Media for 9/21/17

Teaching Constitutional Principles via the events of 9/11

Examining the Role of government and the Constitution utilizing the events of 9/11

We will use the 102 Minutes video to examine the way that government reacted to the events of 9/11.

We have already begun the discussion that the states of NY and NJ, not the federal government, had jurisdiction over the construction of the WTC site.

(8:46 AM)

-We will begin our examination of government reaction from the moments when the first plane struck the North Tower.

President notified that a plane has struck the North Tower (accident was thought to be the cause at that point, similar to ESB accident in 1945.) Only federal response at this point was the first moves of the FAA to get to the scene to investigate.  (Who controls the FAA, and where its authority derived from in the Constitution.)

City of NYC begins immediate emergency response.  Full-scale, all-hands-on-deck approach utilized. (intro discussion of federalism and the role of posse comitatus)

(9:03)

Second plane attacks and heavily damages South Tower.

9:05 Andrew Card tells President Bush, who is reading to a classroom full of children, that a second plane has struck the WTC...President Bush processes, in front of cameras, that information and begins planning our national response to a now obvious deliberate attack on our nation. (Once this was obvious the President had to assume his Article 2 responsibility as the CINC of the nation...what does that mean?)

9:28- Flight 93 is hijacked above Ohio

9:31 President makes quick address at the school. President moved is as quickly as possible to Air Force One, which is kept aloft per Secret Service protocol as the threat to the nation is accessed by the President and those members of the National Security apparatus that were available…

9:32 Air Traffic control overhears hijacker announcing that Flight 93 has been taken over

9:37 A third hijack plane strikes the Pentagon, just 3.2 miles from the White House...where the VP and National Security team were being moved to deal with the situation. (if the plane had been at the White House and struck it, it would have only been about 22 seconds later than the impact at the Pentagon) (What is the presidential line of succession, and where in the Constitution or our laws is that succession spelled out?) Hmmm

(Was this CONSTITUTIONAL? Does it matter? Would we do this again if similarly confronted? Does the Constitution address this type of issue?)

9:45 White House and U.S. Capitol evacuated.  At this point FEDERAL RESPONSE was very limited, and only that which was part of the SOP for a crisis event.

FBI would be rolling to the scenes of all impacts to begin investigations. (Good point to introduce John O’Neil…(Where was the FBI offices in DC and NYC)

9:59 South Tower collapses

10:03:11 Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, Pennsylvania...no one survives the crash.

Completely false

Introduce the concept of the FOG OF WAR

Approximately 10:10-10:15 Vice-President Cheney authorizes the shootdown of a plane if it poses a threat for another attack. (Was this constitutional?  Why or why not?)

10:20 President Bush informs VP Cheney that he has authorized a shootdown if one is needed. (Does the fact that he gave this authorization render a decision on whether VP Cheney’s authorization meaningless?...btw...apparently VP Cheney’s authorization is not transmitted by NORAD until 10:31)  

10:28:22 North Tower collapses

10:50:19 Five-stories of the Pentagon Collapse

6:34 A.M. NYC...the sun did rise again...

What were the long term, Constitutional Issues that American had to deal with after the attack?

Background on the history of towers.

The pictures of History

Supreme Court of the United States.

Class Videos...so far

I could probably just try to explain this is class...but what fun is that?

This whole "Above and Beyond" thing sometimes gets out of control.

Shortened Quiz

Here is the shortened quiz for Friday on Quizlet

Feels like a newsreel from 1963...but covered the way things are covered in 2017.

If you turned on your TV or logged on to your computer in the last 24 hours...you know what happened in Charlottesville yesterday...although if you are like most of us, you know only those parts of the protest that were covered.


You saw the pictures of people carrying Nazi flags, who had held a grotesque torchlight rally the night before their vile "Unite the Right" demonstration...(there is no question in my mind that the organizers were trying to conjure images similar to those we have of protests in places like Nuremberg.)

BTW...CONGRATULATIONS...even before one of your fellow protestors used a car to murder someone...you were successfully uniting the Right...AGAINST YOU!  

I stand with every true Conservative and condemn you and your evil movement... I stand with all sane individuals who want to see you fail in your attempt to rip our country apart. I remain committed to doing everything in my power to judge the people in my life solely on the content of their character and their dedication to attempt to do what is right and proper.

...you saw images...and probably video... of the car striking the crowd. (I am on record opposing the practice of blocking traffic during a protest...too much baggage is attached to that practice for any person who remembers what happened to Reginald Denny...I would say exactly the same thing about Right-leaning protestors doing the same thing...that said, yesterday does not appear to have been in any way comparable to what happened to Denny...yesterday looked eerily like events we have seen in places like Nice and Stockholm...)...If you are like me, you probably wondered what happens to murderers in Virginia...not only do they have the death penalty, they apparently have the shortest period between conviction and execution.

Depending on when you saw the coverage you might have seen idiots on both sides (I hesitate to use that word, but it just seems proper in this circumstance) bashing each other with anything they could get their hands on.

If you are like me, you wondered where all of these idiots all came from? You probably wondered how these type of people (those espousing Nazism...not the Black Masks...because anyone who is tuned in at all knows that there is nothing organic about their presence or about their methodology) were able to gather in such large numbers in a relatively obscure location. (I say this because Charlottesville is apparently known by most people as a "liberal university town in a rapidly changing and diversifying state"...and not as an enclave dominated by racists.)  In case you think that is inaccurate...consider this...

Again, if you are like me...you probably started doing some research. (it is just what I do...I can't help myself)  What I found out is that Charlottesville was not just a quirk of geography...it was the site of a similar protest just over a month ago...which logically means that this was a social media driven event.

That means that there should be more than sufficient video footage to reconstruct all of the events that took place yesterday...which is going to make the trials that come out of this one pretty interesting.

As many who I teach and interacted with know, I have an odd affection for attending protests...not to express views, but simply to record on camera.  If I had been nearby, it goes without saying that I would have been there, and would have positioned myself in a place where I could have gathered lots of footage...and because I tend to share what I see...I would have either streamed it or posted it.

...and there are a lot of us that have this interesting habit.

....which raises an interesting question for those attending this protest...Do they realize that their faces are going to be made public after an event of this nature?  Do they know that all but a very few in our country will consider their actions repugnant and vile?  Are they really surprised that this could cost them jobs?


Which then begs another question...is it time to place the same type of regulation on Black Mask protestors that we have in place to keep KKK members from wearing their hoods in protests? They swoop into protests, stir the pot, create havoc, and then revel in the destruction, often safe from prosecution because of their anonymity.

We need to stop this madness...what happened yesterday tarnishes our nation.  We really are better than what we saw on display at that protest.