On the morning of September 11,2001, I was on my way to Midway
airport with one of my fellow employees at MetLife and his daughter, who were planning
to fly to the East Coast to see his parents.
As we headed north on the Stephenson, traffic started to slow,
so I turned on the radio for a traffic report, and that is when I heard about
the attacks in New York City.
After I dropped off Tom and his daughter, I drove back to the
office, which now had a TV on for us to watch. I immediately called home, and
told the kids to turn on the TV, and they did. From the time they turned it on,
they stayed glued to the set for the next 14 hours.
Later that night, I had an appointment to meet with a client
about a life insurance proposal, and everywhere that I went, people were waving
American flags.
George W. Bush was not a very popular president prior to 9/11.
Shortly after his re-election, it was 57%, but had dipped to 51% by the summer
of 2011. After the attack, it soared to 90%, the highest approval rating of
virtually any president since WWII. During the financial crisis of 2008, it sank
to 25%, but rebounded to 34% by the time he left office.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx
Designed by David Childs of Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center is the tallest
building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere,
and the seventh-tallest
in the world. The supertall structure has
the same name as the North Tower of the original
World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest
corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center
site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center.
It is bounded by West Street to
the west, Vesey Street to
the north, Fulton Street to
the south, and Washington
Street to the east.
The construction of below-ground
utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on
April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest
structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed
the height of the Empire State Building.
The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012.
On May 10, 2013, the final component
of the skyscraper's spire was installed,
making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet
(541 m). Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when
the United
States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building
opened on November 3, 2014; the One World Observatory opened on May 29,
2015.
On March 26, 2009, the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that
the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World
Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom
Tower" The building has 94 stories, with the top floor numbered 104.
The new World Trade Center complex
will eventually include five high-rise office buildings built
along Greenwich Street,
as well as the National
September 11 Memorial & Museum, located just south of One World
Trade Center where the original Twin Towers stood. The construction of the new
building is part of an effort to memorialize and rebuild following the
destruction of the original World Trade Center complex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center
The steel from the original towers was eventually melted down,
and started new life as a ship called the USS New York.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/uss-new-york-september-11th-world-trade-center/
With more than a little prodding from Jon Stewart, Congress
passed a revised 9/11 Responders Health Bill in December of 2015.
Congress on Wednesday passed
a bill to pay for the health care of first responders to the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks after the Senate reached a bipartisan agreement to slash the
price tag.
The
deal lowered the cost of the bill to $4.2 billion -- about $2 billion less than
an earlier version. It will authorize a health benefits program for five years,
while placing several restrictions on how the money is doled out.
According to a GOP aide close
to the negotiations, the new proposal would permanently close the "Victims
Compensation Fund" after five years. The original bill kept it open
through 2031.
The deal would
also cap attorneys' fees at 10 percent of any award and provide safeguards to
ensure beneficiaries cannot "double dip."
Remember “America’s mayor?”.
To put it mildly, Rudy Giuliani’s fortunes have slipped since
the days immediately after 9/11.
He’s gone through yet another messy divorce, he gave a speech
in front of the wrong Four Seasons, he became the butt of practical jokes in
the latest Borat movie, and he is no longer allowed to practice law in the state
of New York due to the fact that he signed on to represent a shady character
who lives in south Florida.
For the moment, though, let’s set aside politics and take a
moment of silence to remember the 2977 people who died that day, one of whom
was named Tom Brennan.
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