A woman on the flight looked at my dog and whispered that he looked dangerous. She asked why a German Shepherd like him was even allowed on the plane.
His name is Drake.
For six years he worked with Marine Special Operations as a Multi-Purpose Canine. While most of us step back from danger, Drake was trained to move toward it.
He tracked high-value targets on missions that could not fail. He found hidden explosives before they could take a life. He was shot twice protecting the team beside him.
The scar on his shoulder came from shrapnel in an IED blast in Helmand Province. Bleeding and hurt, he kept working and located four more devices nearby. That slight limp is from the rounds he took during an ambush while covering his handler. Because of Drake, a young Marine made it home to his child.
He received a Navy Commendation Medal and a Purple Heart. He is credited with helping save more than forty lives.
He has never bitten a person. The only things he ever went after were the threats he was trained to stop.
So no, I am not moving my seat.
If you want to, you can thank him for his service.
If this changed how you see him, comment Drake. I would love to show you the dog he is now — quiet, loyal, and still watching over the people around him.
I support a mosque being built anywhere in the US. I think it should be the goal of every American to be tolerant regardless of their religious beliefs.
To promote tolerance, I would also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, which would be gay, The Turban Cowboy and the other, a topless bar, would be called You Mecca Me Hot.
Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork and across the street, an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called Iraq of Ribs.
We could also have a lingerie store called Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret and a liquor store called Mohammered.
All of this would encourage Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us.
Yes we should promote tolerance, and you can do your part by passing this on. 😎 I did my part 😉or we can just send them back to where ever they came from.....
The Dog Who Wouldn't Stop Searching
On September 11, 2001, Apollo disappeared into a hole in the rubble at Ground Zero.
Then a fireball erupted.
Seconds later, the German Shepherd came running back toward his handler, NYPD Officer Peter Davis.
Apollo was on fire.
Davis brushed the burning embers from his thick coat.
And Apollo went right back to searching.
Apollo was nine years old—an age when many police dogs had already retired. But that morning, he and Davis became the first canine search-and-rescue team to arrive at Ground Zero.
The conditions were brutal.
To reach the rubble, Davis later recalled wading through water that came nearly to his waist. Apollo searched across jagged concrete and dangerously hot debris. His coat was singed. His paws became cracked and bruised.
Still, he searched.
Apollo had been trained to find the living. But as the hours passed, the terrible reality of the site became clearer. Eventually, Davis had to physically pull Apollo away from the debris when the dog refused to stop looking.
And Apollo wasn't alone.
Search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers worked through wreckage, dust and toxic fumes in the aftermath of the attacks. Apollo became a symbol of all of them.
On March 5, 2002, he was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal for courage and devotion to duty. Apollo had been selected by ballot to receive the honor on behalf of every search-and-rescue dog that had worked at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Apollo lived to be 14.
Twenty-five years later, we remember the people who ran toward danger that morning.
Apollo reminds us that not all of them ran on two legs.
❤️🐾
🚨#BREAKING: A TV station is now digging through the PRIVATE LIFE of the lone, Black male HOLDOUT JUROR from the Lindsay Clancy trial... publicizing his divorce, his family disputes, even his eviction...
...because he refused to acquit Lindsay Clancy!!!!
Yes, they are TEARING HIS PRIVATE LIFE APART for this, but have done ZERO investigating on the private lives of the OTHER jurors.
One man, after a week of deliberation, would not sign off on a verdict he didn't believe in and that (by the way) is the WHOLE POINT of a jury.
We literally instruct jurors: do not cave.
Who is ever going to hold out EVER AGAIN???!!!!
Who's going to risk being the one honest "no" when they know the punishment is having their entire life ripped open on the news?!!!!
They are literally attempting to DESTROY the jury system with fear.
A verdict you disagree with is not a crime and a citizen who does his duty should not have his life destroyed for it.
This is absolutely insane.
Sharing a post 🙏🥹🐾🐕🦺
On September 11, 2001, dogs served in different ways across the World Trade Center disaster — searching rubble, detecting danger, and guiding people through smoke-filled stairwells to safety.
Apollo, an NYPD German Shepherd, searched the ruins of Ground Zero alongside rescue crews.
Bretagne, a young Golden Retriever with Texas Task Force 1, worked through dust, twisted steel, and devastation. Years later, she became widely remembered as the last known surviving 9/11 search-and-rescue dog.
Jake, a black Labrador who had once been abandoned and badly injured, grew up to become a certified search-and-rescue dog. After 9/11, he spent days working through the wreckage at Ground Zero.
Sirius, a Port Authority Police yellow Labrador trained to detect explosives, was inside the World Trade Center that morning. His handler, Officer David Lim, secured him before rushing to help others evacuate.
Lim survived.
Sirius did not.
He became known as the only police dog killed in the 9/11 attacks.
And then there were Roselle and Salty.
They weren’t searching the rubble.
They were guide dogs.
Roselle helped her blind handler, Michael Hingson, escape from the 78th floor of the North Tower.
Salty helped his blind handler, Omar Rivera, descend from the 71st floor.
Through darkness, noise, fear, crowded stairwells, and chaos, they kept moving.
Six dogs.
Six very different stories.
Search dogs. Police dogs. Guide dogs.
None of them knew the meaning of terrorism.
None understood why that morning had changed America forever.
They simply did what they had been trained to do — and stayed beside the people who depended on them.
More than two decades later, their names still deserve to be remembered.
Apollo. Bretagne. Jake. Sirius. Roselle. Salty.
They searched.
They guided.
They served.
Never forget September 11, 2001. 🇺🇸🐾
#September11 #911 #NeverForget #GroundZero #SearchAndRescue #K9 #GuideDogs #HeroDogs #Apollo #Bretagne #Jake #Sirius #Roselle #Salty
This is Todd Beamer.
He prayed before leading a group of passengers to overpower hijackers on Flight 93.
He died a Christian, father, husband, and hero.
This was his transcript.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.
@mattvanswol The fact that the surviving families/family members asked/petitioned to have him not come and he still did anyway…tells you everything you need to know.
I lost my Dad on 9/11. I don’t get a lot of reach on here. But I just wanted to share a picture. He was 39. I thought he was old. I’m now in my mid 30s and I still feel like a kid.
He was a great trader. He loved markets. He loved to find a stock no one was talking about.
The first trade I ever placed was on his work computer, where he let me click the button to buy AMAT. I loved going to the office with him. It was electric.
He was the best dad. We spent hours out in the street after dinner where he’d throw “pop flys” for me to catch. Eye on the ball.
He loved watching Sponge Bob and eating cereal, wrestling with us in the living room. He just loved being around his kids so much, and we knew it. I’m so grateful I got a dad like that.
Love you, Pops.
Andrew Wimsatt (62) was stabbed to death on a park bench 2 days ago in Round Rock, Texas by "Benedict" Ogbodiegwu
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September 11 is a solemn time for remembrance. Never forget is easy to say. The part no one wants to say out loud is that, twenty-five years later, the Taliban are getting weekly cash shipments. Last week they received $20 million. What’s coming next will make 9/11 look like a dress rehearsal. The saddest part is when Americans find out it was paid for with their own tax dollars.
HOLY CRAP…..💀😭
An NYC firefighter just told pro-Palestine protesters to get the fuck out of our country and take Mamdani, AOC, Hochul, and Obama with them.
I’M SORRY, BUT THIS MAN IS AN ABSOLUTE LEGEND. 😂🔥
God bless him.
THIS is the America I know and love. 🇺🇸
Today, two firefighters were seen running across the Mackinac Bridge carrying heavy gear and American flags. A heartfelt tribute to the 343 fallen first responders from the NYFD on 9/11,