Think back to the Ebola chaos of last year. Nobody except the caregivers came away looking good—not the White House, not the Department of Health and Human Services, not the World Health Organization, not Congress, not most of the media.
You might think that you want to talk about the Greatest Debate Ever, but we're going to set that aside and let it breathe for a week. It was glorious, but there are more things in heaven and earth Donald Trump. For instance: Remember Ebola?
Armies have always been vulnerable to epidemic disease. And in the Middle East, history may be repeating itself. There have been reports:
Ron Klain will reportedly be heading back to the private sector. "With the Ebola crisis seemingly in hand, Ron Klain, the veteran political operative the White House plucked from a venture capital gig to coordinate the government’s response, is planning a late-winter return to the private sector,"…
Dr. Nancy Snyderman is NBC’s chief medical editor. So for anyone getting their information on diseases, drugs, and breakthrough treatments from the Today show, she is the go-to person.
In the froth and frenzy surrounding Ebola reaching America, a surprisingly unprepared Department of Health and Human Services, particularly the Centers for Disease Control, largely failed to rise to the challenge. The FDA contributed to, and continues to contribute to, that lack of preparedness.…
President Obama appeared to criticize Australian prime minister Tony Abbott for closing borders to Austrlia due to concern over Ebola.
The AP is reporting that:
The states of Illinois, New Jersey, and New York have all issued mandatory Ebola quarantine for certain travelers, and the White House doesn't like this one bit. According to the New York Times these states are being pressured to loosen their quarantine restrictions:
As a rule, one should not panic at whatever crisis has momentarily fixed the attention of cable news producers. But the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has migrated to both Europe and America, may be the exception that proves the rule. There are at least six reasons that a controlled, informed…
The Ebola outbreak understandably has Americans on edge. How the Obama administration has redefined the expectations of government competency for even the most cynical among us has a lot to do with it. Rather than stepping up to meet a potential health crisis, the government is instead deflecting…
The American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, is being sent to Ebola-infected nations. The travel plans were announced this evening on Twitter.
The White House announced that President Obama will meet with Nina Pham, the Texas nurse who just recovered from Ebola, later today:
This morning, the better half has some thoughts the media coverage of the Ebola epidemic. Her point is that everytime people start to ask reasonable questions about Ebola, the media lecture them not to panic. The truth is that nobody's really panicked about the Ebola epidemic (yet), but by…
The news of an Ebola patient in New York has stimulated a predictable response from government officials and the media:
Foreigners should always stay out of North Korea. By traveling there, after all, tourists provide financial support to a manifestly evil regime. Moreover, they put themselves at risk – two American tourists are currently being held hostage there. (A third was released from captivity just this…
Dr. Mary T. Bassett, commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, claimed in a press conference last night that the latest Ebola patient had self-isolated since returning from Africa. Later, she admitted that in fact the patient had spent a lot of time in public and with other…
The New York Times reports:
President Obama discussed the Ebola virus in remarks at Democratic fundraiser in Chicago this evening. Ebola "has been the only story here in the United States for the last couple of weeks," Obama said.
A new poll of the New Hampshire Senate race from Suffolk University finds Republican challenger Scott Brown within three points of Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. According to the poll of likely voters, Shaheen has 49 percent support to Brown's 46 percent support. Shaheen's job…
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Jonathan V. Last on his editorial titled "Six Reasons to Panic."
Hospitals seeking guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on clothing and equipment to use to protect health care workers dealing with known or suspected Ebola patients may have to wait another day for official recommendations. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD noted this morning, hospitals are…
Rebecca Kaplan of CBS reports that the White House has an explanation for why Ron Klain was appointed "Ebola Czar.” It’s very simple. You see:
Amid increasing calls for a travel or visa ban on those trying to enter the United States from West African nations ravaged by the Ebola virus, the federal government continues to be steadfastly opposed. But why? Officials continue to argue that the travel ban would make it more difficult to track…
A day after President Obama appointed Ron Klain as Ebola czar to deal with the potential spread of the virus in this country, the Centers for Disease Control updated its website that contains recommendations for hospitals dealing with known or suspected cases of Ebola. In place of detailed…
On Friday, the White House announced Democratic hack Ron Klain as the point-man on the Ebola crisis. But despite his new role, which is being described as some as the Ebola czar, Klain was not in attendance at the White House meeting on Ebola on Friday.
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the latest on ebola and the administration's response.
John Kerry says the fight against Ebola could take "decades."
President Obama discussed the proposal to institute a travel ban to protect America from the grown Ebola crisis, but suggested he wasn't in favor of it because it might make Americans less safe:
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana says the federal government should add people attempting to fly to and from Ebola-stricken countries to the no-fly list to stop them from entering the United States. Jindal, a Republican, released a statement reiterating his support for a travel ban from those…
North Carolina senator Kay Hagan said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is "giving us great guidance" on how to deal with Ebola virus infections here in the United States. The Democrat, who is up for reelection, praised the CDC and the World Health Organization in a Wednesday press…
President Obama won't be traveling to New Jersey and Connecticut later today, as he had been planning to do. There he was going to raise money for Democrats up for reelection in November. Instead, Obama is going to be hosting Cabinet members for a meeting on Ebola.
Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings said Ebola "may get worse before it gets better." "But," the public official promised, "it will get better."
While the rise of the barbarous Islamic State and the spread of the modern day plague of Ebola has many concerned about the state of civilization here on earth, some at the White House are turning their attention beyond our planet. A Tuesday entry on the White House blog solicits ideas for…
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on ebola in the U.S., the administration's response, and how ebola is impacting close senate races in 2014.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo talked about Ebola this morning and said that "a little anxiety can be healthy."
The headline on an item in Time reads:
The NBC News crew that was working with the NBC freelance cameraman has been ordered into quarantine after violating their self-imposed separation.
Those looking for good news on the fight against Ebola will not find much encouragement from Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the commander of the U.S. Southern Command. As Jim Garamone of Department of Defense News reports, Kelly told an audience at the National Defense University in Washington,…
Senator Mark Pryor, a Democrat from Arkansas facing a tough reelection, can't give a straight answer when asked about President Obama's response to Ebola:
President Barack Obama addressed the growing Ebola crisis today in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Seems the CDC is afflicted with the government habit of treating information as something to hoard and withhold from the citizenry which can’t be trusted to understand or handle it. As Elise Viebeck of The Hill reports:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on the ebola outbreak in the United States and the Obama administration's response.
If Mitt Romney had said in 2012 that a second Obama term would bring not just continued economic uncertainty, but also the re-emergence of international terrorist forces, Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, an illegal immigration crisis, a knife-wielding madman in the White House, a beheading in…
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has downplayed the threat of the Ebola virus outbreak as one infected person has entered the United States via a commerical flight. The editors at the New York Sun suggest that the head of the CDC ought to be the next Obama…
The Ebola outbreak has grabbed the attention of the country if not the world in recent days, but the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also concerned about a more mundane, but still potentially deadly problem: the flu. Thursday, the agency began seeking sources for "Medical…
NBC News chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, and her crew will be flown back to America from Africa to be quarantined, an NBC memo states. The drastic action comes after a freelance member of the NBC crew reporting on Ebola was in fact diagnosed with Ebola.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters today that, after the Ebola case in Dallas, the Obama administration reminded border law enforcment agencies of "protocol" to deal with people that appear to have symptoms of Ebola. Earnest also said that there "are screening procedures in…
President Obama, addressing the ebola outbreak September 16, 2014 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta:
President Obama talked about the spread of Ebola at the CDC in Atlanta today. He said it's "spiraling out of control," according to the pool report.
We're at war. We're putting boots on the ground. We're not waiting around for the host nation's government to get its affairs in order, or for a regional coalition to commit first. The president has apparently overcome his reluctance to use the military, his worries about a commitment to intervene…
President Obama addresses the "people of West Africa" in a video posted Tuesday by the U.S. State Department regarding the growing threat of the Ebola virus, which Centers for Disease Control director Tom Friedman just declared on CNN "completely out of control" in Africa (via HotAir). The…
The latest attack ad from the Mark Pryor campaign is, well, absurd. Here's Politico's description of the 30-second spot: "Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) is citing the recent scare over the Ebola virus in a new attack ad against his GOP opponent, the first mention of America’s preparedness for a possible…