Media

Germanwings Narrative Morphs Again!

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Germanwings Cockpit Voice Recorder not charred, recovered immediately from wreckage.
Germanwings Cockpit Voice Recorder not charred, recovered immediately from wreckage.

In an article published today titled, Second Black Box Recovered From Germanwings Crash, The Wall Street Journal reported that the flight data recorder black box from the tragic Germanwings crash has just been found. The box is reported as having been charred and buried in an area previously searched but missed because its color blended with nearby rock. Leaving aside the facts that the black boxes are actually orange so they stand out in a wreck (designed no doubt to withstand fire…see the Germanwings cockpit voice recorder pictured above…it is still orange) and that they are equipped with beacons so that they can be located right away (which it was originally reported they were), France’s President Francois Hollande stated the day after the crash that the second black box had been found but that the flight data recorder memory card was missing.

Here is a video from March 25 (the day after the crash) of Hollande saying the second black box was found…I’m not sure if this is where he says the memory card was missing (I don’t speak French!) but the article below from CBS News reports that he said the contents of the box were missing.

So what’s the real story? These days I find the rawer the data, the closer to the initial incident, the less time the information-masters have to craft a narrative to fit all the pieces of the puzzle as they emerge. Many argue that initial reports can’t be relied upon, but weighed against unsubstantiated stories shoe-horned into the official narrative, I’ll take the raw material and see if there isn’t a more sensible narrative that emerges organically.

For more holes in the official story, click here.

Below is the original CBS report–it too is destined for the memory hole. (I put a link in the title to get to the original story which has photos and videos embedded, but I also copied the text in case the original story disappears.)

Update (March 11, 2016):  An article in The Wall Street Journal today uses the Germanwings disaster to argue for less privacy. For the record, when new “evidence” comes out a year or more after an event, I take it with a grain of salt.

Doctor Wanted Germanwings Co-Pilot to Be Hospitalized
Pilot’s doctors didn’t inform authorities out of fear of breaching Germany’s privacy laws

From the earliest eyewitness reports of a piece of the Germanwings A320 coming off before the crash, I have wondered what really caused the disaster. Among the top choices are sabotage, terrorism or mechanical defect. When a Russian A320 went down over Egypt, although blamed on terrorists after some delay, conflicting early reports on the cause of the crash renewed my concern that the A320 might have some real problems–problems Airbus’s government owners might not want to make public. Here is a new article that begins to address this question:

Airbus A320 safety record in spotlight after Russia plane crash

Original CBS Report…

Germanwings Flight 9525 black box, cause still a mystery
CBS News
Last Updated Mar 25, 2015 7:14 PM EDT

SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France — French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that the case of the second black box of a German plane that smashed into a rugged Alpine mountain, killing all 150 people on board, has been found, but not its contents.

Meanwhile, investigators hoped the plane’s cockpit recordings would help unlock the mystery of what caused the plane to drop unexpectedly and crash.

Speaking alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Hollande promised that French investigators would do everything to determine the cause of the crash.

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The Century of the Self

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This is a fascinating documentary… From topdocumentaryfilms.com…. This series is about how those in power have used Freud’s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly. His influence on the 20th century … Read more

Germanwings Air Disaster: What We DON'T Know.

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271EBB3700000578-3017244-Clip_Andreas_Lubitz_is_seen_in_the_footage_laughing_and_smiling_-a-1_1427698001128I looked at the newspaper with horror: another commercial airplane crash. That makes five in one year. Is air travel becoming less safe? Is something sinister afoot that we are not being told about? What’s going on? Then the news: the co-pilot crashed the plane himself in an act of suicide that took 149 innocent people with him. Oh my God. That’s inhuman. Are they sure? They must be. He had his hands on the controls and he drove that plane into the ground. So awful. Nothing to think about, nothing to talk about, just sad, really sad. What’s that, Wolf? The plane was on autopilot? The autopilot crashed the plane into the mountain? So how can they be absolutely positive it was a mass-murder-suicide? Slow down!
But they didn’t slow down, they sped up, and Andreas Lubitz will go down in history as a selfish, heartless mass-murderer. Is he? We will never know for sure because the powers that be made up their minds that this was the story before actually conducting an investigation. Because of this bad faith, I’m going to deny them the benefit of the doubt in all unanswered questions and all answers they offer that are not backed up by verifiable evidence.
Who am I to insist on answers? I’m the one paying the bills (and so are you). And I’m not paying the bills to be lied to for the purpose of some power elite agenda, I’m paying the bills so I can understand my risks and ensure my safety. As usual, I’d rather be able to shop around for someone who will actually do the job for me, but I’m stuck with a coercive, monopoly government with the power to tax and to regulate and my only recourse is to try to hold their feet to the fire when they steamroll an investigation and railroad a suspect before all the evidence is in.
What are my doubts about the official narrative? Here are my top ten…
1) Why is the flight data recorder missing? What happened to it? Is there any way to really know what happened without it? If it reappears, can we trust what’s on it now that the chain of custody has been broken? This is enough to blow up this entire story. Flight data recorder memory chips don’t just go missing and without it, the truth will never be known about what happened to this plane.
2) Where are the numerous “witnesses who told the French Air Force they heard an explosion and saw smoke coming out of the doomed Germanwings’ A320 passenger plane shortly before it crashed into the mountains near Digne, southern France?” A French Air Force pilot from the nearest base supported this account by explaining that debris was found upstream from the crash site – which he said confirmed the fact that the piece of fuselage had “been detached from the aircraft before impact.”(h/t JQ)

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Germanwings Air Disaster: What We DON’T Know.

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271EBB3700000578-3017244-Clip_Andreas_Lubitz_is_seen_in_the_footage_laughing_and_smiling_-a-1_1427698001128I looked at the newspaper with horror: another commercial airplane crash. That makes five in one year. Is air travel becoming less safe? Is something sinister afoot that we are not being told about? What’s going on? Then the news: the co-pilot crashed the plane himself in an act of suicide that took 149 innocent people with him. Oh my God. That’s inhuman. Are they sure? They must be. He had his hands on the controls and he drove that plane into the ground. So awful. Nothing to think about, nothing to talk about, just sad, really sad. What’s that, Wolf? The plane was on autopilot? The autopilot crashed the plane into the mountain? So how can they be absolutely positive it was a mass-murder-suicide? Slow down!

But they didn’t slow down, they sped up, and Andreas Lubitz will go down in history as a selfish, heartless mass-murderer. Is he? We will never know for sure because the powers that be made up their minds that this was the story before actually conducting an investigation. Because of this bad faith, I’m going to deny them the benefit of the doubt in all unanswered questions and all answers they offer that are not backed up by verifiable evidence.

Who am I to insist on answers? I’m the one paying the bills (and so are you). And I’m not paying the bills to be lied to for the purpose of some power elite agenda, I’m paying the bills so I can understand my risks and ensure my safety. As usual, I’d rather be able to shop around for someone who will actually do the job for me, but I’m stuck with a coercive, monopoly government with the power to tax and to regulate and my only recourse is to try to hold their feet to the fire when they steamroll an investigation and railroad a suspect before all the evidence is in.

What are my doubts about the official narrative? Here are my top ten…

1) Why is the flight data recorder missing? What happened to it? Is there any way to really know what happened without it? If it reappears, can we trust what’s on it now that the chain of custody has been broken? This is enough to blow up this entire story. Flight data recorder memory chips don’t just go missing and without it, the truth will never be known about what happened to this plane.

2) Where are the numerous “witnesses who told the French Air Force they heard an explosion and saw smoke coming out of the doomed Germanwings’ A320 passenger plane shortly before it crashed into the mountains near Digne, southern France?” A French Air Force pilot from the nearest base supported this account by explaining that debris was found upstream from the crash site – which he said confirmed the fact that the piece of fuselage had “been detached from the aircraft before impact.”(h/t JQ)

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The Germanwings Crash – Fastest Air Accident Investigation of All Time? Podcast of March 28, 2015 Show

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“The authorities’ explanation doesn’t ring true for Peter Ruecker (pictured above), another pilot who knew him from the flight club. ‘Knowing Andreas, this is just inconceivable for me,’ Ruecker told the Reuters news agency.” Why haven’t we heard from Andreas Lubitz’ parents, grandparents or fiancee? Why haven’t his doctors been named or his records been … Read more

What if ISIS isn’t what it appears to be?

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Update: I wrote this post before a Defense Intelligence Agency document was leaked showing that a “Salafist Principality” (ie, an Islamic State) on the border of Syria and Iraq is “exactly what we want” as an excuse to unseat Assad. This at least validates the fact that the West’s interest in Syria is to oust Assad not stem the tide of terrorism. I go one step further, however, and argue that this leak was a limited hangout the purpose of which was to counter rumors that we didn’t just allow the Islamic State to emerge, we created it! The links below support my argument.

Original Post: Here is a quick and dirty list of some articles I came across that cast doubt on the official narrative concerning ISIS. Many of these sources are not US mainstream media. If you are skeptical of any source that is not US MSM, I ask only this: never dismiss, always refute. That is, if you don’t want to believe it because you don’t know the source, that’s fine, but don’t just dismiss it, actually look at the story and evaluate the evidence and argue why it’s not convincing. Similarly, when faced with stories from the US MSM, don’t just accept them or give them the benefit of the doubt, evaluate them critically, look at the evidence and likewise argue why it is convincing. It takes a little extra time, but very quickly you will hone some serious “truth-dar” and you will be able to cull the plausible from the implausible in no time at all.

Here’s an opportunity to take this approach out for a spin. I haven’t gone over these articles with a fine-tooth comb, so maybe you can help me sort them out and separate the plausible from the implausible, and at the same time discover your inner truthdar! (I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have a position on these sites’ general conclusions on anything, I’m just interested in these specific reports, and even more narrowly, whether their facts warrant further investigation or not.)

Picture of John McCain with “the Caliph” Al Bagdhadi

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What if ISIS isn't what it appears to be?

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Update: I wrote this post before a Defense Intelligence Agency document was leaked showing that a “Salafist Principality” (ie, an Islamic State) on the border of Syria and Iraq is “exactly what we want” as an excuse to unseat Assad. This at least validates the fact that the West’s interest in Syria is to oust Assad not stem the tide of terrorism. I go one step further, however, and argue that this leak was a limited hangout the purpose of which was to counter rumors that we didn’t just allow the Islamic State to emerge, we created it! The links below support my argument.
Original Post: Here is a quick and dirty list of some articles I came across that cast doubt on the official narrative concerning ISIS. Many of these sources are not US mainstream media. If you are skeptical of any source that is not US MSM, I ask only this: never dismiss, always refute. That is, if you don’t want to believe it because you don’t know the source, that’s fine, but don’t just dismiss it, actually look at the story and evaluate the evidence and argue why it’s not convincing. Similarly, when faced with stories from the US MSM, don’t just accept them or give them the benefit of the doubt, evaluate them critically, look at the evidence and likewise argue why it is convincing. It takes a little extra time, but very quickly you will hone some serious “truth-dar” and you will be able to cull the plausible from the implausible in no time at all.
Here’s an opportunity to take this approach out for a spin. I haven’t gone over these articles with a fine-tooth comb, so maybe you can help me sort them out and separate the plausible from the implausible, and at the same time discover your inner truthdar! (I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have a position on these sites’ general conclusions on anything, I’m just interested in these specific reports, and even more narrowly, whether their facts warrant further investigation or not.)
Picture of John McCain with “the Caliph” Al Bagdhadi

Read more

Now what do you think about Brian Williams’ Snowden Interview?

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Last year when Brian Williams interviewed Edward Snowden, I called it as a put-up job. The interview seemed scripted, not to mention how strange it was that Brian Williams copped a chat in Moscow with America’s Most Wanted. The number one argument I got against this was, “That would mean Brian Williams is lying!” Either … Read more

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