Slide #23 - Support Columns in 7 World Trade

Gage's Claims

In this slide, Gage introduces the 57 perimeter and 24 core columns found in 7 World Trade.

He also makes several false claims.

The 81 columns are symmetrically positioned
The 81 columns failed simultaneously
The building fell straight down
The building fell down symmetrically
The building fell in 6.5 seconds

I dealt with "straight down" and "symmetrical fall" on the last page. Now I will deal with these further false claims one by one.

"Symmetrically Positioned"

This foolishness has got to stop.

Look at the diagram Richard Gage, the licensed and degreed architect, supplied on this very slide.

The building has an odd parallelogram shape, because it was built to fit an unusually shaped block in New York. You can see that the east side is not as long as the west side, which slides the south side of the building off-center from the north.

This means that the perimeter columns are not symmetrical to each other on any plane.

And the core columns are even worse. On what plane could anyone describe those core columns as symmetrical? They aren't in the center of the building, and they aren't symmetrically relative to each other.

To accommodate a ConEd electrical substation already on the site, the core columns were jammed down toward the southwest corner in a slightly curved pattern, and then spaced out into the east side. The proof of asymmetry is right there on Gage's screen!

This makes Richard Gage a degreed and licensed architect who argues for the concept of symmetry, yet know so little about it that he placed a diagram debunking his own proposition in his presentation. This is foolishness to the dumbth degree.

Neither the core columns nor the perimeter columns are placed symmetrically. They couldn't be in a building this irregular in shape and design.

"81 Columns Failed Simutaneously"

Again, Gage debunks himself. He circles some 12 columns on his diagram, saying that these columns were "possibly damaged due to WTC1 debris". As we saw on the last page, that "possibly" should read "definitely." (Although this diagram isn't exact, it's based on a NIST drawing done before some of the picture I showed you on the previous page came to light.)

Using Gage's number, Gage is admitting to 12 out of 81 columns already being damaged. That's 15% of the columns already toast. Gage debunks his own statement again! All 81 columns didn't fail simultaneously.

And as we've seen in the last slide, the east mechanical penthouse fell into the building because of the likely failure of column 79 first. It would have taken out 80 and 81 as it fell. That means three other columns failed before the rest of the building.

Finally, the west penthouse sinks into the building as the final stage of the progressive collapse begins. It sinks from east to west, indicating that the core columns beneath are failing from east to west - not simultaneously.

So there were up to 12 columns damaged by falling debris, then column 79 falls, then 80 and 81 are destroyed by the falling mechanical penthouse debris, and then the core columns fail from east to west, and THEN the perimeter columns go, yanked down by the rest of the building.

If we define "simultaneously" as "occurring over the space of 7.5 hours," Gage might have a point. Even the bulk of the columns failing over an eighteen second period just doesn't equal "simultaneous" by any stretch of the imagination.

"6.5 Seconds"

This claim will be made over and over again. There will be a slide devoted to this lie.

The way this lie works is that Gage puts on his "decider" hat and decides to only show you the final stage of the progressive collapse. The failure of column 79 below the east mechanical penthouse is the actual place where the clock should start.

But 18 seconds (a number derived from seismic information) just doesn't sound as good as saying "6.5 seconds."

I've prepared a short video for this particular lie, since it's so prevalent. You can find it below:

How Fast Did WTC 7 Fall?

Gage is wrong again. It won't stop him from lying.

The State of Gage's Argument

This section on 7 World Trade has had eight slides at this point. Two of them were outline slides, two showed a short film clip, and four tried to advance his position. Of those four, exactly every one of them have been hopeless mired in lies and false information.

This slide repeats some falsehoods from the previous slide, and then goes on to disprove Gage's major point. Since the columns didn't fail simultaneously, they were NOT all cut at once. And the asymmetrical collapse of the building bears this out.

This means the major point Gage wants you to check off is denied. He has not proven his case.

Honestly, a list of what Gage has gotten right at this point would be a shorter list to remember.