It’s 2/22/23 (AKA Wednesday).
I feel like there have been a lot of religious-themed posts of late. I guess it’s the season. Spring – the time of renewal – brings with it Easter and Passover, which are two pretty big holidays with a lot of bells and whistles in terms of preparation and observance.
Interesting, though I’ve never made this connection before, Lent calls for giving up meat and other luxuries and Passover calls for giving up all things grain-related (all leavened items/Hametz, technically speaking, and also legumes, rice, millet, and corn if you’re really observant).
But, then again, Jews only have to avoid leavened food and drink for seven days – not 40, which is the duration of Lent (more on that in a moment). Drink, by the way, includes beer and most liquor, though wine is OK. (Lots of that is consumed during the Seder). We’ll talk more about Passover when it officially starts on April 25.
Anyhow, today is Ash Wednesday and also the first day of the observance of Lent, which is named after an old English word meaning “lengthen”. During Lent, Catholics are supposed to engage in conscious sacrificing to represent the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and praying in the desert after his baptism.
BUT, you say, there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, six of which are Sundays. Yes. Sundays don’t count during Lent. In other words, they are not days of abstinence and sacrifice. (Oh, and for the record, when we’re speaking here of “abstinence”, we mean abstaining from food, not sex, and also not alcohol).
Individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 59 and are generally in good health are supposed to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, which is also part of Holy Week and commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary.
Unlike Jewish fast days, which require total cessation of taking in either food or drink from sunset on one day to after sundown the next, those who observe the Good Friday and Ash Wednesday fasts are allowed to eat one full meal and two smaller meals in the day.
If you’re 14 or older, you’re supposed to abstain from consuming meat on Fridays. Hence, the popularity of fish fries during Lent and also the creation of the Filet-o-Fish, as we have discussed in previous posts. As it turns out, a number of fast food chains have fish on the menu, which isn’t a terrible option, though it’s usually deep fried and served with a mayo-based tartar sauce.
Lent actually ends on Holy Thursday, though many fast and observe their personally commitments to give up things they like and/or bad habits through Easter.
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance, when Catholics and Christians confess their sins and profess their devotion to God. If you attend mass on Ash Wednesday, the priest will mark your forehead with ashes in the shape of a cross, which are a sign of resmose for one’s sins.
When making the ash cross, the priest will say one of two things: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”
It is traditional to leave the ash on one’s forehead for the remainder of the day, and the ashes, BTW, are traditionally made by burning the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, which are also blessed before they’re put to this new use.
We’re back to typical late-winter weather, with cloudy skies, temperatures in the high 30s and snow developing in the afternoon. Bundle up if you’re headed out to church today.
In the headlines…
President Biden vowed in a fiery speech to continue supporting Ukraine as it enters a second year of war, repeatedly denouncing Russian President Putin and promising the US would not waver even as the conflict enters a new, more uncertain phase.
Biden issued a rallying cry in a speech to mark the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, addressing a crowd of 30,000, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, in front of the arches below Warsaw’s royal castle.
“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said at the Warsaw Royal Castle Gardens. “Well I’ve just come from a visit to Kyiv and I can report Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and most important, it stands free.”
Biden repeatedly blamed Russian President Valdimir Putin for dragging Europe back to brutality on a scale not seen since World War II: hundreds of thousands killed or wounded, and whole cities ruined.
Biden will meet leaders of NATO’s eastern flank today to show support for their security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty.
When Putin said he would suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty — the last surviving arms control agreement between the two largest nuclear-armed powers — it was the latest sign that the era of formal arms control may be dying.
In a bid to prevent a surge of migrants at the southern border when a pandemic measure is lifted in May, the Biden administration announced its toughest policy yet to crack down on unlawful entries.
A special grand jury that investigated election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia recommended indictments for multiple people on a range of charges in its final report, most of which remains sealed.
“There are certainly names that you will recognize, yes. There are names also you might not recognize,” the jury foreperson, Emily Kohrs, said in an interview.
The 30-year-old Fulton County resident who was between jobs suddenly found herself at the center of one of the nation’s most significant legal proceedings.
Trump, who throughout his business career had a reputation for not paying lawyers, spent roughly $10 million from his political action committee on his own legal fees last year, federal election filings show.
Conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 in an interview with Fox News.
Presidential candidate Nikki Haley defended her proposal for mental competency tests in startlingly personal terms, saying that one critic of the proposal, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was “exactly the reason we need it.”
Rep. George Santos’ campaign filed paperwork this week listing a new campaign treasurer but provided scant detail about the mysterious man apparently tapped to track the truth-challenged Long Island congressman’s coffers.
A new FEC filing lists Andrew Olson – with an address in Elmhurst, New York – as Santos’ new campaign treasurer. Federal records do not show Olson serving as a treasurer for any other federal committees beyond those connected to Santos.
Olson happens to share the Elmhurst address that the congressman put for himself when he declared his candidacy.
Santos, the New York Republican who fabricated a large portion of his biography, sat down for an extended interview with Piers Morgan – and lied about his lies.
A plan to hike New York state’s cigarette tax and ban flavored tobacco products is caught in a battle between anti-cancer activists, bodega owners, tobacco-industry giants and Black leaders that will ultimately determine whether it ever sees the light of day.
Since taking office, Gov. Kathy Hochul has championed public higher ed and boosted its funding. For many long-suffering SUNY and CUNY campuses, her support won’t make up for a decade of disinvestment.
It’s too early to say whether she would sign a bill restoring the Tappan Zee name to the bridge currently named for the late former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Hochul said.
“First of all, Mario Cuomo was an extraordinary governor. But if the bill passes … I would certainly look at anything that passes at the time, but it is too premature,” Hochul told reporters after an unrelated event in White Plains.
Parents and advocates rallied outside of Hochul’s Midtown office this week in opposition of publicly funded, privately run charter schools being expanded across the Big Apple.
Gubernatorial nominees to the state’s judiciary are entitled to a full floor vote in the state Senate, a state Supreme Court judge in Suffolk County said in a ruling, siding with Republicans the case related to chief judge nominee Hector LaSalle.
Tenant advocates are confident that “good cause” eviction protections will get approved as part of a broad housing package, likely paired with a replacement for a controversial developer tax break that’s critical to the implementation of Hochul’s plan.
A spokesman for the New York State Police confirmed that there is an ongoing administrative investigation into “time and attendance issues” involving former members of the governor’s Protective Services Unit.
Regulators at the state Department of Financial Services unveiled a new package of measures meant to stem illegal activity and fraud in virtual currency.
The state’s new ethics and lobbying regulator announced the addition of key staff to help its day-to-day operations.
As public safety remains a major focus of budget negotiations, Albany County District Attorney David Soares says he was uninvited by the state legislature from testifying at a public hearing on bail reform, of which he has been a vocal critic.
Victims of identity theft who have had their safety net assistance and family aid stolen would be reimbursed by New York under a measure proposed this month by Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas.
Nearly three years after New York repealed a statute that prevented the public scrutiny of police disciplinary records, many departments across the state are continuing to block the disclosure of “open” or “unfounded” complaints against officers.
The Black mayors of the nation’s largest cities – New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston – have banded together as they confront violent crime, homelessness and other similar challenges.
SL Green, the city’s largest commercial landlord, has tapped Mayor Eric Adams’ recently departed chief of staff, Frank Carone, as it bids to open a Times Square casino with Caesars Entertainment and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.
Adams said he hasn’t been paying any attention to the process that could bring three casinos to the New York metropolitan area — not long after a Carone reportedly inked a deal with one of the companies bidding for an operating license.
A special NYPD committee tasked with reviewing the department’s investigations into political activity, including alleged terrorism ties, received its first Muslim American appointment from Adams.
Muhammad Faridi, an attorney with the Patterson Belknap law firm, will replace former U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson, who previously served as the first civilian member of the Handschu Committee.
Adams charged against the disturbing new train surfing trend that left a 15-year-old boy dead on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The MTA says it doesn’t keep statistics on how many subway surfing busts it makes. But agency data show a sharp spike in incidents of people riding outside train cars — nearly double pre-pandemic numbers.
In New York, incidents of people riding outside of train cars have more than quadrupled in one year. Two recent deaths show the dangers of a trend stoked by social media.
The MTA will implore social media companies to take down videos of subway surfers, Chairman Janno Lieber said one day after a teen died riding atop a J train crossing the Williamsburg Bridge.
Adams signed eight pieces of legislation to address pay disparities within the city’s municipal workforce and to support New Yorkers living with disabilities residing in shelters or in affordable housing units.
City officials auctioned off nearly $225 million worth of surplus COVID-19 medical equipment and safety gear for just $500,000 — or a paltry 0.2 cents on the dollar.
That comes to 5 cents per item. Many other COVID items have remained unsold after going up for auction, with no bidders biting.
Adams said he’ll order a reexamination of the rules governing auctions of government surplus goods, after it was revealed that medical supplies the city bought during the pandemic’s peak are getting sold off for one-fifth of a penny for every dollar spent.
Adams slammed illegal weed sellers, but admitted his hands are tied when it comes to cracking down thanks to lax state laws.
Republican stalwarts are striking at the heart of the socialist movement in New York City — the Queens neighborhoods represented by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Councilwoman Tiffany Caban.
Staten Island Republican Borough President Vito Fossella — an ally of former President Donald Trump — passed on an event Monday featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Trump rival for the next GOP presidential nomination.
Malcolm X’s daughter announced yesterday – on the 58th anniversary of her father’s assassination – that she plans to sue the CIA, the FBI and the NYPD for allegedly concealing evidence related to the murder.
Genaro García Luna, once the architect and public face of Mexico’s bloody war on its powerful criminal groups, was convicted in a New York courtroom of betraying his country and colleagues by taking millions of dollars in bribes from the violent drug cartels.
A Texas judge could temporarily block access to a common abortion medication nationwide as soon as this week. Plaintiffs are seeking to overturn FDA approval for the drug mifepristone and have requested a preliminary injunction while the case is pending.
More than 900 New York nurses who studied at Florida-based nursing schools shut down for allegedly selling fake diplomas are being asked to prove their credentials or turn in their licenses.
Two loans valued at $157 million taken out by the owners of Crossgates Mall appear to be headed once again toward potential default amid the widespread financial challenges facing large indoor shopping malls across the country.
Federal drug investigators in Albany ran an undercover dragnet that led to the indictment of a father and daughter from the Netherlands who are accused of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in narcotics’ profits across four continents.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office business office head was charged with grand larceny and forgery after he allegedly siphoned more than $68,000 from the department’s federal forfeiture funds account and forged Sheriff Craig Apple’s name to cover it up.
Guns N’ Roses are coming to Upstate New York as part of their 2023 tour dates.
Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are coming together once again to record parts on the upcoming, so-far-untitled album by the Rolling Stones.
