Good Tuesday morning.
Today is the 19th annual Safer Internet Day, which is held to raise awareness about “emerging online issues and concerns” – from cyberbullying and social networking to digital identity and cybercrime….and more.
Issues related to the internet abound, and are only growing the more we move out lives into the virtual space.
(BTW, now would be a good time for someone to explain NFTs and the Metaverse to me…if you have a few minutes to spare and are able to stomach the idiocy of a complete luddite).
Also, the US version of the Safer Internet Day website (the above link is for the European site) has a bit of a different spin, saying the day “aims to not only create a safer internet but also a better internet, where everyone is empowered to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively.”
If you scroll down on that site, BTW, you’ll find that Safer Internet Day is sponsored by none other than the giants of social media, including but not limited to Google, Meta (the company formally known as Facebook), TikTok, Twitch, Twitter and more.
Of course, there are those who would point out the abject hypocrisy of these entities claiming to be champions of a safer internet when their policies and products are the VERY REASON why the internet is, to put it mildly, not a particularly safe or nice or supportive place.
But who am I to judge?
Maybe it would be better for me to stick to something non-controversial, like kites, which are the oldest human-made flying objects in existence. Because who doesn’t love a kite? More than 50 million of them are reportedly sold annually in the U.S. alone. But Weifang, Shandong, China is known as the kite capital of the world.
The explorer Marco Polo is often cited as bringing kites from China to Italy, but there’s mixed reports on where, exactly, the kite originated.
I must confess that I am terrible at flying kites myself, (something about my extreme lack of hand-eye coordination really gets in the way here), but I do enjoy watching other people flying them – especially the competitive ones, which are very cool.
That aforementioned link will take you to the American Kite Flying Association, because of course such a thing exists. And the site also has a long treatise about the history of kites and their varied usage through the years by the military, in space exploration and more. It’s worth a read if you have a moment or two to spare.
One thing I did learn while skimming through this site is that there is such a thing as “traction sports” that involve kite buggy racing and also kite surfing. Who knew?
Today would have been movie icon James Dean’s 91st birthday.
After yesterday’s wintry mix of freezing drizzle/snow whatever that was, we’re looking at clouds early today giving way to partially sunny skies later on and temperatures in the mid-to-high-30s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had an awkward exchange with a reporter at the White House over the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Biden vowed the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline will be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Russia’s Vladimir Putin retorted that the U.S. and its allies are the only ones talking invasion.
Putin said diplomatic ideas raised in a meeting by French President Emmanuel Macron were worth pursuing, but did not rule out a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A group of 33 Republican senators warned Biden that they would work to thwart implementation of any new Iran nuclear agreement if his government did not allow Congress to review and vote on its terms.
Biden’s potential nomination of Judge J. Michelle Childs to the Supreme Court is giving him another opportunity to either try for a bipartisan victory or heed the wishes of the left of his party.
Eric Lander, a top science adviser to Biden, resigned after a White House investigation that found he had violated workplace policies became public.
Lander, bullied and demeaned his subordinates and violated the White House’s workplace policy, the two-month internal White House investigation recently concluded.
The Biden administration set out 70 recommendations to encourage union membership, including making it easier for many federal employees to join unions and eliminating barriers for union organizers to talk with workers on federal property.
Biden intends to appoint the son of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to serve on the Board of Visitors to the U.S. Naval Academy, the White House announced.
The Supreme Court reinstated an Alabama congressional map that a lower court had said diluted the power of Black voters, suggesting the court was poised to become more skeptical of challenges to voting maps based on claims of race discrimination.
The justices voted 5-4 to leave in place a political map drawn by the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature while the state’s appeal proceeds before the Supreme Court.
Former President Trump said Joe Rogan should “stop apologizing” amid ongoing controversy surrounding the podcast host.
Trump last month handed over to the National Archives 15 boxes of documents, letters, gifts and mementos that he had taken with him when leaving office but that he had been legally required to leave in the custody of the federal government, officials said.
Israeli scientists said they found “striking” differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels prior to contracting the disease with those who didn’t.
U.S. Olympic figure skater Vincent Zhou withdrew from the men’s singles competition after testing positive for COVID-19. He made the announcement in an emotional Instagram video posted less than a day before the start of the event.
“It seems pretty unreal” to test positive for the coronavirus, Zhou said. “I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic,” he added, citing the isolation and loneliness he’s endured.
Casey Dawson, a 21-year-old speedskater for the United States, is on his way to Beijing after testing requirements kept him in Salt Lake City as the Games got underway last week.
A Canadian man has been charged with intentionally striking four men with a car during a protest against COVID-19 restrictions, authorities said.
Canada’s public safety minister said U.S. officials should stay out of his country’s domestic affairs, joining other leaders in pushing back against prominent Republicans who offered support for the protests of COVID-19 restrictions that have besieged Ottawa.
Nearly two years after Australia slammed its borders shut to almost all noncitizens, the country will reopen this month to international tourists who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced.
Hong Kong’s leader pleaded with residents to stay home as the city battles its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began, while vowing to stick with a zero-tolerance approach to stamp out the virus.
White-tailed deer on Staten Island have become the first wild animals with documented Omicron infections. The coronavirus has now been found in deer in 15 states.
If white-tailed deer become a reservoir for the virus, the pathogen could mutate and spread to other animals as well, or back to humans in new forms. Adaptation in animals is one way virus variants are likely to emerge.
America’s pandemic-related bulk-buying habit is expected to stick as people eat more at home, supply remains uncertain and inflation rears up. Retailers and producers are shifting operations as a result.
The dream of homeownership has grown more out of reach for middle-class Americans during the pandemic.
Cheerleaders from Sachem North and Sachem East high schools are joining fellow cheerleaders in New York protesting a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Governor Phil Murphy announced that he is lifting New Jersey’s school mask mandate starting next month.
Connecticut will permit students and staff members to stop wearing masks in schools by no later than Feb. 28, after Gov. Ned Lamont recommended that the statewide mask mandate end on that date.
The governors of Delaware and Oregon also made announcements on Monday about relaxing mask mandates at the end of March. And California officials said that state’s universal mask mandate for indoor public places would be lifted next week.
The California Legislature has approved a bill requiring workers receive up to two weeks of paid time off if they get sick from the coronavirus, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign it into law.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul faced mounting pressure to lift mask mandates for students and teachers.
New York’s proof-of-vaccination or mask rule for businesses is set to have an “update” tomorrow, Hochul said.
Lifting the mandate for New York schools would be easier, Hochul said, if more parents got their children vaccinated for “that suit of armor they need to be protected.”
Hochul’s office declined to say whether the governor will continue to impose the guidance impacting school children, but that mandate is “expected” to be renewed.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino slammed Democrat Hochul’s lack of action as liberal prosecutors continue bail policies that allow criminals to stay on the streets, saying it’s “completely wackadoo.”
Hochul announced that digital COVID-19 vaccination credentials issued from Puerto Rico will immediately be accepted through New York State’s Excelsior Pass Scanner application.
Dozens of New York City firefighters, FDNY employees and other municipal workers rallied at the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall to protest a vaccine mandate that could leave them without jobs by the end of the week.
Hochul’s new health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, showed “complete disregard” towards families of nursing home COVID-19 victim’s families when she said she “won’t unravel” mistakes made under ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican lawmakers charged.
In a whirlwind visit to Ulster County, Hochul promised to bring “the full resources of the state to bear in our storm recovery efforts” and to continue to offer the state’s support in the days ahead.
On Thursday evening, Hochul is set to hold a very high-dollar campaign fundraiser in Manhattan being advertised as a “small, private dinner” with the governor.
A subsidy that could cost taxpayers up to $130 million annually is being proposed by Hochul to indefinitely cover the costs associated with bringing farm workers in line with the rest of the labor market with a 40-hour work week.
Hochul has proposed a $41 million expenditure to repair the hallowed grand staircase on the front of the state Capitol.
Health advocates gathered on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to urge Hochul to repeal the Medicaid prescription drug carve out.
Adams is backing Hochul’s plan to use taxes from 10 new skyscrapers around Penn Station to rehab the transit hub — despite warnings from advocates that doing so would divert needed tax revenue from city coffers.
Adams was confronted with several accounts of his dining on fish in public — and acknowledged that he was “imperfect” and had not always stuck to a strictly vegan diet.
“Here’s my message — the more plant-based meals you have, the healthier you’re going to be,” Adams told reporters. “Don’t worry about what’s on Mayor Adams’s plate,” he added. “Put these items on your plate.”
Adams announced the expansion of “lifestyle medicine” services to six locations in the city’s public hospital network, and dismissed FishGate by saying his personal habits are important only to the “food police” and not everyday New Yorkers.
“I want to be a role model for people who are following or aspire to follow a plant-based diet, but, as I said, I am perfectly imperfect, and have occasionally eaten fish,” Adams also said in a statement.
Adams defended his friendship with a Manhattan restaurateur who pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges — and cited his own arrest as a youth as his rationale for doing so.
The mayor’s views on policing are tied in part to his relationships with families of officers killed on the job, as well as with police abuse victims.
Bronx Democratic state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi declared her candidacy for Congress, entering the increasingly crowded Democratic primary in the newly drawn Third Congressional District.
The district that stretches from Suffolk and Nassau counties into Queens also covers parts of the Bronx and Westchester County since the State Legislature approved new congressional district boundaries last week.
Biaggi’s anti-police funding tweets — many of which were scrubbed from her Twitter account but were captured in screen grabs — could haunt her in a district where many moderate Democrats support law enforcement.
Several potential candidates have emerged to succeed Biaggi in the state Senate as she begins her congressional campaign.
Andrew Cuomo has taken a small step toward reentering public life, claiming that his name was cleared by multiple district attorneys who declined to press sexual harassment charges despite finding credible allegations against him.
The former governor expressed regret for resigning in the face of the accusations lodged against him, adding: “I never resigned because I said I did something wrong. I said, I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction.”
“It turns out in a remarkably short period of time that it did become all bogus. 11 became zero,” Cuomo said. “If you do an honest summary, which is what I get from people on the street, I have been vindicated.”
Cuomo isn’t ruling out another run for public office, but insists it’s too soon to talk about it.
One source with ties to members of Cuomo’s political operation said the former governor’s close allies have called to solicit opinions about his prospects should he decide to challenge state Attorney General Letitia James in a Democratic primary this year.
Good government groups say New York’s ethics commission should investigate whether Cuomo broke the law by accepting free help from a group of former aides who worked to defend him against sexual harassment allegations.
The NYPD detectives’ union has filed an ethics complaint against Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who blasted cops for going mask-less after the funeral of slain Officer Jason Rivera — and for liking a tweet that compared cops with Nazis.
After surviving two wars, the Nazi invasion of Hungary and the Holocaust, a 99-year-old man died Saturday afternoon after being hit by a car on his way to synagogue, family members and the police said.
The former head of one of New York’s largest operators of homeless shelters pleaded guilty to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors in a scheme that went on for years, as homelessness in the city grew to record numbers.
Sen. Michelle Hinchey introduced a bill that would require cannabis shops to apply a $1 deposit for any marijuana products sold in single-use plastic containers and also reimburse consumers for that fee if they return the container.
Education union leaders are joining students and lawmakers in urging New York state to up investment in SUNY and CUNY schools.
New York ranked fourth in the nation for the highest number of fentanyl deaths last year, according to a new report published last week.
After just four weeks of taking mobile bets, New York dethroned New Jersey to take the market lead.
The state is looking to sell Kiernan Plaza, the former train station in downtown Albany that had once been envisioned as a high-tech incubator affiliated with Albany Nanotech more than a decade ago.
Michael S. Barone, a retired Albany police lieutenant who also is an attorney, was arraigned on weapons and robbery charges after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly shooting and robbing a friend last year in Rensselaer.
The New York Racing Association announced that tickets for the 154th running of the Triple Crown’s final leg on June 11 will go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.com.
Attendance at Belmont Park will now be capped at 50,000 instead of the pre-COVID-19 pandemic capacity of 90,000.
