Tag Archives: 9/11

The Long-Term Consequences Of 9/11

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On Monday, The New York Post posted an article about the cancer deaths among the 9/11 survivors.

The article reports:

The number of 9/11 cancer victims has skyrocketed 1,680% over the past decade — fueled by rare variations of the disease, according to new statistics released as the grim 25th anniversary of the attacks nears. 

Cancer certifications among Twin Tower survivors, downtown Manhattan residents and workers on and near The Pile have exploded from 3,204 in 2015 to 57,044 this year, reveal figures compiled by the World Trade Center Health Program.

“Sadly, we lose roughly two clients a day and see a new cancer certification every 50 minutes,” said lawyer Michael Barasch, whose firm represents thousands of people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program.

For the first time, the number of cancer cases among survivors who resided, worked or attended school near Ground Zero has now surpassed the amount of emergency responders such as firefighters and police who had prolonged exposure, statistics show.

Survivors accounted for 28,913 of the overall cancer cases to date, a staggering 4,066% increase from the 694 cases reported in 2015. Responders made up 28,131 of the cancer cases.

The article notes that many of the cancers that are now showing up are very rare forms of the disease:

For example, there are 82 cases of cancer of the thymus gland, a small organ located in the upper chest behind the breastbone. Such tumors represent fewer than 1 percent of all cancer cases.

There also are 591 cases of neuroendocrine cancers, which are uncommon tumors found most often in the pancreas, bowel, lungs or adrenal glands, affecting the stomach and bowels. The number of such cases jumped 6% from March through June among 9/11 survivors.

The article notes:

James Ryan, 65, an electrician, helped light up sites at Ground Zero, including in and around the Pile, and rewiring the WTC PATH train sites.

He said he later went for a regular check-up and that blood was found in his urine. He underwent an MRI, and his pancreatic cancer was discovered in an early stage.

He had part of his pancreas removed in 2019.

“I got very lucky,” Ryan said.

Barasch said there’s more work to be done.

He said only about 15% of the civilians who had exposure to the 9/11 toxins have enrolled in the World Trade Center health program.

His firm represents former students who attended high schools and colleges near the World Trade Center who have been stricken with illnesses at a young age. Students from Stuyvesant High School, Borough of Manhattan Community College, PACE University and elementary and middle schools were in the danger zone.

He said it’s best to join the WTC Health Program and get checked out.

“Early detection is the difference between life and death,” Barasch said.

This is a serious problem. I have family members that were impacted by the pollution at the site after the event. The people who were there deserve the best medical treatment possible.

Ingenuity Saved Lives

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National Geographic is releasing a new docuseries, “9/11 Reunited,” which premieres Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. The three-part series can also be streamed in its entirety the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.

The New York Post posted an article about the series on Saturday.

The article reports one of the stories that will be included in the series:

When al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center on 9/11, six strangers found themselves trapped in an elevator in a desperate fight for survival.

As the express elevator climbed to its first stop on the 67th floor, American Airlines Flight 11 plowed into the North Tower at 8:46 am, causing the elevator to shudder and free-fall down the shaft.

One of the passengers pushed an emergency button, but the elevator had already plummeted 15 stories before stopping near the 50th floor.

As a choking cloud of thick white smoke that smelled like chemicals began pouring into the cabin, panic wasn’t an option — it was a death sentence.

So the six men — including a window cleaner and two Port Authority officials — calmly pooled their brains and their brawn.

First, they worked together to open the stuck automatic metal doors with their hands.

But there was no exit on the other end — just a solid wall with the number “50” stenciled on it.

Then, a burst of MacGyver-level ingenuity from someone always on the outside looking in at the WTC.

Window cleaner and Polish immigrant Jan Demczur quickly whipped out the brass squeegee from the bucket by his feet and began frantically pecking at layers of drywall in a circular motion.

Some of the others worked in tandem, punching and kicking the drywall until there was a hole large enough for everyone to crawl out.

They landed in a men’s bathroom, where they met firefighters imploring them to leave.

I am looking forward to watching the docuseries. The stories of survival on that day are amazing and encouraging.

We Have Lost Critical Thinking (And Civility) In America

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I did an experiment on Facebook yesterday. I posted the following observation:

To all of my liberal California friends who are constantly bashing President Trump. Has it occurred to you that if President Trump had not restricted air travel from Chine at the end of January (despite being called a racist by the Democrats for doing it) if you live near an airport that is a point of entry from China, he might have saved your life.

That is a statement based on comments by the medical experts on the coronavirus task force–it is not an original thought. The response the statement got was unbelievable–there were close to fifty comments, many of which (on both sides) used language that caused me to eventually delete the post.

There really are not two sides of that argument–the statement is based on scientific evidence about the virus and how it spreads. There should be nothing controversial about the statement.

So what did I learn? Critical thinking and civil debate are not doing well in America. By the time the comments thread was half way over, the word racist was used, President Trump was accused of acting like a king, the people who supported President Trump in his handling of the coronavirus were simply ignoring facts, and the people who opposed President Trump were simply stupid and uninformed. The basic fact of the statement was totally ignored in the discussion.  I mention this because it is dangerous for America. I wasn’t around for Pearl Harbor, so I don’t know if America came together at that point. I was around for 9/11, and I remember the leaked Democrat memo that suggested a strategy to undermine President Bush by supporting the war in Iraq and then pulling the rug out from under him. That is not the way to unite America, and may have been the beginning of the political games we see now. Just for the record, The New York Times ran an article in 2014 stating that our soldiers found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but somehow the rest of the media didn’t pick up the story.

My point is very simple. We are facing a crisis in America. Because a country without freedom chose to lie to the world about a new virus, we are challenged by a pandemic. Everyone has been told to stay at home for at least the past week, and some of us are going stir crazy. Insulting each other and bashing the President does not help the situation. Some of the statements made by our political leaders would be considered treasonous in a different time. It’s time to work together and ignore those who are using this crisis for political gain. We need to bring back critical thinking and civility.

Sometimes We Forget That Manhattan Is An Island

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Yesterday The New York Post posted an article about some of the unsung heroes of September 11, 2001.

The article reports:

On this year’s anniversary, one relatively unsung 9/11 story deserves retelling. It is the story of ordinary citizens who risked their lives to save more than a half-million people trapped at the southern tip of lower Manhattan — a rescue effort that would become the largest water evacuation in recorded history.

After the first of the Twin Towers collapsed, there was widespread confusion and panic. We were suddenly at war. We didn’t know what was coming next. Tunnels, bridges and highways leading out of the island of Manhattan were shut down.

There had never been a plan for how to conduct a mass evacuation from the most populous city in America — that was unthinkable. For the first time in more than 100 years, the only way on or off the island was by boat.

And then unexpected saviors came to the rescue: American mariners.

It started slowly as random boats and ferries already in the water voluntarily turned around and started loading people, as many as possible. It was instinct at work — patriotic Americans not wanting to leave each other stranded and vulnerable to whatever was coming next.

But the initial fleet of boats could fit only so many. The US Coast Guard, our nation’s maritime first responders, knew it had to organize. Officers got on the radio and called out to all nearby mariners: “Come help!”

And come they did. Tugs, party boats, water taxis — if it could float, it was steaming toward lower Manhattan, despite the risk of additional terror attacks and exposure to smoke and debris.

These mariners simply were not going to leave anyone behind. They loaded up as many individuals as could fit, dropped them off and sailed right back to the island, over and over again, all day and into the night.

In all, nearly 500,000 people were evacuated that day, more than the 339,000 rescued at Dunkirk. Some 150 different vessels, crewed by more than 800 American mariners, improvised and successfully executed this extraordinary feat of bravery.

Long-standing maritime traditions — safety, commitment, courage — guided these heroes.

Long-standing maritime traditions — safety, commitment, courage — guided these heroes.

Men like Vincent Ardolino of Brooklyn, captain of the Amberjack V, who passed away last year but whose stirring words can still be heard in the 2011 Tom Hanks-narrated documentary “Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience” as he recalls what could’ve been his final farewell to his wife: “I’ve got to go do something … I’m going to take the Amberjack up into the city and help … I have to do what I have to do … Even if I rescue one person, that’s one person less that will suffer or die.”

America’s maritime industry is accustomed to working in quiet anonymity to protect the nation and keep the economy moving. Yet, to those familiar with us, the actions of men like Vincent Ardolino on Sept. 11, 2011, come as no surprise.

In times of war and in times of peace, the American mariner will step up to serve without thinking twice.

And on that awful day, their aid — like that of so many brave first-responders — proved indispensable.

Fact is, this nation is blessed with many heroes willing to rush to help their neighbor, even at risk to themselves and without any desire to be singled out for their heroism.
Our mariners demonstrated that with crystal clarity on 9/11. As a maritime nation, we should count ourselves fortunate.

We are grateful to have such people as our fellow Americans.

There Is Something Upside Down About The Charges Made Here

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CNS News posted an article today about  a recent comment by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The article reports what Speaker Pelosi said in a statement issued Sunday:

“Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video” of Rep. Omar’s comment.”

This is the full statement:

“Following the President’s tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces.

“The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video.”

So what is this disrespectful and dangerous video? It is simply a video of Congresswoman Omar stating that “CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) was founded after 9/11 because they realized that some people did something.”

So wait a minute. I am missing something here. First of all, CAIR was founded in 1994–not after 9/11. Second of all, how is showing a video of a person making a speech disrespectful and dangerous? The Congresswoman has stood by her words–she has not apologized for them or backed down in any way. Why is the video disrespectful and dangerous when it simply shows Congresswoman Omar making a speech? If the video is not edited in any way (no one is arguing that it was altered), whose speech is dangerous–the one saying the words or the one reporting the words? Is the problem with the speaker or the one reporting the speech?

The Role Of Iran In 9/11

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Yesterday The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the role of Iran in the September 11 terror attack on America.

The article reports:

Iranian officials, in a first, have admitted to facilitating the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. by secretly aiding the free travel of al Qaeda operatives who eventually went on to fly commercial airliners into the Twin Towers in New York City, according to new remarks from a senior Iranian official.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, an international affairs assistant in the Iran’s judiciary, disclosed in Farsi-language remarks broadcast on Iran’s state-controlled television that Iranian intelligence officials secretly helped provide the al Qaeda attackers with passage and gave them refuge in the Islamic Republic, according to an English translation published by Al Arabiya.

“Our government agreed not to stamp the passports of some of them because they were on transit flights for two hours, and they were resuming their flights without having their passports stamped. However their movements were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” Larijani was quoted as saying.

The remarks represent the first time senior Iranian officials have publicly admitted to aiding al Qaeda and playing a direct role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks.

This is really not a surprise–Iran and Saudi Arabia have often been cited as the two major financiers of terrorism. It is truly unfortunate that as part of the Iran nuclear deal, America paid Iran $400 million in cash which has been used to further the cause of terrorism around the world. The argument can be made that the money was simply Iran’s frozen assets in America (with interest), but the fact remains that the money has been and will be used to fund terrorism and weapons to be used against American soldiers.

My Daughter Who Was Living In New York City On September 11, 2001, Posted This On Facebook Today

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Never Forget seems like a funny slogan to those of us who couldn’t forget if we wanted to. How about Always Remember?

Always remember the first responders that run to danger while the rest of us run away.

Always remember to hug your loved ones because you never know when they will leave this beautiful earth.

Always remember that there are people working very hard at this moment to keep you safe.

Always remember that every day you spend on earth is a blessing and should be treated as such.

I will spend today in a state of gratitude and remembrance.