2:00 P.M., April 25, 2014: Fill & Download for Free

Republicans upset? Why? Hillary?It is so completely obvious to rational observers:The Obama Campaign took control of the Benghazi narrative in the evening of September 11, 2012 with this preposterous story Romney Gets It BackwardClinton, Sept. 11, 10:08 p.m. EDT: I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today... Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.This cover story seemed farfetched that evening and would have been laughable had four brave Americans not perished in vain. What followed only compounded what appeared to be a very poorly executed cover-up.No one knows the whereabouts of the President in the White House during this terrorist attack on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. We still don't know. We do know that the President boarded Air Force One for campaign and fundraising events in Las Vegas on the morning of September 12, 2012.Important pause point: If you think it is OK for a political campaign to run the government and then engage in an elaborate cover-up, then you can stop reading here. Keep in mind that President Nixon left office in shame over a campaign run amok and follow-on cover-up.Here is the detailed sequence of events The Complete Chronology of the Benghazi Deception:11:00–11:30 p.m.: Former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Ty Woods killed.September 12, 2012: Redacted e-mail from a State Department official says the official advised the Libyan government that the attack was carried out by Ansar al-Sharia. No mention of video.September 12–15, 2012: CIA drafts several iterations of talking points; contains no known references to video as cause of the attack.September 13, 2012: State Department memo blames the attack on terrorists.September 13, 2012: Defense Intelligence Agency assigns blame for the attack on Ansar al-Sharia in Libya. No mention of a video.September 13, 2012: Clinton condemns violence against U.S. consulate in Libya due to a video.September 13, 2012: Jay Carney condemns attack due to a video.September 14, 2012: State Department says the attack was a spontaneous demonstration due to a video.September 14, 2012: Obama and Clinton receive the families of the fallen as their caskets arrive at Andrews Air Force Base; blame the attack on a video. Clinton tells Ty Woods’s father, Charles, that they will “get” the producer of the video.September 14, 2012: Jay Carney blames the video.September 14, 2012, 8:00 p.m.: Deputy national-security adviser Ben Rhodes sends an e-mail regarding the preparation of Susan Rice for the Sunday talk shows, advising Rice to underscore the video and that the attack is “not a broader failure of policy.”September 15, 2012: Obama blames the video.September 16, 2012: Susan Rice appears on five Sunday talk shows and characterizes the attacks as a spontaneous reaction due to a video.September 16, 2012: Libyan president disputes Rice’s comments, asserting Benghazi was a planned attack.September 18, 2012: Obama appears on the David Letterman show, blames the video.September 19, 2012: The head of the National Counterterrorism Center testifies that the attack was not a protest but a terrorist attack.September 20, 2012: Obama blames the video.September 20, 2012: Obama and Clinton run an ad on Pakistani TV apologizing for the video.September 21, 2012: Clinton says it was a terrorist attack.September 24, 2012: Obama appears on The View, blames the video.October 4, 2012: Clinton establishes the Accountability Review Board (“ARB”) to examine the circumstances surrounding the loss of personnel in Benghazi. Clinton not interviewed by ARB.October 11, 2012: At the vice-presidential debate, Joe Biden claims the administration was not informed about requests for more security at the consulate in Benghazi.October 16, 2012: Obama, in a response to a question from a reporter about whether he denied requests for aid to Benghazi on September 11 responds, “The minute I found out this was going on, I gave three directives. Number one, make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we are going to investigate exactly what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so that we can bring them to justice.”October 18, 2012: Judicial Watch makes a Freedom of Information Act request to the administration for talking points and communications regarding the events in Benghazi. The administration ignores the request.October 20, 2012: Obama claims that he was not aware of any requests for additional security in Benghazi.January 23, 2013: Clinton asks, “What difference, at this point, does it make whether it was a terrorist attack or a spontaneous demonstration?”June 21, 2013: Judicial Watch sues the administration for unlawfully withholding documents pertaining to Benghazi.July 25, 2013: Obama slams the “endless parade of distractions, political posturing, and phony scandals.”August 2013: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requests Benghazi e-mails. The Ben Rhodes e-mail is not among those produced.April 18, 2014: Federal court orders the administration to turn over documents to Judicial Watch. 41 documents are released, including the Ben Rhodes e-mail.May 1, 2014: Tommy Vietor tells Fox News the president was not in the Situation Room on September 11, 2012.May 2, 2014: Speaker John Boehner announces a vote to form a select committee on Benghazi.May 4, 2014: Representative Adam Schiff (D.., Calif.), member of the House Intelligence Committee, suggests Democrats boycott the House select committee as a “colossal waste of time.”Now do you know why the Republican Party is continuing to press the Benghazi issue?

The moment I graduated from college, I made it my mission become a full-time writer.I knew if I wanted to turn “what I loved” into a career, then I was going to have to be the one to figure that out for myself. For three years (and a brief stint studying journalism my freshman year of college), I studied fiction writing from professional writers and accomplished authors on the school’s faculty. And yet, none of them had very much insight as to “how” an aspiring writer actually becomes financially successful. They could explain how to engineer a riveting plot, how to describe a memorable scene, or how to create a relatable character. But they could not, step-by-step, explain how to go from barista-working-on-a-novel to full-time professional writer.So, I went looking for the answers myself.When I was 23 years old, I was nothing but an entry-level copywriter at an ad agency with a college-level writing portfolio.And by the time I had turned 26, I had written over 1,000 articles on the internet, had work published in Forbes, TIME, Fortune, Business Insider, CNBC, and more, and I had become one of Inc Magazine’s top 10 most popular columnists. Month over month, I was averaging over a million organic views on my writing. And I had become the #1 most-read writer on all of Quora — a question/answer platform boasting over 200M users.This was the moment I took the leap from my 9–5, started freelance writing, fell into the world of executive ghostwriting, and six months later started a company of my own, called Digital Press.In 4 short years — from the moment I received my college degree, to the moment I took the leap — I had successfully figured out how to turn the craft of writing (my “side hustle”) into a full-time career.Here’s how.Step 1: Question what you think you know — and search for what you “don’t know you don’t know.”My mentor at the time used to say this to me all the time. “Cole, you don’t know what you don’t know.”When I first graduated college, I had a very particular image in my head of what being a “full-time writer” looked like. I thought it meant having a book deal with a formal publisher. I thought it meant getting a “big” advance. I thought it meant sitting quietly in a room, by myself, for 18 hours per day, writing. Just writing.The truth is, that image in my mind was based on very little information. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. For example:I didn’t know that a “big advance” for most writers falls in the ballpark of $5,000 — $30,000. Very few writers receive anything more. And even less writers land book deals, period.I didn’t know that there were plenty of other ways to make money (in fact, even better money) as a writer than publishing books. I didn’t even know the term “sales copywriter” existed for several years after graduating college.I didn’t know that consumers don’t buy “books” — they buy authors they admire and “follow,” and titles that speak to a question they have.I didn’t know that ghostwriting was even a viable industry for a writer (or how lucrative, the industry was).The list goes on. My point is, the decisions I was making (or thought I was making) for my career were based in theory. Projection. Assumption. Instead of being rooted in fact and lived experience.Which is why Step 1 of turning your side hustle into a full-time career is to rid yourself of these myths, and make sure the future you’re imagining for yourself has merit.Step 2: Once you set your horizon, start moving toward it relentlessly.As that same mentor would say, “You can’t steer a stationary ship.”Most people that come across my writing today have no idea how much time and energy and effort I put into “finding my way” in the beginning. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know what sort of writer I wanted to become. I wasn’t even sure becoming a writer was a realistic dream for myself. All I knew was, every time I sat down at my computer to play with words, I was happy.So, I tried a million different things. One of my first writing-related endeavors, actually, was micro-blogging on Instagram about my journey as a bodybuilder in my early 20s. When my co-workers at the agency I was working at found my Instagram, they cracked jokes and failed to understand why I wanted to post pictures of myself on the Internet. But I saw my efforts through a different lens. For me, it was a step toward figuring out how I could write things people wanted to read online. That’s it.I had over 10,000 followers and loyal readers on my Instagram page a year and a half later.Fitness writing led me to Quora. Quora introduced me to long-form writing and storytelling online. Consistently writing online caused my work to get republished by nearly every major publication on the Internet, and an exclusive column with Inc Magazine. My column with Inc Magazine led to my first freelance client. One client turned to two. Two turned to four. Four turned to a startup that now employs 15+ people with 50+ clients from all over the world in a wide range of industries.My point is, “you can’t steer a stationary ship.” So many people want to have the full strategy, the entire map with all the answers clearly laid out in front of them — all before they even start.But that’s not how the journey goes.You start, and then the map starts filling itself in as you go.Step 3: Remove all distractions.People don’t believe me when I tell this story.Once I entered the real world and found myself dealing with the stresses and responsibilities of life outside college, I quickly realized how easily years of my life could just fly by. I had to commute an hour to work each day, each way. And I usually didn’t get home (after work and then the gym) until 9:00 p.m. Which meant I really only had two hours per day to move myself closer toward my dream: 9:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m., before passing out and doing it all over again.Terrified that I’d squander those two hours (and forfeit my dream) by watching TV or browsing the internet, I removed the option altogether.Between the ages of 23 and 27, I didn’t allow myself to own internet in my apartment.That’s right — and no, I’m not exaggerating.I didn’t own a modem. I didn’t own a TV. I didn’t have an internet connection, period. I lived in a studio apartment on the north side of Chicago. I had a bed (which, for 3 of those 4 years, was an air mattress — because I couldn’t afford a real bed). A desk. And a small table by the window in my kitchen, which was about four steps away from my bed, which was two steps away from my desk.Every single night, I came home from work.And every single night, I wrote.At the time, I knew what I was doing was over the top. I knew my decisions were unconventional and easily misunderstood. But I honestly didn’t see any other option. Sure, maybe I could have owned an internet connection and just moderated myself. But the risk of “accidentally” forgoing my dream outweighed the pro of having instant access to YouTube and Facebook on my laptop. I didn’t want four years to go by and for me to say to myself, “I wonder if I could have done more. I wonder if I could have become a professional writer.”Most people aren’t willing to go to great lengths to remove the distractions in their life keeping them from achieving their dreams. Instead, they try to addto their To Do list. They say, “I just need to…” and then fill in the blank. But what they fail to realize is that habits and routines are the secret to success, and a habit cannot be formed when another one already exists in its place.Before you can create a new habit, you must first remove the bad one.Step 4: Don’t “know in theory.” Know because you practice your craft day, after day, after day.I can attribute 99% of my success in the writing world to one thing (and sit tight, because it’s going to shock you).I write. A lot.When I first started writing on Quora in 2014, I challenged myself to write one Quora answer per day, every day, for a year straight. Where this approach even came from was, when I was 17 years old, I started a gaming blog on one of the first social blogging sites on the internet, called Gameriot. For my entire senior year of high school, I challenged myself to write one new blog post there, per day, every single day — and by the time I graduated high school, I had become one of the Top 5 most popular bloggers on the entire site.When I started writing on Quora, I decided to take the same approach that had already proven successful at a previous time in my life. And sure enough, after three months of writing on Quora, I had my first answer go viral — accumulating 100,000+ views. A month after that, I had my first answer get republished by Inc Magazine. A month after that, I had my first answer go massively viral — accumulating over 1,000,000+ views and landing on the front page of Reddit. And every month after that, more and more things just started happening.Today, I have written over 3,000 articles on the internet under my own name, and hundreds more as a ghostwriter for clients and companies.In short: volume wins.There is no substitute for practice. There is no way to avoid the thousands upon thousands of hours required in order to master your craft. Which means, if you want to become a professional, if you want to turn your “side hustle” into a long-lasting and successful career for yourself, you need to practice. You need to care. You need to root your knowledge in lived experience — not theory you read in a blog post about marketing, most likely written by a marketer who hasn’t done any of the things they’re recommending you do.Practice is what separates the people who go on to have incredible careers from freelancers who fall flat on their face.And practice is what allows you to speak with true authority on your craft, because you aren’t recommending what you “think” works. You’re recommending what you’ve learned through hours and hours spent in the trenches.Step 5: Find yourself a mentor.One of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, why I stayed working as a copywriter at this ad agency downtown Chicago was because the creative director was willing to mentor me.I could have taken a higher paying job somewhere else. I could have made another $20,000 per year being a copywriter at a bigger agency. But the reason why I chose not to pursue those opportunities was because I didn’t want short-term money. An extra $20,000 per year wasn’t going to change my life. It just meant I could buy Chipotle two more times per week, and a nice shirt every once in a while — neither of which were going to help get me from where I was, to where I wanted to be.Instead of money, I wanted access to information. I wanted to learn how to think like someone who was successful. How to be an entrepreneur. How to take my career and the direction of my life into my own hands — and the creative director, who was also one of the founders, provided that opportunity.Now, everyone’s first question when it comes to mentorship is always, “So, how do I find someone to mentor me?”The real answer is: you don’t.I don’t believe mentors are found by asking them to mentor you. I also don’t believe mentors appear the more you say, “Please, please, give me the answers.”Mentors present themselves when you are already investing in yourself. Mentors hide in plain sight. There are probably five people around you, right now, that could “mentor” you in some way. The problem, however, is most people don’t ask for help. They see asking questions as a weakness instead of a strength — and so these “mentor figures” never have a chance to reveal themselves.In my case, I didn’t have any sort of formal conversation where I asked to be mentored. I just showed up to work and asked a lot of questions. I offered to do the bitch work nobody wanted to do — like play assistant and type up emails while my boss and mentor dictated them, pacing around the room. Everyone else saw this work as “beneath” them. I saw it as a way to have a front-row seat next to the very person I wanted to learn from.Mentors are everywhere, and they will skyrocket your growth as a human being.But they’re waiting for you to ask the first question.Step 6: Being great at what you do isn’t enough. You have to learn the business side too.If you want to turn “what you love” into a career, then you have to figure out how that “thing” is going to make money.Plain and simple.This is a skill most people either wait too long to develop, or underestimate entirely. Aspiring writers, for example, think freelance writing is all about the craft, which in reality, it’s actually about the craft and your ability to sell, close, and retain clients. That second part doesn’t just “happen.” You don’t wake up one morning, call yourself a freelance writer on Facebook, and then suddenly have an endless stream of new business.This means “proving” to yourself that you can do the following:Charge for the product or skill set you are offering to the market (for example: people are buying your books, or hiring for your services).Consistently bring in revenue performing your side hustle over a long period of time (6+ months is a good gauge).Receive positive feedback from customers (you have a problem if people are buying but leaving unhappy and demanding a refund).And until you can do those 3 things, it’s hard to say whether or not you’re truly ready to “take the leap.”When I was thinking about leaving my own 9–5, I really doubted whether or not I could execute on the above. I had never landed a freelance writing gig that paid more than $25. I hadn’t increased any other revenue streams (except my bi-weekly paycheck) to any substantial amount. I had all these unknown variables in front of me, and whenever I would think about “taking the leap,” they felt insurmountable.This is why I stress the importance of testing your hypotheses before leaping. You want to “prove” these things to yourself before you fling yourself off the ledge and into unknown territory. Because if you can “prove” these things prior to leaping, suddenly it doesn’t feel like this big, grand leap anymore.Leaping feels like the next logical step.At the beginning of 2016, I challenged myself to start tracking my side-hustle income.I’ll never forget creating this excel spreadsheet at the office on a Sunday (my mentor gave me a key and said I could work there whenever I wanted on the weekends — which I did often).At the end of January, 2016, I marked down all of the different places my revenue came from. At the time, it was my paycheck working at the agency, and my very first product that I’d launched online — an online video course teaching people how to write on Quora, which I sold for $37.In January, I sold 1. So my side-hustle income was $37.I still have this excel document (and have continued tracking my finances this way ever since), and it’s actually pretty amazing to look back at 2016 as a whole.January, I made $37.The next month, I got paid to write a guest article for a fitness website, and sold two more courses, so I made ~$200.In March, nothing happened. I made $0. But, at the end of March, I officially got my column with Inc Magazine (where they offered to pay me per pageview).In April, I wrote 30 (yes, thirty) columns for Inc Magazine, drove over 100,000 page views, and made my first $1,000+ in a month.May, I wrote another 30 (yes, thirty) columns and doubled the amount of page views I brought in — with one article going especially viral. Inc had to cut a check that month for several thousand dollars, all of which went directly into my savings account.May I also herniated a disc in my spine, so I suddenly had a lot more free time on my hands. I invested every single evening after work into finishing my first book, Confessions of a Teenage Gamer, knowing that finishing the project would 1) elevate my personal brand as an author and professional writer, and 2) create a new revenue stream.June and July were back-to-back profitable months writing for Inc. Suddenly, I saw this as a potentially reliable income stream (even though it was 100% based on page views and performance, which is inherently risky). All the money I made writing for Inc went directly toward my “leap fund.”In August is when I decided for myself that it was time to take the leap. I had successfully saved up ~$5,000+, which was 3 months of runway based on my current living expenses. I had proven to myself that I could land a few freelance clients and sell them on my services. And I had, month-over-month, come close to matching my full-time monthly income with side-hustle income.Suddenly, “leaping” didn’t feel so daunting anymore.It just felt like the next logical step.Step 7: Once you leap, you’re not on vacation. It’s time to sprint.I will never, for the rest of my life, forget the day I truly realized what I’d done.Right after I took the leap, a friend of a friend asked for my help on a startup they were launching in the gaming space. The opportunity was everything a 26-year-old could have asked for: they were renting a former Victoria’s Secret model’s mansion in Hollywood Hills as their “office,” and they offered to let me stay in la-la land rent free — as long as I worked on the company with them (which, coincidentally, is also where I met my girlfriend of the past three years).Free from my 9–5 and formal work responsibilities, I said, “Absolutely, I’ll book my flight tonight,” and off I went.Taking the leap was such an exciting time of my life. I felt like four years of ridiculous work ethic had awarded me a level of freedom most people could only dream of. That is, until about a week and a half into the trip, when the 15th of the month rolled around and I opened my bank account. Without even realizing it, somewhere in my subconscious I expected to see my bi-weekly paycheck. And when that wasn’t there, I had a mild anxiety attack. I remember pacing around this house nestled up in the hills thinking I’d made a terrible mistake. That I’d been lying to myself, and I wasn’t actually prepared to take the leap. That I’d miscalculated. That I’d be out of money in no time — and worst of all, I’d have to go back to Chicago and beg for my job back.That’s when I felt, deep in the pit of my stomach, the reality of my situation.On the surface, “taking the leap” seems like this big, amazing moment.Instead, it’s a humbling awakening to the fact that you are now 100% responsible for your own life and wellbeing. Nobody is cutting you a guaranteed paycheck. Nobody is going to hover over your shoulder and say, “Hey, you need to drum up some new business, and fast.” It’s a scary feeling, actually, to admit to yourself that you are the only person who can put food on the table. And unless you go out hunting, you aren’t eating.For a very, very long time after “taking the leap,” I was driven by fear.I worked relentlessly. I took on as many clients as I could possibly handle. I was available 7 days per week, 12–14 hours per day. There was a point in time when I was ghostwriting 4–5 articles per day, every single day of the week, for about five months straight. And I did it because I had so much fear of what was right around the corner — would all this work disappear tomorrow?It took me a while to learn how to balance this feeling of anxiety with the reality of my situation. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of merit to being driven by fear. I know a lot of people who try their hand at “taking the leap,” don’t prepare themselves accordingly, and then worst of all, treat their “leap” as a vacation. They use their leap fund to travel the world, or hang out at the pool while everyone else is working, only to be right back applying for 9–5 jobs a few months later.That’s not what you want.Instead, you want to instill habits, a positive mindset, and very clear goals for yourself prior to taking the leap — so the moment you’re out on your own, you don’t falter or get distracted. Leaping is all about doubling down on your side-hustle, and accelerating it to the point where it’s the only thing you do, all day long.Not enjoying a 2–3 month vacation and then going back to square one.Here are a few other related articles you might find helpful:Reinventing Yourself: 7 Steps To Transform Who You Are Into Who You Want To BeCan You Be More Productive? Yes — In 2 WaysHow To Be More Disciplined With Your Goals: 7 Simple Strategies You Should Learn

Core summary:1. unlike Trump's terrorist attacks, it is easy to judge the explosion of ammonium nitrate as the brown smoke rising from the explosion.2. The great destructive explosion accidents of ammonium nitrate have happened in Britain, Germany, the United States, France and other western countries as well as North Korea and other countries. In 2015, the explosion in Tianjin port, which shocked the whole country, was also related to ammonium nitrate.3. Although tragedies often occur, most countries still allow ammonium nitrate to be directly used as fertilizer because it is a commonly used high-efficiency nitrogen fertilizer. Until the 21st century, human beings are still inseparable from this nitrogen fertilizer.4. After the previous major accidents, all countries should introduce corresponding institutional improvements, such as strictly controlling the urbanization construction in high-risk areas, strengthening the safety inspection of industrial facilities, and strictly keeping the safety distance between facilities according to the regulations, so as to reduce the risk from the source.—————1. You can know what's going on as soon as you watch the videoAt more than 6:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday (more than 11:00 p.m. Beijing time, a time difference of 5 hours), a huge explosion occurred in the warehouse area of Beirut port, the capital of Lebanon.News and video of the explosion quickly spread to China at midnight. When you see the title of the report, the first reaction is that there is another terrorist attack in the Middle East.Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, has a population of 2.4 million, accounting for one third of the country. The red box at the top of the picture shows the location of the explosion harbor wharfAfter all, on April 18, 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was hit by a car bomb by Islamic jihadists, killing 260 people with 2.5 tons of explosives, which became a famous international event at that time.But a little bit of video, the power is obviously far beyond the usual car bomb attack.Only a few seconds of watching the video of the explosion, as long as there is a certain knowledge of chemistry, can immediately know what the explosive is, and even know the cause of the explosion.Because what's going up is huge reddish brown smoke - it's nitrogen dioxide.Therefore, such a large explosion of scale, power and volume can definitely be attributed to the huge amount of ammonium nitrate [ǎ n, an], NH4NO3 in the warehouse.Ammonium nitrate is often referred to as ammonium nitrate, mainly used as nitrogen fertilizer, but it is also an explosive.Combined with the complete video, first, a warehouse in the harbor caught fire. The smoke was accompanied by a Bili bar fire. It was probably like a firecracker warehouse on fire.Then, a powerful explosion broke out in another warehouse nearby. The great change of air pressure also forms a ring-shaped condensation cloud at high altitude.So, as early as 0:00 a.m. Beijing time, with the arrival of the video, I knew what was going on here——It was the ammonium nitrate fire in the warehouse, not the usual terrorist attack.Finally, it was not until 6:00 a.m. Beijing time that the news media spread the cause of the explosion jointly confirmed by President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Hassan diab, Interior Minister Mohamed Fahmi and security chief Abbas Ibrahim——The big bang was 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate seized and stored in the port for a long time since 2014.The explosion range map made by foreign media is equivalent to a tactical nuclear bomb with hundreds of tons of equivalentPresident Michelle ORN said it was "unacceptable" for 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate to be stored in a warehouse without safety measures for six years, and vowed to expose those responsible to "the most severe punishment.".Marwan Abboud, the mayor of Beirut, couldn't help crying in an interview. "I've never seen such a big explosion. This is a national disaster, a disaster for Lebanon. " He compared the accident to a Hiroshima Nagasaki disaster.According to the latest news from the Ministry of health, at least 100 people have been killed and 4000 injured, including children. This is only preliminary news. The death toll will continue to rise in such a large explosion, so close to densely populated areas, but the local hospitals are already overcrowded.The wife and daughter of Lebanon's prime minister Hassan diab were injured in a big explosion in the Beirut port. Nazariyan, general secretary of the long gun Party of Lebanon, was seriously injured after the explosion, and then died of serious injuries.For Lebanon, a small country with a population of more than 6 million, the Big Bang is undoubtedly a huge disaster and needs international assistance.2. The city of destructionSince the end of the 19th century, Europeans began to produce ammonium nitrate by double decomposition reaction of ammonium sulfate and Chilean saltpeter.On April 2, 1912, a fire spread at the favrsham explosive plant of Imperial Chemical Industries in Kent led to the explosion of 15 tons of TNT and 150 tons of ammonium nitrate, killing 115 people. It is an early case of ammonium nitrate explosion.After the birth of artificial ammonia and nitric acid synthesis method, the production capacity became more than 100 tons or even 1000 tons, which provided the basis for a bigger explosion.Shortly after the end of World War I, on the morning of September 21, 1921, the big explosion happened in the world's first synthetic ammonia fertilizer plant of BASF company in auburg, Germany (now Ludwigshafen). At this time, ammonium nitrate has been converted to chemical fertilizer for peaceful use.In order to break the 4500 tons of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate 1:1 mixture which has been formed in the warehouse, workers of the factory used potassium chlorate mixed with gasoline to carry out blasting (which was thought to be safe), and a big explosion unexpectedly occurred.Although 4500 tons of ammonium nitrate were only partially detonated, the energy released from it has been extremely shocking.The explosion caused a huge pit 125 meters long, 90 meters wide and 19 meters deep, estimated to be about 1000-2000 tons of TNT equivalent. BASF's proud giant factory, which survived World War I (because there were no long-range fighters and strategic bombing at that time), was completely destroyed.According to records, the shock wave lifted the roof 25 km away, shattered the glass 70 km away, and heard the noise 300 km away in Munich.A total of 669 people were killed and missing, 1952 were injured, causing serious damage within a radius of 6 km, destroying about 80% of urban buildings and leaving 7500 homeless.This is just the beginning, far from the end.3.Tens of thousands of tons of steel were blasted to the skyAfter World War II, the United States launched the Marshall Plan, which transported fertilizers and machinery to the European continent to support reconstruction. As a result, there were two big explosions in the transportation process. It happened in the United States and France on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, when the shipment was about to start and just arrived.In the early morning of April 16, 1947, in Galveston Bay, Houston, Texas, the French freighter grand camp docked at Monsanto's fertilizer terminal.After five days of loading and unloading, 2100 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, 200 tons of peanuts, a large amount of flour, peanuts, tobacco and other groceries were loaded on board the ship.At 8 a.m., the dockers smelled smoke. Soon, smoke came out of the cabin surface. When they removed some fertilizer bags, they found that a small fire could be seen about three or four meters below the No. 4 warehouse near the hull of the ship.The cause of the initial fire is unknown. It may be someone's discarded cigarette butts. At this time, the workers tried to put out the fire with some water tanks and a fire extinguisher. The captain also decided to try to inject steam into the cargo hold, but the fire continued to spread.At 8:25, the train station sounded its siren to alert the fire department. Two fire engines went out at the first time, followed by two fire engines from the city fire volunteer team.However, the area under the ship's hatch heats up rapidly, and the water can no longer play a substantial role in extinguishing fire. At the same time, the fuel from the tank spilled along the cracked bulkhead to the ammonium nitrate bag, providing more fuel for the flame.The fire engine was spraying water on the boat, but the hull was hot enough to vaporize the water directly. The temperature quickly reached the explosion temperature of ammonium nitrate - more than 400 degrees.Here, the wharf fire is common; for residents, it is also common to come to the wharf to watch the fire and the work of firefighters. So there were a lot of bystanders on the scene - and a lot of casualties ensued.At 9:12, there was an amazing explosion of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate on grand camp: the 135 meter long hull and 5800 tons of steel were instantly torn to pieces.The 1.8-ton auxiliary anchor, together with the steam engine and boiler debris, was thrown 2.6 kilometers away, smashing a 3-meter deep pit; the 4.5-ton main anchor was thrown 800 meters away.The remaining bag of ammonium nitrate in the cabin was blasted 600 to 900 meters high in the air, and the fireball flashed the whole sky.A large area of the dock closest to the explosion area was completely blown up, shore buildings were flattened by shock waves, and 29 firefighters, hundreds of crew and stevedores, pedestrians and bystanders were blown to pieces.The factory building of Monsanto chemical company was also completely destroyed, with about 100 people killed and 200 seriously injured among 450 employees on morning shift.More buildings had doors and roofs blown away. Most of the warehouses along the Texas City railroad terminal, which are located along the docks, were completely destroyed in the accident.There are reports that windows in Houston, 64 kilometers away, were shattered, and people in Louisiana, 240 kilometers away, heard loud noises.The wings of two small planes flying over Texas City were broken by shock waves and crashed into the sea. Thousands of seagulls were killed and rained down from the air.The explosion also set off a 4.5-meter-high wave that swept onto the dock and swept 600 cars. The long horned ox 2, a barge anchored in the harbor, was pushed to the roof 70 meters away from the wharf with the surge.The burning debris broke and ignited refinery pipelines and dozens of chemical storage tanks on the shore, triggering a series of secondary fires and small explosions. Thick, bright colored smoke and a raging fire burst into the sky.4. Worse than one big explosion are two big explosionsWhat's more, there were two American freedom ships moored in the port at this time: "high flyer" and "Wilson B. Keene". High flyer was shaken out of the berth and atop Wilson B. Keene.But in the first few hours, no one realized the seriousness of the problem - high flyer also had 870 tons of ammonium nitrate on board, and 1600 tons of flammable sulfur. In the evening, people on board for inspection found that there were also flames in high flyer's warehouse.When it was discovered that the situation was serious, the disaster relief command ordered the captain of high flyer to anchor, hoping to minimize the impact of an inevitable secondary explosion. But high flyer was badly damaged and the crew abandoned the ship after an hour of futile attempts to lift the anchor.At 11 p.m., the tug tried to pull high flyer off the dock, but it took two hours to pull it. At 1:00 a.m. on the 17th, the fire broke out of the warehouse, and the tugboat quickly evacuated.Just 10 minutes later, the high flyer, carrying 870 tons of ammonium nitrate, was also ignited and exploded.It was only 15 hours after the explosion of the grand camp. Thousands of tons of high flyer's steel were blown up. Burning steel in the night sky across the arc, fell in a large area, and caused many fires, causing more serious damage to the port area.The explosion also destroyed the close neighbor, the Wilson B. Keene, seriously damaged and partially sunk, which could only be demolished afterwards.However, due to the timely evacuation of personnel, the explosion of "high flying bird" did not cause additional casualties.The fire of the big explosion engulfed the city of Texas, and the entire port was greatly damaged and damaged. The fire burned for three days and three nights, killing at least 581 people, injuring more than 5000 and leaving more than 15000 homeless. It became the most serious industrial disaster in American history.Most surprisingly, however, survivors were found only 21 meters away from the dock.An editorial in the local Texas City Sun newspaper said that affected by the disaster, everything had been "connected by this grand and common tragedy, and there was no language to soothe the unprepared pain.".5. Ammonium nitrate is hard to part withJust three months later, on July 28, in Brest, France, the Norwegian ship "freedom of the sea", carrying 3300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and various inflammable materials, also exploded due to fire, killing 26 people and injuring more than 500 people.Although the fire happened on the berth (about 12:30), the ship was pulled out of the harbor in time (about 14:00). When the explosion happened at about 17:00, it was far away from the port and the city, causing no serious casualties.However, the molten material that was thrown into the city fell from the sky and fell on the shore, which still caused fire, causing the 4000-5000 wooden simple houses built after the war to be burned down, and tens of thousands of people were homeless.After two (or three) big explosions, various countries have formulated regulations on the production, storage and transportation of ammonium nitrate, which requires that ammonium nitrate must be stored in special containers and strictly separated from other flammable materials.Some countries even prohibit or strictly restrict the long-distance transportation, overseas trade and direct use of ammonium nitrate as fertilizer. Only compound fertilizers which are mixed with other fertilizers and lose their explosive properties are allowed to be used.However, as ammonium nitrate is commonly used as a high-efficiency nitrogen fertilizer, these countries continue to allow ammonium nitrate directly as fertilizer. Until the 21st century, human beings are still inseparable from this nitrogen fertilizer, and disasters will continue to coexist.On April 19, 1995, the federal building in Oklahoma was attacked by native white people who were hostile to the federal government.The attacker, McVeigh, used 900 kg of ammonium nitrate, 500 kg of nitromethane, 160 kg of high explosive and detonator, which blew up one third of the federal building, killing 168 people and injuring 680 people.6. The big bang of the 21st centuryTen days after the September 21, 2001, at 10:17 a.m. on September 21, 2001, an explosion occurred in the warehouse of AZF nitrogenous fertilizer plant of total company in Toulouse, France. More than 300 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the plant was detonated. A large pit with a length of 70 meters, a width of 40 meters and a depth of 6 meters was blasted on the ground, with a magnitude of 3.4.The explosion killed 29 people, 21 of whom were factory employees and a total of 2442 were injured. Two factory buildings were razed to the ground, two schools were turned into ruins, one hospital was seriously damaged, and a large number of public facilities (swimming pool, gymnasium, high school, theater, etc.) were damaged. Windows were shattered three kilometers away, and explosions could be heard 80 kilometers away.Throughout the block, you can see the scene after the disaster. Buildings are cracked, roofs collapsed, doors and windows are dilapidated, glass fragments are everywhere, cars are piled up on the road, and sirens are screaming one after another. Some of the residents covered their eyes, others covered their heads, some with blood on their clothes, crying and running in the streetAccording to witnesses who survived nearby, there were some special phenomena before the explosion, such as electric light, strong light and noise. Seconds before the big bang (reported to be 6-11 seconds), a loud noise first came out and lasted for several seconds.At the beginning of the investigation, the incident was thought to be a suicide attack by a worker with extreme religious ideas among the dead, who was affected by the 9 / 11 incident; others believed that it might be an arc fire caused by a power supply system failure.According to the final official investigation report, it may be that several kilograms of sodium dichloroisocyanate may accidentally mix with 500 kilograms of ammonium nitrate lying on the ground. Under sufficient heat and humidity, it may react with ammonium nitrate to produce nitrogen trichloride.This is a very unstable compound, and eventually its own detonation causes a strong explosion.However, this investigation report has also been questioned by experts, and it is generally believed that the fire was caused by the circuit. There are even theories that the leakage of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), a rocket material produced by the French explosive company (snpe) next door, drifted downwind to AZF plant area and mixed with air to form deflagration.As the 9 / 11 incident and the subsequent Afghanistan operation occupied the focus of almost all media in the world, the explosion did not receive much attention around the world.After that, the more recent and well-known explosion occurred in North Korea on April 22, 2004. At least 161 people were killed and more than 1300 people were injured when a freight train carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at Longchuan County railway station around 1:00 p.m. local time.According to an official investigation revealed by the KCNA, when the explosion occurred, the carriage carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer touched the high-voltage catenary of the electrified railway and caused the explosion. The power of the explosion is equivalent to that of more than 100 tons of explosives. The ground is blasted out of a large pit, and the radius of the blast wave reaches 4 km.Longchuan railway station was completely destroyed. Public buildings, more than 30 industrial and commercial facilities and 8100 houses within 500 meters around the station were destroyed. About 1850 buildings collapsed and 6350 buildings were damaged. After the incident, the DPRK rarely applied to the United Nations for international assistance.As Kim Jong Il, then North Korean leader, ended his visit to China on the day of the explosion, he passed the station just a few hours ago when he returned home by special train. Some people regard it as the assassination of Kim Jong Il, but the South Korean intelligence service thinks it was just an accident.In China, there have been incidents, including the Qingshuihe accident in Shenzhen in 1993, and the explosion in Tianjin port that shook the whole country in 2015.According to the investigation, more than 11300 tons of dangerous goods, including 290 tons of nitrocellulose and 800 tons of ammonium nitrate, were stored in the dangerous goods warehouse of Ruihai company on the day of the incident.Due to the loss of wetting agent, nitrocellulose accumulated heat and spontaneous combustion, causing adjacent hazardous chemicals to burn in large areas for a long time. Flame baking and high temperature thermal radiation lead to the explosion temperature of hazardous chemicals such as ammonium nitrate.At 23:34:06 p.m., the first big explosion occurred, and 31 seconds later, a second big explosion occurred. After calculation, the total explosion energy of the accident is equivalent to 450 tons of TNT equivalent.173 people were killed in the accident (including 104 firefighters, 11 police officers, 58 employees and residents of the accident enterprises and surrounding enterprises), and 798 people were injured.In another week, it will be the 5th anniversary of the explosion in Tianjin port. Here once again, I would like to express my gratitude to the victims of the martyrs and the victims!No matter in developed and developing countries, industrial accidents are difficult to eliminate completely. The United States, Britain, Germany, France and other western developed countries, as well as the global chemical giants Monsanto, BASF and total, are on the list of the terrible big bang of ammonium nitrate.Some are accidents, some are serious and bad liability accidents.After the previous major accidents, all countries should introduce corresponding institutional improvements, such as strictly controlling the urbanization construction in high-risk areas, strengthening the safety inspection of industrial facilities, and strictly keeping the safety distance between facilities according to the regulations, so as to reduce the risk from the source.The big bang happened in Beirut in the evening, waking up again after a night of fear.According to subsequent information, more detailed causes of the explosion have been identified:The 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate from the explosion has been passivated and came from a dilapidated cargo ship from Batumi port, Georgia, in 2013, to Mozambique.In the sea near Lebanon, the cargo ship encountered technical problems and made an emergency call at Beirut port. After inspection by Lebanon as the port state authority, it is considered that the ship is not allowed to navigate.Not long after that, the Charterers and freight companies lost interest in the goods and ships. Referring to the price of domestic fertilizer in China, ammonium nitrate was only 2000 yuan per ton, and 2750 tons was more than 6 million yuan.On the origin of explosivesThe old cargo ship was abandoned by the shipowner, and the ammonium nitrate cargo was abandoned by the cargo owner. The ship's supplies, fuel and supplies were quickly used up and the crew were repatriated.Due to the risk of leaving ammonium nitrate on board ships, port and judicial authorities discharged them to the port hazardous chemicals warehouse in 2014 until 2020.A while ago, when checking another dangerous chemicals warehouse next door, it was found that the warehouse door was in urgent need of maintenance. Therefore, on the afternoon of August 4, the staff began to weld the warehouse door with explosives.During this period, welding sparks ignited the explosives in the warehouse and caused explosion fire. Next, the fire heated up, causing an explosion of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse next door.It was really a very low-level, horrifying mistake.The explosive storehouse is not that electric welding is not allowed, but the surrounding inflammable materials must be completely cleaned before operation, and the safety performance of operation tools and instruments must be fully inspected.During the operation, the safety management personnel in the operation area shall supervise the whole process, and the fire-fighting vehicles, personnel and fire-fighting facilities shall be on standby and monitored at any time.The management of Beirut port authority is extensive, and the departments at all levels lack the sense of responsibility. Indeed, as president ORN said, this is "unacceptable" and "the most severe punishment" should be faced by those responsible.So much ammonium nitrate certainly did not appear out of thin air. Soon, the media all dug up its source.According to foreign media reports, the dangerous goods first appeared in 2013 and belonged to Igor grechushkin, a Russian businessman. He and his wife currently live in Cyprus.At that time, the cargo ship carrying ammonium nitrate was on its way from Georgia to Mozambique, but it broke down on the way, and it was urgently stopped in Beirut for maintenance.It is speculated that Igor, a businessman, might want to sell the goods to the army or the explosive manufacturer, but the business failed,At this time, the Lebanon authorities found Igor's cargo ship. Due to the lack of documents needed for transportation, the ship and goods were seized and a huge fine had to be paid.As a result, Igor, a merchant, declared bankruptcy and abandoned the cargo ship in Beirut,Ammonium nitrate stayed on board for several months before it was unloaded and transported to the port's warehouse No. 12,Since then, this large quantity of ammonium nitrate has been kept in the warehouse in Beirut port, no one wants or manages it.Over the next six years, officials issued six warnings.On 27 June 2014, shafik Merhi, then head of the customs of Lebanon, issued a warning for the first time that there was a security risk in the storage of dangerous chemicals in ports.In 2016, an official wrote in a letter: "in view of the fact that the goods are being stored in an inappropriate environment, they are of serious danger. Once again, we ask the maritime affairs agency to transfer the cargo immediately so as to maintain the safety of the port. "However, there was no response to the letter.In 2017, Badri DAHER, the new customs chief, made a ruling request to the judge to transfer the ammonium nitrate,The results were ignored again, and ammonium nitrate was still left in the warehouse.According to a source, ammonium nitrate was also examined just six months ago, warning that if they were transferred, it could "blow up all the residents of Beirut.".The warning has not been taken seriously.In this way, 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate stayed in the warehouse of Beirut port for six years, and the officials reflected that there was no change,Until yesterday there was an explosion, causing tragedy.Immediately after the explosion, Badri DAHER, the chief of customs, targeted the judiciary,They said they had repeatedly told the judiciary that there were dangerous chemicals in the warehouse, but no one paid attention.This time, the premier said to punish those responsible, and follow-up investigation is inevitable.Write it at the endA large area of Beirut has been affected, the streets are devastated and large buildings have been destroyed. It is estimated that between 250000 and 300000 people will be homeless.The streets of Beirut are full of broken heads and bloodshed:Four hospitals near the port of Beirut have been shut down because of serious explosions.Rima Azar, director of the bikhazi medical group hospital in Beirut, said a large number of glass in the hospital broke and the door of the hospital entrance was completely shattered,"In some wards, the whole ceiling hits the patient."But even if the building was damaged, the hospital received about 500 patients within hours of the incident, including one woman who had died of bleeding when she arrived.Near the port of Beirut, countless people crying for missing relatives can be seen, showing photos of the missing relatives and describing their appearance to rescuers and random strangers, but most of the responses are just shaking their heads.As the medical system has been completely overcrowded, doctors can only refuse minor injuries.Some of the life-threatening injuries had to be sent to other nearby cities for treatment.After the explosion, everything in Beirut was like the ruins of the war.Below is a resident living outside Beirut's seaport station.His home was completely destroyed in the explosion, with windows and balconies smashed in an instantAt the time of the explosion, clergy in a church in Beirut were praying and were nearly hit by a falling buildingLocal resident Mar Mikhail lives near the port. After the explosion, she walked out of her house in panic and saw many victims lying in the street,"The victims should have been blown out of balconies and buildings, and their families have not yet found them."As of the deadline, the search and rescue continued.A Lebanon man was rescued after being trapped in a big explosion for 10 hours:Lebanon has just been replaced by a new prime minister and is looking forward to a better life. In the wake of this shocking explosion, all the imported wheat stored in the port has been destroyed (80% of Lebanon's grain depends on imports), which can be described as a double whammy.After the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, less affluent Lebanon donated US $75000 to China. Today, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China is deeply shocked and saddened and is willing to provide help to Lebanon within its capacity. Even Israel, which has always had a gap with Lebanon, has declared that it will provide relevant assistance to Lebanon. The United Nations, the United Kingdom, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Syria Both expressed their willingness to provide assistance.After all, such an accident is a common disaster of mankind and needs the help of the whole world - I sincerely hope that the suffering people of Lebanon can tide over the difficulties and rebuild their homeland.