Category Archives: Fail!

3 Found With Drones Near Nuclear Plant Are Questioned in France – NYTimes.com

Adding to the mystery, Ségolène Royal, the environment minister, has said that she does not have any leads on who was behind the flights. While she said she would not let anyone undermine France’s reputation for security at its nuclear plants, she added that the threat posed by the drone flights should neither be minimized nor exaggerated.

France has 19 nuclear plants and 58 nuclear reactors that supply nearly 75 percent of its electricity.

The newspaper Le Figaro, citing an anonymous government official, has reported that police officers are under orders to shoot down any aircraft that could threaten the plants.

With sling shots? Air guns? A “drone” can be a 12 inch or smaller uav helicopter  for $29.95 from Amazon.com! Occupy EU? Greenpeace?

via 3 Found With Drones Near Nuclear Plant Are Questioned in France – NYTimes.com.

Why are Australia and Canada following North Korea’s lead on Ebola? – The Washington Post

Many of these countries are also banning entry for their own citizens who have visited the epicenter recently.

Below is a list of those countries, in alphabetical order. As you read through it, think to yourself: Which countries stand out?

Antigua and Barbuda

Australia

Belize

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Chad

Colombia

Equatorial Guinea

Gambia

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

Kenya

Mauritius

Namibia

North Korea

Panama

Rwanda

Seychelles

South Africa

South Sudan

St Kitts and Nevis

St Lucia

St Maarten

St Vincent and the Grenadines

Suriname

The Dominican Republic

Trinidad and Tobago

via Why are Australia and Canada following North Korea’s lead on Ebola? – The Washington Post.

Vets gas 31,000 turkeys to stop flu spread – The Local

“This is the virus’s first hotspot and that has to be stamped out immediately,” veterinarian Holger Vogel said.

Turkeys in Heinrichswalde, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, were found to have the highly pathogenic influenza virus, H5N8, which was previously only found in Asia.

via Vets gas 31,000 turkeys to stop flu spread – The Local.

Industrialized farming does it and looks as though they were trying to save money buying hatchlings from China – 😦

Chicago Archdiocese releasing child sex abuse files on 36 more priests – Chicago Tribune

Together with documents on more than two dozen priests released in January, the new files represent the archdiocese’s fullest public accounting of 63 of its priests who church officials found abused 352 children since 1950. The archdiocese has paid about $130 million to settle claims by victims, money raised largely through borrowing and selling church land.

via Chicago Archdiocese releasing child sex abuse files on 36 more priests – Chicago Tribune.

Canada’s Ebola visa ban is dumb, xenophobic, and illegal – Vox

It’s right wingnut politics in both cases – trying to look tough on security and race without seeming racist as both are!

Canada is a country built by and still composed mostly of immigrants. It’s a country that prides itself on being a good global citizen. It’s a country that lobbied against — and was economically scarred by — short-lived travel restrictions following the SARS outbreak of 2002-03.

Now, Canada is one of only two developed countries to issue a visa ban for people from Ebola-stricken West Africa — a wrong-headed decision that is xenophobic, bad science, and against international law.

Following Australia, the federal government’s department of citizenship and immigration announced last week that it would no longer grant travel visas to Canada for residents and citizens of Ebola-affected countries, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. It’s also halting the residency applications of folks from these countries. The restrictions don’t actually apply to Canadian travelers — but only to West Africans themselves.

via Canada’s Ebola visa ban is dumb, xenophobic, and illegal – Vox.

Spanish Ebola survivor, Teresa Romero, released from Madrid hospital | Outbreak News Today

In a news conference today, Romero said, “I am here to thank everyone, I am still very weak. When I felt I was dying I would cling to my memories, to my family and my husband, I was isolated and I did not have any contact with the exterior except with Javier [Limón] by telephone,” she added.

Romero contracted the dangerous virus treating the late Ebola infected priest, Manuel García Viejo towards the end of September.

Romero also commented on two other issues- donating her Ebola antibody-rich plasma and the killing of her dog, Excalibur.

“I don’t know what failed, or if anything failed. I just know that I don’t hold any grudges. If my infection is good for something, to better study the disease and help develop a vaccine, or if my blood can be used to cure other people, I am available,” Romero said.

In a statement today, the nurse’s aide said the killing of her dog, Excalibur, “wasn’t necessary”. “The worst part of all of this is that our dog was not given a chance.”

via Spanish Ebola survivor, Teresa Romero, released from Madrid hospital | Outbreak News Today.

Liberian Women Push Back Against Ebola Scare | Inter Press Service

“I am a Liberian, not a virus.” That’s the loud and clear message of a campaign launched online by a group of Liberian women who refuse to be shamed by thoughtless outbreaks of rejection and cruelty that link African people with the epidemic that has taken thousands of lives.

“If I am Liberian, that doesn’t mean that I have Ebola,” Carolyn Woahloe, a registered nurse, told the Los Angeles Times. “This is not a Liberian problem. This is a world problem.”

Misinformation about the virus has sparked fears around the country and around the world, prompting some national leaders to deny visas to West Africans despite medical guarantees that this was unnecessary and unsafe. As with the AIDS virus in the early days, Africans have been singled out for slurs and rejection even when they present no threat at all.

In Texas, for example, Liberians living in the Dallas area where the first Ebola death was recorded were taunted with “Go back to Liberia.” Students from Rwanda were ordered to stay away from a New Jersey school where they were enrolled.

An Oregon high school canceled a planned visit by 18 African students – all from countries untouched by Ebola – citing a “fluid” situation on the continent.

In response, Shoana Clarke Solomon, a Liberian photographer and TV host, created a hashtag “#IamaLiberianNotaVirus,” (I am a Liberian, Not a Virus) that quickly went viral.

“We are Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Guineans and Nigerians. We live in a region that has been devastated by a deadly disease, but we are not all infected,” she said.

“It is wrong to stereotype and stigmatize an entire people. Remember we are human beings.”

via Liberian Women Push Back Against Ebola Scare | Inter Press Service.

Israel bans Muslim call to prayer in Hebron 61 times in October | Maan News Agency

Religious Oppression – JBTC – Just Because They Can!

Israeli forces have forbidden mosque leaders from calling for prayers through loudspeakers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron 61 times in October under the pretext that it bothers nearby Jewish settlers, the Palestinian ministry of endowment said Sunday.

sraeli forces have forbidden mosque leaders from calling for prayers through loudspeakers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron 61 times in October under the pretext that it bothers nearby Jewish settlers, the Palestinian ministry of endowment said Sunday.

The ministry of endowment’s Hebron office said in a statement that banning the call for prayer “is racism and clear violation of freedom of worship which all international conventions maintain.”

via Israel bans Muslim call to prayer in Hebron 61 times in October | Maan News Agency.