Hard to believe that it's been a year since Joseph Robinette Biden was sworn in just before the official noon transition (likely early just in case there was some not-totally-unforseen potential incident...
***
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath of office to Kamala Harris at 11:40 a.m., with 20 minutes remaining in Mike Pence's term. Sotomayor became the first woman to administer an inaugural oath twice after she administered Biden's at his 2013 swearing-in. Harris recited the following:
I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God.]
Chief Justice John Roberts then administered Joe Biden's oath of office at 11:47 a.m., with 13 minutes remaining in Trump's term. Biden recited the following, as prescribed by the Constitution:
I, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. [So help me God.]
Upon completing the oath, the U.S. Army Band ("Pershing's Own") played four ruffles and flourishes, but a 21-gun cannon salute was not rendered, which caused a brief delay in the proceedings before Biden was able to deliver his inaugural address. The 21-gun cannon salute for President Biden was later rendered at the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
The presidential nuclear football, which can authorize a nuclear attack while away from a command center, was discreetly given to military aides of the new administration during the ceremony; however, Trump's absence did not change the automatic deactivation of his and Pence's nuclear access and activation of Biden and Harris's.
The inaugural address was 2,514 words long and took 21 minutes to deliver, between 11:52 a.m. and 12:13 p.m. President Biden's inaugural speech was regarded as laying out his vision to unite the nation prefaced by the various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic strife, climate change, political polarization, and racial injustice. Biden composed the speech with the assistance of speechwriter Vinay Reddy, senior advisor Mike Donilon, then-incoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and chief of staff Ron Klain. His speech was described by the New York Times as a "direct rebuttal" in tone to Trump's inaugural address (in which Trump spoke of "American carnage"), as Biden called for an end to the "uncivil war" of political, demographic, and ideological American cultures through a greater embrace of diversity. In the speech, Biden repeated his campaign pledge to "fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did". Focusing on the struggles of American citizens, Biden expressed sympathy, but stressed that distrust and fighting amongst one another would not better their conditions. He cited the Civil War, Great Depression, World Wars, and September 11 attacks as moments in American history where citizens' "better angels" prevailed, saying that the solution—unity—must again be invoked to rise from the "cascading" crises of the present; this unity, he proclaimed, exists in the "common objects" that define America: "opportunity, liberty, dignity, respect, honor, and ... truth". . .
Nearly 40 million people watched Biden's address on the combined major cable news and broadcast network television stations. More than 21 million people watched the prime time Celebrating America special. In 2017, a combined 38.3 million viewers watched Trump's inaugural address across the same networks, according to Nielsen data, representing a 4% increase in raw television viewership. CNN was the ratings leader throughout the day. Compared to the previous inaugural ceremony in 2017, Fox News's viewership fell 77%, while CNN's tripled and MSNBC's quadrupled.
***
We had stayed up all night / early morning previous to witness the departure of the Criminal Evil Occupant Psychopath Serial-Liar at c. 6am Pacific time, not quite sure what it was up to even then when it chose to fly by the Capitol, and not really resting easily until the stroke of noon, and, even then, to now, while the tension has eased, it has never really gone away -- though this has been a vastly better year than the excreble political 4 prior...
OK, in more local news, first Zoom Davis Community Presbyterian Church Chamber Choir, conducted by Emma Turnbull, of the new year, rehearsing
Gregorio Allegri(1582-1652)'s Miserere Mei (1638, where perhaps I may be of service as Counter-Tenor)...
Before this, the full choir in the Allegri, +
Good work!
Through the day
(20th of spring, high down 2 to 64 -- 3rd highest temp of year to date)
finish
Book of Dreams, 2022, Op. 376 (2022)
III. January 3 - 4am Coached by a BlackWhite Soccer Squad / 5am Pouring Water into a Recycled Paper Bag
-- 3 pages total,
this also being most of the labors to complete a new edition of
Satie Orchestrations, Op. 292 (2018)
II. Sports et Divertissements: XVII. Tango (after Igor Stravinksy's Tango)
-- and add a bit more text overall to piece with
January 19-20
3am Time to Get Your License Renewed...
8am Canyon de Chelly... We've Known Each Other for 14... (Kiss)...
+ other activities adjacent to
a documentary featureing
Morro Rock,
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) - La Gaza Ladra (1817): Overture,
Mily Balakirov (1837-1910) - Polka (1859),
Gabriel Pierne (1863-1937) - Ramuntcho, Suite II (1910),
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) - Metamorphosen (1945),
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) - Symphony No. 2 in E Major ("Slavonia"), Op. 5 (1885),
Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) - La Tragedie du Salome, Op. 50 (1907),
Josef Suk (1874-1935) - Symphony in E Major, Op. 14 (1899, there he is again! -- and a popular key for symphonies heard this day...),
Erland von Koch (1910-2009 -- whoa! almost a centenarian!...) - Oxberg Variations (1956),
and, in the political realm, more criminal behavior revealed re Rudy Giuliani and
the Ever-Lying Evil Insane-Clown-Posse Psychopath (well, hardly a revelation re Brad Raffensperger on above screen, but still seditious), as explicated by
Lawrence O'Donnell,
Jake Tapper (also relating the 1/6 Committee request to the Ex-Occupant's Number One Daughter: "Ivanka", incidently, al Slavic diminuative of her mother's "Ivana", recalling an "Ivana Tramp" in Nevada of years's past..),
Fani Willis, and
Ari Melber, with Carl Bernstein.
Also another SHS Reunion Zoom meeting, discussing the politics of the day, and an acknowledgement that the recent Zooming Marriage was very engaging and perhaps a model for future mergers...