Episode 411 – The Bad and the Good

It’s the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks tomorrow. And, after 20 years, nothing looks to have changed. Let’s talk about what’s going on in Afghanistan on the eve the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

And, because it has been 20 years since 9/11, let’s talk about some of the good things the victims and their families are doing to cope with their experience or loss.

 

Afghanistan 20 Years After the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Not So Diverse, I Guess

The Taliban is not embracing United States values. Honestly, maybe we could learn something.

The Taliban decided to paint the old U.S. embassy in Kabul. In 2020, the United States and Afghanistan had a peace deal that would allow the United States to add some murals on the embassy. One of the murals that we agreed upon was a mural of George Floyd.

OK, I know, what was their a mural of George Floyd on the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. I don’t know. Why was their a gay pride flag flying over the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan. My best guess is probably yours too. We are trying to show the world how racist and diverse we are (which is kind of weird).

Guess what? The Taliban ain’t the diverse.

They proved it a step further. In an absolute surprise to the Biden administration, the Taliban did not put one woman within the government hierarchy.

This was really unexpected by Secretary of State, Antoney Blinkin:

God he’s terrible. They’re all terrible.

Do you know how I knew they weren’t going to put any women in the government? Because they said they weren’t going to. It’s against Sharia Law.

I really do not know what these people actually expected from this 8th century barbarians, now with $83 billion dollars of our weapons.

But we know who is going to be in the Taliban government:

  • Sirajuddin Haqqani, designated a global terrorist by Washington because of close links between al Qaeda and the Haqqani network that he heads, was named minister of interior, with oversight of Afghanistan’s police and internal security. The FBI currently offers a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
  • Mullah Hassan Akhund, who served as foreign minister in the previous Islamic Emirate, which harbored Osama bin Laden and was ousted from power by the 2001 U.S. invasion.
  • Mohammad Yaqoob, the Taliban’s military chief during the insurgency and the oldest son of the movement’s founder Mullah Omar, became minister of defense.
  • Mullah Omar’s brother Mullah Abdul Manan, was named minister of public works.
  • Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar, and the face of the Taliban during negotiations with the international community, was appointed as one of two deputy prime ministers.
  •  Hard core of the Taliban leadership, and was made up almost exclusively of ethnic Pashtuns.

Not only is there no diversity of sex or race, there’s no political diversity. Non-government sanctioned protests have been banned. Any protests have been violently suppressed.

The administration push to make the Taliban something its not is really being questioned. Here’s Peter Doocy lighting up Jen Psaki…again:

Here’s the problem, they have no answer. Their messaging so far contradicts what we all see is happening, you know they are lying to us. This isn’t going to work out well for them.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/taliban-to-paint-over-george-floyd-mural-in-kabul-replace-with-islamic-slogan
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-chief-says-hopes-fading-for-more-open-taliban-government-in-afghanistan-11631175830
https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-crack-down-on-protest-led-by-women-in-kabul-11631014019?mod=article_inline

Some Good News

Maybe the Taliban is still a bit worried about the United States.

The Taliban allowed 200 people to fly out of Afghanistan, including 113 Americans and green card holders.

There has been a lot of talk about hostages and the United States going back into Afghanistan so that might have had something to do with it. It will be interesting to see if they continue on with their “good will”.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-to-allow-200-americans-other-foreigners-to-fly-out-of-kabul-11631173763

I Didn’t Forget to Mention It

Yesterday, Joe Biden made a speech forcing vaccine mandates on private businesses and for non-union federal employees. This is pretty big news. You might be asking why I didn’t mention it? I have a few reasons:

  • I want to talk about 9/11. That is what’s important and what we all seem to have forgotten about.
  • His speech was probably the worst speech I have heard from an American President. I want to edit it and present it to you on Monday. It is one I never thought I would ever hear. It is an example of dictatorial tyranny.
  • Because Biden made the speech last night, the reactions are now coming from the media, politicians and businesses that will be affected by this mandate.
  • And I also need to look at the mandate itself to see if it is Constitutional. I can tell you, right now, it probably isn’t but I need to go over the language.

The only reason I do bring it up right now is because this is a deflection from his disastrous Afghanistan pullout, his horrible jobs report, the crippling inflation and his terrible poll numbers (he’s now in the 30s).

But we don’t have to look at his poll numbers. We just have to listen to the people.

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is tomorrow and going to be celebrated across the country, especially at the sites where the terrorist act occurred. Joe Biden has plans to go to all three sites: the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Guess what? With his screw up in Afghanistan and the take over of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the people who committed 9/11, the families of the victims do not want him there.

In a big surprise move, Old Joe doesn’t care and is going to go anyway.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-to-visit-all-three-sept-11-memorials-even-though-some-victim-families-say-hes-unwelcome

 

20th Anniversary of 9/11

Tomorrow, I am going to do another podcast to celebrate 9/11. I am going to go through what happened, minute by minute timeline of the terrorist attack. I think this is important because we seem to have already forgotten what has happened and we should never forget.

It was an important moment that day. Our children lost a lot of freedom that day. They will never know the freedoms that I and my parents have had.

But, today, there are some nice things that are happening 20 years after the attack. I know I spent the first part of this article expressing the negative things that have happened throughout the world but there is good news.

Rest In Peace

One thing most people don’t realize is that not everyone was identified after the dust settled. There were a lot of bodies (and body parts) found that couldn’t be identified and some were not found till years later. But the United States didn’t stop trying.

This week, two more bodies were identified.

According to USA Today:

Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said in a statement Tuesday Dorothy Morgan and a man whose identity is being withheld at the request of his family are the 1,646th and 1,647th confirmed deaths from the 9/11 terror attacks.

The two deaths were confirmed from DNA analyses of remains recovered from the site. Morgan’s DNA came from remains recovered in 2001, while the unidentified man’s DNA was confirmed from remains found in 2001, 2002 and 2006.

This is important. Families want closure and having the remains of their family members is an important detail to that closure. I hope we never stop trying to identify these people as the technology gets better.

RIP.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/08/9-11-victims-identities-confirmed-new-york-city/5771658001/

Good for NPR

My son left me a voicemail the day he died to wish me a happy birthday. I still have that voicemail. It is very important to me and I keep copies of it everywhere including my phone. I also keep his contact information on my phone. It might seem dumb but it’s a big deal to me.

NPR did something that I thought was nice and very moving. Here is a part of the article stating their goal:

Voicemails are deeply embedded into memories of 9/11. On that day in 2001, as people all across New York City tried to get hold of their friends and family, cellphone networks were overloaded. And for some of the victims inside the planes and towers, leaving a voicemail was their last way of communicating with their loved ones.

In the weeks leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, NPR set up an old phone booth in Brooklyn Bridge Park — across the river from the new World Trade Center — and invited people to leave a voicemail for someone they lost that day.

By searching public records, reaching out to national survivors’ networks, and collaborating with facilitators of 9/11 support groups on Facebook, we connected with six people who were willing to share their stories with us — people like Trish Straine, whose husband died in the north tower just six days after their second son was born; and Matthew Bocchi, who was only 9 years old when he lost his father in the attacks. Their individual experiences offer insight into the nature of grief and how it changes — or doesn’t — over time.

Here it is:

Now, I know this might seem a little self-serving and exploitative for commercial value by NPR but I’d rather not look at it that way. And the messages showed the pain and, hopefully, allowed the family members to let out some of their emotions. It also allows us to see the pain these people are going through, even 20 years after the attacks.

So I’m going to give NPR some props.

https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2021/09/09/1033529229/september-11-victims-families-friends-voicemails

This Is Good Therapy

A bunch of family members of 9/11 victims and some survivors are going to the 9/11 Tribute Museum in New York and actually talking about their family members or their experiences to teach people about what happened. Even children of the victims, most of which have limited memories of the tragedy, are going to visit the monuments and museum and talking about their experiences.

The reason this is important is not only for the mental and emotional well-being of the family members. It is mostly to teach the newer generations about the attack and the grievous loss that occurred. Most of the last two generations never knew 9/11 and I think that is probably why there is such polarity in this country.

The terrorist attack on 9/11 brought the United States together. It was probably the most patriotic time in my lifetime that only compares when the United States hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics. But, we’ve forgotten. These people are trying to remind us.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/9-11-families-return-to-ground-zero-with-a-mission-trust-me-it-will-get-better-11631179801?adobe_mc=TS%3D1631209755%7CMCMID%3D57984580952917091038866124422853428462%7CMCORGID%3DCB68E4BA55144CAA0A4C98A5%40AdobeOrg&wsj_native_webview=androidtablet&ns=prod/accounts-wsj

Some Documentaries to Watch

9/11: A Day to Remember

9/11: Minute by Minute

9/11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition

 

From George Bush’s 9/11 to Joe Biden’s

Take a look at the article below. It’s great and really sums some things up.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-bidens-cynicism-2022-midterms-reconciliation-9-11-sept-afghanistan-al-qaeda-taliban-11631133822