Good Tuesday morning, CivMixers. There are 10 days until Christmas…we’re coming down to the wire.
The Bill of Rights was ratified on this day in 1791, and hence, we recognize this as Bill of Rights Day. The Bill of Rights, for those who are a little shaky on their grade school history, is the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
When the framers wrote the Constitution, they were focused on the system and structure of government, and were very concerned – after their not-so-fabulous experience with Mother England – that the government not be TOO strong and controlling over what citizens of the new nation could and couldn’t do.
They didn’t focus so much on individuals rights initially, and then one of the framers, James Madison, drew up a list of things he thought ought to be mentioned – and protected – like the right to bear arms, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom from search without warrant and more.
Basically, the Bill of Rights sets rules for due process of law and reserves all powers not delegated to the federal government to the people or the states. The original joint resolution proposing the Bill of Rights is on permanent display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
In November 1941, FDR issued a proclamation dedicating December 15 as Bill of Rights Day, in honor of the document’s 150th anniversary. The first Bill of Rights Day came just eight days after the Pearl Harbor attack and the U.S. entry into World War II.
The next time Bill of Rights Day was observed was 1946, when President Truman granted a request from Congress to issue a proclamation declaring it so. It wasn’t until 1962 that the President has proclaimed Bill of Rights Day annually, and that proclamation is usually paired with a companion proclamation on Human Rights Day and Week.
President Donald Trump proclaimed December 15 as Bill of Rights Day again this year, and noted that “people around the world are empowered when human rights are protected by law.”
It’s also National Cupcake Day. So if you’re thinking: This is a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and eat a cupcake to celebrate the birth of the Bill of Rights – yeah, I could get down with that.
Fun fact: The cupcake was originally known as the 1-2-3-4 cake because the recipe called for 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 4 eggs, and also 1 cup of milk, and 1 spoonful of baking soda. One of the first recipes for a cupcake can be traced back to 1796 – five years after the Bill of Rights was ratified!
The calm before the storm…we’re in for some clouds in the morning that give way to mostly sunny skies. Temperatures will be highest in the morning, reaching about 34 degrees, and then falling throughout the day to near 25. Brrrr.
In the headlines…
Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, was the first person in New York and among the first people in the United States to get a shot of the coronavirus vaccine authorized by the FDA.
“I have no fear,” Lindsay told CNN. “I trust the science. My profession is deeply rooted in science. I trust science. What I don’t trust is getting Covid-19, because I don’t know how it will affect me and the people around me that I could potentially transfer the virus to.”
Lindsay, who is originally from Jamaica, said the vaccination didn’t feel any different than any other.
She was vaccinated live during a press conference with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor’s office said Lindsay was the first person in the U.S. to get vaccinated, besides those who participated in the vaccine’s clinical trial.
Roughly six hours later Cynthia Tanksley — a clerical associate specialist in Albany Medical Center’s emergency room — rolled up her sleeve to receive what is believed to be the Capital Region’s first coronavirus vaccine. She said it was “painless.”
Cuomo, whose state was among the hardest hit in the earliest days of the pandemic, hailed the vaccine as “the weapon that will end the war.”
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla hasn’t received his company’s Covid-19 vaccine shot yet, saying he and other executives will not “cut the line” as U.S. officials kick off a massive effort to distribute the vaccine across the country.
Older Americans are pivotal to the success of the vaccination campaign now rolling out across the United States.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. could achieve “herd immunity” by late spring or early summer, now that a COVID-19 vaccine is finally rolling out.
More than 300,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus since the first known death on February 6. That’s an average of more than 961 deaths a day.
It took 27 days to go from 250,000 total U.S. COVID-19 deaths to 300,000 – the fastest 50,000-death jump since the pandemic began. Some models project that deaths could reach 500,000 before vaccines become widely available.
A new analysis that looked at 54 studies in over 20 countries found homes where someone was sick with Covid-19 continued to be hotspots for virus transmission, even if overall community spread was down.
Crede Bailey, who heads the White House security office, lost part of his lower right leg, including his foot, and a toe of his left foot during a months-long battle with COVID-19.
The NFL won’t be cutting in line to get the coronavirus vaccine.
Some federal prison workers are expected to get vaccinated against COVID-19 tomorrow.
The Electoral College formalized Joe Biden’s victory in last month’s presidential election, as meetings in state capitals nationwide affirmed the Democrat had amassed more than the 270 votes needed to take office in a little more than a month.
Biden declared, hours after the Electoral College made his victory over Trump official, that “the rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people prevailed” over Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the election.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” Biden said in a prime-time speech from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. “Now it’s time to turn the page, as we’ve done throughout our history – to unite, to heal.”
Biden denounced attacks on voting by Trump and his allies, calling them “unconscionable” and saying that no officials should ever face the kind of pressure they received to falsely proclaim an election to be fraudulent.
Many top Republican senators and close allies of President Donald Trump said they now view Biden as the next president, after more than a month of unsuccessful GOP efforts to get courts and state officials to overturn the election results.
“(A)t some point you have to face the music,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican. “And I think that once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.”
Rep. Paul Mitchell, Republican of Michigan, said his disgust and disappointment with Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election have led him to request that the Clerk of the House change his party affiliation to “independent.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Biden on his victory.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said he would resign next week, ending a tenure in which the Trump loyalist carried the administration’s “law and order” message but ultimately dealt the most credible blow to Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was littered with fraud.
Trump sought to play down their differences, saying in a tweet announcing Barr’s departure that “our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!”
The scope of a hack engineered by one of Russia’s premier intelligence agencies became clearer, when some Trump administration officials acknowledged that other federal agencies — the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon — had been compromised.
More than a dozen Google services such as Gmail and YouTube were offline for roughly an hour yesterday, long enough to close schools, disrupt work and highlight again our dependency on the internet amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Millions face a steep and immediate drop in spending power when federal jobless benefits end this month, with a sharp rise in the poverty rate.
Cuomo warned that if the state’s coronavirus positivity doesn’t change, a shutdown could be necessary.
“If we do not change the trajectory, we could very well be headed to shut down” all non-essential businesses, Cuomo said.
NY-21 Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is calling for an independent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment made against Cuomo by one of his former aides, Lindsey Boylan.
Cuomo flatly denied accusations that he sexually harassed Boylan, calling the allegations “simply not true.”
“I heard about the tweet and what it said about comments that I made. It’s not true,” Cuomo said. He said he “fought for and I believe in” a woman having a “right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has” about workplace issues.
Cuomo also again denied interest in joining Biden’s administration, telling reporters he intends to remain governor despite reportedly being considered for attorney general.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie confirmed that legislative leaders are considering returning to Albany before the year’s end to approve revenue-raisers.
Heastie said any law approved next March or April to raise income taxes — and applied retroactively — could be struck down as unconstitutional because the state is required to give taxpayers prior notice of any changes.
The New York Board of Regents adopted New York’s first-ever K-12 learning standards for computer science and digital fluency.
The NYC mayoral primary is set for June 22. In the past, the city’s primaries were held in September. They were rolled back to June in 2019 to match the primaries for federal elections.
The New York City Sheriff’s Office, a law enforcement team unknown to most New Yorkers, has been thrust into the spotlight during the pandemic.
The NYPD would be prohibited from conducting any outreach to the homeless under a new bill before the City Council, handcuffing cops from protecting municipal workers on the frontlines of the crisis — a move opposed by police unions and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
De Blasio agreed to set an example and eschew his SUV and driver to ride the subway in a bid to encourage more New Yorkers to get back onto mass transit despite the coronavirus pandemic.
A group of New York City public school parents and teachers are asking a judge to suspend mandatory coronavirus testing — until the city can guarantee that the tests won’t also be used to collect their DNA in a database.
In a sharp reversal, the MTA board this week will hold off on approving a budget that includes thousands of layoffs and draconian cuts to transit services, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.
Outdoor dining will be suspended in the Big Apple beginning 2 p.m. tomorrow, as the Department of Sanitation issued a “snow alert” ahead of an impending winter storm that may dump more than 8 inches of the white stuff.
The NYPD will add another 900 cops over the next two months to reach the headcount reduced by this year’s budget cuts, the city’s top cop said.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams revealed that the two worst landlords in the city are still Jason Korn, who amassed an eye-popping 1,822 violations across 10 buildings this year, and the New York City Housing Authority.
Ghislaine Maxwell proposed that $28.5 million can ensure that she shows up to court on charges of grooming Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
Celebrity chef Sandra Lee has officially moved out of Lily Pond, the lovingly decorated four-bedroom Colonial-style home in Westchester County that she once shared with Cuomo.
City of Schenectady school officials could vote as early as February to appoint a new school superintendent – and if negotiations go well announce their choice soon after that, according to the Anita Murphy, Capital Region BOCES district superintendent.
Starting on Tuesday, 25 percent of the Town of Clifton Park’s employees will work from home and town hall will be closed to the public until Jan 4 to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
The town of Guilderland has issued a State of Emergency declaration as a result of rising COVID-19 infections.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy signed an emergency order putting a 15 percent cap on delivery fees from third-party companies like Grubhub and DoorDash.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken another major event away from Times Union Center, which won’t be hosting the NCAA women’s basketball regional tournament in March.
The Siena College Saints have halted activities for the second time following a positive coronavirus test to one of their Tier I personnel, which includes players, coaches and support staff, the school announced.
