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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers! How Cops Extort Confessions;
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The New Print Edition of CounterPunch, Only for Our Newsletter Subscribers!
How Cops Extort Confessions;
How the U.S. “Justice System” Really WorksNinety-two per cent of felony convictions in the U.S. are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. Without them the “justice system” would grind to a halt. In an important piece in our latest newsletter, available only to subscribers, Emily Horowitz shows how totally innocent people will “confess” under police pressure, even without physical torture. Horowitz outlines the powerful case for banning confessions altogether. Also in this new edition Marcus Rediker, co-author of the legendary The Many Headed Hydra, writes of popular heroism and resistance in the favelas of Medellin, Colombia. Alexander Cockburn reports on how America’s oldest bank, patronized by the global elites, washed billions smuggled out of Russia, and how the Russians might win their money back, shaking the world’s banking system if they do so. Serge Halimi describes the real battle for the soul of Europe. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and gear make great presents.
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Today's Stories August 22, 2008 Laura Carlsen Peter Morici August 21, 2008 Allan J. Lichtman Dave Lindorff Loserville: How Obama Blew It Ralph Nader Joanne Mariner Wajahat Ali Ron Jacobs Rostam Purzal Anthony Papa Website of the Day August 20, 2008 Michael Neumann Ray McGovern Eric Walberg Fidaa Abed Daniel Haack Mike Whitney Website of the Day August 19, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Deepak Tripathi Marwan Bishara Saul Landau William S. Lind Martha Rosenberg James Brittain Pratyush Chandra David Macaray Website of the Day August 18, 2008 Tariq Ali Gary Leupp Uri Avnery John Ross Farooq Sulehria Luis Rodriguez Manuel Garcia, Jr. Noah Baker Merrill Charles Thomson Website of the Day August 16 / 17, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Deepak Tripathi Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Robert Fantina Ray McGovern Nicole Colson Fatima Bhutto Jean-Luis Rocca David Michael Green Ramzi Kysia Dave Lindorff Lisa Martinovic Richard Rhames Don Santina Rannie Amiri Ramzy Baroud John Stanton Howard Lisnoff Ron Jacobs Seth Sandronsky Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
August 15, 2008 Steve Niva David Remington Michael Winship Paul Craig Roberts Farzana Versey Harvey Wasserman Felice Pace Julian Critchley Website of the Day August 14, 2008 Saul Landau / Conn Hallinan Mike Whitney Reza Fiyouzat Ralph Nader Christopher Brauchli The Cheerleader in China Jack Bradigan Spula Patrick Irelan John Walsh Dan Bacher Website of the Day
August 13, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts David Remington Brian Cloughley Glen Ford Brendan Cooney Dave Lindorff Tom Lewis Stan Cox Alan Farago Martha Rosenberg Website of the Day August 12, 2008 Uri Avnery Anthony DiMaggio Bill Christison Eric Walberg Kate Connolly Diane Farsetta Peter Morici Thom Rutledge Lee Patton Niranjan Ramakrishnan Website of the Day August 11, 2008 Ishmael Reed Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Douglas Kammen William Willers Greg Moses Jeff Leys Cynthia McKinney Alan Farago Website of the Day August 9 / 10, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Bruce Jackson Kevin Young Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Robert Fantina Brendan Cooney Mark Almond Lois Gibbs Rev. William Alberts Kathy Kelly John Ross David Michael Green Bill Moyers / Ron Jacobs Richard Rhames David Yearsley Lee Sustar Brenda Norrell Ben Terrall Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 8, 2008 Patrick Cockburn Manuel Garcia, Jr. M. Shahid Alam Andy Worthington Lawrence J. Korb David Model Alan Farago Diop Olugbala Firmin DeBrabander Website of the Day August 7, 2008 Dr. Trudy Bond William Blum Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Robert Weitzel Jacob G. Hornberger Binoy Kampmark David Macaray Howard Lisnoff Website of the Day August 6, 2008 Marc Herold Greg Moses Sheldon Rampton Kevin Young Michael Estrada Robert Weissman Dr. Susan Block Cindy Sheehan Ace Hoffman Website of the Day August 5, 2008 Paul Craig Roberts Jeff Halper Patrick Cockburn Nancy Welch Peter Morici Sousan Hammad Eamon Martin Shepherd Bliss Tim Matson Website of the Day August 4, 2008 Uri Avnery Saul Landau David W. Remington Rev. Jesse Jackson Dave Lindorff Peter Morici Joanne Mariner Ramzy Baroud Christian Wright Website of the Day August 2 / 3, 2008 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler James Abourezk Andy Worthington Brian Cloughley Robert Fantina Benjamin Dangl Marlene Martin David Yearsley Fatemeh Keshavarz David Michael Green Obama as Dukakis Harvey Wasserman Jason Hribal Phyllis Pollack Laray Polk Ron Jacobs David Macaray David Rosen Dan Bacher Joe Allen Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend August 1, 2008 Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff Rannie Amiri Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli M. K. Bhadrakumar Patrick Cockburn James J. Brittain Dan Bacher Website of the Day
July 31, 2008 Michael Hudson Carl Finamore Mike Whitney Joshua Frank Andy Worthington Ralph Nader Bill Moyers / Robert Weissman Dave Lindorff Website of the Day July 30, 2008 Brian M. Downing Chuck Spinney William S. Lind David Ker Thomson Karl Grossman Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg James Murren Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Website of the Day July 29, 2008 Jeffrey St. Clair John Ross Peter Morici Alison Weir Gary Leupp David Macaray Brenda Norrell Marjorie Cohn Eric Ruder Website of the Day July 28, 2008 Dr. Bryant Welch Kathy Kelly Mike Whitney Peter Morici Christopher Brauchli Clifton Ross Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
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August 22, 2008 Thermal Expansion Downed WTC 7The Big HeatBy MANUEL GARCIA, Jr. Yesterday, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued its report on the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7) on September 11, 2001. Collapse was caused by the rupturing of the building's metal framework due to the thermal expansion of its floor beams, which were heated by uncontrolled fires because the water main that supplied the building's fire suppression system had been cut by the collapse of WTC 1. NIST has posted a press release web page that includes a video presentation about, and two animations of their collapse model. Nine excerpts from the NIST press release of August 21, 2008 follow, then my comments.
I had thought the diesel fuel stored in the building would be needed to supply the necessary heat to weaken the metal framing near Column 80 through the first seven floors to the point of failure, and wrote this scenario in my article of November 2006. Instead, NIST found that the beams of Floor 13 near Column 79 (one column north of Column 80, and closer to the building exterior) experienced the most heating, supplied entirely by the combustion of the furnishings, fixtures, paneling, and tenant materials on Floors 11 and 12, where the most intense burning had been observed. "Fires burned in sections of Floors 6 through 30 at different times, and they migrated along their floors independently, seeking new sources of fuel. From the street the fires on Floors 11 and 12 appeared most intense. Many fires in the area went unchecked because utility power for electrical pumps, and water pressure for fire engines had either diminished or been lost," I noted in 2006. The beams of Floor 13 soaked in heat and expanded against their end joints, sagging under the increased compression along their lengths until the beam between perimeter Column 44 (on the east side of the north face) and interior Column 79 ruptured its joint to Column 79, initiating the collapse of the eastern end of Floor 13. The beams for eight floors below this point had been similarly weakened by fire, so the initial collapse sheared away nine floors of lateral supports to Column 79. Weakened by heat and now unable to transfer the load of the upper 34 floors laterally over a nine floor height, Column 79 buckled and this initiated the collapse of the entire eastern end of the building. See the NIST animation "Collapse Initiation -- Physics Based Model." In rapid succession, the failure of Column 79 led to the loss of lateral supports to Column 80, then its subsequent failure and so on to Column 81, which three columns supported the eastern end of the building. Once the eastern end had fallen, collapse proceeded along the core of the building from east to west, and finally the exterior columns of the façade failed. See the NIST animation "Visualization Model of WTC Collapse." NIST notes that any explosive capable of damaging Column 79 sufficiently to cause the observed collapse would be exceedingly loud for quite some distance (half mile), and no such blast was observed. Sound at 130 to 140 decibels is about as loud as humans can tolerate, beyond this power one is really encountering a blast wave, a jump in pressure that delivers sensible force. Examples of loud sounds and their effects include: a jet engine at 100 meters (110-140 dB), hearing damage due to short term exposure, for example front row at a rock concert (120 dB), threshold of pain (130 dB), a rifle being fired at 1 meter (140 dB). NIST used to be called the NBS, the National Bureau of Standards. This was the agency within the Department of Commerce that was charged with keeping the standard clocks and rulers, against which all clocks and rulers were measured and calibrated. NBS never gave the impression of being a dynamic organization because it was expected to be unerringly reliable and trustworthy, and its published data on any topic or phenomenon was accepted as being the most accurate, complete, and exhaustively tested. The word "standards" is key to understanding the detail and pace of NIST work. A person without a grounding in science might not appreciate the value of this type of detailed, methodical work, and express impatience with the NIST "plodding" before arriving at conclusions on a topic of popular interest, like the phenomenology of the WTC building fires and collapses. The NIST scientists are clearly proud of their work on WTC 7, and it shows in the polish of the press release web site. I am pleased that I got some of the story right (thermal expansion), and my error (oil fire) was a physically reasonable assumption for the time. I am consoled to the flaws of my analysis by the fact that the NIST effort to arrive at such accurate and detailed conclusions was a major effort of over three years. Learning is both humbling and interesting. The omniscient never learn because learning is the recognition of one's errors. I could rebel against learning by deciding my earlier ideas are an unappreciated revelation, which needs preservation despite the findings of later science, and I could devise elaborate arguments to protect my unrecognized ignorance. But defending ignorance is the essence of stupidity. A better approach would be to follow Socrates' dictum "The only thing I know is the fact that I am ignorant." Keep thinking, test your ideas, and don't become overly attached to them. Linus Pauling (1901-1994) was a great scientist and peace activist who won two unshared Nobel prizes, for chemistry in 1954, and for peace in 1962. He made major contributions in quantum chemistry, and nearly unraveled the structure of the DNA molecule before Watson and Crick. In a recorded interview in his later life he was asked "how do you get so many good ideas?" His reply was "just keep having lots of ideas, and throw away the bad ones." Manuel Garcia, Jr. is a retired physicist. E-mail = mango@idiom.com
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