Nuclear Explosion over Donetsk Ukraine?

On Feb 8, 2015, several reports came out of the city of Donetsk, Ukraine about a large explosion. Video of the bombing showed what appeared to be a small mushroom cloud. This was quickly conjoined with an alleged image from space showing a massive "fireball", which then fueled reports about a tactical nuclear device being detonated by Ukrainian forces against the separatists.

Sites Inforwars, ZeroHedge, Russia Today, and even the UK's Daily Mail all posted about the explosion and related worries about a potential nuclear disaster.

The video, which has been viewed over 2.6 million times can be seen here:

From Youtube user Самооборона Горловки

ZeroHedge reported that the explosion could be seen from space and posted this picture as "proof".

The truth is somewhat less cataclysmic.  

The video is of a real explosion, a normal non-nuclear bomb fell on a chemical factory. The image promoted by ZeroHedge author Tyler Durden was actually taken by astronaut Terry Virts from the International Space Station, and is nothing more than a sunrise. You can see Terry Virts' Twitter posting of the image here.

While the Daily Mail mentions that some were concerned about it being a nuclear explosion, the article clearly states, "A giant explosion which rocked the Ukrainian city of Donetsk sparked fears of a 'tactical nuke' after pro-government forces shelled a rebel-held chemical plant."

Not to mention that if it was a legitimate nuclear detonation, radiation detectors all over eastern Europe would have picked up on the very telltale signature of a nuclear explosion and news organizations the world over would have been reporting on it. Let's not forget that this is Ukraine, home of Chernobyl.

Neither the size, nor brightness of the explosion were indicative of it being a nuclear detonation - tactical or not. This was just another example of pro-Russian propaganda. Conspiracy theorists tried to spin it as 'the poor ethnic minorities seeking freedom have been nuked by the evil pro-Western Ukrainians'. In reality, they've successfully shown they have succumbed to "nuclear foot-in-mouth disease".

A bit of advice: sites like InfoWars have absolutely no credibility so ignore them and use some common sense.

For the record, mushroom cloud explosions are not the sole domain of nuclear annihilation. In fact, any adequately large explosion will result in a mushroom could.

Here's a video of a fertilizer plant explosion in Waco, Texas. You can see the main explosion from time index 1:22.

Jacob Bogle, 2/10/15
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Twitter.com/jacobbogle



H/T to Laura Bohling and Tom Puschak for bringing this Internet rumor to my attention.

Clint Eastwood & Bohemian Grove

This picture has been making the Internet circuit lately.

It purportedly shows Clint Eastwood at the secretive Californian club "Bohemian Grove" in 1987.

The Bohemian Grove is a secret all-male group of people that meet at a large wooded compound in California. And while the location and club actually exist their purpose and what goes on there is subject to widespread conspiracies, many with little substantive facts.

This picture began showing up after Eastwood spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

After a fairly extensive online search I have zero evidence that Eastwood is a member despite finding multiple lists of probable and real members. All I have found are a few "off-the-path" sites saying he is a "confirmed member", all the while giving no supporting evidence.

One key factor to pay attention to is the watermark on the image. It says "memcreator.org". The site allows you to take any picture and add whatever text you want to it and then pass it along as an Internet meme.

Now, while I can find no verifiable evidence that Eastwood is a member that doesn't mean he is not and there have been rumors that he is for a few years.

What I find amazing is that so many people are using this image as some sort of proof. It proves nothing. You would think that such an old photo would have been online, however, a Google image search for "Clint Eastwood Bohemian Grove" (and several other terms) yielded nothing, not even his name associated with the hundreds of Grove photos out there.

True or false, for anyone who loves truth over misinformation, you should always do your homework and verify things before posting them as fact.

Personally, the fact that this picture has only shown up since his RNC "speech" and was created via memecreator.org looks as though this is just a hoax...even if he is a member, this picture doesn't prove anything.

--Jacob Bogle