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Watch: East Palestine Officials Hold Meeting With Frustrated Residents

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East Palestine officials hold meeting with residents. Here’s the live feed: 

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Update (1935ET):

As per The Independent:

Authorities in the Ohio town where a train derailed carrying toxic chemicals have scrapped plans for a question-and-answer session (town hall) for residents.

Health concerns are mounting among the citizens of East Palestine amid reports of dead animals and local people falling sick. 

The local mayor originally had announced that a Q&A town hall meeting would take place on Wednesday at 7 pm at East Palestine High School’s gymnasium, WKBN reported

So instead of a town hall, it appears officials are only hosting a meeting. Here’s more from The Independent:

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio are still searching for answers about the threats they’re facing to their health nearly two weeks after the train derailment that has forced many of them from their homes, and they’re hoping to get answers at tonight’s public meeting at the East Palestine High School at 7 pm local time.

WEWS-TV reported Wednesday that multiple tables will be set up inside the meeting where residents will have the opportunity to meet with officials including the town’s mayor about their concerns.

They will not, however, have the opportunity to question officials with rail operator Norfolk Southern after the rail company pulled out of the meeting due to what it said were concerns “about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community.”

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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.

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.

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. 

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. 

“It’s not just what was in the tanker cars. It’s what happens when they burn and combine. This may be the largest dioxin plume in world history. I know of no more serious release, ever,” explained Eric F Coppolino of Planet Waves FM

While vinyl chloride is a precursor chemical to making PVC, any time chlorinated compounds burn there will be dioxins created. And dioxin is a manufacturing byproduct of any manufacturing process involving chlorine, from “disinfectants” to the bleaching of paper. There was plenty of dioxin in those tanker cars before they caught fire.

This mess of 14 tanker cars (really, many more, but 14 had vinyl chloride) was then set on fire by the government, apparently to make it easier to clear the railroad tracks. This was the worst possible decision. It has turned many, many miles into what should be no-man’s land. But I have not heard of one single test for dioxin being done.

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.  

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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Obama Judge Sentences Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 Years in Prison in J6 ‘Sedition’ Case

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Chris Menahan | Information Liberation

Aaron C. Davis/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who came unarmed to DC and didn’t even enter the Capitol Building on January 6th, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday for “seditious conspiracy” by Obama-appointed US district judge Amit Mehta.

Rhodes’ crime was apparently mouthing off about revolution in private chats and lamenting after the event that “we should have brought rifles.” 

“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy,” Judge Amit Mehta, an Indian immigrant appointed to the DC district court by Obama in 2014, scolded Rhodes before handing down the longest sentence to date for any J6er.

Mehta’s bio says he served on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project (one of many groups which helps get convicted murderers like Shaurn Thomas out of prison).

Though Mehta is a big believer in “criminal justice reform” when it comes to releasing thugs onto our streets, he opted to apply an enhancement for terrorism in Rhodes’ sentencing.

From NBC News, “Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case”:

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy.

The sentence for Stewart Rhodes is the longest imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date. In a politically-charged speech in the courtroom just before his sentencing, Rhodes called himself a “political prisoner” and said that when he talked about “regime change” in a phone call with supporters earlier this week, he meant he hopes that former President Donald Trump will win in 2024.

The judge disagreed that Rhodes had been locked up for politics, saying it was his actions that led to his criminal convictions.

“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy,” Judge Amit Mehta said before handing down the sentence.

Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member who will be sentenced later Thursday afternoon.

“They won’t fear us until we come with rifles in hand,” Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. After the attack, in a recording that was played in court during his trial, he said his only regret was that they “should have brought rifles.”

That’s called venting frustration.

They didn’t bring rifles — they were unarmed — and they didn’t take part in an “insurrection” — everyone left the Capitol after just a few hours — but apparently that’s not relevant to the case.

The fact they legally brought some weapons to Virginia and left them in a hotel was proof enough of their “seditious conspiracy,” according to Mehta. 

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit Thursday, Rhodes said he believes the only crime he committed was opposing those who are “destroying our country.”

Mehta told Rhodes that he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy “not because of your beliefs, not because you supported the other guy, not because Joe Biden is president right now,” but because of the facts of the case, and his actions before, during and after Jan. 6.

“You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,” Mehta said.

Fact check: false.

Rhodes and Meggs were put on trial alongside Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, fellow Oath Keepers who were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, but not seditious conspiracy. Watkins and Harrelson will be sentenced on Friday.

Rhodes took the stand in his case, saying at trial that the other members of the Oath Keepers were “stupid” to storm the Capitol and that he disagreed with those who went inside; Rhodes did not enter the building. “I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside,” Rhodes said.

But the government also produced messages in which Rhodes said he thought that Jan. 6 was the last opportunity to stop what he saw as a takeover of the government.

“On the 6th, they are going to put the final nail in the coffin of this Republic, unless we fight our way out. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice,” Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6.

He also celebrated Oath Keepers’ actions in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after meeting with other members of the group at an Olive Garden in Virginia that night.

“Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand,” Rhodes wrote the night of Jan. 6. “Stand now or kneel forever. Honor your oaths. Remember your legacy.”

The Gateway Pundit has some longer excerpts from Stewart and Mehta. 

In short, Rhodes — along with his fellow Oath Keepers — were convicted for mouthing off in their group chats.

If you say, “Give me liberty or give me death,” that’s essentially now evidence of a seditious conspiracy. 

If you say, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” that’s essentially now evidence of a seditious conspiracy. 

This is all it takes to convict in the comically biased kangaroo courts in DC. Just as we saw in the Proud Boys case, the feds don’t need any hard evidence — they just need a jury which doesn’t like you.

This post was originally published at Information Liberation

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Greenwald: Regime Journalists Promote The ‘Right’ Conspiracy Theories To Be Successful

“Journalists who spread conspiracy theories that the CIA wants them to spread get promoted, and the journalists who question the conspiracy theories of the CIA get destroyed.”

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Steve Watson

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Independent investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald succinctly summarises how ‘regime media narratives’ are formed and disseminated, and that any journalist who questions the process ends up a target for destruction by the establishment.

During his “System Update” broadcast on Rumble, Greenwald noted how “Journalists who spread conspiracy theories that the CIA wants them to spread get promoted, and the journalists who question the conspiracy theories of the CIA get destroyed.”

“It’s not prohibited in American corporate journalism to spread false stories and conspiracy theories,” Greenwald asserted, adding “In fact, that’s the only way you can thrive in journalism.”

“The people who have lied the most, and who spread the most conspiracy theories, are the ones who have been promoted and enriched most within corporate journalism,” he further urged.

“The difference is, the way to advance in journalism is to tell lies and spread conspiracy theories on behalf of the CIA, and that advance the interests of the U.S. government. That is not only permitted. That is required to be promoted,” Greenwald emphasised.

He continued, “What you can’t do, the thing that [Seymour] Hersh did that got him expelled from journalism, is he spread what are called conspiracy theories that are against the narrative of the U.S. security state, that undermined U.S. foreign policy. That is the only thing that is prohibited. That’s what gets you kicked out of journalism.”

Greenwald was referring to Hersh’s reporting on the destruction of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline, which the veteran journalist is adamant was a coordinated operation by U.S. intelligence.

Greenwald continued, “As long as the conspiracy theories you’re affirming and the false stories you’re publishing are aligned with what the CIA, Pentagon, and the entire rest of the corporate media says, you’re fine. In fact, you’re better than fine. You’re going to have all kinds of rewards lavished upon you.”

Greenwald then cited the example of editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who “did more [than anyone] to spread the false conspiracy theories that led to the Iraq War,” and “also became ground zero for every Russiagate fraud.”

Greenwald further proclaimed that Goldberg “was rewarded… as a result of the lying he did on behalf of the U.S. security state.”

The journalist went on a further deep dive into the example of the 2001 anthrax attacks, which he posits is a prime example of how “people in the CIA, FBI, and DHS know they can lie to the media on purpose without any accountability because they do so while hiding behind the shield of anonymity.”

“Even if you know they lied, the media will protect these liars, people who are deceiving America on purpose through the use of their media platforms,” Greenwald further charged.

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    Poll: Almost Two Thirds Of Americans View Media As “Truly the Enemy of the People”

    “A mind-blowing damnation of the regime press”

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    A new Rasmussen poll has found that almost two thirds of Americans believe the media is “truly the enemy of the people”.

    The survey found that a total of 59 percent of likely voters either strongly or somewhat agree with the statement.

    Among Republicans, the belief is even more prevalent at 77 percent. Only a slim majority of Democrats disagree.

    The poll also noted that among Democrats there has been an 11 point drop in trust in the media.

    Overall, a majority of 52 percent of Americans say they do not trust the political news they are getting from the establishment media.

    The survey also found that 52 percent believe the media is bias towards Democrats.

    This is yet another example of how Americans hold almost wholly opposite opinions to liberal corporate media narratives.

    A new Harris-Harvard poll released earlier this week also demonstrated how despised the leftist media has become.

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