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Watch: East Palestine Officials Hold Meeting With Frustrated Residents

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8 months ago

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Update (2021ET):

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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Gingrich: ‘No More Pointless GOP Debates; Trump Is Going To Be The Nominee’

“The question now for everybody is do you want to see Joe Biden reelected or do you want to help Donald Trump?”

Published

2 days ago

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29 September, 2023

Steve Watson

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich dropped a truth bomb Thursday, noting that there is no use in having more ‘debates’ among Republican also-ran candidates because Donald Trump is polling so far ahead of them and is certain to be the nominee for 2024.

In a Fox News interview, Gingrich noted “I was talking to our mutual friend, the pollster Matt Towery this afternoon, and Matt said to me, based on what he saw last night, this race is over, Donald Trump will be the nominee, they might as well quit having the various debates because they don’t work, they’re not helping anybody, and I think that’s where we are.”

He continued, “I think Trump will be the nominee and the question now for everybody is do you want to see Joe Biden reelected or do you want to help Donald Trump? There’s no middle ground here.”

Gingrich added, “I think the Republican National Committee should cancel the future debates and say, ‘Look, we recognize the objective fact that Trump will be the nominee. We want to work with him.”

“In some of these races, some of these polls, Trump is like 43 points ahead of the next person, 43 points. He’s gonna be the nominee,” Gingrich reasserted.

In regards to other potential candidates, Gingrich noted “I suspect the money is there, but the votes aren’t. I’m a big fan of Glenn Youngkin. I think he’s doing a great job as governor. I think in 2028, he could be a very impressive, maybe even frontrunner for president, but not this time. Not this year.”

Watch:

On the same night as the car crash GOP debate earlier this week, Trump threw every single one of the participants under the bus, stating that he wouldn’t pick any of them as a Vice President.

“They are all running for a job,” Trump told a crowd in Michigan, adding “They’re all job candidates… they will do anything, secretary of something. They even say VP. I don’t know. Anybody see any VP in the group? I don’t think so.”

Here Is The Only Clip Of The GOP Debate You Need To See

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    “The American People Know The Fix Is In” – O’Reilly Warns Carlson “We Are In The Age Of Disorder Now”

    Published

    2 days ago

    on

    29 September, 2023

    Zero Hedge

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    “We’re in the age of disorder.”

    Outspoken conservative media personality Bill O’Reilly joined Tucker Carlson (the man who replaced him in his primetime Fox News slot) for a wide-ranging discussion of the dismal state of the world, and why progressive politicians are to blame.

    “America has entered the age of disorder, and it’s because of the progressive movement,” O’Reilly lamented.

    The former Fox News anchor lays out how this has occurred:

    “President Biden, in my opinion, is diminished mentally, doesn’t know what he’s really doing from day-to-day. You can see that in his public statements,” O’Reilly remarked, adding that “the progressives like that, because the people who control him inside the White House can tell him anything, and he’ll do it.”

    O’Reilly said that Ron Klain and Susan Rice were the original string-pullers, but since their departure from The White House, their assistants took their place “basically telling Joe what to do and say.”

    He argued that Biden has harkened in an “age of disorder” which has resulted in the emergence of Black Lives Matter, higher taxes, lax crime laws, and progressive indoctrination of children at young ages.

    “The more money you take from people, the less power they have, and the progressives want to run everything, including telling your children what to think when they’re five years old,” O’Reilly said.

    “And most Americans don’t get it, because the press is working with the progressive movement and suppresses all this.”

    However, O’Reilly notes that, given the constant overwhelming bias evident in the Biden admin’s judicial actions, it is becoming too hard for media to suppress the reality of political persecution:  

    “The American people understand what this is… they understand that the documents in Mar A Lago basement parallel the documents in Joe Biden’s garage. Yes it’s the same thing, but one guy gets raided and charged and the other guy,” remains under an opaque investigation.

    “Does it really take nine months to figure out why Joe Biden illegally – because he was vice president had no right to take anything –  had documents in his garage? Does it take nine months to do that? No. Has Joe Biden been interviewed? No.”

    “So,” O’Reilly concludes, “the American people know the fix is in now.”

    And “Trump can stop the age of disorder.”

    Of course, the conversation between the two could not avoid the topic of ‘being fired from Fox News’ with O’Reilly reflecting on his 2017 removal (amid sexual harrassment claims): “I understood what most television news people don’t – that you are expendable.” The two candidly remarked on the fact that regardless of one’s reputation or history, all television figures are ultimately replaceable.

    Watch the full interview below:

    This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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    Here Is The Only Clip Of The GOP Debate You Need To See

    “They’re all job candidates…they will do anything, secretary of something.”

    Published

    3 days ago

    on

    28 September, 2023

    Steve Watson

    Win McNamee/Getty Images

    There was literally just one interesting part of the Fox News Republican debate Wednesday night, the part when each candidate was asked to throw one of the others under a bus.

    The rest of the ‘debate’ was little more than squabbling, backbiting and a set of supposed candidates, most who are polling in the low single digits, incessantly talking over each other like an unruly kindergarten class.

    Host Dana Perino rightly pointed out that “It’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former president Donald Trump wins the nomination.”

    “None of you have indicated that you’re dropping out. So which one of you, on stage tonight, should be voted off the island?” Perino further asked, framing the debate as if it were a reality show popularity contest.

    “Please use your marker to write your choice on the note pad in front of you, 15 seconds starting now,” Perino stated, before Ron DeSantis piped up and said “With all due respect, like we’re here, we’re happy to debate but I think that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors.”

    The other moderator Stuart Varney noted that he saw Chris Christie beginning to write something down, to which Christie responded “I vote Donald Trump off the island right now.”

    “Every person on this stage has shown the respect for Republican voters to come here to express their views honestly candidly and directly and to take your questions honestly,” Christie continued, adding that Trump “has not only divided our party; he’s divided families all over this country. He’s divided friends all over this country.”

    “I’ve spoken to people who have sat at Thanksgiving dinner or at a birthday party, and can’t have a conversation anymore if they disagree with Donald Trump. He needs to be voted off this island and taken out of this process.” he added.

    Hilarious.

    And replaced with who?

    Meanwhile, Trump threw every single one of the debate participants under the bus, stating that he wouldn’t pick any of them as a Vice President.

    “It’s all over television. This speech, you know, we’re competing with the job candidates. They are all running for a job,” Trump told a crowd in Michigan.

    “They’re all job candidates. They want to be in the, they will do anything, secretary of something. They even say VP. I don’t know. Anybody see any VP in the group? I don’t think so,” Trump declared.

    Watch:

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