Friday, September 11, 2026
Mistakes, mistrust and misdirection: 25 years after 9/11, its dark legacy continues to unfold
The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of 9/11 gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.’ Illustration: Guardian Design
The world’s most powerful country responded to the worst terrorist attack in its history by inflicting terror of its own – around the world, and at home
David Smith in Washington
The world’s most powerful country responded to the worst terrorist attack in its history by inflicting terror of its own – around the world, and at home
David Smith in Washington
Fri 11 Sep 2026 02.00 EDT
As clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed. “I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the 52-year-old recalls by phone. “I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”
A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant. “I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV. Do you guys know what’s going on?’ His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’ The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.”
Ariel Jacobs did not live to see his son, Gabriel, born six days after September 11, 2001. McPartland, then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, would marry twice more, set up a grief support charity, and become a chef and restaurateur. Each 9/11 anniversary, she has a picnic at the cemetery where a few pieces of bone from her late husband are buried.
Speaking from Fairfield, Connecticut, McPartland says: “Ari was an incredibly joyful person who cherished his life. I made a conscious choice to honour him by living as joyfully as I can. It’s not always easy. I still cry pretty frequently. If there’s a movie with a building getting blown up, or if I’m reading a book and they casually mention ‘post 9-11 this’ or whatever, it catches me off guard. The grief finds a place to live in the heart, and you visit it.”
As clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed. “I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the 52-year-old recalls by phone. “I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”
A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant. “I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV. Do you guys know what’s going on?’ His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’ The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.”
Ariel Jacobs did not live to see his son, Gabriel, born six days after September 11, 2001. McPartland, then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, would marry twice more, set up a grief support charity, and become a chef and restaurateur. Each 9/11 anniversary, she has a picnic at the cemetery where a few pieces of bone from her late husband are buried.
Speaking from Fairfield, Connecticut, McPartland says: “Ari was an incredibly joyful person who cherished his life. I made a conscious choice to honour him by living as joyfully as I can. It’s not always easy. I still cry pretty frequently. If there’s a movie with a building getting blown up, or if I’m reading a book and they casually mention ‘post 9-11 this’ or whatever, it catches me off guard. The grief finds a place to live in the heart, and you visit it.”
View of smoke from the collapse of the World Trade Center’s South Tower, in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, as seen from Exchange Place, Jersey City, New Jersey, September 11, 2001. Photograph: Michael J Powell/Getty Images
McPartland and other victims’ families have learned to live with that grief over the past 25 years. But America writ large has struggled to carry the weight of the worst terrorist attack in its history. The world’s most powerful nation responded by inflicting terror of its own, betraying its history as a safe harbour for immigrants, and pitting Americans against one another. The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of 9/11 gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.
McPartland adds: “It makes me incredibly sad and bordering on angry that the death of my husband has been invoked to cause more violence. It is the othering of people that got him killed in the first place and, when we Americans fail to learn that lesson and choose collectively as a nation to other people, whether it’s immigrants or other nations, that is a deepening of that tragedy that is sickening and unfathomable to me.”
McPartland and other victims’ families have learned to live with that grief over the past 25 years. But America writ large has struggled to carry the weight of the worst terrorist attack in its history. The world’s most powerful nation responded by inflicting terror of its own, betraying its history as a safe harbour for immigrants, and pitting Americans against one another. The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of 9/11 gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.
McPartland adds: “It makes me incredibly sad and bordering on angry that the death of my husband has been invoked to cause more violence. It is the othering of people that got him killed in the first place and, when we Americans fail to learn that lesson and choose collectively as a nation to other people, whether it’s immigrants or other nations, that is a deepening of that tragedy that is sickening and unfathomable to me.”
9/11 25th Anniversary Ceremony in NYC: Watch live from Ground Zero
9/11 25th Anniversary Ceremony in NYC: Watch live from Ground Zero
New York Post
Watch live as New York City commemorates the 25th anniversary of the horrific terror attacks on September 11th, 2001. The ceremony will be attended by survivors, family members of victims and leaders including Vice President JD Vance.
The first of seven moments of silence will come at 8:46 a.m. in observance of when hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower, followed by the reading of names of the 2001 and 1993 WTC bombing victims by the loved ones they left behind.
For the first time, there will be a seventh moment of silence to honor those who have since died from 9/11-related illnesses and injuries.
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Drones recreate Twin Towers in New York City to mark 25th anniversary of 9/11
Drones recreate Twin Towers in New York City to mark 25th anniversary of 9/11
The Independent
Sep 10, 2026
Twenty-five years on from the devastating September 11, 2001, attacks, Americans are marking the anniversary with solemn ceremonies, dedicated volunteer work, and heartfelt tributes honouring the nearly 3,000 victims.
On 9 September 2026, a tribute was dedicated to the lives lost that day in which drones lit up the sky to form the twin towers that were once standing.
Watch more on Independent TV: https://tinyurl.com/yc7ukx9n
The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking newsbrand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded.
Subscribe: https://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-Independent
In direct appeal to Trump, Catholic bishops' president urges end of mass deportations of Haitians
(RNS) — The letter marks a shift toward a more direct and pointed tone in challenging President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Community members hold a protest rally as immigrants enter an ICE facility at a Department of Homeland Security field office during a mandatory check in where most received ankle monitors, after thousands of Haitians lost Temporary Protected Status (TPS), in Blue Ash, Ohio on Aug. 9, 2026. (RNS photo/Carol Guzy)
(RNS) — Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference president, sent a letter on Tuesday (Sept. 8), urging President Donald Trump to cease the deportation of “large numbers” of Haitian immigrants.
Citing the violence in Haiti, Coakley wrote: “As citizens of this great country, we have been entrusted with a tremendous moral responsibility, and this is true most of all for you as our head of state, Mr. President. To this end, I respectfully ask: What good is the immense wealth, prosperity, and influence with which we have been blessed as a nation if not used in service of our humanity?”
The letter’s language marked a notable hardening in tone from the U.S. bishops’ conference, though Coakley also wrote that he was “humbly” appealing for Trump’s assistance.
Last November, the U.S. bishops’ conference released a special pastoral message calling for an end to “indiscriminate mass deportation,” a sign of how seriously the conference is taking deportation policies that could impact nearly 1 in 5 U.S. Catholics directly or through their family. But that message did not name Trump.
In his letter this week, Coakley wrote that he was inspired by the massacre of 47 people in Haiti’s Kenscoff farming community to write. Some of the people killed had been taking refuge in a church, and some of those killed were children. Coakley called the violence “unconscionable.”
“I very much wish this recent and tragic example of human life being extinguished, virtually with impunity, was an irregularity in Haiti. Unfortunately, it is not,” Coakley wrote. He told Trump that deportations endanger “innocent human life” and “contribute to the country’s already deepening crisis.”
Washington dad sues school district for denying religious opt-out for young son during Pride Month lesson
By
mconnellynyp
Published Sep. 9, 2026, 2:43 p.m. ET
A Washington father is suing his son’s public school district after he said his 10-year-old was taught about gender surgery during a Pride Month lesson despite the Christian parent previously asking the school to excuse his child from LGBTQ-related instruction.
On Tuesday, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the father, Konstantin Averkiev, filed a federal lawsuit against Lake Washington School District, alleging officials violated Averkiev’s First and 14th Amendment rights by refusing to provide notice and allow his son to opt out of LGBTQ-related lessons and other school requirements that conflict with his religious beliefs.
The dispute began after Averkiev said he met with his son’s fourth-grade teacher at Henry David Thoreau Elementary School in September 2025 and requested advance notice and an opt-out from lessons involving LGBTQ topics, gender identity or gender transition.
Montgomery County parent Wael Elkoshairi speaks in front of supporters of parents advocating for religious rights outside of the US Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2025.Getty Images
A Washington father is suing his son’s public school district.Stuart Monk – stock.adobe.com
Pride flags fly in front of the American Flag as a group gathers for a rally at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan on Feb. 12, 2026.Robert Miller for NY Post
According to the complaint, the teacher agreed, but Averkiev subsequently found out his son had been taught a June Pride Month lesson that allegedly included a classroom discussion of gender-change surgery.
The teacher then said he remembered Averkiev’s request and told him he “should have sent the lessons ahead of time,” according to messages cited in the lawsuit. However, Averkiev said that the district later rejected nearly all of his broader opt-out requests as his son prepared to enter fifth grade.
The Pride Month presentation, taught to fourth and fifth-grade students, described same-sex attraction, transgender identity and the Stonewall uprising, a series of protests from people who identified as LGBTQ+ against a police raid on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, according to materials cited in the complaint.
Eiffel Tower closed due to strike after female staff allegedly removed for religious group
A sign declaring the Eiffel Tower opening delayed in Paris, France, on September 7, 2026. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
By
Rhea Mogul
Updated Sep 8, 2026
Updated Sep 8, 2026
The Eiffel Tower in Paris was closed on Monday as employees went on strike to protest claims female colleagues were told to stay out of sight during a visit by a Hindu religious group, drawing criticism from French politicians.
Around 100 members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global Hindu organization headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, visited the landmark on Saturday.
BAPS describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship” dedicated to improving society through individual growth and promoting the Hindu values of faith, service and global harmony. The group inaugurated a new Hindu temple in Paris on Sunday.
Diane Davoine, a union representative for the Eiffel Tower staff, told reporters that during the visit, “women were asked to leave their places of work in order to place men there.”
“So that absolutely does not go down well with the employees, with women obviously, who are all humiliated by what happened, by the way some were treated,” she said.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said an investigation has been launched into the claims.
“It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated,” he wrote on X. “These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men.”
The Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) acknowledged that the delegation had requested a visit that limited “interactions with women,” according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
SETE said that “these conditions should not have been accepted,” BFMTV reported.
CNN has contacted SETE for a response.
In a statement on X, BAPS did not directly mention the female staff but said it took the concerns “very seriously” and that the visit was organized “in coordination with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal opening hours” to limit disruption to other visitors.
“To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, we sincerely apologise for any pain or inconvenience caused.”
When reached by CNN for comment, BAPS Paris said in a statement, “It was never, at any point, intended as a request rooted in gender, and any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the spirit or values of our fellowship or the delegation.”
“BAPS remains firmly committed to the principles of equality, mutual respect, and service to all, regardless of gender, background, or belief – values that lie at the very heart of our tradition’s teachings and community work worldwide,” the statement continued.
News of the closure made headlines in India on Tuesday. Some commentators on social media asked why the monument’s management complied with the purported request to sideline female staff. Several others said the incident has stained India’s credibility and the Hindu religion.
Wednesday, September 09, 2026
Talarico('s) Pastor: ‘People in This Church’ Wish Would-Be Trump Assassin ‘Had Been More Successful’
Kyle Olson
September 08, 2026 5:00 PM
Townhall Media
Much has been made about Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s version, or perversion, of “Christianity.”
The Democrat nominee has called St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin home since he was two years old, he says. It has been led for 35 years by Rev. Jim Rigby, whom Talarico calls a “mentor.” Rev. Babs Miller is “Minister to the Parish,” according to the progressive church’s website. So, one might conclude Miller knows a thing or two about St. Andrews’ congregants and their beliefs.
“We still have people in this church who wish that the young man had not just nicked his ear, but had been more successful,” Miller said, according to a video obtained by Townhall Media.
She, of course, seems to be referring to Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump as he rallied supporters in a Butler, Pennsylvania, field in 2024. Miller didn’t get more specific about which church members feel that way, so it’s unclear if they include Talarico.
Sources tell Townhall Media a trove of other videos that feature Miller and Rigby are forthcoming and indicate the true nature of Talarico’s religious beliefs.
“If you polled our members, and asked them if they were Christian, agnostic, or atheist, the vast majority would say agnostic or atheist because they don’t buy the religion that we got from the Puritans,” Miller said, according to another video reviewed by Townhall.
The inside look at Talarico’s church’s beliefs gives an unvarnished version of the “Christianity” he is offering to Texas voters.
He has sought to tone down his bizarre values as Election Day approaches, including the idea that God is “non-binary” and that “faith traditions all over the world” are “all equal pathways to truth.”
P.S.
Why is JD Vance talking about the Antichrist?
In a podcast episode, the vice president implied that the ‘End Times’ might be near
JD Vance kneels to pray during the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV Photo by Getty Images
By Mira FoxSeptember 4, 2026
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JD Vance said he might be bringing about the End Times, adding that he would not be “shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us.”
Vance was speaking on the Christian YouTube show The Bryce Crawford Podcast about his memoir, Communion, which covers his conversion to Catholicism from Protestantism.
Numerous Catholics online reacted to his statements with confusion and frustration, saying that the ideas about the apocalypse Vance voiced are not central parts of Catholicism. While Catholicism does discuss the idea of the Second Coming, a time in which Christians believe Jesus will return to Earth, the Catholic Church Catechism — the Vatican’s official statements and teachings about the fundamentals of the religion — says that “we are already at ‘the last hour’” ever since Jesus died; the Antichrist is mentioned only briefly as a “a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God,” not as a specific person who will come to the world.
The Antichrist and Armageddon, however, take center stage in many Evangelical churches, where these concepts often drive other extremist ideas, such as labeling politicians the Antichrist — at one point during the Obama administration, a poll found that one in four Americans thought the president might be the Antichrist — as well as Christian Zionism, an attempt to get all Jews to return to Jerusalem to hasten the apocalypse, when many believe Jews will be sent to Hell.
As one snarky Catholic commenter put it, Vance’s apocalypse-heavy discussion of his Catholicism sounded like “three evangelicals in a trench coat.”
It also sounded a lot like Peter Thiel, the billionaire Palantir founder and Vance’s mentor, donor and former employer. Thiel has a famed obsession with the Antichrist; earlier this year, several Catholic institutions distanced themselves from a series of lectures Thiel gave in Rome on the topic. Vance cited Thiel as an influence on his conversion in an essay about why he chose Catholicism, despite the fact that Thiel is not Catholic.
Tuesday, September 08, 2026
When vulgarity becomes ordinary: What the F-word says about us
Unsplash/Icons8 Team
Why does seemingly everybody have to be using the F-word these days?
You hear it almost everywhere. It pours from television, movies, music, podcasts, social media, sporting events, workplaces, restaurants, and everyday conversations. People who would once have been embarrassed to say it in public now use it repeatedly, sometimes almost unconsciously.
The word is f@#k.
It is, in my estimation, the foulest and most vulgar word in the English language. Yet what was once considered almost unspeakable has become a conversational commonplace.
How did this happen?
The word itself is quite old. Its precise origin is uncertain, though etymologists generally link it to Germanic words associated with sexual intercourse or breeding. Despite popular legends, it did not originate as an acronym such as “Fornication Under Consent of the King.”
For centuries, however, the word remained socially taboo. Respectable writers, publishers, broadcasters, and ordinary people generally avoided it. Samuel Johnson omitted it from his famous dictionary, and from 1795 until 1965, the word did not appear in a single English-language dictionary.
That very restraint gave the word enormous rhetorical force.
Profanity of this degree certainly has its shock value. But when such obscenity is repeated constantly, something curious happens — eventually, it loses its ability to rattle us.
So, the F-word has undergone an extraordinary transformation in our time.
Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine
Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine
In anticipation of the most carefully scrutinized book we have published.
Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine
June 1957
We are happy to announce that the new book Questions on Doctrine is about ready for release. Several references to this forthcoming publication have already appeared in THE MINISTRY. Of all the books we have ever published, none has had more careful scrutiny than this one. It is a group project, and not the work of one author, and it came into being to meet a definite need.
Some two years ago a group of sincere Christian scholars visited our headquarters to make inquiry about certain phases of our belief. That initial interview was but the beginning of some fifteen subsequent interviews. These were not just for a few hours, but sometimes as much as a whole week was occupied in the close examination of the Word of God. Our beliefs were being subjected to the most careful and exegetical study.
Up until that time these men, like thousands of other sincere Christians, looked upon Seventh-day Adventists as a "cult" holding beliefs that were at striking variance with the fundamentals of historic Christianity. They came expecting to find heretics, but were surprised when they discovered that we rang true on all the great cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
This editor's office in the General Conference building proved a hallowed spot where some six earnest men, sometimes more, sat around the table searching the precious Word of God. This editorial room is more than an office, for it is lined with books comprising the major part of the Ministerial Association library. Many of the theological sources for such investigation are here.
This experience seemed to us to be one fulfillment of a statement made by the messenger of the Lord many years ago:
Monday, September 07, 2026
The Wall That Made America Great and The Prophecy That Ends It
September 3, 2026 Gary Blanchard
Were Daniel and his three friends disobeying God when they refused to bow to the golden image, and when Daniel refused to stop praying to anyone but the king for thirty days?
Years earlier, the prophet Jeremiah had spoken to the children of Israel. He told them the Babylonians were coming and that, rather than resisting, they should “put their necks under his yoke.” In other words, they were to submit to Babylonian rule. This was not merely Jeremiah’s opinion. As a true prophet, he delivered a directive that came from God Himself:
“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand. … But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 27:8, 11, NIV)
Jeremiah repeated the same message to King Zedekiah: “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live” (Jeremiah 27:12).
So why, then, did Daniel’s three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) refuse the king’s command in Daniel 3, and why did Daniel himself refuse the king’s decree in Daniel 6? On the surface they appear insubordinate to the very authority God had told His people to accept. They would not bow to the golden image when commanded, and Daniel would not stop praying to God when ordered to petition only the king for thirty days.
Their response in the furnace episode is clear:
“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18, NIV)
Daniel, knowing the decree had been signed, continued his lifelong practice of praying three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10).
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