The Left is enjoying the moment, chuckling as residents near East Palestine, Ohio, are gripped with fear after the toxic train crash. To liberal America, these people deserve to live in fear, and without a doubt—some hope a few die.
‘This is what they voted for’ is the mantra which explains the woefully inadequate response from the Biden administration, which dithered for nearly three weeks before releasing federal resources to the area. It’s no coincidence that Biden authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy to the site came from Donald Trump’s announcement that he’d visit the town. East Palestine is Trump country, as is neighboring Darlington, Pennsylvania, just across the border, less than 10 miles from the crash site. Despite its recent political leanings, Darlington is part of Beaver County, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Pete Buttigieg finally showed up after spending some “personal time” piddling around DC. He and the rest of this administration were not willing or prepared to deal with what could be a severe environmental fiasco. And yet, liberals, to no one’s shock, scoff at the crash, lecturing that these rural folks got what they deserved, peppered with quips about how these Trump supporters now care about the environment. The crash happened on Biden’s watch, and if these were the adults, they’d do something about it, but the gross incompetence that has eaten away at this government like cancer reared its ugly head again.
"Not to take anything away from the folks in East Palestine ... but that cloud did not stay there," says Sherry Strozza, who lives three miles from the crash site.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 2, 2023
Strozza hasn't tested residue covering portions of her soil despite repeated calls to environmental agencies.
"Anywhere that the wind was blowing that day [of the derailment], all those people are an afterthought," says Leah Renee Markovitz, who lives 25 miles from East Palestine and has experienced contaminated water leaching into her well.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 2, 2023
“I live less than a mile from ground zero,” Barber says.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 2, 2023
“Our whole way of life has been compromised, and nobody seems to understand that.” https://t.co/aIoiWzkFYV
Kids are getting sick, stricken by headaches, coupled with the conspicuous absence of birds in the area. Foliage and grass in the area have died, thousands of fish have perished, and residents feel abandoned to their fate. The administration claims the water and air quality are safe, yet updates on this vital information are infrequent; no one knows whom to trust. Entire communities’ lives have been upended, and Joe Biden and his band of overeducated, white, pompous progressives would instead give these people the middle finger (via NBC News):
On Tuesday, the administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, returned to East Palestine to visit the spill site and told NBC News the agency is "here to stay and we are not leaving until the job is done."
But Pennsylvania residents say they are frustrated by a lack of information about the lasting risks from the disaster and demand more transparency from state and federal leaders, who they say are focused too narrowly on recovery efforts within a 2-mile radius surrounding the derailment, a designation set by the EPA.
“Nobody is doing anything to help us,” said Patty Barber, who lives in Darlington, Pennsylvania, less than one mile from the spill site. “Pennsylvania is being left out.”
[…]
As of Monday, the EPA said, East Palestine’s municipal water was safe to drink. Indoor air quality screenings from more than 550 homes did not exceed safety standards, and air quality in the community remains “normal,” the EPA said.
But residents who live outside the immediate area say crucial information is hard to come by even as people complain of various ailments, including bronchitis, headaches and other symptoms associated with chemical exposure.
Many thousands of fish have died, and community members have talked about finding sick pets and wildlife.
[…]
"Not to take anything away from the folks in East Palestine — they got the worst of it — but that cloud did not stay there," said Sherry Strozza, who lives about 3 miles away, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
Strozza said she has experienced headaches since the chemical spill and worries about the safety of her dog and three horses. A yellow-white residue now covers parts of her soil, which Strozza has not been able to test despite repeated calls to state and federal environmental agencies and local testing companies.
[…]
Leah Renee Markovitz, who lives 25 miles from East Palestine in Clinton, Pennsylvania, said her biggest concern is the health of her children, who have experienced cold-like symptoms in recent weeks, and contaminated water leaching into her well.
"Anywhere that the wind was blowing that day [of the derailment], all those people are an afterthought," she said.
Many of her concerns were underscored Feb. 17 during a five-hour Pennsylvania state Senate committee hearing. Eight community members shared their worries and frustrations, with most saying they felt like Pennsylvania had been abandoned.
[…]
In Darlington, Barber said she still doesn't know if her house is safe. She and her family didn't see birds fly over their rural home for about a week after the train derailment, and the deer that normally drink from her ponds still haven't returned, she said. The creek where her family likes to swim is filled with dead fish.
“Is my house safe? I don’t know,” she said. “This is where I grew up. Where else would I go?”
It's punishment for supporting Republicans—that’s what’s at the core of the Biden inaction. It’s either that or ineptitude, maybe a bit of both, but Democrats only care about their side. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but be honest about it. There are two Americas, two sides, two camps, and we hate each other. We don’t have much in common. That much was exposed when Pete donned Brooks Brothers-like disaster gear for one of the most brutally transparent photo ops in recent memory. This crash fell under the purview of the Department of Transportation—and this guy would rather walk around DC not doing his job.
