DONALD J TRUMP'S INAUGURATION DAY IS HERE (LIVE STREAM)

DONALD J TRUMP'S INAUGURATION DAY IS HERE (PRAY FOR THE TRUMP FAMILY):

GOD BLESS THE USA & U.S. MILITARY; IT'S TIME TO COME TOGETHER.

TODAY A MAN WHO TRULY LOVES THE USA & HAS NO HIDDEN AGENDA WILL BE SWORN IN AS 45th LEADER OF OUR FREE NATION.


Sources: CNN, Fox News, NBC News, The Guardian, Alex Jones, YouTube


***** Donald Trump inauguration: Countdown to swearing in the new US President


* Trump vows to unite the country at Lincoln Memorial party
* President-elect will take Oath of Office at 5pm GMT on Friday
* Mass protests planned to coincide with inauguration


Donald Trump's inauguration speech will be "personal" and "philosophical", his spokesperson has said. 

The tycoon-turned-politician will deliver his first address as US president to hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington DC and millions watching around the world this afternoon.

With the help of long-time speech-writer Stephen Miller, Mr Trump is expected to deliver a relatively short speech referring to ideas from his campaign such as "America First" and the need to "Make America Great Again".

Topics are said to include border security, the military, the economy and the outsourcing of jobs, CNN reported.

The president-elect continued to revel in his election victory on Thursday evening at a black-tie, candlelit dinner at Washington's historic Union Station and was already thinking about his re-election on the eve of his inauguration.

Looking ahead to today, he joked that he wouldn't mind if it ended up raining, "because people will realise it's my real hair."

~ Inauguration by numbers

A look at the ceremony through some statistics:

12pm (5pm GMT) on January 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as president
58th presidential inauguration ceremony, making him America’s 45th president
$200 million is the estimated cost of the security, parade, balls and concert
800,000 people are expected to attend, planners say
1.8 million attended Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009
13,000 National Guard troops will be on hand to provide security
200,000 women are planning to march on Washington the following day
$25,000 will buy an inaugural package with tickets to all the big events
$24 will get you the cheapest cocktail at the Trump International Hotel, along the parade route
584 days between Donald Trump declaring his candidacy and entering the White House
1:10pm

~ Protests in Washington

Protesters in Washington have been holding up the security checkpoints into the inauguration ceremony.

Dozens of protesters are lined up at the "blue gate" entrance to a seating area on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, holding signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Let Freedom ring." Some are wearing orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces, protesting U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

But police are behind the protesters, allowing those with tickets to make their way through the gate. 

Eleanor Goldfield helped organize the £DisruptJ20 protests. At the "blue gate," she says they want to show Trump and his supporters that they will not be silent throughout his presidency.

She calls Trump supporters "misguided, misinformed or just plain dangerous."

TRUMP'S INAUGURATION CEREMONY: FLOYD MAYWEATHER & PRAYER LEADERS

TRUMP'S INAUGURATION CEREMONY COUNTDOWN:

BOXING LEGEND FLOYD MAYWEATHER TO ATTEND.

HIS CHOICE OF PRAYER LEADERS DISPLAYS TRUMP'S VALUES AND FAITH.


Sources: NPR, Fox News, TMZ Sports, YouTube


***** With His Choice Of Inauguration Prayer Leaders, Trump Shows His Values

The six faith leaders President-elect Donald Trump has invited to pray at his inauguration come from diverse backgrounds, but they have something in common: All have personal ties to Trump or his family or have in some way signaled their approval of him, his politics or his wealth.

The group includes an African-American megachurch leader from Detroit, a Florida woman known for her lavish lifestyle and preaching on "abundancy," a rabbi from Los Angeles, and a Hispanic evangelical — as well as Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.

Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, who leads Great Faith Ministries in Detroit, played a key role during the presidential campaign by inviting candidate Trump to visit his church. For Trump, it was a rare appearance before a black congregation.

Presenting Trump with a Jewish prayer shawl during his visit, Jackson said, "There are going to be times in your life that you are going to feel forsaken ... but the anointing is going to lift you up."

With his invitation to Jackson to pray at his inauguration, Trump returned a favor.

Jackson lives in a multimillion dollar mansion in Detroit and drives luxury cars. He preaches that being rich is not bad and that Trump's wealth shows he is "blessed by God."

Such teachings exemplify the "prosperity gospel," which holds that God rewards faithful Christians with financial success. It is a faith tradition with which Trump long has been associated. His "spiritual adviser" is Paula White, who as the leader of New Destiny Christian Center near Orlando, Fla., is perhaps the best known prosperity preacher in the country.

"Every day you're [living] your destiny, designed by God and discovered by you," White said in a recent sermon. "You're either in a position of abundance, you're in a position of prosperity, or you're in a position of poverty. Now that's in every area of your life. ... You're living abundant in your affairs of life — and that includes your financial conditions — or you're living in poverty."

Not surprisingly, Donald Trump is drawn to those preachers who say that one's wealth is a sign of God's approval. Paula White has her critics in the evangelical world, some of whom consider her a heretic, but she endorsed Trump's candidacy, and he reciprocated by inviting White to pray at his swearing-in ceremony.

Another pro-Trump evangelist who will be praying at the inauguration is Franklin Graham. During a recent interview with Lou Dobbs on the Fox Business Network, Graham said "the hand of God" was evident in Trump's election.

"I think God intervened and put his hand on Donald Trump for some reason," Graham told Dobbs. "It's obvious that there was something behind this, and it was more than people understand. I just think it was God."

By appearing at Trump's swearing-in, Franklin Graham will be following family tradition: His 98-year-old father, Billy, prayed at the inauguration of several presidents, from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, and Franklin prayed at the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001.

His inclusion as a prayer leader may also signal Trump's comfort with Graham's political positions. During his campaign, Trump focused a lot of attention on the threat from "radical Islam," a theme Franklin Graham also has emphasized.

Shared political views may also explain Trump's invitation to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founding president of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. In a recent television interview, Hier said it was "outrageous" that the Obama administration chose not to veto a recent United Nations resolution condemning Israel's settlement policy, echoing Trump's own criticism.

Hier, the first rabbi asked to pray at a presidential inauguration since 1985, says he will hit "modern themes" during his inauguration appearance. "It will be a short prayer, but it will reflect on the 21st century," he says.

Hier also has ties to the Trump world through Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and close adviser. Kushner's parents are old friends with Hier and his wife.

One indication of Trump's unorthodox approach in choosing inauguration prayer leaders is the absence of any representative of mainline Protestantism, the dominant faith tradition of U.S. presidents throughout the country's history. On the other hand, Trump is the first to invite a Hispanic evangelical leader, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) and senior pastor at New Season Christian Worship Center, an Assemblies of God congregation in Sacramento, Calif.

Rodriguez accepted the invitation despite some misgivings about Trump's hard-line immigration views.

"There was a bit of angst due to the fact that throughout the course of this campaign, the rhetoric and tone, as it pertained particularly to the immigrant community, did not line up with the ethos or the values of the NHCLC," Rodriguez told NPR. He agreed to come to Washington for the inauguration after "prayerful deliberation and discussion" and a conclusion that he could not pass up an opportunity to pray on "the quintessential political platform on the planet."

Among Hispanic evangelicals, Rodriguez is one of the more conservative leaders. While he did not endorse Trump, he told NPR that he has heard a "change of tone" from Trump in the past few weeks, and now has high hopes for better relations between Hispanics and the Trump administration.

"Thirty percent of Latinos voted for Donald Trump," Rodriguez points out. "There's a great possibility that the president-elect and his team have come to the realization that this constituency could be engaged successfully."

Generally, Trump's selection of inauguration prayer leaders reflects his tendency to break with mainstream thinking — and the importance he places on loyalty. With his invitations, he has rewarded clergy members who support him politically, endorse his views, or even offer a religious approval of his great wealth.

The least surprising prayer leader choice is Cardinal Dolan. Most U.S. presidents in recent years have asked a prominent Catholic bishop or theologian to pray at their inaugurations, and as fellow New Yorkers, Dolan and Trump have known each other for a long time.

Karzai's Inauguration, Promises Less Corruption...Don't Trust Him

Karzai Pledges Changes In Second Term


Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai promised Thursday to prosecute corrupt government officials and end a culture of impunity, speaking during an inauguration closely watched by the international community for signs that his administration is moving beyond the cronyism and graft of the past five years.

Karzai has come under intense international pressure to clean up his government, and has often bristled at the criticism of corruption leveled at him from Western powers.

After being sworn in to a second five-year term, Karzai said his government was doing whatever it could to implement reforms, and pledged that Afghan forces would be able to take control of the country's security in the next five years.

He also said he believed the "problem of international terrorism" in his country would be overcome.

"We are trying our best to implement social, judicial and administrative reforms in our country," Karzai said. "Being a president is a heavy task and we will try our best to honestly fulfill this task in the future."

The ceremony was attended by about 800 Afghan and foreign dignitaries from more than 40 countries. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and British Foreign Minister David Miliband were among them.

Karzai said that a conference would be held soon in Kabul to address ways to tackle corruption, and that his government would take its fight against drug trafficking seriously, prosecuting those who are linked to narcotics as well as those who are engaged in corruption.

"Those who spread corruption should be tried and prosecuted," he said. "Corruption is a very dangerous enemy of the state."

The president insisted he would select "expert ministers" capable of providing competent leadership.

Karzai won this year's fraud-marred presidential election by default, after his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of a runoff, saying it was impossible for the vote to be fair.

During his speech, the president also welcomed Afghans representing all tribes and ethnicities who turned out for his inauguration and said it demonstrated national unity. He also thanked the other presidential candidates who ran in the election and invited them to contribute to the new government.

"People should know that only the votes of the people can legitimize the government," Karzai said.

Seeking to portray himself as a unifying force in the country, Karzai exclaimed, "I am the servant of all the people of Afghanistan, from every ethnicity, every tribe, from every place, from every province from every age, whether they are small children whether they are old people, women I invite all the presidential candidates to come and help in serving this nation."



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