Blog Heap of Links for the day 10 January 2017

I ♥ My Dauter

…Here’s another thing that’s not getting much airplay. Trump’s inauguration is shaping up to be one of the most faith-based in a very long time, with six religious figures speaking, including Franklin Graham, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, pastor Paula White and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

But it’s his inclusion of Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which really sets his inauguration apart. It’s been 30 years since a Jewish rabbi has been invited to pray during a presidential inauguration. The last one was Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, head of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, during Ronald Reagan’s 1985 ceremony.…

…On this day in 49 BC Caesar "crossed the Rubicon" signifying the start of the Roman civil war.…

…Biggest story of the day seems to be the start of the vetting process for Team Trump. Of course the Institutional Revolutionary Party, er, the Democrats are flinging all sorts of feces, not because they think they can derail a nomination (though they'd love that) but to destroy the character, integrity and the legitimacy in the public's eye of the candidate and by extension the administration and its agenda. …