Good morning, it’s Thursday.
Over the past year, aliens and UFOs have gotten a lot of play.
Most recently, there was the case of supposed “non-human” remains found in Peru, which became the subject of a congressional hearing in Mexico.
Over the summer, there was a hotly anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill regarding “unidentified aerial (or anomalous phenomenon” (UAPs, AKA UFOs), in which a whistleblower and former Defense Department employee named David Grusch, testified alongside former military pilots about their firsthand accounts with items in the sky that neither they nor anyone else could explain.
Apparently, concern over the government’s efforts all these years to hide from the public the fact that it knows more about UAPs/UFOs than it lets on – and maybe even has in its possession some non-human biological remains collected from crash sites – crosses party lines.
Amid hyper-partisanship in D.C., fear of aliens is something we can all agree on. My faith in democracy is restored.
The ever helpful and oh-so-transparent U.S. Defense Department this past September announced that its office tasked with overseeing efforts to address UAPs, (the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)), had launched a new website to provide the public with declassified information about the mysterious objects.
The website includes a message from Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the AARO, who says:
“Our team of experts is leading the U.S. government’s efforts to address Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach. Since its establishment in July 2022, AARO has taken important steps to improve data collection, standardize reporting requirements, and mitigate the potential threats to safety and security posed by UAP.”
Even our esteemed senior senator from New York, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, has gotten in on the action.
None of this has done very much to dispel conspiracy theories and speculation. If anything, I would argue the government’s newfound attempt to be open about all this has only fanned the flames of those who are more inclined not to believe anything the government says.
I can’t say where I fall on the “is there life beyond Earth” spectrum. I have a lot of things to worry about right here on this planet – enough to keep me busy for several lifetimes, really. But people far smarter and more accomplished than me have been convinced that this sort of inquiry is worthwhile – people like Carl Sagan, for example.
The American Museum of Natural History calls Sagan, a Brooklyn native and leading planetary astronomer, “the most effective public advocate for the values of science the world has ever seen.” He was also a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial biology (AKA life on other planets).
Sagan had an extraordinary career. He taught at some of this country’s greatest institutions of higher education – Harvard, Stanford, and Cornell. His driving goal was to make the complex mysteries and wonders of science understandable for the average citizen.
If you really want to go deep here, take a listen to another great man – Studs Terkel – interviewing Sagan about extraterrestrial life for Terkel’s long-running radio show on WFMT-FM in Chicago. The interview was recorded not long after Sagan released the novel Contact, which was later adapted into a major motion picture.
I have to confess that before I started Googling around for this post – because, if you hadn’t already guessed, today is Carl Sagan Day, commemorating the date of his birth, (on this day in 1934) – I didn’t know a lot about Sagan or his work. And now I can’t read enough about him.
I’m still a little fearful of reading his writing. Even with his effort to make science accessible, I’m not convinced I’ll be able to understand it. But I am willing to try. I’ll check in this time next year and let you know how it goes.
It feels like Sagan still had a lot to contribute when he died of pneumonia on December 20, 1996 at the age of 62, after a two-year battle with bone marrow disease. Then again, since he was very early to the climate change warning party, maybe it’s better than he’s not around anymore to see how far we’ve fallen.
There’s some snow in the forecast today – a mix of snow and rain, to be specific. No accumulation is expected. Still, it’s enough to be depressed about. Temperatures will eventually climb into the low 50s and the occasional rain will give way to clouds.
In the headlines…
The Israeli military said it destroyed an infamous Hamas tunnel network that spans hundreds of miles below the Gaza Strip — as air strikes reportedly took out a key weapon maker for the terror organization.
50,000 Gazans fled the northern part of the strip down an IDF humanitarian corridor according to an Israeli military spokesman, the Times of Israel reports.
Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — showing a deep divide within his party over the war.
By saying that Israel will maintain security control over Gaza “for an indefinite period,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set off alarm bells in Washington and questions at home.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said Gaza should be unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority once the war is over, offering a strong signal about what the United States sees as its preferred endgame in the fight between Israel and Hamas.
Biden has declared that “MAGA lost” as he celebrated Tuesday’s election results that saw wins for Democrats and a significant victory for abortion rights in Ohio.
Biden took to social media site X, formerly Twitter, and praised the results of elections that saw Democrats rack up notable wins in the Kentucky governor’s race and in the Virginia legislature.
House Republicans issued subpoenas to members of Biden’s family, taking their most aggressive step yet in an impeachment inquiry bitterly opposed by Democrats that is testing the reach of congressional oversight powers.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer sent a letter to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, asking him to intervene against three Republican chairmen who have investigated the president’s son and threatened to subpoena him, his relatives and business associates.
Biden met with former college football players and advocates yesterday at the White House to discuss the rights and safety of college athletes.
The U.S. and its president are currently viewed more favorably than China and its leader, Xi Jinping, by the public in more than 20 countries polled for a study released this week.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will meet in San Francisco today for two days of talks aimed at making progress on a slew of economic issues at a time when competition has markedly intensified between the two countries.
Less than a day after voters in multiple states rebuked GOP leaders who would restrict abortion rights, five Republicans running for president ignored the issue for the first 99 minutes of their third primary debate.
Republican candidates expressed vigorous support for Israel and condemned Hamas, took shots at President Biden and exchanged personal barbs as they jostled to lead the GOP challenge to Donald Trump.
Only five people qualified for the clash: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Takeaways: Haley staked out a clear, hawkish vision. DeSantis avoided risks. And the night’s glaring absentee, Trump, again emerged untouched.
SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement on a new deal with the studios that will bring an end to the actors strike, which has now lasted for 118 days. The strike will end tomorrow today at 12:01 a.m. PT, the guild announced.
Facebook and Instagram will require political ads running on their platforms to disclose if they were created using artificial intelligence, their parent company announced.
Ivanka Trump testified in a Manhattan courtroom the state’s final witness in the blockbuster trial in which her father, Donald Trump, and brothers Don Jr. and Eric — as well as the Trump Organization — stand accused of a decade-long fraud scheme.
She took the opportunity to contend the family business has “overdelivered,” even as she kept her distance from financial documents that New York state says were fraudulent.
Ivanka Trump was “cordial” and “very courteous,” but the New York attorney general questioned the credibility of her testimony.
The attorney general’s office filed a letter with the judge asking to be heard today on motion’s to block several of Trump’s expert witnesses from testifying.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that $5 million in state funding is available for critical infrastructure upgrades at animal shelters and humane societies.
A network of 94 organizations are asking Hochul for $32 million in next year’s state budget to increase funding and ease staffing problems for 9,000 supportive housing units.
A court battle unfolding between the OCM and a Wayne County man whose seven unlicensed marijuana stores were padlocked earlier this year is poised to test the constitutionality of New York’s new cannabis enforcement regulations.
Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign accepted donations from three members of a foundation incorporated by Bilal Erdogan, a son of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and whose board members include Erdogan’s daughter, Esra Albayrak.
Adams said he has hired a private defense attorney, Boyd Johnson of WilmerHale, in the wake of an FBI raid on the home of his top fundraiser as he defended his response to the political crisis.
Adams continued to defend his political fund-raising apparatus, saying he’d be “shocked” and “hurt” if anyone connected to it is criminally charged as part of an ongoing federal corruption inquiry into his 2021 campaign.
“I sleep well at night,” Adams said at a City Hall briefing. “I am clear that we follow the rules. We follow the rules.
The city is starting a new task force to tackle an epidemic of shoplifting, which has soared by 64% since 2019, Adams said.
New York City has led the US with the sharpest increase in the number of reported shoplifting incidents since before the pandemic, according to a study.
As a candidate, Adams promised a new kind of policing. But some fear that increased stops and aggressive tactics will erode trust.
Newly elected City Councilwoman Kristy Marmorato says it won’t be easy being the first Bronx Republican to hold a City Council seat in 50 years — but she vowed to stand for conservative values like education and public safety while even working with AOC.
Sensing a rare opportunity to flip a seat, the Bronx Republican Party went all in on the contest. The party sent 20,000 text messages to their base; made 40,000 robocalls in English, Albanian and Arabic; and made 10,000 live calls.
The chief of staff to Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes — a retired NYPD lieutenant whose manner was said to irk longtime department staffers — abruptly stepped down yesterday.
The breakout of war in Gaza and Israel in October led to a surge in hate-filled incidents aimed at Jews, new NYPD crime data shows.
The city saw a whopping 214% surge in anti-Jewish incidents last month, amid the Israel-Hamas war which began on Oct. 7 when the terrorist group launched a surprise attack on the Jewish state, killing 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Over a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after blocking traffic outside Rep. Dan Goldman’s Brooklyn office yesterday while demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.
One of the two major renovation plans to revamp and operate Penn Station is likely to cost $2 billion more than its supporters initially claimed.
A Queens man who fired two shots in a Manhattan subway station in an effort to stop a homeless man from robbing a woman was charged with weapons counts and other crimes, officials said.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has revealed details of its 2024 spring exhibition, which serves as the inspiration for the theme of the accompanying Met Gala: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”.
Not only did the last major countywide seat in Nassau and Suffolk held by a Democrat get scooped up by a GOP candidate in Tuesday’s election, but even several local town councils managed to flip red.
It was reported by News 12 that Westchester County Executive George Latimer had decided to primary Rep. Jamaal Bowman next year, satisfying the hopes of some Democrats who have been pushing Latimer to run for months.
Bowman is gathering support for a letter calling on the White House to protect free speech on college campuses — including activism aimed at Israel — and to emphasize education over what he calls “punitive measures.”
Upstate residents will soon have another airline option in Breeze Airways, a low-cost carrier that will begin flying out of Stewart International Airport early next year.
A legal battle between the owners of the Vista Technology Park and the town of Bethlehem over the value of the Plug Power fuel cell factory in Slingerlands could be settled soon.
Summit Senior Living will open a 110-unit retirement community with a library, movie theater and pickleball courts in Halfmoon.
More than 300 unionized employees of the Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home in Gloversville have given notice they might strike in the coming weeks if an agreement isn’t reached on health insurance costs.
The expected look of the $100 million upgrade to Albany International Airport is coming into focus as officials wrap up their work on a broader plan that seeks to modernize the Colonie facility over the next two decades.
The Food and Drug Administration approved an obesity drug from the company Eli Lilly that will be a direct competitor to the wildly popular Wegovy. It is called tirzepatide and will be sold under the name Zepbound.
