How East Palestine became a front line in America's culture war


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February 28, 2023

The Republican Party has found a new line of attack against President Joe Biden, the mainstream media and the "woke left": They care more about the people of Palestine than they do the Americans in East Palestine.

Sorry if that is confusing. East Palestine is a village in Ohio that was the scene of a catastrophic derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals on February 3. It is in the Midwest, not the Middle East.

Nobody was killed or injured in the derailment, one of about 1,000 to occur in the US each year.

Initially at least, the fiery crash and ensuing release of dangerous chemicals seemed like a local environmental disaster that would slip from the headlines as crews cleaned things up.

But this being America in 2023, nothing is that simple. In the weeks since the derailment, East Palestine has become the latest front line in the country's ever-intensifying culture wars.

Critics of Mr Biden have forced his administration on to the defensive over what they say was a slow response to the crash, even though Ohio Governor Mike DeWine initially rebuffed White House offers of federal assistance.

Last week, former president Donald Trump travelled to East Palestine, which overwhelmingly backed him in 2020, and told residents there that the federal response had been a "betrayal".

Supporters wait for former president Donald Trump's arrival in East Palestine on February 22. EPA
Supporters wait for former president Donald Trump's arrival in East Palestine on February 22. EPA

Democrats, meanwhile, have blasted Mr Trump's administration for loosening rail safety measures and environmental protection when Republicans were in charge, although there's nothing conclusive to show any deregulation contributed to this crash.

Right-wing politicians and commentators have tried to show that the Biden administration wilfully ignored the derailment because East Palestine is a mainly white, blue-collar community that votes Republican.

The Biden administration is thinking, "why lift a finger to help these people. That's what's going on", right-wing radio host Mark Levin told Fox News on Tuesday.

Levin said Mr Biden was more concerned about the Palestinians than anyone in East Palestine.

"Biden is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the Palestinians in the Middle East, who are killing Jews," he said.

"But he won't spend one penny or one minute of time on Palestine, Ohio. It's pretty grotesque."

Other Republican figures tried to take a similar track in recent weeks. When Mr Biden visited Kyiv last week — by train, no less — to show solidarity with Ukraine a year after Russia's invasion, Republican politicians attacked him for focusing his attention on a geopolitical crisis.

"Americans are not Biden's priority," Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert said, insinuating that a US president trying to maintain the post-Second World War international order was somehow less important than visiting Ohio.

At the centre of all this are the people and environment of East Palestine. The Biden administration has provided a timeline of the federal response to the derailment, but there is no question it failed to recognise the rising popular anger over its handling of the crash.

It wasn't until February 23 that Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg showed up at the crash site, nearly three weeks after the disaster, a delay he said he now regrets.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks as he visits the site of the derailment. Reuters
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks as he visits the site of the derailment. Reuters

Mr Biden still hasn't visited, and it took him more than two weeks to speak publicly about it. And it is clear that initial local, state and federal assessments about the risks of the chemical spill were too optimistic.

The freight train, operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad, spewed a toxic mess of vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals when it went off the rails and exploded.

Several carriages burned for two days before authorities decided to begin a controlled burn of other railcars to prevent an explosion.

That sent a plume of pressurised vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and carcinogenic gas, into the air, forcing the evacuation of East Ohio, home to about 4,700 people.

Thousands of animals have died and locals are complaining of headaches, sore throats, rashes and nausea, with some suffering from respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis.

It is clear that the environmental toll could last years as chemicals seep into local soils and waterways.

But much of the Republican outrage is manufactured and should be called out for its absurdity.

This, after all, is the party that for decades has gaslighted Americans on climate change, angrily rebutting the science even as temperatures soar, rivers dry up and forests burn.

Fox News and other right-wing networks have shown footage of dead fish East Ohio's waterways.

Yet many of the voices blaming Mr Biden for the environmental catastrophe are the same ones who oppose government regulation to protect the environment.

Most Americans can surely agree that train derailments are bad, that locomotives hauling 150 carriages of carcinogenic chemicals through built-up areas should be subject to intense scrutiny, and that local, state and federal officials should pull out all stops to immediately clean up any spills.

But instead of approaching the East Palestine disaster with that common mindset, too many people are trying to score points from it and drive what's left of America's civilised political discourse even further off the rails.

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  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
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  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW

Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman

Director: Jesse Armstrong

Rating: 3.5/5

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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The bio

Who inspires you?

I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist

How do you relax?

Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.

What is favourite book?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times

What is your favourite Arabic film?

Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki

What is favourite English film?

Mamma Mia

Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?

If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.  

 

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History's medical milestones

1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

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Son 78'

Manchester City 0

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16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

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Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

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Updated: March 01, 2023, 1:54 AM`