Good morning. Welcome to the middle of the week.
It looks like the Republicans are likely to take control of the House majority, albeit with a slimmer margin than initially expected.
Meanwhile, Democrats have – a bit surprisingly – retained control of the U.S. Senate, which is good news for the president when it comes to judicial appointments. But, overall, it’s safe to say he’s going to have a tough time (tougher than before, that is) getting his agenda through a divided Congress.
That includes immigration reform.
We’ve spent a lot of time in this country fighting over who has the right to be here, when – ironically – we weren’t here first to begin with. That honor, of course, goes to the Indigenous people who long predated the European explorers who falsely professed to have “discovered” the Americas.
The fall has a number of sticky wickets when it comes to Native Americans.
The first, of course, is Columbus Day, which we’ve discussed at length in the past.
The second is Thanksgiving – a time when the myth is perpetuated of a friendly shared meal between the pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe, who were at Plymouth and its surrounding environs long before the Mayflower and its denizens arrived.
In truth, the pilgrims brought a lot of grief to the Indigenous people who pre-dated them on these shores by at least 12,000 years, if not longer – including disease, colonization of their lands, and eventually all-out war. As a result, the Wampanoags regard Thanksgiving not as a day of celebration, but rather of mourning.
The observance of Thanksgiving by the English also dated back prior to the pilgrims, and that didn’t involve a feast. Quite the contrary, actually, it called for prayer and fasting – no “e” there. In other words, the absence of food, not the overabundance of it.
And no football, either.
Anyway, there was indeed a feast and celebration of a successful harvest by the pilgrims in 1621, and they were reportedly assisted in figuring out how to farm by one or more helpful Native Americans.
There was probably some form of fowl on the menu, though maybe not turkey, as well as fish, shellfish, some fruits and vegetables, though likely not cranberries, and no potatoes, or pumpkin pie, either.
No pie? Why bother? It’s the only thing on the table worth eating, IMHO. Actually, canned cranberry sauce is also quite delicious, and yes, I LIKE the rings, thanks very much. None of this high-minded homemade relish nonsense for me.
The first Thanksgiving proclamation was issued in 1789 by President George Washington, and New York was one of the first states to adopt the practice of observing the holiday on an annual basis in 1817.
Interesting juxtaposition, considering the turbulent history here, November is National Native American Heritage Month, and National Native American Heritage Day is observed on November 26 – a day after Thanksgiving.
In 1916, Red Fox James, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, rode across the nation on horseback to gather endorsements from 24 state governments to establish a day to honor Native Americans.
In May 1916, New York was the first state to recognize “American Indian Day,” thanks in part to the work of Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian who led advocacy efforts for creation of a federal day of recognition from Rochester throughout the early 1900s.
Parker was the first full-time archaeologist at the New York State Museum from 1906 until 1925. He was born on the Cattaraugus Seneca Reservation, and was initially hired as an ethnologist by the New York State Library in 1904 to document Iroquois traditions.
But it was while he was serving as director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester that Parker persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “First Americans” in 1915.
President Ronald Reagan proclaimed “American Indian Week” in 1986 to be observed from Nov. 23-20. Four years later, President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 as National American Indian Heritage Month, which President Barack Obama later changed again to the current Native American Heritage Month.
It’s right about now that I start questioning my life choices regarding living in New York. Rain and snow and just blech. Sorry. No. A winter weather advisory remains in effect through 7 p.m. and temperatures will be in the low 40s.
The roads are likely slippery, so leave yourself some extra time to get where you’re going. You know how the first snowfall of the season can be; it’s like everyone collectively is suffering from winter driving amnesia. They’ll catch on eventually. In the meantime, keep your distance. Or, better yet, don’t go out at all.
In the headlines….
Donald Trump, the only president impeached twice, announced that he plans to seek a return to the Oval Office in 2024 – two years after voters ousted him and a week after they rejected his hand-picked candidates in several pivotal Senate races.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered.
His unusually early announcement was motivated in part by a calculation that a formal candidacy may help shield him from multiple investigations into his attempts to cling to power after his 2020 defeat, which led to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump is no stranger to chaos, or the courts, but no major presidential candidate has ever begun a run for the White House with comparable legal baggage.
Ivanka Trump has decided to bow out of US politics and not actively join her father’s bid to retake the White House in 2024, saying she has chosen “to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family”.
Compared with 2020, the 2024 bid is expected to have a smaller staff and budget, advisers say, as Trump has complained that his failed 2020 campaign had too many people and spent too much money.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed Trump’s attacks as little more than “noise”, and advised critics to “check the scoreboard” of his blowout re-election victory.
DeSantis gave a blunt assessment of Republicans’ shortcomings in the midterm elections, getting in a not-so-subtle dig at Trump not long before he was expected to announce a third White House bid.
Former Vice President Mike Pence said that he was angered by Trump’s conduct on and before Jan. 6, 2021, but he took pains to avoid attacking him as Trump prepared to announce a presidential campaign and Pence considers one of his own.
The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg took the stand as the star witness at the criminal tax fraud trial against the Trump family real estate business.
Trump won a legal battle against his niece Mary L. Trump this week, when a New York judge dismissed her lawsuit claiming he and other relatives had cheated her out of tens of millions of dollars in inheritance.
Republicans are on the cusp of claiming control of the House for the 118th Congress when it convenes next year. After notching victories in a handful of congressional races in Arizona, New York and California, the party is within one seat of taking the House.
Republicans have won 217 House seats to the Democrats’ 206, according to the Associated Press tally. A party needs 218 for a majority in the chamber.
As it became clear that Republicans would have, at best, a narrow majority, President Biden told Nancy Pelosi he’d like her to remain in office, to serve with him in what could be the final two years of their decades in public life.
Republicans were on the brink of clinching narrow control of the House of Representatives as California Rep. Kevin McCarthy won an initial test of his ability to round up enough votes to become the next House Speaker.
A right-wing challenger Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, drew three dozen defectors, showing weakness in McCarthy’s hold on his party and pointing to a potentially rough fight ahead of him to secure the job at the start of the new Congress.
North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik was re-elected House Republican Conference Chair.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Ticketmaster and Live Nation to be broken up, as Taylor Swift fans faced highly publicized technical difficulties in obtaining tickets to the singer’s latest tour.
A federal judge in Washington struck down a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 that the Biden administration has used to expel migrants crossing the border illegally, a ruling that will affect the government’s efforts to slow illegal border crossings.
The White House is seeking more than $9 billion in emergency public health funding for the coronavirus response during the lame-duck Congress, administration officials said, even as Republicans remain skeptical about the need for more money.
The CDC should consider not renewing a lucrative contract with Managed Care Advisors/Sedgwick, which is supposed to provide health services to some 25,000 9/11 responders who live scattered around the country, an advocacy group said.
A missile hit a Polish village near the border with Ukraine. Polish authorities said multiple explosions hit a village on the country’s southeastern border with Ukraine.
A New York judge allowed two upstate boards of election to count 1,200 affidavit ballots as scheduled today upholding a revised state law that prevented political candidates from interfering in the process.
State Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, who was ousted on Election Day is adding his name to the list of defeated Democrats who say a lackluster campaign by Gov. Kathy Hochul cost her party dearly in races for the state Legislature and US House.
State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris said redistricting was not to blame for his party’s struggles on Election Day. Instead, the Queens Democrat argued that candidates underperformed in newly drawn districts Biden would have won in 2020.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says she’ll be happy even if her Democratic conference loses its supermajority status. She blamed some of the losses on GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin’s popularity.
Environmental activists and public officials rallied in front of Hochul’s Manhattan office, calling for her to sign a bill that would institute a two-year state ban on some cryptocurrency mining facilities.
Hochul announced a $1 million investment for the construction of the Buffalo Central Terminal Great Lawn during a press conference at the Matt Urban Center.
The Shinnecock Nation has joined with more than 30 other organizations to urge Hochul to sign legislation that would protect unmarked, ancient burial sites across New York State.
Hochul announced that more than $21.4 million has been awarded to help Ukrainians who have fled their country as a result of Russia’s military invasion to temporarily resettle in New York.
Criminal justice reformers are preparing to push Hochul and state lawmakers to overhaul New York’s sentencing laws during the upcoming legislative session.
New York lost at least $11 billion due to unemployment fraud during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an audit released by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office.
The $11 billion was lost in 2020, under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to outright fraud and overpayments. But DiNapoli warned that despite the stunning theft in the the first year of the pandemic and lockdowns, billions more in fraud is likely to be uncovered.
Bracing for a possible recession in the years ahead, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration announced that its November Financial Plan will save the city a projected $2.5 billion over Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 thanks to an array of agency cutbacks.
Projected city spending will surge to $104 billion this fiscal year — up about $3 billion — despite across-the-board budget cuts ordered by Adams in September, City Hall said.
The city now estimates a $3 billion budget gap for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Adams has requested that agencies find savings as the economy slows and the city faces higher pension contributions and growing labor costs.
With New York City rents skyrocketing, Adams announced steps to broaden the pool of people who are eligible for a rental subsidy program that could help them stay in their homes or afford new apartments.
Comptroller Brad Lander couldn’t contain his laughter when a video clip was played on NY1 showing Adams vowing not to “hide the cost” of the tent city he’d built for migrants before abruptly scrapping the plan.
Faced with lengthy bureaucratic delays, tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants are slipping into the city’s underground economy and joining its army of undocumented workers.
New York City officials have reached an agreement to build the city’s first professional soccer stadium, the centerpiece of a giant mixed-use development that would transform a long-underutilized waterfront section of Queens.
It will be the city’s first professional soccer stadium and will be located in the Willets Points neighborhood, right across the street from Citi Field. Officials plan to complete the development by 2027.
Prosecutors in Brooklyn charged 32 people who they said were associated with two rival gangs in the borough’s Brownsville neighborhood.
A woman who tossed a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD van with four cops inside in Brooklyn during the 2020 George Floyd protests was sentenced to six years behind bars.
Performer Frankie Grande, the older brother of pop superstar Ariana Grande, was jumped and robbed of his Louis Vuitton bag by a pair of teen muggers in Midtown Manhattan, police said. The suspects were quickly apprehended — and one is just 13-years-old.
Amtrak will be adding two new weekday trains to its busy schedule between New York City and Albany starting Dec. 5, offering more options to passengers traveling to either destination or to points between in the Hudson Valley.
Reports that online retail giant Amazon plans to lay off about 10,000 employees this month aren’t resonating at the fulfillment center, or warehouse, in Rensselaer County since most of the jobs in danger are in technology or in corporate offices.
Offices for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved into a building at 11 Stonebreak Rd. off Route 9 in Malta.
A new cafe at 33 Ferry St. in Schuylerville hopes to foster this sense of belonging for the next generation of motorcyclists.
Starting next month, New Jersey will again allow hunters to use guns and bows to shoot bears on private and state-owned land in a major policy reversal for Gov. Philip Murphy, a Democrat who campaigned for a first term on a pledge to end the hunts.
There are now 8 billion people living on Earth despite the slowing of population growth in recent years, according to the United Nations, which called the number reached yesterday a “milestone of human development.”
A week after bruising losses for anti-abortion forces in the midterm elections, America’s Roman Catholic bishops rededicated themselves to ending abortion and elected a slate of new leaders to support that goal during their annual meeting.
NASA’s majestic new rocket soared into space for the first time in the early hours of this morning, lighting up the night sky and accelerating on a journey that will take an astronaut-less capsule around the moon and back.
Elon Musk continued cutting Twitter’s work force in his third week of owning the social media company, firing employees who had criticized him and eliminating contractors.
Beyoncé received nine Grammy nominations, tying her with husband Jay-Z for the most of any artist ever with 88.
She leads a pack that includes Kendrick Lamar, with eight nominations; Adele and Brandi Carlile, with seven apiece; and Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Future, DJ Khaled and the producer and songwriter The-Dream, with six each.
