Andy Borowitz is a humorist of the highest order. He used to write for The New Yorker, now he has a blog at Substack.
Here is his list of what to watch tomorrow instead of the inauguration of you-know-who.
He invites you to submit your ideas.
I suggest not only films, but activities.
Take a long walk unless you are in a state hit by the Arctic freeze.
Read a good book. Fahrenheit 451? 1984? Brave New World? The Handmaid’s Tale?
Listen to music that soothes your soul.
Go to the zoo.
Do something kind for others because kindness will be in short supply for the next four years..
What else?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The day after the cheeto was elected in 2016, I went to a work day for a transitional housing project to help unhoused women get off the streets. It was jam packed with women in a state of shock. I was so glad that the work day had been previously scheduled.
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i am watching anything humorous I can. On DVD, because I don’t want to stream Amazon.
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Preston Sturgess films!
The BBC original Ghosts
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FKF: I tried but couldn’t access all comedic recommendations on this page, but I was able to find some Preston Sturgess movies and I am so glad that I did! Thank you for the reference to those old screwball comedies!! They turned out to be precisely the uplifting distraction I needed to avoid totally crashing on this most horrendous day in history, when a felonious dictator was empowered here –which resulted in the richest man on earth (and co-President) giving Nazi salutes in glee…
OMG, please save us!
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In the film “The Lady Eve” I love the scene where the father and daughter card sharks are trying to take over the card game from each other. I won’t spoil the plot.
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I read that 2 bibles were held out when he took the oath to “preserve, protect & defend” the Constitution, but he didn’t touch even one of them. Seems like a farce and makes me wonder if he’s ever tried to pull off a stunt like that when he’s had to testify in court and swear on a bible to tell the truth…
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TOW,
Watch “We’re the Millers.” It’s hilarious. Also “Snatched” and “The Heat.”
Three very funny films.
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I’m watching true stories about surviving the most oppressive and challenging times with hope and love intact, such as The Island on Bird Street: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-T1pDOsVho
Any similar recommendations would be most welcome.
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Since it’s MLK Day, I’m also watching the Long Walk Home. It’s based on a true story and is consistent with personal experiences I had in the South as a child, with my civil rights advocate mother, as well as a really terrified black nanny from the North who went there with us one year. I recommend that others watch it as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FJSosGKclM
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Love the idea of kindness. And, music.
Taking our sheepdog, Moon, to the park right now before the snow hits. So, hang out with your pet!
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John,
My dog Mitzi is a cancer survivor. I love every minute I spend with her.
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Do anything rather than watch the inauguration! Play Scrabble, Gin Rummy, Backgammon. Heck, I’d even clean litter boxes before I’d watch it.
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Now, that’s a great idea.
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This would be good advice no matter who was taking office as President. Inaugural speeches are purely boilerplate, full of platitudes. Likewise for State of the Union speeches and most other speeches by politicians, those you like and those you dislike. Don’t make politics into your secular religion. Do things other than reading and posting on blogs 80+ hours every week.
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Fine display of patriotism and what an example to our young people of civic duty – “my guy didn’t win, so I’m not watching.” Really fine here.
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It’s a free country. I think.
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Sorry, Jim you do not define patriotism and/or civic duty. Nope. Neither does anyone else.
Don’t you get it? That’s the POINT of the United States
That’s one the things that made us great.
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Last time I checked watching the Inauguration, especially for a felon, is not required to be patriotic. JMO
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Not watching or attending the Orange Buffoon’s inauguration is a sign of protest.
I’m sure by now, you know that Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi are not attending.
I wish more important people had their guts.
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AOC also did not attend the Orange BUffoon’s inauguration. Her reasoning was, “I don’t celebrate rapists.”
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So many reasons not to celebrate. Rapist. Liar. Convicted felon. Fraud. Grifter. Traitor. Insurrectionist. Sore loser.
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Join a protest, then join others to fight back!
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What else? How about…
The 2025 Martin Luther King, Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service will be in-person at Ebenezer Baptist Church and will broadcast live on FOX 5 Atlanta. It will also stream live on Facebook, YouTube, and thekingcenter.org, on Monday, January 20th from 9:00 AM-11:00 AM EST. The 56th Annual Commemorative Service is the hallmark of the King Holiday Observance. Reverend Natosha Reid Rice and Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe, Jr. will preside over the service. Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, The King Center CEO, will give the Call to Commemoration. This year’s Keynote Speaker is Rev. Dr. Willam J. Barber. The service will feature special musical performances by Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Mark Gutierrez, The McClain Sisters, Natalie Grant, and Tye Tribbett.
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Ed,
Will the 56th annual commemorative service be live-streamed?
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Diane, the announcement says it will be live steamed on Facebook, YouTube, and thekingcenter.org.
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On January 20, 2025, after 2000 (military time), I’ll be watching one episode of GRIMM. The rest of the day, I’ll be checking off my daily goals, avoiding waste of time stuff like inaugurations. Before lights out, I read for a half hour or so from a real book that I hold in my hands, turning pages. I tried the Kindle, and it went the same way the smart phone did when I realized it sucked brain-pans empty.
I’ve never watched one inauguration.
Tuesday, I’ll log on to my desktops and scan the news to see if FELON47 was assassinated. If he’s still lives, I’ll be disappointed and then get to work checking off my daily goals as I complete them one by one.
Since I retired after 45 years of work in 2005, every day is a holiday and workday. I do what I want. I’m my own boss.
The current book is The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin, set in the early years of Hitlers’ WWII.
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I have a number of movies taped on my DVR. I plan to watch some of the programs that I like best.
There is NO way I’d watch the Orange Deranged Monster become our next President. I can’t stand to look at him. I have no respect for his billionaire buddies who now want to control our government.
Robert Reich:
The day on which we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will also be one of the darkest and most shameful days in the history of this nation, when the man who attempted a coup against the United States will be sworn in for the second time as president.
Let me reassure you about a few things.
First, if you’re outraged, disgusted, or depressed by this, you are hardly alone.
Even though Trump got the most votes, his margin of victory was razor-thin. More than a third of eligible voters (many of whom voted for Biden in 2020) didn’t even vote. According to yesterday’s New York Times/Ipsos poll, most Americans are either worried or pessimistic about Trump’s second term. Half of America hates him.
I also want to assure you that although Trump is bonkers, his madness will be contained.
The federal courts — most of whose judges were nominated by Democratic presidents — will help limit his illegal or unconstitutional recklessness. (The Supreme Court reviews fewer than 1 percent of federal cases.)
Trump’s own obsession with the stock market will limit his wilder economic ideas, such as imposing tariffs on all nations, which would cause the market to plunge.
The Republican majority in the House is so narrow that a couple of members can derail or kill anything Trump wants…
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Create groups to do different and productive stuff such as: Reflection exercises over last year and possible 2025 scenarios outcomes to get a better understanding of tons of things in our thoughts, perhaps, meditation to keep the mind focused on desirable results. And last but not least, go fishing if you find yourself on a warm weather. 🙂
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Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. birthday by volunteering, taking Ed Johnson’s suggestion or scrolling the internet for old footage of the “I Have a Dream” speech in D.C. (For those who haven’t seen it, look at the crowd size as compared to that of 47’s 45 inauseation* {no, it*was decidedly not much bigger than the speech crowd}.)
&–even walking outside in sub-Arctic cold (&/or snow drifts, if you live in other parts) is much preferable to viewing the inauseation.
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I recommend a visit to Mr Max TV (youtube channel). Mr Max is a voluble cockatoo whose language, though mostly unintelligible, is highly expressive, thanks to his body language. My fave episode is “Cockatoo finding he is going to the vet.” Watch the first minute or two of muttering/ hiding, then scroll to 1:17 for open defiance. Or you might enjoy “My parrot sings Creep by Radiohead with me” {scroll to 3:16] — Chloe Alexander with her green parrot.
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MLK Day, Trump inauguration: It’s a day of contrast
Many see it as a call to action to Black America to learn what is coming.
By Ernie Suggs ernie.suggs@ajc.com
[Sunday, January 19, 2025]
In 2013, the last time a presidential inauguration was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Bernice King made sure her father was present.
When Barack Obama, entering his second term as president, raised his right hand and promised to “faithfully execute the office of president,” his left hand rested on a worn black leather Bible that King carried with him during his rise as a civil rights leader.
At the time, Bernice King called the moment “heartwarming.”
On Monday, for the third time since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a federal holiday, a presidential inauguration will also occur. Just three hours after the annual King Day service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
Bernice King will not send a Bible or anything else to represent her family this year. Instead, she has a message to Black Americans and others who have vowed to ignore the inauguration.
“We must pay attention to what President-Elect Trump speaks on that day,” said King, who is CEO of the King Center.
“We cannot develop a strategic, love-centered strategy for addressing language and legislation if we are not also strategic in our listening and leadership. This is not the time for ignorance. I’m encouraging people to amplify the teachings and work of my father and the movements. That’s what it means for me on that day.”
Although the Ebenezer ceremony usually runs through early afternoon, this year organizers have strategically slated it to run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., so as not to conflict with Trump’s noon swearing-in.
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, a prominent civil rights leader and founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, said they are calling for “prophetic listening sessions” of Trump’s inauguration speech.
“We want people to get their Bibles and their Constitutions out, and actually listen to the speech, even if you didn’t vote for Trump,” said Barber, who will deliver the keynote at Monday’s Ebenezer service.
“We need to decipher that speech so we know where our battle lines are and what our struggles will be. We don’t need to turn away. Dr. King didn’t turn away from struggle. He turned toward it.”
The rest may be behind a paywall…
https://epaper.ajc.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=90effbb1-f387-40b3-b521-98d3fbdce262&pbid=8e0858ee-1443-484d-9e94-f8b8a1eaaaff&share=true&utm_source=app.pagesuite&utm_medium=app-interaction&utm_campaign=pagesuite-epaper-html5_share-edition
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For women, sign up for a biomedical research study. Many of the pharmaceutical products were only tested on men in the approval process. When I enrolled in one study, a serious medical condition that my regular physicians had not diagnosed was uncovered. As much as I would love to attend a Dr. MLK event, given the polar vortex and all the ice that is present on many side streets, I am staying home.
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I’m going to the gym. Then going to work some more on a piece I’m writing. A sweet ballad. Not giving him the satisfaction of my anger. There’ll be time enough for that down the road.
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