Good Wednesday morning, CivMixers. Happy Inauguration Day!
Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be sworn in at high noon today to serve as the nation’s 46th president, and will embark on leading the country through a time of unprecedented turmoil and loss.
Kamala Harris will make history when she is sworn in as the first woman and first Black and first South Asian American to serve as vice president of the U.S.
The U.S. Constitution includes a 35-word oath for the new president, though most add “so help me God” at the end:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will do the swearing in honors for Biden.
Harris will actually take her oath first, and she’ll be sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first woman of color to sit on the nation’s highest court and a Bronx native.
The Constitution doesn’t actually specify what a vice president should say upon being sworn in. Since 1884, the vice president-elect has employed the same oath of office used by senators, representatives and other federal employees, which is as follows:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to kick off at about 11:30 a.m., and there will be only about 1,000 people physically in attendance, (mostly member of Congress and their guests) which is a big switch from years past, as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
There will also be significant security measures in place, due to the violent uprising at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
After the swearing in, Biden will head to the Capitol’s East Front for a Pass in Review – a longstanding tradition in which a new president assesses the military troops.
Next up, Biden, Harris and former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with their spouses, (not Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, because they’re taking a pass on the whole inauguration thing), will travel to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Biden will then receive a military escort, with every branch of the military represented, from 15th Street in Washington, D.C. to the White House. A “virtual parade” will be held due to ongoing virus restrictions. This evening, a host of virtual activities will take place, replacing the traditional in-person balls and parties of yesteryear.
It’s going to be a very significant day full of pomp and circumstance despite the many departures from tradition.
There’s rain in the forecast in Washington, D.C. this morning, though that’s supposed to give way to sun in the afternoon with temperatures in the mid-40s.
Here in Albany, we’ll see more morning snow showers, followed by afternoon clouds and temperatures in the low 30s. Brrr. But that’s going to feel like a veritable heat wave compared to the spate of days in the 20s we’ve got on tap. But that’s for later.
Right now, let’s get to the headlines…
President Trump used his final hours in office to wipe away convictions and prison sentences for a roster of corrupt politicians and business executives and bestow pardons on allies like Stephen K. Bannon, his former chief strategist, and Elliott Broidy, one of his top fund-raisers in 2016.
Trump retains the power to issue further pardons — including theoretically for himself and members of his family — until noon noon, when his four-year tenure comes to an end. But officials said they did not anticipate him doing so.
The full list of pardons, which does not include former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, (something Gov. Andrew Cuomo strongly and publicly opposed), but does include rapper Lil Wayne, can be found here.
Some have suggested that Biden could overturn the pardons if they’re viewed as “corrupt” or an abuse of presidential power.
Not long after he strides across the White House grounds this morning for the last time as president, Trump will step into a financial minefield that appears to be unlike anything he has faced since his earlier brushes with collapse.
Trump claimed in a muted farewell address that he’ll “pray” for Joe Biden’s administration and insisted he was “horrified” by the attack on the U.S. Capitol that he incited earlier this month.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell directly blamed Trump for the deadly mob that attacked the Capitol, as the Senate prepares for an impeachment trial on whether to convict the President for “incitement of insurrection” and potentially disqualify him from holding office in the future.
Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and McConnell have yet to strike an agreement on how to run an evenly split chamber. And McConnell is driving a hard bargain.
A fight over the filibuster threatens to drag out the talks between the two Senate leaders for days.
Moderna’s leader said the drugmaker is on track to produce enough doses of its new Covid-19 vaccine to help meet Biden’s goal to administer 100 million vaccine doses in the first 100 days after he takes office.
The World Health Organization acted too slowly in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing the virus to spread worldwide and eventually kill more than 2 million people, an independent report found.
West Virginia has emerged as an unlikely success in the nation’s otherwise chaotic vaccine rollout, largely because of its decision to reject a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens and instead enlist mom-and-pop pharmacies to vaccinate residents.
Trump has reportedly floated the possibility of starting a new political party as he prepares to leave the White House amid internal struggles within the Republican Party.
The NYT has published what it says is a complete list of Trump’s Twitter insults, issued from 2015 to 2021.
If one Florida legislator has his way, drivers could soon hop on President Donald J. Trump Highway and cruise the length of the state, barreling past the Everglades and the conservative retirement community of The Villages before arriving in a historically Black neighborhood in Miami.
Tiffany Trump, the outgoing president’s daughter from his second of three marriages, is engaged.
Biden arrived in the nation’s capital yesterday for the first time since his election, and on the eve of his inauguration, he did what his predecessor declined to do by leading a national mourning for Americans killed by the coronavirus.
When he is sworn in Biden will get the nuclear “football” — an oddly shaped 45-pound briefcase that is always at the president’s side to command and control the country’s massive nuclear arsenal. But he won’t receive it from Trump, who will be in Florida.
The incoming Biden team has been withholding the names of several career government officials tapped to temporarily lead major agencies with the hope of staving off any last-minute repercussions from departing Trump officials.
The incoming Biden administration is planning on enforcing far stricter guidelines to protect against the spread of COVID-19 in the White House than its predecessor, according to new guidance sent to staffers.
Former Democratic Staten Island Rep. Max Rose, who lost a re-election bid and briefly was running for NYC mayor, is set to join the Biden administration as a senior Pentagon adviser on coronavirus-related issues
Under pressure from backlash over its choice of a casual cover photo of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, fashion bible Vogue will run a limited-edition print version of its digital cover, a more formal shot, in honor of the inauguration.
Janet Yellen made the case for another sweeping economic aid package at her hearing to be the next U.S. Treasury secretary, pushing back against Republican skepticism of the need for more deficit spending to bolster the recovery.
While most arrests in the U.S. Capitol riot have been individuals, new charges accused three people tied to a right-wing militia of conspiring to commit violence.
The Justice Department will not pursue insider trading changes against Sen. Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, quietly ending a monthslong investigation into his dumping of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in the early days of the pandemic.
In his $193 billion executive budget proposal, Cuomo proposed raising the state’s top income-tax rate by 2 percentage points, an increase that would mean New York City residents in the top bracket would pay the highest combined local tax rate in the country.
Cuomo’s budget relies on at least $6 billion in yet-to-be-approved federal aid, pauses a small tax cut for the middle class and raises taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to make ends meet.
The precariousness of the situation and unknowns regarding what kind of help D.C. will provide led Cuomo to lay out two different budget possibilities:one assuming a federal aid package of $6 billion, and another with the full $15 billion.
If the federal government comes through with $15 billion in funding for New York, Cuomo said he would alter his proposal to boost education aid, restore funding to local governments and eliminate the proposed tax hike on those making $5 million or more.
Cuomo has threatened to sue the federal government, soon to be led by his longtime friend, Biden, if New York State does not receive adequate money to offset the economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If Washington doesn’t provide New York State with our $15 billion fair share, we will pursue litigation,” Cuomo vowed during the remote presentation in Albany.
Pay raises for an estimated 80,000 state executive branch employees may be deferred for more than two years, until April 2023, according to the briefing book for Cuomo’s proposed state budget.
More budget highlights can be found here.
The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID has climbed above 9,000 for the first time since early May.
New York senators have asked the state Office of Court Administration to issue additional guidance on the eviction moratorium for local courts as lawmakers receive multiple reports of judges disregarding the law and regulations on the books.
Nearly all personnel in state courts are eligible to receive coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — except judges. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore is not happy about that.
“Failure to include judges in the priority category runs counter to our ability and our efforts to maximize the provision of justice services, and to our central role in protecting public safety and upholding the rule of law,” DiFiore said.
Physicists and other researchers revealed in a study published earlier this month that air flow patterns within a car can heighten or reduce the risk of contracting COVID from someone else in your vehicle.
New York Police Department officers used excessive force in response to a Black Lives Matter demonstration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. , New York state Attorney General Letitia James said.
The operator of New York City’s subway and bus systems as well as two regional commuter rail lines, the MTA, will delay a fare increase planned for this spring, due in part to the possibility it will receive further federal relief.
MTA officials allowed a white supervisor to continue working after he assaulted one of the agency’s Black lawyers, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court claims.
Three out of four straphangers believe the MTA’s costly cleaning and disinfecting regimen makes them safer on transit, according to an agency survey, despite scientific evidence that COVID-19 primarily spreads through the air.
A massive wedding for the son of a Hasidic grand rabbi took place in Brooklyn on Monday night amid the coronavirus pandemic — but law enforcement authorities said the festivities were all legal.
More than a quarter of New York state residents don’t plan to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a new Siena poll. Black, Latino and younger voters were more likely to say they don’t want the shot.
New York City is set to run out of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the week — which would force it to start closing its injection sites and cancel appointments, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned.
Less than a week after his vigorous launch into the New York City mayor’s race, Andrew Yang said yesterday that he was halting in-person events and quarantining because a campaign staff member had tested positive for the coronavirus.
An American soldier discussed targets for potential terror attacks in the United States – including some in NYC – and shared instructions for killing American troops in the Middle East with someone he believed was an Islamic State supporter, federal authorities said.
Albany’s City Hall will be closed today in anticipation of possible protests around the Capitol.
Two senior leaders of Fox News’s reporting division are exiting the network as the cable channel replaces some news programming with right-wing opinion shows and tries to lure back viewers who balked at its coverage of the 2020 election and its aftermath.
In the latest sign of trouble for the standardized testing empire that plays a major role in college applications for millions, the organization that produces the SAT said it would scrap subject tests and the optional essay section, further scrambling the admissions process.
The NYC Department of Education threw some parents into a tailspin this weekend when it posted erroneous registration deadlines for the city’s specialized high school exam.
Cree, the semiconductor manufacturer that is building a $1 billion factory next to the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Oneida County, is going to be giving out scholarships to SUNY Poly students on Friday.
Plug Power has decided to go to the Rochester area to build its new $125 million hydrogen fuel cell “gigafactory” that would eclipse its current factory in Latham as its largest manufacturing facility.
The Berne Town Board is considering a law that would remove a 2019 ban on solar facilities in the town.
North Country Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik demanded the Albany Times Union retract what she called a “heinous and wildly inappropriate” blog post that mocked her for being “childless.” (The blog post has since been taken down).
A judge has denied a motion by Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and two of her former mayoral campaign workers to move their criminal trial out of Monroe County.
Netflix ended 2020 with more than 200 million subscribers, a milestone powered by consumers left homebound by the pandemic, eager for entertainment, and rising demand in international markets where the streaming giant has a head start over many rivals.
Netflix announced in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it would not “need to raise external financing for our day-to-day operations,” a significant move for the heavily indebted company.
