Good morning, it’s Wednesday and I slept through the alarm – not a good way to start the day.
It is too early yet to start the Christmas countdown? Yeah, too early. But maybe not too early to say there are only 29 days remaining in 2020.
Today is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, which marks the 1949 adoption of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.
The purpose of this day is to highlight efforts to end slavery across the globe, which, in modern terms (not defined by law) generally refers to sexual exploitation, forced marriage, trafficking of persons and recruitment of children for armed conflict – basically situations in which a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.
According to the International Labour Organization, more than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery. Also, more than 150 million children are subject to child labor, accounting for almost one in 10 children around the world.
On a very much lighter note, it’s also one of TWO national days devoted to encouraging people to embrace and adopt mixed-breed dogs known as mutts. (The other is July 31).
Dogs are having something of a moment at the moment, as the pandemic spurred a bit of an adoption frenzy. People have more time at home, and also are in need of 1) something to do, and 2) something to take care of and/or spend time with. Enter the dog, who is always (well, I guess depending on the dog, but generally speaking) thrilled to oblige when it comes to unconditional love.
I have basically told anyone who will listen that my dog, Henry, has saved my life many times over during this dark time. Henry is a mini Goldendoodle, not a mutt. There is some evidence that mixed breeds are heartier and healthier than purebreds, (much t my eternal dismay) – especially when it comes to genetic disorders. Also, there are more mutts in shelters.
According to the ASPCA, approximately 3.3 million dogs enter shelters every year. This is also a moment at which the country is perhaps paying more attention than usual to the plight of shelter dogs, as President-elect Joe Biden is about to put the first shelter adoptee in the White House: Major.
Actually, Biden’s election means that there will be TWO days (also Champ, who was with the Bidens during the president-elect’s vice presidency) and a cat in the White House, which is three more animals than are currently (officially) living there, as the Trump family has no pets.
Donald Trump was the first president in over a century NOT to carry on the tradition of having a furry companion at his side in the Oval Office, which became something of a campaign issue.
The First Dogs (AKA DOTUS have their own instagram account, which is being followed by more than 64,000 people. I am one of those people, and I check the account regularly. It features a lot of paw puns, and I 14/10 support that.
And one more thing worth mentioning: it’s National Package Protection Day, which occurs the Wednesday after Thanksgiving and encourages everyone who orders things and has them delivered to be vigilant at this high-volume purchasing moment to guard against package theft. Be gone, porch priates!
Like I warned you yesterday, the unseasonably warm weather is over. Full stop. We are in for snow showers today and also temperatures in the high 30s.
In the headlines…
Britain gave emergency approval to Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, leaping ahead of the United States to become the first Western country to allow mass inoculations against a disease that has killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide.
…The vaccine will now be rolled out in the country next week, with elderly people in care homes and medical workers first in line.
The Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has issued an executive order granting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to clear Covid-19 drugs and vaccine for emergency use.
China will soon send hundreds of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines to countries that have conducted last-stage trials for its leading candidates. Leaders have also promised a growing list of developing countries priority access to its successful vaccines.
North Korean hackers have targeted at least six pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea working on Covid-19 treatments, according to people familiar with the matter, as the regime seeks sensitive information it could sell or weaponize.
A panel of independent experts advising the CDC in a public meeting voted that health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the long-awaited coronavirus vaccine. The vote was 13-1.
President Donald Trump’s coronavirus vaccine czar said that Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines are safe, with only 10% to 15% of volunteers reporting side effects that were “significantly noticeable.”
Trump and his deputies are privately admonishing FDA officials for not moving faster to authorize promising coronavirus vaccines — a push partially motivated by Trump’s desire to claim credit for record-fast vaccine development.
Trump has invited leading vaccine manufacturers, drug distributors, and government officials to a “Covid-19 Vaccine Summit” next week, just two days before a FDA advisory committee meeting to consider the first U.S. application for a Covid-19 vaccine.
Plans to begin vaccinating Americans against the coronavirus as early as the middle of this month are being developed as nationwide deaths hit the highest number for a single day in six months.
Tech companies are bracing for a flood of vaccine misinformation on all social media platforms.
Trump threatened to veto an annual defense-policy bill if it doesn’t include language revoking a provision that gives social-media companies broad immunity for the content they publish from users on their sites.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a proposed bipartisan coronavirus stimulus package amid months of congressional inaction on curbing the economic damage from the outbreak.
The Justice Department is investigating a potential crime related to funneling money to the White House or related political committee in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to court records unsealed in federal court.
Barr has named Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham a special counsel, giving him protection to continue into the Biden administration his investigation of the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russia probe.
Trump reportedly has discussed with advisers whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to his children, to his son-in-law and to his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and talked with Giuliani about pardoning him as recently as last week.
Giuliani pushed back against the report that he recently asked Trump to give him a preemptive pardon, claiming he never made the eyebrow-raising request.
A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an emergency order that would block his state from taking further action to certify its election results showing a win for President-elect Joe Biden over Trump.
Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin seeking to invalidate Biden’s win there, the latest long-shot court battle aimed at overturning the presidential election.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that there was no evidence of large-scale fraud during this year’s election, prompting a stern rebuke from Trump’s legal team as the president continues in his efforts to negate the results.
In one of the most striking rebukes to Trump since he launched his baseless attacks on the American electoral process, a top-ranking Georgia election official lashed out at the president for failing to condemn threats of violence against people overseeing the voting system in his state.
Biden’s nominee for a key economic post, Neera Tanden, has deleted more than a thousand of her own tweets, some of which were critical of senators who now hold her fate in their hands.
Biden pledged “a recovery for everybody” and promised “help is on the way” amid a worsening coronavirus pandemic as he introduced top members of the economic team he intends to bring to Washington.
Lawmakers are pressuring Biden for still more diversity in his cabinet picks.
Biden showed off his booted foot for the first time in public — and said he feels “good” after fracturing it while playing with one of his dogs.
The CDC is reducing the number of days one should quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus from 14 days to 7-10 days.
The red and gold party invitations to White House Christmas celebrations make no mention of the coronavirus, nor do they acknowledge the holiday message that public health officials have been trying to emphasize to Americans: Stay home.
The mayor of San Jose, Calif., violated the state’s COVID guidelines for his Thanksgiving dinner, while urging people to stay home for theirs.
With COVID cases and hospitalizations rising, New York City is advising seniors and those with underlying conditions to put themselves in a sort of voluntary lockdown — stay home, avoid unnecessary activity.
But, as usual, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo aren’t on the same page.
Cuomo penned a letter calling for U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to alter an upcoming COVID-19 vaccination program he says would inadequately serve “Black, Brown, Asian and low-income communities.”
NYC preschool and kindergarten students won’t have to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing required for older students when schools reopen next week because they’re less likely to catch and transmit the virus and have a more difficult time with testing.
Scores of NYC students with disabilities are stuck in understaffed and over-enrolled remote education classes, leaving them frustrated and falling behind, a new survey of more than 1,000 city families found.
Taxing second homes, freezing pay for municipal employees and hiking the price of a ferry ticket are among a slew of new suggestions from the city’s Independent Budget Office as the city faces a huge revenue shortfall.
A bipartisan spread of politicians, transit workers, straphangers and car drivers piled on MTA execs one by one last night to voice their opposition to possible fare and toll hikes at the first official public hearing on the topic.
NYC Mayoral hopeful Maya Wiley is planning to unveil a gun violence prevention plan today that would expand violence interrupter programs and send money to neighborhoods on a per-shooting basis.
The NYPD has sacked two cops who were arrested in separate incidents — one who was busted on charges he beat up his girlfriend, the other accused of stealing while on duty.
Blind New Yorkers say the pandemic has made crossing city streets more difficult and dangerous for them.
The coronavirus has upended criminal trials in the city, infiltrating courtrooms in ways that threaten both health and justice.
A court officers union is demanding the state court system give members rapid coronavirus tests, as November COVID cases among court staff and visitors have skyrocketed.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor, says Broadway could possibly be shining its bright lights again by early next fall.
The cocaine-dealing husband of the chief of staff to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie was depositing more cash in the bank every month than what he reported earning in a year — allowing him and his wife to live a lavish lifestyle, federal prosecutors charge.
Manhattan Democrat Brad Hoylman blasted the New York Young Republicans Club for the group’s planned indoor gala scheduled to be held tomorrow in the senator’s downstate district.
The operator of John F. Kennedy International Airport’s busiest terminal said its passenger numbers might not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, leading it to scale back or delay a planned $3.8 billion refurbishment and expansion.
More than 1,000 Columbia University students are threatening to withhold their tuition payments next semester in protest of the “exorbitant” costs of attending.
Columbia University announced that former FBI director James Comey will be teaching there next year.
Highway tolls on the New York State Thruway will increase by 30% for non-E-ZPass users next year, while the toll on the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is also set for a long-anticipated bump.
Albany Medical Center Hospital nurses continued their 24-hour strike into last night amid an ongoing stalemate with the hospital’s administration over their labor contract and concerns the hospital is not doing enough to protect nurses and patients from coronavirus.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy delivered twin blows of grim news, reporting yet another county record for COVID-19 hospitalizations at 76 patients admitted, and 159 new positive cases — the highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic.
A newly discovered batch of 55 uncounted ballots in Chenango County has the potential to alter the outcome of the yet-to-be-called NY-22 congressional race.
NY-21 Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik broke her weeks-long silence on the subject and said she backs Trump’s legal challenges to the election results.
The Troy Turkey Trot raised a record $18,500 despite a decrease in the number of participants, organizers said.
A 21-year-old man who threw a brick at an Albany police officer during a May 30 melee after a Black Lives Matter demonstration, leaving the officer with a concussion, pleaded guilty to felony assault.
A new bishop was named for the troubled Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.
Despite the pandemic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center today launches a 10-day tour of Taiwan with seven of the 100-plus musicians on its roster performing works by such masters as Beethoven, Haydn and Ravel in various venues.
Elliot Page, the film and TV star who received an Oscar nomination for “Juno” and was formerly known as Ellen Page, announced he is transgender.
Former President Barack Obama revealed during an interview with “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert that he sought classified information on extraterrestrials during his time in the Oval Office, but refused to divulge what he learned.
