Tag: 9/11

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Bette Midler Channels The Raw Emotion Of 9/11

Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11
Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11

Music has always been an integral touchstone to important moments in my history, as well as my go-to for emotional release.

That’s probably why I revisit this clip of Bette Midler singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ at a memorial at Yankee Stadium shortly after the horrific bombings on 9/11. Continue reading “Bette Midler Channels The Raw Emotion Of 9/11”

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9/11 Tribute: Bette Midler “Wind Beneath My Wings”

Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11

Music is always my “go-to” for emotional release. So it’s no wonder each year I revisit this clip of Bette Midler singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ at a memorial at Yankee Stadium shortly after the horrific bombings on 9/11.

This encapsulates so much of what we felt then and still feel today.

Her “thank you” at the 4:30 mark says so much on behalf of so many.

As only Bette could deliver…

Also – my fellow LGBTQ blogger, Joe Jervis, shares his personal account of what it was like to be in New York City on that day. Well worth the read.

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The Trumps, 9/11 And The Pledge Of Allegiance

Umm…

On one of the most solemn occasions in the history of the United States, the First Lady can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance?

I usually leave political spouses out of things, but this is really quite odd.

p.s. it looks like the Donald forgot half of the Pledge including the “under God” part, which is ironic since he accused Democrats of leaving that out of the pledge during their convention last month.

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Remembering 9/11

Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11
Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11
Bette Midler sings in tribute to those lost in 9/11

In that music is always my “go-to” for emotional release, this clip of Bette Midler singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ at a memorial at Yankee Stadium shortly after the horrific bombings on 9/11 encapsulates so much of what we felt then and still feel today.

Her “thank you” at the 4:30 mark says so much on behalf of so many.

As only Bette could deliver…

My fellow LGBTQ blogger, Joe Jervis, shares his personal account of what it was like to be in New York City on that day. Well worth the reading – here.

And from the Twitterverse today – two statesmen who reflected on how the world saw today, and one who made it about himself.

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News Round-Up: September 10, 2020

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov (screen capture via HBO Sports)

Some news items you might have missed:

• The Daily Beast: A Russian social media dissident was captured in Chechnya and forced to sit on a glass bottle as an act of apology to Putin’s favorite enforcer, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (above).

• OUT: Jussie Smollett in a recent Instagram Live chat, “From the very, very beginning, it was set up to seem like I was lying about something or everything.” The gay Empire actor was referencing his January 2019 claim that two men attacked him near his Chicago apartment while spewing racist and homophobic slurs, physically assaulting him, and hanging a noose around his neck. The police alleged it was a false report.

• Edge Media: Actor Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery, Rent) and an anonymous accuser have filed a civil lawsuit in New York State court Manhattan against Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey for alleged sexual assaults in the 1980s.

Oscar winner Kevin Spacey (screen capture via YouTube)

• NY Daily News: The Trump administration has secretly siphoned nearly $4 million away from a program that tracks and treats FDNY firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses. The Treasury Department mysteriously started withholding parts of payments — nearly four years ago — meant to cover medical services for to firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics treated by the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program.

• The Advocate: Donald Trump has unveiled a new shortlist of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees, and it includes such anti-LGBTQ+ types as Sens. Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Josh Hawley as well as the lawyer who defended the Defense of Marriage Act.

• Washington Blade: The venerable LGBTQ news outlet has officially endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president. “There’s no reason for any informed American voter to grant Trump another four years. There’s even less reason for LGBTQ voters to support him, no matter what the hypocrites at Log Cabin tell you.”

• Election 2020: A new campaign ad from Joe Biden hits Donald Trump over the revelations Trump knew the severity of the coronavirus for months while telling the American people “it’s like the flu.”

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NYC Audit Shows No 9/11 Donations From Donald Trump

Via ABC News:

The New York City Comptroller’s Office has found no evidence that Donald Trump donated to 9/11 charities in the months after the attacks, the agency said.

Trump had promised weeks after the 2001 attack to donate $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund as part of a charity effort by “The Howard Stern Show.”

“My office has reviewed the donations made in the nearly 12 months following the attacks – and we didn’t find evidence that he contributed a single cent to the victims, our first responders, and to our city through the Twin Towers Fund,” New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a Democrat, said in a statement to ABC News today.

“In the wake of 9/11, New Yorkers came together, healed, and rebuilt. If Donald Trump claimed to donate and didn’t, if he claimed to support New Yorkers in a time of crisis and refused, then that would be just plain wrong.”

It’s possible that the Republican presidential nominee donated after the two audit periods reviewed by Stringer’s office. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.