Three skyscrapers collapsed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2022. The Twin Towers’ destruction killed nearly 3,000 that day. Building 7, however, was not struck by a plane, yet collapsed the same way the Towers did. Facing a U.S. government agency’s intransigence, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth is asking again, HERE, for help — help to make what it calls a powerful new film “showing that controlled demolition has NOT been ‘debunked.’” Beginning below, the organization’s director of strategy and development gives part of the rationale for keeping pressure on NIST to answer a series of questions it has refused to for 14 years. The film is scheduled to premier in September. — MCM

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NIST confirms its Building 7 report is false — Part 1 of 5: The omitted web stiffeners

By Ted Walter | AE911Truth

On August 21, 2008, exactly six years to the day after launching its investigation into the destruction of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and the nearby World Trade Center Building 7 — a 47-story high-rise not hit by an airplane that nonetheless fell to the ground at 5:20 PM on 9/11 — the National Institute of Standards and Technology held a press conference to announce the release of its draft report on Building 7. Its report on the Twin Towers had been issued three years earlier.

NIST’s lead investigator, Dr. Shyam Sunder, gave prepared remarks and fielded questions for about 50 minutes, then concluded the Q&A session with an unusual admonishment for a scientist to make:

 “The public should really, at this point, recognize that science is really behind what we have said.”

Dr. Sunder then stood there in silence as the director of media relations, Ben Stein, wrapped up the briefing.

The thing is, in science we do not simply take people at their word. We judge scientific reports and articles on their merits — i.e., for their ability to explain all of the available evidence. No one should be told to “recognize” the validity of any scientific report. The report should speak for itself.

Case in point: If the investigators at NIST were truly confident of their findings and wanted the public to accept their report as scientifically sound, they should have opened the door wide to scrutiny and made it easy for other engineers to attempt to replicate their analysis. This is how the scientific process works.

But NIST has done exactly the opposite of that since issuing its final report in November 2008. Here are a few examples:

* In 2009, after a member of the public submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for NIST’s computer modeling data, NIST classified the data based on the absurd grounds that releasing it “might jeopardize public safety.”

* Also in 2009, NIST denied a FOIA request for the text of interviews with witnesses who reported explosions inside Building 7, basing its decision on the equally absurd grounds that these interviews “were not directly related to the building failure.” (See page 69.)

* On more than one occasion, the information NIST has disclosed in response to FOIA requests has conspicuously omitted drawings of structural elements that are central to its explanation of how the building collapsed.

* NIST has continually ignored basic questions posed by outside engineers about decisions made during NIST’s computer modeling — decisions that materially affected the results of its analysis.

* When prominent criticism has emerged — for example, the 2016 article in Europhysics News critiquing the NIST report or the 2020 release of the final report of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Building 7 study — NIST has either responded with superficial boilerplate language (see page 44) or has not responded at all.

Indeed, over the past two decades, NIST has rarely, if ever, had to answer criticism of its reports.

But now, finally, NIST’s hand has been forced. [T]wo years ago this spring . . . ten 9/11 family members, 88 architects and engineers, and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth submitted a request for correction to NIST’s Building 7 report under the Data Quality Act, a law that enables the public to seek correction of information disseminated by federal agencies.

In the request . . . READ MORE . . .

First and second, Associated Press and Reuters reports. Next, analyses of Israel’s change in Russia policy and oil companies profiteering from the war, both via Consortium News. Then, from Global Research, several perspectives of an apparent massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, this month that run counter to the Ukrainian government’s accounts and news coverage of it. — MCM

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Ukraine pleads for weapons as fight looms on eastern front, by Adam Schreck and Andrea Rosa | The Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine told residents of its industrial heartland to leave while they still can and urged Western nations to send “weapons, weapons and weapons” Thursday after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup for an offensive in the country’s east. Russia’s six-week-old invasion failed to take Ukraine’s capital quickly and achieve what Western countries say was President Vladimir Putin’s initial aim of ousting the Ukrainian government. Russia’s focus is now on the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine. In Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons and help his war-torn country prevent further alleged atrocities. Ukrainian authorities are working to identify hundreds of bodies found in Kyiv’s northern outskirts after Russian troops withdrew and to document evidence of possible war crimes. ”My agenda is very simple. … it’s weapons, weapons and weapons,” Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters for . . . READ MORE . . .

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Thousands of goods railcars stuck at Ukraine’s border as war hits exports, by Silvia Aloisi and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters LVIV, Ukraine — In western Ukraine, some 1,100 train wagons carrying grain are stuck near the main rail border crossing with Poland, unable to transport their cargo abroad. They are just some of the 24,190 wagons carrying various goods for export, including vegetable oil, iron ore, metals, chemicals and coal, that were waiting to cross Ukraine’s Western border as of Tuesday, according to data from the state-run railway company that hasn’t previously been reported. With war raging along the country’s southern coast, and its main ports blocked off by Russia’s invasion, Ukraine is struggling to export its grain and other goods, according to . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israel, Russia Clash over Ukraine, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News From the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Israel has refused to join the West’s economic war against Moscow, maintaining a neutral stance that as positioned it as a possible broker to end the conflict. But all that appears to have changed with remarks by Israel’s foreign minister in a Twitter post on Sunday, the day the massacre at Bucha was revealed and before any investigation could be conducted. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid wrote . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. Oil Giants Said Profiteering From Ukraine Crisis. By Jessica Corbett | Common Dreams An analysis released Tuesday by a trio of groups highlights how Big Oil has cashed in on various crises over the past year — including the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and the global climate emergency —while enriching wealthy shareholders. The new report from BailoutWatch, Friends of the Earth, and Public Citizen explains that there are two main tactics that fossil fuel giants use to benefit investors: “First, they repurchase shares of their own stock and retire them, reducing the number of shares outstanding and driving up the value of each share remaining in investors’ hands. , , , Second, they increase dividends, the quarterly payments investors receive for owning shares,” the report continues. “Oil and gas dividends, historically bigger than other sectors’, have spiked in recent months, outstripping every other industry group. Amid high gas prices and war in recent months . . . “ READ MORE . . .

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U.S.-NATO False Flags? Ukraine April 2022 vs. Kosovo January 1999, by Michel Chossudovsky | Global Research What is a false flag? “A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it. Nations have often done this by staging a real or simulated attack on their own side and saying the enemy did it, as a pretext for going to war,” according to a BBC definition. [Chossudovsky’s introduction summarizes his views of two massacres more than 23 years apart in two countries, including the role of the Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in investigating both, and then links to several articles about the massacre this month in Bucha, Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

First and second, the beginnings of Reuters and Associated Press summaries, both with links, made available this afternoon EDT. (Readers may want to read the news services’ stories in light of Scott Ridder’s interview with The Grayzone, in yesterday’s entry.) Next, economist Michael Hudson deals with Andrei Raevsky’s questions about trade with Russia after that nation’s invasion of  Ukraine. — MCM

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Russia promises to scale down operations near Kyiv and north Ukraine, by Jonathan Spicer and Gleb Garanich | Reuters * Moscow’s pledge comes at peace talks with Ukraine * Kyiv proposes neutral status with guarantees * Russia’s invasion has been halted on most fronts * Traumatised Ukrainians scavenge in besieged cities | ISTANBUL/KYIV OUTSKIRTS/MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Russia promised today to scale down military operations around Ukraine’s capital and north, while Kyiv proposed adopting neutral status, in confidence-building steps that were the first signs of progress towards negotiating peace. Their talks took place in an Istanbul palace more than a month into the largest attack on a European nation since World War Two. Russia’s invasion has been halted on most fronts by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces who have recaptured territory even as civilians are trapped in . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it will scale back near Kyiv as talks progress, by Neni Qena and Yuras Karmanau | The Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine — Russia announced today it will “fundamentally” scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, as talks to end the grinding war brought the outlines of a possible deal into view. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the change on the battlefield was meant to increase trust at the talks after several rounds of negotiations failed to halt what has devolved into a bloody campaign of attrition. The announcement was met with skepticism from the U.S. and others. While Moscow portrayed it as a goodwill gesture, its ground troops . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Saker interviews Michael Hudson. By email, Andrei Raevsky, or The Saker, interviews economist Michael Hudson in hopes of having “the current world economic turmoil explained clearly and succinctly.” Readers can judge whether he succeeds. Descriptions of both follow their exchange. Raevsky’s first question: “Russia has declared that she will only sell gas to “hostile countries” for Rubles.  Which means that to non-hostile countries she will continue to sell in Dollars/Euros.  Can these hostile countries still purchase gas from Russia but via third countries?” READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

Out West, and Everywhere

One big story today on NPR’s “Morning Edition” was THIS, headed “Study finds Western megadrought is worst in 1,200 years.” Some reservoirs are at one-third their once-normal levels. Related, HERE: New green building codes stall rebuilding efforts after Colorado wildfire.”

They reminded me of two things:

The first is the 2019 book Water Connections by Jim Rousmaniere, who enjoyed researching it mostly here in New England and writing it after a journalism career that ended as editor of the Keene Sentinel in New Hampshire. It is subtitled “What Fresh Water Means to Us, What We Mean to Water.” His interest in fresh water began in earnest in the 1960s Peace Corps when he worked on irrigation canals in rural India.

The second is the 1943 World War II movie “Sahara,” which I got through interlibrary loan and watched last week. A ragtag Allied tank crew of nine led by U.S. Army Sgt. Joe Gunn (Humphrey Bogart) learns of a sizable German infantry outfit approaching in that vast desert. Asked about fuel or food, Gunn replies over a cigarette, “What worries me is water.”

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Forget Carbon Fuels and Forget Lithium: In a letter to the weekend edition of the Berkshire Eagle, Timothy Wright urges investment in zinc-based battery tech to get more out of clean, renewable energy resources.

Among other things, the Pittsfield resident says, iron-air energy storage systems using zinc will be cheaper in the United States than those using lithium owing to zinc’s abundance here. Because these systems can deliver energy “continuously for 100 hours” they can “make generating electricity from fossil fuel unnecessary.”

A “pilot plant” currently in construction in Minnesota, he says, may show the practicality of the technology, and related “cutting-edge technologies … are being developed here in Massachusetts.” “Now is the time,” Wright concludes, “to integrate energy storage technology as part of the plan to satisfy our energy needs for the near future.”

Eagle subscribers can read the letter HERE. Wright may have got some of his info HERE.

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Energetic Western MA

Forget solar and forget wind. Mark Maynard looks happy wearing a white helmet with the words Flooid Power under the company’s circular logo in blue.  Their story leads the Business section of yesterday’s Springfield Republican under the headline “Inventor conjures energy out of thin air.”

“As far as renewable energy goes, this is the Corvette and those things are Model T’s,” he says, relegating solar and wind power to the dust bin of history. Maynard is director of research at Flooid Power Systems, based in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Flooid, the substance, is a kind of non-edible Jello at the heart of the invention. The company’s test site is “deep in the woods far from the nearest road” elsewhere in western Massachusetts.

The potentially world-changing system involves a 125-foot tower and super-efficient cascading air compressors and heat pumps that turn western Massachusetts air into electricity. Air bubbles lift Flooid to the top of the tower in one pipe; gravity makes it descend through another pipe. Somewhere, refrigeration plays a part.

Maynard and equally cheerful company president Ben Swartz say air compression, refrigeration and hydroelectrics combine to make their collection of components a power plant. In theory. Testing is mostly complete, with development to follow.

”There’s an enormous amount of energy right here in the air,” Maynard tells reporter Patrick Johnson. “People don’t realize it.”

Producing no waste, Maynard says, and taking up far less space and at far less cost per kilowatt than any current system, it can provide continuous energy anywhere, Johnson writes.

A temporary hurdle may be the state Department of Energy’s definition of renewable energy as being derived from wind, solar or biomass.

Subscribers to the newspaper or masslive.com may read the story HERE.

— Mark Channing Miller

As a Nor’easter’s snow falls on far western Massachusetts, what better time to begin (in response to no particular reader demand) a resumption of this blog’s Weekender. The plan is to add segments between stints of shoveling relatively light snow from the driveway. Click on links to read.  — MCM

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Tangled Tale of NATO Expansion at the Heart of Ukraine Crisis is Consortium News editor-in-chief Joe Lauria’s look at, as he puts it, how “the U.S. response to winning the Cold War set the stage for the current crisis with Russia.”

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911truth.org is the address of an excellent website for reviewing the September 2001 terror attacks and the government-news media coverup of evidence about them. The site, which has been around since 2002 or 2003, is a good resource for getting to know the basics. For no good reason it has been undeservedly ignored in this blog. Please explore.

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Rowland Morgan and Giulietto Chiesa are among hundreds of journalists who have dug into the mysteries of the September 2001 terror attacks and have been more successful than most. Obituaries of the two are at Consensus 9/11: The 9/11 Best Evidence Panel, one of nine “Site Picks” linked at 9/11truth.org.

“Hundreds”? Yes. The outfits they have worked for include ABC, BBC, CBC, CBS, CNBC, C-SPAN, Fox, the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, the New York Times, Reuters, the Washington Post, and USA Today. See the review “9/11 Questions,” a 55-minute video found at 911truth.org.

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Under the headline The Historical Dispute Behind Russia’s Threat to Invade Ukraine: Putin claims that, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the U.S. promised not to expand NATO beyond East Germany. Does he have a case? is Joshua Yaffa’s analysis of the situation, from this week’s New Yorker. Joe Luria mentioned it, above. How do the two accounts differ?

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