Sunday, January 15, 2017

Opera star Andrea Bocelli backs out of singing at Trump's inauguration after receiving death threats

The revelation came as another singer – Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday – last night pulled out of the President-elect's festivities after being threatened and branded an 'Uncle Tom'.

When blind tenor Bocelli announced he would not sing at this Friday's celebration, it was widely reported it was because fans had said they would boycott his concerts and records.

But a source said the 58-year-old had been determined to 'press ahead' and sing but had pulled out on the advice of his security team after receiving threats to his life.

A source close to Bocelli, a friend of Trump's, said: 'Andrea is very sad to be missing the chance to sing at such a huge global event but he has been advised it is simply not worth the risk.'

Via Drudge: Link

65 comments:

The Dude said...

Didn't see that coming.

chickelit said...

There is so much tension building...this isn't going to end well.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

More interesting than why they said no is why they ever said yes.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The blind bullying a blind men.

I thought I've seen everything.

Leland said...

On January 21st; Trump will still be President. Hillary will never be President. And nobody will owe Hollywood anything.

edutcher said...

The sitzpinklers haven't got the guts, but I'd love to see them try it and have their entrails scattered to the four winds.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"Trump no longer expected to visit African American museum on MLK Day: report The Hill"

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

That's just the free market for hit men and bodyguards at work!

And the free market for the consequences of a bad reputation.

Free market principles at work all around here! I say Trump's ushering in a fine, new era of freedom. You have the freedom to let people know just how horrible and contemptible you find them, now. Thanks, Trump!

I mean, it used to be that throwing tomatoes got the point across. But clearly a blunter standard for approval/disapproval is now needed.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Cue Trooper's Emperor Cherry Blossom series.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Death threats! = free market. Only in the Stalin brain.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The inaugural is not a Trump celebration. The damage ignorance does to our country is incalculable.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Oh, so Uma Thurman non-a-bee says Stalin was aiming for a free market. Interesting.

Death threats! = free market.

I bet you if bodyguards had a huge lobby April would change her tune. She believes, after all, that might makes right.

Kind of like how the hit men believe.

Oooooh.... snap!

April, why are you against bodyguards being able to make a living, just like anyone else? Is it for the same reason you hated all those manufacturing sector workers in the Northeast and Midwest that your golden child Ted Cruz couldn't have gotten to vote for him?

People need to make a living, April.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

OT: If you ran a legitimate charity, why would it all have to end if you didn't achieve ultimate power?

Oh right... pay-to-play crony slush fund... no sale.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Making matters worse is that Trump is the last guy to make the point that it's not about him. The ceremony is about the peaceful transition of powder.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The inaugural is not a Trump celebration.

True!

It's Trump's desecration of America! Not its celebration.

Desecration, not celebration.

And did I say "Trump?" I meant to say, "Russian Puppet, Donald Drumpf."

It's important to make deals... with Russians. Hey, Hitler made one with Stalin! Just before the two of them dismembered Poland and set out to take over the rest of the world after taking out each other.

Kind of like what Drumpf wants to do to NATO nowadays.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Dam auto correct.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No Balls, Stalinist thinkers assume death threats towards free market is... business as usual.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Look at April going on about Clinton. Still. To this day.

It's like, she can't even acknowledge that there's a president actually abusing power to critique. We have a non-president who didn't win and can't exercise all this corrupt power and influence now available to Russian Puppet Drumpf! So let's focus on them, instead!

April reminds me of the dog or cat who sheepishly lurks away when you see the big mess they made.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The news media... still going on about Clinton, to this day.

Guess what Balls - HILLARY LOST. LOLOLOLOL. Too bad.


Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

No Balls, Stalinist thinkers assume death threats towards free market is... business as usual.

What's up with this anti-Stalin stuff? You know Putin's supporters think he's definitely bringing them back the glory they had under Stalin, and we know how much you people love Putin. What did you think Putin was going to do anyway... NOT make Russia Great Again?

Hahahahahaha.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Balls - After 8 years of your petulant liar child chipping away at liberty, you really don't have a leg to stand on with Trump.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Putin? your re-set buddy until he hacked the corrupt Bernie destroying DNC.

LOL!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Guess what Balls - HILLARY LOST. LOLOLOLOL. Too bad.

Was I rooting for her?

You really are dumb.

Listen, if you're going to be such a switch-hitting Stockholm Syndrome zombie, just remember this:

We know who you badmouthed from day to day. And YOU! A REPUBLICAN!

You're living under a president-elect with a long memory. Grudges will be held and scores will be settled. Get used to it.

Trump's got lots of grudges to settle against you, April. Like all other bullies, he goes after the lackeys, first.

Because your worm-like subservience makes you easiest to crush. It's a get the low hanging fruit out of the way first, thing.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I bad-mouthed a candidate. why... the indignity!

Quick - call the mind crime police!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If Trump screws up, I'll be the first to jump on him. He's not sworn in yet - you idiot.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Putin? your re-set buddy until he hacked the corrupt Bernie destroying DNC.

Did I defend the DNC?

April just doesn't seem to realize we know all the sides of her mouth through which she spoke.

She has no idea of what it means to value accountability, over politics. None at all.

She's exactly the sort of American bin Laden spoke about when he said, "They just go for the strong horse."

How easy she would be to make a part of one's agenda. All you have to do is show her that strong hand.

She's like the Anastasia to a political Fifty Shades of Gray story.

That's April. Beat her, whip her, chain her.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I bad-mouthed a candidate. why... the indignity!

Quick - call the mind crime police!


To him, it sure is.

I'm just letting you know beforehand. Before your love for him grows out of control. By then, it's too late. As it is for every domestic abuse victim.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If Trump screws up, I'll be the first to jump on him. He's not sworn in yet - you idiot.

Right.

Because all his actions as president-elect scream "PRESIDENTIAL!" and not "impending disaster."

Let me know how his businesses are going to deal with nations hostile to our national security. Because he sure didn't seem to think that was much of an issue.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Melt down/ lash out. death threats. It's all very amusing and it's why Trump won.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Melt down/ lash out. death threats. It's all very amusing and it's why Trump won.

Why? Because he had louder meltdowns and instances of lashing out?

He sure did. But whether that keeps him from being impeached is another story.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If he places a pipe bomb up ObamaCare's ass, Trump is a success.

Boom.


Twenty million people losing their insurance tomorrow and a complete disruption of the entire healthcare sector now focused on outcomes rather than on profitably unethical billing games is just the kind of explosion that America-hater April Apple proudly invites.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Fake stats won't save you. Obamacare is all lies. The top mega insurance companies crawled into bed.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Trump is a weird dude, no doubt. See Balls, the democrats are the party of rich wealthy ivory tower leftist hollywood now. The Democrats have a corruption problem. A lie problem, and an elitist problem.

A few thousand machinists and other heavy laborers that Apple thinks are a good excuse for projecting all her baggage onto. But I'm glad you finally own being the party of poverty. Finally. Let's see what you do with it. Other than make more of it, as usual.

rhhardin said...

The left works like organized crime.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Fake stats won't save you. Obamacare is all lies.

You never knew anyone who was uninsured. Talk about an elitist living in an ivory "Trump Tower." You are as incoherent as the day is long. One day mocking elitism, the next day hating on the uninsured. I can see how your movement will fail. Trump sure campaigned as one hell of a conservative, though!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The left works like organized crime.

A crime against ornithology!

ricpic said...

You have the freedom to let people know just how horrible and contemptible you find them, now. Thanks, Trump!

I find you horrible and contemptible, Schmendrik. And it has nothing to do with Trump. You earned it all on your own.

Rabel said...

This reminds me that later today I'll have to make a decision as to whether to pull against the Packers or the Cowboys.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And no one cares what you think, Kapo ricpic. No one. Ever. You really are that unremarkable. And unmemorable.

Now begone! Disappear!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The left works like organized crime.

It really does.

The Dude said...

Re: an earlier thread. I read that article years ago, but what goes unmentioned is that they live not only on Long Island but also in the City of Brotherly Love.

chickelit said...

The left works like organized crime.

Wipe that simile off your face. Go for the metaphor:

La Posa Nostra: "Our pose"

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well Sixty, there are big cities on the east coast and plenty of scurrilous or just embarrassed folks to hide out in them. But that stuff's definitely not as out in the open as your nice little home-grown Confederates have basically been for, oh, well a few hundred years.

edutcher said...

rhhardin said...

The left works like organized crime.

That's because it is organized crime.

Think the Reich, the USSR, PRC, the Democrat party; how do they operate?

PS Interesting how some people are for somebody once they win, but can't wait for them to act like all the people they beat.

PPS I take it Ritmo has a new secret ID.

ndspinelli said...

The last time Democrats got this angry at Republicans was when Republicans took away their slaves.

chickelit said...

@ndspinelli: Heh. I think you're on to something. Remember Kelly Osbourne's little slip of the tongue? The one very early on? Whose going to clean your toilets?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaM said...

And no one cares what you think, Kapo ricpic. No one. Ever. You really are that unremarkable. And unmemorable.

When someone starts speaking for everyone or no one, instead of themselves, it's a sure sign a grip is being lost.

And the land of lies where self protection and ego maintenance rules.

I care what ricpic thinks. In fact, I have a book on order based on something he recently said.

While ruminating today on the closing of Ringling Brothers Circus, I realized as well that the circus will continue and include elephants in the room for as long as Lem's Levity and life continue!





Leland said...

Mama, the other day; he was claiming no one cared what Chip had to say. He's consistent about thinking he speaks for everyone.

Methadras said...

Well, at least Andre won't see it coming. It'll be a surprise murder.

ndspinelli said...

Liberals can speak for everyone, at least in their circles, thanks to groupthink. Ritmo is better than this. Ricpic is my favorite Jew. Even ahead of Adam Sandler.

William said...

I'm hoping Trump will be two or three clicks above Berlusconi, but maybe he'll be a little worse. Anyway that's the range I expect him to be operating in. I don't think he's the second coming of Hitler, and I don't think his presidency will be an unbroken series of triumphs. I'm absolutely dead positive certain that he'll do a better job than Hillary. That woman was an endless drizzle of failure and fatuity.......The people who are the most pessimistic about him are the same ones who were the most optimistic about the Arab Spring.

MamaM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaM said...

an endless drizzle of failure and fatuity...

Yes! Drizzle does it, with a F-word bonus I wasn't familiar with that hits the mark.

Methadras said...

I find Mr. Balls incoherent blame shifting of 20 million uninsured due to repeal and replace to be fatuous and disingenuous. After all, wasn't it the chocolate messiah that made the original pitch that the country needed his ACA to insure 30 million uninsured? No one knew who they were, but by god they were there, so a new law that co-opts a 6th of the economy, writes twenty thousand pages of regulations, undergoes two SCOTUS rulings calling it a tax (not even healthcare coverage, but a tax) and that congress can compel you to buy it or be fined, a pay to play scheme to lure coverage on state exchanges towards insurers, disrupts the entire health care insurance system, which it was designed to do to pave the way for single payer coverage aka total government control of healthcare, still hasn't insured those 30 million nebulous Americans it said it would. Not to mention that costs have skyrocketed, insurers are leaving the exchanges due to their costs, and promises of a $2500 savings were merely lies, while your doctor is most likely out of the network only makes this utter debacle of a law that much more odious.

And Mr. Balls continues to defend it. Why? Then goes on one of his usual doublespeak tirades that republicans and trump lovers are going to be at fault for 20 million losing their coverage with repeal and replace when he doesn't even know what the alternative(s) is/are. Then goes on to make the hyperbolic claims that republicans hate the uninsured. I mean, like, real divisive hate. For being uninsured. Such mollycoddled hatred he says. With anger and zest and stuff, offering no real rhyme or reason, just spouting off, as usual about those poor suffering uninsured. I mean, i actually miss the calls of when he used to blame conservatives and republicans for poisoning the air we breath, the water we drink, and a couple of other befoulings that i can't remember. Maybe some kind of sorcery that turns trees into pederasts that expunge CO2 from their systems in the name of Mammon. I don't know.

Literally, Mr. Balls is a worshiper of victims or he's a grievance monger. It's hard to tell which anymore. Both characteristics are so interchangeable with him now.

Leland said...

ACA to insure 30 million uninsured?

50 million, or to be more precise 50.7 million (link goes to a web search, so you don't have to deal with USA Today, NYT, CNN). Oh wait... I misread.

The claim was 50.7 million uninsured, with 32 million to be insured due to ACA. So you are absolutely right Meth. But that's all 2009. In 2016; 20 million are reported as insured by ACA with 20 million still uninsured; and in Obama's 8 years; 10 million people are just no longer counted.

I bet under Trump; those 10 million Americans and more will be counted again!

The Dude said...

Adolph Ritmo self-identified as a Filthadelphia Nazi - he not only admits that he is profoundly anti-semitic, he doesn't even bother to deny that he is a Nazi. Keep goose stepping, No-Balls, you will go far in the party.

For the record, I care about what Ricpic writes. He is a true American.

As for the Confederacy, the war has been over for more than 150 years. But Adolph, having no education or knowledge, doesn't know that.

I think he is running out of oxygen inside his bubble.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Mrballs gets his talking points from Rachel Maddow the 15 year old boy, The Nation, and Mother jOnes. What do you expect.

Methadras said...

April, Maddow is the prototypical quick clipped talking smarmy douchette that everyone detests for having a resonance in their voice that belies a sense of superiority when they really aren't. Just another leftist hustler who thinks all 5 people walking the network are change agents. lulz.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

And the land of lies where self protection and ego maintenance rules.

You tell me what the appropriate response is to this:

"I find you horrible and contemptible, Schmendrik. And it has nothing to do with Trump. You earned it all on your own."

Or is that just the way right-wingers are socialized to talk to each other?

And if you can tell me what the last interesting little run-on sentence ricpic ever uttered was, and what you learned from it, please share.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Adolph Ritmo self-identified as a Filthadelphia Nazi - he not only admits that he is profoundly anti-semitic, he doesn't even bother to deny that he is a Nazi. Keep goose stepping, No-Balls, you will go far in the party.

Can someone translate this into normal-human language?

For the record, I care about what Ricpic writes.

For the record, I couldn't care less. Why don't you, too, share all the wisdom and enlightenment you learned from him?

He is a true American.

Apparently your vision for America is filled with half-wits, meatheads and chest-beaters. Other than that, again feel free to tell everyone what makes him so great.

Other than that, the last idiot I heard talking like that was this savage. Hopefully you can wish the same fate for him.

As for the Confederacy, the war has been over for more than 150 years.

Tell that to your neighbors. Also, tell them they lost.

Also, tell them the true American creed was written in the city you derisively call "Filthadelphia."

What's it like to surround yourself with sympathizers of a cause "thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery," while calling others "Nazis?" And berate a city in which the Declaration and Constitution were drafted and the revolution declared?

Well, one thing's for certain. You sure know some big words. Bigger words, apparently, than even "kapo." Since you obviously looked that one up and thought a kapo is a true American, and someone who could only be called out by a "Nazi" and an "anti-semitic."

You sure know how to twist things. And I'm not just talking about the stems of the strange fruit that grew so wild in your land. Talk about Nazis!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I find Mr. Balls incoherent blame shifting of 20 million uninsured due to repeal and replace to be fatuous and disingenuous. After all, wasn't it the chocolate messiah that made the original pitch that the country needed his ACA to insure 30 million uninsured? No one knew who they were...

Ok, I stopped reading there.

Highest rates of the uninsured among industrial democracies but you pretend they don't even exist.

How about this? I pretend these costs you claim have "skyrocketed" don't exist. Even? Are we good?

The basic social dementedness of American conservatives is they demand that people show more compassion to people who have more than the people to whom they demand that the rest of the country show no compassion at all. There is no way to redeem their immorality beyond that. I've never seen a fat, well-fed person swipe the food out of a giving stranger's hand on its way to the homeless, starving person's mouth. But Methadras (and so many others here) seem to think that's just the kind of righteous mindset and horrid behavior that should merit greater consideration. Remarkably, "Screw the less fortunate, I'M having problems!" wouldn't seem to be the battle cry for a decent person who asks his fellow man to vote for his own best interests. But the immoral and indecent people who would do seem interestingly to be ignorant and oblivious enough to think that others won't notice.

The Dude said...

TL:DR - Nazi says what?

MamaM said...

FOAM: To form or produce a mass of small bubbles, typically by agitation or fermentation; froth.

Almost as good and fitting as "endless drizzle".

Methadras said...

Commander Crankshaft said...

Highest rates of the uninsured among industrial democracies but you pretend they don't even exist.


You really don't realize that the highest rates of uninsured (voluntarily or involuntarily) is entirely mutually exclusive of industrialized democracies. Any of those other democracies Constitutional Representative Republics like the US? No. So, calling the US a democracy, as your side constantly does is a distinction they and you believe seems to make no difference. The only correlation that these 'democracies' have is that they are collectivist in nature, so naturally, they will collectively embrace 'insuring' those within their fold. We do not. Why? Because we believe in individual responsibility, not collective responsibility. We believe that you must be responsible for your own well being and caring and not burden the larger society to your short-comings or successes. That is not to say that you live in a bubble or an island unto yourself, but rather that you have a support structure through your own machinations that helps to take care of your medical needs.

Whether your company provides that through a benefits package, through some other insurance sharing co-op, local clinics, planned parenthood, whatever. What is not at question here is that government role in expanding who it brings into the fold of insuring should be curtailed if not stopped. If you believe that the 'general welfare' clause of the constitution actually means that government can have carte blanche to provide for the general welfare of the nation, then you must also accept that the rest of the constitution is effectively unenforceable in that regard. If the entire rubric of government providing healthcare falls under the 'general welfare' clause then activity government undertakes to provide some sort of service in the name of that general welfare is acceptable under any condition.

You seem to be operating under that presumption I think. If you aren't then explain to me your thinking on why the uninsured to which Obama has proclaimed need to be insured requires so much legislative and regulatory effort to do so when there were other avenues that were already in place to do that very thing without all of this ideological ju-jitsu that has followed the ACA and its contentiousness and yours.

How about this? I pretend these costs you claim have "skyrocketed" don't exist. Even? Are we good?

How about this. You are delusional, as always, with your proclamations. You never site facts, just hyperbolics and histrionics like you did here. So no, we aren't even, we are not good. You have a legislative tax structure that is under collapse because there is little to no support. The only expectation is that government steps into it again to become the sole provider of insurance. Inflating costs lead to a system by which government becomes the only parameter of cost. If that happens, then they will set guidelines for costs, who gets how much rationed care based on cost and who doesn't. is this what you wanted? Is this something you believe won't happen?

Look at the system now. The market can't bear the costs, hence collapse because government believes that by mere legislative sorcery that prop up a system the market can't. Costs have risen and will continue to rise. The penalty for not complying will continue to rise in the tax code. Either you are for this or you are lying.

The rest of your feelz are just that, irrelevant bloviating and blame shifting characterization of how you believe those of your ideological ilk are the paragons of virtue and compassion while everyone else who doesn't think or believe as you do is nothing more than a mustache twirling, top hat wearing, damsel-in-distress-on-a-train-track entrapping villain. You write (or talk) in circles trying to be clever by half and end up just looking like a hand wringing worry wort waiting for the sky to fall.