VIDEO: Students can’t answer basic questions about 9/11

VIDEO: Students can’t answer basic questions about 9/11

Ahead of the 19th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Campus Reform spoke to students to see what they knew about the tragic event in the nation’s history.

While most students had very broad and general knowledge about the day’s events, many did not know basic details about which U.S. cities were attacked and who was responsible for the attacks.

https://archives.infowars.com/video-students-cant-answer-basic-questions-about-9-11/ 

10 of the Most Fascinating Alien Abduction Cases

10 of the Most Fascinating Alien Abduction Cases

Alien abduction stories are among the strangest and most controversial accounts in UFO history. Some involve multiple witnesses, unusual physical evidence, medical examinations, or stories that have remained remarkably consistent over time. Others have been challenged by skeptics who point to hypnosis, sleep paralysis, false memories, cultural influences, or ordinary explanations.

Whether these experiences were encounters with extraterrestrial beings, unusual psychological events, something else entirely, or some combination of factors remains an open question.

Here are 10 of the most fascinating cases.

1. Betty and Barney Hill — 1961

The Betty and Barney Hill case is probably the most famous alleged alien abduction story in American history.

On the night of September 19, 1961, the Hills were driving through New Hampshire when they noticed a strange light in the sky. They stopped to watch it and eventually reported seeing a large object.

After arriving home, they realized they had lost several hours of time.

Under hypnosis conducted later, Betty and Barney described being taken aboard a strange craft and examined by humanoid beings. Betty also described what became known as the famous "star map," which she believed showed where the beings came from.

The case has been debated for decades. Critics have questioned the use of hypnosis and suggested that some details may have been influenced by dreams, memory, or suggestion.

Nevertheless, the Hill case became the template for many abduction stories that followed.

2. Antonio Villas Boas — 1957

Several years before the Hill case became famous, Brazilian farmer Antonio Villas Boas reported an extraordinary encounter.

In October 1957, Villas Boas said he was working in a field at night when he saw a strange glowing object. According to his account, beings emerged from the craft and forcibly took him aboard.

He described being examined and eventually having a bizarre sexual encounter with one of the occupants.

Villas Boas reportedly became ill afterward and sought medical attention.

The story is controversial, but historically important because it predates the explosion of American alien-abduction stories. It is sometimes considered one of the earliest modern accounts of a person claiming to have been taken aboard a UFO.

3. Pascagoula Abduction — 1973

On October 11, 1973, two Mississippi shipyard workers, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, reported an extraordinary encounter near Pascagoula.

The men said they were fishing when they heard a strange buzzing sound and saw a glowing object nearby.

According to their account, strange beings emerged and somehow transported them into the craft. They described the creatures as having unusual appearances and claimed that they were subjected to a bizarre examination.

The case became particularly famous because Hickson and Parker were interviewed by authorities shortly afterward.

At one point, investigators reportedly left the two men alone in a room while a recording device continued running. The men continued discussing the experience, apparently unaware that they were being recorded.

Skeptics have questioned the story, but the immediate aftermath remains one of the most intriguing aspects of the case.

4. Travis Walton — 1975

The Travis Walton case is one of the most famous alleged UFO encounters ever reported.

On November 5, 1975, Walton and several coworkers were working in Arizona's Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest when they reportedly saw a glowing object.

Walton approached it and was allegedly struck by a beam of light.

His coworkers fled, believing he had been killed.

Walton disappeared for five days.

When he returned, he claimed that he had been aboard a UFO and had encountered strange beings.

The story received enormous publicity and became the basis for the book and later movie Fire in the Sky.

Skeptics have suggested the incident was a hoax or involved financial motivations. Supporters point to the number of witnesses, the initial reports to authorities, and Walton's disappearance as reasons they believe the story deserves serious consideration.

It remains one of the most debated abduction cases in UFO history.

5. Allagash Abductions — 1976

In August 1976, four young men were camping near Maine's Allagash Waterway when they reportedly experienced something strange.

The men later claimed that they saw a large glowing object over the lake while they were fishing at night.

They said they later discovered that they had lost track of time.

Years afterward, under hypnosis, two of the men reportedly described being aboard a UFO and undergoing examinations by strange beings.

The case is controversial because the detailed memories emerged during hypnosis rather than immediately after the event.

That makes the Allagash story particularly interesting from a psychological perspective as well as a UFO one.

Did hypnosis recover buried memories—or create convincing ones?

There is no universally accepted answer.

6. Betty Andreasson Affair — 1967

The Betty Andreasson case is one of the more elaborate alleged abduction stories.

Andreasson, a Massachusetts woman, reported that strange beings entered her home in January 1967.

She later described being taken aboard a craft and encountering unusual beings, including a creature resembling a bird.

The story became especially famous because of its enormous amount of detail.

Investigators conducted extensive interviews and hypnosis sessions, and the resulting account became the subject of books and paranormal research.

Critics have questioned the reliability of the memories and the methods used to obtain them.

Believers, however, regard the case as one of the most detailed examples of alleged contact with nonhuman entities.

7. Linda Cortile Case — 1989

The Linda Cortile case became one of the strangest alleged abduction stories of the late twentieth century.

Cortile claimed that she was taken from her apartment in New York City and transported aboard a UFO.

What made the story especially unusual was the claim that multiple people witnessed part of the event.

Among those associated with the case was former United Nations official Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, although the circumstances surrounding the alleged witness testimony have been heavily disputed.

The case became increasingly complicated as investigators gathered additional accounts.

Supporters considered the alleged independent witnesses significant.

Critics argued that the investigation became tangled in suggestion, inconsistencies, and extraordinary claims.

The Cortile case remains fascinating largely because of the number of people who eventually became connected to the story.

8. Kelly Cahill Encounter — 1993

In August 1993, Australian woman Kelly Cahill and several others reported seeing a strange object near Melbourne.

Cahill described a large craft and unusual humanoid beings.

She later reported experiencing missing time and other disturbing memories.

One of the most interesting aspects of the case is that another person reportedly came forward independently with a somewhat similar account of the event.

Cahill's story subsequently became a prominent Australian abduction case.

As with many such accounts, the evidence is disputed, and there are questions about memory and interpretation.

Still, the combination of multiple witnesses and the reported physical and psychological effects makes the case noteworthy.

9. Ariel School Incident — 1994

The Ariel School incident in Zimbabwe is different from most alleged abduction cases because the witnesses were children.

On September 16, 1994, dozens of students at the Ariel School near Ruwa reportedly saw a strange object near the school grounds.

Some of the children said they saw beings near the object.

Several later described messages or impressions involving the environment, humanity, and the future of Earth.

What makes the case particularly interesting is the number of children who reportedly described similar experiences.

Skeptics have suggested that the children may have influenced one another or interpreted an unusual event through the lens of their expectations.

Others consider the consistency of some of the accounts remarkable.

The incident remains one of the most discussed mass UFO experiences involving children.

10. Betty Hill's Star Map

The final entry deserves special attention because it represents one of the most famous pieces of alleged "evidence" to emerge from an abduction story.

During hypnosis following her 1961 encounter, Betty Hill described seeing a star map aboard the alleged UFO.

She later produced a drawing of the map.

In the years that followed, supporters argued that the pattern corresponded to stars in the Zeta Reticuli system.

The supposed match became one of the most famous arguments for the reality of the Hill experience.

Critics have disputed the interpretation, pointing out that patterns of stars can sometimes be matched to multiple configurations and that the process of identifying the alleged correspondence was subjective.

Nevertheless, the "Betty Hill star map" became an important part of UFO folklore and helped establish the idea that alleged abductees might return with information that could potentially be checked against the real world.

The Mystery Remains

Alien-abduction stories occupy an unusual place in modern folklore.

Some people who report these experiences appear completely sincere. Others have been exposed as hoaxes. Some accounts contain remarkable similarities, while others differ dramatically.

There are also legitimate psychological explanations that deserve consideration.

Sleep paralysis, false memories, hypnosis, dreams, cultural expectations, and the workings of human memory can produce experiences that feel completely real to the person experiencing them.

But acknowledging those possibilities does not automatically prove that every case has been explained.

That is where the mystery remains.

The most reasonable approach may be to resist both extremes.

We don't have to assume that every strange experience was caused by extraterrestrials.

But we also don't have to assume that every unexplained experience has already been completely understood.

The fascinating question is not simply, "Were they abducted by aliens?"

It is:

What actually happened to these people?

And that question is still open.

Until we know more, the stories remain some of the strangest mysteries in UFO history.

10 of the Most Fascinating UFO Sightings in History

10 Heartwarming Stories of Heroism and Humanity on 9/11

When we think about September 11, 2001, we naturally think about the terrible things that happened that morning.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Thousands more were injured. Families lost husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. The images of the burning towers and the people fleeing through the streets remain among the most painful pictures in American history.

But September 11 was also a day when ordinary people demonstrated extraordinary courage.

Some ran toward danger while everyone else was running away. Some stayed behind to help strangers. Some took enormous risks to rescue people they had never met. And thousands of complete strangers suddenly began helping one another simply because there was nobody else to do it.

Twenty-five years later, those stories deserve to be remembered too.

Here are ten of the most inspiring examples.

1. Rick Rescorla: The Man Who Wouldn't Leave Without Everyone

Rick Rescorla had already seen what terrorism could do to the World Trade Center.

He was working in the South Tower when the complex was bombed in 1993. Afterward, he became convinced that another attack was possible.

So he prepared.

Rescorla, a former Army officer and Vietnam veteran, conducted evacuation drills with employees of Morgan Stanley. He developed procedures for getting people out quickly and efficiently.

When the first plane hit the North Tower on September 11, Rescorla didn't panic.

He grabbed a bullhorn and began directing people out of the South Tower.

He sang songs from his military days to keep frightened employees calm as they moved down the stairs.

Nearly 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees escaped the building.

But Rescorla didn't leave.

He kept going back up the tower looking for anyone who might still be trapped.

He was last seen heading upward.

He knew the danger.

He went anyway.

2. Welles Crowther: The Man in the Red Bandana

Welles Crowther was a 24-year-old equities trader working in the South Tower.

He was also a former volunteer firefighter.

When the tower was struck, Crowther began helping people escape.

Survivors later remembered a young man wearing a red bandana over his face to protect himself from the smoke.

Crowther repeatedly went back into the building.

He helped people find the stairs. He carried injured people. He guided others toward safety.

He could have concentrated entirely on saving himself.

Instead, he kept returning for other people.

That red bandana eventually became one of the most recognizable symbols of individual heroism on 9/11.

Crowther didn't survive.

But the people he helped never forgot him.

3. Moira Smith: The Police Officer Who Kept Going Back

NYPD Officer Moira Smith was among the first police officers to respond to the World Trade Center.

She was 38 years old and the mother of a two-year-old daughter.

Smith could have concentrated on getting people away from the disaster.

Instead, she became one of the people helping organize the evacuation.

Smith was among the first to respond and was last seen evacuating people from the South Tower. She helped save hundreds of lives before the tower collapsed.

She was later awarded the NYPD's Medal of Honor, the department's highest honor.

Smith kept returning to the danger.

Eventually, she didn't make it out.

Her story is particularly heartbreaking because she had a young daughter waiting for her at home.

But it is also a reminder that heroism isn't always one dramatic moment.

Sometimes it's simply continuing to help people when you're terrified yourself.

4. Stephen Siller: The Firefighter Who Ran Toward the Towers

Firefighter Stephen Siller had already finished his shift when he heard about the attacks.

He immediately turned around.

By the time he reached Manhattan, access through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel had been closed.

So Siller did something almost unbelievable.

He put approximately 60 pounds of firefighting equipment on his back and ran through the tunnel toward the World Trade Center.

He was 34 years old.

He had a wife and five children.

He knew something terrible was happening.

And he ran toward it.

His story eventually inspired the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which continues to honor first responders and military members.

Sometimes courage isn't complicated.

Sometimes it's simply knowing where you're needed—and going there.

5. Brian Clark and Stanley Praimnath: Two Strangers Who Became Friends

This may be one of the most beautiful stories of 9/11 because it didn't end when the two men escaped.

Stanley Praimnath was on the 81st floor of the South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building.

He became trapped beneath debris.

He called out for help.

Brian Clark, who was higher up in the building, heard him.

Clark had every reason to keep going.

He was trying to escape the burning tower himself.

Instead, he followed the voice.

He found Praimnath and helped free him.

The two men then made their way down the damaged stairwell together.

They escaped only minutes before the South Tower collapsed.

They had been complete strangers that morning.

They became lifelong friends afterward.

In one of the darkest moments imaginable, one stranger simply refused to leave another stranger behind.

6. Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz: Going Upstairs When Everyone Else Was Going Down

Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz worked for the Port Authority in the North Tower.

After the plane hit, they helped people escape.

But then they did something extraordinarily dangerous.

They went back toward the upper floors to search for people who might still be trapped.

The two men and their colleagues helped clear debris and open a stairwell so people could get out.

De Martini and Ortiz eventually died in the building.

They weren't firefighters.

They weren't police officers.

They were ordinary World Trade Center workers who decided that their responsibility didn't end with getting themselves out.

They went back for other people.

7. The Passengers of Flight 93: Ordinary People Who Decided to Fight Back

Flight 93 is one of the most extraordinary stories of September 11.

The passengers learned through telephone calls that other planes had already been used as weapons.

They realized that their airplane was probably intended for another target.

And they had to make a terrible choice.

Do nothing and hope for the best—or attempt to take control of the aircraft.

Passengers including Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick communicated with loved ones and others on the ground as they discussed what to do.

They ultimately decided to fight back.

Todd Beamer famously prayed with telephone operator Lisa Jefferson before preparing to act.

The words associated with the passengers' decision became famous:

“Let's roll.”

The plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania rather than reaching its intended target.

We will never know exactly what would have happened had the passengers not fought back.

But we do know that they refused to simply surrender.

Their courage saved lives.

8. The Boat Captains Who Turned New York Harbor Into an Escape Route

Not all of the heroes of 9/11 were firefighters or police officers.

Some were boat captains.

After the attacks, Lower Manhattan was essentially cut off.

Roads, bridges and tunnels were closed. Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded.

Then civilian boat operators began arriving.

Ferries.

Tugboats.

Tour boats.

Private vessels.

Anything that could carry people.

They started transporting stranded New Yorkers across the harbor.

The evacuation became one of the largest maritime evacuations in history.

Nearly 500,000 people were transported from Lower Manhattan in less than nine hours.

And they weren't all being evacuated by government emergency agencies.

Ordinary mariners saw people who needed help and went to help them.

No one needed to tell them that they were heroes.

They simply brought their boats.

9. Lisa Jefferson: The Stranger Who Stayed on the Phone

Todd Beamer's story is famous, but one part of it is sometimes overlooked.

His final conversation wasn't with his wife.

He tried to reach her but couldn't connect.

Instead, he reached an airline telephone operator named Lisa Jefferson.

She stayed on the phone with him.

For approximately 15 minutes, she listened as Beamer described what was happening aboard Flight 93.

She also prayed with him.

She became, in effect, the last person on the ground to speak with him.

Jefferson couldn't save Beamer.

She couldn't stop the hijacking.

But she could do something else.

She could make sure that he wasn't alone.

And sometimes, when there is nothing else you can do, simply staying with another human being is an act of profound kindness.

10. Lauren Grandcolas: A Final Message of Love

Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas was flying home to California after attending her grandmother's funeral.

She was also three months pregnant.

During the hijacking of Flight 93, she called her husband.

He didn't answer.

So she left a message.

She told him there was a problem with the plane.

She told him she was okay.

And she told him she loved him.

Lauren couldn't know what was going to happen.

She couldn't know whether her husband would ever hear her voice again.

But in the middle of an unimaginable crisis, she thought about the people she loved.

Her final message wasn't about herself.

It was about love.

The Other Side of September 11

There is a reason stories like these remain powerful a quarter-century later.

They remind us that September 11 wasn't only a story about evil.

It was also a story about people.

People who ran toward burning buildings.

People who carried strangers.

People who went back upstairs.

People who opened boats to complete strangers.

People who stayed on telephones with frightened passengers.

People who said goodbye to their families.

People who sacrificed themselves so others might live.

And people who simply looked around, saw somebody who needed help, and decided to help them.

We should never minimize the horror of September 11.

But remembering the victims doesn't require us to remember only how they died.

We can also remember the courage that surrounded them.

The kindness.

The selflessness.

The ordinary people who became extraordinary when the moment demanded it.

And perhaps that is one of the most important lessons of September 11.

We don't always get to choose the circumstances in which we are tested.

But we do get to choose how we respond.

On one of America's darkest days, thousands of people chose to help someone else.

That is worth remembering.

That is worth teaching our children.

And that is worth carrying forward.

10 Heartwarming Stories of Heroism and Humanity on 9/11

10 Heartwarming Stories of Heroism and Humanity on 9/11

When we think about September 11, 2001, we naturally think about the terrible things that happened that morning.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Thousands more were injured. Families lost husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. The images of the burning towers and the people fleeing through the streets remain among the most painful pictures in American history.

But September 11 was also a day when ordinary people demonstrated extraordinary courage.

Some ran toward danger while everyone else was running away. Some stayed behind to help strangers. Some took enormous risks to rescue people they had never met. And thousands of complete strangers suddenly began helping one another simply because there was nobody else to do it.

Twenty-five years later, those stories deserve to be remembered too.

Here are ten of the most inspiring examples.

1. Rick Rescorla: The Man Who Wouldn't Leave Without Everyone

Rick Rescorla had already seen what terrorism could do to the World Trade Center.

He was working in the South Tower when the complex was bombed in 1993. Afterward, he became convinced that another attack was possible.

So he prepared.

Rescorla, a former Army officer and Vietnam veteran, conducted evacuation drills with employees of Morgan Stanley. He developed procedures for getting people out quickly and efficiently.

When the first plane hit the North Tower on September 11, Rescorla didn't panic.

He grabbed a bullhorn and began directing people out of the South Tower.

He sang songs from his military days to keep frightened employees calm as they moved down the stairs.

Nearly 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees escaped the building.

But Rescorla didn't leave.

He kept going back up the tower looking for anyone who might still be trapped.

He was last seen heading upward.

He knew the danger.

He went anyway.

2. Welles Crowther: The Man in the Red Bandana

Welles Crowther was a 24-year-old equities trader working in the South Tower.

He was also a former volunteer firefighter.

When the tower was struck, Crowther began helping people escape.

Survivors later remembered a young man wearing a red bandana over his face to protect himself from the smoke.

Crowther repeatedly went back into the building.

He helped people find the stairs. He carried injured people. He guided others toward safety.

He could have concentrated entirely on saving himself.

Instead, he kept returning for other people.

That red bandana eventually became one of the most recognizable symbols of individual heroism on 9/11.

Crowther didn't survive.

But the people he helped never forgot him.

3. Moira Smith: The Police Officer Who Kept Going Back

NYPD Officer Moira Smith was among the first police officers to respond to the World Trade Center.

She was 38 years old and the mother of a two-year-old daughter.

Smith could have concentrated on getting people away from the disaster.

Instead, she became one of the people helping organize the evacuation.

Smith was among the first to respond and was last seen evacuating people from the South Tower. She helped save hundreds of lives before the tower collapsed.

She was later awarded the NYPD's Medal of Honor, the department's highest honor.

Smith kept returning to the danger.

Eventually, she didn't make it out.

Her story is particularly heartbreaking because she had a young daughter waiting for her at home.

But it is also a reminder that heroism isn't always one dramatic moment.

Sometimes it's simply continuing to help people when you're terrified yourself.

4. Stephen Siller: The Firefighter Who Ran Toward the Towers

Firefighter Stephen Siller had already finished his shift when he heard about the attacks.

He immediately turned around.

By the time he reached Manhattan, access through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel had been closed.

So Siller did something almost unbelievable.

He put approximately 60 pounds of firefighting equipment on his back and ran through the tunnel toward the World Trade Center.

He was 34 years old.

He had a wife and five children.

He knew something terrible was happening.

And he ran toward it.

His story eventually inspired the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which continues to honor first responders and military members.

Sometimes courage isn't complicated.

Sometimes it's simply knowing where you're needed—and going there.

5. Brian Clark and Stanley Praimnath: Two Strangers Who Became Friends

This may be one of the most beautiful stories of 9/11 because it didn't end when the two men escaped.

Stanley Praimnath was on the 81st floor of the South Tower when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the building.

He became trapped beneath debris.

He called out for help.

Brian Clark, who was higher up in the building, heard him.

Clark had every reason to keep going.

He was trying to escape the burning tower himself.

Instead, he followed the voice.

He found Praimnath and helped free him.

The two men then made their way down the damaged stairwell together.

They escaped only minutes before the South Tower collapsed.

They had been complete strangers that morning.

They became lifelong friends afterward.

In one of the darkest moments imaginable, one stranger simply refused to leave another stranger behind.

6. Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz: Going Upstairs When Everyone Else Was Going Down

Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz worked for the Port Authority in the North Tower.

After the plane hit, they helped people escape.

But then they did something extraordinarily dangerous.

They went back toward the upper floors to search for people who might still be trapped.

The two men and their colleagues helped clear debris and open a stairwell so people could get out.

De Martini and Ortiz eventually died in the building.

They weren't firefighters.

They weren't police officers.

They were ordinary World Trade Center workers who decided that their responsibility didn't end with getting themselves out.

They went back for other people.

7. The Passengers of Flight 93: Ordinary People Who Decided to Fight Back

Flight 93 is one of the most extraordinary stories of September 11.

The passengers learned through telephone calls that other planes had already been used as weapons.

They realized that their airplane was probably intended for another target.

And they had to make a terrible choice.

Do nothing and hope for the best—or attempt to take control of the aircraft.

Passengers including Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick communicated with loved ones and others on the ground as they discussed what to do.

They ultimately decided to fight back.

Todd Beamer famously prayed with telephone operator Lisa Jefferson before preparing to act.

The words associated with the passengers' decision became famous:

“Let's roll.”

The plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania rather than reaching its intended target.

We will never know exactly what would have happened had the passengers not fought back.

But we do know that they refused to simply surrender.

Their courage saved lives.

8. The Boat Captains Who Turned New York Harbor Into an Escape Route

Not all of the heroes of 9/11 were firefighters or police officers.

Some were boat captains.

After the attacks, Lower Manhattan was essentially cut off.

Roads, bridges and tunnels were closed. Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded.

Then civilian boat operators began arriving.

Ferries.

Tugboats.

Tour boats.

Private vessels.

Anything that could carry people.

They started transporting stranded New Yorkers across the harbor.

The evacuation became one of the largest maritime evacuations in history.

Nearly 500,000 people were transported from Lower Manhattan in less than nine hours.

And they weren't all being evacuated by government emergency agencies.

Ordinary mariners saw people who needed help and went to help them.

No one needed to tell them that they were heroes.

They simply brought their boats.

9. Lisa Jefferson: The Stranger Who Stayed on the Phone

Todd Beamer's story is famous, but one part of it is sometimes overlooked.

His final conversation wasn't with his wife.

He tried to reach her but couldn't connect.

Instead, he reached an airline telephone operator named Lisa Jefferson.

She stayed on the phone with him.

For approximately 15 minutes, she listened as Beamer described what was happening aboard Flight 93.

She also prayed with him.

She became, in effect, the last person on the ground to speak with him.

Jefferson couldn't save Beamer.

She couldn't stop the hijacking.

But she could do something else.

She could make sure that he wasn't alone.

And sometimes, when there is nothing else you can do, simply staying with another human being is an act of profound kindness.

10. Lauren Grandcolas: A Final Message of Love

Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas was flying home to California after attending her grandmother's funeral.

She was also three months pregnant.

During the hijacking of Flight 93, she called her husband.

He didn't answer.

So she left a message.

She told him there was a problem with the plane.

She told him she was okay.

And she told him she loved him.

Lauren couldn't know what was going to happen.

She couldn't know whether her husband would ever hear her voice again.

But in the middle of an unimaginable crisis, she thought about the people she loved.

Her final message wasn't about herself.

It was about love.

The Other Side of September 11

There is a reason stories like these remain powerful a quarter-century later.

They remind us that September 11 wasn't only a story about evil.

It was also a story about people.

People who ran toward burning buildings.

People who carried strangers.

People who went back upstairs.

People who opened boats to complete strangers.

People who stayed on telephones with frightened passengers.

People who said goodbye to their families.

People who sacrificed themselves so others might live.

And people who simply looked around, saw somebody who needed help, and decided to help them.

We should never minimize the horror of September 11.

But remembering the victims doesn't require us to remember only how they died.

We can also remember the courage that surrounded them.

The kindness.

The selflessness.

The ordinary people who became extraordinary when the moment demanded it.

And perhaps that is one of the most important lessons of September 11.

We don't always get to choose the circumstances in which we are tested.

But we do get to choose how we respond.

On one of America's darkest days, thousands of people chose to help someone else.

That is worth remembering.

That is worth teaching our children.

And that is worth carrying forward.

10 Reasons Some Trump Supporters Are Turning Against Him

10 Reasons Some Trump Supporters Are Turning Against Him

Donald Trump still has an intensely loyal political following. That hasn't disappeared. But loyalty isn't the same thing as satisfaction, and there are signs that some of the people who once supported Trump enthusiastically are becoming disappointed, frustrated, or simply less enthusiastic.

That doesn't mean Trump's entire base has abandoned him. Far from it. But the Trump coalition has never been as monolithic as it sometimes appears, and different parts of that coalition supported him for very different reasons.

So what has changed?

Here are ten reasons some Trump supporters are turning against him—or at least becoming less enthusiastic.

1. “No More Endless Wars” Doesn't Look Like What They Expected

For many Trump voters, one of his most attractive promises was that he would keep America out of unnecessary foreign wars.

Trump repeatedly presented himself as the president who would end the era of endless wars. During the 2024 campaign, he talked about bringing an end to years of war and chaos, said he could stop wars, and promised that America would have “no more wars.”

There is an important qualification, however.

Trump has never been a traditional pacifist. He has long taken a hard line toward Iran, supported military pressure against America's adversaries, and during his first presidency ordered military action, including the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

So it would be inaccurate to say Trump promised never to use military force.

But many voters heard something broader: Trump would be extremely reluctant to get America involved in another major foreign war.

That is why the conflict with Iran has been such a difficult issue for some of his supporters.

Trump argues that the operation is limited and necessary rather than another endless war. Critics—and some former supporters—see something that looks dangerously similar to the type of foreign intervention Trump once criticized.

The distinction matters.

Trump didn't promise that America would never fight. But he did build a substantial part of his political identity around the idea that he was the president who would not get America trapped in another endless conflict.

For supporters who voted for that promise, the question isn't simply whether the war is justified.

It's whether this is what they thought they were voting for.

2. The Cost of Living Hasn't Matched the Promise

Economic frustration is probably even more important.

Trump's political appeal has always included the promise that ordinary Americans would be better off under his leadership.

But voters don't experience the economy primarily through GDP figures or stock-market indexes. They experience it at the grocery store, the gas pump, the mortgage company and the rent payment.

If prices remain painfully high, a president can have a long list of explanations—and voters can still be dissatisfied.

That creates a particularly difficult problem for Trump because economic expectations were so high.

Some supporters believed Trump would quickly restore the purchasing power they associated with his first term. When that doesn't happen, explanations about inflation, Federal Reserve policy, global economics, previous administrations, corporations or supply chains can start sounding like excuses.

The political reality is simple:

People judge an economy by what it feels like to live in it.

And some Trump supporters don't feel better off.

3. Tariffs Have Become a Problem for Some Supporters

Trump has always viewed tariffs very differently from many traditional Republicans.

He sees them as a negotiating weapon, a way to pressure foreign governments and a tool for encouraging domestic production.

Some supporters enthusiastically agree.

Others have become less convinced.

Tariffs can produce winners and losers. They may protect certain domestic industries, but they can also raise costs for businesses and consumers, particularly when companies depend on imported materials or products.

This creates an awkward political problem for Trump.

Many of the people who voted for him did so because they wanted lower prices.

If tariffs are perceived as contributing to higher prices, some voters may begin asking whether the cure is creating another problem.

That doesn't automatically mean Trump's tariff philosophy is wrong.

It means the policy has a real tradeoff—and voters who are feeling that tradeoff may become less enthusiastic.

4. The “Drain the Swamp” Promise vs. Governing From Inside the System

Trump's original political appeal was partly based on his promise to disrupt Washington.

He was the outsider.

He wasn't supposed to behave like a conventional politician.

He promised to “drain the swamp,” challenge entrenched interests and take on the bureaucracy.

But eventually, even the most unconventional president has to govern through institutions.

He needs cabinet officials. He needs congressional allies. He needs lawyers, agencies, advisers, donors and political organizations.

That creates a problem for people who supported Trump specifically because they wanted to see the entire Washington establishment shaken up.

Some of them now see Trump as part of the system he once attacked.

And this criticism isn't necessarily coming from Democrats.

Some of the loudest complaints come from people who say Trump hasn't gone far enough in dismantling the institutions they dislike—or that he has surrounded himself with people who are too much a part of Washington's traditional political machinery.

The irony is that governing is much harder than campaigning.

The outsider eventually has to become the insider.

And some voters don't like the transformation.

5. Immigration Isn't the Same Political Issue It Once Was

Immigration remains important to Trump supporters, but its political position has changed.

Trump made border security one of the defining issues of his political career.

And when illegal crossings fall dramatically, something politically strange can happen:

The issue can become less visible because the problem appears to be improving.

That means voters who once ranked immigration as their number-one concern may start focusing on something else.

For Trump, that “something else” is often the economy.

There is also a second problem.

Once voters believe the border is secure, they may begin asking what comes next.

A politician can campaign for years on fixing a problem. But once voters believe the problem has been substantially fixed, they don't necessarily continue giving him credit indefinitely.

In other words, success can actually reduce the political importance of the issue.

That doesn't mean Trump's immigration policies have become irrelevant.

It means the political landscape has moved.

6. “America First” vs. a More Interventionist Foreign Policy

Trump's “America First” message has always contained a tension.

On one hand, it means putting American interests ahead of international commitments.

On the other hand, Trump believes America has enormous military and economic power—and that power can be used to force America's adversaries to change their behavior.

Those two ideas can coexist.

But they can also collide.

A voter who interpreted “America First” as “stop spending American blood and treasure on foreign conflicts” may become frustrated when the administration becomes deeply involved in another international confrontation.

Another voter may see military action as precisely what “America First” requires.

This is one reason Trump's coalition isn't as simple as “isolationist” versus “interventionist.”

There are Trump supporters on both sides.

But when foreign policy becomes more aggressive, some voters who came to Trump because of his opposition to the foreign-policy establishment may wonder whether the old Trump is still there.

7. Some Supporters Think Trump Is Fighting the Wrong Battles

Trump has always been a fighter.

That's one of the things his supporters like about him.

But being willing to fight is not the same thing as always fighting the battles your supporters care about.

Some Trump voters want him focused on inflation, wages, housing, energy, immigration and foreign policy.

Instead, they sometimes see enormous amounts of political energy devoted to personal feuds, media battles, cultural controversies and disputes with political opponents.

To Trump's strongest supporters, those fights can be part of the larger struggle.

To others, they can look like distractions.

A voter might agree with Trump on ten major issues and still become frustrated because the president seems to spend more time fighting about something else.

This isn't necessarily a policy disagreement.

It's a question of priorities.

8. Some People Voted for 2016 Trump and Are Now Judging 2026 Trump

This may be one of the biggest changes of all.

Trump is no longer the political outsider he was in 2016.

He's a former president, a current president, a movement leader and one of the most recognizable political figures in modern American history.

That changes expectations.

In 2016, Trump could say:

“I alone can fix it.”

He was promising what he would do.

Now voters can look at what he has actually done.

That means Trump's record is no longer hypothetical.

Supporters can compare promises with results.

They can ask:

Did prices come down?

Did government get smaller?

Did Washington change?

Did foreign wars decrease?

Did immigration improve?

Did their lives get better?

And they can reach different conclusions.

Some will say Trump delivered.

Others will say he didn't deliver enough.

Still others will say he delivered on some promises while failing on others.

That's a much more complicated political relationship than the one Trump had with many voters in 2016.

9. The Trump Coalition Was Never One Single Group

There is a tendency to talk about “Trump supporters” as if they are one giant bloc.

They're not.

There are social conservatives.

There are economic populists.

There are libertarians.

There are national-security hawks.

There are isolationists.

There are working-class voters.

There are wealthy business owners.

There are people who care primarily about immigration.

There are people who care primarily about abortion.

There are people who care primarily about taxes.

There are people who simply hate the Democratic Party.

And there are people who genuinely like Trump personally.

Those groups can support the same candidate while wanting very different things.

That means a policy that makes one faction happy can alienate another.

Trump's success has always depended on holding these groups together.

The challenge is that maintaining a coalition is much harder once you are actually governing.

Eventually, somebody doesn't get what they want.

10. Some Supporters Are Judging Trump by the Same Standard They Use for Everyone Else

This may be the most important reason of all.

Trump has always benefited from a certain amount of political loyalty.

Some supporters were willing to forgive things they would never forgive in another politician because they believed Trump was fighting for them.

But political loyalty has limits.

Eventually, some voters begin asking a different question:

“If a Democrat had done this, what would I say?”

That can be a powerful moment.

A Trump supporter who once defended almost everything he did may begin separating the man from the policies.

They may still agree with Trump on immigration.

They may still like his economic nationalism.

They may still believe the 2020 election was mishandled.

They may still dislike the Democratic Party.

But they may nevertheless conclude that a particular Trump policy was wrong.

That's not necessarily betrayal.

It may simply be political maturity.

You don't have to decide that a politician is either completely right or completely wrong.

You can believe someone was right about one issue and wrong about another.

And that may ultimately be the healthiest way to judge any president.

Has Trump Actually Lost His Base?

Not exactly.

There is still a substantial and intensely loyal Trump constituency.

But the more interesting question is whether the intensity of that support has changed.

There is a difference between:

“I will vote for Trump no matter what.”

and

“I enthusiastically support everything Trump is doing.”

Those are not the same thing.

A person can remain a Republican.

A person can still vote for Trump.

A person can still dislike the Democratic Party.

And yet that same person can become disappointed with Trump's performance.

That's what makes the current political situation more complicated than the simple claim that Trump has either “lost his base” or “still has his base.”

The reality may be somewhere in between.

Trump's coalition remains powerful.

But it isn't frozen in place.

Voters change.

Circumstances change.

Presidents change.

And eventually, even the most loyal supporters start keeping score.

The real test for Trump isn't whether everyone who once supported him still supports him.

No politician can maintain that.

The real test is whether the people who once believed Trump was the answer still believe he is delivering the results they voted for.

That is a much harder question—and one that ultimately can't be answered by either Trump's supporters or his critics.

It has to be answered by the voters themselves.

10 of the Most Promising Herbal Medicine Findings of the Past Few Years

10 of the Most Promising Herbal Medicine Findings of the Past Few Years

By JM Talboo WelcomeToHealth.blogspot.com

Herbal medicine has a complicated reputation.

Some people treat every herb as a miracle cure. Others seem to assume that if something comes from a plant, it couldn't possibly have meaningful medical effects.

Neither position really makes sense.

Plants have given modern medicine some of its most important drugs. At the same time, plenty of popular herbal claims have failed when tested properly.

So rather than asking whether “herbal medicine works,” a much better question is:

Which herbs are actually producing interesting results in modern research?

I took a look at some of the recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and there are several that I think deserve attention.

This isn't a list of proven cures. Think of it as a list of promising areas where the research is interesting enough that scientists should keep looking.

1. Curcumin — One of the Biggest Research Stories

Curcumin is one of the principal compounds found in turmeric, and it has become one of the most extensively studied plant-derived compounds in modern nutritional research.

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis examined 103 randomized controlled trials involving 7,216 participants and 42 different health outcomes.

The researchers found statistically significant effects for more than half of the outcomes examined, including several measures involving blood glucose, inflammation, oxidative stress and some cardiovascular/metabolic markers.

But there is an important catch.

The certainty of evidence varied considerably between outcomes, and the researchers emphasized the need for larger, better-designed and longer-term trials.

A 2025 umbrella review reached a similarly interesting but cautious conclusion: curcumin appears to have potential across a surprisingly wide range of conditions, but the overall methodological quality of existing meta-analyses leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Why it's interesting: Few herbal compounds have accumulated this much human research.

What we still don't know: Exactly which conditions benefit, what preparations and doses work best, and how much of the apparent effect is clinically meaningful.


2. Ashwagandha — Stress and Anxiety

Ashwagandha has become one of the most popular herbal supplements in the world, particularly for stress and anxiety.

And unlike some trendy supplements, there is now a growing body of randomized-trial evidence behind it.

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis examined nine randomized controlled trials involving 558 people. The researchers found significant improvements in measures including perceived stress, anxiety and cortisol compared with placebo.

Even more recently, a 2026 systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis included 22 studies and again reported improvements in stress, anxiety and depression symptoms.

The authors nevertheless emphasized substantial variation between studies and the need for better trials before firm clinical recommendations can be made.

Why it's interesting: This is one of the clearer examples of a traditional botanical being investigated for a modern psychological problem.

The caution: “May reduce symptoms of stress” is very different from “treats anxiety disorders.” And long-term safety still needs more study.


3. Berberine — The “Natural Metabolic Drug” Question

Berberine is a compound found in several plants, including barberry and goldenseal.

It has attracted enormous attention because its effects on glucose and lipid metabolism sometimes look surprisingly drug-like.

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis examined 50 randomized controlled trials involving 4,150 participants.

Berberine alone was associated with reductions in fasting blood glucose, post-meal glucose, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides. When combined with glucose-lowering drugs, some measures—including HbA1c—also improved.

Another umbrella meta-analysis of randomized-trial reviews found improvements in fasting glucose, HbA1c, insulin resistance and several inflammatory markers.

That's intriguing.

But it also raises an important question:

If an herbal compound has measurable pharmacological effects, should we really think of it as fundamentally different from a pharmaceutical simply because the molecule originated in a plant?

That's a much more interesting question than “natural versus artificial.”


4. Saffron — A Surprisingly Interesting Mental-Health Candidate

Saffron is best known as an expensive culinary spice.

But researchers have increasingly investigated it for mood and anxiety symptoms.

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis examined 34 randomized controlled trials involving 1,769 adults.

The researchers found significant reductions in scores on some depression and anxiety measures, although not all clinician-rated measures showed significant effects.

The overall certainty of evidence was rated as moderate.

That makes saffron particularly interesting.

It doesn't mean saffron has been proven to replace antidepressant treatment.

It means that a very old culinary and medicinal plant is producing enough consistent clinical signals to justify considerably more research.

Sometimes the most interesting discoveries aren't new substances at all.

They're old substances being tested with new methods.


5. Aged Garlic — More Than Just a Folk Remedy

Garlic has been used medicinally for thousands of years.

Modern research is increasingly interested in whether particular preparations of garlic—especially aged garlic extracts—can affect cardiovascular risk factors.

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis included 19 clinical trials.

Aged garlic supplementation was associated with reductions in systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, although the effects were relatively modest and not every cardiovascular marker changed.

Another 2025 meta-analysis of garlic extracts found larger average reductions in blood pressure, although differences between preparations and studies make the results something to interpret cautiously.

This is an important point about herbal medicine:

“Garlic” isn't necessarily one medicine.

Fresh garlic, aged garlic extract, garlic powder and concentrated supplements can have very different chemical profiles.

The plant isn't the whole story.

The preparation matters.


6. Psyllium — The Humble Plant Fiber Getting Serious Attention

Psyllium isn't exotic.

It's basically a fiber.

And that may be precisely why it deserves attention.

A 2025 systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis examined 41 randomized controlled trials involving 2,049 participants.

Psyllium supplementation significantly reduced LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol, while effects on triglycerides and HDL were not statistically significant.

This is a good reminder that “herbal medicine” doesn't necessarily have to mean mysterious extracts or ancient secrets.

Sometimes the useful part of a plant is something remarkably simple.

In this case:

fiber.


7. Green Tea — Small Effects That Keep Showing Up

Green tea is another fascinating example because it has been studied so extensively.

Recent reviews have found signals involving several cardiovascular and metabolic markers.

One 2025 meta-analysis of randomized trials found modest reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Another recent review involving people with metabolic syndrome found that the overall effects were less convincing than some subgroup analyses suggested—an excellent example of why headlines can be misleading.

Other recent research has reported changes in oxidative-stress measures following green-tea supplementation, while effects on several inflammatory markers were less consistent.

This is actually one of my favorite kinds of research.

Not:

“Green tea cures everything!”

But:

“Here are several small biological effects. Now let's figure out which ones matter clinically.”


8. Ginger — Traditional Remedy Meets Modern Meta-Analysis

Ginger has an enormous history in traditional medicine, particularly for digestive problems and nausea.

Recent research continues to investigate its anti-inflammatory and other pharmacological effects.

A 2025 review examining existing meta-analyses reported associations between ginger supplementation and reductions in several inflammatory markers, including CRP and TNF-alpha. It also reviewed evidence concerning type 2 diabetes and pregnancy-associated nausea and vomiting.

There is a fascinating lesson here, however.

Not every proposed use of ginger holds up equally well.

For example, evidence for ginger as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis has historically been inconsistent, with systematic reviews noting limitations in study quality.

That's exactly how good science is supposed to work.

An herb doesn't get one giant label saying “works” or “doesn't work.”

Different conditions can produce different answers.


9. Cranberry — Prevention Rather Than Treatment

Cranberry is another traditional remedy where the evidence has become surprisingly specific.

Recent reviews suggest cranberry products may reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infections in some women who have previously experienced UTIs.

A 2023 Cochrane review found an overall reduction in recurrent symptomatic UTIs, although the evidence has not been perfectly consistent across populations.

Importantly, cranberry is not considered a treatment for an existing UTI.

That distinction is important.

A supplement can potentially have a preventive effect without being an effective treatment once a disease is established.

Again, nuance beats hype.


10. Peppermint Oil — One of the More Interesting Gut Findings

Peppermint oil has a long history of use for digestive complaints, and there is now meaningful clinical research on its use in irritable bowel syndrome.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials involving 1,030 patients found peppermint oil was more effective than placebo for overall IBS symptoms and abdominal pain.

But there was a catch: adverse events were more common, and the researchers rated the overall quality of the evidence as very low.

That makes peppermint oil a perfect example of what I mean by “promising.”

There is a signal.

There are randomized trials.

There is a plausible biological mechanism.

But we aren't finished.


What Do These Ten Herbs Have in Common?

Something important becomes obvious when you look at these studies together.

The interesting question isn't:

“Are herbs better than medicine?”

That's the wrong comparison.

Many herbs are medicines.

Some contain compounds that interact with enzymes, receptors, inflammatory pathways, hormones, blood vessels or the nervous system.

The real question is:

Which plant compounds produce reproducible, clinically meaningful effects, at what doses, in which people, and with what risks?

That's a much more scientific question.

And it's one that modern research is increasingly capable of answering.


The Part Nobody Likes to Talk About

There's another side to herbal medicine that shouldn't be ignored.

Natural does not automatically mean safe.

The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health notes that herbal products can interact with medications, and that supplements can differ substantially from the products used in research studies. Some supplements have also been found to contain undeclared ingredients or contaminants.

St. John's wort is a classic example: it can interact with numerous medications and can make some drugs less effective.

So the lesson isn't:

“Take herbs because they're natural.”

Nor is it:

“Don't take herbs because they're unregulated.”

The better lesson is:

Know what you're taking.

Know the plant.

Know the preparation.

Know the dose.

Know what the research actually studied.

And know whether it interacts with anything else you're taking.


The Bigger Story

What I find most encouraging is that we may finally be moving beyond the old argument between “natural medicine” and “modern medicine.”

The human body doesn't care whether a molecule came from a laboratory or a leaf.

If a molecule interacts with the body in a useful way, it can be useful.

If it doesn't, it doesn't matter how ancient the tradition is.

That gives us an exciting middle ground.

Traditional medicine gives researchers thousands of years of observations and candidate plants.

Modern science gives us randomized trials, chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology and increasingly sophisticated ways of figuring out what these plants actually do.

Put the two together and something interesting can happen.

Ancient knowledge can generate modern hypotheses.

And modern science can determine which of those hypotheses survive.

That's where I think herbal medicine is becoming genuinely exciting.

Not because every old remedy is secretly a miracle.

But because some of them might contain real medicine that we are only beginning to understand.

And if the next few years produce another ten surprises like these, the boundary between “alternative medicine” and “medicine” may become considerably harder to draw.


A final note

This is a research roundup, not a recommendation to treat a medical condition with supplements. Evidence varies substantially between herbs, preparations and conditions, and supplements can interact with medications. If you're considering an herbal product for a medical problem—or you're taking prescription medication—it's worth discussing it with a qualified health professional.

Further Reading

The Debunker's Trap: When Explaining Something Isn't the Same as Explaining It Away

The Debunker's Trap: When Explaining Something Isn't the Same as Explaining It Away

There is a particular kind of argument that appears again and again whenever somebody reports something strange.

A person sees an unusual animal.

Someone suggests it might have been a bear.

Case closed.

Someone photographs an unexplained object.

Perhaps it was a bird, a balloon, or an aircraft.

Mystery solved.

Someone reports an unusual sound in the woods.

Probably an owl.

End of story.

Sometimes those explanations are correct.

The problem begins when "could be" quietly becomes "was."

That's what I call the Debunker's Trap.

The trap isn't skepticism itself. Skepticism is valuable. The trap is believing that once you've proposed a conventional explanation, you have actually demonstrated it.

Those are two very different things.

A Possible Explanation Isn't Necessarily the Explanation

Suppose somebody sees a large, hairy figure walking through the woods.

A skeptic says, "It could have been a bear standing upright."

Absolutely.

It could have been.

But that doesn't establish that it was a bear.

Maybe the witness saw a bear. Maybe it was another animal. Maybe it was a person. Maybe the witness misperceived something in poor lighting. Or perhaps the observation really was something unusual.

The correct conclusion, based on the information available, might simply be:

We don't know.

That's not a failure of skepticism.

That's intellectual honesty.

Yet "we don't know" can be an uncomfortable conclusion. People naturally want mysteries to have answers. Skeptics and believers can both fall into this trap.

The believer may say, "It was definitely Bigfoot."

The skeptic may respond, "It was definitely a bear."

Both may be claiming more certainty than the evidence actually allows.

The "Bear" Explanation

Bigfoot provides an excellent example.

Over the years, countless alleged Bigfoot sightings have been attributed to bears.

And sometimes that's almost certainly what happened.

Bears can stand upright. They can appear surprisingly large. Their movements can look strange at a distance. In poor visibility, a bear could conceivably produce a very confusing sighting.

But there's a subtle logical problem.

The fact that bears can produce a particular appearance doesn't demonstrate that every witness who reports that appearance saw a bear.

If a witness says:

"I saw something about seven feet tall, walking upright, with unusually long arms, and I watched it for several minutes."

responding "Bears can stand up" doesn't actually resolve the report.

It provides a hypothesis.

That's useful.

It isn't a conclusion.

The Same Problem Applies to UFOs

This isn't exclusively a Bigfoot problem.

Someone sees a strange light in the sky.

A skeptic identifies Venus.

Fine.

But was it Venus?

That depends on whether Venus was actually in the right part of the sky at the right time, whether its apparent movement matches the observation, whether the brightness is consistent, and whether other details of the report fit.

If they do, you've got a good explanation.

If they don't, "Venus" becomes little more than a convenient label.

The same applies to aircraft, satellites, balloons, drones and atmospheric phenomena.

A skeptical investigation should ask:

Does the proposed explanation actually fit the evidence?

Not merely:

Can I imagine something ordinary that might produce something like this?

The Difference Between "Possible" and "Probable"

This distinction is enormously important.

Almost any strange observation can have dozens of conceivable explanations.

The challenge is determining which explanation is most consistent with the evidence.

Imagine somebody finds a set of enormous footprints in the wilderness.

Possible explanations might include:

  • A bear.
  • A human wearing oversized footwear.
  • A deliberately constructed fake.
  • An unusual natural formation.
  • A misinterpretation of ordinary tracks.
  • Some unknown animal.

The fact that all of those possibilities exist doesn't make them equally likely.

And it certainly doesn't mean that identifying one as "possible" solves the case.

Good investigation requires comparing the hypotheses.

What would we expect the footprints to look like if they were made by a bear?

What would we expect if they were fabricated?

Do the stride length, depth, anatomy, terrain and trackway pattern fit?

Are there inconsistencies?

Is there independent evidence?

That's investigation.

Simply naming a possibility isn't.

The Debunking Shortcut

There is another version of the trap that is even more common.

A skeptic finds one plausible explanation and assumes that it explains the entire phenomenon.

For example:

"People sometimes mistake bears for Bigfoot."

True.

Therefore:

"Bigfoot sightings are people mistaking bears for Bigfoot."

That second statement doesn't logically follow from the first.

It's an enormous leap.

It would be like saying:

"People sometimes mistake airplanes for UFOs, therefore every UFO report is an airplane."

Obviously that wouldn't work.

The existence of false reports doesn't demonstrate that all reports are false.

And the existence of genuine misidentifications doesn't demonstrate that every unexplained observation is a misidentification.

The Debunker's Trap Can Work in Reverse

There is an important point here for believers too.

Suppose someone sees something that looks exactly like a large humanoid.

They conclude:

"That's Bigfoot."

But perhaps it was a person.

Or a bear.

Or an optical illusion.

Or a prank.

The believer can fall into precisely the same trap by taking a possible explanation and treating it as established fact.

That's why the best approach isn't believer versus skeptic.

It's evidence versus assumption.

What Would Actually Constitute a Good Explanation?

A strong explanation should do more than merely be possible.

It should explain the details.

If somebody proposes that a sighting was a bear, for example, we should be able to ask:

Does the animal's estimated size match?

Does its posture match?

Does its gait match?

Does its behavior match?

Was a bear known to be present in the area?

Could the witness have observed the animal clearly enough to distinguish it?

Does the explanation account for all the details, or only one of them?

That last question is particularly important.

Sometimes a proposed explanation solves one piece of a mystery while creating another.

If someone says a strange footprint was simply a bear track, but the alleged trackway contains features that don't resemble bear tracks, the explanation hasn't necessarily solved the mystery.

It may simply have moved the mystery somewhere else.

"I Can't Explain It" Doesn't Mean "It's Paranormal"

This is where skepticism needs an important safeguard.

There is a temptation, when criticizing debunking, to swing too far in the opposite direction.

If the conventional explanation doesn't work, perhaps the extraordinary explanation must be correct.

No.

That's another logical mistake.

If we can't explain a strange event, the appropriate conclusion may simply be:

We don't currently know what happened.

An unexplained Bigfoot sighting isn't automatically evidence for Bigfoot.

An unexplained UFO isn't automatically an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

An unexplained archaeological anomaly isn't automatically evidence of a lost advanced civilization.

Mystery is not proof.

But neither is mystery something we are required to pretend has already been solved.

The Most Interesting Position Is Sometimes the Middle One

There is a third position between believing every extraordinary claim and dismissing every extraordinary claim.

It sounds like this:

"I don't know—but let's investigate."

That's actually a very powerful position.

It allows us to take witnesses seriously without automatically believing their interpretation.

It allows us to consider conventional explanations without automatically declaring them correct.

And it leaves room for genuinely unusual discoveries.

Science has repeatedly advanced because somebody noticed something that didn't fit the existing explanation and refused to simply explain it away.

That doesn't mean every anomaly turns out to be revolutionary.

Most don't.

But occasionally, an anomaly really does tell us something.

The Goal Isn't to Protect the Mystery

There's an important distinction between investigating mysteries and protecting them.

If new evidence demonstrates that a famous Bigfoot case was a hoax, then that's worth knowing.

If an alleged UFO turns out to have been a weather balloon, that's not a disappointment. That's an answer.

If an archaeological mystery has a perfectly ordinary explanation, excellent.

The objective shouldn't be to preserve mystery for its own sake.

The objective should be to follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Sometimes it leads to something mundane.

Sometimes it leads to a mistake.

Sometimes it leads to a hoax.

And sometimes, at least temporarily, it leads to:

We don't know.

That last answer should not be confused with failure.

The Real Debunker's Trap

The real trap isn't skepticism.

It's premature certainty.

It's taking an explanation that is merely possible and presenting it as proven.

It's confusing "I have an explanation" with "I have demonstrated what happened."

And it works both ways.

Believers should be careful not to turn mysteries into monsters simply because they don't have conventional explanations.

Skeptics should be equally careful not to turn conventional possibilities into established facts simply because they dislike extraordinary possibilities.

The intellectually honest investigator stands somewhere in between.

Ask questions.

Test explanations.

Look for contradictory evidence.

Change your mind when the evidence demands it.

And above all, remember one simple rule:

Explaining something isn't the same as explaining it away.

Sometimes the ordinary explanation really is the answer.

Sometimes the extraordinary claim really does collapse under scrutiny.

But sometimes the evidence simply isn't good enough to tell us yet.

And that's when the most honest words a researcher can say are also the most useful:

"I don't know."

Bigfoot Wearing Clothes: The Strange Case of the Tattered Sasquatch

10 Odd Facts About Penguins — And the Penguin Conspiracy Rabbit Hole

Because penguins are much stranger than they look

Penguins look like somebody dressed a bird in a tuxedo and told it to waddle around Antarctica.

But underneath that adorable exterior is one of the weirdest groups of animals on Earth.

They can drink saltwater.

They can get rid of salt through specialized glands.

They can make themselves faster underwater by releasing bubbles.

Some lose essentially all their feathers at once.

Some fathers stand on an egg for roughly two months without eating.

Scientists can locate entire colonies from space by looking for penguin poop.

And one species can survive Antarctic winter temperatures that would be deadly to a human.

So let's take a look at ten odd facts about penguins.


1. Penguins Can Drink Saltwater

Penguins spend much of their lives surrounded by ocean water.

That's a problem if you're a terrestrial animal because drinking seawater gives you more salt than your body can normally handle.

Penguins have a special salt-excreting gland above their eyes called the supraorbital gland.

It removes excess salt from their bloodstream, allowing them to deal with the salt they ingest while feeding in the ocean.

They can then expel that concentrated salt through their nasal passages.

Evolution basically gave penguins a built-in desalination system.


2. Penguins Have No Teeth

You might expect an animal that eats fish, squid, krill and other slippery creatures to have some serious teeth.

Nope.

Penguins are birds.

And birds don't have teeth.

Instead, penguins have specialized structures inside their mouths that help them grip and direct slippery prey toward the throat.

So if you ever look inside a penguin's mouth and think:

Holy shit, those look like teeth!

They're not.

They're basically nature's internal fish-conveyor system.


3. Penguins Can Shoot Through the Water Using Bubbles

This might be one of the coolest penguin tricks.

Some penguins release tiny air bubbles from their feathers before accelerating through the water.

Those bubbles reduce drag.

The result is an enormous increase in swimming efficiency and speed.

Penguins can also use a swimming technique called porpoising, repeatedly launching themselves out of the water.

The gentoo penguin is among the fastest penguins, reaching roughly 22 miles per hour underwater.

Imagine being chased by a predator and thinking:

**Fuck it.

Activate turbo mode.**

WHOOSH.

Penguin rocket.


4. Their Tuxedos Are Actually Camouflage

Penguins look like they're dressed for a formal dinner.

But the black-and-white coloration isn't fashion.

It's camouflage.

From above, a penguin's dark back can blend into the darker ocean.

From below, its white belly can blend with the bright surface of the water.

So the penguin isn't wearing a tuxedo.

It's wearing active stealth technology.

Nature's answer to camouflage:

Make him look like he's going to a wedding.


5. Penguins Have a “Catastrophic Molt”

This sounds like something that happened during a failed military experiment.

It isn't.

It's biology.

Most birds gradually replace feathers.

Penguins undergo what's called a catastrophic molt.

They lose and replace essentially all of their feathers during a relatively short period.

Because their feathers are critical for warmth and waterproofing, penguins can't simply continue living normally in the ocean while this happens.

So they prepare by eating heavily beforehand and building up energy reserves.

Basically:

**Winter is coming.

Better eat everything.**

Then:

Bald penguin mode.


6. Emperor Penguin Fathers Incubate Eggs on Their Feet

Here's one of the craziest things about emperor penguins.

The female lays a single egg.

Then she transfers it to the male.

He balances the egg on top of his feet and covers it with a warm fold of skin.

Then he stands there.

In Antarctica.

During winter.

For roughly two months.

The female returns to the ocean to feed while the males remain with the eggs.

They huddle together for warmth while enduring some of the most brutal conditions on Earth.

The males can go for weeks without eating while incubating the eggs.

Talk about a dad bod.

Actually, don't.

The penguin dad bod is elite.


7. Emperor Penguins Can Have Feather Surfaces Colder Than the Air

This sounds impossible.

It isn't.

Researchers studying emperor penguins with thermal imaging found that the outer surface of their plumage can become colder than the surrounding air under certain conditions.

That sounds like a terrible survival strategy.

But it actually helps reduce heat loss through radiation, while the penguins' insulation keeps their body heat inside.

It's one of those cases where nature seems to say:

**Let's make the outside of the animal colder than the environment.

Trust me.**

And somehow it works.


8. You Can Find Penguins From Space by Looking for Poop

This one is absolutely ridiculous.

Scientists studying Antarctica use satellite imagery to locate penguin colonies.

How?

Penguin poop.

Large colonies leave enormous stains on the otherwise white Antarctic landscape.

Those stains can be visible from satellites.

Scientists have used this technique to locate previously unknown colonies, including a 2023 discovery of an emperor penguin colony estimated at roughly 500 birds.

Even more bizarrely, researchers can sometimes learn things about penguin diets from the color and spectral characteristics of their guano.

NASA has documented scientists determining what penguins are eating from space.

So somewhere in the scientific world there is essentially a job description that amounts to:

Look at satellite pictures of Antarctica and find the giant shit stains.

And honestly?

That's pretty fucking awesome.


9. Penguins Don't All Live in Antarctica

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about penguins.

Penguin does not automatically mean Antarctica.

Different penguin species live in places including South America, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Galápagos.

Some even live in surprisingly warm environments.

The Galápagos penguin is particularly strange because it lives near the equator.

So the next time somebody says:

Penguins live at the South Pole.

You can say:

**Some do.

Some absolutely fucking don't.**


10. Penguins Can Take Over Human-Made Structures

Penguins aren't necessarily waiting around for untouched wilderness.

Sometimes they look at something humans built and apparently think:

**Yeah.

We'll take that.**

Humboldt penguins have established colonies on man-made marine structures, including breakwaters in Peru.

In one documented case, researchers watched a colony grow from only a couple of birds into hundreds.

Humans built the structure.

Penguins inspected it.

Penguins approved.

Penguins moved in.

Nature is adaptable as hell.


BONUS: THE PENGUIN CONSPIRACY

Okay.

Now things get stupid.

Or fascinating.

Or both.

Because once you start looking into penguins and Antarctica, you eventually encounter something called...

The Penguin Conspiracy.

This isn't a scientifically recognized conspiracy.

It's an Internet rabbit hole.

And one of the funniest examples is real enough to document.

The Flat Earth Society forum actually contains a thread titled:

“Are Penguins Bio-Engineered?”

The thread jokingly proposes that penguins were engineered during the Cold War for Antarctic purposes. The bizarre theory even describes them as a sort of walking lunchbox designed to survive the Antarctic environment.

Obviously, that isn't evidence that penguins were actually engineered.

It's evidence that somebody on the Internet was having a hell of a good time.

But it gets stranger.

Penguins are inevitably dragged into larger Antarctic conspiracy theories involving:

  • secret Antarctic bases
  • hidden civilizations
  • the Hollow Earth
  • alien installations
  • mysterious structures beneath the ice
  • the Antarctic “ice wall”
  • classified military activity
  • and, of course, Flat Earth

Now here's where we need to separate the bullshit from the genuinely interesting stuff.

Antarctica really does contain enormous areas that are extremely difficult for humans to access.

Penguin colonies really can be discovered through satellite imagery without scientists physically visiting them.

And penguin guano really can reveal information about the animals' populations, diets and surrounding ecosystem.

In fact, researchers have even used layers containing ancient penguin remains and guano to investigate thousands of years of Antarctic environmental history.

So the real science is already pretty damn weird.

We don't need to invent a secret penguin civilization.

But that doesn't stop the Internet.

So what do the penguins know?

Probably nothing.

They're penguins.

They're looking for fish.

They're trying not to get eaten.

They're raising chicks.

They're pooping everywhere.

And occasionally they're being photographed from satellites.

But that's exactly what makes the conspiracy funny.

Because the joke practically writes itself:

Who watches the penguins?

Who watches the watchers?

And why the fuck are their poop stains visible from space?

Okay.

That last one actually has an answer.

Because there are a LOT of penguins.

And that's the important distinction.

A weird fact isn't automatically a conspiracy.

A conspiracy theory isn't automatically true.

And an unexplained thing isn't automatically evidence of something extraordinary.

But sometimes the rabbit hole itself is worth exploring.

Facts speak for themselves.

And sometimes...

the facts are wearing a tuxedo.

12 Time Travel Stories, Claims and Theories That Refuse to Go Away

10 Odd Facts About Penguins — And the Penguin Conspiracy Rabbit Hole

Because penguins are much stranger than they look

Penguins look like somebody dressed a bird in a tuxedo and told it to waddle around Antarctica.

But underneath that adorable exterior is one of the weirdest groups of animals on Earth.

They can drink saltwater.

They can get rid of salt through specialized glands.

They can make themselves faster underwater by releasing bubbles.

Some lose essentially all their feathers at once.

Some fathers stand on an egg for roughly two months without eating.

Scientists can locate entire colonies from space by looking for penguin poop.

And one species can survive Antarctic winter temperatures that would be deadly to a human.

So let's take a look at ten odd facts about penguins.


1. Penguins Can Drink Saltwater

Penguins spend much of their lives surrounded by ocean water.

That's a problem if you're a terrestrial animal because drinking seawater gives you more salt than your body can normally handle.

Penguins have a special salt-excreting gland above their eyes called the supraorbital gland.

It removes excess salt from their bloodstream, allowing them to deal with the salt they ingest while feeding in the ocean.

They can then expel that concentrated salt through their nasal passages.

Evolution basically gave penguins a built-in desalination system.


2. Penguins Have No Teeth

You might expect an animal that eats fish, squid, krill and other slippery creatures to have some serious teeth.

Nope.

Penguins are birds.

And birds don't have teeth.

Instead, penguins have specialized structures inside their mouths that help them grip and direct slippery prey toward the throat.

So if you ever look inside a penguin's mouth and think:

Holy shit, those look like teeth!

They're not.

They're basically nature's internal fish-conveyor system.


3. Penguins Can Shoot Through the Water Using Bubbles

This might be one of the coolest penguin tricks.

Some penguins release tiny air bubbles from their feathers before accelerating through the water.

Those bubbles reduce drag.

The result is an enormous increase in swimming efficiency and speed.

Penguins can also use a swimming technique called porpoising, repeatedly launching themselves out of the water.

The gentoo penguin is among the fastest penguins, reaching roughly 22 miles per hour underwater.

Imagine being chased by a predator and thinking:

**Fuck it.

Activate turbo mode.**

WHOOSH.

Penguin rocket.


4. Their Tuxedos Are Actually Camouflage

Penguins look like they're dressed for a formal dinner.

But the black-and-white coloration isn't fashion.

It's camouflage.

From above, a penguin's dark back can blend into the darker ocean.

From below, its white belly can blend with the bright surface of the water.

So the penguin isn't wearing a tuxedo.

It's wearing active stealth technology.

Nature's answer to camouflage:

Make him look like he's going to a wedding.


5. Penguins Have a “Catastrophic Molt”

This sounds like something that happened during a failed military experiment.

It isn't.

It's biology.

Most birds gradually replace feathers.

Penguins undergo what's called a catastrophic molt.

They lose and replace essentially all of their feathers during a relatively short period.

Because their feathers are critical for warmth and waterproofing, penguins can't simply continue living normally in the ocean while this happens.

So they prepare by eating heavily beforehand and building up energy reserves.

Basically:

**Winter is coming.

Better eat everything.**

Then:

Bald penguin mode.


6. Emperor Penguin Fathers Incubate Eggs on Their Feet

Here's one of the craziest things about emperor penguins.

The female lays a single egg.

Then she transfers it to the male.

He balances the egg on top of his feet and covers it with a warm fold of skin.

Then he stands there.

In Antarctica.

During winter.

For roughly two months.

The female returns to the ocean to feed while the males remain with the eggs.

They huddle together for warmth while enduring some of the most brutal conditions on Earth.

The males can go for weeks without eating while incubating the eggs.

Talk about a dad bod.

Actually, don't.

The penguin dad bod is elite.


7. Emperor Penguins Can Have Feather Surfaces Colder Than the Air

This sounds impossible.

It isn't.

Researchers studying emperor penguins with thermal imaging found that the outer surface of their plumage can become colder than the surrounding air under certain conditions.

That sounds like a terrible survival strategy.

But it actually helps reduce heat loss through radiation, while the penguins' insulation keeps their body heat inside.

It's one of those cases where nature seems to say:

**Let's make the outside of the animal colder than the environment.

Trust me.**

And somehow it works.


8. You Can Find Penguins From Space by Looking for Poop

This one is absolutely ridiculous.

Scientists studying Antarctica use satellite imagery to locate penguin colonies.

How?

Penguin poop.

Large colonies leave enormous stains on the otherwise white Antarctic landscape.

Those stains can be visible from satellites.

Scientists have used this technique to locate previously unknown colonies, including a 2023 discovery of an emperor penguin colony estimated at roughly 500 birds.

Even more bizarrely, researchers can sometimes learn things about penguin diets from the color and spectral characteristics of their guano.

NASA has documented scientists determining what penguins are eating from space.

So somewhere in the scientific world there is essentially a job description that amounts to:

Look at satellite pictures of Antarctica and find the giant shit stains.

And honestly?

That's pretty fucking awesome.


9. Penguins Don't All Live in Antarctica

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about penguins.

Penguin does not automatically mean Antarctica.

Different penguin species live in places including South America, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Galápagos.

Some even live in surprisingly warm environments.

The Galápagos penguin is particularly strange because it lives near the equator.

So the next time somebody says:

Penguins live at the South Pole.

You can say:

**Some do.

Some absolutely fucking don't.**


10. Penguins Can Take Over Human-Made Structures

Penguins aren't necessarily waiting around for untouched wilderness.

Sometimes they look at something humans built and apparently think:

**Yeah.

We'll take that.**

Humboldt penguins have established colonies on man-made marine structures, including breakwaters in Peru.

In one documented case, researchers watched a colony grow from only a couple of birds into hundreds.

Humans built the structure.

Penguins inspected it.

Penguins approved.

Penguins moved in.

Nature is adaptable as hell.


BONUS: THE PENGUIN CONSPIRACY

Okay.

Now things get stupid.

Or fascinating.

Or both.

Because once you start looking into penguins and Antarctica, you eventually encounter something called...

The Penguin Conspiracy.

This isn't a scientifically recognized conspiracy.

It's an Internet rabbit hole.

And one of the funniest examples is real enough to document.

The Flat Earth Society forum actually contains a thread titled:

“Are Penguins Bio-Engineered?”

The thread jokingly proposes that penguins were engineered during the Cold War for Antarctic purposes. The bizarre theory even describes them as a sort of walking lunchbox designed to survive the Antarctic environment.

Obviously, that isn't evidence that penguins were actually engineered.

It's evidence that somebody on the Internet was having a hell of a good time.

But it gets stranger.

Penguins are inevitably dragged into larger Antarctic conspiracy theories involving:

  • secret Antarctic bases
  • hidden civilizations
  • the Hollow Earth
  • alien installations
  • mysterious structures beneath the ice
  • the Antarctic “ice wall”
  • classified military activity
  • and, of course, Flat Earth

Now here's where we need to separate the bullshit from the genuinely interesting stuff.

Antarctica really does contain enormous areas that are extremely difficult for humans to access.

Penguin colonies really can be discovered through satellite imagery without scientists physically visiting them.

And penguin guano really can reveal information about the animals' populations, diets and surrounding ecosystem.

In fact, researchers have even used layers containing ancient penguin remains and guano to investigate thousands of years of Antarctic environmental history.

So the real science is already pretty damn weird.

We don't need to invent a secret penguin civilization.

But that doesn't stop the Internet.

So what do the penguins know?

Probably nothing.

They're penguins.

They're looking for fish.

They're trying not to get eaten.

They're raising chicks.

They're pooping everywhere.

And occasionally they're being photographed from satellites.

But that's exactly what makes the conspiracy funny.

Because the joke practically writes itself:

Who watches the penguins?

Who watches the watchers?

And why the fuck are their poop stains visible from space?

Okay.

That last one actually has an answer.

Because there are a LOT of penguins.

And that's the important distinction.

A weird fact isn't automatically a conspiracy.

A conspiracy theory isn't automatically true.

And an unexplained thing isn't automatically evidence of something extraordinary.

But sometimes the rabbit hole itself is worth exploring.

Facts speak for themselves.

And sometimes...

the facts are wearing a tuxedo.