Donald Trump is in the wrong country in his dangerous attempt to stifle a free press.
The banishment of CNN, Politico and MSNOW from the White House has unleashed a firestorm.
The most transparent response came today when five networks who share a “pool” to report on Trump pulled the plug. No longer will Trump be able to enjoy unfettered media coverage. The video and audio have been disconnected.
The media organizations have gone into Federal Court seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to block Trump’s childish and petulant action. The hearing is Wednesday.
This is a moment when the American media on all sides of the political spectrum need to stand up and fight and uphold the First Amendment of The Constitution.
PBS News Hour with Committee to Protect Journalists Jodie Ginsberg – 9.21.2026
News outlets Trump banned from White House seek Restraining Order
POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW are seeking a restraining order to restore reporters’ access – 9.21.2026
Three news organizations whose journalists were banned from the White House last week are suing President Donald Trump and three top advisers, calling the abrupt lockout a “direct assault on the First Amendment.”
The organizations filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, which assigned the case to Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee. The news outlets are asking Kelly to quickly rule Trump’s ban unconstitutional and prevent his aides from enforcing it.
“This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” the news organizations said. “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”
Die Linke is on its way to securing the Mayoralty in one of the world’s largest cities. Berlin. Its candidate, Elif Eralp was born in Germany. Her parents emigrated from Turkey following persecution from its government, The result of their political activities.
Eralp, a 45 year old attorney, is being compared to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Eralp and her The Left party which gained 25.6% of the vote will now have to resolve outstanding issues and negotiate a power sharing agreement with The Greens (14.3%) and the Socialists (12.1%).
One of outstanding issue will be to placate Berlin’s Jewish community which feels threatened by The Left Party’s criticism of Israel and its three year onslaught in Gaza. (See Below)
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.20.2026
With the socialist Left Party securing the largest share of the state parliamentary vote in Berlin, the party’s mayoral candidate Elif Eralp celebrated the victory of “love and justice over hate.”
“Starting today, we are changing Berlin together and make it a better place,” said Eralp, who hopes to become the first female mayor of Berlin with immigration background.
Eralp was born in Munich in 1981 to a family of Turkish refugees. While her victory speech was mostly in German, she also shouted out “We wrote history, friends” in Turkish during her address.
The Left Party has big plans for Berlin, including tackling its housing crisis by expropriating real estate own by large corporations. In order for Eralp to become the mayor of Berlin and the head of its state government, however, her party would need to form a coalition, with the center-left SPD and the environmentally friendly Green Party being the most likely contenders for a power-sharing deal.
“We are fighting in Berlin to turn the city red,” read the lead motion presented to the delegates at the Left Party‘s federal party convention. Red is the color of the Left Party, but also of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). According to latest polls, a three-way coalition of both alongside the Greens could secure a majority in the September election for the city state’s parliament.
Berlin has been “red” in the past. From 2016 to 2023 it was governed by such a three-way coalition — under the leadership of successive SPD mayors. This time, the Left Party is dreaming of winning the election and taking over the mayoralty itself with its candidate Elif Eralp. The 45-year-old has a remarkable background: Her parents were active in politics and trade unions in Turkey before fleeing to Germany in 1980 as asylum-seekers following a military coup, just weeks before Eralp’s birth.
Excerpted from The Times of Israel 9.18.2026
First they take Manhattan? Looking to mimic Mamdani, far left’s Elif Eralp eyes Berlin City Hall
Jewish community wary as Die Linke party’s mayoral candidate vows to fight antisemitism ahead of September 20 election; critics claim she can’t even control it within her own party
Participants display placards of Germany’s Die Linke (The Left) party reading ‘Freedom for Palestine – End the Occupation and Genocide’ during a demonstration under the motto ‘Draw the red line with us: Together for Gaza!’ in Berlin on September 27, 2025. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)
BERLIN — Last November, Germany’s far-left Die Linke party sent a delegation to New York City to study Zohran Mamdani’s successful mayoral campaign. Inspired by his approach, Die Linke launched a Berlin street campaign focused heavily on housing and affordability
With charismatic 45-year-old Elif Eralp as its lead candidate, Die Linke has a strong chance of winning Berlin City Hall. But that would not be the only parallel to Mamdani: Just as in New York, the relationship between the political left and Berlin’s Jewish population — the largest in Germany, with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Jews — is deeply strained.
Elif Eralp, mayoral candidate for Die Linke in the upcoming regional elections, addresses supporters during a campaign stop in Berlin, August 29, 2026. (Ralf Hirschberger/AFP)
Tensions worsened sharply in late August following a controversial performance by rapper Dahabflex at a Die Linke rally in the Berlin district of Neukölln. His song “Stop the Genocide” included lyrics such as “Yalla, yalla intifada,” “Death to the IDF,” and “Intifada like the PFLP,” a reference to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization.
In the ensuing debate over antisemitism within Die Linke, Eralp sought to contain the fallout. She condemned the rapper’s performance, saying she stood “clearly for the protection of Jewish life and against any form of antisemitism.” She also placed responsibility on the party’s Neukölln district branch, which had invited the musician.
. Sometimes to an outsider the modern day feels likeBabylon Berlin – Wikipedia. The series is set in Berlin during the latter years of the Weimar Republic, beginning in 1929. It follows Gereon Rath, a police inspector on assignment from Cologne, who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and police clerk Charlotte Ritter, who aspires to become a police inspector.
Then civilian Trump leaves a New York City Courthouse after being charged with multiple felonies. He was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying records on May 30, 2023
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have a lot in common. One continuous thread in their insidious relationship is their loathing of a free press.
Donald Trump is certainly constrained by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution – Wikipedia. But this has not stopped Trump from his ongoing threats and assaults on the American media. The latest being the banishment of established news organizations from the White House: CNN, Politico and MSNOW.
The American media has always been aggressive in protecting its rights to broadcast and publish. This is no exception and wannabe dictator Trump’s latest outrage will fail.
Trump will be long banished to the history books and the American free press will carry on.
Excerpted from The New York Times 9.19.2026
“He (Donald Trump) thinks that he can bully anyone or any entity into doing whatever he wants and he’s seen it work out for himself with the entire Republican Party bending the knee to him,” said Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary in Mr. Trump’s first term. “He is facing pushback from the courts, the Fed, people in his own party, and he’s lashing out.”
The White House on Saturday moved ahead with Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement banning journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, an escalation in Mr. Trump’s long battle with the press.
But it also fits a pattern for Mr. Trump when he faces a political quagmire, according to former government officials and civil rights organizations: He seeks to change the narrative by mobilizing the government to crack down on those willing to question his power.
Excerpted from Committee to Protect Journalists 2.17.2026
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, its media has experienced an unprecedented crackdown. Hundreds of journalists have been forced into exile, where they continue to face transnational legal persecution, and their families have been harassed back home. Meanwhile, reporting from inside Russia has become increasingly difficult, with journalists and media outlets often silenced by laws criminalizing independent coverage.
Evan is a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained in Russia on March 29, 2023, while doing his job as a journalist. He was freed Aug. 1, 2024, as part of the largest and most complex East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. He is the American-born son of Soviet-era emigres to the U.S. Evan learned Russian from his parents and built a career as a journalist focused on the region. He joined the Journal in January 2022 and before that reported from Moscow for Agence France Press and the Moscow Times.
Since February 24, 2022, CPJ has documented:
27 journalists imprisoned on criminal charges: 15 Russian, 10 Ukrainian, and 2 American. Of these, 4 released, 2exiled, and 1 killed.
Charges against those jailed: 9 for “fake” news; 14 for terrorism, extremism, and other anti-state crimes; 4 were undisclosed.
President Nixon tried to stop publication of the Pentagon Papers, the history of the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court said NO in a historic validation of the First Amendment. Cartoon by Herblock in The Washington Post. June 1971
Where is the outrage??!! How can the American public sit idly by while Trump sends the most destructive weaponry in the arsenal to Israel knowing these messengers of death will continue to slaughter the peoples of Gaza, Palestine and Lebanon?
A war crimes level slaughter which has been ongoing for nearly three years with no end in sight.
Excerpted from Al Jazeera 9.16.2026
US set to approve 60,000 heavy bombs for Israel: What that means
The US taxpayer-funded package of 2,000-pound bombs comes amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its occupation of southern Lebanon.
United States President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to sell 60,000 highly destructive, 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs to Israel in a multibillion-dollar package which will be funded by American taxpayers.
US media has reported that the Trump administration has approved the sale, which features some of the most destructive munitions in Western arsenals, and has informally notified Congress.
This is one of the biggest US munition packages to Israel and comes after nearly three years of genocidal war on Gaza, ongoing pogroms by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and a mighty assault on southern Lebanon – which together have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in the region.
The three types of bomb are:
MK-84: The largest among the Mark 80 series of bombs, this unguided, 2,000-pound (907kg) general-purpose bomb is designed primarily for maximum blast and fragmentation against buildings and moderately protected targets. It can destroy buildings and kill or injure people hundreds of metres from the bomb site.
BLU-117: A 2,000-pound (907kg) general-purpose bomb which looks very similar to the MK-84 but has a different explosive filler and can also be fitted with precision-guidance kits. It also has a thermal protective coating, designed for safer storage, particularly by the US Navy.
I-2000 Penetrator: Also referred to as a “bunker buster”, this roughly 2,000-pound-class, hard-target penetrator is designed to punch through hardened structures before detonating; its casing is substantially thicker and harder than an MK-84.
The Washington Post described the MK-84 as “among the most destructive munitions in Western military arsenals,” noting that the munition can penetrate through metal and thick concrete.
Israel has faced criticism for using the MK-84 in its efforts to combat terrorist organizations, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
When probed on the potential humanitarian concerns that could result from the sale and use of the munition, a senior Trump administration official told the Washington Post that “all foreign arms sales are moving through the appropriate process,” adding that they would not elaborate on any pending arms sales.
Excerpted from Jewish Telegraphic Agency 9.16.2026
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, is obstructing a Trump administration proposal for a $2.8 billion bomb sale to Israel.
Meeks, a longtime supporter of Israel from New York, said he would not clear the transaction due to concerns that these 2,000-pound munitions would not be used in accordance with U.S. and international law.
Despite his concerns, Meeks said in a statement that he remains “firmly committed to Israel’s security and its ability to defend itself against serious regional threats.”
The 15-term congressman, known for his pragmatic and moderate stances, voiced concern about the potential sale of 40,000 of these bombs, which he described as “some of the most destructive munitions in our arsenal.”
The blogger has gotten through life without a car and it’s an adventure to travel to Sausalito.
The first town in Marin County north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito, California – Wikipedia the wealthy enclave where the blogger spent his high school and college years.
Today’s journey is a public transit adventure. Taking in total seven rides on public transit and walking the streets of San Francisco and Sausalito. All this to meet our daughter Atlanta. For lunch at the Bayside Cafe at the northern edge of Sausalito.
Atlanta, born in San Francisco and now a woman who can be called a true Marin County resident. Having lived in Mill Valley over 20 years.
The public transit trip on San Francisco Muni and the Golden Gate Transit went smoothly. Except for one self inflicted glitch. Coming home the blogger boarded a San Francisco Muni bus and did not look at the destination signage. Then having to wait 15 minutes at a distant bus stop in the late afternoon as the motorists sped by.
Following is a photo montage of the dayto and from Sausalito.
A passenger in colorful stockings waits for the SF Muni 28 bus at Park Presidio and Geary Blvd.
Waiting for the 28 line
Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge
The busy visitors center at The Golden Gate Bridge
Round House Cafe
A pair of cyclists check their travel Appat the Golden Gate Bridge
The iconic world famous Golden Gate Bridge. To the north is the Marin Headlands
On the Golden Gate Bridge aboard the Golden Gate Transit 120 line
Passing by the still thriving The Golden Gate Market. A place the blogger frequented in his youth
The scorching documentary NAZA is being hailed by audiences and critics while the Israeli government is beside itself.At the Venice, Italy film festival the audience gave it a record length 25 minute ovation.
‘NAZA’ Review: Israeli Military Accused Of Depraved Indifference To Palestinian Life, Using AI To Kill In Gaza – Venice Film Festival
The devastating documentary NAZA, an investigation into Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza, was shot at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv, in part to avoid potential Israeli eavesdropping, presumably, and to facilitate shielding the identities of participants.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) map out targeting decisions for the destruction of Gaza
Those participants are 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers who reveal, in almost matter-of-fact tones, chilling details of a program that has caused catastrophic destruction of residential areas in Gaza, and massive loss of life among Palestinian civilians, including women and children. The sources – “whistleblowers” seems an appropriate term – come forward on condition of anonymity; they are filmed in silhouette, and their voices, as noted at the beginning of the film, have been digitally altered to conceal their identities.
“NAZA” features interviews with Israeli military sources who describe using AI-powered systems to bomb Gaza, which killed thousands of civilians.
The documentary won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
“NAZA,” a documentary by the Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has drawn international attention after winning the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and receiving a record-breaking standing ovation.
The film features anonymous testimonies from Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers who detail the systematic killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The filmmakers say the documentary is based on firsthand accounts and extensive investigative reporting. However, Israel‘s military rejects the accounts and disputes the film’s portrayal of its operations.
The documentary has also sparked a political backlash in Israel, highlighting deep divisions over the war and accountability.
NAZA is going to be a featured item at the 61st New York Film Festival
Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, NAZA reveals the systems behind Israel’s bombing of Gaza and its mass killing of Palestinian civilians. The film is directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four co-directors of the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land (NYFF62), and produced by the Guardian and James Wilson (JW Films) and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer. Wilson and Glazer are the Oscar-winning team behind The Zone of Interest (NYFF61). NAZA is titled for a military acronym euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that it expects will be killed in an airstrike. The film builds on revelations first published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, and the Guardian between 2023 and 2025.https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/naza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to members of the press, in Jerusalem, September 8, 2026 in which he condemned the film NAZA. REUTERS/— Ammar Awad
The New York Times published an article with its list of the best films on Amazon Prime.
Scrolling through the mostly anodyne selections the blogger search ground to a halt. On the list is the highly regarded “Riotsville USA”. A documentary about what can be categorized as the origins of the modern Police State America. On a Sunday afternoon I watched this riveting, educational and disturbing piece of documentary film making.
When I see the ongoing militarization of American law enforcement I will never again wonder about the origins of the American police state after watching this film.
The following review claims the Riotsville USA story is “in some sense, laughable”. It is not in the least funny.
The mid-1960s saw a conspicuous rise in civil unrest in the United States. The war in Vietnam, substandard living conditions for people of color, and a larger shift in consciousness all contributed to people wielding violence as a tool of protest. The new documentary “Riotsville, USA.,” shows the federal government’s response to this tactic as both sinister and, in some sense, laughable.
The Riotsville of the title is the name of a fake town built as a training ground for law enforcement, in which riot story lines were enacted by soldiers. More than one of these towns were built by the U.S. government, with the events filmed for official review. The documentary’s director, Sierra Pettengill, uses a variety of archival footage here. There are government films of Riotsville exercises, clips from talk shows, and a mini-narrative of a public television station whose progressive politics led to its defunding by the Ford Foundation. And searing footage from riots near the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami, which received scant media coverage at the time.
A staged demonstration in Riotsville USA
A blog for Riotsville USA needs some musical accompaniment. This piece, a cover of the Led Zeppelin “Immigrant Song” done by Karen O, Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch fits the bill. It was in the trailer for the American film version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
It’s fair to say that Americans are ignorant about the geopolitics of the Middle East.
The blogger is belatedly following the Houthis though my attention was there when Trump launched his air campaign in 2025. Now the problem is more serious and the MSM is paying attention.
It should be evident that the average American news consumer is out to lunch when it comes to matters outside the USA. Trump’s war of choice against Iran only got attention because of prices at the pump. Perhaps now the Houthis taking over Bab-al Mandeb through which 11 percent of global oil passes will be another Strait of Hormuz in the American body politic.
Trump’s war of choice against Iran nearing the seven month mark has woken up the geopolitically clueless American public. If only because prices at the pump have skyrocketedsince February 28th 2026.
In the past couple of days another Middle East hot spot has bubbled to the surface which is further inflaming the cauldron and willescalate energy pricesas the following Al Jazeera report illustrates.
The group known as the Houthis, well known in the Middle East, have captured the country of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline. Giving them effective control of 11 percent of the World’s global oil trade. This comes on top of the Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz with control of 27 percent of the global oil trade. A combined 38 percent total. A lot of barrels of oil.
The Houthis and the Iranians have a deep ideological bond, one that their soldiers willingly die for. And the Houthis do not need to win every battle. As long as they can sink an occasional oil tanker, they will hold a whip hand over their Saudi neighbors, and over the rest of the world too.The Atlantic – Robert Worth9.11.2026
Excerpted from Al Jazeera 9.11.2026
Houthi forces Houthi-controlled Yemen – Wikipedia have captured the whole of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, reaching all the way to the critically important Bab al-Mandeb shipping gateway, as the group’s rapid offensive continued on Friday.
On Thursday, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha, Mokha – Wikipedia dealing a heavy blow to the Yemeni government backed by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Mokha (Arabic: المَخا, romanized: al-Maḵā), also spelled Mocha or Mukha,[1] is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until Aden and al Hudaydah eclipsed it in the 19th century, Mokha was the principal port for Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. Long known for its coffee trade, the city gave its name to Mocha coffee.[2]
Analysts are calling the Iran-backed Houthi group’s victories the most significant regional development since the US and Israel declared war on Iran in February.
The offensives could be particularly damaging for Saudi Arabia and its oil exports. The Houthis, who declared a blockade of Saudi-flagged ships in the Red Sea earlier in the year, now have a much firmer control of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway, which Riyadh increasingly relies on for oil exports following blockades of the the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, experts say.
But can the Houthis control the Red Sea?
Here’s what we know:
In July, amidst the US-Israel war on Iran, the Houthis announced a complete maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and began launching attacks on Saudi-linked ships passing through the important Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The narrow strait is one of the world’s most important shipping lanes connecting the Suez Canal and Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Roughly 12 percent of global trade passes through daily.
Even more vessels have used it since Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s energy supplies used to transit annually before the war began in February.
Shiite Houthi rebels chant slogans after taking over a government military compound in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September. The group forced the country’s president to resign on Thursday, plunging Yemen into uncertainty.
South Tower of The World Trade Center collapsed at 9:59AM on 9.11.2001. The North Tower collapsed 29 minutes later.
San Francisco Chronicle – 9.12.2001
SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 9.10.2026
On September 11th 2001 the blogger heard the news on NPR Morning Edition. Not realizing the severity and impact he set off for work downtown. Midway there he received a call from Liz telling him the office had called and told him not to come to work that day. And as it turned out for several days thereafter.
25 years laterthe media is busy commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Deutsche Welle is reporting the now well known fact that several of the 9/11 hijackers lived in Hamburg prior to the assault on America.
Predictably this historic event has been compared to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7th 1941.
Predictably,it was also inevitable that the film industry would offer its interpretation of 9/11. Two films illustrated the cinematic effort. “Zero Dark Thirty” recounted the years long effort to locate and kill Osama Bin Laden. “A Most Wanted Man”, a John Le Carre novel put to film, is the story of post 9/11 Germany’s anti-terrorist campaign. Scenes from these films are posted below.
New York City firefighters. 363 died that day. – 9.11.2001
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.9.2026
The 9/11 plot, including the twin tower attacks, was partly planned by the so-called Hamburg cell. A look at how Germany’s national security was reshaped.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder addressed parliament the following day.
“Yesterday, September 11, 2001, will go down in history as a dark day for all of us,” the Social Democrat said.
He said he had expressed to the American president the deeply felt condolences of the entire German people.
“I also assured him of Germany’s unconditional — I emphasize: unconditional — solidarity,” Schröder said.
The Twin Towers in New York City – 9.11.2001
“This day has changed the world,” German President Johannes Rau said. He had watched in shock as the burning twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed in New York.
Germany’s head of state struggled to find the right words: “We do not know what political or social consequences what happened today will have — what we have watched unfold on our television screens in shock, barely able to comprehend or even reflect on it.”
Germany, he added, would offer the US any assistance they requested, “of course, also by identifying and pursuing those responsible for and behind these despicable attacks.”
It soon emerged that the victims include people from 92 countries, among them 11 Germans.
Mohammed Atta and the Hamburg cell
The following day, a rapidly spreading rumor was confirmed: Three of the four suspected hijackers had recently lived in Hamburg. The Islamist terrorists were thought to have been led by Egyptian-born Mohammed Atta, who had come to the northern German city in the early 1990s to study.
The so-called Hamburg cell played a key role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US: Zakariya Essabar, Abdullah Binalshibh, Said Bahaji, Mounir El Motassadeq, Mohammed Atta and Abdelghani Mzoudi (from top left to bottom right) Image:dpa/picture alliance
At some point, the young man became radicalized, particularly at Hamburg’s Al-Quds Mosque, which was later closed by German security authorities. He spent the final three years of his life in an apartment shared with two other suspected attackers in the Harburg district.
Schröder’s remarks set the tone and opened the door for a series of tougher laws. Just weeks after the attacks, the governing coalition of Social Democrats and Greens unveiled its first so-called security package, involving more funding, more personnel as well as greater powers for police and intelligence agencies.
Religious organizations that had previously been granted special protection could now be banned like other associations if their activities were directed against the Basic Law, Germany’s constitutional order based on freedom and democracy, or if they pursued other criminal aims. Less than four months after the terrorist attacks in the US, Germany’s Anti-Terrorism Act took effect.
Intelligence agencies were given access to personal data held by banks, airlines and telecommunications companies. Immigration laws were tightened.
Through data-mining searches, in which large amounts of data were cross-checked without any specific suspicion, authorities sought to identify so-called sleeper agents — people like Mohammed Atta from the Hamburg terrorist cell, who had not been identified by security agencies in time.
The Federal Constitutional Court brought an end to the legally questionable practice. Such searches were permissible only when there was a specific threat, the court said in a 2006 ruling. Seven years later, Germany’s highest court also ruled that parts of the country’s anti-terrorism database were unconstitutional.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and turned them into deadly weapons.
Top photo: First responders at Ground Zero
Wall Street Journal – September 12th 2001
Jeffrey Goldberg and his four panelists talk about the memories of September 11, 2001
