"Everybody's Getting Sicker And Sicker"
As Biden Plays James Bond On His World War Three Promotional Tour, American Citizens In Ohio Are Showing Definitive Symptoms Of Poisoning, Despite The Federal And Ohio EPA Sounding The All Clear.
Photo by Darklabs India on Unsplash
(As a brief preface to this article, I would like to commend the excellent independent journalism of “Status Coup News,” who are diligently working to amplify the marginalized voices of the citizens of East Palestine. If you can, please support them with a monetary contribution, they certainly exemplify what journalism used to be, a fourth estate of advocacy for the powerless to protect citizens from the abuses of government and corporate tyranny.)
In East Palestine, Ohio, and miles beyond, the effects of dioxin-based chemical poisoning are starting to manifest.
Mothers, anxious to mitigate the harm as quickly as possible, are having to take their children to decontamination showers before doctors can look at them.
Skin rashes are a common, widespread symptom, even in people that had no dermatological issues prior to this event.
Numbness of the lips and tongue, difficulty breathing, severe headaches, lethargy, blood in stools, nose bleeds, and stomach cramps, are being experienced.
Far outside of the alleged “contamination radius” of one mile, arbitrarily decreed by the toxic chemical engineers and experts hired by Norfolk Southern, the symptoms persist.
The Ohio Governor, Mike Dewine, who gave the “all clear” days ago, seems irritated and inconvenienced by having to do his job, insisting that the water, air, and soil of East Palestine have been sufficiently monitored, and contain no significant poisons.
DeWine also promoted the state-sponsored “free clinics” presumably set up to treat these symptoms:
“In response to residents’ increasing frustration over their chase for straight answers, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called for a new Health Assessment Clinic, which opened Tuesday at a downtown church.
The first patient (noon sharp, appointment only) was Matthew Stokes, 43, a welder for CeramFab, a manufacturing company overlooking the train tracks. He was there for the initial clean-up effort, when, “they took one scoop of dirt, and the senior maintenance guy [with me] had to take a knee. I had to grab hold of something. I can’t explain it. I’ve never been exposed to toxic stuff.”
As it turns out these “clinics” largely offer, according to some residents, pamphlets on stress management, informational guidance, referrals, and mental health counseling, everything, it would appear, but actual treatment for chemical and carcinogenic exposure.
The weeks that have passed since the derailment, for the residents in and around East Palestine, have left a sense of anxiety and foreboding worse than any nightmare.
Life, as these residents knew it, has ended.
Unlike COVID, there is no faking a return to normal.
Across a bipartisan spectrum, the unempathetic, bumbling, federal and state government agencies under the purview and authority of President Biden, and Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, arrived far too late to the scene. It won’t likely be possible to “clean up” after one of the most egregious acts of environmental assault and corporate malfeasance in US History.
It should be noted, although it rarely is in most corporate news reporting, that the decision to dump and ignite the vinyl chloride gas in the 20 or so hazardous carrier cars was based on the POSSIBILITY of the cars igniting and exploding. That decision to ignite the dangerous vinyl chloride was the moment that changed everything and made a horrible situation worse.
Some eyewitnesses have said that Norfolk Southern barely dug into the contaminated soil at the derailment site, and covered it with a bed of mulch and soil, prioritizing rail traffic resuming as quickly as possible over safety and health.
This was the decision that will likely kill the existence of the town.
While panicked citizens in Ohio, poisoned and economically trapped within the confines of the town, were talking to anyone with a sympathetic ear that seemed like they were sincere advocates, it was clear that the most important one, Joe Biden, would not be making an appearance.
Biden, for all intents and purposes, has left the metaphorical building when it comes to the concerns or needs of American citizens.
Biden and his party’s obsession with always prioritizing the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, at the expense of all other domestic priorities and citizens needs in America, particularly in Ohio, is sociopathically egregious and alarming.
The Democrats, and the compliant stenography pool in the corporate media, gave scant attention, if any, to East Palestine, in favor of covering the “surprise” visit by Biden to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky In Kyiv.
Of course, like all the cartoonish propaganda that has emanated from the NATO alliance and the Biden administration since Russia invaded Ukraine, this event was nothing more than another pointless, extremely expensive, staged photo op in the endless stream of lies, half-truths and exaggerated nonsense that emanates from The White House.
The “secret visit” was elevated and transformed by the media into an unprecedented, “historical” event, one that, as usual, touted Biden’s heroism and bravery, despite the fact that none of it was true. Shallow, sycophantic talking head panelists, including former Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, flat-out lied, breathlessly claiming Biden flew exposed and alone in Air Force One directly into the Kyiv war zone. Truth, of course, never makes for good ratings.
They didn’t question the prosecution of the war itself, but instead, lauded the skill of image makers who reshaped Biden as a hero of democracy, and an ally of freedom, all in the midst of declining support for American wealth and weaponry being lavished on Ukraine.
The optics, even if illusions, they said, are equally important in the scheme of things: the Ukrainian and American flags waving in unison, the “coincidental” air raid siren that blasted as Biden “bravely” walked alongside Zelensky in the tranquil cobblestone court of Kyiv’s Constitution Square, the staged speeches that offered nothing new in inspiration or vision.
It was war propaganda that was served buffet style for mass consumption, carefully tailored in imagery, hoping to manufacture consent, but lacking in hard truth and any context.
As Biden, who to this moment has barely acknowledged the tragedy of East Palestine, did his World War Three promotional tour, it was inevitable that someone, specifically his nemesis Donald Trump, would step in to fill the vacuum.
Even those not well-versed in the machinations of political opportunism could see this coming a mile away.
It would be skirting the obvious not to note that East Palestine is, as a demographic, white and leans toward supporting Republicans.
This, however, is a humanitarian crisis, not a political battle.
Having said that, it is clear that Donald Trump, and reportedly, Rudy Guliani, were no panacea for the continuing disaster in East Palestine. Trump reportedly spent his own money and unloaded pallets of water, food, and supplies, yet it came across as political and cynical, no more than Republican-branded political theater.
It also does not change the fact that, as President, Biden, clearly and unequivocally, does not see this disaster as a catastrophe worthy of an emergency response. He is a leader that has abandoned the electorate, in this case, and others, leaving them to their own devices.
When Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s stand-in, arrived on the scene, after weeks of downplaying the seriousness of the incident, practically kicking and screaming under protest, the inevitable resurgence in corporate media interest was temporarily reignited, but only briefly.
Images of Buttigieg in a regulation USDOT hard hat and safety vest came across as an attempt to make him appear engaged, unafraid, and in charge.
Buttigieg, who was clearly part of the organizations and agencies taking political advantage, made excuses and offered platitudes in addition to undeserved praise for the “community” of responders. What, exactly, is there to be “proud” of in delaying, lying, and obfuscating, as the citizens of East Palestine suffer illness and economic uncertainty?
As of February 25th, it appears that the EPA, a federal government agency created during the Nixon administration, and its complement in Ohio at the state level, is lying to the public about the range of tests. Specifically, there is a deliberate avoidance of testing for cancer-causing dioxins, an inevitable byproduct of a toxic spill and vinyl chloride burn.
Michael Regan, the friendly, smiling, “Up With People” style EPA administrator says the EPA is “considering” future testing, while the fate of the health of East Palestine residents hangs in the balance, depending on SOMEONE making speedy and critical decisions as quickly as possible.
This inaccurate and deadly feedback loop is reinforced by local experts who have nothing but EPA data, incomplete in scope, to pronounce opinions on:
“But chemicals that could have posed much greater risk to human health were not detected at dangerous levels, a University of Pittsburgh scientist who reviewed the EPA data confirmed.
Results from those studies of the air in and around East Palestine were released publicly as they became available between Tuesday and Friday.
They show nothing “threatening or concerning” in the air, according to University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health associate professor of environmental and occupational health James Fabisiak.”
As a vital reminder, this is the same EPA, albeit with different faces in a different administration, that claimed the air at Ground Zero after 911 was safe to breathe. This was such an outrageous violation of trust, that it has cast a shadow over the EPA’s integrity ever since. The EPA lied, and the truly brave, unlike President Biden posing in a “war zone,” died. Based on historical precedent alone, they surely don’t deserve our trust in this situation.
Any resident occupying a home or apartment is in a contamination zone, yet, Norfolk Southern has only proffered non-HAZMAT-certified, hospital-grade cleaning services. That is, these services, some staffed by elderly church volunteers, are NOT certified to remove dangerous chemical residue from homes and garages, where one resident noted the clear coat on his car was literally flaking off after being chipped away by acid rain.
It seems outrageous and ludicrous that in light of evidence such as this, the risks to human health would be summarily dismissed and downplayed.
The residents of East Palestine, according to famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich, are being lied to by the government and EPA about the lethal nature of their exposure. Instead of approaches like lying, obfuscating, and infantilizing the residents of East Palestine, who can most certainly deal with the truth, the best approach is to deal with this disaster head-on.
The gravity of the situation can’t be over-emphasized.
"I've never seen in 30 years, a situation like this," she said, warning residents that what her team was going to present them may scare them. " ... I feel your angst and I feel your frustration. And I want to share something with you, you're not alone."
Now is the time to put aside political differences.
This is war by the corporation against innocent citizens who had the misfortune of living in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This could be any one of us, today or tomorrow, and we must support our fellow citizens, or we can’t ever really claim to be “United” in the truest sense of the word.
Thank you for the positive feedback Ross, appreciate it. I've mainly been tuned to Status Coup all week, letting the citizens tell their story is vital. Astounding that the Federal government agencies are overshadowed by the March to war .