National, Regional and Local News

[skatingfan]

I can't believe they made Obama sit by him and not the Bushes.

There's a protocol to these things - they were sitting in order #42 Clinton, #43 Bush Jr., #44 Obama, #45 Trump.

[ti-amie]

Molly Jong-Fast‬ ‪@mollyjongfast.bsky.social‬
· The actuaries believe in climate change.

[ti-amie]

Here’s who is performing at Trump’s inauguration
Trump’s inauguration performers include Carrie Underwood, Village People and Christopher Macchio.

January 13, 2025 at 9:20 p.m. EST Today at 9:20 p.m. EST

By Praveena Somasundaram and Sabrina Rodriguez

The festivities planned for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week symbolize a vibrant return to the White House — in contrast to his ceremony eight years ago, when his team struggled to book big musical acts and people descended on the city to protest his swearing-in.

This year’s inaugural schedule features a fireworks show at Trump’s Washington-area golf club, a “Make America Great Again” rally and a lineup of performers including country music star Carrie Underwood.

“The 2025 inaugural celebrations will reflect President-elect Trump’s historic return to the White House and the American people’s decisive vote to Make America Great Again,” Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler, co-chairs of the Trump-Vance inaugural committee, said in a statement Monday.

Carrie Underwood

Underwood is scheduled to perform “America the Beautiful” at the inauguration, the singer’s publicist confirmed Monday. She will be accompanied by the Armed Forces Chorus and the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club.

“I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,” Underwood said in a statement shared with The Washington Post. “I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.”

Village People

Victor Willis, the only surviving founding member of Village People, said the disco group would perform its hit “Y.M.C.A.” at “at least one” inauguration event with Trump.

In a Facebook post Monday, Willis described Vice President Kamala Harris as the group’s “preferred candidate” in the 2024 presidential race.

“We know this wont make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics,” Willis wrote. “Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost.”

Christopher Macchio

Classical singer Christopher Macchio will also perform on Inauguration Day, singing the national anthem and “O America,” his manager confirmed to The Post on Monday.

The artist will also perform during the fireworks show on Saturday — an elaborate display choreographed to Macchio’s music, said his manager, Louis Gregory. On Tuesday, the day after the inauguration, Macchio is scheduled to perform during a morning prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.

Macchio has performed at several of Trump’s events at the president-elect’s request, including at an October campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was injured months earlier in an apparent assassination attempt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/20 ... erformers/

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Mike Johnson orders flags at the Capitol to be at full staff for Trump inauguration
The House speaker announced Tuesday that the flags on the Hill will be raised for Trump’s inauguration next week and lowered again the following day to honor the death of former president Jimmy Carter.

January 14, 2025 at 6:53 p.m. EST Today at 6:53 p.m. EST

By Maegan Vazquez

Flags at the U.S. Capitol will now fly at their full height on Inauguration Day and be lowered again the following day in honor of president Jimmy Carter’s death, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) announced Tuesday.

“On Jan. 20, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump. The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter,” Johnson wrote on X.

After Carter’s death, President Joe Biden ordered U.S. flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days “at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds … of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions” as well as at federal facilities, military installations and vessels abroad.

The White House did not immediately offer a comment regarding Johnson’s announcement when contacted by The Washington Post.

Republican governors in at least five states — Florida, Iowa, Alabama, Texas and Tennessee — have also ordered U.S. flags be raised on Inauguration Day and lowered again to half-staff on Jan. 21 in honor of Carter. Biden’s executive order applies to American flags on federal property, and while state governments typically follow suit in lowering their flags, they’re not legally required to do so.

In a statement Monday announcing his decision to have flags in Texas fly at full height for Inauguration Day, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) wrote, “While we honor the service of a former president, we must also celebrate the service of an incoming President and the bright future ahead for the United States of America.”

Trump, five days after Carter’s death, had complained in a social media post about the prospect of American flags being flown at half-staff during his inaugural ceremonies, suggesting without evidence that Democrats were “giddy” about the possibility.

“In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it.”

The Associated Press reported on Monday that flags at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, were back flying at their full height after initially flying at half-staff in remembrance of Carter.

After Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) died during Trump’s first term in office, the American flag above the White House was briefly lowered to half-staff over the weekend before being raised to full height again the coming Monday — an effective refusal by Trump to follow a tradition of leaving the flag at half-staff until interment. Flags at the U.S. Capitol and other locations, however, remained at half-staff.

Trump bitterly feuded with McCain while the senator was alive and continued to complain about him after his death. Amid intense scrutiny — including from the American Legion — about the change in the flag’s position, the flag was back at half-staff later the same day it had been raised, and Trump issued a statement offering “respect” for McCain.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... e-johnson/

[ponchi101]

It must be so odd to be a human colonoscope.

[ti-amie]

It must be so odd to be a human colonoscope.

[patrick]

Explain to me how a House speaker has the right to say whether or not a flag can be flown at full or half staff

[ti-amie]

Explain to me how a House speaker has the right to say whether or not a flag can be flown at full or half staff

[ponchi101]

Explain to me how a House speaker has the right to say whether or not a flag can be flown at full or half staff

Because that is how it is going to be for the next 4 years.
Protocol? Laws? Precedence?
Who cares.

[ti-amie]

Explain to me how a House speaker has the right to say whether or not a flag can be flown at full or half staff

Because that is how it is going to be for the next 4 years.
Protocol? Laws? Precedence?
Who cares.

[ti-amie]

He'll bring the boys to the yard for sure... /s

[Owendonovan]

Explain to me how a House speaker has the right to say whether or not a flag can be flown at full or half staff

Because that is how it is going to be for the next 4 years.
Protocol? Laws? Precedence?
Who cares.

Exactly my expectations. Imagine if Carter were a Republican the right loved and this happened with a Democrat being sworn in.

[ti-amie]

Trump plans big immigration raid in Chicago on day 2, WSJ reports
Reuters
January 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM

(Reuters) -Donald Trump's incoming U.S. presidential administration plans to launch a large immigration raid in Chicago the day after he takes office, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing four people familiar with planning.

The raid, expected to start on Tuesday, will last all week, the newspaper said, adding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will send between 100 and 200 officers to carry out the operation.

Trump's transition team did no immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. But a source with knowledge of the incoming administration's plans said ICE will intensify enforcement across the country and there will not be a special focus on Chicago or surge of personnel there.

“We’re going to be doing operations all across the country,” the person said. “You’re going to see arrests in New York. You’re going to see arrests in Miami.”

Trump's incoming border czar, Tom Homan, told an event in the Chicago that the administration is "going to start right here in Chicago, Illinois," the Journal reported.

"And if the Chicago mayor doesn’t want to help, he can step aside. But if he impedes us, if he knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien, I will prosecute him," he was quoted as saying.

Immigration was at the center of Trump's campaign in the lead-up to the Nov. 5 presidential election.

"Within moments of my inauguration, we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history," Trump said in January 2024.

Trump is expected to mobilize agencies across the U.S. government to help him deport record numbers of immigrants, Reuters has reported, building on efforts in his first term to tap all available resources and pressure so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions to cooperate.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Ted Hesson; Editing by William Mallard)

https://www.aol.com/trump-plans-big-imm ... 44928.html

[patrick]

Thought this was a Day one objective but I guess that Mr Delay will be "partying" too much on Day One

Guess Chicago was a starting point thanks to Abbott sending them there during Biden administration