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Ebola

Kaci Hickox Will Continue Her Advocacy For Nurses Returning from Ebola Countries

She returned from West Africa 21 days ago where she treated Ebola victims,  but when she landed on U.S soil, Kaci Hickox was greeted with a tent with no heat or plumbing where she was expected to stay for 21 days, compliments of Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo.

Kaci loudly opposed her inhumane and unnecessary isolation, even writing articles about her isolation. After telling the world about her tent accommodations, Kaci was allowed to travel to her home in Maryland where she remained monitored and under surveillance.

On Tuesday, Hickox will no longer require daily monitoring for Ebola symptoms, and said she looks forward to stepping out her front door “like normal people.”

But the Texas native said she won’t back away from the debate over treatment of health care workers.

“In the past, a quarantine was something that was considered very extreme. I’m concerned about how lightly we’re taking this concept today,” said Hickox, who defied state-ordered quarantine attempts in New Jersey and Maine. “I’m concerned that the wrong people are leading the debate and making the decisions.”

She said the U.S. needs a public education campaign to better explain the virus that has killed nearly 5,000 in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. However, Hickox said she wouldn’t let her experience prevent her from returning to West Africa.

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Ebola Politics

With The Elections Over, Ebola is No Longer Fearful for the Fox News Fearmongers

Last week Ebola was coming for you and the Obama administration and the Democrats were leading it straight to your doorstep. This week however, Ebola is no longer an issue worthy of our time or money and the funding the president requested to help fight the disease is pointless and unnecessary.

What changed? There was an election on Tuesday so Fox News and the Republican party needed to keep the American people scared in the hopes that they will vote Republicans into power. Well, it worked, so now, after the election, Fox is now downplaying the Ebola threat.

Before the November 4th midterm elections, Ebola and ISIS practically shared office space in the Fox News building. The two issues were talked about so much by Fox News hosts, that they could have collected a paycheck from Rupert Murdoch. After the November 4th midterm election, however, where fear of Ebola and ISIS caused the American people to vote Republicans in control of the U.S Congress, President Obama made a request to House Speaker John Boehner asking for more money to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa. Fox News is now asking if the Ebola crisis is “worthy of all theat money being shipped overseas!”

Fox’s Peter Johnson, Jr.:  Is The Ebola Crisis “Worthy Of All That Money Being Shipped Overseas?” During the November 7 episode of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Fox contributor Peter Johnson, Jr. hosted an interview with Betsy McCaughey in which they criticized President Obama’s request for emergency funds to fight Ebola:

JOHNSON: President Obama asking congress for $6.2 billion in emergency funds to help fight Ebola in West Africa. But is this crisis worthy of all that money being shipped overseas? Would it be better spent on deadly diseases threatening Americans right here at home right now?

[…]

MCCAUGHEY: It’s totally out of proportion, Peter. Five thousand people have died from Ebola. No Americans. Three hundred and sixty thousand Americans die from cancer every year. The president wants to spend a hundred times as much, per Ebola victim, as per cancer victim. That tells you what’s going on here. [Fox News Channel, Fox & Friends.

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ISIS Politics

ISIS Leader “Critically Injured” in Weekend US Air Strike

The Daily Mail reports that American war planes have reportedly launched a strike on a gathering of ISIS leaders, critically wounding their leader.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hurt in the strikes today, according to local witnesses and government sources.

Two witnesses confirmed that bombs had fallen on the town of al-Qaim, next to the Syrian border.

Local government sources described how an aircraft had swooped over a meeting of senior ISIS figures and dropped its payload, killing more than a dozen people.

Another witness said that eight people had died when a bomb struck a market.

A local hospital was said to be overwhelmed with the volume of patients from the raid – including al-Baghdadi.

Local ISIS officials were reportedly roaming the streets with loudspeakers ordering residents to donate blood to help the wounded.

Striking Baghdadi would be the most significant blow yet in the campaign against ISIS, who have been defiant in the face of sustained air attacks from the U.S. Air Force and allies. 

A provincial leader from Anbar in western Iraq, as well as his deputy, are said to be among those killed instantly by the bombs.

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Barack Obama Canada Politics

From Canada – “You Americans Have No Idea Just How Good You Have it With Obama”

A commentary from Canada.

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Politics weekly address

President’s Weekly Address – Honoring Our Veterans

In preparing for the upcoming Veteran’s Day celebration on Tuesday, President Obama used his weekly address to honor all the men and women who have put on the military uniform for this country.

Let’s honor our veterans by making sure they get the care and benefits they’ve earned.  That means health care that’s there for them when they need it.  It means continuing to reduce the disability claims backlog.  And it means giving our wounded warriors all the care and support they need to heal, including mental health care for those with post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury.  Some of the most moving moments I’ve experienced as Commander in Chief have been with our wounded warriors.  Some have to learn how to walk again, talk again, write their names again.  But no matter how hard it is, they never give up.  They never quit.  And we can’t ever quit on them.

Let’s honor our veterans by making sure they get their shot at the American Dream that they risked their lives to defend – by helping them find jobs worthy of their skills and talents, and making sure the Post-9/11 GI Bill stays strong so more veterans can earn a college education.  When our veterans have the opportunity to succeed, our whole nation is stronger.  And let’s work together to end the tragedy of homelessness among veterans once and for all – because anyone who has defended America deserves to live in dignity in America.  

Finally, let’s honor our veterans by remembering that this isn’t just a job for government.  It’s a job for every American.  We’re all keepers of that sacred trust that says, if you put on a uniform and risk your life to keep us safe, we’ll do our part for you.  We’ll make sure you and your family get the support you need.  We’l have your backs – just like you had ours.

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executive order Immigration Reform immigration reform Politics

President’s Immigration Plan includes a Temporary Stay for 5 Million Immigrants

President Obama is determined to get something done on immigration. And despite the threats from Republicans to block all his other policies if he does immigration alone, the president is insisting on doing the right thing.

Seated with 12 top members of the House and Senate in the Old Family Dining Room, Obama shot back that he intended to proceed, saying that he had already waited almost two years for congressional action on immigration. He added that his decision should not upend chances for cooperation on unrelated matters, according to aides familiar with the exchange.

The new focus on Obama’s plans to revamp the immigration system by executive fiat came as the president is reportedly reviewing proposals to allow as many as 5 million illegal immigrants to stay in the United States at least temporarily, according to several people familiar with his plans. He is expected to announce his intentions after returning from a visit to China, Burma and Australia, either this month or in early December, said those familiar with the subject, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not

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Healthcare ObamaCare

Republicans In Charge – Supreme Court Will Hear Case to Gut Obamacare

Republicans are moving quickly. On Tuesday, they scare the American people into giving them control of Congress and now, two days later, the Republican led Supreme Court has announced that it will hear a case whose purpose is to gut Obamacare and destroy it from within.

ThinkProgress reports: In an unexpected step into a politically charged case, the Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would hear a lawsuit seeking to strip health care from millions of Americans.

The Affordable Care Act gives states a choice whether they will set up their own health exchange where consumers can buy health insurance or whether to allow the federal government to do so for them. This lawsuit alleges that subsidies helping individuals buy health insurance are only available in exchanges run by a state, not by the feds. If it succeeds, the likely result will be a “death spiral” where higher premiums cause healthy consumers to drop out of the insurance market, which will cause higher premiums, which will cause more consumers to drop their insurance. Eventually, many states’ individual insurance markets are likely to collapse if this lawsuit prevails.

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Ebola Texas

The “Ebola Outbreak” in Texas Is Officially Over – Republicans Still Have ISIS

Republicans used the so-called “Ebola Outbreak”to create all sorts of scare scenarios trying to convince the American people that we should be scared, we should be afraid because President Obama and the Democrats were asleep at the wheel. Ads popped up all over the country warning Americans that if we did not vote for Republicans, then Ebola or ISIS, or Ebola and ISIS were going to snatch us out of bed and infect, then behead us all.

And of course, in the “Home of the Brave,” scared Americans believed the tall tales of the Republican party and voted them into power.

Well, according to NBC News, the so-called “Ebola Outbreak” in Texas is over!

As of midnight Friday, it was 21 days since anyone got Ebola or was in contact with someone who got Ebola.

“God willing, we are going to be Ebola-free Friday midnight,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the elected official who oversaw the county’s response to its three-person outbreak, before the deadline passed.

It started when Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen planning to settle in the United States, became sick and was at first mistakenly sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. He returned two days later by ambulance and was diagnosed with Ebola.

Officials had to track as many as 50 people who may have been in contact with Duncan. But the real scare came when two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, became infected while caring for him. Vinson had traveled to Ohio to make wedding plans and, even though she wasn’t diagnosed until she came back to Dallas, her travels set off waves of anxiety.

But don’t worry Americans, although reports say that ISIS is retreating, they’re still around… somewhere. So Be afraid! Be very afraid!

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Politics unemployment rate

Unemployment Rate Falls Again, More Jobs Growth in October

Another month, more Americans find work and the economy gets stronger. But Democrats stayed silent, refusing to talk about the improving economy and record jobs creation during the midterm campaign season,  allowing Republicans to push their narrative that the “economy is falling apart.” And that narrative is what voters believed when they gave Republicans the Congress on Tuesday.

The U.S. created 214,000 jobs in October, nudging the unemployment rate down a notch to 5.8%, as many companies added workers to gear up for the holiday season. The economy has now added 200,000 workers or more for nine straight months, a feat last accomplished in 1994. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a seasonally adjusted gain of 243,000 nonfarm jobs. So far in 2014 the U.S. has gained an average of 229,000 jobs a month, the fastest pace since 1999…

The labor-force participation rate, meanwhile, edged up to 62.8% from 62.7% as more people looked for work. Employment gains for September and August were revised up by a combined 31,000. The government said the 256,000 new jobs were created in September, up from a preliminary 248,000. August’s gain was raised to 203,000 from 180,000.

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Domestic Policies Healthcare News Politics

The Post-Modern Mortem

The days after elections are so much fun. Sort of like the day after Thanksgiving when the turkey and fixin’s get a chance to mature and mellow and the remembrance of a holiday is still fresh in the memory.

Well, at least it’s like that for the Republicans. They get a chance to gloat and tell the country just how much they’re loved and how the voters want them to change the tenor and direction of the debate in Washington and how the war on women didn’t work and Hispanics are more interested in the economy than immigration and that the president is not relevant any more and other things that, take a breath please, just aren’t true.

Democrats did a terrific job with those rose-tinted political spectacles on their noses hoping that the poll numbers were under-counting the young and African-American and female voters who were poised to spring out of their homes and rescue the party one final time before Obama takes his techno-laden GOTV effort back to… well, wherever he’s going come January 20, 2017.

What this election will be remembered for is that the South went all Republican, completing a 150 year flip from solidly Democratic and segregationist to solidly Republican and conservative. We can talk all we want about how diverse the country is becoming; the South is having none of it, even in Georgia where the left left its heart in the not very capable hands of the descendants of Carters and Nunns. What, none of the Mondales or McGoverns wanted to run? And who’s up next? A Clinton? We might need to rethink this one.

This election will also be remembered for how ordinary it turned out to be. The unpopular president’s party took a beating in his sixth year. Yawn.

The Republicans had better candidates who mentioned rape not once and found that they could win more votes than the Democrats who ran Usain Bolt-like from Obama. Yawn, roll over.

The right finally learned how to use the new media and mobile landscape to close the techno gap that the Democrats owned for two election cycles. Bound to happen. Yawn, toll over, hit the snooze button.

We also got the day-after sermons from the pulpit about how Boehner, McConnell and Obama will now learn to work with one another for the good of the country and find common ground on the major issues that concern Americans in their daily lives. And they said all of these things with straight faces.

What will really happen is that the Republicans will take out their pent-up frustrations with Harry Reid with laser-like precision, using their slim majority to pass as many bills as they can using reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes, rather than submitting legislation that could be filibustered. There will be no climate change regulations or carbon taxes, but we will get the XL Pipeline. There will be no immigration bill with a path to at least being able to stay in the country, but we will get a bigger, thicker, more secure fence in Arizona and New Mexico, ensuring that fruit prices will skyrocket because it will be rotting on the vines and in the fields for lack of pickers. We might even get some modifications to the ACA, but just enough to mess the law up for those who need it most. And we won’t get any judicial nominees through the Senate. Period.

The country will muddle through for the next two years with the economy continuing its slow $8.25 per hour recovery, states will continue to lead on marriage equality and legalization of marijuana, lower gas prices will help squeezed households, and technology will wow us anew with its ability to make us more productive and efficient.

Big change, though will need to wait.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Featured New York

Beginning November 7th, New Speed Limit in NYC will be 25MPH

This is no joke. If you’re in a hurry, New York City is not the place to drive. Beginning tomorrow, November 7th, speed limit in the big apple will be just 25MPH. Speeds so slow, you’ll probably be better off walking!

Get familiar with these signs New York. They were unveiled today by the NYC Dept of Transportation.

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Politics Republican Congress

Conservatives To Elected Republicans – Governing Is Not a Good Idea

Ah fellow Americans. You guys actually thought turning over control of the Congress the people who broke it in the first place, would make Congress work? How backwards is that?

Well guess who got fooled again!

Rush Limbaugh made his feelings known yesterday, telling Republicans in Congress that governing should not be part of their job! According to the Republican kingpin, Republicans got control of the Congress on Tuesday night because Americans want America to stop progressing. And it is the Republican’s job to make sure all progress stop!

Well, like predicted, Limbaugh’s call is being answered and more conservative outlets are following his lead, demanding that elected Republican officials to do nothing.

“With all due respect to the senator and like-minded Republicans, this course of action makes no sense as a political strategy,” National Review wrote.

They argued that people don’t actually care about issues like trade. But mostly National Review said that trying to govern would just make the GOP vulnerable. Democrats will filibuster, Obama will veto, and the party will continue to divide between the Tea Party and the establishment.

Instead, it should be all about 2016.

“That means being a responsible party, to be sure, just as the conventional wisdom has it. But part of that responsibility involves explaining what Republicans stand for — what, that is, they would do if they had the White House. And outlining a governing agenda for the future is a different matter from trying to govern in 2015,” National Review wrote. “[N]ot much progress is possible until we have a better president. Getting one ought to be conservatism’s main political goal over the next two years.”

And don’t forget Obamacare!

“If more Republicans endorse an alternative like the one that Senators Hatch, Coburn, and Burr introduced, the party will simultaneously reassure conservatives that it has a plan for replacing Obamacare and the public at large that life after Obamacare won’t involve taking health insurance away from millions of people,” they wrote.

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