Showing posts with label baltimore bridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baltimore bridge. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2024

President Biden promises rapid reconstruction in Baltimore

American President Joe Biden promised on Friday that he would "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge that collapsed at the end of March in Baltimore, killing six people, AFP reports on Saturday, Agerpres reports.

"I'm here to tell you that your country has your back," said the Democratic president in front of the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key bridge.

President Joe Biden, who is campaigning for re-election and in competition with his predecessor Donald Trump, assured that by the end of May a new channel will be created to restore access to the port of Baltimore, one of the busiest in the country .

A temporary shipping corridor was opened earlier in the week to allow the passage of vessels involved in rescue and relief operations, but it is not wide enough to allow the passage of large commercial ships.

"I saw from above the bridge that collapsed, but on the ground I saw a united community," added the US president, who flew over the area by helicopter. "We will make sure that everything is paid for," he said, urging Congress to support his project for full financing. "We will move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as quickly as possible."

The 81-year-old Democratic president, who is trying to curry favor with the working-class electorate, also promised that reconstruction would be done with "American labor and steel" in the spirit of his industrial recovery policies which he hopes will allows him to gain an advantage over Donald Trump in the November election.

The president also paid tribute to the deceased workers, all immigrants, from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, distancing himself, in this way, from the increasingly violent rhetoric of his Republican opponent on the topic of immigration.

Baltimore is the American port through which the most new cars pass, over 800,000 last year, whether they are vehicles manufactured in the United States and exported internationally, or, conversely, imported foreign vehicles.

It is expected that the reconstruction of the Baltimore bridge, located 64 kilometers north of Washington, will take up to three years.


Friday, March 29, 2024

Black swan, the new internet trend after the Baltimore bridge collapse


Extreme-right commentators are claiming Tuesday's dramatic collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is a "black swan" event, a niche phrase that has recently captured the imagination of internet conspiracy theorists.

What conspiracy theories are circulating on social media

"The ship was the target of a cyber attack. They turn off the lights and head deliberately towards the bridge supports. US foreign agents attack digital infrastructures. Nothing is certain,” wrote Andrew Tate on X, about six hours after the container ship collided with the bridge. "The Black Swan Event is imminent."

"This is a BLACK SWAN event," General Mike Flynn, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, also wrote on X. Others, including Benny Johnson, Laura Loomer, and some verified QAnon-affiliated accounts, can be found on a search quickly with the "black swan event", with many claiming that the bridge collapse was an act of terrorism.

"It looks deliberate to me. It's probably a cyber attack. World War III has already begun,” Alex Jones of Infowars wrote on X in response to Andrew Tate's post.