Still in the land of the ignorant. Ok, where was I? Oh yes, one of the greatest disconnects was the infamous 9/11, 2001. It would take this writer volumes to cover probably the most dastardly American event since the murder of JFK, which opened the door to a Coup de tat that still remains nearly 60 years later. I am speaking of 9/11, 2001, when they sold us the children’s story ( as Junior Bush was reading one to those elementary school kids in Sarasota, Florida) of being totally ignorant of those hijacked US airliners taking out the Twin Towers in NYC and the Pentagon in DC. I say children’s story because there is NO way in hell that elements of this National Security State did NOT know this was coming, or God forbid, even orchestrated it. Imagine this: The whole world knew that Junior Bush was going to that elementary school on the morning of September 11th. When he arrived and was told that a plane had apparently crashed into the 1st tower he remarked ‘ They better check that pilot’s license’ or something like that. Then, as he reads to the kids from a children’s book, Andrew Card, his chief of staff, whispers in his ear that a second plane went into the other tower. Did Bush or his entourage of Secret Service men get the hell out of there ASAP? No, he kept reading to the kids. Did someone ‘ in the know’ understand that Bush was totally safe? Cause, if you watch any of the myriad of films about presidents, you know that at the first sign of danger the Secret Service rushes the president away to safety. I won’t go into the hundreds of facts about the towers going down like pancakes in less than 10 seconds, or that just on that very morning NORAD and the FAA were conducting drills concerning ( are you ready for this?) Fake airliner hijackings! Check out the tapes of air traffic controllers saying, when news of the actual missing three airliners was known, ‘ Is that one a real hijacking or a fake one?’
The 9/11 tragedy opened the door to the infamous Patriot Act, which then peeled away many of the civil liberties our nation has been known for. Equally as important, it opened the door for the hype and spin by the Bush/Chaney Cabal to justify our immoral and illegal attacks, invasions and occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq. The stain of it still resonates 20 years later, and sucks up more and more of our tax dollars. The empire loves it as it continues to play the ‘ War on Terror ‘ card trick… to the detriment of the ‘ Safety Net’ we all hold so dear. At least half of discretionary spending, now at close to one trillion dollars per year, goes down the rabbit hole for so called defense. How can we ever see funding for Universal Health Care ( what about dental?), Universal Child Care, better roads and bridges, public transportation and public schools, and the greatest gift Uncle Sam had always given to the municipalities: Revenue Sharing and Block Grants ( never needing to be paid back by the way? Anyone not totally ignorant of things should realize that the mega millionaires and billionaires really don’t need government help at all… except to see their tax rates lowered. Sadly, after those planes crashed into those buildings, the mass of us bought the hogwash the Cabal was selling. Both segments of the One Party/Two Party scam amped up the rhetoric to their customers, the public AKA The Voters, to get behind those two tragic adventures in the Middle East.
Then we saw the real estate bubble burst of 2008-09. We saw the selfish and greedy Wall Street firms become toxic… due to their own doing. We saw Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, he the former CEO of the evil Goldman Sachs ( who retired with a compensation package worth $ 500 million) standing before the cameras with that ‘ Sad Sack’ look. He was worried that this could be the end of America, so Congress and the president needed to bail out the crooks… and they did. Meanwhile, Ralph Nader and many progressives joined with true conservative legislators to demand that Uncle Sam place those toxic companies into Receivership for like ten cents on the dollar. That would mean that ALL the employees would still have jobs and only the greedy pigs would take the hit. No Mas! The empire twisted arms and bailed out the whole lot of them, so much so that within one year many top execs were getting bonuses… on the taxpayer dime. Of course, the con job began with Junior Bush and then continued under Obama. Meanwhile, as millions of homeowners went under through foreclosure, the Wall Street gang bought up the homes and rental properties and became Mega Absentee Landlords. So, the great disconnect was how foolish working stiffs would sit in their rundown rented apartments watching Sean Hannity on TV, not realizing that he was their landlord via the smokescreen of LLCs. Or that all those loyal Trump thumpers were ignorant that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law and advisor owned thousands of rundown low income properties. Of course, many of Trump’s biggest donors were cashing in on buying foreclosed homes and becoming mega landlords… while the suckers wore ( still wear) the red MAGA hats.
Philip A Farruggio is regular columnist on It’s the Empire… stupid website. He is also frequently posted on Nation of Change, Countercurrents., Smirking Chimp and Independent Australia sites. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 400 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the ‘ It’s the Empire… Stupid ‘ radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at [email protected].
