Good Wednesday morning, which is sort of like Friday of a short holiday week.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this post, (see what I did there?), a programming note is in order. There will be no Rise and Shine tomorrow or Friday, so as not to interfere with either your eating or your shopping.
We will return at our regularly scheduled time on Monday, Nov. 27, and we will start the mad dash toward the Christmas etc. season and the end of 2023.
(For all my fellow Festival of Lights celebrants out there, Chanukah is coming awfully early this year – starting on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 7. Don’t do what I usually do and wait until the eleventh hour to rush out and look for candles, because there won’t be any. Lay in your stock of holiday wax early!)
So today is what’s unofficially known as “Drinksgiving” (AKA Drunksgiving. Blackout Wednesday. Thanksgiving Eve). The night before Thanksgiving is a notorious party night, one of the biggest of the year for bars, nightclubs and other establishments where people gather to raise a glass or two.
It even rivals St. Patrick’s Day in terms of alcohol consumption, which is saying quite a lot.
The tradition – if you can even call it that – grew out of the fact that college-age kids come home for the holiday, some of them (if they’re freshmen) reuniting with their high school buddies for the first time since parting ways at the end of the summer.
While Turkey Day is for families (either those you are related to or those that you choose) and sit-down meals, the night before Thanksgiving is for friends.
All joviality aside, this is a good time to put in a word about the dangers of binge drinking – an activity in which young women on college campuses are engaging more than men for the first time in history.
Drinking in general is not terribly good for your health – yes, even read wine, with all its resveratrol and antioxidants. You can get those things elsewhere like peanuts, berries, and grapes, for the former, and cocoa, green tea and mushrooms for the later.
I don’t want to harsh on anyone’s good time, mind you. I’m just putting this out there for consideration before you head out for the evening. Also, please drink responsibly and call an Uber or a Lyft, tap someone to be the DD, or even walk home. (Bundle up!) However you plan on celebrating this holiday – even if not at all – be safe.
After the crummy weather we’ve had over the past 24 hours, things are going to clear up for the foreseeable future (at least here in the Capital Region). If you’re traveling at the moment, though, or plan to do so in the very near future, I feel for you.
We’ll have rain this morning, which will taper off into just cloudy skies in the afternoon, and temperatures will be in the low 40s. For the rest of the holiday weekend, things look pretty clear, though fairy chilly, with temperatures ranging from the high 30s to mod-to-high 40s.
I’ll see you next week.
In the headlines…
The Israeli government and Hamas agreed to uphold a brief cease-fire in Gaza to allow for the release of 50 hostages captured during Hamas’s assault last month on Israel and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, Qatar said.
Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a temporary cease-fire for four days to allow for the safe transfer of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The first hostage release is expected tomorrow morning, and the total number of hostages freed could rise.
The Israeli government published the names of 300 Palestinian prisoners set for possible release as part of a wider agreement to release hostages held in Gaza. The list included further details, including their ages and reason for arrest.
The deal came together after five weeks of intense negotiations involving the White House and Qatar, as well as Israel and Hamas.
Many of the more than 200 people seized by Hamas when it raided Israel had serious medical conditions. Some were badly injured in the attack. Doctors say they need medical care urgently.
U.S. forces launched a round of airstrikes in Iraq against two facilities used by Iran and Iran-backed groups that were involved in attacks against U.S. forces stationed in Iraq, marking the second U.S. attack in about a day, according to the U.S. Central Command.
House Republicans issued a subpoena yesterday to a federal prosecutor involved in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, demanding answers for what they allege is Justice Department interference in the years long case into the president’s son.
The House Republicans are closing in on a make-or-break moment in their drive to impeach Biden, with GOP centrists remaining highly skeptical of the effort even as its leaders look to decide in January on whether to file formal articles against the president.
Sam Altman was reinstated late yesterday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by the company’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors.
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations, the government said, a stunning blow to the most powerful and influential figure in the global crypto industry.
The Colorado Supreme Court agreed to take up an appeal of a state judge’s ruling allowing former President Donald Trump to remain on the state’s primary ballot, in a nationwide battle over his eligibility to run for president again.
Trump had his worst day yet in his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York yesterday, and at the hands of his own key witness, a former Trump Organization executive who linked the former president directly to the fuzzy math at the center of the case.
After four days of testimony and two trips to the witness stand, former Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney broke down in tears, telling the court the toll of the numerous investigations and accusations of misconduct drove him to leave the company.
The former president has been relatively quiet, out of the headlines and off mainstream social media. Democrats are hoping that more attention on him can help turn around Biden’s fortunes.
New Yorkers have soured on the state’s two top Democratic leaders, a Marist College poll found.
Among New York City voters, 37 percent approved of the job Eric Adams has done as mayor while 56 percent disapproved. That’s a long way from a Marist survey in March 2022, just a few months into his term, when he polled favorably 61 percent to 24 percent.
The poll found 72% of city residents think Adams did something untoward in connection with Turkey and that Adams’ job approval rating has dived to 54% New Yorkers now disapproving of his performance.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also struggled in the poll. Her job approval rating has fallen to 41 percent from 49 percent in 2021, and 59 percent of respondents said the state is headed in the wrong direction.
With officials concerned about New York facing looming threats of violence, Hochul announced new steps she’ll be taking to beef up security and deal with online threats and radicalization.
Hochul’s plan has four pillars to it: strengthening physical locations, identifying credible online threats, calling out social media companies that fail to maintain safe environments, and creating resources for parents and school officials in New York.
The governor laced into social media sites that she said have “failed” in their responsibility to weed out threatening hate speech, issuing a letter to the leaders of TikTok, Meta, X and YouTube demanding they improve moderation on their powerful platforms.
While there are no specific threats to the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, the Israel-Hamas war “has created a heightened threat environment” that makes the parade an “attractive target,” a new threat assessment found.
Hochul called the rape accusations against Brooklyn state Sen. Kevin Parker “extremely disturbing” Tuesday, but stopped short of calling for the embattled Brooklyn Democrat to step down.
The state has issued a new set of detailed guidelines for hospitals to follow when caring for severely mentally ill patients, urging them to more proactively communicate with care teams and other outside organizations.
The state issued the guidance after questions from The New York Times, which was about to publish an investigation that revealed preventable institutional breakdowns of homeless shelters, hospitals, specialized treatment teams and other organizations.
A state inspector general’s investigation found that poor communication and planning by multiple agencies contributed to a state-run home for veterans in Queens wasting more than $560,000 worth of personal protective equipment during the pandemic.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is indicating to allies he may want to run for New York City mayor if fellow Democrat Adams sinks under the weight of a federal investigation.
“I got the impression that he is ready,” said the Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., a former state senator and ex-member of the New York City Council, who spoke to Cuomo last week. “No one knows what’s going to happen in the city.”
Cuomo reportedly is spending Thanksgiving in Italy with his three daughters, Mariah, Cara and Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo.
At a press briefing last night, Adams revealed that his travels to Turkey go back to his days when he was state senator but wouldn’t commit to releasing full details of his travel to that country which lies at the heart of an FBI probe into his campaign.
Adams has blamed the federal government for his need to cut billions of dollars in city programs — including from police, fire and sanitation — because of a surge in costs to pay for new migrants.
The cash-strapped Big Apple is on the verge of turning into one big refugee camp, with Adams warning the migrant crisis could soon spill out onto the streets.
In the NYPD, the rank and file is hearing rumors of buyouts and demotions, but many see Adams’ plan to shrink the department as a political tactic.
The NYPD may still have to make more cuts to the department next year — even with the next five police academy classes already being axed as part of this year’s migrant cost cutting, the mayor revealed.
A top aide to State Sen. Julia Salazar was fired this week, days after news reports highlighting social media posts she had made criticizing Israel garnered blowback from Republican lawmakers and also the senator herself.
United Talent Agency (UTA) has dropped Susan Sarandon as a client following remarks she made over the weekend in relation to the Israel-Hamas war.
A former State Department employee and national security official was recorded on video harassing a halal food vendor in Manhattan in recent weeks, calling the man a “terrorist.”
The former Obama White House official also suggested the Muslim prophet Mohammed was a rapist and claimed that more Palestinian children should be killed amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Manhattan-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations cut all ties with Stuart Seldowitz after a viral video emerged showing him harassing a halal cart vendor in the Upper East Side.
New York University’s Israeli alumni severed ties with the institution yesterday over its failure to tackle antisemitism — and after its president allegedly played down the incendiary “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” chant as “not that bad.”
New York City supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis says he is trying to convince the Chinese government to loan out panda bears to the Big Apple’s Central Park Zoo.
Cute pandas will save the city’s economy – and ease tensions between the United States and China, Catsimatidis declared during a bizarre press conference.
Albany’s Common Council has unanimously approved Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s proposed 2024 spending plan.
With 18 homicides in 2023, the City of Albany is approaching a grim record for killings in a year. The number is also troubling because it is in line with recent years: 18 in 2020 and 2021 and 19, a record, in 2022.
Bruegger’s Bagels at Delaware Plaza, which has been in place since 1992, is permanently closing Tuesday, Nov. 28.
The Town of Berne plans to sell the Switzkill Farm property to Albany County for $150,000, after town officials during the pandemic abandoned any plans to preserve the hilltowns acreage and turn it into a tourist draw.
The city of Schenectady launched a new biweekly podcast about homeownership.
