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Funky, fun and festive facts about US presidential inaugurations

The stage is set for Monday’s festivities marking Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In honor of the occasion, here are some interesting, curious and downright weird facts about this well-worn US tradition.

🔸 From 1792-1937, inauguration day was held on March 4, not January 20. The change was congressionally mandated in 1933 to reduce the transition time between the old ‘lame duck’ president and the new administration.

🔸 The number of stars on flags on the Capitol building changes depending on what state the new president is from, representing the order in which the state joined the Union.

🔸 Since Trump ran from two different states in 2020 and 2024 (New York and Florida), the flags had/have 13 and 27 stars, respectively.

🔸 In 1825, John Quincy Adams became only president-elect not to have given the presidential oath with his hand on a Bible. In 1977, Jimmy Carter became the only one to be sworn in by his nickname “Jimmy,” rather than his full name, “James Earl Carter.”

🔸 Inaugurated in 1837, Martin Van Buren was the first president not to have been born under British rule.

🔸 Inauguration Day parades have been held every year since 1841. In 1973, during Richard Nixon’s second inauguration, organizers’ desire to pigeon-poop-proof the event went horribly wrong, with pigeons eating a chemical meant to repel them and littering Nixon’s parade route with dead birds.

🔸 Some festivities associated with the inauguration, like the inaugural luncheon, didn’t exist before the 20th century. America’s first president, George Washington, dined alone in 1789 after his ceremony. Talk about sigma energy. Oh, and his 1793 inaugural address was just 135 words.

🔸 In 2009, Barack Obama became the first president to flub the oath of office by repeating Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ mistaken words. Obama retook the office shortly after. Roberts is expected to administer the oath again this year, hopefully correctly.

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TikTok has resumed service in the US

💬 "As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" the app's welcome page declares.

However, according to a Sputnik correspondent, it is still impossible to download TikTok from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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TikTok BACK in US, welcome page thanks Trump’s efforts — reports

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also attend MAGA Victory Rally in Washington DC today

#TikTok #US

Zakharova MOCKS Zelensky's 'business at home' excuse for skipping Trump inauguration

'Household chores didn't stop him from visiting 35+ countries in 2024' she said on Telegram

Time to come clean, Zelensky

#Zelensky

⚡️ The first pictures of Israeli hostages being reunited with their families at a reception point have been released by Israeli media

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🔸 Hamas hands over three Israeli hostages to IDF after long-awaited ceasefire comes into force

🔸 Preparations are underway in Israel to release more than 80 Palestinian hostages

🔸 WATCH: Hamas fighters freely move around the streets of Gaza after ceasefire deal takes effect

🔸 Where could Putin and Trump meet?

🔸 Why does US seek regime change in Venezuela?

🔸 Western intel now say ‘accidents’, not Russia, to blame for damaged Baltic cables

🔸 Privatizing profits, socializing losses: The sorry state of UK and US’s healthcare

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Hamas Spokesman Abu Obeida declares group's 'full adherence to ceasefire' while calling on mediators to pressure Israel to stick to terms

Hinting at new fronts firing up, he adds group's duty is on supporting West Bank resistance, with special gratitude given to Jenin fighters

#Palestine

TikTok states that it is in the process of restoring its service in the US and has committed to working with the Trump administration on a long-term solution to ensure the platform remains operational in the country

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❗️TikTok says ‘restoring service’ in US after Trump’s promise to delay ban

#US

🛢 Biden’s last-minute oil sanctions aimed at Russia but will hit US: here’s why

🗣 "I’m not going to be out of sight or out of mind," Joe Biden recently told reporters at the White House. He’s not wrong.

Last week’s announcement of new Treasury sanctions against the Russian maritime oil trade was designed to target the up to 5.8 million barrels per day (bpd) worth of Russian oil and petroleum products shipped by sea. See fig. 1.

Currently, the world is running a surplus of about 0.8 million bpd of oil, with analysts expecting 2025 prices averaging $71 per barrel of Brent crude.

The Bank of America calculations show that changes to the supply-demand balance by 100,000 bpd affects oil prices inversely by $1.50-$2 per barrel.

That means if 5+ million bpd of Russian supplies were to disappear, oil prices would spike by $80-90, to $150-160 a barrel.

🇷🇺 Would this hurt Russia?

Russia’s budget has priced 2025 oil revenues at $65.90 per barrel. If the maritime embargo were successfully implemented and prices more than doubled, revenues to the budget would increase from $82.3 billion to $88.2 billion despite substantially lower exports.

🔍 Sanctions' real target

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to make the US into an oil superpower, and to lower oil prices to $50 a barrel.

Prices higher than that would impact the competitiveness of US industry, while squeezing ordinary Americans at the pump (with prices jumping to nearly $5 a gallon if Biden’s sanctions pan out). See fig. 2, 3.

Therefore, the new restrictions, while formally aimed at Russia, aren’t as “anti-Russian” as they are anti-Trump and anti-American – especially when combined with Biden’s executive order slapping a ban on new oil and gas drilling along wide swathes of the US Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

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🇻🇪 Why does US seek regime change in Venezuela?

The US president-elect, who spent much of his first term trying to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, hasn’t lost his obsession with the Latin American nation, anonymous Trump advisors revealed to Axios on Saturday.

❓ What does Trump want?

🔸 Venezuela has oil: a lot of it. In fact, with nearly 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, the country has the largest untapped oil stockpile on Earth.

🔸 Some US and European energy companies are allowed to operate in Venezuela, but Washington would like to deregulate their activities, reduce taxes on earnings, and expand production.

🔸 Besides oil, Venezuela has vast untapped mineral and rare earths wealth, from iron ore, gold and bauxite to diamonds and the tech metal coltan, which late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez dubbed ‘blue gold’.

⚔️ Geopolitical Competition

🔹 Besides resources, Trump’s Venezuela fever may be related to his obsession with America’s ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the Monroe Doctrine. Each are fraught with risks for nations in the Western Hemisphere seeking to escape US hegemony.

🔹 Venezuela has been outside of US orbit since the late 1990s and has forged close economic and security partnerships with China, Iran and Russia.

🔹 The Bush administration tried to coup Chavez in 2002. In 2018, disgraced former Trump advisor John Bolton labeled Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua the ‘Troika of Tyranny’, signaling Washington’s plans to push for regime change.

🔹 In 2019, the US slapped crushing sanctions on Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA, seizing billions in assets and trying to smother exports. In 2020, a bizarre attempt by a group of mercs to kidnap Maduro dubbed the ‘Bay of Piglets’ went comically wrong, leaving 6 mercs dead and 91 captured, including 2 Americans.

🔹 With Trump surrounding himself with Venezuela hawks like Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz, storm clouds are gathering for a new round of confrontation between Washington and Caracas.

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