Building Wut Unveils Ad

LOL! The usual bit about how "nobody knows that another building, which was not hit by a plane, collapsed that day." I have always said that Building 7 is a thin reed to build popular support for the Troof, for the simple reason that it takes too many logical leaps to get to the point where it fits in with the conspiracy theory.

Note as well that the Troofers have scaled back their fundraising objective without quite mentioning it. Let's do the math again. At 9-11 Flogger, we are exhorted to "watch the ad that one million New Yorkers will see," and reminded that each $750 donated will result in another 10,000 seeing the ad. So to get the one million viewers, they will need to air 100 ads. Times 750 is $75,000, which is roughly $15,000 per week, which they only missed by about 35% in the first week.

It is interesting to see more of a side view of the collapse (at about 16-17 seconds in), because it refutes Box Boy's claim that the collapse was symmetrical, and straight down through the path of most resistance.

Will These Idiots Make Up Their Alleged Minds?

Over at 9-11 Flogger the latest claim is:

It Fell in Silence: The Collapse of World Trade Center 7

Whatever happened to Kevin McPadden's "ba-BOOM!"

Of course, that's not quite what "in silence" is supposed to mean in this particular instance. But why should the Troofers be the only ones allowed to quote-mine?

Loose Change 9-11 An America Coup: Barry Jennings Interview

Barry Jennings and Mr Hess, two of the men who were stranded in WTC-7 for several hours on 9-11, come in for a bunch of attention in Loose Change 9-11 An American Coup. Here are transcripts of what they have to say in the movie. The first two quotes are from interviews that they gave on 9-11; the final one is an interview Jason Bermas did with Jennings.

Hess: Yes I was, I was, I was up in the Emergency Management Center on the 23rd floor and when all the power went out in the building, another gentleman and I walked down to the 8th floor, where there was an explosion and we were trapped on the 8th floor with smoke—thick smoke—all around us for about an hour and a half. But the NY Fire Department, as terrific as they are, just came and got us out.

Jennings: Well, me and Mr Hess, the corporation counsel, were on the 23rd floor, I told him we gotta get out of here. We started walking down the stairs we made it to the 8th floor, big explosion, blew us back into the 8th floor, and I turned to Hess I said, “This is it. We’re dead, not going to make it out of here. I took a fire extinguisher and I bust a window out. That’s when this gentleman this gentleman here heard my cries for help.

Barry Jennings: Hi. My name is Barry Jennings. Um. I'm 52 years old. Um, I've worked for for 32 years in one location. Basically, that's it. I'm married. Father of 4.

It’s very funny, I was on my way to work, traffic was excellent, I received a call, a small Cessna had hit the World Trade Center. I was asked to go and man the Office of Emergency Management at the World Trade Center 7 on the 23rd floor. As I arrived there, there were police all in the lobby. They showed me the way to the elevator, we got up to the 23rd floor. Me and Mr. Hess who I didn't know was Mr. Hess at the time. We got to the 23rd floor, we couldn't get in. We had to go back down. Then, security and police took us to the freight elevators. When they took us back up, and we did get in.

Upon arriving into the OEM EOC, we noticed that everybody was gone. I saw coffee that was on the desk. Still smoke was still coming up the coffee. I saw half-eaten sandwiches. And only me and Mr. Hess was up there. After I called several individuals, one individual told me that um, to leave and to leave right away.

Mr Hess came running back in. He said: "We’re the only ones up here. We gotta get outta of here!"

He found a stairwell. When we reached the eighth, uh, the sixth floor, the landing that we were standing on, gave way. There was an explosion. And the landing gave way.
And when, I was left there hanging. I had to climb back up. And now I had to walk back up the eighth floor. After getting to the eighth floor, everything was dark. It was dark and it was very, very hot. Very hot. I asked Mr Hess to test the phones as I took a fire extinguisher and broke out the windows. Once I broke out the windows I could see outside below me, I saw, um, police cars on fire, buses on fire, I looked one way, the building was there, I look the other way it was gone.

I was trapped in there for several hours. I was trapped in there when both buildings came down. The firefighters came, they came to the window cause I was going to come out on the fire hose, I didn’t want to stay there it was too hot, I was going to come out on the fire hose, they came to the window, they started yelling, do not do that, it won’t hold you. And then they ran away. See I didn’t know what was going on. That’s when the first tower fell. When they started running, the first tower was coming down. I had no way of knowing that. Then I saw them come back. Now I saw them come back with more concern on their faces. And they ran away again. The second tower fell. So as they turned and ran the second time, the guy said “Don’t worry, we’ll be back for you.” And they did come back, this time they came back with ten firefighters. And they kept asking, “Where are you? We don’t know where you are.” I said I was on the north side of the building because when I was on the stairs I saw, north side.

All this time, I’m hearing all types of explosions. All this time I’m hearing explosions. And I’m thinking maybe it’s the buses that were on fire, the cars on fire, I don’t see no, you know. But I’m still hearing these explosions. When they finally got to us, and they took us down to what, what they, they, uh, called the lobby. 'cause I asked them, when we got down there, I said: "Where are we?" He said: "This was the lobby." And I said: "You gotta be kidding me!" Total ruins. Total ruins. Now keep in mind, when I came in here, lobby had nice escalators, it was a huge lobby. And for me to see what I saw, unbelievable.

And the firefighter that took us down, kept saying, do not look down. And I kept saying “Why?” “Do not look down.” And you’re stepping over people, and you know you can feel when you’re stepping over people. Took us out through a hole, that the, I don’t know who made this hole, in this wall, that’s how they got us out. They took us out through a hole in the wall, to safety. As they were taking me out, one firefighter had fallen, I believe he was having a heart attack, but before that, this big giant police officer came to me. And he says, "You have to run!" I said, "I can't run. My knees are swollen." He said, "You'll have to get on your knees and crawl then.” He said, “Because we have reports of more explosions." And that's when I started crawling. And I saw this guy fall behind me. His comrade came to his aid, and dragged him to safety. Um, I was looking for an ambulance, for my knees and at that time they told me you gotta walk 20 blocks, to a refuge. Before I got there, Eyewitness News grabbed me and started interviewing me. And that’s basically it. (End)

Now there are some obvious problems reconciling the accounts. Hess quite clearly states that he and Jennings were in the OEM when the power went out in the building; this indicates that the time was right around 9:59, as the power went out in WTC-7 (and much of lower Manhattan) when the South Tower collapsed. Jennings claims to have already poked out the windows and attracted the attention of the firemen at that time. It seems clear to me that Jennings has the times confused, that it was when the South Tower collapsed that they tried to evacuate, but in the darkness it took them about a half-hour to get down 17 flights of stairs, when the North Tower collapsed, providing the big explosion Jennings describes.

There are other problems. It never made much sense for me for the fireman to say "Don't look down," if they're stepping over bodies, surely you'd be more likely to trip and fall. Rather it would seem logical to say something like "Be careful where you step." And does it make any sense to tell someone who can't run because of swollen knees to crawl? Or for him to obey that suggestion? If the objective is to get out of there as quickly as possible, walking is surely faster than crawling?

Of course, there are deeper problems with the story; in his BBC interview last summer, Jennings specifically denied mentioning stepping over bodies; unless Dylan is a master at voice-morphing that seems to be untrue.

My conclusion? Jennings probably elaborated on his story over the years, making it more dramatic. Given a chance to tell his tale to the Loose Change boys, he pulls out all the stops. When the BBC comes calling and he realizes that there are real problems with the anecdote as he told it to LC, he denies it. That seems to me to be the most parsimonious explanation.

Of course to the "Troofers" Occam's razor would say that the NWO got to Jennings before the BBC interview, but afterwards they realized that Dylan had the tape of him talking about walking over bodies and they decided he had to be snuffed.

The Truther/Birther Harmonic Convergence

In this incredibly nutty post by Orly Taitz, Birther Supreme:

(Attachment D) shows that Magic Plumbing had worked on the sprinkler system at the World Trade Center just days before 9/11. One of the men that performed this work lived in Brooklyn. He left Brooklyn on 9/11 and went to Tennessee. A woman that had a court date involving identity theft with the motor vehicle department in Tennessee met a mysterious death. Mr. Chatfield had no comment or thought in reference to this material being shown to him.

Compelling evidence. I now believe that Barack Obama was actually born inside the World Trade Center based on this testimony, possibly in WTC-7 itself. Let's remember that Mr Chatfield had no comment or thought in reference to this material. What more need we say?

Zeitgeist Debunked--WTC 7 Section

Great job by JREF forum member EDX!

New Video of WTC-7 from 9-11

This seems to be from the NY CBS affiliate; remember that the segment with the reporter moving around is taped, so ignore the time in the bottom right; that's when the segment aired. Unfortunately the lighting isn't the best so it's hard to figure out which buildings he's looking at, but at least part of it seems to be WTC-7.

David Chandler Takes One Amidships

Kudos to Alienentity for putting this together. Mr Chandler, the ball is in your court.

Free Fallin' Yet Again

Apparently a physics teacher and 9-11 Troofer named David Chandler "discovered" that WTC-7 had been in freefall for part of its collapse. Never mind that the Troofers have always claimed it was in freefall (or, humorously, faster than freefall) for the entirety of its collapse, they greeted this news as evidence that backed up their fruitcake theories of controlled demolition.

I'm not going to take on Mr Chandler; let's allow JREFers like Ryan Mackey and Tfk handle it. Mr Mackey first:

To stimulate further discussion, may I also point out that we have accepted the possibility of very high accelerations, approaching 1 g, all along. See this thread for an example of such a discussion, concluding that the actual descent rate could indeed wind up within the margin of error of "free fall," yet have nothing whatsoever to do with explosives. I remind readers that the thread starter is under no circumstances a "government stooge" or what have you, but instead approached the problem from the opposite initial viewpoint.

Furthermore, supposing there were explosives used, one expects their placement would result in a very similar core damage sequence to the one that NIST found likely as a result of fire. This suggests that NIST and a typical CD hypothesis would be indistinguishable on the basis of a roofline velocity test. Instead we look to other tests, such as the sound and blast effect on windows, and these rule conclusively against explosives.

Tfk points out:

However, the crucial point here is that Chandler's results agree EXACTLY with NIST's. Chandler didn't have to do this work at all. He replicates EXACTLY NIST's graph shown in Fig 12-77 on page 603 of NCSTAR 1-9 (Vol 2). This is page 265 of the downloadable pdf file. The slope of the best fit linear curve is "32.196". (Keeerist, don't they teach kids about "significant digits" any more??!!! It should be 32.2, probably ±0.5 or so.) A glaring omission in both papers is an error analysis - a CRITICAL component of any competent engineering paper.

Conclusion: Freefall doesn't prove anything. Indeed, I have consistently argued that Troofers just assume that controlled demolitions fall at freefall speed when they do not.

NIST to Release WTC-7 Report on Thursday

Details here; apparently there is going to be a webcast:

Gaithersburg, Md. -- The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold a media briefing and live public webcast on Aug. 21, 2008, in Gaithersburg, Md., on the findings and recommendations from its building and fire safety investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7). WTC 7 was a 47-story building that fell nearly seven hours after the World Trade Center (WTC) towers collapsed following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The NIST WTC 7 report will present the probable collapse sequence for the building and will provide recommendations for improving building and fire safety in other buildings similar to WTC 7. The draft WTC 7 investigation report released at the briefing will be open for public comment through noon Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 15, 2008.

When: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 11 a.m. - Noon Eastern Daylight Time

Well, this should ensure more conspiracy theorizing, especially when the goofs see this name on the press release:

Credentialed journalists who wish to register for the media briefing should contact Ben Stein....

Ben Stein?

Truthers Like Corpse Gas

I like this analogy:

Rather like corpse gas, a fresh batch of skewed thinking has lately bubbled up from the depths due to the imminent release of a draft report from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks.

Recommended!

BBC WTC 7 Documentary Hits The Mark

Wow. What a terrific job they did on this episode of Conspiracy Files; I'm thoroughly blown away. In the first half I thought they were almost too sympathetic to the Troofers, giving them a lot of airtime. But this decision to be more rigorously fair than most shows on the movement actually turned out to be justified by the incredible amount of evidence they presented to debunk the loons.

There are so many good moments in the show that I know I'm going to miss a couple but here are a few favorites:

1. The footage of WTC 7 and the lobby after the first tower collapsed. It's one thing to read Peruggia's account; it's quite another to see it firsthand. Remember, WTC-7 was at least partially shielded from the South Tower by the North Tower. An amazing amount of damage and unbelieveable amount of dust and debris.

2. Chief Nigro's statement that the conspiracy theories are obscene. Amen.

3. Mark Loiseaux noting that thermite is far too unpredictable in timing for his demolitions.

4. The explanation for the building's collapse. I had leaned towards the diesel fuel being pumped into the building and the transfer trusses. Of course the Troofers will go nuts on this because they will continue to deny that there were significant fires in the buildings.

5. Hearing the Hardfire "Live Free or Die" song starting up in the background. That got a laugh from me. Good point by Mark about how the Truthers never put their nonsense into a coherent account.

Terrific production! I have heard that this program will be airing in the US at some point in September. I highly recommend it. I commented that the History Channel special was Hiroshima for the Truthers; this was more like letting the air slowly out of their balloon.

BBC WTC-7 Conspiracy Files on Google Video

Watching it now, will post my thoughts later.

Hat Tip: Walter Ego.

The Independent on the BBC WTC7 Special

A short but excellent article, the author of which is very familiar with the truther mindset, so he obviously is in on the conspiracy.

Imagine an infection that actually feeds on the only antibiotic available to counter it and you have some measure of the problem in dealing with conspiracy theories. When conspiracists encounter solid evidence against their favoured scenario, they have only two options available to them. They can compromise their religious belief in the narrative they've constructed, or they can simply enlarge it, extending the conspiracy so that, amoeba-like, it absorbs this irritating foreign body and digests it whole. Almost invariably, they choose the latter, and The Conspiracy Files: 9/11 – the Third Tower, a film about the collapse of World Trade Centre Building 7, offered several choice examples of the process. What conspiracists believe about Building 7 is that it was deliberately destroyed, brought down by a pre-planned explosion so that the evidence proving government complicity in the events of 9/11 would be shredded. They base their conviction on footage of the collapse, in which it does indeed look as if the building has been brought down by controlled demolition. They then shore up this ill-informed impression with oddities picked from the rubble of that day – passing remarks, inaccuracies in the news coverage, fragments of debris – all of them carefully sifted and separated from their context so that their larger meaning is obscured. And woe betide you if you suggest that the resulting collage is implausible in any way.

And he obviously is aware of what their response is going to be, with this parting comment:

Incidentally, if you're minded to send me a long email denouncing my gullibility and directing me to websites offering incontrovertible proof that Dick Cheney did it, don't bother. As you may already have guessed, I'm in on it, too.

BBC WTC 7 Documentary Producer Shares His Thoughts

Good overview of the conspiracy theories in general and WTC 7 in particular.

With the publicity also came the "debunkers", challenging the "truthers" at every stage.

After Loose Change came a website called Screw Loose Change. And internet film 9/11 Mysteries was followed by Screw 9/11 Mysteries.

For our UK readers, be sure to watch the Conspiracy Files tomorrow night!

Financial Times (London) Covers WTC 7

This article is, I will admit, a marvel of balance; do they cover the claims of creationists as even handedly?

To the truthers, "building 7" – the third building in the World Trade Center complex to collapse on September 11 – is evidence that the mainstream media is in on the plot. On that day, the BBC reported the building's fall almost half an hour before it happened. Journalist Jane Standley was broadcast at 4.54pm eastern time reporting that the tower had collapsed – but in the background, it was still standing.

What I find interesting is the assumption by the writer than nobody needs an explanation as to who the truthers are. We're so close to the situation that it's hard to see the forest; have we actually arrived at the point where everybody knows what a "truther" is?

He gets a couple of points wrong or at least is not up to date:

But in the minds of the truthers, this explanation was undermined by Porter's admission that the BBC no longer had the original tapes of its coverage.

They have since located them.

NIST's working hypothesis is that fire and/or flaming debris from the collapsing north tower (which left a long gash in building 7's south face) damaged a critical column which supported a 2,000 sq ft floor bay. The remaining floor bays were unable to redistribute the loads, and the whole structure came down on itself. The fact that the collapse was triggered by an internal failure would explain the appearance of a controlled demolition with a small field of debris left behind.

I don't have a clue as to what he's talking about here. Is he discussing the mechanical penthouse when he says "floor bay"?

And get this hilarious detail:

The BBC, meanwhile, has yet to persuade some of its critics. It had wanted to film the 9/11TruthLA seminar at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles but was barred by the organisers, who cited building 7.

Isn't that freaking hilarious? The Truthers moan all the time about not getting media coverage for their nuttery, and yet here's an event featuring Richard Gage and Steven Jones and they won't let the BBC in the door!

WTC-7 Post Collapse Photos Show Building Collapsed to South

Here's an example of what I'm talking about, for Diane:



This photo is taken looking roughly east, from the Verizon Building looking over WTC 7 towards the Post Office. As you can see in the foreground, a substantial portion of the north side of the building ended up on top of the pile, which means what, children? That's right, that the building collapsed to the south. Of course, you can't see that in the videos, because you're looking at the north side of the building (from a pretty great distance I might add).

Here's another photo, looking generally southwest.



Again, we see a large segment of the north side of the building resting atop the pile.

Update: As pointed out by our buddy Kate at Debunking 9-11, not all the building fell to the south; Fiterman Hall which was to the north, was also damaged. Can you say asymmetrical collapse?

So Sheldon, Have You Stopped Accusing Firefighters of Lying?

Sheldon Drobny pans Bill Maher's quite good comments about the 9-11 nutbars, and steps into the firefighters' wheelhouse.

By focusing only upon the controlled demolition theory of the Twin Towers, he excluded a more viable discussion of the collapse of building # 7 that was not hit by anything but the debris from towers 1 and 2.

As I have put it in the past, a lot of the crackpots seem to think that WTC-7 is the Gateway Drug to 9-11 Denial. Gee, it seems so harmless to engage in a little speculation about controlled demolition at WTC-7. After all, nobody died there, so you're not pissing on graves like you are when you talk about the Towers.

But that doesn't buy them a free pass, because in order to buy the CD of WTC-7, you've got to claim that an awful lot of firemen were lying. Firemen like:

Edward Kennedy:

"But this is as the day was going on and, of course, there were so many transmissions going over. I remember him screaming about 7, No. 7, that they wanted everybody away from 7 because 7 was definitely going to collapse...."

Lieutenant Rudolph Weindler:

"Captain Varriale told Chief Coloe and myself that 7 World Trade Center was badly damaged on the south side and definitely in danger of collapse. Chief Coloe said we were going to evacuate the collapse zone around 7 World Trade Center, which we did."

Firefighter George Holzman:

"We stayed there for quite sometime when I don't even know who, I think it was someone, Lieutenant Lowney spoke to, asked us to leave the area, they were concerned about 7 World Trade Center collapsing."

Firefighter Kevin Howe:

"At that time there was a lot of fire going on. I think it was the Customs House was roaring. The 7 World Trade Center was roaring."

Captain Robert Sohmer:

"As the day went on they started worrying about 7 World Trade Center collapsing and they ordered an evacuation from that area..."

Assistant Chief Harold Meyers:

"Chief Nigro directed me to continue monitoring conditions at the site. Specifically to monitor number 7 World Trade Center. We were very concerned with the collapse potential there, and to do whatever I could do to ensure site safety in that no additional people became injured."

Firefighter Fred Marsilla:

At this point, 7, which is right there on Vesey, the whole corner of the building was missing. I was thinking to myself we are in a bad place, because it was the corner facing us. But you do what you got to do as usual. We operated till they finally started pulling people back.

Firefighter Adrienne Walsh:

Then we were instructed to search through two or three buildings to make sure they were stable, and then they pulled everybody out because of the pink building. Was it 7 World Trade, that was going?
Q. Right.
A. Then they pulled everybody out.

Firefighter Kevin Quinn:

Then approximately I guess maybe two hours before number 7 came down, we went into Ground Zero and helped dig around and was there when they located Chief Feehan and one of the Chiefs pulled us all out because they said 7 was going to come down.

Captain Anthony Varriale:

At that time, other firefighters started showing up, Deputy Battalion Chief Paul Ferran of the 41 Battalion, and James Savastano of the First Division assigned to the Second Battalion showed up and we attempted to search and extinguish, at the time which was small pockets of fire in 7 World Trade Center. We were unaware of the damage in the front of 7, because we were entering from the northeast entrance. We weren't aware of the magnitude of the damage in the front of the building. We made searches. We attempted to put some of the fire out, but we had a pressure problem. I forget the name of the Deputy. Some Deputy arrived at the scene and thought that the building was too dangerous to continue with operations, so we evacuated number 7 World Trade Center.

Firefighter Vandon Williams:

It could have been an hour, hour and a half we were doing that before we were ordered to move away from that part of Tower No. 1 because there was an imminent danger of collapse of World Trade Center No. 5 and 7.

Firefighter Eugene Kelty, Jr.:

And 7 World Trade was burning up at the time. We could see it. There was concern. I had gone up to take a look at it, because I knew that the telephone company building, which is 140 West Street, was next to 7 World Trade Center, and there was a concern that if 7 World Trade came down, what would happen to this building?

Firefighter Richard Banaciski:

They told us to get out of there because they were worried about 7 World Trade Center, which is right behind it, coming down. We were up on the upper floors of the Verizon building looking at it. You could just see the whole bottom corner of the building was gone. We could look right out over to where the Trade Centers were because we were that high up. Looking over the smaller buildings. I just remember it was tremendous, tremendous fires going on. Finally they pulled us out. They said all right, get out of that building because that 7, they were really worried about.

Chief Frank Cruthers:

Early on, there was concern that 7 World Trade Center might have been both impacted by the collapsing tower and had several fires in it and there was a concern that it might collapse. So we instructed that a collapse area ?
Q. A collapse zone?
A. Yeah -- be set up and maintained so that when the expected collapse of 7 happened, we wouldn't have people working in it.

There are many more. Are you saying they're all lying, Sheldon?

Pull My Finger!

Our buddy Boloboffin from the DU Debunkers does a terrific job with these mini-videos. Thanks BB!

The New Evidence

Dylan apparently popped on the Alex Jones show this afternoon to announce the big news. But this earth-shaking evidence is going to have to wait until Loose Change the Fourth--errr, Final Cut.

The interview, to be featured in the forthcoming Final Cut of Loose Change is currently under wraps but the creators have allowed some details to leak purely to protect themselves and the individual involved who has asked to remain anonymous until the film is released.

This of course is the usual "protect yourself by appearing on Alex Jones" show that he offered me during the fake SLC blog incident. I guess appearing on Alex is like wearing a condom.

We can reveal that the individual concerned was asked to report to building seven with a city official after the first attack on the North tower but before the second plane hit the South Tower and before their eventual collapse, in order to provide the official with access to different floors of the building.

The city official he was escorting was attempting to reach Rudy Guiliani, who he had determined was inside building 7 at that time. According to Avery and Burmas this official now works for Guiliani partners.

It was at this point that he witnessed a bomb going off inside the building:

"We subsequently went to the stairwell and were going down the stairs, when we reached the sixth floor, the landing that we were standing on gave way, there was an explosion and the landing gave way. I was left there hanging, I had to climb back up and now had to walk back up to the eighth floor. After getting to the eighth floor everything was dark."

The individual in a second clip detailed hearing further explosions and then described what he saw when he got down to the lobby:

"It was totally destroyed, it looked like King Kong had been through it and stepped on it and it was so destroyed i didn't know where I was. It was so destroyed that had to take me out through a hole in the wall, a makeshift hole I believe the fire department made to get me out."

He was then told by firefighters to get twenty blocks away from the area because explosions were going off all over the World Trade Center complex.

The key to this information is that the individual testifies this all happened BEFORE either tower collapsed, thus building 7 was at that point completely undamaged from any falling debris or resulting fires. It also means that explosions were witnessed in WTC7 up to eight hours before its collapse at around 5.30pm.

Avery and Burmas, who played the two short clips of the interview prior to further analysis and more clips to be played on their own GCN radio show later tonight at 7pm CST, further described how the individual had witnessed dead bodies in the lobby of 7 and was told by the police not to look at them.

This is vital information be cause it is in direct conflict with the official claim that no one was killed inside building 7. The 9/11 Commission report did not even mention building, yet here we have a key witness who told them he saw dead people inside the building after explosions had gutted the lower level.

There were certainly several firefighters in Building 7 at that time and afterwards; John Peruggia described the scene when he arrived, after the second plane had hit but before either of the collapses:

I reached 7 World Trade Center. We walked into the lobby and we were going up the escalators to the main level. I checked in at the security desk. As we reached the top of the escalators, there were lots of people running down the escalator on the promenade. I spoke to one of the Deputy Directors and as I was speaking with him, I believe it was Deputy Director Rotanz, who is a Fire Department Captain on detail over there, Captain Nahmod and EMT Zarrillo approached as well. They had indicated that the building was being evacuated.

We proceeded down to the lobby where the various agency representatives were present. We collectively started to set up in the lobby and try to think of strategies to where we could move the inter-agency cooperation effort.

Somehow Peruggia and all the people who were evacuating the building missed this huge explosion inside the building. Peruggia also neglects to mention the bodies. When the collapse happens:

Just moments before the south tower collapsed and, you know, when it happened we didn't know it was the south tower. We thought it was the north tower. There was a reporter of some sort, female with blond hair and her cameraman, an oriental fellow. They were setting up outside 7 World Trade Center, just east of the pedestrian bridge. I told them it would probably be better off to be set up under the bridge. At least it was protected. I was just about to enter a dialogue with her when I heard a sound I never heard before. I looked up and saw this huge cloud. I told him run. I grabbed the female, I threw her through the revolving doors of number 7. We were proceeding inside. She fell to the ground. I helped her out, I pushed her towards the direction of where we were all in the south corner and there was a little doorway behind that desk which led into the loading bays. Everybody started to run through that. Never made it to that door. The next thing that I remember was that I was covered in some glass and some debris. Everything came crashing through the front of number 7. It was totally pitch black.

Dylan and Jason will be discussing this on their GCN show in the next few minutes. Folks over at JREF have some speculation as to the identity of "Deep Stomach".

Update: Prior announcement of this by Alex Jones' website.

After the initial blast, Housing Authority worker Barry Jennings, 46, reported to a command center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center. He was with Michael Hess, the city's corporation counsel, when they felt and heard another explosion. First calling for help, they scrambled downstairs to the lobby, or what was left of it. "I looked around, the lobby was gone. It looked like hell," Jennings said.

Barry Jennings...



He appears about 3:22 into this video.

The Insanity Is Spreading

As I have commented in the past, the statement by Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats that impeachment is off the table is making 9-11 Denial more attractive to the far Left who are slavering for the end of the Bush regime. Here's an obviously frustrated Left-Winger indulging herself in a little 9-11 tinfoil hattery:

Watch WTC #7 in this video and try to tell me or try to convince me that that building DID NOT come down in the same fashion as WTCs #1 & #2! WTC #7 wasn’t even on fire and it came straight down at free-fall speed just like the others did. Sick. Americans have a right to question the events of this day and we are!

Yes, you have the right to question that day. And you have the right to make idiotic mistakes in questioning that day. For starters, WTC #7 did not come down in remotely the same fashion as WTCs #1 and #2. The Twin Towers collapsed from the point of impact down. WTC 7 collapsed from the bottom. It and the Towers did not collapse at free-fall speed (sic) as Dr Greening pointed out just the other day. WTC 7 was on fire; not even "Truthers" deny that (they just claim that the fires weren't severe enough).

Expect to see more Lefty bloggers going for the Hail Mary pass with 9-11 Denial.

Update: Check out also this post about Richard Gage and his clown posse over at A&E.

They include a Fire Protection Engineer who’s had his license cancelled 9 years ago, a Land Surveyor, a Mechanical Engineer, and an Electrical Engineer who aren’t qualified to analyze or design structural designs, and a Civil Engineer who’s professional registration check returns no results. Indeed, true scholars for “truthiness” if there ever were any.