No Smoke Detectors – No Fire Sprinklers – No 24 Hour Security Patrol to Detect Fires Early – No Technology – No Security Cameras – Not Even a Webcam – there's More Security at a 7-Eleven – No Nothin' – No One Will Buy Your House Now Either – "Remember there's Another Hangar Too"!
Living in cars or in the Bushes – or in Homeless Camps – Using Needles to Inject Opioids – Flinging Feces at People – and where Illegal Aliens and Criminals Get Financial Assistance and Free Healthcare.
The Perverts will Tell You that it’s – Affection and Love.
Everybody Just wants to Look Like Some “Freak” on a TV Sitcom.
In Cal Amsterdam – No One will Actually have a Legitimate Business or a Job – Everybody will Just be Magically Rich – Scamming and Defrauding Each Other – with – Tech – Startup – Real Estate – Development – Fake and Fraudulent Charities – Non Profits – NGOs – Please Donate – Churches – Group Homes – Do-Gooding – It’s Always for the Kids – Cyber Begging – Social Media – Fake Friends – Fake News – Data Mining – Financial Hocus Pocus – Expensive Animal Healthcare – and Other Exploitation.
Defying All Known Economic Fundamentals and Standards – Chasing After the Same Dwindling Supply of Real Money.
Driving Range Rovers – Bentleys and BMWs – Bribing Politicians and Officials – Flying Private Helicopters – Wearing Rolex Watches – Living in Ten Thousand Dollar a Month Apartments – Condos and Houses. Dining Lavishly – Going to Disneyland and Ducks Games – Living the Legacy Good Life – “All on Lines of Credit” and Somehow Magically Paying Taxes Too.
While City Hall – Congress – Educators – Reverends – Public Employees – Developers – Utility Companies – Nurses Unions – Doctors – and – Health-Scare Providers – Feed Each Other Grapes and Drink Up – Licking – Sucking and Masturbating Each Other – Always Using “Your” Money and Land.
Sexting Kids – Driving Drunk or Stoned and Crashing Into Trees – Watching Their Wife F-ck the Pool Boy – Molesting Police Explorers – in a Continuous – Corporate – Educator – Religious – Developer and Municipal – Corruption and Credit Orgy – Group Fuck – and Circle Jerk.
Bank Robbers – Don’t Call the Police – on Other Bank Robbers.
It’s a Dummied Down – No Child Left Behind – Everything’s OK – Anything Goes – Walk Away – Bankruptcy – Eat Your Way to 600 Pounds – Dump Toxic Waste – Have it Your Way – Addicted – it’s not Your Fault – No Savings Account – Out-of-Gas – Got Knocked Up and Daddy’s Long Gone – Jesus Loves You – Somebody Died and I Don’t have Any Money for the Funeral – Go Fund Me Page – I Hope they Donate an Extra 10 Thousand So I can Go to Vegas Too – I’m Overextended and Can’t Make My Payments – So I’ll Crap on the Neighbors – Rent Out Everything I Own – Hoarder – Park on the Street – Illegal Garage Apartment – Trailer Trash – Airbnb – Sign and Drive – Project X Party – Society.
The 300 Thousand Dollar a Year and Up – Bartender – Food Server – Personal Trainer – Mobile Car Wash Guy – Tattoo Artist – Dog Walker – Personal Shopper – Celebrity Chef – Event Planner – Social Media Manager – Hot Yoga – NFL – NBA – MLB – Sign and Drive – Lavish Lifestyle – Big Credit Limit – Valet Parking – I’m a VIP – Lamborghini and a Chinese Hooker – Hello Kitty Economy – Finally Crashed.
The New Economy is that – There is No Economy – and there hasn’t been one in 50 years.
They’re Smokin’ Vapin’ Drinkin’ Huffin’ and Sleepin’ – Library – Civic Center – and Tustin Area Businesses Overrun by Homeless Encampments. Alcoholics – Vapeheads – Meatheads – Potheads – Tweakers – Huffers – Third Strikers – Losers – Just Like Some of Your Friends!
When the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station’s northern blimp hangar caught on fire on Nov. 7, officials were gravely concerned about the possible health implications.
“In the beginning, I thought it was dire, right?” the county’s health officer, Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, said. “I thought like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s a large building that had a lot of different hazards in it,’ and I was thinking, of course, worst-case scenario, so that we can help protect individuals, or at least make sure that people would hopefully heed the guidance to minimize their exposure.”
Asbestos, lead and arsenic were detected in samples collected near the hangar the day it broke out, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The Orange County Health Care Agency began advising people to avoid touching any ash or debris from the fire.
Some Tustin residents left their homes for weeks out of concern, and schools near the hangar were closed. Asbestos debris from the fire was found throughout Tustin; a cleanup effort led by the city continues with more than 1,400 homes affected.
Now, health officials say the community was spared the worst case and the health risk from the hangar fire has been minimal. Despite their assurances, some residents continue to worry about possible ongoing exposure and say they hope the city will do more testing and cleaning.
Over time, Chinsio-Kwong said she’s been reassured by environmental health experts and the extensive testing that indicates a limited risk to residents near the hangar. Air sampling never detected asbestos, according to health officials. Dust samples collected at city-owned parks and facilities did detect some asbestos at higher-than-background levels, according to lab tests obtained via a records request, and city officials said they have been cleaned by its contractors.
“Time will tell with asbestos and exposures,” Chinsio-Kwong said. “Unfortunately, we don’t really know until about 20 to 30 years from now, but I am feeling a little bit more reassured with the experts and their guidance saying, ‘Again, it’s more of a chronic occupational exposure that really puts people at risk for lung issues long-term and not these one-times incidents.’”
Early concerns
The hangar fire broke out just before 1 a.m. on Nov. 7. Less than six hours later, the Orange County Fire Authority decided to let the fire burn itself out because of safety concerns if it were to collapse with firefighters nearby.
The Marine Corps Air Station’s two blimp hangars were constructed in 1942, and were two of the largest wooden structures ever built. Dubbed “Titans of History” by the city, they have been a beloved backdrop of life in Tustin for decades, even after the base closed in 1999. Future uses have long been debated for the historic hangar structures, which contained asbestos and lead, according to a 2020 Orange County Grand Jury report.
“This could be one of the large scale asbestos exposure incidents and there is concern for residents as well as anyone in the local area during the fire, and this immediate period following the fire,” Chinsio-Kwong wrote to a colleague on Nov. 8 in an email obtained by The Orange County Register. The county health officer said she would advocate closing parks and local schools “until I can get better answers on the magnitude of asbestos levels.”
The hangar fire spewed asbestos chunks into homes and parks. The county health agency told residents to not touch the debris and to wear protective gear if “there is a high risk of encountering asbestos.”
There were concerns if the hangar doors would hold up. A collapse could send more debris into nearby homes. Chinsio-Kwong asked Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Scott Wiedensohler in a text on Nov. 12 what the risk was.
“Confidence is pretty high that they won’t collapse,” he responded in a text back, adding steel beams hold the doors in place. “That said there’s always a chance. I’ve been playing that scenario through my mind all week.”
They didn’t collapse, and a contractor removed the door panels in December. Today, only four large concrete pillars remain from what was the north hangar. A contractor, over the weekend, sprayed additional tackifier to cover the debris remaining where the hangar once stood, “out of an abundance of caution in advance of potential future winter weather,” city officials said.
The fire smoldered for weeks after it began. Some residents moved away from their homes, staying at hotels or with friends or families. The Orange County Sheriff’s training academy closed for several weeks and the nearby OC Animal Care shelter kept the dogs and other animals inside, asking community members to step up and foster some to alleviate the crowding.
Air monitoring units were set up at more than 30 locations around the hangar, and no asbestos has been detected in more than 900 air samples, Christopher Kuhlman, a toxicologist and industrial hygienist at the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, said in December.
The highest concentration of fallout from the hangar is about a 1.4-mile radius around the hangar, Chinsio-Kwong said. City contractors for weeks have removed debris chunks from public rights-of-ways and the exteriors of people’s homes.
Results of testing the first week of the fire by the city’s contractor, Envirocheck, which haven’t been publicly posted, showed asbestos at higher than background levels at two city-owned facilities.
At Magnolia Tree Park, which is just under a mile northeast of the hangar, dust sampling taken on Nov. 11 detected asbestos fibers at above background levels inside the women’s restroom, on the floor and a changing table.
Testing also detected asbestos at above background levels on Nov. 12 at the Tustin Family & Youth Center – about two miles away from the hangar – on the preschool entry floor, a classroom west entry floor and a kitchen countertop.
Dr. Arthur Frank, who testifies in hundreds of legal cases a year related to asbestos and has advised officials in Tustin, said it’s unlikely that samples taken at those distances were from asbestos fibers released by the fire.
Kuhlman, who has been advising the city, also said you can’t know for sure if the asbestos in the dust samples came from the fire.
“The testing doesn’t distinguish between any specific source of asbestos, so you really can’t answer that question,” Kuhlman said.
The city closed parks on Nov. 8 and reopened them over the course of several weeks after contractors cleaned them.
Stephanie Najera, a spokesperson for the city said in an email that asbestos contractor ATI cleaned up city parks using industry-standard practices, including HEPA vacuuming and wet wiping of all horizontal surfaces and removing any potential asbestos debris. After cleanup, a certified asbestos consultant rechecked the locations before reopening.
The city, in its effort to get disaster aid from the state and federal governments, has told the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Service that the hangar fire has affected more than 12,000 people.
Those who live closest to the hangar say tests they have contracted for on their own continue to show the presence of asbestos and lead around their homes.
At a community meeting of concerned residents near the hangar last week, they spoke of their want for more testing, more extensive remediation of their homes than what’s been done, reimbursement for testing they paid for out of pocket and a plan to be shared for what will happen with the south hangar.
Acting City Manager Nicole Bernard, in a Dec. 29 letter to Cal OES, said emergency proclamations from the governor and president could lead to residents getting financial assistance for necessary expenses caused by the fire.
The city’s contractors have focused on picking up debris chunks around the exterior areas of homes. The city in December said it would start testing soil and the interiors of homes for asbestos and lead, but so far details for how residents can get their homes tested haven’t been released.
Susan Keefe, a resident near the hangar, said the contractors cleaning only the exteriors of people’s homes isn’t enough.
“They should be taking a top-down approach,” Keefe said. “They should be starting at people’s roofs and going down from there because otherwise, it’s just going to keep showing up again.”
If people heeded health advice, such as not touching fire debris, keeping windows closed and wearing masks and gloves, then their risk long term is minimal, Chinsio-Kwong said.
But she acknowledged the health guidance during the fire didn’t reach everyone. As the fire continued to burn, she saw people outside near the hangar not taking preventative measures.
“This is the learned lesson. We need to learn ways of really communicating in different ways to the community because not everybody listens to the news, not everybody listens to the radio, not everybody looks at the press releases,” Chinsio-Kwong said. “So, there’s got to be other mechanisms to get the word out.”
Frank said the hangar fire is not one people should spend the rest of their lives worrying about. At a late December community webinar, Frank said he considered being outside while the fire burned a “very low risk of exposure.”
If people should be worried, Frank, who is a professor at Drexel University, said he’d be the first one to go to bat for them in court.
“The likelihood,” he said, “of ever detecting asbestos disease from this (incident) is extraordinarily remote.”
With hanger fires out at the former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin, the U.S. Navy’s ground-water cleanup of carcinogenic contaminants continues and is likely for many years to come.
According to Navy subject matter experts, the Navy has known that certain PFAS are present in ground-water associated with former MCAS Tustin for over 6 ½ years.
Currently, the Navy is investigating the nature and extent of the cancer-causing chemicals and their impact on the soil and ground-water associated with the military base. The Navy is gathering information to help determine what additional actions besides continuing to operate the existing ground-water treatment systems may be necessary.
Peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.
“PFAS or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of thousands of manmade chemicals that are used in several industrial processes and firefighting activities and to make products non-stick and/or resistant to water, oil, and stains,” said Orange County Water District Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon, what has worked for OCWD for 35 years. “Produced by chemical manufacturers, these substances have been detected in the Orange County Ground-water Basin, which supplies 85 percent of the drinking water supply to north and central Orange County.”
“OCWD and its water retailers are proactively and swiftly addressing PFAS in Orange County,” he added.
“Industrial chemicals have impacted an area in the North Basin (near Fullerton, Anaheim, and Placentia) and the South Basin (near Santa Ana, Tustin, and Irvine) of the Orange County Ground-water Basin that supplies two-thirds of the drinking water for more than 2.5 million people in north and central Orange County,” Herndon explained. “Plumes created by past manufacturing are spreading and threaten to impact the basin. Five water wells have already been removed from service.”
“The Orange County Water District (OCWD) is seeking ways to clean up the pollution in a united effort with local and national regulatory agencies,” he added. “The initial cleanup efforts are focused on cutting off and preventing the spread of contamination before it travels further into the main aquifer supplying hundreds of potable supply wells.”
The Navy began investigating chemical releases at the former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin in the 1980s; when it was closed in 1999, the Navy began investigating potential impacts to ground-water. Soil and ground-water cleanup began in the mid-2000s, according to Hernon.
“In recent years, the Navy began investigating per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) at facilities throughout the nation, including former MCAS Tustin,” explained Herndon. “PFAS have been found at the former Tustin base in soil and shallow ground-water, and investigations by the Navy are continuing to delineate the extent of the contamination in the subsurface.”
“Primary chemicals found include chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as TCE and 1,2,3-TCP,” he added. “The VOC contamination was found in shallow soil and ground-water at depths generally within the upper 100 feet below the ground surface – well above the aquifers tapped by drinking water wells.”
“The VOC contamination has not migrated beyond the boundary of the former base,” said Herndon.
After determining in 2016 that no drinking water wells were present within three miles “downgradient” of the former MCAS Tustin, the Navy voluntarily initiated ground-water investigations for PFAS in 2017. According to Navy experts, they also determined at that time that its existing ground-water treatment systems in specific locations within former MCAS Tustin were already effectively removing certain PFAS.
“However, before initiating permanent cleanup operations, it must first be determined what the extent of the lateral and vertical ground-water impacts are,” said Navy experts. “This is currently underway as part of a remedial investigation.
Because of the emergence of PFAS and associated potential health risks, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) and local water supply agencies, including the city of Tustin and Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD), are addressing PFAS in ground-water by installing treatment facilities at impacted wells. Impacted wells have been shut down until the treatment facilities have been constructed and operational, according to Herndon. More information on PFAS, including a PFAS fact sheet, can be found at the OCWD PFAS information webpage.
The Orange County Water District (OCWD) ensures the water it provides meets or exceeds state and federal drinking water standards. It implements a proactive ground-water monitoring and surface water program to protect the quality of the Orange County Ground-water Basin, which it manages.
The City of Tustin and Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) are the two water suppliers for Tustin. The area beneath the former Tustin base is primarily served by the IRWD.
“Sources that supply the City’s water supply are a blend of local ground-water wells and imported water connections originating from Northern California and the Colorado River by MWDSC via the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC),” explained Herndon.
Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) serves about half of Tustin, primarily the city’s southern half, including the neighborhoods surrounding the hangars. They provide water for almost half a million residents in 181 square miles of central Orange County. The City of Tustin Water Services Division serves the other half of Tustin.
“Eighty-five percent of IRWD’s drinking water is ground-water piped in from local wells hundreds of feet below the ground and outside the base area,” said IRWD Public Information Officer John Fabris, who has been with the IRWD for six years. “Most of the rest is imported from Northern California or the Colorado River, and a small percentage comes from Irvine Lake.”
“It’s important to understand that Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) water is safe,” he added. “We test the water served throughout our service area daily to ensure it is safe, meeting all quality drinking water standards. We also conduct tests to ensure no detectable PFAS in any drinking water served to our customers. Our Tustin customers are served water piped in from sources outside the area of the base.”
“IRWD treats and tests its water to ensure it is safe to drink,” said Fabris. “Each day, IRWD scientists collect samples from neighborhoods throughout the district to ensure our customers get the highest quality drinking water. Using advanced technologies in our laboratory, they screen the water and report more than 100,000 analytical results a year.”
“In addition, our imported water is tested by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (which imports the water), and our ground-water is tested by the Orange County Water District (OCWD) (which manages the Orange County Ground-water Basin),” he explained.
As part of the Navy’s current treatment operations, ground-water is extracted and pumped through vessels containing granular activated carbon (GAC), similar to what is found in refrigerators, pitchers, and whole-house water filters. The GAC absorbs PFAS from the ground-water. The treated ground-water effluent is discharged under permit to the sanitary sewer. The “spent” GAC is either regenerated for reuse or disposed of appropriately.
According to Navy experts, “Ground-water treatment systems have been operating since late 2007 to early 2008 to address certain volatile organic compounds such as trichloroethene and 1,2,3-trichloropropane. For the most part, the Navy manages its qualified contractors to complete the work.
Current modeling and professional estimates suggest ground-water treatment will be completed in approximately two decades.
The Navy’s experts emphasized that no ground-water within three miles downgradient of former MCAS Tustin is being extracted for drinking water supply. They said that by law, residents are provided with information regarding their drinking water quality from the purveyors. The Navy has provided notices to the city of Tustin and local Homeowners Associations regarding its efforts to investigate and remediate PFAS in ground-water.
“For many years, the Navy has been in close communication with the city of Tustin and Orange County Water District regarding ground-water cleanup efforts,” Navy experts said. “Semiannual Restoration Advisory Board meetings are conducted at the Tustin Area Senior Center and are open to the public. The next one is scheduled for April 10, 2024.
One of TV’s favorite medical personalities is weighing in on the “extremely worrisome” findings coming from a recent study on marijuana use.
“When this first started coming up, I actually was somewhat doubtful. It seemed too much to me,” addiction medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinski said on “The Bottom Line” Friday. “We were always aware that cannabis was associated with psychotic episodes, but the previous suspicion was it was primarily people who were sort of heading that way already, perhaps that’s why they were using the drug.”
But according to data from recent analysis and studies, people who have had at least one psychotic episode after using cannabis are almost 50% more likely to develop schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and that the risk is even higher for teens and young adults.
“Particularly in the states where it’s legal for recreational use, the concentration of the cannabis is so spectacular, it’s approaching 100% that, literally, it’s a different drug, it has a different effect on people,” Dr. Drew explained. “And now, very commonly, we’re seeing hyperemesis, people that develop these vomiting episodes that are uncontrolled.”
“It’s very common from weed,” he continued. “And psychotic episodes have become increasingly common to the point that they’re actually kind of characteristic features to the psychosis these kids are getting from the weed.”
Dr. Drew Pinsky discusses “extremely worrisome” data on marijuana use and mental disorders, on “The Bottom Line”.
A 2017 American Journal of Psychiatry study found that the risk of developing bipolar or schizophrenic disorders was highest for cannabis users aged 16 to 25, and had a greater influence than alcohol, opioids, amphetamines and hallucinogens.
This week, an analysis from Truveta spotlighted how the rates of cannabis-use disorder diagnoses were more than 50% higher in November than compared to the same time in 2019. There was also a nearly 50% increase in the number of cannabis-related emergency room visits.
Twenty-five U.S. states have decriminalized and currently recognize marijuana as a recreational drug, which Dr. Drew cautioned can open doors for easier access for young adults.
“You’re fighting a profound cultural bias where they literally have been taught to believe that tobacco is significantly worse than cannabis, and they’re right in terms of alcohol, in terms of impact on overall health, in terms of being carcinogenic, in terms of lost work years, yes, the cumulative effects of alcohol are measurably worse than cannabis. But cannabis is also bad,” he said.
“Now that we have such incredibly high concentrations of cannabis,” Dr. Drew added, “we’re starting to see a real problem with really unanticipated psychotic episodes and more addiction. I have family members that are in recovery from cannabis addiction.”
Former White House drug policy adviser Kevin Sabet argues that high-potency marijuana leads to an increase in mental illness and psychosis on ‘Varney & Co.
Marijuana legalization is a ‘huge mistake’.
Former White House drug policy adviser Kevin Sabet argues that high-potency marijuana leads to an increase in mental illness and psychosis on ‘Varney & Co.
The mental health and addiction expert added that he personally knows the “devastating consequence” of marijuana substance abuse, seeing lifelong panic disorder firsthand.
“I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a bad chemical. I think there are things that are risks with any chemical that humans relate to,” Dr. Drew said. “And you just have to understand those risks.”
Hangar Fire - "Without Litigation" - City of Tustin Already On the Hook for $90 Million in Clean-Up Costs - "Not Including the Actual Hangar Property" - and Heading for a Billion Dollars - Developers Likely Not Off the Hook Either - Property Value Assessments Undergoing Official Review - Ask Yourself - Would You Buy or Rent at the Tustin Legacy - Remember there's "Another" Hangar Too Addicted? 1-800-662-HELP
