Good Thursday morning.
Here’s a cautionary tale about trying to multitask on the train on too little sleep. I pre-wrote today’s post in the wee hours of the morning while riding the 5:55 a.m. Amtrak to Manhattan. I thought I was getting a jump on things. So smug.
Little did I realize that the perfectly composed post I put together was perfect – for JANUARY 8, not the actual date, which is, of course, a month later than that. Joke’s on me. Best laid plans and all that.
If you can accurately guess the topic of that now deleted post, I will buy you the fancy coffee of your choice – whipped cream and all. And you better get your enjoyment of all things sugary and fatty in now, because Lent is fast approaching. It starts on Feb. 14 (perhaps not the greatest year to be giving up chocolate) and lasts through March 28.
As an aside: the date of Lent changes every year because the date of Easter changes every year. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon. Lent stats 46 days prior to Easter.
So the Feb. 14 start date of Lent means Fat Tuesday (AKA Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras) is Feb. 13 – that’s the day you’re supposed to get all your ya-yas out before the sober holiday of abstinence begins, including eating carb-laden sweets like pancakes and doughnuts to use up all your fat and sugar before entering the fast.
Why am I going on about something that is taking place next week? Because TODAY is Fat Thursday, which is basically the same concept as Fat Tuesday except on a different day. It’s observed in a few countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland, which may be my favorite, because it’s known there as tłusty czwartek, which translates more or less to “Greasy Thursday.”
On Greasy/Fat Thursday, it is traditional to go to your favorite local baker and purchase treats like Pączki (pronounced “POTCH-key”) – Polish doughnuts that are dusted with powdered sugar or coated in sugar icing and filled with things like chocolate, custard, or rose-flavored jam.
This is the most traditional of the ceremonial foods consumed on Fat Thursday – reportedly 100 million of them are eaten annually on this day alone – which is why it’s also known as Paczki Day.
It’s said to be bad luck if you don’t eat at least one of these filled delicacies on this day, dooming you to an empty barn and fields full of mice. Also, there’s apparently a saying that one is “living like a doughnut in butter” if one is living a good life and feels content.
Another local delicacy is something called Faworki (Angel Wings), which are simple twists of dough that are fried to a crisp and dusted with powdered sugar. Some people also make these around Christmas time.
Whether you’re celebrating Fat Thursday or Fat Tuesday, both, or neither, today would be a great day to do your indulging out of doors. It’s going to be balmy in Albany, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the high 40s. It will be perhaps a hair warmer in New York City, where I’ve decamped until the end of the week, pushing into the low 50s.
Glorious.
In the headlines…
The Senate bogged down over a bill to send aid to Ukraine and Israel after Republicans blocked a compromise that would have paired it with stringent border security measures, adjourning without moving the emergency national security spending package.
A deeply divided Republican conference was scrambling to find support for the wartime funding, even though it has been a top priority for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
The failure of a bipartisan border deal reached by senators this weekend appears set to hand President Joe Biden an issue that he can wield against former President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers on the campaign trail.
U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson has reportedly left Russia following his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine remains conspicuously silent on his request to interview Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Anchor Chris Cuomo blasted Carlson for an interview he plans to release soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has informed the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that special counsel Robert Hur has concluded his investigation into classified documents found at residences associated with Biden.
The letter from Garland to congressional leaders did not include a copy of Hur’s report, which is being reviewed by a legal privilege team. It provided few details about the investigation and made no mention of charges.
“I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy,” Garland wrote in the one-page letter.
Author Marianne Williamson suspended her long-shot presidential primary campaign, challenging Biden for the Democratic party’s nomination after a string of poor performances in Nevada, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
Biden twice referred to the late German chancellor Helmut Kohl instead of former Chancellor Angela Merkel while detailing a 2021 conversation at campaign events. It was the second time this week that Biden recalled speaking with a dead European leader.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was still possible, despite the two sides being far apart on the central terms for a deal.
Blinken said the response from Hamas on a deal to free the remaining hostages and reach a sustained pause in fighting in Gaza “creates space for agreement to be reached,” despite containing “some clear nonstarters.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier dismissed Hamas’ proposals, calling them “delusional.” But the Israeli leader did not rule out the possibility of further negotiations.
Hamas will send a delegation to Cairo today to follow up on the counterproposal it offered, the group’s spokesperson Osama Hamdan said in Beirut.
Israel’s prime minister said the military would soon go into to an area of Gaza near the border with Egypt where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled, something the United Nations has said would be catastrophic.
A U.S. Special Operations retaliatory drone strike in the Iraqi capital killed a senior leader of a militia that U.S. officials blame for recent attacks on American personnel, following on Biden’s promise that the response to attacks by Shiite militias would continue.
The parent company of multiple fast-food brands including Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut says its sales took a hit in the fourth quarter amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
New Yorkers were met with traffic jams and protests as Biden spent yesterday afternoon and early evening in Manhattan. The White House said he attended three private campaign receptions.
Biden labeled his predecessor, Trump, an “existential threat” who has wrestled the GOP into a stranglehold, intensifying his direct criticisms of the ex-president and offering one of the starkest windows yet into how he regards the stakes of the election.
“There is one existential threat and it’s Donald Trump,” Biden said at his first of three New York City fundraisers in four hours. “It’s not about me, it’s about Trump. He will try to undo everything we’ve done. Make no mistake about it.”
The nine justices Supreme Court justices today will hear a case with critical implications for the 2024 election – over the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Trump from the ballot over the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist” clause.
The judge overseeing Trump’s civil fraud case has questioned whether a key witness committed perjury during the former president’s trial, a new court filing shows.
Nikki Haley blasted Trump for his backroom effort to twist delegate and primary rules in his favor, calling it “ironic” that a former president who fueled lies about his 2020 election loss was now trying to “bully” his way to the 2024 Republican nomination.
With less than a week before the Feb. 13 special House election, a wave of suburban discontent fueled by the crush of migrants arriving at the southern border and in New York City has transformed a potential Democratic pickup into a statistical dead heat.
“It’s a very tough seat,” Democratic former Rep. Tom Suozzi told CNN. “Democrats have been losing everything on Long Island and northeast Queens for the past three years. The Democratic brand is in trouble here, and we have to do a lot to overcome that.”
Suozzi acknowledged this week that he’s avoiding being seen anywhere near Biden while running to replace George Santos in Congress.
Suozzi slammed his Republican opponent, Mazi Melesa Pilip, for helping to kill a bipartisan border security bill that would’ve also aided Ukraine and Israel.
A super PAC supporting Pilip is unloading on Democrat rival Suozzi with a new TV ad that will be shown during Sunday’s Super Bowl — two days before the Feb. 13 special election.
Early voting numbers from the first three days show Democrats turning out in both Nassau County and Queens at a greater clip than Republicans as of Monday night.
The outcome of this race could affect the fall elections, in which Democrats are targeting six freshman Republicans from New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul sat at the head of a table underneath a brass chandelier in the state Capitol’s ornate Red Room, flanked by two of her top aides and surrounded by a dozen or so mayors from all corners of the state. The she pulled out some carrots.
“I’m told this is what you’re willing to eat to help build more housing,” she said to polite chuckles, referring to the roughly $600 million in state grants and incentives to local governments that expand their housing stock or commit to pro-housing policies.
The governor declared 20 municipalities around the state as “Pro-Housing Communities,” and those local governments to be best poised to be awarded millions of dollars in state aid up for grabs.
Hochul said she was caught off guard by Mayor Eric Adams’ sudden push for another $1.6 billion in funding for the migrant crisis — saying that the state has already earmarked a “substantial contribution.”
Hochul issued a proclamation declaring February Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month.
New York lawmakers met yet again within the marble walls of Albany’s Legislative Office Building to hear testimony on the state’s environmental conservation budget, with topics ranging from assistance for farmers to the State Park system.
New York has long pushed to rely on 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030. It’s clear now the state is no longer on track — derailed by growing costs, canceled projects and regulators’ refusal to provide more ratepayer-funded subsidies.
A package of bills has been introduced in the state Legislature to address a shortage of dental care providers.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal filed an objection with the state Board of Elections this week over the placement of Trump on the Republican Party’s ballot for the upcoming presidential primary.
The state DMV has dismissed more than 3,000 proposed license plates in 2023 thanks to a slew of rules that prohibit certain combinations of letters and numbers — especially ones that bear lewd and offensive meanings.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is set to grant herself the power to take legal action against Mayor Adams’ administration over its refusal to implement a set of new housing voucher laws.
A court-ordered plan to overhaul how the NYPD responds to protests survived a challenge from the city’s largest police union and will be implemented in the coming months, a federal judge ruled.
The NYPD will move forward with plans to stop using a controversial crowd-control tactic known as “kettling” after a judge denied the Big Apple’s largest police union’s bid to scuttle a federal settlement.
After several Guardian Angels tackled a man they claimed was a migrant shoplifter during Curtis Sliwa’s live interview with Sean Hannity last night, the NYPD said the victim was just trying to disrupt the TV broadcast.
“We’ve got to take back 42nd Street,” Sliwa, the founder of the anti-crime group, said on “Hannity” as the Guardian Angels pushed a man to the ground.
A top-ranking federal immigration official slammed New York City’s sanctuary policy status this week, saying it has prevented city law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities in cases where migrants are identified as suspects in violent crimes.
Rudy Giuliani bared his money troubles yesterday at a Manhattan meeting with federal officials and creditors in his bankruptcy case — where he declined to hold Trump personally responsible for $2 million in outstanding legal fees owed him.
The New York City Housing Authority would have to publicly disclose information about all contracts it enters into with private actors — regardless of dollar amounts — under a bill introduced in Congress yesterday.
As Columbia and Barnard weigh how to protect free speech and student safety, their protest rules have forced some students off campus, where they have clashed with the police.
A former bigwig at a once-prominent Big Apple development firm and a slew of other real estate industry executives were indicted yesterday for allegedly stealing more than $86 million in a years-long fraud scheme, Manhattan prosecutors said.
New York’s 50th retail cannabis brick-and-mortar store opened this week on Central Avenue in Colonie — a milestone that includes the first upstate shop that is majority-owned by a Black woman, according to state officials.
A condition of Bethlehem approving a housing subdivision on Kenwood Avenue is taking months as developer tries to find a group that will save a Dutch barn on the property. So far there are no takers.
Saying her properties are “extremely expensive to maintain,” Saratoga Springs socialite Michele Riggi is seeking to keep $7.2 million from the sale of her properties that her brother-in-law claims is owed to him.
The developer behind a project to transform vacant waterfront land on the Mohawk River into a 3,600-seat events center and arena with an ice rink for Union College’s hockey teams has consented to a community benefits agreement and clawbacks.
Robert M. Conway Jr., a former city mayor and one of its popular Democratic politicians, devoted to his faith and one of the first “pillars” of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has died. He was 78.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
