Brandishing rainbow flags and signs that read “Queer Love” and “Trans Power,” scores of activists marched Wednesday night toward Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s rental home in Northwest Washington, D.C.Days before Donald Trump’s administration is expected to take over the White House, activists planned what they described as the “Queer Dance Party at Mike Pence’s House.” They met around 6 p.m. ET outside the Friendship Heights Metro Station, where video footage showed them chanting slogans and holding LGBT pride flags as they made their way to the neighborhood where Pence and his wife, Karen, moved after the November election.Pence’s neighborhood had a heavy police presence ahead of the demonstration, said Adam Bradley, a resident in the area. He said normally Pence’s house on Tennyson Street NW is manned by a vehicle checkpoint and a few officers.Pence wasn’t home at the time of the dance party. He and his wife joined Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for dinner out.That didn’t stop crowds from dancing and chanting through the liberal Democratic stronghold. Joanna Pratt, who has lived in a house across from Pence’s rental since 1979, joined the dance party with her husband. She said she saw the crowd grow to at least a couple hundred of people, many carrying rainbow flags and dancing.”We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, beliefs, and we need to respect our diversity,” Pratt said. “The LGBT community has had a real struggle to be respected and be accepted, and that’s a sad statement on our country and our culture that they’ve had that struggle.”Pence, a former senator and the governor of Indiana, believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.In 2014, the governor’s chief counsel wrote in a letter that Indiana would not recognize several hundred same-sex marriages that took place after a federal judge overturned Indiana’s law banning it.Pence drew ire from the LGBT and business communities in 2015 when he signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that allowed business owners to refuse certain services that conflicted with their religious beliefs (like, let’s say, a Christian baker approached by a same-sex couple looking for a wedding cake).And, although Pence has never explicitly advocated for gay and lesbian conversion therapy, he said during the 2000 congressional campaign that public dollars should go toward the practice (It appears on his 2000 campaign website, where he also stated he would oppose any effort to give same-sex relationships equal legal status as heterosexual marriages.)LGBT rights advocates worry about what policies Pence would promote as vice president and how they would affect the LGBT community.When word spread that Pence rented a home near them during the transition, neighbors welcomed the vice president-elect with a series of rainbow flags. Pratt came up with the idea and was surprised to see it catch on. She’s counted more than 300 rainbow flags in the neighborhood since.”I’m personally hoping our rainbow flags will continue flying for four years,” Pratt said, adding that she’s seen signs crop up for Planned Parenthood and other organizations whose agendas conflict with the Trump administration’s. “I hope those will all stay up as long as we are represented by an administration who does not believe in those things.”Pratt and her husband aren’t the only neighbors expecting resistance to Trump over the next four years.”They’re moving to a community that’s overwhelmingly and unapologetically on the side of marginalized folks,” Bradley said, “and they’re going to hear from us long after tonight.”
The media is raising concerns about a drone bombing at the 58th Presidential Inauguration on Friday.On Thursday’s “Today” show, a report indicated that U.S. Secret Service has put in place several anti-drone efforts out of concern that an I-inspired “flying IED” will smash into the crowd, or worse.
CNN has been criticized for airing a report which revealed that an Obama appointee would become president if Donald Trump was killed during an attack on the inauguration tomorrow.Entitled Disaster could put Obama cabinet member in Oval Office, the report admits that there is no specific threat targeting the inauguration, but goes on to speculate about “who would be in charge if an attack hit the incoming president….just as the transfer of power is underway”.An individual named the “designated presidential successor” will not attend the inauguration as a security precaution, “but it won’t be a Trump cabinet secretary….it will be an Obama appointee,” reports CNN.
The report emphasizes that “a president from the prior administration” will take power if there is an attack due to the fact that none of Trump’s cabinet secretaries have been confirmed yet.
According to CNN, the designated presidential successor is likely to be Tom Shannon, the Under Secretary For Political Affairs, and an Obama appointee.
The report teases the potential for an attack on the inauguration by asserting it would create “chaos” and “high theater,” before airing clips from ABC’s Designated Survivor show in which Kiefer Sutherland plays an obscure cabinet secretary who is “unexpectedly thrust into the presidency after an attack at the capitol during a State of the Union address.”
Given the huge number of death threats leveled at Trump – including one family friend of Hillary Clinton who was arrested after he threatened to assassinate Trump at the inauguration – is CNN irresponsible in drawing attention to this issue?
Respondents to the video on YouTube, which was heavily thumbed down, slammed CNN for almost encouraging a violent attack against Trump.
“Totally not suggesting anything here, huh CNN?” commented one.
“So leftist terrorists know who they need to take out, so that dems can stay in power? This is irresponsible journalism,” added another.
“I flagged this video as dangerous to the president elect, and that it might foment violence,” wrote another.
The charges are not without precedent. After Thomas DiMassimo tried to rush the stage to violently confront Trump during an event in Ohio last year, CNN gave him a platform to denounce Trump as a “bully”.
President-elect Donald Trump is being urged by some advisers to save at least one dance, as he celebrates his inauguration on Friday night, for a very special Republican lady — Caitlyn Jenner.“It’s a brilliant idea,” a member of the incoming administration told me.Besides mollifying the LGBTQ community — wary of conservative Republicans in general, and of Trump in particular — dancing with Jenner could mend fences within the party.“Time heals all wounds,” one GOPer pointed out.Bruce Jenner was a stalwart Republican long before the parent of six (10 if you count stepkids) transitioned into Caitlyn.“The image of Trump dancing with Caitlyn would send a strong message that he supports gay rights and trans rights,” the Republican said. “A picture is worth a thousand tweets.”Jenner’s publicist said, “Can’t deal in hypotheticals. We’ll just have to wait and see.”Also among the throngs at the inauguration will be Rowanne Brewer Lane, who dated Trump in 1990, and blasted the New York Times in May for mischaracterizing their relationship.“They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump,” Brewer Lane said. “He never offended me in any way. He was very gracious.”
If Donald Trump actually makes good on his promise to avoid military interventions against nation states he will be burnt at the stake. And the executioners will be well-known journalists, just as it was back in the late 1970s when Jimmy Carter was president.The former peanut farmer and unapologetic Christian from Georgia committed three capital crimes against the Empire.But first, some background…The reason Carter became president was because he represented a new vision for America based upon avoiding costly and unnecessary wars. The American public had become tired of foreign wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as well as the Mainstream media lies that promoted and justified modern Imperial intervention. Our goal, they claimed, was to prevent Koala bear loving Australia from becoming the next domino to fall to Communism.Now to those crimes…When 52 Americans were captured in 1979 in Tehran and held hostage for more than a year, Carter did not unleash the full might of America’s military to free them and punish this insubordination and insult on the part of Iran. From the very beginning, the Mainstream Media went on the attack vilifying Carter for his inaction. Each day on the “Nightly News” viewers were greeted with an ominous and dire sounding voice-over declaring “AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE”. This was repeated more than 400 times! As the Brits would say “A bit over the top”. After all, I was an American and I personally never felt I was being hand-cuffed and blindfolded.Another transgression occurred when Carter was instrumental in reigning in the out of control CIA. He did this by prohibiting “the company” from assassinating foreign leaders. What a kill joy! I remember listening to a talk show with veteran American journalists discussing the merits of Carter’s presidency when one participant declared that Carter was “too ethical to be president of the United States”. All of the journalists agreed. In Geopolitics there is no room for choir boys. Send in Rambo!Carter’s third crime had to do with the USSR. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, this “soft on Commies” president did not respond forcefully. Instead, he ordered a mostly symbolic boycott of the Olympics being held in Moscow in 1980. The most powerful military in the world was flabbergasted. For them, it was like having a Masserati in your garage and never taking it out for a spin.Fast forward to 2017 and the pre-emptive Media attacks on president-elect Trump. It is clear that Donald Trump poses a real threat to the Military Industrial complex and they are already fighting back!
They are terrified that Trump may actually mean what he said during the campaign: to improve relations with Russia and perhaps even disengage from NATO. If carried through, this new foreign policy would rob the American military of its honor, glory and billions in profit. No more proxy wars.
This goes against American foreign policy Dogma and is nothing short of heresy – punishable by character assassination at the hands of the Mainstream Media Inquisition.
Donald Trump is a one-man basket of deplorables. He is a braggart and a liar. He is a bully and a demagogue. He is an ignoramus and a deadbeat, a chiseler and either a sincere racist or an insincere one, and his love for himself is matched only by my loathing of him. He is about to be president of the United States. A constitutional coup may be in the offing. Since winning the election, Trump has not moderated his behavior. He still behaves like a brat — his childish tweet zinging Arnold Schwarzenegger for
Glaude is the chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and the author of Democracy in Black.Televison ratings are a form of protest Trump might understandJanuary 20, 2017, will be a pivotal day in American history. Donald J. Trump, the people’s billionaire, will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. I do not expect the heavens to cry out or the four horsemen of the apocalypse to appear as he raises his right hand. Elections are what they are, and they often leave us with bad outcomes and questionable people. But I do believe his inauguration will signal a dramatic and dark shift in the direction of the country.That’s about as nice as I can put it. My mother, who lives on the coast of Mississippi and doesn’t talk politics often, says it more baldly: “the country is going straight to hell.”Trump will enter office with the lowest approval rating in four decades. In The Wall Street Journal, Janet Hook detailed the unprecedented opposition that awaits him after the inauguration. More than 200,000 women will march in Washington the day after he takes the oath of office. Progressives throughout the country are mobilizing to resist what they see, with every cabinet nomination and senseless tweet, as a radical attempt to undermine any substantive idea of the public good. Millions of dollars are flowing to grassroots and established organizations to resist Trumpism.
A motorcycle group led by a South Carolina chainsaw artist will ride into the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day in support of the 45th President of the United States.Bikers for Trump, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts, will likely be toeing the line with protesters, who are also expected to be at the event.“The bikers are certainly used to being outnumbered and we are prepared to form a wall of meat,” Chris Cox, the founder of the organization, told the FOX Business Network.However, Cox said he doesn’t foresee any problems occurring during the event, especially after the group’s experience at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where police successfully maintained order between Trump’s supporters and protesters.“We’re anticipating a celebration here. We don’t anticipate any problems. We have a strict code of conduct where we don’t condone violence. But again in the event that we’re needed, you can certainly count on the Bikers for Trump,” Cox said.He added: “The backbone of the biker community is the veteran. So these are guys that aren’t really used to backing down. You certainly won’t see bikers out there screaming, calling for destruction of private property or the death of police officers.”Cox said he and other members of his group support the President-elect because he is not an establishment politician and also because of his outspoken nature on the issues that concern them most.“[The bikers looked for] someone who was going to stand up and call it what it is,” Cox explained. “Radical Islam is one of the biggest talking points of Bikers for Trump. Illegal immigration and one of our sweet spots is getting behind the American veteran. We believe it’s incumbent upon all who understand the value and the sacrifice of our servicemen and women that we are there for them. And we’ve got to change these policies now.”According to Cox, the bikers’ rally at John Marshall Park will begin “shortly after Donald Trump exits the stage to go into the Capitol. And it will end shortly before the parade on Pennsylvania Ave.”
The U.S. Army general who heads the D.C. National Guard and is an integral part of overseeing the inauguration said Friday he will be removed from command effective Jan. 20 at 12:01 p.m., just as Donald Trump is sworn in as president. Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz’s departure will come in the midst of the presidential ceremony — classified as a national special security event — and while thousands of his troops are deployed to help protect the nation’s capital during an inauguration he has spent months helpi
