17 Years After 9/11, U.S. Hasn't Forgotten—Or Learned: Reason Roundup
Plus: Winklevoss twins launch new cryptocurrency and how refusing a handshake cost a Muslim woman French citizenship.
Trump couldn't even put aside petty boasting on 9/11. An unearthed interview with Donald Trump from the afternoon of September 11, 2001, reveals him bragging that with the twin towers gone, one of his buildings was once again the tallest structure in New York City. "40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest," said Trump in the radio interview with WWOR.
"Then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it's the tallest."
Today marks 17 years since the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, after being attacked by Al Qaeda actors under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. Here's what now-President Trump had to say about it this year:
17 years since September 11th!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2018
That Trump didn't even feel the need to use this occasion for fearmongering suggests Politico is on to something when it suggests "nobody cares about terrorism anymore."
In the midst of the typical (and increasingly lackluster) punditry pablum about how we will #NeverForget, however, some are seizing the opportunity to highlight how America's current actions abroad are antithetical to both respecting the lives lost and preventing future carnage.
It's the 17th anniversary of 9/11 and the media has honored it by referring to Al Qaeda's largest affiliate in history in Syria's idlib as "rebels" and mourning their looming defeat. So weird pic.twitter.com/g4Vzvwwe23
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) September 11, 2018
My Latest:
Trump blamed Saudi Arabia for 9/11 but now is allowing Saudi Air Force pilots to train on US soil to kill more civilans in Yemen.https://t.co/RzcKBoPZrF
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) September 5, 2018
Never forget that American politicians are willing to use the memories of murdered citizens and foreigners alike to justify whatever imperialistic adventures they have their hearts newly set on.
Attempts to equate Russian shitposters on Twitter to the mass murder of thousands of Americans have even started pouring in:
Fuck this. pic.twitter.com/xuIavDBvif
— Jeremiah Stephan Dunleavy IV (@JerryDunleavy) September 11, 2018
Folks who were in the fetus-to-toddler age range on September 11, 2001, are now becoming old enough to join the U.S. military. The good news is they won't be sent to die in the same post-9/11 folly that the earliest adults of my generation—the millennials—were. But while the Iraq War may (for now, at least) be over, America continues to wreak havoc in the region, endlessly repeating the same mistakes that spurred the 9/11 attacks in the first place.
Time until someone born after 9/11 can enlist to go to war in Afghanistan: pic.twitter.com/wajIpPLrO5
— Richard White (@CheekyAmriki) September 10, 2018
On 9/11 I was 18 years old. Today I'm 35. It was half my lifetime ago. And we've been at war since.
— Ilya Lozovsky (@ichbinilya) September 11, 2018
FREE MINDS
Refusal to shake French president's hand ruled "failure to assimilate"—and cause for denying citizenship.
An Algerian woman has sparked a debate about religious freedom and citizenship in France #OpenFuture https://t.co/Gal8trt9bh
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) September 11, 2018
FREE MARKETS
Facebook foes found new cryptocurrency. The digital tokens known as "Gemini Dollars" will be "pegged in value to the U.S. dollar and transferable on the Ethereum blockchain," Fast Company reports.
The Winklevoss twins just won NY approval for their crypto coin https://t.co/MqgBOidajg
— Fast Company (@FastCompany) September 11, 2018
FOLLOW-UP
No bail for Butina. After federal prosecutors falsely accused her of exchanging sex for state secrets, alleged Russian spy Maria Butina has been denied bail. On Monday, a judge rejected her lawyer's request to allow house arrest for Butina as she awaits trial. The judge also imposed a gag order on Butina's lawyers.
QUICK HITS
50% of kids being sex trafficked in the US are kids, according to the @MurrayLedger pic.twitter.com/FxsA6JOvGt
— Elizabeth Nolan Brown (@ENBrown) September 10, 2018
- After 9/11, "what it means to be brown in the western world has never really been the same."
- "We should not let the usualness of nativism numb us to the un-Americanness of it."
- Regulations dictating how social media companies can moderate content and users "might sound like it's supporting free speech" but "it's actually an almost certain First Amendment violation by the DOJ and whatever state AGs are involved."
- Junior high school girls "whispering among themselves" and being "disrespectful" to a cop does not rise "to the level of probable cause," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled.
- Missouri's campaign finance law has been declared unconstitutional.
- "Why Texas keeps passing abortion bills lawmakers know will fail."
- A Detroit food truck owner is getting attention after refusing to serve police officers, saying that their presence made her other customers nervous.
So asinine: The "gig economy" existed long before Uber and Lyft. California labor's attacks on it are now jeopardizing your local barber and tattoo artist writes @SShackford https://t.co/8DxADgXsAy
— Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) September 10, 2018