A man driving a truck hit “went on a rampage” and hit several pedestrians in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Monday morning, said a New York City councilman.

“A man driving a U-Haul went on a rampage in Bay Ridge,” City Councilman Justin Brannan wrote on Twitter Monday, adding that “several people were hit and badly injured.”

“We have no idea of motives at this time but this wasn’t an accident,” Brannan claimed.

“We think he hit at least 6 people with the truck and 2 are in very bad shape. PLEASE pray for these folks.”

Video footage posted online on Monday showed the incident in Brooklyn involving a U-Haul truck.

🚨#UPDATE: Police in #Brooklyn, #NY, are treating this as an terror related incident aften an U-haul truck deliberately hit multiple pedestrians pic.twitter.com/05lid0J8x0

— Breaking News 24/7 (@Worldsource24) February 13, 2023

Police officials told local media reported that a man in his 30s was hit by the U-Haul on 4th Avenue, while three other men who were on mopeds were struck and sustained minor injuries.

A man driving a U-Haul went on a rampage in Bay Ridge. He was just apprehended in Sunset Park. Several people were hit and badly injured. We have no idea of motives at this time but this wasn’t an accident. Thank you to @NYPD72Pct @NYPD68Pct. I will share more info when I can.

— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) February 13, 2023

The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports that the incident happened on the same day a convicted terrorist, Sayfullo Saipov, is facing sentencing for killing eight people in a 2017 rampage while driving a U-Haul truck down a New York City bike path. A jury is considering a possible death sentence.

Saipov has previously expressed admiration for the ISIS terrorist group and has said he had an obligation to carry out those attacks, according to his attorney. “And as we sit here today, he still believes that, he still believes the ISIS messaging and he still believes it was God’s will that he do what he did,” Saipov’s attorney David Patton said last month.

Officials have not publicly said whether the two incidents were linked.

Meanwhile, the suspect attempted to evade capture before police arrested him following a chase.

Suspect was actually arrested near the BK Battery Tunnel. We think he hit at least 6 people with the truck and 2 are in very bad shape. PLEASE pray for these folks.

— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) February 13, 2023

The driver of the U-Haul truck is currently being held at the 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park, a nearby area of Brooklyn.

Fox News reports that law enforcement sources reportedly told the New York Post the individual in custody is known to authorities stemming from a prior EDP [emotionally disturbed person] incident from 2019.

Roberts Boyce, the former New York City Police Department chief of detectives, told ABC7 that both incidents are comparable.

“Its the first thing I thought,” Boyce told the outlet. “I worked the Sayfull Saipov case I remember how dangerous it was and what he did and how deadly it was. That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the rented truck. So let’s hope it’s not that and it’s a person in mental distress at this point and it’s nothing more than that. It’s difficult to link the two right now but how can you not think about that?”

On New Year’s Eve, three NYPD officers were attacked by a man wielding a macheted near Times Square, officials said. Trevor Bickford, a 19-year-old from Maine, was arrested and charged in that case last month as reports indicated that he may have been motivated by Islamic extremist viewpoints.

NYPD’s bomb squad is at the scene to check the truck for possible explosives.

With long-term inflation expectations (those 3-Years ahead or more) peaking more than a year ago, and even shorter inflation expectations – at least according to the NY Fed Survey of consumers – now sliding after hitting a record high 6.8% in June, we have seen a marked bounce in 2Y breakevens in recent weeks, which after recently hitting the lowest level in 2 years, have risen from 2% to 2.75% largely on the back of expectations for a bounce in commodity prices…

…which is why ahead of tomorrow’s CPI print – which many expect will come in hotter than expected – many were curious to see whether the latest, just released NY Fed survey, would show a continued drop in inflation expectations, or whether January would prove to be an inflection point. The answer: while median one-, and three-year-ahead inflation expectations both decreased – from 4.99% to 4.95%, and from 2.99% to 2.71% (the lowest since Oct 2020) respectively, it was 5-year inflation expectations, which the NY Fed tracks and updates only periodically, that posted a modest increase for the second month in a row, rising from 2.32% in November to 2.42% in December and then again to 2.45% in January.

As usual, the numbers were notable enough to get flagged by Fed whisperer Nick Timiraos.

New York Fed: Median inflation expectations in January remained unchanged at 5.0% at the one-year horizon, decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 2.7% at the three-year horizon, and rose 0.1 point to 2.5% at the five-year horizon https://t.co/eiB3NEA7j3 pic.twitter.com/dJIWPFYEC5

— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) February 13, 2023

Median inflation uncertainty—or the uncertainty expressed regarding future inflation outcomes—remained unchanged at the one-year horizon but increased slightly at the three- and five-year horizons.

The median home price growth expectations declined by 0.2% to 1.1% in January – the second lowest reading since May 2020 – after a modest bounce in December following a plunge since early 2022 amid surging interest rates. The decrease was more pronounced among respondents who are older than 60 and respondents who live in the Northeast. That said, expectations for any price increase appear laughable when 30Y mortgages are sticky about 6% and suggests most households expect Fed tightening to reverse in the near future (as the alternative is a housing market collapse).

At the same time, job finding expectations have remained very strong (apparently no tech workers were surveyed)…

… which was bizarre because after increasing each month since September of last year, the median expected growth in household income dropped by 1.3 percentage point to 3.3% which was the largest one-month drop in the nearly ten-year history of the series.

That said, the January reading, is only slightly below its 12-month trailing average of 3.5%, and the series remains well above its pre-pandemic levels. January’s decrease was more pronounced among respondents with no more than a high school education, respondents older than 60, and those with annual household incomes below $50k.

Adding to the gloomy household finance picture, along the drop in household income we also saw continued declines in the median household spending growth expectations, which decreased to 5.7% in January from 5.9% in December. This is the third consecutive decline in the series.

And just to make sure you are very confused, the latest survey also found that perceptions about households’ current financial situations improved in January compared to December, with more respondents reporting they are better off than a year ago; this despite a bear market in stocks, vastly higher prices and wages that have decline in real terms every single month. Yes, it’s that easy to fool Americans. In contrast, year-ahead expectations about households’ financial situations deteriorated slightly, with more respondents expecting to be worse off a year from now.

Going back to the labor market, consumer optimism rebounded with the mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months decreased by 0.6 percentage point to 12.0%. Similarly, the mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next 12 months decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 19.1%.

Remarkably, despite the worst bear market in a generation, 35.7% of respondents, up from 34.9% last month, expect stocks to rise in the next 12 months. Then again, 38.5% expected higher stock prices one year ago: they were brutally wrong.

Looking at a broad universe of polled prices, over the next year consumers expect gasoline prices to rise 5.15% (from 4.1%); food prices to rise 9.02% (from 7.6%); medical costs to rise 9.73% (from 9.7%); the price of a college education to rise 9.29% (from 9.2%); and rent prices to rise 9.62% (from 9.6%).

So are US consumers finally coming to grips with the reality that no more stimmies are coming and that the continued price increases coupled with a decline in real wages, means less disposable income and, eventually, a recession? Alas, there is no definitive answer yet. Instead, here are the other key findings from the report:

Inflation

• Median home price growth expectations declined by 0.2 percentage point to 1.1% in January, the second lowest reading since May 2020. The decrease was more pronounced among respondents who are older than 60 and respondents who live in the Northeast.
• Median year-ahead expected price changes increased by 1.0 percentage point for gas (to 5.1%), 1.4 percentage point for food (to 9.0%), and 0.1 percentage point for the cost of college education (to 9.3%). The median expected change in the cost of rent and medical care remained unchanged at 9.6% and 9.7%, respectively.

Labor Market

• Median one-year-ahead expected earnings growth remained unchanged at 3.0% in January. The series has been moving between a narrow range of 2.8% to 3.0% since September 2021.
• Mean unemployment expectations—or the mean probability that the U.S. unemployment rate will be higher one year from now—increased by 0.4 percentage point to 41.2%. The increase was most pronounced for respondents with a college education and those with annual household incomes above $100k.
• The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months decreased by 0.6 percentage point to 12.0%. Similarly, the mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next 12 months decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 19.1%.
• The mean perceived probability of finding a job (if one’s current job was lost) increased by 0.1 percentage point to 57.6% in January.

Household Finance

• Median household spending growth expectations decreased to 5.7% in January from 5.9% in December. This is the third consecutive decline in the series.
• Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago improved in January, with the share of households reporting it is easier to obtain credit than one year ago increasing. Similarly, respondents were more optimistic about future credit availability, with the share of households expecting it will be easier to obtain credit a year from now also increasing.
• The average perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months increased to 12.1% in January from 11.4% in December.
• The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes (at current income level) increased by 0.3 percentage point to 4.4%.
• Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt increased by 0.1 percentage point to 10.2%.
• The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on saving accounts will be higher in 12 months increased by 0.2 percentage point to 32.1%.
• Perceptions about households’ current financial situations improved in January compared to December, with more respondents reporting they are better off than a year ago. In contrast, year-ahead expectations about households’ financial situations deteriorated slightly, with more respondents expecting to be worse off a year from now.
• The mean perceived probability that U.S. stock prices will be higher 12 months from now increased by 0.8 percentage point to 35.7%.

More in the full NY Fed survey which can be found here.

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

U.S. billionaire Elon Musk has defended the decision taken by his SpaceX company to limit the use of its Starlink satellite internet system by the Ukrainian military, insisting the company will not be responsible for escalating the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that may lead to World War III.

Shortly into the war, Ukraine was handed thousands of SpaceX Starlink satellite dishes, which proved to be invaluable in keeping communication channels open across Ukraine and allowing people to remain connected to the internet. However, they have also been frequently used by the Ukrainian military to control its network of surveillance drones and target Russian positions, which SpaceX insists was not agreed upon.

Last Wednesday, SpaceX President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell announced measures to curb the Starlink system’s use by the Ukrainian military across the country, claiming it was “never meant to be weaponized” and accusing Ukrainian forces of using the system “in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.”

“We know the military is using them for comms, and that’s OK,” she said.

“But our intent was never to have them use it for offensive purposes.”

The decision outraged Ukrainian government officials, with President Zelensky’s top adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accusing Musk’s company of failing to recognize Ukraine’s right to self-defense.

He said on Thursday that SpaceX could choose to be “on the side of the right to freedom,” or instead remain “on the Russian Federation’s side and its ‘right’ to kill and seize territories.”

Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted at Musk on Saturday calling on him to “please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites.

“Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.”

However, Musk defended the decision taken by SpaceX, insisting he would not be responsible for World War III.

“You’re smart enough not to swallow media and other propaganda BS,” Musk told Kelly.

“Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other Internet connectivity has been destroyed. But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3,” he added.

Musk said in October last year that he could not continue to fund Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely, before reversing his decision and keeping the system in place for the foreseeable future.

Both Musk himself and SpaceX have frequently warned Starlink’s internet connection is not to be used by military engagements, and the satellite system’s terms of service state its services are “not designed or intended for use with or in offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses.”

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

Credit spreads are looking increasingly detached to rising leverage, tight global liquidity and recession risk…

Since peaking out in October, spreads have been tightening, but this is increasingly at odds with many other indicators.

The global liquidity environment remains very tight, which pressures spreads wider. Similarly, personal savings have been rising, which at the margin is bad for companies as income is diverted away from them.

My model for credit spreads, which uses these and other inputs, shows they should move wider in the coming months.

Credit markets are also complacent on the risk of a recession. We can look at how various assets have behaved in previous ones and compare it to how they have performed in this cycle to infer an implied probability of a recession.

While the yield curve is “certain” a recession is on the way, and even rose-tinted equities see a slump occurring as better than evens, credit spreads are implying only a one-in-six chance of a downturn. But the likelihood of a recession from multiple angles suggests the risk is much higher.

Another warning is that bank-lending standards continue to tighten even as credit spreads come in. 

Often banks take their cues of credit conditions from spreads as they are a daily gauge of the credit situation. But the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Survey, with the latest quarter’s data released yesterday, showed banks continued to tighten loan standards despite tighter spreads.

On the positive side of the ledger is a fall in firms’ debt-servicing costs as inflation has improved nominal incomes. Also, the corporate financing gap is negative, showing that companies’ internal funds are on aggregate sufficient to cover capital expenditures, reducing the need for financing. And companies were able to refinance amid robust demand for credit. But these are unlikely to be enough to counter poor liquidity and heightened recession risk.

One explanation for credit markets’ optimistic outlook comes from fevered speculation in equity option markets, with the explosive rise in 0DTE (zero days to expiry) trading a potential aggravating factor.

There has been a recent burst in activity in lending markets, with even the famed CLO behemoth, Japanese farmers’ bank Norinchukin, ready to return to the fray. But with credit looking one of the most mispriced assets, such renewed speculation is fated to end with crushing disappointment.

What started out as a Chinese spy balloon shot down February 4th over the coast of South Carolina has rapidly escalated to talk of aliens.

On Sunday, the head of NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) said that the Pentagon can’t rule out that a spate of unidentified objects shot out of the sky over the past week might be extraterrestrial in nature. 

“I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven’t ruled out anything,” said US Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who oversees NORAD , during a Sunday press briefing at the Pentagon. “At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.”

What’s more, VanHerck says that the military has not been able to identify how the three latest objects have been able to stay aloft.

“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” he said.

VanHerck’s comments came after a US F-16 fighter jet shot down an ‘unidentified object’ hovering at 20,000 ft. over Lake Huron on Sunday – the third such downing in three days, and the most recent military strike in an unprecedented chain of events over North America. The object was described as an unmanned “octagonal structure” with “potential surveillance capabilities” and strings attached to it. 

On Sunday, Elon Musk tweeted that the UFO reports were nothing more than his alien “friends” stopping by, and not to worry.

Don’t worry, just some of my 👽 🛸 friends of mine stopping by …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 12, 2023

The spate of mystery objects began more than two weeks ago, after a Chinese balloon was shot down February 4th over the coast of South Carolina – meaning that the US Air Force has shot down four objects in just eight days.

VanHerck said that, unlike the Chinese spy balloon, all three UFOs gunned down over the weekend were of a similar size and speed.

He added that the since the Chinese balloon was found in late January, the US adjusted its radar so it could track slower objects. He explained that this radar adjustment, plus the heightened state of alert following the Chinese balloon, explains the frequency of UFO sightings. –Daily Mail

“With some adjustments, we’ve been able to get a better categorization of radar tracks now,” said VanHerck. “‘and that’s why I think you’re seeing these, plus there’s a heightened alert to look for this information.”

The Air Force general added that after the Chinese balloon incident, the US had to adjust its radar to be able to track slower objects – which explains the spate of new UFO sightings and takedowns. This prompted concerns that the US Air Force may have missed untold numbers of UFOs in the past.

“The last 72 hours revealed to the public what was happening for years, unidentified aircraft routinely operating over restricted US airspace,” tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). “This is why I pushed to take this seriously and created a permanent UAP task force two years ago.”

Of note, a June report to Congress in 2021 noted 144 sightings by US military aviators dating back to 2004 – one of which was attributed to a large, deflating balloon. The rest were beyond the government’s ability to explain without more analysis. Meanwhile, 366 additional sightings were noted in a January report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – though most of them were things like drones, birds, balloons or other airborne clutter.

171 objects remain officially unexplained.

“Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” reads the DNI report.

That said, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, Ronald Moultrie, told reporters in December that he hasn’t seen anything indicating an alien visit.

“I have not seen anything in those holdings to date that would suggest that there has been an alien visitation, an alien crash or anything like that.”

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the New York Post on the growing attacks on those who are challenging the alleged abuses by the FBI and the censorship system on social media.

Here is the column:

“The Democratic Party [is] the bedfellow of international communism.”

Those words from Sen. Joe McCarthy captured the gist of the Red Scare and the use of blacklists and personal attacks to silence critics. The Democrats this week appear to have taken up the same cudgel in labeling opponents and critics Russian sympathizers and fellow travelers in opposing government involvement in a massive censorship system.

The Red Scare is back and it is going blue.

I testified this week in Congress on the Twitter Files and how they suggest what I have called “censorship by surrogate” or proxy.

The files show dozens of FBI and government employees actively seeking the censorship of citizens and others for their viewpoints. In my testimony, I warned that this was reminiscent of the McCarthy period where the FBI played a role in the establishment of blacklists for socialists, communists, and others. I encouraged Congress not to repeat its failures from the 1950s by turning a blind eye to such abuse.

This view was amplified by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who became persona non grata for her anti-war sentiments in Congress. She was later labeled a “Russian asset” by Hillary Clinton, who has refused to support that scurrilous claim against a former member.

For years, the Democrats pushed a Russian collusion theory that collapsed. It was later disclosed that the Clinton campaign hid and then lied about funding the infamous Steele Dossier. Nevertheless, people like Carter Page were falsely accused of being Russian agents and critics of the investigation labeled as Russian apologists. Ironically, the FBI was warned that the dossier appeared to be the result of Russian disinformation and relied on a presumed Russian agent.

If anything, my warning of McCarthy-like attacks and measures seemed to be taken more as a suggestion than an admonition by some.

Soon after the end of the hearing, MSNBC contributor and former Sen. Claire McCaskill appeared on MSNBC to denounce the member witnesses (Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson, and former Rep. Gabbard) as “Putin apologists” and Putin lovers.

She exclaimed, “I mean, look at this, I mean, all three of those politicians are Putin apologists. I mean, Tulsi Gabbard loves Putin.” (For the record, she also attacked me as not being “a real lawyer.”)

What was most striking is the level of attacks on those seeking an investigation into possible FBI abuses. The Democratic Party was once the greatest defender of free speech, the greatest critic of corporate power, and the greatest skeptic of the FBI. It is now opposing the investigation into the FBI’s involvement in a massive corporate-run censorship system.

In the 1950s, it was easy for politicians to avoid discussing underlying views by just labeling their opponents as fellow travelers. We are watching the same use of personal attacks today as a way to evade the troubling disclosures in the Twitter Files.

While some like McCaskill yell “Russians!” others use more modern labels, such as “conspiracy theorists.” That notably includes the FBI itself.

When criticized for the role FBI agents played in secretly targeting citizens for censorship, the FBI called critics “conspiracy theorists . . . feeding the American public misinformation.” It is something that you might expect from a pundit or politician. It is far more menacing when this attack comes from the country’s largest law enforcement agency.

Where the Hoover FBI would call dissenters “Communist sympathizers,” the Wray FBI labels them “conspiracy theorists.”

Alternatively, various Democrats portrayed anyone criticizing Twitter for censorship as supporting insurrections against the government. Member after member suggested that seeking to investigate the government’s role in censorship was to invite or even welcome another Jan. 6.

Thus, when Thomas Baker, a former FBI agent, testified on his extensive writings about changes in the FBI, he was attacked by freshman Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY) who asked him if he had any experience investigating extremist groups. He didn’t get the answer he hoped for. When Baker responded, “Yes,” and tried to explain his prior experience, Goldman immediately cut him off and accused him of trying to sell a book.

For my part, I got off light. I was not accused of being a Russian mole or fellow traveler of insurrectionists. After responding to a question on the specific content of the files (released and confirmed by Twitter itself), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), denounced me for offering “legal opinions” without actually working at Twitter. It is like saying that a witness should not discuss the content of Pentagon Papers unless one worked at the Pentagon. (By the way, the content of the Pentagon papers as well as the Twitter Files are facts. The implication of those facts are opinions. I was asked about both the factual content of the files and their constitutional implications).

It is all tragically familiar. The effort this week was to attack witnesses rather than address what appears to be the largest censorship system in the history of this country. It is, of course, ironic that those seeking to check such government-supported censorship are the ones being called Putin lovers. Putin loves censorship and likely stands in awe at the success of the left in using the FBI and corporations to regulate speech on social media.

Putin and other authoritarian countries have long feared the Internet and social media. They have struggled to gain the very level of censorship carried out by Twitter and other executives with the support of politicians and pundits.

We now know that members like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) secretly sought censorship of critics, including a columnist. Their success would make Putin blush.

However, Democrats have insisted that freedom is tyranny.

Columnist and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich went full Orwellian when he previously dismissed calls for free speech in social media and warned that censorship is “necessary to protect American democracy.”

He then added bizarrely of uncensored social media: “That’s Musk’s dream. And Trump’s. And Putin’s. And the dream of every dictator, strongman, demagogue and modern-day robber baron on Earth. For the rest of us, it would be a brave new nightmare.”

Indeed, it is a nightmare, but a familiar one.

Submitted by ‘BlueApples’,

While the US government is dispensing millions of dollars in resources to treat balloons as an existential crisis, a small town in Ohio finds itself engulfed in what actually looks like the apocalypse. Perhaps by design, all of the drama surrounding violations of US airspace by Chinese spy initiatives has done well to keep what is becoming one of the worst environmental disasters in recent memory from getting any headlines.

The chaos began early last week when a train of more than 100 cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio near the state’s border with Pennsylvania with roughly 5,000 residents. The accident launched fifty of those hundred freight cars from the tracks. Twenty of the freight cars on the train were carrying hazardous materials, ten of which were detailed. While the accident had no fatalities, of those ten cars, five contained pressurized vinyl chloride, a highly flammable carcinogenic gas.

In order to address the volatile scenario around the crash site, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency executed its plan of venting the toxic gas with a controlled burn in order to evade an uncontrolled explosion which presented the risk of catastrophic damage. “Within the last two hours, a drastic temperature change has taken place in a rail car, and there is now the potential of a catastrophic tanker failure which could cause an explosion with the potential of deadly shrapnel traveling up to a mile,” Gov. Mike DeWine warned in statement explaining the decision to take action to avert widespread devastation.

However, that operation sent large plumes of smoke containing vinyl chloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride, and other gases into the air as the flames from the controlled burn raged on for days. Phosgene in particular is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and respiratory trouble. The toxicity of phosgene gas is so potent that it was previously used as a chemical weapon during the First World War.

The hazardous airborne chemicals prompted officials to issue mandatory evacuation and shelter-in-place orders within a one-mile radius of where the train derailed. Those orders forced nearly 2,000 residents of East Palestine out of there homes. Despite the public safety risk in proximity to the crash site, over 500 people within the parameters of the evacuation order refused to leave their homes. However, those orders were lifted on February 8th, allowing residents to return to the area adjacent to the disaster.

Following the controlled burn, local authorities received multiple concerning reports from residents outside of the mile-long radius of the evacuation area conveying that the emergency posed by the disaster was far from over. One local farmer reported the sudden deaths of many of the animals on the premises of his farm, Park Dairy. The farmer, Taylor Holzer, also works with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources as a registered foxkeeper. Following the disbursement of chemical agents into the air from the controlled burn, many of the foxes on Holzer’s farm experienced fatal effects from the air quality surrounding the area.

“Out of nowhere, he [a fox] just started coughing really hard, just shut down,” Holzer recalled to local media outlet WKBN 27 News. “This is not how a fox should act. He is very weak, limp. His eyes are very watery and weepy. Smoke and chemicals from the train, that’s the only thing that can cause it, because it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere,” he added. “The chemicals that we’re being told are safe in the air, that’s definitely not safe for the animals…or people.”

Holzer’s concerns were echoed by reports from other residents who described similar conditions near their own properties. One of those residents was Katlyn Schwarzwaelder, the operator of a local dog kennel in nearby Darlington, Pennsylvania. The catastrophe caused her to leave her home despite the fact that it lies more than 10 miles away from the site of the controlled burn. After fleeing to Boardman, Ohio, 15 miles away from the derailment, Schwarzwaelder stated she received multiple reports of dead chickens, fish, and other animals from friends and acquaintances. One affected resident told Schwarzwaelder that they let their 2-year old dog out to use the bathroom only for it never to return. When they embarked upon a search for their missing pet, they found it dead in their yard.

Testimony from Holzer, Schwarzwaelder, and others paints a drastically different picture than the official narrative tailored by officials who assured residents that the situation was under control. The poor air quality presents short and long term health risks to the public considering the carcinogenic effects of the chemicals. Carcinogens like vinyl chloride can cause cancer in organs including the liver, according to Kevin Crist, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering who also serves as the Director of Ohio University’s Air Quality Center.

Although officials in charge of the emergency response utilized techniques like dispersion modeling in order to calculate and mitigate the risk of airborne chemicals, the chemicals disbursed following the derailment pose other significant risks of contamination. Chemicals also spilled into the Ohio River toward West Virginia, prompting officials from the neighboring state to shut down water production in the area and turn to alternative sources for water supply. Soil contamination is another significant risk that leaves officials weary of broader implications affecting public health than those associated with the air pollution alone.

However, the magnitude of those risks hasn’t been apparently recognized by the leadership across various states affected by the disaster. According to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, there were no concerns regarding the air and water quality in the area. Nevertheless, the governor reiterated that a shelter-in-place order remained in effect for Pennsylvanians within two miles of East Palestine. Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency took a similar tone, stating nothing unexpected was seen following the controlled burn. James Justice of the EPA summed up his agencies position by saying “So far, so good and we’re going to continue to monitor until the fire’s out,”.

While the immediate risks presented by a possible explosion following the train’s derailment may have been averted, the emergency response may become an instance of a cure being worse than the disease it seeks to remedy. The accidents also brings the state of safety regulations surrounding rail transport of hazardous freight into a new light. Over the last five years alone, eight train derailments have occurred in the Pittsburgh metro area, leading to calls for increased oversight over the industry.

Despite the inherent risk that comes with transporting chemicals like vinyl chloride, the US Department of Transportation approved a rule to expand the scope of what hazardous materials can be transmitted by rail. The rule made it permissible for liquefied natural gas to be shipped by train without additional safety regulations. This enables freight trains to transport 100 more tank cards with up to 30,000 gallons of the natural gas extracted from shale fields.

“The risks of catastrophic liquefied natural gas releases in accidents is too great not to have operational controls in place before large blocks of tank cars and unit trains proliferate,” the National Transportation Safety Board wrote in a comment if support of the proposed rule. In response to that comment, critics of the rule highlighted how a potential explosion of just twenty-two tank cards filled with liquefied natural gas holds the same amount of explosive energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in the waning days of the Second World War.

The ongoing crisis in East Palestine represents an environmental and humanitarian disaster that hasn’t been seen in the United States in recent memory. The scenes from East Palestine look as if they’re taken straight out of a horror film depicting nuclear winter. In spite of that, the magnitude of this story has been seemingly scrubbed from the public view as national media outlets continue to run sensationalist headlines about issues that look innocuous in comparison. It is an instance of history being rewritten in real time, setting a precedent that would allow victims of other widespread devastation to be swept under the rug. However, the scenes of the horror engulfing this small town in America’s heartland may prove to make this disaster impossible to ignore, rightfully putting the spotlight on the shortcomings of state and federal agencies tasked with emergency response management whose continued lack of accountability enables them to fail the American public time and time again.

Apparently sensing that Russia is about to escalate the war in Ukraine in some dramatic fashion, potentially to involve a new national mobilization effort ahead of a coming Spring offensive, the US Embassy in Moscow has issued an urgent new appeal for any and all Americans still in Russia to depart immediately.

The fresh advisory alert released Sunday warns of “unpredictable consequences” for any US citizen remaining, including being singled out for detention by authorities, as well as possible forced mobilization or conscription. 

“Do not travel to Russia due to the unpredictable consequences of the unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment and the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the Embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, and the possibility of terrorism,” the alert reads.

“U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately,” the embassy urged, also at a moment Ukrainian officials have warned of greater Russian military build-up along the border and impending escalation.

“Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, subject them to mobilization, prevent their departure from Russia, and/or conscript them,” the statement added.

China has gone on the offensive with its rhetoric in regard to the multiple balloons or else ‘unidentified objects’ reported shot down by the US military in the last days over North America. China has been under pressure to respond for more than a week now, as the Chinese ‘spy’ balloon saga has pervaded international headlines.

Its foreign ministry on Monday decried US hypocrisy in asserting that the United States breached Chinese airspace without permission at least 10 times with high-altitude balloons since early 2022. This as Beijing officials have suggested they are currently tracking more.

“It is nothing rare for U.S. balloons to illegally enter other countries’ airspace,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters in a daily briefing. “The U.S. should first reflect upon itself and change course instead of smearing other countries.”

Wang was addressing Sunday reports out of China that officials had monitored and were preparing to shootdown an unknown object near a northern port city.

“The Qingdao Marine Development Bureau sent a message to fishing boats that an unidentified flying object was detected over waters near Rizhao and authorities were preparing to be able to shoot it down, Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper reported on Sunday,” South China Morning Post writes.

However, despite the alarmist announcement, which seemed a mirror image of Washington’s highlighting the latest ‘balloon threats’ over the American continent, details out of Beijing regarding what it says it’s monitoring remain scant:

Wang did not provide further details about the alleged incursions or say whether the balloons appeared to be military in nature or used for spying purposes. He said China reserves the right to use “any necessary means” to deal with such situations.

Presumably this means China’s military could soon go on a shooting spree, taking out any potential foreign balloons over or near its airspace.

Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false. It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents. https://t.co/VzPceB6JUh

— Adrienne Watson (@NSC_Spox) February 13, 2023

The Biden administration was quick to respond hours after the allegations from Beijing, with National Security Spokesperson Adrienne Watson saying the following: 

Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false. It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents.

Given the intensifying rhetoric, which has served to bring US-China relations to yet another new recent low, will this go down in history as the bizarre ‘balloon war’ of 2023? 

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

There is an element of inevitability in play, but it isn’t about central bank bailouts, it’s about Death Spirals and the collapse of unsustainable systems.

The vapid discussions about “soft” or “hard” landings for the economy are akin to asking if the Titanic’s encounter with the iceberg was “soft” or “hard:” either way, the ship was doomed, just as the global economy is doomed by The New Normal of Death Spirals and Speculative Frenzies.

Death Spirals are the inevitable result of entrenched interests clinging on to the status quo and thwarting any adaptation or evolution that might threaten or diminish their share of the swag–and that includes any real change because any consequential modification has the potential to upset the gravy train.

The status quo “solution” is to borrow and blow whatever sums are needed to satisfy every entrenched interest. Filling the federal slop-trough for all the hogs now requires borrowing a staggering $1.4 trillion every year, and billions more in municipal, county and state bonds (borrowing money via selling bonds) on the local level.

This borrow and blow strategy avoids any uncomfortable discipline and difficult trade-offs: everybody gets everything they demand.

This strategy looks “unsinkable” until the iceberg looms dead ahead. History suggests that fiscal and political discipline is eventually imposed by the real world in one fashion or another when diminishing returns enter a Death Spiral.

Any limit on debt is of course “impossible,” just as it was “impossible” for the Titanic to sink. But history is rather implacable in this regard. The self-serving hubris of “impossible” limits on largesse tend to collapse on contact with currency devaluation, structural inflation or a systemic crisis of legitimacy that sweeps away the entire worm-eaten facade of stability.

In other words, the entrenched interests benefitting from the status quo will continue to do what worked in the past until it all implodes. The pain of discipline and modest sacrifices is too great to bear, so let’s collapse the entire system.

Autocracies excel at Death Spirals because they eliminate dissent, transparency and competing nodes of power. Nobody’s left to push back on disastrous policy decisions, so autocratic regimes race toward the iceberg at full speed.

Rather than invest in real long-term solutions, everyone is in the casino, buying options that expire in a few hours. Rather than invest for an entire quarter–whew, three whole months!–speculators now consider a week an unbearably long time to hold a trade.

Speculative frenzies create their own Death Spirals, as gamblers front-run the “guaranteed” bailout of speculators by central banks. This is the consequence of moral hazard being elevated to “guaranteed”: there is no need to actually wait for the inevitable central bank bailout of bets gone bad, we can place bets before the bailout because we know it’s as assured as the sun rising tomorrow morning.

Nice, except central banks and bailouts also reach diminishing returns and enter Death Spirals. Doing more of what’s failed seems to work once, then twice, if you give it enough juice, but the third time is iffy and the fourth time collapses the speculative casino that the status quo was trying to save.

No one who benefits from the Moral Hazard Casino Economy believes it’s no longer sustainable. All the gamblers, big and small, are confident the Federal Reserve and other central banks can cover any losses and make good whatever befalls the casino. The hubris of the punters, big and small, is essentially infinite.

I’ll get out before the house of cards collapses, everyone tells themselves. In the meantime, I’m going to front-run the inevitable bailout of this speculative frenzy.

There is an element of inevitability in play, but it isn’t about central bank bailouts, it’s about Death Spirals and the collapse of unsustainable systems. Death Spirals and speculative frenzies have now been completely normalized. We can’t imagine any other way to operate. But this New Normal won’t last as long as punters believe. Doing more of what worked in the past is only accelerating the casino’s demise.

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