Incompetence

There are many examples of incompetence in this world, but the following are especially noteworthy:

1. A visitor from Liberia in West Africa, where the Ebola Virus epidemic is in full swing, flew to the US, and was admitted because he showed no signs of fever (mistake no. 1, he should have been quarantined for at least 2 weeks).  Two days later he developed a fever, so he went to the emergency room of the Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and told the nurse he had been in Liberia, and the doctor told him "It's only a fever, go home" and prescribed antibiotic (mistake 2. both the doctor and the nurse should be disqualified and maybe go to jail).  When his fever worsened, his cousin called the Center for Disease Control and told them the situation and immediately the man was taken by ambulance back to the same hospital and isolated.  He is the only person with Ebola in the USA, although they say he contacted ca. 100 people in Dallas, but he must have contacted hundreds  more, including the passengers and crew on the planes he took.  Ebola is deadly and has no cure.  This could be the origin of an American outbreak and hundreds could die, due to incompetence.

2. There were extensive riots in the Arab areas of Jerusalem, during the Operation Defensive Edge this August, that turned violent.  Throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at people and cars was routine.  A gang of Arab youths took over a gas station and trashed it and then set fire to it, while the Jerusalem police stood by and did nothing.  The gangs also trashed several stops on the tram system as well as entered a car and beat up passengers.  The police came along 3 mins after they had left.  A group of Arabs attacked a group of Jewish men returning from synagogue in a coordinated attack, stones were thrown from roof tops, and several groups of men and youths attacked them on the ground, one man was hit on the head with a board with nails in it and another had his arm broken.  Where were the police, always too late?  How come they did not have guards there protecting the pedestrians as was obviously needed.  Incompetence.  Two senior police officers in the Jerusalem Branch have resigned, and the Police Commissioner has said he will replace them with more active commanders.  It is lucky people were not killed by this Arab violence, that was essentially allowed to proceed without interference. What is the point of having a police force if they are ineffectual. After the events, due to strong public complaints, the police have gone around the Arab neighborhoods and arrested 75 youths whose pictures appeared in the riots.

3. A man was able to climb the high fence around the White House and make it through the entrance into a back room, before he was apprehended.  Omar Gonzalez was armed with a long knife, but luckily the President and his family had just left (suppose he had a gun).  So you may ask why are there all these guards stationed around the WH at great expense, a whole army of Secret Sevice men, yet none of them managed to stop the intruder.  A spokesman said that there are regulations about who a guard can shoot, for example if it appeared that the man was mentally retarded the guard should hold his fire.  Can you imagine such nonsense, if he is a mental case (which anyone must be who climbs the WH fence) then he should not be shot, but if he appears sane then he can be. The security breach was labelled "unacceptable" at a Congressional hearing.  The incompetence revealed by this episode (and five others) resulted in the resignation of Julia Pierson the agent in charge of the Secret Service detail at the WH.