Ignore The Hawks On American TV News

This is MSNBC being hawkish in its analysis of Trump’s refusal to concede in the 2020 presidential election. The story goes that Trump’s obstruction of a peaceful handover makes the US susceptible to foreign attack, whether military or electronic.

Here it is again. This is Bullshit. MSNBC is going out of its way to praise Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan as an Air Force veteran and therefore, an expert on national security. I’m here to say no, she isn’t. Look at how Willie Geist praises this Congresswoman simply for being a veteran from a military family. This conversation could have been on Fox News 20 years ago.

And here is more nonsense. There was a massive shift in the way US news covered wars, beginning with the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Instead of objective reporting, US news media began to refer to US armed forces as “we” or “our,” and it also started to inject itself into military strategies. Here’s MSNBC cautioning a president not to tell “the enemy” where “our” troops are going.

Trump refusing to go quietly is a scandal. It’s one of the worst things he has ever done. But it does not jeopardize national security. That's neocon talk. That’s bullshit. Trump trying to throw out legal ballots is not going make the Chinese navy appear in Hawaii or give foreign hackers a clear path to intrude into our systems, or give foreign spies more wiggle room on our soil.

I shouldn’t have to mention this, but apparently buried in the 9/11 commission report is some bullshit theory that the legal battle over Florida recounts made our nation vulnerable to the major terrorist attacks. The legal battle over Florida in November and December 2000 delayed the presidential transition 37 days. The commission report goes on to argue that the delay was a major contributing factor in how unprepared the Bush 43 administration was to an attack involving four hijacked planes 9 months later. Do I really have to say that the failure to protect the nation was entirely on the Bush administration and the DOJ?

Ignore David Ignatius. Ignore Chris Coons. Ignore Chris Murphy. Ignore Susan Rice. Ignore Eric Swalwell. This is fear mongering. We didn't tolerate it when it come from the Bush-Caney administration. We can't tolerate it from Democrats, either.

Democrats are the new Republicans! Who would have thought that 20 years after 9/11 that it would be the Democrats who would talk the most about "national security"?

It is extraordinary and alarming how the Democrats have made themselves the party of the military and national security. The words coming out of Democrats mouths today is not that different from the words of Bush, Chaney, Rice and Rumsfeld 20 years ago. Be cautioned, Democrats. We're moving to the right when we should be moving left. Of course it was right to speak up when Trump didn't care about our troops, but I see a party that is becoming far too hawkish, too militarized. Don’t let Trump’s disrespect of military drive you to throw your arms around it. I’m afraid that has happened.

The New World Trade Center Is An Even Bigger Failure Now

The plan to build the most architecturally interesting tower is dead. 2 World Trade Center, if it is ever built, will not be the Bjarke Ingels design shown above.

Norman Mailer once said that modern architecture is “collective sightlessness for the species.” He included all of the 20th century greats in his assessment. I wouldn’t go that far. I think a lot of architecture becomes misguided when it attempts to make a statement on our relationships to buildings, landscapes and cites. Maybe if we just designed buildings that were appropriate for their environment and purpose, we’d have generally better architecture. There’s no need to have elaborate themes or statements. Architecture is not filmmaking. Yes, it is art and engineering. But let’s not overthink what it means.

I have architect friends and surly they will disagree with what I wrote above. So let me me make a less controversial and more obvious point: the new World Trade Center (2006-) was a failure the moment it was decided to rebuild the square footage of office space that was lost in 2001. And now, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more of a failure.

New York City will never die. But it is no longer a port town. It is no longer a manufacturing town. It has a thriving real estate industry, tourism, financial services, and still has healthy legal, advertising and marketing sectors. It also attracts film and television productions, but long lost its film production edge to Hollywood and London. Most people in the city are employed by hospitals, restaurants, banks or the city itself, which operates within a social service economy. The city spends what it collects, and when the economy goes south, the city and its people go broke.

The shift to online retail dominance has been ongoing since Amazon launched 25 years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has instantly changed some corporate HR policies to allow permeant remote work agreements. Again, New York City won’t die. But the corporate real estate landscape in the city has changed and may remain in this state for a generation or more.

We should house the homeless with all the unused square footage we have.

The Verdict Is In: One World Trade Center Is Terrible

I said it back in May, and now more and more people agree: The World Trade Center, and particularly One World Trade Center, is a big mess. And it's not because of the current rat infestation. It is an architectural and economic failure. And now it is a lasting symbolic one as well.

At least the name Freedom Tower was dropped. But that's just a positive footnote in an otherwise depressing saga. However, thanks to the media, and the popularity of our enless wars, tourists will still call it the "Freedom Tower" forever. 

The new One World Trade, the world's most delayed, most expensive skyscraper ever, is a brutal monument to the forces that govern this city and nation. Money, plutocratic megalomania,  and the arrogance that attends them, have labored and brought forth yet another monster. Congratulations America, your rebuilt, lower Manhattan super-tall trophy tower lives!

The New World Trade Center Is Already A Failure

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the World Trade Center site is a disaster on every level where failure was possible. It can't make money, it's an aesthetic nullity, it dishonors the dead, and is the crown jewel of the dysfunctional relationships that permeate the corrupt Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. What's worse, of course, is that this outcome was predicted more than a decade ago, by just about everybody with any knowledge of the situation.