An Illinois mother who reportedly was “very invested” in the Lindsay Clancy case is accused of killing her toddler before attempting to commit self-harm amid an alleged “brief psychotic disorder.”

The Frankfort Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a report of an unresponsive juvenile just after 4 p.m. Sept. 1.

‘She was severely mentally ill at the time of the incident and requires treatment.’

Police found a 2-year-old boy at the home, and he was taken to a hospital where he later was pronounced dead.

The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled the toddler’s cause of death was “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck,” the Patch Frankfort reported.

The statement added that three other juveniles were inside the home, and they were not harmed.

The victim’s mother, 40-year-old Corie A. Walsh, also was taken to the Silver Cross Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Court documents said after Walsh’s treatment at the hospital, she was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.

Walsh was charged with first-degree murder, according to jail records.

“Court documents note that based on the age of the victim of this case, the sentencing range would be 60 to 100 years if she’s convicted,” according to the Patch Frankfort.

RELATED: Fatally stabbed elderly man found with his heart cut out; victim’s daughter charged with murder

WMAQ-TV obtained court documents saying Walsh’s son, 2-year-old Barrett “Bear” Walsh, was found dead hanging from a rafter in the basement of the Walsh family home.

Walsh appeared in court Tuesday, where prosecutors revealed that two of Walsh’s children arrived home from school to the chilling scene and asked a neighbor for help.

WMAQ reported that the neighbor quickly pulled Barrett down and attempted CPR but said he had no pulse.

An 8-month-old baby was found unsupervised on the floor of a room upstairs, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the neighbor found Walsh fully clothed in a bathtub with bloody water, with injuries to her wrist and thighs.

Citing court documents, ABC News reported that the neighbor told officers Walsh was “actively harming herself” with a knife and was “trying to kill herself.”

The neighbor noted that Walsh had dilated eyes and a “weird giggle,” according to WMAQ.

Court documents said Walsh killed her son because she thought “he was the devil” and the “anti-Christ.”

Walsh’s attorney claimed that his client was suffering from a “brief psychotic disorder” at the time of the death of 2-year-old Barrett Walsh.

“She was severely mentally ill at the time of the incident and requires treatment,” defense attorney Robert Kerr said in court, according to WMAQ.

Walsh’s attorneys argued for inpatient medical care for their client.

However, prosecutors claimed Walsh had bad intentions for other members of her family, saying she later stated she intended to harm her husband when he arrived home and would “poison him with a drink,” WMAQ reported, adding that she also believed she had killed her other children.

A judge ordered Walsh detained because she could pose a risk to her remaining children and husband.

According to WLS-TV, prosecutors said Walsh had “recently become very invested in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial,” the high-profile case involving a mother killing her three children before trying to take her own life.

Court documents said, “The defendant had been actively discussing the case via group text message with her friends up until 12:30 p.m. on September 1, 2026, three and a half hours before the scene was discovered.”

Witnesses said Walsh believed Clancy’s husband — not Lindsay Clancy — murdered the children.

According to participants in the group chat, Walsh’s messages were “confusing” and “out of character.”

Clancy’s defense argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.

Despite text messages showing references to the Clancy case, defense attorneys branded claims of Walsh being a “Lindsay Clancy copycat” as “sickening.”

“Describing Corie to a copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” Kerr stated.

Walsh also is represented by Andrea Lyon — a lawyer for Casey Anthony during her infamous 2011 murder trial in which she was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter.

Lyon told ABC News:

This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child. It is also a tragedy in that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is.

Walsh’s husband was out of state at the time of the alleged crime, according to court documents.

Defense attorneys said Walsh’s husband and mother “have unwavering love and support” for the murder suspect.

While Walsh was in court Tuesday, her son was laid to rest.

Walsh is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 24.

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​Murder, Lindsay clancy, Postpartum psychosis, Insanity defense, Illinois, Mother, Crime 

Unless you’re a frequent X user, you may have missed that Elon Musk launched X Money, the financial services platform that he originally envisioned for the X.com brand when he purchased the domain in 1999. Shortly after its debut, X Money users came under attack, with hackers looking to steal everything.

X Money is a new financial platform under Musk’s growing brand, X Corp. While it isn’t technically a bank, it offers many financial services that you would find at any other financial institution. Some of these include high-yield accounts with up to 6.00% APY — high above the national average of 0.62% APY — the X Card debit card that offers 3% cash back on eligible purchases, and early payday support for direct deposit checks.

The goal was to reset user passwords to access X accounts and the money inside.

The X Money website also touts “powerful security,” which unfortunately was already put to the test by bad actors looking to take advantage of X Money’s brand-new customers.

The mess began when some users received unsolicited password change requests for their X accounts. The goal was to reset user passwords to access those accounts and the money inside. According to a response from Grok, hackers simply spammed the password reset feature by typing in users’ public X usernames and then clicking “forgot password?” in hopes of taking control.

X.com login page

X product engineer Mridul Singhai acknowledged the issue and quickly assuaged concerns that a broader attack was under way. In a post, he said, “We are actively investigating the issue and, so far, have found no evidence of any breaches. We apologize for the multiple emails and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this.”

In other words, the attack doesn’t appear to be the result of a system leak, hack, or compromised data. Scammers are simply targeting users who are suspected to have X Money accounts and weaponizing the password reset feature to gain entry.

As for how attackers knew which accounts to pursue, there currently isn’t a badge or identifying marker to denote an X Money customer from a regular X user. However, since X recently moved its creator payment program from Stripe to X Money, any account with a “Subscribe” button is a likely target.

RELATED: 200,000 Chinese bots are hiding on X — built to control what you think

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Whether you’re an X Money account holder or a typical X.com user looking to shore up security on your profile, it’s actually very easy to keep hackers and would-be criminals out of your business. X offers several security features that you should enable now, even if you think you’re not at risk.

Open the X app, tap your profile picture in the top left corner, and then choose “Settings and privacy” at the bottom. On the next page, tap “Security and account access,” followed by “Security.” On this last page, you’ll see several options. I recommend setting up Passkeys at the very least, but enabling all of these can help.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/X.com Security Options

Two-factor authentication requires the person logging in — whether that’s you or a potential hacker — to have access to another approved form of verification before he can access your account. The other form can be a text message sent directly to your phone, a temporary code sent to an authentication app, or even a physical security key that must be inserted into your device to prove you are you. Personally, the authentication app option is my favorite, but feel free to choose which works best.

Password reset protection requires a person to know your account email address — not just your username — to reset your password. Since your email address is never openly shared on your profile, this should be information that only you possess, helping to keep you safer.

Finally, Passkeys add a biometric layer to the login process. These allow you to bypass the usual login information and instead require you to verify your identity with a FaceID scan or a fingerprint. This feature is the most secure option, because only you have access to your biometric data.

Once you have these set up, your X account is secure, and you won’t have to worry about hackers attempting to break in and cause trouble.

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​Attack, Elon musk, Hackers, Scammers, Security, X.com, Tech 

Bystanders captured horrifying video of a woman who was brutally mauled by a pit bull in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.

One woman said the attack lasted between 10 and 15 minutes, and while some tried to intervene, the woman ended up with life-threatening injuries.

‘A lot of people were going up and trying to pepper-spray the dog, but it was just still trying to attack the lady.’

The unidentified victim was transported to a hospital after police arrived and captured the dog with a snare pole.

In one video, the woman can be seen lying on the ground motionless while an onlooker screams at police to shoot the dog.

The pit bull’s head is covered in blood.

Police said that the dog became motionless while they were restraining it, and it was declared dead at the scene. The Animal Care and Control agency of the city took charge of the remains.

The owner of the dog was not found at the scene, according to police.

Ashley Powell told KPIX-TV she was walking to work when she saw the dog attack the woman.

“She was walking by. The dog was with the owner. And the dog just jumped and attacked her,” Powell told the station. “Just started pulling her, biting her hands, fingers, chest, face.”

Powell said she called 911 immediately.

She said various people tried to pull the dog from the woman during Tuesday morning’s attack.

“I had residents up there saying, ‘Get the dog off of her, get the dog off of her,'” Powell continued. “A lot of people were going up and trying to pepper-spray the dog, but it was just still trying to attack the lady.”

Another witness, James Richmond, told KPIX the dog’s owner tried to intervene and then left the area.

RELATED: ‘There was blood everywhere’: Video shows pit bulls sneaking through doggy doors of home

“He’s out here quite often. When I do see him, he is always with his dog,” Raymond told the station. “Most of the time, they are sitting down, so you don’t really see if a leash is there.”

Richmond said he believes the dog’s owner is homeless, but that part of the interview is only in the station’s video report.

More from the station:

District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill says he’s been sounding the alarm on off-leash dogs in the Tenderloin since the city’s dog court went on a hiatus last year. The dog court resumed taking on the backlog of vicious dog cases in June.

“And look, it’s great they have hearings scheduled for October with a new judge for dog court, that’s fantastic,” said Sherrill. “But having dogs off leash, having owners that are irresponsible is so dangerous, it’s unbelievable, and now we can see it with our own eyes.”

Police said anyone with information about the incident should contact them at 415-575-4444, KPIX reported.

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​Dog attack, Homeless, Pit bull, Police, San francisco, Crime 

An unexpected surprise occurred on the floor of the 2026 Republican Midterm Convention on Thursday, when the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) married her brother and that consequences are coming.

“Something’s going to happen,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said after Benny Johnson asked about the accusation that Omar married her brother so that he could stay in the United States.

‘We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States.’

Rumors that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who married Omar in 2009, is Omar’s biological brother have swirled for years. Mullin seemed to confirm those rumors to Johnson Thursday night.

“We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States,” he began.

“There may be more to this — the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. But all of this, we’re investigating.”

Perhaps in anticipation of left-wing backlash about his comments, Mullin added: “If we actually move a case forward, it’s not a political case. It’s actually a case because they did things wrong.”

“If you decided to break the law or lie on the information you gave the United States … but you didn’t tell us who you actually were … there’s no expiration to that. If we can prove it that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you.”

Blaze News reached out to Omar’s office for comment but did not receive a response by the deadline.

In 2020, Omar released a statement calling the allegations “absolutely false and ridiculous,” reiterating that “insinuations that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is my brother are absurd and offensive.”

RELATED: Is Ilhan Omar getting deported? Trump’s post raises eyebrows

Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

President Donald Trump weighed in on the allegations late last year. “If that’s true, she shouldn’t be a congressman,” he said definitively. “And we should throw her the hell out of our country.”

Trump then hinted as recently as last month that she may be the subject of ICE “enforcement proceedings” on account of alleged “fraud.”

Vice President JD Vance also addressed the accusations against Omar back in May and indicated an investigation was underway. “You read the things about Ilhan Omar and about who she married and whether she didn’t marry this person or that person,” Vance said.

“It certainly seems like something fishy is there, but everybody’s entitled to equal justice under the laws, so we’re going to investigate it,” he added. “We’re going to take a look at it. If we think that there’s a crime, we’re going to prosecute that crime. And that’s something the Department of Justice is looking at right now.”

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​Ilhan omar, Immigration fraud, Investigation, Markwayne mullin, Donald trump, Jd vance, News 

A new toxicology report has revealed chilling new details about the deaths of four children whose mother and grandmother allegedly plotted together to kill them before taking their own lives in a murder-suicide in upstate New York.

As Blaze News previously reported, police found six bodies in a Mechanicville apartment during a welfare check on June 23.

‘It’s not working, we need another option.’

Police identified the alleged victims as 13-year-old Harper Harmon, 11-year-old Hudson Harmon, and 10-year-old twins Gavin and Gracelynn Harmon. The children’s bodies were discovered alongside the bodies of their 44-year-old mother, Sarah Myers, and their 64-year-old grandmother, Amy Steadman.

Mechanicville Police said the children were murdered on June 10, according to WNYT-TV.

The Albany Times Union reported last month that Mechanicville Police Chief Bill Rabbitt said the four children were victims of a “mass killing.”

Rabbitt said Steadman and Myers began their plan as early as June 5, when Steadman began visiting multiple pharmacies to purchase over-the-counter sleep aids and medication prescribed to her, the Times Union said.

According to investigators, Steadman’s online search history contained inquiries about the effects of insulin used on individuals without diabetes.

The Times Union reported that Steadman and Myers exchanged messages discussing that they “wanted to dose the children between 10:30 a.m. and noon on June 10, before a scheduled 6 p.m. phone call with their father, Utah resident Brady Harmon.”

Harmon told the Times Union that he received a message on June 10 that the children had stomach aches and that the kids would call him the next day.

Harmon said subsequent attempts to reach them by phone and text went unanswered.

Rabbitt said three of the children were poisoned, while 10-year-old Gavin was stabbed with a knife “as he evidently tried to protect himself,” according to the Times Union.

The chief added that Steadman conducted online searches asking, “Where’s the most fatal place to be stabbed?” and “Find the carotid artery.”

According to Rabbitt, messages between the grandmother and her daughter revealed that the children were not responding to the medication as expected.

One message read: “It’s not working, we need another option.”

Gracelynn, 10, reportedly wrote a message on her iPad about her stomach hurting: “Why would you do that? You won’t let me puke.”

Rabbitt said Steadman wrote a final chilling message: “Gracie is aware.”

Citing sources, WNYT-TV reported Monday that diphenhydramine, the ingredient in Benadryl, was detected in the children’s bodies. Kratom also was found.

According to the Food and Drug Administration:

FDA has warned consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder (SUD). In rare cases, deaths have been associated with kratom use, as confirmed by a medical examiner or toxicology reports. However, in these cases, kratom was usually used in combination with other drugs, and the contribution of kratom in the deaths is unclear.

RELATED: She killed her husband. Then she killed her firefighter wife. Now she faces an even longer stretch behind bars.

Police said multiple letters were found at the crime scene, including one reportedly written by Steadman, who purportedly took responsibility for killing the children; she claimed it was the only way to prevent alleged abuse by their father.

Another handwritten letter believed to have been written by Myers accused Harmon of abusing the children when they lived in Utah, and she was angry with the Utah Family Court system, according to police.

The Times Union reported that Harmon denied accusations that he abused his children and hadn’t seen them since November 2019.

“Never touched my kids. And this is coming from someone who has been abused. Unless you’re in that room and living a day-to-day, you know, life with her, you know nothing,” Harmon said, according to WKRG-TV.

Harmon claimed Myers assaulted him on the last day he saw his children: “I put my hand up, and then she opened the door and stabbed me in the face with a medicine dropper.”

Harmon added to the Times Union that he received 10 letters from Saratoga County Child Protective Services informing him of several investigations into inadequate guardianship and educational neglect and that Myers had postponed his court-ordered time with them last summer until she said they had to return to school.

Harmon added, “I was called a sperm donor, nothing more than an ATM, deadbeat father.”

Harmon stated, “They stabbed my son; they poisoned my children. All in the delusional state of, ‘We’re doing this for your benefit.'”

Harmon said Myers was “sick enough to believe her own lies.”

“My kids suffered,” Harmon told WKRG. “To poison them and also to stab them — there’s a special place in hell for people like that.”

Harmon said, “You don’t do that to someone you love.”

Rabbitt stated, “The deliberate murder of four children cannot be described as protection.”

“As a community, we cannot change what happened, but together we can honor these children by caring for one another, supporting those in need and doing everything within our power, and to prevent another family from experiencing tragedy like this,” the chief added.

Harmon said a court order allowed him to have the children from July 1 until Sept. 1.

However, the cremated remains of the children were flown July 2 to Utah, where the father scattered their ashes on a mountaintop.

WRGB-TV obtained court records showing Myers and Brady Harmon were married in December 2015 in Salt Lake City, separated in 2019, and divorced in 2020.

Court documents said both parents were awarded joint custody of their children.

WRGB reported, “Additional paperwork showed Myers was ordered to appear in Utah court on June 29 over a motion to enforce the divorce/custody terms.”

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​Murder, Murder suicide, Mom killed children, New york, Utah, Custody battle, Crime 

Not many political speeches start with an iconic 1990s jingle, but Marty O’Donnell’s did.

O’Donnell is running in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, where he is looking to “retire” his opponent, Democrat Susie Lee.

‘Without God, liberty collapses into power.’

But when O’Donnell took the stage Thursday on the second night of the Republican Midterm Convention, he started with a couple of songs.

O’Donnell first hummed the Halo theme song he famously composed.

“Aaaah aahh ahhhh ahhh! That’s me!” O’Donnell laughed.

Then he brought the audience into the mix by revealing he wrote the Flintstones Vitamins theme song that flooded the airwaves in late 1980s and early 1990s.

“We are Flintstones kids, 10 million strong,” he sang, “and growing!” he finished as the crowd sang along.

What was top of mind for the Republican, though, was the societal contract the government once had with its citizenry.

“One good job used to be enough,” he affirmed. “One good job was enough to raise a family, buy a house, take your kids on vacation, live a comfortable, fulfilling life, while getting ahead.”

Somewhere along the way, the deal changed, O’Donnell remarked. The congressional hopeful made it clear that he isn’t willing to sacrifice his grandchildren’s future so that Democrats can continue to reject what the American people want: an affordable country.

RELATED: Gaming legend disinvited from SacAnime con after ‘KamalaHQ’ page says he supports ‘persecuting’ gays

“I’m running because of my grandkids,” O’Donnell declared.

“I look at those kids, and I think about the country they’re about to grow up in, and I decided that I couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer.”

The 71-year-old blamed Democrats for stopping policies that Americans support, like funding for the border and military and a proposed ban on congressional stock trading.

Each and every time Americans stood up, “Democrats said no!” O’Donnell said repeatedly.

The speaker engaged with the audience masterfully and got them involved in his speech, encouraging them to play along every time he spoke about a policy that Democrats said “no!” to.

RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel plays free speech martyr over Talarico interview; leaves out one crucial detail

O’Donnell asked the audience and viewers to deliver greater majorities in the House and Senate to help President Trump finish the job he started and get the cost of living down.

He further explained that in order to have a functioning society, execution on knowable truths is paramount. If people can’t agree on what the truth is, the country is in trouble, he said.

O’Donnell concluded that the founding fathers knew that “people need God” in order to prosper in their lives.

“Without God, liberty collapses into power.”

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​Marty o’donnell, Rnc, Nevada, Democrats, Politics 

September 10, 2001, felt like any other day. Americans went to work, made plans, walked their dogs, and tucked their children into bed without knowing they were living through the final hours of a world that was about to change forever.

On the anniversary of 9/11, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is reflecting on the courage and sacrifice that emerged in the wake of the attacks — and the gratitude Americans should have for every ordinary morning they get to wake up to.

“Do you know when the bridges and tunnels closed, half a million people were stranded, right there in lower Manhattan? Half a million. Sky was on fire behind them. Black, dust, ash everywhere,” Glenn recalls.

“The Coast Guard put out a call for every boat that could come,” he explains. “Tugboats, ferries, dinner cruises, fishing charters, you know, a guy with a Boston whaler.”

After the 9/11 attack, those vessels took half a million people off the island.

“It was the largest — and still is— the largest sea evacuation in the history of the world. Bigger than Dunkirk,” he says.

However, Americans quickly forgot the sacrifice others made out of love for their country and people.

“We have spent 25 years telling everybody it’s wicked, that it’s rotten. It was rotten from the start. That everything it gave us was stolen and everything that it built should be torn down or burned down,” he says.

But this “wicked” country is “still feeding us this morning.”

“It’s still a place people are dying in the desert to reach. It still goes on loving a generation that never once said thank you and might even be embarrassed to say thank you, America,” he explains.

And not only are foreigners doing everything they can to get into the country, but they’re doing it because an ordinary America that sees little gratitude is actually extraordinary.

“We’re standing in the ordinary,” Glenn says. “A different kind, but an ordinary today. Right now, somewhere in this country, there’s a morning coming that will divide our lives entirely. And that day is not on any calendar.”

“Nobody’s watching and saying, ‘I know when that’s going to happen.’ And what we will remember about today, this Thursday, this nothing of a day, is what we always remember,” he explains, noting that we will not remember “the argument” or “the elections.”

We will remember “the kitchen, the dog, somebody’s hand on the back of your neck.”

“I remember September 10, 2001. It was the last ordinary day of my life, of the America I knew. And in one day, the next morning, that ordinary America was completely different,” he says.

“It’s weird that we call what’s happening in the world today ordinary, but it is. It’s just the new normal,” he continues. “And I thank God we got another September 10.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​America, Americans, Evacuation, Glenn beck, Heroes, Manhattan, September 10 2001, September 11, Blazetv show 

A California woman confronted a man walking with a 6-year-old girl and accused him of sex trafficking before quoting the Bible and driving away, police say.

Residents of an affluent San Jose neighborhood were upset by a video captured of the bizarre interaction on Sunday where the woman points out the contrasting skin color of the man and his daughter.

‘That’s a white little girl, and you are a man of color. So I believe you are either buying or selling or trafficking this child.’

The man, who did not want to be identified, told KRON-TV that the lady drove her car up to the girl on her bike and then addressed him.

“Are you buying or selling today?” she allegedly asked the man.

“I was already uncomfortable because she had approached my daughter, so I was taken aback,” the father said. “She asked me the same question again and then drove away, turning onto another neighborhood street.”

He said he began recording after she came back to them and questioned him on his citizenship status.

“She slowed down and said something to the effect of asking whether I was even legal in the country,” he told KRON.

“I’m recording you too. I work with the feds,” she says from her silver Honda Fit vehicle, according to the video.

“Have a good day, I’m just making sure you’re not sex trafficking this poor little girl, who’s very unhappy to be with you and doesn’t look like your child,” she adds. “That’s a white little girl, and you are a man of color. So I believe you are either buying or selling or trafficking this child.”

“I’m recording you too,” the woman says again. “We’ve got facial recognition.”

The father said he started recording again after she drove off because he realized she had driven into a cul-de-sac and would have to come back to drive away.

“Psalm 101:8, my daily task will be to ferret out the wicked and free the city of God from their grip,” she says, according to video. “Burn in hell, you will.”

The man said he went to the police and also provided the footage to KRON. He described himself as “brown” and said that his daughter is half-white.

RELATED: Outrage erupts after San Fran. judge suspends sentence for black man who killed Asian man

Police said Thursday her comments were “discriminatory” and claimed she had been involved in other similar incidents that included a high school in south San Jose.

Detectives from the assault unit identified the woman and arrested her. She was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for numerous crimes that included stalking and hate crimes.

Police said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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​Hate crime, California, Child trafficking, Racism, Politics 

Editor’s note: This piece was originally published on September 11, 2016.

My father recalls watching the North Tower burning from the 100th floor up and thinking to himself, “How would they put this out?”

I grew up in Rockland County, New York, and Dad used to work in the city, styling himself as an “architectural carpenter.” What that means is that he worked with his hands — and on his knees — installing cabinetry, wood flooring, and the heavy, polished oak doors that decorate the high-end offices of Manhattan with his union brothers in NYC District Council of Carpenters Union Local 157. It was hard work, and it took its toll on my father, who is now retired and living comfortably in Pennsylvania.

My father and I are pictured with Conservative Review editor in chief Mark Levin.

Fifteen years ago today, on September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 flew south over Manhattan and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

On that particular day, my dad, Peter Pandolfo, was working on the 20th floor of the Ritz-Carlton, staring in shock at the World Trade Center three blocks away.

“We had a clear view of the debris and smoke coming out the North Tower. Then a terrifying vibration with a loud screaming engine noise was directly over our building and startled us.”

It was the second plane. United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.

“Terrorism was my immediate thought.” As my father tells the story, he immediately went into “survival mode” and began to rifle through his tool belt, emptying some tools to lighten his load and keeping others on his person in case he needed them. He and his co-workers then evacuated the building.

“The whole crew ran 20 floors down the stairs to the street. It was mayhem. All the people who had evacuated the towers — the tourists and their babies, the workers, and everybody else — were on the street in shock, crying and afraid.”

Dad remembers that they couldn’t call for help or tell their loved ones what was happening.

“All cell phone activity seemed to be dead. We couldn’t call home, and I thought, at least we were out of the building.”

On that day, I was sitting at my desk in Mrs. Brown’s third-grade classroom at George W. Miller Elementary School in Nanuet, N.Y. I remember our teacher calling us over to gather on the rug, where we would have story time. Crestfallen, with tears in her eyes and a voice on the verge of breaking, Mrs. Brown told our class that “something terrible has happened.”

We children were sent home early that day. My father didn’t come home that night.

On the street in Manhattan, people were talking in hushed and anxious voices. Why did two planes just crash into the World Trade Center buildings? Did the air traffic controllers make a mistake? Were the planes hijacked? Were more planes going to descend on New York City? Were more people — my father and those bystanders — in danger?

As my dad and the other bystanders watched the towers burn, to their horror, they began to notice “large objects” falling from the buildings. There were people leaping from the towers, falling to their deaths, to escape the incinerating heat of the flames. You can find videos on YouTube, if you have the stomach for it.

“I saw two people hold hands and jump together. That made me sick,” my dad remembered.

As the crowd watched in horror, my father remembers, they moaned each time another person jumped. Each time, someone screamed. USA Today estimated that at least 200 people jumped that day.

Powerless. That is how my father describes feeling back then. Unable to do anything to help those people. The crowd unsure of what they should do, standing there, on the street.

Stunned disbelief turned to desperate panic.

“The South Tower began to fall straight down on itself, pancaking and exploding from the compression of each floor slamming on the next. A cloud of concrete ash and who knows what else billowed around the buildings and was headed straight for us. There was no way of escaping it. This cloud surrounded us and blocked out the sun.”

Providentially, perhaps, my father’s carpenter crew had dust masks with them, necessary for breathing through sawdust and chemical fumes on the job. They gave those masks to the people with babies and young children.

To have a chance at breathing, my dad ripped off his T-shirt and dipped it in a building’s outdoor koi pond he found on that street, wrapping it around his face. New Yorkers made an attempt to flee as the debris, smoke, and ash descended, enveloping them in darkness and fire.

“I felt the hot, smoky dust through my wet shirt, and it began to burn my lungs.” There was a moment when Dad thought he could duck into some bushes; maybe they would help filter some of the dust. He had other thoughts, too.

“I thought, at that moment, I was going to die. I began to pray.”

It was two co-workers — union brothers — who came to my dad’s rescue. They grabbed hold of my father, pulling him away. One of them lived on Long Island, and they had decided to make for the Brooklyn Bridge, hoping to get out of the city and rest there. They zigzagged northerly through the streets of Manhattan, smoke and dust clouds obstructing their view such that they could only see about 50 feet in front of them. Eventually, the sun broke through and they could see again.

Thousands of people made for the Brooklyn Bridge that day, carrying the same hope that they could cross on foot and leave the dust, death, and destruction behind them. Noise filled the air as much as smoke. Noise of people running, of sirens wailing. Shouts. Mourning. There were those who were eerily silent, too.

First responders ran in the opposite direction of the crowds, toward the death and destruction. Four hundred eleven emergency workers in New York City died responding to the terrorist attacks on September 11: 343 New York firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers, 23 NYPD officers, and eight emergency medical technicians. They died heroes, saving many lives through their sacrifice.

My father and his co-workers could not get to the bridge without heading to the ramp, which was behind them, toward the towers. They kept going on foot, passing more bridges and eventually the United Nations building. They hurried past, thinking that “a plane was definitely going to crash into it.”

Tired and scared, the carpenters decided to cross over at the next bridge, unsure whether that too would become a target for the terrorists. They climbed a construction scaffold on the side of the Williamsburg Bridge. As it turned out, my dad’s tool belt came in handy after all.

“It was abandoned, and workers left everything, dropped it where they were to get out of there, thinking the bridge would be a target. We thought that as well and hurried across. At the end of the bridge, there were hoses spraying water over wet concrete to cure it, and [they] blocked us. So I had my tool belt still on with tools I thought would be useful, like my utility knife. I used the knife to cut through the netting that kept the occupied side separate from the construction side, and we got off the bridge onto Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn.”

Hours and miles later, Dad spent an anxious night at his co-worker’s house in Long Island. The Twin Towers were gone. And 2,996 people died and more than 6,000 people were injured in the attacks that knocked them down.

I share this story with you because my father made it home to my mother and their three boys (and, later, a girl) the next day. Other kids weren’t so fortunate as I was. Too many fathers’ and mothers’ lives were claimed by evil men doing evil deeds in service of an evil ideology. An ideology that, as President George W. Bush said on that day, targeted America and her people “because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.”

Today, September 11, “is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

None of us have forgotten the terrible things that happened on that terrible day 15 years ago. But at times, in the midst of this heated and divisive election season, I wonder if some of us Americans have forgotten the things that came under attack from evil that day.

I shared my father’s story with you because regardless of who wins the presidency, who controls the Senate or the House or the judiciary — whatever political party or individual is put in control of the government — it is imperative, it is essential, it is good, and it is right that we as Americans never cease to fight for and defend freedom and justice for all.

There is a specter of fear, of distrust and outrage, that is dividing us today. Discourse over ideas has devolved into bickering, name-calling, trolling, and contests of insult and ego. Each side of every argument seems less interested in showing how its ideas defend freedom and justice and more invested in forcing those who disagree into submission.

I am guilty of this as much as anyone. And when I engage in that behavior, I am wrong.

What is good and decent in America is under assault today from forces that hate us and seek to destroy us every bit as much as the people who hijacked those planes did. We do a disservice to the people who died on September 11, 2001, whether as victims or as heroes, and to our living countrymen and ourselves when we forget that defending the freedom of every American and ensuring that justice prevails for every American — even those who disagree with us — make this country good and decent.

The purpose of American conservatism is to conserve freedom and justice for the good and happiness of all of us. Its purpose is to defend liberty from hatred and evil that seek to destroy. That is what we must remember on September 11 and on every day. We must never forget that.

My father won’t.

Below is a chilling “LevinTV” clip of the moment when American Airlines Flight 77 fell out of communication with air traffic control as terrorists hijacked the cockpit. Listen here:

​9/11, Opinion & analysis