Good morning. It’s Tuesday, World Freedom Day.
I guess that might be interpreted to mean many different things to many different people, but in this case it commemorates the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – one of the most powerful enduring symbols of the Cold War – marking the rise of democracy and freedom, and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
The holiday was established as a federal observance in 2001 by President George W. Bush.
Construction of the wall started in August of 1961 when the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) erected a concrete and barbed wire barrier between East and West Berlin.
Officially speaking, the wall was supposed to keep Western “fascists” from creeping into East Germany and undermining the socialist state. But really, it was meant to prevent mass defections from East to West. From 1961 to 1989, an estimated 5,000 people escaped over the Berlin Wall, and more than 100 people were killed in the process.
If you really want to take a deep dive into the wall’s rather sordid history, click here.
On this night in 1989, the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased, and ecstatic crowds of people went a step further, bringing hammers and picks and all manner of other tools to the wall to – quite literally, as Ronald Reagan famously once said – “tear down this wall.”
Germany didn’t actually become a single territory again until a year after the wall fell.
The Biden administration issued a proclamation on World Freedom Day, saying in part:
It was the aspirations for freedom of the people of Central and Eastern Europe that ultimately brought down the Berlin Wall and overcame the Soviet Union’s attempts to keep Europe divided by force. On World Freedom Day, we commemorate this historic event and honor all those who peacefully rose up and claimed their freedom and all those who continue their legacy by peacefully working to end tyranny and oppression in our world today.
On a totally unrelated note, it also happens to be National Scrapple Day.
Now, I have never tasted scrapple myself, but always wanted to. Devotees of the stuff regularly wax poetic about it, but it also seems to be the sort of thing – much like sausage – that, while delicious, you don’t want to think too much about what’s in it.
Scrapple is a traditional rural, Mid-Atlantic dish that was clearly created by people who were very interested in not wasting a single drop of precious food. To make it, pork meat – often with offal like the animal’s head, heart, and/or liver – is boiled until it falls apart and then mashed with cornmeal, spices and flour, formed into loaves and and then cooled to set.
The resulting loaves are then sliced and fried up, traditionally served with a variety of condiments, including, somewhat randomly, grape jelly, which, as anyone who has been paying attention here knows, is definitely not my favorite.
Scrapple is also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name of Pannhaas or “Balkenbri.” Next time I travel to the Keystone State, I plan on making a point of finally seeking some out and trying it.
Another absolutely glorious fall day is on tap, with temperatures in the low 60s and mostly sunny skies.
In the headlines…
Stocks tied to infrastructure moved higher yesterday morning after the House of Representatives passed a $1 trillion bill over the weekend, giving President Joe Biden one of his signature achievements and rewarding investors who bet on his plan.
U.S. manufacturers said the new $1 trillion infrastructure bill will support years’ worth of public works projects that will create demand for maintenance equipment and construction supplies, and potentially push prices higher.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned her party over “messaging” on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill she voted against last week — saying the spending will fix “some” lead pipes but not all of them.
Business lobbyists are pushing to derail about $800 billion in new taxes that come with Biden’s spending bill, but along with opposition from Democrats they are facing an added challenge: division within their own ranks.
A group of 11 Senate Democrats penned a letter to Biden urging him to get a handle on sky-high gas prices.
Biden could take action as soon as this week to address soaring gasoline prices, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.
One year out from the 2022 midterm elections, 58% of Americans say Biden hasn’t paid enough attention to the nation’s most important problems, as a majority disapproves of the way he’s handling his job, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.
The Milwaukee Bucks became the first NBA team to visit the White House in almost five years yesterday, when they were honored for winning the 2021 NBA title, and said they were excited to restart what had previously been an annual tradition.
Harkening back to the first NBA team visit to the White House, made by the Boston Celtics during the Kennedy administration, the president said during that he was “honored to welcome the Milwaukee Bucks to continue that tradition in sport and democracy.
A half-dozen associates of former President Donald Trump, including former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik, were sent subpoenas from a House panel probing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Also receiving a subpoena as the panel moved its focus to an orchestrated effort to overturn the 2020 election.: Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn.
Vice President Kamala Harris consistently receives lower approval ratings than Biden in public opinions polls, and a new USA Today/Suffolk survey continues that trend in startling fashion.
Harris headed to France late yesterday, a high-profile visit following Biden’s efforts to soothe tensions with America’s oldest ally in the wake of controversy over a nuclear submarine deal that Biden described as “clumsy.”
Harris will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, honor American troops on the eve of Veterans Day and represent national interests on a number of issues outlined by senior administration officials during a recent call with reporters.
More than 40 countries have pledged to cut greenhouse-gas emissions across their health systems, WHO officials said – the largest global effort to date to try to reduce contributions by the world’s hospitals and health care industry to global warming.
Federal Reserve governor Randal Quarles said he would resign his position around the end of this year, giving Biden as many as four seats to fill on the central bank’s seven-member board as he weighs how to fill the top job of Fed chairman.
The potential for U.S. public health to worsen as the pandemic continues is one of the greatest near-term risks to the financial system, the Federal Reserve said, while noting that asset prices are susceptible to large declines should investor sentiment shift.
The White House said businesses should move forward with Biden’s vaccine and testing requirements for private businesses, despite a federal appeals court ordering a temporary halt to the rules.
The Biden administration framed its vaccine mandate for private employers in life-and-death terms in a legal filing that sought to get the requirement back on track after it was halted by a federal court.
The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.
Airlines started flying thousands of Europeans and others to the U.S. after Washington reopened its borders to citizens of 33 countries who had been barred by Covid-19 restrictions for more than 18 months.
Kennedy Airport was filled with joyous reunions yesterday as U.S. borders reopened for the first time in nearly 20 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
After months in which the crossing lines were hours long, travelers moved swiftly northward into California from Tijuana, Mexico, as tourists with proof of vaccination joined the mix of students, essential workers and returning Americans entering the U.S.
Germany kept Covid-19 infection rates relatively low this past summer—a feat experts say might be driving a record surge in infections in the country that has prompted fears that hospitalizations and deaths could spiral in the colder months ahead.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said its monoclonal antibody drug continued to provide strong protection against Covid-19 infection for eight months, reducing the risk of contracting the disease by 81.6% compared with a placebo in a long-term study.
Rep. Jeff Hoverson, a Republican lawmaker in North Dakota, missed his rally opposing vaccine mandates because he has COVID-19.
SIRIUS XM host Howard Stern blitzed Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, accusing him of unsportsmanlike conduct and recommending banishment from the NFL.
The Singaporean government said that it will no longer cover the medical costs of people “unvaccinated by choice,” who make up the bulk of remaining new covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the city-state.
A New York City effort to vaccinate newly eligible kids ages 5 to 11 against coronavirus kicked off yesterday morning at school clinics — but ran into some early hiccups.
P.S. 40, in the Gramercy neighborhood, was one of a dozen New York City schools swamped with demand as the city rolled out its weeklong effort to bring a half-day vaccine clinic to each of its more than 1,000 schools that serve elementary aged students.
The de Blasio administration admitted that a handful of schools where COVID-19 vaccines are newly available to students as young as 5 years old do not have enough doses to keep up with the “unprecedented” amount of students seeking them out.
A criminal complaint filed against ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo includes an excerpt from his alleged victim’s sworn statement to AG’s office investigators in which she misstated the sequence of events she said took place in the governor’s private office in 2020.
Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, has officially called on Attorney General Letitia James to investigate Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple. Glavin said Apple unlawfully disclosed information to the New York Post.
The former governor’s lawyer insists that the attorney general’s office appoint an independent prosecutor, citing James’ relationship with Apple. Glavin says that after a meeting once between James and Apple, the sheriff declared, “She’s awesome.”
Facebook has banned a tell-all political book by former Cuomo and de Blasio aide Karen Hinton called “Penis Politics” because of its saucy title — and despite the fact it’s about sexism in government.
After years of delays as a booming market emerged in neighboring states, New York formally announced the winners of two licenses for mobile sports betting, though residents may still have to wait months to gamble from their cellphones.
The two licenses, to be issued by the state Gaming Commission, bypassed a marquee name in its decision, Jay-Z, who had teamed with two companies to bid for a license, in favor of a pair of broad coalitions including some of the biggest names in gaming.
Jay-Z had teamed up with Barstool’s Sportsbook, and the Gaming Commission announcement came days after several women accused Barstool founder David Portnoy of undesirable overly tough and violent sex. Portnoy has denied the allegations.
The commission unanimously approved FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings, BetMGM, Bally Bet, Kambi, Caesars, Wynn Interactive and PointsBet as online sports betting providers.
Additionally, the commission approved FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Bally Bet, Caesars, Wynn Interactive, PointsBet, Rush Street Interactive and Resorts World as online sports betting operators.
The approvals mean that New Yorkers will be able to make bets on their mobile phones; the state had previously limited sports betting to wagers made in person at casinos. Betting operators are in control of when they want to launch, regulators said.
Two bills signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul will help reduce the number of robocalls to New Yorkers.
The bills require phone companies to block robocalls from certain numbers while requiring internet service providers to utilize an authentication system to validate that a call is coming from the number displayed.
Noncompliant companies will be subject to a $10,000 fine or up to $100,000 per offense. The bills take effect immediately.
Both Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James made appearances at Somos, but James reportedly consistently got there earlier and stayed later, building momentum for her bid.
Hochul had an hour-long chat with Cindy Adams, who seemed to come away impressed (as impressed as Adams can be, anyway).
Some workers in New York’s tourism and hospitality industries will get over $2,700 in payments under a new program announced by Hochul.
Hochul proposed a $450 million package of state spending to help the state’s struggling tourism industry, including one-time grants to laid-off workers and their employers.
“The only way we’re going to say that New York is truly back is when the tourism industry is back as well,” Hochul said during an event at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “I believe they are interconnected.”
Six prisons across the state will close next year, Hochul announced, citing a declining prison population and savings to taxpayers.
Hochul has signed legislation to create a state Firearm Violence Research Institute. The institute will examine gun violence using scientific research methods.
Former Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo has created a campaign committee to raise money for a likely attorney general bid in 2022, state Board of Elections records show.
A number of Democratic state legislators are already facing primary challenges from the left next fall.
Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to his soon-to-be successor’s desire to get rid of mask mandates in city public schools, insisting Monday that it’s “too soon” to nix the face-covering requirement.
The incoming mayor of New York City thinks that schools should add cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to the curriculum, as Eric Adams ups the ante in his plan to transform the city into a crypto hotspot.
Queens Councilman Francisco Moya is one of several members of the city’s legislative body vying to become its next speaker, but his record when it comes to sexual harassment could prove to be a non-starter for some.
Incoming Manhattan Councilwoman Julie Menin adamantly denied that she’s considering a run for Council speaker after rumors swirled that she was laying the groundwork for a bid next year.
There are enough socialist-adjacent members to sway the City Council speaker’s race and take decisive action on future legislation. There are enough of them to make the life of a new mayor frustrating.
The Queens district attorney’s office asked a judge to toss out 60 criminal cases that relied on work by three former New York Police Department detectives who were later convicted of perjury, sexual assault or official misconduct.
The former detectives — Kevin Desormeau, Sasha Cordoba and Oscar Sandino — served as “essential witnesses” in the 60 cases that Queens DA Melinda Katz formally asked to be dismissed in Queens Supreme Court.
Do your job “before someone dies,” an advocate pleaded at a meeting of the city Board of Correction, which has the power to monitor Rikers Island.
More than 101,000 New York City public school students lacked permanent housing during the last school year, new city data show – a staggering figure that demonstrates the profound stakes of school closures and educational disruptions during the pandemic.
In conversations with more than a dozen Nassau County voters this week, they cited their overall disapproval of the president, their distaste for vaccine mandates and a fear of funds being diverted from the police as factors in their decision to vote Republican.
A regional association representing 50 upstate hospitals is calling on the state Department of Health to delay implementation of new laws that will require hospitals and nursing homes around the state to establish and maintain minimum staffing levels.
The State Police launched an investigation into allegations of widespread absentee-ballot fraud that have been swirling in Rensselaer County following Tuesday’s elections, including in several tight races in the city of Rensselaer that remain undecided.
Both the winner and the loser in the race for Saratoga Springs commissioner of accounts have had a rough week since Election Day. One has been arrested, while the other has apologized for his conduct the night the votes were counted.
Prominent left-wing Democrats are calling for Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s head, urging Democrats to strip him of his position on the Democratic National Committee.
Just days before workers at three Starbucks stores in the Buffalo area were scheduled to begin voting on unionization, both labor and management took steps that reflect the high stakes involved, including an attempt by Starbucks to delay the election.
Billionaire businessman and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz spoke to the coffee chain’s Western New York employees at a “partner event” Saturday evening in a downtown Buffalo hotel.
One year after he began campaigning to overturn a presidential election, Rudy Giuliani still has his honorary doctorate from Syracuse University’s College of Law. Student leaders want to see that degree rescinded
Democrat Matt Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, officially kicked off his candidacy to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, claiming that she is out of touch with the North Country district she represents.
Investigators probing the tragedy at the Travis Scott concert are looking at whether a bad batch of illegal drugs played a role in some deaths and numerous casualties, people familiar with the investigation said.
A 9-year-old boy is clinging to life after he was trampled at Travis Scott’s deadly Astroworld concert in Houston.
Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when he fired a gun mistakenly loaded with live ammo, made a public plea for a police presence on all sets where guns are used as Hollywood scrambles to avoid another catastrophe.
