US marks 9/11 with somber tributes, new monument to victims

In this June 7, 2018 file photo, the World Trade Center site is seen from an upper floor of 3 World Trade Center in New York. The annual 9/11 commemorations are by now familiar rituals, centered on reading the names of the dead. But each year at ground zero, victims' relatives infuse the ceremony with personal messages of remembrance, concern and inspiration. And there building continues. A subway station destroyed on 9/11 finally reopened, as did the doors at the 80-story 3 World Trade Center, one of several rebuilt office towers that have been constructed or planned at the site. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, FIle)

Don't Ever Forget.

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with somber tributes, volunteer projects and a new monument to victims, after a year when two attacks demonstrated the enduring threat of terrorism in the nation's biggest city.
Thousands of 9/11 victims' relatives, survivors, rescuers and others are expected at Tuesday's anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center, while President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will head to the two other places where hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, in the deadliest terror attack on American soil.
The president and first lady Melania Trump plan to join an observance at the Sept. 11 memorial in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a new "Tower of Voices" was dedicated Saturday. Pence is attending a ceremony at the Pentagon. Trump, a Republican and native New Yorker, took the occasion of last year's anniversary to issue a stern warning to extremists that "America cannot be intimidated."
Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks on 9/11, when international terrorism hit home in a way it previously hadn't for many Americans. Sept. 11 still shapes American policy, politics and everyday experiences in places from airports to office buildings, even if it's less of a constant presence in the public consciousness after 17 years.
A stark reminder came not long after last year's anniversary: A truck mowed down people, killing eight, on a bike path within a few blocks of the World Trade Center on Halloween.
In December, a would-be suicide bomber set off a pipe bomb in a subway passageway near Times Square, authorities said. They said suspects in both attacks were inspired by the Islamic State extremist group.
The 9/11 commemorations are by now familiar rituals, centered on reading the names of the dead. But each year at ground zero, victims' relatives infuse the ceremony with personal messages of remembrance, concern and inspiration.
"What I can say today is that I don't live my life in complacency," Debra Epps said last year as she remembered her brother, Christopher Epps. "I stand in solidarity that this world will make a change for the better."
Hours after the ceremony, two powerful light beams will soar into the night sky from lower Manhattan in the annual "Tribute in Light."
This year's anniversary comes as a heated midterm election cycle kicks into high gear. But there have long been some efforts to separate the solemn anniversary from politics.
The group 9/11 Day, which promotes volunteering on an anniversary that was declared a national day of service in 2009, routinely asks candidates not to campaign or run political ads for the day. Organizers of the ground zero ceremony allow politicians to attend, but they've been barred since 2011 from reading names or delivering remarks.
Memorials to 9/11 continue to grow at Shanksville, where the Tower of Voices will eventually include a wind chime for each of the 40 people killed there, and ground zero, where work is to begin soon on a pathway honoring rescue and recovery workers.
It will serve as a way to honor those who became sick or died from exposure to toxins released when the Trade Center's twin towers collapsed. Researchers have documented elevated rates of respiratory ailments, post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses among people who spent time in the rubble.
About 38,500 people have applied to a compensation fund, and over $3.9 billion in claims have been approved.
Meanwhile, rebuilding continues. A subway station destroyed on 9/11 finally reopened Saturday. In June, doors opened at the 80-story 3 World Trade Center, one of several rebuilt office towers that have been constructed or planned at the site. A performing arts center is rising.
However, work was suspended in December on replacing a Greek Orthodox church crushed in the attacks; the project hit financial problems.

Jason Chaffetz: President Obama tries to re-write history on Benghazi

In a brazen attempt to re-write history, President Barack Obama in a speech on Friday blamed “the politics of resentment and paranoia,” which he said had found a home in the Republican Party, for “wild conspiracy theories – like those surrounding Benghazi.”
What a reprehensible way to frame an event that killed four Americans while they waited for rescue and protection they deserved from people Barack Obama never sent.  Of course, you only heard about Obama’s characterization of Benghazi if you pay attention to conservative media.  By and large the mainstream press excluded references to Benghazi from their reporting of the speech. 

With President Trump methodically erasing the Obama legacy, this bizarre attempt to reframe the narratives around Obama’s greatest failures should fool no one.

Kris “Tanto” Paronto, one of the heroes who watched his friends die that night in Benghazi, called Obama’s comments “disgusting,” tweeting: 
“Benghazi is a conspiracy @BarackObama?! How bout we do this,let’s put your cowardly ass on the top of a roof with 6 of your buddies&shoot rpg’s&Ak47’s at you while terrorists lob 81mm mortars killing 2 of your buddies all while waiting for US support that you never sent.”
He’s right to be offended. The real conspiracy of Benghazi was the false narrative that the whole thing was the result of an offensive video – an objectively proven lie born from the resentment and paranoia within Obama’s own administration. They didn’t think the truth was compatible with getting Barack Obama re-elected six weeks after the attack.
In reality, Obama himself contradicted this conspiracy narrative before he even left office. Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked him in April 2016 to identify the worst mistake of his presidency.  “Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya.”
At least he got one thing right:  Benghazi (or what he euphemistically refers to as the aftermath of his war in Libya) WAS a terrible mistake.  What it was not is a conspiracy theory.
With President Trump methodically erasing the Obama legacy, this bizarre attempt to reframe the narratives around Obama’s greatest failures should fool no one. 

Barack Obama took us to war with Libya.  His State Department refused multiple requests to meet minimum security standards at the Benghazi consulate. President Obama never sent anyone to rescue or protect our ambassador or our own people during the 13 hours they were under attack.  Four brave men died as a result and many other heroes had their lives forever altered. That is not a conspiracy.  That is fact – no matter how inconvenient Democrats may find it. 
This is one part of the Obama legacy that Trump should not erase. We all need to remember the lessons learned from Obama’s worst mistake. 

John Bolton vows to punish ICC after court announces probe of alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan

Trump's national security adviser made it clear the administration is taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by threatening to close the Palestine Liberation Office in Washington; Gillian Turner reports on 'Special Report.'
White House National Security Adviser John Bolton threatened to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the global tribunal announced an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan -- in a harsh condemnation just before the world marked 17 years after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., at a Federalist Society luncheon on Monday, Bolton described the court, which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands, as "illegitimate," adding: "for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us."
He also slammed the organization's decision to formally investigate war crimes allegedly committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network militants, and U.S. forces and intelligence in Afghanistan dating back to May 2003. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks; the war is ongoing.
BOLTON SAYS NO TIMETABLE FOR TRUMP'S MIDEAST PEACE PLAN
"The International Criminal Court unacceptably threatens American sovereignty and U.S. national security interests," Bolton said, adding the U.S. "will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court."
Bolton vowed that the U.S. "will not cooperate with the ICC," would sanction the ICC's funds in the U.S. financial system and would prosecute ICC judges and lawyers in U.S. courts.

National security adviser John Bolton speaking at the Federalist Society luncheon on Monday in Washington, D.C.  (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Bolton's remarks came after the Trump administration announced the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington.
The office was closed, the State Department said, because there were "no direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel."
"PLO leadership," according to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, "has condemned a U.S. peace plan they have not yet seen and refused to engage with the U.S. government with respect to peace efforts and otherwise."
Bolton reiterated the statement, saying: "The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel's right to self-defense."
The PLO formally represents all Palestinians, and while the U.S. doesn't officially recognize Palestinian statehood, the organization has maintained a general delegation office in Washington that facilitates Palestinian officials' interactions with the U.S. government.
The office's closure came after the Trump administration cut nearly $300 million in planned funding for a United Nations agency that aids Palestinian refugees after finding the operation "irredeemably flawed."
PALESTINIANS DECRY US DECISION TO CUT AID TO UN AGENCY, CALL IT A 'BIG MISTAKE'
Since its creation in 2002 to prosecute war crimes in areas where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice, the ICC has filed charges against dozens of suspects including former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed by rebels before he could be arrested, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with multiple crimes, including genocide in Darfur.
Al-Bashir remains at large, as does Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who was among the first rebels charged by the court in 2005. The court has convicted just eight defendants.
The court has been hobbled by the refusal of the U.S., Russia, China and other major nations to join, while Burundi and the Philippines have quit. The latter's departure, announced earlier this year, takes effect next March.
Bolton on Monday called the court "an unprecedented effort to vest power in a supranational body without the consent of either nation-states or the individuals over which it purports to exercise jurisdiction."
"It certainly has no consent whatsoever from the United States," he added.
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bannon says 'six to a dozen' administration officials likely behind anonymous op-ed

Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist, told Fox News on Monday that he believes last week's annonyous op-ed in The New York Times by a 'senior' White House official was likely developed by "six to a dozen" members of the administration.
“I don’t think there’s any one author,” he told Laura Ingraham, host of "The Ingraham Angle." “There are many voices in there … I think that’s a much broader conspiracy than people think. I think it’s probably six to a dozen people.”
Bannon, who left the White House last year, went on to decry the “absolutely outrageous” anonymous New York Times op-ed and urged the Trump administration to find out who were responsible for it.

"I mean, there is a coup, like saying there was a coup by General McClellan and his senior leadership in the union army to try to thwart what Abraham Lincoln wanted to do in the civil war."
- Steve Bannon

“I mean, there is a coup, like saying there was a coup by General McClellan and his senior leadership in the Union Army to try to thwart what Abraham Lincoln wanted to do in the civil war. You have the exact type of coup right now,” he added, referring to a Union Army commander during the Civil War who was fired by Lincoln for refusing to follow orders.
“What was said in that anonymous letter was absolutely outrageous. And I think the president ought to make immediate and direct action to find out who the conspirators are,” he said.
He added that though “White Houses are naturally … cauldrons of different opinions,” most anonymous anti-Trump voices are holdovers from “the Bush administration” or “establishment Republicans.”
Last Wednesday, the New York Times published a bombshell opinion article written by “senior official” at the Trump administration, who lamented the president’s leadership style.
The op-ed describes a secret inside plot to protect the nation from Trump’s “misguided impulses” and said there were “early whispers” of a possible Cabinet coup to remove Trump out of office using the 25th Amendment.
“This isn’t the work of the so-called deep state,” the author of the opinion article wrote. “It’s the work of the steady state.”
Trump said Friday he knows “four or five” people who could be responsible for the article in the newspaper.

Dumb & Dumber Democrat Cartoons

Trump administration to close Palestinian leadership's office in a bid to mount pressure over peace deal

The Trump administration cuts its $300 million yearly contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, citing a disproportionate share of the burden and an endlessly expanding recipient pool; Trey Yingst reports from the West Bank.
The Trump administration is reportedly set to announce the closing of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington, D.C., in a bid to pressure the Palestinian leadership to participate in Middle East peace efforts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, national security adviser John Bolton is expected to make the announcement on Monday.
“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” Bolton is expected to say, according to the prepared remarks. “The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.”

"The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel."
- National security adviser John Bolton

The national security adviser is also planning to threaten the International Criminal Court in the same prepared remarks, saying the U.S. will impose sanctions against the organization if it investigates the U.S. and Israel, the Journal reported.
“If the court comes after us, Israel or other allies, we will not sit quietly,” Bolton plans to say, noting that ICC judges and prosecutors could be banned from entering the U.S. as a retaliatory measure.
“We will sanction their funds in the U.S. financial system, and we will prosecute them in the U.S. criminal system,” he will add. “We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.”
The White House reportedly mulled the shutting down of the PLO mission in Washington since last November, unless the Palestinian leadership enters serious peace talks with Israel.
Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson deemed the PLO responsible for violating a provision in U.S. law that prohibits the group from trying to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis for crimes against Palestinians. The penalty of such violation is closing down of the office in Washington.
The accusation of breaking the U.S. law came after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in a September United Nations General Assembly speech that the Palestinians had “called on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation and to prosecute Israeli officials for their involvement in settlement activities and aggressions against our people.”

Louisiana mayor prohibits Nike purchases for recreational programs: reports

Nike is a business, and their decision to make Colin Kaepernick the star of their new ad campaign wasn't just a political move, it was a business move. But is it paying off? Sales surged in the days immediately after the campaign's announcement, but Nike stock is still down from where it was at the beginning of the week. #Tucker
A Louisiana mayor reportedly banned his city’s recreation programs from purchasing Nike product in the wake of an ad campaign featuring former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Mayor Ben Zahn, of Kenner, signed a memo last week that states that “[u]nder no circumstances” can any Nike apparel or equipment be “purchased for use or delivery” at any recreation facilities in the city.
“Effective immediately all purchases made by any booster club operating at any Kenner Recreation Facility for wearing apparel, shoes, athletic equipment and/or any athletic product must be approved by the Director of Parks and Recreation, or his designee,” the memo added.
WBRZ 2 first reported the existence of the memo on Saturday. The mayor’s offices sent the document to Parks and Recreation Department Director Chad Pitfield last Wednesday.
The mayor's office did not immediately respond to an email early Monday from Fox News.
The report came after Nike was criticized for putting Kaepernick as the face of the “Just Do It” campaign. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” reads the campaign’s slogan.
COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS, PRIVATE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, DROPS NIKE OVER KAEPERNICK AD
Sales of Nike products are up since the launch of the campaign the Kaepernick controversy has led to some people burning their sneakers.
Meanwhile a private Christian college in Missouri, the College of the Ozarks, announced last week that its athletic teams would no longer wear apparel manufactured by Nike as a reaction to its ad campaign.

Ahead of Kavanaugh confirmation vote, Sen. Collins receives 3,000 hangers from pro-choice activists

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh at her office, before a private meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Following a week of contentious hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the focus has shifted to swing voters in the Senate and the crucial role they will play in the confirmation process.
One of the lawmakers on the hot seat ahead of the vote is Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who recently received a particularly unusual gift in an effort to sway her opinion.
A package of 3,000 coat hangers arrived at Collins’ office in Washington, D.C. -- symbolizing back-alley abortions that took place before they became legal with the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling -- in the hopes of convincing the pro-choice senator to vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation.
Collins, a centrist Republican who fought the GOP effort to junk the Affordable Care Act, is one of a few Republicans being targeted by activists hoping to block Kavanaugh from joining the bench as abortion has become a front-and-center issue in the debate over the judge.
Democrats argue that President Trump picked Kavanaugh because he will vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Liberal groups are running TV ads encouraging the senator to reject the nomination.
Activists have also pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an opponent to Collins if she votes in favor of the president's nomination. She is up for re-election in 2020.
If Collins votes yes, then he is likely confirmed. She and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – another pro-choice Republican -- probably would have to both vote "no" for Kavanaugh to be blocked.
For her part, Collins has kept mum about how she'll vote.
Still, she's sent signals that Kavanaugh cleared a hurdle by telling her that Roe v. Wade establishing abortion rights is settled law. A spokeswoman for Collins said Saturday that a recently released email from Kavanaugh — in which he disputed that all legal scholars see Roe as settled — didn't contradict what he told the senator because he wasn't expressing his personal views.
"I always wait until after the hearings are complete before making a decision, and I'll do so in this case as well," Collins said.
Collins, for her part, is following the same process she used with GOP nominees John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, and Democratic nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
"I have voted for Justice Sotomayor, and I've also voted for Justice Alito," she said, referring to justices at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. "I respect the fact that one of my jobs is to determine whether or not the candidate is qualified for the court, has the requisite experience, and has the judicial temperament, as well as respect for precedence," she added.
While she's never voted against a Supreme Court nominee, Collins has vowed to reject a candidate who's hostile to the Roe v. Wade ruling. She said Kavanaugh told her during their face-to-face meeting that he views the 1973 decision as established legal precedent.
But Kavanaugh said in a 2003 email while working for the administration of President George W. Bush some legal scholars may view the idea of precedent differently and that the Supreme Court "can always overrule its precedent." Kavanaugh said that the comment did not reflect his personal views, but "what legal scholars might say."
Collins voted last month to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood a day after the same organization rallied in Washington to encourage her to vote against Kavanaugh. On Thursday, the group delivered letters to her office in Bangor.
"I've learned not to expect a 'thank you,'" Collins said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous headline stated that Sen. Collins received hangers from anti-abortion activists. The hangers were from pro-choice activists.