Got a hunch Trump has no idea what the “Steel Trees” are. Trump’s mindless cruelty extends to the SURVIVORS & First Responders of 9-11. He drastically cut World Trade Center Health Program's funding & personnel cutting chemo therapy & PTSD treatment.

“This is bureaucratic cruelty,” said Michael Barasch, an attorney who represents thousands of first responders and survivors of the attacks. Barasch himself was a downtown Manhattan office worker on September 11.

“You’ve got people with [post-traumatic stress disorder], which was diagnosed from all the body parts they were picking up, all that trauma – these people rely on treatment. Can you imagine their level of anxiety? Their level of anxiety is skyrocketing,” said Barasch.

Barasch said other clients undergoing cancer treatment and seeking yearly check-ups have no idea if upcoming visits will be covered. He said clients were asking: “Who’s going to pay for my chemotherapy? Do I go for my annual physical? Is that still scheduled?”

The World Trade Center Health Program is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under its worker safety arm, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Both agencies, which are organized under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have come under severe attack by the Trump administration.

MORE AT:

The Guardian

‘Bureaucratic cruelty’: 9/11 responders and survivors shaken by US health cuts

World Trade Center healthcare program for people affected by attacks is in turmoil over Trump officials’ overhaul

Jessica Glenza

Sun 13 April 2025

 Legal AF

538K subscribers

Popok is critical of a President who declared himself the King of NY and who was in NY during 9-11, and one of his cabinet members, Howard Lutnick, who lost almost 700 employees because of 9-11, being cruel to 9-11 victims of all things.

Here in Coatesville we brought the STEEL TREES home. 

Sunday, April 18, 2010

It was a very long funeral procession.

They came home to Coatesville and the steel company that was once named Lukens Steel Company. 

Most of us don’t know the term “Steel Trees” but all of us saw them in the news films and photographs. Those charred tree like steel structures are burned into our memory of the World Trade Center. They were the only parts of the World Trade Center that still stood above ground when the search through the rubble began. Most of them were made right here in Coatesville at Lukens Steel Company. 

The City of Coatesville was never intended as a final resting place for those Steel Trees that supported the first nine stories of the World Trade Center Buildings in New York City. 

There were fifty five fire companies among the people that came to view the procession of twenty eight tractors hauling the parts of ten Steel Trees on flat bed trailers. They waited for them to make the turn at Lincoln Highway to First Avenue at Memorial Park. 

Tim Philman, the driver of the second truck in the procession, said that when they came into Pennsylvania at the Delaware River Gap, people lined the streets and a fire company stood at salute. From there on whenever they passed near a town people waved and saluted.

 

I believe that all of the thousands of people watching that flag draped procession through the Pocono Mountains and on to Coatesville had a tear in their eye. 

It’s not just cold steel. It really was a kind of funeral. Part of the dust and the burned oxidized iron that covers those Steel Trees is the incinerated remains of the people that died on that day. Those Steel Trees are sacred.

Mr. Philman said, “I had to climb inside (of the steel on his truck). It was like I was lying in a chimney, the burnt smell. After all this time you could steel smell it.”

You can see a video with Mr. Philman here:

500 tons of history returns to Coatesville (video)

Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010

DAILY LOCAL NEWS

Coatesville was the end of the Steel Tree’s journey, but last Wednesday is just the beginning for a monument in the City of Coatesville for those that died in the World Trade Center, the First Responders and the people that made them.

When you stand in Memorial Park in Coatesville and look east you see Downtown Coatesville. 

When you look west, you see the Steel Company that once was and still is one of the largest suppliers of specialized steel plates and armor plate steel in the world. 

Memorial Park is just a short walk to the place where, in 1810, Jesse Coates and ironmaster Isaac Pennock built the Steel Company on Moses Coates farm that became Lukens Steel. 

Memorial Park might just be the ideal place for that monument to those who perished in the World Trade Center.

Posted by James Pitcherella at 2:15 PM 

ERIC PRINCE of XE MILITARY CONTRACTORS (formerly BLACKWATER) IS THE ARCHITECT OF TRUMP’S El SALVADOR DEATH CAMPS

What began with the death camps suggestions of mercenary ERIC PRINCE has  escalated to interrogating and arresting 5th & 6th graders in public schools.

149,484 views  Apr 12, 2025  The Intersection with Popok

The Trump Administration is now so depraved, that they are using Homeland Security and ICE agents with badges and guns, to raid Elementary Schools to interrogate and arrest 5th and 6th graders, and are lying to get their way in the door to do it, violating the Constitutional rights of the children and their parents.  Popok reports on the Feds being denied entry by the LA School System, and its charismatic leader Superintendent Alberto Carvallo (who was undocumented himself when he came to the US)., and the phony "welfare check" excuse the Trump officials used to gain access.

“The letter states that the prison complex can hold “up to 40,000 criminals immediately” with the possibility of housing up to “100,000 criminal aliens in the near future.”

Prince began discussions with El Salvador last year before Trump was elected and first floated the idea of using their prisons for migrants, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Those talks apparently accelerated after the election, according to the letter, which states that he proposed his “commercial terms” with Prince before Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited El Salvador in early February.

During Prince’s visit in August, he toured the prison complex and met with Bukele to discuss the country’s efforts to combat crime. Prince at the time also expressed frustrations with the State Department’s poor travel advisory, which the Trump administration upgraded this week — ranking El Salvador’s travel safety designation the best possible and placing it higher than several countries in Western Europe.

The proposal argues that the setup could help the Trump administration get around potential legal hurdles with the president’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, which gives the president powers during wartime to detain and deport noncitizens. Doing so could also alleviate logistical challenges that have emerged with the use of the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, while helping the Trump administration remove people from the United States who can’t be returned to their country of origin.

But the solutions outlined in the proposal may not fully resolve the legal questions surrounding Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, which the president invoked in March to deport hundreds of Venezuelans. The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a temporary block on the administration’s use of the two-centuries-old law, meant to guard against foreign invasions in wartime. But the court also ruled that the United States must give these Venezuelans labeled as “alien enemies” an opportunity to challenge their deportations before removing them from the country, and the Trump administration has since faced additional setbacks.

The court’s ruling was narrow, and there are still major questions about the legality of Trump using a wartime law when the United States is not at war.

There could be additional legal hurdles with the plan, and the proposal acknowledges that it’s “highly likely that this effort will be tested judicially by the ACLU or other activist group.”

And even if the proposal is targeted at undocumented immigrants, it could be a precursor to deporting U.S. citizens — an idea Trump has repeatedly floated, said a former DHS official, granted anonymity to discuss the plan.

Trump said over the weekend that he would “love” to deport citizens to El Salvador, adding: “If they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us, I’m all for it.”…

Prince and his group’s earlier proposal to the White House was a more expansive mass deportation plan that included an army of private agents promising to arrest and remove 12 million people at a cost of $25 billion. That plan, which has not been publicly embraced by the White House, also raised a host of legal issues, some of which overlap with the newest plan.

The founders of 2USV have a long history with the U.S. government and Trump world. Blackwater was formed by Prince in 1996 to provide training services to law enforcement, military personnel and other government agencies. It gained attention for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing security services for U.S. officials and military personnel. Critics viewed Blackwater’s rise as a result of the U.S. military’s overextension in the Middle East, raising questions about oversight and accountability of private contractors.”

FROM:

POLITICO

Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants

Summary

The article describes a controversial proposal by a military contractor to build a prison camp in El Salvador for detained immigrants. The proposal includes plans to lease the prison complex back to the U.S.

Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador.

By DASHA BURNS and MYAH WARD

04/11/2025 04:54 PM EDT

***

Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticised work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. 

Blackwater Lodge & Training Centre — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company's overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed US Training Centre Inc., the company said today.

MORE AT:

The Guardian 

US security firm mired in Iraq controversy changes its name

Associated Press

Fri 13 Feb 2009 12.01 EST

The Blackwater Shooting (2007) | The New York Times

***

TRUMP IS HITLER WITH THE INTERNET & FACIAL RECOGNITION CAMERAS

From its rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime built a series of incarceration sites to imprison and eliminate real and perceived "enemies of the state." Most prisoners in the early concentration camps were political prisoners—German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats—as well as Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, gay men and men accused of homosexuality, and persons accused of "asocial" or socially deviant behavior. Many of these sites were called concentration camps. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy. 

After Germany's annexation [Anschluss] of Austria in March 1938, Austrian political prisoners came into the Nazi concentration camp system. Following the violent Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass") pogroms in November 1938, Nazi officials conducted mass arrests of adult male Jews throughout the country, the first time Jews were arrested en masse precisely because they were Jews. Over 30,000 German Jews were incarcerated in the Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen concentration camps in Germany, initially until each could provide proof of their ability to emigrate.

MORE AT:

Nazi Camps

I was born in 1943 my wife in 1944. Looking out my window I can see the Colonial-Classical Revival tower of the Coatesville VA Medical Center. The male teachers in our schools were veterans. The America we grew up in did not accommodate Nazi Republicans

Our brother in law’s brother was at the hospice of the Coatesville VA Center. We attended his funeral service at the VA. His caregivers at VA spoke at his funeral. The good care he received was on display.

At our home in Coatesville PA a Ukrainian Flag flies in protest of Trump's United States of America's support of our enemy, Russia.

 

James A Pitcherella at his
crane. Lukens Steel Co. 

From the Boardwalk at Atlantic City NJ people watched tankers torpedoed by German U Boats explode. 

Lukens Steel Company where my dad worked was a military target.

For my mom WWII was frightening.

As maybe an 8 year old I found blackout window blinds in the attic. I asked my mom what they were. A look of fear came on her face. She said nothing. 

Although he supported a wife and 3 daughters Betsy's dad was drafted in1945. After VE Day on May 8, 1945 everyone expected years more of war in the invasion of Japan.

Early in August of 1945 the atomic bomb forced the Japanese to surrender. Betsy's dad came home. She had no memory of her father and he frightened her.

My Uncle Len Kelleher served in the U.S. Army in Rome. He planned to "marry an Italian girl" when he came home. 

My Uncle Earl spoke of shooting centipedes in New Guinea with his M-1. He served in General MacArthur's Army. 

 One Christmas night my Aunt Angelina, Aunt Martha, Uncle Lou & Uncle Fred sat at my grandmom’s kitchen table.

Uncle Lou was a sergeant in Patton's Army. He was in the Battle of the Bulge. 

Uncle Fred was a combat engineer. 

I said to Uncle Fred and Uncle Lou. 

Thanks for what you did.”

Uncle Fred, 

“What do you mean?”

“Thanks for what you did in the war. If you didn’t do it we might all be speaking German now.

My Uncle Fred had to leave the table. 

Uncle Lou said Freddy had it hard. 

My Uncle Fred was a combat engineer who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He kept his boots on for three months until they got to Paris. He was constantly under fire for three months.

Uncle Fred Pitcherella lived his last years at the Veterans Medical Center in Coatesville, PA. Someone there told me that what hung over him, his greatest regret, was being in the hospital in England when his troop wired a bridge and it blew up prematurely killing all his friends. He thought if he was there it would be done properly. 

The America we grew up in did not accommodate the Nazi salute of Elon Musk. Or Texas Congressman Keith Self quoting Joseph Goebbels. 

Donald Trump & Elon Musk have caused us to check our bank account to see if our Social Security deposit came in. 

Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” is causing “pain.” 

Hitler’s Germany would never have existed without the pain caused by the Great Depression. Hitler’s Germany would never have existed without the pain caused by the Great Depression. Trump’s tariff on the world could very well be a deliberate attempt to cause a second Great Depression.

Trump’s kidnapping of legal residents to Salvadoran death camps mimics the Nazi SS kidnappings of Jews & enemies of Hitler to death camps. SEE VIDEO BELOW:

World War II ended the Great Depression. We don’t know how the Republican Party generated second Great Depression will end. 

Since our military intelligence has been compromised by the Trump Whitehouse use of the Signal App for critical military missions out military is completely transparent to our military enemies. 

SEE:

Members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with three U.S. officials.

The use of Gmail, a far less secure method of communication than the encrypted messaging app Signal, is the latest example of questionable data security practices by top national security officials already under fire for the mistaken inclusion of a journalist in a group chat about high-level planning for military operations in Yemen.

FROM:

The Washington Post

Trump’s national security adviser is trying to manage his way out of a crisis. But new revelations about his team’s operational security are piling up in the inbox.

John Hudson Updated April 1, 2025

China could successfully invade our country without bullets by disabling military communications. I fear my children & grandchildren will live in Chinese America.

Trump Republicans strive to eliminate and entire branch of government ignoring rule of law, courts and the right of due process. Right now they are kidnapping non citizens here legally and sending them to death camps. We are one step removed from dictatorship where anyone who displeases Trump could go to a death camp. 

“The Trump administration has moved aggressively to eliminate protections guaranteed by the US Constitution. While their initial targets have been non citizens, without due process, everyone is vulnerable. Kris Goldsmith explains the constitutional crisis we now face, and how Democrats must pledge to hold Republicans accountable when (if?) a responsible administration returns to power.”

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