At this time 10 years ago I was glued to my TV, in shock of what was going on in New York City.  It was something new to me, this kind of terrorism.  Though I’d been alive during the Oklahoma City bombing I wasn’t old enough to really understand it.  Actually, as it turns out, my true understanding of 9/11 wasn’t complete, but the enormity of that day wasn’t lost on me.

And I don’t think it remains lost to most Americans and even the world. We will never forget that day, those lost to it, and the heroes of it.

Facts. They’re important. Sometimes they’re inconvenient (*paging Rep. Weiner*) but a refusal to face them rarely – probably never – leads to a good place. So, here’s a fact. Jews have faced persecution at virtually every historical turn. Here’s another one.| MORE ›

As the news came in of the death of Bin Laden, print and television media around the world rushed to report the story, millions of people sent each other text messages as others took the news globally on Twitter — setting a new record for sustained use of the service — and in many cities, from New York to Boise, Idaho, to Athens, Georgia, people took to the streets in spontaneous celebration.| MORE ›

I’m growing increasingly concerned about the war in Libya. Truth be told, there’s little doubt in my mind that it’s time for Colonel Khadaffi to go. He truly is, as Reagan once succinctly put it, a “mad dog.” He has supported terrorists in the past and will undoubtedly do so again – if allowed to. On the other hand, the ‘rebels’ don’t exactly seem secular and democratic.| MORE ›

Jeffrey Goldberg responds to an article by Ta-Nehisi:

Perhaps this means nothing but I feel that I should acknowledge that a black man was killed on guard duty at the Holocaust museum. That may mean nothing. But I think it should be said.

No, it means something.| MORE ›

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia historically has played a major role in the development of jihadism. Key pillars of the Saudi state — oil, Wahhabism (a conservative form of Sunni Islam) and the strength of tribal norms — were instrumental in facilitating the rise of Islamist extremism and terrorism around the world prior to 9/11.| MORE ›

Sometimes, it’s nice to be proven wrong, if only in part. Last week, I spent a lot of time writing about the TSA and other organizations like Homeland Security. I argued that we are seeing more and more security-state policies everyday, and that we risk slipping from security-state to police-state.| MORE ›

The escape of almost 500 Taliban prisoners is just the latest blow in the effort to secure Afghanistan from insurgents. It couldn’t come at a worse time, as Afghan troops are apparently finally ready to take on the monumental task of defending their country. Umm, okay, sure.

What gets me is that the Taliban’s escape hole took five months to dig, and apparently nobody noticed the work on it.| MORE ›

It seems (in Dutch) that America’s Barack Obama isn’t the only Western leader treating friends as enemies and enemies as friends: Gordon Brown will meet Libya’s leader Muammar Kaddafi this Thursday.

What makes this coming meeting even more troubling is that Brown recently talked Scotland into releasing the man responsible for the Lockerbie attack in 1988, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.| MORE ›

Oh, the hypocrisy: after blasting George W. Bush and Republicans in general for years over the very existence of prison camp Guantanamo Bay, Congressional Democrats on Tuesday refused to fund closing it.| MORE ›

The Taliban continued their war on Pakistan’s civilian government last weekend by beheading to Pakistani officials in the Swat Valley, Reuters reports.

The two men were killed in retaliation for the killing of two Taliban commanders by Pakistani security forces.

Swat is the area the Taliban control.| MORE ›