Reuters […] Australia on Monday issued a blanket ban on visas from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to prevent the disease reaching the country, becoming the first rich nation to shut its doors to the region.

Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of scares, and conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground.
The decision to refuse entry for anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, while touted by the government as a necessary safety precaution, was criticized by experts and advocates as politically motivated and shortsighted. (more…)

This is an evolving situation which the White House is desperately trying to get their arms around control.   Currently the White House messaging to the U.S. media is an effort to sell the quarantine proposals as a U.S. Pentagon/Military decision/non-decision about quarantining soldiers who return from West Africa missions.  
However, it appears that specific angle’s narrative is driven as a needed cover story for DoD Secretary Hagel, and the Joint Chiefs – because  Italy, Spain and Germany  have told our military personnel (returning from Africa) they will face forced quarantine in their respective base countries.

WFB […] Major General Darryl A. Williams, who was appointed head of the U.S. command center in Liberia that coordinates the response to Ebola, was isolated along with several other Americans over the weekend, CNN reports.
The General’s “plane was met on the ground by Italian authorities ‘in full CDC gear,’” a U.S. official was quoted as telling CNN.
Williams and the others will now be monitored for 21 days at a U.S. military compound in Italy, according to the report.

The Italians forced U.S. Major General Williams into quarantine.

You can see the problem for the White House.  Our military forced to quarantine in other countries while President Obama is advocating exactly the opposite, and allowing everyone to come willy nilly in the U.S. 
To cover the dichotomy and try to avoid the conflict, the Joint Chief’s are debating a new rule forcing all of our military into quarantine.  This would change the dynamic to give the appearance of a decision made on our part and not forced by other nations, upon us.
However, such a rule might avoid the international optic but it would conflict with the White House.  How can the White House advocate for non-quarantine of West African healthcare workers, based on human rights violations, and yet force our military into the same quarantine. (more…)

Initially we were on the fence about being able to identify her political ideology. Not any longer. She’s a clear cut typical progressive democrat.
The logic she uses to protest against the quarantine identifies her as clearly a Democrat. [Transcription and emphasis mine]

@2:38 “… and no-one knows, no-one can predict if I will develop Ebola or not in the next 21 days. And most aid workers who come back will not develop Ebola. So to quarantine everyone ‘in case’, you know, when you cannot predict who will develop Ebola or not; and to make me stay for 21 days, to not be with my family, to put me through this emotional and physical stress, is completely unacceptable”.

Here comes the planning of a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey. (more…)

This one is a little weird.  One account says the aid worker went through health screening without issue and was isolated as a result of the *NEW* policies in place for New York and New Jersey.  It was only during the quarantine time at the airport she exhibited symptoms of a fever beginning.  A second account says the health screening caught her fever.
New Jersey – One day after New York officials announced a Doctors Without Borders physician had tested positive for Ebola, another person who treated patients in West Africa developed a fever and was put in isolation at a northern New Jersey hospital.

The second health care worker, a woman who hasn’t been identified by name, did not have any Ebola symptoms upon arrival Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey health department spokesman Donna Leusner said.

Yet things changed in the hours that followed. According to Leusner, “This evening, the health care worker developed a fever and is now in isolation and being evaluated at University Hospital in Newark.” (more…)

NEW JERSEY – Medical workers at University Hospital in Newark have isolated a sick passenger who landed at Newark Liberty Airport from Brussels and are evaluating him “as if he has Ebola” out of extreme caution, sources tell NBC 4 New York.
The man, a Liberian national, was singled out for screening by agents at Newark Tuesday afternoon because of his recent travel history: he had traveled from Liberia to Brussels before flying into Newark, the sources said.
That’s when officers discovered he had a fever, according to the sources. He was transported to University Hospital, which has a contract with the Port Authority to take all of Newark Airport’s medical cases.
Sources briefed on the treatment of the patient said he was being evaluated “as if he has Ebola” out of an abundance of caution and until proven otherwise. (more…)

[Guardian] A top-secret space plane landed Friday at an air force base on the southern California coast.  The plane spent nearly two years circling Earth on a classified mission. Known as the X-37B, it resembles a mini space shuttle.

It safely touched down at 9.24am Friday, officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base said.
Just what the plane was doing during its 674 days in orbit has been the subject of sometimes spectacular speculation. (more…)

As previously outlined, after being denied entry to Belize and Mexico, the Carnival Magic is set to arrive in the home port of Galveston Texas early tomorrow morning.

In anticipation of the arrival – the Coast Guard has finished a mission, to retrieve a blood sample for Ebola testing, from the healthcare worker who is quarantined on board. The U.S.C.G. completed the mission by flying  a helicopter to the cruise ship and used a basket extraction to retrieve the blood sample.  The sample is now being flown back to the U.S. Mainland.
The goal is to test the blood sample prior to the ship’s arrival and dissuade any fear the public might have prior to the passengers and crew de-boarding the vessel.  Here’s the statement from Carnival:

“Today we were advised by Texas health officials that they felt it was necessary for the health care worker currently on Carnival Magic to submit a blood sample for testing prior to the ship’s arrival in Galveston tomorrow [Sunday] morning,” Carnival said in a statement.

“As a result, a helicopter rendezvoused with the ship late this afternoon to facilitate the transfer of the sample,” the cruise line said. “At this time Carnival Magic is expected to arrive tomorrow [Sunday] morning as scheduled.”

Trying to cut through the fog and chatter it appears the Carnival Magic cruise ship has been denied entry to Mexico.

Cruise ship with isolated health care worker who handled Ebola samples was turned away from Mexico: http://t.co/JspTA2nLpk

— ABC News (@ABC) October 17, 2014

….And therein lies the reason for governmental obfuscation and media avoidance of the entire episode.
The political risk is obvious.
Both Belize, and now Mexico, have denied entry for a U.S. cruise ship carrying a healthcare worker who treated Patient Zero Thomas Duncan – yet U.S. President Obama refuses to shut down inbound air passengers from West Africa.
If you take the situation at face value the political argument is that Obama cares less for the risk of his citizenry than the Prime Minister of Belize and the President of Mexico.
The position of Mexico and Belize undermines the position of President Obama.
So what’s going on?
The U.S. government, and Carnival Cruise lines, are stating the cruise passenger, and her husband, are self-quarantined and exhibiting no symptoms. The Belize government has stated a divergent set of facts, at least initially.  Belize was saying the cruise passenger WAS exhibiting Ebola symptoms. (more…)

On the same day that White House spokesperson, Josh Earnest, states the official U.S. position is to continue allowing inbound flights from the Ebola hot zone of West Africa without change or impediment, the administration announces it will enforce mandatory quarantines’ for returning U.S. troops.
Yeah, go make sense of that….

The pentagon will quarantine returning U.S. soldiers, but will allow unimpeded access for West African citizens who choose to travel to the United States. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Washington (CNN) — In an unprecedented move to protect U.S. troops that might be exposed to Ebola, U.S. military commanders are being given the authority to quarantine troops for 21 days at a Defense Department facility where they will be monitored for signs of the disease and treated if they do contract the virus, a Defense Department memo explained.
The memo, which was obtained by CNN, spells out the details of the military’s plan for the first time. (more…)