Tag Archives: Inauguration Day

The New York Post reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers want to invite Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to the inauguration or arrange a meeting of the two leaders before then, a source close to the transition said. Transition leaders led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner have been aggressively courting Netanyahu and want him to attend the Jan. 20 festivities, the source …

Todd Starnes writes for Fox News: The Latter Day Saints said participation in the inauguration is strictly voluntary. No one is being forced to sing for the president-elect. But Ms. Chamberlin remains steadfast and warned the choir’s reputation would be tarnished. The Tribune reports nearly 19,000 people have signed a petition urging the choir to reconsider its participation in the …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s acceptance of the invitation to sing at Donald Trump’s inauguration has spawned widespread debate among the faithful and thousands of signatures on a petition demanding the decision’s reversal. Now the choir’s participation has even more fallout: the resignation of a female singer. “Since ‘the announcement,’ I have spent several sleepless nights …

Marie Claire reports: The dancer next to Mary was crying. Tears streamed down her face through all 90 minutes of their world-famous Christmas Spectacular as they kicked and pirouetted and hit mark after mark on the glittering Radio City Music Hall stage. This was Thursday, three days before Christmas, the day the Rockettes discovered they’d been booked to perform at …

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s inaugural committee is having no problems finding celebrities to attend his inauguration because that’s not who the committee is looking for, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn said Tuesday. “Not at all,” Epshteyn, the inaugural committee communications director, told CNN. “You know, this is not Woodstock. It’s not Summer Jam. It’s not a concert. It’s not about celebrities. …

Hemant Mehta writes at the Friendly Atheist: While big-name singers are evidently saying no to performing at Donald Trump‘s inauguration, one of the only well-known acts to say yes has been the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They’re on a slate filled with Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, and an apparently divided group of Rockettes. The Church made clear that this isn’t a …

One day after their union effectively said, “Dance or get fired.” Broadway World reports: Madison Square Garden has released a statement regarding the ongoing story that Rockettes are required to perform at the Presidential inauguration or risk being fired. “The Radio City Rockettes are proud to participate in the 58th Presidential Inaugural,” read the statement in The Hollywood Reporter. “For …

The Hill reports: Jimmy Carter is the only former president who has confirmed he will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, according to a report. George W. Bush’s spokesman told Politico that he would not decide whether he would attend Trump’s swearing-in until the New Year. Meanwhile, his father, George H. W. Bush, has decided not to attend the inauguration, …

From the New York Post: President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday secured the Radio City Rockettes to perform at his Jan. 20 inauguration — but at least one dancer was not happy with the decision. Rockette Phoebe Pearl said in an Instagram post Thursday night that she was “embarrassed and disappointed” to appear at the event. “I usually don’t use social …

Quartz reports: Rumor has it president-elect Donald Trump is scraping a bit at the bottom of the barrel for entertainers for his January inauguration. His national anthem singer isn’t Beyoncé or Aretha Franklin, like it was for Barack Obama, but 16-year-old America’s Got Talent contestant Jackie Evancho. (“Who?” the US’s non-game-show-watching population asked in confusion.) The inaugural balls that take …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir will perform at the upcoming swearing-in ceremonies for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Michael Pence. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confirmed Thursday that the world-renowned, 360-member volunteer choir had accepted an invitation to sing at the event Jan. 20 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. “The …

You might need to embiggen to read it.

“Forcing acceptance of homosexuality. If there’s one thing that President Obama made clear in his second inaugural address, it’s this. To a nation dealing with high unemployment and debts that threaten to crush everyone, he is committed to pushing the homosexual agenda forward and is declaring war against those who refuse to accept and affirm it. After putting homosexuals who …

“Francis Scott Key would have sent her a fruit basket.”

“What we have is the President who is not the President of the United States, he is president of the divided states and he relishes in dividing the states among each other. He has this famous speech that he gave during a Democratic convention several years ago when he was a state senator and he talks about ‘there’s not red …

Why does CNN continue to host the man who publicly called for the imprisonment of LGBT Americans?  Via Mediaite: Sprigg didn’t agree with the president linking the gay rights movement with civil rights for African Americans and women’s rights. “The irony is,” he contended, “homosexuals already have all the same civil rights as anyone else. But that fact that all …

“Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall. The alliteration of that litany made it seem obvious and inevitable, a bit of poetry just there for the taking. Just waiting to happen. But it has waited a long time. And President Obama’s use of it in his speech on Monday — his grouping of those three places and moments in one grand and musical …

JMG reader Damien writes: I had the honor to play in the LGBA (Lesbian Gay Band Association) Band in the Inaugural Parade tonight. It was an amazing experience and I felt proud to help represent my brothers and sisters. We had 215 members from 26 different states, and as many local gay community bands. In 2009 we were the first …

Slight quibble: It bugged me all day that announcers kept referring to the “inaug-a-rayshun.” I heard it from Anderson Cooper and here, from Ed Shultz.