Tag: 9/11

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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.

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Trump Cancels Secret Plan To Host Taliban At Camp David

Donald Trump tweeted Saturday night that he had abruptly canceled a clandestine meeting at Camp David with the president of Afghanistan and Taliban leaders. The president also ‘called off peace negotiations’ that had appeared to be close to a final agreement. From the Washington Post:

President Trump said Saturday that he had canceled a previously undisclosed summit at Camp David with Taliban leadership and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after the Taliban took responsibility for an attack last week that killed a U.S. soldier.

Trump said the meetings had been set to take place Sunday.

On Twitter, the president appeared to cancel talks with the Taliban indefinitely, a significant blow to the peace process kicked off last year, which was nearing its conclusion. In tweets Saturday evening, Trump wrote that he has “called off peace negotiations” and accused the Taliban of perpetrating the attacks to strengthen their negotiating hand.

“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Trump tweeted. “They didn’t, they only made it worse!”

The canceled meetings were scheduled to be held just days before the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The Taliban. On U.S. soil. Three days before the 9/11 anniversary. Seriously.

And just to show you that the Donald is totes on his game, he followed those tweets with this:

(image via Flickr/White House – public domain)

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Trump (Again) Claims He Helped At 9/11 Attack Site

At a signing ceremony to permanently authorize the 9/11 victims compensation fund, Donald Trump once again claimed he somehow ‘helped’ at the World Trade Center site in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

“I was down there also. I don’t consider myself a first responder, but I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you.”

The Washington Post has already debunked this myth: “While Trump did visit the site a couple of days after the attack and did some interviews, there is no evidence that he got down to help clear rubble, which people would certainly have remembered.”

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Must See: Jon Stewart’s Emotional Take-Down Of Absent Congress Members At 9/11 First Responders Hearing

Jon Stewart

Everyone seriously needs to stop and watch Jon Stewart’s incredible speech before a Congressional committee regarding funding for 9/11 first responders.

Less than half the committee bothered to show up for the hearing, and an emotional Stewart lambasts those there in front of the cameras.

Congress loves to say “Never Forget,” but they forgot to show up.

Watch below.

CBS News reports the shaming worked:

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill which would permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Wednesday, the day after comedian Jon Stewart gave impassioned testimony in support of the bill in video that quickly went viral.

The bill will now go to the floor for a full vote in the House of Representatives, where it is likely to pass. It’s unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take up the bill in the Senate, although Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday that he was “imploring, pleading, even begging” McConnell to bring the bill to the floor as soon as it passes in the House.

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News Round-Up: September 11, 2018

 Some news items you might have missed:

• The memory of 9/11 has been at the forefront of my mind all day. It was an attack on my home of many years; it was an attack on all Americans. #Remember

• A man in St.Petersburg, Florida, stabbed his friend in the neck after the two had sex.

• Game of Thrones star Kit Harington wondered to the press at the Toronto International Film Festival why we can’t have an openly gay actor play a Marvel super-hero?

• Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, tells the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, “We’re going to get our country back.” Griffin says he’s never seen such grassroots energy as we approach the midterm elections.

• Remembering Father Mychal Judge, the openly gay priest who was the first official casualty of the horrific 9/11 terror attack.

• Keiynan Lonsdale, star of The Flash and Love, Simon, asked his 837,000 fans on Instagram “Why is it deemed wrong to not wear clothes?” as he posted a nude pic.

A post shared by 🌳🌊❤️💫🌸 Keiynan Lonsdale 🔑🎶👁🌈🌳 (@keiynanlonsdale) on Sep 9, 2018 at 6:10pm PDT

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Trump Begins 9/11 Anniversary Not With Inspiration But Russian Probe Twitter Rant

Donald Trump

As the world observes the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, Donald Trump began the day not with uplifting prose for the nation he’s charged with leading, but by tweeting out yet another rant about the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in our 2016 election.

“We have found nothing to show collusion between President Trump & Russia, absolutely zero, but every day we get more documentation showing collusion between the FBI & DOJ, the Hillary campaign, foreign spies & Russians, incredible,” wrote the Trumpster.

Hours later, the current occupant of the White House tweeted this inspiring missive:

According to reports, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will attend a memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 went down after passengers stood up to the terrorists.

Vice President Mike Pence attended a ceremony with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva at the Pentagon where another plane crashed and killed 184 in the deadly attack.

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World Trade Center Subway Station Reopens In Time For 9/11 Anniversary

A 1 train pulls into the World Trade Center subway station for first time since terror attacks

As the world recognizes the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the United States, a 1 train has pulled into the subway station located directly underneath the World Trade Center for the first time since the horrific day of terror.

Costing over $158 million, the reconstruction took so long because New York City primarily focused energies on rebuilding above ground where the twin towers had stood.

For years now, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has ferried commuters via bus shuttle to South Ferry instead of Cortlandt Street.

The new station features 1,200 feet of new track and tunnel as well as a white marble mosaic by artist Ann Hamilton that incorporates raised lettering utilizing the text from the Declaration of Independence and the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Titled “CHORUS,” commuters can experience the artwork not only visually but through touch as well.

Additional improvements New Yorkers will appreciate – the subway station is air-conditioned and features digital, state of the art real-time train schedules.

MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota called the moment “a major milestone in the recovery and growth of downtown Manhattan,” telling the Gothamist, “WTC Cortlandt is more than a new subway station. It is symbolic of New Yorkers’ resolve in restoring and substantially improving the entire World Trade Center site.”

Watch the report below from the NYC ABC affiliate.