I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11 Buffeted by a drop in the markets, fallout over his troop pullout and a looming shutdown, the president is forced to test the idea that he is his own best spokesman.
All posts by nedhamson
Student Targeted by ‘Troll Storm’ Hopes Settlement Will Send Message to White Supremacists
Good on her! Evan James McCarty said he would renounce white supremacy and apologize to Taylor Dumpson, who endured abuse after she was elected student body president at American University.
Trump’s Syria move pleases dictators and hands initiative to Isis
traitor

The president’s surprise decision to withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan has weakened allies and given a fillip to jihadists
Donald Trump’s sudden decision to pull US troops out of Syria, and slash the numbers deployed in Afghanistan, came as a nasty shock to Britain, regional allies such as Israel, and to many in his own administration and Republican party. Although he had threatened such action in the past, his wiser, more experienced advisers had succeeded in restraining him – until last week, when the president finally got away from the White House “grown-ups” and went rogue.
Trump’s move proved the final straw for James Mattis, the defence secretary and last of the old guard, whose relationship with the president was already strained. In his resignation letter, Mattis did not specifically mention Syria and Afghanistan but he warned that Trump was placing US security at risk by letting down and denigrating America’s friends and allies.
Trump and Democrats play blame game over government shutdown
I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11

President calls it a Democratic shutdown, while Democrats chide Trump’s ‘temper tantrum’
The US awoke on Saturday to a partial government shutdown after Democrats in Congress refused to fund Donald Trump’s border wall and the president in turn refused to sign budget legislation. A battle to apportion blame duly followed.
Related: Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border
Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border | US news | The Guardian
Maria and Juan – both from Honduras – were fleeing not only poverty, but horrific violence. Gang members in San Pedro Sula had extorted Maria’s two brothers for months. When they were unable to pay, she said, the gang burned down their house and butchered them with machetes. “My brothers had no money because they were helping me with Javier,” she’d told me. “They died helping my son.” The killers had even attended the funeral to send Maria a message that she was next.
Source: Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border | US news | The Guardian
CDC Candida Auris Update – December
![]() |
| Credit CDC |
#13,754
In June of 2016 the CDC issued a Clinical Alert to U.S. Health care facilities about the Global Emergence of Invasive Infections Caused by the Multidrug-Resistant Yeast Candida auris.
C. auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that was first isolated in Japan in 2009. It was initially found in the discharge from a patient’s external ear (hence the name `auris’). Retrospective analysis has traced this fungal infection back over 20 years.
Since then the CDC and public health entities have been monitoring an increasing number of cases (and hospital clusters) in the United States and abroad, generally involving bloodstream infections, wound infections or otitis.
Adding to the concern:
- C. auris infections have a high fatality rate
- The strain appears to be resistant to multiple classes of anti-fungals
- This strain is unusually persistent on fomites in healthcare environments.
- And it can be difficult for labs to differentiate it from other Candida strains
The CDC has published their November update on their C. Auris surveillance page, where they show – as of November 30st – 493 confirmed cases and 30 probable cases, across 12 states.
New York, New Jersey, and Illinois continue to lead the pack, making up 95% (n=472) of the 493 confirmed cases. Additionally, 899 patients have been found to be colonized with C. auris by targeted screening conducted in six states with clinical cases.
December 21, 2018: Case Count Updated as of November 30, 2018
Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. C. auris causes severe illness in hospitalized patients in several countries, including the United States. Patients can remain colonized with C. auris for a long time and C. auris can persist on surfaces in healthcare environments. This can result in spread of C. auris between patients in healthcare facilities.
Most C. auris cases in the United States have been detected in the New York City area, New Jersey, and the Chicago area. Strains of C. auris in the United States have been linked to other parts of the world. U.S. C. auris cases are a result of inadvertent introduction into the United States from a patient who recently received healthcare in a country where C. auris has been reported or a result of local spread after such an introduction.
Candida auris was made nationally notifiable at the 2018 Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Annual Conference. For the updated case definition and information on the nationally notifiable condition status, which will go into effect in 2019, please see the 2018 CSTE position statement[PDF – 16 pages].
As depicted the the following CDC map, C. auris is very much a global problem, although limited surveillance prevents us from knowing just how widespread this fungal infection really is.
For more information visit the CDC’s Information for Laboratorians and Health Professionals page, including:
Resources
Information for Laboratorians and Infection Preventionists
- Information for Infection Preventionists – Print only version[PDF – 2 pages]
- Information for Laboratory Staff – Print only version[PDF – 2 pages]
Patient Education
Chaos in Washington Has Once Again Left the Kurds Stranded – The Atlantic
Time and again, powerful allies on whose support they thought they could rely abandoned them.
Source: Chaos in Washington Has Once Again Left the Kurds Stranded – The Atlantic
Trump’s Syria withdrawal has handed a huge gift to Islamic State | Janine di Giovanni
True this

The president’s announcement will destroy any trust in the US among local allies fighting terror
Christmas came early in Syria. Donald Trump’s surprise tweet heralding the withdrawal of US troops neatly indicated the winners and losers in the murderous eight-year Syrian war. While the US never had much leverage in Syria – thanks to Barack Obama’s disastrous 2013 decision not to act following the Ghouta chemical attacks – Trump has managed, in a 16-word message, to embolden Islamic State, Moscow, Damascus, Hezbollah and Iran. In a sense, he has abandoned any western influence over Syria and handed the territory to dictators, murderers and terrorists.
Related: Europe responds with alarm to US defence secretary’s resignation
With Mattis gone, ‘time to be afraid’ of 3 a.m. call for Donald Trump

While the resignation of James Mattis was widely lamented in Washington, hopes for some kind of internal resistance against Donald Trump are misplaced. Instead concerns about an impulsive commander-in-chief are growing.
Anti-Orban protesters ridicule Hungary’s ‘slave law’

“We can finally work eight days a week,” read the invitation sent out by the satirical Two-Tailed Dog Party ahead of a Budapest march. Viktor Orban dismissed the protests over the new labor law as “hysterical shouting.”




You must be logged in to post a comment.