Former Governor George Pataki (R-NY) revealed that he is suffering from lung disease related to the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks.
Just days before the United States marked the 25th anniversary of those deadly attacks, Pataki told <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/09/06/us-news/former-ny-gov-george-pataki-reveals-he-has-9-11-related-illness-days-before-25th-anniversary/">The New York Post</a> that he was diagnosed approximately five years ago with restrictive airway disease as a result of the time he spent breathing in toxic dust at Ground Zero.
&#8220;I just look at it as I’m one of the lucky ones,&#8221; he told the outlet. &#8220;You know, 25 years later, I feel great. I have this minor residual impact from that time. But compared to so many others, I consider myself very lucky.&#8221;
&#8220;The people who were with me at Ground Zero over and over for months after those attacks, many of them have serious illnesses, far more serious than anything I might be experiencing,&#8221; he added, comparing himself to many others who have been diagnosed with graver illnesses and even cancers as a result of prolonged exposure.
Pataki, who served as the state&#8217;s last Republican governor between 1995 and 2006, is just one of many who have felt the lasting impact of toxic dust exposure at the site where the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also a Republican, revealed a similar condition when he was hospitalized months earlier with pneumonia. At the time, his spokesperson explained that the restrictive airway disease — that impacted so many who had spent time at Ground Zero — made even routine illnesses like influenza and the common cold far more dangerous.
The former governor also joined a number of others who have called for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a self-described Democratic socialist — to keep his distance from the 9/11 25th anniversary ceremonies and memorials. Pataki cited Mamdani&#8217;s own previous comments — as well as associations with radical Muslims and antisemitic political figures — and suggested that he would not be well-received unless he made a sharp turn.
&#8220;If he says he will have nothing to do with Hasan Piker, and if he says he will condemn the statement, ‘globalize the intifada,’ then I would have no problem with him being here,&#8221; he explained.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdani-marks-9-11-with-slap-in-the-face-move-tied-to-al-qaeda-terrorist">Mamdani</a> appears to be headed in the opposite direction, however. After declaring that he still intended to attend the memorials, he raised eyebrows in a Friday signing ceremony. After signing declarations officially recognizing 9/11 as a Day of Remembrance and addressing security in the event of a future terror attack, the mayor handed the ceremonial pen to a city official with direct ties to terrorists linked to the 9/11 attacks.

Republican Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa Holds His Election Night Party In New York City

New York’s Last Republican Governor Has 9/11-Related Illness

New York's Last Republican Governor Has 9/11-Related Illness

george pataki

new york city

rudy giuliani

september 11 attacks

zohran mamdani

Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez got a surprise from his teammates after he took a few days off to take the United States naturalization test.
Suarez was recruited out of Venezuela to play first for the Detroit Tigers and then the Reds, with stops at several other Major League Baseball teams before he returned to Cincinnati in February of 2026 — and he missed two games in early September to finally become a United States citizen.
His teammates responded by changing his walk-up song to Lee Greenwood&#8217;s &#8220;God Bless the USA (I&#8217;m Proud To Be An American).&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In his first at-bat since becoming a United States citizen, Eugenio Suárez&#8217;s teammates changed his walk-up song to &#8220;God Bless the USA (I&#8217;m Proud to Be an American)&#8221; 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/a1r8BOiGke">pic.twitter.com/a1r8BOiGke</a>
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a href="https://x.com/Reds/status/2096018502775668914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Suarez&#8217;s absence could have been a streak-breaker — he had just come off a hot month, hitting six home runs and driving in 20 in August. He&#8217;d also racked up an impressive .852 OPS (On-base Plus Slugging), and in a sport that thrives on streaks and slumps, taking two games off can be a lot to ask.
But the dates and times for citizenship testing aren&#8217;t decided based on what might be the most convenient for the person taking the test, and Suarez had no choice but to work with the schedule he was given.
Would his hot streak continue after a two-game hiatus? Suarez answered that question decisively, launching a three-run home run later that same game to put the Reds ahead — his second at-bat as a United States citizen.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Eugenio Suárez rockets the <a href="https://x.com/Reds?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Reds</a> back in front 🚀 <a href="https://t.co/TEqG6H68Os">pic.twitter.com/TEqG6H68Os</a>
— MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://x.com/MLB/status/2096026434695307634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And it didn&#8217;t stop there: the next day, Suarez scored from second base off a wild pitch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Known speedster, Eugenio Suárez <a href="https://t.co/gSG3QBqHj1">pic.twitter.com/gSG3QBqHj1</a>
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a href="https://x.com/Reds/status/2096442092906000890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On FOX News&#8217; &#8220;The Big Weekend Show&#8221; on Saturday, host Tomi Lahren drew a stark comparison between Suarez and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who made a name for himself in protest of the United States.
A number of media outlets, Lahren said, appeared to be more interested in &#8220;celebrating the tenth anniversary of Colin Kaepernick ruining sports and disrespecting our flag by taking a knee during the national anthem&#8221; than they did in patriotic players like Suarez.

Milwaukee Brewers v Cincinnati Reds

MLB Star Gets All-American Welcome After Proudly Becoming US Citizen

MLB Star Gets All-American Welcome After Proudly Becoming U.S. Citizen

cincinnati reds

colin kaepernick

eugenio suarez

immigration

naturalization

sports

Senate candidate James Talarico (D-TX) said it was a &#8220;shame&#8221; that his oil and gas industry-killing bill never got a hearing in the Texas legislature.
During a CBS News interview that aired on Sunday, Talarico tried to skirt questions about how many jobs the proposed legislation would have eliminated — particularly in a state that depends on oil and gas for more than one million jobs — and instead blamed his fellow legislators for not wanting to &#8220;have the conversation&#8221; about moving to greener energy alternatives.
CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink spoke with Talarico about a broad range of topics, and asked directly about the bill.
&#8220;In your bill back — House Bill 2206 on the energy — you said there would be a transition to the green economy and you would want to replace lost jobs,&#8221; Fink said. &#8220;That doesn&#8217;t suggest that there wouldn&#8217;t be an impact on oil and gas.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, this is why I was trying to work with Republicans and Democrats alike in the legislature to make this bill a reality, but the bill wasn&#8217;t even given a hearing,&#8221; Talarico complained, arguing that his bill had just been a &#8220;rough draft&#8221; that certainly would have been changed before it got to the finish line.
&#8220;It&#8217;s meant to go through a process with stakeholders and with members of both political parties,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But folks in the State Capitol didn&#8217;t want to have this conversation and so the bill died before it even got to committee, and that&#8217;s a real shame because I think there are ways to both grow our oil and gas industry and limit these emissions at the same time.&#8221;
The bill, filed in February of 2021, was intended to address the threat of climate change and included targets for the reduction of statewide greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for 50% below 1990 levels by 2030 — along with additional reduction goals set for 2040 and 2050.
When asked about the bill earlier in the campaign, a spokesperson for <a href="https://dallasexpress.com/state/rnc-spokesman-blasts-talarico-cold-day-in-hell-before-texas-elects-mini-green-new-deal-candidate/">Talarico</a> replied, &#8220;James went to public schools funded by the oil and gas industry and knows how essential oil and gas is to Texas’ economy – it’s why he supports an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy so Texas can remain a leader in oil and gas, wind, solar, geothermal, and more. James will always put the economic interests of Texans first – creating good jobs and lowering energy costs.”
“It is insulting James Talarico thinks he can hide his plan to kill two million energy jobs in the state by saying that he attended public schools,” Republican National Committee Zack Kraft spokesman told The Dallas Express at the time. “It will be a cold day in Hell before the Lone Star State elects a candidate who led a mini Green New Deal and bragged about being a vegan.”

US-NEWS-TEXASSENATE-TALARICO-CHILDCARE-3-FT

James Talarico Is Disappointed He Couldn’t Put A Million Texans Out Of Work

James Talarico Is Disappointed He Couldn't Put A Million Texans Out Of Work

2026 midterm election

climate change policy

james talarico

oil and gas industry

politics

texas senate race

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley tore into attorney Kevin Reddington over his post-trial comments about the lone holdout juror who forced a mistrial.
Turley <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/6072641-when-12-angry-men-becomes-one-angry-man/">asserted</a> that Reddington — who represented Lindsay Clancy in the trial over the murders of her three young children — knew before he opened his mouth that his comments were likely to result in that lone juror being identified and harassed.
&#8220;For Reddington and others, the hung jury was less &#8216;Twelve Angry Men&#8217; and more &#8216;One Angry Man.&#8217; Yet, what he did in front of the courthouse was utterly reprehensible &#8230;&#8221; Turley wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8230;The attack on the holdout juror that was a breathtaking abandonment of restraint and decency. Reddington knows it is very likely that the name of this juror (he has already been identified as one of only the three men on the jury) will eventually be uncovered by Internet…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) <a href="https://x.com/JonathanTurley/status/2096237387693080739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;But it was his attack on the holdout juror that was a breathtaking abandonment of restraint and decency. Reddington knows it is very likely that the name of this juror (he has already been identified as one of only the three men on the jury) will eventually be uncovered by Internet sleuths,&#8221; he added. &#8220;He effectively put a target on the back of a juror who committed the unpardonable sin of not being convinced by his arguments.&#8221;
Reddington attempted a Hail Mary just before the judge officially declared a mistrial, demanding that the lone holdout on the jury be removed and replaced by an alternate — a move that ultimately failed, but not before Reddington <a href="https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/lindsay-clancy-trial-massachusetts-sjc-hears-emergency-appeal-filed-by-defense/J6QK7MR725CZZO3HSJX7QH4TIE/">used the filing</a> to accuse the juror of inherent bias against people with disabilities or those who are suffering from mental illnesses.
Following the judge&#8217;s ruling declaring a mistrial, Reddington attacked the juror again. Claiming that Clancy and the other members of the jury were &#8220;robbed by one man,&#8221; Reddington clearly identified the holdout as one of the three men on the jury.
&#8220;They know they were robbed by one man, for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors that were so attentive, so beautiful, so wonderful,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;I hope that guy can sleep well at night,&#8221; Reddington sneered, boasting that he had &#8220;crushed&#8221; District Attorney Tim Cruz — who he claimed did not care about the children at all. Meanwhile, women who had showed up outside the courtroom to support Clancy shouted at Cruz that he &#8220;only cared about the [murdered] children&#8221; and had no compassion for their mother — who never denied that she was the one who killed them.
Drawing further on the comparison to the 1957 film &#8220;12 Angry Men,&#8221; Turley added, &#8220;The rising hatred toward this juror reflects how an act deemed noble in one context can be denounced as craven in another.&#8221;
&#8220;Viewers love to watch Henry Fonda stand alone against his fellow jurors to raise reasonable doubt in favor of the young defendant,&#8221; Turley continued. &#8220;But in this version, the sole juror believed that his fellow jurors were ignoring the defendant’s culpability.&#8221;
That movie, Turley argued, would have been dramatically different if an argument like Reddington&#8217;s had been accepted — if Henry Fonda&#8217;s lone holdout character had simply been replaced by an alternate juror who could be relied upon to fall in line. In the movie, an innocent man would have been convicted. In real life in 2026, the opposite scenario could have played out.
Concluding with a quote from another classic movie — &#8220;To Kill a Mockingbird&#8221; — Turley pointed out that the strength of American justice was built at least in part on the ability of an average citizen to take a moral stance even if it wasn&#8217;t a popular one.
&#8220;&#8216;The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience,'&#8221; he quoted.

US-POLITICS-HEARING-POLICE

Jonathan Turley Torches ‘Utterly Reprehensible’ Move From Lindsay Clancy Lawyer

Jonathan Turley Torches 'Utterly Reprehensible' Move From Lindsay Clancy Lawyer

jonathan turley

jury

kevin reddington

lindsay clancy

mistrial

With the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks fast approaching, only two states out of 50 have mandated that schools teach the history of the horrific Islamic terrorist attacks.
While students in Florida and Arizona learn about the history surrounding the deadly attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon — as well as the fourth attempt that was thwarted over Pennsylvania by passengers aboard the hijacked plane — ten other states have laws that simply &#8220;encourage&#8221; such lessons. But as The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/09/05/us-news/schools-flooded-with-9-11-retellings-that-focus-on-islamophobia/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">reported</a>, there is no specific direction regarding what form such a lesson must take — meaning that it could be something as simple as a moment of silence or a brief assembly.
What appears to be filling the void could be more concerning than a simple lack of instruction on the topic, however, as at least four states — Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Oregon — have recommended revisionist curriculum such as &#8220;<a href="https://www.gse.upenn.edu/our-expertise/teaching-beyond-september-11th">Teaching Beyond September 11th</a>.&#8221; Developed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, the curriculum devotes far more time and focus to the post-9/11 rise of &#8220;Islamophobia&#8221; than to the motivations behind the attacks in the first place.
&#8220;On the 11th of September 2001, 19 hijackers flew two airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one airplane into the Pentagon in Virginia, and a fourth into a field in Pennsylvania. A total of 2,996 people were killed, including the hijackers,&#8221; one passage reads.
It does not delve into radical Islamist beliefs driving the attackers, and its treatment of al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is noncommittal at best: &#8220;The U.S. accused Saudi national Osama bin Laden, living in Afghanistan at the time, of being the mastermind behind the attacks.&#8221;
Lesson plans include topics like &#8220;Islamophobia and the Oval Office,&#8221; &#8220;Right-wing Extremism,&#8221; &#8220;Islamophobia in Global Context,&#8221; &#8220;Surveillance of Muslims,&#8221; &#8220;Civil Liberties after 9/11,&#8221; and &#8220;The Muslim and African Ban.&#8221;
One lesson singled out by The Post discussed a Danish cartoon depicting Muhammad — which sparked riots that resulted in more than 250 deaths — and asked students to consider how the media response to the deadly riots had &#8220;presented certain values as more important than the fact that the cartoons were offensive and racist.&#8221;
New York state Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Yorktown) criticized the curriculum, saying, &#8220;Nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered by al Qaeda on September 11th. They were the victims. The terrorists were the perpetrators. Any curriculum that blurs that fundamental truth, or makes the victims secondary to a political narrative, isn’t teaching history, it’s rewriting it.&#8221;

Hijacked Plane Crashes Into The World Trade Center

Only Two States Mandate 9/11 Education — Others Teach ‘Islamophobia’ Instead

Only Two States Require Standard Curriculum On 9/11 Education

9/11

al qaeda

education policy

islamophobia

school curriculum

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an order on Friday marking the city&#8217;s official recognition of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks — and then handed the symbolic pen to a city official linked to the terrorists who carried them out.
The self-described Democratic socialist signed two companion orders in that session — one marking September 11 as an official Day of Remembrance and another regarding security protocols in the case of future terrorist actions — and then quietly passed the pen.
Handing it first to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, he asked, &#8220;Can you pass this?&#8221;
Tisch dutifully passed the pen to Mamdani&#8217;s chief counsel, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdani-names-al-qaeda-defense-attorney-as-new-york-citys-chief-counsel">Ramzi Kassem</a>, before exiting the room.
Critics argued that Mamdani&#8217;s move was not an accident.
&#8220;It was calculated,” retired detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice Michael Alcazar told <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/09/05/us-news/mamdani-gives-symbolic-9-11-pen-to-former-al-qaeda-lawyer-aide/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">The New York Post</a>.
“It happened during a ceremony meant to be about the victims, and no one else. 9/11 families didn’t come to City Hall to watch Mamdani spotlight someone whose work intersects with the very ideology that took their loved ones. Commissioner Jessica Tisch was reduced to a prop rather than acknowledging her role as the leader of the NYPD,&#8221; he added.
Council Member Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said Mamdani&#8217;s choice had been &#8220;breathtakingly tone-deaf and disrespectful,&#8221; adding, &#8220;It shows exactly where his loyalties truly lie &#8230; The families who lost loved ones on 9/11 have every right to be outraged. On the 25th anniversary, City Hall should be honoring their sacrifice with dignity, not forcing those families to endure yet another insult.&#8221;
&#8220;This is despicable. @NYCMayor is a disgrace to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. His actions are beyond “tone deaf”, they’re morally bankrupt,&#8221; Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) posted.
The overall <a href="https://x.com/RantyAmyCurtis/status/2096360410827853929">assessment</a> was simple: Mamdani&#8217;s choice wasn&#8217;t &#8220;tone deaf,&#8221; it was &#8220;intentional.&#8221;
Mamdani raised eyebrows when he first appointed Kassem to serve in his administration, largely because of the attorney&#8217;s links to several Islamic terrorists.
Kassem <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-sends-saudi-detainee-linked-911-home-guantanamo-rcna19078">represented</a> Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani, who allegedly attempted to assist in the 9/11 hijacking and was held in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for two decades. Teaching law at City University of New York at the time, he had been working with students over the course of a decade to get him returned to Saudi Arabia. They succeeded in doing so in 2022.
He also represented al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court. Al-Darbi pleaded guilty in 2014 in connection with a plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen.
He pleaded guilty in 2014 in connection with a plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen, and was sentenced in 2017. In 2018, President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration transferred him to the custody of Saudi Arabia.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to the media to demand the

Mamdani Marks 9/11 With Slap In The Face Move Tied To Al-Qaeda Terrorist

jessica tisch

ramzi kassem

“Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent,” Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith said — and if modern history were to test that theory, the Lindsay Clancy murder trial would be, for lack of a better term, Exhibit A.
The courtroom drama ended Friday in a mistrial, and the jury appears to have narrowly avoided the miscarriage of justice — and the “cruelty to the innocent” — that would have resulted had they returned with a verdict declaring her “not criminally responsible” for her actions.
So who is the guilty in this case? The answer to this question is pretty straightforward: Lindsay Clancy, whatever one might believe about the factors that may have contributed to her mental state at the time of the murders, is the one who committed them.
Clancy herself — along with her entire defense team — has never once denied that she is the one who strangled her three young children to death with exercise bands. During the trial, text messages revealed that she planned the murders — at least in the short term — and intentionally sent her husband on errands away from the house in order to give herself time to carry them out.
Her defense team claimed at trial that she heard a voice telling her to carry out the actions. Reddington then painted a picture of a woman so debilitated by the effects of postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis — coupled with a laundry list of psychotropic drugs that had been prescribed at different times by her doctors — that she could not be held responsible for planning and carrying out three murders and an apparent suicide attempt.
None of this is to say that Clancy was not suffering or did not need help — only that, by her own admission, she committed the crimes of which she stands accused.
And who is the innocent? This is slightly more complicated, because the obvious victims are the three children who will never see another birthday — not to mention the father who was the first to discover the bodies of his dead children and will never toss a football with his sons or walk his daughter down the aisle.
A ”not responsible” verdict, to them, would mean that no justice will ever be served for what was done to them.
But there are many more who would feel the impact of a “not responsible” verdict — and some of them are the ones who have been screaming the loudest for exactly that. The damage such a verdict could do to women across the board cannot be overstated.
While it might look like compassion to declare Clancy a victim — of her diagnoses, of disjointed health care, or a combination of those things — what it would become is an indictment of any woman who has been or might be a victim of the same.
If, for example, postpartum depression is accepted as what pushed Clancy to kill her own children, who could then say that Child Protective Services was out of line if they began removing children from any home in which the mother was diagnosed with PPD? And in family court? Instead of arguing that children need their mothers, lawyers would be forced to prove that their female clients weren’t on the brink of crisis.
And while that seems extreme, what about the women who have high-stress jobs? Would their bosses be correct to sideline them if they learned of such a diagnosis? And given patient privacy laws, why would employers ever risk hiring women at all — knowing that they could be one hormone shift away from crisis — for such jobs?
Female pilots? No airline would ever take the risk. Combat roles? Not likely. In fact, military leadership would put more restrictions on the jobs women were allowed to do. Law enforcement officers? Air traffic controllers? Supreme Court Justice — or any judge, for that matter? Fewer women would ever make it into any of those jobs — and a whole list of others — and every one who did would forever have an asterisk next to her name. And kiss the idea of a female president of the United States goodbye forever.
In starker terms, a “not responsible” verdict for Lindsay Clancy would hit rewind on even the most basic rights and freedoms that the First Wave Feminists — think Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, not Sandra Fluke and the p*ssy-hat mafia — fought to obtain: to vote, to own property, to have a credit card or bank account that didn’t require a man’s signature. After all, can you really trust a woman with the household finances if she’s at the mercy of her hormones? What are the odds that any woman would ever again be allowed to own a firearm?
Women cannot demand equality with men when it comes to jobs and positions of power and then demand special consideration when it comes to accountability for their actions.

Lindsay Clancy ‘said that she heard a male voice ordering her … to kill her children,’ psychologist tells jurors

A Lindsay Clancy ‘Not Responsible’ Verdict Would Have Sent Women Back 100 Years

A Lindsay Clancy 'Not Responsible' Verdict Would Have Sent Women Back 100 Years

insanity defense

opinion

postpartum depression

women

Twelve women, handpicked for a radical new program, helped to turn the tide of battle in the Pacific during World War II.
Those twelve women, who hailed primarily from small towns across the United States, were trained to fly — on unpressurized aircraft — into some of the most dangerous battlefields in the Pacific theater to evacuate thousands of desperately wounded American soldiers.
Author and Hunter College Professor Leah Garrett spoke with The Daily Wire about her forthcoming book on the topic — and she explained why she&#8217;d felt so compelled to tell the stories of those heroic women.
&#8220;My last book was &#8216;X-Troop,&#8217; about Jewish commandos who were given secret identities as Englishmen so that they could serve as British commandos,&#8221; Garrett said during a telephone interview. &#8220;I wanted to turn to the Pacific because my great uncle was a medic in the Pacific. I had heard this rumor that there was a group of women who flew into Iwo Jima, and I thought it was impossible.&#8221;
&#8220;I was completely shocked that it was a true story — these 12 women were hand-picked to fly from Guam to Iwo Jima to deal with this shortage of medical care,&#8221; Garrett explained. &#8220;And as I scratched below the surface, I realized that not only was the story true, but that these women had saved thousands of lives between Iwo Jima and then later Okinawa.&#8221;
&#8220;It was so important not only because of the lives they saved, but because they were so heroic and they never saw that as heroism. They were just doing their jobs,&#8221; she added.
Garrett noted that traditional history lessons, even in the United States, often gloss over just how brutal the war in the Pacific was — largely because the Empire of Japan at the time approached war in a very different way than most Western countries.
Their culture viewed surrender as cowardice, so they were wholly unprepared to deal with American prisoners of war — which led to many of those prisoners being treated very badly. While medics wearing the traditional Red Cross armband were often treated as non-combatants in the European theater — meaning that they were protected under traditional rules of engagement — Japanese soldiers routinely targeted them. Those two major differences combined made evacuating the wounded a high priority, since treating them on the battlefield would likely only make them targets.
The questions that remained were simple: how could they be effectively evacuated and who could manage those evacuations?
The answer they came up with was equally simple: Navy nurses.
Twelve women — all of whom had already completed nursing school and chosen to join the U.S. Navy — were selected to launch the program. Those twelve women who had joined the Navy expecting to spend time on ships were suddenly subjected to rigorous physical training — including distance-swimming tests — as well as training to fly in unpressurized aircraft. Flying without doctors onboard, they were made fully responsible for the wounded soldiers in their care and even given the authority to instruct pilots to lower altitude to adjust cabin pressure when necessary.
On the ground — often in areas that were still not fully under American control — the women had to quickly evaluate casualties and determine who needed to be evacuated first. They loaded casualties from Iwo Jima while Japanese soldiers and snipers were still all over the island, and then they did it again in Okinawa.
&#8220;Two things really shocked me,&#8221; Garrett said of her time spent researching the nurses. &#8220;The Navy knew how dangerous this was, and the women probably knew how dangerous this was — but the visceral action of the danger still shocked me, and the women remembered everything. These women were alone on the planes with no doctors, and somehow hardly anyone died on these flights &#8230; I didn’t realize that the female nurses played such a big role in bringing those men back to health.&#8221;
Garrett also discussed the importance of telling stories like this one — especially as the United States celebrates its 250th birthday — as patriotism has become a political football of sorts.
&#8220;Nowadays people don’t realize how patriotic people were at that time. They never questioned what duty meant; they never questioned what patriotism meant. Women, particularly from the Midwest, just put their hands up, rolled up their sleeves, and served,&#8221; Garrett said — and noted that the women looked back on their service, even though it was difficult, with fondness. &#8220;These were truly the greatest years of their lives. They were helping America win the war, they were saving men, and they got a great deal of meaning out of serving.&#8221;
&#8220;In America, if you just scratch below the surface, we find countless stories of American heroism that can still speak to us today,&#8221; Garrett added. &#8220;These women who put up their hands in America’s darkest hour, none of them knew that they had this inside them, and they impacted so many lives. The smaller stories matter. Mary, for example, had never wanted to fly. She joined the Navy because she thought she’d be on a ship — and she was on one of the first flights to land amid live fire. So what did she do? She just sucked it up and did her job.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Nurses-War-American-Thousands/dp/1541605160/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3QUUSOKJ6BGQ7&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3Ug2acFirddpBHLGccvisIAE23j4aq8ZajREBmCEyt8rr-76fCzFmQpMo-GAX_Y6s6FIIb02QjRL13dbnXRchGk6vXhYa7yafIQCz6utdABwXEgxl6rJJeMZYs0YetY-nmyVdwWDCNVxiCXQC5UjKbIbLylT7KeJJXvoGP3h2g4pbv-g1j2kLrHmJgu1n6JUYwA89rUKoUuPL-vbUHcpQCesxXl1w79XpnhJ4U3pfdQ.AdHNIa9PwEX27IR7mcoGpX6JDvHuCYCnJwOqSptkTI4&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the%2Bflight%2Bnurses%2Bwar&amp;qid=1788459779&amp;sprefix=the%2Bflight%2Bn%2Caps%2C290&amp;sr=8-1">Garrett&#8217;s book</a>, &#8220;The Flight Nurses&#8217; War: The American Women Who Saved Thousands of Lives at Iwo Jima and Okinawa,&#8221; is scheduled for an October 13 release.

Nurse Caring for Wounded Marine at Iwo Jima

The Forgotten Women Who Flew Straight Into Hell For America

iwo jima

leah garrett

navy nurse

okinawa

world war ii

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) offered to put up $50,000 if Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed holds a rally with far-left streamer Hasan Piker on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and another $50,000 if he campaigns with his controversial half-sister.
Appearing on &#8220;America&#8217;s Newsroom&#8221; on Fox News, Fetterman challenged El-Sayed to campaign alongside Piker on Sept. 11 and explain why the streamer once said that America &#8220;deserved 9/11.&#8221;
&#8220;He&#8217;s a socialist,&#8221; Fetterman said of El-Sayed. &#8220;But he also absolutely loves Sharia law. I mean, he said that in an interview with The New York Times a few years back. Yeah, absolutely, Sharia law. And he actually has support for Hamas and Iran as well.&#8221;
&#8220;And now he has been campaigning strong with Hasan Piker,&#8221; Fetterman continued. &#8220;Of course we all know the guy that said America &#8216;deserved 9/11&#8217; and that absolutely despises Israel and Jews.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m encouraging El-Sayed, you know, remind everybody in Michigan who you are and the kind of people that you stand with,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I&#8217;m offering $50,000 for you to do a rally with Hasan Piker on 9-11, the anniversary, and you could all explain to people why America would deserve that 25 years ago.&#8221;
Fetterman then offered another $50,000 for El-Sayed to hold a rally with his half-sister, University of Chicago professor and activist Eman Abdelhadi, whom the senator accused of celebrating Hamas&#8217;s terrorist attacks against Israel.
&#8220;Or do a rally — that&#8217;s another $50,000 if you do a rally with your sister, you know, that she celebrates publicly after the massacre of 10-7! For that too!&#8221; he said. &#8220;These are the people that he aligns with. That&#8217;s the kinds of folks that helped him win the primary now.&#8221;
Fetterman has been a vocal critic of El-Sayed — and specifically his refusal to back away from his associations with Piker — for some time. In addition to his ties to questionable campaign surrogates, El-Sayed raised eyebrows when a number of his own previous tweets regarding 9/11 resurfaced after being deleted.
El-Sayed suggested in at least two <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayeds-9-11-problems-just-keep-getting-worse">deleted tweets</a> from 2020 that the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic should be greater than the response to an external threat because more people died of COVID. In another deleted tweet from 2021 — on the 20th anniversary of the attacks — El-Sayed claimed that the American response to the terror attacks had been more egregious than the unprovoked attacks on the United States had been in the first place.

John Fetterman

Fetterman Hits Abdul El-Sayed With $100,000 Double Dare

Fetterman Hits Abdul El-Sayed With $50,000 9/11 Challenge

abdul el-sayed

hasan piker

john fetterman

michigan senate race

War Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly favors chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell to replace ex-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, but President Donald Trump has not publicly disclosed a shortlist for the job.
Hegseth, according to a CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-favors-sean-parnell-army-secretary-sources/">report</a> out on Thursday, considers Parnell, an Army Ranger veteran, his preferred candidate.
The Department of War would not confirm the report, telling the outlet, &#8220;The DOW doesn&#8217;t comment on private conversations between administration officials.&#8221;
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is reportedly heading up the search for Driscoll&#8217;s successor and is reviewing potential candidates.
Driscoll <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-army-secretary-makes-surprise-move-after-reported-hegseth-clash">announced</a> his resignation on Monday following reports that he had spent months at odds with Hegseth.
“Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army,&#8221; White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said following his departure.
Parnell, prior to serving as Pentagon spokesman, served in Afghanistan and commanded what his War Department bio describes as &#8220;one of the most decorated units in the history of the Afghanistan War.&#8221;
&#8220;During his 16-month deployment, he was awarded numerous honors for his extraordinary service, including two Bronze Stars (one for valor) and the Purple Heart,&#8221; it continued. &#8220;Eighty-five percent of his platoon received Purple Hearts for wounds incurred in battle.&#8221;
After being medically retired from the Army, Parnell told his story in the best-selling book &#8220;Outlaw Platoon.&#8221;
Parnell later ran for U.S. Senate in his home state of Pennsylvania with Trump&#8217;s endorsement, but ultimately suspended his campaign during a contentious divorce that included accusations of abuse. He denied the allegations from the beginning.
In a subsequent social media post about his family court case, Parnell said he had been &#8220;vindicated.&#8221;

Army Officials Testify In Senate Hearing On Defense Authorization Request For 2026

A Decorated War Veteran Could Be Next To Lead The Army

Here's Who Could Replace Dan Driscoll As Army Secretary

donald trump

Military

pete hegseth

Susie Wiles

u.s. army

Veterans

War Department

House Democrats voted on Wednesday to block a constitutional amendment that would lock the size of the Supreme Court at nine justices — as it has been since 1869.
Because the proposed measure would amend the U.S. Constitution, two-thirds of the House would have to vote in favor for it to pass. Thursday&#8217;s vote count, at 212-206, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-block-constitutional-amendment-supreme-court-justices-rcna595736">failed</a> to reach that threshold — and all but one House Democrat voted against it.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) introduced the proposed amendment, which would read, &#8220;The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices consisting of one chief justice and eight associate justices.&#8221;
The need for such an amendment, he said, stemmed from the growing number of Democrats who were displeased with the current makeup of the Supreme Court and have suggested expansion as a means of making it more &#8220;fair&#8221; (read: tipping it leftward).
&#8220;If a sitting majority can change the size of the Supreme Court the moment it dislikes its rulings, what happens the next time the other side is in power? That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m urging my colleagues to support my resolution for a Constitutional Amendment to permanently fix the number of Supreme Court Justices at Nine,&#8221; he said.
But House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) pushed her fellow Democrats to vote &#8220;no&#8221; on the measure.
&#8220;This proposed constitutional amendment would permanently fix the number of Supreme Court justices at nine, stripping Congress of yet another constitutional authority that is meant to be controlled by the American people’s representatives,&#8221; she argued, adding that spending time talking about the size of the court would also distract from other business like addressing affordability.
The size of the court, which has been officially nine since 1869, is not outlined in the Constitution and has traditionally been left up to Congress to determine. The Judiciary Act of 1789 initially set the court&#8217;s size at six justices — but it has changed several times in the years since.
In 1807, a seventh justice was added to accommodate new western circuits as the nation expanded. In 1837, Congress increased the court to include nine justices. A tenth was added during the Civil War in 1863, but Congress reduced the court back to just seven in 1866 — a move designed to prevent then-President Andrew Johnson from making any appointments to the high court. The Judiciary Act of 1869 brought the number back to nine.
In the 1930s, in an effort to get around a conservative Supreme Court and push his New Deal policies, then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a plan to add as many as six justices to the court — but the backlash, even from his own party, forced him to reconsider.
In recent years, however, more and more Democrats have come around to the idea — and many are openly calling for it.
&#8220;I think that we are in a position now that calls for some significant actions taken by the Congress, and we ought to expand,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said. “Thirteen is a pretty good number. A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court. And I would hope we would get people on the court who will follow the constitutional underpinnings of this great nation of ours.&#8221;
Former Vice President Kamala Harris also suggested that she was on board with the idea of a 13-member Court.
Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the amendment. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) voted against it despite normally caucusing with Republicans.

US-JUSTICE-SUPREME-COURT-GROUP-PHOTO

Dems Vote Down Amendment That Would Lock SCOTUS At Nine Justices

andy biggs

constitutional amendment

court packing

house democrats

katherine clark

supreme court

While Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy waits for 12 jurors to decide whether she should be held criminally responsible for killing her three children, a Virginia mother landed on her state&#8217;s child abuse and neglect registry for letting her son take a walk.
<a href="https://reason.com/2026/09/02/virginia-mom-gets-6-month-suspended-jail-sentence-for-letting-5-year-old-walk-to-the-pond/">Karyann Parkinson</a> told her 5-year-old son, Sam, that he could walk down the street in their gated community in Williamsburg, Virginia, to look for feathers. They had walked down that same street together hundreds of times, she said — including six times that morning — and at eight months pregnant, Parkinson just wanted to stay home and get lunch ready, so she allowed Sam to walk by himself.
That short walk quickly set off a chain of events: someone saw the boy and alerted one of the community security guards, who took Sam home and scolded Parkinson for allowing him to walk alone, Reason Magazine reported. He also reportedly told Sam that his mother was wrong to allow him out alone and that bad people might do something to him if he didn&#8217;t have an adult with him.
&#8220;This scared the crap out of him,&#8221; Parkinson explained.
Later, a police officer arrived, and Parkinson made it clear she&#8217;d had enough: &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any interest in talking to you.&#8221;
And then the cavalry showed up: multiple police and Child Protective Services (CPS) workers arrived at her home to investigate.
Parkinson called her husband to come home, and he did. &#8220;I told [the authorities] that kids need to be able to take reasonable risks in order to grow up non-anxious,&#8221; her husband said.
Police charged Parkinson with &#8220;contributing to the delinquency of a minor.&#8221; CPS investigated her for abuse and neglect, and because it ultimately found the allegations to be &#8220;substantiated,&#8221; it placed Parkinson on the state&#8217;s child abuse and neglect registry. She will remain there for seven years.
After a judge convicted her on the above charge, he immediately suspended the sentence — but even though she will serve no jail time pending good behavior, the punishment for the mother is a steep one, and her conviction remains.
The fact that her name is on the child abuse and neglect registry likely means that she will be barred from volunteering at her children&#8217;s schools. Her conviction could also prevent her from getting her law license — she&#8217;d also been preparing for the bar exam when the incident occurred.

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Virginia Kruta