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ashtheshortstack · 5 years

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Garlic in the Cauldron - Ch 1

Garlic in the Cauldron

Adrien Agreste learned from a young age that witches were the enemies to vampires. He was taught to kill on sight, drink them dry, and never look back... however, meeting a witch named Marinette threw his entire world off balance.

Ch 1 - Putting a Spell on You

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“Those wretched creatures killed your mother, son.”

The ten-year-old vampire, Adrien Agreste, stared up at his father, tears in his bright emerald eyes. “Mama’s not coming back?”

“No. She’s not. Witches are responsible. We will make them rue the day they ever crossed us. No witch will live if our clan has anything to say about it,” Gabriel growled, eyes glowing a harsh red in his anger. “We must take their lives and avenge your mother’s death. Do you understand, Adrien?”

Eyes wide with fear, the small vampire nodded. “Yes, Father.”

Gabriel ran his clawed fingers through his son’s golden hair. “This day marks the day that the Agreste Clan calls for the extermination for all witches. We will hunt down their covens and demolish them all. You will be ready.”

“But Father, I don’t know how to kill anyone.”

Casting his son a sharp glare, the elder vampire hissed. “You will. You will take over our people, and call for the heads of all witches as well.”

Adrien merely nodded. “Yes, sir.”

________________________________________________________________

Adrien tossed and turned, groaning as he flopped himself flat onto his mattress. Annoyed at his lack of slumber, he glanced at the clock. It was late in the evening, meaning his father would be waking up to lead the hunt any minute, he thought irritably. Not that he was ever allowed to go. With a disgruntled sigh and roll of his eyes, Adrien wrapped his arms across his face, muttering complaints as he did so. Between a horrible dream and knowing that his father was leaving him at home to piddle around, he was a little petulant.

“You awake, Sleeping Beauty?”

Moving his arms, Adrien cracked an eye open to see the black cat sitting on his nightstand, tail swishing cockily. The vampire rolled his eyes before frowning at the creature. “Not now, Plagg. I’m not in the mood.”

“When are you ever in the mood to do anything? All you ever do is mope around your room all day,” Plagg pointed out snarkily.

Adrien sighed, turning his head to glare at the cat. It was way too soon after waking for Plagg’s harassment. “Yes. Thank you for telling me. It’s not like I can go anywhere anyway.”

“Obviously not, since your pops keeps you locked up here like a princess in a tower. Do you think one day you’ll have a handsome prince call for you to let your hair down from the window?”

Giving the creature a flat look, he threw a pillow at Plagg. In response, the cat meowed in distress, trying to avoid the projectile shot at him. “Sometimes I question why I let you stay here.”

Plagg pushed the pillow away with his paw before answering. “We both know that you would shrivel from loneliness if I hadn’t stuck around.”

“But why? My father killed your witch. I still don’t understand why you’re willing to stay around. You should think I’m awful,” Adrien asked with a curious glance.

Plagg had been living in Adrien’s room for about a year now, much to the young vampire’s confusion and dismay. Gabriel killed the witch that Plagg was the familiar of and followed his father home. After being caught sneaking around by Adrien, he had decided to stay around, however, the young vampire is the only one who knows Plagg is capable of speech.

Licking a paw, the cat ignored Adrien’s questions, as was typical for their daily routine. Adrien was much like a cat on his own: full of curiosity. “I told you already, kid, I sensed something about you. That’s all.”

“Same answer you always give,” the vampire grumbled.

He didn’t understand why Plagg wouldn’t just tell him the truth, but he never pried. As much as it pained him to admit, he didn’t want to lose the little guy. Plagg was right when he said that Adrien would be awfully lonely without him as much as he hated to admit it. The annoying cat was there for him more than anyone else in Adrien’s life. A sad fate, he thought, when he really considered it. It wasn’t like Adrien had much choice. Ever since those dreaded witches murdered his mother, his father never let him leave the lair. Adrien was constantly under the watchful eye of someone from the clan. Typically, Nathalie or the Gorilla. Both were just as harsh on him as his father.

Adrien knew that if they would just give him a chance to fight for himself, he could do it. He wasn’t defenseless. He wasn’t a child anymore. Well, technically, he was very young for a vampire. But, he was definitely a legal adult according to human standards. How would he ever venture out into the world? Meet a girl? Fall in love? Start his own section of the clan, and maybe even take over for his father, if he’s never allowed to step foot outside of the mansion walls?

But maybe… just maybe, he could.

Maybe, if he just took an opportunity into his own hands? He could hunt down a witch himself! He could kill a witch to prove himself to his father! Then his father would have to believe him, right?

Sitting up sharply, Adrien clenched the covers tightly in his palms. He shifted the fabric in his fingers as he stared down at the foot of his bed.

“Hey, kid. I can see the gears turning in your head from here. What are you thinking?”

Adrien’s jaw tightened. He glanced up at the familiar. “Will you take me to a coven?”

Plagg’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits as he glared. “No way in hell.”

“I could easily threaten you, you know? I don’t have to keep you here. I could easily throw you to the streets. I only let you stay because I feel bad for you.” A lie. Plagg probably knew that too. He hated having to be harsh with the familiar, but Adrien had no choice.

“Adrien, I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

The vampire swallowed hard; throat tight. “One witch. If I could kill one witch, maybe my father would finally respect me. I could finally leave this place.”

Plagg hung his head with sigh. “That’s a big maybe, kid. You know that’s not what you want.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Adrien hissed. “My father will never let me live a little until I can prove myself to him. So, either you take me to a coven or I find one myself. If I find one myself, I’m more likely to put a lot more witches in danger because the clan is out hunting. I won’t cause a scene, I swear. I’ll just take one.”

“That’s a lot easier said than done.”

“Yeah, well. You said I was different, right? What makes me so different? Am I as weak as my father says I am?” Adrien growled, throwing the sheets from his person. “That’s what he thinks of me! He tells me all the time. That I’m weak like my mother, so I’m an easy target. I keep hoping it’s just because I’m younger, but if I can never show him that I am strong then I’ll never have the chance to get better,” he stood, huffing a breath. He shot a look to the familiar. “Are you in or not, Plagg?”

“I’m completely against this,” the cat groaned.

“Fine,” Adrien started towards the window only to have the sound of Plagg clearing his throat stop the vampire in his tracks.

“I’m against it,” Plagg continued, “but I want to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. I can’t have you causing a panic.”

Adrien nodded and swung the window open. “I promise I won’t.”

Plagg glowed before morphing into his smaller form, much like a tiny fairy. He had a green hue that shimmered in dark sky. Adrien focused all his energy and closed his eyes, feeling his form change as well. He felt himself shrink down, arms sprouting into wings and he flapped them naturally. His bat form was never that comfortable, but he didn’t mind it when necessary.

“Let’s go,” Plagg said and took off out of the window.

Adrien followed suit, keeping a watchful eye on Plagg’s glowing form, making it easier for him to keep up. Adrien contemplated what he was really doing as they flew. Was he really going to try to hunt and kill a witch all on his own? He had no choice, did he? It was surprising Plagg would betray witches so easily in order to help a vampire he barely knew. Though, he had to admit it felt a little guilty for threatening to throw Plagg out. He’d miss the annoying cat if he didn’t have him. Plus, he’d go back to utter loneliness.

As Adrien followed Plagg, he realized they were entering territory he didn’t recognize. Not that Adrien had been many places, it was just very different than he’d ever seen before. There were so many brick buildings that seemed to be their homes, much different than the mansion estates that vampires lived in. There were… cauldrons adorning different porches. Jeez, those were pretty tacky. This must have been the coven… but there were no witches alone that he could snatch. All of them seemed accompanied by another.

Buddy system… smart.

The were all so happy. They were together with family and friends. The seemed to gather and laugh. No one was even brewing in the cauldrons at that time. Weren’t witches smarmy and evil? Not even a single one of them was green!

The sound of a screech jolted him out of his thoughts. Startled, he lost concentration on his flying and had to regain his wits. Adrien watched as a witch fumbled while flying her broom. Her raven hair was pulled back into twin tails. They fluttered in the wind as she skittered across the sky. She bumped into a building and started into a downward tailspin between two buildings screaming as she did so…

That was the one.

_______________________________________________________________

“Damn… that really hurt, Tikki,” the witch grumbled, rubbing the newly sported sore spot on her side.

The scent of the witch’s blood hit is nostrils. He noticed a scrape on her knee which must’ve been why the smell was so strong. Licking his lips, he knew this was it. The girl was not a very strong witch from the looks of it. Obviously, not the most avid of flyers since he just saw her crash her broom on a clear night. This was the moment he could prove himself to his father. Maybe it was a little sleazy to go after a witch that was injured, but in that moment it didn’t matter.

Stepping forward, he shoes echoed off the alley walls. The witch spun quickly, eyes wide and cautious as he approached yet she stayed silent. When he saw her face, Adrien hesitated. Beautiful… She was beautiful. Weren’t witches supposed to be ugly? Like with warts and big noses?

Why did she have to be so damn cute!?

No. Focus. It doesn’t matter how cute she is, she was deadly. Evil. Witches were evil.

He had to be confident. He couldn’t be afraid. Adrien decided channeling his father’s attitude would be best for this situation. Don’t feel. No guilt. Think of what mother went through when she was attacked. Take all of that anger and make the most of it.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Adrien smarmed as he approached her tauntingly.

“Who are you?” she asked, lids narrowing and brows pinching.

With a laugh, he shook his head. “You shouldn’t be concerned with who am so much as what I am,” Adrien pulled the hood down, revealing his pointed ears. He grinned at her, fangs protruding in all their glory.

Her bluebell eyes blew wide. “Vampire.”

Taking another step closer, he smirked. “That’s right.”

For every step she took backward away, Adrien took two more closer to her. He could sense her panic and could hear every pounding beat of her heart. Good, she should be afraid in her last moments. Just as his mother was when her life was taken. Step by step, he tracked her until their little dance came to an end with her having backed herself into the corner, her back pressing against the brick wall.

With the panicked expression that etched across her features, Adrien knew the witch was aware of her fate. Holding her wand up, she sucked in a visible breath. “C-Come any closer or else I’ll turn you into a toad.”

Adrien snorted at her remark. With his enhanced speed, he had her in clutches within a moment. Hands placed on either side of her head, his body caged her in place. He was in the perfect spot to bite her and drink her dead right there. “Isn’t that what you all say?”

“Your earrings!” called a tiny voice. He glanced over his shoulder to see a red, small bug-like creature floating next to him. Her familiar, he surmised. Adrien swatted the thing away, sending it flying across the alley as it cried out.

Turning his attention back to the witch, Adrien gave her a good once over. His needle-sharp fangs protruded from his lips as he leaned in towards her neck.

“Kid! Don’t do it!”

Plagg’s protests from behind him made him pause. The desperation in the cat’s tone made him grimace, but he had to ignore him. Adrien had no choice. Proving himself to his father was all he had. When he lifted his head to silence the familiar with a hiss, he caught the frightened bluebell eyes of the witch beneath him instead. So much fear in those beautiful irises. Tears bubbled over her bottom lashes, and her entire body trembled beneath him. The wand was so close to slipping from her fingertips.

She was so afraid. Afraid of him. Wasn’t that what he wanted? To be feared? To kill witches and become powerful like his father?

…Would every witch he killed look at him like that beforehand?

Adrien’s fingers dug into the brick beside her head. With a remorseful sigh, the young vampire hung his head in defeat. He couldn’t do it. He was a weak disgrace to his family… but he just couldn’t do it. Pushing off the wall, he gave the witch an apologetic gaze before crossing the alleyway. Pressing his back against the opposite wall, his knees buckled beneath him. Adrien crumpled downward to the cold ground, resting his face in his palms as he let out a sob.

Plagg approached him, placing a paw on Adrien’s knee. “I’m proud of you.”

Adrien peaked out through his fingers, giving the cat a harsh glare. “You’re not helping,” he growled.

“Why do you have a familiar?”

He flinched at the voice of the witch, head slinging upward so quick he almost cracked his head against the brick wall behind him. She was… she was talking to him? Adrien stared at her flabbergasted. “W-What?”

The witch kept her distance and shuffled uncomfortably. Her wand was pointed straight at him as she clutched it in her quivering fingers. The tip hissed a harsh red much different than the bright glow from her empty threat earlier. He noticed the familiar had also recovered from the prior backhand he’d given it and the creature was perched on her shoulder, glowering at him with her little arms crossed. If looks could kill…

“Why do you have a familiar?” she repeated, voice much harsher this time.

Adrien was in disbelief. He just tried to suck this girl dry and now she was making conversation? “I did just try to kill you. You know that right? I wasn’t told that witches had goldfish memories.”

Her cheeks flared a hot red, brows pinching. The wand grew brighter. Yeah, maybe he was testing his luck, but being turned into a toad at this point would be a vast improvement to his miserable existence. “Shut up! I know that!” she paused, giving him a sideways glance. “But I can’t help but be curious,” she muttered.

Sighing, Adrien ran his hand through his tussled blonde locks. “He’s the familiar of a witch my father killed. He’s stuck around and harassed me ever since.”

Plagg grinned. “Yeah, well, we both know you would be lonely without me.” The cat looked at the witch, gesturing to the boy next to him. “This kid? He has zero friends. I’ve never seen someone so alone in my nine lives.”

Rolling his eyes, Adrien groaned. “Can you not share my personal information with people I just tried to murder? Thanks, okay.” He stretched his legs out in front of him, observing the witch above him. “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know… running? Telling the entire coven ‘hey, vampire!’”

“I—I should…”

“And you’re not doing that because…?”

The witch smiled. “You don’t seem like a threat.”

Scoffing, Adrien leaned his head back against the bricks, shoulders slumping with disappointment. “Gee, thanks.” This girl sure knew how to take a jab at his self-esteem.

She moved closer taking a seat next to him, much to Adrien’s dismay. He scrambled away from her, staring the girl as if she’s grown a second head. Holding a hand up between them, Adrien points at her, completely exasperated. “W-What are you doing?”

“Sitting,” she chimed. “What’s it look like?” The witch asked with a shrug.

Placing a hand over his slow-beating heart, Adrien caught his breath. He surely thought she was going to come over and stake him. That wand was still glowing hotly in her hand, he noted. Was she really trying to be friendly with him? It didn’t make any sense. This girl was clearly insane. Boy, he knew how to pick his prey, didn’t he?

Blinking at her in incredulity, he shook his head. “You are way too calm for someone who almost got the blood sucked out them.”

She leaned back against the wall with a smile, shrugging as she turned her head to look at him. “Maybe so, but you’re different from other vampires, aren’t you?”

“D-Different?”

“Yeah, you’re different. You’re not a blood thirsty murder machine like everyone says vampires are.”

With a guilty laugh, he gave a lopsided shrug. “I guess it’s fair that your kind thinks that of us. We also have similar thoughts of witches.”

Humming, she nodded. “I figured,” she paused for a moment. “What’s your name?”

He gave her a cautious glance, eyes flicking up and down. “It’s Adrien,” he drawled slowly. He knew he shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t stop his tongue from slipping up. “You?”

“Marinette,” she said, beaming as she did so.

A very pretty name for a very pretty witch. Adrien almost slapped himself at that thought. He can’t think a witch is pretty! Witches are the enemy. Flustered, he glanced away from her. “N-Nice name.”

“So, Adrien, why are you here?”

He didn’t want to think about how nice his name sounded coming out of her mouth. Shaking his head, Adrien focused on her question. “I’m… not really sure I should disclose that information.”

“Oh? Would you rather me tell the coven you’re here? Maybe turn you into a frog? Or we can go with a rat, if you’d like?”

She sure had gotten cheeky now that she had the upper hand over him. Maybe, he should have bitten her when he had the chance. Drooping with defeat, Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine,” he side-eyed her. “You’re a real smartass, you know that?”

“I feel I have the right to be considering about five minutes ago you almost had your fangs in my neck, right?’

Adrien blinked silently, gritting his teeth. “Okay, anyway…” he paused. She was certainly feisty. He didn’t really want to tell a witch about his family drama, but he could just give her the vague idea, right? God, those blue eyes made him want to melt and spill his guts to her. It wasn’t fair! “My mother… she was killed by a witch when I was young.”

Marinette’s shoulders drooped, and she glanced away from him. “I see… You want to avenge her death then?”

Nodding, he sighed. “That’s what started it. It’s a bit more complicated than just that… My father seems to think I’m useless, so I just wanted to show him I could actually do something. But, I guess this isn’t the best way to prove it to him.”

“I think it’s better that it’s not… But don’t vampires kill humans to feed?” she asked.

He felt like that was a loaded question, but Marinette seemed to be genuinely curious. Adrien shook his head. “No… I don’t, at least. I prefer practical ways, like stealing from blood banks.”

That earned him a laugh. God, even her laugh sounded like bell chimes… No! Bad Adrien. Stop! No thinking like that about a witch! Smiling at him, she shook her head. “I’m not sure how your moral compass works, but I guess it’s better than hunting them down like cattle.”

Adrien chuckled at her comment. “Yeah, well, I came here to hunt down a witch, but I didn’t know they could be so adorable.” The statement had slipped out, really. Fuck. He just called her adorable. Covering his mouth with his hands, he shot a sideways glance in her direction. Marinette’s cheeks pinked a little, while his own blush was so dark it resembled the blood he drank.

“Well… Th-Thank you.” Marinette said, fidgeting around where she sat. She gave a teasing smile as she glanced back over to him. “I didn’t know vampires could blush.”

Standing quickly, Adrien tried to recover from his embarrassment. He couldn’t recall ever being this flustered in his entire life. “Y-Yeah, well, I…I should go before my father notices I’m gone. I’m sorry… for what I did.”

Marinette stood too, coming closer to him with a nod. “I understand and apology accepted. Maybe… maybe we should try being friends?” she asked, holding a hand out to him.

Blinking in disbelief, Adrien’s jaw fell agape at her. “You… Really?”

A soft smile graced her features. “Yes, I mean it. Everyone makes mistakes, Adrien. You were just doing what you thought would make your father proud. Do you still want to drink my blood?”

Shaking his head, he gazed down guiltily. “Not if it involves hurting you… no.” That fear in her eyes… he never wanted to see that again.

“See, I knew I was right about you,” Marinette held her hand higher. “Friends?”

Adrien smiled with a nod. “Yeah, friends,” he replied as he took her hand. She was so warm compared to him. Could he hug her? No! That was inappropriate.

After letting go of his hand, she gazed back down shyly. “If… If it’s any consolation,” her bluebell eyes met his. “I think you’re pretty cute for a vampire.”

Plagg’s snickering did not go unheard from both parties. Adrien anxiously ruffled the back of his hair. “Y-Yeah! Well. Um. Thanks f-for saying that.”

Marinette smiled. “Will I ever see you again since we’re friends now?”

Calming himself, Adrien couldn’t help but smirk. “I’ll think about it.”

________________________________________________________________

“Friends!? Friends!? Marinette, what are you thinking!? You can’t be friends with a vampire! Especially not ones that just tried to kill you!” Tikki exclaimed as she hovered around Marinette.

Marinette sighed, sitting on her chaise. “I know I shouldn’t, Tikki, but… he was so cute though.”

“Marinette! You did not just call a vampire cute!”

She waved off her familiar with a shake of her head and a laugh. “Lighten up. I didn’t die. He wasn’t that strong of a vampire. He’s obviously very young and inexperienced.”

“Experienced enough to corner and trap you. He would’ve killed you if he had been like any other vampire,” Tikki argued.

“He isn’t like any other vampire though, right? Besides, I can’t fulfill the prophecy if a weak vampire like Adrien takes me out. I was scared, but I knew I’d be fine. It’s why I didn’t try to do anything to him. He was afraid too. I could tell. No matter how much he tried to hide it behind that asshole façade,” Marinette explained as she stared up at her disgruntled familiar.

Tikki sighed, antennas drooping. “Marinette, this whole situation is so dangerous. If it gets out that you’re the witch chosen to end the war then you’re going to be in even more danger.”

“Please, Adrien won’t find out. I’ll keep my guard up and distance when I see him again.”

“See him again!? You were serious!?”

Sighing, Marinette eyed her familiar. “Tikki, if you keep being so loud you’re going to wake my parents. This whole vampire thing has to stay a secret.”

Running her paws down her face in pure dismay, the bug familiar glowered at her owner. “Are you really going to do this?”

“Think about it. This has to be some sign that will lead me to my destiny, right? It’s not every day that you casually run into a friendly vampire. If I can get close to Adrien, I can get an in and, hopefully, learn a way to defeat Gabriel Agreste. He has to be a part of that clan, right? Or at least knows of it. This is a good thing, Tikki. I promise. I can handle myself. Besides it looks like he needs it.” Marinette said with a soft smile, glancing down at her lap.

“What do you mean?”

She lifted her head, gazing out the window. “He looked so lonely…”

_____________________________________________________________

“Ugh! ‘I’ll think about it’? How lame! I really don’t know how to talk to people,” Adrien groaned as he flopped backwards onto his bed.

Plagg’s snickers did nothing to help his bruised ego. “You need to learn to talk to girls. Especially cute witches.”

Eyes flashing red, Adrien sneered. “Shut up, Plagg.”

“Oh nooo,” the familiar waved a paw. “Those eyes are so scaryyy. Whatever will I do?”

The vampire rolled his eyes, glancing at the familiar in silence for a moment. He sat up, fiddling his fingers in his lap. “Do you really think she wants to be friends with me?”

“It’s what she said, wasn’t it?”

“But she could just be playing a trick. Witches are tricksters, aren’t they? What if she’s just trying to befriend me so she can lure me in and kill me? I wouldn’t blame her. Revenge would make sense,” the words just kept bubbling from his lips. He had so many fears at the thought of a new friend. Especially a friend he wasn’t even supposed to have.

Plagg hopped from the nightstand onto the bed beside the flustered vampire. He patted a paw on his thigh. “I think she meant it, kid. Witches aren’t as tricky as you think. I would know, wouldn’t I?”

Nodding, Adrien agreed. His chest was still tight with fear, but he knew that Plagg was certainly the witch expert in their companionship. “Yeah, you’re right.” He paused for a moment, thinking back to his moment with Marinette. His cheeks pinked a little. “Plagg… she called me cute.”

The cat familiar burst into laughter.

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superwolfiestar · 5 years

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Partners in Time Ch.1

Mushroom Kingdom Past…….

At Boy Princess Donald's Castle, younger Scrooge welcoming two familiar friends. These friends around 7 years old and the other one, around 5.

The small red rooster wore a red shirt sleeves, with blue jean overalls with his tail sticking out and the pants are short, on his feet are two blue shoes and on his head is a red hat with a red P in a white circle on the brim of his hat. Finally, the green parrot had green fur, a dark green shirt, navy blue jean overall with his blue and red tail sticking out and the pants are short, dark green shoes with white stock that have two red lines going across. On his head was a green hat with a green J in a white circle on the brim of his hat.

They were, of course, Panchito and Jose in their young appearances. They approached Young Scrooge McDuck and he greeted:

"Oho! Young Masters Panchito and Jose! I anxiously await your arrival!"

"Let me guess; the Boy Princess Donald and Princess Della wants to play with us again, right?" Young Panchito guessed.

"Yes, indeed, Boy Princess is crave playmate unlike his twin older sister, I'm afraid. Sometimes, he’s rather…tantrum. I can't tell you how he missed you two so much ever since you two played with him last time!"

"Yeah, I can totally imagine that…" Young Jose said embarrassed.

"Their Royal Highnesses is waiting for you two at the throne room. Please go to him at once!"

"We're on it, McDuck!" Young Panchito replied with a smile.

The duo walked in the halls of the castle until they finally reached the throne room. There, they saw that the floor was filled with toys that belonged to the Young Boy Princess and Young Princess Della. Speaking of which, They can see the Young Pink and Yellow twin Duck, of around 6 years old sitting in the tiny chair playing his tea party on the small pink elegant table with his dolls sitting on the chairs while Princess Della is playing.

Young Boy Princess wearing his pink satin evening gown that has frills at the trim beautiful, adorable puffy little sleeves, and a tiered ruffle skirt in two colors of pink for all the prettiness. And a faux cyan jewel. There's even a tulle petticoat with a glittery satin hemline ruffle. Underneath his dress, he wears a white petticoat, white stockings, white knee-length pantalettes, red ruby sparkle strapped Mary Jane shoes and the crown looks like real gold,

Young Princess Della wore knee-length rich shiny bright yellow satin fabric with bright orange accents. The neck is trimmed with a white scalloped neckline and sleeves, there are bright orange poofs on the side at the waist, bright orange trim along the hemline, the back opens with a zipper, and there is a sash that ties in the back at the waist for a better fit. The sequin green button in the front center of the chest. Underneath her dress was a white petticoat, on her feet was a flat orange shoe with white stockings. On her head was a golden crown, two shape of daisy flowers on the front and back of the crown while the two red jewel on the left and right side.

"Hey Guys! We're here!" Young Panchito called playfully.

The Young royalties heard his call and cheered, seeing that his best friends have finally arrived to play. With that, Young Jose went to play with Young Boy Princess Donald while Young Panchito and Young Princess Della building tower.

After that, they began building a tower with the toy cubes. They worked together to finish it. Then, Young Panchito picks up a toy mallet and whacks the tower, demolishing it.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" Young Panchito hits the tower until it demolishes.

"Heh heh heh, you sure wanted to destroy that tower, huh?" Young Jose chuckled.

"Yep! When I grow up, I really want to wield a heavy hammer to break everything in my path!" Young Panchito exclaimed.

"A heavy hammer? Are you sure you'll be able to wield one?" Young Princess Della asked.

"Mmhm! Trust me, you guys!" Young Panchito nodded.

"Well, for now on, it's better for you to use a toy mallet, because normal hammers are too dangerous for you, you know." Young Boy Princess Donald said.

"I know that." Young Panchito replied.

"BWAH HA HA HA!" suddenly, a familiar laugh came out of nowhere.

"Hey! That laugh…!" Young Panchito hissed as he and the three of them stood up.

Just then, a kid who’s a same size as Young Panchito, wearing an orange shirt, navy green shirt pant, two black waistband on both side of his wrist, a sliver chain on his left side, a shell with a small spike in it. It was Young Zeus. He jumped down from the ceiling and snatched Young Boy Princess in front of their eyes!

"WAAAAAH!" Young Boy Princess Donald wailed as Young Zeus grab his wrist and hurting his arm tightly.

"DONALD!" Young Jose cried out. "Why, you…!" He growled at Young Zeus.

"BWAH HA HA HA!" Young Zeus laughed evilly. "I, Prince Zeus, am taking Boy Princess Donald with me! You all can scram you baby!"

"Absolute nonsense!" Young Scrooge McDuckcame into the room and glared at Young Zeus. "I rather think that you'll do NO SUCH THING! EN GARDE!"

However, Young Zeus shot out flames from his mouth, burning Young Scrooge's mushroom cap before he faints.

"BWAH HA HA HA!" Young Zeus laughed.

"Scrooge!" Young Jose, Young Princess Della and Young Boy Princess except Young Panchito cried out as Young Jose and Young Princess Della went to the downed Young Scrooge. Young Panchito, angered that his enemy had not only stolen Young Boy Princess Donald but also burned Young Scrooge, went in front of Young Zeus and stood in his fighting stance.

"Your turn, Super Diaper Bro!" Young Zeus smirked at him.

"I don't think so!" Young Panchito growled and jumped over the flames when Young Zeus tried to burn him next.

"Oh no! How dare you!" Young Zeus shouted like a frustrated child while stomping his foot.

Young Panchito took the chance and stomped Young Zeusr's head, leaving him dazed, and…

"Yoink!" Young Panchito taunted playfully as he kick Young Zeus's forehead managed to knock Young Boy Princess Donald off of him. Young Jose came in and caught him in time before he hit the ground.

"What the?! Hey!"

"Phhbbbttt!" Young Panchito blew raspberry to him.

"GRRR!" Young Zeus growled.

"Finish him, Panchito!" Both Young Jose and Young Della grinned.

"Okey Dokey!" Young Panchito grinned back and does one more stomp at Young Zeus's head, defeating him.

"Urgh… Blaagh…" Young Zeus gagged as he tumbles on the ground. "I'm… I'm a PRINCE! I can't lose to you! Bluuuuuuurgh…”

"Woohoo! I did it!" Young Panchito cheered happily.

"Hurrays! Great job, Panchito!" Young Jose appraised while Young Princess Della giggling.

"Looks like you were able to beat Zeus without Jose help!" Young Boy Princess Donald exclaimed.

"Yeah! But, still… It bothers me how Zeus always comes to crash the party at the worst possible time." Young Panchito rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, some strange noises came in and the castle shook a bit with the windows showing a rainbow limbo, catching everyone's attention.

"Wait… What was that?" Young Panchito questioned, looking around.

*BOOOOOOOM!*

All of a sudden, a loud crash was heard from outside, and the whole castle shook violently with pieces of debris falling from the ceiling, startling everyone!

"GAAAAH! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Young Jose shouted in panic.

Outside, four UFOs blasting the Mushroom castle's walls, destroying them. Then, the four UFOs flew off, alongside another one.

However, the clouds above opened up, revealing dozens of UFOs! All of them were making their way to the castle…

It seems that the past is in trouble…

#ducktales 2017 #mariotales au #partners in time #partners in time fanfic #super caballeros #super caballero fanfic #fanfic

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justbeingnamaste · 6 years

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911 17th Anniversary: 17 Unanswered Questions !

As the 911 17th anniversary approaches,

it is worth casting our minds back to that “catastrophic and catalyzing event”, that new Pearl Harbor (in the words of the PNAC neocons), which has cemented the false idea of a War on Terror into the public mind. More and more researchers and facts have emerged since the first few years after the event. Thanks to the work of people like Dr. Judy Wood and Rebekah Roth, we now have a very good idea of the how and who behind the biggest false flag attack in world history. Below are 17 unanswered questions designed to briefly reacquaint you with the shocking anomalies, inconsistencies and holes in the official narrative during this 911 17th anniversary.

1. If Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11, why was he never formally charged with the crime?

Guess the FBI just plain old forgot or were too busy conducting sting operations (foiling terror plots they themselves orchestrated) to actually charge bin Laden with the grandest crime in history. By the way, what were representatives from the Bush family (ex-CIA chief and President George H. W.) doing meeting with representatives from the bin Ladens (Shafig bin Laden, brother of Osama) the day before 9/11 in New York Ritz-Carlton Hotel? How did everyone seem to know it was bin Laden before the dust had even settled, e.g. former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak speaking on the BBC only 1 hour after the attacks?

2. Why did Netanyahu say 9/11 was “very good for Israel”?

The New York Times quoted Netanyahu as saying: “”It’s very good.” Then he edited himself: ”Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.”” Netanyahu was quoted elsewhere as saying, “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” and that the 9/11 event “swung American public opinion in our favor.”

3. Why did 5 Israeli “art students” (i.e. intelligence agents) celebrate by loudly dancing and cheering on a nearby rooftop and thereby attracting attention?

These same “art students” stated to the police: “We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.” They also claimed in a TV interview that they were there “to document the event”!

911 17th anniversary: this mural was painted on the Urban Moving Systems van before 9/11/01.

4. Why did the Israeli company Urban Moving Systems have a mural of a plane crashing into the Twin Towers painted on its side (remember, it must have been painted before the 9/11 attacks)?

This was the same van associated with the 5 Mossad “art students” …

5. Why did the BBC announce Building 7 had been demolished before it actually had?

Someone went off script and jumped the gun with that report …

6. Why were the 9/11 planes so light that day (carrying a total of 260 passengers in 4 planes instead of the more normal 800 passengers)?

Just a coincidence, right?

7. How could any emergency calls (either by passengers or flight attendants) have been placed from the air when cell phones don’t work in the air?

Rebekah Roth was a former flight attendant herself who caught some of the 9/11 flight attendants in a lie. One of them stated she was on the phone for 27 minutes! Another one stated that the hijackers had sprayed pepper spray (or mace) just in business class, but this is impossible because it would circulate all throughout the plane.

8. Why did there just happen to be

46 drills on the day of 9/11

to confuse everyone? 9. If Mohammad Atta and his team of hijackers were waging a holy war/jihad against the US according to their strict Islamic faith, why were they seen gambling, drinking alcohol, eating pork, smoking cocaine and using hookers in the leadup to the 9/11 false flag attack? 10. Why did NORAD, ultimately commanded by then VP, PNAC member and neocon Dick Cheney,

give the order to “stand down”

when the US was under attack? 11. Is it just a coincidence that then Secretary of Defense, PNAC member and neocon Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon/DoD couldn’t account for US$2.3 trillion the day before 9/11 happened, thus putting this astonishing fact down the memory hole? 12. Why did NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani immediately ship the fallen metal to China and India, thus destroying the evidence?

According to Dr. Steven Jones, only 250 pieces of structural steel were saved for analysis out of 200,000 tons!

13. Why did then President

George W. Bush

continue to read a kids’ book, upside down, to a classroom of children right after he was told the first WTC tower had been struck?

By the way, do you think it’s a just a coincidence that the kids were reciting these 5 words for their lesson right then: KITE, HIT, STEEL, PLANE, MUST?

14. Why did

Bush tell a public meeting

that he saw the first plane strike the WTC and said “There’s one terrible pilot” when video footage shows he was in the classroom not watching a TV at that time? 15. Why did the Israeli company Zim Shipping mysteriously

vacate their WTC lease just a week before 9/11

and incur a $50,000 fine to do so? 16. If 9/11 was carried out by 19 Kamikaze Arabs and with the help of no States, was did Saudi Arabia threaten the US when Congress was considering releasing the “28 pages”?

And why does the troika of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US continue to work together, e.g. as in subsequent operations like the Syrian War?

17. Why have so many non-US public officials stated on the record that the 9/11 attack must have been carried out by a State, not a loose group of militants?

Conclusion

As more and more years pass from September 11th, 2001, it is important to remember the gross amount of falsehood and fakery surrounding that event. Those lies led to so much draconian regulation, limitation of rights, torture, tyranny and war. May the 911 17th anniversary be an occasion for us to remind ourselves of the vast deception that continues to be perpetrated against us. It’s never too late to pursue and spread the truth. Even after all the hoopla over the JFK files release, Trump still bowed down to his military-intelligence masters and kept many files classified. Will history repeat itself and will 9/11 truth be held to the same fate?

Credit ~ Article ~ http://freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom.com/911-17th-anniversary-questions/?

#Remember 911 ?

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ultimateketomealplan · 2 years

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SC Extends Deadline for Demolition; Know Why

The Supreme Court has agreed to extend the deadline till August 28 to demolish Supertech twin towers, after Edifice Engineering, the private firm contracted to bring down the buildings, requested the apex court for a three-month deferment from the original deadline of May 22. The company has said the test blast revealed the structure is stronger than anticipated. Supertech’s 32-storeyed twin…

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alicescripts · 6 years

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Live show: Los Angeles, California

On October 30, we are releasing the Alice Isn’t Dead novel, a complete reimagining of the story from the ground up. It is a standalone thriller novel for anyone looking for a scary page-turner, whether they’ve heard this podcast or not. Available for preorder now. And preordering helps authors out tremendously, so please consider it. Thanks so much!

Hi, this is Joseph Fink. What you’re about to hear is the live Alice Isn’t Dead performance at the Largo in Los Angeles on April 5, 2018. This live episode was not any material from the podcast, but instead was a standalone show focused on the weird and interesting sites and places of LA. It was an incredible night, and thank you to those who came out to see it. Enjoy the show.

Oh. I’m sorry, I uh, I didn’t expect um, I-I didn’t know that anybody would be listening. [clears throat] OK. Um, when you tell a story, you should expect an audience but sometimes I don’t think about that. I just tell the story the same way I breathe, just move life in an out of my body. I suppose you could listen if you want.

My name is Keisha. I’m a truck driver. It’s weird isn’t it the-the way say our jobs as though they were an identity rather than a thing we do for money. I mean do you think that outside of capitalism we’d confuse our self image with what pays the bills? [chuckles] Sorry. I-I got away from myself. Story not polemic, right.

I became a truck driver because, well, that-that’s a long one. I thought my wife alice was dead. But she isn’t dead. And she’s out there somewhere on the highways and back roads, and I’m trying to find her. Just driving my truck around and around looking for her. That’s who I am really. I am the one that looks for Alice. And Alice is the one who isn’t dead, but isn’t here.

I was in Los Angeles. All downtowns are the same downtown, they are landscapes built for the facilitation of money and business without thought to he human experience. And we are tiny to these monuments and that we are allowed to pass among them is a privilege, not a right. Still each downtown bears some mark of its city. The LA downtown, despite surface similarities, could not be mistaken for New York or Chicago, it’s too eclectic. It’s too strange in its architecture. LA is, is much more than movies but – movies infuse everything because movies are the only history the city will acknowledge. The history of the indigenous people, the history of the Latino people, these are set aside. The city looked at all the people that had already come and thought, ah! A blank slate! And so they did not draw from the Gabrielino or the Chumash or even the Spanish in their missions, they drew from the movies. From the foundational idea that LA could and should be anywhere in the world. So the style of LA is every style, each house and each neighborhood built in wildly different ways. It’s art deco and Spanish stucco and mid-century modern.

In Brand Park, out in Glendale, there’s this enormous house turned public library that is less actual Middle Eastern and more movie Middle Eastern, built by the wealthy white man whose garden that park once was. There’s nowhere in LA that feels stylistically of one piece, and it is that incoherence that provides the coherence of the city.

You see, I’ve come to town on your word, Alice. Only it wasn’t your word direct of course just – whispers through a network of safe houses and gatekeepers, those living on the fringe of society who can be trusted with the kinds of messages we send back and forth. But who knows how the messages mutate mouth to mouth? But still, even through this mutilation of intent, I can hear your voice, like a heartbeat, your skin and bone.

It’s Tanya in Omaha, a friend of the cause, who reaches out to me on my radio to finally lay your words to rest. There’s a meeting in Los Angeles, you’ve heard. You don’t know the exact nature and purpose of this meeting, no one seems to, but the word is that it’s a meeting of those at the heart of it, the ones that are making the real choices, that shape every decision that we think we freely make. So I’ve come to town to find that meeting. I will find this meeting and then… shit, I don’t know. And then I will decide what to do next.

I’m faced with a mystery that’s so much bigger than myself that it sits like an uneven weight in my chest. I feel off balance, so I take comfort in smaller mysteries, ones that don’t matter at all. In Pico-Robertson, a five minute walk from six different synagogues, and a celebrity chef kosher Mexican restaurant called Mexikosher, is a strange synagogue with no windows. The architecture is unmistakable. Modern LA Jewish has a certain look and this place has it, right down to the arches designed to look like the two tablets of the Commandments. Except this synagogue is several stories tall, and with no visible entrance.

What does it mean to blend in? What-what does it mean to, to disguise, what does it mean to stick out? These are intrinsically Jewish questions. A people that has, throughout over a thousand years of oppression, variously done all three. And this way too the building is very Jewish. Of course it is not a synagogue. It is, in fact, 40 oil wells hidden inside a soundproofed structure designed to look like a synagogue. And it is not the only one, just five minutes down the road is an office building with no doors and no windows, that one is 50 wells.

The machinery of our system is not hidden below us, it is disguised among us. Rocks that are actually utility boxes, trees that are cell towers. That vacant house that we walk by day after day, the one with the opaque windows? Actually a maintenance entrance for the metro.

Which buildings are real and which ones are disguises? It doesn’t matter, I suppose. But that’s what makes me enjoy considering it.

Sylvia’s here too. She’s really come a long way from the teenage runaway I first discovered on the side of a highway. Did you tell her about the secret meeting, Alice? She is both more vulnerable and far braver than either of us, did you send her to this place? [sighs] We reunited on one of the vacant cul-de-sacs near LAX, where neighborhoods that had once been an airport’s buffer zone were now demolished.

“Heya,” Sylvia said, as though we were meeting at the continental breakfast at a hotel, not on a dark empty street after months of not seeing each other. “Hey yourself,” I said. “Why did you come?” She shrugged, performed nonchalance. “Same reason as you, I guess.”

Well then I guess neither of us knew. Because I had no idea why I was there, I didn’t even knew who was meeting in this town, let’s start with that. OK what what organization, what secret brotherhood, what ancient cabal that influences world events is now sitting around the table in some sterile backroom in this sunny, thirsty city?

I could have asked Sylvia what she knew about it, but I didn’t. I felt like I would be following a script you gave to me, Alice, and I am not interested in your dictating my actions. So instead I asked her: “How you been?” And she took a long slow breath that was more answer than words could ever be. “[sighs] I’ve been good,” she said. “You know, trying my best, finding places to sleep, finding a friendly face on the other side of a meal.” She shrugged. “I guess it’s the same struggle for everyone. But those of us who live on the road, everything is amplified, you know?” I do know. Goddammit, I know.

I wasn’t even sure where in the region this meeting might be held. So I drove out east to the desert where the mountains looked like set backdrops, unreal and perfect, taking up half the sky. Palm Springs, the town killed by cheap plane tickets. Why drive two hours from the city for the weekend, when it’s possible to weekend in Honolulu or Costa Rica instead? Then, having died, Palm Springs hung on just long enough for everything dated about it to become vintage cool. Now it’s back, a mid-century modern paradise of steel beams and rock walls and that style of beautiful, but featureless wooden security fence that only exists in Southern California. Old motels not updated since the heyday of the 50’s now are converted to hip resorts with (farmed) table food and upscale tiki bars. The city is an Instagram feed. Which is both snark and compliment, because it is a genuinely beautiful place.

I wondered the town, feeling that there was something worth finding there, but unsure where it would be hidden. I visited Elvis’ Honeymoon Hideaway, a garish airplane of a house with giant wings of a roof looming at the end of a cul-de-sac, providing kitsch to the dwindling population of Elvis enthusiasts.

That house was built on sale for 9 million a few years back and is now reduced to an easy 4, so make those owners an offer and you too could own a house that is listed as a historical site. A place where Elvis had sex a few times. It probably doesn’t have a dishwasher, though, so… Just south of Cathedral City, I saw a sign that looked familiar. It’s this huge neon pink elephant, mouth wide in mid-laugh, splashing herself. A pink elephant carwash. The sign has a twin sister in Seattle, that one is famous. It was weird running into her in the desert too. It was like driving through the suburbs and suddenly finding out that 150 years ago, they also built an Eiffel tower in Pomona.

I stopped the car and I just gawked up at her. It made me so happy. And then, looking down from the sign, the horror came to me. I saw someone walking towards me with a shuffle that I recognized. Like their legs had no muscle or bone but were heavy sacks of meat attached to their body. One dead leg thrust forward after another, and as the man came close, he looked up and I went from dread suspicion to horrible certainty.

He’s one of those creatures that I call Thistle men. Sagging human faces hung limply on skulls that are the wrong shape. Yellow teeth, yellow eyes. They are serial murderers hunting the back roads of our highway systems, and one of them was here.

He made eye contact with me. He laughed, a sound like hanging knives clattering together. And then he was gone. The neon elephant’s face no longer seemed friendly. I mean it, too, seemed to be laughing.

Sylvia and I, we split up for the day. We just watched the traffic and people, looking for suspicious crowds, folks that don’t fit in with the tourists and the beautiful people working as baristas just for now. Of course we don’t know what those suspicious crowds would even look like. Grey men in grey suits going greyly about the tedious business of running the world? Or, like the Thistle men, monsters of hideous aspect?

I reached out to my friend Lynn who works as a dispatcher at my trucking company. She and I became friends soon after I started. She doesn’t take shit, I don’t give shit, we get along that way. “Any unusual moments in Los Angeles?” I said. “Strange shipments, unsual routings, anything?” “You know I can’t tell you that,” she said. “What if I said please?” I said. She snorted into the phone. [chuckles] “In that case, sure,” she said. “I always like you when I’m polite, let me see what I can find.”

Sylvia and I saw nothing of note that day. We ate together at a Korean barbeque place built into the dome of what had once been a restaurant shaped like a hat. “This is nice,” she said towards the end of the dinner. It was, it really was.

You know, a city is defined by its people but it’s haunted by its ruins. There are no cities without vacant lots, the skeletons of buildings, ample evidence of disaster and failure. Our eyes slide past them because they tell a different story about our city than the one we wanna hear. A story in which all of this could slip away in a moment. Even though we know this fact is true, even more for Los Angeles than most cities. This city will some day be shaken to the ground, or burned, or covered over with mud, or drowned by the rising sea or strangled by draught. The question is, as it is for each of us in our personal lives, not if it will die but how.

I like to go and look at these broken places where the refuse of recent history shows. It allows me to look at a region differently, maybe see what I was missing. And if a secret meeting was gonna be hidden here, where but in the cracks? So I peer in. I search.

Above the Pacific Coast highway in the hills of Malibu that are so beautiful when they aren’t falling or burning, is what remains of a house. That house was a mansion built in the 50’s and burned in the 80’s when its location finally caught up to it. There’s now a popular hike that goes right into the ruins, so any walker can go see this place where people lived as recently as 30 years ago. A ruin shouldn’t be so new. A Roman home destroyed by a volcano, well OK you know. A medieval castle, sure. Even an old stone settler’s hut, 100 years old, alright, OK that make sense. But a house that once held a television and a shower? It feels wrong to walk on the foundation, stepping over the bases of walls and around the chimney. It was a home not so long ago, and now it is transformed. Transformation is uncomfortable, and easily mistaken for an ending.

In Griffith Park, I met with Sylvia in the old zoo. All the animal enclosures are still there, and you can sit in them and look at where once caged animals lived, and now wild animals are free to come and go.

Sylvia and I sat in the artificial caves, trying to imagine what the purpose of this secret meeting was. Sure, generally the word was out that it was a meeting of those in control in order to further control us, but specifics were, as they often are, lacking. Sylvia asked me: “Do you feel like this story is too convenient?” And I had no way to respond but nodding. “But we still have to look for it, right?” she said. And I nodded again.

As the sun moved behind the hills, it got very cold. She said, “Yeah”. And I said, “Yeah.” And neither one of us meant it.

Gentrification comes for us all. Let’s leave aside for a moment the many issues of endangered communities and rocketing prices, and consider just two cases of what people will look past to get access to LA property. December 6, 1959, in the hills just below Griffith Park, a doctor lived with his wife in a mansion with an incredible view. The Christmas tree was up for the season, wrapped gifts underneath. At 4:30 in the morning, the doctor got out of bed, retrieved a ball-peen hammer and murdered his wife with it. Then he attacked his daughter, though she survived. And then he took a handful of pills and was dead by the time police arrived.

That house stood empty ever since, still filled with the family’s things: the furniture, the tree, wrapped gifts underneath. A prime house in a prime LA area, but who would live in a house where such horror had happened? For 60 years, no one. Well, the house sold for 2.2 million last year. A view of the city, just above those (-) [0:21:06]. Well at this point, who wouldn’t take some hauntings and a terrible bloody past for that?

Meanwhile the Cecil Hotel in Hollywood, site of an inordinate number of murders and suicides, where the Night Stalker lived in the 80’s while causing terror across the region, where just a few years back, a body floated in the water tank for days before being discovered, is now the boutique Stay on Main. A rebranding for this rebranded city. Even our murders are getting gentrified.

Maybe it’s me. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like change. Change is often wonderful. But we should definitely think hard about what we are changing into, and what that change might mean. We should just spend a little time thinking about that.

[long break]

Still searching for this meeting. I went up the coast, over the Grade and down toward Axnard, not as cool as Ventura or as rich as Camarillo. Oxnard gets by. As I waited to hear from Lynn, I walked on Silver Strand, just watching the surfers. Many, even now in the winter. Nothing will keep them out of those frigid Alaskan currents. I headed south to Channel Island harbor. It was absolutely peaceful on its shore. The ocean is chattering and restless, the harbor sleeps. It does not stir except to send crumbling waves in the wake of the few boats in and out.

During my walk, I saw a rowboat. Old, practically falling apart. Something about the occupants of the rowboat made me look closer. Stooped figures in awkward postures that looked painful. One of them turned to face me, though the boat was 60 feet offshore, and even at that distance, I could see. Two Thistle men, floating in a rowboat in the (Sound).

“Ooooooooooooooooo,” one of them shouted at me in a gentle high-pitched voice. “Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.” There was something that looked a lot like a human arm poking out over the rim of the rowboat.

I returned to my truck. Not everything is my problem.

Worship is a feeling so all-encompassing that it can be easy to misunderstand from outside. Take the worship of Santa Muerte, a Mexican (folk) saint of death, likely a legacy of pre-Colombian devotion, dressed in the clothes of the colonizing religion. The church has spent a long time trying to suppress her worship, but of course the church has never been good at actually suppressing much, and devotion to Santa Muerte has only spread in recent times.

Like many figures of death, she represents healing and well-being. Religion often lies in embracing contradiction. Those on the outside, they see this as a weakness but those on the inside recognize it as strength. The temple of Santa Muerte in Los Angeles is just down on Melrose Avenue, sharing a building, as everything in LA does now, with a weed store. It is a one-room shrine established by a husband and wife, full of life-sized skeletons bearing (-) [0:25:04]. It would be easy as an outsider to default to one’s own associations with skeletons and come to one’s own emotional conclusions, but it is healthier to embrace the contradiction of these symbols of death. That, after all, physically hold us up for as long as we live. To deny Santa Muerte is to deny our own bodies.

Meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater carries a different kind of worship: devotion to a performance style that time has left behind. And the outside of the building is – let’s face it, it’s creepy. Because, like skeletons, puppets have taken on a certain cultural connotation in the wider world. But we should try to see it from the inside, as the earnest expression of performance and joy.

Mm mm. No I can’t. Mm mm, I ju- not with puppets. Skeletons, fine. Loose-skinned monsters from whatever world, well I’ve deal with them, but puppets? Mm mm.

Lynn got back to me. “You didn’t hear this from me,” she said. “That goes without saying,” I said. “No it doesn’t,” she responded, “because I just told you that. Now, there have been some shipments that don’t belong to any company. Or the company info is missing from them, I can’t understand what I’m looking that. They certainly don’t hold up to any scrutiny at all, so I don’t think that they were expecting scrutiny. These things stand out so bad that they might as well be big red arrows pointing at a location in Los Angeles.”

It was late afternoon. Sylvia was asleep in the back of the truck’s cab. I lowered my voice. “Where?” She told me. I looked at Sylvia, knowing she would want me to wake her up, to take her with me. But I didn’t. I let her sleep. I went alone. Better that one of us survive.

I went where Lynn told me: up La Cienega, past a mall and a hospital. I came to the address she gave me. An unassuming place. If it weren’t for the brightly lit shine, I might not have even spotted it from the street. I went through the gates. There was a courtyard there, deserted. The air was still and there was no sound, but the stillness felt temporary, like the pause after an act of violence before anyone can get over their shock and react. I continued through the doors to a dark room. Not the grand hall I might have expected for a meeting like this, but a cozy place. Rows of theater seats. A stage draped in red curtains, from which a speaker stood addressing the crowd. There was music. Was that music? Or was it the shifting and squirming of inhuman bodies? Because there was something inhuman in this place, I could feel it. Not the people in the seats, they seemed completely human. Looking up at the person speaking, following the narrative, and slowly having information dawn on them.

In fact, the people in the seats did not at all seem like the kind of people I would expect at a meeting like this. Were these the powerful, the wicked? Were these the unseen hands ushering us to disaster? Looks can be deceiving. Everything can be deceiving, up to and including the truth, but no. I did not think that these were monsters, I thought they were people like me. People lured to the spot for the same reason I had been, because the story of the meeting had been a very good story. It played exactly into how I had thought the world works. It fed my suspicions and it led me to this place. And I think the same is true for every person in that room. They were there, like I was there, looking for a good story. But why were they led there? Hmm? If the meeting itself was a decoy, then what was the true purpose of this moment?

And that’s when I saw them. Lingering in the shadows at the edges of the crowd. Men with faces that sagged. Flesh that peeled. Yellow teeth, yellow eyes. Thistle men ringed the crowd. (Wools to sheep, parks to bunnies). Hunters. Prey. Did the people in their seats notice? Did they look into the shadows and see the inhuman eyes peering back at them, did they smell the breath of the Thistle men, like mildew, like soil? A smell of rot from deep within, cold lungs, did they hear the occasional laugh coming from a gurgling broken throat? Did they look beside them at seats that were empty and think, wasn’t someone here just moments ago? Or was there? But surely there wasn’t, because where could they have gone? And then the shadows at the edges of the crowd, the people that had once sat in those seats, were led into a place from which they could never return.

I understood. A simple plan: tell an irresistible story. A story that is exactly what all of us fighting Thistle might want to hear. That we were right all along. That the world really is against us in so simple and easy a way that the culprits could all meet in one room. And we would come to hear that story, and then Thistle would take us. Why hunt when instead they could lure?

Standing in the door to that hall of horrors, I saw the faces of the Thistle men as they turned and noticed. One gave a yelp and started to lope towards me and I fled. Where the courtyard had been empty, it was now packed shoulder to shoulder full of men with loose faces and eyes that went yellow at the edges and wet lips hiding sharp teeth. They were waiting for the crowd inside. Hungry creatures preparing to feed on any person that stepped out of that theater. I pushed into and past them, using their momentary surprise to escape, and I ran until my throat was dry and ragged, through that courtyard and out to where the lights of the strip club across the way flashed back and forth, back and forth, and then into my car and then onto the maze of freeways where it is so easy to disappear.

I kept my eye glued on the mirrors, but no one was chasing me. Somewhere behind me, an audience of innocents remained in Thistle’s trap, and I wouldn’t help them. I couldn’t.

Instead, I went back to the truck. Sylvia was still asleep in the cot. I sat in the driver’s seat. I was exhausted. The sun had fully set, and I allowed my eyelids to drift downwards. “Hi,” said Sylvia. She was in the passenger’s seat turned sideways towards me. It was light again. I don’t know how long I’d slept, I know I didn’t dream. There are small mercies in life, I guess. “Did you find out anything?” Sylvia said. I looked in her eyes. She’s so young. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair that she was out here like me on this labyrinth of roads and rest stops. But that’s just what it was. For her and for me and for so many others.

And she looked at me with trust. And I looked right back and I said, “I didn’t find anything. I don’t think the meeting is even real. Let’s get out of here.” Sylvia yawned, she stretched, she nodded. “Yeah OK,” she said. “Might as well. Too bad this turned out to be nothin’.” “Too bad,” I said.

So now here I am telling the story from just outside of Ashland, Oregon. Los Angeles is hundreds of miles behind me now. It isn’t far enough.

I love you, Alice. I stayed alive another day. You do the same, OK? OK.

[applause]

Joseph Fink: Thank you to everyone who came out for our Largo show. We will be back in two weeks with chapter 1 of our third and final season. This show would not be possible without our Patreon supporters. Such as the incredible Ethel Morgan, the indomitable Lilith Newman, the victorious Chris Jensen, and the electrifying Melissa (Lumm).

If you would like to join these folks in helping us make this show, please check out patreon.com/aliceisntdead, where you can get rewards like director’s commentary on every episode, live video streams with the cast and crew, bonus episodes, and more.

Thanks for listening, and see you soon.

#alice isn't dead #alice isn't dead transcripts #live at the largo #live shows #los angeles california #they changed the name as soon as i had posted this #so i changed the name of the post too #long post

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agape-philo-sophia · 6 years

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➝ The Occult Numerology & Gematria of 9/11

The spiritual supporting pillars of the world’s societal structure were essentially demolished on 9/11…symbolically, allegorically, ritualistically and literally.

It was quite a sinister “stroke of genius” and so exemplifies how these dark controllers operate. This is why the wake up to 9/11 Truth is so shocking to people’s systems and they just can’t handle it. It’s overwhelming, which it was designed to be. And so the vast populace rolls over and buries its head back in the sand... Tell A Big Enough Lie …and you’ll eventually get exposed. So full of lies are these controllers it’s beyond the grasp of normal sentient beings. And they revel in the power of that. It’s amazing they can be so brash yet hidden in plain sight.

The Twin Pillars Archetype, The effect of occult (hidden) symbolism on the human psyche is a nicely kept secret. Even though psychologists such as Carl Jung have written extensively on this and it’s clearly pointed out by the esoteric community. People just do not realize they are daily the subject of the sophisticated manipulation of these terribly powerful symbols. Like scientific breakthroughs are garnered by the military, these elite psychopaths have to weaponize everything, instead of using it for the betterment of humanity and our world.

“Signs and symbols rule the world, not words nor laws” – Confucius

There’s much more to this subject. And it wasn’t just Freemasons involved in all this, but they’re a major arm that encapsulates a belief system much of the Illuminati share. Members of this dark cabal are almost always associated with some sort of secret society or practice like Freemasonry or witchcraft, often under a religious cover like the Vatican, Mormonism or Evangelical groups. Rothschild Zionists use both the religious cover and the financial “institution” to disguise and justify their perfidy.

At the occult level the 9/11 event was a ritual, empowered, as is often the case, by performing human sacrifice. War is another such ritual, usually instigated and financed by this same dark cabal loosely labelled the Illuminati. I can’t begin to cover the extent of the symbology and esoteric meaning injected into the 9/11 charade, but I hope this opens up a few things for you to look into further. These same tactics are used constantly on an unwary public at many levels.

The lie is exposed, the spell is broken and the illusion loses its power over you. But the secret weapon of 9/11 was this: it was riding high on the amplified occult, symbolic preparation of not just decades, seeing the “twin towers” as a symbol of world commerce and the “triumph of the human spirit”, but seeing “twin pillars of society” throughout architecture and logos and literature for millenia, both conscious and subconscious, being destroyed before their eyes, over and over and over --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day of the attack: 11 The Date of the Attack, September 11 or 9/11 = 9 + 1 + 1 = 11 911 is emergency number = 9 + 1 + 1 = 11 September 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11 After September 11th we have 111 remaining for the end of the year. 119 is the Area Code for Iran & Iraq 1 + 1+ 9 = 11 The first plane to hit one of the buildings was Flight 11 The State of New York was the 11th State to join the Union New York City = 11 letters Afghanistan = 11 letters The Pentagon = 11 letters Flight 11 had 92 passengers, 9 + 2 = 11 Flight 77 had 65 passengers, 6 + 5 = 11 Twin Towers look like an 11 Twin Towers had 110 floors

George H.W. Bush’s famous New World Order speech to congress was on 9/11/1990. Exactly 11 years before the attacks. In that speech, Bush encodes another 9-11. “Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective, a New World Order” → 5. “An era in which the nations of the world: east and west, north and south…” → 4. 5+4=9.

“100 generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while 1000 wars waged across the span of human endeavor” →100+1000 = 1100 → 11

Through gematria we see the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, actually encodes two 11s. A=1, so AA-11 = 11-11. This also hearkens to the spiritual organization founded by Aleister Crowley known as A∴A∴ The North Tower (WTC1) was impacted at 8:46:40 and collapsed at 10:28:22. An interval of ~101 minutes.

The South Tower (WTC2) was impacted at 9:03:00 and collapsed at 9:59:00. An interval of 56 minutes, 5+6=11. (Yes, those times times are exactly at the minute marks. 9:03:00 is the impact time given in the 9/11 Commission Report. However, NIST established this time as 9:02:59… Shucks, only one second off.) September 11th was the 254th day of the year. 2+5+4=11 Thus, there were 111 days left in the year.

September 11th in the Gregorian calendar is New Year’s Day in the Coptic calendar, the calendar originating in Egypt, traditionally the source of all the Hermetic traditions.

Also a Video here:

➝ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nzETuIYS1Q ----------------------------------------------------

#Truth #Occult #Esoteric #Elite #Sacrifice #Ritual #Control #Numerology #Gematria

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schmidtchristmasmarket · 4 years

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Cologne, Germany is increasingly becoming a popular city destination for Christmas lovers for different reasons. Admittedly, though the city may not be as famous as other holiday destinations like Florence, Prague, Rome and Berlin it still has so much to offer.

The key advantage of enjoying the Christmas trip in this fourth largest city in Germany is that you do not have to deal with huge crowds. Cologne is a hugely unexplored gem compared to other top-rated city destinations. During the Christmas season the city has a lot of nightlife events Christmas based, sumptuous foods and drinks, and much more. Subsequently below take a look at some of the leading things to see and do in this historic and cultural city. 1. Christmas Markets Cologne offers one of the best destinations for experiencing the popular Christmas Markets in Germany and Europe. The origin of the markets can be traced up to the 13th-century. From the city center there are in excess of five winter-themed markets with all of them exceptionally decorated to give the festive feeling. As one of the earliest Christmas markets you can expect to find different handmade gifts and products in wooden stalls well illuminated by Christmas lights. The brick and mortar Christmas markets provide you with a chance to purchase a variety of Christmas presents like Christmas cake, Christmas trees, wooden toys, lanterns, ornaments, etc. Alternatively it is also possible to buy presents online through the Schmidt Christmas Market. You can get Christmas goodies not only from Germany but also from numerous locations globally like Spain and Russia. Within the USA, the Schmidt Christmas Market provides free shipping for purchased products. 2. Cologne Cathedral In Germany, this place of worship is a top visited attraction site. Its 19th-century twin towers are openly visible in the city’s horizon. Going on the basilica top offers a chance for observing the scenic views of Cologne. The soaring cathedral is a UNSECO site with breathtaking interior attractions, priceless art and history. The main attraction is definitely the Three Kings Sanctuary. The repository has bones of the men from the biblical story about Jesus Christ’s birth. After the transportation of remains through different expanses, the pilgrims finally brought them to the cathedral, a final resting place. Next to the Cologne Cathedral you can also visit the modern Museum Ludwig. The focus of the museum is on modern-day paintings collection. There are world-class recent art exhibitions from artists like Andy Warhol. 3. Enjoy Rhine Boating Apart from Germany, the Rhine River passes through other European countries like France. When roaming the river using small boats you are guaranteed to enjoy the sights of Cologne along the Rhine in a more relaxed and quieter manner. In the Christmas season expect the Christmas spirit to hover around. In your day cruise which may take a couple of hours you may have drinks and Christmas carols to sing along. For sailing during the night, it gives you an out of the movie experience as there is stunning light reflection off the river water. 4. Visit The ‘Schokolade’ Museum The Chocolate Museum is conveniently situated on the old town riverbanks. This particular museum is about 500 meters from the small structure used for displaying the level of the River Rhine at any given time. Visiting the museum provides you with an opportunity to know almost everything concerning chocolate and cocoa including how this delightful food is made. There is also the making of freshly tasting chocolate within the museum that you can enjoy as you observe the Rhine. 5. Old Town If you want to go back in time then you have to visit the Old Town of Cologne. Remember that a significant chunk of the Cologne history was destroyed and lost through war, particularly World War II bombing. Thanks to a lot of preservation and restoration work done on buildings you will see that the small museums and historical churches are in fantastic condition.The Old Town also houses the Romano Germanische Museum which has been used for preserving the Roman artifacts that the city’s excavation unearthed. 6. Botanical Garden This charming garden is located next to the Cologne Zoological Garden with more than 10,000 wildlife exceeding 800 species. The park is about 11 hectares with a beautiful glass palace having colorful flowers, splendid gardens and expansive lawns.There are different crops cultivated in the garden including cinnamon, cocoa and sugar cane. The architectural elegance of the garden was influenced by the Crystal Palace, a massive historical glass structure that was built and demolished in England. 7. Hohenzollernbrücke Bridge The bridge was built initially for both rail and road transport. Nonetheless, after the 1945 substantial damage because of war it was explicitly rebuilt for rail and crosswalk. This particular bridge is heavily used in Germany by over 1,100 trains each day. Over the last few years the Hohenzollern Bridge has not been spared from the love padlock fashion. Couples come to the bridge to attach padlocks and subsequently throw the keys into the Rhine River to signify an unbreakable bond and love. The pleasant view of the river adds some air of romance for lovers. 8. Bike Hiring You can also rent a bike in Cologne for cycling throughout the city. Using a bike you can go to see the Cologne Zoo, move along the river and go through parks. It is even possible to carry your bike along on trams and trains to explore the countryside around the city. In the central railway station, there is a tourist office for sharing ideas about your biking and hiking options. 9. Farina Fragrance Museum The success of the globally popular cologne perfume originated from this German city nearly 300 years ago. Johann Maria Farina, the fragrance water inventor, named his product Eau de Cologne in honor of his area of residence. The inventor and his family settled in Cologne after migrating from Piedmont, Italy. Because of the success of the famous fragrance in improving the city’s reputation that is why there is a museum solely dedicated to it. The depository has a cellar, furniture and equipment used by the Italian native and photos showing the complicated production art throughout the years. There is also a presentation of the initial scent of the perfume since during the time it was invented no trademark laws existed. Thus there is a high chance you have come across copycats of this classy perfume. 10. Shopping The city has lots of boutiques and shops to visit. There are assortments of renowned German departmental stores, local antique and art shops and international brands. The Belgian Quarter provides some unique and trendy shopping experience in Cologne due to the combination of various architectural styles and antiquated accessories, souvenirs and exceptional clothes. Apart from the handmade accessories and antique attires, the neighborhood also offers visitors live music settings, bars and eateries. In Conclusion There is much more Cologne has to offer as a destination for spending the Christmas season. There are traditional bars, restaurants, museums, parks, Christmas markets, Romanic churches and many other things to do and see.

If you plan to visit Cologne for your Christmas holiday it can be helpful to learn how to pronounce and spell the name of the city correctly. When in Germany, you will not see any maps, directions, or signs with “Cologne.” spelling. The Germans spell their city as Köln. The local spelling and pronunciation of the city name can make you feel like a local and come in handy when asking directions.

Shop now at Schmidt Christmas Market for all your Christmas Decor

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cococolab · 4 years

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Lecture 9: The end of the future

Part 1

Reference: Wilkinson, T., 2020. Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986). [online] Architectural Review. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/reputations/minoru-yamasaki-1912-1986/10040173.article> [Accessed 8 May 2020].

I wanted to break this lecture into two parts: modernism and post-modernism. I wanted to look more into Minoru Yamasaki as I’m not too familiar with him. Some key points I took away from the first part of the lecture:

Height of modernism idealism in the 20th century demolished in 1972.

Minoru Yamasaki buildings failed in a lot of ways to respond to the social needs of families.

It was a metaphor of the failure of modernism to respond to the needs of rapidly evolving society in the 20th century.

Yamasaki was responsible for the idea of the twin towers.

Height of capitalism, quite literally reaching for the future in a building such as a skyscraper, target of terrorist attacks, end of modernist ideal, end of the future.

After watching the lecture I was interested in finding out more on why Minoru Yamasaki’s buildings failed.

I found the downward turn of Yamasaki’s reputation gained momentum in the ��70s after the public demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe apartment complex in St. Louis. The apartments came to symbolise an assortment of misguided postwar endeavours, including low-income high-rise apartments, federally sponsored public housing, and even the modern movement in architecture as a whole. That the apartment complex failed was unarguable. But it failed for many reasons, including the same managerial indifference to tenants’ needs that had forced Yamasaki to compromise most of his goals for the project.

Reference: Owlcation. 2020. Architect Of Disaster: Minoru Yamasaki. [online] Available at: <https://owlcation.com/humanities/Architect-of-Disaster-Minoru-Yamasaki> [Accessed 8 May 2020].

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laconservancy · 5 years

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Member Spotlight: Daniel Paul

Longtime Conservancy member Daniel Paul is an expert in L.A. Late-Modern architecture (1970-1990). Director of Development Liz Leshin asked Daniel to tell us about his area of expertise and why he joined the Conservancy.

Liz Leshin: Are you an L.A. native?

Daniel Paul: The metropolis yes, the City, no; I'm from Anaheim.

LL: You joined the Conservancy in 1996. What made you join in the first place? What were the main issues of concern then?

DP: I immediately joined the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, which really felt progressive back then. We had a slew of preservation issues at-hand, primarily centered around different strains of Mid-Century Modernism, including a variety of vernacular resources that many others were not really noticing. It was exciting, like a home of sorts, to meet and be among so many others with similar loves.

LL: Why do you think it's important to remain a member of the Conservancy?

DP: Because the Conservancy is virtually one-of-a-kind in terms of its scale and what it is willing to go after. Additionally, the Conservancy seems to have sort of a feel for, and ear of, local politics, making the organization helpful toward the cause.

LL: You are an expert in L.A. Late-Modern architecture (1970-1990). In a few words, can you express why this type of architecture is so compelling to you, and why L.A. was such a center for modernist architects?

DP: I became interested in this work beginning in 2001, when I was an Art History graduate student at California State University Northridge. I was curious to understand the aesthetic intentions and origin story of Late-Modern architecture, a design system perceived as anonymous if not hated. I had no idea when I began my work that it was created in Los Angeles.

I find the work compelling because it frequently possesses moments of beauty that are unexpected for its type, as large scale business architecture. Regarding why L.A. was such a center for Modernist architects, the deeper one looks I think every major city has its Modernist architects of note. But perhaps, at least for the US, a couple of elements set Los Angeles apart. Here, there was a certain openness to experiment, and openness to what architect Cesar Pelli called “future looking.” There was also a kind of horizontality in general back then: open space with no cultural hierarchies. This made for an anonymity that was not all bad, allowing architects to easily explore new concepts, and Modernism's zeitgeist was very much tied to the new.

Conservancy member Daniel Paul.

LL: Please describe the difference between early Modernism and Late Modernism, and why Late Modernism arose as a reaction to early modernism. What do you think are some of the best examples of Late Modernist 1970s buildings in Los Angeles?

DP: If by “early Modernism” you mean any Modernism before Late- and Post-, there are numerous iterations of it. I can say that both Late Modernism and Postmodernism began around 1965 as different reactions to a Modernism perceived as increasingly orthodox, dull, and insensitive. Speaking in the most general terms, Postmodernism–though the movement was not named as such until the mid-1970s–reacted against Modernism by introducing elements such as contextualism, humor, ornament, Classicism, complexity, and meaning.

Late Modernism, on the other hand, reacts against Orthodox Modernism by taking the language of Modernism and exaggerating it to show what became an increasingly orthodox Modernism would no longer be blindly followed. So for example, the dematerialization and thinness of the Modernist curtain wall is exaggerated to become the all-over smooth glass skin. Los Angeles Late-Modernism added a healthy dose of regional high-tech and art influences. Both reactions employ irony in their own way, though in Late Modernism the irony is subtle and in early Postmodernism, the irony is overt.

Regarding favorites, that is actually a rather challenging question, since so much of Los Angeles was built out by 1965. But within the city limits, some of my favorites are the Bonaventure Hotel, the former CNA Park Place Tower on 6th and Commonwealth (now the Los Angeles Superior Court Tower), Anthony Lumsden's twin sewage treatment plants: Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant (designed 1974; completed 1984) and Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant (designed 1985; completed 1997), along with some smaller resources too that are special in their own way: Auto Chek smog inspection facilities, and some of the 70s-era Bank of America branches, which I'm certain Cesar Pelli had an invisible hand in while he was at Gruen. Additionally, I have a weird place in my heart for the Warner Center: it looks like Oz from certain angles and used to be on the cover of the Yellow Pages!

The former CNA Park Place Tower (now the Los Angeles Superior Court Tower). Photo by Jeremy Sternberg/Flickr.

LL: Where did your interest in historic preservation come from?

DP: When I was 21 and studying art history at California State University Fullerton, I became deeply interested in art by the self-taught, particularly as they created environments upon their property, often over a period of decades or more, not from a conscious place of being an "artist." That such immersive creativity could be intrinsic and seemingly necessary to everyday life was deeply moving to me.

This led me to Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, by chance just a few days after the 1994 Northridge earthquake that caused it substantial damage. Not knowing what historic preservation was in the beginning, that is where I got started in preservation regardless, and I stayed at Bottle Village for 15 years. In the process, I fought for FEMA money, got Bottle Village listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and completed the USC historic preservation short course in 1996. But I must say that being on the Modern Committee in the late 1990s played no small part in my future career.

Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village in 2008. Photo via Wikipedia.

LL: Why is it important to preserve Modernist architecture?

DP: In Los Angeles that is equivalent to asking why is it important to preserve architecture at all. So much of our built fabric here is some version of Modernism. At this point, I don't find it such a stretch to see that although Modernism is not decorative in any traditional manner, it can still be beautiful to people. So to preserve Modernism is to be open to non-traditional perspectives of beauty. There is, of course, everything that Modernism stood for, and that is a mixed bag. Nonetheless, I don’t blame the aesthetic itself.

LL: As you know, in 2020, the Conservancy is exploring the 1970s turning 50. One of your specialties is glass skin buildings, which started to be built in the 1970s. What is the allure of glass skin buildings?

DP: That they were never intended to be high art objects, but they nonetheless possess moments of great beauty.

LL: What is the challenge in preserving them?

DP: Their scale, the value of their land, preserving the very few and subtle character-defining features that they possess, and changing tastes. Taste goes in cycles. There was a time when Victorian architecture, Mid-Century Modernism, Art Deco, or any other variety of design systems fell out of favor, and works were then altered or demolished. Once these movements return to vogue, they never fully fall out of favor again. The challenge is identifying Late-Modernism's notable examples, then leaving them alone long enough to where they intrinsically over time look good again – and are therefore marketable – on their own accord. Late-Modern aesthetics are on the cusp of this, but right now innumerous mirror glass buildings are for lease.

LL: What do you say to people who describe them as “ugly” or “soulless”?

DP: First, I would remind them that when the Modern Committee began in 1984 as the Fifties Task Force, the 1950s were only 25 years old. That would be the equivalent to staring an early ‘90s task force now, and yet the ‘70s work is twenty years older than even that.

Regarding the buildings, I say enjoy their bold, sculptural presence from afar, and enjoy their surfaces close-in. Try and see the building as it is, separate from the corporations or business practices that the design system has come to represent. Understand that the original aesthetic intentions were not that. And just because they are large-scale projects, know their design work was often done on minuscule time and budget allocations, by architects trying to do something very interesting with very little. Their features are subtle, a fact which is easy to miss on account of the buildings’ often large scale.

LL: How will preserving buildings from the 1970s inform future generations?

DP: In 2014 I gave an all-day driving tour of mirror glass office park architecture in Orange County, and by and large most of those on that tour were under 30. This look already speaks to a certain young group, perhaps as their nostalgia for a past future.

LL: What do you think are the biggest issues or challenges facing preservation in Los Angeles moving forward?

DP: Preservationists need to be discerning about what they fight for, but at the same time, neither the need for housing of various types, nor whatever whims developers have should run rampant over preservation. Courage, communication, and vision are in order.

#member spotlight #70sTurn50 #1970s #modern architecture #postmoderism

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nothingnessreality · 5 years

Photo

On this anniversary of 9/11 we have got to start facing the facts.

What is this:

This is microscopic photos of dust taken form 4 places around the three building that collapsed on 9/11. The red flecks are flecks from an explosive called “Superthermite-Super-Nano-Thermate-Thermitic. The only known source of which is the US military. This is proof that the buildings at the World Tread Center (WTC) where wired for a controlled demolition, prier to the terrorist attack. Some one, who knew the terrorist attack was coming, when into the three WTC buildings, the two towers, and building 7, and wired them with the Nano-thermate explosive and then shortly after the terrorist airliners crash into the building they set off the explosive, causing them to collapse, blaming the collapse on the terrorist. Oddly, even though building 7 had not been hit by an airliner, it also collapsed. So clearly it had to have been demolished to cover the evidence that the build was wired for demolition. Who ever did this must have miscalculated. They must have believed that flight 93 was going to hit building 7, but that plane went down in Pennsylvania? National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) clamed that it had collapse because of a fire on the top floor, but never in the history of high-rise builds has one collapse from a fire on the top floor.

The first person to study the samples above was Physics Professor Dr. Steven Jones of Brigham Young University. He was later forced to retire because some one in high places put presser on the University, but he is still doing 9/11 research out of his own pocket, but others also have looked at the samples, such as Dr. Niels Harrit, a 37-year Professor of Chemistry at Copenhagen University in Denmark, and he agreed that it was Nano-thermate explosive, and then suddenly all his grant money was pulled. Professor Harrit has put a video statement on line about the experience at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW4Z3P8BER0

Physics Journal Study

Now, for the first time, a major physics Journal, Europhysics 47/4 2016, has published a study of the World Trade Center buildings collapsing on 9/11, and concluded that the 3 buildings were in fact a controlled demolition. The airplanes crashing into the buildings did not cause the buildings to collapse.

The authors of the 9/11-study team said that the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who did the official report, admitted when pushed, that the buildings had collapsed at free fall speed. Free fall speed is the speed at which an object well fall freely in air when dropped. It is impossible for a building to collapse; up on it self, at free fall speed from the top down. This is because the act of crushing the building, as the top of the building pushes down, will slow the fall. The only way a building can collapse at free fall is if the building is demolished with timed explosives.

Architects & Engineers

This fact is the consensus also of 2,788 Architects & Engineers who have signed a petition, calling for a new official independent study. When the team that wrote the Europhysics article asked the NIST if thy could see the computer modals of the twin towers collapse, the NIST refused, stating "public safety." (What are they hiding-did they even have a computer modal?) Based on this statement the NIST must have come to the conclusion it did based on what was good for the public, and not what was true. In fact they never looked at the fact that the building could have been demolished, and there is new evidence that that was conscious decision.

In the past few years the Architects & Engineers organization has pored over the NIST report and documented 25 places of concern with the report. Some are very bad errors like missing information in the computer model of building 7 that would make it more likely to collapse with a fire. On top of this, the samples of the dust where never looked at by the NIST, nor did that go out and get samples on their own, thus never even took the possibility that the building could have been demolished in to account.

According to a long time employee the NIST first started to be corrupt under the Reagan administration, and lost it scientific independents, slowly become more politic over the year.

Dr. Leroy Hulsey.

The 9/11 Architects & Engineers truth organization paid Dr. Leroy Hulsey a Professor of Civil Engineering at University of Alaska, Fairbanks Alaska, to do a simulation of the collapse of WTC Building 7, which was not hit by an airliner, to see if a fire could have collapse the building. The NIST report stated that it was a fire that caused the building 7 to collapse. On September 6, 2017 Dr. Hulsey presented the results of the study and conclude that a fire could not have caused WTC Building 7 to collapse.

Sherlock Holmes

It really doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who demolished the WTC building. Just standard crime investigation procedure - means, motive, and opportunity is needed. So who did this? That someone would have had to have the means, motive, and opportunity to do it? That someone had to have known that the airplanes were going to be hijacked. That someone had to have access to the military’s Nano-thermitic explosive, and the manpower to wire the building, with out being seen, with explosive. Thus the only people who had the means, and opportunity to coordinate the demolition had to have been the US government – the Bush administration, most like the CIA and/or the US military working together.

The CIA was the only player who knew the airliners were going to be hijacked, and had the explosive and man power to do it. The CIA amended they know of the hijacking long before it happened, in the NIST report. They just argued that some one “didn’t connect the dots,” or they would have stopped it. Plus they were the only ones who would have had the resources to obtain Nano-thermitic from the military, or get the military to do it. But why, what motive would the CIA, on it own, have for doing this? Why would they need to plaint a faults flag?

The finger clearly points to Dick Cheney as the architect. It is a known fact that he spent so much time at the CIA that some reporters reported it because they thought it was odd, for a vice president. On the day of the attack he ordered a military drill and ordered the military aircraft to remained ground, over the objection of some officers. When the NIST was doing its investigation he refuted to let Bush testify without him being present. What was he afraid of? Bush may not have known fully what was going on.

Oligarchy

To plain the demolition of three building like this was no short term, off the cuff, idea. To go to all this trouble to create a terrifying enemy to hold up to the Americans people makes it clear that something very big was going on in the dead of night. Someone was setting up the greatest con in American history. Thus, it is my theist that much more is going on here then most people are willing to accept. Something much bigger has to be going on under the cloak of darkness, and the CIA or some rogue unit at the CIA, is part of that group. That group has to be the Oligarchy working to take control of the US. Let me lay it out.

Psychopaths

The first thing we must understand here is the psychopathic threat in the US. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) says that one to two percent of all males are born as Psychopaths. In the APA’s Diagnoses and Statistical Manual (DSM) psychopath is a sub type of “Antisocial Personality Disorder.” Psychopaths are defined as individuals who are born with the inability to have empathy. In other words they don’t have the ability to see people as people; to them people are just objects to be used. A common trait of psychopaths is that most are smart, charming, and cunning; the true definition of the charming devil, pure evil. This would mean that there are close to two million male psychopaths in the US alone - where are all these psychopaths at?

Studies find that the most common profession for psychopaths is corporate executives and lawyer. One Australian study has found that about one in five, twenty percent, of corporate executives are psychopaths, and about the same number of inmates in prison were also psychopaths. In other words because of their charm and cunning they meanly seek out money and power and are quit successful at it. Easley two thirds of all billionaires are Psychopaths or Sociopaths. Thus a very large number of the supper rich are psychopaths.

Thus it is naïve to believe that psychopathic rich people are not running many areas of government; especial in places like the CIA or there is a rogue unit in the CIA that stays hidden even for the director of the CIA. Think about this, it is estimated that the United States has a black budget of over $50 billion a year! Do you really believe that some smart psychopathic CIA rouge unit couldn’t be able to pull a fraction of this money off, to do anything they wish? In fact psychopaths would be idea for work in the CIA, and the CIA is so big that it would be ease for a group to stays hidden. Psychopaths wouldn’t hastate for a second to blow up 2300 people to meet some goal – if they knew they could get away with it. Thus, because the Republican Party is the party of corporate executives there can be little doubt that a high percent in the Republican leadership are psychopaths or sociopaths – including Mitch McConnell and Dick Cheney. No one would make a better politician then a psychopath. Were there may be some psychopath in the Democratic Party; there is not likely many. This is simple because most Democratic start from grass root organization in lieu of a purpose. Some do become drunk with the money and power as their carrier goes forward, but they are not psychopaths, just corrupt - mose latter.

CIA

When Truman created the CIA in 1947, he put Allen Dulles in charge. Allen Dulles had been a corporate lawyer (That alone raises a 1 in 5 chance he was a psychopath), and he had many buddies in the US corporate world. Then on top of that He had been head of OSS in Switzerland in WW2, and arranged a lot of deals with the Nazis for US corporations. In other word he was an arms dealer in WW2, and thus almost for sure a psychopath. It is known that He set up a covert dirty tricks unit (DTU) in the CIA. Even though there is a congress oversight committee, any claver psychopath could easily hide anything he wanted to do. Proof of this can be seen from the data that Edward Snowder soled from the National Security Agency (NSA). Even president Obama was socket by what Snowder uncovered, and was unaware of the level of spaying on US citizens.

Start of the Present Oligarchy

In the 1950 around 50,000 Americans, out of a population of 150 million at the time, belonged to the communist party, but communism as first envisioned by Karl Marx was anti-fascist, and pro working class. American Communist were responding to a disillusionment with capitalism after the great depression, and social and economic causes including the rights of African Americans, workers, and the unemployed. Many American Communist were alarmed by the rise of Nationalists in Spain, and Nazis in Germany. At the time the Soviet Union was a non-fascist.

The corporate moguls saw communist ideas (like corporations owned by the workers), as a threat to their wealth, and begin organizing into an Anti-Communism Syndicates, and began an anti-communism propaganda campaign. The first of these groups was the John Burch Society. Soon after the wealth syndicate formed they hooked up with Dulles and his DTU. There is good evidence of this. The CIA has manipulated foreign counters for US corporations in the past, and it is know that Dulles did CIA favors for his corporate buddies. One example of this is the CIA’s involvement in Center America (who now hate us), in which the United Fruit Company benefited, and then gained control over the banana market. In other word the CIA destroyed the local banana market, which was taken over by an American corporation. This is why many in the world including the Middle East hate America. America is the villain here, and it comes through the CIA.

The anti-communism campaign was very successful, and the Syndicate saw that they could use their propaganda to take more control of the U.S. They know that to do this they would have to con a large voting block of people into voting against there own self-interest. America already had natural divisions, red and blue, but there were common bonds that kept them in check. The Syndicate then started working though the Republican Party and sit up think tanks around the US. These think tanks are a fact, and no one knows what goes on in them, or where the dark money comes from for them.

In the past few years two studies, one by Princeton University, and one by the France economist Thomas Piketty, have shown that the US government is now under so much control by the extreme wealthy, that the US should now be classified as an Oligarchy, and not a Republic. In other words, The US is no longer a Democratic Republic. A group of very rich psychopaths have direct control over the Republican legislators in Congress with Mitchell McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, controlling the senate. This may start to change now that he Democrats have control of the House. The Republican party and psychopathic oligarchy are one in the same, and thanks to new books like Dark Money by Jane Mayer of the New York Times, we now know who is the leader of the oligarchy, i.e. The Koch brothers. The oligarchy has a vast network of over 200 propaganda out lets, and holds secret meets with other super rich members. The Times has no been able to infiltrate this group and doses not know how many members there are. I am sure that not all of the propaganda that is blamed on the Russians comes from Russia.

People like Grover Norquist are not making Republican candidates sign a contract for his own personal agenda, and cutting there funding if they don’t do as they are told. In other words Republican candidates are under the complete control of the oligarchy or they are gone. They know that they can’t get elected with out the oligarchy’s dark money. Some one is paying Mr. Norquist big money to do it. In fact a former Republican senator, George Voninovich, admitted that in 2008 Republicans were ordered to block everything President Obama wanted even if it was good for the country. Who was doing the ordering? It has to be obvious it is the oligarchy.

It is a now a fact that the oligarchy has over a two hundred non-profit foundations around the country, which are will funded and spew out a stream of propaganda to purposely divide this county, and a large percentage of Republicans in Congresses do just as they are told or there funding is gone. They are nothing but puppets of some rich group or “Syndicate.”

Thus we must give up the myth that we just have a two political party’s with different opinions. We clearly have a fascist organization taking control of the U.S.

I use the term fascist because that appears to be there goal. A hint comes from 9/11 and there need for an enemy of the state. Fascists use an enemy to control people, and this time it is Muslims and immigrants. The official definition of Fascism comes from Benito Mussolini. Every study of the personality of conservatives I have seen says that the underlying personality of conservatives is a fear of life. In fact a new brain scans comparing conservatives to liberals shows that conservatives have a larger right amygdale. Amygdale being a deeper brain structure that processes more emotional information—specifically fear-based information. Conservatives then are the targets to be propagandized by the demolition of the WTC building.

As a result of the demolition of the building on 9/11 we now have the “Patriot act” giving the government total surveillance of American citizens, the president can declare Martial Law at will, and the Bush administration, all oil men, had an excuse to go to war to get Iraq’s oil. Now the American people are more afraid and divided then ever. Everyone seems so baffled as to why the US is so divided. It seems to me the answer is clear, it is divided by design. The syndicate’s Con game has worked better then anyone would had though, and we just, very will, may see the collapse of the U.S. before it is over.

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djdiscovery1 · 4 years

Video

vimeo

World Trade Center Building 7 vs Grenfell Towers from Leigh Apted on Vimeo.

Re-released to Vimeo June 11th 2020

in this very special report i bring you news of a horrific fire which broke out in London last night.Within this video you'll see how and why there is a direct connection to the events of September 11th 2001. Remember the Official version of events state that the Twin Towers collapsed due to fire.These awful events at Grenfell Tower prove once again how ludicrous the Official version of events on 9/11 are. But watch closely and you'll notice alot more.... What happened at Grenfell Tower? The fire Services arrived in 6 minutes after being alerted...how could the fire spread so rapidly? The Fire Safety precautions were they up to standard?Not according to the residents... The Building is roughly the same age as the Twin Towers and it has been refurbished which was completed last year what went wrong? Grefell Tower architects have defended their work and stated it met Fire Safety regulations.....the residents disagree.

The residents were told to stay in their flats....whatever the strength of fire a fire door should hold a raging fire back for between 30 mins to an hour.....the Fire Services arrived in 6 minutes how could the fire spread so rapidly? Grenfell Tower is mostly burnt beyond recognition.....however it remains standing....The Twin Towers and WTC 7 did not. The BBC were caught off guard by an intelligent young man who indicated foul play to get the building demolished....and it was clear he wasn't talking terrorism.

Ladies & Gentleman please note this is a real time event that has deeply affected many people and there have been fatalities. There have been true reports of incredible heroism from locals i the area. Biggest love goes out to everyone who live in the surrounding area and supported in what ever way they could.

Compiled,Edited & Produced by Leigh j Apted [c]Discovery Studios

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sammihain300 · 5 years

Text

The Truth Behind 9/11

The conspiracy theories started flying just days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. Over the decade since, several technically elaborate claims have been refined by the “9/11 Truth” movement. Do these intricate arguments—including the rapid collapses of the towers, alleged evidence of thermite usage at Ground Zero, and the collapse of World Trade Center (WTC) 7 (a forty-seven-story building damaged by the fall of WTC 1) “into its own footprint at freefall acceleration”—disprove the mainstream consensus that the September 11, 2001, attacks were the work of al-Qaeda terrorists using hijacked airplanes? In a word: No.after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. Over the decade since, several technically elaborate claims have been refined by the “9/11 Truth” movement. Do these intricate arguments—including the rapid collapses of the towers, alleged evidence of thermite usage at Ground Zero, and the collapse of World Trade Center (WTC) 7 (a forty-seven-story building damaged by the fall of WTC 1) “into its own footprint at freefall acceleration”—disprove the mainstream consensus that the September 11, 2001, attacks were the work of al-Qaeda terrorists using hijacked airplanes? In a word: No.

The Players

Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas, the creators of the low-budget documentary film Loose Change, did much to give the 9/11 Truth movement significant momentum in 2005 and in following years. The film, which has undergone several revisions, has been shown on many television stations but is primarily an Internet and DVD phenomenon. Its basic claims are that Flight 77 could not have accounted for the damage at the Pentagon, that the Twin Tower fires were insufficient to cause their collapse, and that cell phone calls from the hijacked airplanes would have been impossible at the time (Avery 2009).

David Ray Griffin is a theologian whose voluminous writings on 9/11 are frequently cited by other 9/11 theorists. NASA scientist Ryan Mackey has written a very thorough critique of Griffin’s claims (Mackey 2008).

Once known as Fleischmann and Pons’s competitor for “cold fusion” research in Utah, Steven Jones has written several 9/11 Truth articles. His work with others (including chemist Niels Harrit of Denmark) on detecting nanothermite in WTC dust is frequently cited as “peer-reviewed research” that proves “inside job” claims.

Physics teacher David Chandler has produced several papers and Internet videos contending that high school physics easily shows that the tower collapses could not have happened from gravity alone. He claims this proves that explosives must have been used.

In the past few years, architect Richard Gage’s group, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911 Truth), has provided “Truthers” with the ability to claim that thousands of engineering and architecture professionals demand a new investigation into the cause of the attacks. Gage travels the world giving presentations, and his group puts on news conferences and mock debates several times a year (but most often around September 11, the anniversary of the attack) (Thomas 2009; Thomas 2010c).

Hollywood stars who have publicly supported 9/11 Truth claims include Rosie O’Donnell, Charlie Sheen, and Ed Asner. Sheen often talks 9/11 with radio host Alex Jones (www.infowars.com). These celebrities frequently cite (and sometimes mangle) claims made by Truther proponents like Griffin and Gage. Former wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has done two 9/11 conspiracy shows on his TruTV series Conspiracy Theory (see “Dave Thomas vs. Jesse Ventura: The Skeptical Smackdown”).

The Claims

As with any well-developed pseudoscience, literally thousands of individual arguments can be advanced in support of the proposition that the United States secretly carried out the September 11 attacks. This report will examine the most enduring and oft cited of these claims: “free fall” of the towers, reports of thermite and molten steel, and WTC 7’s curious collapse. Some of the factions that have developed (such as the “no-planers”) will also be described briefly.

Claim One:

“The Twin Towers collapsed at free-fall accelerations through the path of greatest resistance.”

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of September 11 was the rapid destruction of both 110-story Twin Towers: after the collapses began due to cascading structural failures at the airplane impact locations, each tower fell completely in just fifteen to twenty seconds. Mainstream scientific analyses, including years of work by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), generally looked at the cause of each collapse: the intense fires (started by jet fuel and fed by office contents and high winds) eventually caused floor trusses to sag, pulling the perimeter walls inward until they finally snapped. At this instant, the entire upper section of each tower fell the height of one floor, initiating an inevitable, progressive, and utterly catastrophic collapse of each of the structures.

While the mainstream explanation (dismissed as the “official story” by 9/11 Truthers) usually ends with the initiation of these unstoppable collapses, the 9/11 Truth movement’s attacks begin there. Gage of AE911 Truth says on that group’s website, “Destruction [of the Twin Towers] proceeds through the path of greatest resistance at nearly free-fall acceleration” (Gage 2011; emphasis added). Many 9/11 Truther pundits drop the “nearly” and say simply that the collapses were at free fall. Truthers then insist that free fall acceleration indicates a complete lack of resistance, proving that the structures were demolished with explosives. We are also told that the sheer mass of the towers, “80,000 tons of structural steel,” would simply resist collapse.

How could the buildings fall so quickly? It’s been explained very well in the technical literature by Northwestern’s Zdenek Bazant, PhD, and others (see, for example, Bazant 2008). I’ve developed a simpler physics model of the progressive collapses that agrees quite well with the main points of Bazant’s more rigorous results (Thomas 2010b). Here are some of my findings:

Each floor of the towers contained over two million kilograms of mass. The gravitational potential energy of a standing tower with twelve-foot floors extending upward 110 stories can be calculated straightforwardly; it comes to over 420 billion joules of energy, or the equivalent of 100 tons of TNT per tower. This energy, which was released completely during the collapses, is more than the energy of some of the smaller nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal, such as the W-48 (72 tons TNT) (Sublette 2006). This is where the energy required to break columns, pulverize concrete, and expel debris through windows came from. (Truthers often compare such expulsions of air and debris, visible several floors below the collapse fronts, to “squibs,” explosive devices often used in demolitions. However, they are readily explained by pressure changes as the towers, acting like a gigantic bicycle pump being compressed, collapsed.)

The Twin Towers used a “tube within a tube” architectural design, which provided considerable open office space in the interiors of the Towers. Much of the structural support was provided by a dense grouping of thick central core columns in the interior and the perimeter walls on the outside. When the towers began to collapse, large parts of the inner cores (called “the Spires” in 9/11 Truth circles) were actually left standing, briefly, before they, too, toppled over. The perimeter walls were largely forced to peel outward in large sections, producing the iconic images of Ground Zero with which we’re all familiar. Between the outer perimeter and the inner core, the weight of the upper sections plowed through one floor after another, breaking the floor connection brackets and support columns, pulverizing concrete decks, and gaining momentum and mass with each additional floor failure. Had the buildings been constructed differently (the Port Authority was allowed to circumvent some existing New York buildings requirements for the Towers), the collapses might not have even happened (Young 2007).

Even the 9/11 Truth movement’s most eminent physicists are confused about the basic principle of the difference between static and dynamic forces. A piece of paper, taped across a jar’s opening, will support a heavy coin such as a quarter indefinitely (static load). However, if the coin is dropped from just a few inches up, it will tear right through the paper (dynamic load). Given the information at hand—for example, the mass of the upper section of the north tower (fifty-eight million kilograms), the distance it fell (3.8 meters, about twelve feet), and the stiffness/rigidity of the lower structure itself, the dynamic force imparted on the lower section can be estimated as some thirty times the upper portion’s weight. This is many times the lower structure’s safety margin, which explains why it was quickly overwhelmed.

Once progressive collapse began, there were decreasing time intervals of free fall (between floors), punctuated by very brief, incredibly violent collisions—decelerations—of the upper mass, for each floor in turn. There was resistance at every step of the collapse, as the upper section collided with and incorporated each floor below. Conservation of momentum shows that the reductions in falling speed were slight as each floor was impacted, going as the ratio of floors before to floors after (e.g. 14/15, or about 94 percent, for the first impact). Accordingly, the upper section fell from rest to about 19 mph, was slowed down to 18 mph by the first impact, continued to fall until a speed of 26 mph was reached, was then slowed down to 24 mph by another impact, and so on. While the first plunge lasted about nine-tenths of a second, the upper section took only four-tenths of a second to fall through the next floor, three-tenths of a second for the next one, and so on until the bottom floors, which were crushed at a rate of just seven-hundredths of a second each, at speeds of over 100 mph. Yes, there was resistance at every step, as many tons of structural steel was demolished; yet the entire process, like an avalanche, lasted only fifteen to twenty seconds, about 50 to 100 percent longer than true “free fall” would have lasted.

Physics teacher David Chandler’s measurements of the first seconds of the collapse of the North Tower (WTC 1) showed that it fell with increasing speed but at only two-thirds of gravitational acceleration (g) (Chandler 2010). Chandler argues that this means the bottom section exerted a constant upward force of one-third of the upper section’s weight upon its mass, and he declares that this force should have been much larger, indicating that “some sort of controlled demolition was at work.”

Second, Chandler argues that being a Newtonian action/reaction pair, the impact force of the upper section on the lower section was only a third of the upper part’s weight. However, I’ve found that his estimate of the downward impact force was too low by a factor of one hundred. In addition, I found that the actual process—a series of twelve-foot free falls punctuated by violent and brief collisions with each floor—would have resulted in an average acceleration of precisely what Chandler measured for the start of the collapse of WTC 1, namely 2/3 g. (By the end of the collapse, my calculations indicate an average acceleration of only 1/3 g, but this can’t be measured in dust-obscured videos.)

Claim Two:

“Nano-thermite and military-grade explosives were found in dust from the towers. Tons of melted steel were found in tower debris.”

The thermite reaction is very hot, but it is also very slow compared to high explosives.

Real controlled demolitions commonly use explosives to topple large buildings. However, the hallmarks of actual demolitions (the characteristic “boom-boom-boom-boom” sounds and the flashes of high explosives) were completely absent in Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001. Many 9/11 Truth advocates, including architect Richard Gage, insist that high explosives must have been used to bring down the Twin Towers, as they say this is the only process that can possibly explain the “ejection of debris hundreds of feet from the towers.” However, they simultaneously insist that thermite or a derivative (thermate, nanothermite, etc.) was used instead, so as to topple the towers quietly. (This is but one of many instances in which 9/11 Truth claims flatly contradict each other.) Thermite itself fails as an explanation for the destruction of the Towers on many levels:

The thermite reaction, which takes place between iron oxide (rust) and powdered aluminum, is practical for welding train tracks in the field and for destroying engines of vehicles that must be left behind during combat operations. The self-sustaining reaction, once initiated with heat, produces significant volumes of molten iron, which can melt and cut iron structures beneath it. For thermite to melt through a normally vertical steel beam, however, special high-temperature containment must be added to prevent the molten iron from simply dropping straight down uselessly. The thermite reaction is very hot, but it is also very slow compared to high explosives. Thermite is simply not practical for carrying out a controlled demolition, and there is no documentation of it ever having been used for that purpose.

Jesse Ventura hired New Mexico Tech to show how nanothermite can slice through a large steel beam. The experiment was a total failure—even in the optimum (horizontal) configuration, the layer of nanothermite produced lots of flame and smoke but no actual damage to the massive I-beam tested. However, Ventura’s TruTV Conspiracy Theory show slyly passed it off as a rousing success (Thomas 2010a).

Niels Harrit and Steven Jones, along with several coauthors, published the “peer-reviewed” paper “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe” in the Bentham Open Chemical Physics Journal (Harrit 2009). This article does not make the case for thermite use on 9/11. The paper examined “distinctive red/gray chips” found in WTC dust (unfortunately, with no chain of custody for the dust), and these were claimed to be thermitic because of their composition (iron oxides and pure aluminum) and other chemical properties. However, the presence of rust and aluminum does not prove the use of thermite, because iron oxide and aluminum are found in manycommon items that existed in the towers. Furthermore, the authors admit that their “differential scanning calorimeter” measurements of the supposed thermitic material showed results at about 450 degrees C below the temperature at which normal thermite reacts (Fana 2006). Finally, the scan of the red side of the “thermitic material” of Harrit/Jones is a dead-on match to material Jones himself identified as “WTC Steel Primer Paint” in his Hard Evidence Down Under Tour in November of 2009 (“Sunstealer” 2011).

Harrit’s article describes the red portion of the chips as “unreacted thermitic material.” But while thermite may be slow, it does not stop its reaction once it has begun. Because thermite supplies its own oxygen (via iron oxides), it can even burn underwater. Suggesting that the samples show partially reacted thermite is preposterous. Claiming that thermite would explain molten pools of steel weeks and months after the attack is equally preposterous.

The article’s publication process was so politicized and bizarre that the editor-in-chief of the Bentham journal that featured Jones’s article, Marie-Paule Pileni, resigned in protest (Hoffman 2009).

Thermitic demolition should have created copious pools of melted steel at Ground Zero, but nothing remotely like this was ever found. Truthers say iron microspheres found in the rubble indicate thermite; since hot fires and spot-welding do produce very tiny spheres of iron, though, these “microspheres” are not unexpected. Pictures of cranes holding red-hot materials in the rubble are said to show molten steel. Had this been the case, however, the crane rigs would have immediately seized up (Blanchard 2006). No reports of “molten steel” in the tower basements have ever been credibly verified (Roberts 2008). Some Truthers claim that a few pieces of sulfidized “eutectic” steel found in the towers proves thermate (thermite with sulfur) usage, but this occurred because sulfur, released from burned drywall, corroded the steel as it stewed in the pile for weeks (Roberts 2008).

Claim Three:

“Tower 7, which wasn’t hit by a plane, collapsed neatly into its own footprint.”

Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The enigma of WTC 7 is becoming increasingly popular in Truther circles. We’re told that it wasn’t hit by a plane and was subjected to just a few “small office fires.” Yet it collapsed anyway, late in the afternoon of September 11, “falling neatly into its own footprint at freefall acceleration, just like a normal controlled demolition.” In particular, Truthers point to a brief period of freefall (2.25 seconds) that was confirmed by NIST in its WTC 7 final report (Sunder 2008; NIST 2010) as proving that the building was purposely imploded. However, WTC 7, too, fails to prove 9/11 was an “inside job”:

What is often conveniently left out of the story are actual reports from NYFD firefighters at the scene, which describe huge, raging, unfought fires on many floors at once and visible deformations and creaking of the building prior to its collapse (Roberts 2008). Tower 7 was not hit by an airplane; however, it was struck by a 110-story flaming skyscraper, the North Tower. The fires raged for hours, and they eventually caused a critical column (#79) to fail because of thermal expansion; NIST determined that this column was crucial to the building and could even be considered a design flaw. Its failure would have collapsed the building even without the other structural damage from WTC 1’s collapse and the fires.

WTC 7’s brief 2.25 seconds of free fall is now the Truthers’ best “smoking gun.” The claim usually goes like this: “The fifty-eight perimeter columns would have resisted and slowed the collapse to much less than freefall. The ‘freefall’ of WTC 7, admitted to by NIST, proves it was controlled demolition.” The problem is that this is a straw man argument. NIST found the collapse occurred in three stages. The first stage, which lasted 1.75 seconds, is when the fifty-eight perimeter columns were buckled; during this interval, the rooftop actually fell only about seven feet. This is because the breaking of columns saps speed, indeed making the collapse slower than free fall. In the second stage, which lasted 2.25 seconds, the already-buckled columns provided negligible support, and the north face of the structure free-fell about eight stories. (Try taking a plastic drinking straw and buckling it by folding it over and then pushing down on the bent straw with your hand. The crimped straw provides almost no resistance to vertical forces, and neither did the buckled columns of WTC 7.) The third stage described by NIST, which lasted 1.4 seconds, was again less-than-free fall, as the structure fell another 130 feet as it impacted more non-buckled structures toward the bottom of the building (NIST 2010).

The other half of the equation is that WTC 7 resembles a “classic controlled demolition” because it supposedly “imploded, collapsing completely, and landed in its own footprint” (Gage 2011). In actuality, it twisted and tilted over to one side as it fell, and parts of the building severely damaged two neighboring buildings (the Verizon and Fiterman Hall structures). When challenged with the obvious fact that Tower 7 spilled far outside its footprint, however, Truthers will often change their tune and start saying that any resemblance to a natural collapse is part of the cover-up.

Early on, it was mainly MIHOP (“Made it happen on purpose”) versus LIHOP (“Let it happen on purpose”). Nowadays most serious Truthers down-pedal the “no-planers,” who say no plane hit the Pentagon or even the Towers. There is considerable friction between some groups, with certain 9/11 Truth groups attacking others as “disinformation agents.” However, 9/11 Truth is mostly a big tent. Many “serious” groups such as AE911 Truth quietly champion “no-planers” such as former pilot Dwain Deets, engineer Anders Bjorkman, and Craig Ranke of Citizen Investigation Team (CIT) (Gage 2011). Gage formally withdrew his support of CIT in February 2011, even as his website touted 9/11 articles in Foreign Policy Journal, an online publication notorious for its frequent forays into Holocaust denial.

Conclusion

As Ted Goertzel pointed out in his recent Skeptical Inquirer article “The Conspiracy Meme: Why Conspiracy Theories Appeal and Persist,” “When an alleged fact is debunked, the conspiracy meme often just replaces it with another fact” (Goertzel 2011). In another ten years, will the 9/11 Truth movement have developed new arguments, or will it stick with the polished claims discussed here? Either way, it appears this American conspiracy theory classic is here to stay.

The 9/11 Truth Conspiracy Is a Distraction from the Real Crimes of Our Government

Americans love a conspiracy. According to a May 17 Zogby poll, 42 percent believe the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission are covering up what really happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

There is something comforting about a world where someone is in charge–either for good (think gods) or evil (think Bush insiders plotting 9/11). Many people prefer to believe a Procrustean conspiracy rather than accept the alternative: Life can be random, viciously unjust and meaningless; tragedy and joy alike flow from complex combinations of good and bad intentions, careful plotting, random happenstance and bumbling incompetence.

Conspiracy hypotheses often consist of a vast pile of circumstantial evidence shaped into a seemingly coherent whole with the strong glue of faith. Debunk one or even many allegations and the pile still stands, impressive in its bulk and ideological coherence. If size were all, it would convince Pyrrho himself.

Scientific theories, on the other hand, depend on interlocking chains of evidence: The integrity of the whole relies on the soundness of each link. Break any one and the theory founders.

The 9/11 conspiracy is a classic example of a faith-based pile hypothesis. Its proponents cite a mountain of evidence to conclude that the U.S. government perpetrated the 9/11 attacks for its own traitorous ends, chiefly staging “a new Pearl Harbor” to rally support for an invasion of Iraq.

I spent months as a researcher conducting a fact-by-fact dissection of a few key aspects of this hypothesis. I approached the project knowing that U.S. cabals had previously concocted casus belli to drive public support for war: the Gulf of Tonkin for Vietnam, incubator babies for the first Gulf War. And clearly from its early days, the Bush administration had lusted for war with Iraq.

But the hypothesis that it planned and executed the 9/11 attacks is just not supported by a chain of evidence, nor do the facts support the conspiracists' key charge that World Trade Center buildings were destroyed by pre-positioned explosives.

Structural engineers found the destruction consistent with fires caused by the jet liner strike; that temperatures need not actually melt the steel but that expansion and other fire-related stresses would account for compromised architectural integrity.

When David Ray Griffin, a theologian by trade, said it was “physically impossible by laws of physics” for the planes alone to have brought down the towers, I asked what engineers had confirmed that. “I haven't talked to any because they would be too afraid to tell the truth,” he said. “How would you be able to protect your family if you were to accuse the government?” he asked, accusing the government.

Many conspiracists offer the collapse of WTC Building 7 as the strongest evidence for the kind of controlled demolition that would prove a plot. Although not hit by planes, it was damaged by debris, and suffered fires eventually fueled by up to 42,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored near ground level. Griffin cited as evidence of government complicity that the building's sprinkler system should have, but didn't, put out the fires. But the theologian did not know and had not considered that the collapse of the towers had broken the area's water main.

Another conspiracist, Alex Jones, writes on his Web site, “Larry Silverstein, the owner of the WTC complex, admitted … that he and the NYFD decided to 'pull' WTC 7.” (Leave aside how unlikely it would be for the government to include Silverstein in a treasonous conspiracy, or that the NYFD was in on it, too.)

Silverstein's actual quote: “I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were going to be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse.”

Jones continues: “The word 'pull' is industry jargon for taking a building down with explosives.” In fact, a Lexis Nexis search for a three-year period fails to find one American reference to “pull a building” without the preposition “down” when referring to intentional destruction. An alternative explanation would be that given the lack of water and the number of injured and missing firefighters, the NYFD decided to pull workers from Building 7 to concentrate on search and rescue at the fallen towers.

In the end, this kind of undermining of individual “facts,” although relatively easy, is irrelevant for those who base their beliefs on piles rather than chains of evidence.

But the work should be done. Pile conspiracies can be dangerous. Those who deny that HIV is responsible for AIDS, for example, have contributed to unnecessary infections and deaths.

And the 9/11 conspiracy hypotheses distract from the growing chain of evidence documenting how the Bush administration actually manipulated this country to war on a train of lies riding tracks of fear–cynically using the bodies of the 9/11 victims as fuel.

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HISTORY DEPT.

What Trump and Clinton Did on 9/11

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took different paths on that day. Their experiences shaped them and their campaigns.

By MICHAEL KRUSE

September 10, 2016

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Michael Kruse is a senior staff writer for Politico.

Hours after terrorists piloted hijacked jets into the World Trade Center’s twin towers, Donald Trump agreed to do a live phone interview on local television in New York. Alan Marcus, who was working that day for WWOR as an on-air analyst, asked the real estate mogul to step into a role that seemed fanciful at the time.

“In the year 2000, Donald,” said Marcus, a former Trump publicist, consultant and friend, “you considered running for president. If you had done that, and if you had been successful, what do you think you’d be doing right now?”

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“Well,” Trump answered, “I’d be taking a very, very tough line. I mean, you know, most people feel they know at least approximately the group of people that did this and where they are. But boy would you have to take a hard line on this. This just can’t be tolerated.”

Compared to the flame-throwing temperament he has demonstrated throughout his current presidential campaign, the most striking revelation of the video from September 11, 2001—plucked exclusively at POLITICO’s request from the WWOR archives—is Trump’s composure and tone. A decade and a half before pledging to “bomb the shit out of” ISIS and proposing a deportation force and a Muslim ban, Trump didn’t talk about retribution or leap to conclusions about who was responsible. In fact, he avoided identifying potential enemies—any terrorist organization or Muslims in general. He spoke cogently and even poignantly about New York’s changed skyline and the need to never forget.

Only parenthetically in the middle of the 10-minute conversation did Trump turn to a favorite topic—size. “40 Wall Street,” he said, referring to his 71-story building blocks away from the now-collapsed twin towers, “actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest—and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”

Marcus chalked up the remark to “Donald being Donald. … He is the brand manager of Trump, and he is going to tout that brand, and he does it reflexively,” he said. “Even on that day.”

Trump calls into WWOR-TV on 9/11

Donald Trump says his building is tallest in lower Manhattan after fall of twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. From Fox 5 News NY: http://bit.ly/2cspghV

Donald Trump says his building is tallest in lower Manhattan after fall of twin towers

Trump calls into WWOR-TV about the 9/11 attacks

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That day, 15 years ago this Sunday, thrust many people into new roles. While Trump was trying on the mantle of statesman, Hillary Clinton’s visibility was given a sudden boost. Before the end of the day, Clinton, then the junior senator from New York with less than a year on the job and scrupulously deferential to her senior colleagues, would find herself on CNN, being interviewed in primetime by the network’s congressional correspondent, Jonathan Karl.

“We have to make it very clear,” she continued, “that we cannot permit any state, any government, any institution or individual to pursue terrorism aims that are directed at the United States or any country with impunity. So I’m hoping that this is the kind of dramatic, terrible catastrophe that unites the entire civilized world.”

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As the Trump and Clinton campaigns mark this anniversary by going temporarily dark—a brief respite from a toxic, unsettling campaign—it is possible to see their respective experiences on September 11 as turning points that seem especially resonant now as these two candidates with deep New York connections vie bitterly for the job of leader of the free world.

Clinton was early in her first stint as a politician in her own right, after more than a decade as the wife of a governor and eight years as the wife of the president. One of the most famous women in the world wanted to be seen, she said, as “a workhorse, not a show horse.”

Trump was more than a decade removed from his rise in the late ‘80s and his fall of the early ‘90s, well past his first spate of corporate bankruptcies and his brush with personal financial disaster—but he was still two-plus years from the opening episode of The Apprentice, the reality TV show that elevated his fame to unprecedented heights. At this juncture, though, Trump was a businessman in New York, a debt-saddled owner of casinos in Atlantic City and planning a new building in Chicago. He had divorced his second wife. He was dating the woman who would become his third, the former Melania Knauss. He was a registered Democrat. He had just toyed with running for president, again, this time on the Reform Party ticket, generating headlines and eye rolls. He was known mostly for being known. “He was a nonentity,” Trump biographer Tim O’Brien said. “Someone who was trying to regain his status as a player,” longtime New York gossip columnist George Rush added.

In the ensuing years, he would use his TV-charged celebrity to barge more seriously onto the national political scene, currying favor with far-right portions of the population by pushing conspiracy theories about President Obama’s birthplace. And Clinton would work as a senator to secure aid for victims and workers of the 9/11 attacks and then go on to become a key cabinet member to the same president Trump needled, furthering as Secretary of State an international prominence as large as the made-for-TV boss from The Apprentice.

But both of them started that day like everybody else—as witnesses to the unfolding horror.

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Trump was in New York, on Fifth Avenue in Trump Tower, where he works and lives, and he watched first on TV and then out his windows, staring four miles south at the black smoke in the blue sky.

“We saw it,” said George Ross, a longtime attorney for Trump and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization. “We saw it out the window. I was sitting in his office.” Ross described the mood in the office as “unbelief.”

“We were listening to the news, like everybody else,” he said.

Clinton, meanwhile, was down in Washington, at her home on Whitehaven. She had CNN on as she talked on the phone with her legislative director when the first plane hit. Then the second. By the time she got to the Capitol, the Pentagon had been hit by a third plane. Capitol police were evacuating Senate office buildings. She dialed her daughter, who was in New York. She dialed her husband, who was in Australia. She and other senators received a briefing at the Capitol police station early in the evening. And after “a day indelibly etched in my mind,” and as nightfall approached, Clinton joined congressional colleagues on the steps of the Capitol, standing next to some of her fiercest political opponents, singing “God Bless America” with tears in her eyes.

But maybe the most surprising difference between Clinton and Trump on September 11 and in the nerve-racking days and weeks that followed: She, not he, sounded like the tougher talker.

In the immediate aftermath of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the country, Trump talked publicly mostly about the buildings, and his buildings, and market ramifications and the character and resiliency of the citizens of the city where he’s lived almost his entire life. But reporters then had only so much reason to ask him about issues of national security or foreign policy.

In Clinton’s voice, though, in remarks in news conferences and TV interviews and on the Senate floor, there was an audible mixture of patriotism and hopes for bipartisanship—and vengeance, too. A full week before President Bush painted a stark divide of a new world—“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” he said in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 20—Clinton expressed the identical idea, and in equally bellicose terms, on CBS Evening News. “Every nation has to be either with us, or against us,” she told Dan Rather. “Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”

***

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The night of September 10, 2001, Trump was at a Marc Jacobs fashion show in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, cheering from the front rowhe shared with Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker and Monica Lewinsky.

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown was there, too, and spotted his “bobbing-custard comb-over,” she would write later in the Washington Post.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Bigger than ever,” he said.

The next morning, Trump stayed in his apartment in Trump Tower longer than normal, he would tell shock jock Howard Stern, because he wanted to watch a TV interview with Jack Welch, who had retired as the CEO of General Electric and had a new business book he was publicizing called Straight from the Gut. News programming broke in after the first plane hit.

“I saw the whole thing,” Trump told Stern, saying he had windows from which he could see the World Trade Center. “I mean, specifically, I have two windows that are focused on the building.” He made his way 40 floors down to his office.

He called Larry Silverstein, the real estate magnate who recently had purchased the World Trade Center lease—“a very sad call,” Trump would tell Real Estate Weekly.

He talked briefly with a reporter from the New York Times. Randal C. Archibold had been assigned a story on building security in the city.

“It was hard getting people on the phones,” Archibold said this week. “The telephones were screwy because of the attacks. I basically called him because I knew he had a reputation of being fairly accessible. I figured it was a good shot.”

Archibold left a message with a secretary. Trump called back quickly.

Trump said he had heard many people who worked in offices at 40 Wall Street had scrambled over piles of debris to flee. He said he and other owners of buildings would have to reassess safety precautions—but pointed out the difficulty of guarding against an attack from the air.

“When they start dealing with airplanes,” Trump told Archibold, “that’s beyond anything you can do but bring in the Air Force to get them before they get you.”

What Archibold remembers about the conversation, he said, wasn’t so much what Trump said but how he said it.

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“He wasn’t bombastic in any way,” Archibold said. “There was no anger or bile in his voice. I remember he was, I think, like everybody else, in shock and dismayed at what happened. I wouldn’t say somber—but not like you see on the campaign trail today. I don’t remember him being the kind of character you see now, kind of … very forceful, let’s call it.”

And Trump did the WWOR interview, similar in tenor.

“This country is different today,” Trump said, “and it’s going to be different than it ever was for many years to come.”

He added, “I guess the big thing you really will have to do is never forget.”

“He was terrific for most of the interview,” Marcus said, but the tallest-building comment was par for the course for Trump—“ready, fire, aim,” Marcus said, “never ready, aim, fire.”

“I think it was an all-of-a-sudden epiphany for him, and he seemed to just blurt it out,” Rolland Smith, one of the anchors of that day’s coverage of the attacks, said this week.

“We’re all New Yorkers. We all had interviewed him,” said Brenda Blackmon, the other WWOR anchor who conducted the interview. “It was a shock, but not a surprise.”

Including the calls and the interviews, Trump didn’t do much out of the ordinary that day, said Ross, the attorney and executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

“It was just a day like any other day, except it was a horrible situation,” he said. “We were in business, and this went down.”

In Washington, Clinton’s business that day was supposed to include a Senate hearing on early childhood education. Laura Bush, her successor in the East Wing of the White House, was scheduled to testify. Looking forward to discussion about a subject that was a lifelong interest of hers, Clinton opted to wear a cheerful yellow suit.

When she saw on CNN the second plane hit the south tower while on the phone with Ann O’Leary, her legislative director, “she knew it was terrorism,” according to O’Leary. “She knew already, or suspected, which terrorist organization it was. She was very concerned about whether our country was ready, and raised these concerns on the call, and said, ‘I need to come in immediately. I need to get off the phone. I need to get in my car and come to the Senate.’”

Capitol police started ordering people out of congressional office buildings. O’Leary led 15 or so junior staffers outside. Clinton’s Secret Service Suburban pulled up.

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“She kind of held her hands out,” O’Leary said, “and we came to her …”

Clinton saw Gene Sperling, an economic adviser to her husband, and called to him to get into her vehicle. He watched her try to reach her daughter in New York, try to reach FEMA, try to make sense of the mounting national calamity.

“It was like watching her move back and forth from each role in her life minute by minute,” Sperling told John Harris a few months later. “Then suddenly, the radio announcer starts screaming, ‘Oh my God, the World Trade Tower has collapsed, oh my God, the World Trade Tower has collapsed …’”

By the time Clinton sang “God Bless America” in the fading light on the steps of the Capitol before going on CNN, she was no longer wearing yellow. She was wearing black.

“We can’t let these evil acts in any way deter us from making it clear that the United States is resolute,” Clinton told Karl, the congressional correspondent, “and we are going to support the president.”

The next morning, September 12, in remarks on the Senate floor, she said, “My daughter told me that it was one of those days where the skies were totally clear and there was a breeze and people were starting to line up at the polling places to vote because it was primary day, election day—a continuation of the commitment to democracy and self-government that has set us apart from every society that has ever existed because of the longevity of our democracy and the will of our people to constantly renew ourselves. New Yorkers went from standing in line to vote to standing in line to donate blood in just a few hours.”

She said, “I have expressed my strong support for the president—not only as the senator from New York, but as someone for eight years who has some sense of the burdens and responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the human being we make our president.”

That afternoon, she joined her fellow senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, and also Charles Rangel, the Democratic congressman from New York, and boarded a FEMA plane to New York, where they got into a helicopter, which flew to Ground Zero and circled above the smoking, twisted wreckage. Clinton described it “like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno.”

“From the sky as we flew in, looking down on the Trade Center, what I saw were what looked like the gates of Hell,” she said, according to the New Yorker. “Any person of faith knows that evil is omnipresent, and the struggle we face is to overcome the tendency to lash out in violence at each other. My religion starts with the story of one brother murdering another. Human nature is always going to challenge us. But I believe that God has a purpose, and the challenge of being human is to overcome the cheap, easy allure of evil.”

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On the ground, wearing a surgical mask, the caustic air burned her lungs and eyes as she toured the disaster site with New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and governor George Pataki. She caught the last train out of Penn Station before it closed for the night.

Two days after the attacks, in a private meeting with Republican and Democratic colleagues at the Capitol, she described what she had seen, according to the New York Daily News, choking back tears. Later, she met with the president in the Oval Office, her first visit there since she was First Lady, along with Schumer wrangling from Bush a commitment for $20 billion of federal aid for New York alone—$11 billion of which was ultimately provided. Clinton told Bush, Frank Bruni would write, “that few people could understand the loneliness of the White House, but that she did, and she wanted him to know that.”

As that was happening in Washington, Trump was in New York, spotted walking near Ground Zero, according to Newsday, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie and talking into his cell phone. “No, no,” he was overheard saying. “The building’s gone.”

Four blocks from the site, he did an interview with a news station in Germany.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump told the reporter, Stephan Bachenheimer. “The devastation. The human life that’s been just wasted, for no reason whatsoever. It is a terrible scene. It is a terrible sight. But New Yorkers are very strong and resilient, and they’ll rebuild quickly.”

He told Bachenheimer workers of his were pitching in with the recovery. “We have a lot of men down here right now,” he said. “We have over 100, another 125 coming.”

“Mr. Trump,” Bachenheimer asked, “what should be the response to this attack How should the U.S. respond …?”

“Well,” Trump said, squinting into the sun, “I think they have to respond quickly and effectively. They have to find out exactly what the cause was, who did it, and they have to go after these people, because there is no other choice.” He spoke of the challenge of preventing such an attack. “People were willing to die,” he said, “and when they’re willing to die, and when they’re willing to be kamikazes in a sense, there’s very little you can do about it.”

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In an interview this week from France, where Bachenheimer was vacationing, he said it seemed like Trump was in a hurry. “He said, ‘How long does it take? I have very little time,’” Bachenheimer said. Then he answered questions for longer than expected.

The cameraman, Markus Zeffler, said it’s often difficult to get VIP-type Americans to agree to go on foreign TV stations. This, he recalled, was not the case with Trump. Zeffler told Trump their station was like German CNN. “It wasn’t hard to convince him to come on,” he said.

The following day, September 14, Clinton joined her husband and four other former presidents at a prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral.

On Monday of the following week, she traveled to New York, where she was on hand to re-open the New York Stock Exchange.

Trump that day talked on the phone to a reporter from the New York Post about what should happen at Ground Zero.

“Once they get it cleared—and that is going to be a very long process—we will all have a better idea of what can be done on the site,” he said. “The current mindset is to put up new towers, and I agree with that.”

But they shouldn’t be exact replicas, he added.

“To be blunt, they were not great buildings,” Trump said. “They only became great upon their demise last Tuesday.”

***

Clinton, it is now clear, would get one thing really wrong in the weeks and months after September 11.

Nicholas Lemann of the New Yorker met with her in Washington in late September and asked if she thought the attacks in some sense would prove to be a unifying force—if the diabolical havoc of the day would rid the national debate of extreme polarization and anti-government rage.

“I think the answer is that we saw government in action,” she said. “It wasn’t some abstract target of our discontent. It was the firefighters. It was the emergency workers. It was the elected officials who were leading and comforting. It had a human face. And now, when we’re looking at the war against terrorism, we’re asking ourselves: How do we beef up security? Well, maybe the government has to do more. How do we root out these terrorists? Well, the government has to come up with the plans and the intelligence and the resources. We had the luxury—some might say the failure of historical understanding—after the end of the Cold War that gave people the idea that they didn’t need a government, or they needed it in only the most rudimentary way, and there was a collective sense of misunderstanding about what government is and does.”

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In her first memoir, Living History, published in 2003, she would write, “That September morning changed me …”

And in an interview in 2006, she would say, “I felt this overwhelming sense of loss, and commitment and obligation to do everything I could do …”

Trump, on the other hand, would tell the Chicago Sun-Times a week after the attacks he was looking at design options in the planning of his tower in that city, “some tall, some not so tall,” he said. “Tall buildings are what make architecture in Chicago and New York great.” (That’s not the way the architects remembered it, one of the architects said later, the Chicago Tribune reporting Trump’s representatives no longer wanted the tower “to be the world’s tallest building. Shorter would be better.”)

Not two months after the attacks, Trump gave a speech to Wharton Business School graduates, according to Real Estate Weekly. In the question-and-answer session, one of them told Trump he had just before September 11 bought an apartment near what had turned into Ground Zero.

“What should I do now?” he asked.

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