peace: [mpen-dayton] FW: "On This National Day of Remembrance (9/11)" & "Outrageous new evidence that Trump's voting commission is a SHAM'" and more

FYI. Best, Munsup

P.S. Please reply back to me with ‘unsubscribe’ added to the subject line if you no longer want to receive my e-Newsletters. The convenient link to unsubscribe is no longer available due to security reasons to protect my email servers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FW: [Info] 9/11/1973 - U.S. backed Coup in Chile
FW: On This National Day of Remembrance (9/11)
FW: Signature Needed: Universal Healthcare or Bust
FW: Voter suppression commission meeting TODAY - help us END IT!
FW: Outrageous new evidence that Trump's voting commission is a SHAM
FW: BREAKING - MORE incredible updates on Trump's commission! (please read)
FW: Charles Blow: "Soul Survival in Trump’s Hell" - NYTimes.com
FW: Peak Hypocrisy; "Dox"ing Adversaries; The Cost of Criticism; Sanitizing History; Two Confessions
FW: This petition is going VIRAL
FW: A great explanation of 'White Privilege'
The 9/11 Attacks, “Keeping the Lid on the Lie”: Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: carl bunin
Subject: [Info] September 11, 1973 - U.S. backed Coup in Chile

September 11, 1973

Chile's armed forces staged a coup d'etat against the government of President Salvador Allende, the first democratically elected socialist head of state in Latin America.

Some three thousand were held in Santiago's national stadium where guards singled out folksinger Victor Jara as he continued to sing protest songs. Jara was viciously beaten, and his mutilated body machine-gunned in front of the other prisoners.

The U.S. government, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had worked for three years to foment the coup against Allende.

continued > bit.ly/CoupInChile

From: David K. Greer on behalf of Dave Isay; Founder and President
Subject: FW: On This National Day of Remembrance

Trouble viewing this email? View it as a webpage.

Today, as Americans, we come together to remember those lost and affected by the national tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001. In order to amplify the voices of those directly impacted by the terrors of that day, I would like to share with you the story of Salman Hamdani.

Salman’s mother, Talat Hamdani, came to StoryCorps with her niece, Armeen Hamdani, to remember the days after Salman went missing. Click here or below to hear their story.

Like thousands of other families, the Hamdanis spent the weeks following the attacks searching for their son, but, unlike others, they were forced to deal with the burden of suspicion that was thrust on them because of their background and faith.

Salman had nothing to do with the events of 9/11, but being a Muslim with a Pakistani background made him subject to scrutiny that added further pain to the family's sense of loss and bewilderment.

However, at his April 2002 funeral held at a New York City mosque, Salman was given a hero’s burial and officials across the city were in attendance to remember his sacrifice. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised Salman, saying:

“We have an example of how one can make the world better. Salman stood up when most people would have gone in the other direction.”

Since 2005, StoryCorps and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum have worked to record at least one story to honor each life lost in the attacks on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. To hear more stories of heroism and remembrance, click here.

Help us amplify the voices of those directly impacted by the 9/11 tragedy by sharing their stories on your social media networks today. Together, we can help honor the stories of those most in need of being heard.

From: John Sellers, Other98
Subject: Signature Needed: Universal Healthcare or Bust

This is one of those once-in-a-generation moments: mainstream Dems are getting on board with Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all bill. We have to make enough noise to let the rest of the Senate know that this is how they’ll win our votes in 2018.

We can make universal healthcare the defining issue of the midterm elections next year. Write your senators and demand they get on board now.

The list of Senate cosponsors is growing quickly and already really impressive, with Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand joining luminaries like Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, as well as some rising stars like Tammy Baldwin and Hawaii’s Brian Schatz.

We need to make it clear that Medicare-for-all is a non-negotiable part of being a Democrat. No more excuses, no more half-assing it. It’s universal healthcare or bust. If we want to win in 2018, the Dems need to wake up and fight for the people again. Here’s their golden chance.

The team at Other98 is 100% committed to getting every Senate Democrat on board. We see it as the best and only way to take over the Democratic Party and turn it into a real progressive force that can actually take down Trump in 2020.

The movement to revolutionize American healthcare might also just revolutionize the Democratic party. Tell your senators: it’s now or never. Sign on to Bernie’s Medicare-for-all bill.

P.S. Leveraging this historic Medicare-for-all moment is only the beginning of a long-term strategy that doesn’t let up until 2020. If you’re in it for the long haul with us, please chip in a few bucks to power our work. We appreciate every dollar of your support!

Chip In To Keep Us Going

From: DISBAND Trump’s Voter Suppression Commission! (PFAW) on behalf of Ben Betz; Digital Advocacy Director
Subject: Voter suppression commission meeting TODAY (Sept. 12) - help us END IT!

RIGHT NOW, Trump's voter suppression commission is meeting in New Hampshire, trying to sell widely debunked conspiracy theories about mass illegal voting to advance its voter suppression agenda.

We're mobilizing activists across the country, churning out research to expose the sham of this commission, responding to commission members' lies in the media ... our affiliate PFAW Foundation even ran a full-page ad in the New York Times highlighting the infamous right-wing vote suppressors heading Trump's commission.

Will you make an emergency donation to help PFAW defend the right to vote in the face of Trump's voter suppression commission and other assaults on voting by the Right Wing?

PFAW and PFAW's Right Wing Watch have been covering Trump's sham commission extensively and we've flagged some important concerns leading up to today's meeting that we're keeping a close eye on... things like:

The New Hampshire LIE: Sham commission co-chair Kris Kobach published a column in Breitbart last week recklessly asserting that 'fraudulent' votes swayed the 2016 election results in New Hampshire ... the assertion was met with shock and ridicule based on his egregious misrepresentation of statistics and his seemingly counting legal voting by college students in the state as 'fraudulent.'

The Bannon/Mercer Connection: A report by the right-wing Government Accountability Institute was expected to be heavily featured in today's meeting. That group was run by Steve Bannon until Bannon joined the Trump campaign in August 2016. During that time, GAI paid Bannon a substantial salary while he was also running Breitbart News. GAI has been funded substantially by the notorious Mercer family, major backers of Trump’s campaign and presidency, and Rebekah Mercer currently chairs the organization’s board.

Voter Roll Purges: One person scheduled to speak at today's meeting was Robert Popper, a former colleague of far-right commission member J. Christian Adams. Popper’s prepared testimony centers on federal enforcement of voter roll purges. In the past he has as threatened to sue states and counties unless they purged their voter rolls.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Trump's sham commission is the most aggressive effort yet by the Right Wing to federalize their nationwide attacks on voting rights and ballot access that have been taking place for decades, mostly at the state and local levels.

We need to stop them! Please donate what you can to help do it>>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ben Betz; Digital Advocacy Director, PFAW
Subject: Outrageous new evidence that Trump's voting commission is a SHAM (please read)

The Campaign Legal Center, via a FOIA request, has unearthed a remarkable email sent by an employee of the conservative Heritage Foundation to Attorney General Jeff Sessions declaring that the administration's then-planned commission on 'election integrity' would be an "abject failure" if it were to include Democrats or "mainstream Republican officials and/or academics."

Despite the inclusion of a handful of token Democrats, the commission -- which just had its second meeting today in New Hampshire -- is controlled by a who's who of conservative voter suppression advocates who are clearly setting the agenda, including the Heritage Foundation's own Hans von Spakovsky.

This shows that the administration was under pressure from right-wing groups to stack the commission with voter-suppression ideologues, and they ended up doing exactly that. It offers a window into how groups like Heritage discuss these matters behind closed doors -- that even "mainstream Republicans" aren't pure enough on this issue.

It's also interesting to note that this unnamed Heritage employee chose to email Sessions, indicating that the attorney general may have been involved in the commission's formation.

Just more evidence that this commission is a sham, and has been since its inception...

Here are three things you can do:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: BREAKING - MORE incredible updates on Trump's commission! (please read)

The news just keeps coming!

Last night, the right-wing Heritage Foundation confirmed that the shocking email one of their employees had sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on February 22, insisting that the sham 'election integrity' commission should not include Democrats or even "mainstream Republicans," was in fact written by now-commission member Hans von Spakovsky.^[1]

JUST TWO HOURS earlier than that, a reporter had asked von Spakovsky "point blank" if he had authored the document and he said no!^[2]

ANOTHER reporter was right behind her when she asked and RECORDED the exchange -- he tweeted "your busted, Hans."^[3]

The lying from a radical right-wing vote suppressor like von Spakovsky is certainly not surprising but it is incredibly telling and is more evidence (in what is piling up to be a mountain of evidence) of the shameless dishonestly of the right-wingers behind this commission.

We need to ramp up our campaign to DISBAND this voter suppression commission now.

Please make an emergency donation now to help with this effort!>>

As an attorney in George W. Bush’s Justice Department, Hans von Spakovsky gave the green light to a restrictive voter ID program in Georgia against the advice of career DOJ attorneys -- at the same time he published an op-ed under a pseudonym supporting ID requirements. Since then he’s worked at the far-right Heritage Foundation, whose president openly admitted that his group was working to impose voter ID requirements across the country in order to elect “more conservative candidates.”

He is only one of several right-wing commission members who have made careers out of voter suppression and spreading thoroughly debunked LIES about widespread illegal voting by individuals.

There's also:

Commission co-chair Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and perhaps the chief architect of the Right’s coordinated attack on voting rights. He has been repeatedly sued for making it harder for Kansans to vote. In 2016 he illegally blocked tens of thousands of eligible voters from registering. He repeatedly pushed the racist conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Kenya. In 2015, Kobach said that it was possible that the Obama administration might ban all prosecutions of African Americans.
J. Christian Adams, a former Bush Department of Justice Attorney and a longtime critic of the Voting Rights Act. Adams claimed that under President Obama, the Justice Department’s Voting Rights Division didn’t spend enough time protecting white voters.
Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio Secretary of State and current senior fellow at the Radical Right hate group Family Research Council. In 2004 Blackwell became notorious for his efforts to hinder minority voter registration in Ohio in an effort to support the reelection of President George W. Bush. He’s one of the few current or former election officials to echo Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread illegal voting in the 2016 elections.

Trump's voter commission must be stopped! And we're the ones to do it, but we can only do it together...

Please pitch in what you can now>>

THANK YOU for your continued support and activism on behalf of our democracy and the right to vote.

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: Charles Blow: "Soul Survival in Trump’s Hell" - NYTimes.com

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/opinion/soul-survival-in-trumps-hell.html?mcubz=3&referer=

Soul Survival in Trump’s Hell

You could stay in hell for a little while if you knew that you were going to get out.

My mother always told me that when I was going through something tough and dispiriting. It was her way of saying that trouble doesn’t last forever, that even in your darkest place, hold fast to the hope and the light, that though today you are in the valley, tomorrow you shall scale the peak.

Well, Mama, this is hell. Indeed, Donald Trump’s America is the Ninth Circle.

And while I know that a president is limited to two terms, and I highly doubt that Trump could be re-elected to a second term and think that Robert Mueller’s investigation may curtail the first, I am still struggling to maintain optimism and perseverance.

I don’t think that this is even a matter of fatigue, but rather of the capacity of rage and the length of mourning. Hopelessness is a very human response when the feeling of persecution intersects with the feeling of powerlessness.

Sure, the vast majority of America that doesn’t agree with Trump isn’t completely powerless. People across the country are registering to not only vote but also to run for office. They are pressuring their legislators. They are linking arms in solidarity and raising their voices in protest. They are saying that this administration and this man are abominations and they will not sit silently by, thereby giving passive approval or grudging acceptance.

I see these people. I applaud these people. I try my best to encourage these people. But I also know that the power of the resistance is limited, and the best way to achieve real change and a real reversal of the damage that’s been done won’t come until the polls open in the next round of elections. The real change will come when those who felt compelled to stand on principle and not participate in an election in which they felt they were being forced to choose between “the lesser of two evils” realize the staggering magnitude of the gap between those “two evils.”

By the way, the lesser-of-two-evils argument is poppycock. The choice people faced in November was the difference between dim light and absolute darkness. There really was no comparison. The false parity was a media concoction and a Russian propaganda weapon.

Also, people have to stop thinking that because they see some corruption in the system, they can live outside that system by not participating in it in any way, including electorally. No, every minute of every day you are in the system; the safety or menace you feel is the system. The streets you drive on are part of the system. The deductions from your paycheck are part of the system. By not voting you don’t buck the system, but succumb to it; you don’t show your strength, but expose your weakness.

Furthermore, we have to deal with racialized voter disenfranchisement. Many people didn’t vote because they couldn’t. The systematic conservative attack, state by state, on voting access is a national scandal that receives far less attention than it deserves.

But I have faith that more Americans will overcome the barriers to participation that have been erected to nullify their votes.

I have faith that America is learning a lesson about the folly of throwing a monkey wrench into the machine in an attempt to break it.

I have faith that America has learned that elections have consequences and that the power of the presidency in the hands of a pariah is an awesomely dangerous thing.

I have faith that America has learned that there are not easy remedies to decisions made behind a curtain and in a fit of pique.

But I will not know if that faith is well placed until I know the results of the next election.

Until then, it is hard to witness successive hurricanes wreak havoc on Americans and realize that the science behind recognizing the global warming that contributes to more extreme weather events is not believed by America’s ruling party.

It is hard to witness a president so obsessed with the obliteration of the legacy of his predecessor that he is attempting to undo that legacy with every stroke of his pen.

It is hard to witness a bully attack traditionally marginalized communities, one after the other.

It is hard to witness a family of corruption besmirching the presidency, the country and America’s standing in the world.

It is hard to witness the dismantling of basic norms, the dismissal of propriety and the devaluation of truth and honesty.

It is like being injured and having the offender repeatedly pound the wound before it can properly heal.

Like many Americans, I try my best to do the small affirming things in my family and in my community that express my love and reaffirm my values. I spend a bit more time in museums and give a bit more space for the activities that celebrate the creative imagination and that express the long tumultuous span of the human condition. I try to nourish my soul so that it will survive, because I know that the fight is not finished.

We are in hell. We have to remember that one day we will get out.

I invite you to join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter (@CharlesMBlow), or e-mail me at chblow@nytimes.com.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

From: Thomas Scott
Subject: Peak Hypocrisy; "Dox"ing Adversaries; The Cost of Criticism; Sanitizing History

Republicans hit peak racial hypocrisy: Their condemnation of white supremacy is laughable

How Right-Wing Extremists Stalk, Dox, and Harass Their Enemies

Socialist Forced Off Democratic Campaign for Criticism of Israel

Charlie Hebdo May Now Be Criticized Because It Mocked White Texans Rather Than Muslims

Confederate monument supporters are the ones really sanitizing history | Ricky L. Jones

I worked for Republicans and Breitbart. Trump made me see what’s wrong with the GOP.

Confessions of a former neo-Confederate

From: tbacane
Subject: FW: This petition is going VIRAL [did you miss it??]

The TRAITOR Trump/Russian investigation must continue! We must not allow TRAITOR Trump and his criminal allies to stop it, please sign the petition. Russia helped put this incompetent TRAITOR in the whitehouse and we can help remove him from that office!!! WAKE UP AMERICANS!!!

---------------- Forwarded Message ----------------

From: Notification from BOLD Democrats

This petition is going VIRAL on our website -- but you haven’t signed it yet.

We need as many Democrats as possible to sign on and STOP Congress from blocking Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation.

SIGN NOW: Stop Congress from blocking Trump-Russia investigation >>

SIGN THE PETITION >>

The Republican Congress is trying to DERAIL the Trump-Russia investigation.

They know Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is getting closer and closer to exposing Trump’s ties to Russia.

We can’t let Congress stand in the way of the truth.

We need 20,000 signatures to STOP Congress from interfering in Mueller’s Trump-Russia Investigation. Sign your name ASAP:

SIGN ON: Protect Mueller investigation >>

By standing in Mueller’s way, Congress is trying to cover-up for the President.

The American people demand to know the truth about Russia’s involvement in our elections. We expect the legislators elected BY THE PEOPLE to respect the people’s wishes.

We can’t let them do this. It’s on us to speak out and STOP Congress from interfering in the Trump-Russia investigation. Sign your name immediately:

http://go.boldpac.com/Trump-Russia-Congress

From: Eric Kramer
Subject: A great explanation of 'White Privilege'

https://www.quora.com/I-am-white-Thats-all-you-know-about-me-Am-I-privileged-based-on-that-alone-and-assuming-I-am-should-I-feel-guilt-and-what-should-I-do-about-it/answer/Omar-Ismail-33?ref=fb

I am white. That's all you know about me. Am I privileged based on that alone and assuming I am, should I feel guilt and what should I do about it?

Omar IsmailComedian, Stand Up Comedian 2010-present, Studied at Durham University, Lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Absolutely.

Consider it this way. All I know about you is you’re tall.

Do you have any advantages?

Yes.

Does that mean you don’t deserve the can of tuna on the higher shelf? No. Nobody is saying that. Eat away mighty giant.

Should you feel guilty about getting the tuna from the top shelf? No. Nobody is saying that. Lighten your soul’s burden and let it fly free in the clouds beneath your knees.

Does that mean short people can’t get the tuna? No.

Nobody is saying that. See how the enduring hobbit pushes forward in her quest.

Does that mean there aren’t disadvantages of being tall? No.

Nobody is saying that. You have our sympathy for your poor bruised knees.

What people are saying is:

Denying you are lucky is silly.
Stop looking bewildered every time a short person can’t reach something. We’re sick of explaining this incredibly simple concept.
We know there are things you do not have (i.e. even higher shelves).
We know there may be other things preventing you reaching the high shelves. Maybe you have bad elbows or arthritis. Short people with arthritis are still below you. You are still lucky you are tall.
It works out well for most people, for the grocery store to put most things on medium shelves.
If you can help shorter people with things on higher shelves, do so. Why would you not do that? Short people can help you with stuff on lower shelves.
We are annoyed that the people who run the grocery store put all the best stuff on the top shelves.
There are a lot of people who are putting things on higher shelves because they hate short people. Don’t associate with those people. They want everything to be about this height:

Same with white. Advantages. It doesn’t mean you’re rich. It doesn’t mean you’re luckier than a lucky black guy. Nobody wants you to be crippled with guilt. Nobody has ever wanted that, or means those things.

It means you have an advantage, and all anyone is asking is that you *get* that. Once you get that, it’s pretty straightforward to all the further implications.

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: The 9/11 Attacks, “Keeping the Lid on the Lie”: Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement | Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-911-attacks-keeping-the-lid-on-the-lie-media-response-to-the-growing-influence-of-the-911-truth-movement/5373217

The 9/11 Attacks, “Keeping the Lid on the Lie”:
Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement

Elizabeth Woodworth on 12 March 2014

It is impossible to keep the lid on a lie forever – especially a major deception carried out in full view of witnesses and cameras.

The last article in the Media Response series was published in February 2010, when public broadcasters in eight countries were reporting doubts about the official 9/11 story, and nine corporate media reviews had explored the issue during the previous year.[1]

Since then, the mainstream media has forged ahead on the subject. In the past six months alone, 20 stories in major papers have covered the September-December 2013 ReThink911 campaign – including Time Magazine, the NYT, the Ottawa Citizen, and BBC News Magazine.

As time passes our memories of 9/11 becomes less painful and more open to public discussion. There is increasing skepticism in both the social and corporate media about the credibility of 9/11 as the foundation for the continuing global war on terror.

Last year, President Obama was prevented from waging – on grounds of state terrorism –war with Syria.

As of March 2014, seven congressmen, backed by impacted 9/11 families, are calling for the release of a secret 2002 congressional study that implicates Saudi Arabia in financing the alleged hijackers.

Establishing the truth about 9/11 is a fundamental necessity for the achievement of peace between East and West.

The horrendous visual images of airliners careening into the tallest buildings in America were seared into the collective world brain on 9/11.

This collective human experience has been so powerful and haunting that no equally powerful and pervasive experience has emerged to show that the Twin Towers were not brought down by Muslim hijackers run by Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan.

Yet the weakness and falsity of the official story has been amply demonstrated by more than a decade of peer-reviewed research and scholarship, as shown by the 23-member 9/11 Consensus Panel’s evidence-based Consensus Points and reading list.[2]

And people suspect this. A 2011 poll shows that 42% of Canadians believe US government information about 9/11 has been intentionally hidden from the public.[3]

The tale of 19 hijackers is viewed more and more as a construct – and the “reality” that it created, as a contrived perception.

If there is one force with the power to reverse this perception, it is the dynamic ReThink911 campaign, which has taken hold strongly in the US and Canada and has plans to expand into Britain and other countries.

The ReThink911 Campaign

The ReThink911 organization spearheads its campaign with the Achilles heel of the 9/11 perception – the sudden collapse, later in the day, of the 47-storey steel skyscraper World Trade Center 7, which stood adjacent to the Twin Towers.

Massive in area, Seven’s base was the size of a football field. It was not hit by a plane.

It took the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) seven years to devise a computer simulation purporting to show how an enormous steel skyscraper could collapse symmetrically with a level roofline in six seconds – from “office fires” alone.

One dismayed professor of chemistry told how he watched its collapse ten times on YouTube, his “jaw dropping lower and lower…I have not slept since that day.”[4]

But NIST concluded that on one floor, one over-heated beam expanded and detached from one pillar, thereby causing the entire building to drop like a stone –with all columns failing simultaneously.[5]

So for the month of September 2013, ReThink911 purchased large blue and orange billboards in major cities across Canada, the US, England, and Australia.

These included an enormous 5-storey high sign[6] in New York City’s Times Square, posted throughout September and October, and seen by millions of people. A similar sign was posted in Dundas Square, Toronto.[7]

Needless to say, the media could hardly ignore an “elephant in the room” this size, towering beyond the windows of the New York Times.

How did the media deal with the situation?

First, it is important to consider that the survival of truth in a democracy rests on the outcome of an information war that is based largely on psychological operations and propaganda.

With regard to the truth about 911, the history of corporate media reporting is reminiscent of Gandhi’s famous statement: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

In 2010, at the time of my last media survey, the mainstream media was waking up to research from the 911 truth community.

By the fall of 2013, the new ReThink911 campaign had gained considerable attention in papers such as the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC Magazine, and the Ottawa Citizen.

Most of the 20 or so stories were neutral in tone, with only a few ridiculing or opposing the campaign.

I. New York City:

On October 15, 2013, New York’spopular Village Voice ran a long story about the ReThink911 billboards in Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Sydney, and London – with the enormous Times Square ad as the centerpiece – adding that

“Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has denounced the NIST report as fraudulent and insist the truth has yet to be revealed.”[8]

The Village Voice then gave a lengthy description of the ReThink911 media blitz, printing about a dozen of the 200 emails they had received, and ending with “Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.” (The article attracted 79 comments.)

Compare this to the rambling Libertarian Republic article[9] that set out to debunk what it called persistent “conspiracy theories.” (The term “conspiracy theory” is a well known psychological thought-stopper.)

It was full of superficial obsolete evidence (compared, for example, to new evidence emerging through the 9/11 Consensus Panel’s research[10]) and full of irrelevant speculation about what motivates 9/11 researchers.

Understandably, it received only one comment.

However, the piece was published in a mainstream conservative journal, and because the author had worked long and hard to challenge the ReThink911 campaign, and because the publisher gave it so much space, it fits into Gandhi’s category #3, “then they fight you.” (which is the last stage before truth wins)

Time Magazine, on the other hand, published an objective account (on September 11, 2013 anniversary) about the ReThink911 campaign’s leading spokesman, architect Richard Gage:

In 2006, Richard Gage, a San Francisco-based architect, founded Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, which doubts Building 7 collapsed because of fire. Gage and other architects and engineers argue that 7 World Trade Center came down in a free fall, which could only have been caused by a deliberate demolition explosion. More than 2,000 architects and engineers have signed a petition calling for a new investigation into the building’s collapse.[11]

However, Time marginalized public support for the controlled demolition evidence by citing a 2011 BBC poll showing that only 15% of Americans believe the government was involved.[12]

Note that back in September 2006 Time had reported:

“A Scripps-Howard poll of 1,010 adults last month found that 36% of Americans consider it ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ that government officials either allowed the attacks to be carried out or carried out the attacks themselves. Thirty-six percent adds up to a lot of people. This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality.”[13]

The New York Times, also on the September 11, 2013 anniversary, reported in neutral terms that “a group known as Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, which wants a new investigation into the events that day, is buying billboards in New York and other cities as part of what it calls its Rethink911 campaign,” and linked to the ReThink911.org website.[14]

And in January 2014, the Village Voice ran a second article featuring actor Austin Farwell (“The Long Ride Home”), who wrote:

I hope and pray daily that we as a nation recognize that forensic evidence exists proving that Building 7 was brought down in a controlled demolition. We at rethink911.org and the entire crew at Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth have been tirelessly pursuing recognition for our peer-reviewed critiques and experiments into how and why Building 7 (the third tower to fall at freefall speed on 9/11) fell the way it did. Our hope in another new year is that the American people receive a true and impartial investigation into the events of 9/11.[15]

In summary: Twelve years after the event, the New York media has become simply factual – rather than dismissive and scornful – in reporting the work of a credible professional group calling for a reinvestigation of 9/11.

This move beyond “ignoring” and “ridiculing” signals a sea change in media receptivity to the idea that rogue elements within the US were somehow complicit in 911.

II. “Then They Fight You”

However, three news accounts were either sensational or condescending in taking issue with the ReThink911 evidence.

The Dallas Observer, referring to Dallas as the “City of Hate,” wrote at the top of its piece, “We Apologize in Advance for This Particular Item.”[16] It then lumped together doubts about Pearl Harbor, JFK, and 9/11 as (thought-stopping) conspiracy theories.

The Observer did do its homework, though – enough to cite an academic paper arguing against a classic 9-author per-reviewed study[17] that found nanothermite, an incendiary/explosive, in the WTC dust.

This willingness to argue the evidence in a mainstream newspaper is an encouraging sign that a public debate is no longer taboo.

And indeed the piece did generate a fight, as shown in its 269 comments. The most recent commenter wrote: “I’m not going to speculate on motivations re. the slant of this article, but it amounts to a denial of an objective, careful look at the evidence.”[18]

The Huffington Post Canada’s editorial piece, “9/11 Conspiracy Ad On Ottawa Buses And Toronto Billboard Sparks Outrage,” produced 377 comments.

Although the paper referred to “the well-known 9/11 ‘Truther’ organization Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth,” it focused strongly on the “widespread outrage” – the “disrespectful” and “disgusting” notion that the US government may have been complicit in the attacks.[19]

This is the sort of superficial outdated pap (insulting to an infantilized but media-savvy public) that is leading the fight (against the truth of the people) that Gandhi described.

When ReThink911 purchased 100 ads in the Bay Area Transit System, the San Francisco Weekly reported on the advertizing angle.[20]

After devising a particularly sarcastic title and describing the ads as “a valiant form of evangelism,” the paper did manage to briefly discuss the controlled demolition debate between NIST and the architects and engineers from AE911truth.org.

The four comments supported the ReThink911 campaign.

It seems that when the media disparages 9/11 skepticism these days, the fight is on.

III. The Canadian Media: 1.Ottawa

“The ads in Canada sparked more public discussion than anywhere,” reported campaign manager Ted Walter to the BBC News Magazine.[21]

In Ottawa alone, six newspaper reports followed the controversy over OC Transpo’s decision to allow prominent ReThink911 ads on 300 of its city buses for the month of September 2013.[22]

The first story, in the Ottawa Citizen, reported in a neutral, balanced way:

Did you know a third tower fell on 9/11?

The question appears on 300 OC Transpo buses this week in a global advertising campaign challenging the official version of the Sept. 11, 2001, disaster in Manhattan.

New York-based Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth is trying to rally public pressure for a new official inquiry into whether the World Trade Center towers and neighbouring WTC Building 7 were actually toppled by shadowy U.S. forces using controlled demolitions.

Though the group is careful not to blame anyone in particular, the implication is that elements allied with the former administration of president George W. Bush needed to manufacture sufficient reason to justify planned military assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq.[23]

Sun News also reported the group’s position on the WTC collapses, and quoted Mayor Jim Watson’s comment, “I disagree with the sentiment of the truther movement, obviously. I think it’s very disrespectful … but we do in this country have free speech, and at the end of the day they met council’s (advertising) standards and they’re allowed on the buses.”[24]

An editorial by the Ottawa Citizen came down strongly in favour of free speech, defending ReThink911’s right to advertize its views:

The ads in question are the work of people who question official accounts of what happened at the World Trade Center. The group, including the New York-based Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, ran the ads in cities across North America, including Ottawa, to make their point. The 9/11 truthers believe there is compelling forensic evidence to show the towers were not destroyed by fire, as official accounts maintain. These people believe advanced military grade explosives and clandestine demolition measures structurally weakened the buildings before the planes crashed. They are entitled to their views, and if they want to disseminate them, it is their right to do so.[25]

A poll run by 1310News asked “Should the ads from ‘ReThink9/11’ be allowed on OC Transpo buses?” 91.5% voted “yes” and 8.5% said “no.”[26]

In December 2013 the ads resumed, and the OC Transpo review issue hit the headlines again.

The Ottawa Citizen City Hall Blog suggested that pressure from city councillors was more than coincidental:

“One of the odder spectacles at Wednesday’s meeting of the city’s transit commission was councillors insisting that the review they’ve ordered up of OC Transpo’s policy on the ads it accepts has nothing to do with the ad campaign bought by 9/11 truthers to coincide with the anniversary of the terrorist attacks (or, let us allow for the conceivable possibility, fake terrorist attacks) this year.

Keith Egli tried that line out: ‘It is not about a particular ad campaign,’ he said. It’s about the transit commission doing due diligence, as a new body, to make sure its policies and whatnot are in shape, he said. Shad Qadri and Diane Deans gave versions of it, too, though less stridently. They’re just being responsible overseers. The 9/11 truther thing? No connection.

Yet Deans was the one who called for a review of the advertising policy specifically in response to the 9/11 truther ads.”[27]

The City Hall Blog then tracked the public debate, showing clearly that the issue boiled down to free speech versus demonstrable bias. A city lawyer was cited. When “Rainer Bloess asked[the lawyer] whether there’s any indication that the city’s in violation of any relevant law or jurisprudence. No, she said.”[28]

MetroNews Ottawa produced a balanced report as well, quoting 9/11 Truth spokesperson Isabelle Beenan:

“The goal of rethink 9/11 is to make this information widely known by running advertisements in cities around the world, encouraging the public to look at evidence and decide for themselves,” she said.

“Should such an activity be blocked because some in our society are uncomfortable about the implications about this building being brought down by controlled demolitions? The Canadian charter of rights and freedoms says, ‘no.’”[29]

This article received 185 comments (which are usually moderated in online papers), the most recent being:

Glad *someone* is educating the public about the collapse of Building 7… the mainstream media sure aren’t! Take a look please, and judge for yourself; don’t buy what others tell you to think about it. It will definitely surprise you how strong the evidence really is for controlled demolition of this building, including its free-fall.[30]

Summing up the controversy, the Ottawa Sun wrote: “And while it’s hard, if not sometimes seemingly impossible to do so, it would be far better if councillors’ personal points of view are left out of guiding any policy on city advertising.”[31]

The Ottawa media coverage of the ReThink911 campaign shows that within Canadian public culture, the idea of US complicity in 9/11 has shifted from the unthinkable to the debatable.

IV. The Canadian Media: 2. CBC, Toronto Star

On September 11, 2013, Canada’s national public broadcaster covered the ReThink911 Ottawa story via print and TV.

CBC TV News in Ottawa reported the organization’s belief that the World Trade Centre was felled “not by planes but by controlled explosives.”[32]

The CBC article cited a letter from the ReThink911 website addressing fears that questioning 9/11 might show “insensitivity” to the surviving families:

“The ReThink911 coalition includes 9/11 victims’ family members who want nothing more than an accurate and unbiased accounting of the death of their loved ones.[33]

Indeed it was a group of 9/11 families who scheduled a Capitol Hill press conference for March 12, 2014, along with seven US Congressman, urging Congress to publicly release 28 strangely classified pages from a 2002 Congressional Report that have remained secret for 12 years.[34]

Canada’s largest newspaper, The Toronto Star, covered the ReThink story at street level in Toronto, quoting comments such as, “What brought down these buildings? It was actually a controlled demolition.”

A young man said, “Once you see the evidence – people don’t want to put the few hours in it takes to be convinced –” adding that even his mom, after hearing a lecture in Hamilton, is convinced. “We’re not conspiracy theorists. We don’t know who the conspirators are.”

As to the huge ReThink911 sign in Dundas Square, the Star quoted a student’s answer to the question it posed, “Did you know a third tower fell on 911? ”

“They’re not trying to sell you anything, it’s just a question, and they’re giving you the opportunity to answer.”

V. London, England, BBC News Magazine, December 16, 2013

The BBC coverage was subtly dishonest, announcing the ReThink campaign but moving immediately away from the evidence itself to a red-herring discussion of whether Canadians tend to be wary of US officialdom.[35]

And it emphasized perceptions rather than evidence. For example, it related how Canadian nuclear physicist Frank Greening had been intrigued by the collapses and did his own research, teaming up in 2008 with a co-author to write a paper concluding that the allegations of controlled demolition had no merit.

But then he heard about evidence of explosive residue in the dust and invited his co-author to explore it. Greening was disappointed to be told, “Frank, look, the intent of the paper was to silence the truthers. I consider it mission accomplished.”

Now Dr. Greening is no longer sure. “My motive was not to silence anybody, but to get to the truth,” he said. “If I ever make it to heaven, my first question will be: ‘OK, tell me what really happened on that day.'”[36]

There’s a new development that might help Greening to decide. The NIST Report simulations, showing that WTC7 came down by fire alone, left out vital pieces of the building structure that would have made its collapse impossible.[37]

The devil, as they say, is in the details.

Mr. Richard Gage will be presenting these details on his cross-Canada speaking tour, March 13 to April 1^st.[38]

If the media ever starts investigating the details rather than the perceptions, there’s bound to be a reinvestigation and a big fight.

“And then you win.”

Notes

[1] Elizabeth Woodworth, “The Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 9/11 Truth Movement: Part II: A Survey of Attitude Change in 2009-2010,” Global Research, February 15, 2010 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-media-response-to-the-growing-influence-of-the-9-11-truth-movement/17624).
[2] The Consensus 9/11 Panel, “Evidence-Based Literature Sources Opposing the Official Story of September 11,” (http://www.consensus911.org/references-evidence-based/). The Consensus Points, developed by more than 20 researchers using a medical review model, are at http://www.consensus911.org/the-911-consensus-points/
[3] Benjamin Shingler, “Many Canadians unsure they’ve been told everything about 9/11: poll,” The Toronto Star, September 10, 2011 (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/09/10/many_canadians_unsure_theyve_been_told_everything_about_911_poll.html).
[4] Dr. Niels Harrit, Prof. Emeritus of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, after watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD06SAf0p9A.
[5] Pepper, William F., “The NIST Report on the Collapse of WTC Building 7 Challenged by 2100 Architects and Engineers.” Submitted to US Department of Commerce, Office of the Inspector General, December 12, 2013 (http://www.journalof911studies.com/resources/2014JanLetterPepper.pdf).
[6]http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/9/prweb11104364.htm
[7]http://rethink911.org/photo-gallery/#pagecontent
[8] Anna Merlan, “Times Square Billboard Calls for “Independent Investigation” of 9-11–and the People Speak,” Village Voice, Oct 15, 2013 (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/10/september_11_rethink911_building_7_conspiracy.php).
[9] Austin Petersen, “False rumors still persist about ‘9/11 truth,'”The Libertarian Republic, September 11, 2013 (http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/911-conspiracies-debunked/#axzz2vFrAmkCL).
[10] See http://www.consensus911.org/the-911-consensus-points/[
11] Nate Rawlings, “Sept. 11 ‘Truthers’ Mark Anniversary: With a billboard in Times Square and a global ad campaign, a group keeps questioning what happened twelve years ago,” Sept. 11, 2013 (http://nation.time.com/2013/09/11/sept-11-truthers-mark-anniversary/).
[12] The poll was commissioned by Mike Rudin, producer of the BBC’s “Conspiracy Files,” which has a long history of seeking to debunk emerging evidence about 9/11. See BBC, “9/11 conspiracy theories,” August 29, 2011 (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14572054).
[13] Lev Grossman, “Why the Conspiracy Theories Won’t Go Away,” Time Magazine, September 3, 2006 (http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304-1,00.html).
[14] Stuart Elliott, “12 Years Later, Americans Are Asked to ‘Take a Day’ for 9/11,” New York Times, September 9, 2013 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/business/media/12-years-later-americans-are-asked-to-take-a-day-for-9-11.html?_r=1&).
[15] Raillan Brooks, “If You Could Make One Change in NYC in 2014, What Would You Do?” Village Voice, Jan 1, 2014 (http://www.villagevoice.com/2014-01-01/news/new-york-new-years-resolutions/3/).
[16] Brantley Hargrove, “Dallas Gets Its Very Own Truther Billboard on Stemmons Freeway,” Dallas Observer, September 25, 2013 (http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/09/dallas_gets_it_very_own_911_tr.php).
[17] Niels H. Harrit, et al., “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe.” The Open Chemical Physics Journal, Vol. 2 (April 3, 2009), 7-31, (http://www.benthamscience.com/open/tocpj/articles/V002/7TOCPJ.htm)
[18] Ibid.
[19] Huffington Post Canada, “9/11 Conspiracy Ad On Ottawa Buses And Toronto Billboard Sparks Outrage,” September 12, 2013 (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/12/911-conspiracy-ad-ottawa-bus-photo_n_3913937.html).
[20] Rachel Swan, “Truther in Advertising: 9/11 Conspiricists Decide Commuters are Ready to Learn a Terrible Secret,” San Francisco Weekly, September 25, 2013 (http://www.sfweekly.com/2013-09-25/news/truthers-rethink911-bart-advertising/).
[21] Tara McKelvey, “Canadians wary of 9/11 explanations – and of US officials,” BBC News Magazine, December 16, 2013 (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25370076).
[22] This list of references starts with the earliest report, and includes Ottawa city newspapers:
Ian Macleod, “Ads questioning truth of 9/11 appear on OC Transpo buses,” Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 2013 (http://web.archive.org/web/20131107093607/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/appear+Transpo+buses/8899246/story.html).
Jon Willling, “Free speech protects ‘disrespectful’ 9/11 conspiracy bus ads: Ottawa mayor,” Sun News, September 12, 2013 (http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/09/20130912-154907.html).
Ottawa Citizen, Editorial: “OC Transpo should err on the side of free speech,” September 14, 2013 (http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=e2507136-01c6-4fd9-957c-c754f30484d0).
By David Reevely, “Fresh 9/11 ads coming to OC Transpo buses amid review of advertising policy,” Ottawa Citizen, November 20, 2013 (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Fresh+coming+Transpo+buses+amid+review+advertising+policy/9190435/story.html).
Susan Sherring, “OC Transpo bus ads draw attention,” Ottawa Sun, November 20, 2013 (http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/11/20/oc-transpo-bus-ads-draw-attention).
Trevor Greenway, “More 9/11 ‘truther’ ads to hit Ottawa buses,” Metro News Ottawa, November 21, 2013 (http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/860796/more-911-truther-ads-to-hit-ottawa-buses/)
“OC Transpo’s advertising-policy review is all about the 9/11 truthers,” Ottawa Citizen, City Hall Blog, November 21, 2013 (http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/11/21/oc-transpos-advertising-policy-review-is-all-about-the-911-truthers/)
[23] Ian Macleod, “Ads questioning truth of 9/11 appear on OC Transpo buses,” Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 2013 (http://web.archive.org/web/20131107093607/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/appear+Transpo+buses/8899246/story.html).
[24]Jon Willling, “Free speech protects ‘disrespectful’ 9/11 conspiracy bus ads: Ottawa mayor,” Sun News, September 12, 2013 (http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/09/20130912-154907.html).
[25] Ottawa Citizen, Editorial. “OC Transpo should err on the side of free speech,” September 14, 2013 (http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/archives/story.html?id=e2507136-01c6-4fd9-957c-c754f30484d0).
[26] 1310News, “Controversial 9/11 ads spark call for review of OC Transpo ad policies,” September 12, 2013
( http://www.1310news.com/2013/09/12/controversial-911-ads-spark-call-for-review-of-oc-transpo-ad-policies/)
[27] “OC Transpo’s advertising-policy review is all about the 9/11 truthers,” Ottawa Citizen, City Hall Blog, November 21, 2013 (http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/11/21/oc-transpos-advertising-policy-review-is-all-about-the-911-truthers/) It is interesting to note that the article in which Deans called for a review (the link to it is underlined) has disappeared from the Internet, and is also not available in the Internet Archive. The URL was http//www.ottawacitizen.com/news/questioning+truth+appear+Transpo+buses/8899246/story.html
[28] Ibid.
[29] Trevor Greenway, “More 9/11 ‘truther’ ads to hit Ottawa buses,” Metro News Ottawa, November 21, 2013 (http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/860796/more-911-truther-ads-to-hit-ottawa-buses/)
[30] Ibid.
[31] Susan Sherring, “OC Transpo bus ads draw attention,” Ottawa Sun, November 20, 2013 (http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/11/20/oc-transpo-bus-ads-draw-attention).
[32] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aye5yAK0Yes&feature=youtu.be
[33] CBC News,” Group behind 9/11 bus ad responds to criticism,” September 11, 2013 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/group-behind-9-11-bus-ad-responds-to-criticism-1.1703868).
[34] Paul Sperry, “Victims’ families: Release secret ‘Saudi’ 9/11 report,” New York Post, March 8, 2014 (http://nypost.com/2014/03/08/victim-families-release-secret-saudi-911-report/).
[35] Tara McKelvey, “Canadians wary of 9/11 explanations – and of US officials,” BBC News Magazine, December 16, 2013 (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25370076).
[36] Ibid.
[37] William Pepper, “The NIST Report On the Collapse of WTC Building 7 Challenged by 2,100 Architects and Engineers,” January, 2014 (http://www.journalof911studies.com/resources/2014JanLetterPepper.pdf). Fraud is a possibility and the case is being investigated by attorney William Pepper on behalf of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth.
[38] Tour information at: http://www.rethink911.ca

End of MPEN e-Newsletter

peace

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

[mpen-dayton] FW: "On This National Day of Remembrance (9/11)" & "Outrageous new evidence that Trump's voting commission is a SHAM'" and more

0 Comments:

About Me

Previous Posts