9/11 was the most successful attack on America in history. We’re still hearing the almighty crash of towers.

I’m one those people who lost friends in 9/11. Six that I know of. It took about ten years to learn of everyone. I was in the city. It was horrendous. What else are you going to say?

I became really conservative after 9/11. I wanted to kill people. I’m fourth generation city boy and I took this attack personally. Honestly, I can barely go down to the Memorial site. No way I can go in that museum. They should bury that place.

My conservative days lasted all the way up to Iraq. Iraq was business as usual. Americans lied to by their government for private purposes. Oil, of course. It’s always about oil profits. Cheney too, that thug, pocketed millions from the Iraq War. A shame, really. Iraq had little to do with 9/11 but they paid a heavy price anyway.

Now here we are. 18 years later. You’re kidding me. No way. Everything changed on 9/11. We have Trump because of 9/11. We have lost our privacy. Government is still a piggy bank for people to get rich. The Swamp is overflowing, more corrupt and more lethal than ever. Deep State? Deep State is in the penthouse of Trump Tower.

When the nation lurched right after 9/11, the Dividers, those who keep us fighting each other so we don’t notice how rich they are, took over. It was an opening for them and they took full advantage. They shoved a fake patriotism down our throats with their fake radio shows and fake news and fake outrage. Knell for the anthem? That is the single most patriotic gesture I’ve seen in the last two years. Ballsy too. And what do the Dividers do? Turn it an entire fake story, replete with fake tweets and fake garbage that the less aware among us swallow whole.

I can’t quantify what I’m about to say but my gut tells me this all came about because of those attacks. The world lurched right. Some of us never came back. The great power tool of history, fear, became weaponized like never before. The enemy is at the gates. Only the strong can stop them. Give us your freedom. Give us your money. Give us everything and we will build walls and keep you safe.

Bullshit. The kind of ridiculous bullshit they could only sell after a horrendous event like 9/11/. 9/11 was the worst. I know. I was there. I choked on it. But nothing was worse than what came after, the after shocks we’re still feeling — the lies and hate and robbery of our national loot.

So today, 9/11, 18 years on, I’m choosing to use the anger that still lingers in my heart and direct it at those who divide us. Those who draw their fake patriotism as a pathetic line in the sand. Those who stamp all over our freedom of speech in the name of stuffing their pockets with our cash. We see you, you know, and we will make you pay the price for your deceit. And in that way we honor those who lost their lives on this day so many years ago, but not so far back that it doesn't feel like yesterday.