Free Republic

NEW YORK, NY - The human rights organization American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) will be hosting its second annual 9/11 Freedom Rally on September 11 at 3pm at Park Place and West Broadway. While clergy and first responders are barred from the official ceremonies, both are welcome at the 9/11 Freedom Rally. And while White House guidelines forbid official 9/11 ceremonies from mentioning who attacked the U.S. on that day or why, the 9/11 Freedom Rally features more honest speakers. Free citizens are coming from all over the U.S. to attend the rally. "Honor our war and stand for freedom...

We will never forget.

They met as perfect strangers in the rubble of the World Trade Center, but in the 10 years since, retired firefighter Bob Beckwith and George W. Bush have become old friends, as this photo shows. “He said he was going down to Ground Zero [for Sunday’s memorial] and asked, ‘Are you going?’ ” Beckwith told The Post. “And I said, ‘Yes, I guess I’ll see you there.’ ” The chat between the two men, who’ve gotten together 11 times since their accidental first meeting was captured in an instantly famous photo in 2001, happened in the former president’s office in...

ESPN interviewed those who knew and loved Welles Crowther, known among the heroes of 9/11 as (MUST see video) “the man in the red bandana:” Welles was 24-years-old on September 11, 2001. As mentioned by ESPN, Crowther played D-1 Lacrosse at Boston College, graduating in 1999 to then move on to New York City and work as an equities trader at Sandler, O’Neill and Partners on the 104th floor of the South Tower. A volunteer firefighter, Welles gave a call to his mom after the first plane hit to let her know he was ok at 9:12 a.m. He would...

Academy Award-winning actor and silver-screen conservative Jon Voight shares his reaction to news that New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will include President Obama and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the solemn remembrance of the 9/11 attacks at ground zero on Sunday. But no clergy. And no prayers.

One hundred and ninety motorcycles, driven mostly by Chicago firefighters, are on their way to New York for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The motorcycles left on Tuesday morning from US Cellular Field and will make stops at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where flight 93 went down, and at the Pentagon, before reaching Ground Zero on September 11th. Tom Maloney, a Lieutenant for the Chicago Fire Deparment, started the Chicago to New York motorcycle ride after the 9/11 attacks. Maloney and several other Chicago firefighters traveled to New York after the attacks to help the New York firefighters dig through the rubble....

From executive producer Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Television, Discovery Channel and Science Channel comes the story of hope from darkness, life from ashes, a dream born from a nightmare. RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO, premiering Thursday, August 25 at 8PM E/P on Discovery Channel, showcases the men and women determined to rebuild and restore a sacred site, constructing the new, 104-story One World Trade Center. "Discovery Channel is proud to be sharing this important story and transitional moment in the history of our country. With incredible access and deft storytelling, RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO captures a city and a country moving forward...

NEW YORK - A decade after the Sept. 11 attacks enveloped Lower Manhattan in a thick gray dust of pulverized buildings and human remains, the surrounding area has become a trendy neighborhood with a growing population. Although an iconic part of the New York City skyline and a symbol of New York's exuberant commercialism, the World Trade Center's twin towers were never much loved by locals, some of whom saw them as unattractive and out of scale with the surrounding area. Now from the horror and rubble, a new community is growing. "It feels like one of the happiest and...

People should stop calling the site of the September 11 attacks "Ground Zero," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday, urging Americans to move past a term long linked with the World Trade Center's twin towers destruction. "We will never forget the devastation of the area that came to be known as ground zero. Never. But the time has come to call those 16 acres what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum," Bloomberg said in a speech on the rebuilding of lower Manhattan. Ground Zero originated as a term to describe...

Today, one 911 mom, who lost her son, said to me of our 911 Freedom Rally, "I am looking forward to the rally. It is a place we can be free to really remember the who, why, when and where of 9-11. The morning ceremony is devoid of any meaning." The NY Post is reporting that many 911 family members have not been invited to the official ceremonies of 911. This is just monstrous. First it was clergy, then 911 first responders who were excluded from the official ceremonies -- now it's the victims' families. Mayor Gloomberg not only lost...

Imam Rauf, of the Cordoba House/ Ground Zero Mosque/ Park 51 /Prayer Space. Who is supposedly no longer associated with the multi-named community facility, is a self-professed proponent of Sharia Law and Finance in the United States. We were particularly interested in the recent NYU Sharia Law Symposium since this movement to make the U.S. Sharia Compliant by organizations like CAIR and MAS is going full-bore. They continue to push their bridge building narrative on all levels of our society. This symposium was primarily a two day commercial for Islam. As we lead up to the 9-11 10th Anniversary. Take...

Ron DiFrancesco's voice softens and trails off. He barely finishes his sentences as he recalls his experience on Sept. 11, 2001. He speaks as if it happened yesterday. "It was a living hell," he says. "I was mere seconds from death. ... I didn't know I was going to get out." DiFrancesco is believed to be the last person out of the South Tower of the World Trade Center before it collapsed. According to some reports, he was one of only four people to escape from above the 81st floor.

There are times when the church makes you feel proud. Priests' response to 9/11, ten years ago, is one of them.This became evident as the U.S. Bishops' Office of Media Relations interviewed and sought reflections from a few persons for "The Catholic Church Remembers," a website memorial of video clips, photos and print that can be found can be found here.Cardinal Edward Egan, retired archbishop of New York, was one of the first responders that fateful morning. He headed for Ground Zero when he heard of the attack. As he was on the way Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called and asked...

The self-proclaimed leading moneyman behind the Ground Zero mosque ran a $5.1 million insurance scam that cashed in on car-accident injuries, a lawsuit alleges. Hisham Elzanaty, 52, ran the "highly developed and sophisticated kickback scheme" for years, Allstate Insurance claims in a federal suit on Long Island. The scheme routinely submitted inflated medical bills to Allstate and involved illegal fee-splitting, court papers say.

The horrifying images of Islamic terror victims tumbling through the air to their deaths and the massive collapse of steel and concrete that followed are seared into the memories of anyone who saw them, but it's been nearly 10 years, and what should America do? Follow the advice of famed Democratic pundit, Bob Beckel? "I know it's still sensitive here in New York and New Jersey, but we are gonna have to get OVER 9/11," he said. Absolutely the last thing Americans should consider, unless they wish to ignore the second round of 9/11 attacks, according to those who are...

The Ground Zero Cross Must Continue to Stand Atheists have filed a lawsuit to have the Cross -- that was found in the wreckage of the World Trade Center days after 9/11 -- removed from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. The ACLJ is fighting back. As the American Atheists continue their inflammatory comments about the Ground Zero Cross, an update on our efforts to preserve the Cross - a symbol of hope and comfort - for future generations. This is currently what is happening from the ACLJ: We are days away from filing our legal brief, and the...

The Park51 project for a 15-story mosque/community center at Ground Zero, led by developer Sharif El-Gamal and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, has dwindled down to a much smaller vision, a four or five-story 'PrayerSpace' and community center. This may be a far cry from their original plan, but many are bewildered as to why they are still moving ahead with any planned mosque at this site, given the tremendous negative opinion most Americans have of its location. Sharif El-Gamal believes in his vision and he is committed to its location at Ground Zero. He admits that the introduction of his...

It now appears that the ACLJ has less than two weeks to file a legal brief backing the cross at the new Ground Zero Museum. This is being challenged in court by the American Atheists. It is their view (the ACLJ) that the lawsuit is without merit. The cross was formed by two intersecting steel beams that survived the Twin Towers collapse on 9-11. According to the radio station that I heard this information, you can sign the petition at 1-877-989-2255 OR you can log onto Aclj.com and look under "Radio Årchives". ** I apologize if this format is incorrect...

This will make your blood boil. While New York City officials rush to build the Ground Zero mosquestrosity, a 15-story middle finger to America, they've allowed the rebuilding of the 95-year-old St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which stood at the base of the World Trade Center towers and was destroyed by Muslim terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, to be mired in obstruction and endless red tape. The church has fought a 10-year-long sisyphean battle to rebuild that magnificent icon, but still can't rebuild, while the Islamic supremacist grifters behind the Ground Zero mosque have been helped by city officials to...

Throughout Islam's history, whenever a region was conquered, one of the first signs of consolidation was/is the erection of a mosque atop the sacred sites of the vanquished: the pagan Ka'ba temple in Arabia was converted into Islam's holiest site, the mosque of Mecca; the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, was built atop Solomon's temple in Jerusalem; the Umayyad mosque was built atop the Church of St. John the Baptist; and the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque upon the conquest of Constantinople. As for the literal wording of the mosque project, "Cordoba House," it offers opposing paradigms...