As a worker at Kenema Government Hospital mixed a batch of chlorine on a broiling August day, he noticed it didn't have its typically strong, bleach-like odor. Concerned, he turned to a consultant with the World Health Organization, who tested the disinfectant and found barely any active ingredient.
"I was deeply shocked," the consultant, Jerome Souquet, wrote in an email to his boss in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. Souquet said the consequences of using the ineffective chlorine "could be catastrophic, and cause immediate infection of all the staff."
Questionable chlorine was just one of a toxic mix of avoidable problems faced by Ebola responders in Kenema last summer as the outbreak was spiking. Weak leadership, shoddy supplies and infighting exacerbated a chaotic situation at a critical front in the battle against the virus, an Associated Press investigation has found. More than 40 health workers died in Kenema -- a devastating loss in the fight to control an epidemic that has claimed more than 11,000 lives.
In March, AP reported that senior officials at WHO's Geneva headquarters resisted calls to declare Ebola an international health emergency -- the equivalent of an SOS signal -- on political and economic grounds. But newly obtained documents, recordings of conference calls and interviews with key players on the ground show that even after the alarm was raised, WHO and others struggled to put together a decisive response.
The World Health Organization's Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan -- whose U.N. agency is charged with leading the fight against global outbreaks -- demanded the dispatch of vehicles and equipment, but penny-pinching meant only a trickle of cash made its way to frustrated responders. Supplies were so scarce that body bags -- which protect aid workers from exposure to the highly contagious corpses -- ran out. Confusion delayed the construction of a new treatment clinic. Much more at link, sadly.
The opening salvo:
The Internet has no shortage of basement-dwelling commandos beating at their keyboards like chimpanzees as they forcefully insist upon one incorrect factoid or another regarding Special Operations units. All SEALs are considered Tier One, right?
No. Rangers pull security for Delta, correct? Time to throw away that scratched-up "Black Hawk Down" DVD, hero.
Since the Internet stupidity goes on and on, two of the SOFREP staff decided to team up and write a definitive article about the differences between SEALs and Rangers. This article was co-written by Brandon Webb, who served in SEAL Team Three, and Jack Murphy, who served in 3rd Ranger Battalion.
#1
Heroes, all. Beyond that, I'm afraid y'all will have to keep track of the details, except that I know we have Rangers and various Special Forces types among those of Rantburg's posters who are military (and heavens only knows what among our lurkers, bless you all!).
Ambassadors from the U.S. and France in Burkina Faso tweeted that they were safe Sunday morning, as a hostage situation erupted at a hotel in the country’s capital Ouagadougou. "I am with my colleagues, we're fine. We are not held hostage, we are free," said French Ambassador Gilles Thibault. Demonstrators stormed the hotel where talks aimed at forging a pact to restore government rule in the country were being hosted, the Associated Press reported, citing local witnesses. The summit was called for after a military coup earlier this month sent the country’s president and prime minister to jail.
A violent clash outside the hotel between pro-military demonstrators and those who support the ousted leaders broke out, leading to a suspension of the talks, according to Reuters. That reportedly led to a conflict inside the hotel. "They invaded the hotel. It was violent," a witness told Reuters. "They attacked ex-opposition members as they arrived. One had to be saved from the crowd by security forces."
The hotel meeting came on the heels another seemingly successful summit between military leaders and intervention forces. Gen. Gilbert Diendere, the leader of the military coup, had reportedly entered a final round of discussions with Senegal's President Macky Sall on Saturday with the goal of providing a pathway to return interim President Michel Kafando to power.
The country has been suspended from the African Union as tensions continue to rise. The arrest of Kafando and interim Prime Minister Isaac Zida on Wednesday, less than a month before national elections were due to be held, has largely divided the nation and led to a number of demonstrations and protests.
Disaffected citizens have in recent days taken to the streets of Ouagadougou and other cities, burning tires and erecting barricades to block soldiers loyal to Diendere, Reuters reported Saturday. At least 10 people have died and more than 100 others have been wounded in street clashes with the military since the coup began Sept. 16.
#1
the country where women cannot drive and you cannot legally open a church, temple or atheist reading room
the country which flogs Raif Badawi for not believing mohammad was a prophet
The country which uses petrodollars to export sharia and Islamofascist terror to the world
is now chair of the UN Human Rights Committee
no doubt it will immediately begin appointing stooges in key positions to lobby for its blasphemy laws to be adopted , renamed *defamation of religion* so we will submit
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hundreds of pro-Kiev activists from Crimea's Tatar community on Sunday launched a blockade of roads from Ukraine to the peninsula to protest Russia's seizure of their home region.
Accompanied by members of the Ukrainian ultra-nationalist Pravy Sektor group, protesters from the Moslem Tatar community used concrete blocks to partially seal off the three roads linking mainland Ukraine to Crimea in an attempt to halt the delivery of goods.
Tatar leaders said they were aiming to block supplies to protest the "numerous violations of their rights by Russian authorities".
"Our goal is to end the occupation of Crimea and to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Refat Chubarov, one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar community, told journalists.
An AFP journalist at the scene reported that dozens of lorries were backed up at two crossing points into Crimea but drivers and Ukrainian officials said this was due to lengthy custom checks on the Russian side.
Russia seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014 after deploying thousands of special forces troops following the ouster of Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev.
Most of the 300,000-strong Tatar community strongly opposed Russia's annexation of Crimea, condemned by Kiev and the West as an illegal land grab, and have since faced a crackdown that has seen activists detained and leaders barred from the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Lest we fergit, the ISIS/ISIL says the Tatars are entitled to their own independent sovereign homeland + Islamic Emirate, + will launch attacks agz Russia to make it so.
NATO ALLY SECULAR TURKEY = PUTINIST RUSSIA = WILL HAVE A PROBLEM ACCEPTING AN INDEPENDENT CRIMEA EVEN IFF ISLAMIC/MUSLIM.
The typical man with a full-time job--the one at the statistical middle of the middle--earned $50,383 last year, the Census Bureau reported this week.
The typical man with a full-time job in 1973 earned $53,294, measured in 2014 dollars to adjust for inflation.
You read that right: The median male worker who was employed year-round and full time earned less in 2014 than a similarly situated worker earned four decades ago. And those are the ones who had jobs. On the other hand...
#1
Unfortunately for analysis, 1973 was a transition year. The US entered a recession by the 3rd Q of the year. The unemployment rates didn't start climbing steadily until early 1974. This was also a period when labor was not easily displaced by technology and labor inflation was a big problem. The cost of labor and the difficulty of business to deal with it was, in fact, probably one of the aggravating issues that plagued the economy through the early 1980s.
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/21/2015 6:23 Comments ||
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#2
Another dynamic that is taking place involves part-time jobs. Six or 7 years ago part-time employment was somewhat difficult to find. Now, nearly all new positions are part-time or contract, and at a lower starting salary with fewer or no benefits. I think we know who we have to thank for this change.
#3
Ahhh, but you know who's going to fix that, doncha?
And that's why I have an economic policy that is centered on raising incomes, because I think what we inherited from the Bush administration, what President Obama had to deal with had the potential of becoming a great depression, not just a great recession. We have now recovered 13 million jobs, after losing 800,000 a month when he came into office. So, why would we go back to the same policies? Call them insider. Call them tilted toward the rich. Call them giving corporations a free pass to do whatever they want.
I'm against that. I have always been against that. I want to go back to economic policies where we create millions of new jobs and where people's incomes rise not just at the top, but in the middle and at the bottom, like they did under my husband. Transcript of Hilly's Face the Nation interview
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/21/2015 7:45 Comments ||
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#4
"... under my husband."
heh
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/21/2015 8:44 Comments ||
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#5
The "real" unemployment rate should also be plotted to get a clearer picture.
#5
This is how civil disobedience is done, folks...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/21/2015 15:37 Comments ||
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#6
It's quite a way beyond civil disobedience if you ask me. Arson becomes murder if someone inside that building dies or maybe you'd like to promote it to act of war. If you get to the point where you're about to light that match you better be damn sure you know what you're doing and ready for the consequences. If the Germans are pissed enough to be doing this sort of thing Merkel needs to pay attention. But the problem is she doesn't know if this is a handful of isolated yoots or if it could become more widespread. Mass demonstrations in front of government offices with tear gas and lots of rocks and bottles would be more effective because it requires more popular support and organization. A couple thousand protesters sitting on the railroad tracks might work too. I don't think they are quite there yet.
[New Observer] An eye-witness account from Kamil Bulonis, a Polish travel blog writer, who was present on the Italian-Austrian border on September 5, 2015, as swarms of Third World nonwhites poured across the border to invade Austria and Germany (A translation from Polish): (Please note: all pictures from the Hungarian-Austrian border)
#2
Just offhand I would observe that the first picture at the link looks like a typical homeless encampment in San Diego with the way they spread trash all over the place without any thought of cleaning up after themselves. Oh well, there goes the neighborhood.
#4
* FYI TOPIX > [Mike Philbin'S Blog] IS THE RECENT EUROEPAN MIGRATION CRISIS A CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED MARTIAL LAW PUSH FOR EU + NATO?
In the mighty words of POTUS Bush 41 - Jee Whizzz, Oh I dunno, ARE THE COMMIES-SOCIALISTS + ALIGNED INDIRECTLY USING 9-11 + THE GWOT TO FORCIBLY IMPOSE THEIR -ISM + SOCIALIST OWG ON THE US-WORLD, + WIDOUT NEED OF ASKING THE ELECTORATE = VOTERS TO - YOU KNOW - VOTE ON IT???
* BLOOMBERG > CLEGG WARNS OF UK BREAKUP IFF BRITAIN [+ also Scotland?] VOTES TO EXIT EU, in EOY 2017 Referendum.
Nick Clegg, former Deputy PM.
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Z News] NO EUROPEAN COUNTRY CAN BE EXEMPT FROM TAKING IN [Muslim] REFUGEES: HOLLANDE.
Ditto the post-2015 OWG NAU Amerika + NORAM + Lower Americas [CENTAM, LATAM, + SOUTHAM OWG "UNIONS"]???
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Jubilant supporters of Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party cheered, waved party flags and danced Sunday after the party comfortably won Greece's third national vote this year despite a rebellion within his party over his acceptance of a painful third international bailout.
With 44 percent of the vote counted, Syriza stood at 35.5 percent, with the conservative New Democracy at 28 percent while the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn was coming in third with 7.1 percent, followed closely by the once-mighty socialist PASOK party with 6.3 percent. Abstention was high, at nearly 45 percent in an election-weary country with a traditionally high voter turnout.
Yes, indeed. Hopefully Mr. Tsipras will be able to get his grasshopper people to act more like ants.
[AlAhram] Greek leftist leader Alexis Tsipras on Sunday said his government and the country faced "hard work and struggle" after he won a new mandate in a general election.
"The road of hard work and struggle lies ahead," Tsipras said in a tweet,
Based on official results with 40 percent of the vote counted, Syriza could end up with 149 parliamentary seats and can again partner up with the nationalist Independent Greeks party who appeared likely to muster 13 seats -- exactly the same result as in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2015 00:00 ||
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[The Telegraph] When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don't have male genitalia at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone. So they appear female when they are born, but around puberty, when they get another surge of testosterone, they sprout muscles, testes and a penis.
Apart from being slightly undersized everything works and the Guavadoces normally live out their lives as men, albeit with wispy beards and small prostates. Kinda opposite from the affliction striking adult males who enter politix, where the testicles shrink and eventually disappear entirely. The pee pee shrinks and eventually becomes a nondescript piece of skin with a hole in it. The scrotum shrinks and smooths, until finally the entire area is nothing but a dribble hole on the other side of an ass, which has expanded in definition if not in area. The butt hole in turn becomes the definition of the organism itself.
[Examiner] The Vatican is offended by the Obama administration's decision to invite an array of religious dissidents, including transgender activists and an openly gay Episcopal bishop, to greet Pope Francis on his visit to the United States.
A senior Vatican official told the Wall Street Journal that they are concerned photos taken of Pope Francis near the controversial guests "could be interpreted as an endorsement of their activities." Perhaps the Pope should send his own message and cancel the meeting.
When the Pope arrives at the White House Wednesday, some of his greeters will include "Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop who's now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think-tank with ties to the Democratic Party, and Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the Catholic social justice lobby Network, and a leader of the 'Nuns on the Bus' advocacy tours," reports the Associated Press. Poor marks for Vatican insiders and intelligence experts who failed to anticipate the inevitable political and social exploitation.
#3
good, the Pope should stop treating gay people like second-class citizens
if he wants to improve the morality of his church he should start by cracking down on the pedophile rings by calling the police instead of shuffling them around to hide them when complaints are made
and allowing priests to marry - that would take some of the weirdness out of it
The US Air Force (USAF) has issued a request for information (RfI) to industry for the re-winging of an undisclosed number of Fairchild-Republic A/OA-10A Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft.
The RfI, which was posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website on 17 September, is to gather comments and potential sources for production of new wing assemblies for the A/OA-10A to support operational requirements through 2021.
Despite the air force's stated aim to retire the aircraft to free up resources for the introduction into service of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), it continues to award contracts under the A-10 Thunderbolt Lifecycle Program Support (TLPS) programme to keep the aircraft viable through to 2028 and beyond.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
09/21/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Praise those whom are turning weapons into Plough Shares!
For never having to use them is the way to Peace,
#4
Now that all of the key constituencies and special interests have bled the F-35 program dry of money. Maybe they should cancel the damn thing, after all most of the technology on that beast/turkey is now over ten years old, which in aviation might as well be a 100.
Methinks they should fire the flag officer who is overseeing that abortion and find someone that knows what we really need in the air and understands aviation well enough to deliver an aircraft that can meet a mission requirement and fly at the same time.
#5
"find someone that knows what we really need in the air and understands aviation well enough to deliver an aircraft that can meet a mission requirement and fly at the same time."
In the mean time, I would like to keep the A-10 and F-22, at least until the graft machine has re-focused on mission.
#7
Phil_b, my son is a captain in the Air Force (not a pilot). He and I disagree on the fate of the Warthog. His claim is that the AF can't afford it as well as the other shiny toys they want. I asked him what would fill the CAS role. His answer "drones".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/21/2015 11:26 Comments ||
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#8
I asked him what would fill the CAS role. His answer "drones".
I have a hard time believing a drone could react to a fluid situation in the way a pilot could. It would probably have to swing around again until all the players were standing still, then hopefully it could tell the Christians from the gay vegetarian pirates.
#10
It takes roughly the same number of people to fly a drone sortie as a manned aircraft sortie. The only difference is that one or two of them are on the ground somewhere instead of on the plane.
#12
Any bets the re-wing will cost more per airf4ame than the A/C cost new. Plus take longer to develop than birds did originally. Don't get me wrong I think we need them in inventory. If the Air Force doesn't want them transfer them to the Army or the Marines. To hell with the Key West Agreement. IMO they should of re-winged the F-16 too.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Jubilant supporters of Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party cheered, waved party flags and danced Sunday after the party comfortably won Greece's third national vote this year despite a rebellion within his party over his acceptance of a painful third international bailout.
Kinda opposite from the affliction striking adult males who enter politix, where the testicles shrink and eventually disappear entirely. The pee pee shrinks and eventually becomes a nondescript piece of skin with a hole in it. The scrotum shrinks and smooths, until finally the entire area is nothing but a dribble hole on the other side of an ass, which has expanded in definition if not in area. The butt hole in turn becomes the definition of the organism itself.
The US Air Force (USAF) has issued a request for information (RfI) to industry for the re-winging of an undisclosed number of Fairchild-Republic A/OA-10A Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft.
