Bad Ebola News

[JoJosMom]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ebola-terror-gatwick-passenger-collapses-3977051

 

A passenger collapsed and died in a London airport.

[Lucy the Valiant]

She is from Sierra Leone, but there has been no confirmed connection to ebola, correct? (I'm sorry for her & for her family; at this point, though, there are actually many different medical causes that could have precipitated such a sad event.)

[Catwoman]

"Bad Ebola News?" :glare:

 

Before everyone starts to panic, let's remember that there is no proof whatsoever that the woman had the Ebola virus.

 

I think we should wait and hear the autopsy results before turning this into a huge crisis.

 

According to the people on the plane, the woman showed no symptoms while she was on the plane. It sounds more like something happened to her suddenly, rather than that she was very ill when she got onboard the plane.

[Mimm]

How sad and scary, no matter what she had.

[DianeW88]

^^^ This. Ebola is not subtle, and you don't just drop dead suddenly with no other symptoms.

[jewellsmommy]

"Bad Ebola News?"

 

Before everyone starts to panic, let's remember that there is no proof whatsoever that the woman had the Ebola virus.

 

I think we should wait and hear the autopsy results before turning this into a huge crisis.

 

According to the people on the plane, the woman showed no symptoms while she was on the plane. It sounds more like something happened to her suddenly, rather than that she was very ill when she got onboard the plane.

 

Agreed. The article even says that they do NOT believe it to be Ebola.

 

 

“The patient’s symptoms suggest that Ebola is very unlikely but as a precaution this is one of the tests being undertaken."

"The patient was not symptomatic on the plane and therefore there is no risk of Ebola being passed on to either flight crew or other passengers."

"At around 11pm on Sunday, the Department of Health said that tests for the deadly Ebola virus on the woman who died at Gatwick had proved negative."

 

 

ETA: I just had to add that this article seems like an example of irresponsible reporting to me. They downplay the actual facts by hiding them in lots of info about the Ebola virus. They have titles it ambiguously and framed it in a context that goes against what the facts presented are!

 

[Starr]

BBC link  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-28634903

[SproutMamaK]

The story had been updated to say that the tests for Ebola came back negative. Phew!

[gardenmom5]

The story had been updated to say that the tests for Ebola came back negative. Phew!

 

from what I read -that's was what I expected.  if it had been ebola - she'd have been vomiting blood, among other places it would have been coming out of. (and there was no mention of bleeding anywhere.)

[smudge]

Probably "Economy Class Syndrome" she developes a DVT on the long flight, gets off plane, starts walking around, DVT breaks off, floats up to heart/lungs, then sudden death.

[saw]

The Mirror isn't exactly representative of great journalism. Or even mediocre journalism. I personally would be wary of anything published in there as it's likely to take the sensationalist approach.

[Slartibartfast]

Media outlets should be fined for crap like that.

[Mimm]

Seriously. Talk about shamelessly capitalizing on people's fears.

[Pawz4me]

I worry much more about media sensationalism inciting panic in populaces that so frequently don't bother to do even just a bit of self-education than I do about the virus itself.

[Crimson Wife]

I am concerned about the possibility of modern air travel spreading Ebola. I think the airlines should be required to do what they did during the SARS outbreak and screen passengers for fever prior to letting them board a plane. Most fevers will be something mild, but containing the spread of Ebola is worth inconveniencing a few passengers.

[gardenmom5]

not just capitalizing upon them, but stirring them up.  but hey, they gotta sell those papers/ . . . .

Seriously. Talk about shamelessly capitalizing on people's fears.

 

[momto10blessings]

Probably "Economy Class Syndrome" she developes a DVT on the long flight, gets off plane, starts walking around, DVT breaks off, floats up to heart/lungs, then sudden death.

Ugh! As a wife to someone who gets a dvt about once a year, THiS is my worst nightmare.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Why write a sensational thread title that isn't even true?  

[Cindy in FL.]

It could have been a heart attack, too. They can cause sweating and vomiting.

[Acorn]

Why write a sensational thread title that isn't even true?  

 

Exactly.

 

The story had been updated to say that the tests for Ebola came back negative. Phew!

 

Umm, someone died.  I don't think Phew! is appropriate.  I feel sorry for the loved ones of the deceased.

[celticmom]

It could have been a heart attack, too. They can cause sweating and vomiting.

 

That was my first thought when the seating and vomiting were mentioned. However, the heart attack could have been caused by DVT if I am not mistaken. Also air travel can be just plain stressful.

[redsquirrel]

What a really great example of bad journalism, designed to prey on people's fears and lack of knowledge. Perfect clickbait.

[TranquilMind]

"Bad Ebola News?" :glare:

 

Before everyone starts to panic, let's remember that there is no proof whatsoever that the woman had the Ebola virus.

 

I think we should wait and hear the autopsy results before turning this into a huge crisis.

 

According to the people on the plane, the woman showed no symptoms while she was on the plane. It sounds more like something happened to her suddenly, rather than that she was very ill when she got onboard the plane.

Right, she could have had a heart attack, or a blood clot, like that young singer who just dropped dead. 

 

Of course, if she did have Ebola, it will likely be covered up. 

[DianeW88]

Right, she could have had a heart attack, or a blood clot, like that young singer who just dropped dead.

 

Of course, if she did have Ebola, it will likely be covered up.

Her symptoms are inconsistent with Ebola.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Right, she could have had a heart attack, or a blood clot, like that young singer who just dropped dead. 

 

Of course, if she did have Ebola, it will likely be covered up. 

Got your tin-foil hat handy?  I hear that it is Ebola resistant.  

[Slartibartfast]

Right, she could have had a heart attack, or a blood clot, like that young singer who just dropped dead. 

 

Of course, if she did have Ebola, it will likely be covered up. 

What do you mean covered up? They didn't cover up the person on an airplane that did have Ebola.

 

This is a serous issue and *most* of the media has been great about keeping people informed. I really don't think there is any conspiracy.

[Slartibartfast]

Got your tin-foil hat handy?  I hear that it is Ebola resistant.  

 

It's getting bad. 

 

 

 

[redsquirrel]

Right, she could have had a heart attack, or a blood clot, like that young singer who just dropped dead. 

 

Of course, if she did have Ebola, it will likely be covered up. 

 

Yes, so if people DO have Ebola then the media is lying because all of the Ebola cases are covered up so we never hear about them.

 

So if we ARE hearing about Ebola then it is good and if we are NOT hearing stories about Ebola then it is...bad?

 

Nice little circular logic feedback loop you got there.

[albeto.]

nm 

 

Edited August 6, 2014 by Moderator
Politics

[monstermama]

I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it, but I remember reading an interview of a prominent epidemiologist who basically said all the fears of an ebola epidemic in some place like the US or another first-world country were laughable due to current research on how it's spread (direct contact with bodily fluids) and quarantine methods.  The thing we should be afraid of?  Good old plain flu, like the Spanish flu pandemic.

[Lisbeth]

We should also be worried about drug resistant TB.

[Hunter's Moon]

There are far more things to be worrying about (in the US) than this.

 

Drug-resistant bacterial strains, anyone?

[Seasider]

I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it, but I remember reading an interview of a prominent epidemiologist who basically said all the fears of an ebola epidemic in some place like the US or another first-world country were laughable due to current research on how it's spread (direct contact with bodily fluids) and quarantine methods. The thing we should be afraid of? Good old plain flu, like the Spanish flu pandemic.

Exactly! When I asked my biologist son what he thought of this whole Ebola kerfuffle, he just shook his head and asked me if I had any idea how many people died of malaria last year. I believe he said it was something like 900,000 (just don't quote me on that number - point is, it was A LOT).

[DianeW88]

Ebola is a non-issue for Americans.  Completely.  Cross it off your list and move on, people.  And I mean that in the nicest way possible. :D

[TranquilMind]

Got your tin-foil hat handy?  I hear that it is Ebola resistant.  

I love how legitimate concerns, given the history of our government, are roundly dismissed and mocked by some.        Because, you know, the American people have never been lied to before about anything.  :/

 

Trust me, no one is hoping and praying there will not be an issue more than me, given that travel is in our future.   The 2009 Swine Flu thing was massively blown out of proportion in order to move vaccines, and nothing happened on a wide scale at all.   I had the swine flu that year, by the way, months before it hit the news.  I was on my butt for 30 days, and my best friend, with whom I had traveled to a large city where we believe we contracted it on an elevator, ended up on IV hydration. 

 

Unlike you, I am always willing to listen to the evidence on both sides, not just the popular side promoted by the mainstream. That is really important to me, to always listen sources who are making admissions against interest, especially.   If what you say is true - and I sure hope it is - it will still be true in 50 years, and nothing will happen now.    Unlike the following incidents, as presented at the time by the government:

 

From Business insider:

 

9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened

 

 

We all know the conspiracy theories — the government's plan for 9/11, the second gunman who shot JFK, the evolution of the elite from a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting lizards.

But the people who spread these ideas usually can't prove them.

As the years pass, however, secrets surface. Government documents become declassified. We now have evidence of certain elaborate government schemes right here in the U.S. of A.

 

AP Photo

The Prohibition Research Committee, pictured above, traveled the country trying to find one "drunk" reformed by the legislation.

 

1. The U.S. Department of the Treasury poisoned alcohol during Prohibition — and people died.

The 18th Amendment, which took effect in January 1920, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol — but not consumption. Despite the government's efforts, alcoholism actually skyrocketed during the era.

To keep up with America's thirst, bootleggers not only created their own alcohol but also stole industrial versions, rendered undrinkable by the inclusion of certain chemicals (namely methyl alcohol). Liquor syndicates then employed chemists to "re-nature" the alcohol once again, making it safe for consumption, according to Deborah Blum, author of "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York."

 

 

By mid-1927, however, the U.S. government added much deadlier chemicals — kerosene, chloroform, and acetone among those most well known — which made alcohol more difficult to render consumable again. Adding 10% more methyl alcohol caused the worst efforts.

Although New York City's chief medical examiner, Charles Norris, tried to publicize the dangers, in 1926, poisonous alcohol killed 400 in the city. The next year, 700 died.

 

Wikimedia Commons

A doctor administers an injection to one of the Tuskegee patients.

 

 

2. The U.S. Public Health Service lied about treating black men with syphilis for more than 40 years.

In 1932, the Public Health Service collaborated with the Tuskegee Institute to record the history of syphilis in the black male community, hoping to justify a treatment program.

Called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the study initially included 600 black men — 399 with the disease and 201 without. While the men were told they would receive treatment, however, the researchers never provided adequate treatment for the disease. Even when penicillin became the preferred and available treatment for syphilis, researchers kept their subjects in the dark.

Although originally planned to last only six months, the experiment continued for 40 years. Finally, in 1972, an Associated Press article prompted public outrage and a subsequent investigation. A government advisory panel deemed the study "ethically irresponsible" and research ended almost immediately.

As a result, the government settled a class-action lawsuit out of court in 1974 for $10 million and lifetime health benefits for all participants, the last of whom died in 2004.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Jonas Salk, who created the inactivated polio vaccine in 1955.

 

3. More than 100 million Americans received a polio vaccine contaminated with a potentially cancer-causing virus.

From 1954 to 1961, simian virus 40 (SV40) somehow showed up in polio vaccines, according to the American Journal of Cancer. Researchers estimate 98 million people in the U.S. and even more worldwide received contaminated inoculations.

Jonas Salk, known creator of the inactivated polio vaccine, used cells from rhesus monkeys infected with SV40, according to president of the National Vaccine Information Center Barbara Fisher, who testified before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness in the U.S. House of Representatives on this matter in 2003, after researching the situation for 10 years.

The federal government changed oral vaccine stipulations in 1961 — which didn't include Salk's inactivated polio vaccine — specifically citing SV40. But medical professionals continued to administer tainted vaccines until 1963, according to Michael E. Horwin writing for the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology in 2003. And even after 1961, the American Journal of Cancer found contaminated oral vaccines.

Although researchers know SV40 causes cancer in animals, opinions vary on a direct link between the virus and cancer in humans. Independent studies, however, have identified SV40 in brain and lung tumors of children and adults.

The Centers for Disease Control did post a fact sheet acknowledging the presence of SV40 in polio vaccines but has since removed it, according to Medical Daily.

 

Wikimedia Commons

A photo of three Vietnamese boats taken from the USS Maddox (on Aug. 2).

 

4. Parts of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to U.S. intervention in Vietnam, never happened.

After evading a torpedo attack, the USS Maddox reportedly engaged three North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on both Aug. 2 and 4, 1964, according to the Pentagon Papers. Although without U.S. casualties, the events prompted Congress to pass a resolution allowing President Lyndon John to intervene in the Southeast.

Talk of Tonkin's status as a "false flag" for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War has permeated public discourse almost since the time of the attacks, especially after the government admitted that the second incident may have involved false radar images.

But after resisting comment for decades, the National Security Agency finally declassified documents in 2005, admitting the incident on Aug. 4 never happened at all.

Those involved didn't necessarily intend to cover-up the incident to propagate a war. But the evidence does suggest "an active effort to make SIGINT fit the claim of what happened during the evening of 4 August in the Gulf of Tonkin,"according to NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Fidel Castro speaking in Havana in 1978.

 

5. Military leaders reportedly planned terrorist attacks in the U.S. to drum up support for a war against Cuba.

In 1962, the joint chiefs-of-staff approved Operation Northwoods, a covert plan to create support for a war in Cuba that would oust communist leader Fidel Castro.

Declassified government documents show considerations included: host funerals for "mock-victims," "start rumors (many)," and "blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." They even suggested somehow pinning John Glenn's potential death, should his rocket explode, on communists in Cuba.

The advisors presented the plan to President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, according to investigative journalist James Bamford's book, "Body of Secrets." We don't know whether McNamara immediately refused, but a few days later, Kennedy told Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, the plan's poo-bah, that the U.S. would never use overt force to take Cuba.

A few months later, Lemnitzer lost his position.

"There really was a worry at the time about the military going off crazy and they did, but they never succeeded, but it wasn't for lack of trying," Bamford told ABC News.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Ken Kesey, author of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," voluntarily participated in Project MKUltra.

 

6. The government tested the effects of LSD on unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens.

Under the code name "MKUltra," the U.S. government ran a human-research operation within the CIA's Scientific Research Division. Researchers tested the effects of hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, torture, and most memorably, LSD, on U.S. and Canadian citizens. Most had no idea.

To conduct these experiments, the CIA paid prisons, hospitals, and other institutions to keep quiet. The department even enticed heroin addicts to participate by offering them heroin, according to documents from a joint hearing to subcommittees of Congress, where President Kennedy spoke.

That day, he regaled Congress with "chilling testimony." Over 30 universities became involved in various studies. Notably, many lacked oversight by medical or scientific professionals. At least one participant, Frank Olsen, died, reportedly from suicide after unknowingly ingesting LSD.

In January 1973, then CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents pertaining to MKUltra. When Congress looked into the matter, no one, not even Helms, could "remember" details. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, more documents were located, but the full timeline remains incomplete.

The events inspired investigative journalist Jon Ronson's best-selling book, "The Men Who Stare At Goats," now a movie of the same title starring George Clooney.

 

Wikimedia Commons

The Hughes Glomar Explorer, the recovery ship designed for Project Azorian.

 

7. In 1974, the CIA secretly resurfaced a sunken Soviet submarine with three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

The CIA's secret "Project Azorian" aimed to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the floor of the Pacific Ocean to retrieve three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, each carrying a one megaton nuclear warhead.

With President Nixon's approval, CIA director Richard Helms placed all the plans in a secret file called "Jennifer," thus keeping the information from everyone but a select number of government officials.

After a FOIA, the NSA finally published an article from the CIA's in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, revealing that the department succeeded in resurfacing portions of the sub, named K-129.

The CIA redacted text in these documents that prevent determining the operation's exact level of success, but the crew of the Glomar Explorer, the recovery ship, did haul contents to Hawaii for unloading.

 

Wikimedia Commons

 

8. The U.S. government sold weapons to Iran, violating an embargo, and used the money to support Nicaraguan militants.

In 1985, senior officials in the Reagan administration facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, then under embargo. The government, with the National Security Council's Oliver North acting as a key player, later used the profits to fund the Contras, anti-communist rebels, in Nicaragua.

The whole situation began with seven American hostages taken by a hostile group in Lebanon with ties to Iran. Through an elaborate exchange involving Israel, the U.S. planned to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages' freedom. The situation quickly derailed, although the Lebanese did release all but two hostages.

After a leak from an Iranian, the situation finally came to light in 1986. After repeatedly denying any involvement, the Reagan administration underwent 41 days of congressional hearings, according to Brown University's research project on the scandal. They subpoenaed government documents as early as 1981 and forced declassification of others.

Reagan's involvement in and even knowledge of the situation remains unclear. The hearings never labeled the sale of weapons to Iran a criminal offense, but some officials faced charges for supporting the Contras. The administration, however, refused to declassify certain documents, forcing Congress to drop them.

 

YouTube/guyjohn59

"Nayirah"

 

9. A public relations firm organized congressional testimony that propelled U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War.

In 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl identified only as "Nayirah" testified before Congress that she witnessed Iraqi soldiers pulling infants from their incubators at a hospital and tossing them to the ground to die.

A later investigation revealed that PR giant Hill & Knowlton arranged her testimony for a client, Kuwaiti-sponsored Citizens for a Free Kuwait, and furthermore that Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait's Ambassador to the U.S., according to The New York Times.

Tom Lantos, a representative from California who co-founded the committee that heard Nayirah, coordinated the whole thing. Perhaps not coincidentally, his committee rented space in the PR firm's headquarters at a reduced rate. Citizens for a Free Kuwait would go on to donate money to foundations with ties to said committee sometime after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

At first, Amnesty International affirmed the girl's testimony. But after reinvestigation, the group and other human rights organizations switched positions. They didn't necessarily question the accuracy, just her withheld bias.

Nayirah's testimony helped build support for the Persian Gulf War, though Congress would have likely pursued involvement without her words.

 

 

 

So, pardon my skepticism.  The mockery and ad hominem attacks speak volumes, as any normal refutation would be along the line of, "This should not be a problem in the U.S. and here is why (followed by logical reasons).    Time will tell. 

 

[TranquilMind]

There are far more things to be worrying about (in the US) than this.

 

Drug-resistant bacterial strains, anyone?

That is a huge concern, especially in hospitals. 

[Catwoman]

Why did jojosmom change her username? Was it because of this thread?

 

I don't like it that people can now change usernames and their profile history doesn't list their old names any more. This is going to get confusing -- and irritating.

[melmichigan]

I don't like it that people can now change usernames and their profile history doesn't list their old names any more. This is going to get confusing -- and irritating.

:iagree:

[Reefgazer]

You forgot #10:

Intentionally infecting black men with syphilis decades ago in the Tuskegee Experiment.  At least they apologized for that.

 

I love how legitimate concerns, given the history of our government, are roundly dismissed and mocked by some.        Because, you know, the American people have never been lied to before about anything.  :/

 

Trust me, no one is hoping and praying there will not be an issue more than me, given that travel is in our future.   The 2009 Swine Flu thing was massively blown out of proportion in order to move vaccines, and nothing happened on a wide scale at all.   I had the swine flu that year, by the way, months before it hit the news.  I was on my butt for 30 days, and my best friend, with whom I had traveled to a large city where we believe we contracted it on an elevator, ended up on IV hydration. 

 

Unlike you, I am always willing to listen to the evidence on both sides, not just the popular side promoted by the mainstream. That is really important to me, to always listen sources who are making admissions against interest, especially.   If what you say is true - and I sure hope it is - it will still be true in 50 years, and nothing will happen now.    Unlike the following incidents, as presented at the time by the government:

 

From Business insider:

 

9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened

 

 

We all know the conspiracy theories — the government's plan for 9/11, the second gunman who shot JFK, the evolution of the elite from a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting lizards.

But the people who spread these ideas usually can't prove them.

As the years pass, however, secrets surface. Government documents become declassified. We now have evidence of certain elaborate government schemes right here in the U.S. of A.

 

AP Photo

The Prohibition Research Committee, pictured above, traveled the country trying to find one "drunk" reformed by the legislation.

 

1. The U.S. Department of the Treasury poisoned alcohol during Prohibition — and people died.

The 18th Amendment, which took effect in January 1920, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol — but not consumption. Despite the government's efforts, alcoholism actually skyrocketed during the era.

To keep up with America's thirst, bootleggers not only created their own alcohol but also stole industrial versions, rendered undrinkable by the inclusion of certain chemicals (namely methyl alcohol). Liquor syndicates then employed chemists to "re-nature" the alcohol once again, making it safe for consumption, according to Deborah Blum, author of "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York."

 

 

By mid-1927, however, the U.S. government added much deadlier chemicals — kerosene, chloroform, and acetone among those most well known — which made alcohol more difficult to render consumable again. Adding 10% more methyl alcohol caused the worst efforts.

Although New York City's chief medical examiner, Charles Norris, tried to publicize the dangers, in 1926, poisonous alcohol killed 400 in the city. The next year, 700 died.

 

Wikimedia Commons

A doctor administers an injection to one of the Tuskegee patients.

 

 

2. The U.S. Public Health Service lied about treating black men with syphilis for more than 40 years.

In 1932, the Public Health Service collaborated with the Tuskegee Institute to record the history of syphilis in the black male community, hoping to justify a treatment program.

Called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the study initially included 600 black men — 399 with the disease and 201 without. While the men were told they would receive treatment, however, the researchers never provided adequate treatment for the disease. Even when penicillin became the preferred and available treatment for syphilis, researchers kept their subjects in the dark.

Although originally planned to last only six months, the experiment continued for 40 years. Finally, in 1972, an Associated Press article prompted public outrage and a subsequent investigation. A government advisory panel deemed the study "ethically irresponsible" and research ended almost immediately.

As a result, the government settled a class-action lawsuit out of court in 1974 for $10 million and lifetime health benefits for all participants, the last of whom died in 2004.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Jonas Salk, who created the inactivated polio vaccine in 1955.

 

3. More than 100 million Americans received a polio vaccine contaminated with a potentially cancer-causing virus.

From 1954 to 1961, simian virus 40 (SV40) somehow showed up in polio vaccines, according to the American Journal of Cancer. Researchers estimate 98 million people in the U.S. and even more worldwide received contaminated inoculations.

Jonas Salk, known creator of the inactivated polio vaccine, used cells from rhesus monkeys infected with SV40, according to president of the National Vaccine Information Center Barbara Fisher, who testified before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness in the U.S. House of Representatives on this matter in 2003, after researching the situation for 10 years.

The federal government changed oral vaccine stipulations in 1961 — which didn't include Salk's inactivated polio vaccine — specifically citing SV40. But medical professionals continued to administer tainted vaccines until 1963, according to Michael E. Horwin writing for the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology in 2003. And even after 1961, the American Journal of Cancer found contaminated oral vaccines.

Although researchers know SV40 causes cancer in animals, opinions vary on a direct link between the virus and cancer in humans. Independent studies, however, have identified SV40 in brain and lung tumors of children and adults.

The Centers for Disease Control did post a fact sheet acknowledging the presence of SV40 in polio vaccines but has since removed it, according to Medical Daily.

 

Wikimedia Commons

A photo of three Vietnamese boats taken from the USS Maddox (on Aug. 2).

 

4. Parts of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to U.S. intervention in Vietnam, never happened.

After evading a torpedo attack, the USS Maddox reportedly engaged three North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on both Aug. 2 and 4, 1964, according to the Pentagon Papers. Although without U.S. casualties, the events prompted Congress to pass a resolution allowing President Lyndon John to intervene in the Southeast.

Talk of Tonkin's status as a "false flag" for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War has permeated public discourse almost since the time of the attacks, especially after the government admitted that the second incident may have involved false radar images.

But after resisting comment for decades, the National Security Agency finally declassified documents in 2005, admitting the incident on Aug. 4 never happened at all.

Those involved didn't necessarily intend to cover-up the incident to propagate a war. But the evidence does suggest "an active effort to make SIGINT fit the claim of what happened during the evening of 4 August in the Gulf of Tonkin,"according to NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Fidel Castro speaking in Havana in 1978.

 

5. Military leaders reportedly planned terrorist attacks in the U.S. to drum up support for a war against Cuba.

In 1962, the joint chiefs-of-staff approved Operation Northwoods, a covert plan to create support for a war in Cuba that would oust communist leader Fidel Castro.

Declassified government documents show considerations included: host funerals for "mock-victims," "start rumors (many)," and "blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." They even suggested somehow pinning John Glenn's potential death, should his rocket explode, on communists in Cuba.

The advisors presented the plan to President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, according to investigative journalist James Bamford's book, "Body of Secrets." We don't know whether McNamara immediately refused, but a few days later, Kennedy told Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, the plan's poo-bah, that the U.S. would never use overt force to take Cuba.

A few months later, Lemnitzer lost his position.

"There really was a worry at the time about the military going off crazy and they did, but they never succeeded, but it wasn't for lack of trying," Bamford told ABC News.

 

Wikimedia Commons

Ken Kesey, author of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," voluntarily participated in Project MKUltra.

 

6. The government tested the effects of LSD on unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens.

Under the code name "MKUltra," the U.S. government ran a human-research operation within the CIA's Scientific Research Division. Researchers tested the effects of hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, torture, and most memorably, LSD, on U.S. and Canadian citizens. Most had no idea.

To conduct these experiments, the CIA paid prisons, hospitals, and other institutions to keep quiet. The department even enticed heroin addicts to participate by offering them heroin, according to documents from a joint hearing to subcommittees of Congress, where President Kennedy spoke.

That day, he regaled Congress with "chilling testimony." Over 30 universities became involved in various studies. Notably, many lacked oversight by medical or scientific professionals. At least one participant, Frank Olsen, died, reportedly from suicide after unknowingly ingesting LSD.

In January 1973, then CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents pertaining to MKUltra. When Congress looked into the matter, no one, not even Helms, could "remember" details. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, more documents were located, but the full timeline remains incomplete.

The events inspired investigative journalist Jon Ronson's best-selling book, "The Men Who Stare At Goats," now a movie of the same title starring George Clooney.

 

Wikimedia Commons

The Hughes Glomar Explorer, the recovery ship designed for Project Azorian.

 

7. In 1974, the CIA secretly resurfaced a sunken Soviet submarine with three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

The CIA's secret "Project Azorian" aimed to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the floor of the Pacific Ocean to retrieve three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, each carrying a one megaton nuclear warhead.

With President Nixon's approval, CIA director Richard Helms placed all the plans in a secret file called "Jennifer," thus keeping the information from everyone but a select number of government officials.

After a FOIA, the NSA finally published an article from the CIA's in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, revealing that the department succeeded in resurfacing portions of the sub, named K-129.

The CIA redacted text in these documents that prevent determining the operation's exact level of success, but the crew of the Glomar Explorer, the recovery ship, did haul contents to Hawaii for unloading.

 

Wikimedia Commons

 

8. The U.S. government sold weapons to Iran, violating an embargo, and used the money to support Nicaraguan militants.

In 1985, senior officials in the Reagan administration facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, then under embargo. The government, with the National Security Council's Oliver North acting as a key player, later used the profits to fund the Contras, anti-communist rebels, in Nicaragua.

The whole situation began with seven American hostages taken by a hostile group in Lebanon with ties to Iran. Through an elaborate exchange involving Israel, the U.S. planned to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages' freedom. The situation quickly derailed, although the Lebanese did release all but two hostages.

After a leak from an Iranian, the situation finally came to light in 1986. After repeatedly denying any involvement, the Reagan administration underwent 41 days of congressional hearings, according to Brown University's research project on the scandal. They subpoenaed government documents as early as 1981 and forced declassification of others.

Reagan's involvement in and even knowledge of the situation remains unclear. The hearings never labeled the sale of weapons to Iran a criminal offense, but some officials faced charges for supporting the Contras. The administration, however, refused to declassify certain documents, forcing Congress to drop them.

 

"Nayirah"

 

9. A public relations firm organized congressional testimony that propelled U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War.

In 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl identified only as "Nayirah" testified before Congress that she witnessed Iraqi soldiers pulling infants from their incubators at a hospital and tossing them to the ground to die.

A later investigation revealed that PR giant Hill & Knowlton arranged her testimony for a client, Kuwaiti-sponsored Citizens for a Free Kuwait, and furthermore that Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait's Ambassador to the U.S., according to The New York Times.

Tom Lantos, a representative from California who co-founded the committee that heard Nayirah, coordinated the whole thing. Perhaps not coincidentally, his committee rented space in the PR firm's headquarters at a reduced rate. Citizens for a Free Kuwait would go on to donate money to foundations with ties to said committee sometime after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

At first, Amnesty International affirmed the girl's testimony. But after reinvestigation, the group and other human rights organizations switched positions. They didn't necessarily question the accuracy, just her withheld bias.

Nayirah's testimony helped build support for the Persian Gulf War, though Congress would have likely pursued involvement without her words.

 

 

 

So, pardon my skepticism.  The mockery and ad hominem attacks speak volumes, as any normal refutation would be along the line of, "This should not be a problem in the U.S. and here is why (followed by logical reasons).    Time will tell. 

 

 

[magnificent_baby]

While I certainly don't think anyone needs to panic, I do see the cause for concern. A fatality rate of 40-90% is pretty darn high. Don't have time to look it up but I'm guessing that's much higher than the other diseases mentioned on this thread that we should be more concerned with. I am very thankful the government is taking this serious and keeping us informed (received an email from our state department of health since DH and I are in healthcare), including educating providers and the public about signs and symptoms.

[Caroline]

That's #2 on her list.

 

You forgot #10:

 

Intentionally infecting black men with syphilis decades ago in the Tuskegee Experiment. At least they apologized for that.

[TranquilMind]

You forgot #10:

 

Intentionally infecting black men with syphilis decades ago in the Tuskegee Experiment.  At least they apologized for that.

Well, number 2 sort of skirted around that issue, but you are right.  As they say, it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. 

[aggieamy]

 

 

 

 

Slightly off-topic but I'm pretty sure Ronald Reagan never took a bad photograph.  

[Lisbeth]

I agree that if Ebola WAS a risk, the gov would keep it quiet. There would be politically correct reasons to do so, and they wouldn't want to start a panic.

 

As LDS, we are just generally advised to be prepared for things like this (emergencies, natural disasters, job loss, whatever..) So I carry on but try to keep an eye out/read between the lines.

The last place I go for info is the media, though.

[TranquilMind]

Slightly off-topic but I'm pretty sure Ronald Reagan never took a bad photograph.  

I believe you are right about that. 

 

One of the perks of being an ex-Hollywood actor, I'm sure. 

[TranquilMind]

I agree that if Ebola WAS a risk, the gov would keep it quiet. There would be politically correct reasons to do so, and they wouldn't want to start a panic.

 

As LDS, we are just generally advised to be prepared for things like this (emergencies, natural disasters, job loss, whatever..) So I carry on but try to keep an eye out/read between the lines.

The last place I go for info is the media, though.

Not, LDS, but this.