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One of the weirdest developments in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack is being played out in an astounding tax court battle. More than eight years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York City authorities are demanding that developer Larry Silverstein fork over almost $35m in commercial rent taxes on the Twin Towers and two other buildings that no longer exist. The city's reasoning is that Silverstein continued to pay rent to the Port Authority after the towers fell.

More than eight years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York City authorities are demanding that developer Larry Silverstein fork over almost $35m in commercial rent taxes on the Twin Towers and two other buildings that no longer exist. The city's reasoning is that Silverstein continued to pay rent to the Port Authority after the towers fell. That, city officials claim, subjects his transactions to the 3.9 percent commercial rent tax ... On May 27, 2007, the city's finance department sent Silverstein a bill for $34,866,549 - including penalties and interest - on his four trade center buildings. City...

Relatives of 9/11 victims asked an appeals court Wednesday to force the city to move tons of Ground Zero debris from the Staten Island landfill to a proper burial site. The families contend the debris includes remains of loved ones, while the city says there is nothing identifiable there - and it would cost too much to move it away from household trash. "There is no reason for all eternity that my son has to be in the garbage," said Diane Horning, whose 26-year-old son, Matthew, was killed at the World Trade Center. Seventeen families are seeking the right to...

Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Jim Hoft A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards...

"KSM describes a grandiose original plan ... KSM himself was to land the tenth plane at a U.S. airport and, after killing all adult male passengers on board and alerting the media, deliver a speech excoriating U.S. support for Israel, the Philippines, and repressive governments in the Arab world. Beyond KSM's rationalizations about targeting the U.S. economy, this vision gives a better glimpse of his true ambitions. This is theater, a spectacle of destruction with KSM as the self-cast star -- the superterrorist." -- page 154, 9/11 Commission Report Attorney General Eric Holder wants to fly Khalid Shiekh Mohammed...

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday. Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

If there was ever a more irresponsible decision by a U.S. attorney general than Eric Holder's decision to try the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack and four others as common criminals in a civilian court in New York City, I can't recall it. He is gambling with the nation's security and providing a platform that will give aid and comfort to the enemy at a time of war. And he is doing so with no discernible benefit, least of all to showcase the strength of our judicial system. Does Eric Holder remember the most infamous criminal trial of the...

The Obama administration has chosen the wrong New York venue to try five co-conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Instead of a Manhattan courtroom less than a mile from the site of where the World Trade Center stood, the government should have chosen the Bronx Zoo, because a zoo is what will be created when this terrorist trial is held. In announcing the decision to try in a civilian court these "enemy combatants," as the Bush administration rightly described them, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "For over 200 years, our nation has relied on...

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said today that it is highly likely that terrorists will attack New York City as a consequence of the Obama administration's decision to send five alleged Sept. 11 plotters there for trial in federal court. During a question and answer period following a speech to a conservative legal group, Mukasey was asked about the possibility that there might be an escape by one or more prisoners. "The [Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan] is a very secure place....Is it secure? Of course, it’s secure. They’re not going to escape," Mukasey told a conference of the Federalist...

I have looked evil in the eye, and here's what the families of the 9/11 dead will see: Gloating goons who lack beating hearts that would ever feel any pang of remorse. If they can stomach it, the relatives of those slain when Al Qaeda surprised a sleepy America on a beautiful fall day in 2001 will get a front-row seat to view the worst mankind has to offer. "I would expect that these trials will be open to the public, open to the world and open to the survivors and victims of these heinous acts," Attorney General Eric Holder...

<p>Outraged New Yorkers said yesterday that admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terrorists deserve to be put to death -- and some even volunteered for the job.</p> <p>"Kill them without a trial. Just a bullet in the head and say goodbye. Why waste taxpayer money?" said Thomas Pland, 70, a truck driver from Astoria, Queens.</p>

Let's get it on! Admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four al Qaeda co-conspirators are headed to Manhattan to face a civilian trial in federal court -- and a possible death sentence -- just blocks from hallowed Ground Zero. Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday said the five terror thugs will be shipped from the American base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they had been facing a military commission for the evil plot that slaughtered nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in western Pennsylvania. Holder's decision immediately was met with praise by supporters of civilian...

Audio Interview with General Tom McInerney.

Explaining officials must "talk to everybody" to "prevent tragedies," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hosted yesterday at City Hall controversial imam Siraj Wahhaj, a fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who urges the violent overthrow of the "filthy" U.S. government and the establishment of Islamic law. Wahhaj was among religious and civic leaders who met with Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to discuss the massacre at Fort Hood in Texas allegedly carried out by Muslim Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the New York Post reported. Bloomberg...

A spate of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the emergency operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has heightened fears that it could be the start of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness. Five firefighters and police officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up at the site of the collapsed Twin Towers, have died of cancer in the past three months, the oldest being 44. Three died last month within a four-day period. Those three were Robert Grossman, a Harlem-based police officer who spent several weeks at...

7 AM - Meet at World Financial Center Plaza (if you want to meet up, please freepmail me) 8 AM - 21 Gun Salute SALUTE TO NEW YORK CITY AND NEW YORK STATE... At approximately 8:00 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, the yet-to-be commissioned ship will come to a halt in the Hudson River. There, opposite the former World Trade Center site, USS NEW YORK (LPD-21) will dip her colors, fire a 21-gun salute to the people of her namesake city and state, and proceed to Pier 88 to be formally inducted into the Fleet five days later at a...

The new World Trade Center, now under construction, is often considered a symbol of American enterprise. But to some union members and U.S. businesses, it represents what's wrong with the nation's economy. The contract to manufacture the blast-resistant glass wrapping the main tower's first 20 stories was awarded earlier this year to a Chinese firm that underbid U.S. competitors. Now the trade tensions between the United States and China that have arisen recently over tires, steel and paper are spreading to glass. "This new tower is going to be made out of subsidized Chinese glass, putting factory workers out of...

A German shepherd named Taz, who was almost 2 years old when he was assigned from the city police’s K-9 unit to do search and rescue at the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack, has died. Taz was the last of the dogs involved in the attacks to still serve on the force. He died of cardiac arrest last Sunday, the Police Department said. Taz would have been 10 years old on Oct. 31 and had served in the Canine Emergency Service Unit, where his duties consisted of searching for evidence, suspects and missing persons. (The average age of...

Steve’s post below is a must read. A must. The video is supplemental. Never forget. Never

It is eight years since 9/11, and here is an unexpected stage of grief: fear that the ache will go away. I don't suppose it ever will, but grieving has gradations, and "horror" becomes "absorbed sadness." Life moves on, and wants to move on, which is painful for those who will not forget and cannot be comforted. Part of the spookiness of life, part of its power to disorient us, is not only that people die, that they slip below the waves, but that the waves close above them so quickly, the sea so quickly looks the same. I've been...

It has been eight years since the United States suffered the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. As we look back, we should take stock of what has transpired since then. We have sent our nation's soldiers into battlefields far from home to defend us. These brave men and women live in treacherous conditions, facing improvised roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other attacks. Yet they fight on in their mission to defend the United States and all of us without complaint. Our all-volunteer service is made up of Americans of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. These soldiers...

NASA has released this terrible image of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, as captured by Frank Culbertson—the commander of the International Space Station at the time. His words that day: Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else. Click on the image to zoom in. You can see downtown Manhattan—south, where the towers were—, with the East River and Brooklyn on the top, and the Hudson and New Jersey on the bottom.In the anniversary of the attack, let's take a few minutes to reflect on the stupidity of all violence,...

What We Are Fighting For - 2001 This Flash video was made shortly after the WTC attacks. Photos and images posted on FreeRepublic.com around that time were used to create the second half of the movie. ***There are graphic images of the events of that day in the video*** The video will load and play automatically.

El Marco - 9/11 remembrance photo essay http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/08/911-never-forget-never-give-in/ Photographed over three decades, El Marco's 9/11 memorial photo essay offers a moving tribute to the workers and rescuers who perished 8 years ago in New York City. Previously unpublished photos of the Twin Towers, and scenes after 9/11 provide a unique insight into America's loss and strength.

9/11 speech by President George W Bush Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbours. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten...

I know you all are thinking about it.....so let it out....talking about it helps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdznv9Q6o9s

"THE TOWER IS LEANING" declares the New York City policeman, ordering everyone to leave the area. This was the word passed down to all police officers in the area. This ABC News clip broadcast on 9/11, PROVES ABSOLUTELY there was NO controlled demolition of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. The North Tower started to buckle several minutes before it collapsed. Controlled demolition is instantaneous. Explosives would cause the building to fall imemdiately. In fact, the speed of collapse is claimed as evidence of controlled demolition. "The Tower is LEANING" the police see, several minutes before collapse. The police could...

This ABC News Video broadcast live on 9/11 proves that WTC 7, World Trade Center Building 7, was damaged by falling debris from the collapse of the WTC Twin Towers. There is a huge controversy over the cause of the collapse of WTC Bldb 7, whether from the terrorist attack or from a government conspiracy with Dick Cheney, Larry Silverstein or the Mossad. Investigators report that WTC7 was massively damaged by the collapse of the twin towers, on the lower floors. This video DOES NOT show the lower floors through the smoke, where the severe damage was reported by firefighters....

Residents carried their own signs Wednesday evening calling for "peace not hate" in response to a northwest Gainesville church that recently posted a sign with an anti-Islamic message. At least 80 people gathered on both sides of Northwest 37th Street in front of the Dove World Outreach Center for a prayer vigil organized after the church recently erected a sign proclaiming "Islam is of the devil." Participants held up their signs and listened to words from Eve MacMaster, pastor of the Emmanuel Mennonite Church, and Saeed R. Kahn, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida. The group maintained...

The NY Times fails to mention that Eid al-Adha falls on Sunday, September 11 in the year 2016 and Eid al-Fitr will begin at sunset on September 9 and continue to sunset on Friday September 10 in the year 2010. These “civil dates” for the two feast days are projected by the Islamic Umm al-Qura calendar maintained by the Saudi Government. They are the earliest possible dates for sighting of the crescent moon at Mecca. The feasts may fall one or two days later depending on a Saudi “hilal committee” responsible to spot the first visible crescent moon at Mecca—so...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. Moussaoui's testimony on his own behalf stunned the courtroom as he disclosed details he had never revealed before. It was in stark contrast to Moussaoui's previous statements in which he said the White House attack was to come later if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned on earlier terrorist convictions. Moussaoui testified Monday he lied to investigators when arrested...

The most serious impasse in years between the owner of ground zero and the developer building office towers on half of the site is headed for government intervention. Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey started talks about seven months ago to rewrite Silverstein's lease to build three of five office towers to replace the destroyed World Trade Center. Silverstein, unable to find private financing for all the towers in a poor real estate market, wants the port to back at least two of them. Top politicians from two states are meeting Thursday at Mayor...

The incredible shrinking World Trade Center will be cut back from five iconic skyscrapers to just two signature towers under a new Port Authority plan, the Daily News has learned. Bludgeoned by recession and a war with developer Larry Silverstein, the Port Authority is proposing halving the office space it will build at Ground Zero - from 10 million square feet to 5 million, sources familiar with the plan say. The sources say the agency's new vision for the site calls for scrapping one tower that would have been taller than the Empire State Building and nixing two others that...

This story contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of "Fringe." Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello called it "ballsy." Other fans expressed shock. Anna Torv's character of Olivia Dunham finally gets to meet the mysterious William Bell in the season finale of Fox's "Fringe" Tuesday, only to find out that it's not only Leonard Nimoy, but that he's working out of the World Trade Center in New York City. Granted, it's a New York City in an alternate universe. But with Sept. 11 terrorist attacks just eight years old, could it have been a little too soon for the viewing public...

News reports described the meeting as a touching and powerful coming together of the president and these long-suffering families. Mr. Obama had won over even those who opposed his decision to close Gitmo by assuaging their fears that the review of some 245 current detainees would result in dangerous jihadists being set free. “I did not vote for the man, but the way he talks to you, you can’t help but believe in him,” said John Clodfelter to the New York Times. His son, Kenneth, was killed in the Cole bombing. “[Mr. Obama] left me with a very positive feeling...

On the morning of September 12, 2001, we were united in grief. People all over the world – especially Americans – were all New Yorkers. Today it appears we can never be accused of being elephants with long memories. The by-now infamous White House plane photo flap is a telling example. Have we become so desensitized that a scant eight years after 3,000 Americans were wantonly murdered we have become a nation of amnesiacs? Have we forgotten the horror of that day? Who delegated and approved the insensitive stunt of flying an aircraft low to the ground over Ground Zero,...

It used to be called the "Freedom Tower," built by Americans in memory of 9/11, but the building planned to be constructed at Ground Zero has had its name changed to One World Trade Center, and according to a Pennsylvania newspaper's editorial, should now be stamped "Made in China." The editorial board at Harrisburg's Patriot-News made the charge after learning that the tower's first 20 stories, designed to be clad in blast-resistant glass in case of future terrorist ambitions, will now be shielded by glass manufactured … in Beijing. "Despite the fact that three American glass manufacturers, including Pittsburgh-headquartered PPG...

The owners of ground zero, locked in a new round of heated talks with a private developer about how and when to build office towers at the World Trade Center site, have proposed indefinitely putting off two of three planned skyscrapers until the real estate market recovers, officials familiar with the negotiations say. One analysis prepared for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey predicts World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein wouldn't be able to finish building all three towers he plans for decades, with the last tower finished by 2030.

1 hr 13 mins ago SNIPPET: "NEW YORK – New York City has positively matched another Sept. 11 victim to long-held human remains after retesting DNA. The city medical examiner's office says 54-year-old Manuel Emilio Mejia has been identified from remains found at the World Trade Center site in the months after the 2001 terrorist attack."

The tower — still under construction with a projected completion date of 2013 — no longer has the same architect, design or footprint on the 16-acre site. And this week, the owners of ground zero publicly parted ways with the Freedom Tower name, saying it would be more practical to market the tallest building in New York as the former north tower's name, One World Trade Center.

It took three years of stop-and-start negotiations, but a Chinese real estate company is finally signing a lease for space in a 102-story skyscraper under construction at ground zero, becoming the first commercial tenant for the rebuilt World Trade Center. The Beijing Vantone Industrial Company has agreed to a 23-year lease for floors 64 through 69 in what will be known as 1 World Trade Center, at the southeast corner of West and Vesey Streets. The $3.1 billion office building, once called the Freedom Tower, is scheduled to be completed in 2013. Vantone plans to build a cultural and business...

Freedom is out of fashion at Ground Zero. Once hailed as a beacon of rebirth in the aftermath of Sept. 11, the Freedom Tower has been stripped of its patriotic name -- which has been swapped out for the more marketable "One World Trade Center," Port Authority officials conceded yesterday. More than seven years after the terror attacks and amid an effort to market the tower to international tenants, sentiment gave way to practicality. "As we market the building we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia. "One World Trade...

Extraordinary new video footage has been revealed of the shock and confusion of New Yorkers witnessing the planes crash into the Twin Towers on 9/11. The collection of previously unseen user generated content reveals some astonishing real-life stories that came out of the terror attacks. One of the personal accounts is recorded by a student who shares a room with a friend on the 32nd floor of a building, eight blocks from the World Trade Centre. Completely bewildered by the black smoke billowing from the North Tower on the clear, sunny day, one of the students describes the scene as...

Renzo Collavino is far from home, deep in a 16-acre hole at what was and what will be one of New York’s most famous landmarks. Work at the World Trade Center Freedom Tower is progressing slowly; too slowly, in fact, dragged back by a series of issues around how to best preserve existing structures and the subterranean rail lines below the massive hole excavated after the towers were downed in the infamous 911 attacks. “The project is several months behind schedule,” says Collavino, who with brother Paolo and father Mario, make up Collavino Construction Group, the Windsor-based outfit which is...

The World Trade Center was first attacked sixteen years ago today, February 26, 1993. Along with more than 1,000 people injured, these six people were murdered during that bombing by radical Islamists: John DiGiovanni, age 45, Kerr Manufacturing Company; Dental Supply salesman. Visitor to the World Trade Center. Robert Kirkpatrick, age 61, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Senior Structural Maintenance Supervisor for the World Trade Center. Stephen Knapp, age 47, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Chief Mechanical Supervisor for the World Trade Center. William Macko, age 57, Port Authority of New York and New...

jihadist group responsible for nearly 50 attacks on American soil is operating 35 training camps across the nation, but its name cannot be found on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Exposing Jamaat ul-Fuqra's threat to the U.S., putting it on the terror list and shutting it down is the aim of a documentary film premiering tomorrow night at the Landmark Theater in Washington, D.C., at 7:30 p.m. The film's producer, the Christian Action Network, or CAN, says there's no charge to attend the showing of "Homegrown Jihad: The Terrorist Camps Around the U.S.," and DVDs are available...

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Posted By:Catherine MoyPermalink9/11 Victims Families: Obama Must Visit Gitmo and Reverse Dangerous Order Debra Burlingame’s brother, Charles “Chick” Burlingame, died as he piloted the plane that was hijacked by terrorists on 9/11. She opposes the closure of Gitmo. Families of those killed on 9/11, a Gold Star mother, and Sen. James Inhofe, sent a strong message today at Move America Forward’s press conference at the National Press conference in Washington DC: Keep Gitmo open for the sake of Americans who will be endangered by President Obama’s order to close the facility for terrorists. MAF has the...

In September of 2006, Kelly J. McCrum sold 1525 S Sangamon St. Unit 707, Chicago IL to a person named Osama Barakat. Kelly J. McCrum is the wife of Craig M. Robinson. Craig Robinson is Michelle Obama's brother. The part of the transaction that I found odd was the creditor. Burlew Plumbing & Heating of New Jersey issued credit for the transaction. Burlew also owns Magic Touch Construction Company Inc. This contractor does nonresidential construction, plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning. Knowing how New York and New Jersey share contracts for Port Authority work, I can't help but wonder if this is...

08A524 LIGHTFOOT, GAIL, ET AL. V. BOWEN, CA SEC. OF STATE The application for stay addressed to The Chief Justice and referred to the Court is denied.

NEW YORK (December 20) - Israeli officials here are blasting a four-part Fox News series that alleges that Israeli intelligence officials failed to share what they knew about September 11 with their American counterparts prior to the attacks, and that Israelis in the US have been caught spying on Arab citizens. In the four-part series, the first of which was aired on December 11, correspondent Carl Cameron alleged that "investigators suspect that the Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared it." Cameron also stated that a group of Israelis based in North Carolina is ...