CRY IN AND HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE
Israel says it refuses to negotiate while rockets fall
Israel says it refuses to negotiate while rockets fall
Five Palestinians killed in fresh IDF strikes Saturday, including senior Hamas official, as rocket sirens sound repeatedly in Gaza periphery; 2 dead, dozens wounded in Friday West Bank clashes
August 9, 2014, 12:17 am
Updated: August 9, 2014, 1:17 pm
The Times of Israel is
liveblogging events as they unfold through Saturday, August 9, the 33rd
day of Operation Protective Edge. The IDF continued its air campaign in
the Gaza Strip on Saturday as terrorists fired rockets at Israeli
communities. The US had said Friday it hoped for a renewed truce in the
‘coming hours’ after Hamas ended a 72-hour ceasefire Friday morning and
fired some 60 rockets into Israel in the course of the day. Israel began
hitting back more than two hours after the rockets resumed Friday, and
the Israeli delegation left the ceasefire talks in Cairo, with Israel
saying it would not negotiate under fire. (Friday’s liveblog is here.)
You can also follow @TOIAlerts on Twitter — we’re live-tweeting all the updates there as well.
BREAKING: Israel Promises No More Cease Fires… They’re Going to Destroy Hamas
BREAKING: Israel Promises No More Cease Fires… They’re Going to Destroy Hamas
by Voice of Reason
Personally, I have NO PROBLEM with Israel turning Palestine into a giant GLASS PARKING LOT! Furthermore,
I am repulsed by the statements of Valerie Jarrett, who I’d expect
nothing less from, and Geraldo, who I held in much higher esteem. Let me
boil this down for imbeciles that don’t get it. What happened when
Germany bombed England in World War II? What happened when Japan bombed
Pearl Harbor?
Even more recently, when the World Trade Center was taken down by
Islamic Terrorists and killed 3000 Americans, what did we do? We engaged
in a 10-Year $1 TRILLION dollar war (one which Barack single handedly grasped defeat from the jaws of victory no less).
Now, Hamas is launching THOUSANDS
of missiles into Israel into civilian areas, and the world expects
Israel to exercise restraint? If 6,000 missiles got lobbed into NYC next
year, how do you think the launching country would prevail? We’d wipe
them off the map. Meanwhile, Israel is dropping leaflets with the times
they will be bombing so innocents can evacuate… has that EVER been done before? The fact people are publicly blaming Israel is ABSURD and antisemetic to say the least. I hope they turn Palestine into a glass parking lot. Use one of these:
Don’t piss and moan to me about schools and hospitals that are
gettig bombed either. How many schools and hospitals do you think we hit
in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? My guess is we took out a few in the 250,000
innocent civilians WE killed.
WAR SUCKS. AT SOME POINT HAMAS NEEDS TO BE EXTERMINATED, AND NOW IS AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY AS FAR AS I’m CONCERNED.
[Audio/Video below cannot be seen in Newsletter - have to go to Blog]
It looks like Israel is about to do what they should’ve done years ago: Take out Hamas for good.6
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just gave a internationally-televised speech discussing what’s next for Israel in this conflict, and afterwards.
He said that one thing is clear: There won’t be any more cease-fires.
And given that Hamas has violated each one almost immediately, no one
can blame Israel for this move.
Netanyahu said that Israel won’t stop fighting until all Hamas terror
tunnels are completely destroyed, no matter how long it takes.
He also called on the world to stand and support Israel against Hamas,
saying, “Will you stand with Israel? Or will you just stand idle in the
face of these murderous terrorist organizations?”
He took note of the fact that Hamas’s number one enemy today is Israel,
but the ultimate goal is worldwide jihad. Today Hamas attacks Israel…
but tomorrow it could very well be America.9
Not to neglect the innocent deaths that have been caused during this
conflict, he expressed deep remorse for all Palestinian civilian
casualties. But he also reminded the world that Israel has no option
than to defend itself, and can’t be deterred from destroying Hamas.
In a stunning move that could only be made by a state that is truly
moral, that after the tunnels are destroyed and Hamas’s capabilities are
taken out, Israel will help rebuild Gaza.
This is exactly why we should support Israel. Not only are they a peaceful people who are going out of their way to avoid civilian casualties
while acting in self-defense, but they’re not acting like victors over a
conquered territory. Instead, they’re hoping to rebuild the lives of
Gazans… without the radical Islamists trying to destroy Israel and the
West.
NO OBAMA YOU ARE A LAZY NASTY ASS GIRLY BOY WHO DONT CARE ABOYT THIS NATION GET OUT GO BACK TO KENYA Obama: Bad Intelligence Behind ISIS Underestimation
URGENT! MEXICAN CARTEL MARCHING THROUGH TEXAS IN MILITARY FATIGUES!
URGENT! MEXICAN CARTEL MARCHING THROUGH TEXAS IN MILITARY FATIGUES!
‘We’re getting overrun and the danger is increasing… we need to open our eyes’: Sheriff leading probe into murder of Border Patrol agent claims armed illegal immigrants in military fatigues have been spotted on Texas ranches
- Sheriff Larry Spence of Willacy County spoke to MailOnline after murder of off-duty Border Patrol Agent Javier Vega Jr. who was allegedly gunned down by two illegal immigrants who had been deported six times
- Sheriff Spence said ranchers had reported illegal immigrants walking through the brush in single file, armed with rifles in military fatigues
- Spence said he used to not show a weapon but now he has ‘two or maybe three’ because of the increasing ‘criminal element’
- He added: ‘It’s not like it was years ago when people were just looking for a job or something to eat’
- MailOnline also spoke to the woman who reported Javier’s alleged killers to the police. She now fears she could be killed by the cartels
The Sheriff
leading the investigation into the brutal slaying of a Border Control
Agent by two illegal immigrants has revealed local farmers in his county
have reported spotting gangs of armed Mexicans ‘in military fatigues’
marching through their fields.
Sheriff Larry
Spence’s department played a key role in catching Ismael Hernandez and
Gustavo Tijerina after they allegedly gunned down hero officer Javier
Vega Jr. in front of his mother, father, wife and three sons while they
were on a family fishing trip.
Since their
capture,Fox News reported that the suspects are both Mexican nationals
who were in the U.S. illegally and have been deported SIX times between
them.
Larry Spence, who
has been Sheriff of Willacy County in south Texas for 29 years, said the
problem on the border is reaching a crisis point.
He said ranchers with land 25 miles north
of the border have reported groups of men – believed to be illegal
immigrants – walking single file, through farm land in military
fatigues. Some were armed with rifles.
His stark warning came as a local woman
who unwittingly helped Tijerina, 30 and Hernandez, 40, after they killed
Javier, said she is now in fear for her life.
Her concerns are
indicative of the climate of fear that is creeping into certain parts of
the border states because of the increase of illegal activity.
The fugitives
banged on her door at midnight on Monday morning, claiming they had been
in a fight and looking for help. She let them in and gave them water.
‘There is a definite need for asylum if people are being
persecuted but there’s a criminal element behind all of this and we need
to open our eyes, we can’t just keep letting everybody in’
- Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence
- Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence
She only became
suspicious when she saw a police helicopter circling the property. At
that point she flagged down a passing Border Patrol Agent and scores of
officers took the men into custody.
But now the
mother-of-four says she is terrified that the men, believed to have
links to the infamous Gulf Cartel, could send criminal associates round
to her secluded property to kill her and her family, to stop her from
testifying.
Speaking to
MailOnline from his office in Raymondville, Sheriff Spence said that
while the current political focus at the border had been on the
humanitarian crisis posed by tens of thousands of undocumented children
arriving alone in the US, an increasing ‘criminal element’ was being
ignored.
He said: ‘We are
not use to this kind of violence happening in our town. We may have a
murder every two or three years, but that would be a bar fight, or a
domestic incident, nothing like this.
‘But this is
becoming much more prevalent. Lately we’ve been having a lot of traffic
through the ranches. Smuggling, illegal immigrants, drugs.
Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images
For related articles and videos go to our homepage and enter illegals, buses, border etc in the ‘search bar’. DEAN JAMES @ AMERICAS FREEDOM FIGHTERS
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER!
PLEASE SHARE OUR ARTICLES ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA AND GO TO OUR HOMEPAGE FOR MORE REAL NEWS FOR REAL PATRIOTS!
Is Islamic State Still the JV Team? White House Press Secretary Dodges Question
Is Islamic State Still the JV Team? White House Press Secretary Dodges Question
8 Comments
This is Obama’s catastrophic failure, and his cosmetic airstrikes will do nothing to change that. He’s a JV president — and should be benched.
“Reporter Asks White House if ISIS no Longer a ‘JV Team,’” Breitbart TV, August 8, 2014:
Friday at the press briefing, CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta pressed White House press secretary Josh Earnest on the notion of President Barack Obama bombing ISIS in Iraq means the organization is no longer a “JV” team.
Acosta referenced an interview with New Yorker magazine’s David Remnick Obama conducted in which he referred to non-al Qaeda groups in Iraq as the JV team.
“The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” he said. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.”
Lawsuit seeks to deport border crossers
Lawsuit seeks to deport border crossers
Posted: Friday, August 8, 2014 10:24 pm
BROWNSVILLE —
California dentist and attorney Orly Taitz is challenging the transfer
of undocumented immigrants from South Texas to other states, saying they
would spread epidemics of scabies, tuberculosis, measles, whooping
cough, swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus and lice.
Taitz filed the
lawsuit July 14 in federal court, naming President Barack Obama,
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Health and Human
Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and the Rio Grande Valley Sector of
the U.S. Border Patrol.
She is seeking to stop what she called the
“dumping” of undocumented immigrants on unsuspecting populations in
California and other areas in the country.
The lawsuit claims the transfers would cause economic damage and pose serious threats to national security and public health and safety and spread infectious diseases.
She seeks either the immediate deportation of undocumented immigrants or a two-month quarantine of them in an enclosed temporary or permanent Federal Emergency Management Agency facility.
Taitz also is an activist in the Birther movement. Her biography states that she is well known throughout the country, and she claims to have “exposed” Obama’s “illegitimacy to the U.S. presidency.”
She also is the president of Defend Our Freedoms Foundation.
Presiding U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen ordered the defendants to respond to Taitz’s request for an emergency stay or injunction by Aug. 11.
“The court will consider the reply and the application and either rule or schedule the matter for hearing,” Hanen wrote in an Aug. 1 order.
Hanen also directed the government’s attorney to notify the California Attorney General’s Office about the lawsuit and deadlines so that it may participate, if it desires.
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Colin A. Kisor referred questions about the lawsuit to his office’s public affairs department.
Taitz also is seeking a stay of the release of undocumented immigrants who did not complete a two-month quarantine before they are released into communities. Her lawsuit also would require the undocumented immigrants to undergo medical screening, obtain a medical release, prove a clean criminal record in their native countries, and obtain an order from a federal judge regarding immigration status before they are released.
She also wants Hanen to provide evidence presented in the case to a federal grand jury to prosecute the president and others for criminal offenses, including conspiracy, racketeering, human trafficking and treason.
“This is nothing short of an orchestrated invasion, perpetrated to supply cheap labor for a group of billionaires and flagrantly rob American citizens of their jobs, wages and benefits and expose them to epidemics of infectious diseases and crime,” Taitz claims.
“As if this weren’t bad enough, the invasion is also supplying the nation’s most dangerous street gangs with new soldiers,” she further charged, claiming that gangs are on a “recruiting frenzy” at facilities housing the undocumented immigrants.
In her lawsuit, Taitz referred to an order Hanen entered in December 2013 in an unrelated case, United States of America vs. Mirtha Veronica Nava-Martinez, who was convicted of attempting to smuggle a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador.
Court records show that the girl’s mother Salmeron Santos, an undocumented immigrant, admitted that she had hired smugglers to transfer her child from El Salvador to Virginia and paid a $6,000 advance for the service. DHS delivered the child to her mother.
“‘This court is quite concerned with the apparent policy of the Department of Homeland Security ... of completing the criminal mission of individuals who are violating the border security of the United States ... The DHS, instead of enforcing our border security laws, actually assisted the criminal conspiracy in achieving its illegal goals,’” Taitz quoted from Hanen’s order in the that case.
Regarding Taitz’s allegations, Michael Seifert of the RGV Equal Voice Network said: “The lawsuit filed by the dentist from California is another example of a misplaced and exaggerated fear. From all public evidence, the authorities in charge of the children have gone overboard in assuring that the children offer no public health threat to others.
“To the contrary, a more appropriate lawsuit would be on the behalf of these children, to assure that they have access to the finest therapy to help them recover from the horrors that made them leave the place that they had called home,” Seifert added.
eperez-trevino@valleystar.com
The lawsuit claims the transfers would cause economic damage and pose serious threats to national security and public health and safety and spread infectious diseases.
She seeks either the immediate deportation of undocumented immigrants or a two-month quarantine of them in an enclosed temporary or permanent Federal Emergency Management Agency facility.
Taitz also is an activist in the Birther movement. Her biography states that she is well known throughout the country, and she claims to have “exposed” Obama’s “illegitimacy to the U.S. presidency.”
She also is the president of Defend Our Freedoms Foundation.
Presiding U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen ordered the defendants to respond to Taitz’s request for an emergency stay or injunction by Aug. 11.
“The court will consider the reply and the application and either rule or schedule the matter for hearing,” Hanen wrote in an Aug. 1 order.
Hanen also directed the government’s attorney to notify the California Attorney General’s Office about the lawsuit and deadlines so that it may participate, if it desires.
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Colin A. Kisor referred questions about the lawsuit to his office’s public affairs department.
Taitz also is seeking a stay of the release of undocumented immigrants who did not complete a two-month quarantine before they are released into communities. Her lawsuit also would require the undocumented immigrants to undergo medical screening, obtain a medical release, prove a clean criminal record in their native countries, and obtain an order from a federal judge regarding immigration status before they are released.
She also wants Hanen to provide evidence presented in the case to a federal grand jury to prosecute the president and others for criminal offenses, including conspiracy, racketeering, human trafficking and treason.
“This is nothing short of an orchestrated invasion, perpetrated to supply cheap labor for a group of billionaires and flagrantly rob American citizens of their jobs, wages and benefits and expose them to epidemics of infectious diseases and crime,” Taitz claims.
“As if this weren’t bad enough, the invasion is also supplying the nation’s most dangerous street gangs with new soldiers,” she further charged, claiming that gangs are on a “recruiting frenzy” at facilities housing the undocumented immigrants.
In her lawsuit, Taitz referred to an order Hanen entered in December 2013 in an unrelated case, United States of America vs. Mirtha Veronica Nava-Martinez, who was convicted of attempting to smuggle a 10-year-old girl from El Salvador.
Court records show that the girl’s mother Salmeron Santos, an undocumented immigrant, admitted that she had hired smugglers to transfer her child from El Salvador to Virginia and paid a $6,000 advance for the service. DHS delivered the child to her mother.
“‘This court is quite concerned with the apparent policy of the Department of Homeland Security ... of completing the criminal mission of individuals who are violating the border security of the United States ... The DHS, instead of enforcing our border security laws, actually assisted the criminal conspiracy in achieving its illegal goals,’” Taitz quoted from Hanen’s order in the that case.
Regarding Taitz’s allegations, Michael Seifert of the RGV Equal Voice Network said: “The lawsuit filed by the dentist from California is another example of a misplaced and exaggerated fear. From all public evidence, the authorities in charge of the children have gone overboard in assuring that the children offer no public health threat to others.
“To the contrary, a more appropriate lawsuit would be on the behalf of these children, to assure that they have access to the finest therapy to help them recover from the horrors that made them leave the place that they had called home,” Seifert added.
eperez-trevino@valleystar.com
BREAKING: Israel Promises No More Cease Fires… They’re Going to Destroy Hamas
BREAKING: Israel Promises No More Cease Fires… They’re Going to Destroy Hamas
by Voice of Reason
Personally, I have NO PROBLEM with Israel turning Palestine into a giant GLASS PARKING LOT! Furthermore,
I am repulsed by the statements of Valerie Jarrett, who I’d expect
nothing less from, and Geraldo, who I held in much higher esteem. Let me
boil this down for imbeciles that don’t get it. What happened when
Germany bombed England in World War II? What happened when Japan bombed
Pearl Harbor?
Even more recently, when the World Trade Center was taken down by
Islamic Terrorists and killed 3000 Americans, what did we do? We engaged
in a 10-Year $1 TRILLION dollar war (one which Barack single handedly grasped defeat from the jaws of victory no less).
Now, Hamas is launching THOUSANDS
of missiles into Israel into civilian areas, and the world expects
Israel to exercise restraint? If 6,000 missiles got lobbed into NYC next
year, how do you think the launching country would prevail? We’d wipe
them off the map. Meanwhile, Israel is dropping leaflets with the times
they will be bombing so innocents can evacuate… has that EVER been done before? The fact people are publicly blaming Israel is ABSURD and antisemetic to say the least. I hope they turn Palestine into a glass parking lot. Use one of these:
Don’t piss and moan to me about schools and hospitals that are
gettig bombed either. How many schools and hospitals do you think we hit
in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? My guess is we took out a few in the 250,000
innocent civilians WE killed.
WAR SUCKS. AT SOME POINT HAMAS NEEDS TO BE EXTERMINATED, AND NOW IS AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY AS FAR AS I’m CONCERNED.
[Audio/Video below cannot be seen in Newsletter - have to go to Blog]
It looks like Israel is about to do what they should’ve done years ago: Take out Hamas for good.6
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just gave a internationally-televised speech discussing what’s next for Israel in this conflict, and afterwards.
He said that one thing is clear: There won’t be any more cease-fires.
And given that Hamas has violated each one almost immediately, no one
can blame Israel for this move.
Netanyahu said that Israel won’t stop fighting until all Hamas terror
tunnels are completely destroyed, no matter how long it takes.
He also called on the world to stand and support Israel against Hamas,
saying, “Will you stand with Israel? Or will you just stand idle in the
face of these murderous terrorist organizations?”
He took note of the fact that Hamas’s number one enemy today is Israel,
but the ultimate goal is worldwide jihad. Today Hamas attacks Israel…
but tomorrow it could very well be America.9
Not to neglect the innocent deaths that have been caused during this
conflict, he expressed deep remorse for all Palestinian civilian
casualties. But he also reminded the world that Israel has no option
than to defend itself, and can’t be deterred from destroying Hamas.
In a stunning move that could only be made by a state that is truly
moral, that after the tunnels are destroyed and Hamas’s capabilities are
taken out, Israel will help rebuild Gaza.
This is exactly why we should support Israel. Not only are they a peaceful people who are going out of their way to avoid civilian casualties
while acting in self-defense, but they’re not acting like victors over a
conquered territory. Instead, they’re hoping to rebuild the lives of
Gazans… without the radical Islamists trying to destroy Israel and the
West.
BE SURE TO VISIT THE GIFT SHOP
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