I know this is a positive thing (it really is!) but to me it just serves as a reminder that employer-provided health coverage is a fucking weird system.

Of course not, and it would be presumptuous of me to even try given that I'm neither black nor American. But that doesn't mean there aren't other (valid) ways of looking at something and one of those is from the viewpoint that history - even the awful parts - needs to be preserved.

It's a historical artefact. Lots of museums and private collections include similar objects, the interest in owning such a piece doesn't necessarily mean the person supports slavery or wants to go back to it. It could be some history buff who collects all kinds of objects from that period - including objects related…

The only thing I would say to this is that many, many southerners of the time did not own slaves. They couldn't afford them. Like today, there was a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. With a tiny minority of really wealthy people, a small middle class, and a ton of poor people. Arguably a woman could be a…

How does a dog receiving care in Spain have a single thing to do with something happening on the ground in Africa? Also, do you realize that compassion often isn't a limited resource; I can feel shitty about the dog and shitty about people dying in Africa AT THE SAME TIME.

Doing anything unfamiliar in a high stress circumstance creates risk. That's why pilots and military do so many repetitive drills for highly unlikely events. If you're shit-scared but putting on equipment you're comfortable with and following a set of protocols that are well-known, you have a lot higher chance of not…

You can't say that here. Go to Gawker for facts /wit /humiliation. Jezebel gang-piles anyone who is beautiful and white, or dares to point out and discuss actual facts.

I'm referring to the 2/3rds of the population that weren't slave owners, merchants, lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc. There weren't really that many plantation owners.

Also, the phrase "antebellum" clearly serves to distinguish the period before (ante) the war (bellum) and the period after the war. Did things change a ton for the non-slave owning white people of the south after the war, in any way that is not related to the abolition of slavery? This is a genuine question.

Ebola is just not that much of a threat in the US. Chickens carry the flu and have been known to pass the flu on to humans. Many, many more people die every year in the US from complications from flu than any even in a doomsday outbreak in the US of Ebola could muster. Yet, we continue to factory farm. The sky…

You can't prove the person sitting next to you sneezing doesn't have ebola. Put them down.

I'd imagine before they let the dog out to be reunited with her (crosses fingers) perfectly healthy and hard-working nurse-mom, they would test her blood for any evidence of the virus, just to rule her out as a carrier.

To be fair to Jason, 2/3's of southern families did not own any slaves. I'm sure they were complicit in the system, but I also agree that it is a stretch to directly link all women of the time period, even women of status, to slave owners.

Fair enough. I figured they'd want to at least test the dog to see if it had it - that way they'd have to broaden their net of "people who came into contact with the virus" if she say, went to a dog park and someone let the dog lick their face.

There are many, many ways to safely handle an animal if you must. There are squeeze cages, which have a moveable section that slides forward to trap the animal against the fixed wall of the cage, allowing you to then safely take temp/give injections/etc. without any risk (because the animal can't possibly turn around…

Amen. I hope the people caring for her can avoid infection themselves. It just seems completely nonsensical to me. Health care workers are only human, and the protocol for a disease like Ebola is probably so far outside of a normal routine that it must be really difficult to maintain constant vigilance of your own…

I just think that it's sort of silly to be putting down beloved pets on the rather minuscule chance they could 1. Carry Ebola 2. Maybe bite with all evidence being they probably won't 3. Bite through protective gear and be able to transmit a disease that they most likely do not have.

My husband works for the parent company. He tells me every day that there is a lot more to everything, but he can't even tell me. But this much is true: The CDC is running the show. They have been since they arrived to oversee Duncan's care. The staff was wearing whatever the CDC told them to.

My husband is an attending in a pediatric ICU. Up until recently, I never thought that what he does at work might have the potential to kill him. He's a stickler for hygiene and protocol, so we've got that going for us. But what if Pham really followed all precautions and still contracted it? What if you contract…

I was actually thinking that as I read the hospital's comment on this. They should be in suits and respirators, so... yeah, that *is* a breach of protocol, Dallas Presbyterian. I'm not surprised the hospital fucked this up though. I commented yesterday that I would not be even mildly surprised if this poor woman was…