Vice President Mike Pence spoke with particular emotion in his voice at times as he recounted the events of September 11, 2001 from the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Monday. Pence honored the families of the fallen passenger “heroes” who took action to overtake the terrorist hijackers of their plane that day.

After addressing those present, including families of those who died on Flight 93, Pence began:

President Trump asked me to be here, to pay a debt of honor to the 40 heroes of Flight 93, to all the fallen, and their families, and to the generation of heroes they inspired and to tell you that his heart is here in Pennsylvania, especially with all you who lost loved ones 16 years ago.

He spoke of the President’s observance of this day at the Pentagon, where Trump gave tribute to the 184 men and women who died there in the attacks. Pence added that their hearts were also with the 2,753 men and women who lost their lives in the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

“We grieve with every family of the innocent souls who were murdered by terrorists that day.

The Vice President recalled where he was on September 11, 2001, as he said every American who lived through it does. Pence was a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time and was in the Capitol Building when he heard about attacks in New York and the Pentagon. He recalled being ushered across the street to the top floor of the headquarters of the Capitol Police Chief and images of a building being evacuated, “hemorrhaging with people running in every direction.”

Pence said that the police chief relayed from a phone call to leaders of the House and Senate gathered at the headquarters that day, that there was an inbound plane just 12 minutes away from them. That room then fell silent.

“They were ordinary people, but on that day, they became extraordinary,” Pence said of the Flight 93 passengers.

Flight 93 had taken off that morning at 8:42 a.m. from Newark and was scheduled to be en route to San Francisco. Just 46 minutes into the flight terrorists took over the plane, the Vice President recounted. At 9:35 a.m. the plane diverted toward Washington, D.C.

Pence continued:

…the passengers called their loved only to find out what was happening across the country.  They learned what the rest of America knew: The World Trade Center had been struck, the Pentagon had been hit only a few moments after they were hijacked. They figured out that the terrorists intended to use their plane for the same purpose.

But as Tom Burnett told his wife, on the phone, “We’re going to do something.”  And they did.

Vice President Pence recounted the quick response of those aboard who devised a plan, gave the Lord’s Prayer, and carried out their objective. He said they said that prayer along with phone operator on the ground Lisa Jefferson, Pence reciting some of those words “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”

He then repeated the words of passenger Todd Beamer, “Let’s roll.” At 9:57 a.m. those words came just before the heroic passengers’ plan went into motion. “They charged the cockpit. They took hold of their fate, and six minutes later, at 10:03 a.m., Flight 93 plummeted here to the Earth. The brave men and women aboard sacrificed their lives for the country we call home,” said Pence.

Pence spoke of the Tower of Voices that is planned for the Flight 93 crash site. The memorial will feature 40 chimes that each sound its own note, which Pence said will “symbolize the voices of the 40 men and women we remember today. The notes when played together, I’m told, will form a perfect harmony — just as, in their final moments, the men and women of Flight 93 worked together to defend freedom.”

“We honor them by remembering them. And we honor them by ensuring that we do all in our power as a nation to prevent such evil from ever reaching our shores again,” Pence said to applause from the crowd gathered. “As the President has reminded us, we are in the midst of a war between good and evil.”

He continued:

When the plane went down, the heroes aboard it were the first of a new generation of Americans to rise up, as citizen soldiers, in what would come to be known as the Global War on Terror.

It is remarkable to think that, in the wake of their service and sacrifice, America itself experienced a rebirth — a rebirth of unity, of purpose, and a rededication to our most sacred ideal of freedom.

And every day, for 16 years, their actions have inspired many more of our fellow citizens to stand up, step forward, and follow in their heroic service.

These men & women turned what was a day of tragedy into a triumph of freedom. http://pic.twitter.com/huNYZOaCli

— Vice President Pence (@VP) September 11, 2017

The Vice President acknowledged first responders, firefighters, and police officers as well as the “more than five million Americans have stepped forward to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States of America since September 11th.” He added that “nearly 7,000 Americans who have given their lives on the field of battle since that day 16 years ago, today.”

Pence then turned focus on “the threat” that remains and the “menace of global terrorism” which “brings violence across the wider world to places like London and Paris and Barcelona.” He spoke of ISIS in Iraq and Syria plotting against America and her allies.

The Vice President did not specifically mention that the perpetrators were Islamic terrorists, but he said that “the perpetrators of 9/11 organized and orchestrated their attacks from a safe haven of Afghanistan” as he referenced Trump’s recent speech on U.S. presence in that country. He quoted Trump’s words committing the U.S. to “destroy terrorist organizations and the radical ideology that drives them.”

He continued, “America will remain engaged in Afghanistan until we eliminate the terrorist threat to our homeland and our people once and for all.”

Pence stated that it wasn’t the first time he had visited the Flight 93 field. He spoke of visiting with his family when it was a field no more than a plywood wall and a cross in the field, a makeshift memorial. He personalized the events, as he sees the heroic actions of the Flight 93 passengers to thwart the terrorists’ plans as an action that likely saved his own life that day.

“When heroes fall, the nation mourns, for ‘no greater love has a man than this, that he should lay down his life for his friends,’” said Vice President Pence. “As long as America endures, we will tell their story, and generations of Americans will ever be inspired by the faithful and courageous words and deeds of the heroes of Flight 93.”

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana 

During a Monday morning conversation with Breitbart News, Gun Owners of America’s Larry Pratt said Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) inaction on concealed carry reciprocity gives “dirtbags” the upper hand.

Pratt specifically referenced the June 14, 2017, Alexandria, Virginia, attack where Congressmen and their staffers had to travel without guns in and out of the District of Columbia in order to comply with gun control laws. As a result, they were unarmed when the attacker opened fire on a Congressional baseball practice.

Pratt said, “DC gun laws led directly to facilitating that dirtbag’s attack.” He added:

I would say Ryan deserves a lion’s share of the blame. Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) too. Because Rep. Richard Hudson’s (R-NC) bill, would have legally made it almost inconceivable for the dirtbag to have struck at that practice because a bunch of conservative members and staffers probably–if they had not been legally precluded–you can figure ten, 15, or 20 percent of them would have been packing. And the first bullet that flew from the dirtbag would have been met by return fire. That may not have made a difference for Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), because I think he was dreadfully wounded with the first round, but it certainly would have kept some of the others from being wounded.

Pratt’s observation echoes words spoken by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) after the attack. Loudermilk made clear that his staffer would have had a gun in the car at Congressional baseball practice were it not for the silly patchwork of concealed carry reciprocity laws in this country. The Hill quoted Loudermilk, saying:

Until you are shot at, you don’t know what the feeling is to be that vulnerable. Someone actively shooting at you; targeting you. Trying to shoot you and you have no way of defending yourself. In Georgia we have a concealed carry law that allows individual citizens to keep a weapon with them and in their car. Had my staff member who was (at Congressional baseball practice) been in Georgia he would have normally carried a weapon in his car.

It must be noted that the Alexandria attacker acquired his firearms legally. The ATF confirmed that the attacker—who was from Illinois—purchased his firearms at gun stores where a background check is conducted by a Federal Firearms License holder.  And Breitbart News reported the New York Times‘ admission that strict Illinois gun control failed to keep the attacker from acquiring guns.

In the end, gun control does not keep guns out of the hands of evil people, but it does keep them out of the hands of law-abiding Americans—including Congressmen—when guns are most needed for self-defense. Reciprocity legislation introduced in the House on January 3, 2017, could correct these issues but Ryan has shown no interest in pushing it through.

On September 7, 2017, Breitbart News reported that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)—sponsor of a DC reciprocity measure—told Armed American Radio that reciprocity was not moving because “the Speaker … didn’t think the timing was right.”

How many times must gun control fail before Ryan and the rest of the ruling class realize the time has never been more right? A change in reciprocity would give law-abiding citizens the upper hand for a change.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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Legendary Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka had a message for national anthem protesters like Colin Kaepernick on this day of remembrance for the United States.

In an interview with TMZ, Ditka agreed that it was disrespectful for players to not stand for the anthem on the anniversary of 9/11, when so many citizens and first responders lost their lives.

“People have a right to do what they want to do as long as they don’t break they law or hurt people,” he continued, adding that there would always be “malcontents.”

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When asked if the protesters should put it on hold on 9/11, Ditka said, “I’d like to see them put on hold every day. I mean there’s a time and place for everything. Before a football game is not the time and place for it. Period!”

When asked what his message would be for those who were planning on protesting “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Monday, the former coach said, “God bless America.”

Take a look:

It doesn’t get much more blunt than that.

Ditka has been vocal about what he thinks about Kaepernick and others who chose to dispresect the flag. Last September the retired coach said had no respect for the former San Francisco 49er. He also said that any player who would do such a thing wouldn’t play on his team.

The outspoken conservative has also been vocal about his support for President Donald Trump and his disapproval for former President Barack Obama. When asked about what he thought about Trump winning the presidency earlier this year, he said he would be surprised if Trump could mess up the country as much as Obama had done in the past eight years.

It is nice to know that Ditka is still telling it like it is.

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H/T The Right Scoop

Share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let football players who are considering protesting the national anthem know what you think.

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon does not need lectures on race relations from “limousine liberals” and the media elites who hang out in largely homogenous crowds and whose oh-so-progressive-and-forward-looking organizations and outlets do not have the effortless diversity of Breitbart News’ masthead.

In a 60 Minutes interview, Bannon told CBS anchor Charlie Rose that he was raised in a desegregated neighborhood on the North Side of Richmond, Virginia, that is “predominantly black.”

“I went to an integrated school, a Catholic school. I served in the military,” he continued. “I don’t need to be lectured … by a bunch of limousine liberals, okay, from the Upper East Side of New York and from the Hamptons … about any of this. My lived experience is that.”

Bannon also suggested that left-wing activists and the legacy media may be trying to play the race card because they know how successful and unifying the economic nationalist agenda, which Bannon said will unify Americans of all races, nationalities, religious, and sexual orientations—can be. Bannon has consistently denounced ethno-nationalists and white supremacists. He did so again to Rose.

“[T]he Neo-Nazis and Neo-Confederates and the Klan, who, by the way, are absolutely awful – there’s no room in American politics for that,” Bannon said. “There’s no room in American society for that.”

And he told Rose that the legacy media give a platform to irrelevant white supremacists who stage rallies because the media want to “make them up as some huge part of Donald Trump’s coalition” when they are not.

In the end, Bannon said he is singularly focused on the economic nationalist message that will help and unite Americans–U.S.-born Americans and legal immigrants–of all backgrounds.

“I don’t need the affirmation of the mainstream media,” Bannon said. “I don’t care what they say. They can call me an anti-Semite. They can call me racist. They call me nativist. You can call me anything you want. Okay? As long as we’re driving this agenda for the working men and women of this country, I’m happy.”