Just to the northeast of the Merrick Long Island Rail Road station is a long, rectangular park shaded by oak trees and hemmed in by a black, wrought-iron fence, with a date above the gate –– 09 11 2001. more

President Obama may have believed that the release of captured American soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, after five years in captivity by a Taliban group, would be a triumphant moment; instead, it has … more

On April 15, thousands gathered on Boylston Street in Boston to solemnly mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001. more

At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, two pressure-cooker bombs loaded with ball bearings and nails detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, on Boylston Street, shrouding two blocks of multistory brick buildings in white smoke and sending shrapnel hurtling in all directions. Three people were killed and 264 injured in the terrorist attack. Merokean Kara Iskenderian, 20, who is now a junior at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and a member of the school’s marathon team, was a third of a mile –– or less than three minutes –– away from finishing the race when the crudely constructed, homemade bombs exploded. more

Merrick firefighters and community members gathered at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at the memorial on the northwest corner of Merrick Avenue and Sunrise Highway for a ceremony commemorating the lives of 9/11’s victims. more

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Merrick Fire Department will hold a brief ceremony to honor the lives of two of its members, Ex-Chief Ronnie Gies and Ex-Capt. Brian Sweeney, who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, as well as those of all other 9/11 victims. The observance will take place at 7 p.m. at the firefighters’ memorial on Merrick Avenue between Sunrise Highway and the Merrick Long Island Rail Road station. more

If you wrote the story of Edward Snowden as a novel, no one would buy it, literally or figuratively. more

Is it spying when the National Security Agency listens to your phone calls and reads your text messages? more

In the past 60 days, two of the world’s greatest western powers were subjected to cruel and appalling attacks at the hands of vile Islamic terrorists. more

If New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly were trying during an April 25 news conference to reassure the public that the city’s security infrastructure was tight enough to stave off a terrorist attack, they weren’t doing a very good job of it. more