President Obama said on Wednesday that he's "cautiously more optimistic" about the Ebola situation in the United States, now that we know no one else who had initial contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola, has contracted the disease. Sadly, there aren't many reasons to be optimistic about the outbreak in West Africa. The official death toll is now 4,877, but the World Health Organization says the real number is probably much higher. As Reuters reports, Ebola cases are believed to be underreported "by a factor of 1.5 in Guinea, 2 in Sierra Leone and 2.5 in Liberia, while the death rate is thought to be about 70 percent of all cases." That means it's likely that about 15,000 people have already died.
Daily Intelligencer
Man Jumps White House Fence, Secret Service Remembers to Release the Hounds
By Margaret HartmannJust weeks after multiple security breaches that led to the resignation of the head of the Secret Service, the agency managed to stop a young man darting across the White House lawn. Officials say Dominic Adesanya, 23, of Bel Air, Maryland, jumped the north fence of the White House at 7:16 p.m. on Wednesday. "He was immediately taken into custody by canine units and Uniformed Division officers," said Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan.
Jerusalem Terror Attack Kills Infant After Weeks of Rising Tensions
By Katie ZavadskiWednesday was a bloody day in Israel, as attacks in different parts of the country killed an infant and wounded ten others. The second attack, in Jerusalem, comes after weeks of escalating tensions between Jews and Arabs in the city over homes in a contested neighborhood.
Camel Bans Smoking at Work Starting in 2015
By Joe CoscarelliReynolds American Inc., which makes Camel cigarettes, will no longer allow smoking in its offices, conference rooms, and elevators beginning next year, the AP reports, because apparently it's bad for you or something. "We're just better aligning our tobacco use policies with the realities of what you're seeing in society today," a spokesperson insisted, meaning e-cigs and chewing tobacco will still be allowed. The North Carolina–based company will also build designated indoor smoking rooms, because this is America, goddammit.
Fox News Host Says Young Women Should ‘Go Back to Tinder’ Instead of Voting
By Jessica RoyYoung women shouldn't be on juries, says Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, because "they just don't get it." Young women also shouldn't bother voting, she added, because their opinions are bad and wrong, and only older people who have evolved into cranky conservatives should be allowed to participate in democracy.
Andrew Cuomo Is Losing the Coveted Sopranos Cast Member Vote
By Joe CoscarelliAhead of tonight's mostly meaningless New York gubernatorial debate, the political surrogates are doing anything they can to make the race between Andrew Cuomo and whatshisface anywhere close to interesting. "Andrew Cuomo won't debate Rob Astorino on TV one-on-one," says Vincent Pastore, best known for playing Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on The Sopranos, in a YouTube video eagerly highlighted by the Republican campaign. "And they call me Big Pussy?" Oh snap.
The Real Reasons Twitter Can Be So Brutally, Screamingly Terrible
By Simon OwensThough the battle over “#Gamergate,” which can only be described as an amorphous debate on issues ranging from misogyny in the gaming community to “ethics” in gaming journalism, has proliferated across nearly all media platforms, both online and off, most of its intensity and raw anger has been concentrated on Twitter. And that’s not a coincidence. For all that is wonderful about Twitter — and I do love the platform — there are few tools on the internet so conducive to trollery, to allowing a small number of individuals to target and terrorize their "enemies," whether real or imagined.
Official Michael Brown Autopsy Shows He Was Shot in the Hand at Close Range [Updated]
By Joe CoscarelliThe slow process of investigating Michael Brown’s death has included long stretches of official silence punctuated with occasional bits of leaked information that seem to bolster one side or the other as we await a grand jury decision. Here’s one for officer Darren Wilson’s version of events: According to experts not directly involved in the case, Brown’s official autopsy, as obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “does support that there was a significant altercation at the car,” and Brown may have had his hand near Wilson’s gun.
4 Blackwater Guards Convicted of Shooting 31 People in Iraq
By Joe CoscarelliIn still more fallout from the disastrous Iraq War, four security guards from the private mercenary force formerly known as Blackwater have been found guilty in a 2007 shooting that killed 14 Iraqis and wounded 17 more. One, Nicholas Slatten, was convicted of first-degree murder, while three others — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard — were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and other gun charges. "The outcome after a summer-long trial and weeks of jury deliberation appeared to stun the defense," the AP reports. The word guilty was repeated 71 times.
Adorable Dog of Dallas Nurse Doesn’t Have Ebola
Bentley, the adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel whose owner is Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola, tested negative for the virus on Wednesday. His mom is in good condition at a hospital in Bethesda, so hopefully the two will be reunited soon.
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