Chapter 33

"This is Carlton Horner reporting for New York One. Vice President Gray has called an unexpected news conference that should kick off in about four minutes, here in Mid-Town, at the Marriot. The Vice President is heading up the federal relief effort following yesterday's terrorist bombing of four passenger jets, parked at the international departures terminal, at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

"The death toll in yesterday's attack has been increasing throughout last night and all day, as volunteer emergency aid workers continue to stream into town to help. New York Governor Cuomo has been quoted as saying the attacks at JFK are as devastating, outrageous, and were just as premeditated as the September eleven attacks on the World Trade Center Towers One and Two.

"Vice President Gray has certainly been tested since replacing former VP Val Bueana, shortly after President Thornton was sworn in, almost two years ago. The Vice President was shot by a lone Islamic gunman, but miraculously avoided serious injury when a small book he carried absorbed the impact. He was at the center of last year's attack on Air Force Two that left over fifty of the Vice President's crew dead, and many others injured. He was also present when the Vice Presidential Residence was attacked by a squad of al Qaeda gunmen over a year ago.

"It would seem as if our Vice President is experienced in these types of attacks, and it is said that his steady, deliberate demeanor helps get the job done when one of these events takes place.

"The Vice President is expected to address the federal response yesterday's attack, leaving others to discuss local, state, and inter-jurisdictional responses. The Vice President has managed something none of us in the news business thought was possible. He has successfully gotten the New York, and New Jersey National Guard to cooperate in supporting the federal response. We all remember the bickering, and lack of unity after Super Storm Sandy, and other major events. That Vice President Gray was able to bring two such powerful, and diverse units together in harmony, says much about his political savvy.

"We will be cutting away shortly for the Vice President, and our producer has submitted a number of questions, hoping the Vice President has time to address them. In an unusual move, the Vice President's press secretary asked all news services to submit their questions in advance, so the Vice President could try and answer as many as possible in the time he has available. Though unusual, we are appreciative that it is his intent to respond to everyone, and not just one of the major networks.

"I see movement indicating the Vice President is about to arrive, so we will cut to the Ballroom at the Marriot for the Vice President's news conference. This is Carlton Horner reporting for New York One."

I walked in and immediately started to speak. "Ladies and Gentlemen. America was again attacked by cowardly, Islamists, seeking to cause as much death, and destruction as possible. Those responsible for yesterday's cowardly attack, also killed scores of Muslim traveler, including small children, two pregnant mothers, and several senior citizens.

"The brutality and cowardice of such an attack precludes any need for explanations, justifications, or rationalizations. Islamic terrorists seem to be the biggest cowards on earth, and their insane obsession with only targeting people who can't defend themselves makes one wonder if there is a grown man in charge, anywhere in their organization.

"The US Government refuses to acknowledge these cowardly cretins as anything except what they are – jealous, petty, selfish, frightened, and no better than the dogs they love to torture, cook, and eat. We will not be apologizing for their actions, rationalizing their behavior, or accepting excuses for their sickness, cowardice, and psychotic behavior.

"ISIS is our enemy.

"al Qaeda is our enemy.

"Islamic extremism is our enemy. It is the enemy of people all over the world, and we have to respond in a manner that teaches our enemies that they should not attack Americans.

"I spoke with President Thornton moments ago, and he assured me the US response will be measured, swift, and terrible. Agents of our intelligence services are scouring the tri-state area, tracking down those responsible for the sick and cowardly attack. When they are identified, arrested, and tried, they will be executed and forgotten. Their crimes are a pox on their homeland, not America, and we will not be cowed by such childish and cowardly behavior."

The rest of my address covered relief efforts, potential timetables for reopening JFK, and thanking the thousands of first responders, law enforcement, and others who set everything aside to help. Long before I boarded Marine Two, on the roof of the hotel, the networks were worked up into a frenzy over the way I described the enemy.

Their total shock at hearing what everybody already knew, that the ISIS terrorists were like a bunch of cowardly, women, brutalizing other women, was not news, just newsworthy. It wasn't what I said, as much as my having the balls to say it that caught them all off guard. Now that I had, the media, and much of the country felt released from the stringent blinders forced on us all by the rules of political correctness, and they felt they could call those sick bastards what they were – which they did, all over the country, in spades.