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Veterans advocates, Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna, have co-
hosted PBS' Nat'l Memorial Day Concert the past 12 years |
Joseph Mantegna and Gary Sinise are two of Hollywood's greatest patriots. In addition to hosting PBS' National Memorial Day Concert broadcast for longer than a decade, they are advocates for American service-members and veterans. The Los Angeles Press Club presented Mr. Mantegna with their 2015 Visionary Award for using his "high-profile status to make the world a better place and to spread information about issues of freedom and importance."
Mr. Mantegna serves as Honorary Chairman for the Salute to Hospitalized Veterans. He has helped raise millions of dollars for various charities, including autism, as parent of an autistic daughter. Gary Sinise also performs work to benefit both active-duty and veteran US service-members.
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US Air Force Band marches in New Year's Rose Parade |
New Year's Day is one of America's most patriotic national holidays. Six college football bowl games will have been played during this weekend. The Rose Bowl is preceded by The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Monday's parade again commences with a fly-over by a USAF B-2 Spirit bomber.
Two of the 22 marching bands in Monday's parade represent America's military service-members: The U.S. Marines Drum and Bugle Corps, and the U.S. Marines West Coast Composite Band.
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Gary Sinise accepts Parade's appointment as Grand Marshal |
The theme of this New Years' Rose Parade is "Making a Difference." On October 30th, Pres. Lance Tibbet, in announcing the Tournament of Roses' selection of Gary Sinise to be the 2018 Parade's Grand Marshal, described Making a Difference as "a way to honor and celebrate all of the people in our communities, who quietly and without desire for reward or recognition, act in selfless, generous and kind ways to aid or benefit others. Gary Sinise is absolutely one of those people. Gary’s humanitarian work with our defenders, veterans, first responders and their families over the years, embodies our theme to the fullest.”
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Journalist, Dennis Romero, wrote article
disparaging Gary Sinise (photo: Aaron Salcido
at his 1/2016 Zocalo/ Getty Open Art interview) |
The day after this appointment was announced, Dennis Romero, a staff reporter at the L.A. Weekly, created an article to condemn Mr. Sinise - "Rose Parade Criticized for Choosing Gary Sinise as Grand Marshal."
"But some critics are concerned that this could be a divisive choice. Sinise is a founder of a conservative group that gave early voice to then-presidential contender Donald Trump, who is now historically unpopular in California. . . . "It's not a good look for the city of Pasadena," says Maria Teresa Borden of the pro-immigrant group Indivisble Highland Park. "This is a region understood to be friendly to immigrants for centuries."
The next day, Stephen Kruiser, writing in PJ Media, reviewed Mr. Romero's piece:
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Writer, Stephen Kruiser |
"... the article is one long tantrum about President Trump that they are trying to make stick to Sinise. To say it's reaching would redefine understatement. The only actual fact about Sinise that the author points to involves him disagreeing with then-candidate Trump over his remarks about John McCain. Once mostly crypto-fascists, the American Left is letting its totalitarian, freak-flag fly more and more these days. The people who are making a stink about Sinise want to publicly condemn someone who has a connection (that is tenuous at best) to people who might have voted for Donald Trump last year. It's a kangaroo court of public opinion."
On December 3rd, Joe Mantegna came with his autistic daughter, Mia, to the L.A. Press Club's National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards to honor Sesame Street's co-founders - who added an autistic character to the show.
Mr. Mantegna was surprised to learn of Mr. Romero's stirring-up of animus for Mr. Sinise and the Rose Parade. Watch this DemoCast exclusive video interview to hear his reaction:
Stephen Kruiser summed up: "One would be hard pressed to find a prominent voice to speak ill of Gary Sinise. Google "Gary Sinise well respected" and you'll find a lot of mainstream media sources singing his praises. Using him as a vehicle to act out because they still haven't learned to emotionally deal with last year's election is yet another low for the "tolerant" liberal crowd."
Even Rush Limbaugh chimed in on Mr. Romero's hit-piece on the Rose Parade's appointment of Mr. Sinise. “This year’s theme is ‘making a difference.’ Sinise was cited for being a humanitarian and donating time and cash to veterans. They’re mounting an effort to deny Gary Sinise the opportunity to be the grand marshal of the 129th Rose Parade simply because he is supposedly a conservative."