Good morning, it’s Monday, and we have officially moved from the eating season to the shopping season (with a side of eating? I guess that comes later).
Americans LOVE to shop. According to the National Retail Federation, some 200 million of us hit the stores (brick-and-mortar and online) over the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday 2022 – the highest since the organization began tracking data.
Today is Cyber Monday, which was created by e-retailers to encourage people to shop online, which was really all we could do during the pandemic lockdowns, but nevertheless remains very popular – though somewhat less so than at the height of the Covid crisis.
Over the weekend, we saw Small Business Saturday, which was created by Amex, (ironically), to encourage Americans to shop at small, independent retailers.
And, of course, the granddaddy of all holiday shopping days, Black Friday, was the day after Thanksgiving.
As an aside: I made the mistake of going to the mall at around 5 p.m., assuming that the crowds would be gone by that time. Needless to say, they weren’t.
It turned out to be faster for me to get out of the car – someone else was driving – and walk to the store I was headed for rather than sit in traffic. By the time I had finished the transaction, my ride was parked by the curb and ready to go. I call that SERVICE!.
Let’s start with Friday and work our way backwards. The term “Black Friday” supposedly has to do with retailers getting into the “black” and turning a profit after being in the “red” for the rest of the year. That’s actually not true.
There are a number of myths as to how and when the phrase originated.
It appears, however, to have been coined in the 1950s and was used to law enforcement to refer to the chaos that ensued when suburbanites flooded into the city of Philadelphia for, among other things, the Army-Navy football game, traditionally held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving – at a time when most major college football teams end their regular seasons.
These days, Black Friday isn’t at all what it used to be – and it used to be quite dangerous, even deadly. (Remember the stories of shoppers lining up in the middle of the night, and people getting stampeded when the doors opened?) Nowadays, the discounts start long before the day-of actually occurs. I was getting emails alerting me to all sorts of deals well over a week ago, at least.
Still, Americans are spending – a lot – helped by the fact that the sky-high gas and food prices, while still quite uncomfortably out of reach for many, have come down some. Again, electronics are very popular purchases.
I personally like to shop small whenever I can. I like the special and unique products and experience that “Main Street” proprietors offer, along with special touches like holiday treats and free gift wrapping. I am, however, certainly guilty of the ease of point-and-click shopping. The Amazon Prime and FedEx and UPS drivers are well acquainted with my address, for sure.
Cyber Monday debuted in 2005 at a time when shopping online was still relatively niche. Boy, how things have changed. Spending today is expected to top the year, with shoppers shelling out an estimated $12 billion. (It helps that Cyber Monday falls on a work day for a lot of us, so taking a little shopping break is as easy as shifting screens). Some of the deals are already well underway.
If you sill have some in-person shopping to do, a not bad day is on tap, with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-40s.
In the headlines…
Hamas released 17 more hostages yesterday, including one American — Avigail Idan, who turned 4 on Friday — and said it would seek to extend a temporary cease-fire with Israel after the current four-day pause is over.
Liz Hirsh Naftali and Noa Naftali, Abigail’s great aunt and cousin, thanked President Joe Biden and the Qatari government for their help negotiating the deal that led to the girl’s release.
“Thank God she’s home.” Biden said of the first American hostage to be released. “I wish I were there to hold her.”
Some hostages were handed over directly to Israel, while others left through Egypt. Israel’s army said one was airlifted to a hospital. In turn, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners, all young men.
At least some Hamas hostages are totally cut off from the outside world — with several only learning after release that kin were killed Oct. 7 — and fed a bland diet of rice and pita while enduring hours long waits for the bathroom, according to those freed.
Hamas wants to extend the limited peace deal “by seriously seeking to increase the number of released detainees as stated in the humanitarian truce agreement,” the group said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited his country’s troops in the Gaza Strip yesterday, three days into a pause in fighting there, and vowed that “we are continuing until the end — until victory.”
“Nothing will stop us,” he said in a video statement in which he wore protective gear and was surrounded by Israeli soldiers.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he intends to bring Biden’s $100 billion spending package including aid for Israel and Ukraine to the floor for a vote the week of Dec. 4.
Biden will not attend a gathering of world leaders focused on climate change in Dubai this week, a US official said.
He has attended the past two summits and calls climate change “the ultimate threat”, but senior White House aides suggested that the war between Israel and Hamas had consumed the president’s attention and time in recent weeks and days.
Former President Donald Trump was met with loud boos as he arrived at Williams-Brice Stadium in South Carolina on Saturday ahead of the Palmetto Bowl.
Trump is moving “closer and closer” to “losing his own liberty” over his continued attacks on court staff in his New York civil fraud trial, ex-GOP congressman David Jolly said.
Republican presidential hopeful and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted that the American public “en masse” will ignore Trump if he loses the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
More than three dozen House incumbents have announced they will not seek re-election next year. Some are running for other offices, while others intend to leave Congress altogether.
Rep. George Santos said he expects to be expelled from Congress following a scathing report by the House Ethics Committee that found substantial evidence of lawbreaking by the New York Republican.
“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” Santos said Friday on an X Space hosted by conservative media personality Monica Matthews.
“I don’t care. You want to expel me? I’ll wear it like a badge of honor,” Santos said. “I’ll be the sixth expelled member of Congress in the history of Congress. And guess what? I’ll be the only one expelled without a conviction.”
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was reportedly stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday at a federal prison in Arizona.
The attack took place around 12:30 p.m. local time at the Federal Correction Institution, Tucson.
The attorney general’s office, which prosecuted Chauvin in the Floyd case, said early Saturday it was notified of the assault and was told Chauvin is in stable condition.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Friday to require camps and youth sports programs to establish an automated external defibrillator, or AED, implementation plan.
Local groups are pressing Hochul to finish the job of funding free lunch, after federal changes and some state funding led to many more districts offering free meals this year.
Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees.
With congressional lawmakers still working to build consensus around marijuana banking reform at the federal level, Hochul has signed legislation that attempts to make it slightly easier for financial institutions to work with state-licensed cannabis clients.
Hochul’s regulators are on the verge of settling a discrimination lawsuit alleging that the state favored convicted pot felons over disabled veterans in the awarding of licenses to sell legal marijuana.
The Schenectady City Mission hosted hundreds Thursday for its annual Thanksgiving meal. Volunteers, including Hochul and Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy, assisted with the Turkey Day tradition of giving back.
Hochul urged New Yorkers to prepare for a lake effect weather system that is expected to dump more than a foot of snow in locations near Lakes Ontario and Erie starting today and continuing into Tuesday evening.
Last year, New York became one of eight states across the country that offer girls’ varsity flag football. The sport’s popularity has only grown.
Cyclists have the same legal protections against a police search as car drivers, New York’s highest court has ruled.
Pro-Palestinian protesters halted traffic in NYC yesterday afternoon by descending at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge and demanding a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
The demonstration demanding a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Hamas militants in Gaza came on one of the busiest travel days of the year. The city urged drivers to avoid the bridge.
The New York Police Department detained 34 demonstrators at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade who were protesting Israel’s killings of civilians in Gaza, the authorities said on Friday.
A flurry of high-profile sexual-abuse lawsuits were filed in New York this week to beat the expiration of a state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on civil abuse and harassment claims, no matter how old.
Brittany Commisso, a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York who accused him of groping her in late 2020, is suing him under the state’s Adult Survivors Act for what she described as “pervasive abusive conduct,” according to court papers.
Mayor Eric Adams “vigorously denies” allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in 1993, a City Hall spokesperson said. The mayor himself said he has no recollection of ever meeting his accuser.
Adams and the woman accusing him of sexual assault worked for the city’s Transit Police Department at the same time, according to an NYPD official and court records reviewed by the Daily News.
Former New York Gov. David Paterson defended Adams amid the federal probe into fundraising during his 2021 campaign — describing the FBI’s actions as “Orwellian.”
The complaint was filed last week under the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year window for New Yorkers to sue people they say sexually assaulted them, regardless of the date of the allegation.
Since the Adult Survivors Act was passed, more than 3,000 civil suits have been filed, some aimed at politicians and others at institutions including hospitals and jails.
Adams said city officials are investigating a “vile show of antisemitism” in which students at a high school in Queens reportedly rioted after learning a teacher attended a pro-Israel rally.
Teenagers at Jamaica’s Hillcrest High School shut down the school for two hours last Monday as they marched through the hallways in a pre-planned protest after finding a Facebook post of the teacher attending a rally holding a sign that read, “I stand with Israel.”
A new city law that bans discriminating against someone because of their height or weight went into effect last week, six months after Adams first signed the legislation.
Adams’ medical team is ramping up a program to bolster wellness in public housing by recruiting “health coaches” to work with residents inside the city’s major public housing projects.
The New York Public Library is facing up to $75,000 in cleanup costs following recent pro-Palestinian protests in which demonstrators marred the famous façade of its landmark Manhattan building with blood-red handprints.
Northern cities and states that have been overwhelmed by a surge in migrants are now out of room to house them just as the weather turns cold — a potentially life-threatening situation that’s inflaming local political tensions.
Eric Adame, a disgraced weatherman fired from NY1 after his nude videos from an adult webcam site were leaked, said he’s taking a break from social media and suffering financially and mentally.
After opening in September with crystalline light fixtures, $23 cocktails and a vibe-checker at the door, the nightclub The Chandelier Room has closed.
Almost a year after getting an earlier round of funding, Schenectady-based DSD Renewables, which makes solar farms and community power systems across the Hudson Valley and nationally, received a $250 million investment from Cox Enterprises.
A Selkirk man who had been missing since Friday afternoon was found dead yesterday, police said.
Three years after its start, the buylocalgrowlocal website/directory of green, socially conscious and local businesses is going strong.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
