@jen_keesmaat I’m an old white guy from north of the city so I know Chow and her commie cohorts won’t give two shits about me but I came into the city tonight for a Jays game. We parked in a lot near Union Station. We passed drugged out zombies and open crack users. I felt unsafe Jennifer.
I reread this every year.
I cry like a baby every year.
Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.
Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked.
Lisa: I understand. Can they see you?
Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake.
Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor.
Lisa: Are you okay?
Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again.
Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true?
Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan.
Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call.
Lisa: I promise.
Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy.
Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.)
Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol.
Todd: I understand. I’ll be back.
Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot.
Lisa: What are you going to do?
Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out.
Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.
I’m no expert. I am just a guy who talks to dogs, but if you’re openly laughing while the victim’s names are being read during a memorial you are some evil bastards.
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, my thoughts remain with all those who lost loved ones on that terrible day. We honour the victims, the courage of the first responders, and all who have sacrificed in the defence of our freedom and security.
True story.
Back at Dalhousie this fall, teaching a graduate course on information and decision-making.
Told my students: “Diversify your information sources. Explore different perspectives, especially independent ones.”
One student replied, “I do that all the time.”
Me: “Great! Who’s your favourite source?”
Student: “Rachel Gilmore.”
Me: “Excellent. I see we’ll need an extra lecture on source legitimacy.”
🇨🇦 We're in a trade war, thousands of businesses are impacted, 1 in 4 Canadians are struggling to put food on the table, mortgage insolvencies are at a 17-year high, etc., etc.
🇺🇦 Carney announces a 100-year deal with the Ukraine. $26B given. Just in case anyone doesn't understand who benefits from that. ⤵️
To our grandchildren, on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As you grow up, there will be continued efforts to erase the fact of what happened that day: a mass murder of innocent civilians by Islamist terrorists.
In spite of what the world will try to tell you, you must know this. The extremist ideology of the Islamist terrorists that killed those people is alive and well. Those extremist beliefs are entrenched in militant theocratic death cults like the present Iranian regime, which mass murdered innocent Jews on October 7, 2023. That extremist ideology continues to be focused on ending our way of life: our democracy, gender equality, rule of secular law, pluralism, and freedom to worship without persecution.
Your grandfather spent over two decades of his life in the US army fighting against Islamist terrorism. And your Nana has in her way too - helping the survivors of their genocidal ideology, like the Yazidi people against whom Islamist terrorists committed genocide, and speaking up for the right of the Israeli people to defend themselves. We will not stop these efforts.
It will eventually fall to you to take up this torch. The ideology that seeks to destroy your freedom will not quit until it has extinguished it. There will be many who seek to normalize that violence within our culture and democratic institutions. For your own sake and that of your own children, you must not let that come to pass.
You are part of a family that defends freedom and pluralistic values. That includes standing against Islamist extremism and terrorism. We do not whitewash it. We are not silent when others try to do so.
There may be a cost to doing this. You may be told you should not speak of these things, made to believe they are not happening or never happened at all - or, worse, accused of being the problem yourself for daring to fight for your values and your freedom.
Ignore all of that. Too much is a stake to be spineless.
Never forget what happened on 9/11, or that the evil that perpetrated it is alive and well. As the beneficiaries of living in a free and democratic nation you have the responsibility to take up the quarrel with that foe.
Stand firm, and never forget.
All our love, Nana and Grandpa.