200,000 flags for Inauguration Day; Woot !

Cuz nothin' says Failed Republic like: 'Flag-packed National Mall, razor wire & military patrols give off surreal vibes ahead of Biden’s ‘virtual’ inauguration (PHOTOS)', RT.com

'Biden hosted a ceremony on Tuesday night to commemorate the 400,000 US deaths linked to Covid-19. The somber event featured a row of candles that lined the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial, prompting CNN to gush that the lights were “extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.” [...]

But the conspicuous presence of the military is far from the only thing that will make Biden’s swearing-in ceremony unorthodox. With the National Mall closed to the public, Biden’s inaugural committee decided to install nearly 200,000 American flags, some of them bearing the emblems of US states and territories. Dubbed the ‘Field of Flags’, the art display was designed to represent the thousands of citizens who will be unable to attend the inauguration.

One wonders if Biden will reach out to the 75,000,000 Trump voters in order to 'heal this divided nation' as he'd promised. Or is that the reason for 'some of the flags bearing the emblems of US states', maybe even...Red States?

will he keep calling so many Trump supporters 'domestic terrorists' and Nazis'? Hard to tell what his website rhetoric implies.

But a couple hours ago several sites ha featured: Live! Trump's leaving the White House with a small crowd waving his/their helicopter away. So glad to hear Nancy Pelosi hadn't had to 'fumigate him out of the Oval Office', aren't you?

Now the close-up photo of the Flags seems to indicate that they're not full-size flags, but the sort one waves along side a Parade. Before I'd checked I'd wondered if they might be handed out to the many homeless camps in the DeeCee Area for bedding or shawls, but now my hopes have been dashed.

But the whole spectacle sure did remind me of this old John Prine song; how about you?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRCLHBhZPQ4]

Won't it be a relief to say goodbye to Jan. 20 soon? Oh, and the ceremony is due to start at Noon EST; you can watch it here. #CantWaitToMissIt.

Share
up
20 users have voted.

Comments

earthling1's picture

Surely a typo, right?
Otherwise, welcome to the new age.
Or sumptin'

up
3 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

wendy davis's picture

@earthling1

thanks i've fixed it. i was just adding the finishing touches when the whole diary disappeared, and the Main Page booted up. Curses! i swore: 'you fookin' Microsoft Mouse!'

i went and ate my toast, decided i could handle a shorter version, but perhaps...longer on DT voters. ; )

up
7 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

Original Message -----
From: Nancy Pelosi
To: Wendy Davis
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 6:42 AM
Subject: RE: Joe and Kamala, Wendy

Wendy, I hate to email you so early -- but I had to reach out on this historic day.

In 4 hours, I’m attending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ inauguration. This moment will go down in history for Democrats. So I wanted to reach out and ask: Will you become an official Inauguration Day Donor by pitching in $5 before midnight? I’m hoping to reach 100,000 gifts before midnight to ensure my friends Joe and Kamala enter the White House with an undeniable foundation of support. >>

Suggested Support: $5 >>

I want to emphasize:

Today is one Democrats and the country will never forget.

I know Joe and Kamala will be a champion for health care, civil rights, and more.

I’m excited that we’re about to usher in a new era under the leadership of my dear friends.

But Republicans will do everything they can to undermine this presidency.

That’s why I’m asking:

I need 100,000 gifts on the day of this historic inauguration to begin Joe and Kamala’s first day in office with a record-breaking fundraising day for Democrats. Can I count on you to become an official Inauguration Day Donor before midnight? >>

You betcha, Nancy. Mind you, i've been a registered Unaffiliated voter for at least fifteen years....

up
16 users have voted.

@wendy davis

up
11 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

Nancy the Grifter, lol.

up
4 users have voted.
Roy Blakeley's picture

@wendy davis I have had hundreds (literally) of emails since the Trumpsters' invasion of the Capitol that say, in essence, Trump is beyond the pale, his supporters are white supremacist neo-Nazis, send us money.

Putting aside that these begging emails are essentially non sequiturs, it seemed to me that there were quite a few African Americans in the Trump crowd. There were very few among the Capitol invaders, but there seemed to be a substantial number in the crowd milling around away from the capital. Add that an African-American, Ali Alexander, was a major organizer and that the percentage of African-Americans that voted for Trump doubled from 2016 to 2020, and the just a bunch of racists argument begins to fall apart.

up
6 users have voted.

At least the dead American youth? Not to mention the death of their innocence.

up
8 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

years of the obomba regime? dunno how many that might be, but assassinated globally by his regime: almost countless.

up
7 users have voted.
Cassiodorus's picture

by the sound of great masses of Brunch Liberals going to sleep all at once. There's a (D) in the White House and all's well with the world, y'know. /snark

up
8 users have voted.

"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

wendy davis's picture

@Cassiodorus

hasn't it? CNN already has his back, as will the WaPO and NYCIA Slimes. his cabinet is obomba 2.0, but worse. but, but: We'll hold his feet to the fire for medicare4all and __ and __! (more wars?)

they've already recognized juan guiado as president elect of VZ, yada yada. but such a diverse cabinet! Rice, Power, an indun, gays, lesbians, even a transvestite! a rainbow coalition!

up
10 users have voted.
Cassiodorus's picture

@wendy davis Matt Taibbi, whose opinion I somewhat respect, said at some point last year that we have to get rid of Trump because everyone was kept in a permanent state of agitation by what Trump was saying and because that wasn't healthy.

Now we get brunch liberals, Biden, sleep, and a continuation of bad policy with maybe a brief honeymoon period stuck in between so as to insure their loyalty.

When does behaving like a grown-up become fashionable?

up
5 users have voted.

"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

wendy davis's picture

@Cassiodorus

had added biden's plan to the national debt. that's been a football on it own, given economists saying it might increase inflation, comparing the U-6 to the U-3 unemployment figures, etc. beats me, all of it, as i've forgotten most of the economics i'd ever learned under obomba rule back in the day. 'deferred prosecutions of TBtF banks',, for one, lol.

thank you, though. as far as i can make out, the deepening amerikan depression will only be partially caused by the covid lockdowns.

up
6 users have voted.
edg's picture

Surely a typo, right? Trump received 74,216,722 votes. Eight figure numbers are rounded down when the last six digits are 499,999 or less and rounded up when 500,000 or more.

Or for consistency, you could round Joe Biden's 81,268,757 up to 82 million.

up
3 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@edg

i'd used ajamu baraka's figure from my last diary.

up
3 users have voted.
edg's picture

@wendy davis

I've seen that slipping into the conservative lexicon more and more. I think it helps Trump supporters feel better about themselves by reducing Biden's win margin. I'm surprised Amaju Baraka picked it up. I've even seen variants where Trump got 81 million votes and Biden only got 74 million.

up
2 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

The president-elect spoke about his first time taking the train from Delaware to the nation’s Capitol, how his driver was going to be a Black man. “And here we are today, my family and I, about to return to Washington, to meet a Black woman, of South Asian descent, to be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States.”

Remember he said that this election would be the biggest fraud in history.

And of course this guy needs to be seen again and be anointed the biggest Dem ass kisser yet.

Gee and democrats and their sycophants have been telling us that Trump will have to be removed by the military to get him to leave the WH. That he'd be frog marched out in handcuffs, and of course Pelosi said that he is too dangerous to leave in office. Okay he is out. Impeachment is used to remove the president of the US. If that president has left office then what's left to do? He has already been impeached twice and pretty much had the hammer come down on his head so isn't that enough?

up
8 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

remember when Trump put fences up around the WH after the BLM protests became violent for whatever reason; the cops started it or they cleaned up after the protesters did. Either way it was an outrage to democrats because it made it look like the US was a 3rd world country. Remember that? I do.

But now that it was the democrats that made DC look like a fortress with not only more fences, but Razor wire strung across the top of them. Razor wire for gawd's sake here in America's center of government. Not to defend from a foreign country, but against its own citizens. Not only that, but 20,000 troops are patrolling DC and many of them are armed. Armed troops against their own citizens. 6,000 may be there permanently for awhile. How long? Who the hell knows? Now where did that outrage go?

up
12 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

muriel bowser opined that it may be 'the new normal'. will the mraps stay, too? militarizing the police (first in baltimore?) courtesy of the 1033 program was a brilliant idea too. remember when saint obomba had called back the tanks on treads...but okayed the ones n wheels?

amerika, the banana republic, you mean?

up
7 users have voted.
WoodsDweller's picture

@wendy davis
are tough on asphalt. Wheels much better. Saves on maintenance so that you can cut taxes more.

up
7 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

and nice to see you, amigo.

up
4 users have voted.
Bisbonian's picture

@snoopydawg Repeat after me, Snoopy

"AT least he is not Trump. At least he is not Trump. At least he is not Trump."

That's good. Keep going.

up
10 users have voted.

"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

look because Trump was president. Now it’s not so bad. Or something.

Boy that sure looks worse than when Trump was president. Lots more troops. What was that about Trump using federal troops to protect federal buildings? This looks so different from when Trump was president.

up
8 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

you done brung! poor old clueless joe. ; )

and yep, just like 'the lights were “extensions of Joe Biden’s arms embracing America.”

the big Q is: can the senate bring impeachment now that he's gone? pelosi ket mumbling about her slow-walking the bill to the senate: 'maybe we should give him a hundred days to get his cabinet appt., and issue a zillion EOs to counteract Trumpeter's...'

oh: and his $1.7 trillion (or something) Covid relief. we ain't got our $600 yet; how about you?

up
6 users have voted.

@wendy davis an even $2,000 that they promised.

I haven't got tRump's $600 yet (my sister in Tx has) but maybe we're lucky they don't count tRump's $1,200 relief check as well, or we would be getting (some day) only $200.00 to make that $2,000 mark.

up
6 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

but we're not really expecting ay of it. just making many more lentil stews and chinese tahini sesame noodle soups with tofu. yum, though.

up
3 users have voted.
Shahryar's picture

I didn't like his speech. I didn't like Garth Brooks. I didn't like Amanda Gorman. I was watching the ABC feed. I didn't like their gushing.

I'm also sick of this whole governmental system. I'll spend some time today imagining something different, something better.

up
17 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@Shahryar

to listen. i couldn't afford to, as i'm already too cynical about the Dynamic Duo. i don't even know who amanda gorman do be, lol.

i told mr. wd this a.m. that one MSN site said that one of those asteroids that zip close to earth...were jimmied by several nations or other-worldly outlanders...to hit DeeCee in order to srsly: Drain the Swamp'.

but good on you for your last two sentences. at least some of know what to expect, so...there's that, so now, we can only laugh.

up
7 users have voted.

with no real concerns for those across the Country who have lost loved ones to covid,or for survivors of covid now being strangled financially by the medical bills,the lost jobs,businesses closed for good,people broke and facing evictions, all while merriment reigns in the Capitol.

Might as well play music from the Great Depression for the event like 'The Gold-Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money).

While everyone else hears this top tune of 1930

Brother Can You Spare a Dime

They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, made it run,
Made it race against time,
Once I built a railroad, now it's done,
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower to the sun,
Brick and rivet and lime,
Once I built a tower, now it's done,
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits,
Gee, we looked swell!
Full of that yankee-doodle-dum,
Half a million boots
Went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don't you remember? They called me "Al,"
It was "Al" all the time.
Say, don't you remember? I'm your pal!
Brother, can you spare a dime?

up
12 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

and soon the nation's soup kitchens and pantries will run out of food, and who is biden's secretary of agriculture to see us thtu the days of hunger? Tom 'mr. monsanto/gates' green revolution' Vilsack. what a fooking brilliant corporate wall street shill choice!

laughter may be the best medicine...for now.

up
9 users have voted.
The Liberal Moonbat's picture

Could there be a poorer choice of metaphor???

up
12 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

wendy davis's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

up
5 users have voted.

speech in 1932 by FDR.

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

A link to the text of the speech. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/froos1.asp

up
10 users have voted.

@aliasalias
Some say he saved capitalism. All i know is my mom worshiped him and a man I worked with said he grew up in a shack in South Carolina. The only picture was a framed newspaper picture of FDR.

up
5 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

hearings for biden's cabinet choices had begun yesterday.

here's b's 'Biden Administration's 'New' Foreign Policy Is The 'More Of The Same' Old One; today, moonofalabama.org

i'll drop off some raw links indicating subject areas. NYTimes being the longest, of course.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/01/antony-blinken-secret...

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/avril-haines-hearing-senate-...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/politics/avril-haines-antony-blink...

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-biden-state-venezuela-idUSL1N2JU2EF

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-to-keep-embassy-in-jerusalem-bid...

defense secretary lloyd 'raytheon' austin needs a waiver.

the guardian has some coverage of the Big Day, including this and more for fans of bernie sanders:

As Democrats take control of the Senate, Bernie Sanders has taken on his new role as chair of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.

At the helm of the Budget Committee, Sanders will be in charge of the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to move through legislation without the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome filibuster. Reconciliation can be used to move through key coronavirus relief measures, including stimulus payments.

Sanders has said that he’d love for a bipartisan effort on coronavirus relief, but he won’t let a desire for bipartisanship delay action.

“We should hear what my Republican colleagues have to say, but we are not going to spend months and months and not address the incredible pain millions of families are experiencing,” Sanders said.

as well as this letter to the guardian...iirc.

up
6 users have voted.

@wendy davis

Bernie Sanders has taken on his new role as chair of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.

Was this his price for quitting on us? How's that quote go?
"To give up your soul to gain the world? But for Wales?"

That's not exact. Who remembers it? Please post.

up
5 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

usefewersyllables's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

sitting in the cold with his mittens just begs for the caption “Now where am I gonna find some new rubes to give me money?”

I went all-in for him in 2016, and against my best gut feel did it again this time as well. Never again. People who go all-in on anybody in US politics are naive at best, and completely delusional at worst.

My donating/volunteering days are well and truly over, and I suspect my voting days are as well. The only thing that would lure me back to that particular time waster will be if some seriously highly-placed heads roll.

up
8 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables for me. My first job was wearing a hat and walking around the polling place when I was 5 or 6 years old.
My family raised money, got out the vote, and so did I, until Bernie.
That man destroyed my illusions, so in a way, I am glad he did.
But he stirred within me a simmering hatred for any and all politics as usual.
Even the People's Party will not get a cent from me.
Thanks, Bernie.

up
8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

christ for 30 pieces of silver. but the original quote was:

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks what good it is for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul (Matthew 16:26).

but the quote you're looking for is:

“For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. . . but for Wales!”

― Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons

up
4 users have voted.

@wendy davis
Thank you!

up
1 user has voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

please pay the cashier $1.99 on your way out the door (my standard fee for Bingling 4 Others). ; )

up
2 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

up
7 users have voted.

@wendy davis
The Imperial color. "Born to the purple."

up
6 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Jen's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness The first thing I thought of was purple is the color for alzheimer's awareness

up
7 users have voted.

Is it great yet?

wendy davis's picture

@Jen

up
5 users have voted.
Bollox Ref's picture

Lady Gaga is president.

Should be an interesting four years.

up
8 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref

for the grande parade
another distraction for
the populye.

up
6 users have voted.
Bollox Ref's picture

@QMS

and will lead us and reveal the Holy Grail...

up
6 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref

leaders tend to leak their intentions
by appointing staff
this we have seen

gill eeh head appears not to lead us into
better times
tho for the the sake of show
away from the badder days

up
4 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@QMS

i'll take your description. no fire eaters?

up
3 users have voted.

@wendy davis

showmanship style is fenced in
no fire eaters, no trapeze artists
just your run of the mill talking heads
and flag symbols instead of people
would have liked to see balloons
and clowns in drag
maybe some fire works

up
3 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@Bollox Ref

'meat dress' in the oval office?

up
4 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@Bollox Ref

this is an hysterical satirical burn on the Gala musicians (i'm soooo bummmed springstein played):

'The musical performances at the Biden inauguration chime with America’s bankrupt culture', RT.com, jan. 2021

a preponderance of his poison pen went to gaga, but no, no meat dress on stage, but a few excerpts:

'Case in point, Lady Gaga sang the national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony. The glorious Gaga, who has the voice of an angel and a face made for radio, arrived looking like she just came off The Hunger Games set. Her dress appeared to be a tribute to a venereal-disease polyp designed by Oscar de la Herpes.

Gaga gave her all – but the problem was that it was just way too much. Her heartfelt performance quickly devolved into an overwrought vocal spectacle that looked and sounded like a drag queen Brunhilde murdering an alpaca.

A short while later, Jennifer Lopez strutted out to sing ‘This Land is Your Land’ and ‘America the Beautiful’. If you needed any more proof that America was a vast cultural wasteland, just consider that Jennifer Lopez is now the Woody Guthrie of our era.

J-Lo also gave her all, but unfortunately it wasn’t nearly enough. Unable to utilize her most valuable ‘asset’, Ms. Lopez’s lack of vocal prowess was left as exposed as her backside was covered.

I imagine Biden loved the performance, though, and as J-Lo walked past, he quickly smelled her hair and declared, “I Love you, Charo!”

up
9 users have voted.

kinda weird
a sign of the new symbol of modern
civility. Ain't people, only flags.
wtf over.

up
6 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

this prescient/foreshadowing closing song seems about right:

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me.
The sign was painted, said: 'Private Property.'
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing.
This land was made for you and me.

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple,
By the relief office I saw my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s]

good night, and i'm wishing the best for all of us in the hard times to come.

up
2 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@lotlizard

among Twitterverse meme-makers. RT.com carried a hella lotta them. some srsly excellent photoshopping. just a couple:

up
6 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@wendy davis  

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/l1gf0k/my_favorite_mashup...

up
4 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@lotlizard

had he sold out on that as well? (no bern fan here, i admit, mainly on issues of Imperial War and other mayhem.)

up
2 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@wendy davis

his letter at the guardian, and he never mentioned medicare4all, unless i somehow missed it.

#BoldActionsByDemocrats

up
4 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

via popular resitance this a.m.:

Biden inaugural guest is Venezuelan coup leader charged with inciting violent assault on gov’t building, Anya Parampil·January 17, 2021, the grayzone

"After condemning the pro-Trump invasion of the Capitol, the incoming Biden administration invited Carlos Vecchio – a coup leader charged in the 2014 torching of the Venezuelan Attorney General’s office – to its inaugural ceremony.

Beyond entertainers and high-level federal officials, foreign dignitaries were invited to join a smaller-than-usual group of individuals permitted to witness the day’s festivities. Among those dignitaries is Carlos Vecchio, a former Exxon lawyer who currently serves as US-recognized “Interim President” Juan Guaidó’s envoy in Washington. When the Trump Administration initiated a coup against Venezuela’s government in January of 2019, Vecchio became Guaidó’s ambassador, and has risen to prominence as the de facto leader of a US-based exile lobby dedicated to toppling Venezuela’s UN-recognized government."
...................................
Beyond giving the appearance that Biden will continue the Trump Administration’s doomed Venezuela policy, Vecchio’s presence at the presidential swearing-in ceremony was filled with irony. In the days following the Capitol riot, Biden and his allies have denounced the violent takeover of Congress as an assault on democracy, with the incoming president himself declaring the rioters to be “domestic terrorists.”

Yet Carlos Vecchio, the Guaidó ally with a fresh ticket to Biden’s inauguration, is responsible for leading his own assault on his home country’s democracy – and is currently wanted in Venezuela for inciting a violent attack on the Attorney General’s office in Caracas.

she must not have read that Biden recognizes Guaido as Interim Prez or what.ev.er....

gotta love the 'ell outta this, though:

up
4 users have voted.