Proudly Ultra MAGA Don (@dbarton05)

In 24 years of watching 9/11 memorials and the reading of the names of the dead, I have never heard applause. This morning the crowd did — because one brave widow, @TerrySStrada , looked at the leaders in front of her and refused to let the day pass in silence. She called out Saudi Arabia’s role, the broken promises, and a string of administrations that protected the Kingdom instead of helping to deliver justice for the families. A stunning, must-watch minute. Stand with the families. That reaction is unusual. The reading of names has been a deliberately quiet, apolitical ritual for a quarter-century. Applause after a political statement directed at sitting and former officials. The substance of her remarks tracks a long-running legal and political campaign. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi nationals. Families, including the group Strada chairs, used the 2016 Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act to sue the Kingdom. A federal judge has allowed parts of the case to proceed after finding the families presented credible evidence of a support network; Saudi Arabia continues to deny official involvement and the 9/11 Commission itself found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution directed the plot. The dispute over what that evidence ultimately proves, and over how U.S. governments have handled classified material and diplomatic relations, remains unresolved. Strada’s appeal was explicit: tell the Saudis to stop denying the record if they want a close relationship with the United States, and stand with the families. Whether that produces policy change is a separate question from the fact that, on the 25th anniversary, a widow used the microphone to say it out loud and received applause for doing so. https://x.com/geraldposner/status/2098400568351883575?s=20