Free Republic

Every year I watch this two or three times to remind myself that foru planes with innocents aboard crashed into the Pentagon, a field in PA and the twin towers. It breaks your heart to hear the phone calls - to family to say good bye. We must never forget that evil has a name...Islam perverted

WASHINGTON — Republican senators blocked Democratic legislation on Thursday that sought to provide medical care to rescue workers and others who became ill as a result of breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at the site of the World Trade Center attack in 2001. The 9/11 health bill, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives in September, was among several initiatives that Senate Democrats had hoped to approve before the close of the 111th Congress.

In blunt, scolding language, a federal judge on Tuesday criticized the city’s conduct during legal negotiations aimed at diversifying the Fire Department, accusing the Bloomberg administration of shirking its responsibility for redressing discrimination and of exaggerating claims about threats to public safety during the dispute. The judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis, of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on New York City. In a 20-page decision, the judge, who had previously found that the city administered tests that discriminated against black and Hispanic firefighter candidates, ordered the city not to hire new firefighters. That permanent...

A fierce constitutional battle is being waged between an out-of-control federal judge determined to impose racial quotas on New York City’s fire department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, equally determined to resist race-based hiring. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis appointed himself the city’s de facto fire commissioner last week by enjoining the department from hiring any new firefighters without his approval—and he will give his approval only to the racial hiring schemes he has already tried to foist on the department. Mayor Bloomberg has courageously refused to cave in to the judge’s quota demands—a stance vanishingly rare in today’s politically correct...

Judson Box has never known exactly how his son, Gary, died on September 11, 2001. But an unexpected find nine years later has given him a glimpse into his son's final hours. Gary, then 35, had been working as a firefighter in Brooklyn for roughly five years when the terrorists attacked. He did not speak to his father the day of the attack and his body was never recovered, leaving the circumstances of his death a mystery. On September 11, 2009, Gary's sister, Christine, was visiting the Tribute Center when an employee asked her if she was looking for someone...

A 9/11 first responder's $350M suit against the developers, calls the Ground Zero mosque a "nuisance," "a terror risk" and "an assault." The strongly worded suit, was brought by a former volunteer firefighter from Westchester with the assistance of Freedom Watch. It charges developer Feisal Abdul Rauf and the Park 51 company's "interests are tied to terrorism," and "believers in radical Islam and its jihad against American interests." The suit, calls the proposed center "a monument to the jihadist’s victory over American ideals, [and] a desecration of the terrible sacrifice made by those innocents attacked."

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg is praising the decision by the city’s landmarks commission clearing the way for a mosque to be developed near ground zero. He joined City Council Chair Christine Quinn and several religious leaders to reiterate his support for the mosque, which has drawn criticism from some Republicans and family members of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Bloomberg said the firefighters and other first responders who died in the attacks had done so to protect religious freedom.

The FDNY may use geographic information system software to relocate firehouses to meet changing population patternsThe introduction of new technology into the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) hasn't always been easy. "We didn't even have fax machines until the late '90s," department Chief Salvatore Cassano said during a forum held in the city Friday to highlight ways in which public safety agencies are turning to information technology (IT) to better manage demographic and other data as urban populations grow and departmental budgets shrink. "You can't manage what you don't measure," he added, "and we weren't measuring things well." Help,...

The firefighters who gave their lives on 9/11, so others could live. Firefighters lost on 9/11 We will never forget their bravery and sacrifice. May God continue to look over their families.

  Retired FDNY Capt. Manny Fernandez with Daily News front page covering '66 fire that killed 12 Bravest.  Manny Fernandez still remembers the "boom" he heard on that tragic day in 1966.  He was a 32-year-old firefighter with Engine 18, battling an inferno that engulfed several buildings in Chelsea. "I started yelling '18!18!' and I figured somebody would answer," he recalled sadly in an interview last week. "Nobody answered." The Oct. 17, 1966, fire claimed the lives of 12 New York City firefighters. It was the worst loss of life in the department before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ...

2008 candidate Giuliani’s speech just one of a slew of issues causing anger NEW YORK - Once again, the city will pause for four moments of silence to mark the attacks that killed more than 2,700 people. Family members will lay flowers where the twin towers fell, and the names of victims will be read. But much will be different on the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, after tense arguments about where to hold the ceremony, whether a presidential candidate should be allowed to speak and if it's still fitting to put on such a large-scale commemoration. Firefighters, first responders...

This is the best footage I have ever seen of the World Trade Center attacks.

New York firefighters have been forced to strip their lockers American flags, stickers expressing support for U.S. troops in Iraq and cards commemorating firefighters who died in the September 11, attacks, the firefighters' union said on Wednesday. The Uniformed Firefighters Association threatened to sue the New York Fire Department, claiming it violated the free speech rights of New York's 8,800 firefighters and 2,500 fire officers. The action comes under an old policy more strictly enforced since early last month. A fire department spokesman said flags and commemorative cards were allowed but offensive material was not. "Over the past 18 months,...

Aug. 4, 2006 1:44 | Updated Aug. 4, 2006 2:34 NY firemen come to reinforce locals By MAX KITAJ Eleven New York firefighters put their lives on hold this week and paid their way to Jerusalem, where they have been volunteering in a number of understaffed stations. Because of rocket-caused fires in the North, fire stations elsewhere started sending units to help, leaving places like Jerusalem in need of more personnel. "It's a good feeling to know somebody's thinking about you," said Arik Nisimov, a firefighter at the Giva station. "That here are guys that will come and help, no...

A COUPLE OF FRIENDS asked me to go with them to see "United 93," but I declined both offers saying I wasn't sure that I needed any reminders other than what I saw in New York on that day. In the end, though, I went to it as I went to the funerals, alone. When people who were in New York on that day talk about it, it always seems to be focused on the day itself. Nobody talks much about the days and the weeks and the months that came after that day in New York City. In a...

Early on Aug. 3, 2005, we heard that 14 Marines had been killed in Haditha, Iraq. Our son, Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder II, was stationed there. At 10:45 a.m. two Marines showed up at our door. After collecting himself for what was clearly painful duty, the lieutenant colonel said, "Your son is a true American hero."Since then, two reactions to Augie's death have compounded the sadness. At times like this, people say, "He died a hero." I know this is meant with great sincerity. We appreciate the many condolences we have received and how helpful they have been. But...

A drunken firefighter plowed a stolen truck yesterday into the Chelsea set of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's controversial film about 9/11, police said. No one was hurt in the wild early morning incident. Probationary firefighter Eugene Scharf, 26, bolted from the scene and was caught only after a teamster, a TV cameraman and a bodyguard for actor Nicolas Cage chased him down nearly two blocks away, police said. When he was finally stopped, Scharf, who lives in a luxury apartment tower in Murray Hill and is a Harvard graduate, tried to talk his way out of trouble by offering...

November 1, 2005 -- The woman at the center of a Bronx firehouse sex scandal savagely bit a cop's hand during a call to her home over the weekend because she thought he was making a crude oral sex sign at her, prosecutors said yesterday. Jennifer Swanton, 35, of Staten Island, was arraigned on assault and obstruction-of-justice charges yesterday after allegedly attacking two cops on Sunday morning as they responded to a blaring burglar alarm at her Fletcher Street home.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Stephen Siller was driving to meet his three older brothers at the Glenwood Country Club Golf Course in New Jersey, so the "perfect foursome" could play a round of golf. A fire buff even before he joined the Fire Department, the West Brighton (Staten Island) native was listening to his scanner when news of the World Trade Center disaster came across. He called his wife, Sally, telling her to let his brothers know he would meet them later; he was going to get his gear and join his company, Squad 1. Stopped at...

A list of phone numbers of relief organizations is included at the bottom of this page. The city is sending more help to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, as 300 firefighters boarded planes at JFK Airport Monday morning and 105 police officers loaded up vans headed to New Orleans to help with the relief efforts. Fire Commissioner Nicolas Scoppetta say the Federal Emergency Management Agency asked for the extra manpower. Besides fighting fires, they will also search for survivors. Those heading out today say they are more than happy to go. “We've trained to assist in a disaster. We’re going...