Strange Explosions,Occurances and WMD

Over the past 36 hours, across America...................

Las Vegas:

Police Investigate Ricin Scare

A hazmat situation has been unfolding throughout the night. Several federal and local agencies are involved in the investigation into what might be a possible chemical incident.

The incident happened at the Extended Stay America Hotel, not far from the Las Vegas Strip.

What is Ricin?

A lengthy process of decontamination and cleansing is going on at the Extended Stay America. This afternoon, what police believe to be the chemical Ricin was found in a room, that set off a hazardous materials emergency that quickly got the attention of federal authorities.

Around 3 p.m., Metro says someone brought the suspicious substance from a room to the front desk. Managers then called police, leading to this chemical scare.

Authorities quickly determined this might be some kind of biological agent and now officials are all but certain this is Ricin.

Three hotel employees and one citizen were rushed to the hospital, and for good reason — experts say Ricin as small as a pinhead can be deadly.

What is Ricin?

A lengthy process of decontamination and cleansing is going on at the Extended Stay America. This afternoon, what police believe to be the chemical Ricin was found in a room, that set off a hazardous materials emergency that quickly got the attention of federal authorities.

Around 3 p.m., Metro says someone brought the suspicious substance from a room to the front desk. Managers then called police, leading to this chemical scare.

Authorities quickly determined this might be some kind of biological agent and now officials are all but certain this is Ricin.

Florida:

Questions Linger in Florida Blackout
 
Florida blackout sparks chaos

Florida blackout affects 3 million people

Reason for Florida blackout still a mystery

MIAMI (AP) -- Power executives are still in the dark about how a glitch at a substation triggered a blackout that cut power to millions across south Florida.

The outage caused gridlock when traffic signals went dead, forced hospitals to scramble for generators and cut off air conditioners in the afternoon heat.

The sporadic outages yesterday spanned 300 miles of the peninsula but appeared to be concentrated in the southeast portion of the state. Communities along the southwest coast, in the Florida Keys and as far north as Daytona Beach reported interruptions.

The president of Florida Power and Light says an equipment malfunction at the substation should not have caused the outages.

The outages initially affected about a fifth of Florida's population.

Illinois

Explosions in Waukegan, Illinois 

WAUKEGAN - An explosion ripped through a shopping plaza Thursday in this Chicago suburb

It sent eight people to a hospital, but none with life-threatening injuries, fire officials saidThe explosion struck around lunchtime in the business district, located about 40 miles north of Chicago. The impact shattered windows and collapsed the roof of the plaza, which housed businesses including a cell phone shop, a tuxedo store and a hair salon.

 

Comments

[johnjohn]

one question that begs to be answered....what was the name or names of those in the room?

[chsw]

First, ricin is a trace compound in castor beans and must be refined out of a large quantity in order to fill a small vial. There is no way that this vial's appearance is not connected to criminality. Second, tuxedos do not explode, no matter how ill-tailored and tight they might be. There should be nothing in the shop that should have exploded. Third, the Florida outage was originally reported as resulting from an unexpected surge or voltage spike sufficient enough to fry the transformers on street transmission poles. This is the only event where a worker stupidity argument might work. Then again, most utility distribution know there stuff, so criminal mischief - sabotage - cannot be discounted.

chsw

[Harcourt Fenton]

Not on topic, but FoxNews and others link to a Times of London (and Daily Telegraph and Guardian) stories that "Israel Threatens to Unleash a Holocaust in Gaza". This flame-thrower of a headline is used because Deputy Defense Minister Vilnai used the word "shoah", or "catastrophe", to describe what the Palis will suffer if they continue their murderous actions of Blitzkrieging Israel with missiles. The word "shoah", without the definite article "the" in front of it, does not mean "The Holocaust". The word "HaShoah" does. "Shoah" used by itself means a great catastrophe - it's linguistic connection to "HaShoah" gives it greater emphasis, but it doesn't mean that Vilnai is calling for genocide as the Times of London would libelously have it. Here's my letter to the editor. Similar letters should be sent to FoxNews, AP, The Guardian, and The Daily Telegraph for repeating the libel.

To the Editor of TimesOnline.Co.UK:

Your headline was very catchy: "Israel Threatens To Unleash a Holocaust in Gaza". Catchy, but wrong. Not just wrong, but bone-headed wrong. Not just bone-headed wrong, but dangerous, disingenuous, nasty and capable of inciting violence.

Not just all of the above, but libelous against Mr. Vilnai as well.

You quoted Mr. Vilnai as saying the following: "The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves,” Matan Vilnai, the Deputy Defence Minister said."

Mr. Vilnai did NOT use the word "holocaust", he used the word "shoah", which means "catastrophe" or "disaster". The word "HaShoah" means "The Holocaust". Your article states that the word "shoah" is rarely used outside of the capital "H" Holocaust meaning. That is simply not true. Your headline appears to make the claim that Mr. Vilnai is threatening genocide against the occupants of Gaza in response to their war crime violations of targeting Israeli civilian population centers with missiles as part of a daily Blitzkrieg operation. Pure libel. This is your spin. It is like calling someone's actions "treasonable" instead of "reasonable" because they are spelled almost the same. Just like "HaShoah" is almost spelled like "shoah". Just like "The Times" is almost "The Crimes".

For shame. You have become the propaganda arm of Hamas.

Harry Fenton
New York, USA

[Timur]

To quote John Lennon, another New Yorker, "Strange Days Indeed".

[heroyalwhyness]

I agree with JohnJohn:
"....what was the name or names of those in the room?"

Was the ricin refined in that room or was it transported there? If transported - from where and how (car/bus/plane/train/bus)and how many other people have been exposed and suffering without a clue to the dangers?

If the potential for additional areas of contamination exist, the authorities silence is as dangerous as the ricin itself.

[Miluimnik]

Ricin is not a weapon of mass destruction, and castor beans are not a deadly poison. In fact, hikers, campers and travellers [Hippies?] in the Sinai eat the shit to get a mild high. There has never been a recorded death from either Ricin or it's precursor Castor beans...ever!

Note to idiots contemplating the manufacture of poisons; Don't believe what the insipid DHS puts out in it's press releases.