Good Tuesday morning.
I want to preface this post by saying that you’re going to read it and start to get the wrong idea about me.
You’re going to think that I grew up sad about not having Christmas, which isn’t 100 percent accurate, though there were admittedly moments in my youth that I did sort of yearn to be like the majority of my friends and have a tree and Santa and cookies and reindeer and stockings, definitely stockings.
(There weren’t all that many Jews in New Paltz when I was growing up).
I think it was all the traditions that I yearned for. We didn’t have a lot of traditions in my family – not of the holiday merrymaking sort, anyway. And since I was an only child, I didn’t have the experience of sibling rivalry or revelry.
We lived abroad for a good bit when I was young, too, and that made me more of a solitary outsider and perhaps more inclined to the sort of family-based merriment that Hallmark likes to push on us this time of year.
As I grew older and wiser and more experienced, I got to see what Christmas was like for a lot of my friends, and realized it really wasn’t all holly jolly fun. I never met anyone who engaged in the ritual of caroling, though, and I still kind of regret that.
Going door to door and singing songs and getting treats (maybe?) in return…it sort of sounds like the Christmas version of Halloween, except less scary…and a lot colder, depending on where you live.
Does anyone even DO this anymore?
It turns out that caroling is actually the one holiday tradition that most Christmas-celebrating countries have in common. In its earliest version, sometime around the Middle Ages, it didn’t even involve singing, but was known as “wassailing” and called for going from house to house to deliver well wishes and holiday tidings.
Sometimes the people who answered the door would give the visitors a hot spiked beverage – known as “wassail” – to help warm them up while they were out in the cold. Wassail is traditionally a hot, spiced, apple beverage, while might also include ale or wine.
Singing and Christmas didn’t actually join up until 1223 when Saint Francis of Assisi began incorporating songs into his holiday services, and encouraging the members of his church to really get into music around this time of year. So the passing down of songs through the ages was an oral tradition, leading up to the modern day when singing and Christmas really go hand-in-hand.
The oldest known Christmas songs were all very religious in nature. In fact, we didn’t even get to a modern-day recognizable version until around the 16th Century with the appearance of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (a big fan favorite, that one). “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” didn’t show up until the 1700s.
In case you hadn’t guessed, it’s National Go Caroling Day, and it won’t be a bad day/night for it, with clear skies and temperatures in the low-to-mod-30s, though by nightfall it will be down into the teens. Bundle up!
In the headlines…
A special House committee’s vote to refer former President Donald Trump for potential criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol has brought fresh attention to a Constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding office.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no one can “hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State” if they took an oath to support the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
It’s the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution, and the coda to the committee’s 18-month investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
A new video clip played by the House select committee showed Hope Hicks, who previously served as a top aide to former Trump, reference his baseless claims of election fraud.
Leading Republicans largely avoided the historic criminal referral, while others pressed to weigh in offered muted defenses — or none at all.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump wrote that “these folks don’t get it that when they come after me, the people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote today on whether to publicly release years of Trump ’s tax returns, which the former president has long tried to shield.
The formal release of Trump’s tax records would represent both a significant act of transparency and what some fear is the end of an era of taxpayer privacy.
Top lawmakers unveiled a sprawling government spending package that would keep the government open through next fall after reaching a compromise on billions of dollars in spending, including another round of emergency aid for Ukraine.
Congressional leaders expect to pass the bipartisan bill, which is a product of lengthy negotiations between the two parties, in the coming days to avoid a government shutdown slated to begin this weekend.
The bill, which would provide funding for government agencies through the Sept. 30 end of fiscal 2023, includes $858 billion for national defense, a $76 billion increase over current levels. Domestic agencies would see a $773 billion level.
With Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso by his side, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is looking to expand and strengthen the U.S. relationship with one of its staunchest allies in South America and a country that’s getting plenty of attention from China.
Biden met Lasso to discuss efforts to stem the flow of migrants to the United States as the White House faces increased pressure over its immigration policies.
Lasso’s visit comes after Chris Dodd, the former Connecticut senator and Biden’s special adviser for the Americas, extended an invitation on Biden’s behalf during a recent visit.
Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily extended a Trump-era policy barring asylum applicants from entering the U.S. to protect Americans from Covid, while the Court considers an emergency request from GOP-led states to keep the exclusions in place.
The chief justice’s order, known as an administrative stay, was provisional and meant to give the Supreme Court time to consider the question of whether to maintain the program, Title 42. The court is likely to act in the coming days.
Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) will be appointed the U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic affairs, the State Department announced.
Biden condemned a rise in antisemitism as “vile and venom” during a Hanukkah holiday reception at the White House.
Resistance to the president’s proposed changes to the 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar has unified Granite State residents across party lines.
A U.S. appeals court said the White House could not require federal contractors to ensure that their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of government contracts.
Connecticut Gov. Chris Sununu has joined 24 other Republican governors in a letter to Biden arguing that the country is no longer in a medical emergency when it comes to COVID-19.
As the pandemic spread across the United States in 2020, the number of children who were killed rose precipitously, as did the number injured by firearms, scientists reported in two studies.
Hong Kong will allow people to enter bars without a negative rapid test, and scrapped limits on patrons for a raft of venues, as the financial hub continues to slowly loosen some of its last remaining Covid curbs ahead of a trip by the city’s leader to Beijing.
The World Bank has cut its China growth outlook for this year and next, citing the impact of the abrupt loosening of strict COVID-19 containment measures and persistent property sector weakness.
China’s abrupt and under-prepared exit from zero-Covid could lead to nearly 1 million deaths, according to a new study, as the country braces for an unprecedented wave of infections spreading out from its biggest cities to its vast rural areas.
Construction has begun on a $1.2 billion affordable housing project in East New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced. Dubbed “Alafia,” phase one of the project will include 576 new affordable apartments, green spaces, an outpatient medical clinic and more.
Hochul is now empowered to enact a suite of climate policies that could drastically reduce emissions in the coming decades and place new mandates on individuals and businesses.
A climate plan approved yesterday paves the way for New York to enact a “cap and invest” program similar to California’s long-established cap-and-trade system to limit emissions and require polluters to purchase allowances to spew greenhouse gasses.
Approval of the plan sets the stage for what will likely be years of debate over a mass shift toward using solar, wind and other alternatives as energy sources.
Albany Democrats introduced legislation late last night to raise their own pay by $32,000 per year in a special legislative session expected as soon as Thursday.
The governor is reportedly leaning on legislators to take up other matters if they hold a special session to raise their pay.
The new legislative session is just around the corner, and officials in Albany have a jam packed agenda for the upcoming year.
Hochul has vetoed a bill that would allow Upstate counties to opt-out of the new “holiday hunt” season, which went into effect only last year.
New York’s right-to-repair law landed on Hochul’s desk weeks ago. She’s not signing it to please tech lobbyists hired by firms such as Apple and Microsoft.
Democrats will retain their supermajority in the state Senate after Syracuse-area Sen. John Mannion won re-election by a mere 10 votes, an upstate judge ruled.
A final tally of the money that flowed into the final two weeks of the governor’s race indicates Hochul and PACs supporting her were outspent by Rep. Lee Zeldin and the two super PACs supporting him, roughly $17-to-$12 million.
A New York Times review of public documents and court filings, as well as various attempts to verify claims that Republican Long Island Rep.-elect George Santos, 34, made on the campaign trail, calls into question key parts of the résumé that he sold to voters.
Democratic House leaders stopped short of calling for the resignation of Santos, a Republican, who may have misrepresented himself in his résumé.
New Yorkers may soon see a reduction in “every” public service they rely on — from policing and sanitation to schooling and social programs — as the city scrambles to accommodate a massive new wave of Latin American migrants, Mayor Eric Adams said.
A second migrant who arrived in New York City from the southern border and was living in a city-run shelter has committed suicide, city officials said.
New York City is on track to end its current fiscal year with a “sizable” budget surplus of more than $2 billion, countering gloomier projections from Adams and Comptroller Brad Lander, according to a new analysis by the Independent Budget Office.
Federal authorities arrested Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead, a good friend of Adams, charging him with allegedly fleecing a 56-year-old parishioner of her entire life savings, extorting a businessman, and lying to federal agents.
Whitehead, famous for designer suits and jewels, had himself been the victim of a brazen armed robbery. Now, he faces an array of federal financial fraud charges.
City Hall has a plan to “reimagine” stretches of Fifth Avenue between Bryant Park and Central Park to make them more people-and-bicycle friendly.
The mayor called the plan for the stretch from 42nd to 59th streets an “unmissable opportunity” to “help create vibrant central business districts.”
A taxi cab fare hike in New York City for the first time in 10 years took effect yesterday.
Two people were arrested for breaking into New York City Council Member Eric Bottcher’s apartment building as crazed anti-LGBTQ activists targeted the pol.
New York prosecutors charged a former New York University administrator with fraud, alleging she diverted $3.5 million in state grants and used some of the money for a new swimming pool at her home.
Cindy Tappe was charged with sending $3.3 million to shell companies she created, and converting some of it for her own uses.
A 30-year-old woman was charged with burglary, accused of breaking into a temporary rental home where the actor Robert De Niro was staying in the early morning hours and trying to steal items, according to the police.
The legendary performer came rushing down to the second floor of his townhouse to find police arresting 30-year-old Shanice Aviles. She was allegedly grabbing presents from under De Niro’s tree and had fiddled around with his iPad, according to cops.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and ex-Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway had dinner at an Upper East Side restaurant hours after a special House committee recommended her former boss and his onetime foe be slapped with criminal charges.
The board of directors for the troubled American Irish Historical Society has resigned, under a plan by the AG’s office to preserve the nonprofit organization and save the Fifth Avenue townhouse that has been its headquarters for more than 80 years.
The union representing theater actors and stage managers has ratified a new contract that provides pay increases for Broadway workers and, in a move prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, allows producers to make short-term hires to cover absent actors.
The Big Apple’s public library systems revealed their most popular books of 2022, showing city residents were drawn to spooky mysteries about missing people and dreamy escapes from reality over the last year.
The New York Times is facing criticism after printing a crossword puzzle some say is shaped like a swastika, the day before the first night of Hanukkah.
St. Peter’s Health Partners President and CEO Dr. James K. Reed will retire at the end of the month after more than a decade at the helm of Capital Region’s largest hospital system, hospital officials said.
Lawyers for Nauman Hussain are again asking the state’s Appellate Division to postpone the criminal case against their client while it decides whether to order the judge overseeing the case to reinstate a no-jail plea deal he had to abandon over the summer.
The estimated 10,500 crows that bed down in the City of Troy every night are in for a rude awakening over the coming week as the city sicks federal wildlife biologists on them in an effort to get the birds to roost somewhere else.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer touted completion of his annual tour of every county as “one of the most impactful of his career”, ending in Saratoga Springs, where he discussed aid to area fire departments struggling with training and staff retention.
Twitter Inc. faced new uncertainty after a majority of respondents voted in an online poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief, amid broader concerns about how the billionaire is managing his businesses.
Musk has stayed silent on whether he will remain the head of Twitter, though he had previously said he would abide by the result of the survey.
Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and related crimes in Los Angeles and acquitted of another. The jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts.
Epic Games Inc. has agreed to pay $520 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that the “Fortnite” videogame developer violated online privacy protections for children and tricked players into making unintended purchases.
Actor Amber Heard said she decided to settle a long-running defamation dispute with actor Johnny Depp, her ex-husband, after appealing a June verdict that fell largely in his favor. She agreed to pay him $1 million.
