If this title seems familiar to Old-Time Glibs, it’s because it is. I reached out to Animal some time back and received his permission to revive this series. Some posts will be timely, others dug out from the archives of history. Most every one will describe men who answered the call when everything was on the line.
On a bright late summer morning on Staten Island, New York, Lieutenant Mike Day was at the Coast Guard’s Activities Center making his last preparations for a meeting that would take place in Manhattan a little over an hour later. His planning was interrupted when one of the guards on watch told him that communications had indicated that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers.
By the time he got outside the building to take a look, the second plane had hit the South Tower of the WTC and things had descended into mayhem.
“We were unable to get any reports from lower Manhattan since all the communications systems failed. It was chaotic. People from multiple agencies were responding to the scene without any unity of purpose,” he said. “There wasn’t a pre-planned response; there was no CONOP (concept of operations) for how to respond to two planes crashing into the Towers.”
Not having a specific response plan for this situation, Day grabbed the closest thing he could think of to help – the OpSail 2000 plan.
OpSail was a 170 tall-ship regatta that had taken place the year before on July fourth. President Clinton was in attendance, so of course there were layered contingency plans.
“I knew it had a lot of ambulance staging areas. We had a lot of evacuation points identified. Although it wasn’t necessarily a full-scale evacuation plan, it had information,” Day said.
As Lt. Day grabbed the plans from his office, a New York Harbor pilot boat appeared. Day and the boat’s captain loaded some extra life jackets, the OpSail plans, and a Coast Guard ensign onto the vessel, and listened to radio traffic as they headed towards the danger.
By this time, millions of people were fleeing southern Manhattan office buildings, seeking whatever safety and shelter they could.
Then, fifteen minutes apart, the towers fell.
Some of the chaos, regrettably, abated. The frantic radio calls of “I need help here! I have hurt people here!” fell silent.
But the subways were stopped, the tunnels were inoperable, and the bridges were clogged… and there were still people in the kill zone.
Then Lieutenant Day keyed his mic and said “All available boats. This is the United States Coast Guard. Anyone wanting to help with the evacuation of Lower Manhattan, report to Governors Island.”
They were already on the way – ferries, private yachts, fishing vessels, tourist booze-cruise party boats. All assembling and being coordinated by a young Coast Guard ell-tee.
Lt. Day later admitted what the day required. “I broke more rules that day than probably I’ve enforced in my whole Coast Guard career.”
The evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II took nine days to pull 338,226 men off the beach. The evacuation of lower Manhattan took nine hours to clear more than 500,000 men, women, and children, with no boats lost to swamping or collision. More than 800 men on 150 vessels answered the call, issued by one man who kept his wits about him.
“All available boats.”
I find it very interesting I can not find any pictures of this.
Tom also noted that Hoboken’s fire department was documented as helping Hoboken earn the title of “the largest gross decontamination in the history of the fire service” on September 11th. This means that the fireman had set up a hose line and was washing people down as they came off boats and trains to Hoboken from the World Trade Center.
https://www.hobokengirl.com/first-responders-story-hoboken-on-september-11th/
There were plenty of them on the news. You basically had completely dust covered people getting of the boats and getting hosed down by the Hoboken FD. My neighbor from two doors down got this treatment after fleeing by boat. He also got to witness the jumpers which still give him PTSD to this day.
That was likely one or two guys making a good call in the moment too. Knocking the big chunks off likely saved plenty of lives as people didn’t get as much of the asbestos and other contamination into their houses where it could linger for years and cause further harm.
The FAA guy that ordered first a nationwide ground stop and then all planes to land was in the same boat, best judgement and not sure if he actually could do it.
“I broke more rules that day than probably I’ve enforced in my whole Coast Guard career.”
It takes one guy stepping up and doing the right thing regardless of the rules before the beaurocracy has time to react and screw things up.
Good for him.
If Mike Day didn’t get a medal for his actions, somebody in the Coast Guard hierarchy should be taken to task. Hell, all of the boatmen who responded deserve commendations.
One would hope. I don’t know how screwed up the coast guard is or isn’t.
Well this LT is now a retired Rear Admiral. So It looked like he did well in his career afterrwards.
Sometimes meritocracy beats the system.
They did. Transportation 9-11 ribbon or 9-11 medal (for acts above just service).
Looks like one was issued to most of the coasties in the year that followed.
I’m curious how many of the medals were awarded. The Interwebs didn’t answer that question.
Looking further, the 911
Medal not ribbon was awarded to all masters and crew of civilian and CG ships that conducted the evacuation
https://join.cgaux.org/transportation_911_medal.php
Sydney Sweeney apologism, in the Guardian, of all places
After another ad campaign last year, some fashion analyst gasped to the New York Times: “It seems like she’s not embarrassed or ashamed promoting all of these different projects.” Hmm. Always great to see women implying other women should be feeling shame for hideous crimes like being a face of both Miu Miu AND Armani Beauty. The previous year, a columnist had described Sydney as “problematic yet unashamed”, which, ironically, I found somewhat problematic. Have to say, I’m a big fan of women not being made to feel shame unless whatever they’ve done is really quite bad.
Indeed, it was after a veteran female producer and film studies professor publicly dismissed her as not pretty and bad at acting that Sweeney gave a reactive interview in which she observed of Hollywood: “This entire industry, all people say is ‘women empowering other women’. None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.” Amazing. Because where’s the lie? Inevitably, it was her who got branded unsisterly for saying it.
Shamelessly indifferent to the the Prevailing Wisdom. Like a dagger through the heart of modern womanhood.
*I am completely over “9/11 Hee-roze” gloryhounding
Sports Illustrated did an entire series of nude athletes, to show those perfect bodies in motion. The sensitive parts were strategically covered of course. It was a good series. They even had a roller derby girl, wearing nothing but skates, jumping.
ESPN Body Issues, also.
It was ESPN. Oops.
One of the women told police that she took the job for the money and because “I was attracted by the fact I could go to Japan for free,” Nippon TV reported.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/11/japan/crime-legal/cannabis-us-women-arrest/
What could possibly go wrong?
At least they didn’t fly into Singapore.
Does Japan have the equivalent of federal pound me in the ass prison?
Possibly this one.
https://onepunchman.fandom.com/wiki/Smelly_Lid_Prison
It’s more of a psychological pound you prison.
The Google robot tells me that 70 lbs of marijauna on the illicit market is $140K-$210K. The Japanese are really paying a premium for their weed.
Taking personal ownership for helping your fellow man in a time of crisis is much more helpful than any government response. By the time the state behemoth starts to move, lives are already lost. You saw this during Katrina in New Orleans, in many a snow storm, or car accident. Cleaning out houses after floods, pulling people from cars after severe accidents, and defending people in danger. Sometimes you have to put’s your own life or livelihood at risk to help others. As the saying goes, when seconds count help (from the government) is minutes away.
I realize this guy was part of the gov machine, but he took personal initiative to act instead of waiting for the higher ups to come up with a response.
And it could have easily tanked his career.
I realize this guy was part of the gov machine, but he took personal initiative to act instead of waiting for the higher ups to come up with a response.
This just proves the government needs to government harder.
No robber barons need apply
The prime minister is pitching Canada as a safe and reliable place for investment at a time of economic uncertainty, but some aren’t sold on outside investment yielding positive results for everyday Canadians.
——-
The protesters, a diverse group that includes representatives of labour unions, Indigenous leaders and climate and housing advocates, say they reject the idea of leaving Canada’s economic future in the hands of CEOs and worry about the future of public services, pipelines and arms manufacturing.
On Monday evening, protesters gathered first in Nathan Phillips Square, then marched to a police barrier near the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), where the summit’s opening gala that was closed to the public and the media was being held. The crowd grew in size as it made its way to the AGO.
The dogs have taken up their positions in the mangers.
They would rather leave Canada’s future in the hands of political adversaries and faceless globalist institutions.
All the colors of modern Marxism are represented. True diversity!
Sounds loonie.
I too worry about the future of arms manufacturing.
Bad first date hall of fame
The family of a 22-year-old Hooters calendar girl who died in a fiery McLaren crash alongside car influencer James Wehr is furious he wined and dined her only hours before the wreck while he was still married.
Alexis “Lexi” Kramer died in the supercar with Wehr, 27, when it smashed into a tree and split in half in Irvine around 12.20am on Sunday, a family member told The Post.
Lexi had flown out from Lakeland, Florida to meet Wehr — who said he was in the process of separating from his wife Emma Wehr — on Friday, according to the family member.
The pair spent the weekend together in which they went on a first date, had breakfast and drinks together, and attended Wehr’s world-famous car show before the fatal crash.
Lexi met Wehr over Instagram and they had been talking for about one month before they first met, the family member said. Wehr allegedly told Lexi his marriage to Emma was over and their divorce was underway.
“I’m an excellent driver.”
Well his marriage is certainly over now, isn’t it.
I get the “you’re married until you’re divorced, and if you’re married, keep it zipped up”. I cut some slack for people who have actually filed, are separated, etc. and just waiting for the bureaucracy to clear the paperwork.
Ditto.
I’m not going to lie.
I’m jealous of a twenty something being able to afford a car like that. Not my taste (including the hooters girl) but wish o could have been able to afford a car with air conditioning in my 20s.
I guess “car influencer” pays more than I would have imagined. 🙄
They finance them and rotate through them for content. You need surprisingly little actual money down, but the videos need to generate enough cash flow to keep up the payments.
A six month decline in viewership or a boycott will put you right into bankruptcy.
I will have you know I drove a 1985 Dodge Omni in exotic Carrera Red.
Young Threedoor’s theme song: https://youtu.be/3Fw0OvKFKhw?si=ozsvQ5sR9-QuF8-z
They must be financing garage space and maintenance too.
In my early 20s it was hard to get the $2000 loan for the one car I ever borrowed money on. I couldn’t imagine ten times that amount.
I drove my $900 71 GMC 2wd 3/4 ton for 11 years.
I should have offered them $600 for it. Don’t be an inexperienced 17 year old buying your first rig on your own at night. At least it turned out to be incrediably reliable.
More my speed. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cjta4AKnHP0&pp=ygUQT3BlbiByb2FkIHNvbmcuIA%3D%3D&ra=m
100X
I drove a 1976 Ford Pinto in Safety Orange. It had a bumper sticker that said, “This car explodes on impact.”
NEW! IMPROVED!
The Detroit automaker is touting the new user interface, controls and software as offering convenience and customization similar to a smartphone.
The new system comes as vehicles are becoming more digital. GM has also revamped its organizational processes to put its digital experience operations under design rather than software, led by former Apple and Google
executive Sebastian Bauer.
“This was all part of a very strategic, very intentional restructuring to ensure that we are best positioned to create the best possible customer experience,” Bauer, GM executive director of human interface design, told CNBC. “Our job is to make sure that we reduce cognitive load, and we give people the information that they need to see at the moment when they see it.”
You can play games and listen to music while you wait for a tow truck.
How much information do you need? Speed, gas, tire pressure, radio station. I hate screens in a car.
GMs GPS sucks.
My 2018 won’t even let you enter a destination on the fly, but you can play all day on the radio side of the infotainment. It had no “go home” feature.
The one in our Yukon decides from time to time to route you on the longest route possible.
Yank the battery and it dosent even have a capacitor that will provide a bough electricity to remember your setting or the date and time.
Looks like they eliminated the radio volume knob, fan control knob and is that center console a forward slide opening? Have the designers ever driven a car?
No worries, those things are only 3 sub-menus away!
Amidst a river of bitching on chat boards about stupid auto tech, and articles like this coming out…
https://www.motortrend.com/features/annoying-car-features-to-avoid-next-vehicle
…GM decides they’ll get the upper hand in the market by further digitizing everything. Why not just hire some dopey DEI enforcer to launch an ad campaign featuring a bunch of androgynous twinks in brightly colored, glossy, art school costumes?
Underscoring what a piece of crap Thomas Massie turned out to be – he has now filed an impeachment resolution against Pete Hegseth for continuing an “illegal” war in Iran.
Meh.
I would have gone after him for his beard stance but that’s just me.
Shush, the experts are talking
As a clinical psychologist specialising in body image and eating disorders, this is particularly important to me.
Body image isn’t simply about whether we like or dislike our appearance. It includes our thoughts, feelings and attitudes toward our bodies, and how much importance we place on appearance when valuing ourselves.
——-
This is where the discussion goes beyond Sweeney, elite athletes and even sport. It isn’t about criticising Sweeney’s body or telling women what they should wear. Creating another set of rules about how women should present themselves simply keeps the focus on women’s bodies.
The more useful question is why we give appearance so much importance in the first place.
For an alleged expert this woman knows fuck-all about humans. We are a visual species, we are.
But go ahead, carry on with your your vapid moralizing.
Appearance is an accurate predictor of both personality and behavior. Whining about it doesn’t make it any less true.
Personality, behavior, health, fertility, tribal alliance…
What does being fit/athletic really predict to you?
Egoism?
Sydney Sweeney should burn her bra for the next ad campaign.
They should allow more obese women to be elite athletes.
Now do trannies.
I would say that the TH400 and the 727 are both good trannies.
Given looks alone I would go with the TH400.
4L60E is just a glorified 700R4
Call me crazy, but I don’t see how that ad (I have not found it in its clean original form) “sexualizes female athletes” in general or individually. It sexualizes the dickens out of Little Miss She Wolf of the SS, but that should be a separate and distinct phenomenon.
On topic:
Boatlift: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience
I made it to Cleveland.
This is not great achievement in of itself, as the route was “Get on highway, drive.”
Cool. Tell me if you ever head South.
It’s been a few years since I was last in the Texas neck of the woods. I need to save up more vacation days to run out that way.
See ya in a few days, US
Stay safe, Neph!
When UCS puts on his muderin’ gloves no one is safe.
WTF?
I just got back from Elyria!