Free Republic

California Governor Jerry Brown finally declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, concerning the ongoing, currently unstoppable methane gas leak spewing from Aliso Canyon that has created a nightmare for residents of Porter Ranch. “I will tell you, this goes well beyond Porter Ranch. We’ve had complaints from as far as Chatsworth, Northridge, and Granada Hills,” emphasized Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander during a Porter Ranch town hall meeting on December 28. “Apparently this plume of toxic chemicals and whatever it might be, doesn’t know zip codes […] This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill on land,...

Have police foiled an ISIS chemical weapons plot in Europe? Two Syrian terror suspects are arrested in Geneva for 'making and transporting explosives and toxic gases' Two suspected Syrians were arrested in Geneva on suspicion of transporting 'explosives and toxic gases' as part of a probe into a terror threat. Switzerland's attorney general said the men were also suspected of making and hiding the dangerous materials. But Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot today said only traces of explosives were found in the car, and did not elaborate on claims about potential chemical weapons. More arrests are expected to be made in...

ISIS army of scientists set to wage chemical and biological war on West: Experts warn weapons of mass destruction 'have been carried undetected' into European Union ISIS has recruited experts with chemistry, physics and computer science degrees to wage war with weapons of mass destruction against the West, a shocking European Parliament report has claimed. The terror organisation, according to the briefing document, 'may be planning to try to use internationally banned weapons of mass destruction in future attacks'. The document, which was compiled in the aftermath of the deadly attacks on Paris claimed that ISIS has already smuggled WMD...

Consequences and legacies. There are few things that strike terror in the heart of the intelligence community like the thought of ISIS with a weapon of mass destruction. To understand, all you have to do is look at the horrors they’ve wrought with machetes, matches, and gas cans, then picture them with chemical or biological capabilities. The left likes to pretend they’re a bunch of misfits wandering the desert, but according to the AP (and French President Hollande) that’s far from the case. If we don’t stop them now, we may be facing the “worst case scenario.” ISIS has, allegedly,...

Original document: http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2015/11/14/AFSP1527645A/jo

Sales of diet Pepsi have plunged after the soft drink company behind it changed the recipe. In a case with echoes of Coke’s disastrous introduction of ‘New Coke’, Pepsi has faced a huge backlash after replacing the sweetener in the drink. Pepsi chose to remove the controversial sweetener aspartame - linked to cancer in some studies - with sucralose. But customers aren’t happy. David Zimdars of Michigan said, ‘It has a nasty aftertaste, and it’s sickly sweet. You have to wash it out with water.' Pepsi’s choice of sucralose - known by the brand name Splenda - has been blasted...

P<> Explosion rocks China chemical plant 10 days after Tianjin catastropheDONGFU, SHANDONG, China, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Less than two weeks after catastrophic explosions leveled an industrial district in Tianjin, China, a chemical plant less than 200 miles away was rocked by its own blast Saturday. The explosion at the plant, located in Dongfu, Shandong Province, occurred Saturday evening. Authorities said at least nine people were injured, but no one was killed.

Explosions, multi-alarm fire reported at Texas chemical plant; residents ordered to seek shelter Residents were ordered to seek shelter and turn off their air conditioners after several explosions were reported at a chemical plant near Houston Friday evening. A shelter-in-place order was in effect for about three hours for those within a 2-mile radius of the DrillChem chemical plant in Conroe which burst into flames around 4:44 p.m. local time, fire officials said. While it's not yet clear how the fire started, the company has told authorities that the last employee left about 30 minutes before it erupted and...

A close call for the person filming near the site of the Tianjin chemical explosion as he narrowly avoids being hit by shattering glass. Bonus drone video of the aftermath also included plus photos.

Eyes watering, struggling to breathe, Abd al-Mouin, 22, dragged his nephews from a house reeking of noxious fumes, then briefly blacked out. Even fresh air, he recalled, was “burning my lungs.” The chaos unfolded in the Syrian town of Sarmeen one night this spring as walkie-talkies warned of helicopters flying from a nearby army base, a signal for residents to take cover. Soon, residents said, there were sounds of aircraft, a smell of bleach and gasping victims streaming to a clinic.

What will 3D printers ultimately evolve into? No one has a functioning crystal ball in front of them I assume, but a good guess would be a machine which can practically build anything its user desire, all on the molecular, and eventually atomic levels. Sure we are likely multiple decades away from widespread molecular manufacturing, but a group of chemists led by medical doctor Martin D. Burke at the University of Illinois may have already taken a major step in that direction. Burke, who joined the Department of Chemistry at the university in 2005, heads up Burke Laboratories where he...

Need an obscure medicinal compound found only in a jungle plant? Just print it.Say you're a medical researcher interested in a rare chemical produced in the roots of a little-known Peruvian flower. It's called ratanhine, and it's valuable because it has some fascinating anti-fungal properties that might make for great medicines. Getting your hands on the rare plant is hard, and no chemical supplier is or has ever sold it. But maybe, thanks to the work of University of Illinois chemist Martin Burke, you could print it right in the lab. In a new study published in the journal Science...

Militias in Libya have captured chemical weapons from storage areas in southern and central parts of the country, the Arab media reported on Saturday. “Unfortunately [chemical weapons] exist in locations known to the militias, who have seized large amounts of them to use in their war against the [Libyan] army,” a Libyan military official told the London-based daily Asharq al-Awsat. The former regime of Muammar Gaddafi had held the chemical weapons and the official warned that Islamic State could obtain the chemicals, which include mustard gas and the nerve agent Sarin. “Before his death, Gaddafi left approximately one thousand cubic...

At least 14 ISIS fighters were killed while filling a chemical warhead near Baghdad. The Business Standard reported, via Rantburg: At least 14 members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed Tuesday near Baghdad when a rocket whose warhead they were filling with chlorine gas exploded. Iraqi security officials said seven more IS militants were injured in the incident, which occurred near the town of al-Dhuluiya, about 90 km north of Baghdad. Al-Dhuluiya was also where four members of the Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen suffered symptoms of asphyxiation after inhaling chlorine gas released by two improvised...

he United States is concerned that the Islamic State group and other terrorists could get a hold of chemical weapons if Syria is hiding any stockpiles, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday. Samantha Power spoke to reporters after the Security Council received a briefing from Sigrid Kaag, who heads the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. The joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons will end at the end of the month after destroying nearly all of Syria's declared stockpile. But Kaag said the OPCW is...

The Islamic State extremist group (Isis) has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility north-west of Baghdad, where 2,500 degraded chemical rockets filled decades ago with deadly nerve agent sarin or their remnants were stored along with other chemical warfare agents, Iraq has said in a letter circulated at the United Nations. The US played down the threat from the takeover, saying there were no intact chemical weapons and it would be very difficult to use the material for military purposes. Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, told the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, in a letter that "armed...

It’s a confirmation of reports in June that ISIS had taken control of a site where some of Saddam’s WMD arsenal remained. Iraq has informed the United Nations that the Islamic State extremist group has taken control of a vast former chemical weapons facility northwest of Baghdad where 2,500 chemical rockets filled with the deadly nerve agent sarin or their remnants were stored along with other chemical warfare agents. Iraq’s U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated Tuesday that “terrorist” groups entered the Muthanna site June 11 and seized weapons and equipment...

As has become standard in this Twilight-Zone-episode-of-a-presidency, you've got to look to the foreign press -UK, Australia, Canada, or Germany (ironically)- to get the full story these days... same as volk seeking the truth were forced to in Nazi Germany... This is due of course to the de facto takeover of the American MSM we've been forced to witness over the last five years. Most of these hacks have bet the farm on this administration and are still showing no signs of shame- so expect them to protect him to the bitter end.  And it's not just petty scandals or bizarre nominees/appointees they're hiding anymore- since...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The ban on water is still in effect for thousands of West Virginians, but once acceptable readings are found the ban will be lifted by zones. Tests collected at 7 a.m. Sunday showed 0 parts per million (ppm) at the source of the leak. "The numbers we're seeing look good and are very encouraging," Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said during Sunday's news conference. "The numbers we're seeing are trending in the right direction." Hundreds of samples have been taken and sent to 10 labs in West Virginia and some have been flown to Ohio and Pennsylvania...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- During a press conference Saturday afternoon, the DEP said they now estimate 7,500 gallons of MCHM (4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol) have leaked into the Elk River in Kanawha County. The emergency do not use water order is still in place Saturday as crews continue to test water supplies from several different areas. Mike Dorsey with the DEP says they are "fairly confident" that the leak started Thursday. West Virginia American Water customers in parts of nine counties are under a do not use water order. Those counties are also under a state of emergency issued Thursday evening by...