9/11 Stories of Heroism, Resilience and Unity

Director Michael Gier talks about his new movie "The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11: From Tragedy to Triumph" for the 25th commemoration of the attacks on September 11th, narrated by Gary Sinise. Michael’s documentary tells a different kind of 9/11 story -- one that honors the tragedy of the day by focusing on the inspiring human response that followed. Michael shares unknown stories of the first responders, survivors, families, public servants, and everyday Americans whose courage created hope in the aftermath of the attacks, including the remarkable, unplanned boatlift of over 500,000 people from southern Manhattan.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

We're proud to reprise this amazing episode from Season Two: U.S. A WWII hero speaks...Shot down over Formosa and facing a firing squad, Sgt. John Shott – radio operator and rear gunner of a B-25 Mitchell bomber – spent the remainder of World War II starving in a Japanese POW camp. Today we’re deeply honored as he tells his inspiring story.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Our guest today is former Navy SEAL, CIA contractor, bestselling author, motivational coach, podcaster and all-round great guy David Rutherford:Honorably discharged from SEAL teams, he went to work for Blackwater as an international curriculum development and training specialist. In 2005, he launched his motivational performance company, Froglogic Concepts, to initially help children develop resilience and confidence.  In 2008, David was recruited to work for the CIA as a curriculum and training specialist for two years. He then went on to become operational for the agency as a security threat and protection specialist. After hanging up his kit in 2011, he focused his energy and attention on Froglogic Concepts. For over a decade, David and his Froglogic message have reached over 50 million people worldwide. Some of his notable successes include his role as a motivational performance coach for the 2018 NCAA World Series champions, the Oregon State Beavers baseball team, and the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Travel writer and investigative journalist Michael McCarthy. Michael has traveled to over fifty countries, but his special interest is China. So wherever he goes he keeps his eye out for hidden clues about ways the Chinese Communist Party is secretly infiltrating western democracies in order take over the world.  He finds plenty in unlikely places like Tahiti, Dubai, Vancouver, Switzerland and Los Angeles This is the subject of his recent book Follow the Money: How China Bought the World.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Successful entrepreneur and former CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne is a passionate advocate for constitutional republicanism, election integrity, and school choice. After seeing what he considered convincing evidence that 2020 presidential election was stolen in April 2021, he -- along with General Michael Flynn and Joe Flynn -- launched the American Project aimed at restoring election integrity. The following year he became a principal partner with former CIA Operations office Gary Berntsen and investigator Martin Rodil in their investigation of the election theft software first developed in Venezuela, (with backing from our enemies Cuba, China and Iran) that has infected U.S. voting machines since 2008. Patrick shares his adventures and how he became involved. That investigation is the subject of my book Stolen Elections: The Takedown on Democracies Worldwide.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

This week's guest, researcher and podcaster Mike Mosley, is a graduate of the prestigious Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD., just outside DC. At his alma mater, Michael socialized and played football with classmates who later played a prominent role in the Russian Collusion Hoax, the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation controversy, and the social media censorship apparatus that was formed during the first Trump Administration and gained steam during the presidency of Joe Biden.Michael explains how these privileged sons and daughters of Washington's bureaucracy have operated behind the scenes to help form media narratives and control the information that reaches the public.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Our guest today is geopolitical analyst and bestselling author Brandon Weichert to talk about his recent book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine which is a devastating critique of US policy failure in Ukraine. For 30 years, a succession of Russian leaders from Mikhail Gorbachev to Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin warned the West that NATO’s expansion into territories bordering Russian, especially Ukraine would trigger a violent response from Moscow. But the West didn’t listen. In his excellent book, Brandon Weichert explains how arrogant Western leaders created the current crisis with Russia that continues after four years and why hundreds of thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been made to pay with their lives. Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Dr. Eugene Lipov is a pioneer of the Stellate Ganglion Block for emotional trauma and mental health challenges and a renowned anesthesiologist with decades of experience. Through his research, Dr. Lipov developed the Dual Sympathetic Reset (DSR), an advanced Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB), proving 80% successful in relief in symptoms of emotional trauma and mental health challenges. His innovative approach and contributions to emotional trauma and mental health challenge treatments have allowed him to help hundreds of patients, including veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD, walk away from treatment with a new perspective on life and the relief they deserve.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Native New Yorker Bryan Stern served in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy; worked in military intelligence; is a Purple Heart recipient; 9/11 survivor; and a first responder. As a private citizen frustrated with the debacle that was the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan under the Biden administration, Bryan founded Grey Bull Rescue – a team of military vets who donate their time to rescue people caught in the worst countries in the world, and also aid in stateside catastrophes. In this first operation they helped evacuate 117 American citizens left to face the Taliban alone after the military withdrew.Since that first adventure, GBR has conducted over 600 missions around the globe, including in Ukraine. Bryan shares some of his high-octane adventures, and explains how mind over muscle is the way to find a solution to the tightest scrapes, and why Grey Bull is the best, last resource if you’re a high-risk hostage or trapped behind enemy lines.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

On January 24, 1975, six young businessmen were enjoying lunch in lower Manhattan’s historic Fraunces Tavern when a bomb placed inside the restaurant exploded, tearing through the building. It had been planted by a group claiming support for Puerto Rican independence known as the “FALN,” the most active domestic terrorist organization in American history. Four of the young businessmen died and 50 others were injured, many horrifically. Among the four victims was Frank Connor, a son of immigrants and the father to two young sons – the youngest of whom was Joe Connor, who was 9 years old at the time. Joe Connor’s book, Shattered Lives, co-authored by Jeff Ingber, chronicles the origins of the Puerto Rican independence movement, its transformation into a Cuban-led Marxist cause, the FALN’s decade-long reign of murder and destruction that was a precursor to future domestic terrorism, the hunt for the perpetrators by a group of dedicated FBI agents, the inexplicable escape from prison by the FALN’s chief bombmaker who eventually received asylum in Cuba, and the political maneuvering that led to Presidents Clinton and Obama granting clemency to FALN members. Our guest, Joe Connor, talks about the devastating impact of the Fraunces Tavern bombing on the families of its many other victims, uniting them in their struggle to move forward while seeking justice for their loved ones. Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com