Did a plane really hit the Pentagon on 9/11?

Retraction

The July 28 Neighborhood News column included an article (“Tasting Rooms, Breweries Blamed for Problems”) that misinterpreted last year’s data and erroneously concluded that a 400-percent increase in alcohol-related crime in Ocean Beach was attributable to new openings of tasting rooms and breweries. The Reader regrets publishing the article.

• — Editor

Islamaphobia

When I received my Reader this week and looked at the cover (July 28: “What Was He Doing in San Diego?”), I was shocked and, frankly, a little disappointed, that the Reader had contracted the illness of Islamophobia that currently plagues a portion of our populace.

Putting aside the content of the story, I can only come to the conclusion that, by having such a cover, the Reader has been reduced to presenting a religious stereotype in an effort to increase readership in that same fearful group of people. In short, I thought the Reader had more integrity than they do.

• James Clay
• Serra Mesa

Wake Up!

Re: July 28 cover story: “What Was He Doing in San Diego?”

Wake up, Reader and America! Does the Pentagon appear to have had a huge airliner crashed into it? Really? No airplane parts or anything? Wouldn’t the damage be much worse? There was no plane. There’s no picture of the plane, and wouldn’t the Pentagon have security cameras? Wake up!

• Name withheld
• via email

Think for Yourselves

Re: “What Was He Doing in San Diego?”

H.G. Reza, the writer of your cover story connecting Arab hijackers to San Diego, also seemed to repeat the same official U.S. government story that all of us heard over and over again on the morning of September 11, 2001, and for the weeks and months that followed: Nineteen Arab hijackers flew large commercial passenger planes into three of their four intended targets: the Twin Towers in NYC, Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and only the last one didn’t meet their intended target but instead crashed into an empty mine shaft in Pennsylvania. Amazing that when all this was happening, our billion- dollar defense system stood down and offered no defense to intercept these planes.

Now, almost 15 years later, this official story has not changed, even though some of the alleged hijackers have been reported alive by the BBC. We still have not had an independent investigation based on science and empirical evidence.

At all four of the crash sites, there have never been any identifying Boeing aircraft parts found with matching serial numbers to the airplanes in question.

Most of what we have been told about the hijackers on the planes was based on supposed cell phone calls placed by the passengers. Barbara Olsen, aboard flight #77, called her husband, attorney Ted Olsen who also happened to be President Bush’s solicitor general at the time. Mrs. Olsen supposedly called from her cell phone, even though the technology to call from a cell phone aboard a plane had not been fully implemented at the time. There were no seat-back phones at the time on this 757 aircraft.

None of the eight pilots on board these four planes activated the hijack code which takes only seconds. My husband was a Navy pilot in the Vietnam War and also retired from Pan American Airlines. He said it is a simple four digit code to report a hijacking. A trained pilot doesn’t give up his plane to someone with a box cutter.

It is time for all Americans to start doing some critical thinking on our own. Turn off your TV news, do research and think for yourselves. We are now in the longest war in our history; it’s been 15 years with no end in sight — continuously dropping bombs, now guided by drones, on innocent people in the Middle East who never attacked us. Yet we have no money for education, health care or infrastructure maintenance — only for more bombs, and to maintain our over 800 military bases around the globe.

• Nelisse Muga
• Ocean Beach

Cubic Guinea Pigs

I just read “Comic-Con Infiltrated: Manchurian Candidate Mind-Control Contractor Hypes Wares at Fantasy Fest” (News Ticker). I noticed that Cubic also manufactures the mandatory Compass cards that we are forced to use on the city buses, to track all our movements without a warrant. You can ask the bus driver if he has a warrant to track our movements and, of course, he’ll call the trolley cops.

I wonder if maybe they’re reading our brainwaves too, with this new technology, Looking Glass. When will we bus riders get paid for being MTS and Cubic guinea pigs?

• Bob
• via voicemail

Mind-Bending Article

The article in News Ticker, “Comic-Con Infiltrated,” talks about GOP House member Duncan Hunter getting $5000 from a Cubic- and DOD-funded program.

The writer seems to be aware that the article is controversial and mind-bending. In addition to that, it’s resulting in funding being given to Duncan Hunter, who is currently under investigation — and has been for some period — for misuse of government funds.

I’d like to know why he is being distributed these funds, and what can be done about it.

• Vick Andreone
• via voicemail

Trump’s Plan

Re: “Trump Explains Failed Attempt to Build a Resort in Baja,” SD on the QT

Add a note on Trump’s plan to invade Mexico. This would deal with the immigrants and make the wall shorter!

Maps from the last invasion might work.

• Name withheld
• Mira Mesa

He Should Know

I love the article you wrote on Riston Diggs’ PTSD album, “Wartime on the Boulevard” (Blurt). We’ve always dreamed of being in the Reader. Thank you!

Unfortunately, the last sentence of the article is incorrect. Sly Beats is the producer and singer on the track, not a rapper.

• Rob Horner (Sly Beats)
• Downtown San Diego

They Don’t Care

I would like to reply to “Homeless Lives Matter” (Letters). I think the gentleman summed it up quite correctly, and I’m proud of you guys for printing that. That man —Kenneth James Quinn, from the streets of El Cajon — hit it on the head.

Also, the article about what’s going on with the homeless in Hillcrest (SD on the QT: “Hom[eless]ophobia?”). I’m a gay man who was previously and is very close to being homeless again. I just want you to know that this is fantastic, because it’s what I’ve been saying for forever and a day. The homeless community doesn’t care. They don’t care about anything, and it’s sad.

I’ve been in California for 25 years, and this is the best publication I’ve ever seen. I just wanted to commend you guys.

• Christopher Ctichaceck
• via voicemail

A Broader Picture of Mexico

I find your writing about Mexico, especially the NBC, Tijuana area, to be a positive thing. But why not include some of the realities, even if they are considered negative?

All the restaurants and bars you mention, for the most part, do not have hot water available — not to wash hands nor other eating and drinking implements. In most Mexican bathrooms, waste paper is disposed of in trash cans, and this includes soiled paper from cleaning after bowel movements. The combo without hot water should be noted.

Also, the to-and-from transportation to your suggested venues should be noted. Many cars without license plates, basic insurance, and little common use of safety equipment such as brake lights, child seats, and seat belts can introduce additional risk factors to even the briefest visit. The nonobservation of traffic laws and almost no enforcement by the police should be noted and factored by drivers and pedestrians in your suggested outings.

The Mexican people and products may outweigh these factors, but U.S. patrons should be given just a slightly broader picture of the landscape. Please do not include my name in anything because I would be concerned about my safety if comments are misinterpreted.

• Name withheld
• CV and Ensenada

Hipster Subscription

I have subscribed to Ask a Hipster. Stevens brings it as SDR’s own Emily Post-moderne ! Love it.

• Daffodil
• via email

A Positive Relationship with the Feet

I am grateful that Ms. Nancy Cuskaden’s advice to “Soak Your Feet” (Letters) for the individuals with ENS got printed; especially as during the challenging task of downsizing my letter to the editor (“The Joy of Breathing,” Letters, July 14); I omitted the paragraph dedicated to the same subject. Isn’t the magic of synchronicity amazing? Both of us were replying to the Reader’s cover story, “Like Trying to Come up for Air.”

Yes, redirecting the attention far from the face, and to the opposite side of the body (the feet) is important for all of us; not just for those affected by ENS, or by insomnia. Why? It’s so easy to get stuck in the head. Agree?

The feet represent the depth of our understanding; they indicate how we feel about where we’re going. In addition to soaking, relaxing, and warming up the feet before bedtime, I love to connect with the nourishing support of Earth every day. For better circulation and balance, security, and stability. It can be done by mindful walking, standing, dancing, etc. Yoga poses can be tailored into a sequence where the foot’s direct, free (barefoot) and primal relationship with the ground is emphasized.

From over 20 years of working as a yoga and massage therapist, I’m aware some of these tips may not be easily practiced by individuals with painful feet, difficulty standing/walking/moving, and certainly not by those who are confined to bed rest. A practical solution is to activate the feet and ankles in a seated or laying down position; using breath awareness and/or a personalized pranayama (working competently with all four parts of breath: inhale, hold, exhale and suspend). Also, a gentle massage, guided imagery, or alternating hot and cold helps to increase healthy blood and lymph flow, as well as one’s intimacy, acceptance, and positive relationship with the feet.

When body and brain open to the experience of relaxation, our heart gets peaceful and the breathing get easier. Ready to try it?

• Jaruska Solyova
• M.A.RYT 500
• La Jolla