📅 Twenty Years Since 9/11

The 9/11 Memorial Museum’s annual Tribute in Lights commemoration; Image: Anthony Quintano/Flickr

• On the eve of its 20-year anniversary, which occurs for the first time without U.S. troops in Afghanistan, we’re taking a look back at the events of that fateful day – and the military conflict that followed.

🕘 A brief timeline… On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.

• 8:46 a.m. – The first plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, with a second plane striking the South Tower 17 minutes later.
• 9:37 a.m. –A third plane hit the west side of the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., causing the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building.
• 9:59 a.m. – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Twenty-nine minutes later, the North Tower collapsed.
• 10:03 a.m. – United Flight 93, a California-bound plane hijacked minutes after takeoff from New Jersey, crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania after a group of passengers and flight attendants - who had learned of the events in New York and Washington - attacked the four hijackers.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks – 2,763 at the World Trade Center (including 403 first responders), 189 at the Pentagon, and 44 aboard Flight 93. Almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.

🇦🇫 The aftermath… On the night of the attacks, President George W. Bush delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, declaring America would “stand together to win the war against terrorism.”

• Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy al Qaeda, began less than one month later.
• U.S. forces effectively removed the Taliban from operational power in Afghanistan within two months, but the war continued as the militant group mounted an insurgency campaign in neighboring Pakistan.
• Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda and mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, remained at large until May 2, 2011, when he was finally tracked down and killed by U.S. forces at a hideout in Pakistan.

🪖 Ending the war… In June 2011, then-President Barack Obama announced the beginning of large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. It wasn’t until August 2021 that all U.S. forces withdrew from the country, and the Taliban retook complete control.

• Roughly half of Americans (49%) see the United States as safer from terrorism than before 9/11, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, down from 64% a decade ago.

From the Left: NBC News

From the Right: WSJ

🎁 Amazon said Thursday it will offer to pay 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 U.S. hourly employees. Unfortunately, that offer isn’t yet included with Prime.

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Image: Tenor

🤿 A deeper dive… The debt ceiling, or debt limit, is the maximum amount of money the federal government can borrow by issuing bonds to other countries, institutions, and the general public. It was created in 1917 under the Second Liberty Bond Act to rein in government spending and increase borrowing efficiency.

• The general idea was to allow the U.S. Treasury to borrow money without Congressional approval while remaining within the bounds of the debt ceiling framework.
• If the debt ceiling is reached, the Treasury Department must use other “extraordinary” measures to pay expenses.
• Otherwise, there is a risk the U.S. will default on its debt – lowering the country’s credit rating, increasing the cost of the debt, and potentially setting off a global financial crisis.

In theory, this creates an incentive to avoid the debt ceiling and creates a more fiscally responsible federal government.

✋ Yes, but… Over the past half-century, politicians have treated the debt ceiling as more of a moving target, opting to raise or suspend the limit every time it comes within reach.

• Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised 78 times – ​​49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic presidents. It was most recently suspended through July 2021 as part of a bipartisan budget deal in August 2019.
• The Treasury has been using cash-conservation measures to keep paying the government’s obligations since the debt ceiling was reinstated on August 1, but Secretary Yellen warned on Wednesday that those emergency measures will likely run out sometime in October.

👁️ Looking ahead… Republicans have vowed not to cooperate with Democrats’ efforts to suspend or raise the debt ceiling, calling on them to do so as part of their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package.

• However, the reconciliation process may not be finished before the Treasury breaches the debt limit, which could force some Republicans to vote for an increase, writes Axios.

🏭 Altered Carbon

Image: Climeworks

Swiss start-up Climeworks teamed up with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop the Orca plant, named after the Icelandic word for energy.

• It’s composed of eight boxes about the size of shipping containers, each fitted with a dozen fans that pull in air.
• CO2 is filtered out, mixed with water, and pumped into deep underground wells, where over the course of a few years it turns to stone – effectively removing it from circulation in the atmosphere.
• The Orca plant is able to draw down a volume of emissions equivalent to about 870 cars each year, and costs between $10 and $15 million to build, per Bloomberg.

Keep reading.

The University of Nottingham faced unprecedented heat this summer. When the library propped open their doors one hot evening to help encourage airflow through the dated building, they were visited by an adorable family of feathered guests.

• A mama duck and her five babies waddled straight through the open doors and began pacing up and down the shelves of books.

The confused family walked in a circle around the atrium before eventually being gently escorted back outside to their pond.

Watch the adorable video.

Which of the following is not considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

A) The Great Pyramids of Giza
B) The Roman Colosseum
C) The Temple of Artemis
D) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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B) The Roman Colosseum

The ancient Roman structure is not among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

• In 2007, it was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World as part of a campaign that started seven years earlier.