october 1, 2014
Judge Says Poor Have No Right To Clean Water, Allows Detroit Water Shutoffs To Continue
BY ALAN PYKE
Saying there is no such thing as a legal right to clean running water, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes dismissed a request from Detroit residents to impose a six-month moratorium on water shutoffs by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) on Monday.
The plaintiffs had argued last week that the DWSD shutoffs over delinquent water bills violated the human rights of impoverished citizens who had no ability to pay what the city says they owe, and who were left without access to clean water by the shutoff policy.
“There is no such right or law,” Rhodes said, according to the Detroit News. He also rejected the idea that citizens have a right to “service based on an ability to pay.”
Those remarks are notable because Rhodes didn’t even have to speak to the substance of the plaintiffs’ arguments. Bankruptcy law doesn’t give him the power to force the city to take the sort of action the plaintiffs requested, so Rhodes could have dismissed the request on simple procedural grounds.
By choosing instead to rebuke the notion that the health and safety implications of being cut off from running water service due to dire financial straits constitutes a violation of Detroiters’ rights, Rhodes positioned himself opposite the United Nations. After activists made a formal request for U.N. intervention in June, a trio of U.N. experts called the DWSD’s aggressive approach to a multi-million-dollar backlog of water bills “a violation of the human right to water and other international rights.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on drinking water issues said that “when there is a genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections.” The city of Detroit has raised water rates by triple-digit percentages in recent years despite having one of the poorest customer bases in the country.
DWSD has been shutting off thousands of water pipes every month since the spring, withone brief break in late summer after the policy attracted months of negative press attention. Activists allege that the department has been far more willing to shut off water to individuals than to businesses even though delinquent bills from businesses are much larger on average and make up a disproportionate share of the total revenue DWSD is owed. (A DWSD official disputed that portrayal to ThinkProgress over the summer and promised to provide numbers proving those allegations are false, but never did.)
When the water shutoffs began, the city’s path out of bankruptcy was still rocky and complicated. The thorniest part of the city’s unpayable debts had always been the $5 billion in borrowing tied to the DWSD. When the future of the water department was up in the air, it made a certain brutal kind of sense to get aggressive about clearing up $175 million in unpaid bills in order to make the water department a more attractive asset in variousnegotiations.
Since then, the city has struck an agreement with neighboring counties to put a regional water authority in place — something that should help to make service more affordable for Detroit residents in the long run while also bringing in much-needed revenue for repairs to the aging pipes and filtration infrastructure. The chief financial officer of the DWSD told the Detroit Free Press that it must keep the pressure up on poor Detroiters in order to fulfill its agreement with the suburban counties and maintain its bond rating.
The total outstanding water bills have been cut in half to less than $90 million since the spring. As the water shutoffs were getting underway in April, Rhodes approved the city’s request to pay that same amount of money to a trio of banks over some legally questionable financial deals tied to casino revenue. Rhodes had previously said the city should sue to cancel those deals rather than buying their way out of the bad debts.
BY ALAN PYKE
Saying there is no such thing as a legal right to clean running water, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes dismissed a request from Detroit residents to impose a six-month moratorium on water shutoffs by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) on Monday.
The plaintiffs had argued last week that the DWSD shutoffs over delinquent water bills violated the human rights of impoverished citizens who had no ability to pay what the city says they owe, and who were left without access to clean water by the shutoff policy.
“There is no such right or law,” Rhodes said, according to the Detroit News. He also rejected the idea that citizens have a right to “service based on an ability to pay.”
Those remarks are notable because Rhodes didn’t even have to speak to the substance of the plaintiffs’ arguments. Bankruptcy law doesn’t give him the power to force the city to take the sort of action the plaintiffs requested, so Rhodes could have dismissed the request on simple procedural grounds.
By choosing instead to rebuke the notion that the health and safety implications of being cut off from running water service due to dire financial straits constitutes a violation of Detroiters’ rights, Rhodes positioned himself opposite the United Nations. After activists made a formal request for U.N. intervention in June, a trio of U.N. experts called the DWSD’s aggressive approach to a multi-million-dollar backlog of water bills “a violation of the human right to water and other international rights.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on drinking water issues said that “when there is a genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections.” The city of Detroit has raised water rates by triple-digit percentages in recent years despite having one of the poorest customer bases in the country.
DWSD has been shutting off thousands of water pipes every month since the spring, withone brief break in late summer after the policy attracted months of negative press attention. Activists allege that the department has been far more willing to shut off water to individuals than to businesses even though delinquent bills from businesses are much larger on average and make up a disproportionate share of the total revenue DWSD is owed. (A DWSD official disputed that portrayal to ThinkProgress over the summer and promised to provide numbers proving those allegations are false, but never did.)
When the water shutoffs began, the city’s path out of bankruptcy was still rocky and complicated. The thorniest part of the city’s unpayable debts had always been the $5 billion in borrowing tied to the DWSD. When the future of the water department was up in the air, it made a certain brutal kind of sense to get aggressive about clearing up $175 million in unpaid bills in order to make the water department a more attractive asset in variousnegotiations.
Since then, the city has struck an agreement with neighboring counties to put a regional water authority in place — something that should help to make service more affordable for Detroit residents in the long run while also bringing in much-needed revenue for repairs to the aging pipes and filtration infrastructure. The chief financial officer of the DWSD told the Detroit Free Press that it must keep the pressure up on poor Detroiters in order to fulfill its agreement with the suburban counties and maintain its bond rating.
The total outstanding water bills have been cut in half to less than $90 million since the spring. As the water shutoffs were getting underway in April, Rhodes approved the city’s request to pay that same amount of money to a trio of banks over some legally questionable financial deals tied to casino revenue. Rhodes had previously said the city should sue to cancel those deals rather than buying their way out of the bad debts.
Top ten things you need to do NOW to protect yourself from an uncontrolled Ebola outbreak
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Now that Ebola "patient zero" has been confirmed in the United States, it's clear that Ebola is spreading far beyond the control of any government or health department. Just weeks ago, President Obama promised Ebola wouldn't arrive in the United States, but now it's here.
The CDC is promising that they can keep it all under control for this patient discovered to have carried Ebola into Dallas. But can they also contain the next Ebola patient? How about the one after that? And how does any government contain a viral pandemic that can't be stopped with bullets and bombs?
In truth, if you want to be safe from the increasingly likely possibility of an Ebola outbreak in North America, you need to take steps NOW to protect yourself. That's what I specialize in. I'm the creator of the www.BioDefense.com website which has now taught pandemic preparedness skills and lifesaving knowledge to over one million people.
Here are the highlights of what you need to be doing right now, in preparation for a pandemic outbreak:
#1) Boost your immune system function with medicinal herbs and nutrientsAll patients who have survived Ebola so far can credit their immune systems for saving their lives.
Anyone who is not actively taking steps right now to significantly boost their immune function with anti-viral herbs, natural medicines, superfoods and nutritional supplements is putting their own life at risk.
I've listed the full details of exactly which immune-boosting items to acquire and use in Episode Six of the Pandemic Preparedness course.
Episode Seven also teaches you how to stop suppressing your immune system with toxic chemicals and medications. Listen to these two episodes now if you want to live through a pandemic outbreak.
Or, if you prefer to die, just follow the CDC's official advice to "wash your hands" and wait around for an experimental vaccine while doing nothing to help yourself in the interim.
#2) Significantly enhance your local food supplies in anticipation of quarantines and food disruptionsOne of the first things that happens in a medical quarantine is that food quickly becomes scarce. There are three reasons for this:
1) The quarantine restricts movement of transport traffic into and out of the quarantine zone.
2) Drivers of transport vehicles refuse to make deliveries into the quarantine zone.
3) Citizens stuck inside the quarantine zone begin to stockpile all supplies in anticipation of supply shortages.
Currently, millions of citizens in Sierra Leone are suffering under a hellish quarantine which has resulted in a near-total economic collapse of the region.
If you don't believe me, see this Washington Post article entitled Ebola-stricken Liberia is descending into economic hell.
#3) Anticipate disruptions in everything: banking, emergency services, water, power and moreWhen any region is subjected to a medical quarantine, it means citizens in that region can't go to work. Those workers run the banks, police departments, water treatment facilities, power plants and so on.
When those workers stay home under a quarantine order, all those businesses and facilities they used to run suddenly cease to function. That's when the local ATMs stop working and basic infrastructure services (such as municipal water) are at risk of disruptions or shutdowns.
How will you survive if you have no food deliveries to the grocery store? No 911 emergency services? No electricity? No tap water? No hospital emergency rooms?
#4) Acquire basic medical protection and isolation gear, including plastic sheetingIf Ebola spreads throughout North America, hospitals will be quickly overrun with patients. Most people seeking medical care will be sent home to die. Presently, 82% of infected patients in Africa are being turned away from hospitals and told to go home.
Do you have basic medical supplies at home to take care of yourself or an infected family member? Do you have isolation supplies to isolate one infected family member from other members of your family?
I cover this in extensive detail in Episode 12 (not yet published but coming soon) at www.BioDefense.com
Expect many important supplies to be completely wiped out in the coming days and weeks. For example, at the time of this writing, you can purchase a pack of 25 Tyvek body suits with hoods at Amazon.com for just $134. That's a little over $5 a suit.
By the time you read this, however, all those suits will probably be sold out. You can click here to check if I'm right. In a pandemic outbreak in North America, these suits will likely be auctioned on eBay for $100 each (or more).
Those who prepare in advance can save a small fortune on the items everyone will suddenly want all at the same time. If you don't already have full-body isolation suits stocked and ready, you're already behind the preparedness curve.
Remember: BEFORE the outbreak, each of these suits could be purchased for less than a Starbucks coffee. But AFTER the outbreak spreads, you probably won't be able to find them at any price.
#5) Have a bug-out plan ready to go, and have the fuel and gear to follow your planIf Ebola begins to spread in your local city, do you have a plan to evacuate before the quarantine occurs?
Medical quarantines should truthfully be called "death zones" because once they're put in place, no one is allowed to leave until they're either immune or dead... or until the viral transmission has completely halted (which usually only happens after everyone is either immune or dead).
The smart play is to get out of the high-density population centers and relocate to a rural area long before a quarantine order comes into play.
Quarantine orders happen without warning. That's on purpose because the government doesn't want people fleeing an "upcoming" quarantine area, thereby causing the virus to spread even farther. So by definition, all quarantines happen instantly, without warning. This simply means if you haven't bugged out beforehand, you will likely not be able to bug out at all.
#5) Get some extra cash in anticipation of financial and electronic commerce disruptionsIf a medical quarantine is announced in your local area, it won't take long for local banks and cash machines to be out of order.
How will you acquire the cash to purchase all the supplies you'll desperately need in a quarantine? Food prices will instantly skyrocket, and anti-viral herbs and natural medicines will be almost priceless (if you can find them at all).
Cash will still be acceptable for commerce in nearly all areas, so having cash is your ticket to being able to acquire the items you need, many of which will be sold only at inflated, black market prices.
If a large percentage of the population decides they all need some cash all at once, expect bank holidays and closures to commence soon thereafter. Our banking system is so fragile that it can't handle a large number of depositors making cash withdrawals at the same time.
#6) Set aside a large, reliable, self-contained water sourceWhere will you get water if the local water treatment facility stops functioning? Most people have no idea.
You will need a large supply of backup water stored on site. The easiest solution is to buy a bathtub water bob and fill it to the max. This will give you 100 gallons or so -- a good start that might last you a few days.
As I was writing this article, I just checked the availability of Water Bobs on Amazon.com, and not surprisingly, they're already sold out.
This is exactly what I've been warning people about. The nature of all the supply lines for food, medicine and preparedness products is that everything will be almost instantly sold out the moment the masses figure out what's really happening.
For many items, it may already be too late.
Here's an actual quote from a Facebook user -- a person who reflects the kind of delusional denial that has been rampant across American society on many topics: "Just because the CDC said that Ebola infections could reach 1.4 million by the end of January, don't worry - you will be fine. Ebola will always be somewhere else - not here."
Such statements are, of course, delusional. And when it comes to a viral pandemic like Ebola, delusional means dead.
#7) Have a plan for household safety and defense against lootersIf you wake up one morning and find yourself locked down in a medical quarantine zone, how exactly are you planning to protect your household from looters who are desperate for food, water and other supplies? Do you seriously think the government is going to have the manpower to guard your home and ensure your safety? Not a chance. Not even if they want to.
Sure, all your neighbors are likely to be very police and civil for the first 72 hours or so. But once the food starts to run out, the thin veneer of politeness quickly vanishes. When facing extreme hunger, there's almost nothing people won't do in order to survive, including looting your home and, if necessary, killing people in the process.
If you don't already have a plan to defend your own home against looters and intruders, now might be a really great time to put a plan in place, before things get any crazier. A pandemic outbreak will no doubt cause another run on guns and ammo just like happened after the December 2012 Sandy Hook shootings. (I still can't find 22LR!)
#8) Consider permanently moving away from high-density population centersBizarre viral pandemics and superbugs are sweeping across our planet right now. Human activity has caused wild imbalances in the natural ecosystems, and we should all expect to see wave after wave of pandemic diseases for decades to come.
In any pandemic, cities quickly become death traps due to the high population density found there. Rural areas are inherently safer from infectious disease precisely because they have far lower population densities (and therefore fewer opportunities for disease to spread among humans).
If you still live in the city but you've always considered getting out into the country, right now might be a great time to take a fresh look at those plans and start taking action. You still have time to make the move. Even "successful" viral pandemics require many months to spread across large populations. Ebola may take 1-2 years to really start spreading in U.S. cities... or it may never spread in America at all if they can keep it contained. (Let's hope it never spreads, but let's also be prepared in case it does...)
Sooner or later, a viral pandemic that cannot be controlled will sweep through the world population. When that day comes -- and it may have just started on Sep. 30, 2014 with "patient zero" in Dallas -- you would be wise to be living far away from population centers.
#9) Plan to have no medical assistance from hospitals or doctorsDuring a pandemic outbreak, you can expect to have no medical help whatsoever from hospitals or doctors. Many doctors and hospital staff will rapidly become infected, and many will die. Others will be far too preoccupied with other patients to take on any more.
Expect all hospital beds to be quickly filled, after which patients will be directed to go home and deal with the infections themselves. (This has already happened in Liberia and Sierra Leone.)
Dialing 911 will be useless, and emergency transportation vehicles such as ambulances will of course be thoroughly contaminated with the Ebola virus.
This might be a good idea to bone up on your self-reliance skills as taught in an online summit beginning today.
#10) Understand that medications, junk food and toxic chemicals make you more vulnerable to infectionsHere's something the mainstream media almost never talks about: medications deplete your body of immune-boosting nutrients, making you even more susceptible to viral infections.
I have written extensively about this exact point in an article entitled Over-medicated, immunosuppressed Americans likely to suffer high fatality rate if Ebola sweeps across USA -- published on September 22, 2014.
In that article, I explain how the mass medication of Americans has made the USA uniquely vulnerable to an Ebola wipeout. It is my opinion that those Americans who wish to survive Ebola need to work with qualified naturopathic physicians to get off their meds as quickly as possible and transition to a health-enhancing lifestyle that boosts immune function and bolsters your defenses against infections.
Remember: Every single person who has so far survived Ebola has been saved by their own immune system. Your immune system can also save your life, too -- but only if you support it and stop suppressing it.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047078_Ebola_outbreak_preparedness_personal_protection.html#ixzz3EuN2Z8e5
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Now that Ebola "patient zero" has been confirmed in the United States, it's clear that Ebola is spreading far beyond the control of any government or health department. Just weeks ago, President Obama promised Ebola wouldn't arrive in the United States, but now it's here.
The CDC is promising that they can keep it all under control for this patient discovered to have carried Ebola into Dallas. But can they also contain the next Ebola patient? How about the one after that? And how does any government contain a viral pandemic that can't be stopped with bullets and bombs?
In truth, if you want to be safe from the increasingly likely possibility of an Ebola outbreak in North America, you need to take steps NOW to protect yourself. That's what I specialize in. I'm the creator of the www.BioDefense.com website which has now taught pandemic preparedness skills and lifesaving knowledge to over one million people.
Here are the highlights of what you need to be doing right now, in preparation for a pandemic outbreak:
#1) Boost your immune system function with medicinal herbs and nutrientsAll patients who have survived Ebola so far can credit their immune systems for saving their lives.
Anyone who is not actively taking steps right now to significantly boost their immune function with anti-viral herbs, natural medicines, superfoods and nutritional supplements is putting their own life at risk.
I've listed the full details of exactly which immune-boosting items to acquire and use in Episode Six of the Pandemic Preparedness course.
Episode Seven also teaches you how to stop suppressing your immune system with toxic chemicals and medications. Listen to these two episodes now if you want to live through a pandemic outbreak.
Or, if you prefer to die, just follow the CDC's official advice to "wash your hands" and wait around for an experimental vaccine while doing nothing to help yourself in the interim.
#2) Significantly enhance your local food supplies in anticipation of quarantines and food disruptionsOne of the first things that happens in a medical quarantine is that food quickly becomes scarce. There are three reasons for this:
1) The quarantine restricts movement of transport traffic into and out of the quarantine zone.
2) Drivers of transport vehicles refuse to make deliveries into the quarantine zone.
3) Citizens stuck inside the quarantine zone begin to stockpile all supplies in anticipation of supply shortages.
Currently, millions of citizens in Sierra Leone are suffering under a hellish quarantine which has resulted in a near-total economic collapse of the region.
If you don't believe me, see this Washington Post article entitled Ebola-stricken Liberia is descending into economic hell.
#3) Anticipate disruptions in everything: banking, emergency services, water, power and moreWhen any region is subjected to a medical quarantine, it means citizens in that region can't go to work. Those workers run the banks, police departments, water treatment facilities, power plants and so on.
When those workers stay home under a quarantine order, all those businesses and facilities they used to run suddenly cease to function. That's when the local ATMs stop working and basic infrastructure services (such as municipal water) are at risk of disruptions or shutdowns.
How will you survive if you have no food deliveries to the grocery store? No 911 emergency services? No electricity? No tap water? No hospital emergency rooms?
#4) Acquire basic medical protection and isolation gear, including plastic sheetingIf Ebola spreads throughout North America, hospitals will be quickly overrun with patients. Most people seeking medical care will be sent home to die. Presently, 82% of infected patients in Africa are being turned away from hospitals and told to go home.
Do you have basic medical supplies at home to take care of yourself or an infected family member? Do you have isolation supplies to isolate one infected family member from other members of your family?
I cover this in extensive detail in Episode 12 (not yet published but coming soon) at www.BioDefense.com
Expect many important supplies to be completely wiped out in the coming days and weeks. For example, at the time of this writing, you can purchase a pack of 25 Tyvek body suits with hoods at Amazon.com for just $134. That's a little over $5 a suit.
By the time you read this, however, all those suits will probably be sold out. You can click here to check if I'm right. In a pandemic outbreak in North America, these suits will likely be auctioned on eBay for $100 each (or more).
Those who prepare in advance can save a small fortune on the items everyone will suddenly want all at the same time. If you don't already have full-body isolation suits stocked and ready, you're already behind the preparedness curve.
Remember: BEFORE the outbreak, each of these suits could be purchased for less than a Starbucks coffee. But AFTER the outbreak spreads, you probably won't be able to find them at any price.
#5) Have a bug-out plan ready to go, and have the fuel and gear to follow your planIf Ebola begins to spread in your local city, do you have a plan to evacuate before the quarantine occurs?
Medical quarantines should truthfully be called "death zones" because once they're put in place, no one is allowed to leave until they're either immune or dead... or until the viral transmission has completely halted (which usually only happens after everyone is either immune or dead).
The smart play is to get out of the high-density population centers and relocate to a rural area long before a quarantine order comes into play.
Quarantine orders happen without warning. That's on purpose because the government doesn't want people fleeing an "upcoming" quarantine area, thereby causing the virus to spread even farther. So by definition, all quarantines happen instantly, without warning. This simply means if you haven't bugged out beforehand, you will likely not be able to bug out at all.
#5) Get some extra cash in anticipation of financial and electronic commerce disruptionsIf a medical quarantine is announced in your local area, it won't take long for local banks and cash machines to be out of order.
How will you acquire the cash to purchase all the supplies you'll desperately need in a quarantine? Food prices will instantly skyrocket, and anti-viral herbs and natural medicines will be almost priceless (if you can find them at all).
Cash will still be acceptable for commerce in nearly all areas, so having cash is your ticket to being able to acquire the items you need, many of which will be sold only at inflated, black market prices.
If a large percentage of the population decides they all need some cash all at once, expect bank holidays and closures to commence soon thereafter. Our banking system is so fragile that it can't handle a large number of depositors making cash withdrawals at the same time.
#6) Set aside a large, reliable, self-contained water sourceWhere will you get water if the local water treatment facility stops functioning? Most people have no idea.
You will need a large supply of backup water stored on site. The easiest solution is to buy a bathtub water bob and fill it to the max. This will give you 100 gallons or so -- a good start that might last you a few days.
As I was writing this article, I just checked the availability of Water Bobs on Amazon.com, and not surprisingly, they're already sold out.
This is exactly what I've been warning people about. The nature of all the supply lines for food, medicine and preparedness products is that everything will be almost instantly sold out the moment the masses figure out what's really happening.
For many items, it may already be too late.
Here's an actual quote from a Facebook user -- a person who reflects the kind of delusional denial that has been rampant across American society on many topics: "Just because the CDC said that Ebola infections could reach 1.4 million by the end of January, don't worry - you will be fine. Ebola will always be somewhere else - not here."
Such statements are, of course, delusional. And when it comes to a viral pandemic like Ebola, delusional means dead.
#7) Have a plan for household safety and defense against lootersIf you wake up one morning and find yourself locked down in a medical quarantine zone, how exactly are you planning to protect your household from looters who are desperate for food, water and other supplies? Do you seriously think the government is going to have the manpower to guard your home and ensure your safety? Not a chance. Not even if they want to.
Sure, all your neighbors are likely to be very police and civil for the first 72 hours or so. But once the food starts to run out, the thin veneer of politeness quickly vanishes. When facing extreme hunger, there's almost nothing people won't do in order to survive, including looting your home and, if necessary, killing people in the process.
If you don't already have a plan to defend your own home against looters and intruders, now might be a really great time to put a plan in place, before things get any crazier. A pandemic outbreak will no doubt cause another run on guns and ammo just like happened after the December 2012 Sandy Hook shootings. (I still can't find 22LR!)
#8) Consider permanently moving away from high-density population centersBizarre viral pandemics and superbugs are sweeping across our planet right now. Human activity has caused wild imbalances in the natural ecosystems, and we should all expect to see wave after wave of pandemic diseases for decades to come.
In any pandemic, cities quickly become death traps due to the high population density found there. Rural areas are inherently safer from infectious disease precisely because they have far lower population densities (and therefore fewer opportunities for disease to spread among humans).
If you still live in the city but you've always considered getting out into the country, right now might be a great time to take a fresh look at those plans and start taking action. You still have time to make the move. Even "successful" viral pandemics require many months to spread across large populations. Ebola may take 1-2 years to really start spreading in U.S. cities... or it may never spread in America at all if they can keep it contained. (Let's hope it never spreads, but let's also be prepared in case it does...)
Sooner or later, a viral pandemic that cannot be controlled will sweep through the world population. When that day comes -- and it may have just started on Sep. 30, 2014 with "patient zero" in Dallas -- you would be wise to be living far away from population centers.
#9) Plan to have no medical assistance from hospitals or doctorsDuring a pandemic outbreak, you can expect to have no medical help whatsoever from hospitals or doctors. Many doctors and hospital staff will rapidly become infected, and many will die. Others will be far too preoccupied with other patients to take on any more.
Expect all hospital beds to be quickly filled, after which patients will be directed to go home and deal with the infections themselves. (This has already happened in Liberia and Sierra Leone.)
Dialing 911 will be useless, and emergency transportation vehicles such as ambulances will of course be thoroughly contaminated with the Ebola virus.
This might be a good idea to bone up on your self-reliance skills as taught in an online summit beginning today.
#10) Understand that medications, junk food and toxic chemicals make you more vulnerable to infectionsHere's something the mainstream media almost never talks about: medications deplete your body of immune-boosting nutrients, making you even more susceptible to viral infections.
I have written extensively about this exact point in an article entitled Over-medicated, immunosuppressed Americans likely to suffer high fatality rate if Ebola sweeps across USA -- published on September 22, 2014.
In that article, I explain how the mass medication of Americans has made the USA uniquely vulnerable to an Ebola wipeout. It is my opinion that those Americans who wish to survive Ebola need to work with qualified naturopathic physicians to get off their meds as quickly as possible and transition to a health-enhancing lifestyle that boosts immune function and bolsters your defenses against infections.
Remember: Every single person who has so far survived Ebola has been saved by their own immune system. Your immune system can also save your life, too -- but only if you support it and stop suppressing it.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047078_Ebola_outbreak_preparedness_personal_protection.html#ixzz3EuN2Z8e5
Ebola now in America; Dallas patient confirmed to have carried deadly virus into major U.S. city
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) The CDC today confirmed the worst fears of many Americans who have been carefully monitoring the Ebola outbreak: the virus is now in America.
A yet-unnamed patient in the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital is definitely confirmed to have carried Ebola into the United States and to have possibly spread it to others. [1]
This is precisely the scenario I have publicly warned about for weeks on the Pandemic Preparedness website at www.BioDefense.com
Ebola patient traveled to Liberia, then flew back to the U.S.The announcement of the infection status of the patient was delayed until the CDC could hastily organize a press conference. During that conference, it was confirmed the patient traveled to Liberia where he acquired the virus. He returned to the United States via air travel, and then carried the virus for another 10 days in the U.S. before being diagnosed with Ebola.
During this time, of course, he may have spread the virus to others. Because the incubation time of the Ebola virus is 2 - 21 days, we may not know the full extent of the spread of this infection -- if any -- for up to three weeks.
"We received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested them and they tested positive for Ebola. The State of Texas also operates a laboratory that found the same results," CDC director Thomas Frieden said in a widely-televised press conference. The patient is currently said to be "critically ill."
The CDC is now scrambling to attempt to identify all the people with whom the confirmed Ebola carrier has made contact over the last 10 days. These people may include:
• Fellow passengers on the airplanes
• Family members
• Friends
• Business associated
• Paramedics
• Hospital staff
• Hospital patients
U.S. government remains in state of denial about pandemic infection riskFrieden expressed high confidence that this particular Ebola infection would be immediately contained. Then again, President Obama just said a few weeks ago that the chance of Ebola ever arriving in America was "unlikely." But now it's here.
Texas health officials say they are well equipped to handle Ebola infections and that they are committed to keeping Texas safe. At the same time, U.S. medical staff have proven that they are unable to stop the spread of superbugs in U.S. hospitals, calling into question the ability of those same people to stop the spread of Ebola if it spreads beyond a small, contained group. (Superbugs like MRSA, c.diff and CRE are rampant across U.S. hospitals.)
U.S. government has no way to stop more people from bringing Ebola to U.S. citiesEven if this one particular Ebola outbreak is quickly contained, it has proven that Ebola patients can simply walk right into the United States -- or fly in, in this case -- without any effort at all.
The U.S. government, in other words, is completely unprepared to deal with an influx of infected Ebola patients. That this first Ebola patient has been confirmed in Dallas now shatters the delusion that America is somehow immune to the Ebola outbreak currently ravaging Africa and believed to be on track to infect 1.4 million patients by the end of January.
What we now know with 100% certainty is that Ebola has crossed the Atlantic ocean and transplanted itself into a large U.S. city where it festered for 10 days before being identified. The question on everyone's mind now is simply this: How can the U.S. government possibly stop this from happening again?
The answer is that it can't.
Get prepared now. Listen to the free audio course I've produced and released at no charge at www.BioDefense.com
If you want to know what's really coming, listen to this course. I have accurately and publicly predicted almost every step of this outbreak, including medical martial law, forced quarantines in Sierra Leone, food shortages in the quarantine zones and much more. I can tell you almost exactly what's going to happen in America of Ebola spreads beyond containment. No one in the mainstream media will dare print or broadcast the information you'll find at www.BioDefense.com
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047077_Ebola_Dallas_pandemic_virus.html#ixzz3EuLgK6po
Wednesday, October 01, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) The CDC today confirmed the worst fears of many Americans who have been carefully monitoring the Ebola outbreak: the virus is now in America.
A yet-unnamed patient in the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital is definitely confirmed to have carried Ebola into the United States and to have possibly spread it to others. [1]
This is precisely the scenario I have publicly warned about for weeks on the Pandemic Preparedness website at www.BioDefense.com
Ebola patient traveled to Liberia, then flew back to the U.S.The announcement of the infection status of the patient was delayed until the CDC could hastily organize a press conference. During that conference, it was confirmed the patient traveled to Liberia where he acquired the virus. He returned to the United States via air travel, and then carried the virus for another 10 days in the U.S. before being diagnosed with Ebola.
During this time, of course, he may have spread the virus to others. Because the incubation time of the Ebola virus is 2 - 21 days, we may not know the full extent of the spread of this infection -- if any -- for up to three weeks.
"We received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested them and they tested positive for Ebola. The State of Texas also operates a laboratory that found the same results," CDC director Thomas Frieden said in a widely-televised press conference. The patient is currently said to be "critically ill."
The CDC is now scrambling to attempt to identify all the people with whom the confirmed Ebola carrier has made contact over the last 10 days. These people may include:
• Fellow passengers on the airplanes
• Family members
• Friends
• Business associated
• Paramedics
• Hospital staff
• Hospital patients
U.S. government remains in state of denial about pandemic infection riskFrieden expressed high confidence that this particular Ebola infection would be immediately contained. Then again, President Obama just said a few weeks ago that the chance of Ebola ever arriving in America was "unlikely." But now it's here.
Texas health officials say they are well equipped to handle Ebola infections and that they are committed to keeping Texas safe. At the same time, U.S. medical staff have proven that they are unable to stop the spread of superbugs in U.S. hospitals, calling into question the ability of those same people to stop the spread of Ebola if it spreads beyond a small, contained group. (Superbugs like MRSA, c.diff and CRE are rampant across U.S. hospitals.)
U.S. government has no way to stop more people from bringing Ebola to U.S. citiesEven if this one particular Ebola outbreak is quickly contained, it has proven that Ebola patients can simply walk right into the United States -- or fly in, in this case -- without any effort at all.
The U.S. government, in other words, is completely unprepared to deal with an influx of infected Ebola patients. That this first Ebola patient has been confirmed in Dallas now shatters the delusion that America is somehow immune to the Ebola outbreak currently ravaging Africa and believed to be on track to infect 1.4 million patients by the end of January.
What we now know with 100% certainty is that Ebola has crossed the Atlantic ocean and transplanted itself into a large U.S. city where it festered for 10 days before being identified. The question on everyone's mind now is simply this: How can the U.S. government possibly stop this from happening again?
The answer is that it can't.
Get prepared now. Listen to the free audio course I've produced and released at no charge at www.BioDefense.com
If you want to know what's really coming, listen to this course. I have accurately and publicly predicted almost every step of this outbreak, including medical martial law, forced quarantines in Sierra Leone, food shortages in the quarantine zones and much more. I can tell you almost exactly what's going to happen in America of Ebola spreads beyond containment. No one in the mainstream media will dare print or broadcast the information you'll find at www.BioDefense.com
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047077_Ebola_Dallas_pandemic_virus.html#ixzz3EuLgK6po
Attack of the Five Monarchies, An Alliance of Dictators and Despots
by Rannie Amiri, October 01, 2014
It is the irony of ironies. A cadre of repressive monarchies is chosen to liberate the captive peoples of Iraq and Syria from the tyranny of ISIS.
Combating a group known for its violent sectarianism, the five Arab allies ordered by the United States to participate in the bombing campaign against ISIS are themselves the region’s worst sectarian agitators. Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are now at the vanguard of efforts to dismantle an organization that is essentially of their own creation.
After the downfall of Saddam Hussein, it was King Abdullah II of Jordan who raised the sectarian specter, warning of the emergence of a "Shiite crescent" in the Middle East, sending panic throughout the monarchies of the Gulf and beyond. It was a rallying cry; a call to arms which heralded operations to destabilize Iraq, and in less than ten years time, Syria.
Bahrain has been a true standout in its brutal crackdown against pro-democracy activists and reformers who hope to see the unchecked powers of the al-Khalifa royal family restrained. For its part, the regime has hidden nothing. Their brazen oppression is very much out in the open for its Western allies to witness: torture, show trials, arbitrary detentions, revocation of citizenship, deportations and media blackouts. All are daily occurrences and come in the backdrop of longstanding socioeconomic and political disenfranchisement. Two of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders are Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the (imprisoned) co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Nabeel Rajab, its current president. Rajab succinctly contextualizes Bahrain’s political crisis:
"The ruling family is Sunni. The ruling family is repressive. It’s true that the majority of protesters are Shia, because the majority of the population is Shia, but we are not against the family’s religion – we are against their policies, attitude and behavior. The ruling family tries to present it as a Shia-Sunni issue, but we are not against the Sunni people.
I come from a mixed family and our revolt is against the ruling family that wants to keep all the power. We are struggling to share this power. Seventy percent of our government is from one family, we have had the same prime minister for more than 40 years. This system can’t continue. It is time for democracy, justice and human rights. We are a civilized, educated nation. But unfortunately we happen to be ruled by a tribe."
Saudi Arabia and Qatar must be mentioned in tandem. The two rival families – al-Saud and al-Thani respectively – have long vied for power and influence in the Middle East. Initially it was through the dueling television stations Al Arabiya and Al-Jazeera. It has since become far more sinister: by funding competing, armed extremist groups. Qatar has effectively abandoned the Muslim Brotherhood as its proxy of choice, opting instead for the de facto al-Qaeda stand-in, Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front, one of the main "opposition" factions operating in Syria. Its main competitor of course is ISIS, the brainchild of Saudi Arabia. Patrick Cockburn, writing in The Independent, nicely details how Saudi Arabia was complicit in helping ISIS take over northern Iraq. Other journalists have drawn similar conclusions.
ISIS is a takfiri group branding anyone not conforming to their regressive ideology as worthy of execution, particularly Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians and Yazidis. Members of ISIS’ own (purported) sect – Sunni Muslims – are given a reprieve of sorts but have equally suffered under their rule. In Saudi Arabia, the official Wahabicreed is only one step removed from the takfiri worldview. It comes as no surprise to learn that its Shia citizens are the victims of pervasive, institutionalized discrimination. Some clerics in the Kingdom have even gone so far as to brand them non-Muslims (which opens up a whole set of permissive practices), a view likewise held by ISIS.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has worked in concert with Saudi Arabia in opposing certain political parties, namely the Muslim Brotherhood. Along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the UAE was the only other country to officially recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Notorious for cracking down on all forms of dissent, the UAE also has a habit of deporting Lebanese Shia expatriates from the country, presuming a connection to Hezbollah based on sect alone.
"America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security," Obama said. "The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this isn’t America’s fight alone. Above all, the people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL …"
Obama naively equates the Arab people with their governments. The people of the Middle East reject not only ISIS, but these five monarchies and all their machinations and schemes as well. Including them in any coalition to fight the very sectarian, destructive monster they directly or indirectly helped create is yet another reason why the military campaign against ISIS is destined for failure.
Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on Middle East affairs.
by Rannie Amiri, October 01, 2014
It is the irony of ironies. A cadre of repressive monarchies is chosen to liberate the captive peoples of Iraq and Syria from the tyranny of ISIS.
Combating a group known for its violent sectarianism, the five Arab allies ordered by the United States to participate in the bombing campaign against ISIS are themselves the region’s worst sectarian agitators. Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are now at the vanguard of efforts to dismantle an organization that is essentially of their own creation.
After the downfall of Saddam Hussein, it was King Abdullah II of Jordan who raised the sectarian specter, warning of the emergence of a "Shiite crescent" in the Middle East, sending panic throughout the monarchies of the Gulf and beyond. It was a rallying cry; a call to arms which heralded operations to destabilize Iraq, and in less than ten years time, Syria.
Bahrain has been a true standout in its brutal crackdown against pro-democracy activists and reformers who hope to see the unchecked powers of the al-Khalifa royal family restrained. For its part, the regime has hidden nothing. Their brazen oppression is very much out in the open for its Western allies to witness: torture, show trials, arbitrary detentions, revocation of citizenship, deportations and media blackouts. All are daily occurrences and come in the backdrop of longstanding socioeconomic and political disenfranchisement. Two of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders are Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the (imprisoned) co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Nabeel Rajab, its current president. Rajab succinctly contextualizes Bahrain’s political crisis:
"The ruling family is Sunni. The ruling family is repressive. It’s true that the majority of protesters are Shia, because the majority of the population is Shia, but we are not against the family’s religion – we are against their policies, attitude and behavior. The ruling family tries to present it as a Shia-Sunni issue, but we are not against the Sunni people.
I come from a mixed family and our revolt is against the ruling family that wants to keep all the power. We are struggling to share this power. Seventy percent of our government is from one family, we have had the same prime minister for more than 40 years. This system can’t continue. It is time for democracy, justice and human rights. We are a civilized, educated nation. But unfortunately we happen to be ruled by a tribe."
Saudi Arabia and Qatar must be mentioned in tandem. The two rival families – al-Saud and al-Thani respectively – have long vied for power and influence in the Middle East. Initially it was through the dueling television stations Al Arabiya and Al-Jazeera. It has since become far more sinister: by funding competing, armed extremist groups. Qatar has effectively abandoned the Muslim Brotherhood as its proxy of choice, opting instead for the de facto al-Qaeda stand-in, Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front, one of the main "opposition" factions operating in Syria. Its main competitor of course is ISIS, the brainchild of Saudi Arabia. Patrick Cockburn, writing in The Independent, nicely details how Saudi Arabia was complicit in helping ISIS take over northern Iraq. Other journalists have drawn similar conclusions.
ISIS is a takfiri group branding anyone not conforming to their regressive ideology as worthy of execution, particularly Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians and Yazidis. Members of ISIS’ own (purported) sect – Sunni Muslims – are given a reprieve of sorts but have equally suffered under their rule. In Saudi Arabia, the official Wahabicreed is only one step removed from the takfiri worldview. It comes as no surprise to learn that its Shia citizens are the victims of pervasive, institutionalized discrimination. Some clerics in the Kingdom have even gone so far as to brand them non-Muslims (which opens up a whole set of permissive practices), a view likewise held by ISIS.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has worked in concert with Saudi Arabia in opposing certain political parties, namely the Muslim Brotherhood. Along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the UAE was the only other country to officially recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Notorious for cracking down on all forms of dissent, the UAE also has a habit of deporting Lebanese Shia expatriates from the country, presuming a connection to Hezbollah based on sect alone.
"America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security," Obama said. "The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this isn’t America’s fight alone. Above all, the people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL …"
Obama naively equates the Arab people with their governments. The people of the Middle East reject not only ISIS, but these five monarchies and all their machinations and schemes as well. Including them in any coalition to fight the very sectarian, destructive monster they directly or indirectly helped create is yet another reason why the military campaign against ISIS is destined for failure.
Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on Middle East affairs.