“Apocalyptic Scene”: Out-of-Control Wildfire Spreads on Hawaii’s Maui Island

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
August 9, 2023

 

Shocking footage of an out-of-control wildfire burning in Hawaii has been shared on Twitter, showing the devastation.

The epicenter of the destruction is in the Hawaiian town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. CBS News said, “People were jumping into the water to escape flames and smoke from a wind-fueled wildfire.”

Strong wind and dry conditions have been fueling the fire. As of early Wednesday local time, fires were active in Lahaina, Kula, North Kohala, and South Kohala.

 

BREAKING: Fires are spreading rapidly across western Maui. We have reports of residents jumping into the ocean to avoid the flames in Lahaina. The blaze is so strong that the smoke plume is appearing on the radar.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to west Maui tonight. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/vWDGlB51g7

— Drew Davis🤙 (@DrewDavisWX) August 9, 2023

 

Acting governor Sylvia Luke declared an emergency on Tuesday and activated the National Guard to help with evacuation efforts.

Here’s footage from Lahaina:

 

This is what it looked like earlier on Maui. If you've been to my hometown of Lahaina…I fear it is no longer. I dread what it will look like in the morning. An apocalyptic scene is unfolding due to the fires raging across my island. Please pray for us. pic.twitter.com/88V2kjjpyV

— HawaiiDelilah™ (@HawaiiDelilah) August 9, 2023

 

So basically the entire island is on fire. Somehow where I am, the driest part of the island, has been so far spared.

This is Lahaina town, the popular tourist town on the island. (Not my video.) Apartments and stores have burned down. pic.twitter.com/msvj6lPgIg

— Shayla Maddox (@shaylamaddox) August 9, 2023

 

#BREAKING: Fire destroys buildings and triggers explosion on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui. Video Credit: Alan Dickar on Facebook. pic.twitter.com/skSjd6cbfE

— UA News (@UrgentAlertNews) August 9, 2023

 

Driving through the horrific #wildfire in Hawaii!
Warning! Disturbing content. People in the car seem to have witnessed a dead woman on the streets as they drive by the hellscape

VC: meanhawaii on Instagram #Maui #Hawaii #Dora #Lahaina #HurricaneDora #Heatwave #Fire #Climate… pic.twitter.com/ogykA8cVTT

— Earth42morrow (@Earth42morrow) August 9, 2023

 

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See related on global fires: 

Reiner Fuellmich With Peter Mac Isaac: Why Are Canada´s Forests Burning? 

Wildfires As a Weapon: US Military Exposed

[Updated] On the Massive Fires in Canada & All Over North America

Dane Wigington: Geoengineering Is Fueling Firestorm Catastrophes

 

“We Will Bring You Down”: German MP Vows to Dismantle WHO’s Grip on Governments

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
July 17, 2023

 

German MP Christine Anderson last week shredded the World Health Organization, calling it a group of “globalitarian misanthropists” who she – and a group of seven other MPs, have vowed to dismantle in order to oppose the WHO supplanting democratically elected governments.

“An unelected body like who is controlled and run by multi-billionaires should never be allowed to act in place of a democratically elected government,” she said during the Citizen’s Initiative conference in Brussels.

Anderson says she’ll expose and name any individuals, including government officials and parliamentarians, who support the WHO ‘power grab’ and disrespect democracy.

“It is you [WHO] that is the small fringe minority,” she continued. “You are the ones who do not have the right to dictate to the people what they want and what they don’t want.”

“So take it from me … take it from the millions and millions of people around the world. We will bring you down, and we will not tire until we have done just that. So brace yourselves. We are here, and the fight is on. So let’s have the fight.”

Watch:

 

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TSA Pilot-Tests Controversial Facial Recognition Technology at These 16 US Airports

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
May 18, 2023

 

The next time you find yourself at airport security, prepare to look directly into a camera. The Transportation Security Administration is quietly testing controversial facial recognition technology at airports nationwide.

AP News said 16 airports, including Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall and Reagan National near Washington, as well as ones in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi, have installed kiosks with cameras (at some TSA checkpoints) that allow passengers to insert their government-issued ID and look into a camera as facial recognition technology asses if the ID and person match.

Here’s what to expect at airports utilizing this new technology:

Travelers put their driver’s license into a slot that reads the card or place their passport photo against a card reader. Then they look at a camera on a screen about the size of an iPad, which captures their image and compares it to their ID. The technology is both checking to make sure the people at the airport match the ID they present and that the identification is in fact real. A TSA officer is still there and signs off on the screening. -AP

“What we are trying to do with this is aid the officers to actually determine that you are who you say who you are,” said Jason Lim, identity management capabilities manager, during a recent demonstration of the technology to reporters at BWI.

TSA said the pilot test is voluntary, and passengers can opt out. The facial recognition technology has raised concerns among critics, like five senators (four Democrats and an Independent) who sent a letter in February to the TSA requesting the pilot test be halted immediately.

“Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights,” the senators said. 

The letter continued:

“We are concerned about the safety and security of Americans’ biometric data in the hands of authorized private corporations or unauthorized bad actors.

“As government agencies grow their database of identifying images, increasingly large databases will prove more and more enticing targets for hackers and cybercriminals.”

Meg Foster, a justice fellow at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology, is concerned that even though the TSA says it’s not storing biometric data, it collects, “What if that changes in the future?”

Jeramie Scott, with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said that even though the TSA facial recognition kiosks are being tested, it could be only a matter of time before it becomes a more permanent fixture at checkpoints.

Despite the US being a first-world country, it has third-world protections for its people. There’s an increasing number of government agencies that want your biometric data. Even the IRS wants your face.

 

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Cover image based on creative commons work of teguhjatipras

Bombshell Vax Analysis Finds $147 Billion in Economic Damage, Tens of Millions Injured or Disabled

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
March 28, 2023

 

A new report estimates that 26.6 million people were injured, 1.36 million disabled, and 300,000 excess deaths can be attributed to COVID-19 vaccine damages in 2022 alone, which cost the economy nearly $150 billion.

Research firm Phinance Technologies, founded and operated by former Blackrock portfolio manager Ed Dowd, Yuri Nunes (PhD Physics, MSc Mathematics) and Carlos Alegria (PhD Physics, Finance), split the impact of the vaccines into four broad categories to estimate the human costs associated with the Covid-19 vaccine; no effect or asymptomatic, those who sustained injuries (mild-to-moderate outcome), those who became disabled (severe outcome), and death (extreme outcome). Data on vaccine disabilities and injuries comes directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), while the excess death figures are derived from official figures on deaths in the US via two different methods (methodology here).

It’s important to note that people in one category (injured, for example) can move into latter categories of severity – which this analysis does not take into consideration.

“We need to remember that not only are these groupings an attempt to characterize different levels of damage from the inoculations, they are not static and could interact with each other,” reads the report. “For instance, there might be individuals who had no visible effects after vaccination but nonetheless could still be impacted.”

“Individuals with mild injuries from the inoculations could, over time, develop severe injuries to the extent of being disabled, or an extreme outcome such as death.”

🚨🚨Estimated 2022 US Vaccine Damage Report:

Estimated Human Cost:
✅26.6 million Injuries
✅1.36 million Disabilities
✅300k excess deaths

Estimated Economic Cost:
Total: $147.8 Billion
✅Injuries: $89.9 billion
✅Disabilities: $52.2 billion
✅Excess Deaths: $5.6 Billion pic.twitter.com/lfN9SEifXG

— Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 28, 2023

 

Estimating the economic cost

In analyzing each of the above categories, Phinance used absolute excess lost worktime (see previous report) to determine that the direct economic cost of vaccine injuries was $79.5 billion in 2022, and $52.2 billion for those with severe disabilities.

For deaths, Phinace used the average yearly absolute rise in excess deaths since 2021, which was 0.05% for the 25-64 year-old demographic, which amounted to $5.6 billion in lost productivity.

In total, they found a total “economic cost” of $147.8 billion in 2022 due to the Covid-19 vaccines.

Estimated Economic cost report:https://t.co/wN7lKeXi5T pic.twitter.com/B3ws6BHBCe

— Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 28, 2023

 

As Dowd notes, these figures are just what can be currently measured, as things like “The knock effects such as lost productivity due to a worker being present but working at say 50%-75% of capacity is missed plus burn out from those picking up slack.”

“The multiplier effects are massive.”

Project Overview:https://t.co/vPRNgjSXpB

— Edward Dowd (@DowdEdward) March 28, 2023

 

Now imagine the impact worldwide…

 

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“Significant” Amount of Toxic Waste From Ohio Train Derailment Heads to Baltimore

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
March 24, 2023

 

The decision to transport a “significant” amount of toxic wastewater from the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment by rail to a wastewater treatment plant located east of Baltimore City, and eventually discharge it into the local water system, might spark outrage among residents.

Local media outlet WYPR obtained a letter from Contractor Clean Harbors of Baltimore Inc., which described itself as the “optimal wastewater treatment site to treat and discharge the wastewater collected from rainwater, collected water and stream water above and below the cleanup site of the Norfolk Southern Railroad derailment.”

Once the contractor obtains approval, the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Baltimore County is set to receive over 675,000 gallons of toxic water via rail transport (if you can believe it – by rail) — a fact that may concern Baltimore residents. The approval is expected to be granted imminently.

“The water would be pre-treated by a contractor then dumped into the city-controlled wastewater system then cleaned with the city’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Dundalk,” WYPR said. 

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott voiced concerns about the plan to treat the toxic water.

“Both the county executive and I have grave concerns about the waste from this derailment coming into our facilities and being discharged into our system.” 

Scott added he wants additional testing to be conducted before the water is released from the plant and into the water system.

And we wonder what water system is near the plant. Perhaps it’s the Chesapeake Bay…

 

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Cover image photos of Chesapeake Bay credits:
Pelecanus occidentalis -Smith Island, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA -nest-8cr.jpg
Pooles Island Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay, MD

Record Bank Run Drained a Quarter, or $42BN, of SVB’s Deposits in Hours, Leaving It With Negative $1BN in Cash

 

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“Let us get this straight: the largest US commercial bank was actively soliciting the clients of one of its biggest competitors, and the 16th largest US bank, knowing full well deposit flight would almost certainly lead to the collapse of a bank which courtesy of fractional reserve banking, had only modest cash to satisfy deposit demands: certainly not enough to meet $42 billion in deposit outflows…

“And while we wait to see if Dimon’s participation in the Epstein scandal will now fade from media coverage, and whether Powell will launch QE, we know one thing for sure: JPM was a clear and immediate benefactor of SIVB’s collapse because in a day when everything crashed, JPM stock was one of the handful that were up.”

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by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge

 

For much of the day, anyone doing analysis on the now-liquidated Silicon Valley Bank was confined to using stale financial data as of Dec. 31… we certainly were when analyzing the impact of SVB’s contagion (see here) as excerpted below:

For those who slept through yesterday, here is what you missed and why the US banking system is suffering its worst crisis since 2020. Silicon Valley Bank, aka SIVB, the 18th largest bank in the US with $212 billion in assets of which $120 billion are securities (of which most or $57.7BN are Held to Maturity (HTM) Mortgage Backed Securities and another $10.5BN are CMO, while $26BN are Available for Sale, more on that later )…

… funded by over $173 billion in deposits (of which $151.5 billion are uninsured), has long been viewed as the bank at the heart of the US startup industry due to its singular focus on venture-capital firms. In many ways it echoes the issues we saw at Silvergate, which banked crypto firms almost exclusively.

The big question, of course, is what happened in the past 24 hours to not only snuff the bank’s proposed equity offering, but to push the bank into insolvency.

So how many deposits were pulled from SIVB in the past 24 hours. Everyone going off the Dec 31 number

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 10, 2023

We got the answer just a few moments after that tweet, when the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation reported that shortly after the Bank announced a loss of approximately $1.8 billion from a sale of investments and was conducting a capital raise (which we now know failed), and despite the bank being in sound financial condition prior to March 9, 2023, “investors and depositors reacted by initiating withdrawals of $42 billion in deposits from the Bank on March 9, 2023, causing a run on the Bank.”

As a result of this furious drain, as of the close of business on Thursday, March 9, “the bank had a negative cash balance of approximately $958 million.”

At this point, despite attempts from the Bank, with the assistance of regulators, “to transfer collateral from various sources, the Bank did not meet its cash letter with the Federal Reserve. The precipitous deposit withdrawal has caused the Bank to be incapable of paying its obligations as they come due, and the bank is now insolvent.”

Some context: as a reminder, SIVB had $173 billion in deposits as of Dec 31., which means that in just a few hours a historic bank run drained a quarter of the bank’s funding!

But not everyone got out in time obviously, there is a long line of depositors who are over the $250,000 FDIC insured limit (in fact only somewhere between 3 and 7% of total deposits are insured). The following list, while incomplete, is approximately sorted by size of exposure:

• USDC – Crypto Stablecoin run by Circle – Silicon Valley Bank is one of six banking partners Circle uses for managing the ~25% portion of USDC reserves held in cash. While we await clarity on how the FDIC receivership of SVB will impact its depositors, Circle & USDC continue to operate normally.
• ROKU – Roku had 26% of its cash, $487 million with Silicon Valley Bank
• BLOCKFI – BlockFi has $227 million in “unprotected” funds in Silicon Valley Bank, according to a bankruptcy document, and may be in violation of U.S. bankruptcy law.
• RBLX – Roblox said 5% of its $3b cash and securities balance is held at SVB.
• DNA – Gingko Bioworks: Only the cash balance of the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Zymergen Inc. is held in deposit accounts at SVB, representing approximately $74M or 6% of the company’s cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2022
• RKLB – RocketLab USA had about $38 million in its accounts with the bank, representing about 7.9% of the startup’s cash and equivalents
• LC – Lending Club warned about potentially losing funds on deposit at SVB of $21 million, said amount isn’t material to its liquidity position or capital levels, and doesn’t pose a risk to the group’s business or operations.
• PAYO – Payoneer: Of the company’s approximately $6.4B in total cash balances as of December 31, 2022, less than $20M is held at SVB
• PTGX – Protagonist Therapeutics considers its exposure to any liquidity concern at SVB to be limited, given that cash held at SVB is approximately $13 million as of March 9, 2023.
• ACHR – Archer Aviation entered into a $20 million loan with SVB in 2021, $10 million of which is due for repayment in 2023
• COHU – Cohu announced that it has deposit accounts with SVB with an aggregate balance of approximately $12.3M, which is approximately 3.8% of the company’s total cash and investments.
• IGMS – IMG Biosciences: ‘As of March 10, 2023, the Company holds less than $5.0 million in deposits at SVB. Therefore, the Company believes it does not have any material exposure to any liquidity concerns at SVB.’
• RYTM – Rhythm Pharmaceuticals announced that it has deposit accounts with SVB with an aggregate balance of approximately $3.4 million, which is approximately 1.1% of the Company’s total cash and cash equivalents.’
• SYRS – Syros Pharmaceuticals discloses that, as of March 10, 2023, it has two deposit accounts at Silicon Valley Bank. One of these accounts has a balance of less than $250,000, and the other has a balance of approximately $3.1 million pursuant to a letter of credit that the Company was required to provide to its landlord in connection with the execution of the lease for its corporate headquarters…
• EYPT – EyePoint Pharmaceuticals currently maintains a de minimis amount of cash, in the single digit millions of U.S. dollars, with Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB)
• ATRA – Atara Biotherapeutics currently maintains an account at Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) holding cash deposits of approximately $2 million, which amount the Company considers to be immaterial to its liquidity.’
• ISEE – Iveric Bio currently maintains a de minimis amount of cash and cash equivalents, in the low single digit millions of U.S. dollars, with Silicon Valley Bank (“SVe”).’
• VERA – Vera Therapeutics currently holds approximately 1.2% of its cash and investments with SVB. Accordingly, the Company considers its risk exposure relating to SVB to be minimal.
• XFOR – X4 Pharmaceuticals had approximately 2.5% of its cash deposits with SVB.
• CTMX – CytomX Therapeutics does not consider its exposure to any liquidity concern at SVB to be significant. The cash held at SVB in CytomX’s operating CTMX account is at or near the FDIC-insured limit of $250,000. CytomX also maintains a deposit account at SVB under a standby letter of credit issued pursuant to its office lease for approximately $917,000.’
• AXSM – Axsome Therapeutics has material cash deposits with SVB.
• WVE – Wave Life Sciences aggregate amount of the company’s cash and restricted cash held at SVB is approximately $1.5M.
• JNPR – Juniper Networks maintains operating accounts at SVB with a minimal cash balance of less than 1% of the company’s total cash
• QS – QuantumScape has very limited exposure to SVB, with only a low single digit percentage exposure relative to both the Company’s total liquidity and total assets.

And now the 64 trillion dollar question: was the bank run sparked by the bank’s attempted capital raise – which followed a modest $1.8 billion in losses as the bank sold off its AfS holdings to boost its liquidity – or was it the result of an external influence? What we mean by this is that as reported yesterday, several prominent venture capitalists – such as Peter Thiel – advised their tech startups to withdraw money from Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday.  Would the bank run have happened if it wasn’t for their urging? Or another question: why would some of the VC luminaries actively encourage a bank run? Yesterday we proposed one possible answer.

Why are VC icons ganging up and Lehmaning SVB? If your business model relied on QE wouldn't you try to trigger the next QE too https://t.co/7teJlObiji

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 9, 2023

And while such a course of action by venture capitalists would be understandable, if ethically questionable, what is perhaps more notable is what Bloomberg reported earlier, citing The Infromation: it wasn’t just the Peter Thiels of the world:

Prominent venture capitalists advised their tech startups to withdraw money from Silicon Valley Bank, while mega institutions such as JP Morgan Chase & Co sought to convince some SVB customers to move their funds Thursday by touting the safety of their assets.

Let us get this straight: the largest US commercial bank was actively soliciting the clients of one of its biggest competitors, and the 16th largest US bank, knowing full well deposit flight would almost certainly lead to the collapse of a bank which courtesy of fractional reserve banking, had only modest cash to satisfy deposit demands: certainly not enough to meet $42 billion in deposit outflows.

Of course, Jamie, who has suddenly emerged as a key figure in the Jeff Epstein scandal alongside Jes Staley, knows this, and would be delighted with an outcome that kills two birds with one stone: take his name off the front pages and also make JPMorgan even bigger. Actually three birds: remember it was JPM that started that “Not QE” Fed liquidity injection in Sept 2019 when the bank “suddenly” found itself reserve constrained. We doubt that JPM would mind greatly if Powell ended his rate hikes and eased/launched QE as a result of a bank crisis, a bank crisis that Jamie helped precipitate.

And while we wait to see if Dimon’s participation in the Epstein scandal will now fade from media coverage, and whether Powell will launch QE, we know one thing for sure: JPM was a clear and immediate benefactor of SIVB’s collapse because in a day when everything crashed, JPM stock was one of the handful that were up.

 

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East Palestine Launched a Digital ID Program Days Before Disaster

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
submitted to ZeroHedge by ‘BlueApples’
February 20, 2023

 

As Klaus Schwab recently opined, the future of global hegemony will be dependent on the mastery of avant garde technologies which were once relegated to the realm of science fiction. With that power in mind, technologies advancing artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and other pillars of the World Economic Forum’s so-called fourth industrial revolution have begun to permeate into our everyday lives. Perhaps no greater example of the imperative of the technocratic elite to harness these technologies is the digital ID. The premise of an over arching digital identity as a mechanism for vast government surveillance was one of the cornerstones of the authoritarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently, that crisis wasn’t the only instance of an opportunity to beta test the tools of dystopian oppression.

The town of East Palestine, Ohio shows how deeply embedded this agenda is in the plans of the elite. Before the town entered into the public discourse by becoming the scene of one of the worst environmental disasters in US history, the biggest piece of news to come out of it appears to be another iteration of the ongoing initiative to implement digital surveillance tools into public infrastructure. In late January, East Palestine officially launched its MyID program in order to equip residents of the town and neighboring Unity Township with digital IDs. The premise was purportedly to equip emergency responders with digital health profiles of those who they would be treating. East Palestine’s digital ID initiative was first announced in October 2022.

The rollout of the MyID program was vested in the East Palestine Fire Department.

“It’s kind of like the old Medical Alert bracelet or old Vials of Life Program, however this is with new technology. It’s a QR code that we’re able to scan and it will bring up your pertinent information medically related. There is no information that anybody can take and steal your ID with. It’s just for us to be able to take care of patients who aren’t able to communicate with us,” East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said.

The East Palestine Fire Department held a sign-up event at the town’s community center this January in an effort to drive enrollment into the cloud based information system. They were was able to collect $5,000 in donation to aid in the roll out of the program to make the first 250 wearable devices available to enrollees for free. The QR codes can be affixed to a wristband or a key faub but depend on digital ID software storing a person’s health information in a cloud-hosted database in either instance.

During the event, Drabick emphasized that the MyID pilot program was intended to have a limited scope narrowly pertaining to sensitive medical information of those enrolled, tacitly alluding to underlying concerns about privacy that has skeptics of digital IDs reticent about the technology. Drabick would go on to compel skeptics to explore the program despite their reservations. “Anybody that skeptical? Please come on down. Sit down, talk to us. We’ll be happy to show you everything that goes on with it. We’ll be happy to show you how secure it is.”



Despite the initiative to implement the MyID program, even the fire department officials tasked will its roll out likely could not have foreseen the devastation East Palestine would incur following a botched controlled burn of a chemical spill that has turned the small town into North America’s own version of Chernobyl. However, the impetus to start a digital ID initiative preceding what would have been an unforeseen crisis is a pattern that supposed “conspiracy theorists” know all too well.

Before the hysteria surrounding COVD-19 gripped the world, an event held in collaboration between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Johns Hopkins University foreshadowing the eventual pandemic. Event 201 created a simulation to gauge the global response to a coronavirus epidemic as a means of pushing forward the very technologies at the center of the World Economic Forum’s vision of the future which were also implemented in East Palestine before the watershed crisis that would alter the landscape of the town forever. One of the partners for Event 201 was ID2020, a digital ID initiative that Bill Gates was heavily invested in that served as an archetype for the vaccine passports that global NGOs and sovereign governments alike have been steadfast in attempting to implement.

The devastation in East Palestine rightfully puts an emphasis on an effective emergency response to save the 5,000 or so residents of the town from the peril they face as they are engulfed in a carcinogenic miasma which threatens their short term and long term health. While that is the understandable priority, the underlying currents of patterns which have preceded previous manufactured emergencies are putting the chemical catastrophe into a new light. First, there was the re-emergence of the 2022 film White Noise which seemingly served as a piece of predictive programming as its plot centered around the aftermath of a chemical explosion affecting a small town in Ohio. Now, the roll out of a digital ID program like that which was showcased during Event 201 raises even more questions than answers about what is really going on in East Palestine.

 

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‘Ohio Chernobyl’: East Palestine Town Hall Scrapped After Residents Report Health Problems

by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
February 15, 2023

 

Nearly two weeks after a Norfolk Southern Railway freight train with 150 cars (20 of which were carrying hazardous materials) derailed in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, resulting in a chemical disaster, the extent of the damage to the town and surrounding communities remains unclear.

On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine held a press conference for the Feb. 3 derailment. He said Norfolk Southern did not classify the train as a “high hazardous material train” despite multiple cars containing toxic chemical vinyl chloride.

“This is absurd … Congress needs to take a look at how these things are handled,” DeWine said. 

There’s already an effort by lawmakers on Capitol Hill and federal agencies to investigate the derailment. Epoch Times noted:

Key committees in the Republican-controlled House are holding their peace as investigations of the derailment and its environmental impact proceed.

A spokesperson for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), said the committee was talking with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, and the railroad involved, Norfolk Southern.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and NTSB’s ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 14 email.

Investigators have uncovered security camera footage 20 miles before East Palestine of the suspected railcar that caused the derailment. Footage shows one of the cars was on fire well before the small town.

“NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” NTSB wrote on its website.

OHIO – Security camera footage captured the Norfolk Southern train passing by Salem, OH with flames and sparks under at least one of the cars. #ohiotrainderailment pic.twitter.com/bh1WgiPpSr

— Emmanuelle Saliba (@_esaliba) February 15, 2023

Michael Graham, a member of the NTSB, told reporters one day after the derailment:

“We’re also looking at a lot of different footage that has been provided to the investigators out there to determine if there’s some data on footage that we have from videos and cameras that might tell us something more that what might have happened to cause this accident.” 

At a follow-on briefing on Feb. 5, Graham said investigators were analyzing locomotive footage. He said the focus was one of the rail car’s axles.

“We have obtained two videos which show preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles,” Graham said. 

Graham added engineers on the train were alerted by a “wayside defect detector shortly before the derailment, indicating a mechanical issue.”

“Then an emergency brake application initiated,” he continued, adding that a preliminary investigative report was expected within several weeks, though a full probe could take as long as 24 months.

As investigators pinpoint the likely cause of the derailment, the environmental impact of the controlled burn of 20 railcars that contained toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene, has released what some described as a ‘chemical nuclear bomb’ that has contaminated the town and other surrounding communities.

Following the burn, there have been numerous reports of wildlife dying, including fish and frogs in nearby streams.

While East Palestine residents are being told by Norfolk Southern and Ohio officials that everything is safe after the toxic “controlled release” — I’m here and witnessing creeks filled with dead frogs and fish. pic.twitter.com/UBh3zes59j

— Jeremy Loffredo (@loffredojeremy) February 14, 2023

https://twitter.com/2_Acre_Living/status/1625610406994518032

People have reported that their chickens, dogs, and horses were either sick or died.

People in East Palestine and surrounding communities have reported various symptoms they can’t explain since the burn, according to News 5 Cleveland.

Therese Vigliotti said she hasn’t felt right since the controlled release and burn after train cars derailed more than a week ago.

She sent us a picture of her tongue.

“I noticed my lips were numb, the soft palate of my mouth was numb, my tongue was burning and my throat was burning,” Vigliotti said.

We asked what her biggest concern was.

“That I’m going to get cancer and die,” Vigliotti said.

Vigliotti doesn’t live in East Palestine but rather 15 miles north of the derailment site in Poland, Ohio.

Jim does call the village home.

You can hear train horns from his front porch.

“It used to not bother me hearing, now it does,” Jim said.

He too is worried about what he is experiencing.

“I’ve had a migraine. I’ve been dizzy, all my mucus membranes irritated. I haven’t felt very well since then,” Jim said.

And on a long enough timeline. People exposed to vinyl chloride might have an increased risk of developing a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

I GOT A DISTRIBUTION MAP pic.twitter.com/X7jzUIOmrb

— 𓅃 (@FalconryFinance) February 15, 2023

https://twitter.com/WaverlyWakeUp/status/1625938204263125011

Protesters standing on a street corner in downtown East Palestine. Town hall meeting for residents at 7pm. @WTOV9 pic.twitter.com/uXExImoIBP

— Chloë Mesogitis (@ChloeWTOV9) February 15, 2023

"There are a lot of people who are very, very scared," said East Palestine resident Lynn Guy to Breitbart News' Alana Mastrangelo, who is on the ground in Ohio. pic.twitter.com/ZjQH6vuyF5

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 15, 2023

“That’s all they are really concerned about. It’s not us, it’s moving the money”.

Family protesting how the toxic train derailment was handled in East Palestine, Ohio.

📸@lincolnmjay & @realmonsanto https://t.co/bq2xTFq0nVpic.twitter.com/TEiPD9KdRx

— Rebel News USA (@RebelNews_USA) February 15, 2023

Citizen reporter on the ground in East Palestine, Ohio:

"It stinks out here… It smells really weird over here, for sure…. These are nice people, they don't deserve to be nuked with toxic chemicals." pic.twitter.com/Ib23XI91b3

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 15, 2023

And these toxic chemicals have also been identified in the Ohio river, which supplies more than 5 million people with drinking water, according to local news station WLWT.

Must watch ! More on East Palestine, Ohio, toxic chemical burn may be the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/jcrBMdbp6y

— VeBee🇺🇸✝️ (@VeBo1991) February 13, 2023

About 60 miles south, the city of Steubenville detected butyl acrylate in their water intake, the same toxic chemical found in East Palestine, according to local news WTRF.

Recall the Biden administration and other federal officials were silent about the derailment for more than a week. This week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg finally spoke about the incident.

And on Feb. 8 press conference in East Palestine, a NewsNation reporter covering DeWine was arrested. DeWine said this week that the reporter should “never have occurred in the first place.” The reporter was merely just trying to report the news.

There’s been a massive lack of transparency since the derailment happened by the government and mainstream media. And we wonder why?

Look at an alleged aerial picture (posted on Reddit) overtop East Palestine during the controlled burn. Maybe this is why?

Meanwhile, environmentalist advocate Erin Brockovich called out the Biden administration to do more for residents of East Palestine:

“The Biden Administration needs to get more involved in this train derailment now. We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye.”

As for Norfolk Southern, they’re expected to rack up tens of millions of dollars in costs associated with cleanup and lawsuits.

“I’ve had discussions with some people who live right near ground zero who are hesitant to come back.”

 “There are people with young children, and they don’t know what effects it’s going to have,” James Wise, a local attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit against the railroad on behalf of some residents, told Bloomberg. 

And you would never guess who is one of the largest shareholders of Norfolk Southern… It’s ESG-pusher BlackRock.

Things that make you go, hmm…

And by the way, East Palestine scrapped a town hall for tonight as the toxic chemicals are causing illness among residents, according to the Independent.

 

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Cover image credit: lxfd64