The real reason Wall Street is terrified of the GME situation
I have been following GME since mid-September and over that time I have banked myself a %1300 return in the process. However, the whole time I was a little puzzled with how severe the reactions from Wall Street have been, especially this week. "The company had more than 100% of its stock sold short! That's never happened before!", you say. I know, I know, but that's not actually not a new thing. A short squeeze, even one of this magnitude, should have squoze by now with GME up more than 10x in the span of weeks. Something is just not right. I think there is something much, much bigger going on here. Something big enough to blow up the entire financial system. Here is my hypothesis: I think the hedge funds, clearing houses, and DTC executed a coordinated effort to put Game Stop out of business by conspiring to create a gargantuan number of counterfeit shares of GME, possibly 100-200% or more of the shares originally issued by Game Stop. In the process, they may have accidentally created a bomb that could blow up the entire system as we know it and we're seeing their efforts to cover this up unfold now. What is that bomb? I believe retail investors may hold more than 100% of GME (not just 100% of the float, more than 100% of the actual company). This would be definitive proof of illegal activity at the highest levels of the financial system. For you to follow this argument, you need to go read the white paper "Counterfeiting Stock 2.0" so you understand how the hedge funds can create fake stock out of thin air and disguise it so it looks like real shares. They use these fake shares in short attacks to drive the price of a company down until they put them into bankruptcy. This practice seems to be widespread among hedge funds that go short. There is even a term for it, "strategic fails–to–deliver." Counterfeiting shares is extremely illegal (similar level to counterfeiting money) but it's very difficult to prove and even getting the court to approve subpoenas because of the way the financial industry has stacked the deck against investigations. This completely explains why so many levels of the financial system seem to be actively trying to get in the way of retail investors purchasing more GME. It's not just about a short squeeze, it's about their firms' very existence and their own personal freedom. We have the opportunity to put all these people in jail by proving that we own more than 100% of shares in existence. There are are 71 million shares of GME that have ever been issued by the company. Institutions have reported to the SEC via 13F filings that they own more than 102,000,000 shares (including the 13% of GME stock is owned by Ryan Cohen). Now, I don't know the delay/variance on these ownership numbers, but I think there is a pretty solid argument that close to 100% of GME is owned by these firms, if not more. Moreover, there are now more than 7 million people subscribed to wallstreetbets~~. I know lots of people here are sitting on a few hundred shares that they bought back when it was under $50. Some of us are even holding thousands. If the average number of shares owned by each subscriber is even close to 5-10, we have a very good shot at also owning a similarly enormous amount of GME.~~ Even if the average was just 10 shares per legit subscriber, that puts the minimum retail position at about 30-50% of the entire company. GME has been on the NYSE threshold list for almost a month. We don't have January data yet, but I just analyzed the data from the SEC's fails–to–deliver list for December (all 65,871 lines of it) and looked up the number of shares that were likely counterfeit. For comparison, I did the same for a couple random tickers. Most companies have close to no shares not show up. Of those that do, it's a relatively small number of shares. For example, two random companies: Lowes ($LOW, ~$125B market cap) had 13,960 shares fail to be delivered at its highest point that month, Boston Beer Company ($SAM, $11.5B market cap) had 295 shares fail to be delivered. How many shares of GME failed to deliver? 1,787,191. As the white papers points out, the true number of counterfeit shares can be 20x this number. How bad do you think that number will be when we get the numbers for January? I'm willing to bet its many times that. Look at how that compares to other companies' stock: Histogram showing number of shares that weren't delivered in December (x-axis) vs the number of companies that fall into that bin (y-axis). GME is an extreme outlier. I think this explains all the shenanigans going on the last few days. There is way too much counterfeit GME stock out there and DTC, the clearing houses, and the hedge funds are all in on it. That's why there has been such a coordinated effort to disrupt our ability to buy shares. No real shares can be foundand it's about to cause the system to fall apart. TLDR; We probably own way more of GME than we think and that is freaking out Wall Street because it could prove they've been up to some extremely illegal shit and the whole system could implode as a result. Disclaimer: I'm just a starving engineering PhD student and I don't work in finance. I have no inside knowledge of how the financial system works and I may be wrong on some of this. This is not financial advice and you shouldn't trade based on it. I am book-smart but I still eat crayons like the rest of you. Obligatory rocket: 🚀 EDIT 0: Looks like I truly belong on this sub. On the first version of this post I didn't read the file description properly and summed a cumulative distribution. My numbers were wrong, but I have updated the plot and post with the correct numbers. EDIT 1: You should also note this is the distribution for NASDAQ tickers, not the entire NYSE. I doubt that the distribution trend is any different though. EDIT 2: Evidence that Fannie May and Freddie Mac were killed in 2008 via short attacks using counterfeit shares: report. Exactly what I think they were trying to do to GME. EDIT 3: A lot of people were hung up on the "3 shares per wsb subscriber thing". I know many accounts are bots, I was intentionally underestimating that number. I have adjusted to 10 shares per "legit subscriber" to reflect this without changing the total amount I think retail owns. EDIT 4: What I'm seeing on Twitter makes me think I'm being interpreted a little too hyperbolically when I say "Something big enough to blow up the entire financial system." We're not going to go back to mud huts, people. This could just be really disruptive for a short amount of time and cause a number of firms to face liquidity problems, possibly bankrupting some of them. Life will go on and I'm confident regulators and government will step in and protect people if necessary. Hopefully they pay more attention to enforcing securities laws going forward to prevent this from happening again. EDIT 5: Backup link for white paper. EDIT 6: I am getting thousands of messages. I won't be able to respond to all of them. Here is an FAQ:
How do I learn investing?I am not an authority on this, but my personal opinion is to first learn how to read a company's financial documents and value businesses and only then start thinking about putting your money into specific stocks. Read "the intelligent investor" by Benjamin Graham for this. Then learn how to think about picking stocks. I like Peter Lynch's books for this.
What is going to happen this week?I have no idea and I wouldn't dare to guess.
Are you going to be killed?I don't know where people are getting this idea. I have no special knowledge or insider contacts, and I am in no way, shape, or form an expert on the market or the system behind it. Please treat my tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories as just that. There is nothing to gain from harming me and I have no doubts about my safety. These are just personal opinions and I don't have any schemes to "take down the shorts" or anything like that. I do not advocate for you to buy, hold, or sell. I'm just postulating on how we might have found ourselves in this place.
>Feb.8 2021 HCMC ANNOUNCES SALES OF $5,000,000 OF PREFERRED STOCK
February 7, 2021, Healthier Choices Management Corp. (the “Company”) entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which the Company sold and issued 5,000 shares of its Series D Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Preferred Stock”) to institutional investors for $1,000 per share or an aggregate subscription of $5,000,000. https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/hcmc-announces-sale-5-000-130500804.html?__twitter_impression=true / / /
>Aug.24th, 2020 Secured $2.5million in financing for their #PPE initiative.
"We identified a NICHE market that needs servicing, and we intend to take an ‘old school’ approach of building a consistent book of business for this initiative. The industry has been inundated with “spot sales”, often attempting to sell product that does not exist. We intend to eliminate this issue by having inventory in our warehouse, READY to ship.” “All types of businesses now need these products. Smaller health facilities need these products. Smaller businesses like restaurant chains and service industries need these products, and they cannot buy 1,000,000 boxes of gloves or 1,000,000 masks as is typically required. WE HAVE HAD NUMEROUS REWQUESTS TO FILL THESE ORDERS and intend to cater to this niche and help as many of these types of customers as we can.” https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/08/24/2082593/0/en/Healthier-Choices-Management-Corp-Secures-2-5M-financing-for-PPE-Initiative.html /
>A leader in the #CBD Vape industry! The Q-Cup can be used for Marijuana & CBD!
/ /
>Aug. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp. (OTC Pink: HCMC) today announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with MJ Holdings Inc.
This is from the recent SEC filing of the OTC stock VPRB! On September 6, 2018, the Company issued the Amended and Restated Secured Promissory Note in the principal amount of $582,260 (the “A&R Note”). The principal amount of the A&R Note represents (i) $500,000 which Healthier Choices Management Corp. (HCMC) loaned to the Company on September 6, 2018, and (ii) $82,260, which represents the aggregate amount owed by the Company under the Original Notes as of September 6, 2018. The A&R Note, which has a maturity date of September 6, 2021, had the effect of amending and restating the Note and bears interest at the rate of 7% per annum. Pursuant to the terms of the A&R Note, the Company agreed to pay HCMC 155 weekly payments of $4,141, commencing on September 14, 2018 and #ENDING on September 14, 2021, and a balloon payment for all remaining accrued interest and principal in the 156th week. The Company at its option has the right, by giving 15 business days’ advance notice to HCMC, to prepay a portion or all amounts outstanding under the A&R Note without penalty or premium. The balance of the note as of September 30, 2020 was $314,247.
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>BIG Lawsuit against $PM for patent infringements, and patent 170 The Q-Cup is part of it. [www.TheQCup.com]
$PM has untill the Feb26th to submit their answer. Been researching/ alerting this since Nov.30th & theirs rumors the answer is a settlement!
>Lawyers representing HCMC have been awarded as the #1 lawfirm of the year amongst dozens of other awards. You think they would take on PM A big Pharma company & risk their reputation if they had even the slightest chance of losing? No they wouldn't. [www.cozen.com]
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>Millions in annual revenue from 13Vape stores, 3 Paradise Health & Nutrition stores, 3 Adas Fresh Market, online Vape & CBD retailers, online health & nutrition retailers, and much much more!
>In the lawsuite their is 2 defendants named; Philip Morris USA & Philip Morris International! So technically it'll be a 2 for 1 win! Double the judgement too if look at it that way.
>Jan. 29th update to lawsuite:Judge approved PM request for a extension to submit their answer saying by February 26th now:" So that both defendants can submit their answer at the same time"Court also said no jury trials untill April now. HCMC said in their initial motion that they demand there be a jury trial for settling judgements. So PM better offer a big enough settlement to avoid that.
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-Rumors going around about the April deadline date. That is when jury trials can resume. Because courts have suspended all Jury Trials due to COVID-19 until April 18th. People been getting confused and people spreading false information on purpose. So as of right now the only date on the case is the February 28th due date of Philip Morris's answer.
Once that is submitted, wether it be a settlement or accepting what they have done or deny the motion against them of infringing on HCMC's patents, than they will schedule the next court date. / /
THINK ABOUT AFTER HCMC WINS THE LAWSUITE AGAINST PM.
THEY'LL ASK HCMC TO LICENSE OUT THE PATENTS THEY HAVE INFRINGED ON! THEIR IQOS PRODUCT HAS 14MILLION + USERS, SO I DOUB'T THEY WOULD WANT TO ABANDON THAT REVENUE STREAM! THEY HAVE DOZENS OF ACTIVE TRADEMARKS FOR THE IQOS PRODUCT, AND PAYING HCMC TO USE IT IS THEIR BEST CHOICE! YOU THINK HCMC GOING TO GIVE THEM A DEAL, LOL HECK NO. THE MONEY FROM THIS LAWSUITE IS GOING TO MAKE IT THE BIGGEST LAWSUITE IN THE #OTC ! AND I BEEN TRADING SINCE I WAS 15, AND IN 16YRS NEVER SEEN A STOCK SO CHEAP, PINK CURRENT+PENNYSTOCK EXEMPT, 60+ PATENTS AND ALREADY LICENSES OUT MANY OF THEM! I BET LOTS OF #VAPE PRODUCTS IN THE MARKET ARE FROM COMPANYS PAYING LICENSING RIGHTS FROM $HCMC!!! / / / PLZ SHARE & UPVOTE! I HAVE SPENT 100S OF HOURS ON RESEARCH FOR THIS STOCK & CONTINUE TO DO SO. SINCE I STARTED TRADING WHEN I WAS 15, NOW 30, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A GREAT STOCK, WITH A BIG LAWSUITE SO CHEAP! / /
>I have full access to court records. As documents are submitted for the case etc, I'll update them here accordingly. STAY TUNED!
Additional support, resources, & DD by WallStreetBets+OTHERS:
WSB is behind HCMC NOW!
$WallStreetbetsELITE: "CONGRATULATIONS TO $HCMC!! You have been accepted into the AMC AND GME COMMUNITY BY ALMOST 1000 VOTES!!! HCMC will now be the stock to promote with AMC guys HOLD THE LINE and respect this honor. We will together destroy Wallstreet and hedges! Much love."
THE CALL (READ) $HCMC TO TH MOON! The below posts are all timestamped it is a timeline of older $HCMC DD + my thoughts back in 2020 about $HCMC and what was going to happen before all the hype and media frenzy and hubaloo... O_O and now here we are today. read if you are interested its long just a warning near the end is a monster DD post i did that was reposted on the wall here that many people read cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 11:12:53 AM Re: None 0 Post # 20121 of 30551 IMO people in the inner circle of HCMC know a little more about this than they are letting on but the volume and money is talking. Methinks the HCMC Lawyers are working overtime because if the case was falling through so would the volume... IMO The big Lawsuit people are talking about is between HCMC vs Phillip Morris for those who are new here and are curious. I think HCMC is on top of this very much because "intellectual property" is a main part of their platform and if someone else infringed on one of their patents that they conceive / design / develop they are in the position to take action against that. https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/hcmc-announces-formation-of-intellectual-property-holding-subsidiary-2020-12-14) (Copied - + more there is even more info in the full article - follow the link to read- ) HOLLYWOOD, FL, Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp. (OTC Pink: HCMC) (“HCMC or the “Company”) announces that it has formed a new wholly owned subsidiary to hold, market and expand on its intellectual property assets. This subsidiary, HCMC Intellectual Property Holdings, LLC, will own all of the patents, trademarks and other intellectual property of HCMC. HCMC currently owns a portfolio of patents related to both vape technology and also manufacturing processes and procedures for an imitation nicotine product. HCMC’s focus with this new subsidiary is to invest in innovation and encourage further development of core intellectual property. “The creation of a separate intellectual property holding entity allows us to efficiently market, license and otherwise capitalize on our growing intellectual property portfolio,” said Jeff Holman, CEO of HCMC. Mr. Holman concluded, “We feel that we can use HCMC Intellectual Property Holdings to further implement our strategic plan and better capture opportunities to monetize both technology that HCMC has already developed over the years, as well as technology that we will continue to develop into the future.” https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/hcmc-announces-formation-of-intellectual-property-holding-subsidiary-2020-12-14 HCMC is BIG on their patents and intellectual property. If someone steals your intellectual property or develops something you already patented then you can then legally sue them...by doing this you can in theory make more money suing someone for copyright infringement on intellectual property than you can on the infringed product in question At that point you don't even have to develop the initial idea to make money. AND THEN After the settlement from a victorious case... You can then use the money from the lawsuit to develop your business / product. lololol (that makes me smile) IMO as always but this is what I see thoughts? (THIS BRACKET IS ME REFLECTING FOR A SEC IN 2021...might as well be a time traveler LOL OK KEEP READING THAT WAS A BRAIN BREAK) cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 01:06:15 PM Re: BJ-Trader post# 20122 0 Post # 20138 of 30551 This is what I see 110 000 000 x.0001 = 11,000,000$ (seems like alot) BUT!!!!! HCMC IS SUING Philip Morris OVER THE IQOS System The IQOS heated tobacco units have become the third biggest tobacco brand behind Philip Morris' industry leading Marlboro and Imperial Brands' Winston. IQOS now has a 5.5% share of the global tobacco market, even though it hasn't been fully rolled out in a number of the 52 markets it's been introduced into. Smoking alternatives heat up the market There are now 13.6 million users of the IQOS,(at 100$ per unit making 1 360 000 000 $) that's 4 million more users than a year ago, and Philip Morris estimates 71% of them (around 10 million people) have stopped smoking and permanently switched to the device. If Philip Morris are found guilty of patent infringement on every single sale of every single IQOS unit... They have to cough up a massive chunk if not all of a 5.5 % share in the entire global tobacco market...of planet earth... over to HCMC. A scenario like that would defiantly cover it... DD for ya Healthier Choices Management Corp. Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Philip Morris November 30, 2020 17:00 ET | Source: Healthier Choices Management Corp HOLLYWOOD, FL, Nov. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp announced the filing of its patent infringement lawsuit against Philip Morris USA, Inc. and Philip Morris Products S.A. in connection with their product known and marketed as “IQOS®.” The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court For the Northern District Of Georgia. HCMC vs Phillip Morris Lawsuit filing https://sec.report/Document/0000844856-20-000047/ The international law firm Cozen O’Connor has been engaged to represent HCMC in this matter. https://www.cozen.com/ (MONSTERS ^ ) HCMC’s lawsuit includes claims that Phillip Morris is infringing HCMC’s patent rights in connection with IQOS®, an alternative tobacco product marketed and sold by Phillip Morris. Philip Morris claims that it is currently approaching 14 million users of its IQOS® product and has reportedly invested over $3 billion in their smokeless tobacco products. Philip Morris has been very open about their ongoing transition from traditional fully combustible cigarettes to their modified risk tobacco products, including IQOS®. https://www.pmi.com/faq-section/faq/what-is-iqos clearly covered http://www.healthiercmc.com/patents The Philip Morris IQOS® product is currently the subject of two other patent infringement proceedings filed by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. One proceeding is before the International Trade Commission and seeks to stop the importation of the IQOS® product into the United States. (added)THE INTERNATION TRADE COMMISION / FDA proceeding for the sale and distribution of IQOS system in the united states was in fact just recently approved. https://www.pmi.com/media-centenews/the-fda-authorizes-the-sale-of-iqos-3-in-the-us ; the other is a patent infringement action currently pending in the Eastern District of Virginia. RJ Reynolds’ patents are unrelated and not affiliated with the patents asserted in the HCMC case. “We are pleased that after a lengthy and careful analysis, a law firm with the patent litigation reputation and strength of Cozen O’Connor will be enforcing our patent rights,” said Jeff Holman, CEO of HCMC. Mr. Holman concluded, “We look forward to proving our allegations of infringement in this matter and intend to continue to move forward against any and all companies that infringe upon our intellectual property in both the tobacco and cannabis categories.” HCMC is in the right here... FYI an IQOS system costs 100$ 13.6 million users all payed 100$ or 99 euros so 13.6 million users x 100S per unit as of feb 2020 (#'s don't reflect all the new users between feb to now either so the number is larger) There are now 13.6 million users of the IQOS, 4 million more than a year ago, and Philip Morris estimates 71% of them (around 10 million people) have stopped smoking and permanently switched to the device. As of Feb 10, 2020 At this point almost a year later they have even more users and now FDA approval for sale running around flag shipping the IQOS System that is in fact actually HCMC's patented intellectual property. If or when PM ends up on the block and are forced to pay up on those kind of numbers to HCMC. The more greedy they get(and you know they are greedy) the more in the end they owe to HCMC and also the IQOS system that is actually HCMC's intellectual property is now FDA approved for sale in the US. (thanks to PM lol ) cheshirechocobo Wednesday, 12/30/20 10:56:17 PM Re: Badge04 post# 20507 0 Post # 20508 of 30551 MY POINT EXACTLY...If everything clicks for HCMC's legal team and the case goes through they will get rid of the float faster than you can spin your head. I think they already are even? If it all goes down in HCMC's favor and this will blow up so monster it will become an OTC legend. If you picked up .0001's on HCMC and held out on this it could change your life. HCMC can buy out the whole floor after the settlement and if the people involved high up / HCMC's legal team already know how it's going to work out in the end they could be getting an early start not waiting for the courts, to begin enacting their plan and as for .0001's / .0002's they wont even exist afterword's if that is the case they will be a thing of legend as well. No guarantees but man you could almost make a movie out of the story developing around this, at least a documentary. At .0001 / .0002 tickets to the show are nothing compared to the ROI potential. cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 02:26:15 PM Re: None 0 Post # 20155 of 30551 A theory HCMC would be smart to keep surprising the price until the court case settles and they then buy up their own shares at .0001 with the money from the settlement. That scenario would explain why so much volume yet no movement. If HCMC runs up before the court case ends they can't buy their own shares for .0001 . So they keep it as low as possible and load it until they are ready to buy themselves for .0001 with money from the court settlement funds. Anyone holding when that happens would just jump up along with the massive big block buys that would follow and HCMC has a massive rocket ride. That's also how they can own a lot of themselves moving ahead into the future thoughts? cheshirechocobo Tuesday, 12/29/20 12:40:55 PM Re: RoidBoi44 post# 20268 0 Post # 20276 of 30551 ok Roidboi ... look... I don't have a chalk board so I cant draw it out for you but.. HCMC will be able buy out their own bottom floor shares with IQOS Patent lawsuit settlement money. HCMC sues PM and then all of a sudden HCMC has billions and billions in volume everyday... I believe HCMC are the ones who will end up with the money to move it and that is why there is so much because its not for us to move its for them to get the lowest price possible on their own shares. In doing so they will own themselves protecting / controlling their own shares from the bottom. They will then drive the price up as much as possible to give those shares maximum potential value in the future. This is how an OTC company jumps up on to Nasdaq level. "The Come up" as it is said. Phillip Morris is under the gun because they used HCMC's technology (q-cup) in their IQOS vape system. I suspect they had .0001s reserved for themselves in priority somehow hence the cancelation of everyone's orders on multiple trade platforms even though 0.0001 were reading as available... This is all IMO but the writing is literally on the wall. The Volume here to me is the dead giveaway Someone's moving the cart along... Unicorn Potential END TIMELINE The above posts are all timestamped is a timeline of my thoughts back in 2020 about HCMC and what was going to happen before all the hype and media frenzy and hubaloo... O_O and now here we are today I'll let you decide if you think I called this one ;) <3 I'm not even going to claim it... This was the big post I mentioned about reposting and as a reward if you make it through all of this I will be reposting New DD and theory This was the post that I believe opened some eyes. as follows HCMC Q-Cup Tech Patent = Phillip Morris IQOS System Flagship next gen vape product being heavily pushed and marketed over 16 million + units already sold globally as of 2020 (the year isn't even over) So HCMC owns the patent for the technology being used and sold in Phillip Morris's "IQOS" - E cigarette technology The accused action is illegal The IQOS system is a major money maker for Phillip Morris having sold 16.4 million units globally as of now. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/will-rrps-growth-keep-driving-philip-morris-pm-in-2021-2020-12-28 Copied from above link (more in article)^ Tobacco companies have long been struggling with declining cigarette sales, thanks to consumers’ rising health consciousness as well as strict marketing and manufacturing policies imposed by regulatory authorities. Amid such a scenario, industry players like Philip Morris International Inc. PM are managing to stay afloat on the back of growth in low-risk tobacco alternatives. Additionally, gains from effective pricing strategies have been an upside. Let’s take a closer look. RRPs Are a Key Growth Catalyst Philip Morris is committed toward developing a smoke-free future by expanding offerings in the reduced-risk products (RRPs) category. These products, owing to their beneficial claims, are largely being accepted by individuals trying to quit or reduce cigarette consumption. Philip Morris is one of the industry pioneers in driving the shift from cigarettes to RRPs. The company’s IQOS is one of the leading RRPs in the industry. IQOS was launched in the United States in 2019, through a commercial deal with Altria Group, Inc. MO that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We note that IQOS is currently the only heat-not-burn product in the U.S. market, which has been approved by the FDA. Since the onset of the pandemic, the switch from smoking cigarettes to RRPs has been trending positively. Total users of IQOS at the end of third-quarter 2020 were estimated to be about 16.4 million globally. (So 16.4 million units x 100$ per unit = 1640000000$) In the said quarter, revenues in the RRPs category increased 28.6% and formed a little more than 23% of the company’s top line. The company expects consistent growth in the heated tobacco category, and therefore has been committed toward expanding these products. Earlier this month, the company’s IQOS 3 received authorization from the FDA for sale in the United States. The new device incorporates a number of technological improvements like enhanced battery life and quicker recharge. In prior efforts, the company started commercializing IQOS VEEV, which is its new product in the vapor category. The company also announced a partnership with South Korea’s KT&G earlier this year to commercialize the latter’s smoke-free products outside the country. Clearly, such efforts are likely to keep bolstering Philip Morris’ revenues from the RRPs space. Markedly, the company is on track to achieve its 2021 goal of > 90-100 billion < (WOW) shipments of heated tobacco units. (end copy) So... HCMC is suing Philip Morris because HCMC developed the patent ("Q-Cup") that is the same technology being used in the IQOS system now being pushed heavily by Phillip Morris and was approved back in 2018. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/healthier-choices-management-corp-issued-three-u-s-patents-in-relation-to-its-q-cup-technology-1027675756 http://www.healthiercmc.com/news/2018/9/24/hcmc-announces-us-patent-for-its-q-cup-technology-will-be-granted-in-60-90-days http://www.healthiercmc.com/patentshttps://theqcup.com/pages/patents So for those who don’t know yet. Healthier Choice Management Corp (HCMC) are suing Philip Morris for copyright infringement on their (HCMC's) patent regarding (Phillip Morris's) IQOS - E cigarettes (now being sold like hotcakes by Phillip Morris.) According to Phillip Morris they haven’t denied this fact by revealing they invested over 3 billion so far into marketing these new E-Cigarette products including the contested IQOS. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/30/2136949/0/en/Healthier-Choices-Management-Corp-Files-Patent-Infringement-Lawsuit-Against-Philip-Morris.html HCMC hired the law firm COZEN to pursue these claims. I have attached some links below for further research into the future value of E-cigarettes. https://www.cozen.com/ If Philip Morris is found guilty and liable of patent infringement it means they illegally sold 16.4 million units of the IQOS system. + the 2021 goal of 100 billion units and any other profits linked to IQOS related profits would be forfeit and owed to HCMC in some form. That is just mind blowing Philip Morris is moving forward with their marketing campaign despite the lawsuit even receiving FDA approval for large scale sales of the IQOS system in the United States despite the HCMC lawsuit. If Phillip Morris are found guilty the more profit they make on the IQOS system in the end just digs Phillip Morris a deeper hole as a climbing pay back price tag. https://www.pmi.com/media-centenews/the-fda-authorizes-the-sale-of-iqos-3-in-the-us $HCMC = 0.0001$ = David PM =$82+ = Goliath LOOK AT THE VALUE $_$ David The Shepherd had to defeat the Philistine's and Goliath before becoming David, King of Israel. All my posts here are pre 2021 and now look what has happened now that we are here Source of " Additional info from Ihub"
This series is designed to give people a VERY brief overview of what to expect. This isn’t designed to tell you which units are the best, it’s designed to give you a roadmap of what we know is coming to help you plan your resource allocation. Now I know some of you are saying “Phbbbbt, GLEX just blows this up bro! They change up so much you can’t plan nothing! Pointless.” In the past this wasn’t entirely true, in fact planning based entirely on the JP roadmap actually would’ve worked out very well for most players. We’re definitely in a spot where GLEX units could change everything though. We know that CNY is coming and almost assuredly bringing some GLEX units with it. Then we still have the S3 cast coming who many be NV’s at this point, and finally we also have the Fan Designed units coming. That’s a LOT of Glex units and will quite possibly result in the largest GLEX influx that we’ve seen in GL in a calendar year. Still the JP roadmap is a useful tool. A few notes before we begin. -I love numbers and I think when used correctly they can help flesh out an understanding of a unit. However I also realize that there are a lot more to units then simply numbers. As such I will be using numbers but please don’t get too caught up on them. All the spreadsheets maintained have different assumptions/parameters and as such numbers will vary. Generally what’s far more important then the number itself is it’s comparison to other units. Let’s be honest, 12B average DPT doesn’t really tell you whether the unit will make Gilgamesh easier for you. However knowing that the unit does 15% more damage then Sora, or 30% more then Terra does probably tell you something so you’ll see me use those sort of notations the most often. -We all get enjoyment in different ways, especially in a game like this. At the end of the day FFBE is a game that is meant to be fun. (I assume it’s also a game at the beginning of the day too but I sleep in a lot so I can’t confirm) The BEST reason to pull for ANY unit is because it’ll increase your enjoyment of the game. If NV Tidus is an awful piece of crap of a unit with only a single move that does slightly less damage then Ashe I’m still going to pull for him. And you should too if doing so will increase your enjoyment. -These reviews are brief.
Lasswell and Raegen aka LassGen
Expected Late January. AMOE and TAG Chaining and LB Finishing.
Why should we care?
It feels like it’s been ages since we got a Lasswell. ::What’s that? Current banner? I don’t know what you’re talking about.:: And this Lasswell brings along his old man. On top of sporting some New mechanics Lassgen (sorry Valerium) has really solid damage output and their affinity for slaying dragons should be pretty key for some of our upcoming content.
What makes them different?
While Fina and Rain technically beat Lassgen to the punch there’s likely going to be a lot more focus on these two. All of the TAG units have a few claims to fame primarily their access to a single race active Killer Buff that they can spread to the team, increased damage to enemies with a depleted BREAK bar and of course TAG chaining. TAG chaining is a new feature that allows these units to create a chain themselves. This is a big boon for those who have severe difficulty chaining on their devices and for those who would much rather bring a finisher then a chain-partner. The AOE Active killers isn’t new but it is a big part of each of the TAG units kits and makes each of them perfectly potent and powerfully preferred for pulverizing particular...content (Dang). If it’s Dragon Slaying then Lassgen is your duo. I would say Lassgen is the beginning of almost a Lateral Powercreep in JP. Rather than just boasting higher and more eye-popping numbers they have a scalpel like skillset that makes them perform much better then other DPS units at certain things, but only as well as other DPS units at other things. In raw numbers at the top end you’re looking at around a 10% increase over Sora’s damage both in Damage Per Turn as well as burst for much of the game’s content. However against anything with a depleted BREAK gauge their trait of “70% more damage against Broken enemies” kicks in and they do, well 70% more damage. On top of this their Active Dragon Killers if they were to come into play would be about a 37.5% damage increase. So for trials like Bahamut (Dragon and BREAK gauge) Lassgen would be more than doubling Sora’s Output. Against a trial where neither of things came into play though would be more like a 10% difference between them. The whole TAG thing will be covered a lot I’m sure but one of the main reasons it’s important is it allows you to go from the traditional 2 chainer setup to 1 TAG chainer and 1 Finisher, which also means if you were running 2 chainers and a finisher before that could now be 1 TAG chainer and 2 finishers. I won’t harp too much on the importance of this but I will say that this is NOT a feature that has popped up a ton in JP and appears to be saved for “Duo” units. So don’t expect TAG chaining on every DPS from here on out. After these TAG banners, which in JP was just 2 Banners the only other TAG unit to pop up was the Elric Brothers in the FMA collaboration. Although keep in mind that Charlotte and Physalis TAG unit was an event reward so there is a possibility of getting at least 1 TAG unit on the cheap. Their most powerful move is their BS LB which is a 1 hit finishing move so you would need some support chains when it comes up. They only use it every 5 turns so they don’t spam it which makes it much easier to support chain for but still something to keep in mind. And this seems to apply to ALL the TAG units as well in case I forget. A big chunk of their damage, their burst, will come from 1 hit LB's.
What’s their TMR, STMR and VC like?
TMR is a materia with unconditional 30% ATK, 40% ATK with Sword and 40% ATK with Katana so a possible 110% ATK which is pretty good even now when capping ATK seems more an afterthought. STMR is a sword with 25% LB damage and 75% Dragon Killer. VC is 200HP, 20% HP, 90 ATK and 50% TDW.
What do I need to make them shine?
They are primarily designed to be TDW and can use Daggers, Swords, Great Swords, Katanas and Spears in both forms with Fists available on their Base and Guns on their BS. They only have 50% TDW with their TMR equipped on their Base form but 150% with it on their BS and lose 50% TDW without their S(TMR). They get 50% ATK from Daggers, Swords, Katanas and Great Swords so potential 100% on top of their innate 200% makes capping ATK pretty easy, even without their TMR. Their biggest burst is from their LB as is common for most Damage Dealers these days so they’ll soak up some LB equipment. Overall though they should be able to take advantage of a lot of different equipment setups including most of the LB damage boost stuff people have already acquired.
Why would I want to pull for them?
They’ll probably make upcoming Dragon bosses a mite bit easier.
Why might I want to skip them?
As I mentioned earlier they represent more of a Lateral powercreep then a vertical one. Against a lot of enemies they won’t do much better then your current Damage Dealer will but in other instances they’ll shine. So it’s really a question of what that’s worth to you. This is also part of the “trend” we’re seeing from JP where we’re at a Plateau for damage output in some ways but each unit tends to have something special. As such Lassgen isn’t a “must have” the way some units have been and what’s worse is that we have a lot of GLEX coming between CNY, presumably NV Season 3 cast and Fan Designed units. As such there’s almost more question marks upcoming then anything else and many of us are loathe to be caught without Lapis if some “Mastermind Xon” level unit were to drop soon. For those who do trials on release day Lassgen will probably be a staple, but that's not most players. For players who wait until Trials are a bit more powercrept Lassgen represents a lot less. A shiny new toy with some cool features like TAG chaining? Yes. But probably not an actual gamechanger for many.
Pros:
Chaining without a partner
AOE Dragon Killer buffs
70% damage bonus vs BROKEN enemies
Cons:
Only in certain niches will they outperform current Damage Dealers
Dark Fina and Sol
Expected February. CWA and TAG chaining, LB Finishing.
Why should we care?
Think Magical Lassgen. Now think Ponies. Ha, I bet you just though of Ponies. Seriously though most of what I said about Lassgen is relevant here, Tag Chaining, AOE killers this time for Demons and increased damage against Broken enemies.
What makes them different?
Dark Fina and Sol bring a lot of what you expect from a modern mage to the table; limited elemental output (fire, earth and dark) and doing some better then others (Earth is their primary followed by Dark and Fire is more an afterthought), while also mixing in the TAG units strengths of TAG chaining, AOE active Demon Killers and increased damage against Broken enemies. They are pretty similar output wise to Physalis, our current best Mage, in Damage Per Turn and about 10% better with their burst.
What’s their TMR, STMR and VC like?
TMR is a materia with unconditional 30% MAG, 30% MAG with Whip and 30% MAG with rod. STMR is a 198 MAG Rod with 50% TDH and 50% TDW. VC is 200HP, 90 MAG and 50% MAG with a Rod and 50% MAG with a Robe.
What do I need to make them shine?
With a 6x chain cap and LB-centric finishing you’ll likely want to gear them TDW with LB gear similar to Ibara. They can equip all the standard mage garb so your loadout will probably be pretty standard.
Why would I want to pull for him?
Honestly it seems like we have a pretty limited selection of Magic damage dealers currently so I imagine there are some people out there that have been waiting for a solid mage as they missed on Ibara and Physalis and Dark Fina and Sol certainly are that. So if you've been waiting for a Mage they are not a bad choice at all.
Why might I want to skip him?
If you have Terra, Ibara or Physalis then you’re more or less just getting a slightly different element coverage and TAG chaining.
Pros:
TAG chaining
AOE active Demon Killers
Cons:
Limited elemental coverage
Akstar and Cleome
Expected February. AMOE and TAG chaining, LB finishing.
Why should we care?
Very similar to Lassgen but this time boasting AOE Active Human Killers and they also have a 15% Katana imperil.
What makes them different?
It’s an old guy and very young girl. So kind of like Jake and Lid if we’d gotten that duo. Honestly this is a rehash of everything I said about Lassgen except for the Killers, Human this time, and Katana Imperil on their LB. Damage wise they clock in very similar to Lassgen as well.
What’s their TMR, STMR and VC like?
TMR is a materia with unconditional 30% LB damage and 70% ATK with a Katana. STMR is a 207 ATK 2H Katana with 50% LB damage and 50% Human killer. VC is 90 ATK, 80% ATK with a Katana and 50% TDH for FFBE units.
What do I need to make them shine?
Although still LB-centric this unit is TDH based which means they’ll greatly benefit from the upcoming STMR from NV Lightning that will increase their Chain Cap by 1x. Unfortunately it looks like they’ll need it to match Lassgen’s damage output. Their weapon selection is Instruments, Daggers, Katanas, Great Swords and Swords. They don’t have any weapon specific ATK boosts but their built in Katana Imperil means you’ll probably want a 2H Katana for them.
Why would I want to pull for them?
If you’re looking for a TAG chainer or unit with 70% more damage against BROKEN units but prefer Human Killers and TDH.
Why might I want to skip him?
You already have a TAG unit or aren’t terribly interested in TAG units.
Pros:
TAG Chaining
AOE Active Human Killers
Katana Imperil
Cons:
Damage a bit lower then Lassgen
Less flexible gearing
Savior of Souls Lightning
Expected Late February-March. AMoE and BS chains.
Why should we care?
Lightning is a very interesting unit with a very unique kit but I’m not going to lie she has the feel of a “prototype” where we see what they were aiming for and can agree it’s a good thought but the execution leaves much to be desired. Still it’s nice to see such a unique unit and even if she herself isn’t terribly popular many will pull her just for her STMR.
What’s her TMR, STMR and VC like?
TMR is a Heavy Shield with 50 ATK/MAG/DEF/SPR and 50% ATK/MAG TDH with or without Shield STMR increased Chain Modifer cap by 1x. Hard Cap in game is still 6x so this is mostly to benefit TDH units. VC is 80 ATK/MAG with 100% ATK and MAG with either a Light or Heavy Shield equipped. 50% MAG/ATK TDH with or without shield for FFXIII units.
What makes her different?
EVERYTHING. You’ll see I moved the (S)TMR-VC area up because I’m going to have to reference it a lot here. So there’s 2 very big things going on here and I’ll tackle them one by one. First is Increased Chain Cap Modifier. Up until now a lot of TDW units have had TDW Mastery that gives them a chain cap of 6x whereas TDH is at 4x. The advantage is clearly TDW given just that but is offset by the fact that TDH Equipment ATK goes up to 400% whereas TDW Equipment ATK only goes up to 200% and the fact that TDH weapons, 2H weapons, have a higher variance. This tended to make the two different but roughly equal when all is said and done. Lightning has a trait that increases her Chain Cap by 1, she also has an STMR that does the same thing. Outside of her the STMR is still much more important then if first sounds as going from a 4x to 5x is a 25% damage increase, for 1 Materia. Many of you are probably familiar with my “10% STMR” rule of thumb where I like to see a 10% damage increase from an STMR to make it worth an STMR moogle. So suffice to say a 25% damage increase is huge. (Boring nerd stuff: when chaining it won’t quite be a 25% increase for all units because the chain has to build first) Still it’s a gamechanger. When Sora was new, and we can all agree Sora is unit built for TDW, I designed to compare his TDW BIS, his current TDH BIS, and his Future TDH BIS after Lightning’s STMR was released. Here’s what that looks like https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#afc38320-5b96-11eb-87f8-c955d1aba12b So you’ll see that after Lightning’s STMR he’ll actually deal slightly more damage on average built TDH and a decent amount more damage when a “high roll” is achieved. And that’s with needing a fair amount of TDH gear, Killer Gear and LB gear and NOT capping ATK, LB damage, Killers OR TDH! So there’s actually room to grow there. Game changer. The next completely new thing Lightning brings is the so-called “Sword and Board” meta which simply put is TDH even if you have a weapon AND shield equipped. An important caveat though is that 2H weapons are still not allowed with a Shield so she won’t get the Variance that a traditional TDH unit gets. However she also brings TDH DEF with her that means we’re looking at a very very bulky Damage Dealer, think Xuan Wu and Qing Long with ATK/DEF. These are the two biggest highlights but she actually has a lot more to bring as well. She can Provoke, either actively or Passively, has a lot of Mitigations for herself so she could be a Damage Dealer and Provoke Tank. Amazingly we’re just getting warmed as she also has AOE Lightning Imbue and Lightning Damage Boost, gobs of elemental resist boosts and an AOE Double-Stack of Mirage on her Base LB. But wait, there’s more, she also has a 90% SPR break on her BS LB, that is right 90%, she switches from Physical Attacker on her Base to Magic Attacker on her BS and she can actually use Rods and Robes on her BS (sorry Lasswell), she has an 85% Fullbreak, and she has 30% damage increase against BROKEN (Depleted BREAK bar) enemies. Yeah, it’s a lot. Unfortunately if you read my opening you know where this is going though, she’s a Jack of all trades and a master of none. Her damage comes in about 25-30% lower then Sora currently does both for DPT and for Burst. While not awful considering all that bulk it’s stil less then exciting. So as you can see this a very very very INTERESTING unit, and really only needs a trial or two that she shines in to help sell her but unfortunately we don’t really have such a trial yet.
What do I need to make her shine?
This is a bit tricky because some will opt to gear her for Provoke and Evade ala Shadow while others will focus on her bulk while maintaining damage. Still others, and this will probably be the most popular imo, will focus on her damage and forego a shield for a 2H weapon. Kind of a bummer that for many she'll work best by simply ignoring the "Sword and Board" aspect of her design but so it is. Her STMR is crucial on her regardless of which path you take but whether she even uses her TMR or VC will depend heavily on which flavor of Lightning you prefer.
Why would I want to pull for her?
You want a unique STMR that can change builds up quite a bit or an extremely interesting unit that lots of things.
Why might I want to skip her?
You still have nightmares about the first twenty hours of FFXIII. That or you won’t use her. With such a unique and fascinating kit she could be a godsend for a lot of players but for others she’ll just sit on the bench because she doesn't deal enough damage to take over as Primary DD but also doesn't do enough to take over any other slot either.
Pros:
Game changing STMR
Huge bulk
Two stack AOE mirage
Provoke with mitigations
AOE Lightning imbue
Breaks- 90% SPR, 85% Fullbreak
Physical Attacker and Mage rolled into one
Cons:
Jack of All Trades
NVA Draconioan Princess Fina
January-February. CWA Chainer, EVOke Finisher.
Why should we care?
If you gave up on Chimera EXT because you didn’t have someone who could overwrite Chimera’s Field Effect then look no further. PLEASE NOTE that she is NVA unit. So this could be a unit you already have and just need to awaken, rather than one you need to pull for.
What makes her different?
Imagine if Terra had a much smaller burst but the same Damage Per Turn, you’d basically have NVA DP Fina. Up until now Terra was our only really successful EVOker, so while much of what Terra brings to the table is copied by DP Fina it’s still a very limited pool of such units. In fact DP Fina should arrive the same time as Infernal Fire Rain’s NVA (Who is similar enough but a fair amount weaker so that I’m not going to bother highlighting him) which will bring the total of such units to 3. The recent Chimera trial is made much much easier by having a unit that can do a Field Effect to replace the opponents and we’ll likely continue to see such things in the future. Unlike the vast majority of Damage Dealers in the game EVOkers don’t use Killers so you don’t need to give them any of your Killer gear which is great especially when such gear is stretched thin ::Cough cough Dark Visions cough cough::
What do I need to make her shine?
Like Terra her biggest burst is her BS LB which is an EVOke moves and it means you’ll want EVO Mag, EVOKE Damage AND LB boosting equipment. Unlike Terra though her non-LB turns still pack a huge punch and as such her EVO MAG and Evoke Damage is far more important then her LB boost. Still it’s a fairly narrow field of such equipment and FFBEequip.com will be your best friend in identifying what you have and might need.
Why would I want to pull for her?
I’ll be honest: you probably don’t. As a general rule I would never recommend pulling for NVA units, instead I would suggest Awakening them to NVA if you have them OR UOCing them. If you don’t have Terra and you can’t awaken Infernal Rain and you feel like you need a Field Effect creator OR EVOker then I would consider UOCing her.
Why might I want to skip her?
You already have Terra or NVA Infernal Rain or are waiting for Faris.
Pros:
Really good damage output
Doesn’t require killers
Isn’t as LB dependant as Terra
Cons:
Much lower burst then Terra
Closing Thoughts
At least for the TAG units we have a lot of different flavors of the same candy. Historically speaking Lassgen seems to be the best fit for our upcoming Trials BUT I don't feel that there is any wrong choice here. They all have usable TMRs, great STMRs and interesting VCs. I'll try to do another of these Soon-ish and focus more on NVA's however it'll probably be even more concise then these are. They are doing a pretty good job of making NVA's usable, but imo none of them come close to Tifa in the Top Tier kind of way. NVA Raegen has solid damage output but is well behind our current top Damage Dealers. Reminds me a lot of his Enhancements. Gilgamesh is a nice BreakeDD that probably falls between Loren and Riku/OK but also brings several different "deplete BREAK gauge" moves. Fenrir Edel is yet another EVOker but only really fills the niche if you have no one else.
EX2 Unit Upgrades
In JP between the Release of the second batch of TAG units and NV Lightning they gave new abilities to several early NV’s at EX2. This included Cloud (FFVII REMAKE), Rain -Neo Vision-, Aerith (FFVII REMAKE), Awakened Dragon Akstar, Sol -Neo Vision-, Gabranth -Neo Vision-. You can read about these upgrades here https://www.reddit.com/FFBEblog/comments/jfjlg9/guess_ex2_abilities_are_our_next_upcoming/ Like the Upgrades of old it gave some new life to these units although none became Top Tier again imo with the possible exception of Gabranth who was and continued to be the best Physical Tank. I would note though that Gabranth received a large amount of additional bulk and Cloud received a 35% Great Sword imperil that made him relevant again.
Future Watch FAQ
Q: Where is _______? A: They suck! J/K In JP there has been a slew of new Damage Dealers released but very little else. As such I choose to focus on the more “important” ones. I also chose to only handle so many banners this time. I’ll probably put out another Future Watch covering NVA Raegen, Enhanced Crown Prince Noctis, Faris, the Elric Brothers and NV Noctis within the next month or so. Q: Why does your spreadsheet say X and Furcula’s says Y and DreamblitzX’s says Z? A: We all use slightly different parameters although my 2.0 is pretty similar to Furcula’s assumptions now. Still sometimes we get different rotations, different builds, different chain modifiers or different assumptions. Still I try to keep a close eye to make sure we’re all in the same ballpark.
Taking up a traditional musical instrument to play sea shanties and sea songs (for total novices or experienced musicians)
What with the current fascination with sea shanties and sea songs, I figured that some folks might be interested in trying out the musical instruments of Western sailors of the 1800s and early 1900s. While a classic shanty tended to be sung just with vocals, sailors played a variety of musical instruments popular in their eras, and in the Folk Revivals of the mid 1900s, lots of musicians did fine work adding instrumentation to the old tunes. Maybe you’re an experienced musician looking to try a new sound after discovering sea songs, or maybe you’ve never played a note and hearing these great old tunes has inspired you to learn. In whatever case, in this little write-up I’m going to lay out some of the traditional instruments of the era which were favored by sailors, and explain for each how affordable and easy to learn they can be, and link you in some examples to listen to and places to learn more about each instrument. I’m not a PhD musicologist, but I do have a lot of research background, been playing traditional music for over 30 years, and have a general handle on the scene and the era. And I have for over a decade done little projects online to encourage people to push their boundaries and break away from the mainstream by trying musical instruments beyond the most common ones. Being entranced by a new genre of music is a fine time to further expand your horizons by taking up an instrument and making music yourself.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WINDS * Tinwhistle * Flute (and piccolo and fife) * Trumpet STRINGS * Guitar * Banjo (and banjo ukulele) * Fiddle * Mandolin * Ukulele FREE REEDS * Harmonica * Concertina * Melodeon/Button Accordion * (Toy Accordion/Melodeon) PERCUSSION * Drums * (Bodhrán) NOT TRADITIONAL SAILOR INSTRUMENTS, BUT WOULD SOUND AWESOME WITH SHANTIES * Appalachian/Mountain dulcimer * Udu or Ibo drum * Bagpipe * Electronic Instruments I will note before we begin, especially in the budget category, there are some real bargains but plenty of junk, so please use this article as a starting point, but read up a little on best buys. Don’t just say “oh, I dig Irish flute, and I see a new one on eBay for $50, sounds like a bargain!” and buy it without doing a little research, or you’ll get stuck wasting time and money on unplayable junk. All the more so for used instruments, which can offer great savings, but you really want to buy from a reputable dealer or a musician, or have an ironclad strategy for DIY repair, lest you get something too out of whack to learn on and too pricey to repair. Plenty of bargains, just don’t get impulsive, do just a little research before each purchase and you’ll be glad you did. There are online communities full of geeks like me for each of these instruments, who'd be happy to chat with you about choosing a good one for your money, and how you can best learn to play. We’re looking largely at the instruments of seafaring European (and diaspora) folk of the 1800s and early 1900s, which you can note largely resembled the instruments of the working class on land, farmers and city laborers, just with an eye towards durability and portability at sea. Fortunately, many of these instruments are relatively affordable, intuitive to learn (they had to be, to catch on with a largely illiterate population that just wanted to get to playing music without fuss), and often rugged and compact for travel. I realized after I finished this article that all these instruments can be learned by ear and video without formal written study, and (with the exception of fiddle) beginner tutorials for them are written in “tablature” (numbers that say where your fingers go) rather than sheet music, making them even easier to learn for total novices. WINDS Wind instruments had the huge advantage of being relatively compact, simple, and affordable, and some of them had a dual purpose for signaling or for military music, or just being heard above the noise of work and waves to keep a rhythm for work or dancing. Tinwhistle A tinwhistle is a small metal pipe with six finger-holes, and a whistle-like mouthpiece that directs the breath onto a sharp edge that produces the note. Like a referee’s whistle but with control of the notes. The great thing about tinwhistle is you can get a totally serviceable instrument for literally $9 or so; they’re just that cheap to make. There are professional Irish musicians who spend decades playing $9 whistles (often doing a little fine-tuning on their own to smooth them out), so they’re by no means just toys. Even if you aren’t in a hurry to learn, honestly at that price you might as well pick one up next time you’re shopping online, and give it a whirl. An instrument you could own for life for the price of a decent 6-pack. The subreddit tinwhistle can provide advice and resources, and off-Reddit there’s the specialized Chiff and Fipple Forum. If you buy a tinwhistle as a beginner, absolutely get one in the Key of D (the most common key), because 99% of teaching materials are for D, the common key for Irish music. (You'll notice an Irish crossover trend in much of this advice). There are some tutorials for shanties online, but honestly best bet would be to use some of the tutorials for Irish tunes just to learn the basics, and then you’ll swiftly be able to transition to learning other genres by ear. "Drunken Sailor" tinwhistle duet with concertina Flute (including piccolo and fife) The flute is of course a tube where you blow across a hole to make a note. Most of us have seen the classical flute in videos, silver with all those fancy mechanical keys, but the flutes of the 1800s were largely wooden and had few or no keys, just open finger-holes like the tinwhistle. In the modern day, such “simple flutes” are largely associated with folk music, especially Irish, so there are plenty on the market, including affordable ones made of synthetic materials or metals. Just don't be seduced by import "rosewood" cheapies, they're junk, one made of PVC pipe by an actual musician would be a better buy than those wall-hangers. I made a post on Chiff and Fipple asking about affordable flutes and fifes, and got some good options under $50 for some really simple plastic tube instruments of decent make, and some finer Irish flutes turned from synthetics around $250. Flutes come in a variety of sizes, but like tinwhistles the easiest way to learn is using Irish music tutorials and then adding nautical repertoire once you have the basics down, so again probably get Key of D. You can get a Low D flute about 2 feet long, or a High D flute (known as a fife or piccolo, or band flute) an octave above, the same rough size and pitch as a tinwhistle, just different method of blowing. The Low D instruments are pretty similar to each other, but for High D ("fife/piccolo/band flute") note some are "true fifes" made to play best at very high pitches for fife and drum music, others are meant to play smoothly at their lowest register, identical in range to a tinwhistle. So mind that distinction and ask the experts if you aren't sure which model suits your vision. Dixon Irish flute duet with cittern (large mandolin cousin) Modern high-quality Irish keyless piccolo Trumpet In my poring over old engravings and photographs, I was struck by how many showed sailors playing various trumpet-type instruments in the late 1800s, which kind of makes sense given the cultural crossover with military Naval traditions, and the volume of a trumpet which helps cut through wind and noise for signaling or dance music. I’m sure there are a zillion good write-ups on buying a basic trumpet (from $100-300), so I’ll leave you go google those or visit Trumpet. But personally reading up for this article got even me thinking about trying my hand at a little brass. I'm honestly torn between getting one of the novel plastic "brass" instruments made for learners like pTrumpet or jHorn (around $100) because I like innovative design, or carefully buying an okay-quality used brass instrument (after consulting experts) for similar price. But I bet a whaler would've loved a plastic one if they'd been available in 1863. "Wellerman" on trumpet STRINGS Guitar In my survey of period imagery, I did indeed find some images of men at sea playing guitar, but do bear in mind that guitar in the 1800s and early 1900s was nowhere near as omnipresent as it is today, and in different forms. Plenty of other instruments were far more popular, up until the mid-1900s where guitar really became a go-to choice in the West. Note too that steel strings on guitars, as well as larger body sizes, didn’t show up much until the early 1900s, so for much of this period those who played guitar played smaller body instruments, with gut strings (nowadays nylon strings sound almost like gut but are massively more durable and affordable). That said, tons of musicians in the Folk Revivals of the 1900s played a modern large guitar with steel strings and sounded great, so it really depends what tradition and sound you want to imitate. Again there are thousands of write-ups on taking up guitar, and plethora of new and used models, steel strings or nylon, all sizes, so I’ll leave that to you to Google or hit up LearnGuitar. But I would encourage you to keep an open mind to guitar types to get a little more unusual flair in your musical stylings, break away from the crowd a bit. If you’re an experienced strings player, if you want to get that droning and modal sound you hear in shanties, try tuning your current guitar to the Drop D or DADGAD tunings (see DADGAD), also popular in Irish music, and I think you’ll like your results. And if you’re a novice considering starting on guitar, I’m one of those people who believes that 2 months on a $50 ukulele and then four months on a guitar gets you further ahead than 6 months on a guitar alone, because uke is just so much more accessible for the total beginner. (Plus you’ll end up having a spare uke to carry where your guitar is inconvenient and left at home.) So if you’re considering guitar, check ukulele and ponder whether a uke of some sort could be an affordable and easy initial stage to launch your studies. Irish jig on guitar in DADGAD tuning "Drunken Sailor" on nylon-strung guitar Banjo The banjo is an instrument developed by American enslaved people, inspired by related instruments they’d known in Africa. By the mid 1800s, the banjo had crossed demographic lines and become hugely popular with European-Americans and spread to other countries, far more popular than the guitar was at the time. It was the go-to plucked string instrument for much of the 1800s. If you’re looking to take up banjo, know that the banjos of this period had a different sound and playing style than the modern bluegrass instrument, so set aside your stereotypes and listen to some recordings of “Old Time” banjo rather than the bluegrass and country licks you’re used to hearing in soundtracks. These banjos were less piercing, mellower, and a more languid style. And much like on guitars, steel strings were less common, gut being typical and having a much softer sound (today we have nylon options). So when you go reading up “how to choose a banjo” articles or visiting Banjo (or BanjoHangout.com), look for an “open back” banjo rather than one with the heavy metal ring around the head (“resonator”) which makes it louder and sharper for bluegrass. If you want to get really traditional, and sound softer and be easier on your fingers, spend $9 to get nylon (imitating gut) strings for a much less cliché and smoother sound. (Just note nylon strings stretch like crazy for a few days until they break in and stabilize, be patient.) Speaking of sound, absolutely don’t fall into trying to learn the modern “three-finger” or “Scruggs” style of play, which is a post-WWII styling, but read up on the old “clawhammer” or “frailing” style of play, which sounds entirely different and may pleasantly surprise you if you thought you don’t like banjo. "Wellerman" on 5-string banjo, played clawhammer style Nylon strings on a fretless banjo, just to show a very different sound I will briefly mention some banjo variants other than the 5-string type we’re mostly familiar with. There is also the “tenor banjo” which has four strings, lacking that shortened fifth string off to the side on the currently popular banjos. A tenor banjo is tuned differently: depending on what strings you’re using (and you can swap the strings out for about $10) it’s tuned either like a violin/mandolin, or like a guitaukulele, so those skills cross over well, and is slightly shorter than the common 5-string. Three Irish reels on a tenor banjo And if you want a banjo that to one degree isn’t as historically associated with sailors, but to the other is actually surprisingly similar to the smaller and mellower banjos of the early 1800s, there’s the “banjo ukulele” hybrid which is quite affordable and easy to learn. Frankly, if this is your first instrument and you want banjo, I’d get a banjo ukulele first rather than a 5-string, because they’re just so affordable (decent ones start around $100 new) and handy and easy to learn, and very mellow, not like the cliché sound you’d expect. And though they lack the fifth string, in the last decade or so a ton of YouTube uke experts have been developing the “clawhammer ukulele” style of play. It works impressively well on ukulele or banjo ukulele (which are played the exact same way, same online tutorials apply, they just have a different body and thus sound). "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" on banjo ukulele, clawhammer style Fiddle The “fiddle” is physically basically the same as a violin, just played in a folk rather than classical style. There are probably millions of violins bouncing around the world, including plenty of used deals, but you really want to read up on how to find a good deal on a new or used one, because violins are a little finicky. I would also say that unless you’re extremely motivated or getting a Zoom teacher, I wouldn’t advise fiddle as your very first instrument. Because they lack frets and learning to use a bow is its own distinct skill, they have a bit of a steep initial learning curve. So you maybe want to learn a little ukulele or mandolin (which has the same fingering as fiddle) before jumping in. But that said, if you just love fiddle and are ambitious, or already have a little strings background, by all means dive on in. Learn it in standard tuning, but once you get the basics down, try "open tunings" for shanties and the like. Hit up Fiddle for advice. The fiddle was a hugely popular instrument from the 1700s up to the mid-1900s before falling off sharply heading into the rock ‘n’ roll era. With fiddle you can cover a huge variety of historical musical traditions. "Blow Boys Blow" on fiddle, while singing (something you don’t see classical violinists do) Mandolin This originally Italian instrument took on a wider popularity in the Western world around the late 1800s and early 1900s, again being more popular than guitar in many areas during that period. A mandolin has the chording ability of the guitar but the melodic dexterity of a fiddle, is nice and compact especially compared to a large modern guitar, and can be bought in a passable starter model as low as ~$99. Though if you can stretch to a budget of more like $300, you’ll really appreciate the improvement. Plenty of used ones floating around, though buy those from a musician or reputable dealer, not from randos on eBay with something they pulled out of a closet from ages ago. Mandolins are under very high tension, and older ones that are low quality or mistreated can be warped or cracked in ways a novice can’t easily notice, but that make them unsuitable to be played. Don't jump on the first "bargain" you see, mando is common enough that you'll see bargains every other day, don't get impulsive, get advice from mandolin players online. I will note that although mandolin had a narrower time and place of popularity than banjo or especially fiddle, it closely resembles even earlier instruments like the “English guitar”, “cittern” and “Portuguese guitar” that were more widespread, so can serve as a partial stand-in for a number of centuries and locales. Plenty of good information at mandolin awaits you if you want to take up mando. Beginner mandolins are pretty affordable, and it's not too hard to learn, but it will take time for your hands to adjust and toughen up your finger pads. If you want to try mandolin tuning on an even more affordable instrument and with less string tension, you can get a basic starter ukulele and get Aquila's "Fifths" strings for ukulele (make sure to get the size that corresponds to the size of your uke) for $5-10 and string it in GDAE or CGDA, and then the fingerings would cross directly over to mandolin or mandola. "Salt Water Shanty" tune on the mandolin An example of the related "Portuguese guitar", shared between England and Portugal by the sea trade, played on the docks of Lisbon for "fado" music "Bach 1st Cello Suite" on a ukulele re-strung to CGDA Ukulele The ukulele is based on traditional Portuguese small guitar-like instruments, and was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in 1879 when the SS Ravenscrag brought over Portuguese immigrants in 1879. The instrument caught the imaginations of the local Hawaiians, and some Portuguse woodworkers who'd just arrived capitalized on that trend and began producing a local version. So certainly sailors coming and going from Hawaiian ports had a chance to become familiar with the instrument. The ukulele is one of the easiest string instruments to play, and the skills cross directly over to guitar and other instruments. If you're new to strings I would highly suggest getting a $50-99 ukulele first to get used to strings, and then decide your best move. As noted above, a uke can be an excellent stand-in for guitar, banjo, or mandolin (especially if restrung in fifths). "Wellerman" on a regular $40 ukulele, conventional strumming and sounding awesome "5 Sea Shanties on Ukulele", a really great and crystal-clear tutorial for noobs by Destiny Guerra Ukulele has a shanty contest recently, might want to check out the submissions by other Redditors of shanties on ukulele FREE REEDS The name “free reeds” might sound confusing, but it basically just means things like the accordion and harmonica (which despite looking so different, are close cousins). On common reed instruments like saxophone or oboe, the air tube has one reed (a flexible tongue that produces a note as it vibrates when air flows over it) that makes the core pitch, and by opening holes to change the functional length of the tube you change the note. In contrast, with free reeds, you have an array of individual reeds that always make the same note, and you choose which note(s) to play by directing air over them with a button (accordion) or by moving it against your mouth (harmonica) Harmonica I think most folks are familiar with the basic concept of a harmonica, so I’ll just note there are a harmonicas at every price range, all kinds of keys (and ones in minor scales and such), and a lot of harmonica players own a whole stack of them to have a variety. While there are playable ones for like $10, aim for about $25-35 or more for your first one, if able, rather than going totally cheap, just so you aren’t held back as you’re trying to learn. There are a ton of free harmonica tutorials online, and books you can buy, and harmonica to advise, so you can’t go too wrong. The modern harmonica was invented in the 1800s (based in concept on centuries-old instruments of Southeast Asia encountered by travelers). Hohner started mass-producing barge-fulls of them in Germany shortly after the American Civil War, and exporting them to the US. While maybe we don’t think of harmonicas as a sailor thing, they were an omnipresent affordable and pocket-sized instruments, surely familiar to sailors of the period. "Drunken Sailor" on a less-common minor-key harmonica "Wellerman" tutorial on standard harmonica Concertina The association between sailors and concertina is so strong as to be almost cliché, due in large part to Hollywood portrayal, like sea shanty concertinist Alf Edwards cameoing in 1965’s “Moby Dick". The concertina is basically like a small hexagonal accordion, but a simpler and less raucous sound due to (usually) only one reed per note, and every button is an individual note rather than some buttons being chords. Concertina is pretty intuitive to play, and there are some good free tutorials online. For a novice interested in sea shanties you probably want the “Anglo” style (different notes on push and pull, like a harmonica or melodeon). Commonly people buy the 30-button Anglo, because most concertina buyers play Irish music and you want 30 for that. But for shanties and other simple folk, you can do well with a 20-button (which can also play most Irish), which tend to be a little cheaper. I would really give a pass to the $150-200 China-made ones on Amazon and eBay, and go for at least $299 or so for a new 20b or used 30b. (Or hit up Cnet's sales subforum to ask if anyone has a bargain 20b for a noob). While Anglo is hands-down the traditional choice of sailors, in the Folk Revivals, for whatever reason (lots of them cheap in pawnshops?) a lot of folk musicians took up the English-system concertina. The English externally looks similar but has the same note on push and pull of the bellows, so totally different playing style. Some of the most famous shanty players of the 1960s-1970s (like the fantastic Alf Edwards mentioned above) played English, which in the actual sailing days was the instrument of the wealthy, not laborers. But y’all are in luck, because I’m a mod at Concertina and have written a pretty comprehensive Concertina FAQ and Buying Guide for novices, the sub itself can help advise with any questions, and for serious experts or to shop an active buy/sell forum for bargains, visit Concertina.net Forums. Note for both concertina and melodeon (button accordion), “Appcordions” produces free or cheap apps for your phone or tablet which emulate concertina (Anglo, English, or Duet fingering systems) or button accordion. The apps take a little getting used to, but are fun to try out the concept before committing. Read the instructions or watch a tutorial for each to understand how to emulate bellows direction changes on an app, and they're better on tablet than phone, but passable on phone. Modern shanty "Grogg Mayles" played on Anglo concertina (note the constant back-forth to change notes) A. L. Lloyd singing “Off to Sea Once More” backed up by Alf Edwards on English concertina (Lloyd is my favorite shantyman of all time, and Edwards so gorgeous on English that I forgive him the heresy of passing up Anglo) Melodeon (Button Accordion) When modern people think “accordion” they tend to think the huge ones with a piano keyboard, such as played by Weird Al. But for much of the 1800s and early 1900s, the dominant accordion was the “melodeon” (Americans tend to call them a “button accordion”) which is generally smaller, and has one, two, or three rows of buttons instead of a piano keyboard. Like the Anglo concertina or the harmonica, a given melodeon button produces a different note when you change air direction, which means that notes that make a chord line up together, making it very intuitive to play. There are hordes of melodeons on the used market, but ones hauled out of a closet after 40 years of no play can need hundreds of dollars of refurbishment by a skilled technician. So again don’t go buying from randos on eBay, but buy from an actual player, or reputable dealer (many of whom buy the tore-up rando ones cheap on eBay, fix them up and flip them at reasonable prices). Figuring out the good deals can be daunting to a novice, so I went to Melodeon.net and got a detailed discussion going resulting in somewhat of a novice buyer’s guide for sea shanties that you might find easier to digest. With some hunting around the various reputable dealers, and Melodeon.net’s sales section, you can find a decent melodeon as low as $250-350 (easier still in the UK or EU where melodeon is more common). Also check out the small sub Melodeon (we may add a sticky or wicki to link dealers of affordable refurbished button accordions). Fortunately shanty players are less picky about specific keys and models, so can get some good deals on less-fashionable variants other musicians are slow to buy. High Barbary on 2.5-row melodeon, voice and fiddle "Bully in the Alley" tutorial on 2-row D/G melodeon Addendum: “Toy” Accordions (Melodeons) I will address one kind of intriguing and highly affordable option for learning the basics on melodeon. There’s a little 7-button job called a “toy accordion” made in China (the button kind, not piano kind), sold on all the major online retailers. It isn’t so much really a "toy" as it is a small functional instrument but of kinda middling materials and iffy quality control, but it is a genuine musical instrument. Funnily enough, a small and shoddy mass-produced melodeon was exactly what laborers and sailors of the mid to late 1800s played, churned out of factories in Germany at prices so low they were practically disposable. Ironically the “toy” is arguably the historically authentic option, in spirit. I don’t want to sound like I’m shilling for Amazon, I don’t even have affiliate links to them on my YouTube channel (maybe someday), but I’m telling you now that Amazon or equivalent is a good place to get a toy accordion. That way you can buy a model and from a seller with the best reviews, and (this is vital) one with “free returns”. The QC on these is iffy, so if you get a lemon it’s great to be able to put it right back in the box, click “return” on the app, and it gets picked up off your porch or you drop it off at a local business that processes Amazon returns. And if you like you can even just re-order it with your refund until they get it right. These “toys” run about $20-40 (I just bought an EastaMugig, and it seems pretty decent and ready to tweak), so just pick one with good reviews, ensure it has free returns, and give it a whirl. Or if you really want to cut to the chase, there are accordion “fettlers” (repairers) who will just gut a toy for you and put quality reeds in it. Currently Smythe’s Accordions is the main shop I know of doing this in the US, and will put in quality reeds in the key of your choice, into a Russian toy accordion (better quality), if you want to spend $200. Now, if you get one into your paws that plays okay and you want to keep it, I suggest immediately opening it up and making some minor tweaks. This is one of those things all the melodeon folks casually mention and afaik nobody has bothered to make a proper tutorial on (I hope to shortly for my YouTube channel), but you can make these substantially better with very little skill. Basically put, you got seven buttons, with two notes per button, and two reeds per note to give it a tremolo/echo effect. The issue is those doubled reeds use up a lot of air, and your bellows are small, and one reed will always be more in-tune than the other. So you get some really basic tools and masking tape, pour a beer or soda, carefully open it (they’re pretty sturdy if you get a good one) and identify the two reeds for each note, lay down masking tape along one to silence it. While you’re in there, if you can identify any reeds that aren’t sounding properly, they’re probably clogged with dust, and you can google up how to carefully slide something thin like a dollar bill under the tongue to knock the dust loose and allow it to sound. Tape off one of each pair, assemble it and try it, and if a given note (now one reed per note) sounds off, make a note of which, disassemble and switch the tape from the other reed and see if the other one sounds better. It’ll take some futzing, but no major skill and no permanent changes (do it carefully so you can still return it if it just won’t shape up). If you get it right, now it’ll be using half as much air so way easier to play, and if you like there are many other little tweaks to adjust button play, fix bellows leaks, and all that, all pretty low-skill. But fundamentally for $20-40 you can have a kinda shoddy yet effective little melodeon, much like the sailors of old, on which you can accompany sea songs. Drunken Sailor on a decent yet stock toy accordion Irish polkas on a toy accordion that’s been fitted with quality reeds PERCUSSION Looking at old sailor imagery, you generally see small snare drums and bass drums, and there seems to be a large crossover between those on civilian ships and similar ones played in the British and American navies of the era. If you’re a real stickler you can get “rope-tuned” old-school wooden snare and small bass drums (sold for fife and drum reenactors), or make do with modern used marching-band instruments. I do want to note there is one kind of drum that’s relatively recent in tradition and wouldn’t really have been played by shanty-era sailors, but sounds absolutely amazing with shanties if you aren’t a stickler: the Irish bodhrán. It’s a relatively shallow circular shell with one drum head, held in one hand and the other hands holds a double-headed stick (like a little kayak paddle) and virtuosically skips it off the drum head in rhythmic patterns. It's pretty cool, but if you get one, learn it proper because eager noobs not bothering to learn skill and just whacking on it are a cliche in the Irish trad scene. Bodhran is tiny but has some good links, and you can always ask and see who answers. Daniel Payne of Newfoundland sings “Wind Through the Window” while backing himself on bodhrán NOT TRADITIONAL SAILOR INSTRUMENTS, BUT WOULD SOUND AWESOME WITH SHANTIES I want to briefly discuss one instrument from each category that aren’t strictly historical to seafarers, but really fit in with the spirit of shanties. These would be great retcons, and one very modern wildcard at the end. Appalachian/Mountain dulcimer The dulcimer was likely a French or German instrument acquired by the rural folks in the Appalachian mountains of the US, and worked into the local tradition due to its simplicity. It’s a long wooden box played in the lap, tuned to open tunings, with only partial fretting, which makes it ridiculously easy to learn and accompany yourself on. I like to joke that it's the "Celtic sitar." I taught quite a few workshops on the dulcimer for groups, and it’s about one of the easiest fretted string instruments to learn. They’re pretty affordable (you can get cardboard-bodied [seriously, they work] ones around $50, basic wooden ones around $100, ask around at dulcimer) and they have that droning and dark sound that would go great with shanties. "Skye Boat Song" on dulcimer Udu or Ibo drum This percussion instrument, originating in West Africa, is a clay pot (some modern makers use synthetics) that is drummed upon, and capable of some really cool percussive sounds. Can produce a surprising number of tonal effects, I think of it as the "African tabla." Runs about $100+ for the basic synthetic models by Meinl, which are lighter and more durable than ceramic. LP makes durable ceramic ones from about $75. See the very tiny sub Udu for more info, or ask the larger community at drums. Udu/Ibo drum solo Bagpipe Check your stereotypes, the Great Highland bagpipe associated with marching around in kilts (which is awesome in its own way) is only one of about 100 kinds of bagpipes, from Ireland to India and Sweden down to Libya. The Highland Pipe is loud and piercing, so not really great vocal accompaniment, but among the many other pipes are several which play at an indoor volume and lower pitch. Among the ones I’d most recommend to someone starting pipes, in terms of affordability (roughly around $400-$500 for basic ones of these three, some bargains come in lower), availability, volume, compactness, versatility, etc. would be the Scottish Smallpipes (quieter and a full octave deeper in pitch than Highland), the Swedish bagpipes, and the German hümmelchen. More than any other instrument on this list, for bagpipes I urge you to beware "too good to be true" deals. The reason is there is one specific outfit in Pakistan that has been turning out virtually unplayable bagpipes for export for decades, and they're all over Amazon and eBay for $100-200. They are not "well, I'll try a cheapie first and see if I want to get a nice one", they are total garbage, and the company is run by jerks because they could make a serviceable pipe in Pakistan by paying their workers 10% more and instead opt to turn hopeful noobies off piping forever with a "maybe it's a good starter" that's just trash. There are definitely good deals in piping (mainly some innovators working in synthetics, and some craftsmen in Eastern Europe with low costs of living), but the specific Pakistan pipes exported by a certain cynical company are omnipresent and a total waste. But the good news is with the slightest research you can avoid them and get some good starter pipes at reasonable price. Give those three types of bagpipes (or others too) a listen, see what jumps out at you, drop by Bagpipes to discuss. "Mingulay Boat Song" on Scottish smallpipes (bellows blown so the piper has breath to sing) "Polska efter Nedergårds Lars" on Swedish bagpipes "A Cascarexa" (Galician waltz) on hümmelchen Electronic Instruments (maybe on your tablet or even phone to be cheap) I’m sure many of you have seen techno remixes of "Wellerman" and whatnot, so though clearly in history those far post-date the shanty era, they do sound awfully cool (in some cases). So don’t be too shy to lay down some drum and bass lines and sing over them. There are various electronic boxes and knobs you can buy to do so, but these days a lot of what used to be $500 of fancy electronics are now emulated on your phone or tablet. Go mess with the free music apps, or read reviews and pay $10 for a good one, and get some beats going. If you want to try out a free iOS app that's pretty intuitive for making beats, as a total novice in electronic music I've enjoyed the free phone app Figure. Korg iKaossilator laying down drum and bass lines
HCMC just dipped back under 0.004 after rising steadily these last few days, long weekend is only gonna build the hype for the lawsuit on the 26th, once the lawsuit goes through 🚀🚀 and we hold for 💎💵 HCMC Healthier Choices Management Corp stock complete DD Package+Filed big lawsuite against Philip Morris $PM Nov30th '20/ pennystock exempt!
$HCMC
-60+ patents
-Pink Current
-pennystock Exempt
-MarketCap $665million
>Feb.8 2021 HCMC ANNOUNCES SALES OF $5,000,000 OF PREFERRED STOCK
February 7, 2021, Healthier Choices Management Corp. (the “Company”) entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which the Company sold and issued 5,000 shares of its Series D Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Preferred Stock”) to institutional investors for $1,000 per share or an aggregate subscription of $5,000,000. https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/hcmc-announces-sale-5-000-130500804.html?__twitter_impression=true / / /
>Aug.24th, 2020 Secured $2.5million in financing for their #PPE initiative.
"We identified a NICHE market that needs servicing, and we intend to take an ‘old school’ approach of building a consistent book of business for this initiative. The industry has been inundated with “spot sales”, often attempting to sell product that does not exist. We intend to eliminate this issue by having inventory in our warehouse, READY to ship.” “All types of businesses now need these products. Smaller health facilities need these products. Smaller businesses like restaurant chains and service industries need these products, and they cannot buy 1,000,000 boxes of gloves or 1,000,000 masks as is typically required. WE HAVE HAD NUMEROUS REWQUESTS TO FILL THESE ORDERS and intend to cater to this niche and help as many of these types of customers as we can.” https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/08/24/2082593/0/en/Healthier-Choices-Management-Corp-Secures-2-5M-financing-for-PPE-Initiative.html /
>A leader in the #CBD Vape industry! The Q-Cup can be used for Marijuana & CBD!
/ /
>Aug. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp. (OTC Pink: HCMC) today announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with MJ Holdings Inc.
This is from the recent SEC filing of the OTC stock VPRB! On September 6, 2018, the Company issued the Amended and Restated Secured Promissory Note in the principal amount of $582,260 (the “A&R Note”). The principal amount of the A&R Note represents (i) $500,000 which Healthier Choices Management Corp. (HCMC) loaned to the Company on September 6, 2018, and (ii) $82,260, which represents the aggregate amount owed by the Company under the Original Notes as of September 6, 2018. The A&R Note, which has a maturity date of September 6, 2021, had the effect of amending and restating the Note and bears interest at the rate of 7% per annum. Pursuant to the terms of the A&R Note, the Company agreed to pay HCMC 155 weekly payments of $4,141, commencing on September 14, 2018 and #ENDING on September 14, 2021, and a balloon payment for all remaining accrued interest and principal in the 156th week. The Company at its option has the right, by giving 15 business days’ advance notice to HCMC, to prepay a portion or all amounts outstanding under the A&R Note without penalty or premium. The balance of the note as of September 30, 2020 was $314,247.
/ /
>BIG Lawsuit against $PM for patent infringements, and patent 170 The Q-Cup is part of it. [www.TheQCup.com]
$PM has untill the Feb26th to submit their answer. Been researching/ alerting this since Nov.30th & theirs rumors the answer is a settlement!
>Lawyers representing HCMC have been awarded as the #1 lawfirm of the year amongst dozens of other awards. You think they would take on PM A big Pharma company & risk their reputation if they had even the slightest chance of losing? No they wouldn't. [www.cozen.com]
/ /
>Millions in annual revenue from 13Vape stores, 3 Paradise Health & Nutrition stores, 3 Adas Fresh Market, online Vape & CBD retailers, online health & nutrition retailers, and much much more!
>In the lawsuite their is 2 defendants named; Philip Morris USA & Philip Morris International! So technically it'll be a 2 for 1 win! Double the judgement too if look at it that way.
>Jan. 29th update to lawsuite:Judge approved PM request for a extension to submit their answer saying by February 26th now:" So that both defendants can submit their answer at the same time"Court also said no jury trials untill April now. HCMC said in their initial motion that they demand there be a jury trial for settling judgements. So PM better offer a big enough settlement to avoid that.
/
-Rumors going around about the April deadline date. That is when jury trials can resume. Because courts have suspended all Jury Trials due to COVID-19 until April 18th. People been getting confused and people spreading false information on purpose. So as of right now the only date on the case is the February 28th due date of Philip Morris's answer.
Once that is submitted, wether it be a settlement or accepting what they have done or deny the motion against them of infringing on HCMC's patents, than they will schedule the next court date. / /
THINK ABOUT AFTER HCMC WINS THE LAWSUITE AGAINST PM.
THEY'LL ASK HCMC TO LICENSE OUT THE PATENTS THEY HAVE INFRINGED ON! THEIR IQOS PRODUCT HAS 14MILLION + USERS, SO I DOUB'T THEY WOULD WANT TO ABANDON THAT REVENUE STREAM! THEY HAVE DOZENS OF ACTIVE TRADEMARKS FOR THE IQOS PRODUCT, AND PAYING HCMC TO USE IT IS THEIR BEST CHOICE! YOU THINK HCMC GOING TO GIVE THEM A DEAL, LOL HECK NO. THE MONEY FROM THIS LAWSUITE IS GOING TO MAKE IT THE BIGGEST LAWSUITE IN THE #OTC ! AND I BEEN TRADING SINCE I WAS 15, AND IN 16YRS NEVER SEEN A STOCK SO CHEAP, PINK CURRENT+PENNYSTOCK EXEMPT, 60+ PATENTS AND ALREADY LICENSES OUT MANY OF THEM! I BET LOTS OF #VAPE PRODUCTS IN THE MARKET ARE FROM COMPANYS PAYING LICENSING RIGHTS FROM $HCMC!!! / / / PLZ SHARE & UPVOTE! I HAVE SPENT 100S OF HOURS ON RESEARCH FOR THIS STOCK & CONTINUE TO DO SO. SINCE I STARTED TRADING WHEN I WAS 15, NOW 30, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A GREAT STOCK, WITH A BIG LAWSUITE SO CHEAP! / /
>I have full access to court records. As documents are submitted for the case etc, I'll update them here accordingly. STAY TUNED!
Additional support, resources, & DD by WallStreetBets+OTHERS:
WSB is behind HCMC NOW!
$WallStreetbetsELITE: "CONGRATULATIONS TO $HCMC!! You have been accepted into the AMC AND GME COMMUNITY BY ALMOST 1000 VOTES!!! HCMC will now be the stock to promote with AMC guys HOLD THE LINE and respect this honor. We will together destroy Wallstreet and hedges! Much love."
THE CALL (READ) $HCMC TO TH MOON! The below posts are all timestamped it is a timeline of older $HCMC DD + my thoughts back in 2020 about $HCMC and what was going to happen before all the hype and media frenzy and hubaloo... O_O and now here we are today. read if you are interested its long just a warning near the end is a monster DD post i did that was reposted on the wall here that many people read cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 11:12:53 AM Re: None 0 Post # 20121 of 30551 IMO people in the inner circle of HCMC know a little more about this than they are letting on but the volume and money is talking. Methinks the HCMC Lawyers are working overtime because if the case was falling through so would the volume... IMO The big Lawsuit people are talking about is between HCMC vs Phillip Morris for those who are new here and are curious. I think HCMC is on top of this very much because "intellectual property" is a main part of their platform and if someone else infringed on one of their patents that they conceive / design / develop they are in the position to take action against that. https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/hcmc-announces-formation-of-intellectual-property-holding-subsidiary-2020-12-14) (Copied - + more there is even more info in the full article - follow the link to read- ) HOLLYWOOD, FL, Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp. (OTC Pink: HCMC) (“HCMC or the “Company”) announces that it has formed a new wholly owned subsidiary to hold, market and expand on its intellectual property assets. This subsidiary, HCMC Intellectual Property Holdings, LLC, will own all of the patents, trademarks and other intellectual property of HCMC. HCMC currently owns a portfolio of patents related to both vape technology and also manufacturing processes and procedures for an imitation nicotine product. HCMC’s focus with this new subsidiary is to invest in innovation and encourage further development of core intellectual property. “The creation of a separate intellectual property holding entity allows us to efficiently market, license and otherwise capitalize on our growing intellectual property portfolio,” said Jeff Holman, CEO of HCMC. Mr. Holman concluded, “We feel that we can use HCMC Intellectual Property Holdings to further implement our strategic plan and better capture opportunities to monetize both technology that HCMC has already developed over the years, as well as technology that we will continue to develop into the future.” https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/hcmc-announces-formation-of-intellectual-property-holding-subsidiary-2020-12-14 HCMC is BIG on their patents and intellectual property. If someone steals your intellectual property or develops something you already patented then you can then legally sue them...by doing this you can in theory make more money suing someone for copyright infringement on intellectual property than you can on the infringed product in question At that point you don't even have to develop the initial idea to make money. AND THEN After the settlement from a victorious case... You can then use the money from the lawsuit to develop your business / product. lololol (that makes me smile) IMO as always but this is what I see thoughts? (THIS BRACKET IS ME REFLECTING FOR A SEC IN 2021...might as well be a time traveler LOL OK KEEP READING THAT WAS A BRAIN BREAK) cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 01:06:15 PM Re: BJ-Trader post# 20122 0 Post # 20138 of 30551 This is what I see 110 000 000 x.0001 = 11,000,000$ (seems like alot) BUT!!!!! HCMC IS SUING Philip Morris OVER THE IQOS System The IQOS heated tobacco units have become the third biggest tobacco brand behind Philip Morris' industry leading Marlboro and Imperial Brands' Winston. IQOS now has a 5.5% share of the global tobacco market, even though it hasn't been fully rolled out in a number of the 52 markets it's been introduced into. Smoking alternatives heat up the market There are now 13.6 million users of the IQOS,(at 100$ per unit making 1 360 000 000 $) that's 4 million more users than a year ago, and Philip Morris estimates 71% of them (around 10 million people) have stopped smoking and permanently switched to the device. If Philip Morris are found guilty of patent infringement on every single sale of every single IQOS unit... They have to cough up a massive chunk if not all of a 5.5 % share in the entire global tobacco market...of planet earth... over to HCMC. A scenario like that would defiantly cover it... DD for ya Healthier Choices Management Corp. Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Philip Morris November 30, 2020 17:00 ET | Source: Healthier Choices Management Corp HOLLYWOOD, FL, Nov. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthier Choices Management Corp announced the filing of its patent infringement lawsuit against Philip Morris USA, Inc. and Philip Morris Products S.A. in connection with their product known and marketed as “IQOS®.” The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court For the Northern District Of Georgia. HCMC vs Phillip Morris Lawsuit filing https://sec.report/Document/0000844856-20-000047/ The international law firm Cozen O’Connor has been engaged to represent HCMC in this matter. https://www.cozen.com/ (MONSTERS ^ ) HCMC’s lawsuit includes claims that Phillip Morris is infringing HCMC’s patent rights in connection with IQOS®, an alternative tobacco product marketed and sold by Phillip Morris. Philip Morris claims that it is currently approaching 14 million users of its IQOS® product and has reportedly invested over $3 billion in their smokeless tobacco products. Philip Morris has been very open about their ongoing transition from traditional fully combustible cigarettes to their modified risk tobacco products, including IQOS®. https://www.pmi.com/faq-section/faq/what-is-iqos clearly covered http://www.healthiercmc.com/patents The Philip Morris IQOS® product is currently the subject of two other patent infringement proceedings filed by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. One proceeding is before the International Trade Commission and seeks to stop the importation of the IQOS® product into the United States. (added)THE INTERNATION TRADE COMMISION / FDA proceeding for the sale and distribution of IQOS system in the united states was in fact just recently approved. https://www.pmi.com/media-centenews/the-fda-authorizes-the-sale-of-iqos-3-in-the-us ; the other is a patent infringement action currently pending in the Eastern District of Virginia. RJ Reynolds’ patents are unrelated and not affiliated with the patents asserted in the HCMC case. “We are pleased that after a lengthy and careful analysis, a law firm with the patent litigation reputation and strength of Cozen O’Connor will be enforcing our patent rights,” said Jeff Holman, CEO of HCMC. Mr. Holman concluded, “We look forward to proving our allegations of infringement in this matter and intend to continue to move forward against any and all companies that infringe upon our intellectual property in both the tobacco and cannabis categories.” HCMC is in the right here... FYI an IQOS system costs 100$ 13.6 million users all payed 100$ or 99 euros so 13.6 million users x 100S per unit as of feb 2020 (#'s don't reflect all the new users between feb to now either so the number is larger) There are now 13.6 million users of the IQOS, 4 million more than a year ago, and Philip Morris estimates 71% of them (around 10 million people) have stopped smoking and permanently switched to the device. As of Feb 10, 2020 At this point almost a year later they have even more users and now FDA approval for sale running around flag shipping the IQOS System that is in fact actually HCMC's patented intellectual property. If or when PM ends up on the block and are forced to pay up on those kind of numbers to HCMC. The more greedy they get(and you know they are greedy) the more in the end they owe to HCMC and also the IQOS system that is actually HCMC's intellectual property is now FDA approved for sale in the US. (thanks to PM lol ) cheshirechocobo Wednesday, 12/30/20 10:56:17 PM Re: Badge04 post# 20507 0 Post # 20508 of 30551 MY POINT EXACTLY...If everything clicks for HCMC's legal team and the case goes through they will get rid of the float faster than you can spin your head. I think they already are even? If it all goes down in HCMC's favor and this will blow up so monster it will become an OTC legend. If you picked up .0001's on HCMC and held out on this it could change your life. HCMC can buy out the whole floor after the settlement and if the people involved high up / HCMC's legal team already know how it's going to work out in the end they could be getting an early start not waiting for the courts, to begin enacting their plan and as for .0001's / .0002's they wont even exist afterword's if that is the case they will be a thing of legend as well. No guarantees but man you could almost make a movie out of the story developing around this, at least a documentary. At .0001 / .0002 tickets to the show are nothing compared to the ROI potential. cheshirechocobo Monday, 12/28/20 02:26:15 PM Re: None 0 Post # 20155 of 30551 A theory HCMC would be smart to keep surprising the price until the court case settles and they then buy up their own shares at .0001 with the money from the settlement. That scenario would explain why so much volume yet no movement. If HCMC runs up before the court case ends they can't buy their own shares for .0001 . So they keep it as low as possible and load it until they are ready to buy themselves for .0001 with money from the court settlement funds. Anyone holding when that happens would just jump up along with the massive big block buys that would follow and HCMC has a massive rocket ride. That's also how they can own a lot of themselves moving ahead into the future thoughts? cheshirechocobo Tuesday, 12/29/20 12:40:55 PM Re: RoidBoi44 post# 20268 0 Post # 20276 of 30551 ok Roidboi ... look... I don't have a chalk board so I cant draw it out for you but.. HCMC will be able buy out their own bottom floor shares with IQOS Patent lawsuit settlement money. HCMC sues PM and then all of a sudden HCMC has billions and billions in volume everyday... I believe HCMC are the ones who will end up with the money to move it and that is why there is so much because its not for us to move its for them to get the lowest price possible on their own shares. In doing so they will own themselves protecting / controlling their own shares from the bottom. They will then drive the price up as much as possible to give those shares maximum potential value in the future. This is how an OTC company jumps up on to Nasdaq level. "The Come up" as it is said. Phillip Morris is under the gun because they used HCMC's technology (q-cup) in their IQOS vape system. I suspect they had .0001s reserved for themselves in priority somehow hence the cancelation of everyone's orders on multiple trade platforms even though 0.0001 were reading as available... This is all IMO but the writing is literally on the wall. The Volume here to me is the dead giveaway Someone's moving the cart along... Unicorn Potential END TIMELINE The above posts are all timestamped is a timeline of my thoughts back in 2020 about HCMC and what was going to happen before all the hype and media frenzy and hubaloo... O_O and now here we are today I'll let you decide if you think I called this one ;) <3 I'm not even going to claim it... This was the big post I mentioned about reposting and as a reward if you make it through all of this I will be reposting New DD and theory This was the post that I believe opened some eyes. as follows HCMC Q-Cup Tech Patent = Phillip Morris IQOS System Flagship next gen vape product being heavily pushed and marketed over 16 million + units already sold globally as of 2020 (the year isn't even over) So HCMC owns the patent for the technology being used and sold in Phillip Morris's "IQOS" - E cigarette technology The accused action is illegal The IQOS system is a major money maker for Phillip Morris having sold 16.4 million units globally as of now. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/will-rrps-growth-keep-driving-philip-morris-pm-in-2021-2020-12-28 Copied from above link (more in article)^ Tobacco companies have long been struggling with declining cigarette sales, thanks to consumers’ rising health consciousness as well as strict marketing and manufacturing policies imposed by regulatory authorities. Amid such a scenario, industry players like Philip Morris International Inc. PM are managing to stay afloat on the back of growth in low-risk tobacco alternatives. Additionally, gains from effective pricing strategies have been an upside. Let’s take a closer look. RRPs Are a Key Growth Catalyst Philip Morris is committed toward developing a smoke-free future by expanding offerings in the reduced-risk products (RRPs) category. These products, owing to their beneficial claims, are largely being accepted by individuals trying to quit or reduce cigarette consumption. Philip Morris is one of the industry pioneers in driving the shift from cigarettes to RRPs. The company’s IQOS is one of the leading RRPs in the industry. IQOS was launched in the United States in 2019, through a commercial deal with Altria Group, Inc. MO that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We note that IQOS is currently the only heat-not-burn product in the U.S. market, which has been approved by the FDA. Since the onset of the pandemic, the switch from smoking cigarettes to RRPs has been trending positively. Total users of IQOS at the end of third-quarter 2020 were estimated to be about 16.4 million globally. (So 16.4 million units x 100$ per unit = 1640000000$) In the said quarter, revenues in the RRPs category increased 28.6% and formed a little more than 23% of the company’s top line. The company expects consistent growth in the heated tobacco category, and therefore has been committed toward expanding these products. Earlier this month, the company’s IQOS 3 received authorization from the FDA for sale in the United States. The new device incorporates a number of technological improvements like enhanced battery life and quicker recharge. In prior efforts, the company started commercializing IQOS VEEV, which is its new product in the vapor category. The company also announced a partnership with South Korea’s KT&G earlier this year to commercialize the latter’s smoke-free products outside the country. Clearly, such efforts are likely to keep bolstering Philip Morris’ revenues from the RRPs space. Markedly, the company is on track to achieve its 2021 goal of > 90-100 billion < (WOW) shipments of heated tobacco units. (end copy) So... HCMC is suing Philip Morris because HCMC developed the patent ("Q-Cup") that is the same technology being used in the IQOS system now being pushed heavily by Phillip Morris and was approved back in 2018. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/healthier-choices-management-corp-issued-three-u-s-patents-in-relation-to-its-q-cup-technology-1027675756 http://www.healthiercmc.com/news/2018/9/24/hcmc-announces-us-patent-for-its-q-cup-technology-will-be-granted-in-60-90-days http://www.healthiercmc.com/patentshttps://theqcup.com/pages/patents So for those who don’t know yet. Healthier Choice Management Corp (HCMC) are suing Philip Morris for copyright infringement on their (HCMC's) patent regarding (Phillip Morris's) IQOS - E cigarettes (now being sold like hotcakes by Phillip Morris.) According to Phillip Morris they haven’t denied this fact by revealing they invested over 3 billion so far into marketing these new E-Cigarette products including the contested IQOS. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/30/2136949/0/en/Healthier-Choices-Management-Corp-Files-Patent-Infringement-Lawsuit-Against-Philip-Morris.html HCMC hired the law firm COZEN to pursue these claims. I have attached some links below for further research into the future value of E-cigarettes. https://www.cozen.com/ If Philip Morris is found guilty and liable of patent infringement it means they illegally sold 16.4 million units of the IQOS system. + the 2021 goal of 100 billion units and any other profits linked to IQOS related profits would be forfeit and owed to HCMC in some form. That is just mind blowing Philip Morris is moving forward with their marketing campaign despite the lawsuit even receiving FDA approval for large scale sales of the IQOS system in the United States despite the HCMC lawsuit. If Phillip Morris are found guilty the more profit they make on the IQOS system in the end just digs Phillip Morris a deeper hole as a climbing pay back price tag. https://www.pmi.com/media-centenews/the-fda-authorizes-the-sale-of-iqos-3-in-the-us Source of " Additional info from Ihub"
The old one was archived, so here's a fresh one so the questions/answers can continue.
WHAT’S A FIGHTSTICK?
It’s a controller reminiscent of the controls used in an arcade cabinet, generally featuring a joystick and multiple buttons. Most can be played on a lap, while some are heavy and large enough to warrant a table or platform underneath them. Using one over a standard handheld or console controller won’t magically up your game and they are largely preference. They are most commonly used for fighting games, shmups, run ‘n guns, and classic arcade titles. At their simplest, a fightstick requires an enclosure (usually made of wood, acrylic, or metal), buttons, a joystick, a PCB, and a wiring harness to connect everything. Additionally, all-button fightsticks that don’t utilize joysticks are becoming more commonplace on the scene.
WHICH STOCK FIGHTSTICK IS BEST?
This is largely a matter of taste and budget. Here are just a few options to get you thinking. ENTRY LEVEL: Qanba Drone and Mayflash F500 If you go much cheaper than these options, you may sacrifice quality and durability. DO NOT GO CHEAPER THAN THESE OPTIONS. SOLID LEVEL: Hori Real Arcade Pro N/4/V, Razer Panthera, Qanba Obsidian, Qanba Pearl, Hori Fighting Edge, Mad Catz TES+ (and Razer Atrox for Xbox One players) SOLID BUT $$$ LEVEL: Qanba Dragon, Victrix Pro 5, etokki Omni At the end of the day, go with what feels right and fits your budget. There are lots of awesome sticks out there. If you really can't make up your mind, go with an Obsidian (or even better, a Pearl, since the only difference is color and a noir button layout). Really though, if you're still that on the fence, then you can also consider building your own. They come together fairly easily these days and it's super fun (though they will usually run at a higher price point than a stock stick unless you can easily get or make a suitable enclosure). Just more food for thought. For more in-depth reviews: Jeux Arcades, ConsumerExpert, Tom’s Guide, PCMag, bestarcadesticks, thearcadestick
Obviously many players enjoy customizing their sticks. Everything from lever, to the button type, to the tension in the lever, to the enclosure itself can be changed to better fit the style of the user. If you’re making your own from scratch, here are some things to keep in mind.
COMMON ISSUES:
Make sure you buy the correct button size. Most buttons on the top face of fightsticks are 30 mm. If you have smaller hands or want that Hitbox vibe, then 24 mm might be appropriate, but most of the time, people go with 30 mm. Auxiliary buttons (home, share, PS, etc.) are generally where you find 24 mm. All buttons have a unique feel, but some common brands include Sanwa, Seimitsu, Crown/Samducksa, Hayabusa, and GamerFinger. Here's a helpful page about button and joysticks: Joystick and Button attributes
When you’re ordering your buttons, you’ll also notice that there are generally both snap-in and screw-in button types. Most of the time, it won’t matter which you choose; however, as a general rule of thumb, if the top face of your enclosure is on the thicker side, go with screw-in buttons.
Make sure your layout lines up with your art. Some printing shops won’t print art with existing licensed characters, so you may have to visit more than one if you’re trying to get it done locally.
You’ll need to keep in mind the games you’d like to play and on which platforms they are found. In my mind, PS4 and PC have more and better fighting game exclusives (though KI on XBone was great), so those platforms would probably be the best bet if you’re just getting into the fighting game genre. Regardless, look to see which consoles the stick actually supports when you’re buying. If you’re building your own, then make sure the PCB you choose is compatible with your console/PC. The PCB most common to this generation of custom sticks are the Brook brand PCBs.
Most stock retail sticks come with Sanwa parts (besides Hori which comes with Hayabusa).
American style parts will most likely not fit a Japanese stick due to height.
Korean levers with collars won't fit a traditional Japanese stick due to the size of the joystick hole.
Our vision is to continue to grow and be a hub for fighting game controller tech as well as a safe space for trades and sales, something like the spiritual successor of SRK’s Tech Talk and Trading Outlet. Discord folks are happy to talk shop or to help you find another outlet beyond eBay to buy and sell your fightstick. If you haven’t joined the Discord, consider stopping by to see what it’s all about:
*And this should go without saying, but sales conducted through there are at YOUR OWN RISK (always do your own homework), but in general, most people are trustworthy and there’s been very few instances of people being burned. Please no price flaming and remember that it’s always a good idea to pay with the PayPal Goods and Services option so you are covered if the deal falls through. Any questions, ask one of the Discord mods. Also, if buying and selling fightsticks is your primary interest, consider visiting Fightsticksforsale since that is their main area.
OTHER / FLUFF / SUPERFLUOUS NONSENSE
For 2021, we created a brand spankin' new, friendly, inclusive dojo for those like-minded fightstick enthusiasts to sport the “rFightsticks” tag under their names. If you play SFV, feel free to join, and if you’d like me to add similar rFightsticks-themed dojos/groups for different games to our FAQ, you are welcome to create and I can update a master list accordingly in the FAQ. To join for SFV, you need to sync your account on Shadaloo C.R.I. and then simply search for the dojo under my Fighter ID (Hush_My_Sweet) or the dojo ID itself (rFightsticks). There's also a "Fightstick of the Month" series by Mr. Sujano where he combs through the posts on this sub to pick out top contenders. In addition, we have an annual series of awards to go alongside his "Best Fightsticks of the Year" video where an awesome panel of FGC people choose winners for a number of different categories. Please don't be shy; consider posting your builds to show them off to this community and get noticed. The community here definitely appreciates cool fightstick work. _____ If you have any other links or information that you think might belong here in this welcome FAQ, post here or DM me so I can update accordingly (and huge thanks to hugs_n_giggles for helping with this one). If you have any minor questions that don't deserve their own threads, then reply here and the community will usually have an answer for you. Minor questions are also perfect for the Discord. *If no one responds to your question here, feel free to create a thread to get it some more visibility.
This thread was originally posted 3 and a half years ago and has since been deleted by the author. I believe it deserves a second go:https://np.reddit.com/conspiracy/comments/6j16ei/911_truth_megapost/ I've been looking into 9/11 for a few months now and I decided to throw together some of my most compelling information and links and share. Please share your thoughts and any additional info.
World Trade Center - Flights 11 and 175
WTC 7
World Trade Center Building 7 was a 47-storey, fireproofed, steel-frame building completed in 1987. On 9/11 2001, it was hit by debris from the North Tower WTC 1 collapse at 10:28 AM. The official government narrative claims that this debris ignited fires that burned for several hours and weakened WTC 7 until it collapsed at 5:20 PM. This narrative has been doubted by skeptics who have studied the collapse -- notably the 2,800+ Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911). Noting the sudden initiation of the collapse, the complete destruction of the building, the lack of structural resistance, freefall speed, and symmetrical fall into its own footprint, AE911 insists WTC 7 was brought down via controlled demolition.
The 2004 9/11 Commission Report did not mention WTC 7. After complaints from architects and engineers about this anomalous collapse being swept under the rug, the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began a formal WTC 7 study, initially attempting to blame internal diesel tank fires and denying freefall collapse speed. However, with AE911 Truth pointing out calculations of freefall speeds from video, and that diesel fires could be ruled out by lack of smoke, NIST was forced to concede on both of these points before their final 2008 WTC 7 report. Still, NIST officially claimed that WTC 7 collapsed "primarily from normal office fires." By ignoring sheer studs and other structural components of this modern steel-frame building, NIST concluded that the failure of column #79 somehow initiated a sudden universal "progressive collapse." Here is NIST's computer model of the initiation of collapse alongside video of the actual collapse. Does it match? Video: https://youtu.be/pmdcMb5D9gM AE911 Truth asked to see the data behind this simulation to understand how NIST reached their conclusions. Their request was denied because it might "jeopardize public safety." NIST Letters Denying Requested Info: https://cryptome.org/nist070709.pdf https://cryptome.org/wtc-nist-wtc7-no.pdf
Larry "Pull it" Silverstein
Owner of the WTC buildings Larry Silverstein says that he decided loss of life in WTC 7 was so heavy that he should just "pull it." Whatever that means! Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p34XrI2Fm6I Silverstein built and owned WTC 7 since 1985, and acquired the WTC towers in July 2001. After 9/11, he fought in court for a double insurance payment, claiming there were two terrorist "occurrences." He didn't win the $7.1 billion double payment he was hoping for, but he was awarded for 1 & 1/3: a payout of $4.55 billion. Other interesting statements by Silverstein:
his wife thankfully reminded him of his dermatology appointment on 9/11 and insisted he go, making him skip his customary breakfast at the top of WTC 1 that morning: https://youtu.be/9ScGZCqEyGM
Regarding the new replacement building for WTC 7, "the first design meeting was in April of 2000." ... 17 months before it was destroyed?: https://youtu.be/j-_WYHwUtcI?t=28
What Was In WTC 7?
WTC 7 consisted exclusively of government agencies and financial institutions, including the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, as well as Secret Service and CIA offices. http://www.wtc7.net/background.html
Previous High-Rise Fires
Before and since 9/11, no steel-framed high-rise buildings have ever collapsed from office fires. We are told that on that day, three did: WTC towers 1, 2, and building 7. Past examples: 1991, Philadelphia, PA – One Meridian Plaza burned for 18 hours, gutting 8 of 38 floors. A FEMA report said "beams and girders sagged and twisted," but "continued to support their loads without obvious damage." 2004, Caracas, Venezuela – Parque Central building burned for 17 hours, gutting 20 of 50 floors. It did not collapse. A segment on previous high-rise fires: https://youtu.be/l0Q5eZhCPuc?t=746 A 9 minute video, Steel Buildings Don't Collapse From Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnnjIzamnJo Of course, WTC 7 was hit by debris, which did some damage. Also, WTC 1 and 2 were hit by airplanes, but they withstood those impacts well, like they were designed to.
1993 Seattle Times Article, "Twin Towers Engineered to Withstand Jet Collision”
John Skilling, WTC head structural engineer:
Our analysis indicated the biggest problem would be the fact that all the fuel (from the airplane) would dump into the building. There would be a horrendous fire. A lot of people would be killed… The building structure would still be there.
January 2001 Interview with WTC Construction Manager
WTC Construction Manager Frank DeMartini:
The building was designed to have a fully loaded 707 crash into it. That was the largest plane at the time. I believe that the building probably could sustain multiple impacts of jetliners because this structure is like the mosquito netting on your screen door—this intense grid—and the jet plane is just a pencil puncturing that screen netting. It really does nothing to the screen netting.
Aman Zafar took hi-res photos on 9/11 from a distance across the Hudson River -- some of the best photographic evidence from that day. They show pretty clearly how undamaged the lower 90ish and 75ish floors of the towers were. Were these massive marvels of modern architecture really so fragile that one to two hours of fires fuelled by office furnishings and jet fuel (essentially kerosene) in the top floors was enough to suddenly reduce thousands of tons of structural steel and concrete into clouds of dust and a pile of debris barely taller than the lobby? Note the upward and outward ejections of debris. Could fire and gravity do that? Photoset: http://www.amanzafar.com/WTC/
Fire and Steel Temperature
Even if we're generous and claim the fires burned as hot as 1500°F (which is unlikely -- though NIST claims 1800°F), they would have to heat thousands of tons of structural steel beams to at least 1000°F for significant weakening. These beams would be fireproofed and would meet building codes created to protect against fires. Is it plausible that fires could do this to the buildings in just 56 minutes in the case of WTC 2 and 1 hour and 42 minutes for WTC 1?
Fire Department Tapes
The tapes of FDNY comms show firefighters ascending the stairwell of the South Tower WTC 2 and dealing with "two isolated pockets of fires" at the 78th floor. They are convinced they "should be able to knock it down with two lines." The firefighters have no concern about collapse, even to the last minute. This doesn't sound like they are discussing a building with 1000°F raging fires burning so intensely throughout that they could have heated the beams on every floor -- in an under an hour -- to weaken them enough to initiate an immediate total collapse with negligible structural resistance. FDNY Tapes: https://youtu.be/VGzMnmWYec0
A compilation of WTC 2 collapse footage where the use of controlled demolitions is apparent. Video: https://youtu.be/qhyu-fZ2nRA
Raw 9/11 Footage from Hotel Window
This footage from a hotel window across from the WTC towers shows a close-up view of the lower floors, demonstrating how undamaged they were. Note: Some graphic images of jumpers, bodies. Video: https://youtu.be/kZi4o2OBLEI Some points of interest: @14:40 - "can hear more explosions!" @19:15 - News in background is unsure of what has hit the Pentagon @19:40 - Sparks emitting from corner of tower
Barry Jennings witnessed explosions inside WTC 7 that left him trapped in the stairwell. His testimony contradicts the official NIST report that there were "no witness reports" of explosions. NIST's draft WTC 7 report was released 2 days after Jennings passed away in unclear circumstances 2008. Video: http://dai.ly/x26mumq?start=4919
WTC 7 Collapse Foreknowledge
Firefighter Foreknowledge
At least 60 firefighters demonstrated foreknowledge of the collapse of WTC 7 at 5:20PM. More than half of them spoke in certain terms (i.e. “is coming down” vs “might”). Considering no steel high-rise building in history had ever collapsed from fires (except the Twin Towers that morning), how were they so certain that this modern, 1987, 47-story, fireproofed steel-frame building would collapse? It seems they may have been told by somebody. Graeme MacQueen has looked into this a bit: (9 pgs) Article: http://www.journalof911studies.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2008MacQueenSeven.pdf Discussion of this at the 2011 Toronto Hearings: https://youtu.be/xqqelDq4P48?t=3630 With ReThink911: https://youtu.be/rNJ6WYFwR-o
News Foreknowledge
Jane Standley of BBC reported on the collapse of WTC 7 (AKA the Soloman Brother's Building) at 4:54 PM -- 26 minutes BEFORE it collapsed. The building is visibly standing behind her as she reports it has collapsed. BBC "loses connection" with her mid-conversation. BBC's official explanation for this was that they received an erroneous report from Reuters on a confusing day. Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltP2t9nq9fI Later, BBC contacts Standley again for a report. She describes the situation but when they bring up WTC 7 (@ 2:12), the audio cuts out. Coincidence? Video Clip: https://youtu.be/gsqAHhTWEH0?t=40 CNN Report the collapse 67 minutes early: Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpWK8IwJH0w ABC News:
another building in the World Trade Center Complex, which was not struck by an airplane, is in danger of collapsing...
For the third time today. Its reminiscent of those pictures we've all seen too much on television before when a building was deliberately destroyed by well-placed dynamite.
PNAC Describes Benefits of "a New Pearl Harbor" in 2000
The Project for the New American Century, a neo-conservative think-tank that included many Bush Administration members such as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, wrote a report in September 2000, a year before 9/11, called Rebuilding America's Defenses. It outlined a plan of massive military expansion, with a goal of ultimately fighting and winning "multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars" to consolidate US global hegemony. They stated that their ambitious
process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor.
Zelikow Describes How US Gov Could Exploit a Major WTC Attack in 1998
Philip Zelikow was a member of George HW Bush's National Security Council during Desert Storm, co-author of a book with Condoleezza Rice in the mid-90s, and would go on to be part of George W Bush's transition team, as well as the author of National Security Strategy 2002 AKA the "Bush Doctrine" of pre-emptive warfare. Despite these conflicts of interest, he would become the executive director of the "independent" 9/11 Commission. In 1998 -- nearly three years before 9/11 -- with Defense Department bigwig Ash Carter and former CIA Director John Deutch -- Zelikow co-authored a paper in Foreign Affairs entitled "Catastrophic Terrorism":
If the device that exploded in 1993 under the World Trade Center had been nuclear, or had effectively dispersed a deadly pathogen, the resulting horror and chaos would have exceeded our ability to describe it. Such an act of catastrophic terrorism would be a watershed event in American history. It could involve loss of life and property unprecedented in peacetime and undermine America's fundamental sense of security, as did the Soviet atomic bomb test in 1949. Like Pearl Harbor, this event would divide our past and future into a before and after. The United States might respond with draconian measures, scaling back civil liberties, allowing wider surveillance of citizens, detention of suspects, and use of deadly force. More violence could follow, either further terrorist attacks or U.S. counterattacks. Belatedly, Americans would judge their leaders negligent for not addressing terrorism more urgently.
Emergency Crew Arrived in NYC For Terror Drill Day Before 9/11
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was holding a terror drill set for 09/12. Personnel arrived in NYC on 09/10. FEMA Member Tom Kenney on CBS:
To be honest with you we arrived on late Monday night [Sept 10th] and went into action on Tuesday morning..."
The reason Pier 92 was chosen as the command center is because on the next day, on September 12th, Pier 92 was going to have a drill. It had hundreds of people here from FEMA, from the federal government, from the state, from the state emergency management office, and they were getting ready for a drill for a bio-chemical attack... The equipment was already there, so we were able to establish a command center there, within 3 days, that was 2 1/2 to 3 times bigger than the command center that we had lost at 7 World Trade Center.
Drills Simulating Hijacked Planes Confuse Air Traffic Control
War games diverted much of the Northeast US air defense to Alaska, while other war games simulating hijacked airplanes flying into buildings confused radar operators on 9/11. Video: http://dai.ly/x26mumq?start=1422
The Lone Gunmen Pilot
In March 2001, 6 months before 9/11, the pilot episode of the X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen aired. The premise: the heroes unravel a government conspiracy to fly a commercial airliner into the World Trade Center to increase arms sales. Just an odd coincidence? Make of it what you will. 9/11-relevant highlights from episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIdhoc0PRr8
WTC 7 Evaluation
Structural engineer Dr. Leroy Hulsey and his students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are in the midst of conclusively debunking the bogus official claims of the NIST report with their two-year WTC 7 Evaluation. Using a sophisticated computer model of WTC 7, down to each beam and rivet, they have concluded that "normal office fires" could not have caused the collapse that occurred. Their report will be released August 2017. WTC 7 Evaluation Website: http://www.wtc7evaluation.org/ WTC 7 Evaluation Intro Video: https://youtu.be/C-VNjYXU-CE
Pentagon - Flight 77
Official Story
The official story tells us American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked at 8:51 (5 minutes after the first WTC strike) and, piloted by terrorist Hani Hanjour, flew without being intercepted for 45 minutes. Over the Pentagon, it pulled a high-speed 330-degree turn before knocking over five light poles, accelerating to 853 km/h, skimming above the Pentagon lawn to strike into the first floor of the building at 09:37. 64 died on the plane, 125 in the Pentagon.
Hani Hanjour's Flying Skills
Pilots say this would be an extremely difficult manoeuvre and would be nearly impossible for an inexperienced pilot like alleged hijacker Hani Hanjour, whose flight instructors said he could barely handle a Cessna weeks earlier in August. US Navy Top Gun and 27-year commercial pilot Ralph Kolstad has studied the official flight path and says,
I have 6,000 hours of flight time in Boeing 757s and 767s and I could not have flown it the way the flight path was described... Something stinks to high heaven!
Newspaper articles quote Hanjour's flight instructors saying he "could not fly at all" and was "a terrible pilot." In the summer of 2001, a New Jersey flight instructor "declined a second request" to take the alleged would-be hijacker in on a small-plane flight "because of what he considered Hanjour's poor piloting skills." (Quotes from David Ray Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor: Revisited)
Pentagon "Plane Crash" Surveillance Video
Although the Pentagon was arguably the most secure building in the world, this is the only publicly available footage of the alleged crash of Flight 77, released almost five years after the incident in May 2006. (A second camera right next to this one captured nearly identical footage that was also released). This footage does not prove that a plane hit the building. Video: https://youtu.be/zac9vt3a4Ug
from my close-up inspection, there's no evidence of a plane having crashed anywhere near the Pentagon... The only pieces left that you can see are small enough that you could pick up in your hand. There are no large tail sections, wing sections, fuselage, nothing like that anywhere around which would indicate that the entire plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon...
Video: https://youtu.be/7BNqgNvUhRQ Interview with April Gallop – A Pentagon employee who experienced the blast and crawled out of the blast hole to the lawn. Gallop says she
didn't see any evidence of metal, airplane seats, no luggage. Nothing that would give me any indication that it was a plane that had hit the building... There was nothing on the inside that would give me any indication that there was a plane.
Video: https://youtu.be/EIy9hjB3DGk Interview with and exclusive footage by freelance cameraman Bob Pugh, who was at the Pentagon minutes after the explosion. @06:20 -
I'm looking for wreckage, and I don't see anything discernible. I can't find a piece of anything that I recognize. I can't see the tail, I can't see the wheels, I can't see the engines, there's no chairs, there's no luggage, there's no logo...
Gas Station Security Camera Footage Confiscated by FBI
December 11, 2001 National Geographic Article, "Three Months On Tension Lingers Near the Pentagon": A CITGO gas station employee who worked on 9/11 says the gas station's security cameras were close enough to the Pentagon to have recorded the moment of impact:
I've never seen what the pictures looked like... The FBI was here within minutes and took the film.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta's Testimony
Dick Cheney's Timeline
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta testified to the 9/11 Commission about his experience in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) bunker under the White House on 9/11. Mineta said he arrived in the PEOC bunker at 9:20, and Vice President Cheney was already there at that time. The 9/11 Commission Report ignored Mineta's testimony and wrote that Cheney arrived 38 minutes later at 9:58 (and thus AFTER the Pentagon attack). Multiple others have also made statements suggesting Cheney was in the bunker earlier.
Stand-Down Order?
Most importantly, Mineta mentions
a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, 'the plane is 50 miles out'... 'the plane is 30 miles out'... When it got down to 'the plane is 10 miles out,' the young man also said to the Vice President, 'do the orders still stand?' And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, 'of course the orders still stand! Have you heard anything to the contrary?'
Video: https://youtu.be/qjR0gGXV-04 Were they talking about a stand-down order telling the fighters or anti-air not to engage? At the very least, while the 9/11 Commission Report attempts to paint a false narrative suggesting US leadership was unaware, confused, and unable to make decisions in time that morning, the facts seem to suggest they had a lot more knowledge and control than is admitted.
Video Removed From 9/11 Commission Website
Video of Mineta's testimony was originally available on the 9/11 Commission website, but it was removed. When questioned about this the National Archive said it must have been lost in a "snafu." It has since been recovered and is now widely available on the internet.
Wedge 1 an Unlikely Strike Location
Why would the terrorists strike Wedge 1 of the Pentagon? The section directly opposite would have been a much richer target and easier to approach. It was public knowledge that the Defense Secretary's office and the office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and those of other top-ranking officers, were located on the opposite side of the explosion zone. Instead, Wedge 1 had obstacles on its approach (a raised street with signs, light posts, the Pentagon control tower), and was, according to the LA Times:
a portion of the building that had already been renovated. It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars to withstand bomb blasts. The steel reinforcement, bolted together to form a continuous structure through all of the Pentagon's five floors, kept that section of the building from collapsing for 30 minutes--enough time for hundreds of people to crawl out to safety. The area struck by the plane also had blast-resistant windows--2 inches thick and 2,500 pounds each--that stayed intact during the crash and fire. It had fire doors that opened automatically and newly built exits that allowed people to get out... While perhaps 4,500 people normally would have been working in the hardest-hit areas, because of the renovation work only about 800 were there Tuesday, officials said.
With a series of straightforward interviews with 13 independent eyewitnesses of the low-flying plane at the Pentagon on 9/11, who are certain about what they saw, Citizen Investigation Team demonstrates that the government's oft-repeated official story of a southern Flight 77 approach was impossible. All 13 witnesses -- including two police officers -- are sure the plane flew directly over the Navy Annex and North of the CITGO gas station. This suggests the official flight path is false, and the knocked over light poles on the bridge south of the Pentagon and the path of internal damage were staged. Images of CIT Witness Flightpaths vs. Official Story: http://www.citizeninvestigationteam.com/pics/closest-north-path-still-misses-poles.jpg http://www.citizeninvestigationteam.com/pics/north-south-citgo.jpg In the section from 59:40 to 01:13:30 in the video "National Security Alert" below, CIT interviews a cab driver, Lloyde England, whose cab was supposedly hit by a light pole knocked over by Flight 77 during its approach along the official-story southern flight path. Featured on the news, his cab windshield was smashed but his hood was oddly undamaged considering the forces at play. After persistent questioning by CIT, England eventually admits his role in a conspiracy to stage the incident:
This is too big for me, man. This is a big thing... I'm not supposed to be involved in this. This is for other people. People who have money... It was planned.
Hi-res photo of Lloyde England's cab at Pentagon: http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/pentagon/images/1-1.jpg A news segment on Lloyde England, from the beginning to 01:28. (The remainder of this video identical to the end part of the longer doc below. I recommend watching it there with more context): https://youtu.be/iAL9gJMSX6M (1 hr 21 mins) CIT Documentary - National Security Alert - the 9/11 Pentagon Event: https://youtu.be/_HlUmmPBoLg
Shanksville, PA - Flight 93
Barren Crash Site
Many witnesses remarked on the lack of debris at the Shanksville crash site. Like the Pentagon, there were no bodies, no identifiable pieces of fuselage, wing, or tail section, no luggage, or seats visible at Shanksville. News mentions a second crash site, 6 miles away, adding to the confusion. Video: http://dai.ly/x26mumq?start=3981
Flight 93 Shot Down?
Witness John Fleegle mentions he saw the lights flicker, then heard engines roar, heard a large boom and saw a "big ball of fire" in the air. He saw a plane flying away that might have been a fighter, but it was flying into the sun and difficult to see. Later he told his story to a retired Air Force member who suggested:
that plane was shot down... they zap the radar frequency on everything before they shoot. That's why your lights flickered."
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWcdSyyppHI Furthermore, while the 9/11 Commission Report claims that shootdown authorization was not received until 10:25 -- well after the crash of Flight 93 at 10:03 - 10:06 -- other accounts dispute this. National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke wrote that shoot-down authorization was received between 9:45 and 9:50, and a CNN report that aired before the Commission Report was released suggested a similar timeline. (The official story is that the passengers, inspired by passenger Todd Beamer's phrase "let's roll", stormed the cockpit and attempted to reclaim the aircraft before the hijackers drove it into the ground.)
Debris Photos
There are some pictures of supposed Flight 93 debris that were released during the 2006 trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. They don't look very convincing of a plane crash either. Photos: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=C7A45234-155D-451F-67A019C294E6A905 A lot of the 9/11 evidence released during the 2006 Moussaoui trial is sketchy, nonsensical, or contradictory to previously touted official storylines.
9/11 Commission
Commission Delayed
Historically, when major disasters have occurred, governments have quickly created independent commissions to investigate. Number of days before an investigative commission was formed: Titanic – 6 Pearl Harbor – 9 JFK Assassination – 7 Challenger disaster – 7 9/11 – 411
Barry Zwicker's Criticism
Media Critic Barry Zwicker, author of Towers of Deception, on the 9/11 Commission:
the term 'whitewash' doesn't do justice to the report of the 9/11 Commission. 'Omission-riddled inventive cover-up,' maybe.
The widows of 9/11 victims complained publicly after the Bush administration appointed Henry Kissinger as the 9/11 Commission Director. Kissinger was replaced with Philip Zelikow, a man with many conflicts of interest. This video explains Zelikow's deep connections to Bush and how he was a key member of the 9/11 cover-up. Video, Corbett Report, 9/11 Suspects: Philip Zelikow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1VtozvvG4c
Chairman Thomas Kean Statement
9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean:
we think that in many ways the Commission was set up to fail.
$2.3 Trillion in Pentagon Spending Unaccounted For Day Before 9/11
On September 10th, Donald Rumsfeld pointed out that $2.3 trillion in Pentagon spending was unaccounted for. He spoke of the need for change to a wasteful bureaucracy. But things changed the following morning: Video: https://youtu.be/H_p92dECEpQ?t=10
Israeli Spies
A very interesting four-part Fox investigative series on Israeli spies in America and possible links to 9/11. Concerns that US intelligence wiretapping was compromised by Israel. Video: https://youtu.be/LbkQddEDPs0
Insider Trading
ABC News, 20 September 2001. Before 9/11, put options were purchased betting against stocks of United Airlines, American Airlines, and Marsh & McClellan (based on the floors of WTC 1 that were struck). Somebody made millions. Video: https://youtu.be/QUHZcUwHrJ8
Indira Singh and Ptech
Indira Singh was senior risk management consultant at JP Morgan Chase bank in 2001. She was seeking to equip the bank with enterprise architect software that would provide "god's eye" visualization, mapping, and analysis of transactions, interactions, systems, processes, and personnel in the bank. Many recommended a small Quincy, MA company called Ptech. Their list of clients included the White House, Secret Service, FBI, IRS, NATO, IBM, the Postal Service, and the FAA. However, Singh became reluctant to use their software when she discovered that Ptech's top investor was Saudi Al-Qaeda financier Yassin Al-Qadi, who had been placed on the US terror list in October 2001. Singh's research further linked Ptech to the CIA network that armed the Mujahideen in the 80s. When she told the FBI, they weren't particularly alarmed. In fact, they even actively blocked an investigation against Al-Qadi. Ptech's relationship with the FAA is particularly interesting.
Bonnie: Could you describe the relationship of PTech with the FAA? PTech worked with the FAA for several years, didn’t they? Indira: Yes... They were looking at, basically, holes in the FAA’s interoperability with responding with other agencies – law enforcement – in the case of an emergency such as a hijacking. ... how they would respond in case of an emergency... if anyone was in a position to understand where the holes were, PTech was, and that is exactly the point: if anybody was in a position to write software to take advantage of those holes, it would have been PTech. Bonnie: Was there a reference to PTech having operated in the basement out of the FAA? Indira: Yes. Typically, because the scope of such projects are so over-arching and wide-ranging, when you are doing an enterprise architecture project, you have access to how anything in the organization is being done, where it is being done, on what systems, what the information is. You have carte blanche. If it is a major project that spends several years, the team that comes in has, literally, access to almost anything that they want because you are operating on a blueprint level, on a massive scale. So, yes, they were everywhere, and I was told that they were in places that required clearances. I was told that they had log-on access to FAA flight control computers.
FBI Agent Robert Wright's Investigation Into Al-Qaeda Financier Al-Qadi Impeded
In the mid-1990s... two Chicago-based agents were assigned to track a connection to Chicago, a suspected terrorist cell that would later lead them to a link with Osama bin Laden. Wright says that when he pressed for authorization to open a criminal investigation into the money trail, his supervisor stopped him. "Do you know what his response was? 'I think it's just better to let sleeping dogs lie,'" said Wright. "Those dogs weren't sleeping. They were training. They were getting ready." ... The suspected terrorist cell in Chicago was the basis of the investigation, yet Wright, who remains with the FBI, says he soon discovered that all the FBI intelligence division wanted him to do was to follow suspected terrorists and file reports — but make no arrests. "The supervisor who was there from headquarters was right straight across from me and started yelling at me: 'You will not open criminal investigations. I forbid any of you. You will not open criminal investigations against any of these intelligence subjects,'" Wright said. Even though they were on a terrorism task force and said they had proof of criminal activity, Wright said he was told not to pursue the matter. In 1998 al Qaeda terrorists bombed two American embassies in Africa. The agents say some of the money for the attacks led back to the people they had been tracking in Chicago and to a powerful Saudi Arabian businessman, Yassin al-Kadi. Al-Kadi is one of 12 Saudi businessmen suspected of funneling millions of dollars to al Qaeda and who had extensive business and financial ties in Chicago. Yet, even after the bombings, Wright said FBI headquarters wanted no arrests.
A Warning From History - President Eisenhower 1961
17 January 1961, in his presidential farewell address, Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to warn the American people about the potential dangers of the military-industrial complex. Considering the state of the country since 9/11, his words are more important than ever.
We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, 3 and 1/2 million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. Now, this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence: economic, political, even spiritual, is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development, yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood, are all involved. So is the very structure of our society. In the counsels of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence -- whether sought or unsought -- by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals. So that security and liberty may prosper together.
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