RIP WTC 7

Dear Reader,

11 September 2001. 19 years ago, today. Our thoughts go out to all those who were, and still are affected by the tragedy.

Like the death of JFK for an earlier generation, anyone who experienced that event knows exactly where they were when it happened.

I was living in an apartment in Bondi at the time. My housemate and I were watching Hoop Dreams, a doco about American kids trying to make their way to the NBA — the basketball big league in the US.

It was around 11pm on Tuesday evening. One of our friends called and told us to switch over to the news. I remember seeing vision of the Twin Towers, one of them with black smoke billowing from the top.

And the rest, as they say, is history…

That moment changed the world. Irrevocably. And the scars remain to this day.

And 19 years after 9/11, there are still a number of highly troubling questions about the attacks on New York that haven’t been addressed. I doubt they ever will be.

And in the age of COVID, where heartless and deceitful politicians incite fear to divide their citizens and keep them compliant, it’s worth remembering these people are not in power for your benefit. It is only for theirs.

With that in mind, here are just a few questions about that fateful day that remain unanswered…

Why were no military jets scrambled to intercept the aircraft? The first flight lost contact with air traffic controllers at 8:15am, 30 minutes before it hit the north tower.

The second flight veered off course at 8:42am, 21 minutes before it hit the south tower. And Flight 77 veered off course at 8:46am, nearly an hour before it hit the Pentagon.

Are we expected to believe that the greatest military force on Earth couldn’t respond in the timeframes given?

And why did the Federal Aviation Administration destroy recordings of New York’s air traffic controllers on duty that day?

Why was there a big increase in put options bought on the two airlines involved, United Airlines and American Airlines, reinsurance companies Munich Re and AXA, and a surge in call options on weapons manufacturer Raytheon?

Put options are a bet on a falling share price while call options are a bet on a rising share price. That’s some coincidence, no?

If you want more unanswered questions, check this out. It’s tragically funny. It makes you realise governments are not in the business of telling the truth.

OK. Things smell pretty fishy right about now. But the real stinker came later in the afternoon.

At 5:20pm, World Trade Centre building seven (WTC 7) collapsed. The official story is that this 47-story tower collapsed due to burning fires, which in turn resulted from the earlier collapse of the Twin Towers.

As many independent experts have said, if that was the case, it’s the first modern skyscraper in history to execute a perfect collapse from a fire. And if you watch WTC 7 come down, it looks very much like a controlled explosion. You can check it out, here.

If you’re still sceptical, then perhaps this might get you over the line…

A number of news networks reported the collapse of WTC 7…before it actually occurred! You can view the details of that here. Note, some of the videos are ‘no longer available’. But you’ll get the gist of it. Which is…

The BBC and other networks reported on the collapse of WTC 7 around 25 minutes before it happened!

How could that be?

Have you heard about Operation Mockingbird? It was set up by the CIA in the 1950s to ensure the mainstream media (MSM) is on board with the official government directive narrative. By and large, we only read about what they want us to hear.

On September 11 there was obviously a lot of communication between government agencies and the MSM. My guess is that someone stuffed up and sent the memo to the media about WTC 7 too early. How else could they report on it before it happened?

In 2008, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a report stating that science backed up the claim that WTC 7 collapsed due to fire. A year later, David Ray Griffin, an authority on the subject, debunked this view in his book, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7.

A review of the book by Richard Gage, a member of the American Institute of Architects, stated:

‘David Ray Griffin has provided a comprehensive dismantling of NIST's theory about WTC 7, according to which it suffered global collapse because of ordinary building fires. Besides showing that NIST committed massive scientific fraud, Griffin also points out that NIST was able to complete its theory only by affirming a miracle: a steel-framed high-rise building coming down in free fall even though explosives had not been used to remove its columns.’

Why was WTC 7 demolished? What was in there that was convenient to destroy that day?

I don’t know the answer to that. But the whole thing stinks. And the fact that the MSM didn’t hold the government to account over these glaring questions gives you an idea of their complicity.

This is why I often put the boot into the mainstream media. Their agenda is for the 1%, not for you or me.

It’s a sad day for the people of New York and the US. We are thinking of you…

Regards,

Greg Canavan,
Editor, The Rum Rebellion

21st Century Bummer
By Bill Bonner

‘In this bright future, you can’t forget your past.’

Bob Marley

What a colossal flop!

We’re talking about the 21st century. A failure in almost every way.

We now have 30 million people on unemployment — nearly 20% of the labour force.

We have a budget deficit of nearly 20% of GDP.

And, despite already spending $2 for every $1 they collect in taxes, the feds are planning to spend more.

We have phony ‘conservatives’ waving the flag…and real radicals trying to tear it down. On both sides are more and more loonies, locked and loaded…

Even many of our own dear readers are ready to go to war with each other. This is from yesterday’s mailbag:

‘Hey Dude, we are at WAR! Trump leads the Win-the-War Party! The Neo Repubs are the “What? Me, worry?” Party. And you are like the pet dog nipping at the heels of the soldiers marching past!

‘No matter the cost, we must win the war against socialism and the Ds. There is time enough to purify ourselves after we win! If we lose, it will be a “thousand years” before our experiment is tried again…Meanwhile it is your obligation to support those who are fighting, regardless of technique and strategy…TRUMP!’

Nasty themes

It is hard to figure out how an administration that declares a moratorium on rent collection, stifles free trade, and runs a deficit of 20% of GDP could save us from socialism…but in this great 21st century future, wonders never cease.

This week, in this ‘new normal’, we’ve been trying to remember what the ‘old normal’ was like. And was it really better? Or is it just us?

We recalled what it must have been like when we were born. Of course, it was a very different world back then.

But don’t the same principles…the same gravity…and the same Constitution still apply? Grace, charm, wit, and civility…or boorishness, blockheadedness, and cruelty — aren’t the choices still the same?

By our reckoning, life in the US seemed more or less civilised until the end of the 20th century. Then, several nasty themes took centre stage:

The hubris of people who thought they were ‘exceptional’, beyond good and evil…and not subject to the same rules as others…

…the degeneration of an empire — spending too much…throwing its weight around…depending too much on its military…

…the disappearance of true ‘conservatives’…

…the inevitable failure of a fake (paper) money system; none ever survived a full credit cycle…

…the disappointment of technology. Back in the 1960s, we imagined the 21st century as a marvel of freedom, flying cars, and Jetson-like machines. Instead, we are cowed by a virus…and held prisoners by iPhones and Zoom calls…with falling GDP growth rates to boot…

…and the corruption of democracy into demagoguery, with its bread and circuses…its mobs and messiahs…its clowns and carnival barkers…

The 21st century? What a bummer!

Good old days

But let’s try to remember what it was like in the late 1990s, before the new century began.

The economy was strong…so strong that the government’s tax receipts more than kept up with the Clinton team’s boondoggles.

The national debt was actually going down. This was partly because the Tea Party Republicans were still conservative…and able to block spending.

The US had troops all over the world. But there was only one important and shameful engagement that we recall — in Kosovo.

There were impeachment proceedings against Mr Clinton and bitter partisan battles in Washington. But we don’t remember the public with knives at each other’s throats.

Downhill

Then came the year 2000…and everything seemed to head down.

First, the dotcom bubble blew up…and the Nasdaq collapsed. There was nothing particularly unusual or sinister about it. That’s the way markets work. They correct mistakes.

But the future was casting a long shadow…the new technology would disappoint us…and the feds would make a bad situation worse.

The Federal Reserve had already gotten into the bad habit of backstopping Wall Street. It cut its key rate from 6.5% down to 1%. This led to the next bubble in mortgage finance/real estate…which blew up eight years later.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration made one of the biggest blunders in US history. Outraged over 9/11, it declared war against a military tactic — terror. (Why not? The feds were already ‘at war’ with poverty, drugs, and cancer.)

And then, it attacked a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 — Iraq. The bills from that disaster are still coming in. Brown University released the latest figures last week. Business Insider reports:

‘At least 37 million people have been displaced by America’s “global war on terror”, according to a new report from Brown University’s Cost of War project.

‘The number of displaced people could be as high as 59 million, the report states.

‘Displacement has caused “incalculable harm to individuals, families, towns, cities, regions, and entire countries physically, socially, emotionally, and economically,” the report states.

‘The federal government’s price tag for the war on terror is over $6.4 trillion, and it killed over 800,000 people in direct war violence.’

Growing divide

Then, in the financial crisis of 2008/09, the feds went into panic mode again. This time, they mounted the most expensive Wall Street rescue ever — with $3.6 trillion created by the Federal Reserve and pumped into asset prices.

Stock prices rebounded, and soon went back into bubble territory. But the economy limped along through the weakest recovery ever.

This produced a huge gap between the financialised Wall Street fantasy and the real economy of Main Street.

And it caused a growing divide — inequality — between the top 10% of the population, which owns nearly 90% of financial assets, and the bottom 90%, which depends on Main Street employment for its money.

The Fed claimed this extraordinary exercise in money printing and meddling was just temporary…and that it would bring things back to ‘normal’ as soon as the crisis was over.

Never-ending crisis

But the crisis never ended.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit this year, the Fed had the presses running hot in its ‘Repo Madness’ program — in effect, it printed the money needed to fund the Trump administration’s deficits.

Which brings us up to this year — to two even bigger mistakes…bigger deficits…more money printing…more meddling…more debt…

…and more disaster ahead.

Regards,

Bill Bonner,
For The Rum Rebellion