10 thoughts on “Joe Wilson says Hamas could attack U.S. with Ebola”

1. Brad Warthen Post authorOctober 17, 2014 at 3:24 pm

   Of course, this idea may be less alarming than the question that the congressman was attempting to answer. The audio’s not great, but I think his questioner was fretting about the unaccompanied Central American children who recently flooded across our border bringing Ebola with THEM…

   Years ago, I used to theorize to my colleagues that, since all things are related, the ideal newspaper (one with a proper perspective) would just have ONE story in it each day, and that story would cover all of that day’s news and show how it was all connected.

   When my colleagues would look at me like I was nuts, I’d say, “It’s all in the transitions…”

   I would grin as though I were kidding, but I wasn’t, not really. Give me enough time each day, and I could have pulled it off, or so I believed when I was young and cocky.

   Anyway, Joe and his questioner seem to be making a brave attempt at my idea, tying everything into one narrative.

   My hat is off to them…

   Reply ↓
2. Kathryn Fenner October 17, 2014 at 5:00 pm

   That’s the responsible, statesmanlike thing to say…smh

   Reply ↓
   1. Bryan Caskey October 17, 2014 at 10:05 pm

      I’m don’t see what’s so wrong with what he said. It’s not an impossible scenario. Difficult to pull off? Sure. But it’s not impossible.

      Jihadist travels to Liberia. Gets infected. Then travels here before he’s symptomatic, so as not to be screened out. Waits somewhere for a few weeks then vomits on a NYC subway on some folks. That would probably do it. Maybe infect 5-10 people.

      It certainly won’t kill as many people as simply buying a rifle and going crazy, but an Ebola attack would be far more psychologically devastating. Everyone would be worried. With a mass shooting? Not so much.

      Reply ↓
      1. Kathryn Braun Fenner October 18, 2014 at 5:14 pm

         Because the infection possibilities are extremely minimal from Ebola. It would be considerably more efficient to conceal a gun and shoot folks on the subway.
         Feeding into irrational fears is extremely irresponsible. I’m looking at you, CNN. I guess we need another disappearing plane or attractive murderous mom, or attractive missing young woman….

         Reply ↓
      2. Brad Warthen Post authorOctober 19, 2014 at 8:06 pm

         Here’s the way the baddies did it in Tom Clancy’s Executive Orders:

         First, they made sure they had a really robust strain of Ebola. Then, they infected a bunch of monkeys with it. Then, they killed the monkeys and made a nasty stew of their ground up blood and kidneys. Then, they somehow weaponized it by encapsulating live virus strands in some kind of microscopic particles that would float in the air and stay live long enough for someone to breath them in.

         Then, the filled aerosol cans with the particles, and took one can each to conventions going on all over the U.S., and set off the cans so they’d spew their contents near ventilation intakes in convention halls. A few of the convention-goers at each convention become infected. They get on airliners and go home, where they get sick a few days later, in widely scattered locations across the country.

         Then America wakes up one morning with people symptomatic with Ebola at hospitals in several dozen cities across the country.

         America totally freaks out. The economy shuts down as all interstate travel is suspended. A few hundred people die before the disease burns itself out. But that wasn’t the point. The point was to distract the U.S. while Iran, which has already gobbled up Iraq, invades Saudi Arabia.

         The disease itse

         Reply ↓
         1. Brad Warthen Post authorOctober 19, 2014 at 8:13 pm

            Then, in Rainbow Six, he got more ambitious.

            In that one, a billionaire businessman who happens to be an environmental extremist (actually, a mild term in his case) decides to use the resources of his vast corporation to wipe out all human life, except for those few allies he chooses to survive and build a new world.

            He lets it be known that his corporation is working on a cure for Ebola, and that is true. And they’re successful. Only they develop two vaccines. Vaccine B protects a person from getting Ebola even if exposed to it. But Vaccine A actually GIVES you Ebola. Millions of doses of A are produced. Then, the weaponized virus is released into the cooling system at the Sydney Olympics. People at the Olympics thereby take the disease home with them and cause a global panic.

            The corporation steps in to save the day with Vaccine A, and everybody gets vaccinated. Meanwhile, the few who are in on the plot receive Vaccine B.

            That’s the plot, anyway. It’s the job of the good guys to detect it and stop it before it gets off the ground…

            Reply ↓
3. Peggy October 17, 2014 at 5:01 pm

   The children from Central America who flooded our southern border are “better-vaccinated than Texan kids” http://www.texasobserver.org/disease-threat-immigrant-children-wildly-overstated/

   And I hardly doubt an ebola-infected Hamas terrorist could make it to our border without the effects of the fast-acting disease slowing him/her down.

   Why is it always the southern border people worry about when there is a northern border?

   Reply ↓
   1. Kathryn Braun Fenner October 18, 2014 at 5:15 pm

      Across which the 9/11 guys crossed…

      Reply ↓
4. Doug Ross October 17, 2014 at 6:58 pm

   Connecting this back to your endorsement post, how many times has The State endorsed Joe? Even once demonstrates a lack of judgement that should prevent any further endorsements.

   Reply ↓
5. Harry Harris October 17, 2014 at 9:15 pm

   Joe knows the Hamas types . They lie!!

   Reply ↓