When the definitive history of this era is written, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, will loom large, but perhaps not in the way many people might think.
It is a widely held misconception (there’s a lot of that going around these days) that participating in sports builds character. It had correctly been pointed out that such is not the case. It doesn’t build character; it reveals it. So, too, I’m afraid, did the attacks on 9/11.
Oh, for a time, we were as one. We circled the wagons, mourned the dead, and displayed all of the outward (and often clichéd) signs of patriotism. We connected with our families, we were nicer to strangers, and we ALL believed that America was the right place and would do the right thing. I remember yelling with joy when President George W. Bush grooved a semblance of a fastball when he threw out the first pitch of the delayed World Series, seven weeks after the deadly attacks. (There’s a really good “30 For 30” on ESPN about how Yankee captain Derek Jeter came upon Bush as the President was warming up in the bowels of Yankee Stadium. They chatted as Bush was waiting for the Secret Service to give him the okay to even go out onto the field.)
But, it didn’t last. Within months, the pride in America had curdled into blood lust. The bad people around Bush convinced him to flail outwards and 20 years of American misadventures began.
I wrote at the time that America should spare no expense to track down Osama bin-Laden. Find him, capture him, and put him on trial. That’s what America does and we should have been able to do it better than anybody else in history. Instead, we attacked Iraq and the folly was on.
Gutless politicians on both sides of the aisle displayed their true character. Even Hillary (By Golly) Clinton, her moistened index finger to the wind, voted to invade Iraq instead of focusing on bin-Laden. It was a tragic mass rush to insanity.
Thus began an inexorable slide into paranoia, jingoism, and racism wrapped in a cloak of “national security.” It led us to where we are today, where a bombastic minority wants to destroy our institutions and eviscerate democracy in order to hang on to some distorted vision of what our country should be (but never really was). They want to destroy America in order to save “America.” There are people who would risk their own lives and those of others by not getting a vaccination because it might help America have a better economy under a Biden Administration. What makes that so mind-numbingly stupid is the irrefutable fact that, for almost 100 years now, the American economy has performed better when a Democrat is in the White House than it did under the preceding Republican Administration or the GOP Administration that follows. (You should look that up; it’s amazingly consistent.)
In the two decades following 9/11, while America sorta-fought an Orwellian war that had faded from a public drumbeat into a nagging little ache in the back of the collective head, it became okay to be publicly wary or even terrified of The Others. The people flying those planes into building were Arabs, so let’s lash out at all Arabs. And some Arabs look like some Black people, so…?
Most of us who lived through 9/11 probably believed that the attacks would make America a better place. We were horrified that 3,000 Americans died that day, but it’s not even close to being the bloodiest day in American history. And now, another 3,000 Americans die every two days from a deadly virus that we could have wiped out months ago were it not for a political madness, the origins of which can be traced back to 9/11.
The fear of terrorism (and of people who don’t look like many of us) has poisoned our society and led to the rise of everything from widespread xenophobia and Christian nationalism to overt white supremacy. It also helped elect a dim-witted xenophobe who was just savvy enough to play what should have been a losing hand of racism, ignorance and fear. And it led to an all-out assault on our way of life on January 6th.
I don’t care what your political leanings are. Just try to tell me that, as small evidence of the unraveling of our society, you haven’t noticed that some drivers have become more openly disdainful of the law and, in the process, more dangerous to all the rest of us. Sadly, not a day goes by that I don’t see someone run a red light. And I don’t mean by a split second. It’s by one or two or even more seconds, without even a thought of braking. They barrel on through the intersection with the mentality of “the government can’t tell me to get a shot, so it can’t tell me to stop at a red light, either.”
Those terrorists who flew into the building that day didn’t succeed in the way they probably intended. They were not followed into Murderers’ Heaven by thousands of copycats. They didn’t initially weaken America’s will, but they helped spread the seeds of division that are threatening us today.
We’ve got to do better. All of us.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2021.
Thanks, Tom. As concise and perceptive a comment as I’ve seen in this anniversary season. Another prime example that the Weekly just doesn’t exist so rightwing dorks can post their negative comments.
“the American economy has performed better when a Democrat is in the White House than it did under the preceding Republican Administration or the GOP Administration that follows.”
Educated financial experts understand that the economy is slow to react and the references that you make regarding the economy are in the direct opposite from your explanation. Incoming administrations excel or decline of the prior administration’s legislation.
Cause and effect are never immediate. Except for inflation, and that hurts the poor the worst. Inflation hits immediately at the pump, the grocery story and consumer goods.
The next administration will have to dig back out of that.
“… from a deadly virus that we could have wiped out months ago…”
What planet do you live on? Once it escaped from Wuhan, 20 million passengers annually from Wuhan International Airport, the die was cast.
What media do you read?
Jan 6 NYTimes “no evidence spread by humans, not tied to any deaths
Jan 21 Fauci TV “not a major threat, citizens should not be worried
Jan 21 CDC believes the risk of 2019-nCoV to the American public remains low
Jan 22 WHO refuses to declare Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency despite Covid19 infecting 11,000 in just 7 weeks. By comparison, it took 39 weeks for SARS infects 8,000.
Jan 31 Washington Post, our brains make coronavirus seem scarier than it is
Jan 31 WaPo, “Get a grip, America. Flu a much bigger threat”
Jan31 President Trumps shuts down travel from China ,
Feb 1 Washington Post Past epidemics prove fighting coronavirus with travel bans a mistake’
Feb 3 Washington Post Why we should be wary of an aggressive government response to coronavirus, stigmatization of marginalized populations
Feb 6 New York Health Commissioner risk is low, preparedness very high, take the subway take the bus go to your favorite restaurantdont wear a mask 23,000 die in NYC, only 120 in Hong Kong
Feb 17 Fauci “danger to American public minuscule, worry about the flu”
Feb 17 Bill Gates one Covid19 paragraph in 57 paragraph speech. Commits 1/10 of one percent to fighting it, none in US
Feb 24 Pelosi “Come to Chinatown … come join us
Let’s be clear: the mission of media and our public health leaders was to maximize infections and deaths in order to damage the booming economy and get rid of Trump.
Since World War I, the United States has failed to learn the lesson that for better or worse we have been part of a global community — whether we like it or not.
American politicians from both major parties have tried to use nationalism combined with isolationism to keep fearful Americans concerned about only domestic issues, but time and time again we have been shown by attacks such as Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 and the multiple attacks on September 11th, 2001, that we can’t hide from the rest of the world. However, as much as we should engage with like-minded allies around the world, we cannot be expected to be the worlds police force either. One nation cannot do it alone, no matter how advanced our weapon systems are and how dedicated and professional our military services remain.
Perhaps the answer is for nations to start working together as first responders to global problems by helping other nations recover and govern themselves and their citizens, and stop those nations that would use their military and economic power to bully and coerce smaller nations into deals with the devil.
The sooner we recognize that we are all living on one fragile world with limited resources and opportunities, the sooner we may begin to work together to find solutions and perhaps expand beyond the confines of this single world to others.
“If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.” — George C. Marshall (1880-1959)
jhuppent@hotmail.com: Interesting how you cherry-pick quotes. Here’s a few from the dumpster-fire-in_chief:
Jan. 22 We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.
Feb. 10 Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.
Feb. 24 The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!
Feb. 27 It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.
March 4 Some people will have this at a very light level and won’t even go to a doctor or hospital, and they’ll get better. There are many people like that.
March 9 The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power … to inflame the CoronaVirus situation.
March 10 We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.
March 15 This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.
March 23 America will again, and soon, be open for business — very soon — a lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting. … We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.
March 24 I’d love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.
March 26 I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’
Let’s be clear, “the mission of media and our public health leaders was to maximize infections and deaths in order to damage the booming economy and get rid of Trump” is a bald-faced lie, irresponsible, and un-American. You and your kind are jeopardizing the well-being of real Americans. Didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child? You need to shut the f*** up and crawl back under the rock from whence you came.
One word dsimpson.
Cuomo.
Well Killer Cuomo, that’s very articulate. Are you saying that because Cuomo is an asshole, and. at least nominally, on the left, his inept handling of the crisis in New York somehow exonerates the amoral, narcissistic, sociopath that previously occupied the White House?
No.
“the American economy has performed better when a Democrat is in the White House than it did under the preceding Republican Administration or the GOP Administration that follows.”
Sloppy way to think about the economy.
Harding reduced taxes from 77% to 25% in the 1920s and the economy grew 40% in the 1920s as compared to Obama’s 12%.
Hoover supported and then put in place the 60% Smoot Hawley tax and then increased personal income taxes from Harding’s 24% to 65%, triggering the Great Depression.
The Congress put in place a tax cut in 1948, hugely reducing taxes on married women entering the workforce. They had to override Truman’s veto to do it. That tax cut produced six quarters of the highest growth in U.S. history. We had a 17% growth quarter. That tax cut and 1500 pages of deductions in the tax code, allowed us to finally recover from the great depression and it powered us through 1950s.
As the economy roared up through the tax brackets, the burden became larger and larger stalling out the economy in the late 50s, resulting in Kennedy’s election.
Kennedy put in place a large tax cut in 1964, costing him his life but powering the economy ahead by over 6.5% in 1965 and 6.6% in 1966.
Lyndon Johnson increased taxes by 10% in 1969, resulting in a stagnant economy all the way till 1980.
Growth in personal income under Jimmy Carter was negative as inflation kept moving people up to higher tax brackets through his presidency.
All economic life began under Reagan. Our stock market has increased from $3 trillion in 1980 to $43 trillion today. The whole rest of the world’s stock markets combined are less than $28 trillion.
Trump reduced personal income taxes on families of four or more making $53,000 less to zero producing economic growth of $630 billion in 2018 as compared to Obama’s $290 billion in 2016. As a result, the entire world is now checkmated economically. All economic assets are now worth more when moved to the U.S. 240 million people use to plan to move here, now 2.5 billion.
Congress is now debating on how to spend the Trump dividend of $5 trillion.
All economic life began with President Reagan. Reagan reduced taxes from 72% to 28%.
Since 1980, our stock market has increased by $40 trillion while the countries of the European Union saw their stocks go up by $5 trillion.
In 2018, our economy grew by
no, the weekly exists so left wing dorks can write about 4th avenue, the tram, how bad the police are, anything that even remotely deals with lbgt in a realistic way, and pot dispensaries, where ideology tries to outshine reality by concentrating on anecdotal evidence. and if that doesn’t work, blame conservatives for everything!
response to dsimpson on Covid:
No one listens to Trump for health care advice. What he had to say was largely irrelevant.
The motives and actions of CDC and the media in transmitting them to the public are very relevant.
On February 22nd, 2020, a Wuhan hospital administrator published a random control study in the Journal of Hospital Infection. It showed that N95 masks provided 100% protection for doctors and nurses working intensively with Covid patients.
Informed by that study, all 40,000 plus surge health care workers pouring into the Wuhan province from other provinces were equipped with N95 masks.
Not a single one of them was infected.
The masks that CDC demands that people wear provide almost no protection. The one-tenth of a millionth of an inch Covid virus sails right through them. All they do is encourage people to take risks they wouldn’t otherwise take. In other words, they helped to maximize infections.
CDC knew this in March of 2020.
An N95 mask costs less than one dollar to produce. With an all-out effort, we could have been producing 50 million N95 masks a day in less than 2 months.
But, that would have saved the Trump presidency.
We pay over 100 executives in CDC over $250,000 per year to be the first to know.
They knew this. Our corporate media, NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC also knew this.
Lessons learned?
The 9/11 terrorist hijackers were in the country illegally because of relaxed unenforced immigration laws.
We have learned nothing but blame each other.
Seal the border. Enforce the laws. Outlaw Soros funding to hate America groups.
War
What is it good for
Halliburton
Foreign Aid
What is it good for
Bidens and many other democrats
Let’s recap the Carter Years (1976-1980)
Runaway Inflation
Begging OPEC to increase oil production
Refugee infiltration
Family relative trying to enrich himself with Presidential connections regarding Libya-Billy Carter
Higher Taxes
Carter paid no Federal Taxes 1976
Now let’s look at the Biden years (2021-?
Runaway inflation
Begging OPEC to increase oil production
Family member attempting to use Presidential power to extort money from Libya-Hunter Biden
Tax Evasion $500,000+
Lesson learned.
All Afghan refugees are fully vetted-Jen Psaki
An Afghan man, brought to the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s massive resettlement operation out of Afghanistan, is accused of molesting 12-year-old and 14-year-old boys at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
Come on man!
And yet another.
An Afghan man, brought to the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s massive resettlement operation out of Afghanistan, has pleaded not guilty to strangling and suffocating his wife while temporarily living at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
Just think if they snuck them on to DM without our knowledge.
I have read some pretty nasty things penned by Danehy. But this one is the topper. “The people flying those planes into building were Arabs, so lets lash out at all Arabs. And some Arabs look like some Black people, so?”, is the most disgusting comment I have ever seen. He has reached a new low.
I am also disappointed in the management of this publication for allowing such trash to be published.
PS…..There are already Afghan refugees at DM along with Illegal immigrants from Texas flown here for ‘processing’ according to my sources.
Danehy has firmly established himself as human scum.