As you arrive and begin heading for the conference room where Lethal prefers to launch his issues from you are confronted by signs and CyberLethals directing you to buses which take you to the campground Impish uses. The trail from the parking lot to the picnic area is lined with large 4 x 8 foot stone tablets engraved with names, affiliations and locations.

Remembrance candles burn in front of each one. While you are reminded of the traveling Viet Nam Veteran’s Memorial its plain this Memorial is for the September 11th Tragedy todays issue is expected to commemorate.

Lethal stands patiently at the podium holding a low conversation with Paul K9 as you file in.  It is the first time you’ve really had the opportunity to see him since his return. While he’s picked up some color, his red rimmed eyes,  the haunted look behind those eyes and red sore looking runny nose make you think he might be unwell. Paul’s eyes and nose seem to be twins Lethal’s as well so perhaps it’s not them but the subject matter of their discussion that troubles them so on this day.

The flaps to the tents where coffee and goodies are usually served are firmly closed and signs proclaim that there will be no service until after the issue as this is a solemn occasion.

Once you are all seated he clears his throat and begins:

Ladies and Gentleman of the  readership thank you for coming for this unhumorous most serious of issues for the year. Allow me to start off with a historical quotation that has much bearing on this day and the situation we discuss here.

“Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked…..” – FDR 12/08/1941

59 years, 9 months, 4 days and 51 minutes from the attack on Pearl Harbor history repeated itself. At 8:46 am on September 1tth 2001 Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crash the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building and beginning a nightmare the likes of which the US had not seen or experiences since December 7th 1941.

As a result September 11th 2001 is another date which will live in infamy.

A day when not only some 2977 people lost their lives (yes my number is different from the official tally by exactly 19- the number of terrorists involved whom I refuse to dishonor the victims by counting among them) and still more continue to lose their lives from the aftermath effects (2620 as of Sept 9th 2015 according the the Victims Compensation Fund, mostly cancer patients from Police, Fire, EMS and other First responders) but a day when all of America had something precious stolen from them in a cowardly and dastardly manner. I’m speaking of their right to feel reasonably safe and secure in their lives. Something many of our ancestors fought and died for not only in the American Revolution but every wars since.

The events of September 11, 2001 are forever etched into the hearts and souls of the family members and loved ones of those who died, our nation, and the world. The United States experienced the worst incident of terrorism in its history; the coordinated hijacking of four commercial planes, the planned attack on symbolic targets, and the murder of innocent people were all tragic and shocking events. The extraordinary responses of individuals to the challenges they faced are inspiring and worthy of remembrance.

    “That we we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” -Abraham Lincoln

So too is my resolve. So too should it be the resolve of every American. Not just once a year, but everyday. Every time you see or hear of a Muslim protest against the US , hear the words ‘Allahu akbar’, see or hear of a Muslim in the US demanding that we cater to his religion and/or Sharia Law. Every time see a woman forced to wear the Hijab, despite not being Muslim or read of the oppression of women in general by the hypocritical ‘Religion of Peace’.

Sadly as time passes, fewer and fewer who are non directly linked can be bothered remember or even care. Lessons learned are forgotten, history repeats itself and we are lessened as a Nation for and by it.

Every year this issue is probably the most serious and intense posting I author. In truth I dread it each time it comes around. It is surely the most depressing and painful issue I research and assemble each year, as well as the nearest and most dear to my closely warded and guarded heart.

In truth this issue took me almost 14 days of working on on and off because I just not stand to deal with the subject for any great length of time even now 15 years later without a wellspring of deeply buried emotions surging up and over taking me. These opening remarks, their skeleton largely taken from previous  Sept 11th issues, by themselves took me 3 days to assemble and flesh out. The Banner changed 3 times in the course of putting the Issue together and every time I thought I was finished, something else came or was brought to my attention that demanded inclusion in this issue.

Despite all this, as long as Impish and I have this blog, I will continue to to observe this day and author this issue because if I stop I fear some might forget or think that Sept 11th no longer mattered. I assure you it mattered on September 11th 2001, it continues matter now on September 11th 2016 and will still matter still just as much on September 11th 2101 the 100th Anniversary of the attacks.

A few of you long time readers that have been with us since the Yahoogroups days might remember why September 11th is so personal to me. For the rest of you undoubtedly this will be a new insight into the Leprechaun and his murky pasts. I shared this revelation once before on the 10th Anniversary. I think it proper and just that it be recounted again here on the 15th.

The reason this is so personal to me is not only because I am numbered among the twenty percent of Americans who knew a victim of the Sept 11th attacks (in fact I knew victims in two locations), but because additionally except for the grace of God and an act of kindness to those taking me to the airport on my part in the form of taking a later flight than the one I preferred, I might well have been one of the victims myself.

On the morning September 11, 2001, I was scheduled to fly out of Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, Connecticut at 10:30. My flight path would have taken me through the NYC air corridor along the exact same flight path in route to my final destination of Houston.

I did in fact fly 4 days later through that same air corridor, accompanied by a fully laden F-15 attack fighter escorting us from the ‘kill position’ above and behind us in formation so close that his shadow covered most of the right side of the cabin from tail to right wing and half that wing too.

The smoke plum from the still smoldering ruins of the World Trade center could be clearly seen roughly five miles off our right wing and towered even higher than we were flying at that time. Soot, ash, fine particulate debris was so heavy and thick in the air that even at our roughly twenty thousand foot altitude. we could clearly see it passing the windows as we flew like some grey fog made of black pepper.

Our passage thru NYC was accomplished in silence as the Captain requested we observe such out of respect for the dead until the plum was gone from view. In truth I think we were all speechless at the first person viewing of something we had been removed from to a semi comfortable distance by television.

This issue however is not about me or my recollections of either day. It is about seeing that this day, This tragedy, its victims and their families are never forgotten. That this terrorist act is never forgotten or forgiven until the terrorist group(s) responsible are eradicated, radical fundamentalist Islam is ground out of existence and the last full measure of justice, revenge and retribution has been had. It’s about calling BULLSHIT! On those who would allow a Ground Zero Mosque and/or make concessions to Islamic traditions and religious customs in the US.

“Lethal! That sounds a bit bitter, angry and bloodthirsty!’ you say? YOU’RE TOO BLOODY DAMNED RIGHT! 15 years later and my thirst of vengeance and justice remains unslaked. What is being done to America both in the attempted Islamicization of it and to down play September 11th and its memory, as well as Islam’s role in it is enough to piss off the Buddha himself and make him reach for a weapon while cussing a blue streak profane and long enough to make a Marine Drill Sergeant shed a tear of pride. It leaves me sick and ashamed, feeling like I should offer apologies to the 5600 direct and indirect dead of that day.

I will never be satisfied until all of Islam either quakes at the sight of an American citizen. Trembling in fear that he might sub a toe on their cobblestones thus possibly provoking our retaliation for harming one of our citizens. or until all Muslims rise up against Fundamentalist Extremist, eliminate them and drag Islam as well as the entire Middle East kicking and screaming out of the 6th Century and into the modern era. THEN and ONLY THEN might I find myself satisfied.

When I first started this blog I used to end my opening remarks with some variation on theme “Let’s Laugh” just like Impish. Since the 10th Anniversary Issue I have used a different closing to my comments.

Please join me in honoring one of the heroes of Sept 11th, Todd Beamer of United Airlines Flight 93 as I open this issue with his final words before he and several others attempted to take control of the plane away from the terrorist or at least prevent them from achieving their mission by crashing it…

This Is How The World Is Remembering 9/11

Events include minutes of silence, services and music

Sunday marks the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, and places in the United Sates and around the world are planning tributes to the victims of the terror attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

Here’s a sampling of some of the memorial events planned for the next week.

Joe Biden at an NFL game

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will participate in a first responders tribute before the Philadelphia Eagles game on opening weekend of the NFL season, the LA Times reports. Biden will participate in a ceremony before the game and stand with 120 police officers, firefighters and emergency responders during the national anthem. (The Baltimore Ravens are also planning a tribute before their game, which includes a live bald eagle landing on the field.)

Staten Island Twin Towers art piece

A Staten Island artist recreated the Twin Towers out of thousands of lights strung together. The installation, called “3,000 raindrops” in reference to the lives lost in the attacks, debuted on Thursday and will be kept up until September 25, SILive.com reports.

UK firefighters moment of silence

Firefighters in the United Kingdom will observe a moment of silence at the time the first plane hit one of the Twin Towers, the Daily Mail reports. Other offices and some radio and television networks are also expected to fall silent.

British government leaders and about 2,000 people will also attend a memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on Wednesday.

New York Stock Exchange moment of silence

The New York Stock exchange also held a moment of silence Friday morning to remember the victims of the attack.

Bagpipe memorial song

Bagpipers from the New York City fire department and The Red Hot Chili Pipers, a Scottish bagpipe band, have come together to record a 9/11 tribute song called “The Fallen,” the New York Daily News reports. All proceeds from the song will go to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Family Support Trust and The FDNY Pipes and Drums.

9/11 Memorial Museum ‘Tribute in Light’

The 9/11 memorial will once again run its “Tribute in Light,” 88 searchlights that shine as a representation of the Twin Towers, NY1 reports. The tribute has gone up every year since 2002.

National anthem at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 11

9/11/14: The Yankees and Rays rise for a special military national anthem as a tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001

Smithsonian hosts special exhibit for 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON — This coming Sunday will be the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, one of the darkest days in U.S. history.

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History will host a special one-day exhibit from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11,  to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The National Museum of American History is known for showcasing national treasures, but it also showcases artifacts from somber events like Sept. 11. The Smithsonian’s Melina Machado said the museum will display more than 35 artifacts from the three terrorist attack sites: the World Trade Center; the Pentagon; and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines flight 93 crashed.

“The National Museum of American History was designated by congress as the official repository for the objects of September 11,” Machado said.

She said the artifacts will be displayed on tables and not behind glass so visitors can get an up-close look. Visitors will not be able to touch the items.

Machado said curators and museum staff will be on-hand to tell the stories of the artifacts, which include a clock from the Pentagon that stopped the moment the plane slammed into the Pentagon.

Other artifacts include airplane fragments, objects recovered from Pentagon offices, lights from a crushed New York City fire truck and a flight attendant’s handbook from United Airlines Flight 93.

Machado said the country has a new generation of Americans who were either too young to remember the Sept. 11 attacks or who weren’t even born yet.

“We think it’s very important that these objects survive to bear witness to the stories of [Sept. 11],” she said.

The Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, “9/11: Stories in Fragments,” will be shown hourly on Sunday in the Warner Bros. Theater. The film is based on the museum’s Sept. 11 collection. Also, the last existing search and rescue robot that was used in the Sept. 11 attacks is being donated to the museum by its inventor Dr. Robin Murphy from Texas A&M University on Sunday.

See some examples of items in the exhibit here:

http://wtop.com/dc/2016/09/smithsonians-special-exhibit-15th-anniversary-sept-11-attacks/slide/1/

Chef Who Began Cooking for Firefighters After 9/11 Cries Over Surprise Cookbook

When Rob Scandia lost a dear in the horrific attacks on September 11th, he set out with one goal in mind: to serve every firefighter in the state of Florida. To honor his friend, he has been serving up meals in firehouses, all the while, jotting down his recipes. He hoped to one day publish them in a cookbook but never found the time. After his firefighter friends got word of his mission, they did it on their own and surprised him with a new copy of the book.

Alan Jackson – Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning

Rescuers who responded to Pentagon on 9/11 return 15 years later

ARLINGTON, Va. — The nation will soon mark the 15th anniversary of one of the darkest days in its history — Sept. 11, 2001. But on Saturday, a group of firefighters returned to the Pentagon, where they responded after a plane slammed into the building and killed 184 people 15 years ago.

Inside the building, 125 people died, and 59 others onboard American Airlines Flight 77 died. Those numbers do not include the terrorists.

“What these [firefighters] did here is beyond heroic,” Alexandria Fire Chief Robert Dubé said Saturday.

Even 15 years later, what happened here is seared into the memories of these men and women.

“It’s hard looking at [the Pentagon] now,” Dubé said. “All I see is what I saw that week.”

It took 10 years for Dubé to return to the Pentagon, and that was for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

“I just couldn’t come back. I don’t know why … . I just didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to do it — bring that up in my head again,” he said. “It’s hard. It’s hard to know what was there and to think about that now.”

His firefighters and volunteers — those who were part of the Pentagon response — gathered for a 15-year anniversary photo Saturday morning. They took the photo because it is important to “never forget” and to honor those who died, Dubé said. He wants the younger members and future members to know the big part the department played that day.

This year is the fire department’s 150th anniversary. Dubé said 9/11 is ingrained in its history, and time was running to document those in the department who were part of the Pentagon response. Over the years, people have retired and moved on.

During the 9/11 Pentagon response, Dubé was not with the Alexandria Fire Department — he was a captain with the Fairfax County Fire Department and part of the Virginia Task Force 1, an international urban search and rescue team.

“We were deployed [to the Pentagon] immediately, and we worked here eight to nine days,” he said.

As more and more time passes, Dubé said, people do not remember what happened here.

“It’s tough to wrap your head around what we did here if you weren’t here,” he said.

Battalion Chief David Bogozi with the Alexandria Fire Department said it was important for the group to get together to remember what they did.

“Not that any of us forgot,” he said. “I’ll never forget.”

As firefighters, Bogozi said, they had seen death and destruction before, but “the things we saw [in the Pentagon attack] were things we never ever expected to see.”

Bogozi said he prays that nothing like this ever happens again.

“I hate to say it, but at some point in all the new people’s careers … they’re probably going to face something like this again,” he said. “I pray to God it doesn’t happen.”

http://wtop.com/arlington/2016/08/firefighters-responded-pentagon-911-return-15-years-later/slide/4/

Explore web-based interactive timelines chronicling the events of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, September 11, 2001 and the nine-month recovery effort at ground zero. The timelines use images, audio and video as well as first-person accounts that are part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s permanent collection.

Please note: The timelines contain some graphic images and sensitive content due to the nature of the events related to the WTC bombing, 9/11 attacks and the aftermath.

9/11 Interactive Timelines

September 11 Attack Timeline 

On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists who were members of al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist network, hijacked four commercial airplanes. In a coordinated attack, the hijackers intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and a third into the Pentagon. Learning about the other hijackings, passengers and crew members on the fourth plane launched a counterattack, spurring the hijacker pilot to crash the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on that day, the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.

Recovery at Ground Zero Timeline

Within hours of the September 11, 2001 attacks, millions of people across the world felt compelled to respond to the crisis. Volunteers and trained professionals from near and far rushed to help in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Flight 93 sites.

1993 WTC Bombing Timeline

On February 26, 1993, terrorists placed a bomb in the garage beneath the World Trade Center. The explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000 others. This timeline tells the story of the bombing plot, its effects on the World Trade Center, and the campaign to bring the perpetrators to justice.

These interactive timelines feature objects, images, video, and first-hand accounts from people who witnessed the events unfold.

http://timeline.911memorial.org/#FrontPage

On Board Air Force One September 11, 2001, as events unfold

On Board, The Worlds Most Powerful Aircraft, Air Force One, as events unfold on September 11th, 2001, a shocking test of the security services’ ultimate nightmare scenario. On that day Air Force One became a fortress in the sky as America was forced into the War on Terror.

[Pertinent portion begins at 2:57 and continues till 13:25]

Tribute in Light is an art installation that is produced annually in New York on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Tribute in Light illuminates the New York City sky just south of the Memorial site.

9/11 Memorial and Museum

Interactive Museum Experience

Explore the 9/11 Memorial Museum through this interactive video experience selecting different paths through the Museum’s vast spaces and exhibitions. Press the stop button to skip through sections of the Museum.

https://www.911memorial.org/interactive-museum-experience

9/11 15th Anniversary TV Programming

As incredible as it may seem, this year marks the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that forever changed America and the world. The 9/11 15th anniversary will undoubtedly be marked in a number of ways, including with TV specials and documentaries that range from a look at the attacks on the Pentagon, to a chronicle of the triumphant rise of Freedom Tower on the site of the New York attack.

Each year there are always notable TV programs that remember that tragic day, but given that this is the 9/11 15th anniversary, there is a particular increase in documentaries and other programming. Here are some of the highlights airing in the days and weeks leading up to Sept. 11, 2016 (the list will be updated as we hear more).

9/11 15th Anniversary TV Programming (All Times Eastern) (Updated 9/2/16 10:15am CT)

Ground Zero Rising: Freedom vs. Fear — Sept. 1 at 10pm on CNBC. CNBC anchor Jim Cramer reports in this one-hour documentary that tells the story of the revitalization of the 16-acre site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which has emerged as a place reborn. Taking more than six years and nearly $4 billion to complete, One World Trade Center is the most expensive skyscraper in the world, and stands as proof of American tenacity and resilience.

15 Septembers Later — Sept. 5 at 9pm on History. This new special leads History’s week of 9/11 commemorative programming, which also includes two other original primetime documentaries and a series of digital shorts. This program examines 9/11 through the lens of stories and information uncovered over the last 15 years, offering a new perspective on the historic events of that day. The program features recently declassified materials and new interviews with a number of individuals who played key roles in the events of that day, some telling their stories for the first time. John Lehman, a former member of the 9/11 Commission, speaks to the 28 pages from the 9/11 report which were only declassified this summer that allege that some of the “hijackers were in contact with and received support or assistance from individuals connected with the Saudi government.” Major Heather Penney, the F-16 pilot who was assigned the impossible task of intercepting United Airlines Flight 93, recounts her story for the first time. We hear from Ben Sliney, who on his first day as the new FAA National Operations Manager made the decision to clear American airspace and led the effort to land every non-military plane over the U.S.  Also interviewed is White House photographer Eric Draper whose recently declassified photos capturing the White House response to the attack are featured. 15 Septembers Later also includes a new, rare interview with President George W. Bush, as well as new interviews with former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, Andrew Card, Leon Panetta, Senator Chuck Schumer, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and other government officials, journalists and eyewitnesses.

9/11 Inside the Pentagon — Sept. 6 at 8pm on PBS (check local listings). This hour long documentary reveals new, firsthand accounts of the attack that took place at the heart of the United States’ military headquarters, during which nearly 200 people from inside the building and onboard American Airlines Flight 77 perished.

9/11: As We Watched — Sept. 6 at 10pm on American Heroes Channel. Produced with ABC News, this special recounts Sept. 11, 2001, through the eyes of that news organization, as the late, legendary Peter Jennings, along with Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos and dozens of journalists rushed to the scene of the chaos and embarked upon what would be 83 hours of live coverage.

Capturing Bin Laden — Sept. 7 at 10pm on American Heroes Channel. This documentary tracks the rise and fall of the man who spent the decade following the 9/11 attacks at the top of America’s Most Wanted list. Drawing on extensive archives from ABC News’ in-depth and award-winning reporting on the emergence of Osama bin Laden, this all-new special chronicles his rise—from a shadowy figure financing international terrorist attacks, to the intelligence that identified him as the 9/11 mastermind—and fall, culminating with SEAL Team Six’s heroic and harrowing confrontation with at a safe-house in Pakistan that ended the 10 year cat-and mouse game to capture the world’s most deadly terrorist.

FOX News Channel 9/11 15th Anniversary coverage — Sept. 11 beginning at 6am on FOX News Channel. FNC will present special live programming to commemorate the 15-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, beginning with FOX and Friends Sunday and continuing through primetime. Hosted by weekday co-hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, FOX and Friends Sunday (6-10am) will present the yearly “Flashback 9/11: As It Happened” package, as well as take the moment of silence at 8:46am, marking the time when the first plane hit. At 10am, anchor Jon Scott will present a two-hour special entitled 9/11: 15 Years Later to reflect on the changes and challenges Americans have faced since that tragic day over a decade ago. FNC’s Maria Bartiromo will anchor a live hour of Sunday Morning Futures at 12pm, followed by America’s Election Headquarters at 1pm, anchored by Shannon Bream & Leland Vittert. At 2pm, Chris Wallace will anchor FOX News Sunday, followed by another edition of America’s Election Headquarters anchored by Eric Shawn and Arthel Neville from 3-5pm and 6pm. At 5pm, FNC will present a special hour of MediaBuzz, hosted by Howard Kurtz, followed by FOX Report Sunday, anchored by Harris Faulkner, at 7pm. Additionally, chief political anchor Bret Baier will debut a special edition of Special Report at 8pm, which will run each Sunday in primetime through the election.

Giuliani’s 9/11 — Sept. 11 at 12pm on NGC. Encore airing.

CIA Confidential: Hunt for Bin Laden — Sept. 11 at 1pm on NGC. Encore airing.

CIA Confidential: 9/11 Mastermind — Sept. 11 at 2pm on NGC. Encore airing.

9/11: Day That Changed the World — Sept. 11 at 2pm and 8pm on Smithsonian Channel. Encore airing.

Witness: D.C. 9/11 — Sept. 11 at 3pm on NGC. Encore airing.

9/11: The Firemen’s Story — Sept. 11 at 4pm on NGC. Encore airing.

Crowning New York — Sept. 11 at 4pm on Smithsonian Channel. A one-hour look at the engineering and construction behind One World Trade Center.

Inside 9/11: The War Continues — Sept. 11 at 5pm on NGC. Encore airing.

The Missing Evidence: 9/11 Secret Explosions in the Towers — Sept. 11 at 5pm on Smithsonian Channel. Scientists tackle conspiracy theories about how and why the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11.

Inside 9/11: War on America — Sept. 11 at 6pm on NGC. Encore airing.

9/11: Stories in Fragments — Sept. 11 at 6pm on Smithsonian Channel. Encore airing.

9/11: The Heartland Tapes — Sept. 11 at 7pm on Smithsonian Channel. Encore airing.

CNN Films Presents 9/11 Fifteen Years Later — Sept. 11 at 8pm and 11pm on CNN; Sept. 11 at 6am, 3pm and 8pm on CNN International. CNN has acquired and is co-producing this updated version of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning documentary 9/11. The film is directed, filmed, and executive produced by Gédéon and Jules Naudet, French-born filmmakers and brothers, and by retired Manhattan firefighter James Hanlon. CNN Films is working with the team to update the film for this 2016 edition. Denis Leary will introduce the new anniversary edition of the film, reflecting upon the heroism of the firefighters who responded that day. From the site of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City that commemorates the fallen, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, Leary will recall the bravery and emotions of the events in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and beyond. CNN will air the two-hour film with limited commercial interruption in back-to-back broadcasts.

George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview — Sept. 11 at 8pm on NGC. Encore airing.

102 Minutes That Changed America: 15th Anniversary — Sept. 11 at 8pm on History. This is an updated edition of the Emmy-winning documentary 102 Minutes That Changed America. The program chronicles the terror of 9/11 in real-time, providing a minute by minute account of the catastrophe as it unfolded.  The anniversary edition includes added interviews from those featured in the original film. 

9/11: The Longest War — Sept. 11 at 9pm on NGC. This new two-hour special provides a comprehensive look at the past 15 years — from the buildup to the attacks as the devastating events unfolded, to the military response in the years that followed — leading up to the present day. 9/11: The Longest War draws from a wide range of sources, including over 40 original National Geographic interviews with survivors, first responders, experts, journalists, politicians and military leaders; news footage and eyewitness videos culled from a rarely seen 400-hour archive; and chilling audio recordings from on board the doomed planes and inside air traffic control. 

America’s 9/11 Flag: Rise From the Ashes — Sept. 11 at 10:30pm on History. Featuring best-selling author and HISTORY host Brad Meltzer, this program looks at the mystery surrounding the iconic American flag that was raised by three New York City firefighters shortly after the 9/11 attack only to then disappear. 

Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial – Clydesdales 9/11 Tribute (2011)

One of the favorite Super Bowl Commercials of all time. Budweiser’s 9/11 tribute featuring their iconic Clydesdales passing the Statue of Liberty, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, and finally pausing and bowing in a park overlooking the New York City skyline, without the twin World Trade Center Towers – which were destroyed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This big game ad was broadcast in 2011 in honor of the 10th year anniversary remembrance of the September 11 attacks.

Now adults, children of 9/11 draw inspiration from tragedy

By Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press Posted: 09/08/16, 12:25 PM EDT

NEW YORK >> They were kids, or not even born yet, when America’s heart broke for them.

More than 3,000 children and young adults lost a parent in the deadliest terror attack on American soil, instantly becoming known as the children of 9/11.

As the 15th anniversary of the attacks approaches, these children are now adults or nearly so, and their Sept. 11 legacy is now theirs to shape.

Many have been guided by a determination to honor the parent they lost or the awareness they so painfully gained. And they have done it in ways as varied as working with refugees, studying the forces that led to the attacks and pursuing a parent’s unrealized pro-sports dream.

Here are some of their stories.

It’s Lindsay Weinberg’s job to find and notify families whose loved ones have died, sometimes under violent circumstances. It’s a job she’s particularly prepared to do.

“I’m giving them among the worst news they can receive, and I’ve received it,” she says.

Weinberg was 12 when the New York City medical examiner’s office, where she now works, told her family in 2002 that it had identified her father’s remains among the victims of 9/11.

“It adds to the amount of empathy that I can have,” says the 26-year-old, whose father, Steven Weinberg, was an accounting manager killed at the World Trade Center.

After recognizing how forensic science helped provide answers for her family, Lindsay got a master’s degree in it, and is now an outreach investigator. She hasn’t worked on the continuing analysis of the more than 21,000 bits of bone found at ground zero.

She says her connection to 9/11 is “not something that I lead with, personally or professionally.” But working at the medical examiner’s office, she says, shows “how things kind of come full circle.”

Thea Trinidad’s pulse thumped as she walked out on the floor of Madison Square Garden as part of pro wrestler Adam Rose’s entourage in 2014. It was the first time she’d been there in her own wrestling career. And the first time since she’d been there with her dad.

Looking up at the seats where they always sat “was like a punch to the heart,” she says.

She was 10 when she overheard her father calling her mother to say goodbye from the trade center’s north tower, where he worked as a telecommunications analyst. Growing up, she pondered how to honor him.

“I thought: ‘What was it we shared the most?’ And it was wrestling,” she recalls.

Michael Trinidad was a former high school wrestler who didn’t flinch when his tomboy daughter did leaping moves off the furniture. In fact, “he’d say, ‘No, you’re doing it wrong — let me show you,’” says Thea, 25, who lives in Tampa, Florida.

At first, the 5-foot-tall wrestler didn’t let on about her dad as she backflipped and body-slammed under the monikers Divina Fly and Rosita. (She now uses her own name). She didn’t want anyone thinking she was making a play for sympathy.

After her story emerged, Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine named her Inspirational Wrestler of the Year in 2011.

She says she feels her father’s spirit every time she goes into the ring.

“This one’s for you, Dad,” she tells herself. “Protect me out there.”

Several years after 9/11, Michael Massaroli came across a plastic bin filled with condolence messages.

They had come from people around the country and world, many of them strangers, after the attacks killed his father and namesake, an investment executive. Michael was 6. His widowed mother had just given birth to a baby girl two months earlier.

“Hearing how people were so selfless and so caring to us really made me want to try to do something, career-wise, that I thought would help other people,” he says.

He decided that would be public service, since he was already interested in politics. By high school, he was interning for a state assemblyman.

Now 21 and newly graduated from George Washington University, he got his first job working at a Washington firm that helps political campaigns handle their finances properly. He sees himself eventually working in government as an adviser or aide.

“I really try and at least get positive personal growth out of something that was so horrific,” he says, “rather than let it break me down.”

Anjunelly Jean-Pierre once had her future all figured out. She planned on joining the military and eventually becoming the doctor or lawyer her mother envisioned.

Then her mother, Maxima Jean-Pierre, was killed at the World Trade Center, where the immigrant from the Dominican Republic managed an executive cafe.

Over the next few years, Anjunelly grieved, regrouped and decided she wanted to do what her mother did. Recalling the Sunday dinners that filled the house with friends and family, “I saw how food brings people together,” says Anjunelly, 34.

After culinary school and a stint as a sous-chef for an Emeril Lagasse TV show, Anjunelly now works in a setting where bringing people together is perhaps especially important: She is a manager in the Members’ Dining Room in Congress.

Last September, a letter she wrote about Maxima was entered into the Congressional Record. One of the most popular dishes she’s made over the years was Maxima’s rice and peas, she wrote: “I guess the love and the heritage comes through.”

Alexandra Wald wanted to understand. She soaked up books about the forces and failures that led to Sept. 11. She took four years of Arabic in college, got a master’s degree in international relations and aspired to work in intelligence.

“Being as affected as I was by the geopolitical landscape and my dad being killed on 9/11,” she says, “I wanted to make sure it never happened again.”

It was her first day of high school when her father, stockbroker Victor Wald, was killed at the World Trade Center.

His daughter, who goes by Alex, was already interested in world events. But 9/11 made her want “to be that person to decipher that information, to protect the homeland.”

Now 28, she works on a cybersecurity project for a contractor for the federal General Services Administration in Washington.

Studying for her career — with help from the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, set up for the children of 9/11 victims — also meant dealing with the frustration of contemplating missed opportunities to disrupt the terror plot.

When the anger stirred, she’d think of some advice her father gave her a few weeks before the attacks.

“You can’t look back with regret,” he told her. And “never say, ‘What if?’”

It’s all right to ask Ryan McGowan about the “IX.XI” tattooed on the back of her neck. It’s 9/11 in Roman numerals.

“Once it’s on my skin,” she says, “I have to talk about it.”

Ryan was 5, sister Casey 4, when their mother, investment executive Stacey Sennas McGowan, was killed at the trade center.

As a preteen, Ryan partly played the role of parent, helping her sister pick outfits for school and making dinner when their father, Tom, had to work. She came to think of her mother as “an amazing guardian angel.”

Now 20, Ryan is a junior majoring in marketing at Boston College, where 19-year-old Casey is a sophomore in communications.

Often, Ryan makes her way through the campus to a labyrinth inscribed with her mom’s name and those of 21 fellow BC graduates killed in 9/11. It’s a place she feels close to her mother, whose remains were never identified and buried.

“I can just sit there and reflect,” she says. “I don’t have that anywhere else.”

Ronald Milam Jr. doesn’t always tell his football and basketball teammates that there’s a reason he wears the number 33. It’s for his father, Army Maj. Ronald Milam, who was 33 when he was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11.

Ronald Jr. never met his father. His mother, then-Air Force Capt. Jacqueline Milam, was pregnant with him on 9/11. She safely escaped from the Pentagon.

Ronald Jr., now a 14-year-old high school freshman in San Antonio, is one of the more than 100 Sept. 11 victims’ children who were born after the attacks.

He has his dad’s features and unflappable personality. And his jersey number was a connection he could make with his father, a college player himself.

“I wanted to play in honor of my dad,” he says. “So I picked that.”

Sometimes, after refugees told her their stories of conflict and loss, Sonia Shah would let them know that she had one, too.

Explaining that her father died in 9/11 opened “a bonding moment,” says the Baylor University social work student, who spent the summer volunteering with refugee aid organizations in Greece.

Her father, Jayesh “Jay” Shah, was killed at ground zero, where he was a financial trading technology executive. Sonia was 7.

His death fueled Sonia’s impulse to try to help where others turn away.

“Because I had faced loss at such a young age and in such a different way than many other people, I recognized hardship in other people’s life a lot more easily,” says the 22-year-old senior, who took a year off from college for religious study. She says that without her faith, she “wouldn’t be as whole and as healed.”

9/11 victims could be allowed to sue Saudi Arabia over alleged ties to attack

• Ruth Sherlock, Washington 9 September 2016 • 5:01pm

The United States house of representatives voted Friday to pass a bill that would allow the families of victims of the 11 September terror attacks to sue Saudi Arabia’s government for damages.

The legislation was passed by a voice vote in the chamber four months after it was approved by the senate and is symptomatic of a growing desire in Washing to re-examine it’s alliance with the oil-rich kingdom which has, for decades,  been treated as America’s untouchable ally. 

Ted Poe, a Republican congressmen from Texas who voted on the bill said the American government needs to be more concerned about the families of the Twin Towers victims than “diplomatic niceties”.

But Barack Obama on Friday threatened to exercise his presidential veto to stop the bill becoming law, warning that the legislation, which strips foreign nations of immunity from American law suits, could backfire.

The White House is concerned that it would allow foreign countries to, in turn, bring legal action against the United States government to address grievances. 

The House vote came two months after Congress released 28 declassified pages from a congressional report into the 11 September attacks that reignited speculation that some of  the attackers had ties to Saudi government officials.  Fifteen of the 19 hijackers from 9/11 were Saudi nationals.

Several subsequent US investigations failed to substantiate the allegations, and the Saudi government has consistently and fiercely denied the claims. 

Brian McGlinchey, the director of the advocacy website 28pages.org, said making the documents public has “strengthened the resolve of 9/11 families and other advocates of justice to bring about the enactment” of the bill.

A decision by Obama to veto legislation “that would give 9/11 families their well-deserved day in court would truly stain his legacy,” Mr McGlinchey said.

Toby Keith – Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is centered in the 400 block of E Street, NW, Washington, DC and is the nation’s monument to law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Dedicated on October 15, 1991, the Memorial honors federal, state and local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of our nation and its people.

The Memorial features two curving, 304-foot-long blue-gray marble walls. Carved on these walls are the names of more than 20,000 officers who have been killed in the line of duty throughout U.S. history, dating back to the first known death in 1791. Unlike many other memorials in Washington, DC, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is ever-changing: new names of fallen officers are added to the monument each spring, in conjunction with National Police Week.

Upon the panels of its hallowed walls are engraved the names of those NYPD fallen during the aftermath of the attacks on the WTC.

http://www.nleomf.org/officers/remembering-9-11/

All 343 NYFD Killed at the World Trade Center September 11, 2001

http://nyfd.com/9_11_wtc.html

Taps Played Before Cowboys vs. Jets Game – 9/11 Tribute (9-11-2011)

Tribute to 9-11 as Taps is played and so is Amazing Grace before Lady Antebellum sang the Star Spangled Banner at the NY Jets and Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday Night Football.

Have You Forgotten?