Episode's summary
In the days before the attacks, traders placed unusually large bets that United and American Airlines stock would fall. Those were the two airlines whose planes were hijacked. The 9/11 Commission found no sign that anyone had advance knowledge. A finance professor, a former Australian market regulator, and a widow who testified before the Commission all saw something different. "Follow the money." That was the advice to Bob Woodward during Watergate, and 25 years after September 11, it may be the best way into the one 9/11 theory that won't go away. This week, Rich and Nick quickly run through the five best-known 9/11 theories before following the money into the trades that regulators, academics, and families have argued about for a quarter of a century. The guys look at whether any of the theories have any kernel of truth. The intelligence failures were real, with warnings about hijacked planes flying into buildings circulating as far back as 1998. Some of this is statistics: put-to-call ratios, trading…
In the days before the attacks, traders placed unusually large bets that United and American Airlines stock would fall. Those were the two airlines whose planes were hijacked. The 9/11 Commission found no sign that anyone had advance knowledge. A finance professor, a former Australian market regulator, and a widow who testified before the Commission all saw something different. "Follow the money." That was the advice to Bob Woodward during Watergate, and 25 years after September 11, it may be the best way into the one 9/11 theory that won't go away. This week, Rich and Nick quickly run through the five best-known 9/11 theories before following the money into the trades that regulators, academics, and families have argued about for a quarter of a century. The guys look at whether any of the theories have any kernel of truth. The intelligence failures were real, with warnings about hijacked planes flying into buildings circulating as far back as 1998. Some of this is statistics: put-to-call ratios, trading…
Episodes
32: The 9/11 Tip Off | Following the Money Trail
ListenedIn the days before the attacks, traders placed unusually large bets that United and American Airlines stock would fall. Those were the two airlines whose planes were hijacked. The 9/11 Commission found no sign that anyone had advance knowledge. A finance professor, a former Australian market regulator, and a widow who testified before the Commission all saw something different. "Follow the money." That was the advice to Bob Woodward during Watergate, and 25 years after September 11, it may be the best way into the one 9/11 theory that won't go away. This week, Rich and Nick quickly run through the five best-known 9/11 theories before following the money into the trades that regulators, academics, and families have argued about for a quarter of a century. The guys look at whether any of the theories have any kernel of truth. The intelligence failures were real, with warnings about hijacked planes flying into buildings circulating as far back as 1998. Some of this is statistics: put-to-call ratios, trading…
THE WEEK IN CONSPIRACY: Was Netanyahu tipped off about October 7th?
ListenedReports in Israel are suggesting that Benjamin Netanyahu received a warning about the October 7th attacks and failed to take action. As well, Manchester City faces punishment for mass cheating. Contact the show at conspiracycabal@outlook.com. The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them. Contact the show at conspiracycabalpod@outlook.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
31: What happens if Aliens find us? | Dark Forest Theory
ListenedIn the mountains of southwest China sits a radio telescope big enough to swallow the MCG. It's built to listen to the cosmos. Meanwhile, Beijing has reportedly brought in a science-fiction writer to advise on what to do if something out there answers. That writer is Cixin Liu, author of The Three-Body Problem. His big idea, the "dark forest," says the universe is full of silent hunters, and any civilisation that reveals itself gets destroyed. So what does China think it's listening for, and why does it want the man who wrote that theory in the room? This week, Rich and Nick head into the dark forest. They start with the Three-Body Problem trilogy and move on to real telescopes, unexplained signals, and what happens to the human mind on the day disclosure stops being hypothetical. - The silence problem: Trisolarans, sophons, and decades of signals we've already sent out. If any civilisation out there is far more advanced than us, announcing ourselves may be the worst thing we could have done. Our only edge…
THE WEEK IN CONSPIRACY: OpenAI Hacks Medicare, Lachie Neale Gets Off
ListenedLachie Neale got off, and he's now free to play in the Grand Final. Couldn't have happened to a better bloke. Also, the PM has called a hasty press conference to detail how a rogue Open AI agent hacked into Medicare. Contact the show at conspiracycabal@outlook.com. The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them. Contact the show at conspiracycabalpod@outlook.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30: Who helped Ivan Milat? | 60+ Unsolved Murders
ListenedIvan Milat was convicted of seven murders and died in a prison hospital bed in 2019, still insisting he didn't do it. Almost nobody in Australia believes him. But a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into unsolved murders and missing persons is now asking a different, more uncomfortable question: were seven enough? This week, Rich and Nick dig into the growing list of cold cases with Milat's name attached to them - from a stabbing on a beach when he was 22, to a body found after he was already behind bars - and sit down with a former NSW detective pushing for a coercive-powers commission to finally crack them. The near-miss problem: Englishman Paul Onions, a gun, a rope, a highway shootout - and the report to police that went nowhere until bodies started turning up in a state forest The Wanda Beach problem: a 1965 double murder, a police artist's sketch, a photo of a 22-year-old Milat shown to the sitting Premier, and a resemblance nobody can quite explain away The ballistics problem: an 18-year-old…